25 Things I'm Thankful For

                It’s that time of year, folks.  You know—when we suddenly all realize how lucky we are and start literally counting our blessings.  So, that’s what I’m doing.  But this probably won’t be the hokey list you’re accustomed to.  While I am of course thankful for my family, my health, blah blah blah, there’s also quite a few things that I’m grateful for that don’t often get credit.  Here’s a little shout-out in honor of these awesome things I’m taking a moment to appreciate:

 

1.       Disposable contact lenses.  Yes, my kiddo looks awesome in glasses, but I don’t.  And I hated losing those suckers back when it was a hundred dollars per lens.

2.       Nail polish.  Not all of us are daring enough to make permanent statements with our bodies via tattoos or even semi-permanent changes like drastic hair dyes, but nail polish is a quick and easy way to jazz up your hands and show a little personality.

3.       Self-adhesive stamps.  Remember sending Christmas cards back when you had to lick each stamp? Yuck!

4.       The flashlight app on my phone.  My dad told me to always keep a flashlight in the car, under the bed, and in the basement where I could easily reach it.  But…shocker…I don’t always listen well.  Fortunately, I’m rarely sans-iphone, so I always have my flashlight in a pinch.

5.       Tampons.  Admit it, if you’re a girl, you’re thankful for these.

6.       Fun size candy bars.  I would never eat more than one full size Snickers in one sitting.  But have I ever eaten three (or more) fun sized candy bars at once?  You betcha…I may even be doing that right now!  Even though it’s more candy than one whole bar (despite the annual shrinking of the “fun” size which the candy manufacturers seem to think we don’t notice), but somehow I can eat them with less guilt.

7.       Colorful running shoes.  Because it’s way more fun to run in hot pink or neon green than boring old white or black.

8.       GPS.  I’m not certain I even own a paper map.

9.       Microwaves.  Where to start on this one…

10.   Diet coke.  Yes, I know…I’m basically pouring toxic chemicals packaged in a caffeinated brown liquid down my throat, but what a yummy way to get my post-coffee caffeine fix!

11.   Disposable diapers.  For those of you who cloth diaper, rock on!  But for the rest of us slackers who couldn’t imagine dealing with washers full of poo (or the dreadful safety pin mechanisms of the old-school versions), these suckers are a lifesaver.

12.   Eye drops.  I use these to combat allergies, dry eyes, hangovers, sleepiness, and red eye.  Plus I hear they temporarily take the redness out of acne too.

13.   Bubble bath.  If I dare to take a bath some evening, I guarantee it’ll only be a matter of minutes before at least 2-3 people come running into the bathroom with some “emergency” for me to fix.  It’s much easier to relax knowing I’ve got a shield of bubbles covering my goods.

14.   Smirnoff Ice.  If you know me, you know I don’t drink beer.  Not on principle or anything; it just tastes like sweat.  But thanks to this lovely bottled drink, I can pretend to be a pseudo-normal drinker on a night out.  It’s just too hard to fit my wine glass in a beer koozie.

15.   Seasonal candy.  No, I’m not seven, but I still get really excited about candy corn in the fall, mint everything in the winter, and jelly beans in the spring.  If only someone would invent a summer-specific candy…

16.   Seasonal everything else.  You get sick of pumpkin spiced crap?  Not me!  Nor do I mind Christmas carols blaring everywhere I go in December.  Life could get boring if every month were the same.

17.   Liquid hand soap.  Bar soap just grosses me out.  And if you get the yummy scented ones that foam up or also scrub off the old skin on your knuckles, even better!

18.   Treadmills.  Because sometimes it’s 90 degrees outside.

19.   Condoms.  Hopefully this one doesn’t require explanation.

20.   Laptop computers.  I’m not fully converted to touch screens yet, although I’ve used the ipad, kindle, and whatnot.  But I certainly can’t imagine being stuck in one spot while I type my masterpieces!

21.   Yoga.  Some days, I feel like a nap, but really want the satisfaction of knowing I’ve done something that somehow classifies as a workout.

22.   The suburbs.  Yeah, yeah, yeah there’s some cool stuff in the cities, but I can do without the constant traffic and pedestrian congestion.  I like the open space and neatness of it all.

