Tag: little bit

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.

My First Week of Vaping

On By Michel McDonaldIn E-Cigarette, VapingLeave a comment

I bought my eGo-T e-cigarette, or as I like to call it, my personal vaping device (PVD), last month and got it about 8 days ago.

When I bought the flavors from Zeus Juice, I wasn’t sure what strength I would be happy with since I had never vaped before, so I chose to buy 50PG/50VG.  They smelled so wonderful, but once I finally got to taste them with my PVD, they didn’t taste nearly as good as they smelled because I could barely taste them at all.  Most people prefer the vegetable glycerin because they want more vapor, but I would rather have flavor over vapor, so I bought more e-liquid with less VG and more PG.  I actually bought 2 strengths, 100%PG and 70/30.  I will find out which is better when they finally arrive (hopefully on Monday) before I buy any more.

I am actually not quite sure if the fault is in the strength, or if the fault is in the PVD that I bought.  I saw a video on YouTube of a guy who said that the eGo-T was the worst.  Naturally it was the only one I could afford.  I can taste the flavor a little bit, but it does take a lot of puffing to get any flavor at all.  I am not going to judge the PVD or the flavor until I get the new e-juices in the mail.

Here are my findings so far in the 8 days that I have had my PVD and have been vaping.  Although, my study is really inconclusive until I get more flavor, but I do have to say that I haven’t been feeling as hungry as I normally do.  I am getting a little tiny bit of flavor, not as much as I had hoped, but it is something.  I am not sure if it is the ingredients in the e-liquid since there isn’t any nicotine (which is an appetite suppressant), or if it’s the flavor or the actual hand to mouth habit that is causing this lack of appetite.  I have gone from eating out of boredom, to only eating when I am hungry.

I haven’t actually lost any weight yet, but I can’t expect to lose anything without proper diet and exercise.  My eating habits have not really changed, besides less snacking, but only time will tell if it actually does help.  I will keep at it a bit longer to see if this is really even worth continuing.  For now I actually enjoy vaping.

The flavor that I mentioned earlier that is coming in 100% PG is the same flavor that I already have, Strawberry.  I chose to get that so that if the 70/30 mixture is strong enough, then I will mix the 50/50 strawberry with the 100% strawberry so I have a 75/25 mixture.  I have high hopes that I will find the right percentages so I can enjoy the flavors.  After all, I am only doing this to help suppress my sweet tooth so I don’t eat sweet foods.

One of the flavors that I mentioned that is coming in the 70/30 mixture is Pumpkin Pie.  That is one of the flavors that I am really looking forward to vaping because I just love pumpkin pie.  I bought the small 5ML bottle so that I can test out the strength, so when I discover what strength I do prefer, I will buy a 30ML bottle to last me for a very long time.  I will be enjoying this flavor from now (tomorrow hopefully) until the end of Christmas.

I am especially looking forward to the Egg Nog flavor.  Again, when I discover the strength that I am happy with, I will be buying a 30ML bottle of the Egg Nog to last me until the end of the holidays.  I might even have to buy more after that just in case they stop making it so I will have enough to last me at least until June LOL.  What can I say, I am very addicted to the flavor.

I will keep posting updates on the flavors when I get them.

Don’t Be Tardy For The Wedding

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

I am not a huge reality TV fan, well unless it’s Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the D-List.  I didn’t like all of the Real Housewives shows because I just can’t take the drama.  I have a low threshold for people screaming at the top of their lungs at each other.

I did watch and love a few of the Real Housewives shows though.  I didn’t watch the first season of Atlanta, but I did see a few episodes here and there.  I do love Kim Zolciak though because, well, she looks like a real life Barbie doll.  She has beautiful hair, even though they are all wigs, but can I just say that I love her without her wigs too?  She has a rack that won’t quit, yeah I said it, I know I’m gay but I would motorboat that shiznit.

When I heard that she was going to have a reality show based on her preparations to marry hunk of the century Kroy Biermann, I had to watch.  I loved that it had a little bit of drama in it, but I hated that the drama came from her mother.  I know mothers are supposed to be a little crazy, but I mean come on this woman took the cake.  She stole Kim’s thunder as her last act of crazy.

