Not to brag . . .

Real Women of Pinterest Unite!

2012-02-08T23:47:08.792-06:00

When I started this blog almost five years ago, I didn't foresee a future where I'd post photos of my children's dinner. But here we are. Me, you, and some corn dog muffins, inspired by this Pinterest pin about mini corn dog muffins.

I've discovered that my operating procedure for Pinterest projects is as follows: look at the photo, glance once at the original post, give it a whirl.

So for the mini corn dog muffins, I thought, "I have two boxes of corn muffin mix and some hot dogs, let's go." I photographed the whole process, but since my final product was iffy, I'm not going to tease/insult you with a detailed play-by-play.

I followed the directions on the box, sliced my hot dogs in paranoid no-choke slivers, and let the kids stick them in the middle of the muffin cups.
(image) Here they are fresh out of the oven. Although the appearance is a bit uneven, I think the slivers were a good call. I don't know that I would have felt comfortable having one large, circular, brownish/pinkish disc in the middle of each rounded muffin.
(image) If I had more than glanced at the original pin, I would have noted the need to spray the muffin tins. I think it would have taken A LOT of spray, but the results might have been better than trying to peel the bitty cupcake liners off the crumbly corn muffins. With a little practice, I developed some finesse in unwrapping them, but still, greased tins would have been better. [PLEASE, please, please, I'm begging you, please notice the fruit that is also on the plate.]
(image) Though it wasn't pretty, the oldest and the youngest ate about three each. The guy featured above polished off six.

Honestly? I'd try it again. The kids seemed excited about the project even though the final product was crumbly. Next time, I'd spray the tins and try to figure out how to incorporate more protein.

Any Pinteresting in your neck of the woods? Send photos to mep AT nottobrag DOT net or link up blog posts below.

Until next week, march on, Real Women of Pinterest. Maybe the week to come will be the one where I find about twenty extra hours somewhere.

Ready, Set, Go

2011-11-15T19:06:41.764-06:00

You know how there are some moms who are able to do their holiday shopping throughout the year -- buying the perfect gifts as they think of them instead of forgetting all their brilliant ideas, taking advantage of sales instead of flailing around desperate and hasty, stockpiling treats in a secure and secret spot rather than misplacing them? Do you know those moms?I am not one of those moms, and it's a shame. It's not that I get incredibly stressed out preparing to play Santa Claus. I don't. Desperate and hasty are probably a bit strong for describing me. Our kids have been happy every Christmas morning so far. However, I always end up feeling a bit disappointed in myself, like I could have done better. By better I don't mean grander or more lavish. I mean better as in more creative and surprising.My ideas and plans for Christmas this year are still foggy, but here are some ideas I'm thinking about ...For Bub:Make good on my promise to turn part of a basement storage/furnace room into an art studio. I'd love for him to open the door and see a rug on the floor, the easel he already owns set up with new paints and brushes, a clothes pin art gallery ready and waiting for his creations, a smock, a variety of paper, and one of those 10-packs of blank canvases they sell at Michaels for $14.99. Also, a new bulb in the overhead fixture in there so he can see what he's doing.For Little Bit:He's really into the puppet theater in the library's "learning garden." Hubby and I don't have the time or DIY skills to construct a wooden puppet theater, but I think I could rig up something cool with some fabric and a tension rod -- maybe for a doorway or part of the playroom. Or, if I had a giant sturdy cardboard box, I think he'd be just as excited by that. I'd buy a few puppets and also search Pinterest (I know, I know, when will I stop mentioning Pinterest? Never.) for some directions on making your own paper bag or sock puppets. For Sweet P:Sweet P is flat-out obsessed with babies. Each night before she goes to bed, she has me tucking in three battered and semi-naked Cabbage Patch dolls (two of mine, one of her dads), her dad's "Baby Troy," a stuffed Elmo, and a Barbie-sized Princess Leia. She is constantly bringing me various babies to be swaddled. We've made some makeshift beds out of cardboard boxes, and she gets a real kick out of taking the babies in and out of the beds. For her, I'd love to create a miniature day care center -- a corner of the playroom or basement that has some baby beds or little pack n' plays, car seats, high chairs, strollers, etc. I've seen all this baby doll stuff at toy stores, and I imagine I could improvise as well. I think she could spend hours moving the babies from one spot to the next, especially if any of these baby doll items have straps to latch and unlatch. Actually, if I can't get the child care center set up, I'm just going to find a used infant carseat (we gave ours away when I could no longer carry it and Sweet P at the same time) so she could spend her days buckling and unbuckling it.Speaking of babies, anyone have a source for inexpensive clothes to fit Cabbage Patch dolls?For all three:They all love singing and dancing, and I think they'd get a kick out of a dance area with a spot light. Our CDs and digital music are pretty disorganized right now. If we get our act together in that department, we could create an atmosphere more conducive to dance parties.Okay, I've got to end this post and get to work on these ideas ASAP. I probably should have started months and months ago. And, just warning you, I feel like I have more semi-creative Christmas ideas percolating. Stay tuned. Any creative surprises in mind for the kids in your life? Please share in the comments.[...]

