a day in my life

I will take total blame for this

March 20, 2012 By Heather 2 Comments

Winters in Northern Ohio are in a word cold. If I wanted to use another word, I would probably use the word snowy.

In fact, most years, if you came to visit me anywhere from December to April I could guarantee you that you would see snow; I just wouldn’t be able to guarantee the color.

This year I was prepared.

I had the rock salt for the icy driveway.

I had the shovel right next to the door so that I could easily get to the garage to the recently tuned up snow blower.

I had not one, but three ice scrappers in each car.

All the vehicles had emergency kits and jumper cables.

People, I even had a brand new pair of super warm snow boots with lots of traction so that I could go tromping around in the snow with Barney.

And then this happened before it was technically spring.

For those of you unaware this is my Magnolia tree, in full bloom, at least two months before it is due to bloom in Northern Ohio.

This never happens & I will take full responsibility for flip flop weather in March.

You’re Welcome.

Filed Under: a day in my life

How Katy Perry will help you on your journey to Bliss{dom}

February 10, 2012 By Heather 2 Comments

I can’t believe that this will be my fourth year at Blissdom. I mean it seems like just yesterday Casey and I were rocking it out with Guitar Hero at the Hotel Preston. And Christina and I were so glad we took the stairs when those 13 gals, two of which were our roommates) got stuck on the elevator.

You can read all my posts about Blissdom here or here or here or even here.

Every time I think of that last here I always smile because I truly had no clue who George Duran was, but she did.

Why yes I did ditch my husband on our 15th wedding anniversary to go to Nash Vegas and then the following year when they changed things up and had Blissdom on The Chicken’s 13th birthday, I was there as well.

Thankfully I am not missing any important days this year.

Whether this is your first blogging conference or you are a seasoned veteran, I can guarantee you will have a blast as long as you put yourself out there and realize that everyone there wants to get to know other people and wants to try to capture some of their bliss.

You may be a little uneasy about leaving your kids for the extended weekend. Even though my girls are 14 and 17 I totally get it. I still make a list for each person and I make arrangements for meals and rides before I leave.

The Chicken, my 14 year old, guilts me each and every time I leave for a blogging conference. What?!? You are having a case of the mommy guilt too? Well, I may just have a solution for you and with just 12 days left before Blissdom there is no time to delay.

The following video was inspired by Heather who made this video for Ellie {with the help of some other aweseome ladies} and let me just tell you now Heather, The Chicken did not laugh or smile when I decided lip sync for the span of 20 minutes in the car and even when I broke out my mad car dancing while still driving safely mad skillz she kept….well you will just have to see for yourself.

Prepping for Bliss from Heather Durdil on Vimeo.

Dear Katy Perry, I am so sorry about what my daughter said, while I admit I really didn’t like you much until the gals with Blissdom made this video you have worked your way into my heart to stay, but please for the love all that is good put some more clothes on in your videos. xo, Me

Filed Under: a day in my life, blissdom 2012, crazy things that I do to torture my kids

Cough Drops are Not a Food

November 6, 2011 By Heather Leave a Comment

This afternoon Giggles and I set out on an adventure. It was very Survior-esque, I think, you know seeings how I have never watched one episode of Survivor. When it all ended though, I am pretty sure that my van got voted off the island.

Twenty minutes into our adventure and just 15 minutes from our destination my van started to pull and make a weird noise. I pulled off to the side of the highway, which technically was the ramp for a major interstate in our area, to find this.

No worries, I thought, I have changed tires before and thankfully this was on the side of the van away from the traffic.

Giggles & I work to get the spare out from under the van only to realize that NTB did not put one of my old tires in the spare compartment like I asked them to when I got new tires, they left my old one that happened to be flat on the spare tire rack.

Since The Husband is out of town I decided to call my mom & step dad, they decide to bring the air compressor out to fill up the flat spare tire in hopes that it will take air.

