Holly Becker, apparently an interior decorator or something, has a 3 month old meatloaf. Like most new mothers Holly is mostly concerned about making sure her house doesn’t look like a toy store full of unattractive bright plastic toys. (That is what most new mothers are concerned about, right?) The obvious first step towards accomplishing this? Go out and purchase your child unattractive bright plastic toys, of course.

I did something I thought I’d never do and bought a play mat that is obnoxiously colorful, loud, silky, shiny, plastic and well, just NOT pretty. The designer in me is going a little nuts having it sitting in the middle of the living room.

And since kids are basically nature’s little defiance machines, the kid obviously loves the ugly thing. Poor Holly is coping by shoving the one non-stylish toy her child apparently owns behind the sofa when other adults come over, but still hopes to keep the aesthetic impact to a minimum:

Some of you may think it’s selfish to think about things like how my house looks, but I care not to please others but to please myself. I don’t want my home to look like Toys R Us.

Maybe it’s different with pets, but I always kind of assumed The Tall People Who Control The Money were in charge of controlling what toys came in as well. If it bothers her that much why did she buy it? I just don’t understand this at all. Mommies on the internet are so confusing sometimes.

Cecily Kellogg, definitely moving because she just wants to and for no other reason, has put out the call to her fangirls to help her find a house. Saying they are “definitely planning to move at some point in the next six months or so”, she then provides a list of requirements:

We’re looking for rental properties (3 bedroom), and we’d prefer to live in the Clark Park/Cedar Park section of West Philly. However, we’re also considering Roxborough/East Falls/Germantown (we’d love Mt. Airy, but it’s mostly out of our price range), possibly Brewerytown/Fairmount/Francisville, and even Newbold/South Philly (that’s all in order of preference). What we’d love is a nice long term rental; it doesn’t have to be perfect and it can definitely be quirky. We have pets too. So, basically: if you hear of anything, will you let one of us know? We’re pretty flexible, and we definitely want to rent, but we’d love a long-term relationship (hubba hubba).  Anyway. Keep us in mind.

There’s no word on how the sale of her house is going – questions to that effect are pointedly ignored. But we’re sure it’s going just fine because Cecily is moving because she wants to, not because she has to. I guess it’s the stress from trying to bribe her daughter into accepting the move that renders her unable to contact realtors, search craigslist, or browse newspapers on her own to find a rental house. Because unless she’s basically asking her fangirls to provide her a property to live in I really don’t see what any of them could do that she couldn’t do herself.

I’m starting to think bloggers can’t do ANYTHING without crowdsourcing.