So Gifted or So-So Gifted?

One of my favorite blogs that I try to visit daily asked readers this week what their "best" and "so-so-est" gifts were this holiday season. Easy! I love to play along.

Best Gift: Biopsy & MRI results confirming that I do NOT have cervical cancer, received 2 days before Xmas, after 9 days of waiting.

I went to my ob/gyn on Monday, December 14, for my annual exam. You know, the one with the slightly awkward, slightly uncomfortable pap test and boob check, that has always been boringly normal for me. Until this year. Just to keep things appropriately vague and not gross anyone out, myself included, there was a unusually large polyp growing in an extremely delicate area, where everything is usually microscopic. Silent scream. I will leave out the doctor's actual initial comments, which were kind of funny, and the details of the biopsy. Most significant statements: "This is not good" and "possibly cancer."

After a half-hour's worth of pity-partying in the parking lot of Costco, I got on with my life and vowed (ie. promised my friends) not to look anything up at all on the Internet. Like I needed to scare the &%$#@ out of myself even more. Patting myself on the back that I did indeed manage not to obsess or research any possible scenarios. Honestly, I was too damn busy being a mom-wife-volunteer in the throes of the holiday season. Thank God for that. There were cupcakes to be baked, gifts to be wrapped, cookies to be decorated, Christmas cards to be addressed, library books to be shelved, school parties to plan, and holiday entertaining to be enjoyed, in addition to laundry, cooking, Costco-shopping, chauffeuring, Girl Scouting, etc. of course. Oh, and my car was still in the shop that whole time.

Fast forward to being sent for several more tests the following week and having to wait over a week overall for the results. Cancer? Surgery? What is it?! On December 23, I received my early Christmas gift: no cancer! The polyp, while very large, was benign and not connected to anything even more frightening inside my uterus. No surgery or treatments. So thankful! (There is, however, the slight matter of "something" that appears to be attached to my appendix, but that is another story for another day.) So indeed, my best Christmas gift wasn't under the tree at all this year, and I couldn't be more grateful.

So-so-est Gift: Donna Dewberry One Stroke Painting Kit with store receipt inside dated 1/10/2002 from my MIL.

Now that I've told you all about my best gift, wanna know what else I got? How about a just-shy-of-eight-years-old drying up painting kit? Does everyone know who Donna Dewberry is? She's well-known in the crafting world for her painting techniques that have a certain "look" about them.

Yeah, you use these techniques on just about anything once you learn it, such as teacups, flower pots, drawer knobs, etc. Unfortunately, I think the look is a bit 'little-old-granny-ish' for my taste. And the 8 year old paints weren't going to be very useful either. Good thing the 8 year old receipt was inside the box because I'm sure they'll waive the 30-day return just for me, right? By the way, this was my "main" gift from my MIL this year, but in no way the worst I've received from her. Sad? Funny? Just all part of the joy of Christmas. :)

If you're reading this, what were your best and so-so-est gifts this Christmas?

Hello, Pretty Kitty

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This is an alert from the Emergency Retail Sale Broadcast System. The dedicated shoppers of your area in voluntary cooperation with the retail stores, both brick-and-mortar and online, have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency sale or newly released hot item.
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Ooooh, just found out about these pretty kitty jewels released in honor of Hello Kitty's 35th anniversary! Interesting to note that she is almost as
-->old young as I am!) If you'd read previous posts on my family blog, you might know how much I adore Hello Kitty from my Asian-girl childhood.
Zales is offering a rather wide selection of jewelry and bling-y accessories such as ear buds and iPhone cases from Simmons Jewelry Co. Basically, these are scaled down versions of Kimora Lee Simmons' more exclusive designs from a few years ago. I have always adored her Hello Kitty line, although it was always out of my price range, so this is a nice treat. Hello Kitty bling for the masses.

A few of my favorite blingy things
(Images from Zales.com)

And even better is the storewide 10% discount (through 12/13) and free shipping for $149+ orders. I heart Hello Kitty.

The Princess and the Frog? Mais Oui, Cher!

Image from the San Antonio Current website

This past weekend, I experienced another "first" in my not-so-young life: I attended a press screening for a major film! And then I wrote a review of it!

I was asked last month to review Disney's The Princess and the Frog for the San Antonio Current. This was my second assignment, and my first ever film review. (October's assignment, you'll recall, was my first ever book review.)

I was overly excited about going to a press screening and an added bonus getting to take Thalia along with me. She really looked forward to it, although commented that no one else she had mentioned it to at school thought it was particularly cool! (ahhh . . . left jaded by Disney at the age of 8).

The theater was packed for the screening, which was a combined press screening and sneak preview for the local Radio Disney station. Ever since teaser stills and trailers of The Princess and the Frog first appeared online earlier this year, everyone and their dog has had something to say about it. Animation fans. African-Americans. Feminists. Louisianians. However, I didn't watch it with any of those people. Instead, Thalia and sat in the packed theater with other parents and girls waiting eagerly to meet the newest Disney Princess on screen.

For my humble opinion on this new film, check out my review online at the Current's website.

Decadence

Well, that daily blog-prompting thing didn't last long with my too-full schedule over Thanksgiving! And now we are knee-deep into Christmas planning and celebrating. I'll revisit the daily blog themes later!

Speaking of holiday planning, Dylan and I did something so decadent last night--we hired a babysitter to put the kids to bed so we could do some Christmas shopping! Although I have actually been 99% finished with my gift shopping and wrapping since early November, I tend to do my best shopping for myself in the few weeks leading up to Christmas. hahaha The only thing that gets in the way of that, however, is having two kids in tow!

