Moms

You’ve perhaps heard about the annual Blessing of the Animals–this happens in various cities around the country–where pet owners can bring their animal to a local church where the priest leads a ceremony and blesses each animal with Holy Water. In New York, The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine hosts the Blessing of the Animals on St. Francis Day, in October. Hundreds of people gather from around the city to bring their  pets–from fish, to birds, to dogs and all other animals you can imagine–to be blessed, while many others join in to witness the festivities. But for some pet parents, they are seeking out more than a group blessing and hosting their own pet baptism/confirmation ceremonies. Being the animal lovers we are here at eco18.com and knowing what a part they play in the health and conservation of the planet, we were quite intrigued to learn about the extra step pet owners are going to to include their pets in family and religious traditions–down to their own baptism. New York resident Trinette Faint, dog mom to one of our previously featured Pet of the Month, Avery, recently hosted a pet baptism/confirmation. Complete with a confirmation gown and God Parents to particpate, she and a close group of friends gathered at a neighborhood church in uptown Manhattan this past winter to formally confirm Avery. Trinette isn’t the only person who has come up with this idea. A quick Google search will lead to people asking questions on the topic in various forums, YouTube videos pet baptisms and you can even buy a kit to help prepare for the day, complete with a certificate. While most would agree you don’t have to save your pets soul, we can appreciate anyone who goes the extra step to take care of their animals.

I am not a perfume fan. At all. Perfume makes me feel sick, actually, so I do not wear it. Haven't for years. Which is why my obsession for fragrant things, specifically fragrant things to put on my body is strange. But also not strange because smell is perhaps the most underrated sense we have as humans. Smell influences taste in every sense (ha!) and is something we should spend more time discussing. Because sometimes we cannot change the way we look or feel... but smell. Ah, we can smell like whatever we wish... or nothing at all. But also... there are things out there in the world and sometimes these things make us feel happy or sexy or just... you know, good... to smell.God, what am I even saying right now? I do not know. What I do know is that I have stumbled upon many a wonderful smell-good things as of late and I have decided to make it my personal mission these next few months to recommend my faves.Because perfume is so last century. And, when worn improperly, invasive to the personal space of friends and strangers who are now experiencing eau de dizziness and Coco de nausea c/o all those Sephora samples. (ED: I can't even go to Sephora anymore. It gives me legit morning sickness.)First up? This saucy little number which I am recommending to you because it smells amazing/makes your skin feel awesome and might help you want to have sex more. With yourself, if nothing else.I have no idea where it came from or who sent it to me or how old it is but when we moved I discovered it in a box and have been lathering my afre-shower self with it ever since.It smells like a lavender if lavender were to fuse with green apple that time traveled from the 1920s and then exploded mid flight and got a little dusty? And then became oil. (I am terrible at describing the way things smell but intend to work on this and hopefully, improve with time.)Also? It's $20 and will last you an entire year if you use it sparingly. It also might help reduce stretch marks I just realized? Which would explain when/where it came from. Ahem. GGC

