I love the cute shirts over at Swirl Syndicate and I have to say that this one is probably my favorite! The shirts all have lots of fun bi-racial humor (i.e. blender with chocolate and milk and the phrase “I’m swirled”) and they are updating their store in March to include a bunch of new designs.

This one probably appeals to me most because I am most often mistaken for a sitter/nanny to my girls. In fact, when Kai first started school the teachers thought I was really very sweet to her for a nanny. They couldn’t believe a nanny would love a child she watched so much. Pretty funny, I think. I’ve never really been offended when people assume I’m a sitter or that they’re adopted because I secretly think it’s pretty amusing. Why would I really care if someone asks me where they were adopted from since I know they’re my girls? Which, incidentally, would be true even if they were adopted so maybe people should refrain from asking “are they adopted or are they yours?” to people - especially in front of the children in question. I know my girls are aware of people when they ask that question.

Still, these shirts would garner some fun reactions and I might have to fork over the $40 ($20 each) for a couple.

Shamefully, I must admit that I just got my hair cut professionally for the first time since I was pregnant with Ivy. Can you believe that? It’s pretty terrible. But, I finally bit the bullet and did it. The girl (a friend of Eryn’s) was awesome and I will make her my hairdresser for life and am vowing to get haircuts more regularly - just like a real girl! In fact, I’m even considering going out on a limb with some fun color, too. Tatttoos, haircuts, and now possibly color? I’m really walking on the wild side! : )

I found this over at Ragamuffin Soul.

It is hilarious and disturbing all at the same time. I’d love to know where his church is…

Rule #1: You can’t race on a treadmill.

When I get on a treadmill in the morning I purposely seek out the one that is far removed from the pack. You know what I mean, there’s a treadmill in a corner or off to the side where the spandex clad, or wind-short wearing, waifs and gaunts haven’t yet populated with their swift running spidery legs. That’s where I go to start plotting my 15-20 minute session of fat jiggling. I like being far removed so it’s harder for any of those stick figures to notice that my treadmill rocks with every pounding step I take or that my hand towel is soaked after 5 minutes of slather.

So, it was with disdain that I noticed one of the spider people hop on a treadmill right next to me out of the sea of treadmills available between me and the pack. She swiftly begins this speed walking jaunt that matches if not passes the speed I’m currently jogging. I think about dialing up the speed. I can’t let the spider lady walk faster than I’m running. About a minute later, apparently her warm up is over. She dials up to twice my speed and is practically sprinting on this treadmill.

The flab of my arms are slipping on the sweat of my chest as I realize, “There’s no point.” I can’t beat her and if I try I’ll re-enact a scene out of Mr. Woodchuck sending my whole jauncing heaping mass off the treadmill to land in a pile of fat and broken bones. I dial down. I may sway this treadmill and cause the springs to creak under my massive weight, but I’ll be damned if I end my work out on the floor as a blubbering idiot.

You can’t race on a treadmill.

I heart my Blackberry. I mean, I love it so much it may actually be considered a sin. I am hopelessly addicted to every feature it has and well, I can’t imagine being forced to give it up. If I loved amphetamines or alcohol or, well, just about anything else this much (aside, of course, from my family) you’d probably be tempted to take it away from me and send me to rehab. Don’t you even think about it, though. I know Thomas is secretly planning an intervention, but until then I am going to enjoy every minute with this blessed device.

Wanna know why I love it? Here’s just one anecdotal example.

For instance, let’s say you have two children who require constant diversion. Let’s say the wheels are coming off the bus in a BIG way. What do you do? Google pictures of their favorite animals, of course! Google the pics, play animal sound trivia and watch as the whole situation decompresses. Wonderfulness. Google + Blackberry = Nirvana.

I swear I’m not all that shallow but, honestly, what did my parents do without the ability to google farm animals from their phones on road trips? I just don’t even want to imagine a world like that…

I just realized I never posted my review of Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult. It was last month’s First Thurdays book and I was going to wait until we met to post my review. So here it is…

I’ve been a fan of Picoult for a few years now and pretty much am guaranteed to love anything she writes. So, for me, it was a no-brainer to pick this book for the First Thursdays inaugural book choice. It was Picoult’s first novel so I was curious to see how far she’d come. The answer is, very, very far. I did enjoy the book on a superficial level. I thought the plot was relatively interesting, but ultimately the characters were flat and unlikable. There really wasn’t a single character who seemed the least bit interesting or real to me.

