Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

Yesterday I was complaining about the size of my laundry room (which really is very small - like a small walk-in closet) when I realized that four years ago I was thrilled just to have a laundry room. Or a house for that matter. That got me to thinking about all the things that just a few short years ago were not even part of my life, but are now things I couldn't live without if I tried. Here are a few of my favorite recently discovered "necessities":

DVR: I love my DVR. I can't believe that I used to watch TV shows when they were actually being aired, commercials and all. Nowadays, I don't even know what night most of my favorite shows are on, let alone the time. They just magically appear on my DVR and when I am done watching them (in their original quality nonetheless), I make them go away with the click of a button. Brilliant! No more masking tape labeled VHS tapes!

Sinus Rinse: Seriously, this has changed my life. I was sitting in the doctor's office last winter with my annual sinus infection when he told me about this. Is it gross? Heck yeah. But it's the best thing to happen to my nose since Abby the dog died and she stopped stinking up the garage.



 High Speed Internet: I can't believe I used to be happy with dial-up. Now I can watch videos of skateboarding dogs to my heart's content. 






The Baby Bjorn Front Carrier: I'm actually wearing this as I type. Thank you, folks at Baby Bjorn for giving me my hands back.







Netflix: When I first heard about Netflix, I thought it was a dumb idea. Now that I have kids every outing is a huge production and it takes us a week to watch a movie. It's like getting a present in the mail every time I see the red envelope.



All Wheel Drive and Anti-lock Brakes: I never had anything but a two wheel drive car with extra locking brakes until I bought my Subaru eight years ago. Winter hasn't been the same since then. Now I would never buy another car without AWD and ABS.

There's just a short list of reasons why I can't live on $300 a month like I did in college. What are some of your favorite "must haves"?

A little modesty please

For the last few weeks I have been shopping... and shopping... and shopping for a flower girl dress for Emily. I keep running into the same problem: the dresses I have found are all immodest. Just like the phenomenon of the two-piece swimsuit for babies, the flower girl dresses seem to look indecent on the toddlers for which they are intended.

Now tell me this doesn't look a little bizarre:

(By the way, this is not the dress I selected.)

I decided a long time ago that I wasn't going to spring modest dress on my girls the day we go to pick out the first bra. I figured that if I communicate to them that this is the way we dress from the time they are able to understand, it will be less of an issue. This means no short skirts, low necklines or sleeveless tops (with, of course reasonable exceptions for sports). Now that Emily is aware of clothing, it's important that I start being firm with the modesty rules.

As a result, I am currently looking for a shirt to go under Jane's Easter dress and a cardigan to go over Emily's flower girl dress. Wouldn't it be easier if manufacturers just made dresses with sleeves in the first place? Or maybe they're just trying to squeeze 20 extra bucks for a cardigan out of all the prudes like me.

Sometimes I wonder if I should just let it go for now and start imposing rules when my girls are able to actually able to understand the reasons behind them. But then, that leads to a whole new problem - I have to tell them why they need to dress modestly. It's hard enough for a girl to... develop without having to explain to her that boys are all perverts and that she needs to start wearing clothes that discourage "that kind of attention". Because then you have to explain what "that kind" is and I'm not sure I want to have that talk with a ten year old girl. So that brings me back to square one... looking for a cardigan.