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to a special after-hours holiday shopping event at our Nordstrom. I had been invited once before, three years ago, and it was a lovely shopping experience--sipping white wine, listening to live musicians' holiday tunes, munching on strips of sugared bacon (more on that later) and truffles, while browsing new stuff at my leisure.

So when I got my invite, I knew I was definitely going back to Nordstrom. And I wanted Dylan to come along because although he is not a shopper, he would really enjoy this. And he was really curious about going.

The event last night did not disappoint. I go to Nordstrom frequently, but it was quite dressed up for the event, with tuxedoed waiters proffering wine, cocktails and yummy h'or dourves while a sharp jazz quartet entertained us all. There were lots of people there, so it was quite festive.

The thing I remembered most about the event three years ago was these awesome brown sugared bacon strips. People were going nuts over them. And they served them again last night!  Sybaritic Decadence. I was so happy. But alas, I only had one strip, when I could have easily eaten a dozen. They were that good. No worries though, as we also had great regular and tempura sushi and other great little bites.

I had several items on my "list" that I wanted to look for, and I amazingly found all of them! Dylan was just happy to eat, drink and carry my purchases and my wine glass as he followed me around the store--what a sweetie.

Some cool finds:

Ivory wrap desperately needed to keep warm at cold office holiday party


Adult-size slippers that are still ok for an 8-yr old girl

I love Nordstrom. They don't try to shove items down your throat when you say you're not interested. They don't follow you around the store. They don't have a gazillion items for sale, just a choice selection that makes the process easier. They have a wonderful cafe inside that my kids love. And they still respect the holidays--all of them:

Photo taken at Nordstrom 2 days before Thanksgiving, which is thankfully still a real holiday for some and not just a speed-bump on the way to Xmas . . .

We shopped some other stores besides Nordstrom as well and finished the evening off with dessert at Sonic! We would have gone for holiday lattes at Starbucks except that all four of the Starbucks around us were closed before 10 pm. Strange but ok, as my retro Coke Float was a perfect end to our shopping date.

My Perfect Autumn Day

This week's blog prompts are courtesy of the Imagination Prompt Generator, because Digital Scrapbook Place's daily blog prompts were too boring! (No offense, and what a great idea, but in general, I couldn't get excited about them.)

Today's Imagination Prompt:
Describe the perfect autumn day and what activities you enjoy.

The perfect autumn day, in theory, would involve some real autumn weather. Regrettably, we've had not enough of those kinds of days here in South Texas this autumn season. We have had temperatures in the 80s, ginormous mosquitos, and no excuses to wear our autumn finery. *sigh*

Another component of my perfect autumn day would be not having to be somewhere in particular at a certain time. Just free time to explore the changes in nature (again, in theory) and in my community: take in the leaves that have changed color and fallen from the trees, breathe in the cooler air, admire God's handiwork once again.

My perfect autumn day wouldn't be complete without some autumn food! Just this week I was craving a caramel apple, which I haven't seen anywhere lately. That's odd to me. I like sweet potatoes in the fall; they just seem to match the season in more ways than one. As does cranberry pork roast with apples. Hmm, I'm hungry for autumn!

T.G.I.F.

DSP Blog Prompt of the Day - Its Friday and what do you usually do on a Friday to gear up for the weekend?

It depends on whether or not the weekend is "full" or not. As a cake decorator, the majority of my orders are for weekend events, so Friday nights are often crunch time for me. Not at all laid back or lazy! If there's an event the next day that my kids are involved in (ie. Girl Scouts or parties), then I start planning for them on Friday, especially if they are early Saturday morning. I have to psych myself up for getting up early on a Saturday if I have to be somewhere first thing. If we are going on a weekend trip early Saturday morning, then Fridays, especially the evenings, are crazy busy getting everything and everyone packed and ready to go.

It's a rare treat for me to do nothing on a Friday night and even rarer to go out on a date night with my hubby on those nights too. But Fridays are still the best days of the week, in my opinion! No homework and no school lunches to pack for the next day!

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

DSP Blog Prompt of the Day - It's America Recycles Day. How do you recycle are your home?

We recycle constantly at our house. So much so that my husband wishes we recycled a little bit less! We have two bins in the kitchen, a paper bin in the office, and a large bin in the garage. Everything and anything that can be recycled and collected by Waste Management goes into the bins, except for paper which goes to our elementary school so they can make money from our recycling efforts. I also make an effort to make sure that nothing gets thrown into the recycling bins that shouldn't be there, as that defeats the whole purpose, and not everything can be recycled by Waste Management. When we lived in apartments, before we bought a house 12 years ago, I still insisted that we do our part by hauling our recycling to a drop-off place or someone else's house!

We also take old, recyclable materials (shoe boxes, coffee cans, egg cartons, toilet paper tubes, etc.) to Thalia and Carys's old preschool for the kiddos to use for art projects and creative play. In five years, we've probably hauled hundreds of little plastic and paper "gems" that we can't bear to throw out just yet!

Once a month, on a Saturday or Sunday, we take clothing, furniture, small appliances, toys etc. that have seen better days but are still usable or useful to Goodwill, Salvation Army or Medina Children's Home. In addition, barely worn clothing and almost-new toys go to children's resale boutiques here in town; my favorite is Once Upon a Child. It's oddly satisfying get (some) money back for my kids' stuff! Books, CDs and DVDs that we've grown tired of or outgrown find new life at Half-Price Books, where we can choose new (used) stuff to read and enjoy.

