My Mascara Findings

Many of you have been asking about my mascara experiment, so I thought I would share what I have figured out so far.

Here are the contenders:

Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion

Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies

L'Oreal Double Extend

Maybelline Illegal Length

And the last, which I cannot find an image of, is Borghese Mascara which I picked up at Costco.

I guess I should let you all know what I look for in a mascara before I tell you which ones I prefer.

My Mascara Commandments:

Thou shalt wash off easily.  

(I don't do waterproof.  I want all my make up to come off when I wash my face at night.)

Thou shalt not undo the curling that I have done with my eyelash curler.  

(I have noticed that many mascaras make my lashes go completely straight after I have just spent time making them nice and curly with my curler.)

Thou shalt not clump and give me tarantula eyes.

(You know, when your lashes are so thick and clumped together that they resemble the legs of a tarantula.)

Thou shalt not give me raccoon eyes.

(Pretty self-explanatory)

I will start with the worst:

L'Oreal Double Extend

My biggest complaint with this is that is was clumpy.  And it completely straightened my lashes.  I threw this one away after 3 tries.

Maybelline Volum' Express

Nothing special here.  It did wash off easily, but didn't do much for my lashes, except make them straight.  I haven't thrown this away yet, but I probably will soon.  I also did not enjoy the shape of the brush.

Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion

I really enjoy the brush on this mascara.  It seemed to actually get all of my lashes coated.  The mascara didn't clump, but I don't feel like it made my lashes stand out in any way.

Maybelline Illegal Length

I do like the lengthening capabilities of this mascara.  It was not clumpy, and did not make my lashes completely straight.  I do NOT like the brush on this one.  It is an awkward shape.

I had actually been combining the Illegal Length with the Lash Blast and I did like that combo, but that defeats the purpose of the drugstore mascara.  

If I have to purchase 2 of them, I may as well purchase just one of a better brand for about the same price.

That is when I found the Borghese at Costco (2 tubes for around $12).

I have only tried it once, and so far it is my favorite.

I will have to use it a few more times before I can give a definitive result.

But so far, that is the winner.

Baking to the Oldies

I really enjoy baking.

I think the reason I enjoy baking is because I LOVE eating the things I bake.

(and almost everything I bake has some form of chocolate in it).

This is not what I made yesterday, but it was the only picture of some of my baked goods that I have here on my computer.

I have noticed that I have some rituals while baking, one of them being music.

(Just as a side note, the kids are usually not in the house while I am baking)

My Pandora station, while baking, is always set to Will Smith Radio.

For some reason, old school rap really gets me in the baking mood.

Yesterday, I heard "Summertime", "Gangsta's Paradise", "Can I Get A . . . ", some Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and LL Cool J.  

Does anyone else feel that baking and early 90's rap go hand in hand?

No?

It's just me?

Children Are Not Stamps

I have blogged about this before, but it has been brought to my attention again, so I felt the need to address it again.

Yes, I am a Mormon.

And, yes, I have only 2 children.

I can hear all the gasps of surprise:

 (What?  Only 2?  You  must not be a very good Mormon if you only have 2 kids.)

Or perhaps you feel bad for me, think that I may have had infertility issues.

No, the 2 kids were by choice.

(However, since we have not tried for a third, I have no idea if we could even have another.  Perhaps there are infertility issues and I just don't know about them.)

Do I not like children?

I actually love them, ESPECIALLY babies.  

Adore them. 

Can't get enough of them.

So why just 2?

This has been a decision that my husband and I made together.

(With a lot of prayer involved)

In the church that I belong to, it is very easy to feel inadequate with my small family.

Sitting in church on Sunday surrounded by families with 5 or 6 young kids (and more), reading blogs that are full of pictures of smiling, usually blonde, families with 6, 7, 8 kids.

It usually doesn't bother me, basically because I know that these families did not choose to have all those kids just to make me feel inadequate.  

I assume they (the husband and wife) talked and prayed about it like my husband and I did.

But when I hear people say that it is our job (as wives) to have as many kids as possible, I get kind of upset.

NO, that is NOT my job.

I am not a baby machine.

And my uterus is not a clown car.

My job is to raise the babies that come into my home in righteousness.

Any idiot can make a baby (and let's face it, a LOT of idiots do), but it takes a lot more to RAISE that baby.

The title of this post comes from this talk.  

"Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps."

I do find children cute (especially my own), and it has been hard to realize that cuteness is not a good enough reason (for me, at least) to have more.

And Another Month

I can't believe another month or two has just flown by!

School has finally started, and we are off to a great start.

Ciara is in love with her teacher, which is a big change from last year.

Caden is also in love with his teacher.

Work is still busy, busy, busy, which is a good thing.  I keep having to remind Rocky that being busy is a good thing when you own your own business.

We are all just plodding along as usual!

I did purchase a season pass to the Baltimore Aquarium recently.

(But wait, I can hear you all saying.  You don't live in Baltimore.  You don't even live in Maryland.)

True, we do live about 2.5 hours away.

But it is an easy day trip with the kids, they have a blast at the aquarium, and there are some pretty great restaurants on the harbor.  Fun for us all!

My parents were just here for a visit, and they gave they kids their (early) Christmas present:

DISNEY WORLD!

Yes, we are all going to Disney World in November.  

I think I am just as excited as the kids (maybe even more so).

We are staying in the Animal Kingdom, and have a whole week to see as much as we possibly can.

And next week I am finally going on my annual Mom's Gone Wild trip!

I am pretty sure I will LOTS to write about after that.

The Promised Pictures

I can't believe summer is going by so fast! 

I promised pictures last time, so I will deliver!

An update of what we have been doing:  working and swimming.

That is pretty much it.

The kids come to work with me, and then we leave around lunch time and head to the pool.

We have planned a trip to SLC in 9 days so that will be exciting.

We are also trying to squeeze in one more trip to the beach before school starts.

On this trip, we are hoping to meet up with some wonderful friends that we haven't seen in WAY TOO LONG.

Here are the promised pics:

 Ciara's Baptism

 Gettysburg

 More Gettysburg

 Gettysburg continued.

 Everyone hanging out with Abe.

The Busy Month of May

Where does the time go?

 I can't believe it is almost June, AND that school is almost done.

I am, however, quite pleased that Ciara is almost done with this class.

We have had many visitors this month, and a few big activities.

I don't have my camera here at work, so I can't post any pictures right now.

But for a quick recap:

Field Trip to Little Buffalo State Park (Ciara)

Cancelled field trips for Caden

Ciara's Baptism

Lot's of family visiting

Gettysburg

State College (for ice cream, of course)

Work, work, and more work.

As soon as I get the pictures up, I will write in more detail.

Just Shut Up Already!

I am speaking to myself.

I noticed that my last few posts have been very complain-y.

Yes, I have had a hard time adjusting to my new work life.

But I do know that I have a pretty good situation.

My "boss" is pretty lenient about my days off.

 I am still able to volunteer in my kids classrooms.

I am still able to go on field trips with them.

I am still able to drop them off at school, and pick them up everyday.

I know how lucky I am to not need child care services.

When the kids are sick, I have the option of either staying home, or I have been known to drag them into the office with me.

I do have quite a perfect situation for a stay-at-home/working mom.

I shouldn't complain.

Apparently I don't handle change very well.

Wait, back up a minute.

I am pretty good at moving.

That doesn't seem to bother me, but altering my day to day routine just shuts my world down.

The good news is that I am starting to adjust, and I am not as tense as I once was.

So hopefully no more complaining posts from me!

(Well, at least not for now!)