New Year's

In a bid to remain sober and out of drug rehab, Lyndsay Lohan has cancelled plans to host a New Year's Eve party in Las Vegas.

In a bid to have something to look forward to during what is for me, typically a very depressing day, Evan and I have decided to host a New Year's Day brunch for friends and family. I'm thinking biggish (30-40 people). Most of our friends and aquaintances have small children, and so going out on NYE isn't likely, so we thought it would be really fun to have a big thing on NYD. I'm thinking of inviting some people that we know but don't currently socialize with, just because.

My vision is for lots of people, tons of kids running around, and lots and lots of great food. Can't think of a better way to ring in a new year, can you?

Sleepless in Seattle

In addition to all of the catching up on laundry, bills, and work stuff I have had to do since my return, I've had to spend some time catching up on my celebrity gossip fix. Will Britney Spears regain custody of her kids? Will Lyndsay return to Utah to continue her drug treatment? Will Reese and Jake reunite? These are the burning questions that plagued me in Seattle. Ok, so they didn't really plague me, but on the first night, when I was jet lagged and woke for the freaking day at 3:30 in the morning. I had a whole lot of time to watch mindless tv, and wonder about these things.

Monday, Again.

The weekend just flew by so quickly. Sometimes, I get really freaked out about how quickly time is just passing. It seems like it just gathers momentum the older I get, the faster it goes.

Anyway, so, the weekend. It was nice and fairly mellow. Friday night we had dinner with Evan's parents, and then I think I was in bed by 9pm. Saturday morning was spent grocery shopping and catching up on the laundry and other exciting things. We spent the afternoon out at a birthday party for one of Sadie's friends, and had a quiet evening at home.

We went apple picking yesterday - but it was kind of cold and all of the apples were on the ground already, so it wasn't quite the idyllic fall experience we thought it would be. Then, we had friends over for an early dinner (Sadie's friend Olivia's family) and called it a night. I think as of this morning, I'm finally caught up on sleep and reacclimated to the time zone. This week is pretty busy, between catching up at work and assorted appointments and commitments for the kids, so blogging may be kind of sparse.

Seattle

I'm back!

Of course, I missed the girls and Evan tremendously, but I would be completely lying if I said I didn't have a great time. It was a fabulous trip! Swank hotel, top restaurant meals, amazing sponsored parties, lots of visits with old colleagues and friends from two of my past jobs, and much too much to drink - what's not to enjoy? Oh yeah, the conference itself was pretty good, too ;)

First of all, the food was phenomenal. We ate at a really great restuarant our first night there, and that set the tone for the rest of the trip. Everything in Seattle is about seafood and Asian food, so I was in heaven. Night number two was spent chowing down on sushi at the HP party, followed by D2L's party at the top of the Space Needle, where we enjoyed endless champagne, an amazing raw bar and, interestingly enough, an oxygen bar (I had never done that before - definitely fun). They also had wii stations set up all over the party, so I got quite the workout bowling and playing tennis. Thursday night, my one coworker and I capped off the trip by hitting a tiki bar immediately after the last session, then proceeding to the Educause event at the museum of flight, and then meeting up with a bunch of people we knew at one of the hotel bars. Definitely a good time, but I will say that drinking until 2am when you have to leave for the airport at 6am was not one of my smartest moves. I did it, though, and in the process, earned the respect of my younger, heartier and lushier coworker, who pronounced me a rock star at some point in the night. Yay for me. I may have really wanted to curl up and die at some point during the flight, but I never let on.

I really had a good time traveling with my two coworkers. The last trip we took together in the summer of 2006 was such a miserable experience for a number of reasons, and so I had very low expectations about how it would be to travel with them. However, we really had a great time. They were up for just about anything, from sightseeing to early morning latte runs and walks on the waterfront to closing the bars down on Thursday night.

