My fab Wonka T-shirt, Built By Wendy!

Last month I got this most excellent T shirt! Pictured on it is the scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the Gene Wilder version, natch) where Charlie returns the everlasting gobstopper. The image of Gene Wilder's hand covering the gobstopper and his fingers curling over the edge of the desk really stayed with me all these years and it is so cool to see it on a shirt! Oddly, my brother John and I were talking about this scene like 2 days before I came across this site (Built By Wendy) - I wasn't even looking for Wonka things.

...here's the detailed drawing:





I only ordered this a few weeks ago...the price has gone up quite a bit - it had been $25, now it is $45! Wow! That is quite an increase. But it is a fine shirt.

Loving the Alpha Table

I am in LOVE with this table. I LOVE IT! Pricey though. Say, anyone wanna buy me an early (or late) birthday present?

The Eggman

C6 must've been a good kid this year – he got some pretty neat stuff in his Easter basket! My favorite were these awesome glowy Easter eggs. I found them through Mighty Junior. They glow and change color! Woo! C6 is using them as portable nightlights - he set 4 of them on his bedposts last night (see photo). He gave me one so I could have my own nightlight too. Must've been a good kid this year...

C6 in the kitchen

C6 and I are all about the cookies. Here's a shot of him assisting with the buttah for a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. (The recipe on the lid of the Quaker Oats container has always been a fave.)

I wish I had a cool apron like C6's! I got it at Beansoup a couple of months ago and he's been getting a lot of use out of it. When I ordered the apron I inquired if I could have one made in my size and, alas, they could not, as they were all out of the cool retro dot pattern fabric. The person who answered my inquiry (Leigh) wrote that since they get a lot of requests like mine, they are offering the new fabric selections in sizes for kids and bigger people too. But no more cool retro dots. *sigh*

Today's cookin' with C6:

• At breakfast time we made Strawberry/Banana/OJ smoothies (with waffles and yogurt)
  
• For lunch, we made ham & cheese croissants. (We used refrigerated crescent roll dough.)
  Also on the lunch menu were edamame beans, cucumbers and carrots.
  
• Dinner time, we prepared slices of kielbasa on teeny tiny pumpernickel bread with mustard. We served'em with mashed potatoes and peas.

We like to watch "Cooking With Luis" on Noggin. We haven't tried any of his recipes yet, but C6 gets inspired to get into the kitchen after we watch. I like how Luis says "this is the best evah" kinda deadpan. D'ya think someone told him that should be his catch phrase? Other popular Luis phrases: "it doesn't get any better than this", "it's that easy", "good food, good fwends". We luv Luis!

Retro Bathing Suit BONANZA

I wrote about my favorite bathing suit back in June. Now, I love my bathing suit. HOWEVER! Girl's Gone Child found the perfect retro suit for me! It is close to the same cut as my suit but woooooo! POLKA DOTS!!! Look here at Retrodress - the Esther Williams Collection!!! Here's my suit. I'm'a gonna git me some POLKA DOTS!

My Mum had an awesome navy blue with white polka dot suit back in the day. I always wanted one like it. Although Retrodress doesn't offer that exact combo, I could TOTALLY live with black suit-with-white-polka-dots!

And Fashiony-Fashiony Rebecca (Girl's Gone Child) is a polka-dotter too! HURRAH! Maybe we can start a CLUB!

I love polka dots I do.

Calgon, Take Me Away!

As I've mentioned, I am totally addicted to Lush's Bath Bombs. But they ain't cheap! I needed to find a less-expensive substitute between Superbaths. So, when C5 and C6 were headed to CVS last week, I asked if they could pick me up some "Cheap bubble bath, bath salts...anything. Your choice - just not expensive." They returned with a box of Calgon "English Garden" Bubble Bath. It was $2.99. Perfect!

The box had a really strong floral scent and I wondered if it would be overpowering in the tub. I had to test it out! Honestly? I wasn't expecting much. Surprisingly, the bubble bath turns the water a soothing blue color. And it is pretty smelly but I got used to it. Funny, I don't recall this "bubble bath" actually making bubbles! The BEST part (besides the price) is that it makes your skin sooooo soft! And it stayed nice and soft, too. I was surprised about that. Bonus: the tub doesn't get too messy, which is nice.

I got 4 nice baths out of this box for less than the price of one Lush bathbomb!

