frazzled & frumpy

Getting the mail is not fun for me.  I don't get checks. Or packages. Or even nice, hand-written notes. Mostly, I get ads. Sometimes I get letters, but they're often addressed to 'Past Due' or 'Final Notice'. That's not even close to my name.  I just throw them out.  Saturday, I trudged out to the mail box, hoping it would hold my Publisher Clearing House notice.  Instead, I looked inside and saw this-- (Yes, that's snow surrounding my mailbox. Ever had to make a path for your mailman? They get very grouchy about having to step in snow. ) I knew right away what it was. I would've done a happy dance right there, 'cept I was standing in two feet of  snow. It's so deep, you can't see how cute my boots are! I didn't even wait till I got inside. I ripped that baby open. I might have squealed a little. I hurried inside and showed my kids. "Look! It's my friend's book!" "Really? What friend...

Can you wait a day for my next tip? I hope so because...drumroll, please............. I am guest posting today on the most amazing, fabulous, stupendous We Band of Mothers blog. Marianne is my virtual BFF- in the sense that we have never met, or actually spoken, (and she's never agreed to the title of BFF, maybe imaginary is a better word).  Someday, when I'm rich and famous, I'll get myself to Chicago to meet her.  Until then, I read her blog , and her Chicago Parent articles, and her book . See, told you she was awesome. (Click here to read my post.)

You know how you had that friend, the one you wondered why they liked you because they were way too cool to be hanging out with you?  Yeah, I have one of those. Her name is Marianne and she writes this awesome blog called We Band of Mothers .  I'm not sure how we came to be friends, but I thank my lucky stars that we did. Marianne has a book coming out.  It's called, Epic Mom , and though I haven't read it yet, I know it will  be, well, epic. Marianne is having a contest on her book's facebook page.  It's super easy to enter, and if you win, you get a copy of the book. Awesome! All you have to do is ' like' her facebook page-  http://www.facebook.com/#!/epicmombook  .  For every 100 likes, she'll give away a book to one 'liker'.  Once she gets to 1000 likes, she'll pick the winners. Easy peasy.  You know you want to. And, you have a much better chance at this than winning the Lotto. So, go ahead. Like her page. And, while y...