Re : the overwhelming response to the moldy tampon.

I feel I need to clear a few things up because this thing has gotten way, way more exposure than I ever thought imaginable. When I discovered the tampon, I was disturbed. I showed my husband right away and emailed Kotex including the pictures posted here. I shared the picture with some friends online and they were horrified and encouraged me to post about it on Facebook. I decided to blog about it and share the link and did so shortly afterward.

Unbeknownst to me, this thing took off. Like wildfire. I have come under a lot of scrutiny this evening, people even going so far as to insinuate that it looks like Sharpie. Really? WHY would I do something like that? Of course I wanted people to read about this, but I did not fabricate the story just to do so. I shared what happened because it's gross. It concerns me. And it seems like it concerns a lot of you, too. Several people have messaged me and told me they have found similar Kotex tampons as well. This is not an isolated incident!

If I were going to do something of that nature, believe me, I would have chosen something other than a tampon. I'm the type of girl that checks out the cash registers and tries to find the one with a female cashier when I'm purchasing feminine hygiene products. It's not something I'm overly vocal about and I seriously hesitated to post about this at all. However, I was grossed out enough by my find that I decided it was worth it. For those asking where the tampons were stored, they were stored under my bathroom sink. We did not have a leak of any kind and I just purchased the tampons about 3-4 weeks ago so they are not a product I've had sitting in my home for months or years on end.

Why did I contact the news? Because everyone pleaded with me to do so! Never in a hundred million years did I expect to actually get a response. I wouldn't have even contacted the news if people hadn't mentioned it. Seriously! I only watch one news station here, so I  decided to contact them. They responded fairly quickly and sent three guys to my house to do an interview. I almost declined because I am painfully shy and this is not something I would generally talk about at all, nonetheless the 10 o'clock news! Especially with three men conducting the interview! Yes, it's an embarrassing topic and I am definitely a little bashful that all of this has happened over a tampon. I'm just a simple little blogger and never would have imagined something like this would unfold in one day. I've had this blog for over two years, and until today, I had only 26,000  views total. Approximately 2-3k views per month. I couldn't have imagined it would take off like this. It's the power of social media and women everywhere are grossed out, myself included. I did email the link and pictures to Dr. Oz as well. I have not been contacted by him, nor do I expect to hear back from him. People kept throwing out tons of suggestions of who to contact and he seemed like the best suggestion of the 'big dogs'. EDITED TO ADD: I did send the tampon with the news station to have sent in for independent testing. They urged me to go this route, along with many friends and people commenting on my blog, in order to ensure it is properly tested and not done by Kotex themselves. I don't have a clue what the black-ish substance on that tampon is but I hope we find out. To me, it looks like mold. I have no way of knowing if that's what it is but based off the response Kotex provided me with earlier, it sounds plausible considering they've obviously addressed this issue with customers before.

I did go ahead and open the rest of the package that I had. They were all fine. I took a picture to verify that they were, in fact, mold-free. All but one  :

I just checked my email and Kotex has finally contacted me again. It seems they are taking it a little more seriously now. This is their newest letter to me:

 Dear Danielle,

I just read your message to us on Facebook and I wanted to tell you that we are so sorry you had this experience!  In Betty’s eagerness to get back to your e-mail right away, she unfortunately sent you incorrect information concerning this issue.

Nothing is more important to us than consumer safety.  Any discoloration or abnormality with our tampons is extremely rare, and we want to do a full investigation to determine the source and follow-up with our manufacturing facility.  So if you still have the tampon, can you please return it to us by using the prepaid mailing envelope we’re sending you?

We’d also really like to get on the phone with you and find out more to help us in our investigation.  Please give us a call at 1-800-789-4495 and ask for Shelley, or reply to this e-mail and give us your phone number and the best time to contact you.

Again, we are so sorry this happened and thank you so much for getting in touch with us and giving us the chance to help make sure this doesn’t happen again.


Shelley
Account Executive
Consumer Services, Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Lead the world in essentials for a better life.

