I am an admitted shopaholic (see HERE). I spend hours online searching for great deals, and I’ve come across some great ones, such as the Fur Real Friends Biscuit for $44 shipped, a $600 Ann Taylor silk wedding dress for $33 shipped (yes I am married, and yes it it still in my basement. Shut up. It was $33!) and a trip to Walt Disney World with airfare for $510 (during Priceline’s early days).

Assisting me on my shopping journey are a handful of great Web site geared to and run by like-minded shoppers:

• Fishing for Deals. This site has a great number of varied products, ranging from clothing to dishes to kids’ toys, cheap movies and online sales. There’s also a tab for discount codes. Moderators keep the threads down to 100 posts and close them when it reaches that limit, allowing the search engine to work more efficiently.

• Slick Deals. The posters on this message board can be brutal(ly honest), but the deals are no doubt fantastic. The ability to “thumb’s up” or “thumb’s down” –– and sort by the best deals accordingly –– is helpful as well. …CONTINUE READING »

Is there a song (or songs) on your iPod that you would be a little embarrassed about if someone knew? I know there are music “afficionados” out there who believe their musical taste is the best and have no qualms about sharing it with anyone who will sit still long enough. But there are others, like me, who have songs that you wouldn’t necessarily want advertised.

There’s a scene in a Chris Farley movie (OK, so I have questionable taste in movies too), when his and David Spade’s characters are a road trip and Carpenters’ song comes on the radio. Initially, they both act like they don’t like it, but then minutes later they’re singing out loud to it. (Come on! Karen Carpenter had a great voice!)

I wonder what people would think if my iPod were made public domain. It would not be as bad as,say, if you found that your grandma’s iPod contained death metal. In my case, I have some kind of sappy songs on there and I have some that are the complete opposite. If someone picked up my iPod, they might think I had a split personality.

Some of my iPod songs are there because they evoke some memory for me. I have some Allman Brothers on there because that music reminds me of my oldest brother who passed away. I have some Big Band music on there because it reminds me of my mom (who is also gone) when she’d clean house on Saturdays and have it blasting on the stereo.

I have John Denver’s Annie’s Song (because I think it’s one of the most love beautiful songs ever recorded) but I also have Guns N Roses’ Sweet Child of Mine. I have Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now but I also have John Mellencamp’s Authority Song. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

Doesn’t it indicate some kind of weirdness that someone would have the soundtrack of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? on the same music collection as bobby Darin’s Beyond the Sea?

I also have wildly different songs coming from the same artist: Ooh Baby Baby AND Bewtiched, Bothered Bewildered by Linda Ronstadt.

I’m pretty sure I’m not unique. C’mon, let’s come clean. What are your most “embarrassing” iPod songs?

I’m sitting here with my feet put up, a glass of my favorite California table red (Big House Red. It has a prison on the label. Who wouldn’t love it?) and a box of Puffs Plus with the Scent of Vicks — to help with the cold I’m fighting. I’m watching the only thing on — “The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love.”

As if the title isn’t stupid enough, they decided to put the remaining 9 girls on RVs and make them follow the airline pilot bachelor, Jake (he who’s abs get more airtime than some of the girls) up the California coastline. Um,  why? Did they get evicted from that Hollywood mansion?

For the record … I thoroughly enjoy most reality television shows. My very favorite show ever is “Survivor.” I’ve never missed an ep and I wear my buff from season one to hold my hair back when I wash my face. I’m hard core, bay-be!

But with the good comes the bad. I’m going to confess, and if you tell anyone, I’ll DENY DENY DENY. I watched “Joe Millionaire” (2003). I watched “Amish in the City (2004. Shut up. I learned all about Rumspringa!). And heaven help me, but I had hoped to have my daughter and in recovery in order to watch Amanda get evicted from “Paradise Hotel” (2003). It didn’t happen, by the way. Stupid c-section… grumble …

I have to admit, though, that I’m completely stoked about “Survivor: Heroes versus Villians” premiering next month. It pairs past season favorite with the players you loved to hate. Brilliant! And “Jersey Shore” was the best thing to happen to MTV in years. That show gave birth to such pop-culture nuggets as “fist-pumping,” “GTL” and “gorilla juiceheads.” Squee! O

K, I’ve confessed my dirty little television secrets. Now you spill. What have you watched that you’re ashamed — or not! — to admit?

I spent an hour out in the cold today waiting for the parents of 12 of my daughter’s Girl Scout troop comrades in a parking lot with a headcold. Something, it seems, possessed me to volunteer to serve as the troop cookie chair — or “Cookie Mom,” as I’m called. I was a Girl Scout from the first grade all the way through my senior year. I learned a lot and loved every minute of it. (Actually, sorority life was like Girl Scouts, except with fruity alcoholic beverages and boys.)

