The Bumper Blues

I have been afflicted with the bumper blues. Let me explain. Lately, I feel like my son has been growing up at an insanely fast speed. Like, whoa! I was rocking him the other night, and I nearly felt ridiculous! His body was draped across my body, and practically hanging over both arms of the rocking chair!

So, two things have happened. Number one, my son is now officially too big (actually, I should say too heavy) for his swing. This is really tragic, because now he just about never naps, and thus Mommy gets just about nothing done. Yesterday, my husband went traipsing up into the attic with the swing, and now there is this big, gaping hole in my son's room where his swing used to be. Sad.

And--where my infliction gets its namesake--the bumper to his crib was getting destroyed. (By destroyed, I mean kicked, pummeled, punched, yanked, and torn to shreds with the actual stuffing coming out.) So, I had to wash it, and fold it, and put it in the linen closet.

No swing + no nap + no bumper + earlier wake up time = the bumper blues.

Video: The Talk, the Teeth, and the Toots

Video: Desperate Teething Times Call for Desperate Teething Measures

Video: Gerber Biter Biscuits (My New BFF)

One of my friends introduced me to these just a few days ago. They are literally like dog biscuits for babies. They are as hard as rocks (so your baby can just suck on them and not choke)! In other words, Gerber Biter Biscuits = silence in my kitchen for seven whole minutes this evening. Thanks, Gerber!

Video: The Law of Gravity

Splashes of Color in Your Wintertime Garden

Let's be honest, lots of us go overboard caring about our flowerbeds May through September, but when the cold or rainy months hit, we're not too concerned. Well, here are a couple of inexpensive and easy-to-plant flowers that you can plant right now in your sweet little Southern gardens!

Violas! (Or "Pansies"--violas are merely smaller versions of pansies!) Remember to plant them in a sunny location!



Camellias! Remember to plant them in partial shade!



Like Mother, Like Daughter

The only explanation I can give for vowing at an early age that I would never get a Sierra Club calendar (the calendar my mother has used for forever) is that there are no lines on the days. It's a silly reason, I know. But I have always searched high and low for any other calendar than the Sierra Club one.

Well, I've reached the end of my trying-to-save-money-but-still-be-organized rope. I have tried a Palm Pilot (geez that makes me sound and feel really old), a Blackberry, my current (ghetto) phone, and finally, Google Calendar in order to attempt to organize my insanely-hectic-crazy-there's-never-enough-time-in-the-day life.

The final straw came when I RSVP'd to a friend's party and then completely forgot about it.

Several days ago, I took all of two minutes, logged on to my Amazon account, and in no time at all had the solution.

It's sitting, all pristine and already marked up, on my desk. And I absolutely, positively love it.

So-Gal's Recipe: Jalapeno Hush Puppies

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups of self-rising white cornmeal
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 1/2 tsp. of sugar
• 1 cup and 2 1/2 tbsp. of buttermilk
• 2-4 tbsp. of diced jalapenos
• Bacon drippings
• Vegetable oil

1. Combine first 8 ingredients. Stir until ingredients are moistened, then roll into balls.
2. Fry batches in vegetable oil until golden. (I used a deep fryer, but you can use a skillet or a Dutch oven.)