How much of a dirtball are you?

I work in an office. It's not too large. Not too small. More males than females. Fairly standard corporate sort of feel as far as the actual building is concerned. We have bathrooms. Your office likely does too. Maybe more than one.

As you know, once your done doing what it is you need to do in the men's / women's room, it is in the best interest of your health and those around you to wash your hands. I continue to be absolutely atonished at the number of men I work with who pay this procedure no mind whatsoever. It gets worse. I'm not talking about just not washing after taking a spray. I'm talking about exiting the stull after logging out and just trapsing right out the door as if in the woods. For real?! That really just happened?! And, I'm standing here to see that you just did(n't) wash?! Unfreakin' believeable!

So, how hethen are you dear Blondes, Poop & Mascara reader? My sneaking suspicion is that most of the readers here are female. Which leads me to sneaking suspicion number 2 - you all are cleaner and just a more respectable sex in general. We shall see.

I present you...two polls...(input away) >>>

What is your gender?



How often do you wash your hands after using the bathroom?


-Mr. Blonde

There's what in my hamburger?!

We saw our first movie at a theatre in about a year and a half on Friday night with a group of friends. With all that time having passed since we last saw a film, we no doubt held out for a really good bigscreen adaptation, right? Something that just could NOT wait until it made its way to Redbox (the only way we really ever watch movies...which is about twice a month).

"Hey, look over there! A neat shiny new action adventure romantic comedy dramatic documentary everybody!"

That's right. It might have been since 2008 that we'd seen a movie together, but it's the first time in either of our lives that we went to see a documentary on the bigscreen.

Food, Inc.

It was worth it. Why?

Because it was awakening. We at Blondes, Poop & Mascara like to be in the know. And, when it comes to food, we really weren't. The basics, yeah...caloric intake, clean your veggies before you eat them, stuff out of cans isn't as fresh, balanced food pyramid, candy is bad, etc, etc. But, we find ourselves three days later left in this wake of knowledge inspiring us to take control of the food in our lives. The American consumer often feels weak. "My choices are only the ones available at the grocer." When, that's not the case at all. Money drives business. And, consumers have the money. Even Wal-Mart was in Food, Inc. as an example of a massive buyer of food who has shifted the way they do business (for the better) because their customers said to do so.

We don't blame you if you don't go pay to see the flick at the theatre, but please watch it once it comes out on DVD / makes its way to Hulu / becomes downloadable on iTunes, etc.

Watch the trailer here and check out the website. It's fantastic!



10 Easy Tips to healthier eating from the Food, Inc. website...

* Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages. You can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage (preferably water).

* Eat at home instead of eating out. Children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.

* Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards. Half of the leading chain restaurants provide no nutritional information to their customers.

* Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks. Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years.

* Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week. An estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to farm animals.

* Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides. According to the EPA, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.

* Protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market. Farmer's markets allow farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.

* Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS. The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.

* Tell Congress that food safety is important to you. Each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the U.S.

* Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections. Poverty among farm workers is more than twice that of all wage and salary employees.

Be informed. Be healthy. Act.

Giveaway: Pediped shoes

The wonderful line Pediped has introduced their new fall collection. You probably remember me reviewing Pediped a while back and loved them. But, I didn't know how much I really loved them until now.

LA (my 3-year-old) really enjoyed the flexible sole and velcro fasteners last time. But the true test of soft flexible leather was up to my super sweet super active little 1-year-old, Boatboy.

Boatboy seems to be quite comfy in his adorable Pedipeds. They are so easy to put on. They stay on! And, the leather is so soft! It allows Boatboy to crawl, fall and get up again with out leaving indentations on his soft, tiny feet. Or, our floors. Pediped vouch themselves as the next best thing to bare feet and that is so true!

I really like to coordinate Boatboy's outfits and my choice of shoes last time really made it tough even though they were stinkin' cute! So, I am thankful for the fall collection. I got a pair of Ethans, a classic brown shoe, that will match almost everything!

Head over to check out their new fall collection. If you have a girl you must have these. If I had a girl she would live in these shoes. I just adore them!

Win a pair: Head over to Pedipeds and leave me a comment with which "Originals" pair you must have and the size. Depending on stock they could be yours. If not, you might have to pick a 2nd choice, but regardless a Blondes, Poop & Mascara winner is scoring a pair of shoes!

