Arbonne

My sister recently had an Arbonne party. This isn't the first Arbonne party I've been to. In fact, it's the second. This second one was about ... a lot better. I'm still skeptical.

The first time I bought Arbonne I bought the baby lotion - both my kids broke out in rashes. I didn't know how/what to do to return it. I suppose in hindsight I knew it could be returned but the consultant lived FAR away and I didn't think it would be worth the hassle. :/ Hence - it is best to support local and family when it comes to these things.

That being said, my cousin and my cousin's wife ... er ... the first cousin's sister-in-law both sell Arbonne also. So does my step-sister (ish) in-law. I feel like everyone is selling Arbonne.

Anyways - I hate pushy sales people.

Onward, so I understand believing in your product but I get really irritated when I say - my kids had a reaction and people are just bewildered about it. Obviously I must be lying. I'm not. They broke out in insane rashes. Perhaps they are allergic to the fruit inside I don't know. Whatever. I'm just stating my kids were allergic or didn't react well to the baby lotion. That is all.

I had also bought the cooling foot creme that I hardly use ... ever. But when I did use it ... it did work.

So this time I bought the shampoo/conditioner to try it on my gross, dandruffy hair. Head and Shoulders is only pissing me off. Trust me,  ya'll will know if it works because I'll be super excited that it worked!!

I am intrigued in the big RE9 set but I don't have 400$ nor the patience to wash my face that many times or do that many things to my face. Seriously, I only wash my face if I put makeup on or if I smeared food. Grossed out? Don't be, by washing your face you are stripping it of the many good things on your face. Or something much fancier. Ask the Arbonne consultant - although ... I don't think she'd suggest not washing your face.

Wait. I guess I kind of do rinse it in the shower ...

........ I should shave my legs .....

Preaching to me about how healthy Arbonne is doesn't work for one reason - everyone says it about everything - except perhaps aspartane ... and drugs ... but people on drugs think it's all fine. Although I am turned off my putting baby oil or mineral oil on anything because it's gross. It is. That is a fact. Fresh, clean ... that's nice. So we'll see what the shampoo does and I can't WAIT to try it.

I also sampled a chew that is supposed to kind of help cravings (okay seriously I would be the worst consultant in the universe for this stuff because I can't remember half the things she said) after chewing three seconds I didn't want it anymore. I was full lol. But ... it didn't really stop me from snacking ... I think the cheese dip was just that awesome!!!!! GO EPICURE DIP!!!

OMG I want more of that cheese dip. GAYLE you should bring it to Lynne's on Wednesday!!! Do it. Oh ... but it might not be good anymore. That makes me sad.

Sigh. What else.

I really dislike pushy consultants.

Gayle's consultant wasn't pushy by the way. Well ... no she wasn't. She even gave Amélie the polka dotted bag. and put up with TWO kids just yelling and spilling water all over the place. It was interesting lol.

I should do some work or something.

I don't really want to ...

What could I do?

I  hope my boss never, EVER finds my blog. I'm so serious lol.

If he's reading this. I just dated this to be posted while I'm at work to fool you. FYI. Just sayin'.

Online Shopping - ToysRUs

So I was browsing some online stores, just checking out the 'black friday' deals ... on Saturday. I went to Toys R Us Canada because sometimes they have really good deals in their flier. I was checking stuff out and found some GREAT!!! deals. So I perused and hemmed and hawed and put things in, checked prices elsewhere, checked shipping etc ...

Anyhoot. I had my order totalled to just over 100$ so I could get 20$ off shipping. Once I checked out and paid then it told me one of my items was out of stock!! CURSES!! But it said it just removed it from my cart so I was all like ... fine. Then I realized it charged me 22$ shipping!! Well ... That brought me OVER what I was paying the first time!

Are you following because seriously this might get confusing.

My first total was 114$ and after my item was removed and shipping was added the total was 117$. I was supremely annoyed. I decided to cancel my order and do it over.

