Countdown to my rebirth: Day 30

There must have been something in the air because my toddlers were on level 10 tonight. Screaming, crying and temper tantrums were in effect the moment they walked in the door.

My son is like TV Mike from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (no young'uns, not the one with Johnny Depp). If you let him, he will watch tv until his eyes roll out of his head. So tonight, we said homework, then a few "minutes" of tv, then bed. My child got possessed by the Tasmanian Devil and started spinning around the room because we had the nerve to not allow him to watch a full movie at 8'o clock at night. Well, he spun himself to sleep once he didn't get his way and Day 30 pampering began...

DAY 30: ENJOY AN EVENING BY AN OPEN FIRE

I have been in my place for over 3 years and I have never used my fire pit. I think the main reason is that the yard is the home to every creature this side of the 405 freeway. Take your pick, I got 'em. You want ducks...I got 'em. You want raccoons.....I got 'em. You want skunks...well, I know you don't want skunks, but I got'em. But I "man'd up" and took my backyard back from the wild kingdom....and brought the dog and the man with me for back up.

It was sooooo peaceful. We don't get much quiet time together, so it was long overdue. An evening of conversation under the stars is something that I wish I could do every night.

Well, the Tasmanian woke up so I gotta run...

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 31

Again I say, whose bright idea was it to do this countdown! I am exhausted! Day 32's closet task has spilled into Day 31 and it is 1 in the morning so we are technically in Day 30. What the heck. See, this is why people become hoarders. This purging thing is for the birds. My stuff isn't bothering anybody so why should I bother my stuff.

So, ONCE AGAIN there was no major pamper today. Just a continuation of the closet fiasco. But tomorrow, lookie here...I'm getting pampered one way or another. My better half has something planned for Day 30, so watch out now!!

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 32

This dag gone ear infection is messing up my countdown. I've been stuck in the house doing house-like pamper things cause when I go outside I feel like the girl in the plastic bubble. I'm walking on a lean because my balance is off and I am loud as heck because I CAN"T HEAR. But the countdown continues come rain or shine..right?
DAY 32: GET RID OF EVERY ITEM OF YOUR CLOTHING THAT DOESN'T LOOK GREAT ON YOU
Now this was a tuffy. This was one of those pampers that didn't feel pamper-like when I was doing it. You see, I love stuff(that's how my better half describes it). And I have a lot of "stuff"; especially in my closet. I believe that almost everything will come back in style, or it can be worn for a costume party or my kids might want it when they grow up, etc. etc. I HATE PARTING WITH MY CLOTHES!! And I take pride in knowing that I purchase things for a great price. In my closet right now I have about 20-30 vintage shirts that I bought from a costume warehouse for about 7 bucks for a bundle of about 100 pieces. Who the heck can pass up that deal!! I gave away tons and sold some at the flea market, so I basically got the stuff for free (one of my favorite words by the way).
Well that purchase was almost 10 years ago and I've accumulated 10 more years of "great deals". My closet is packed!!! So until I get my dream guest house that doubles as my walk in closet, it is time for some stuff to go.

Don't get scared by the picture...I didn't throw it all out. I'm turning 40 not turning crazy! I just took everything out so I could take inventory and organize. This is a big job. I have clothes every where. I didn't realize I had so much....okay, I'll say it....so much crap!! Am I really going to wear those leisure pants I bought from Lerners in 1993?! I can almost guarantee that I won't be wearing that midriff to any parent-teacher conferences. Why do I have my moms sequenced tops from the 80's...wait...I'm keeping those. They're cute!
So after a few hours of trying on over sized, undersized, out of fashion clothes...I finally tackled part of my closet.
Organized by style, on matching hangers and finger spaced. Boo-yah!!! So just 3 more sections to go in this closet.....then I move to my shoe closet . Help me Jesus!!

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 33

DAY 33: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY...DON'T DO ANYTHING!

How the heck did I get this ear infection! I woke up this morning and felt like I was under water. Everybody sounds like they are the teacher from Charlie Brown: waam wamm, wamm wamm. So needless to say, i TRIED to do absolutely nothing today. I say tried because with the little ones, they refuse to see you lounging around the house. "Where's my food" , "She hit me", I need go potty". But outside of the few times helping the kids out, I laid down most of the day and I even took a nap. A nap is a rarity for me so that was a treat.

So back to "lounging" I go, so I can nurse myself back to health because in mommyland we are only allowed one sick day at a time.

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 34

It has been a loooooong day! It is already 3'oclock in the morning and I am exhausted. But I have committed myself to following through with this daily blog. I no longer want to be the person that starts something she can't finish. So even though I am tired and starting to feel a little under the weather, I am here!

Today was a different type of pamper day. Instead of using the book to find a "pamper" item, I went with what I know usually pampers my soul.

DAY 34: DECORATE FOR A SMALL GATHERING

I had a small group of my "mom" friends come by for food and fellowship and it was great. People always tease me when I have get togethers because I start the prep work days in advance and they say I do too much. But I get so much joy out of making my guests feel like I did something special for them. Why don't my guests deserve me putting out a glass pitcher instead of a plastic bottle...what's wrong with serving tea out of a nice tea pot instead of telling my guests to get hot water from the pot on the stove. If I invite you into my house, I'm inviting you into my soul. I want each and every person that comes through my door to feel like I made a special effort just for them. It warms my heart to see people smile just because I added flowers to the table. It makes my spirit dance when laughter fills my lavender scented rooms. I may not have a lot of money or a lot of time to do everything I would like to do when it comes to decor, but believe you me, I sure work what I got.

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 35

$1.99! $1.99! That is all it took to make todays pamper day a success.

Day 35: Buy a dozen doughnut holes and don't share.

