product ho

i am a product lover. i am not myopic enough to limit my love to one type of products either. i love them all. beauty, cleaning, food, gadgets, baby (a whole new world!), office, animal and on and on. perhaps more than the products themselves i love to endorse them. i should've (could've...would've) been in advertising. here are some products i am using these days that are worth sharing:

clorox greenworks
genius! i love this stuff. it cleans well, smells good and is safe for people and pets. i use the multi-purpose cleaner, toliet bowl cleaner and glass cleaner. it feels good to clean with products that aren't only easy on the environment but on the nose hairs as well.

burt's bees creamy cleanser & witch hazel
i have spent many years trying to find products that clean my face, keep it smooth and moist without making it greasy and, most of all, don't cause me to breakout! this winter i had a facial at a very fancy spa (thanks ned!) and was told by the woman that gave it to me that you didn't need to spend a lot of money to get good results. she suggested this burt's bees cleanser and suggested i try using plain witch hazel (available for about 80 cents a bottle at the drug store) as a toner. she told me how important it was to use a toner and since that day i have used witch hazel after cleaning my face day and night. in my opinion, my skin looks great - better than it has in years. i use aveeno moisturizer (spf 15) during the day and burt's bees radiance nightcream at night. this little routine is not only affordable but all natural. most of all...it works!

snyder's of hanover multi-grain cheese puffs
snyder's is expanding their snack food line beyond pretzels and they are doing it the healthy way. their new line of multi-grain chips is great! best of all there is no trans-fat and most have a hearty amount of protein. wil and i especially love the white cheddar cheese puffs. try some today!

lipton cold brew iced tea
genius! this isn't exactly new to the market but there is nothing better on a hot summer day than a huge glass of iced tea and this makes that possible in minutes. yum!

pledge multi-surface
carry only one product from room to room...fabulous and soooo worth it. works great too!

atlas garden gloves
when tia came to help me do my perennial garden she bought a pair of these. we both got tickled because we thought they were cheap and thin and, more than likely, a waste of money. well, turns out they rock. i purchased a pair this weekend and love them. they are thin, yes, but that is what makes them so great. you can actually feel what you are doing with your plants and getting in those hard to reach spots is so much easier than wearing a bulkier glove. they also don't take on any water and wash off easily. if the glove fits....

i could go on and on....maybe i'll do this again sometime.

7 months

i cannot believe that wil turns 7 months old today. i guess i'll say that as we mark each milestone in his life. time really does fly when you're having fun! some fun facts about 7 month wil:

• he is starting to military crawl. that started just today (i was amazed) and it really was crazy to see. he only did it once but once is a start. mostly he moves around the floor like an inchworm and i am shocked at how quickly an inchworm can move. he we go!
• he continues to eat everything...everything. i made him some annie's mac & cheese last week and i think he thought he'd found heaven.
• he is 21 lbs 14 oz and 28 inches long. in 7 months he has tripled his weight and grown 9 inches! now THAT is amazing.
• he talks incessantly. ryan thinks he gets that from me but if you have met ryan you know that he's not exactly a wallflower.
• he has a fake cry. seriously. and it's hilarious.
  

it's a good life for him and with him. we are grateful everyday for his health, his happiness and his presence. happy 7 months kiddo!

top 5

summer is my favorite time of year. there are many things to love about summer...here are our top 5....

1. sun! sun! sun!
even though i don't worship the sun like i used to it still gives me great joy to see sunshine and feel it's warmth on my sun screened face.

2. the summer holidays
there are 3: memorial day, july 4th and labor day and they all rock. the 4th is my favorite, probably because of the fireworks, and i look forward to it every year. the summer holidays are what all holidays should be: fun, stress-free, full of hamburgers and friends, warm, vacation-like and no gifts!

3. flip-flops
some of you get to wear them all year. weather in the northeast does not permit that unless you are 18 and in college and even then weather is not actually permitting it...you are just dumb. i love the flop and on that point will never flip.

4. hamburgers & beer
both just taste better in summer...and usually are plentiful!

5. longer days & less clothes
ryan came up with this one and it's a great one. if you live in a place that has four seasons you can sympathize. during the colder months it takes at least 10 minutes longer to get everyone properly dressed to leave the house. (if my mother is here it can take up to half an hour because she wears about 35 layers.) summer means leaving the house in what you have on and that's great....zero minutes to prepare. we also live in a place that sees total darkness arrive at 4p for 3 months of the year. need i say more?

happy summer!

6 words

today i was flipping through title nine, a catalog i clearly receive because of my surfing abilities, when i came across an interesting message from the company's founder. she said she'd recently read an article about writing your biography in 6 words. she, along with a few of her employees, tried the exercise and came up with some interesting stuff.

as a person who has almost no trouble with words - especially spoken - i found myself scared to attempt to write my own 6 word biography. what a task! i am not easily intimidated by exercises such as these but this one got to me. to describe your life in such a concise way is frightening...what if you leave something out? what if your reader misses the point? what if you don't get the point across? i decided to post this exercise in part to make myself complete it and in part because i am curious to see how your 6 word biography will read. there were a million things i could have written (of course) but i think i got it right. enjoy my 6 word biography and have fun writing your own and check out what others have to say here.

betsy...a biography in six words

love unconditionally. follow through. leave footprints.

in memorium

the last 15 days feel more like a year than 15 days. everyone living inside 126 park is tired and in need of recovery. i am not so sure i am ready to fill in the all the details but i have missed my blog and i am glad to be back in "blog-ness" so to speak. reading all the blogs i've missed, however, is going to take me forever but i will make it through...with comments to boot!

