Make Up Monday!- I'm back!

After a 2 week hiatus, I'm back! 

I meant to be back next week, but I've taken a job opportunity at work, and I've had to devote some of my free time to training and what not. 

I've purchased quite a few make-up products over the last few weeks, including my birthday haul and the August Glam Bag! This will probably end up being a 2 post-er. I'm also going to limit my Terrible 2 Tuesdays as I'm really running out of material for that hahaha. Especially with my 7 year old with her father for the school year. And Weigh-In Wednesdays will resume next month. The reason being, I fell off the bandwagon something FIERCE. I'm going to try and hop back on ASAP, but to lessen the pressure I won't be doing those posts until next month when I start my new schedule. Yeah--remember how I said I hate the 10-7 shift at my job? Well I'll now be working it permanently. It sounds crazy, but I was offered a pay raise and given some managerial responsibilities, so I figured it was a good opportunity to move on up. And besides--I won't be on 10-7 forever. It's a means and a sacrifice to a better position in the company.

Anyways!

On to makeup!

So I'm going to do my birthday haul for this post. I had a blast just going to the mall for my birthday and spending a little bit of money on myself. And even get a freebie!

My Berfday Haul!

So this is the Sugar Kisses Mini Lip Duo. I. Love. These!!!!!! It's like applying silk to your lips. I carry the regular one in my purse everywhere I go. I'll use the Rose tinted one if I want to put a little color in my lips and am just not feeling gloss of lipstick. Now I don't know if I'll spend $22.50 for a regular sized product. I love these--but not THAT much.

I la-la-loooooove the matte look for nail polish. I just don't really like the idea of having to buy all of my favorite colors in matte. So I splurged on this matte top coat. It works really well too. I haven't done a whole lot with it yet, however! I just purchased a medium brown cream Essie polish that I have plans for with this top coat. I haven't had a problem with chipping or anything either. I also do my nails all the way (base coat, color, top coat) then put the matte on top. Maybe that helps prevent chipping. Either way, it was a good buy for $9.50. 

I also got these pretty necklaces at Charming Charlies. AKA- The LARGEST accessory store EVER!! They were BOGO free. They're not sterling silver and the butterfly has that weird... penny... key... smell. So I'm going to see if I can get a different chain for it. They ended up being $7 all together. 

Last stop was Walgreens!!! Thanks to my friend who gets an employee discount I got these puppies at 15% off the normal price! I had wanted to try the BB cream to see if how good the coverage was, and I watched a review on the Neutrogena Shine Control primer and was in the market for one that controlled shine. I'm in love with these both. The BB cream could have a BIT more coverage. It does remind me of a tinted moisturizer and I'm looking for just a HINT more of coverage. 

The primer is THE BEST EVERRRR!!!! I have had such AWFUL luck with primers. The ol' anti-chafing gel worked--but it clogged my pores and it felt heavy on my face. Mary Kay's face primer didn't help my foundation AT ALL. It just made my face REALLY oily. In fact, Mary Kay's eye primer isn't the greatest either. I crease ALL OVER the place. I love Mary Kay products, but those 2 I just can't stand. I'm looking forward to getting the Neutrogena Shine Control pressed translucent powder for touch ups. 

So that's all for today! Tomorrow I'm going to tell you about my Urban Decay palette I got for $13!!! and some other MISC items I've purchased. 

Till then!

See you in a week!

I won't be posting this week as it's my last week with my daughter before she goes back home to her father.

I'll be back next week with my birthday haul and favorites video!

I've also got a giveaway in the works. I'd like to get 50 followers and I'll do my first giveaway. I'll give details about it next week. :D

Have a great week everyone!

Weigh-In Wednesday- August Goals

Hi guys!

I kinda feel like a failure right now. With my lack of exercise and such and not really watching what I eat or not drinking soda. I don't want to be like "Oh well it's because of...." because I feel like it's just an excuse. HOWEVER--rotating schedules are not good for me. I haven't been sleeping for more than 5 hours a night. I feel like I'm in zombie mode all day. Until I hit the pillows, then I toss and turn for a few hours before falling asleep. 

So I figured that a new month is a great time to start! Anytime is good of course, but being that it's weigh-in Wednesday and August 1st it's PERFECT! So I've decided to make some goals for myself for the month. Not just for weight wise, but for an all around better feeling ME. 

My August Goals:

-Complete the 30 Day Shred (do in AM)

-NO SODA!!

-MORE WATER!!

-Put on make-up every week day

-Give myself a weekly mani and pedi on Sundays

- Less fast food, make better choices when I HAVE to do fast food.

- Take a Multi-vitamin everyday (one with higher folic acid)

- Get into a morning and evening routine to make life easier!!!

So there you have it. My goals for August. They seem pretty obtainable. I want to do MORE with beauty though (makeup, manicures, hair) because I notice that I feel better about myself if I have even just a little bit of makeup on and my nails all pretty and long. Makes me feel like I'm taking care of myself all the way around. 

Here's to my goals!!!! 

Updates

I haven't forgotten about you I SWEAR!!!

K is going back to Vegas in about a week and I've been spending as much time as I can with her.  Tomorrow I'm going to post a weight in Wednesday and goals for August. New month. New me! Right? *sigh*

I still plan on posting and doing a video on my favorite products of July and about my birthday haul. I also want to do some review of the products I bought from my birthday haul. I'm also growing out my nails too, so you'll start seeing more reviews about nail products as well.

See you soon!

Free-For-All Friday!

Happy Friday!!!


The last day of this horrible shift. Thank. GOD!!! I can finally start to get back on track with EVERYTHING!!


I never made it to Ulta because my car decided to be a shit and have the car battery die. I don't own jumper cables so I've been carpooling with the hubs. Joy. But tonight, I'm headed to Sephora to pick up my freebie birthday gift and then possibly to Ulta. Depending on how long it takes at Sephora. I only have 2 hours to go to Sephora and Ulta and I'm carpooling. Which means I'll be at the mercy of someone else. And I hate that. 


