You Say It’s Your Birthday

Dudes, my tiny smooshy baby is turning three! Unfortunately, I have absolutely NO idea what to get her for presents.

She isn’t the type of kid who doesn’t care about stuff or presents, so don’t be one of those people to tell me it doesn’t matter what I get her and she won’t care or notice.  I WILL CARE SLASH NOTICE AND SO WILL SHE. (AHEM ERIK). Actually, I don’t think she’d notice if we didn’t get her anything on her birthday (although how sad is that)  but she is definitely PRO opening presents and she will oooh and ahhhh over things she likes.

Part of the problem is that we just went through a massive toy clean out, so I am reluctant to add a bunch of junk that no one will play with to the piles of junk I just got rid of at Goodwill.

The other part of the problem is that she’s still sort of…she likes everything, but also very specific things.  Mostly she likes animals.  She’s obsessed with My Little Ponies, she really likes Diego, and she does enjoy girly things like dresses and poofy skirts more than Eli, for example.  But mostly she LOVES animals.  She will look at a book about snakes for hours and hours. She will choose to play ponies over any other thing.

My first idea is that even though she probably won’t really get that this is a present is that on her birthday we will take her to the zoo and this will count as a present.  I bet she loves that.

So that’s idea number one: The Hated Zoo Trip.

Idea Number Two: I already bought this dress, even though it’s a little high on my frippery scale, because we spent two hours in the mall last Thursday and this was the thing that made her stop in front of the window and say “OOOOOOOOOOH”.  I defy you not to buy the thing that makes your smooshy curly haired baby girl stop dead, pause, and gasp in front of it.

Other things I am debating:

This Princess Celestia Doll.

Now I think we can all agree that no My Little Pony Collection is complete sans Princess Celestia, but the problem with this is that this is the “Promised Huge Thing You Can Get If You Pee On the Potty” and I don’t know what to do about that if I give it to her for her birthday.  Make no mistake though, she would LOVE this.

I have also been eyeing this horse barn thing, because I’m wondering if she could use to carry around her ponies.  She does seem to love a good horse.  Fyi, we already had the Melissa and Doug Folding Up Barn and we gave it away because no one gave two shits about it in this house.  It’s sort of boring though.  It’s no Princess Celestia.

Then I am wondering if she’d like a Cozy Coupe.

I’ve always wanted to buy one of these (maybe “I” want a Cozy Coupe) but we have a large selection of ride-on crap that no one rides on, and I don’t want to add a giant pink piece of plastic to it.  However I like the appeal of being all “LOOK AT YOUR BIG PINK PRESENT OOOOOH!” but you know. She might never use it after that. So I’m waffling.  (We have a tricycle. No one rides it.)

The last idea I have is this Cinderella doll and carriage. It appears to be plastic junk, it’s probably going to ruin my child’s life by giving her some kind of weird princess complex, and yet every time she sees the commercial for it, she asks to watch it over and over again.  Hmmmmm.

So these are my terrible ideas of what to buy a three year old for her birthday.  Anyone have any better ones?  We have art supplies up the wazoo. We do not need books, we can barely contain the ones we have. I am not buying any more stuffed animals.  She has a doll house, she has baby dolls, she has play food, we have wooden blocks, she had a toy kitchen that she never played with, she has tons of dress up clothes, she has a water table, we have loads of train tracks, god these kids are spoiled.

In Which I Finally Learn to Spell “Vacuum”

So get ready, because I’m about to write way too many words about vacuum cleaners.

So for many years I owned a Miele Callisto canister vacuum.

I…did not pay for it myself, let’s just put it that way. If you want to know the actual story I’ll tell you but it’s not that interesting, however I cannot put it on my blog. Let’s just say that it fell off a truck.

Anyway, when we got it, it came without the carpet doohickey, and to buy a carpet power brush nozzle thing for the Miele was some outrageous price I didn’t want to pay so we just used it with the hardwood floor attachment and ran it over our area rugs that way, which sucked but did the job. It got the hardwoods gleaming clean, though.  It was a lovely lovely machine, aside from the fact that vacuuming the rugs with it was a miserable experience.

So the Miele died last week. It was pretty obvious that it was the motor and to replace a Miele motor is something in the neighborhood of $150-$200 dollars so I decided I would just buy a new vacuum cleaner, preferably one that worked better on area rugs.

The first thing I bought was this Shark Upright Professional Lift Away Vacuum, which came highly recommended on Twitter and Amazon and which I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATED with the fire of a thousand suns.

