Phew! I Did Something Right!

Remember last year's Thomas Debacle?

Well, I got the right day this year!!!!!! Yay for Sasha!

The Politician and his friend C has an absolute blast at Day Out With Thomas! These days C is into saying "Cheese" the entire time you are shooting his pic. That's what he's saying in the pic above.

Fun stuff!

Hot Damn

Lookie what I did- all by myself! A 3 column template!

Actually, I followed the step-by-step guide at The Blogger Guide and made changes to the html and it worked! Modifying your current html code insures you don't lose your widgets. (Although my Running Revolution blogroll seems to have gone missing....)

Off to tweak!

Winner of Parents Magazine Subscription

Comment 21 was left by purango!

I'll be emailing you later this weekend to get your mailing info.

Congrats!

Revelation

I am pretty sure I run better if I've had a few beers the night before- my best time ever was after a girl's night out and 5 beers. I've only had 2 so far, and it's already 10:05, but I think I'll have one more and see if my theory is correct.

Contest: 1 Year Subscription to Parents Magazine

I'm about to renew my Parents Magazine subscription, and it looks like I can give a 1 year gift to someone for free!

If you'd like to enter my contest, leave me a comment before 9 pm CTS on Friday and I'll chose a winner!

Contest is closed, winner announced above! Thanks for participating!

Oh, This Is Just Wonderful

Front of note

Please take notice of the circled area

and what was taped to her daily sheet today

If you are not sure what this is, this should clear it up for you

Back of note

TG for good nose-blowing skills

Also, why are they singing Jingle Bells on October 1st??????

3 Column Template?

I think I would like to have a 3 column template.

Any ideas on good places to get one? I would like something simple like what I have now. No busy background or patterns- just a solid color.

I am finding some stuff on modifying the html myself, and I may give that a shot. Unless of course, someone has a simpler idea.

Link to Makeup Giveaway!

My friend Beth is having a makeup giveaway!!!! Check it out and tell her Sasha sent you!

P90X?

Does anyone know anything about P90X?

Mr. Sasha is convinced that he needs this. Just like he "needed" Windsor Pilates......

I will of course google it, but just wondered if anyone I "know" via this blog might have personal experience.

2 Stomach Viruses Later...

I'm at home with The Politician today, who caught a stomach virus from The Wild Child, who first vomited all over me and my fabulous friend Amanda at our tailgate party on Saturday. Oh, that was a fun half hour, holding a puking 2 1/2 year old while Mr. Sasha went to get the Family Van.

I'm super-hopeful that the virus will pass me by, because I simply don't have time in my schedule for a virus this week. Not one single extra bit of time.

Tuesday AM- physical for me
Wednesday AM- dentist visit I forgot about and therefore can't cancel this late
Thursday AM- WC's OT
Thursday PM- P is getting to ride a fire truck in the HS homecoming parade! Fun!
Friday AM- P and I are going to see Thomas
Friday afternoon and PM- set up for school Fall Festival that will be taking place Saturday(promise I'll get pics of the BABY KANGAROO that will be at the petting zoo!!!!!!)

So if you say prayers, include me please. Specifically: No vomiting for Sasha.

Good Deal Alert: Walgreens

Oh girls, have I got a good deal for you! I think I've mentioned before how much I like the L'Oreal Skin Genesis line. I have been using the serum and moisturizer at night and Mr. Sasha and I both love the way it smells! This line is marketed to those of us in our 30s. Their tagline is "Layer by layer, create skin that looks younger, tighter, brighter."

Right now Walgreen's is offering a fabulous deal on the Skin Genesis cleanser- either the gel pictured above, the cream, or the towelettes is FREE after their mail-in rebate. I can't speak for the cream or towelettes, but I LOVE this gel cleaner. My favorite packing is always a pump, and this cleanses so well and leaves my face looking and smelling fabulous.

It looks like you can print a $1 coupon from their website, which would make this a money-maker. Basically, they'd pay you $1 to take this product from their store! I'm registered at their site and I have a $2 coupon I received in the mail sometime in the last month, so I'll be using that and profiting $2, less the postage stamp for the rebate of course.

Have you tried this line? What did you think?

New Ebates Link

Ebates is doing their $10 bonus again, through October 31. Sign up through me and we'll both get $10 after you make your first purchase! All our favorite stores are on there... what are you waiting for?

Max Factor Lash Perfection Volume Couture Mascara

I have found my new Holy Grail (HG) mascara!

