WW: A Hug and Lashes {Linky}

My Brother-in-law sent this photo over. They never care if I put photos of their kids up, so I will. ;) Here is my nephew Elijah hugging my son Isaak. They are the best of cousins. They call each other, "Best Friends". I know they will deeply miss each other when they go on to different kindergartens next year. :( For two years they've gone twice a week to the same preschool.

We won some Skinny Pop Popcorn from Life in the Lost World. When I say some, a whole case was sent to our house! Isaak shared some popcorn with his buddy Elijah.

We went out and about and saw this very random car. Here I was jealous of my son's lashes. ;) We all had a good laugh at the car with lashes. We agreed that the lashes would fit a Volkswagen Bug better. If you love them, you can buy car lashes here. Have you ever seen a car with lashes before?

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Truth Be Told

There are a few more than a few things I just do not get. I'm sure they are easier than my mind thinks they are.

1. Twitter Parties- I get invited to them all the time. I look at them and think, What do I do? Many of them are RSVP, and to be honest I'll know I will forget. Then I have a hard time knowing what time they start. One that starts in the south is at what time here in Central Standard Time?

My brain has never been good with figuring that out! It took me forever to figure out how to read a clock with hands when I was a kid! In my mind we had digital clocks at home, at school teachers just told us where to go, why bother learning how to tell time on the hard clock? Don't worry, I did learn the hard clock after I failed the standardize test on telling time. When I took Spanish I was like, Forget it! when they tried to teach me time! When I was in college a teacher tried to meet with us in Military time. I'm like what the heck? I'm not in the military! I'm in art school! I missed one meeting because I showed up an hour late; thinking I was on time. I did not apologize. I simply asked her if she could kindly tell me the normal time? This teacher proceeded to try and teach me the military time. I stopped her and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to learn that. If I was in the military I would want to learn that. I'm not. So could you please just tell me a normal time to meet?" She laughed and gave me the next time in normal time.

I just don't even get what I'm supposed to do with Twitter Parties. I need one of those books, Twitter Parties For Dummies. In fact usually I have to look at other people's tweets to type up my own. That's how lame I really am. Hashtag WHAT? *This is not a bash on those that have Twitter parties or those that participate.

2. Many of the newly abbreviated words. I get LOL is laugh out loud. Most of the rest I have to look up. I don't text people. I still have an old school phone that cost like a penny when I went to the store. I have my phone for emergencies. I'm on Facebook that's about the only reason I know any abbreviated terms. Many I have to look up.


3. What is really organic and natural? I try and eat healthy, I really do. But it's really discouraging that organic doesn't always mean organic. Companies put these labels on things. Hidden in the ingredients is unhealthy things. What the heck? I just want to buy healthy things. I don't want to have some sort of special dictionary to look up these special ingredient terms that I don't know about. I have kids, I don't have time to stop and look things up. I know you're probably thinking there's an app for that. If I had an iPhone I'd get that. News flash for FDA and companies, just mean what you say. Then we're all good!

I was thinking that going to the Farmer's Market to buy stuff was good. It's good to support the local farmers, right? Then my Dad tells me, "Alissa you don't know if the farmer's veggies, fruit...are organic or not. They could have pesticides all over their food." He's right!

4. Packaging! Why do they need to put a few pills in a medium sized bottle? I'm thinking about the two pack of Zyrtec I just bought at Costco. I did what I probably shouldn't of done. I opened them both up and dumped them into one. Get this, I still had room to spare. Chips and crackers are packaged with a bunch of air in the bag. The only things that are full in their containers are juice, toilet paper, tissues, q-tips, tampons, veggies (like spinach leaves in their bin), fruit (like grapes in their bin) and that's all I can think of. I would pay just as much for a smaller container if I knew it was full.

Rant over.

Yesterday I Was Totally Off!

I had some stomach issues yesterday. I have no clue where they came from: Something I ate, just a flu thing, or allergies. Allergies are horrible right now! Everyone is getting sick from the weather changing back and forth from hot to cold, and cold to hot. On Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30 AM and just could not go back to sleep. Then it was sharp stomach pains from that time on out. Just as quickly as the issues came, I woke up this morning and they were gone.

At least this happened on a day I didn't have to teach. BUT I didn't get a whole lot accomplished on Sunday. Usually on Saturday I run errands. Then on Sunday I work on cleaning. I did get the laundry and dishes done. It wasn't a total loss.

The boys were overall very good yesterday. They played together well and picked up.

