A Grownup Woobie

This UO Tiger Buddy ($78) is sheer awesomeness. It's a Snuggie with personality.

A Peek At Fall, Part 2

Cord leggings?

Hmmmm. Intriguing. That could be very, very cute.

Dets: Hue cord leggings ($25), available during Nordstrom's anniversary sale.

A Peek at Fall, Part 1

If the Nordstrom Anniversary sale is any indication, poncho is the word for fall.

In any and all forms — thick and wooly, thin and drapey, hooded, faux animal, real animal (shudder) — ponchos blanketed the catalog and the early access online sneak peek for cardholders.

Capes were all over, too, but I just can't help but think that in fashion and in life, they'll lead you down the wrong path. No good comes from capes. Remember in "The Incredibles"? Edna warned "no capes!" and sure enough, one led to the bad guy's demise. Capes = bad news.

The dets:
• Hinge Stripe Pattern Poncho ($58.90)
• Beatrix Ost hooded red poncho ($79.90)
• Curio Mixed Knit Poncho ($89.90)

A Very Purty Dress

I am going to buy this J Crew silk rosette dress and just wear it around the house. Black dog hair goes with blush-pink, right?

Rosettes are always on-trend.

Friday Shoe Haiku: In Love No More

High price? No big deal.
A bad association?
You are dead to me.

Shoe n' Tell: Once upon a time, I adored these See by Chloe High-top wedge sneakers. Sure, their new-car-payment-sized price tag made them completely unobtainable ($345). But hey, who says a girl can't dream about a 99-percent off sale? I thought about what outfits I'd pair them with, how comfortable they'd be, how they looked even cuter white with striped accents, I read the fit info, wondering what size I'd be. Then, I spotted them as part of a blogger's outfit. She said a friend dismissed them as "bowling shoes." She didn't care, she liked them. But now, I had a bad association — bowling shoes. Smelly dark bowling alleys, bad pizza, finger holes that many, many, many people before you had thrust their thumbs and fingers into. Even worse, butt-ugly shoes so many people before you had used that they had to be sprayed with disinfectant. Ew. Like that, they were dead to me.

More Tales From Someone Who Doesn't Have a Cleaning Service

I am not the best housekeeper. I try, but I'm not. Aside from lacking motivation, the odds are stacked against me: I have three messy kids, two sheddy and dead-thing eating dogs and a husband. This is not a winning combination for cleanliness.

In fact just recently, during a play date, as the mom and I wandered around the house trying to locate her son's shoes, we came across not one, not two but three pairs (one of which belonged to the hub — gee, where do the messy genes come from?) lying around the house.

So you can see why cleaning is an uphill battle.

But, as I said, I'm trying. I got a Shark Steam Pocket Mop, which has been a lifechanger. Mopping is soooo much easier and faster. More importantly, sometimes my mom takes pity on me and comes over and cleans the bathrooms and any dishes left around. It's very sweet of her — even if I have to rewash the dishes. My mom is not the best dishwasher.

So this lengthy preamble is the set-up to this story:

Months ago, two neighborhood girls came over to play. Both dutifully take off their shoes the minute they enter the house, which is not a practice I encourage. In fact, I hate being barefoot in my own house. So anyway, 6-year-old walks up to me and says, "When I take my shoes off in your house, I feel like there's dirt between my toes."

To which I think I replied, "So pretend you're at the beach."

The girls are back, and my floor is wicked clean, not eat-off-it clean but certainly respectable. In fact, my whole house is pretty darn respectable, the result of a recent, unplanned day off from work. I am just dying — DYING — to ask Miss Thang, "Doesn't my floor feel CLEAN?!?" But I don't because part of me suspects that I might not like the answer.

Keepin' It Cool

One of my very favorite things is Fresh's Sugar Plum Tinted Lip Treatment. It's perfect for giving that barely-there kiss of color. It's also supremely delicate, as in the temperature goes above 78 degrees, and that sucker'll start to melt. This can be a problem in the desert. The tint gets confined to home and office during the blistering furnace that is summertime.

But, this nifty Cool-It Caddy means the balm can travel! See the world! Or, at the very least experience the joys of Tucson, Ariz., in the summer — Target, movies, Trader Joe's.

The caddy ($24.95 and up) is insulated and after it spends the night in the freezer (with some tissue paper stuck in it to keep it from collapsing in on itself), you can stuff it with delicate cosmetics or medication or even snacks — anything that you don't want to melt into oblivion in triple-digit temperatures.

The caddy comes in some sassy patterns and colors as well as plain ones for dudes. There are four different styles. Totally cool idea.