Whenever I speak to groups I remind attendees to support the brands who have supported the event. The companies who dip their toes into the sometimes scary social media water are trailblazers.
I met the wonderful women of Creative Memories at Kelby’s Type A Mom Conference [...]
I can’t help myself. I love making these stories. My apologies to anyone who is now wearing a beard, reindeer nose or Santa hat.
My cousin and I take our kids to see the Christmas decorations at Opryland every year. You know that Opryland where we [...]
I have a confession to make. I have issues. I have sock issues. The boys, when they wear them, leave them hidden all over the house. When I find dirty socks under the couch, behind toy boxes or in the driveway; the response is always the same. “I didn’t do [...]
Three years ago I gave up on the ‘perfect Christmas card picture’. You know the one where everyone is smiling and happy? Yeah, not so much. We just have way too many kids to get everyone to smile. I used to make my step-daughter a nervous wreck and at least [...]
One of my favorite things about personal blogging is the reminder to capture the little moments.
Between unpacking eleventy billion boxes, making BlissDom calls and returning some of the oh-I’ll-never-get-through-it-all email backup; I stopped and watched him playing happily on the kitchen floor.
“Do you want [...]
I have a long history with my readers and sharing my housing issues. I never tell you all anything until it is over. Yes, it goes against everything blogger’s believe in to keep readers in the dark. Sometimes typing things that are so unsettled are too much. I also hate [...]
What? I am not scary? Arrrrr….
I really am this pale.
Ok, seriously, we decided to Halloween-ify ourselves over at Blissfully Domestic. Come check out how Lotus made hers look down right disturbing!
The women of Blissfully Domestic use Picnik so much behind [...]
Use Twitter to get rich! We hear it all the time. Making easy money using Twitter is a dream, we all know this, but we still see all the Tweets that say “Use Twitter to Make Money Online” or “Easy Money using Twitter” [...]
There are moments in my life I will never forget. Wedding, births, loss of a child, joyful first steps, and a million moments in between.
All week I was consumed with an ache in my stomach and worry on my face.
We were preparing to go test our youngest for an genetic [...]
I was lucky enough to take my two oldest guys to California over the weekend. Because of our large family, time alone with Mom is always precious. Everything about this weekend was a joy!
When I was invited with my sons to meet Tony Hawk, [...]
You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around – and why his parents will always wave back. ~William D. Tammeus
Motherhood is the greatest adventure- the greatest joys, hardest challenges and [...]
Oh Happy Day, The Smart Girl’s Guide is launched! After three months of research, unanswered emails, a neglected blog, and a total disregard of all household responsibilities, I am thrilled to share my book with you.
[...]
Hello Friends of Fussypants! Good news- we are finally recovered from the plague. Well, the flu and ear infections and on and on… We have survived unscathed, except for Nana Fussypants who came to help me and is staying here to help with the kids while I travel. Nana caught [...]
Ok, so it’s really H1N1. Or Swine Flu, or whatever. It is awful.
The doctor said all flu right now is H1N1 because it is so rampant and too early in the year for regular flu. The doctors aren’t even testing anymore, it’s [...]
Hard to believe that Blissfully Domestic made the big jump from blog to magazine last Labor Day weekend. This month we are celebrating our anniversary with a beautiful makeover and relaunch.
I know, I know….”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but it was time to [...]
Funny Questions that arrived in my email over the past few days-
1) Are you sick? Why aren’t you posting?
Not sick, just slammed. Finishing book, preparing massive relaunch of Blissfully Domestic, planning for BlissDom has taken over my life. Between this and family life, I barely [...]
Last Month I went up to Boston for the iRobot Summit. It was the first time in 1o years I have been anywhere alone. I have only spent the night without some of the boys if I was actually in the hospital having another child. Something about the event just [...]
Some days are a special kind of awesome. BlogHer was 100% fantastic on all levels. I met lots of fabulous people, but there was one person who was way more fabulous than all the rest.
For two years I have been Fighting the [...]
After a crazy month of off-and-on business travel (thanks Nana Fussypants for staying here all month!) we all decided to go visit my family in the East Tennessee mountains.We stayed with my beloved Grandfather, you may remember him from last Summer. (JuneBug on a string, anyone?)
There is no cell [...]
(With my friend and mentor Liz Strauss via @rbucich)
Swag bag fights and party fallout are all the buzz today. Maybe I am the only one, but I never saw any of this bad swag grabbing behavior. [...]
I flew home today from Chicago with memories of laughter, silliness and hugs. I daydreamed about the pictures I would steal from my friends’ flickr accounts and jokes to share. I have lots of stories of me getting lost, putting my foot in my mouth and random good times.