I get on twitter and facebook and instagram and share my plight with the world.

My parents show up and we realize that we can’t get the lug nuts off of the van, so we have to call AAA to have them come out.

I update twitter and facebook and instagram of our plight.

Giggles has to pee. My step dad takes her off somewhere to do her business since there aren’t any bushes or trees or……who are we kidding, she wouldn’t go outside, she probably would have burst first. Momma stays with me & they head out to find a bathroom that isn’t out of doors.

The cops show up. They ask us why AAA isn’t here yet if we called them 35 minutes ago. Clearly they have never dealt with AAA in their lives.

I update twitter and instagram and facebook about our plight and come up with a hashtag #thepartycontinuesonI71

I start to get hungry. Then I wonder what kind of jerk throws a party and doesn’t bring snacks. Oh right….me.

Giggles and my step dad get back. We wait some more.

I decide to pass the time by taking eleventy billion photos of me and my momma. No, seriously.

We laugh and laugh and get this.

I love it.

AAA finally gets there. AAA busted off two of my lug nuts trying to get the lug nuts off of the van. He needs to call a tow truck.

I update facebook and twitter and instagram of our plight and take more pictures.

I start to tell my momma that I am hungry, that my stomach is twisting inside of itself. I begin to rummage around in the van for food.

My momma, that wonderfully crazy woman asks me if I would like cough drops.

“Cough drops are not a food, ” I reply.

She tells me that clearly I am not hungry enough. Gee I wonder where I get that from.

I tell Twitter of her craziness, I get no replies.

Finally over four hours after the whole ordeal began, the tow truck came after passing us by twice. My van left with a man named Tiny, I am pretty sure I will see her tomorrow.

Rest well, Old Lady Beige, I am pretty sure I can get you back on the island.

Oh and if you are wondering who put my lug nuts on so tight that they couldn’t come off…that would be NTB.

Filed Under: a day in my life, my mom

I’m pretty sure that my marriage is going to end over a bed

November 4, 2011 By Heather 6 Comments

This is our bed. Why yes those are stuffed bears on it, my husband gave them to me when we were dating, they are both named Steve. Don’t ask me why…teenagers are crazy.

We’re going to pretend for the photos sake that there was actually decent lighting and that I did some sort of editing to this picture. We’re also going to envision a soft creamy yellow on the walls, I have no idea what I was thinking when I picked out the purple, I was just giddy with paint picking out power when The Husband said I could paint the walls.

Everything on this bed is soft and comfy. Probably to make up for the actually bed being an unknown age.

I know, you are asking yourself, “How can she not know how old her bed is?” The answer is that we adopted this bed. It has lived with us for the last ten years and before that it lived at my parents’ house for an unknown amount of years. My best guess would be that this bed is older than Giggles, probably closer in age to me. The ‘frame’ is an old water bed frame that now is basically a platform with plywood nailed to the top.

Fancy, no? But I digress……

Growing up in a house where your parents didn’t like the gas company you learn to bundle up on those cold nights in Northern Ohio. Now as an adult, I have to have a lot of weight on me to help me sleep, unless my husband is there and then I can just cuddle up to him and fall right asleep.

The problem is that we have two entirely different sleep schedules and he doesn’t come to bed with me every night until well after I am asleep. He gets frustrated because he has to literally unwrap me from my blanket cocoon so that he can get in bed. He hates it.

Where I see comfort and ease of sleep, he sees this.

