MOLD

The last couple months have brought a couple bad rain storms for us in Redding. While the rain was nice to somewhat relieve the nearly desert like, parched land, the contents of our shed did not need watering. No. In fact it caused several of our camping things to grow...*cue dramatic music*...MOLD! Yes, the dreaded "M" word that all adults dread. Never fear mortals there is hope. There are ways to kill the mold that invades your life. Here are some ways to do so.

1. Bleach- This is an an ancient way of cleaning mold. Okay maybe not ancient but This is always how my grandmother and mother cleaned it. While doing a bit of research on this topic I found a few reasons why this may not be the best options for your cleaning task. We all know about the harsh smell and how it is harsh on your hands. However it doesn't penetrate porous materials well and it can leave the mold roots to grow back again. The chlorine will stay on the surface and the water will seep in and feed the mold. Not my favorite to use. 
2. Tea Tree Oil- While this is often used in medicine it is a great fungus killer though it is quite expensive. Making a solution of one teaspoon per cup of water and spraying it on mold will kill the invading trouble makers and keep it from seeking revenge, all with just a spritz and a scrub.
3. Vinegar- It is so easy to use this one. Spray it on without diluting it, leave it on for an hour, and rinse it off. Vinegar can kill about 82% of these bad boys species so it's not fool proof but it is simple
4. Hydrogen Peroxide 3%- Spray the affected area and let it sit for about 10 minutes. After it's sat then scrub it and remove all the nasty little buggers. Simple as that...

With these four techniques I hope you feel armed to fight the Moldy Masses. Good luck. Fight the good fight. 

My Family Language #1

Just like every other family in the world, mine has it's own language. We have certain phrases that if any outsider heard them it would raise eyebrows. Granted my family is far from normal, I thought it would be nice if I gave you a few definitions and background stories on our common phrases.

I am not a normal person... I never called people by their proper names. I had a sort of fascination with nicknames as a child and gave somewhat odd nicknames to certain members of my family. When I was young I would call my uncle "Skunkle" because I didn't like his cologne. My aunt was called "Ninny" instead of her real name. Finally I have always called my mother "Nonna" or "Nonny". I have no idea why I do this. I'm just a strange person. My fascination with nicknames also extended to certain foods. As a child I loved fruit cocktail. I called it "Fruit Cotton Tail" because I loved the Peter Cotton Tail books.

Sometimes my parents don't think before they speak. Neither do I but some interesting things end up coming out of their mouths such as "Buttheaded warble muffin". That nickname was courtesy of my father in reference to my mother's dog. The dog (being very small in stature) tripped my father as he was going into the kitchen.

Another great one is "I'll try again once you get a life." As awful as that sounds he was trying to be helpful. My parents love playing Candy Crush Soda and my mother was stuck on a level. My father was helping her but ran out of lives. He handed her the phone and muttered those words.

My father is a good man but sometimes he says the oddest things (as you can probably already tell). One day he and my mother went to Rent-A-Center to get some couches. He went outside and backed his truck up to the door so they could load it. He walked inside and proudly (and loudly according to my mother) announced, "I'm all backed up!" Once he realized the implication that made he went red.

My mother isn't out of this either. She has her moments too. Just the other day she was holding her dog and he tried to run off. She tried to catch him and ended up catching his nub of a tail. When she did she said "OOPS! Catch a Boomer by the nub." The whole house busted up laughing.

JCPenny Rant

Today I had started a post about why I bathe my cat and the adventures of such... HOWEVER, I have a more pressing issue to write about...JCPenny's blatant hatred of overweight people! Yes you read that right. I'm saying it and by doing so I may be risking my job. Let me clarify...

The first time I suspected this was when I went in, as a customer, to by work clothes... I couldn't find one pair of slacks in my size. Not one... Though this is a common thing in other stores what shocked me is that they had jeans in my size... They had work out clothes and shirts but no professional clothes... I shrugged it off and ended up going to Walmart to get some slacks of less quality.

The second time I went bra shopping. Not only did all the associates ignore me but they literally huffed when I asked them to help me find my size. They showed me the most ugly bras that I have ever seen. When I showed her things that were more my style she told me that they didn't carry my bra size in normal styles... WHAT?!?! I ended up getting 2 bras on my own because of the rudeness.

The final straw was tonight. My mom has been wanting a watch so we went to JCPenny to find something for her because she has been working hard and overall deserves one. We were looking for a while and I was thinking of getting one as well so it took a bit of extra time. The associate helped my mom at first but because of my mom's larger wrists she couldn't fit ONE of the watches. A while I found one I was thinking of getting so I called my parents over to get their opinion. This lady came over and told my mom "Those may not fit your wrist they are made in small sizes." Considering these watches were NOT children's watches there was no reason for her to say it. OH and my mom was looking at a watch FOR ME!!! My dad ended up calling the manager and it didn't seem like much was done. Mom ended up getting one of those "small size" watches and it fits perfectly.

