Taking Melaleuca Allergy Meds

With the allergies hitting me every year during this time I decided I had to take something to make my daily existence a little more bearable. Now, I'm feeling much better; the bobble-headed feeling is not as bad as it would be if I were taking products from the drugstore. It's similar to Benadryl only better.

Today we went to Hobby Lobby and Joanns and Michaels. I also found out that I could not use the coupons towards any of the Cricut die cutting materials. Bummer. So, I still want the Cuttlebug while I'm waiting to get the Wishblade. Walmart has the Cricut for $188; which isn't too bad but I really want the Wishblade and if I buy the Cricut I don't think it's very smart to do that. I will still be wanting the Wishblade.

I did go to Target as well and managed to find a Crafting storage container for my papers. Next week I will go back to get the storage cubes as well.

On the Melaleuca...I'm going to start buying it on Ebay as I canceled my membership with them. I just can't see a need to be ordering their products every month to the tune of $65-$70 bucks. The products are great but too much for me to spend on every month. If they weren't so greedy maybe I'd continue to order from them. Also, the woman that signed me up at the beginning of the year was always rude. I don't deal well with rudeness.

I have a headache right now so I think I will try to organize my scrapbooking supplies and rest for a bit. Have a blessed day, everyone!

Sick again!!

Monday afternoon I took little princess to a nearby park to feed the ducks. It was a gorgeous day, the weather was mild and I enjoyed every bit of it. We took pictures and were there for no more than 45 minutes. I really enjoyed the outing. I even videotaped my daughter playing with the ducks and feeding them. After a super fun afternoon we head home after stopping at the craft store and I finally got the Crop-a-dile I was looking for and found with a 40% off coupon to boot! I'm riding high and I'm cool and I'm the cat's meow and I'm feeling like a supermom. Uh-huh. I am mentally doing the happy dance (can u tell I spend too much time online).

Tuesday dawns and I am sick as a dog. In my circuit-shorted mommy brain I forgot the reason I hate Texas so much and was quickly reminded by the dry, scratchy throat, stuffy head feeling. My allergies!! I went out like a normal person should do and enjoyed the day...for crying out loud did I not know this weather does me in every single time? Was my mind so far gone that I actually entertained the thought of living a normal life in this God-forsaken part of the country? Argh...here we go again. I feel as I have razor blades in my throat. The bobble-headed feeling is slowly creeping up on me again!! I feel like Lucy from the Peanuts gang when Charlie Brown gets on her nerves. How could I have been so stupid? I thought for a fleeting moment, wait, no -- an afternoon that I could act like a normal person and pretend to be able to breathe the cloud of smog and allergens that is the Dallas atmosphere. Rant over.

I now sit like a good little mommy that knows better than to venture out into the cold cruel (or in this case hot cruel) pollen/allergen infested world that is Texas. I will now suffer in silence my fate for the next week or two. Time which I will speak with a raspy voice that some say sounds sexy but I liken to the mutterings of the creature from the black lagoon. Que sera sera.

Happy Birthday Lam!!

Today is one of my good friend's birthday. She turns 37 today. We're going out to lunch this week in celebration. Next month I'm going to her mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary party. She told me they are going to make it like a wedding all over again. I tell you one thing, these people do not spare expense when it comes to their parents. Lam is Vietnamese and is the sweetest person I know. She and Sonny have been married for 6 years now.

We will probably go have Pho for lunch this week since she doesn't eat American food. That's fine, I love Pho. Although, I can never finish the entire bowl of this delicious soup. Also, I always feel like a klutz because I cannot use the chop sticks to pick up the rice. Give me a spoon and fork; I'm sorry but I'm not talented like they are....not that way anyway.

Every time we've gone for lunch -- I used to work with her -- she would give me some chopsticks and tell me to go home and practice. Well, here I am 4 years later and have a wonderful collection of chopsticks in my kitchen drawer. The ones my daughter hasn't used for crafting purposes, that is. Shhhh, don't tell Lam.