Extra Entries:
1. Follow my blog publicly through Google's easy reader tool.
2. Subscribe to my blog via email (and except the confirmation email).
3. Follow me on twitter... mrsblonde1
4. Tweet about this giveaway. Please tweet once. No follower of yours wants bombarded with the same tweet over and over.
5. Grab my button and post it to your cyber space.
6. Blog about this contest and leave the link in your comment.
7. Email this giveaway to 4 friends and copy me.

8. NEW - Grab my Less Naughty. More Nice. button to promote my upcoming event! More details coming soon.

I will select a winner August 18th. Thanks for entering!

True Random Number Generator Result: 77

LA: 3 looks good on ya!

Happy birthday to our big boy LA!



Day 1



Day 365



Day 730



Day 1095

dog days of summer

It's just this hot here...

Photographic Phriday

A friend of Mrs. Blonde's for the better part of a decade, Katelin Carter, is a professional photographer in the making. While still in her undergraduate program, she has started Full Pockets Photography. As you'll see from our shoot, her eye for a good photo is already much more mature than her education would suggest. Here are some of our favorites...















Make sure to check out more shots from our shoot and the rest of Katelin's work at Full Pockets.

LA unplugged: depacifying a toddler

LA was about 5 days old and wailing in the middle of the night (infants actually do that, make a note of it) we discovered the beautiful glorious allow-mama-and-dadda-to-sleep-for-just-a-bit wonders of the pacifier. We got one out of the package, plopped it in his mouth...and, wait for it...shhh...hear that...SILENCE!

And, so began the age of the paci. Jump ahead two years (this time last year) and you have a happy little boy who's eloquent in every feasible way except for one thing. The addiction we gave him. The dreaded paci!

"I'm tired I need my paci."

"I need my paci so I can calm down."

"I need my paci so I can relax."

Back when we were first thinking toward depacification, you had a few pieces of advice for us. We were most amused by what designHER Momma did when PK was at this stage. "oh, we were mean over here. We just started cutting the tip of the paci little by little over the course of a month or two until there was nothing to suck on but the plastic part. but it worked..."

We tried that a year ago and it wasn't working out too well with LA having recently adjusted to his toddler bed at age 18 months and getting used to his brother being around when he was 21 months. So, we gave up. Shortly after that he showed interest in potty training. We rolled with that and got that notched off the list. But, still needing omission...the paci.

In the middle of last winter, Mr. Blonde spontaneously told LA when he asked for his paci that we were going to give Baby Matthew (a friend's then infant) LA's paci when he turned 3. Much to our surprise, LA was into it and thought a baby SHOULD have a paci. Big boys don't need pacis. Ah hah! We had a plan.

Jump ahead to yesterday. August 4, 2009. As a prelude to going cold turkey at his birthday party this weekend, Mrs. Blonde cut a very very tiny slit in the end of the paci. Simple physics really. Kid sucks on paci, it goes in and out of mouth as desired. Kid sucks on paci with slit in it, it stays put. No in. No out. Nothing. LA didn't say anything about it until bedtime last night...

"Dadda, my paci has air in it. I don't want it. Get me a new one."

"It's the only one we have (outright lie), buddy. How about I just sit it here on the floor next to your bed and you can get it if you want it?"

"Uh huh."

He wasn't upset in any way whatsoever. Until about an hour later and he still hadn't fallen asleep. Now, in our house, we have a schedule. That schedule has been in plan since the dawn of time (dawn of time = when we had kids). It dictates a fairly strict eating and sleeping schedule. The boys like it. We like it. Don't screw with it. It works. So, when LA comes strolling out of his bedroom at 9PM, it's unusual to say the least. That's when the byproduct of a lack of ability to self-soothe took over.

"Dadda, I have to go poo poo."

"I'm thirsty. Please can I have some milk?"

"My belly hurts."

"I'm hungry"

"I have to go pee."

Oh, did we mention we had dinner guests over last night too? Yeah. We did. Ryan & Stephanie, we love your patience. Thank you.

