So Much for Beauty

I had my first Laser Hair Removal appointment Sunday. Let me tell you what IT HURT! And don't let anyone ever tell you it does not. Denise (the esthatician) and I talked a lot during my session. I needed a distraction. But she was saying that some women do more than legs or bikini area done. They get the entire "nether region" done. I mean are they freaking nuts. I mean okay it did not hurt to the point I could not finish the session, but I mean OMG that area is WAY too sensitive, too delicate, to freaking personal for someone to just be going in and lasering shit.

I mean look at this machine would you want this thing going anywhere near your nether region?

Oh, sorry got carried away there. So I survived through what "felt" like something between being snapped with a rubber band over and over & being pin pricked over and over. I go home with instructions that I am not to exercises (no sweating), no hot tubs, no extremely hot showers. I forget why something about hair follicles getting messed up.

I know how to follow directions and do as I'm told. But as lick would have it I still ended up with mumpy looking legs.

They did not start out this way. Sunday they looked normal.

Sunday night a few "bumps" started showing.

Monday morning lots of bumps started showing.



As Monday went on the "bumps" started turning

red and itchy. Now they OMG itch. I can not put enough aloe and cortisone on them fast enough. I called Denise today explained what was happening. Her response was "it's okay, it is common for that to happen. " When I told her that my legs looked like I had the mumps her voice turned excited and said "oh that's good, you should have good results".

Hu? Good results???? I am itching like a freak and she is excited??

I am so hoping that this will be worth it and there will be no more shaving come next summer.

A Little bit on Nothin

I really have not had anything I want to talk about lately, or at least nothing of note or interest. I must be getting the blaa's.

The boy is driving me crazy (nothing new there), Felicia is in Texas this weekend to participate in her friends wedding (this will not help with me getting to postpone hers for a year), and Mikayla has definitely entered the be mean and nasty to your parents teenage years. I have also been bad with my Boot Camp. I have missed my last two sessions, which makes me feel ..... well just really bad.

I am looking forward to my "Class Reunion Picnic" today. There is a plus to this week after all. FaceBook has reunited me with a couple of old lost friends and it will really be nice today to see them today. Hopefully the rain stays away as we are at a park with no cover.

I went yesterday to finally use that wonderful anniversary gift MD had gotten for me. I made the appointment and I thought I asked all the right questions. You know like do I shave or not. I don't know how laser hair removal works!!! The very nice man on the other end said no shave, there needs to be hair to "hook" onto (that statement right there SCARED me). I show up and sit in their very nice waiting room (I just LOVE spas) in a massage chair to DIE for. Finally they come call me in, have me change, and sit in a very low lit room for another while. Then the very nice estnatition comes in takes one look at my legs and says "I have to send you home you didn't shave". I explained to her I was told not too. She said that it has to be as "smooth" as possible and that if she continued today all we would do is smell burning hair (again another statement that scared me). I said okay I don't live far I will run home shave and come back (I did take the day off work for this). she said she did not have another opening until Sunday.

I am going back Sunday. Could not argue with the lady it was not her fault the idiot who answered the phone has no clue what he is doing.

That is pretty much it I guess. I really am TRYING to keep an upbeat attitude. So complaining too much will not help with that. Maybe I will vent later when it is safer.

HUMPF

He is a master of deception!

Here MD and I thought he saw the light, the error of his ways, the light bulb kicked on, whatever and however you want to say it. We thought he finally got a clue. Well now we are thinking maybe not so much.

School - he starts off great, doing homework, making an effort to be in class on time and participate. Within one week that was done. Within two weeks we are failing again. Within three weeks we are getting letters from school regarding tardies.

Friends - he started off making an effort to not hang with the "bad" boys. Going out and hanging with different kids (not sure yet if THEY are any better choices or not). Within three weeks he was back to hanging with the wrong boys again, and blowing off the friends he had just made.

