Skin, kids and getting things done!

So I've had not so good skin for many years. In high school I had approximately 100 zits on my forehead for a good few months. I've had bouts of good skin, but for the most part, I worry about being the person with the 'bad skin'. It sucks.

Recently I've gotten a brutal patch of nasties on my neck, under my jawline. They really suck, they're really ugly and they F'ing hurt. These aren't your regular day to day, garden variety zits. These are zits that take about a week to develop, don't really develop and take about a month to go away, all the while leaving a nice little subcutaneous bump. Eventually that subsides, but that takes about TWO months.

For crying out loud, I'm 30... not 15! I know all that stuff about adult acne, but come on!

I've been going to get facials for the past 6 months in hopes that I can tame them, but nothing. So a couple weeks ago I decided to give Proactiv a try. Those TV commercials really wear you down, I say!

So the day after I tried the 'refining mask', they actually looked better. I was shocked. Perhaps it was just that the redness was gone. I've been using everything for about a week now, and while my skin looks better... it has also dried out a lot in areas where the zits are not. To the point where it feels scaly. Hence I didn't use it two days ago and was very selective when I used stuff last night.

We'll see how this goes, but I am cautiously optimistic that this Proactiv will get rid of these horrible zits. I'd like to care about other things, thanks.

Not so good segway...

On Wednesday we had some friends and their kids over for dinner. I've had a personal belief that these kids can be problematic. Their parents are pretty relaxed in how they are raising them, and I have a hard time with that. I was all worried that our house would become a battle zone and that I would have to spend hours cleaning up... but I didn't. They were far more controlled in our house than in theirs. We had a nice night.

With all this parenting content on my blog, I should probably have kids of my own so that I can show people how it's really done right? ;) The sick thing is that I believe that to a point...

Another poor segway...

And back to the house content, because it's oh so exciting. We had a plumber drop by last night to check on some of the stuff around the house.

Stuff like:

__- everytime the kitchen sink drains, a bit of water ends up in the dishwasher and then it sits ___there (because we don't use it). It's nasty. We're getting that fixed.
__- everytime the sink drains, the connection to the main drain in the basement leaks... pouring
___water all over the basement floor. Fortunately the floor drain is only 6 feet away.
___Fortunately that will now be fixed.
__- He's installing a water filter we bought for the house. Bye bye chlorine!
__- fixing some of the work we did in the bathroom - no we're not professional plumbers...

We could have addressed some of this ourselves, but instead, we're actually getting it done and are able to move on to other things on our list of 47 things to do. PLUS, we might even get rid of the 'false drain' in the basement. Apparently years and years ago there was a big scare about how rats could get into your house via the drain and up into your toilet. So they installed all these false drains that vent to outside and have a fun little trap to drown the rats that can't swim (seriously!). Anyhow, it's a good 'main drain' sized pipe (cast iron? huge galvanized pipe? I don't know) that will now be gone. It's in a seriously inconvenient spot, so getting rid of it will be good.

So that's another update from around here. Pretty boring, but very much my life right now!

Have a great weekend! I'm going to spend mine outside and listening to some great live music at the Hillside Festival. We'll be seeing Broken Social Scene, Danny Michel, Hawksley Workman and many others. I can't wait! I just hope the rain can!

going's on

This morning began with the sun in the east and a solid rain overhead. I love mornings like this! I just wish I could stay in bed and listen to the rain falling through the trees.

So I have to say that I'm feeling more and more happy about our new house. Painting the living room and dining room has had a huge impact on the house... well the bottom floor anyway. It's FINALLY starting to look like ours! As much as that level of focus on our house was unsustainable, it's amazing how great it feels go get something done! The next room to focus on is the kitchen and then other than the sunroom (and it's constant drama!) and the hallway, the main floor will be done!