One of the highlights of the trip also was meeting up with my boss from three jobs ago - at Cognitive Arts. He's now in a very prominent position at a well-known foundation. I hadn't seen in him since 2000. We planned to meet for lunch, and I'll admit I was a little nervous about how it would go, but it was great. He's still the same Michael, and we fell back in step as if we had just seen eachother a few months ago. Since we last saw eachother, we've each had two kids, so it was kind of a trip to spend our time together talking about things like potty training and carseats and private vs. public kindergarten. Anyway, it was great to see him, and I look forward to catching up with him again next year at Educause again.

So, that was the trip. I have more to write about other stuff, but I'll save it for another post. I'm beat and ready for bed!

Lighting

Right now, our living room is lighted solely by a a standing floor lamp. As you can imagine, it is kind of dark in there. Well, I prefer to think of it as 'romantic', but, you know...I guess it is time to invest in more lighting for the room. So, opinions solicited...which do you prefer - track lighting or recessed lights? We may be making this purchase as soon as this weekend.

Monday Report

We had such a great weekend, and it went by much too quickly. It was one of those weekends that you fantasize about when you first think about having a baby...nothing but pleasant, happy kids and fun, family-oriented activities. Of course, the reality of parenting isn't usually like that, so to get an entire weekends of it was just...all the more wonderful.

Friday night, we went out to dinner with my parents. I had some reservations about doing it, since we weren't able to get our act together until after 6, and I was afraid that the kids' timers would have popped before our meals came. However, they were both great, the entire time, and it was really enjoyable.

Saturday, they both treated us to a weekend sleep-in (they both slept until almost 9 - unheard of in these parts!). It was such a gorgeous day (I love this endless summer at the Jersey shore), so we were outside for most of it. Sadie and I planted some bulbs and did some fall cleanup in the yard. In the afternoon, we took a long bike ride down to the beach playground in Belmar. I can't believe how warm it was - there were tons of people on the beach.

We had S & L and their kids over for pizza and beer on Saturday evening. The four kids got along beautifully and it was such a nice evening. I remember being a kid and having tons of fun with the children of family friends, and it was so cool to see that happening with all of our kids. We ended up keeping the kids of waaaaay late and as a result...

They slept until almost 9 again on Sunday morning! Woohoo! I could get used to this. I know that this can't last, at least with Eden, so I'm just enjoying it for now. Yesterday was divide and play day for us. Evan, Sadie and my dad took a hike up at Terrace Pond. My mom and Eden and I went to this traveling petting farm and then out to lunch. We headed back to my mom's house for Eden's nap, and I sat outside in a lounge chair and snoozed - it was such a rare treat.

Last night, my parents babysat and Evan and I went out to dinner. We went to Moonstruck and had a great meal, though I definitely ate too much. Went to bed full and happy, in both stomach and heart. It really was a great weekend.

I leave for Seattle tomorrow, and it is nice to be leaving on a "I'm going to miss them all like crazy" note, instead of being excited to get a break. Well, I am excited to get a break, and it is going to be a fantastic trip, but, still. I'll miss them all like crazy :D

So what do you think?

are we 'B list' invitees? We got a call the other night from the mom of one of Sadie's former classmates, inviting her to a birthday party next weekend. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised that she is including Sadie -- after all, they aren't in school together anymore, and we haven't kept in touch since school ended, except for the random running into them around town. It was very nice of her to invite Sadie, and Sadie is excited to go, but I was just wondering if they decided to forgoe formal birthday invitations this year, or if we were a last minute replacement for someone who can't make it? What do you think?

Unloading

I've spent the better part of each evening for the past week or so, going through outgrown clothes and toys, and sorting out piles of stuff to either go to family and friends as hand-me downs, get donated to the Red Cross, or just get tossed out. It feels great to get rid of stuff. It always amazes me how quickly we accumulate stuff, despite the fact that I do this routine a couple of times a year. Anyway, I'm sure with the holidays coming up, it won't be long before we're bursting at the seams again, for at least for a little while, it feels good to have reduced the total amount of 'stuff' taking up space in our house.