More recently, we've discovered Craigslist as a way to get rid of stuff that is in great condition but no longer needed. And it's really nice to meet the people who buy your couch/crib/TV in person! We don't even care how much (or little) we make on the transactions; we're just happy that our stuff goes to a new home that needs it. Last year, our couch that we'd had since the month after we moved in together in 1996 finally found a new life in the apartment of a college student on a budget! It was the comfiest couch we've ever own.

So, yeah, recycling and reusing in some way are really part of our everyday life. It keeps us from wasting even more than we already do, and helps us keep on top of things in our home!

Disney Faves

DSP Blog Prompt of the Day: Today is Mickey Mouse's Birthday. Do you have a favorite Disney character?

Oh, how I love today's question! Of course I have a favorite Disney character! Well, actually that isn't true. I have many favorite Disney characters, some beloved from my childhood and some new ones too.

I think the very first Disney animated movie I saw at a movie theater was The Rescuers, so those characters (Bernard, Miss Bianca and Penny) have a special place in my heart. I also saw Bedknobs and Broomsticks, re-released, as a very young child as well. I adore Bedknobs as a film, but none of the characters stand out as faves.

I also loved Mary Poppins. I still do. And Hayley Mills as the twins in the original Parent Trap. And Peter Pan, who I first saw in film as a high school senior when Peter Pan was re-released.

Our Daily Bread

DSP Blog Prompt of the Day: Today is Homemade Bread Day. Do you have a great recipe for bread to share or do you prefer to buy it already made at the store?
I don't make bread from scratch--ever. I have an aversion working with yeast. However, I do like to bake cake-like, non-yeast breads. But for 'regular' bread? That's what the grocery store and bakery are for!

I also am not a huge bread fan. I think it's my Asian upbringing, with rice being the staple at each meal. I did not eat bread every day growing up like other kids. I never even tasted wheat bread until I was a freshman in college! My husband loves bread and carby foods, as do my kids. I don't even really like stuffing at Thanksgiving, but will make it for my hubby. The only stuffing recipe I really like is, not surprisingly, made with wild rice!

Dylan and I eat stone-ground whole wheat bread, a little harder to find than regular wheat bread. The kids did too, until they discovered white bread, kind of by accident. Now they won't eat wheat bread unless forced to. So we have Iron Kids white bread as well. And some pita bread-looking things for lunches and croissants for breakfast. Lots of bread at our house.

My favorite non-yeast breads: Pumpkin Bread, Banana Bread. My favorite yeast breads to buy: Chocolate Babka, Challah, King's Hawaiian Bread (a taste of my childhood), Cheese Bread.

Now I'm very hungry for bread.

Button Day

DSP Blog Prompt of the Day: Today is Button Day. Do you prefer buttons or zippers or none at all?

Hmm . . . buttons. I never think about buttons, until they disappear and then I'm cursing them! For my own clothing, zippers make life easier and don't get lost. I detest sewing buttons back on. I'll wait months and months and months before I'll fix up a blouse or shirt that's lost a button! One particular outfit that belonged to Thalia's American Girl Bitty Baby sat in my "to fix" pile for 5 years before I finally sewed the button back on!

Buttons and zippers are equally problematic for little kids; Carys has a hard time getting her zipper parts together on her jacket. So do I when I'm helping her. Little kids' clothing have few buttons, mostly snaps. Her teacher sent home a note on Friday saying that she's having to zip or button up too many coats as well tie too many shoelaces. Apparently, this is something we need to work on at home!

I do like buttons on their own though! They can turn a blah piece of clothing into something better instantly. I used to love to look at all the different buttons on cards at the fabric store when I was a little girl. Especially the shaped buttons, like school buses or hearts or rainbows. I buy these now for my Girl Scouts to use for our craft projects!

Blog Prompts

Well, my NaBloPoMo dreams bit the dust last weekend, very early into November, when I went out of town and was too busy/lazy to pre-post a few days' worth of blogging. And I was trying to do this times 4 blogs, so it was a lofty goal. I managed to blog daily in November on 2 of my 3 blogs last year. Oh well, there's always next November!

In any case, I have a new plan to jump start my daily blogging: Digital Scrapbook Place's Daily Scrap Blog Prompt Challenge! Each day there is a topic to write and/or scrap about, which is just what I need to get motivated.

Some of you may remember that I tried to start my own monthly scrapping/journaling club that theoretically would have done the same for its members, only it too bit the dust due to my sad neglect. The Once-A-Month Memory Club, I believe it was called. It was a good idea, but not for me to be in charge of!

So I hope to blog daily here about whatever DSP's clever folks come up with. Wish me luck.

Love Letters

It's not our anniversary or even half-anniversary or anything, but for some reason my thoughts were meandering the other day and something made me think of the food at our wedding. Dylan and I were married on May 9, 1998 in Austin. We hired a lovely European woman named Frauke Baylor, who was just the most generous and caring soul you could ever want to cater your wedding reception. Her small but wonderful catering company, Blue Trout Catering, was so unique in their presentation of the small bites and sips, and the flavors were fabulous.

Flash forward several years into the future to 2007. A friend had requested caterer recommendations for her upcoming nuptials, and I looked up Frauke's company online hoping to find a website. (In 1998, not one of our caterer, photograper, DJ, florist or traveling minister had an Internet presence.) Was I ever shocked to see our own wedding on Blue Trout Catering's website! I literally stumbled onto our own wedding pic from 9 yrs before on a page appropriately titled 'Love Letters':

Our wedding reception, Umlauf Sculpture Garden,
May 9, 2009
Image from BlueTroutCatering.com. Photography by Anne Butler Photography.

