We all need friends. Life is good when it has friends in it. There are many types of friends out there. The friends who you see at the school dropping of your kids, the ones you see at soccer/swimming with your kids, the ones you meet at work, the ones that you went to school with, the life long ones, the ones you meet on-line, even the ones you’re married to. It really is an endless list.

I have come to discover that I’m a life long friend type of person. I take my friendships to heart and keep them there.

I have 2 friends that I have known since I was in Jr. High. We’ve known each other for more than half our lives (thanks to now being over 30). In addition to those two, I met my BFF for the 1st time back in grade 3. We haven’t been BFF’s that whole time, but the foundation started there way back when we were just nine. While many other friends have come and gone, these three woman are a constant in my life. We’ve been through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Some people say “Well, my husband is my best friend.” I agree whole heartedly - my husband is also my best friend. But it is also on a different level than that of the friendships I have with my female friends. I need my female friends as much as I need my husband’s friendship.

The newest friend chapter in my life started when I became a bit of an internet lurker (is that the right word?) It all started simply by reading a bunch of blogs. In my non-computer life I tend to be a bit of an introvert - even at 34 years of age I have never “outgrown” that. My life long friends tend to fit the extrovert definition, and they balance me out. But the internet poses a different sort of courting when it comes to making friends. I was blog reading for a long time before I became a commenter, and there are some really great blogger friends out there who I read daily and enjoy the tidbits about their lives.

What kinds of friends do you have in your life? Do you keep the life long friends near and dear? How many of you have met your online friends? Would you want to if you haven’t?

I would like to thank MMTaM for inviting little old me into her virtual home. It truly is an honor.

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This has been a guest post by Jacquie from Deal With It - Girls Rule. Be sure to pay her a visit at her web-home! Thanks, Jacquie, for blogsitting today!

Hi! Please allow me to introduce myself….

My name is Multi-Tasking Mommy. My blog is called Circle of Life for a few reasons. One is that I LOVE the song, “Circle of Life” by Elton John and two, I truly believe that everything in life does come full circle, eventually, and I enjoy blogging about my daily experiences in life.

I am 32 and am married to an incredible hubby, have a 3 year old daughter and am 26 weeks pregnant with a boy!

I have been blogging for a couple of years now and I truly do enjoy it. Since I’ve become pregnant, I admit that I haven’t blogged as much as I would like to. I often lie awake at night (pregnancy insomnia, I call it) and come up with about 10 blog posts, written in full, titled and everything. The problem is that when I wake up in the morning, my mind draws a blank. My preggie brain this time around is pretty brutal!

I am here to write to you about a little problem I have. I.LIKE.TO.SHOP! Does anyone else out there have this problem? The biggest problem is that I am a SAHM and although I certainly cannot complain about my hubby’s salary, I do have to definitely watch my spending habits.

One of my favourite places to shop is Costco. I love and hate this store, all at once.

I keep a running list for Costco items on my fridge–the staples like toilet paper, paper towel, baby wipes, handi wipes, laundry detergent…the list goes on! When the list gets long enough or when we are close to running out of a really important staple, then I go to Costco.

I don’t mind spending a large sum of money on the staple items because I know they’ll last a long time - it’s all of the other fun things that they have there that cause problems. AND, the Costco smart shopper mentality of “better buy it now, because they may not have this item next time I come.”

I LOVE to peruse up and down the book aisle and am always tempted to stock up my book supply for birthday/baby gifts (ok, and just regular every day books around the house).

I am always tempted by the treats that they offer and often get sucked into buying a couple of those featured items.

Especially when I’m pregnant, I get VERY tempted by the super sized, oh my goodness, can we eat this before it gets stale large bags of snack food.

Then there’s the craft/paper products/office supplies aisle where I often get sucked into drooling over scrapbooks, rubber stamps and pens.

Oh, and not to mention the CANDY isle….yikes! I’ve never been able to bring myself to buy a whole BOX of chocolate bars from there, but let me tell you….the temptation is nearly killing me with this pregnancy!

I’ve been working really hard on my Costco addiction. I don’t go as much as I used to. I now wait until my list is a little longer and that way I go fewer times. (I used to go when I needed one item–and always came out with 10!)