016750187B



I am glad they have contacted me and I look forward to speaking with them about this issue tomorrow.  I know that errors in manufacturing can happen and I understand that completely! I, like so many others, found their initial response a little concerning and dismissive. I am glad they intend to investigate the issue further. I am hoping they can come up with a way to prevent this from happening again. Perhaps a clear applicator? That seems like it would be a simple enough solution. I don't know, I'm not the tampon-professional, I'm just a concerned woman trying to let people know to pay better attention to these things. I know I'll pay a lot closer attention from now on!

And as for those questioning why I suddenly have turned on the comment moderation? "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all." This is my own personal blog and I shouldn't have to allow excessive comments attacking my faith or my character.  I was just trying to make women aware of what could be lurking under the applicator of their tampons. That's it. And I assure you, I am not a fly-by-night tampon decorator. I like Sharpies as much as the next guy, but I'm not gonna doodle on a tampon and pass it off as mold to get a few blog views.

The tale of the moldy tampon.

Um. Holy...wow. 

Has anyone else ever had this happen before?

I just found a MOLDY TAMPON in a brand new box of Kotex Tampons. Yeah, you read that right - moldy. Straight out of the box, in it's sealed little packaging ... moldy. Bad moldy.

See for yourself!

Can you even BELIEVE THAT???  I am horrified!

And to think, if I hadn't accidentally popped half the tampon out of the applicator while I was getting it out of the packaging, I would have NEVER KNOWN. I am freaked right out! Makes you wonder how many times things like this happen to tampons and we don't have a clue.

Needless to say, Kotex is about to get an earful. UGGGHHHHH! So freaking gross!



UPDATE :

I decided to email Kotex because I felt the pictures were an important part of my story. A phone call couldn't accurately describe what I found so I decided to email them. I didn't expect to hear back for at least a day or two, but lo and behold, they've already responded. Just wait to see what they have to say! =/


Dear Danielle,

Thanks for contacting us about your experience with KOTEX® SECURITY® tampons.  We are very sorry that you were disappointed with your recent purchase of our product.

We understand how distressing it can be to find mold on a product that is used for personal hygiene and apologize for your concern.  In instances where it has been found, we conducted tests on the product involved and have found the mold to be a common environmental species that carries no health risk.  The vegetative mold is similar in nature to mold on vegetables or in baked goods.

You can be confident that we are diligently reviewing our manufacturing process to ensure this problem does not recur.  Because our customers and their well-being are very important to us, we want to assure you that the quality and safety of our products are our top priorities.  We apply very rigorous procedures to our products to ensure that they are safe for their intended use.

With the hope that you will continue to use SECURITY tampons with confidence, we are sending you some coupons through the mail for your use on future purchases.


Betty
Consumer Services, Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Lead the world in essentials for a better life.

016750187A



Yeah, that's real reassuring. I was grossed out in the first place and their response just makes it worse!  Seems this is a fairly common problem ... and that is a cause for serious concern. I doubt most people get as lucky as I did - I just so happened to accidentally expose the mold and I am so glad that I did! Most people wouldn't be so  fortunate.

Thanks for the coupons, Kotex, but I can confidently say I'll never be purchasing any of your products ever  again.

Our DIY clothesline.

As you already know, I am always looking for ways to save money. I have wanted a clothesline for well over two years now and I am proud to say that we finally have one! It's a little ridiculous how excited I am about this. :) Not only will it save us lots of money, it will keep our house cooler, preserve our dryer, and our clothes won't wear out as quickly, either! Quadruple plus! :)

We put it up about two weeks ago and have been putting it to good use already! I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a pre-made clothesline similar to those you would find at state park (the umbrella-y shaped metal ones) - they were in the $75-80 price range and that's not the style I had in mind anyway. A quick Google search provided me with what I needed : a simple set of DIY instructions. The only change we made is that we used larger cuts of wood than they did in order to make it more sturdy. I think the total lumber investment was about $13.

Mitchell built the clothesline in just a couple of hours one evening. I didn't do the best job of chronicling his progress. Oops!

