It was a good day.

Yesterday was a good day all the way around.  Got some things finished up at the office...ran a few errands and picked up the kids.

The kids...weren't their usual super grumpo, starving selves when I got them.  That was shocking!  Usually the race is on to get them home and fed.  Time is of the essence.  I have started bringing a snack for the car ride for my 2.5 year old...but my 8.5 month old..well, he really can't snack in the car.  I got them home and Violet wanted to color. Um, OK.  Got her set up with her Crayola Color Wonder (those things are THE BEST) upstairs...by..herself....dun, dun, duuuun!!!!!  She did just fine.  Had a blast. 

Downstairs I got my son in his highchair and gave him some Gerber Lil Crunchies (He loves them and so does my daughter!) while I prepared his baby food.  Now, since I'm a working mom I need all the help I can get.  I am not one of those women that can do it all.  No offense to those that can..but I haven't been able to figure it out.  So I buy, in bulk, Earth's Best Organic jars from Amazon Mom.  I do the subscribe and save option.  It's amazing because I never run out of food!!!  I have enough for home and daycare!

My daughter is ready to come down..my son is full and happy...all is well in my word.  No tantrums, no whining just good plain fun!  Wow...now, universe...if you can hear me...can you make that happen all the time? I would really appreciate it. The rest of the night was pretty much the same.  Had lots of help from the husband....boy howdy was that amazing.  He made me super happy last night. Bathed our son...and got our daughter ready for bed as I did chores.  I'm actually not as exhausted as I normally am!!! Hooray for awesome husbands!

Onto a great deal!  I have always bought mascara in the $6 - $10 range.  I guess that is cheap to mid-range on pricing.  I have never gone as far as super name brand mascara.  It's kind of all the same to me.  I never went as low as the $1 bin either.  Who knows why?  Well, my friend Kim and I were shopping and came across Rimmel's brand of mascara.  They have different prices ranging from $2.99 to $5.99 from what I saw.  I had never tried it and was in desperate need for a new mascara but didn't have enough money for my usual brand.  Let me tell you that I ripped the band-aid off and went for the $2.99 Rimmel Extra Wow Lash mascara (Pictured below).  It is AWESOME!  It does't clump, flake....and my lashes really do look "Extra Wow"!  I'm really happy with my purchase.  I hope it helps someone else out there.  Mascara is such a hard thing to buy. 




I hope everyone has a wonderful day. 

Word of the day from Word Think: - I think I'm going to have fun trying to use this one today!

Aug

29

2012

Assuage

Assuage v. 1. To make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate: “to assuage one’s pain.” 2. to appease, satisfy, or relieve: “To assuage one’s hunger.” 3. to soothe or calm: “To assuage his fears;” “To assuage her anger.”

Since I can't find time to be in the kitchen..I might as well make the best of the time I have in it!

Crafty

The above may look like a fringed t-shirt....but it's not!!! It's a grocery bag made out of a t-shirt!!!

See:



I have been trying to do the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" with my family and come up with clever ways to reuse our stuff lately.  I've gotten OK at the reducing....and terrible with Recycle! 

Reuse has come to me by way of ReFashionista.  She posted a way to make bags out of t-shirts.  I loved it so much, but I don't have a sewing machine at the moment.  So I googled how to do it the no sew way.  I cannot find the blog right now where she shows you a very simple way of using a length of the arm portion cut off and put into the bottom casing of the shirt.  When I find it I will link it.  Anyway.  I did a few shirts like that for my family and my friends.  My friend Kim asked me to do one of her husbands old shirts...but it didn't have a bottom casing.  That is where I decided to go with fringe and tie!  Now, maybe I'm not the only one to do it..but I didn't see it in my google search so it isn't a stolen idea. 

I'm going to make a bunch of them (Yes, I have a ton of t-shirts) for my family members for Christmas.  I am going to try and make other upcycled items as well.  We are strapped for cash this last year and moving into this year so I need to penny pinch as much as possible. 

I think I need to turn this blog into upcycled stuff and super bargains!  That brings me to my next item.

I broke my Cannon camera, my absolute favorite little item ever about a year ago.  Well, I finally broke down and got another camera....I don't like it as much but like I said..strapped for cash.  I can't be camera-less with a new baby (he's 8 months old now! and I missed out on a ton of photo's for him.  Poor second kid!) so I had to.  It was one of those things.  Now, my Cannon broke because it was roaming around in my purse.  I was at the Dollar Tree yesterday and found a hard case for my camera.  PERFECT sized, hard case for....you guessed it....ONE DOLLAR!  I couldn't believe my luck. 

I need some bins to organize my family's stuff.  I have a few diaper boxes that I can use....hmmm...Does the dollar store have sticky shelf paper?  I know it has wrapping paper..but I think I need something a tad sturdier. 

If I have any readers out there...suggestions please!!! 