My daughter is an eater. She has a passionate love for food...at 2 years old. Not sharing my food with her is usually IMPOSSIBLE. So once the midday sleepiness fell over the house and all eyes were closed, I went on my mission for doughnut holes....ALONE. The reason why alone is in caps is because mama doesn't get too many ALONE moments. I had been running around with them all morning an they were on fire. They ran laps inside the bank and I had to apologize to a million people in Trader Joes because my kids kept running over everybody's feet with those silly little shopping carts. Who's dumb idea was that? To look at, they're cute. But function wise, a 2 year old turns into a bull in china shop with this thing. Once we got in the wine section, it was time to go because two buck chuck was about to be all over the floor. (And yes, I hear some of you saying, "well why did you give it to her?" Because I wanted a screamfree shopping experience. And, what?)

Unfortunately, out here in Southern California, there aren't any Dunkin Donut shops. (No freaking white castles either. They're killing me!) So I went to my local Yum Yum Donuts for their great variety of doughnut holes. Glazed and....and...and that was it. Really?! And I know the girl behind the counter thought I was a snob because I had the nerve to ask if they were fresh. I'm just saying. They were prepackaged in a plastic bag that was tied in a knot sitting on top of the counter. So I grabbed my pre-packaged doughnut holes, headed home and hid them on the highest shelf in the kitchen. And now that the children are asleep for the night, here I sit munching on my holes and sipping on some milk.....all by myself :-)

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 36

Once again, my pamper moment almost didn't happen today. Being the mother of two toddlers, finding free time is dang near impossible. But after bath time, bedtime and a late night conference call for my sorority, I am finally in the "me moment".

DAY 36th: Soothe and massage your tired feet with a hydrotherapeutic foot spa.

As I write this, I am soaking my feet in some lavender water while sipping on a glass of wine. Ahhhhh, this feels great. Sometimes I feel so guilty when I "sit down on the job". There is a mountain of laundry to do, bathrooms to clean and about an inch of dust staring at me on top of the entertainment center. Oh well!!! I am learning to accept the fact that the world will not crumble if I leave a dish in the sink. If I am going to take care of my family, I have got to take care of myself. And once again, I am doing so in a cost effective way!! I love being frugally free!!

So , now I must go and massage my feet with my Balinese Jasmine Oil from Cost Plus World Market (Thanks for the recommend, Kia :-) I am really milking this pampering thing and LOVING IT!!

Send me some ideas for out of the norm pamper projects, because the book that I'm using is about to have me line and organize every drawer in my house. Uh, no thank ya!

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 37

Rain, rain go away. Come again...in May when my birthday celebrating is over. I almost slacked today on pampering myself because it was raining AGAIN. (Mind you it's only been 2 days of rain with one day of sunshine in between. But again, I am now a spoiled California girl, so I want it sunny all the time. Toni, Toni Toni were some daggone liars singing that "It doesn't rain in Southern California". )But I bundled up and headed out to celebrate Day 37: Go to a jewelry store and try on fancy jewelry for the fun of it.

I left out the house today without picking a pamper item so I called my wonderful better half and asked him to pick one for me. I swear it felt like he was picking the corniest ones in the book. So finally after about 10 suggestions, I just said yes to this one because I wanted to put him out of his misery. And wouldn't you know, it was fun. I tried on a ring that was a mere $18,000 and a bracelet that was originally $100,000 but "for me" (I love it when they say that...like they are really doing me a favor) they would only charge $26,000. Are you freakin kidding me! The rapper who bought this blinged out, heavy behind bracelet got some dough. Well maybe not....This was a pawn shop that I was in. So apparently the rapper needed "more" dough, so he sold that bad boy. (I tried to get the rappers name from the owner but it didn't work).

So once again, I was able to celebrate me and not spend a dime. Who says you have to spend to attend (Corny alert!) It was fun just playing dress up. If I was a millionaire, would I want a $100,000 bracelet? It's pretty, but it's just not how I roll. But if someone wanted to GIVE IT TO ME....hint hint.

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 38

First off, let me start off by apologizing to Lorraine Bodger who is the author of the book "2001 Ways to Pamper Yourself"...not 500 ways like I stated in yesterdays blog. I guess if I am going to try my hand at this blogging thing I need to get my facts straight. oppsy...my bad!!Back to the matter at hand. So todays pamper item was slightly adjusted. It stated that I should "go to a romantic movie in the afternoon". Well I wasn't in the mood to see romance! So I went to see the excellent thought provoking film, "Mooz-lum", directed by Qasim Basir. Because the film is in limited theaters, I had to trek allllllll the way to Universal Studios to see it (From the West Valley to Universal City, CA is like Long Island to Queens in New York. Not far, but for some reason in LA I have gotten real lazy when it comes to having to drive somewhere.) So because I had to burn money on gas, I decided to park my car at the train station across the street from Universal and take the FREE shuttle up to the theatre where parking is 15 freaking dollars. Chi-ching! And since I have 39 things to do on a very teeny weeny budget, you best believe I had my home popped pop corn stashed in my purse. Shh don't tell.

So all it all it was a great day. I put the housework and the bills to the side and spent the afternoon at the movies just because. Life is good.

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 39

Well that time is almost here. I am reaching a point in life that so many women dread but I am attacking head on. I am about to be the big 4-0. So everyday for the next 39 days I have decided to do something special for ME. I found this book (500 Ways To Pamper Yourself) that lists 500 things that can put a smile on my face. I was off to a rough start today but I kinda got it done: Lining/Cleaning a drawer. I didn't get the pretty paper that I would have liked but I used this as a great opportunity to recycle magazine pages as the liner. And I had to wait till after the kids bed time and after tv time with "the man" so I was (and still am) TIRED. But I got it done.

Before:

Recycled Lining:

After: