Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Minute A Day?

Even I can do that. I read this article on ways to change your life in 31 days. This one chick (who was an aerobics instructor) did a minute of pushups every day. And saw a difference. Sounds reasonable, right? So I'll have to give that a try.....starting tomorrow.

And not for nothing, but if you have a Starbucks addiction that's so bad that you save over $120 a week by not going to Starbucks numerous times a day, well, that's just sad.

A Budding Art Critic and Suzy Homemaker

We took the Lukey-Bear to the Islip Art museum yesterday to catch the last day of "Fashion Forward" a group show where all the pieces were about fashion. It was a great show and a bargain at $6 for the 3 of us to enter. (Plus, the $$ goes to a good cause) Lukey seemed to enjoy just being somewhere different and seeing unusual things.

He decided to get a little closer to some pieces. I think he felt a certain kinship to the monkey-girl, being that she was his size.

Later that night I was feeling decidedly domestic and made homemade sauce and homemade peanut butter cookies that I just had to dip in chocolate ganache. Mmmmmmmm.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Free Lush and Being Green

So, I'm trying. I really am. I try to recycle. I try to buy local produce. I try to cook healthier meals for my family. To that end, I have a slew of empty baby wipes containers in my linen closet. Every time I buy a 'economy size' box of wipes, it comes with a free wipes container. So I had like 5 of them stashed away. I know that in years to come they'll be a great home for crayons, or matchbox cars or the such, but right now, they're just in reserve, waiting to be called upon.

That being said, there's an issue I've had since Luke's been big enough to toss his toys around. I keep a bunch of toys near the changing station to keep him busy while I'm tidying his heiney up. But invariably they'd land between the wall and the dresser since he'd get a little overzealous winging his toys around. I've gone on many an excavation to recover 2 lambs, a reindeer, 2 books, a monkey and a puppy. But then, a lightbulb went on! The wipes container would fit nicely in said black hole entrance without falling through and hold the toys. Voila. Done. Now those toys have a nice, neat home and they're safe from the great unknown. (Maybe the dust bunnies get lonely now, but I unfortunately can't be concerned by that.)

Yesterday Diane and I made a pilgrimmage to the Valley Stream Lush. (Note to those not from the area: Valley Stream isn't as peacefully and buccolic as it sounds.) Little did we know it was the last day for their huge, inventory clearing sale. Buy-1-Get-2-Free. Yes. Seriously. Pay for one, come home with 3. Needless to say, this created much squealing and indecision and grabbing. I bought Big shampoo (which gets my hair surprisingly clean without drying it out and leaves ringlets), Honey I Washed the Kids soap (which I used on my kid that very night and couldn't stop sniffing his hair), Snowcake soap (delicious soap that smells like marzipan and is only out during the holidays), and an Ickle Baby Bath Bomb (for the Lukey-Bear who was grossly uninterested in its fizzy goodness). I also bought 1 emotibomb (which you can use in the shower to make it smell yummy) and got 2 free.

So when I got home and was trying to find a nice home for my new treasures....all of a sudden it came to me. I could stash them safely in....another baby wipes container. And keep them fresh as can be!
Now if you'll excuse me, there's a Figs and Leaves bar of soap in my shower calling my name.