ETA: I really am horrible at blogging. LOL

Word of the day by Word Think

Vicarious

Vicarious [vi·car·i·ous] adj. 1. Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person: “A vicarious thrill.” 2. Acting or done for another: “A vicarious atonement.”

I like this word...I have used it often.  Hmmm...maybe a little too often. Time to start living my life so that other people want to live vicariously through me!  HA!

Have a beautiful day.

I suck at blogging...

I want to remember to post...but somehow it slips through my fingers! 

This weekend was so crammed full of stuff I have no idea how I survived.  Sick kids, really sick husband...so sick we had to go to urgent care!  Everyone talks about what a nightmare urgent care is but I have to say our experience was a nice one.  We called around to a few and found one with no wait.  It was 15 miles away...but in Houston...what isn't 15 or 20 miles away, right?  We got there, we check in and in about 2 minutes we are seated in a room in the back.  Very nice rooms with TV's, a sitting area and a play place for kids...in each room!  Luckily we didn't have to bring the kids with us.  They are on the up and up but my poor husband.  Ouch.  Picture swallowing a golf ball...got it?  Well..picture the golf ball getting stuck to the left side of your throat and neck.  Yup..that is what the back of his throat looked like.  Like a golf ball was lodged in there. AWFUL! 
Soooo back to the urgent care facility.  The staff was super friendly, it was Sunday...I didn't expect everyone to be so cheerful, and really took the time to take care of him.  The nurse came in did the usual questions, stats and then BAM! Looked in my husbands throat and almost passed out.  Seriously, it was that bad!  He had to swab his throat to see if it was strep.  My poor husband, I think he almost barfed on the nurse.  The test took 7 minutes to get results.  Negative.  So they said he has a bacterial infection.  He had a high fever and just all around in the dumps.  Prescription for some serious antibiotics and we were sent home. 
He is on day two of the antibiotic and although his fever is gone his throat is still so super awful. He is at home today, and not at work, resting like he needs to be. Feel better, honey!  *I doubt he reads this. LOL but just in case.

I haven't been able to craft in a while and it is driving me crazy.  I found a link, need to find it again, on Friday on how to make old T-shirts into grocery bags.  This is brilliant.  Why didn't I think of this?  You can never have too many grocery bags.  The reusable ones at the store range from $.99 to $2.99.  Well, I have tons of T-shirts from blood donations and 5K's.  They would make perfect bags.  As soon as I find the "how to" link and actually make a few and use them...I'll let you know.  I want to test drive them and make sure they won't bottom out if I put a gallon of milk or canned items in. 

That is my goal this week.  Upcycle!  I have so many things that I'm not using that I can turn into something usable.  I need to get on it.  Seriously.  I have got to leave this place better for my children and teach them not to be so wasteful. 

I'd rather be in the kitchen....but I'm at work instead.  It's OK...at least I am on my coffee break.
Have a great week.

OK...phew...took some time off...

When you take time off of work...it's important to take time off from other things as well.  For me that meant the internet.  It wasn't that hard.  I thought for sure I would go nuts not checking in on Facebook.com and seeing what everyone else was up to..but I didn't...and for the first time in a long time I didn't care.

That was weird.  I was a late bloomer to the Facebook.com game.  I didn't sign up until I got married in 2009!  It probably goes with the fact that I didn't get a cell phone until 2002.  I know.  What the heck? 

I stayed off the internet and that meant staying off MyFitnessPal.com with my girls.  Tragic...since my butt might have actually gotten a little bigger by not logging on. LOL.  I'm back on the internet wagon and fully committed.  If you'd like to join me on the diet train go to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/heatherwashere and friend me!

I found a really cool conversion website today.  GourmetSleuth.com
That site is AWESOME!  on MyFitnessPal.com when you enter in some foods it has the measurements set a little funny.  Maybe doing grams for grapes works for some people...but it's set at 1 gram as a serving size.  I've been sort of guessing...not reallying thinking about it and entering 50 grams for a serving.  Well, that was wrong.  My investigation of actually wanting to be correct when I enter in my food found that 92 grams of grapes makes one cup!  I usually eat 2 cups at breakfast.  50 grams...well...that's just laughable and you can see how much I really didn't put any thought into it at all. 

Now, with this new found knowledge I should probably go back and update my journal...but why discourage myself?  The past is the past...that counts for food journals, right?

While I am taking care of my body I want to take care of my mind too.  I need some good brain exercises.  I know I want to do a word of the day.  I want to have the definition handy and find a way to use that word at least once.
Lets try this one from WordThink.com

Today's Word of the Day

Aug

08

2012

Aesthetic

Aesthetic(s) adj. 1. Of or concerning the appreciation of beauty or good taste. 2. Characterized by a heightened sensitivity to beauty. “The aesthetic design of the building is amazing!”

