The Week In Review

Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest weeks of the year in my house. Not only are we preparing a big feast, but Christmas decorating begins immediately after. This year was slightly different than most, and I'm sure the year 2020 will go down in history as the year when nothing was as it should be.

Ever since my kids were little, I decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. To even insinuate that we could start decorating earlier was received with all manner of disapproval. Thanksgiving deserves our respect! Besides, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house, which meant putting out additional tables and chairs for the larger than usual group. Typically there were 25 of us, sometimes more. To put out  Christmas decorations in addition to everything else would create a cramped and uninviting space, which no hostess ever wants.

Fast forward to 2011. J and I had separated, and for the first time Thanksgiving was just the four of us: myself and my three kids. And it was so special. We ate, we played games, we watched movies. We told stories and laughed and had the best time, and we promised to keep Thanksgiving simple from then on. 

That's how we've done it since. In 2017 my (then) daughter's boyfriend C joined us. And this year we have the privilege of adding my new daughter-in-law AB to the family and to the Thanksgiving celebration. Yet even adding two new members to our family has kept our Thanksgiving small and intimate. This year is no exception - as a matter of fact, just about everyone kept Thanksgiving down to 10 people or less per CDC guidelines. I'm not upset about it either. For the first time in decades many families focused on thankfulness instead of shopping or football. 

There was one change to our yearly tradition, one that I felt was unavoidable. I put up the Christmas tree the Monday before Thanksgiving. The reason for this is simple: my daughter and son-in-law planned a trip to Georgia for the Thanksgiving weekend, and she asked me to sit my grand-dog Kuzco. He's an absolute cutie, and a good, quiet dog, so I said yes. The only problem is, he follows me around everywhere. I knew putting up the tree while he was underfoot would be next to impossible, and I didn't want to wait till they got back to do it. So instead, I broke with tradition and put it up early. 

Step one was to move one of the bookcases over to a different wall so the tree could go in front of the sliding glass doors in the living room.

 Right between the kitchen and master bedroom entryway is the perfect spot. 

Step two, put the tree together. We have an artificial tree thanks to our allergies. 

I've had this tree since 2004; it originally was pre-lit but the lights went out years ago. I was going to replace the tree several years ago but oh my word, trees are expensive!! I got this tree on a Black Friday sale for just $114. It's a 7.5 foot tree, very full and beautiful. My daughter and youngest son did me the enormous favor of removing the old lights so I could keep the tree, and here it is 16 years later. 

It was my intention to take pictures as I decorated the tree, but I ran into a slight snag. I would buy the regular clear lights every year from Walmart or Target, and every year I had to replace a few strands because the lights would go out. The box of lights is only about $3 but if you have to replace some of them every year they really aren't such a good deal. I bought the Costco LED lights this year because they have a 5 year warranty. I got four boxes, figuring I'd add these to my existing lights and replace as those went out. I started with the LED lights to see how they look, and oh my! This picture doesn't do them justice. They are pure white, the brightest lights I've ever had on a Christmas tree. They're gorgeous! I put up all the LED lights but as this is a 7.5 foot tree and I had only 400 lights it wasn't enough. So I got the clear lights from my stash. There were four strands, one of which only half the lights worked. I grabbed one of the strands and started putting it on the tree. To my horror, I realized these older clear lights looked yellow next to the pure white LED lights. It was absolutely awful! I had to drop everything and run to Costco where thankfully they still had boxes of lights and I picked up a couple more. It was worth it, though. My candy cane tree makes me smile all day long.

The next few days were Thanksgiving focused. I brined and roasted the turkey, made the dressing the night before, got up early Thursday morning to make the chocolate pudding pie and put the turkey in the oven, then made mashed potatoes and crescent rolls. My daughter made sweet potato casserole and a pumpkin pecan bread, and my oldest son and daughter-in-law brought cornbread and cookies. There was lots of food (and leftovers!). We had a great time together visiting. 

While they were all here, my oldest son gave me my birthday gift. My birthday isn't till next month, but since he won't be here he decided to give it to me early. Not to be undone by their older sibling, my other kids also gave me their presents. 

My youngest son E gave me a gift off of my Amazon wishlist:

I saw one of my favorite YouTubers, Mandy in the Making, using one of these rotating graters. I immediately added it to my wishlist! I'm not the biggest fan of pre-shredded cheese, but shredding by hand is no fun either. This takes the hard work out of shredding cheeses and vegetables. I'm so excited to use it!

My daughter knows my love of Disney so she indulged me with this:

Isn't it sweet?! I'll show off better when I post my Christmas home decor tour. 

My oldest son surprised me with something I've wanted for awhile. 

I was floored! My doorbell stopped working for I don't know what reason, and I wanted to get one of these video doorbells so I don't have to run downstairs whenever someone is at the door to see who it is. I haven't set it up yet because I have a four-legged shadow that goes nuts the minute I go near the front door, but I'm super excited to have this up and running!

The rest of the week was spent in decorating for Christmas and a small grocery shopping trip on Friday after my son R and his wife left for Central Florida where they live. I'll do a separate post on all the Christmas decorating because, as per usual, it's a lot! Have a blessed week y'all.

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!

Weekend Recap

Since I spent the weekend running around like a madwoman with a mission, I decided one post to recap everything would be enough.  It's easier for me, I think.  As long as I remember where I've been and what I've done ;-).

Saturday started off early.  We were attending a baby shower for a sweet friend who is visiting from Sweden.  She's almost 5 months pregnant with her first child, a little boy, and my daughter and I were excited to share in this special time with her.  The baby shower was a brunch, which started at 11:00.  That meant I had to have breakfast, get ready, and leave something for my son to eat so he wouldn't burn down the house while we were gone.  I wore an outfit that I consider to be casual and trendy: a white sweater with a light grey hot air balloon motif all over, a burgundy tank top underneath, a pair of "boyfriend" jeans (skinny jeans slightly rolled up at the hem) and tan high heeled sandals.  I'm the type that likes to get dressed up, but my daughter said everyone would be wearing jeans because it was a very casual get together, so I dressed accordingly.  My daughter and I both got the baby a couple of outfits, but when we went to pack the gifts we found only Christmas themed boxes and gift bags.  So we stopped off at CVS and bought one bag for everything, then headed over to the shower, which wasn't far from our house.  We were among the first to get there; the pregnant girl's mom and grandma were there, along with a cousin and a friend from church.  Everyone was dressed up.  I felt like an oddball.  Yes, the hostess was wearing jeans, but she's a mom of a toddler and was cooking up a storm, so she doesn't count.  As more people started coming in, I noticed more ladies in dresses or dress pants.  I mentioned it to my daughter, but she insisted it was still "casual".  I'm not buying it.

We did have a really good time, playing the standard baby shower games and eating delicious food.  The menu was chicken and waffles.  The waffles were made fresh right there, and there were all kinds of toppings: whipped cream, blueberries, strawberries, chocolate chips, and of course syrup.  I didn't have any of it.  Instead, I went directly to the shrimp and pasta salad.  Oh.my.word.  It was out of this world!  I had me two servings, along with chicken and pastries.  I didn't want to overdo it with the carbs, and having pasta as well as waffles would have meant rolling me out the door.  I'm glad I stuck with just one.

While we were gone E got picked up by his dad, so when A and I got home we decided to go to Target.  I needed a belt for my jeans; even though I'd bought a size 6 they were still big at the waist.  I also needed to buy towels.  Ours are old and worn, and they get stinky really fast which is annoying.  I found some nice towels, some on sale and some not, then we passed by the shoe section.  My daughter saw that they had boots for 70% off so of course she had to stop and check them out, because we all know how vital it is to have boots in South Florida :P.  I looked around and found a cute pair of ballet flats in a beige and black stripe design for $16.99.  They are so comfy!  I also went to the makeup section and got a few nail polishes that were on sale, and a brow pencil/gel.  I've been wanting a brow pencil because lately I've noticed that some of my eyebrows are turning bright white, and against my black brows it isn't attractive.  I got brunette, since my hair is dyed auburn, to help the brows match my hair.  My daughter didn't find any boots she liked, but she did find a comforter set in white that she fell in love with.  Her bedroom is pretty dark; dark wood floors, deep purple and grey walls, dark wood furniture.  The white bedding brightens up the room and makes it look luxurious, like she's in a 5 star hotel.  While we were at the store E texted me that he was back home, so we quickly paid for our goods and left.  As soon as we were on the expressway, I realized I'd forgotten to buy the belt, which was the primary reason for going to Target in the first place.  Don't you just love it when that happens?

