And the Winner is...

After seeing all of the hilarious carpet stain stories that came pouring in to my in-box, I can definitely say that I'm not alone in my constant battle against soiled carpet. I heard stories of everything from paint to poop! It's amazing that all of us busy moms can even enjoy carpet in the first place. Fortunately, though, Bissell makes it easy on us with their brand new ProDry carpet cleaner. Carpet is treated, cleaned, and dried in UNDER 30 minutes. That works for me!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful stories you sent in. I wish so much that I could give each and every one of you a big, fat hug for writing in and sharing your experiences. I am certainly in great company!! Hezra from Durant, Oklahoma was chosen by the team over here as the winner of the Bissell ProDry. Her entry is included at the end of this post. One thing we love about the story is her great attitude. That's what makes it all worthwhile!

Thanks Hezra and thanks to all of you! You're beautiful (even if your carpet doesn't always stay that way)!

Hezra's story:
"My funniest story would have to be when I was trying to re-paint our boys' room. We were doing a "calming" shade of pale blue. I had 5 kids. The boys were 1, 5, and 7. The
girls were 3 and 6 mos. So I am painting away with kids everywhere, baby in a swing in another room away from fumes.

My youngest boy was fresh out of the bath with a clean white onesie(standard issue pjs for babies in summer here), he comes hopping up on his bed(they were all pulled away from walls.) Just as I am saying, Isaiah, don't jump and be careful. . . he hops straight down and lands IN the paint pan. I was frozen in shock. He was not. He
hopped out and took off! Calming blue circle on his sweet white onesie as he RAN. I threw down the paint pad andran after. . . but of course he sat down on
the brown living room carpet. He became a human stamper of "calming" blue.
(HE was the reason we chose calming blue!)

It was not as funny at the moment. Really hard to catch the little guy before he made too many spots. Looking back though it is just so ironic, so funny and SO my every day life with that boy. It has become instead one of my favorite memories. ~ Hezra,
mom of five in OK"

Shake It Up, Baby!!

I confess, it's hard to keep up with everything that's cool and trendy with my kids. The other day, when my three boys were talking about Wario, I asked them, "Are you talking about Mario?" They just looked at me as if I were totally the most lame-o mom on earth.

"Mom!" They shouted. "It's Wario!"

Okay, okay! I give!

Recently, however, I have graduated from lame-o to coolio once again. I redeemed myself by supplying them with the video game, "Wario Land: Shake It!" It features the character, Wario--yes, WARIO--traveling through side scrolling stages. By shaking the Wii remote, you can shake down your enemies, free coins from treasure bags, and even cause earthquakes (as if we don't already have enough of those around here). It's the ultimate adventure--puzzles, hazards, secrets, treasures, and multiple missions to keep you coming back again and again.

Now I have another confession to make--this game is addictive! I even find myself shaking that remote like nobody's business!!

Good, clean fun...you can't shake that!!

Ferry Fun!

This weekend we decided to be adventurous and try out the ferry that crosses from Surry to Jamestown, VA. It was so much fun! Kenna fell in love with it and didn't want to get off. As a matter of fact, when I sang her lullaby that night, she wanted me to put the word, "boat" in it. Here's how it went:

Boat is my sunshine, my only sunshine.
Boat makes me happy when skies are gray.
You'll never know, Boat, how much I love you.
Please don't take my boat away.

Needless to say, it was an adventure that she will remember for a long time.
Check out the video:

WHERE'S MY CHEESE PIZZA?!

We were all cleaning the kitchen and someone had obviously cleared off Klara's plate before she was finished eating. She was demanding, "where's my cheese pizza?" while we were all dancing and singing. It's a typical evening here at the Keeley home...take a look. It's hilarious!!

What's Your Carpet Stain Story?

