In which I celebrate that I have not totally wasted my time

I am starting my sixth "campaign" with Avon. Each different brochure that goes out is called a campaign.

I have a few customers who have ordered more than once already (and they aren't even related to me :-) ), several more who have ordered once. Even with the purchases of brochures and samples, I am coming out a little bit ahead, so that's encouraging.

One thing I was beginning to get a bit discouraged about was hanging brochures on peoples doorknobs. I have hung over a hundred of them over the past couple months, and I was beginning to feel like it was a waste of time. I had planned to decrease the number of brochures I ordered this time around, and wouldn't you know it - I got a call and order from someone on whose doorknob I hung a brochure. Yay!

The people who have ordered from me so far have known exactly what they wanted. This lady had lots of questions about scents of things I have never smelled. Luckily there is a money back guarantee, so I answered her questions the best I could, and hopefully she will like what she ordered.

Consequently, I am ordering the same number of brochures I usually do, and I will keep hanging them, and maybe some more people will call eventually. :-)

~ and to Kathi, ask your rep if she has any samples of the tinted Magix so you can try it before you buy it. They are available. I only have samples of the colorless right now, but if she won't get them, let me know and I'll order myself some and send one to you. :-)

This weekend, there may be cake in my future. Sunday's my birthday! Yesterday I was off, and hubby gave my son some money so he could take me to Sonic for my favorite Strawberry Limeade as a pre-celebration. :-) My family is sweet.

One way to spend your lunch hour

1:15: Head out on mission to go to fairground to get advance purchase discount ride wristbands. Bring directions to greenhouse you have never visited that is short detour from fairground but in relatively unfamiliar area of town to buy peppermint plants, which when planted next to house are supposed to discourage mice from entering home and living in ceiling of basement.

1:25: Miss street for greenhouse entirely and drive a couple extra miles before realizing this. Turn around and go directly to fairgrounds.

1:30: Attempt to buy wristbands from teenager who says she is not allowed to make change, but would be able to set money on desk for people in charge if I had correct change. Go out to car to get (luckily) correct change.

1:35: Head to greenhouse using reverse directions. Miss street at first, but turn around and go back the right way.

1:40: Arrive at greenhouse.

1:45: Get in car with 4 peppermint plants.

1:50: Realize I exited parking lot at another street and attempt to get back a different way.

1:55: Realize this is a dumb idea and backtrack.

2:00: Street I want to turn on is closed. Was not closed earlier. Realized I am trying to turn the wrong way on said street. Turn around.

2:15 Arrive back at work, right on time.

2:25: Eat peanut butter and jelly sandwich at desk.

It's like magic

In high school, I had a friend who wore lots of foundation. She was very close friends with a close friend of mine, so we were kind of friends by default. My close friend said that this girl never let anyone see her without makeup - Not even at sleepovers. She wore the foundation in a way I never have - Covering her entire face, and her neck. Occasionally there would be little smudges on her collar if she was wearing a turtleneck.

Personally, I have been using Cover Girl pressed powder for years. It's simple, and the color I use is "creamy natural" and seems to blend pretty well with my skin tone. In the winter, when my skin is drier, I didn't really care for the way it seemed to make it look more dry.

I've tried the creamier foundations, but they always looked so caked on, and I had to put it on my entire face to make it look even remotely blended, but it never looked natural.

I have discovered my new favorite product in the world for my face! Avon MagiX Face Perfector (which can be purchased through my Avon website - shameless plug, heh). It has an SPF of 20, so it's even protecting my face while I wear it. Here's a little more info about the product:

A magical air-light gel-powder colorless formula that makes all skin tones look flawless... invisible coverage; instant perfection. Banish shine up to 10 hours. "This colorless formula is perfect for anyone who want to look naturally flawless and beautiful without looking like you're wearing any makeup. It's universally flattering and a secret weapon in your makeup bag."-- Jillian Dempsey, Avon's Global Creative Color DirectorTargets pores: visibly minimizes pores with patent-pending Optix Light-Diffusing Technology.Banishes Shine: holds back shine for up to 10 hours

When I first tried the product, I couldn't believe it. It really did minimize my pores, and it didn't leave me looking shiny or dry. I excitedly showed hubby the results. He said it looked good. I then asked if he could see any difference, and he admitted that he could not. Heh. He's a guy. I can see the difference.