Mr. Smartypants [...]
I meant to post six million times. I’ve been to Boston and Dallas in the last week, and today I am off to Chicago for BlogHer. I promise fabulous (at least to me. *snort*) posts are coming.
You can catch up with me on that little tab on the left side [...]
Y’all know of my passionate love affair with Twitter. I have been goofing around with blogging and Twitter for two years and owe so much of my career to my friendships that began on Twitter.
Twitter is the ultimate icebreaker. Not only did I build [...]
Women thrive in supportive communities. We create strong, life-long bonds through sharing our lives with each other. As modern life speeds by, we are forced to move away from those we love, we are so often lonely.
Moms are especially vulnerable. Those women who stay home and raise their children often [...]
The Blissful Babes and I are so happy to announce we have a time scheduled for our Blissful Brainstorm session.This session is only open to you, my lovely Friends of Fussypants, and will not be publicized on BD. [...]
I love handing over the reigns to y’all because y’all are my own personal search engine. Any question I have? *magic* Answers appear, and answers I trust.
I have just finished weaning my youngest. After 11 yrs of being pregnant or nursung, and 5 [...]
And again, I give you a picture for no good reason other than it makes me giggle. We do post family friendly LOLs on Blissfully Domestic LoL by the way. [...]
It has been a reeeeally long day. I was supposed to do very official sounding business things. Things that require me to act like I know what I am doing.
[...]
I try to keep it real here on my site. I tell you everything I am up to, even if it is kinda boring. You know about last year’s job loss, us losing our dream home to foreclosure, homelessness and you cheered us on as we [...]
Fight the Frump is my way to stop and remind myself in a fun way to take care of myself. I know sometimes I get caught up in judging myself by an unreachable standard.
Because so much of what we see is altered, this week let’s [...]
Did you know what Cap & Trade really is?
Your senators vote Friday June 26th.
If you want to you can call and tell them to Vote No on HR 2454.
202-224-3121.
(Not really spiffy hats & trading baseball cards is it?)
I will keep comments open, but as soon as people start attacking me [...]
Girlfriends,
Tomorrow night I’m doing what I do….jumping into the deep end of a new social media. Blogging? Did it. Online magazine? Did it. News site? Did it. Hosting a conference? Did it. I don’t promise to do things well all the time, but I’m [...]
I have the funniest readers in the whole world. We will start voting later this week.
Remember the rules:
1.) Keep it short (so it fits in the poll questions)
2.) Keep it clean
The winner will win a beautiful pair of earrings made [...]
Mascara, along with blush, is so often misused and abused. Lip gloss and powder can be put on by a carload of circus clowns and you can get away with it. But bless your heart, honey, you can. not. be walking around town with chocolate [...]
Wonder where I have been? Not lost on Tweetdeck Mountain or pondering deep philosophical issues, but busy with my posse.
My sweet stepdaughter is here with us for a few weeks and we’ve been catching up and hanging out. We discuss boys, facebook and Twilight.
I [...]
It all started with this tweet…
Because seriously, it has. I started blogging for the community of fab women, not because I have a desire to be a writer. Writing well is a gift that God bestows on [...]
My favorite thing about our community of women bloggers is our diversity. Black, White, Christian, Jew, Agnostic, Republican, Democrat or Libertarian; the things that can separate us “in real life” are so often afterthoughts online. We all operate on a heart level online. We all look the same through our [...]
We are goin’ mobile! So far I have fished out a chewed up watermelon seed, aluminum foil big brother crafts, half a crayon, and a few rapid dust bunnies out of his mouth. Time to start keeping the floors clean [...]
All week we talked about women who turn a blank canvas into art on a daily basis. Women who make each other’s lives richer because of the way they share their hearts and [...]
Some women have a gift. Me? Not so much. I am mostly blissful and definitely not domestic. Hee hee. I mistreat, but not as beautifully as my sweet friend [...]
I have always proudly worn the crown of not being a writer. I am blogging just for the fun of it, no talent and all. But sometimes I read a [...]
Today list your favorites that write about:
Being green & eco-friendly. Are working to get healthy/be healthier. Getting in shape/ working out.Now, go show some mommies some love.
Here are the rules:
1) The site needs to [...]
I have a sickness. Launch-itis. I am hopelessly addicted to launching new projects. My sweet friend Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer nicknamed me "Miss NASA" because I launch so many things. HAH!
I think the real [...]
I have a sickness. Launch-itis. I am hopelessly addicted to launching new projects. My sweet friend Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer nicknamed me "Miss NASA" because I launch so many things. HAH!
I think the [...]
