Racing Attire

I’ve been sorting through all the baby stuff & getting rid of lots of stuff.  Chancery was hanging around while I was going through some bags, & she took a liking to a gold bag I had discarded.

Chancery told me that she had a great idea…

 

“Mummy, I’m a cafe racer!  I have a racing suit on!”

 

Well, she does have an interesting idea of fashion!

Not A Girl

Asher piped up from the backseat of the car the other day…

 

Asher: “I’m glad I’m not a girl.”

 

Me: “Why?”

 

Asher: “Because now I don’t ever have to get earrings in my ears.”

 

Me: “You don’t want earrings?”

 

Asher: “No, I think it would hurt too much, so I’m glad I don’t have to get them.”

 

I didn’t bother telling him that guys can get their ears pierced too.  So far, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that for awhile.

Best Old Navy Commercial!

And no creepy talking mannequins!   I used to be quite a big fan of New Kids on the Block, so after seeing this ad, I just had to share it!

 

 

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

The Mother’s Day Gift

We have Coffee Break at our church on Tuesday mornings, & last week was the final week of it.  There are different classes for the kids, separated by age groups.  Chancery’s group made necklaces for all the Mums last week.  My friend JJ came up the stairs wearing her gift from her daughter, but Chancery insisted that I couldn’t open mine until Mother’s Day.  Since I had seen JJ’s, I knew what my gift would be, & I figured it would be similar to hers.

 

When I opened my gift on Sunday morning, I was a bit surprised at the difference between the necklace JJ had been wearing, & the one Chancery gave me.  Here’s JJ’s necklace…

 

 

And here is the one Chancery gave me…

Notice that there is a knot right at the centre of the necklace, so my beads all hang on one side.  Chancery told me, “You can wear it when you have your jammies on!”  I think I just might!

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far…

Chancery & I were picking out her clothes for the day awhile ago, & I chose a pair of pink cargos pants, & a tank top for her.

 

Chancery: “Am I going to church today?”

 

Me: “No, not today.”

 

Chancery: “Then why am I not wearing jeans?”

 

I love that she figures that if she wasn’t wearing jeans, she’s dressed up.  Just like her Mum.

Comfort

I’m a big fan of comfortable clothes.  Being warm is at the top of my list of priorities when I get dressed in the morning.  Hoodies are a winter staple.  I’ve got a rainbow array of them in my closet.

 

I was telling PChad the other day, that I was looking for some nice long-sleeved t-shirts to fill out my wardrobe, but I didn’t want plain ones.  I want them to have a bit of a design on them.

 

“Why don’t you look for something nicer than t-shirts?” he asked me.

 

“Well, then what would I wear with my hoodies?” I replied.

 

He responded, “Exactly.”

All Dressed Up

A few weeks before Christmas, Coffee Break had a Christmas program.  I was one of the readers for it, so since I was going to be standing in front of everyone for an extended amount of time, I thought I should wear something nicer than my usual jeans & a hoodie.

 

For me, dressing up is something I don’t really like to do.  I feel much more comfortable in clothes that I’m not worried about getting dirty or ripped.  So, when I say, “I’m dressing up” for something, if it’s not a wedding or church, chances are I’ll still probably be wearing jeans.

 

The morning of the program I decided to wear a knit hoodie sweater with jeans.  I figured it was the perfect mix of “dressed up” & comfortable.  Later that afternoon after Chancery woke up from her nap, she kept telling me, “You need to take off your church clothes, Mummy.”

 

I guess it goes to show, that even SHE thinks a knit hoodie qualifies as “nice” clothes!

Faking It

A few months ago, I went to a jewelry party & saw a necklace that I really, really liked.  Now, I’m not a big spender, & I just couldn’t justify spending over $100 for a necklace, despite the fact that it had a lifetime warranty (meaning that no matter how many times your kids broke it, it would be replaced at no cost).

I decided to see if a friend of mine who makes jewelry could make me a similar one.  So I send pictures & described the stones in the necklace & much to my delight, she was able to make me a knock-off for less than 1/4 of the price!  (Or as PChad puts it, “you could break that necklace 4 times & still come out ahead).



