Buffy vs. Edward Cullen

From the fabulous Kelly Day via Facebook via Buzzfeed via...anyways, it's funny if you're a fan of both vampiry franchises:

Where Does The Hand-Me-Down End and the Me Begin?

In honor of Mother's Day, here's a list of items (both tangible and intangible) my mother has handed down to me:

• the ability to say "I love you" over 10 times when saying good-bye to my children
• a love of reading
  
• the Bible her parents gave her as a girl
• worry wart tendencies
• funky cool bags and scarves from the late '60s - early '70s that everyone covets
• a baby toe that leans wanly onto the others
  
• blue eyes
  
• the ability to make a perfect pancake, hard boiled egg, beef stew, tuna salad and countless other essential culinary tasks
• a good balance of frugality, generosity and appreciation of quality
• devotion to all black and white movies on AMC
• the words to all the old poems I have memorized, like The Highwayman and the beginning of Hiawatha and the prologue to The Canterbury Tales
  
• pearl earrings and necklaces
• pearls of wisdom

I know my mother has handed me down so many more things...but it's hard to recollect them.

The tangibles are tough because my mother is a darn good shopper and my children, husband and I are some of the prime recipients of her plentiful loot. She likes to give presents, not foist her old stuff onto us. And I live on the other side of the country, so most hand-me-downs must be mailable or able to fit in a suitcase. And she's a young mom and grandma - still in her 50s - so it's not like she's going to be passing out all her treasures like one of the Cocooners, thank God.

The intangibles are hard to articulate because so much of who I am is my mother, and someone she helped form and influence. Where does her personality's influence leave off and my own inner personality begin? It's all muddled. I'm her daughter. I'm just like her or trying so hard to be different than her that her stamp is still undeniably there. My entire being is a hand-me-down.

But that patchwork suede bag and the groovy geometric print scarf? That's ALL my mom!

Johnson's® and celebrity moms Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba are also into hand me downs. Johnson's annual Celebrity Hand Me Down charity auction runs today on eBay until Thursday May 14, featuring items donated by those hot mama stars. All proceeds will benefit the new global Johnson's® No More Tears® Clean Water initiative via their charitable giving site, Baby Cause.

And you know Gwyneth and Jessica A. have some cool shiz to hand down! My size 10 ass is personally going to focus on bags and shoes and leave Jessica's jodhpurs to you tinier ladies.

This post was inspired by my love of my mother this Mother's Day and my love for The Parent Bloggers...and Johnson's® too, for without countless bottles of their Head to Toe Baby Wash my children would be the dirtiest urchins in the land.

Cool Campaign & Contest: HP Moms for Simplicity with Dara Torres

HP Moms for Simplicty - add your pic and words to the mosaic!

Do you feel today's advanced technologies simplify your life as a mother?

My answer is a resounding YES.

Thanks to my reasonable, user-friendly HP desktop computer, new super-portable mini-notebook and a fast Internet connection, I feel like I am able to pursue both of my dreams: mothering my kids in an involved fashion and writing every day. Free, user-friendly software allows me to publish this free resource website. A cheap mobile phone allows me to receive text messages and photos minutes after a new baby is born, or quickly dial 911 if my car breaks down on the Beltway. My husband and I can pay our bills and stay on the same page of our family budget through joint online access to all our accounts. I even communicate with my children's principal and our parish priest via email!

Although parenting young children is a low-tech, manual labor of love, new technologies sure streamline the rest of life so that there's more time to spend with the kids.

Olympian and poster gal for the super mom Dara Torres agrees, and she's partnered with HP to communicate with mothers. She's video blogging how technology makes her busy life easier. Other moms - many of them bloggers we all read and love like Heather, Maggie, Ree - have also uploaded photos of themselves and short personal essays of how technology simplifies their lives.

Won't you add your photo and words to the mosaic of moms? You don't have to have won 12 medals while competing in five Olympic games or even have a blog. All you have to have is the desire to win $5,000 worth of HP products - three winners will be chosen!

Official rules: Upload a photo of yourself without any other persons in the picture and submit an essay of 200 words or less of how technology simplifies your life as a mom. The essays will be reviewed by a panel of judges including Dara Torres. Essays will be evaluated based on originality, creativity, the use of technology, simplicity and entertainment factors.

Note: I have purchased ALL of my HP hardware myself and I have not received any type of compensation for this post. I just really like this campaign!

Cat Hair - A Small Price to Pay for Unconditional Love

UPDATE: Since I heard so much about this product, I actually went out and bought a Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair today with my own hard-earned mama cash, no freebie. And I can honestly say that this tool is great! I love that I can get the cat off my furniture without having to go to the trouble of hooking up my vacuum cleaner upholstery attachment and it is much more effective than an old school tape-based lint roller. This product cost me less than $5 on sale at Safeway today and was worth it!

After adopting my first cat ten years ago, I am now officially a cat person. I've also instilled this feline love in my children, who adore their very own darling Siamese, Peter Pan of Neverland (aka Petey), pictured above.

