I may be some sort of traitor

Ugh. This is something I never thought I'd post about.

I don't know how long American Idol has been on. Years, right? I never watched a moment of it until this season.

Matt is from the city that is right next to my city. The two cities are both pretty small, so he may as well be from the same city.

When the season first started, boss #1 commented that he had seen Matt play piano at a local bar. Okay, whatever.

Boss #2 said "There's this show called American Idol, and apparently there's someone from Kalamazoo on there..." Obviously he was as familiar with the show as I was.

Several weeks ago, I decided to check the show out. The first week, I was all "This show's kind of silly, but hey, there's a local guy on there."

The next couple weeks I began to develop preferences and opinions. I was rooting for Matt, because you have root for the local boy, right? Last week I decided that I'm not really a fan of Matt's singing, though it still would be cool if the local guy won. I found that I actually preferred one of the other contestants.

Last night I was practically standing up and dancing in place like Paula while Danny sang. He seems a little goofy, but that guy can sing. I hope he wins. I didn't vote, though. I refuse to get that involved. Hubby is teasing me for watching it, but he stops what he's doing to check out when the contestants are singing. Go figure. He agreed that Danny was the best last night.

I hope Michigan doesn't deport people. I feel a little unpatriotic to Southwest Michigan right now.

Shockingly, my mall haircut did not make me feel pampered

Many years ago, after bad haircuts galore, a friend of mine convinced me to go to her salon. Salon turned out to be a fancy french word for "twice what you used to pay for a haircut". However, the stylist did a wonderful job, so I continued to go to her. After my son was born, I switched to another fancy salon that was open on Saturdays. A couple years ago, we stopped cutting my son's hair and started bringing him to the mall for his haircut. He was nervous the first time and wanted me to get my hair cut at the same time there, so I did. They did a fine job on my simple style for nearly half the price, so I've continued to go there. My son generally sees the same lady each time and I see another lady.

I had not had a haircut since September. I've been trimming my own bangs, but my thick hair had grown to a length I wasn't looking forward to dealing with in the summer.

So, last night I went to the mall for a haircut. The place is open until 9:00 and accepts new haircuts until 8:30. I arrived at 8:26, much to the dismay of the employees. Keep in mind, I get a simple cut. No wash, no style, just a cut. I had never seen these two employees before.

I entered the place and the gal asked, in a clearly crabby voice "Can I help you?" I informed her that I would like a haircut, please. She sighed and asked me to sign in and said it would be a few minutes. The other lady, who was cutting a man's hair, informed the first lady that I should pay first. I was told this was so they could shut down the register. I've never tipped before my haircut before. I almost felt pressured to give a higher tip than usual, but took my chances by giving my usual tip.

The lady then informed me that "The last 3 people to come in here have been really rude." While this might explain her bad mood, I wasn't sure if it was a pointed statement, and I jokingly asked "Are you including me in that?" Without a reciprocal laugh she said "No. People are just being rude."

The haircut went well enough. She was generally crabby, but managed to complain about things other than me. She did mention a few times how eager she was to go home.

At one point, while cutting my (as I said) thick hair, she exclaimed "Man, you've got some hair!" Yes I do. I assume she was referring to the thickness, as she can't be surprised to see people who have "some hair", since cutting hair is what she does.

Anyway, the haircut looks good. I got 3 inches cut off, which should tide me over for a while. I left there feeling really special...well, actually, like I kept her from something, even though I was out of there in about 15 minutes, therefore leaving her about 15 minutes to close the place up and be out of there by 9:00.

Standing, running...rarely sitting

My back is improving. I'm still not very comfortable sitting, or rather not very comfortable trying to stand after I've been sitting. Definitely some improvement, though, and I've been able to start some exercises and stretches to strengthen my back. You know, my homemade physical therapy.

My son's fun run went really well, and oddly, I was able to run. Go figure. I can't sit, but I can run a half mile with no problem. The run was a mile long, but with occasional walking breaks, my son ran over half of it - He has never run that far before, so we were especially proud of him. I had barely been moving all week, so I was also a little proud of myself that I kept up. I had expected to be walking while my son and hubby ran.

