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This will not go down as one of my favorite weeks in recent memory. I’ve had a sick child, a post-op dog and the weather has been cold and dreary. I’ve barely been out of my pajamas in days.

But then two good things happened:

1. The sun came out today. Hallelujah and amen. Mama needs her vitamin D.

2. The nice people at Barrington Gifts sent me the most gorgeous leather tote bag. It’s called the St. Anne Tote in Florentine leather and I cannot even tell you how much I love it.

It even has my monogram on it.

I made Caroline get off the couch yesterday to take those pictures because I’d actually had to get dressed to go speak to the PTO at her school while she stayed home sick. I felt like such a gorgeous bag deserved more than being paired with the pajamas pants I’d been in for two days. Or three days. Who’s counting?

Also, that’s Mabel’s head in the bottom of that second picture because we are Big and Little Edie and no one puts baby in a corner. See what I did there? I did a mash up of Grey Gardens and Dirty Dancing. I’m thinking it may be the first in history.

(Edited to add: The sweater I’m wearing is the chevron stripe sweater from Anthropologie. It’s sold out online, but you might be able to find in stores.)

I can’t even tell you how much I love this tote. It’s so well-made and the smell has caused me to hold it close to my nose repeatedly while I say, “I have many leather-bound books and my office smells of rich mahogany.”

This is my first experience with Barrington Gifts, but I already have so many plans for the future. Check out all of these fab options.

The blackwatch plaid collection feels like what Kate Middleton would do. WWKMD?

The glen plaid is divine.

And there’s even a game day collection where you can choose your school’s color and your favorite pattern.

Or you can choose different fall colors and patterns from the fall fashion collection. The bottom line is you should go spend some time on their site to play around with all the great choices. I’ve been obsessively creating new bags for the last 45 minutes and had to stage an intervention with myself.

However, my computer has let me know in no uncertain terms that it needs this case in the Navajo Mesa collection.

As for other fashion finds this week…

1. just comes neutrally sweater

I love a neutral sweater. Especially one with interesting detail.

2. boiled wool wrap jacket

This jacket is so cute and practical and, like everything at Anthropologie right now, an extra 40% off with code EXTRAEXTRA at checkout.

3. rosalind velvet gown

This is another Anthro item that’s 40% off. I have no place for it in my life but I wish I did. I will remember it fondly for years to come and think of what could have been if I only had a life that involved more than sitting on my couch at night eating Hershey’s special dark bars.

4. handknit star-stitch cardigan

I featured this before but I still adore it and think someone needs it. Plus it’s now 40% off the sale price which makes it almost free.

5. lace trim trapeze slipdress

I was watching the new Fixer Upper the other night and Joanna Gaines had one of these tops on with jeans. And I almost squealed because it confirmed she is my fashion spirit animal.

You don’t even want to know how excited I got when she was wearing my very favorite Keep Me tee from Free People a few scenes later.

6. magic leggings

Okay. These leggings. I love them so much but they’re different from the Hue leggings from Nordstrom that I also adore. These are not cotton, maybe a little spandex-ish like tights? Yet they are a legging and totally opaque. I love wearing them under anything that might be a little clingy because things don’t stick to them like they do cotton leggings.

Best of all, they’re only $20. And they’ll never fade because they’re not cotton.

7. free people embellished mini slip

I saw this in Nordstrom the other day and desperately wished I had a fancier life. Actually, that’s not true because that would require me to make small talk at cocktail parties and such. So maybe I just wish I could justify wearing this around my house because it is so pretty.

And it’s on sale for $58.49. Buy it now and you’ll be so happy to have it for holiday parties next year.

8. slouchy hooded cardigan

Urban Outfitters is having a huge end of season sale with tons of great markdowns. This great cardigan comes in several colors and is only $39.

9. vintage flannel checked tunic dress

How cute is this? I have no idea how long it really is, but I think it has potential to be cute all by itself with tall boots or with leggings under it. It’s on sale for $49.99 and comes in a few other color options. I just really like this one.

10. old navy jersey shift dress

Love these easy dresses from Old Navy. Perfect to throw on and add a jacket and boots now or to wear with Converse and a denim jacket as the weather warms up. Lots of cute colors and patterns.

That’s it for today.

Have a great Friday.

Yesterday around 3:45 p.m. I awarded myself the highly coveted BEST MOM EVER award which was not coincidentally around the same time Caroline and I sat in the pediatrician’s office and he said it looks like she has the flu.

I decided late last night that I was going to let her stay home from school no matter what because she woke up around midnight crying and telling me her whole body ached which is totally uncharacteristic for her. So I turned off the alarm and decided we’d just sleep in. Sadly, no one gave Piper or Mabel the memo because they were raring to start the day at 5:15 a.m. I managed to hold them off until 6:00 but then Piper took things up a notch by leaping into the bed and landing on my head and that tends to wake you up for good.

