Look at You, Nancy Drew! Goody's ColourCollection Headbands

One of the great pleasures of visiting my grandparents' house was reading the old Nancy Drew books kept on a guest room shelf. Among her many virtues, the girl detective could really sport a headband.

I, on the other hand, either got crushing headaches or watched them slowly migrate to the back of my head throughout the day. Any attempt to change the band's backwards progression resulted in a faux bouffant that was anything but stylish (even in the 80s).

In college, I tried using scarves as headbands, but they too would slink off in the course of a few hours.

I gave up on headbands entirely, keeping one of each style in case I should ever foolishly convince myself that they would work.

When Goody offered to send some of their ColourCollection skinny headwraps, I was pretty sure that they would be another style to stick in my expanding box of rejects. The package of six came hours before game night, so I offered one to each of my five guests.

One mom immediately declared the headband too tight and handed it back to me within minutes.

Everyone else was pleased to try them.

Like the aforementioned friend, I initially found the headband snug. This isn't a surprise as my head is about an inch larger than most large women's hats. As the evening progressed, the accessory relaxed enough to accomodate, but not so much that it abandoned its duties. It was atually comfortable, but I suspected that pliability was a harbinger of future stretching. Over two months later, I realize those fears were unnecessary.

I wear one of the headbands daily, and it when it is not in my hair, I usually have it looped three times around my wrist.

My mom is happy as it is one of the first times she's not perpetually asking me to pull my hair out of my face. I'm happy because my hair doesn't blind me in strong wind or whenever I look down. The skinny headwrap also attracts compliments about my hair (to which I am rather unaccustomed); many people (included Jim) have complimented my recent haircut (last haircut was Dec. 2008) and my new style.

The headbands are inexpensive (6 for $3.99), so I don't worry if I lose one under the bed or in the car. Their elastic keeps them in place, so don't require much primping or attention.

One friend reports that her petite 8-year-old daughter often wears the headband. This friend's very gorgeous naturally curly hair pushes the headband forward on her, but she really likes using it looped as a ponytail holder.

Most of my friends still wear their headbands regularly. As for me, I'm planning on getting a new pack (in brunette) soon.

Fine print: Baby Toolkit received six promotional headbands ($4 value) from Goody. We have no undisclosed relationship with or financial interest in Goody Products, Inc.. We're not hair professionals (stop laughing, already); we're just geek parents with opinions.

Beautiful URLs: Some Favorite Links, May 30

Bewitching perspectives from around the web:

• Apgar is more than just a score. A brief look at the incredible woman behind the idea. (Wall Street Journal, via Goodyblog)

• With summer, I'm spending more time thinking about spending less time on tasks. In this New York Times article, Mark Bittman offers tips for freezing food.

• Handkerchiefs are pretty handy with kids, so I usually carry one or two in my bag. This easily folded doll (The Common Room) turns out to be their killer app for the Raptor. She loves to pull and chew on these little gals. I'm having trouble figuring out the guy instructions, so if anyone figures it out, please send me a picture.

• Thrifty Fun offers up a sewing tutorial for an adorable bandana bonnet. Beginners, this project is a perfect starter.

• Don't miss the opportunity to send your handmade doll to Casa Bernabe Orphanage in Nicaragua in Craft Hope's second project. There's still enough time to meet the June 13th arrival date, but the dolls will need to be in the mail soon.
  

What do you think? Seen any great posts lately?

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream Socials!

The timing on this is much like a pop quiz, but wouldn't you love to win a 100 person ice cream party for your neighborhood?

Don't miss tonight's 11:59 PM (ET) deadline, to enter Edy's Slow-Churned Neighborhood Salute.

In a 1 minute (or less) digital video or a short paragraph (350 word maximum), explain why your neighborhood or community group should win one of the 1,500 ice cream parties Edy's is giving away.

Sorry about the short notice. I kept forgetting to add this to earlier Beautiful URLs, but we both know you would have put it off until the last minute anyway.

Beautiful URLs: Some Favorite Links, May 24

Look what followed me home from the Interwebs:

• Princess pedestal: How many girls are on one? (AP) dicusses how some families have growing concerns about princess thinking in a turbulent economy. Though the Raptor is only 6 months, we make conscious effort not to call her angel or princess. Jim keeps talking to her about cryptography. Princess play will be fine here when she chooses it, but then she'll meet the real (hard-working, socially conscious) princesses (and queens) from The Daring Book for Girls rather than the Disney variety.

• kidsbowlfree.com is a group of US bowling alleys offering kids 2 free games of bowling DAILY during the summer. This is the best deal for kids with bowling shoes (shoe rental is $3.75 here), it's a good deal even for a casual bowler (it's $4/game at our favorite alley). Register your kids online to participate. Want to bowl along with your kids? For $24 you can get a family bowling pass that allows two games daily (all summer) for an adult (additional packages available for 2, 3, and 4 adults). Thanks to Cara at Working Moms Against Guilt for sharing this program!

• Want to watch an interesting nest from your living room? Jonah Lisa at the Toby Show is offering daily Nest Cam photos of a robins' nest on her beautiful Utah porch (I can see why the robins chose to build there). If you're feeling more like drinking from the visual information firehose, the Indianapolis Star has a live feed from a falcon's nest high above Monument Circle. This grittier feed (the birds brush against the lens) currently offers fluffy fledglings looking to leave the nest. If you want to know what's happening in the nest, just check out the falcons' blog. (via Indy citizen, weight loss blogger, and world traveler: Pasta Queen).

• Looking into the future with marshmallows? Can't hardly wait: A self-control experiment for 4-year-olds (Tranquil Parent by ZRecommends) is an interesting summary of parents home testing their 4-year-olds' self control after reading research on self-control and academic success featured in the New York Times. There's now a wave of home marshmallow experiments being posted online. While conducting the experiment at home is tempting, I would caution any parent from reading too much into the child's response. You and your child already have established patterns about food, so those patterns may be entirely different than those achieved by a less familiar research administrator in a controlled environment.

• Musical foreshadowing? What was the #1 hit on the day of your birth? (Thanks, Kim!)

• I dread the day naptimes end here. Muses of Megret brilliantly suggests making quiet time CDs to keep the natives peacable so caregivers can get a much-needed midday break.
  

What do you think? What posts have caught your imagination this week?