A Little Makeup Talk

Yesterday I went to Walgreens to take advantage of the FARs for February. You know about those, right? FAR=Free After Rebate. I normally pick up whatever is free, and if I have coupons, bonus, they pay me to take products out of their store! Plus, I always choose the gift card option, so I get an extra 10% too.

So yesterday I got a Fructis conditioner, Softsoap Spa Radiant Body Wash (the green one smells divine), Mennen Speed Stick 24/7 for Mr. Sasha, and Maybelline Volume XL Lip Plumper in a plum color.

Oh ya'll. Maybelline got it so wrong. Now, I've tried most of the plumpers and kind of like the tingling feeling they impart, although it doesn't usually last that long. I haven't found that they actually plump my lips all that much, but I'm not trying to be Angelina, so no big.

But this particular gloss doesn't make your lips tingle. No, it makes them numb. What the hell? It's almost like you rubbed Anbesol all over your lips, which by the way I have done, and it's a freaky feeling you don't want to repeat.

Seriously. Big company marketing execs, just check with me before you put out any new products. Cause if they suck, I'll be glad to let you know and save us all the hassle.

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

So I don't know if I've ever told you, but about mid-way through college I decided I'd love to be a nail tech. Seriously, that's my dream job. Sadly, my dad seemed to think I needed to go ahead and finish college, seeing as how I was more than halfway through and had a full scholarship. But I still dream....

I've recently decided it's time to start painting my nails again! Now, you and I both know that I don't have a lot of free time. But I've found that if I follow this routine, I can paint them at 8 pm, go to sleep at 10, and not have any sheet marks at all. Plus, my mani will last 4-5 days with no chips- I usually just have to repaint because of new growth.

So without further ado, my nail routine:

1. Sally Hanson Instant Cuticle Remove. I apply this all around my nails, wait a bit (you can wait longer that it says), then use the thumbnail of my opposite hand to push back/scrape the cuticles. Works awesome.

2. Wash your hands and dry them well.

3. Orly Bonder. This is fab- takes any oily residue off your nails and gives your polish something to stick to.

4. Sally Hanson Nailgrowth Miracle in the gold bottle.

5. OPI polish (2 coats). In my non-professional opinion, the best polish there is. One of my faves is I'm Not Really a Waitress.

Or my all time fave, Chile O Caliente (discontinued, of course!)

6. Seche Vite top coat. I won't use any other top coat.

How cute is this????

Isn't that precious? Thanks to to The Cat's Pajamas for creating it! Snag away!

Several people have asked about my treadmill- we have a Reebok model that we got at Academy about 5 years ago for $800 or so. They said we needed one with a big horsepower since Mr. Sasha was pretty heavy. It has been a great treadmill and is still going strong.

C25K

Are you on the Couch to 5K Bandwagon? Post a comment with your blog address and I'll add a little C25K blogroll later today. Add the graphic to your blog too if you like! Again people, it's all about starting a revolution. I want a Wall Street Journal article about me and this phenomenon I started. (Yeah, yeah, I know I can't take credit for the plan itself, but I'll sure as hell take credit for the bazillion emails I've sent out about it!)

Edited to add: Does anybody want to create a C25K blinkie? Some runners don't have rugrats/hellions yet, and they certainly shouldn't be left out of the fun! If I knew how to do it, I'd be all over it!

Paging Super Nanny

You know when you see a family on Super Nanny and the kids are standing up in their chairs at the dinner table shouting "No!" at their mom-at-her-wits-end, and then they show the kids spitting on their parents, rolling around on the floor, taking off their clothes, screaming, crying for no reason, and generally doing things that make you say, "Wow, so glad that's not me"?
Well, that's me.
Now, I was thinking about it, and I'm not so sure I'm willing to go on TV for this child-behavior modification process. I really don't want everyone in the USA seeing my dirty-ass house and the fact that my kids eat food of the floor. And I thought about Wife Swap too, but someone might think Mr. Sasha is hot and not want to leave. So that won't work....
Do you think Nanny Jo or whatever her name is would do a phone consult? Really, I don't think it's me- I think anybody would have a difficult time with The Wild Child, although day care says she is an angel (when she's not biting her tasty little friends). If it's just the Terrible Twos, shit, I've got a long way to go since WC's birthday was just a few weeks ago.
So I'm pretty much open to whatever you got. Lay it on me- what am I doing wrong?????

