Boots.

I have a serious weakness for boots. I love them. Casual boots, fancy boots, no heel, low heel, even higher heel (but I never get too crazy with heels). Pointy toe, squared toe, rounded toe. Almost any color (but not light-up boots - I save those for my daughter). And today? I got a new pair of hiking/work boots. They're not sexy, but they're comfortable and have a great weight to them. And of course, my sweet kids got boots too.

Three got another pair of John Deere boots, naturally. Same style as last year - I'm just glad the store still had them! Once he tried them on, he wouldn't take them off, so he wore those boots for the rest of the day (except a brief period in socks so he could play on the inflatables at a birthday party, but he returned to check on his new boots even then).

Big Girl got a pair of light-up boots, no joke. They're really cute, black with some dark pink accents, and she loves them. I'll post pictures, naturally. I admit, I scoffed at light-up shoes a little before I had a little girl who just loves them. They make her delightfully happy, and they're harmless, so I've changed my tune completely on the light-up shoes (but I have not, and will not, change my views on Heelys - they're atrocious). I don't know that I would encourage her to wear light-ups to church services, but for more casual attire they're fun.

I also saw the most divine soft brown boots, tall ones with a slight heel, rounded toe. The leather was so soft to the touch, and they were just beautiful. I did not try them on. I knew better. They were on sale - at the discount shoe place where I love to shop for shoes - for nearly $300. Oh, they were amazing. Even the kids knew they were special. Big Girl's the one who spotted them first and pointed them out to me, and then her brother spent a while petting them. Yes, these shoes were pet-ably soft. Even Hubs oohed over them.

This shoe store is located in another city a few miles north of ours, and I can remember going there as a kid with my parents. It's crowded with shoes of all kinds, all sizes, floor-to-ceiling with narrow aisles in many places. It's like a maze constructed of shoe boxes. Three likes to race around in there, and I have to hurry to keep up with him as he weaves through tight spaces and around slim corners. I think they have almost any shoe - any style, color, size - you could want there. I could become a serious rival to Imelda Marcos if you let me loose in there.

In the interests of smelling good,

or making sure that the people around you smell good, you may want to check out Caswell-Massey. They're offering free shipping today (December 1) on all orders. Use the code BFCMSHIP and get something nice. I'm a big fan of the Almond & Aloe line - smells fantastic!

Cute Stuff Alert: Sale at Four Peas Online!

FourPeasOnline has a great sale going on through November 28th on school size backpacks and messenger bags. Two has one of their cute toddler size backpacks for preschool - it's extremely well made, durable, and very cute!

A favorite indulgence

Clinique's Deep Comfort Body Butter is one of my favorite indulgences. During winter, I frequently suffer from tight, dry, itchy skin as the cold weather outside and heaters inside aggravate my eczema, and nothing makes my skin feel better than this body butter. I use it regularly and generously, so I'm less likely to feel the irresistible compulsion to scratch - and it preempts the itch without making my skin feel slimy or greasy. Fabulous stuff. It's getting cold, and the itch is back, so I need to stock up asap!

Robeez Season of Giving campaign

This morning I was delighted to learn about Season of Giving, a holiday charitable campaign from Robeez (they make adorable soft-soled leather shoes that both of my kids wore as they learned to walk). Robeez is making product donations to K.I.D.S., Kids In Distressed Situations, an organization that distributes new merchandise (books, clothing, etc.) to children in a variety of situations. This charitable group gives to kids affected by national disasters, political unrest, domestic abuse, homelessness, and other factors (read more here).


Robeez is pledging to give $5 worth of merchandise to K.I.D.S. for each holiday e-card sent through their site. The e-card is very cute, and it's quick and easy to send it to friends and family. You can also register for an optional weekly drawing for a cute shoes and socks gift set when you send your card. Robeez has set the goal of donating $250,000 worth of merchandise this holiday season. In addition to the $5 for each e-card, they will also donate $25 for each blog post about their campaign. Even if you're not in the market for some cute little shoes, this is a great campaign - check it out!