So last weekend D and I went to see The Dark Knight Rises. I loved it. It was really good. Selina Kyle's character was SPOT ON with the comic books. I personally could understand every word that Bane said and THE SCENE with Bane "breaking" Batman... Wow. Just. Wow. Everyone's acting was flawless. The one who I thought was REALLY great was Michael Caine. He made it the most emotional. And we FINALLY got our Christopher Nolan twist!! For me, the movie wasn't slow. I've heard people saying it was too long and too slow. No. It wasn't. It did what it needed to do to make the movie great. It was some campy comic book movie like The Avengers. It was a realistic take on a comic book. What I don't get is why people are saying one movie is better than the other. They are two TOTALLY different movies. Not something you can really compare. The only thing they have in common is that they're based off comic books. That's it. One is more action, humor oriented. The other is more dark, realistic, action oriented. I see The Dark Knight Rises as more of a drama-action, something that is Oscar worthy and something that was meticulously made to be a GOOD movie. Where as The Avengers is more of a comedy-action and something that was made to please the comic book fans. 


I plan on seeing this movie again when it hits the dollar theater. I just can't stand spending SO MUCH on a movie ticket!!! It's crazy!!! D and I spent the same amount that we would buying it on Blu-Ray just to watch the damn movie once!! But most certainly worth it this time around. It's a very rare occasion that D and I make it to the movies anymore, but we go for the GOOD movies. 


Tomorrow the family is going to the zoo! Hooray! I don't know what going down on Sunday since it's my berfday and all. I'm sure I'll just veg out. Or clean. One or the other. Plus! I have my July favorites video to shoot for you all. And a haul to write about! 


Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Weigh-In Wednesday

Ok I'm going to be honest (you know every time you hear that on a weight loss post you go "OH GREAT!"), this last week and a half has SUCKED. BIG TIME! I've been working this horrid shift at work. My sleeping schedule is completely out of whack because of it. I've been lazy and eating not so great. Not HORRIBLE, but not so great. I've been drinking more Coke than I should, and I've chowed down on a few too many chocolate donuts. I did the shred over the weekend, but during the week it just doesn't work for me. I wake up, get ready for work, go to work, come home, eat dinner, get ready for bed and lay in bed for hours tossing and turning before finally falling asleep at midnight or 1am. 

I really don't want to workout in the evening because then I'll REALLY have issues falling asleep. If it's after 7pm, and I workout, I won't fall asleep until 3 or 4. Ask anyone who works here and works this shift. It's murder on you body. Luckily this is my last week for it for a few more months. This weekend I'm back on the bandwagon and I'm getting my freaking house back!!! 

Luckily I haven't gained much. I gained 2 lbs. So I'm stepping up my water intake, and leaving the Coke alone. I finally made it to the grocery and got some decent snacks. I'm going to start skinni-tize my recipes and see how they go as well. This weeks it's been nothing but crock pot meals. They've been pretty good, but I'm sure they're extremely high in sodium and calories. But it's easy and my family will eat it. One less thing for me to worry about this week. 

Do you work an odd shift, or a rotating shift? If so, how do you adjust your schedule to fit in everything you usually do?? 

Hoping for a better weigh-in next week!!!

Terrible 2 Tuesday! Home Censorship

 I. Love. The Walking Dead. I also love sleep. With this dilemma comes decisions. Sleep and possibly wait till the weekend to watch my shows? Or watch them anyways and hope your children don't want to watch and would rather play. 


Before I get into the decisions that are made in this type of situation, let me give you a little background on D and I--childhood style. 


I consider myself to be a "sheltered" child. I didn't see a rated R movie until I was 13 years old, and my mother didn't even know about it. It was Alien. My mother was very restrictive on any movies with REALLY bad language and ANY type of nudity. Well needless to say, since I was so sheltered, I was pretty shocked at what I saw in Alien. There was also an... experience with a scorpion resembling a face-hugger, in the middle of the night, in my bedroom when I was visiting my dad in Las Vegas after I watched Aliens. 


D on the other hand saw Robocop at the age of 4 when it came out in theaters. O_O!!!! ROBOCOP!!! He's never really been restricted on what he watches. He's a little more numb to violence and gore. Where as I still get queasy when watching something REALLY gory. The violence not so much, since I know it's fake. 


So when The Walking Dead first aired, J wasn't old enough to really know what was going on. She never paid attention to what we watched, so we could say or watch what we wanted. Well when season 2 aired, she was a little more aware. We caught her watching on occasion, but she was never scared of what she saw. The sick child was actually enthralled!!! The age she is now--she's a sponge. She's unfortunately learned a few choice words from us (not just D and I either!!!) and getting more and more aware of what's going on around her. 


Now K on the other hand wasn't exposed to anything when she was younger. It was pretty much Sprout and Spongebob. She's petrified of everything. We had been watching previews and behind the scenes stuff about The Dark Knight Rises, and the same day she had a nightmare about Bane. If she happens to be watching the news, she freaks out about ANY kind of violence. But she's never here when The Walking Dead is on. Hahaha. 


Now we won't be watching The Walking Dead while J is up anymore. We are watching our language as well. But will it really help to keep EVERYTHING away from her? I mean the news is chalk full of violence. And quite frankly I don't know if D and I will ever be able to keep our mouths completely clean. I think we do a pretty decent job as parents though. No one's perfect after all. I guess I just want a good mix of good and bad. Enough to where they're not COMPLETELY numb to everything, but not SCARED of the entire world either. 


How do you censor in the home???

Make-Up Monday! BB Creams, July GlamBag reviews

Happy Monday!


Sorry for the lack of Free-For-All Friday. With all the chaos of Aurora, CO and being swamped at work, I didn't really get a chance to write something. 


On to make-up! So after my disappointment in E.L.F's tinted moisturizer, I've decided that I want to move to a BB Cream. I've been doing a lot of reading and I've decided I may want to try a higher end BB cream AND a drugstore BB cream. I'm going to purchase Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm for sure. I'm on the fence about Maybelline's Dream Fresh BB cream and L'Oreal Skin Beautifier BB cream. The reason I'm on the fence about these two is because Maybelline's has an SPF 30. Now I'm not sure if that's entirely accurate since the only SPF ingredient in it is only 1.15% of titanium oxide. It's also not broad spectrum. L'Oreal's doesn't have ANY SPF in it. BUT from what I've read, it has better coverage than Maybelline's. Which is what I'm looking for. I'm not too concerned about SPF since I use Mary Kay's Day Solution which has a broad spectrum SPF 35. So I still have SPF on my face no matter what type of foundation I use. 


I liked tinted moisturizer, but I still want something with more coverage, but not as much a full fledged foundation--therefore a BB cream. So I have a 20% off my entire purchase coupon from Ulta, and they're also having their buy 2 get 1 free for L'Oreal as well. I will be making a trip to Ulta tomorrow!