Imperfection

From the moment my babies have been born, I have reveled in their perfectness. We had a big scare when Sadie was en utero, and were told that her odds of having Downs Syndrome were greater than the norm for my age. While we knew in our hearts that we would love and cherish her in any shape or form, we did wait with baited breath for her arrival.

The moment she let out a hearty cry and we counted fingers and toes and proudly received her perfect Apgar scores (as if we had coached her to them like it was the SAT or something), we declared to ourselves (and anyone who recieved the news of her birth) that we had a perfect baby girl. We were equally blessed with the arrival of a second perfect baby girl in Eden.

That's not to say that I have 'perfect children' (anyone who could have heard the ninety minute ordeal in getting Eden to sleep last night would agree, I'm sure). But, every well-check and every playdate has been an opportunity to assure myself that my kids are right on track, physically and emotionally. And, as much as I would love them any other way, I can admit that I get joy in this.

So, with that as background, I guess it isn't surprising that I felt a stab of--sadness? dissappointment? Not quite sure what to label it yet, as I'm still processing it, I guess--at Sadie's well-check this morning. I watched her take the eye exam, and saw her struggle to make out the figures and letters that were plain as day to me. It seems that the first (of the many that will emerge over her lifetime, of course) of her physical imperfections has reared. She "scored" (not sure if that is the right word, but you get what I mean) 20/50 -- a fairly significant vision impairment for such a young kid. In the 90 seconds it took for her to struggle through the exam, I felt a whole host of questions rush through my mind...should I have pushed her to eat more carrots? Will she be teased by the other kids for wearing glasses? Could poor vision be a sign of a more serious condition?

I know in the scheme of things, this is not bad news. Truly, I am so thankful every single day for my healthy kids, and given that Evan and I both wear glasses, I guess I figured it was an inevitable fate for the girls. But, I would be lying if I wrote that it wasn't a bit dissapointing or saddening.

Anyway, I need to make an appointment with the opthamologist, and I guess we'll take it from there.

I am so out of touch

With how much things cost, sometimes. I mean, the things I buy (or want to buy), I've got that covered (did you know that Australian navel oranges were a dollar EACH at Wegmans this week? Damn, that's expensive! But my girlies do love them some oranges, so Mama shelled it out for them).

Its the things that I assume are out of my league that fall off my radar. Like, I have no idea how much a brand new E class Mercedes cost, do you? I just know that I can't afford it.

So, when I read in a gossipy news site the other day that Fred Goldman had to return O.J. Simpson's watch because it was a fake, I thought, "how much could a fancy watch really cost that Mr. Big Shot Kills His Wife And Gets Away With It And Then Hides All Of His Money From The Families Who Won A Civil Suit Against Him can't shell out the bucks for a real one?" Well, apparently, a fancy watch can cost a darn lot of money. My big splurge before I started a higher-paying job at ZEFER, was shelling out $300 on a watch (for the record, I love that thing and have worn it faithfully for seven years, so I consider it $300 well-spent). That's nothing compared to the $65,000 (no, that third zero is not a typo) you can shell out for a Girard Perregaux watch.

As I said, I'm pretty ignorant (maybe blissfully so) of the wads of money that can be spent on things.

Note to self: don't go price-shopping for fancy cars or watches any time soon.

So...we're back.

Actually, we've been back since Saturday morning (yes, that's right, a mere 14 hours after we left), but I wasn't in the mood to blog about it all weekend.

Our trip (just the "highlights" - ha!):