This morning I dreamed that I was at an auction for old books. Each time my alarm went off, someone won something. Since my alarm was part of my dream, I woke up later than usual. Has your alarm ever been part of your dream?

Daddy usually helps me with breakfast. He said his throat hurt, so he took the backseat on that job. Mica offered to help with breakfast. This is a rarity.

Mica usually whines complains about wanting to eat breakfast, but doesn't want to help. I usually find myself saying, "Mica if you want breakfast so bad HELP out with it!" He usually replies back, "I don't want it THAT bad." Something was different this morning. He kept saying, "What can I do next Mom?" and "How can I help you now?" To be honest I got so caught up in the fact that I was running late, that I didn't remember if I thanked him, or not. BAD Mom! Busy, distracted Mom that I am, I left the house in a hurry.

I called him and told him how proud I am of him. Then I thanked him. I think he took in what I was saying. I could see the smile in his voice. 

It's never too late to thank someone.

Citrusclear Review

I had the wonderful opportunity to review two products by Citrusclear. They have a holistic approach using citrus ingredients.

Citrusclear Tangerine Tingle

$16.99 marked down to $12.75

First off I want to say that I love their packaging! Being an artist, I sadly do judge a book by it's cover. This product holds true to its packaging.

This product can be used as a face wash or mask. It removes dead skin cells and stimulates the production of new skin cells. It has exfoliating ingredients, which eliminates dirt, oil and other impurities. Glycolic acid is one of the ingredients, which removes dead skin cells and keeps pores from clogging. Lemon oil improves and brightens one's complexion.

It makes me nervous to try out new face products. I'm allergic to some make-up, face cleaners and lotions. One time I tried a face mask and my face broke out like crazy. I had red blotches all over my skin. This product did not make my face break out at all. YAY! I really loved how it felt on my face! It tingled, and made my skin feel so fresh. 

Here's the before I used it and during the use photos. I have to say that my husband had a good laugh. He's never seen me wear a mask before. Right now I don't have too many imperfections on my face. A month ago I had one boil after another right on my chin. It both hurt and stood out! YUCK! I have no make-up on in the photos, so no judging. ;) Really I hardly wear any make-up anyway. When I had boils I did though. The mask looks funny, but it feels so good! :)

 
Citrusclear Control Moisturizer Lemon Uplift

$16.99

The Control Moisturizer is perfect for those with skin imperfections. It is a moisturizer that avoids  making your skin oily. Instead it keeps it moisturized after washing your face. This is so important to me because I hate walking around with a glossy forehead! The moisturizer contains ingredients, that also clears acne and prevent future breakouts. The natural acne fighting ingredients minimize pores and oil production. The lemon uplift scent will also perk your spirits into clear skin. The scent is not too strong.

This product did just what it said it would. My face didn't feel oily after using it. I've been having problems with breaking out. Being a teacher I break out during stress times; with midterms and finals. Writing tests, grading like mad and getting weak students to pass sometimes makes me stressed out. Sometimes I don't even know I'm stressed. I've also been getting one big, deep zit before my period. My skin is super fair and imperfections show up big time on me. I'm glad I have a product that helps with acne.

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Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I did receive a free product to help with this giveaway.

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

I started doing what I call Sing, Sing a Song Saturday.  I'm going to post one song on Saturdays that the boys or I like. 

The song may be part of a movie, a kid's video or just a song we like. I'll try and include why we like it and/or the history of the song/singer.

The musician I'm going to talk about this week is Robert Tiso. Have you ever heard of him? I haven't.

The boys were making noise in the backseat when I was driving yesterday. I turned on the classical station to try and get them to be more subdue. It sort of worked.

Robert Tiso was born in London. He plays music on filled, part filled and empty glasses. He calls his music Cristallofonia. He doesn't write all his own music, but his process is so creative! Robert Tiso has played for many music and art festivals, theatre shows, schools, educational programmes, cultural events, museums, private parties, TV and radio broadcasts and several events related to glass and water, the fundamental elements of his music.

I knew I could make sounds on the top of glasses filled at different level, but I didn't know one could do anything like Robert Tiso!

Even though the boys were annoying me on our drive home, I learned about a new musician for the week.

Ave Maria

Glass harp-Toccata and fugue in D minor-Bach-BWV 565

Für Elise

Follow Robert Tiso on his website 
Follow Robert Tiso on his YouTube Channel

The Things They Say

For some reason this is floating around my Omaha friends on Facebook. It's creepy things kids have said. It must have been on the radio, or news.