Quiet day at work. This week will be my first week of 32 hours, so I've got a day off to look forward to later in the week, and a smaller paycheck to look forward to next week. My son is excited about our day off, and I'm excited about that, too. Heck, I've got the rest of my life to make up lost wages, but my little boy won't be little forever. I'm lucky to get these extra hours to spend with him each week. :-)

One less day a week in my new "chair" and a contest winner

Judging from the dwindling comments the last couple of days, everyone is bored of hearing about my back. I'm pretty much tired of talking about it, truth be told, and maybe I'm about done.



Yesterday I discovered that my heat pack made me feel better tucked into the back of my waistband even when it wasn't heated up. This caused brilliant hubby to determine that I should have a back brace to put pressure on it. He took an evening trip to the Mart of Wal (I believe the rights to that name belong to ETW) where he purchased a ball, on which I have been happily and mostly comfortably sitting for a large portion of the day and a back brace, which I loved so much I even wore it to bed.


Last night was the first night I didn't wake myself up each time I moved.


Today I was pretty much pain free until about 9:30, had about an hour that was on and off uncomfortable, and now just a little pain.



Now that I am getting more consistent pain relief, I can even start doing exercises to strengthen my back, which my doctor gave me last time I declined physical therapy. Maybe I should have done them before this, eh?



The thing I am finding about the ball is that I am almost always comfortable while sitting on it, but sometimes ache a little when I get up. That's better than the position I had been in of never being comfortable, sitting, standing or otherwise.

At lunch time I did my stretches on hubby's ball at home and I'm getting so much flexibility back. I'm very thankful to be feeling better.

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The silent auction at church started last week. Our bread/pretzels already have a bid of $10. Woot! I'm so excited you'd think we were getting the money. I'm glad to be able to contribute, and flattered that people will pay for my baked goods.

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I just found out, quite abruptly, that I am being cut to 32 hours a week at work. Not shocking. That's part of why we're doing the refinance. It will be fine. We've eliminated a couple expenses, so really, this cut of hours isn't going to put us far behind...Just keep us from getting ahead. But, on the bright side, I will get to spend more time with my son.

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The winner of the Got Cheese? contest is Abby, as chosen by Random.org. Congrats. Send me your contact info and I'll get the magnets sent out to you.

Cancel

I canceled my physical therapy appointment. Once I looked at our insurance info, I realized it was going to cost about $400 to $500 to go through a course of physical therapy. I checked with hubby, who had been adamant that I go, and he agreed that we should wait.

If I hadn't experienced a reprieve yesterday, courtesy of the balance ball, I would not have been able to cancel. The pain was too great. The balance ball is giving me reprieve in hour and a half increments, and I slept a little better last night. I'm having trouble figuring out what to do during the workday, though. Right now I am sitting with my heating pad tucked in the waistband of my pants. Classy.

Hubby's balance ball is too big for me to sit on, but perfect for me to lay out and stretch on on my stomach. I am considering buying a smaller balance ball that I can bring to work and sit on, and then take short breaks to stretch on in the conference room or something.

Still suffering? Yeah. But I was able to drive this morning, and I am being proactive, so I guess we will just see what happens. I was just relieved to be able to get on the floor and play with my son last night.

I am a little nervous to see what happens by lunchtime, because that's when it got very difficult for me yesterday.

Two days left until my son's fun run. Hope I can participate.

Unbelievable

After a positively miserable morning at work - Pain, nausea, etc... I went home for lunch and realized I should not be driving. The pain got so bad I no longer felt comfortable or safe operating a car. Every move from the gas to the brake brought extreme pain.

I got home safely, the back spasms coming fast and furious. I called hubby in tears and told him I couldn't drive. I called work and said I wasn't coming back today and would hopefully be in after the physical therapy appt tomorrow.

Hubby took his lunch break and came home to have me do some stretches. It occured to him that a couple coworkers have exercise balls they sit on, so he brought his upstairs. I sat on it. Comfy enough, I suppose. Then he had me lay on it, stomach first, and do some stretches. I did that for about 15 minutes and when I got up, I had very little soreness. I was able to put my socks on by myself for the first time since Sunday!

I decided to go back to work, but hubby didn't want me to drive, so he dropped me off. He also said I still had to go to physical therapy, even though I'm feeling considerably better. Probably best that way, since this has come and gone a few times in the past year.

But, right now? Not miserable, not hurting an unbearable amount.

Yay!!!!!!!

I'm a hazard to myself

I'm not actually a hazard to myself, so don't worry, but I'm obviously not quite myself if I am quoting Pink lyrics.