Oh, and now, my daughter has decided that she wants to be a “Costco Sampler” when she grows up! Oh boy, am I ever in trouble.

What about you? What are your addictions?

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Thanks, Multi-Tasking Mommy, for taking care of my little home on the web today! Be sure to pay her a visit at her place after you leave her a comment here.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Fun Fact Friday!

(Just a reminder that I completely stole this and can take no credit for anything other than the shitty writing and complete randomness…name stolen from Tessie via TNG. I kind of feel like I should tell you that every week so you don’t think I’m a dirty rotten scoundrel. Will you? Or should I stop now?)

-I figure skated from the age of 2 to 16. I was in my first performance when I was 3 and skated it beautifully…with my hands covering my face the entire time.

-I played on volleyball teams from grade 4 through grade 12 and a little bit of club after that. I am short so am definitely not a hitter, but I set decently and have a killer serve. Or, I used to. I was vice-captain for at least one season - maybe more - but never made captain because my nemesis was always on my team. Bitch.

-I was the fastest runner in my age category in track and field until I got boobs. My nemesis and I always either tied for first place or alternated first and second. I still remember all of my red and blue ribbons. My nemesis never got boobs so she continued to win races even after I started running holding on to my shirt thinking that nobody could see them moving if I did that. Man, I was a moron.

-I played on badminton teams from grade 4 through grade 9. Girls singles was my favorite, and mixed doubles second. I hated sharing my court with another girl - they always got in the way.

-I cannot play baseball to save my life. I both throw and catch with my left hand and even when I played on a ball team I had to catch the ball, remove my glove, throw the ball and put the glove back on. That? Is slightly embarrassing.

-I am perhaps the worst golfer to ever have walked a course. We sold my clubs, bag and cart last month because I’m just that bad. I once swung at that damn little white ball no less than twenty times and didn’t even make contact. It was then that I became the official cart driver and cold beer drinker.

-I was lucky enough to grow up on a military base (my dad was Air Force) and go to a combination public/D.N.D. funded school, meaning we got to do pretty much everything and pay pretty much nothing. I went canoeing, on week long adventure camps, climbed up mountains, rappelled down mountains (my fave!), hiked, biked, took fencing courses, rode zip lines, played capture the flag in actual woods, competed in a log rolling competition and more. My parents probably paid less than $500 for sports my entire life. (Correct me if I’m wrong, Mom…) I can hardly believe it. Particularly since my 2 year old son’s sports are going to cost us over $300 just for the upcoming fall/winter season.

-I swam my whole life and was a nationally certified lifeguard and water safety instructor until college. I let my certifications all lapse, which was really stupid.

-I played Nerf Soccer (yes, they actually called it that) as a child. I don’t remember if I liked it or not. In university I joined a co-curricular soccer team and hated it. I invested in cleats, socks, and cute shorts and ended up pretending I was busy on soccer nights.

-I have been a certified fitness instructor for over ten years and have taught everything under the sun…step aerobics, multi-step, hi-lo aerobics, boot camp, spinning, yoga, pilates, kickboxing, swing dance, hip hop, latin dance and more. If you just put on music, I can’t dance to save my life but give me a few hours to choreograph something and I can teach YOU to dance and we’ll both have fun. I haven’t taught many classes since having kids because I don’t trust the gym’s childcare to care for my children. I have continued to do workshops though, teaching other people how to teach children to enjoy fitness. That’s where my fitness passion really lies.

-I love to run, but am slow as molasses. I am NOT built for running and will never be good at it, but I still enjoy it.

-I love to bike, but am a great big chicken. I am afraid of hills, paths that are too narrow, and going up and down curbs. If you’re adventurous, I’m not much fun to bike with.

-I am a certified personal trainer and love to weight train. I am incredibly picky about form so if you don’t want help you may not want to work out with me. I’ll help you whether you want it or not.

-My mom was never into organized sports much herself (she prefers walking, running, weight training etc.) but encouraged me to do anything I wanted to do. If it was a sport and I wanted to do it, she registered me. I feel really lucky to have done all of these things…thanks Mom!

