Tag: cousin

AVON by Tabitha Vavrick

On By Michel McDonaldIn AVONLeave a comment

avon

Do you remember when the AVON lady came to your home with a giant case filled with AVON products?  “DING DONG, AVON CALLING!” was the slogan back then.  Well, although the AVON lady no longer comes door-to-door, you can still enjoy her products via their website.

If you don’t already have an AVON representative, please consider my cousin Tabitha Vavrick.  You might think that AVON must be really expensive, and why should you buy from a website when you can go to your local grocery or drug store, Target or Wal-Mart, well, these are good products and they are cheaper than you might expect.

The huge 24 fl oz bottles of bubble bath in the back are typically $8, but they are almost always on sale, or they have a buy 2 for $10 deal.  That’s the deal I got with this order.  The 3rd one you see is from a previous order, the 2nd one that came with that is currently on the side of the bathtub.

Those 5 fl oz bottles of shower gel that you see are typically about $6.  I know, shocking considering how small they are right?  But get this, I almost always get them on sale for $1.89.  You have to admit that that is a really good price.

Those little 1.7 fl oz bottles of deodorant are typically $1.25 each, but I almost always get them on sale for only .99.  I mean you can’t beat that price.

I haven’t taken a bath since I was 9 years old when I was told that I was too old to take a bath.  I can’t tell you how much I have missed just sitting in the bathtub soaking in the hot water and relaxing my really tense back muscles.  My back pain is from my spinal disease, but sometimes the muscles attribute to some of the pain, and the hot water really helps.

One bottle of bubble bath might last me more than a month and the body wash, believe it or not lasts a few weeks.  You really don’t need that much.  Just squeeze a little bit into your shower sponge and start washing and you will see that it has enough soap to clean your entire body.

The reason I like to buy those deodorants is not just the price, but also because I am so sick of using a “manly” stick.  It’s dry and it rubs and pulls my hair and it just doesn’t feel good.  These roll-on deodorants are wet, but they dry really fast.  They don’t just make them for women, they make them for men too.  In fact, they have a whole section just for men, so I tell you men, don’t be afraid to buy some AVON for yourselves.  Don’t you deserve it too?

Just to note, the total price of all of the products you see in the image, with the exception of one of the bottles of bubble bath, was $21.31 with shipping being $3 and tax $1.82 for a grand total of $26.13.  They almost always have a free shipping coupon code when you buy $30 worth, so if you spend a little more than I did you could get all this and more shipped to your house for free via UPS.

So remember Tabitha Vavrick the next time you are ready to buy some makeup, skin care, bath & body, perfumes and hair care.  They make great gifts too.

Avon Sugar Cookie Dough

On By Michel McDonaldIn AVON, Diet, FoodLeave a comment

My cousin Tabitha Vavrick sells AVON on the internet and in September I bought these Halloween cookie cutters.  They were very inexpensive and I love cookies, so I bought them.  I posted on Facebook that I was going to make them with Sweet N Low instead of sugar because of my blood sugar issue, but people warned me against it and told me to use Splenda instead, but I can’t use Splenda because it gives me the worst stomach cramps.  They told me to use Stevia and that it turns out gives me something I won’t discuss here since we are talking about food lol.

I decided that I would just go ahead and use sugar despite my problem with being a diabetic, but those same people warned me against using the recipe that came with the cookie cutters.  I don’t know why I let people talk me into alternative things.  They told me to find the Paula Deen sugar cookie recipe, which I did and I made and the cookies were awful.  I mixed all of the ingredients right and they just didn’t taste very good.

That was a month ago and a few days ago I wanted to try it again, but this time using the recipe that came with the cookie cutters.  I did it, and it was wonderful.  I don’t mean to give any secrets away by posting this recipe card, but they sell other cookie cutters that don’t even come with a recipe (their 3D Christmas Tree cookie cutters) so I figured that if someone bought that, they would want a good recipe, and this one is the best.

I have had sugar cookies my entire life and they don’t taste like this recipe, probably because the recipe that the professionals use has sugar on top of the cookies and these don’t.  That makes the cookies sweeter, these don’t need that extra sweetness because they are awesome on their own.

You could decorate them if you wanted to, but that would just add more sugar to it and I’ve tried coloring cookies before, it’s not good lol.  The cookies taste awesome alone without any extra sugar on top.

