Losing

Lately, I have felt like I am in a foot race with life and life is winning.  I CANNOT keep up.  This is coming from someone that does not have little children to get ready for the school year.  It is crazy. 
My days are long.  I leave for work by 6:30 in the morning.  There are days I leave by 5:30 am.  That is rough.  I do not get home until 5:30-5:45.  That is a big chunk of my day. 
Part of the problem is, I have been obsessed with researching beauty items.  It is very time consuming.  I have also spent a few hours a week making items.  That is taking a chunk out of my time.  I think I am going to settle on a few items that I think are the best and stick with those.  Yesterday, Tru Stories asked me to make an organic bubble bath for the little girls.  They love bubble baths and we hate chemicals in the bubble bath.  That forced me to spend more time researching on the computer. 
Today I slept too late.  Grocery shopped.  Did my laundry.  Made brown sugar scrub, bubble bath, and gardener's scrub.  I made dinner tonight and dinner for tomorrow night.  Folded a stack of towels that had been washed and never put away.  (Uncle does not mind washing & drying, he is not great on the folding.)  Yesterday I spent time with Tink and The Kid.  Got my haircut.  Cleaned.  Found time for a nap.  Purchased paint for the spare bedroom. Picking paint color is time consuming and painful for me.  In the end, it was lighter than I planned.  Went out for the evening.
Reads like a productive week-end.  What I did not get done was:  cleaning the closet in the kid's room.  Trying to sort out toys they do not play with.  Cleaned the book room.  A path through would be good at this point.  I have not started the August book club read.  That meeting is Wednesday.  Ugh!  Too much to do!
This week I have a dentist appointment to get ready for a crown tomorrow night.  That means I stay in the city.  It is an evening appointment.  I have a chiropractor appointment right after work.  The Page Turner's meet on Wednesday night.  I need to find time to see my beautiful grandchildren.  Get the house organized so we can go out of town next week-end.  I am sure there are things I am not even thinking of right now.
There was a sigh of relief in that last paragraph.  Friday night we leave for our 2nd Annual Trip to Green Lake, WI.  We will stay at Hubby's brother's house on Friday night.  Leave early in the morning on Saturday for our trip.  This year we are staying at a Bed & Breakfast called Angel's Inn.  It is right on the lake.  It is a mansion that was converted to a Bed & Breakfast.  It looks absolutely beautiful.  We have both rooms on the third floor.  We will meet my friend and her family in Green Lake.  They will pick us up in their pontoon boat.  Let the relaxing begin.  Seriously, out in the middle of the lake on a boat, there is nothing to do but relax.  This week I will keep my eye on the prize.  I hope to come home energized.  Ready to get some organization back into my life. 
Anyone else out there suffering from too much to do, too little time?

Levels of Stress

I thought once my children were adults most of my stress about raising them would end.  I won't speak about my son because the reality is, he will never be raised.  I will address Tru Stories.  She has a home, Coach, three kids, a wonderful little Maggie Mae, her own business, and a van.  Sounds like my stress should be over.  It just goes to another level.  A better level, but there is still stress.
The last few months I have watched Tru Stories worry about sending The Kid to private school.  Honestly, I was completely behind it from the start.  I think it was the same for TS.  We loved the idea of him going to the new school.  We disliked the idea he would not be at our school.  Personally, I loved knowing he was attending the same school Hubby and I attended.  I did not get to share that history with my children. 
This is one of those instances where I felt double stress.  I dislike seeing my daughter worrying about the best decision to make for her child.  I really, really dislike seeing The Kid sad.  They each have a big section of my heart.  When I received the call after school today from The Kid, it was a HUGE relief.  He sounded so happy.  When he is happy, it makes all of us happy.  I love my school.  The little girls are there.  I already shocked Tink with the fact I was little once and went to school there.  I know there will be a day when The Kid is back in our schools.  I hope he enjoys every second of the time he spends in his new school.  Kid work on looking at the positives.  You have so many blessings.  Use the big brain of yours and count those blessings. Love you so much!
In the last week I have communicated with The Old Lady about her stress as a Mother and a Grandmother.  Her family has suffered a terrible loss.  Old Lady is helping guide her daughter and grandchildren through the loss of a husband/father.  I cannot imagine the pain OL is feeling.  Not just her loss of a family member, watching the people she loves most suffer.  She cannot make their pain go away.  What I know about the Old Lady is she is strong, (like an Ox), she loves deeply, she is wise, she knows when to help and when to step back.  She will give all the support she can and when it is time to to step back, OL will.  That is how strong she is.  Please say a prayer for my friend, her daughter and two children too young to even understand how much they just lost! 
We never stop worrying about our children.  We always want the best for them and for our grandchildren.  Don't worry Flag Girl, it gets easier to sleep at night.  Most of the time.  You will crawl out of that scary basement soon.