Max Factor Lash Perfection Volume Couture Mascara

I recently got an invitation to join a Max Factor campaign from BzzAgent, and being the makeup junkie that I am, I jumped on it! They didn't say exactly what we would be receiving, but I was excited to find out.

When I got my BzzKit, it included a Lipfinity lipcolor in Glowing, a ColorGenius Blush and Blush Brush, and the mascara. Although I did like the lipcolor and blush, the mascara is so fabulous it deserves it's own blog post.

Here's what my BzzGuide says about the mascara: Lash Perfection Volume Couture works with the advanced iFX brush designed to deliver superb volume and lash definition for a look that is big and bold yet sleek and smooth. We put our old mascaras up to the test and were surprised at the results. Discover the difference yourself!

This is absolutely, hands down, the best mascara I have ever tried. I have about 7 mascaras in my makeup case, and every day I find myself reaching for this one. The fact that it's a drugstore mascara makes this find even sweeter- with a low price and coupons often available, it's a great buy.

Have you tried it yet? If not, what's your favorite mascara right now?

Vocab Lesson: Kidimated Trip Time

If you are planning a road trip with your kiddos, be sure and convert Mapquest's Estimated Trip Time into Sasha's Kidimated Trip Time. By experience, I have found the multiplier to be 1.43.

For example, if Mapquest tells you the ETT is 7 hrs for your trip to Sea World:

7.0 hours ETT X 1.43 multiplier = 10.0 hours KTT

I'm No Cook, But I Can Make Dessert!

Michelle writes: I'm a lurker and have been for a while...totally off the current subject, but I made your sopapilla cheesecake for bunco last night, and it was a total hit! Do you have any other yummies to share?

Oh, Michelle, a girl after my own heart- another sweet lover!

Another one of my faves (and my co-workers) is Neiman Marcus Bars. Who knows if that's what they are really supposed to be called, and they are nothing like that $250 cookie recipe in case you are wondering. But that's what we call them here in these parts. They are actually little pieces of heaven.

I am also obsessed with Cake Balls, although I have never made them myself since I have a fab coworker I can always talk into making them. However, I found a recipe I am trying soon- Red Velvet Cake Balls! Made with cream cheese frosting!!!!!! That was worth a lot of exclamation points.

Day 1 Report

We had a fabulous time and will be going back for more today. I dig a park that sells beer right next to the cotton candy.

This was a total switch. The Politician was all about posing with Shamu, and The Wild Child wouldn't get any closer than this. Totally opposite from how they normally act in situations like this.




The sea lion show is a family favorite.

The Politician was super excited to feed them, and Mr. Sasha and I still marveled that Sea World can talk park-goers into paying $4 a tray to feed their fish.

Shampoo!

Guess where the Sashas are?

Yesterday was a long day that involved Mr. Sasha getting bitten by a nest of fire ants, the kids asking "Are we there yet?" 1000000000 times, and a fun night of making smores at our hotel.

But today should be awesome! More later....

Time For A Touch-Up

Last night, The Politician was commenting that The Wild Child's hair looks black when it's wet in the bathtub.

Then he turned to me and said, "Momma, you hair is actually black too- the part right by your head."

Yup. I do know this. Scheduled for a highlight today. (Who am I kidding- it's not a highlight when more hairs become blonde than not.)

Oil-Free Moisturizer with Sunscreen

Laurie left me a comment about the lack of oil-free moisturizers with SPF, and she's right. I typically find products with SPF to be too thick and oily for my skin.

I jumped on to post about the HG moisturizer I've been using for years, Clinique's Superdefense SPF 25 in Combination Oily to Oily, but according to the Clinique website, it's now "NEW" and it looks like the product has been slightly changed. I'll have to stop by my Clinique counter to ask. Someone on MUA mentioned that they reformulated it to make the sunscreen more stable.

I loved the product before and hope that I still like it. Hopefully I can let you know soon!

Magic Pants Found Locally!

OK, so lots of people have been asking me if you can get the magic pants locally and last night, I found some at my local Target!

Now, I should tell you that the waist is a tiny bit different than the ones online- the online ones have a drawstring, and these have a 1 inch wide elastic band and a tiny bow in the center.

BUT, I actually think I may like these better! They lie flatter across my tummy and won't leave that annoying drawstring bump.

So I found them with a new rack of Gillian O'Malley sleepwear- on the front of the rack are the pants in light aqua, and the black ones are right behind it. Not many pair left- head on over there!

Edited to add: This is them in the aqua color! Now that I see them, the leg doesn't look as wide, but they still loook great on.