How ’bout you folks? What are your favourite and least favourite athletic pursuits? What did you try when you were growing up? Do you still do those things?

Aside: God, but I love summer!

This is us, last week, at a national park in the Canadian Rockies. We were walking the shoreline throwing rocks in the lake with my mom, sister in law and nieces. About that black stripe down the left side? Just pretend it’s not there because I’m too tired to fix it. Okay? Okaybye.

Oh, and Happy 4th of July to my friends south of the border!

We tried both of these recipes:

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RECIPE 1

* 2 cups of flour (We only have whole wheat in the house so it was a bit grainy but not bad - could have blended it first I suppose.)
* 2 packets of powdered drink mix (like Kool-Aid - no sugar added kind makes the brightest colours)
* 1/2 cup of salt
* 3 tablespoons of oil - any kind
* 3 cups of boiling water
* Cornstarch to thicken if necessary

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl (drink mix, flour and salt).
2. Stir in the oil.
(Adults take over from here…)
3. Slowly mix in the boiling water and allow the mixture to cool.
4. If it’s too runny for your taste, just add a little cornstarch.

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RECIPE 2

* 1 cup of cornstarch
* 1/2 cup of water
* 1/3 cup of grated soap (choose your favorite plain organic bar soap)

1. Melt grated soap flakes into a half cup of boiling water.
2. Add cornstarch.
3. Blend well and put aside. Allow mixture to thicken.
4. Divide into small containers and add coloring.

Natural colorings can be derived from the juice of frozen berries, beet juice, tea, onion skins (boiled) or other natural sources. You can store these in the refrigerator for about a week. You could also use the kool aid in this recipe. We used kool aid and some berry juice and they both worked fine. Did you know that the blue kool aid package is actually red inside?

We enjoyed things about both recipes. The second one is easier but I liked the consistency of the first one better. Warning: If you don’t want to waste your organic soap, do not, and I repeat DO NOT use your husband’s Olay bar. It’s smells okay on the body but God awful strong whem mixed with kool aid in fingerpaint. But…it does make it easy to clean off!

We put the easel out on the covered deck in the shade and just hosed off both the easel and the kid when we were done. The kool aid coloured his hands horribly and I was a little worried but it was completely off after his bath with no extra scrubbing.

What do you do for fun in the sun with your kids?

To celebrate our great nation’s 141st birthday, we…

-had a sleepover with my mother in law and her husband,
-spent the morning at the spray park
-had subs for lunch
-got an amazing deal on 25 tenderloin steaks…half price because the butcher ordered too much
-got 45 mm of rain in two hours
-watched the lovely park that our yard opens on to become a lake
-heard our city declare a state of emergency
-had a barbecue anyway…once the rain died down and the lightening stopped
-had great friends over for tenderloin, sausages and potatoes on the barbie
-ate a maple leaf cake…with the maple leaf made of strawberries
-watched Primo and his friend play on his new back yard climber in the rain
-were just told we can’t shower or flush our toilets
-realized how lucky we are to have such a great home with a functional sump pump, live in this amazing nation of ours, and have such an amazing family.

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Edited to add: OMG - I completely forgot!

-walked in to our bedroom to a shower that wasn’t in the ensuite. It was coming from the attic entrance!
-watched my husband and mil’s husband crawl up on to the roof to caulk a big crack in our roof vent tube
-sopped up a lot of water from the carpet and emptied roasting pans as they filled with rain. (Well, I watched the BG do that stuff, too.)
-were really glad for the “coincidence” of the BG taking a late shower and noticing the leak. If it were a “normal” day, the floor and ceiling would have been ruined before we noticed it.

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Happy Birthday Canada! Our home and native land…

It’s time to answer another of your Skribit suggestions…

Anonymous asked and 18 of you voted for:

Tell Us How You Met The Big Guy…

Disclaimer: This is perhaps the laziest post of all time. This story was told at our wedding reception by the gal who takes credit for us being together.

This is in her words…thanks Deanna!