If you wanted to buy some of these or other cookie cutters, buy them from my cousin Tabitha Vavrick.  They have some great prices on a lot of their products.

I can’t wait for December so I can make the 3D Christmas Tree Cookies with this recipe.

Ding Dong, AVON Calling

On By Michel McDonaldIn Friends and FamilyLeave a comment

My cousin Tabitha just recently started selling AVON.  You remember AVON don’t you?  My mother used to go to AVON parties in the 70’s and we always had AVON products in the house.  All of her make-up was AVON and I think I even remember AVON bubble bath.

You don’t see too many AVON parties anymore, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still have them.  You also don’t have to go to an AVON party to buy AVON products.  You can go to their website and buy directly from there and have it shipped to your house.

Here is the link to buy AVON from Tabitha Vavrick.  youravon.com/tvavrick

When she told me that she was selling AVON, I took the opportunity to browse through the website and found that they have a lot of great deals.  They don’t just sell women’s products, they sell stuff for men too.  I bought NATURALS & Bubble Delight Cucumber Melon 5-Piece Collection (image) for only $9.99.  I also bought 2 Ironman® Glory Roll-On Anti-Perspirant Deodorant’s for only .99 cents each and a bottle of Core Elements Ice For Him Hair & Body Wash for $6.50 because I know how much Darrin likes the ice body wash during the summer.

I received the order today via UPS.  I was actually quite shocked because the shipping cost was only $3.  I thought for sure it was going to come from the post office.  It was quite a heavy box for only $3 shipping too so that was awesome.

I already used the roll-on deodorant and I actually like it better than the stick I’ve been using which drags across my arm pit.  I hate that.  I have to put it on right away when I get out of the shower before I have a chance to dry my armpits because it feels horrible when it’s dry.  I like that it was only $1 each compared to I think $4 or $5 that Degree is.

I haven’t taken a bath in years because I just don’t have time to sit in the tub, so I only take showers, but I have wanted to take a bath for such a long time.  Now that I have some bubble bath I think I’m going to take advantage of that.  A good soak is nice once in a while because it is so relaxing and it is the perfect place to meditate, which I need to do.  So maybe I will skip the shower and start taking a bath more often.

Next time I get some money I think I’m going to buy a few more of those 5-piece sets so I can put them in baskets and give them to friend’s and family for Christmas.

True Blood Season 4

On By Michel McDonaldIn True Blood2 Comments

I have been watching True Blood since the very first season in 2008.  Let’s just say that any tv show with anything that is supernatural is my cup of tea.  Well, this isn’t just any supernatural show to me, it’s an obsession.

I didn’t actually start reading the books until last year at the end of the 3rd season because I couldn’t afford to spend $60 on the book set at the book store.  It just so happened that a couple of months later I bought a Nook so I was able to buy the ebooks 1 at a time.  They were oddly still $60 for ebooks 1-8 (although I’m sure they’ve gone up by now) but I could still only afford one at a time.

I read the first one and was shocked at how different it was from the first season but kinda glad in a way because it was giving me an alternative to the story.  There were some characters and storyline that the show didn’t have and vice versa.  It was like I was watching one show while reading about an alternate dimension of the same show.

Then I read the 2nd, then the 3rd and the 4th and so on.  Well, this is the 4th season and now that I’ve already read the 4th book and I’ve seen the first few episodes, the feeling that I’m having about that alternate world has totally changed for some reason.  Now I’m thinking, hey, that person isn’t supposed to be dead, they were in the 6th book.  It’s just like how Lafayette died at the end of the first book but they kept him in the show, well, there are people being killed off who were supposed to still live in future seasons.  I wonder how they will get around all of that.

I’ve been asked if I like this new season because of how Jason is being bitten by Crystal and her fiance/brother/cousin Felton.  Well, that happened in the book.  The same with Eric losing his memory, or having them taken away from him by witches.  Those are the 2 parts of the story that were supposed to happen.

The thing with Tara sort of shocked me but it wasn’t a bad thing.  I just wasn’t expecting that to happen.

Andy being addicted to “V” really threw me for a loop.  I remember at the end of the 3rd season when he looked at the blood in the bottles and then put them away again in a hurry but I never expected him to become such an addict.

Jason becoming a cop was totally unexpected for some reason but he looks good in a cop uniform.

Bill becoming King of Louisiana and how he became the King really shocked me.  In the books he’s not the King because Sophie Anne is still the Queen but he is an authority figure, don’t ask me to remember what he does lol.