I was so pleased to discover that Frauke's company was still thriving in Austin and to be featured on her site! I sent her an email that day thanking her for the wonderful food she created for us that day. I even told her that my cousin had mentioned to me at her own wedding, six years after ours, that she planned her wedding reception menu around what she remembered of ours!

Embellish-ment

Starting today, I'm wearing yet another "hat." In addition to the many chapeaux I wear as wife, Mom, volunteer, cake designer, etc., I can now add a brand new one: lady-whose-writing-has-appeared-in-print. The San Antonio Current, our award-winning local alternative gem of a news weekly, has printed my first book review.

This all fell into my fat lap by pure chance. And I have Facebook to thank in part for how it all came about. My writerly friend, Sarah, who is the Associate Editor of the Current's Arts section, mentioned in a FB post several months ago that there was a "paranormal vampire romance novel" she had to review. I'm a closet romance novel hoarder myself, so I had to open my big mouth and ask if I could borrow it. And then Sarah had this crazy idea that I should review it! So that's kind of how it happened in a nutshell. Thanks, Sarah and Facebook!

But really, I didn't think I could write a book review. I love to read, but this was something waaay out of my comfort zone. I write emails and short notes and occasional blog posts, with little attention paid to syntax or grammar or how interesting/boring my writing really is. In conversations, my vocabulary has become reduced to the same dozen words that small children easily understand. However, after some encouragement from Sarah over awesome crunchy spring rolls at Viet Nam Restaurant, I finally hoisted up my big girl panties and got to reading and writing. And surprisingly, I enjoyed the writing process.

I won't say any more about the book except that the title is Embellish and it was written by a San Antonio author, R.L. Sloan, because everything else is in my review. And here is the result of my labors (click on the lovely book cover):

Embellish by R.L. Sloan (image from SACurrent.com)

I Heart Stella & Dot

I went to my first Stella & Dot Trunk Show last week at a friend's house. I first heard about the company several months ago from a Facebook ad of all things (yeah, the targeted ads really do work). I was definitely curious, as it's a direct sale company, and if you don't already know, I am drawn like a moth to the flame when it comes to direct sales! And their product, fashion jewelry, seemed nice and trendy enough, from what I could tell.

So the Trunk Show isn't what I expected. There's no sales pitch or presentation to sit through, like at other jewelry shows. I've hosted a Premier Designs show or two before, and those are definitely a different experience altogether. The Stella & Dot gathering was really more about browsing, chatting, sipping wine and trying all the designs on. Waaaay more fun! I tried practically everything on and definitely stepped out of my "jewelry comfort zone."

Here is my typical, everyday jewelry wardrobe:

'Return to Tiffany' bracelet, white gold earrings, and a stainless steel watch

My daily look is pretty boring! Serviceable, subdued, conservative, lazy more than anything!

And here is what I bought from Stella & Dot:

Soiree Black Pave Bracelet that matches everything in my closet, since everything in my closet is black!

Soiree Champagne Pearl Bracelet for the upcoming company Christmas party.

Turquoise Sea Drop Earrings--I never wear colorful stuff like this, but these were such lovely stones.

Bloom Flower Ring, again something I would never usually pick out for myself!

Avery Chains & Pearl Necklace--definitely a departure for me. Will I really wear it, I wonder?!

Clearly I had a bit of a splurge! But I very, very rarely buy jewelry, so this was alot of fun. My jewelry either comes from my Mom, who adores jewelry and has made something of a hobby out of shopping for jewelry of all kinds, or the occasional gift from my hubby (hits or misses from both quarters).

I had such fun at the Trunk Show that I may even host one myself soon. And you really have to see the jewelry designs in person; several pieces I liked online or in the catalog looked completely different up close. The designs are fresh, fun, young and diverse enough to appeal to different tastes. I definitely noticed that at the show, where the range of guests' ages and tastes was quite wide and varied. I also have a very long wishlist of items I did not buy but absolutely have my eye on! I heart the pretty jewelry!

Images from TiffanyOnlineStore.co.uk and StellaDot.com

"Handmade? It Looks Like You Made It With Your Feet."

Mermaid Hair Clip by hibilly on Etsy.com

Well, it was just a matter of time. Some enterprising person was going to take the "all things handmade" website Etsy to task for being a little to Etsy-ish. Too tacky. Too cutesy. Too . . . something.

I heard about Regretsy from my in-the-know writing friend, Sarah, just a few weeks ago. I don't think the site's been around very long, the earliest archived post is from about 2 months ago. The site is priceless! Regretsy picks out the "cream of the crap" (their own words) that can be found on Etsy's website. You know, like the Woolen Tampon Cozies (aka Plug Rugs). Or the custom-made Corset Jeans, the "corset" being just below your ass and all the way down your leg.

Regretsy is to Etsy what Cake Wrecks is to the mediocre-to-crappy cake decorating world. And just like with the Cake Wrecks, on Regretsy you can't not look. Yes, the "crafts" themselves are something else when you're just looking at the pics, but it's the clever snark accompanying the item photos and descriptions that make you laugh out loud.

If you've never heard of Etsy before, you can read my blog post from about a year ago, waxed on about my Etsy-love. I still do love Etsy; there are lots of wonderful stuff to be had from some seriously gifted crafters. But I love Regretsy for shining a light on the not-so-great "crafts" for sale!


Have you seen this one yet? It's made from real moose poop! It's called the Doo Doo Nugget Necklace. You simply cannot make up shit like this.

It's NaBloPoMo Time!

