The Goop Shame

I was thinking about renaming my challenge, I haven't come up with a better name, but knowing that Gwenyth Paltrow is out there somewhere in the world, hawking her "GOOP" website, really makes me want to rename it so this blog somehow doesn't come up in search results for her crap....

Anyway, I took some pictures today, finally, to show everyone just how much crap I am working with.
The follow pictures are of all of the lotions of bodywashes (and some perfumes) that I could round up in the house, I know there are a few running loose but I haven't managed to find them yet.

The first picture shows you how much bodywash I have to use (I'm going to smell SOOOOO GOOD), it's on the left and there are 5 big bottles and 2 small sample bottles.

 The second pictures is from a different angle and shows you all the perfumes and lotions I have to go through (I will still smell SOOOOO good and my skin will be soooo soft, ha).  It's hard to tell but there are about 5 different perfume bottles in various stages of "empty-ness".  There are also about 10 various sized bottles of lotions, also in various stages of empty-ness.  I left my almost empty tube of Malibu heat, to show you my progress (also to show the ridiculous names).  It doesn't smell like the beach, or like any sort of temperature, it smells like straight up sugary goodness, so it's real name should say "Don't eat this".

 Just when you thought to yourself, ah, that's not so bad, there is more.  Thankfully this is all kids lotions, but chances are I'm still going to have to use it (hopefully on the kids, not me, can't stand the smell of that pink Johnson and Johnson stuff).  Not to mention there are 2 more tubes of Aveeno kicking around in the kids room.  Thankfully, there is 1 bottle left of baby wash, and that little red bottle in the bottom of the picture is the last of the body wash.

While I'm not particularily "shamed" by this pictures, I feel like it is a shame.  It's a shame that I have all these lotions and bodywashes and fantastic smelling smelly things when I don't need them.  It seems really wasteful to have such a huge quantity of stuff for 1 person.  I am hoping in 6 months time to take a new picture of near-empty cabinets, with only a few products kicking around.

Eshakti and Pic Monkey

Now before I go on with this blog post, I will say this, the opinions I am giving are my own, because frankly, this blog doesnt get a lot of traffic, and therefore no one wants me to "try out their stuff".  *sigh* Maybe someday I'll get free stuff like all the cool kids out there....

Anyway, I believe I heard about Eshakti via craftster.org (love that site, seriously great site for crafty people of all domains).  I clicked on the link, but I am always weary of these "buy clothes from a site you have never heard of".  Then again, they directed me towards Modcloth, and they are a legit website.
I stalked this website for close to a year, and in particular I started stalking a shirt.  I liked it for so many reasons, well one in particular

That neckline, ugh I LOVE IT!

 I checked out the results on google, and for the most part it gets great reviews (although about 2-3 years ago it did get some not so great reviews, it seems to have pulled itself around.) A bonus was most of the sewing blogs I follow raved about it, had ordered from it (or gotten some samples for their input), and some of those lovely ladies even had discount codes for money off.  I finally decided to take the plunge before it was too late and the top was gone.  Here is the top on me;

Voila, a top.

It might not look as great as it does on the mannequin (the arms are a little tight), but I did get a compliment on the day I wore it (success!!).  I'm not sure why I'm so excited to post about it, but if you are my friend Karen, you know that I have been bugging you about dresses from this website (sorry).  I want you to know that this website is legit, so if you order yourself something pretty from there, it will come to you.  The quality of the top was better than expected, it was quite a thick, sturdy cotton material.  I want to order a ton more stuff, but I will need to wait until another discount code comes up (they are a bit pricey for me). 
I didn't use the customisable options that they have, but that's another great feature people love.  You can shorter or lengthen dresses, or you can change sleeves as well for a few extra dollars.  So, there you go my friends (or hey, even a random blogger who may have stumbled on this site by accident).  This is not a paid endorsement, just a girl who likes to shop online, and stalk shirts.


Lastly- I was playing around on Pic Monkey, which is why my picture is on filter overload.  Once I get the hang of it, I will probably adjust a lot of my photos for both of my blogs on Pic Monkey (it's mostly free).  I'm always jealous of others blogs and the gorgeous photos they post.  I have no photography skills, and am usually the one who has to take my own photos for either blog so I need all the help I can get.

"Ditch the goop" my future strategy to declutter my life

If I ever find the blog post about "ditching the goop" I shall post it here.  What the whole premise of it was, is to rid yourself of all the lotions and gels and all of the numerous bottled smells we keep around the house in favour of 1 universal lotion.  As we were packing up at our old house for the move I found about 10+ different bottles, tubes and jars of different lotions of all scents and sizes and then I was mad.  I was mad at myself for having to pack all this crap and then lug all this crap, and then eventually unpack all the same crap at the new house. I was also mad that i had bought more lotions than i would need to use in a year. The biggest offender was bath and body works Lotions, and not only did I have tons of different scents (some of which I didn't buy, and they weren't scents I go crazy for, but they still smell nice) I also had a crap ton of shower gel.  Don't get me wrong, I love the smell of their stuff, but why do they give them such weird names "coconut lime breeze" (WTH does that even mean? I'm pretty sure that's not a real thing and if it is, I am scared to think what the storm that follows it might pelt us with).  Not only do I use my lotions infrequently but because of the uber girly smells, Andy won't use them, and I don't want to use them on the kids because they have such sensitive skin.  So I have promised myself that I am going to stop buying these lotions and have given my mom the notice as well, that from this point on I will no longer need them. I will be trying within the next year to get through all of this goop, pairing down, and eventually lead a relatively goop free life (with the exception of Aveeno lotion, Andy, the kids and I  will use that stuff no problem). On my next move I want to be able to open my cabinets and smile because I have barely anything to pack.  I will be doing a goop round-up and will go from there.  On a side note, I will say that after C was born I received so much baby wash that  3 years later I am  FINALLY getting to the last bottle!  First stop - goop round up, next stop - Kids toy round up.  This should get interesting....