Again, back story first. My car collision was more than two months ago, but I am still “enjoying” the pain-numbing effects of a Fentanyl patch, such as lack of energy, emotional instability, forgetfulness that my arm doesn’t work right yet and frequent break-outs as a sweaty mess when I do too much. Fast forward to yesterday when I attempted a fieldtrip because one dog is late on his rabies shot and the other dog is due.  The close and handy Petco (read: not in the ghetto) only has a shot clinic on Friday night and we had a conflict. SO, my two daughters and I along with the two pooches planned a mid-morning trip to another not-so-handy and not-close-at-all Petco (read: in the ghetto).  Little did we realize that everyone who lives in the slums also decided to get their dogs’ rabies shots yesterday morning.  The pain patch + 2 squirrely dogs + Petco full of dogs and “interesting” people = pandemonium to the third degree. We parked in the lot and discussed who would hold the leashes while we crossed traffic and entered the store BEFORE we opened any of the doors.  That was the only moment when things went down as planned.  Being unable to hold a yanking-leash in my right hand, I held onto my little girl’s hand.  My big girl held the wiener dog and had the rat terrier on a leash. So far. So good. As we entered the store, Ringo, the wiener dog decides to announce our arrival with his big-dog voice and won’t shut up, which invited all the other dogs in the store to welcome us as well.  I glanced to my right and saw the clinic table set up and three people in line. We made our way down the center aisle of the store with our heads glued to the right as we were overcome row after row at the length of the line. Finally toward the rear of the establishment, we discovered our place right behind an over-fed and under-socialized huge yellow lab.  At our arrival, the lab went ballistic barking and pulling his owner off balance (a full grown man) to get to our puny doggies. Breathing deeply though my nose to gain composure and accept the fact that we were in for a long wait, I suggested to my eldest that she get a cart to put our doggies in for their own protection. In the blink of an eye, the red leash on the rat terrier was handed to the little nine-year-old hand that didn’t close in time to stop the escape of Trixie.  Without thinking (obviously) I screamed, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” which was pretty obvious….. she was not holding the dog leash.  It has been many years since I have moved that fast.  Trixie was running with her ears back and her tail tucked and was bee-lining for the front door. It must have been quite a sight for all the people standing in line seeing the teeny white dog dragging a red leash followed by the flash of a woman at the end of the row. Near the registers I was able to step on the end of the leash and clothesline the AWOL fugitive.  Trixie’s head stayed in place and I’m sure she was trying to figure out why her tail just passed her head. While reaching down to grab the red restraint, my sun glasses tumbled out of my purse and made a sizable raucous to draw more attention to the woman who couldn’t control her tiny mongrel. Victoriously I gathered my glasses and my hound and casually walked back to the rear of the store not making eye contact with anyone who just witnessed the overthrown departure (read: hot sweaty mess, shaky hands, emotionally volatile).  A ten-year-old terrier wasn’t going to get the best of me.  No sirree. As previously planned, my eldest went to retrieve a cart to protect our pets.  Meanwhile, back in the ghetto, Jim Bob’s homemade collar on the fat yellow dog gave way and the mutt pounced on my pup.   His owner sluggishly slurred, “Well, how’d that happen?” as he slowly made moves to re-tethered his pooch.  That dog was going to have to get through ME to have one mini sniff a

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Following a cast of characters through their lives over almost forty years is a formidable task, yet it’s one that Meg Wolitzer has taken on with her new novel The Interestings. This is one of this season’s much-talked about books, and after consuming the 480 page novel in just a few days, I’m in the “loved it!” camp of readers. In the summer of 1974, Julie Jacobson went away to an arts-themed summer camp run by two aging hippies, and at fifteen, the course of her life was set into motion as the result of one nonchalant invitation. After accepting her tent mate Ash’s invitation to hang out with her group of friends, Julie was transformed from a self-perceived “nothing” into Jules, someone who belonged in a group of irony-loving, slightly profane adolescents. The six teenagers who sat together in Boys Teepee 3 could never have fathomed the ways in which their futures were intertwined, with some relationships set to wax and wane over the years, and others to go down unimaginable paths. That first night they all crowded onto the dirty floor of the teepee, their jokes a mix of typical adolescent silliness and a budding sense of the disturbing nature of the politics and social issues of the day, they embraced a name for themselves. “The Interestings” was meant to be ironic, a stab at their perceptions of being inconsequential. For Jules, in her awe at these personalities like none she’d ever met before, the name was more than fitting: The name was ironic, and the improvisational christening was jokily pretentious, but still, Julie Jacobson thought, they were interesting. These teenagers around her, all of them from New York City, were like royalty and French movie stars, with a touch of something papal. Everyone at this camp was supposedly artistic, but here, as far as she could tell, was the hot little nucleus of the place. She had never met anyone like these people; they were interesting compared not only with the residents of Underhill, the New York suburb where she’d lived since birth, but also compared with what was generally out there, which at the moment seemed baggy suited, nefarious, thoroughly repulsive. Jules finds the others the most fascinating, often continuing to feel like an outsider among the group even many years later. Yet Wolitzer has made her the center of the story, with the others’ lives being described around her and her perception of them. None of them are perfect by any means, and through the course of almost four decades, they all make missteps in their own ways, and to certain degrees of significance. Through it all, though, they remain emotionally connected in a way that can often happen when people first meet at such a pivotal time of development. Wolitzer is a masterful storyteller, taking readers from one moment in time to many years later with a seemingly passing statement, subtly foreshadowing events to come or referencing a distant time in the future. The chapters don’t always flow chronologically, but the tone is set in a way that it’s easy for readers to make the jumps in time, altering the images in their heads to account for aging or setting changes. The shifts allow for the stories to unfold gradually, and some character developments change course as stories are unveiled from the past. Personally, I loved this format, coming to expect some twists and turns from the past to be revealed to help inform the characters’ situations in the present time. I was completely drawn in by The Interestings, an incredible character-driven novel that had me openly weeping at times and utterly fascinated from beginning to end. Have I gotten you interested? We have one copy of THE INTERESTINGS to give away today. Enter via the rafflecopter below, US and Canada shipping addresses only, please. a Rafflecopter giveaway