There's just one small point where my cat love and I part ways: CAT HAIR.

I dress almost entirely in black, and I am the sole maid and laundress in my household. My love of my dear kitty is ardent and forgiving, for I am constantly waging a war against those tell-tale white hairs sticking to things. From the red wool rug, the microfiber sofa, the velvety chair cushions, my computer key board and a certain corner of my bed I am constantly removing Petey's soft white hairs. There are lint brushes stashed in every closet, in the car and on each family member's bureau.

Thank goodness Pledge™ has come out with the new Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair. The Pledge folks are having so much fun with their new product, they thought they'd give consumers' pets a chance to redeem themselves with the Show Off Your Shedder contest. Go to the contest site, upload a photo of your pet on his favorite piece of furniture, and you might win $5,000 cash and a year’s supply of the new Pledge™ Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair.

Here's Pete on another one of his fave pieces of furniture - the high chair. Don't even think of how quickly cat hair can stick to sliced banana...ewww.

Why am I revealing myself to be such a crazy cat lady? It's all for the Parent Bloggers baby!

Self-Love: Best Gifts I've Given Myself

Although I advocate saving money whenever possible and curbing spending in these economic times, some items are worth much more than their price tag. Maybe they make your life easier, bring a smile to your face or raise your personal hotness quotient. Here are my top gifts to myself (bought with my own hard-earned cash, none of these were promo-ed by PR peeps or freebies.) I'd also love to hear your own favorite gifts to yourself in the comments!

Body Butters by The Body Shop $10-20, some are currently buy 1 get 1 50% off
Slathering myself in luxurious butter is one of the ways I get through the winter skin doldrums and keep from looking pasty and scaly. Sure, it would be cheaper to simply pick up some discount lotion at the grocery store (and I do love the Jergens Glow stuff with self-tanner), but the body self-esteem benefits of rubbing on a yummy-smelling, fancy-feeling butter are worth the extra bucks to me. I stock up on the flavors on sale.


Dyson DC25 Ball All-Floors Vacuum Cleaner $474.99: This vacuum is super light and perfect for lugging up the three floors of my Cape Cod. I first balked at the price, but after hauling a heavy vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs for years with only a quarter of the suction of this light, lithe lifesaver, I attest that it was worth every single penny.There's no separate settings for bare hardwoods or shag carpets, the vacuum just sucks up every speck of dirt, dust, crumb, cobweb, crud. The rollerball head gets in around all the nooks and crannies around baseboards, under doors, weird little crevices found in old houses. My house has never looked so clean for such little effort.

Le Creuset 2 3/4 qt. round dutch oven $109.95
Actually, I didn't buy this one - my mom got it for me - thanks Mom! This pot looks so chic and performs even better, garnering it a permanent place on my range. It can heat up anything in a flash, can be transferred to oven for baking or tabletop for a pretty serving dish and no burned-on greasy messes stick to it. It washes up three times as quickly as a metal or Pyrex baking dish and the side handles never slip out of my hot pads. I use it every day, whether I'm heating up refried beans for the kids or baking a fancy casseolet for company. I love red accents in the kitchen, but there are lots of different colors too.



One pair of good high-end jeans to wear with heels and without the kids $100-200
If you've never treated yourself to a really nice pair of "good" jeans, please do it. It will save you all those costume changes and mirror freak outs when getting ready for a date or girls night or day that you need self-confidence. Save the Old Navy pairs for running around with the kids and cleaning up the Play-Doh.

To find your size in the fancy jeans, pull a tape measure around your bare waist super tight at the belly button and try on jeans in that number and one above it and one below it. (E.g. say your number on the tape measure is a 29. Try on jeans in a 28, 29 and 30.) Typically if you've had a couple kids, you'll look best in jeans that have a bit of stretch (like 98% cotton, 2% lycra) and a rise that comes right at your belly button, usually an 8 inch rise. This holds in the little pooch below the navel in a mini-tummy tuck that is fabulous. If you're short-waisted/long legged or slender, a lower rise or trendy high waist will also look great. If the pants are too long, just have them hemmed at your local drycleaners but keep them long to wear with heels; alterations are totally worth the $$. You are officially allowed by my friends that are super into fashion to cuff your jeans when wearing with flat shoes.

I also like going to the Savvy department at Nordstrom and having a helpful sales woman look me up and down and pull all the styles and sizes she thinks will work on me. When my first baby was 10 months old and I'd finally dropped some weight and was ready to re-enter the world of looking fashionable, I called ahead to a salesperson in the Savvy section and she pulled all the jeans in my approximate sizes. I zipped in with my baby in the stroller, she had all the jeans hanging in the handicapped dressing room, I flew through them and found one blessed pair that worked before baby finished his Cheerios. I also love Luna in Bethesda on Woodmont - the young women who work there are also jean-iuses at finding the styles and cuts that will work best. I just tell them "I want to look fit and hot and I only have the cash to buy one pair of jeans." And they find it for me. Awesome.