I'm actually feeling a little more sore this morning, in part due to the fact that I slipped on the stairs at home. I missed one step, landed a little hard on my bottom, probably bouncing things around a little more. (thus the hazard to myself comment)

I'm finally going to do the physical therapy my neurologist recommended last year in February. The appt is Thursday afternoon. That seems SO FAR AWAY.

Ha - Updated to add - I traded for a much earlier appointment. 8AM tomorrow. Here's hoping for relief...

Updated again - Neuro office said I could take 800mg of ibuprofen, since I was getting no relief. I did so, over 2 hours ago. No improvement on back pain, but now I'm nauseous. Sigh.

At least I can move

Yesterday I was merrily going along, doing nothing in particular, when I tweaked my back. Isn't that always the way? I wasn't lifting a car, or doing any type of manual labor. Just nothing. As back pain and I are no strangers, I just kept going on with my day, albeit with more pain than usual.

Then by mid-afternoon, I started getting "stuck" places...Everything would just seize up.

At 6:30 I laid down in the only comfortable position I had found all afternoon. On the living room floor, head on 3 throw pillows, lower legs elevated on a stool. Then I tried to get up. And I couldn't. Every attempt at raising myself caused massive amounts of pain. I'm pretty tough when it comes to back pain, because I've experienced it for years, but for the first time, it was a pain I just couldn't work with. It was laughing at the ibuprofen.

Hubby took over my (beloved) job of getting our son ready for bed. The little guy came downstairs twice to kiss me goodnight, and gave me a stuffed rabbit to help me feel better.

Once he went to bed, hubby tried to help me get up. For about a half hour. Everything we tried resulted in pain. Real pain.

Finally I forced myself to stand, with his help, in spite of the pain, and sat on the couch. At least I was semi-upright.

Hubby brought two dining room chairs over. I was able to scoot my bottom onto one of them, then onto the other. I did that a few times, and then hubby physically moved the chair to the stairs. I was able to pull myself up and get to the bathroom. In spite of the fact that it was only 9:00, I did all my bedtime things. I walked around our bedroom for a while, because I was able to walk. Finally around 9:30, I grew tired of wandering aimlessly around a bedroom and laid down and went to sleep.

I woke up about 11:00. Hubby had left my cell phone by the bed so I called him (downstairs). He had gone to the store while I was sleeping and bought a third type of cream for sore muscles (they never work well, the smell drives me nuts, but we keep trying).

I walked around a little more after that, then slept a very restless and sore sleep.

This morning I was able to very slowly and painfully get myself ready, so I am at work. I don't know how long I will make it through the work day, but I'm not really looking forward to leaving early anyway. What would I do? Go home and lay down and hope I don't get stuck somewhere?

This morning is better than last night. I'm praying and hoping for the trend of improvement to continue. Not being able to get up is kind of scary and quite painful.

Got Cheese?

As much as I would love to tell you that I am giving away some gourmet cheese, I am not. (I would be interested in sampling and giving away cheese, so maybe the Tillamook people will come looking for me...) What I am giving away is a very cute set of magnets from Christy's Etsy shop. She calls these particular magnets "Got Cheese?". She sent me a similar set that was completely adorable. I put them on my fridge, and my son spotted them instantly and thought they were great. They are pretty small, just over an inch wide, but they are stronger than I expected. One of them actually held 4 pieces of paper, which shocked me. I expected them to be more decorative than functional.

I have a cute set of these magnets to share with one reader. All you need to do to enter this contest is visit Christy's site and tell me which item you like best.

If you would like a second entry, follow me on Twitter and tweet about this contest. I will run the contest until Thursday April 23rd at 2:00PM EST. I will randomly choose a name and contact you via email. If I don't hear from you in 48 hours, I'll have to choose another name.

These magnets are cute as can be, and if you're like me, you always have something that you want to stick to the fridge. Let's show Christy how adorable we think these magnets are get a ton of entries!

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Also, on a dairy related note, I have to share with you that a gallon of milk tipped over on the floor of the car, and leaked. It looks like about half a cup leaked out. It got just a bit of the floor mat wet. The bulk of the mess is under the floor mat. I got to work and soaked up as much of the milk as I could, soaked it with hot water, soaked it up again, and am letting it air out. Plan for lunch break is to sprinkle baking soda on it with a little water and leave it overnight. If that doesn't work, vinegar. Yuck. But, as they say, there's no use crying over spilt milk.