I wonder if that girl still wears so much foundation? It's probably a hard habit to break.

Update: If anyone is considering buying the Magix, I suggest waiting until Thursday 8/6 or after. The next catalog is going to have it for a couple dollars less.

Why I never have to worry about having clean socks

Thanks to everyone who commented on that last post. I don't think I made the cut, as many of the others had 40 and 50 comments, and I didn't quite break 20. I guess the majority of people who stop here must have actually been at BlogHer, because I know more than 19 people read this.

At work, I am still wearing my clunky shoes, because I never found a pair of cute shoes that met my requirements for the spring/summer/fall (cute, leather, inexpensive flats). When I'm not at work, I usually wear sneakers rather than sandals, because we are usually doing something active. As a result of this, I have quite the sock tan line. Even when I'm not wearing socks, it appears that I'm wearing socks. The funny part is, I am not tan. I am just a darker shade of pale.

The fair was great. We spent 5 hours there. We saw a two day old cow, rode lots of rides (my son had a blast!), had the anticipated elephant ear (or beaver tail, as a commenter was kind enough to tell me they are called in Canada), had lemonade (I love fair lemonade!) and cotton candy. We'll be going to another one next month, so we can enjoy it all over again.

A new pet peeve to share with you: People who change their baby's diaper on a couch (my couch). Sister in law did that this weekend while they were visiting for dinner. I would never do that. Granted, she used a pad underneath, but still...We had enough "diaper mishaps" that I would never risk that on someone's furniture. As she started to do it, I asked if she would like to use our bed, and she said "No, I'm fine." You can bet that if she hadn't been using the pad I wouldn't have asked if she'd like to, I would have requested that she do it there instead. If a changing table was not available in someone's home, I generally put the pad on the floor (in another room) and got down on the floor to do it.

Top 10 Reasons I am Excited to Stay Home with My Family this Coming Weekend

Going to BlogHer? Me neither. But Cozi is generously offering to sponsor 15 bloggers who didn't go to BlogHer with $100! I could win by being one of the 15 to get the most comments on my post. So, come on friends - Can you come through for me? Everyone who lurks, those of you who read daily but never comment, faithful readers and those of you who just stopped by for the first time today - Leave me a comment, at least just this once. Please?

Without further adieu -

Top 10 Reasons I am Excited to Stay Home with My Family this Coming Weekend

1. We are planning to go to the fair tomorrow afternoon. Elephant ear, here we come.

2. I just returned from my son's talent show at daycare. I would have missed seeing him wear a pig nose.

3. I get to watch my son at his swimming lesson tomorrow morning.

4. We're having company tonight for dinner - Meeting my six month old niece from out of state for the first time.

5. I will have time to check out Cozi and learn more about the generous folks at that website.

6. House is clean, so I can actually relax in it and enjoy some peaceful family time with my son and hubby.

7. We just bought some ice cream on sale. Why would I need to leave?

8. I was really tired this morning, so I'm glad to have two days where I can sleep in.

9. My son and I discovered a new park yesterday and hope to take hubby there this weekend.

10. Trips are nice, but really, Dorothy hit it on the nose when she said "There's no place like home."

Thanks for the chance, Cozi!

I have either a pretty car, or pretty hair

A couple of weeks ago at the gas station, I was given a coupon that said "We have changed the formula of our iced coffee and we want you to be one of the first to try it." Not to be one to insult the automatic coupon machine at the gas station, I decided to redeem it this morning on the way to work before it expired on Monday.

When I arrived at the gas station, the only available parking spot was blocked by a lady who had her door open wide. I waited patiently. When she closed the door, she mouthed "I'm sorry" and I smiled at her.

