Helpful Hints for the Digestively Challenged

A good friend of mine recently started a blog on her journey with ulcerative colitis. Her diet used to consist of all of the things we all love - coffee with lots of cream and sugar, cookies, and your run of the mill easy to make dinners. After struggling with some digestive, uh, "complications", she decided that she needed to make some changes and she's seen great results. She thought that she would pass along some of the information that has been so helpful for her. If you or someone in your family also struggle with digestive issues, check out her blog here.
We know a little something about malfunctioning digestive systems in our house. Lou was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in his early 20s. After a successful resection of his small intestine and lots (and lots) of maintenance meds and vitamins, the disease doesn't really effect him on a daily basis. I haven't made much change to our diet, but I'm hoping to try to get our family to eat healthier at some point. (Seriously though, when I can't convince Lou that Totino's frozen pepperoni party pizza is a terrible choice for breakfast, I know that I won't have much luck eliminating most dairy, simple carbs, and processed foods. Baby steps...)
Hope this is helpful!

Where My Mother Fathers At?!?

We recently decided that it was time for a larger vehicle. Lou wasn't thrilled with the idea of a minivan, but I pretty much refused to drive a station wagon. We ended up getting a pretty sweet deal on a used Toyota Sienna (in gray! woo-hoo!). When I told my friend Shannon what we'd purchased I believe her words were as follows:

"You got the Sienna because you liked the Swagger Wagon video, right?"

The Swagger Wagon video? I hadn't heard of it, but thanks to the miracle of YouTube we can watch it over and over again. Love it. And even Lou is feeling less dorky about having a minivan in the family.

Now, does anyone want to buy a well maintained Honda CR-V?

A Pencil...

Hello friends!

I know I've been MIA for awhile, and I promise to try not to drop off the face of the earth for so long in between posts. Anyway, I have a whole bunch of stuff in store, and I thought I would start with my favorite Gabbi story from this past December.

First, I need to give props to my friend Julie Veith over at You Know You're A Mommy When... She recently posted about understanding her son's gibberish, which totally reminded me about this story. (By the way, her son and Micah are only a week apart, and for awhile they looked a lot alike. Which means her son is totally, completely adorable.)

It was early December and Christmas was coming up, so I asked Gabbi what she wanted.

"A pencil."

"Really?!? A pencil? Do you want one like this?" I held up a number 2 pencil to show her.

"No." (As she looks at me with slanting eyes.)

I let it go for awhile. I figured that it was just one of those random things that she wanted spur of the moment. Surely she would give me a better gift idea next week.

Nope.

I asked her again. I had both grandmothers ask her. The answer remained the same.

"I want a pencil for Christmas."

So, I had planned on getting her a pack of pencils. The kids are overwhelmed with gifts from their grandparents, so we keep Christmas morning pretty low key in our house. I thought I would throw in a few other art supplies for good measure, but I was pretty sure that she would be happy with the pencils. That is, until I got the Christmas wish list from Gabbi's preschool.

Her teachers asked each student what gift they would like to give baby Jesus, and what gift they would like themselves. Gabbi wanted to give Jesus some frankincense. (No surprise there, Lou had been going over the Christmas story with her since the mall had put up its Christmas display, so that had been drilled into her head for months.) And what would Gabbi like?

"Barbie."

Barbie?!? How does she even know who Barbie is? We don't have any Barbie dolls in our house. We don't even have cable, so I know she didn't see it on a commercial. (BTW, one of the only benefits of a cable free home, other then not having to pay for cable, is that there are very, very few kids' commercials when you only have 9 channels. My kids have little to no idea what the latest toy/cereal/kid craze is.)

I was perplexed. I decided that we needed to have a little chat on the way home. It went something like this:

Me: "Gabbi, what do you want for Christmas?"

Gabbi: "A pencil."

Me: "Oh. I read on your paper from school that you wanted Barbie."

Gabbi: "Yeah, Barbie."

Me: "Do you even know who Barbie is?"

