How Greater Houston Will Be Commuting Tomorrow

TBT - 2008 Version

In lieu of a REAL post, I decided I'd do a Throwback Thursday picture post dedicated to the year 2008 (because I'm all lazy that way).  They are not in chronological order, because uh, lazy?  Here we go!



The mighty Cam, fierce soccer player.

Kelsey, before her first brain surgery.

And Kelsey after.  Look at girlfriend rockin' the plaids!

Hubs and the girls at church at Easter.

Kate all dolled up for Homecoming.

Pure, unadulterated joy through Bratz at Christmas.  Oh, yeah!

Band kid, Kelsey, who is 4'11" and marched with a bass clarinet.



The hubs, Cam and I waiting for high school band practice to be over!

The tree that ate my backyard and garage, courtesy of Hurricane Ike.

Dead Sea Mud Facial Mask - Sponsored Post

I am pretty brand loyal to the majority of my facial products; however, I always love trying new masks and treatments.  I received a full-size sample of the Dead Sea Mud Facial Mask by Pure and Essential Minerals to try and I was excited that the sample was large enough to have my three daughters try, as well.  I apologize, but I only have stock photos of the product since my girl children would not let me take pictures of them with the mask on (someone might SEE!!).

Click on the picture to go to Amazon to order!

The mask is billed to be a natural beauty remedy, containing nothing but 100% natural and organic ingredients.  It also purports to tighten pores, reduce wrinkles and lines and promote healthy, natural skin.  Since I am "of a certain age," I was ready to see how much reduction these old wrinkles would see, so I slathered it on applied it carefully to my face and neck.  

This mask at first had an overpowering smell of, well, mineral.  But since it's pure dead sea mud, that makes sense.  Once it went on, my skin tingled a little bit, but not unpleasantly.  I used plain warm water and a wash cloth to remove it after about 15 minutes and found that my skin was very soft and felt very clean overall.  I have used it a few times and don't see a difference in any lines or wrinkles, thought.  My oldest daughter did not care for it, as she thought it made her skin break out (but she's got sensitive skin to begin with).  My two youngest daughters loved this and found that it really seemed to purify their skin.  As a matter of fact, the next two times I used it, I had to demand it back from one or the other of them.  

The Dead Sea Mud Mask is something that I would definitely purchase for our use.  Click above and get some for yourself! 

The Killing Fields

For some reason unknown we are having an unusually high number of geckos and lizards finding their way into the house this spring.  Add to that unusually high number a couple of cats who believe they are nature's great hunters.  Depending on which cat we're talking about, it can be pretty hilarious. For example, Toothless Teddy, (aka FatBoy/JoeBob/Teddy Bear) has not one tooth in his mouth and tries mightily to gum those poor things to death.  Whenever he actually is able to hold one in his mouth (as opposed to having it slip through the gums and run) he generally stalks around the house with his undead kill hanging out.

Khloe, on the other hand, is a seasoned killer.  On any given day we are picking up at LEAST 3 or more carcasses to dispose of.  The poor little things have been getting into our fireplace behind the glass and this is when Khloe displays patience that no one else (humans included) in the house has. She will sit for literal hours in front of the fireplace just waiting for one to poke enough of their body out that she can nab it.  Evidence:

Every once in a while, she'll try to flirt with them to entice them to come out:

And sometimes, she takes pity on FatBoy and will kill his catch for him and generously allow him to carry it around without having to fight to keep it between the gums.

Since I have all girl-children, there is at least of them who is terrified of any type of lizard - dead or alive and will act like this:


Fun times, friend, fun times.

Wednesday Thoughts in Gifs

I am just going to throw out there that I tend to have an ADD type personality and while I'm fairly well back on track at work after the hell of the last few weeks, my personal life is all over the map. As a result, this post will be all over the map, not very good, and not very coherent.


I'm trying to put music back in my life.  I've missed it. Playing, singing, all of it.



I left a position at a major hospital to teach school.  I am back and decided to go back to college yet once again.  I mean, how many degrees is too many?  I am feeling like this though:



My emotions are all over the map right now - kinda feel like this most days:



There are lots of things I should be doing, things for family, work, school, etc.



But I just want to be wherever this is.


Drinking one or three of these:

Until next time...