I went in and got my iced coffee, and came back out. I did not notice that the same woman was still in her car next next to mine, until she said something to me out the window. I didn't hear her, and said "Excuse me?" She then said what I believed to be "You have a pretty car. I like the color." I thanked her, and she immediately drove away. Had she intentionally waited for me to come out so she could say that?

Pretty is not an adjective normally used for a car, and considering that I was driving our older car this morning, a rather non-descript (albeit reliable) 1997 tan Camry, it hardly seemed worth waiting to compliment. As I drove away, I thought how hubby would get a kick out of our car that would have been traded in this past winter, had my job not cut my hours by 20%, getting such a compliment.

Then I started to question...Did she actually say car? My hair is a shade of auburn that is rather unique, as far as natural hair colors. I remember my mom saying that when I was a young child, old ladies used to stop her to say what a pretty color it was. As a teenager, I was constantly compared to Molly Ringwald, even though it was nowhere near the same shade as hers, and I looked nothing like her otherwise. It was just that no one else had red hair back then (besides Pippi Longstocking and Annie, that is).

So...My hair may actually be pretty. I like the color. The style is usually pretty much non-exisitent, but the color is my favorite thing about it, and it's very thick.

It actually seems a little more likely that she was complimenting my hair than the color tan on our car, but still a little surprising that she would wait for me to compliment either.

Or maybe she was complimenting something else altogether...Either way...Thanks.

Let's not have our country be like one big high school

I don't think it's any secret on here that I didn't vote for President Obama. But I don't care if it's somebody I voted for or not, someone I agree with or not, for goodness sakes - Must we criticize what type of jeans he wears? For real? A main headline on my Yahoo home page refers to the President's "mom jeans". First of all, if a president is going to wear jeans, I'd rather they be baggy than tight - Let's not turn the oval office into a nightclub. Second, shouldn't everyone be comfortable in what they wear? I am much more comfortable in jeans that are a little baggy - Oh, but I'm a mom...Mom jeans. Hmm. But seriously, the man is at a baseball game. He threw on a pair of jeans. The type of jeans he wears? Not news. Picking on his choice of jeans? For real? Grow up, folks. It's very high school-ish that picking on someone's clothes is headline news.

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And now that I've said not to pick on the President's clothes, can I be a bit of a hypocrite and criticize another fashion trend? Cleavage. I don't believe I have ever worn a top that shows cleavage. It's just not something I am generally comfortable with wearing in most of the situations in which I find myself. But if I were going to wear such a top, you know where I would wear it? A club, a date. You know where I would not wear it? A playdate, a field trip, the park, the office, church, a funeral (all places where I have seen them worn). I guess it is the comfort outfit of choice for some people, but I find it a very odd choice of garb for certain occasions.

Embarrassing for all...or maybe just me

We had friends over for dinner this weekend. They are kind of new friends. We've gotten together three times over several months. We're still in the phase where we aren't sure if we're clicking. After this visit...I think we're all still a little unsure.

The visit went well, conversation was good, meal was tasty, kids had fun.

Let me backtrack...We have a full bathroom in our home, and a half bath/laundry room. The antisocial cat lives in the half bath/laundry room. We keep the litter box scooped and the floor clean, but the toilet just doesn't get used. Therefore, the lid may have cat hair on it, and the bowl may have major hard water stains.

Moving on...

The dad of the visiting family used the bathroom once, twice, three times...I really don't know, nor did I notice that he was going an unusual number of times until he excused himself for a bathroom visit and apologized and said he was on a course of antibiotics. Whatever. We don't need to know.

During one of the dad's bathroom visits, their son developed an urgent "need to go". I reluctantly ushered him down to the half bath/laundry room, removed the cat, and closed the door. He immediately called for his mom. Mortified that she was going to see the ill-maintained facilities, I explained that we don't use that bathroom before she went down. I heard her son say "The potty is dirty!" She explained that it wasn't dirty, and they did their business and came out.

