I didn't think that the most clever baby product in ALL OF TIME would be a shampoo, but it pretty much is!
http://www.amazon.com/method-baby-Squeaky-Green-Mallow/dp/B002LTNYLK
The top of the bottle is a cup that you use to rinse off your baby! There is a little circle cut out of the cup - at first I thought this was to make pulling the cap off easier, oh no no. It is so you can control the flow of water coming out, to prevent water from getting in tiny ears and eyes. BRILLIANT!
The smell is a bit strange at first - reminiscent of Play-Doh, but the next day, little baby smells of delicious marshmallows. I've also found that it cleans Ruby's hair better and keeps her skin and hair softer than the Johnson's head to toe wash I was using before. It's on the 'spensive side, but the shampoo is pretty concentrated, so a little goes a long way.
I never thought I'd have this much to say about shampoo. Need help falling asleep at night? Visit my blog!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
It's good to be the Dean (or so I imagine)
It's a fairly commonly-known fact that I am a college drop-out. I don't think that this is quite as rock star as being a high school drop-out. I mean, Jon Bon Jovi dropped out of high school! Dropping out of high school = lavender leather pants and feathered hair and rock and roll! I can't think of anyone cool who dropped out of college (except for me, of course). Or if they did, they don't feel the need to mention it. I mean, you know. You can always go back - unless you're me apparently.
I have a decent job and all, if you don't count what I actually have to do every day. I make OK money, I have health insurance, I get an insultingly small Christmas bonus which is taxed separately from the rest of my paycheck. Friends who have graduated from college make around the same amount per year as I do.
I've been trying to go back to school for a few years now, and I'm really going to try once the wedding is over. I'm not doing what I want to be doing (neither is anyone here, for that matter). The fact is that you spend most of your life at work. So it really freaking sucks if you don't like what you're doing, right?
Here's the thing. Before I enroll in a fancy-pantsy college, I have to get my GPA up, so I need to take some core classes at the fine establishment of Northern Virginia Community College. HOWEVER! There is some kind of hold on my account which prevents me from registering for classes. In order to get this hold removed, I have to talk to the Dean, which sounds more important than it is. I have tried calling the Dean over and over, but haven't received a response. This is confusing to me. Do they not want my hard-earned money? Do I have to go into the admissions office with a flamethrower and a can of aerosol hair spray to get my point across? I feel like this is the best option, though I may end up getting arrested and not get to go back to school at all! What's a girl to do?
Perhaps I will compose an angry letter entirely out of letters cut from magazines. That's a nice, creative way to get someone's attention, don't you think? I'm sure I'll hear back then.
I have a decent job and all, if you don't count what I actually have to do every day. I make OK money, I have health insurance, I get an insultingly small Christmas bonus which is taxed separately from the rest of my paycheck. Friends who have graduated from college make around the same amount per year as I do.
I've been trying to go back to school for a few years now, and I'm really going to try once the wedding is over. I'm not doing what I want to be doing (neither is anyone here, for that matter). The fact is that you spend most of your life at work. So it really freaking sucks if you don't like what you're doing, right?
Here's the thing. Before I enroll in a fancy-pantsy college, I have to get my GPA up, so I need to take some core classes at the fine establishment of Northern Virginia Community College. HOWEVER! There is some kind of hold on my account which prevents me from registering for classes. In order to get this hold removed, I have to talk to the Dean, which sounds more important than it is. I have tried calling the Dean over and over, but haven't received a response. This is confusing to me. Do they not want my hard-earned money? Do I have to go into the admissions office with a flamethrower and a can of aerosol hair spray to get my point across? I feel like this is the best option, though I may end up getting arrested and not get to go back to school at all! What's a girl to do?
Perhaps I will compose an angry letter entirely out of letters cut from magazines. That's a nice, creative way to get someone's attention, don't you think? I'm sure I'll hear back then.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Wedding things
Wedding planning is stressful, and can be non-fun at times. I thought I'd share some things I've learned along the way (so far anyway, we're far from done):
1. Having a graphic designer fiance is A Very Useful Thing.
Wayne designed our Save-the-Dates (by the way, wedding bloggers, please stop abbreviating this as STDs!! Not good!!), and we were able to have them printed on magnets for very little money. The company we used also pre-addressed all of our envelopes.
Hint: Make sure to get some envelopes printed that are blank except for your address - these are swell for last-minute additions, or address corrections. Sure, they'll look a little cheap if the address is hand-written, but you're giving these people free booze! Come on! What more could you ask for?
