Be honest ladies, when did these become an option:

I understand if you are wearing a certain ensemble and need some help for the night, fine, rock a pair of Spanx. But daily? I just don't know how you can feel like you are making it happen with these big ol'undies on? I am not suggesting you have to look hot for your man. I'm suggesting you look and feel hot for yourself. Does that sound really lame? Maybe not having thread up your crack makes you feel sexy? Hmm. I'm not convinced. Thongs are not the only option, I understand there are times when you just want to rock a fullback brief. Why not go for something like this:

Why don't we ask Leigh, she loves fleshy tone, nasty fullback underwear. She just got back from her workout...

I think what is most disturbing is that Leigh is going so far as to wear them swimming:

Me and Meg
www.meandmeg.com

I have no choice but to take-up another cause. My new battle frontier: The Dry Cleaner.  Why? They're trying to shovel kak into my mouth and I won't stand for it any longer.

The blouse vs. the shirt. Scratch that. A woman's shirt vs. a man's shirt. Gender pricing. Sexism at the Cleaners. I don't want to get crazy about the semantics of it all. So let's call it bullshit. Yes, even though I stay at home cleaning in an apron, wearing dresses, sometimes I do wear "blouses" (I hate that word - along with panties).

My husband’s  shirts cost $1.29 to be laundered and pressed. (I charge $4.50 so he's getting a really good deal at the Cleaners). My shirt, which looks the same, (ahem, slightly smaller) costs $5.00.  I was told it's because the "form" the shirts are pressed on is a men's form, and my "blouse" has to be hand pressed.

Really? The manufacturer of the "men's form" hasn't been asked to make one to a fit a woman's shirt? We're going to stand for this? My deodorant costs more, so do my razors among countless other items. Why is that?
Along with wiping capri-pants off the face of the Earth, I'm going to now challenge Dry Cleaners everywhere to make a woman's shirt the same price to clean as a man's.

Me and Meg
meandmeg.com

So, I want a new bag. More specifically I would like a tan coloured bag that I can wear; lately I have really been wanting to be hands free. After a little shopping around I think I found something I like. Now the problemo is, how do I get it? I don't know how things run around your parts, but if I come home with a purchase over twenty dollars I usually have some explaining to do and said bag runs well over twenty dollars. I am not complaining, I love my life;I just love buying clothes too, but Wizzy likes saving and worrying about tomorrow. He's so silly. 

I think I have come up with the perfect solution. I am going to take a page out of the kids book and ask for it five thousand times until Wizz has no option except to relent. It's perfect. I started the campaign yesterday, here is a little snippet of how I have been implementing my plan thus far: 

Wizz: "Hey babe, do you want me to grab Jax from the bus?" 
Me: "Yeah, thanks. Oh and buy me that bag I want while you are at it. Thanks." 
Wizz: "What time do you have to leave tonight?" 
Me: "Well since you want me to go buy myself that bag, I need to leave around 5 pm." 
Me: "Can you grab a few things on your way home?" 
Wizz: "Sure, what do you need?" 
Me: "Fresh rosemary, lemons, 2% milk, and that new bag I emailed you. Just pop over to the mall for that." 

I have high hopes for this plan. Kids are really successful with it, so I think I can harness some of their power and get what I want.



M.

Me and Meg
www.meandmeg.com


Words, I'm bringing back. 

My vocabulary is at an all-time low. Last night while reading Fancy Nancy, I learned some new words; it's tragic. I need to broaden my patois. Here are a few words I would like to see make a resurgence. 

1. Shucks- as used to express disappointment. If I could exchange shucks for shit, I would almost stop swearing entirely ( I need to find a replacement for f*ck, a good one though, not fudge). 

2. Salon. As in: I'm going to the hair salon today, or the nail salon. I don't get hairdresser. You don't leave there with clothes on your head. 

3. Bedlam-I need synonyms for confusion and chaos. This will do. 

4. Cachinnate. My father use to say "don't cachinnate in front of anyone, you sound like a hyena". 

5. Whilst. My husband says this, I like it. It is so much more refined than while. 

6. Pedantic. This word gets a lot of use in South Africa (where I lived for three years), I don't hear people say it in Canada. 

7. Calamity. Any word I can use instead of disaster is amazing; actually it's refreshing considering how many diasters I deal with daily. 

 8. Lollygag. I say "hurry up" way too much. Stop lollygagging sounds softer, nicer. Here's an example of how I sounded last year:

Here is the new and improved Leigh: 

That sounds lame. 
Shit.
I don't think I can express myself without swearing. 

Cheers,
cheers L  

Joanna Ferensowicz, EcoSavvy Mama 


We're in the kitchen more than any other room in the house. This gives us the chance to use food to help our babies to develop their skills. Here are some tips:

Finger foods are important for speech development

The introduction of solids is a big milestone and for good reason. Oral motor skills required for speech development are developed through the sucking, chewing, licking and biting. Different textures help strengthen the tongue while biting and chewing strengthen the jaw and lips.

There is more than one way to use spaghetti

Babies love to touch and feel (and eat) anything that has an interesting texture. Cooked spaghetti at room temperature helps with the development of fine motor skills and grasp, self-help skills, and development of touch, texture and temperature senses. So drop a handful of cooked spaghetti on your little one's highchair tray and watch her play while she's getting some nutrition too!

