Just a sunburn?

Last week, as we all know, my cute little family spent some quality time at Bear Lake. The first year that we went, despite my best efforts, my cute little Lolly girl got a bit of a sunburn on her shoulders. It wasn't bad enough to peel, but bad enough to make me cry. She was happily oblivious to the sunburn and it's significance.

Since that time, I have been VERY diligent about making sure my girls wear sunscreen. They are of the exceedingly fair variety and burn easily so I am not often found without at least one form of sunscreen. They even know to "assume the position" which is quite similar to the patting down/search done by police officers before an arrest. I'm nicer about it though.

Now, this may seem like late night ramblings from a very tired mama, but I'm actually going somewhere with this. It has been my experience that women, by nature, are nurturers. Yes, we come in all different shapes, sizes and varieties, but we all have a tendency to nurture. Whether we are nurturing spouses, children, friends, neighbors, animals.....whatever it is, we nurture.

But, how often do we nurture those around us while completely forgetting about ourselves?
That's a picture of my back from last week. My chest was also sunburned, but I figured that since my nipples are now a little too friendly with my belly button, that's a picture that's best left off the blog. (CG is cringing in embarrassment right now! he he he)

My baby girls are as white and delightsome as they were before our trip. And my skin is peeling off my body. It's not as though I didn't get any sunscreen, it's just that the multiple reapplications that should have taken place took a back seat to the sand, water, snacks, wind and poop that was more of a priority at the moment.

And I have to question....at what point does our nurturing hurt ourselves? Or, worse, leave us so empty that we cannot adequately care for the ones we love? And how do we find the balance between caring for others and caring for ourselves? I struggle with finding that balance every day.......giving equal attention to each of my children, time to myself to find some semblance of sanity and quality time with the girls, vegetables versus chocolate....

It's all about balance. I have found a good balance of Mountain Dew and chocolate is a necessity for each day. As for everything else? I'm still working on it.

Recipe Swap Wednesday-Homemade Mac & Cheese

While technically this would probably be considered a recipe, it's more like a collection of prepackaged foods combined in a super yummy way. Vegetables have been added to improve the nutritional value of this dinner but it is by no means a "health food". I shudder to think of the Weight Watchers point value this would have.

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese
16 oz. pasta of your choice
2 cans cheddar cheese soup
2 cans milk
1 lb. polska kelbasa (I'm pretty sure that's spelled wrong but you get the idea)
1 box of frozen pureed squash (this makes it creamier without adding fat. no really, it does)
1 bag frozen peas
Tomatoes, diced
Shredded cheddar cheese

Pasta: Cook according to the lovely directions provided on the package. When the pasta is finished cooking I usually add the bag of peas to the water and let them cook before draining the pasta.

Sauce: Combine & heat cheddar cheese soup, milk, sausage, and squash. I like doing this in the crock pot because of the risk of scorching. And it's easier when dinner time comes and all I have to do is cook the pasta.

Combine the pasta, sauce, peas, tomatoes and as much shredded cheese as you would like.

Enjoy! And make sure everyone who raves over it know how much you slaved over this meal!

Bear Lake 2009

We interrupt this blog slacking to bring to you a truly entertaining story. A story of me camping with my cute little family. And making it a memorable experience. And memorable it was.

We headed off on our journey a wee 2 hours later than planned, but I wasn't too worried. I try to be as flexible as possible because I figure that a trip starting with lots of yelling isn't all that fun. For anyone. So, no big deal. Less time on the beach the first day.

Bear Lake Toes
3 short hours and just a few hundred "are we at the beach yet" later we arrived at our destination. We set up camp and headed down to the beach for a while before making dinner.

Our humble abode. With a hole. Thanks for asking.
At least we had a fabulous time on the beach. It really was wonderful. Since it was around dinner time, there was almost no one on the beach and we got to have it all to ourselves. Something that Dexter especially appreciated.
The girls loved it and I was reminded of why we went to all the work, etc. to get us there.
Thursday morning, before we left, I had made some super yummy tin foil dinners. My first attempt ever and we will never know how good they were. But I'll get to that in a minute. First we had to set up our canopy so we would have a little shade. And.....it was broken. As in irreparably broken. So much for shade.
On to the camp fire. A must have for every camp out. CG actually cut down a tree from our back yard for our camp fire. Don't worry....it was coming down anyway. The camp out just inspired it to happen a bit sooner.

Man Making Fire
Well, actually the fire making didn't go so well. It seems as though the wood was too wet or something. It just would not stay lit. So, there went the tin foil dinners. And the s'mores. Amazingly enough family morale was still quite high. We had enough Lunchables and various "camp only" snacks to get us through about a week so it's not like we were worried about starving.

