A winner and a deal you're gonna love

Okay, number 46 was the lucky winner and that means it's....

Purseblogger!


Laura, you won! Order away!

And if you didn't already love ripegoods.com you will now...ripegoods.com is offering 10% off to everyone who commented here. So...place an order on ripegoods.com between now and September 5 and enter code SOMS10 to get the discount.

Congratulations, Laura, and happy shopping to all. Birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah...why not purchase a gift early...or--even better--have one purchased for you. I'm thinking of what I want next and may have to do drop some hints to Donnie tonight...

Happy hour ...minus a few minutes

I was on my way to happy hour tonight (I think Monday happy hours are a nice way to start off the week!) and was delayed by a motorcade. I didn't care what the motorcade was for (or who it was) but it was a long one and I just wanted to get across the street where there was a glass of wine with my name on it and some friends I hadn't seen in awhile.

Hey, last chance to check out the you're gonna love me for this giveaway. Apparently I have trouble reading a calendar because I said the contest would end on Monday, August 31, which doesn't exist this year so I'll pick a winner tomorrow on Tuesday, August 31.

a real man

A freind emailed this to me yesterday and I thought I would share it...

What A Real Man Does

A real man is a woman's best friend. He will never stand her up and never let her down. He will reassure her when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day.

He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to live without fear and forget regret. He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires. He will make sure she always feels as though she's the most beautiful woman in the room and will enable her to be the most confident, sexy, seductive, and invincible……..

No wait... sorry... I'm thinking of wine. That's what wine does...

Never mind....

F-Bomb Friday...they're baaaack

Migraines...'nuff said.

Check out my giveaway here (you'll like it!) and then check out more F-Bombs at MiMi's here.

thinking outside the box (and packing everything inside)

First off, check out the You're Gonna Love Me for This giveaway. Seriously, you'll love me.


Whew, I'm back home. I flew with my brother and sister-in-law to the Black Hills on Friday and on Saturday my sister-in-law and I drove six hours to pick up things at her mom's place and then another four hours to my mom's condo. After more than 10 hours in the car, we stayed up chatting another three hours.

The moving gods had to be perfectly aligned for things to fall into place and somehow it worked. It may not have been pretty at times but it's finished.

My mother has lots of things dating back to my grandmother's childhood and it was nice to see items that I hadn't seen before. I found diplomas from the 1920s and a few certificates of honor and merit for perfect attendance and no tardiness during the 1914 school year. There's a lovely spoon with books on it from my hometown library dated 1909 and many other things that warmed my heart. Another treat was seeing my grandmother's travel journal of her honeymoon...talk of men with chin whiskers and gypsies. I can't wait to read more of it.

My mom also looked better than she's looked in months. Her memory is failing and we often have conversations that are repeated moments later but we had a nice time and I was able to take her out shopping for a few hours yesterday.

She's still--at times--confused about where she's living but knew we were packing up her condo and putting her boxes in storage. When I picked her up at the nursing home yesterday for our outing she apologized that we had to pack up her home and she couldn't help. Then she quickly added that she hoped I saved boxes for her because she's planning on moving soon and will need them. I didn't even ask where she thinks she's moving. That's a conversation to be repeated another day.

Now I'm off to catch up on what you've been doing...

The "You're Gonna Love Me For This" Giveaway

I know many of you are getting things lined up for your kids to go back to school so here's a little something for you that has nothing to do with pencils, crayons or school lunches. A few months ago I posted about things that make me smile and this necklace was high on my list.

It still makes me smile...I love, love, LOVE it and always get compliments when I wear it. Whenever I have it on it's an instant mood booster. What could be better?

I'll tell you what...ripegoods is doing a giveaway on my little blog!!
ripegoods is beautiful hand-crafted new and vintage jewelry. It's a place to find hip, original designs for body and soul. Founded by mom and daughter to express their creative spirit, all products are by Kathie and Lindsey Fieldman. Every ripegoods product embodies a sense of simplicity, freshness and elegance. All jewelry is hand-crafted using selected gemstones, metals and vintage elements. They are committed to using locally sourced, recycled and sustainable materials.

