I’ve been pretty bad about responding to tags recently. It’s not that I’m not humbled to be thought of–trust me I love it thank you–I’ve just been off the meme thing recently.

Pulling into the homestretch of NaBloPoMo during this holiday weekend has me digging deep to put words on a page, so I’m leaning on the support.

First a thanks to my NY friend ~JJ! for the Me and Mine Meme.

Here’s the deets:

Me and Mine Meme 100 Directions:
1.) State the name of your blog, your real name or your online name, and link to your “about me” page.
2.) Say you want to be profiled on BlogHer as a family blogger and link back to this Me and Mine 100 original post, http://www.blogher.org/mommy-and-family-bloggers-promote-yourselves-me-and-mine-meme-100.
3.) Tell how long you’ve been blogging.
4.) Pass this meme on to three other bloggers that you think should be profiled/interviewed, and ask them to do the meme. (Kindly link to the bloggers you select.)

1. You’re here at Mamma Loves… I’m Amie and if you look to left of the page you can read all about me–or just head on back through the archives.

2. I’d love to be profiled on BlogHer as a family blogger.

3. I’ve been blogging for about a year and a half.

4. I’m passing this along to Arkie Mama, Andi from Poot and Cubby and Slackermommy.

Now I haven’t done this in a while, so when Cristie at Krinkle’s Place asked, I thought what the heck.

Seven Things About Me

1. I like to tell myself I’m prematurely grey, though at age 37 I’m not so sure it’s that premature anymore.

2. I love taking photographs. I’m REALLY hoping for a digital SLR camera for Christmas. It’s that or the umpires are going to get pretty annoyed with me next season when I block the base path trying to take close-ups of my ballplayers.

3. My mom’s only sister–my aunt–died of liver cancer seven years ago. I still miss her every day. She was so much a part of my life.

4. I have an innie.

5. When I first get into bed at night I arrange myself with the pillow doubled up under my neck and the blanket pulled up to my chin. I can’t fall asleep this way though. I always turn over on my stomach to actually drift off, yet I never lay down this way first.

6. If I wake up at night from a bad dream or I can’t sleep because I’m worried about something I make sure some part of my body is touching my husband. It calms me down immediately.

7. I have vivid dreams. They are realistic. They are in color. And I almost always remember them. I think I need to cut back on the Diet Coke.

Seven Bloggers tagged using the NaBloPoMo Randomizer and MommyBlogger Group

1. Oh, Nothing
2. Canned Laughter
3. VDog and Little Man
4. Mom’s the Word
5. Chik Austin (I love her shoes!)
6. Mama(e) in Translation
7. Reality Testing

Go forth folks and tell us about yourselves.

Get three baseball families together, a little beer and we’re all switchin’.

Sounds exciting, huh? Didn’t know that about me did you?

Just switching the husband we regularly haze.

We really are all here because another friend is supposed to come over with her new hot Austrailian boyfriend. All us wives are tired of looking at the same ole guys. We needed some eye candy dammit, and they’re not here.

Oooh wait! Another family is here. Make that four baseball families.

We live the crazy suburban life. Jealous??

The guys are all talking baseball. Yes the fall season ended in October and they’re still talking about it all. I’m pretty sure all the dads are involved just so they can hang out with all their buddies.

Eight kids down in the family room, eight adults in the kitchen. As long as there’s alcohol we’re good.

Wait!

Hot Australian guy is here. Gotta go.

I’ve owed you all some additional blogs that I’ve been visiting. This list, combined with the ones I provided here, here , here, here and here, is definitely not comprehensive. I find new sites every week. It’s amazing how many terrific people are out there.

Marie Millard Yes, it’s confusing when a woman named Nancy writes a blog by the name of Marie, but who am I to question? I’m a big fan of mammas with experience they’re willing to share. She’s a warm and funny woman, and I’m so happy we travel in the same circles.

CharmingBitch How can you not love that name? I found Shannon through Plain Jane Mom and I’m always touched by her honest writing. It inspires me.

Deep Muck Big Rake The first time I met Becky (okay the only time we’ve seen each other in real life) she had presents for my boys–and we didn’t even know each other! She’s smart. She’s beautiful. And, she’s the mom of twins plus one!

Miss Priss Another Becky and she’s a new mom–like she had the baby yesterday (or Wednesday) new mom. Congratulations Becky!! I met Becky through Kris at BlogHer and we haunt Twitter together. She also writes professionally about cars on another site, which I can’t get my hands on right this minute, but isn’t that cool?

Can We Kick the Bar Here? Another BlogHer babe. And another beauty. Seriously, I’m starting to reflect and think maybe meeting all these gorgeous, smart women is not good for the ego. Honestly though this is another honest and warm blogger I hope you’ll visit.

DC Metro Moms (and the related Silicon Valley Moms, Chicago Moms and NYC Moms Blogs) I was asked to be a contributor to DC Metro Moms after BlogHer and it was really an honor to be asked. These are all group blogs and they provide a broad perspective of voices capturing snippets of parenthood.

Phew!

I know I’ve left off some terrific bloggers. Please leave a comment and tell me which blogs are part of your daily reading? I’m always up for great writing.

I am grateful for so many things today–and everyday even if it seems like I forget.

Things great and small.

It is so easy to lose sight of the many blessings we have, and I love the fact that we take at least one day each year to ensure we don’t.

The community of incredible people I’ve come to know through blogging was most unexpected when I started throwing my words to the wind a little more than a year ago. I am tremendously grateful for the friendships both online and in real life it has brought me.

