AWESOMESAUCE.

Attention readers: I am secretly very, very angry with all of you who have known about the awesomesauce that is restaurant.com and did not share it with me.

SERIOUSLY! You've been holding out on some hardcore savings. What gives?

Honestly, the fault is really all mine for not checking it out for myself. I've seen banner ads here and there advertising "up to 80% off at local restaurants!" and the uber annoying popups telling me to "act now!" to receive "$25 in gift cards for just $2!" with some ridiculous coupon code like "MEAL" or "FOOD."

BUT IT'S REAL, Y'ALL. As my internet role model, Blair, would say.

Last night we planned to meet some friends for dinner at Black Lotus, a fab local brewery in Clawson. Support local businesses! As per usual, I googled "Black Lotus" & "Coupons" prior to our visit...but this time, the site that my search lead me to was restaurant.com. I'd seen it before...but was I being tricked by the internets?

"Eh, what the hell?" I said to myself. It was $2. And if it was a scam, I was only out the cost of 2 large diet deliciousnesses @ McD's.

So I selected the $25 gift card, entered coupon code "MEAL" at checkout (good thru the end of this week), and wouldn't you know it...the whole transaction cost me $2! And I was able to pay with PayPal, which is always my preferred method of payment when I fear something is too good to be true. They have excellent customer service and a money back guarantee.

Each restaurant (and there are LOADS of them) does have different stipulations for their particular coupon - but all the ones I came across were totally reasonable and not unlike any other "fine print" you'd get from a similar offer. For instance, Black Lotus required a bill total (before applying coupon) of $35. Done and done. They did let us use it on alcohol (some don't - read before you buy!) and an 18% gratuity was automatically added to our check. Which is fine, we're usually generous tippers, anyway.

The long and short of it: I will absolutely use restaurant.com again, and I would like to apologize to the internets for thinking I was being tricked. Oh, and that $23 we saved this time around? Deposited right into little man's college savings. Word.

Go Wings!

Joey is a big hockey fan (understatement of the year, much?). But in addition to his superstar fan status, he's hilariously supersitious about most sports - to the point where if a team wins he must duplicate his clothing, eating habits, etc. for the next game or the team will suffer some horrible fate of players being injured, the power going out...or worse yet...losing. Riveting, no? Oh, and hockey is best of SEVEN games. Ugh...

Anyway, he recently "discovered" that Alex's Red Wings shirt has some magic good luck mojo that seems to work wonders for their ability to score more goals than the opposing team.

Whether or not it actually works remains to be seen. Though Joe would argue that after wearing said shirt, the Wings won game seven 6-1. Regardless, the kid's as cute as a freaking button, right? Even when he's totally bored of me taking endless pictures of his sweet, sweet face - as exhibited in picture C.

Out. Of. Control.

The mysterious office nail clipper has clipped TWICE this week. Yes, I know it's only Tuesday. I literally had to completely evacuate my presence from the 3rd floor to keep from tossing my Starbucks and Kashi Bar into File 13. So uncool, man. So uncool.

Here's the juicy tidbit: he's no longer mysterious. I KNOW WHO HE IS. I have a name, an occupation and I've seen pictures of his kids. Yes, the same man who has the audacity to clip his nails in a public and professional office setting also, at some point, tricked some poor, unknowing female into reproducing with him. For shame!

I'm obviously far too dramatic and oversensitive on this issue, but something has to be done. Do I send him an anonymous interoffice letter detailing why the clipping is horrifically disgusting and unsanitary? Do I sneak into his desk drawer after hours and steal the infamous clippers? I would wear gloves, natch. Or do I just grow the eff up and let the man perform his personal grooming habits in the adjacent cubicle?

Pretty sure I'm gonna do some creative combination of the above menu of options. He needs to be stopped.

Tastes Like Chocolate & Peer Pressure.

I said I would "never, ever, ever, ever" do it.

And I just did. For shame!

I've officially hopped on the Twitter bandwagon, and because it's flying past me at 92 mph, it's nearly impossible to get off. That's what she said.

Why now? Why today? Well, I'm ashamed to admit it, but heirtoblair is hosting a sweet giveaway that I really, really, really want to win. And as you've probably guessed, the little sneaky Momma made the only way to enter via Twitter. Like any good giveaway whore, I took it upon myself to retract everything I've ever said about not joining the birds, and caved. I'm so ashamed. And honestly, so very, very intrigued by the world of Twitter.