Ducks go to church in a bathtub

Today's post is brought to you courtesy of my son's imagination.

We have some non-skid ducks that we stick to the bottom of the tub when my son takes a bath. Though he has a little box of tub toys, he generally prefers to peel up the ducks and play with them.

The last two baths he has taken have involved the ducks going to "Duck Chapel", which is apparently their church. Last time they sang some random non-church songs, and then played some hockey. Yesterday's "service" was a little more formal. They sang a song called "We love God", for which my son (or the ducks) made up the tune. Then each duck got to have a piece of "Duck Chapel bread" (communion, I believe). Then the ducks sang "We love Jesus and God", then they sang "Let's party". The last song led me to believe that it was a contemporary service.

After that, the ducks went to play hockey.

Rumpus room

We had our appraisal for our refinance today. I was mortified when, as the appraiser took pictures of various areas of the house, he opened the door to our spare room/very messy storage room and snapped a picture. Now there is pictorial evidence of the mess. Awesome.

When he finished looking around inside, he reviewed the areas of the house with me. We have a quad level. He went over everything: Three bedrooms upstairs, full bath, downstairs living room, kitchen and dining room, lower level half bath and den (or other messy storage area, as we like to call it), and "You've got the rec room." Rec room? Awesome. Last time we had an appraisal, the basement was the messy storage area, barely able to be walked through. Now the basement is magically transformed into a play room, filled with things like weebles, a train table, a play kitchen, a mountain for matchbox cars, weebles and little people. When the clutter becomes of the toy variety, apparently you have a Rec Room instead of just a basement. I can just about guarantee they did not call it a rec room on the last appraisal. Does that make it more valuable? How does a rec room differ from a rumpus room? Is that better?

I would love to win an awesome playset

There is an an incredible contest going on at Dadblogs. They are giving away an incredible playset from Kids Creations that would be any child's dream addition to the backyard.

Up until I was 10 years old, we lived in apartments, so I was never able to have my own swingset. When I was 10, we moved into a house. I was thrilled that finally I could have a swing set. My mom said I was too old. I don't think I'm too old now. Hubby and I enjoy playing on the play structures in the parks with our son.

Right now in our yard, we have a small swing and slide with a 45 pound maximum weight. Our son is teetering around that weight, so it's going to have to go soon. We also have a small set with two slides (no swings or anything) that we bought used that isn't terribly exciting.

We would love to get a full playset for the yard, but they're so expensive. We are thinking of just getting a disk swing to hang from a tree, so at least there will be a swing out there.

My son is planning to have his birthday party in the yard this year, and is going to invite 8 kids. We will try to think of lots of fun and creative ways for the kids to be amused in the yard, but this? Would be awesome.

The swing bar holds 250 pounds...By my calculations, my son and I could BOTH be on the swings at the same time (as well as at least one other visiting child), or about 6 kids at once, and hubby could take a turn, too. Right now the slides have a 100 pound weight limit, so that means my son is on his own. This playset is something our family could play with together! As well as friends, nieces and nephews (we have 14 nieces and nephews).

The playset is made of 100% con-heart redwood. It's strong, it's durable. It has everything a child could possibly want in a playset. It has regular swings, a disk swing, a tire swing, a rock wall and more!

I would love, love love to win this for our yard. If you would like to win it for your family, you can enter by writing a post about it and leaving the comment in a link at dadblogs. You can gain another entry by signing up to join their site (you don't have to be a dad), and I can gain another entry if you put 3carnations in the box that asks who referred you, and let me know you did so, along with your user name on their site, so I leave a comment letting them know who I referred.

Heck, even if you don't want to enter the contest, please just go join the site and let me know so I can put your user name as a referral. I get another entry just for that!

I want this so badly for my son!

Easter festivities do not start at 2AM and giveaway winner

Easter was wonderful. My son wanted the wonderfulness to start a little earlier than we had in mind. He called me into his room at 2AM to ask if we could check and see if the Easter Bunny had come yet. Um, no. I turned his Alvin & The Chipmunks CD on and pressed the sleep button, allowing him 59 minutes of music that normally puts him to sleep. 59 minutes later? Called back in. Can we check and see if the Easter Bunny has come? Stories were told about certain rules applying to Easter Bunny visits, and that we are not allowed to go downstairs until at least 6AM to allow Mr. Bunny plenty of time to come and go. I turned the radio and did not set the sleep timer so it played all night. He went to sleep and we ended up waking HIM up about 8AM. Phew.

