It's Friday, once again. I take it slower on Fridays, since it's my day off from work. I've been doing my grocery shopping every other week (because I hate going to Walmart) and this week I'm off from that as well. Perfect time for a blog post.
I was off this Monday for July 4th weekend. Most companies give their employees the Friday off when the holiday lands on Saturday; since we don't work Fridays our bosses decided to give us Monday instead. My daughter still had to work at the church, and my son had to work at the store. I waited for my daughter to come home, and we went to see Disney/Pixar's new movie Inside Out. I don't want to give anything away, but once again Pixar hit it out of the park. This movie is wonderful! The story is beautiful and well developed, with its funny moments thrown into the deeper message. But to be perfectly honest, my favorite part of the movie was the short cartoon at the beginning, called Lava. The story of two volcanoes that fall in love was the most romantic cartoon I've ever seen - even my 15 year old son got teary-eyed! While this movie doesn't knock The Incredibles from the top spot of my list, it's definitely in the top 5. I recommend everyone see it at least once.
Our weather has been slightly milder than last summer. Last year was killer; it rained almost every single day - at least 5 times a week - so that the humidity levels were off the charts. This year has been drier, with rain a couple of times a week, or just in the afternoons for about a half hour. There have been thunderstorms but they've been quick to pass by. It's actually been pleasant in the shade, with warm breezes blowing. Once you step out into the sun, though, it's like being in an oven. I've thought that I would melt on several occasions.
I finally got the chance to use my new weed eater last weekend. It's lightweight, so it wasn't a hassle carrying it around as I trimmed all the edges around our house and fences. It's also fairly quiet. I'm glad I charged both batteries, since the first one went dead with a quarter of my yard left to do. I was really satisfied with how the yard looked; my arms, however, were not as happy. The vibration of the weed eater is something I'm not used to, so by the time I was finished I felt like my arms were going to fall off. It was a weird sensation that lasted several hours. Yesterday I mowed the grass in the backyard again (that's the problem with summer, the grass kicks into high gear) but the sun was blaring on me by the time I finished so I didn't do any trim work. Instead I pulled out the blower, and found that it too does a good job at cleaning up. My favorite part is that they are both very light to carry around, even with the battery put in. Assembly was easy too: for the blower I just had to attach the tube portion to the motor. There was a small hole that I figured needed to be screwed in, but I couldn't find one in the box. I thought, "Hmm, looks like I'm missing a screw," - then I chuckled at myself. I figured out that the holes were just for lining up the two parts and no additional hardware was needed. For under $120 I got a good buy, which makes me happy.
I've come to the sad realization that one of my makeup products is making me break out. I'd purchased the Mac Face and Body foundation a couple of months ago, and was really liking it - the color match is spot on, it gives good coverage without feeling heavy, and I could use it on its own or over my Complexion Rescue. I had noticed, however, that a couple of times after I'd used it I was broken out. I have occasional breakouts from acne, thanks to hormones and such. Pre-menopause = Puberty, The Sequel. But this wasn't pimples; I was breaking out in a rash. I tried to attribute it to other things: food allergy, hormonal acne, weather changes. But yesterday, after cutting the grass, washing and drying my hair, and making lunch, I was running late, so I decided on using the Mac product for a quick makeup look. Sure enough, when I got home and took off my makeup, my cheeks and chin were red and blotchy. This morning it was no better. Even my oldest son, who typically doesn't notice things like that, asked me what was going on with my face this morning. The only thing different was the Mac Face and Body. My daughter won't mind getting my almost full bottle - it works wonderfully for her. I'm going back to my trusty mineral powder foundation. Just not today. Today I'm gonna run over to CVS and see if I can't find something for my blemishes.
What else is on the agenda for today? For one thing, laundry. Lots of laundry. I also have to put gas in my car. It's so great to work just three minutes from my house. I literally put gas in my car once a month. That saves me a ton of money. I've also got to vacuum, and I'm hoping to take a trip to Target today. They have shorts on sale, buy one get one 50% off. Shorts this year are much shorter than anything I care to wear - let's face it, mini shorts don't look attractive on me anymore. They have Bermuda shorts on sale, though, and I want to stock up for our upcoming trip to Disney World - yay! So that's it for now. Hope everyone has a beautiful and blessed day.
Showing posts with label Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friday. Show all posts
Friday, July 10, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
The Week In Review - Birthday Week
It's a special day today. My oldest son R turns twenty-something. I don't want to think of the number too much. It reminds me of my own age, something I've been trying to ignore lately.
It's been a pretty good week, as weeks go. Public schools were off, so traffic was a bit lighter. So was work. There were lots of kids that didn't come for tutoring because they've gone out of town for spring break. It was a bit unnerving, trying to figure out things to do when there was nothing to do. My boss gave me a list of parents he wants to meet with in the next month, so I called a bunch of them to make appointments. I couldn't call all of them; making appointments too far in advance means parents forget and reschedule, and I didn't want that to happen, so I made appointments for next week. That means I had to stretch out the list to make it last as long as possible.
My boss's wife, MM, has again made comments leading me to believe that she wants to spend less time at the office. It bothers me, not because of the work, but because she won't just come out and say it. I was hired, supposedly, to assist her with her work because the workload was overwhelming. What I'm seeing, is that she wants to walk away and leave me in charge.
Honestly, as I observe and learn more, I find that a lot of the workload could easily be lightened by changing some procedures. MM is very set in her ways; she's been doing things a certain way for the past 11 years, and she isn't about to change them, no matter how much better another method might be. I've tried showing her different things she can do to reduce her workload, but she looks at it with total disbelief and shrugs it off. It became a bit frustrating for me this week, especially. We bill our customers once a month for the next month's tutoring sessions. It takes a long time to do, because MM wants all the invoices done by hand, then entered into the computer. The system could easily print off the invoices - I even showed her how simple it is - but she refuses. The part-printed/part-handwritten invoices are so sloppy looking and unprofessional, yet she won't look at any other option. I worked the entire time on that yesterday, and I'm still not finished writing out the invoices. I tried entering the invoices into the computer as I wrote them to show her how much more effective that would be, but she wouldn't accept that either. I wrote them by hand, she checked what I wrote and entered the information into the computer. I just shook my head; she creates more work for herself, but as my daughter wisely pointed out, it's her business. She's the boss. She decides how she wants things done, and I have to do them. But it's no wonder she's burned out, with the amount of extra work she makes for herself.
We had no Awana this Wednesday because of Spring Break, but my son told me there would be youth group. I got out of work, rushed to the house and went to church. Turned out youth group had been cancelled, but my son never got the text message from his youth pastor. Poor Pastor D, he was so apologetic. It was for the best, though. E got some schoolwork caught up. It's been a busy school week but E's done really well. He took his science exam this morning and got a 94%. I was pleasantly surprised; it was a tricky test, and though he studied for it for two days I didn't know if he'd do well. Praise God, he aced the test and we breathed a sigh of relief that it's over!
We had a mini celebration for R's birthday. We gave him his gifts this morning: his sister A got him volume 3 of the cartoon Animaniacs, E got him the game Vanquish for the X-Box, and I got him the complete set of Megaman cartoons on DVD along with the new Kirby game for the WiiU. He was all smiles. Then we went out for lunch to a nice restaurant in town. For dessert, my daughter made these incredible cupcakes. They're dark chocolate with a Nutella frosting. The best part was inside the cupcake - she filled them with an Oreo creme filling she made from a recipe she found on Pinterest. It was like eating an Oreo cookie, but in cupcake form. Oh my word, they are beyond delicious!! She stayed up till late last night after work baking and decorating them, and her brother appreciated it. He even took some to his friends for them to try. I think he was proud of his little sister for the yummy treat she baked, and she was beaming because we couldn't stop raving about them!
It's a gorgeous day out - hot but not humid, sunny and breezy. That may change, as the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms this afternoon, but we're really hoping that won't happen. My daughter is going to an outdoor wedding this afternoon, and no one wants to go to an outdoor wedding under the rain.
That's it for this week - so far anyway. Here's to wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. God bless!
It's been a pretty good week, as weeks go. Public schools were off, so traffic was a bit lighter. So was work. There were lots of kids that didn't come for tutoring because they've gone out of town for spring break. It was a bit unnerving, trying to figure out things to do when there was nothing to do. My boss gave me a list of parents he wants to meet with in the next month, so I called a bunch of them to make appointments. I couldn't call all of them; making appointments too far in advance means parents forget and reschedule, and I didn't want that to happen, so I made appointments for next week. That means I had to stretch out the list to make it last as long as possible.
My boss's wife, MM, has again made comments leading me to believe that she wants to spend less time at the office. It bothers me, not because of the work, but because she won't just come out and say it. I was hired, supposedly, to assist her with her work because the workload was overwhelming. What I'm seeing, is that she wants to walk away and leave me in charge.
Honestly, as I observe and learn more, I find that a lot of the workload could easily be lightened by changing some procedures. MM is very set in her ways; she's been doing things a certain way for the past 11 years, and she isn't about to change them, no matter how much better another method might be. I've tried showing her different things she can do to reduce her workload, but she looks at it with total disbelief and shrugs it off. It became a bit frustrating for me this week, especially. We bill our customers once a month for the next month's tutoring sessions. It takes a long time to do, because MM wants all the invoices done by hand, then entered into the computer. The system could easily print off the invoices - I even showed her how simple it is - but she refuses. The part-printed/part-handwritten invoices are so sloppy looking and unprofessional, yet she won't look at any other option. I worked the entire time on that yesterday, and I'm still not finished writing out the invoices. I tried entering the invoices into the computer as I wrote them to show her how much more effective that would be, but she wouldn't accept that either. I wrote them by hand, she checked what I wrote and entered the information into the computer. I just shook my head; she creates more work for herself, but as my daughter wisely pointed out, it's her business. She's the boss. She decides how she wants things done, and I have to do them. But it's no wonder she's burned out, with the amount of extra work she makes for herself.
We had no Awana this Wednesday because of Spring Break, but my son told me there would be youth group. I got out of work, rushed to the house and went to church. Turned out youth group had been cancelled, but my son never got the text message from his youth pastor. Poor Pastor D, he was so apologetic. It was for the best, though. E got some schoolwork caught up. It's been a busy school week but E's done really well. He took his science exam this morning and got a 94%. I was pleasantly surprised; it was a tricky test, and though he studied for it for two days I didn't know if he'd do well. Praise God, he aced the test and we breathed a sigh of relief that it's over!
We had a mini celebration for R's birthday. We gave him his gifts this morning: his sister A got him volume 3 of the cartoon Animaniacs, E got him the game Vanquish for the X-Box, and I got him the complete set of Megaman cartoons on DVD along with the new Kirby game for the WiiU. He was all smiles. Then we went out for lunch to a nice restaurant in town. For dessert, my daughter made these incredible cupcakes. They're dark chocolate with a Nutella frosting. The best part was inside the cupcake - she filled them with an Oreo creme filling she made from a recipe she found on Pinterest. It was like eating an Oreo cookie, but in cupcake form. Oh my word, they are beyond delicious!! She stayed up till late last night after work baking and decorating them, and her brother appreciated it. He even took some to his friends for them to try. I think he was proud of his little sister for the yummy treat she baked, and she was beaming because we couldn't stop raving about them!
It's a gorgeous day out - hot but not humid, sunny and breezy. That may change, as the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms this afternoon, but we're really hoping that won't happen. My daughter is going to an outdoor wedding this afternoon, and no one wants to go to an outdoor wedding under the rain.
That's it for this week - so far anyway. Here's to wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. God bless!
Friday, March 13, 2015
The Week In Review
It's Friday, and this is the first chance I have to sit down at my computer to do something other than schoolwork. Yes, it's been a crazy busy week. Let me tell you all about it.
This week was my son E's last week of school before spring break, so I knew we'd have a lot of work to do before he could sit back and relax. His allergies have been acting up lately, what with the weather being wacky, and he'd been scratching his eyes quite a bit, especially at church on Sunday. His left eye looked irritated, so I did most of the reading to him so he could rest his eyes. He had portfolios due this week for science, hope, music, and English, plus he had his unit test in algebra. I worked with him and he got quite a bit done, but not everything. I came home from work and we did some more school, but he wasn't feeling well due to his eye bothering him, so he went to bed.
Tuesday morning we got up early to work some more, but his eye was looking pretty bad. It wasn't red but it was crusty. He said it hurt, only not his eye. What hurt was his eyelid, the outer part of the eye. I found some eye ointment and put it on him, and we continued doing school. I have to admit, I was starting to get stressed. My son was falling behind in his schoolwork, his eye was getting more swollen, and my boss told me she'd be taking the day off on Thursday. I was praying the ointment would alleviate the irritation in my son's eye; if it didn't I'd have to seek medical attention, and quick.