Hot mama pair of heels, like these Steve by Steve Madden $58.47 (they're a knock-off of a Marc Jacobs style)
Very much like the jeans, I save a few pair of great shoes for special occasions in the boxes at the top of my closet (to prevent my children's shank-shattering impromptu dress-up session casualties) and wear tennis shoes and Target ballet flats when running around with the kids. When I want look fancy, I go for the highest heel I can safely walk in, neutral colors or a clashing bright I don't even try to match to things. I try to have a small variety of sandal, open-toe and closed toe styles, all found at great sales. Unlike when I was working full-time and dress shoes had a short shelf life, I've had some of my 5 pairs of heels for the last six or so years, and they still look new.


Frou-frou magazine subscriptions, $10 per year. My faves are Real Simple, Domino and Bazaar
I truly believe that spending money on a few cool, fun magazine subscriptions keeps me from spending money throughout the year. I find great ideas of how to make the house and my appearance look cool and up to date using items I already own. Sure, I can't afford 99% of the items shown, but I find inspiration and learn how to resurrect things I already have or what knock-offs are hip at the budget shops I frequent.


This year Bazaar showed me how to pair a floral dress I've had since 2002, an over-sized black blazer I've had since my working days of 2000, black opaque hose bought at DSW, black suede shoes bought in 2006 and a necklace my mom gave me ages ago to equal a completely new outfit to wear to my brother's rehearsal dinner. The ensemble got tons of compliments, cost $6 for the stockings, I felt cute and hip, and was saved the time and expense of running to the mall for a new dress. Instead of purchasing an expensive bedroom suite I can't afford, Domino showed me how to stack my favorite big coffee table books to create a groovy bedside table and pick up some big euro shams and six cool frames to create a "headboard" for my bed. Total cost for the few items it cost to transform my bedroom: $50.

And mainly, I find the relaxation of sipping a glass of wine and leafing through colorful consumerist pages after the kids go down at night better than therapy. Seriously.

Siamese kitten from Paradise Cattery, a wonderful breeder in Baltimore $400
I know, I know. There are so many wonderful, loveable, needy adult animals in shelters and foster families that need to be adopted. But Charlene of Paradise Cattery is the most loving, reputable woman that produces the kindest, smartest, most family-friendly cats that I have ever seen.

My husband and I love the intelligence and affectionate nature of Siamese cats. Since we have two young children, we wanted to adopt a single kitten that would grow up used to children and be psychologically up to the challenge of having two rowdy human siblings. Peter Pan, the cat we adopted from Charlene two years ago, is everything we could have wanted and more. He has endless patience for the kids, no behavior problems and is almost-dog like in his affection and attachment to our family. He also retrieves a rubber band ponytail holder, meows hello to guests and greets them at the door, and at 10:30pm every night tugs on my pant leg urging me to come to bed with him. Yup, Petey sleeps with us and isn't content until everyone, including him, is happily tucked in.

Flame me, go ahead, but at this point in my life with little ones I just didn't have the time for rehabilitating an animal or worrying that my children would stress out an already-stressed kitty. The fee for purchasing this wonderful animal was worth it, in my opinion, for finding the perfect new addition to our family.

Canon PowerShot SD800 10 MegaPixel Digital Elph with 8GB memory card & accessories $314
This is the camera I (and my husband, the better photographer in the family) use for all personal photos that I post to APISS and APISS reviews. We've been buying the newest generation of this camera every two-three years, and each time Canon improves the camera's usability and quality but lowers the price. It is a fabulous, reasonable point-and-shoot for us and takes great photos until we're able to afford a more professional-level camera.

The camera lives in my handbag so that I can capture the kids as we frolic and play all over the DC area, and takes much better pics than those I could take on my phone. It uploads very quickly to our old home PC. Having an extensive archive of photos from all the places we've visited throughout the area, and an opinion on them too, is what started this whole bloggy business in the first place!

What are your favorite, make-your-life-easier, make your day brighter items? Please leave a comment with your recommendations!

'Cause I'm Your Laaaadddyyyy

If you're a fan of Celine Dion or just love great live entertainment - I hear her Vegas show was super fun - check out Celine’s Taking Chances World Tour. Her North American tour dates have been extended into February ’09 so take a look and see if she’s coming to your town. Celine’s concert tickets may just be the perfect gift for a friend, family member or yourself. See what the show is like here.

If you too have a blog, a MySpace page or other social media thingamajig or know all the words to That's the Way It Is, you can win some very cool prizes from the One to One network by posting a Celine widget and helping promote her tour. That's what I'm doing right here. Yes I have to admit that it's all coming back to me noooowww.

You can join One to One too, just mention Jessica McFadden of APISS as your referral, and you too can ruin your indie-music-local-band-groupie street cred. But then we can tease our hair and go shake our mom booties together and see Celine! Squeee!

There, I feel like a natural woman. Is Oprah on?