Princess for a Day: An Invitation

You are cordially invited to take part in a fairy tale Mother/Daughter event, My Princess & Me, at the elegant and historical Red Berry Mansion on the Lake on Sunday, October 11! For just a $30 donation, each little Princess will receive a professional hairstyle from top hairstylists in San Antonio, make-up application, a tea party, music, dancing and a keepsake photo with her Queen Mum – all while helping support the children of St. Peter – St. Joseph Children’s Home.

Princesses will arrive in their most royal finery with their Mothers (or Grandmothers, Aunts, Sisters, Friends). All Princesses will receive a magical treat of hair design and makeup from our very talented fairies.

And this year, my company, Sweetest Whimsy, invites all Princesses to decorate their own royal cookie treats and dine on special Princess Cake and punch with their Moms! I will provide all the sweet ingredients for each girl to let her inner sugar artist come out!

There will be time for a fairy tale photo to remember this special day. What could be more magical than seeing hundreds of girls of all ages enjoying time with their Mothers and new friends?

Of course, this Royal Event wouldn’t be complete without dancing! Princesses will gather together and dance to great music with girls from the Royal Court. Special appearances by San Antonio Fiesta 2010 Queen of the Vine, Hannah Montana and other special guests!

And the best part of all? 100% of the profits from this royal event go directly to St. Peter - St. Joseph's Children's Home! St. P-J's is a home for children who have suffered sexual and emotional abuse, neglect, poverty and broken homes, as well as a community counseling and service center for families in crisis. This event is made possible by the many companies and individuals who are providing funding, services and in-kind donations, and I am thrilled that Sweetest Whimsy is a sponsor this year! I hope everyone will join me at the Red Berry Mansion on the Lake!

Event Details:

Sunday, Oct.11th, 2009

12:00pm - 4:00pm

The Red Berry Mansion on the Lake

858 Gembler Road

San Antonio, Texas

Ticket Information: Order Your Tickets Online!

$30 donation per person ~ Your entire donation goes to help St P-J's Home

(Or call 210-408-0101 to purchase tickets)

All images from My Princess & Me website

Half-Staff

Today on the drive home from Austin I noticed that all the flags in New Braunfels, and only New Braunfels, were at half-staff. I asked Dylan if he knew anything about it. He had no clue either, and we both thought it was unusual.

Tonight I googled for an answer to my question. According to the Herald-Zeitung (the New Braunfels/Comal County newspaper) website, the flags were being flown at half-staff in honor of a New Braunfels man who was killed in action in Iraq on July 19.

Today he returned home forever. And through Monday, his hometown pays tribute to a Marine who fell fighting for his country. He was 20 years old.

With a very grateful heart, I say a small prayer for him and his family tonight. Thank you, Lance Corporal Brandon T. Lara.

Doing Our Part

Yesterday Thalia and I did our part to shore up the economy by shopping spree-ing through the local mall. It's Anniversary Sale week at Nordstrom, and due to the unexpected excitement of last week, missed the beginning of the sale. They aren't kidding when the say "quantities are limited" on the special sale deals. Everything I wanted from the Anniversary Sale catalog was no longer available online as of Saturday night; the sale started Friday. I am usually invited to a sale "pre-show" which always cracks me up. Items from the sale catalog are on display in a trying-on room for your perusal. But this year, I wasn't invited to view the stuff. (I probably didn't spend enough this past year to warrant an invite!)

So after a quick visit to the pediatric orthopedic physician, who said Thalia's broken bones were healing nicely, we headed for the mall for some catch-up shopping. We tore through Nordstrom and amazingly found everything we'd wanted from the catalog (some were ordered from other Nordstroms to be delivered to our door for free--I love that). Thalia got shoes for school (crossing my fingers that they'll fit), Carys got an adorable t-shirt for school (probably too big but she'll grow into it), and I got some workout clothes. Then we bought other stuff we liked! All on sale and double Nordstrom points!

Thalia's new shoes for school. Can't believe she fits women's shoes now and is only a size and a half away from me! Eeek!

Thalia was so excited about lunch at the Nordstrom cafe, always a treat. She was even more excited that they had the "old" ranch dip back. The last time we ate there, about a month ago, they had replaced their usual ranch dip with a "new" different-tasting ranch which upset her greatly. She *loves* that "old" ranch and was very happy they were serving it again. Whatever! She has also adapted quite well to having only good arm right now as she was rather adept at using her fork with her other hand at the cafe.

We were in that "shopping" mood for sure by this point, so we ventured into the mall, beyond Nordstrom. Thalia begged to go the the "Lilly" store. Lilly Pulitzer, that is. She loves that it's all pink and green and flowery. So do I. And they were having a big SALE! Fifty minutes later we emerged with several bags of stuff for ourselves and birthday and Christmas gifts for everyone else. Although I had to talk Thalia out of a Lilly tie for her Daddy. And did I mention everything was on sale? Like 50-to-75-percent-off kind of sale?! We sampled all the Lilly fragrances while the salesperson kindly wrapped all of our purchases separately in adorable pink and green boxes (of course). Thalia and I liked the 'Squeeze' scent the best. It's also the "juiciest."

Lilly Lace Cuff Bracelet, not really my style, but will be an awesome gift for someone I know who loves this kind of thing.

How cute is this coin purse?! Thalia picked out several for us to give as gifts to favorite relatives.

Thalia magnanimously offered to carry one of our Lilly bags with her good arm as we made our way to the "make-up store," also known as Sephora. The store generally freaks me out, all those cosmetics and styling products in one place. But we were actually there for Thalia. They were having a half-off sale on Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers perfumes, and my daughters absolutely love those little East-meets-West girls! We were there to use some of Thalia's birthday money on a bottle of HL perfume. And also to buy some dry shampoo for her, which is practically a necessity now that showering is no longer an option due to her non-waterproof cast.

