This is Scary. And Gross. And Painful

*Updated*

And personal. And adolescent.

I started doing an oil cleansing method for my skin. Not a good idea. In this photo I thought my skin was bad. So I stopped. Then I started to use other "natural" and store bought stuff.

And things got worse.

12/8/2012
And worse. So I started taking a homeopathic herbal supplement called Clearin.
Where the skin was good, it was GOOD. I used 2 bottles in 3 weeks at $25 a pop.

and worse....


Tea tree oil for open sores, aka popped pimples.

Slather on the Benzoyl Peroxide


Couldn't afford the supplements anymore. So I stopped taking them.


Then I started antibiotics. And a couple sessions of accupuncture. And light therapy.



Slightly better....

Raging Hormones....all has exploded.

And present day. Continuing light treatments (thanks to a gracious friend who isn't charging me for them).

So, there's my dirty little embarassing secret.

Update* Things are clearning up, slowly but surely. It looks worse than it is. Most of the redness is just discolored skin. I do have blemishes, but not nearly as many, or as painful ones. I suppose God wanted me to learn to be grateful for the health and beauty I had (have).

Christmas Card 2011

This year we were a little behind the ball on getting Christmas Cards out. We regret not sending them out a week ago and taking the electronic route. But here it is!! Enjoy!

Have you lost your marbles? No, we've got two extra actually.

We got a bag of marbles from our Home Preschooling Friend who does all sorts of fun things with her kiddos. With her marbles she let her kids paint with them in by rolling them around in a box with some paint. We intend to do that. But today we did something else. Like use them as a bribe to get Brady to clean the table happily.

After exploring them I suggested we count how many of each type we had. I ran and got a clip board, piece of paper and markers. Official tools for observing things.

We drew the different kinds we saw as we counted them out. We have 7 different types of small marbles and one "Bonus Super Shooter." We concluded that we got 53 marbles (including the shooter) in our bag that was labeled with 50. Score!!

Brady really enjoyed this. What I think made it more fun for both of us was going with his pace. I tried really hard not to get too ahead of him and push him to move on before he was ready. I also had to recognize when he was done with the activity and be okay with that. Stopping when he's lost interest is an important part to keeping learning fun in our home.

I am proud of Brady for coloring the marbles, writing some numbers, counting the marbles, helping make notations and drawing the "Bonus Super Shooter."

I thought your eyes were hazel...

One lovely summer day at the library we talked about Austrailia. The kids made this cute little kangaroo craft. This is Brady's. Note the eye. I think it was an omen.... Later that day I noticed him having a teary eye and rubbing it quite a bit. I was pretty sure he just had something in it.

After consulting with my Nurse Friend we went to the doc. Conjunctivitis affirmitive. Treat with eye drops for two weeks. Postpone Abbie's birthday party. Get well soon.

Are you KIDDING me?!?!

The answer you've been waiting for is below! I ask you, What is wrong with this picture????

I allowed 24 hours before I revealed to you what is wrong here. My good friend Stan came the closest in the least words (at least I think he did). Anjie was a VERY close second with the white carpet comment.

The problems with this picture are as follows:
1) A child under the age of two is using a sippy-less cup on carpet.
2) The cup is a GLASS cup. Who gives a baby a glass glass???
3) Do you see how FULL that glass is??? There's no way that kid is going to handle that without spilling.
4) The carpet is white. Please, I thought I was being smart getting beige carpet. I thought I would keep up with all the little black spots that mysteriously (and not to mysteriously) appear. That lasted until Brady was 6 months old. Anjie was right, no carpet is that white.
5) The reason the kid is smiling is because he knows he's going to make Mom lose it when he dumps the staining offender all over himself and the floor.

This was from an ad for Woolite Carpet cleaner. It says "Grape juice and carpet can finally coexist." I give the marketing department a B for effort. The graphics team a B-. But any REAL mom knows that the only way grape juice and carpet can coexist is in the hands of a mature and responsible person. And sometimes not even then.

Do you ever feel cheated by life? I sure do. We came out here thinking we were doing the right thing. We felt strong. We felt changed. We felt confident that things were gonna get better.

Just to update you, they haven't.

Rubby Dubby

Little Abbie in the "Big Girl Tub." We tried to give her a mowhawk like Brady would get, but it wasn't the same. It just curled over. I love her curls!!

A month later and she was braving the seas with Brady. Now they are Tub Buddies. She ever so patiently lets him dump water on her. At least a few times.