• 3:30 - left NJ
• 6:00 - arrived at the resort (Sadie was beyond excited..."we're really here! our vacation!")
• 6:30 - had a great dinner out - gotta love those Pennsylvania Dutch smorgasbords.
• 8:00 - Took the kids to the indoor water park at the resort. They had a blast.
• 9:00 - I took Eden back the room ahead of Sadie and Evan, in an attempt to get her down and to sleep first.
• 9:45 - Sadie and Evan arrive back at the room, and lo and behold, Eden was still up and thinking it was playtime.
• 10:15 - The girls are finally settled down and asleep.
• 11:00 - Evan and I go to sleep.
• 11:15 - Sadie starts coughing.
• 12:00 - Sadie starts hacking
• 1:00 - Sadie starts barking a croupy cough.
• 1:15 - 5:30 - Sadie is up every 30 minutes or so, coughing and choking.
• 5:30 - Eden wakes for the day, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (and, why not...she got a nice stretch of sleep, unlike any of the rest of us).
• 6:30 - Sadie starts running a fever.
• 7:00 - We pack up, hit the restaurant for a quick breakfast, and check out. :(
• 11:00 - We're home. Well, not actually home, but sitting in the waiting room of West Park pediatrics. The doctor prescribed a steroid to help reduce the inflammation of Sadie's windpipe and we all head home.

We spent the better part of Saturday afternoon sleeping and trying not to feel too down about the crappy turn our weekend took. Sadie had a better night Saturday night, and actually felt well enough yesterday that we did go to a fall festival around here, so the weekend wasn't a total wash, but it sure was dissappointing.

I guess on the bright side...at least we weren't at Disney, or somewhere far and extremely expensive. Even though it was a bummer to do it, I was glad we were able to just pack it in and head home and cut our losses early.

Anyway, that was our weekend. If the girls are up for it, I think we're going to head back up there next Saturday, just for the late afternoon/evening so they can get to the Halloween thing they were so looking forward to at Dutch Wonderland. We'll see...

Leaving Today!

We're leaving for our mini-vacation this afternoon. I'm strangely excited! Actually, I'm more than a little bit apprehensive about how it is going to go as far as getting Eden down to sleep tonight (we're staying in one room, so I can imagine she isn't going to be to keen to just roll over and go to sleep at bedtime). But, other than that wrinkle, it looks to be a great trip. The weather is cooperating and we have lots of fun stuff planned.

I'll be back Monday with updates and photos, I'm sure.

Have you heard about this book yet? I'm debating whether or not to buy it. The premise is hiding superfoods in meals that kids will eat. I'm kind of torn...on the one hand, I think it is a great idea. There are many things that I would like for Sadie to be eating that she just wouldn't consider

However, on the other hand, slow and steady wins the race, and I feel like by not accommodating Sadie's pickiness, and by repeatedly offering/serving her healthy stuff, I'm slowly seeing a change in her willingness to try things. Just in the last year, we've gotten out of the bad habit of preparing separate meals for the girls, which has greatly reduced stress and meal preparation time. Now, our strategy is to require them to try a small bit of whatever we're serving and then make sure there is at least one thing on the table that we know they'll eat (yes, many nights, they fill up on mashed potatoes or egg noodles or dinner rolls). As I said, recently, Sadie has surprised us by asking for seconds of things she was reluctant to touch initially (pork chops, meatloaf, grilled chicken).

And, although Sadie is limited in what she'll eat, the things she loves are generally healthy (many veggies, fruits, carbs, dairy), so the thought of hiding sweet potatoes in pizza or pureed brocolli in chicken nuggets does seem like it is just going to reinforce to her that those kid type meals are what she should be eating. Huh, I guess I just talked myself out of buying the book, didn't I?

Need Sunny Day Vibes

The weather report is calling for rain on Saturday. This, obviously, will put a big wrench in many of the plans we have for our weekend away. I'm sort of scrambling to come up with a number of indoor alternatives, but the one thing that I would so hate for the kids to miss is the Happy Hauntings at Dutch Wonderland. So if you can spare some non-rainy vibes for Saturday evening, please do!

oh, and get this...

Our kitchen, which is in desperate need of a complete cosmetic overhaul, doesn't want to cooperate and wait for us to have the funds to do so. This weekend the fridge started mysteriously leaking water, and the sink faucet has decided it prefers to be on rather than off.