Anyway, by 9:45, Mr. Blonde just went in there and laid with the little man. There isn't that much space in a toddler bed for a 200 pound 31-year-old and a soon-to-be-3-year-old. But, evidentally, there is enough. Because for the first time since we has a newborn in the hospital, LA fell asleep without a paci!

Did you hear that? WITHOUT A PACI! We're not out of the woods just yet. He has an overnight trip to Grandpa and Grandma's tonight and a couple nights until his birthday party at a local fire station this weekend where we'll give the paci to Baby Matthew. But, we've never been closer. We need a strong finish. Ready...Break! Go team! Wish us luck.

happy monster

For the past couple weeks my little Boatboy (age: 14months) has really become the little monster when he doesn't get his way. He is often the most easy-going (not to be confused with stationary, he's VERY active) happiest outoing baby. Think: laughs and says "Boom!" at loud noises, smiles at strangers, etc. At this age LA wouldn't let hardly anyone hold him without screaming and crying. His little brother will go to anyone. Very different children in several ways. That's part of the extreme beauty of parenting.

Watching them relate to one another has gone from 90% playing intervention / 10% having fun to 25% playing intervention / 75% having fun. Boatboy adores his older (21 months his senior) brother...until he doesn't get his way. Which leads us to yesterday afternoon's quick little shopping venture at Target.

It's about a half mile away. We needed my favorite generic brand diapers. Easy little jaunt, right?

I put them in the little 2-seater for the first time where they face each other. They were laughing and LA was tickling Boatboy and all was well. Then, Boatboy started taking everthing out of LA's hands. When LA clung to the item, Boatboy screamed and cried. I had to stop multiple times and squat down to try to calm him. He would calm down until he wanted something else. Now for the hidden jewel in this scene (and it WAS a scene), LA kept giving his little brother anything he wanted and telling him "It's ok. It's ok" in a really sweet little voice. He was also shoving his fingers in his ears because of the pitch level of the little monster's scream. I almost left a full basket (Mr. Blonde refuses to call it a "basket." He calls it a "cart.") in the center aisle and just bolted. Luckily removing Boatboy from the seating arrangement worked and I was able to hurry it up and scramble out.

It is interesting writing this. The first couple of years with LA I really struggled because he would not stay with many people. Major heaps of stranger anxiety didn't make for much flexibility in our lives. Now I am very thankful for his sensitive side. He is such an amazing big brother to Boatboy. Now, they have their moments (see previouisly cited 25% playing intervention), but he really does want to make him happy the best he knows how.

I am truly blessed to watch my sensitive LA interact with my happy Boatboy monster any day. I just won't be watching it occur in a 2-seated shopping "cart" anytime soon.

"Hey you...

...weekend's over. Get back to work!"

in the words of Tom Petty

"It's good to be king...if just for a day."

lookin' LUSHciously Marilyn

I am sure you remember me ranting and raving over a line called LUSH. That is fresh, handmade, green and good for you. I love their products!

So I am blonde (Mrs. Blonde) and my hair gets really dry (scalp and hair) in the summer sun. So this product called the Marilyn Hair Treatment is perfect for me. It smells so yummy. All of their products do! And it has seriously made my hair softer and brighter. I am a natural blonde. I would like to blonder...but it costs too much. So, I'm on the every-four-months-get-my-hair-done plan. From the picture you can probably tell it is about time. (By the way, this picture was taken after a 30 minute run. I'm glad picture posting don't have scents).

It smells so amazing. I don't ever want to wash it out when I have it on. It has chamomile, lemon and saffron to brighten. Linseed mucilage for softer tresses. And fresh organic lemon juice for shine.

This product would be amazing for heavily sun damaged hair and styling/bleaching abuse. Or, if you just want to be a healthier natural blonde.

It is only $18.55. That is absolutely unheard of for a treatment mask. I have used mine 4 times and I think I will get 2 more treatments. They do say if you are really damaged to use more product.

Check out other's reviews on the product page as well.

Go buy your new hair mask and check out all of the LUSH products. And, sign up for LUSH e-news and receive exclusive offers at the bottom of their homepage. They are definitley becoming my favorite bath/body products!

reconcili(ache)tion

I just stuck my toothbrush under the water cooler spicket at work in order to fill up the bottle in my opposite hand. Other than completely ineffective, do you know what that is? It's called preoccupation.