The Royal Beast relaxing after his romp in the lake.
As I said before, morale was high.
A little too high. So high that the girls didn't feel the need to go to sleep until 11 pm. 11 PM! And then they were up again at 6. 6 AM! Dude.....GO TO SLEEP!

Friday morning we packed up what was left of our camp and headed to the beach. We had lots of fun and used lots of sunscreen.
It had been rather cloudy all morning, but things had been fine. Until the wind kicked up. At which point, Lolly opted to spend the rest of our beach day in the van. She was tired. Wonder why?
After a series of a few more unfortunate events, we decided to call it a day and head home. I can't even bring myself to discuss my sunburn or the poop incident, but suffice it to say, it was the straw that broke this mama's back.

We finished off our annual Bear Lake trip with our tradition......shakes and fries for dinner before heading off for the long drive home. Everyone was happy.

And in the end, it was all worth it......

Zzzzzz.....

I'm tired. And yet, here I am.....blogging at 4 am. Because I can't sleep. And the best thing to do when you can't sleep? Blog. It's entertaining. For others. All the cool kids are doing it. And me. Tomorrow is going to be SO MUCH FUN! Actually, I guess that would be today. Yay. Wish me luck.......

Friday Favorite-First Harvest

Yep, I'm posting a Friday Favorite on a Saturday night. I'm a rebel. Here's our first harvest from our first successful attempt at gardening.

Our first tomato.
Plus, a little perspective. And a piece of taffy.
What are we going to do with it all?!

Actually, in about a month, I'm going to be very busy canning and freezing. But, there's just something about the smile on my girls faces when they eat a cherry tomato fresh from our garden. It's priceless.

Facebook Etiquette

I'm relatively new to Facebook. I signed up last November and, while the first few days seemed like a part time job, have spent little time on it. I get on it maybe once a week or so, sometimes I go longer between Facebooking sessions, but whatever. Although, if I really applied myself, I could spend 8 hours a day on it with all the quizzes and people to write to or make fun of. The possibilities are endless, is all I'm saying.

Now, this long and boring introduction is actually leading us somewhere. Because I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook I sometimes wonder if I'm maybe unaware of what is okay and what is not okay. And what is just down right tacky. And I'm looking to all my loyal readers to help me with all things Facebook.

The other day I got an event invite. This wasn't the first time I've gotten an invite to an event. It's just that it's usually for various house parties, bag parties, The Mrs. Utah pageant. Things that I would expect to get through Facebook. But the other day I got a wedding invitation. For the actual wedding. From someone I haven't seen or spoken to since high school. And I was......surprised? Perplexed? Is that normal? Do people do this and I've just been excluded all these months? Honestly, I'm not judging (yet), I'm just asking.

So, I'm looking for opinions. Strange, since I'm usually the one sharing them instead of asking for them. But I really want to know.....what do you think about this?

Also, Twitter. To tweet or not to tweet.....convince me. As a side note, I think if I told CG that I twooted, he would laugh like a school girl.

Fantastic Sams...Or Maybe Not

Today, my friends, I have a filter-free post to share with one and all. It may end up being a post where you wish I shared just a tiny bit less. On the bright side, there is no throw up or boogers involved. At least on my end. I can't make any promises for you.

Things around the Chaos household have been a little.......difficult. Most especially for the Lady of the house. Bad reactions to suddenly stopping old medications. Bad reactions to starting new medications. Bad reactions to...reality. It's been...difficult. To share with you the dire straights that I've been in I have an example. My clothes...they've become a little holy. Not in a religious way, just as in a lacking material coverage sort of way. But I have lacked the fortitude that it takes to actually go shopping to find new shirts. Because it's just too much. Usually I have the desire to go shopping, but not the available funds. This time, I've got the funds, but no desire. See? I'm coping that well.

Yesterday, I decided to be a bit more proactive in my plight. I've been needing a hair cut for a while, since my last hair cut was in December. Last week while we were at the library I had even found a hairstyle in a magazine that I liked and took a picture of it with the cell phone. Nothing drastic since I'm growing it out for Locks of Love again, but shaped and styled so that it was more manageable for the summer. I was taking control, baby! I was going to drag myself out of this deep, dark hole that I've been in no matter what!

Or so I thought.

After CG got home from work, I headed out to Fantastic Sam's. Here is where I may have made my crucial mistake. Maybe I should have been warned by Kristina's post about Kate Gosselin being the spokesperson for Fantastic Sam's. Granted, I didn't end up with a backwards mullet, but that did little to make me feel better last night.

