I’m normally really good about keeping track of all our appointments, classes, lessons, etc.  But, this week  I had total amnesia.  On Wednesday, the girls had a class in the morning at a museum, Michael had his weekly speech appointment, and I would be attending a First Aid training class (required for Girl Scout leaders) in the evening.  A busy day considering we were headed to three different towns and three different combinations of family members, but very do-able. 

My problem started Tuesday.  The girls went to the new American Girl movie, and were so torqued up when they got home that they wanted to play with their dolls.  Thinking, “Sure, we don’t have anything to do tomorrow”, we let them stay up until midnight.  Around 3 am, we realized they needed to be up at eight.  Man, did they look rough when I dropped them off! 

Don took Michael to his appointment, and the girls and I headed to the pool in the late afternoon. “La, La, La, it’s such a nice night to be at the pool.  Hmmm, what’s for dinner?  How can that lifeguard be so fat and save anyone?”  These were the deep thoughts bouncing through my cavernous mind.  Fast forward to 2 am, when Don woke me up and said, “Didn’t you have that first aid class last night?”  Twenty five dollar class fee - nonrefundable.  I believe Homer Simpson said it best, “D’oh!”

Not sure if this is an Accidental Mommy moment, but it’s was very frustrating!  Kind of scary, too.  Am I losing my mind???

After reading this, why am I up at these strange hours?  Could that be the cause?

#22 - Cindi

I used Random.org to select a random winner and it drew lucky #22. I actually had it select 4 numbers, just in case we need to go to a runner up, 2nd through 4th place were #55, #27 & #101.

We had over 100 entries to this contest and I want to thank everyone who entered.

Please everyone let’s congratulate Cindi, and don’t forget, we still have 4 other giveaways currently running, and one of them is for food! Who doesn’t want to get food in the mail?

I wear prescription eyeglasses for driving and occasionally if I go to a movie or am watching TV. My prescription is not real strong and I can actually get by without them, the problem is that I’ve come to rely on them.

The last time I ordered new glasses they easily cost me over $200 from the eye doctor, for something I hardly wear and when I do, no one except my family ever sees me wear them.

That is where ZenniOptical.com comes in. They have glasses, including the frames and lenses starting at $8, and the their selection of frames at that price aren’t too bad looking.

Fox News even did a story on them: Zenni on Fox where they did an experiment and had some positive results. It sounds like for older and children and adults, who have gotten all the proper measurements for the prescriptions, you can get a really good deal. I definitely would consider trying them for a second, spare pair of glasses.

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I’ve always dreamed of visiting Europe. And not any one particular place necessarily, although if I had to pick just one place, there are a couple that would be front runners.

In general my interest in Europe is about the Architecture. I don’t practice as an Architect right now, but that doesn’t mean it still isn’t in my blood, especially when it comes to Architectural History. How I would love to visit the Colosseum in Rome, The Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Parthenon in Greece and oh so many others. There are Castles in Germany and landscapes in Ireland that would be fantastic to visit. And Venice, how cool would that be to visit?

There are other things to do and see in Europe as well and one of them is skiing. Aside from Switzerland, I never really thought about being able to ski in Europe. Apparently France and Austria have great skiing too. Not that I can ski. Not that I would try, but I certainly wouldn’t mind visting and watching others ski. You can have luxury skiing holidays at numerous luxury ski chalets in Courchevel France, Meribel France and St Anton Austria . Some of the most picturesque of these are the luxury chalet Meribel.

I’m not sure if these great ski vacations would make me pass up an Architectural type European vacation, but I would think long and hard about it!

What is Braincandy?

Braincandy is a Seattle based children’s media company whose mission is to create educationally inventive, enriching, entertaining products that help young children learn about themselves as they fully experience the world around them.

Braincandy has produced a series of “5 Senses” DVD’s:

• See My World
• Hear My World
• Taste My World
• Touch My World
• Smell My World

We received a copy of Hear My World to review and pretty much the consensus here is 2 thumbs up.
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This morning as I was feeding Abby a bottle she began making some offensive sounds and odors, so after her bottle, even though she was supposed to go back to sleep, I had to change her (which means she would be wired and not go back to sleep).

