Beauty Advice, Anyone?
By Marisa | August 24, 2008
I’m hoping I can get a little advice here.
My skin is looking really tired. It’s dull and discolored. I use a Glycolic lotion and a retinol product now as well as a night cream with peptides. It’s just not enough, though.
I’m thinking of scheduling a facial but I’m concerned that I could break out from it. I’ve heard that can happen sometimes. I’m looking for a service that includes blackhead removal since those are a problem on my nose.
Is there anything I should ask for when scheduling a facial? A special procedure, maybe? Or specific products? Anyone know?
Topics: Beauty | No Comments »
We’re Growing
By Marisa | August 24, 2008
Details (and pictures) are coming but for now, I’ll just let everyone know that my oldest son Chris married his fiance Leah on August 16. The wedding was absolutely beautiful.
Chris and Leah have been together since 2005, after Chris’s divorce. They’re really perfect for each other. And just between us, they’re about to make me a grandma again. Is that not just wonderful???
Leah is showing now and I just love looking at her little belly. That’s my new grandbaby growing in her.
Chris and Leah had been renting a small apartment on the third floor of a huge house near here but recently moved. They didn’t need to hire moving companies, though, since they just moved from the top floor to the first floor of the same house. Very convenient, huh?
Anyway, the move came at a perfect time. They didn’t know they were expecting when they moved. I just hope they realize that grandma - or Nana, as Kendyll has named me - is going to need her own rocking chair in the living room. I plan to spend a lot of time with the newest munchkin.
Topics: Family | No Comments »
Soon. I Promise.
By Marisa | August 22, 2008
Busy. Busy. Busy.
I think I’m finally going to have the opportunity to sit and breathe a little. This past month has been beyond hectic.
On the plus side, I have loads of things to blog about over the next few weeks. On the down side, I haven’t blogged as often as I like to this past month. I think this is called Real Life Getting In The Way of Cyber Life. Or something like that.
Yes, there are still things that are keeping me busy. The kids are starting to school and I have a trip to plan next month. Luckily, it’s a domestic trip so I won’t be needing a passport but I still need to book my flight soon. Like yesterday.
Just don’t give up on me. I have some great pictures and even a video or two to post here. I promise, I’ll get to it. Soon.
Topics: Life | No Comments »
I’m No Businesswoman
By Marisa | August 20, 2008
One of my sons asked me today about going into business for himself. I cringed.
I know a lot of successful business people. I also know from experience that it takes a very special kind of person to make a business work. It doesn’t matter if you do the whole thing on your own or if you look into franchise opportunities, the hard work and dedication needed for a successful business is mind boggling. Most of the time you’ll be putting in long hours for little, if any, pay for at least the first few years.
My son is young, though, and full of energy. He may have what it takes to make a go of it. He has the skills and he’s very bright. So right now, I’m just going to be very careful not to discourage him even though the prospect of starting a business does not appeal to me at all.
Topics: Business | No Comments »
Who Took It?
By Marisa | August 6, 2008
Two of my sons, my daughter and I all have phones that accommodate a micro sd card. I have a card; they don’t. I know they don’t have these cards. They know I know.
So who swiped my card and thought I wouldn’t notice? Of course, no one will admit to taking it. I’ve looked everywhere it could possibly be and it’s just gone.
I don’t want to buy another card right now and honestly, I don’t really need one. I guess I’m just upset that the one I had is now gone. How do these inanimate objects just walk away from my house?
Topics: tech | 1 Comment »
Home Is Here
By Marisa | August 4, 2008
I love my home. Really, I do. It started out as my grandmother’s house but after much remodeling, it is truly our home. I designed it and my husband built it. It’s big and roomy.
And yet I’d give it up if I could find a way to live near my mom. If we sold our house we’d be lucky to afford half the square footage in my mom’s neighborhood. I’d still want to do it, though. I want to live near my mom.
I know it’s a buyer’s market right now. I don’t need to talk to a real estate agent or mortgage lenders to know that. Just a quick look at the real estate section of the classified ads each week point to falling housing prices and a real buyer’s market.
I guess I know in my heart that I’m in my house to stay. I won’t be leaving my house or my neighborhood anytime soon. My heart just isn’t there anymore.
