Taking the Scenic Route

I have not really worn make-up, except for special occasions, since my last day of work when I was 5 month pregnant with Zane.  I was in hotel management and wearing make-up and being really well put together was a requirement of field, so I spent over a decade having to wear make-up every day, whether I wanted to or not, and when I was finally able to live a life not worrying about being written up for not having on a full face of make-up and pristine clothes, I didn’t wear make-up again and happily settled in to comfortable clothes and Birkenstock shoes.

I hated make-up, partially because I had a bump on my nose and some skin tags near my eyes that made it really difficult to make it look good. (foundation seemed to highlight the things I hated instead of camouflage them).  Well, the same day I had dental hell last week, I also went to the dermatologist and got the nose bump and most of the skin tags taken care of (I just couldn’t take it any more on my eye area…I got the main ones on the edge of my lids that interfered the worst, but I wish I could have handled it and had all of them.  I was just hurting too bad).

Since my nose is healing, and I have felt more like “taking care of myself” than I have since, well, since I was in my early 20s, before/at the beginning of the weight gain, and have actually been looking at things like skin care and make-up and other girly things that I haven’t ever really cared about.  (or, only cared about in my dating years because you were supposed to do those things.)  It was always for external reasons before, and when I was able to, I refused to do it for other people.  However, lately I have been wanting to do it for myself, which feels a little weird, but maybe it is a part of getting older or something.

Anyway, I have been looking into skin care stuff and never realized how much stuff is out there, and how much stuff I can’t fathom spending big money on.  Then I found out about Aldi’s skin care products.  They have a line called “Lacura” that has actually won awards and beaten out the high end stuff in testing in Europe.  It is made in Germany (Aldi’s is a German company) and although it is pushing the budget, it is cheap enough that I decided to give it a try.  So, for the first time since my teens, I went out and bought cleanser, toner, moisturizer, eye cream, skin masks and body lotion from the line.  I also picked up bath gels stuff, which I never get,  and shampoo (I was out of shampoo) while I was there.   Tonight I realized that I haven’t done anything beyond shampoo and soap for nearly 20 years, and it felt really nice to pamper myself.  I’ll let you know how I like the stuff, but I already know that I like how I feel after taking a few minutes after my shower to indulge some girly-ness.

The kids had a great time at ROCKO today.  We had a relaxing break.  Although we didn’t have the funds to go out, we did come back home and throw some steaks on the grill and Zach took a nap on the couch.  Right before we picked them up we stopped by the Hollywood video, where we had noticed a “going out of business” sign, in search of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” or some games at decent prices.  We didn’t find anything, but we did run into Robert and Alex there, which was pretty funny.  (Robert was coming over later that night).  Zane had a good time, although he had a difficult time with some transistions and took a bit to warm up to the dancing, he did join in and enjoy himself.  He loved the “Uno Attack” game and it had me wishing that we had gotten it for him for Christmas.  (he asked for it, but we thought he just wanted “Uno”.  He was happy with “Uno”, but I guess he really wanted the other version of it more than we realized).  Zora, as usual, joined in and had a ball with everything.

The cookies and crafts they made:

Zane’s heart cookie

Zora’s goodies:

Business name FAIL.  You would think that if they were educated enough to be a CPA, they would have learned basic grammar rules.  (or at least be smart enough to hire a proof-reader before choosing both your business name and the signage.)

I should submit it to the apostrophe abuse site.

Phoebe’s family invited us to join them for the annual “Ice Cream for Breakfast” Day.  We did.  I would love to say that we were being super healthy and made “ice cream” by blending yogurt with frozen strawberries, but actually, I just forgot to buy ice cream and that was the easy substitute.  No noble crunchy intentions, just me being forgetful when shopping.  lol.

To translate the Zaneish:  “what do you need” is asking “what do you use to make the ice cream”

Zane requested apples with peanut butter and pumpkin seeds.  Weird, but healthy enough for us to happily comply.

Zora is always ready to go.  Here she is grocery shopping with dad, but she insisted on wearing her pink cowboy hat.