Here's the scoop:

• Check out ripegoods and pick out what you would like to win (up to $65). Look at all their stuff because it's not going to be an easy choice. (Winner must be in US or Canada.)
• If you're a follower of my blog, leave another comment for a second chance to win.
• Like ripegoods on facebook or follow them on twitter and leave a comment.
• Post on your blog about the giveaway for another chance to win.

I'm already trying to decide what my second piece is going to be. I love the simplicity of the mama necklace but I'm now thinking this mama needs some earrings...

Go to ripegoods and tell me what you want to win! I'll pick a winner on Monday, August 31. Isn't this so much better than shopping for new school supplies??

Dear Someone

Dear Summer,

For as much as I’ve complained about the high heat both outside AND inside (damn A/C), I can’t believe we’ll be saying good-bye to you soon.

Okay, I realize just because kids are returning to school doesn’t mean fall’s arrival with crisp football-watching weather is here but it is around the calendar corner. Just knowing that school supply shopping is being done makes me long for a new box of crayons, pencils with full erasers and unmarked notebooks. There’s no list for supplies for Bug yet so this year I’ll settle for a new pair of sneakers for the little man who’s currently wearing sneakers with a summer sweaty smell that might linger from here to New Hampshire.

Signed,
Not yet a kindergarten mommy


PS. Now that I think of it Mommy could use a new pair of shoes, too.

Dear Bug,

You’re going back to preschool next week. I’m excited for you--and excited for me--because I get to spend more time with you this year! I’m sorry I’ll miss your (second) first day of school but I’ll be helping move Grandma’s belongings to storage and think I’ll be shedding tears of another sort at the same time.

Love,
Mommy

Dear Bookshelf,

Let’s work together to find something fabulous to read during my flight time tomorrow. (Any suggestions?)

Signed,
Booklover


Dear Dairy Queen,


Here I come!


Forever yours,
xoxoxoxo


Check out Amanda for more Dear Someone letters.

summer love--W/W

Random Tuesday Thoughts

After a call with my mom where she repeated everything multiple times and was confused about many things, this was the conversation I had with Bug:

Me: Bug, when Mommy and Daddy are older, will you take care of us?

Bug: (staring intently into my eyes) But you're old already, right?

****

Last week Bug grabbed his crotch and when I asked for the 18th time "Do you need to go potty?" He replied with "No, I'm just tickling myself."

Go to The Un Mom for more.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

The other night I had a dream that you could view your past dreams on youtube. The dream was so clear I could actually see my computer screen with a "video" clip of a past dream. I would love visit my dreams in the daylight (well, maybe not all of them--this one still creeps me out).

This weekend I’m heading out for a quick 25-hour getaway. I’m meeting a girlfriend in Philly to celebrate one of her big “ends in a zero” birthdays. It’s just girl time…all the fellas are staying put…mine in DC and hers in NY.

My mom’s condo sold. I was a bit surprised how this news hit me over the weekend. I know that Mom will never live on her own again but I think it’s just another chapter of her life that’s now ending. I’m going back to SD in a couple of weeks to help move her things to storage.

My world is changing. I was able to revise my work schedule and instead of working four full days a week I’ll now work five shorter days each week. This will allow me to pick up Bug at preschool and we won't need a full-time nanny/sitter. He’s going to go to school a bit longer this year and then we’ll hang out in the afternoons. Of course, if he had his way we would go to the grocery store every day. He LOVES the child-sized carts and can maneuver them with the speed and skill of a racecar driver.

Go to The Un Mom for more.

F-Bomb Friday...the Bruce edition

Bug was watching the new Bruce DVD and at one point Bruce says, "Get me an elevator, I'm f^ckin' 60." I didn't realize what the love of my life Bruce said until I noticed Bug laughing and then pushing buttons on the DVD player to hear it again. That's when I heard Bug say:

"Get me an alligator, I'm f^ckin' 60."