Wednesday morning, it became clear that my son needed a doctor. His eye looked positively awful, and he wasn't able to sleep because his eye kept crusting over all night. Thankfully I was able to get him an appointment for 10:30 am. We did an hour and a half of school before we left. Wednesday is his busiest school day, because he has 3 live lessons to attend. I knew he'd miss his science class, but at least he could attend music. I was so glad the doctor was able to see him. The office was so packed, but there are several doctors at this practice, and I wasn't going to be picky. His regular doctor didn't see him, but the one that did is great. She examined him thoroughly, then said he had an eye infection, most probably due to all the scratching he'd been doing. The eye is so delicate, and scratching it (especially with dirty hands) can easily bring on an infection. She was concerned, however, that he might possibly have eczema on that eyelid as well. E had eczema as a small child but never on his face; it was always in the back of his elbows and knees. She gave me an appointment to come back today (Friday) to have it looked at again. Meanwhile she sent him some eye drops, an ointment, and Zyrtec for the allergies in addition to Allegra. I about passed out when I saw the pharmacy bill for the meds: $130! And I have insurance!! So much for affordable healthcare :P. It took an hour waiting at the pharmacy for the medicines, which got me to work late. Talk about really stressing out! Good thing I only work 3 hours on Wednesdays, because I go to church and serve in Awana. This Wednesday, however, we didn't go to church. E didn't have youth group anyway (they'd gone on a trip the day before) and I wasn't going to take him with me to be around the little kids with his eye all swollen. Besides, there was lots of schoolwork to catch up on, so that's what we did. I missed my girls, but I'm glad I stayed and took care of my son who needed me more.
Already Thursday he was feeling better, even though the Zyrtec made him sleepy. We got lots of schoolwork done in the morning, then I went off to work. I wasn't sure if my boss would be there or not; she wanted the day off, but I don't think her husband knows what to do without her there. He really depends on her a lot! I walked into the office, and MM was nowhere to be found. I said a short prayer, then got to work. It actually went pretty well! My daughter said I looked like I had it all together and was more relaxed than I'd been all week. The other teachers were so helpful, too. They pitched in if I asked them for help or if I had any questions. MM did finally show up about an hour before closing; I think when you've been at the helm for so many years it's hard to let go, or believe someone else can do the work. I hope that, as she sees the work I do and that things are running smoothly, she can trust me to work on my own without having to check on me constantly. I have always worked independently, so it's weird for me to have someone looking over my shoulder, but I also recognize I've been there for less than a month. Obviously there's still much I don't know, and much I need to learn. With God's help I'll manage, I'm sure. After work I sat down with E and told him we would finish school. Spring break would begin on Friday, and he needed to have all his work turned in by Thursday night. I'm pleased to say, he did it! The only thing left was a report on Beethoven's symphony Eroica, and he sent it in at 10:30 at night. We won't have to think about school till March 23rd. Hallelujah!
This morning (my "day off") found me back at the doctor's office with my son. He had to be there at 8:00 for his recheck. When I woke him up in the morning, he let out a yell and said, "My eye isn't stuck together!" Poor kid, he'd been waking up to an eye that was sealed shut every morning, and now the medicine was doing its work and he was looking considerably better. There's flaking around the eye where the rash is drying up, but the swelling is almost completely gone. Praise the Lord! The doctor was pleased to see how much his eye had improved in such a short amount of time. It was a huge relief for me as well. I trust God, and I know He will always do what is right and best for me and my family, but I won't deny, when one of my children is sick it's like the life is drained out of me. All I want is for them to get better. I guess I'm no different from every other mom in the world.
After we'd finished at the doctor's office, I dropped him off at the house and began my journey into grocery shopping. I started off at Winn-Dixie, hoping to find some good deals on meats. I got a package of steak and a London broil that were on sale, but the ground beef was ridiculous. $4.53 a pound?! Gimme a break people! I skipped on that, but did get my canned goods, pastas, breads, those sorts of things, spending a total of $93.18. Not bad, considering my total budget is $300. I dropped that food off at the house, then headed out to Walmart. I picked up whatever I hadn't gotten at Winn-Dixie, like dog food and breakfast foods, plus I got some ham steaks and frozen foods, and spent $97.70. I left there and stopped off at Pep Boys. I was in need of tires - bad - but I'd had to wait till I had my income tax return. Now that I had the money (and the time) I went and scheduled my tire replacement appointment for 4:00. From there I went to Costco to get my bulk items, including ground beef. I don't particularly care for the ground beef at Costco (it's very fatty IMO) but it's $3.79 a pound, a large cry from the $4.53/lb at Winn-Dixie. My total at Costco was $70.87, bringing my total to $261.75, $38.25 under budget. That's great, because this week I bought pizza from Little Caesars and KFC on Wednesday when I was running around with my son, so I'm still within my budget.
I got all the groceries home and put away with my daughter's help. After lunch we made a trip to the bank so I could finish opening a checking account. I wanted a separate account for myself now that I'm working, and I'd tried doing it online so I wouldn't have to visit the branch. It worked - but when I tried using online banking, I found out I'd have to go to the bank to get a special pin number. So much for not having to make the trip :P. To give you an idea how crazy our weather is in Florida, we got to the bank as it was starting to look like rain. We were there for about 20 minutes, in which time it rained pretty heavy and steady, but by the time we were done the sun was out and it didn't look like it had rained at all. That is so typical in Florida, it surprises none of the locals.
I came back home to drop my daughter off (she'd gone with me to the bank), then went to get my new tires. While I was there my daughter made one of my all-time favorites, spaghetti carbonara. Boy was I thankful for that! After a non-stop day it's really nice to come home to a delicious meal. I'm so blessed.
Bare Escentuals had another Beauty Rush on Wednesday (my very insane day), and I was gonna skip it because I didn't think I'd have time to even look at what they had. But while we were having lunch I took a peek to see if they had any skincare on sale, and they did. I went ahead and placed an order for a kit containing neck cream, toner pads and body lotion; then I found an eyeshadow duo for $7 and another kit for $21 and I snatched them both up. That was before I found out that my son's medicines were $130. Part of me wishes I'd waited and not placed the order; part of me can't wait till it gets here!
There's more to add to my "fun" week, but I'll leave it for the weekend. Right now I think I'll take a shower, then relax a bit before bed. I think I've earned it. Good night ya'll. Pleasant dreams.
This week was my son E's last week of school before spring break, so I knew we'd have a lot of work to do before he could sit back and relax. His allergies have been acting up lately, what with the weather being wacky, and he'd been scratching his eyes quite a bit, especially at church on Sunday. His left eye looked irritated, so I did most of the reading to him so he could rest his eyes. He had portfolios due this week for science, hope, music, and English, plus he had his unit test in algebra. I worked with him and he got quite a bit done, but not everything. I came home from work and we did some more school, but he wasn't feeling well due to his eye bothering him, so he went to bed.
Tuesday morning we got up early to work some more, but his eye was looking pretty bad. It wasn't red but it was crusty. He said it hurt, only not his eye. What hurt was his eyelid, the outer part of the eye. I found some eye ointment and put it on him, and we continued doing school. I have to admit, I was starting to get stressed. My son was falling behind in his schoolwork, his eye was getting more swollen, and my boss told me she'd be taking the day off on Thursday. I was praying the ointment would alleviate the irritation in my son's eye; if it didn't I'd have to seek medical attention, and quick.
Wednesday morning, it became clear that my son needed a doctor. His eye looked positively awful, and he wasn't able to sleep because his eye kept crusting over all night. Thankfully I was able to get him an appointment for 10:30 am. We did an hour and a half of school before we left. Wednesday is his busiest school day, because he has 3 live lessons to attend. I knew he'd miss his science class, but at least he could attend music. I was so glad the doctor was able to see him. The office was so packed, but there are several doctors at this practice, and I wasn't going to be picky. His regular doctor didn't see him, but the one that did is great. She examined him thoroughly, then said he had an eye infection, most probably due to all the scratching he'd been doing. The eye is so delicate, and scratching it (especially with dirty hands) can easily bring on an infection. She was concerned, however, that he might possibly have eczema on that eyelid as well. E had eczema as a small child but never on his face; it was always in the back of his elbows and knees. She gave me an appointment to come back today (Friday) to have it looked at again. Meanwhile she sent him some eye drops, an ointment, and Zyrtec for the allergies in addition to Allegra. I about passed out when I saw the pharmacy bill for the meds: $130! And I have insurance!! So much for affordable healthcare :P. It took an hour waiting at the pharmacy for the medicines, which got me to work late. Talk about really stressing out! Good thing I only work 3 hours on Wednesdays, because I go to church and serve in Awana. This Wednesday, however, we didn't go to church. E didn't have youth group anyway (they'd gone on a trip the day before) and I wasn't going to take him with me to be around the little kids with his eye all swollen. Besides, there was lots of schoolwork to catch up on, so that's what we did. I missed my girls, but I'm glad I stayed and took care of my son who needed me more.
Already Thursday he was feeling better, even though the Zyrtec made him sleepy. We got lots of schoolwork done in the morning, then I went off to work. I wasn't sure if my boss would be there or not; she wanted the day off, but I don't think her husband knows what to do without her there. He really depends on her a lot! I walked into the office, and MM was nowhere to be found. I said a short prayer, then got to work. It actually went pretty well! My daughter said I looked like I had it all together and was more relaxed than I'd been all week. The other teachers were so helpful, too. They pitched in if I asked them for help or if I had any questions. MM did finally show up about an hour before closing; I think when you've been at the helm for so many years it's hard to let go, or believe someone else can do the work. I hope that, as she sees the work I do and that things are running smoothly, she can trust me to work on my own without having to check on me constantly. I have always worked independently, so it's weird for me to have someone looking over my shoulder, but I also recognize I've been there for less than a month. Obviously there's still much I don't know, and much I need to learn. With God's help I'll manage, I'm sure. After work I sat down with E and told him we would finish school. Spring break would begin on Friday, and he needed to have all his work turned in by Thursday night. I'm pleased to say, he did it! The only thing left was a report on Beethoven's symphony Eroica, and he sent it in at 10:30 at night. We won't have to think about school till March 23rd. Hallelujah!
This morning (my "day off") found me back at the doctor's office with my son. He had to be there at 8:00 for his recheck. When I woke him up in the morning, he let out a yell and said, "My eye isn't stuck together!" Poor kid, he'd been waking up to an eye that was sealed shut every morning, and now the medicine was doing its work and he was looking considerably better. There's flaking around the eye where the rash is drying up, but the swelling is almost completely gone. Praise the Lord! The doctor was pleased to see how much his eye had improved in such a short amount of time. It was a huge relief for me as well. I trust God, and I know He will always do what is right and best for me and my family, but I won't deny, when one of my children is sick it's like the life is drained out of me. All I want is for them to get better. I guess I'm no different from every other mom in the world.
After we'd finished at the doctor's office, I dropped him off at the house and began my journey into grocery shopping. I started off at Winn-Dixie, hoping to find some good deals on meats. I got a package of steak and a London broil that were on sale, but the ground beef was ridiculous. $4.53 a pound?! Gimme a break people! I skipped on that, but did get my canned goods, pastas, breads, those sorts of things, spending a total of $93.18. Not bad, considering my total budget is $300. I dropped that food off at the house, then headed out to Walmart. I picked up whatever I hadn't gotten at Winn-Dixie, like dog food and breakfast foods, plus I got some ham steaks and frozen foods, and spent $97.70. I left there and stopped off at Pep Boys. I was in need of tires - bad - but I'd had to wait till I had my income tax return. Now that I had the money (and the time) I went and scheduled my tire replacement appointment for 4:00. From there I went to Costco to get my bulk items, including ground beef. I don't particularly care for the ground beef at Costco (it's very fatty IMO) but it's $3.79 a pound, a large cry from the $4.53/lb at Winn-Dixie. My total at Costco was $70.87, bringing my total to $261.75, $38.25 under budget. That's great, because this week I bought pizza from Little Caesars and KFC on Wednesday when I was running around with my son, so I'm still within my budget.
I got all the groceries home and put away with my daughter's help. After lunch we made a trip to the bank so I could finish opening a checking account. I wanted a separate account for myself now that I'm working, and I'd tried doing it online so I wouldn't have to visit the branch. It worked - but when I tried using online banking, I found out I'd have to go to the bank to get a special pin number. So much for not having to make the trip :P. To give you an idea how crazy our weather is in Florida, we got to the bank as it was starting to look like rain. We were there for about 20 minutes, in which time it rained pretty heavy and steady, but by the time we were done the sun was out and it didn't look like it had rained at all. That is so typical in Florida, it surprises none of the locals.
I came back home to drop my daughter off (she'd gone with me to the bank), then went to get my new tires. While I was there my daughter made one of my all-time favorites, spaghetti carbonara. Boy was I thankful for that! After a non-stop day it's really nice to come home to a delicious meal. I'm so blessed.
Bare Escentuals had another Beauty Rush on Wednesday (my very insane day), and I was gonna skip it because I didn't think I'd have time to even look at what they had. But while we were having lunch I took a peek to see if they had any skincare on sale, and they did. I went ahead and placed an order for a kit containing neck cream, toner pads and body lotion; then I found an eyeshadow duo for $7 and another kit for $21 and I snatched them both up. That was before I found out that my son's medicines were $130. Part of me wishes I'd waited and not placed the order; part of me can't wait till it gets here!
There's more to add to my "fun" week, but I'll leave it for the weekend. Right now I think I'll take a shower, then relax a bit before bed. I think I've earned it. Good night ya'll. Pleasant dreams.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
My "Day Off"
I wanted to post about my crazy "day off" yesterday, but by the end of the day I was beyond exhausted. I couldn't even think straight anymore. So here I am, giving a recap of Friday on Saturday, though I can't say I'm fully recovered.
Let me just mention, for starters, that I love to decorate. I love fixing up my house, whether for holidays and special occasions or just everyday. I love changing things up. I love moving furniture around and into different rooms to get a new look. Even when I was young and living with my parents, I would change things up and move them around. I love to paint, I love to clean and polish and dust and shop for beautiful things...you get the picture.