Now, to its credit, it did get the area rugs in my house CLEAN AS HELL, and look how fun it looks in that picture, but other than that? It was not for me.  It was SO LOUD and SO HEAVY, it wouldn’t go under my couch or around my furniture and it made a high pitched whistling noise, it felt plasticky and gimmicky and the part that came with it to clean hard wood floors felt stupid and badly designed. It kept falling over and even though it was supposed to be so cool that you could detach it and carry it around with you, I really didn’t want to…carry a vacuum around with me. I wanted it to roll behind me and not fall over all the damn time.  And I could never get it to go back together when I was done having it fall over all the time and wanted to click it back on. Also, I thought it would be cool not have to buy vacuum cleaner bags all the time, but it turned out that I actually dislike emptying gross canisters full of dust and grime into my trash more than I care about ordering vacuum cleaner bags.  I like the bags, actually! Everything is nice and contained and when I get down to the last one I order more on Amazon Prime and store them in the closet and it’s no big deal and I am not dealing with big piles of dusty dirt clouds and dumping out gross canisters of dirt.

Luckily I bought the stupid Shark at Bed Bath and Beyond and to their credit they took back a week old used twice vacuum cleaner without batting an eye.  I give them mad props for this and I will try to buy whatever I can from them whenever I can because seriously, most places don’t just take back your used crap you don’t want that you don’t like.  MAD PROPS BED BATH AND BEYOND.

So then I started thinking harder about what I wanted and didn’t want in a vacuum cleaner, and I decided that for this house, which is mostly hardwood with two large area rugs, I did not want an upright vacuum. I did not want to clean my carpets with something then clean my hardwoods with a swiffer sweeper. (NO THANK YOU I WANT TO BE DONE IN ONE PASS.) I wanted it to roll behind me, I wanted a retractable cord, I wanted a power head to clean the area rugs, I wanted it to be able to switch to a hardwood mode but I ALSO wanted it to come with a floor brush with dust bristles on it, because a carpet attachment, even set to “bare wood”, does not get hardwoods REALLY dust free clean.  (This is the problem with buying an upright for mostly hardwoods.) I wanted to spend around $200, and I wanted it to take readily available vacuum cleaner bags, I wanted on board attachments, and I wanted to be able to clean area rugs, my car, my couch, and my hardwood floors with it.  So I needed a canister vacuum.

What ended up coming up in this range over and over are the Panasonic vacuums.  Essentially all Eureka, Kenmore, and Panasonic vacuums are made by the same company, but the Kenmores are only sold at Sears.  They’re all basically the same thing, although some people think the Panasonics are better for various reasons regarding branding or something. I don’t know.

I looked for a long time at this Panasonic, but if you look closely at the handle, it had a weird gimmicky looking claw part that matched a Kenmore one at Sears that people complained about as being annoying.  I did not want gimmicks and weird attachments, so I went with this Panasonic Canister Vacuum, which is SO BORING looking but which Eli has named “Rosie” which more than makes up for the lamish color.

I used it today for the first time and so far I am very happy with it.  Observations/Pros and Cons:

I think it’s louder than the Miele.  IF you are burning piles of money in your yard, and you need a vacuum cleaner, I’d still recommend you get a Miele, because they are quiet and they make a lovely vacuum cleaner, but the $300 model doesn’t come with a turbo head,which you need for area rugs. To get a  Miele with a turbo head (which means a head that has rotating electrically powered bristles to clean carpets) you have to spend something in the range of $650, which to me is excessive for a vacuum cleaner.

However, the Panasonic cleaned as well or better than the Miele ever did.  The carpets are easy to clean with the power head.  It does veer to the right a bit on one of my rugs (which people complain about it in the reviews on Amazon), but not so much as that I’d return it.  I love that you can turn it on and off on the handle (this is an improvement over the Miele.) The actual wand is a little short, is probably my main criticism. I am 5’2″ and even I think it’s a little short.  Not sure what that’s about, but it might be worth it to test out some Kenmores in a Sears store to see if they come with longer wands.

It has a 360 degree rotating swivel for the vacuum tube, which I LOVE.  That’s also an improvement over the Miele.  No more uncoiling the wand!

People have complained about the latching for door for the on board tools. I can see this complaint, but you pretty much just have to pry it open and slam it shut, and I had this exact problem with the Miele so I can’t complaint too much about that.