Poor Mitchell doesn't have a bunch of power tools yet so he had to do all the sawing by hand!

He turned a stack of wood timbers in to this:

It's nothing fancy but it sure does the trick! We are able to fit 3 large loads of laundry on the clothesline all at once. It's not nearly as time consuming as I was expecting, either. I thought it was going to be a major hassle but I was willing to give it a try in order to save money.  In some ways, it's actually easier! I don't have to wait for the dryer to get finished and constantly have to switch everything around. I wash a few loads of laundry, hang everything out to dry, and it's all done drying at the same time (and therefore gets put away at the same time!). I don't know about you, but I have a bad habit of procrastinating BIG TIME with the last load or two of laundry when I have a bunch to do in one day. I will do great with all the previous loads, but the last load always sits in the dryer or hamper getting neglected. That doesn't happen with the clothesline! It's all gotta come in before nightfall so it gets put up right away, all at the same time. We got six loads of laundry washed/dried yesterday in record time. I love it! :)

And last but not least, Piper's rainbow of cloth diapers drying in the warm Spring air this afternoon! :)

Weekend Recap

Woo doggies, this lady is one tired mamacita! This has been another busy, busy weekend and I am ready for a siesta! :) We have been going, going, going all weekend so I'm going to catch you up on our weekend while supper finishes cooking! Rotisserie pork ribs and salad, yum, yum! 

Friday night we decorated for Easter. Piper had never seen most of my Easter decorations before and she was so excited! She kept saying 'Rabbey! Rabbey!" to all the cute Easter bunnies. :0) I will have to take pictures of the decorations and share with you later. I have very fond memories of helping my mom decorate for all sorts of different holidays throughout the year and hope I will eventually have decorations for most of the holidays myself and that my children will enjoy that tradition as well.

Saturday morning, we headed for our favorite nursery bright and early. We have been prepping the front and back yard for several weeks and we were excited to finally put our plans in motion! We bought three flats of flowers and six tomato plants and one cucumber plant. This is so exciting for us! Our first Spring in our first home - we are loving every moment! It has been a ton of work getting everything ready but hopefully it will be worth it.

I didn't get pictures of the front yard / flowers yet, but I did get pictures of the garden! Saturday afternoon was spent in the front yard. We planted sixty flowers, put in the flower bed bordering, laid out the weed block, and covered it with pine mulch. That was quite the project! Sounds a lot easier than it really was! :) I will post before and afters soon. 

Today, we planted five regular tomato plants (three different varieties to see which we like best), one cherry tomato plant, and one cucumber plant. We thought about trying more things than just tomatoes and cucumbers but then decided it would be wise to keep it simple for our first garden and expand from there. We have a compost bin (more on that later), so we mixed some of our compost in, added some expanded shale, laid down some weed block, planted our tomatoes and cucumber, and then added some top soil to secure the weed block. Here's hoping we have a successful growing season!

It's hard to tell, but I spray painted the tomato cages K-State purple. :)

Not only will we have to worry about inclement weather and pests, but we will have to keep an eye on Piper. We're having a hard time keeping her out of the garden already. ;) LOL. She always wants her "shubble" (shovel) and wants to dig, dig, dig. Little turkey!

Wondering what that big, white container is in the background?

That's our rain barrel! It's not something that we'd ever really had a need for until we moved to Texas. It actually rains here. We purchased a 55 gallon barrel from our local car wash for ten dollars and thoroughly cleaned it out. Mitchell rigged up the faucet at the bottom, we routed the downspout from the guttering in to one of the openings up top, and the rain barrel was full within days of setting it up! Nothing like 55 gallons of free water every time it rains! With the downspout being on the corner of the house, the rain barrel fills up quick. Way, way faster than I ever would have imagined. We plan to water our garden with the rain barrel water as much as possible. It's still completely full so I suspect it will save us a fair amount of money on water if it continues to rain every so often! Just add that to our list of ways to save money and reduce our carbon footprint! :0) 

We hook the hose up to the spout on the bottom.

And of course, Rio has been right at our feet all weekend!