If you didn’t see it, here is how it went down.  Kim’s mother and I guess her sister, Kim’s aunt, decided they had to go use the bathroom, but they refused to use the porta potty that Kim had paid $6000 for.  They figured they were too good to use a $6000 toilet so they had to break the rules just to take a piss.  They went to the door to the house and the security guard told them they had to use the porta potty and they got high and mighty with him and screamed “I’m Kim’s mother and this is her aunt” and “I will burn down this house if I have to!”

Seriously?  They couldn’t just use the porta potty?  I mean, I saw the porta potty that they rented when they looked at it.  It was bigger than our bathroom AND it had an attendant to boot!  She is too good for that?

So while they were in the bathroom upstairs, they were trash talking Kim and Kroy.  I mean what nerve!  They break the rules then go and trash talk the bride and the groom and act as if they are gods.  Then she finds out that the police have been called to escort them out so she goes back to the party and tells people that she is being kicked out and she doesn’t know why.  When someone asks her where Kim is, she says “She’s behind all of it, with Kroy.”

Really?  I mean this woman is a liar, manipulator and an instigator.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Kim never spoke to her mother again after that.  Watch the video.

http://www.bravotv.com/video/embed/?/_vid18615847

OMG I am just so thankful that I never have to go through that, not marriage but having a mother to act like that at my wedding.  Especially when it’s on TV!  UGH!

But Kim and Kroy were calm, they didn’t make a huge deal about it ruining the whole night.  They showed them cutting the cake while her mother was being escorted out, I’m sure it was edited to look that way, but who really knows for sure.  Their wedding was a success and the whole season was fun to watch and I’m glad I didn’t miss it.

Now, let’s get back to me boycotting weddings until gay people are allowed to get married shall we?  LOL

My Book is Almost Ready for Publication

On By Michel McDonaldIn Autobiography, It Gets BetterLeave a comment

I started writing my life story many years ago, but really worked hard on it in 2011.  It took me 2+ months to write it and 4 months to edit it.  I have sent it off to a few people as an advanced copy and of course mistakes were found.  So it is not yet ready for publication, but it will be soon.

In case anyone is wondering what it’s about, I’ll tell you.  I was abused as a child by my stepfather; my mother and older sister also mentally abused me.  I tried to kill myself many times from the age of 13 until I was 20.  A woman attempted to molest me when I was 15 years old and I was raped multiple times when I was 20. I was homeless for 6 months at the age of 15 and for 10 months when I was 17.  I was also homeless in my early 20’s; I was living in motels, but that is technically considered being homeless.  I met my soul mate and life partner of 17 (going on 18) years and meeting him was when it got better.

I started out writing my life story (as if anyone cared because I’m a nobody) but then these gay children started killing themselves and it suddenly evolved into an “It Gets Better” book.  I want to show that I had a horrible life and I wanted to end it all, but it got better for me and it can get better for them too if they just hang on for a little bit longer.  It may seem like it’s never going to get better, and believe me, I thought for years it could only get worse, but it did get better.

My main goal is that it may help someone out there who is being bullied and wanting to end it all.  They will read my “it gets better” book and see that it got better for me and it can get better for them too.  If they don’t read it, and I don’t expect them to, then perhaps someone can read it and give them the cliffs-notes version to help them.

I am a bit nervous about publishing it because of course I don’t want the people who I wrote about to get upset with me, despite them being in the wrong.  They don’t even talk to me so I don’t know why I would care if they were upset with me anyway.

I am excited because I am finally finished and can publish it soon.  What makes me more excited is that I can finally help some charities when I get my first check from the sales of the book.  I have wanted to help these charities for a long time but couldn’t because I never had the money.

Today is Wednesday, so hopefully I will be able to publish my book within the next week.  Of course I will be advertising my little butt off here, on Twitter, on Google+ and on Facebook so stay tuned for that lol.

Thanks for reading.

Nook Color with Touch Screen

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Nook, Products I Like, TechLeave a comment

I think I’m going to have a heart attack and die right now.  I just got an email from Barnes & Noble with this subject:

“Introducing NOOKcolor — The Amazing Sequel to the NOOK You Love.”

