Today’s agenda: breakfast at my mom’s edition
Sep 30, 2011 Today's Agenda
So, we got into Buffalo last night a little past midnight after an uneventful drive from Brooklyn. I only had to yell once, after Fiona decided that the best way to get the iPad from her brother would be to mimic what he was saying.
I slept in this morning until a blissful 9:45. I knew my mom had left for work early so I expected the kids to be starving, which they were. But since they’d gotten up and headed straight for the TV, they hadn’t even noticed that my mom had left them breakfast!
It was a breakfast so typical of my mom I should’ve taken a picture:
- Slow-cooked oatmeal for Fiona
- Bread for Jake to toast – with the crusts cut off
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- A fun-pack of M&Ms for each kid
- A scratch off lottery ticket
She cracks me up. She can feed them whatever she wants – she’s taking the turtles off my hands!
As for me, I was about to make some toast when I remembered that Mighty Taco opens at 10am, so I ran out the door in pjs with $5 and my car keys. The only time it is acceptable to drive one block is when going through the drive through will camouflage the fact that you’re braless and haven’t brushed your teeth.
So today will be filled with boring errands – things I should’ve done already but are easier to do here: get the car cleaned inside and out and the oil changed (hello, Delta Sonic!), then inspected, mail some stuff to my sister in St. Thomas that my niece has probably outgrown by now because I waited so long, and buy poster board and other crap for the TWO projects Jake was assigned for a four day weekend. Don’t even get me started on that.
Have a good one!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Today’s agenda: blah
Sep 29, 2011 Today's Agenda
I’m so completely uninspired to do anything today. I’ve got a giant cold sore on my lip and eight hours in the car ahead of me, held up only by the fact that I have to do several loads of laundry before I can even leave. And since much of my mood has to do with my husband I would love to sit here and complain and explain, but as he never tires of reminding me lately, he reads my blog so complaining about him would either mean that a) I’m doing it with the full knowledge that he’ll be reading it which seems rather passive-aggressive, or b) I’m trying to send him messages through my blog which is tacky. Although I guess by even mentioning all of this in ANY WAY I’m being both passive-aggressive and tacky.
Instead I just don’t have an outlet to bitch and express myself, which is sort-of why I started this blog in the first place. Oh, to be able to go back and be anonymous. The stories I could tell!
And I’ve gotten six new mosquito bites since I’ve been sitting here at my computer. I’m so sick of mosquitoes this year I want to take a torch to the back yard and all of the backyards nearby.
Wait, make that seven.
There’s a big spider spinning a web near the radiator, and I’m not going to do anything about it because I hope he catches some mosquitoes.
And the cat just threw up. Perfect.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: complaining, Travel
Notes from an open house survivor
Sep 28, 2011 What's Going On
There should be a support group for people who’ve held an open house in order to sell an apartment or house. Between keeping my kids from dirtying the place up ten minutes after I cleaned it to worrying about someone stealing my jewelry to stressing over what to do with the dirty laundry while people are checking out the laundry room, there’s a lot to think about when holding an open house.
But we did have very successful open houses and sold our condo, and I learned a lot about the process. Today I’m sharing my best open house secrets and tips over on RealDirect.com, a website that can do everything from list your home, to help you schedule open houses and appointments, to give you personalized advice about getting past a building’s board.
So please stop by their blog and check out my guest post, and let me know if you have any other open house tips. I’m hoping not to sell this house for decades, but you never know…
Open House Tips From SelfishMom
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 15. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: NYC, real estate
Today’s Agenda: Last day with the turtles edition
Sep 28, 2011 Today's Agenda
So tomorrow the kids and I are celebrating the long Rosh Hashanah weekend by driving our pain in the ass turtles to my mom in Buffalo. She has a long history of stepping in and rescuing all of her kids from their pets, but she legitimately begged for these.
If you’ll recall, I never wanted these guys in the first place. I caught some kids abandoning them on the stoop next door on a ten degree day when they were just little babies, so I took them in and spent a ridiculous amount of money on the setup that every reptile website assured me was necessary. My mother, of course, will let them run around the house and periodically give them a swim in the bathtub, and they’ll be just fine. Probably happier. At the very least, the smaller one won’t be stuck in a tank with the bigger one, getting bitten on the leg every time he lets his guard down.
Then, of course, I’ll have a forty gallon tank, heater, filter, lights, and all the other crap that goes with it to sell. So if you know anybody…
Other than that, another blissful day at home. Working in sweats. Life is good.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: turtles
Pandigital Picture Frame: great gift idea for WiFi-less folks
Sep 27, 2011 Product Review
I’ve looked at a few different wireless picture frames to give to various relatives over the years, but the problem is that the older relatives don’t have WiFi in their homes. So, I would have to rely on flash drives or SD cards to get new pictures to them, and honestly there’s not much chance that I would keep that up. But the Photo Mail frame that AT&T sent me* to try has solved that problem.
