Will Blog for Shoes

wife, mom, recovering shoe addict

ALL Small & Mighty Laundry Detergent: A Giveaway

July 28, 2009 23 comments »

I am way overdue in telling you about a great product that the folks at ALL and Momselect gave me the opportunity to try… ALL Small & Mighty laundry detergent. I guess I should tell you first that I’m a laundry nerd. I spend what seems to my husband like ages on the laundry aisle every time I have to replenish my detergent. I smell everything. I calculate price per load. I smell everything again. I buy store brands, big-name brands, all-natural brands, one for grown up laundry, one for kid laundry… whatever the mood (or coupon) dictates.

With all the product love, my laundry room/pantry/storage room got a smidge out of hand, so I decided to go with one detergent for the whole family. Much to my smellgood lovin’ heart’s dismay, it had to be a fragrance -free. I settled on using the big brand’s “free” detergent and was satisfied with everything about it… except the price. I was stoked to find that the ALL Free & Clear got my clothes just as clean as the big brand and the price makes my budget a whole lot happier.

Now, while doing some price research for this post, I noticed that the ALL Small & Mighty costs more per load than the regular ALL 2X, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me since the only difference is the higher concentration and smaller container. I’m all about a smaller container taking up less room in my way too junky laundry room, but it wasn’t that much smaller than the 2X concentration (the Small & Mighty is 3X concentrated). Regardless, they both work great and they are both priced a good bit below the big brands.

Even better, TWO of you can win a full size ALL Small & Mighty laundry product of your choice. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post telling me something laundry related. What product(s) are your favorites? How often do you wash clothes? Is your washing machine fabric softener thingie as gunky as mine? Whatever…just leave me a comment! You can also earn extra entries by tweeting about the contest (make sure to include @willblogforshoe in your tweet). You can be also earn an entry by updating your Facebook status to include the word “ALL” (all caps & quotes, please). You are not limited to the number of times you can do either and you will earn an entry per tweet or status update!! Don’t forget to leave me a separate comment to let me know about your extra entry (or entries). Leave a separate comment per extra entry, please!

Winners will be notified via email on Tuesday, August 4th.

23 comments »

Posted in Giveaways, Review

Disconnected: A List

July 21, 2009 6 comments »

Sunday night storms
Broke my teapot
No power for 4 or 5 hours
Tree branch down
Cracked windshield
Flat tire
No internet for 9 days
And counting
1 stomach bug on Monday (me)
Emptied one can of Lysol
1 more stomach bug on Wednesday into Thursday (Wog)
Finished off another can of Lysol
Broke my pepper mill
Another stomach bug yesterday/today (HH)
Night spent on my parents’ couch with 2 kids

Next week will be better. Right?!

6 comments »

Posted in Randomness

Help a Sistah Out

July 10, 2009 15 comments »

I haven’t posted in a sweet forever, because my comments were jacked up on my last post. I think I’ve cleaned them up, but I want to make sure the problem is fixed.

So, could you do me a solid and leave a comment?

Pretty please?!

15 comments »

Posted in Uncategorized

FRF: Chocolate Chip Cookies

June 26, 2009 2 comments »

I’m so excited to get to participate in Family Recipe Fridays over at Vanderbilt Wife. Jessie’s been hosting it for a few weeks now, but I haven’t been organized enough to get a recipe posted. Plus, I don’t have a lot of passed down family recipes. I come from a long line of amazing cooks, but there aren’t a lot of recipes floating around. My mema learned from watching her mother-in-law (her mom died when she was very young), my mom learned from watching my mema, and so on… When I ask for a recipe for something, I usually get a laugh.

And while I’m using trial and error to recreate some old family faves, I am building up a little repertoire of favorites for my little family of four. So, I thought I’d start with sharing the most requested by my peeps:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 6 oz package milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (yes, it’s expensive, but it makes a difference)

Cream shortening; add sugars and cream together until fluffy. Mix in the egg. Add flour, salt, and baking soda and mix. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Drop by tablespoon (I use this medium cookie scoop) on baking stone. Bake approximately 13 minutes (probably less if you’re using a cookie sheet).

This doesn’t make a terribly large amount of cookies. You’ll want to double the recipe if you’re baking for more than just your family.

For more fun family recipes, head on over to Vanderbilt Wife.

2 comments »

Posted in Recipes

I Actually Felt Inspired to Write

June 21, 2009 14 comments »

So, if anyone asks, you can say that you read a very inspired post today.

This post by Oh Amanda really made me happy. I love the whole back to basics blogging thing. I love the standards she has set for herself. It’s so easy to get caught up in your stats and what companies are sending which bloggers to random exotic locations. It’s enough to make those without the moxy to self-promote quit blogging. (I should know. I quit.)

