It's OK to be curly!

Have you seen this Dove commercial?

 

I love this message. Curls are beautiful, and we need to embrace them. If I say my curls are beautiful, then Bug will believe hers are, too. When Bug sees me spend an hour with a flat iron trying to straighten my hair, it sends the message that I'm not happy with the way God made me.

The problem is, sometimes my curly hair looks like this:

And then the very next day, it may look like this:

Dude. I went out in public like this.

Anyway, I'm naming February OK-to-be-curly month, and I will be wearing my hair curly every day in February. And maybe if I wear my hair curly every day, I'll remember how to tame these crazy locks!



 

Lies! All Lies!

I forgot to tell you this a couple weeks ago when it actually happened. Bug was home sick with the stomach flu, and I was at work while The Agent stayed home with her. On my lunch hour, I ran to McDonald's to pick up lunch to take to The Agent. But when I opened my wallet to pay, I didn't have any cash. What? I was SURE that I had two twenties in my wallet. Where did they go? I figured they were somewhere at the bottom of my purse. I paid with my ATM and went home for lunch. I didn't really think much of it.

Then, at about 3:30, I got a call back at my office. It was the school. It was BK's teacher.

"So, a student from another class approached me and handed me one of your credit cards," she said.

What the what?

"He said that BK gave it to him," she continued.

Oh, snap.

I got off the phone and tore my purse apart. I was missing the two twenties and the credit card for my medical spending account

I drove to the school and picked up m. credit card from the front office, and then I picked up BK from the after school program.

"So, BK," I asked once we got into the car. "Did you go into Mom's wallet and take one of my cards?"

"No."

"BK, I know you took my card, and I need it back. Where is it?"

"I didn't take anything."

"BK, I already know! Tell me the truth! Where is the card?"

"I didn't take anything."

"What else did you take?"

"I didn't take anything."

"BK, you're hurting my feelings! I already know what happened, and I love you no matter what! You don't need to lie! Tell me the truth!"

BK started to cry. "I am telling you the truth!"

Grrr. We drove the rest of the way home in silence.

When we got home, The Agent and I sat him down, and then I showed him the card. You could tell that his little brain just could not compute how I could have possibly gotten that card.

"BK, whose card is this?"

His voice was low, barely a whisper. "Yours."

"Really? How do you know?"

His head was down. "I saw it in your wallet."

And where do you think I found this card today?"

"At school."

Yes. Now we're getting somewhere.

It turns out that BK admitted to taking the card and "two dollars." He gave the card to a boy in a different class (BK didn't know his name and we could never get out of him why he felt the need to give this nameless boy my credit card). He gave the cash to one of his classmates, because "he lost his glasses and he was going to have to pay for a new pair."

That might be super nice of him, or it might be another lie. He clearly has a problem.

I explained to him the importance of not taking things that don't belong to him. He's only 5, he clearly didn't understand the value of what he was taking. it was coincidental that Bug was sick, so I got to use that. "See how Bug is sick? That card lets us take her to the doctor. Because I didn't have the card, I couldn't take her to the doctor. And because I didn't have any cash, I couldn't buy her any medicine."

So, yes, BK got in trouble for taking something without asking, and he had to pay me back the $40 from money in his own account. But he most got in trouble for lying. He was so blatantly lying, even when I told him I knew the truth. He only came clean when the evidence was placed right in front of him.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? He's only 5!

Weekend Update

I feel like the weeks are going by way too fast. I'm behind at work, my house is a mess, and my little blog is not getting the attention it needs. When will the madness end? I know, I know.... this is my life, so I need to embrace it!

I had to give a big presentation at work on Friday, singing and dancing and then delivering a serious message in front of about 80 people. I've been working on it for the last couple of weeks, but I must say, I ROCKED IT OUT! There were other people who spoke as well, but I believe my message was the most important part, and I was awesome-in-the-possum. The guy in charge of all of California was there (read: big dog with some serious cheese in his bank account), and he came up to me personally afterwards and told me what a good job I did and how he proud he was. This is before he hopped back on his private jet. Must be nice. But hopefully this means a raise in my future ('cause Lord knows I can't seem to get promoted)!

I had to work late so I could catch up on my actual job (and I'm still so super far behind), and then collapsed into bed before 9. Once again, another exciting night in the Lovely household.

The Agent went fishing on Saturday, so I was lazy with the kids most of the day. Things started ok, with Bug playing with the pottery wheel BFF got her for Christmas:

 But then roughly 3 minutes after this picture was taken, the wheel decided to stop working, and instead of asking me nicely to assist her, Little Miss Diva decided to throw a hissy fit and threatened to throw everything in the trash. Way to be mature, Bug.

I decided we needed to get out of the house, so I dragged them to Wal Mart to buy groceries, and then to JCP, because I felt I deserved a treat, so I made the kids pick out a necklace to buy me (well, not exactly... the kids went out with The Agent last week and bought me a necklace as a surprise, and my clumsy butt broke it the first day. I took it back to the store to get a replacement, but they didn't have any others that looked like the ones the kids gave me, so I had to come clean). This is the new necklace they picked out for me:

Simple and pretty. Love it.

