PractiGal

Help Katrina Victims

If you're looking to offer help for victims of Hurricane Katrina, here's a link to the Red Cross donation site. The site even mentions that you can donate your spare change via Coinstar machines at some supermarkets.

Donate Now to the American Red Cross at Coinstar machines

Just by bringing your spare change to the grocery store, you can help the American Red Cross bring relief to disaster victims in your area and across the country.

If half of those Americans living within 2 miles of a Coinstar machine donated just $1 in spare change to the Red Cross, it would raise more than $65 million to support American Red Cross lifesaving services in communities nationwide!

Time to shake my piggy bank. I'm going to give blood today, too. Want to join me?

It's Been A Great Decade

Today's my last day as a 30-something. Wow. How'd that happen? Better than not happening, of course.

I've decided that a little pampering is in order, so I'll be off for a pedicure and manicure tomorrow morning, after breakfast with my family. My husband claims he'll be taking me to either Taco Bell or Denny's for dinner, and I still need to find an appropriate outfit for the occasion. I suspect he may have something else up his sleeve, as there's talk of putting a blindfold over my eyes when we go out to eat. Hmm.

Be sure to stop by here tomorrow. We'll be indulging in the chocolatiest cake you've ever had. We'll have tea and coffee too. And balloons! And we'll party like it's..., er, 2005!

 

Photo Update

Here's the little guy's first house of his very own. I wonder if he'll let his parents have it as a retirement home some day? (Click photo to enlarge)

• Check out the giraffe skin I found...

Coming soon to a door near you:

• Capturing one of those special father-son moments....  if he'd only come out of his shell!

 

Sensory Snippet for Sunday

Imagine you're shoving a huge container of leftover spaghetti down the garbage disposal. You run the disposal, but the sink it backing up. You turn it off and restart, hoping the disposal just needed to catch its breath for such a large feeding.

You run the disposal some more, but nope... there is indeed blockage. You turn the disposal off, clench your teeth and stick your hand down the drain to see if there's a runaway washcloth or small kitchen appliance interfering with the functioning of the disposal.

Squish squish squish.

You feel water, chopped up spaghetti, and disposal blades. You remove your hand.

What next?

"Honey!?"

Silly Games

Seems there are all sorts of things that are acceptable to do when you're a child, and not quite so acceptable when you're an adult.  You know - sitting down on the sidewalk, drawing pictures with chalk, making silly faces, having a complete meltdown/tantrum in public...

The nice thing about being a parent is that you get to partake in some of those child-like pastimes once again; as long as you're with your child, certain things are moderately acceptable. Of course the adult tantrum is never acceptable in public, but there are other things you can get away with.

I've gotten used to making silly faces at my son in the grocery store to keep him entertained. A lot of adults pay no attention to this, and the ones that do usually just smile.

And of course, anything goes at home, as far as silliness is concerned. Mom & Dad (especially Mom, I think) behave like absolute nutties to keep the boy laughing sometimes.

This morning, the little guy picks up something off the kitchen floor and puts it in his mouth. My husband sees this from behind, and doesn't see what it is. Used to be that we could just open our mouths once, and he'd to the same, giving us a chance to fish stray objects from his mouth. We were pretty sure it wasn't anything to be concerned with this time - the kitchen floor is clean. It was probably a crumb or piece of lint. Anyway, my hubby sits down on the floor, and tries to convince the little guy to open his mouth. Hubby opens wide, sticks his tongue out and then urges the little one to do the same -- like a game. No luck. He still looks like he's working on something inside those clenched lips though.

So I decide to join the game. I sit down on the kitchen floor too, and stick my tongue out and open my mouth wide. The little guy gets up, walks across the kitchen, and takes a seat on the floor across the room. Meanwhile, his parents continue to open their mouths wide, with tongues hanging out.

Instead of a little mouth opening, you know what we see? Big eyes filling with tears, and quivering, clenched lips. He's afraid! Imagine, being 17 months old and having both your parents sit down on the kitchen floor and make odd faces at you. Poor little love!

I scoop him up and tell him that everything's okay.

We never did see what was in his mouth.

I only hope we haven't scarred him for life...

Just Breathe Deeply

I woke up today with an upset stomach -- a Nervous Nelly upset stomach. We're trying out a new babysitter this evening while we go out to dinner. It will be a short outing, and I'm sure everything will be just fine. We're just not in the habit yet of having a teenager babysit. I've been looking forward to going out with my husband all week and haven't had any qualms about having a sitter. Til today. All day, my stomach has been swirling!

This will get easier, right?

Fortunately, some young girls just came to my door selling M&Ms for cheerleading. I'm sure the M&Ms will help to soothe my stomach.

Ehh - It's Just a Rental!

I'm guest-posting over at VW Bug's today! C'mon over to One Happy Dog Speaks and read about a rental car experience I'll never forget!

Buns of Dough

While sorting through our belongings for last weekend's yard sale, I noticed some things that I could actually put to use. No, not an old treadmill or exercise bike. I found my old step aerobics box and exercise tapes and thought - Hmm... There's an idea.