Say Yes! To Cucumber facial wipes.... I. Love. Them. They are GREAT for a middle of the day perk up. I have combination skin (although someone tried to tell me once that I have DRY skin--- yeah no. That's why I look like a grease ball if I use ANY "dry skin" product) and sometimes in the middle of the day I just feel like I need a good face wash. So now I just bust out my Say Yes! To Cucumber facial wipes and give myself a nice refreshing mini cleanse. I'll reapply some moisturizer just to balance things out and I feel good as new. This is definitely something I will get again. 


As far as the rest of my GlamBag products... meh. I didn't get to use the NuMe conditioner since I don't usually like to use a conditioner without the shampoo that is supposed to go with it. The Juice Beauty moisturizer I didn't really like. I think it should be for a dry skinned person because it turned me into a grease ball and felt almost sticky. The Buxom lip polish was ok. I don't really like the color too much since warmer tones make my teeth look yellow and this is a warmer pink rather than a cooler pink. I do like how it makes my lips feel cool--not like the plumping tingly feeling--just cool.


And here's the UD Lounge Dupe comparison!!!:

They look IDENTICAL!! The only difference is, I think the UD is packed more tightly therefore it may seem like you have to put more ok. The W&W almost feels... wet. And it crumbles REAL easily. I wouldn't recommend putting this in your purse. You see that chunk missing out of mine? Yeah, that just from being in my purse. I don't have any issues like that with any of my other eyeshadows. But the W&W SEEMS more pigmented. But I think they're the same. 


Next Make-Up Monday is the last Monday for the month. I'll be thoroughly reviewing all of my favorite beauty products from the month of July. I may even do a video for it. I don't know yet. We'll see how things go this weekend. I'll also go over my Ulta haul on Free-For-All Friday as well as discuss my review of The Dark Knight Rises.


Tomorrow is Terrible 2 Tuesday. I'll be talking about certain TV shows and movies and if they're appropriate for children.


Ta-Ta!

Weigh-In Wednesday- post-poned

Sorry guys! I'm feeling VERY under the weather today.

My ankle is feeling better...

Going to start SHREDDING again tomorrow...

I'm going to go take a nap...

See you free-for-all Friday!

Terrible 2 Tuesday! Potty Training

So I'm kinda new to the whole potty training ordeal. I didn't do a whole lot with K only because the schedule that she was on going back and forth between me and her father, she happened to be with her father the greater deal of her potty training. I'm not really going to get into some of his "techniques" because quite frankly they piss me off so much I want to fly out there and punch him in the teeth for using them. Let's just say the repercussions of them are probably her inability to keep her bed dry at night at the age of 7. Doesn't matter if we wake her up at various time in the night. She almost always wets the bed. So to make her feel more comfortable and less stressed, we just get her some pull-ups for the evening. During the day she never has any issues with it. It's just at night. So I'm hoping her father will be taking her to the doctor for a physical exam to see if this is something physical.


We've SLOWLY started with J. We haven't pushed it or anything, but every once in a while when it's bath time, we get her naked and ask if she has to go potty. Sometime she does, sometimes she doesn't. I don't want to push it, but I don't want her in diapers at the age of 5 either. 


So I'm a little afraid, and not 100% sure what to do with J. I keep wondering: When do I REALLY start potty training HARD CORE? When do I buy pull-ups? SHOULD I buy pull-ups? Underwear? Should she be in a toddler bed before I start potty training?


SEE!!!! So many questions!!!! AH! Being an adult is hard!!!! X_X


Sorry this post is so short! As I said, I don't know much about potty training but am looking for suggestions!


I'm not weighing myself tomorrow for weight-in Wednesday because my old ankle injury decided to rear it's ugly head this weekend and I could barely walk from Saturday until yesterday. So I wasn't able to do my 30 day shred all weekend. My ankle was still tender today, so I decided I would start again tomorrow. I'm not using it as an excuse!!! I really can NOT walk when it acts up. Which it does if I stand on it for an extended period of time or the weather gets weird. Which it did. The temperature and humidity jumped this weekend. Yuck. But I will still post SOMETHING tomorrow!


I look forward to hearing your suggestions or your potty training stories!!!

Make-Up Monday! July Glam Bag!

Happy Monday!


I hate the shift I'm working the next 2 weeks! Hooray! X_X


On another note, I got my July Glam Bag today! Woo! I love the MyGlam subscription. I feel bad because I've never really had an issue with them and some people just had an AWFUL experience with them. Not getting their bags, payment issues, etc. The only issue I ever had was a missing product, but I had it in my hands a couple weeks later. Everything else for me has been smooth. I like a good lot of the products I've received. I haven't used most of the skin care products though. One application isn't enough to see a REAL difference. You know, the whole LAYERS thing. For me it takes a good month to see significant results. 


Here's July's GlamBag:

L to R: Circus by Andrea's Choice in Reverso, NuMe HydroPunch Conditioner,
Buxom Big & Healthly Lip Polish, Juice Ready Green Apple SPF 15 Moisturizer,
and Yes to Cucumbers Facial Towelettes. 

So I'm not really excited about the nail polish only because I already have a white nail polish. I was actually hoping for the yellow. Even though pink is my favorite color and I can never have too many variations of the color in a nail polish form, I would have preferred the yellow this time. So I'm waiting to see what M-Prime gets in hers and if she gets a different color we'll swap out. She doesn't have a white nail polish. I guess if she gets a white as well I'll keep it. It's supposed to be chip resistant so it could be more useful than the white that I have. It would definitely be great for a base for a water marble or for my neon colors. 


The NuMe conditioner smells phenomenal! I opened up the pouch the glam bag came in and was like "mmmmmm".  I wish I could pinpoint the smell, but I can't. It just smells good. I'm a little worried about the gloss. I put a little on my sanitized hand and it felt sticky. I HATE sticky gloss. But it's a cute color so I'll try it on my lips for a few days and give it a shot. The Juice Beauty moisturizer I'll only use at night. I prefer to have an SPF 25 or higher on my face during the day. The Yes to Cucumbers towelettes I'm looking forward to using. I always feel like I could use a good face wash in the middle of the day and these look perfect to try. I'll use these products this week and give a review of them next week. 


