I Don't Know Where Your Luggage Is

Last night at bible study one of the ladies shared a story that really hit home for me. I try to live my life as someone who can be described as "non-judgemental", but sometimes I hear those voices in my head saying things that don't quite qualify.

Her story:

On a cruise ship to several small remote islands, she couldn't help notice a group of young ladies swimming in what could only be their undergarments. They were certainly "covered" but what they were wearing was NOT swimwear. She was appalled that they would wear that in public!

The next day she saw them again and couldn't help herself- she leaned over to the stranger next to her and said, "I can't believe what they are wearing! I would never allow my daughter to swim in that!"

The stranger leaned back and said "I believe their luggage was lost....."

She said she was dumbstruck. She realized they were making the best of the hand they had been dealt, enjoying their vacation the best they could.

So the next time you find yourself judging, remember,

You don't know where their luggage is.

My Affair With Red Velvet Cake Continues

Hungry Girl told me about the new Yoplait Light Red Velvet Cake flavor and I am on the lookout for it. How yummy does that sound?

And I told myself about the new Little Debbie offering- Petites Red Velvet- when I saw them at the grocery store last night and they jumped into my cart. Debbie almost didn't catch my eye because she didn't put anything about 100 Calories on the package and I was a little scared to look because sometimes her yummiest stuff has a zillion calories.... but turns out, they *are* 100 calories.

Have you tried either of these?

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Saturday night was the local Daddy/Daughter Dance and look how cute/handsome my pair looked!

WD even let me paint her nails and curl the ends of her hair under! I had so much fun getting her ready and she was so excited all day.

I am so glad my little tomboy likes getting dressed up too....

Oh how I wish I was artistic

because WC would love it if I could paint her face like this everyday!

Friday night was Family Bingo night at P's school and they had a face-painting artists there and she was fabulous.

WC and I were sad to wash this off before bed that night!

Show Us Your Life Friday: My Nail Polish Routine

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 my nails at 9 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 Remover. 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. I typically do this twice.

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. Key to a long-lasting mani.

4. Sally Hanson Nailgrowth Miracle in the gold bottle. Love this basecoat. Watch for CVS to have their BOGO or BOGO half off on Sally products and stock up.


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. This is a super-fast dry topcoat with a fab shine. Expensive, but worth it!

Now why don't you let me in on your nail or beauty secrets!

So Far Today

I started a roast in the crock pot before I left for work. The hubs picked up a 2 pound pork loin at Wal-Mart last week before the ice hit, and we hadn't used it yet. I flipped through my new crock pot cookbook and found a recipe called 3 Packet Pot Roast that looked pretty cool, and somehow, hold onto your hats, I had all the ingredients in my pantry. Crazy! Things like this just don't happen to me.

So I was all proud of myself for getting that started and I headed out to load up the van for the day. I was getting my flavored water, my Vitatop muffin, Lipton Diet Iced Tea and a Lean Cuisine out of the outside fridge to take with me to work, and I noticed that the headphones the kids use for their listening therapy were still in the van. I was headed to the other side to get them..... when I took a spill and landed head-and-shoulder-first into the fridge.

I laid there crunched up on the garage floor for a few minutes, planning what to do if there was blood..... the hubs was in the shower and the kids were asleep.... so I thought I'd call a coworker to come get me to go get stitches.

That's how crazy I was being.

But turns out I'm fine. It's only been 26 minutes and I'm already a bit sore, so I'm for to take some Motrin. My coworker promised not to let me fall asleep for fear of a concussion. :-)

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

For the Love of Chocolate

I think you guys know I have the biggest sweet tooth ever and my love for chocolate is unparalleled.

So I was so excited when Sucre, a New Orleans-based confectioner, sent me a box of chocolates to try!

The box I was received was the For Love of Chocolate Collection. These were rich dark chocolate ganache blended with sweet red raspberries in a shimmery heart shell. Not only were they gorgeous, they were absolutely yummy!

The box above retails for $30 and I think it would make a fabulous Valentine's Day gift. Of course, there are many other flavors available to suit any tastes.

Disclosure: I was sent this box of chocolate from Sucre for review purposes. However, the opinions stated in this post were my own and I was not compensated for this review.

