Purging

Ah! A very happy post ... for me anyway!

So lately there has been so much going on with me. All family related (between mine and Conrad's) and probably 70% brother related. His situation went from bad to really bad to horribly horribly worse ... and came to a head last week. When said situation was over - or the problem of the moment was over (the situation is not over), I looked around and realized my house was a mess. I don't have rats having a party in the kitchen or anything, but it was dusty and disorganized and I had piles of things everywhere. I read somewhere a long time ago that what your house and the things around you look like - is a reflection of where your head and your life is. So when I looked around I saw a chatoic mess ... and I am NOT like that naturally. I am neat, clean and organized. I keep a nice house. I have pride in my house and in my life, but lately no ... and my head? My head a big mess!

My brother is no longer in Austin. As of this exact minute I don't know where he is. It has taken me a VERY long time to be able to say I love my siblings very much, but loving them has nothing to do with taking care of them. I don't make enough money to take care of them. I shouldn't have to take care of them. It's not my responsibility to take care of them. I am VERY sad about the situations they find themselves in. My heart hurts everyday about that ... but I am starting to get angry. I am mad that my parents can't ... live the lives they should be at this stage in their life. I am mad that they and I, am made to feel guilty (probably self inflicted) that we are doing better than they are. I am mad that they constantly come to me for support and money and whatever else. I am starting to get angry about they way they treat ME. Like a revolving bank. Like a parent. Like the things I want and need are not important - as long as I get them back on their feet.

So I look around me and I realize that my head hurts, my heart races, my heart palpitates, I cry a lot ... I get lumps and bumps everywhere. I'm depressed. I'm sad. I lose weight, I gain weight ... all self inflected and my house isn't doing much better. For some reason this really inspired me and I decided NO MORE - the junk was headed out. Time to clean!

You want to see what the inside of my head looked like? A lot like my cabinet!

A MESS!!! Look at that ... stuff from my pantry. Dishes everywhere ... it's fall, I wanted to bake the other day but I did NOT want to rummage through the cabinet to find what I needed, so ... no baking. Well, no more! I sat down and took about 30 minutes and pulled it all out onto the floow. I figured out what was going to be kept, where it would be kept ... what was trash and what was for the donate pile. I found SIX round cake pans. SIX.

My cabinets and my head now look like this:

... and now that they look like this I found plenty of room for my new gifted pizza stone and my new roasting pieces ... I found ALL my baking things and a purple Pyrex casserole dish I have been looking for forever ... all the food was moved back into the pantry where it belongs ... and slowly ... I am making my way around the house.

I am still REALLY sad about what all is going on, but I have got to get myself under control and this is the first step.

Kah

Generous

I think I had mentioned before I REALLY wanted a pizza stone ... from Pampered Chef. They are pretty expensive so I never ordered one before. I go to the PC parties all the time, but when it comes time for ordering, I always go with 8 small things instead of 1 big thing. Probably that "I want more for my money thing"- but really, I've ALWAYS wanted one! When my birthday rolled around I decided to bite the bullet and get me one. THEN some stuff with my brother happened ... and I had to go to Austin and well, there wasn't much extra money to be had.

I mentioned it to Kelley and she said uh, I have one and I never use it. You can totally have it ... and I said No No - that's ok and she said really, it's going to waste, please take it. So I said well at least let me pay you for it and she said absolutely not.

A few weeks later I had to go by her house, and she had it ready and waiting for me. YAY!

and while I was there ... she loaded me up with another two pieces! Never Used!

I KNOW, how sweet was that! What are those two pieces you ask? Well ... two casserole dishes for SURE ... and a ROASTER, when you put the little one on top of the big one!

I was so happy .... and it was VERY generous of her. She wouldn't take my money --- but I did take her stuff! HA!

Now ... where to put them? Another post on that soon!