Right or Wrong Decision?

I was just trying to decide whether to open WC's door to check on her. I put her down for a nap about 10 minutes ago and heard her saying "My diaper diaper" over the monitor. That could mean she was taking it off...

However, it appears that while I was deciding, she fell asleep, so if I go in there, I might wake her up, at which point she would surely think nap time was over, and I've got lots of plans for the next two hours (Bret Michaels and the treadmill are waiting for me as we speak).

I know I am risking having to launder pee pee sheets and blankets, but hell, I love laundry, and I love me time even more, so I think I'll just risk it.....

Saturday musings

I totally can't take credit for the new header. Well, I suppose I can since I spent two hours at work doing that instead of posting journal entries yesterday. The idea, though, came from Mandalynn who directed me to www.scrapblog.com which is my new favorite time-eater. I have grand plans for all these neat things I'd like to do with it, although you and I both know they won't happen since I can never get my shit together.

Also, OMG, I am beyond pumped about this blog. Since I occasionally have to do some actual work, and also feed and bathe and dress my kiddos, I miss out on a ton of BBC drama. This site is like Cliff Notes - BBC Drama for the busy! Love it love it love it! Plus they put me on their blogroll, so they obviously seem to be cool themselves.

Just went and checked out the whole Red Box thing and it is way cool. I wanted Superbad but settled for the new Bourne movie. Mr. Sasha is excited since that was his first choice anyway. Also went to Sam's and had the best time buying all kind of things I don't need in bulk. But you get in there, and 40 granola bars and 20 yogurts just seems like a great idea.

Laundry awaits (and you know I love laundry!!!!) I totally made The Wild Child change her clothes before nap so I could wash the hot mustard off her shirt and get another load of whites done. I should totally work for a cleaners.

Non-Event

Hmmm. Telling Mr. Sasha was pretty much a non-event. I left the room for a while and went back 30 minutes later to find him on ebay. So at least that's out of the way.

PSA: Do Not Try Pringles Select Szechuan BBQ flavor. I actually had to leave work and go home and brush my teeth to get the flavor out, and I still tasted it for 2 days. And my car smelled like it even though they were still sealed in their bag inside a Target sack. Not good. Seriously. Don't do it.

Today I am having Mamba chews for breakfast. Now there's a good snack food.

La La La La La La Tonight

Depending on what time I get home from a cookie baking extravaganza, tonight may be the night I tell Mr. Sasha about the blog. It's just gone on for too long and I'm starting to feel like I'm hiding something from him, which is a road I never want to go down.

Should he get so mad that he throws the computer out the window and you never hear from me again, Traci and Kate know all my personal info and what police station you'd need to call if you were worried. :-)

Makeup

I told Ashley that I would give her some info about my makeup, Everyday Minerals, and I thought I'd just stick it on here for all to see.

Anyway, my mother in law was using Bare Minerals and wanted me to try it, so she bought me the starter kit at Ulta last year. I loved the idea and was super excited.

Although I love the products, turns out I am not able to wear their foundation. It really causes me to itch, and I have since learned that it contains bismuth and some people are sensitive to that.

I also thought that the blush colors included in the kit (warmth and glee) were a bit dark for me. I did love the Mineral Veil.

Being a Bargain Momma, I frequent the BBC bargain board and read about Everyday Minerals, which costs a fraction of the price of BE. They even offer a sample kit with 3 foundations, one concealer, and one blush for about $4, which is for the shipping.

I was instantly hooked. Now, I still love some of the Bare Minerals products, I just can't wear their foundation.