Recommendation: Avon Gloss Gorgeous

Last week I got a nice little surprise in the mail from my Avon rep, Valeri. She sent me a few of the Gorgeous Lip Glosses to try. These glosses are so cute and are on sale, 3 for $9 right now. I've got Bloom stashed in my purse for when I need a quick swipe of gloss over my lip stain.

Valeri is always so nice to let Sasha Says readers use a free shipping code! Please follow these steps so you can use the code and give Valeri credit.

1. Visit Valeri's site to make her your default rep

2. Log into ebates to get 5% back by going through them to get to the Avon site

3. Once the Avon site pulls up again, you should see Valeri's name near the top of the site

4. Choose your products and then use code FSANY or REPFS to get free shipping

Happy Shopping!

disclosure: I was sent this product by my Avon rep to try and review. The value of the product I received was $9. This post contains my ebates affiliate link, but readers will also get $5 if they sign up under my link. The Avon link is not an affiliate link and I receive no compensation for sales of Avon products.

Tonight I Am Drinking: Pink Beerade

Pink Lemonde Cocktail

renamed Pink Beerade by my SIL and I this evening

Ingredients

1 (12-oz.) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
3 (12-oz.) bottles beer (not dark), chilled
3/4 cup vodka, chilled
Ice

Garnishes: fresh cranberries, citrus slices

Preparation
Stir together first 3 ingredients. Serve over ice. Garnish, if desired.

Cami Perry, Birmingham, Alabama, Southern Living, OCTOBER 2007

Very. Fabulous. I am thinking about modifying it and using Crystal Light to save some calories....

Look what came in the mail!

Yup, I ordered it.

Some Swatches for The Muse

One of my favorite blog finds is Musings of a Muse. She's totally adorable and even more obsessed with new makeup than me! I love reading her posts and seeing her swatches.

Last month, she posted about theBalm's new collection and their fabulous new lip stains called For Keeps Watercolor Lip Stains that I just had to have. You know all about my lip problems- lipstick/gloss tends to run into the little lines around my mouth, so I prefer a stain. I snatch them up whenever I see them.

But this little beauty really had me curious- it brought back a memory of a neat lip product I had back in the late 80s. I think it was Cover Girl, and it was a little compact with a powder lip color on one side, and a clear gloss on the other. It came with an eye-shadow type application to apply the powder (no water was needed), and a little brush for the gloss. I remember that I loved this!

Moving on.... today the Muse posted her swatches and mentioned she was scared silly of the stain that actually looks almost black in the Plum Berry/Brown Sugar compact. Not to worry Muse- it's plum!

I have no idea why it looks so dark in the compact, but it's actually a really nice shade if you like strong lip.

Right Now I Am Listening To

Miranda Lambert - White Liar

Such a great song- I just adore her and anything she sings. Makes me smile!

The One Where I Wish I Had a Sibling

Because

this....

makes my heart melt.

(photo by Trina Gibbins Photography)

Dear ABC,

It's been done before.

crossed with

equals

last night's Bachelor episode. WTF????????

Dinner Last Night: BBQ Chicken Biscuits

Barbecue Filled Biscuits

The original recipe called for ground beef, but I had a package of Tyson Refrigerated Fully Cooked Southwestern Chicken Breast Strips in my refrigerator that I needed to use, so I used that instead.

What You Need

• 1 bag Refrigerated Fully Cooked Southwestern Chicken Breast Strips, chopped up
• barbecue sauce (enough to coat chicken well)
• 1 can (7.5 oz.) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (there's 10 in the package)
• shredded cheese

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

SEPARATE biscuits. Press 1 biscuit onto bottom and up side of each muffin cup. (I sprayed my muffin tin with Pam first.)

MIX chicken and BBQ sauce together and spoon into biscuit cups.

BAKE 10 min. or until biscuits are lightly browned. Top with cheese; bake 3 to 4 min. or until melted

We really liked this and it was a hit with The Politician as well. You most likely needed a side to go with this as they are pretty small, but I was quite a slacker last night and didn't make one. Bad mommy.

Moisturizer Find

Poor WC. She has the worst skin ever. It's so sensitive, and she's very prone to random rashes on her bottom and legs. I use All Free and Clear and Downy Free and Sensitive, but she still has itchy spots and sometimes Cetaphil doesn't cut it. I've been using hydrocortisone cream on some of the worst spots, but I just don't like to do that very often because it can thin the skin over time.