Aaannnd we've moved.

It's been a week since we moved into the new house.  The great news is the kids seem to enjoy sharing a room. The good news is, we have started unpacking, the bad news is, we aren't even close to unpacking.  My sewing stuff is being held hostage is tons of different boxes and I've been going all week and taking the kids places that I haven't even bothered trying to unpack stuff.  The kitchen is coming together slowly, but the big problem is Andy works during the day and I have one non napper on my hands. If I even think about unpacking a box C starts pulling in the fridge looking for food.  No break there. The last thing Andy (and I) want to do is unpack after a long day of work/toddler wrangling. Plus I'm trying to make sure we both keep our workout routines.  I'm hoping this weekend involves unpacking and organizing. Maybe a trip out of the house to buy storage bins (hah, in my dreams, Andy hates bins).  I also hope to find out if there really truly is a cat living in our garage.  I commented to Andy that it smelled like cat urine in the garage (having had a kitty for many years I KNOW that smell).  Today the smell was horrid and there was a puddle under the car.  I think the cat (if it was truly a cat) must have been trapped in the garage but escaped when we opened the garage door.  I went around the garage kicking boxes and shaking loose items to see if there was a scared cat anywhere but so far so good.  We locked the cat door to make sure we don't get an unexpected visitor.  Don't get me wrong, I love cats but not when they are showing up to a house I'm not allowed to keep pets in.  So if I get any stuff done this weekend, I guess I will update the life blog.

Ttfn.

Ugh, moving....

So, before all my Canadian friends and family get too excited, no I am not moving back home (I still have to get my citizenship here first before we can even think of moving up there).  I am also not leaving Texas, or even the town we live in for that matter.  We are moving about 5-10 minutes away from the house we currently live in, and I have to say this, MOVING SUCKS.  If it were up to us, we wouldn't leave at all, but our landlord needs her house back since she cannot find an apartment complex that will rent to her and 5 dogs.  She has given us plenty of notice, and since our lease isn't up in June, we still have lots of time, but we ended up finding a place in Mid- February that allowed us to move in March 1st.  So that means, I SHOULD be packing, but I am not.  The house is just as nice as the one we currently live in, but the thought of packing up all of our stuff and then unpacking it just makes me crazy.

We are also losing our "play room" (which was really just a converted garage), but we are gaining a garage (which means we can store our crap that we don't need).  We have decided that C and G can share a room since they seem so fond of each other and G seems to light up in the morning when C comes to get her.  The house is 3 bedrooms so the third room will become the Sewing/Home office, and possibly the spare room when guests come visit.
There are things that I love about the house we currently live in, but then again there are things about the new house that I am looking forward too, like say - having a pantry and a linen closet!  So, if I seem a little quiet for a while on this blog, and my sewing blog, now you know.
For now, I am just slowly packing and purging all of the stuff we have accumulated since we moved in together and had kids.

TTFN

"The Haircut"

This post was long long overdue, and I posted the pictures on facebook the same day I was *supposed to* post this blog post, but then I lost track of time and then just didn't post.

This post is all about the 9th of October 2012, aka - The big mop chop.

I have to say, I had absolutely no anxiety about cutting my hair, however, now I am nervous as to whether or not they recieved it.  I sent it off on the 13th of October, and they did say that it can take up to 60 days to acknowledge that they have it.  It has been much longer than that and I'm not even sure if I want to know or not.  My fear is I spent all that time growing my hair and now it's lost forever in the postal system, it will never know it's destiny as a future wig.

Back to the story, I went into the hairdressers, fearful that my hair wouldn't be long enough, thankfully it was, but the next time I donate it I will make sure that there will be more than enough, she stretched it out and put elastics down the entire pony-tail.  This was for measurement as well as keeping it all together.
After she snipped it all off, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders (or head, or whatev).
She spent the next hour and a half cutting and styling my hair, because as she pointed out - This wasn't a normal haircut, it was completely restructuring my hair.
It's still pretty short, but I've been lazy and wearing it curly rather than straightening it. I like it short, so does Andy, but I told him that I am going to grow it out, so he'd better not get to used to it.

How have my resolutions been going?

In a word "Not well".  Thankfully it's only 4 days in, so I'm not a failure.  I have been having a rough Christmas.  Actually from October to December, weightloss has been a disaster for me.  From Thanksgiving to Halloween, to another Thanksgiving to Christmas dinner, I have been a slacker.  I've seen a bit of weight put back on, nothing too crazy, but if I weren't paying attention week to week then it might be a lot worse than it actually is.  I've had too many "write off" weeks, in the past month so I finally decided to watch what I'm eating, but also realize that not everything is in my grasp (travelling and eating on the road SUCK!!!).  I have been to 1 jazzercise class since the new year began, and I bought a groupon for a kickboxing class, but I need something MORE.  I need structure and a gym, I need someone to guide me and coach me.  I am a slacker and I feel much better if I have a teacher who can tell me what to do, because frankly I don't know what to do when I am on my own.
I am really hoping to get the hubby on board to enrolling in a gym that includes childcare (for free), I know they are a bit more of a drive, but if I drop him off at work, and then go to a gym that takes care of my workout for the day, leaving him free to run after his day is finished.  I still haven't found a nutritionist, and I keep telling myself that I will, but only time will tell if I keep that promise.  Still going to keep up with the weightwatchers, as I have been successful in part because of them.
I'm looking forward to what this New Year will hold, and hopefully in the next few months I will be able to blog that I am keeping all the promises I made to myself.