Saturday, February 12, 2011

Who is bumping music at 9 in the morning?

 I have two really small cars with two humongous car seats. I drive my Nissan Cube most days, the Beetle is my "fun car" (only because it has a sunroof).  The Cube has led lights just about everywhere in it; cup holders, floor boards, the dash...It's mostly a disco club. You can change the lights to fit your mood, you have 20 colors to choose from. Most people think the car is u-g-l-y and it ain't got no alibi but that's what I like about it.

All that is beyond the point of this blog. I dropped the kids off at daycare, driving to work and I am at a stop light. Normal morning. Then I noticed I could hear a car "bumping". I look around for the stereotypical Neon, Civic, or beater car with a fart pipe on it. I was in a sea of minivans and guys wearing suits in SUVs. I am thinking to myself "What a moron. It's 9 in the morning. Who is bumping music at 9 in the morning?" Light turns green and the cars roll out. I notice the music keeps following me. I look around and nothing. No one is car dancing, no one is mouthing along to a song, nothing. Then my jam comes on. I always change the play list as soon as I get back in the car from dropping the girls off. One time Wendolyn starting singing "lolli lolli pop that body" I realized it is time to start censoring. The bass line kicks in and BAM. I realize I am the moron bumping my music at 9 in the morning. Holy Jesus.

Should I be embarrassed? Should I turn it down? OMG, can they see the car seats? I'm such a loser. But it's my song. I love this song. &^%* it. Turn it up.

That's when the club starts. Totally inappropriate songs about hooking up, getting drunk and the occasional use of illegal drugs. I pretend my coffee cup is my martini glass and car dance my ass off. This is not "mommy" of me at all. Not that I am a typical soccer mom by any means of the imagination. I feel like I should be more adult and listen to more Jewel and Jack Johnson (I do love that kind of music too) however, this mama likes a little gansta rap too. Nicki Manaj starts and I am right there with her. I'm going after it at this point. Screw you Dodge Caravan, I see you looking at me. Now I am throwing up hand signs that I have no clue what they mean. Okay, I've gone too far. Tone it down.

I know that if I was that poor lady in a minivan (my heart goes out to all the drive a minivan) I would be calling myself an idiot and making fun of myself. I didn't care. How happy I was and the mood it made me in was so worth it. Laugh at me. I'm glad I could entertain you and make you smile. Nothing is like when you are jamming out and the people around you join in. Once, I had a friend with me and we were rocking out, to the point the car was shaking and the people across the intersection started dancing too. We had a dance off right there in the car at one of the busiest intersections. It was a blast.

My point being, to everyone in the sea of white sedans and black minivans I was an idiot. To me I was being myself and I was making myself happy. Once I embraced it I noticed all the other 20 something moms and them bumping and singing. I smile. Oh the simple things in life, bumping in the morning and mid-afternoon. Who knew this is what my life would become? So pump, pump the jams. Gotta keep on moving. Fist pump, Pop it, lock it, I don't care. Be happy, that's all that matters. And if I see you, you better believe there is going to be a dance off. Bring it.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Don't Forget to Brush Your Face!

Alright domestic divas, who wants a facial for free? Over the summer of 2009 I was getting facials every other week trying to control my acne. I have more acne now then I ever did as a teenager. It's very annoying and disheartening. It's bad enough that I am 27 and could pass for a sophomore in high school; I don't need the pimples for affect. Every time I had my facial, the lady kept tell me that I really should by a Clarisonic. Which she used everytime I went and saw her. It is basically a electric face scrubber. It was a little larger then an electric razor. To be honest, I didn't really like it when she used it. She would go over my nose and I would cringe. My eyes watered, all I could think about was how bad I wanted to sneeze. It was borderline painful. Not to mention this was over 200 bucks at the time.

I never noticed such a dramatic effect that I was in my "omg, omg I have to have it" mode. Really all I thought about with it was how much space it would take up and that I had no where to charge it at. Months go on and I just lived with my breakouts and would randomly try something new. Mostly if a bottle reached out to me from a shelf. I admit it, I go for packaging. Some products helped, most ended up being pitched when I purged my bathroom. Then, I found something on YouTube that changed everything.