But the thing is, we're pretty much booked up for the summer, so anything we do will have to be done on the weekdays. Huh... Like that's achievable! We are off to a music festival this weekend, then camping with Thom's siblings the following weekend. The weekend after that we are actually here, then to the cottage and then on our long awaited canoe trip in Algonquin.

Thom and I have been planning this trip for years and years and years. It's the Dickson - Lavieille Lake loop. 85km over five days and lots of portages apparently. It also has one of the longest (if not the longest) portage in the park - 5km. Should be fun. What appeals to us most about this trip is that it's pretty much in the centre of the park. We're so looking forward to it!

And then we're pretty much into Labour Day weekend. My the summers go fast, no?

News on the family front. My mom has recently moved provinces to an even more remote location. The pictures she sends back are amazing! Good thing I set up that Flickr site for her! And finally, she went PRO! She needs to. She just bought herself a Sony A350.

Our relationship is getting better, so I'm making good on that one goal I set for myself back in April at the retreat I went to. It's important to me to have a good relationship with her... but it is going to take a while. I'm guarded, you know?

I'm also making good on another goal... losing weight. I'm down to 168.6lbs (according to the scale this morning). I need to be at 167lbs by the middle of August, and then 162lbs by October if I'm reaching 157lbs by Christmas. I do need to focus though...

OOooh ooh, Canada Post just dropped off my book club books! Yes... before 7:30am!! I love parcels! :)

Next we're reading The Year of Living Biblically - about a guy who decides to live BY THE BIBLE for a year. Sounds interesting! And then sometime in the next few months we'll read Water for Elephants and The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

Book club has been going well. We're up to 18 people though, and that's a little huge. Last week only half of that showed up and that was fine with me. I started this book club with a group of 8-10 in mind and then other people just kept inviting others!!!! I guess I can't control everyone, but sheesh! How many people can host 18 people in their house?!?!

I know that realistically, some people will just drop out... but I wish people would think before they invited others... but I guess that's just me.

Alright, off to work for me! Have a good one!

Lucky lucky!

I just found two fiftys in a little over the shoulder bag I haven't touched in about three years. I have absolutely no idea where they come from or what they were intended for!

I should hide that little bag in the bottom of my 'randomly used clothes' bin more often!

;)

Fridge Magnet Poetry #1

We have a nice smattering of fridge magnet poetry options at our place. The regular version, Oh Canada version and the comforting and encouragement (I think... something nice like that) version.

Thom is amazingly deep sometimes. Here's one of his creations. I really like it.

we're getting there!

Two nights where I have been up until midnight has resulted in some progress. Unfortunately we won't be able to finish up until Friday, but we're almost there!

WOOHOO!

Continuing on in the land of the sucky blogger

Well, it has once again been a very busy few weeks since my last post.

Did that sound like a confession? Huh...

It has been busy and in thinking back, I can't think of what I've been up to. Kind of strange. Here are a few highlights.

- I spent two days with my sister in her current "out of province" town. The main reason
_was because she graduated!!! I'm so happy! It was great to spend time with her.

- I spent four days at the cottage during the Canada Day weekend, that wasn't really a
_weekend, but I took the Monday off to make it an extra long weekend! Three nights in
_a row of 10+ hours of sleep. Woot!

- I've recently become obsessed with quinoa.

- Patched the holes in the living room and dining room left by the insulation guys.

- Thom is on a canoe trip with his dad and I'm all by my lonesome. That's OK! :)
___- I'm going to spend a lot of time watching the Sex and the City seasons I most
____recently 'acquired'

- Am in the process of taping the windows to prep them for painting TODAY!

- Wishing we didn't have such cute partitioned upper windows. Cute, but a pain in the
_ass to tape.

Behold!


That's about it. Next week I'm off to a facilitation course. That should be pretty alright. And next weekend, our 'camping' plans with some friends fell through, and I'm really happy about it. Seriously! We're so busy this summer that an extra weekend at home sounds great to me. Funny how that works sometimes, eh?