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Archive for April, 2008

I. Hate. Beer.

28 Apr

There. I said it. I know some of you are thinking “Wow, I really liked her until she said that.” I think it tastes gross and I never could stand to drink enough to develop a taste for it. Throw in a significant allergy to brewer’s yeast and it’s just not something I cared to even spend a lot of time trying to develop a taste for. That said, I’ve recently (re)discovered the joys of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. This stuff is YUM.

Now, even on the best of days I have no tolerance for alcohol. I remember getting 2 for 1 margaritas at Chili’s as a college student and being unable to walk out of the restaurant after one and a half. Not kidding. I was mortified. Typically I limit myself to one alcoholic beverage if I’m going to drink anything and I try to eat at the same time. This cuts down on the chances of me getting a buzz or having a head change, but not always. Seriously, my tolerance is baaaaaaaaaaad.

Last night I had terrible insomnia. It’s typical for me, but it’s usually not as bad as it was last night. It was after 4AM when I finally fell asleep and I had been asleep for maybe 15 minutes when my youngest woke up and got in bed with us. Needless to say, the little bit of sleep I did get was not refreshing. I had 2 large cups of coffee (using my new Senseo…it arrived Saturday and I LOVE it!) this morning and stumbled through the day. I thought it might be a good idea to have a little of the hard lemonade to help me sleep tonight. I’ve not had more than 1/3 of the bottle and already feel like I’m about to pass out. It is 8:30PM and I still need to get my youngest down to sleep. Good grief!

I’m trying to keep myself awake via typing, but I’m either so tired (or so boring?) that I can’t keep my eyes open. There is no way I’ll manage to stay awake until he’s ready for bed.

 
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Posted in Rambling, Reviews

 

Weekly Challenge #2

28 Apr

A day late, but here you go. If there are specific things you need to work on, let me know in the comments and I’ll incorporate it into future challenges.

1. Find 25 things in your house to get rid of. Give them away, donate them, or just throw them in the trash, but get them out of your way. This can be anything from toys, to clothes, to a piece of junk mail.

2. Clean your kitchen. This includes all dirty dishes, even if they have to be hand washed. Clean off the countertops. Clean the appliances. If you’re really ambitious, go through your cabinets and make sure you don’t have anything you don’t use taking up space.

3. Clean your light fixtures. Dust your ceiling fans. Make sure you take the globes off and wash them to get all of the dust and bugs out. Replace any bulbs that are burned out. (If you use CFLs, be careful not to break them as they contain mercury. If you don’t use CFLs, consider the benefits of switching to them.)

Bonus! Find a new recipe to try. If you want, post it in the comments below. I love to try new things!

 
2 Comments

Posted in House/Home, Weekly Challenge

 

Tantrum Central

28 Apr

Toddlerhood is such a fun age because they’re learning so much and growing so much. Unfortunately it’s also one of the hardest ages because with all of that learning and growing come a lot of adjustments. My toddler is nearing that “terrible 2″ stage (gosh, I really hate that description but occasionally it’s so apt!) and has been throwing some doozies lately. Usually I run through the list of typical problems (do you need a drink? a snack? a hug? nurse? etc.) and if he continues to scream I leave him to himself to work it out. It usually works well, though it can be a bit embarrassing when we’re out and about. Luckily, it mostly happens at home so I’m spared the humiliation.

Before I had kids, I remember thinking that people with screaming toddlers needed to have better control over their kids. Now I know it’s a normal stage they go through as they navigate the tricky waters of learning to express their needs and wants and fears. So why the humiliation? I fear the dirty looks, the negative attention. I hate it when someone looks at us and then leans over to whisper to their friend about how badly behaved my child is. The truth is, he’s normal. When we’re in public, we remove him from the situation if he becomes too loud or if it goes on too long, so we’re trying to be considerate of others in the vicinity. I don’t enjoy his screaming and I know others don’t want to listen to it any more than I do. But maybe next time you see a frazzled mom or dad trying to ignore a tantruming (is that a word? and more importantly, is it spelled right???) toddler, have a little sympathy. I guarantee you we’re not enjoying it either.

This post was prompted by the screaming fits we’ve been seeing over the last few days and this video I just saw on YouTube which cracked me up because it’s so familiar.

 
3 Comments

Posted in Family, Parenting

 

Downtown Sanford Bike Criterium

27 Apr

We went to the first ever Downtown Sanford Bike Criterium today and really enjoyed watching the races. My oldest even took part in the kids 6 and under ride. We were disappointed in the turnout, though. People complain constantly that there’s nothing to do in Sanford…well, even when there *is* something to do, nobody shows up. Maybe it was the threat of bad weather (though the rain held off) or the lack of local publicity. Maybe it’s the fact that people have other things to do on Sundays like church. Maybe we missed the crowds (haha…not likely) since we didn’t show up until after 1:30. Whatever the reason, it was frustrating to see the apathy from the locals. We’ve only been here for 2 years and we’ve tried really hard to take part in the local activities. We’ve lived in several larger towns and cities where street festivals and other fun events are commonplace so it’s something we’d like to see happening here. Now I fear that the “first ever” will become the “last ever” because the involvement just wasn’t there.

Billy Liggett (the Sanford Herald editor) asked “Why can’t Sanford do that?” on one of his recent blog entries. I feel the same way. But then you see something like this and the turnout is so poor that it seems impossible to ever conceive of a truly exciting event happening here. There was stuff for everyone…not just bike riders. There were bounce house inflatables for the kids, a concert (no kidding, I’d say less than 15 people were watching), a kid’s race, and food vendors. Definitely a good, family friendly, fun thing to do. I’m almost embarrassed for our town. We’re relative newcomers (only been in Sanford a couple of years) so maybe this has always been a problem. I know we rarely stick around town on weekends. We usually go up to Apex or Cary or Durham to shop or take part in fun things up there. But with gas prices as high as they are, we are making an effort to find fun things to do in town, but it seems like the opportunities are few and far between.

I took the photo below during the last race of the day. We were impressed at the number of people who participated by riding in the races, now if we can just get people to come watch. Come on Sanford, we can do better!

 
8 Comments

Posted in Family, Sanford

 

Must Haves: Skincare

26 Apr

Due to my PCOS, I have something called melasma. Basically, it’s a discoloration of the skin due to hormones. It’s frustrating and annoying and UGLY and it drives me nuts. I don’t have the money to do expensive things to improve it like chemical peels, so I mostly live with it. Makeup does help in covering it some.

Recently I was looking for a new skin care routine because I’ve been having bad breakouts (also a problem related to PCOS) and needed something new to see if we could get it under control. Because most of my skin issues are hormonal, I have a lot of problems finding products that do anything. I stumbled on Neutrogena’s Visibly Even line and thought it was worth a try…2 birds, 1 stone and all of that!

Oh. My. Gosh. This stuff works! My skin is not perfect…the only thing that would do that is good hormone regulation. But I do see a big difference in the amount of discoloration. And though I still break out, it is better than it was. The best part? It’s not super expensive and you can find it anywhere. I’ve picked the products up at Wal-Mart, Target, and drug stores, so no need to hit an expensive department store or drive all the way to the Triangle. I use the foaming cleanser, the moisturizer, the night concentrate and the enzyme treatment. LOVE this stuff. If you have similar problems and are looking for an inexpensive way to improve them, try it out.

 
4 Comments

Posted in Reviews

 
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