Hi Again

I know it's been a while and I'm sorry.  It's so hard for me to blog when my husband works from home and that's usually three days a week.

I know lame excuse.

I'm going to bullet this today...sorry...I'm working on a Christmas Calendar Project.

1.  I'm over-weight...the heaviest I've ever been...and it makes me want to cry.

2.  I've been walking every morning for the past two weeks.  It's almost two miles.  I love my walks.

3.  A friend and I are going to start the couch to 5 K in January. 

4.  My mom's beach house is almost a total loss...with no help from insurance since it was caused by flood waters.  She is thinking of building up.

5.  The guest bedroom is a.l.m.o.s.t done.  Hubby and I worked on putting the bed and the dresser together last night.

6.  I bought a sparkly tank top for Christmas.  So unlike me.

7.  None of my clothes fit because of number 1.

8.  I don't have enough presents for the girls.

Ok..I will try to do more tomorrow...with pictures.

TTFN

Kristen

It's been a while

since I've last posted and I'm sorry.  Well, no one really reads this so I guess I'm apologizing to myself.

My husband has been working from home a lot lately.  The only place I can really write this blog is in the basement on the good PC with all the pictures.  If hubby is in the basement, I can't be here writing a blog.

Life has also gotten in the way. 

First there was Hurricane/Super Storm Sandy that wreaked havoc along the coast of NJ and NY and caused many issues in land as well.

My family survived just fine.  We lost one tree which, unfortunately, fell on my neighbors house.  They are fine.

The day after the storm, with no power in the house, hubby decided we should take a ride to check out my moms house and see if she had power.  She lives about 20 minutes away and rode out the storm with my brother.

While at my mom's house, I noticed that the neighbors had two trees on their house.  I don't know them but they are friendly with my mom and help her out.  I went over (alone, thank God) to make sure they were ok.

They opened the door and their Bull Dog attacked me.  Not just bit me....but attacked me.  Thank God that my girls didn't come with me or they would have been attacked.  I didn't think much of it at first...but at the suggestion of my mom, hubby took me to the ER to make sure everything was ok.  The family was mortified. 

I needed a tetnus shot and antibiotics (after a 3 hour wait).  Xrays to determine there was no bone damage or teeth left in my thigh.  I wish they had given me crutches because I really couldn't walk at all.  Four puncture marks and a lot of bruising.

Hubby picked me up from the ER and took me home.  Friends in PA offered us a place to stay so we packed up and left.  I was so grateful for a home cooked meal and a warm bed.

We stayed with friends until Thursday when we found out that my mom had power.  We needed to be closer to home because of the pets and all and if school opened.  We stayed until Saturday night when we heard the power was back on.  We packed up and headed home.  We were home for 20 minutes when the power went out again.  Packed up the car, left the animals and went back to my moms.

The power was restored the next day.

Next came the Nor'easter.  Thankfully we had only about an inch of snow.  My brother (about 45 minutes away) got 13.5 inches of snow and lost power again. 

The devastation from the storm is unbelievable.  Breezy Point, NY...burned, Sea Side destroyed.  My mother gets to go to her beach house tomorrow to check on the damage and turn the water off.  Natural gas has been turned off on the entire barrier island.  I am sure there is water in the house.  If that's the case, I'm not sure what she will do.  If she can't get in to clean up, mold will form and then what?  I think she needs to face the fact that she might need to tear the house down and rebuild.  So many people.....might have to do the same thing.

Following all of this was Ava's 6th birthday and in two weeks will be Grace's 8th.  How did they get so old?

Well, the laundry is calling me and I think I might go for a walk.  I have 30 lbs to loose by next year.

I promise I will try to post more often.

TTFN

Kristen

Let's talk...Make up

Today's post is going to be about make up.  I wear make up every.single.day.  I don't think I look made up...in fact, most days I feel like you can't even see my make up.

What do I use?  Most days I use this

  as my foundation.  I mix two shades together.

Recently, I started using this, which I really like as well.

 This is the Primer I use, when I remember to use a primer.

All of the rest of my makeup (except my mascara, which I'll get to) comes from Everyday Minerals .  See, I have very sensitive eyes.  I am highly allergic to eye make up with red dye in it and unfortunately, most make up contains red dye.  I have found that Everyday Minerals is the only place I can get my eye shadow.  Back in January I tried Bare Minerals Eye make up in the compacted form and had such a horrendous allergic reaction that I was on steroid drops and no make up for almost two months.  So, for now on, I stick with what I know.

