Avon anyone?

As a child, I remember always being excited when Mom’s Avon lady showed up at our door.  Looking at that brochure/catalog was a little taste of the Christmas catalog every 2 weeks.  Granted, Mom’s Avon lady has always been older (much – or at least she always seemed that way to me).  To make a long story short, I am now an Avon Sales Representative.  So, if you are interested in seeing the current array of products, please visit my website:

http://www.youravon.com/dvan-cleave

Our current campaign ends on March 3, but there are really some great sale items.  SuperExtend Mascara is only $3.99 – I’ve tried it and it’s fantastic. The Ultra Color Rich Mega Impact Lipstick is also on sale at $4.99 and is one of my absolute favorite things as well.  My favorite lipstick has always been an Avon product, so maybe I’m a little biased.  I’ve also been given the opportunity to try the new Anew Reversalist (so new that the day cream will not be out until next campaign) and it is absolutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever used on my face.  After one night I literally woke up with my skin already feeling wonderful.  I had never used Anew before because my skin is so sensitive, but I had only good results with this product.  It’s exciting to get to try these products and even more exciting to be able to review them and share my thoughts.  If I don’t love it, you won’t hear me talk about it!  (Obviously…  Check out the cheapo recommendations on the cooking blog!) 

Ugly Weekend!

The outlook from our windows this morning is downright nasty.  We had a mixed bag of snow, sleet and freezing rain throughout the day yesterday and have apparently had freezing rain most of the night. It's just cold enough to freeze on the trees and just warm enough for it to be drippy.  I guess that's a good thing.  At least some of the ice is falling off the lines, so hopefully we'll keep our electricity for the day.  It's not pretty, though.  I'd take pictures, but I really don't want to until the muddy ugliness is covered in a blanket of white.  I took pictures of yesterday's snowball-sized snowflakes (I can hardly call them snowflakes, they were more snowclumps) but I just couldn't do them justice.  They were amazing!  I've never seen it snow like that before.  Today's not so pretty. If it gets prettier later in the day, I’ll probably take a few pictures.  Until then, however, it’s not happening. 

Gary & I had planned to go out to Lawrence or Topeka to eat last night while the girls were at Meme & Papa’s, but due to the weather, we settled on just going to eat Chinese food in Ottawa.  It was my cheat meal of the week and was really, really good.  We’ve already decided that we’ll go back again soon and take the girls.  I’m sure the twinkies will love it, and Hannah will inevitably find something she likes as well.  She’s really more of a meat & potatoes/gravy kind of girl, but I think she’d like some of the things we ate last night.  Obviously we didn’t tell them we were going last night, or we would’ve probably had two little tag-alongs.  I’m pretty sure we haven’t had a meal out by ourselves for roughly a year, so it was nice.  It’s much more exciting with the kiddos, though! :)

TGIF...sort of

I'd like to be excited about it being Friday, but it's just been one of THOSE days.  You know the kind I mean.  Nobody uses that phrase and means it as a good thing.  I don't either.  The girls were going to go to school today until two of them woke up with sore throats (again) which prompted me to look in Hannah's throat.  Good thing I did.  Her tonsils were ENORMOUS.  So we spent the greater part of the day at the doctor's office, getting medicine, picking up homework, etc.  The dr. suspects strep throat but said we didn't have to do a strep test unless I just wanted to (I didn't.  I know the joy of  having a super-size q-tip inserted into my throat far beyond the comfort zone and wouldn't choose that for anyone unnecessarily.) because she planned to treat her for it anyway.  With that in mind, she's also treating the other two little loveys.  They're all three on Zithromax (aka the diarrhea medicine in our house - I know, TMI), but only for 5 days, thank goodness.  If it's not one thing, it's another.   We're all looking forward to Meme & Papa being here this weekend.  We're all (myself included) getting a little tired of looking at each other, I think. 

We're also preparing for and grumbling about the snowstorm that is supposed to be on our doorstep Sunday sometime.  I used to like winter.  I don't anymore.  I don't like being stuck in the house for months on end.  I don't like the frigid temperatures that threaten to freeze off both sets of cheeks.  I am a Spring/Fall kind of girl.  I don't do extremes in either direction.  Okay, after some thinking, maybe I'm just a Fall kind of girl.  I don't like storms.  Is there anywhere I could live where it was just Fall year-round?  Probably not.  Until then, I guess I'll just roll with it...

A Lesson in Humility

Kids are so honest, often brutally so.  It's refreshing, though.  I think sometimes that it must be their job to make sure I realize just how ridiculously average I am.  There's a story on this one, trust me.  It took place last weekend.  I've been working out, eating healthy and making an effort to do things that are good, healthfully speaking.  It's finally started to show again, and I was feeling pretty good.  Notice I said was.  Now, I consider my stomach, in all of its stretch-marked glory, to be a badge of courage for carrying three babies...all at once.  That's not to say that I particularly like it, but it's mine.  I earned it.  I'm not going to fret about it.  It's getting tighter...you know, underneath.  I've got a ways to go until I see those 6 pack abs that are currently in hiding (and have been since birth, apparently), but I'm just not overly concerned about it.  Any progress is progress.  Addie, the innocent, sweet, caring, brutally honest child that she is, brought me back to earth quickly.  I was on the bed reading with her and Hope (well, I was reading, they were waiting rather impatiently for me to give up trying to have 5 minutes to myself) when she poked me in the stomach with her finger.  She wasn't being mean, just curious.  Her comment?  Wait for it...  




Get ready...






"Mama, I like your tummy.  It feels like squishy bread dough."   You can almost hear the thud, can't you?

Home Again

So I knew on Tuesday that we were fighting a cold in the house, but I sent them to school yesterday to tough it out.  That's totally not my nature.  Today, when the twins woke up looking glassy-eyed and complaining of crummy throats I had a change of heart.  They're all staying home today to drink hot tea, breathe moist air and hopefully get to feeling better.  I still think it's just a head cold, but let's face it, even a head cold can make you feel rough.  Did I mention how much I'm looking forward to spring?  With that in mind, and as a reminder of what things look like when they're not muddy or snow-covered, I think I'll throw in a few pictures that I took last spring.

I can almost feel the warm breezes blowing and hear the bees buzzing...

Work in Progress

I'm working on a new cooking addition to the blog and have a few kinks left to work out before I get moving on both of them.  The link is above, but you won't find much there yet. 

Ready for the day...maybe.

I am cautiously optimistic about this day. Granted, it's only 6:27 and only one of the girls is awake. Maybe it's more of a "If you build it, they will come" kind of thing. Whatever the case, I have been blessed with another day, and I intend to rejoice in it.

On another note, I've gotten back onto the exercise daily bandwagon and feel so much better! I'm also eating better, but I'll save that for another day. Anyway, in my internet travels yesterday I stumbled upon the Real Age site (http://www.realage.com/) again and found that they have workout videos online. So yesterday, in addition to my EA Active workout on the Wii and my 30 minutes of pilates (much needed as a stress-reliever), I did a resistance band workout and really liked it. My arms are sore today, so I figure that's the sign of a good workout! Here's the link, just in case you're interested: http://www.realage.com/videos/?bcpid=30402252001&bclid=5030523001&bctid=16660446001