1. my pillows
2. His pillow hiding under another of my pillows that gets tossed onto the floor sometime during the night because I don’t actually sleep on it, it just rests next to me.
3. My blanket is tucked away under there. It has to lay across my shoulders and wrap around me in a way that I can’t really describe.
4. Quilt his grandmother made that he’s afraid we will tear up when he moves around in his sleep.
5. Thin cotton woven blanket. I love this blanket as it is light weight but keep in the heat, he sees it as some sort of scratchy worthless blanket that doesn’t do much but add bulk to the bed.
6. My afghan that I scored at Goodwill for $1. It fits our queen bed and for the nights in which I don’t need it on top of the blankets it keeps my foot nice and warm. Yes I said foot, the other one is never under the covers….tell me I am not the only one who does this.
7. Yep there is another blanket under there. My friend Judy gave it to me for Christmas one year and while it is perfect for snuggling with while watching TV, it is also perfectly fits around my head and is super soft.

In short…he hates my bed. And yes, he calls it my bed because if it were his bed there would only be one blanket and we wouldn’t suffocate under the mass of things I need to sleep.

In an effort to help with the number of blankets on the bed he got me this.

I love it. It has a constant blowing noise so that I can fall asleep easy and it does make getting out of bed so much easier in the mornings. However, it doesn’t help with the blanket situation at all. While it does keep me warm, I have found that I just don’t need to layer up as much when I get into bed, you know, unless I want to wake up in a sweat.

I keep telling my husband that I will happily give up all of the blankets on the bed if he came to bed with me at night. But unless he doesn’t, I need to go to sleep and I have found in my 34 years that if I don’t have each one of those things with me in my bed I have a very hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep. He thinks that separate beds might be in order and has asked me to ask you, the oh so wise & powerful internets, what to do.

Am I right? Is he Wrong? Also, how many blankets do you have on your bed?

Filed Under: a day in my life, Ask the internets, the husband

Because She is My Child

November 2, 2011 By Heather 2 Comments

If you follow me on twitter or instagrm you may have seen my hashtag #poorchicken.

About ten minutes after this photo was taken at a Youth Event we attended this past weekend….

And because of some crazed teenager wanting to high five the lead singer of Hawk Nelson when he jumped off the stage, she will be needing these…..

for the next 4-6 weeks.

I don’t blame Jason (although I keep wanting to call him Jimmie or Johnnie) (and yes with an ‘ie’).

I don’t even blame the crazed teenagers who rushed the stage and knocked her knee in such a way to tear the ligament.

I blame this squarely on myself. I mean when you have a mother who is scolding the dog and goes to go back up the stairs and whacks her temple of the wall that has been there for the last six years so hard that she saw stars and this isn’t the first time she has done this…..

Clearly you can see my point.

So today while I nurse my wounded child and my lump on my temple check out the other places you can find me around the interwebs.

Where I tell you where you can find the mythical lipstick that stays on all day.

Where you see that I am up to something with a bunch of other lovely ladies.

Where you can get ideas for your next year’s couple’s costume, because it’s never too early to start planning.

Filed Under: a day in my life, life with The Chicken, only my child

What I Wore Wednesday

September 7, 2011 By Heather 8 Comments

Dressing in cute clothes is not always something that I have done. I love cute and funky stuff and well sometimes, in days past, I have worried what others thought about what I wore. I tried to fit in and wear what all the other moms were wearing, but it never felt right. A few years ago I threw caution to the wind and embraced “my style.” Last year I decided to challenge myself and only wear dresses or skirt (you may remember my year without pants)

Thanks to Lisa who directed me to Lindsey and What I Wore Wednesday, I decided to share with you my style. I am also sharing where I get the stuff from, because 90% of my wardrobe is 2nd hand. Most days I pay more for my under garments than I do for my whole outfit. I hope you have as much fun learning about me and what I love as I do putting my outfits together. And please, do play along.