Oh really?  Are you joking me?  If they could’ve told me this in September BEFORE I spent $150 on the Nook Wifi, I would’ve had an incentive to wait a little bit longer.  This new NOOKcolor is $249 and has many more features than my current Nook doesn’t have.  Such as it’s a color touch screen, you can see magazines and newspaper in color, kids books come alive at the touch of a finger (like I care) and one thing I saw in the video when I clicked the link in the email is that you can have it read to you and it’s NOT a robot voice like the Kindle.

This one is way better than mine because it can do portrait and landscape which the Kindle can do but the Nook I have can’t.  It has an 8GB card along with the ability to add another.  Mine only has 1GB but I can still add to it.  Although, I don’t see that I would ever need to but with the NOOKcolor I can see needing a bigger card because I’m sure the books with audio are bigger files.

Another cool feature is videos in your books…  In the video they showed a cookbook and you can read the recipe but then the image for it is a video where you can see how to make the recipe.  That would be so cool.  What would be even cooler is newspapers where the image for the article is an actual video of what happened.  The newspaper could set up a news station type set with anchors who read the articles with video of what happened at the scene, just like the news on tv has.  Or a magazine could have a video of the interview with the stars and their ads could be a video commercial.

I see in the Barnes & Noble website a new newsstand which is “coming soon” so I think they are going to add more magazines finally.  Right now they only have a few.  I subscribe to PC Magazine for $1.49 per month (or per magazine) but I was hoping they would have a broader choice.  With the NOOKcolor they might have more magazines and I think that would be great for Darrin who loves to get the magazines from the grocery store.  I think if he had a subscription to them then he would save so much money.  But that means he has to get the new NOOKcolor, or he can use Nook for PC.

Well, it’s obvious that I can’t afford to buy it, I can barely buy groceries right now but who knows, maybe by this time next year they will have a NOOKcolor 2 for $149 that I can save up for.  Hey it could happen.  Last year the Nook was $249 and then it came down to $149 this year and that’s the one I have.  So maybe I’ll bide my time for another year and save money so I can get the NOOKcolor for Darrin for his birthday, that is if they go down.

I don’t have to have color, I really like my Nook.  I think that the new NOOKcolor is an LCD screen, it looks lit up like the little LCD screen at the bottom of mine.  I don’t think I can read from an LCD screen.  It’s too much for my eyes.  Darrin would like that I think, last night he went to read a book on my Nook and he asked me when the screen was going to light up for him to read it.  I had to tell him that it doesn’t light up, it’s e-ink, not LCD.

Google Queues

On By Michel McDonaldIn Google ChromeLeave a comment

I don’t know if I am just very late to the game but thanks to reading the PC Mag on my new Nook, I am a little bit more educated than I was before I got it.

I read an article in the PC Mag about a new (or is it new?) thing from Google called Gpanion which is very handy. It’ basically has these app icons (like apple iPhone apps) that open a website for certain google websites. Like your email, calendar, youtube, maps… etc.

One of those things in there is called GQueue. What that is, is if you have a ton of things that you need to get done you type them out with a date that it needs to be completed by and as you get that item done you check it and that item disappears forever. Be careful you don’t prematurely uncheckulate it because it is a disappointment when you have to reenter the monster back in.

I am not ashamed to show mine here. It’s not showing up in my screen so I’ll see what happens when I publish this post. But it should show you a list of the books I have in my queue. I have not bought all of them whether I said so or not but that list is only 1/4 filled. I decided I would finish it later since I have to get to bed.

Which reminds me, tootles. Goodnight. See ya’ll in the morn when I try to finish it.

Hemp Choker

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, JewelryLeave a comment

I finally made my beaded hemp necklace, or choker as you would call it. I didn’t really want a choker but I guess I ended up with one since I didn’t plan the pattern out right. I was winging it since nobody had this particular pattern for the size hemp that I have which is the #40.

I was thinking about trying again by adding more knots to each end but when I hold it down a little bit as if it had more length it doesn’t look great. Also, as I lose weight my neck will get thinner and the necklace will end up going down on its own so I think I’ll leave it alone.