PFMP -- Phase One

2011-11-12T00:36:20.718-06:00

Yesterday, I finished Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? I adored this book. Kaling is smart, hard-working, and refreshingly honest about what's important to her: her parents, her friends, her hope to one day be in a happy marriage and be a mom. Her book of personal essays is extremely well-written and genuinely funny. If I were still teaching high school English, I would offer an excerpt to students to illustrate the elusive quality we call "voice." Hers is clear, strong, and engaging. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? would make a great gift for anyone who enjoys a smart, funny read that does not rely on shock value or cheap shots.One essay is entitled "These Are the Narcissistic Photos in My BlackBerry" and includes photos from Kaling's BlackBerry with commentary. I don't take many photos of myself with my phone, perhaps because I seldom need to check my hair and make-up on the way to awards shows. I do snap a lot of pics with my phone though, often with the intention of sharing them in a blog post. Here's the first phase of PFMP (Photos from My Phone), complete with commentary approximately 96% less funny than Kaling's and with insight into the accompanying posts that never quite materialized. Okay, here we have Little Bit taking a walk amongst some still-melting snow mounds last winter. Since it snowed here for about seven minutes this afternoon, this photo called out to me today. There's my old city street -- aawww.Here's the Charlie Sheen auction package at the boys' school fundraiser last year. Can't remember if I took the photo because I thought it was funny or inappropriate. Discuss amongst yourselves. Actually, don't bother.There's my Bub holding one of the Sweet Pickles books we read at Grammy and Pop's house. I'd love to have a complete set even though some of those Sweet Pickles are more grumpy and/or depressed than they are sweet.A Caprese Salad my mom made. Delish.Ahoy, mateys. We took the boys on a fantastic pirate cruise when we were in Florida last March. Loved it -- one of those rare totally-got-our-money's-worth experiences!Whoa, step back. Is that the Biebs peeking out of my sister's front door? Or maybe just the life-size Justin Bieber cardboard cutout I got my niece for her birthday (pre-alleged-baby-mama-drama). I photographed each party guest with Mr. Bieber but never ended up putting a post together.And here is the button I sewed onto my husband's shirt ... after that shirt sat on top of our china cabinet for two months early this year. Bet you're sorry that thrilling post never came to be.We'll end with the money shot. For as long as I can remember, the garage door above has had Snoopy as the Red Baron painted on it. It's next to a main road in the town bordering my hometown, and I have passed it thousands of times on my way home. I snapped this from the Odyssey as I was pointing it out to my kids --the very same garage door I had looked at from the back seat of the station wagons and conversion vans of my youth!And there you have it, PFMP, Phase One.Any gems saved on your phone?[...]

Picture Lady in the House

2011-11-09T21:54:58.839-06:00

I am visiting Bub's kindergarten class as part of a parent-sponsored Fine Arts Program.

At my grade school, this program was called "Picture Lady."

Tomorrow I am the Picture Lady. I feel old and yet strangely proud because I always found Picture Lady and the picture ladies themselves to be kind of awesome.

I'd say I was worried about doing something that would embarrass Bub, but the truth is that he is still so young, innocent, eager, and sweet that I doubt I could embarrass him if I tried. He is over-the-top excited that I'm coming to his classroom tomorrow.

And so am I.
(image) Off to get some beauty rest and dream of Van Gogh's The Bedroom in my own.

Word Up

2011-11-08T21:35:17.767-06:00

Well, I've reached that point in November when daily posting is getting difficult. I'm too tired and uninspired to write anything worth reading, but too stubborn to give up on the NaBloPoMo daily posting challenge.