My friend, Ann, has made a few pieces of jewelry for me now, & I love every one of them.  They are made really well & I think it would actually take a bit of effort for my kids to break any of them.


Ann started making jewelry to help offset the cost of Christian Education for her kids, & now she just does it for fun (& people like me who don't want to drop a bunch of money on name-brand jewelry).

Thanks for the great work, Ann!

Distressed Shirt

I have said it before & I'll say it again, I have very little fashion sense, if any at all.  A few weeks ago I had some soiled items that I thought I'd soak in bleach before I washed them.  The next load of laundry I did, I threw them in as well.

Unfortunately, that was a load of DARKS that I had in the washing machine along with my bleached items.  I didn't really think about it until I was folding the laundry, and at that point I was just really thankful that nothing seemed to have gotten bleached from it.


Then I ran across this shirt:

So, my question for you fashionable lot is, does my shirt look like it's just a bit distressed, or does it look like a laundry mishap?  Can I still wear it & not look like a cleaning lady, or should I just start using it as a cleaning rag?

An Improvement

Remember this post from a few years ago? Well, I finally got around to doing something about those bushy eyebrows. I asked a friend to help me out & she was almost TOO happy to offer her assistance.

Now, I've never really done much with my eyebrows, but I figured it was high time I did. On the way home from church last week, Asher started asking me about my eyebrows & I figured that if my 3 year old son was noticing these kinds of things, I must look a sight.

Before

So, last night I went over to my friend's house & she quite cheerfully waxed & shaped & trimmed those puppies into submission. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't really hurt very much, maybe I'll even have it done again sometime in the next 30 years!

After

Free Signature Generator

Uniformity

About 5 years ago, I worked at a medical office, where to say the office manager was unique would be a severe understatement. I started out working in the file room, since I had no previous experience in the medical field, & apparently only people really desperate for jobs apply for such a position.

When I first started, I was told that the dress-code merely stated we were not permitted to wear jeans or shorts. I went to the nearest charity shop & grabbed myself a few pairs of khakis & teamed them up with t-shirt from my closet & called it good.

All went merrily for the first 6 or 7 months, when suddenly the office manager decided we should wear uniforms. We were told we would now be required to wear khaki or white trousers, paired with a lovely, plain navy t-shirt, which she decreed she would not order anything smaller than a large. A few of us tried to reason with her to no avail, she wouldn't budge. So we decided to make the best of it..... They were HUGE! We knew we looked ridiculous, but there was nothing we could say or do to get her to admit that something should be done.

About a year later, after many patients commented on how unprofessional we looked, she finally decided it was time for new uniforms. I think what finally tipped her off, was the letter a patient sent in to one of the doctors stating that we all looked like greenhouse workers.

The new uniform was an improvement, a pale blue polo shirt, in an array of sizes including S-XXL. This new top was to be worn only with white trousers, which required the implementation of "The Underwear Rule".

The Underwear Rule stated:
-one MUST wear underwear.
-said underwear is to be full-bottomed (no thongs)
-all underwear must be plain white (no polka-dots, stripes, and no 'nude' coloured panties)

This, of course, sent me once again to the charity stores, for I was unaccustomed to wearing white trousers & they are not the easiest thing to find when you're on a budget & it's the middle of winter.

Not long after, I discovered I was pregnant. Lucky for me, there was always a steady stream of employees leaving for greener pastures. So I just asked them if they wouldn't mind handing over their old uniform shirts & slowly progressed from a size S to XL over the course of the next 9 months. And since most of the white trousers I had found in the charity shops were meant for a generation older than I, they had elastic waistbands which worked a charm.

There was a brief moment of insanity in which our office manager contemplated the implementation of a "shirts must be tucked in" rule (she was nothing, if not a control-freak), but we quickly showed her the folly of such a rule.

I Wonder.......

..... how much Victoria Beckham Jeans cost in the real world, of they are priced at $34.99 at Value Village.



..... why someone would open a door for a lone child of 3, to run out of a store into the parking lot, without a parent.