Score!

My Favorite Bathing Suit

Years ago, I mentioned my quest for a 1950's movie starlet bathing suit to my fabulous niece, AnneMarie. She found this suit, online at Land's End, and we both ordered it, as it is seeew awesome. It is a really flattering suit! I love the neckline, and the straps, both front and back. It is modest without being frumpy. I've stuck with the basic black, but it is made in other colors, too. Every couple of years I buy a new one and hope that they continue making them! (I also hope that the price doesn't keep going up the way that it has...yeeesh!)

My new hands!

The wintertime does a number on my hands. The coldness, combined with all the extra handwashing and germ killin' turns them into two sorry lumps of coral. But no more! I have found Ocean Salt by one of my favorite companies, Lush I've been a Lush junky for years and years, but mostly for their amaaaaaazing bath bombs. Ocean Salt is a facial scrub - but it works great all over. Try scrubbing your hands with Ocean Salt and then following up with a nice handcream (I use Lush's Dream Cream). I find you get maximum sloughage when you apply the scrub to damp-ish, almost dry hands. (not soaking wet). You will be so smoov! And you'll want to hold hands with someone all day.

Clocky.

I don't have much need for an alarm clock - C6 does a fine job of making sure we are up plenty early every day. If I REALLY needed to ABSOLUTELY be awake on time OR ELSE, maybe I'd consider getting Clocky - an alarm clock that actually jumps off your nightstand so you can't press "snooze" more than once!

"Clocky. The alarm clock that runs away and hides when you don't wake up. Clocky gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will jump off of your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide. Clocky is kind of like a misbehaving pet, only he will get up at the right time."

I have a feeling good ol' Clocky wouldn't last too long in our household...after a few wake-ups with Clocky, methinks I'd be mighty tempted to clock Clocky.

...but I forgot to mention that I love shopping for C6...

I should have specified in my I'm-not-a-shopper post that I'm not much for shopping for myself BUT I loooooove shopping for C6. Mostly, for C6, I'm an Old Navy shopper- they have surprisingly cool & affordable toddler boy stuff from time to time. The Children's Place is good for basic stuff like different colored cargo pants and long sleeve t's. And socks. Not too pricey. Babystyle if on the expensive side, but they have some splurge-worthy items from time to time - I got him a t-shirt with the silhouette of rockband instruments - I loved this one!

I just splurged and got C6 this ultra-funkay shirt, and it is my most favoritest one ever:

I got it here, at Ferdinand. I think I am going to go NUTS and get one for myself too - they have the same design on adult-sized shirts too. Can you see what it is? It is a squirrel! Playin' the SNARE DRUM!!! I am in love. Look! I'm SHOPPIN'!!!!

How to cop my awecellent look

I wouldn't say that shopping is one of my favorite things to do. Especially not these days, with C6 in tow. He's not exactly the most patient shopper. And trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans in a changing room with a toddler who is trying to escape said changing room isn't my idea of fun.

I've found some great clothes online. Shoes too! Of course you all know about Zappos.com. They are the best - no delivery charge, and they pay return delivery too, if you need to return them. You can find almost any shoe there. HURRAH!!!!

Supermaggie.com has some really beautiful t shirts! I ordered one of the long sleeve ts with dandelion seeds printed all over. It is a good quality, very cool looking shirt. C6 loves it too. After I ordered it, (and before it was delivered) I got an email from them apologizing that it was taking so long (I hadn't noticed, actually). They offered 20% off my next order for my troubles. When the shirt came (with a nice handwritten note) I was so happy with the shirt, hellyeah I wanted to order more stuff. (I ordered another long sleeve t, with stars and pine trees on it). I was just impressed with their customer service. Who knows, maybe they offer 20% off to everyone in the hopes of having people buy lots more stuff? I don't care!

I bought a t shirt at Toothpastefordinner.com that is so adorable and fits nicely, too. It says "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang." on it. There are so many fun shirts I probably will order another soon. (I'm partial to the "Exercising...It Blows!!" one.)

Ahhhh, shopping from the comfort of home!

(But only when C6 is asleep - if not, he'll sit on the keyboard to make you stop doing what you're doing and want to play "hmmm". ("Hmmmm" is the game formerly known as "where's Calvin?", where he tells you where he's gonna hide, and you have to say "hmmmm" and look for him. All. Day. Long.)