So, here’s my new thing this week:
From Whole Foods.
For $1.69.
Yum.
(For the record, they are loaded with fat & probably have little more nutritional value than chips, but there are peas in there, so I’m counting it as a healthy snack.)
So what about you? What new did you do?
About two months ago, HH’s car crapped out on us. It would cost us a small fortune to have someone remove the engine block to see if it could even be repaired. We decided that was a pretty big if, so it was probably better to cut our losses and get him a new beater to drive around.
Note: this would have been a perfectly good opportunity for him to plead his case for any one of these that he’s been drooling over for-stinkin-ever. He didn’t and I love him for that.
Within a couple of weeks, my dad noticed that a church member was driving a minivan with a FOR SALE sign in the window. He asked about it and drove me to look at it that day. That night HH and I met up with the gentleman and drove it. We told him we’d take it.
Of course, nothing could be that simple for us. The van belonged to the man’s son who lived out of town. And the title had to be ordered. And the DOT was severely backed up. Which is why we didn’t actually purchase it until this past week.
I could go on for days about how I was never going to drive a minivan. I think they are ugly. To be honest, I don’t care how convenient they are as far as room, it feels like I’m driving a tank. I don’t feel like I can run a quick errand, since it’ll take me roughly twenty hours to park the darn thing. But I cannot deny that it became available to us at the right time and, most importantly, it was the right price.
You see, we don’t do debt. (Obviously, we are hoping to get into some house debt soon– and, after being debt free for so long, the thought of that makes me queasy.) So, when the old car punked out, it took me about twenty minutes to figure out how much cash we had to spend (not much). We were even having trouble finding beaters in our price range. So, when this van with pretty high mileage and some hail damage, but a whole year newer than our main vehicle fell into our laps at exactly our price point, we kind of felt like it was meant to be.
So, I bought a van. Not so exciting.
And I paid for it with C-A-S-H. So very exciting.
What about you? What new did you do?
It wasn’t pretty, but I tried a few new things this week.
To understand the logic, one must understand that for the past six months, no matter what color I put on my hair, it turns out reddish. I had finally found a color that seemed to be pretty tolerable. It was a little dark for me, but I’d received several compliments, so I was happy. Until the grays started popping out. All over. Days after I’d colored it. So, I decided that if I went a shade lighter, maybe the gray wouldn’t be so noticeable. And I was right.
Until I saw the pictures my in-laws took at the zoo. Ugh! It turns out my hair looked pretty orange in natural light. I turned to twitter with my concerns. A couple of trusted tweeps suggested I try a toner and/or “purple” shampoo.
So off to Sally, I went. The associate took me right to the toner, but once she asked me if the “blue” on the bottle meant that it’d would turn my hair blue, I knew I was on my own. (Though I must admit I was flattered that she perceived I was hip enough to put some blue in my hair!)
First I applied this toner. Results: ORANGE hair that was both smelly and sticky. I chose not to photograph this look. It was pretty ugly. My attitude about it was much uglier. (Many apologies to HH and the kids.)
So, I washed twice with this purple shampoo. Results: Much less orange, much less smelly, much better texture.
(Holy forehead wrinkles!)
(And, how come this skin color only looks good on Nicole Kidman?)
Obviously, it was an ok-enough color to get me to work, but I knew I needed an intervention. It was time to stop the vicious cycle of at-home hair coloring and seek professional help.
*Gulp*
I called up my new go-to dl Salon. Lindsie, of course, was on maternity leave. Happily, Debbie was available that very afternoon. (Seriously, click over and look at her picture– is she not THE CUTEST EVER?) After two hours of foiling, fashion magazines, hair dryers, scalp massage, and New Moon on the giant flatscreen, I emerged with this:
Better, no?
While professional hair color is not BRAND new to me. I haven’t had it done in almost four years, when, right after Wog’s birth, I told my stylist to take me back to my natural color because diapers alone would wipe out my hair color budget. Four years is a long time, though, so I’m kind of counting it as new.
And, yes, its WILDLY expensive. I’m having a hard time stomaching it. I’m adding it to our budget though. Beauty is expensive, I guess.
So, I tried a toner, purple shampoo, and rushed back to the safety of a professional colorist.
What about you? What new did you do?
With the help of Random.org, the winners of my Big Sky Bread Company giveaway.
The winner (chosen from the comments) of a customized prize pack (any 3 items from Big Sky) is:
#8 Courtney
And the winner (chosen from MckLinky) of any single item of her choice is:
#4 Trina
(You’ll see that there were not that many links, but I counted Birmingham Mommy’s post as 3, since Jamie, Trish, & Angie each shared their new thing for the week on that post.) It seemed fair to me. I hope you agree.
Congratulations to the winners! I’m hoping since they are both local, I’ll get to work a lunch date into the delivery of their prizes! If any of you that are further away want to come & have lunch with me, I’ll buy you a loaf of bread too!