I went to the help section where it told me to wait for my confirmation and then to follow the link. It said usually within five minutes it shows up in my ToysRUs account and I can cancel within a limited time. So I waited - impatiently - constantly checking and ignoring my sister and niece.

Two hours later, nothing so I sent an email to them saying what happened and what I was trying to do. Then we proceeded to play with the kids, etc ...

Two hours after THAT I come back online to find that it is posted in my account and there is no way to cancel it. I was losing my cool. I mean, I was paying more money and getting one less toy!!! NO SENSE AT ALL!!

I spotted a number - as I was filling out another irritated help issue - and called them. I got through very quickly and the guy checked it out and is all -

"Ohhh I see. I'm very sorry that your item was taken out of your cart-."
"I'm not mad about that. I was too slow, I get it, but I'm mad I couldn't cancel and redo the order because as you can see it's costing me more money to get one less toy."
"Yes, I can't cancel the order-." Me sad "But I can refund you the shipping. Would that be acceptable?"
Not sure I understood I go on anyways, "Yes?" I wasn't sure I ACTUALLY  understood his words, kids were screaming around me, "So Will I be charged the full amount on my credit card?"
"The full amount will be charged but then it will show a credit for 22,47$."

Brilliant!!

I am super happy. I immediately called two people to tell them how happy I was lol. I mean it still would have been cool to just redo the order but ... this is good too ;)

It's like I went shopping and got good deals and didn't pay for gas!! I'm all over that.

Awwww yes :) I love ToysRUs.

Although I admit for a few moments I didn't.

PS : I decided not to try and dye my hair blond by myself. I will wait until someone with more knowledge in this area can do it. :)

Why you have to be so specific with kids.

First I'd like to start off by saying - fail. I was going to blog every day until Christmas but missed two days in a row. SUPER lame.

On to more important stuff :

Amélie.

Amélie is a good at finding loopholes.

Me : Amélie you can't have chocolate milk in bed or I won't snuggle you.
Amélie : Here mom put my milk on the floor
(we snuggle)
Amélie : Okay mom you have to leave now.
Me : Umm ... okay
Amélie : Give me my milk.
Me handing over milk and leaving. A few minutes later
Amélie : MOM! Come snuggle me!!
Me : I said you couldn't have chocolate milk-
Amélie : I'm not drinking anything. (shows me her empty cup)
Me : Damn it.

***********

Me : Okay Amélie you either have chocolate milk OR me to snuggle you. You can't have chocolate milk and drink it and then I snuggle you.
Amélie: Okay. Chocolate milk please.
Me : Here.
I leave. A few minutes later
Amélie : DADDY!!! Come snuggle me!!!

DAMN IT!!

***********

You can imagine how specific things get around here now.

That doesn't just apply to Amélie ... Corey needs specifics too. Just sayin'.

Heroes - the 2nd time

I was planning on blogging about my family pictures or about my super epic photoshop christmas picture (because they are both supremely awesome) but instead I turned on Heroes (thank you Netflix).

It is still scaring the crap out of me and I know exactly what happens. Oh em gee. I love this show. I wish it kept going and going ... I wonder if there are books ... I should google it.

Heroes is SO mysterious and intriguing and ... SUPER Scary. Sylar scares the hell out of me. The first season is the best season all mysterious and intriguing (I said that already).

Alright - here are some sneak peeks at my family pictures then :

Taken by Renée at Renée Shaw Photography

Kids! Taken by Renée Shaw Photography

I can't wait to see more pictures!!

And GAH Heroes is an addicting show!

Megamind

Oh Megamind,  you are so funny.

I did start off with something relevant for this post but Megamind is on at the same time and uber distracting.

But really can you blame me? Megamind is so hilarious! I mean first of all, he's big and blue! And he has nice eyes.

Amélie got a new lightbulb for her room. It comes with a remote and it changes colors and she's in love and having a disco party pretty much constantly.