Gabbi: "Barbie is a pencil."

That's when it hit me. Not a pencil. Rapunzel. Holy smokers. She just couldn't say it correctly. Tangled had just come out and there were ads everywhere and I kept talking about how I would take her to see it. Rapunzel. I kept imagining her face on Christmas morning when she got to her "big present" and found a packet of pencils.

That would have been a shame.

How to say Grace, Gabbi Style

Tonight as we were sitting down to eat some chicken and broccoli with rice, Gabbi announced that she would like to say Grace. It went a little something like this:

"Dear Lord, I don't want to eat anything that I don't like, especially anything yucky like rice or vegetables. Amen"

For Your Entertainment

And the Winner Is....

I had Gabbi pick the winning entry out of one of the handbags. She liked the giraffe print, even though it didn't exactly match her polka dot owl pajamas and her favorite acorn hat. 

Congratulations Megan! Thanks to everyone else who participated!

Shameless Self Promotion.... And a Giveaway!

It’s official - I am now a Miche Bag rep! Haven’t heard of Miche? It’s only the best bag ever. Here’s the story behind the bag:

On the way home from work in the fall of 2004 Michelle Romero did something most women have done – she spilled on her favorite handbag. Frustrated by the thought of hunting for a replacement then transferring all the contents, she wished there was a way to just change the outside of the bag. The idea immediately popped into her mind to create a bag with changeable covers. Not to be deterred by her lack of sewing skills, Michelle grabbed her super glue and scrap fabric, took apart the stained bag, and made the very first prototype. With her rough creation in hand, Michelle set out on a mission to bring to life the Miche bag.

 
With Miche Bags, you can literally change the entire look of your purse in seconds, and the shells are compact and easy to store.  Best of all, there is no annoying process of having to switch all of the contents of your purse into another bag.

They are also a great fashion investment. The company comes out with different “shells” every month, so you as trends change you can be sure that your bag can keep up with them.

Miche Bags come in three sizes. 

Classic

Big Bag (My personal favorite. Fantastic if need a little extra room in your bag.)

 

Mini Miche 

Here's how they compare in size:

And here's how it works (in a nutshell):

To celebrate my new endeavor, I am having my first ever blog give-away. The winner will receive a Classic Miche Base Bag and one Classic Shell. (If you already have a Miche bag then you’ll win two Classic Shells or one Big Bag Shell – we’ll work it out.) 

As some of you know, I have a weird thing with numbers. (For example, I would only get married on an even numbered day. But that’s a topic for another time.) Twelve is my favorite number, so I’m giving you each an opportunity to receive twelve entries. Here’s how:

1.   Share this post on Facebook. Leave a comment at the end of this blog letting me know you did this and you’re good with one entry.

2.  

       Mosey on over to my website at www.BestBagEver.com  Take a look at the all the products and shells then answer the following questions: Are you a Classic kind of girl, or do you love the Big Bag? What's your favorite shell? Email me at BestBagEver@gmail.com with your answers. This will put you on my e-mail list - great new shells come out every month, which mean other shells go on sale, sometimes for half price! It also gets you one entry.

3.     Book a purse party with me. I'm taking bookings until June, so it's never too early to reserve a date. Send me an e-mail at BestBagEver@gmail.com to reserve yours. This one is good for 10 whopping entries.

Purse parties are a lot of fun. I bring all of the bags and all of the shells, and you pretty much get to play with all of the samples and hang out with your girlfriends. No pressure, no big sales pitch, just a fun evening. I’ve heard that some hosts decide to have theme parties that have gone over VERY well. (Seriously, what could be better than an evening of girlfriends, super cute handbags, and fondue? Well, maybe girlfriends, super cute handbags, and margaritas…) As a host you’re eligible for some pretty sweet discounts too. If you have any questions or want to book a party, give me a call or send me an e-mail.

The giveaway will be open for one week. I'll put all of the entries into a bag and draw a winner the evening of Wednesday, March 16th.  Good luck everyone!