Get a 4-pice scroll bath set with satin nickel finish for $39.99 at K-Mart, a savings of $10 today only.
Set includes:
There are people everywhere telling us to live in the moment, from Eckhart Tolle to Buddhist monks—and I am inclined to agree with them. Why worry about yesterday when it’s over? Why worry about tomorrow when the only moment we are guaranteed is the one we are in right now? It makes plenty of sense, and I think if we could do it, we would all be so much happier.
All of that said, it’s also almost impossible for so many families in America—or maybe even anywhere, for all I know. Not only are we constantly having to pay for our pasts (whether via the law or via the people in our lives), which often prevent us from moving on; we also are constantly being told we must prepare for the future, whether it’s 401k plans, college savings accounts, or even burial plots! All of these things can calmly and reasonably dealt with to still allow mindfulness, I think, but we are expected to do so much these days that it still makes people crazy. Some people have high-demand jobs that require constant daily activity—from running businesses to running households. You might be planning meals or meetings or mergers; your mind is on the next day all the same.
People on Facebook who complain all of the time drive me crazy—so crazy, in fact, that I’ve taken to either A. blocking them or B. unfriending them altogether. There’s only so many times I can hear about you whining about being bored or not getting into some concert without wanting to take a blowtorch to my eyes, mmkay?
But lately, as I become friends with many more hippie unschooling moms—whom I love, by the way—I am bombarded with nothing but happy messages. And it would be okay if it didn’t sound so damn smug. “I made homemade salt and a dozen hand-sewn diapers today and I am so blessed and I wouldn’t have it any other way!” is lovely until you hear it every. Single. Day. I’m not even on Facebook as much as I used to be—which I like; I have a few moments of fun, check in, update my author’s status and check out—and I still see these shiny happy statuses everywhere I look.
The thing is, I believe them. I know they are true, because in the moments when life is not shiny and happy—the moment when your three-year-old defiantly crunches pretzels all over the carpet while you are in a conference call training interns and just looks at you like, “What!”—you aren’t going to be posting on Facebook for sure, so why would you report it to the world? You get on when you have a few moments to spare in sweet silence, probably unwinding with that cup of hot tea you promised yourself six hours ago.
iChameleons is offering a large, six-foot peel-and-stick chalkboard for just $15 this week. Price includes shipping.
Outback Steakhouse is offering a $25 meal for two on Wednesday evenings. The meal features an appetizer or dessert to share plus two soups or salads and two entrees. Several options are available, including sirloin, chicken, and shrimp.
A lot of people make New Year’s resolutions to “finally get organized,” and sometimes it makes me feel smug—sorry!—about being pretty well organized the whole year round. In fact, I’m a recovering organizer; I used to color code and alphabetize everything. I still have a few labeling addictions, but I have gotten much better about the alphabetizing…
Anyway, as such an organizing addict, I thought I would share a couple of tips that have helped me over the years. They are super simple, though, so don’t expect fairy dust or anything!
When I saw The Dark Knight Rises, I was mostly disappointed with the movie—save for the Anne Hathaway moments. She was delightful in both character and dialogue, and I am chagrined to admit that I questioned whether or not she would be a suitable Catwoman. As much as I loved Pfeiffer’s portrayal, Hathaway’s more subdued yet calculated one was pretty stellar.
But that’s not why she’s my new hero. I’ve always enjoyed her in movies—especially her teen ones that I grew up with—but after her unfortunate “wardrobe malfunction” that everyone is trying to take advantage of and exploit, she has remained graceful and poised as ever.
When my husband is off work, he often takes my daughter to the rec center to swim or run around in the gym while I work. It’s a wonderful solution since we are members with unlimited access to the rec center, and it helps get her some physical activity in while it’s too cold to go play outside.
That said, today they had an unpleasant experience with a few moms in the family room—specifically, one mom, who complained loudly about having to share a family locker room with men. “They should have separate family locker rooms if they’re going to let men in!” she huffed.
My husband turned to her and said, “Excuse me?” She, of course, said, “Nothing,” but he said, “No, I heard you. You and your partner have two little girls. I’m a father with my little girl. I have to use this room because she’s not allowed in the men’s locker room for good reason. Why don’t you take your daughters into the women’s locker room if you don’t want to share the family room with me?”
Today I realized something that absolutely mortified me, made me ashamed of myself—yet also helped me understand my sometimes passive-aggressive behavior. I am actually jealous of my kid.
I guess that’s a compliment to me as a mom, right? After all, I’m jealous that she gets to do activities that my family could never afford—there were three of us kids growing up, after all—and of all the comforts she has as my kiddo, like me tucking her in at night in a special “nest” of blankets, or the rituals she has for eating, teeth brushing, even getting up in the morning. All of her special nicknames—my sisters both had them but I never did, not with my parents, anyway—and her being able to pursue her own interests and being given choices and other special elements in her life are things that I wish I could say I had in my life, too.
