Mama's Losin' It!

Writer’s Workshop: Me And My Man

Mama Kat — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

2.) List six random facts about yourself.

I’m going to take this a step further and list six random facts you might not know about me and my man.

1.) Our wedding song was Sade’s By Your Side.

We went to the store. I got a toaster and Pat picked up the By Your Side single. He popped it into the cd player in the car and was all, “I really like this song” and I was all, “then it’s OURS!” And so it was.

2.) I wanted to change Laina’s middle name from Kahluna to Grace the day she was born and Pat let me.

3.) Pat wanted to change Kainoa’s first name from Kainoa to James the day he was born, but I wouldn’t let him.

4.) Our favorite date night destination used to be Barnes and Noble, but now it’s our couch…and our computers. We’re exciting.

5.) Pat does not like my sarcasm. No worries, it’s only like 90% of my personality. The other 10% exaggerates.

6.) I think Pat is an asshole. But only when he complains about my sarcasm.

Now it’s your turn!

Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!

The Prompts:

1.) A time you felt validated. (inspired by Adventures in Alyssaland)
2.) List six random facts about yourself.
3.) Talk about a trend you don’t care for.
4.) The last thing you lost.
5.) Pinterest Inspired! Share something you pinned and actually tried.

Vlogging Workshop: Hair Bow Hair Tutorial

Mama Kat — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this week’s static free Vlogging Workshop! Today’s prompts are:

1.) A fashion trend you will never attempt. (inspired by Hillary)
2.) Bake a cake.
3.) Did you go to college? Why or why not? Where did you go? What do you miss? Would you change anything? (inspired by Echo)
4.) Tutorial time! Teach us how to do something.
5.) 32 Random Questions Tag. (inspired by Darcy Zalewski) I published the questions here.

Choose one, create a video, and link up!

I have a hair bow hair tutorial to share with you today that I keep seeing pop up on Pinterest. If you’re pinning it you must want to see it done in real life and I really wanted to deliver for you! Unfortunately I lost part of the footage…you get the gist though!:

(video here)

This week I’m featuring Tamara from (aspiring) Domestic Goddess Mommy who shared a song that meant something to her. Not only does she sing a portion of it (beautifully I might add), but she describes exactly what it means to her to be “silent all these years”:

(video here)

Be sure to check out Tamara’s channel on YouTube and give her a subscribe!

Now it’s your turn!

Add your video answering one of this week’s prompts to the list below.
Remember to comment on and/or subscribe to at least three videos ahead of yours.
You can subscribe to this weekly newsletter if you’d like the vlog prompts delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for next week’s vlogging prompts.

Get a jump start on next week’s video! Here are the prompts next Wednesday’s Link up:

1.) Share your May favorites!
2.) Car Confessional…confess something from your car. (inspired by joeyradiogirl)
3.) Tell us about something people do that you don’t understand.
4.) Disney inspired! Favorite movie, trip memories, hotel experience, least favorite movie, best princess…talk about ANYTHING Disney related. (inspired by Jendi’s Journal)
5.) Show us what you (or your kids) sleep with. (inspired by MomPulse)

Vlogging Prompts for 05/29

Mama Kat — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Every week you’re invited to join me in a Vlogging Workshop powered by MomPulse. We are working together to create a community interested in video blogging!

To join, simply add a link to the Vlogging Workshop post on Wednesdays that will direct viewers to your video (either on YouTube or your blog).
Vlog prompts will also be posted on Wednesdays, so you will have a full week to create your video response!
I will feature a favorite video each week.
You can subscribe to this weekly newsletter if you’d like the vlog prompts delivered early, along with a weekly vlog tip.

To view more detailed instructions on how this weekly Vlogging Workshop meme works click here.

Here are the vlogging prompts for the Wednesday 05/29 Link up:

Now go make that video!

Turning Eight

Mama Kat — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite things about Laina is that she is very much her age. Sometimes we have eight year olds who want to be fourteen and sometimes we have eight year olds who act like they’re four.

Laina was not thrilled about turning eight on Sunday. She wanted to stay seven, but agreed to turn eight in exchange for gifts. She began her year as an eight year old with her very first trail ride that her horse instructor had arranged last minute. When I asked her what it was like she smiled big and said, “it was like…going to Fantasyland…” That child enjoys life. She’s happy. Plain and simple. And her happiness makes other people happy.

Here I’ve been putting on dog and pony shows my whole life to try to get people to smile when all I had to be was contagiously happy and adorable.