I am definitely not knocking those bloggers who are well-oiled, finely tuned marketing machines. It’s part of the mix. Just as the photographers, the comedians, and the inspirers are. What shouldn’t be part of the mix is all the hatin’. Mommy bloggers versus those who are “something more”… whatevs. Posers versus the real deal… whatevs.

We can’t all be the same.

I will never be as funny as Boomama. I’ll never be as crafty as Candace. I’ll never be as pure of heart as Amanda. I’ll never be as cool as Steph. I’ll never be as gosh darn cute as Trina. I’ll never be as talented as Carrie. I could go on. I probably should go on.

Ok, maybe I’ve gotten away from my original starting point. Let’s pretend I just constructed this kick-butt transitional sentence in which I have both sufficiently proven the last couple of paragraphs were relevant and brought you back to my original though, shall we?

My “manifesto” is this. (It’d be grand if you could pretend to care. K, thanks.)
1. I’ll review a product if I think it’s something I’d like to try or have tried.
2. I’ll offer a giveaway every stinkin’ chance I get. It’s just WAY fun to me.
3. I’ll sugar coat my thoughts only when I feel that *I* need to in order to maintain my sanity. (Or to prevent profanity.)
4. I promise to never give a red rat’s beehind about my stats. (I don’t even know how to monitor that sort of thing!)

Basically, I’ll be me. Maybe you’ll like it. (I won’t even lie, I desperately hope you will). But maybe you won’t. And that’s ok. (Oh, heck, who am I kidding? It’s really not ok, but I’ll manage).

14 comments »

Posted in Randomness

Bloggy Ketchup

June 16, 2009 6 comments »

…or catch up, if you must. Ketchup just kind of seemed to have a little more zing. And I like zing. And something on this blog should have some zing, since the design is about as far from zingy as a blog design could get. **Cough cough… hint hint… Mr Blog Designer, do you even read this anymore?!**

Lots of things going on at the Shoe house right now, but I have so very little bloggy mojo. (Could it be the design bringing me down? **cough**) Lack of mojo demands a list, right?!

1. Wog’s birthday party was a success. If you count success as paying $50 to rent a park pavillion, then having to share it with another group who didn’t pay and took up 4 of the 6 tables. The city did refund our money, but scolded us for not calling security to have them removed. Wog and his little friends had a blast though. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a single picture of the birthday boy that didn’t have his friends in it and editing them has proven me completely Photoshop deficient.

2. I’m about to dip my toe into the world of cloth diapering. I’m a little nervous. It could save us a ton of dough (like a ton), but what if it’s hard? I don’t do hard very well.

3. Wog is still doing great with the potty. The only problem is now he’s figured out that he doesn’t have to actually ring the potty. It’s just gross. If you’re looking for a stock tip, buy Clorox now!

4. I’m currently reading In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan. It’s totally changing the way I grocery shop. The premise is Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. I’m not finished with it (non fiction is such slow-going for me), but I would recommend it. Unfortunately, it’s making it harder for me to plan menus each week. A lifetime of consuming preservatives and relying on commercials to tell me what’s healthy, well that is a hard habit to break.

5. I usually rely on the library for all my fiction reading needs, but it’s also a GREAT place to test out a cookbook. If there’s a cookbook that I think I want, I check it out and take it home for a test drive. The most recent one I had to peek at was Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It did not disappoint! I’ll be purchasing it in the very near future. And I hope to be sharing stories of all my homemade bread with all of Bloggyland.

I’m reading back over this post and wondering who is this girl who speaketh of cloth diapers, making her own bread and buying fresh vegetables?!

My mom might have me committed.

That might not be a bad idea.

6 comments »

Posted in Uncategorized

Scooby Doo Underwear and a Prayer

June 11, 2009 11 comments »

Four weeks ago, when MDO ended for Summer break, we put Wog in big boy underwear and hoped for the best. You see, I am a very structured person and lover of rules and guidelines, except when it comes to parenting chores (and, yes, potty training is a chore and if you enjoyed it, I might be inclined to call you strange to your face). I’ve found that the occasional strong-willedness of my children can reduce me to an pile of inconsistent mush.

So, enter my “let’s try this and see what happens” method of parenting. (It’ll be all the rage soon–you’ll see.) And WOW, were we surprised! After the first day, there were no accidents of the “tee-tee” variety. And after four long, excrutiatingly messy, tear-filled days, he was dropping twosies in the potty like nobody’s business.

I’m almost embarrassed to tell you that he didn’t even wet at night. He started off sleeping in a Pull Up, but it was dry every single morning. So, when he started asking to sleep in his underwear, I let him. Two nights ago, he woke up at 11:30 at night, found his daddy, and enlisted him to help find the potty in the dark. I may have teared up with pride.