"Favorite Men"
Remember I went to my cousin's wedding? Here is my Uncle (father of the groom) saying hi to Mark and the boys. Yes, those are all my boys. :)
"Awkward Blackberry Family Photos"
My own akward family photo for ya. My eldest son took [...]
"Favorite Men"
Remember I went to my cousin's wedding? Here is my Uncle (father of the groom) saying hi to Mark and the boys. Yes, those are all my boys.
"Awkward Blackberry Family Photos"
My own akward family photo [...]
I asked Twitter what to write about today. So many great ideas, and I will go through them as time goes on. But, I need to be kinda boring and nag y'all today. You know how the doctor tells you to sleep enough and drink' [...]
I asked Twitter what to write about today. So many great ideas, and I will go through them as time goes on. But, I need to be kinda boring and nag y'all today. You know how the doctor tells you to sleep enough and [...]
Hey Y'all,
I love when I get emails asking if I am sick when I haven't posted in a couple days. Too sweet. The house of Pants is all good. End of school year festivities, meetings and life stuff kept me away all week.
Since I now am all fancy and [...]
Hey Y'all,
I love when I get emails asking if I am sick when I haven't posted in a couple days. Too sweet. The house of Pants is all good. End of school year festivities, meetings and life stuff kept me away all week.
Since I now am all fancy and [...]
Why cloning humans never really caught on.
Posted by: franticallysimple
"I really should have listened to my Outdoor Survival Instructor. I think I ate the wrong kind of mushrooms and now I am seeing things."
Posted by: Venus"when Harry Met Harry Met Harry".....
Posted by: jodiIf you [...]
Why cloning humans never really caught on.
Posted by:
franticallysimple
"I
really should have listened to my Outdoor Survival Instructor. I think
I ate the wrong kind of mushrooms and now I am seeing things."
Posted by:
Venus
"when Harry Met Harry [...]
He loved cake. Loved it so much he needed to disrobe for a quick birthday photo with his brothers.
In a big family you take a group shot when ever you can. Not necessarily when everyone looks good, or is wearing any clothes.
He loved cake. Loved it so much he needed to disrobe for a quick birthday photo with his brothers.
In a big family you take a group shot when ever you can. Not necessarily when everyone looks good, or is wearing any clothes.
Y'all know i love lipstick. If you ever see me without lipstick on it is a sure sign of the apocalypse.
The fabulous Friends of Fussypants email me all. the. time. thanking me for sharing my lipstick tips from this post- Click here' [...]
Heidi Klum and Seal at their 50th wedding anniversary.
Congrats to Jeanette! Two weeks in a row. It's a first for Name that Inappropriate Photo. Good thing I am so lazy that I haven't mailed her winning earrings yet and now she will get two sets [...]
I have a confession. I am addicted to makeup. It all started in fifth grade. At a Carly's sleepover we played "beauty shop." Do you remember the smell of the Coty Face powder? Or the Cover girl pressed powder in the' [...]
Two weeks ago the world was coming to an end over the 'swine flu.' My mom thought of not flying up to babysit and wondered aloud if Disney would close the park due to the empending epidemic sweeping our country.
Like any loving daughter I rolled my eyes and said, "meh."
The [...]
Nana Fussypants picked these fabulous finalists-
1) No sonny! It goes "You put your left leg in..."
Posted by: Leanne
2) Reggie and Granny Anna finish their jive for "Dancing with strangers in the streets!"
Posted by: Denise
3) After all these years Granny finally got her [...]
Hey Y'all, I have big news. I am in DisneyWorld with Jeremiah all week! I am part of the Hanes Comfort Crew. We are a group of bloggers and social media gurus here to' [...]
I promised you more pictures from the weekend in D.C. with Hershey's. Well, here they are with a giveaway!
There was this actor who played Lincoln so well. I *had* to see if he would' [...]
*ahem*
At BWI they will wand and pat you down when your underwire sets off the metal detector.
Just sayin'...
This post is linked into the weekly I am Blissfully Domestic link party. I' [...]
I am a certified Smithsonian junkie. When I got the invite to take the trip up to DC for the weekend with the boys I jumped on it. That is serious awesomeness. (thanks Hersheys! More about the event later) I met bloggers who I have admired from afar and [...]
Hershey's must know how much of their chocolate our family consumes. We were asked to go to the Hershey's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian event for Bloggers! The big boys and the baby and I are hanging out in [...]
Y'all know I have a long and torrid love affair with all things cosmetic.
The shiny packaging gives me that 'come hither' look and I am powerless to resist. Lipgloss, and shadow and mascara- the cheaper the better! (Okay, I would like' [...]
Last Week's Winner...(drumroll please)...
