One Piece Many Ways link-up

Well it looks like I haven't blogged in over a year. Hello! Yeah so keeping up on my blog hasn't been a big priority, but when I find something fun to participate in, I pull it out again.  Today I'm joining Audrey's Link-up at Putting Me Together. I went exploring the links and y'all are way more creative than I am, but I'm posting anyway and here's why. I live in Phoenix and it.is.HOT.  So I can't layer and throw on a chambray, and so forth but if you are stuck in a tee-and-shorts climate, then you've come to the right place.  Today I'm styling my red ruffle shirt from Target.  Love this shirt, I also have one in white and I'd buy it in more colors if I didn't fear being called "that ruffle shirt girl." So here goes:


First up, this is how I wear this most often:

Because I think that this is a nicer tee and these are my nicer shorts, I often pair them together.  But I forgot as I staged this picture that I usually wear it with my red Toms, but here I'm wearing my black fake-Toms (from Kmart).  I often don't bother with a necklace because of the crew neckline, but here I'm wearing my black beads. (Shorts are Lee from Kohl's, necklace was inherited from my grandmother.)

Second outfit:

This day, I wanted to wear my new tan sandals so I wore my tan shorts. (Sadly it turned out my shoes did not fit well and I exchanged them for a different pair of tan sandals.  Earth Origins from Famous Footwear.  Shorts are Gloria Vanderbilt from Kohls.)  I kept it casual with no jewelry.

This third outfit I often wear to church. Option A, red shoes:

Option B, black shoes:

I don't remember why, but this day I wanted to wear my black sandals, so I styled my outfit with a black and red necklace.  This skirt is actually a skort from Athleta that I absolutely love and I wear it all the time whenever I want to dress up just a little bit or look pulled together.  Find it here.

Bonus outift:

I've not actually worn this yet because the shorts are a bit tight, but doesn't the red shirt look great with the madras plaid? Actually, my friend thinks the combo is too busy with the plaid plus the ruffles. What say you?  Shorts are from Lands End.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I had lots of fun with this challenge and dusting off the old blog. You can see my style evolution, such as it is, by checking out my other fashion posts.  

WIWW April 25

This is my first time joining What I Wore Wednesday at the Pleated Poppy.  It's already summer here in Phoenix and below are pretty good examples of my standard summer uniform--tees and shorts.  My goal is to somehow try to kick things up a notch, with nicer tees, cute shoes, and jewelry.  Hopefully, we'll see improvement as the summer goes on.

Tuesday 4/17

This is a new tee from Kohls. I'm barefoot in the picture but I wore my everday black sandals (you'll see them in Saturday's photo).  Shirt and shorts from Kohls.

 Wednesday 4/18
Very dull. I tried to add a necklace but I thought the outfit was too casual for jewelry so I took it off.What do you think, should I have added a necklace?
Shirt and shorts from Kohls, shoes are Bare Traps from Famous Footwear.

 Thursday 4/19
I love this new striped tee (so into stripes right now) but I need a better tank underneath.  Again, no shoes in the picture, I wore the black sandals as usual.
Tee from Old Navy, tank from H&M, shorts from Kohls.
I didn't get a close-up of my necklace but it's a strand of black beads and it's from my grandmother's collection.

 Saturday 4/21
I love this outfit and got compliments on my shirt.  I wore this to the Gluten Free Expo and out to lunch with Hubby.
Shirt and capris from Kohls.  Shoes are Bare Traps (above) from Famous Footwear.

 Tuesday 4/24
This is one of my new peasant tops for this summer.  I couldn't decide which shoes to wear, my everyday black sandals or my blue plaid boat shoes.  What do you think?
Shirt and shorts from Kohls, sandals same as above, boat shoes are Joe Boxer from Kmart (6 bucks!).

 In the end, I wore the blue plaid shoes. Am I crazy?

Linking up with the Pleated Poppy.

So tell me, How can I spice up my summer uniform????

UBP 2012--Let's Party

Hello and welcome! Here's what's going on in my world. T {my 3 year old daughter} vomited all over her bed at midnight last night. We threw her in the bath, gave her a Zofran and put her in our bed where she puked about 8 more times before 4:30 am. By the grace of God, we were able to get some sleep in between. (Hubby moved to the couch, but returned each time he heard retching--good man!) I'm happy to report she's now keeping down fluids and some bland food and we saw the nurse practitioner this morning who confirmed it's a stomach bug and ruled out strep and a UTI. Now my son has a fever and we're counting down till he starts puking.

Typical, am I right? This blog is about my frazzled life with two kids. L is my son--he'll be seven (gasp!) this summer and T as I mentioned is my 3 year old girl. I am a 37 years old SAHM {if you want to check out some "how did I get here" posts, you should read here and here.} I've been married to my awesome husband for 13 years. We live in Phoenix. T is in preschool, L is in kindergarten. They both go to speech therapy twice a week although L is about to graduate, hooray. L has food allergies to wheat, corn, peaches and pineapple, though he used to be allergic to everything, so it's not so bad. Technically, he has a chronic illness called Eosinophilic Esophagitis {check out the "About Eosinophilic Esophagitis" tab at the top of my blog}--it's been a long road but he is doing super awesome and we just avoid those trigger foods.