Then finally, the whole 12 1/2 month passing was kinda strange and Eric buying Sookies house.  That was totally unexpected.

Well, no matter how many changes they make, I will still be obsessed with the show and I will continue to read the books and watch future seasons.  When I am loyal to a show, I will continue to watch no matter what curve balls they throw at me.  In fact, it’s the curve balls that keep me watching so keep it up Alan Ball (get it?  curve balls… Alan Ball… no?).  Thanks for making such an awesome book into an awesome show.

Oh and did anyone notice how whenever they show someone reading a book it’s always by Charlaine Harris?  I don’t know why but I always get the chills and I wonder what book that was so I can read it.  I know she’s not reading the Sookie Stackhouse books.  Wait… she’s not right?  Just checkin’.

Lord of the Rings Online

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, MMORPGLeave a comment

I was first introduced to the world of MMORPG video games in late 2001 by my cousin who had played EverQuest since beta.  He wanted to play with me and so he bought me the game at Fry’s Electronics for $10.  I played for 6 years and quit for personal reasons.  Believe me, I didn’t want to quit but things were going on here at home that was a direct result of my neglect thanks to me being on EQ for up top 16 hours per day.

I haven’t played an MMORPG game in about 4 years now and I really miss it.  A friend of mine who was my EQ guild leader introduced me to Lord of the Rings Online ironically in 2007, the same year I quit playing EQ.  I only played it for an hour with him then I never played it again because I was too freaked out that things here were going to go south again.

Since I’m home alone for about 12 hours a day now, I figured it wouldn’t do any harm if I started playing LOTRO.  So without emailing my friend to ask him what server he was on, I just got on and created a character and started playing.  A week later I emailed him and found out that he’s not even on the same server.  So I have a choice, I could either delete my character and all of my progress and create a new character on his server or pay $25 to move my character to his server and that’s what I did.

I had already bought a horse with real life money and I couldn’t justify deleting that character or even playing on 2 regular characters on 2 different servers so I just bit the bullet and transferred.

My character’s name was Rego on the Riddermark server but since that name was already taken on Silverlode, the new server, I had to change the name so I chose Xanapus.  It’s not very original but I couldn’t think of anything else on the spot.  He is a Hobbit Burgler and his trade skills are Crafting Yeoman; Cook, Farmer and Tailor.  And his hobby is fishing.  I figured the fishing and farming would help in cooking, the tailoring is just bonus.

I really love this game because it gives me the feeling of being in the world of The Lord of the Rings.  There are many differences between LOTRO and EQ such as the never-ending zone.  When I was in EQ and went to go from let’s say Butcherblock Mountains to Lesser Faydark, I would have to go through the “zone” which took time to load.  Sometimes fast depending on my computer speed and/or my internet speed.  In LOTRO there is no zoning.  All of a sudden I see words on my screen saying I’m in such and such place.  There is a jolt sometimes when that happens and I tend to spin out of control when it freezes me up but I recover.  The only time I zone is when I go into a building.

Quests are much different in LOTRO too than in EQ in the way that they have a Quest window and a Deed window which allows you to see what quests you have going and what your progress is so you know what you have to do to complete the quest.  I have done quite a few quests and deeds in the shire since my character is a hobbit.  I am only level 13 but I hear when I get to level 15 I can buy a house.  One of my hobbies is Fishing and they have certain fish which are mountable and I have already mounted 10 for the walls of my future house lol.

Yes, I do plan on buying a house in this game because they really aren’t that expensive.  I would have to do a lot of farming and selling what I make to be able to make up the money to buy a house and to keep it up but I’m willing to put in the effort.

I’m having fun in this game and even if that fun wears off I won’t regret playing because I’m doing it because it’s what makes me happy.  Yes I have other things that need attention in my life but my brain needs this too, not just those other things.  I can play this game during the daytime when I’m alone then at night pay attention to Darrin so he doesn’t feel neglected.

In Memory of Vedra Jean Luttrell

On By Michel McDonaldIn Friends and Family, PeopleLeave a comment

We have recently suffered the loss of a great friend and family member; Chips cousin has unexpectedly and wrongfully passed away at the age of 62.

I first met Vedra in the mid 90’s when Darrin and I would travel from Hollywood to Bakersfield to visit his mom for Mother’s Day. Every year Vedra would send a flier in the mail telling us about the family reunion and pot luck in the park and it was something that I always looked forward to, not just for the good food but to see her since we clicked so well.

