How to Throw a Kick-Butt Harry Potter Birthday Party: Part One

– Posted in: Accidents, Holidays, Life is Dangerous, Mouths of Babes, No Good Deed, Parties, Personal Insanity, Shopping Hell, Things To Do with Kids, Worst Mom Randomness
How to throw a birthday party at Hogwarts

Thanks to my lack of organizational skills, we left my daughter Elfie's 9th birthday party planning until the very last minute. Not a big deal if my husband and I weren't insane. Unfortunately, we've set a precedent of throwing wildly fantastical theme parties for her birthday, complete with treasure hunts that involve multiple adult actors [...]

Worst Mom Moment: How to Ruin Your Kid’s Life

– Posted in: Cleaning, Complaining, Growing Up, Guest Blog, Mouths of Babes, Parenting, Punishments, The Kids are Killing Me, Worst Mom Moments
Worst Mom Ever Trophy logo

So I've been saving this for a rainy day, and boy oh boy is it a good one. I'm stuck in our tent trailer, in Oregon, in the pouring rain. Do not even get me started... Anyway, the great and powerful Kelly DeBie of DeBie Hive sent this, oh, in winter. But you guys know [...]

My Name’s Tammy and I’m a Cake Froster-holic

– Posted in: Bright Side of Life, Crazy Tammy, Food, Memories, Mouths of Babes, Parenting, Personal Insanity, Tammy Thinks, Things To Do with Kids, This Is Supposed to be Fun, Worst Mom Recipes
DIY Thomas Train snowy winter cake with toy trains

So just to solidly make the case that I'm absolutely off my rocker, I'm sharing the following. Actually, let me back up. Over the last couple of days, I posted some pictures of the cupcakes I helped make for a school fundraiser, and people have made some lovely comments about my decorating abilities. The thing [...]

Kids Know Awards for Everyone are Stupid. Because They’re not Stupid.

– Posted in: Elfie, Mouths of Babes, Newt, Parenting, School
Do awards for everyone ever motivate kids

The kids turned in their science fair projects last week. Neither of them made it to "the big show," but that wasn't a huge surprise. Motivating kids in this department has been historically. . . frustrating. They basically procrastinate for two months, decide last minute that they want to do a "great job," and then [...]

Worst Mom Moment: Girl Scout Cookie Hell

– Posted in: Mouths of Babes, No Good Deed, Okay That's Funny, Poop, Potty Training, This Is Supposed to be Fun, Worst Mom Moments
girl-scouts

My daughter isn't in Girl Scouts, and I'm not gonna lie -- it's because I'm scared. Over the years, I've heard tale of cookie selling hell, and I feel like my adrenal glands are already shot as is. The last thing I need is people being pissed at me for being a bad Cookie Mom [...]

Why the Onion Should’ve Asked My Kid About the C-Word Before Getting on Twitter

– Posted in: Mean People, Mouths of Babes, Okay That's Funny, Worst Mom Randomness
quvenzhane-wallis

So when everybody started freaking out over the Onion calling nine-year-old Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis the c-word, my thought process went something like this: Wow, stay classy. Maybe an intern was tweeting. What idiot would let an intern tweet during the Oscars? Somebody's getting the axe. They'll probably end up on that Katie Couric show. Or [...]

Into the Great Outdoors. But Only Because I Had To…

– Posted in: Bright Side of Life, Life is Dangerous, Mouths of Babes, Personal Insanity, The Great Outdoors, Things To Do with Kids, Worst Mom Randomness
Digging in the icy river

So I am spent. Spent. These are the days when my body likes to remind me that "No, you can't go skiing on Saturday, hiking on Sunday, and then expect to live to tell about it. Ha ha!" Or, I should say, "Bwwahaha!" I have a feeling my body has a tendency towards sick and [...]

He’s Leaving Home…And Mom’s Going Nuts

– Posted in: Chronic Pain, Crazy Tammy, Family, Kid Friends, Life is Dangerous, Logan's Story, Mom dying, Mouths of Babes, Parenting, Personal Insanity, Sappy Tammy, School, Stuff I Probably Shouldn't be Thinkin', Thank God Your Father's Home, Worrying
I'm pretty sure this is how a turtle would feel if it stood up.

We're a family of three, not four this week (or four, not five, if you count the dog). Newt, our 10-year-old, is away for two nights with his classmates at a wilderness camp. At Lake Tahoe. In the snow. Fortunately he's not snow camping (because that's only for crazy people). They're in cabins with heat [...]

Happily Saying Goodbye to 2012 — and Still Being Happy

– Posted in: Bright Side of Life, Chronic Pain, Complaining, Mouths of Babes, Newt, Personal Insanity
Newt and Elfie Getting their Santa On

So here's the current status: I'm officially a Christmas casualty. After, I'm assuming, intense gift-wrapping sessions and several nights of marathon dishwashing, I've done something really bad to my back. I can't lift my arm over my head, so I haven't taken a shower in four days. I'll just let everyone use their own imaginations [...]

How to Teach Kids about Sex: Go See Les Mis and Leave the Kids with Dad

– Posted in: Elfie, Mouths of Babes, Movies, Newt, Parenting, Personal Insanity, Sex, Tenzin, Thank God Your Father's Home, TV, Worrying, Worst Mom Reviews
les-miserables-film-hathaway

I went and saw Les Miserables with a girlfriend the other night. It was an amazing movie, but for some reason, I still feel like I could just nitpick it to pieces. I'm starting to think this could be my calling -- professional life nitpicker. Too bad I can't get someone to pay me for that... [...]