So that's that. I'm on Twitter now. I'm still learning, but feel free to join in on the party (or just make fun of me) @kveedub. I promise I won't ever tell you when I'm showering, going #2 or sleeping...because that's just creepy.

Weekend Shenanigans.

It was a kid-free kinda weekend at the VeeDub house. Thank you, Grammi and Poppi. And what did we do about it? Did we take hardcore advantage of the time to mow the yard that so desperately needs it? To prep the flower boxes for planting? Or any of the 964 other things on our "honey do" list?

Oh hellz-to-the-no. We slept until 10 am. Ate at restaurants where 12 month old children are generally frowned upon (here). Drank Red Bull & Vodka and chatted with friends over copious amounts of sushi (here). Watched CSI Miami on DVR until I could no longer take Horatio Caine and his overly dramatic one-liners seriously. Shopped without a stroller and diaper bag (here). AND IT WAS GLORIOUS.

But at the end of the weekend, it was nice to have Alex back and settle back in as a family over some Pizza Hut and Oberon. Oh, and about 5 loads of laundry that I successfully avoided until Sunday evening.

Which reminds me...it's Oberon Season, people. If you were born in a barn (or, alternatively, didn't receive an undergraduate degree from the great University that is Western Michigan), I urge you to hightail it on over to your local pub and holler to le bartender to fetch you a tall glass of ice cold heaven. Mmmmm, Oberon.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Drumroll please....

I used the random # generator over @ random.org and would like to wish a happy (pretend) birthday to:

Kiki from Kiki's Thoughts and Escapades! You won the $10 gift card to Starbuckies.

Liz, who was the first to comment...but your blogger profile doesn't list a blogeroo for me to link to. You won the $10 gift card to Target.

Yo, Kiki and Liz, hit me up at kveedub{at}gmail{dot}com to claim your sweet prizes.

More giveaways are planned for the weeks ahead....stay tuned!

The Best $ I EVER Spent, And I'm Not Talkin' 'Bout Ke$ha.

Yesterday was the day that the fated cleaning lady visited my house. Let's call her Fran, shall we?

Fran rolled into our driveway before we left for work. I gave her a quick tour and we high-tailed it off to work and let her do her thang. Yes, unsupervised. She came highly recommended from a friend, so I was cool with it.

I was secretly super duper nervous, because no one other than my Mom and Kelli have really ever explored the dusty, diapery, dog-hair-filled inner-workings of the VeeDub household. Would she scrub to my expectations? Wipe to a streak-free shine? Vacuum in perfect rows?

Let it be known: Fran did not disappoint.

I literally cried when we got home. Our house was sparkling. Like, she even washed the outside of all the windows. And boy did they need it! She folded laundry. Changed the bed sheets. Put away dishes in the diswasher. Not a single nook or cranny was left untouched. For crying out loud, the woman cleaned places I'd never cleaned! Even Alex enjoyed her work - he squealed with delight crawling around on the hardwood floors because I'm pretty sure he could see his own reflection.

It's seriously the best money I have ever spent. If you can make it happen, do it. Go out to dinner a few times less every month. It's not as expensive as you'd think, and I promise you won't regret it. I plan on making it a monthly celebration until it gets old. Which, let's face it, is never.

Oh, and if you're local, shoot me a note if you want Fran's info. I'll share her. :)

Cake Face.

Uhhhm, I have no idea what could possibly be better than a first birthday. You get to eat cake. Naked. And someone else has to clean you up. Behold:

Birthday boy!

Nakie time for cake.

That's my boy! Dove right in.

"Hey, Mom? This blue stuff? AWESOME!"

Love. Love. Love.

Job well done, kiddo!

We had Alex's party on Sunday at Dave & Buster's, which is basically Chuck E. Cheese's for grown-ups. He's the only mini in the family, so we figure we'll rock it big-kid style until he's old enough to pick something else. Highly recommended. Another bonus: I didn't have to clean my house, bake a cake, decorate or do any of the clean up. Some things are totally worth writing a check for.

Happy birthday, Mister. We love you, mess and all!

P.S. - Did you enter le giveaway yet?

Go Green!