2. Kinko's is an invaluable resource.
Rather than shilling out even more money to Paper Source (they are the fine folks tasked with doing our invitations), we decided to print out the hotel information cards ourselves. Wayne was able to find all of the fonts for our invitations online (two were available for free, one was $24), so he designed the cards and had them printed at Kinko's. It was about $7 for 125 cards! Had we known this, we probably would have just done the invitations ourselves.
3. Find vendors who are new to the area.
My fantastic, adorable, lovely photographer had just moved to northern Virginia when I booked her. As a result, we are paying about half what an established photographer would charge (the average price I found was about $3000 for a full day). The only way to get a better deal would be to use a friend, which brings me to my next point ...
4. Friends are called friends for a reason.
Chances are, unless they're crazy busy, they want to help you! I have a friend doing my makeup for the price of a nice bottle of wine - awesome! We also have friends who are lending us their sound equipment, and one who is singing during the ceremony. Don't be afraid to ask, just maybe don't ask for a million dollars. Or for one to serve as a hitman. But, you know. Never hurts to test the waters.
5. Book vendors as far in advance as you can.
Our wedding is going to be on October 9, 2010. I started booking vendors in July of 2009. As a result, I was able to reserve services before prices went up for the next year, which is awesome and leaves more money for us to stock the bar. Essential.
6. Unless you want the works, find a friend, relative, or actor-for-hire to emcee your reception.
If you don't need sound equipment or lighting, the price of a DJ can be pretty extreme (think around $1000 for a few hours). Ask friends and family, or post on community theatre boards and see if you can find someone that way - you'll save a lot of money, and it will be more personal. If going the actor route, beware of divas. They are even worse in the community theatre world because ... well ... no one knows why. It doesn't make sense.
7. Finding a wedding officiant is difficult if you aren't a church-goer.
...Yeah. If anyone has advice on this, please share.
1. Having a graphic designer fiance is A Very Useful Thing.
Wayne designed our Save-the-Dates (by the way, wedding bloggers, please stop abbreviating this as STDs!! Not good!!), and we were able to have them printed on magnets for very little money. The company we used also pre-addressed all of our envelopes.
Hint: Make sure to get some envelopes printed that are blank except for your address - these are swell for last-minute additions, or address corrections. Sure, they'll look a little cheap if the address is hand-written, but you're giving these people free booze! Come on! What more could you ask for?
2. Kinko's is an invaluable resource.
Rather than shilling out even more money to Paper Source (they are the fine folks tasked with doing our invitations), we decided to print out the hotel information cards ourselves. Wayne was able to find all of the fonts for our invitations online (two were available for free, one was $24), so he designed the cards and had them printed at Kinko's. It was about $7 for 125 cards! Had we known this, we probably would have just done the invitations ourselves.
3. Find vendors who are new to the area.
My fantastic, adorable, lovely photographer had just moved to northern Virginia when I booked her. As a result, we are paying about half what an established photographer would charge (the average price I found was about $3000 for a full day). The only way to get a better deal would be to use a friend, which brings me to my next point ...
4. Friends are called friends for a reason.
Chances are, unless they're crazy busy, they want to help you! I have a friend doing my makeup for the price of a nice bottle of wine - awesome! We also have friends who are lending us their sound equipment, and one who is singing during the ceremony. Don't be afraid to ask, just maybe don't ask for a million dollars. Or for one to serve as a hitman. But, you know. Never hurts to test the waters.
5. Book vendors as far in advance as you can.
Our wedding is going to be on October 9, 2010. I started booking vendors in July of 2009. As a result, I was able to reserve services before prices went up for the next year, which is awesome and leaves more money for us to stock the bar. Essential.
6. Unless you want the works, find a friend, relative, or actor-for-hire to emcee your reception.
If you don't need sound equipment or lighting, the price of a DJ can be pretty extreme (think around $1000 for a few hours). Ask friends and family, or post on community theatre boards and see if you can find someone that way - you'll save a lot of money, and it will be more personal. If going the actor route, beware of divas. They are even worse in the community theatre world because ... well ... no one knows why. It doesn't make sense.
7. Finding a wedding officiant is difficult if you aren't a church-goer.
...Yeah. If anyone has advice on this, please share.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
There is a Hell, and it's located inside David's Bridal
I mean seriously, David's Bridal. What the hey. I'm so glad that I did not purchase my wedding dress from you. Every visit I've had to this store has been so freaking cray-cray that I can't even talk about it! Harumph!