We really would have preferred to wait to replace anything and do it all at once when we can do the big renovation, but it seems that in the next few days, we'll need to be shopping around for refrigerators and kitchen faucets. The faucet, not such a big deal, as I'm sure I can find something I like and can live with when we redo the kitchen. But the fridge...ugh. Part of the problem is that the current space for the fridge is not where we ultimately want to have the fridge, and we had planned to go with an oversized one (like we had in our old house), once we had the new cabinet configuration. So, it looks like we're going to end up buying an interim fridge to fit in the current space, and then replacing that one down the road. We already have a 'basement fridge', so it isn't like the one we buy now can be justified by the thought that it will serve as our second fridge one day. Oh well, I guess we'll just go for the cheapest one we can find.

Adventures in old home-owning continue....

Our weekend had an identity crisis

Because yesterday we did the following:

Hit the beach, where it was hot, hot, hot.

Went to a fall festival, complete with hay rides and pumpkins and all that stuff.

Started buying Christmas presents.

Weird, huh?

In other weekend news, the birthday party was fun - the kids had a good time running around with the other kids, and it was nice to catch up with S____ and L_____ and some other people we knew there.

I had been a little nervous because the party was scheduled for 12:30, which conflicted with Eden's naptime (I have mentioned before that S and L don't ever worry about planning around their kids' nap needs, usually to disastrous results). Eden actually ended up falling asleep in the car on the way there, which is unusual for her, so I hung out in the parked car for an extra little bit so she could continue to sleep. She ended up with just enough of a nap to carry her through the afternoon in good spirits. I will say that every other toddler and preschooler there was simply miserable - I could see all of the other parents were having the same thoughts we were "why on earth does someone with small kids schedule a party in the middle of naptime?!?!"

Then, Saturday evening, I hosted my Simply Dish party. We had a great time, and our freezer is beyond full of meals now. Lydia came up for it, which was so great, and all of the women I invited seemed to click, even though most didn't know eachother.

So now back to the grind. Of course, I'm obsessing over the weather they are predicting for the next weekend. We have had day after day (week after week) of sunny weather. Now that we actually have specific plans that depend on good weather (our Lancaster trip), they are predicting cold, damp, rainy weather for Saturday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the forecast is wrong or will change as we get closer.

Did I mention?

that we're going to Lancaster next weekend? I think I mentioned that, but I may have omitted the fact that we're going to a kid-oriented amusement park - Dutch Wonderland. I know, I know...that is so not us, but everyone says the kids will love it, so who am I to deny them? Who knows? This could facilitate our big love of theme parks. First Dutch Wonderland, then Hershey Park...next thing you know we'll be making a pilgrimage down to Tenessee, booking a Pigeon Forge cabin rental and heading to DollyWood.

Ok, I can't even keep a straight face while typing that one. So, it's not going to happen. Or, it's SO not going to happen. But, we're definitely game on for Dutch Wonderland.

The weekend is almost upon us again

This week really flew by (or at least it seems so now, on Friday afternoon!). We've got another busy one ahead of us.

Tonight my parents are coming for dinner. I'm hoping for an early night, as Eden pulled some crazy shenanigans last night/this morning, and let's just say...we all could use some sleep.

Tomorrow, we've got a friend's daughter's birthday party in the afternoon, and then I'm hosting my Simply Dish party in the evening. Should be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to get another load of yummy food for the freezer.

Sunday, Evan is taking Sadie hiking. They're doing this hike again this year. She breezed it a year ago, so it should be no problem again this time. I'm trying to decide how to spend the day with Eden. I'm thinking about taking her to the Oktoberfest at Pier Village.

The weather is supposed to continue with this last gasp of summer, so who knows? Maybe we'll even hit the beach.

The Garage

When we bought our house, Evan and I were equally exicted about the fact that it had a garage. Our old house, in snowy freaking Massachusetts, did not, and I can't tell you what a pain it was to have to shovel the car out of the snow every other day for months on end.

So, I say that we were equally excited, but, apparently, we didn't quite have the same end in mind. I has assumed that the garage would, oh, I don't know...BE A PLACE TO PARK OUR CAR. Evan, clearly, had other ideas, and our garage, to date, has yet to have had a car parked in it. Instead, it is a mess of lawn equipment, patio furniture, grills, bicycles, garbage cans, tools, beach gear, an extra oven that we 'might want someday' and other such stuff.

