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Uniforms and Computers for School

I haven’t kept up with what the kids are wearing at school these days because for the past six years, I’ve been unschooling my daughter. I did hear about a year or two ago, however that there was at least one school, maybe two, that were considering going the uniform route. These are not private schools, either. One of the schools was the high school that I graduated from in 1981. Wow, how things have changed since way back then.

My daughter has been to Old Navy with her father a few times and she liked some of the clothes and she even once told me that she wouldn’t mind having to wearing the uniform that the school I went to and wore just about whatever I wanted to wear. Within reason, of course.

Old Navy is having a special kid’s campaign where, by using an Old Navy coupon code, you can save up to 40% and get free shipping when you spend $50. You have until 8/20/10, which gives you plenty of time to take advantage of this great deal on uniforms for girls.

I don’t even remember hearing about computer when I was in school. Sure, they existed, but they weren’t in the schools for students to use on a daily basis as they are nowadays. Now it seems like a computer is is a necessary item for just about everyone. Including students. So, there’s a Walmart coupon code that can be used to purchase The Dell Inspiron 570 Desktop for $578. Just don’t let your child have it in his/her bedroom. That gives them too much freedom to get themselves in trouble. Unless they don’t have internet access, which is also almost necessary these days.

Is it an Herb?

I was trying to look for information on herbal phentermine, but what was missing was the word “herbal”. I guess if I want to find out about the product, I’ll have to look at the list of ingredients to see if there are any herbs in it.

What I read was that it’s the generic form of another product, but if a person is interested, they can purchase it without a prescription. Although it says that a person wouldn’t get jittery from taking it, I don’t know if I’d want to take my chances.

Maybe if I were obese and I were willing to pay the cost (I’m really cheap), I’d consider trying it out. That is, after I consulted a doctor who I trust completely. I’d listen to him first before doing anything. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t trust easily. Lucky for me, I know one.

This doesn’t mean that someone else shouldn’t try it out. What works for me might not work for you and visa versa. Just do what is best for your health and well-being.

Raising Kids – It’s Their Turn Now

During each of my pregnancies, I took vitamins. Since it’s been so long ago, the last one being over 17 years ago, I don’t remember if they were the same brand, but it sure seems like it. I remember pink. I just don’t remember what was pink. The bottle, the pills, or both. I didn’t and still don’t find it enjoyable to take pills. Especially horse pills. You know what I mean. The huge pills that go down your throat hard and slow?

I don’t know if I was taking what would be considered the best prenatal multivitamin on the market and to tell you the truth, I don’t even remember feeling any differently than before I took them. But I believe they are healthy for both mother and baby, so, I took them, which I recommend any expectant mother to do. I was even told to continue taking them after my children were born until I ran out of the last bottle I received.

.~Sigh~ I love my kids so much, but I’m so glad thost days are over for me. I see my son and his wife raising my granddaughter and while I love her dearly and sometimes I miss my kids when they were little, I wouldn’t want those days back. Well, maybe some of them. Not the crying and screaming days though. Not the sleepless nights and too early in the morning times either.

It’s their turn now. And it’s fun to watch. Watching my granddaughter learn and grow and watching my son experience what I did and see what he does differently than what I did. And better.

Missing Jeans

I have three pairs of shorts. One pair I only wear in the house for comfort and when I’m washing my other shorts. They’re too big to walk too far in. I don’t like the sag style and they’d end up falling down anyway. Another pair just started to fit me a few weeks ago and the third pair are loose on me, but still fit good enough to wear outside.

I also have three parents of pants. What’s that saying about coming in threes? Is there such a saying? Anyway, two pairs are black sweats and the other is pair of dress pants that I’ve had for about four years. There was a time when they were the only pair I had. And now they’re wearing out from being worn so much.

I recently told my daughter that I want a pair of jeans. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a pair of blue jeans. The loose short that I have are black. I like that color. Some people look good in black. I know one person in particular who really looks good in black. It brings out the color of his eyes and the color of his naturally tanned skin. He looks good in colorful clothes, too, though, which is what I’ve been seeing him wearing more of lately. Shoot. He looks good in anything he wears.

It’s better to wear black in the winter in the Midwest, though. It helps keep me warmer. In the summer it makes me hotter and I sweat more. I just don’t want to pay the prices that it would cost for me to buy a brand new pair of jeans. So, I plan on going to a resale shop that has nice used jeans that cost less than $10.00 I can usually find a pair for five or six dollars. One pair will do for now. But, I am gonna wait until summer is almost over. Since I’ve lost the weight I have, I like wearing shorts in the summer now. Last year I wore the black pants. Yeah. I was pretty hot in them. Not in a sexy way, either.

I don’t know if the resale shop has wholesale clothing, but if they do, that could mean getting cheaper clothes that have never been worn, too. As long as they’re in the right price range for me and they’re comfortable and nice-looking. That’s what matters to me.

Waiting For Adventure or Making Excuses

I’ve never been much into sports. Sure, I played kickball and softball in the neighborhood, but that was when I lived with a family with three boys and was told to go outside to “blow the stink off” of me. I won’t get into the story about living there right now. I also played games out in the street when I lived at home. I did have some good times, especially with my childhood best friend (who is now my niece).