as you know, ryan's mom, gail, passed away last thursday following a courageous 3 year battle with cancer. gail had a difficult prognosis from the start and yet she managed to enjoy 3 years doing things she loved (frequent visits to friends & the ocean), doing things on her "bucket list" (taking a wonderful 2 week trip to hawaii) and meeting the one person she wanted to know more than any other (her grandson wil). losing gail has been an emotional experience for ryan, his family and for me. i cannot begin to imagine the pain ryan is going through but the look in his eyes gives me a clue.

gail had a fun and adventure filled life. the stories told about her over the past week revealed a woman who was sassy and spunky from the beginning. as a little girl she watched from the top of a tree in her front yard as her mother panicked and called the police to help find her "lost" child only to later to hear from the top of that tree "moooooooom...i'm up here." as a teenager she hosted a party at her parent's house (unbeknown to them) for a group of hell's angels whose motorcycles covered the lawn which horrified her mother. she was a self-described hippie chick who played guitar, sang puff the magic dragon and drove a VW bettle. as a mother she delighted in her three children, heather, sean & my dear ryan, and loved to laugh and tell stories of their mischief and mayhem as both children and adults! she was thrilled to have a grandchild and wil was lucky to have her as his grandmama even for such a short time. gail was an accomplished knitter, a great cook, adored animals and loved to read - all interests we shared (although she was a much, MUCH better knitter than i will ever be!).

the outpouring of people at her funeral service was a testament to the many lives she touched. it was a laughter-filled occasion and that's exactly the way she would've wanted it. she will be missed but always remembered. we will make sure wil always knows who she was and how much she loved him. we are grateful that she is at peace and know she will enjoy watching over our lives from the best seat in the house.

god bless you gail...may you rest in peace.

the friendly skies

howdy y'all...i am posting from 611 north 19th, lamesa, texas - my childhood home. yeeehaw! (thanks mom & dad for use of the computer and internet...welcome to the electronic age!)

yesterday wil & i took the journey from NJ to TX*. it was an all day journey that started at 9:30a and ended when pip & pop met us at lubbock international at 6:00p. for once in my flying life everything - and i mean EV-ER-Y-THING - went smoothly. all flights were on time, all luggage was in tact (the inside of my suitcase was tossed like a salad but that's another story), and biggest and best of all, my sweet baby never made a peep on either flight or in the airport. go wil!

each time we boarded a plane we were greeting with apprehensive smiles...people wanted to like us, they wanted to believe that we wouldn't make their flight a living hell, they really did, but they just couldn't trust us. we showed them. wil coo'd and ooo'd and laughed and slept. disembarquing each plane we were showered with praise and compliments (well, wil was...i was just the handler at that point). i felt like we'd given the people the best gift of their day...flying with a baby that they hardly knew was there.

i have no disilluisions that this will happen again in the future. i am sure we will get our turn to sweat it out as he wails for an entire 3.5 hour flight. we'll ruin everyone's day and disembarq with glares and heavy sighs. and, you know, i am okay with that. he is a baby afterall. but i will always be grateful to him for the first time. i was nervous and he gave me a gift. yesterday at least there was nothing to be nervous about. thanks wil...you rock.

*thank you to my aunt and uncle, shara dee & larry, for flying the first leg with me. i couldn't have done it with you. love you!

1/2 birthday top 5

i love the 1/2 birthday. i insist on acknowledging mine and have even told complete strangers that the day was upon us. i celebrate mine on march 22 (no gifts required - emails are welcome.)

anyway...enough about me. yesterday was wil's 1/2 birthday. his 1st 1/2 birthday, in fact, and neither of us can believe it. we love him more every day and remain in awe that he came from us.

the top 5 things fun facts about 6 month old wil

1) he eats everything...literally. if he is sitting with us as we begin dinner (or breakfast, or lunch) he will reach for the food on our plates and, on occassion, take it from us for himself. he loves fruit, vegetables, chicken, cheerios, pizza crust and buns from chick-fil-a. we are glad he has a healthy appetite...that leaves no doubt that he came from us. ha!

2) he can sit up by himself. fun!

3) he scoots backward all over the house.

4) he flirts incessantly with women...in the neighborhood, in the grocery store, in the gap...old, young, attractive, not so much, everywhere and anywhere. and they love it.

5) he loves, absolutely loves, snapping. and, evidence that he's sure to be brilliant, he has started trying to snap himself. it's hilarious and remarkable but that little thumb and middle finger go together as he watches us and, although he doesn't attempt the motion, we think it's pretty cool that he gets those chubby little fingers together.

he's fantastic. i won't apologize for thinking so. we are thrilled with our 19 lb, 12 oz baby who grew an inch and a half last month and looks more and more like his dad every single day.

happy 1/2 birthday wil! here's to many, many more.

22.

the doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
~flora whittemore

ah...the list. supposedly slow and steady wins the race. that is how i am going about this...slowly, deliberately and with thought behind each of these items. i am not just going to fly through willy-nilly. the truth is this: i am a procrastinator and the majority of the 34 things will probably be done in the week before my 35th birthday. but let's hope not. in that spirit, i happily check another one (my second) off the list.

this is what our front door used to look like:


and this is what it looks like today:

a vast improvement even if i do say so myself. don't for a second think that this was easy. this is one of those projects that feels like it should take about 2 hours and ends up taking a week and almost all of wil's naptime minutes during that week. whew. so, 5 coats of black on the door, 3 on each of the sides and 5 coats of white on the trim later and we're in business. i even treated myself to a new knocker, doorbell and doormat to set the whole thing off. i have a little touch up to do but nothing that won't take, oh, 5 hours or so. ha!

i love the finished result and am moving on to refinish the porch and railings next. that was not on my list but maybe i'll give myself bonus points for doing extra credit.

**muchas gracias to mi madre for suggesting the color. see mom...i bet you thought i'd take all the credit.