When my two older kids came home from living in Central Florida, they brought a bunch of furniture with them, including a sofa and love seat we'd bought them at a furniture outlet store. At first I put them in the garage, since my son's desire was to look for a place and take the furniture with him. Things didn't work out for him financially, and it made no sense to me to have brand new furniture in the garage while I was sitting on faded furniture that was 13 years old. So I sold the old sofa and love seat and put the new items in the family room. It worked quite nicely.
Last year I decided to get an electric fireplace/media center for the living room, and I got rid of the enormous wall unit that was in the family room.
The wall unit worked while we had the oversized television set, but once that broke (and there was no way to get it repaired) I was left with a gaping hole in the wall unit. I tried fitting other things in there but it didn't work. Out it went, and a television table the kids brought back with them took its place.
I'd originally put it in the living room, but I moved it to the family room and put the fireplace/media console in there instead. I flanked it with bookshelves, a look I documented here. And that worked as well. I was super happy with the way the house looked.
Unfortunately, the furniture we'd bought for the kids was not the greatest quality. It was 3 1/2 years old but looked like we'd been sitting on it for 20 years. The cushions were attached to the furniture, and they were sagging horribly. The frame under the cushions also appeared to be sagging. The fabric itself looked the worse for wear. It's microfiber, which usually stands up to all kinds of abuse, but this fabric was stained and the stain wasn't coming off. I tried covering the sofa with a fluffy blanket so the sagging wouldn't show too much, but it wasn't fooling anyone. I had moved this furniture into the living room at Christmastime because the tree wouldn't fit in there with the recliners and sofa, and after Christmas everyone wanted the ugly furniture to stay in the living room because "they made the room look bigger." I thought it made the room look dingy. I wanted so badly to get rid of it, but I didn't want the huge expense. I thought about going out looking at garage sales or second hand furniture, though there's always a chance I'll end up with something as bad or worse than what I already had.
After Christmas Costco always puts their home furnishings out. I was walking by the seasonal aisle on my way to the meat section, when I saw a gorgeous, huge sectional. It was a lovely beige fabric, light but durable, with the nailhead design that I love so much. It was $999, a great price for this large piece of furniture but more than I wanted to spend. I sat on it for a minute and loved how comfortable it felt. Ah, if I could only find something similar but at a lower price! A couple of months later I saw that the price had been reduced - a common occurrence when Costco is ready to bring in the next seasonal item, in this case patio furnishings. Now the price was $699 - a whole $300 off! I was tempted, but at the same time, how would I get this home? I don't have a truck or SUV anymore. Besides, I was wanting to get some cabinets to organize the garage, and my car needs new tires. Spending $700 on a sectional wasn't an option right now.
Because I have executive membership at Costco, I get a yearly rebate from them. I wasn't expecting much; I buy from Costco regularly but I hadn't bought anything major, so there was no reason for me to get much money back. I was totally surprised when the rebate check came in: $116. The wheels in my head started turning really fast. With this rebate check I'd be able to get the sectional for under $600. No way was I going to find a deal like that anywhere else anytime. I'd have to act, and fast. Time (and inventory) was running out.
When I told my daughter what I wanted to do, she suggested renting a truck from Home Depot. Home Depot rents vans and large pick-up trucks for $19.95 for the first 75 minutes, then $5 each additional 15 minutes after that. The idea was, rent the truck, get the furniture from Costco (which is a few blocks away), get it to the house, and get the truck back in an hour. That sounded doable! Then I remembered the garage storage cabinets. What if I could get those from Home Depot, and the furniture from Costco at the same time?! I would save on delivery costs! I checked out the Home Depot webpage, but there was nothing at all like what I wanted. Everything was either plastic or resin, and I wanted something stronger. I looked on the Lowe's website next. Bingo! A large steel cabinet for $249, and a smaller cabinet for $157. Lowe's is less than a mile away from Home Depot; I could still get everything done and pay less than what it would cost to have the cabinets delivered, which was $79. The picture looked brighter and better each moment. I prayed and asked God to work this out for me as He saw fit, then I got to work.
Thursday morning I called Home Depot to reserve the truck. Turns out they don't do reservations - it's on a first come, first served basis. I told the woman at Home Depot that I'd need the truck Friday morning, around 10 am. See, with homeschooling and work, Fridays and Saturdays are the only days I can run all my errands, and I needed to do this on Friday because that's also my son R's day off and I was going to need his help. She told me to call a half hour before and she'd hold the truck for me, but no more than 30 minutes. At that point I decided, on faith, to go ahead and order the garage storage cabinets from Lowe's so they would be ready for me to pick up the next day. I was really taking a chance, and I considered skipping my bible study group to get there early, but that didn't feel right at all. How could I put God in second place to garage storage and furniture? No, I was going to my bible study class, and trust that God would provide.
I was up early Friday morning. I'm so glad I have a quick and easy makeup routine for days like these, because I didn't have the time to spend in front of the mirror. I went to bible study and boy am I glad I did - Daniel chapter 9 is totally awe inspiring! I left just as the video ended, ran home and called Home Depot. To my chagrin, the truck had just been rented out, and the woman didn't know when it would be back. She kindly took my number and said she'd call as soon as it was returned. In the meantime I was left to wonder, now what? My daughter suggested I check with another Home Depot, but did I really want to go to the next city north or south of us to get this truck? I thought about heading to Costco so I could be close by when the truck showed up; then a thought occurred to me: what if they didn't have the furniture anymore?! I grabbed the phone and called. Good thing I did, too - they were sold out. NO!!!!! I asked if she could check stock in other stores. She found 5 of them at a store two cities north of us, about a 20 minute drive. I called that Costco to verify and they confirmed that they still had it in stock. If I was going to do this, I'd have to act fast, but not before lifting my petition up to the Lord. I called the Home Depot in the city north of us. Yes, they had a truck and it was available to rent. The clock was ticking.
I grabbed my son and we headed north to Home Depot. Renting the truck was easy-peasy. All I needed was my driver's license, insurance card and a credit card. I left there and headed north on the expressway. I took a bit longer at Costco than I thought because the boxes were so large and bulky; so large that I wondered if we'd be able to get them all in the truck. I didn't want to have to make two trips! I was praying that it wouldn't be necessary, and praise God it wasn't. The young man at Costco was able to get everything on and even tied the boxes onto the truck for us - now that's great service! R and I went straight home, unloaded the boxes into the living room, and headed out to Lowe's. My daughter A is still nursing her leg per her doctor's orders, so she wasn't able to do any physical work, so instead she was in the kitchen making stir-fry for our lunch. No time to stop though - we ran to Lowe's to get the storage cabinets, which by the way, weigh a ton! Oh my gosh, it took so long for them to bring the stuff out because the girl couldn't find anyone to put them on the dolly. R and I were trying to load them into the truck and another customer kindly helped us. It was definitely a three person job. I stopped off at our local Costco to fill the truck with gas - that's something to keep in mind. If you bring the truck back to Home Depot and the tank isn't filled, they charge $6.50 per gallon to fill it up. No thanks! I put $20 in and made sure that was enough.
Back home we ran, left the boxes in the garage, then hauled ourselves back to Home Depot to return the truck. By now we were both tired and hungry, and R was getting a headache. Because of unforeseen delays we had the truck for 3 hours, so I ended up paying $62 for the rental. With gas the total came to $82, more than I'd wanted to spend, but considering that I was able to get so much done that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, it wasn't a bad investment. Besides, now I'm able to enjoy this:
It looks so pretty, and is extremely comfortable! The pillows were Christmas gifts from my son R. He got each of us a pillow that he felt best described our interests: A got Alice In Wonderland because of her love of Disney, E got Treasure Island, filled with adventure, and I got Sherlock Holmes. My son knows me only too well! Classic English literature, crime and mystery, all rolled into one. Sherlock Holmes has been my favorite since I was a teen. It never gets old! Anyway, there is enough seating here for our family and then some. I'm so in love with the look! I would like to eventually get an area rug, but with Molly I don't know if that's the best idea. The area rug I had in the living room had to be thrown out because Molly's nails kept getting caught in the rug and it was looking pretty shredded. I don't think I want to do that again.
By the way, the stir-fry turned out exceptionally delicious! It was a chicken stir-fry with lots of veggies and a spicy sauce. It disappeared off my plate very quickly! I'm so thankful to my son R who ran all around town with me, my son E for helping me get the furniture moved and everything put together, and my baby girl for cooking and cleaning. I'm especially thankful to God for making it all possible - I couldn't have done it without Him!
We haven't put the garage storage cabinets together yet - that's our next project. Can't wait to get that done as well! Stay tuned!
Let me just mention, for starters, that I love to decorate. I love fixing up my house, whether for holidays and special occasions or just everyday. I love changing things up. I love moving furniture around and into different rooms to get a new look. Even when I was young and living with my parents, I would change things up and move them around. I love to paint, I love to clean and polish and dust and shop for beautiful things...you get the picture.
When my two older kids came home from living in Central Florida, they brought a bunch of furniture with them, including a sofa and love seat we'd bought them at a furniture outlet store. At first I put them in the garage, since my son's desire was to look for a place and take the furniture with him. Things didn't work out for him financially, and it made no sense to me to have brand new furniture in the garage while I was sitting on faded furniture that was 13 years old. So I sold the old sofa and love seat and put the new items in the family room. It worked quite nicely.
Last year I decided to get an electric fireplace/media center for the living room, and I got rid of the enormous wall unit that was in the family room.
The wall unit worked while we had the oversized television set, but once that broke (and there was no way to get it repaired) I was left with a gaping hole in the wall unit. I tried fitting other things in there but it didn't work. Out it went, and a television table the kids brought back with them took its place.
I'd originally put it in the living room, but I moved it to the family room and put the fireplace/media console in there instead. I flanked it with bookshelves, a look I documented here. And that worked as well. I was super happy with the way the house looked.
Unfortunately, the furniture we'd bought for the kids was not the greatest quality. It was 3 1/2 years old but looked like we'd been sitting on it for 20 years. The cushions were attached to the furniture, and they were sagging horribly. The frame under the cushions also appeared to be sagging. The fabric itself looked the worse for wear. It's microfiber, which usually stands up to all kinds of abuse, but this fabric was stained and the stain wasn't coming off. I tried covering the sofa with a fluffy blanket so the sagging wouldn't show too much, but it wasn't fooling anyone. I had moved this furniture into the living room at Christmastime because the tree wouldn't fit in there with the recliners and sofa, and after Christmas everyone wanted the ugly furniture to stay in the living room because "they made the room look bigger." I thought it made the room look dingy. I wanted so badly to get rid of it, but I didn't want the huge expense. I thought about going out looking at garage sales or second hand furniture, though there's always a chance I'll end up with something as bad or worse than what I already had.
After Christmas Costco always puts their home furnishings out. I was walking by the seasonal aisle on my way to the meat section, when I saw a gorgeous, huge sectional. It was a lovely beige fabric, light but durable, with the nailhead design that I love so much. It was $999, a great price for this large piece of furniture but more than I wanted to spend. I sat on it for a minute and loved how comfortable it felt. Ah, if I could only find something similar but at a lower price! A couple of months later I saw that the price had been reduced - a common occurrence when Costco is ready to bring in the next seasonal item, in this case patio furnishings. Now the price was $699 - a whole $300 off! I was tempted, but at the same time, how would I get this home? I don't have a truck or SUV anymore. Besides, I was wanting to get some cabinets to organize the garage, and my car needs new tires. Spending $700 on a sectional wasn't an option right now.
Because I have executive membership at Costco, I get a yearly rebate from them. I wasn't expecting much; I buy from Costco regularly but I hadn't bought anything major, so there was no reason for me to get much money back. I was totally surprised when the rebate check came in: $116. The wheels in my head started turning really fast. With this rebate check I'd be able to get the sectional for under $600. No way was I going to find a deal like that anywhere else anytime. I'd have to act, and fast. Time (and inventory) was running out.
When I told my daughter what I wanted to do, she suggested renting a truck from Home Depot. Home Depot rents vans and large pick-up trucks for $19.95 for the first 75 minutes, then $5 each additional 15 minutes after that. The idea was, rent the truck, get the furniture from Costco (which is a few blocks away), get it to the house, and get the truck back in an hour. That sounded doable! Then I remembered the garage storage cabinets. What if I could get those from Home Depot, and the furniture from Costco at the same time?! I would save on delivery costs! I checked out the Home Depot webpage, but there was nothing at all like what I wanted. Everything was either plastic or resin, and I wanted something stronger. I looked on the Lowe's website next. Bingo! A large steel cabinet for $249, and a smaller cabinet for $157. Lowe's is less than a mile away from Home Depot; I could still get everything done and pay less than what it would cost to have the cabinets delivered, which was $79. The picture looked brighter and better each moment. I prayed and asked God to work this out for me as He saw fit, then I got to work.
Thursday morning I called Home Depot to reserve the truck. Turns out they don't do reservations - it's on a first come, first served basis. I told the woman at Home Depot that I'd need the truck Friday morning, around 10 am. See, with homeschooling and work, Fridays and Saturdays are the only days I can run all my errands, and I needed to do this on Friday because that's also my son R's day off and I was going to need his help. She told me to call a half hour before and she'd hold the truck for me, but no more than 30 minutes. At that point I decided, on faith, to go ahead and order the garage storage cabinets from Lowe's so they would be ready for me to pick up the next day. I was really taking a chance, and I considered skipping my bible study group to get there early, but that didn't feel right at all. How could I put God in second place to garage storage and furniture? No, I was going to my bible study class, and trust that God would provide.
