I missed posting yesterday, but I spent over 12 hours of my weekend doing volunteer work for three different committees and/or organizations. Unless you left food on your front porch to be picked up, needed food delivered, or are a special needs kid, I didn’t have time to get to you. Now you should count your blessings.

My husband and I got into an argument tonight. About stuffing. Then we went grocery shopping together, because nothing makes an argument better than going to a crowded store a few days before Thanksgiving and buying the stuffing ingredients over which you just fought.

We have relatives coming in town this weekend, which means I’ve been busy moving boxes and random junk from one room to our bedroom and wishing that I had time to repaint the house from top to bottom. Also, refinish some tables. And floors.

My daughter is a Science Lab assistant at her school and they had to bury a dead fish the other day. She and some other kids sang “Amazing Grace” over the grave.

We toured our daughter’s future high school yesterday. Gulp.

Then I ate so many tortilla chips that my lips felt like I went swimming in the Dead Sea.

I pulled my left glute muscle doing rear step lunges. The exercise looked like this, though I DON’T look like this. But, I did have a 30 lb. dumbbell, so clearly she needs to work out more.

From About.com Exercise

My rear step lunge looks impressive, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. It mostly involved me saying, “Ow!” and holding my left butt cheek a lot. You’re welcome.

A friend and I started a “world tour” of beers at a local bar. On Friday, we visited France, Belgium, and Brooklyn, then I headed to Mexico and she went to Canada. I hate to say that the worst of the lot came from Brooklyn, but I will. Because it did. What’s up with that, Brooklyn? You need to represent!

And now I’m pretty sure you would all like me to go back to volunteering.

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Four in the bed and the little one said, “When are you guys getting up? I want pancakes!”

Seriously, even the dog was annoyed.

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People always ask me how I can work from home during the summer, when the kids are out of school and underfoot all day. I always reply that the interruptions of summer don’t even come close to what I deal with during the school year.

I don’t know about you, but at my house THERE IS A LOT GOING ON. Sports practices, Cub Scouts, fundraising, volunteering, school plays, homework, dances…and OHMYGOODNESS the laundry. Summer laundry never has socks. Flip-flops rule!

The school year isn’t easy and if it weren’t for color-coded calendars, strict rules about homework (my daughter gets a break after school, but my son doesn’t…because that is what works, so I’m sticking to it), and carpooling, I don’t know how I’d get through it.

Both kids have to empty their backpacks when they get home, wash their hands, then have a snack. It’s a well-oiled machine over here! Just don’t look at my desk, or my to-do list. They can choose from fresh fruit, a cheese-stick, or if they’re really lucky, on chilly days I’ll have something warm for them. My son likes to have tea, my daughter likes to have Tyson® Any’tizers®.

And, in addition to being one of my daughter’s (and her friends’) favorite snack foods, Tyson® Any’tizers® has a “School Year Survival Guide” on Facebook; with tools to manage your schedule (including downloadable calendars), to rejuvenation tips for mom and dad. Yes, please.

Check out their great tips and share your own, oh and while you’re there don’t forget to sign up for promotions and events.

Trust me, your kids will thank you.

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This morning, the young, English-Irish boy-band, One Direction was on the Today Show. This is why I sang, “What Makes You Beautiful” roughly 5,000 times today. Send help.

I’m not necessarily a big fan, but they have catchy tunes and I had the show on behind me as I worked. I couldn’t help but hear the screaming. Their demographic is decidedly high-pitched.

I don’t know why young girls make shrill sounds to prove their affection, but it’s certainly nothing new. I did the same thing for Rick Springfield, Jack Wagner, and later John Stamos; which says more about General Hospital’s casting than it does about music.

Girls scream, weep, and reach their arms out to the performer and, if touched, vow not to wash their hand forever. Have you ever seen me with soap on my left hand? That’s because I’ve been Jessie’s Girl since 1982.

Of course, the yelling isn’t just limited to the fans of male singers. I once took my daughter to a Hannah Montana concert (this was before anyone knew her as Miley) and after listening to 18,000 fans greet the band, my ears rang for days. I’m pretty sure Taylor Swift wears her hair long to hide her earplugs.

So, what say you? Is this a right-of-passage for all young girls or should we be telling our daughters that screaming and crying over someone you don’t know is kind of ridiculous – because it is, you know?

But, for the record, screaming on a roller coaster is TOTALLY legit.

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