The New Rules - Of course when he got to come home he was FABULOUS! followed every rule we and the courts gave him. Once school started.........well that is a different story. He started to refuse to help around the house, started coming home after curfew (court appointed curfew), started sneaking out at night, not calling his PO, and now back to smoking (yes this was a court appointed rule also especially seeing how he is not 18 yet).

We have reminded him regularly about his choices and what the consequences will be. I remind him that I will not lie for him if I am asked directly about his behavior and whether or not he is following the rules. he says that he does not want to get sent away again but every action, every tone of his speech, every movement he makes says otherwise. We have grounded him, taken things away from him (again), we have refused requests, we have offered rewards. Nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING is working.

Now teachers are contacting me telling ME I need to "fix" Devin. For one thing I tell them that I cannot do a thing about work/activities done three weeks ago. If they want me to be a bigger part of his school life they need to contact me a lot sooner than 3 weeks. They have my email (which is the fastest & easiest way to reach me), my cell number, and my work number. I am not unreachable. They come up with their own excuses for why they do not contact me sooner, my response is if you want me to help on your turf you need but only to ask. But ask sooner rather than later. I mean really, I am not going to get Devin to do work and turn it in if it will not count for towards his grade any longer. I have tried, it does not work. So asking for my help when my help will really not improve his grade anyway is a waste of every one's time.

Boys, I just do not get them. I am way to use to Felicia and Mikayla and their drive to excel and do well. Why does he not? Why are boys wired so differently? Why do only wrong, improper things motivate them? Why Why Why can he not do what is expected of him? Why does he think everything should just be given to him on a silver platter! We have never done this with him (yea he is spoiled but not that spoiled) or the girls. Don't get me wrong the girls are not angles by no means. But they know when to say when so to say. Maybe girls are just a different set of problems than boys.


I just........ I just don't know how to help him anymore. I just don't know what to do with or about him anymore.

Oh It Hurts So Good.

I had my fist night with my personal trainer. OH MY GRACIOUS (just being nice, not what I really wanted to say) I am sooo sore. He had Jodi and I run a mile, walk 1/2 mile, do some weird sideways run a quarter mile, turn and do it again. Then as if he had not induced enough pain upon us he had us do lunches AND squats! Then finally when we thought we saw the end he started on more! Next was 25 jumping jacks, then with our feet standing shoulder with apart we had to do circles with our arms. He said "once you FEEL the BURN do 15 more". Holy Crow the man knew how to hurt. Once that was done we had to make circles the other direction. Then he moved the pain to another part of my body and had us doing some kind of backwards push ups using the back to the car bumper and lower and raise ourselves. he said for the first night just do as many as we can. "It is not a contest" he continually told us. "it is not about how many we can do, but how we do it". And with that I did 5 and was done. But it seemed he was not, we had to do push ups next. Now here is where I sort of impressed him. I did only 5 but with my feet crossed on one foot. While he said this impressed him, I had to confess that this was the only way I could do them. If I have both feet down I can not do a push up at all. He laughed. Finally we had to stand, cross our legs and touch our toes. I did, and I am surprised that I did not fall over!

Finally we got a lecture on eating habits. At that point I informed him I have already been instructed that I need to consume 3,000 calories a day by my physician. So we discussed types of food and how to train my metabolism. Of which I already have this part of the training down pat and he agreed after we finished talking.

I am VERY sore and terrible afraid of how I will be feeling tomorrow! But I did it! I lived through the first night. I am afraid of Wednesday, which is my next session.

I did have to explain to him though that while Jodi wants to loose weight, I do not. I just want to firm up the jiggly parts. He said that it will not be a problem. That was good to hear. Don't want to do all this pain for nothing.

A Goal Has Been Set

I have decided to get into shape. Why you ask? Well the list is long my blog world friends. The spare tire around my waist, the cottage cheese that has implanted itself on my butt and thighs, and the extra skin hanging from my out stretched arms are but a few reasons I have decided that it is time to get into something resembling "in shape". And these items of course are proof that the couch and I have become too close of friends.