I was up early Friday morning. I'm so glad I have a quick and easy makeup routine for days like these, because I didn't have the time to spend in front of the mirror. I went to bible study and boy am I glad I did - Daniel chapter 9 is totally awe inspiring! I left just as the video ended, ran home and called Home Depot. To my chagrin, the truck had just been rented out, and the woman didn't know when it would be back. She kindly took my number and said she'd call as soon as it was returned. In the meantime I was left to wonder, now what? My daughter suggested I check with another Home Depot, but did I really want to go to the next city north or south of us to get this truck? I thought about heading to Costco so I could be close by when the truck showed up; then a thought occurred to me: what if they didn't have the furniture anymore?! I grabbed the phone and called. Good thing I did, too - they were sold out. NO!!!!! I asked if she could check stock in other stores. She found 5 of them at a store two cities north of us, about a 20 minute drive. I called that Costco to verify and they confirmed that they still had it in stock. If I was going to do this, I'd have to act fast, but not before lifting my petition up to the Lord. I called the Home Depot in the city north of us. Yes, they had a truck and it was available to rent. The clock was ticking.
I grabbed my son and we headed north to Home Depot. Renting the truck was easy-peasy. All I needed was my driver's license, insurance card and a credit card. I left there and headed north on the expressway. I took a bit longer at Costco than I thought because the boxes were so large and bulky; so large that I wondered if we'd be able to get them all in the truck. I didn't want to have to make two trips! I was praying that it wouldn't be necessary, and praise God it wasn't. The young man at Costco was able to get everything on and even tied the boxes onto the truck for us - now that's great service! R and I went straight home, unloaded the boxes into the living room, and headed out to Lowe's. My daughter A is still nursing her leg per her doctor's orders, so she wasn't able to do any physical work, so instead she was in the kitchen making stir-fry for our lunch. No time to stop though - we ran to Lowe's to get the storage cabinets, which by the way, weigh a ton! Oh my gosh, it took so long for them to bring the stuff out because the girl couldn't find anyone to put them on the dolly. R and I were trying to load them into the truck and another customer kindly helped us. It was definitely a three person job. I stopped off at our local Costco to fill the truck with gas - that's something to keep in mind. If you bring the truck back to Home Depot and the tank isn't filled, they charge $6.50 per gallon to fill it up. No thanks! I put $20 in and made sure that was enough.
Back home we ran, left the boxes in the garage, then hauled ourselves back to Home Depot to return the truck. By now we were both tired and hungry, and R was getting a headache. Because of unforeseen delays we had the truck for 3 hours, so I ended up paying $62 for the rental. With gas the total came to $82, more than I'd wanted to spend, but considering that I was able to get so much done that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, it wasn't a bad investment. Besides, now I'm able to enjoy this:
It looks so pretty, and is extremely comfortable! The pillows were Christmas gifts from my son R. He got each of us a pillow that he felt best described our interests: A got Alice In Wonderland because of her love of Disney, E got Treasure Island, filled with adventure, and I got Sherlock Holmes. My son knows me only too well! Classic English literature, crime and mystery, all rolled into one. Sherlock Holmes has been my favorite since I was a teen. It never gets old! Anyway, there is enough seating here for our family and then some. I'm so in love with the look! I would like to eventually get an area rug, but with Molly I don't know if that's the best idea. The area rug I had in the living room had to be thrown out because Molly's nails kept getting caught in the rug and it was looking pretty shredded. I don't think I want to do that again.
By the way, the stir-fry turned out exceptionally delicious! It was a chicken stir-fry with lots of veggies and a spicy sauce. It disappeared off my plate very quickly! I'm so thankful to my son R who ran all around town with me, my son E for helping me get the furniture moved and everything put together, and my baby girl for cooking and cleaning. I'm especially thankful to God for making it all possible - I couldn't have done it without Him!
We haven't put the garage storage cabinets together yet - that's our next project. Can't wait to get that done as well! Stay tuned!
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
What's Been Going On
I really did want to post about my wildly wonderful weekend, but it was nonstop every minute of every day, and I just wasn't able to sit down long enough to post. Even yesterday and today have been busy, but I figured if I didn't post now I might forget everything I want to include.
Thursday night our church started its yearly carnival, but none of us went. It was in the 30's - yes, here in South Florida! - with winds making it even colder. Floridians don't do well in 35 degree weather. We weren't even going to take a chance.
Friday morning I went to the women's bible study group at church. I'd been attending on Thursday nights, but with my new job there's no way I can make it there on time. Thankfully there's a group that meets Friday mornings, but they're a week ahead of the Thursday group, which means I missed chapter 6! I'm hoping there will be a makeup class like they've done before, so I can watch the classes I missed. My youngest son went to the carnival that night while my daughter, best friend and I headed to the Chris Tomlin concert. It was the first stop on the Love Ran Red tour, and we were excited to be there! Unfortunately we missed the first act, Rend Collective, thanks to the insane traffic (which is why I make it a point to never go into Miami). When we finally made it to the venue, Tenth Avenue North was on. They're a local band, from West Palm Beach, so they're always enthusiastically welcomed back home to South Florida! We had floor seats so we were able to watch up close and personal. It was totally amazing! I love the idea of spending eternity in heaven worshiping God with Chris Tomlin leading worship!
My son went back to the carnival on Saturday, but I took that time to get some housework caught up and run some errands. I went to Target to find myself a belt for my jeans, and some ballet flats like a pair I'd gotten a couple weeks ago that were really comfortable. I got 3 belts, 2 pairs of shoes, 4 tops that were on sale, a wallet, and a nail polish. That's the problem with Target. It's like Lay's Potato Chips: you can't get just one (item).
Then Sunday, after church, we ran home and got ready to see Tim Hawkins. He is my all-time favorite comedian, the funniest man on earth in my opinion. I would highly recommend anyone who hasn't heard Tim Hawkins to check him out on YouTube. I love the fact that he's a Christian so none of his comedy is raunchy or inappropriate. My son was happy to miss the last day of the carnival for Tim Hawkins! I'm thankful that I can cross that off my bucket list - though I wouldn't hesitate to see him live again!
Work is going really well. I'm slowly getting the hang of how everything works, though I still get some of the teacher's names confused and I don't know most of the students. Everyone is being patient and helpful, which helps me feel more relaxed. Today I was brought in to see a couple of students being tested. The school director/owner wants me to become familiarized with the testing procedure so that I can administer tests in the future. Tests are given to new students to determine their grade levels and choose the appropriate curriculum to work with. There's reading and math tests; the reading test shows whether the child can read and what their level of comprehension is, while the math test is very detailed and intricate. Most kids who come into the center are having trouble with math, so that is a big focus. There are students as young as kindergarteners, all the way up to college and everything in between. I'm enjoying the kids as well as the environment.
My dress arrived today! I ordered a gorgeous little black velvet dress from New York and Company last week for a wedding my daughter and I are attending on Saturday. I wasn't sure how it would fit, even though all the dresses I've bought from NY&Co. lately have been size 10. I don't like ordering clothes online because I hate the hassle of having to ship it back if it doesn't fit, especially after waiting a week for it to arrive, but this dress was only available online. It was on clearance too - originally $79.99, I paid $23.98 for it, a deal I wasn't going to find at the actual store. I nervously tried it on, and I'm thrilled to say it fits perfectly! It's the right length, right on the knee. It's also my favorite style, fit and flare. I'm so relieved it fits, because I couldn't find anything at the stores, and there's no time to go out looking for another dress. This one worked out splendidly!
Homeschooling is also going well. My son is working on polynomials, ocean currents, and learning all about classical music. It's diverse and interesting. He's also working on his community project hours by preparing plastic eggs for the church's Easter Egg Hunt. They put out thousands of eggs, some with prizes inside, and they also give out candy to all the children. We're probably going to help with the candy bags as well, when Easter gets a bit closer.
That's my recap for the weekend. Tomorrow I'm teaching at Awana. I'm kind of nervous, because I don't feel like I've prepared enough, but Lord willing everything will go smoothly. I've been keeping to my schedule and managing my time wisely, so that, even though I'm busy, I'm able to get everything done. Until next time, good night and God bless.
Thursday night our church started its yearly carnival, but none of us went. It was in the 30's - yes, here in South Florida! - with winds making it even colder. Floridians don't do well in 35 degree weather. We weren't even going to take a chance.
Friday morning I went to the women's bible study group at church. I'd been attending on Thursday nights, but with my new job there's no way I can make it there on time. Thankfully there's a group that meets Friday mornings, but they're a week ahead of the Thursday group, which means I missed chapter 6! I'm hoping there will be a makeup class like they've done before, so I can watch the classes I missed. My youngest son went to the carnival that night while my daughter, best friend and I headed to the Chris Tomlin concert. It was the first stop on the Love Ran Red tour, and we were excited to be there! Unfortunately we missed the first act, Rend Collective, thanks to the insane traffic (which is why I make it a point to never go into Miami). When we finally made it to the venue, Tenth Avenue North was on. They're a local band, from West Palm Beach, so they're always enthusiastically welcomed back home to South Florida! We had floor seats so we were able to watch up close and personal. It was totally amazing! I love the idea of spending eternity in heaven worshiping God with Chris Tomlin leading worship!
My son went back to the carnival on Saturday, but I took that time to get some housework caught up and run some errands. I went to Target to find myself a belt for my jeans, and some ballet flats like a pair I'd gotten a couple weeks ago that were really comfortable. I got 3 belts, 2 pairs of shoes, 4 tops that were on sale, a wallet, and a nail polish. That's the problem with Target. It's like Lay's Potato Chips: you can't get just one (item).
Then Sunday, after church, we ran home and got ready to see Tim Hawkins. He is my all-time favorite comedian, the funniest man on earth in my opinion. I would highly recommend anyone who hasn't heard Tim Hawkins to check him out on YouTube. I love the fact that he's a Christian so none of his comedy is raunchy or inappropriate. My son was happy to miss the last day of the carnival for Tim Hawkins! I'm thankful that I can cross that off my bucket list - though I wouldn't hesitate to see him live again!
Work is going really well. I'm slowly getting the hang of how everything works, though I still get some of the teacher's names confused and I don't know most of the students. Everyone is being patient and helpful, which helps me feel more relaxed. Today I was brought in to see a couple of students being tested. The school director/owner wants me to become familiarized with the testing procedure so that I can administer tests in the future. Tests are given to new students to determine their grade levels and choose the appropriate curriculum to work with. There's reading and math tests; the reading test shows whether the child can read and what their level of comprehension is, while the math test is very detailed and intricate. Most kids who come into the center are having trouble with math, so that is a big focus. There are students as young as kindergarteners, all the way up to college and everything in between. I'm enjoying the kids as well as the environment.
My dress arrived today! I ordered a gorgeous little black velvet dress from New York and Company last week for a wedding my daughter and I are attending on Saturday. I wasn't sure how it would fit, even though all the dresses I've bought from NY&Co. lately have been size 10. I don't like ordering clothes online because I hate the hassle of having to ship it back if it doesn't fit, especially after waiting a week for it to arrive, but this dress was only available online. It was on clearance too - originally $79.99, I paid $23.98 for it, a deal I wasn't going to find at the actual store. I nervously tried it on, and I'm thrilled to say it fits perfectly! It's the right length, right on the knee. It's also my favorite style, fit and flare. I'm so relieved it fits, because I couldn't find anything at the stores, and there's no time to go out looking for another dress. This one worked out splendidly!
Homeschooling is also going well. My son is working on polynomials, ocean currents, and learning all about classical music. It's diverse and interesting. He's also working on his community project hours by preparing plastic eggs for the church's Easter Egg Hunt. They put out thousands of eggs, some with prizes inside, and they also give out candy to all the children. We're probably going to help with the candy bags as well, when Easter gets a bit closer.
That's my recap for the weekend. Tomorrow I'm teaching at Awana. I'm kind of nervous, because I don't feel like I've prepared enough, but Lord willing everything will go smoothly. I've been keeping to my schedule and managing my time wisely, so that, even though I'm busy, I'm able to get everything done. Until next time, good night and God bless.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Finally Friday
The end of the week is finally here, and you know what? It's been a good week. I'm glad I was alive to enjoy it :-).
I woke up with a puffy eye. The stye was still there, still hurting, still causing me great annoyance. I took a look at it when I got up, and it wasn't pretty. There is a zit on the inner part of my lower lash line. I gently pulled my bottom lid back to put medicine on it, and I could actually see it. It's no wonder the dang thing hurts so much! I put the medicine on after washing my face. I'm not a huge fan of this ointment. It's messy and makes my eye greasy and teary, but it also helps with the soreness, so on it goes. I texted my best friend IV, who is a pharmacist, and asked if there was anything else I could put on it. I was kind of hoping there was a new miracle drug that would instantly heal this thing, but she said no, it would go away on its own. Great. I have to admit, it isn't quite as sore as it was this morning, so maybe it's finally going away? Let's hope so.
My son had algebra and Hope today. That was it. The Hope class was an hour long, but the math was a lesson with a video, and we dragged that one out. I especially went over the difference between mean and median, and we did all the practice examples provided. He got a 90% on today's quiz, much better than yesterday's 70%. He got one question wrong, but when I went over it (figuring he'd done the math wrong or copied a number incorrectly), it was right. At least, according to the way the teacher in the video had explained it, he'd done it correctly. So I've emailed the teacher about it. That's one thing I'm not liking about this curriculum: too many times, the computer has the wrong answer, and if we don't catch it he'll get a lower grade. I'm waiting to hear from the teacher; after all, maybe we both misunderstood the procedure. It doesn't seem likely, but I'll give the computer program the benefit of the doubt.