I've pretty much given up on the idea that we will park a car in there, though I guess the mild winters here make that not such a problem. However, Evan informed me the other day that he's going to clean out the garage to make room for him to do the finish work on a piece of furniture in it. I'm hoping once it is clean and organized, and once he gets some good garage lighting in there, it will at least be a more useful storage space so that we don't have play a life-size game of tetrus every time we want to locate something.

Confrontation

Anyone who knows me, knows I am so non-confrontational. It just kills me to create conflict, even if that conflict is necessary in order to fix something. So, I avoid confrontation whenever possible, and as a result, end up sucking a lot of things up for the sake of peace.

So, without going into detail, I will just say that I'm proud of myself for advocating for Sadie this morning. I hope it gets me the result I want.

The more time I spend around college students...

...the more I start to think that 18 is really too young to ask kids to choose a school, pick a major, begin planning a career and for some, live away from home. I'm teaching a freshman seminar course again this year, and I'm just astounded at how ill-prepared a lot of students are for college life. And, as a senior in high school, how well can we really expect them to properly research their choice of schools? I have a number of students in my class who really shouldn't be here -- the culture here is not a good fit for them, and it makes me sad to think about how much money they are spending to be here, and not thrive.

I think students (and parents) need to do a lot more research on schools before deciding on one. Sadly, I think for many, they are swayed by factors such as student loans or location of campus, rather than the things that really make or break your college experience. I definitely understand why those things are important, but I just think a lot of students end up at schools for the wrong reason - what a costly mistake.

Anyway, I generally don't like to write about work on this blog (for fear of being dooced!), so I'll just leave it at that, I suppose.

oh, and how cool is this?

Sadie has been waffling back and forth about what she wants to be for Halloween. I've been bracing myself to have to shell out $$ for some crappy, princessy-type costume, and was just waiting until closer to the date for her to make up her mind.

So, I was packing up some outgrown clothes last night, and came across her costume from last year. Just for kicks, I asked her if she wanted to try it on. Well, it still fits perfectly, and she loves it and wants to wear it this year. So, yay! One costume squared away (and, assuming I can locate the frog suit Sadie wore at age 2, Eden's will be squared away, too) and nothing to buy this year.

I leave you with some pictures of Halloweens past...

2004 - Ribbit! Eden will wear this one this year.

Our little princess - 2005

2006 - She'll be reprising her role as the Wicked Witch of Wanamassa this year.



2006 - Is that not the cutest lobster you've ever seen?!?!

Exciting!

I'm not sure if I've noted it 'publicly' (to all six of my readers that is ;) ), but since early August, Evan has been striking out on his own professionally. Basically, his boss at the millwork shop kind of lost his marbles (well, actually, there's more to it than that...addiction issues, but I'll leave it pg for here) and that was just the kick in the pants that Evan needed to do what he's really wanted to do all along, or at least since finishing up with school: work for himself.

So, anyway, he's running a home based business, so to speak...making furniture, cabinetry and decorative millwork out of his workshop in our basement. He's had a few customers lined up, and thanks to a number of connections he's forged in the two years we've been here, more just keep coming out of the woodwork (no pun intended). He seems to have a nice pipeline of work ahead of him, which is great. And, more or less, it is all interesting pieces that he's excited to make, which is the best news of all.

But...the most exciting news is that one of the designers where he used to work put him in contact with a local architect whose 'schtick' is to sell craftsman style furniture to go along with his renovations. You can check out his work at http://www.richardbubnowskidesign.com (the site seems to work best in IE). Anyway, he is very interested in having Evan make a few of the pieces. This is potentially a very big deal, as the custom, one-off pieces are fun and interesting for Evan to make, but to have a steady demand of something like this is definitely the kind of bread and butter projects that he'll need to keep the business afloat.