Need pictures? Shutterfly deal

I just learned about a deal from Shutterfly: use code SHIP25 to get free shipping on orders of $25 or more, and code HOLIDAY to get $10 off orders of $50 or more. This is great if you're thinking of ordering holiday cards, photobooks, or other personalized items as Christmas gifts. These offers are good through Wednesday, November 12.

One of my favorite things

Hey, I may lack the clout and viewing audience of Oprah, but I have favorite things too. And one of them is on sale! Crabtree & Evelyn is holding Customer Appreciation Days with 20% off everything, both online and in store, through November 11. They make yummy lotions, soaps, body washes, aromatherapy, candles, and other nice stuff. You can also get free shipping on online orders over $55 using the code FREE55 - and it's only $4.95 for any order, which is fairly reasonable. This could be a great way to get some stocking stuffers, holiday gifts, and treats for yourself.

Some of my favorites are the Gardeners line of products, which are designed to provide serious moisturizing and comfort to hands that have seen hard work. These products also work beautifully on my perpetual winter dry skin, and my mom, who does a great deal of yard work, confirms that they do, indeed, work well for gardeners' hands. Check out the hand therapy cream and hand recovery cream.

Crabtree & Evelyn offers a variety of lines in different scents to appeal to any taste. I'm not a big fan of heavy scent, which tends to aggravate my allergies and asthma, so the Sweet Almond Oil line is perfect for me. I also like La Source, the line of home spa treatments - these make me feel very indulgent. :)

If you want to treat a man in your life, check out the Naturals Solutions for Men - it has a great light scent. If I could get Hubs to shave off his beard, I would get this for him in a heartbeat. Since he won't, I prefer to give him some of the soaps, like the Sienna luxury soap and Naturals Mango Butter & Cranberry Botanical Body Bar. Is it bad that some of these soaps sound good enough to eat?



My mom is a big fan of their scented drawer liners - the paper is pretty and it gives a lovely scent to your dresser drawers. They also have sachets and scented hangers.


Now that I've (perhaps) incited you to rampant consumerism, I'll add that you can get an additional 10% off your order through membership in Crabtree & Evelyn's Prestige Club. This is the second tier of their Preferred Customer Program, open to those who've spent more than $250 as a preferred customer. You can build up over months or even years, so if you plan to buy anything, go ahead and sign up. So far I'm just a preferred customer, but I think I'll reach the higher tier soon. I'm a little more restrained in my C&E shopping since we moved. Our last home was five minutes from a mall with a lovely Crabtree & Evelyn store staffed by a very friendly sales lady... But someday, when I win the lottery*, I'll be able to indulge my appetite for yummy Crabtree & Evelyn product more often!

*This is a running joke between Hubs and me. If we really win the lottery, watch out - we've amassed quite a list of indulgences. If we really bought everything we have mentioned over the years, we'd blow through that money crazy-fast.

Christmas shopping on my mind...

I've finished my list and purchased most of the items I'll be buying for Christmas this year. I have a lot of things to *make* however - so once I'm more mobile, I'll get to work on that. If you aren't obsessed with shopping obscenely early, however, and still plan to buy gifts, I would like to direct you to two of my favorite sites:

TenThousandVillages.com has an online store featuring all of the fantastic fair trade goods that you can find at Ten Thousand Villages sales and festivals, plus more. I love finding treasure from Ten Thousand Villages. I've given jewelry, home decor, pillows, and Christmas decorations as gifts, and purchased for myself, from their sales in years past. This year I'm organizing a sale at our church, so I'll be waiting to shop there, but if you don't have plans to attend a sale or if you want to get a discount off the already-very-reasonable prices they have on handmade items, check out the website. Today and tomorrow only (Saturday, November 8), you can get twenty percent off your entire purchase using the code BAGSALE at checkout. Check out the beautiful natural wreaths, the gorgeous jewelry, the lovely nativity sets, and so much more. And be socially responsible and support fair trade and all that, too. ;)

