During Madge’s concert in London on July 4th, she paid homage to MJ. Check it out below.

An unlikely bond results in cute overload. Baby really enjoyed viewing this video clip!

Ever wonder why orange juice, or any food for that matter, taste so awful right after you brush your teeth? ChicMother was curious too, so we did some sleuthing and discovered the reason.

The chemical in toothpaste responsible for creating suds and foam, sodium laureth sulfate (aka SLS or SLES), has a negative short term effect on our taste buds. SLS/SLES suppresses the taste buds which identify sweet flavors and strips the naturally occurring fatty molecules on the tongue which act as a barrier against bitter flavors.

So there you have it. Read more about toothpaste and its effect on your taste buds at Mental Floss.

ChicMother has been using cell phones for over 10 years and we’ve always relied on the cheap promotion models (aka “free after rebate”). However, this past spring, after years of lusting over smart phones, ChicMother allowed desire to trump pragmatism by purchasing an iPhone. Keep in mind that over the past decade not one cell phone has been lost, destroyed or stolen on ChicMother’s watch…that is until this past weekend.

While getting out of the passenger side of a car, ChicMother accidentally dropped said iPhone into the street. Of course by the time anyone noticed that the phone was not in its usual location (ChicMother’s purse), we were already 2 blocks away. We walked back and came upon the phone, laying in the street and shattered.

Hubby’s first reaction: “You think Apple would be able to fix that?”
ChicMother’s first reaction: “I wonder if a Septa bus ran over it?”
Baby’s first reaction (via non-verbal body language): ‘Are these people for real?’

Why did this never happen to one of the cheap, almost free phones? To make matters worse the phone was run over after Hubby was given a big old High Five for scoring a super sweet parking space on a busy city street. Win some, lose some.

Yikes I

Yikes II

We recently came across this fun article in the New York Times about a Brooklyn based New York couple looking for their first home. Unable to afford real estate in the city, the couple decided to purchase a weekend cottage in upstate New York. For just under $100,000 the couple purchased a dilapidated 1920’s cottage and spent weekends renovating the house themselves. Their budget for furnishings was also pretty tight, yet the couple was able to outfit the entire house with furniture they found at flea markets, thrift stores, dumpsters, the curb, friends and Craigslist.

Read the entire New York Times article here and see more images of their home here.

Introducing Pabst, a boxer-mix rescued from a shelter by Miles Egstad of Citrus Heights, California. Pabst won the annual contest on Friday at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Northern California. Personally, ChicMother doesn’t think Pabst is ugly. He’s rather adorable…

Check out BabySteals.com for great daily deals on popular baby items, some up to 80% off retail! Here’s how Baby Steals works, everyday starting at 9am MST a different baby item is featured. Each “feature” is 50-80% off retail and can be purchased online through BabySteals.com. Inventory is limited and when the item sells out, that’s it. Check out the picture below from BabySteals.com of the latest “steal of the day”, the Ju-Ju-Be-Small diaper bag. It retailed for $78 but BabySteals.com was selling it for $39. BTW, the bag is already sold out on the BabySteals.com site.

We had to do a double take when we first read the headline touting a collaboration between fashion chain H&M and luxury shoe line Jimmy Choo. Well, it’s true! According to H&M’s Creative Designer Margareta van den Bosch, this is the first time the company has collaborated with an accessory brand.

The collaboration will result in shoes, handbags and clothing. Jimmy Choo’s for less than $50!!! The line hits stores November 14th! Sources are being very secretive and no previews have been made public as of yet. ChicMother is on the case and will post pics as soon as we get our hot little hands on them!