Archive for May, 2010
Because I like lists…
May 14th
I’ve reached a blogging milestone. This is my 100th post!! ::key music, confetti and balloons:: So, I don’t have a big giveaway in store to celebrate this momentous occasion. But, a little over two months ago a fellow blogger (and someone I know IRL) LCW from Waking Up Williams also reached this milestone. To celebrate the event, she shared 100 things about herself. Since I am also a former teacher who recalls celebrating the 100th day of school in a big way and because I love lists, I thought I’d borrow her idea. Without further ado, I give you “100 Things You Probably Don’t Even Care To Know About Me”…
1. I’ve lived in the same state my whole life.
2. The first time I went on an air plane was when I was a senior in high school.
3. I hate talking on the phone.
4. I’ve been sky diving.
5. I’ve never gotten a ticket, speeding or parking. (knock wood!)
6. I didn’t get my drivers license until I was 18.
7. I hate beach sand.
8. I’m egg intolerant.
9. Scott and I have been together for over 10 years.
10. I wear a size 8 shoe.
11. I have a “lazy” left eye.
12. I’ve never had stitches.
13. I’ve never broken a bone.
14. BUT I’m accident prone, go figure.
15. My house is pink (but it won’t stay that way).
16. I hated pepperoni pizza my entire life until I was pregnant with Nora, now I love it.
17. I have a freckle on my toe.
18. I’ve never dyed my hair.
19. I have consistency issues when it comes to food.
20. Jello, pudding and yogurt make me gag.
21. I suck at parallel parking.
22. The only C I ever got in school was in high school physics.
23. I wore an eye patch for a few years when I was young.
24. I had my tonsils removed when I was 5.
25. I’m 8 years older than my sister.
26. I have a permanent flip flop tan.
27. I can roll my tongue and make it into a clam shell.
28. I hate cold cuts (deli meat, lunch meat whatever you call it).
29. I prefer beer over wine.
30. I prefer beer over mixed drinks.
31. I taught 3rd grade before becoming a SAHM.
32. Sometimes I miss my old job.
33. But not that much 
34. I’m not a big fan of traveling.
35. I’ve only left North America once in my life.
36. I’ve only visited 8 of the 50 states.
37. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for lunch for 12 years.
38. I never wear high heels.
39. My eyes are gray, not blue.
40. My birthday is 2 days before Christmas.
41. I won’t accept birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper.
42. My favorite ice cream flavors are Friendly’s Vienna Mocha Chunk and Ben & Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Cookie.
43. The only thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a mom.
44. I like animals, but don’t want a pet.
45. My first car had a broken speedometer.
46. I’m afraid of bridges.
47. I had braces in middle school.
48. I used to play the flute and the piano.
49. I don’t like cold cheese, only melted cheese.
50. I’m halfway there!!
51. I’m pretty punctual.
52. I love Dunkin Donuts coffee.
53. I’m the middle child.
54. I was a Computer Science major for one semester in college.
55. Then I changed back to Education, thank God!
56. I was a nanny for many years.
57. I have a great sense of direction.
58. I love to bake but don’t do it often.
59. The first concert I went to was Alanis Morissette.
60. I never want to go on a cruise.
61. I had pet birds when I was a kid.
62. My step-father gave me a diamond pendant on my wedding day and I’ve never taken it off.
63. I love root beer.
64. I have a fear of public speaking.
65. I make a kick ass apple pie.
66. My favorite store is Target.
67. My 2nd favorite store is The Christmas Tree Shop.
68. My two pregnancies were completely different.
69. I love Mexican food.
70. I wish I had more time to read for pleasure.
71. I went to St. Lucia on my honeymoon.
72. I had an epidural with both of my deliveries.
73. I don’t mind folding laundry but I hate putting it away.
74. I’ve never seen an episode of Sex in the City.
75. I like my feet.
76. I have a great memory.
77. When I was born I had black hair.
78. I eat dinner at my mom’s house almost every Thursday night.
79. My favorite movie is Good Will Hunting.
80. I enjoy coloring.
81. I am going to attempt to sew more valances.
82. Some of my favorite foods are pizza, Chic-fil-A and Chipotle burritos.
83. I never slept when the baby slept.
84. My husband cleans the tub.
85. I have a ridiculous number of pens.
86. Did I mention that I love Dunkin Donuts coffee?
87. My nickname in high school was Smack.
88. I fell through thin ice up to my waist when I was about 10.
89. I can put both of my legs behind my head like a pretzel.
90. I got my belly button pierced when I was 16.
91. I took it out when I was pregnant but the hole is still there.
92. I hate orange soda.
93. I was accepted to all of the colleges I applied to.
94. Before I got married, my initials came in a row in the alphabet – KLM
95. If I had the time and money, I’d go to nursing school.
96. I’d secretly love to work at Target.
97. I fold towels a particular way.
98. If Scott folds them wrong, I unfold and refold them.
99. I have the two most adorable kids ever.
100. I do my best not to judge other people. You never know where they’ve been or what they’re going through.
If you made it through the entire list, thank you! I hope you were amused and amazed by some of them. If not, I wish I could give you back the time it took you to read that list. Sorry! So, do we have anything in common? What were you surprised to learn about me?