Monday

I had my daughter straighten my hair today, I think its fun!
Sweater is Merona brand, bought at a yard sale with tags on for 25 cents
Belt is from Goodwill and I paid $1 for it
Skirt is without a tag but I got it at Salvation Army for 50 cents on Half off Wednesdays
Necklace is from Premiere Designs that I got free for having a party
Shoes are from Toms, paid full price for those
Total Cost of Outfit without shoes $1.75, with shoes $55.75

Tuesday

I love this dress, I wore it a lot in the summer and it is heavy enough to transition into fall as well.
Dress is from Target, bought new at Goodwill for 5.99
Cami is from ModBod when they were having some super sale at Costco years ago
Cardigan is from Target where I scored it off the clearance rack for 4.97
Belt is from New York & Company, its leather and I got it at Goodwill for 3.00
Necklace is a gift from a friend
Moccasins are by Minnetonka and I got them off Zappos (most of my shoes are new because they are rather large and hard to find newer shoes 2nd hand)
Total Cost of outfit $13.96 without shoes. With shoes approximately $46.96

Wednesday

I have been dreaming of wearing these boots all summer long!!
Shirt length dress is from Forever 21 off the clearance rack for $6
Belt came with the dress
Skinny Jeans Sweetheart Skinny jeans from Old Navy. I did splurge because I was ill equipped for fall weather last week in NY state and paid 22.50 for them, but since I don’t typically wear jeans because I can’t find any to fit and these do….well it’s a good investment.
Necklace is much longer but shortened in the back with a rubber band and I scored it a Goodwill for $2
Boots are from Target, they are all leather and I got them on Clearance last January for $9
Total cost of outfit without shoes $30.50. With shoes 39.50

Also linking up at Momma Go Round, a new blog find through What I Wore Wednesday. Yay, new friends!!

Filed Under: a day in my life, link ups, what I wore wednesday

The post in which I tell you about how I would never let my dog loose in Victoria’s Secret or the Jockey factory

August 22, 2011 By Heather 10 Comments

Barney is now eight months old. I can’t believe that in one point in her life (since we’ve owned her) that she was smaller than her head and all of her plush toys. I am pretty sure that the husband tires of me telling him this everytime Barney brings me over her bear or her lobster.

It has been neat to watch her grow and see how the whole family bonded with her. Unlike Oscar, Barney loves everyone, is very outgoing, and super independant. I have grown accustomed to not having a dog thisclosetomybody every single second of the day. It has been nice & refreshing, and well; expensive.

Barney loves to explore and loves to hang out downstairs in our master bedroom that is adjacent to our laundry room. (See that honey, see how I made our house seem all fancy by using the words master and adjacent? They will never know that our basement is just one really big room with an open doorway to separate the finished half from the non finished half.)

While downstairs she likes to root through the laundry. She prefers clean laundry, but dirty will do as well if someone hasn’t put stuff in the hamper where she can’t reach it. She has been known to nose around in the dryer if it is left open. All looking for her favorite snack, underwear cro.tches.

I have bought more underwear in the last six months than I have probably the last sixteen years. Do you know how expensive underwear is and how useless it is without the cro.tch? I mean I have heard that there is a whole market for cro.tchless pan.ties, but I really don’t think that dog chewed ones really fit the bill.

I have limited her access to the parts of the house that house her precious, precious cro.tches and have had limited success. You see the cat is a trouble maker and knows how to unlatch the upstairs door if it isn’t latched just so and the girls always forget to close their bedroom doors.

One such occassion, not long ago, Barney gained access to Giggles room for about 5 minutes and caused about $80 worth of damange. She ate about 8 cro.tches out of underwear, the cro.tch to her swimsuit bottoms, and for good measure she ate the cro.tch out of a pair of her new jeans. I know, I know, you don’t have to tell me the dangers of her eating cro.tches out of things. Thankfully she passes everything and it is more of a PITA than anything else.

On such occassions that I have to plunk over what is the equivelant to about 3 hours of work pay for the husband for new underwear and such I try to remember the days when she was a cute, little puppy bouncing around in the snow. So innocent and not the cro.tch eating fiend she is today.

