7 Quick Takes: The Shopping Edition

So one of the downsides to me being home is that I've been shopping. A lot... I have a new job now, so I needed just a few things to wear that were mommy clothes, not working clothes. And since I'm home more, I notice that we need a few things here and there. And I have TIME to shop now, and often NEED an excuse to get out of the house. And when the UPS person brings me something that I've ordered on-line, well it's just nice to see a friendly face. Next thing you know, I'm going to be ordering things from HSN just to talk to a friendly voice on the other end of the phone! So here, in no particular order, are the things that I've purchased lately. I'm done now, by the way. There will be no more random buying of THINGS because that's just not going to get me anywhere. I know that, but it's been a little fun while it lasted!

***1***

I think that it all started with these black Decker flip flops. Kaley over at ChaChing on a Shoestring alerted me to the fact that they were only $12 and through Cashbaq, so there was a 10% rebate too, with free shipping and free return shipping if I didn't like them. My old black flip flops were super uncomfortable. I would avoid wearing my clothes that required black shoes because I hated them so much. I figured I had nothing to loose since there was free shipping both ways, so I went ahead and ordered them. LOVE them! They are so comfortable. We have tile in our house and it is impossible to walk barefoot at home- it's just too hard on your feet. I put these on in the morning and leave them on until bed at night. And now, I wear my black shorts, black pants and black Capri pants since I have comfy shoes. For $12, I got not only a pair of shoes but also use of three other articles of clothing from my own closet. (Like my rationalization there???) Sadly, these shoes are no longer available and even sadder, there are no plans to make more. :-(

***2***

Since I loved the Deckers flops so much, I decided that I could use a pair in brown too, especially at $12! Of course by the time I decided this, they were already completely gone. I'd been telling myself for DAYS to get on and order them, but alas, I waited too long. Never fear though, Cashbaq had another suggestion for me- these shoes by Simple, a sister company to Decker. They were being closed out for $19.90, free shipping, 7% rebate. So I went ahead and ordered them, thinking that I could wear them with my brown outfits. (I know the shoes pictured are red... mine are brown... could not find brown photo!) I just got them from the UPS man today. They are not as great as the flops, but no free return shipping on these and I think that I will actually wear them. We are going to New York in October and I always have a problem finding closed toed shoes to wear in the cold, so I think that these will fit the bill. (More justification, do you like it??)

***3***

Just so you know, not ALL of my recent shopping has been for me- I got my little boy in on the shoe buying fun too! I took him to the mall to play the other day and there were twins there with the most adorable shoes- they looked like the ones above, but they had turtles on them. I commented to their mom about the shoes and she told me that they are just the $12.99 ones from Target. Seemed reasonable to me, so off to Target we went! Since giraffes are my favorite animals and Tyler does not yet have a favorite, I picked these out for him. I actually really like them- they have soft leather bottoms and he is starting to walk around more, so he needed something more than socks. These run big, by the way. Tyler is almost 9 months old, but these are a 0-6 month size and they fit fine.

***4***

Refurbished Wolfgang Puck Immersion Blender. (No photo. Google it if you really want to! :-)) I make a lot of Tyler's baby food and I was sick of trying to blend a single baby serving of peas, then having to deal with washing the whole blender, etc. This comes with a neat little chopping cup that I thought would be perfect for making baby food. I bought it for $19 on eBay, free shipping, 30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked. So far, it has been less than ideal for the baby food. The chopping cup is still a little big to handle the little quantities that I am trying to make, but I will keep this and make some soup or something! It is good quality, just not as perfect as I hoped for my intended purpose.

***5***

The Swiffer Sweeper Vac! I picked this up at Wal-Mart today. It was $27 ish and I had a $5 off coupon (you can request yours via snail mail here) making it $22 ish. We have tile through the main living areas of our house and although I love it, my perfectionistic tendencies mean that I have a three step process for cleaning the floors- sweep to get the bigger pieces, use microfiber cloth to get stuff broom missed, wet mop or wet swiffer. Doesn't sound too complicated, but really, I'm neurotic and if I feel I'm not getting it 100% clean, I just don't do it. So lots of times, the floors are not as clean as I would like. Tyler is crawling around a lot more now and it's just a lot more important that our floors are clean, so I'm hoping that this will combine steps 1 & 2 above. There is a money back rebate, so if I'm not happy, I will be taking advantage of that. I just bought it today and it's charging- I'm anxious to see how it will work. I won't be using the Swiffer dry cloths with it, by the way. I will be using a reusable, washable microfiber cloth to save money (haha, in a post all about SHOPPING!) and help the earth too!

***6***

This one falls under the category of saving money and the environment too... it's a Swimmi by Bummis- a reusable swim diaper. We went in the pool yesterday and I had to open a new package of Huggies Swim diapers. It's only May! We have a pool at the house and I imagine Tyler will be going in quite a bit this summer. He loves it, his dad loves it and I love that they love it! When he wants to just be held, it's a lot easier to do that in 4 feet of water than on land- he's a lot lighter! Disposable swim diapers are expensive and most of the time, I am just taking off and throwing away a clean diaper. I did a bit of on-line research and decided to give these a try. I paid about $15 with free shipping on eBay. That's about 1 and a half packs of the Huggies, or 37 swim diapers. I think that we'll be in the pool at least 37 times this summer, so hopefully it will pay off. I just have to convince my husband that it's okay to wash and reuse a diaper! :-)

***7***

Another one for the bambino... Walking Wings. My kid loves to walk. He loves the walker, he'll tolerate standing in his Exersaucer, but what he loves most of all is for you to hold his little hands and walk him around the house. He does everything he possibly can to get a hold of your two fingers and get himself UP. He's sneaky... you don't even realize he's doing it until he's on his feet and going. And if you try to stop him, he'll throw a temper tantrum any 3 year old would be proud of. He's advanced- I'm telling you! ;-) I don't always indulge his need for speed, but sometimes, he needs to practice this whole walking thing. The problem lies in my lower back, or yours if you were trying to walk him around. There's only so much time you can spend bent over supporting his weight and keeping his balance by holding onto his little hands. Enter Walking Wings. They are kind of like a parachute harness that he wears around his chest, under his arms. There are straps that go up for mom or dad or gullible strange to hold on to and help him keep his balance. They work well- he does not like them as much as he likes holding your fingers, but he'll tolerate them. They are easier on my back, but still take a toll. I'll be glad when he's walking on his own and I can just hold his hand. And I'm sure that I'll live to regret those works and long for the days when he's not quite so mobile!

So that's it... well, that's 7 and this is called 7 quick takes! There are a few more things that I could throw on this list, but this is it for a while. I'm calling it quits on the shopping- really. Stay tuned in the next few days for posts about where to go to get out of the house that doesn't involve SHOPPING. I'll also introduce you to Larry - stay tuned!