So, I'm really excited. He's still in talks with him, so keep your fingers crossed. I really do think that the somewhat stressful events of this summer with his boss was such a blessing in disguise, and it would be great if this worked out.

I need to boast about something

I am actually freakishly organized for the holidays this year...the December holidays. Every year, I wait until the last minute and get all stressed out, in addition to ending up bearing the expense of gift giving all at once. Well, every year, prior to this one!

It is October 2nd, and I already have my gift list put together. My plan is to get half of the gifts this month, and the other half in November. That'll just leave December for sending cards, wrapping and last minute little things.

And, since I'm so dang organized this year, I think I'm going to be able to actually shop around for the best deals on things, with both online coupons and in the store bargains. I know I want to get my mom a digital camera, so I've been keeping an eye on deals at Best Buy.

Of course, the bulk of the kids' gifts will come from ToysRUs or Target, though I may have to be a big buzkill and throw some clothes into the mix, too.

I know what I'm getting Evan, but, being as he sometimes takes a visit over here to the world o' littlebitinteresting, I think I'll keep that one to myself for now.

So, who knows...if I manage to pull this off When I am all done with my shopping by December 1st, I might just get to enjoy the holiday season for what it is - a time for family and friends and joy.

PS - Lest you think this cat has really changed her stripes...I may be all organized for Christmas by the beginning of October, but don't ask about the as of yet to be purchased halloween costumes. Baby steps...

I Challenge You

To make three small changes to positively impact the environment. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, how for quite some time, I've felt that I wanted to do 'something' to fix things, yet felt unable to commit to any of the big things. I'd love to buy a hybrid car, for example, but hell will probably freeze over before I'm in the market to actually purchase a NEW car. I'd love to buy only organic produce, dairy and meats, but I simply can't afford to. I'd love to not create so much household waste, but with a baby in disposable diapers (who goes to daycare, so even if I were so motivated as to cloth diaper, it isn't feasible), the volume of trash we produce every day is staggering.

So, instead of dreaming big and doing nothing, I've started to just make some small changes. Anything is better than nothing, right? Here's what we're doing:

• I've switched to a phosphate-free dishwasher detergent (Bi-O-Kleen) to minimize adding phosphorous to our lakes and streams.

• I've switched to a non-petroleum-based dish soap and laundry detergent (Seventh Generation). According to the bottle: If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 25 oz. petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our 25 oz. vegetable based product, we could save 81,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,600 U.S. homes a year!

Both of these products cost a lot more ($2 plus per bottle) than the traditional brands, but it is an easy expense to absorb, as we only use, at most five or six bottles each per year.

• I bought a reusable grocery tote. While I don't think I'll be eliminating our use of plastic grocery bags anytime soon (they are very useful for disposing of stinky diapers!), I figure just cutting in half the number of these bags we use each shopping trip will contribute, in some small way, to reducing landfill.

So, those are our three small changes. We do have a bigger change in the works, but it isn't for everyone. We're going to start composting our kitchen waste. The county is offering a workshop next month and giving away a free Earth Machine, so we soon should be on our way. So anyway, I challenge you...make three small changes toward a bigger impact.

Shoes and Bags

For the past several weeks, I've been on a bit of a shopping binge. After nearly five years of really only buying the necessities for myself, while devoting any extra cash and shopping energy to outfitting the girls, I've rediscovered the pleasure of shopping for myself. Not the kind of shopping where you need to get something specific, or need to outfit yourself for a season all in one shot (I find those excursions stressful), but rather, the kind of shopping where you pop into a store on your lunch hour and end up with something you had no idea you wanted or needed, but now love.

I've gotten a number of things this way recently, but, by far, my biggest shopping addiction seems to be shoes and handbags. I know it makes me sound very stereotypically female, but lately, I just can't seem to ever have enough pairs of shoes. After years of wearing nothing but clunky black shoes, I've suddenly branched out and have several pairs of pumps (I'm rockin' the skinny jeans and heels look) as well as a couple of pairs of animal print ballet flats (I wasn't so sure about them initially, but I get tons of compliments on them, so I'm getting more comfortable with them).