So this, my friends, is why we could never take Barney into Vi.ctoria’s Secret or even let her loose in the Jockey store (which by the way; Hai Jockey, I just love your stay cool underwear and your money back guarantee. Although Giggles wishes your underwear wasn’t so ‘old fashioned’ and by that she means ‘I’m a crazy teenager who has no clue what the heck I am talkiing about because hello, they keep you three degrees cooler and was developed for NASA!’)

Barney my dear, please try to channel your inner non cro.tch eater. She’s in there somewhere, I swear. And she really loves the snow.

Disclosure-I received one pair of Jockey underwear way back in January as part of my swag from Blissdom, those underwear have long since lost their cro.tch. All subsequent underwear and other cro.tchle.ss items have been bought using my ~~husband’s~~ hard earned money. All opinions are of my own, but honestly wouldn’t everyone want a non cro.tch eating dog?

Filed Under: a day in my life, Barney, I should probably get underwear sponsors

Paula Deen is my BFF thanks to Lodi Station Outlets

August 20, 2011 By Heather Leave a Comment

Not long ago my family and I were invited the the first ever VIP Blogger event at Lodi Staion Outlets(note if you do open that link it has sound that starts automatically).

This is the part where I admit to you that it was two months ago, clearly I am a PR’s persons worst nightmare when it comes to timely posts about things….sorry Nichole!!

I had gone to Lodi Station Outlets many times before as it is the closest outlet mall to my house. I admit that I wasn’t too excited about going because I really loved it when it was the Prime Outlet mall and all the construction that I encountered when it turned into Lodi Station Outlets; well, let’s just say I was plotting how close I was to other outlets.

My husband & Giggles were both working that day so The Chicken, my mother & I set out to check out the new & hopefully improved outlet mall.

The afternoon started out with me getting to meet up with a friend of mine who is the social media maven behind Lodi Station Outlets. We actually met at Blissdom this past year and realized that we grew up in the same town, went to the same school and when she and her family were moving to the country my husband and I actually looked at the house they were selling several times before we decided to go with our current home. Crazy small world.

I introduced my mom to Nichole and she gave us our goodie bag, our lunch tickets, and a $100 card to use in the outlet mall as we saw fit. I was beyond excited as I knew exactly what I needed to get and my mom & daughter were excited; you know until they realized that I knew exactly what I needed to get and it wasn’t anything for them. Sorry Mom & Chicken

Mom & I decided to take a photo to kick off our day of shopping together so I could instagram it to the masses. You’re on instagram-you don’t follow me? You should I am hdurdil. I decided to use the hashtag that Nichole suggested we use #shopLodiStation except my phone decided to autocorrect #ShopLodiStation to #Shoplifting. Nothing like proclaiming what we don’t want to be doing on my instagram, twitter and facebook feed with my mother thanks to autocorrect. After a good laugh we decided to get lunch.

Sadly I don’t remember the name of the place where we ate. I think it was the Steam Cafe (I will fix this as soon as I find out because we are going there today on my dime to do some school shopping for the girls, more specifically shoe shopping) But the food was WONDERFUL!! The staff at the Cafe were very friendly and everything tasted homemade (which I am pretty sure it was) the prices were great and the food court itself was very clean (with many choices on food) It was a great start to our shopping adventures.

Now I will admit here that I knew exactly what I wanted before I set out for our little trip. I needed to get a new pot and pan set as mine was not working so well and I am not a fan of Teflon flavored flecks in my food. So I headed over to Kitchen Collection to scope out my Paula Deen pot and pan set. When I priced it online I knew I was going to have to spend a little extra than the $100 I had been given, but not only was it on sale but because I signed up to be a Preferred Member (which is free) I got an extra discount coupon to use as well.

My super awesome pot & pan set ended up being less than $90!! I was so excited, as was The Chicken because that meant that she was able to get some adorable headbands at The Children’s Place after Grandma took her over to The Gap to get some great deals on outfits for her and her sister.

I would love to go on and on about the wonderful day I had, but I am rushing out the door to head back for some great deals on shoes for the girls, and I am sure that I will spend less than what I thought and get them (or me) and little some else too!

