Musings of a Marfan Mom

December 1, 2009
by marfmom
34 Comments

Giveaway: Little Ones, LLC

I am very excited to announce a giveaway from Little Ones, LLC! My friend Abbey started Little Ones, and it’s been fun to watch her business quickly expand. Every item is handmade and custom orders are welcome. For instance, I received a nursing cover when Menininho was born with extra length added to it, because I am so tall.

I think my favorite product is the hair bow, which now comes in 4 different bands and various styles. I told Mark that next time around we need to have a girl so I can buy the “hair bow of the month” package for her. For now, I just buy bows for all of my friends’ daughters. Menininho also loves to use the burp cloths as chew toys.

One lucky reader will win a $20 gift card to Little Ones! And, as a bonus, EVERY reader automatically gets 15% off their next order with the coupon code MARFMOM! The contest and coupon run through this Friday, Dec. 4th, 11 pm PST. I will announce the winner on Saturday the 5th.

You get an entry for doing each of the following, but you MUST leave a separate comment for each entry:
1) Visit Little Ones, then leave a comment here telling me your favorite item.
2) Follow Little Ones on Twitter (@littleonesllc).
3) Follow me on Twitter (@MarfGirl).
4) Tweet or blog about this giveaway (leave a direct link).

Please also make sure I have an easy way to contact you should you win. If I can’t easily find your email address via here, Twitter, or your blog, I’ll choose another winner.

Good luck!

* I was not compensated for this review beyond the item to be given away.

November 30, 2009
by marfmom
2 Comments

Female Bonding

Like most families, we have many Thanksgiving traditions: fried turkey, my cranberry salad, the Stinky Boy Room, and Euchre. None, however, top the Female Bonding Ritual: Black Friday shopping.

My first Thanksgiving with Mark’s family, 6 years ago, I was a little intimidated by how intense the women were, but now I look forward to this all year. As soon as the dining room table has been cleared from dinner and everyone has their slices of (the 5 kinds of) pie, the advertisements come out. I think there are about 10 pounds worth, I kid you not. We draw names for the family gift exchange and set to creating our shopping lists. This takes at least a half hour, as we scan the ads for the best deals for each item and make shopping lists specific to each store. Then, we coordinate who is going to which store when, and who is going to be the designated “Kohl’s Jewelry Counter Girl” in order to secure the best jewelry selection. We usually hit Kohl’s first and have one person stand in line while the rest of us bring in our loot.

And did I mention that one of the aunts does a run through of some of the stores on Wednesday, to get a feel for the layout ahead of time? TRUE STORY!

After Kohl’s we always meet for breakfast at McDonalds to give us a chance to regroup before hitting up Target. Following Target we split up for the rest of our shopping, which goes off and on until early evening.

There is a certain appeal to finishing the Christmas shopping in one fell swoop (I was done by 8:30 AM this year!), but I think the real enjoyment comes from the thrill of the hunt and just spending time together sans the boys.

 

What kinds of Thanksgiving traditions do your families share?