Ponytail Sweetness! Can you stand the cuteness?

THIS AUCTION (for Carol) HAS ENDED. The winner is Erin for $55. Erin, pls get in touch with me asap as I don't have your email!
I, for one, almost can't take how Etsylicious my friend Cindy's ponytail holders are over at her store, cutecumber. Whether you're a mom or a tot or a cross-dresser, you'll get a kick out of these. Cindy is offering 10 sets (2 in each set) of these homemade ponytail holders in patterns of your choosing. I've written before of her delectable Japanese vintage fabric hedgehog-patterned ones...but there are loads more, including abstract Mod prints, turtles, cupcakes, fawns...go berserk making your selection. And if you like these, my next Stephanie post will interest you too: a lot of 10 sets of cutecumber barrettes....scroll up and stay tuned.

*Generously donated by Cutecumber. Retail value: $35.00. Bidding starts at $15. Don't know how to bid? Check bidding rules.

Chicmommy! Another Fab Maternity/Nursing Top

THIS AUCTION (for Stephanie) HAS ENDED. The winner is Barb for $72. Barb, stay tuned for an email from me.

Another ridiculously gorgeous item from Japanese Weekend! Nothing frumpacious about this maternity line. Check out their famous dual-purpose "during and after" top:Perfect for preggie and post-preg...and beyond: wear while pregnant and when baby arrives, you have the perfect nursing top. The crossover design hugs where it should, but the soft stretch of the fabric ensures ease and discretion when nursing. Made in the USA. Poly/rayon/spandex. Black only. Machine washable.

*Generously donated by the lovely people of Japanese Weekend.* Another fab JW top going today...scroll down here. That's it for momwear in this auction, gals, so get busy on these if you need maternity threads.

Retail value: $68. Bidding starts at $20. Don't know how to bid? Check the bidding rules.

Chicmommy! Fab Maternity/Nursing Top!

THIS AUCTION (for Carol!) HAS ENDED. The winner is DAPHNE for $50. Daphne, please get in touch with me asap as I don't have an email for you.

I so wish I'd had fabulous tops and frocks from the San Fran-based Japanese Weekend line when I was preggers! Check out this ridiculously gorgeous charcoal vintage-inspired knit top that doubles as both preg-wear and also moves with Mama into the new mom stage, and beyond (and heck, those of us who aren't knocked up but have a little tum-tum would look quite gorgeous in it too).Constructed from super-soft knit fabric, this snuggly perfect-for-fall top has a gentle pleat at the neck; sash ties just above the baby bump and sleeves are accented with elastic at the wrist for a finished look that is très hip! Made in the USA. Poly/rayon/spandex; machine wash cold, line dry. Charcoal only. Winner to selects size from sponsor.
*Generously donated by the lovely people of Japanese Weekend.*

Retail value: $64. Bidding starts at $20. Don't know how to bid? Check the bidding rules.

Auction Benefit: Stephanie Nielson and Carol Decker

For those waiting for me to comment further on my Sarah Palin post, I have plenty more peppery things to say about Palin and the various arguments swirling around regarding motherhood, the White House, and so-called sexism in evaluating Bristol's mom, but I am saving my post for one week from now and putting the controversies and my habitual crabby musings aside in preparation for a very different week at Crabmommy.

Starting Monday, September 15, I will be running a silent benefit auction all week long, with fabulous items added every day, to raise funds for the following two moms:

Carol Decker is a Washington mom who battled a devastating Streptcoccal pneumonia infection, resulting in the emergency c-section delivery of her second daughter. Immediately following the caesarean, Carol had both legs amputated below the knee, as well as her left hand, and she is blind, a condition that may or may not improve. She is now a new mom to 3-month-old Safiya, in addition to her elder daughter Chloe, and the Deckers are facing home rehab estimated at $80,000 that insurance will not cover. Read more about Carol here. Go to a great auction happening right now for Carol here.

Stephanie Nielson is an artsy vintage-inspired mom-blogger from Arizona. Stephanie and her husband Christian were recently severely burned in a private plane crash. Many of you may have heard of Stephanie by now since Design Mom spear-headed "Nie Nie Day," with auctions held for Stephanie all around the web. Stephanie has burns over 80% of her body. She also has 4 kids.

I do not know either mother, though Stephanie's delightful house was featured at Cookie magazine, in Nesting, the design blog that sits right next door to my bloglet.

So. The auction: I have some amazing--AMAZING--items for you to bid, starting Monday. From incredibly stylish Japanese-inspired maternity and nursing wear to gorgeous felt booties to packs of personalized Mabel's labels for home and school (and many more items besides), my friends all over the web have been fantastically generous in donating mom and baby wares to the auction. There will be good loot up here, oh yes indeedy! So tell your friends and come back next week.

How will it work? We all know Crabmom is a bit tech-challenged but I will try to keep directions and rules clear. The basics: there will be a minimum of 2 auctions each day, one to benefit each mom. The winning bidder will pay 100% of the bid into a Paypal account whose details I will forward, and email the receipt to me prior to receiving his/her item. Not too hard, is it? Minor changes to the rules and program may occur as we get underway and I get a better feel for how it's going. Overall, expect gorgeous objects from a variety of stylish and kind-hearted peeps.