On Sunday, I left the kids at home with The Agent while I went to a wine and paint class with BFF. I am not artistic at all-- I mean not even a little bit. But the instructor gave us step by step instructions and I was pretty happy with the way it came out!

Here's a close up: 

I mean, I know it's just circles, but still! I felt very artistic when I was done!

Meanwhile, The Agent was running boring errands, like getting BK's hair cut. Look at that cutie:

Something about a haircut always makes him look like a little punk!

Hey Honey! A review

I subscribe to Ipsy, which gives me a make up bag with 4-5 samples of makeup each month (for $10 a month).  It's usually stuff that I wouldn't normally buy for myself,  but it's all nice, high quality products, so I thought it would be fun to do a review of one of the products every once in awhile, in case you might want to try it out for yourself!

The first product I'm going to review is Hey Honey Exfoliating Mask.

I don't typically buy masks. They just don't hit my must buy list when I'm at the store. That's why I was excited to see this exfoliating mask in my Ipsy bag this month. I locked myself in the bathroom right away to try it out. The instructions were pretty simple: moisturize your face, apply a light layer of the mask to your face, let it sit for 20 minutes, peel it off, reapply the moisturizer. 

Here I am right out of the shower, no make up on:

And here I am, after applying the mask. 

The instructions said to leave it on for 20 minutes, so I used the time to dry my hair. Here's what I looked like 20 minutes later: 

Now it's time to take off the mask. I wish it was a different color so it would be easier to take off. But a few wide open mouth yawns helped break it up a bit. FYI, I look absolutely crazy here: 

And here I am, with the mask off and ready to leave for the day! 

I really liked the feel and the smell of the mask, and my skin felt soft for a full 5 minutes after that. But after that, it was just normal. And I don't really see a huge different in the before and after. Let's see them, side by side: 

Eh. 

So, would I buy it again? Well, yes.... but I can't find anywhere to buy it, other than online. It would be a lot easier if you could buy it at Target or Sephora! 

Final call: B-

Biggest advantage: smells pretty, doesn't irritate my skin

Biggest disadvantage: I can't find it anywhere but online, dries clear so it's hard to see

Join me on ipsy and subscribe to the Glam Bag! You get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10 a month.  Check it out here!

(All opinions are mine. I paid for this product. But feel free to send me free stuff and I will review it. Particularly a new Mercedes.)

Weekend Update

Another weekend!

This week went by so fast! Part of it was because I was on my death bed for the first part of the week. Ugh! So sick!

You would think after not eating for two days and after not drinking for a week, I would have lost some weight. No, not so much.

Our weekend was pretty uneventful.  Friday after work we stayed home and I caught up on the Downton Abbey  episode I missed last week and gave myself a face mask.

I live an exciting life, let me tell you.

On Saturday, it was my stepmother's birthday, so we went to their house for the day. Her favorite gift was what I can only describe as a onesie:

It even has feet. My dad got it for her, and I can only hope he meant it as a joke. But she loved it and said she would wear it every night while watching tv.

Afterwards, the kids went outside and played football with my dad:

I have a feeling that my dad slept very well that night. 

Sunday was spent buying groceries, doing laundry and relaxing in front of the TV. The weekend went by way too fast and I'm already back at work! The Agent and the kids are home today for the holiday, but there's no rest for this wicked girl. 

Have yourself a great week! 

Weekend update

Ugh. What a hard weekend. Hold me. 

Our problems started Thursday night. We had baseball registration for BK so we grabbed a quick fast food dinner beforehand. Bug wasn't really eating. "My stomach hurts," she said. 

Still, she seemed fine at the baseball registration, running around and playing with the other kids there. I figured she was fine. She went to bed without incident. 

At 10 pm, just as I was going to bed, she started throwing up. And didn't stop until 2:30 am. Ugh.

When Bug woke up on Friday, she was still feeling really bad, but at least she wasn't throwing up anymore. She was having some bathroom issues ("Mommy, my butt is throwing up!"), and she still had a fever. The sad thing was that she had an oral report to give on Friday, so she HAD to go to school. The Agent was going to the school to watch her report, so I told Bug to volunteer to go first and then Dad would  take her home. 

That is what happened. Bummer, because I don't think she did very well on her report, but really? She's only in third grade. I think she'll still get in to college. 

The Agent was able to work from home, so I was able to stay at my office (and dealt with BK's drama at school. He's in trouble. Again. I will try write about his issues later this week). I picked up BK, put both kids to bed, and then we had a quiet evening at home. 

On Saturday, I made BK do chores:  

and then we went to the bank and opened accounts for both kids.  We've been giving Bug an allowance for the last year, and I want to start giving one to BK, but I never have cash and I forget half the time. I figured it would be so much easier if we could just transfer the money from our account to theirs each month. 