I LOVE the easy release for the turbo head. To get the head off the Miele I had to stand on it and yank with my entire body weight. I love that the actual tube is made of metal, and not plastic, even though it does not telescope.

I also think it’s a bit larger than the Miele, but it’s lighter.  It doesn’t really matter to me how big it is because as long as it fits in the closet, I don’t care.  But it is not compact, let’s be clear about that.

Also, it rolls VERY easily, I think more easily than the Miele.

The one thing I will say is that the on board floor brush is nothing special.  Instead I used the parquet brush that came with my Miele, but I am planning on ordering this large floor brush for $8.95 and I’ll just use that.  The upholstery brush worked great on the couch though.

Overall, I’m very happy with this vacuum cleaner.  It fit my $200 budget and for a house that’s mostly hardwood, it’s basically perfect.  I shall report back if it lights itself on fire in three months.  Otherwise, I’d recommend.

{I hope it’s obvious but no one bought me this vacuum cleaner or gave me this vacuum cleaner or gave me money to write this post about this vacuum cleaner. I paid for it with my own money, bought it on Amazon because they didn’t sell it at Bed Bath and Beyond. Those aren’t even affiliate links because I don’t know how to do those. Just so you know.}

What I Wore This Week: Some Shorts and Things

 

 

 

 

 

You know, I’m just going to admit that I’m not going to get as dressed up this summer as I did last summer, and it’s going to be fine.  I thought this was going to be the summer of the dress (and it still might be) but it actually turning out to be the summer of the ribbed tank top. I think we’re all going to survive that just fine though.

Last summer Eli went to preschool all through the summer and just having to stand in a hallway with twenty two other moms three times a week made me more inclined to pile on necklaces.  This summer I’m just working on feeling better and there’s not going to be any school or standing in hallways with other moms and there will be more tank tops, fewer necklaces.

{Target Merona cardigan, Target t shirt, J. Crew Factory Bermudas (now on super sale!), Kork Ease Ava Wedges}

I had some kind of weird block against v neck cardigans, but I needed a navy cardigan and this one was on sale for $16! And now I wear it constantly. It’s perfect. Also, I love these shoes.  When I was deciding between the yellow Boden wedges and the red Toms and these, I tried to picture which ones I’d wear with outfits as I had them on, and it was always these, and they are indeed perfect.  Just high enough to be sassy and make your legs look good but not so high I feel like I’m one sidewalk crack away from a broken ankle.

{Gap Ribbed tanks, Garnet Hill Flamenco Skirt (no longer available but this is similar), Havainas}

This looked cuter in person than it does in this picture. I want to try it with a white tucked in tee, heels, and a necklace, but again, I never feel like getting that dressed up these days. Maybe next week.

These Gap tanks are so sucky inny! They are the bees knees. Also, people keep asking me if two tanks makes me hot, but not that I’ve noticed, particularly. I run cold though.

{Target Merona shirt, Target Merona skirt, J. Crew wedges}

There’s finally some good stuff at Target. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this button down.  I had to hunt it down during three separate trips, but I have been looking for a button down for SO LONG and this is perfection. It fits in the arms and the shoulders and it buttons over my boobs!  I love the color, I love the pattern, it goes with so many things, love.

I sort of wish that this skirt didn’t have a paper bag waist, but at the same time it does keep it really casual. I can see throwing this on with tanks all summer long. It’s part linen so I hope it’s not a wrinkled disaster out of the washing machine.  I kind of want to go back for the navy one since I’ve been looking for a navy skirt for a year now.

{Target Merona V Neck Cardigan, Old Navy Tank, J. Crew Factory Bermudas, Havaianas}

This tank, in petite? It’s PERFECTION for under things. Get five.  But make sure to get the petite size if you’re short.

{Banana Republic tank, AE Artist Crops, Havaianas}

This tank was on the chopping block because I always thought it was slightly too big and unflattering BUT it turns out that if I’m not at my exact lowest weight possible these jeans give me the tiniest bit of muffin top, which  makes this tank perfect because it just sort of floats right over everything.  I actually have always loved it and paid way too much $$$ for it, and now I think it looks really cute with big sunglasses and my gold watch and these jeans, so keep. Yeah!

What I Wore This Week: Getting Rid of Stuff

So here’s what I did.

