Friday, March 22, 2013

Nail Polish Challenge Week 3 or The One Where It's Friday But I Pretend It's Monday...

Something happened on the way to the Forum....

I have always like the different colored nail polishes...ALWAYS...and almost as soon as I woke up the next morning after applying my newest layer...Uhm...  I didn't like it... 

I don't know what it's stemming from... Of course given my age and that I am an old married wife with kids I'm sitting here thinking "Oh no this is that moment they always warn you about about when you dont remember when it happened but you've lost your identity because you don't like the same things because you're old and you're not young and you're not 12 and you're not 25 and oh my god OH MY GOD!"

But then... I realize... No... I just don't like green nails cause it looks like fungus...and then I think of mushrooms, and then I think of toadstool and then I think of Princess Peach and I want to play Mario Bros.



So what do you think?  Fungus amongus?  Or perfectly fine??  I have no idea, all I know is I can't wait to get it off my nails!  And I'm thinking, maybe I put it into a pile of give away/re-gift xmas ideas or something cause DAMN... I am so over this...  Can't wait to see what I pick next!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Knockin On Heaven's Door....

Sitting on my couch last night watching the latest episode of Being Human, where Sally, Nick and Stevie who were once ghosts are zombies basically now and Nick went after his girlfriend, she killed him for trying to eat her and she killed him GOOD.  Nick turns back into a ghost after Zoie kills him and Sally and Zoie watch him walk into his "door"...

Sally tells Stevie he is a zombie now, Josh kills Stevie so he won't eat anyone else (after he ate his parents and the mailman) and Stevie shows up as a ghost and walks into his door... here's the problem: it's the same door Nick went through and in the Being Human-verse, every ghost gets their own door.  So this makes Sally and Josh wax intellectual about what this must mean if ghost Nick and Stevie went through the same door, what if Sally decided she didn't want to be a zombie and killed herself, then she would be a ghost and get offered this crazy door... what would happen? What's on the other side?

And this is what happens as a result of watching that episode:

Harley: So why are they freaking out?

Me: 'Cause that guy got the same door as the other guy and that's wrong.  That means that there's something bad probably going on...

Harley:  So, what's on the other side of the door?

Me: Heaven...I guess... well... that person's version of heaven..but you realize that this is a show right?  That everything is made up right?

Harley: well...duh.  But, so if it's their heaven, what do you think is on the otherside?

Me: Well, I guess it's different for everybody... Like, your idea of Heaven is probably all marshmallows and books and unicorns doing backflips over rainbows...

Harley: (laughs) yeah, probably... So what do you think your door would like?

Me: well, Uhm... I don't know.  I guess....  I would have an orange door and on the otherside would hopefully my dad/your grandpa... maybe some of my animals... maybe Grandma Mary...

Harley:  Oh... Ok.  What color is grandma and grandpas door at their house?  Cuz I want my door to look that their door and I want grandpa to be on the otherside...




...and there you have it folks...  straight from the mouths of babes...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Nail Polish Challenge Week 2...

Friday night I got me my fabulous five minute manicure...  It felt soooo good...  Cause I use that nummy Vitamin E Oil on my nail beds and they LOVE it.  I was thinking about clipping them because they were getting pretty long.  It was almost starting to get to where I would have to maybe think about cutting them to help my typing.  But I didn't...  Then Sunday we were taking the kids out of the car on the way home from Ma's... and I couldn't get Thing 2 out of her seat!  I was also fighting the time change so I didn't want to work the five point harness TOO hard since I wanted her to stay sleeping...  So I was freaking out a bit.  I had to use an implement to free her and that was when I realized if I couldn't do a quick-clip that night, I had to do one on my lunch yesterday.  And that's exactly what I did :)

Here are the results:



Dude, I should be a freakin Hand Model...  Not sure if you can still get that Cotton Candy Pop Sally Hansen, but it's really good stuff and I'm almost out of it ... hence the whole idea of this "Challenge"...

