Welcome to the new and improved Tales of Princess Mikkimoto!

I do hope you enjoy your visit.  Please make yourself at home and feel free to browse.  We are still under some construction so pardon the mess.

Have a safe and enjoyable stay.  Oh and don’t forget to bookmark this new URL… Thank you!

A very special thanks goes to an amazing Mr. Clay Johnston.  Without his support, patience and mad Web Design skills, NONE of this would have happened.  I heart you Clay!

Dear Tonya,

 Signed,

 Mother Of The Year and the Child Who Will Forget Everything He Learned By September 2nd.

In the spirit of already hitting my 100th post, and totally copying my cute cousin Amy, I decided to post 100 things about me.

Please note you don’t have to read through the entire list. But if you do I’ll know you are a REALLY good person and I will give you a cookie!

These are in no particular order. YOU try 1) coming up with 100 things about yourself and then 2) putting them in some sort of order.

1. I am the youngest of three.
2. and I totally act like the baby of the family.
3. I love being a mom.
4. I always secretly knew I would do this on my own and I love it.
5. But I don’t think I want any more kids.
6. For the first time in my life I am truly happy being single. I need a man like I need a hole in the head
7. But I do want to get married, someday.
8. I’m a raging Democrat who loves Barack Obama.
9. I love chilled white wine.
10. I don’t like red wine and it really doesn’t like me.
11. I love VERY dirty martinis.
12. I love my job.
13. I love my cousin Amy like a sister.
14. I am deathly afraid of bats which has also made me hate birds. Or really any thing with wings.
15. I like really bad TV. Especially bad reality TV.
16. I love summer in Madison.
17. My friends are everything to me.
18. And I would do ANYTHING for them.
19. But Ben is my best friend and my favorite person.
20. My parents are my heroes and I love them, maybe too much.
21. Mexican is my favorite type of food.
22. I’m an Aries but I don’t believe in Astrology.
23. I am Jewish but not religious.
24. I do, however, believe in God.
25. Scientology scares the shit out of me.
26. I love going to pools and don’t care what I look like in my swim suit.
27. But take me to a hip bar and I can be very insecure.
28. I sneeze really loud.
29. I love deviled eggs
30. I am the queen of deals, coupons and sales.
31. I have never done drugs. Other than smoked pot once, which was NOT a good idea.
32. I don’t smoke and hate cigarettes.
33. I feel bad for smokers and my friends that smoke because I really don’t think they can quit.
34. I am blessed that I sleep like a rock.
35. I love naps.
36. My bed is my favorite thing in my apartment.
37. I love my apartment but I do want a house in the near future.
38. I am left handed.
39. I like the idea of having my hair long but I can’t stand it when it’s long.
40. I love my hair dark and don’t miss the blonde. At all.
41. But I can’t believe I’m going gray.
42. The number one thing I worry about is money.
43. I love purses.
44. and I love shoes.
45. I have too many purses and shoes.
46. My favorite pop is Coke Zero.
47. I call it “pop” and not “soda”.
48. My brother and sister are actually my half brother and sister.
49. My middle name is Elizabeth.
50. Halloween is my favorite holiday.
51. Christmas is second.
52. I think Dr. Suess should write a book called “The Jew Who Loved Christmas” starring me.
53. I love to throw parties.
54. I love going to parties.
55. I love to cook and wish Ben would eat things other than cheese pizza and cereal so I could cook more.
56. Pink is my favorite color.
57. If Ben was a girl he would have been named Anna, after my grandmother.
58. My uncle Bob is one of the coolest and most generous people I know.
59. I can be incredibly lazy.
60. But I need to have a lot of plans on the weekends.
61. I hate making Ben’s lunches.
62. I like doing laundry but hate folding clothes.
63. My bathrooms are a mess.
64. I really hate to clean but love a clean house.
65. I love email.
66. I can type fast.
67. I am a great friend.
68. I am honest.
69. I like making people laugh.
70. I hated Middle school and dread that Ben has to go in three years.
71. I want a Golden Retriever puppy.
72. and yes I know how much work they are. Thanks.
73. I love Seattle.
74. I also love Washington D.C.
75. I wish I could travel more.
76. I wish I could play golf.
77. I have always wanted to be a runner.
78. Someday I will.
79. I love junk food. Especially Taco Bell.
80. And doughnuts. I love doughnuts.
81. But my biggest weakness is ice cream.
82. I hate going to the dentist.
83. Even though I have never had a cavity.
84. My teeth are very white and it’s not on accident.
85. I’m obsessed with people’s teeth.
86. It’s the first thing I notice about a person. After their eyes.
87. I don’t feel or act like I’m 36.
88. I am a sun worshipper. But now I do wear sunscreen.
89. I love the smell of summer Ben. It’s a mix of sunscreen and chlorine from the pool.
90. I love coffee with tons of Coffee Mate French Vanilla Sugar Free creamer in it.
91. I can’t sleep without a fan.
92. I hate being hot.
93. But I love sweating while working out or at the pool.
94. I love ice water.
95. I’m always thirsty.
96. and no I don’t have diabetes.
97. I love Netflix.
98. I am blessed by my wonderful family and friends.
99. I have found in the past 6 months, I love to write.
100. and finally, I love this blog. Much more than I ever thought I would.