Check out MiMi for more F-Bombs.

Check it out

Bug got his first library card last night and he signed it. Then he spent a bit of time selecting which books he would take home with him. I hope he enjoys his library as much as I enjoyed mine growing up. I loved everything about our small town library. The children's section was in the basement. It had a picture book room with the tiny chairs (and a special bathroom with a teeny toilet for tots) and the larger open area for bigger kids. I couldn't wait until I was big enough to sit in the full-size chairs. As a little girl I envied the older kids who would pick out a book or two, sit at a table, flip through the books and try to write a report for school. I practiced making their scrunched-up/thinking faces. It looked so grown-up and smart and I couldn't wait to do it.

I made my own library at home out of the books on my bookshelf with signs for anyone who wanted to borrow them along with fees if they were returned late. It was as profitable as the time my brother and I tried to dig a swimming pool in our backyard. Oh, how I wanted a date stamp like the librarian had. For years I thought her name was Mrs. Carnegie because that was the name of the library.


The library near us isn't as glamorous as the one I grew up with. Sure, you get that "library" smell when you walk in but it doesn't have the charm of a building from 1902. I'm hesitant to visit "my" library again. I want to keep my memories just as they are. Who wants to see that the entry way by the librarian's desk isn't as grand as it was as a child or that the section just to the right of the door where people read newspapers isn't as exclusive as once thought? I'm happy to keep the memories I have and ready to build some with Bug at his library. Who knows when he grows up he may look back and think that his library was beautiful, too.

to friend or not to friend

I recently became facebook friends with an old friend from college. There was hesitation but I did it. I hadn't seen him in years. He's doing great...he's married with a son and a daughter and three dogs.

In college I was on a drunk intramural volleyball league with a lot of his friends and met him through that group and became friends. There was an unfortunate kiss one night but that was a one-time OOPS and it was quickly forgotten on both sides.

I transferred to another college and would sometimes bump into him at parties when I visited my old school but there were never plans to get together prior to my visit. We were friends but not best friends.

Then when he graduated he asked me (along with several other friends) if I would write to him because he was joining the service and would like to get mail. This was pre-email (obviously, because I'm ancient) and I knew how I loved getting mail so I said sure. We corresponded...not a big thing...he sent detailed letters about his new life and I replied. Once in a great while he would call to say hi...that's about it.

Then a year or so later when he was on leave, he told me he was going to be in Minneapolis (where I was living) and could he stay with me. Sure...no big deal...company is always fun. We could hang out.

Imagine my surprise when he showed up with a bouquet of roses and proposed to me. He gave me a diamond ring and told me he had planned everything out. He would convert to Catholicism and we would get married the following April.

Talk about awkward. We literally had one kiss maybe three years earlier and had exchanged friendly letters...there was no dating, no romance...or even talk of a relationship. Anyway, we're friends again.

Hept-a-collar

This weekend I was going through some things in Bug’s room and noticed that his changing pad was still on the top of his dresser. We bought the dresser/changing table combination thinking his room is small enough that we didn’t want a dresser AND a changing table squeezed in there. It’s worked out well but somehow I was so accustomed to seeing the changing pad with the recently added Spiderman stickers that it hadn’t occurred to me that WE DON’T NEED IT ANYMORE! Don't ask how I couldn't have figured this out earlier...

I removed the changing pad (the straps were screwed into the dresser and rather than deal with those pesky screws, I just grabbed the scissors and cut the straps--hey, it's on the back no one will see it...right?), tidied up the top of the dresser and added a few things to make it look like it belonged in a little boy's room and not a nursery.

Then I took a step back--in the room and in time--and thought about some of the memories in that little room. I realized that our little baby boy somehow became three years old faster than fast and in a few months he’ll no longer hold up his thumb and two fingers when asked "how old are you?" but he'll show four fingers. I’m going to miss many things about these days and there are a few things that I'll happily say good-bye to and look forward to what’s ahead.

Right now, I like the little boy in him that can't say helicopter correctly because "hept-a-collar" sounds perfect to my ears.