(camera phone)

This semester we are, among other things, trying to get Zane to give imaginary names to things. So, during the craft they are asking him what the object is named. He usually responds with “Zane’s *craft*”. For instance, the groundhog mask, he would only say “Zane’s Groundhog Mask” and would look at you like you had two heads when you asked what the groundhog’s name was. Today, with some help, decided that today’s craft was a “snowman”, and that his name was “Frosty”.

I thought it was a pretty cute little guy.

Last week at the Autism parent’s meet-up the people next to me all had the most delicious looking/smelling pepperoni pizzas (Old Chicago…what they are known for). I have been craving pepperoni pizza ever since, like CRAZY craving it. Tonight we made a substitute that, although not exactly healthy, was yummy and low carb. Crustless pizza. lol. Take a pie plate, put pepperoni and cheese in it, put it in the oven until the top looks like it is supposed to, all bubbly and browned. All of the yum, none of the carbs. If we would have had tomato sauce, that would have been great as the first layer, but we didn’t, and I didn’t care, so we skipped it.

My more usual daily fare is a BIG A** SALAD, taking inspiration from Mark’s Daily Apple.
Two Minute Salad
Ultimate Salad Recipe
Earlier this fall we actually hunted down the “serving bowls” that match our wedding set and got two. I have this sensory thing that makes the sound of metal scraping metal almost intolerable to me, so eating giant salads out of my mixing bowls was about to do me in. It was worth it since we use them at least once a day, sometimes more.

In the warmer months, a salad is easier with such an abundance of fresh veggies. As winter winds down (and so does our pocketbook), we are reaching farther and farther into the pantry and freezer to find salad fixings, but it is still quite yummy. Krogers/Dillons had red roasted peppers in a jar on a great sale a few weeks ago, and I stocked up and am enjoying at least one big red pepper on there every day, along with sun dried tomatoes and either gorgonzola or bleu cheese. Add in some anchovies, leftover chicken or meat, or sardines (although the texture of sardines makes them a little tougher to eat), some balsamic vinegar and decent olive oil and it is still a pretty good nutrition. I usually have an avocado and a bag of something from the frozen veggie section in there too (like broccoli, cauliflower or green beans), but didn’t take the time to do that tonight. I vary the greens, but my favorite is a bag of spring greens I can get for a good price at Aldis, because it has a nice variety. Throwing a bunch of herbs and spices on it also helps give it a nice depth of flavor. This is the core of my food for the day. If I get enough healthy fats in there it is amazingly satisfying.

To start with, an AWESOME spontaneous comment by Zane.
As we were pulling into the parking lot of the building where Zane’s ST is held (at the University), we pass by a sign that said “Italian Door J”. I noted the sign, and in my brain immediately wondered what made “J” an “Italian” Door, then realizing that it probably is where the language class “Italian” is being held. As I am laughing at myself and the strange little conversation in my head, I park, and hear Zane pipe up in the back seat (now keep in mind, this entire conversation has been in my own head). “How about English Doors? Or Japanese?” I was stunned and SO glad I noticed the sign so it wasn’t a total non-sequitur. I thought it was awesome.

I brought my camera to Speech today. It was actually the second day of the semester, but the first day I was having the dental day from Hades and barely remembered he even had Speech. (Thankfully, Zach was on top of things for me that day). The group of kids and the clinical supervisor is the same, with a new group of Speech Therapy students. Zane’s new person left me with a good first impression. Yay!

The craft: making a groundhog mask. (in the second picture he is looking at the one-way mirror that I am sitting behind to see himself in the mask).

The activity: bowling. He made sure they knew that he got TWO throws. (except that he actually threw it, so they had to remind him to roll the ball)
Waiting his turn.

He didn’t really want to wear his mask at home, so Zora happily volunteered. (He did give his permission for her to wear it though)

Happy Groundhog Day all!

You know you are getting older when you need to mail a letter and have no idea what the price is because you lost track somewhere in the mid 90s. I am really hating the trend where they put a letter on the stamp instead of a price because it forces you to Google it to know how much it is so that you know how many of them to put on the letter, since you haven’t bought stamps for the last half dozen or so price changes. (btw, the little rooster ones with the blue background are 1 cents, the G rate dove ones are 3 cents.)

And on a happy note, those “Love” ones in the background (with the angel) will always be on the bottom of the pile, just there to give me a smile when I dive through the pile. Those are the stamps that went on our wedding invitations.