Do you trust me enough to make some consumer reviews?

Ok so a few things lately have been helping my life in one way or another, and I thought I should share. Without further ado...

These lovies have been helping my life by way of helping my butt look better. Also, they are like springtime sweatpants. Very comfy, they have some sort of *magic* waistband that never lets them sag on you, and as an added bonus: vomit-resistant! And they're on sale-- Yeehaw!
Unfortunately, Target has weird pictures that I cannot copy, so you will have to click on this link to see them.

(Photo credit: www.championusa.com)

Also helping my life, by way of not letting me eat too much pasta, is this handy little kitchen gadget.

(Photo credit: www.davison.com)

It is essentially, a collapsible little basket that also acts as a strainer. It has measurements on the side letting you know what a serving looks like, and the little hole on the back measures one serving of spaghetti pasta. It hooks onto the side of any pot so that you can make your whole-wheat-a-phobic husband his plain white pasta while you eat a healthy serving of whole wheat pasta in the SAME POT! (READ: less dishes for you!!) I love this. I see they are currently retailing in the neighborhood of $15, but I found mine at the PX for around $4. I'd read about them in a magazine and was hoping to buy one (one day), but apparently, God wanted me to limit my carb intake a little sooner (maybe one too many people were praying I would stop wearing those capris?). Anywho, even at $15, I would still buy it. I've used it countless times already and it's served its purpose.

While waiting for an oil change one day recently, Sammy and I wandered over to Pier One (right across the street...). Sammy wanted to go. I told him it wasn't a very good idea because then the "cheap" oil change (that I had coupons for and everything) was going to get a touch more expensive. But he was like, "I'll just flash this cute gummy smile I've got going on, and Daddy will forget all about it. No worries, Mama." So he talked me into it. And would you believe that oil change lasted an hour? Wowzers we spent some time in that store. Pier One isn't a very big store. They do cram a lot in there though, I have to give them credit for that. We looked at every last item in there. "Oh Sammy- a RED SQUARE. Look at the RED SQUARE. Here's another SQUARE. But this one's YELLOW. A YELLOW SQUARE." I'm sure the employees were probably speed-dialing the car place to see if they could put some sort of rush on my oil change. And while I was worried the entire time that we would be wandering around their store, touching everything and talking about everything (EVERYTHING) and not actually buy anything and look extremely cheap, here I found a lovely picture frame. Well, I don't think it's technically a frame, but I don't know what else to call it. Whatever it is- I. Love. It. And I got it on sale! Woohoo! When I told Steve that and his expression didn't change, I handed him Sammy (who smiled on cue and immediately diverted his attention to those cute gums). Here's a picture of my frame-thing.

Please excuse my horrible nighttime lighting. Also, a close-up so you can see that these are in fact, clothespins hanging on wire, and is it not the neatest picture frame that isn't a picture frame?

They are also available in white, but they are not on sale this week. (Wait til they go on sale. I can't see spending almost $30 on a picture frame that's not a picture frame.)

I snagged this little beauty off of craigslist this week for Sammy (and well, let's face it, Steve, because he ends up holding onto Sammy when he won't sit in his stroller). Behold, the Kelty Wanderer.

(Photo credit: www.barronmall.com)

The guy was selling it (NEW) because his wife was too short to wear it while he was gone on deployment, and now the kid's too big to fit in it. We're hitting up the Rivers and Spires Festival downtown in April with Sammy on our backs! (The guy was cleaning out his garage and also threw in the sun/rain shield and the Kelty front-load pack!! Can we say SCORE??) We got a Kelty jogging stroller on craigslist not too long ago as well, and I can see why this brand comes with such high reviews. I'm happy to take it off of these people's hands for virtually nothing.

While I can heartily recommend all of those things, here are some things that I DO NOT recommend:

• Going to yard-sales in Clarksville, TN. People advertise them, but don't have them. Or, they have them, but don't advertise them. And if you actually FIND one that's in progress, they have either A) nothing, or B) a ton of CRAP.
• Also, never go to a "divorce sale." It turns out that it IS just as creepy as it sounds.
• weather.com. It says we are currently experiencing "light rain," but in reality? We are in the middle of friggin' tornado alley right now with the wind and lightening bolts and occasional house-shaking thunder.
• Weighing yourself after dinner. It is a total kill-joy.
• Letting your 5-month-old skip naps. Don't try and reason it out like he's going to sleep longer or better that night because that is NOT TRUE.

Alright I think I've put enough of my opinion out there on the World Wide Web for one day. Go ahead and work on digesting that; I'll hold.