Let's start this Earth Week by being totally open and honest with one another, mmkay? I'm gonna keep this totally real. I'm not a tree hugger. I *gasp* use disposable diapers. I print far too many e-mails at work. I drive an SUV. I don't grow my own garden. Wait, does a Chia Pet count?

Hi-ev-uh, there are things we do in the VeeDub household to make Momma Earth happy. We do not drink bottled water. In fact, we use these. We drive one car to work, which reduces emissions and saves us moolah. We recycle. We occasionally save water on dual showers. Sorry for the mental picture, Dad. We use the squiggly lightbulbs. We use hand-me-downs and buy used when it makes sense. We rock recycled shopping bags and use travel java mugs.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that not everyone can be Ed Begley, Jr. But there are little things you can do each and every day to green up this planet and make it better for future generations. *cough*Alex*cough* And, there's often something to sweeten the deal for your wallet, too.

Exhibit A: Target is currently embracing the green movement by offering a "reward" of sorts for recycling your plastic shopping bags. Did you see this insert in your Sunday paper's Target ad? Brills! Just mail in 5 Target bags (no postage required) and they will email you a coupon for $1 off a reusable shopping tote. LOVE it!

Oh, and every time you take your own bag to Target, you get 5¢ off your total purchase. It might seem small, but every penny counts, right?

Happy Birthday To...You?

Much like Dane Cook's "You get a humpback whale! You get a humpback whale! Everybody gets a humpback whale!" Oprah joke, I'm spreading the love for Alex's birthday celebration. Since it's too expensive to mail humpback whales and too gross to mail cake, gift cards will simply have to do. And you know you love that more, anyway. The poll was very close between le Target and Starbuckies, so we'll call it a tie and have two winners. You're welcome.

So here's how you can win 10 big ones to Starbucks OR Target...1 winner for each.

Publicly follow ABM3 +
leave le comment with birthday wishes to Alex =
1 entry

That's it! Super cinchy! If you want to blog about this giveaway and link back to it, I'll throw in 2 extra entries. She works haaaaaaard for it, honey.

...and the only person that is ineligible for this giveaway Joey, since I buy him he buys me Starbuckies every day, anyway.

Giveaway closes @ midnight on April 21. US and Canada eh? residents only.

Alex And The WIPpo.

Le sigh. I knew this day would come. No matter how hard I stamp my feet or how big of a tantrum I throw, time will continue to whiz past me in little, amazing moments. Rolling over. Sitting. Crawling. Pulling himself up. *poof* Almost walking. One month. Six months. Nine months. *poof* One year.

Today is an Easter Basket of emotions for me. I get all verklempt when I relive the last year in my head. To think about the things we've done, the places we've visited, the life that we've started...it just floors me. And to think that from here it will only grow and blossom and get more crazy and fabulous...well, that's just almost unfathomable. I am the Mom of a ONE year old. Note how I didn't say "years". That drives me absolutely bonkers, take note. Shelf for just a minute how OLD that makes me feel and think about it. He's not a baby anymore. Soon he'll be running around the back yard trying to catch Jake and squealing with delight over the fact that he can pee outdoors in the field at Grammi and Poppis house. Yes, this happens. I was raised in the middle of a corn field (literally), so nobody will get arrested, I promise.

Seriously, Kristi. Enough with the jibber jabber sap story. Get to the pictures!

Okay, okay...a special thank you goes to Aunt Kelli and Uncle David for the supa sweet banner. We can use it for all his birthdays, because it isn't customized for a specific year...so cool!

Laughing at Mr. WIPpo.

Laughing at Daddy.

"Hello old friend."

Silly boy.

Speaking of Daddy...guess who wins 'husband of the year'? Um, that would be Joe for getting me a COACH PURSE for Alex's birthday. Seriously, what husband does that?! MINE, thankyouverymuch. Should this trend continue, I just might think about becoming a family of four. I keed, I keed. Or do I?

Worth Millions And Millions Of Words.

Yesterday you got the sneak peek...and today you get the full Monty! Yes, nudity is even included...though his naughty bits are conspicuously concealed by a vewwy strategically placed cake.

To view the entire album from Alex's photo shoot, visit http://supton.photobiz.com/cart/. Enter your own email address and use password avw. Fair warning, you might just pass out from all the cuteness.

Sneak-a-roo, Peek-a-roo.

I am literally beside myself with ecstaticness, if that's even a word.