Shockingly, he did not even ask to have a piece of candy when he emptied his basket. He played with the non-edible treats, and during breakfast said he'd like to have a piece of his candy for dessert after lunch. We told him that since it was Easter, we could break a big rule and have a piece of candy for dessert after breakfast. Little did he know he could have had several pieces before breakfast.

The three of us went to Easter services at the Catholic church hubby goes to, rather than him going alone and the three of us going to our Methodist service together afterwards. My son's reaction? "It was long." The funny part is, it really wasn't longer than the services we usually go to, it's just that we had to get there early because the church fills up on holidays, and between the length of the service and the wait before...Well, it was long. We've started a tradition of attending Catholic services on Christmas Eve and Easter because I don't mind attending a different service on the holidays, whereas hubby would feel the need to go to both, usually involving him attending Midnight Mass and an Easter Vigil. Midnight Mass after doing all our Santa preparations is a little difficult, and an Easter vigil leaves me to all the Easter Bunny work on my own. It's all about compromise. :-)

Easter dinner was delicious. Hubby made ham and asparagus, my son and I made the sweet potatoes, and I ventured into my first adventure with homemade rolls. They were wonderful! My adventure with a boxed cake mix on Friday evening was surprisingly a pass/fail, since I have made about 8 million cakes from a mix. I hadn't made a cake in my silicone pans, and they're too wide and the bottoms burned. I was able to scrape off the very bottom without warping the entire cake, so it worked out okay.

Amber is the winner of the Avon giveaway. Congrats to Amber. I don't see an email address on her blog, so I'll leave a comment on her blog.

There were a shockingly low number of entries in this contest, and I think that might be because it was for a rather specialized product. I don't think everyone feels the need to use or try that product, but still, go check out Heidi's site (listed in my sidebar), because you may find something else that interests you!

Kota & Pals Hatchlings review

I was given the opportunity to review the Stegosaurus from the Kota & Pals Hatchlings collection.

For the first time, dino-loving tots can have their very own newborn T-Rex, Pterodactyl, Stegosaurus or Triceratops as a playful pet. The HATCHLINGS dinosaurs respond to touch with a variety of lifelike movements and prehistoric sounds, and each comes with a fun dino fact card. Requires three "AAA" batteries, included. Each sold separately. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and on HasbroToyShop.com

My son recently became a big dinosaur fan after "Dinosaur Week" at both preschool and daycare. In particular, he adores the Stegosaurus, so I knew this would be a very welcome addition to his Easter basket.

This toy is labeled for ages 3 and up. I was a little concerned that it might not be age appropriate, as my son will be 5 in a couple of months and is really into action figures these days, particularly Transformers and Spiderman. He still adores his stuffed animals (the whole huge collection of them), so I figured he would love this little guy, too.

When he discovered the dinosaur in his Easter basket yesterday morning, he exclaimed "I've seen commercials for this! And it's the Stegosaurus - My favorite!" We opened it up and checked out his features. It makes a few "baby dinosaur" sounds and moves its head and legs and opens its mouth when it does so. The dinosaur sounds were all rather similar to each other, and my son didn't seem hugely impressed by them. He turned off the sound within a couple of minutes.

He continued to play with it Easter morning, incorporating it into his action figure play. At one point, two Spidermen were riding on the dinosaur's back.

He brought the dinosaur to church with us (with the understanding that the sound needed to be kept off) and colored a picture of it during the service. He also manually moved the dinosaur's mouth to allow it to "sing" during the church service.

When we got home, he continued to play with it, and did turn the sound back on, opting to play a game where we would pretend we were asleep and surprise each other by setting the dinosaur near each other's heads and making it make noise.

He slept with the dinosaur on the shelf next to the bed, as it is not a very cuddly toy. It has soft skin, but the body is hard.

This morning he brought it in the car as we drove to school.

All in all, the dinosaur was a hit. If your preschooler likes dinosaurs, I'm sure he or she would enjoy one of the Kota & Pals Hatchlings.

