Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

I Blinked

December 11th, 2008

Wow!  You wake up one morning to realize that you just poured the last of the three gallons of milk you bought on the last grocery trip.  Where did the time go?  What all have I done in the EIGHT days since I posted last?!  Glad you asked.  I love a list.

1.  I went to a wedding.  Some good friends got married on Saturday and HH was a groomsman.  The rehearsal dinner was at a fancy house where, it is rumored, the upstairs bathroom was bigger than most apartments.  Of course I cannot verify that.  I refused to look.  Big fancy bathrooms in big fancy houses make me cry.  But the fajitas were AWE-wait for it-SOME!!
2.  Having a late-evening rehearsal dinner followed by an afternoon wedding meant that both kids spent the night at my folks’ house.  Which meant that I had all of Saturday morning to treasure hunt at TJ Maxx and Ross.  TJ Maxx was a bust, but I found two dresses at Ross.  One was only $12.99.  The other – marked down to $16.99 with an original retail of $174.  I know.  I even saved the tags.  (I have a weird thing about keeping tags of the really great bargains I find.  I still have a tag for a $345 DKNY blazer that I got at a sample sale for $7.) 
3.  We decorated our Christmas tree.  I scaled back on the ornaments this year.  Why create more opportunities for yelling at Woggie?  We hung his ornaments low and he’s allowed to get those off and play with those as he pleases… which equals very little tree drama. 

I also haven’t forgotten that I still have a giveaway for which am supposed to be choosing a winner.  I haven’t forgotten (ok, maybe I forgot a little) but the whole hacker, bloggy move thing has caused my comments to drift into some sort of black hole.  I am currently fishing in my Gmail for all of them, so I can properly choose a winner.  And to make up for the debacle, I’m tossing around the idea of “Bee’s Botched Blog-giveaway Bonanza” or something like that… maybe after the new year.

For Your Shopping Enjoyment

November 14th, 2008

Most of my shopping is done online these days. The convenience of being able to “shop” during naptime and after bedtime, not pushing a crying Bug and a grabby Wog in a stroller… totally worth the shipping charges, if you ask me. My go-to’s are OldNavy.com, Etsy, Ebay, and, as you already know, Diapers.com. We are even toying with the idea of doing our grocery shopping online, as my much-loved task of grocery shopping has caused me to shed a tear or two in recent weeks. (Publix, if you are reading this, if you could offer the whole order-your-groceries-online-and-then-pick-them-up thing, I would tattoo I Heart Publix in a prominent location on my body!)

I recently had the opportunity to try out SmartBargains.com. It is a great place to go to find deals on name brand items. It offers a wide range of price points from Steve Madden to Fendi. Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself in desperate need of some sort of handbag. Of course, not knowing if I wanted to go strictly handbag or handbag/diaperbag combo was the biggest part of the battle. I perused SmartBargains over the course of three days before I made my selection. I was so drawn to this bag, but my practical nature prevailed this time. (Oh, Mr. Cole, I’ll return to you one day!) I ended up with this little Vera Bradley ditty.

Not bad, huh? It was quite a steal after the various discounts offered on the particular day I ordered. It’s big enough to hold diapers and a bottle, but it doesn’t get me any strange looks if I happen to be carrying it without a kid in tow (except from HH, who knows I’m not exactly a Vera Bradley kind of gal).

SmartBargains.com also offers jewelry, fragrance, home and kitchen items (I am dying to order this, but its a couple more years before Bug will need big girl bedding), and even dude stuff. And the prices are pretty darn good. The site was very easy to maneuver. They offer new items every day. However, they do sell out quickly. The only issue I had was that shipping was pretty expensive (starting at $9.95), but there is a program that you can sign up for that offers $2.95 shipping on every order, but it costs $9.95 a year (you get other perks for joining as well), which is totally worth it if you plan on ordering even a little as 2 times over the course of the year.

So, even though I don’t do a lot of high-end shopping these days, I’ve added SmartBargains.com to my go-to list. It’s so fun to poke around (especially the “last chance” stuff). Plus, Christmas isn’t far away and I’m thinking I might find a gift or two. Head on over and see what you think.