YESTERDAY, I ‘WORKED’…
YESTERDAY, I got up at 5:45am. I did not shower, is as my routine, primped and headed downtown to help out with a wonderful student conference for Young American Broadcasters- a foundation set up to mentor young people interested in broadcasting. In my ‘former life’ I was Director of this organization.
The conference went on without a hitch. I got home at 5:45pm.
It felt good to put on heels and be in the work-force… for a day…
I had laid out clothes for my son, packed his lunch and wrote a reminder to pick out something for Show-and-Tell. ‘My guys’ got out the door and got to school on time. I called ‘Little Guy’s’ preschool during the morning to confirm that my dad would pick him up. My dad watched my son til my husband got home and pizza delivery was on its way by the time I got home; it didn’t even occur to me to ask my husband to prepare dinner- that would be too much. And frankly, it would be too much on me to come home after a long day and fix dinner myself.
I know you see where I’m going-
‘Working Mom’ is redundant, we all know that. But I just want to do a ‘shout-out’ to moms who work outside the home because they work inside the home too.
Plus, I missed my Little Guy. I missed the conversation, “Mommy, guess what we had for snack?”, etc. Life is great, but it’s just a-little-bit-better-sometimes seeing it through a 4-year-old’s eyes.
GIVEAWAY!! Beautiful hand-knitted baby hats from ‘Bean & Banana’!
Cute Hats for Little Ones!
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!
*This giveaway is open is U.S. residents only.*
VOTE… IT’S IMPORTANT, LIKE ‘SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK’
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 ? 
“… for the United States aa-of America”
Was that ‘Hall & Oates’ at the World Series ??
We had the World Series on Monday night; the TV was muted. We do this in the beginning of the evening out of habit. Our Little Man goes to bed at 7:30 and although he has never heard the TV, again, we do it out of habit. No need to re-live those days of hard bedtimes.
So I’m walking through the living room, on the way to get my laptop and I see a guy who looks vaguely familiar… I know him, do I know him? Who is that? I un-muted the TV.
Lo and Behold, walking out on the field was… John Oates- half of the Hall & Oates team from the 80’s.
NOTE: If you have never heard of Hall & Oates, stop reading this and go to another blog. This blog is about MOMS and people who were alive in the 80’s. You are too young to be reading this blog… We have nothing in common. Now go.
So I’m a little excited to see John Oates and wonder what he’s been doing (like he’s an old friend or something).
He starts singing… and he’s pretty darn good. And then I immediately think to myself, “Well, duh, self, he did manage to be 1-half of a great rock and soul duo”.
He did a great job and then the cutest thing ever: the announcers said that Darryl Hall was supposed to sing but came down with a cold so he called up Oates, and he filled in for his other half. Isn’t that cool? I love that! They are still friends and collaborating!
Yey! See, you can come out of the 80’s okay. We all managed to do it.
And just a reminder, think about these Hall & Oates songs:
Rich Girl
Kiss on My List
Private Eyes
I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)
Maneater
Out of Touch
Sara Smile
and a favorite of mine: She’s Gone.
Hall & Oates had a total of 34 singles chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. They got me through many a cotillion dance. And they were voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003… and good for them. Everybody can remember a time when they swayed along with Hall & Oates, of course, we were wearing neon over-sized jackets, but at least the music was good. Plus, there weren’t digital cameras back then so the odds of picture evidence of how ridiculous we looked- IS LOW.
It’s all good.
CELL PHONE HELP FOR MOMS
I actually have GOOD news for moms with cell phones.
If your daughter or son likes to play with your cell phone- LISTEN UP!
My son loves to ‘pretend’ to call people on my cell phone. He has his own play cell phone(S), yes, that’s plural. But I still occasionally let him ‘pretend’ with mine. He sometimes calls his grandparents for real, but they think it’s cute and fun and sometimes gives me 5 minutes of him being occupied while we are reeling around the grocery store.
BUT, I just got our Verizon Wireless bill and there was an additional charge for over $10… FOR DOWNLOADS. Then I looked closer at the bill:
my son had downloaded 3 games on my cell phone. He doesn’t have any video games, so I think he was just pressing buttons, plus he’s 4, but I didn’t want to pay for these games and I DON’T WANT THESE GAMES ON MY PHONE.
So, I called Verizon Wireless yesterday, told them what happened and they credited my account.
They then took me through the steps to close/delete these games from my phone, so I won’t be charged any more for them.
