You might as well buy yourself a little somethin’ to celebrate Mother’s Day. I try to be selective about products I review (and hope to move the majority of these type posts to my forthcoming blog, Savvy Housewife) and I love to feature businesses run by women.

Junk in Our Trunks sent me two gorgeous necklaces to review. These fabulous jewelry designers are in Texas and their jewelry definitely makes a statement.

Check out this cute domino Giggle necklace. A pink Swarovski crystal dangles from the bottom and the domino pendant hangs from a 16″ black organza ribbon. Junk in Our Trunks has an entire line of unique domino necklaces, so if this one is not your style I can guarantee you will find one you will love.

I also have this beautiful Blessed/Pray necklace handcrafted from metal and glass. Depending on how I feel about the girls at the moment I can flip it back and forth. This afternoon at soccer was definitely a time for prayer as Miss A would not stop mischieviously darting back and forth on the playing field and eyeing the poison ivy at the edge of the river bank as if it were laced with Pop Tart dust.

So buy yourself a fabulous little piece of bling, or three, for Mother’s Day. Junk in Our Trunks is offering my readers 25% off through May 30 with the code BLONDEMOM (unlimited uses per customer.) These SLUTS cocktail napkins are very fun, too. Hey, stir up a little conversation at Bunco night!

Happy shopping!

With Miss A now potty trained except for Pull Ups at night (cue the choir of angels singing over a gleaming potty in a meadow of daisies), and my black and multicolor striped purse slash glorified diaper bag with the cute black beaded fringe going on its fifth summer, I have been engaged in the Cute Summer Purse Hunt of 2008.

Since I tend to carry the same bag for years and I gravitate toward some sort of exciting variation of solid black or brown, I’ve been looking at some preppy mama bags in fun colors just to liven things up a bit.

On Monday we took the girls out to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and to see a matinee of Horton Hears a Who (which I highly recommend) to kick off Spring Break: Miss C Bounces Back From Strep Throat Edition. The geniuses behind Off Broadway Shoe positioned a store directly across from the restaurant in an effort to entrap mothers far and wide. Since I hadn’t been in one in a couple of years, it was all I could do to not sneak over under the guise of going to the ladies room. As soon as we paid our bill, I asked the hubby if he would get lost with the girls for a few minutes while I browsed in Off Broadway. I headed to the clearance section and miffed that I couldn’t find a cute pair of shoes on clearance for less than $40 (a criminal offense in my retail Zen utopia), I wandered over to the purses.

There she hung, trimmed in my favorite spring color, a very saucy apple green. This was a purse for summer evenings sitting outdoors, sipping margaritas, and listening to live jazz or maybe some reggae. This was not a purse for diapers, unscented wipes, and butt ointment.

I bought the purse even though my old boring purses may talk about how slutty she is behind her back. My standard summer outfit consists of denim Old Navy capris I bought on clearance or khaki GAP shorts with a black short sleeve t-shirt and black sandals, so I figured this would spice things up. If nothing else, the hubby will be able to spot me from a mile away the next time I get “lost” on purpose in Target. Then again I could always hide in a dressing room and turn off my cell phone. Sometimes I just need a little peace and quiet people!

I’ve found many cute purses during Cute Summer Purse Hunt of 2008, so I thought I’d share some of my finds:

These hobo style purses with matching makeup bags are from Swoozies in Atlanta (I wasn’t familiar with them, but I quickly signed up for their e-newsletter):

Pink Monogram’s cute tote is reversible (I love the green.):

I also like Pink Monogram’s classic little black monogrammed purse for just $25:

This fun pink monogrammed straw bag from Morgan & Co. is definitely more than $25, but I won’t hold that against it:

Happy shopping in honor of me ditching ye ole diaper bag.

p.s. What kind of purse do you carry? Are you a faithful, carry it until it is falling apart type bag lady like me or are you one of those must have a coordinating bag with every out fit bag divas?

Over the holidays (yes I am still talking about the holidays…please, it’s only January, I am still recovering) Miss C went over to my mom’s house for the few days I had to actually go in and work check e-mail and drink coffee in the glorious solitude of my office. My mom brought Miss C home one day after lunch and Miss C promptly started hitting Bailey, our 10-year-old Corgi/German Shepherd mix, as hard as she could right above her tail bone with the palm of her bare hand.

My mom: “Oh honey, don’t hit Bailey!”