I left my classroom a disaster tonight but I'm going to go and clean it up tomorrow, with the kids. They'll love it. :) Maybe I'll even get something done.

Annnnnd I forgot to take my picture again today and I can't take it inside cause it doesn't do it justice.

I can't decide

I can't decide what to do with my hair.

Also - I'm super tired.

Double also - pushing a cart through wholesale club is dangerous.

That is my crappy ass post today.

I'll try and blog at work tomorrow - that will be much more entertaining.

Redheaded and blogging everyday until Christmas

Well.

The other day, Patricia and I tried to dye my hair blonde. It didn't end up blonde.

Now I'm sure everyone and their grandma knows EXACTLY why this happened and they all have advice but unless you are :

A - a hairdresser
B - someone with dark hair who dyes his/her own hair blonde at home
C - God
or
D - Santa Clause

your opinion is probably useless. Just sayin'.

Anyways - my hair is red. Like ... a nice ... red. It's alright. The kids at preschool didn't even notice and it took my coworkers (except Jacquie Denis) a couple days to notice. Jacquie noticed right away lol.

I'm going to either streak it with blonde - probably going to try this at home ..... or dye the whole thing blonde. We'll see. I'm undecided. I'll post a picture tomorrow. PROMISE

Also I'm going to try and post every day until Christmas. Just. For. You.

You are ... so welcome.

One more thing - I'm getting my eyebrows done tomorrow. As in waxed.

And now I'm sick.

Damn it. I honestly knew it would happen though so I can't say I'm surprised. From the first moment I walked into the preschool class full of snotty, coughing kids I knew I was in for it. Again.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE teaching preschool. I forgot how much I loved it - really. I don't miss the being sick part. Luckily it's the long weekend now so hopefully I can catch up on some sleep and get a little better.

Aside from that, we have family pictures on Friday. I like taking family pictures when I'm sick. That's how I plan them - on purpose ... not. Also, I haven't colored my hair yet but I have a plan, I'm going to wear a hat. No big deal and say the red nose is from being outside. Perfect.

Double aside from the being sick thing, I HATE having a stuffed nose. OMG I'm just trying to blog here and my nose is ANNOYING the hell out of me. WTF!

Anyways, I have a trade show this weekend. No clue what I'm doing. It should be super fun lol. Especially with me having a cold and all. Good times.

I also just want to say that some people are SO opinionated and no like opinionated as in 'this is my opinion and I don't care what you do' but opinionated like 'This is my opinion and I can't BELIEVE you don't think the same as me. Like ... sigh. Anyways. That's all. My nose is driving me insane. I can't concentrate.

Dental Surgery

The day started off at 6:30 am - which Corey tells everyone in the known universe and anyone who can pick up his radio signals in the unknown universe - possibly also the Borg.

We left William at home with my sister and loaded Amélie into the car. She watched Tinkerbell all the way to Saskatoon while I criticized Corey's driving skills. She asked us a few times to have something to drink and told us her stomach was 'gurgling'. She kind of knew what was happening but was really blissfully unaware. We had told her she was going to the dentist and he would fix her teeth and she would be able to eat candy without it hurting.

We got to Saskatoon, and Corey found a brilliant parking spot. We wondered if we were going to get towed it was so awesome. We grabbed all our stuff, registered and gladly followed a volunteer who took us to the right place. Thankfully!! We were wondering how we'd find where we needed to go. Amélie hated her bracelet the moment it was on.

Then we did a lot of waiting. We waited until about 10h30 when they gave us her hospital pajamas. Amélie is still annoyed we didn't bring those cool pajamas home. They were white with yellow stripes. Amélie made friends quickly in the waiting room and soon was playing with her Discovery Toys patterns game and playing 'Teacher' with another little girl. Amélie was 'Miss Ariel' (her dance teacher) and the rest of us poor saps were her students. It was entertaining at least. Everyone was entertained even the macho-est guys in the room thought she was super cute with her bossy dance moves lol.