When she came out, I said I was so embarrassed that she had seen that. She said that they have a similar bathroom in their basement, and I would be un-embarrassed if I saw that. Not sure if I believe that, although in discussions about it later, she did tell her husband that "it's like your bathroom".

So, that was that.

After they left, I went up to use our main, well maintained bathroom, and...well, trying not to get too graphic here, I saw that I needed to clean it. I lifted the seat and saw...Well, there was more to clean. Apparently our guest had an upset tummy that somehow caused a mess beneath the seat.

I am used to cleaning up those type of messes after pets, children, and on the very rare occasion my husband...But a dinner guest? No. I suppressed a gag and cleaned. Then just to be safe, I cleaned some more.

It made me feel a little less embarrassed about our half bath, except that the guests don't even know that I had to clean under the seat after their visit. So really, I'm not justified in feeling less embarrassed...Hopefully they somehow realize that we aren't total slobs, and that we just don't use that toilet.

Meanwhile, let this be a lesson to all of you. Clean it even if you don't use it - You never know when a guest will have an emergency, and check for the unexpected after using someone's bathroom...Leave it like you found it, and all.

Yikes.

Burger King, let me count the ways

We rarely get food from Burger King. Our fast food meal of choice (well, okay, it's our son's choice...we could take or leave the fast food) is usually McDonalds. But, when Burger King starts a Transformer toy promotion, five year old boys will go there as often as their parents allow.

So, after having had Burger King a few times this month, after hardly at all in recent years, it comes to my attention that I'm not a huge fan of the food. I would prefer a McDonalds burger, if I have to choose a fast food burger.

I can't visit Burger King three times in a month without commenting on why Burger King is not the king of fast food burgers for me. But, I'll start with what I do like about them. Onion Rings. The end.

Okay, back to the gripe. We normally get our son apples with his Happy Meal. Sometimes we'll get some fries to share, but he doesn't need a whole order of fries, and he enjoys apples. We also have been purchasing his BK kids meal with apples, but it's an upcharge of 49 cents. Really? "Kids, if you choose to be a little healthy at Burger King, it's going to cost your parents extra." While I acknowledge that fries are probably cheaper to offer than apples, McDonalds is able to offer them at the same price (peer pressure, anyone?) and somehow I'm guessing that the number of parents who actually choose to get their kids apples is low enough that it won't break BK's bank. Regardless, you got our 49 cents, BK, because we aren't going to cheap out on getting our son a little fruit with lunch.

Hubby was wearing a t-shirt from a recent 5k that had the name of a local hospital on it. When we walked in to Burger King, the cashier said, in a voice certainly loud enough for her boss to hear, "Do you work at {name of hospital}? Can you get me a job there?" Hubby told her that no, he had just run a race there, and that was the end of that.

We were the only customers in this Burger King, and an employee was taking a break at a nearby table. We heard another employee in the back say loudly to someone "I'm going to kick your a$$!" The employee on break yelled back "Hey! There's customers in the dining room!" and the loud conversation stopped.

Maybe we're lucky Burger King doesn't usually have good toys in their kid's meals. Once the Transformers are gone, so are we. :-)

Pumpkin or not, here we come

For the second year in a row, we have planted pumpkins. Last year from seed, this year plants. Like last year, the plants have grown so well they have virtually taken over the garden. They developed beautiful blossoms. Last year they also developed white spots on the leaves that eventually took over and killed the plants.

They are showing the same white spots again. We have been snipping leaves as we see the white, and that seems to be helping.

Hubby is convinced that we're going to lose the plants again. I prefer to take a more positive attitude and say "It might work out."

He has two opinions about the pumpkin plants, neither of which I agree with, and certainly not the two ideas together.

1. Per hubby, if the pumpkin plants die again this year, we will not plant pumpkins again. Two years in a row has proven that there is something in our soil that the pumpkin plants don't like (everything else grows fine). It's a waste of time and a big disappointment to everyone, particularly our son.