Here is what I received recently.

The eye shadows can be a bit messy but it's all good, just put a towel down in the sink when doing your make up.

I use  this eyeliner and mascara...I don't dare deviate for fear of allergic reaction.

Odd, I can't find my eyeliner.  Oh well.

My problem is...you still can't tell I have make up on.

I need to go shower (which will of course result in the phone call I've been waiting for) and take a picture when I'm done and scare you all to death!

What kind of make up do you like?

TTFN,

Kristen

Hair styles

My "friend" Cyndi Spivey over at Walking in Grace and Beauty posted today about hair styles for women over 40.  This is a great topic for me to read because..well...I am actually over 40.  I know...I know....I don't look it do I???  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

But I am.  I'm almost 42...EEECCCCKKK.

I recently cut and colored my hair.  I went from short to shorter and from "desperately need a dye job blonde" to red.  It was REALLY dark red almost burgundy when Kim first cut it and I was scared.  Ava, my 5 year old saw me as she got off the bus, ran home, hid, and cried for an hour.  It's since faded nicely and I like the color but the cut?  Not so sure about it to be honest with you.  I wish I had a decent picture to share with you.  Wait, maybe I can ask my husband to take a quick picture and upload it.  Hold on.

(Play Jeopardy music here)

Ok...so here I am in all of my glory....don't mind the fact that it doesn't look like I have any make up on at all.  We tackle that another day.

So, there is my color and I love it but the cut....not so much.

This is what I was going for.  Doesn't really look much the same. 

Personally, I think what SHOULD happen is that when I bring in a picture of a hair style, a) my hair cut should look JUST LIKE it and b) I should look just like the photo I bring in.

Now...I look NOTHING like Ginnifer Goodwin.

If you look at my Pinterest board on Hair styles all that I have pinned are short hair styles.  The two long ones on there are for color reference only.

I just don't know what to do.  I think my face might be too long for such a short cut.

What do you all think?

Next time...makeup.

TTFN

Kristen

Howell Living Farm

 A few weekends ago the girls begged me to take them to the Farm....Howell Living Farm.  It's about 15 minutes up the road from us and the girls LOVE it.

Here are some pictures I took that day.


 I love the Tutu's and boots!

TTFN

Kristen

Cooking

I'm not a great cook.  In fact, I really don't like cooking all that much.  We are boring people.  Grace doesn't eat much more than Mac N Cheese, Chicken Nuggets, and Pasta.  We don't have a lot of variety in our daily meals..which leaves me uninspired to cook.

However, this summer I grew a garden...just a small one.  With one pepper plant, one tomato plant, basil, parsley, and strawberries.

Look at my tomatoes!

Ok, so it isn't the best picture.

But I did manage to get like two big bowls of tomatoes.

 So I decided to make sauce....
I blanched the tomatoes to remove the skin and then cooked it down and added some of my fresh basil.

It's not really enough for sauce but I can use it as the base for a bigger pot.

I also made baked oatmeal the other day.  I found the recipe on Pinterest. 

  It contains banana's, blueberries and raspberries.  Oatmeal, milk, egg, and cinnamon.  I didn't have regular oats so I used steel cut oats instead.  Not really sure that was the best idea tho.  It came out good....well, more OK.  I have since purchased real oats for the next back (and some really easy oatmeal cookies).

I'm sorry I haven't posted as often as I was hoping.  I've been taking a lot of pictures tho and have a ton of posts in my head.

I hope you enjoy.

TTFN

Kristen

A Re-Introduction

Hi all....well, all that read me.......and I hope that number grows soon.

I am Kristen.  I live in Central NJ.  I have been married for 14 years to someone I knew from high school.  It hasn't all been great and it hasn't all been easy but we have stuck together.  We were together for five years before we got married too!  So that makes 19 years we've been together.. He is a great husband and a great father.  He takes care of his family and does amazing things around the house.....usually after working hard at a job he really doesn't enjoy.  I take him for granted sometimes....but I do love hkm

We have two beautiful little girls.

Grace is 7.5 and in Second Grade.

She is very tall for her age, sweet, shy, snarky and loves to snuggle.  She would be content to sit and watch TV all day if you let her.  Grace loves to ride her bike and her scooter.


Ava is 5.5 and just started Kindergarten

She is sweet too but has a mischievous side to her.  She has not slept well since we took her pacifier away at the age of 2.  She learned to ride a two wheeler in 5 minutes.  She loves to sleep with me or her sister.


