wish list: back-to-school edition
as a kid, august was my FAVORITE! by the end of the summer, i had a righteous tan from playing all day every day in the sunshine with friends. i had stories to share about camp, neighborhood antics, and beach trips. and i had new gear to sport at school.
i would spend HOURS organizing my binders with tabs and notes and stickers. highlighters, markers, ballpoint pens, and number 2 pencils would fill my pouch or pencil box (sometimes both).
not that i was a stellar student. i wasn’t. until i was in college and actually had a say about which classes i invested myself in.
funny how that happens.
anyway, if i were heading back to school (which i never will again b/c ZOMG I AM SO DONE WITH SCHOOL) this is the gear i would want…
Skip Hop Zoo Pack Little Kid Backpack
MadPax full and half packs 
Bird vs. Bee Mittens (yes, they have adult ones too!)
Banderole Pencil Set 
Striped Binder Clips
Alphabet File Folders
Black Skulls On Blue Binder
Black/Flame Converse Kids Chuck Taylors
all product images are courtesy of the respective stores…except for jackson…i produced him and that photo, so steal it and i’ll shank you.
be honest, how much tv has your kid watched this summer?
seriously, how much? 1 hr a day? 4 hrs a day? none?
i’ve slacked this summer in terms of jackson and his tv watching. i most definitely have, and as of right now, i’m still ok with that.
since jackson turned 3, his tv interests have changed. he’s in love with the disney channel now much more so than his former PBS go-to shows. i don’t think it’s so bad. sure the disney channel may now have a jacked-up-looking mickey mouse and way more computer generated shit than i certainly remember… but times change.
honestly, it’s made me happy to see jackson get excited about mickey mouse and all of the beautiful splendor that is disney. i still remember the first time i went to disney with my parents (i was 5) and my dad shouldered an enormous video camera the entire day to record my every moment in the magic kingdom.
remember VHS? i know! crazy pants!
with us moving back to florida in just 4 short weeks, i know paul and i will have trips to disney to consider in the near future.
and yeah, i suppose i’m justifying jackson’s tv watching in explaining my love of all things disney, and so that makes me wonder how the rest of your summers have gone in terms of tv watching.
we’ve traveled a lot this summer. A LOT. between trips with our family, house hunting, adventures around the baltimore/DC area before we leave here, we’ve been busy.
there has been more outside time (when it’s not 118 degrees out) whether it’s been in the pool, at the park, going to get an ice cream cone, feeding the ducks, which has been wonderful.
and when there is inside time (because it’s 118 degrees out) we do play-doh, puzzles, blocks, and plenty of activities that don’t involve the boob tube.
…but we also watch tv.
i suppose in the same way that i used to look forward to summer for the lazy-factor when i was a kid, i’m seeing that i’m ok with my own kid possibly feeling the same way (at least for now).
he’ll start preschool once we move and for 5 days a week will be in a structured environment that he hasn’t yet experienced. his 2 year old program last year was fantastic, but it was 3 days a week for only a few hours at a time, basically to socialize.
knowing that he’s embarking on his first taste of real school this year, what’s so wrong with a little extra tv this summer?
it’s not like i’m pumping him full of junk food and soda and zombie-fying him and giving him popsicles for breakfast so that i can have more time on the internet…
::side eyes::
is it bad that as i type this post, jake the pirate is on in the background? i don’t think so because i hear my son over the tv, yelling “ARRRRRG MATEY!” and i am reassured that he is enjoying himself, which makes me happy.
isn’t that what summer is about? an extra dose of happy? a little extra tv?
or not?
you tell me. how much tv has your kid(s) watched this summer?
beach house week via instagram
i have a ton of things to share with you. like A TON. but i’m really tired, and after yesterday’s 10 hr and 15 min drive from hilton head to annapolis, not to mention the piles of laundry that have taken over my house, and the grocery shopping that needs to take place, i’m going to leave it to my instagram shots to tell the story of last week’s family beach vacay of glorious splendor.
then i sat his damp little ass in a plastic bean bag chair and he got stuck
i heard 4 words uttered from jackson’s mouth last night that i REALLY hoped i wouldn’t hear (though i think subconsciously, i knew i would hear them at some point in time).