Then it was our turn at about 12:45ish or something. We went downstairs to where the 'theaters' are and into the patient holding area. We waited hardly long at all before the Dentist - Dr. Hamilton - came to talk to us. At this point Amélie had fallen asleep from being tired, hungry and thirsty. He explained what would most likely happen - and then we talked to the anesthetic team. They were so, so nice. Very calm, funny, explained how the anesthetic worked (they would use gas). They explained they would put a tube through her nose and then something down her throat so told us what to expect. I had been through surgery before and no one had ever explained anything this detailed to me. I was able to go in with them just had to gown up. THEN a nurse came to talk to us - or wait ... was she a nurse? I can't remember but anyways she was also very sweet, explained how recovery would go. I have to point out that they repeated each other and themselves a lot which really reassured both of us that everyone was on the same page.

Once I was gowned up, Amélie said I looked like a Doctor and she thought that was hilarious. The nurse called the 'theater' and asked if they were ready and they were. I could feel that Amélie was a little nervous so I talked about Halloween and the nurse asked her what she was going to be. Amélie replied -

- A princess or whatever - and she giggled lol.

The nurse stopped to get a blanket and Amélie was just so happy that she would get a blanket whereever we were going.

When we got to the room there was the tiniest little operating ... chair? Ever. It was pretty cute I have to say. Not really like a bed but more like a dentist chair.

Nice. We walked all the way to our 'theater'. Number 5. I considered that lucky because Amélie was born on the 5th of May and 5 is just a great number in general really.

I expected tears, a fight, clinging, when I lay her on the bed, but she just laid down and I tickled her and she was giggling. I can't remember what the nurses were saying but they were talking to her and super nice and the nurse pulled off her sock and put the little device that normally goes on your finger on her toe and Amélie thought that was silly as heck.

They didn't waste time either, I sat near her head and they put the little mask over her nose and there was some cherry smelling stuff inside which surprised Amélie at first but then she sniffed it. The girl anesthetist (spelling?) began to tell a story about how she got cherries and picked them herself so that it would smell nice and as she told the story she turned up the gas - which apparently changed the smell because she was talking about rotten cherries (which would later give Amélie horrible thoughts that i will discuss later). Anyways, Amélie eventually went to sleep but she did fidget a bit, so I held one hand and the nurse held the other until she was relaxed and then that was that.

They said I did awesome. I was like ... uh ... thanks? The nurse was going to escort me to where Corey was waiting but then the dentist said I'll walk with her. All the way back he was chatting and he mentioned that when she woke up sometimes they were ... you know ... a little out of it, grumpy (I think he was trying to warn me that she might be nuts when she woke up) I told him as long as she wakes up and gets over it I'll be pretty pleased. He said 'She'll wake up for sure.' Which made me feel good anyways.

I asked him if I could take off the gown and he's all like - oh no you have to wear it until you leave. I didn't realize he was kidding until we got to the patient holding area and he told me where to throw it lol. Lame!!

Interesting fact : This is kind of a quick overview just so I can put down the main points. I might edit it later to add things that I skipped over.

I told Corey how it had gone and he was reassured. Then we had 20 minutes to grab a bite to eat and then we had to be in the waiting room. They liked us to be easy to find and although her surgery would take about an hour they liked it if we were available for any consultations during surgery and emergencies of course.

I couldn't eat. I had a huge headache and I was nervous. So I got an orange juice that I barely drank. We went back I read my eReader which made time pass quickly. At just after 2 - or around 2:15 the Doctor came to talk to us. Everything had gone well, he'd capped all her molars so 7 of them, he pulled one that was absessed. (I totally called it) and pulled one of her eye teeth (I think it's an eye tooth) that I also said would be pulled. He did 2 fillings in the front but suggested that even if the fillings don't last to either get a dentist to pull them out or not to worry too much. They would fall out first in a few years anyways.

