Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Little Boy Blue #2 has made it clear in his very best 1 year old way that he will not take breaking up with his "best friend" lightly. Unfortunately, his bestie is his pacifier.

We were making slow and steady progress on segregating the little suckers to naptime only, but then we ran into the family vacation and the 10 hour car ride. The pacifier was everyone's best friend then. We even let him bring it down to the beach - sandy paci . . . yummy. Now we are home and back in the fight. This is our second round as parents so we are pretty confident that he won't be smuggling these things off to college, but I would still like to stop carrying around what looks like a tiny scuba diver. However, in a short amount of time Logan has shown that he has unmatched determination, so this should be quite a battle of wills.

Battle of the Bathroom

Our dog has now destroyed bath mat number 6 for the year. 6 bath mats! We like to give her free run of the master bath when we are away during the day. It's doggy paradise - nice, cool tile floor, plenty of sunbathing under a big window, and apparently bath mats. In her undeserved defense, it appears that she thinks she's just doing what any other dog would do - fluffing up her sleeping spot. But then a few strings come flying off and she thinks she's under attack. That's when she has no choice but to let the fluff fly. She's obviously always the victor. The concerning thing is that she seems to be getting a little cocky. This last bathmat was hanging over the shower door. I can only assume that it was taunting her.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

I could not be more proud to be an American and I am so grateful for the sacrifices that have been made to protect the freedom I enjoy. I hope all of you are enjoying a fantastic 4th full of family, friends, fireworks and fun.

Crazy Craft: Dollar Store Hurricane Vases

I haven't been doing much in the way of decorating in the past few years. When we moved into our current house, I was pretty pregnant and the mantra for the new decor was "make it work" - as in, use what we already have and make it work in a new space. But lately, I've seen some amazing design work on several blogs. And when I saw a project to make hurricane vases completely from dollar store materials, I was dying to try it. After trips to two different Dollar Trees, I was ready to start. I picked up 4 candle sticks, 2 vases, 1 candle dish, and a drinking glass. The glue shown above is E-6000 and it comes highly recommended for all your craft adhesive needs. I was a little put off by the warning label which states, "WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer." Really? Oh well, carry on.

So here's what they look like all glued together.

And here's what they look like on the mantle all done.

I wanted fillers that were fun and summery so we have drink umbrellas, shells and marbles. I'm not sold on the fillers yet, but the project was too easy to be believed.

Of course, I have about a gazillion other projects in various states of completion that I cannot say the same for.

Here's a fun page that shows how to make apothecary jars in pretty much the same way.

Nails are Jewels, not Tools

Every nail salon I have ever been has a sign somewhere that bears the statement above. It makes me smile, because the odds that I will even be able to emerge from the salon without mangling my manicure are slim. Before both boys were born I went to have a pedicure. Both times I looked down on the day after they were born to see a hunk of polish missing from my big toe. Both times were a result having my foot hooked under a hospital bed, but that's another story entirely. The point is that my life is a full-contact sport. All of the mortal enemies of a good manicure are every-day occurrences around here.

All of this is why I was so excited when I saw the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. No drying time was a huge seller. So I went to Target to check them out. I thought the $8.99 price tag for 16 strips was a little high, but I don't already have a line item for a nail salon in my budget. My next problem is that the color selection is a little wild. They have a wide selection of styles, but I really struggled to find something that didn't make me feel 14 again. I finally decided on Bling It On, a pink sparkle pattern. Since they were so bright, I waited until our beach vacation to put them on. They were a little more work to put on than I was expecting - more than an hour compared to 15 minutes, and I never did get the hang of rolling them over my nail to create complete coverage and optimal wear. The box also calls out that these are odor-free, but it smelled like nail polish to me. The packaging promises 10 days of wear. I'm at that point now and I think that they are about to go. I have some chipping on all of the nails and some growth away from the cuticles. Pretty good compared to a regular polish. But most of all, they are still too bright for me. Sad to say, I get distracted by my own nails.

BOTTOM LINE: I'm still delighted by the no-paint nail color concept, but I don't think that I can break away from my 1 shade wonder. I think Incoco has some colors that will work better for me.

Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this review.

30 Days Starting NOW

This past Spring, Jackson had several WOW words (as in, "WOW, did my 4 year old just use that enormous word correctly? The child that I thought was never going to talk?"). Two of our favorites were "chrysalis" and "metamorphosis". Since the last time I came up with a blog post was 12-17-10, it appears that this blog has been in a cocoon of its own. However, I think that my story is a little closer to this guy's.

Particularly the eating part . . .

But the days of literary lounging are over.

The blog is back and is ready to take flight. With that said, I am excited (and a little apprehensive) to commit to you that for the next 30 days, there will be 1 post per day. I am sure that some will be a little shorter than others but every day we will have words.

"Let's DO this thing." - another Jackson-ism

Five Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Six Thousand Minutes Ago

5,256,000 minutes!

5,256,000 moments so dear.

5,256,000 minutes!

How do you measure - measure 10 years?

In daylights? . . . we love the long ones of the summer best!

In sunsets? . . . we have some great ones in the wide open plains of West Texas

In midnights? . . . not an unusual bedtime

In cups of coffee? . . . used for medicinal purposes only (see prior statement about bedtime!)

In inches? . . . our beautiful little ones were 19 and 19.29 when they were born

In miles? . . . never very many apart

In laughter? . . . we have so much

In strife? . . . we don't have much

In 5,256,000 minutes

How do you measure 10 years of a marriage?

How about love?

Measure in LOVE

5,256,000 minutes ago
I married my best friend.

I LOVE YOU, J!

*** My thanks to the composer of the musical RENT - how else could I calculate the number of minutes in 10 years! ***