Photos will be added later as they are on the other computer that my girls have hijacked.

Disclosure-Lodi Station Outlets invited my family out for a day of shopping. I was provided with a $100 gift card and lunch and ice cream (as well as other assorted goodies from various stores) to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and I am happily going back to the outlet mall today to spend my ~~husband’s~~ hard earned cash to get my girls school gear.

Filed Under: a day in my life, Lodi Station Outlets

InstaFriday-The Rediscover PIB Edition

July 8, 2011 By Heather 3 Comments

Fifteen steps on how to have a fabulous day at Put-in-Bay with your thirteen year old daughter.

Step One-Realize that she has three days left of school and therefore can afford to miss one day having a great time playing tourist on an island that she has been going to all of her life. Make the mistake of calling it a “Mental Health Day” when you call her off of school so on the 60 minute trip out to the ferry you have to explain to her that no she isn’t dying and no I don’t think you are going to have some sort of breakdown before school lets out.

Step Two-Get to Miller Boat Line to acquire your tickets for the ferry trip. Watch as she tells other about her family and the cottage on the island. Then when the nice man from Lake Erie Shores & Islands asks you if you are related to ‘The Chicken’s middle name’ ‘Our very uncommon last name that I didn’t realize anyone has’ that works in his office, you spend the next ten minutes explaining to your 13 year old that no, she isn’t named for some relative that you didn’t know you had because she probably isn’t your relative.

Step Three-Let out a huge sigh of relief when the ferry pulls into dock and The Chicken gets distracted by getting on the ferry.

She has made this trip hundreds of times but has never been as excited as she was that day.

Step Four-After the twenty minute ferry ride take the short walk up the hill and over to E’s Carts where The Chicken proclaims that getting this cart is indeed a Put in Bay miracle.

Although truth be told upon leaving the cart shop Lady Gaga died and we ended up with Joe Dirt. Hopefully The Chicken learns to not proclaim miracles when there aren’t miracles and no more golf carts will be smited because of it

Step Five-Once you mourn the loss of Lady Gaga and get acclimated to Joe Dirt, head into town to Isola Day Spa to get your nail polish changed out. Making sure that you carefully consider all of the ~~crazy~~ options that your daughter lays out before you. Also, remember these key words in helping her pick out a color, “But how do you like that color dear?”

Isola was lovely and the staff was super friendly. While they do take walk-ins I would highly recommend an appointment.

Step Six-While your nails are still drying head over to Del Sol Gifts where you can verify for your daughter over and over that no they didn’t paint your nails with color changing nail polish and why yes that would be an excellent cross promotional idea for these businesses. Then you will wonder how your thirteen year old knows about such things as cross promotional ideas and realize that you may have been blogging too long. Get your color changing bag and chuckle when your daughter asks for one as well. Enjoy the biggest smile ever when they hand her her very own bag.

Step Seven-With your newly painted nails & your color changing bag, put the pedal to the metal in the golf cart to get yourself over to the Put-in-Bay Butterfly House to see all of the butterflies and flowers inside. After an hour make sure that you tell your daughter that you are hot and tired and would like to visit other things on the island. Those additional 64 minutes that she makes you stay in there because she rescued a drowning butterfly will seem to breeze right by.

Step Eight-Realize that you both are starving and head over to The Boardwalk for their famous lobster bisque. Decide while you are there that you need some seasoned fries to enjoy as well.