Wordless Wednesday

As I have mentioned before, my office is quite small. It’s just Josh, myself and our machines… a fax machine and a printer. Since both are vital for us to do our jobs, they have become part of the family. The fax machine is Fred and the printer, Patty.

Fred is very finicky. If you don’t feed the paper into him just right he screams like a 2 year old having a temper tantrum. Some might choose to call it “beeping” but I call it screaming.

Last week, Fred had one of these fits. Maybe it was the full moon. Maybe it was that Patty just got new toner. I’m not really sure. I just know he didn’t like it when either Josh or I stuffed him with paper.
At one point, he got so mad, he chose to eat a piece.
We were working when Fred started to scream.
BEEP!
“Ugh, now what?”
BEEEEEP!
Josh walks over. “What is your deal today? You have paper!”
BEEEEEEEEPPPP!
CRUNCH! Crinkle. Crinkle.
“Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good.” I say.
Just then Fred spits out only half a piece of paper.
Josh opens the cover and goes in to retrieve the other piece of paper that is still in Fred’s mouth. Josh does get the paper out but Fred won’t give up that easy.
Josh then closes the cover.
BEEEEEEEEPPPPPP!
“You ate it! Spit it out if you don’t want it anymore.”
BEEEEEEEP
“THE COVER IS OPEN BECAUSE YOU SAID TO ‘PLEASE OPEN COVER’!!! Now it’s telling me to ‘please close cover’.
BEEP
“Oh, this is going to be a fun game! Cover is again open. What would you like? Do you want more paper? Are you hungry? Well I don’t know what to tell you. Check drum unit?!? What does that have to do with anything!?”

All the while I am cry laughing at my desk at the power struggle between man and machine.
I think my favorite is when Josh finally really lost it and started to beep in the same exact tone as Fred.

Finally after all was said, done and FIXED, the office was very quiet. I think that was Fred and Josh’s silent male way of apologizing to each other.

Me on the other hand… I giggled about it for the rest of the day.

This is just one of the many reasons, if I won the lottery today I would still come into work tomorrow.

This past week was actually three weeks disguised as a Monday through Saturday. Not only was work busy, but Ben was with my parents every day, all day (Thanks again Mom and Dad!) while he had a week off from the end of school and the beginning of camp. Since the universe isn’t fair, he had this crazy cough that sounded like a seal with lung cancer. Colds in the summer are just mean. And on top of all that, I had to work on Saturday for a big database conversion.

Life is hectic and people seem to get busier and busier everyday. If you aren’t careful you can lose sight of the important things in life. Like the one thing that makes life bearable and sane: girlfriends!

My two great girlfriends, Shelly and Richelle (or the “Sha Sha’s” as my mom likes to call them) and I get together monthly for what we call the “R.S.R Dinner.” (Richelle, Shelly and Rebecca. Get it? Yes, Becky is short for Rebecca. Can we move on now?)

We always have it at my place because I’m the only one that has one of those “kid things” and what can I say, he likes to have me around.
We do however switch up who brings what course; main dish, dessert and wine. Of course wine has it’s own category. Duh!