Speaking of nail polish, I came across this great idea on Pintrest for Galaxy Nails through Beautylish's website. Here's what I saw on the website: 

via beautylish.com

Pretty sweet huh!? And simple! Click here to see the tutorial on Beautylish.com. This is what my nails turned out to be:

Again, pretty sweet, huh?! Too bad my polish is cheap. It's already chipping!!! ARGH!!! Anyone want to suggest a good chip resistant top coat?! Yeah I know my nails are short, but I wanted to "start over". They get too long sometimes and will chip, or I'll scratch myself or something will irritate me and I'll cut them off and start over. 


This weekend I butcherd cut D's hair. His hair was getting too long, it was brutally hot yesterday and we were going to have to be outside most of the day, so he told me to chop it all off. I didn't do a HORRIBLE job, I just don't. cut. hair. I took a funny in between picture though:

HAW!! I think if I try to cut his hair a few more times, I'll get better at it. His dad had to trim it up just a bit, but he was much cooler outside in the heat yesterday at the fest. I would have gotten pictures, but I was holding a terrified toddler throughout the fireworks and didn't get any good picture. Maybe next year I guess. 


I haven't forgotten about my swatches!! I grabbed the wrong UD eyeshadow this morning as I left. AH! I'll sneak them in this week. 


Tomorrow I'm going to talk about potty training!! See you then! Let's end with some cuteness:

This is Gabey. My fur baby. She likes to hide under the covers. I found her just like this yesterday. She doesn't really leave the room too much except to eat or if I'm in the living room. Other than that she stays in my room. She sleeps RIGHT next to me EVERY night too. I love my Gabey!


See you tomorrow!

Free-For-All Friday!

Hola! Happy Friday the 13th! Watch out for those ladders and black cats. :-Þ

Oh and Jason Vorhees.

So today I've decided to start coupon-ing. Not EXTREME as I can't really afford to spend $20 on newspapers each week to stock up on toothpaste or soup. I think I'll minimize it a bit. What I want to do is see what's on sale in close proximity to me and go from there. I won't really be wasting gas by going from place to place if it's all pretty much on the way anyways. So my day/night will consist of coupon/deal searching, meal planning, and grocery list making. Joy. Oh and some yoga or exercise ball stuff thrown in there too.

I did LV1D3 (it's like being pregnant--15w2d lol) of the Shred this morning. I was supposed to do it last night, but I decided to start doing it in the morning and give my muscles a few more hours rest. So I did an hour of yoga. Hm. Interesting. It was hard to do being bombarded by a 2 and 7 year old. *sigh* So I'm thinking of doing the Shred in the morning, and something to alleviate some stiffness and move my muscles in the evening. So far, so good. Let's see how the weekend goes.

My God... the weekend. 2 days to get NOTHING done! Hooray! BTW--Last weeks laundry is still sitting in the laundry baskets. I'll be putting it away this evening so I can have the baskets for laundry tomorrow. I told D that I'm cleaning tomorrow come Hell or high water and if he hinders me in any way, I'd keel him. Or be a HUGE bitch. Depends on my mood. I'd like to have as little to do as possible on Sunday. Sunday is church and the Glendale Heights Fest. Or as people in Glendale Heights call it, Ghetto Heights. It's been a tradition for many years to go there the last day of the fest for the fireworks. The fireworks display is the best I've seen in my lifetime. Plus our seats are RIGHT up front. Every year the inlaws take their van and go park it the golf clubhouse parking lot that's in front of where the fireworks are set up. We come out later with our Weber Q200 and grill. It's awesome. Thankfully (and sucky at the same time) I work the later shift the next 2 weeks at work, so I won't be AS tired on Monday as I usually would be.

Has everyone seen the composite sketch that was made of Christian Grey? Well in case you HAVEN'T:

o_O

I...don't really know how I feel about this. This is NOT how I pictured Christian Grey. This guy seems to wimpy looking. I still have yet to finish the last book. I'm ALMOST there! But I just never get enough time to just sit and read. By the time I'm in bed, I want to go to sleep. I have to get up at 5am to tackle the day! I don't want to stay up till midnight reading. I also have Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to read. I'm looking forward to that one!

So goals for this weekend:

- Clean!!!

- Laundry

- Coupons/Meal Planning/ Grocery Shopping

- Glendale Heights Fest!

- Mani/Pedi

- Keep doing the Shred!!!!!!!!!

On Monday I'll have swatches of the Urban Decay Lounge Dupe and POSSIBLY be talking about July's MyGlam bag! That's the only subscription makeup/beauty deluxe sample...thing that I have. I can't really afford to get ALL of them, but it's a start.

Till then, stay cool! Have a great weekend!

Pens for Veterans!!

Hello again!


I just wanted to let you guys in on a little something my friend Matt whipped up. He hand made some pens out of wood, deer antler (easy killer---people DO hunt for food and they like to use ALL of the animal) and real bullets. 

Here's the info on them:

The first four are 30-06 bolt action pens - from left to right are: 


1. Deer Antler***                                                        $35.00 each
2. Wenge                                                                   $30.00 each
3. Purpleheart (for Purpleheart Vets. Only)                      $30.00 each
4. Red Oak                                                                 $30.00 each 

The second 3 are .308 M60 Machine gun - from left to right are:


1. Purpleheart (for Purpleheart Vets. only)                      $25.00 each
2. Bloodwood                                                             $25.00 each
3. Deer Antler***                                                        $35.00 each

***Deer Antler are more expensive because its hard to get.

If you know any men or women who were or ARE in the military this would make a great gift for them! If you'd like to purchase one, let me know, or you can email Matt directly at: veteranpens@yahoo.com.

Let him know Mandi sent you!!

Weigh-In Wednesday! 30 Day Shred Challenge!

Happy hump day! 


So yesterday I completed Day 1 of the 30 Day Shred. I have to say, it wasn't AS BAD as I expected. 

See the fat crying? & the shirt is fitting. Schweddy.

Or maybe I'm not in AS bad of shape as I thought. I POURED sweat and grunted and groaned at the end, but it was AWESOME! I did have to stop a few times and take a 5 second breather and I couldn't do ALL of the push-ups (maybe 3 or so) but I'm proud that I saw it COMPLETELY through. 