Per me, our son gets great enjoyment in watching the plants grow and blossom. Yes, it's disappointing to watch us lose the plants, but everything else in our garden yields a product, so I think it's worth the "risk". Plus, he will still get to get a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch in the fall, and he was fine with that last year.

2. Per hubby, if the plants die again, we should purchase a pumpkin and put it in the garden and tell our son it grew there. "Nothing wrong with a little magic."

Per me, No. First of all, I explained to our son that if a pumpkin grows, it will involve the blossom growing into a little green ball, which would get larger and orange. Considering that we check our garden regularly, how on earth would this large pumpkin suddenly appear, skipping all the other steps? Our son is very observant. I am all for "a little magic", like Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, but the Great Pumpkin now? Isn't the magic of a garden that sometimes it grows, sometimes it doesn't?

My problem with the two ideas together? How will he explain next year to our son his refusal to grow pumpkins again? It's always my son's first choice of things to plant, and the argument of "Two years in a row the plants died" won't work when we've made a "magic pumpkin" appear.

First a tooth, next getting a driver's license

My son had a dentist appointment yesterday. We were informed that one of his bottom middle teeth is the ittiest bittiest bit loose. Didn't he just GET teeth?!? It is at the very beginning stages of looseness, and could easily stay in there for the next year, but still. A loose tooth. My son's reaction? "Yay! I'm going to lose a tooth and put it under my pillow and the tooth fairy will come and leave me money that I can put in our Islands of Adventure savings!" He's certainly focused.

But wow...I wasn't ready for news of a loose tooth. Time flies.

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I got a call yesterday from someone at the place where my son (and I, when I bother getting mine cut) gets his hair cut. She wanted to place an Avon order. I don't know this particular stylist, so I'm really excited to finally have an order as a result of leaving a brochure somewhere from a stranger.

And I thought I had nothing to blog about

I was considering going sans post today, and then I remembered a bit of a conversation I overheard while walking out the front door to the car at lunch yesterday.

Remember my loony neighbor and her rather violent acts against Bushy, the neighborhood rabbit? In the past couple of weeks, there has been a pest removal truck in that neighbor's driveway at least twice. Hubby said no one calls a pest removal company for a rabbit, and that maybe she is trying to get ride of moles.

Yesterday as I headed to the car to head back to work after lunch, I overheard the following conversation between my neighbor and her grown son:

Neighbor: "There's also something with a white tail that hangs out by the shed."

Her son: "Sounds like a squirrel."

Her: "No. It's got a round white tail."

Him: "That's a rabbit."

Maybe her over the top actions were due to the fact that she thought Bushy was some sort of violent, dangerous animal.

How does a person live for about 7 decades and not be familiar with rabbits? No offense if some of you had to pull out a dictionary to look up rabbit while reading this post, but my son was pointing at them in books before he was two years old. Maybe we should dig out the animal board books and let her borrow them. Or bring her to the zoo.

If any of you want to leave comments that she is 70 years old, and perhaps some of her mental faculties are declining, and I shouldn't be posting things like this, then I refer you back to the original post, and perhaps she shouldn't have had a BB gun in the first place.

I like my swimsuit

I like my swimsuit. I'm pretty sure I haven't uttered that phrase since I was about 6 years old, if ever. I even remember disliking my bathing suit at about 8 years old - It was a one piece pink and white polka dot with a skirted bottom. *Shudder* As a pudgy 8 year old, I'm pretty sure I looked like a polka dotted beach ball in that.

As an adult, the typical one pieces have made me oh-so-uncomfortable. Not enough coverage, bottom half too much like undies for my comfort. Too much bottom showing.

In recent years, I've worn "water shorts" over a regular one piece. Not very feminine looking.

This winter, I bought a "sport tankini" on clearance at Lands End. Well, two of them, actually. Since my bottom and top are not proportional, I had to order them two sizes apart to get a bottom and top that fit properly. This was still more economical than buying a single suit, or separates, that were not on clearance.