Today also started early, with Sunday school at 9:30 (except I got there at 10:00.  Running late this morning again).  After service - which was awesome - we had a meet and greet with our new youth pastor.  He's been the youth pastor at our sister church for the past 9 years, and now he's taking over the youth ministry at our location as well.  I was so impressed by his philosophy and his goals, and very encouraged by the lessons he's teaching the next few weeks.  He's doing a series called King, in which the youth group is studying several of Jesus's attributes: His sovereignty, His holiness, His goodness, His justice and His love.  This pastor is all about bible teaching, which is what I wanted to hear.  I'm looking forward to helping out in the youth ministry once Awana is done and summer rolls around.

There was a pizza lunch served, but my son E, who was hanging around with his friends and got there late, didn't get to eat anything, so we left after the meeting and ran home.  I made him a quick lunch, then we headed to the bowling alley for his best friend's birthday celebration.  I had to change out of my church clothes; there was no way I was going bowling in a dress and high heels.  I wore the skinny jeans I got on Friday along with a hunter green tank top, a long black sweater and my new ballet flats.  Casual and comfy!  My daughter also went, and so did my Tuesday night running buddy.  The three of us played a couple of games; it was clear that I hadn't played in a while.  I was pretty rusty, though I didn't do quite so bad on my first game as on the second.  I scored a 70 for the first game; the second game I got a 14.  We only got to play 6 frames before we ran out of time, but still, a 14?!  I had 3 gutter balls in a row!  My running buddy did terrible for the first game, then did much better for the second game.  I guess that evened things out ;-).  Another lady that I've met previously at IV's house (it was IV's son's birthday) was also there.  She's a real spit-fire, and I love talking to her!  We all had a really nice time bowling, eating, talking, laughing, and just plain fellowshipping.  It's the perfect way to end a weekend.

And so, that's pretty much it.  I'm gonna wash my face (my makeup was on point, by the way), change out of these clothes, and relax before studying for my Thursday night bible study.  I'm studying chapter 4 of Daniel, when King Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind.  So much to learn!  Tomorrow starts the new school week.  Back to the old grind!  But I'm thankful for my life and all the blessings God bestows upon me each day.  God bless ya'll, and good night.

Another Birthday Celebration

I think every mom remembers the day her babies were born.  God made it easy for me; He gave me 2 sweet children who share a birthday so my memories would be even more delightful.

Today my daughter A turns 25, and my son E turns 15.  I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that my baby is halfway through his teenage years, and my daughter has lived a quarter of a century.  Then again, I can't believe I've lived over half a century, but let's not focus on that.  Both of them were Christmas presents, but they are not twins.  They came 10 years apart.  I worried when my daughter was growing up that she would resent having to share her birthday with her brother, but she never did.  Her brother would tell the world the story of how he and his sister have the same birthday, so it was never an issue with him either.  I'm so glad; I didn't want my kids to be mad about having to share their birthday, and they've always been so mature and loving about it.  I really do have great kids.

I was in the dining room enjoying a cup of coffee when my son woke up.  There were birthday presents waiting for him on the kitchen counter, but he wouldn't open them until his sister and brother got up.  My daughter didn't take very long to follow.  She was a little less patient than her younger brother - she wanted to tear into her presents right away!  I had to issue a disclaimer before she opened my gift to her:  after we'd visited Ulta and I saw what makeup products she really liked, I went ahead and placed an order for them for her birthday.  I got her the Naked Eyeshadow Palette by Urban Decay and the Starter Kit by Bare Minerals in medium beige.  That was back in November.  In December, her dad took her to the mall so she could pick out her Christmas gifts because he didn't know what to get her.  He likes shopping at Macy's; she doesn't care for the clothes there, but she did know they have makeup, so she went to the Sephora section, where she asked her dad to get her the Naked 2 Basics palette.  She also got the consultant to color match her for Bare Minerals powder foundation, and asked her dad to get that for her, too.  The color the consultant matched her with was golden medium.  Her dad immediately complied, and she brought the products home for me to wrap for her.  I kept my cool and wrapped her gifts, knowing full well she would want to exchange whatever I'd gotten her that were duplicates.  The eyeshadow palette I'd bought her wasn't the same one but it was similar enough that I figured she wouldn't want it, and the Bare Minerals starter kit was definitely the wrong color so she wouldn't want to keep that either.  I thought about going to the store and exchanging it myself, but I started second guessing what she would want and if she would want to keep part of her present, so I left it alone.  I figured she could decide what she would keep and what she would exchange.  I told her as much before letting her open up her gift.  The gift bag contained several different items.  I'd gotten her some lip pencils/lip stains that came in the cutest dark purple clutch.  The colors are just what she likes, neutrals and reds.  She also found an Urban Decay eye lid primer and eye liner pencil which she loved.  Then she opened the box with the Naked palette.  Her smile went from big to gynormous.  She wanted that palette and had intended to get it for herself; now she didn't have to because Mama had gotten it for her.  Score!  Then she opened the Starter Kit.  We both agreed, there was no reason to keep it.  The products were either wrong, or she already had purchased them herself.  I told her she could take it to Ulta for an exchange, and she immediately started planning what she could get.  She also asked if we could go to the Bare Minerals store that we have locally, and I told her that we could, which made her even happier.  I felt so much better after that.

My son then opened his present from his sister:  a book with all kinds of trivia about his favorite show, Doctor Who.  He loved it!  Then he opened Mom's gift.  From the moment he knew his dad had bought him the Wii U for Christmas, all he kept asking for was the new Super Smash Brothers game.  Of course I was going to get it for him, but I also got him a Pacman game, and I wrapped both of them together, so when he picked up the package it didn't feel like a video game, it felt like a book.  He opened it and just about exploded when he saw he got the game he wanted so badly.  When R woke up he opened his gift: a set of pins based on the Pokemon video games.  What was funny, was that R put them inside a box of crackers and wrapped the box, so when E opened it he wondered why his brother was giving him crackers for his birthday!  Once he realized it couldn't be crackers, he found the pins and was absolutely surprised and excited!  His sister opened her present from R next.  It was a video game called Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box.  She likes those sorts of solving games so it was perfect.

Their dad had called the day before inviting the whole family to breakfast.  He called bright and early to wish them a happy birthday and ask where they wanted to go.  Living in the South, the answer to that is easy:  Cracker Barrel.  I don't know of any other place in our area that makes down home Southern cooking in a casual country environment.  My daughter hung up and we started getting ready.  I wasn't enthused about going, but I'll do anything for my kids, so I got dressed and was putting on my makeup when my daughter said, "Dad just called; he's already at the restaurant waiting for us, and he says it's packed."  We had to quickly get ready so we could be there and try to find parking which he said took him forever to find.  As soon as we drove up into the parking lot, two cars pulled out.  No waiting for us!  Better yet, I parked the car, we got out, and my son got a call from his dad:  they'd just seated him.  He waited 40 minutes for the table, we waited nothing.  God's gift to my children!  We sat down and their dad gave them their presents:  A got a lovely pen and a Michael Kors bag, and E got new headphones and a coin bank with over $180 in it.  They both loved their gifts!  We were so glad that the service was fast and the food delicious - we were starving!  We had a really nice, relaxing time, for which I'm very grateful.

Once we got out of the restaurant, we went to the mall for our Bare Minerals excursion.  Our Bare Minerals store is in an outlet mall that's fairly large, so the boys could go look at stuff while the girls looked at makeup.  My son E is wanting to get a longboard so his brother took him to see some.  A and I went into the Bare Minerals store and had a field day!  They were having an incredible sale!  I'm not even joking, I got stuff so cheap I'm still pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming!

The first item we saw when we walked in was the Hot List.

The original price on this kit was $49, and it had been reduced to $24.50.  At half price this was a good deal.

The 5-in-1 eyeshadow primer alone costs $18.  This kit brought a bronzer, eyeshadow duo, highlighter and lipstick as well.  I was thinking about it when the sales clerk said that everything on the tables in the aisle were 50% off the last sticker price.  I was like, Excuse Me?!  That meant all these products were just $12.25!  She said yes, and I immediately grabbed one and told my daughter she needed to do the same!  I then proceeded to go kind of nuts.

The Eye Color Trio contains two high shine eyeshadows and a small eyeliner.  The eyeshadows are on sale on the website for $9.50 each.  I got this set for $9.75.

The Finishing Touches kit brings a mini mascara, mini lip gloss and mini hydrating mineral veil.  I paid $4.75.  I've been wanting a hydrating mineral veil, and the rest is just bonus.  But the best was the last item I got.