16 cent carrot

The Easter Bunny is coming this weekend, in case you hadn't heard. It is custom, at least at our house, to leave the Easter Bunny a little token of appreciation. Bunnies like carrots. Every time we buy carrots, about 70 percent of them go bad. I don't know why...We enjoy carrots. They get stuck in the produce drawer, and we eat them with meals and for snacks for a few days, and then they get forgotten. A bag of baby carrots was $2.49. A bag of carrots was $1.99. Single carrots were being sold for $1.99 a pound. Why not?, I figured. I selected a large carrot, and brought it to the register with my purchases. 16 cents. I may forever purchase my carrots one at a time. Granted, the $1.99 bag contained two pounds of carrots and is thus a better deal, but rarely do I need 20-ish carrots, and usually I waste them. The 16 cent carrot is the way to go for me.

I haven't mentioned work in a while...Things are pretty much the same. Slow and uncertain. I've been taking a couple hours off unpaid here and there to try to lighten the company's load, but I know that a couple hours of my time isn't going to make or break anything. I suppose every little bit helps. Maybe it will help just long enough for us to (hopefully) get busy again, and we can all stop being so nervous.

24 hour spring break

Hubby and I took yesterday off for our family's spring break. We had actually considered doing a long weekend in Chicago (economy and shaky job security be darned), but opted not to due to hubby's work being too busy for him to comfortably take Friday or Monday off. Can't complain - glad he's busy!

Anyway, since spring break was one day long and local, we decided to pack the most fun possible into 24 hours. I think we succeeded.

We went to Chuck E Cheese, went to Toys R Us (son had some money saved up and wanted a Spiderman toy), son got a haircut (his choice - he could have waited until the weekend but wanted to free up some time on Saturday), saw the Easter Bunny, went to a park, saw Monster vs Aliens (good movie), went to another park and went to Cicis for dinner, where our son announced between dinner and dessert that he was tired. Us, too.

All in all, I think we made a great one day spring break. Disneyworld Scmisneyworld (though I still want to take him there someday).

Spring break review & giveaway - Avon Calling

Heidi Walker recently gave me the opportunity to review four of Avon's shower gels. Never before have I paid such attention to my soap, nor have I ever had 4 different scents in the rotation. It's been a treat. My son has also been using these scents in the tub.

My son and I easily agree on the best scent - Strawberry Guava. It is a sweet and pleasant smell. I would have been happy to have all four in that scent.

My son likes the other three scents equally.

Personally, I find the peach to be a nice enough scent, but peach isn't a scent I normally choose to use. Peach scented items, this one included, tend to have to exaggerate the peach scent to make it worthwhile, and that makes a little more peachiness than I care to have on my body.

The cucumber melon was a blast from the past - Years ago I had a lotion that I loved with that scent, and it was really nice to have that scent again. I definitely enjoy that one!

The lavender chamomile was the one I expected to like best. Unfortunately, that was not the case. That definitely was the least favorite for me. I expected it to be a very light scent, and I found it almost musky. A very strong scent that I did not particularly enjoy.

I normally use body wash, and the shower gel was very similar to that. A smallish sized blob in my shower pouf was all that was needed to create a good lather. After using it I felt clean, and none of the gels left an overpowering scent after being rinsed. That being said, whether or not I enjoyed a particular scent no longer really mattered by the time I was done with my shower. That was a relief when it came to the Lavender Chamomile, but I would have liked if the Strawberry Guava and Cucumber Melon scents hung around a little longer.

These products were comparable to the body wash I use now. The price is a little more expensive, but worthwhile if you find a scent you really love. Also, I have noticed these gels on sale from time to time, so that's definitely worth watching for.

Heidi was kind enough to provide something for me to give to you as well. Not body wash, though:

She is offering ANEW REJUVENATE Day & Eye Duo. She has been using these products herself. The current price is $30.00 for the eye cream and $32.00 for the day cream (a $62 prize!).

The review Heidi provided to me was after using these products for over a week. She found that it clears up all of the red blotchiness that her fair Irish complexion tends to fall as prey. Her skin really dries out and gets flaky in the winter and this hydrates her face without making it oil or giving her acne. The only down side she has found is the day eye cream will sting if she uses too much. She is bad about using too much because she never really used an eye cream before. Less is more when it comes to the eye cream and you should pat it into the skin around the eye not rub. If she uses the right amount she has no trouble at all because this cream is stiff and absorbs well not runny like other brands.

To enter this giveaway, please visit Heidi's Avon site. Come back here and leave a comment telling me one other product that interests you.

After leaving a comment, you may get a second entry by following me on Twitter and tweeting about this contest.

The contest will run until Monday April 13th, 2PM EST. A winner will be drawn randomly and notified via email. If I do not get a response in 48 hours, another winner will be drawn in their place.