And because I didn't get all of this typed out before the ribs were done, here is a picture of Miss Piper J chowin' down. Piper absolutely loves ribs. She cleans a rib bone better than I do!

Saturday Nine

Come Dancing

Saturday 9: Come Dancing

1. When was the last time that you went out dancing? --My honeymoon. Way too long ago! Mitchell and I aren't exactly the type to go out dancing. Not without some liquid courage that is, LOL.

2. Have you ever had an argument with a teacher? -Yep. I was pretty relentless with my Current Events teacher in high school. He was a flaming liberal and he drove me up the wall. It made for some lively class discussions, haha. :)  

3. Do you have a tough time remembering people’s names? --Not really. I have the world's worst memory but for some reason, I'm pretty good with names. 

4. Would you rather change your past or know your future? -- Neither. The past made me who I am and I don't want to know the future.

5. What’s one thing you feel you must do in your life before it ends? -Grow old with my husband. I want to sit on the front porch in our wooden rocking chairs with a bunch of kids and grandkids surrounding us. Yeah, I know, sounds corny, but it's true. 

6. How many credit cards do you have right now that have a zero balance? --We never carry a credit card balance. No siree bob. So, they all have a zero balance, we pay them off every month. My mama taught me better than that, son! ;) 

7. What is the most expensive thing you purchased this year? --Our house, for sure. If you mean calendar year, probably the guttering for the side of the house that we put up a couple weeks ago. We still have more guttering to put up but we are doing a little at a time so it's a little easier on the pocketbook. 

8 . If you're married, this probably doesn't apply to you, but: Are you mindful about getting tested for STDs/HIV at least semi-regularly? Why/why not? Married people: Were you mindful about this type of thing when you were single? Why/why not? --Holy wow, wasn't expecting that question. Thankfully, this isn't something either of us have ever had to worry about. Perk of marrying your first love at a young age! ;) 

9. If you could ask the president of the United States one question, what would it be? --"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?" ... in regards to so, so many things. 

I love this!

So, so true! Live for the now. :0)

Brooke's

Ohhhhh my goodness. RUN, don't walk, on over to Brooke's page. NOW!!

I've been admiring Brooke's adorable custom outfits for some time now. I'm pleased to say that Piper is the proud new owner of not one, but two adorable new outfits from Brooke's and I couldn't be more pleased.

Custom black tshirt tank dress. Triple stacked crosses with monogram.

Custom designed turtle outfit with ruffles and monogram.

Piper has never shown a huge interest in her clothes....until I showed her both of these outfits. She *flipped out* and willingly agreed to model for pictures. She was so proud of herself! As you can see, she was having a blast while showing off her new duds!

Look at that sass! ;-) 

Pictures do NOT do these outfits justice. Believe me, you will not be disappointed. Better yet, her prices are very reasonable. I've never seen custom-made outfits that are also so affordable! You're typically looking at $50-$60 or more for most boutique outfits like this on Etsy or craft shows and that's simply not the case with Brooke's items.

Ladybug towels.

One of my favorite Brooke's creations - isn't this dress gorgeous?

Bloomers / diaper covers

She doesn't just specialize in children's clothing, either. She can customize or monogram all sorts of things. Pillows, blankets, towels, burp cloths, hand towels, backpacks, purses/totes, aprons, you name it, she does it! :)

A small sample of the dozens of appliques she has to choose from:

Not only are her creations fabulous, but the owner, Brooke, is one of the sweetest, friendliest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. You won't find better customer service anywhere!

Now through the entire month of April, Brooke has graciously offered a discount for those of you who wish to place an order! Just mention code "Spring10" when placing your order and she will give you 10% off any item. So do me a favor and go 'like' Brooke's on Facebook and go hog wild with your orders, would ya?

Weekend Recap

The weekend's been over for two days now but I'm just now getting a chance to sit down at the computer to blog. Always a day late and a dollar short! There was some nasty weather in the DFW metroplex yesterday so the computer was off in case of power outages. We didn't get it too bad here but it did rain quite a bit so our already-wet yard now has lots of standing water.

