Shopping

In going shopping for Christmas today since I don't have to go into work until noon. I have lots of ideas for Claire, she's into Hello Kitty and Monster High and of course, The Biebs. But I have NO idea what to get for Eve. She has all of Claire's old clothes and old toys and books. She doesn't really 'need' anything. But I have to get her something to open up. I would prefer it not to be small, plastic and in a million parts. Not necessarily for the choking hazard, but because of all the clutter! Too many parts!! Why must they make toys so small?! Have you seen a Polly Pockets shoe??!! It's smaller than a booger! Ridick!

"I shoppin' Mama! I shoppin'!"

Last night I literally got out of bed because I almost forgot to take advantage of a Cyber Monday sale from one of my friends and fellow etsy shop owners, Charlie from The Happy Bakery. I ordered over $100 worth of handmade gourmet cake truffles and saved a boatload of dough (see what I did there?). I'm giving them as gifts this year to Claire's daycare and some of the parental figures in my life. Oh and Mikes getting salted caramel BACON truffles. I said it.

If you haven't been to my etsy shop you probably should. I sell hand painted Christmas ornaments and I can do almost any design under the sun (or the moon if you're nocturnal). Check it out and hit me up Fleur de Liz Designs

Personalized handpainted HOME ornament with family surname, house number, etc $7 each or 4 for $25

Round ornament with almost any custom design you can come up with! $9 each or 3 for $25

Go the f@&$ to sleep!

We had a lovely Tgiving. Full of family, poopy diapers, cornbread stuffing and turkey cookie decorating contests. We decided to come home early on Friday because Eve gave us a hard time sleeping. She woke up screaming bloody murder so we tried putting her in the bed with us to console her. That wasn't the grandest of ideas. She kept banging her big, hard head on the wall and then whispering "Ow". She wanted to nurse all night (yes I nurse my almost 2 year old) I'm not one of those moms that can fall asleep while a human is sucking on my nips, it's a wee bit distracting. I can't even fall asleep if a lights on in another room so you can understand why I was discouraging the overnight Breastfeeding bonanza. I fell asleep on my tummy thus denying my babe her precious 'mommy milk' (that's what she calls it) only to be tickled awake by Eve grazing my back with her chin trying to find my boob in the dark after lifting up the back of my shirt! It would have been hilare if I weren't so flipping tired! At one point she politely tapped me on the shoulder to say "Mama, are you seepin'? Are you seepin'?!" Thanks God she's cute or we would have taken her back by now. I kid!

We did get our Christmas tree up a good two weeks earlier than normal. Look at its prettiness won't you?

I die of the cute

Sucker drunk

Pinterest made me do it. The Results show.

So my bathtub is clean, but not "mind-blowing" clean. And my towels are still towels. 9 year old towels. The wash in vinegar and then baking soda did a whole buncha nothin'. So now I'm not going to feel bad about redecorating our bathroom and getting new towels. Christmas gift anyone? These are my two favorite curtains so far...which one is your fave?

 

I'm sick with a bad cold and laid in bed all day yesterday. I looked up a ton of pins on epsom salt baths and decided to take one. 2 cups of epsom salt, 1 cup of baking soda and a dollop of olive oil to moisturize my skin and counteract the drying that the salts could do. It was relaxing, but I couldn't get the water hot enough. It was supposed to induce sweating for detox purposes. We must need a new water heater or something. That's exactly what I want for Christmas!?!

Pinterest attempts #1 and #2

I'm attempting something anyone who knows me, or more specifically has lived with me, knows I don't do often. Cleaning. I don't like cleaning. I'm not good at it, it takes too long, doesn't last long enough, I never use the right tools or cleaning products, plus I'm just lazy (most)sometimes.

But I've been hearing a LOT about this recipe on Pinterest (maybe you've heard of it?!) for cleaning the grime off your shower. My mom's tried it, numerous friends have been pinning it, it keeps coming up in coversation (conversations about cleaning are boring by the way). So I thought I'd try it.

