And On The 13th Day...

Good Monday... Good Morning... however you prefer... I prefer whichever way works the best!

We have had quite a beginning of the year...And all in good ways!  One of my cousins on my dad's side, which is a very small side, they're the Rhode Island of families, recently moved two towns away from me if you're counting from my house.  SAME town if you're counting from work.  Yay!!  I get to see her more!  She  moved in with her mum, my Pop's little sister, and I might get to see her more too.  She's a Hermit Crab.  Not just a Hermit, a Hermit CRAB...  She's rad and we love her, but she can be a bit of a crabapple.  4 years in the same town as my work and I have yet to see her due to that fact.  Saw her twice, once at a wedding in Pismo Beach of all places and once at my baby shower for Thing 2.  That was a surprise!!!  It was the best surprise of the day, really.  She took Pop's death really hard and she's one of those people that doesn't want to be reminded of the negative, even if it means staying away from the negative's children.  Hopefully a trend to be changing in the not too distant future... I'm leaning towards Saturday! 

I am still rolling with the changes, REO Speedwagon style, as to having a child born in January...  Atleast it's at the polar end of Christmas and New Years, but still...January.  I have decided to make it less stress and I am now not including the month of January in my yearly budget.  January is a free for all...The "year" will start with my January 31st check, not with my December 31st check as previous years sans Thing 2.  Once I decided on that, my whole outlook on this month was A-Number 1-100%-OK.  Yay!  Nothing extravagant for her bday this year.  Just an intimate family party with some cake, some pizza.  You know, health food.  I'm excited though just the same because it means we have managed to keep the tiny human safe and sound for two whole years.  It's as much a celebration of the day of her birth as it is of every day since... I am a proud mama of this little one and of our family as a whole!  Yay us!

We got our W-2's at work today...You know what that means...the tax man waits for no one...  I get to start my orange tri-cut folder of 2013 tax info.  My tax lady loves me for this, by the way... she LOVES me for this.  I have two more W-2's, the mortgage company info for the house, the bank statement year ends and my 401k stuff to throw in and we're getting our taxes done! YAY!  I know, shut up, I like YAY... it works for me right now. 

I have the taxes all tangled up already and I'm fine with the outcome so far.  I am VERY fine with the fact that the lens that was suggested to me by my lil cuz is coming down in price as we speak.  I love the Amazon Wish List, it's one of my favourite things.  Then there's the whole Flash debacle.  I have been putting off getting a flash for my DSLR since I bought my very FIRST one.  I have a flash for a SLR, and I LOVE it... nothing special, but it's fancy enough for me.  I am not a true dyed in the wool photog, though... so I am not comfortable using the 35mm that was once my gpa's anymore...So it's time to walk away from the past and make the push into the new millennia...14 years after it started, but still...shut up.  I am DYING to get the lens and flash because now that the prices have dropped SO significantly I feel super justified in the purchases.  Then there's the struts for our civic, still need to do that...  we are getting our new phones, and now there is a new deal through TMobile that I am wondering if we should check out.  Getting these phones is going to be just as if not more harrowing than getting our house.  But that's how I roll and that is one of the reasons my hunny loves me!

Wednesday I have taken a personal day to stay within the vicinity of my home and await the arrival of my Pop's elder sister to come into town from several states away with my Uncle and their RV... I LOVE that I get to see them too!  I have gotten to see her a lot I'd say... for someone that lives STATES away.  I LOVE seeing the side of the family that completes my puzzle.  That's what Choners says.  He kinda gets where I fit in with Ma's family...but when we're around Pop's family it's like a game show buzzer going off in his head and it's lovely.

Another reason for us to write off January as a loss, other than Thing 2's bday, this year my favorite bookstore in town is closing it's doors.  They couldn't brave the slow paced sMall that they reside in and have to make a decision.  I have been a patron of the store since day one and will miss them so.  They had GREAT discounts when there were discounts, and it's even better with 75% off the lowest price.  I got THREE bags of books for $24.  And there's something in there for ALL of us!  It was so bittersweet...  So many empty stores in our sMall.  Atleast during Halloween they put one of those atrocious Costume City things in there and it beefs up the traffic something wonderful... I loved how artificially busy it was Saturday with the closing sale. People came out of the woodwork.  Aaahh, small towns...