We had a pretty fun and busy weekend, however! Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and we celebrated by having a picnic lunch with my sister and Toby at a local park! We ate a super yummy lunch and then played at the playground for a while before we had to head home for Piper's nap.

Cupcakes!

Trying to catch someone's kite.

Peeking over the top of the climbing wall (Mitchell was holding her up).

Trying to imitate the other girl. :)

My gorgeous girl! <3 

We all had a great time at the park. Ash & Toby came back and visited while Piper took a nap, and then went our separate ways to run a few errands. We met back up later that night to do something we rarely get to do anymore : go out to eat! :)

We went to a restaurant called Carino's Italian restaurant and it was very yummy! We all sampled each other's food but my favorite was the Spicy Roma Chicken that my sister ordered. It was delicious. I found a copy-cat recipe online and I will have to give it a try and see how it turns out. We had a great time at the restaurant and Piper gorged herself on Italian food. Piper loves garlic bread and pasta, that's for sure!

Sunday was spent doing yard work and odd jobs around the house. Putting up additional guttering, turning over the garden soil before we got hammered with more rain, mow/weed eat/all that fun stuf. We also got our clothesline put up but I'll share more about that later. :) That evening, we grilled steaks for supper and ate on the back patio.

It was such a nice weekend! I hope this week is treating you all well!

Saturday Nine

Saturday 9: Forget You

1. Have you ever felt that you needed to just forget an ex? --Not really. I dont have enough exes that this is a problem. I was very young when I started dating my husband!

2. Spring picnics and cookouts are here! What would you want to have on your plate as you head back to the table? --Funny you should mention that, we're going on a picnic with Ashley and Toby today! We're not doing anything fancy, just sandwiches and chips. Good enough for me!

3. It's St. Patrick's Day, March 17th! Do you celebrate? Drink Green Beer? Go out? --Nope, not in the traditional sense of the word. We're not exactly party people or big drinkers. I certainly wouldn't drink green beer, regular beer is disgusting enough, thankyouverymuch, LOL. I wear green and that's the extent of it for now. Starting next year, I plan to do more fun things for Piper. St. Patrick's Day themed meals, craft, etc. :) I've been pinning all sorts of ideas on Pinterest but didn't get enough of a head start on it this year to do it today. Oh well! Piper's still a little young to really 'get' that anyway so next year is probably better anyway.

4. Did you remember to wear green today?  --I'm wearing green, barely. Lol. K-State plays today so I'm wearing my KSU stuff instead!

5. What phrase or saying do you over use? --There are plenty but I always have a hard time pinpointing them when asked. I asked Mitchell and he's got nothin' also.

6. If you could (or could have) change(d) something about your relationship with your parents, what would it be? --I wouldn't! I am very close to both of my parents and wouldn't have it any other way. The only thing I'd change is not being such a brat sometimes when I was a kid but.....I'd say  most of us can probably say the same, lol.

7. If the NCAA Men's or Women's Final Four basketball tournament was played in your hometown arena or within easy driving distance from where you live, would you try to attend one of the games? --YES! Of course. Not that we could afford it but theoretically speaking, I'd love to go! 
 
8. No matter what's going on in your life, what always makes you smile? --Piper! Of course.

9. We've asked this before: What else is on your mind? Go ahead and rant. --I am trying to do the C25K program again and it's not so easy when all it does here is rain, rain, rain in the Spring, lol. And my allergies are killing me lately so that's not helping matters any.

Outback Steakhouse Steak Seasoning

I recently found a copy-cat Outback Steakhouse steak seasoning recipe and I knew right away that I wanted to try it. After countless trips to the grocery store and repeatedly forgetting the turmeric, I finally made it home with a bottle of it and we had steaks for supper that evening using this seasoning.

It was delicious. Really, really, reeeeeally good. I highly recommend it! If you're sensitive to heat, you might reduce the cayenne in half. Mitchell and I liked it as-is but we'll have to tone done the cayenne next time as Piper absolutely loves steak and we don't want to burn her little mouth up. :)

Outback Steakhouse steak seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 dash coriander

1 dash turmeric

That's it! Just sprinkle the seasoning generously over your steaks and slap 'em on the grill. You won't be disappointed!