So I got up, fed the puppies and started my day. Mabel was supposed to see the vet at 9:00 a.m. but the office called and said her doctor was sick but I could drop her off and the other doctor would see her when he could. And so I threw on some clothes and drove her to the vet which is just a whole other level of crazy. Mabel already tends to be a little high strung and co-dependent, but now that we’ve basically been glued at the hip for almost a week, the two of us are a house of cats away from being Big and Little Edie living in Grey Gardens. She wasn’t happy when the vet tech came to take her away and I thought for one horrifying moment she was about to attack the old Australian shepherd who wanders freely around the vet office.

After that bit of drama, I made a stop at Starbucks to get coffee for me and a frappuccino for Caroline and then made my way back home. Caroline was awake and we spent the next hour or so lying on the couch while I tried to decide if I should take her in to see the doctor. Then, right about 11:00, she looked at me and said, “I think I’m going to go lie down and take a nap in the bedroom.”

ALERT. ALERT. SHE TRULY FEELS HORRENDOUS.

This is a child who has voluntarily gone to sleep approximately three times in eleven and a half years. And so I tucked her into bed and immediately called the doctor’s office for an appointment. The doctor looked her over, listened to her symptoms and declared that she either has a mild case of the flu since she got the flu mist or a flu-like virus, but it didn’t make sense to test her since it’s past the point for Tamiflu.

We left the doctor’s office and made a quick stop by the vet so I could run in and pick up Mabel whose whole body began to shake when she realized Big Edie was there to pick her up. She was so excited that she dragged me to four different cars before I finally got her loaded into mine.

I took my sick girls home, put one on the couch and the other in her dog bed. Everyone took their medicine and I decided the only appropriate thing to do was make homemade mac and cheese for dinner. We all needed a little comfort in the form of carbohydrates. I think the lesson here is I need everyone to get well or I’m going to have to go see a cardiologist.

And as I write this, Piper has once again discovered her new favorite place in the world.

She believes it’s the perfect place to warm up right after you’ve eaten the three Hershey Kiss foil wrappers that your mom accidentally left on the coffee table.

Well today was another day in the Shankle convalescent ward. Except now we’ve added Caroline to the mix.

This morning was kind of chaotic because, well, dog rodeo. We have one dog with a bunch of stitches and an obsessive/compulsive disorder, one that can’t decide if she wants to be inside with her sister or outside barking at dogs that walk by, and one that is just barely hanging on and recently decided he can no longer walk on the hardwood floors and waits to be carried inside.

It’s every bit as calming as you’d imagine.

As for Caroline, I knew she wasn’t feeling well because I am a very intuitive mother and picked up on her cues which looked a lot like her putting her head down on the kitchen countertop and moaning, “My whole body aches and my throat hurts.” But I sent her to school anyway because she didn’t have a fever and had some tests and projects she needed to work on.

This is where I always struggle as a mom. The line between too sick to go to school and declaring “You’re fine!” I mean I can tell when she’s really sick with a fever and the whole shebang, but it’s this middle ground that proves trickier.

When she was little I had this great trick where I would ask her about all her symptoms.

“Does your throat hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Does your stomach hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a headache?”

“Yes.”

“Does your elbow hurt?”

“Yes.”

And it was the claim of the hurting elbow that caused her claim of illness to jump the shark. It was brilliant.

The problem is these kids get smarter as they get older. She’s on to me and my elbow inquiries. And, truthfully, I totally know she doesn’t feel great but is it bad enough to miss school?

I had a feeling she was going to call me before the day was over and so I ran to HEB to load up on groceries. I’m sad to report that it was basically the total opposite of a grocery cart filled with New Year’s resolutions and good intentions. It was basically the grocery cart that Little Debbie built because nursing Mabel back to health is causing me to stress eat.

Right about the time I finished at the store, Caroline called and she didn’t sound good. I drove to the school and picked her up. Then we came home and spent the rest of the day watching movies in our pajamas and maybe I ate some or four of the Hostess cupcakes I bought at the store.

Now I just have to decide if I need to take Caroline to the doctor tomorrow, but I guess I’ll just see how she feels tomorrow. However, I know for sure I have one doctor visit for the day because Mabel has a follow-up appointment at the vet to make sure everything is healing properly. From the looks of the haiku she wrote yesterday, everything is healing except her feelings.

“Sharp teeth, nasty smell
javelinas are so bad
I have some regrets.”

I’m sitting here watching the championship game and it’s halftime right now so I’m going to do my best to write before all my attention is focused on whether or not Oregon can come back. Or maybe just before I fall asleep on the couch.

