A Fool and His Money…

The other day, I heard Kate yell from the living room, “Mom!! We need to buy Wonder Hangers!” Then she came running to me and said breathlessly “We need to buy Wonder Hangers! You can hang FIVE shirts in the same space it takes to hang ONE on a regular hanger!”

Do you know what she’s talking about? These:
wonder hanger

Apparently they show infomercials on Nickelodeon.

Later, I was bemoaning the state of her room, and she reminded me that her closet would be MUCH more organized if she only had Wonder Hangers.

She’s also convinced that her dad is going to buy her a Snuggie for her birthday.
snuggie

A few days ago, she asked my grandma if she would buy her a BumpIt.
bumpit

Because every five-year-old needs a beehive.

And so it begins. We can’t really hold her responsible for her inclination to be interested in anything marked “As Seen On TV!” The poor girl comes from a long line of people who are suckers for infomercials.

Case in point: Yesterday I actually considered buying her a BumpIt. (And yes, I can see you all cringing.)

I was somewhat concerned about the message I’d be sending to her if I did buy one, though, so I sought counsel from my BFF Jess. I emailed her:

Kate’s the flower girl for the Miss Basketball ceremony at the high school basketball game. The other day she told me she wanted a Bump It and I’m thinking of getting her one for tomorrow night, to give her a cute little hair do. Is that ok or is that crossing the line into cheerleading wigs and high school breast implants??

I knew Jess would give me good advice, and as I suspected she stopped me from hitting the “Buy It Now” button with her response:

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY THE BUMP IT! I think it’s a fantastic idea in theory, but those things are a piece of junk. I bought them and could not get it to work right and it looked so silly. You should try “making” a bump it by teasing her hair… look online or YouTube or something!

Crisis averted. I did not waste any money or risk taking the first step toward Kate’s debut appearance on “Toddlers and Tiaras.”

So as you can see, Kate’s predisposition toward getting ripped off is an unfortunate side effect of her genetic make up. Need more examples?

My dad is the proud owner of a Swivel Sweeper.
swivel sweeper

Andy’s mom has given us the Pasta Pro pasta pro and the Moving Men moving men (both of which we still use, I might add), and just this Christmas she was the happy recipient of a Perfect Brownie pan perfect brownie (I totally want one of those – I love corner brownie pieces!).

This little “issue” we all have goes back even further in the family tree – recently our grandma told Jenny she wished she had a credit card because they sell a lot of things on TV that she’d really like to have. I’ve made a mental note to keep credit card applications away from her and Kate.

Speaking of credit cards… where is mine? I really want an InStyler.
instyler

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Not a Chance

Tuesday night Andrea, Emily, Cortney, Katie, another Andrea, Tricia, Marianne and some very other cool local bloggers were at Books & Co. for the book signing of our super-cool famous friend Erin Chase and as Erin was greeting all her enthusiastic fans, we sat around and chatted. The topic quickly turned to how fabulous Emily looks after having reached her weight-loss goal with Weight Watchers. Then it turned to what everyone was trying to do to get in shape. Cortney’s working out, Andrea is a runner, Marianne’s a runner…and I…am not. My contribution to the conversation was:

“I’m so out of shape. But, it’s kinda my thing!”

Oh, ha ha ha, Jenny’s so funny…but it’s TRUE! I literally break out in hives when people start talking about running 5ks and half-marathons and crazy crap like that. Eeek!

Then last night on twitter I started seeing stuff like this:

tweetshannan_edited-1

*breaks out in cold sweat*

Eventually it was tweeted as a suggestion that I join this effort, to which I replied, that such would happen when HELL FREEZES OVER.

Then my “friends” thought they would be funny! Andrea tweeted this and it was re-tweeted many times:

tweetandrea

Oh, so, funny, really I am dying laughing. {sarcasm sign}. You girls may know the way to my heart, but you do NOT know the way off my a$$.

Besides, as I think I have proven many times, I can get my own bags of Mary Kay, Lands’ End clothes, and cute boots!

But you know, have a great time doing that 5K! I’ll be cheering you on from the comfort of my cozy Lands’ End sweaters and Sorel boots!

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That’s Not Peanut Butter

Yesterday Sophie and I were having a great afternoon, which involved me breaking my high score at Wii bowling (208 baby!!) and her sitting at the dining room table watching me bowl while eating a nutritious lunch of grapes and chicken nuggets. What could be better?

I was getting my bowling groove on when all of a sudden Sophie began to fuss. “Need help! Need HELP!” she cried frantically. I turned to look at her and she had her hand extended toward me, covered in peanut butter. Neither of my kids like it when their hands get messy while they’re eating so I am used to having to wipe her hands before she can finish her meal. But as I walked toward her to grab a napkin, I realized: She’s not eating peanut butter. That can’t be peanut butter.

I took hold of her wrist and got a whiff and panicked. THAT’S NOT PEANUT BUTTER!

It was poop.

She had a chicken nugget in one hand, and a bunch of poop in the other.

I immediately did what I could with a napkin, then began jumping around screaming “NO touch! No touch!” while frantically trying to locate the wipes and wrestle the Wii controller that was strapped to me off of my arm. (I am very good in a panic situation. {Sarcasm sign!})

I found the wipes, got her hand cleaned up, washed it in soap and scalding water (just kidding, it was just really warm), managed not to VOMIT, and then went about changing her diaper. I quickly discovered that she’d had a bit of a blowout, and feeling poop on her lower back, had reached back to find out what the heck was going on back there. And found out. Eeeeeww.

I made it almost six years as a mother without having a kid stick his or her hand in their own poo, I guess that is pretty good. But YUCK. It was disgusting.

And it is time for Camp Potty to begin TODAY!

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