Friday, August 29, 2014

Celebrate The Small Things -- August 29

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

This week I'm celebrating travel size stuff.  I have a couple of different compound creams that I use topically for my neck and ankles/feet and since I'm traveling in a few weeks, I wanted to be able to take my creams with me without the hassle of the TSA (I hate the TSA--but that's a whole other post).  So I called the two companies that supply them and asked if I could get small, travel size refills so I could put them in my ziploc baggie full of other liquids for my carry on.  Ask and you shall receive!




They are like little baby medicines.  So cute!  And bonus...I can pop one in my purse!  No more worries about being without my medicine if I'm out all day.  Total score.


Happy Weekend!

What are you celebrating?


If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse


 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Six Word Saturday -- Doctor Who Style!

It's Six Word Saturday time...

We get a new Doctor today!

I'm referring to Doctor Who of course!  Peter Capaldi makes his debut today as our new Doctor.  While Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor (I'm still heartbroken about him leaving), I'm willing to give Capaldi a shot. 
 
Welcome Mr. Capaldi, and please don't make me cry too much over my missed "bow-tie" Doctor!

Picture via Wikipedia


Six Word Saturday is hosted by Call Me Kate at Show My Face.  If you'd like to join in on the fun, then describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words and comment down below!


Friday, August 22, 2014

Celebrate The Small Things -- August 22

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

This week I'm celebrating surprise schedule changes.  Next month I fly to Nebraska to help my sister-in-law out with my niece and nephew because my brother has to go on a business trip...great excuse to visit with the chicklets :)  So in the original plan, I wouldn't have seen my little bro, just his family.  Well, my brother called just a few days ago to tell me that his trip will actually be shorter than expected, so I'll get to see him for 2 days.  I'll take it!


Happy Weekend!

What are you celebrating?


If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse


 

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Six Word Saturday -- August 16

It's Six Word Saturday time...

Used advent candles on birthday cake.

Yup, yesterday was my daughter's birthday and when the time came for doing the cake, we couldn't find any birthday candles.  So we improvised and used advent candles.  The benefits of being Catholic :)




Six Word Saturday is hosted by Call Me Kate at Show My Face.  If you'd like to join in on the fun, then describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words and comment down below!


Friday, August 15, 2014

Celebrate The Small Things - 8/15 - My New Cyborg Part!

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

This week I'm celebrating my new tooth!  I had my tooth pulled about a year and a half ago and I've been living with just an implant with a cap on it until now.  I would have had a new tooth sooner, but it cost me almost $1800!  And with my two ankle surgeries last year, I just couldn't afford the tooth.  But now it's here...and it's wonderful!

Just another cyborg part :)



I was even allowed to take home my teeth molds, which I was very excited about.  My husband thinks it's weird that I wanted them.  I wasn't even going to tell him...I had considered just putting them on the bookshelf in the family room and waiting for him to notice.  But I couldn't hold in my excitement and I told him over lunch.  My dentist even put my cap in my mold for me so I could keep that too.

It really doesn't take much to make me happy sometimes! LOL

Happy Weekend!

What are you celebrating?


If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse


 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Shot In The Head

http://pixabay.com/en/red-cross-doctor-nurse-cartoon-34913/
Courtesy of Nemo at Pixabay
So this past Friday I had my steroid shot for my occipital neuralgia. I call it my “shot in the head”...which sounds more terrible than it actually is, but kinda makes me sound a little badass :) This time I didn't experience the normal side effects to the steroid that I usually do. Is it possible that my body is getting used to it? That actually scares me a little.

Normally I experience insomnia either the night of, or the night after, or both. This time I didn't have this at all...thank God. And my cheeks were flushed a little bit on Sunday...which is weird, because I usually experience that the day after my shot. I guess this time my body decided it was going to do things differently! The back of my head, where I got the two shots (into the occipital nerve, and lesser occipital nerve), was tender for a few days. This is completely normal. I iced that area Friday and Saturday a few times, which helped. Sunday I just felt like overall achy crapola. I think it was the steroid's last stance or something.

This shot should last me for another few months...it seems like I go three to four months between them. I would have had this shot 3 weeks ago, but it took me that long to get an appointment! Holy hell. I brought this up to my doc and he said that if it's really-really bad to just tell the front staff and they'll try to fit me in. Ummm...I don't usually call until it's that bad! So this time I just booked an appointment for November and if I'm still feeling fine and dandy I'll just call to reschedule. My doc said that they are trying a new scheduling routine...I don't know what that means exactly...but I'm hoping that it means that it won't take 3 weeks for an appointment. He's my pain doctor...I should be able to get in quicker than that! And, thankfully, he agrees.

It's Wednesday...Happy Hump-Day all!


Tuesday, August 12, 2014

I Just Want To Nap

I woke up to darkness this morning. And not because it was the middle of the night...oh no. It was 7am and I could feel the dreariness before I even opened my eyes. I hate days like this, when there is no sun to be seen and the dream of a good hair day just laughs in my face.

Dark mornings like this make me just want to stay in bed. The depression from lack of sunlight gets to me and the achiness that I feel in all my joints doesn't help with my mood.