"There"

The last couple of weeks since we lost dad have been pretty hard.  Beforehand, even if I didn't talk to him every day, I just had the knowledge that he was "there".  "There" if I needed advice, "there" when I needed to complain about motherhood, "there" just to listen when I needed him to.  Now there's this huge hole in the fabric of my life where dad used to be "there".

I know (and have spoken at times) all the platitudes about how he's in a better place, now he's not suffering, now he's with God, ad infinitum.  And, while all those things might be true, he's still not "there."  And that hurts.  Losing your parents is, unfortunately, one of the pieces of the normal progression of life.  It just is.  And it just sucks.

The manner of my parents deaths has been tough, as well.  My mother died from lung cancer over five years ago.  My dad died from prostate cancer.  Both cancers had spread into their bodies through blood and bone.  The way in which cancer emaciates the body and muddles the mind is horrible. Watching mom didn't seem near as bad, since her mind left long before her body did and she didn't exhibit any outward symptoms of pain.  For dad, the pain was excruciating and he mentally wasn't gone enough except for the last few days to be able to block it. No amount of pain medications seemed to keep him comfortable.  We've all heard the saying that cancer is a bitch.  And she is.  And because of it, I have two parents who aren't "there".

I want to take steps to try to be healthier so that my own girls have a mom as long as possible.  I want to at least attempt to be "there" for them for as long as I can.  I hope I never have to face the bitch, but if I do, at least I'll know that I tried to beat her.

100% Pure Argan Oil by Radha Beauty - Sponsored Post

My family and I received this full-sized sample in the mail of 100% Pure Argan Oil by Radha Beauty.  It's billed as 100% pure and can be used as a moisturizer for dry skin and hair.  Additionally, it comes with this really cool dropper that you can use to control the amount (unlike some open tops where you get half the bottle in one hand). 

I've long used argan oil in my hair to help control the unruly curls, but not for any other uses.  I did try the product in my hair and found that it did help with some of the frizziness that I usually hair.  My husband also helped me use and review this product and here is his take on it.  He states that when used on his hair (extremely curly, coarse hair), it helped to relax the curl and control it some.  He also used it facially, specifically under the eye area where he had a couple of scars and general middle-aged dry skin and fine lines.  When used in this manner, he saw a decrease in the actual scar and a great softening of the area in general.

Overall, this is a great product and we will gladly purchase this again for family use in all manners.  This isn't my first review for Radha products and hopefully will not be the last.  They offer a money-back guarantee on their products if you are not satisfied, but we have yet to have that issue. 

Click here to get yours so that you can begin to see the wonderful results of this product. 

One of the Hardest Posts Ever

Five years ago, I posted about the death of my mother and how she could finally run to God as fast in the immortal as her physical body couldn't allow her in the physical. 

This past Saturday, my daddy passed after a long and very difficult struggle with prostate cancer.  As much as losing mom hurt, losing daddy hurts so much more.  Not only was I a "daddy's girl," but I kind of feel orphaned.  I know that this is a normal and natural part of life, the progressive part of getting older and living a long, good life.  I'm not even going to lie, though, this part sucks the biggest pickle ever.  This past week a couple of my daughters hit milestones that I know dad would have loved to hear about because he took so much pride in his grandbabies.  And my hand nearly picked up the phone to dial a number he will never answer again. 

My family considers me the "strong one."  I am not.  I am strong through Christ and I know that He will carry me through this, but the pain is indescribable.  My girls and my wonderful Godly husband are trying their best to support me through this, but it's a day-to-day thing.  As wonderful as the knowledge is that Dad is no longer is the inexplicable pain he'd been suffering through, the hole that his passing has left in my world hurts like nothing ever before.

Thank you all who have commented and reminisced and shared your experiences with dad.  Please know that the family is so very appreciative of each and every response.  If any of you can join us in celebration of his life this Saturday, we would love that.  We do understand if you cannot, though.  Please know that we are thankful that you've played a part of his and our lives. 

Seriously Slacking + Chewy.com Review

This month has been one of those where we are flying by the seat of our pants and crazy-busy.  I've been slacking on my posts, but I at least wanted to give a shout-out to Chewy.com for the awesome treats that Khloe and FatBoy received this month.  I'm a horrible brand-blogger this month because while I've been diligent about giving daily treatie-treats (the beasts won't let me forget to), I've been bad about taking pictures of them enjoying said treatie-treats.