Once I had planned a fun activity to do with the kids. I bought a white sheet at the thrift store and laid out plates of different colored paint. My idea was for the kids to dip their feet in the paint and then run all over the sheet--decorating it with their cute little multi-colored footprints. Sounds cute, right? Well, I guess I didn't explain it fully to the little ones because as soon as my little girl stepped into the blue paint...she took off running across the sheet...and into the living room, which was carpeted in a nice, pale shade of beige. There they were--little blue footprints all over the carpet. It took everything in me not to react, but to respond with kindness. "Oops! We were supposed to just run on the sheet!" Inside, I was thinking, 'how in the world am I ever going to get those footprints out of that carpet?'

If only the Bissell ProDry carpet cleaner had been around at the time. But, now I've got one and am SO GLAD that I do. I don't need to fret the spills, stains, and messes. I just whip it out and clean my carpet. And it really works with a busy household, too. Fortunately, the carpet takes only 30 minutes to dry so we can get back to real life. I love it! And I've got a special surprise for you. Tell me your funniest carpet stain story. The winner gets a brand new Bissell Pro Dry carpet cleaner. I've already got it packed up and ready to ship out. So give me your stories! Just post them here. But make sure you e-mail them to me as well. I want to make sure I know who to contact when we have a winner: info@totalmom.com. This give-away is open until 10/10/08. I can't wait to hear from you!!

Playground Mania

We went to the playground the other day for a picnic. As usual, my kids drew attention to themselves by hamming it up. Fortunately, I had my camera with me so I got to catch them in the act.

Check out Korben and Karis turn a fight into a dance-off! That is, until Kyler broke it up (quite literally!).

Karis's Invention

I love teaching my kids! Today, I took a three-minute break to answer the phone and both Karis and Korben abandoned their school work and changed a cardboard box that they found in the trash into a "mind machine." They even made a remote control for the thing! Forget the spelling list---these kids were getting a true education in the art of creativity. I love it! Their mind machine could make someone smart, stupid, or turn them into a knight (I'm not too sure where that last option came from. I just report the facts). Check out this three-part video series titled, "Karis's Mind Machine."

Part I:The prototype was evidently still in the development phase...



Part II: Korben turns into a knight...



Part III: "E equals M..C..What?"

The Forgotten Art of Play

Do you ever feel like we live in isolation? Especially if we have little kids! Moms have a tendency to stay in their own worlds with their little ones while there is a big, beautiful world to play in. And sometimes just a trip to the park isn't enough to do the trick.

Play is important! Don't forget it! I talked with a wonderful man not too long ago who understands this completely. As a matter of fact, he has made it his career. He and his family had such a wonderful experience with their child's play group that he decided to start a website to help other people in the local area find their own perfect play group. Well, this little hobby grew and grew and grew. Evidently, he wasn't the only one who appreciated a good day of play! Now he runs a cool website called playgroupsusa (www.playgroupsusa.com). You've got to check this out if you have little ones. Through this website, you can find a local playgroup and jump in. Remember, kids aren't the only ones who benefit from some good old-fashioned play. Moms have a blast as well.

What are you waiting on? Let's PLAY!

Survived the First Full Week of School

What did I say? Survive?? I mean THRIVE! Yes, it was tough, crazy, and bumper-to-bumper demands, but isn't that what keeps us going in the first place? Kelsey and Katie are now enrolled in a "homeschool" college prep school in Richmond where they go three days a week. Kyler is doing 7th grade online at Morningstar Academy (so far I love it, and he does to). Now I'm teaching Karis (5th), Korben (2nd), and Klara (Kindergarten). Of course, Kenna is doing her fair share of puzzles and workbooks, too. It's been a blast!

The one area I struggle with, like most moms, is keeping the momentum going. Sometimes around week 23 we just kind of want to coast along and scrape by. This year, I've decided to plan my school schedule ahead 12 weeks at a time. I'll let you know if it's working. But one thing I do know is that failing to plan is planning to fail. I want to encourage you this year to PLAN AHEAD!

* Have a spot in your home to put everything that needs to go to school, and put it here before you go to bed.
* Use a checklist to make sure all courses are covered.
* Reward the kids for keeping up with their assignments (I'm still a die-hard dollar store freak).
* And probably the best tip of all--Make sure they do their homework BEFORE the computer, the telephone, or the video games get used.