My second recommendation, for those looking to find gifts on a limited budget, is the Overstocks section of Lands' End. I love browsing through this part of the site, and they have so many wonderful items available at great prices. Lands' End has great customer service, quality products, and considerable variety, even in overstocks. I picked up several button-down shirts for Hubs and a top for myself, as well as oodles of gifts for family and friends. Check out the Packable Tote, a good deal at $14.99 and available in several great color combinations, and the king size set of flannel sheets in Ruby, for only $19.99. Shhh! Those are gifts for some of my relatives.

I think I've been pretty productive so far during my convalescence - it's early November, and I'm already halfway finished! I still have several tricky people on my shopping list, however, including the two kids who already have everything, Big Girl and Two.

One Cool Cowboy

Two thinks he is hot stuff. Yesterday, the kids, my dad, and I went to this great discount shoe store, and three out of four individuals came away with cool new boots. My dad's new work boots aren't nearly as interesting as the pairs that Two and Big Girl acquired. Two has "twackta boots" and loves them. He's been strutting all over the house, babbling with delight about "my boots!" and eagerly showing them off to anyone who will admire them. He doesn't want to take them off, although I insisted that he remove them before getting into bed. Of course, I placed them on a footstool so that he could look at them while falling asleep at naptime. I'm sure they'll be nicely broken in by the time he dresses up as a cowboy for Halloween.

Big Girl got a cute pair of dark brown Acme boots, western-style, and is also thrilled with them. I have a feeling she will want to wear them to church regularly, since she loved wearing last year's pair whenever I let her. I confess, I kind of encourage this, because she loves the boots and she looks so cute wearing them. So as long as they don't look ridiculous with an outfit, she can wear the boots (no, we don't attend a Cowboy Church). I love it when my kids express their individual style.

Shopping Alert! Clothing for Men and Kids

Talbots has discontinued their clothing lines for men and children, and I spotted some great deals in the Outlet section of their website. Some nice stuff for women, too, but I was particularly pleased with some good buys on kid clothing for Big Girl and Two to wear next year. There are some great deals in Men as well, but they're a bit harder to find for a cheapie like me. I don't mind so much that Talbots won't have men's clothes any longer - Lands End will work fine for my husband-shopping-needs - but I'm sad to see the pretty little dresses go. Big Girl has worn so many adorable outfits from Talbots in years past.

Threadless has reprinted one of my favorites!

I am so tempted - Threadless has reprinted The Average Bear, one of my favorite shirts, and yet I cannot bring myself to pay $18 for a t-shirt. Ugh. I'll just have to enjoy the graphic without buying the shirt...

Books!

Today was payday, and so Big Girl and I went book shopping. First we went by the library and checked out a few, and then we went to the lame bookstore at the local dirt mall, which had a pretty pitiful collection, and finally we hit up the Wal-Mart, since my efforts to locate a copy of Twilight had been unsuccessful at the previous two locations (checked out at the library, natch). I've wanted to read it forever, and now I have my own copy. I'll likely read it this weekend, unless Hubs throws one of his you-love-your-books-more-than-me fits. Yeah, he gets jealous of books. Considering how I get wrapped up in books to the exclusion of all else, I kind of understand, but I still get really annoyed when he does this.

Big Girl has a couple of new McDuff books (he's a cute little white terrier) from the dirt mall bookstore, plus some interesting reads for the weekend. She checked out a book about building a barn for her brother to enjoy as well, thoughtful sister that she is. I only checked out one book - Mary Roach's Stiff, which I've wanted to read for a while - as pretty much everything else I looked for was checked out or not even in the library's collection. The library here is both a wonderful resource and woefully underfunded. Huge circulation numbers, but serious holes in the collection. It makes me sad. I'm on the board of directors, but since I'm not independently wealthy and prepared to fund serious solutions, I fear that any fix will be a long time coming.