I like to do a "week in review" post on Fridays (or whenever) where I include what I'm reading and watching. Once upon a time, I thought I'd like to be a movie reviewer but it turns out I'm lousy at writing reviews--so I just write a few sentences about a show or a book and whether I recommend it or not. Nothing fancy.

My new thing is style, as in I'm trying to find some. I've started following style/daily outfit blogs so occasionally I'll post pics of my outfits {here's one such post}. This summer I will be attempting to spice up my regular shorts and t-shirt outfits with necklaces and cute shoes.

Okay, now I'm just rambling {that happens a lot}. PLEASE leave me a comment letting me know you were here and I'll return the visit. And feel free to click around here and check things out. Happy Partying!

Thanks for stopping by!!!Easter morning

Five Question Friday 3/30/12

It's Friday. Long week. Here are my thoughts of the day. I wish that a community college would offer me the following courses: How To Dress Like An Adult and How To Function for 16 Straight Hours. Because I'm failing on both counts. Anyway, on to this week's questions.......

1. What giveaway would you like to do on your blog?

In a fantasy world, hmmmm, I'll go with an iPad. Because everyone wants one (am I right?) but most average joes can't afford one or can't justify the expense. And of course I'd get one for hosting the giveaway. ;-)

2. If you had to choose between natural artistic ability and natural athletic ability, which would it be?

For sure the athletic ability, or even just an athletic "liking" or enjoyment. To be someone who enjoys running/tennis/biking--so I'd actually do it and be fitter and thinner because of it!

3. Do you ditch the coat the minute it becomes "spring" or are you a holdout for more cool temps?

Hmmmm {I say that a lot during 5QF, don't I?}, maybe because we live in Phoenix or maybe because I'm lazy, I don't put away one season and replace it with the other. All my clothes are around all the time. Even my heavy winter coat, which I would only need if I vacationed somewhere cold, is in my master closet. Oh but I did put all my winter scarves in the garage.

4. What would you do if you won the mega millions lotto of 1/2 billion dollars?

Well, I would just be thrilled that my husband could quit his job and we could travel wherever we want (hotels and airfare are So Expensive!). So he'd quit his job and we'd buy an RV and then we would just live pretty normal and just be very generous to everyone and to all our fave charities (oh and of course we'd pay off all our many debts).

5. You are at a hotel by yourself...what do you do?

I love hotels! Love! I'd order room service, I'd order a movie on the tv {that used to seem so special, now we do it every night with Instant Netflix}, maybe take a bubble bath. And I'd sleep A LOT!

Now it's your turn, answer on your blog or in the comments. And I want to know: did you buy a Mega Millions ticket?
We did not, we are holding out for a bigger jackpot. ;-)

For more Q&A fun, head to Mama M's. Have a great weekend!

Top Ten Tuesday--Candy-Free Easter Baskets

Perhaps you are like me and have yet to gather your Easter supplies--don't worry there's still time. Here are my Top Ten Ideas to fill those baskets with things Other Than Candy. Since Leo had so many food allergies--especially in those first years, I couldn't put any candy in the Easter basket--I've been filling our baskets every year with stuff you can't eat. Here are my favorite basket-stuffers:

1. Clearance stocking stuffers.* After Christmas is a great time to get small toys for cheap from the stocking stuffer aisle. T will be getting a small princess and a Polly Pocket from there this year.

2. Clearance toys.* When toys went on clearance at Target (was that the end of January?), I got a few more toys, like a Power Rangers phone that will go in L's basket.

3. Sand and water toys. I remember it must've been L's second Easter I filled his basket with sand toys--in fact his Easter "basket" was a big sand bucket. Hopefully your stores (like Target and Kmart) already have a sand and water aisle going, I know mine do and the toys are cheap!
4. Money. Since I couldn't fill plastic eggs with jelly beans and m&ms, I thought of other stuff to stuff them with, including coins. Put 4 quarters in an egg and that equals a trip to the dollar store!

5. Socks. This was always a feature in my basket growing up (later tights and hose as we got older) so they always make an appearance in my kids' baskets, often stuffed in plastic eggs. The funner the socks the better.

6. Stickers. Alone or stuffed in an egg, what kid doesn't love stickers?!

7. One big item. Sometimes rather than filling their baskets with little "junk," I like to buy a more substantial toy. I think this year it will be a lego Batman set for L (his current obsession). T will get a set of generic barbies I got on clearance (see #2 above).
8. Something they need anyway. This year I plan to put a cute t-shirt in each basket. I usually just buy the cheapest tees for their summer wardrobes (Walmart for $5 or less) so it's a treat when I splurge on character shirts (a whopping $8). This year it will be Lego or Angry Birds for L and Disney princesses for T. Other ideas might be a beach towel, summer hat, water shoes etc. that you would buy anyway, but can pep up a basket.

