Family Tradition?

Jeremy and I have started this little "tradition" and it is still going strong after 6 years. I fondly call it The Cadbury Egg War. Each year around Easter when our most favorite of candies becomes available I buy it in hordes. Jeremy has a super sweet tooth so he will literally eat 3 or more eggs between the grocery store and our house ( a ten minute drive!). I love Cadbury Eggs too but am a little more reserved about eating mine. I can pace myself and still have an egg or two left 6 months down the road. Hence-the War.

Jeremy will eat every single egg in the house if I let him which leaves yours truly with none. So, a few years ago we started putting our names on the boxes (remind anybody else of kindergarten?) with the understanding of what's mine stays mine. Jeremy couldn't resist and I wound up a dozen or so short.

Then it escalated to full on war when I started hiding my Cadbury Eggs. He would tear the house apart looking for them.

Now we are at the hostage negotiation stage. Yesterday he found one of my hidden eggs and sent me a picture on my cell phone of him eating it. I was seriously pissed and swore vengeance. Jeremy is a Coke addict, seriously. He will drink a 2 liter a day easy; and caffeine in the morning is a must for him especially when he has to go in at 2am. Like today. (Insert evil laugh here) I got up late last night, stole his Coke from the fridge, but left a little ransom note in it's place. Something to the effect of "You eat my Cadbury I steal your Coke. If you ever want your morning Coke again my Cadburys will be replaced. Love-your darling wife." Simple and to the point. We'll see who has the last laugh now, huh?

I know, we're a little crazy, but it keeps life interesting. I apologize for the completely random post but hopefully you got a laugh out of it.

More Free Dermatology Advice

I had to see my dermatologist again this week and once again my pain is your gain. ( I actually made it out of the office with only 4 shots in the face this time-woo hoo! On the down side I'm taking so many medications now that I may have to invest in a day of the week pill dispenser like my grandmother used; but if a plague comes I'm on enough antibiotics that I'm totally covered). I also scored some more advice on face products and a magical list of his approved products.

I'm a big fan of mineral makeup; I use bare minerals multitasking minerals as a concealer and I used to use Merle Normal Luxiva minerals face powder, but NOT any more. My doc said the bare minerals is ok, but he said that ANY department store product whether it's mineral makeup or not always has unnecessary oils. He ordered me to use Neutrogena makeup instead. And I was pleasantly surprised (as was my checking account). I got this, Neutrogena Mineral Sheers, for $10 and the coverage is comparable to the Merle Norman brand I was using. So I saved $20 and can feel justified in purchasing drug store makeup because it's good for my skin. Win-Win!

Also, I despise foundation so I purchased this tinted moisturizer. LOVE it. It evens out my complexion nicely and is a good moisturizer to boot.

The magic list my detmatologist provided of good products for your skin include:

Moisturizers: Cetaphil (or Equate equivalent), Cera Ve, or Cutemol

Facial Moisturizers: Aveeno Positively Radiant or Ultra Calming, Neutrogena Healthy Defense, or Cetaphil- It's important to look for labels that state non-comedogenic, oil free or with sunscreens. (If you're allergic to sunscreens look for titanium dioxide or zinc oxide)

Body Washes (Fragrance Free): Dove for sensitive skin, Dove hydrating, Aveeno Skin Relief, Neutrogena, Oil of Olay, Purpose, Basis. Avoid Dial, Irish Spring, Safeguard and Ivory as they can be very drying.

Shampoo: Head and Shoulders all the way (see previous post on the excellence of Head and Shoulders)

Social Networking Sites

Dear Social Networking Site Lovers,
It's been metioned to me recently that I need to get on Facebook. I have a myspace account but honestly rarely get on it. I'm thinking about boycotting all social networking sites so that I don't have to worry about them any longer.

But here's my question-is there any benefit to Facebook? Can I connect with professionals on Facebook or will it just be more of my high school/college friends? Not that I don't love you guys, but if I'm going to maintan more than one page I need a really good reason. So, for those that are on Facebook-help me out here! Is it worthwhile? Am I a loser for not having one?

Sincerely,
Kinda Tired of Networking Sites in Arkansas

Bad Blogger!

****UPDATE***** Since I refuse to remove the spa picture because I think we are all beautiful here is proof that Morgan is not a "big ass pink whale" (see her inaccurate comment). I'm posting a picture from a year or so ago at Mollie's baby shower. Mollie- why the heck are you pregnant in all these pictures?! :)



TaDa! Morgan the beautiful:


And, in my defense I was preggers too.



I'm a terrible blogger. I haven't posted anything in a while, but in my defense life has gotten slightly more crazy over the past couple of weeks. The other half of our marketing and sales department at work was let go so I'm pulling double duty until we find a replacement. Not fun, but what are you gonna do? And, Jeremy is working the crazy ass noon to midnight shift at work so I've basically been a single mom for the past couple of weeks. Again, not fun. I always thought that I respected single moms- now I have a whole new concept of respect. God love them!





Last Saturday Morgan and I took Mollie to Chrysalis Day Spa in Hot Springs in lieu of a baby shower. Completely Mollie's idea because Morgan and I were all set to hang pink streamers and send out inviations but she insisted. And it was a TON of fun! Don't we look cute in our robes? My mom was nice enough to keep Emma long enough for all three of us to get massaged, buffed, and painted. I don't remember the last time I had so much fun-it felt like we were in college or high school all over again. I literally laughed so hard my sides hurt the rest of the day. And, to complete the nostalgic high school/college feeling we got shushed! The three of us were trying to sort out our robe/slipper arrangements and were apparently talking and laughing too loud so when we came out of the dressing room we were called "girls" and shushed! I was a little pissed off at the time because we were paying them large amounts of money and should be able to laugh if we wanted to, but oh well. And, I think we passed the point of being called girls when we hit 25. But anyway. We had a blast and have decided that we need to do something similar every 6 months or so, but at least once a year.