Okay so that’s not really in me, but I love seeing it in her!

Okay UNLESS you force her to get a flu shot, promise it won’t hurt and then when it DOES hurt you take her to a buffet and encourage her to refill her own drink and the pop machine explodes in her face.

She might have a problem with that…nobody’s perfect!

Happy Birthday Laina!
You turned three.
You turned four.
You turned five.
You turned six.
You turned seven.

Writing Prompts 5.20

Mama Kat — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Every week you’re invited to join me in Writer’s Workshop by responding to one of the provided writing prompts posted each Tuesday. The directions are simple:

Choose a writing prompt from the list provided that inspires you most.
Write.
Come back this Thursday and link up by pasting the URL from your post into the list of thumbnails that will be displayed. Just scroll to the bottom of the thumbnail list, click the bold words you will see that say “Click here to enter” and you’re all set!

View more detailed instructions on how this weekly meme works in the Writer’s Workshop FAQs. To receive writing prompts in your inbox each week, subscribe to the writing prompt newsletter here.

Writing Prompts:

Some Favorite Entries From Last Week:

“It definitely feels good to have a puppy again…after all, what is a dog owner without a dog?” -Style Oyster

“Parenting rite of passage: Scrubbing permanent marker from a baby face.” -Coffee Jitters

“Boy, was she in for a surprise: as soon as her bottom hit the toilet seat, I was already crowning.” -Shed Mom

“I love my life right now, so hopefully this one is going to be really easy.” -My Thought Exactly

“He put his bathing suit on backwards, but likes it better this way.” -MnstrTruckSlash

See you Thursday!

Braces Then, Invisalign Now

Mama Kat — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I had the pleasure of hosting a local party recently where a group of some of my favorite Seattle bloggers and I gathered to learn about Invisalign, a new alternative to braces. With three kids and a mouthful of snarled teeth to inherit from me, I knew learning about the Invisalign Teen program would be a wise way to spend my time.

I had braces from 7th to 10th grade and I dread the day my own kids need them. You would think my first concern would be the cost involved in straightening teeth, but I actually take more issue with how they distort those pretty little faces…not to mention how painful they can be. Three years is a long time to feel insecure during what I can only describe as the most self conscious years of my life.

And now you see why.

I will do anything to avoid putting my kids through the same, so when I was given this chance to learn about how Invisalign works I was actually really excited about it. My sister used Invisalign as an adult recently so I already had an idea as to how it operated, and to be honest I could never tell when she was wearing them.

The doctors who spoke with us were Dr. Leone and Dr. Vaughn a Seattle area husband and wife team from Leone & Vaughn orthodontics . They were extremely knowledgeable and answered everything we wanted to know about Invisalign. We learned that the cost is about the same, there are less doctor visits to be scheduled, there a no wires and brackets required, no food restrictions, maintaining healthy dental brushing habits is easier and of course…no accidental brace locking during heavy make out sessions.

Braces then, Invisalign now…kids these days are so much luckier than we were!

Gold Schlogger At A Frat House

Mama Kat — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

I was introduced to gold schlogger at a frat house in Seattle and because I hadn’t yet learned my limits with alcohol and the cool thing was to just drink a lot, I knocked back a number of shots, grabbed my beer cup (refilled as necessary) and soon found myself hugging a toilet on the floor of the community frat house bathroom.

There is so much about this that makes me cringe now. The amount of alcohol consumed. That I somehow managed to find myself alone on a bathroom floor when my friends typically never left my side at parties. The *gag* BOYS COMMUNITY BATHROOM TOILET! Ewwww! And the fact that I was too inebriated (and sick) to care about ANY of that.

I remember this guy walking in and shouting out to his brothers, “Dude! There’s a chick in here!” Perhaps some muffled laughing. He walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder, “hey are you okay?” To which I slurred something like, “just go away I’m fiiiine!!!”

Because clearly.

And then he was all, “Come on we need to get you out of here…who are you here with?”

And I was all, “Hey where’s my friennnnds?”

And he was all, “Just come with me, this is gross and you have to stand up. You’re not going to sleep in here all night.”

And I was all, “But I’m comferrtable…”

Because clearly.

And he pulled me to my feet. He practically carried me down the hall…he opened the bedroom door…he walked me over to a bed…

and he turned to all of my friends and said, “she needs to get some sleep you guys…she’s pretty sick…”

It never crossed my mind that I might be in danger of anything more than a horrid hangover back then. I naively believed nothing could happen to me as long as my friends were in the building.