Kah

Cheap Facials - Olay Skin Smoothing Scrub Cream

I met my friend Tracy about ten years ago. We traveled a lot together on the FLW tour and various Wal-Mart events, etc -- and we are a lot alike and clicked immediately. One of our favorite things to do on the road, or at home, was hit the spa. I was a huge massage fan but Tracy never was. She was a facial girl. I didn't really get it because a massage- I mean aromatheraoy, foot rubs, etc ... who would turn that down? Tracy did!


I talked with her a few times about it ... trying to encourage her to come over to my dark side ... and she used to laugh at me and say wait til you turn 30! (I was 26 when we met) --- and she was just a few years older, but she promised me my skin would change later on.


Years went on and one day, maybe 3 years ago, I decided to buy a spa package ... massage, facial, pedicure, etc ... and have an entirely relaxing spa day. I did and I loved it. I got home, went to change into my jammies so the entire day was relaxing - I glanced in the bathroom mirror and WOAH NELLY!


I looked again - and I looked, seriously, 5 years younger. My skin was clean, tight, shiny, sort of pink and dewy.... not a line in sight. I was such a supermodel. How could Conrad be so lucky to have ME? I could NOT believe it and from then on, at about age 33, I was a facial convert. Now adays I get maybe two a year. I always get one in the winter (February ish) because as much as I love cool weather, my entire body gets itchy and flaky ... and I need help after winter ends ... and I usually also get one during the summer, because my pores get all clogged up since it's so hot and humid here. Facials aren't cheap ... I try to be strategic about it.

My friend Kelley is into the microdermabrasion and I probably eventually will be too ... but if you need something to just pick yourself up once a week or even everyday ... and your facial soap, cleanser, whatever is just not doing it for you, then HERE YOU GO.


I recently read a magazine which was reviewing facial products and I found one and decided to try it. They had ones for anti aging, acne etc ... they said this was one was to retain youthful radiance ... I decided to bite. It was $6 at Wal-Mart so why not?

Hello Olay Skin Smoothing Cream Scrub! This little thing is like a facial everyday! I tried it and loved it. It does have the tiny little exfoliating beads but it also has Salicylic Acid and that's good stuff! It tingles and takes away all my little imperfections. I KNOW. You didn't know I had any imperfections well ... maybe I don't - but I won't get any using this.

I have read some reviews where some people have to use it once or twice a week only. I think it just depends on how the acid feels on your face. It sort of burns me if it gets on my lips ... It probably can be very drying. For me, daily has been ok. I do use a Mary Kay mositurizer which works great for me - and maybe that's why I haven't dried out, but this scrub cleanser I am really digging. I use it every morning to start the day all tingly and radiant. For me, it feels like it's just sort of removing that layer of dead skin which makes me flake and sort of ... run down looking.

Suddenly for 6 bucks I am feeling like that day I looked in the mirror and said WOAH hello 2003! ....

I encourage you to give it a try!

Kah

Saving Money

I was just so excited about this, I had to post. It's pretty random, but whatever ...

It is Customer Service week, so we've been treated a lot this week- even with an ice cream social! Lunch twice!

* Monday they brought in pizza.

* Tuesday I brought in my roast leftovers - I made my grandma's roast. Haven't tasted it in 15 years, since she died! It was such a treat.

*Wednesday they took us out to Cyclone Anaya's which is one of my FAV places.

*Thursday Taco Cabana gave me a free meal.

It's not my birthday, but TC sent me a free meal/birthday coupon. They DIDN'T send me one on my real birthday so I didn't feel bad about cashing it. I got a free flauta meal!!!

So this week I have LITERALLY not spent a penny on lunch. Not until today anyway ... but I mean, SERIOUSLY for a person who buys lunch everyday, to buy it only once is like big time stuff!

I could not be more proud!

Kah

Country Bumpkin- Tomball, Texas

So we found a new little haunt which actually isn't new at all. I think it's been around awhile. It's back off Telge Rd.- sort of out of the way, in an old house. You would have to know where it was OR have someone tell you. I had someone tell me.

Country Bumpkins is only open towards the end of the week and the weekend. So you have to get there while you can! It's run by an older couple and they cook GOOOOOOD. If you've ever been here to visit me or you know me - it's very much like Mel's Country Cafe, but it's closer to our house.