Blogging Drought

I have seriously neglected reading and blogging in the last few weeks.  This is due to finding a new obsession.  It started from a visit to the restroom of Bubba's something or others restaurant in Savannah, GA.  There was a bowl of amazing sea salt scrub on the counter.  Tru Stories and I both LOVED it.  Our hands felt like silk.  We go into the little store attached to the restaurant to purchase some, the cost was outrageous.  I think it was around $30 for a jar.  Too much!  When I got home I googled recipes for sea salt scrubs.  Made some, loved it.  Continued to google homemade beauty recipes.  I had already made several chemical free cleaning products.  My obsession was born! I enjoy the research part as much as the making part.  I have started compiling things to make the products.  There is so much out there.  I have given out many samples.  So far people are in love with my brown sugar scrub.  It is recommended for elbows, knees, and feet.  It is also great for tanned legs that need to be exfoliated.  Some people use it all over their body.  My personal favorite right now is the shaving lotion.  It is awesome! 
My business has a name, Save Your Sole.  This came from the fact my job is very soul sucking right now.  I am looking for things to save my soul.  I have two guys very involved in marketing.  That means they need something to use the brains for too.  I already have a many containers of essence oils and base oils.  It is shocking how many things can be used to make healthy beauty products.
So far I have made:  face wash (this needs work, do not love the recipe yet), sea salt scrub, two different recipes of brown sugar scrub, a gardener's scrub (love it), a body butter (needs to be tweaked), foaming hand soap (not all natural, just money saving).  This week I ordered some real containers.  So far I have used small canning jars and plastic containers.  The canning jars look more high end.  In reality glass containers for the shower are not a great idea.  I have already had a couple of real orders.  Today I am making items for sale.  Hoping the samples have lured people to want more. 
While researching body products I purchased a book on cures for all types of ailments.  This book covers using vitamins and minerals, essence oils, herbs and plants.  Very interesting.  I think I would like to start taking some on-line classes.  Coconut Oil is almost magically.  There are so many uses.  Last night I put pure coconut oil under Coco's bottom lip.  She is so chapped.  Cannot wait to see how it looks when she wakes up.  I have been cured with coconut milk myself.  Many years ago Hubby and I took a trip to Jamaica.  We only left our awesome resort one time.  That was to take a trip through the markets and to Dunn River Falls (that is a story in itself).  While we were going through the markets I started have immediate signs of a bladder infection.  Not a good spot for that to happen.  When the van would stop, I started looking for a restroom.  By the time we got back to the hotel I was urinating blood.  Ready to die!  Immediately went to the medical office.  They suggested cranberry juice (which the resort was out of but would have in the morning) and pure coconut milk.  There was a vendor in the resort square selling fresh coconut milk.  He would cut the coconut open and stick in the straw.  Warm coconut milk is not delicious.  I was desperate.  Drank all of it.  The frequent urination and pain was gone within a couple of hours.  In the morning the resort had cranberry juice and I started drinking it.  I did not have to use any medication for the infection.  It was amazing!
I have a HUGE supply of vitamins and supplements that I take.  Cranberry pills are always in my cabinet.  I used to use Valerian root to sleep.  I suggested it to a friend that had not slept well in years.  She said her insomnia is gone.  I am not sure why Munchkin wasted all that money and time becoming a Doctor.  She could have dispensed natural medications right out of her home.  I am seriously thinking about taking some on-line classes.  It is so interesting.  I am not over the top yet.  I have not thrown out my lipitor, anti-depressant ( though it is time for that to go), or thyroid pill (that might need to go too).  I think our generation is too reliant on taking a pill.  There are many natural things out there to use.
I admit I am a junkie when it comes to researching things on the internet.  That could explain some of The Kid's interest.  So much to learn, right at our fingertips!
Hey bloggers, we really have slacked off this summer.  Should we do a Blogger Challenge.  See who can post the most blogs in a certain amount of time?  We can wait until adults and children are settled into the school schedule.  What do you think? 

