What a post?!? EASY Button Love

Who is blogging these days? I have been so busy and loving my boards on pinterest that I have forgotten all about blogging. I have had many ideas for cool blog posts but keep forgetting who has time? to post my awesome ideas but as I sit here I had to post some of my most favorite things in the world at the moment. So here's a post on stuff that makes this working single, with an airman that lives in another state mom's life a little bit easier.

Free Cookies and Balloons at Publix - what! So you have to go grocery shopping with your kids right?! Probably the worst task ever. Especially after working all day and then the trip to get kid or kids from different places (daycare and school for me). Then you go grocery shopping in the same heels you have worn all day because you can't go home or then life would unfold and there would be no way in umm...he// you could leave again...Where was I? Cookies...So you go grocery shopping and they will give your child(s) a free cookie and balloon! My kids are ecstatic about grocery shopping now. Plus we get the spaceship cart - the kind where they normally sit...not the one where it adds an extra bus to the front of your cart. Have you tried to use that before? AWFUL!

So you are planning a birthday party and want to get some of those adorable cake pops but you don't have hours or you don't want to spend $20 on ...get yourself a cake pop maker! I know it sounds like one of those wasteful products like make your own slushy, make your own cotton candy, or my favorite...make your own soda. COME ON PEOPLE! Who has time for that when you can buy a liter or two for $1-$3. My daughter is a precious party planner and is turning 6 next week. She asked for a cake pop maker for Christmas - she also asked for that slushy maker...that didn't happen. So last night I plugged it in and made up some strawberry muffin mix (it has to be a thick cake mix like muffins or brownies) and we made 20 perfect cake pops in 10 minutes! I was ecstatic. I put them in the freezer and will take them out Friday to thaw and dip them in a sugar mix for a glaze. That's it!

Pictures. Oh gracious. I have the cutest pictures EVER and I don't have a single copy of them. AND of course 90% are taken using my phone...well thanks to my drugstore app on my phone I can just click and bam! They are ready in an hour! Shut up! No uploading pictures from this place to this one and editing them again blah, blah, blah. I can even send them those super fancy ones I "edited" in instagram. So now I have lots of pictures to give out and put around my house and look like I got my act together.

Review #2 for 2012

I found two amazing hair products that I wanted to share:

Suave Keratin Shampoo & Conditioner *****
So a few reviews ago I posted that I had the keratin treatment done and it was a waste of money, but Suave came out with shampoo and conditioner with keratin in it...LOVE!!! I have not tried their Keratin Kit that you do it home, but it had some awful reviews online so I personally would use that, but the shampoo and conditioner is great! My hair is strait and less poofy.

Moroccan Oil *****
I put this in my hair after I have brushed it out after washing it. It makes my hair feel so silky and helps it to dry faster while protecting it. I love it!

Babies, Babies, Babies

It's so exciting to have so many friends expecting children. I have a list in my prayer journal of over 17 women...and they are true friends, not just I heard someone was pregnant. Which also means lots and lots of baby showers and presents to make. I am hosting a shower this month for my sister-in-law. It is going to be a light pink and teal shabby chic shower with a photo booth and hair bow making station. I am not a big fan of games but I found this matching game online that looks fun and you give out candy bars to the winners...who doesn't love chocolate?!? Plus it does not require writing stuff down or remembering what words you can't say. OH HOW I HATE THE CLOSE PIN GAME! Please ladies let that game retire!

Brycen is 8 months old and weighs 23 pounds. He fits in 12 month clothes but we buy 18 month clothes so they last a little longer. He crawls super fast and is into everything. He broke the disk tray on our xbox a few weeks ago and tried a few pieces of dog food. He loves making a splash with Meiko's water bowl. He loves Elmo and when I went to buy him a tickle me elmo I was shocked to find that they no longer make them. They were selling on ebay for $100 USED! This past week I found a lady on facebook selling the TMX Tickle Me Elmo for $8! I was so excited. He is used but in perfect condition. Brycen loves him. We have Elmo soap, Elmo PJ's, a few Elmo books, and a few Elmo toys. I was thinking of doing a Little Monster theme for his first birthday, but there is so much to choose from these days that I haven't nailed down my ideas yet.