This deluxe size original foundation is twice the size of a regular jar of product.  The regular size is $27.  The deluxe is normally $39.50, but they had it for $29.50.  My main intention for going to the Bare Minerals store was to get foundation, because the one I have is getting low (it was a small trial size).  I could get the regular size for $27, or pay $2.50 more and get double the amount, which should easily last me a year.  The decision was simple - I had to have this foundation!  Everything else I got was icing on the cake, and I couldn't be happier!  I have to admit, there were more things in my basket that I eventually put back because I realized I was getting carried away.  I'm thoroughly pleased with my purchases, though.  I think I got some great items at dirt cheap prices!

From there my daughter wanted to go to Old Navy, which was right by where the boys were.  Since it was her birthday I said okay, though I'm honestly not a huge fan of Old Navy.  I've found a couple of things there but most of the clothes are, in my opinion, a bit too young for me.  That quickly changed when I saw the cutest plaid pencil skirt in hunter green and dark blue, reduced from $29 to $17.  I also found a tank top that matched the green perfectly, for $3.99.  I tried the skirt on and couldn't believe how perfectly it fit - you'd have thought I was the model they used for it!  I can't wait to wear my new outfit tomorrow for church!

We came home after that because E wanted to have some time with his best friend CS.  CS is IV's son, and the boys have been close buddies for a couple of years.  My son wanted to play Super Smash Brothers with his best friend more than anything else on his birthday, so we got home as quick as we could so they could have some time together.  They laughed so much, I couldn't help but laugh with them, even though I don't have any idea what they were laughing about!  While they had their fun, my daughter played with all her new goodies and I folded and put away laundry.  Afterwards A, R and myself played the Logo Game.  It's a funny sort of trivia game and I knew R would enjoy it.

My daughter wanted to go to Ulta today to get her starter kit exchanged, but by the time we realized it, it was almost 6:00 and we hadn't even had dinner yet.  We decided to leave it for tomorrow and went to pick up dinner, and each got to pick what they wanted:  A wanted Chipotle and E wanted KFC.  I had Chipotle as well; I like their bowls.  The meat was spicy and the food was filling.  I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast so I was pretty hungry!

I think that's enough excitement for today.  I'm gonna get my makeup off and get my face exfoliated, then I'm gonna spend the rest of the night with my precious gifts, my kiddos.  I am so thankful to God each and every day for giving me such wonderful children.  I know I'm truly blessed.  Good night everyone.

The Countdown Continues...4 More Days

It's the last Sunday before Christmas.  A day of worship, reflection, relaxation...well, maybe not that last one.

Since I gave myself a manicure last night I couldn't do my hair, so I woke up early to get that done.  Early meaning 7:30 am.  Which for me isn't early, since I'm usually up by 6:30 - 7:00.  But it's Sunday, and I haven't been feeling my best.  Truth is, I woke up at 6:30 but didn't get out of bed till 7:30.  I showered and washed my hair, then went to the kitchen to get breakfast done.  All Sunday school classes were cancelled, and there was gonna be one big class at 9:45 am, which meant I had plenty of time, I guessed.  I was feeling slow this morning, and I noticed I was coughing a lot, but not the kind of cough like when you have a cold.  Coughing like when you're short of breath.  I sat down to eat my Eggo waffle, wheat toast with apple butter, sausages and coffee, while I watched Shelbey's latest video.  When I was done it was already 8:30 am and I hadn't dried my hair, done my makeup or finished getting dressed.  I woke my youngest son up and went to finish getting ready.  The coughing and shortness of breath continued, till I knew I wasn't going to get very far without my inhaler.  I don't suffer from severe asthma, but whenever I get a cold I have to be careful because it will quickly develop into bronchitis.  After I use the inhaler I get the shakes, which meant I had to kind of wait a bit before I could go out and drive to church, so we didn't go to Sunday school.  I think it's better that way; no reason for me to be spreading my undesirable germs.

I decided that, even if I didn't feel my best, I should look my best, and festive as well.  I wore a white button down blouse with a gold colored shimmery tank underneath, and a bright red skirt.  The skirt and tank top matched my manicure :-).  I did my eye makeup using the Dazzle set that I got this week, and added a gold toned eye primer.  It turned out really nice!  When I got to church I saw that I wasn't the only one who had decided to dress for the holiday - at least 85% of the women had on red tops, skirts or dresses.  We looked like we were part of a performance!   We sang Christmas songs, then Pastor taught on Luke 2:8-11, on the angels announcing the birth of Christ.  He explained that the original Christmas message was one of "good tidings of great joy".  It had nothing to do with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, money, stress, family feuds, or any of the negativity that is so prominent in today's Christmas celebrations.  It was about having great joy because God sent the greatest gift of all, His Son Jesus.  It's not to say that giving gifts and having family meals is wrong; we have just misplaced our priority.  We were challenged to focus on the joy of the season this year, even with the few days before Christmas that are left.  It was such an inspiring sermon.  A great way to start Christmas week.

I was feeling a bit better by the time I got home.  Not great, but better.  Well enough to start my baking right after lunch.  Each year I give my neighbors baked goods for Christmas.  Whether it's cake or cookies, they know to expect something from me.  Problem is, I've started late this year because of homeschooling.  I meant to start right after my birthday; that was a week ago.  I decided my best bet to get everything done in a short amount of time would be cupcakes.  I use Duncan Hines cake mixes, and I can get 24 cupcakes from one package.  I would be able to get cupcakes to all my neighbors who have kids with just a couple of packages.  I went with confetti and devil's food flavors because kids love sprinkles and chocolate, and because the only frostings I have are vanilla with sprinkles and chocolate.  That made my choices a bit limited.

I also did laundry.  My oldest son is off today but he works the next three days, so I figured I'd get all his uniforms cleaned today and not have to think about it.  My daughter will be working at the church this week but not tutoring.  The tutoring school has the same schedule as public school, so when public school is out she is off, except in the summer when there's summer school.  She is so happy to have some time off!  My youngest son hasn't finished his PE assignment, but since it isn't really due until January 18, and he has so much of it done already, I'm not concerned.  I may have him do it next week if he's bored, or maybe the beginning of this week.  I'll play it by ear.  Thursday is Christmas and Saturday is his birthday so I can't bog him down with schoolwork on those days.  Goodness, what kind of mother would I be if I did?!

I remembered I had promised pictures of the products I'd received from Bare Escentuals.  So I got out my trusty Canon, set up my makeup, started taking pictures...and the battery on my camera died :P.  I did get a few pictures so I'll give a little recap of these items.  I probably will wait until my other order arrives and do the rest then.

This is my Delight and Dazzle set.  I didn't keep the box; I should have, at least till I'd taken the pictures, but I was trying to get the house cleaned up for the party and I didn't want stray boxes lying around.  On the right is the Delight set, with peach tones appropriate for daytime.  On the left is the Dazzle set with darker evening colors.  The Dazzle set eyeshadow is called Tantalize and it's a charcoal brown color.  I used it in the outer corner of my eye and it is really pretty.  I've used both sets and like both looks, though I think I'm partial to Dazzle.

The Pretty Wild set is stunning.  I think it's appropriate for both day or night, but probably nighttime more.  The box looks like a book.  When you open it up...

...it has the makeup and a little tutorial.  The eyeshadows are both matte; one is lavender and the other is a mossy green shade.  You wouldn't think these colors would look good together but they absolutely do!  The blush is a highly pigmented pink - a little goes a long way.  The mascara is blue-black.  I have to be honest, I was not impressed with the mascara.  I don't know if it's the blue hue or if maybe the mascara is dry, but I didn't like the way it looked.  The lip gloss, on the other hand, is my favorite part of this set.  It's like a cranberry color that is so beautiful!  I kept this one in the box because the box is really cute.  I was also trying to show off my manicure - unique, huh?

The last kit I was able to get a picture of before the battery on my camera died was the Complexion Superstars.  This set is worth way more than the $22 I paid for it.

The box is silver on the outside and hot pink on the inside, but that's not what's important.  It's why everything is still in the box, because the box is pretty ;-).  What's great is what's inside.  There's a Warmth (bronzer) in medium, which for Warmth is a good size since you only need a little to get a fabulous color.  Then there's Golden Gate, a warm apricot blush which I haven't tried yet.  There's Clear Radiance, a pink highlighter/luminizer with a pink undertone.  Last there are 2 mineral veils, one original and one Illuminating which has some shimmer to it.  I already have the original mineral veil, which is a finishing powder, and since I love it I'm only too glad to have extra.  I tried the Illuminating mineral veil, and it gives a hint of luminosity, not anything overpowering which is good.  Of all the things in this set I think I like Warmth the best.  Oh, it also brings a mini flawless face brush; I already have one but these brushes are great so having an extra one is a bonus.  I use my other mini flawless face brush for under-eye concealing.  I feel like it works better than using a small concealer brush.  My concealer brush is great too, but for under my eyes I like a slightly larger brush.

