The Mamahood

We Have a Winner!

Trevor Pyle was the big winner in our popcorn giveaway...thanks to everyone for entering!

Safe Sweets

No, I'm not talking about avoiding candy bars with razors in them from the creepy guy down the street. For my youngest daughter, avoiding flour, eggs and milk—the ingredients in any halfway decent treat—is imperative to avoid having a wicked, bloody rash all over.

If your kid has the same thing, check out my review of an allergy-free bakery and goodie maker.

(Oh, and you can win some goodies, too!!!)

Bargains Galore

I've always been in awe of my mother, who manages to score amazing deals—like the totally cute, 75-cent lavender dress she bought for my oldest daughter, which has survived dozens of wearings by both of my girls and has likely averaged out to less than a penny for each wearing. My deals tend to be more of the 20-percent off variety. Good, but exactly not setting the world on fire.

That's why I've been religiously following my friend's blog, Hey, Check This Out, where she's collecting the craziest deals, coupons and freebies out there (apparently, she's my generation's mom to watch). So far, I've scored a few fab freebies that will be coming in the mail, and I'm keeping my eye out for some of those amazing bargains that I can brag about to my mom.

Cooking With Friends

I love to cook, but often, after spending the day slaving away over a hot laptop, the last thing I want to do is figure out what to make for dinner. I hear a lot about people who like to make big batches of soups, or multiple casseroles at one time and freeze one for posterity (and preservation of sanity), but I've never been skilled at making that work for me.

But if I could make the meals while gossiping with my girlfriends over a hot stove (perhaps with a nice glass of pinot noir in hand)? Well, that'd be my idea of a good time. That's the concept behind the Cooking With Friends blog, which offers tips, recipes and suggestions for starting your own cooking club.

Another excuse to get together with my friends? Totally worth it!

Our Love Is Here to Stay

We cannot remember how we met. We only know that we've known each other for more than half of our lifetimes, and that it took several years before we went beyond buddies and co-editors and figured out that there might be something more there. And there certainly was.

Ten years ago today, I said "I do" to a lifetime of Star Wars, oddball politics and searching around for my husband's perpetually lost keys, IDs and wallets. (These were the vows I should have taken, instead of the traditional ones.) We have been through richer and poorer, sickness and health. We've had incredible adventures and long stretches of blissfully mundane everyday life. 

But 10 years ago, I had probably one of the most wonderfully perfect days. On a sunny and warm September day, we were surrounded by our favorite people in the whole wide world as we promised to share our life together. There was fabulous food, great music and amazing flowers. And we looked pretty good, too—even if we performed one of the most awkward first dances I've ever seen. I wish I had memorized that entire day from beginning to end, but the moments that do stand out for me—my husband-to-be beaming away at me as I walked down the aisle, a charming toast, giggling through the photo session with our bridal party—are the kinds of memories that can help you through, when you're facing that "worse" instead of the "better."

Tonight, we'll celebrate our anniversary with our daughters, over a feast of takeout sushi and champagne (for us, not the girls). We'll look through our albums and play our videos, and reminisce about the young, hopeful couple we were back then. I know our life's path has diverged in ways large and small from what we envisioned on that warm September day, but it's been an absolutely wonderful ride so far. And I just can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Raising A Quarter Million for Your Kid...

According to MSN.com, that's how much you'll pay to raise a kid from birth to age 17 (note that that figure doesn't even factor in those wonderful college expenses). So how are so many people from modest means go about raising a child without going (too far) into hock?

As someone who is in the home stretch of our most expensive year of parenting, thus far (including a trip to China to adopt one child, day care/preschool expenses for both kids, and diapering the baby), I have to say it isn't easy. Especially when the economy pulls the rug out from under your relatively successful business.

Our entertainment expenses have been practically nil, since we've basically had a sitter exactly three times in the past year (and every time was free). A wild night for us is a glass of wine and a game of dominoes.

Since I'm able to accomplish most of my writing and content strategy work from the comfort of my couch, I'm saving oodles on commuting and wardrobe (since I don't even have to move out of my pajamas on any given day, if I really don't want to).

And of course, there's always debt. We are in the hole right now, due to a faster-than-expected adoption, and a miserable fourth quarter for my business. But I'm expecting, with my growing uptick in work, the fact that my oldest is heading for a (free! blessedly free!) wonderful kindergarten down the street, and my hope that we'll make it through the next quarter without a major home-repair catastrophe (fingers crossed and knocking on wood), we'll be, with the exception of our mortgage, debt free by January. 

Just in time to really buckle down and start saving up for college—the other quarter million we'll need to raise by 2022.

Ladies Who Lunch

School hasn't even started yet, and I'm already dreading the nightly chore of putting together lunches that my daughters will actually eat. Even when I let them pick, they apparently change their minds at some point between the packing and lunchtime.

I'm hoping to get a little more inspired this school year. I'm planning to pick up some cool bento items that'll let me accommodate my little grazers, and I'm hoping to be inspired by Cookie magazine's "30 Days, 30 Lunches" ideas—though some of the ideas, like the Hello! Kitty shaped sandwich, seem a little too ambitious for a standard Tuesday night. But I'd love to hear from you guys—any cool (and healthy) ideas for little lunches for my new kindergartener and preschooler?

You Know Your Daughter's Fully Potty Trained...

When she uses the port-a-potty not once, not twice, but three times at an outdoor concert. Even though she was wearing a pull-up, and her mother, who has a serious phobia about public restrooms in general and port-a-potties in particular, would have done just about anything to avoid stepping foot in there.

But our youngest has been doing so awesome with the potty training, I really couldn't discourage her. I'm just a little worried about her insistence on using the potty, since we have a long road trip coming up in the not-so-distant future, and there are only a few potties along the way that I feel comfortable using.

Potty Training Success?

I don't want to jinx it, but I think we might be close to becoming a diaper-free family. Our youngest spent the past two days being very nearly perfect at keeping her pants dry (even during naps!), so we celebrated tonight with a little ice cream.

It's really amazing how quickly kids grow up—it's like you blink and they're 13.

Cheaper Eats

I always marvel when I hear about the coupon masters, who can essentially get their grocery stores to pay them to take the food off their hands, or the people who are so adept at home economics that they can feed their families on pennies a day.

I'd love to be able to say that my family is that frugal, but despite my best efforts at shopping sales, buying in bulk from Costco, trying to limit prepackaged foods, and utilizing the occasional coupon, we still end up in the $1,000 range to feed a family of four and three pets each month. In part because we've cultivated expensive tastes in our kids. (Our daughters beg for sushi.)

So I was intrigued to read $30 a week, a blog of one couple's attempt to try to feed themselves each week on just $15 a person. They definitely have some recipes I'm dying to try (pistachio pesto, anyone?), but I have to admit I'm a little skeeved by a few of their tactics (i.e. dollar store grocery shopping). Which is probably why I'm paying $1,000 a month to feed my family.

My forays to the farmer's market have actually helped keep our grocery bill in line—other than the occasional splurges from the marekt, llike that fabulous homemade strawberry jam at $7 for a small jar. But I still have a long way to go before I can get down to something resembling $15 a head for my crew.