We still don't know what we're doing for the Big 10...  and we also made another financial decision.  To cancel our New York trip next year so I can get LASIK... I am just about Legally Blind and I am a candidate and Ma works in Optometry and can get me a deal...but with the things we have going on this year, I would really like to get my eyes done next year.  I almost bit the bullet and did it this year, but it would cut too heavily into our, lets say, profit margin...Still not sure how to incorporate photos into the blog to make it interesting... so I'm considering that heavily and hopefully that will improve with the new upgrades to ol' Betsy.  Other than that, everything's good.  Rolling along at work... I need to get in for a trim, keeping the short 'do... 

First Pic...

Having fun with the 'do...

These are my wascally wabbits...

 

And one of them will be two :*(

 

 

Two days....

Two Years!!!

 

and always with the squishy face!!

I'm Better at Stalking...

I have been keeping up with READING the blogs I follow... reciprocation has been more difficult...
This is what happens to US when the economy tanks and slowly comes back on line...and by slowly, I mean I don't think that there is an instrument that can measure the slowness... THAT's how slow...

I can be so busy I work through lunch one day, and the next day I can be completely dead and begging for work to do... I always have work to do, it's like home...when in doubt, clean.  Here it's the same basic principle... You just need to know what and where to clean.  Know that, and there will always be something to do.  Such is life, eh?  Yup, I think so, too. 

The past two months have been unreal busy...just as I said.  It's amazing, because the time I feel I have the most to say I am unable to say anything because I am sitting here with visions of V-Tech toys dancing through my head...  not really... My Christmas shopping is finished.  Just two things to pick up when they arrive at the store and I'm DONE.  Because Christmas is thin this year. 

I can't believe how quick it came up on us, and I say that every year, but I really mean it this year.  And I'll really mean it next year, and ten years from now.  I swear... I totally swear.. like... totally.

I have the dreaded second birthday coming up of Thing 2...and not just any second birthday, the last second birthday I will throw...so do I throw one? do I do something at home in the backyard?  Do I say "Hey Clan, who wants to meet us at (insert pizza place with games here) on such a day at such a time?" and see who shows up?  I have NO friggin clue... Not a single damned one... dammit...

So instead of freaking out about it, I'm just gonna leave it alone for now.  I have too many things.  My weekends are filling up fast and I am increasingly ecstatic about the fact I found the planner I did when I did.  Otherwise I'd have post it notes where plans should be and that would be a disaster... mentally more than anything else, but still...It would be there...bahaha...

Everyone's doing really well...Thing 1 is bringing us to a place where just when we think maybe she's not doing as well in school as we once thought, BOOM... nope, we get the great behavior report followed up by the awesome AR testing report and we put those worries to beddy-bye...

Thing 2... Jesus pleezus...  She's crazy.  I mean it, she's NUTS... she just runs around the house with her little blahblahblah language and talks to you like she's just having herself a conversation you never knew you were in the middle of.  Then there's the whole breaking the crib thing...she broke the crib...she is SO not ready for a bed yet, not even a toddler bed...she would be crawling up into Thing 1's bed and head butting her to instigate a playtime at midnight....so we are totally NOT doing this bed training thing yet...that being said, we are need of a new crib.  So I have my eye out on one that's atleast half what I paid for this one new...I don't need the mattress, just the crib...it's not safe for her to have it the way it is now and it really freaks me out...  no matter how many zip ties or nails or screws you use, there's always that mom gut thing that makes you think, FUCK THIS, I NEED A NEW ONE... and that mom gut is applied to so many things... I don't mess with the mom gut.

Speaking of mom guts, mine is pretty much gone ;)  I am down 10 pounds and I have another 10 before I get to where I was before thing 1 was a twinkle in our eyes...another 10 pounds after that and I'll be perfecto...right at the place I need to be period.the end.  So that's a nice sentiment.  And now my rings fall off....shit.