Bug was also allowed to take some of her money and buy a toy (she bought some outfits that would  fit her American Girl doll), and since I can't go to Target without spending money, I bought a spicy shelf. Have you seen these? I thought I would be able to use it to organize my spice rack: 

I must say, I was pretty disappointed. It isn't much better: 

Saturday night was also pretty uneventful. Bug still wasn't feeling that great, and BK was still in trouble, so they both went to bed early and The Agent settled in to watch a movie-- some crazy foreign movie with subtitles that required me to use more brain power than I have. Just as I going to bed, The Agent said, "I don't feel good. I think I'm  going to be sick."

And get sick he did. All night. 

On Sunday, The Agent still looked like death and was still running a fever, so I let him sleep while I took the kids to Costco and to buy groceries for the week. Probably for the best-- I always spend less  when The Agent stays home! 

We got home in the afternoon just as The Agent was waking up. BK went down for a nap while Bug and The Agent cuddled up to watch a movie. They're still watching it now as I type this, and I'm saying a prayer that BK and I escaped the crazy cooties that Bug and The Agent brought home! 

Hope your weekend was fabulous! 

Financial Faux Pas

(This is a little vague. Sorry. I'm mostly just venting.)

We made a bit of a financial faux pas recently.

Actually, it wasn't recently, it was almost three years ago, but we're just finding out about it now, and our otherwise stellar credit score took an ugly hit.

link

I didn't get mad when I found out. I mean, what's done is done. There's nothing we can do about it. There were no accusations, no I-told-you-so's.

At least not out loud.

But I DID tell him. I told I didn't want this come back to bite us later, and he said he was sure it wouldn't. He said he had done his research, he was absolutely positive that this was the way to go. So I trusted him, and we did it.

And we got bit.

I know The Agent is already really upset about this, so my two cents aren't needed at this time. And nothing has really changed, except I was hoping to buy a new car next year and I think that will have to be put off for another year. We still have good jobs. The house is still on track to be paid off by the end of the year. But now we have to build up our credit score again, and the only way I know to do that is to have credit, something we're not used to having.

If you know of another way, I'd love to hear it. But the only way I know, and this was confirmed by our financial advisor, is to get 2 credit cards, and use them. And it's not enough to use them and then pay them off right away (that's what we were doing before, and it didn't help at all). We have to use them, but not pay the full amount. We have to leave like $10 on there each month. And we can never max them out, we have to keep them within 75% of the limit.

link

So, we decided to get a joint credit card, so we'll each have one, and I'll put all my gas fill ups on the card, and he'll put on every time we go out to eat. And when we pay it, we'll pay all but $10. The Agent wanted to leave $100 balance on there, but it drives me crazy to pay that much interest. If it was up to me, we'd only leave $1.

If we do this, hopefully our credit score will be back to what it was by the end of the year. So, we'll be debt free and have a great credit score. Go us.

Do you keep track of your credit score? How long does it take to raise it up again?

 

Weekend update

As you read this, I'm probably curled up in a ball crying, since this my first day back at work since Christmas. I feels like it's only been about three days, but at the same time, it seems like Christmas was over a month ago, Weird, I know.

We did absolutely nothing for New Year's Eve. The Agent told the kids they could stay up as late as they wanted... and then went to bed at 9:30, leaving me to stay up with them. Thanks a lot.

I expected BK to be out by 10 and then I thought Bug would be out by 11. Nope! They were both still wide awake at midnight. We did a count down, took a picture, and then watched the neighbors lighting off fireworks from the window. Then I turned off the tv and the lights, and told them they could still stay up as late they wanted, but they needed to do it in their rooms with the lights off, because this mom needed to get to sleep! They were both snoozing within 5 minutes.

NYE Selfie

On New Year's Day, we met my dad and stepmother for brunch, and then they came to the house to play with the Christmas toys, and then after they left, we went to Bass Pro to use up some gift cards The Agent had received for Christmas. He didn't find anything that he really wanted, so he decided to wait. Yay! A day of no spending, since my parents paid for brunch! :) I also made a delicious Black Eyed Pea and Ham soup. The family was skeptical, but it was super delicious!

I found the recipe here.

On Friday, we went to the movies. Or maybe we went before then. I don't know, the days kinda ran together a bit. Anyway, we saw Annie. I thought it was really good! I teared up several times. (Side note-- I started my period the next day, so maybe I was just pms-ing).

On Saturday, Bug had a playdate, so The Agent and I took BK with us while we went RV shopping, We have a trailer, but it's pretty small, and The Agent has it in his head that a motor home is what we need. We found the one we wanted... and then discovered that due to a blip in our credit, it will be 4 or 5 years before we can get one. More on this in a couple days, but it put a bit of a sour note in the rest of our day.

Sunday was also a bit of a downer, since always in the back of my mind I was thinking about how I had to go back to work the next day. We did our normal weekend stuff-- did some returns, bought our weekly groceries, and then came home and relaxed for the afternoon. The Agent was in a foul mood and was nitpicking every thing the children were doing, so I over compensated and let them make cookies. I'm evil like that.

The high point of the weekend was that Downton Abbey finally returned!

link

Oh, Tom. How I've missed you!

Don't forget that the season premier of The Bachelor starts tonight, with Hottie Farmer Chris! I will be there to give you my recap of the night!