Pick a Card, Any Card

2011-11-07T23:08:20.656-06:00

Here are my memories from kindergarten: distinguishing myself by preferring white milk over chocolate, sitting on the rug and talking about the weather, going into the little classroom bathroom once and finding poop on the seat, being part of the group with the gold folders, hearing my teacher say she was "ready for my golden girls and boys," and calling my teacher at home to tell her that my new baby sister had just been born.I don't remember learning any sight words in kindergarten and that may be the reason why one of my memories of first grade involves having one of the thickest stacks of sight word flashcards. It could be that kindergarteners in 1980 did not learn sight words.Kindergarteners in 2011 do learn sight words, which I think is fantastic. Bub is so eager to learn to read, and watching him on this journey is one of the most rewarding and exciting parts of parenthood so far.We were given a list of sight words for each quarter at the start of the year and some suggestions for helping our children learn them. One of the tips was to play games like Memory and Go Fish with the words. I bought a package of index cards at Walgreens and made two cards for each word. What I found was that the index cards were a bit too big for these games. When we played Memory, the cards took up too much room on the table. When we tried Go Fish, Bub couldn't manipulate all the cards in his hand.One easy solution? Take the index cards left in the package, cut each in half, and make a new set of smaller, easier to handle cards. Feel free to stop reading at this point.* * * I got it in my head that it would be so great to play Memory and Go Fish with the sight words if they were on actual playing cards. So, here goes.Materials Needed: list of sight words appropriate to your child's grade level, computer/printer (though you could handwrite if you wish), full-sheet labels, playing cards, scissors, plastic containerDirections:1. Type the sight words (each word twice) in a large, easy-to-read font. I used three columns and typed eight words per page, but there may be more efficient ways to arrange your document if you did more measuring.2. Print on full-sheet labels (these are labels the size of a piece of printer paper -- available at any office store). Cut each word out (tedious).3. Pull the sticky back off each word off (more tedious) and stick that word on the face of a playing card. Since I did not measure precisely, some words did not fully cover the original face of the card but this does not seem to matter.4. Shuffle and play Memory with your sight word cards.Memory is my favorite even though Bub clobbers me every time. And, yes, he has a pencil attached to his shirt collar.5. Play Go Fish with the sight word cards. 6. Store in a little plastic container (could use the cardboard boxes to sort by level).Things to Consider:* if your child's sight words are sorted by quarter or level, you may consider using different colors of ink for each level.* these sight word cards would be a great way to re-use playing cards from an incomplete deck -- be aware that it might make sense to make sure words from the same quarter/level are adhered to the playing cards from the same deck* you don't need to throw out the Jokers as they just get covered* you can buy a two-pack of playing cards at the dollar store for ... a dollar!* probably best to make playing these games totally optional and not a chore/obligationRemember that I said you could stop at this (* * *) point? Just checking. There are tons of great ways to learn and review sight words that don't involve cutting and adhering full sheet labels. I'm just sharing something we've had fun with at our house in case the project appeals to you.I do this kind of stuff because I enjoy this kind of stuff. I think Bub gets a kick out of having the words on actual playing cards, and I don't regret the extra time and effort it took to assemble [...]

What Rhymes with Lame?

2011-11-06T22:19:18.459-06:00

Here's another round of the Favorite Game:

Favorite New Television Show
New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel

Favorite New Christmas Album I Haven't Even Heard Yet
A Very She & Him Christmas ("She" of this duo is Zooey Deschanel)

Favorite Variety of Chobani Greek Yogurt
2% Pineapple

Favorite "Female Story" I've Read
My bloggy friend Dusty's post "The Best/Worst 'Female' Story You Will Ever Read"

Favorite Books Read in October 2011
Kevin Wilson's The Family Fang and Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad

Favorite Male Television Personalities
Tom Bergeron and Regis Philbin

Favorite Class/Program for Young Children
Music Together

Favorite Blog Tag Line
Wendi Aaron's "they're not all gems" (seems quite applicable to this post)

LEAST Favorite Candy Bars (had to tweak category since I am abstaining from candy)
KitKat, Three Musketeer, Nestle Crunch, Hershey's

That's it for now. I'm finding it trickier to come up with categories in which I have clear favorites than I thought. Feel free to offer your own answers in the categories above and/or additional categories for consideration.