THE BEST PART: the helpful customer service rep on the line THEN suggested to me that she block certain applications from being downloaded, since my son does sometimes play with my phone.
I blocked all applications- games, etc. on my phone, so it can just be used for texting and calls- since those are the only things I have ever done on my phone.
I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD DO THIS! YEY! MAKING MY LIFE A LITTLE EASIER!
You can call Verizon Wireless and they can do this for you in literally -30 seconds. Then, if you ever want to ‘open’ applications up- just call them back.
Everyone reading this may be thinking, ‘Yeah, I knew that back in the 90’s, don’t you read your 200 page manual that comes with your phone from cover to cover??!!’
but this mom didn’t know, so I’m passing on the info!
Thank you Verizon Wireless!
A GREAT QUOTE FOR MOTHERS… AND EVERYONE ELSE
I forget where I read this quote, but it was somewhere on the internet. And I love Rumi.
“Let yourself be silently drawn
By the stronger pull
Of what you really love.”
-Rumi
This is easier said than done,
with kids, and dishes,
and field trips and laundry.
But it’s cool to remember, none the less.
Happy Weekend
SEWER PROBLEMS… THE VIEW FROM MY FRONT DOOR
Our neighbors across the street have a problem with their sewer.
This is the view from my front door.
Oh wait, it’s changing.
Yes, that’s a full size bulldozer. Luckily, I’ve already made friends with the guy who is in charge of this ‘excavation project’…
The good news, he says, is that they won’t start today. They are just going to leave this bulldozer there until Monday. I’m not quite sure how that is good news… but whatever.
The bad news is that the sewer pipe they have to repair and/or replace is right in front of our driveway and house.
More bad news- he thinks he may have to replace our sewer stuff because our houses are on the same line.
BUT – hey, let’s look for that silver lining=
He says this is good in the long run, because we won’t have sewer problems ever… not that we’re having any now…
And they will get this done in 3 or 4 days… he thinks.
I’m thinking positive thoughts. I’m thinking positive thoughts. I’m thinking positive thoughts.
Happy Friday! I hope your view is better!
MY WEDDING DAY
11 years ago, on this weekend, my husband and I got married.
It was the best weeding and reception I’ve ever been to, of course. It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed on one hand, on the other, it seems like so long ago.
It was a great day. Remembering that day, the subject of ‘me’ always comes up in my head: my dress, my shoes, my hair, my makeup, me, me, me.
Then life changed to us: where are ‘we’ going on vacation, where are ‘we’ going to live, what do ‘we’ want to do for fun tonight.
Then a little guy came into our lives in December of 2003… He changed my focus.
What can I do for ‘him’, how can I help ‘him’ grow, how can I make ‘his’ life wonderful.
Who am I kidding, it’s nice to get a manicure every-once-in-a-while… But life grows bigger when you concentrate on other people besides yourself,
and having the responsibility of nurturing a child and all that it entails, is a privilege.
Gotta go: it’s ‘Red Day’ at preschool today, and my son couldn’t be more excited!
IS THAT DRIED-UP CHEESE?
Continuing on my self–disclosure kick…
The other evening I flipped open the chair you see above. It’s a great chair, it’s been through a lot of vomit as I related in another post.
If my Little Man needs a snack or juice in the living room, he sits in this chair. It’s also nice on a Saturday morning to sit around, drink coffee, eat muffins, read the paper, talk about what we are doing that day… all sitting around the coffee table on big comfy chairs.
Yesterday evening I was opening said chair to relax in it; it opens into a futon and it’s exactly my size when opened up… Yes, I know it’s for children, but I’m five-feet tall.
I opened it up and just before I laid down on it, I saw what I thought was a yellow lego.
“Oh, I’ll just pick that up,” I thought. I leaned over to pick it up, pulled on it and it stuck to the chair…
Legos don’t stick to fabric…
Looking closer, I now realized that I was holding a dried-up piece of American cheese; the last time I gave my son cheese and crackers in his chair was a week ago…
I am quickly losing my reputation for being neat, tidy and almost an anal-like cleaner…
HELP!
PS- GIANT FOOD FREE GROCERIES GIVEAWAY
Just another note about Giant Food; they’re giving away a year of free groceries every week for the next several weeks. Go HERE to enter…
FREE GROCERIES FOR A YEAR… what could be better?! Actually, when you read the fine print it’s $5,200.00 of free groceries, so $100 of free groceries for a year- but who’s counting… still a great deal!
GOOD LUCK!
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