reading downtime

I have been reading a ton lately and I could not be more happy about it.  Here is a breakdown since Jan 1st:
All by Beth Orsoff - who is really, a fantastic writer.  Nothing too serious and all very down to earth stories.  I love a lighthearted book.









And by Kristin Hannah, who is a bit deeper and makes a fantastic 3 dimensional characters that do things that bring you to heaving sobs:



And by Sophie Kinsella - who at this point if you haven't read one of her books you should probably off yourself - :



I am working through  as you read this post. 

I love reading and am trying to get as much done now because when March starts my life will be over for 6 weeks.  boo on a real job.  boo

5/52 - ouch

I worked for Clinique for 3 years and Estee Lauder as a regional artist for 5 years.  If you have trouble with math like I do, that is a total of 8 years consumed by delicious skincare products and makeup.  I know a lot about skin and how it works and how products effect it.

With that said, I am a total dip shit on occasion and possibly gave myself a chemical burn/allergic reaction to an at home microdermabrasion kit.  It felt wonderful going on and rubbing it into my skin.  Problem came when I did not get it all washed off properly with the washcloth and not thinking, accidently rubbed the washcloth on my eye lids.  I forgot to go back and wash again with my cleanser to make sure I got all of the chemical off, because I was too busy running down stairs to beat my children.

Needless to say I woke up sunday like this (excuse the hair), with my eye lids almost swollen shut.  This was after 1 benadryl and some cortaid.

As the day went on it only got worse.  My cheeks started getting puffy and swollen and I have what looks like a bad case of poison ivy all over my face.  It is especially disgust on my nose.

If I went to jail right now, and this was my mugshot, I would probably kill myself.  I cannot imagine having rough, nasty, pimply skin after these past few days.  It totally sicks me out to rub lotion on my face.  Sick.

TIme to go take 2 more benadryl and pass out for a long nap.  Hopefully it will be cleared up by saturday.



4/52

I love a good deal!  Love.  So when I heard nasty Food Lion was going out of business and I could prey on their failure, I took full advantage. 
Below is 2 full shopping carts, top and bottom, worth of baby and household stuff.

I spent a total of $199 and saved $291 with the 50% off sale and my coupons on top of it.  Damn.  $500 worth of stuff for $200.  Not too shabby.  A total of 68% savings.

My helpers. DJ pushed one cart while I pushed the other.

3/52 - Our day

The husband and I went to Jamaica to get married.  It was cheaper than putting together a real wedding and we decided it was more important to us to buy a house than have a big bash.  So off to Negril we went with a small group of family members and my best friend Jennifer.  It was the most fantastic trip.  Rashad was so tickled at seeing his family join him on a real vacation and watching his dad and sister play in the ocean and love it.  Such a joy.  It was a simple, quick and beautiful wedding followed by a short reception and then everyone into their bathing suits and out to the beach for the day.  Awesome.

behind already 2/52

For those of you that don't know, my 2 boys look so similar it can be hard at times to tell them apart in pictures - for everyone!!  Often the way I can spot which child it is immediatly is based on the old paci, paskifier, paci pas, pipp, pipple, pippity pip, and baby.  Of course both of my boys had their paci taken away by their very mean momma by 17 months.  Reflections on the most precious babies.

Noah had Clifford (the little red dog in this case)

                              DJ had a green frog (was possibly sewed back onto the pip 3 times)

Blogging from my spin bike while I wait for class to start.

This would be a first for me. I have been having the hardest time getting to the gym this week because of my yacking 4 year old. Getting to the gym is the hardest part of working out. For sure!! And when you get to the parking lot and your child throws up on himself in his booster seat, it really puts you in a crap mood. Crap mood. Sad that you have to clean the car up, clean the boy up and go home and not even work out. What a waste of a gym outfit and the 20 minutes you drove into town.

On a brighter note I am here now. Bam!

I am having serious roadblocks with my diet though.  I just can quite get a complete pure protein day right for some reason.  I will go all day doing well and then mess it up in the end.  Or I won't eat most of the day, because not eating equals not putting something I am not supposed to eat in my mouth.  Womp womp.  Loss is loss though and being in the 160's is the best feeling.

I showed up

We all know that showing up for anything is half the battle.  It is so much easier to sit at home and eat a complete box of Cheez-its with the boys, than to get dressed and go work out.  Seriously who doesn't love a Cheez-it??

So today (after yesterdays debacle of Zavier throwing up in the car and not making it to spin) I made it to spin.  I was 5 minutes late, but I was there and sweated my ass off.  Have you ever noticed that after spin you have a seat sweat mark on your ass?  I actually never noticed.  I was pointing out a sweaty ass on one of the Alabama players last night and Rashad said, "You know you have the same thing when you leave spin" -- Nasty!!  But I guess I earn that seat sweat mark.  Bam.  And I must be doing something right if he wants to look at said ass.

Now to not cheat in the food dept today and I will be on track.  We have so many trips planned this year it is crazy.  March to Gatlinburg for Mom's 60th birthday, May to an uncertain destination as of yet with Rashad's workmates, July to Seattle to see my family and a fall trip with just Rashad and I to get romantical or something.  HA!

So I need to look righter and tighter than I currently do.

Please pray for me.