Pretty Perfect Morning

2011-11-06T13:11:46.036-06:00

Sweet P was up and at 'em early ... so I took the early train into the city and caught the sunrise.And on that train, I read this book and laughed aloud at least five times.When the train arrived in Chicago, I walked the almost-empty streets and enjoyed the rare freedom of having no stroller to push and no little hands to hold.Then all of a sudden on that almost-empty street, I crossed paths with two of my sister LAP's good college friends. LAP's roommate's son took a picture so we had a record of this happy, surprise meeting. They were headed to run in the Hot Chocolate Race.As they headed toward their race, I kept walking but paused to admire the Chicago River.Then I walked into that Hot Chocolate Race. And guess what? I needed to cross that street. I'll wait it out, I thought, surely the runners can't keep coming forever. Twenty minutes later, I got up enough nerve to Frogger my way across the road. No one was injured, and I felt strangely exhilarated.A little more walking, and I knocked on the door of the hotel room of one of my very favorite people in the whole world. I captured this city view from the room's window as she dried her hair and we talked in that very comfortable way you talk with someone who already knows you and loves you and appreciates you just the way you are.Then we walked a bit to earn our tasty breakfast. Matching bowls of oatmeal, Diet Coke, and the croissant (which we split). And more talking.Then some browsing and some analysis: Kit's scooter? Bitty Baby or Bitty Twin? Does Julie indeed have a pet rabbit? We gave each other the nudges we needed to give Santa some help. Then we got in a cab, met her hubby back at the hotel, and loaded up their sleigh.Pretty good picture for a parking garage backdrop. A few pretty, perfect hours with a pretty stinking awesome friend.That was my Saturday morning. And yours?[...]

Sippy Cup Chapel

2011-11-04T06:00:13.692-05:00

Pinteresting

2011-11-03T07:25:02.578-05:00

Here's a job I would like: Pinteresting. I would sit at the computer uninterrupted for an hour each morning, with a chilled Diet Coke and some delightful carb by my side, and pin things on Pinterest. Maybe I could be trusted with an important client project like "Pin all the best ideas for a nautical themed birthday party for a two year-old boy" or perhaps I would just be so admired as a pinner that I could pin and categorize whatever struck my fancy. Then, I'd go about my day as usual, taking care of the kids, doing school pick-up, heading to the park, making lunches, etc. At around 1:00 p.m., after Sweet P goes down for her nap, someone would come in and clean up the kitchen and family room, transition the laundry and occupy the boys for about ninety minutes while I got out my glue gun, paint, oil drip pan (yes, really), and ribbon and got to town turning my Pinterest dreams into realities. Actually, since I won't be beaten down by the thrice daily tidying of the kitchen, I will have the patience to let the boys join me in Pinteresting.Some of you are nodding your heads like, "Oh, yes, I hear you MEP. I also am addicted to Pinterest and want to apply for a job as a pinner too."Others are all, "What the hell is Pinterest?"It's an online home for every recipe, design idea, craft project, gorgeous photograph, handy tip, inspiring quotation, or party plan you've ever been tempted to rip out of a magazine (and obsessively sort and save in binders you rarely open -- wait, that might just be me). Since all the cool stuff is there, you just "pin it" on virtual boards in categories of your choice. If your friends are on Pinterest, you can see what they're pinning and "repin" their cool finds. I love seeing what my friends pin and it makes me happy to think that so many people are seeking inspiration and outlets for creativity.So, here's a recent example of Pinteresting at Casa MEP.I repinned a friend's link to this template for a beautiful thumbprint tree, intended to be a wedding guestbook (guests place thumbs in ink to make leaves for the tree). The tree was meant to be printed out large-scale, but I cropped the image (did not need the text on bottom for my project) and pasted it into a word document and sized it as I wished.I then threw the ink pads on the kitchen table and said, "Go to town, peeps!" Ha! I hovered a bit and strongly suggested they not use the blue ink and only the purple very sparingly because "don't we want our trees to look Fall-like and beautiful?"Luckily, the boys ignored me and did their own thing.Bub made a fist and pressed the whole side of his hand on the ink pad to create a flaming maple type effect. Love it.Little Bit used the same fist trick and was drawn to the very blue and purple ink I had strongly suggested they avoid. The result -- a lovely, twilight effect behind his tree.Sweet P needed a little help getting her small digits pressed into the ink far enough, but she caught on and enjoyed herself.I typed each child's name and the season and year before printing. I think if I did it again though, I'd have handwritten those details in the corner to make the trees seem more like the pieces of beautiful art that they are.I loved the final result so much that I popped them into some inexpensive frames from Michael's and cleaned off the mantle so I could display them.New plan is to come up with a creative take on Thanksgiving and then Christmas to rotate into the frames. I think I might stick with digit prints for now and will, of course, search Pinterest for ideas. It will be tough though, to switch things out, because looking at the autumn fingerprint trees is making me so, so happy.What about you? Do you Pinterest?And, what are you waiting for? Follow the link above to the tree template and get cracking![...]