Our family lives here:

This is actually an old picture of the house...the flower beds are much more full now but I can't for the life of me find a picture on my computer.

We have lived in this house for almost 13 years.  I'll take you thru a tour another time.  I will be updating many rooms and will be asking for a lot of support and ideas.

Let's see...more about me.....

I have a BA from the University of Rhode Island in Political Science and History with a Minor in Russian Studies.  I received a Masters of Business Administration from Rider University.

I worked for 11 years with one company before I was laid off about three years ago.  After almost a year of being without a job I found a decent job, again in finance, right before Grace started kindergarten...so I was lucky enough to have the summer with my girls.

I lost that last job back in March.  I really didn't like it at all.  I wasn't happy.  I don't really want to work.  I have been blessed with staying at home again this summer, taking my girls to the beach, Sesame Place, the park, swimming.  It was the hardest thing I've done (being a stay at home mom) but also the most rewarding.

I hate finance but I don't know what else I'd like to do.

My hobbies include sewing/quilting, photography, reading, decorating.  I don't do any of them well (well, I do ready well...but not often enough)...but I try and I usually like my results.

I'm getting my hair cut and colored on Friday so I will update a new picture of me.

I have some posts in mind about nail polish, an orange bench, tomatoes...not all at once.

Thanks for stopping by.

TTFN

Kristen

Time for a change

Since my girls are finally back in school and I have some extra time on my hand...I thought I'd take a stab and some new things for me.

I have some projects I want to do around the house; painting, staining, stenciling, that I'd love to share with you.

I thought about doing a "What I Wore post" once a week.

A what I cooked post.

Maybe a photograph post (before and/or after I teach myself how to use my camera in manual mode).

In a nutshell, I'd like to revamp my blog a bit....make it more into Something, rather than me just whining or crying all the time.  I can't guarantee that that won't happen but I'd like this blog to be more about something than nothing.

I will be asking for help along the way too.  I'm definitely not perfect and occasionally ask for help.

So...will you follow me?

Should I change the name of my blog to something different?

Stay tuned...hopefully Wednesday I can start something new and wonderful!

TTFN

Kristen

Why my kids make me feel like the worst mom in the world

I'm going to start this post by saying that in reality I know I'm not a horrible mom and most of the time my girls are good.

But every once in a while, like RIGHT now, they make me want to bang my head against a wall and run away.

This has been my feeling the past few days actually.

I don't know who they are or where they have learned some of the things they come up with.

I have taught them manners, and I thought I taught them respect.

But I have noticed NONE of that this past week.

They are annoying the crap out of me.

And I know that sounds horrible but really.

Most likely they are bored.  It's been too hot to go outside and play and I've needed to get things done around the house.  But they can't figure out how to entertain themselves at all without fighting or screaming or getting into trouble.

Where have I gone wrong?

What happened to everything that I thought I taught them?

I am truly a horrible mother for having children with me in a store who beg and whine for everything they see.

There is still plenty of summer left and I can not take this kind of behavior anymore.

I've tried speaking to them about there behavior.

I've threatened to send them to summer camp.

I've begged.

I've cried.

Why are they doing this to me?

High Hopes and Low Expectations

I am still unemployed and well...I don't really mind it.  Hubby and I have decided to keep the girls home this summer (no summer camp unless I get a job) and I have, to quote Eeyore, "High Hopes and Low Expectations".

I'm hoping to continue their learning this summer with at least half hour sessions every other day.

I'm hoping to start a chore schedule which will include:  making beds, setting/clearing tables, emptying bathroom garbage cans, etc.

There is a man in the neighborhood who teaches tennis lessons at his home.  His gives free lessons to the people in the neighborhood so all three of us will be taking lessons (if my knee/hip can keep up).

I have signed the girls up for swimming lessons as well.

I will most likely be staining the deck this summer as well as repainting the posts on the front porch.

Do you like valances or drapes for windows?  This goes along with the thousands of ideas for the house I have running thru my head...which include board and batten and stenciling in the hallway and making everything more light and airy.

I hope to spend at least one day a week at the beach this summer.

I cut my hair even shorter last week.

Both girls got bangs.

I think that's all I've got in me right now.

I'm including some pictures from our Mother's Day trip to Baltimore.  I will have more but I need to edit them.

TTFN

Kristen

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