The concept is simple: the person using the frame needs no internet hookup whatsoever, since the frame works over AT&T’s network. You can email pictures directly to it, with no ongoing subscription. The frame comes with its own unique email address, and sixty download credits. After that you can buy download credits for ten cents each, or less – the more you buy at a time, the cheaper each one is. You can buy these credits online or directly from the frame.
The frame comes with a remote control, and in a stroke of genius the remote can attach magnetically to the back of the frame, so that it won’t get lost. The look of the frame is like any good picture frame – no plastic in sight. Just wood, and then matting under the glass framing the image area. A second matte is included in case you want a different color.
Setting the frame up was extremely easy: within ten minutes of opening the box I had transferred pictures from my computer to the frame, over email. I plugged it in and turned it on, and using the email address on the back I sent two pictures to it. Within a couple of minutes I’d gotten an email that the pictures had been received by the Pandigital system and would be delivered soon to the frame, and then a couple minutes after that received a notification on my frame that I had something to download. I clicked enter and the images downloaded in under a minute.
The frame has an internal memory of 1 gigabyte. Pictures of about 1 megabyte or more look very crisp on the screen, so you could store almost 1,000 pictures on the internal memory and have really good quality images.
Playing and adding images from an SD card was very easy. There’s an option to import all images, or you can go through and choose which ones you want to add to the internal memory. There are lots of options for how the slideshow plays, from transitions to the order to adding music. Photos can be arranged into certain folders and slideshows can be played from just one folder at a time if desired.
Some things I didn’t like:
- The remote control is very temperamental. It only works from a maximum distance of a few feet, and has to be pointed directly at the bottom of the screen. I usually had to press a button a few times to get it to work. (However, you don’t have to use the remote control – there are buttons on the back that can be seen easily when looking over the top of the frame.)
- Internal WiFi would make this frame so much more flexible.
- The slots for SD cards and flash drives are so close to the frame it can be difficult to get them in.
- The frame comes with way too many features – greeting card making, clock and alarm, etc. – that are too cumbersome to use and just clutter up the menus. Simpler would be better.
- The video feature supports only .avi files, which is very limiting.
- The User Guide is very out of date, mentioning Microsoft services that haven’t existed for quite a while.
To sum up:
Basically, if you want a really simple and attractive way to get photos to a loved one almost instantly and don’t want to worry about WiFi connections or monthly subscription fees, this frame is an excellent choice. The price is much lower than many digital frames of the same size (I found it for about $87 on Amazon), and it will fit right in with non-tech decor. Buying additional credits is easy and inexpensive, and most people wouldn’t have a problem navigating the one or two clicks necessary to download new photos from the Photo Mail service.
The one big suggestion I have for future versions of this frame (besides stripping out the unnecessary features) is to make the photo downloads completely controllable from a remote source. I mentioned in the last paragraph that most people wouldn’t have a problem navigating the simple download process, but it would be great to have an option for those who might have trouble. For example, the purchaser could set the frame to download all images sent to the frame automatically. As long as they don’t give away the unique email address to anyone else, they would have complete control over which pictures make it to the frame.
But this is a minor suggestion. The service is already very simple, and I would absolutely use my own money to buy this frame as a gift for anyone who wanted to receive frequently updated pictures of my family.
*AT&T send me this frame in conjunction with their fabulous sponsorship of the SheStreams conference, which I attended last week. Huge thank you to AT&T for supporting bloggers, vloggers, and podcasters!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
When Harrison met Maggie, plus a Got Milk? giveaway!
Sep 27, 2011 Contest/Giveaway
So you may have seen my tweets about #FlatHarrison, or my friend Heidi’s awesome posts about how she brought him cross-country for me. Last week I made a mini version to bring with me to the unveiling of the newest Got Milk? campaign with their new featured celebrity (and fellow Brooklyn mom), Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Maggie’s new ad is fantastic – from the vintage dress and beret (Maggie told us it was straight off of the head of Annie Leibovitz herself, who shot the ad!) to the adorable milk mustache.
However, Heidi and I felt that something was missing from the ad, because who couldn’t use a little Harrison in her cup, right?
There was a demonstration of latte making
and while I didn’t pay a ton of attention because I don’t drink coffee (I get my milk mostly in cereal and plain in a glass), I am planning on doing this to my hot cocoa this winter:
Maggie was very gracious
and we got to sit down with her and chat about kids, school, and milk (natch).