Last night was interesting. Our baby monitor has been acting a little wonky lately - it beeps, it gets static-y ... it makes static-y beeps, and so on. Well, last night it decided to be The Most Annoying Thing Ever and make static-y beeps approximately once every five seconds. We tried everything we could think of. We turned off our phones, we shut off the router, anything that could be connected to the internet was shut off, and nothing worked. Finally, I waved my white flag of surrender and went to sleep in Ruby's room.
I put a futon in the nursery before Ruby was born, thinking I would sleep in there while I was on maternity leave. Well, the opposite of that ended up happening wherein we put Ruby in a bassinet in our room the entire time. The futon belonged to my sister, and I'm sure that it was very comfortable at one point, but I think sleeping on a roller coaster track would be preferable to this. There's a big bar that goes right down the middle, and that's exactly where my hip went. I know, aren't you jealous? It was like sleeping at the Westin or something. You know, in the storage room. I woke up this morning feeling as refreshed and vibrant as if I had spent the night in a prison cell. We have a new fancy digital monitor, so we'll see how that goes. It even does pointless things, like monitor the temperature! Rapture!!
Last night was interesting. Our baby monitor has been acting a little wonky lately - it beeps, it gets static-y ... it makes static-y beeps, and so on. Well, last night it decided to be The Most Annoying Thing Ever and make static-y beeps approximately once every five seconds. We tried everything we could think of. We turned off our phones, we shut off the router, anything that could be connected to the internet was shut off, and nothing worked. Finally, I waved my white flag of surrender and went to sleep in Ruby's room.
I put a futon in the nursery before Ruby was born, thinking I would sleep in there while I was on maternity leave. Well, the opposite of that ended up happening wherein we put Ruby in a bassinet in our room the entire time. The futon belonged to my sister, and I'm sure that it was very comfortable at one point, but I think sleeping on a roller coaster track would be preferable to this. There's a big bar that goes right down the middle, and that's exactly where my hip went. I know, aren't you jealous? It was like sleeping at the Westin or something. You know, in the storage room. I woke up this morning feeling as refreshed and vibrant as if I had spent the night in a prison cell. We have a new fancy digital monitor, so we'll see how that goes. It even does pointless things, like monitor the temperature! Rapture!!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Today's been so productive, it feels like Sunday
So, today's been a busy one up until now. We met up with Wayne's sister for lunch, and Ruby fell asleep. Feeling a bit overconfident, we decided to press our luck a little and make a Target run. Normally, decisions like these come back to bite us. Ruby wakes up, has no idea where she is, and we end up sprinting out of wherever we are, simultaneously making a bottle and waving a toy in front of her face as a diversion. Today, we got lucky. We left with some new outfits and a mat she can lay on in the bathtub, bigger diapers, and a fun bouncy thing she can stand in. Here's the thing. This bouncy thing was $90 (ok, $89.99, but Target's schemes don't fool me!). I was perusing Amazon yesterday and found this:
http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Weebles-Goldilocks-Adventure-Cottage/dp/B000BCEJ8Q
Looks fun, right? Fun little Weebles cottage - so interactive! What a way to build a child's imagination! Wait. Whawasthatnow? Take a look at that price tag again - $109.99? Someone please explain this to me. This giant thing we bought today with lights, music, and all of these components is $90 - and this dollhouse is $20 more than that? I mean, is it made of gold? When Ruby gets too old to play with it, can I melt it down and sell it for profit? Does it clean my house for me - oh! Maybe it's secretly a Roomba. Hmm ... no. It doesn't appear to do any of these things! So tell me how any parent - or anyone else for that matter - is to justify spending $110 on some chunk of plastic their kid is just going to get pissed off at when they realize that Weebles only wobble? They don't fall down! The horror, the horror.
ANYhoo. Target really brings out the unreasonable jerk in people, doesn't it? I was not aware that the average speed limit for driving through a parking lot is 45 miles per hour, did you know that? Maybe I missed something, I thought it was around 10 or so.
I got the Valentine's Day decorations put away. A month after the holiday, not too bad! The Easter decorations are now up. The way I roll, those will probably stay up until mid-July, or at least until one of my cats knocks them over. I should point out that my Christmas lights are still hanging on the balcony, but they're turned off, rendering them invisible.
