Who loves photo albums?  You know I do!  I bet you do too. Well, lucky for me, I got on a list.  What kind of list?  A blogger list!  Somehow, Kodak found out about little old me and decided to give me a free photo album, and to give two of my readers free albums too!  You lucky readers you.

For Halloween, Kodak made all sorts of amazing new halloween themed photo albums, and through the 11th, you can order one for your very own.  Or you can hang on to your giftcard and do albums for holiday gifts, or for yourself of the year, or whatever.  Don’t tell Kodak I said that though!

So now that you’re all hot and bothered for one of my two $50 Kodak gift cards, allow me to sweeten the deal!  Now through the 11th, in addition to the really cool Halloween theme books, you can get 50 free Mommy Cards, and free prints if you order a medium or large size photo book.  I’m over the moon here myself.

How do you get one of these amazing cards?  It’s easy!  Head on over to Kodak.com and take a look at the goodies.  Then come back here and comment on what size book you like best, or what card design, or whatever.  Basically, tell me what you would order if you were lucky enough to win one a gift card for free Kodak.com products.  It’s that simple.

Somebody is going to win, actually, because Kodak and I are so generous, two somebodies will win.  It might as well be you!

You have until the end of the day on Sunday, the 7th of November to enter my giveaway.  It doesn’t give you much time, so hurry up and comment already!

Inspired by Scary Mommy, I’ve decided that I should send 16 year old me a message.  Fifteen years later, I have a few things I want to say to myself.

• Relax.  Nothing is that serious or important.  Really.
• Tell your folks the truth, especially about the piddly stuff.  They really are on your side.
• Do your homework damnit!  You’re spending more time avoiding it and making up excuses than it would take you to just do the work.
• Have some fun, it’s allowed.
• Those cigarettes your friends are rolling ain’t tobacco, and really, that’s okay too.
• Look around you and actually see what is going on, not what you expect to see.  The world is so much bigger and brighter than you realise.
• Never ever ever be embarrassed by what you read. Heck, just stop being embarrassed at all.  Other people just don’t care that much about every little misstep in your life.
• Again, have some fun.  Really.  Stop trying to be perfect and just enjoy.

Late last night, my 20 month old decided to grab hold of the top of my laptop and pull backwards, hard.  Luckily, he wasn’t hurt.  Unfortunately, he did manage to crack the screen on my computer, rendering it a useless brick.  An expensive useless brick that is.

A few years back, my husband bought himself a toy.  An Acer netbook.  It’s the teeniest tiniest computer I’ve ever seen, but for now, it’s all I’ve got.

He’s got $5,000 worth of computers and parts all over the basement.  I’ve got a $200 Lilliputian laptop, running linux I might add.  Obviously, I have no familiarity with linux.  He tells me it is in fact running Ubuntu, but really, to me it’s all “huh?”

I managed to get access to my blog though, without any tears!  Hooray!

So, here I am pecking away at a minuscule keyboard, trying not to be resentful that when his computer has the teeniest issue, he runs straight to Tiger Direct or Dell and gets whatever it needs, no questions asked, and when my computer is killed violently, I hear “maybe before the end of the year”.

At any rate, here I am, with 75% of the functionality I really need.  So, I’ll muddle though, and the blog is still functional.

Counting my blessings.

So, any advice on how to make this Ubuntu netbook fun?  Please?

We’ve been working with Miriam on “trick or treat”, half the time she pops up with “Happy Birthday”. So this morning DH asked her what we say when we knock on doors tomorrow, and Asher pipped up “Tit Oh Bwee”! It was beyond adorable!

I love cooking.  I love setting an attractive table, and feeding people.  I love having people over to the house, putting out snacks, fixing drinks, and entertaining.  I love holidays once they actually are here and everyone is together and enjoying the holiday.

I love grocery shopping.  I love buying new dishes and serving pieces.  Particularly this adorable soup tureen and bowl set I treated myself to for the holidays this year.

What I do not love is cleaning.  In any form.  I’m trying to do the Fly Lady thing, but instead of flying, I find I’m barely fluttering.  I have toddlers who hide apples in the sofa cushions.  I have a husband who says the dishes are done and what he means is that he loaded and ran the dishwasher, but anything that didn’t fit was left on the stove and in the sink.

But really, it’s my fault.  Not theirs.  I should be the one following my routines and getting my house clean so that I don’t have to do a pre-Shabbat freak out every week to get things presentable.

Instead, I’m blogging.

Did I mention I really hate cleaning?

I need a domestic.  Oh well.  Until I can hire one (probably half past never) I need to get up off my tush and get to work.

Little Man in the lobby

Today was Rosh Hashanah.  Actually, it started last night, but that’s beside the point.  My family attends (and helps organize) a very small, fairly organized free community service for the High Holidays.  The service has been going on for something like 35 years, and it is free to everyone, we just ask for a small donation. Anyway, the same cantor has led services for the last 24 years, and the same man has read Torah for the last 17.  They couldn’t do it anymore.

So this year, we hired a new cantor, and yours truly read Torah.  I was so nervous that even though I knew the portion perfectly, I tripped over my tongue something awful once up there on the bima reading.  I managed to pull it together, and made it through the portion, but my stress level was through the roof.