23.   The library.  Lately, I’ve read some books that…well, let’s just say I’d be pissed if I’d paid money for them.  I love the chance to read books, watch movies, and get CDs all for free, plus taking the kids there for story time or summer reading program nets the kids prizes and makes me feel like I’ve done something meaningful as a mommy.

24.   Popsicles.  Not just the store-bought kind.  I love that you can stick nearly any liquid into the freezer and an hour later have a tasty treat.  Try freezing diet A&W when you get home.  Yum!

25.   Netflix, and specifically the wide variety of kid’s programming it offers.  Some of us are too cheap for cable and would never get laundry done without our babysitter named Netflix.

 

There's my list--what's yours?  Sign in with your gmail or google account and post the most unappreciated or overlooked things you're grateful for during this season of giving thanks.

What Happens at Target Stays at Target

                I think it’s time we all band together and start demanding that what happens at Target stays at Target.  Yes, I know there are some things that can’t stay at Target—like the insane amounts of stuff we buy, the plastic bags we tote it all home in because we always forget to bring the reusable totes into the store from the trunk of our vans, and of course the bills for all this stuff.  But the experience?  That should stay at Target—never to be spoken of again.

                Why, you ask?  Well, let me begin the explanation by comparing Target to Las Vegas.  For us moms of small kids, the similarities between Target and Vegas are astounding.  You’ll see us on the first day of school, strolling slowly through the aisles, sipping our still-hot Starbucks, casually browsing the shoes or testing fall nail colors and grinning like we just won the lottery.  Seriously—have you ever seen the expression of pure joy on someone’s face as they win a huge jackpot in Vegas?  No?  Well, let me tell ya, it’s the same expression you’ll see on the face of any mom with small children when she is shopping alone at Super Target.

                However, when we take our kids with us, the scene resembles something straight out of The Hangover.  We look (and feel) confused, agitated, and distracted.  Our hair and clothes look as though we slept on the roof of a hotel.  We are likely wearing mismatched socks, and if you listen closely, you’ll probably hear us call our kids by each other’s names at least once. 

                My point is, like Vegas, the Target shopping experience can either be really great, or really bad, but whereas the Vegas trip’s success hinges on gambling wins, the Target trip’s success is entirely dependent on whether we’re shopping without our kids (win!) or with them.

Why am I so insistent that it all stays at Target?  Let me describe for you some of my recent personal experiences there.

                Early in my pregnancy with Daughter #3, I awoke one morning to find that I did not feel like vomiting.  Hallelujah!  Certain the nausea wouldn’t be absent for long and desperately in need of basic household goods, I quickly (i.e. 90 minutes later, which you know is ridiculously fast if you’ve ever tried getting two small children ready to go anywhere) piled my daughters, then 2 and 4, into the minivan.  I was prepared for this trip—sippy cups for both girls, backup outfit for the youngest, fruit snacks as a bribe and snack traps filled with those surprisingly good baby wheat puffs.

                I’ll spare you the details of this shopping spree and fast forward to the point where we had only three small items left on the list and we were in the far back corner of the store.  As you know if you’ve ever taken small kids to Target, this is the exact point when one child will have to go to the bathroom, which is exactly what happened with us.  I politely asked Sophia if she could hold it for a few minutes because we were ALMOST done and she informed me that no, she had been holding it.  Then, in a much louder voice, she announced that if I didn’t take her to the bathroom right away, there would be a “poop explosion” all over our cart (yep, her words). 

                I sprinted to the front entrance of the store as fast as possible while pushing a cart with one wonky wheel and a toddler who has learned to unfasten her safety restraint if you don’t keep your hand wrapped firmly around it.  Unable to take our full cart into the bathroom, I parked it by a checkout lane, lifted the four year old out of the cart and placed her on the ground, unfastened and removed the toddler from the cart, then unburied my purse and diaper bag from the cart, grabbed the four year old’s hand, and dragged her into the bathroom, silently praying the explosion hadn’t yet occurred.

                “Emergency,” I mumbled to the lady slowly heading to a stall as I brushed past her, ushering Sophia into the closest stall.  Still holding Samantha, I tugged Sophia’s pants down and then reached for toilet paper to lay on the seat as a barrier.  There was none.  I peeked under the stall to see if anyone was next to us who could hand us a spare roll, but the surrounding stalls were empty.  I unlocked the door, pulled Sophia’s pants back up, and dragged the whole crew to the next stall.