Good thing I did my manicure yesterday...today was dedicated to reading and eating and walking... My daily lunch routine stays pretty simple unless there's "something going on" then it slightly derails.  I usually like to get in 30 minutes of a walk outside then it's back to my desk for sandwich with tortilla chips and reading a book in between bites...  25-30 minutes of reading between bites doesn't get me far in my 900 page book, but that's ok :)  I never run out of books to read and I'm thinking of re-reading all my Stephen King books anyway.  Almost all of them are worth a second GO and my Mister isn't a reader, but he's a question asker...so I need to be a better quesiton answerer :) Now I'm going back to work and listening to my Pandora radio... LOVE Pandora!


Monday, March 11, 2013

I'm Just Over Here In My Corner, Sticking To What Works...

I'm in the mood to clarify something...

Not that I'm NOT all for trying new things.  I LOVE to try new things.  I'm actually pretty adventurous... It's just that sometimes you gotta stick to what works...  Like for instance, since I AM a Mom person, I will use diapers for example.  I used diapers from Wal-Mart... Parent's Choice to be exact.  They weren't around when Thing 1 was born so we used Huggies because they didn't give her a rash and for some reason everyone bought ALL the Pampers...LUVS=RASH... White Cloud=RASH... What used to be the Target brand=RASH.  Now Target has UP and UP, but same problem, size always seems swiped. 

That being said, when I had exhausted the plethora of diapers I received from friends and relatives (not for about 6months...eeeeeeee!!!) I was bound and determined to just stick to what worked, but I wanted to atleast TRY the Paren'ts Choice and TRY the UP and UP...so I bought their little mini trial packs (I know right? Trial size diaper packs=genius) and found NO rash... YAY!!! So now, we get the cheapies cause they work and why change?  Even when we have a few extra bucks or if one of our mom's buys diapers for their houses... Wal-mart or Target brand...  boom.done.

So THAT being said...  I DO like to stick to what works, but when someone raves about something that sounds like something I would like try, especially where products are concerned, who ISN'T looking for something that works GREAT????  WHO!!!!

Right now I use Suave on my hair.  I know, I know...  cheap shit... but I must say; I have used them ALL.  I have USED THEM ALL!!!  My hair is fantastic, but you feed it something it doesn't like and it goes on a hungerstrike and says "FUCK YOU!!!"  and it does.. I know you don't think that hair can't swear...come over to MY house some time...

I guess I was feeling a little silly that I seemed to be spending so much time and attention on my hair that I thought, "Oh come one, you need to use something better..."  so I changed from Loreal to Pantene to Garnier and I found I had problem with each one.  And even all those shampoos, I STILL have to use Head and Shoulders between Shampoos because I flakes. Deal with it...  Garnier was too dry, I tried them all...I ended up with either really crispy hair or really greasy hair...  Moving on, I found the problem with Pantene that everyone else I know that used it found...  it COATS your hair with this FILM... GROSS!!!  No bueno... the Loreal... well I know this sounds like crap but my hair requires a little more shampoo and conditioner than the average bear... it SUCKS up moisturizers... **SLURP** gone...  when something says dime size, I go half dollar.

The last time I messed with my "formula" I paid with it for two days between hair washings and I WON"T DO THAT AGAIN!  Returning back to what works I am now just sticking with :

I use the color care keratin Suave... It smells awesome and my hair LOVES this shit...  When I'm done in the shower, I use a leave in conditioner... I HAVE to... and I have used everything in the aisles of the Target and WalMart.  I even went to Walgreens to get something a woman at work uses (she has completely different hair than me and what was I thinking cause that never works out well in my direction)...I paid for that...I really did...That's when I decided to go BACK to this here:  

Suave Keratin leave-in... I swear by it.  I put that on my hair at the ends...it LOVES me for it...  and now that my hair is short again, I am able to blow dry it in just under 30 minutes! Yay!  It's short, it's not suddenly UNTHICK... work with me here...  After I blow dry it, it gets a little dried out feeling and I usually take baby oil, dimesize, (ba-dum-ch) and spread it in my palms, then I work it into the ends...

Usually all of this happens before I go to bed and when I wake up, I have fabulous hair... or Fabu-hair if you will. 

