I love to learn about mom companies and I love to spread the word about them!
Bean and Banana is a great business created by 2 DC area moms! And they are excited to get the word out about their awesome, hand-knitted hats for little ones- SO WE’RE DOING A GIVEAWAY!!!!!
I was invited by a neighbor to a Bean and Banana show last weekend, I looked at the Evite and it was walking distance from my house! I went and met the 2-mom business team that is- Bean and Banana!
So, not only are these young moms cool, but 1 of them is also my neighbor! They both love to knit, but couldn’t find any non-scratchy, warm hats for their babies- so they’ve created their own. They hand-knit each hat using only 100% extrafine merino wool. Their hats come in every color and lots of sweet, cute styles.
Another great feature of their company: if you want something specific on your hat, for example: using your Alma Mater’s colors, just tell them and they’ll knit it for you!
I saw these hats and they are precious. Their sizing is for: preemies, newborns, and little ones up to 2 years old, but they can make ‘extra-large’ hats upon request!
LEAVE A COMMENT about which hats you like and you are entered into the BananaBlueberry FREE GIVEAWAY for a hat of your choice,
compliments of these cool, knitting moms!
Good luck! The winner will be picked on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the first official shopping day of the Christmas Season, so leave a comment for a chance at a hat for your little one or a gift for someone on your list
Visit their website, Bean and Banana for more pictures and information!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon sponsored by
Giant Food. I got to enjoy a wonderful lunch, cool fellow DC Metro Mom Bloggers, and great tips on food and shopping from Giant.
Robin Michel, Executive Vice President of Giant, and a MOM, spoke to us, but more importantly, LISTENED to us about likes, and dislikes, and what would make our lives easier.
Giant is continuing to make their stores more ‘mom friendly’. Just look at the gift baskets they will be selling in all of their stores soon!
Aren’t they beautiful? And these will be reasonably priced. This translates to me= great, no-sweat gift to just pick up for a party/ housewarming/ pick-me-up for a friend!
The MOST IMPORTANT aspect of this luncheon was not that the food was delicious, (it was),
not that the company was great, (it was),
not that the information was helpful, (it was),
BUT that Giant food, is speaking 1-on-1 with mothers, their shoppers. Giant food is also recognizing the power of mom bloggers. I read just online yesterday that ‘mommy bloggers’ are taking over the world. And anyone who was at BlogHer DC in October can’t forget Leslie Stahl announcing that ‘blogging and the online community’- is the future.
Yes, we’re taking over the world, life is good, but like all mothers-
I must juggle world-domination with figuring out ‘what’s for dinner’. So, as Thanksgiving creeps closer, here are some helpful hints, courtesy of Giant:
* Buy your turkey in advance and freeze it (just remember that a frozen turkey can take 2 to 4 days to defrost in your refrigerator)
* Use a meat thermometer to cook your turkey – to take the guess-work out!
AND PS- Giant is offering pre-made Thanksgiving dinners, if you don’t want to cook. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, I may take advantage of this next one- pre-made/made-to-order SIDE DISHES for Thanksgiving…
I have a little secret– I ordered stuffing from the Giant deli YEARS AGO for Thanksgiving… and my father-in-law still raves about it (I hope he’s not doing a lot of online reading today, he still thinks it was homemade).
This excited me… There are other people who make up words, not just me…
I now have the pluck, nerve, daring, audacity, boldness and grit (I was just familiarizing myself with my own online Dictionary/Thesaurus, since I’m sure my new word will be part of it soon) to share my you my ‘made-up’ word.
So here it is, without further ado, the introduction to the world of my made-up word:
Some may argue that Cha is just a sound, but it’s a word. I use it every day.
The beauty of Cha is that it means more than one thing. It can mean ‘agreement’ or ‘STRONG disagreement’. It can also mean ‘yes’ or ‘no’, depending on how you are feeling…
Examples:
My husband- “Would you like to join me on a several-mile jog on this cold, chilly morning?”
Me: “Cha.” (followed by silence)
A friend: “Do you want to catch a quick manicure down the street at that cute nail salon?”
Me: “Cha!”
Little Man: “Mommy, can we watch Yo Gabba Gabba?!”
Me: “Um, Cha.”
(By the way, what’s up with that show? It’s crazy.)
So there you have it. Cha.
See how nicely it rolls with the conversation? Cha is perfect.
It’s really more of a ‘place-holder-kind-of-word’,
“Isn’t that a cool painting?”
“Cha!”
“Anyway, so as I was saying…”
Yet also, a very cool ‘affirmation-type-of-word’.