                As I locked the door, Sophia informed me she no longer had to go.  A rookie mom might have accepted this, but I knew better.  “That’s okay,” I said.  “But you’re going to sit on this potty until something comes out of your butt.”

                I ignored the snickering from a few stalls down, covered the toilet seat with paper, then pulled Sophia’s pants down.  I turned to hang my purse and diaper bag on the back of the door, but of course the hook had broken off.  So I awkwardly lifted Sophia onto the potty, still holding both of my bags and the squirmy toddler. 

                “Privacy!”  She shrieked.

                Samantha and I turned to face the door.  Sophia began singing “I see the light” from Tangled.  By this point, Samantha was flailing wildly, wanting out of my arms, so I offered her some puffs from her snack trap to keep her occupied.  An eternity later, I heard some noises which indicated Sophia was done. 

                I turned and handed Sophia some toilet paper.  She used it then requested more.  I handed her more, and she abruptly hopped off the toilet, spun around, and stuck her butt in my face so I can “check” if she had been thorough.  Of course, she hadn’t, so I set Samantha down and finished wiping Sophia.  A nanosecond later, I turned, just in time to see Samantha bend down and pick a Cheerio off the ground.  The next few moments passed in slow motion, as I yanked up Sophia’s pants with one hand while desperately trying to knock the dirty floor Cheerio out of Samantha’s hand before it reached her mouth, but of course I was too late.    

                I cringed, cursed silently, then tried to convince myself that maybe, just maybe the floor had been cleaned right before we walked into the bathroom.  And that if not, maybe she would only get those good germs that allegedly help build a child’s immune system. 

                “What’s wrong Mommy?”  Sophia asked in her sweetest voice possible. 

                “Samantha dropped some of her Cheerios on the ground and then ate one,” I explained, gesturing to the Cheerios remaining on the floor.

                Sophia’s face wrinkled instantly into that familiar angry expression.  “Why did she get Cheerios?  You only gave me puffs!”

                As the realization hit me that my child had eaten someone else’s food off the floor of a public restroom, my morning sickness returned.  I lunged at the toilet but since I still hadn’t flushed since Sophia went, I hesitated and ended up missing.  I mean, some of it hit the toilet, but some of it landed in my hair and on my shirt.  I wiped things up as best as I can with two now-crying children, a diaper bag, purse, and hands in desperate need of washing, flushed the toilet, then headed to the sinks.

                Five minutes later, we were as clean as we were going to get, so we left the bathroom and headed straight for our full shopping cart, determined to pay and get home as fast as possible.  Except the cart was gone.  Vanished into thin air.  We searched for a few minutes, unsuccessfully, and then gave up.  Target-1, Mallov family-0.

                This was likely my most traumatic Target experience, but sadly not the only scary one.  Other incidents involved spit up, diaper blow outs, children nearly falling out of the cart, my pregnant belly knocking over an entire rack of shirts as I tried to squeeze between rows, and a VERY pregnant and hormonal me having a full meltdown at Customer Service over a coupon.  There is always something dropped from my cart (usually a necessary item of clothing, like a shoe, or a critical possession like a pacifier) on trips with the kids, and often stuff gets swiped off the shelves by children in the cart and I don’t discover the stowaways until we reach the check out. 

                So what about you?  What are your worst shopping mishaps?

Continuation- 101 Ways to Make Mischief

Okay...here are the rest of the fantastic tips from my guest blogger, baby Katherine.  If you missed out on the first 51, you can find them on the main board of the blog.

52.   When riding in your rear-facing car seat, repeatedly insert your fist into your mouth and gag audibly as though you are vomiting.

53.   Climb onto the couch and dangle precariously over the back, threatening to lose your balance and fall head first.

54.   Whenever Mommy lays on the floor to stretch or do sit-ups, sit on her face.

55.   Whenever anyone sits on the floor, tackle them.

56.   Learn to spit and do it whenever Mommy’s hands are full.

57.   Suddenly crank the stereo volume as high as it goes, then cry from the noise.

58.   Play hide and seek with your favorite stuffed doggy.  Refuse to nap, sleep, or cooperate in any way until Mommy finds it.

59.   Remove clothing from your dresser drawers.  Place it in different drawers, ideally in different rooms.

60.   Play peek-a-boo with Mommy when she attempts to give you a Time Out.

61.   Stand on your tippy toes to reach items on the counter.  Pull down whatever you can reach.

62.   Grab a large picture book and stand on your tippy toes at the counter—use the book to swipe items you can’t reach normally onto the floor.

