Perfect Gift for the Mom in Your Life

Right now, when you sign up for a new Cingular Wireless account, you can get a free cell phone. You get a pink RAZR -- you also get a free Bluetooth Headset with it. This is such a good deal. I actually am kicking myself because I just got a new account and phone a couple of weeks ago. I wish I had known this deal was coming down the pike. Anyway, it would make a great gift idea for Mother's Day, don't you think? Long after flowers have died and candy has been eaten, YOUR mom can be stylin' with her very cool phone.

I know I'm feeling a bit stumped about what to get my mom for the big day. And, for those of you who like to leave it to the last minute, they are offering free 2-Day FedEx delivery.

So, even if you already have an account, but are in the market for a new phone, check out Wirefly. They have tons of great phones and some really good deals that you most likely won't get at your local phone retailer.

This deal runs until May 11th (just two days shy of the Mother's Day), so be sure to check it out.

Thursday Thirteen

Apparently, in the blogsphere, different days have themes (e.g., Wordless Wednesday, Supahstar Saturday...). Today, is Thursday Thirteen. Anyway, I'm sure I'm supposed to be adhering to some topic or something, but I'm going to make it my own. So, for today's Thursday Thirteen, I'm simply going to post thirteen interesting, and not-so interesting things going on in my life on this fine Thursday. Brace yourselves ;)

1. We registered Sadie for Kindergarten this morning.
2. I rode my bike into work - it was such a nice ride (perfect temperature, no traffic), and a great way to start the workday.
3. I'm wearing zebra-print shoes today, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I wish I could be one of those people who just wear anything with confidence, but it is so hard for me.
4. This morning I started the final weaning of Eden off the bottle. We dropped her morning bottle, and once that is done, we'll work on the last one, the before bed bottle. I'm so sad about it.
5. Last night we got a ton of plants for one of our front beds, so this evening, we're going to try to get them in the ground.
6. Sadie picked some flowers to bring in to one of her good (boy) friends at school. When we got there, he announced "Sadie! I brought you a flower!" I think something is blossoming between those two...
7. Speaking of young love...I think Eden has a thing for Ernie from Sesame Street. I swear she gets all flirty with the TV whenever he comes on.
8. I post on a parenting message board (have since I was pregnant with Sadie) and we are a very tight group over there. Recently, I've noticed that someone I always got along really well with is giving me the cold shoulder (as in, not responding to any thread I post). It is bumming me out, and I'm not really sure what I did to tick her off. I hate Internet drama...for whatever reason, it always seems so much more overblown than real-life relationships.
9. I scheduled another playdate for Sadie with her friend, Olivia. I'm excited about it because a: playdates are always fun for Sadie, and b: I really like Olivia's mom...so it is nice to get together.
10. I have to buy a birthday present for a 5 year old boy. I have no idea what little boys like. The few times he's been to our house for a playdate, he's been very interested in playing with Sadie's Barbie dolls...I'm guessing it is best to just keep that one our little secret, though.
11. The latch on our dishwasher seems to have broken. I have a load of clean dishes trapped in there! The darn thing is only a year old, too. Aggravating.
12. I'm having lunch out, today, at a place right on the boardwalk. I love living at the shore. :-)
13. We have had Babel at our house for almost three weeks. Each night, we say we're going to watch it, and each night, something else comes up. So, I'm putting this out there publicly...TONIGHT we are going to watch the darn movie. Really.
    

Better than Expected

The shots are administered, the tears have been dried, the bellies are full of nasty fast food, the little one is napping, the big one is back at school, and the mom is relieved. Phew!

Unhappy Visit = Happy Meal

In a little bit, I need to leave work and go pick up both girls and take them for their well visits. they are both getting shots today, so it isn't going to be pretty. Actually, Eden is likely to not really notice/care, if her 12 month appointment is any indicator. But Sadie will notice and care. And cry and whine. And recoil from the nurse as if she is a man-eating shark.

I will be bribing her to cooperate by dangling a rare and coveted trip to McDonald's afterwards. Truthfully, though, I'm sure I'll still have to basically pin her down, screaming, for the shot. And, we'll still go to McD's afterwards.

My mom is meeting me at the dr.'s office, to help by holding Eden while I'm wrestling with Sadie. It takes a village, I tell you....

So Good

Ever since we left Boston, I've been complaining about the lack of good Indian food in this area. Apparently, a bit north of here, there's a huge Indian population, and tons of restaurants and food markets. But, since going out to eat without the kids in tow is a rare occurence, I'm not about to drive 35 minutes for a restaurant.

So, I've been looking for a good store-bought substitute for Indian cooking. The other night, we made Chicken Tikka Masala, using Patak's sauce, and doctoring it up a bit with added ginger and cilantro.

Two thumbs up. It was so good! I'm not sure if it would hold up to a good restaurant version of the meal, but it was tasty. Kind of like how Gardenburgers are really good, provided you're not expecting to taste a juicy hamburger when you bite into one, you know? My only complaint was that the sodium content was super high, but that seems to be the case with processed foods. I figure that 99% of what we cook and eat is made from scratch, so the occaisional sodium-laden meal won't kill us. Anyway, Patak's makes a whole line of products and both our local grocery stores carry lots of them, so we'll definitely be trying out some others.

There's Something for Everyone, Online

I guess the Internet really is a buyer's marketplace. My father, who can barely (and grudgingly) manage email has no use for the Internet. When I try to tell him all of the things he can do more efficiently online (check the weather report, make travel plans, buy movie tickets, read a variety of international news sources), he usually tells me he prefers to do things 'the traditional way.'

Well, I think I've found something you can't do the traditional way....have a cyber affair. Sure, everyone knows that people meet and cheat online all the time, but there is actually a business created to facilitate it. Talk about a niche market! Not the meeting part, but the cheating part. That's what I'm finding so over-the-top about this concept...anyway, something for everyone, I suppose.

It does make me seriously consider dropping our Internet service at home, though. Wonder if I should tell my dad about this service next time I'm having one of our "progress is good" debates?!?! :snicker

Disclosure

now that I know that people I know are actually reading this thing, I do feel the need to disclose the fact that some of my posts are sponsored. That is, I get paid to post and link to other sites. For the most part, I try to accept sponsored opportunities that match my interests, so it may not always be obvious to a reader which is a sponsored post. However, sometimes, I'm going to be less discerning about the opportunities I take (hey, that trip to WDW is going to cost money, you know!), so consider yourself warned.