I was at the Target on my lunch looking around and I was looking for a finishing oil spray that smelled good, didn't cost a small GD fortune and something I could really get into...  I ALMOST got the Suave moraccan oil, but they were out... Instead, I turned around and staring me RIGHT in the face was THIS:



There are SO MANY things I LOVE about this product!  It smells like summer, and according my other half, it smells like a delicious cake my Mom makes and it makes him hungry... haha...  But it's great!  It's a spray so I don't have to get my hands oily and the application is more precise.  I can target my "trouble" areas which are the ends of course. 

Funny thing, to look at me you probably wouldn't believe I take this kind of care of myself.  And I really don't care what other people think I look like, or my hands look like or my hair look like... But I want my hair soft cause I'm not the only one that has to touch it... and I'm not the only one that feels my skin... and I like that Thing 1 looks at my face and notices that there aren't any fine lines or wrinkles... of course when Thing 2 hits the same age, that will more than likely be inevitable!!!  I will take a healthy dose of pride in the fact that I have been called the "youngest" in a group of people I know...but I'm not...hehehe...

There you have it...the hair products I use and will continue to use until they end up on the clearance shelf... and why?? Because... I stick with what works...until the bastards discontinue whatever "it" is...then the cycle starts all over again.  Hey, I have THAT to look forward to...

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Nail Polish Challenge...

I have set forth a challenge unto myself... and I thought I would share it if anyone cares...



I have a tool box that my Uncle made in woodshop and my mom swiped it for her nail stuff long ago...and it has made it's way into my hands and I still have it :)  I am proud of that fact so give me a reflective moment.....  and here's a look at my collection:


There you have it, all of my glorious colors!




This one's from my latest "Friday Night Manicure".  I have got it down a science at this point in the game.  I am able to do my nails in record time.  I have had enough practice after 7 years with Thing 1...Now that we have Thing 2, I'm a PRO!!  I let it go for a while and realized, "Hey, I actually LIKE doing this!"  So I picked it back up again... and now my nails and nail beds are happy for it!  That right there ^ is "Always Ascher"...  the bummer is that I am not about to go out and buy a bunch of NEW colors because the WHOLE reason for this challenge is so that I use up what I have.  I have a LOT already so why not right??  RIGHT! 
BUT
I WILL tell you ...
This color right here VVV
Is called "You Don't Know Jacques..."  By O.P.I. 



Mind you, that's an older picture and the nails didn't look like jungle vines...they won't for much longer though... getting less simple to do some tasks.  That's when they get trimmed!!

Personally I am surprised that I am able to do this and keep it up and I get compliments on my nails, nail beds, and hands all the time.  All I did was make sure I have this:

Great for the cuticles! 
You can get this at WalMart nice n cheap and they're essential for nail health:

I LOVE my Buffing Block and I even have one at work, too!  Sometimes you just don't know what to do with those pesky lunch hours and I always like to do something constructive!

And of course no manicure is complete without the proper tools!

I keep a manicure set in my purse backpack all the time because... you never know :)  I am hoping to remember to do this every week after I do a new color.  As I mentioned, the idea is not to ADD...the idea is not to WASTE and to get RID OF!

DREAM CAST: BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

Oh yeah, I'm totally going there RIGHT NOW!

I LOVED/LOVE the movie BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA.  It's great, better than great... GENIUS.  I love me some John Carpenter and when you mix up John Carpenter and Kurt Russell there's no stopping their forces!!  I have seen it so many times that I didn't realize that it always felt like something was missing...until one day the wonderful fantastic husband of mine says "Did you know it was supposed to be a western?"...

Uh-huuuuuh...  And then?? 

And how he knew this?  He watches a movie and then if we have the commentary available to us, he watches that too.  If it's great, he tells me it's great and we watch it together...and John Carpenter and Kurt Russell on the commentary are great...  Carpenter talks about how it was SUPPOSED to be a western, but when this was made Westerns were a dead art...DEAD...  They didn't come back until, some say, Unforgiven, I say blasphemy... Silverado was the rebirth of Westerns my friends... TRUST and BELIEVE... But Big Trouble... is '86...  no Westerns...  And that's it...

Western-era San Fransisco and BOOM!  That's what missing!

So talking about this we start to Dream Cast as follows and also imagine that they change the storyline BACK to a Western!