The Harajuku Lovers: East Meets West Cuteness

The HL girls, or as Thalia and Carys call them, the "little girls", were so cute in perfume form and all smelled so fruity nice that it was almost impossible for Thalia to decide which one she wanted. I already have one bottle myself, the Li'l Angel one, which started the whole love affair at our house with these "little girls" to begin with. And since the perfumes were 50% off anyway, we bought 4 of the 5 "little girls," all except Li'l Angel. We picked out Music for Thalia, G for Carys, Love for me, and one extra (Baby). And some dry shampoo, and oddly enough there were two other people shopping for it as well.

The "Little Girls" Fragrances. We bought 'em all.

Can't wait to try this out. Might be great to take on our campout?

Now we were really loaded down with bags and boxes, so it was time to head back to the car! Thalia's good and bad arms were both hurting now, and we both needed to get out of the heat. Funny how we didn't notice how the day got hotter and hotter until we were leaving! (And we were at an outdoor mall!)

Our shopping day wasn't over yet, however. Dylan came home from work with the suggestion that we use our coveted 30% off everything Kohl's coupon in the evening. So the whole family piled in the car and went to Kohl's!

We very rarely have a 30% coupon there, by the way, usually it's 15% or 20% off at the most. So we go a little crazy there when we do get the 30% off! We'll buy things we probably wouldn't have and look at things we definitely wouldn't have. This time around, we picked up:

• Girls Undies
• Girls Shorts and Top--lots of them
• Men's Jeans
• Men's shirts
  
• Yankee Candles
• Digital Frame
• Greeting Card
• Girls Skirts
  
• Drink Dispenser
• Running Shoes
• UT Logo Wear
• Perfume
• Girls Jacket
• Girls Tank Tops--perfect to wear now that Thalia's cast won't fit regular sleeves
• Pink Lamps

Pink Clip-On Lamp, times 2.

Goes-with-lots-of-things plaid shorts = $3.36.

High School Musical undies, 7 for $7.

Our only Kohl's shopping rule is that whatever we buy has to be on sale, and the bigger the discount, the better. I love weeding through the 80% off racks at Kohl's, and I'm a natural speed shopper so I do it quickly. They're just begging you to look when they're at that price! So the 30% discount is on top of the 80% markdown. And some of the stuff we bought were for gifts, and it's always great to be able to buy more for our friends and relatives at the same price.

Thalia and Carys adore going to Kohl's. It's practically the only true department store left that sells a bit of everything, including toys and games. They love the tiny toy section, and also weaving through the rounders and racks of clothing, as well as trying on lots and lots of pairs of shoes.

So our Monday was definitely our day to contribute to the economy! And I have to say that everyone who assisted us at each of the stores was very pleasant and helpful, something I rarely say. Only two items were purchased full price (much needed bike shorts and dry shampoo), and we can also cross gift-shopping off our to-do list for fall birthdays and even Christmas.

All photos from Google Images

For Steve & Tyra: Forever & For Always

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life

which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart

i carry it in my heart

e.e. cummings

Happy 15th Anniversary! We love you!

Life-Saving Cookie Recipe

Saturday, May 16 of this year was going to be one of the best days of the year for our family--Carys's 5th birthday party, a big "Disney-Princess-Ariel-Under-the-Sea" themed bash in our backyard with lots of splish-splashing water fun. I am not joking when I say that we had talked about and planned all aspects of this party for at least nine months, and my daughter absolutely had her heart set on this theme.

Well, we got the water part alright. May 16 turned out to be probably the wettest day of the entire month. In under an hour, we watched our carefully laid out backyard 'Under-the-Sea' wonderland torn apart by high winds and sheets of rain. Not dainty raindrops but sheets and sheets of rain.

So our outdoor party quickly became the "Under-the-Sea-in-my-living-room" party. With a little more than an hour left before a dozen and a half or so pre-schoolers would arrive at our house, I planned an entirely different party. (This is the part where I run around the house looking for suitable indoor activities for all these kids.) Coloring activity? Check. Foam craft activity? Check. Play-doh? Check.

Right, now I had enough stuff for them to do to last about 30 minutes if we were lucky. Hmm . . . how about decorating cookies? Great, only we had no cookies of course. Thank God I am a cake decorator and always have extra frosting in my freezer. I quickly thumbed through all of my cookie recipes, trying to find the easiest and quickest one for shaped cookies. (Not that I would be making shapes, except for "round").

The recipe I decided to make was one I hadn't actually made before, at least I don't remember doing so. It's from the Southern Living Incredible Cookies book. I'd had hit-or-miss luck with other recipes from this book, but I was pretty desperate at this point so decided to go with this one because it used few ingredients and ones that I happened to actually have on hand:

Sugar Crinkles

1 cup shortening (ie. Crisco)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp lemon extract (I used orange, it was all I had citrus-wise)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar

1. Beat shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar at medium speed w/ electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and flavorings, beating until blended.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to shortening mixture, beating well. Cover and chill dough. (This is where I stuck the recipe in the freezer for a quick chill.)
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, roll in 1/4 cup sugar. (I did not roll in sugar as I wanted the kids to decorate them, but have since done this step as well.) Place on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 min. or until barely golden. Cool 2 min. on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 1/2 dozen.