Some of you are already into an exercise routine. Some of you already regularly attend marathons and triathlons. I have read your trials and triumphs.

What keeps you motivated? What gets you out of bed every morning and onto the road?
We all know training is hard – but there is a reason you do it. I want to know what your motivator is, need to know what motivates you.

My friend is trying to talk me into participating in the St. Pats Day 5k run in March. So I have between now and then to get into shape, stop smoking, and build some kind of endurance. We have gotten her brother "Drill Sargent" (who is a personal trainer) to train us and be a driving force for us. And we got him to do this for free. Of course this is not totally done out of the kindness of his heart. He is using us as guinea pigs as he is also wanting to start a "Boot Camp" and work the kinks out on us. The nice part about using Drill Sargent as our trainer is he also a chiropractor. So if we get to out of whack he can put us back together again.

The marathon of course I have not fully agreed to just as yet. I mean really, me run 5k now, at my age, in my shape? I am sooo not in high school track anymore. Then, hell yes in a heart beat, now .... um we shall see. We shall just see.

Fungus Among Us

So the weather in Missouri this Summer has been nothing but unusual to say the least. I can count on my hands how many times I actually got in the our pool to swim. All our friends are asking why we do not use the pool more because "you have a heater". My response is "well you have to get out sometime" and it has just been plain ole cold.

And with the cool weather we have notice these WEIRD things growing in my landscaping. I know they are some sort of mushroom but I have NEVER seen one like this.

And with all the cool wet weather my plants are not fairing well either. Our day lillies are in constant need of cleaning and are rarely producing flowers. And our evergreens keep trying to die off.

Looks like I know what will be my chores today. So much for maintenance free landscaping.

The Joy of a Pet

This is what happens when you do not pay attention to your little wiener dog who LOVES to chew up soft fluffy things.

He will pay for it later as it IS HIS bed. Now he has to sleep on hard plastic.

A Labor Day with no Labor!

We enjoyed a weekend of just puttering around the house. Little work was done, and it was oh so good to not have a list of things that needed to get done.

We did however do a lot of eating and a lot of visiting with friends! And of course MD was his usual self......the clown. He absolutely refuses to "pose" for a picture without making one of his faces.

See what I mean?

But everyone seems to like MD this way, so I say nothing and smile with him. He does at least make life a bit interesting!





Monday we were going to have some neighbors and friends over for a BBQ. But Jim decided he wanted everyone to come to his house. So we all did, and we ate A LOT of food. Jodi, MD, and I brought pork steaks (grilled in MD's sauce), shrimp scampi & scallops served over garlic butter rice (oh my that was sooooo yummy), apple dumplings (a to die for desert from thepioneerwomen.com) and frozen rum drinks. There was so much good food brought by all our neighbors and friends and it was all so good.




And of course you get a group of men around a grill there is always too much testosterone!

The discussions, ribbing, and actions they continued to do while I was trying to take pictures, UGH I barely found one appropriate to post!




A little selfish part... I was actually glad that Jim called MD and asked that we get together at his house instead of mine. My house was FINALLY clean and I was not looking forward to have to clean up after a party (even if it was my idea).

All Labor Day weekend we spent with friends either just visiting, playing cards or playing Dominoes. I love when we get to do that as it helps me forget or just not think about what "real" problems we have going on at home. My friends are my rocks and I am very glad to have them to lean on, to complain or crab to, to talk with, to listen to.

Thanks my friends.

Today is a Good Day

Today is a good day.

Today work was a breeze, everything went well and completed as expected and no surprises. That is rare, very rare.

Today Devin woke up without argument. That was nice.

Today Devin & Mikayla both called like they are supposed to when they get home.

Today Devin remember to call his probation officer on his own.

Today Mike is home and we went to dinner, just the two of us.

Yes today is a good day.