So here's my EDM routine:

1. Apply EDM Tinted Silk Dust as a primer, using BE foundation brush from original kit
2. Apply EDM Golden Fair Matte foundation using BE's full flawless face brush.
3. Apply EDM Finishing Dust (identical to BE's Mineral Veil) with EDM powder brush
4. Apply blush (I have various blushes and I like BE and EDM equally)
5. Apply eye makeup (various- EDM and BE and Clinique)

So here's my suggestions:

Order a sample kit from the Custom Kits page. First decide what formula you want. I went with matte since I tend to have oily skin. Then, decide on the colors you want to try. This color guide is kinda hidden on their site, but I think it's very helpful. I'd been wearing Fawn, but I recently decided it was too yellow, so I switched to Golden Fair and it's a perfect match.

I don't use concealer, so I'm not much help on what to pick there. As for the blush, the sort of hidden blush color guide is helpful too. I like Plum Dust, Soft Touch, and Nick Nack.

Anyway, once you've figured out your shades, the kits are the way to go. You can get 6 full sized products (including brushes) for the insane price of $32. Crazy cheap!

Let me know if you have questions. I've ordered from them a million times and have always been happy. And at their prices, you can experiment.

Dear Dora,

There's something we need to chat about. To me, you ought to be a wholesome show, full of fun, lighthearted stories that kids can enjoy, and oh, bonus, learn some Spanish too!

But my Tivo has picked up some epis that don't quite fit that mold. What's up with "Dora and the Missing Babies" and "Dora and the Missing Puppies"? You are scaring the hell out of The Politician, and I'm even having to pre-screen your show because sometime the titles don't sufficiently warn me about the scary content. One epi had an innocent title, but when I looked at the description, there was "a mean man" so that had to be deleted too.

Just yesterday, P left the room in tears when the dog catcher was taking all the dogs in the missing puppies epi, and missing babies? Seriously? Are you guys running out of ideas?

Also, Swiper is a bit too menacing sometimes. Tone that down too while you're at it.

Your friend,

That Was Not Fun

Back from the Urgent Care Center, where I took WC after daycare called me at 10:15 am suspecting she had pink eye. I knew she had a pretty bad cold, but wasn't sure about the pink eye part.

So an hour and a half of chasing her around the waiting room (Don't touch that baby! Stay away from that trash can! Come back here!) I find out she does in fact have an eye infection (caused by the cold) and an ear infection to boot. Who knew? Seriously, how many other kids never get fevers???? (Jinxing it, I know.)

Just put her down for a nap because I got tired of her spitting on me because the eye drops royally pissed her off. Yeah, yeah, sucks to be 2.

Big Ole Messy Mess

So I pretty much let my kids have the run of the house (shut up, you do it too). I figure everything is pretty much child-proofed and we've even tethered their furniture to the walls in their room so it can't come crashing down on them. I think it's all because The Politician was pretty much a dream child. Not a climber, not an explorer, not too big into making messes.

But oh, my, have things changed.

If I just look away for 10 seconds, something like this happens.

The Wild Child opened up the pantry (hindsight: I should not have had Mr. Sasha WD-40 the pantry door hinges because now I can't hear when the pantry is opened), got out a relatively new box of Fruity Cheerios, made herself at home on the sofa inside a pop-up toy chest, and promptly emptied the entire box into the toy chest.

I will admit to putting the cereal back in the box to serve later. (You know you'd do that too.)

Yet Another Red-Light Food

Well, that settles it. I have to stop grocery shopping. Because I am super-good at finding new stuff to try, and these Cinnamon Sun Chips jumped in my cart last week. And I just ate half a bag. At one time. After getting off the treadmill.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

Did you ever eat at Taco Tico? They had these awesome Cinnamon Crispitos (or something like that- give me a break, it's been 20+ years since they closed) and these chips taste identical! Please don't get mad at me, but I need someone to share this sickness with me.

I'm so sorry.

Minivan Monograms

Several people have asked about the car monograms. Mine was made by a friend, but Clemsongirl said she purchased her here.

Get one and be cool like us!

The Box on the Front Porch

So yesterday when I got home, I saw that there was a box on the front porch. I thought maybe it was my shoe order from Target.

It was not.

It was a box with the words "Magic Circle" on the side in big letters, addressed to Mr. Sasha.

And the return address was from Stamina Products.

You can see where my mind went.

