Confessions of a Blogaholic

These two products are like two peas in a pod. They must and I mean must be used together. Estee Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher is a skin refinishing complex that helps improve and even skin tone. It is considered a repair product, so do not skip out on a moisturizer. After you feel your skin when you use this product, you might think that you don't need a moisturizer, but you do. This product is very much worth the price. I joke that it is cocaine for the skin. Not that I encourage drug use or anything, but products are my drug of choice, and this product is one of my faves. It also minimizes pores. You will see a huge difference in just one week. Use morning and evening after cleansing and before moisturizer . It's counter part - Idealist Micro-D is more of a treatment. It has little crystals that when you add water, they warm up on your skin. This enlarges the pores and the crystals go on in there and remove all of the yuck in your pores. I only like to use this product ...

Girls with Duncan Cooper their ballet teacher Girls with Joe Lanteri Junior Outstanding Dancers Instead of window cleaning, let's just dance! Oh Kai, don't fall.... Lake Michigan Michigan Avenue Look at that snow. Warming up Kailee and Kai Gino's East Now that I know that Kai is safe and well, I can write about an amazing, amazing trip. Amazing for so many reasons. Janna and Kailee were so much fun to travel with. We had such a great time. I would do it again in a heart beat. Janna was our trusty driver. Thank goodness that she grew up in Iowa and knows how to drive in snow. Otherwise we would have been stranded all weekend. On Friday when we first got to Chicago, we went straight to Gino's East. A restaurant with the best deep dish pizza. I thought I loved Nello's, sorry Nello's. This pizza is the best. Cool atmosphere. It takes 45 minutes to even get your pizza. Friendly staff, and great appetizers too. On our way to the hotel, we did get a little lo...

Junior Finalists doing jazz combo. Kai is in front in turquise and black.

She danced her heart out, and she stopped my heart at the same time. All I have to say is that I now know what it's like to lose your child, if only for 20 minutes. And, it is a feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone in this world. How do you go on living? Let me explain. Chicago is the third biggest city in the United States. And that translates to a lot of people. Usually dance conventions/competitions are held in convention centers, or large hotels. This one in particular was held at a very large resort with a large convention hall attached. The dancers are all over the place. There is a huge Teen/Senior room, a Junior room, a Mini room and a Teachers room. They are spread out. The kids stay in their perspective rooms, and the teachers move around. Kids are everywhere. Yesterday while we waited for the teens and seniors to finish their auditions, Kai had a very bad headache. Janna gave her two Advil and she went and performed her jazz combo on stage. (I will post video) Af...

and according to my phone it is a mere 22 degrees. Brrrrrr I was laughing at myself the other day. Every time that I get one of those questionnaires either by e-mail or on Facebook , it always asks Winter or Summer? I always answer Winter. That is Arizona winters of course. We have never been in extreme cold. I am worried. Thanks to a friend, I now have some warm gloves and scarves. Try buying scarves and gloves in Arizona in February. It's impossible. I know we will have a great time, even though we will be cold. We are going with our friends Janna and Kailee and we are going to have a blast. Pictures and details will follow when we get back. Have a great weekend in the 70 degree weather.

I had my trusty walking shoes on. I didn't quite get there at 8:30 sharp, but I got there. I was assigned my group of kids and we were off to load onto the buses. There is something familiar about the smell of buses. It immediately brought back memories. Some good, and some bad. Did I not say there was going to be yelling? Did I not say there was going to be laughing? And, and did I not say there was going to be singing? The singing I could do without. One of the other trusty chaperone's decided to conduct a music lesson aboard this bus full of rambunctious kids. What song did she pick, you might ask? Well it was the cleaner version of "99 bottles of beer on the wall". Her version was "99 bottles of milk on the wall". Right at about 97 bottles of milk is when she lost me. It's when I decided I was going to take advantage of my being chauffeured around to take in the scenery. You see, my third grader, the one who so badly wanted me to chaperone his fi...

Thank you to Sandy for making Kai's costume exactly as I wanted. She gave me the costume on Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday I rhinestoned. It took about seven hours total, but I think it looks great. The pictures do not do it justice. I also made her a headband. She has to wear a ponytail because the song says "ponytail". In total, the costume has 18 gross of 20 ss Swarovski stones. That is 2592 stones. I love rhinestones. I can't get enough of them. I sometimes just want to throw them up in the air and pretend it's raining rhinestones. Some women want it to "rain men", I want it to rain rhinestones. I will rhinestone anything in my path. In high school, I used to rhinestone my trapper keeper, my note books, my make up cases. Unfortunately back then, I used the acrylic stones, yuck. I did'nt know what swarovski's were back then. For now, I will stick to Kai's costumes and accessories. Although right now, I can barely see from rhinestoning ...