I hope each of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Please know you are in my thoughts today.

Three years ago I had an eight year-old and a two year-old, and a nine month-old who I was nursing. I had been back at work for six months at a job I really hated and my husband’s family decided that we would be celebrating Thanksgiving at his sister’s house–and frying the turkey!

I panicked.

Dinner at his sister’s? Fried turkey? How would I get my fill of my mother’s stuffing? What if they served cornbread dressing?!

And what about leftovers?!

I just knew my Thanksgiving was going to be a bust, but we were tied into the plans. So, I did what any other stressed-out, hormonal, sleep deprived woman would do. I went to the grocery store at 8:00 p.m. on the night before Thanksgiving and bought all of the makings for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Dammit! I was going to have leftovers.

Somehow I managed to find a fresh turkey, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, Pepperidge Farms dressing mix (just like mom’s) and the ingredients for both apple and pumpkin pie.

As soon as I got home, I pulled out the giblets and boiled them up to ready them for the stuffing. I chopped them and mixed them in with the breadcrumbs and seasoning and stuffed that turkey. Warmed up the oven and shoved the whole mess in.

Then it was upstairs to nurse the little guy. As typically happened with the late evening feeding, I fell sound asleep next to the baby.

At 2:30 a.m. I woke up to the most delicious smell. And then I panicked! How long had the turkey been in the oven. Way longer than it was supposed to be. I was sure I was going to have a dried out bird.

I raced downstairs to find my turkey monitor sound asleep on the couch. Harumph! I sent him up to bed and peeked into the oven. Unbelievably, the turkey was perfect! So I set about peeling and boiling white and sweet potatoes. Mashing and stirring and seasoning to perfection. I cut shortening into flour for pie crusts and peeled apples and mixed pumpkin mush into pie filling. Sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes complete, pies baking and filling the house with even better smells and it was only 4:00 a.m.

So I started cleaning up after myself.

Stored the “leftovers” in the fridge, washed up the dishes and went to wipe down the counters. That’s when I noticed the gunk around the edge of the sink. So I scrubbed and I pulled out an old toothbrush and I scrubbed some more. And then I worked on the faucet and the backsplash and then OH MY GOD HAVE YOU SEEN THE STOVE! The burners were filthy. I dug under the sink for the SOS pad and got to work. Fantastik and 409. SOS and a toothbrush.

Oh how that kitchen shined!

Pies were done, and I noticed I was getting a little tired. It was 6:00 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. We didn’t have to be at my sister-in-laws until the afternoon, so I thought I might put my head down for a few minutes.

When I woke three hours later, I came downstairs to find a husband staring at me in disbelief.

And all I could say was, “I needed to have my mother’s stuffing.”

Turns out, it’s my mother-in-law’s stuffing too.

In a few years, when eldest son is looking through his “School Days” book and asks why it smells the answer is “I don’t know” NOT that his littlest brother peed all over it when left for three minutes without a pull-up.

What? He said he “tried his hardest” to pee ten minutes earlier.

Oh yeah, and for all you worrying potty-training parents out there, he’ll be four in a few months.

I believe the original purpose of NaBloPoMo is to get writers to exercise their writing muscles. If this is the case, I think my posts may be the blogging equivalent of watching the Buns of Steel video while laying on the couch and calling it a workout.

Come on dear readers. I need a little help. Leave me a question, a writing prompt, loose change, whatever you can spare in the comments. I still have almost two weeks left.

I’m laying with Mr. 5 tonight trying to get him to fall asleep. We’re chatting about our day, and so goes the conversation.

Me: What one thing do you think you’re going to ask Santa for Christmas?
Mr. 5: I don’t know. Maybe a car. You know a big one.
Me: The kind with a remote or one you push with your hands?
Mr. 5: The kind that goes on it’s own. You know.
Me: ??
Mr. 5: Like the kind our friend has, that you can ride in.
Me: Oh does she drive it?
Mr. 5: Not anymore it broke.
Me: We don’t have room for one of those.

Changing the subject…

Me: You know there are some kids who don’t get gifts from their parents on Christmas?
Mr. 5: Why?
Me: Their parents don’t have money to buy them.
Mr. 5: holds up his hands and begins spreading some of his fingers apart
Me: I was thinking we might buy some presents for those kids, you know so they can have presents too on Christmas.
Mr. 5: nodding to his hands Do these look like chameleon hands to you?
Me: Were you even listening to me? I’m trying to talk to you about something.
Mr. 5: Yeah, yeah. Kids don’t get Christmas presents.
Me: Yes. I think we should buy presents for them.
Mr. 5: I heard you, but now it’s time for me to talk. Don’t you think these look like chameleon hands?

Trying another approach…

Me: What do you think we should get Daddy for Christmas?
Mr. 5: I don’t know.
Me: What do you think he’d like?
Mr. 5: Something boring. You guys always get boring presents.
Mr. 5: Can you make chameleon hands?

I tried…

Two days off a week. I know I’m lucky to have two.

Hours of cleaning the house, and you’d barely know by the looks of it.

THIS is how I want to spend my days off??!

I’m not good at this cleaning thing. I’m not!

But you should see my dish cloth drawer!!! Very organized now.

Out with some of the DC bloggers tonight. Blogging from the bar, because god forbid I miss a day of NaBloPoMo this far into it. Kris just got me a red-headed slut shot. Devra’s here along with Kim and Gunfighter. Links to come later when I’m on a screen bigger than a post-it.

Woot woot. Pretty good for my first mobile blogging foray. You all are going to be so sorry Kim taught me how to do this.