A Few of My Favorite Things: The New House Call App

I'm not going to lie. Life has been challenging of late. The full-time working single mom thing is a delicate balance of schedules and sanity. One little thing can disrupt the entire balance... throw in a bunch of things like Halloween/Birthdays/School Breaks/Thanksgiving/Christmas and you are in full on "trying to not drop too many balls" mode. 

That has been me over the past few weeks. Trying not to drop the important things. 

Being a single mom means that sometimes things don't get done. Light bulbs that require a ladder to change often stay out longer than they should. Dishes don't get done right after dinner... and sometimes not until after dinner the next night. While I was proud of myself for getting out all the boxes of Holiday decorations, there was one thing I just wasn't sure how I was going to do - get a tree. 

I'm a sucker for a real tree. And despite the allure of it being pre-lit and no mess, I've yet to go the route of the fake one. We always got a real tree, and to me, a fake one wasn't going to cut it. Since we're not going to even be here on Christmas, I planted the seed with the kids that maybe a tree wasn't going to happen this year. 

Then I got a pitch from a local PR agency for a new locally-based app called House Call. An app that makes it easy to schedule things around your house - from mobile car detailing, maid service, computer-tech support to Christmas tree delivery. 

Yes. They will go to the lot, pick out a tree based on what you want, deliver it and bring it into your house. While I will admit that at first I was a little sad about not going to the lot and picking out a tree, I looked at my calendar and custody schedule and realized that if I wanted to do that, I should have done it 2 weeks ago. Done and Done. Yesterday I scheduled my tree delivery and today the tree was delivered... by Buddy the Elf. 

I had just gotten home from work, the nanny just left, and there was a knock at the door. I told the kids it was probably the tree... I expected, well, a tree delivery man... but when Lucas and Zoe opened the door and started laughing, smiling and screaming I was a little surprised. 

In walks Roland, one of the co-founders of the app in all his 6ft something glory rocking a full on Buddy the Elf costume. It was... well... just fabulous. I seriously teared up at how amazing it was that there are still people out there with such passion and drive that they would take launching their business and making a kid's Christmas, that much to heart. 

The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever.. hey, I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I know I'm not alone out there, there are millions of single moms trying to do all they can for their kids. I also know that my kids are not alone, there are many kids out there going through thier first holidays with altered family environments. But things like this make the whole process just a little easier on all of us. It was like our very own dose of Christmas magic. 

While I'm not sure you will always get Buddy the Elf delivering your tree, the service alone is a god-send for any busy person. And the special attention to detail put into my experience shows me just how much this new company cares about what they are doing. 

Thank you to the House Call Christmas elves! I will be using your service for years to come!

HipMamaB Readers: Use code HipMamaB10 for $10 off!

For more information on the HouseCall app, visit www.tryhousecall.com and/or check out this video:

DISCLOSURE: HouseCall provided me with a $100 credit to try their service. Opinions and mad gushing over this amazing service are my own. 

Snow-ish

While it's no secret that we live where we do because of the weather, for 6 weeks a year we do admit that it would be nice to have a snow flurry outside our window... well, in theory that is. Since we live in a 1950's-era PRE-INSULATION house with a tar and rock roof and north-west (towards the ocean) facing windows, actually having a flurry of any type would translate into frostbite. Alas, we can "dream"...

And make fun "snow flake" decorations!

I got this idea off some craft site that I can't find now in my bookmark maze. But simply, it's various size labels in white, off-white and silver, stuck front to back in random patterns on clear fishing wire.

When hung over glass they move and "sparkle" a bit.. creating a perfect modern snow flurry in your window. I hung ours over the glass of our door - just taped to the top and hanging freely to blow in the breeze. I used labels from The Paper-Source but any round labels would do. You could also use a craft punch for perfect circles.

Fairly simple and I'm loving the look on the front door. 

Oh, and if you head into Paper Source (Heaven!) pick up a pack of the paper doves to put up around the house. Another super simple "hand-made" decoration (in "parentheses" since really all you do is punch them out of the paper) that look adorable but are easy to do.

Journal your Xmas 2009

I have blogs and facebook and photo albums - but what will I have for the kids to sit down and look through when they are older?

I've always said that I'm not creative, but in the past few years I've realized that's not all that true. I do crafty-crap and I love it. I'm not really a scrapbooker at heart. My SIL Heather is. She's an amazing scraper and does weekly sessions with friends and once a year 48 hour retreats. I'm jealous over her beautiful books for 3 kids... but I can't compete. 

Last year Shimelle.com ' s "Journal your Christmas" caught my attention. Shimelle is amazingly creative. They type of creativity I drool over but don't quite have. Everyday for the month of the December she sends out "prompts" with ideas and thoughts and how-to's for pages in a Christmas journal. It seems daunting. We all are busy enough this time of year! But actually, it's fantastic! I don't do it everyday, but a few times a week I take some time at night by myself and just spew thoughts, feelings of the moment, pictures, etc. Its wonderfully cathartic and at the end, I have a beautiful little book to remind me of that year's holiday. 

I will take pics and post them here as I go along... If you want to join me on this ride, it's not too late to sign up!!