“OH NO. I’M PEEING.”
ya see, it’s been a rough week. i’ve been single-parenting it around here this week, and well, i’m basically just trying to keep my head about water.
so when paul told me his flight got in at 9:40 pm, all i could think was “well hell, by the time he gets home, he’ll be hungry.” shit knows, i would be hungry. i eat only 905 times a day.
being the dutiful spouse that i am, i got a large pizza for dinner. not because that’s what i wanted… oh no no… i was thinking only of paul and him arriving home after 10 pm, starving, and THE LOOK upon his face to find A LARGE CHEESE PIZZA waiting for him.
i know. wife of the century. i won it again.
::side eyes::
the sweet local pizza shop owner has come to know and adore jackson. he gave my little dude a free LARGE lemonade tonight when we picked up our goodies. jackson had an entire styrofoam (EGADS STYROFOAM!!!!!) cup full of pink lemonade all to himself.
of course we get home and he eats pizza…
PAUSE: HE ATE PIZZA!!!!! HE ATE!!!!! ZOMG!!!!!
and then downs the entire lemonade. the whole thing. i’m pretty sure he didn’t even pause to breathe. he just drank and drank and drank. much like his father did when we were in our 20′s.
(ok… our teens.)
so i make a mental note of it (sort of) but like i said, i’ve been single-parenting all week long and i’m fuckin tired man and there are dishes to be done and a dog to be taken out and PAUL’S COMING HOME, I NEEDED TO SHAVE MY LEGS!!!
while i’m in the kitchen, tossing crusted dishes into the dishwasher, i hear this “OH NO. I’M PEEING,” come from a small voice in the living room.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” i yelled and then for a minute remembered potty-training our dog.
we were told to “NEVER shame the dog when accidents happen. he’s just as upset as you are about it.”
hmmm… i doubt that.
so, like any good parent, i shamed my son. he looked up at me with those doe eyes, all wide and curious and wondering what he had done that made me respond the way i did. i kept telling him “STOP,” but i’m afraid after all that lemonade, not even jackson was in control of his own body.
seriously, i could never drink lemonade in a cup that big and live to see the bottom of the cup before spilling my urine all over the floor on which i stood. after kids, your bladder is never the same. your EVERYTHING is never the same.
that’s a post for another day.
i picked jackson up from underneath his armpits and carried him to the bathroom. his entire front side was soaked. shorts. underwear. tee-shirt (apparently he aims up). when i put him down in front of the toilet and told him, “ok, you can finish now,” he peed a drip and said, “i’m done mom.”
removing all of his piss clothes, i asked him why he didn’t tell me he had to go.
“because i was peeing.”
“right, i know that. but WHYYYYYYYY were you peeing in your pants?”
“uh. because i had to go.”
“right, everyone has to go, but you need to tell mommy when you have to go so we can get to a potty.”
“ok but i was playing.”
fair nuff. too busy playing to let anyone know that you had to take a leak. happens to the best of us. it’ll happen to you plenty more when you’re in college.
when hanging out on the internet
here’s the thing… strapless bras serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever. none. i’m all for bra burning, but with strapless bras, i would bring gasoline to that party.
i believe the intended purpose for the strapless bra is that women look as though they are wearing a bra (i.e. no nippige, no sagging, plump pillows of lusciousness) without actually seeing the bra; however, when you think about it and truly dissect the strapless bra, you come to understand that people see it anyways because you’re always fucking adjusting it.
it always slips down. always. and you hike it back up. always.
therefore, it becomes known that you are wearing a strapless bra.
pointless. absolutely pointless. kind of like your appendix. except you don’t have to adjust your appendix. unless you have it removed because it explodes on you. i would consider that an adjustment.
same goes for the thong. the point is to look as though you’re not wearing underwear. so you wear the string up your ass and then time passes and it gets uncomfortable and you find some way to shimmy yourself just right in order to pluck said string from your ass and go about your day.
of course once you go in to pluck your thong from between your ass cheeks, your boss calls you in to a meeting and 4 of your coworkers look over at you while your hand is fishing in your bum.
pointless, people. pointless.
keeping all that in mind, here’s where i’ll be hanging out this weekend…
click on the button above, or click here to take a peak at the current giveaways going on. then get yourself comfy and join us this weekend as we let it all hang out.
Have a Sip