It all began in the summer of 2001. BG had just left after a night of partying with J to go back home to pack to move to (Big City) for studies at the University there when Nicole arrived at our house to scrapbook for the afternoon. I came up from the basement and commented on how BG had made the bed so nicely even after all that drinking! Nicole commented on how she needed to meet a guy like that! I showed Nicole a photo of BH and she commented on how cute he was. I told her that he was moving to (Big City), so she was shit out of luck!

After Nicole left that day, I sneakily phoned BG and told him about a friend who thought he was cute. He was pleased, but since he was moving away, everyone forgot about it for more than a year. The following summer, we received a call from BG saying that he would be moving to (small city in which we live) to complete his final 3 years of university. J and I planned an end of summer barbecue and invited each of them without telling the other. When Nicole arrived and introduced herself to BG, he replied with “Oh, so you’re Nicole…I’ve heard all about you…” (What he had heard had something to do with wax and sparkles…but Nicole didn’t know that I had shared that information!)

As the night went on, BG and Nicole really hit it off. Later on at the bar, they even danced their very first dance to the Bloodhound Gang (”You and me, baby, ain’t nothing but mammals…”). I thought for sure that once Nicole saw BG dance, it was all over, but either Nicole didn’t notice or didn’t care because they are still dancing today! We continue to take all of the credit.

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Any guesses on the wax and sparkles story?

-I love Japanese mandarin oranges. The Chinese ones usually suck - just like the toys. I just bought case of Satsumas from Peru at Costco that taste just like the Christmas ones. Score! Where’s the fun fact? I only eat the “meat” in mandarin oranges. I peel each little segment.

-I have never tasted a Big Mac. I’ve had a kids mac and it was good but super greasy. I assume the big one tastes the same, but with more grease.

-I hate pork. I make an exception for extra crispy bacon, though.

-You know how some people are either salt people or sugar people. I’m both. Hence the size of my ass. A bowl of chips alongside a chocolate chip cookie and a bowl of ice cream please.

-Growing up I loved ketchup and hated tomatoes. Now I love tomatoes and don’t much care for ketchup. Except on Acadian tortiere at Christmas. Mmmmm.

-Berries are my favourite food. Perfectly sweet strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, saskatoons. I’m drooling now.

-This morning I made my sister in law, my nieces, Primo and I pancakes with fresh blueberries in them. They were too good to even put butter on. I put it on anyway. See: ass (above).

-The Big Guy says (in jest, of course) that I’m not allowed to eat in front of our kids lest they learn from my weird habits.

-When I eat an ice cream sandwich, I take a particular pattern of bites around the outside every time.

-When I eat a large round piece of pepper salami or summer sausage (which is rare, but yummy), I fold it in half three times to form a triangle, bit the tip off to create a hole in the center, unfold it and then put the ring into my mouth whole. I dare you to try it. It’s fun. (See: The Big Guy says - above.)

-I love my Pampered Chef crinkle cuter. Sometimes I’ll eat something when I’m not hungry just so I can use my crinkle cutter. It’s especially great for cheese & cucumber.

-I love a good cheese, cucumber, mayo & fresh ground pepper sandwich on a grainy whole wheat fresh bread. Mmmmmm.

-I refuse to eat fake food. Powdered parmesan? No. Fake sugar? No. Margerine? No. Yuck.

-When we’re at Costco or stores like it and we’re trying samples, you’ll often hear me say to Primo such things as “No, buddy. That’s got pretend food in it and we don’t eat that.”

-I am a very good cook but don’t particularly enjoy doing it. I love seeing people love my food, though, and love hostessing so I do it anyway.

-I rarely use recipes and it’s even more rare that I actually follow one. I get the general idea for a dish from a recipe, the tv, or a restaurant (or a blog) and I make it my own way, generally healthier/better tasting/more organic…more my way. Like with everything else in life, it’s my way or the highway.

Your turn. What are your fave foods? What foods do you despise? Any weird food idiosyncrasies?

(Image courtesy pachd.com)

-Being a mom - 99.9% of the time it’s fantastically awesome to be a mom to my amazing little family members.

-My husband’s hugs. He can always make me feel better, even when I’m hemorrhaging.

-Being busy. Sure, I haven’t been caught up on my to-do list in two years but I’d rather that than have nothing to do.