I've also bought a number of bags that I love. I scored a great Hervé Chapelier tote from ebay this summer for a fraction of the retail price. I went a little crazy at Banana Republic a while back and now sport two bags--one a caramel color calfskin purse, the other a sheepskin trimmed tote--that get complimented everywhere I go. And, after carrying the same, raggedy wallet for nearly 15 years, I splurged on a funky, cheetah-print number (yeah, I'm lovin' the whole animal skin motif lately) that actually brings me joy every time I take it out (you know, take it out to buy more stuff...).

So, what's the point here? You're never too old to develop a superficial, additive behavir.

Ok, so...the weekend

Friday night was a flurry of getting ready. Since I knew we would be gone all weekend, and I didn't want to start the new week behind as far as the normal weekend chorse, I felt compelled to add grocery shopping and housecleaning, in addition to packing, to the nights' activities. At the last minute, while packing, I realized that I couldn't find the tie Evan was planning on wearing. Since he isn't a dress up kind of guy, he only has one suit, and two dress shirt/tie combos. Shirt #2 was out at the drycleaners, and shirt #1 definitely does not work with tie #2, so, what does one do at 9pm on a Friday night when one needs a tie? One goes to Target, of course! Who knew Target had such a fantastic selection of mens' clothing?!? So, I found a great tie, got back home and managed to get to bed just after 11 - not bad, all things considered.



Isn't this a great looking tie? Picture it with a bright blue shirt and dark green suit. He looked great, if I do say so myself. This reminds me of something funny the pastor said at the wedding ceremony "when I asked Kristin and Matt to talk about their love for eachother, Kristin summed it up perfectly: 'Matt and I make so much sense. I showed him how to dress, and he taught me to sit down and breathe'. " LOL - that just speaks volumes, doesn't it?

We dropped the girls off at their grandparents' house by nine on Saturday, and hit the road. The ride was kind of long, but it was nice to just have the peace and quiet and be able to chat, or not, as we wanted. We stopped for lunch in Scranton (not exactly a booming town) where we got the giggles over the fact that there is a coffee place named "Sheetz". I looked everywhere for the Dunder Mifflin crowd there, but they were no where to be found.



So, we hit the road again and made it up to Syracuse by 2:30.

The wedding was really a lot of fun, and very beautiful. Kristin was engaged years ago, and due to get married just a few months before Evan and I. Right before the wedding, Ben (her college boyfriend) called it off and basically sent Kristin into a tailspin that took years to get over. So, it is especially nice to see that she has found, in Matt, a real partner in life. I'm so happy for her (them).

The reception was a blast - Kristin has this amazing ability to make and keep friends from every aspect of her life. She keeps in touch with just about EVERYONE from the college crowd, so it was great to see not only my good friends that I'm still in touch with, but also the people that I only see from time to time, and even more thrilling, some of the people I haven't seen since I graduated. Of course, seeing Lyd (who is just about the cutest preggo I've ever seen) and Lisa was the best of all. I told Lisa I'm getting spoiled, since I've seen her three times in two months. It was a lot of fun to get to party with them (and, they both married such nice, fun, guys, too). And, it was defreakinglicious to get to sleep in, lounge around in bed, and stumble down to brunch at, what, for us, was unthikably late.

So, we got back to find kids who had a great time with their grandparents, but also missed us. As I mentioned, I think they've both got a touch of a virus, so there has been an extra amount of crying and whining since we've been back, but, thanks to a night away, I think both Evan and I feel refreshed and better equipped to handle it today.

Uninspired

It's Monday morning. I'm totally dragging today. The weekend was a blast, but really tiring, and the girls were both a bit of a wreck this morning (honestly, I think they've both got a touch of something...they both seem just a bit off). And, somehow, I've got to write a sponsored post that has the phrase Phoenix real estate in it, and for the life of me, I'm coming up empty. Oh, wait...looks like I just hit it. ;) Weekend update to follow soon.