As I mentioned over on Manolo Beauty, my life has taken some surprising turns in the past few weeks, thus leading to not a whole lot of posting.
I apologize.
I will do my durndest to keep up with the pace I’ve been churning out now for going on five years. You’d think I’d have it down to a science by now.
I spotted these courtesy of Boing Boing:
I will say it right now, unless the men in your lives have very specific hobbies that they LOVE (i.e. golf) men are quite difficult to buy for. Much more so than they claim to be, anyway. One can only receive so many ties, after all. Even if they are nice ones.
So here is a little guide to help you out a bit.
Buffalo Nickel Tails Side Hand Painted Cuff Links
I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for cuff links. When I was a little girl, I remember going through my parents’ jewelry cases and seeing cuff links and having no idea what they were for. These are real Buffalo Nickels and are a nice departure from your boring old black/silver combination.
James Perse Lounge Long Sleeve Crew
My husband used to be the kind of guy who never wanted to spend more than five bucks on a shirt. I kid you not. So on a daily basis for almost twenty years, my eyes have been assaulted with the most ugly, godawful shirts you could ever have the misfortune of seeing. But about six months ago in a sudden moment of clarity, he decided that life was too short to wear crappy shirts all the time. He felt he deserved a little luxury, a little comfort, even when relaxing at home. And indeed, shouldn’t that be when you feel the most comfortable?
Incase Monochrome Soft Touch Slider Case-4G
What would be more appreciated than a wonderful case for his beloved iPhone?
Pioneer AVIC-Z130BT 7″ In-Dash Navigation AV Receiver with iPod/iPhone Control, Bluetooth, Pandora
Make him the envy of everyone in the neighborhood with this uber cool navigation system from Pioneer. It has everything he could ever want, and maybe some things he never even knew he wanted. Until this came along.
Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player
This little device will allow him to watch almost everything he wants on television, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant, Pandora, sports, plus more. Enough, in fact, to keep his butt glued to the couch so that you can have some time to do some more online shopping without any pesky questions being asked.
Logitech Harmony 650 Remote Control
Sick of having five different remote controls for everything? Then this top-rated baby is the solution. Even better is that he will be so enthralled with this gift, he won’t realize it isn’t just for him, technically. You know, like when he buys you a KitchenAid stand mixer. Sure, you love it, but you won’t be the only one eating the results.
Logitech Ultimate Ears 700 Noise-Isolating Earphones
Does he do a lot of traveling? Work in a noisy environment? Or does he just have some really annoying neighbors? His ears will thank you forever.
Do you have a certain younger male relative who constantly mistakes family gatherings for frat parties? Then this short, quick, and to the point handy dandy guide is just for him. Gently given advice, but sometimes greatly needed.
Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap
Does he want to be the ultimate man? Of course he does! Then get him this soap!
No, not because her infant’s sunglasses probably cost more than my own.
It’s because she was able to actually PUT sunglasses on her offspring without him instantaneously trying to fling them off. Putting sunglasses on my toddlers is (or was, in the case of the Munchkin) like trying to put a bandanna on a cat. Nice in theory, but horrible in practice. The clawing and yowling effects caused by said accessories are pretty much the same across species. In my family, anyway.
My daughter is a bit young for these yet, as she will pull any barette out of her hair when given the opportunity. But, I cannot wait until she is a little bit older so that I can put some of these in her hair. They have so many different kinds of bows, and I adore almost all of them. And I’m not really what I would call a person given to dress my child up as a “girly girl.” I just think they are well done and so very creative. There are a ton, including holiday themed ones, so check them all out!
They are a bit pricey though, so maybe Grandma can find it in her heart to get some for a future birthday.
Ice Cream Cone
Pirate Girl
Caterpillar
Little Red Riding Hood
Monkey Face
Ballerina Slippers
Crab
I won’t lie, the only way my family gets through long car rides is by watching videos.
My son is prone to carsickness (something he apparently will never grow out of, as he has had this since he was a baby) and my daughter? Well, she just hates being confined in her carseat and the only way to stop her from screaming the entire time is to have some Wiggles playing. I honestly tried to resist playing the movies for her, but after multiple car trips with non-stop crying and a couple of crying-induced vomiting sessions, I copped out. We don’t play it on trips shorter than twenty minutes, but after that, all bets are off.
We briefly considered installing a DVD system on the roof of our minivan, but decided against it because with the seven year age difference between my kids, it is pretty much a gurantee that they will never want to watch the same movie.
We also thought about installing some of those headrest monitors, but the drawback was you could only play one DVD at a time, and they were mucho expensive.
Enter the RCA Twin Mobile DVD players.
You can actually play two different DVD’s since you can load each monitor with its own movie, but there is still a single power source. The whole thing has worked out perfectly, especially since my daughter is still in her rear-facing carseat, and will be until she is at least two. Her monitor is strapped to the top of her seat, and my son’s monitor is strapped to the back of the front passenger seat. My son wears his headphones, and we are all happy. I would have preferred larger screens, as these are only 7 inches, but they don’t make a system like this with 9 inch screens.
And the whole set was less than one hundred and fifty, which I consider to be a HUGE bargain.
I’m sorry, but Legos should not be used to cover one’s private parts. In front of a bunch of kids, no less.
That is all.
“As recommended by therapists world-wide!”
“Now made with time accelerating enzymes to make the visit fly by!”
The other day on Manolo Beauty (and if you haven’t gone over there yet and checked it out, it is a rather good site, if I do say so myself) I had mentioned a lunch box I used to take to school every day. Being the 70’s/80’s, it was of course made out of metal. That post got me thinking about those old metal lunch boxes and how different they are to the ones kids use today.
The one my son takes to school is fantastic. It is insulated, big enough to fit everything he needs but small enough to still fit in his backpack, has a front pocket, and just does an all around good job of keeping his drink and whatever fruit I pack in there cold until lunchtime.
So very different from the metal ones, which did a crappy job of keeping anything warm or cold, but damn, did they look good. We didn’t know it then, but we were toting around compact works of art. Sure, a lot of those lunchboxes were just advertising disguising themselves as something useful, but they were so much more visually stimulating.
Today we definitely choose function over form, but I can’t help but be a bit nostalgic about those metal boxes. And really, they were useful as weapons, too. I love things that can do double duty. Today’s lunch boxes are soft-sided and useless in a fight.
Join me as I take a trip down memory lane…
I would have loved to have this lunch box!
Never knew anyone with one of these, but I covet it even now.
It seems out of all the recycled 80’s characters, Holly Hobbie was totally left in the dust. Confession, I had this lunch box. And I hated it. And I hated Holly Hobbie. She stood for nothing other than her dumb patchwork clothing.
I NEVER got into Strawberry Shortcake, but I was totally in the minority. I guarantee you someone in my class had this lunchbox.
Yes, we all watched Mork & Mindy, but I don’t know anybody who liked it enough to own a lunchbox with it. Maybe I was hanging with the wrong crowd.
Yes, I owned a Cabbage Patch Kid, who was inexplicably a boy.
I can sing the theme song to this show to this day.
Anybody else think the Sleestaks were pretty lame?