I'm more stiff than I am sore today. So I've been sitting here and every once in a while, busting out a stretch, and getting up and walking around to relieve stiffness. I'll probably be hurting something fierce tomorrow after I do it again tonight. I was going to do it again this  morning, but I figured I'd give my muscles 24 hours to rest. Aspirin and Tylenol will be my friend for the next couple of weeks until my body becomes more accustomed to working out more. I didn't do "before" pictures since my body hasn't changed noticeably since my first set of "before" photos a couple of weeks ago. Here is my measurements though:


Waist: 38
Bust line: 36
Hips: 44.5
Thighs: 25.5
Upper arm: 13.5


Some measurements I added on my own:
Fat pouch: 42.5 (I. Hate. This.)
Just under waist: 40.5 (this is where my stomach stick out the most)


Here's my starting weight:

Hooray! 1.4 more lbs GONE!! Slow and steady wins the race. I've come a long way from 204 lbs thought!!! 21.6 lbs GONE!!! 


So I woke up this morning curious as to what my blood pressure was (I've had issues with it ever since K was born, but didn't have hardly ANY when I was pregnant with J) since I've been eating better and working more activity into my life. So I busted out  my mom's old BP cuff, swapped the batteries and checked my BP. It measured at 175/125. Wow. Shouldn't I be dead or something? So either my cuff is just really old/broken or perhaps I should seek medical attention. Either way, I'm headed to Walgreen's to get my blood pressure checked real quick at lunch. JUST IN CASE!!!


Anyone else doing or have done the 30 Day Shred? I've heard that you don't really LOSE a whole lot, but you tone up and lose inches. Which is still a plus for me! I'm really NEEDING to get in shape and losing inches would be wonderful as I'm dying to get out of these size 18 pants!!!


I'm so proud of my bestie M-Prime. She's been trying to lose weight as well and has been doing a great job keeping active and watching what she eats. She officially owns a size 8 part of pants!!!! I'm SO proud!! And jealous! ;-) She's a personal inspiration of mine, and should really start a blog so I can read it too. :-Þ


Day 2 commences TONIGHT! I'm not expecting results RIGHT AWAY, but I know I can change. Positive thinking and plenty of motivation will see me through!!!


Oh! And as a sort of throw-back--Here's some pictures of me at my BIGGEST:

6/27/11

3/18/11

I have NO idea how my weight it, but I'm sure it's not in the 100's. X_X I've come a long way.

Terrible 2 Tuesday- Good morning!

Mornings can sometimes be a pain. I, personally, am NOT a morning person. I really don't think it matters what time I go to bed, if I'm supposed to be up before 8am, I struggle to wake up. Unless it's for something really exciting like a vacation or something. Then I'm up and ready in 20 minuets! 


When it comes to waking up for my girls, it's a flip of a coin. Sometimes they wake up full of smiles, cuddles and kisses. My favorite! But other mornings, they can be super grumpy and not want to have anything to do with anyone. Which can make it difficult for breakfast, and getting them ready for the day. J doesn't really like to eat right when she wakes up anyways, and we try to make sure the kids are fed before going to grammy's. One less thing for her to worry about. So we've been waking them up earlier in hopes that J will eat more before going to grammy's house. It doesn't always work because she'll sit there and play with her food for 20 minuets before she starts eating it. Of course, K scarfs her food down and is done in 5 minuets. She's completely ready to go in about 15 minuets. Jocelyn is a little more difficult to get ready since she won't. Sit. Still! At least with D anyways. When I get her dressed she cooperates very well. HA!


This is how wake-ups went this morning: 
D and I both woke up about 5:30 and had our breakfast. Well at about 5:55, I walked by the girls room and saw J stretching and stood there and watched for a few minuets. Watching kids stretch is funny. Well she poked her head up looked at me half lidded and had a big 'ol cheese grin on her face. I smiled back and she stood up with her arms out. I guess it was time for her to get up. She was all snuggles and I indulged. I took her to my room only because I didn't think it was quite time for her to get up, and I don't mind her snoozing in my bed for a bit, if that means she'll stay quiet so K can get some more sleep.

J being sleepy-cute. Love the hair!

I do love it when the first things out of her mouth are "waffles". That's her favorite breakfast food and almost every morning she wakes up saying "Waffles? Waffles, Mommy. Make me waffles?" Or this morning, I was wearing a shirt with pancakes on them and she goes "MMMMM pancakes. Yum yum!" So. Cute. 

K on the other hand was like the living dead and didn't want to get out of bed. She wasn't grumpy per say, but really mope-y. She never shows me attitude. Which is a good thing. Too bad it won't last but a few more short year. 

"Mooooooom. I'm tired!" I told her she could go back to sleep when she got to grammy's if she wanted to. She probably didn't. Her and J are probably driving grammy nuts while I drink my coffee and assist customer with their commercial kitchen equipment spare part needs. *derp*

Anyways! YES, J still has a bink. We're weaning her off a little at a time. She's supposed to only get it for naps and bedtime, but not everyone is on the same page as me. One word, FRUSTRATING. I've also been thinking about converting her crib to the daybed, and put in a side rail to keep her from falling out. I don't know if WE'RE ready for that though. I can just see her getting up in the middle of the night and destroying all her books. I guess I could invest in some book shelves I could mount to the wall and out of her reach. But that would require D to assist me and him and I don't do home improvement projects without projectiles being heaved at each other at some point. After all, I still have curtains to hang, a canopy to hang and some other MISC things that need to be fixed... ugh. Maybe someday. 

Oh and on a side note, I got almost NOTHING done of my goals this weekend. I was stuck at the in-laws on Saturday while D fixed his brother's computer. It took all damn day and I guess I had to be there. *shrugs* I did the laundry Sunday (that's all I had motivation for since we had company over and went to the in-laws again that night for dinner), folded it, and am awaiting D to put it away since he volunteered he would since I carried, loaded, unloaded, loaded, unloaded, carried and folded all 5 loads of clothes. It's Tuesday. I put away the kids clothes, but our clothes are still in the baskets. *sigh* One of these days, D, one of these days! Right to the freakin moon! 

I'm thinking next week I'm going to talk potty training. I personally have lots of questions and concerns. Tomorrow is weigh-in Wednesday! Tomorrow I'll be talking about the 30 Day Shred that I'll be starting tonight!!! I'm excited and scared. Yes scared. 

Till tomorrow!

Make-Up-Monday! E.L.F. Cosmetics

Good Monday Morning! All 5 of you that read this HAHAHA!