Good luck!

If you see this guy, steer clear

When my son had his friend over this past weekend, the friend was a bit nervous about our dog, a 15 year old beagle who was adopted from the animal rescue 7 years ago as a stray. He has had all but about a half dozen of his teeth pulled due to damage likely done from chewing on rocks as a stray. His remaining teeth are molars. As the dog approached, my son's friend said "He's going to bite me!" My son responded "He won't bite you."

When hubby and I had the dog in obedience class (8 year old beagle in obedience class. Riiiiight. He received a certificate for participation. He did learn to sit, heel and lay down, though.), we were told that if someone asks if your dog bites, you should never say no, given that if provoked, any dog might bite. Our dog, while living at our home, has never been provoked, except possibly by a cat angry at the new species suddenly living in his home, and even then he did not bite. If he chose to bite now, there might be some discomfort due to his gums chomping down on your hand.

Anyway, I mentioned to my son the next day that while he was right that our dog would not just walk up to someone and bite them, if somebody tried to do something mean to our dog, he might try to bite. My son wholeheartedly agreed, and said "Like a robber. He would try to bite a robber. Robbers have circles around their eyes, carry a bag and wear a striped shirt." I realized that he had just described every cartoon robber ever created. He went on "If he sees that guy, he will know he's a robber and bite him."

Just to be sure, we will probably make sure the dog watches some cartoons.

We've got the power

Electrical power, that is. We got about an inch of heavy, slushy snow last night that caused all sorts of problems in the area. The problem that most directly affected me was the fact that our office was 75% out of power. Half the lights worked (not at my desk or in the bathroom), two outlets worked, so a boss went and bought two extension cords so he and I could plug our computers in somewhere. I worked for almost 3 hours that way, and then the power came back on. One of the first things I did? Use the restroom. I heard the guys go in and out a couple of times, but it's pitch black in there with no lights. While I know my way around the bathroom pretty well, I prefer to not do my business in complete darkness.

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Our church annually has an auction to benefit the youth mission trip. We have bid on and purchased items from the auction, but never provided an item. People sometimes offer services, and so...I decided to offer up some goodies. We are providing a loaf of homemade bread and ten chocolate dipped pretzel rods. I don't know what they will start the bidding at...Let's assume $1, for argument's sake. How embarrassing would it be if no one bid on it? It seems like people spend $5 for a fancy loaf of bread from a bakery, and it's for a good cause...So, maybe it will bid up to $5. Seems reasonable, right?

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Blind Play Date 2009 went well. The dad wasn't feeling well and was unable to make it (riiiiiiight, heh), but the kids had a great time and conversation flowed reasonably smoothly with the mom. She seemed maybe a little more formal than we are, but I don't think anyone offended anyone. The kids seemed eager to set up another gathering at their house, so hopefully that will end up happening.

Is two years in a row a tradition?

If a tradition can be measured by something that happens two years in a row, then apparently each April, we have a tradition in which I feel the need to invite people who we don't really know to our house for dinner.

Hubby and I have been teaching preschool Sunday school since fall. There are four adults in the room. The other two ladies and I take turns planning and leading, and hubby has deemed himself "crowd control". He doesn't participate in the planning, but he is there for whatever tasks we ask of him, and for the amusement of the children. He doesn't generally interact with the parents, unless necessary.

One of the boys will be going to kindergarten at the same elementary school as my son in the fall. Since most of my son's friends will be going to different schools, I thought it might be helpful if he got to spend some more time with one of the kids who will be at his school. I mentioned in passing to one of the Sunday school child's parents that I'd like to invite them over sometime, and they seemed receptive to the idea.

I asked my son if he'd like to play with the child at our house sometime, and he said yes.

I asked hubby if he had a problem with inviting them over, and he said no.

So, I looked these folks up in the church directory, called and invited them for dinner. We do not know them other than through them dropping their child off at Sunday school. As a matter of fact, since the mom usually drops him off, there was the awkward incident where the dad, who none of us had ever seen before, picked him up early and the boy seemed less then enthused about leaving with the dad, so we asked the dad for ID and called the mom to confirm he could pick the boy up, because she had specifically written on the sign in sheet that she would be picking him up. Heh. Luckily the dad was super understanding. It's hard to be too upset about something like that - Better to be too cautious than not cautious enough.