And to celebrate my awesome personal triumph, I cut my hair off...  pixie cuts are huge right now, and no it's never been my way to follow the herd (baaaa n shit) but my hurr... oy vay.

I highlighted it...fine...it was great...fine...I stopped the affordability on it...had to stop...fine...so I did...  and then I had bleached ends...meh.  I covered them with wash-out brown...fine...worked for a little while but it's still crunchy feeling... meh.

Stop the color, stop the bleach and the crunchy... cut the hair. Done... looks freakin sweet and I can't believe I didn't talk myself into this sooner.  As much as I feel that having long hair is something I owe the "bad hair" community, I am sorry all you thin stringy hair'd folk...but long hair thick hair is NOT awesome...Looks great, I'm not denying that fact... but it sucks to have it on your head, on your shoulders and then there's that whole "I Don't Like Things Hanging Off My Body" syndrome... haven't heard of it yet? really?  It's new...  I have it...with a vengeance.

Until they make a pill for that, I will not have a purse, a child, a scarf, hair, bags, whatnot hanging off my body at anytime.  This is why I don't let my kids pull on my person, I carry a backpack not a purse and why if I am carrying bags from the car to the house...of who am I kidding...if I can help it I NEVER CARRY BAGS FROM THE CAR TO THE HOUSE! Carpel tunnel and IDLTHOMB syndrome are why.

<END RANT>

<NEW RANT>

Unless I'm missing some mystical, cosmic, universal message...me n the significant other are awesome fantasticness... Ever have those friends that were like, in marital distress... and people were like, "Oh shit, are they gonna make it?"  Yeah, I had those too... friends...family... whoever...  Well, we haven't had that. Ever.  I just realized that the other day when I recently heard of a split.  Knew the couple fairly well... and BOOM... split.  It was a surprise to her, too, turns out.  Pretty sad when I think of it.  Made me think of me n Choners... and I came to that conclusion.  I don't know, makes me pretty proud to think of that.  I mean, no I don't have a BA in bullshit from FU...  but I take pride in my family...my marriage...Which is probably why we are in the 13th year of couple-dom and nearing the 11th anniversary of our engagement, and the 10th anniversary of marriage is next April...
I was thinking that we should do something special and when I mentioned it to the mister and said, We should do something for our anniversary next year (which we NEVER EVER do)" and he nods...and then he thinks...and then he says "Why next year?  What's so special about next year?"  And when I tell him it'll be TEN whole years...oh the look on his face...so adorable I could have just died....

I still look at that face and see the baby face I met when I was 19...  I was 22 (going on 23) when we got married.  I know plenty of people who were married younger than that...but ask me how many of them are STILL married??  Go ahead...ASK ME...  not much...

Not that I want to turn this into a bragging session, but I'll tell you what...My foot still hurts, I found out I have TMJ and the mouthguard is too expensive to buy right now so I go to bed with Motrin every other night...My allergies have been taking this opportunity of our weird weather to SHIT all over me and make me miserable and the TMJ is now causing tension headaches and tension in my neck and shoulders comes and goes... I am doing little exercises at my desk all day to curb this. My dentist basically told me my teeth are just BAD and if I want to continue eating food that I need to brush and floss after every meal and use a special rinse that helps decrease the dry mouth I have as a direct result of taking antihistamines which I cannot function without.

My point is this...  I take the things that are awesome and going RAD and focus on them 100% because there is enough SHIT to balance them out...Trust & believe...It's NOT ALL wine and roses...but when I sit back after doing shit ton of crap work and think about going home to my hunnies...  it makes things better... and it makes things better because my mister makes ME better... being a good mom to the kiddos makes me want to be a better person...and then sometimes kids are just assholes... They just are...and I think sometimes what you need to do is realize that, walk away, and pick up somewhere fresh in the morning.. That's what works for us so far! 

Yay!  Basically, balance.  Everything is... balanced... There's good to outweigh the bad and sometimes, the opposite is true.  To wrap it up (as if that's at all possible with me) my foot hurts, my jaw hurts, my mouth forever tastes of toothpaste and flavored floss and my husband is all kinds of MAD awesomeness...and I think I'll keep the kids, too.  Aloha.