9. Crafts. My kids love crafts so I usually throw in something crafty. This year I have a little clay thing to paint for each kid.

10. Dollar stuff. The dollar store or the dollar area of Target is where I go for "filler." I might get bunny ears or a hat. It's where I buy the plastic eggs I stuff. I also might buy a chocolate bunny for each kid if I can find one without corn syrup (plain chocolate is really the only candy L can eat). Bonus if it's more than one thing for a dollar--like 2 decks of cards or 3 pinwheels--one for each kid!

What non-candy items do you like to put in your Easter baskets?

Top Ten Tuesday is now hosted by Many Little Blessings. Go here to join the fun.

*Sorry these two ideas don't help when Easter is 2 weeks away, but next year you can be on the lookout when clearance comes around.

Week in Review/Five Question Friday

I don't have much to say in terms of "review" right now. I'm reading and watching the same things as last time. We did have "Rodeo Day" at my daughter's preschool this morning. She had fun, and that's what's important {I was pretty bored}. I'm proud of myself that in my very limited alone time this morning, I actually went for a walk. I'm trying to "get healthy" yet this is maybe the 4th time I've gone walking in 2012.

My new favorite "thing" is that I bought plastic cups at Kmart a few weeks ago to stop using disposable. They were 4 cups for $2 and I bought 2 sets (so 8 cups for $4)--all red, so the kids won't argue who gets what color--and they are so handy. Exciting, I know.

Since I'm clearly out of clever things to say, I'll move on to 5QF.........

1. If you were free to just hop in the car and drive, where would you go? Or, if you could hop a plane and go anywhere, where?
Haha, I'm not much for spontaneity, so let's see. Assuming we're talking all expenses paid (and maybe we can throw in a nanny to accompany us, while we're at it), I'd like to fly to Indiana to see my BFF.

2. What's your most recently read favorite book?
Of the books I've read recently, my favorite was probably Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy.

3. What's your favorite Spring Break memory?

I was spoiled as a kid and most years we would travel for Spring Break. We had what I think you'd call a timeshare in Kiawah Island, South Carolina--a condo on the beach (told you, spoiled). Those were great vacations: pool time, beach time, a little exploring, a day trip to historic Charleston. Fun!

4. What do you put in your child's Easter basket? Or, for those w/o kids, what was put in your childhood basket?

Because of my son's food allergies, I've always had to be creative to fill our Easter baskets with stuff other than candy. Now I don't even think about candy! This year I have a few things I got on clearance from the "stocking stuffer" aisle after Christmas and I think each kid will get one bigger toy (L would love a Lego Batman set). For a few years, I had a theme going that I'd put religious books in their baskets, but I've gotten out of that habit.

5. Do you get a summer haircut?

I don't have a tradition of getting a summer haircut, but this year I plan to chop my hair. Since having kids, I've gone back and forth between my "favorite" hairstyle (a bob about chin length) and a super short cut (similar to Rachel Maddow, see below). I have the bob right now, though it's approaching my shoulders and I'm at the point where I throw my hair in a ponytail Every Single Day so it's time to chop it! Once the weather gets a few degrees hotter, I'll get the short 'do and it should last the 6 months of heat. {I'm really ambivalent about how I look with the short cut, sometimes I think I look like a 14-year-old boy. Other times I think it's a more sophisticated and grown-up look, which I like.}

That's it for today, please head to Mama M's for more Q&A fun!

Week in Review 2/22/12

I was searching through this here blog the other day and was reminded of my Week In Review posts that I liked doing as a quick round up of what I'm watching, reading, doing etc. That fits well with my "plan" to post once a week so here goes.

What I'm Reading

I am currently reading In the Company of Others by Jan Karon, the second in the Father Tim series, which is an offshoot/continuation/sequel of the Mitford series. I don't love the Father Tim series as much as I loved Mitford, but right away I was drawn into this installment and it's nearing can't-put-it-down status.

What I'm Watching

Like the rest of the world/country/blogosphere, I've fallen in love with Downton Abbey. Love Love Love. And I can't get enough of their fashion, I have a board devoted to Downton Abbey Fashion on Pinterest. Sadly, the second season ended the other night (wasn't it a wonderful finale?!), I can't wait for it to return!

Hubby and I also like The Walking Dead, which just returned on AMC. However, we watched the most recent episode last night and were disappointed in the writing.

I watched the pilot episode of Smash because it looked like my cup of tea--I love musical theater and Glee and Broadway. I only sort of liked it. I think I'll watch another episode before I commit or give up.