Bailey will be going into Kindergarten and she is very excited. We still don't know where we will be living when school starts so I am registering her here for now. We are going today to drop off the paperwork and then head to the library to turn in her weekly list of books. We are reading through the American Girl books. We finished Kirsten and we are starting on Molly. After that we will read Kit. I loved these books when I was 10 years old so it is fun to re-read them with Bailey. She follows along even without the pictures and asks a lot of questions about the characters. My favorite part of the summer is reading books every night with her because there isn't anything else going on and she doesn't have to go to bed at 8 so we have an hour to spend together since Brycen is already passed out. Brycen loves to read books too but he squeals so loud and "talks" at such high pitches that you can't hear me so we usually give up after a page or two.

Blake is waiting to hear about the job in Arkansas and if he gets it then I will be on the job hunt as well. His job is so specific that we have to move or he will have to change his career...that is Plan F. I think we are on Plan C at the moment. I hope that we can finally be settled - you know to put a nail in the wall. Ever since Blake joined the AF we got the house ready to sell...its been over 4 years of living with bare walls and not buying anything that will not pack up easily. I will hate living away from family and friends, but it will be nice to feel like I am home. Even when we move it will still be staying in boxes for a year at a rental house. I wish we could just stay here and move into our final house, but that would be too easy.

First Reviews of 2012

Here are some products I have tried this year in the past few weeks that I love & hate:

Advocare "24 Day Challenge": Big Fat F
I went to the mixer and learned about "how great Advocare is" and bought the "24 Day Challenge" from a friend. I was told that I would loose 10 pounds EASY...well I lost maybe 2 and I already gained them back. I received a 25% discount and still paid $168. I have been asked by a few people who sell it "don't you feel better though, I feel great". I never felt bad so I don't feel any different on it. I'm bitter because I was told I would loose 10 pounds so I thought it was worth $168. He also said that his wife had hypothyroidism like me and after being on the products her thyroid is normal...I realize now that was false. He wasn't a thyroid doctor nor a doctor at that...he was just trying to sale me the product and told me what I wanted to hear. The drinks taste fine and it wasn't hard to do, but it didn't work.

Crystal Light Grape "Energy": A+
I saw the commercial on these and couldn't wait to try them. They are so good! They have vitamin B and caffeine in them and only 10 calories. Plus, you get 10 in a pack for $2.00. Piggy-backing off of the product mentioned above - it taste like Spark and has the same effect but for $15 cheaper.

Progresso Soup "Chicken Cheesy Enchilada": A
I eat soup for lunch usually with a snack so I like to have a different soup every day and Publix had them on sale this week so I tried a few new ones and I loved this one. It isn't too spicy and its filling.

Rimmel London "Stay Matte" Face Power: A
I was in Ulta using my coupons and needed a new shade of powder because the one I bought a week ago is too dark but in a few weeks it will be great because my skin will be more tan. So I didn't want to spend a lot for another powder and this one was only $5! I tried it this morning and I love it...I will get it from now on.

Color Copies at UPS: A+
I like to go to professional places to print out colored copies because it is better quality and cheaper to make my labels, invitations, or other things. Most copy places like to charge $1 or more per sheet but at UPS you can get it for so much cheaper. Also, if you need a few sheets of card stock in a specific color then it's the place to go because they are only 10 cents each!

Pop Tarts "Blueberry Muffin": A
If you are a pop tart fan or even if you aren't these are really good. They taste like a blueberry muffin...not just another blueberry pop tart. I had these at my parent's house but when I went to buy them for Bailey they didn't have any in-stock. Bailey has 1 pop tart (not package...1 pastry) for breakfast every morning on the way to school...because it's so healthy for you :)

Catch up!

Oh my goodness...it's been almost 2 months! Sheesh. I did run my 5K, but I didn't do it in a race because my SIL is pregnant! SO EXCITED! She was my running buddy but she wanted to go to her appointment before running that much. Also...there happened to be a Disney Character Breakfast that morning in town...an opportunity to see Disney Princesses for $10 each...sign me up!
House Update: Two weeks ago we got a contract and Blake was leaving for a few weeks so we packed everything and moved in one week to an apartment! Chaos. Then the closing date got pushed back a week and then the closing fell threw so we still have the house and an apartment. Yep! We just have to pray that things work out and that it was meant to be and possibly a better offer will come along.