-Our weekly schedule. Monday is errands and family stuff. Tuesday is the spray park. Wednesday is nature class. Thursday is play group. Friday is Costco. All with friends.

-My friends. They’re fab.

-Our weather. Sure, it’s WAY too windy at times but most of the time it’s absolutely gorgeous. In the summer, anyway. Well, today.

-Having a neighbour with a waterfall. We get to enjoy the beautiful sound alongside the wind rustling the leaves of our trees, but we don’t have to maintain a waterfall.

-Having a small yard. It’s so much less work than the huge one at our old house.

-Having a huge stack of books waiting for me to have time to read. There’s a slight feeling of pressure to get them done, but it’s so nice to have them here and not be searching for decent things to read next.

Speaking of books…

-I read Mama Rock’s Rules: Ten Lessons for Raising a Household of Successful Children a few weeks ago and it’s definitely on the ‘doesn’t suck’ list. In fact, it’s on the really really doesn’t suck list. I love reading a book that it so common sense. It’s like talking to a veteran parent (she’s a mother of 10 and a foster mother of 17) who tells it like it is. She agrees with my take on what’s missing in many kids today - but my theories come more from teaching than parenting at this point. Kids need boundaries, discipline, and consequences, and they need to be able to make choices. They also need family dinners, and I really want to have dinner at Mama Rock’s house some day.

-I’ve also found a few minutes to read Sephora:The Ultimate Guide To Make-up, Skin, and Hair From the Beauty Authority. I’m a yoga pants and pony tail girl at heart but I do love to look good and I really enjoyed this easy to read and far more down to earth than I expected book. I love that many of the tips are practical for someone who’s at home with kids, someone who works in fashion central Manhattan and someone who’s in between like me. I’m trying to put in a little more effort even when I’m just going to the spray park thanks to the inspiration of Sephora.

-I’m currently reading The Sky Isn’t Visible From Here by Felicia Sullivan and if I was my former childless-with-time-to-read self I would never put it down. It’s that good. I never thought I was a memoir person but this is the second one I’ve read that has made me change my mind. I ordered it from Amazon when it was first released (simply because I heart Felicia) and it sat in the aforementioned pile for an embarrassingly long time. With a life such as Felicia has lived, I am amazed at her eloquence and at her success. She makes me appreciate my mom even more than I already did. Felicia, please come to my house - we need to eat together and chat.

What doesn’t suck for you today?

-Teething

-The first period after giving birth. What’s this 5.5 months crap? I was banking on a year this time.

-Teething

-Hemorrhaging within an inch of my life. See above. What is up with that? I might as well hole up in the house for a week.

-Teething

-Customs fees and duties for cross-border shipping. Why is it so completely random?

-Teething

-Having to work for money.

-Teething

-Not seeing one of my BFF’s because she has a diseased child. Not really diseased, but that’s what I’m going to call him now. The diseased one. Only she will think that’s funny.

-Teething

-And, um, teething.

Can you guess how much sleep we’re getting around here?

I love shopping, and I especially love shopping online.

I try to buy Canadian as much as possible (and promote Canadian business via reviews at TOP)but it’s not all patriotism. It’s also frugality. I love supporting the economy of my country, I love supporting any parent-run business and I love not leaving the house to shop…but I hate (HATE!) paying shipping charges. I’ll take a free shipping deal any day. When I do have to pay shipping, it’s much cheaper when I buy from Canadian companies. (But I’ll usually stop the ordering process if I can’t find a free shipping code - one will come along eventually!)

Speaking of shipping, shopping Canadian (and even better, local) greatly reduces the environmental damage from shipping items across the continent and overseas.

Really, there’s nothing bad about supporting the Great White North!

Apples n’ Oranges is hosting the ultimate I Buy Canadian blog party to spread the word about shopping Canadian.

*I’ve been the often-not-so-proud owner of 5 vehicles.

*My first car was a silver and rust 1981 Mercury Lynx. I bought it in high school (1992) even before I got my driver’s license with my saved paychecks from working at McDonalds. It was horrible, but it served it’s purpose of ensuring I never had to ride the shameful bus. I had the opportunity to go to Europe on a school trip and chose to buy a car instead. I’m still often that stupid.

