Five Favorites: Forehead Smack Edition

1.  You know how sometimes you think of something simple that makes sense, is more efficient, easy, and ultimately makes you want to smack your forehead for not thinking of it sooner?  Well these favorites include a few of those this week.  To wit: the travel size deodorant.  I confess to being somewhat sensitive about summer sweat and the accompanying aromas, and it didn't occur to me until recently to put a travel size deodorant in my purse to freshen up when I'm out and about and sweating a storm.  Genius!  

2.  In the age of HGTV and Pinterest, I think it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that our houses must always look like they are ready for a magazine spread.  (As in: not lived in by real people).  I'm all for keeping clutter to a minimum and keeping a house tidy, but sometimes it is easier to do the thing that makes sense for the season rather than what looks good.  For example: we set up a small inflatable splash pool on the back patio.  The kids come in and out from the kitchen, and we have wood floors, so I don't especially want huge amounts of water dripped on them all summer long.  We have a small mat for wiping feet by the door, but it isn't waterproof, and kids can drip a lot of water!  So I pulled a large towel out of the closet and spread it in front of the doors.  Works great, looks terrible.  I also hung up the kids' bath toys on the outside of the door so they can use them in the pool.  Again, great idea, works well, looks terrible.

3.  I have a Black and Decker hand vac that I use to keep the house crumb free, and it lives in the kitchen (I have a second one on an upper floor for bathroom use because of our 47 stairs).  The 18 volt battery was spending more time on the charger than in the vac, and since I use it every day, multiple times per day, that was just unacceptable.  (And for those of you who know my mother, yes, I know.  Dust busters R Us.  I'm getting therapy, and I've stopped short of getting a belt holster for it, though).  It finally occurred to me to buy a second battery (and a new filter, while I was at it).  Perfect!  Now I can run one battery down while the other is charging and just switch them out as needed. 

4.  Now that cucumbers are in at the farmer's markets, it is pickle season!  My gram used to make these great sweet refrigerator pickles.  They are so easy--just combine the ingredients, add peeled cucumber slices, and chill.  They don't keep indefinitely, but they do keep a long while (but I challenge anyone who tries them to keep many in the fridge for long anyway).  In any case, making them reminded me of her, and made me miss her.

5.  This dress is one of my favorite things right now.  I bought it on crazy sale from My Baby Jo in January, hoping that it would be a nice postpartum wardrobe boost, and it is da bomb.  It's called the Mrs. Moore Day Dress, and is based on a mid-1940s pattern.  (Here's the same dress in green--swoon!) The dress is hand-made using vintage fabric, and is just fab.  Great big pockets, nice big buttons (the better to nurse in), and a great silhouette.  Add my new vintage summer hair do (I got brave with the big flowers today), and I'm good to go! (And this photo is awesomely blurry because my five year old took it)