Texas Pork Burritos

These are good. Really, really good. I found this recipe in a magazine a while back and I'm so glad I did.  They are the best burritos I've ever made. Yummy!  :

Texas Pork Burritos

Ingredients

• 1 boneless pork shoulder butt roast (3 to 4 pounds), cubed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 cans (10 ounces each) green enchilada sauce
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cans sliced ripe olives, drained
• 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano or italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
• 10 flour tortillas, warmed
• 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese 

Directions

• Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown meat in oil in batches. Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine the enchilada sauce, onion, olives, broth, cumin, garlic and oregano; pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender. 
• Combine flour and sour cream; stir into meat mixture. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cilantro.
• Spoon 2/3 cup pork mixture onto each tortilla; top with about 3 tablespoons cheese. Roll up tightly. Yield: 10 servings.

 I usually use a little more cilantro and sour cream than it calls for and I just use whatever cheese I have on hand (usually colby/monterrey jack). The sauce mixture is soupier than I thought it would be so I also ladle some of the sauce on top of the burrito as well and garnish with a bit more cheese.  

I love to serve this with homemade salsa and guacamole (of course!). If you like pork burritos to start with, I promise you won't be disappointed. I tend to be a little picky with critiquing new recipes but this one was an instant hit. 

(If you've been following my blog from the start, you may recognize this recipe - bumping it back up to add a picture and tweak the recipe instructions!)

Piperisms

This is mostly so I won't forget some day but I know some of you don't get to see/hear Piper on a regular basis so I thought you might get a kick out of some of Piper's pronunciations of words. Or, as I call it, Pipernese. ;-)

Off the top of my head..

Socks = shocks
Butterfly = fluffafly 
Grapes = bobos (like hobo, with a b)
Hippo = hoppo
Thank you = take you
Turtle = tewt-tle
Nemo = momo
Buzz = Budth
Cereal = theweal
Seahorse = seesee which sounds more like sthesthe

Pizza = peppith

Booger = boo

She is also doing really well with 'please', 'thank you', and 'I'm sorry'. We have really been working at these lately now that she's talking a lot and she has been doing so well. She's even saying it without prompting most of the time which I absolutely adore! She hasn't quite learned that you don't have to apologize to inanimate objects, though. She'll bump it to a chair and say 'I sowwy', lol. Pretty cute!

She is definitely at the stage where she repeats everything.  I get such a kick out of hearing her talk! I also love hearing her say 'frog' ... it sounds a lot like a four letter expletive but I'm horrible and die laughing every time I hear it. I can't help it, there's something funny about hearing that come out of your 2 year old's mouth, even if they have no clue what they're saying. 

It's amazing to see their vocabulary expand by leaps and bounds every day. Some of the things she knows amaze me. Isn't it amazing how perceptive kids are? There have been several times recently that she just blows me away because I know I didn't teach her the words but she knew what it was and said it anyway. Things like a receipt, hamburger, firewood, etc.

Our sweet neighbor, Rhonda, lent us The Little Mermaid DVD and Piper has become OBSESSED with it. She has asked for it every day since we borrowed it. 'Muhhmaid? Muhhmaid??' - I'm pretty sure she'd watch it on repeat if I let her! Needless to say, I finally ordered our own copy to add to our collection. It's funny - before we had Piper, Mitchell and I owned almost no DVDs - maybe three or four, all of which were gifts. Now, we have probably a couple dozen or more. Funny how that changes! 

She's a pretty good eater, too. She doesn't eat a lot but she does eat a pretty varied diet. She loves strawberries, grapes, bananas, celery w/ peanut butter or cream cheese, clementines, cherries, rice cakes, cereal, milk (she'd drink a gallon a day if I let her), yogurt, pudding, hamburgers (lol, this is a new one for her), bagels with cream cheese, basted eggs and toast, and Wheat Thins. Her favorite foods are still pizza and cheese dip. Girlfriend loooooves 'peppith' and 'dip'!

She loves to play outside. We are fortunate that we live in a neighborhood full of kids so on any given afternoon/evening, we are quite likely outside hanging out with the neighbors while our kids play. She's always asking for Mack, our next door neighbor. It's pretty cute! He is so sweet to her and loves to give her rides in his little Hummer (he's five). Mack and Alexzavier actually argue over who gets to give Piper a ride so they have to share and take turns giving her rides up and down the sidewalk. She loves it and squeals this high-pitched little shriek. It's adorable. 

We are planting a garden this Spring, and so far, she has taken a pretty big interest in what we're doing. We're prepping the area now - digging up that area in the yard, turning the soil, mixing in the compost, etc. and she loves to hop in and "help". Hopefully our garden does well and she can watch how a vegetable is grown first hand! 

I could yap about Piper all day long so I better wrap this up for now. She is happy, healthy, and full of energy. She's also one very independent little senorita! To say she's strong-willed is an understatement. No surprise considering who her mama is. ;-)

I'm gonna miss this.

As we were struggling to get Piper to sleep yesterday evening (thank you, time change), I found myself starting to get exasperated and a tiny bit annoyed that our usual bedtime routine wasn't going as smoothly as it typically does. Every parent has been there - it's the end of the day, you're tired, your child is tired, and you just want to unwind. The last thing you want to deal with is a child that is over-tired and won't give it up and go to sleep.

It's also in those moments that I repeat very familiar song lyrics to myself : "You're gonna miss this."

Is it cliche? Of course it is. But it's true.

I recite those words to myself on a regular basis. Danielle, you're gonna miss this - just let it go and relish the moment for what it is. A gift.

Reading bedtime Bible stories to her, snuggling her in the rocking chair, sniffing her sweet, freshly-bathed Burts Baby Bee scented hair, and singing "Give Me Jesus". These are the moments that I live for.

It's so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day lives and let the smallest of disruptions bother us a little too much. It's not a big deal if they go to bed an hour later than you planned. It's life. In the end, cleaning up that baby powder explosion did turn out to be a pretty comical experience. She survived eating the dog treat. And the cricket. And even though I was embarrassed at the time, the whole library did chuckle when she loudly announced  that she needed to 'pooooop!'. We're making memories every day. These are the moments I will cherish for the rest of my life. And I'm gonna miss this.

Saturday Nine

A day late and a dollar short but oh well. ;)

Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow  

Saturday 9: Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow

1. How much do you worry about your future?

--I'm better now that I was about this even a year ago. I used to be really nervous and anxious about a lot of things but I have relaxed a lot. I do worry about the future sometimes, especially financially (don't we all?), but I finally decided that worrying never solved anything and life is a lot more fun when you don't feel the weight of the world on your shoulders 24/7. 

2. Do you believe that anyone could be perfect?

--Nope. There was only one perfect person that ever lived, everyone else falls short. 

 

3. Regarding your future, what is the best thing you could hope for?

--A happy, healthy family. Nothing else really matters in the grand scheme of things. 

 

4. What's the greatest extent you've gone to help a friend in need?

--I helped organize a pretty substantial donation for a friend of mine in a great time of need. Considering how few people were involved, I think we helped make a pretty big impact in her life. 

 

5. What did you do lately that was really brave?

--Um, drive in DFW? LOL. I'm kidding.  I can't really say I've done anything brave lately.

6. Tell us one thing you wish you hadn't let yourself do.

--Gain so much weight after getting married. Uugggghhhh. I could kick myself now! 

7. Who is the wisest person you know?

--My dad and my husband.

8. What's the most tasteless joke you've ever heard?

--Oh, plenty. The problem is that I have the memory of a goldfish and couldn't re-tell the jokes even if I tried. 

9. What does your answering machine / voice mail message say?

--It's been years since I recorded it and I (obviously) never call myself but I believe it says "Hey, this Danielle, I can't come to the phone right now but please leave your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."