Before you hate me with my innovative parenting techniques and my genius child for our easy trek to freedom from the grips of Huggies, you should know that the Shoe house is not without it’s casualties. My uber cool shower curtain, the only one in existence on the planet that matches the icky green tile in my bathroom, was lost in one of the great Wog/poo clean up of 2009.

Rest in peace, fair tropical stripes.

11 comments »

Posted in Wogtastic

Ten for Thirty-Three

June 2, 2009 13 comments »

My birthday is this week. The Big Three-Three. I remember when birthdays were a big deal. Sixteen, my first car. Twenty-one, hell bent on damaging my liver (legally). Those were big deals. Thirty, when you “really” become a grown-up. Wow, was that a big day, spent in a hospital attached to various and asundry monitors, nervously awaiting Wog’s arrival?! (Talk about plunging head first into adulthood… sheesh!) Thirty-three. Notsomuch.

Even though I’ll spend the day blowing up inflatable monkeys, counting paper plates, and buying bananas and juice boxes, all the while pretending that it doesn’t bother me in the least that I am not propped up in some spa, reading whether or not Rob & Kristen really are a couple, while someone rubs my feet and paints my toes a racy shade of red for my night out on the town with a very hot geek, I’ll be dreaming of of a day that’s all about me… a day that includes:

1. Weekend (or at least overnight) admission for two to Camp Spoilalot (aka Grandmama’s & Grandaddy’s)
2. Some sort of spa package that includes mani/pedi/massage.
3. The Mystic Tan
4. This dress
5. These shoes
6. This bag
7. This necklace
8. Dinner here
9. Drinks here
10. 10 to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep

For more fun Top Tens, head over to OhAmanda!

13 comments »

Posted in Uncategorized

Today Could Be The Best Day of My Life. Or It Could Be Pretty Crappy.

May 26, 2009 8 comments »

Yeah, I just tweeted that. I figured it’d be a good working title since I’m not even sure right now what this post is going to be about.

I guess I could explain the title/tweet. That’d be a start. The Shoe family has been in what I call “hurry-up-and-wait” mode for a long time. A few weeks ago, that shifted to “what-the-heck-is-going-on-can-we-please-get-some-closure” mode. And that’s still where we are. Today is the day we’re supposed to get some answers. Of course, Friday two weeks ago had the same promise. Today could be pretty darn uneventful.

I’ll bet you are feeling super duper clued in now, huh?

Let me help get your mind off of all that.

My dear sweet, potty-trained in days (I know, that’ll get a post of it’s own once I’m not so put out) Wog has been replaced. Living under my roof is a perpetually dissatisfied, contrary litle boy. He wakes up mad and goes to bed highly ticked off. The span of time in between finds him pushing his sister, throwing his toys, and hitting his mommy. Disobedience and defiance are his super powers.

And Bug… dear Lord, please let it be more teeth coming in and not just a personality disorder. I’m just sayin’.

I’m really not sure who cries the most each day. I’m pretty sure it’s me.

Yeah, sure, there are little bright spots when the two make each other laugh. Or Wog tells a joke or does an impersonation– I so love seeing his sense of humor develop. Or Bug tackles me for a kiss– that little chunk has some strength and likes to use it to spread love.

But right now, all the drama is just draggin’ me down, man.

Maybe it’s just the rain.

Which I am SO over, by the way.

8 comments »

Posted in Bug, Randomness, Wogtastic

My Multitasking, Self-Serving Top Ten

May 19, 2009 7 comments »

Because I love Oh Amanda and because What Mommies Need is giving away a Vado, I’d like to show off my mulitasking skills and share a completely selfish Top Ten.

Hey, I’m only human.

So, here are the Top Ten Reasons I Need to Win a Vado, People:
1. It comes in pink.
2. It would fit in my small diaper bag (and since Wog is progressing quite nicely in the potty-training, I’ll be sporting my small diaper bag soon enough).
3. Heck, it’d fit in my pocket & I’m ALWAYS sporting those.
4. When Bug took her first series of steps, HH had the video camera at work with him — that would never happen if I won a Vado (see #1).
5. I might post a VLOG or two or eleven. (Not that I’m that interesting but my Southern accent is QUITE entertaining. Seriously, when I go to Montgomery, I get “say that again” quite a lot. If you’re not familiar with Alabama, Montgomery is our capital. It’s a place where they say “MONT-gum-ry” and “th’ guv-nah” — and they ask *me* to repeat myself.)
6. My my life is $100,000 waiting to happen. (I’m pretty clumsy.)
7.

8.

9. We’re working HARD to get into a house of our own, with a yard, neighbors, and a good school system (see #7 and #8), so we sure as heck can’t BUY one.
10. Did I mention I could win it in PINK?

Thank you for indulging me in pimpin’ out my blog for personal gain. Let us never speak of it again. Unless I win. Then, I’m afraid you’ll grow nauseous with all the speaking of it that will be done.