Yes, yes I know that I promised I was back and then I dropped off again.

Sorry about that.

I actually read a blog post (I’m not linking to it) earlier this week about whether or not bloggers should obligate themselves to letting their readers know when and possibly why they are taking blog-vacations.  Well….that post PISSED ME THE HELL OFF.  Not the actual content to be exact (why should it?  It had a good point or two in there, not that I’m buying into any of it) but the TONE that the author used.  She actually wrote another post in which she was expressing a bit of irritation over a bad comment (not made by me! But I won’t begrudge a blogger a chance to complain about a negative comment. They suck!) on that post and she said something along the lines of,”Well if you don’t want to be considerate and giving, then fine!”

Fuck that lady.  I’m sure she’s nice in real life and a wonderful writer, but fuck that lady.

I have my reasons, my reasons are good, and although I really like all of you who come to read this blog, my personal life is my own.  My struggles are my own goddamned business.

And besides, my lovely readers, if you want to talk with me or ask why the hell I’m not writing, feel free to ask. I have a contact email, I have a Twitter account as well as a Facebook and Google+ account.  I’m not hard to find if you want to chastise me for being a lazy blogger.  Surely nobody is intimidated by me and my little ol’ blog.

A little ol’ blog that I still love dearly.

But enough of that.  Who wants to see pictures of my babies?  (You had better ALL raise your hands!)

I’ve had two birthdays, and trick-or-treating go on over here, so I’ve got some great pics!

Since Lukas’ actual birthday and his birthday party were on different days, he only got one toy on his actual birthday.  He was pretty happy with his toy leaf blower.  If only it were real.  Seriously, you should see my yard!

I love this picture of Lukas wearing his Angry Birds hat.  This was taken at his birthday party, and you bet your ass it was Spongebob themed!  Viva la Sponge!

This is my baby Ruegen on his first birthday.

He wasn’t as messy as his brother was with his first birthday cake, but I still got an epic picture!

Lukas actually picked out this costume.  He passed up all of the brand-name costumes so he could be a monster.  I was so freaking proud!

FUZZY BLUE DRAGON!  FUZZY BLUE DRAGON!  FUZZY BLUE DRAGON!

Fuzzy Blue Dragon waiting patiently while Swamp Monster gets his wardrobe malfunction fixed.

This is the best picture I got of Fuzzy Blue Dragon and Swamp Monster together.  All the others look like Swamp Monster is trying to eat Fuzzy Blue Dragon.

And now I will end this out-of-the-blue-not-so-pleasant-in-the-beginning post and go back to my hole.  I’d like to say I’ll post more often, but you know the song by now, don’t you?  Thanks for hanging around.

I never do this.

Go ahead, look in my archives of the almost 500 posts on this blog and you will see that I have never written a product review or endorsement before.

But I can’t keep this one to myself.

The new O-Cedar ProMist (which is their wallet-friendly and environmentally friendly version of a Swiffer Wet Jet) is AWESOME!

I used to have the Swiffer Wet Jet, and it cleans nicely and the smell of the cleaning solution is rather nice.  But, for me, that didn’t excuse the fact that I had to keep buying rather expensive pads AND cleaning solution.  Nevermind the astronomical waste this thing produced, it was expensive to use!  So when we bought this house, this house that has almost all hardwood or stone floors, I got rid of the Swiffer and bought one of those Libman Wonder Mops and was done with it.

I love that Libman Mop.  I’ve had it for two years and it has been put to hard work and washed many many times.  It is almost time for a replacement mop head, but it has served me well.  The thing is, with two small kids always underfoot, it’s not that easy to whip out a mop and bucket and try to make quick work of floor cleaning.  Because of that, my floors sometimes go a while before they are properly cleaned.  And I HATE that.  I get anxious and stressed when my house isn’t clean.

So, on a whim I bought this O-Cedar ProMist thing at Target and noticed that this thing was cheaper than a Swiffer Wet Jet starter kit.  Yeah.  Also, the cleaning pad is reusable and can be washed about 100 times.  The cleaning solution you take care of yourself.  I like Mr. Clean and when I saw that this little tiny tank only needed 2 teaspoons (TEASPOONS!!!) of the cleaning solution and the rest water, I was very happy.  That one little tank and 2 teaspoons of cleaning solution cleaned my family room, dining room, living room, two sets of stairs, a hallway, a small bathroom, and my bedroom floors.  2 teaspoons of cleaning liquid.

I wasn’t being thrifty with the cleaning liquid either.  I really sprayed the bejeezus out of my floors and it still went THAT far.

I had to share this because I was in total shock over how awesome this thing is.  And my floors are totally clean!  I think I paid $18 for this thing and I have to tell you I am sold on it.

The other great thing?  O-Cedar has no idea who I am.  Neither do the Libman Mop people.  I am doing this endorsement and review of my own volition.  I am not being paid to tell you this is a great product, I am telling you because I honestly believe it to be so.

Give it a try!

Lukas will be turning 4 next week.  FOUR YEARS OLD!  My baby boy is now an annoying question-asking, snarky, whiney, make-my-life-horrible pre-schooler.  And I love him more than ever.

Lately the subject of gender has been extremely interesting to him.  He stands by as I change his little brother’s diapers and exclaims loudly about Ruegen’s winky (as well as to the horrendous nature of the shits that baby has a talent of producing).

“Mommy!  Ruegen has a winky!” He says to me.

“Yes he does.  That is because he is a boy.”  I reply.

“I have a winky too!  I am a boy!” He says proudly.

“Yes.  That is correct, baby.”  I say.

“And Daddy has a winky too!  Daddy’s winky is really big!”  He says.

“Just don’t let Daddy hear you say that or I’ll never hear the end of it.” I reply.

“And Grandpa has a winky because he’s a boy!”

I start to fidget.

“Errr, yes.  That’s right.” I reply.

Then the subject of my beloved androgynous friend comes up.

“And Ashwee has a winky!  Ashwee is a boy!”  He says.

“No, no.  Aschlie is a girl.  She just looks like a boy.”  I say, trying to give a simple answer because he is only almost 4 and I don’t know how to explain it in a way that the subject deserves without making him run away at the length of the explanation.

“…..Ashwee doesn’t have a winky?” He asks.

“No, baby.  Aschlie is a girl.  Girls don’t have winkies.”  I say.

“I know, Mommy!  You don’t have a winky!  You have big boobies!”  He says, pointing and laughing.

Someday I will have to have a discussion with him about gender, gender identities, and sexuality.  In a way, I am thankful for his Aunt Aschlie because she is someone he loves very much and she will be a reason for him not to see androgyny or homosexuality as something weird or odd.  It will just be someone being who they are.

I tried to end this with a super cute picture of Lukas and Aschlie together, but I only have two pictures of them together and they are facing away from me looking out of a door.  This needs to be fixed!