Forgiveness

It has been an interesting week. Car problems, relationships issues and coworkers confessions.

First, by car of three years broke down and could not be repaired. I have never had this happen, what do you mean that my new car, that is only three years old can not be fixed.....Yeah....Go figure.

I have been divorced and dating for a long time. I try to look at dating as an adventure and if anything my dating life makes for some great stories for my friends. I met someone a year and half ago. I was dating, yes just dating a few men at a time. I decided that I want to pursue just dating one of the men. I let the other guys down gently. I realized that I had made a mistake. I dated the one guy for about 6 months, we parted ways and I can say that we are now friends. I try to not have people hate me and vice versa. I decided that I needed to make a few things right in my life. Hence the movie, Something's Gotta Give, Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton...... Well, apparently forgiveness is not for everyone. I did the best that I could and I can walk away.

On Friday night, I got a phone call from a drunk coworker (yes, drunk dialing is allowed) she decided to confess to me how she led my coworkers into bullying me and make my life miserable. She told me that I was labeled as a Big boobed Dumb blonde who was only hired to sleep with the boss. Hmmmm really..... Wow, what to do with all of that information?????

As you can see a lot has been going on and I have been doing a lot of soul searching and wondering what I need to do.....Any suggestions?

Cant get a break.

I bought a new car three years ago, and the transmission is shot and they don't make them because guess what the transmissions are not any good. I have to buy a new car, a new car was not in my budget. I am sick and just want to cry........

Gym Essentials

I am a early morning workout lady. I like to get up, brush my teeth, toss on some workout clothes and head to the gym. Sometimes I comb my hair, but mostly no.... That is why having essentials to start you day are a must. First it is all about finding the right bag, it took me a good two years before I discovered this 31 utility tote bag. My bag has five pockets on the outside of the bag, which is perfect for shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body lotion, razor and flip flops. This way it is easy to glance at your bag when you get home to be remind of needing to fill these essentials. Also if the bottles are wet they wont get everything else wet. Next, always pack a hair dryer, yes my gym has two hair dryers hanging on the wall but someone is always using them and we don't have a ton of countertop so many mornings I have to land by the sinks to plug in. Hairbrush and a comb, I should not have to say this but it is part of the process. The makeup bag, I am firm believer in Estee Lauder. I became friends with her years ago. I heard that a woman should go with a good base foundation, I wear the Double Matte liquid foundation. I do a cheaper face powder and eye liner. To complete my look I go with the Estee Lauder bronzer for my cheek bones. This is not a cheap product, however, you don't have to use much of it a time so it lasts me about 6 months. I also keep chapstick, safety pins and a finger nail file in my makeup bag. I also keep tampons, pads, extra pair of socks (nothing grosser than wearing your sweaty workout socks to work inside of a pair of knee boots)...... There are two more things that I have decided to purge on and I have not regretted it. When I was a little girl I used to watch my grandmother powder puff herself up for the day. I have discovered the secret to this process is the puff. I went to the fragrance counter at Macys. The sales lady Joan knows me and I told her what I wanted, she recommend Chanel pressed powder, yes again pricey but so worth it. I love to puff in the places that tend to sweat for awhile after I finish my workout and shower. I feel so refreshed and lady like. I top everything off with a few sprints of my signature fragrance Chanel Chance. I know you are thinking Chanel that is what my grandmother wore, no way. I discovered this fragrance about 6 years ago. I get so many compliments when I wear it, so I wear every day........

What is your must have for the day???????

Memories

I drive 61 miles to work and yes 61 miles back home every day. I love my job, I just wish it was closer. My first day on my new job took me 2 hours to get to work because of a major snow storm. I have driven through snow, rain, sunshine and road construction. What do I do to pass the time, I channel surf. For awhile I was loving Y-98 but sometimes they get a little too chatty and I have to flip the channel. Recently I have found my radio dial on 96.3. The guys in the morning are not cheeky, they talk about music and what memories can bring to a person. There have been many a mornings, that I have been jamming, yes I am thinking of turning pro for my car dancing moves. I have missed my exit because I was so zoned out and reliving a memory (good or bad) Music touches all aspects of our lives. It doesn't matter if you are a hard rocker, country girl or boy and into jazz.

What music or song stirs a memory in you?

Balance

Being a single mom makes you a good juggler and teaches one to balance. Balance is something we all struggle in find on our lives. Women are very tough and judgmental to ourselves and sadly each other. My middle daughter is a single mom, and Stella and Henry are under the age of 5. She has a great job, and is a wonderful mother. She has a hard time finding time for herself, every Sunday morning she climbs out of bed (she has never been a morning person) and works out with some other single ladies, married ladies and ladies with families. I can tell how much she cherishes her Sunday early am workout. This morning two of the women brought their children, yes Stella was at the park with her mommy. What a wonderful example that she is displaying to her daughter. She is teaching Stella balance, you go to bed earlier so you can get up earlier, you can find time to work out and feel even better about yourself, she has taught her to eat healthier (both of them are huge juicers) and to have friends in many aspects of her life.

How do you demonstrate your balance?

