Last Thursday, our family traveled upstate for a long weekend (more on that later this week.) I was supposed to post the swag bag on Friday but I forgot to take pics, so Annie (my fabulous summer intern) volunteered to go out to our house and photograph the goods.
Normally, I would say, “No, don’t worry about it. The swag bag is not an emergency situation. We can just do it next week when I get back.”
But for some reason, I chose that day to be a hard-ass and said, “Yes, that’s a great idea. Go out there and send me the pics so I can post on Friday as planned.”
Nothing like making your college intern take her mom blogging job seriously!
So Annie went out the house, walked in and discovered our kitchen ceiling caving in with (her words) “a waterfall crashing down on the floor.” She says there was so much water that you could hear it coming down from outside the house.
She turned off the water, called us and then we called the plumber. Then she waited for him to come out to fix it.
Turns out the toilet in the master bedroom was leaking and enough water had pooled in the floor to break through to the kitchen ceiling below. He also said that if Annie hadn’t discovered it when she did, we probably would have come home to our upstairs toilet crashed into the middle of our kitchen floor.
By the time we got home last night, the toilet had been replaced and the kitchen ceiling had been patched. It still needs a fresh coat of paint and the wood floors underneath are buckling a bit, but all things considered, not too much damage.
So, thank you Annie! Thank you Mr. Plumber! And thank you to the swag bag! You all collectively saved us from regretting the decision to ever buy a house. (Also, I think it bears mentioning that even though Annie got me the pics, I did not post the swag bag on Friday as planned. Sorry about that! I was distracted by all the toilet drama!)
What’s in this heroic swag bag, you ask? It’s a good one!
1) A Captain America backpack
Seems appropriate that the heroic swag bag should contain something superhero related inside!
2) Cat Headbands
Mazzy and Harlow have been wearing these a lot lately and everyone on Snapchat keeps asking me where I got them. I got them by googling “cat headbands” on Amazon
3) N+B Meal Wheel
If you follow me on Snapchat, you’ve seen me use the meal wheel to convince my kids to eat their dinner many many times. It’s pretty genius. Besides getting my kids to “take a bite,” it’s taught my kids how to give a compliment.
4) Olay products
I’ve been talking about the importance of using a facial moisturizer with SPF all year long to stave off the signs of aging and here’s three products that will help you do it. You can also enter to win $250 of Olay products on my Instagram account.
5) Hello Kitty Bingo
Here’s another game you see Mazzy, Harlow and I play on Snapchat a lot. Besides Go Fish, Hello Kitty Big Roll Bingo Game
6) Zanyzoo knitpet
What’s a swag bag without a weirdly adorable plush toy from Little MissMatched?
7) Extra Gum
One of the reasons I started the swag bag was because Extra sent me a box full of hundreds of packs of gum that I had no idea what to do with. And then, just as I thought I had given away my last pack, they send me another huge box! Extra Gum for everyone!
8) Last Stop on Market Street
I’ve been focusing a lot lately on reading books to my kids that include main characters of all different ethnic backgrounds. Last Stop on Market Street
9) Colored Pencils
Remember when I made that rainbow of school supplies. I thought really hard about it and decided I could give up one item. Don’t tell Mazzy!
10) Olly Sleep Vitamins
Olly Restful Sleep vitamins are for adults, but I’ve also been promoting OLLY’s kid’s collection in my big “Super Kid” photo contest for a chance to win a $750 Target gift card. Yep, you read that right— it’s $750. I wrote $500 on the post when I promoted it, but I messed up— it’s more! Check out how to enter here.
11) Oh Joy! to the Rescue First Aid Kit
I’ve even included Oh Joy! band aids, Finding Dory band aids and Neosporin in the kit for all your kids’ boo-boo needs.
12) A Mommy Shorts Mug
I can’t let a swag bag go by without giving away one of these! It’s from the limited collection of mugs with a slanted logo too.
Alright, that’s it.
Make sure you are a Mommy Shorts subscriber if you want to know how to win each month’s specially curated swag bag and be in on the fun! Entry instructions (which usually involve commenting on a random old post) will be sent out this Sunday night.
Also— did you guys see my handy little book promo button below? You can click to pre-order
winner update:
Congrats to Shelby Pitts!
I NEED this Swag Bag. Badly. I have been dying to try those Olly Sleep vitamins after loving their other daily ones. My girls would go bananas for the cat headbands and the hello kitty bingo. And the Captain America backpack is so cool! But seriously, not gonna lie…. I’m dying for a Mommy Shorts Mug. Before you did this blog full time, and mostly posted new blogs late at night, I almost didn’t mind waking up to feed my newborn in the middle of the night because I would read your new blogs as soon as you posted. And then drink coffee. And dream that my coffee was in a Mommy Shorts mug.
Oh my, I remember those days. I would stay up late writing thinking it was super important to get my blog up before people woke up in the morning. Then I would always wake up and check to see if I had comments yet. The good old blogging days!
FYI, I believe- although it is not for sure yet- that there will soon be a book pre-order campaign that involves getting a free limited edition Mommy Shorts mug with proof of purchase of my book! Fingers crossed my publisher can make this happen.
Oh man, I preordered the day it became available! One day I’ll get a mug…
One day. And maybe this swag bag!
Pretty sure if you show an email receipt from whenever you purchased it, that counts! It’s not just from when the campaign starts.
Oh man I would LOVE a Mommy Shorts mug!!! I don’t even drink coffe but my chocolate milk would go great in it!! I already preordered my book too, so digging out that email!!!
Yay!!!!
Amazing that you were able to prevent major damage from happening!
Very relieved that Annie saved the day!!! 🙂 I love this swag bag!!! And good pictures Annie! I understand that it is Annie’s hands holding all the items in this month’s swag bag!
Thank goodness for Annie. ?
What a plumbing nightmare! Good thing she went there to check it out. I can imagine the damage you have is enough headache to deal with, let alone what would have happened!
Glad your entire apartment wasn’t flooded! I’ve lived through a flood where I lost everything but 2 suitcases I was able to pack while waiting for the water to make it into my house. It was a nightmare but definitely made me who I am today. I love your blog and have been following you since Mazzy was a baby. So glad to see all your hard work pay off!
Super glad Annie prevented a major disaster. Would love to win this swag bag!!!!! I would rock the kitty headbands myself…or give them to my niece.
that swag box!!!!!!!!!!!
I just want a coffee mug! ??☕️
School starts this week! Work and my children have me on overload. You can send this swag bag my way, before I flood with sweat and tears! I love the extra gum, cool mug and that Little Miss Match looks like quite a stress buster!
This is the ultimate summer swag bag , it has a little bit of everything for everyone. My son would die for the cpt America bag. His first day f kindergarten is near and he would be a superstar. I could use the olay regenerist products , as a busy mom of 4 I really don’t have the finances or the time to shop beauty products to help me feel more like myself.
Finally, a swag bag that my son would LOVE!! Plus I would die for a Mommy Shorts mug and who doesn’t love Extra gum?!! Definitely think my 3 year old would actually eat something other than chicken fingers if we made dinner time fun with the meal wheel.
would love to win!!!!
BOO…I’m not on Facebook so I can’t enter 🙁