They have FANTASTIC hamburgers and cheese fries. YAY!

It's really quaint on the inside and pretty small - but I totally love it. You can see the menu board on the wall below ... and you order at the counter that sticks out. The counter is attached to the kitchen, so they make everything right there. It's fabulous! They also have this half BBQ/half burger sandwich. It's a burger with some shredded BBQ on top. I've had it. It's good and very messy! ... and very inventive.

.... and I took this pic of the Coke benches and rocker for my SIL - to tease her. At some point, people started giving her Coca Cola stuff- even a set of Coca Cola china. So now anytime we see Coca Cola stuff, Conrad says we should get it for her and then we laugh. I think she likes it fine, but she doesn't LOVE it and she's not a collector. So I took this pic to show her and then Conrad said well actually, these are pretty cool. She'd proabably like them. That's true. They are very cool. I am loving that rocker. It's really nice ... I'd like to have one for the new house.

If you are ever in Tomball, stop by this place. It's great!

Kah

Days 3 and 4 - Pineville, SC

No pics for this post! SORRY

Day 3 was spent at home, we just read and hung out - I had a nap. We watched college football and the Food Network. We had some Totino's pizza for lunch which was good. My mom cooks them extra crispy. Delicious! Then that evening we went back to Moncks Corner to the bowling alley - where they have karaoke set up in the bar area. It was really fun. My mom and Brian had a ton of their friends show up. Brian did good - and some crazy couple got up and sang Rock Lobster and made my ears bleed. My mom had a friend show up and he was SERIOUS BUSINESS about his singing and did well. It was fun. We got home really late ... and I slept like a log.

Day 4 was Sunday and my mom's birthday. I gave her present to her. We ate lunch at the house and then headed to "town" that evening for dinner at Chili's and I had to run over to the outlet mall. This wasn't really planned since town is far away ... but at the last minute we decided to. Conrad is not a Gamecocks fan and especially not now that Texas A&M has changed to the SEC- but he does think the shirts that say COCKS are funny. So we ran over to the mall, which was the only place we could think of to go, and found one that was pretty close. He was thrilled with it and I'm sure he'll be wearing it and embarassing me this weekend! He said technically A&M is not SEC until next year, so he can sport it proudly for now. No doubt I'll be having to live with this one for a looong time.

Monday morning I came home and washed clothes and got ready for the week.... and a long week it was! I had a really good time though and it's always nice to see Mom and Brian and the doggies! It's alway sad to leave ... and I wish I could have seen more of my friends and family but it doesn't always work out that way. Maybe next time!

Kah

Day 2- Moncks Corner, SC

Day 2 was fun too!


First we went to the Pink Oleander which is a little vintage shop in Moncks Corner. I had seen their website and my mom knew about them too. So we stopped in there and had fun - just looking around, seeing all the things my grandma used to have and trying on fun hats. My mom always wants me to do that!

Pretty hat! It's black- hard to see.

Then we were off to lunch! Mom said she had heard about a diner called Howard's ... and she wanted to go. I thought it might be new, but NOPE, it had been there 50 YEARS !!!  The owner still works there, she's 74 and she bakes all the delicious pies.

I had the veggie plate. You know I live with the veggie hater AND they had speckled butter beans on the menu, so the choice was made for me. It was DELICIOUS and I chased it down with the coconut custard pie.

Then we headed home, all stuffed and ... ready for a nap. But then we stopped at a place called the Treasure Barn and I got my BIRD DISH which I love. It was $4 and all I had was a 20, so Brian had to buy it for me, but I LOVED it and I WANTED it so bad!!! ... and it made it home in one piece and now lives on my coffee table.

Then finally that evening ... we were back at the Alpine and as much as I should have ordered something different - just cause I don't live there. I didn't. I got the patty melt again - I am in love with it.

But this time, I went with the pine chips!!!

I happily snarfed down my food, looked at the Alabama elephant and went home. Successful day!

Kah