What's funny about Lam is she eats like a horse and is skinny as a toothpick. I also love her accent. Her S sounds come out like SH. For instance, she refers to her husband as Shonny, not Sonny. When she gets dressed up she says she feels "Sheckshy" instead of sexy. I talked to her on the phone this past week and she said she cannot believe I remember her birthday every year. I don't forget stuff like that, especially when it concerns people I care for.

So, we will go have Pho this week...I will have chicken and she will have "beep" -- Lams way of saying beef.

Lam -- here's to many, many more healthy years. You are still a young sheckshy cheek. Now...go get 'em girrrrl!! Love ya!

You're probably tired now

of hearing about my scrapbooking excursions with my little princess. I apologize if that's the case but I am going to post about that again.

Little Princess had 27 dollars burning a hole in her purse...yes, she has a purse, several actually. She's a handbag fanatic just like her mommy. Good think she doesn't know enough about them to expect the same brands mommy buys. I must give myself credit for not spending on them like I did back when I had an outside job and got paid on a bi-weekly basis. The last time I bought an expensive purse was last Summer at Banana Republic. I still carry it. I'm really wanting a Louis Vuitton but the one I want is a cool $1400; even I am not crazy enough to dish out that kind of money for a handbag. I am what my friend eloquently calls a "handbag whore." When she told me that, I was floored that she used that word.

Back to the story at hand. I went to do my usual Friday errands and we stopped by at Big Lots; not much in the area of scrapbooking. I'm also looking for a scrapbooking storage cart/shelves/case. I didn't find anything worth buying; not for scrapbooking anyway. All the Fall stuff was out and it looked so pretty.

We then went to Mardel and I made some purchases there in their scrapbooking area. Not too bad but since it isn't really a craft store we hopped on over to Hobby Lobby since they are right next to each other. I did get the Crop-A-Dile I was looking for and got it with the 40% discount coupon so I did well there. I also bought a plethora of stamps, ink pads and another album all at 50% off. All in all it was a busy day.

We also stopped at a girls clothing store to get the little princess some new clothes as she is growing like a weed and is leaving her clothes practically new because they don't fit any more. No short skirts, no "revealing" tops, no up-to-there shorts. My baby is growing too fast. She did get another Webkinz, thanks for getting her hooked on these, N. ;) She also purchased a scrapbook album with her own money.

I'm going to be scrapbooking tonight again as I lead an otherwise boring life. I don't drink, don't smoke and curse only occasionally. What other vice could a mom like me possibly have? I'm allowed, I deserve it and I cannot wait until I get my Wishblade.

Need more hours in the day, please!

I haven't been on here lately because the scrapbooking has kept me busy. I must admit I did join another Christian forum and...well, didn't just join it I forgot I belonged to it and just "re-discovered" it. My old friends are still there. It's fun...they have games. Like I need more things taking up my time, right?

Since I have so many pictures I need to scrapbook I really have to focus on that to get them out of the way. They've been just stored in boxes and photo center envelopes and that's wrong. I'm a mom and an A personality and these things need to be where they need to be. Ya know? I have been such a slacker and I deserve to get my hair pulled for that. Yes, I do. My ears pulled too.

What's wrong with me? I have fallen off the supermom wagon and I need to get my behind in gear and go forth and scrapbook, organize, clean, tidy up, Carol Brady style. Wait. She had Alice to do all that. Aaahhh, the perks of living a fake life on TV!

There just isn't enough hours in the day to do all that a mom needs to do. Although, I have realized that if the day were longer I would have that many more chores to do. I must admit that the laundry is done. Except for a couple of blankets. I'm doing those tonight. While I scrapbook.