"Paula soon regretted having her bachelorette party at the yoga studio."
-From the always funny & lovely Jeanette*
*Jeanette will get some of my custom made earrings. Send me your deets, babe!
This Week is gonna' [...]
I grew up an only child in a not always so happy environment. I dreamed of the white picket fence surrounding a big happy family. I have been blessed with 5 amazing sons and a wonderful husband. As a family we [...]
Friends of Fussypants, Just say NO to white pants!
Every Spring, fashion editors say the same thing...
"Crisp White Pants- Your Spring wardrobe staple!"
"White pants = White hot fashion!"
Resist the urge this year!
Why do they continually insult our intelligence?
We [...]
Did you go to a Tea Party yesterday?
I was pleased to see a huge crowd of families all having fun. I talked to a woman who was a self described "old hippie who burned my bra in Greenwich Village" she then told me [...]
1 "Paula soon regretted having her bachelorette party at the yoga studio."
Posted by: Jeanette
2 Ever since Michael Phelps got caught smoking pot, he's been looking for new ways to use his swimming talent.
Posted by: Ree
3 "I thought I came to'" [...]
Over at Blissfully Domestic's Financial bliss, we are giving away this lovely all-in-one Kodak printer.
The Kodak Print and Prosper campaign is showing everyone all the vast amounts of money they lose with the more expensive than diamonds ink cartridges. I stopped printing pics at all, but now [...]
My little James. My heart leaps hearing the sweet pitter pat of feet.
I am reminded of what my priorities are by his little voice.
"I love you, Mommy."
Kisses and hugs- the world is right again.
For both of us.
And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here. ~St Augustine
I love this. I love the passion in Dr. Lockridge's voice. I generally shy away from writing about faith too much here because I' [...]
Remember Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead…This is the Good News I preach. - 2 Timothy 2:8
In a letter written within earshot of the sharpening blade that would sever his head, Paul urged Timothy to remember. You can almost picture the old warrior smiling as he wrote [...]
We all need a little humor to lighten the mood somedays, right?
*Just* because I love you, my sweet friends, I wanted to give you the chance to laugh at me. I am learning how to Vlog, and really um, kinda, um, howdoIsaythisgently, Hate It! I love hiding behind my [...]
Sweet Maddie Spohr is in Heaven today.
My heart is broken for Heather and Mike. Their only child, Madeline Alice Spohr, passed away last night.
Heather and Mike have asked that in lieu of flowers you contribute to the March of Dimes in memory of Madeline Alice Spohr.
Oh hai. See that up there? I wake up to the occasional gun in the potty here in the house of happy chaos.
The whole idea of "Mommy Blogging" is a story of balance. It is a story of perspective. Taking a step [...]
Guess who is getting better? Yay. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. He is kicking RSV in the trash! We have a doctor appointment Monday morning to give him the all clear to fly. We have a flight to Kansas City [...]
I've learned so much the last couple of years of my life: how earthly possessions are fleeting, how to maintain perspective during the valleys, and what I value above all else.
Sorry I haven't posted this week. My boys are sick and my baby has pneumonia from [...]
Over at my second home, we twittered about how capri pants can never go out of style. Seriously, I do not care what the magazines say. To get capris out of my closet ~insert Charlton Heston's dramatic voice~ you'll have to pry them out of my cold dead hands.
Let's be honest,' [...]
{giggles}
I don't even know what is going on here!
Y'all have fun!
Nana Fussypants will choose her 10 favorites this weekend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last Week's Winner...
{drumroll please}...
I'm a freakin' teapot - short and stout! Here's my handle! Don't be touchin' my spout.
Congrats to the lovely [...]
So, unless you have been living under a rock, you know about 5minutesformom.com's annual Ultimate Blog Party. Janice & Susan have built the biggest and best way to bring women together every year. I am a huge fan of the twins and all' [...]
1) Wow, I didn't know your story! I am going to start reading now. My husband is in the oil industry and hasn't worked for two months. We have sent out dozens and dozens and dozens of resumes and heard nothing. We have four children and a slew of house, [...]
I promise this really looks like me lately. I need to treat myself this weekend to some pampering. I think I'll lock myself in the master bathroom for a few hours. Surely Mr. Smartypants an handle the boys alone, right?
This Friday it's all you. [...]
Ok, stop laughing. Yes, the very sweet ladies who are planning A Woman Inspired conference asked me to speak. At first, I panicked. Thinking, "Do those ladies read my blog?" I'm not exactly channeling Beth Moore over here. ;) I post inappropriate photos, and have salty' [...]
This friday I am happy to introduce you to our fabulous guest Frump Fighter, 