All the moving really cut into the planning of Bailey's 5th LPS Birthday Party. Thank goodness I reserved the place and jumpy castle, made the invitations and ordered all the Littlest Pet Shop animals in advance because time sped up and I lost track or who I gave invites too and who I didn't invite that I was so late sending them to some people. Then it was 4 days before the party and I still hadn't planned/made ANYTHING: all the food, decorations, games, music, labels...so I had 4 days to do it all basically. I stayed up late at night working on everything for 4 strait days, but it all came together and I was very pleased with how it all turned out. I skipped the lily pad game and didn't get all the pictures I wanted but it was a great 5th birthday. She received tons of Littlest Pet Shop toys...she was so excited about each one. Blake was so helpful with the kids at night while I frantically got things done. OH the jumpy castle...yeah, it came on a trailer! I consider myself a "Jumpy Castle Expert" at this point...I'm going to list it on my resume....seriously.

There is much more to say but no time to do it :( We just got the Internet back of Friday night and I have a barbie kitchen so I am making weekly trips to the grocery store...Publix for their weekly deals. Who knows...I might get back into couponing since I am going weekly. I made an appoitnment for Family Pictures a month ago on a weekend Blake was home and we didn't have plans...yeah, that was the weekend we moved ;) But we still did them (once again...Blake was so sweet to do them after moving all day) and they are BEAUTIFUL. They were Brycen's 4th month and Bailey's 5th year pictures plus group shots and with Meiko. It was our first photo shoot with Meiko and he smiled so good.

Keratin Treatment Review

This past Friday I used a gift card my mother gave me for an express Keratin Treatment. The gift card was actually a door prize my father won at a golf tournament a while ago and it said "Express Keratin Treatment $50 value" on it. So I looked up what it was and saw that the Duchess of Cambridge...you know Kate, well she gets it done and that was all I needed to know. So I called and made my appointment right away. So they put this product in your hair and blow dry it in...like a really thick conditioner only it doesn't make your hair smooth to brush though...more like tree sap. My scalp still feels like it's bruised in areas where she kept brushing and brushing and brushing...it felt like sticky goop was all in my hair. I thought I would be leaving with silky shiny hair but instead left with thick greasy hair, because you cannot wash it for 8 hours. She tried to make it look nice so that I didn't look gross, but it didn't help out too much. I had plans that night as well! At this point I'm starting to think "I should have saved this for another day." So I put it in a pony tail and literally you could move it and sculpt it. Come to find out an express Keratin Treatment for my length of hair (a little past the shoulders) is $150 - thank goodness they honored the gift card value or I would have been out $100 for sticky hair. I did buy the special shampoo and conditioner is the smallest bottles for $10 each - she said the larger bottles would be best for value and when I get it done again. Yeah right...I'm not spending $150 a month to be tortured for 2 hours again. It took 2 days to wash out the goop completely and now feels normal, but to be honest there is not much difference. It does lay down easier but I still need to use my flat iron to make it really strait. My hair does feel good but there isn't a big enough difference for me to give this a great review. Maybe if I had curly hair, but I have a natural wave to my hair and it is really thick. So don't waste your money but if you have a gift card I would do it.

Learning to Run Week # 4

Yesterday was the start of week #4. I started the Couch to 5K program the week after Christmas, but instead of 9 weeks I had to shorten it to 7 weeks because I wanted to do my first 5K earlier. So I challenged myself to do more each week and run as far as I could each time. The circle in my neighborhood is a little short of 1 mile so I do it twice each time. I usually run each night somewhere between 4-6 before it gets really dark. Last week was week #3 and I could already run 2 miles without stopping! I was pumped! Of course now my knees hurt and it's harder but I'm not stopping. Tomorrow I am adding another mile to my training and hope to be able to run all three miles without stopping by the end of week #5. Then I will add another mile to that and try and complete all 4 miles without stopping by the end of week #7 to complete the 5K in a good time. My goal is get my miles down to 10 minutes each - right now they are at 12 minutes. It would be great to complete my first 5K in under 31 minutes, but 35 minutes wouldn't be bad either ;) I am also watching my calorie intake and doing Ripped in 30 on days I cannot run or need to workout. I was doing it 3 times a week but this past week I was lazy and did not do it - it's a great workout and really tough! I'm still on week #1! My plan is to do it a few more times this week and finally move to week #2. I have to keep reminding myself that it's totally worth it because nothing feels as good as being skinny and fitting great in your clothes. I am 5 pounds away from pre-baby weight, but I am 13 pounds away from being at my "good weight" and I'm 23 pounds away from "No way! You have kids?!". So I have a ways to go before I hit the "good weight", but I'm close enough now that I can see the difference running is making.