This month we chose the Halo Liv-a-Littles freeze-dried protein treats for the beasts to try.  We got the salmon flavor and they look like this:

Stock photo

These are very light, non-dense, and smell great (for kitty treats, anyway).  They are grain-free and 100% wild salmon.  Khloe loves them and will talk to me every morning until I give them to her.  FatBoy doesn't care for them at all and will look all offended until I remove them from his sight (drama-queen??).  I've even given Sandy-dog a couple and she scarfs them down.  The one and only con to all the pros is that some of the chunks are pretty large and need to be broken down before Khloe can eat them.  Overall these were only half a hit (only because of the drama queen mentioned above) and I probably would not purchase them only because I like to have treats that all the cats will enjoy.  Thanks, Chewy.com, for the opportunity to try these out!

While Chewy.com supplied the treats, all opinions are solely my own (with heavy weigh-in from the menagerie).  

TBT In Pictures

I thought I'd throw up a Throw-Back Thursday post with some of my favorite family pictures.

My 4 faves, right after we became a new family.

The unbridled joy in this pic slays me.

My two oldest and me.

Sandy-dog and Kels, just chillin...

Heck if I know...

My beautiful middle one.

Middle and mom.

A rare Halloween sighting of the elusive Moogle and Waldo.

Girls' annual San Marcos shopping trip!

Have a great one!

Treatie-Treat Time with Chewy.com (Sponsored Post)

Yes, we really call them treatie-treats, (because we're special - that's why) so don't pretend you call snack time something normal-sounding in your house when I know that you still eat pasghetti and read magdazines.

Anywho, we keep our pet treats in the master bathroom cabinet because the little one (Chloe) is a little rat bastage who likes to find anything in a crinkly bag that might be treats and carry them upstairs for her mom to open for her.  Funny side-story -- one time I found one of those little packets of freeze-dried vegetables that go into ramen soup on the stairs leading to my daughter's (Chloe's mom) room.  She had been stalking the kitchen counters for snacks and decided that freeze-dried veggies looked like just the thing.

Back to snack time.  Our animals are trained like Pavlov's dogs so that when anyone walks into the bathroom, all of a sudden there's an audience sitting in front of the cabinet impatiently waiting for treats.  Chewy.com was gracious enough to send treats for both the cats and our ancient Collie in February for us to try.  For the cats, we received Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost Minis in the Rabbit Flavor.  

This box ain't going to open itself, you know.

Chloe isn't really a very vocal cat, but whenever she saw the box for these treats, she went nuts chirping and meowing, and in general just begging for them.  Our two foster kittens also loved them to pieces and risked their lives by trying to steal Chloe's from her (MAJOR smack-downs when that happened).  Our oldest cat, Ted, didn't care for these too much although to be honest, he's not only picky but completely toothless.  I think that these were a bit too hard for him to comfortably gum to death.  These were a big hit overall and we'll definitely buy them in the future.

For the aging Collie, Sandy, we received Blue Buffalo Blue Bones Regular Dental Chews. Historically, she has displayed an allergy to anything red-colored (makes her sick) so when I saw these were red, I was a little apprehensive.  I checked the ingredients and found that they were colored with beets and not dye, so we decided to give them a try.  Again, these went over great and didn't make her sick at all.  As a matter of fact, she would take her treat to the back door and wait to be let out to enjoy her snack in peace because the cats would try to steal them from her.   Since she is 15 and ancient, we really couldn't see a difference in the whiteness of her teeth, but her breath was pretty decent. 

Couldn't get one of her with the treats.

The menagerie would like to thank Chewy.com for the opportunity to try these great products out! While they supplied the treats, all the opinions are solely my own (with heavy weigh-in from the beasts).  

Life this week, as told in in gifs

Made it to another Friday, thank you, Jesus.



My girl children have been overly full of the drama this week.
The smallest things have usually ended this way:



Thanks to a craptastically put together spreadsheet I struggled with for
LITERALLY three days at work, I was a little stressed and irritable.



So after the stressful week, I politely asked the
wonderful hubby for a date night.



Which will lead to a fancy dinner tonight
at a great downtown Houston steak house.