Wayne is watching Iron Chef America. I really wish Alton Brown would get that gross mole removed. Food Network personalities look so gross in HD, don't they?
http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Weebles-Goldilocks-Adventure-Cottage/dp/B000BCEJ8Q
Looks fun, right? Fun little Weebles cottage - so interactive! What a way to build a child's imagination! Wait. Whawasthatnow? Take a look at that price tag again - $109.99? Someone please explain this to me. This giant thing we bought today with lights, music, and all of these components is $90 - and this dollhouse is $20 more than that? I mean, is it made of gold? When Ruby gets too old to play with it, can I melt it down and sell it for profit? Does it clean my house for me - oh! Maybe it's secretly a Roomba. Hmm ... no. It doesn't appear to do any of these things! So tell me how any parent - or anyone else for that matter - is to justify spending $110 on some chunk of plastic their kid is just going to get pissed off at when they realize that Weebles only wobble? They don't fall down! The horror, the horror.
ANYhoo. Target really brings out the unreasonable jerk in people, doesn't it? I was not aware that the average speed limit for driving through a parking lot is 45 miles per hour, did you know that? Maybe I missed something, I thought it was around 10 or so.
I got the Valentine's Day decorations put away. A month after the holiday, not too bad! The Easter decorations are now up. The way I roll, those will probably stay up until mid-July, or at least until one of my cats knocks them over. I should point out that my Christmas lights are still hanging on the balcony, but they're turned off, rendering them invisible.
Wayne is watching Iron Chef America. I really wish Alton Brown would get that gross mole removed. Food Network personalities look so gross in HD, don't they?
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Why do I kid myself...
Every now and then, while perusing the frozen dinner section of the grocery store, I'll stumble across an entree that has fish in it. "Ooo," I'll think to myself, "salmon with orzo, carrots, and spinach? Don't mind if I do!"
This is ALWAYS a mistake. And I fall for it all. the. time.
How to describe the flavor ... hmm ... ok. Imagine you have a tank of seamonkeys. They entertain you for about 15 minutes, but then a House marathon comes on and you forget all about them. The tank is in an obscure corner of your house, and hey, TNT is showing Law & Order all day long, so you forget about your seamonkeys. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, babies are born, people get married, people who met on eharmony go on awkward first dates and never speak again.
Eventually, the water in the seamonkey tank evaporates.
One day, you have a little soiree wherein people get their booze on. One such disciple of Bacchus stumbles upon your long-forgotten seamonkey haven. He picks up the tank, turns it around in his hands a few times, postulates on how big a clump he could make by peeing in a litter box, and licks the inside of the tank.
This is exactly how these frozen fish entrees taste. Briney, confusing, distressing. The taste isn't just limited to the fish, either, oh no! The polluted ocean taste infiltrates all aspects of the meal - even if you pick out the fish, it will still taste like you are drinking the salt water in your chosen body of water after an oil spill. I end up dumping about half a bottle of hot sauce over what remains to make it somewhat bearable. I am convinced that eating these will give me cancer. And yet, every now and then, I am still tricked into buying one! Why is this? Blind hope? I suppose so.
Then again, if you slap "spa cuisine" on anything, it sounds pretty freaking tasty.
This is ALWAYS a mistake. And I fall for it all. the. time.
How to describe the flavor ... hmm ... ok. Imagine you have a tank of seamonkeys. They entertain you for about 15 minutes, but then a House marathon comes on and you forget all about them. The tank is in an obscure corner of your house, and hey, TNT is showing Law & Order all day long, so you forget about your seamonkeys. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, babies are born, people get married, people who met on eharmony go on awkward first dates and never speak again.
Eventually, the water in the seamonkey tank evaporates.
One day, you have a little soiree wherein people get their booze on. One such disciple of Bacchus stumbles upon your long-forgotten seamonkey haven. He picks up the tank, turns it around in his hands a few times, postulates on how big a clump he could make by peeing in a litter box, and licks the inside of the tank.
This is exactly how these frozen fish entrees taste. Briney, confusing, distressing. The taste isn't just limited to the fish, either, oh no! The polluted ocean taste infiltrates all aspects of the meal - even if you pick out the fish, it will still taste like you are drinking the salt water in your chosen body of water after an oil spill. I end up dumping about half a bottle of hot sauce over what remains to make it somewhat bearable. I am convinced that eating these will give me cancer. And yet, every now and then, I am still tricked into buying one! Why is this? Blind hope? I suppose so.
Then again, if you slap "spa cuisine" on anything, it sounds pretty freaking tasty.