Today was grocery shopping day. I spent 2 1/2 hours in 2 stores. Walmart was so packed today, you'd think there was a giveaway! I tried to get everything and get out of there quick, but it was almost impossible. I was able to get everything on my list except for the pads for my microdermabrasion system that I got a few months ago. I went to Costco to pick up a few items and to put gas in my car. I had a quarter of a tank of gas in my car, but I figured I'd go ahead and fill up the tank since I was going to be at Costco anyway. I couldn't believe my eyes. I filled up the tank with just $27.40! Just a few months ago, this same amount of gas would have cost over $45! Gas has gone from almost $4 a gallon to $2.03 today, and I'm doing the happy dance! Praise Jesus! I finished my grocery shopping under budget too, even after buying a couple of pizzas at Little Caesar's (I was too hungry and tired to cook). That made it an exceptional shopping trip.
My son R had his friends over while I was shopping, and they managed to get the computer working. Just as I'd suspected, there was something that should have been connected that wasn't, and some other minor thing that I didn't understand. I think he was tired and frustrated, and that's why he couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong. A couple more pairs of eyes and he's a happy camper.
My daughter and I went to Target so I could pick up my microdermabrasion pads. I wanted to look around at the makeup, but she quickly reminded me that I have plenty of makeup and didn't need anymore. (Kill joy). I did find a nail polish in a neutral beige color; it's almost the color of my skin, a milky matte tone that will look really pretty and go with everything. It was under $2 so she didn't make a fuss. I wanted to find something to help my nails not be so brittle, but I like to take my time and she wanted to get something to eat. I suppose it's for the best. I saved money, after all.
That's pretty much it for today. I have to figure out what my son is going to do tomorrow, since he still needs 2 more hours of school to finish off the week. It's a pain sometimes, getting 25 hours of school in for the week when he finishes his work in less time, but it's a requirement, and it's worth it to have him at home. He's happier, I'm happier, and that's what matters. Have a pleasant night ya'll.
I woke up with a puffy eye. The stye was still there, still hurting, still causing me great annoyance. I took a look at it when I got up, and it wasn't pretty. There is a zit on the inner part of my lower lash line. I gently pulled my bottom lid back to put medicine on it, and I could actually see it. It's no wonder the dang thing hurts so much! I put the medicine on after washing my face. I'm not a huge fan of this ointment. It's messy and makes my eye greasy and teary, but it also helps with the soreness, so on it goes. I texted my best friend IV, who is a pharmacist, and asked if there was anything else I could put on it. I was kind of hoping there was a new miracle drug that would instantly heal this thing, but she said no, it would go away on its own. Great. I have to admit, it isn't quite as sore as it was this morning, so maybe it's finally going away? Let's hope so.
My son had algebra and Hope today. That was it. The Hope class was an hour long, but the math was a lesson with a video, and we dragged that one out. I especially went over the difference between mean and median, and we did all the practice examples provided. He got a 90% on today's quiz, much better than yesterday's 70%. He got one question wrong, but when I went over it (figuring he'd done the math wrong or copied a number incorrectly), it was right. At least, according to the way the teacher in the video had explained it, he'd done it correctly. So I've emailed the teacher about it. That's one thing I'm not liking about this curriculum: too many times, the computer has the wrong answer, and if we don't catch it he'll get a lower grade. I'm waiting to hear from the teacher; after all, maybe we both misunderstood the procedure. It doesn't seem likely, but I'll give the computer program the benefit of the doubt.
Today was grocery shopping day. I spent 2 1/2 hours in 2 stores. Walmart was so packed today, you'd think there was a giveaway! I tried to get everything and get out of there quick, but it was almost impossible. I was able to get everything on my list except for the pads for my microdermabrasion system that I got a few months ago. I went to Costco to pick up a few items and to put gas in my car. I had a quarter of a tank of gas in my car, but I figured I'd go ahead and fill up the tank since I was going to be at Costco anyway. I couldn't believe my eyes. I filled up the tank with just $27.40! Just a few months ago, this same amount of gas would have cost over $45! Gas has gone from almost $4 a gallon to $2.03 today, and I'm doing the happy dance! Praise Jesus! I finished my grocery shopping under budget too, even after buying a couple of pizzas at Little Caesar's (I was too hungry and tired to cook). That made it an exceptional shopping trip.
My son R had his friends over while I was shopping, and they managed to get the computer working. Just as I'd suspected, there was something that should have been connected that wasn't, and some other minor thing that I didn't understand. I think he was tired and frustrated, and that's why he couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong. A couple more pairs of eyes and he's a happy camper.
My daughter and I went to Target so I could pick up my microdermabrasion pads. I wanted to look around at the makeup, but she quickly reminded me that I have plenty of makeup and didn't need anymore. (Kill joy). I did find a nail polish in a neutral beige color; it's almost the color of my skin, a milky matte tone that will look really pretty and go with everything. It was under $2 so she didn't make a fuss. I wanted to find something to help my nails not be so brittle, but I like to take my time and she wanted to get something to eat. I suppose it's for the best. I saved money, after all.
That's pretty much it for today. I have to figure out what my son is going to do tomorrow, since he still needs 2 more hours of school to finish off the week. It's a pain sometimes, getting 25 hours of school in for the week when he finishes his work in less time, but it's a requirement, and it's worth it to have him at home. He's happier, I'm happier, and that's what matters. Have a pleasant night ya'll.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Finally Friday
Fridays are usually filled with activity at our house. Whether it's school, shopping, laundry, or cleaning, something is always going on. But not today. Today I may as well have filmed an episode of Veggie Tales because that's all I did all day. I vegged.
I wasn't feeling well; not sick, just yucky. My head was achy, my back hurt, and I felt nauseous all day. No, I'm not pregnant. Quite the opposite. There's certain times of the month when a girl just doesn't want to do anything but sit around. So that's what I did.
The kid's dad came over looking for his mail. He had the nerve to ask why the kids hadn't approached his mother at the funeral. The same man that ignored his children the whole time we were there, wanted to know why his kids hadn't gone over to his mother, who has basically ignored us for the past 3 1/2+ years. I told him that, and said we weren't there to make a scene, just to honor his grandmother. He quickly changed the subject, but it irritated me even more than I already was.
Thankfully, I have my Beth Moore bible study to lift my spirits. I'm already on week 1 day 3 and I only just started the study yesterday. I'm certain I'll be caught up by the time Thursday rolls around if I keep up this pace. It shouldn't be too hard - this book is almost impossible to put down!
My friend IV was extremely excited today, because she found out what artist is going to be performing at the Dade County Youth Fair this year during Christian music night. It's Brandon Heath! We love us some Brandon Heath! I loathe going into Miami (the traffic is exasperating) and I'm not a fan of the fair, but I will put up with it just to go see Brandon Heath. It was some much needed good news for the day.
Another highlight of the day: I got a 20% off coupon from Ulta. This is great, because it means I can buy the Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue with this coupon and the $3 off I have on my membership card. A sample is supposed to be included with the eyeliner pencil order that shipped today from Bare Escentuals, and I am really excited to try it out! I've used a tinted moisturizer sample that I got from Ulta and it works well under my foundation; Complexion Rescue is a tinted moisturizer, but it's also a BB and CC cream, and it's supposed to be hydrating. All the things my skin is craving!
I put a nice piece of London broil in the crock pot with some onions, carrots, and beef broth. This is set on low to cook overnight. It takes anywhere from 10-12 hours to cook a roast in the crock pot. The nice thing is, when we get up in the morning, the whole house smells delicious! Heck, it's smelling wonderful already!
That's gonna be it for today. Hoping for a better day tomorrow; trusting God for all my needs. Good night ya'll.
I wasn't feeling well; not sick, just yucky. My head was achy, my back hurt, and I felt nauseous all day. No, I'm not pregnant. Quite the opposite. There's certain times of the month when a girl just doesn't want to do anything but sit around. So that's what I did.
The kid's dad came over looking for his mail. He had the nerve to ask why the kids hadn't approached his mother at the funeral. The same man that ignored his children the whole time we were there, wanted to know why his kids hadn't gone over to his mother, who has basically ignored us for the past 3 1/2+ years. I told him that, and said we weren't there to make a scene, just to honor his grandmother. He quickly changed the subject, but it irritated me even more than I already was.
Thankfully, I have my Beth Moore bible study to lift my spirits. I'm already on week 1 day 3 and I only just started the study yesterday. I'm certain I'll be caught up by the time Thursday rolls around if I keep up this pace. It shouldn't be too hard - this book is almost impossible to put down!
My friend IV was extremely excited today, because she found out what artist is going to be performing at the Dade County Youth Fair this year during Christian music night. It's Brandon Heath! We love us some Brandon Heath! I loathe going into Miami (the traffic is exasperating) and I'm not a fan of the fair, but I will put up with it just to go see Brandon Heath. It was some much needed good news for the day.
Another highlight of the day: I got a 20% off coupon from Ulta. This is great, because it means I can buy the Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue with this coupon and the $3 off I have on my membership card. A sample is supposed to be included with the eyeliner pencil order that shipped today from Bare Escentuals, and I am really excited to try it out! I've used a tinted moisturizer sample that I got from Ulta and it works well under my foundation; Complexion Rescue is a tinted moisturizer, but it's also a BB and CC cream, and it's supposed to be hydrating. All the things my skin is craving!
I put a nice piece of London broil in the crock pot with some onions, carrots, and beef broth. This is set on low to cook overnight. It takes anywhere from 10-12 hours to cook a roast in the crock pot. The nice thing is, when we get up in the morning, the whole house smells delicious! Heck, it's smelling wonderful already!
That's gonna be it for today. Hoping for a better day tomorrow; trusting God for all my needs. Good night ya'll.
Friday, January 16, 2015
TGIF Ya'll!
This day started off a little earlier than the past few days. It wasn't because of me purposing to start my day early, though. My daughter slept over at a friend's house because she's dog sitting for them, but she forgot to turn off her iHome alarm. All of a sudden, at 6am, I was awaken by a loud buzzing sound. Interestingly, it never wakes up the boys :P. I went back to bed after turning it off only because it was so dark out I thought I could get another hour of shut-eye. No such luck.
I grabbed my phone and looked at my emails, the weather (63 degrees this morning, woot!), then I went on the Bare Minerals website to see if there was anything interesting going on. There was: Beauty Rush!!! If I wasn't awake before, I sure was fully awake after that. I had my prayer time, then got up and started getting ready for my day. I knew I had to go grocery shopping, but I also knew I wanted to be home by noon. Beauty Rush starts at 9am Pacific time, and I know that, once it starts, it gets bombarded. I also wanted to try some of the new makeup I'd gotten yesterday, so I was gonna have to get a move on. I had a bowl of cereal and coffee for breakfast, then started getting ready. I used the new Stroke of Light brightener first. Note to self: a little goes a long way. It really did brighten up my eyes, but I think I went a little overboard. Three dots should be sufficient. I was able to blend it out, though, and it took a few years off, I'm not even joking. That stuff is great! Then I tried the Matte foundation by Bare Minerals. I got a nice size sample of it, in the same shade as my Original foundation, and I was curious to see if it was gonna be any different. Honestly, I didn't notice. I needed more of the Matte to cover the redness on my cheeks than I use of the Original, but as for the actual look, I couldn't see where it looked more matte. It still looked great, and I've noticed as the day progressed that I had less shininess come through on my forehead, so that part was nice. Overall I think it's a good alternative, especially on days when my face seems oilier. I did my eye makeup, then I tried the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. What I like most about this bronzer is the scent - it smells like chocolate! Oh, it is scrumptious smelling!! As far as the look of the bronzer, I do like it. It's similar to Bare Mineral's The Skinny Dip except that it's matte. It's a good color for me, not too dark, and again, anything that smells that good on my face is a keeper. Next was the mascara. I put it on more carefully today, and it didn't transfer. More importantly, it didn't cause my eyes to itch. That has been my problem with mascara for years: they cause my lashes to itch, and then the lashes start to fall out. I would rarely put mascara on for that reason. The only mascara that didn't bother me was Bare Minerals Flawless Definition, and I love it for that reason. I can now say that Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara also makes my lashes look long and full without causing any itchy reactions. Still don't like the name, though. Lastly, I put on the liquid lipstick again, a bit heavier this time. The color, Peony, is a very bright pink when first applied, but it dries matte. My first issue with it, was that it settled into all the lines in my lips. It made my lips look wrinkly. Once it dried it didn't look as bad, but it was really dry. I didn't put on any lip gloss because I wanted to see how it felt and how long it lasted, but I've determined this lipstick cannot be worn without lip gloss. It is too drying on the lips. The lasting power is great, though. Once it was on it wasn't budging. I just didn't care for the feel of it.
I finished putting on my makeup and getting dressed, then I checked the time. It was already 10:00 and I hadn't left the house yet! I put on a yellow tank top under a yellow jacket that a co-worker of mine gave me years ago but I rarely wear because it's too hot out. Today was gonna be in the 60's so I figured I would take advantage and wear this bright pretty jacket. I was in the bathroom finishing getting ready, with my daughter chatting away. I got some hand cream and was rubbing it on my hands when suddenly...POP! I popped the burn blister. The big one. Since it didn't hurt I'd forgotten all about it, and I rubbed a bit too hard. The nasty part was, it was full of fluid, which went all on my jacket. The fluid was clear, which is good because that means the burn isn't infected, but I wasn't about to wear a jacket with burn ooze on it. I had to quickly change and get a bandage on the burn, because of course now it was starting to hurt. I finally got out of the house at 10:15.