Glimpse of peace

After a long, trying day at home with the kids, I was rather frazzled and anxious. Two is in the midst of a particularly frustrating phase that involves challenging - nay, ignoring my authority. And Big Girl insists that she doesn't need naps anymore and yet becomes completely intolerable, short-fused, and whiny when I am unable to get her to take one. Hubs arrived home to find his daughter in time out and his son receiving a lecture on the wisdom of keeping one's hands out of a dirty diaper. Blech.

Starbucks had some sort of special today, whereby you received a stamp on your receipt for a purchase during the morning, which entitled you to buy a grande cold beverage in the afternoon for only $2. Hubs handed over his receipt and a few small bills and told me to go out and have a break. Sometimes he's a saint.

In a brief, relaxing respite, I acquired a grande mocha frappuccino with whipped cream on top (so indulgent), then visited the library to check out a couple of new books, and finally visited the grocery store. At my final stop, I found two fantastic deals that thrilled me, in a way that just confirmed to me that I am a big nerd who loves to find bargains: whole chickens, reduced as they neared their sell-by dates, which Hubs will smoke this weekend, plus some delicious Bertolli frozen meals on clearance. Sadly, the store probably won't carry that particular variety in the future, but for now, we have a nice stash of chicken with linguine and zucchini in a tomato sauce in the freezer, and several chickens and a couple of beef pot roasts as well. After I pick up my cheap Kellogg's cereal at Walgreens this week, I'll have a good stash for breakfast, too. Hubs is pleased with the meat stockpile. I just need some fresh fruits and vegetables for the kids and me, since we aren't as invested in the carnivore lifestyle that Hubs enjoys. I was only gone for about an hour, but it was fabulous.

Who's your favorite?

Anne Taintor really struck a nerve when she created these. I've loved her witty, snarky little gems for years. I gave my mother this one several years ago, because it seems so like my father. But I think I have a new favorite now. Close observation has revealed that Big Girl and Two rule the roost across town.

A morning at home, with Two

Two and I are at home this morning, while his sister is in preschool. Typically after dropping her off at school, we go by my parents' house and mooch. He eats tasty breakfast foods, talks about farming with my dad, and watches a little Bob the Builder. I drink their coffee, read their newspapers, and relax. But alas, they are not home this morning, so we were forced to return to our own house for coffee and Bob-viewing.

Two was a bit annoyed at first, but a quick stop at the Wal-Mart restored his good humor. He likes to shop, mostly because he enjoys seeing people and scoping out merchandise. Quite the little consumer, Two is. We got paper for my printer and a new hairbrush, and we went through the craft section so he could admire the John Deere fabric selections. I need to get some of that and use it to make him something. He gets giddy talking about the tractors every time he sees it.

Now he's strutting around the den, waving a black plastic thing (I think it's part of a report cover that he filched from a stack of student papers I was grading, which is fine because I hate report covers) like a little conductor. He's wearing his really cool green shirt with a dragon on it and looking like quite the hip young fellow today. Yes, I picked out that shirt for him, and i love it. So many of his outfits are picked out by my mom, who has good taste, but leans toward preppy, and I like to add a touch of rock and roll to his wardrobe when I can.

Two is here. A little early, but oh, is Two here.

Two blew in with a vengeance this weekend. The child formerly known as Baby Boy won't be two for a few more days, but he's already Two. He just had a total meltdown because he's jealous about Big Girl's new shoes. While Two was sleeping yesterday afternoon, I took his big sister to the outlet mall and got her some new shoes, and he is JEALOUS about her new pink Timberland sandals. He keeps trying to steal them from her and make an escape to play with them in his room, and he's been ignoring me when I tell him to leave the shoes alone. He's been ignoring Hubs and me throughout the weekend, actually, to the point that we are worried about what will happen if he's about to get hurt and he pulls this ignoring crap.