I hate working for a company that treats their customers with such distaste. If you ask me they can learn something about customer service.

"Can I See Your ID?"

Going to the library is a fun event for my family. We can spend hours there just looking through the books just trying to make a decision. Its hard to get me out of the place. It's like my paradise. My dream would be to have a library of my own where I could live out my days with my nose stuck in a book. What annoys me is when people misuse my utopia or abuse the books.

My story begins just yesterday on a family outing to the library. I was so excited to be back in those hallowed halls of books that I could barely keep myself from running inside like a little child. The entrance smelled of apple pie and sunshine. I'm serious. It must have been the cleaners they used but it was heavenly. I walked through isles and isles of books looking at world after world of magic and imagination. *sigh* Pure heaven... but I digress... I found the book I wanted and I set of to find my parents. I found them at the upstairs computers and started walking toward them. As I did one of the librarians asked if I had any questions and I shook my head. It was as if she didn't want me to go to my parents. I went anyway and my mom told me to sit down as she looked for books to help my father learn to fly a plane. 

I pulled up a chair and she wrote a little note on her note pad. She described a man not far from us who's computer screen was facing us. I looked behind us and noticed the security guard watching him carefully. He moved his screen to another page and inserted a picture of himself into what looked like a driver's license. My jaw dropped and I looked at my mom. 

"Did you guys tell them?" I whispered shocked at the whole situation. Mom nodded and did her typical "I-can't-believe-this-is-happening" laugh. Apparently he and another man were making fake IDs out of the library for some time now and his partner had gone downstairs to complain about people watching their computer screen. And the Darwin Nomination goes to.... Moron in the Leather Jacket and his Less Brilliant Sidekick.

I mean, seriously? Who goes to the library to make fake IDs? You are bound to get caught! 

What to say?

Forewarning: Today's entry will not be too chipper today. It has been a very difficult day for me. 

So for the first topic today I will be reviewing my Sephora Black Magic eye shadow palette. I have recently been wanting to get new eye shadows considering the newest one I have is all shades of brown (NYC Individual Eyes in Central Park Created for Green Eyes). The ones I wore today were from my "Black Magic" palette and I used beige and bronze to create the look. When I put it on this morning it looked good and actually stayed in place ALL DAY! I have never had a make up do that! It was simply amazing to me. This is what it looked like after 7 hours of working in a photography studio under hot lights.

I can say with confidence that I will be buying more of their make up if all of it works this well. 

Now for the not so happy part of my post... Last night was a very difficult night for me. My husband and I are separated. He left last night for his mother's house and it wasn't a pretty thing. I won't go into details but those of you who need to know already do or should know. This isn't an easy thing for either of us and all I can do is pray for God's will in the situation. I would appreciate any prayer from any of my readers... if there are any out there. 

Think Pink

Yesterday was the Think Pink event at Sundial Bridge. It was a really fun event considering there were venders, lots of people, music, and a giant pink bridge that could be seen from a good distance. Despite the fact that I had surgery only three days before I decided to accompany my family. We had a great time but sadly we missed the pink Jetovator flying near the bridge. It would have been awesome to see though. I think I pushed myself a little bit though. Once I got home I was limping and I had a pretty bad pain in the incision site from my surgery. After about an hour of laying down I was fine though.

ANYWAY... I had a great time with my family and loved seeing the bridge all pink and pretty. I hope you like these pictures.

Ablation Journal Entry 7

Hey everyone! Just letting you know I had my surgery about 2:30 yesterday. When I went into the operating room things were crazy. They put all sorts of electrodes and leads all over my body. Once they were done with that they laid me back and told me not to move. Soon after it felt like ice water was being pumped into my vein via the IV. Turns out that was the sedative they gave me. I was awake the whole time but I wasn't aware of much. I do remember them putting the catheter in through my groin area (and yes that was very awkward). What felt like seconds later I felt my heart start racing and though that was uncomfortable they couldn't make me produce a delta wave or put me into an arrhythmia. It turns out that they found a small pathway between the upper and lower chamber of my heart but it shouldn't be a big of a problem as they thought. Dr. Challapoli was awesome. He told my family that he couldn't do anything to make it mess up. It made me very happy.

I came out of surgery at about 4 to my family waiting for me in my room. It was great having them there and my parents even bought me flowers. it was so sweet. I'm blessed to have such a great family. Jhai and my mom had to feed me pudding and soup because I couldn't move my head (or any part of my body for that matter). In other words yesterday made me feel very loved and relieved about my condition.

Today I woke up still in a slight haze from the anesthesia but I am able to walk for short distances... like to the bathroom, then I have to rest for a few minutes. I am still really sore but Tylenol seems to be doing the trick keeping me out of pain.

Thanks for all your prayers and love. I'm sure my recovery will go by fast. I'll keep you updated.