One more thing I want to mention. Perhaps inspired by Downton Abbey, we've been watching other British dramas on Netflix. We found and loved Bleak House. It was confusing to follow at the beginning (it's Dickens so there are loads of characters), but we soon got into it. I highly recommend it.

In Other News

Not much life-shattering going on around here. We've all been sick a number of times this winter. The kids just never get over their colds. My new philosophy is "there is no normal, only troubleshooting." Lots of troubleshooting of illness lately.

Lent starts today. I suppose I could do a whole post about my "plan" but I'm here now so here goes. Last week in a bout of the blues, I emailed my BFF that I was struggling with What's my purpose? What's the point? Why do I bother? She didn't pretend to have the answer, just empathy and she reminded me that Hubby and the kids need me and she needs me as a friend etc. The next day, her words "clicked" and I turned her thoughts into a purpose statement, that my purpose is To Serve Others, to serve Hubby and L and T and my BFF and so on. So far, while not life-changing and not enough to fend off the negative thoughts, that has been a pretty helpful mantra/philosophy. And now it's Lent and I'm not motivated to give up sweets or caffeine or another bad habit (cough, computer, cough) for fear I'll lose whatever sanity I have left, but I can use this as my Lenten promise. Therefore, I have chosen this Lent to focus on how I can serve others and also Less Yelling. My kids are so crazy/rambunctious/loud that sometimes I'm not even yelling out of temper but just for volume. Just to be heard. Now I'm trying to get their attention by clapping. I can tell you that Day 1 isn't off to the best start. I will try to log my progress in future posts.

Fashion Challenge WInter Edition Part 2

In for a penny, in for a pound. I'm participating in another day of the Winter Fashion Challenge hosted by Kayla. Today was Winter Brights. I actually wore this yesterday when I couldn't come up with Decade/Region--I skipped ahead. I was inspired to wear jeans other than my new bootcuts I've been wearing so often, so I grabbed my black jeans, BRIGHT pink tee and black soft blazer. Tada:

Sorry for the terrible picture quality, I will never be a fashion blogger. The jeans are from Kohls, tee from Kmart, blazer was a gift (okay, I'll admit this is also Motherhood Maternity, what is with me wearing my old maternity clothes?!), shoes are the same ones from DSW.

For my previous foray into fashion photography, go here.

For more Challenge photos, go here.

Fashion Challenge--Winter Edition

Okay, so when I decided that my style needed a kick in the butt, I started reading fashion blogs (love them!) and one of them, Freckles in April, is doing a 2-week fashion challenge. I couldn't help but join in. This is what I wore on Tuesday when the prompt was MONOCHROME:

Brown is my favorite color so I had plenty to work with, but I'd never worn this sweater vest with my brown jeans before because I felt the 2 shades of brown clashed. But when I tried it this week, I thought the lighter brown tee served as a barrier between the two and eliminated the conflict. What do you think?

sweater vest: Steinmart; long sleeve tee: Target; jeans: Eddie Bauer; shoes: DSW

***************

Today's prompt was to "channel someone." It took me a long time to think of an inspiration that matched things I own, but eventually I came up with this outfit inspired by Disney's Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.

The plain tee and cardigan didn't feel evocative enough until I added the jewelry. The necklace has small lavender stones in it (Tiana's other signature color, right?) and the bracelet has green and yellow flowers that reminded me of lilypads. It was fun to go around today knowing I chose my clothes based on a cartoon character!

white tee: Kohls; green sweater: Motherhood Maternity (no, I'm not pregnant); jeans: Eddie Bauer; shoes (same as above): DSW; jewelry: unknown, from a long time ago

The inspiration:

For more fashion fun, go to Freckles in April.

I'm Baaaa-aaaaack!

Haha, that was an unplanned blogging break. And honestly, I didn't miss it too much. But I think I'm going to try posting weekly. Every Friday I'd like to try to share one thing from my life/ the previous week. It may be a thing I'm loving, or something working for me, or a political rant, or like today, just a Five Question Friday. Let's dig in, shall we?

Oh and by the way, my background seems to have disappeared. That may be that kick in the butt I need to find a new design. But I digress....

1. What is the weather like where you are and do you like it?

I am in Phoenix and usually this is our "cold" season but lately we are in the '70s. Part of me wishes I could be wearing my sweaters, since I only have a short "winter" to wear them--and I am indeed a sweater girl. But mostly I'm really enjoying this weather! Jeans plus short sleeves, hot in the sun but with a nice breeze. I'll take it!

2. When you're sick what do you seek comfort from?

My bed. I LOVE SLEEP and I don't think you can heal without lots of it.

3. What do you need to do before the end of the month?

I'm taking a pretty laid-back approach to this month after the crazy holiday season, but I'd be overjoyed if I finished thank you notes by the end of this month. :-)

4. Have you ever served on a jury?

Yes. When I was home from college one summer, I was called to jury duty. I really wanted to get out of it, but I was chosen and was on a jury for basically a mugging. It was a HORRIBLE experience (one juror refused to cooperate with the other 11 of us and what should have taken a couple hours of deliberation dragged into a second day). Grrrrr. But I learned a lot (mostly about how the jury system is broken) and all these years later I can appreciate that I had that experience. However, I would not want to do it again!!!

5. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

Well, my favorite animals are the peacock and alligators/crocodiles. Not sure I'd want to be one of those. What's the laziest animal on Earth, that's what I'd like to be. Like pandas, they literally just eat and sleep. Yeah, I think I'd like to be a panda. {That answer probably wouldn't go over well in a job interview.}

For more Q&A fun, head over to Mama M's. Have a great weekend!

Feminism, Fashion & Other Ramblings

I read a post on Modern Mrs. Darcy about women's choices to work or stay home. Then a fashion blog I read (I've recently started checking out a few fashion blogs as I think about kicking up my personal style) directed me toward "feminist fashion bloggers," which led me to this post by a computer programmer who hides her love of fashion... and now I have various thoughts in my head to share.

I should mention that I AM A FEMINIST. No disclaimers, no buts. I am a feminist. Sadly, there seem to be a bunch of misconceptions about what that means, such that people who are feminists say they aren't and I've even read a bunch of bloggers who blame feminists for this that and the other thing--and they are just wrong.

Feminism is (textbook definition here) the belief that men and women are equal. Not the same, but of equivalent worth. {What exactly is my authority? I have taken a variety of classes on feminism, including Sex Equality and Feminist Legal Theory, taught by my idol Catharine MacKinnon. So I have some credibility on the subject.}

For the record, Miriam Webster's online definition is: "the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes."

Feminism is not the belief that women should be like men. Have individual women tried to advance through our patriarchy by being more "manly"? Certainly. But that doesn't change the definition of feminism. Have some women claimed that they do what they do (e.g. dress like tramps or act bossy) because they are feminists? Yes, but that doesn't mean the doctrine of feminism includes "act bossy and dress like a slut."

Also, being a feminist and being a SAHM are not mutually exclusive. Hello, I am both and proud of it! It is not un-feminist to sew or like fashion or do other "girly" things. Feminism is about CHOICES. Women can do anything (be CEO, be a SAHM, run for President, make clothes, fix cars, be a nurse) and so can men (be CEO, be a SAHD, run for President, make clothes, fix cars, be a nurse). Ideally to a point where sewing isn't considered "girly" and fixing cars isn't considered "manly."

I don't deny that there are biological differences between men and women (another thing feminists are accused of). There are physical differences. {Also, feminism doesn't mean we will no longer have separate bathrooms--all the laws governing equality for the sexes have an exception for things that are biologically different. Rest assured.} It's true that even outside of socialization, females tend to be drawn to dolls and boys to cars. I think there are 2 main points to feminism. First there's the traditional: you shouldn't have to be a man in order to get the highest paying jobs, the promotion, the raise etc; but also there's the broader point: if you aren't a girly woman or a manly man, you shouldn't be penalized for it.

Okay, I could go on and on, but I think I'll just do some future posts on some spinoff topics. Meanwhile, I had to add, I am a feminist and I've spent this morning doing laundry, calming a screaming toddler and getting dinner in the crockpot. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing with my life but I don't doubt my feminist cred. ;-) In fact, I want to get one of those T-shirts that says "This is what a radical feminist looks like" and wear it to the playground and other SAHM activities. :-) But I digress.

Ugh, I wish this post was better written, because I think this is an important topic. Alas, this is all I have time for. Hopefully, I can devote more time to the subject soon! I guess the main point of this post is: you can be both a feminist and unapologetically girly.

What do you think?

I ADORE Adele's "Someone Like You"

Just this morning, I was reading Big Mama and she recommended this video of Adele singing "Someone Like You" at the VMAs, so I clicked over and was Ah-Mazed. Seriously. The talent! The poise! To belt that out just standing there. {And she's a kid, like 22 years old, wher does she find that composure?!}

So then the video froze so I went to youtube and listened over and over, seriously this is how I spent a chunk of my day (on and off, because of the whole parenting thing). Must buy her album. Or at least download that and "Rolling in the Deep" on iTunes.

I feel like I was a little late to the Adele party. I'd heard "Rolling in the Deep" many times (and loved it) before Jill at Diaper Diaries clued me in that she's a young (white) British woman. And it took Big Mama today to turn me onto this song. I am now officially an Adele fan(atic).

I have no words, just thought I'd share. Enjoy:

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Adele

Top Ten Tuesday--Excited for Fall

We live in Phoenix, so we have at least two more months of HOT weather. {That stinks!} For the sake of my mental health, I'm thinking a lot about Fall. Here's what I'm looking forward to....

1. Nice weather. Duh, I'll be happy when it's no longer 116 degrees.

2. The park. We live almost next door to a great park and that is the cheapest way to entertain the kids. Can't wait to get back there in the cooler weather!