I Have A Fever

That's right, Olympic Fever has taken over.  I am a big fan of swimming and gymnastics.  I also enjoying diving, not synchronized diving, regular diving.  I do not get why someone decided to have two people dive at once.  Does not make any sense to me.  What next?  Two girls performing synchronized parallel bar routines.  It is not necessary.  I admit it takes skill.  The amount of time they practice has to be crazy.  Still.....do not need it.
I love women's sand volleyball.  Some of you might not know I was a Captain for my Volleyball team in high school.  We made it to the Championship Game of Sectionals.  No, I was not a spiker or a blocker.  Once in a while I could throw down a ding.  I watched an awesome sand volleyball match tonight.  I cannot wait until tomorrow night when the USA Teams compete against each other for Gold!!  Spoiler Alert:  People better not ruin this for me.  Hubby came into the living room tonight to ask me if I was yelling and clapping watching sand volleyball.  I was.  I was on the edge of my seat.  He watches Nascar.  He really does not get to say anything about my sports viewing.
Unfortunately, Hubby also came into the living room during the Floor Exercise event of gymnastics.  I was not wishing for a fall.  I do not want anyone to get hurt.  I do yell "stumble" once in a while.  It was not me that asked for the last girl to fall out of the circle.  I knew USA already had the Gold when I made her stumble two times.  Hubby also said it was probably not my yelling stumble that made her do it.  Whatever! 
I do not always get wrapped up in the Olympics.  This year has just been one of those years for me.  Unlike Coco, I do not yell, I can do that!!  I wish I could do that!!! 

Note:  I was almost completely turned off to this year's Olympics because of the ugly hats USA wore.  But, I realized it was not our athlete's fault.  How humiliating for them.  An international travesty.

Time To Start Cooking

In the last year or two I have stopped cooking.  We will eat take out at least four times a week.  Sometimes more.  When I do cook I throw things together.  There are several reasons.  My days are long between the commute and work.  I'm tired.  I would rather spend my free time doing anything but cooking.  Even if I want to cook, there are never any groceries to cook. 
I made the decision to buy a new cookbook.  I bought, Slow Cookin' Companion by The Crockin Girls, Nicole Sparks and Jenna Marwitz. The cookbook is nicely done. The recipes are easy. The pictures are beautiful. I bought a second crockpot.  I picked three meals to do this week, made my grocery list and BOUGHT food to cook. It was odd being in the grocery store shopping for real food.  Normally, I am picking up things to heat up.  I have two meals cooking right now.
I started with, Most Amazing Pork Chops and Angel Chicken.  The chicken is an Italian dish, to be mixed with penne pasta.  Tonight we will eat the pork chops.  That will leave the Angel Chicken for my menfolk to heat up tomorrow night.  Later in the week I am going to cook a round steak.  Have not picked the recipe yet.  There are several I am thinking of using.  My plan is to cook two a week.  I will rate how the family like each meal on the recipe page.  I am going to go outside of their comfort zone too.  I have tired of cooking same old thing when I cook.  Things are going to be switched up around here.
I will plan meals on the week-end and make my grocery list.  I will try to cook at least two meals on Sunday.  I will set my goal of three crockpot meals a week.  That might be setting my sights high, but I will see how it goes.  My goal is to eventually leave grocery lists for Hubby to do some shopping.  He does not mind grocery shopping.  I will need to be very specific on my list.
The other thing I have been reading this week-end are recipes for making my own products.  Today I made dishwasher detergent.  I am going to make Hand Scrub and Shaving Gel tonight.  I made a sea salt scrub last month.  People seemed to like it.  Time to move on to more products.  After I test a few items I would like to sell some things in Tru Storie's yoga studio.  Is this how Mary Kay started?

Dancing on Broken Glass by Ka Hancock

I think I found this book on a sale table at Barnes.  It has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while.  I knew it was a deep subject.  I needed to be in the right place to read it. 
This is the first book of fiction for Ka Hancock.  She has two nursing degrees and has specialized in working with psychiatric and substance abuse patients.  This book reads like a true story.  Ka's insight into mental illness is gut wrenching.  I do not think I have ever read a story about mental illness that described the agony of the person that has the illness and the family that lives with it. 
This story is a portrait of a marriage that is both ordinary and extraordinary.  It is the journey of the ups and downs of living with mental illness. 
Lucy and Mickey should not have fallen in love.  Their love should not have led them to marriage.  They both have bad genes.  Mickey is bipolar and Lucy has a family history ravaged by breast cancer.  When they meet there is immediate chemistry. 
This story is filled with the tragedy of illness at the same time the up lifting love that Lucy and Mickey share.  The story feels so real.  There were times I had goosebumps from the love the characters have for each other. 
Lucy has two sisters and a brother-in-law that round out this family.  The girls lost their parents at young ages.  Their relationships add so much to the story.
So many subjects brought up in this book.  Mental illness and the struggle people endure to live with it. Breast cancer and the way it can attack generations of women.  There is even a great section about abortion.  Mother's life versus the babie's life. 
The end of the book was heart wrenching.  It felt so real I had to hold in a sob.  That is a great book.  I have not said this in a long time, I give this book a 5. 
Millhouse there is not a chance that you have time to read this book right now.  It is long.  The subject is heart breaking.  Between your toddler, nesting, and baby on board this is not the right time for you to read this story.  I know you would love it.  I think it would make you sad too. 
Tru Stories I wish you would find the time for this book.
For the rest of you readers out there, this one is worth the time.  If you have read it or do read it, let me know what you think!