I savor these nights. It’s just some quality time to laugh, catch up on gossip without having to stave off all the men who flock to us like moths to a flame when we are out and about (oh how I wish that was true…).
Sometimes we have guest appearances. One time Richelle’s roommate joined and once we had a guy (gasp!), our friend Wyatt, crash the party.
But it’s always been at least the three of us.

Sadly this was our last one for awhile. Richelle decided (while not of sound mind or body I’m sure) to move back to her hometown of Austin, Texas in early July. While Shelly and I are very happy for her, selfishly we are miserable. She will be missed deeply.

So until she comes to her senses and realizes she can’t live without us and the challenge that is Wisconsin in the winter, we are taking applications for another member of our dinner group. The only stipulation is your name must begin with the letter with “R”. Or, if you are really great but your name is Jessica, we reserve the right to rename you. We really don’t want to be left with just a B.S. dinner.

I miss you already Richelley. Come home soon.

My friend Emily recently sent me some pictures of Stella and Ben from 2002 – 2003. At first I couldn’t stop looking at these pictures and mourning the baby that was gone. I miss that little guy so much, I thought as my ovaries did a little flip.
And then, after another hour of staring at these pictures, I looked at some of my recent pictures and realized, it’s still the same kid. He’s just taller and a little thinner.

Want proof?

Then: bringing everything from Stella’s room out to poor Emily’s living room.

Last Saturday marked a big day in the lives of Becky and Ben.

It was the first time I left my boy alone.

As his 8th birthday was approaching, I was talking to some other mom friends about when they first left their kids home by themselves. They all agreed that 8 was a fine age to just run to the grocery store or to pick up their other child and confirmed that they had all done it once or twice in the past.

I, however, was apprehensive as I didn’t think neither Ben nor I were ready for this. No peer pressure for THIS girl anymore. See Mom? I have evolved.

The subject was broached a couple times to Ben before this monumental day. Being my son and therefore being wickedly smart and responsible (ha!) he said “Maybe when I’m like 9 or 10.”
“Good idea!” I agreed hastily.

Then Saturday morning happened. I needed desperately to run to the grocery store to pick up a couple things for a “end of the soccer year” picnic.

“Hey Ben, we have to go to the grocery store. Ok?”

I’m pretty certain I didn’t ask him if he wanted to be abducted by aliens, renamed “Montdo” and taken to another galaxy far far away. But if I did ask that question, I’m sure I would have gotten the same look.

“Ok, here’s an idea. What if I go by myself?”
“TO THE GROCERY STORE?! AND I STAY HOME ALONE?!?!?”
“Yeah. I think that would be ok. Don’t you? I’m just going to the one down the street. I will be gone 20 minutes at the most.”
“Um…”
“Or you can come with me. But I have to go now.”
“Ah… ok! You can just go. Just um, lock the door.”

So I took a deep breath, said some hail Mary’s (again GREAT Jew huh?) wrote down my cell phone number, Grandma and Grandpa’s number, told him not to answer the phone or the door and gave him a kiss.

And then I ran.

Folks, I don’t run. This body doesn’t run. But it did that day. To him I was all cool and calm. But on the very short drive to the store I was nauseous and dizzy. “OH. MY. GOD! I LEFT MY BABY AT HOME. ALONE! What the f*ck was I thinking?! OH MY GOD!!!!”

I honestly don’t remember the time IN the grocery store since I was moving at warp speed. Flying up and down the aisles like the Tasmanian Devil, whipping things off the shelves and into my cart. And of course I got only half what I needed… the other half, no clue what I was thinking. I ended up with some limeade (what? ewww!) chili in a can (meant to get refried beans) and Ranch dressing seasoning? Huh? When have I ever made Ranch dressing from scratch? I don’t even like Ranch dressing that much.

When I made it home after only 22 minutes of being gone, all was fine. Ben was cool as a cucumber and I don’t think he even moved from his spot on the couch.
“Hey mom.”
I was sweating and panting and trying to be cool too. “Oh hey.” puff puff “How did you do?” Pant pant, struggle for breath.
“Great. Hey did you get more milk? I’m thirsty!”

Shoot. Milk.

I don’t think this is going to be a common occurrence and not just because I can’t afford to buy the wrong food all the time, but it is nice to know I can make the occasional quick trip out if I need to.
Although in preparation for my next Grocery Store Mad Dash, I should probably hit the gym a little more.