When my daughter told me she wanted to become a Girl Scout after a program at school, I was thrilled! And even better, her troop leader was actually in scouts with me through middle school! What a coincidence! So now we have a troop of 13 first graders, and most of them are from two schools, so they all know someone.

So, today I met the parents and collected two dozen different forms, all with numbers and figures etched everywhere. I can’t count to 10 even if I use my fingers, so I had my husband double-check everything (thank you, honey.). Wow — this was a lot easier when we had, well, grown-ups doing everything for us. And everything’s automated and online and newfangled now (I sound like my memaw).

Our girls did fantastic for little Daisies! Our grand total was 1,736,and that doesn’t include our upcoming cookie booths, either! No more calling stores — our district has a raffle, and we ended up with our Walmart Neighborhood Grocery, Sam’s Club and Walgreen’s. Score! I hope! We should definitely have enough to co camping.

Wait … did I just say “camping?” Ugh. I haven’t been camping since college. I’m pretty sure I’m not camping material now. Why can’t that be automated?

OK, so I’ve gained some* weight. Let me preface that by saying I was diagnosed with fertility issues a couple of years ago while trying to conceive a second child. My fertility specialist put me on a fertility drug called Clomid. For NINE months.

I became a beast. Imagine Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” except replace her narcissism with Jelly Belly Jelly Beans and Taco Bell and her control issues with cheap boxed wine and pizza.

I still had the anger management issues Ursula had, though. Thanks, Clomid.

Bottom line, I’ve gained some weight, had a busted fallopian tube removed in late 2008 and learned I can’t have anymore kids without IVF. (Hence the reason why we finished the basement. I don’t trust fate too much, so I put my money with a sure bet.) As a result, my bridal set doesn’t fit anymore. I was borderline anorexic when we got married — weddings do that to a girl. I’ve since re-introduced myself to and become BFFs with the Big Mac, Ho-Hos and Cheetos. And, I’ve had a baby. (OK, six years ago. Hush.**) …CONTINUE READING »

“Working Mom.” I always knew I would be one. I enjoy working – I find it brings me a sense of purpose and accomplishment and allows me to meet and befriend fun, smart people. It also doesn’t hurt to bring in extra income to fund my husband’s and my love for travel and paid house cleaning professionals. Now that I am officially back from my maternity leave (more on that experience later), I thought I would offer my observations on this new role so far (after one week – HA, I know):

1) Evenings are going to be crazy – I have to pick up the baby from daycare and fight traffic (occasionally with him crying in the backseat), wash bottles and pump parts and pack them for the next day, label and fill the clean bottles with today’s milk, replace any poopy or spit-up-on clothes in the diaper bag, cook and eat dinner (all while trying to keep him occupied without being held), bathe Baby D, get in some good snuggle and play time, feed him twice before bedtime and MAYBE manage to squeeze in some relaxation time with the hubby and perhaps a TIVO’d program.  Of course Jeremy helps with all this as well, but it’s clearly a job for 6, not 2. …CONTINUE READING »

I have to say upfront that I hate anything having to do with the automotive. It’s not that I’m a delicate southern flower that can’t be bothered with the intricacies of the mechanical. The simple fact is that it bores me to tears. And boredom is a state of mind that I cannot handle. I can barely even go into an auto parts store without hyperventilating.

I think it started with my first boyfriend who was a gear head and the countless times I had to sit there as he worked on his car. He also talked about cars a lot of times to the point where I wanted to stab myself with a Samurai sword.

My husband is mechanically minded but not to the point of distraction. For this I’m glad because we have saved a lot of money with his being able to fix our cars. When he happens to start on a discussion of carburetors and engine blocks and drive trains, I just look at him and start to meticulously describe my last manicure. It doesn’t take long for him to get the point.

But now my son is showing all the signs of an infatuation with all automotive. I know that he can’t help it if you pay need to all that right brain/left brain stuff (which I do). But it’s like he’s inexplicably chosen to support a team that is the arch-nemesis of my own.

Sometimes it really is nature over nurture. Otherwise, how could I explain his year-long preoccupation with professional wrestling a while back? Now that was a parental “Where did I go wrong?” moment if ever there was one. I was as secretly ashamed of that hobby, if you want to call it that, as I would have been if he was serving time for arson.

I mean, where had he been all those years when I was trying to raise him right? All that exposure to good music and arts and the first chance he gets he crosses over to the dark side?

Of course, I never berated him for these interests. Didn’t want to traumatize his self-esteem. In fact, I once took him to a monster truck show because he was dying to go.

You want to talk about trauma! The guy in front of me had his two small boys with him. When one complained that the noise was hurting his ears, the guy–I swear to you this is true–put his cigarette out, tore the filter in half and stuck one half in each of the kid’s ears. I’m not a snobby person but I felt like Coco Chanel at a dogfight.

So pray for me and this stranger who lives in my house. I think we’re gonna need it.