I am so excited about my new thing this week, that it’s been killing me to not publish this post sooner. But, before I get to the actual new thing, let me rewind a few years to the early days of WBFS.
The year was 2007, the month was March. My husband had finally talked me into starting a blog. It just so happened to coincide with 5 Minutes for Mom’s Ultimate Blog Party (which is coming around again VERY soon), so I joined in the fun. On my rounds, I left a comment on a blog (whose author was a Arbonne representative) mentioning that I might like to give Arbonne products a try. Within hours, Stacey had emailed me and asked for my address. Days later, a wonderful package full of Arbonne sample-y goodness arrived at my door.
It was the beginning of something beautiful. Really.
Stacey and I have continued to read each other’s blog in the years since. We’ve emailed and facebooked. She even sent me a homemade burp cloth for Bug when whe was born (along with some more Arbonne products and samples that made packing my hospital bag a cinch!) She even included goodies for Wog.
In return for all of her kindness and bloggy friendship, I bought a very special gift for her new addition, which is still sitting on my nightstand. Her sweet B man is now over 9 months old.
Now you want to be my bloggy friend, too. Right?
So on to the new thing. On Friday of last week, I get an email from Stacey regarding an Arbonne order. She sarcastically mentioned that I could call her with my payment information. Since we’ve been “tight” for about three years, I could read the implied “yeah, right” between the lines.
So what did I do?
I called her.
On the phone.
Severe people & phone anxiety be darned.
We talked for sixteen whole minutes and I did not spontaneously combust from the pressure. As a matter of fact, I laughed. A lot. And smiled. A lot.
I was stupid excited over my accomplishment. HH almost passed out when I told him that night. I am still pretty giddy. I love making that connection. You know the one that turns bloggy friends into real-life friends. Not that I love Stacey anymore today than I did a week ago, it just feels more legit.
We’re even talking about taking our relationship to the next level– a real visit. I’m not terribly far from some pretty beaches, and one day soon, we hope to get our families there at the same time.
Of course, a face-to-face meeting with swimwear involved. I’m not sure I’m ready for that!
What what new did you do this week?
…Or should I say CARBS!
(Some words just need to be in ALL CAPS and followed by an exclamation point!)
Not only is this week’s new thing something I love (BREAD), but it also involves two things I am very passionate about: my city (Birmingham, AL) and real food (you know, ingredients that you can pronounce).
For years, I drove right past Big Sky Bread Company every day without stopping. Sitting here, picking poppyseeds out of my teeth, I wonder why it took me standing in a Piggly Wiggly way across town to finally try it.
After, literally, carrying two kids–one whiny, one rambunctious, both sleepy–through four prospective homes, they’d fallen asleep in their carseats. We needed juice at home and I needed a treat. HH stayed in the car with the sleeping kids, while I meandered through the aisles at the Pig and found myself staring at a bag of four large cookies. I saw the price (over five dollars!!!) and almost walked away, but decided instead to read the ingredients:
Freshly Ground 100% Whole Wheat, Whole Oats,
Chocolate Chips, Pure Butter, Brown Sugar,
Water, Eggs, Molasses, Baking Powder, and Salt
Where were the “monoglutoids“? (Ok that’s a made up word, but you get what I’m saying.)
I had placed them in my basket, when a customer with questionable hair (sorry, it had to be said) walked up and grabbed a loaf of their Three Seed Bread. She turned to me and said, “This is the best bread in the world. I know it’s expensive, but it’s the only thing I buy now.” There really isn’t a more ringing endorsement of a product than that of a random grocery store patron (even one with questionable hair). So, I placed a loaf of it my basket and headed to the checkout line (where I just about choked on my total bill).
Once home, it took me about five seconds to decide that I would have toast for supper. And after two bites, I was sold. The Three Seed Bread made the best toast! It was so good that it’s now gone. I didn’t even get a chance to try a sandwich out of it. Oh well, guess its off to the bakery to pick up some more. Maybe this time I’ll try the Honey Whole Wheat bread and pick up some granola for HH.
I know at least five of the eight folks who read my posts aren’t in Birmingham (or even Alabama), so I feel kind of rude touting all this goodness here in my neck of the woods. But,if you clicked over to their site to drool over all the carbolicious goodness (really, “good”ness) and the REAL ingredients in each of their products, you probably noticed that you can order it and have it shipped straight to you , wherever you are. Now I don’t feel so bad after all.
But, wait, do you hate to pay shipping for something that you’re not even sure you’ll like? I do. Actually, I hate to pay shipping for something that I know I’ll love. So, I might be inclined to choose a random commenter for a nice little choose-your-own prize pack on me.
Here’s how you enter:
1. LEAVE A COMMENT. That’s all. I like to keep things simple. If you’re feeling froggy, though, you can jump over to their site and let me know in your comment what item you’d most like to try.