I don't know if you watch a lot on YouTube but I am into the hair and make up tutorials and the haul videos and that kind of thing. This one video I ran up on was about exfoliating your face. I clicked on it and watched. She made her own paste and then applied it with, you'll never guess, an electric toothbrush. I'm serious. It was basically a small Clarisonic. I was so mad that I never thought of this before. This girl is a genius. I happen to have an Oral B toothbrush that I never use. The head of the toothbrush just seems too big and my teeth never really felt any cleaner than my manual toothbrush. I grabbed my Clean and Clear blackhead scrub (which I absolutely love as is) and my Oral B. I lightly wet my face with luke warm water and rubbed the scrub all over. Then I took my toothbrush and started on my nose and worked my way out. It was kinda painful. The bristles were so hard! Then I remembered I didn't wet the toothbrush. So, I wet the bristles and then started again. It was so much better. Anytime it felt like it was getting too rough I would wet the brush. I spent 3 minutes on my entire face. I rinsed the scrub off and my face had good even hyperemia, that's a fancy word for the blood that comes to the ssurface when you exfoliate or get slapped. I could automatically see a difference on my face. My nose was so smooth and the pores were visibly smaller. A-mazing.

If you have an electric toothbrush like I did but you use it for brushing your teeth, go out and buy a replacement head that you can use for your face. And if you can get it in a soft bristle get that one. I am telling you, do this once a week and within a month you will see dramatic results. I did anyway and I totally recommend you try it. You will have that "glow" to your skin that no product can do alone.

So spend the 195 bucks on a Clarisonic or 25 on an Oral B or any other electric toothbrush and get your goddess on! If you have a great homemade facial or bath product that you would like to share, leave it in the comments. I LOVE trying these recipes out. Remember you are beautiful person!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

I heart Walgreens.

Here is something that I never thought would happen. I am madly in love with a drug store. And not for it's drugs. I have been avoiding Walmart like it is the plague. I have only been 3 times since November. I didn't get any major Christmas gifts there. Only stocking stuffers, which was a couple of DVDs. I have been lucky that an AMAZING grocery store has opened up in walking distance to my house. If it wasn't for trees I would be able to see it. I get all my groceries there. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. sigh. So in love. Did I mention it has a Starbucks in it? I also have a Walgreen's pretty close. Not walking distance but it takes about two minutes to drive to it; four if you get stuck at the light. I don't know what or how my obsession got started but it's pretty hot and heavy.

Actually, I do know. It started with Sissy getting sick and I had to pick her up from daycare. I knew I was running low on diapers and needed some baby fever reducer. Since it was on my way back from the daycare I just ran in. Sissy was passed out and so I put her car seat in the cart and went to the aisle that I needed. So, while I was there, they had this "jingle cash" thing going on. I saw the signs but didn't really know what it was about. Since Sis was asleep, I thought, I could browse around. The store wasn't that big, it wouldn't take long at all. I'm roaming, aisle to aisle. This lady notices my box of Huggies. She comes up to me and tells me about this sale on Walgreens brand diapers. She goes on and on about how her daughter loves them. I ask questions like "how are they on sensitive skin?" things like that. I didn't really want to buy the generic diapers. I know how most feel from working at a daycare, it's like sandpaper. She takes me over to the aisle and we look and she is opening her sale ad and points out that they are buy one get one free. I figured I would humor this lady and buy them. Plus bogo? How can you pass that up? I could take one pack to daycare and keep one at home and it wouldn't be long and they would be all used anyway. If it broke her bottom out I was out eight bucks. Not the end of the world.