At that point, my toddlers were done with services.  We lasted long enough to hear my sister blow shofar (the first portion), and then my kids and I high tailed it home.

It’s a good thing too as I barely managed to get the sleeping 1 year old into his crib before my migraine hit full force and I ran to the washroom and lost my breakfast.

Princess in the lobby

I managed to take a pill and curl up with my 2 year old on the sofa, where my family found me when they all arrived for Rosh Hashanah dinner (served around 2 pm).

My mom and sister saw the situation, and stepped in to save the day.  All the food was already cooked, but the table wasn’t set, nothing was heated up, or even organized.  They did it all.  My sister’s soup and rice pilaf were excellent.  Mom’s salad was delicious.  My chickens reheated just fine, and everything came together like clockwork while I lay practically comatose.

I pulled myself together enough to eat, and then they all sent me to bed.

They cleared the table, entertained my children, and just made everything so easy for me!

I can’t thank them enough.

My new year got off to a rocky start, but with family like this, I know that whatever life throws our way, we’ll be okay.

L’Shana Tova Tikatevu to you and yours.  I hope that the new year brings you blessings, peace, and happiness.

You know I don’t “sell out” on my blog , and I’m not doing it now!  I’m just excited to be able to share something with you that actually works!!!

Salonpas Pain Relief Box

After 5 days in the car traveling to and from Boston with two toddlers, I ache.  My back feels like something ran it over, or at least it did.  A friend gave me a free sample of a Salonpas Pain Patch, and I used it and love it!  The pain relief was fast, it went on easy, and stuck! The patch is thin and flexible. I used it on my back, but it could easily go on a joint like a knee or elbow.  It’s medicated, so unlike those heat patches, this one works on real pain, not just moderate achy-ness.   The Salonpas is FDA approved, and lasts up to 12 hours!

Really, I love these things.

And the best part?  I have a bunch of them to give away!

All you have to do is fill out a form, and you can get your very own free sample for amazing pain relief.

Seriously, free, with a dollar off coupon for once you’ve decided that you like it.  You’ve got nothing to lose.

Salonpas is even running a contest at Pain Free and Proud where you can win all sorts of cool prizes.

You don’t even have to comment on my blog (but I’d love it if you would!), just fill out the form, and get your freebie.  Once you try it, don’t forget to fan Salonpas on Facebook.

It’s good stuff!

*Disclaimer:  I got a free sample and was compensated for reviewing this product, but the opinions are all my own, as are the recommendations.  I sure hope you know that about me.  I wouldn’t write for something I didn’t believe in.

Recently, I have come across several examples of what I can only call “failed young adults”.  People, over the age of 21, several of them with college degrees, who can’t seem to manage simple life skills on their own.  Things like hailing a taxi, or getting themselves from their parents home to their own (out of state) apartment.  Sometimes even little things like getting themselves, independently, to a local event they want to attend.

Now, I’m not complaining about young adults asking for advice, it’s when they need someone else to actually “do for them”, that I get concerned.

It seems to me, that a parent’s job is not, and should not be, to make sure that their child is never disappointed, never bruised, and always happy.  A parent’s job is to make sure that their child can be a fully functioning, independent adult when the time comes.  That means letting the child get bruises as a child, and make mistakes as a teenager.  Letting (and sometimes forcing a recalcitrant youth) to take risks so that they can gain the confidence required to function at a bare minimum level of competence.

As a parent, if I fail to teach my child life skills, like cooking, cleaning up after themselves, managing their money, and organizing their own transportation, then I have failed as a parent.

If we as a society are failing to teach out children these things, aren’t we failing too?

All I wanted to do was add some storage space to our master bathroom.  I use the term “room” loosely as really, it’s a closet with a toilet, sink, and tub jammed in there with a shoehorn.  It is seriously the smallest full bath I’ve ever seen.  You have to leave the room to change your mind.

So, back in May, as a birthday present to myself, I bought one of those shelving units that go over the commode.  Yesterday, I gave up on having my husband assemble it and just did it.  (with a lot of help from my mom!).  I went to put it in place, and had to take down the towel rack.

Okay, not a big deal.  I had Jason remove the towel bar, and low and behold, behind the brackets are four huge ridiculous holes in the wall!

Now we have to fill those in with putty, sand the putty down, and repaint the frigging bathroom!  Of course, repainting the bathroom my DH tells me will require removing said commode.

I don’t want to do a major remodel.  I just want some shelves!!!!

The windows of my house are completely fogged up because of the heat and humidity outside.  My kids got into my spice drawer today and managed to open and dump 3 spice jars all over my floor.  My 2 year old decided to try her hand at disassembling furniture today and took a shelf out of the television stand.  The same one she hid the remote under the other day and we couldn’t find it for ages.  My 1 year old is sick, and refused to nap at all.  My husband is still working at 7:30 at night.  He started before 6 a.m. this morning.  My basement is flooded and the carpet goes “squish” whenever I take a step.  The same 2 year old discussed above is refusing to sleep in her own bed, but is (Thank G-d) willing to sleep in the guest bed.  The sheets for the guest bed are in the washer right now, but she doesn’t seem to mind sleeping on a mattress pad, so okay.  The light in my kitchen burned out.

But, I have a lovely glass of Riesling, and am hereby telling the world it can go take care of its own self.  Mama is done for the day.