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...

First World Problems....

I'm getting my hair done tomorrow. 

No big deal right?

I know I could probably do this on my own at home cheaper... but there are some things that just because you CAN do them, doesn't mean you should.

I have dark blonde hair that, in high school, was deliciously golden blonde...sun kissed fantasticness that all the "bops" (we called them bops) in school would ask, "Like wow! WHERE did you get your hair done?  WHO does your hair?"

To which my smart ass self would answer "Uhm, I got my hair done... outside??  By, uhm... God?  I guess..."  and I would walk away... Yes, the Lord did my hair with a power assist from Mother Nature.  She rocked my socks on the hair SO well I didn't touch it for years.  Nothing. Totally Virgin Hair!!  Yay me... but before the pats on the back start... I started working and going to school SO much that I was never outside.  I was inside fluorescent lighting of SOME kind all day... from home to work to home to school to work... Fun...  And when I realized that it was affecting my hair I got a WILD fire lit under my ass to change my hair.  I had a thing about "Hi Lights" ... that doesn't look right does it? Well I did that so you would know how AWKWARD it was for you to read that, it was awkward for me to try and get something done to my hair that I got for free... everyday...and was done perfectly naturally...  Enter Adult Life Phase 1.  Letting go of that shit. 

Unless I became a Forest Ranger, I wasn't going to get the same sun play on my hair, that being said I decided redheads have more fun and I went red...for about 5 minutes.  After I felt like I was chasing that perfect red, much like chasing the "perfect high" like a damn crack head, I stopped chasing and let the red fade out... it faded into a dull reddish brown.  I applied a brown over it to appease my inner self that was screaming at me that I looked ridiculous with my tri color hair...  Luckily,  I was making my plans to get married and I needed to do something dumbed down until I decided what I wanted my hair to look like for the big day.

The week before I got married, my big sis and I went trolling the aisles of Wally World to find that perfect color and it was a toasted Almond by who I don't know... it was a box.  It was rad... I wish I could have remembered that brand...cause I would just do that to my hair...but it would fall out ... and then I would cry...

I have been doing dark to moderate browns ever since because I was enjoying the contrast between having blue eyes and having brown hair.  I found I saw that a lot less in the natural world...so I had my fun.  then one day I was looking at myself in the mirror.  You know when you look in the mirror and you have a mind's eye idea of what you're about to see?  And then that second happens and you're like, Yeah, I see me...

I didn't see me... I was a little taken a back by what I saw.  This usually happens when you get a new hair cut or color.  but I was well into my umpteenth dye job of brown...I even started getting my hair "done" as a concession to myself ... a "spa day"... a "pat on the back" if you will.  I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't go out... WE don't do any of those things and after I talked to the hubby, he was super on board and now I "get my hair done" every 5-6 weeks.  But now I am in the process of not changing ... but changing back.  Going "Back to One" if you will...  And it's been awesome.  The chick that does my hair is super affordable and close to my house and has a fantastical personality... it couldn't be a better fit if I tried... and I didn't.  My coworker said if I was every thinking of getting my hair done professionally that she would float me the chick's number cause she rocks...and she DOES!! 

So, I get my hair done tomorrow again...and I'm wondering...

Should I cut it???

Yeah, I said ALL that just to get this...

My hair has always been long.  I kept it shorter for a few years, grew it out SUPER long and hacked it off, donated it cause I took a 2 year hiatus from color and now I am back to one.  Hair is grown out...  Want to hack it off... but my budget doesn't allow for a second trip to the salon and the cycle of going every 5-6 weeks allows for a "free" hair cut (that is actually already worked into my budget) every couple of months.  I think by the time I come around my cycle again, I will be ready for a hack job... yeah, I think so.  Because even at just past shoulder length my thick ass hair will be persona non grata during our hot ass summer...

Ass...

hehehehe... 

And now I get to go and hang with my kiddos Han Solo cause Daddy's got a mandate...  Mandate... Mangina... okay, I'm done now...