Okay, back to cupcake delivery.  I was able to get 50 cupcakes from the two cake mixes.  I separated them by 8 per house which meant I'd have enough for 6 of my neighbors, and one cupcake each for my son E and my daughter.  I went to my usual neighbors who were thrilled to get baked goods.  Then we went to the house on the corner.  The folks there moved in this year.  I've seen the husband many times; he has done an incredible job fixing up the house.  The wife I've seen from afar a couple of times.  I told my kids I wanted to take cupcakes to them.  They were a little wary; after all, we don't really know them.  But like I told them, we didn't know our other neighbors at first either.  We had to make the effort to meet them.  The wife came to the door and was so surprised - she was expecting company and met with us instead!  The look on her face spoke volumes.  She was so grateful for us bringing a gift and wishing them Merry Christmas.  Like I told my kids, it used to be common and normal to visit new neighbors and welcome them into the neighborhood, but it doesn't happen as often anymore.  I'm glad God moved in my heart to bring them some Christmas cheer.

I'm gonna sleep well tonight knowing that I brought a smile to the faces of my neighbors.  I thank God for them; we are blessed to live in a great neighborhood with such nice people.  I'm also gonna fall asleep with the Frozen soundtrack running through my head thanks to my daughter ;-).  Good night ya'll.

It's Just 5 Days Till Christmas...

...and all through the house, no more creatures were stirring, 'cause they left last night at 11:00 after having a great time of food and fellowship.  I'm so grateful to God for the wonderful people He has placed in our lives.

Yesterday when I left off I was leaving to get pizzas.  I picked them up quickly - it was Little Caesar's pizza, and we'd called ahead to let them know we needed 3 pepperoni and 2 cheese pizzas.  My daughter had picked up her birthday cake, an exquisite creation by a lady at church whom we call the Real Cake Boss.  It was a square cake made to look like a Christmas present, covered in white frosting with a snowflake design, and a green velvet ribbon made of fondant.  The cake itself was red velvet with a cookie dough filling and covered in a chocolate ganache.  It was truly a piece of art.   Along with that there was the Christmas bark and reindeer chow (think Chex Mix but covered in powdered and peppermint sugar), a hot buffalo chicken dip with tortilla chips, and a hot chocolate bar.   It was 7:00, the guests were to arrive at 7:30, and we were ready for them.

My daughter was starting to get nervous when a few people called or texted saying they weren't going to be able to make it, or might not get here till late.  Thankfully people started arriving at 7:40 and we had a steady flow of folks coming in till 9:00.  Everyone went absolutely bonkers over her buffalo chicken dip!  I kind of laughed at the fact that everyone was congregated around the crock pot sneaking more and more of it!  Her friend bought a huge tray of sugar cookies shaped like snowflakes that were beautiful as well as delicious.  Everyone loved the idea of the hot chocolate bar, even though we associate hot chocolate with cold weather, and our weather the last 3 days has been anything but cold.  Our temps have gotten close to the 80 degree mark, and while the humidity has still been low, the sky has been cloudless and the sun makes the day feel nice and toasty.  Still, it was so yummy, and who can resist hot chocolate at Christmastime?  A few even went back for seconds!  My daughter had planned on having food, cake, and board games, but everyone was chatting and laughing, and before we knew it folks were leaving because it was 11:00 at night.  Many of her friends are couples with young children, and Mama and Daddy had to go home.  Everyone had a really good time, and I'm so thankful that they showered my little girl with love and affection.  God was glorified as we thanked Him for her life and her example in the lives of others.

So, on to today.  I got up feeling more tired than usual.  I figured it was because we went to bed so late, after having to clean up and put things away.  My son R left for work, A went to get her hair cut, and I had a small breakfast.  I needed to get ready for grocery shopping day, and I wasn't looking forward to it.  It's 5 days till Christmas, and I knew Walmart would most likely be a mad house.  I hate crowded stores, and I felt drained just thinking about it.  A got back before I was ready and volunteered to go with me, which was good because I didn't feel like going alone.  E stayed at home; he hates shopping anytime, even if it's for himself.  We went to Walmart and yes, it was pretty packed.  Since I had my list we went down the aisles getting everything we needed.  We were almost done - I just needed to get my shampoo and some ice cream, which I always leave for last so it doesn't melt in the shopping cart.  A told me she needed to use the rest room, so I went to get my shampoo.  I was looking for a specific one, the Argan Oil and Shea Butter shampoo by OGX which doesn't contain sulfates.  I like that fact, because sulfates tend to dull colored hair.  This one is especially good for hair that gets straightened a lot because it's hydrating.  Well, of course they only had the conditioner, which I didn't need :P.  I settled instead for the Moroccan Argan Creme shampoo which is similar, and I was about to head on over to the ice cream, when my daughter called me on my cell phone.  "Come over to aisle 20 quick, there's no one on line!"  I was ready to run everyone over just to get there!  One gentleman was ahead of me with 2 items, that was it.  At Walmart during Christmas, that's unheard of!  My daughter went to get the ice cream and we got out of there in no time.  God certainly favored me because He knew I wanted to be there as much as I could ever want a toothache!

From there we headed to Costco to pick up a few things and to get gas.  I was shocked to see gas prices have gone down to $2.39/gallon.  I can't remember when it was that low!  It was costing me an average of $55 to fill up my tank; today I paid less that $40.  Praise The Lord!!  Costco was also packed to the gills, but they always have plenty of workers helping folks so we didn't take very long.  I still had to go to Publix for the turkey, but we decided to go home and eat first.  I felt weak, and since all I'd eaten for breakfast were 2 slices of wheat toast with apple butter I thought for sure I was just hungry.  We came home and I ate a couple of slices of cheese pizza from last night, but I still felt tired.  My head was also hurting a bit.  It was hurting at Walmart but I'd imagined it was from being in the packed store, except I was sneezing more than usual.  I finally had to accept that I'm coming down with something.  My throat is kind of scratchy, my sinuses are a bit inflamed, and of course my daughter is feeling the same way.  Whether she picked it up at her tutoring job and brought it home, or someone from the party last night did, we can't say.  All I know is, I've gotta bump up my vitamin C intake because no one wants to be sick Christmas week.

While I was getting my lunch, my daughter suggested we watch a Christmas movie.  Her suggestion:  Elf.  Now I'll be the first to tell you, I don't care for Will Farrell as an actor.  I find his roles to be either corny or downright stupid.  But I have to admit, Elf really is a cute movie.  Maybe because it's a Christmas flick, and that's my favorite movie genre.  I was only too happy to accept her suggestion, and sit down for a while before continuing with my day.

There was one thing left to do before I left for Publix, and that was wash all the bedding.  My daughter helped me get all the dirty bedding off and all the new bedding on all the beds, and I threw that in the wash before leaving.  A wanted to go with me again, so we went and picked up a 13 pound turkey, some cake mixes and hummus that was on sale.  My daughter went ahead and paid for it (yay!), so my total food bill for this week's shopping trips was $311.01.  That doesn't include yesterday's pizzas, since that was a gift to my daughter.  I try to stay around $300 for my food bill every 2 weeks, but since I went under budget during my last shopping trip I feel like I did pretty good.  It also helps that my gas bill was lower than usual.  All in all a good shopping trip.

Dinner tonight:  yep, you got it, leftover pizza.  I'm really not feeling my best, and I had no desire to be in the kitchen making anything.  Thankfully my kids can eat pizza 24/7/365 and not get tired of it.  I did my mani-pedi today, which I desperately needed.  Keeping with the Christmas theme, I did my nails in a bright candy-apple red, except for my ring fingers which are gold with some shimmer.  I feel like my nails look festive!  It was also exfoliation day, and I was really excited to get my face super cleaned so I could use my new Bare Minerals products.  I did use them yesterday; I'm not gonna lie, I couldn't wait.  The eye reviver isn't an eye cream, it's an eye powder that gets patted under the eye to brighten.  It can be used at any time of the day, but since it's a small tube I decided I'd only use it with my evening routine.  The glow pads really do give my face a healthy glow.  I used one before the extra firming neck cream, which I also used on my face.  After using these products last night I wondered if my face would be greasy in the morning, since the extra firming neck cream is pretty thick.  I was very pleasantly surprised to see that my skin looked firmer and the lines on my forehead seemed to have disappeared!  That's why I was so excited to use these skin treatments again on my exfoliated skin.  Oh!  I have to mention that I got more samples of the Active Cell Renewal Night Serum.  This stuff is fabulous!  I put it on under my moisturizer at night and in the morning my face feels so soft.  I'm glad they sent the samples, because the actual serum is $50 for 1 fl. oz.  While I'm sure many could argue it's worth the price, I just can't be spending that kind of money right now.

