Wordless Wednesday

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Payless Military Discount!

I just got an email from Payless that's I'm super excited about. So show their support for the troops (and their family's) Payless will not be offering a 10% discount on your entire purchase,including sale and clearance item!

The fine print says: Discount offer valid for U.S. Military personnel and their qualified dependents who present their valid Armed Forces ID. Armed Forces ID must be presented at time of purchase. The 10% discount is taken off of the current retail selling price of any full price, sale or clearance items. Not valid at Shopko® and www.payless.com.

Healthy Home

Last year, for both environmental and health reasons, I vowed to eliminate plastic water bottles in our home. Seemingly easy you'd think, but not so much for a family on-the-go where summer temps reach triple digits on a daily basis. Alas, I made the switch to reusable stainless steel, which I begrudgingly clean and refill nightly.

This year, my gift to the earth (and my family) was recycling all expired medicines. I spent one morning collecting a large plastic bag of pills and trotted it down to the pharmacy. The pharmacy clerk looked at me like I was crazy.

She told me that I was the first to ask about safely disposing medication and furthermore, the pharmacy can’t accept expired pharmaceuticals. Huh? It was Kaiser, the largest HMO in the nation, and you’re telling me that the pharmacy doesn’t have a disposal system for medication?

Hmm. I wasn’t buying it and after a few more minutes, she remembered seeing something about safely disposing medicine and emerged with a special TakeAway mailer. Really, can’t I just recycle it at the hospital’s pharmacy? The kicker is when she announced, “That will be $5.” Are you kidding me?!?

While I have clearly not achieved pure natural diva status (yet), I am forever looking for simple solutions to tread a little lighter on the Earth. After reading The Healthy Home by Dr. Myron Mentz and his son Dave Wentz, I’m inspired to do more not only for the earth, but for my family’s health.

"Almost overnight, a toxic world has been built around us, slowly manipulating how we eat, sleep, work, play…how we live."

The Healthy Home is full of practical and simple solutions for reducing health risks posed by everyday products and behaviors of the modern family. Here are a few of my favorite tips for a healthier home:

• Bedroom: Make sure your body is wrapped in safe, natural material at least 1/3 of the day (or all night). Buy organic cotton pajamas and bedding.
• Kitchen: Buy yourself an air popper and ditch the microwave popcorn. Microwave bags are lined with a Teflon coating, known to release hazardous fumes and particles.
• Laundry Room: Use ½ cup white vinegar in place of fabric softner in the washer to reduce static cling and soften clothes. (Note: never mix bleach with vinegar.)
• Living Room: Open a window whenever you can to let in fresh, cleansing air. Outside air quality is surprising (and significantly) cleaner than inside air quality.

Quotes to live by...

"If adultery happens in 41% of marriages, if the guy next door is hiring prostitutes, if Brett Favre’s penis scored nearly 2 million views, it’s not the politicians that are the problem, it’s Americans, who sit in turned-on judgment of those who dally sexually while doing so themselves, who dream of getting off in the same way but don’t allow themselves to do so, who devote their work days to looking at the latest leaked cell phone pics of genitals that belong to someone more famous than themselves.

Americans are fascinated by political sex scandals because the politician is doing what Americans are doing but won’t admit, or what they wish they were doing but won’t say, and Americans, rather than confess their natural tendencies or sexual fantasies, would rather criticize those political figures who there, but for the grace of God, are doing what Americans wish they were doing."

— Susannah Breslin

Wordless Wednesday

Goodies from my garden

Two, cucumbers (even they kinda look like zucchini).

Two, beefsteak tomatoes.

Six, Cherokee purple tomatoes.

I think I should have a couple bell peppers tomorrow, and maybe another two beefsteak tomatoes by the end of the week.

On a side note, check out how big this Cherokee purple was! The freakin size of a sharpie. (Don't ask me why I chose a sharpie to compare it to, it just happened to be within reach) ...I wish I had a sale though, it was totally solid and pretty heavy.

Target Trip

$3... No joke.

Herbashine (hair dye), FREE
Men's and Women's deodorant, both FREE

Sweet Potato Fries, FREE

I got the soymilk for $1.50

Veggie dogs $1 and some change.

Where does your Food Come From?