Anyway, they eagerly accepted the invitation. I think hubby would recognize the mom, but I'm not sure he's ever even seen the dad. I've never had more than a 2 minute conversation with the mom.

Hubby asked how I identified myself when I called. I said I identified myself by name, and referenced the church, and she knew who I was. It probably also helps that I wear a nametag at church every week, as is suggested, which for some reason hubby does not like to do. If nothing else, it helps when you invite random people to your home for a meal.

We have good friends from church who we became friends with in a similar way. We saw them every week, spoke to them only occasionally, and one week they called and invited us over. It was a surprise, but we had a great time, and that was several years ago, and we get together with them every couple of months.

Looking back on last year's blind play date, we get together with that family about once a month now. It worked then, why shouldn't it work now? And if it doesn't...It's good blog fodder.

When you get older and have kids, it can be hard to meet families with whom you can all get together and everyone has fun. Sometimes you have to step a little out of your comfort zone to get to know people.

Homework over Spring Break

Over the past several weeks, my son's teacher has started sending homework home on the weekends. This surprised us. Usually a page with a row of uppercase and a row of lowercase letters to trace, and then two rows to print the letters without the tracing aid. This is helping the kids practice their letters, teaching them some responsibility, and giving them an opportunity to complain about homework before they arrive at their 5th birthday. :-)

Yesterday was the last day of preschool before spring break. Imagine my surprise when my son came home with homework to be done over spring break! I'm pretty sure my high school teachers gave us a reprieve over spring break! He brought the assignment to daycare with him to work at during rest time, so he may not actually have any that he has to do at home.

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The refinance is offically in progress. We ended up going with, like, the company I talked about yesterday. The application by phone process was pretty uneventful, with a few notable exceptions:

1. For no apparent reason, he informed me that he has a puppy.

2. He informed me that we are the only people he has talked to in Michigan who actually owe less than their house is worth. That is a very sad reflection on the state of things in Michigan, but made me feel pretty good about us.

3. There were a list of required questions he had to ask, one of which was "Are you male or female?" I was a little surprised, but then of course answered "Female." Hubby burst out laughing when he heard me answer this question, because it was an odd question. Him laughing caused me to snicker...So, obviously I am 12 years old. The "loan dude" (totally) was amused as well, and said "It's a required question. You never know - There's lots of weird stuff out there." Weird stuff indeed. Totally.

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The Great Coffee Drought of 2009 is over. Boss bought coffee. Shortest drought ever.

So, are you guys both, like, employed?

Mortgage rates are down! Did you notice? We are about this close to taking the plunge with a refinance. It will lower our interest rate by almost 2%. We've contacted three lenders to get the best rates. Last night, in conversations with our current lender, who is probably also going to be our future lender, I spoke with a very youthful sounding young man (Stefanie, I'm sure he must not have had bangs). He spoke very fast, asked the same question multiple times, said "That's cool" various times, and inquired regarding our employment by saying "So, are you guys both, like, employed?" It was all I could do to not answer by saying "Like, yeah, we're totally employed." So anyway...There's that. We will probably officially apply later this week.

Speaking of being, like, employed, we're out of coffee at work. No big deal, I drink half a cup about every other day. As a matter of fact, of the six of us who are still working, only two are "real" coffee drinkers (one is a boss). Somehow neither of them managed to tell me we were out of coffee. Yesterday the empty Folgers container was sitting on the table. I told my boss I would pick up some more, and he said not to get it. He said it wouldn't kill anyone not to have coffee. I don't care, personally. I brought half a cup from home today, in case this is the day I want coffee. I drink it black, so if I don't drink it today, I'll heat it up and drink it tomorrow. The other coffee drinker? He's a little miffed. Hubby's work doesn't provide free coffee, so I don't see a big deal about not having coffee. As a matter of fact, if it's between cutting coffee and cutting the hours of employees, by all means - Take the coffee. Unfortunately, the idea of cutting back on a $7 container of Folgers doesn't speak well of other cutbacks to come. Maybe the coffee cut is all that's needed to even things out.

I started taking ibuprofin for my injury. That is finally helping. I wasn't taking anything, because I try to avoid meds I don't need, but it just wasn't getting better. Acetaminophen wasn't helping. Ibuprofin is what usally helps backaches, so I picked some up. The last day and a half has been sooo much better. I'm even sleeping better. Yay! Hopefully I will be able to start taking less of it over the next few days and get away from taking it altogether.