THEN, she tells me that if you get six packs then you get 25 dollars in Jingle Cash. Which was like 25 dollars that you could spend at Walgreen's. And I'm not talking like Gymbucks from Gymboree where you have to spend 50 to get the 25. You could pick out 25 dollars worth of goodies and use the coupon and not spend a dime. I am not even joking. So, how it worked was, you spent 25 dollars you got 5 dollars Jingle Cash, 50 dollars you got 10 JC (as in jingle cash, not Jesus Christ), 75 dollars you got 15 JC and 100 dollars you got 20 JC. I didn't really think too much about it. I am notorious for getting things like this and NEVER using them. I just keep roaming. I find myself thinking, "What a fantastic stocking stuffer? Mom would like this. Wendi would love this. Sissy could get this as a gift from Wendi". I ended up spending over 100 dollars. But I got SO much more. I got both girls several toys, lots of candy stocking stuffers, two popcorn tins, lots cleaning supplies, and some beauty supplies for yours truly. Between the sale they were having and the already low prices it was amazing. That is when it started.

John comes home from Alaska for Christmas. The weekend he gets there we are off to Kansas to spend Christmas there. Then it hits us. We didn't buy dirty Santa gifts for his family. Mostly I was putting it off hoping we wouldn't be going to Christmas at his family. I know. I'm horrible. Money was pretty tight at this point. It cost almost 2,000 dollars for his plane ticket, plus it was Christmas. And we don't put anything on credit. All cash money, baby. Then it hits me. I have 25 dollars in Jingle Cash. BAM. Walgreens, go! We ended up getting his bothers popcorn tins, and one of our dirty Santa gifts and some roadies (i.e. snacks for the road) and spent under ten bucks. I mean come on! That like never happens.

I found somethings that I tried that I really, really liked! The diapers were okay. I didn't really like the print that was on them. Petty, I know. But I do get them from time to time. Sis has fairly sensitive skin and they didn't break her out at all. I was impressed. I have several products that I am going to do a review on in later blogs. You will be amazed how much you can save and cut out Walmart trips by shopping at drug stores and grocery stores only. I don't come home with frivolous things that I didn't need just because I walked up on them. That little rollback smiley face isn't there to break my will. We think that I save about 25-45 dollars every trip. Even though the grocery store is priced higher on some things, we save by not bringing home the crap Walmart throws at you. (If you can't tell I am a bit of an impulse buyer.) Not to mention you are spreading your money to multiple companies. I really urge you to go check out your local Walgreens. If you live in a city that has more that one, go to all of them. Not every store carries the same thing. I know when I go back home, I love me some Rite Aid. CVS is great too.

Leave a comment or email me some of your favorite drug store finds!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

I Send my Kids to Daycare, and I Don't Feel Guilty.

Okay. Here's the deal. I work a part-time job at a department store and I'm also a massage therapist. I don't really work that much. Max....3 days a week. I haven't even worked since Christmas, until this week.

Some may know that my husband is in the Army. He is stationed at Ft. Wainwright.....Alaska. I live in the mid-west. We are 3589.32 miles apart. We haven't lived together since 2009. Now, I can here it coming..."why in the hell are you not living with your husband?". Answer: Both our daughters were in foster care. And by "were in foster care" I don't mean, we put them in foster care. I mean, we were their foster parents. First we had Wendolyn in our care. We knew from the start that we would be able to adopt her but, we had no idea it would take 2.5 years. John had his orders for AK before the adoption was ever in sight. Wendi, aka Wendolyn, was placed with us at 13 months old and he left when she was 18 months old. We adopted her when she was 3 years and 2 weeks old. Ummmm, yeah. Ridiculous. Because she was a foster child she could not leave the state. We have a house to sell and we knew he was deploying soon after he got to AK. I would rather be here where I love and am familiar. As opposed to be in -30 degrees, by myself and not know anyone. And he did deploy the month after he got there.

So while John is away and before Wendolyn is ever adopted her birth mom is pregnant again. Then I had the internal fight with myself to take custody of this baby too. I had a really hard time. I knew in my head that it was going to be so draining. 2 kids+1 person=mayhem. I have no family here. None. Mine are 6 hours away and John's is 4. It was me and only me. It still is me and only me. At the same time this was my chance to have a newborn. Something I never thought would happen. They were sisters, half, but in my eyes they are biologically sisters. Long story short, with a lot left out since I can't say much cause she is not adopted yet, we took her. How could you not?

