Mommy Tested » About Me

Where oh where has Mommy gone?

Mommy — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:10:13 +0000

Someone reviewed my site recently. He/she actually liked it! Thanks by the way. =) Their one criticism was that it’s not updated that frequently. Well, life has been way busy and has gone through some major changes.

First we had company for most of January and the beginning of Febuary in the form of 3 teenagers. My nephew and his 2 friends were visiting and I spent most of my time with them or they had control of the computer. They were completely spoiled and I made muffins, tons of dinners and picked up after them.

Secondly, the professional mommy I was is no longer. For financial reasons I had to get off my big butt and go get a job. I hate not being just a mommy/wife any more, but I’m dealing with it. I’m just cashiering part time at our local grocery store. But even part time, it’s a major juggling act trying to stay my ideal of a mommy and work at the same time. I completely admire all you women out there who have been doing it for years and those doing it alone.

Since real life has changed, the scope and view of this site is probably going to change. I’ll probably deal more with quick things to do, easier things. And, the benifit of working at the local grocery store is I get to meet other mommies and learn some of their tips and tricks! Then I can pass these on to you all.

Shopping mania!

Mommy — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 21:57:09 +0000

I figured I needed to get off my ass and do some actual female bonding for once so I delayed my bike ride and went bra shopping with my friend Kim. That was 5.5 hours ago! With maybe 15 minutes total driving, we shopped for over 5 hours. And I brought home not a single thing.

I’m not much of a shopper, I hate it honestly. And bra shopping is the worst. I went with my friend pretty much for moral support, comradery and to get out of the house. I tend to hole up at home to much and sometimes have to remind myself to get out and be social. I didn’t need to do any shopping for myself or my family.

First stop was to JcPenny for an appointment with a bra sizer. I imagine their official titles are something like Lingerie Consultant or Intimate Apparel Apprentice or something all haughty like that.

They didn’t have it set up very well, just a sign in book and 1 lady to cover at least 5 people there for a fitting. It was very unclear what was needed to do to sign in and get started. The poor, single “consultant” there had 4 people show up in the middle of her taking care of one already there. I asked at one point if they had to go to school for this or what and she let me know that they in fact do have to take a class before they can do this.

Scince I wasn’t there for a fitting, I got to see how it was running. The “consultant” had 1 lady in a fitting room, took my friend into another and measured her, selected a few bras for her to try on and took my friend’s mother in to another fitting room for measurements. After all the measuring was done she just went back and forth between women with more bras but somehow she forgot my friend’s mother and left her with nothing but the first bra to try on. My friend demanded more of the consultants’ attention than most, she had to have tried on at least 10 bras if not more.

While they tried on bras I ran around after my 4 year old godson. He’s cute but he’s a handful and everytime I am with him I remember why I only had 1 child. At least he only crawled under the dressing room door of his grandma and not a total stranger!

After all this effort neither my friend nor her mother ended up buying anything. The lack of actually doing anything for the mother was what kept her from finding anything. The fact that the “consultant” really didn’t convince my large breasted friend she was a 34d kept her from buying anything. Every bra that she tried on that the consultant brought either made her fly out if she bent over or hiked up if she raised her arms. Any woman buying a bra knows that just won’t go, specially with a 4 year old to chase after.

So Nanna took the 4 year old and Kim and I hit Fredrick’s of Hollywood. I remember looking at the Fredrick’s catalogue when I was a kid and it was very sexual, very scary and NOTHING our mothers would wear. The Fredrick’s of today’s generation is much more friendly than that.

We walk in and the sales lady asks if we need fitted. We decline, stating we justh had one down the road from “the other store.”. After trying on a few bras the size the other “consultant” recommended the Fredrick’s lady brought over a few DD and even an F. Believe it or not, the bra that fit the absolute best was the 34 F…. much to my friend’s amazement who’s been a 36 D all her life. But I guess after 3 kids, mid 30′s, and motherhood makes for the bigger boobies! She’s never going to hear the end of it from me that she’s an F.

After a while of trying on bras and having the sales lady actually check fit and make suggestions my friend walked out with 2 bras. 2 very pretty, feminine, lacy bras too! If you’re big breasted you find out fast that the cute bras are only made for size C and under. It’s like the bigger boobs you have the more you’re relegated to ugly bras. Ahh but not at Fredrick’s, they seem to cater to the bigger breasted woman with pretty bras!

Next time I actually suck it up and go bra shopping I’m just heading right for Fredricks!

Here’s Your Sign Moment!

Mommy — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 20:59:22 +0000

Have you ever seen the comedian Bill Engvall on Comedy Central? He does this really funny segment all revolving around those “WELL DUH” moments that folks have that he calls “Here’s your sign”. If you haven’t seen him my advice is to check him out sometime!