This is a picture of the style that I wanted (shoulder length bob). Fabulous photo taken with cell phone.
This is what I got. Actually this is what it looked like after I straightened it because she all but kicked me out of the chair as soon as the last lock fell.
Can you see that A-line there? It's slight....right there?? Yeah, neither could I.She cut off AT LEAST 4 inches. 4 INCHES! And what did I do about it? I smiled politely, paid for the cut, LEFT A TIP and walked out. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. That's the worst part. I've got such issues with confrontation that I just chickened out and left. Also, I was in a slight state of shock. But it was mostly the chicken thing.

When I got home and saw it in the mirror, I cried. Actually, I sobbed. Greatly. The first step in taking charge of my life just exploded in my face. And all over the floor at FS. My hair hasn't been this short in close to a year. Which means that I'm another year away from having enough hair to cut off to donate without shaving my head. No biggie. Also, it's ugly.

I decided to go back this morning, when she probably wouldn't be working, and complain loudly to the manager. I had also planned to let my children run amok in their salon just for good measure. I'm such a nice person.

Bright and early at 11 o'clock this morning I charged in with all my indignant rage and my two children. And was greeted by.....you guessed it, the girl who cut my hair last night. She didn't even recognize me at first. Maybe that's because I was dressed in unholy clothing and had make up on, but whatever. It totally took the snarky wind out of my sails.

She asked if there was a problem and I meekly explained that, yes, there was indeed a problem. LOOK AT MY HAIR!!! I was screaming on the inside, polite on the outside. She was just finishing up with another client and the she'd help me.

It was painful I tell ya. On the bright side, she did spend more time fixing my hair this time than she did hacking it off last night. But I was also treated to a list of reasons why this was my fault, including how peoples hair shrinks differently as it dries. Also, she seems to believe that a flat iron will regrow that extra two inches she cut off if you just use it right.

Now, it looks like this.
Much better than before, but still 2+ inches shorter than the original style I wanted. Yes, I am bitter. The bitterness will fade eventually.

So, here are a few things that I have learned from this experience:

1. If a salon offers a free 10th hair cut after purchasing the first 9, there is probably a reason and you should leave.
2. No, I will not be getting that 10th hair cut free.
3. And, finally, I have a large man-ish face and don't like taking pictures of myself.
   

I hope you are all able to learn something from this experience. And remind me of this next time I'm getting antsy for a new 'do.

Blog The Bobs, Baby

Another week has come and gone with me not posting one fine thing. Sadly, my words fail me now as well, but I have some cute photos to make up for it. This following is a "montage" of our Independence Day/weekend. And we all know me well enough to know that it didn't last just the one day, but the entire weekend starting on Friday.

Behold, our Celebration!

Matching Freedom Outfits
My Independent Girls
Freedom Toes
The official flower of Summer 2009
Freedom Food.....including the 'bobs.
Freedom Sparklers
Followed shortly thereafter with the application of aloe vera to Babs fingers.

Freedom Fireworks
In the jammies
Curly Tongues
Free To Sleep!
And all that.....just the 4th! A definite Friday Favorite! I'm still recovering. See you next week.

Friday Favorite-Super Princess Power

Recently we got to attend a super fun Batman birthday party. When the birthday boy delivered the invitation, Lolly asked him if she could come as a princess. He was politely disgusted and said that there would be no princesses at the party. It worked out well since we didn't have any capes in our dress up box and this gave me a real life deadline to have them made. They were super easy and the girls loved them. Have you ever seen cuter Super Princesses?!

She's Alive!

You guys are great, asking me if I'm dead and stuff. I can feel the love! I'm happy to report that I'm definitely not dead. It's just summer. And, well, ya know.

To make up for my lack of posting lately, I have one doozy of a story to share with all of you. I should warn you now, if you have a weak stomach or are eating something while reading, you may want to stop reading. And then come back later because it is a seriously funny, yet disgusting, story.

A couple of weeks ago we attended an open house for a friend of mine from high school. He and his wife had just bought their first home. Very exciting! We were chatting in the front room just before making a graceful exit. Lolly and Babs had been playing well together, but had pretty much used up all of their "plays well with others" reserves by this time and were ready for dinner. I was holding Babs and was talking to them both about....something that I have since forgotten, so obviously it was very important. What is important to know is that all eyes were on me at this time.

Babs, unbeknownst to me, was picking her nose. That right there is just gross. Anyway, I was oblivious to her choice of entertainment until....UNTIL. She wiped something on my chin. I put my hand up, while stupidly asking her what she had wiped on me, and when I pulled my hand away from my face I saw that it was a great big BOOGIE!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! It was so disgusting! I ran screaming up the stairs to the bathroom to dispose of said boogie, all the while trying not to completely lose my lunch. I figured that the only way to make this embarrassing situation even worse would be to start throwing up uncontrollably. On the bright side, everyone else found this highly amusing.

We left shortly thereafter.

Anyone want to invite us over to your house for a party now?!