*My second car was a blue and rust 1985 Chevy Cavalier. Cavaliers sucked then even more than they suck now.

*My third car was a red 1989 Toyota Tercel. It was a piece, but simply by virtue of being a Toyota it was the best car I’d ever had.

*My fourth car was a beige-ish four door 1992 Honda Accord. It was my first “sensible vehicle” and it was awesome. It was also my first time making it within a decade. I think I made it by two months, but I could say I had a car less than 10 years old.

*My current vehicle is a 2001 Honda Oddysey mommyvan. It’s dorky, but I love it. I love being able to stop to nurse a baby in a blizzard or rainstorm without leaving my vehicle. It has enough seatbelts for the BG and I, the two kids and the three pets. If we have a third child, we need an eighth seat. Suggestions on a vehicle that’s not a Hutterite van are needed and appreciated.

*We also have a 1997 Honda Prelude that was my husband’s before we met. Within the next few years it will be traded in for a hybrid Civic. He drives a ton for work and with gas costing an arm, a leg and a large intestine, it just makes sense. We can’t afford a payment (or food) while I’m not working so it has to wait until I go back.

*We have no car payments. I have never in my life bought a vehicle on credit and I don’t believe in it. Hence the quality of vehicles I have owned.

*Okay, that’s a lie. We put my van on our line of credit but paid it off in a few months thanks to my husbands mad debt reduction skillz.

Now it’s your turn…tell me about your vehicles.

As I mentioned in the most recent Fun Fact Friday, I love a clean house but I hate cleaning. Also, I love green products but am not big on the colour green unless it’s bright, sunny and limey. Or is it lime-y?

Anyhoo, people keep sending me green cleaning products to try out. Which? Is cool. Though I still use vinegar 99% of the time, I do enjoy analyzing ingredients, testing out efficiency and sharing these products with my ‘wanting to be greener’ friends when I go back to ye olde vinegar.

I don’t actually so much hate cleaning as I hate the time it takes away from doing other stuff, like playing with my kids, digital scrapbooking and, um, reading blogs.

My latest acquisition came in the form of TerraCycle cleaners. I received full size samples (because do you really think I’d write about a company who was so cheap they sent me minis? I think not. I’ll take their freebies but they’re not getting a type-written word out of me…) of the all purpose cleaner, the window cleaner and the drain maintainer and cleaner. Thanks for not being cheap, TerraCycle! (You know I mean stingy, right? TerraCycle products aren’t any more expensive than any other cleaners, and are cheaper than some natural cleaners I’ve used.)

The Good:

+TerraCycle cleaners are non-toxic, biodegradable, environmentally friendly, and have a zero footprint.

+They’re the first consumer products to earn the right to carry the Zerofootprint™ seal, signifying that the materials and manufacturing processes have virtually no negative environmental repercussions.

+They’re packaged entirely in waste (reused pop bottles, completely unchanged form their original pop-bottle state) and are sold at OfficeMax and The Home Depot.
+Made from concentrated essences of plants, shrubs, fruits, herbs and grasses with natural minerals and water, TerraCycle cleaners are EcoLogo certified, the strictest certification given by the Canadian Government for environmentally sound practices in production and formulation.

+They work. The all purpose cleaner did just as good a job as potent vinegar in removing pet grubbies from the floor, kid-prints from the walls, dried on kitchen crap from the cupboards and more. The window cleaner left less streaks than plain vinegar (which are now covered in doggy noseprints and kidprints, but whatever) and the drain maintainer and cleaner is my new lover. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. We have drain issues in our ensuite bathroom. If you’ve never had drain issues, be glad. Be very very glad. Both the tub and the sink have their issues, but the sink is way worse, probably because the tub is used only rarely. (Not that we are dirty. We’re not. Not usually, anyway. We have a separate shower stall in the ensuite that we use daily.) Oh yeah, back to the sink. It doesn’t drain optimally and we end up with old toothpaste crud and shaving specks in there which, if you’re wondering, is really really gross. We use a vinegar and baking soda volcano in there often, but it doesn’t work when it gets really bad and we have to resort to Drano or some other toxic crap. The TerraCycle drain maintainer and cleaner arrived just after my last application of Drano so I’ve been using it every 4 days religiously. (Probably overkill, but I’m trying to prevent a return of the grossness. If you’d seen it, you’d vote for the overkill too.) So far, the drain is running completely free. Rather like wild salmon in spawning season. Or something like that. Previous to TerraCycle, we would have noticed at least a mild ’slowing of the flowing’ by now and that’s not happening, so I’m very happy. I’m easily pleased.