Right now, I have a layer of white vinegar and blue Dawn dish soap on the bottom of my disgusting bathtub. It's textured and made of weird plasticky material and I HATE this tub. I wish I would have taken a BEFORE picture so you could have properly judged me. But I promise I'll post an AFTER picture. You can see the recipe for cleaning my tub HERE

MEANWHILE...I'm also washing a load of bathroom towels for increased fluffiness and absorbancy. First you run a load with one cup of white vinegar, then you run it with 1/2 cup of baking soda. I'm doing the first load right now. Link for washing my towels is HERE . Aren't you dying with excitement to see how they will turn out?!

Real Messy

My sister was in town this weekend and she has an awesome knack for un-hoarding my house. (One of) the main problem(s) in my house is the 'C' word: CLUTTER. Piles of mail, every damn worksheet Claire's touched with the tip of a pencil, SO MANY shoes and ... my weakness - magazines.

I have a love/hate relationship with magazines. I love getting them and eventually reading them, but that's the catch. I never have time to actually read them. They just collect and build up and glare at me. Ironically they feature articles on organizing, time management and cleaning ones friggin home!

I counted all of the magazines I'm currently housing. 31. Thirty one! And that's not counting the weekly issues of Us that I get and donate to work. Real Simple is my favorite. But then there's O, Everyday with Rachael Ray, and MORE. I literally don't even know where/how I signed up for them. I just keep getting them.

My sis was so helpful that she sat down and probably spent the better part of two hours tracking all of the subscriptions down and canceling them for me.

I'm half serious about posting these photos on Craigslist just to see if I could sell them. I can't throw them away or recycle. They need to go to a good home. Maybe donate them? But where? Any ideas?

Party of ONE

I'm in Columbia for the rest of the workweek for a conference. I heart CoMo. Anytime I get a chance to go to my old stompin grounds I take it! Some if my BEST years were spent as a Mizzou Tiger.

Went to The Pasta Factory with the entire CoMo family plus my uncle who's also in town for a conference. Got to visit with my Nannie, two of my fave aunts and uncles, two of my sweet cousins and my parents. Thanks For dinner Uncle Dave!

This pic of my cousin Sami and I kills me. I used to babysit him several times a week in college. It's how I made my 'going to the 'Vu or Trops' $. Now he's taller than me and has a drivers permit! I used to change his diapers?! Love ya kid (and your lil' bro Jack).

I present at the conference tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck. I always induce diarrhea worrying about presentations like this.

Oh and P.S. I totally get to stay in a hotel for TWO nights BY MYSELF!!! Moms of young kids will know what I'm getting at here. BY MYSELF!! BIG bed. With only ME in it! AND I must be in a handicapped accessible room bc the layout is very generous, especially in the bathroom AND there's a HUGE tub. So you KNOW what I'm doing tomorrow night as a reward for rocking this conference's socks off!

Nighty night!

Mittelschmerz

I can't even think about posting right now because I'm ovulating and it literally hurts worse than my C-section did.

Speaking of painful C-sections...did you see Walking Dead last night?! R. I. P. Lori :(

"Happy 'ween!"

The Lowder girls had a spooky Halloween this year. Claire really wanted to be an angel this year. So eve's costume was a no-brainer: a little devil. We had dinner at Grammy's before trick or treating in her neighborhood. We don't really have a subdivision in our neighborhood with sidewalks and its not the safest to walk around, so we've been going to Grammy's neighborhood since Claire was a baby. They have wonderfully nice neighbors and everyone congregates on their driveways with the firepits going. Some houses hand out hot cocoa, cider and have s'mores station. Fun times! Eve seemed to like trick or treating and of course the candy but she really loved looking at very ones decorations and jack O lanterns. She was THE most polite devil ever. She said thank you and 'happy ween!' To everyone. When Claire got back to the house we weighed her candy bag and it came in at 4 pounds!!!