As luck would have it, I did indeed get drawn to accompany the 3rd grade class from Waggoner Elementary. And I did indeed, buy a lottery ticket too. Did I win? I'm not quite sure. I have'nt checked it yet. I figure that I can't be that lucky. I am to report to the class room at 8:30 a.m. sharp. And I will do as said. I will have on my walking shoes and a good frame of mind. I will do as I said. I will enjoy myself and spending time with Nachito. He was so excited on Friday when he was told that I was picked. He called right away. "Are'nt you excited?" "Absolutely, I can't wait". (I have to admit, at first I was numb, but after a moment, I did really get excited.) These kids are growing up too fast. I have to try and spend as much time with them as possible. Even if it means sitting on a bus full of kids. : ) I will take as many pictures as I can, and post about our great day.

Every year I make these easy to make fortune cookies for Valentines Day. I make them for the kids teachers, my co-workers and for friends. I always want to try something else, but the kids really like them and want me to make them again. It's fast and easy. All you need are some fortune cookies (I buy mine at Lee Lee's Market.) Some chocolate melts (Wilton, any craft store has them.) Sprinkles (baking section) and I buy the little take out boxes at Michaels. I have ordered them from Oriental Trading before. If I am organized enough to order on time. I like to get matching stickers and tissue paper. You basically melt the chocolate in either the Microwave or on a double boiler. Dip the end of cookie, shake off the extra chocolate and dip in sprinkles. Lay on wax paper to dry and package. Presto! Easy Valentine Fun! I have also made them for Birthdays, Easter and lots of other holidays. Hope you enjoy.

Here are the preliminary pictures of the "Chantilly Lace" costume. Sandy is awesome! I looks just like I wanted. The red looks great. You can't really see the tangerine. Now the rhinestoning begins : 0

"I'm not listening, I'm having a bad morning." "What do you mean wake up? It's only 10 o'clock. Wake me when breakfast is ready." She may not love me, like she loves Buddy. She may bark a lot at Nachito. She may think that she is the boss. What am I talking about, she is the boss. Today, our little boss has been with us for 365 days. One whole year. She is the little princess. She rules our house and our lives. I was once one of those people that did'nt understand how much a pet could affect your life. I always questioned people's sanity when they took pictures of their pets for their Christmas cards. I know now, what it is like. She (although a brat in the process) is so much fun to have around. The kids love her to death, me and Buddy love her to death (and she knows it). Happy Anniversary "My Little Princess", "The Monster", "Chanely", "Psycho Dog", "The Little Diva", and sooo many more...

I crave color, how about you?? Recipe box? Contact cards? Just because... Pink pencils and looking at the picture, great with the green ones too! Almost like the ones for my work office, only better because they have pink! When all else fails, call on Google. I have this new project in my busy little brain. It all stems from my trip to Borders that one afternoon. I am obsessed with stationary, pencils, pens, notecards, etc, etc. My new project is re-doing my bedroom. We set up this awesome table as a desk and it has my desktop computer on it. Now I think I need cute office supplies. So I did a bad thing. (only bad because it involves spending $$) I googled the following: Stylish office supplies. Aye, Aye, Aye....what did I get myself into? Thanks to Google, I have now found office supply heaven. Two websites really caught my eye. The first http://www.seejanework.com/ , well Jane I better work, otherwise I won't be able to buy all the adorable stuff from your site. Starting with...

I was having one of those bad Mondays. One of those Mondays when everything seems to be going wrong. 1. Our phones at the office are not working. 2. Statements went out over the weekend and angry patients are calling to complain. 3. My coffee got cold and I had to throw it away, and now I have a caffeine headache. 4. My cell phone has been tied up all day because I'm having our calls forwarded to it. (good thing for rollover minutes). 5. My boss has just added two more things to my darker pink "TODO" notebook. And just as I was about to roll up in a ball and hide under my desk, I got this e-mail. Dear Kindle Customer, Today, we introduced Kindle 2, the next generation of our wireless reading device. Because you already ordered the original Kindle and are awaiting its arrival, we're pleased to inform you that we are upgrading your order so that you will receive the new Kindle 2. You will be in the first group to receive Kindle 2, and you will receive yours as soon as K...