We moved to Bakersfield in 2000 so we were able to see her more than just once a year but little did I know, she only lived 2 blocks from us.  When I learned that she lived so close, we started to see her more often and we met her life partner Venda.  Next thing you know, we’re all trading birthday gifts with each other.

The circumstances with which Vedra has left this world is very painful and I will not go into any details as I would like this to be a celebration of her life but let’s never forget the tragedy for why she is not with us today.

There won’t be a funeral but there will be a celebration of life party at one of Vedras sisters house in mid November.  I like celebration of life parties because you aren’t just mourning her death but also celebrating her life.  I have been to 3 such parties in my life and it’s a better way to say goodbye with a smile and a tear at the same time.

We will miss you and never forget you Vedra.

Ultimatums Suck

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog, Friends and FamilyLeave a comment

Has anyone ever given you an ultimatum or have you given anyone an ultimatum? They are not fair. There are certain times when it is ok to give someone an ultimatum like when a husband is drinking, gambling, cheating etc. But family members should never give you an ultimatum to choose your lover over them.

When I was 17 years old, my mother gave me an ultimatum. Leave my boyfriend Robert out in the cold in a strange city without anywhere to sleep and without any transportation back home or choose her and continue living at home. The choice was obvious. I would rather be homeless myself than let a deaf person wait outside for me to never return to help him find a place to sleep for the night. He was DEAF!

How cold-hearted are you to allow any human being to be homeless for the night until they can catch the bus in the morning back home?  I told her to at least let me call his mom to pick him up and she said no, let him freeze.  What a cold-hearted bitch!  I hate saying that about my own mother, rest her soul, but that’s how I feel.

It was 1987 and he couldn’t call his mother on a cell phone and speak sign language with a video call like you can do today. He had to use a TTY which by the way was at his house in Simi Valley. He took the bus to see me after 2 years of not seeing me and waited until the last-minute after the last bus had left for the day so he was stranded without any way of getting home. I asked a co-worker who lived down the street from me if he could stay with her on her couch and she said yes, I just had to bring him there. He was out of cigarettes so I went back to my house to get him a pack and that’s when my mother cornered me and gave me the ultimatum and that’s the night I became homeless.

My cousin just called me and he went to visit his sister in another state with his wife. His wife is 15 years older than he is and because some people don’t approve of such age differences, she was treated like crap. His sister gave him an ultimatum. His wife or his sister. That’s not fair. You know? You can’t make someone make that decision especially when they are married. What if he did choose his sister? What then? Is she going to take him in? No, she’s not. So now that he has chosen you, he’s going to be homeless all because you made him choose you over the love of his life.

Why do that? Why not just suck it up? You don’t even live in the same state, just deal with it. She is the person he chose to be with so live with it. It’s not your decision, it’s his.

I am in a relationship with someone who is 21 years older than me. You know what my sister said to him when she first met him? “How old are you?” And she didn’t ask it nicely either, she had this disapproving tone in her voice. It’s like, who asked you for your opinion? It’s none of your business. This is who I chose to be with so deal with it.

I think if someone is coward enough to make this type of ultimatum then they deserve it when they are the one being rejected. If someone gave me an ultimatum I am going to choose the person they are making me leave for them. There is no doubt in my mind that I would tell them to go to hell just as I told my mom.

Snitch On Your Mom

On By Michel McDonaldIn Patriotic, PoliticalLeave a comment

I don’t go to the white house website.  It’s not my number one priority for my daily browsing habits but I guess that if I did I would’ve seen a blog asking for “American’s” to turn in anyone who sends you email or anyone talking in your home about health care.  Here is a direct quote from Fox News.

The White House is under fire for a blog post asking supporters to send “fishy” information received through rumors, chain e-mails and casual conversations to a White House e-mail address, flag@whitehouse.gov.

Conservatives have pounced on the request, accusing the White House of acting Orwellian.

“If you get an e-mail from your neighbor and it doesn’t sound right, send it to the White House?”said Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyo. ” People, I think all across America are going to say is this 1984? What is happening here? Is big brother watching?”

Radio host Rush Limbaugh accused the White House of using heavy-handed tactics.

“They’re looking for tattletales,”he said. “They’re looking for snitches. They’re looking for informants.”