Anyways! So I decided to do a kind of overall review for E.L.F Cosmetics. E.L.F is something I found out about watching iCRAiZ. She uses a lot of E.L.F products because they are very inexpensive. REALLY inexpensive. The most expensive piece I've seen (not including palettes or the $150 master set) is $8 for a kabuki body brush. Most of the stuff I buy is $1, $3 or $6. I was in love with their tinted moisturizer for a while, but when I read that they use mineral oil (clogs pores, enhances UVA/UVB rays) in it, I decided to stop using it. I may try their SPF 45 powder. 

I think that E.L.F. is a great place to start for beginners. Everything is reasonably priced, so if you get something you don't like, big woop! You only spent a few buck on it and I'm sure there's something you can use it for later. I used it as a jumping off point for my brushes. Yes their brushes aren't AS soft as some of the super expensive ones, but they aren't as rough as some of them as well. They have everything you can imagine, eye and face primer, eye shadow, lip stick, gloss, makeup remover, faux lashes, mascara, blush, highligher, etc. Seriously. The Essentials Master Set comes with just about everything from the Essentials collection and it's $150 and comes with a gold make-up case. Check it out here. If you're interested in doing makeup on others as well as yourself, and you're just starting out, this might be something you'd want to look into. I'd recommend trying a few of their products first before making the purchase though. It may not something YOU like. 

I have the Essential eye shadow brush and blending eye brush. From the Studio collection I have the contour brush and the fan brush. I'm REALLY jones-ing for BOTH stipple brushes they have. The studio line is much softer than the essential line. Essential line brushes are $1 and Studio brushes run $3-$8. They do also sell the brushes in sets as well.

They also have a brush shampoo and a daily brush cleaner. I actually take the shampoo and put a little bit with some water to make my own daily brush cleaner. It works really well and is lasting me a long time.  

I personally haven't used the eye shadows, but my bestie, M-Prime, has a palette of theirs and really loves it. She's done some pretty amazing looks with their palette. I've been wanting to get a palette just to see what their colors are like, but I didn't have the money when they were at my local Target, and I don't want to spend shipping to get it to me. So maybe someday I'll get one. 

From my Primer Shootout post, you can see that the essentials eye primer did pretty well against UD's primer potion. I don't really have a favorite though as I use them both depending on my mood. I'm out of my UD primer potion though. *CRY* I should just get a second job strictly for money towards makeup purchases. HAHAHA! I don't think D would like that very much. He thinks I have too much makeup as is. 

E.L.F. can be found at any Target, although I've noticed that they won't all have the same products and a lot of stuff won't be available in Target. I have a local Wal-Mart-esque store called Meijer that just recently started carrying E.L.F. and they have a LOT more make-up than Target does, but they don't have ANY brushes. I guess it's just the luck of the draw. You can either go from Target to Target to Target in search of something that you're looking for, or you could just bit the bullet and get it off the website and pay shipping, unless you purchase $50 worth of product and then it's free shipping. HOWEVER, right now they're celebrating their 8th birthday, so you only have to spend $25 to get free shipping. That ends tonight at midnight though. 

Now, I'm by no means saying that E.L.F. is better that UD, or MUFE, or Benefit or any other of the high end brands. It's comparable with most of their products and is a great place to start if you're a beginner, or perhaps don't have or don't want to spend the kind of money on cosmetic. There's the old saying of "you get what you pay for", well when it comes to a good lot of E.L.F.'s products, I'd have to say that's not the case. For what you pay, you get a decent product that is great for beginners who want to learn, but don't necessarily want to spend outrageous amounts of money on products to LEARN on, and might not like in the end.

Sorry my post is so... picture naked. It's been one of THOSE Mondays. Hahaha. Until Terrible 2 Tuesday!

Free-for-all Friday!

Let the random rambling begin!!!

It's Friday! Woo! I wish I was more excited about that, but I woke up in a grumpy mood today. So I think I'm going to clean my entire house this weekend. Will I actually do it? Probably not. I've tried countless times to do it all in one sitting, but I always end up getting only a room or two done. I'm just REALLY wanting to get my chaotic life straightened out. Kinda hard when I don't get the help I need to do it.

Now I know I'm not always on top of things, but I feel like when you have a partner, they should help you with that... right? On days you don't feel up to par, they should cover you and vice-versa. GRR! Just REALLY frustrating.

My goals for this weekend are:
- Pick up/Chemical clean house
including: clean out the fridge, under the kitchen sink, under the bathroom sink, clean the carpets, organize/shred paperwork
- Laundry (folding and putting away is the bane of my discontent)
- Start an exercise routine (via my ball, 30 day shred, or whatever!)

Doesn't look like much, but when you have 3 kids (yeah--3 kids. Not 2 kids and a husband) it makes it difficult. I don't want to go anywhere or do anything except what's on my goal list. If I can get the housework done on Saturday, then I don't mind going out on Sunday since it's FINALLY supposed to be cooling down by then.

On another note, K has been seeing a tutor for her reading issues. Her 1st grade teacher in LV wants to hold her back a year due to her reading struggles. I don't agree with that. Personally, I think her father should suck up his pride and let her come live with me where the schools offer special programs IN SCHOOL to provide assistance to children with learning struggles or disabilities. They don't have that in her school out there. It's all has to be done privately. But no, I pay him $500 a month. WHY would he want to give THAT up?! SO--I took it upon myself to get K a tutor this summer to help her and hopefully get her up to par with the reading level she should be at. Her tutor tells me that she's very smart and mature for her age and that reading seems to be the ONLY thing she struggles in and it's really because the way she was taught phonics was all wrong. Again... big surprise. So K is well on her way!!!

I seriously need a mani/pedi. My hands and feet are suffering!!! >.< I'd like to think I'd get to that this weekend, but I probably won't, so I'll just put it off for another day. I owe a mani/pedi to K too.

Next week, K starts her dance classes on Wednesdays. She's super excited about it. I am too. I still have to go get her a leotard and shoes. I'll be sure to post pictures like the crazy mom that I am.

Magic Mike was pretty good. It was a walking orgasm though. Jeeze. It wasn't something award winning that's for sure, but it made for an interesting girls night out. I can't wait to see Dark Knight Rises!!!! We've totally been nerd-ing out with our comics and animated movies revolving around Batman. 2 WEEKS! I'm kind of excited. D is excited about The Expendables. Me, not so much. I don't know why. I like action movies, but I didn't really LOVE the first one. So he can go see it, and I'll wait for the dollar theater.

