Meme from Clemson Girl and Hello Darling

You know, I did the 60 questions meme, but I am pretty boring today, but there is one thing I want the world to know (especially Ben and Jerry).

10. What is the best ice cream flavor? Ben and Jerry's Cool Britannia (not made anymore!).

Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry, please please please bring it back! Vanilla ice cream with strawberries swirled in with little chocolate-covered shortbread pieces.... what's not to like? I think you were just before your time- it would be a hit in 2008!

Edited to add: Oh, and please bring back this one for Traci Anne!

The Full VerMonty - Maple ice cream with caramel swirl and pecans. A naked homage to our home state's Green Mountain bliss.
And holy cow, dear readers, if you love me but at all, you can vote here to resurrect Sasha's favorite flavor (Cool Britannia if you've got a short memory). I'd love you forever!

So Who Am I?

Christen writes: okay maybe i missed something.... how are you such an expert in makeup? I am def trying the two faced products! Sounds fab! :)

Christen, I am definitely not an expert, by any stretch of the imagination. I am a product junkie, however, and if you are wondering about a new product, there's a good chance I have tried it and have an opinion on it! Let me know what you think about the Two Faced products!

Here's the little bio blurb I wrote for A Million Little Glosses, the beauty blog I contribute to:

I'm 34 and grew up and still live in the Southwest, where it was pretty much all the rage to bake your skin (face and all) to a nice crispy dark brown shade every summer! As a result, I suffer from some sun damage, and of course some wrinkles, which may or may not have something to do with wearing contacts since 4th grade.

I have naturally light brown hair that I highlight the hell out of. Blue eyes. My skin is pretty combo and can have some dry patches from time to time. I'd describe my skin color as PDP (pretty damn pale).

I like a natural look but love to experiment with vivid lip colors and am partial to rosy stains with sparkly gloss on top.

I'm a self-professed product junkie. If it's new and pretty, I'll buy it.

Hemangiomas

I am re-posting this explanation of The Wild Child's Hemangioma for PickleLovingPrincess.

Above is a picture of the hemangioma on The Wild Child's arm at 5 weeks old. I wasn't thinking this was going to be that big of a deal, so I actually don't have any pictures from earlier in her life. It started flat and light red, but you can see by this time, it was raised and getting dark. The part in the middle that is purple is the part that was soon to ulcerate (break open). This when I realized I needed to start taking weekly pictures to document the rapid growth.

WC's H is most likely a Superficial Hemangioma (formerly called Strawberry Hemangioma) because it is located in the surface of the skin. They are characterized by a bright red color with a well defined border. These lesions may vary greatly in size, location and shape.

PickleLovingPrincess, you mentioned a Deep Hemangioma (formerly known as Cavernous Hemangioma), which is often larger than a superficial lesion. They are located beneath the surface of the skin and are characterized by a bluish lump or mass. They are generally soft to the touch.

It is possible that WC's was a Combined Hemangioma or Mixed Hemangioma, both deep and superficial. These may appear as a lump or mass in the skin with areas of red. They are often soft. We did not, however, have any testing done to see how deep it went so I have to assume it was just a Superficial.

This picture was taken at 17 weeks of age. The ulceration was at it's worst now, but beginning to heal. This was a stressful time for us- the ulceration was very painful and although we were fortunate that her H wasn't on her face as most of them are, but it was still in an area that was easily bumped (imagine threading those little arms into a carseat.....), which would start off a 2 hours crying spell because of pain that Tylenol didn't touch.

We also had some clothing issues because anything with a wristband was a problem, so I had a difficult time figuring out what to do about winter PJs.....

It was at this point that our ped finally agreed that we needed to see a specialist. Up until now we were told "We don't do anything for those, just wait them out and they will go away on their own." (oh-so-wrong I would later find out....)

To make a really long story a little shorter (you can email me for the long version if you'd like) we found a doctor in a neighboring state who was a pediatric plastic surgeon who specializes in vascular anomalies. He let us know that even if the H fully involutes, she will still be left with a cosmetic deformity because of the significant scar tissue that formed because it was an open wound for so long. So our plan at this point is to do a scar revision surgery after her third birthday.

This picture was taken when she was about 18 months old. The area in the middle that has a different texture is the scar tissue.

It is amazing how much it has changed and it's amazing to me how much I have learned. There were times when I felt so overwhelmed and didn't know what to do or where to turn, seeing as how I live in Rural America and we don't seem to have a lot of people around here who are helpful in these situations. I don't know what our parents did without the Internet.......

I do have a wealth of links and support groups/forums if anyone is ever in need of them. Just let me know and I'll be glad to share my resources!

So who am I, and what's this all about?

It's funny- I got into blog reading a few months ago, but I just noticed that most of the blogs I am reading belong to stay at home moms. Which is fine and I truly enjoy reading them, but I haven't seen many (any?) blogs written by moms like me.

Moms that work full-time outside of the home, and have so much going on that some days they feel like it's all going to crashing down on them at any moment. Moms who just can't get ahead of the game and have a constant running to do list because oh my gosh, we are ALWAYS running out of something! Moms that forget to take clean blankets to school on Mondays, forget to give $1 for the pizza party to the teacher, forget to pick up the cleaning, forget to buy an anniversary card, forget to gas up......

Moms that haven't printed out pictures in six months, haven't even touched the baby book for baby #2 who is now 19 months old, didn't write down the days all those teeth popped out, and didn't even know the answer when the nurse asked yesterday at The Politician's 4 year old check-up if he could draw a person with three body parts.

You get the picture. So I'll represent all the moms who are trying to do it all, but really only getting about half of it done..... Cause I can't be the only one of us out there.

So that's the background, and where the title came from. Cause that's me, Barely Keeping It All Together. (and sashasays was already taken.....)