...... if it's true that if you can see clouds moving from the ground that the wind up there is blowing at least 60 mph.



..... at what point Asher will stop using, "I have to wee & poo really badly!" as an excuse to get out of bed.

Sometimes I Get A Little Bit Crazy.....

There are days I don't feel like doing my hair at all. There are days my hair just doesn't want to look good & then there are days like today:

I am rockin' the faux-hawk today!

Mistaken Identity

We have our screen-saver set to show pictures from whatever month is is from years past (so right now it's showing Februarys from the years 1995-2008). Asher likes to watch the pictures & tell us who's in them. There are a few pics of horses that he was confused about & kept calling them cows, so we were watching w/ him. Suddenly he said, "There's Grandma V.. & Mummy!" Here's the picture he saw.

Do you recognize who this is? That's PChad! And here's a pic of me & my mum.... do you think they look similar?

A Strange Sight

As I was driving down the road today I saw something I thought I'd never see. A woman was perhaps suffering from a bloody nose, or maybe just got tired of constantly blowing her nose due to it being cold outside.... I'm not really sure of her reasoning, but I can assure you, you will never find me, walking down the street with a tampon shoved up my nose!

Perhaps she saw "She's the Man" one too many times.....

Two Socks

Not long ago I realized that most the socks I owned were wearing thin so I decided it was time for new socks. I usually just buy white sport socks, but have discovered that when I remove my shoes, it doesn't look very nice when I'm sporting a nice outfit to be wearing Adidas socks. So I thought that maybe it was time to purchase some nicer socks.

I make no bones about it, I am cheap, so when I'm looking for new socks, I don't want to be paying nearly $2 a pair. I went to Winners, where I can always count on getting a fairly good deal. I found some Roots socks, which I was really excited about & also picked up a small pack of brown socks b/c I thought brown socks are a good way to go when I'm wearing my khaki trousers to church.

Well, those Roots socks might look nice, but they don't do much to keep my feet warm. PChad got awfully tired of me turning the thermostat up just b/c my new socks were so thin, so I started wearing 2 pair. Now, I might have paid less than $2 a pair for those socks, but when you ALWAYS have to wear 2 pair, that basically doubles the cost of your socks, eh, b/c you have 1/2 the number of socks available to wear, maybe they weren't such a great deal.

Last Sunday I decided to break out the brown socks. Well, they were too long. I put them on & the heel part was 1/2 way up my calf. I don't understand how they can sell them as women's size 5-9 socks, when they would clearly fit a men's size 5-9 much better. I can't tell you how many pairs of socks PChad has aquired b/c of improper fit! Unfortunately he only wears black or white socks, so those brown ones are off to Value Village!

Hair Styles

In response to Sarah's post at Life In The Parsonage, I went back to see how much (or little) my hair has changed over time.

Here's a picture of me in 1994. Take note of just how blonde/white my hair was. Some curl, mostly frizz.





And in 2005, more of a honey blonde, better taken care of perhaps, not as frizzy, more curl, nice length.






In April of 2006 we have lost some length mainly due to a donation to "Locks of Love" rewarding me w/ a free haircut. What's 10" when you are saving $10?





Amazingly, by January of 2007 I've gained quite a bit of length back, but my hair is still getting darker.






By May 2007 I had donated again to "Locks of Love", hence the short hair once again.





August 2008, it took a lot longer for my hair to grow this time. It seemed to have more frizz than curl once again, so I went to a REAL salon & paid big bucks for a REAL haircut!
Before:

After:

See the difference? Me neither. Needless to say, I wasn't super happy w/ my one Salon experience, so I had a girl from church fix it:

Much better! I'm starting to look like a grown up!

Maybe It's Time To Get Them Waxed

Tonight Asher was playing with his toys & I heard him saying, "looks like Mummy's eyes," over & over.... at least that's what I THOUGHT he was saying. When I got closer, I realized he was saying, "Looks like Mummy's eyes-brows."

So I looked at what he was playing with..... I know I don't keep my eyebrows as groomed as I should, but come on! I CAN'T look THIS bad!