So I was excited when I was contacted by Skin MD Natural a few months ago. They asked if I'd like to try their Shielding Lotion and of course I said yes with WC in mind. I have been using it for about two months now on WC when she gets a rash and have been amazed at how well it works to clear it up. Typically, when I apply Cetaphil to her rashy area, she complains that it stings, but when I use the Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion ($18 value), she doesn't complain at all!

Head over to my giveaway blog for a chance to win a bottle for yourself! Hurry- giveaway ends tomorrow!

Disclosure: I was provided a free bottle of Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion. The value of this is $18.

The General Mood Around Here

Yeah, I know it hasn't been the same. Last week I was taken aback by an anonymous commenter who said....

remember when you used to write about stuff and not just post advertisements? those were the days. i miss your writing!!!

Advertisement issue aside (let it be known that the GDA posts are simply me sharing good deals with my friends- I make absolutely nothing off them, except for a very small percentage off of Amazon click-thrus), I started thinking about it, and yes, I agree I haven't been "writing" much. And I miss my writing too!

I am sure you know that P started K this past fall, and he hasn't settled in very well. His behavior has not been stellar, and his poor teacher, who is a family friend, has tried everything she can think of to motivate him to behave better, but we just aren't getting there. He seems intent on being the "class clown" which may be great for a career choice later in life, but it is distracting to the other kids and is causing disruptions in class.

To complicate matters, he was officially diagnosed with a Sensory Processing Disorder, like WC, but his issues are a bit different than hers. Some of his issues cause challenges in class. He's pretty much unable to sit still and keep his hands to himself due to him being a sensory seeker. We started OT visits and listening therapy at home around Thanksgiving, and it's been a rocky road for me. I wonder sometimes (most of the time actually) what I did wrong for both my kids to have these issues.......

I'm super-tired of living in a war zone and waiting for little bombs to drop. I've always suffered from some level of anxiety, but never felt the need to do something about it until we started dealing with WC's issues and now it just seems MORE complicated. I think the Lexapro helps, but I'm tired, I'm fat, and I cut my bangs a little too short last week.

But I'll make it through, that I know. So I hope you can be patient with me while I wait for things to settle and hopefully return to normal.

Ski Trip 2010

I am so glad no one took a pic of me in my ski gear because I am 99% sure I would have passed for the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. All those layers did nothing for my figure. But I did get some cute shots of the kiddos.

After a 3 hour session of Snow Monster school, P caught on quite well and had a fab time.

WC loved the helmet and ski boots but found skiing to be quite a bit of work. She tuckered out pretty quickly and enjoyed getting Skittles at the snack bar.

Awww... look at that face!

We had a wonderful time at the little resort in Missouri this weekend. It was a great place to take the kids and introduce them to skiing. I will warn you that they have tow ropes on the learning slope and also on the smallest regular slope, and that was a new concept for me and my unmuscled arms. To say it was rough would be an understatement. I just didn't have enough strength to hold on to the rope and make it to the top.

And please please please put helmets on your kids if you take them skiing. One of the 5 year old boys in our group actually got hit in the head by a snowboard, and if he hadn't had on a helmet.... well, I don't want to think about that. Thank goodness he did.

133.0

Yup, I weigh 133.0 today. I need to put it all out there, publicly, if I'm going to do something about it. Isn't that terrible? I know it's all due to the choices I've been making, which have been unwise and have included quite a bit of beer, Buffalo Chex Mix and Aunt Luanne's Christmas sugar cookies, which thank God are almost all gone.

My Weight Watchers goal weight is 109 and by golly I'm going to get there. 24 damn pounds are coming off.

And Jay Johnson is going to help me get there. I posted a few weeks ago about a video of his I had purchased from Amazon and how much I loved it. I loved it so much that I purchased his 9 week home boot camp package.

I paid $79.90 plus shipping and it came in the mail this weekend and I am starting tomorrow (because it's always better to start tomorrow, right?). You get one DVD for each week and an awesome chart that shows you what workout to do each of the 5 days you are supposed to use the DVD each week.

Jay sent me a message on twitter with a code I can offer my readers for 15% off! (Too bad I had already ordered at the full price myself!) To redeem the code enter this coupon at checkout: JJBC15LY9

I'm going to post my progress here each week and I may even post my measurements, as embarrassing as that may be. I don't know about that part yet- I have to take them and see how bad they are.....

Did you know?

That you can snow ski in Missouri????? I didn't, but do now!