What I discovered when I opened the diaper was beyond words and I won’t gross anyone out, although there is part of me that wants too.

It turned out she had a little bit of a rash too from the offensive toxic poop and the cream I had on the changing table was squeezed all the way to the end. Since lately I have been changing her on the floor due her tendency towards aerobics, I went into her closet to find more diaper rash cream while she crawled around neked on the floor. I had one full tube, Target brand left and proceeded to open it. I always buy generic when I can and have never had a problem.

Until now….

I opened the tube and tried to squeeze the cream out while holding onto my squirming naked child so she remained on the diaper and right-side up. Nothing happened. So I closed the tube and shook it and squeezed it a little bit. Sometimes the Desitin brand takes some urging on first use, so maybe did this too. I opened it again, still struggling to maintain control over the octopus Abby seems to have turned into and all of a sudden a runny white watery substance came shooting out of the tube all over my hand and down my arm. Certainly not the consistency that it was supposed to be, it was the original style cream, not the creamy kind. I proceeded to try and get as much of this on Abby’s bottom as I could, again while trying to keep her right-side up. It was a nightmare and none of it would stick!

In the end, all covered with this stuff (plus some of it got on the carpet) I managed to squeeze enough out of the old tube to cover her and make her comfortable.

Lessons learned:

1. Don’t buy Target brand diaper rash cream
2. Diaper changing is a team sport

If you believe you’ve had an “Accidental Mommy” moment that you want us to read about, check out the following post for more information on how to receive an “Accidental Mommy” Moment Badge: How to have an “Accidental Mommy” moment.

I’ve only ever rented a car a few times in my life but recently I stumbled across Advantage car rental and I think next time we have to drive anywhere far like on vacation we might consider renting a car rather than putting miles on our own. I never realized how reasonable car rental actually is, and if you happen to be driving one-way from Florida to Chicago, you can rent a car for next to nothing. Literally.

Advantage Car Rental has all kinds of specials and discounts including a $1/day one-way rate from Florida to O’Hare Airport in Chicago. Plus there are no mileage charges. They must have a TON of cars in Florida and none at O’Hare and need someone to drive them there! What a great deal! Advantage also has others discounts including up to 50% off on luxury and convertible vehicles.

If you need to rent a car, check out Advantage. Their site is simple to navigate and it is easy to check rates and availability.

I know you will be as excited as I am to hear the news.

The X-Files new movie opens in theaters on July 25th.

What’s that I hear?

Cheering!

no?

Dead silence?

Anyhow, I don’t care if I am the only one sitting in the theater, I will be there!

I’m a big time X-Files nerd from way back.

I have just one question…
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This weeks blurb is about:

Adventures in Mommyland.

Adventures in Mommyland is written by Mary, a stay at home mom who blogs about giveaways across the web and who hosts her own great giveaways. I’m pretty good at finding and entering (and winning) blog giveaways, but she always has some posted that I’ve never seen.

She also has recipes and other interesting posts and plus she’s a really nice and interesting lady!

Go check out Adventures in Mommyland and I’m sure you’ll go back again and again.

Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any great giveaway announcements!

Lookie what I won this time:

The bib, not the baby!

Actually I won a set of 2 organic “chin bibs” made especially for teething babies, which I definitely have!

I won over at Goodies for Mom and you can see the original contest post here:
Bumkins Organic Chin Bib Giveaway and Product Review

I can’t wait to try them!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND ENTRIES ARE CLOSED, PLEASE CHECK OUT ONE OF OUR OTHER GREAT GIVEAWAYS OR SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE NOTICE OF FUTURE GIVEAWAYS

TO VIEW THE WINNER, VISIT THIS POST: COOKIES BY DESIGN COOKIE BOUQUET WINNER

Yesterday I received a wonderful package.

In fact, it was the one I wrote about here: Waiting for Cookies. A cookie bouquet by Cookies by Design.

Well it finally arrived and Jake and I were very excited!
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