1. Julia and Lucy had a piano recital. They were just as proud of the number of cookies they ate at the post-recital reception as they were of their performances. 2. I pulled the world’s largest splinter out of the heel of Lucy’s foot. Look at that thing! And it was straight up in there. We both screamed when it came out. 3. Bee swallowed a penny. Again.

You know how Pinterest can make you feel like a slacker mother whose cooking and homemaking and craft skills don’t compare with all the other mothers out there? Well, today for a change, it made me feel normal. No way would a sane mother present these sandwiches to her children… Somehow, I think my kids will survive on plain old peanut butter and jelly. Author informationJill Smokler, AKA Scary MommyWhat started as an innocent on-line baby book to chronicle Jill's stay-at-home days with her children, (Lily, Ben, and Evan) quickly transformed into a vibrant community of parents, brought together by a common theme: Parenting doesn’t have to be perfect. Learn more here.TwitterFacebookGoogle+The post Insane Works of Sandwich Art appeared first on Scary Mommy: An honest look at motherhood.

On an evening when Kristin’s returned from a business trip and Erin’s back from yet another baseball game, we chat about how a momentary distraction while driving can have unintended consequences. Then we talk about a couple of stories lighting up the blogosphere this week: Angelina Jolie’s big decision and how the 1% in America “Do Disney.” Links mentioned: The Internet is Made of Cats | Minecraft – Creeper | Good Samaritan Law | It Can Wait campaign | Groundbreaking Surgery for Girl Born Without Windpipe | Angelina Jolie’s Disclosure | Angelina Jolie – My Medical Choice | Still Alice | Nashville |Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cut lines at Disney World  | Amy’s Baking Company Freaks Out Online After Epic Meltdown On Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ | Men Brought to Tears During ‘Going Into Labor’ Simulation | Disney retreats from Princess Merida makeover after widespread criticism | Brave director criticises Disney’s ‘sexualised’ Princess Merida redesign Listen: iTunes | mp3

Since my viral eye infection has laid me pretty flat for a few weeks, my blogging and month of mom challenges for P&G have sadly been lacking.  However, I did want to share my experiences with their Dawn Ultra dish detergent. I am really picky about my dish detergents.  With a family of five and no dishwasher, I wahs dishes 3 to 4 times a day, with no end in sight.  Finding a detergent that can do the job without breaking the grocery budget is important.  Dawn Ultra is great because you don’t need a lot.  A small amount creates big bubbles and grease cutting action.  I can actually feel the squeaky clean feeling on the dishes that I like and compared to the grocery store brand that I just finished with….that was a waste of a bottle.    I had to rewash dishes over and over to get them clean enough. Being so sick, my family hasn’t enjoyed any great meals from me, but the other day I had picked up a lovely little Pork Roast and figured I could manage that.    I cooked it with orange juice and some teriyaki marinade and because I wasn’t paying attention it created a charming black bubbly mess on the bottom of my old pan.  Yuck. I soaked it over night in Dawn filled dishwater and even without my usual scrubbers (shopping not been a priority either) managed to do a good job of an old and beat up pan.  All burnt bits gone and no greasy feeling left.  Yay. The Pork Roast tasted delicious despite its appearance. Starting May 29th, there will be a new Brandsaver savings opportunities online for you to try the many products from P&G including Dawn Ultra. Also on Wednesday, June 5th, Food Network’s John Catucci will be hosting Dine & Dish with Dawn – a pop-up poutinerie at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto, where the poutine is free if you clean your own dish with Dawn Ultra. That’s right; if you eat it – you clean it! Disclosure: I am a P&Gmom. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and special access to P&G events and opportunities. The opinions on this blog are my own. The post Dawn Ultra – A test appeared first on crunchycarpets.com.

I’ve been a bit MIA the past week. That’s because I’ve been on and off the phone with the breastfeeding center lactation consultants–my one-year-old has been biting. The poor thing is teething and is taking it out on my nipples. I was unprepared for this as my older son ever bit me a handful . . . → Read More: Chomp!