And the winner is…
May 13th
Erin H
You are the winner of the Bazzle Baby BandaBib giveaway. Please email me with your mailing address so we can get your bib out to you. You have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
Now I know how my mother felt.
May 11th
I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying that how you acted when you were a child will come back to haunt you in parenthood. Well that could not be more true for me right now. I never imagined that my three and a half year old could fall victim to a toy or clothing fad. But boy was I wrong! I keep having flashbacks to my childhood where I was demanding these:
Image from The 80's Museum
and these:
Any fellow child of the 80′s should recognize both of these famous trends. I was, to put it lightly, obsessed with the plastic charm necklaces. And the jelly bracelets (which I am just now learning signal “sexual intent” based on the color), I know that I had enough to go up and down both of my arms at the same time. So I am not sure why it came as such a surprise to me when my three and a half year old daughter demanded that she have Silly Bandz.
For those of you who don’t know (lucky!!), Silly Bandz are basically plastic bands in that come in various shapes (animals, princess, rock band, cowboy, baseball, etc) that you wear as bracelets. The slogan is “collect ‘em, trade ‘em, wear ‘em” and they’re being marketed as the “Hottest New Fashion Accessory”.
Anywho, somehow my daughter learned of these magnificent things and HAD TO HAVE them. I had no idea what she was talking about when she first brought it up but I let her explain it to me and then we went to try to find them. I wasn’t sure where to look or how much they would cost. Yesterday we were at the mall and I tried going in to Claire’s figuring that they sell lots of brightly colored plastic jewelry. I went in, asked the teenaged girl behind the counter and was answered with, “Ha! Good luck finding them. We can’t keep them on the racks!” Ummm, ok. Now what? I tried, eeek, Spencer’s. (I’m not proud that I brought my two young kids into that store, but it was a desperate measure.) Again, no luck. So, I told Brinley not to worry and that I was sure that we’d find her some Silly Bandz somewhere (though I highly doubted it would happen that day). We went along with our shopping which brought us into the Hallmark Gold Crown Store. Brinley darted ahead of me and started yelling, “SILLY BANDZ!” There they were, a huge rack of them in all different shapes and colors. She quickly grabbed about five packs of them and said, “Ok mom, I’m ready to go!”
I took the packs from her and my jaw nearly landed on the floor when I saw the price tag. FIVE BUCKS for a pack of plastic animal shaped bands? I told her that she could pick out one pack for today and we could talk about ways that she could earn additional packs. We left the store and she had the biggest smile on her face. She proudly put all 24 bands shaped like zoo animals on her wrist and kept going through them naming each animal. She stopped at least 3 women as we were shopping to show off her prize. It was really cute.
I’m sure this is just the first of many fashion fad/trends that she will become sucked in by but I really can’t believe that it’s starting at three and a half. Do your kids have these things? How do you handle their demands for trendy items?
Bazzle Baby Review and Giveaway
May 10th
About three weeks ago I was contacted by Ellery Harris of Bazzle Baby, Inc who kindly offered to send me one of their products to review here on my blog. I was thrilled at the opportunity since I’ve never done an official product review here. I’ve given my opinion on certain things, both baby and food related, but I’ve never done a real, sponsored review. So here goes nothing…
So, what or who is Bazzle Baby? Well, I’m glad you asked. Bazzle Baby is a family owned and operated company founded by Amanda Davis. She is a mother who, once her first daughter came along, dreamed of better, more stylish baby bibs. All of the bibs at Bazzle Baby have been designed with a specific problem in mind. These bibs have been created to help solve some of the most common baby problems – from drool, to spit-up, to messy feedings. Bazzle Baby creates more than just bibs! They also make burp cloths, pacifier clips, aprons and nursing cover-ups. The materials used to make all of the products are safe and do not contain any chemicals that would be harsh on baby.
