Monday, September 24, 2007

I've got my baby back, baby back, baby back...

No, I'm not eating ribs, even though today participating Chili's are donating 100% of its profits to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (in case you don't have dinner plans yet).


I'm talking about getting my happy baby boy back today. Squiggles has been out of sorts for over a week now, and he's just now coming back online. He's had a stomach bug for almost 2 weeks, I think he may be starting to teethe (he gnaws on anything he can get his little hands on, including, well, his little hands), and we had to deal with Chef being out of town for most of this last week. Not a good combination of events, I tell ya.

Needless to say, naps have been few and far between, and he couldn't even be counted on to go to sleep very well even at night (I don't even want to get started on the piercing screams from Friday night that prompted a call to my parents for help...all I have to say is that I'm glad I have family close by and that I'm not a single parent). I was beginning to wonder if this new, fussy baby had permanently replaced my Squiggles!

Then, today I saw a glimpse of the Squiggles I remembered! He slept great last night (9 1/2 hours), woke up in a splendiferous mood this morning, and has, for the most part, fallen back into his regular nap/feeding schedule! Praise the Lord!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Clean Sweep

Secret Agent Josephine posted today about helping her mom clean out her sewing room and what an emotional ordeal it was for them. I can kind of relate. My parents got rid of a lot of stuff when they moved out of my childhood home last year. I'm not sure they were pack rats in the true sense of the word, but after living in the same house for 22 years you tend to accumulate a lot without really realizing it. My mom would call every couple of days and ask me if I wanted this cake pan or that set of sheets. I'm proud of them for really downsizing like they did, and I have to admit that I did take a few (or more) things, but it was still hard to watch. I didn't really want the olive green drink cart that sat in our basement all those years (so long that you kind of didn't notice it anymore), but I wasn't really ready to know that such a fixture of my childhood would be gone, either. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for Mom.

This struck home with me, too, since I've been beside myself lately on how I've let our closet, our guest closet, and our office go in recent months. In fact, I had a mini panic attack the other night over the fact that my closet needs to be cleaned out. I'm pretty sure that my anxiety is only 20% wanting the house to be clean and organized, and 80% wanting to exert some modicum of control in my life. When I told Mom about this worry, she wisely said, "I think you need to sort some things out in your life". Ah, yes, I do need to sort some things out in my life, not just my closets. Like the ever-present guilt that I have over leaving Squiggles all day for work...work that I don't enjoy. Or dealing with the pressure Chef is putting on himself to gain exposure at work so that we might get ourselves into a position soon where I can stay home with Squiggles.

However, I also really don't want to go through what my parents went through the next time we move. Just because we have the space doesn't mean we have to fill it. Sometimes I miss the little condo.

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Halo Effect - Are YOU spending too much?


Some of my fave beauty folks are the Beauty Brains. At the Brains' core are the Left and Right Brain, two real-life cosmetic scientists who tackle the facade that the beauty industry has taken so much care to build up for us. They give the low-down on product formulations and ingredients, as well as break down the marketing hype in the industry.

Today they've posted about one such marketing tactic, known as the Halo Effect. In essence, the Halo Effect is a way to make you think you are buying something better via packaging or product claims, very often causing you to spend more money on something that may not be worth it. For example, is a $220 jar of La Mer really that much better than a $7 jar of Olay? Probably not.

I have to admit, I've fallen for this little scheme, especially before Squiggles was born. I was pretty sure that the mid and higher end brands had better formulas (but even then, I would never have paid $200 for a moisturizer). However, now that we're supporting another member in our household, I've really been paying attention to ingredient lists - and the order of those ingredients. I've found that there are some really great products to be found for a very reasonable price; which is a good thing, now that we're supporting a new little addition to our household.

What do you think? Do you feel like you're getting your money's worth on your beauty products?

Thursday, September 13, 2007

What is this?

Ah, a blog entirely devoted to my beloved Squiggles McGillicutty. Stay tuned!