I've got a reminder in my Outlook calendar so don't think I'll let you forget!!

V-Day

Jeremy and I are kind of spoil sports. We don't celebrate V-Day like most couples-no huge bouquets, fancy dinners, etc. We buy gifts (cause we love presents) but that's about it. Jeremy, being the antisocial person that he is, hates going out to eat because of the crowds, and since Emma has come along it's just easier to celebrate at home with her.

This year our V-Day started out differently-with a trip to the pediatrician. ( I sincerely hope this doesn't become a tradition!) Emma had an asthma flare-up and we took her to get her oxygen level checked and make sure we didn't need yet another hospital stay. Luckily her oxygen level didn't warrant a trip to the hospital but we have had to give her the fast acting inhalation treatments every 4 hours around the clock the past few days. (Guess who gets to do that in the middle of the night?! If you said Jeremy I'm laughing my ass off at your craziness right now!)

So, the day didn't start out the best but we did get some nice quality quiet time at home this weekend. Since it was cold we just cozied up in the house and enjoyed playing with Emma. Oh, and for those interested in gifts I got Jeremy tickets to the Nickelback concert coming up in April and he got me some beautiful tulips (my fave), some shoes, and a wallet that I had eyeballed in the past. I never, ever would have bought this wallet for myself though because it didn't come from Trendy. I'm sorry Britt- Jeremy cheated on you-NOT ME! For those that don't know- my sis-in-law owns an accessories store in Malvern. Check out her myspace page-she's got tons of cute stuff!

And, we got possible bad news today. I took Emma in for her 15 mth checkup and the doc is sending her to an allergist. Her reaction to our dogs has gotten terrible. If she touches them she breaks out in a rash and gets red whelps all over. So, I'm terrified that the dogs are more of a problem than Jeremy wants to admit and it may be wreaking havoc on her asthma. I guess we'll find out. If the dogs have to go outside it won't be a problem with Rosie. She will not like it at all, but she'll live. Maybell cannot go outside though. Bulldogs are very sensitive to extreme temperatures and it can kill her, so I don't know what we'll do with her. I love my dogs, but Emma has to come first. End of story.

Anyway, here's hoping your weekend and V-Day were wonderful.

Is that sugar for me?!

Emma had her very first Valentine's Party yesterday. Her first class party ever also. Her class was pretty small that day with only 6 kids there that morning for the party but she enjoyed all the sugar anyway. She normally doesn't eat a lot of sweets so I think she was on a sugar rush all day. Her teacher said she only slept for 45 min and last night she was out like a light around 7:15. She was flat wore out! And, of course I took pictures to document her "first". The party was short but sweet. You can't make too big a production out of a party for 1 year olds.

Speaking of food- before that little sugar celebration I had lost 2 pounds! Woo hoo! I think I could probably lose more if I could kick the Dr. Pepper habit. But I'm down to only 1 a day and I just don't think life would be worth living without a little caffeine. That or I wouldn't be worth living with!

I'm a huge fan of Hungry Girl so I bought her cookbook last week. Her gimmick is to take common meals that you eat every day but kick out the fat and calories. So far I've tried two recipes and I LOVE them. I made chicken quesadillas one night and Chicken Pot Pie another. (Money saving tip-you can purchase one package of 4 chicken breasts and it is enough for both meals.) I love her recipes because they are very easy to make, most of the ingredients are items you already have in your house (no searching for and purchasing an obscure seasoning you'll only use once), and the clincher-JEREMY WILL EAT IT! For those of you that know my hubby well, he adores fast food and just junk food/sweets in general. He would live off of Taco Bell if I let him and can finish a bag of candy between the grocery store and our house. If I even hint that a meal I'm cooking is healthy, or God forbid, low calorie he will immediately dislike it. As you can imagine that makes it hard to cook a dinner that both of us can eat and enjoy. But, NO complaints about the Hungry Girl meals! He doesn't know they're "diet" and has said he liked both meals. IF ANYONE CLUES HIM IN YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE!!

So, hope this information helps my girls out there. HG has a lot of recipes on her website but if you're looking for anything in particular let me know and I'll get you the recipe out of the cookbook.

Can you handle this awesomeness?!

My pictures are FINALLY in! So, what better way to spend my time while I'm sitting at the Sonic in Jacksonville waiting on a meeting than to upload my pictures for your viewing enjoyment? (Yes, I'm pushing the big 3-0 and I still don't like to eat by myself in restaurants. Sometimes I'll bring in my laptop and work but then I just feel snooty, so whatever.)

Check out the belly on her! (Emma. Please don't look at mine!) Can you tell she likes to eat?

My absolute FAVORITE. She's laughing, not screaming by the way.

Trying to bail out of Jeremy's arms . . .

My philosopy on pictures is probably different than most people. I adore candid shots, not so crazy about stiff, posed pictures. (You'll note I only bought one because I just couldn't get past her little starving marvin belly). Also, I really don't do themes. The bathtub shots were my least favorite but Jeremy loved them so there you go. Anyway, all in all I was pretty pleased. I think my little family is pretty darn cute!