Fashion

[KonaKat]

Good morning, shopping friends. It is "New Beauty, New You" day in which we are being encouraged to try something new. I did see the two jars of supersized First Aid Ultra Repair Cream presented, at which time it was stated January was the only time it was offered in that configuration and people were encouraged to stock up because of the value.

Magic words used in advertising to encourage people to buy: special large sizes and offered only once a year. Magic words are words marketing people coin as they have been proven to move people from undecided status to a buying a status.

I worked yesterday despite having a headache and feeling as if I was getting the bug that is going around. I was super exhausted when I got home despite it being a good work day. I had an early dinner and then hit the bed, getting up at 9pm and staying up until 1am.

I had planned to go to the city today as the weather will be good and I have to take to an UPS shipping center all that heart monitoring equipment I have just finished boxing up. I still feel a little under the weather, so I'll postpone that trip. I have Monday available as there is no school because of Martin Luther King Day.

Having benchmarks to measure progress is important. I went online to the card I use and pay in full and compared the balance as of today to the balance at the same time last month. There is a significant difference, simply because I have not gone anywhere since the beginning of January or have not purchased anything except essentials and utilities.

We are past the half-way point of the month? How are you doing with your goals for the month? If you are making significant progress, you might want to reward yourself with a low-priced treat. Going "cold turkey" on anything can be difficult. The goal is to reduce excesses.

I'm about out of my Laura Geller baked blush, so I have been checking Amazon, etc. versus the Q for pricing including the final cost.

I'll spend some time today discovering more things to find a new home. Often less is more as you really know what you have and you use it more. As the saying goes, "20% of the items are used 80% of the time." That boils down to around 80% of the items not being used often or at all.

Have a great day. If you shop, shop wisely.

[twinny70]

I am disappointed in the all day beauty products. That is probably a good thing as I have numerous things to do around the house. Sorry you were under the weather yesterday. It was supposed to be sunny today, but so far it is very cloudy but mild. We are now enjoying January thaw. It is supposed to be in the 40's today. DH & I are going to empty the hot tub & refill it quickly so we can enjoy it this evening. We only empty it 3 times a year. Mostly we work around vacations, but other than our trip in March we have no plans.

I posted yesterday about my running all over the place to get my watch battery replaced. Our usual nice guy in the town that we were shopping on Thurs. moved away. We were told where he went but couldn't find him there either. Tried WalMart but she couldn't get the back off of my bangle watch. Believe it or not I have 4 bangle watches & all 4 had dead batteries. I know better than to let them run non stop but it happened anyway.

My mom hurt her leg a week ago reaching over to turn on her radio. She has been hobbling all week with not much relief. Yesterday I called her to see if she wanted to pay her taxes when we paid ours. She said yes but when we went to pick her up, she couldn't walk good enough to go so we took her payment when we did our taxes. I went to the PO when DH paid taxes. Our DD has a birthday tomorrow & our oldest DGS will be 14 on Tuesday. No mail on Monday, so I mailed the cards & money both at the same time. They can have fun shopping at the after Christmas sales. Then while DH was at the bank, I went to our local jewelry store to get my battery put in. In less than a minute and only a few bucks more she had me on my way in less than a minute. I guess it is like the say "you get what you pay for."

I have no shopping needs today. I bought a few things on Thursday while we were out & around. My favorite SF black licorice & Chlorox citrus blend scented wipes to wipe the plane armrests, tray etc before we take off. I want to stay germ free when flying. I looked at my spring clothes the night before & don't need anything before our next trip. Good thing I decluttered last year & can see what is actually in my closet or I would have bought a couple of new tops.

Hugs to all of you.

[KonaKat]

Twinny--When it comes to changing a watch battery, I usually go to LeRoys or some other jewelry store. I don't know the practice elsewhere, but they have done it for me free in hopes I might come back and buy some other items. Of course, I don't. I am glad that you got the batteries replaced. The weather is great today and I'm glad it is for you also. Like you, I take those antibacterial wipes with me. It is great to see what you have available in clothes. What is bad is finding in the store a top you really like and then you come home and discover in the back of the closet one almost like it.

I've spent some time re-organizing some things in the kitchen. I got rid of some items but what was left needed to be organized in a manner that made sense to me.

I know I have some prescriptions to pick up at the drug store as the voice mail from yesterday had a reminder that they were ready. I also need to check the Post Office in case my pay check and W-2 from work are there. The office person at work didn't know I was working yesterday so she mailed them. If not there, they will be there on Tuesday.

[cerb]

Hi Twinny - I've had the same problem with watch batteries at times. Our Walmart stopped changing batteries about 6 years ago (didn't want to get accused of damaging watches.) Then my reliable local jeweler moved away. I just found another jeweler that seems alright and charged $5 per battery. I don't like it when the situation is always changing and I have to go hunting for a new solution. Life is complicated enough as it is, lol! Hope your Mom's leg gets better soon.

KonKat - hope you're better, and I hope you get useful answers from having done the heart monitoring. You're so right about the magic buzz words used to entice us to make purchases. Most of the time I can resist. But sometimes I fall for it. The only QVC purchases I've made this year were 2 waitlisted items that came in. Nothing "new."

I am in the process of organizing and purging different areas of my house, but it will take some time, I'm afraid. I got caught up on the filing, and I mentioned already that I went through my library and found 87 books to donate. Alas, while I was at the thrift store donating them, I purchased several more used books. One step forward, one step back. On a slightly better note...a while back I had purchased 2 secondhand Isaac Mizrahi chiffon tops that came with spaghetti strap camisole tops. I prefer tank tops that hide bra straps, but didn't want to spend a lot of money buying new ones. Happily - I found tank tops at the thrift stores for $2 and $1. I'm so glad I made the effort to look. (Nobody wants to buy tank tops during January so there was a nice selection.) I'm really happy with that purchase.