So, all in all, May 16 turned out to be one of the worst days of the entire year. Several guests couldn't come last minute because they were having their own "worst days" and some very hopeful bathing-suit-wearing kiddos were super-disappointed to be kept indoors. But the cookies turned out to be a hit! The kids loved decorating them with my rainbow of frosting colors, candies and sprinkles, and the parents loved eating them (plain, no frosting). I've had several ask for the recipe. Seriously, these are great cookies, and I usually dislike sugar cookies.

We couldn't wait for the day to end. It made me sad that Carys was so disappointed about her party, and to see her cry made me want to do the same. And just our luck--the day before and the day after were beautiful, sunny days! Oh well, we may have ourselves a do-over party this summer, when we're guaranteed weeks of dry hot weather with no rain in sight!

ABCs of Me (and maybe You too)

Wasting time when I should be cleaning my house, cooking dinner, or something else constructive . . . received from a Facebook friend and hadn't done a "list" in a quite a while so here it is . . .

ABC's
You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the ABC's of YOU. At the end, choose 26 people to be tagged. You have to tag me so really you just need 25 more people. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

A - Age: 38

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate to do: Dust

D - Dog's name: No dog

E - Essential start your day item: Coke

F - Favorite color: Pink (in general), Black (to wear)

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5 '2"

I - Instruments you play: Piano

J - Job title: Mom/Cake Designer/Internet Retailer/Instructor

K - Kids: 2

L - Living arrangements: We live in a house

M - Mom's name: Ofelia

N - Nicknames: Lissa

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Stayed overnight when 3 day old baby had to go back due to jaundice, but I wasn't the sick one!

P - Pet Peeve: Public signage with bad grammar/spelling

Q - Quote from a movie: I don't have one yet

R - Right or left handed: Left

S - Siblings: 1

T - Time you wake up: I will wake up 6 hrs after going to sleep, so that's usually around 9 am if left to my own internal clock. But that never happens, so my alarm clock wakes up much earlier!

U - Underwear: optional

V - Vegetable you dislike: Brussels Sprouts

W - Ways you run late: not paying attention to the time; need to wear a watch and actually look at it

X - X-rays you've had: shoulder

Y - Yummy food you make: cakes!

Z -Zoo favorite: National Zoo, Washington DC

It's All Personal

Or, Really, Really ?!*%&$#@ Mother's Day Gifts

If you're a Mom, what did you get for Mother's Day? Brunch with your family and a complimentary rose? (Or better yet, complimentary Mimosas?) A day off from cooking and other mundane mommy-chores? Or maybe even a store-bought gift? I sent my own Mom her favorite perfume and a card across the miles since we couldn't spend the day together.

I was excitedly summoned to the living room on Sunday morning by my kids for the presentation of a mysterious gift that arrived earlier that week. Hints of a wonderful "surprise" had me slightly curious, although in all honesty, I've learned over the past 8 years that lowering your expectations to the point of nothingness is really the way to go with this holiday. There were homemade cards that the girls created at school and at home, and of course, I always love and appreciate those. Thalia also made me a "rock person" at school, and even has the hot-glue gun burns to prove it! But last of all was the piece de resistance:


Don't you love it?! What do you mean, what is it? My FACE on M&Ms of course, silly goose!!! Yeah, because every Mom wants to eat her own face in chocolate, right?!

As a bonus, the M&Ms also have custom sayings on them:
Best Mom Ever!
Terrific Wife!

I was rather underwhelmed by my gift. I think Thalia picked up on that right away, because she quickly said "It was Daddy's idea." And so it was. Apparently my spouse thought it was a great gift idea. Interesting. Of course my little half-pints went along with it, what do they know? Candy for Mom? Hooray! They chose the colors, pink and platinum.

To humor them, I opened one of the three packages of customized M&Ms and let my kids eat my face. Several times in fact.




And then I got up off the couch and went back to bed for three more hours. Happy Mother's Day, y'all.

Cheap Eats

I've been both amazed and repelled by all the posts and articles I've read lately about how to feed your family on next to nothing. One of my favorite blogs asked readers to comment on their favorite cheap meals. Wow! These ladies don't mess around--one Mom feeds her family of four for less than $8.50 a meal. Another made dinner for two for $7.38. Both cooked meals from scratch. Yum!

What kind of grossed me out and yet fascinated me at the same time were the "recipes" or "meals" that consisted entirely of packaged or processed foods. Some call them "pantry staples." Full disclosure: our pantry has quite a few of these staples (Uncle Ben's Wild Rice Pilaf, Cornbread Mix, etc.) so I'm not knocking them altogether. But a whole menu of canned/boxed food? Hmm. For example, the dinner made up of 1 can of corn, 1 can of black beans, and 1 can of meat or meatless chili. Heat in a pan and serve. Doctor it up with spices if necessary. Hmm. Or this one: Top Ramen cooked with only a little bit of water and add a can of Pork-n-Beans at the end. OMG.

So here is my "quick-scratch" contribution to eating in these lean times (and what we had for dinner last night):

Easy Chinese Chicken Pasta Salad

Leftover boneless, skinless chicken breast or thigh meat, shredded or sliced (1 - 2 cups or whatever you have)
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 head iceberg or romaine lettuce, shredded
2 ribs of celery, sliced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup cucumber, peeled and chopped
Leftover cooked pasta (regular or whole wheat, any shape, about 2 cups or whatever you have; I have used penne, rotini and thin spaghetti)
Chow Mein Noodles (ie. La Choy)

Dressing:
4 tsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1/8 tsp pepper

1. In a bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well.
2. Toss chicken, pasta and all vegetables together with the dressing. Add a few handfuls of chow mein noodles on top. Best if served immediately. (**If you are serving the salad much later, you can leave out the lettuce and chow mein noodles and add them right before serving to keep them crisp**).