I don’t know what they are looking for but I think that it’s starting to look like communism.  It said in the top paragraph chain emails and casual conversation.  So what if I’m sitting in a room talking to my cousin and he starts bashing health care I’m supposed to what, get on my cell phone and start sending an email to the white house?  I’m supposed to snitch on my cousin as he’s talking then just tell him I’m checking the weather?

Uh, I don’t think so.  Ain’t happenin big bro.  That reminds me of the tv series in the 80’s called “V” which ABC is remaking and will air in 2010 about these aliens who come to earth and they say they come in peace and all they want is to borrow some of our water but what they really want is food… us.  How does that remind me?  Because the supporters of the aliens were informants and they were snitching on their mother, father, sisters, brothers, best friends.  Anyone who wasn’t supportive of the aliens they turned them in.  I’m not turning anyone in so the president can eat them.

I mean what are they going to do to the person that I’m asked to snitch on?  Are they going to put them in prison and clog up the courts and use more tax dollars to warehouse and feed these people that I snitch on?  Yeah, ain’t happenin’.  First of all I would never snitch on anybody no matter how big of a supporter I am which I’m not but if I did have my nose 3 inches up Obamas ass I still wouldn’t snitch on anybody.  That’s stupid for them to even ask gawd.

I found the blog that Newsmax copied and pasted to their email to me.

“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re 6asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

Boycotting The Bahamas

On By Michel McDonaldIn Anti-Gay, BoycottLeave a comment

Last night HBO had the Rosie Cruise documentary called All Aboard.  I don’t know the exact title.  Anyway, I watched it and I was close to tears through most of it because I was just so happy for all of those gay families that they could have kids, this one family was these 2 gay men with 5 kids.  I just thought that was so great.

The main reason I was close to tears and in some cases I was tearing is because when my mom confronted me about being gay when I was 17 just before she kicked me out of the house, she told me “Do me a favor, don’t ever have kids”.  What a cruel thing to say.  It touched my heart that these people are able to have children and their teenage kids stand up for their parents and they don’t let anyone give them shit.

The cruise started out in New York and they went all the way to the Bahamas and back.  When they got to Key West Florida, not only did they have out the welcome mat but they had a parade for them.  But as soon as they got to the Bahamas they were met by protesters from the Bahama churches.

Now I realize that those protesters do not represent the whole of the Bahamas but seeing that turnout turns me off.  I will never ever in my life go to the Bahamas knowing there are that many homophobes running around allowed to breed.  And I would expect that anyone who is gay would boycott this place.

There are lots of other places you can go like Jamaica or heck, Florida.  Who really needs to go to the Bahamas that bad when we have beaches in our own country.  Heck I would go to Venice Beach over going to the Bahamas any day.  At least in Venice Beach you got muscle men working out in full view of everyone and best of all you are keeping your money local.

My cousin got married in the Bahamas the day before my birthday and I was invited to go but I didn’t have the money.  I wanted to go, I would’ve loved to spend my birthday in the Bahamas but I’m glad now that I didn’t go because I was able to see their true colors thanks to the Rosie cruise.

Box for Vedra

On By Michel McDonaldIn Birthdays, craftsLeave a comment

Today was (Darrin’s cousin) Vedra’s birthday and so we went over to her house to give her the box.  I put 2 bags of Hershey’s Kisses, 2 different flavors inside the box.  I know 1 flavor was peanut butter but the other was truffle creme with dark chocolate or something like that, I forgot what the name was lol.  Anyway, she loved it.

I went to Walgreen’s and bought one of their ready-made gift bags with the ribbon on the front and the different color tissue paper inside to match the bag color.  Then I came home and took the tissue out and put the box inside of it then tucked it back into the bag.  Then of course I put the card in there too.

When she pulled the tissue paper out of the bag with the box in the paper then she peeled away the tissue the expression on her face was priceless.  She goes “OH NO!!!” hehe.  Oh No meaning I can’t believe you got me this, I love it.  I know Oh No usually doesn’t sound good but in this case I could interpret it hehe.

She looked at every inch of it and was just in love with the design and the paint job and her name being on the top.  She was really happy so that is all that counts.

Here is my original post with the video of the box on YouTube:

Wood Burned Box

Well, now that I know what kind of reaction she gave me I think I’m going to go back to Michael’s for more boxes from here on out until December buying up as many boxes as I can afford to make boxes for everybody for Christmas 2009 lol.  Well, not just boxes lol.