It's OK to play messy!

Stimulate you child's senses by giving them some edible finger paint (just in case they decide to taste-test it!) or some edible play dough.

To make edible finger paint, simply make some instant vanilla pudding (according to the instructions) and add some food colouring. Even though this activity will get quite messy, the best way to control the mess is to do it at the high-chair. Take some digital pictures of your little artist at work for some great memories! (No need to keep the actual art!)

To make edible play dough, use 2 parts oatmeal, 1 part water and 1 part flour. Mix these ingredients together until they have a consistency of dough and then watch your little one squish the playdough with so much amazement! (For safety reasons, playdough is usually suggested for older babies and toddlers).

By Joanna Ferensowicz, EcoSavvy Mama
http://ecosavvymama.ca/blog
Follow me on Twitter: @ecosavvy_mama

Me and Meg
www.meandmeg.com

With the new year under way, I decided to launch a new version of Freya (if you recall she is my “horrible” daughter that Meg has mentioned previously). Think of it like you would a grand re-opening of your favorite store or restaurant.   It's akin to Mattel releasing the same Barbie again, advertising it as "all new". I am doing that with Freya.  All that has changed is my mind set. She hasn't changed, but that is irrelevant now, because with my new attitude, she is different.

I will even go so far as to say she is "new and improved". She sleeps longer and even says Mama when she is screaming in her crib. The all-new Freya throws food, has tantrums and cries once she is buckled into her car seat-for the duration of the car trip (how neat!).  Also, the new Freya can not be fooled by baby toys, she only wants real cell phones, or sunglasses.  Even better, Freya loves to pull other children's hair.  Freya enjoys pointing and screaming; nothing is more entertaining than watching my husband and I run around as we try to figure out what she wants.

Freya is a seasoned wrestler too. She loves nothing more than sitting on her whiny two-and-a-half-year old sister, pulling her beloved blanket from her hands. Her best feature by far- she doesn't nap! She is always awake, there to entertain and annoy. She never runs out of batteries.

What's not to love? She sounds like a money maker to me.

Me and Meg
www.meandmeg.com 

Dear Husband,

What a week you've had! My oh my. All that working-out has affected your brain I think.  It is that or you're just an all-out testicle.  I want to again (it's no trouble really, I like putting basic, fundamental, logical thoughts on paper for you) remind you that you have three girls. Our oldest daughter, let's call her Malone is four-and-a-half. You have been a father for that long.

Can you imagine my surprise then, as I'm out shopping for organizational items with Meg (the queen of clean) you call and ask, quite rudely I'll add, "what should Freya eat for dinner?" I realize you were at my mother's house and it would have been incredibly awkward to ask her for some food for her granddaughter.  Besides, how are you to even know what she could eat? Again, this is only your third time around, I understand how confusing that must have been for you. 

To clear things up, here is a list of some of her favourites:

Cheerios, goldfish, avo, cucumber, peaches, strawberries, cheese (she really likes this!), pasta (another winner-but you have to boil water, maybe forget this suggestion), yogurt (peel the lid off), toast with peanut butter, broccoli (cooked, again maybe a little advanced), and lastly canned salmon.

I think the next time I go out; I will forget my phone (like you do, that way we can avoid more of these stupid conversations). Also, when you ask me "what are you doing?” I will reply: "golfing".

Whew. I got a lot off my chest this morning.

Always your loving wife,

L

-Me and Meg
www.meandmeg.com

Hey lil-sugar readers.  I don’t know if you remember but when we first met I described to you how the Manny (our younger brother, male nanny) and I were attempting to reboot my sister, Leigh.  She was way off track as a mother and we thought it was our duty to help her get back on the path.  Well, it pains me to say we failed. 

The Manny and I have worked very hard with Leigh, we spent November introducing new concepts to her - like putting dirty diapers in the proper receptacles; wiping down high-chairs before the food hardens to a point that it becomes part of the chair.  These systems appeared easy enough for her to handle.  So over the holiday we tried more complex scenarios.  For instance, we attempted to have Leigh follow her fifteen-month-old when she left a room, to alleviate a lot of the frantic searching that goes on.  That proved too difficult; actually it was impossible for her.  More and more, the Manny and I were met by roadblocks; Leigh just could not conquer and move past some "basic" parenting strategies.  In the end, she has failed her rebooting.  While the Manny and I are disappointed, we are not all that surprised and have washed our hands of her.   

We decided all we can hope for is that the kids make it out okay.  As I type this her one daughter is sitting on a stool banging her head against the wall and another is kicking Leigh on the ground.  I know I speak for the Manny when I say we wish things would have had more of a happy ending - but this is the real world.  If there was standardized testing people had to pass prior to becoming parents, Leigh would have failed and never would have been allowed to reproduce.

Just now my sister (who is thirty-five-years-old) asked me to feel her toes in her new running shoes and tell her if they fit. What am I suppose to do with this? You see why we weren’t expecting much.

Cheers.

M.

Me and Meg
www.meandmeg.com

Just in time for the holidays! Our guest writers Me and Meg take a detailed look at whether or not you are a 'Booze Bag' in this fun chart!