Makes about 6 servings, can be stretched by adding more pasta and lettuce. Since I buy most of my produce at Costco, this meal is really economical. For example, 6 heads of romaine for $3! Enough celery for a month for about the same price. About $1.50 worth of carrots, green onion and cucumber combined. And I always have these particular Asian ingredients on hand anyway, so I didn't have to go out of my way for them and they seem to last forever in my fridge. Definitely a yummy cheap meal!

*Variations: You can add/omit vegetables based on what's in your fridge. For example, I think it would look/taste really great with some red bell pepper strips or mandarin oranges. You can omit the pasta if you don't like/have any. You can substitute roasted cashews or friend wonton strips instead of chow mein noodles.

Recipe adapted from a much more involved one in Every Grain of Rice by Ellen Blonder & Annabel Low

Guilty Pleasures: 16 Free Romance Reads

It's rare these days when I squeal with delight. (It sounds funny just to type it.) But squeal I did when I read about Harlequin's FREE book download from the Barnes & Noble website. Make that downloads as there are 16 free books in all. Yippeeeee!

As one who was a closet romance novel reader for a few years before "coming out," I'm very proud to share this gift with everyone (all 4 of you loyal friends who might be reading this!). Be warned, the downloads are low-tech: PDF files. No Kindle or Sony Reader downloads here. Who cares? Free books!

I almost never read Harlequin books, but I'm looking forward to sampling some of the romance genres represented among the freebies. NASCAR romance, anyone?

And for any non-romance readers, B&N is also giving away nine FREE MP3 Audiobook downloads as well. An interesting mix of authors, such as Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain and Alice Munro. Something for everyone.

So get to reading already!

Image from eHarlequin.com

Family Fued

So I've been tagged by Janine in yet another Facebook "list", but this time I'm willing to play along because it really did remind me of watching "Family Fued"!

YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE MY ANSWERS! Copy this note and write a new note. Then erase my answers and fill in your answers. Tag your friends and don't forget to tag me too. Remember, you can't use the same answer as the person who sent it to you. Remember, if my answers are dumb, it's because the person before me had the good ones!

1. Name something you use in the shower? Bath gel

2. Name something a football player wears under his uniform? Athletic supporter

3. Name something people hate to find on their windshield? Flyers stuck to the wipers that will NOT fly off!

4. Name something a man might buy before a date? Breath mints

5. What is another word for blemish? Zit

6. Something you cook in the microwave? Leftovers

7. Name a piece of furniture people need help moving? Piano

8. Name something a dog does that embarrasses its owner? Pees on the carpet when company arrives

9. Name a kind of test you cannot study for? blood test

10. Name something a boy scout gets a badge for? camping

11. Name a phrase with the word "home" in it? Home run

12. Name a sport where players lose teeth? Skateboarding

13. Name something a teacher can do to ruin a student's day? Assign detention

14. What is a way you can tell someone has been crying? Red eyes

15. Name something a person wears even if it has a hole in it? Underwear

16. Name something that gets smaller the more you use it? Ball of yarn

Hot Mom, Hot Kid?

"I love how they dress their age.

And I don't love how that's remarkable."

~ Recent anonymous comment online about Sasha and Malia Obama
I'm back after a "Spring Break" from posting and then getting caught up at home from the Break! It takes a whole week to recover from Spring Break around here.
Anyway, my previous post was about looking older than I was 20 years ago, and today's is about even younger kids who do so as well. And I don't mean "looking older" in a dowdy, frumpy kind of way, like I did! I do mean 8 year old girls who are dressed by their parents to look like they are 16 yr old Lolitas. And this is a uniquely girl-only phenomenon. (Little boys start dressing like little men when they're a year old and continue to dress the same until they really are little old men.) If you are the parent of a girl, you know what I'm talking about unless you sew all your kid's clothing yourself and never have to go shopping for girls' clothes. And lucky YOU!
Suffice it to say that once you cross the line between infant/toddler outfits and girls 'size 6 and up' (and often even before you've crossed the line), you have to steel yourself against the slutty, tacky or merely inappropriate "Mini Me" clothes that are all they sell at many stores. If it's ever been your dream to have your kid dress exactly like you, well they certainly can! Right down to that Mommy tatoo on your arm/hip/ankle/lower back. It's a real and constant challenge to pick outfits for my almost 8 year old daughter from what's available that don't scream "tiny slut."
So for example, a bra for me, a bra for little 5 year old her:

This is a size 30AA bra that is basically sized to fit a little girl. Really little girl.

Attitude tee for me, attitude tee for 7 year old her:

Such cute graphics and not-so-cute sayings on tees.

Other actual attitude t-shirt sentiments seen on actual girls:

“Santa Loves a Hot Cookie”

"Dinner: $60. Movie: $40 dollars This shirt off: Priceless.'"

Sexy undies for me, sexy undies for 8 year old her:

Size 7-10. Won't these look great peeking out from the top of her jeans?

And don't even get me started on parents who dress their kids just plain old inappropriate for the occasion! For example, I can't tell you the number of kids I see daily, even in the winter, who are wearing flip flops to P.E. class at my daughter's school. Or tank tops on cold, wet days. Or shorts with high heel sandals all day at school when it's 42 degrees outside. Whatever.
So it's just been so nice to see photos of the First Daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, who are 10 and 7 yrs old respectively, dressed as girls who are 10 and 7 yrs old! Wow, dressing age-appropriately, what a concept! All the body parts that need to be covered up are and nothing detracts from their smiles or from their primary mission: to just be kids.