But I couldn't stay in bed today...I had to take my son for his yearly medical checkup. And because he's going into middle school in just a few weeks (how is my baby growing up so fast???) he needed to get a tetanus shot. And guess who was even grumpier than me this morning...yup...my boy! Luckily, the shot wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be, and as a reward I picked him up some Chik-Fil-A for lunch...complete with a vanilla milkshake.

Perhaps I'll snuggle into my bed and take a nap. With all this rain, and my creaky joints, I feel like it's a napping kind of day.

Hoping for the sun to come out tomorrow.


 



Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Experiment

Being the cheapskate that I am, I'm always on the lookout for saving money.  Of course, this must also combine with my lazy side.  I mean, there are tons of ways to save money, but if it's going to waste too much of my time or cause me a great deal of pain (chronic pain sufferer here) then it's a no-go.
  
I recently stumbled on this...homemade dishwasher detergent.  There are all kinds of recipes out there on the internet (just Google homemade dishwasher detergent and see how much you come up with), but this is the one that I tried:

The Dishwasher Detergent Experiment (via wellnessmama)

Recipe:
2 parts borax
2 parts washing soda (NOT baking soda)
1 part citric acid
1 part salt (epsom)

I didn't want to make a big batch just in case I needed to tweak things so I actually used: 
.5 cups of borax 
.5 cups of washing soda
.25 of citric acid 
.25 cups of Epsom salt

I measured 2 tsp for the one load of dishes and gave it a whirl.  And it worked!  Look at how nice and clean my glasses came out.  



  
Some people use white vinegar as a rinse agent to combat the spot problem, but I didn't need to.  I always let my dishes air dry to save on energy and I don't know if that has an effect on spots or not.  One of the nice things was that when I opened up the door to let the dishes dry, I wasn't hit smack in the face with that strong detergent smell.  I opened the door and it smelled like nothing.  I wish I had known this when I was pregnant many years ago...the smell of the dishwasher detergent used to make me sick to my stomach!  Even now (unpreggers) there are many strong detergent smells that I just can't stand.  I have a bloodhound nose and I'm very sensitive to odors!
 
The weird thing is that when I went to take the pics today (the day after I made it) the mixture seemed to harden a bit...it feels a bit like wet sand (yesterday it was very powdery).  I think I'm going to take it out of the container and use my ice cream scooper to form it into flattened balls and let them harden.  I'd use ice cube trays, but I don't have any!  This way I can just take one out and pop it into the soap tray on the dishwasher door. (*Update:  I tried to do this and it didn't stay together too well.  I'd definitely need the ice cube trays to have this work, and since I don't have any I'll just leave it as-is and shake up the container a bit to break the mixture up if necessary.)

It almost looks like snow...weeeeeee!!!
 
If this continues to work, and it's not some fluke, here are the numbers (for those math geeks like me):

Cost of Ingredients:
Borax (76oz)... $3.97
Washing Soda (55oz)... $3.24
Citric Acid (5lbs)... $17.99 (I ordered this: MILLIARD 100% Pure Food Grade Citric Acid, 5lb. from Amazon)
Epsom Salt (4 lbs)... $2.86

And this is everything I used...



Recipe Used Units Used Cost

Borax 2 parts 0.5 cups 4 oz $0.21

Washing Soda 2 parts 0.5 cups 4 oz $0.24

Epsom Salt 1 part 0.25 cups 2 oz $0.09

Citric Acid 1 part 0.25 cups 2 oz $0.45



1.5 Total cups 12 Total oz $0.98





72 Total tsp





The cost per load comes to 3 cents!  If I ran a load of dishes every day for a year, the total cost in detergent would be $10.95.  For the year!  Uneffingbelievable!!  In comparison, I was purchasing the tablets from Costco...those cost approximately 15 cents per tablet.  Still sounds pretty cheap, right?  Until you do the math... at 15 cents per load, and one load a day for a year... $54.73 total for the Costco brand.  That's over a $44 difference!

And it took me approximately 3 minutes of my time to "make".  Maybe an extra added minute to put it in a fancy container and make a fancy label :)





Have you tried homemade versions of store bought items?  Please share in the comments below!




Friday, August 8, 2014

Celebrate The Small Things -- August 8

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

This week I'm celebrating boxed brownie mix.  I've made brownies from scratch before, and although the brownies were delicious, it was a lot of work.  With a boxed brownie mix, all I have to do is add an egg, and some water and oil...and BAM!  Deliciousness!  I love quick and easy...especially when it's combined with chocolate yumminess :)  And a touch of extra chocolate chips made the brownies even better...hey, you can never have too much chocolate!


What are you celebrating?


If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse


 

Friday, August 1, 2014

Celebrate The Small Things -- August 1

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

This week I'm celebrating our local library.  Just a few years ago our library was renovated and among the new improvements was a teen center.  They have video games, board games, and books of course!  My daughter has been biking (or sometimes I'll just drive her) to the library to meet her friends and "hang out", making use of all the cool stuff the library has to offer.  It's great for her, and I think my son appreciates having the house mostly to himself :)  

I'm also celebrating my new Doctor Who themed ring tone for my new cell phone!  I was very excited when I got my first phone call the other day and heard my Doctor music :)  I wish I could make my house phone do the same thing!


What are you celebrating?


If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse