And cosmetologists. And wedding planners. And anyone else who has an honest opinion on this one.
In many ways, our oldest is more mature than her age, but in so many others she's just a baby. I think going through the divorce put her in a rough spot and she has sometimes been put in the position of being the other adult in one house or the other. I have seen Man put responsibilities on her that I don't think she should have (little things like taking her sisters to the restroom when we go out to eat or being the one in charge while he works from home) and you can tell just from spending time with her that her mother has done the same, though even more so. She is quite the mother hen to her sisters and doesn't call them by their names or "my sisters", but always calls them "the little girls" and gets upset if you remind her that she is little, too.
It's tough, because she's 10, so she's right at that age where she thinks she's big and she's well on her way, but she's still a child. This is evidenced by the fact that she still needs tucked in every night, still wants me to brush her hair and still needs Man to make her plate and cut her meat at dinner.
So here's the deal: I'm battling our 10 year old on the makeup issue right now. She wants to wear makeup for the wedding and I told her we could do a little. Then her mom bought her clear mascara and she suddenly thinks that's an every day thing. In fact, our middle child was going through the bag they took to the sitter's today (my awesome cousin has the girls today and was going to take them to the pool until the weather turned sour) and found a bag of makeup our oldest had packed, even though I've told her countless times she is not to take it places. So now that the little bit of makeup I was going to allow for the wedding has become the norm, since her mom gave it to her without clearing it with Man or me. This wouldn't be such an issue, except she thinks she has to do more than what she does every day for the wedding, so now she has decided she needs black mascara for the wedding. Bear in mind, not only is she 10, but she's got red hair and a porcelain complexion. Black mascara is going to make her look like a raccoon!
So today when we were duking it out in the car on the way to our dress fitting before I had to be at work, I got to thinking about what I did when I was 10. And unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I had the clear mascara back then. The difference was, BBS is 3 years older than me, so I pretty much got things when she did, so I was ahead of the curve, while our oldest is (obviously) the oldest and I am so NOT ready for the other 2 to be wearing ANY makeup! So here's where I need help: do Man and I make her put the clear mascara away somewhere when she's here so it will be a special thing for the wedding or allow the clear mascara as a daily thing and then allow more for the wedding? And if we go that route, just how far do I let her push it for the wedding? I KNOW I'm not going to let her do black mascara, but does anyone have any other suggestions? Help!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Some people
Customer (on the phone): "The cord is pulling away from the plug on my pump. Do you have a new adapter cord?"
Me: "Yes, it's $12.99 and we have them in stock."
C: "Do you think I need a new one or could I just wrap it in electrical tape?"
Me: "You might be able to get away with that over night but it doesn't sound very safe as a long term solution (then in my head) but hey, if it's worth risking electrocuting your family to save $13.83 with tax, go for it!"
Have I ever mentioned that I work at a pool supply store?
Me: "Yes, it's $12.99 and we have them in stock."
C: "Do you think I need a new one or could I just wrap it in electrical tape?"
Me: "You might be able to get away with that over night but it doesn't sound very safe as a long term solution (then in my head) but hey, if it's worth risking electrocuting your family to save $13.83 with tax, go for it!"
Have I ever mentioned that I work at a pool supply store?
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
You really do learn something new every day
Okay, I actually wrote this in...oh...March? I thought for sure I had published it the very next day. Today, I got into my drafts folder because I wrote something yesterday that I wanted to finish and publish and found this staring at me! It's good information, so I definitely want to share, so you'll just have to wait on the other post! Enjoy your education for the day!
My washer crapped out on me. My high efficiency, top of the line, didn't-get-any-better-than-that-when-we-bought-it-five-years-ago washer. I don't know about you, but to me, five years just doesn't seem like that long for a washing machine. Especially when for over three of those five years it was just my laundry and I'm not a dirty person. I mean, it's not like I play in the mud for a living. Another almost year of those five years it was just me and a toddler. Again, not a ton of dirt. Admittedly, I do have more dog hair going through my machine than most people, but I'm pretty anal about cleaning it out regularly and running vinegar through the machine pretty frequently (about once a week) to flush everything out. So, I called a repairman. I was thrilled that we didn't need to replace but a little surprised at the problem...I've been using too much detergent! I use HE detergent, in the amount recommended on the package (although, admittedly, on the rare occasion that I do have something really dirty in there [think rags used to clean up doggy messes], I have been known to add a little extra detergent). The repair man was super helpful (if you're in the greater Cincinnati area, try Morris Appliance Repair. They're prompt, friendly and super helpful. And no, they didn't pay me for this endorsement, they were just that good!) and gave me a little lesson on doing my laundry. Apparently in an HE machine, you should only use 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of detergent recommended, even though you're using HE detergent. And you should never use traditional detergent. Really. If you have some left over, give it to a friend. It will save you money in the long run! So that doesn't sound like much detergent, and you may be wondering how your clothes will get clean with that little soap, but think about it - an HE machine uses WAY less water, so it won't be able to rinse out as much detergent. So really, how can your clothes get clean if you use too much soap? High efficiency washers don't clean your clothes with soap and water, they work based on the friction your clothes create when tumbling around in there. So there you have it - stop overusing the soap. You'll save your washer and save yourself money on detergent, too! By the way, this is also a good reason to only run your washer when you have a full load of laundry. If you don't have enough fabric in there, you don't have enough friction and your clothes won't get clean. So there you go, saving yourself money on detergent, plus on water and electric but not running your washer as often since now you'll only do it when you have a full load...man, I should start a money saving blog with all these great ideas!