Burning the midnight oil

Well, here I am again, after only 4 hours of another drug induced sleep, up at 6 am on a Sunday morning. Since I couldn't sleep I started praying; nothing in particular, more in general. I prayed for the women in Afghanistan too. I was watching CNN last night and saw a special about the horrible living conditions for these poor women. I cried all through it. My heart ached for them. For their futures, for their children. I prayed that somehow, in His infinite mercy, the good Lord would reach their souls and help them to get out of that situation. How? I don't know the answer to that but God is a merciful and loving God. He is the Almighty. What can a simple mom like me do for them; not much really, except pray that is. Every single day. I am thousands of miles away from them. I am thankful that God is omnipresent as well as omnipotent. Most of those people do not believe in Him. I know that. I think, however, that if enough of us pray about it, a revival could take place. Yes, in the middle of the desert, yes in a land and people so far away from Christianity. Why? How? Because God promised us in His word:

John 14:13, 14 "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

I realized, after watching this program, that I am truly blessed beyond words. I mean I have always known most Americans have it easy compared to people in many other countries but this really opened my eyes. For the life of me, I cannot fathom the fear, frustration and helplessness these poor women must live through day in and day out. My heart absolutely broke when they showed a young woman who was sold into marriage by her own alcoholic, gambling father. At the age of 7. At 11 she burned herself to escape the hurt and humiliation of the life she was forced to live. A beautiful girl with eyes haunted by the miserable past of her young life. I physically hurt for her. I still cannot get the image of her out of my mind. I so wish I could reach out to her and help her and the millions of other women in countries like that. Where women are seen as second-class citizens; as if they didn't matter.

In the heart of this humble wife and mother -- they matter more than they will ever know.

I've been resurrected!

I have finally been resurrected from the crud. Oh, man did that nasty crud get me good. Well, actually it wasn't as bad as it was last year. It took me 3 weeks to get over it back then. This time it has been close to a week but I'm much better.

I'm still coughing like a 3-pack-a-day cigarette smoker but that will take a little bit longer to get rid of. I've been waking up at about 4 am every day with the hacking cough. Makes me feel like I'm going to pass out from all that exertion. My head hurts from all the coughing. I've gone through a bottle of Dayquil, another of Nyquil and now I'm taking Robitussin once a day to ease my coughing fits a little bit.

My body felt so worn out and I just wanted to sleep but lo and behold...I am a mom...a wondermom at that. Did I rest? No. Did I cook? Is the sky blue? Every single day. I tell you there is no rest for a mom. Did I get a single friggin' thing for my anniversary, uh, no. Did I even remember it; well, no. But -- that's beside the point.

So, just out of spite, I went to the Joanns Superstore in Dallas. I drove all the way over there and found nothing worth buying. I went to go buy the Crop-A-Dile. With the way my luck has been going this week I wasn't one bit surprised to find that they were out. I wasn't too disgusted when I saw the 15 people waiting in line to check out. I smugly waltzed out of there with my little princess in tow. How dare they! There wasn't a sale flyer in sight -- the audacity!!

Drove to another town and went to Hobby Lobby, surprise surprise, they were out as well. I did, however, purchase a few small things just 'cause I felt like it. I guess every scrapbooking person for miles around was buying up this particular tool and thus I found none. What I did see that was, of course, available was the Cricut die-cutting machine. After I looked at the price of that puppy, I realized why there were plenty of those left.

I've made the decision that I will go one step above that and get the Wishblade. Not cheap but dadgumit, I got nothing for my anniversary!! He's paying, I tell you, he's paying dearly. I WILL get my Wishblade and I may not wait until Christmas! I just may even pay full price for it...just to show him. Nah, maybe not...I'll get it at a discount and spend the rest on more supplies. He's still dishing out the $400-plus. I can feel it in the fiber of my being.

On a 3 day hiatus from blogging

I have been down with the crud and this will last for another week or so, could be longer. I will be back on here as soon as I return to the land of the crud-less.

Since I am a wife and mother I will, of course, see no rest or relief from my daily duties. I feel like a servant without pay.....slave, there, that's it! I feel like my head is going to explode from all the disgusting sinus congestion. I take OTC meds to alleviate the miserable feeling only to feel like a bobble-head. So, I have a choice, feel cruddy and stuffy and sneezy and scratchy (sounds like the seven dwarfs) or feel like a bobble-head/zombie. I choose the latter. I am not one to tolerate misery very well.