My mind and heart are incredibly full with the notion of reconciliation right now. Reconciliation has such extreme power in this world. I believe that to be because it's not of this world. In fact, it completely opposes things of the world. The world says..."Get yours." "Get even." Rarely does the world say "I forgive you. Let's decide to grow stronger in our relationship and use this damage for good."

It's been a bit of a theme in 2009 for Mrs. Blonde and I. Not the need for reconciliation between us. But, around us. (Not that we're immune from selfishly causing the other harm by putting ourselves above the other. It happens from time to time. But, it's not all too common. And, when it does happen, we have an understanding that it's to be dealt with immediately and put to rest. -- I digress.)

This week we found out that a dear friend was welcomed back home with his wife and kids after having been kicked out for almost three months. Things aren't perfect yet. Hearts still ache. But reconciliation is active. It's alive. It's well. Hope and Love are abound. That is beautiful. And, it's other-worldly.

Right now, Mrs. Blonde is at a court preceding as a character witness for a friend who is seeking justice for herself and her baby boy. To say it's an anxious time for them is a bit of an understatement. We have little control over how the situation will play out. But, we choose reconciliation in the form of justice. Time will tell.

When you choose to reconcile with another or seek to reconcile with another, you are, in effect, bringing more of Heaven here on earth. Of course the opposing decision (not choosing to reconcile) brings more hell here on earth. Hopefully, you're not in a position to consider such things right now and everything is all rainbows and bunny rabbits in your life. But, there will come a time when conflict occurs. When you hurt someone. When someone hurts you. When it does, what will you do?

Bring more Heaven to this place?...

or more hell?

I hope you choose humility. I hope you choose the most difficult thing. I hope you choose to forgive. I hope you choose to reconcile.

Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Boatboy (in 3 color palettes)

meet the intentionally pennyless caveman blogger

Daniel Suelo lives in a cave. Unlike average American—wallowing in credit-card debt, clinging to a mortgage, terrified of the next downsizing at the office—he isn't worried about the economic crisis. That's because he figured out that the best way to stay solvent is to never be solvent in the first place. Nine years ago, in the autumn of 2000, Suelo decided to stop using money. He just quit it, like a bad drug habit.

I'm not saying this guy has it all "figured out." But, I do believe he does have several notions well cornered. It's worth the read and you asking yourself some questions about the role money plays in your life.

Do you allow it to serve others or do you serve it?

Click here for the rest of the story. Click here to read his blog.

down the rabbit hole you go

Click on the movie poster to watch the trailer. It wouldn't embed properly.

When something's crazy. Like really craZZZzzzy! How do you make it crazier (read crazier in this case as awesomer)?

Decide to remake Alice in Wonderland.

Hire Tim Burton to direct it.

Hire Johnny Depp as the Madhatter.

And, make it in 3D!!!

"I'm late / I'm late / For a very important date. / No time to say 'Hello.' / Goodbye. / I'm late, I'm late, I'm late."

eaves(ment)dropping

Ever sold your house? Ever tried to sell your house and couldn't. Ever tried to sell your house for a really long time?! The later is about where we fall right now. Mr. Blonde has written about this a bit before.

Trying to sell a house and not doing so begs the question: Why?...or...Why Not? might be more accurate.

In rhetoric response to said question, we wondered, "I wish it was just as easy as hearing them talk while they're in our house...hmmm...like when we listen to hear if Boatboy's awake from his nap yet...hmmm...WAIT A MINUTE!"

Commence Project House Monitor.

/ book next showing
/ ensure baby monitor is charged
/ ensure speaker unit is on in house
/ pull into neighbor's driveaway and hope client(s) don't see you and reception is clear

Imaginary conversations have gone as follows...

Client to his Wife: "This yard is incredible!"

Imaginary response from Mr. and Mrs. Blonde: "Yep. It sure is."

Client to her Husband: "This kitchen has a ton of cabinets!"

Imaginary response from Mr. and Mrs. Blonde: "Yes. There sure are."

Client to their Realtor: "You think this house is priced to high?" Realtor in response to Client: "Yes."