3. My birthday. It's at the beginning of October and although the day itself is nothing special, I won't mind getting some goodies. Heehee.

4. T's birthday. My baby turns 3 in mid-September. I'm having fun picking out clothes, toys and books for her.

5. Halloween. My love of Halloween is well-documented. I love the decor, costumes and food. Bring it on, I can't wait!

6. Warm clothes. I love jeans, I love sweaters, I can't wait to break out my warm clothes and maybe add some new pieces.

7. No more sandals. I hate my sandals. Well, I don't hate them, they are very comfortable, but they're kind of ugly. I've had them for 4 summers and I'm done. {Yes, I've been browsing for new ones, but I'm quite picky and have not found anything to replace them. So now I'm just looking forward to sneaker weather.}

8. Matching pajamas. Again, my love of pajamas is well-documented. Most of my cute sets are for cold weather so I look forward to busting those out this Fall.

9. Our anniversary. We'll celebrate 13 years of marriage this October. Hopefully my parents will babysit and we'll hit the town (or at least Carabba's).

10. Football season. Hubby is a huge football fan, especially college football, and we are counting down the days (less than 2 weeks to go!). I get excited because he's excited. And L is too. He told someone today "we like Michigan football." Yeah baby, Go Blue!

What's your favorite thing about Fall?

I'm linking up with Amanda for Top Ten Tuesday.

Blitz Blogging and Freezing Pancakes

Well I'm bummed about how little I've been blogging and how I have all these ideas of what to blog but I never actually do it. So my new plan (I call it "blitz blogging") is that as soon as I have an idea "I want to blog this," I sit down, write a fast little post that gets the basic point across without lots of bells and whistles, and hit "publish." With any luck, I'll post more often and get my ideas out there. Sadly, I might lack links and will definitely lack photos, but I'm hoping it will get me into a routine and I can work up to fancier posts soon.

What do you think?

----------

I thought I'd share something that's been working for me lately. On the weekend, I'll make a batch of pancakes for breakfast (gluten free of course--I use the recipe on Pamela's baking and pancake mix). Usually Hubby and I eat our own things and the kids eat a few pancakes each so I have many leftovers. Then I freeze the extra pancakes and serve them for breakfast to the kids throughout the week (20 to 30 seconds in the microwave).

I can tell you that originally I would "flash freeze" the pancakes on a cookie sheet and then transfer them to a freezer bag, but one time I was lazy and just threw them in the bag. I had no problem separating them to reheat one at a time, so now I skip the cookie sheet step. (Must be all the butter/grease, heehee.)

Then I start all over the next weekend.

The end, freezing pancakes works for me. {This is linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.}

Technical Difficulties

The good news is: we have a new computer. I absolutely LOVE it. Our laptop had gotten so incredibly slooooow, so this new one seems lightning fast. However, there are a lot of things I've yet to figure out and that brings me to the bad news: it's messing with my blogging. No, that is not the {sole} reason I've not posted in 2 weeks, but when I've tried to write a post, I've not been able to highlight words in order to create italics, bold or links--kind of important. {Oh look, that time it worked!} So I'll be playing around with that and hopefully have it all figured out soon.

Oh and of course all my pictures are gone. I plan to use a flash drive or whatever to move photos from my laptop over to this new desktop, but I've not done it yet. So for now, I've got a few extra steps to take on that front as well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I love {yea, it worked again} this new computer, but I've got some learnin' to do! Thanks for your patience!

{Okay my new problem is it won't publish. Grrrr.}

That's Life 7/18/11

So much going on, where do I begin?

L finally recovered from his tonsil surgery. He's back to normal except he's no longer drinking his prescription formula. Mostly that's good, but it's also scary because that means we have to replace 900 calories from formula with actual food. And he's still quite a picky eater. So meal time is even harder than ever.

We succeeded in moving our speech appointments to a later time for the start of kindergarten and full school days. Amazing, miraculous achievement! So far, I'm enjoying our new schedule.

We had L's birthday party. Once again it was at Peter Piper Pizza and again they did a super awesome job. Everything went smoothly and I actually had time to talk to the other moms. And it ended up being a great group, really pleased how it turned out. :-)

As usual, I have tons of things I want to post about but I'm lousy at the follow through. We'll see if I can get some new posts up this week. Fingers crossed!

What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments. How's your summer going?!

Washcloths instead of Paper Towels {Works for Me}

We've been pinching pennies lately {like pretty much everyone, right?} and here's how we've been saving money on paper towels. It basically started on Mother's Day when my husband asked what I wanted and I mentioned dish towels, because I'd been running through them faster, using them to dry wet surfaces instead of paper towels.

My husband, genius that he is, bought 2 packages of 12 washcloths. This turned out to be a great idea. Here's why:

-They're cheap! We got ours at Kohl's and each set of 12 was about $4--3 cloths for a dollar, (33 cents each) doesn't get much cheaper than that!