We went to the beach yesterday, and it was the best visit to the beach ever. I was able to enjoy myself without the paranoid discomfort about my bathing suit. My son had a great time in the water, in spite of the fact that he was not allowed to wear his Spiderman arm floaties - The beach only allows "coast guard approved floatation devices" in the water. We really weren't using it for safety - We of course would still be with him in the water. Mostly he just liked having Spiderman on his arms. Oh well. The life jacket worked just fine.

How nice to not dread beach visits due to the swimsuit issue!

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I spent two lunch breaks last week hanging Avon catalogs on people's doorknobs. In the time I've been doing Avon, I've been pleased with the number of orders I have received. I have received orders from friends, from strangers via local classified posting, from wives of coworkers, from internet people. The one method from which I have not received an order is from hanging a brochure on a doorknob. I would love to get at least one order that way, so I know my efforts are not totally in vain, and that I should indeed continue doing that. I've actually been putting the brochure in an Avon bag, with a sample, and a letter introducing myself. Surely that will get someone's attention?

Sent in error

As many of you know, I take daily injections of Copaxone to keep my MS in check. Several months back, a blogger let me know about Copaxone's discount program, which would allow me to get my copays paid for me. I signed up, and have thoroughly enjoyed saving $80 every 3 months.

One of the stipulations of the program is that you must take your injections as prescribed. Well, I don't miss my shots. I brought them with me on vacation last year.

So imagine my surprise when I opened an envelope from the Copaxone folks yesterday that said "We enjoyed our recent conversation with you" (what conversation?), "remember that to stay in the discount program you must take your injections regularly" (yep, I do), "because we are committed to your health, we are giving you 3 months {to straighten up and start taking your shots regularly (paraphrase)}" (um WHAT?!?).

I called them immediately, because I enjoy my $320 per year savings. They had no note on my account regarding the supposed conversation or supposed lapse in injection frequency. They said they would have to look into it further.

Several hours later, I got a phone message saying that the letter was sent in error, and that I could disregard. While I understand that everyone makes mistakes, I can't help but wonder how that letter came to me. Could a simple keystroke send the letter to the completely wrong person? When it comes to health issues, isn't that notion a little scary?

Oh well. At least my spot in the discount program is safe.

Beat It

I guess I'll be a little different and talk about Michael Jackson's death the day after the memorial service, instead of the week and a half leading up to it.

Let's see...Was I a fan? Back in the day. Thriller was one of my first cassettes. My favorite songs of his were Man in the Mirror and The Girl is Mine (don't judge). Thriller was an awesome video.

As his cosmetic surgeries progressed, so did my musical taste, and I don't remember having an interest in anything Michael Jackson in the last decade and a half or so.

As we all know, Michael Jackson had some controversy about him in recent years. Never proven guilty of anything, so I guess there's not much to say about that.

He had this comeback concert planned, but other than that, we hadn't seen much of him in recent years.

He was a fairly young man, and it's sad that he passed away so soon. I do have to say, I was shocked at the worldwide reaction. Were all these people really such devoted Michael Jackson fans? Did Al Sharpton really suggest that we should observe a national day of morning? Did those reports really say that some people have taken their own lives as a result of Michael Jackson's passing?

Sigh.

I've had Man in the Mirror in my head for about a week. I think the fanfare was over the top. I don't think every network had to broadcast the memorial service.

But obviously plenty of people disagree with me. I watched a bit of the service while I ate lunch, and there was a woman behind the ABC reporter announcing how mad she was that there were empty seats in there, yet she couldn't have a ticket.

I saw the clip of his daughter speaking at the service, and that puts it all in perspective. He was a man with children and parents who loved him. The kids are missing their dad. We probably don't need to talk about the negative stuff anymore. He's gone. We probably don't need to talk about any of it anymore. Just let the family be. They don't need to see themselves on the news every night.

Queen of Corn

I do not do a big weekly grocery shopping trip. Instead, I do about 4 ten minute grocery shopping trips per week on my way to work. This requires some planning. You have to shop in a particular order: Get the things you need most, then the things that are on sale, and if there's any time leftover, think about what else you might need.