Unlike my little princess who will suffer through colds/flu/headaches, etc. with no meds whatsoever, I will hit the bottle....Tylenol, Dayquil, Nyquil, Coricidin, anything to pull me through this misery for yet another day.

When I had my kidney removed 8 years ago this past July my doctor had to scold me a couple times for taking all my pain meds and asking for more. I do not like pain. I do not tolerate pain. Pain and I are not friends. The pain of kidney removal is not good. More about that in another post at another time. For now, I will go and hit the bottle, the OTC bottle that is.

It's Raining in the DFW area

And I love it! It makes me want to bake and read while the cookies and the strawberry bread are baking. I'm tired though because I've been coughing at night and haven't had much rest. My ankle is feeling better...enough that I not only went to one but two Dollar Tree stores and then on to Joanns for scrapbooking stuff.

I love it when it rains like this. God is being so good to me! I have so much to be grateful for; healthy kids, good husband, a nice home, good health and lots of playthings like jewelry supplies, soap making supplies and now scrapbooking supplies. I got my Creative Memories kit today so I will be calling the CM upline lady and schedule a time to give her back her stuff.

I'm looking forward to the crop this Friday night but if my cough hasn't let up I won't be going. My head feels so stuffed up and the minute I try to lie down to rest a little bit I start coughing. I love the cooler weather though. I wish it were Fall all year round.

Teenager-type got another computer resuscitating job. This time it is a church that has a computer with a virus. He just fixed the neighbor's computer. She's a friend of the family. He needs to have a rate sheet. He could be making a nice chunk of pocket change if he advertised.

Creative Memories Consultant

You are now reading the blog of a brand spanking new Creative Memories consultant. Yep, I took the leap and I should be getting my kit by sometime next Tuesday or Wednesday. The lady that signed me up was nice enough to give me the items that were included in the kit that she had readily available. I will pay her back when my kit arrives. I couldn't wait to get it so she gave me about half of the items. I also purchased from her, at my discount, the oval cutter which is awesome.

See, last weekend when I went to Michaels, I purchased a Fiskars cutting system. Paid $30 for it only to discover when I tried to use it the darn thing didn't work. The round cutter worked like a charm but the oval one skipped and moved the picture and cut it all crooked. I have over 16 years worth of pictures that need to be organized and put in a scrapbook.

There is one thing I don't like about this CM thing. The lady kept telling me I have to call and schedule classes with my friends and family. I frankly told her I was in this to have fun, to get my product at a discount and not to make money. She makes a living out of this. I already have too much on my plate with homeschooling, 2 kids that like it when I feed them, an ornery parrot that likes to be tended to and two cats that think they rule.

She has called me or emailed me several times to see if I'm calling my "list of potential customers". I don't like that. I will tolerate it until my kit comes in and I replace the items she gave me. This is not to say I won't hold a crop if the opportunity should arise but I'm not marketing it. I do not take kindly to pushy salespeople.

Creative Memories does have a quota of $500 retail every quarter. That's about $350 plus tax & shipping my cost. That's fine because when I went to Michaels I easily spent $100 and it was for a very small amount of items, including the useless Fiskars cutting set.

Today, I'm off to Joanns. I want some pretty embellishments. Also, some pretty paper and a tote to put the paper in.

Oh, the agony!

First of all, I want to apologize to my two or three readers that come on here every day to read my insane babblings about my boring every day life. I did not post yesterday because this is what happened.

I was making my usual Friday errands which included stopping by Sams to pick up a few things. Mainly, the Lipton Green Tea my teenager-type offspring cannot live without. Due to lack of sleep from the cough that's been keeping me up at night, I figured I'd just go to the one closest to me. I know, I'm smart. I went, I shopped and I was in line to pay. It never happened. I stood there in line for what seemed like an eternity because the one last item would not scan. The computerized cash register kept reading "Can't make the sell". At first I found it extremely annoying that the powers that be in charge of entering this information are grammatically lacking. Hello...it's "SALE" not "Sell", hay, Dios mio...these foolish people!