So here we are. John is leaving for Afghanistan in April and I have one adopted child and one foster child and a house that has yet to be put up for sale. (I will never buy a house again until he is retired. Biggest mistake of our life..thus far) Same spot as 2009.

Wendolyn was already in daycare because I was going to school full-time. When Sissy came along I was still in school, so she had to go to daycare as well. I would keep Sissy at home with me the days I didn't have school. She was only 2 weeks old when she started going. WAY to young but the school I was attending wouldn't let me miss anymore. I took both of them out of daycare for a while since I wasn't working. That's when it went all down hill.

I was the worst mother. Ever.

I was so stressed and depressed and just generally over come with anxiety. I was a zombie. I never left the house because I was so scared that they would act up in the store and I would look like the 13 year old with 2 kids. So that lasted 2 weeks.

I needed daycare. I needed time to be me and do normal big person things. I wanted to see the inside of a grocery store. Know what the sun felt like. Not hear crying or screaming. Just some Whoosa.

One week later. Calm. Peace. And a shower.

I have family members that said it was horrible of me and that it is my "job" to raise these kids. Ummm, no. I love being a mom and I love my children but I cannot do it alone. I don't know how single mothers can work enough hours to make enough money to live on and raise small children. I have the utmost respect for these women. I want to kiss their feet. I totally under stand the saying "it takes a village to raise a child". Never more true than it is today in my life.

Why do I not feel guilty? Many reasons.

1. They learn SO much. They come home with things that leaves me saying "WTH?". Wendi could sign 12 words by the time she was 18 months. Signs that she really knew what they meant and could use them in context. I know she was trying to sign other words but I had no idea what she was saying.

Not only can she sign. She can speak Spanish. Like for real. That makes her what? Tri-lingual?

Days of the week? She knows them. Weather? oh yeah. Sing songs? What song ya wanna hear? This kid is a juke box. Body parts? More than I would like her to know. I'll tell you about the nipple incident another day as well. The list goes on.


2. She is a social butterfly and so is Sis. This has pros and cons. Stories to come in later blogs. It's obvious they favor Mommy (which I love) but there is no hyperventilating and kicking and screaming when leaving them in class. It's apparent that Wendi has her true BFFs. I think about how cute it would be if Wendi and Tryten find each other on Facebook while in college and get married. So sweet.

3. You can dress them in super cute clothes, and there is someone to compliment on it.

4. They enjoy it. Wendolyn will ask if it's a school day. Every once in a while she will want to stay home, and I let her. We go to tea rooms and have lunch, do a little shopping. This also allows me to have one on one time with each kid.

5. I love doing holiday parties in Wendi's classroom. She gives out super awesome goody bags.

6. I have really become like family with these ladies. They know these kids like I do. They have went above and beyond what a normal worker would do. I know that they love both girls. It makes it very easy to trust them.

7. This list could really go on and on.

8. I am a much better mother. I have time to myself. I can get all the housework done and the running in town. When we are together we really can enjoy that time. It's TRUE quality time and not just being in the house together.

I know some people will always be anti-daycare and some just want to be the person with their kid day in and day out. I totally respect that. And I am not saying that I haven't had some throw downs with the staff. That's a blog within it's self. I just refuse to let these people make be feel guilty on how I chose to send my kids to daycare. This works for us and we are okay with it.

 If John was still here I would keep Wendolyn enrolled but probably just have Sissy in part time. Or Sissy may be full time as well. I just don't know, hard to say. I just want all the other "stay at home" moms to feel that it is okay for you to send your kids to a preschool or daycare. A happy mom makes a happy family. It's perfectly fine for you to need "me time" or just want to get a pedicure or go shopping...alone. I know when my husband is around the last thing I want to do is leave him at home with the kids. I want to spend time with him too! It's the best when he is home on a weekday and we can have "day dates". The movie is cheaper and no one is hardly there and you can make-out and feel like a kid again and then go get the little ones from school. A-mazing. You are so much more revived and ready to take on the demands of being a domestic goddess and embrace the poopy daipers and constant request for a sippy cup refill. Embrace the fact that we cannot do it "all" but we can do more than enough. That's what makes use modern domestic deities.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sterilite-Chic

I love having a place for everything and everything in it's place. But lets face it, that place might be jumbled up in a drawer with 20 other things. Every time I opened my bathroom closet it just looks incomplete. I have these Sterilite drawers that I think most people have SOMEWHERE in their house. I think most people get them so they can see what's in there, that's why they bought the clear ones and not the neon green ones. But, I like classic white, not college dorm pink. It bothered me how you could see everything in there. Lets face it...it's a bathroom...no one needs to see the fact that you took advantage of the sale on tampons at Sam's Club.