It was on Thursday that Nachito brought me his permission slip for his field trip to the Botanical gardens. It is scheduled for February 17th. No problem, I signed away. What a great trip. His sister took the same trip a few months ago. All went as planned. I gave him his permission slip back to put in his backpack. As he was walking away, he stopped in his tracks. "Wait" he said, "You did'nt write your name down on the list for a chaperone." Panick hit me, sweat started forming, flashbacks of past field trips going through my brain. I swallowed hard and carefully thought of my next words. "Well, I read the slip and it clearly says that due to so many requests in the past, that chaperones are selected in a drawing. I've never been real lucky, so I figured that someone else will get drawn anyways." Smile "But mom, how will you know, if you don't at least try." Gulp! Double Gulp! My head quickly started invisioning a small and crowded b...

No...oh too bad. It would have been nice to join you. Why you might ask, would I want to go to a caribbean island? I don't normally prefer island vacations. Maybe it's because I have a tween, a pre-tween, and one, that is way past his tween years, but somehow he manages to irk me just like the other two. So yes, this is a vent post, and if you are in a good mood and do not want to hear my rant. Then go on to another post, or someone else's cheery blog. My pre-tween is managing to get in loads of trouble at school. He is choosing to not do his homework and telling us that it is done. I have been a bad parent, and have not double checked his homework, so shame on me. He has been grounded and has lost privelges to his XBox 360, his Wii, his Playstation 3 and his lap top. Did you get all that? Yes, we have over indulged this pre-tween and now we are paying the consequences. And did I forget his Nintendo DS? So, what I am thinking is that I have to fix this situation and show mo...

I know that I said that I would TRY to post about products everyday. I did say TRY. This morning, I used product number 4 and I decided that I would write about it. I first starting using it about a year ago. I unfortunately have naturally curly/frizzy hair. I have to flat iron it everyday. I was worried about the damage that my hair was getting, so I asked my old hair dresser, Edward (sigh) only because of his name of course. He is the best! If I could only find him again. He with not a word to me and all of his clients flew the coup. : ( Edward told me "Don't wash your hair everyday. Wash it every other day. That way you don't have to flat iron it everyday." "Yuck, yuck, yuck". I said "No, he said. Use a dry shampoo." Dry shampoo???? WOW! So, I did as Edward (sigh) said and I went to Sephora and purchased this Dry shampoo. And, it works, it works real well. It comes in both a powder and spray formula, I prefer the powder. On your non shampoo day,...

Are you a coffee drinker? Are you looking for new coffee cups? Do you enjoy a good cup of coffee with your significant other? Well, I do....on Sundays at least. Ok , so maybe I don't cook, and maybe I am not at all interested in kitchen gadgets like Buddy. I can tell you that I love, absolutely love the dishes and kitchen ware at Anthropologie . They have the cutest plates and bowls. They have these adorable mini colanders in all colors. They have porcelain measuring spoons and porcelain measuring cups that look like coffee mugs. How do I know, if I don't cook? Gifts of course. I recently gifted these items to a friend that was starting culinary school. And, while I was there, I picked up these matching coffee cups. One for me, and one for Buddy. Mine is the dainty one, with an "N" and Buddy's, is the masculine one with a bold "S". Great idea for a Valentines gift. And if you are looking for a new coffee maker...Buddy bought this one around Thanksgiv...

and I decided to hold off on going to Michaels. For now at least. I still want to learn how to make those spectacular cakes, and I know I will, I just know I will. But for now, I will wait and not just go buy supplies untill I actually know what I need. The fresh air did me some good. It did'nt, however, stop me from shopping at Borders. I did'nt quite find a black and pink "TO DO" list, but I did find these two cute pink and darker pink notebooks, then I found, this cute black and pink pencil and pen set, and then these cute black and white folders and this cute black and white receipt holder. Hum.......I just had to have, because together, they all look great. So here is the Before....... BORING..... ........And After Much, much better. And, Kai will be happy because I finally found her some Twilight bookmarks and a Twilight pen. She had to be creative and make her own, but now I will give her these. And, and, I also found this cool invisible book shelf to house ...