From the emotionally infantile mother/wife, Jane, to the cold, uncaring and unsympathetic husband/father, Oliver there was not a likable character in the mix. Even Rebecca, the wise-beyond-her-years daughter with a reverse role as a maternal figure to her own mother, who should earn the reader’s sympathy if nothing else, was just dry and flat.

It is a testament to Picoult’s progression as a writer to see where she began and it makes me even more excited to see where she is headed.

Ultimately I’d say skip this one and choose one of her later books. My Sister’s Keeper was the book that introduced me to Picoult’s writing and is still one of my absolute favorite of her works…

Okay, so I am going to officially save my review of Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides until First Thursdays meets and we can talk about it, but for now I have to say Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVED this book! From the blurb you know it’s about a Greek-American hermaphrodite who comes of age and learns to deal with the medical diagnosis and its affect on his/her life. But, it is about so much more. It is complex and tragic and beautiful and gut-wrenching. It is absolutely a must-read (despite being an Oprah book club selection).

I am trying desperately to make some progress on Thomas’ pick, Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis because he has absolutely loved the Space Trilogy. Try as I might it’s just not happening for me, but I refuse to give up. So, I continue to work through it.

However, I must admit, I’m starting a bit of a literary affair with The Age of Shiva, by Manil Suri. I want to be faithful to Out of the Silent Planet, but this other book is just calling my name. Maybe once I get it finished and out of my head I can go back to the Space Trilogy…

Okay, that sounds like some weird confession but it’s actually a fun kid’s fashion idea.

When Kai was a little younger than Ivy I heard about a cool new product called BabyLegs. They are essentially a long leg warmer for little ones that let them keep their legs warm in onesies or skirts while protecting them from the slippery hazards of socks. I thought they were great and immediately went looking for some. They sold for about $12 a pair and I was going to go right out and snap up a ton of them.

Then I had an epiphany. These were socks with the bottoms cut off. Except they were $12 and I had to buy them online and pay shipping. So, that’s when I started cutting the bottoms of socks. We get lots of compliments on them and the girls love them. I end up shopping for cool ladies socks and then cut the feet off so the girls can wear them. They’re great because they come in all kinds of cool styles, they’re cheap, and they are pretty much one size fits all so the girls can share. (Not to mention they make potty training and diaper changes a cinch!) The ones above were some I got for Kai to wear to her Christmas program. I tend to like them pulled down over the shoes but they look equally cute tucked in like a pair of tights.

Anyways, just thought I’d share the cool idea I stole from the folks at BabyLegs…

Despite my utter refusal to acknowledge her attempts, Ivy is moving forward with the whole potty training thing. She is obsessed with “going potty.” In fact, whenever we can’t find her we end up looking in the bathroom ’cause chances are she’s sitting right there. She hasn’t quite fully grasped the concept, though, ’cause half the time she is sitting like she is in the picture: completely clothed.

It seems that despite my initial reluctance to conquer this milestone so early, my hand is being forced. We will be starting the long arduous journey to potty training this weekend. Boo. : (

you’ve cuddled with a big stinky dog the size of an adult human. Have I ever mentioned that? Hiro has been spending alot of time indoors lately (thanks to the wonderful shock collar) and it’s actually been really fun. She’s a huge girl (I’m guessing 115lbs) but she’ll curl up on the floor in front of the sofa and just chill. No jumping. No barking. Just cuddling. You can lay your head on her, prop your feet on her, and because she’s so big and strong she doesn’t even notice.

When she’s inside she is so peaceful and loving. It reminds me why we made the crazy decision to get a ginormous dog in the first place. But, she’s not perfect and still hasn’t fully gotten the hang of the whole house training thing. Not that she’s ever had an accident upstairs, but Thomas has had to do more than his fair share of mopping in the basement. So, that begs the question, anyone have any tried and true suggestions for getting a dog over that potty training hump and into habit of having no accidents whatsoever? Her only problem is the overnight thing and she outgrew her crate ages ago so we’re pretty much at a loss for next steps…