Because you know what I’ve discovered? The line between taking care of a post-op dog and a nervous breakdown is very thin.

Here’s the main problem. No one has bothered to let Mabel know that she is convalescing and should perhaps take it easy.

In case you haven’t listened to the podcast or follow me on Instagram or have my house wire-tapped, Mabel decided to take on a pack of javelinas at the ranch last Thursday afternoon. This was not a well-thought out plan and was no doubt fueled by the sheer adrenaline that is the cornerstone of Mabel’s personality.

I was in Houston for a speaking thing (Shout out to River Oaks Baptist School! Loved being with y’all.) when I received a text from P letting me know Mabel had been in a fight with some javelinas and he’d rushed her to the nearby vet where they took her in for emergency surgery. And in case you’re unfamiliar, this is a javelina.

When he takes the dogs to the ranch, P always lets them run behind the Polaris because they have energy to burn and they are big fans of a long run with a few side trails to chase rabbits or roadrunners or whatever. So he didn’t think much of it when they disappeared into the brush until they failed to come back. Then finally Piper popped out but Mabel wasn’t with her. Just as he turned back around to see where Mabel was, she came running out and that’s when he noticed her leg was bloody. He knew immediately it was javelinas.

He loaded her in her kennel and got her to the vet where they discovered her injuries went down to the bone. And so our poor Mabel is now the proud owner of a whole bunch of stitches, a cone of shame, and hopefully some lingering regrets that will cause her to never run into a bunch of javelinas again.

But I kind of doubt that last part because, well, Mabel is gonna Mabel.

As for the javelinas, it didn’t end well for them either because P was a man with a vendetta.

Mabel has spent the bulk of her time since then pacing aimlessly around the house in between writing poetry about the cruel nature of the animal kingdom. She’s especially proud of a piece she wrote entitled, “Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?”

Meanwhile, Piper is quietly celebrating the fact that she is faster than her sister by wearing her best sparkly beret. It’s like the old story about being chased by a lion. You don’t have to be faster than the lion, you just have to be faster than the guy running next to you.

But every now and then we catch her staring into the fire and have no doubt she’s thinking, “Man, that could’ve been me.”

Or maybe she’s just thinking, “I wish they’d accidentally leave a block of cheese on the countertop again.”

I talked to Sophie on the phone early Saturday afternoon and somewhere along the way we decided it was a good day to do a podcast because neither of us had much going on.

This is usually how we determine our podcast schedule:

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Wanna podcast?”

“Sure.”

It’s all very professional.

But then Sophie got a wild hair and tweeted that we were about to do a podcast and asked if anyone had any questions. And since there were about four people on Twitter, we had about four questions that we did our best to answer.

All that being said, feel free to leave any questions you might have for the next podcast in the comments because it might give us some incentive to actually get another one done in the near future.

As for this one, we talk about our favorite books, Sophie’s new book, Home is Where My People Are, that’s coming out in early February, Amy Grant songs and Tori Spelling. So, you know, all of life’s important issues.

You can click here to listen. Or here. You can even listen right here.

Or, as always, you can subscribe on iTu

Well.

This is officially the WORST Fashion Friday ever. I just spent longer than I even want to tell you finding things and getting the links and the photos and then my whole computer crashed and I lost everything except these three things.

And it’s late and I don’t have the will to search for it all again. I cannot apologize enough.

But maybe one of these three things are what you’re looking for.

1. dolman sleeve open cardigan

So maybe you’re not a little obsessed with the show Fixer Upper on HGTV like I am. If so, what is wrong with you?

The season 2 premiere was on the other night and in one scene Joanna has on something very similar to this with a tank top under it and I just thought it was the cutest. Perfect for different seasons depending on what you wear with it. And, even better, on sale right now and available in several color options.

2. phara tassel lariat necklace

I got this necklace for Christmas (Actually, I exchanged something else for this necklace) and I love it so much. It’s very versatile and you can wear it several different ways.

3. Frye phillip harness tall boots

I have long been a fan of my Frye Jackie boots, but I saw these the other day and I think they might be a new love. They’re pricey for sure, but some of you may be looking for a way to spend some Christmas money.

This is so lame, right?

Sorry about the three things. I promise to do better next week or to take my computer out and run it over in the driveway before throwing it in the trash if it ever flakes out on me like this again.

Have a good Friday.

P.S. A couple of people have asked about maternity clothes and I feel woefully inadequate to speak on this topic since I was last pregnant almost twelve years ago. But I think Nordstrom has some really cute maternity clothes just in case you want to check it out. I’d also tell you that you should never underestimate the need to get a really great pair of maternity jeans because you can wear them with almost anything.