I'm a subscriber to MyGlam and I don't know how I feel about this months bag so far. The sneak peeks they've been giving are "meh". Some face wipes, sunscreen, etc. But, that could change when I get it. After all, it's only $10. I'm not complaining for getting deluxe and full size products for $10. Plus it gives me some stuff to talk about on here. ;)

So I told you about that really bad storm that blew up over the weekend and knocked out all kinds of power all over the Chicagoland area. Well it looks like someones Jacuzzi tub decided to blow into my work parking lot. NO. JOKE. It wasn't light either!!!

And ever since then, it's been 100+ degrees with humidity. Needless to say I haven't been outside much and every time I walk outside, it's like being punched in the gut. The sheer thickness of the heated air knocks the wind out of you!!!

We didn't really do anything for the 4th. We mostly stayed indoors. K went with D to the in-laws so she could work on some of her homework while I stayed at home and did a little digging into Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. And downloaded some workout tunes. My workout tunes are TOTALLY different from what I usually listen to. When I'm in the car, or cleaning or just doing whatever, I usually like to listen to classic and/ or prog rock. When I'm working out, I like pop and dubstep. Crazy, no?
We did go check out some fireworks in Itasca though. For K's sake. But of course, being the dummies that we are, D and I forgot a diaper and binky for J. We just thought it would be a quick trip. Nnnnnnope. So we cut the trip short a bit, but it was ok because K was tired anyways. And so was I. On the way home, we got a good laugh at this:

"SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOOKER"

Yeah. It says that. It was pretty funny and I thought I'd share that with you. 

Well I think I'm done rambling for now. Everyone have a great weekend!!! See you Make-Up Monday!

Weigh-In Wednesday

Happy 4th of July!! Hope everyone plays nice today. If you're anywhere near me--STAY COOL!!! It's going to be 102 degrees here today. With humidity it makes it pretty unbearable to be outside. Besides we have a local festival next week that does a jaw dropping fireworks display and that's our 4th of July celebration.


So this week I didn't really do a workout routine per say. But I've even more active than usual. I'm making baby steps. I park further away so I can walk more. I've been watching my portions, and limiting my soda intake. My goal is to cut it out completely cut it out while I'm trying to lose weight with the every once in a while exception. I've also been watching what I eat as far as instead of having a snickers I'll have some honey wheat pretzel sticks as a snack. I also didn't pig out at Ribfest. Normally, I'd have a few beers, a couple hamburgers and a funnel cake. This time I had a funnel cake (they were smaller than normal) and a beer. The rest of the time I just had water. It was freakin hot after all!


I also resisted the temptation for White Castle at work the other day. The boss brought in a crave CRATE (90 burgers for those who don't know) and I didn't grab any. Well a friend of mine (who is doing the no carb diet to try and lose weight) grabbed some and realized she shouldn't have either. She said "here! You have them!" and put them in my hands. I looked down at them for a moment, then walked them back to the kitchen. I know!!! I was so proud of myself!!!


I guess the hardest part is the routine for me. I've never had a routine, and I can never keep one because life is too chaotic, and I get really upset when plans don't go according to plan. Plus it's hard to keep up with if I'm the only one in the house actually trying to keep up with a routine. But I've been writing some things down, and doing some research to help someone like me (who has a completely un-organized chaotic life) to get into a routine and stay organized.


BUT it seems like my baby steps DO help because when I stepped on the scale this morning, I saw this:

My goal is to ride my bike, or go for a walk/run 3 times this week and do my strength training 2 times this week. I can also tell you that I've noticed a difference in my arms from using my dumbbells. I can carry things for longer periods of time and my arms seem to be a bit more tone.


So I am proud of myself for making good decisions and making my weight loss a conscious effort. Now it's time to step it up. I'm hoping this heat wave lets up. It's hard enough to breath while running, I honestly don't think it would be safe for me to try with air quality alerts and such. But it's supposed to get cooler later this week and until then, it looks like its indoor exercise!


Again, have a great 4th of July! Stay cool and safe!! And don't forget sunscreen!!!!

Terrible 2 Tuesday: The story of K

K @ 23 weeks

K is a very special girl. What makes her special isn't because she was FIRST born, or has blond hair, or anything like that. While I consider BOTH my girls to be special to me, K is special because she's my miracle baby.


**side note: I have NO pregnancy pics of myself during this time. Didn't really think about taking belly pics, although I can tell you I didn't get very big at all. I MAYBE looked 16 weeks pregnant.**


I found out I was pregnant the DAY I moved out of my dad and stepmom's house. My then fiance (now ex-husband) myself, and my bestie had gotten an apartment together. This was definitely a "whoops" type situation and I was PETRIFIED. I was only 19. I didn't really know if my fiance and I were ready for this. Well he, of course, was the first person I told, and he was so happy. We slowly told everyone else too, and no one seemed UNhappy with it. So at least that was ok. 


We decided that since we were planning on getting married anyways, why not just do it sooner than expected? Yeah, looking back, BIG mistake, but I won't get into that here. That planning for that was SO super stressful, and it ended in divorce anyways. MOVING ON!


Jump to about week 18. I go to see a specialist to handle the ultrasounds and other MISC tests that my regular OB didn't handle apparently. Throughout my pregnancy my blood pressure had slowly creeped up. Everything else was normal, including the morning sickness. JUST in the morning. After I ate, it was all good.  And after the first trimester, it went away. So this visit didn't go so well. My blood pressure was dangerously high, so they sent me to the hospital. I was there for a few hours before my blood pressure finally went down. And so began the onslaught of saving my pee for protein testing, ultrasounds weekly, medication, bed rest, etc.


Jump to week 24. Time for my weekly ultrasound! They notice that K is measuring small for her gestation age and that my fluid is REALLY low. I'm a little worried about this, but they assure me things could change, but for the time being it was time for STRICT bed rest. And a few rounds of steroid shots to help her lungs develop faster. Ouch. More medication as well as my blood pressure still showed no signs of going down. I loathe bed rest. I got SO bored. I probably got out of bed more than I should have.