While I loved the lobster bisque-the fries were a great deal at $4 and were super tasty-the bird that The Chicken kept giving them too probably agreed

Step Nine-After lunch drag your teenager over to the Perry’s Monument and Visitor Center so that she can use the “cleanest bathrooms on the island.”According to the park ranger. Afterwards convince her to look around in the museum where we find that she has a schooner with her name that fought in the Battle of 1812. Argue that it wasn’t named after her because in 1812 I wasn’t even a blip on the radar, no matter how old you think I am at times, then give up when you realize that you aren’t going to win this argument because she will tell you about she remembers when her older sister was born. Go outside to listen to the demonstrations where your thirteen year old will learn that she was probably more educated than a lot of the doctors that worked on the military back in 1812. Make ash cakes and then eat them. Then after chatting it up with the reinactors drag your teenager away so you can see more stuff, although stopping to take a really cool iPhone photo with the monument in the background first.

Step Ten-Head over to Heineman’s Winery & Crystal Cave to take the Crystal Cave tour. Transcend down the 40 feet to a much cooler temperature and oooh and ahhhh over the crystals. Offer to take some random strangers photo in the largest geode in the world and then happily let them take your iPhone so you can get a photo of you and your daughter. Try to push those thoughts of Are they doing to drop it on the ground and smile.

Step Eleven-Go across the street to Perry’s Cave because your daughter tells you she wants to pan for gold, have some fun in the gift shop, then get drug back into The Butterfly house for another 40 minutes.

Just two girls having a purr-fectly good time.

Step Twelve-Head over to Big Man’s Burrito to get the sampler plate. Enjoy the time in the back patio area, realize that you can’t get the wifi to work, get frustrated, leave happy and full.

Step Thirteen-Drive Joe Dirt over to the Museum to get the tour, realize that because you have spent nearly three hours of your life in the Butterfly House that day that the tours are over. Let your daughter convince you to drive around back to see if the Museum’s Thrift store is open and sing a happy song when you get to walk away with all of these glasses for $2.00.

Step Fourteen-Realize that you need to get Joe Dirt back by 6 PM and you really want to make the 6 PM ferry back to the mainland so you pay no attention to the fact that your daughter is taking photos of you while you are driving behind the people who thought it a good idea to shake out their sandy beach blankets while we were driving down the road and thank goodness you have glasses on because there is no windshield on the golf cart.

Step Fifteen-Relax. You made it on the boat. Enjoy the twenty minute ride back to the mainland and realize that your daughter, who hasn’t stopped talking all day long, is finally quiet and enjoying the sights on the way back.

********

Playing along at InstFridays over at Life Arranged-even if you don’t have an iPhone or Instagram I suggest you check it out-great posts and such fun photos!!

Disclosure-my family & I were invited by Miller Boat Lines to come and #RediscoverPIB for the day. While they did supply ferry passes and got all of the businesses to let us play tourist for free all of the opinions are of my own. Many thanks to Julene Market and staff from Miller Boat Line and to all of the businesses listed above. We had an excellent time and next time we are at the island we will make sure to play tourist again…you know on our dime.

Filed Under: a day in my life, instafriday, rediscoverPIB

Don’t fret the sweat….seriously.

April 26, 2011 By Heather Leave a Comment

I will admit that the first time one of my girls told me that they needed to get some deodorant it took me by surprise. It was a day after P.E. class and as I hugged her to tell her that when the P.E. teacher was referring to the smelly kids and that she couldn’t point them out by name, I realized that my kid was one of the smelly kids.

Gone were the days of inhaling their scent deeply while they slept. Now we were in a world of training bras, deodorant, forcing showers on them every.single.day, shaving, and dealing with their ever changing bodies.

I admit that it was overwhelming not only to them, but for me as well. I don’t remember having to deal with all of these “smelly kid” issues until I was a teenager, but then again my house growing up was a bit more ventilated than ours was.

Thankfully the folks at Unilever have made it a bit more easier for you to navigate the tween highway by sponsoring the Don’t Fret the Sweat Facebook page where you can learn from experts and parents who have been in your shoes. And coupons…did I mention the coupons?!?

While the tween years are scary for you both, rest assured that one day they will remember to put on their deodorant every day without you asking, they will shower more often than you think necessary, and change into this wonderful (not so smelly) young adult.