Of course I had to ask her about chocolate milk, because I’m a big chocolate milk defender.
And now for the giveaway! You can win everything you need to make your own latte, except for the coffee. Here’s what you’ll get:
Bodum milk frother
tall Latte Love mug
bottle of Vanilla Torani syrup
coupon for a gallon of milk
All you have to do to enter is tell me, in the comment section of this post, what your favorite way to get your milk is. Mine is in cereal.
For a second entry, you may tweet about this contest with a link back to this page. Or, you can copy and tweet the following:
Want to win a great Latte Love prize pack from @SelfishMom? Enter here: http://bit.ly/pQ7OG5 #GotMilk
Make sure to leave a second comment with a link to your tweet, or it won’t count (instructions on how to find and post the url of your tweet can be found here).
So, that’s a maximum of two entries per household please! This contest will close at noon-ish on Wednesday, October 5th. The winner will be chosen by random.org. You must be at least 18 years of age to enter. Prize may be shipped within the continental United States only. See my complete Giveaway Rules page for more information.
Good luck!
***Thanks so much to Heidi for the great pictures of Maggie and me (and Harrison)!***
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: #flatharrison, Got Milk, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Today’s agenda is largely yesterday’s agenda
Sep 27, 2011 Today's Agenda
So my husband came home last night for his birthday dinner and the first words out of his mouth were: “So, out of the three items you were going to do today, how many got done?” Dammit, I keep forgetting he reads my blog! I hate accountability!
His cake was in the freezer ready to be frosted, which he said was the only item that mattered. While I did make a little headway on the other two items yesterday, they’re both still waiting for me today. Sigh. (But there’s a load of laundry in the washing machine right now, HONEY!)
I actually made some homemade frosting for him yesterday, a new (and very easy) recipe, even though he requested the canned stuff. And while it was VERY good, all four of us agreed: still wasn’t as good as Duncan Hines! So the cake got frosted with that, and I now have a bunch of the homemade stuff in the fridge. I might do a little instructional video today with it.
As for the canned frosting, I’ve been chasing that ultra-chocolaty fudgy flavor for years. If you have any recipes for me to try, send them my way!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: baking
Randomosity: fainting workers, commas, & Brad Pitt
Sep 26, 2011 Randomosity
Normally I don’t go for do-it-yourself crafty stuff, but these homemade sandwich and snack containers are actually pretty cool.
Turn A Milk Jug Into A Sandwich Box
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Not a week goes by that I don’t order something from Amazon.com (Amazon Prime shipping just makes it too easy). But I don’t like thinking that workers are passing out trying to get my products to me. Shame on Amazon for letting conditions in their shipping centers get so bad!
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So IKEA has launched a new section in their Australian stores called, naturally, Mänland. You can drop your husband off to play video games, watch sports, and eat free hot dogs while you shop. You even get a little buzzer, just like when you drop your child off in their playspace.
My only problem with this? You can only drop them off for 30 minutes. You can’t even get to the section you need in IKEA in 30 minutes. How about two hours?
Ikea Debuts Mänland, a Daycare for Men While Women Shop
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I’ve always hated #FollowFriday on Twitter. For the uninitiated, that’s when people on Twitter recommend other people they think their followers should be following. I think it’s only useful when you recommend one person at a time and give a reason why, but the vast majority of people who participate just tweet out a bunch of names – no context, no reasons. I’ve always thought it was a pretty useless way of recommending someone.
Plus, I suspect a lot of people just do it in a bid to get their own followers – a lot of the time they’re recommending me without even following me themselves!
Now there’s a site that has confirmed what I always suspected: #FollowFriday is useless. According to FollowFriday.com, even though I was recommended by sixteen people this past Friday, I gained zero new followers from it.
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I only tend to complain when people make really egregious grammatical errors, like mixing up you’re and your or their and there. And why is it that half of the people trying to lose weight insist that they want to loose weight?
But I would never call anyone out for misuse of whom, or using their instead of his or her. Sometimes it just sounds pretentious to speak correctly.
I do, however, like to think that I at least know what the rules are, so I was very disappointed to learn that I’m using commas wrong. Often. In fact, I’m probably doing it right now in this sentence. The problem is, I like to write the way I talk. I take lots of pauses so I insert them when I write too. But it’s always good to know the rules before you break them, so you should check out 10 Completely Wrong Ways To Use Commas.
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And last but definitely not least, from my friend @AndrewRossi:
You can find the list here. Bon appetit!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: #FollowFriday, crafts, Shopping