Jump to June 27th, 2005. Time for my weekly ultrasound visit. I'm happy that I get to see K so much and hoping to see some progress. So the tech comes in and does her thang to my semi-round tummy. We see little K just chilling. I don't really like the look on the tech's face very much. She excuses herself and runs out. A few minuets later, a doctor who I've never seen before comes in and says he's going to take a look. After he takes some measurements and looks around for a few minuets, he puts the probe down and helps me get cleaned up. After I'm all situated he says "You're going to need to get to the local hospital. I've called them and told them you're coming. [Little K] isn't acting the way she should be and your fluid is still very low. We're going to get you on some oxygen and see what happens." So at this point I'm shaking. Something was wrong. REALLY wrong. So my husband and I climb into the car and make the drive to the local hospital, which wasn't the hospital I was supposed to deliver K at. He was trying to re-assure me that everything was ok and that we would probably be going home in a few hours. But that didn't help much.


We arrive at the hospital and make our way to the L&D floor. It was a REALLY nice hospital. The birthing suits were pretty nice. Hardwood floor. Roomy. So I get into those horrid robes and get strapped up to to the monitors. I also got stuck with an IV and an oxygen mask strapped to my face. Let me tell you, having an IV, an O2 mask, monitors and laying on your left side is NOT comfortable. And I was NOT ALLOWED TO EAT!!! How could they deny a pregnant woman food!? What's worse is my parents, and my husband's mother showed up with FOOD. So after a few hours, the clock was approaching 10pm, the doctor on duty came in and looked at the chart of the fetal activity. He left the room and came back after a few minuets. He sat down on the bed with my husband and I and had a dreary look on his face.


"Well... right now, things aren't looking great. What I want to see on this sheet is fluctuations of the heartbeat. I'm not seeing any." How it was explained was that when they're more active their heartbeats will go up and down. Little K's was steady, which meant she wasn't very active at all. "So we have 2 options. You can go home, be on bed rest, come back in a week and hope for the best, or we can deliver her now." NOW!?!? WHY NOW!?!? He then prepared me for what would happen. Being that she was only 28 weeks along, she MAY have to be on a respirator and all kinds of tubing and that it could be traumatic for a parent to witness. He left and I looked at my husband. I honestly didn't know what to do. She had a really good change to survive since she was 28 weeks and her lungs were considered to be developed by this point in the pregnancy. We had to weight our options. I decided I couldn't live with myself if I went home and she died inside me. We chose to deliver.


We informed the doctor and not 5 minutes later, I was surrounded by nurses who began prepping, poking, shaving (in front of MY FATHER!!! EMBARRASSING!!!) and lead away to the OR. I had NEVER had surgery. Never WANTED to have surgery. And here I was... getting ready for surgery. Wide-awake-while-it-happens surgery. The thought alone was intimidating enough and then I see the table---that looks like a freakin' cross. Great. I get in the room and hop on the table. No epidural for me. Straight spinal. After a few minutes, I'm laying down, husband by my side, curtain up and can hear the doctor and nurses mumbling words I don't understand along with the horrid suction hose sounds. At least I can't feel a thing.


After 10 or 15 minuets, a nurse tells me she's going to be pushing down on my stomach. Yeah. With her ELBOW she pushes in and down on my stomach. I think that hurt worse than anything that happened so far. After a few moments more of sucking noises... I hear it. The most beautiful sound in the world to this very day. A little gurgle at first... and then a high pitched squeal of one VERY pissed off baby girl. She was breathing! On her own!

K's first picture JUST after she was born.

She weighted in at 1lb 14oz and was 12.5 inches long. I didn't get to see her, but my husband went over and snapped a few pictures of her. They did all the regular baby stuff and rushed her off to the NICU. I didn't get to see her. I told my husband to go with her to the NICU and that I would be fine while they sewed me back up. My life would never be the same after that night. I didn't get to see K until the afternoon the next day. The spinal basically paralyzed me and I couldn't walk right away. The doctor came in and gave me more devastating news later that day in telling me that he had to cut me "classical", meaning I would ALWAYS have to have a C-Section birth. Yes. That was devastating to ME. I will NEVER be able to have a NORMAL birth and was told I shouldn't have more than 3 children. I will always have to be strapped to a table and cut open.

K's dad's hand

The next 2 months were nothing but ups and downs. I couldn't produce enough breast milk for K. I wasn't producing more than an ounce. A day. Yeah. It was bad. I gave up after a few weeks. Which made me feel like a failure. Then after a week, she was diagnosed with a grade I head bleed. You can read more about that here. Thankfully it went away after a few weeks. While all of THAT was going on, she developed a urinary tract infection!!! JEEZE!!! We also had to deal with the ups and downs of her possibly being moved to the normal baby nursery, but then she'd have a DeSat and have to stay in the NICU for a few more days. Plus not to mention the added stress of the hospital being LITERALLY on the other side of town. It took us an hour each way to drive. It was nice to be able to visit during my lunch breaks though as I worked on that side of town. But the weekends were brutal and difficult. Especially when I had to be away. I had an overwhelming case of the "what-if's". What if something happened and I wasn't there? It definitely took an emotional toll on me. I ended up on Zoloft to help with depression. 

K in her incubator

After almost 2 grueling month of the ups and downs, it was time to bring her home. I've never been more scared in my LIFE! She was still so tiny, and barely fit into her carrier. She suffered from reflux REALLY bad, but that was really the only thing we had to deal with after we brought home. She was such a good baby. 

Welcome home, K!

Today she is 7 and thriving. Looking at her now you wouldn't even think she was so tiny! Here she is throughout the years:

K- 1 year old

K- Halloween 2006

K- Halloween 2006

K- Christmas 2006

Spring 2007

K- 2 years old

K- 2 years old

K- 2 years old

K- Halloween 2007

Spring 2008

K- 3 years old

K- 3 years old

K- Halloween 2008

K-Halloween 2008

K- Christmas 2008

K- Feb 2009

Spring 2009

Spring 2009

Spring 2009

Spring 2009

K- 4 years old

K- 4 years old

K- Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony 2010

K- Easter 2010

K- 5 years old

K- Summer 2010

K- Kindergarten

K- 6 years old

K- 1st grade

K- Halloween 2011

K- Easter 2012

K @ Ribfest 2012. D is photobombing.

And I took this video last night of my special girl at her finest. I sure know how to raise them!




Tomorrow is Weigh-In Wednesday! I'm totally dreading this since I didn't do very well this last week. X_X

Till tomorrow--Have a happy and SAFE 4th Of July!!!