I had already figured out my budget in my head. To stay at the $300 mark, after having spent $122 at Winn-Dixie and calculating that I needed to spend about $91 at Costco, I made it my goal to stay at or around $87 at Walmart. Mostly what I needed to get were staples: potatoes, carrots, onions, breakfast foods, milk, that sort of thing. I did my best to stick to my list, and after giving the cashier my $3 off coupon for my hair colorant (yep, time to color my hair again), the total came to $88.06. I was so happy with myself! I then headed to Costco, again keeping in mind that I wanted to stay at or around $91. I was super happy to see that bacon had gone down in price; the last time I'd bought bacon the 4 lb. box cost me $20. This time the price was $14. I'd got almost everything, and was on my way to pick up the last item on my list, when I spotted my kid's great uncle. He's a very nice gentleman, but he's a bit of a gossip. After having attended grandma Maria's funeral and the family pretty much ignoring me, and their dad not calling E for over a week and a half, I didn't want to have to answer any questions. I turned around and went straight to check out. Because of that, I was able to keep my bill to $71, so I was able to save $20. I figured, God wanted me to keep that extra money for Beauty Rush ;-).
I got home at 12:15, and my daughter was already loading up her cart with goodies. All I was interested in was skincare. There were some skincare sets I was hoping would be on Beauty Rush so I could get a good deal on them. Sure enough, I scored a full size facial cleanser, full size moisturizer and full size eye cream, all for only $28. Just the eye cream alone sells for $32, so that price was wonderful! I couldn't resist a beautiful set my daughter pointed out to me called Day and Play - 6 products for $18. I tried to add them to my cart, but I kept running into transmission problems. Ugh! I thought it was my computer, because my daughter was on her Mac and she had no issues. I tried logging in on her iPad but it wasn't cooperating either, so I went on my phone. That worked fine, and boy was I glad! There were two other sets I'd seen that I really wanted - Touch of Sun and Bare Guide To Color Warm, both neutral kits and both under $20. My daughter decided she only wanted the Day and Play set, so I added it onto my order, that way she wouldn't have to pay shipping. I'm glad I was finally able to get my order in, because shortly afterwards they ran out of the skincare set. I would have cried if I'd missed that deal! Later on I read on Bare Escentual's Facebook page that lots of people were having problems with the website crashing, so it wasn't my computer after all. I guess I'm not the only one who thinks Beauty Rush is amazing!
By the time I'd finished placing my order and putting away the groceries, it was past lunchtime and I hadn't made anything. What's more, E had two finals to work on and he hadn't started either one. I put some Tyson chicken and fries in the oven (staples in my house) and got to work organizing his science notes for studying. He asked me how many questions were on the science final, so I went to check. I realized then that there were two exams he had to do: his unit test AND his final exam. I thought the poor kid was gonna pass out! We ate lunch, then sat down to study and review everything. That took an hour. I decided that, rather than have him get overwhelmed, he could take the unit test today and the final tomorrow. He still had to finish part 3 of his algebra exam which was shorter, so that way he'd do two exams today and finish the semester tomorrow, hopefully more relaxed. He went ahead and did the science exam, and to his surprise he got an 88%. There are still 3 essay questions the teacher has to grade, so that isn't his final grade, but it's good so far. His algebra teacher emailed him today - the question he'd gotten marked wrong was actually right. She corrected the score, but he still ended up with a 75% on part 2 of the test. I'm really hoping he gets 100% on part 3. I had my son R double check his work, and R found a mistake. He made his brother go back and review. It was something so simple: a greater than sign where there should have been a less than sign. If he gets a perfect score he'll end up with an 82% on his final; not the A he wanted but a B is still a very good grade.
I'm hearing the kids in the park - it's 9:00 at night, which means there's a soccer game going on. I think it's time for me to shower and get ready for bed. Good night folks. God bless.
I got home at 12:15, and my daughter was already loading up her cart with goodies. All I was interested in was skincare. There were some skincare sets I was hoping would be on Beauty Rush so I could get a good deal on them. Sure enough, I scored a full size facial cleanser, full size moisturizer and full size eye cream, all for only $28. Just the eye cream alone sells for $32, so that price was wonderful! I couldn't resist a beautiful set my daughter pointed out to me called Day and Play - 6 products for $18. I tried to add them to my cart, but I kept running into transmission problems. Ugh! I thought it was my computer, because my daughter was on her Mac and she had no issues. I tried logging in on her iPad but it wasn't cooperating either, so I went on my phone. That worked fine, and boy was I glad! There were two other sets I'd seen that I really wanted - Touch of Sun and Bare Guide To Color Warm, both neutral kits and both under $20. My daughter decided she only wanted the Day and Play set, so I added it onto my order, that way she wouldn't have to pay shipping. I'm glad I was finally able to get my order in, because shortly afterwards they ran out of the skincare set. I would have cried if I'd missed that deal! Later on I read on Bare Escentual's Facebook page that lots of people were having problems with the website crashing, so it wasn't my computer after all. I guess I'm not the only one who thinks Beauty Rush is amazing!
By the time I'd finished placing my order and putting away the groceries, it was past lunchtime and I hadn't made anything. What's more, E had two finals to work on and he hadn't started either one. I put some Tyson chicken and fries in the oven (staples in my house) and got to work organizing his science notes for studying. He asked me how many questions were on the science final, so I went to check. I realized then that there were two exams he had to do: his unit test AND his final exam. I thought the poor kid was gonna pass out! We ate lunch, then sat down to study and review everything. That took an hour. I decided that, rather than have him get overwhelmed, he could take the unit test today and the final tomorrow. He still had to finish part 3 of his algebra exam which was shorter, so that way he'd do two exams today and finish the semester tomorrow, hopefully more relaxed. He went ahead and did the science exam, and to his surprise he got an 88%. There are still 3 essay questions the teacher has to grade, so that isn't his final grade, but it's good so far. His algebra teacher emailed him today - the question he'd gotten marked wrong was actually right. She corrected the score, but he still ended up with a 75% on part 2 of the test. I'm really hoping he gets 100% on part 3. I had my son R double check his work, and R found a mistake. He made his brother go back and review. It was something so simple: a greater than sign where there should have been a less than sign. If he gets a perfect score he'll end up with an 82% on his final; not the A he wanted but a B is still a very good grade.
I'm hearing the kids in the park - it's 9:00 at night, which means there's a soccer game going on. I think it's time for me to shower and get ready for bed. Good night folks. God bless.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Finally, Friday!
This week seemed so long! I guess after having two weeks off with the holidays, getting back to school and our routine was harder than I'd expected. Preparing for semester finals didn't make it any easier.
I got up later than usual this morning. Getting up early everyday must have worn me out, because I didn't even open my eyes till 6:45, then stayed in bed till almost 8 am. That's very unlike me; I'm a morning person, and I like to get going bright and early. It wasn't until I heard my oldest son coughing up a lung that I even stirred. Poor kid, he's feeling bad but he has a good attitude about it. He was off from work today, and he stayed home trying to rest and recover, which is good. I finally got up and got moving, making breakfast and looking at E's schedule for today. It's been hard getting everything done because all his pretests, assignments and reviews have been overwhelming. Today is the first day that he's caught up, and it's Friday. That should give an idea of what our week has been like.
E had his Algebra review test along with his Hope collaboration, and he had his English thesis to turn in. We started on Algebra at 10:00 am, an hour later than usual. As I said, I was running late. He began working on it but stopped at 11:00 and headed over to his live lesson. The collab was super easy. Basically he just had to participate with the entire group, answering questions from the semester review. Once he was done I started on lunch: macaroni and cheese, and Tyson chicken strips. Actually, the boys had the chicken strips; my daughter and I had breaded shrimp. Now, when I say macaroni and cheese, I don't mean Kraft or Velveeta. This isn't boxed mac and cheese. This is me making a rue, adding milk and cheese to make an actual cheese sauce, then adding the elbow macaroni and baking it in the oven with bread crumbs over the top. My kids won't eat boxed mac and cheese after eating this stuff. Trust me, it's delicious.
After lunch E sat down again to work on his Algebra pretest, but he was so distracted. Many of the questions are long, detailed word problems. A lot were from lessons that he'd done well on but he didn't remember how they were done. That's the problem with Algebra: you do the work, then put it in the back of your mind because there's a new system to learn. When the tests come, it takes a moment (or two, or three) before it all comes back. With my son, the idea that he has to do 58 problems and he can't remember all the steps to solving them gets him flustered. Suddenly, the room is too hot, his head is hurting, he can't think straight, he's tired of sitting, yada yada yada. I have to sit there with him and remind him that if he were in school there would be no excuses. He finally finished the pretest, and he got a 74. We are gonna have to go over a lot of these concepts if he's gonna bring his grade up. I see many hours of studying over the weekend. What fun.
Thankfully, he did get his English thesis submitted. His sister reviewed it, made a few corrections, and it's done. Now he has 5 final exams to prepare for. I'm thinking that he should just do his Hope exam over the weekend so he can focus on the other classes, like algebra and science, which are harder. It'll take some convincing; working over the weekend is not his cup of tea. But as I've told him before, if he were back in school he'd be doing homework every weekend. As it stands now, he rarely has to work over the weekend, so he should be thankful for that. Besides, he'll have a short week once these exams are over. Best to get it all done so he can enjoy his time off.
That has been my entire day. School. I cooked, I cleaned up the kitchen, and I fixed my bed. I did no other housework, I went nowhere, I did nothing else. My day was absorbed with homeschooling. Some days I think, ugh, I'm exhausted! I'm so stressed! But then I remember when he was in school. I was equally tired, equally stressed, and I spent more time on school than we do now. There were weeks when it was never ending homework assignments, projects, shopping for projects, computer work, reading, and weekends that were always work filled. There were time restraints and deadlines; not that there aren't any now, but homeschooling is so much more flexible. He no longer comes home saying he didn't understand the lesson because the class was distracting the teacher. He doesn't complain about his teachers; instead, he loves them and is so appreciative of them. When I think about all that, I know it's worth the effort. This is what is best for my son, and for my family. Rather than see this as a burden, I see it as a blessing.
I need some rest. I'm gonna shower, and take it easy. God bless and good night to all.
I got up later than usual this morning. Getting up early everyday must have worn me out, because I didn't even open my eyes till 6:45, then stayed in bed till almost 8 am. That's very unlike me; I'm a morning person, and I like to get going bright and early. It wasn't until I heard my oldest son coughing up a lung that I even stirred. Poor kid, he's feeling bad but he has a good attitude about it. He was off from work today, and he stayed home trying to rest and recover, which is good. I finally got up and got moving, making breakfast and looking at E's schedule for today. It's been hard getting everything done because all his pretests, assignments and reviews have been overwhelming. Today is the first day that he's caught up, and it's Friday. That should give an idea of what our week has been like.
E had his Algebra review test along with his Hope collaboration, and he had his English thesis to turn in. We started on Algebra at 10:00 am, an hour later than usual. As I said, I was running late. He began working on it but stopped at 11:00 and headed over to his live lesson. The collab was super easy. Basically he just had to participate with the entire group, answering questions from the semester review. Once he was done I started on lunch: macaroni and cheese, and Tyson chicken strips. Actually, the boys had the chicken strips; my daughter and I had breaded shrimp. Now, when I say macaroni and cheese, I don't mean Kraft or Velveeta. This isn't boxed mac and cheese. This is me making a rue, adding milk and cheese to make an actual cheese sauce, then adding the elbow macaroni and baking it in the oven with bread crumbs over the top. My kids won't eat boxed mac and cheese after eating this stuff. Trust me, it's delicious.
After lunch E sat down again to work on his Algebra pretest, but he was so distracted. Many of the questions are long, detailed word problems. A lot were from lessons that he'd done well on but he didn't remember how they were done. That's the problem with Algebra: you do the work, then put it in the back of your mind because there's a new system to learn. When the tests come, it takes a moment (or two, or three) before it all comes back. With my son, the idea that he has to do 58 problems and he can't remember all the steps to solving them gets him flustered. Suddenly, the room is too hot, his head is hurting, he can't think straight, he's tired of sitting, yada yada yada. I have to sit there with him and remind him that if he were in school there would be no excuses. He finally finished the pretest, and he got a 74. We are gonna have to go over a lot of these concepts if he's gonna bring his grade up. I see many hours of studying over the weekend. What fun.
Thankfully, he did get his English thesis submitted. His sister reviewed it, made a few corrections, and it's done. Now he has 5 final exams to prepare for. I'm thinking that he should just do his Hope exam over the weekend so he can focus on the other classes, like algebra and science, which are harder. It'll take some convincing; working over the weekend is not his cup of tea. But as I've told him before, if he were back in school he'd be doing homework every weekend. As it stands now, he rarely has to work over the weekend, so he should be thankful for that. Besides, he'll have a short week once these exams are over. Best to get it all done so he can enjoy his time off.
That has been my entire day. School. I cooked, I cleaned up the kitchen, and I fixed my bed. I did no other housework, I went nowhere, I did nothing else. My day was absorbed with homeschooling. Some days I think, ugh, I'm exhausted! I'm so stressed! But then I remember when he was in school. I was equally tired, equally stressed, and I spent more time on school than we do now. There were weeks when it was never ending homework assignments, projects, shopping for projects, computer work, reading, and weekends that were always work filled. There were time restraints and deadlines; not that there aren't any now, but homeschooling is so much more flexible. He no longer comes home saying he didn't understand the lesson because the class was distracting the teacher. He doesn't complain about his teachers; instead, he loves them and is so appreciative of them. When I think about all that, I know it's worth the effort. This is what is best for my son, and for my family. Rather than see this as a burden, I see it as a blessing.