The thought that I am a good Christian woman flashed through my ever impatient mind. I did not say what I was thinking. I waited and waited and... well you get the picture. While the 'supervisor' is calling out over the loudspeaker to one of the stockers to check on the item in question. He did, she entered the UPC#. Again, the item could not sell. I'm thinking what in tarnation is going on. They have hundreds of these cases back there and in the endcap how can they not make the sale? Again, the supervisor person announces over the loudspeaker, in Spanish no less, that it's not working. I look at the line behind me and apologize for holding up the line. They politely smile and tell me it's ok. Of course I know it isn't.

Supervisor calls "manager" after spending 15 minutes arguing back and forth with the stocker person, over the loudspeaker and in Spanish all the while. I'm embarrassed and would've left if the friggin' item had not been the very item I was there for...the ever disappearing Green Tea!! Manager dude scans the item, as if it hasn't been done a thousand times already. As if it's a newly discovered feature that the seemingly incompetent supervisor cannot figure out on her own. He turns around and says, "We can't sell it to you" I said,"Can you not override that and put in the price?" Manager said he couldn't. I asked for my card back and told them to keep their groceries. I walked out. It was TEA for crying out loud!

I then proceeded to go to the other Sams repeated everything minus the string cheese; I don't need the calories anyway. Went and ordered a pizza to bring home for lunch. Paid for everything and walked out. Tea was scanned without a problem, the miracle!! Walked out to my car and unloaded groceries. Turned to pick up pizza, cart tried to run off in the direction of a new car parked next to me; I panicked. In order to keep it from hitting the pretty, shiny, new car I turned dropped the pizza back into the cart and somehow caught it before it hit and I twisted my ankle and fell in the process. Now, I am the not so happy camper with a sprained ankle.

This morning it's a nice shade of purple. I did save the pizza. And the pretty car next to us. I was hoping someone would feel sorry for me and come to my rescue when I landed like a startled cow that has just been tipped over by a wild bunch of teenagers. It didn't happen. I looked around but nobody was around to help. That's what I get for going to the store that early in the morning on a weekday. I do that to avoid the crowds. I did.

Today I'm sitting at home like a good mommy. I will scrapbook after I eat my turkey pot pie. It's Marie Callenders, they are good. I deserve it. I'm a woman in pain. All because of tea.

Alpha Omega's SOS Curriculum

Well, this week we have started the Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum with little Princess and she absolutely loves it. It is all computer based with the option of printing if you so choose. I cannot say enough good things about it. It really gets my daughter thinking and figuring out the answers.

I think we've found a winner in this curriculum and we will keep using it. I wish I had tried this last year. Live and learn, I guess. Never before have I seen her so enthusiastic about doing her schoolwork. It's amazing really.

Well...it's tomorrow!!

I'm sitting here waiting for Mr. Sir to get home from work so I can go to the Lady CM's to check out the scrapbooking stuff. I'm antsy. I'm excited.

Last night I was watching The Big Idea and saw how this couple started a multi-million dollar empire with only a few hundred dollars. I wonder if my enchiladas would pull that. I've always been told they are really good - it's the secret ingredient, I know it is. Although the host of the show, Donny Deutsch, says if we have an idea to do it now; well, I'm scared.

Now, you are probably thinking how good can those enchiladas be. Well, one of my ex-bosses, who just happens to be a millionaire himself and can eat wherever he well chooses, prefers my enchiladas. He likes them so much that one year for his birthday I gave him an enchilada voucher. It was good for two 9x13 pans of my homemade chicken enchiladas. He cashed them in for Christmas dinner. So, on Christmas eve that year I found myself making enchiladas.

Everybody that has ever eaten them raves about how good, meaty and moist they are. I do put a lot of chicken breast meat in them. And at the risk of sounding like a braggart, I must admit, they are muy deliciosas! Now, if I can only figure out a way to make them where they will stay fresh and great tasting for longer than a couple days. Flash freezing? Whatever that means. Hey, maybe I'm onto something here.