Please, bring an open wallet and come back Monday, and often throughout the week! Truly the Crabmommy does not lie when she tells you there will be screamingly lovely things available on this here blog!

Bidding Rules

1. Place your bid in the comments; include an email or other method of contact. *Note for those of you who don't have Google/Blogger IDs: don't go thru the hassle of signing up for all that. Just check the "anonymous bid" box and then put your name into text instead, or an email contact or something. Bid in whole dollar increments, por favor. Check back often and raise your bid if you want to.
2. I'll announce the winner at the top of the post when the auction ends.
3. I will contact the winner. Winner will then pay into the appropriate PayPal account, details of which can be found below.
4.Winner must fwd receipt of PayPal payment into designated fund to me at crabmommy[at]gmail[dot]com. I will then contact the sponsor and put the winner in touch, so you can give your address & color/size prefs where appropriate. Then you'll get your lovely prize.
5. If you don't win, consider donating to Carol's and Stephanie's PayPal accounts or hosting your own auction. For Stephanie's PayPal fund details, go here. For Carol's PayPal fund, go here.

Back to School Swag! Free backpack from Lands' End

[And the winner is kellyache: Please contact me at crabmommy[at]gmail[dot]com and claim your prize. Whoo hoo, Kelly!]

Momfriends,

I know the kids have already gone back to school but I'm sure some of you are still letting them lug last year's backpack around, to which I say SHAME ON YOU!

But, take heart, for the lovely people of Lands' End are giving FREE to one winning Crabmommy reader a fantabulous new Multitask Backpack! See it here:
And see it also in blue for boys (or for girls who don't like pink, just as the pink could certainly be for more gayish little boys...Crabmommy DOES NOT STEREOTYPE so feel free, winning entrant, to BE RADICAL and choose AGAINST THE GRAIN):
The Multitask Backpack is indeed one very swanky and swagilicious backpack featuring:

* Stash panel for a jacket, sports gear or bike helmet
* Separate bottom chamber to stow a set of shoes
* 360° reflective trim to keep kids visible
* Mesh side pockets to hold water bottles
* D-ring to clip on extras, like a lunch box
* MP3/CD player pouch for tunes

Yup, people, looks like we have swag again here at Crabmommy and I think that while we may not agree on Sarah Palin and her choice of baby names, we can agree that the odd swagtastic giveaway can only bring us together here at this very blog.

Rules: Put your name in the comments and I will randomly draw a winner on Monday night, 8pm PST or thereabouts, according to my whims. The winner then has 24 hours to contact me and I will post their details to Lands' End who will in turn send out the backpack!

Fancy!

I hope your tykes are enjoying their back-to-school initiation; more to the point, I hope you're enjoying your empty nest and not weeping into your oatmeal like a bunch of wussies.

The Right To Choose?

Big weekend. Gov. Sarah Palin, caribou hunter, major reproducer, bearer of a prom hairstyle, has been on my mind:

I believe every woman has a right to choose, but this weekend my belief has been seriously tested.

Crabmommy tries to steer clear of politics in this blog because who wants to hear anything serious from me? However, I'm making an exception today to question Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's ability to use good judgment and make sound choices. With regard to baby names.

Go here for more on that.

What I wasn't prepare to say at the Cookie blog: I don't get why women are supposed to get excited when they hear stories of potential leaders of the nation juggling "breast pump and Blackberry" and being "a soccer mom just like you." Why are Americans so into identifying with their leaders? I'm all for the inspired story that starts in the common mire, and I think it's great that Barack Obama can connect to ordinary people's struggles, having once been an ordinary person, but I'm glad Obama is no longer an ordinary person and is now an extraordinary person and that's why he's getting my vote.

Palin on the other hand: Is she an achiever and also a mother? Def. Is that cool? Yep, sure, duh. Extraordinary, as in, worthy of the extraordinary position of running a country? Not sure about that. Especially since she's still very much engaged in the very ordinary business of producing new babies, which speaks to a desire to expand her own family in favor of taking care of the nation's at large. And sorry, but I don't want someone second-in-command in the White House juggling breast pump and Blackberry. Make that, nuclear button and breast pump. With all those hormones flowing? I'd wager "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il of North Korea's got more global sensitivity than a brand-new mom attached to her Medela and worrying about a week of greenish diaps.

Or are we supposed to be heartened by the fact that Palin really *isn't* going to be in charge of her new baby at all and is in fact going to put the country first and aside from brisk lactation duties will toss baby number five at her clearly overwhelmed and emasculated hubby, who didn't do too well wrangling the knocked-up teen daughter?

Yes, I know *I'm not supposed to say this and all* but I don't think a new mom should be running the country. Mom in the White House? Sure, duh. New mom? God, no! Call me a traitor to my sex, but I think Palin's new babe might be a tad dangerous to the free world. And if somehow I'm wrong? Well, then, Palin's just a common hypocrite, preaching anti-choice family values and the right to choose a career over motherhood—rather tautological, if you ask me.

Back to breastfeeding...seriously, if she had her fitness once-over in prep for White House running, don't you think they should check her hormones to see if boobing it to the new babe could jeopardize our nation? Dunno about you, but I could barely remember my own name during that first year of Crabtot, let alone give a rat's bum about the world beyond my own chest.

But sheesh, that's just me! We're all different! Each to her own! May we tolerate the differences between us! And agree to disagree.

Blech. Puke.