wordless wednesday - stars w/o makeup - some are natural beauties, and some, well, let's just say they do better with the wonders of Hollywood's help!

Adriana Lima (supermodel, but plain jane w/o makeup)

Alicia Silverstone

Cameron Diaz (WOW!)

Courteney Cox (doesn't she look just great either way?!?)

Eva Longoria (this one surprised me!)

Halle Berry (see what you can do w/your own hair & makeup staff?)

Jessica Biel (not bad, just needs a little foundation!)

Pamela Anderson (yeah, that's a good one!)

Penelope Cruz (huh!)

Rosario Dawson (natural beauty!)

Sharon Stone (again - WOW! makes me less paranoid about my facial imperfections!)

change of plans

There's something on my mind, yesterday especially, that I want to write about. It's just some parenting struggles and I'd really like to ask for some advice. Last night, I had every intention of blogging about it. But as I was sitting at the computer, looking at the clock inching towards 11pm, I suddenly had a craving for some ice cream. Edy's Slow-Churned Strawberry. It's half the fat - does that mean I can eat twice as much? The craving overpowered the other thoughts in my mind, and I scooped up a bowl, curled up in bed, and watched some meaningless tv until the ice cream was gone. It was nice. It sent me off into peaceful slumber. That slumber was interrupted at around 1:30am when Kirsten came in and asked if she could sleep with me. Of course I said yes to my little sweetie. Funny thing - she woke me up twice (or was it 3 times? I forget now!) to ask me to be quieter... I was snoring too loud & kept waking her up! And here I thought I wasn't sleeping well (I seem to wake up often when she's in bed with me)! Sorry, Peanut!

I'll blog later with my parenting concerns... I really need some opinions on what to do.

life, interrupted

Since the arrival of my visitor last Friday, I've pretty much been out of the loop on my normal day-to-day activities. I was looking forward to catching up on some things this week. I should know better. Procrastination never seems to work out for me! Tuesday, my normal day off, I ended up working to help cover someone's shift (my friend's father passed away Saturday, so she's off this week). I did end up hitting the grocery store on my way home, doing 2 loads of laundry, cleaning fruits & veggies (which I always prolong... and often waste because they go bad while waiting for my attention!), and making a new recipe for dinner (it turned out yummy!). So, even though I wasn't home all day, I was still quite productive. But I was looking forward to today, Thursday, to hit Curves again. No such thing. Kirsten stayed home sick today. Bummer. She'd been coughing for a few days & had been running a low fever since Tuesday. So, no running errands like I wanted to. No exercise like I was planning to. No cleaning around the house like I was hoping to. I decided to finally stop moping for the loss of my morning, and to spend a little quality time with my girl (amongst the small crabby tantrums she threw, of course! gotta love the over-emotional sick girl!). We played, read, and had a nice lunch together. Now it's time for me to get ready & head off to work. Daddy gets the second shift of the day with her, and she's already got a few things lined up to do with him! I guess I gotta remember to just make the best of the situation... roll with it, interruptions and all!

wordless wednesday - Happy birthday, Daddy! I love you! (silly picture from March)

yes, I am actually happy about this

Okay, I know to many, this may not seem like something at all worth celebrating, but to me it is... I finally started my period today! In the pursuit to better health, I realized I needed to get this induced. I mean, it's only been since September since the last one... not healthy! I started the 10 days of meds last Sunday and have been impatiently waiting for it's arrival. It came this morning, in all it's crampy glory! So, I'm skipping Curves and planning on eating as much junk food as I so desire today. But I'll be doing it with joyful heart... and painful nether-regions! :)

wordless wednesday - aliens in the bathroom door (can you see them?!?)

he doesn't know his own strength

Matt returned to the doctor this morning for one final follow-up on his recent mess of illnesses (mostly the pneumonia). Seems that he's all clear & healed up. Well, everything except his ribs, that is. What, you ask?!? He apparently cracked a rib from all the coughing he was doing while sick! That explains the pain in his chest at least!

wordless wednesday - she said she's going to the prom

updates

Time for a few updates on what's happening in our little corner of the world!

Last Tuesday Matt had a follow-up appointment with the doctor to see how his pneumonia was progressing, and if he could return to work. They found he was still running a low-grade fever, and with a few x-rays they saw he still had some issues in his lungs. Another few days off work were prescribed, and out the door he went. He finally returned to work later in the week, and he's doing much better. He still has issues with his chest being tight & hurting, and he still tires quite easily, but he's on the mend.

Today we met with our mortgage guy. We went into the meeting feeling sure that we'd be leaving with a clear picture of what we'd be doing. We'd know whether we could buy now or rent for another year. Well, little did we know that the guy was pretty set on us buying! He brought papers for us to start signing & everything! My head's spinning a little, but it's kind of exciting to know this is actually a strong possibility! The problem is that we only have a few months to move out of my brother's place, and I don't know if that's enough time for us to finish getting everything we need taken care of to get our credit in the shape it needs to be in. Unless we win a big lottery, I'm not quite sure how this is going to happen. Then again, we do have a clear picture of what we need to do. Now we just need to get cracking on it! (Not just bill paying, but calls need to be made, documents obtained, etc.) So if we're not able to go out for dinner or see a movie with any of you that might be reading this, you know why! We've got a big goal here and a short amount of time to reach it!

I'll be sure to update again another time when there's more news to share!

Oh, I almost forgot to update on my OB/GYN appointment (yes guys, you can close the page right here & now!)! I went last Tuesday & was given meds so I can jump start my 6-mo.late cycle. The doc's still concerned about my heart health risks, and we talked some about that. She asked me questions about my sleep, and would like me to go to a sleep clinic. Yeah, maybe in the fall when I have a moment to breathe! They drew blood & called me a few days later to say everything looked good except my folic acid is a bit low. I'm sure some vitamins can help that. Oh yeah, she also addressed the whole b.control issue again (not for pregnancy prevention, since we know that'd be a miracle, but for the other issues). She really seems to want me to try an IUD... anyone do one of those before that can share the experience/side effects??? Not keen on using anything, so I'll just wait a while. She also wants me to see a nutritionist and maybe attend a seminar on healthy eating / PCOS / insulin stuff. Yeah, again, do I have the time?!? Oh, and she wants me to go for one of those 2 hour sugar fasting drink the junky stuff blood draws. Then I'll see her at the end of April. There, that's that update! LOL (What a mouthful, huh?)