Which makes me wonder...what would I call my enchilada business? Hmmm, how about El Skipito Bandito's Chicken Enchiladas, or maybe Lady Di's to Die for Enchiladas...or even Arriba, Arriba Enchiladas. Maybe I'll just call myself The Whole Enchilada! I only use the breast meat, Sargento brand cheese and a few other "choice" ingredients. I like top quality stuff. Not some el cheapo off-brand ingredients. After all, what kind of gourmet enchilada maker would I be? Hee hee.

Write me and tell me what your thoughts are. Who knows, maybe someday you can say you had a hand at naming the multi-million dollar enchilada brand. Have you tried those disgusting frozen ones from El Charito and Banquet...even the Stouffers brand, they are disgusting.

I have a date tomorrow!!

With the Creative Memories consultant. She, luckily, doesn't live too far from me. I want to see what goodies she has. If their line is good I will sign up. I've checked pricing and between the local scrapbook suppliers and Creative Memories, it would be to my advantage to sign up. I will get a 30% discount all the time. Their minimum isn't bad and I already saw how quickly I can spend 100 bucks at Michaels on scrapbooking supplies....very few pieces for that money too. That's with a discount.

So tomorrow, my little princess and I will go to this lady's house. I am so excited, as is my little princess. It will be neat to see this woman's "store" since she pretty much has everything that Creative Memories has ever had. She's been doing this for the past 16 years! I don't know that I could do anything for that period of time. Amazing!

We are really looking forward to the crop we're going to on the 14th. That should be lots of fun. We're a wild partying pair, me and my daughter. Staying out 'til all hours of the night--the crop isn't over until midnight. I figure we can scoot on out of there early if little princess can't hang. On second thought, it might be me that can't hang. LOL!

Wholesale Scrapbooking Supplies

I went to Michael's today. Although I stayed within my spending limit, it wasn't easy. A few years ago I signed up with Creative Memories because I wanted to purchase their items at a discount to do some scrapbooking. Two years later the supplies were untouched and my ever-growing stack of pictures was still growing. I was working full-time so I figured I wouldn't have time to do any kind of scrapbooking for a while. I sold the 500 kit on ebay for like 300 bucks or so.

Now, I'm looking for wholesale suppliers. If I can get my supplies in bulk from a wholesaler, I'm doing it. I contacted a local Creative Memories consultant and she told me even after signing up with them my discount would be a mere 30% off retail. I would also have to purchase at least $500 in retail every three months. That comes out to $350 my cost which is approximately $120 per month or thereabouts.

I'm going to a crop in a couple weeks to see what all this will be like. I'm taking my daughter with me. She's excited, I'm apprehensive about signing up as I'm thinking I might be able to get a better deal elsewhere. Granted, Creative Memories has good quality products but I want to explore all my options before I take the leap should I decide to do that.

So, for the next two weeks, I'm doing my research. I'm determined to find a better deal, if it's out there. I'm not so sure where to look. If any of you can point me in the right direction, I would certainly appreciate it.

Scrapbooking

My little princess got a scrapbooking kit yesterday and is now into doing this fun yet expensive craft. I must admit that I do have too many pictures that have spent their lives in the original photo lab envelopes. Some of these pictures are more than 20 years old. That's even before scrapbooking was invented.

I do have many things to catch up on but as you may have already read in this previous post, I am notorious for starting things and leaving them half done. When the enthusiasm wears off, well, I go on to other projects. My little princess, however, will see to it that we finish all these pictures because she's not like me in that aspect. She will sit there and finish something until it is completely done.

Thank goodness she's like that as it will help me to keep on track with the scrapbooking. I look forward to it as it seems like it would be so much fun. Although, I may need another table in my crafting room to hold the materials for scrapbooking. Maybe I can get Mr. Sir to convert the garage for us. Make it into a bigger crafting room. Although, he's already planned on converting it into a game room. When that will happen is another story.

Now, I will go to my craft room and start our first page of this scrapbook. We'll see how long I can do this. Wish me luck!