weekly lesson #7

I learned this week that some people know just what to say to make your day:)

I spent Thursday afternoon getting a way too expensive manicure and pedicure, and enjoying every minute of it! The mani & pedi was a special treat from my husband and kids, and it was practically magical:)

While the nice lady was giving me my pedicure she glanced up at one point and did a double take when she noticed my wedding rings. She asked me uncertainly if I was married. I told her that I was, and then she asked me for how long. I told her I had almost been married 7 years. Her eyes got pretty big, and she told me I looked like I should be in high school:)

After the pedicure was done, I moved over to a table for my manicure. Another nice lady worked on my hands. Once she had finished painting my nails, we started talking, and she mentioned that she couldn't believe it was almost 7 pm. She asked me if I had already had dinner, to which I responded no. Listen to this...she looked me dead in the eye, and asked me if my mother was going to have dinner waiting on me when I got home from the nail salon!!!!! I told her no, because I was married. She said she had thought I was a high school student. (side note: she never saw that I was wearing wedding rings. I took them off before she came to the table because of all the lotion and oil they put on you.)

I've always looked younger than my age. For as long as I can remember I've gotten comments when people find out how old I am. Even back in my teenage years. On up into my early 20s, it would make me mad that people thought I was younger than I was. Not sure why, it just did. In the last couple of years (since I became a mom), I've gotten these comments less. Maybe because I look old and tired all the time. Maybe just because I have two little ones tagging along everywhere I go. Now when people comment on how old I look, it's usually in a check-out line, and it sounds something like this: "You don't look old enough to have two kids."

When those two women at the nail salon told me I looked like a high school student they really made my day! Without even knowing it, they told me I looked 10 years younger than I am. I personally think they must not have great vision...there's no way I could seriously pass for 18 again, but it made me smile anyway! Just last week I celebrated 10 years of being out of high school, and according to these ladies, it looks like I never left:)

weekly lesson #6

I guess you could say that I've re-learned a lesson this week. It's something I've known all along, but really saw put into action lately. It is the fact that I have an extremely hard working husband. Seriously. He worked 84 hours last week, and will be pushing 90 by this week's end. I cannot even imagine working those kind of hours! I know as a stay-at-home-mom I feel like my job never ends, but at least the kids and I get to come and go as we please and do all sorts of fun stuff during the day.
I miss my husband when he works so much. When he gets home at night after the kids are in bed, and just eats and goes to bed himself. But I am so very thankful that I have a husband who WILL work so hard. There's not a lazy bone in his body!!! He makes me proud!!!

weekly lesson #5

My AAA membership is awesome!

Patrick has had us enrolled in the program for several years now, and each year I happily place my new AAA card in my wallet. Before this week, the card has just sat in my wallet...I didn't realize I actually had a reason to show it off.

That all changed when I was shopping at New York & Co. They had an awesome sale going, 50% off of EVERYTHING! We're having professional beach pictures taken at the beginning of June, so I've been on a mission to find cute clothes for the entire family to wear during the shoot. Well, I stopped in here to see if they had anything for me, and they did. We're going with khaki and white clothes for our pictures, and I found a really cute pair of khaki dress Capri pants. They were $34.50, but with 50% off, I thought $17.25 was a steal. Plus, I found another cute top that I had to have.

When I went to the checkout, the cashier asked me if I had a AAA card. I'm sure I looked at her weird, but told her I did and dug it out of my wallet. She looked at it for a brief second, and told me that the card would score me another 15% off my purchase!

I've been on www.AAA.com a few times since then trying to find out where else I can shop and receive the AAA discount. You know me, I love coupons, and getting a deal, so I'll probably just start asking anywhere I go if they offer a AAA discount. The worst they can tell me is no.

weekly lesson #4

This week I have learned that no matter how much I may want to blog, I do not always have the time!
There are several reasons I have not blogged much this week:

1. writer's block-I hate when this happens, but every now and then it does! I have a book review that needs to be finished and published, but every night this week that I've tried to work on it, I've just come up blank. Hopefully, it will get published by Monday, so stay tuned:)

2. exhaustion-I hate it when this happens too, but with two small kids using up all my energy and then some, I'm finding myself exhausted more and more. This past weekend, Griff (my 19 month old) came down with conjuntivitus. Thankfully, the drops our pediatrician's office called in have worked, and worked quickly. They have definitely been miracle drops! However, my little guy has not slept well all week, and so, neither has mama!

3. blog reading - I get so caught up catching up on some of my favorite blogs that time gets away from me. Sometimes, it is just easier to read other blog posts instead of creating posts of my own! Plus, I'm always finding new blogs to read...so many blogs...so little time!

So there is my lesson - or should I say confession - of the week!!!

weekly lesson #3

Hair conditioner works as well as shave gel when you're in a pinch!

I had read this little tip somewhere, some time ago. So, when I ran out of shave gel after only shaving one leg, I thought it was worth a try. Had it been winter when this happened, I would have simply just shaved one leg, but since it's capri pants and skirt weather, I had to shave both!

The hair conditioner worked even better than I figured it would. The razor glided over my leg as smoothly as it does when I use shave gel. The only down side was that the conditioner was invisible, so you could not tell where you had already shaved. Other than that, I have no other complaints!

Try this alternative yourself the next time your shave gel runs out!

weekly lesson #2

This week I have learned that a crayon drawing on my fitted bed sheet is really no big deal!

With my 19 month old being the artist, the bed sheet the canvas, and a blue Crayola as his means to inspiration, a nice (and rather large) scribble highlighted our Tuesday morning. His big sister, Jules, was the one that informed me the incident had occurred, and surprisingly, it didn't really bother me. I guess I was just thankful it was a sheet, and not the headboard or the wall! Apparently, Crayola crayons really are washable, because after just one hot water wash, the sheets are perfectly normal again. Come to think of it though, the sheets were prettier with the drawing on it!!!!

weekly lesson #1

Never, NEVER, go to the store, even for a short length of time with Griff (my 19 month old), but no baby wipes! I'm sure this one sentence could stand alone, but I'll elaborate a little.

This past Tuesday, squash casserole was on my menu. After breakfast, I started setting out my ingredients for the dish, and realized that it called for two eggs. It's been several months since I've made this casserole, and I had completely forgotten about the needed eggs. Just the day before, I had used my last two to make blueberry muffins. Even though a trip to the grocery store was not in our Tuesday plan, the kids and I headed out to get the eggs.

In hindsight, I probably should have just postponed the squash casserole until next week, and made something that didn't need eggs. But I didn't!

We get to the store, and run in for our items. Yes it's plural now, because while driving there, I thought of a few other things I should just go ahead and grab, so another emergency trip was not needed. We are in and out in less than 30 minutes. When we get back to our vehicle, I crank the car, then load the groceries in the back. I then get Jules (my 3 year old) buckled in her car seat, and drive the shopping cart to the cart holder with Griff still buckled in. When I get him out of his seat, there is a nice wet spot on the side of his shorts! His diaper had leaked, and it was poop! I open the back of our SUV, and while holding him, rearrange the groceries, so there is a little space for him to lay. Thankfully, I had a diaper with me, but the wipes were MIA! It was a stinky job that I quickly realized tissue (for that's all I had) would not thoroughly remove. I gave up, put a clean diaper on him, strapped him in his seat, and drove like mad home!

I learn from my mistakes! If you ever see me out with my kids, you can be guaranteed a pack of wipes will be close by!