Maybe I am just a creeper but, when I go to people's houses for a party and I have had my cocktails and I need to pee, I am gonna go through your bathroom. I will open the closet door and see what goods ya got. Possibly thieve a tampon from you (only if need be....or because you use some brand I have never tried). I don't dig through everything and pull it out and use your loofah or anything; just peek. So here is the solution for people like you to stop people like.....me.



I went to Staples and bought 2 packs of decorative file folders. Each pack was  $4.99. The pack included 2 of each print. I only needed one pack in the end but I wanted to be sure that I had enough. In fact, I only used 1 folder of each print. That included the set of large drawers, 2 sets of medium and 1 of the small. You can buy just one folder for .99 and I looked at Wal-mart and they had packs of them as well in stripe patteren. The key is for it to be thicker than the normal manilla folder.

If you have one of these straight cutter things you will have this done in NO TIME. If not, grab some scissors and a straight edge.

Unfold the folder and cut in half. I cut mine at the very first line at the bottom of the folder. 

On the big drawers all you have to do is cut the height. I held the half of the folder next to the drawer and marked a line. I took it to my cutter-thingofamajig and cut it to size.
*For smaller drawers simply cut the height and the width to size. 

If you are using the Sterilite brand you need no glue, no tape, nothing! It will stay in place because of the indention in the drawer.  You are basically done other than sliding the decorative folder into place.

That is all it takes! You are done and people can't get all up in your bathroom business. Well, not at a glance anyway. Here are some before and after pictures just so you can see the difference. You'll be amazed at how different you feel with PRETTY and not to mention CHIC looking plastic ware in your closet. Looks like a million bucks and it cost you under 5 dollars!



I labeled the drawers mostly for my husband or overnight guest that might need to find something. I, of course, know what's in all the drawers..most of the time.
Thanks so much for reading and I will be posting video directions on my YouTube channel as well. As for now, put those kids to bed and have a cocktail. Mommy needs a time out.



Monday, January 17, 2011

No Mom Jeans for Me Please

I was searching around on YouTube.com looking for ideas to help me with my New Year resolution. So, I searched and searched and searched...Who knew so many 16 and 20 something college kids had walk in closets. But I don't have a walk in closet. In fact, I have to share what little closet I have with my husband (not to mention the presents for birthdays and Christmas). That's when it hit me. I'll start my own YouTube channel and blog. It will keep me busy while the husband is off playing Army, and maybe it will help some other modern moms. Maybe one day companies will send me free samples to try and talk about to my other domestic divas. I can imagine my bathroom filled with nail polish of every color, the best eye creams, bath salts for days, fragrances from across the world. Fantastic.

No mom jeans here. Just moms in their 20's and 30's that will someday be in our....40's (insert shrieking) that are hip and can totally get jiggy with it. We know what's cool. I know that nothing is worse than watching people walking down the mall and knowing that that lady pushing down that stroller use to be mod, she knew what was in fashion, she even was caught up on the latest text lingo and music. Now, all she knows is what's coming on Nick Jr. My friends, that is not going to be us. We all have our days of being covered in half chewed Teddy Grahams and snot. We shall over come depression, not be chained to this house and do nothing but cook and clean. We are modern moms and we can do it all and look and feel fabulous.

I hope to fill this blog with useful and helpful tips to save us time and money on our domestic side. Health and beauty tips so we can look ravishing doing it. A place where we can share stories of rearing our children, highs and lows. Maybe we can all make some friends along the way. Grab some coffee, a little bit of chocolate and enjoy.