What's in a day?

2011-11-02T07:26:33.909-05:00

My dear friend E... recently wrote about a day when she cried over spilled milk, a day when she asked herself, "Where has this day gone? Any why can't I accomplish anything, except walk around in the ten foot path between the kitchen table and sink?" I have those mom days too. Days frittered away in a haze of cleaning up the kitchen, begging the boys to pick up the Magna Tiles and then doing it myself, wrestling my Sweet P for diaper changes, settling arguments, preparing meals that I am embarrassed that my kids eat, and, sadly, getting so caught up in trying to create some order around this place that I'm less mom and more worker drudge.As a mom and an individual, I want to be loving, energetic, fun, creative, attentive and, most of all, present. I'm doing the best I can. One quality about myself that I have come to appreciate is my hopefulness and my faith in my own ability to grow, change, improve, evolve ... whatever you want to call it. I like thinking about the projects I want to accomplish (Pinterest -- I heart you), the books in my to-read pile, the recipes yet to be tried, the notes to be written, the exercise plans to be implemented, the fun stuff to be experienced and enjoyed with my husband and kids. I wake up many mornings, especially Mondays, thinking maybe this will be the day that I figure out how to do it all. Not sure that day will come and have certainly had many days that end in frustrated, brain dead, semi-exhaustion ...But I still have hope for what each new day might bring. For what I might bring to that day. With that in mind, I share with you a few glimpses of a new favorite children's book, one that would, in my opinion, make a better graduation gift than Oh, The Places You'll Go (though, that's a good one). What human being of any age or stage couldn't use a little inspiration regarding the value of a day?Cynthia Rylant is one of my very favorite children's authors. I've given her book Give Me Grace as a baby gift many times and love reading the the rhyming prayers for each day to my kids.In addition to Rylant's eloquent and inspiring text, I love Nikki McClure's illustrations in this book, which she created by drawing images on black paper and cutting them out with an X-Acto knife.I love how simple the palette is: black, yellow, beautiful blue/gray.I almost get chills here with "A day is all you have to be, it's all you get to keep."How can you argue with that? Okay, find a copy of this book so you can enjoy and be inspired by the whole thing. Then, buy some copies for people you love. And go fill today up with you.Disclaimer: I checked this book out of my local library. I was not compensated for this post. I will be buying copies of All in a Day as part of new baby gift bundles.[...]

Same old story, but with a sweet(less) twist

2011-11-01T07:02:40.845-05:00

Okay, I'm not fishing for compliments. I think I look fine (not fine as in "Oh, Mickey, you're so fine" but fine). I've looked better. I've looked worse. I'm not anywhere near crisis mode about my personal appearance. That being said, I like to be able to button my jeans and pants and still feel like I can breathe. If possible, I like to put some jeans on and not have excessive spillage of the muffin top variety.If you find that a good three-fourths of the pants in your closet are feeling too snug for comfort, one solution is to purchase some new bottoms. And, yes, I did that.But I was also considering another common solution to the breath-constricting-pants problem: lose a few pounds.In an ideal world, I would combine good (or even just reasonable) food choices and some exercise and kiss those pounds goodbye. But whenever I think of weight loss, my mind does not head straight to "balance and moderation." I think: I need some rules. I need a program. I need a plan. I have a legal document box full of diet books that could attest to how well this train of thinking has panned out for me. And yet.And yet, a few weeks ago, I found myself reading this book. Not too bad as diet books go. Indeed, the author's suggestion for transitioning back to normal-non-diet eating after weight loss made a lot of sense to me. I had the feeling that if I could stick with the program, I could lose five or ten pounds and maybe keep it off.But here's the thing, even if I possibly could stick with the program, I don't freaking want to. I got about three-fourths of the way through the book, flipped through the recipes and menu suggestions in the back and thought, "MEP, who are you kidding, you are not going to make yourself a fancy French pancake out of egg whites, yogurt, and oat bran every day." No, just no. NO.I don't want to make that galette every day. I don't want to give up my obvious carby friends or slowly introduce vegetables and fruits back into my life after a period of eating lean, almost-pure proteins. I really enjoy the varieties of Greek yogurt with fruit on the bottom, but I am unwilling to buy into a lifestyle that considers such yogurts to be treats. I'm not saying this diet couldn't work or that it's bad or crazy (I've definitely read and tried worse). I'm just saying, I'm not interested. And yet.And yet I do need some rules. I do do best with a little structure. So I came up with one rule that I thought I could follow and that might make a difference.Stop eating candy.Yes, I'm thirty-six years old, and I am on a no-candy diet. No reaching into the hiding spot thirty times a day for some peanut butter M&M's. No buying Reese's Pieces at the checkout at CVS or Jewel or Walgreens or Home Depot. No eating a miniature Snickers for dessert ... after breakfast. No eating whatever other candy crosses my path--even if it's just a dum dum here or a Skittle stuck in a car seat there--just because it's there. Not no candy forever because I really love candy. Just no candy for now.And, guess what, three weeks now with no candy and I think it's helping. Our scale needs a new battery so I can't get that kind of progress check, but my pants are a bit looser, despite having had access to two birthday cakes and a container of extra homemade buttercream frosting. As it happens, when you make one good choice, you are kind of motivated to make others. Sure, I ate some cake and frosting, but it could have been worse.I had plenty of opportunity to make poor choices or start a bender while passing out Halloween candy, but I didn't and it wasn't even that hard. So now I feel kind of strong and proud of myself, NTB.So, there you have it, thirty-six years old and on a no-candy diet. For now.Before you know it, I will [...]