Once my husband gets up and moving (it's still morning on the west coast), we'll be cleaning out our goat pens. Then I'm going to work on labeling and organizing digital photos on my computer. That's not a "difficult" job, but will take many, many hours of work, probably spread out over several days.

Hope you all have a nice weekend! ~ Charlene

[cerb]

Oops - forgot that I bought the Josie Maran TSV a short while ago. I don't buy too many beauty products. I rather like the set so far, and it will probably last me a l-o-n-g time. Don't plan on buying any other beauty product soon.

[Rock_chick]

Hello friends!! The family came home last night and though the house is in disarray, it is good to have them here. Stevie and I went to boot camp and kicked it - and lined up a week of exercise class together and purging the house of things at night. It will be a fun week. This week was kind of hard for me, alone and trying to do things at work. They have a great candidate and I am praying that the perfect person will come on board and I will train them for a couple days.

[LindaLatte]

Good Morning! Thanks for getting us started Jean. It is a shame you don't feel up to going into the city since I know you were looking forward to it. Hope that a trip on Monday works out for you. I am still debating that offer you mentioned -- I did notice that it is a limited time offer. Decisions, decisions..... I found Laura Geller products at Ulta for less than is charged here. However, the Ulta was near DD, and I don't think there are any stores in this area. Good luck in finding a less expensive source for the blush.

Hi twinny -- sounds like you are thinking ahead buying those wipes. I have heard that some of the places on the airplane can be full of germs. I know that I have caught colds, etc. after traveling sometimes. It really upsets me when the person next to me spends the whole flight coughing and sneezing, but what can you do? I keep reading about how you de-cluttered, and I realize that I need to get to that project rather than just talk/think about it.

Good for you Charlene -- glad you were able to find the tank tops that you wanted. DH had a huge problem with book "collecting", but he donated quite a few books before we moved to Arizona. Sorry if I missed it, but what do you do with the goats? Do you make cheese or something?

Waves to Kathleen, Arlene, Susan, Marijane, LindaR (I like anise, but I have never had that candy), Karen, Rosa, and all of our posters and readers.

Nothing exciting planned for today. I will do my usual laundry and financial accounting, and DH and I will take a walk. It is pretty cool now (40's), but we are expecting to reach 70 degrees today. Looking forward to the warm.

Have a good day everyone!

Hugs,

Linda

ETA -- Glad your family is there Kathleen, and you and DD are signed up for exercise camp.

[PAlady]

Good morning ladies, hope all is well.

Jean - Thank you for starting us today, sorry you aren't feeling well, hope you feel better soon. Glad you are done with the monitor, my DH had to wear one while traveling, he went to a dinner in a basement of a building and lost the signal for the monitor, of course it went off and everyone there went into a panic. He was okay and had to get in contact with the monitoring people and tell them why it went off. He also had to fly for that trip, he was going thru security with it and told them what he had on and needed to go around the screener, the TSA person told him to go thru, so he did. He set off an alarm and you could hear all thru the airport, the TSA supervisor came over and DH explained what happened, needless to say the TSA employee was fired on the spot.

Twinny - Hope you get the hot tub refilled quickly. I never used to carry wipes for a plane until I saw on facebook, I think it was under Shaming Passengers, what people really put on their trays (feet, heads, ect..), in all my travels on planes, I never have seen people put their feet on the trays. I haven't flown for awhile, but will take wipes next time.

Charlene - Hope you get the pens cleaned out, and hope you get your organizing done. Sounds like quite a job.

Kathleen - Good work on the exercising. Keep up the good work, and have decluttering with DD.

LindaL - Enjoy your warm weather, I envy right now. We are supposed to hit 40 today (heat wave), have a good walk with DH.

Off to get some coffee and pick a couple things up at the store, have a good afternoon everyone.

[twinny70]

Jean, cute cartoon. I'll be looking for the correct answer. I like to think about my vacation packing early. That is part of the excitement of going somewhere for me. DH packs the night before & is done with it. I know that I mentioned that last fall while in JCP I bought 2 pairs of capris & a top with matching colors from Alfred Dunner for about $10.00 with my discount & $10.00 off coupon. I went down the basement to our guest bedroom & discovered the pair of blue capris that I bought in Sept. from the QVC outlet. They were around $7.00. I have plenty of nice tops to go with these purchases & some really nice white capris from the Q outlet store as well.

Cerb, do you make soaps with the goat milk or anything else? I bought 2 bars of goat milk soap in Sept. & also a bar of goat milk solid lotion bar. I buy from this young gal every 2 years when our town has it's huge festival. Just wonderful scents. Good clothing deals too. Always nice to find a true bargain.

RC, Yes, I would imagine your home is in pandamonium (sp) right now. but, how fun to be all together again. I hope that your company can find a good replacement for you. Not an easy thing to do most of the time.

LL, My one SIL told me about the wipes. She said she was sick every time they flew until she started using them a few years ago. If my immune system wasn't compromised, I probably wouldn't be so careful either. I am feeling so good right now--knocking on wood. I did a load of wash & then did the floors. They never look dirty, but they were.

[twinny70]

Susan, we will be in the 40's today too. Wonderful for this time of year for us. I can't imagine putting my feet up on the tray. I am short but it would still be quite the feat IMO. I know the flight attendants are busy with other things too.

Quick lunch then the emptying begins after we go in first. It takes about 2 hours to empty it & just over an hour to refill so a pretty quick job. I always give it a soft scrub clean & DH rinses it down with the hose.