It’s not easy being Santa.

When I came home from work today, I found this on the kitchen counter.

dearsanta.JPG

Too bad that Mommy Claus hasn’t gotten a swimming puppy! I actually had one in my cart at Target last weekend, but I put it back because I didn’t think there was any way she actually wanted this thing.

I mean, look at it.
swimming-puppy.jpg

Looks fascinating, right?

So as I sat down at the computer tonight, I went looked for this thing and found it on ToysRUs.com. Of course, I looked at the user reviews.

Let’s just say that the swimming puppy doesn’t seem to be much of a hit with the moms and dads who’ve written the reviews.

In fact, here’s the first one I read:
“Should be called fall over and float while the legs move back and forth for 2 minutes until water creeps into the battery compartment and goes into the trash puppy.”

Needless to say, I am NOT thrilled by the thought of sinking (haha) $29.99 into it.

But, scroll up and look at that sweet letter to Santa.

So I ask you, what is a person to do in this situation? I am in a true quandary, and time is ticking away.

If any of you are proud owners of a Rescue Pets Swim to Me Puppy and would like to talk me into purchasing it, I am all scary eyes ears.

(P.S. If you are not sick of free stuff yet, we have a great Build-a-Bear giveaway here at Reviewin’ It Up! Go ENTER! Ends Saturday!)

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The Great Birthday Cake Saga of 2008

So, a couple of weeks ago when I posted about my yearly birthday cake freak-out, many of you left comments with good cake ideas. My husband also left a comment that simply said “P”. That’s because Sophie LOVES letters, and P is her favorite letter. So, his idea was that I make her a letter P cake.

I really wanted to make her a Little Einsteins cake, but all the ideas I found online seemed WAY too hard, and as I looked at each photo, my blood pressure went up and up. I could feel my feet and fingers begin to swell! So, then I decided, maybe I would make her a cake that looked like a Magna-Doodle, because that is about her favorite toy. She lee-oves it. She loves for us to write letters on it for her and then she tells us what the letters are and then scribbles away happily until she fills the screen. Then we start the process over again. So, I decided I was going to make a Magna-Doodle cake.

Then about three days before her party, I started to freak out that it would be too hard, that it would just look like a colorful rectangle and not a Magna-Doodle, and that I would have to mix too many colors of icing (which was what about sent me over the edge last year). So, I decided my husband was right! (Gasp!) I decided I should make her a letter “P” cake. Bobby would cut the shape out for me out of a rectangle cake and then I’d frost it. Easy peasy!

Except I didn’t hear the timer go off on the oven and the cake got a *smidge* overdone and a huge chunk of it stuck to the pan, leaving a giant sunken portion in the middle of the cake, making it near impossible to cut a letter P out of it!

AAAARRRRRGH!!

Blood. Pressure. Rising!!

This was about 9 p.m. the night before the party, and I was just done. I was near tears, and decided I would just make cupcakes. But then, my sweet, capable husband pieced the thing back together, cut the cake in half, and carved a P out of half the cake, somehow making the broken part become the center of the P that we would have to cut out anyway. YAY! The day was saved! The P was just a little smaller than I’d originally intended, so I did make the cupcakes so that there would be enough cake for everyone.

After we got the P cut out, I went to work frosting it. I thought for a little diva like Sophie, and pink-and-purple P would be appropriate! So here’s what I ended up with:

Sophie's Letter P cake

And here’s how I ended up feeling:

whipped is right.

The next day, we had a great party, and Sophie loved her cake! Well, actually, she ended up eating a cupcake, but when I showed her the P cake, she gave me a very satisfying “WOW!”

cupcake happiness

Which coincidentally, is the same way I feel about HER!

P.S. I entered this post in the linky at Blissfully Domestic to show how darn domestic I am! Go read about the domestic feats of others here!

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Let’s Talk About Me, Shall We?

I’ve had a few things going on lately, and I feel a little disconnected. It’s Sophie’s birthday week, and I am utterly unprepared. Haven’t even sent out the evite for her party yet, whoops. (Although I think I have decided on a cake). So I am pretty much mother of the year, but you all knew that already. She’s really and truly weaned, and for that I am thankful, if not a little sad. Twice during the week after she last nursed, she got excited when thinking she was going to GET to nurse, and it broke my heart. Really, there is nothing funny about a crying toddler sticking her hand down your shirt and saying her newly-learned word “Please”. It’s a killer. But this past week she was fine and seems to be starting to be adjusting and it’s a relief.

So it is time to move on. There are a whole host of things I’ve said I would do after Sophie was weaned, and it’s time to do them. I need to get a sleep study done and find out why I can’t sleep. I need to get my #@! wisdom teeth out before they push my teeth together so hard that the front ones just pop right out of my head. I need to find out how to get my hormones back to normal.

I don’t want to do any of it. I just want it to be done.

*Sigh*

But first I have to get through Soph’s birthday, and then I’ll have the holidays to use as my excuse, right? So…I guess we’ll just have to pick this conversation up later…

In the meantime, I’d love for you to take a look at some of what I’ve been up to. Yesterday I published the Blissful Style 2008 Holiday Gift Guide over at Blissfully Domestic. Lots of stylish gifts at lots of different price ranges! Please go check it out and let me know what you think! Also, on Sunday, I guest posted at Velveteen Mind, in an effort to save Megan’s NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) efforts. I’d tell you what she calls NaBloPoMo but my mom reads this blog, so you will just have to head over there and find out for yourself!

Oooh one more little thing I need to let you in on. Did you like the contest we posted yesterday? I hope so, and I hope you get used to it! To celebrate the craziness that leads up to the Fa-la-la-la-Lalidays, Emily and I will be doing a giveaway every Monday until Christmas! It’s our Monday Holidaze Giveaways! So make sure and check in with us obsessively several times a day every Monday!

Mmmkay. That’s all I got, fer realzies. Now leave me a comment and tell me to get my ACT together!!

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