UPDATE: Yeah, because I have time for that, when I didn't even take the time to realize I never published this post! Hope you learned something, anyway!
My washer crapped out on me. My high efficiency, top of the line, didn't-get-any-better-than-that-when-we-bought-it-five-years-ago washer. I don't know about you, but to me, five years just doesn't seem like that long for a washing machine. Especially when for over three of those five years it was just my laundry and I'm not a dirty person. I mean, it's not like I play in the mud for a living. Another almost year of those five years it was just me and a toddler. Again, not a ton of dirt. Admittedly, I do have more dog hair going through my machine than most people, but I'm pretty anal about cleaning it out regularly and running vinegar through the machine pretty frequently (about once a week) to flush everything out. So, I called a repairman. I was thrilled that we didn't need to replace but a little surprised at the problem...I've been using too much detergent! I use HE detergent, in the amount recommended on the package (although, admittedly, on the rare occasion that I do have something really dirty in there [think rags used to clean up doggy messes], I have been known to add a little extra detergent). The repair man was super helpful (if you're in the greater Cincinnati area, try Morris Appliance Repair. They're prompt, friendly and super helpful. And no, they didn't pay me for this endorsement, they were just that good!) and gave me a little lesson on doing my laundry. Apparently in an HE machine, you should only use 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of detergent recommended, even though you're using HE detergent. And you should never use traditional detergent. Really. If you have some left over, give it to a friend. It will save you money in the long run! So that doesn't sound like much detergent, and you may be wondering how your clothes will get clean with that little soap, but think about it - an HE machine uses WAY less water, so it won't be able to rinse out as much detergent. So really, how can your clothes get clean if you use too much soap? High efficiency washers don't clean your clothes with soap and water, they work based on the friction your clothes create when tumbling around in there. So there you have it - stop overusing the soap. You'll save your washer and save yourself money on detergent, too! By the way, this is also a good reason to only run your washer when you have a full load of laundry. If you don't have enough fabric in there, you don't have enough friction and your clothes won't get clean. So there you go, saving yourself money on detergent, plus on water and electric but not running your washer as often since now you'll only do it when you have a full load...man, I should start a money saving blog with all these great ideas!
UPDATE: Yeah, because I have time for that, when I didn't even take the time to realize I never published this post! Hope you learned something, anyway!
Monday, July 22, 2013
Shower report
The shower was awesome! :) Of course I knew BBS and my aunts weren't going to torture me too much, but it was really a great day. My foster friend came over to do my hair and we were almost done when Man got home with the girls. We finished up real quick and ran out the door. The girls immediately gravitated toward Princess and Miss Thing while I made my way around visiting everyone and when it was time for gifts, all the little girls (our three, Princess and my cousin's two little girls) swarmed around me and "helped" me. They brought me presents, unwrapped things, held things up for people to see, wandered off with gifts (especially the really cool stuff I really wanted!) and photo bombed just about every picture. It was crazy, chaotic and wonderful! There was one time when I had to ask the girls to back off just a little because I was starting to feel claustrophobic with them all so close but there was another time when I said to my aunt "I certainly feel loved today" and our oldest piped up with "we love you every day!" and that made all the squishiness totally worth it! I am so lucky to love such amazing women who want to throw a shower for me, more awesome women who want to attend said shower and a bunch of crazy girls who steal the show and make it such a great experience for me!
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Naked blogging: That's my gift
Tomorrow is my first of two bridal showers. I have to admit, I've kind of been dreading them. It's not that I don't appreciate them, in fact I've thrown lots of showers and not only do I know how much work it is (and really, really appreciate the fact that BBS is helping with both my showers!) but I also know how much fun they can be. It's just that I'm not one to love the spotlight, despite my singing, dancing and acting background. I was always part of the group on stage, not one to stand out. These two days are going to be all about me. I'll be in the hot seat, and even more than that, everyone is showing up to give me presents. I just got off the phone with an old friend who was heading to shop for our shower gift. She wanted to know if there was something special on our registry that I was super excited to receive. I didn't register for stuff I don't want. In fact, it was really hard to make a list of all the stuff I wanted instead of just buying it. After all, it's for me, why shouldn't I buy it for myself? How weird is it that I got so incredibly lucky as to find the love of my life and we get to share that with all our loved ones and have this huge celebration, and they all have to give us something? If anything, we should be giving gifts to our family and friends for helping us along this journey that led us to each other. As the dates approach, I find myself becoming excited about my showers, but it's not because I'll get to sit around and open presents; it's because I'll have the opportunity to gush about Man all day long without anyone telling me how silly-in-love I am! I found this amazing man, I fell madly in love and I get to share it with the world. That's my gift.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Many animals + hot summer = lots of water
We tried switching over to the big water dispenser but after two days Wolfey is still scared of it so I finally put his water dish back down. Goofy dog gets all freaked out if I even put my hand in the dispenser water while he's taking a drink.
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