Miss C: “She likes it Grandma!”

Me: “Oh it’s okay. Bailey loves to be spanked.”

I took yesterday off since school was not in session and Miss C and I had rare a mommy/daughter outing to the big mall south of here after her morning dentist appointment. We hit Claire’s first and did some serious four dollar damage. Good Lord that place is like retail heroin to a 5-year-old girl and as luck would have it they were slashing prices. Miss C spent her hard earned allowance on a pink Barbie wallet, an adorable pair of sheer white daisy fairy wings that I still can’t believe were just a dollar, Hello Kitty lipgloss in a toy cell phone, and a mini Doodle Bear. I couldn’t come home empty handed for Miss A, so I picked up some Dora slippers sporting some frou frou maribou for a big fat dollar.

After all these exhaustive major purchases that required us to make such life changing decisions as, “Do I want the Barbie wallet, which I could use for cookie and milk money at school, or do I want to invest in the sparkly plastic headband trio?,” we headed upstairs and stopped at the pet shop on our way to browse, yes just browse, in Build A Bear and the Disney Store. Seriously if Miss C had known that all this was on our afternoon agenda, her mind would have exploded just trying to wrap itself around the awesomeness. I have skillfully denied both my children the pleasure of Build A Bear since our neighborhood mall has been slowly dying for years and the best thing going for it was a generic Chuck E. Cheese and a working elevator.

But back to the pet shop. I am easily distracted by retail therapy.

There were all sorts of adorable pedigreed puppies but I bet none of them grows up to have a spanking fetish like Bailey.

Mutts rule!

During the bottomless pit of holiday downtime with its endless snacking, lack of routine, and overuse of the TV as a babysitter, Miss C became hooked on several “as seen on TV” products.

She insisted I buy the Betty Crocker cake decorating set so I could make her a flower cake for her birthday.

She ran to me one afternoon pleading, “Mommy come look, come look at this purse! Quick! Quick! You’re going to miss it! It holds everything and you can find anything!”

She begged for Moon Sand, with glitter no less. You could sell cardboard boxes to a 5-year-old girl if they came with glitter.

I blew all this off as a testament to the powerful allure of TV commercials.

Last night she was straightening up her room (she was prolonging bedtime but who am I to argue with her willingly cleaning her room) and I told her I might buy a bulletin board to display her photos and school certificates and other special papers.

“Mommy what’s a bulletin board?”

“Well, it’s a place to hang things like pictures and special school papers. We could hang one on the back of your door.”

“But how would you hang it? There’s no hanger there.”

“Well I’d get daddy to hang it up with a nail or something like that.”

She paused for a moment as her 5-year-old mind spun into overdrive. Her eyes grew wide as she had a revelation.

“Mommy! You need to get some Mighty Putty. It holds anything!”

That Billy Mays is one slick peddler.

A big thanks to Debunot for the wonderful box of goodies I got in the mail yesterday as part of her Christmas gift exchange!

The box contained some cookies, a pink koozie, and this little gem:

I now have an excuse to buy the matching bag! I ditched my diaper bag a long time ago, despite the fact that we’re still not in potty training nirvana. A mother can dream, can’t she?

Miss C helped open the box and grabbed this little goody immediately and said, “OH I want that!”

Hands off shortie. This is mama’s. I kind of miss the days she was mesmerized with torn boxes, cheap bows, and tissue paper.

I’ve been doing some last-minute shopping today in the pouring down rain. There’s something about 50 degree rainy weather that is not very festive. The last Santa present has been purchased by his lovely assistant–she drives a Pathfinder, not a sleigh, to assure she can maneuver through the traffic. Santa’s assistant has been to two different WalMart stores since yesterday (damn she’s dedicated or an idiot or stubborn or all three) to find the Biggest Littlest Pet Shop set only to leave empty handed and head for Target, which is where she probably should have gone in the first place.

Last night when the hubby got home from work the Christmas tree was illuminating our front window, supper was ready, the girls were peacefully coloring at the kitchen table (although they were teetering precariously at the great yawning edge of the abyss heretofore known as endless whining and bickering), and I was playing an Elvis Christmas CD. I felt like a vertitable modern day June Cleaver I tell you! He will never tell, but for a moment he just might have thought his family had been abducted by aliens.