Yesterday's 10 minute trip yielded apples, grapes, honey and tomato soup.

Today's 10 minute trip yielded dog food, garbage bags and peanuts.

Normally I go to the smaller store that is very convenient to my work, but if I'm running particularly early, I may venture into the superstore a little further down the road.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I needed some corn on the cob. I did not find any, but there was an employee working in the produce department. I asked her if they had any corn on the cob, and she said yes, that she would be bringing it out in about 10 minutes. I said that was fine, and that I would pick up some tomorrow. She asked if I was sure, and said she could try to get it quicker. I said it was no problem at all; that I come in several times a week. She said "I know. I've seen you in here a lot."

Well, ultimately I ended up buying the corn at a farmer's market that week, but we buy corn on the cob pretty much weekly in the summer, because we grill it.

The following week, I happened to be purchasing corn at the smaller grocery store again. The produce employee walked past me and said "Oh, good. You got your corn."

This week, I was selecting some apples and the produce employee called to me from across the produce section: "Do you need any corn?" I told her no thank you, and she said it was the next thing on her list to bring out.

I appreciate the fact that this employee is being friendly, and "knowing" her customers...But after three weeks in a row of this, I've got to tell you, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a reputation there as the crazy corn lady. The funny part is, I only asked about corn once.

Mosquito be gone

What a great weekend. It was a long weekend for me, as I took Friday as my "special day off". Saturday we went to a parade, to a cookout, and watched fireworks. Our friends have the good fortune of being able to see a fireworks display from their front yard, so we sat and watched them there and avoided the crowds.

I got a few more mosquito bites to add to my collection from the weekend before. Obviously our bug spray was not doing the trick for me, so hopefully my Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus that is finally coming this week will do a better job. (Hello two times backordered - Hopefully that means it's as an incredible a product as I think it is...)

Yesterday, my son declared it pajama day. I made pancakes, we spent the morning playing Hungry Hungry Hippos, Pick up Sticks and Candyland, and in the afternoon we changed out of jammies and took the dog on a walk.

My son put his entire allowance into the vacation fund this weekend, so obviously he is quite serious about helping to save for this vacation. I'm headed out on my lunch break to deliver some Avon catalogs, so hopefully that will yield some sales this month and I'll have more extra funds to contribute to the vacation collection!

Also on a mosquito note, this morning there was a mosquito in the bathroom. It was in the shower, but always up by the ceiling, well out of my reach. When I was done in the shower, I spent 10 minutes trying to get it as it flew around, always staying up high, until finally I recruited (much taller) hubby for the job. He captured the mosquito immediately.

Saving

So, work remains the same. If I don't get my 8 hours per week that were cut back by next month, it will not happen this year, as summer is our busy time.

At this point, things are moving in the opposite direction of improvement at work, so I'm just hoping not to have additional hours cut.

That's part of the reason I signed on with Avon. Any additional income is helpful.

Fortunately, prior to getting my hours cut, we refinanced and cut our mortgage payment considerably, we paid off a vehicle, and we're saving a bit on daycare since my son is there fewer hours each week.

This, thankfully, has resulted in the missing income not being a huge pinch for us.

I've been wanting to take my son to Disneyworld since he was about 2. He is at a great age for it now, and what he is really interested in down there even more than Disney is Islands of Adventure at Universal. They have a superhero island that he is so excited about. Even though he is a little short yet for two of the superhero rides, a couple of them he is fine for, and the notion of superheroes wandering around there...Well, he's very excited about that.

Our whole family has started saving for this trip. At the rate we're saving, it is going to take a very long time...But it's exciting to all be saving together. My son has been putting part of his allowance in there, I'm putting in half of my Avon profits, and we are putting half of any overtime hubby works in there, though the overtime opportunities have been few and far between lately.

Now that our schedule has slowed a little, I'm hoping to get some stuff on e bay and c raigs list, and make a little extra that way.

This is the first time our whole family has ever saved for something together. It's fun...I hope we get to our goal while our son is young enough to enjoy it. :-)