There was a time when I was quite fit. It's been a few years, but I would go to the YMCA very regularly for aerobics classes. I went several times a week and felt healthy and fit. Since meeting my husband, that's changed. We did some pretty serious bike-riding before having our son, but we also went out for lots of dinners. We went out to eat all.the.time.  Now we don't seem to have the time or money for much of that, and we do plenty of cocooning. Oh, we go for walks together, and I walk by myself in the early morning, but nothing that's as intense a workout as what I once did.

I've noticed that I have a good amount of "mush" on me now. And I don't like it! So I figured I'd try the tapes and step box. It's been a while. I'm rusty, but the time has come.

Today, instead of going for my early-morning walk, I popped in my Buns of Steel video, circa 1992.  What? Super Advanced Buns of Steel? ! I didn't realize that's the one I own. Crap. Oh well, so I start to follow along.

To start, I'm not dressed properly - still in my pjs, and no shoes. During the warmup, it becomes apparent that I need shoes for this. Pause the tape... add socks and sneakers.

You know what? That Tamilee is awfully perky for 6:30a.m.!! And that thong thing -- do people still wear those? I don't understand the thong. Why would you wear something that makes it feel like you have a perma-wedgie?

Anyway, I stick with Tamilee through the warmup, trying to ignore the fact that she doesn't have an ounce of flab anywhere. I bet she doesn't have a desk job! I bet she hasn't had a baby! I bet she doesn't blog! Ha! She doesn't know what she's missing...

Where was I?

Ah, yes. The workout. We lunge. We stretch. We curl. We smile. OK, so one of us smiles... and it's not me.

After about 15 minutes, I am irritated with Tamilee. My baby is waking up. I'm huffing and puffing. I decide that's enough Tamilee for now. I do a few crunches without her guidance.

Now I know why that tape's been sitting here collecting dust. I probably picked it up at someone else's garage sale - from someone who was equally irritated with Tamilee.

I think I'll try my yoga tape next. I don't remember that one bugging me. Yes, yoga. That way I can remind myself not only how mushy I am, but that I am mushy and no longer limber. Sigh.

Huggable L'il Giraffe

It's possible that I've landed one of the world's cutest Halloween costumes. I need to put a picture of it here, so that you can nod in agreement. The camera is MIA...  Hubby must have it.

I don't typically think about Halloween costumes in August, but a neighbor told me that the consignment store near us is being sold. I immediately thought of winter coats and Halloween costumes. Those are two things I refuse to buy new. I dashed over to the store today and had no luck finding a winter coat, but I did find a very cute Halloween costume for the little guy. It's a 2-piece giraffe suit with fake fur. The hood is the giraffe head, with a mane (if that's what it's called on a giraffe) going down the back. The pants have a tail attached. It's sooo cute. I think it may be a little snug, but he won't be wearing it for long.

Now, to just stay away from the Halloween candy at the grocery store! It's August, people! What? Are we supposed to stock up now before the great candy shortage of 2005?

It's All About The Plastic

It was a successful Saturday sale in our neighborhood. Despite the lack of formal advertising, we had a brisk flow of customers most of the day. We managed to get rid of a lot of crap sell many treasures, visit with the neighbors, and acquire a few good items with our earnings. We ended up coming out about even, $-wise, between sales and purchases. This was fine with us. Out with the old, in with the new...

We found out that you can't give away an old tv these days. We had a color tv for sale. For $5. Yes, $5. A small, old-fashioned dial tv, but it works. We had it plugged in & were watching PBS during the sale. It gets a decent picture, even without an antenna; it would probably be great with an antenna. After several inquiries and six hours, we had an offer. My husband had lowered the price to $3. We wanted to get rid of the thing; we already have 3 tvs in the house. Finally, a buyer! But within minutes, it was unsold, when the daughter of our elderly buyer came back to collect her mother's $3 and to tell us that she had changed her mind. The tv's still sitting on the curb on Monday. Unbelievable.

My big finds of the day were plastics for our son. I spied a neighbor unloading a trailer full of large plastic toys the day before the sale. One item in particular caught my eye -- a large plastic playhouse for the yard, in beautiful condition. I've looked at these new in the store, and know that you can buy them for a small-ish mortgage. I had noticed the rare occurence of play houses at garage sales. They're hard to come by, especially in pristine condition. This one would be mine.

I went to see it up-close the night before the sale, and asked my neighbor to let me know what she wanted for it. It's something like this only cuter. It had never been outside & looked like it had never even been played with. They wanted $45 for it. After only a brief bit of hemming and hawing, I decided to take it. I'm on Cloud 9 with this purchase. You can easily spend a few hundred on a plastic playhouse, and this one was like new!

My next acquisition, after a few hours of consideration, was a play kitchen in good shape -  with dishes, appliances, and play food. My son is too young for it now, but it won't be long til he's ready. And for $10, I knew I'd kick myself later if I didn't get it.

Near the end of the day, when I was admiring my purchases, my husband asked, "How much of this plastic crap are we going to get?"

My sister was there to help us & responded, " A lot."

It's always good when he hears these things from others besides myself.

Oh, and a note to the family across the street: If you are going to cook bacon and eggs at the beginning of the community yard sale, make enough for all the neighbors, dammit.