The places you will be from ...

2011-08-30T08:45:10.611-05:00

I'm back. I've missed you. Here's a quick recap: I cleaned our house for a thousand (slight exaggeration) showings this summer and then packed up a thousand place settings of Fiestaware (again, slight exaggeration, but I do have an obsession), a thousand books (accurate), and everything else we own so that we could finally, finally move to one of Chicago's Western suburbs. We have been wishing and hoping and cleaning and dreaming and praying that we could make this move for two years now. We're here.Yep, we're here. There's work to be done, but we look forward to doing it (or saving enough money to have it done--baby steps). We're happy. We're healthy. We have some more room (if one steps around the boxes, toys, and strewn packing materials) to breathe. We are thankful for the past decade in Chicago, and we look forward to the next chapter. All is well. The ending and the beginning.I will miss our street in Lakeview, but not hanging out in the van during showings and not the heinous apartment building across the street (see far left).I will miss this view, glimpsed from our pediatricians' office. Not everyone gets this view with their amoxicillin prescription, and I appreciated it.I will also miss this view from the boys' Lil Sluggers class. Lake Shore Drive high rises in one direction and the lake shore itself in the other. I have great memories of long walks along the lakefront during my first two years in Chicago -- back when I woke up after 9:00 a.m. and still listened to my audiobooks on cassette tapes.And how about those Lil Sluggers?Even though our new community has a super sweet, well-stocked, fresh-smelling, beautiful library, I will miss my "home" branches of the Chicago Public Library. Sulzer, Uptown, Lincoln/Belmont, I'm talking to you.And I'll miss the free museum passes you can check out at the Chicago Public Library to go places such as . . .The Nature MuseumThe Museum of Science and IndustryThe Adler PlanetariumSeriously, look at the skyline view from the Museum Campus.And look at the little beach behind the Planetarium that it took me ten years to find. The library's free museum passes helped get us out of the house during several showings this summer. Better at a museum than at our other "showing safe haven."That's right, Target. To be honest, I won't miss my Target. I've been there on too many super hot or super cold days, hoping to find some refuge for me and the kids. We'll just get some stuff on our list, get something to eat, pass some time, I tell myself. And we do, but only after I've spent money on crap I don't need, called out/yelled for Little Bit fifty times, and possibly sprinted to locate him. We won't even talk about Bub's favorite Target Cafe snack (cinnamon sugar pretzel dipped in ten packets of mustard, yep). Okay, I'm finished now. I won't miss my Target or the way city living forced (?) me to return there time and time again. Makes me feel sad. [Note: I chose this photo of Target because the boys always run to the doors, even when the path is icy or covered in puddles.]I will miss my Wrigley McDonald's big time -- this photo taken from its drive-thru window! How will I ever make it without my go-to spot for $1 large DC's? And the Southport Jewel. It took me a while to warm to this Jewel, but the store won my heart. I grew to love it when it was the small and slightly grubby store affectionately called "The Little Jewel" at our house. I continued to be a fan after it was knocked down, closed for a year, and then rebuilt to become "The New Jewel." The Jewel employees at Little and now New Jewel are the best ever. Seriously. I'm tearing up. I'll miss my Southport CVS too, but I forgot to take a photo. Oops.My whole family will mi[...]

Parenting Truth #1

2011-06-26T22:59:17.040-05:00

Context: Helping one's child put his/her shoes on.

Comments (0) - Read and Add your own Comments