My son got home from work at 6:30, changed out of his work clothes and headed out the door again.  My daughter is at her 2nd job's Christmas party.  My youngest son is in the shower getting ready for bed, and I think I'll be headed in that direction too.  I took my vitamin C, and I think what my body needs now is rest.  I'll be praying I don't get sick.  I had bronchitis just last September, and I don't want that to happen again.  The countdown continues!  Good night.

6 Days Till Christmas - Party Time!

Not Christmas party, birthday party.  My daughter's long awaited, long planned, long talked about, long stressed over party.  After 2 months of prepping for her quarter century celebration, the day has arrived.

I got up at my regular time, and started on breakfast.  I have my prayer and devotion time before I get out of bed, so that I start my day on the right foot.  I let my son sleep a little longer as my daughter came over to get her Christmas bark out of the fridge where it stayed setting overnight.  We had to break it apart, which lent itself to taste-testing (you wouldn't want to serve something to your guests that you hadn't tried before, right?).  I like that it's sweet and salty at the same time.  I don't like that every bite has about 1700 calories.  Why must birthdays and holidays be so fattening?

I was glad to see that my son's PE teacher had put last week's live lesson recording up, finally.  His teachers usually post them the same day, but apparently his PE teacher thought the lesson was up.  We emailed her yesterday and she posted it, so he was able to watch last week's lesson and right afterwards he participated in this week's lesson.  That really helped with getting his time in.  He still has to do his exercises today and tomorrow and record them.  He was so glad that his teacher said they could use Wii Fit for resistance exercises.  Work-outs and video games are my son's preferred combination.  He managed to do 4 hours of work today, leaving one hour to get his week's hours in. We'll be able to get that done tomorrow. 

As he did schoolwork, I did housework.  My daughter had several errands to run, so it was up to me to get the floor swept, the bathrooms cleaned up, furniture cleaned, that sort of thing.  I stopped to help E a couple of times but mostly he worked on his own while I took care of the house.  I decided there was no reason for lunch to be complicated, so I whipped up some spaghetti and shrimp.  Then back to getting the house ready for party time.

The menu is more about desserts than actual food.  Pizza was finally decided upon, along with my daughter's popular Buffalo chicken dip.  She decided to have a hot chocolate bar with whipped cream, Andes candies, candy canes, graham cracker crumbs, marshmallows, that sort of thing.  There's also gonna be cake (of course) and cookies shaped like snowflakes that her friend is baking.  If it were up to my little girl there would be a menu to rival Denny's, but I had to reign her in; we don't have the space or the time to make 100 different appetizers, meals, snacks and desserts.  I think what she has planned is enough and then some.

We got ourselves ready early. I had to take my nephew and niece to their karate class, so before I left I showered and did my makeup. I used the new Delight set I got from Bare Minerals. It's gorgeous! Since I was gonna wear a top my kids gave me that is an orange or rather melon color, the peach tones of this set were perfect. I left, got the kids to karate, and when I got home my package from Bare Escentuals was outside my front door. I'd hoped it would get there before I did my makeup, but it's okay. I still look great ;-). I'll be taking pictures and posting what I got in this shipment, probably over the weekend. 

I'm gonna be leaving in a few minutes to pick up the pizzas. I know I won't have any time to post later on, so I'll say goodnight now.  Have a great Friday night y'all. Details of the party will be posted tomorrow Lord willing, so stay tuned!

The Countdown Is On - One Week Till Christmas!

It seems so hard to believe that we are just one week away from Christmas.  The time has flown!

I went to bed early last night; I was totally exhausted after our Awana evening.  So I was in bed by 10:30 and awake by 4:00 am.  Don't you just hate that?!  I stayed in bed, though.  If I got up I'd wake the whole house, and that certainly wouldn't be thoughtful.  I eventually dozed off (like an hour later) and woke up at 7:00 am with my stomach doing all kinds of flips.  That's what I get for eating pastries at 8:45 in the evening.  I know myself only too well, that eating at that hour of the night will give me a major stomachache and won't let me sleep.  I guess I'll know better next time.  Yeah, right.

My ancient computer has been acting up again, so I asked my son R to take a look at it.  He found a lot of junk going on in the background that needed to get deleted.  This computer was my daughter's.  She got it a year before going off to college.  She graduated in 2012.  So this computer has been with us since 2007, making it an antique.  When she gave it to me she didn't delete a bunch of school programs she'd downloaded, and they were taking up precious computer space.  Add to that the Norton Antivirus that we haven't used in like, forever, that was still running in the background, and it's no wonder my computer was slow.  He got to work on it, and I went to the grocery store.  I have to do my 2 week shopping trip this weekend, and I was trying to figure out a menu plan for the next two weeks, but it's difficult if you don't know what's on sale.  So I went to Winn-Dixie to pick up meats.  I purchased 3 packages of ground beef at $3.99/lb.  I know that last time I said I wasn't going to pay that much for ground beef when it was $3.79/lb at Costco, but the Costco ground beef was so fatty!  When I would brown the meat I'd have all this grease to get rid of.  Better to pay a bit more and get better quality beef.  I got pork chops and a pork shoulder as well, and a few staples that I knew I needed like onions, potatoes, rice, etc.  In all I spent $79 but the only meat I need to get now is the turkey for Christmas Eve.  I still have plenty of shopping to do but I'll leave that for Walmart.  Much as I hate going there, the prices on canned goods and frozen foods are cheaper for the most part.  The turkey I'll get at Publix.  Theirs is the best.

I took E to the park for his PE assignment.  He has to do several tasks to show how he has improved in his exercises since the semester started.  Well, I'm pleased to say he shaved off another 19 seconds on his mile run!  He was huffin' and puffin' but he finished in 10 min 48 sec.  This was better than the times he'd had when he had daily PE in school, so we are very happy about it.  He won't be turning in this assignment till Saturday, since he has to show 3 days of exercising, but it's okay.  The teacher says this assignment isn't due till January 18.  I'm having him do it now because he needs to finish his hours for the week, and he's done with all his other classes.  We took our time doing the science lab (translation: dragged it out as far as we could) and that got turned in today; it was the only assignment he had left to complete.  With exercising and watching documentaries on ocean life he was able to complete his hours for today, but I'm at a loss as to what we'll do tomorrow.  He has one live lesson that he has to attend, and his PE.  He'll be doing lots of reading and documentary watching I guess.

We had sandwiches for lunch and dinner today.  I kept it simple because I just didn't know what to make.  I have those days sometimes, when nothing sounds appealing.  Thankfully my kids don't make a fuss.  As long as there's food to eat they're happy.

I remembered something today:  I have some outdoor penguin decorations in the shed that hadn't been put outside!  How in the world did I forget that?!  Penguins are my favorite Christmas decoration.  I have all kinds of decor for Christmas - villages, musical and animated figurines, Santas, Nativity scenes, and enough items in storage to make the North Pole come alive in South Florida.  I could live without any of them, except for my Nativities and my penguins.  Oh, and my rabbits.  I have the Lloyd family from back when I sold House Of Lloyd, and I love them.  Anyway, after dinner and before the sun went down, I got my two penguins out of the shed.  One is made of metal and is holding a hot cup of tea, and the other is a light up cutie pie that is now on the pavers next to the front door.  Both were gifts from my dearest friend DPP.  I have to give her a call soon.  I really do miss her.  She'd moved out to Arizona at the beginning of the year, but thankfully she's back.  I don't have many friends, and she is one that I truly treasure.

Oh!  I got my Ulta order today!  The gift set I got so the kids could give to their dad...is a lot smaller than I expected.  I'm glad I got a bunch of stuff to go with it.  It was all freebies but it makes it a much nicer gift which makes my kids happy.  I also got my Bare Minerals Delight and Dazzle set that I'd ordered for myself.  The original price was $49; it was on sale for $34 and I had $8 in reward money, so I ended up paying $26 for it.  It's wonderful!  All the products are full size.  I have 2 new eyeshadows, 2 new blushes, 2 eyeliners and 2 lip glosses.  I'm debating which set I'm gonna try first!  The Delight set is for daytime, and the Dazzle set is for night.  I like that the Delight set has peachy colors.  I don't have anything in those tones so it'll be a nice change once in awhile.  

My daughter got home from work, then headed straight to the store to pick up supplies for her birthday celebration, happening tomorrow.  Her birthday is actually December 27, but since it's 2 days after Christmas and so many folks are out of town, she decided it would be best to do it 2 weeks before.  I'll have all the details to her festivities here on my blog either tomorrow or Saturday.  She did make something she calls reindeer bark, with crushed Oreos, pretzels, and more goodies, topped with melted almond bark and M&M's.  It looks pretty tasty, but it has to go into the fridge to harden.  It'll be interesting to see what everyone thinks!