I need some rest. I'm gonna shower, and take it easy. God bless and good night to all.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Freaky Friday
Okay, maybe freaky isn't the right word. How about hectic? My jam-packed schedule for today made it just a tad frazzled for me!
First thing in the morning, was the women's Bible study breakfast. I don't attend this Bible study; the women meet on Friday mornings at 8 am, and that's the time I'm making breakfast before school. Now granted, I can modify my schedule and we can start school later, but while I'm a morning person, I don't like feeling rushed. I like to take my mornings easy, have my prayer time, my devotions, my leisurely cup of coffee, and to get all that done and still be at church by 8 am would mean getting up at 5. And I'm not that early of a morning person. However, the lady hosting the breakfast is my Tuesday night running partner, and she was so sweet to call me last night to remind me about the breakfast, that I knew I had to go even if only for a little while. There was a lovely brunch style menu, 3 different quiches, biscuits, finger sandwiches, fresh fruit, oatmeal cookies, two different types of coffee, ice tea, and orange juice. The fellowship was sweet too. I'm not what anyone would call a "people person"; I'm an introvert, and I get tongue-tied in large groups. I end up off in a corner watching the others and listening to the conversations. I did that for awhile, close to the Christmas music that was playing, but then we moved to the dining room for our meal. It was still really nice to get to chit-chat with a couple of ladies that I don't often get to speak to. A couple of women shared devotions and stories, there was laughter, and before long it was 9:30 and I had to leave. I was sorry to go but glad I'd gotten up a little early just to be there.
After that was done I ran home and got there just in time to pick up my daughter for her leg ultrasound. Thankfully the place is close by so we got there exactly at 9:45; her appointment was at 10. They got the paperwork processed super quick, and we anticipated it not taking long. Of course things never go the way we think, do they? At 10:30 a technician came to get my daughter, to explain that they'd had an emergency and were running behind. They were so apologetic that we couldn't get upset. Within about 15 minutes they took her in, and informed me that it would probably take 45 minutes to an hour. I could have gone home but I decided to stay in case she needed me. While in the waiting room I found out what the emergency was: an older gentleman had also gone in for an ultrasound, and they'd found several blood clots. His doctor was informed and he was being taken to the hospital. I was so thankful that my daughter had the right attitude and didn't get upset about having to wait. It was pretty obvious this gentleman needed medical attention more urgently than she did. Once she was done we came back home. The technician said there were no blood clots (thank You Jesus!) and that her doctor would have the results in 2 days. That means Tuesday, since today is Friday. We're gonna have to be patient till then.
When I got home I was excited to find my second Bare Escentuals order had arrived! I quickly opened it and was absolutely thrilled! The eyeshadows I got are called 7 Steps To Bare, and they're 7 neutral shades ranging from very light beige to really dark brown. The colors are so pretty, and so perfect for everyday! I also got a lipstick/lip gloss combo in a neutral pinkish color that is totally gorgeous! I can't wait to get these on and start experimenting with the colors!
Since we were gonna be out for the morning I told my son to watch a documentary on animal life. Thank God we have Netflix! It means he can watch what he wants when he wants. Today's school schedule called for only 2 assignments, but I forgot he had a live lesson at 11 am, which is when he finally got up (can you tell mom wasn't home?). The advantage once again, is that all his live lessons are recorded, so whatever he misses he can still go back to.
Tonight was the Christmas concert at the church my daughter works at, where we used to attend. My daughter was playing with the youth band so she had to be there early. I was supposed to take my cousin's kids to karate, so I took a shower right after lunch to make sure I would be ready. Turns out the kids were all sick so they weren't going to their karate class. That made it a bit easier for me to get ready, which was nice since my schedule had fallen a bit behind. I decided I wanted to get dressed up really nice; after all, this wasn't just a concert, it was a church service, too. So I put on a pretty black pencil skirt with a white floral design, and an emerald green tank and sweater. I took my time doing my makeup (which turned out really pretty) and put on a pair of high heeled sling-backs. At least I was smart enough to take my white jean jacket with me because when we got there, MAN was it cold! It was 63 degrees - yeah, for me that's super cold. I was so thankful that the church was serving hot chocolate and cookies. The hot chocolate was really really hot which was really really nice. I was able to stop shivering after that. I'd invited some friends from the church were we worship now, and we all sat together and enjoyed great music and teaching. The only hiccup for me was that my daughter invited her dad to see her play. It was awkward having him there; we've been separated for 3 years now and he has never once acknowledged having done anything wrong, even though he's still living with his girlfriend. I decided to let him have his time with his kids, and I stayed with my friends. When they left I went around saying hi to people I knew, then joined my kids once he left. It was so uncomfortable for me. I want my kids to have a relationship with their father because he is their father. I just don't want to have a relationship with him myself. I pray for him, and ask God to work in his heart. I know that God can do miracles, and he wouldn't be the first person whose life turned around because of an encounter with God. I pray that for him. It's very difficult, but I have to remind myself that Jesus died for him too. My problem is, he has hurt me terribly, and I've struggled with anger and bitterness because of him. I've found that the less contact I have with him, the more I can heal. It's a sad situation but it's the reality I am dealing with right now. I pray God would have mercy and heal my heart.
Once I got home I cleaned up the kitchen. We'd had dinner and left for the church shortly after so all the dishes were still in the sink. I wore one of the Moxie lipsticks that I'd gotten from Bare Minerals, a lovely deep pink color along with the lip pencil. I ate dinner, had hot chocolate and a cookie, yet when I got home my lips were just as colored as when I'd first put the lipstick on. I couldn't believe it! It really has staying power! It was so great to have several people tell me I looked so nice and so young - that's when you know the makeup is working, LOL! Now it's time to get ready for bed. Tomorrow promises to be another busy day, as usual. Have a good night.
First thing in the morning, was the women's Bible study breakfast. I don't attend this Bible study; the women meet on Friday mornings at 8 am, and that's the time I'm making breakfast before school. Now granted, I can modify my schedule and we can start school later, but while I'm a morning person, I don't like feeling rushed. I like to take my mornings easy, have my prayer time, my devotions, my leisurely cup of coffee, and to get all that done and still be at church by 8 am would mean getting up at 5. And I'm not that early of a morning person. However, the lady hosting the breakfast is my Tuesday night running partner, and she was so sweet to call me last night to remind me about the breakfast, that I knew I had to go even if only for a little while. There was a lovely brunch style menu, 3 different quiches, biscuits, finger sandwiches, fresh fruit, oatmeal cookies, two different types of coffee, ice tea, and orange juice. The fellowship was sweet too. I'm not what anyone would call a "people person"; I'm an introvert, and I get tongue-tied in large groups. I end up off in a corner watching the others and listening to the conversations. I did that for awhile, close to the Christmas music that was playing, but then we moved to the dining room for our meal. It was still really nice to get to chit-chat with a couple of ladies that I don't often get to speak to. A couple of women shared devotions and stories, there was laughter, and before long it was 9:30 and I had to leave. I was sorry to go but glad I'd gotten up a little early just to be there.
After that was done I ran home and got there just in time to pick up my daughter for her leg ultrasound. Thankfully the place is close by so we got there exactly at 9:45; her appointment was at 10. They got the paperwork processed super quick, and we anticipated it not taking long. Of course things never go the way we think, do they? At 10:30 a technician came to get my daughter, to explain that they'd had an emergency and were running behind. They were so apologetic that we couldn't get upset. Within about 15 minutes they took her in, and informed me that it would probably take 45 minutes to an hour. I could have gone home but I decided to stay in case she needed me. While in the waiting room I found out what the emergency was: an older gentleman had also gone in for an ultrasound, and they'd found several blood clots. His doctor was informed and he was being taken to the hospital. I was so thankful that my daughter had the right attitude and didn't get upset about having to wait. It was pretty obvious this gentleman needed medical attention more urgently than she did. Once she was done we came back home. The technician said there were no blood clots (thank You Jesus!) and that her doctor would have the results in 2 days. That means Tuesday, since today is Friday. We're gonna have to be patient till then.
When I got home I was excited to find my second Bare Escentuals order had arrived! I quickly opened it and was absolutely thrilled! The eyeshadows I got are called 7 Steps To Bare, and they're 7 neutral shades ranging from very light beige to really dark brown. The colors are so pretty, and so perfect for everyday! I also got a lipstick/lip gloss combo in a neutral pinkish color that is totally gorgeous! I can't wait to get these on and start experimenting with the colors!
Since we were gonna be out for the morning I told my son to watch a documentary on animal life. Thank God we have Netflix! It means he can watch what he wants when he wants. Today's school schedule called for only 2 assignments, but I forgot he had a live lesson at 11 am, which is when he finally got up (can you tell mom wasn't home?). The advantage once again, is that all his live lessons are recorded, so whatever he misses he can still go back to.
Tonight was the Christmas concert at the church my daughter works at, where we used to attend. My daughter was playing with the youth band so she had to be there early. I was supposed to take my cousin's kids to karate, so I took a shower right after lunch to make sure I would be ready. Turns out the kids were all sick so they weren't going to their karate class. That made it a bit easier for me to get ready, which was nice since my schedule had fallen a bit behind. I decided I wanted to get dressed up really nice; after all, this wasn't just a concert, it was a church service, too. So I put on a pretty black pencil skirt with a white floral design, and an emerald green tank and sweater. I took my time doing my makeup (which turned out really pretty) and put on a pair of high heeled sling-backs. At least I was smart enough to take my white jean jacket with me because when we got there, MAN was it cold! It was 63 degrees - yeah, for me that's super cold. I was so thankful that the church was serving hot chocolate and cookies. The hot chocolate was really really hot which was really really nice. I was able to stop shivering after that. I'd invited some friends from the church were we worship now, and we all sat together and enjoyed great music and teaching. The only hiccup for me was that my daughter invited her dad to see her play. It was awkward having him there; we've been separated for 3 years now and he has never once acknowledged having done anything wrong, even though he's still living with his girlfriend. I decided to let him have his time with his kids, and I stayed with my friends. When they left I went around saying hi to people I knew, then joined my kids once he left. It was so uncomfortable for me. I want my kids to have a relationship with their father because he is their father. I just don't want to have a relationship with him myself. I pray for him, and ask God to work in his heart. I know that God can do miracles, and he wouldn't be the first person whose life turned around because of an encounter with God. I pray that for him. It's very difficult, but I have to remind myself that Jesus died for him too. My problem is, he has hurt me terribly, and I've struggled with anger and bitterness because of him. I've found that the less contact I have with him, the more I can heal. It's a sad situation but it's the reality I am dealing with right now. I pray God would have mercy and heal my heart.
Once I got home I cleaned up the kitchen. We'd had dinner and left for the church shortly after so all the dishes were still in the sink. I wore one of the Moxie lipsticks that I'd gotten from Bare Minerals, a lovely deep pink color along with the lip pencil. I ate dinner, had hot chocolate and a cookie, yet when I got home my lips were just as colored as when I'd first put the lipstick on. I couldn't believe it! It really has staying power! It was so great to have several people tell me I looked so nice and so young - that's when you know the makeup is working, LOL! Now it's time to get ready for bed. Tomorrow promises to be another busy day, as usual. Have a good night.
Friday, December 5, 2014
TGIF
This week has zoomed by for me. Despite the fact that Monday we had no power for 9 hours and only got 2 hours worth of school done, I've found that making up the time has been more difficult than anticipated. My son has not only kept up with the work, he is right on schedule and has a light work day today. On his agenda is his unit test for science which we will have to review and study for, one live lesson and reading for his leadership class. All that in 6 hours? He can do it all in 3! And if the rain continues as it has this morning (and every morning all week) he may not be able to do PE in the park. Just Dance, anyone?
I really do love the flexibility of homeschooling. It allows us to move things around to fit our schedule and our needs. But that 25 hour per week requirement can get tricky. Some weeks it's not a problem; he has portfolios and projects to turn in, along with lessons and tests. Other weeks, it's smooth sailing, and those are the times when we have to be creative. In school, their time in class counts no matter what they're doing, and there were times my son would come home and tell me they did nothing in class but talk to their friends and play board games. It doesn't work that way for me. He has to do actual school work to count for his attendance. Any hours he makes over on one week do not count for other weeks; it's 25 hours minimum each week. I could "fudge" the numbers, but what would Jesus think of that? And what lesson would I be teaching my son? For me, that's not an option. What is an option is reading. Any reading. Except that my youngest son, unlike his siblings, is not a fan of reading. Thankfully he does like reading mangas, and that's what he did.
Breakfast for today: cold cereal and toast, along with my coffee and morning vitamin cocktail. I've been having eggs and bacon for breakfast almost everyday, and while I do enjoy that traditional kind of meal, it does get tiring. Lunch/dinner (I typically cook in the afternoon for the whole day) is easy chicken and stuffing in my trusty crockpot. I don't know what I'd do without my crockpots. They're my favorite appliance in the kitchen. No, make that the whole house.