But anyway while I was riding my bike today I had one of those moments. Thank god though it was alone in my head and not out loud. (As if anyone could hear me talking to myself while I”m wizzing around on my bike.)

I got to thinking about my sister in law and her seperation from her husband. I pondered wether or not she would go back to her maiden name or not. And I thought to myself “Hmm I wonder what her maiden name is, I need to ask my husband sometime.” It took me a minute but I did realize what the hell I had thought was completely stupid. Hello inside my head, I’m MARRIED to her brother for godsake. I gave myself a big “Here’s your sign!” in my head.

Don’t ya just love those mental moments?

More about me!

Mommy — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 23:21:33 +0000

I was thinking about it today on my bike ride, for you all, my audience, to understand more about my testing, my tips, my recipes etc you need to know more about my life style.

We’re a middle of the road family. It use to be called a traditional family, but with divorce and single parent homes so prevelent we’re not the norm. There is me, my husband Tracy, my 11 year old son Tyler and our 2 dogs and cat.

My husband and I took 5 years to decide to get married; our son was 3 years old when we married. By taking that step we decided to stay together till the end – like it says, “Till death do us part.”. We’ve been together 13 years now, combined married and unmarried time.

Another conscious decision we made along the way was that I would be a full time, stay at home mommy. While it was a necessity at first it became almost a personal determination as my son grew up. At first we were to broke to afford day care. Then as he started going to school I watched and saw so many kids growing up without much parental involvement. It made me deeply sad but more determined to be at home with my son.

I did the soccer mom part, the pto part, and the cub scouts was a huge part of our lives for over 2 years. It’s been great being able to be home and available for my son over the last 11 years. If my son was sick we never had to worry about who could stay home with him. I got to be involved in every school project he’s done over the last 6 and a half years.

Now though with college looming ahead, the need for a new car and just flat out if we want to get ahead financially I’m going to need to go back to work. We’re not middle class, we’re not below poverty, we’re kinda in the inbetween grey area. We watch our money close and we don’t have much in the way of savings but we don’t go hungry. This is what motivated me partly to start mommytested.

Not to make money but as to share the information I’ve found out as a mommy. Though if I make money off the links, affiliate programs or donations I’ll love it. But as a family who really watches their dollar, a poor purchase really can smart. I hope my purchasing mistakes and wins help someone else make a good purchase, saves them a buck!

Dreams

Mommy — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:58:13 +0000

During my bike ride today I thought about my dreams. Not the wake up screaming and punching my husband kind or the wild dreams where I can fly, but the things I really want from life. The things most people would typically say that define their goals, the things we want to do before we die.

After watching the implosion of my friends and family’s marriages and relationships this last year I got to thinking about how as couples we need shared dreams. Even if those dreams never come to fruition, the baby steps and building blocks to making those dreams come true shape our daily, shorterm and longterm, goals.

But also just to survive life you need to have dreams. The things you want to do in life to define yourself, give you more meaning to living other than just plain procreation. The inexplicable things that urge us through the daily grind towards an end goal. The “things” that make life worth while and memorable.

My dreams are:
Vacation to Australia with my husband.
Take up Kayaking with my son.
Become a foster parent or guardian ad lidem.
Go back to college and finish my degree.
Learn Spanish
Take a martial arts and get a black belt.
See the Blue Men in concert.

Through the years this list for me changes. For the last 11 years it’s more revolved around my son. I expect that the list will continue to change. Hopefully I’ll be able to say I’ve done them! If you make your own list, remember to be specific. Then it just makes your dreams that much more attainable.

Happy New Year

Mommy — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 03:32:45 +0000

Years ago my husband I and decided not to really celebrate New Years in the traditional manner. We don’t do the parties, bar hopping or other things that revolve around drinking. On the one night of the year you can almost guarentee to run into a drunk driver, we stay home.

The things we do on New Years for our traditions are simple, homebody activities. Hubby might have a few beers before we make up a mess of home made nachos, but he’ll switch to iced tea after he eats. I always get a bottle of the sparkling cider or sparkling cranberry juice for myself and the kids. I get them their own bottle that they can shake up and let spew …. they open it outside not inside.

While the dogs and I sit inside my husband takes the kids outside to light a few low end fireworks. Bottle rockets, fire crackers and poppers. I always try to include the little pull string poppers in the Christmas stockings, or those single shot popper guns.

Here’s the simple nacho recipe we always use!

1 lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
3-5 green onions, chopped
1 small tomato
1 small container sour cream
1 jar salsa
1 bag corn chips
1 can sliced black olives
1 can refried beans
1 package mexican style cheese pre grated

Brown the ground beef, drain and add the taco seasoning and cook down. Chop the onion and tomato. Drain black olives. Heat the refried beans. Place sour cream, salsa, olives, tomato, onion in small serving bowls to the side. On a tin foil lined cookie sheet spread corn chips in a layer. Cover chips with refried beans and the taco meat, then cover with a healthy dose of cheese. Place in the oven on broil until cheese is melted. Let each person garnish with the items they choose from the serving bowls.