He's got a cold, which always puts him in a bit of a funk, but there's more going on here. Two is asserting his independence in a big way, which leads me to dread the struggles to come over the next year. He's very strong-willed - gets that from his mama - and he has a powerful lower pouting lip. But Two may find that, with increased mobility and verbal abilities, he will also encounter his equally-strong-willed mama who will be a killjoy when it comes to rolling the bathroom with toilet paper and other exploits.

Big Girl, by the way, is totally stoked about her new shoes. She has leaped up almost two sizes, so this was definitely needed. I let her have some choices when selecting her sandals and her new sneakers, and she loves both pairs and has been modeling them around the house for everyone to admire. The sneakers are Nikes, white with pink and silver accents. I vetoed the Dora the Explorer pair that she selected first - they were just too bright and overwhelming, and didn't look that well-made. She really enjoyed our girls-only shopping trip, despite the heavy rain we encountered, and we also picked up a few cute skorts for her to wear this summer. They really look like skirts but have shorts underneath, ideal since she's too busy playing to worry about silly stuff like modesty. We looked for shoes for me but had no luck. I'm awfully picky and I wear a very small size which is hard to find, so really, no surprise.

If he's in a good humor, I may take Two to find a pair of shoes for him tomorrow, since he really does need some. He doesn't have any big boy shoes yet, just soft-soled Robeez, although a little bird told me he might get some big boy shoes for his birthday, too.

Silent night

So, so quiet here. Kids are asleep and Hubs isn't home yet - late night for him. Only sound is the whirring of my beloved box fan (have I mentioned my love of fans on here yet? I LOVE fans, love the white noise to help me sleep, love the feel of wind blowing on me...) and the occasional thunk of a dog pinning another dog to the back deck in some sort of fancy canine wrestling mood.

It has been a mildly productive day. The kids and I mooched lunch at my parents' house, and I spent too much time on the computer, but I did get some laundry done. And a load of dishes. This housework is never done. :(

I have this great bottle of white wine that I picked up a while back, thinking that Hubs and I would enjoy it over the weekend. It's still in the fridge. I am tempted to open it and enjoy it without him, but I don't want to do that when I'm the sole responsible parent type. I suggested it several times last weekend but he was in the mood for Irish coffees instead, and I must say they were quite tasty. We even made decaf ones (I know! Heresy!) for late-day consumption, since we both have trouble sleeping if we have too much caffeine in our systems.

Ah, wine. I enjoy wine so much, although it goes to my head much faster than it used to affect me. I'm picky. I don't like chardonnay at all. Can't stand it. Messes with my reflux, gives me heartburn. Strange, I know. But I love a nice riesling or pinot grigio. I like certain reds with meals, to accompany beef, but not so much on their own. I have to watch them too because some reds also get to my acid reflux. I take meds for it but it sometimes breaks through.

Hubs and I don't drink wine often anymore. We had it more frequently before we moved, as there were more places to get nice, inexpensive bottles of wine, and there were more occasions where we dined with friends and had wine. I think the fabulous places to shop for good food and wine are one of the aspects I miss most about our old home. We've moved hundreds of miles away, and while ye olde hometowne has its advantages, shopping for wine and cheese at a podunk Kroger just isn't the same.

And, well, I don't know that the Food Lion is even a contender. I have a bit of a longstanding bias against Food Lion since the cashier at a Food Lion near my undergrad alma mater was rude to me - and that has been a dozen years, but I still remember. I wish we had better places for shopping here. I think there are enough people who would go there to support a Target or a nicer grocery store, but change comes slowly. After all, we just got the first Starbucks less than a year ago (and now there are three).

Some of my favorite teevee shows are finally coming back after the writers' strike-induced hiatus. Bones will be back soon. Hubs mocks me for watching Bones, but I like it (I could mock a lot of the crap he watches but I refrain). I'm also enjoying New Amsterdam - in particular the lead actor, my new tv boyfriend, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Don't worry, Anderson Cooper. You're still on my list. You too, Alex O'Loughlin.