I love handmade items!  My family and I have purchased many items from those who sell handicrafts and we have always been well pleased.  Whether is was clothing or toys, we always knew that what we were getting was of good quality.  Another bonus is the lack of the “Made in China” tag.

I received from Chic Mommy USA recently a beautiful ring sling.  Right off the bat, I loved it.  (The picture of me and my baby trying it out is not working, so I’ll update it to my side bar so everyone can see)  It is made with a beautiful dark brown fabric and accessorized with the cutest Amy Butler paisley print.  One of my favorite parts is the stitching!  Liseth does not use plain straight stitches, but rather a decorative stitch that makes the sling stand out that much more.

A huge plus for me is the fact that this sling is breathable.  I live where it is hot.  Very hot.  And humid. Very humid.  Combine that with wearing a baby and it can get pretty uncomfortable.  Not so much with my Chic Mommy USA sling.  The fabric is made out of 100% cotton and does not overheat either mom or baby.

*Example of Baby Sling*

Chic Mommy USA also carries other items.  You can find shoulder bags, laptop sleeves, waldorf play silks, and more.  Custom ordering is also available.

I also encourage you to check out Liseth’s blog.  You will find lots of holistic and healthy living information there.  I have learned a lot from this lady and I have only known her for a short time.

Thanks for taking the time to learn more about my sponsor. Please head on over to her Etsy shop and see the beautiful items she has for sale!  It is always great to support WAHM’s and handmade goods.

Becoming superwoman seems to be the unfortunate goal of many mothers.  Lofty goals are made, spotless house and perfect children are dreamed of, and yes, there is always in the background the comforting and just plain yummy smell of fresh bread baking throughout the house.  Inevitably, all of those visions shatter once that first baby is born and Mommy realizes that caring for a child and a home is no small task.

I was one of those moms a few years ago.  I was going to always have a clean house.  My children would always have unwrinkled clothes that were spotless because I was going to be the continual victor in the battle against Mt. Laundry.  I would keep our floors clean enough that eating off of them would be perfectly safe.  There would never be a speck of dust anywhere in our home because I would live with a dusting rag in hand, ready to swipe at any dust that dare land on a counter or piece of furniture.

Fast forward to now.  The house is never totally clean.  My children do occasionally wear wrinkled clothes that may or may not feature spaghetti sauce stains.  I do generally keep up with the laundry now but 3 years ago that could not be said.  The dust?  It lands.  And stays there.  And eating off of my floor?  That is so not a good idea.  And so I have finally realized what is fact: my house will never be featured in Martha Stewart’s Living magazine.

But I want to let you in on something that may help with the overwhelming feeling once you realize that you alone cannot keep up with it all.  This sadly seems to be a revolutionary idea in our time:

Children can work around the house, too!  Gasp!

I will not delve into a thesis revolved around why children who are young should be trained to do some work.  So not going there.  Don’t have the time at the moment and because there are people on both sides of that fence, I am not interested in starting a war.  (Of course, I am not saying that you cannot share what you think in the comments section.  Go ahead!  Just please speak in civil tones.  Thanks!)

Because I do not want this post to become any longer than it already is, I will break it up into smaller, fun-sized bites.  Like Snickers minis.  Only not as fattening.  Now I am hungry.  When you come back for the next installment in this series, please bring chocolate.  It would be so appreciated.

Having been home well over a week, I feel as if I have had an appropriate amount of time to process my trip to Chicago.  I went on the trip with virtually no expectations.  Not only was this my first blogging soiree, it was also my first true convention of any type.

I thought it would make it easier on myself by doing a pro/con listing.  I know, I know.  Pretty basic and boring.  But for those who really want to know my take on the whole thing, it’ll just be better all around doing it that way.

PROS:

• I met some really. awesome. people.  The first night I met other JVC winners and one of the sweetest gals in the world: Chelsea, the PR gal from JVC.  I was able to tag along with The Happy Housewife a bit.  I also met my long lost twin, Kate.  We spent a lot of the convention quietly in the background but learned a lot about each other.  We are so similar it is amazing!