We had Alex's 1 year photo shoot on Saturday, and the greatest photographer on planet earth, aka Suzanne Upton (of Suzanne Upton Photography, natch) just posted 3 sneak peeks on Facebook. Sidenote: I discovered her on Groupon. Probably the greatest gift that site has given me to date...and that includes my 1154 Lill 50% off gift certs. In other words, I pink puffy heart with rhinestones Suzanne and her ninja photog skillz.

If you're not sitting, sit. You might just fall over from the cuteness of his nakie chubby chubs.

I know, right?! I can't even imagine what the rest will look like. I'll have that linky link in a week or so. Stay tuned!

Also, in case you live in a hole or do not have a telly (ahem, Kelli and David) GLEE starts again tomorrow. Weeeeeeee!

I Finally Did It.

Well, after a few months of going round and round with myself, I've finally caved and hired a cleaning service for our house. I know, right? Who am I!? Paying someone else my hard earned money to do something I'm fully capable of doing just isn't my style. Maybe my priorities have changed. Maybe I've changed. Either way, here's what it boiled down to...

I could just buckle down and Swiffer my own house. So what am I, lazy? Well, yes...that's part of it. But the pros of having someone else do my vacumming far outweigh the cons, and believe me, I've made the list.

And really, when you boil it all down, I'm creating a job for someone else in the world (merit badge, thankyouverymuch). In addition, I will no longer have the "oh my gosh my house is so filthy" cloud of shame hanging over my head every time we have guests over. Plus, it will be easier for us to keep up with the day-to-day quickie cleaning type stuff, like a tornado toy pickup session before the 'rents come over. The biggest of all, though, is that the precious weekend time Joe and I (yes, he's that awesome) normally spend cleaning can be spent taking long walks in the park with Alex. Or going to the Zoo. Or walking around downtown Royal Oak. Or planting flowers. And that, my friends, is priceless.

It's Not Just A River In Egypt.

In exactly one week, my baby will be one year old. 364 1/4 days. Twelve months. Frighteningly close to seventh grade, driving and girlfriends.

One year ago today, this happened. And then this followed. And now, in what seems like the blink of an eye, I have an adorably mobile toddler who is sleeping in a crib on its lowest setting and prefers to eat meatballs and potatoes for dinner because he has eight teeth.

So on nights like Tuesday, when Alex had one of his very, very rare 3 a.m. whimper sessions (Really, kid...when your nose is stuffy it's very tricky to have your binky in and breathe at the same time. How else can I teach you that?) and all I want to do is roll over and get some much needed sleep, what I actually do is get up, pick up my baby boy and rock him in my arms for an hour. And smell him. And stroke his crazy, dark hair. And pat his chubby, diapered bottom. And sing to him. Because those times are fleeting, and soon he won't want me to snuggle him to sleep. He'll be playing his Nintendo DS in the backseat and will shrug his shoulders at me when I ask him what he learned in school that day.

And when that day comes, I will probably need a pitcher of margaritas for dinner just to get through.

Six Minutes.

All the time I have to post today, as I'm in a Photoshop training course for work. Very cool stuff, actually. Wish I'd gotten on the bandwagon sooner.

One thing to note: I like old people, really I do. I think it's cute when they hold hands in parking lots and even cuter when they sit next to each other in booths at restaurants and order off the senior menu. However, old people should NOT take advanced computer classes. Let me rephrase that so I don't sound like an old person hater with no soul. Old people that cannot see the 32" widescreen monitor in front of their faces and aren't really sure what a "mouse" is should not take advanced graphic design courses. It's just wrong. And frustrating.

In other news, my instructor looks like a beach bum displaced from the shores of Hawaii and sounds exactly like Jerry Seinfeld. Very, very hard for me to concentrate because all I see is him and Elaine on a surfboard wearing coconut bras and catching wicked waves somewhere in the Pacific.

Happy Easter From The VeeDubs!

April Fool's Fail.

Well, I had all sorts of hilarious plans to freak you all Joe out by uploading a new blog banner with the "3" violently crossed out and a big "4" written over it instead.

You know, because it's April Fool's Day and that would be funny.

Except that when I actually think about being pregnant again I go into anaphylactic shock and quiver on the floor in the fetal position until someone rescues me with an epi pen of reality.

Thus, Google's "Topeka" shenanigans will have to do it for you today.