A Rockets game...



And then a small glass of wine
and quality time with the hubs at home.



I'm out!

Radha Beauty Intensive Youth Eye Gel

This is a sponsored post written by me, powered by BrandBacker.

While I was compensated for this post, all thoughts and opinions are my own.



Radha Beauty Intensive Youth Eye Gel

As I age, I find that the roads that I have travelled in my life start to creep up and show themselves on the map of my face (boatloads of beach time, oodles of outdoor activities, craters of concern and worry, etc.).  As a result, I look for new and improved facial care items to try to counter-balance the damage that living a good and fulfilled life has done.  That's where Radha Beauty Intensive Youth Eye gel comes in.  It purports to moisturize and firm skin, and reduce eye bags, dark circles, and puffiness.  The gel is 99% natural and 75% organic and is safe for all skin types. 

 

I don't think that I've tried the product long enough to see long-term results; however, I will share what I have noticed to date.  I will be straight-up honest and tell you that I prefer creamy-type facial products and I knew before trying this that it was a gel, so I won't count that as a negative since some people prefer gels -- it's just a matter of personal preference. 

 

On first examination, I found that the gel is smooth and has a fairly benign smell -- not strong, but noticeable.  I liked the fact that it's mostly natural and organic and didn't irritate my eyes at all (I wear contact lenses).  It does go on the skin very nicely (especially the delicate skin around the eyes) and spreads easily without pulling.  I noticed after a few days that some of my puffiness and darkness had been reduced some and after continued usage I believe that this will be a continued effect.  I cannot vouch for the claim to firm the skin since I don't think I've been using it long enough to see that particular claim to fruition.  This product also did not cause any redness, bumpiness, or itching, which is always a plus.  One of the few things that I did not care for was how long this took to dry, especially before being able to apply makeup. 

 

I will finish out the bottle of the gel to see how many more benefit I might get from it; however,  I probably won't order it again simply because of my preference for non-gel eye products.  If gels are your thing, though, click on the link on the picture to add this great product to your routine!

 

 

 

 



 



Still Alive!

The past couple of weeks have been brutal on the family with all the illness running rampant. As I alluded to in the last post, everyone in my household has had some form of upper respiratory infection, ear infection, bronchitis, etc. I blame this in part on the craptastic weather that we have here in our part of Texas. Our poor systems just can't handle the constant flip-flop of temperatures (rainy 30 degrees one day, up to a sunny 75 the next).

On top of all the ookiness (it IS a word - inclusively defined as all the phlegm, snot, and mucous filled sickness), Kelsey landed in the hospital due to cluster seizures caused by dehydration and electrolyte imbalance from being sick. To round the crappy month out, my dad's cancer has spread pretty rapidly and is beginning to affect his mental capacity. The altered mental status plus the uncontrolled pain from disease spread to the bone landed him inpatient, as well. Just like most of the nation, I'll be glad to see the back-end of this winter in my rearview. I've got a couple of posts scheduled for this weekend, a few product reviews coming up, and just life in general updates. Hope everyone is doing well!

So Much Sick...

Here at Casa Echeverry, EVERY.SINGLE.FAMILY.MEMBER. has had some sort of upper respiratory thing going on.  A couple of us have had ear infections and all five of us has that nasty cough that makes us sound like four-pack-a-day smokers.  Here's a good approximation of what it looks like at any given time in our house right now:


I know that our neighbors must think we're going deaf because in order to actually watch a TV program as a family, we have to turn the volume to DEAF-CON (heh) levels.  I don't know if I'm more horrified that the neighbors know the kids watch Family Guy on a daily basis, Supernatural on constant repeat, or Duck Dynasty in stereo.  That's some quality programming right there, but I digress...

At risk of sounding like a whiny wimp (especially to those who live in truly cold climates), I've just got to say that I'm soooo tired of this winter!  I'm tired of our Texas weather being freezing one day and in the sunny 70's the next.  I'm ready for summer, ready for heat, and ready for pool and beach. Ya'll! There's a reason I've never left Texas for any length of time (unless you count those few unfortunate years in Louisiana).  I find myself spending inordinate amounts of time and brain power imagining myself somewhere on a beach with a margarita as soon as humanly and financially possible.  As a matter of fact, I would like to go to here right now:

My view from the beach chair in Cozumel last year.