I sat down to relax and watch some videos, and I kept dozing off.  I'm tired because I was awake at 4 am.  I'm gonna try to stay awake, but no guarantees.  I think I'll be snoozing before 11:00 rolls around.  Oh well.  Good night.

Tackling Tuesday

Did you ever get the feeling you were the last person to find out about something?  Like everyone is in on the secret but you?  That was me this morning.  The world is progressing forward and I'm stuck in neutral.

Last night my computer (which is pretty old, by the way) started acting up as it sometimes does.  I shut it down multiple times but for whatever reason I could not get internet access.  At all.  It wouldn't recognize our wireless network or any other wireless network in the area.  I was concerned because this is the computer my son uses for his schoolwork.  He can't get Java to work on his computer so he watches all his live lessons on mine, and today he had two. I prayed this morning that my son would be able to figure out what was wrong with the computer before 10 am when E's first lesson started.  As soon as R woke up I told him what had happened last night.  He walked over to the computer, pressed a button on the top of the keyboard, and all the wireless connections came up.  I sat there in amazement and asked what he'd done?  His matter-of-fact answer:  "I turned on the wireless."  I couldn't do anything but laugh my head off at what an idiot I was.  I must have turned the wireless off without realizing it.  Even funnier, I pointed to another button and told the boys I'd thought that was the button for the wireless.  My 14 year old said, "No Mom, that turns off the mousepad."  I shook my head and wondered when I'd left the prehistoric era and landed here in the 21st century.

Breakfast today was pretty basic:  one fried egg, 2 strips of bacon, honey wheat toast with homemade apple butter, and coffee.  Lunch will be tacos, with lettuce from my backyard.  I'd started a garden months ago but had given up on it when the caterpillars waged war and were winning.  Still, without even trying, my lettuce seeds sprang up and I have large gorgeous lettuce leaves ready for the picking.  Not only that, but I was watching our dog Molly and happened to look at my tomato plant.  There's a tomato growing!  The first one on this plant!  I stopped watering this plant because I was sure it was a dud.  It grew and grew but never gave me a single tomato.  Now it has a small tomato and 2 more little tomato buds.  Proof again that I plant, I even water, but it's God who makes things grow.

I watched Alexandrea Garza's new video this morning and had to tell my daughter about it.  She goes over her evening skin care routine, and there were some really good pointers.  For instance, why hadn't I thought of using Johnson's Baby Shampoo to remove eye makeup?!  Oh my goodness, that is genius!  It's gentle on the eyes and cleans really well, plus it's way cheaper than any makeup remover on the market!  She also had some advise for people with extra dry skin which my daughter suffers from.  Especially now that the humidity has gone down, our skin gets drier than usual, and her skin gets downright flaky.  Her regular moisturizer isn't doing a good enough job; hopefully she can find something that will work for her.  My daughter has started using Michael Todd products which are totally organic, since she has sensitive skin.  Hopefully a good moisturizer regiment will also help improve her complexion.

I thought today was gonna be another busy school day; after all, E had a couple of assignments to do, and 2 live lessons.  He went in for his first live lesson, English class.  Except it wasn't a class per se, it was review and question time for their end of semester assignment.  The class is writing a thesis on Dr. Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail (which is an inspirational read).  They've done the thesis statement, introduction, body paragraphs, and today they were writing the conclusion.  It took all of half an hour.  So he read his book till his next live lesson, leadership.  Turns out the teacher had cancelled the class because they are just about finished with the semester.  So he did his reading for leadership, wrote his conclusion paragraph, and was done in 3 hours.  Great.  He needs 5 hours of work per day.  We went ahead and started working on his music history lab, but I don't want him getting to far ahead of himself; the rest of the week is really light, and if he does all the work today and tomorrow he'll have nothing to do the rest of the week.  I'm looking forward to Christmas break so I don't have to figure out what schoolwork to do.

While my son was listening to his English teacher review for his assignment, I took our dog Molly out for her bath.  Molly is an American bulldog mix.  She acts very much like an American bulldog, except that lately she had gotten to digging in the backyard.  She comes to the door with filthy paws.  She also has taken to rolling in the dirt, causing her to stink to high heaven.  I was dying to get her cleaned up good but it had been too chilly out - we have to bathe her outside because she absolutely HATES getting a bath and she would not stay still for a moment to get bathed inside the house.  Besides, she sheds enough to build a second dog, and I can't imagine the damage her hair would do to our plumbing.  The weather has gotten nicer the last couple of days; 50's in the morning, 70's in the afternoon, 60's in the evening.  I had to wait till the sun came out so I could give her a bath without her freezing.  Now, normally I tie Molly up to the patio furniture to get her bathed because if I don't she'll run off.  The patio furniture is light, but she wouldn't move it because the sound it made against the patio floor would scare her (she's part dog, part chicken).  Today, however, she decided she wasn't having anything to do with cleaning or water or shampoo or anything.  I brought the hose out and started getting her wet.  All of a sudden, she bolted.  And I mean she was taking everything that was in her path!  She knocked down one of the patio chairs, a large planter, the glass from the patio table she was tied to went flying and only by God's grace landed on the grass and didn't shatter, and she ended up on the other side of the house, patio table still dragging behind her, where she turned and gave me that look said, "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"  Yeah, you better believe it!  I not only had to give her a bath, I also had to put the patio back together again.  She was in the doghouse, so to speak, after that little incident.

I got the email from Ulta today:  my order has shipped :-).  I'm glad; it's one less thing I have to worry about.  The Bare Escentuals orders are also supposed to ship this week, in time to receive them for Christmas, though none of the items we ordered are actually Christmas gifts.  Of course, there might be a birthday gift for my little girl, whose birthday is two days later ;-).

Tonight was our weekly group run, and I met up with my friend DS at the corner of our block.  We live about a mile away from the meeting spot for our running group, so DS and I sometimes go there on foot.  We took my son E since he'd been cooped up at home all day.  The night was brisk - 61 degrees felt nice for our walk/jog around the neighborhood.  DS and I don't usually run like the others in the group; we either walk or jog, so we lag behind and chit-chat the whole time.  Tonight we were walking along a path that is directly behind a bunch of houses, and there is a concrete wall separating the houses from the sidewalk.  My son E was a few feet ahead of us, running.  As we walked something along the top of the wall caught my eye.  It was a possum.  Possums are nothing more than giant rats as far as I'm concerned, and anyone who knows me knows I hate rats.  I let out a scream, grabbed my friend DS, pulled her away from the wall and yelled, "Run!!"  I hit my turbo button and took off like a mad woman, DS was trying to run but didn't know what was going on, and my son turned around and wondered, "What in the world are they doing?!"  He heard laughter and thought maybe we were laughing at a joke.  Then he saw us running and thought we were racing!  It wasn't until I'd gotten far enough that I told them what I'd seen.  It was so hilarious, we couldn't stop talking about it and laughing!  Even our exercise time is an adventure!

Oh, and I did change the background on my blog today.  The background I had was pretty but it was more appropriate for spring; this background is more of a winter theme, but not too wintery - it's not like we get snow or anything.  Hope it looks appealing!  Have a good night y'all.

It's My Birthday!!

The day is here!  I awoke this morning feeling...a day older.  And another day thankful.  I have so much to be thankful for!  God has been good to me.  I'm thankful for each day, for each year, and for each moment.  Today, I praise Him for one more year of life and health.

I got up early today (as I usually do) and began to get ready for church.  My daughter was awake and packing up her car - she plays guitar with the youth ministry band and had to be at church early for practice.  She was the first to wish me a happy birthday and give me my present:  she knows how much I'd been wanting to see the Disney movie Saving Mr. Banks, and she got me the DVD.  I love Tom Hanks, he is such an amazing actor, and I saw previews of him playing Mr. Walt Disney in this movie.  He is a genius!  I can't wait to watch the movie later on.  Underneath the movie I could see a gift card, but she said it was from her little brother who was still asleep, so I decided to wait till he got up to take a look at it.  I made breakfast and got myself a cup of coffee, then woke up my youngest son.  I didn't want to wake up my oldest son R; he had pulled a double shift at work the day before and I wanted to let him sleep in.  He got up early anyway, and gave me a big birthday hug.  That made my day right there!  His younger brother finally got up and they gave me my gifts.  My son E gave me a $25 gift card from my favorite cosmetic store, Ulta.  Woohoo!! My oldest son got me a great recipe book:  Taste Of Home Christmas Recipes.  I love recipe books, and this one has lots of desserts which means lots of goodies for our tummies!  It made me so happy to see how well my babies know me :-).

