Back To Me

Blah blah blah blah BlogHer

I am so excited to be here and overwhelmed and high on adrenaline and warm and fuzzy and OMG.  I'm meeting such amazing women that I have admired from afar, and also finally being able to HUG people I've wanted to hug for so long.

I've never had a group I could honestly call My Girls.  As in, oh I'm just going to hang with My Girls.  But I feel that here.  I've got a group of friends I truly identify with from all over the country and I truly feel at home here.  Does it feel like high school the majority of the time?  Oh yeah.  But here, everyone gets it.  Gets what we do, gets the relationships formed, gets the importance of the community.  I truly love it here, and the most comfortable beds on the face of the Earth may or may not have anything to do with it.

I know there are a lot of BlogHer haters out there and I don't really know what to say about that other than I truly believe it is what you make it.  Too terrified to go up to someone and chat?  You'll be lonely.  Caught up in the drama?  You'll be exhausted.   If anything, I feel empowered to be around so many successful women (and men! they're representing too!) and know that because of this I can and WILL be a better writer. (Not evidenced by this post of course, as I am running on four hours sleep.  But soon!  Oh very soon!)

In other news, Live Well Spend Well is rockin' and rolling.  We'll have some new giveaways coming up soon.  Thanks so much for the love and support!

Like Jaws, but cuter

We have been having such a blast taking Theo to the public pool this summer.  Our park district has an amazing set up that really takes into consideration families with young kids that don't want to worry about the potential for drowning, which we appreciate.  Their Big Pool starts out at zero depth, with a special area that has water fountain squirter thingies.  As you can imagine this is THE spot for social toddlers to mingle.  They talk about the latest swim diapers, what color sand pail is In right now, and how many heart attacks they've caused the parental units by falling on grated concrete.  Good times.  It's great though because the water comes up to their cankles, and mom and dad can sit in the water with a watchful eye while soaking up some sun.  Win-win I say.

But with this zero depth comes an ideal location for teenagers and adults alike to sunbathe while not dying of heat stroke.  They lay partially in the water and flip on schedule every half hour without a care in the world.  Right next to the toddlers.

For the past month or two Theo has been obsessed with saying "tickle tickle tickle" to his own feet, which has then passed on to others members of the family.  It's beyond hilarious and he pretty much has the tickle gesture down as well, even though the majority of the time he just scratches you 'gently' whilst saying it.  He gets this huge grin on his face and he's so proud of himself.  He has clearly picked up on what we've been doing to him since he was a wee babe.  It's awesome.

So, the other day while the family was at the pool Theo became fixated on the sunbather's feet and would hone in on them.  He'd Frankenstein step his way over with his arms outstretched chanting 'tickle tickle tickle' and leaning down to complete the deed.  Bryan and I intercepted him at least twenty times.  At first it was funny and precious, but then it got exhausting.  All while the sunbathers remained blissfully unaware.

So this is a Public Service Announcement to members of our park district: the huge and heart-breakingly adorable toddler lurching towards your feet?  Pay no attention.  It's still safe to go into the water.

Brief conversation

Me: "Theo, no honey, we do NOT take our diapers off.  They stay on our bottoms so mommy doesn't have to clean the carpet 387309033 times a day, and when mommy doesn't have to clean the carpets everyone is happy.  There's no need to walk around on other people's waste is there?  No, no there is not.  So that, my darling boy, is why we will contiue to keep diapers on our bottoms.  Okay muffin?"

Theo: "Blah blah blah."

/scene

My new baby

I've been going CRAZEE ever since March wanting to tell you what I've been cookin' up and now I finally CAN!  So of course I'm all nervous and excited and happy and twitchy but that's to be expected, right?  So okay.  I started a new site.  But not just any site!  A site that was needed to fill a void on the old interweb. 

Here is it in a nutshell:

Live Well Spend Well originated out of selfishness.  I would read review blog after review blog with the hopes of finding some great products at reasonable prices, but everything was too spendy.  If there did happen to be drugstore options they were few and far between.  I also wanted to know how I could eat better and cook at home without having to be a gourmet chef with three hours to spend in the kitchen every night.  Ideally, I wanted one stop shopping where I could find everything in a single location.  This led to our Master Plan, where our goal is to have 90% of everything reviewed priced at $15 or less, and a Splurge Worthy section priced $50 and under.  I know with the economy the way it is people are cutting back on expenses, and yet we all want to feel good about ourselves inside and out.  Our hope is that this new site gives those on a budget a place to go to learn about fabulous beauty products and healthy living without feeling they need to spend and arm and a leg to get there.

Right?  RIGHT?  And I have partnered with some of my favorite people, Katie from pseudostoops and Kori from Two Adults One Brown Baby.  I am embracing the role of resident skin and hair care expert, Katie will be all about the healthy eating and fitness tips, and Kori is playing with make-up and helping us all look good.  I also need to sing Jen's praises, as she donated her fantastic blog design services for this endeavor.  Check her out if you ever want a make-over.  She's great to work with and comes up with fabu stuff, as you will see.

We will also have periodic giveaways from awesome sponsors so it seriously can't get any better.  In fact, we have some fun stuff going on right now to kick off our first week in town.  I'd love for you to bip on over, take a look around and let us know what you think.  We're on twitter too so please, come and join the party.  As we like to say, feeling fabulous inside and out shouldn't have to cost a fortune! (And I TOLD you I wasn't pregnant!)

Theo Of The Corn: Emo Edition

Either he's posing for an Abercrombie & Fitch cover shoot, channeling Robert Patterson, or taking a stand against big corporations for Farmers Of America.  I can't decide.

Victory lap

I absolutely DREAD well-check visits with Theo because I know they involve shots.  Shots that stab his fleshy thighs and make him cry while I help pin him down.  I can think of a million other things I'd rather do, such as unclog the shower drain with my hands and scrapbook with the contents.  But alas it needs to be done.

Theo's 15 month appointment was Saturday which promised to be better, with only two shots on the roster.  But he's getting older and more thrashy so I didn't know what to expect, especially because one of the vaccinations was known for stinging and being overall uncomfortable (Yes, a nurse actually used that descriptor. HA!).  For some reason on Wednesday I had a stroke of genius.  At our last appointment they needed to do a finger prick before the shots, and they put a band-aid on his finger after wards.  This distracted the heck out of him so I got to thinking. . .hey!  I'll just have the nurses put a band-aid on his finger right before the massive thigh violation and we'll be golden!

Well my friends, I am proud to say it worked wonders.  He let out a single scream-slash-yelp and then went to town on his finger.  Theo walked out of there chatting and flirting with everyone and did everything except sign autographs.  I might have even seen a nurse's jaw drop, but I can neither confirm nor deny this bit of information.

I don't pretend to get things right all the time when it comes to parenting my child.  And this is certainly a small success.  But man was I ever pleased with myself that I was able to come up with a solution to ease my son's pain.  Now if I could just find a band-aid to put on his heart when I tell him no Theo, you can NOT play with the glass bowls and bang them with a can.  Because my lord, the injustice is almost too much to bare.