I feel incredibly self-indulgent.
Ok, so! Here I am blogging. Blogging seems much more intimidating than posting on LiveJournal. Which, I should say, I haven't done in a really long time.
I'll go ahead and assume that you want to know some things about me since you are reading this. I am a new mommy - my sweet baby Ruby will be 4 months old tomorrow, which is insane and I refuse to accept it. I also work full-time at a job whose purpose I still don't entirely understand after being here for two years. In short, I process life insurance applications for agents and make sure the cases get placed because life insurance agents are completely incapable of doing this on their own. It's kind of like having a whole big batch of whiney children from 9-5:30 Monday-Friday who are less self-sufficient than my infant daughter.
In the midst of mommyhood and worker-bee hell, I am also planning a wedding to my fiance, Wayne. The date is set for October, and I'm having fun planning everything. I'm also doing my damndest to lose this baby weight (and then some) before the big day. I'll tell you, though, breaking the habit of pregnancy eating ("Oh, donuts? I'll take 9!") is so difficult. I've had to come to terms with the fact that it's no longer cute and adorable when I devour everything in sight like a starved Tyrannosaurus Rex. Anyway. I called Jenny (so get off my case, Valerie Bertinelli!) and I'm doing well so far. 14.7lbs down, more than I care to think about to go!
Other things about me: I'm really into theatre, which I'm sure you can imagine since I'm vain enough to assume that people want to read about me. I did a play during my first and part of my second trimester with Ruby. I miss acting a little, but it's more fun playing with Ruby than it is dealing with annoying community theatre stereotypes.
I like to read, and I often find myself getting caught up in Dumb Things (see: Twilight). That being said, I bought a book about 2 months ago that I still haven't even started. I'm excited to read it! ... someday.
And, you know, I like movies, I like music. I don't like it when people are blatantly wrong. For instance, did you see all the people on Twitter yesterday talking about Corey Haim's passing? "OMG, Goonies!!!!1!! But I liked Stand By Me better." That made me want to scale the highest mountain with a bullhorn and shout "ATTENTION, TWITTER. STOP THIS NONSENSE." I mean, does no one use imdb? I just can't talk about this - I can feel my face getting hot!
I should also note that I'm pretty sarcastic, which sometimes doesn't translate well in type.
Videos of cats doing silly things always make me laugh.
I'll go ahead and assume that you want to know some things about me since you are reading this. I am a new mommy - my sweet baby Ruby will be 4 months old tomorrow, which is insane and I refuse to accept it. I also work full-time at a job whose purpose I still don't entirely understand after being here for two years. In short, I process life insurance applications for agents and make sure the cases get placed because life insurance agents are completely incapable of doing this on their own. It's kind of like having a whole big batch of whiney children from 9-5:30 Monday-Friday who are less self-sufficient than my infant daughter.
In the midst of mommyhood and worker-bee hell, I am also planning a wedding to my fiance, Wayne. The date is set for October, and I'm having fun planning everything. I'm also doing my damndest to lose this baby weight (and then some) before the big day. I'll tell you, though, breaking the habit of pregnancy eating ("Oh, donuts? I'll take 9!") is so difficult. I've had to come to terms with the fact that it's no longer cute and adorable when I devour everything in sight like a starved Tyrannosaurus Rex. Anyway. I called Jenny (so get off my case, Valerie Bertinelli!) and I'm doing well so far. 14.7lbs down, more than I care to think about to go!
Other things about me: I'm really into theatre, which I'm sure you can imagine since I'm vain enough to assume that people want to read about me. I did a play during my first and part of my second trimester with Ruby. I miss acting a little, but it's more fun playing with Ruby than it is dealing with annoying community theatre stereotypes.
I like to read, and I often find myself getting caught up in Dumb Things (see: Twilight). That being said, I bought a book about 2 months ago that I still haven't even started. I'm excited to read it! ... someday.
And, you know, I like movies, I like music. I don't like it when people are blatantly wrong. For instance, did you see all the people on Twitter yesterday talking about Corey Haim's passing? "OMG, Goonies!!!!1!! But I liked Stand By Me better." That made me want to scale the highest mountain with a bullhorn and shout "ATTENTION, TWITTER. STOP THIS NONSENSE." I mean, does no one use imdb? I just can't talk about this - I can feel my face getting hot!
I should also note that I'm pretty sarcastic, which sometimes doesn't translate well in type.
Videos of cats doing silly things always make me laugh.
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