• The food? It was so very delicious.  The dinner Thursday evening at Harry Caray’s was just amazing.  I would definitely eat there again.  BlogHer provided breakfast and lunch both Friday and Saturday.  (Note to BlogHer organizers: the Mexican food on Saturday? Yeah.  Do that again.  YUM!)

• I learned a lot about PR and how companies woo their customers.  Kudos to those vendors who provided areas to charge up our laptops.  By the way? One of the vendors there was PepsiCo and their subsidiary, Quaker Oats.  I had this AMAZING Oatmeal Slide Smoothie.  You have got to try it.  Definitely not low fat, but would make a great treat once in a while.

• It was just plain wonderful to be around people who totally get what blogging is.  Seriously.  You have no idea how many people I know or meet that think I am a little coocoo for putting words out there in cyber land.

• Staying at the Sheraton, right by the Chicago River, overlooking Lake Michagan.  Beautiful.

Cons

• The sessions.  In my opinion, they were terrible.  Speakers kept going off topic.  I learned nothing new except in one session that included Jessica Smith (who, by the way, I can tell is a super-nice person. I unfortunately did not get ot meet her face-to-face).  Another session was very unprofessional.  One of the speakers on the panel was foul-mouthed and crude.  I expect more from a convention and this was a huge turn-off to me.

• Too big.  As a first time convention-goer, this was overwhelming.  Too much going on.  I had hoped to network with some people but that didn’t happen due to the size.  (Another note to the BlogHer organizers: how about instead of one big convention, maybe three a year in different cities?)

• The parties.  Oh my, the parties.  Too much “grab the swag” and not enough sincere “I am here to meet you and get to know you.”

• Drama.  Of course, anytime you group together a bunch of sinners, you are going to get drama.  Fortunately, I am a wallflower so I never am thrown into any of that.

Overall, I am still on the wall as to whether or not I would go to another BlogHer.  The next one is in NYC and that is tempting to me as that is one city I would like to visit.  All in all, I was not over-impressed with BlogHer and no, I do not feel it is a necessity in order to be a good blogger.  I was hoping for an event that would teach me and help me become a better writer/blogger/reviewer.  That did not happen.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section or feel free to email me!

I have not participated in Menu Plan Monday in quite a while. My menus have been pretty plain of late. However, since I am currently working with Courtney on getting the Faithful Bloggers site up, as well as moving my blog, I thought it would be nice to take a little break from writing a post. We eat coffee cake and sausage, or oatmeal, for breakfasts. For lunch we have sandwiches or leftovers. This menu will consist of dinners only.

On to said menu. . .
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Monday -

Chicken Hash from Kate’s site

Tuesday -

Pancakes (yes, we eat breakfast for dinner!)

Wednesday -

Rice, beans, and stir-fry veggies

Thursday -

Macaroni and Cheese

Friday -

Enchiladas (We have guests coming over this Friday, yay!)

Saturday -

Homemade pizza (What toppings do y’all use on your pizzas? I need new ideas!)

The Happy Housewife is guest hosting this meme today, so be sure to visit her and leave the link to your own menu!

My list of projects has fallen woefully to the side. This is my sad attempt to redirect my activities to getting some of these projects done. I am considering taking a very belated part in the 101 tasks in 1001 days project. I know a lot of folks did this two or three years ago, but I now know not one single person in my small lists of contacts who is participating. Perhaps they have completed their tasks already and are moving on.

Anyways.

On to the afore mentioned list.

• Finish skirts for girls and I. Maybe a few dresses along the way.
• Get sewing machine serviced. That thunk-thunk noise? Can’t be good.
• Find a whole wheat bread recipe I actually like.
• Learn WordPress. Okay. So that is a really broad task, but until I can break it up into smaller WordPress topic chunks, it will just have to stay like that.
• Get blog redesigned.
• Learn how to use my point and shoot Panasonic Lumix TZ5 camera.
• Learn how to use my brand-new JVC camcorder.
• Pick up bulk cooking again. This will be hard to do with my silly side-by-side freezer. But, as usual, I am sure I’ll find a way to make it work.

Of course, I reserve the right to add or take away to this list. My brain is always coming up with ideas and then of course the inevitable crashing back down to earth takes place. We’ll see what stays and what goes.

What is on YOUR to do list?