I got to Sunday school before anyone else, so I started up the coffee and set everything up.  People started streaming in, and one of the ladies whom I've known for years (her daughter was my daughter's college roommate) wished me a happy birthday.  I thought that was so sweet.  Then as our teacher was taking prayer requests, she mentioned to the whole class that it was my birthday - it caught me off guard, but everyone was wishing me a happy birthday, and at the end of the class they prayed for a special blessing for me on my day.  That really made my heart sing!

The sermon on the prodigal son was on point - I left feeling so loved by my God, who loves me and calls me His own even when I try to go off on my own, thinking I know better than anyone.  Pastor Ray once again preached the word with truth and accuracy.  I'm so thankful for our pastor!

After church we came home and waited for my daughter so we could decide where to go out to eat.  We always go out either for lunch, dinner, or "linner" on my birthday, and I was trying to decide where to go.  I felt like having Mexican food, so I chose a Mexican restaurant that's in an outdoor mall just north of us.  My daughter came home and we all hopped in the car and headed over, only to find the place packed inside and out, and no parking anywhere.  That was going to be a long wait, and it was already 3:00.  We drove over to the main street and looked at different places to eat.  My son R spotted Buffalo Wild Wings, and we all perked up.  We are chicken wing lovers, no doubt about it.  I still felt like Mexican but I would happily have wings, so we turned in there.  Again, the place looked like it was packed, but they got us seated right away.  Once we were sitting, I was quickly reminded how much I hate football.  There were television screens everywhere, with multiple games going on, and everyone focused on the Dolphin game.  The noise was over-the-top, but with it being a Sunday, and a football Sunday at that, I knew if we left we'd run into the same thing no matter where we went, so we stayed.  I anticipated slow service but it was the absolute contrary.  We were seated right away, our order was taken, and the food came quickly.  I ordered - get this - fish tacos!  Yes, I wanted Mexican and I got it!  My younger kids got a big platter of wings which they shared, and R had chicken tenders with enormous onion rings.  Once it was clear that the Dolphins were gonna lose, the place quieted down and we had a really nice time.  My oldest son graciously paid for the entire meal.  I was so thankful to be able to have my babies with me to celebrate my birthday.

Coincidentally (or not), Ulta was on the same street as Buffalo Wild Wings - isn't that perfect? ;-)  And my boys didn't complain - there's a Barnes and Noble in the same shopping center, so while my daughter and I went cosmetics shopping, they went to look at and purchase books.  I already knew what I wanted from Ulta:  cosmetic brushes.  Some of my brushes I've had for years, and especially my blush brush is rough against my skin from washing it so much.  I was hoping to get the Real Techniques core collection since I've heard such great things about it and my daughter has their powder brush which she loves.  When we walked into the store, the first thing that caught my eye was a Bare Minerals blush and brush set that I'd seen advertised on a youtube video, and I ran to get it.  It's a full size loose powder blush in Strawberry Cream with a mini blush brush for $10!  The regular price for just the blush is $19, so I knew I wanted that beautiful pink blush!  My daughter was looking at the BareSkin serum foundation, trying to decide what color she wanted.  I have this foundation in Bare Natural, which is a neutral color.  She has used it before, but she mistakenly thought I had Bare Nude.  As she was picking different colors to look at, I pulled the Bare Nude and asked if she wanted to try that one.  Her answer:  "You've already seen me in the Nude."  What was even funnier was that she didn't realize what she'd said till I told her, "I haven't seen you in the nude in a long time."  We laughed so much!  After trying out different tones one of the sales ladies came over and helped her pick the right color for her:  Bare Ivory.  It matched her neck nicely, and helped cover the redness in her cheeks.  After that she went to look at hair products and I went in search of my brushes.  I was so disappointed to find they didn't have any more core collection brushes :-(.  I should mention, the store was pretty busy and there was a long line at the registers the whole time we were there, so I wasn't surprised they were running out of merchandise.  'Tis the season to be shopping :P.  I did find the eye brush set - I wanted new eye brushes as well, and it was the last one.  Since they didn't have the core collection I decided to just get the blush brush.  Yes, the blush I was purchasing had a blush brush, but it's a mini.  It's nice for travel or to have in my purse, but I like a big fluffy brush for blush, and this one was $8.99 which is a great deal.  I had gotten a 20% off coupon from Ulta in the mail, and with that and the gift card, I was able to get everything I wanted for $6.35.  Now that's what I call a great deal!

The trip home was nice, chatting and listening to the Duck Dynasty Christmas CD my kids gave me last year.  We pulled into the driveway, and I remembered we still haven't fixed our Christmas lights.  It was already dark so that wasn't going to happen today.  Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow.  Our house looks so sad and dark compared to the other houses on our block.

I'm gonna relax the rest of this evening, watch a movie, and enjoy what's left of my birthday.  I am so blessed, and have so much to be thankful for.  My life isn't perfect by any means; but I am loved by my God, by my family, and by my friends.  And if you have Jesus, you already have everything you need.  All the rest is bonus.  Have a good night.

Birthday Eve

The countdown is almost over - tomorrow is my birthday!  So what am I doing today to get ready?  Housework, of course :P.

I got up nice and early today because I knew my kids were meeting their dad for some more Christmas shopping.  My oldest son had to work, which probably is best since his dad and siblings were shopping for him (I think he is going to be pleasantly surprised).  I got breakfast ready for us and was enjoying Eggo waffles and bacon, when I got an alert that Shelbey had posted a new video.  As soon as I was done eating I went on youtube to watch it.  She does great makeup tutorials which I love watching, but today it was about beauty gifts for Christmas.  She had us laughing quite a bit!  I really do enjoy her videos.

After that it was time for the kids to get ready and me to start cleaning.  I had to beat a pair of my youngest son's pants; he went to get something out of his closet last night and says he saw a cockroach on his sweatpants.  That boy is terrified of cockroaches.  He didn't want to go anywhere today because he didn't want to have to think about what was in his pants :P.  He actually wanted me to take all his clothes out of the closet and wash them because the thought of a bug on his pants grossed him out so bad!  Yeah boy, that ain't happening.  So I beat the pants till he was convinced there was nothing in them, then inspected them for half an hour before putting them on.  It was quite a sight.

Because of our sweet American bulldog Molly shedding so much, I have to vacuum or sweep the floors everyday.  This week I'd swept more than vacuumed, and yesterday I didn't clean the floors at all, so this morning my floors were furry :P.  Once the kids were all gone I got to work vacuuming and mopping up her industrial strength drool.  It was on the sliding glass doors as well, and I had to scrub it to get it off.  I'm not even sure it's completely clean, but I was getting frustrated.  Every time I looked at the glass I saw another smudge of drool.  Ugh!  I love you Molly but can't you keep your saliva inside your mouth?!  And quit all the shedding, girl.  I could make a second dog with all the fur I picked up today!  So I was vacuuming the family room, and the vacuum cleaner got stuck between the two recliners.  I pulled on it to get it loose and something went wrong.  The vacuum cleaner isn't working.  Well, technically it's working, it just isn't vacuuming from the bottom portion, just from the attachment.  Which is a problem.  I'll probably have to turn the thing upside down and figure out what I did to it, or get it repaired.  Dyson vacuum cleaners don't come cheap, so replacing it isn't an option.  I'm gonna have to get it fixed.  Add that to my to do list.

Since all the kids were gone and it was just me, there was no reason to make a big meal for lunch.  I cooked up some Totino's pizza rolls and munched on those.  I also had a butter pecan ice cream bar; it's not as cold out as it's been this week so I could tolerate some ice cream.  The high today was 75 degrees.  It was breezy the whole day so I was able to keep the windows open.  The humidity was 50% which for us is pretty low.  It made the weather very pleasant and enjoyable.

It's been 5 days and my Ulta order has not shipped.  This is out of the ordinary for them, but I imagine it's because of the holiday rush.  I went ahead and emailed them anyway, just to keep them on the alert.  Wonder how long before I get an answer?