-They're absorbent. They work as well as a paper towel, if not better.

-They're white, so I can throw them in any load of laundry. I don't care if they get discolored in a red or dark load (which they don't, because I use Color Catchers), nor do I care if they get stained by food or 409.

Since I throw them in whatever wash I'm doing that day, we always have clean washcloths. They are stuffed in a kitchen drawer (I'm not much for folding). My husband uses 3 each night when he 409s the counters and table and I use them throughout the day to soak up messes or clean/dry a counter. I'd say we save a bunch of paper towels (and therefore money) this way.

Cheap and easy. {Oh and green, saving those trees!} That's how I like it!

This post will be linked to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

How do you save on paper products?

Image credit.

4th of July recap

In the past, I've not gotten too excited about the 4th of July. I had a wonderful 4th of July tradition growing up--the annual block party--so much fun! But as an adult, and especially here in Phoenix where it's Too Darn Hot to do anything, we haven't really celebrated Independence Day.

Then when I was in Walmart recently, I thought about buying 4th of July shirts for the kids. Usually, I've been against this because hey, they've already got red and blue clothes. I think this year was different for 2 reasons. 1) With L's tonsil surgery, I needed to look forward to something coming up after the whole ordeal would be over. And 2) my parents live here now and I knew we'd be going over to their place to watch fireworks on July 3rd.

As I was looking at the kids' shirts, I saw they had matching adult shirts. And CHEAP! The kids' sizes were $3 and the adults' were $3.50. And of course Hubby and I can wear our shirts in future years. I was sold! Here are our 4 matching shirts (girls in red, boys in blue) we wore to the "party" on July 3rd: On an earlier whim, I bought 2 4th of July hats from the dollar area of Target. I was only going to get one but remembered my kids don't share, and bought 2. Then the day before the celebration I went back to Target for the flags (3 for $1).

I was "in charge" of desserts for party night. There were tons of ideas around the web for fun patriotic desserts, but L wanted cupcakes, so that's what we did. These are gluten free yellow cupcakes (Betty Crocker) with cream cheese frosting (also Betty Crocker), with blue and red sprinkles (applied by L) and I bought the package of cupcake wrappers and festive pics from Walmart for $1.88 (for 24). Easy peasy.

The celebration at my parents' was lots of fun. My sister was also in town for a visit so the more the merrier. We did typical picnic foods (burgers and brats) but indoors. We had bubbles and glow sticks and planned to go on their patio when the sun went down, but there was a lightning storm! We were afraid the fireworks show would be canceled. Anyway, we played inside with the glow sticks and the kids had a great time and finally, the fireworks began. It was a great show and a super easy (and cool!) place to watch it. We ventured to the patio for just a minute when we thought the lightning had died down, but both kids thought it was too loud, so inside was athe best place to watch from. This is a picture of the kids watching the fireworks through the window (if you click to enlarge, you should see their silhouettes):

We celebrated on the 3rd because that's when the fireworks were scheduled, but I thought that worked super well. On Monday the 4th, we relaxed and got things ready for the week ahead.

As long as my parents live in this house and the church keeps putting on the fireworks show, this should make a great tradition.

Oh and I should mention I was worried about the kids being up late. Turns out T is a night owl like me, she had tons of energy late into the night (relatively speaking--the fireworks started at 8:45). We left right after the fireworks ended and I made it my goal to have the kids in bed by 10:00. I came pretty close. Staying up late is another reason I'm glad we celebrated on Sunday night and not Monday.

How was your 4th of July?

Birthday Brouhaha {Two Parties on the Same Day}

I have to blog about this because I can't think about anything else. Okay so L has been out of the loop for the last almost 2 weeks from getting his tonsils out. Meanwhile, he had his birthday (more on that in another post) so we had to plan a party for once he's feeling better. This coming Saturday would be ideal, but of course it's 4th of July weekend and we were afraid lots of people would be out of town. So we chose July 9 and finally things calmed down enough around here for me to send the e-vite on Monday evening. {Why did I do an e-vite over putting invitations in the mail, you ask? I thought it would be easy and that it would be a nice way to track RSVPs. Hindsight and all that.} Right away we got 2 "yes" replies from kids in L's class. Then we got a few "no" replies, with explanations that the families would be out of town. Then, the mom of twins, good friends of L's, replies "no" and says "sorry, that's the day of the twins' party." Dun dun dun.

So I panic. Should we reschedule? Maybe the party isn't at the same time? Maybe it's just a family affair? I decide to email the mom. Sure enough, the party is basically at the same time (can't be in two places at once) and she's invited ALL of the whole class (I had originally only invited a handful, we can't afford a huge party).

Anyway, I did a bunch of fact-gathering and calculating to figure out whether or not to reschedule but in the end, my husband was not on board. Forget it, it's too late, it's too hard to change, who cares. Okay, now I can breathe--the decision is made. We'll invite more kids, the others from school I'd not originally invited and all our friends from other places (like speech or last year's school), it's fine. I figured we'd still get some kids from his class.

