Top 10 Tips to Reuse Lint

You all know by now that I have a cheap bastard for a husband. He is always following me around the house turning off lights leaving me to work in the dark, making our thermostat so cold our pipes freeze, taking me out to eat at buffets and any place he has a buy-one-get-one-free coupon. Because of this, I'm always looking for new frugal, money saving tips to keep my marriage strong and healthy, because I'm a good wife.

My friend Ellen at Sisterhood of the Sensible Mom recently brought a pin on Pinterest to my attention and suggested I take a look. It was called "Reusing Dryer Lint - Frugal Tips."

Hmmm. That sounded interesting. While I've never heard the Hubs complain outright about the amount of lint we waste every year, I thought he might appreciate my proactive approach to saving. When I clicked the link, imagine my surprise to find a fun craft you can do with your children and dryer lint. You can make a sock puppet and shove it full of dryer lint as the stuffing. Yay!!! (Did the sarcasm font work there? Sometimes it doesn't always work.)

Now, my other friend, Robyn, at Hollow Tree Ventures noticed something interesting, "Hey, they promised you tipS, but really there is only one. Surely there are other things you can do with your dryer lint besides stuff a sock?"

You know what? She was absolutely right. Think of all the people who can't make a sock puppet and yet they want to reuse their dryer lint too! So, a bunch of us put our heads together and thought long and hard about other uses for dryer lint this is what we came up with:

My Lame Life

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been really quiet lately. I have a good reason, though. It's not like I've been binge-watching Netflix and eating bonbons all day. I've been writing a book when I run out of stuff to watch on Netflix and the bonbons are all gone.

That's right! I wrote a new boooooook! (Said in my best Oprah voice.)

I know a lot of you have been waiting for a new People I Want to Punch in the Throat book and I'm excited to tell you that it's ... STILL ON THE WAY. I'm actually turning it into my editor this week.

But in the meantime, I have a different booooook!

This one is called My Lame Life. It's a hilarious and snarky fiction book for young adults (and those adults who like to read YA, I know you're out there, don't try to hide). You see, about a year ago my kids asked me to write a book that they could read. They gave me a list of requirements:

1. Make me laugh.
2. No kissing.
3. Badass heroine.
4. No magic.
5. No terminal illnesses.
6. No dead parents.

And so, Plum Parrish was born. Plum is plucky (even though she'd totally hate that word) and she's awkward and kind of weird and just a lot to handle. She's opinionated and some might call her bossy, but I'd say she has leadership skills. I wanted to write a book that could reach the kids on the fringes. The kids who don't quite fit in, but really don't want to either. It's a struggle to be true to yourself and get through an average day in middle school and high school. I wanted to write a book that my kids and their friends could relate to. A book that shows them to embrace who they are and own it completely, despite public opinion. This is the book that 13-year-old Jen needed. Luckily we had Judy Blume, but even she was a little too sweet for me. I also wanted to write a funny, hilarious, and snarky book that didn't have one single fart joke. This book is like People I Want to Punch in the Throat: The High School Years.

Here's the blurb:

My name is Plum Parrish, I’m fourteen, and I’m pretty sure I’m invisible. Not like super power invisible, more like loser invisible. There’s a big difference. I live with my dad who doesn’t realize that a job transfer to Kansas is not a promotion; my s’mother who thinks journaling, cheesy inspo slogans, and mani-pedis can solve my problems; and my twin brother Pax who is so perfect I’m convinced we share absolutely no DNA. Unfortunately, I’m not invisible to them. I love them, but they embarrass me on the daily. Honestly, they would probably say the same about me, because I’m weird, sarcastic, and just a lot. My best friend is ghosting me, and my other best friend is a teacher. The move to Kansas is my opportunity to reinvent myself and embrace my a lot-ness (yes, that is too a word). Sure, I will literally have to battle a live bat, a Queen Bee, and my unruly hair, but I will find my tribe and own who I am. 

I am really excited for you (and your tweens and teens) to read this book. I think you're going to like it a lot. If this isn't your thing, that's cool, but I bet you know someone who would like this book. Please help me out and tell someone about it. 

Grab a copy at all the retailers here:

>>>>>>KINDLE 

>>>>>>Paperback from Amazon

>>>>>>iBook from Apple

>>>>>>NOOK

>>>>>>Paperback from Barnes & Noble

>>>>>>KOBO

>>>>>>Google Book

If you want a signed paperback, you can email me and I'll let you know how to do that.
And please don't forget to leave me a review on Amazon and Goodreads, those are like gold to me!

Promposals

I guess because I have younger kids, I only ever see the overachieving moms (OAM) at the over the top birthday parties or designing elaborate concoctions for school lunches. I forgot about the children the overachievers have been raising long before I started having kids. I didn't think about the high school-aged children of the OAMs. That's why I was surprised last week when I read an article about "promposals."

What Is That and Where Do You Want to Stick It?

The least they could do is make vibrate while it takes the pictures.

My friend Lainey was visiting and we went to lunch so we could brag about our kids (hers is a Mathlete and mine is working on his professional soccer career), complain about our (lovable) husbands and lament about how old we're getting (we've been friends since high school).

Lainey is in the medical field so I always like the regale her with my tales of aches and pains and crappy doctor's visits.  When we met for lunch I'd been to my gynecologist's office the day before to have an ultrasound.

Not your typical drink 80 ounces of water until your bladder is going to burst so we can push on your bladder and see if we can make you pee yourself while we stare at a dark and blurry screen with shapes I can't tell what's heads or tails (literally).

Oil Pulling

Oil Pulling. I just threw up writing that. Do you know what oil pulling is? No? Brace yourself. So, you scoop a spoonful of coconut oil in your mouth and then you "swish" for 20 minutes if you can make it that long. Only the hardiest of the pullers can make it that long, because you're basically pulling a solid oil that starts to liquefy in the warmth of your mouth and mix with saliva through your teeth while you do things like check your email or watch the news.

People Who Treat Their Dogs Like Children

So far since I started this blog no one has outright flamed me and called me a jerk, but I think today might be that day.  I know many of you out there are dog lovers and I fully expect to hear from a couple of you.

Let me start by saying I've never had a dog.  I never even wanted a dog.  Once I dog-sat for my brother's dogs for a weekend and I thought I'd die from the pressure (because in those days, those dogs WERE his kids and I was terrified one was going to die on my watch).  I don't really like dogs.  I think they're cute and adorable and what not, but I also think they stink, they make a big mess and they're expensive.  I've already got two kids who are cute, adorable, stinky, make big messes and cost me a ton of money why in the world would I bring a dog into the mix??  Now that I've made that list I can see how people might think they're similar - but I don't.

MORE Rules for Parents of Daughters

I wrote a list of Rules for Parents of Daughters. It was something I wrote when my daughter was five and I was thinking about the future and what kind of rules I would have as she got older.

This list went gang busters and over the last two years it's been read a lot. There have been tons of comments on this list and many of the comments are even more rules. There were several gems in there and I wanted to share them with you. Thanks to everyone who left me a comment!