Is there a pill that will clear up my face?

In the past two months my face has turned from that of a fortyish mother to that of a pubescent teenager. I have not had breakouts like this since I was pregnant. I’ve tried different face washes, exfoliating and astringents and deep cleaning masks. They either dry out my face or clear up one area only to bring new issues to another area. I am seriously considering looking into acne pills that work for these type of hormonal related breakouts. I don’t know what else to do. My only alternative is birth control pills and since my baby making days are over, if I have to take a pill, I’m not keen on taking one full of hormones.

Music Lessons Make Kids Smarter

Now that summer is here I am considering putting the two youngest kinds into some kind of lesson type activity. I thought about a sport but we live in the scorching desert and the last thing they want to do in the middle is summer is be outside running and jumping and hooping it up. Then I considered dance lessons but they are expensive and time consuming. I think I have decided on music. Violin for Ms. Brainiac and piano lessons for Ms. Sarcastic. She has the perfect hands for piano and she has a pretty good ear for tone as well. I read an article that said kids who learn to play a musical instrument before they are twelve have a marked increase in learning capabilities and retention of information. That seals the deal for me.

Birth Announcements Are So Cute Now Days!

My days of birthing children are over. I’m not complaining! I am now raising three daughters, 9, 12 and 17. If you were ever interested in party central, have a batch of children that are all girls. Girls with pink and bows and glitter and stickers and cute little miniature everythings. Three daughters of varying ages brings scrapbooking to a whole new art! However, this post is not about my daughters or scrapbooking. It is about when people (and NOT my daughters YET) have babies and want to send out birth announcements and how much different they are from when my kids were being born. If you go to peartreegreetings.com and look around, you’ll want to buy every design there is! Trust me. It almost makes me want to have another baby. Almost.

Best Diet Pill

I went to the doctor last week. I had a full blood panel done and discussed with the doctor how much weight I have gained in the past two years, since I turned 40. We discussed how I am tired all the time, how I feel exhausted when I wake up, even after eight hours of sleep. We talked about stress and diet and exercise. I mentioned my disgust at the fact that I have gained on average two pounds per month for the past two years and how even after cutting out sugar, how eating five small meals each day, how stopping red meat and upping my protein intake and exercising at least three times a week I continue to gain weight. It is frustrating and irritating. The doctor called and said the blood work came back normal. There is no "medical reason" for my weight gain so I am now on a quest for the best diet pill and when I find it, I will let you know. Had someone warned me about this aging thing, I probably would have rethought it. *wink*

Allsup can help with Social Security Benefits

Recently my step-father had a heart attack. About fifteen years ago, he had a stroke. When he had the stroke, he applied for and received social security disability benefits until he could work again. The process went smoothly and within a matter of weeks he was receiving his benefit. This time around, not so much. He had a heart attack in mid-April, which resulted in open heart surgery. It is now the end of May and he is still in a nursing home rehabilitation facility. He is still on a ventilator that breaths for him and has a feeding tube in his stomach. The chances of him working again this year or even next year are nill. However, he is still being denied monetary and insurance benefits. I recently told my sister that she should find a company that can help with the process. Had I known about Allsup I would have advised her then. Instead, I will forward this post to her and tell her that Allsup’s success rate for getting people the SSDI benefits they deserve is 98%. I will also tell her that Allsup has helped over 100,000 people since 1984. Maybe they can help my step-dad also.

Memory Lane: When I was a cashier

Many years ago I took a job as a cashier at our local grocery store. As a child, I was enthralled with the ease at which cashiers hit those buttons on the old fashioned cash registers, the ones with the hard buttons that remind you of the old handle crank adding machines. The ones that spit out the receipt with each press of the “ADD” button.

By the time I was old enough to work and got my job as a cashier, the machines were easier to use but barcode scanner technology was still a few years out. I had so many numbers memorized it was not even funny. I got to the point that I did not have to lift the heavy stuff out of the basket because I knew the number already. Now days it’s just lift, scan, bag. Rinse. Repeat. Doesn’t seem like it would be as fun as it was back then.

Feeling Neglected?

I bet this blog does. I have five different blogs I maintain. Sometimes, it is a struggle to get to all of them in a single week, especially since I started taking the Master's classes. I had no idea just how involved I would be in class and reading and writing. I'm not complaining though. I will be better for it in the long run.

Someone remind me of that in about six weeks, okay?

In other, unrelated news, I read the first four chapters of text for the class I started Monday. Over 100 pages. I drafted my answer to the first homework question and was prolific I tell you!

Then, as I was citing my source (the 100+ pages I had read all week), I realized I read the wrong book!

DoH! I had a total Homer moment. I can laugh today. Last night, not so much.

It's a psychological cycle

Many years ago I used to take a diet supplement that contained ephedrine and I really noticed a difference in my metabolism. I still have a bottle of that old stuff but I stopped taking it back when the FDA pulled all ephedrine containing products off the market. I have since tried a few different products but none give me that metabolic boost that I need to get my fat butt off the couch and doing something. I am really starting to think it is psychological. I big nasty psychological cycle that goes around and around. I feel better when I work out. However, getting the energy and proper mindset to get up and actually work out is hard. Therefore, I sit on the couch flipping through channels on the television, all the while complaining that there is nothing and and at the same time, not doing anything about it. When will they either develop the magic pill that either melts the fat off of me or makes me want to get off the couch?

Acne Treatments

Cranky Cranky Cranky. That is how I feel right now. My hormones are out of whack and my face looks like that of a teenager who works as a fry cook in a greasy spoon. My chin is completely broken out and now so are my temples.

I haven't had acne problems like this since I was pregnant. It irritates me and even embarrasses me when I go somewhere because I look so hideous. What I have been doing is looking at some acne treatment that might help until I get the hormones leveled out. Hopefully the combination of hormone leveling and acne treatments will make my skin beautiful again. Then Angelina Jolie better watch out.