The Bad:

-The smell of the all-purpose cleaner is kind of piney (or is it pine-y?) and a little nasty. It’s reminiscent of a camp kitchen when the delicious smell of baked beans and apple turnovers has dissipated for the day. Or maybe an elementary school on summer holidays. It’s not my favourite smell, that’s for sure.

The Ugly:

-Nothing!

The Verdict:

+Great company, great cleaners. Almost enough to convince me to switch from vinegar. But…at only $4 for a huge jug and edible, it’ll always be my fave.

The Giveaway:

TerraCycle is giving one MMTaM reader one of each of the following:
·Drink Pouch Bag (Made from 100% used drink pouches - how cool is that?)
·Target ReTote Bag (Made from 20 formerly loved “disposable” bags fused together. Wicked cool!)
·All Purpose Cleaner
·Bathroom Cleaner
·Window Cleaner
(Each of these five items is pictured at right.)

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. I’ll draw one winner in a week or so - I’ll close comments when I do the draw so if you’re able to leave a comment then the contest is still open! (It’ll be at least a week…a little longer if I’m busy or forget to do the draw. Hey, I’m honest.)

Good luck!

It’s amazing the things you hear and the things you find yourself saying once you have children…

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Me: No, you don’t get a chocolate chip for farting. Sorry, buddy.

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Primo: My penis on da table!
Me: Why is your penis on the table?
Primo: Penis goes on da table! Hahaha!

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Primo: I have a penis, dust like Daddy!
Me: Yes, that’s right buddy.
Primo: Mommy has a penis.
Me: No, silly. What does mommy have?
Primo: Mommy has a badina! Bella has a penis.
Me: No, Bella’s a girl, just like Mommy. So what does she have?
Primo: Bella has a badina…Primo has a badina! Primo’s being a goof. Silly goof.

*I very rarely go to movies. I went to one when pregnant with Primo, one when pregnant with Bella, perhaps one in between and one this week. (Sex and the City“>Sex and the City was great - I laughed and cried intermittently, and you definitely don’t need to have watched the show to enjoy it. Seeing the movie makes the the book even better! I actually love movies, but I’m cheap and I go to bed too early.

*I am ever so slightly addicted to shaving my legs and armpits. By that I mean I MUST do it every day. Even when we’re camping, I’ll use a bottle of water to wet my legs and pits so I can shave if there are no showers there.

*My pinky toe has the teeniest little nail you ever did see. My to sort of curls under my [ring toe] fourth toe and the nail is less than 1mm long when cut short.

*My toenails are ALWAYS cut short. When I can see more than 1/2 mm of white it grosses me out. How people get gel nails and french manicures on their feet is beyond me. It’s gross.

*I love a clean house but hate cleaning. That’s not working out so good for me.

I almost feel like an adult!

Well, I would if I wasn’t taking a 4.5 month old baby with me.

A girlfriend and I are taking our babes and heading out to see Sex and the City.

I only watched the show a handful of times but I’m still excited to see the movie. It’s gotten a lot of terrible reviews but anyone I’ve talked to who has seen it has said it was fantastic (and a few of them hadn’t watched the show either.) I admit to taking a sneak peek at my copy of the book even though I had been warned there were spoilers in it. The book? Is fantastic. And I’m not generally a fan of coffee table books. It totally pumped me up to see the show. The pictures are amazing, the stories are cute, touching, funny, interesting…

I’m not one to care about clothing but - holy crap! The clothing is too much.

I’m off to the movie, and I might even have popcorn - just to say I did. Hopefully I won’t have to breastfeed through the whole show - popcorn in the ear has got to be uncomfortable.

Have you seen it?
Read the book?
Watched the show?
What did you think?