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! 

The scale said I gained...

I wanted to toss it out of the window.  What right does that scale have to make me feel so awful?  How can I let an inanimate object make me want to cry?  UGH. The frustration of diet and exercise. 

Today's mini challenge is 300 jumping jacks.  I haven't even completed yesterday's mini challenge of 50 push ups.  I swear I'm not usually a procrastinator but seems I've turned into one.  I don't know what has come over me lately but it's not good.  I need to pull it together and get back on track. 

Maybe I'm putting too much thought into diet and exercise?  When I wasn't thinking about it so much I didn't have a problem staying on track.  That seem ironic to me since you have to really think about what you are doing in order to lose weight! For the life of me...someone needs to shake me!  Hey, maybe that would shake a few pounds from my butt.  Hmmm I'm thinking old school, fat shaking machine.  Whose got one? 

Subject change.

Today is my Friday at work!  WOOT.  Time with my husband.  Can't wait.  Don't come back to work until Tuesday.  I'll be posting vacation pics...not that anyone really wants to view them..but I'm going to.  And no, I will not be disclosing the location. hee hee

Good luck to everyone in whatever it is you need luck for.  I need some diet luck.  Pass some my way! 

Where is the kitchen, again? Help. haha

Blueberry muffins and donut holes

Horrible. Horrible. HORRIBLE!

I had a 400+ calorie blueberry muffin for breakfast this morning and feel so crappy about it!  ARRGH!  I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football as Lucy yanks it away.  Lucy in my case is PMS!  The football is my goal...that I keep missing and me being Charlie Brown, need I explain?

What is it about trying to diet and become a healthier individual that make obstacles appear?  I swear I haven't wanted a blueberry muffin in years.  YEARS!  But I certainly had to stuff one down my mouth this morning....and I did so with gusto!  *hangs head down in shame*

I vow to do a better job today.  For me, for my friends all dieting with me...for my children!  If I'm not healthy how can I possibly have healthy children?  It's all by example and I really need to step up my game.  Growing up, sorry mom, I did not have the healthiest parents.  We ate in front of the TV and we certainly weren't health conscious.  I can remember that most of the time a vegetable wasn't served.  I have to give my mom credit now. She's eating more vegetables, still not enough, but something is better than nothing.  I always had dessert every night.  Ice cream or an ice pop or even a bowl (large) of sugary cereal.  Now, during the week for school I was not allowed sugary cereal..that was allowed on the weekends...but dessert, well that was a different ball game.  I'm surprised that I stayed thin throughout my teen years and into my twenties.  I'm not obese now...but losing 25lbs sure would make a difference. 

I need to tone up and lose a few inches.  Maybe 25lbs is too high of a goal.  I'm at 140, 5'2" and carry my weight well.  It's pretty evenly distributed. LOL.  My goal is to be around 115.  I know I can do it.  I've done it before.  Having two children in 2 years wasn't exactly the best thing for my midsection.  I know it can be done. I know I can tone up and have a "bangin" body. ha ha

Ahhh...I feel better now.  Got it all out. 

Condo news:  Looks like the contracts got signed last night!  7 day option so I'm hoping to pay off a few things and start looking for my new home in a couple of months.  I'd like to have Christmas in my new home so that's another goal I have.  25lbs and Christmas in my new home. 
Say it with me....
"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

I need to get my butt in gear at work.  Good thing I type about 85wpm.  It only takes me a couple of minutes to get it all out! 

I'd rather be in the kitchen..but I'm so grateful for a job and all that I have. 
Have a wonderful day.

Is it Monday?

This weekend flew by!  I did not get my craft on.  :(

I did, however, get all of my laundry completed.  hahah. 

This weekend went by so fast the only thing I remember doing is laundry.  I am sitting here trying to think of what else we did.  Nothing, I guess.  How does that even happen?  How, on Monday, can I not remember what happened Friday through Sunday?!?!?! 

I do know that this week is going to go by fast.  I'm only in the office Monday through Wednesday. I love having a short week at the office.

A month or so ago I started Weight Watchers.  It was working great.  I was tracking my points and entering any exercise I completed and I immediately lost 6lbs.  It was all downhill from there.  I wasn't able to stay motivated despite doing the program with two of my coworkers.  I gained 3lbs back.  BOO!  I started using the free tracking website called MyFitnessPal.com last week and it has been much better.  A few of my friends are also using that and we can all see each other's goals, progress and make comments to each other on our status.  This site has really kept my interest.  I am excited to log in and not only see my progress but my friends as well!!!  I love writing on their pages as they complete their daily journals and enter in weight loss.  It's so motivating!  I suggest going there before paying for Weight Watchers.  I will never pay for a program again. 

Keep on, keeping on. 
As always....I'd rather be in the kitchen!

PS Anyone have any good pork chop recipes?  I really want to try something new.