So y'all, this morning I got an email that got me so excited - 20% off of everything on the Bare Escentuals website! I was there in a nano-second. Now, before it starts looking like my life revolves around makeup and that's where I spend all my time and money, let me explain why a sale like this gets my attention. I actually don't own a whole lot of makeup. A few years ago (I believe it was 2007 or 2008) I received a gorgeous Elizabeth Arden makeup kit for Christmas. It had eyeshadows, blushes, lipsticks, eye liners, and a beautiful set of brushes. Of that set, the only things I no longer have are the blushes (there were 2) and one lipstick. Everything else is what I have been using. Yes, some of the eyeshadow palettes are down to almost nothing, but there are a few that still have product left. The problem is, after all these years they are barely pigmented anymore, and even those that do show up when I use them don't have lasting power. The lipsticks are nice; actually, only one of them gets used regularly. One I don't really care for, and the other is gorgeous but it's a very dark red, so it's only appropriate for special occasions. My brown eye liner is almost gone. The black and silver ones I still have and they work pretty well (surprisingly). The brushes, well, I finally started to replace them because they were looking the worse for wear. It has been time to get new makeup and tools for a while now.
The only items I replaced regularly were my foundation, powder and blush. Because I have sensitive skin, I have to be careful what products I use. Brands like Maybelline and Cover Girl which have strong chemicals and fragrances make me break out. I'd been using Almay products, specifically the Smart Shade variety. I liked not having to go to a store and get color-matched; these products adapt to the skin's natural shade. And they worked great - at first. See, the foundation comes in a tube. When I would get a new tube, the foundation looked good, the color would match, and it was pretty smooth. Then I'd get halfway through the tube and the color wasn't looking the same. I couldn't mix the product in the tube, and I think it would separate after awhile. By the time I was at the end of the product I looked like a hot mess. I didn't like the feel of the makeup either; it felt heavy on my skin. I "felt" like I was wearing makeup, if that makes sense. The powder blush I use is also Smart Shade technology, but I find I have to layer it on before it will even show. And as for the powder, it's blah. Yes, it takes away the shine, but it doesn't last very long. I wasn't unhappy with my makeup, but I wasn't liking it much either.
It was actually my daughter's skin problems that prompted me to make some changes. My daughter has rosacea, a skin condition that causes redness and rash. She takes medicines for it but whenever her face flares up it's hard to conceal. She tried several products but the redness would still show through. She also started having lesions appear on her face. We went to see a dermatologist who diagnosed her with a form of lupus. Though none of the tests came back positive for systemic lupus (the disease that affects the whole body), she did have a very low positive for discoid lupus (which affects only the skin). She went on treatment for it but it only worsened. The dermatologist we were seeing kept insisting it was getting better, but we knew that wasn't the case, so we went to see a different dermatologist. This one took one look at her face and did a biopsy right then and there. Y'all, it was the longest and most difficult 11 days of our lives, waiting for the results. Praise the Lord, the tests came back negative for cancer, lupus, viruses, and bacteria. After 2 very small biopsies, we finally received a diagnosis: serbo psoriasis, a form of dermatitis that can be treated with a non-steroid cream, and which could in time disappear on its own, though like rosacea can have flare-ups. It was wonderful news, and we were thankful to God that it wasn't anything more serious. But she was left with two small scars on her face and no real cure.
It was important to me to help find products for my daughter that would cover up the scarring and skin conditions, but that were also gentle, since both conditions get aggravated pretty easily. At the same time I wanted something new for myself, though I didn't expect both of us to be using the same makeup. After all, I'm 50 (and I'll be 51 in 9 days) and my daughter is 24. Her needs are different from mine, so it stands to reason her makeup would be different from mine. When my hairdresser said she used Bare Minerals, I took my daughter to Ulta and we both tried their foundation. I was so thrilled to see that this product worked well for both of us - it provides great coverage for her for hours, and feels light and comfortable on my skin. We had both found what we wanted - now we needed to build up our makeup stock. In my opinion, Bare Minerals isn't expensive, when you think of how very little product is needed to get the coverage you want, whether it's light or full coverage or somewhere in between. A little goes a long way. But the initial investment can be pricey. Unless you shop wisely.
I look for sets - value packs that bring several items, whether in trial sizes, small sizes, or gift sets with promos. I find I can get the biggest bang for my buck that way. So when I got the email this morning telling me they are giving 20% off of everything, I quickly went on the website to the Last Chance section. These are items that are perfectly great but that are being discontinued for whatever reason. I found two items that I had to snatch up immediately. The first is called 7 Ways To Bare, and it's 7 neutral eyeshadows for everyday wear. I have some of their shimmery and glittery eyeshadows and they're wonderful, but I wanted something with a little less "glam". These colors are perfect, and because they're last chance, the price is $21. Add the 20% off discount, and the price dropped to $16.80. That's $2.40 EACH!!! Hello! Just one eyeshadow of theirs costs $16! Talk about a great deal! I also went ahead and ordered Double Trouble, a mini lipstick and lipgloss duo, originally $14, dropped to $9, and with the 20% discount came to $7.20. Oh, and did I mention, FREE SHIPPING?! Yeah, this girl is a happy camper, for sure! The 20% off is good till Sunday December 7, for anyone that is interested.
So my son finished his work for the day and we were able to do the 6 hours he needed to finish out the week. He took his science test but even though we reviewed and re-read the material, he got a 72% on the multiple choice. We have to wait for the teacher to grade the 2 essay questions to get a final grade. Some of the questions were tricky, so when he went back to see what he got wrong there was a lot of, "Ugh! I thought it might be that one or the one I picked." I'm really hoping the teacher will give him full points on the essays, though I know she's pretty picky. We'll have to wait and see.
I've started watching my Christmas DVD's. We no longer have satellite television; we have Hulu Plus and Netflix. I can watch Christmas movies there, but a couple years ago I got a Lifetime Channel collection of 12 movies for $29 at Barnes and Noble that I really enjoy watching, so I figured one per day will keep me in the Christmas spirit :-). We did watch Christmas Vacation and Christmas With The Kranks before Thanksgiving - I love those comedies! Yesterday I watched His and Her Christmas and today I watched Under The Mistletoe. They're more on the sappy, chick flick side, but hey, I'm a sappy chick. What can I say?
My oldest son is out with his friends, my daughter is at the church office's Christmas party, my youngest son is finishing up a documentary, so I think I'll go watch Shelbey on her youtube channel. Have a great night folks!
I really do love the flexibility of homeschooling. It allows us to move things around to fit our schedule and our needs. But that 25 hour per week requirement can get tricky. Some weeks it's not a problem; he has portfolios and projects to turn in, along with lessons and tests. Other weeks, it's smooth sailing, and those are the times when we have to be creative. In school, their time in class counts no matter what they're doing, and there were times my son would come home and tell me they did nothing in class but talk to their friends and play board games. It doesn't work that way for me. He has to do actual school work to count for his attendance. Any hours he makes over on one week do not count for other weeks; it's 25 hours minimum each week. I could "fudge" the numbers, but what would Jesus think of that? And what lesson would I be teaching my son? For me, that's not an option. What is an option is reading. Any reading. Except that my youngest son, unlike his siblings, is not a fan of reading. Thankfully he does like reading mangas, and that's what he did.
Breakfast for today: cold cereal and toast, along with my coffee and morning vitamin cocktail. I've been having eggs and bacon for breakfast almost everyday, and while I do enjoy that traditional kind of meal, it does get tiring. Lunch/dinner (I typically cook in the afternoon for the whole day) is easy chicken and stuffing in my trusty crockpot. I don't know what I'd do without my crockpots. They're my favorite appliance in the kitchen. No, make that the whole house.
So y'all, this morning I got an email that got me so excited - 20% off of everything on the Bare Escentuals website! I was there in a nano-second. Now, before it starts looking like my life revolves around makeup and that's where I spend all my time and money, let me explain why a sale like this gets my attention. I actually don't own a whole lot of makeup. A few years ago (I believe it was 2007 or 2008) I received a gorgeous Elizabeth Arden makeup kit for Christmas. It had eyeshadows, blushes, lipsticks, eye liners, and a beautiful set of brushes. Of that set, the only things I no longer have are the blushes (there were 2) and one lipstick. Everything else is what I have been using. Yes, some of the eyeshadow palettes are down to almost nothing, but there are a few that still have product left. The problem is, after all these years they are barely pigmented anymore, and even those that do show up when I use them don't have lasting power. The lipsticks are nice; actually, only one of them gets used regularly. One I don't really care for, and the other is gorgeous but it's a very dark red, so it's only appropriate for special occasions. My brown eye liner is almost gone. The black and silver ones I still have and they work pretty well (surprisingly). The brushes, well, I finally started to replace them because they were looking the worse for wear. It has been time to get new makeup and tools for a while now.
The only items I replaced regularly were my foundation, powder and blush. Because I have sensitive skin, I have to be careful what products I use. Brands like Maybelline and Cover Girl which have strong chemicals and fragrances make me break out. I'd been using Almay products, specifically the Smart Shade variety. I liked not having to go to a store and get color-matched; these products adapt to the skin's natural shade. And they worked great - at first. See, the foundation comes in a tube. When I would get a new tube, the foundation looked good, the color would match, and it was pretty smooth. Then I'd get halfway through the tube and the color wasn't looking the same. I couldn't mix the product in the tube, and I think it would separate after awhile. By the time I was at the end of the product I looked like a hot mess. I didn't like the feel of the makeup either; it felt heavy on my skin. I "felt" like I was wearing makeup, if that makes sense. The powder blush I use is also Smart Shade technology, but I find I have to layer it on before it will even show. And as for the powder, it's blah. Yes, it takes away the shine, but it doesn't last very long. I wasn't unhappy with my makeup, but I wasn't liking it much either.
It was actually my daughter's skin problems that prompted me to make some changes. My daughter has rosacea, a skin condition that causes redness and rash. She takes medicines for it but whenever her face flares up it's hard to conceal. She tried several products but the redness would still show through. She also started having lesions appear on her face. We went to see a dermatologist who diagnosed her with a form of lupus. Though none of the tests came back positive for systemic lupus (the disease that affects the whole body), she did have a very low positive for discoid lupus (which affects only the skin). She went on treatment for it but it only worsened. The dermatologist we were seeing kept insisting it was getting better, but we knew that wasn't the case, so we went to see a different dermatologist. This one took one look at her face and did a biopsy right then and there. Y'all, it was the longest and most difficult 11 days of our lives, waiting for the results. Praise the Lord, the tests came back negative for cancer, lupus, viruses, and bacteria. After 2 very small biopsies, we finally received a diagnosis: serbo psoriasis, a form of dermatitis that can be treated with a non-steroid cream, and which could in time disappear on its own, though like rosacea can have flare-ups. It was wonderful news, and we were thankful to God that it wasn't anything more serious. But she was left with two small scars on her face and no real cure.
It was important to me to help find products for my daughter that would cover up the scarring and skin conditions, but that were also gentle, since both conditions get aggravated pretty easily. At the same time I wanted something new for myself, though I didn't expect both of us to be using the same makeup. After all, I'm 50 (and I'll be 51 in 9 days) and my daughter is 24. Her needs are different from mine, so it stands to reason her makeup would be different from mine. When my hairdresser said she used Bare Minerals, I took my daughter to Ulta and we both tried their foundation. I was so thrilled to see that this product worked well for both of us - it provides great coverage for her for hours, and feels light and comfortable on my skin. We had both found what we wanted - now we needed to build up our makeup stock. In my opinion, Bare Minerals isn't expensive, when you think of how very little product is needed to get the coverage you want, whether it's light or full coverage or somewhere in between. A little goes a long way. But the initial investment can be pricey. Unless you shop wisely.
I look for sets - value packs that bring several items, whether in trial sizes, small sizes, or gift sets with promos. I find I can get the biggest bang for my buck that way. So when I got the email this morning telling me they are giving 20% off of everything, I quickly went on the website to the Last Chance section. These are items that are perfectly great but that are being discontinued for whatever reason. I found two items that I had to snatch up immediately. The first is called 7 Ways To Bare, and it's 7 neutral eyeshadows for everyday wear. I have some of their shimmery and glittery eyeshadows and they're wonderful, but I wanted something with a little less "glam". These colors are perfect, and because they're last chance, the price is $21. Add the 20% off discount, and the price dropped to $16.80. That's $2.40 EACH!!! Hello! Just one eyeshadow of theirs costs $16! Talk about a great deal! I also went ahead and ordered Double Trouble, a mini lipstick and lipgloss duo, originally $14, dropped to $9, and with the 20% discount came to $7.20. Oh, and did I mention, FREE SHIPPING?! Yeah, this girl is a happy camper, for sure! The 20% off is good till Sunday December 7, for anyone that is interested.
So my son finished his work for the day and we were able to do the 6 hours he needed to finish out the week. He took his science test but even though we reviewed and re-read the material, he got a 72% on the multiple choice. We have to wait for the teacher to grade the 2 essay questions to get a final grade. Some of the questions were tricky, so when he went back to see what he got wrong there was a lot of, "Ugh! I thought it might be that one or the one I picked." I'm really hoping the teacher will give him full points on the essays, though I know she's pretty picky. We'll have to wait and see.
I've started watching my Christmas DVD's. We no longer have satellite television; we have Hulu Plus and Netflix. I can watch Christmas movies there, but a couple years ago I got a Lifetime Channel collection of 12 movies for $29 at Barnes and Noble that I really enjoy watching, so I figured one per day will keep me in the Christmas spirit :-). We did watch Christmas Vacation and Christmas With The Kranks before Thanksgiving - I love those comedies! Yesterday I watched His and Her Christmas and today I watched Under The Mistletoe. They're more on the sappy, chick flick side, but hey, I'm a sappy chick. What can I say?
My oldest son is out with his friends, my daughter is at the church office's Christmas party, my youngest son is finishing up a documentary, so I think I'll go watch Shelbey on her youtube channel. Have a great night folks!
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