At 3:00 I went to take a shower and get ready for tonight's concert.  Last night the Christmas concert at our old church was very contemporary; tonight's concert at our church would be more traditional, with the church and school choirs coming together for a reading and singing.  This concert is a dressy event, with most folks dressed in red dresses, blouses and shirts.  I love that type of tradition, so I pulled out a long sleeved red blouse I'd gotten a couple years ago at Kohl's.  I especially like the ruching around the waist that makes me look thinner ;-).  I paired that with a black skirt with a dark pink pinstripe.  What I love about this skirt, is how the pinstripe mimics the color of the top.  With a pink top the pinstripe looks pink, with a fuschia, plum, magenta, or burgundy top, that's what the pinstripe will reflect.  With my red blouse the pinstripe looked like a light red and matched beautifully.  I had plenty of time to do my hair and makeup, get dressed and be at the church with 10 minutes to spare.  The concert started off well, and we were singing along with some of the old classics.  As Silent Night started to play, I noticed a girl in the back who was moving around, something you aren't supposed to do when you're singing in a choir.  I also saw the girls around her kind of pulling her.  I couldn't understand what was going on till the girl looked up.  She looked kind of spaced out.  I suddenly realized what was happening - she was fainting.  She went down, got back up and continued singing but went down again.  Several people went to help her up but she was in and out of consciousness.  The curtain went down, and we were left to wonder if the girl was alright.  Within a few minutes our worship pastor came out and said the young girl had been overcome apparently by the heat and lights and had passed out.  She was awake and alert but an ambulance had been called to make sure she was okay.  Thankfully the ambulance got there right away and it appears it's nothing serious.  The concert continued after 15 minutes, but it was kind of awkward after that.  Our pastor got up and spoke about the Christmas story, and about 5 people raised their hands in response to the invitation to receive the gift of salvation, the greatest gift of Christmas.  We prayed for the young girl before leaving the church.  Despite the hiccup, the concert was lovely and it was a sweet time of fellowship.

Once I got home it was time to get out of my outfit and exfoliate.  I do my facial exfoliation once a week because I have sensitive skin, and I've chosen Saturday nights so Sunday morning my skin will look radiant for church.  As I cleansed my face my daughter talked about her birthday party next Friday.  Both my daughter A and my son E were born on December 27, 10 years apart.  E will be turning 15, and A will be 25 years old.  She has decided to have a winter wonderland party, with a hot chocolate bar and desserts such as cookies and cupcakes.  That will be the main focus of the party as opposed to a big meal.  We'll have party games which is something we love, and Christmas music because it is Christmas time after all.  She has invited about 25 people so it'll be a packed house.  She's really looking forward to it.  I've got a lot of scheduling to do to make sure everything goes smoothly.  That's my type A personality working overtime.

It's almost 11:00, and the bed is calling out to me.  You know what?  I haven't got anything planned for my birthday.  Unlike my daughter, I'm choosing to play it by ear.  It's my attempt at being spontaneous, which means letting go control :-).  I'll be posting about my special day tomorrow.  Come on back for a visit, won't ya?

Wacky Weather Wednesday

I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.  I've walked into another dimension, one with temperatures way below what they normally are this time of year.  We woke up to 47 degrees today.  This is highly unusual in South Florida overall, but even more so at the beginning of December.  We typically don't see temps this low until late December or early January.  For us, having temperatures in the 40's on Christmas means we're gonna have a cold winter; it's December 10th and the forecast calls for 40's and 50's for the next week.  I think it's safe to say, this winter will be frigid.

Today my son had a pretty packed school schedule.  Interesting how it works:  Monday and Tuesday we had nothing to do other than school, and his schedule was light.  Tonight we have church; E has youth group and I serve in Awana.  So of course today he has a heavier schedule :P.  I'm thankful, though, that homeschooling gives us such flexibility.  He finished one of today's assignments yesterday.  His music assignment isn't due till tomorrow so it's not pressing.  He has 3 online classes to attend today, plus his English and science assignments to turn in.  Once that's done, if he has time he can work on music or leave it for tomorrow.  He doesn't feel pressured by deadlines, yet he's way ahead in all his classes.  Public schools could learn a lot from homeschool.  Of course there are the cons, the inevitable glitches that come from doing schoolwork (or any other kind of work) over the internet.  The connection to the school link was giving us problems.  I literally had to shut down my computer and start it back up because it just froze.  The good thing is, all the live lessons are recorded, so if my son needs anything he can always go back and listen to the lesson again.  They've really taken care of things.  Once the internet was back on track, he finished the classes he needed to get done.

After our run yesterday I decided the weather was perfect for putting up some Christmas lights.  I only wanted to get them up around the garage and the entrance; it's hard to get around the plants and trees on the other side of the house.  E and I worked for an hour, and it was looking really good.  Then I tried to plug them in.  I'd done it again.  I put the lights up backwards.  The plug is on one side of the 2 car garage, and the outlet is on the other side of the entryway.  I can't put an extension cord without it going all over my driveway.  It was past 5:30 and starting to get dark, so I had to quit my work and leave the lights to be fixed today or tomorrow.  I was so bummed; my intention was to surprise my daughter when she got home from work.  She was surprised, alright.  First thing she said when she walked in was, "Do you realize the lights aren't turned on?"  And then she laughed at me.  I'm glad I was at least able to bring some comic relief into her life :P.

My first Bare Escentuals order came in today!  Let me just give a quick rundown of all I got:  first off, I got 2 Prime Time eye primer shadow which I am SO glad I got.  I've always had dry skin, but lately I've noticed my skin getting oilier around the t-zone area and especially my eyelids.  I cleanse and moisturize daily so I know that's not the reason; it's just my skin adjusting to a new season of life I suppose.  I'm not upset that my skin has gotten a bit oilier, since it was always so dry.  It just means I have to take measures to keep my skin from getting too oily.  It also means I have to make adjustments in my makeup, hence the eyelid primers.  With such oily eyelids my eye makeup would crease and the colors would blend, making them look mushed up if that makes sense.  I have been using my regular primer on my eyelids and it has helped, but I'm hoping these primers which are also base shadows will do a better job.  The colors are nude glow and gold nugget; nice neutral transition shades.

Also for the eyes, I got 3 new eye shadows.  Oasis is a stunning green which I'm really excited about because I don't have any green eye shadows!  Brown eyes look very nice with green eye shadow so I can't wait to try it, especially since it looks like a nice holiday color!  Mai Tai is more on the orange-y side, brighter than I'm used to but I have to actually try it and see how it looks.  Lastly, Velvet Vanilla is a light powder similar to Vanilla Sugar but not as glittery.  I also got a much needed eyeliner pencil in bronze - my brown pencil is down to almost nothing since it's the one I use the most.

The blush that came with the set is called Exhilarate, and it's a bright rosy pink.  I've needed blush for some time; the one I have I need to layer on thick so it'll show.  That defeats the purpose of trying to use less makeup.  This color looks really pigmented and it's a lovely shade of pink.

Next, lip colors.  I got a beautiful lipstick/lipliner combo in Get Ready which is a dusty rose color.  I usually use brighter pinks but this is a pretty color for evening.  Then I got 2 lip glosses, one called Plumtini (easy to guess what color that is) and the other Apricot Nectar (also pretty easy to figure out).  These are mini sizes which are fine; I don't usually use lip glosses except over lipsticks if they are drying.

The kit brought a nice two sided concealer brush.  While I wasn't looking for one, I'm glad this one came with the set.  The large side is perfect for under the eyes, and the smaller side is great for around my nose which gets red especially during allergy season, so this was a great plus.  Add to that the pastel yellow makeup bag and I got 13 items for $30.  Happy birthday to me!!

Awana went very well tonight.  It is awesome to hear the girls encourage one another, and oh how they learn those bible verses!  I'm privileged and humbled that God would use me to plant His words in their precious hearts.  I wonder if these girls know how much I learn from them and how much they bless me each week.

We're back home now.  It's just me and E; my oldest son R is at work, and my daughter A is at a funeral.  A girl from her youth group sent a group text out yesterday asking for prayer for a girl in her dance class; she'd passed out and wasn't breathing, and the ambulance had rushed her to the hospital.  My daughter told me it was a girl who'd been to youth group before.  Shortly afterwards she got an email from the church asking for prayer as well.  A couple of hours later she got the news that the girl, who was just 11 years old, was now with Jesus.  Apparently she'd had a heart attack.  I guess she had some undetected heart disease, though I don't know for sure.  I cannot imagine the pain and anguish her family must be feeling right now; just thinking about it drains me emotionally, and I didn't even know the girl.  It's a reminder that our lives are fleeting.  We have to live each day like it's our last, because tomorrow is not guaranteed.  I will be praying for this family.

The dishes are washed, everything's put away, it's time to get washed up and ready for bed.  Oh, in my kit I also got a sample of Bare Minerals' Active Cell Renewal Night Serum.  It's a product that helps "maximize cellular renewal and hydrate skin overnight," to provide "skin that looks firmer, healthier and younger."  Sure, I'll give it a try.  I don't know that I'm gonna be dishing out $50 for one fluid ounce of this in the future, but I'm not against trying out a freebie.

That was my day today.  Thanks for stopping by.  God bless.