It’s a quick, relatively cheap meal to make that caters to individual tastes. It can be easily prepared with multiple people in the kitchen helping.

Nice ride today!

Mommy — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:00:30 +0000

Some days it’s like I have to bribe myself to get off my butt and onto my bike. Other days I’m chomping at the bit to go. Today was one of the bribe myself days.

I told myself that I will play games all day if I just get off the puter and go. I’m not touching a lick of housework save finishing the laundry before my mom gets here tomorrow. (Cooking dinner doesn’t count btw, nor doing the dishes after dinner.) So off my ass I got and placed it firmly on my bike seat.

At first I was still stressed over money, Christmas to do’s and family crap. But by mile 5 I was feeling great. The sun was shining, kids all over the neighborhood were playing in their yards, birds flying all over and NOT pooping on me. I thought about how my hubby loves me, my son and every thing about him and how at least for all we’re not rich, we DO have $50 to our name. Our bills are paid, I have Christmas presents in the closet to wrap and health coverage for my son. I always try to remind myself that there are some people who have it worse off.

Merry Christmas folks!

Bike Ride

Mommy — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 14:56:03 +0000

A year and a half ago I quit smoking after having the nasty habit for almost exactly 25 years. That in itself is another story, but as a result of the quitting I gained 15 pounds within a few months. Anyone 5 foot tall can tell you that 15 pounds is a LOT of weight to distribute. I paniced and instead of feeling good about myself for the quitting smoking, I felt ugly from the weight gain. So I decided to do something about it and replace smoking with exercise.

At first I tried exercise videos. I read up on the internet a bit and decided to purchase Denise Austin’s workout dvd. I used it once. While it was a good workout, I honestly could not stand the lady. She was completely uninspiring and frankly annoying. While she looks like a perky blonde, she really is very monotone in voice and doesn’t project an attitude that incites one to work out. She also went so quickly through spots that I didn’t quite understand how to do certain positions and actions. Give me the old Jane Fonda of my college days please! Heck, I could even deal with Richard Simons over Denise Austin any day.

Having blown my whole budget to buy the dust collecting dvd I decided to utilize something I already owned. When we first moved to Florida we bought bikes for the whole family, mom and dad included. I used mine every once in a while, but nothing extensive since my son’s 3rd grade year when I rode with him to school daily. I did basic maintainance on my bike and off I went.

At first I had no “route” to go on. I just went biking around the neighborhood for at least 30 minutes. Soon I had a route all mapped out that took 30 minutes to complete. Before you knew it though, the 30 minutes turned into 15 minutes as I got into shape and completed it quicker. So I did 2 of the cycles of my route. I even checked with the car how much distance each cycle covered…. 3 miles.

Last Christmas I recieved gifts galore that revolved around my new biking obsession. I got an armband raidio, a gel seat and bought myself more bike comfortable shorts. I’ve worn one tire completely away and my husband is becoming an expert in bike repair and maintainance.

After a while the 5 days a week to bike turned into 7 days. Then somewhere along the way I added a third lap. So no I ride about 9 miles a day, 7 days a week, bar rain and hurricane.

I haven’t checked if I’ve really lost any weight, but I stopped gaining it. My legs are more tone and one day I actually looked at my butt in appreciation. I’m not skinny by far, but I’m sure as heck more healthy. And I really enjoy my bike ride. It gives me time to think, unwind, listen to music and just focus on nothing but myself. My husband looks at me crazy and laughs at me over my biking obsession, but it has kept me from having a complete mental breakdown through my mid life crisis.

Besides it being good for me physically and mentally, I get to see my neighborhood in a new light. I love our neighborhood! There are so many fascinating people that live in it that they make my bike ride so much more interesting and fun. I look forward to getting a daily glimps into their lives. And those are stories I’ll share along the way; the people along the bike ride route!

What IS Mommytested?

Mommy — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 00:08:10 +0000

Mommytested.com is a site I thought about on my daily bikeride. I’m going to be sharing my recipes, home tips, and parenting ideas. I will be testing products and recipes and reviewing them.

Who am I and why should my advice be taken? I’m a stay at home mom and have been one for the last 12 years. I have a husband, 1 son age 11, 2 dogs and a cat. I’ve gone through the baby period, the toddler years, and the trials of gradeschool. I did the PTA, the soccer mom, the Cub Scout Leader and all the other parenting trials. I’ve got the badges, scars and grey hairs associated with being a Mommy!

I hope just one bit of advice, recipe, suggestion, or tip will make any other parent’s life easier or more enjoyable. If there’s a product, recipe or tip you want tested just reply with a comment to let me know. Budget permitting, I’ll be happy to test anything!