Hope this helps! Remember, we're in this together and I've got your back!

What the? Man eats 23,000 Big Macs in 36 years?

Let's see...one of the top stories today was that a man ate his 23,000th Big Mac. This is news? Reading the article, I found out that this Big Mac habit is fueled by his obsessive compulsive disorder. In the past 36 years, there were a few days in which he wasn't able to eat a Big Mac. So now, he stores some in the freezer just in case he gets snowed in or something.

Go ahead, you can laugh.

But the reality is that we all have a little O.C. in us somewhere (that's obsessive compulsive, not Orange County). There are habits that we hold on to that are just as unhealthy.

How many times do we whip out that credit card when we know that we are already on the brink of broke?

How many times do we let anger take over and rob us of our right to joy?

How many times do we procrastinate over the housework, knowing full well that it's not going anywhere?

How many times do we nag someone thinking that this time, maybe this time, it will actually change the behavior?

Just like eating a mountain of Big Macs, these habits are damaging to us. We know this but we let them persist. Step back and take a deep look. Turn on the bright lights and really scrutinize your behaviors. Take these behaviors and start changing them today. Take measures to become better, fuller, richer, more abundant. Your life can be everything you dream it can be. But just like that Big Mac, we have to take it one bite at a time!

Back-to-School Campfire

We do it every single year--our back-to-school campfire. It's been a tradition for nine years now. The evening before the kids go back to school we all gather around the campfire and roast marshmallows. Of course, nine years ago I didn't have so many kids. Marshmallows were a lot easier to roast. But, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Check out this clever way I discovered to roast marshmallows for a crowd.

Super Sluggers

OMG! This game is awesome! My son, Kyler, got this game to try out and was hooked! instead of just throwing pitches and running bases, pretty much anything goes in this game. We quickly decided to turn this Wii game into a family championship so that everyone could get on board. It finally narrowed down to me versus Kyler. Kyler played the character of Diddy Kong and I was Donkey Kong. It was the bottom of the ninth, I threw a big barrel (yes, you can pitch barrels...) at him, but he slammed it out of the park and ran a home run to win the game.

Super Sluggers totally rocks. Check it out!

Korben's Joke Hour

I think every boy goes through a phase of telling jokes straight out of those books that he checks out of the library. Korben is in that phase right now. Today he came in the office to tell me some more one liners and I managed to catch them on video....well, that and a lot more!

She's got the ham gene!

My parents always told me growing up that I inherited a "ham gene" from somewhere up the family tree. I always hammed it up in front of people. If I wasn't the center of attention, then I wasn't happy!!

Well, Klara has inherited it, too! She tells me everyday that she is going to be a singer and she is going to be on stage. One day she told me that she when she grew up she was going to make people laugh so hard that they peed in their pants (lovely image, I know!). She is going through a stage now where she dances and sings to songs that she makes up on the fly. She also gets Kenna involved as back up. I caught one of them on video today. I believe the chorus goes something like this:

I don't want to be like you.
I don't want to be like you.
I don't want to be like my family.
I just want to be like you.

I thought that was pretty funny, maybe not as illogical as some of the lyrics on the radio today...

Check out the video of them performing in my bedroom (I was in the middle of folding laundry).

Daniel X-Citing!

Okay, okay, that blog title was a bit cheesey, but I can't help getting excited about a book that totally engages my 12-year-old boy. It was as good as the time he discovered Captain Underpants when he was eight!! For some reason, as most moms can tell you, when boys get into middle school they don't exactly become avid readers. As a matter of fact, books usually place second to, umm, let's see...brussels sprouts?

I had to coax my son to pick up the copy of Daniel X that I bought for him. But as soon as he began reading, he was hooked! I knew I had stumbled onto a good thing when I came in his room last night to turn out the lights and he had his reading light on next to his bed, poring over his copy of Daniel X. Hooray! Thank the book gods for Daniel X! He finished it a few days ago and came up to me and said, "When is the next Daniel X book coming out?".

Ahh, music to my ears!

If you have a middle school son, you have got to check out this winner!