I took everything out of my closet and my drawers and my storage bins and I only put back the stuff I LOVED, that I wear all the time, that fits perfectly and that goes with everything else.  All the stuff I couldn’t quite figure out, I piled in three giant stacks on my dresser.  I’m slowly making myself go through those piles to see if I can make any of those things work, and if I can’t, out they go.

It’s actually kind of frustrating because 1. It seems so wasteful.  It’s so much stuff and 2. I’d rather just be wearing the cute stuff I like that’s hanging in my closet.  But hopefully I’m learning a lesson about what I like to wear and what stuff I’ve moved on from.  It took me awhile to learn that I need to buy Medium or Petite Shirts or the proportions are off, so that’s some of the problem.  And my style has changed so that it’s no longer my mission to own every poofy skirt ever made.  I have all these damn poofy skirts so I’m still trying to make the poofy skirts work, but this next week will be my last effort, because no matter what I do they just feel…juvenile and odd.  So we’ll see.

{Old Navy sweater, some random Cami, Old Navy Trouser Jeans, Kork Ease Wedges}

See? This sweater – I love the color but something about it just didn’t work. I wore it for a few hours and felt unhappy and ended up changing out of it. I don’t know if it’s where it hits me or the giant chevrons over my boobs or the neckline or what but it’s just unflattering and weird. I wanted it to work, but it just doesn’t. I got rid of it. The old me would have thought “This is fine! This outfit is cute on paper and it’s reasonably attractive! Just keep it!” But the new me knows what great looks like and I want THAT.

{Gap Sweater, Tank, Old Navy Trouser Jeans, Kork Ease Wedges}

This is what I changed into, and I was much happier with it. I still think there’s scope for even better because these jeans and these shoes were made for each other and are very flattering together, but the navy sweater is a little boring, but it was already way more flattering and felt more like me.

{Target sweatshirt, Gap tee, AE Artist Crops, Havaianas}

This shirt was on the chopping block because I was worried it was a little too “mom sweatshirt” but look how cute it looks with these crops! It’s really comfortable and I got a lot of compliments on it.  Keep.

{Gap ribbed tanks (in petite), Old Navy skirt, Kork Ease wedges}

See, I loved this.  What’s the difference between this and the slightly too large t-shirts and poofy skirts of last year? I’m still figuring that out.

{Gap skirt, Target tee, Target cardigan, Kork Ease Wedges, Target necklace}

And then there’s this. I can see it my head and it’s so cute but in person I look….churchy? I don’t know. Is it just me? I can’t tell if it’s the length of the skirt or the style or if it’s too big or if those are the wrong shoes but I am not at all convinced that this skirt can be saved, I think it might have to go.

As annoying as this process is, I am really hopeful that when I’m done that I will have less clothing but I will like what I do  have more, and that I will have a better idea of the kinds of things that I like to wear and that look good on me, and how to buy clothes that fit correctly.  We shall see.

Books I Read This Month: April

So the worst thing about this whole “I wish I was dead” thing was that I couldn’t read. Also, I had no appetite and I didn’t want to shop for anything. When you take away my three great loves in life, WHAT IS LEFT? Sad Elizabeth, that’s what. Anyway, here’s what I read before words on a page made no sense to me.

47. Rapture Practice.  I liked this. I wish it had been more in depth, but I thought it was a very fair look at this situation (super duper strict christian parents who won’t even let their kids go to the movies and their gay son who…wants to go to the movies and also you know, kiss boys.) and I think that fairness is really hard to achieve.  You honestly felt for everyone in the situation.  The parents were just doing what they thought was right and necessary, and their son just wanted to be himself and didn’t agree.  It was sad, actually. Very sad. I would have liked more follow up, though. He doesn’t get very far in the telling of the story and we’re left wondering what happens after he comes out and where things ended up with his parents.

48. Drinking and Tweeting, And Other Brandi Blunders. You know, I have to say, I enjoyed this book, if only because this woman will say ANYTHING, and normally these books are kind of a waste of time where everyone is obviously under a gag order and just gives you boring hints you can’t figure out.  I had no idea this lady was a Real Housewife of anything, and this was certainly not the most erudite thing I’ve ever read, and woah does Leeann Rimes not come across well, but it was entertaining and I thought…for the most part quite humble and honest. The main problem I had with this book is that every time I picture Eddie Cibrian (her ex husband who cheated on her a billion times and married Leeann Rimes) I think of Mario Lopez.  I seriously had to google the man a hundred times just so I could get the correct image in my head.  Whatever.  That’s not her fault.

49. Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3). I loved this book except I hated the ending.  I don’t want to spoil it, but I am not a fan of the way that played out. (P.S. TEAM WILL).

50. Black Butler.  You all are going to laugh at me.  So have you ever heard of ASMR? I hadn’t either until Sarah at Semi Desperate Housewife (best tag line on the internet!) mentioned it.  And now I am OBSESSED with it. But basically you get this weird…tingly relaxed feeling from certain sounds plus certain visual stimulation.  There are about ten thousand You Tube videos of it, the most famous example is Bob Ross, that painter guy.  Anyway. If you have it, you’ll know. If you don’t, you’ll think it’s super weird.  My point is that this girl does my FAVORITE ASMR videos of all time and she is obsessed with Black Butler, so I had to read it, especially because she also loves Buffy, etc. I liked it, it was fine, but I think I just don’t like reading things in comic book format. Something about it is too choppy for how I read.

51. The Interestings.  Normally I am not a huge Meg Wolitzer fan, but this wasn’t terrible! I did make me hate myself because seriously, the word I have used to describe it over and over again is “interesting.” It was a very interesting read.  Whatever. I liked it.

52.  The Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, Number Two). Ok, obviously I read this one before I read Number Three.  I liked it. Cassandra Clare delivers what she says she’s going to deliver and it’s entertaining and nice and romantic.  This was a little bit of a stall job but I think the middle book in a series almost always is.

53. The Clockwork Angel.  (The Infernal Devices Number One.) This was the first one I read.  I just want to make sure you’re on your toes.  I have to say I didn’t want to read this series because my heart belong to Clary and Jace BUT I liked it ALMOST as much as the Mortal Instruments.  I really really enjoyed it.

54.  Eleanor & Park.  Ok, so.  This was my favorite thing I read all month.  This is a book I would buy, just so I can have a copy around.  This is a book I send to people who I think NEED to read it. It is just really really good.

It is not an EASY read. I had to take emotional breaks.  But it is just so…it’s just really great.  I was dubious when I read the description and it’s just really almost perfect. It took my heart and bashed it into a million pieces and I loved it while it was doing it.  This is how YAF was meant to be done. I’d put this on any Top Ten List of Anything in a heartbeat.  This is the entire reason why I read YAF.  And I can’t wait to read Rainbow Rowell’s next book.  If you read it and you hate it, I will understand, but I don’t think you will.  There’s just too much heart in it to hate it.

55. Benediction.  Holy crap what a sad wonderful beautiful amazing extraordinary quiet lovely book. I’d read Kent Haruf write the phone book.

I also read half of Anthony Kiedis’s autobiography, and all I can say is that I am surprised there are any drugs left in the world for other people to take.  Damn. The man has done a lot of drugs. Also, you may not know this, but Anthony Kiedis is on my list. I find the man super duper other worldly hot. It’s true. Drugs and all. And I am not even lying when I tell you I once considered getting that arm tattoo  he has, but on my ankle.  Aw, college Elizabeth.  You were so very hilarious.

What I Wore This Week Before Things Went All To Hell

PS. I am not 100% yet, but I am feeling better. I am going to spend three days doing nothing but lying around, watering tomatoes, and watching Justified, and hopefully I recuperate the heck up.  Thank you to everyone who sent me emails, and texts, and dm’s. Every time I felt alone, I was reminded instantly that nope, I am not alone.

Anyway, the fact that I am using a computer? Things are looking up, compadres.

I have also heard rumors that after Google Reader gets shit canned, Picasa is next on the docket. Does anyone have any photo organizing software they recommend just in case this dire vision is true?

Well, it turns out I only have two pictures, and looking at them depressed me because I felt so much  better in those pictures and then it all got so dire! But I shall post them.

{Vintage…caftan?, Loft crops, J. Crew wedges}

One of my favorite pieces of clothing of all time. I only wear it about once a year, but I just love it. So weird and magical and seventies esque.

{Women’s Tee Dress: Old Navy, J. Crew wedges}

This dress could be more triangular, but eh. You can throw it on over a swimsuit and sit in your backyard and be comfy in it all afternoon and still look nice. So, win.

Stay tuned for the books I read in April. I am sure you’re breathless with anticipation.

 

 

 

 

Quick FYI About the Blathering If You’re Not On Twitter…

We reduced the number of tickets available this morning, as of this writing there are only 8 spots left. So if you want to go, now is the time! I really really hope to see you there.  You can register here.