I was sent one of Bazzle Baby’s BandaBibs. When I first saw it and read what it was, I though, “Wow, what a cute idea!” You see, the BandaBib was created for babies in the teething and drooling stage (which can last quite some time). My recently turned one year old daughter was, and still is, a big drooler. I remember hating to put her in cute little outfits when she first started teething because they were either a) going to become soaked with drool in a matter of minutes, or b) get covered up by an stupid bib. The BandaBib solves this problem. These bibs are not only highly functional in keeping the drool from soaking your baby’s clothes, but they’re also cute and stylish. They come in many different colors and pattern so they can be worn as an accessory to any outfit. The BandaBib is made from a soft, absorbent cotton. It fits close to your baby’s chin and is great for teething or feeding. Keeping a baby’s neck and chin area dry is important during those drooly months because if you don’t, it can cause soreness and chafing which is no fun at all!
This bib was so cute on Nora that it just looked like it was part of her outfit when she wore it. It didn’t bother her or rub up against her in a 
way that made her uncomfortable (and trust me, she doesn’t keep much of anything on!). She is drinking from sippy and straw cups exclusively now and is always dribbling milk and water out of her mouth. She usually ends up with a soaked shirt within seconds of handing her the cup. The BandaBib was the perfect solution for this. Her clothes stayed dry and she looked cute too! One thing that I really like is that the BandaBib isn’t lined with some waterproof type material. We have a few bibs that claim to keep baby dry but they’re plastic-y and cheap looking and usually the water, milk or drool just runs right off and onto her clothing anyway. I love how this bib is just soft and cozy with no plastic-y feel. It absorbs well without being waterproof. Overall, I highly recommend this product. I only wish that I had known about it sooner! It would have saved some really cute outfits from being drooled and dribbled on.
Now you have the chance to win one of these adorable bibs for your little one. All you have to do to enter is visit Bazzle Baby on the web and pick out your favorite BandaBib pattern! Come back here and leave a comment telling me which one you just love. A winner will be chosen on Thursday, May 13, 2010. Good luck!
Want an extra entry to the giveaway? Click to vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs – Top Mommy Blogs – Mom Blog Directory Leave a separate comment letting me know that you voted.
You can also find Bazzle Baby on Facebook by clicking here and on twitter here.
It shouldn’t be sew hard.
May 5th
Why is it so hard to find decent curtains and valances? We have a lot more windows in our new house than we did in our townhouse. And it’s just different here so I don’t want to just put up some of the old ones we had. We found so great sheers for pretty cheap for Brinley’s room and I love the way they look.
Nora only has one window in her room so I decided to try my hand at sewing, and made her valance out of her crib skirt. With the style of the crib that she has, the skirt barely showed through anyway. Since her bedding set came with it, I figured I could cut it up and try to sew a valance. If it came out horrible, then the only thing I’d really have lost was the time it took me to make it. So, I called up my mom to see if she still had her sewing machine kicking around (she used to make lots of stuff back in the day, including dresses for my sister and I). I was in luck, she still had it.
Last week I busted it out and went to work. I haven’t touched a sewing machine since 8th grade Home Economics class. However, by some miracle, it all came back to me. I even remembered how to refill and empty bobbin! This was a pretty easy project though because most of the hems were already sewn since it was a crib skirt. I just cut off the longest sides of the skirt and sort of overlapped them and made a rod pocket. A few pins and stitches later and ta-dah! I had made a valance! It’s nothing fancy or special but it does the job and cost me nothing. It doesn’t bunch up as much as I would have liked since the window is really big and the length of fabric wasn’t very long, but I like it and I’m happy with how it turned out. (I will put up some pictures once things are finalized in the room.)
So now I’m left with a double window in the dining room, a bathroom window, a kitchen window and a door that are still left bare. I know I’m putting too much pressure on myself since we just moved in a little over two weeks ago, but I just can’t stand the sight of it looking so unfinished. I reused the scarf valance thing we had over our living room window in the townhouse in our bay window in our new living room and I hate the way it looks, it’s not long enough. So that will be replaced too at some point. It works for now.
For some reason though, I am just having terrible luck finding anything that I like. I’ve looked at Target, WalMart, JC Penny, Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock.com, Sears and just about everywhere that I can think of that sells curtains and valances. I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, but they don’t have to be super cheap either. It just seems like all I can find for kitchens is stuff with fat chefs, wine bottles, or fruit on them. If I had more time (and patience – since I totally sucked at making a straight line) I’d sew some more myself but it would be easier for me to just buy them (and I’ know they’d look nicer).
So, help me out here. Where can I find some decent window treatments without breaking the bank?