I was just having fun.

But I wish I could find that guy now, and thank him for not raping me. Such a polite young man!!

I don’t drink gold schlogger at frat houses anymore.

Writer’s Workshop: Moby Dick

Mama Kat — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

2.) Share something your child said or did that surprised you.

My kids are so sheltered and my girls are particularly well behaved. They don’t really use bad language and to be honest I’m not sure what bad words they actually know other than ‘stupid’. So I was particularly surprised when my daughter shared a joke in a book she was reading with me:

daughter: Mom wanna see something funny?
me: Sure!

daughter: See:

me: Oh that’s cute.

daughter: Why was the whale angry about being called Moby Dick?
me: Hmm, I don’t know!

daughter: Who IS Moby Dick.
me: It’s a book about a whale.

daughter: Oh…

pause.

daughter: I know why the whale didn’t want to be called Moby Dick!
me: Why?

daughter: Because it has dick in the name and that’s a bad word.
me: Hmmm, well then…I think it’s time for bed!

So I guess she’s learning to expand her vocabulary after all. They’re never as sheltered as we think they are.

I still don’t really get that Moby Dick joke…maybe she’s right.

Now it’s your turn!

The Prompts:

1.) Introduce a pet.
2.) Share something your child said or did that surprised you.
3.) Tell us about the story of your birth.
4.) Create a “May Bucket List”…what will you accomplish this month?
5.) The other week we some of created a list of Reasons My Son Is Crying based on the popular tumblr page. This week create a list of reasons your child is laughing. (inspired by Hollow Venture Ventures)

Vlogging Workshop: Girl On Fire Cover

Mama Kat — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Every Wednesday you’re invited to join in a Vlogging Workshop where we work together to create and support a community interested in video blogging! This week’s vlogging prompts are:

1.) A song that means something to you.
2.) 5 Things your kids do that you adore.
3.) Talk about something that bothered you this week.
4.) If you had to pick an age to be forever, what age would you pick and why?
5.) Buyers remorse! Show us something you regret buying.

Choose one, create a video, and link up! Get a head start on next week by checking out next week’s prompts below the linky!

Today I’m taking you into my recording studio to share a song that means something to me. Working on my music is how I prefer to spend my “me” time and is a great release for me artistically. Take a peek at my Alicia Keys Girl On Fire Cover:

(video here)

This week I’m featuring Amy Locurto from Living Locurto who confessed vlogging terrifies her. She joined last week and talked about something she fears…vlogging!

(video here)

Be sure to check out Amy’s YouTube channel and give her a subscribe!

Now it’s your turn!

Remember to comment on and/or subscribe to the three videos ahead of yours.
You can subscribe to this weekly newsletter if you’d like the vlog prompts delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays.
Check out the MomPulse channel featuring all of our videos in each link up for additional support.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for next week’s vlogging prompts.

Get a jump start on next week’s video! Here are the prompts next Wednesday’s Link up:

Vlogging Prompts for 05/22

Mama Kat — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Every week you’re invited to join me in a Vlogging Workshop where we are work together to create a community interested in video blogging!

To join, simply add a link to the Vlogging Workshop post on Wednesdays that will direct viewers to your video (either on YouTube or your blog).
Vlog prompts will also be posted on Wednesdays, so you will have a full week to create your video response!
I will feature a favorite video each week.
You can subscribe to this weekly newsletter if you’d like the vlog prompts delivered early, along with a weekly vlog tip.

To view more detailed instructions on how this weekly Vlogging Workshop meme works click here.

Here are the vlogging prompts for the Wednesday 05/22 Link up:

Now go make that video!

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?
Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?
Have you ever stolen a street sign?
Do you cut out coupons and then never use them?
Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees?
Do you always smile for pictures?
Do you ever count your steps when you walk?
Have you ever peed in the woods?
Do you still watch cartoons?
Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some?
What do you drink with dinner?
What do you dip a chicken nugget in?
What movies could you watch over and over and still love?
Were you ever a girl scout?
Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?
Can you change the oil on your car?
Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?
Afraid of heights?
Do you sing in the car?
Is Christmas stressful?
Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid.
Do you believe in ghosts?
The first concert you ever went to.
Walmart, Target, or Kmart?
Nike or Adidas?
Can you curl your tongue?
Have you ever cried because you were so happy?
The last concert you saw?
Can you swim well?
Can you knit or crochet?
Are you a dog person or a cat person?