Mommin' It Up!

October 1, 2014

I forgot how the Tooth Fairy works.

Sam hit a long-awaited milestone last week.

At six-and-a-half, that was the first tooth he lost and he was VERY excited about it. He actually lost it at school, and the secretary gave him a cute little treasure box to put the tooth in. He couldn’t stop smiling all day. It was adorable. And he was SO EXCITED for the Tooth Fairy to come that night.

I had dinner with friends that evening (and I’m going to blame the margarita for what came next. I only had one. Okay, two. But they were ~~small~~ medium.), and when I got home Sam and Andy were both asleep, but Kate had waited up for me to make sure I performed my duties. I went in to Sam’s room, slid a dollar under his pillow, went back to tell Kate she could stop holding vigil and go to bed, and hit the sack myself.

Anyone notice the missing step there? Yeah.

The next morning, Sam came into our room devastated. He was crying and said, “The Tooth Fairy didn’t take my tooth!” I said some choice words in my head and then made up some nonsense about her not being able to find it without waking him up. He wasn’t having it, though. I don’t know why that particular part of the ritual was so important to him, but it was, and I totally screwed it up. Kate scooped up the tooth before Sam came into his room after school that day, and she told him to check and see if the Tooth Fairy had come back for it. By that point he was fairly mollified… but this is one of those things that I’m going to remember, even if he doesn’t.

There are plenty of other things for me to screw up before my kids turn 18, but rest assured the Tooth Fairy won’t make that mistake again!

{Cue Jenny telling me how smart she is for not playing along with any made up rites of passage that require adult intervention.}

September 23, 2014

Uncommon Goods – My Go-To for Gifts

A few weeks ago, a representative from Uncommon Goods contacted Jenny and me to see if we’d want to partner with them. I was very excited about this, because I’ve been shopping at Uncommon Goods for years – it is my go-to site when I need a unique gift. I also love them because their customer service is fantastic!

In fact, just this summer I bought the City Map Glasses (found here) as an engagement present…

… with some Whiskey Stones (found here) to go along with them.

I also bought Lake Topography Art (found here) as a hostess present – there are more than 4,000 lakes from which to choose, and they’re laser cut and hand assembled.

Uncommon Goods has a huge selection of really unique items – it’s the perfect place too look for the hard-to-shop-for husband or the already-has-everything friend!

Since Jenny’s birthday was coming up when we got the email about partnering with Uncommon Goods (and for some reason she didn’t make a bulleted list of exactly what to buy her this year), I thought I’d pick out a gift for her.

I started by perusing the Gifts for Women (found here) category.

Jenny loves Ohio-y stuff, so I considered the State Dish Towels (found here).

I also kind of loved these Agate Photo Frames (found here).

I finally settled on the Steampunk Coffee Mill (found here), as a nod to her love of all things coffee and all things old-fashioned.

After learning more about Uncommon Goods, I love them more than I did before. They’re a store you can feel good about supporting! They feature gifts “created in harmony iwth the environment and without harm to animals or people.” Half of what they sell is made by hand, and about a third incorporates recycled and/or upcycled materials – how cool is that? Another interesting point – their lowest-paid worker makes 50 percent more than minimum wage.

So, the next time you’re looking for the perfect gift, head to Uncommon Goods!

September 18, 2014

Metal Mouth

As you might recall, I got braces a couple of months ago because my tongue is too big for my mouth. Sad but true.

All and all, it’s going fine. The first couple of weeks pretty much sucked my will to live, but it’s continually gotten better and most days I don’t have much pain at all. I’ve figured out how to eat, for the most part, and other than cutting corn off the cob and not being able to bite into an apple, it hasn’t been that big of a deal. My inability to eat popcorn, however, is very disturbing to Sam. Every once in a while he’ll randomly say “Poor Mommy can’t even eat popcorn at the movies!” or something along those lines.

I’ve been following the doctor’s orders really closely – I know how much I paid for the pleasure of orthodontic treatment and I do not want to screw it up – but there’s one thing I can’t bring myself to do.

I can’t drink coffee through a straw.

Everything else? No problem. I have even abstained from red wine. But there is just something unnatural about using a straw in a coffee mug. And I am not about to give up coffee.

So, I just live with the fear that I am irreparably staining my teeth and I’ll have bracket-shaped spots on my teeth whenever I get these things off.

But guess what!

I think this whole thing is working. I feel so good. I can get out of bed in the morning without calculating the minutes until I can go back to bed, I don’t feel the need to nap in the afternoon (and the few times I’ve tried, I haven’t been able to. Unheard of!), and I have more energy than I can remember having since… well, ever. It is really kind of amazing.

I saw my doctor (the one who diagnosed my giant tongue) last week and he said he couldn’t be more pleased with my progress. I’m still on hydro-cortisone for my adrenal system, but he thinks I’ll be able to wean myself off of it before too awfully long.

Oh – I nearly forgot… a few of you have asked to see a picture of me with my braces, so against my better judgement, here you go!