I have been thinking a lot lately about food. Well, lets be honest, its not just lately that I have been thinking about food. Me and food - we like each other. I love preparing food. I love cooking for people. I love how so much of life revolves around food. Celebrations. Festivals. Social engagements. Rituals. If you have never made this connection, just decide to fast for a week and you will quickly see how often our thoughts revolve around food and how often things we do with our family and friends revolve around eating.

So, yes, me and food - we are kind of like BFF's.

Here is my question:

Do you know where your food comes from?

Wordless Wednesday

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Quotes to live by...

"Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts … good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt. They’re not painful. That’s not just with somebody you want to marry, but it’s with the friends that you choose. It’s with the people you surround yourselves with. And that’s just as important as the school that you choose. Who’s in your life, and do you respect them, and do they respect you? And are you respecting them" 

— Michelle Obama

Guess what!?!

We just got our 100th follower! 

Woot Woot!

Seriously, thank you all for following this blog for the past 4 or however many years it's been up and running.

Birth Plans

When I was pregnant with Lil'Bit, I had no idea what I was doing and when people would ask me what “my birth plan” was, I would say, “Umm.. I plan to have a baby,” and then I’d walk away because those people were clearly idiots, but then later I was reading the pregnancy books and apparently you’re supposed to have a detailed plan for the kind of birth you want your child to have. You’re supposed to decide how you want to deal with the pain, where to have your baby, what part of your body you want your baby to come out of, and a host of other things that all basically sound like various degrees of unpleasantness and horror.  

If you’re anything like me, the baby books and your pregnant friends will scare the shit out of you so I’m going to give you the lowdown here. 

You will have a million choices in your birth plan but only three things are certain.

One: You’re doing it wrong:

         If you have your baby at home, it will scar your other children for life and your baby may be trampled by wild horses.
         If you have your baby at a hospital, it will get switched with another baby who leaves the door open all the time and sells your VCR for drug money.
         If you have an epidural, your baby will come out addicted to crack.
         If anyone speaks to the baby for the first seven days, they will have psychic scars that will allow aliens to latch onto their brains.

Two: IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION YOU WILL EVER MAKE. 

         Choosing a birth plan is less like choosing a new couch and more like choosing whether to be in the Crips or the Bloods. Battle lines are drawn and someone’s going to get blood on them. 

Example:

         Me: Once the baby’s born I’m going to become a cannibal.

         Pregnant friend: Oh, like the Atkins diet. Good for you!

         Me: Also, I’ll be dyeing my clothes with the blood of my enemies.

         Pregnant friend: Well, you do look good in red.

         Me: And I think I’ve decided to have a c-section.

         Pregnant friend: SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH AND LEAVE NOW BEFORE YOUR SELFISH BREATH INFECTS MY UNBORN BABY.

Three: The person making your actual birth plan decisions is your baby. 

         Newsflash, babies don’t give a shit about your plans. Making a plan for the birth of a child is like making a plan for decorating your Christmas tree in the middle of a house fire. Until you’re actually in the heat of battle, you have no idea whether you’re going to want drugs or whether you’ll have to have a c-section or whether you’ll be stuck in traffic and the baby will be delivered by a cab driver who will burn off the umbilical cord with his cigar. And that’s fine. Hell, the Virgin Mary had her baby in a damn barn and he turned out okay. 

         In the end, none of that matters. Whether you welcome your baby in a hut or in a hospital or in the orphanage where you adopt her, the same basic rule applies: If you’re lucky enough to end up with a baby, you win.

Wordless Wednesday

99 cent Pregnancy Test

I'm sure this pregnancy test is no different than the $20 one you buy at the drug store... But something about seeing this at the 99 Cent Only store made it just FEEL that much less reputable.

Did you know we're on Facebook?!?

I kinda became a slacker about promoting Facebook lately, but I checked our page on there and we only have 42 followers, while on here we have a while 99...

If you wouldn't mind "liking" our Facebook page, as well as suggesting it to all your friends, we would be so very grateful.

http://www.facebook.com/WifeMomBlogger

Disneyland Birthday Celebration

I think I had intended on posting something about this in May after we spent my daughter's 5th birthday at Disneyland, but it ended up slipping my mind. Anyways, so the So.Cal. locals (or those planning on making a trip to SoCal on or around a birthday) below are some ideas and options to make your Birthday celebration at Disneyland a magical one!