If your child got 2 party invites for the same day, how would you choose?

If it were me, and my son was equally good friends with each host, I think we'd go to the party we were invited to first. {In this case, turns out our e-vite went out before the twins' paper invitations arrived BUT the mom had been talking about the date for some time, and I hadn't heard about it because L hadn't been at school. Or because I'm not in the clique....} But if my child was a close friend to one host and a mere acquaintance of the other, we'd probably choose the close friend's party. All other things being equal, maybe we like one location better than the other. Or who knows.

But I'm not getting any "yes" replies from classmates. None! Of the two original "yes" replies, one switched over to "no" saying something suddenly came up. Yeah, we all know what that something was. Tacky! I thought maybe some kids who aren't in the summer program would choose our party, having received our invite first and not having heard about the other party around the school yard. But no. Now I feel like there's a mommy clique and we're not in it. {Yeah writing that I think I'm paranoid.} But people seem content to let L have a party without guests.

One mom called me yesterday morning--did I know the other party is at the same time? Yes, I said, it's an unfortunate coincidence. She explained that she's known the twins for 3 years blah bla bla--I said don't worry about it, it's fine, L has other friends. OOOPS! Is she spreading the word that it's okay to skip L's party because he has other friends?! That's not at all what I meant. I meant it was okay for her to choose the other party, because she is closer to the other family. And because she had already chosen, she shouldn't feel bad. I didn't mean nobody should choose our party. Ugh. Again, maybe I'm paranoid, but as more kids reply "no," the more I feel like there is a clique and we're not in it.

So now I'm wishing we had rescheduled. And I wish we had put the invites in the mail, or at least didn't use e-vite because checking for RSVPs is like a crazy obsession. And, grrrr, I wish the twins' mom, who had the date picked out a long time ago, had just gotten her invites in the mail sooner so none of this would've happened.

On the bright side, those "other friends" are coming through for us and joining our party. Hallelujah. The party won't be a total bust. But I'm darn sure L will look around and wonder where's everyone from school?

Any thoughts on mommy cliques? Am I crazy? I just want my kid to have a party full of his friends. I feel like a failure as a mom that I didn't orchestrate his party better! I just want him to be happy!!!!

What would you do if you planned a party, only to find out someone else's party was at the same time?

Now that's what's-done-is-done, how would you make the best of it? I'd love to hear!

Image credit

I Love Cheap Books

My new favorite thing is buying books at Goodwill.

Here's the backstory: my local Borders store went out of business due to the whole bankruptcy thing. That makes me sad for so many reasons. But my favorite thing to do at Borders was buy cheap books. Usually all I would do there was browse the bargain aisles and the dollar bins. After finishing one of my $1 Borders finds recently {see my review here}, I wondered where I could get my next cheap book fix.

Obviously, the library has FREE books. I like the library, really I do. I just got the latest Maeve Binchy novel, Minding Frankie, from the library. Loved it! But there's the whole due date thing. I can renew online even, but you can't renew a book that has a hold on it. And returning books is a pain. And I just love owning books. It's an obsession really.

So with vacation coming up (this was about a month ago), I thought I'd try Goodwill. I've shopped Goodwill before but never really spent any time in their book section. I couldn't believe I found a book I'd been thinking of getting from the library: My Sister's Keeper. It was $2.99, which I thought was a lot for a used paperback, but while I was browsing, a voice over the loudspeaker informed me that all green price stickers were half off that day. I looked at the book in my hands and it had a green sticker. Thus it was a mere $1.49 and I was sold. At the time I also saw 2 Maeve Binchy paperbacks ($1.49 each) but I passed them up--I was being super frugal that day.

Having finished My Sister's Keeper, I decided to head back to Goodwill and try for the Maeve Binchy's. Alas, they were gone. {Lesson learned, strike while the iron is hot!} But while I was browsing, I found and could not pass up 3 classics: The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Count of Monte Cristo. {Bonus: The Count became a Father's Day gift for Hubby.} Each book was $1.49. LOVE.

So there you have it, my new obsession, buying books at Goodwill. I know that it is more expensive than garage sales* (but without driving all over town) and of course the library (but without due dates), but it Works For Me.

This post will be linked to Works For Me Wednesday and Things I Love Thursday. For obvious reasons.

Where do you go to find cheap books?

*I rarely shop garage sales for two reasons. 1) IBS. Shopping in people's yards and garages doesn't provide me with quick access to restrooms. 2) I rarely carry cash. Recently though, a house on my street had a sale. It was super close to my own bathroom and it was a rare occasion when I had cash. So I wandered over and took a look around. Paperbacks for 25 cents and hardcovers for a dollar. I bought 13 books! Which doesn't help my clutter problem. Maybe it's best I stick with Goodwill. ;-)

These are NOT affiliate links.