I don’t want to leave out my fellow “Fifty-Two”-ers. So, if you link up with your Fifty-Two New post this week, you’ll be entered into a separate drawing for an item of your choice from Big Sky Bread Company.
I’ll draw winners one week from today, March 18th, and will contact them via email.
Now for the small print: *sigh* I have received no compensation for this post, nor have I been in contact with Big Sky Bread Company about this post. I tried it. I liked it. I’m going to give some away at my own expense.
*sigh*
So what’s New with you this week? Link up!
I feel like this week’s a good one. The whole point of the Fifty Two New project, for me, is to stray from my comfort zone a little. Up until now, I’ve just tried new products. This week, I went WAY on out there as far as comfort zone.
Da da da dum.
The lovely ladies of Birmingham Mommy hosted their very first mixer this past Tuesday night at Jim N Nick’s BBQ, which happens to be Taco Tuesday (read: yum). They invited all mommies (bloggers, tweeters, facebookers, etc.) to join them for appetizers, cupcakes, and door prizes.
Not surprisingly, I RSVP’d immediately, then spent the next two weeks coming up with reasons I shouldn’t go. I came up with a lot of them, because, hey, I don’t do people well. And I really, really don’t do NEW people well. HH managed to tell me daily how proud he was of me for going, which meant he 100% expected me to back out. So, I went. I mean, I couldn’t let him win.
I left twenty minutes late, stopped by CVS, and checked all three email accounts twice each in the car before going in, thinking I might miss it (completely on accident, of course). Eventually, I pried myself from the car, iPhone (read: distraction, friend) in hand, and stopped to throw up headed in.
It was a slow start, but I found a place to park and ended up the majority of the night to Country Fried Mama, whose blog I’d been reading for a few weeks. She was a riot and we had a lot in common, most importantly the ability to go into and social situation and park it (you thought I was going to say that are children are the same ages, didn’t you? Well, there’s that too.) I had a great night with her and a few other girls (who don’t have blogs or twitter pages for me to link to). I also got to meet Christie, aka Birmingham Bargain Mom, who was so sweet despite the fact that I practically drooled all over her, telling her how much I loved her. I also got to meet Trish and Angie (two of the three Birmingham Mommies).
It was a fun night and I came out unscathed (for the most part). I definitely need to practice my mixing skills some more!
Of course, I did forget to give out these snazzy bits:
Not cool, since my hubby worked so hard on them.
So what new did you do?
The journey to home ownership has been a slow one for me. Twenty-four years ago, my parents sold our home, as my dad had accepted the call to pastor his first church. We moved into a house that the church owned, right there on the church property. We were there two and a half years before we moved again. The next house (also owned by the church my dad pastored) was home for six years. I graduated high school on a Friday and woke up bright and early Saturday morning to help my parents load the moving truck. I stayed behind with my grandparents and waited to begin my freshman year of college. The next four years are a hazy memory of dorm rooms, on-campus apartments, off-campus apartments, mobile homes, rental houses, and friends’ sofas.
Once graduated, I moved back to my grandparents’ house, an hour away from campus and waited for this really handsome journalism major that I’d been eyeing my last two quarters to get some sense and ask me out. Once he finally did, I decided it was time to search for greener career pastures in the big city, where my parents lived. Mr. Journalism followed me a couple of months later. I moved in with my parents and waited for Mr. Journalism to pop the question looked for a place of my own. Two years later, Mr. Journalism changed his name to HH. (I changed mine too.) We sped away from the church, cans a-tinkling along behind us, to our very first apartment.
Weary from all the years of temporary, so very eager to settle down, I’m pretty sure I started spouting off the benefits of home ownership to HH as he was carrying me over the threshold of our little love nest.
It took him seven years and two children to hop on board the house train.
We saved.
We searched.
We selected.
We waited.
We stomped our feet.
We cried.
We fought.
We waited longer.
We cursed.
We dug in our heels.
We waited some more.
We walked away.
Today, we start over.
I feel beat down from all the energy wasted on this particular house. I feel angry at the deception that went on and ill advice received. I feel stupid for hanging on so long. I feel disappointed that my kids are not going to grow up in this house that I’ve been envisioning for the last six months.
At the end of it all, though, it is just a pile of bricks. My anger will subside. My energy and excitement will emerge again.
As the journey continues.
Slowly.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins @ It’s Come to This Coming soon to a Sunday School social near you! I’ve completely bombed every homemade muffin recipe I’ve attempted, but I have high hopes for this one!
Compound Butter @ Tasty Kitchen I’m always looking for new ways to eat butter.
Baja Fish Tacos @ 28 Cooks Fish tacos are one of HH’s favorite things. I’ve been SO afraid to attempt them at home, but I think I’m going to give it a shot with this recipe for starters!
“The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.” — Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias (1989)
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