Topics: Life | No Comments »
I Can’t Fill Her Shoes
By Marisa | July 31, 2008
My mom was finally discharged from the hospital. I picked her up yesterday, loaded her luggage and walker into the car and delivered her to my dad. He was ecstatic.
I’ve loved tending to my dad this past week or so. He’s still aware enough to be able to do many things for himself but is at that age (and stage of Alzheimer’s) where he really couldn’t care for himself for an entire week without help. I know he doesn’t remember every detail of the past week but he does realize that I’ve been here taking care of him. And he still has that wonderful sense of humor, too.
Once we got my mom settled into her recliner in the living room, she asked my dad how his week was. He said it was good to have his wife home instead of his mother. Then he looked at me with that sheepish grin and we all just laughed. I know he didn’t always want to eat when I fed him and he got irritated when I tried to help him walk, but as along as he saw my caring for him as “mothering” then it’s all good.
I know my mom was anxious to get home. My dad was even more anxious. No matter how well I cared for him, it just wasn’t the same. After 51 years together, I guess no one can fill my mom’s shoes in my dad’s mind. She’s one in a million.
Topics: Family | 1 Comment »
What A Smile
By Marisa | July 30, 2008
My niece has graduated from a two year college and is now enrolled in the college (soon to be university) just down the road from me. It’ll be nice to have Stephanie so nearby. Her brothers both attended the same school but with football taking up so much of their time, they didn’t get to drop by very often. I’m hoping Stephanie has more time for visits.
Steph is studying to be a dental assistant. Or hygenist? She has such a beautiful smile that she could do advertisements for any dentist who hires her. Whether she works for a Pittsburgh orthodontist or a charlotte cosmetic dentist, her smile would look great on a billboard or print ad.
Yeah, I’m partial because she’s my niece. But she really is beautiful. And no, she doesn’t look like me.
Topics: Family | No Comments »
Kissy Me
By Marisa | July 26, 2008
I almost had the thrill of a lifetime. Almost.
At the far end of walk-in closet in my mom’s upstairs hallway, is a short door that opens up into the attic. When we were kids it was always a magical place since we could peer in as my mom retrieved Christmas decorations or put things inside, but were never allowed to actually go in ourselves. Naturally, I’m allowed to go into the attic now and so I did venture in for a few minutes the other day.
I didn’t open any boxes or anything. I just looked around and remembered some of the stored items from my childhood. What I didn’t expect to see was the original box from my Kissy doll. You have to be kind of old to remember Kissy but for those who are younger, Kissy would pucker her lips and make a kissing sound when you squeezed her arms together. My sister and I each got both a Kissy and Chatty Cathy one Christmas.
My mom was wonderful about getting us really great babydolls. I think it was probably because she grew up during the depression and didn’t have much herself. She was probably giving us the things she wished she could have had as a young girl.
Anyway, Kissy was not in the box. I kind of knew she wouldn’t be but for a split second, I hoped. I wonder, though, if the box is worth anything. Maybe to a collector?
Topics: Life, Kids | No Comments »
The Collector
By Marisa | July 25, 2008
My mother’s house is so ineresting! My mom has a problem throwing things in the trash. She always plans to give things away, even things no one could possibly want, but seldom actually does it. Instead, she has boxes and boxes, drawers and drawers, all filled with things she has to give away.
I mentioned to her that I’d help her go through her things so we could give away the good stuff and throw away the garbage. She started telling me how she wants to drop off her old Guidepost magazines in waiting rooms for people to read. She’s been collecting Guidepost magazines for years - decades, even - so I think it’s safe to just toss them now. But she won’t. She insists that we deliver them to doctors’ offices and other waiting rooms. UGH!
Besides all the magazines and books (enough books to stock a small library) my mom has stockpiled trinkets, plaques, women’s and men’s jewelry, trophies, pens, crayons and markers, VCR tapes (literally hundreds!) owner manuals for every conceivable product, clothes (some brand new) and holy cards from every person she knows who has died in the past 60 years.
This is going to be more of a challenge than tending to my dad this past week.
Topics: Family | 1 Comment »
