cool tool

usually something has to be pretty super for me to get excited about it--well, guess what-I'm excited!! The other day, Layla was frolicking in the blackberry bushes (?) and was having a grand ol' time. She had failed to change into "play clothes" even though I had asked her to, no less than a dozen times. Long story short, she ridiculously stained one of the two pairs of shorts she has to wear this summer. Of course, this was the cute khaki pair, not the blue denim pair, which we maybe could have just called "funky" and left the stains alone. So, I put the shorts by my bathroom sink, fully intending to stain spot them when I had a free moment. Fast forward to late last night, which was an entire week later, and I finally got to give the shorts some undivided attention. I sigh, and reach for the "Tide to go" stick thing (let's just be honest-I grabbed it because it was the closest thing, and I didn't hold out much hope for the shorts--I have memories of pouring boiling water from on top of a ladder to get berry stains out of things before-true story-ask Mary) sorry-I get side tracked easily, strangly I have the attention span of a 2 year old-wierd. SO.....I "color" the shorts with the pen- it's like a clear Sharpie, the berry stains are still there, I give a small laugh in surrender, brush my teeth and hit the sack.
This morning I wake up, and I kid you not--the shorts are berry free. These were week old blackberry stains might I remind you. I didn't scrub, scour, or even add water and rub. So of course I "color" every other stained thing I can think of, until my sharpie runs dry, and I quickly formulate a plan to rush to Target and buy a case of these magical stain fighting wands. Alas, real life intervened and I still have yet to get a replacement, but luckilly, we have been stain free so far--and we are currently at 3 hours and counting. So, I highly reccomend the "Tide to go" pen thing, you can get it almost anywhere, and it will pay for itself the first time you use it. Carry it in your purse or glovebox-just get one and keep it handy. Get me one too if you would, I'm kind of on Target restriction right now, but we'll get into that later.......

spit the pit

Maggie is 2. Her latest thing is that everything has a crust, so she leaves bits of food on the side of her plate uneaten--because it is the crust. Toast of course has crust, but Maggie's grapes have crust, her soup has crust, noodles--you're getting the picture. Yesterday was the dawn of a new era....... The pit. Alan gave her a malt ball. She sucked off the chocolate coating, and spit out the malt ball, proudly proclaiming, "You don't eat the pit!" She has decided this after eating no less than two thousand cherries from our tree, pit and all. Well, better late than never I guess. 2 year olds are cool.