One year I became interested in trying out for the track team. I loved to run. For whatever reason, however, that didn’t happen. I had been running around the track, getting myself ready for tryouts and wouldn’t you know it? I got strep throat. So, I was stuck in bed for three days with my foster sister, who I had caught it from. By the time I that was over, my body had gotten so stiff from lying in bed all that time I walked all hunched over in crazy pain. I don’t know why I didn’t try again the next year. It may have been because I moved which meant going to yet another school.

I’ve also never been very adventurous, depending on what your definition of adventure is. I think the most adventurous thing that I ever did was to join the army. Back then their slogan was, “It’s not a job, it’s an adventure”. Yeah, until I came home and only worked two days a month and two weeks a year. How boring. Except when I went to Germany. That wasn’t much of an advenure, really, but it sure was fun. Even at work.

There are things I would love to do. I would love to travel. I would love to be of service and travel. I just haven’t figured out how to do that yet. I haven’t forgotten about my adventure to California. My daughter is still 17 and it’s not something that she would be up for, though. So, am I making excuses? I don’t think so. I’m not afraid to do something. I just don’t know how to get started with a child still at home. I certainly won’t leave her behind or take her with me if she doesn’t want to go.

Once I’m on my own, without any kids left at home, I don’t know how I’m going to feel about it or what I’m going to do. Who knows? I just might do somthing I never dreamed I would’ve done before. Or, I just might do something I’m been wanting to do, but have been too afraid to do it. Hey, since I don’t need a driver’s license to drive an atv…Heh. My kids would crack up just watching me get on one. They probably wouldn’t believe that I’d even try to start it up. Are they right? Hmm…

I sure do enjoy some spontaneity.

How Do You Stay So Young-Looking?

I swear when I first saw the name, prototype 37c, it reminded me of a name that would be used for a robot in a science fiction movie. I never would have guessed that it’s the name of a wrinkle cream. Oops.

Goodness. There are so many different types and brands of wrinkle creams, any name really doesn’t surprise me any. I have a couple different wrinkle creams and I said not too long in the past that I was going to use them. I guess I changed my mind. And I also forgot about them until yesterday.

I think it’s more of a trust issue than anything. I have this fear that if I keep using the products, my skin is going to have a reaction to one or more of the ingredients. Or it could be that I just don’t want to take the time to use it and it’s not that important to me to try to get rid of the smile lines. Also, if I do use them, once the bottles and jars are empty, then what? Heh. Lots of excuses, eh?

The companies want the consumer to purchase more, of course. Which I won’t. I didn’t even buy the ones that I have. Someone sent them to me. Illegally. Yeah. For real. I called the companies, told them what happened and was told that I could just keep the products without having to purchase anything. Heh. They don’t even have my real name anyway. Thanks to whoever sent me these expensive products spelling my name incorrectly.

My fears could be completely unfounded, though. Maybe there are people who use wrinkle creams that truly help them to look younger. I’ve seen many people who I know are older than I am and yet these women look at least my age if not younger. I don’t know how they keep looking so young, but it could be that they use these products. Lucky them.:)

I remember when I was 25 years old being told often that I didn’t look old enough to have any kids at all let alone two. And when my son became a teenager I was told that I didn’t look old enough to have one. I do miss being told that sometimes. ~sigh~ Those were the days.

Reversing the Aging Process

In my last blog posted, I mentioned that I have been meditating for two hours per day. Once in the morning and once at night. I’ve been meditating for over three months, but the type of meditating that I was doing in the beginning was more like a power nap. I don’t mean it’s the same thing, I mean that the time was much shorter. Like between five and 15 minutes. Sometimes I’d sit right here at my desk (I still do) and I’d get quiet and pay attention to my breathing. I just have to make sure I’m not sleepy or I might doze off. It’s happened.:)

When I was having some weird dreams or whatever they were (no people, only the feeling of a presence), when I’d wake up in the morning, I would stay in bed, lying on my back and take 6 long, deep breaths. I got a lot of energy when I did that and so I continued that routine.

And then I had a dream which changed that routine. I still take long, deep breaths, after the dream I increased my meditation practice. It’s strange though because in the beginning I think I paid too much attention to the time. I just noticed a few days ago that I was meditating for more than the 30 minutes that I thought doing it. It had increased, naturally to one hour. Well, it seems natural to me. My body seems to know. I don’t keep a clock near me to check.

I’ve read what the benefits of meditating and in the beginning, the main one for me was for stress. Not that I was stressed out, I wanted to prevent it from happening. Or at least lessen the chances. It’s working.

I’ve also read that it can reverse the aging process naturally. If you want to look and feel younger, you can meditate, get expensive injections or you can take supplements. I read that any of them will help produce human growth hormones that are already naturally produced in the body by the pituitary gland but decrease as we age.

“By quieting the mind, which then quiets the body, and the less turbulent the body is, the more the self-repair healing mechanisms get amplified. In fact, scientists have shown that the better your DNA, your genetic machinery is at healing itself, the longer you live. That’s how meditation lowers biological age.” ~ Deepak Chopra