Stroller Costume

DIY Apple Picking Stroller Halloween Costume

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A week or so ago, I mentioned my entrée into stroller decorating for our neighborhood block party. Most of the folks who saw the photo instantly asked if this was to be Miss O’s Halloween costume. Life is never that easy or that simple is it? The short answer is no, but more on that in another post. For now, I’ll just say that the apple picking bag costume is a completely viable option and pretty simple to do. If you find yourself inspired to turn your tot’s ride into a half-bushel of apples for Halloween, I’m happy to share how I did mine.

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Ain’t No Party Like A Neighborhood Party

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I am a self-identified Suburban Princess and I adore all things that allow me to maintain my status as a full-time working, home-owning, wife, mom and 80’s sitcom emulator. I know it’s ridiculous, but that’s how I grew up and I’ll be damned if my little girl isn’t going to have the best I can give her. Hubs and I have been knocked down so many times we perpetually wait for the other shoe to drop.  We keep on recovering though and this past weekend all our struggles were given a holiday. For those of you who choke on anything remotely suburban or Stepford-esque, consider this your trigger warning.

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Removable Sticker Pad Princess Cover

The Gifts We Give

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People love to bring things for Miss O when they visit and she relishes every opportunity to rip paper from boxes and toss tissue in the air with wild abandon. She now understands that receiving gifts is part of the standard ritual for being in her presence and now welcomes everyone into out home with a heartfelt, “Surprise for ME?!”

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Raise the Roof

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While we were away for our fabulous all daycare expenses paid family vacation, construction on our neighbor’s house began. They are adding a second floor, finishing their basement and doing a complete gut and renovation of the main floor. The contractors are very nice, work from about 8 AM to 4 PM and their job site is extremely organized. Every time I look out our window, I see progress.   This, of course, causes me extremely undue stress. It is absolutely maddening. Continue reading →

mall Target store

Target Wins

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I sadly only made it to day three in my experiment to go out into the world sans makeup. I was on a good run, until Target brought me to my knees. The thought of cruising the aisles and facing the judging eyes of all those strangers was just too much for me. It doesn’t help that this particular Target is attached to one of the larger shopping malls in our area and I needed to go to more than Target that day, namely Sephora, and I don’t dare set foot in there wearing anything less than primer on my worst day. Continue reading →

UnCoverGirl

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High school me would have been horrified at the thought of being seen without a full face of makeup by anyone other than my parents to be a harbinger of the apocalypse. My mother always had “her face on” and I it never occurred to me not to be done up at every moment. Reading all those magazines did not help. How could all those issues of Seventeen be wrong? Why wouldn’t I want to know what was the BEST mascara of all time while only in 9th grade?

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The Elusive Date Day

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As I sit here reveling in a glorious half hour all to my sweet self, my thoughts turn to my impending “Date Day” with my husband. How did I score 30 whole minutes, you ask? My mother is working again this morning, so he offered again to take Miss O for a stroll. He really wants this date day. This time, I took my own advice and planted my bum firmly on this couch.

So…back to Date Day #2.

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suitcase packing shoe bag carry on

Vacation Packing

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As I mentioned in my previous post, our annual forced vacation is upon us and that means packing. Lots of packing. Fortunately, my years of traveling for work have honed my packing process into a finely tuned machine. It’s nothing complicated, really. It’s just a grid separated by day, but without it, I’d be hopelessly lost and it’s my first Quick Tip.

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Babysitters Club Books

You didn’t hear this from me…

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Ever since we began the search for a babysitter, this is how the few leads we’ve gotten are delivered. Hushed tones, eyes darting around like there’s some ninja babysitter network assassin hiding around every corner, waiting for you to share that name before you’re finished using them.

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pink flip flop shoes

Annual “Vacation”

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Work/Life balance is something we all struggle with, especially when it comes to using the vacation time we work so hard to accrue. For us, this decision has been made far easier lately.

Miss O’s daycare closes every year for one week in July for vacation. This is now the third year we have had to take vacation days from work to cover…I mean, gotten to take vacation to spend time with her. My favorite part of this is the dialogue this inspires. Continue reading →