The holidays can be a stressful time, with parties to attend, presents to wrap throw into last year’s gift bags, and mile-long to do lists to plow through. Here are some of my tips for saving time and stress:

Order your holiday cards this week if you haven’t already done so. I ordered 100 photo cards from Winkflash yesterday for less than $40! They are running a great special and the prices are cheaper than WalMart. (Savvy shopping mamas around the world swoon!)

Buy your holiday stamps online. That’s right. You can go directly to the U.S. Postal Service’s website, order stamps, and have them mailed to you. You might think this is silly, but I can’t tell you how nice it is to avoid one more trip to the post office this month. And it costs a whopping $1 for the convenience.

If you are really into convenience and you aren’t on a tight budget, Hallmark offers a service where they will address and ship your cards for you. I’ve never tried this, but one of my friends has. For a $1.25 per card, Hallmark will even have a staff member handwrite your personal greeting. They also have gorgeous photo card templates to choose from. Of course I think it might be odd to get a card with someone else’s handwriting, but this might be a great option if you have a very large number of cards to send.

I am no longer a mall rat, but if you have a day of power shopping planned at your local mall, take advantage of their gift wrapping service. Just be prepared to stand in line, although some malls will offer a drop-off option. I’m not a big fan of wrapping presents now that I have small children and must lock myself away at midnight in the bathroom in order to get any wrapping done, not to mention the fact that the first word that comes to the mind of Miss A when she sees a beautifully wrapped package is DESTROY!

Recycle your holiday gift bags from year to year. I think this is the third year the Sesame Street bag will appear under the tree. You’ve got to love Grover in a Santa hat.

Learn to say no. You don’t have to attend every event or party you are invited to, now do you Miss Paris Hilton?

Make a shopping list and stick with it. Your wallet will thank you. And honestly sit down and ask yourself if you can remember who gave you what for Christmas last year. Think about it.

Shop online and check out a website such as Current Codes for the latest discount codes for free shipping and other good deals. For out of town gifts, remember that Amazon will gift wrap and ship the item directly to to the recipient. If you’re super lame and forgot someone on your list or are completely out of time and resources, you can e-mail a gift card at literally the last minute.

Purchase a few inexpensive generic gifts, such as holiday candy or a pretty embroidered hand towel, for those impromptu holiday lunches. It’s good to keep a couple of bottles of wine on hand, too. The bonus is you can drink them if you don’t give them away.

Cook suppers with staying power. In the winter I like to make heartier meals that provide at least one night of leftovers. Last night I made this Southern Living skillet taco recipe and it was a big hit. I know my psyche is shoring up for a long winter when KFC commercials start to look appealing. (I am a fan of the original recipe variety as well as the mashed potatoes and gravy. Dang, that is some good sodium-laden shizzle.)

And one last thing, don’t forget that the holiday memories that will have the most impact on your children involve the gift of your time. Take the time to drive around your neighborhood to look at holiday lights (and the cynical among us adults can snicker at the neighbor with the gawdiest amount of inflatable lawn ornaments), put on a Bing Crosby CD and bake a batch of sugar cookies, and sit down to read a holiday book, talk about the true Christmas story, or watch a holiday DVD.

So, what are some of your holiday sanity savers? Add them to the comments!

p.s. Feeling the need to get the heck out of Dodge? One of the ads in rotation on my sidebar is for a five-night Tuscany getaway sponsored by PAM (complete with airfare and cooking lessons for two.) Check it out! 

I don’t care if you’re tired and hungry and you have to pee, mommy will drag you all over Nashville to shop for every school supply mentioned on your kindergarten list and YOU WILL LOVE IT.

Nothing will stop MOMMY ON BACK TO SCHOOL OVERDRIVE, fueled by two large Cokes over an awesome lunch of black bean quesadillas (yes we took our kid to a roadhouse for lunch and she loved the music, which included Ozzy and Janis Joplin, and more importantly the chicken tenders and fries.)

Besides, I will buy you glamorous Hello Kitty sandals and a Hello Kitty tank top at Target if you tolerate just one more hour of shopping.

Worth it, no?

She’s not blinded by the bling, although that is possible…this is what you get when you request CHEESE!

p.s. Most Tennessee parents probably know this, but this weekend is the sales tax free weekend for school supplies and clothing and other items, so go forth and shop! You know you need a new Trapper Keeper.
http://www.tennessee.gov/revenue/salestaxholiday/