Rewards

I don't know about you but I love getting discounts and things for free and all I have to do is shop. I am a fan of Walgreens, I cant wait to see the deals that are in their weekly ads, I love the buy one get one free deals. Walgreens reward program is easy and free. All you do is open an account at the register, you are issued a card and you are finished. They will scan your card each time you shop, you are eligible for in store discounts which total points, again they keep track all you do is shop. For every 5000 points you get a $5 reward voucher. Yes it is worth $5, this is AMAZING. I have literally walked out of the store with a bag full of items and spent .35. CRAZY.

This morning while out running errands I had to stop at Ace Hardware, once again the Ace reward card saved me $8. I got a $5 coupon in the mail for my birthday and $3 off Drano with your reward card. I got what I needed and saved some dollars.

I ordered a pizza from Casey's today. I noticed on the box, purchase 10 large pizzas and get the 11 pizza free... Seriously....

What other places offer free stuff when you shop?

Compliments

Have you ever noticed how someone's face just lights up when you give them a random compliment. This morning I stopped in at Mokka, an amazing coffee shop in Columbia, for my Highlander Grog and egg sandwich. I noticed a woman standing off to the side waiting for her order, again I love Mokka but the service is sooooooo slow. She was wearing a darling blue sweater with a belt, a look that I can not pull off, and a grey pencil skirt with black heels. Darling, feminine and professional. I said " I love your skirt, her face lit up, why thank you. I got it at....."

This got me thinking, a few weeks ago during my morning boot camp class the ladies were talking about a man in town that had suddenly passed away. One of the ladies said "Well I only had to stand in line for 30 minutes to pay my respect." My comment to that was Wow, that is probably one of the HIGHEST compliments you can pay to a person, when you are willing to stand in line at someone's funeral to tell their family what a good person they were.

When is the last time you gave a random compliment to someone? It is so easy to make someone else's day, and if you are like me it makes me feel better also.

Happy Friday.

Customer Service

Happy Thursday. Yesterday was not the greatest day. I had some issues with my car and I got really bad service from my normal mechanic.  They say that when you get good service you tell three people when you get bad service you tell eleven people. Well you are my eleven. The one good note is he did not charge me (for the bad service). Basically he told me that my car was junk and that I needed to just get rid of it. What......my car is only three years old and yes I do have 150,000 plus miles on my car. This is the first time that I have had any issues with my car. I went home and instead of crying I took action. I made phone calls to other mechanic shops, and talked with my friends husbands. Good news I am getting a second opinion and hopefully my car can be saved.......How you ever had a situation like this happen to you?????

Oh Happy Day

My youngest daughter got engaged this past Sunday. She has been dating her future husband for 4 1/2 years. She moved to Texas with him, and thankfully he brought her back home 10 months later. They purchased their first home and now finally she got the ring.

 

Cheers......

Vintage, Auctions and Treasure Hunting

A few years ago almost every weekend you would find me hunting for treasures or bargains at auctions. We have two auction services near Red Bud, Il and I got to where I knew all of the staff. Life got busy, going to college, dating, family, etc.... and I stopped going. Well, I have rediscovered one of my true loves and passions. In January; I joined a Meetup group and was lucky to meet my new friend Paula Picard, she has an Etsy shop picard creative and picard's general store. Paula produces adult humor cards, key chains, checkbook covers and magnets. She has taught me a tremendous amount about "junkin"(that is her word). I started going to the flea market at Belle Clair Fairgrounds in Belleville, IL on the third weekend of the month, yes every month. We like to meet at a coffee shop first, grab some food and coffee and head to the market. Through Paula I have met and befriended "Fleamarket Frank", I have gotten a few good deals from him and he is kinda of sweet on me, which helps also......

Through the Meetup group Paula met Nikki, these two were twins separated at birth in a previous life. Almost every weekend and days through the week these two were junkin. On one of their adventures they stumbled across an empty office/house/future Vintage 159 store...... This delighted Nikki's husband, he wanted her "treasures' out of their garage. In August they opened the doors:

They asked me if I wanted to cosign a few items with them.... Holy cow, yes. This has totally opened my eyes to a new venture for me as well. It gives me a new purpose for my auction finds, yard sale items and estate sale gems. This is my latest project:

It was an ugly red plaid with a black plastic top. Next time I will do the before, during and finished project. The top is a black dress that I bought at a consignment shop over 5 years ago. It no longer fit me and I loved the design across the bottom of the dress. I think I upcycled the dress and storage/foot stool nicely.  I took this stool to Vintage 159 4979 S State Route 159 Glen Carbon, IL. Tons of fun treasures are there for you to view, oh yes and Picard Creative can be purchased there as well.

How creative are you?

Happy birthday to me......

Hello,

Today is my 48th birthday. I spend hours reading other people's blog and I decided that I could create a blog of my own. So here goes. I have lived life a little backwards. High school, unexpected pregnancy, unexpected marriage, another unexpected baby...... Eleven years down the road three beautiful daughters, and one BROKEN marriage. Thankfully I was in college at the time, and was able to support my family. Fast forward 16 years later. I have my own house (at least at long as I make my monthly payment) three college educated daughters, two spirited grands, a Masters Degree and a job that I love. I was just looking for a small space to share my thoughts and ramblings and this is it. Thank you for reading.