Picture this: It’s a cold evening, our son is peacefully sleeping, I’m in my pajamas and holding a glass of wine, while sitting on the couch with a fire in the fireplace-
Who DOESN’T remember The Electric Company? It was awesome. Now, you can go on YOUTUBE and watch Electric Company songs. But I warn you, it can be hard to look away. I was given this knowledge by Tech Savvy Mama doing a guest post on A Parent In Silver Spring.
First of all- Morgan Freeman is introducing the band! Morgan Freeman, the Oscar-Winner, but more importantly- the famous ‘Easy Reader’ on The Electric Company He’s introducing ‘The Sweet, Sweet Sway’… I REMEMBER THIS SONG…CRAZY!
Is the main singer also the little girl that ate too many blueberries in the original Willie Wonka?
And why did everyone in the 70’s sing on top of boxes?
My son really loves this song and a lot of other electric company songs now, thanks to Tech Savvy Mama and A Parent In Silver Spring.
My thanks to them eventhough I’m ready to poke my eyes out because I can’t get this song out of my head !!! Both of these mom blogs are fantastic resources for moms and families… and they both are fun moms too!
Bill Gates is a nerd. Warren Buffet is a nerd. Mark Cuban tries not to be, but he’s a nerd. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were high school nerds. I can’t imagine any of the Supreme Court Justices are not nerds. And Drew Carey is a nerd.
I was watching the ‘Power of 10’ a while back and Drew Carey reminded a contestant that “nerds rule the world”. My husband turned to me and said,
“Let’s encourage our Little Man to be a nerd.”
“What, by example?” I replied.
Then we talked about letting our son decide what he wants to do with activities, stress that learning is fun and making sure he doesn’t top out in high school.
Drew Carey hosts ‘The Price Is Right’ and he is hilarious (I’ve always been a big fan)! He also strikes me as an intelligent investor and I know he made gobs of money from his long-running sitcom. And Drew Carey is a nerd… a funny nerd, but still, a nerd.
Nerds can communicate an idea effectively; they are just not the most popular kids in their class. And who really cares about being popular after you turn 18 anyway?
Embrace the nerd!
They run corporate America, the Government and your local toy store.
There are worse ways for your kid to turn out.
The election is upon us. In keeping with the ‘no politics’ rule of BananaBlueberry, I am not endorsing a candidate…
But I am telling you to vote. For a little inspiration I googled and found one of my favorite School House Rock Songs,
yes, I do things like this.
So take a moment and celebrate our forefathers and enjoy the transfer of power in a democracy…
and enjoy this song: It’s the Preamble of the Constitution…
“We the People, in order to form a more perfect union,” Can’t you already remember the tune ?
Here are a pair of squirrels who are eating on my next door neighbor’s pumpkins. I know they have been feasting on mine too.
What is curious is the squirrel on the right side by the pot. It looked like he or she was sleeping –
the squirrel didn’t move at all; even with my 4-year-old sneaking around in front of them with me.
then all of a sudden-
they both are alert and take off. Do squirrels sleep with their eyes open or have a weird-eyelid thing going on?… because this is the second squirrel I’ve seen in the past couple of months that looks, basically, dead, and then jumps up and runs away.
And- I didn’t know squirrels ate pumpkins. Are the neighborhood squirrels REALLY hungry or do they normally munch on pumpkins? Pumpkins aren’t easy to eat, then again, squirrels have pretty big teeth. But squirrels eating pumpkins on porches seems like ‘a bottom of the barrel’ type thing.
I was just emailing and typed the word ‘similiar’. My spell check UNDERLINED it in red. I went to my dashboard and brought up my dictionary and thesaurus and found that ‘similiar’ is spelled ‘similar’, as in things ‘resembling each other but not identical’.
Did this spelling just change? I have been freelance writing, producing and reporting for about 15 years and I’ve always spelled similar- similiar… And I’ve never been corrected.
WOW! Good thing I was never in a Spelling Bee. How embarrassing would it be to get a simple word like ‘similar’ wrong in a Spelling Bee…
But really, how even more embarrassing that I am in my thirties and just now realized that I’ve been spelling this word wrong all my life!
This is embarrassing… why am I writing this? I’m ending this post.
Note: The word ‘similar’ originates from Northern India… who new knew?
Yes, I know those are Redskins colors, but I have to give some love to our home team… with that said:
The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing on TV a few days ago. My son asked my husband,
“Daddy, do they STEAL?” A logical question.
My Big Guy then explained to my Little Guy that the team is called the Pittsburgh Steelers because Pittsburgh is know for making steel, a metal… actually an alloy of iron (I just looked that up, but metal is good enough for a 4-year-old). He then explained to our son that Pittsburgh has a big steel industry and a lot of people in Pittsburgh work with steel.
My son was VERY relieved that their team did not steal because as he put it,
Nerds rule the world.