I was thinking, now, this isn't very discreet packaging. And also, if Mr. Sasha did order such products, should I be concerned that I didn't know about said product order?

Turns out it was a new electrical panel for his broken elliptical. Nutty packaging and store name, but I suppose no one ask me.

How Cool Am I?

The Fan (Family Van) is now suitably pimped out (and quite dirty from the recent snow). Thanks Kate! I asked Mr. Sasha if he wanted one for the Accord, and he said no thanks. Party pooper! I think I'm actually the first in my town to get one of these, so I am super-cool and everyone is going to want to be like me. Or else make fun of me, it's still a toss-up. But I don't care- I love it!

We also appear to let our kids drive tricycles around the house. Actually, this was right after Mr. Sasha got it put together a second time since I had to take it home because I found it on the playground not working properly. The kiddos were just giving it a test drive to make sure it was correctly assembled before we took it back to the school.

And also, I am raising a chocoholic. Maybe it's because I kept it away from her until age 2, but WC loves her some chocolate.

Alas, year-end journal entries await. Hope I can get it all done and be back to post soon!

Plea for More Time

Does anyone have an extra 4 hours a day lying around somewhere? I could really use it...

My laundry is piling up, I have been blindly paying my credit card bills with no regard to actually verifying the charges on there (so NOT CPA-like), my kids have had chicken nuggets from the freezer 5 night in a row for dinner, I have 5 million shirts in the Fan that need to go to the cleaners, we need milk, I need some more Afrin (shut up), and by God, I really just need some "me" time.

A new Sophie Kinsella book is coming out soon, so I've really got to figure this out soon. I can't tell you the last book I read that was not related to raising children or didn't contain colorful pictures.

Ideas seriously appreciated.

Damn Damn Damn

Just spoke with the secretary at our desired Kindergarten- they also have Pre-K there, but we were going to leave The Politician at his current school through Pre-K so that both kids would be at the same spot for another year.

However, it looks like we may have trouble getting a spot if we wait until Fall 09 to enter the school. She said they will fill up the Pre-K this year and then those kids will move up to K, so there won't be any added spots.... But we are definitely in for Pre-K if we want to take it....

I'm so torn. I don't have a back-up K plan. I won't be ready for public school and really wanted him to attend this private K. Hmmm... Mr. Sasha and I will have to discuss tonight.

Also, P vetoed karate last night. He had a rough day at school (didn't like the snack and didn't want to watch a movie) and was in generally a bad mood when I picked him up. I certainly wouldn't have been the night to teach him self defense moves, seeing as how he wasn't very agreeable to any of my instructions, and he certainly didn't need to know any methods of defending himself. Hopefully tonight will go better.

I Give Up

I'm finally on board with the ballet flats. I was totally against them because I thought it would make me look shorter, and since I'm barely 5'2", I wasn't really excited about that.

Two more broken toes later, I decided I don't care. I'm now all about them and considering wearing this style every day. I've decided they are fabulous.

Got the above shoes at Target- aren't they cute? I have them on today with khakis and a white long sleeved oxford. I feel quite fashionable.

I also picked these up at lunch there and think they will look cute with capris once it warms up for good. I might return them, because I'm not sure I love them yet. We shall see.

I am currently on target.com going crazy with these ballet flats because I desperately want these and it's free shipping over $50, and you know how I get about free shipping- by golly, I'll spend until I get there. It's a sickness.

Tonight Mr. Sasha is going to take The Politician to check out karate. (I always think of Ross and his kay-RAH-tay when I say that). His best bud, A, goes and loves it. Of course, her dad is a policeman, so I imagine he thinks it's a good idea for his precious little girl to learn how to protect herself.

At any rate, P didn't seem to excited about it last night, so who know how tonight will go. Mr. Sasha hasn't actually said it outright, but I think he thinks it's time to macho-ify P since he's developed an appreciation for lip balm and my Sugar hand lotion. In his defense, it does smell like lemonade, which is his most favorite beverage, but that fact is lost on Mr. Sasha and I've seen him wrinkle his nose quite a few times when P asks for hand lotion before bed.

I guess he'll just have the softest hands and lips at the martial arts studio. Nothing wrong with that, right?