Jack Burton: Chris Pine

Wang Chi: Will Yun Lee

Gracie Law:  Amy Adams

Eddy:  Bobby Lee

Egg Shen:  Jackie Chan

Lo Pan:  Gordon Lie

Miao Yin:  Devon Aoki

and you can basically pick any three top martial arts stunt/actors as the 3 Storms :)

Have fun with that ya'll!!  Cuz we sure did...

I Know Why It's Called Amazing Spiderman...

...Cause it is!  Sorry Sam...  I must say, I never really like overly hyped movies...so when we went to see Spider-Man in the theater after ALL THAT HYPE, I don't know what I enjoyed less...the 2 dimensional characters, the effects heavy scenes, the mediocre acting... what?  And then, to reboot a movie franchise who's body isn't even cold yet?  That urked out that last movie almost as an after thought?  I was against a reboot.  I rejected... I didn't want any part of it...  And luckily I am married to a man that has the ability to turn on a movie just for turning on a movie's sake...

Me, not so much...and he knows that...and he knows that I know he knows that...so if he sees a movie and thinks I'll like it, he'll talk me up on it...sell me on it as it were.  And I was pretty sold on seeing the newer version by the weekend... and see it we did... and...WOW.. I'm just... I just... really?  I didn't hate it?!?!

Three dimensional characters!  ONE villain!  Home made webshooters! Arc for the next film!  No Mary Jane!  And Peter is a smart kid and we don't just have to take someone's word for it... we are shown...he's pretty genius...  he was before he got bit by the radioactive spider...  I liked that his Uncle didn't die until the second act!  And that his Aunt isn't a crippled, delicate OLD woman...  I like Sally Field better and I like that she's got chutzpah!  I liked what they did with Flash... he calmed down towards the third act.  And just as I thought I was going to be pissed at Gwen Stacy showing up at the end after her dad makes Peter Parker promise not see her... she says her speech that is a tad too close to that "I TRUSTED YOU! YOU LIED TO ME!" drama pause in A LOT of flicks, she turns... "He made you promise didn't he?"  I loved that they did that move!!  It's so true!!  Says so much about how their story will be handled or actually NOT handled because I think I read somewhere that they are actually going to bring in MJ in the next installment... eh...  so anyways...  I was really happy with the new Spidey franchise possibilities.  I feel like this is a total revamp and that we won't be seeing the same ol shit... Although I must say, I think the part I enjoyed most about the last three films was Willem Defoe and James Franco... I know...right??

The only thing is that now I feel like Jim Caviezel in "Frequency"...  I wish I didn't have to remember the Raimi version of Spiderman AND the new one... but I do...and after a while I'm gonna feel like JC with having the two memories and one a little clearer than the other because I am going to need no recollection of the other franchise, I will just about have tossed it aside like an alternate memory of a timeline that no longer exists...

Bring on more Amazing Spider Mans!!  Or Spider Men??  Whichever... 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Justified...

jus·ti·fy
 [ jústi f ]   
  1. make something seem reasonable: to serve as an acceptable reason or excuse for something
  2. give somebody reason: to give somebody an acceptable reason for taking a particular action
  3. explain something: to give a reason or explanation why something was done

I was just talking to my boss...and realized I used this word about a bazillion times... 

Why did I do that?  Oh... I don't know... Maybe because I bought another Nikon...  and an instant film camera...with money that I wasn't really counting on being there after I strapped my family to a budget rocket headed for our future savings goal. 

We have already had most of our FUN after I put the savings money in savings.  That money is "gone" now and not to be returned to...and then there's the NEW savings I set up...the 401k.  Which doesn't exist.  That's what I tell myself so I don't feel like I'm getting screwed out of money. 

I had a nice long talk with my CPA and she and I decided that maybe after NEXT year, I will raise my deductions so I can have more money with each check.  I don't like using the IRS as a savings account.  I make sure that my state deductions are just enough so that I don't owe... because FUCK JERRY BROWN AND CALIFORNIA STATE TAX BULLSHIT ... that's why... Moving on...