63.   Feign interest in craft time, then color on the walls when Mommy turns around.

64.   Beg to wash your hands, then as soon as Mommy turns on the faucet, throw the hand towel into the sink.

65.   Start to wean, then randomly collapse at Mommy’s feet crying “nurse, nurse!”

66.   Pet the dog nicely for several minutes before suddenly tugging sharply on her fur.

67.   Whenever Mommy seems to be enjoying her food, beg for a bite.  Insist on the whole item, rather than a bite, then lick the item and/or drop it on the floor.

68.   Pull the wipes out of the package, one at a time.  Disperse them freely throughout the room.

69.   Cry whenever Mommy drinks from a coffee mug.

70.   Learn to giggle on command and do it whenever Mommy looks angry.

71.   Locate the magnet Mommy uses to open the childproofed cabinets.  Hide it.

72.   Change the channel whenever your sister is watching cartoons.

73.   Eject the DVD whenever your sister is watching Frozen.

74.   Learn to summon Siri on Mommy’s iPhone.  Ask her question after question in baby gibberish until the battery dies.

75.   Find out when Mommy plans to wake up in the morning.  Cry twenty minutes before that time, every day.

76.   Steal Mommy’s wallet at the grocery store.  Drop one credit card in each aisle.

77.   Eat corn on the cob often.  Do not chew thoroughly.  Laugh uproariously at Mommy’s expression during the next diaper change.

78.   Wedge yourself in between the couch and side table, forging onward until you can’t squeeze another inch and then scream until Mommy scoots the side table over to free you.  Repeat.

79.   Insist on taking a pacifier whenever you’re in public.  Drop it in the most disgusting place you find.

80.   Dance with abandon whenever you hear music.

81.   Drop items off the landing above the stairway.

82.   Try on Mommy’s bras when company comes over.

83.   Stick your hand down Mommy’s shirt whenever she talks with other adults, preferably males.

84.   Run over Mommy’s feet with your ride-on car.

85.   Insist on only eating foods like oatmeal, rice krispies, or grape nuts for breakfast.  Obviously, you should throw the bowl containing these items after four bites.

86.   Turn on all the faucets that you can reach so that just a trickle of water comes out. 

87.   Insist on kneeling at the top of the stairs with your back to the stairs to read.  If Mommy attempts to reposition you, throw the book at her head and writhe around screaming until she walks away, then return to your cozy reading spot atop the stairs.

88.   Walk with a limp for several days in a row.  When Mommy takes you to the pediatrician, perform like an Olympic marathoner.  Then resume the limp the next day.

89.   Swing your foam baseball bat at Daddy’s legs.  Bonus points if you hit the knees or groin.

90.   Try on Mommy’s shoes and waltz around proudly in them whenever she needs a smile.

91.   Stand independently at a young age.  This will cause Mommy to panic and childproof prematurely.

92.   Delay walking as long as possible.  You want Mommy to carry you everywhere, subject to the conditions of Tip 93.

93.   If you are out and about and notice Mommy checking her watch often, insist on walking and holding her hand rather than being held.

94.   Whenever you walk, walk slowly.  Touch all bugs, weeds, and cigarette butts you see. 

95.   Store your shoes in the pantry.  Or the fridge.  Or the bathroom cabinet.  The key is to keep it fresh—always vary the location.

96.   Sit on the baby potty happily while Mommy reads you fourteen books.  Then stand up and pee on the Dry-Clean-Only rug nearby.

97.   When in public, point to an old scab on your chin from where you scratched yourself, say “ouch” loudly and point accusingly at Mommy.

98.   Insist on helping Mommy whenever she is typing.

99.   Remove the plastic electrical outlet covers.  Hide them until Mommy starts accusing your siblings of doing this, then grab one and shove it down your throat.  When she starts replacing them in the wall, quickly find the one remaining uncovered outlet and pretend to lick it.

100.                        Have a dimple.  You know when to use it to your advantage.

101.                        Remember every swear word Mommy ever says.  Wait until you are at church or with grandma to repeat them.

 

Stay tuned for next week's blogs--topics include What Happens at Target Stays at Target and The S*** No One Admits They're Thankful For.

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