We’ve been busy today moving NikkiZ’s stuff into the BIG bedroom so we can paint for LilZ to take over the smaller bedroom. Since chaos is going to reign over this transition in the next few weeks (we paint this weekend) we decided we might as well take her out of the crib amidst the insanity. We can’t really afford to buy a twin mattress or bed right now, so we just decided to buy her some new sheets and put the crib mattress on the floor. We thought the new sheets would help her distinguish the BIG GIRL BED from the BABY BED. I decided to let her pick out the bedding with only a small bit of suggestion from me. (I could not allow her to choose that BRATZ stuff…it scares me so.) She chose two crib sheets: Dora and Diego. A Dora blanket, and a Mermaid pillow case. After I took her crib apart and put her mattress back down in her nearly empty room, I thought she was going to have a heart attack. Like Wait. When you said “No Crib” you actually meant it?. THEN — I put the new sheets and blankets on and she went KRAZEE. She is so very excited. Oh — to be a kid and so easily amused again.

Who am I kidding? I’m still on cloud nine from the new bedding my mother-in-law gave us for Christmas.

So - in my downtime I taught myself how to design to work with the sidebar widget capability of Wordpress. Probably not rocket science to those of you who gave in to learn that years ago, but I was pretty damn proud. I made a simple design to work with the default sidebar options a Wordpress blog gives you. If you have a Wordpress blog (one you set up yourself that you can add themes to, not the Wordpress.com blogs) and you use the basic Wordpress sidebar widgets - and you’d like a very Plain and Simple Aqua theme - I’d love to have someone to use this so I can see it in action to make sure I did it right. Like I said - it’s plain - but I didn’t want to put a lot of effort in a specific design just to tinker. Email me (misszootATgmailDOTcom) if you’d like to use it and let me know what your title/tagline would be. If you want to see it in action with fake entries and comments - - go here.

While adventuring around town this week, looking for free entertainment for my child, I discovered that our Barnes & Noble has Story time every Monday and Thursday. The kids get read a story and then they do a craft associated with the story. We decided to try it yesterday, and I was very nervous. Yes…you heard me right…I was nervous about story time. I’ve officially reached a new level with my anxiety. I’m scared of being read to, or crafts, or something.

Actually - it was the prospect of being around other Moms. I built the group up in my head to be a tight-knit clan of perfectly coiffed women whose children didn’t have oatmeal on their faces. I saw them talking and laughing in their pre-formed group and glaring at NikkiZ and I as we walked in. I heard them whispering about my mismatched socks and wondering if my child had been bathed in the last week. Essentially? I predicted this to be the most heartless and evil group of women on the planet. Because that makes sense for story time at Barnes & Noble.

Do you want to guess what happened? Go ahead - try.

We were the only ones there. The Barnes & Noble employee read the story about the duck to us, and then we made our own duck puppet. All by ourselves. I wasn’t sure whether that turn of events made me happy or depressed that the day didn’t match the scenario in my head. At least in that scenario, there were other kids for NikkiZ to mingle with. Even if their Moms were glaring at me underneath their perfectly shaped eyebrows. I had kinda hoped for NikkiZ to get some interaction. Oh well. Maybe next time we’ll try Monday’s Story time. Maybe the evil Moms will show up then.

Here’s a Quickie:

MrZ gave me a gift certificate for a facial for Christmas and I took advantage of that this morning. My relaxation period ended abruptly, however, when I found out the tornado-producing severe storms coming towards this area prompted ALL OF THE SCHOOLS TO CLOSE EARLY. BAH! Must go get kids! Must get them home safely and hide in the bathtub! AFTER I blog about it!

I want my last post of Nablopomo to be the one wishing my husband a happy 30th birthday. His birthday is actually tomorrow (Dec 1st) but I’m taking a break from blogging this weekend after having written 100 entries in the last 30 days. I’m awesome. So, MrZ? Happy Birthday. I know you were dreading the big 3-0 but since I did it two years ago, it’s hard for me to have any sympathy. However, you are still incredibly cute and as sexy as ever. As a matter of fact, like most men, you get more attractive with age. And I’ll always hate you for that. I love you, babe. Happy 30th.