Okay, enough griping.  After I get more good drugs this evening, I'm hoping to be feeling better in a couple of days and then I'll be right back on the blogging track once again.

How is everyone else's winter?

Exercising, Eating Better, and Getting Healthy (Transformation Tuesday??)

So little known fact about me (unless you ask – I’m an open book) is that I had a gastric bypass quite a number of years ago.  I officially lost 205 pounds and have kept all but about 30 of it off.  I went on to have a circumferential body lift (O.M.G! – worst pain ever!) that removed about 18 pounds of skin and tightened a lot of my parts and pieces.  I felt the best I have ever in my life right up until about 2 years ago.  My back went out and I ended up having to have a discectomy and a laminectomy and ever since then my old, aging body is a constant canvas of nagging, little pains. 

I decided that this year I was going to do something more substantial about getting my body and my health back in order.  I promised the wonderful hubs that I would exercise more often, cut out my daily glass(es) of wine, and eat better.  And right up until the great snot-storm of 2015 this past week, I had made a valiant effort toward that goal.  I started the C25K app (WAY modified for my mode of wogging/ jalking) and have been feeling really good.  Although to be honest, this is really more my style of running but I'm sticking to the program.  LOL.

Believe it or not, I don't want to become a runner.  I want to increase my cardio enough to balance out the food changes for maximum weight loss.  After I drop some of the poundage, I'm going to get back into some of the strength training to help out my core, which in turn, should help out the nagging little pains to some degree in my back.

Any other people out there (come on -- I need a response from all two of my readers!) who are embarking on new and healthy things?  

Friday Photo Dump

Today, because I feel like I've been hit by a truck (dang, stupid head cold), instead of a real post, I'm doing a Friday Photo Dump from my camera.  I'll try to throw something more substantial up over the weekend (if the fog in my brain lifts a little).  Have a great weekend!

Grocery Game Entry - Closet Stash

Grocery Game Entry - Garage Freezer, Both Pantries

Snoozin' Sansa

Isn't this precious face just adorable????

It's like looking at reverse twin tuxies.

My view of Lake Houston on my walk.

Snoozin' Arya.

Owned!

Weekend Wrap and Epilepsy Support

This weekend was a slow one for us (which I prefer sometimes). We didn't do much Friday, errands and church on Saturday, lazy laundry day on Sunday, and then breakfast with the in-laws and grocery shopping with the hubs yesterday. I LOVE long weekends!!! The only thing I would have loved more is more sleep. I have been totally exhausted for the last few weeks. Exhausted to the point where I'm trying to fall asleep at 8:30 at night and STILL dragging butt getting out of bed in the mornings. This is how I would have liked to have spent more of my weekend:



On Thursday night I got a text from a friend while we were at the gym asking me to give her a call. When I did, she asked if I could contact a friend of hers whose son had been diagnosed with seizure disorder (age 2 1/2) and she is at her wit's end in knowing how to deal with things. I did give her a call and listened to her and then tried to alleviate some of her worst fears and concerns and provided a shoulder to lean on both then and at any point in the future should she need it.

 The thing is, I remember being where she is now. I remember the diagnosis and feeling like I was alone in the world in dealing with taking care of my daughter with epilepsy. I remember trying to navigate the health care system, trying to understand the drugs and their side effects, trying to stay the course of scholastic difficulties and assistance, all the while watching my daughter suffer from horrific looking seizures. I remember how very very difficult it was for me (pretty much from diagnosis forward I was a single mom dealing with this until my 2nd marriage) and how alone I felt. At the time I didn't know who or how to reach out for support. I didn't know how to access help for Kelsey scholastically. I felt like a huge failure in advocating for my child. I have provided that support for quite a number of families over the last 15 years not because of any reason other than "I remember."