So then I went and took care of paperwork and paying the bill (eep 1500$ later). While I was gone, they called for me to come and be with her in recovery but since Corey was the only one available he went. She was calling for him anyways. Paying the bill was taking forever (I had two insurance forms I needed her to fill out) - then waited for everything to process on her slow credit card machine. Gawd. I got back and saw Corey was missing and I wanted to go to the recovery room.

I knew where to go but couldn't get in so I asked a nurse - our same nurse - to help me. Once I got in, another nurse pointed out my little snuggle bug to me and I went over. Amélie crawled into my arms and we sat on the chair that would take us upstairs once she had calmed down. Corey took our things and went to wait in the waiting room. By the time I got there he had managed to calm her down a bit. Apparently she woke up wobbly, her eyes kind of rolling and I think that scared him a bit. Anyways, I held her close and asked her if she wanted a popsicle but she was just pissed that they wouldn't give her chocolate milk. LOL.

And by pissed I mean like super irate! They took out her IV - none too gently but I don't blame the nurse. She was trying to be gentle and Amélie jerked her hand. Dang it. Should have just waited until she was more alert I think. Oh well. Once that was out I got her snuggled up in her blanket and she mostly whined and said she was thirsty. She didn't want her popsicle at all! We offered her apple juice, which she wanted but then we were moving upstairs. The nurse told Corey to meet us outside and then we were off.

Amélie was still kind of out of it so whenever I asked her questions she just flipped out - I stopped asking questions. Just cuddled. We got to our day surgery recovery room and onto the bed and snuggled. We got her some apple juice. She insisted on 'doing it herself!' It was hilarious watching her try to get the straw into her numb mouth. Are we bad parents for laughing? HAHAHAHAHA!

Anyways ... I sent Corey for another apple juice and apparently the nurse there was super bitchy about it. All I could think of was - wow. My little girl just had a fairly traumatizing experience and she wants a 2nd apple juice and your freaking out and at the same time handing over jello, popsicles and ice cream to the 'other' kid next to us who had the same type of surgery. Like ... wtf!!

We snuggled a bit longer then I asked Amélie if she wanted to change into her princess costume. She wanted to get naked. Anybody who knows her will now be reassured that she was feeling better lol. So naked she was. Wrapped in her blanket of course. We played her pattern game, then she and I had a little nap - like ten minutes I think. We asked her off and on if she wanted to put her costume on. She wasn't into it so we figured Halloween was a write-off. I was unaffected but Corey was devastated lol.

We were kicked out at about 4ish with really minimal discharge info. Nothing too major to worry about. Here's our biggest beef - they say 'no drinking out of a straw for 24 hours' as they hand you an apple juice with a straw in it. Confused? As were we.

Amélie and Corey checked out the gift shop while I ran to the washroom. She was devastated not to get a bear from there (apparently super expensive) so Corey took her to ToysRUs where she picked out a Tinkerbell Teddy Bear, some stick on earrings and another Ariel doll. Seriously. We have a lot of Ariel dolls but she was pleased.

On the way home Amélie suddenly asked 'Is it trick or treating time?'. Dang. Corey was thrilled. She had a tiny nap on the way home, watching her movie mostly, then we got home had some soup - which Pat had made for us - and dressed the kids and went trick or treating.

AND The toothfairy came to our house that night. Did you know that teeth get more money these days? A TOONIE EACH!! LIKE ... WTF?! In my day it was twenty five cents. Just sayin'.

PS : Amélie is afraid of our fan in the car because it 'sounds' like the gas that put her to sleep and she thought that she had rotten cherries and she would die!! We had to TURN OFF our fan in the car before she would stop crying about it. Yeesh. We've explained a million times that she misunderstood, it's not the same etc .... sigh. We'll see what the future car rides bring lol.

PPS : Although I don't want to relive that experience with William or again with Amélie, we had a really great team. I'm really grateful to them for their compassion and thoughtfullness.