I justify everyday the decisions I make because I want them to make sense not just to me but to the rest of my little family unit and maybe a few people outside of it.  I justify that I get my hair done every 6 weeks, I justify getting our cars maintenanced often as they need it because it will save me money in the long run and they're both paid off... I justify NOT having credit card debt because I bought my house and utilities now report to credit bureaus so THERE"S my credit bitches... I had to justify my marriage to a person need not speak his name, I had to justify the move I made after high school, I justify it all...I justified not touching my deductions yet because I want a trip to New York...and then I will change it.  It amazes me every time my boss lady tells me what my Gross Income is... and I laugh and I think of the person out there that might actually get to take all that home...cause that's not me.  I don't get to do that.  But I do get to cover my whole family on all kinds of awesome insurance plans and I do get to have a retirement fund and I do have the FSA Section 125...until next year that is.

Our payroll company is rad, the people are awesome, I do NOT like how they roll with the section 125.  All of a sudden, and I mean as of last year, I have nothing but problems trying to get them to take my claims.  I have re-sent so many claims it is ridiculous.  Basically ending in threatening them with coming down there (all the way to upstate NY) and shaking my fist in their faces and spitting all over their keyboards on their desks with their kitties and puppies and nephews and nieces...  I just had to do it again.  They are trying to deny me my claim for my glasses because I really need the anti glare coating on my lenses.  I already pay out of pocket for the lenses and now I want money back that is already mine from this reimbursement fund.  Eff them, I could use that extra money in check and I am going to take it next year!  No more Section 125 for me!  I want to take my family on a vacation back east to Up State New York, so I want one more big tax return, and unless something awful happens to our house... it's ON!!!!  Owning a home does that to you.  It's another compartment of the brain that I didn't know I had and it's open all the time.  Sitting there with the adding machine everytime a drain doesn't drain properly or a light flickers or a bug shows up out of nowhere making me wonder if I have an infestation on my hands or maybe it's just a hot day and hot days bring the bugs in the house sometimes...

If it doesn't happen next year,  then I am going to take ANOTHER year to do it... but once I get my trip back east, we are taking our deductions up so I can get more money on my check... 

I tell you all that I guess to tell you this...

Growing up, I remember my mom and dad fighting about money a lot...  And I wouldn't change it for the world because I think it made me a more fiscally responsible person.  I really do.  And I think it's great that I found my awesome hubby who comes from humble means.  We don't fight about money, we don't even discuss it heatedly.  It's always a calm, cool, collected conversation that begins well, ends well, and boom... onto the next topic.  So when I went to sell my current camera to purchase the new one, he asked me why?  And not just "why?" but Why?! WHY?!? JESUS WHY?!?!?!  and I thought that was odd.  He has tighter wallet strings than me!  He has a velcro wallet that works TOO well because he wants to be discouraged to open it ever.  I thought it was weird to question me on it.  I explained it was because I was just too responsible to do otherwise...  And the reason I decided to get this new camera is because I really think it will be the end all be all camera for me for a really LOOOOOONG ass time.  I already love it, have used it and played with it and "That's Amore"...  I really thought he was joking.  I really should have been a lawyer...

When I decided I wanted the instant camera so I could better fill the pages in Mary's baby book like I did for Harley's with the JoyCam Polaroids, I didn't want him thinking I would get a gadget for gadget's sake...so I justified it.  And when I got it and used it and started to fill the pages immediately with these perfectly sized little photos, he got it, it clicked and we moved on.  Not that he NEEDED it justified to him, but I did it anyway just to make sure...and when I said I was trying to justify the purchase of the new Nikon with the Tax money ( mind you I still have plenty to throw into savings and even maybe go to Universal Studios with the family and I don't mean the kind of trip where everyone eats out of the same box of popcorn all day and the ticket stub is your souvenir) he got kinda taken aback like, "Why do you feel the need to justify it to me?"...well I don't... not really... I guess it's just PTSD from the money fighting that my mom and dad did... the money fighting my mom did with her second husband, the money fighting my sister did with HER second husband (now ex)...

Well folks, I did it, I justified the purchase...and welcome the newest member of the family :)

Ain't she purdy?  She will be the star of our New York trip that WE ARE TAKING!!  When... I dunno... but...  Wanna know how I justified it?? hehehe...