 We are a Christian family and I do believe in divine miracles and have prayed for such a miracle for my daughter. I do believe that God could heal Kelsey in the blink of an eye if it was His will. I do have that kind of faith and I do believe that God answers ALL prayers. That said, I think that a lot of people believe that just because you pray for something, God will automatically grant it and if He doesn't, then a) he must not love you, b) he isn't listening, c) he doesn't really exist, d) insert your own conclusion here. God answers ALL prayers, but not all answers are "yes." Some answers are definitely a "yes," some are a "no," and some are "not yet." For Kelsey, I believe that His answer is "no" and it's not about her or us. I believe that God will use this disorder and how we deal with it for his glory. There have been too many instances where He has moved people into our lives (just like my new friend above) so that they can see how we deal with the disorder and the fall-out and ramifications that go along with it and do it all with our strong faith and our belief intact.

 Thoughts?

God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.  Peter Marshall

Friday Faves

I am REALLY trying to be better about writing more.  It's difficult sometimes; when I have the time I don't have the urge and when I have the urge, I don't have the time.  The bottom line is that I procrastinate entirely too much sometimes.  Procrastinators of the world UNITE!  Tomorrow!

Anywho, I'm going to try to do a weekly Friday Faves where I just kind of recap the week of things that stood out or that I liked.  I just might have to get a pool going to see how many consecutive Fridays in a row I can keep it going!  Here we go!

ONE
These guys (or girls!).  I LOVE having fosters.  I love snuggling them up and socializing them and then giving them back when they get all adolescenty and snotty.

TWO
Three-day weekends.  Whenever I can take extra time off without having to use my personal bank, it's all good!  This is me right about now waiting to leave work:




THREE
My wonderful husband!  He loves me unconditionally and has proven that this week.  He's amazing and I don't know what I would do without him.




FOUR
Peace in my house during PMS week.  With three daughters and myself living under one roof, things can get a little dicey at LEAST once a month during that wonderful time.  This week, this week is PMS week but it hasn't been as near chaotic as it can be.  Substitute chocolate for mac and cheese and the picture below is a perfect example of occurrences at my house.


FIVE
Even given the emotions that number 4 brings, I love my family.



Everyone have a great and wonderful weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up & Grocery Game

Hey ya’ll!  My urge to blog more regularly is there; however, I just never find the time to actually sit and follow through.  I’m going to attempt to be more present on my own blog!  I KNOW that I can do it if I put my mind to it! 

This weekend was pretty low-key.  We stayed at home on Friday night and watched TV and played with the foster babies.  Saturday was a regular old errand and church day and then Sunday was half-hearted football since my beloved Texans didn’t make the playoffs (and then the Cowboys – our other Texas team – lost) and cooking for the week. 

Speaking of cooking for the week, we are a couponing family and usually have a stockpile of pantry and freezer items and find the need to “eat out of the pantry” every few weeks to keep the stock rotated.  Given that, I boiled a whole chicken to give us shredded chicken for the week (chicken enchiladas, shredded chicken for salads, etc.) and about 20 cups of liquid gold (aka, chicken stock) to freeze.  Additionally, I made super-healthy, low-carb egg muffins for the hubby and I for breakfast, and regular Sunday dinner of slow-cooked pork ribs and mac & cheese. 

We do participate in the Grocery Game website and typically save anywhere between 45-75% or so on our weekly grocery bill.  Given that there are five of us in the house, this REALLY saves us serious moolah the majority of the time.  If you’re interested in checking it out, follow the link to The Grocery Game!

In other news, the foster babies are totally forgetting that they are supposed to be skittish and are all over the place. Ayra (the tuxie) has taken to following us around the house randomly and talking to us until we pick her up for some love.  Sansa typically runs around like her butt is on fire and then collapses in a heap on whoever might be sitting down at the time.  God forbid if you disturb her once she collapses in a heap of kitten, because then she begins to grip at you LOUDLY for moving.  This batch of babies are such drama queens, but very lovable. 

Sansa says she is NOT a drama queen.

I’m going to call this a post and will be back later in the week!  

Today's Annoyance and Foster Friday!

This is my reaction when people walk into my office and try to speak to me when I am VERY noticeably talking on the phone:


In other news, we have a new batch of fosters -- these are named after two Game of Thrones ladies.  Meet Ayra and Sansa!  Ayra is the tuxie and Sansa is the tabbie.  They are two super-sweet sisters who came to us at about 6-7 weeks old.  They only spent one night segregated and then were introduced into the house and are doing great!  I came home last night after only having them for a couple of days and they were both curled up on my oldest daughter sleeping.  Hopefully we can keep them a few weeks before giving them back for adoption.