These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

I've been snowed in with two restless children and an equally restless husband for almost two weeks now and as I'm sure you can imagine, the mess and chaos has begun to pile up and pour out of my ears.

In addition to tackling my mounting domestic duties, I've begun working heavily on a personal writing project that I will share in greater detail hopefully very soon. So. In lieu of something deep and personal, I'd like to share with you some of my favorite things. Things that, if pressed, I

could

live without, but I wouldn't

want

to.

Without further ado, here they are, in no particular order:

My bicycycle

. It's an Electra Amsterdam, and it falls just short of being Marrying Material. If I had the shekels, I'd buy

one of THESE

, but for now, this one will have to (and does) do just fine.

My

new and uber-awesome bicycle trailer

. Now that I have two young-uns, I had to reconfigure my

cycling with children

strategy. This thing is truly luxury and worth the price (although I got mine for a steal on Craigslist). I can use it as a trailer and then switch to a stroller when I reach my destination. It has some wicked shocks and I can barely feel myself pulling it when I'm going for a ride. On top ALL that, It can hold about three bags of groceries in it's storage compartment. And the kids? They LOVE it. Summer. DC Bike trails. Get ready for The Hayes ladies.

My Phone

. I know that everyone already thinks the iPhone is cool, but this thing has pretty much revolutionized my life. I have to make myself put it in a locked location for large chunks of my day because, well, I have apps that are just

begging

to be used. Even Ellie asks me to use my phone all the time...and that is a post in itself because

BOY

has technology come a long way since I was three and played with a toy rotary phone that had rolling eyeballs and a receiver with a CORD.

Green Super Food.

This stuff has truly been a life saver. I take a couple shots of it every day and it has kept me from completely going over the edge after nights of crying babies and days filled with endless three year old chatter. It gives me energy (of the caffeine free variety), helps me digest my food ( and that's all YOU need to know about

that

), and I think it has kept me from gaining any weight over these last two weeks trapped inside.

Holy moly,

THIS perfume

*. I have quite a collection of perfumes and I'm something of a scent whore. I have never been able to remain faithful to any one scent like some of my friends. That is, until I met this one. It is my scent soul mate and I cover myself with it like a two dollar Lady of the Night. I just couldn't bring myself to use the word

whore

twice in the same paragraph. Oops, I guess I just did.

NPR.

I imagine when my children are grown they will look back on their childhood and recall memories of their mother spending what seemed like hours (because it IS hours) in the kitchen every day preparing food and listening to the familiar and comforting voices of Terry Gross, Ira Glass, Steve Inskeep, Neil Conan, and Garrison Keilor. They are my imaginary friends and without them to tell me stories every day, I might just lose my mind.

Craigslist

,

Ebay

, and

This

store. They are the trinity in my arsenal of bargain hunting weapons. I go to a store, like Saks or Nordstroms, try on or test the pricey item I'm eyeing and then I search these places for a better deal. and I ALWAYS find it. Now that I've given that secret away, I may just have to smother all of you with a pillow in the night. But not tonight because I already have plans, so sleep well Dear Readers.

Oh, I could go on, but this post has already consumed more time than it would had I just babbled on about something pestering the dark, cavernous recesses of my mind. But for whatever it's worth, hope you liked it.

*

Umm, NO, I did NOT spend that much money on the perfume in case you were wondering.