Imaginary response from Mr and Mrs: "Oh really? Have you pulled comps in the area? Our cost per foot is right on par and we've upgraded everything in the place since we bought it!"

Client to her Husband: "Gosh this master bedroom is small."

Imaginary response from Mr and Mrs: "Any smaller than the measurements you already saw on the MLS listing? We actually had that information drafted up in English language and used numbers that aren't fake."

Client to his Wife: "Oh, honey, this would be the absolute perfect house if only the crawl space entry was just 1 foot further south. Let's check out that cute little bungalow down the street..."
Imaginary response from Mr to Mrs: "I'm going to kill him!"

/ angrily jumps out of van sprinting for the front door with an open utility knife in hand.....

Alright, alright!...that's one's fake.

The jury is still out on Project House Monitor. We didn't learn anything. We haven't sold our house. But, it was pretty fun. Oh, and if we're showing you our house sometime soon -- We're listening.

an unexpectant gift

Tonight while playing frantically in the yard with Mr. Blonde, LA paused between walnut throws into the creek - hugged Mr. Blonde's leg, looked up at him and said, "I like to be close to you because I love you." Then, threw another walnut in the creek.

"What's that?...the WEEKEND I see?!"

caption this

(your caption here - and by "here" I mean in your comment)

Image borrowed from here.

Giveaway: Set of 3 Clean Safe Sippy Cups!

Get excited! I have found an eco-friendly sippy cup that is not made of toxic chemicals/dangerous plastics! And, it doesn't leak like a siv! Kid Basix has one purpose: Making kids' lives better.

The Safe Sippy is a stainless steel drink cup for all ages. It comes with handles perfect for my 1 year old and you can take the handles...which I do for my 3-year-old. This cup is very unique and way better than any plastic cup we have in our home. I always knew stainless steel was a better option, but never really saw any kid-friendly versions at the store. Why is it so much better than our plastic ones already in the cabinet you are asking?

It starts with the clean, non-leaching medical-grade stainless steel container. The cup has a sleek, modern look that comes in three bright colors: pink, blue and green. The spout is shaped like a straw because recent research has shown that wide, flat spouts can cause developmental and speech problems in young mouths. The handles are removable once a child is big enough to grip the bottle using the ribbed waist. The colorful protective sleeve provides insulation against cold liquids and acts as a cushion to protect the cup. Best of all, any plastic used on the cup is certified free of Bisphenol A, phthalates and DEHA.

“I created the cup because my wife and I had done extensive research about the toxic effects of
chemicals used to make many plastics,” says Bret Plate, C.E.O. of Kid Basix and creator of The
Safe Sippy™ cup. “Every morning, our son would wake up asking for water, and it drove me
crazy that I had to give him water in plastic sippy cups that I knew might be unsafe. One day I
thought, if I won’t drink out of plastic bottles, why am I letting my son do it?”

Thank goodness for people like Bret who have these ideas and DO them. I have often had the same thought when I am scrubbing a day old sippy cup, with rotten milk and then quickly pouring fresh new milk in it all while my child is pulling on my ankles screaming for his milk. -- "This cups still kind of smells like old milk and I bet it is not really clean." Not anymore. Not only do I love our new cup. It is so much easier to clean, it keeps our drinks cooler longer, the boys love it and it's SAFE! I will say it is a little pricier in the beginning, but it does grow with your child. I have 3 different stage cups x 2 in out cabinet. That is a lot of cups. I am happy to trade out 3 for 1.

Buy it: Head over to The Safe Sippy and get your child a safe cup. They retail for 13.00

Win it: The Safe Sippy cup is graciously giving one Blondes, Poop & Mascara reader a set of 3 Safe Sippies. A $39 value. Leave me a comment letting me know why you must have these cups! Don't forget to leave your email address as well.

Extra Entries:
1. Follow my blog publicly through Google's easy reader tool.
2. Subscribe to my blog via email (and except the confirmation email).
3. Follow me on twitter... mrsblonde1
4. Tweet about this giveaway.
5. Grab my button and post it to your cyber space.
6. Blog about this contest and leave the link in your comment.
7. Email this giveaway to 4 friends and copy me.

I'll pick a winner on July 24th (my birthday!). Good luck! Thanks for stopping by.