My kids have said some creepy things. Mica used to stand over me saying nothing, just staring at me when he woke up before me. He wasn't saying anything, but it was pretty darn creepy!

This last weekend we went grocery store shopping. We passed through the meat section and Mica stopped in his tracks and said, "Mom is that a human body?" It was big hunk of meat. 
 
I'm so not right and said, "Maybe." His eyes turned wide. Then I said, "No it's just a part of a cow." 

We got up to the check out and the guy in front of us had tons of meat. He was either stocking up, or having a BBQ party. Mica got a little too close to the gentleman in question. I said, "Mica back up a little bit." Mica said, "Well I just want to know what kind of meat that is?" I said, "He thinks that is a human body!" Out loud. The man laughed and said, "If that was a human body, this place wouldn't be open."

Tonight in the car Isaak says out of the blue, "Mom I'm going to climb the house like Spider-Man. It's ok if I fall and die." 

I'm like, "?????" Kind of crazy coming from a kid who doesn't like the idea of people passing away. Just an FYI we rarely talk about death and we don't watch the news until they are in bed.

A School That Got Changed By Adding Art in Their Curriculum

Art often times gets a bad rap! Artists are thought of being weird, disturbed, not fitting, and starving.
I wish this wasn't the case!

What I see: Artists are unique, creative, fulfilling, and devoted. As far as starving goes...they are only starving if they let themselves starve. Sure they may not get their DREAM job right away, but in what field do you? They have to work at it just like everyone else. They have to be good, and push the envelope.

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A Snowy May Day

This is what May Day brought to us:

Can you see the pink Magnolia petal?

 Flowers and newly mowed grass are peaking out of the snow.

I find it almost comical that the flowers are mixed in with the snow. It happens. Nebraska often gets snow in the early parts of April, but with May we're usually in the clear.

This snow is pretty historic in the stretch of where the snow has fallen. We live in Omaha, so we didn't get that much. Other parts got 6-12 inches! There was car accident after car accident on the news. It was rain, sleet and then a wet snow. I imagine the streets were pretty slick. It's supposed to snow again today. If you live in one of the areas that got more snow than we did, I hope you are safe.

Did you ever celebrate May Day? 

When I ask some people around here they look at me like, "What in the hell is she talking about?" When I was a kid we would get paper cups and fill them with popcorn and candy. Then we'd leave them on someone's porch, ring the doorbell and run. If you do this for the opposite sex, they are supposed to chase you and try and kiss you. I never left one for the opposite sex. Daddy says it's a communist holiday. I've never read anything about that.

Sunglasses

This is what Isaak looked like tonight on our drive home:

It was raining and sleeting out; he was wearing sunglasses. I can always tell when he's going to drift off because he doesn't want to talk about his day, nor does he want me to talk to him.

It was a crappy drive home. I had to stop for gas; there was a wait. I don't blame everyone for wanting to get gas in their cars before the snow starts to fall in MAY. It's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow.

The street I was on was very backed up. Then an ambulance was going down the street that crossed mine. The street that I was on had cars in the other lane that were trying to out race the ambulance. I was thinking, What the heck? Their emergency is much more important than you, or I needing to get home! Then a car in my lane was honking at me to go. I wasn't about to try and out race the ambulance. 

Isaak missed the ambulance bit. He was fast asleep; with his sunglasses on. 

We came inside, ate and played Memory all evening long. Isaak says, "Ya Baby" every time he gets a match. 

WW: Art {Linky}

Mica announced to us in the fall that he wants to be an inventor. He wants to invent a submarine that has newer technology. He said, "It will include an iPad." At his school an art event they had, the art teacher had pieces up that showed what they want to do when they grow up. Most of the other boys did something where they could add camouflage. Mica's stood out as being different. I'm not saying this in a bad or good way; it was just different. The kids had just studied Picasso's collage movement, so they did their pieces in a collage style.

Mica age 7

We went out to dinner a few weeks ago. They gave the kids crayons and plain paper. Isaak drew a girl that looked like a character in Wallace and Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. He didn't intend that it looked that way; he insisted on writing the movie title out when Daddy pointed out that his drawing looked like her. I think it's the hair!

Source Isaak age 4, almost 5

This last weekend the boys were starting the day of picking at each other. I was thinking, Oh great, it's going to be one of those days! Then I looked over and saw that they were both working on what they were calling, "A Dot to Dot". It ended up being a great day.

 

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