My carpal tunnel’d hands hate my guts right now. I kind of hate me too for doing this knowing how bad my hands are but I really, really wanted a beaded hemp necklace lol.

The package of beads I got had 3 different sizes with 3 different wood colors so what I think I’ll do is remake the bracelet with the medium size beads since the necklace has the larger beads and the rings have the smaller beads, this way I’ll have a set lol. I don’t know if I’m going to take it further with earrings though, I think that would be too much.

Well, that solves my reward for losing my first 27lbs. I wanted jewelry. I didn’t care if it was handmade or store-bought as long as I had jewelry. I got my dragon and vine ring that I bought a couple of years ago that was too small that I could only wear it as a pinky ring. Now I have 2 hemp rings with 1 more in the works, a hemp bracelet and now hemp choker.

Oh I also have that eagle necklace I talked about last month when I made up the reward thing. Remember it was too small? Well, it just so happens that I found a bracelet (that belonged to Opal) that Darrin was going to give to one of our friends children but her parents said no, she’d lose it. Darrin didn’t care because he said it was costume jewelry so no big deal. He told me to just toss it but I kept it and guess what? It makes the perfect extension for my necklace.

It’s a gold chain that doesn’t exactly match the chain that my eagle necklace is on but it’s pretty close and they are both the same gold color. Who is gonna notice it? I don’t know if or when I will wear it but it’s low enough that I have that option now. I could wear it right now if I wanted to but I don’t know if a hemp choker and gold eagle necklaces go together lol.

So, I got my jewelry and I’m happy. I went years without jewelry and never really cared one way or the other and now I feel naked without it.

Pain Subsiding

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Yesterday I said that the pain in my shoulder was starting to go away.  I’ve been using my gym on the patio about once or twice a day, not for very long, I do 1 rear shoulder exercise for about 20 reps then quit.  I don’t know if it’s helping but my pain is subsiding.  It still hurts a little bit but I’m sure over time it will be gone.

I rode my bike to the store today and I was still having pain though.  I’m pushing on the handlebars too much even though I’m sitting straight up so that could be problematic.  I wouldn’t recommend going out on my rides until the pain is completely gone because I don’t want to aggravate it and make it come back full force.

I have a feeling my handlebars are too long and that I’m going to have to cut them about the length of the grips then just replace the grips with new ones.  Or maybe I can get the ones that are on there wet so I can save them.  I put them on with hairspray so they are pretty much stuck to the bar.

I might also have to just go to Target and buy another new seat, when I bought the gel seat cover for my seat I saw that they had a beach cruiser seat so maybe I will buy that to see if that will help.  It was cheap so it’s not like I’m spending another $70 on a seat.  It would be a damn shame to lose the $70 from the “ergo” seat by not using it anymore.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Oh I just wanted to add one more thing.  My last bike ride was 7/20/09 and today is 8/19/09 so tomorrow will be exactly 1 month that I haven’t ridden so I need to get back on the bike before ALL the weight comes back.

Solution To My Back Problems

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

I’ve been thinking that maybe the solution to my bike seat problem might be easier.  When I was 17 I had a beach cruiser bicycle.  The seat was fat in the back and the horn was very small.  It’s handlebars were long enough that I could sit up while riding so I never had any back issues.

My bike is a mountain bike.  I only bought a “mountain bike” because of the price.  I bought it at Wal•mart for $60.  I really wanted a beach cruiser but they were too expensive at the time and same with the 10 speed road bikes.  The mountain bike was my only cheap alternative.

I’ve already changed out most of the bike and it’s mainly just the frame that is the same so why not just take the handlebar off and put a new one on lol.  When I get my next check I plan on buying one of these:

beachcruiserbar

It’s long enough that I won’t have to bend even a little bit to reach and I can sit up fully while riding.  As long as my seat is in the right position I won’t feel like I’m falling forward as long as I have some longer handlebars.

This handlebar is $10 plus $5 shipping from NYCBikes.com which is not bad at all.  However, I’m not sure if I want to wait for it to ship to me.  I mean, we have a bike store in town (they don’t have a website :() so I’m going to check with them first.  Hopefully they will have a black one so I don’t have to spray paint it lol.

I will probably have to wait another week or so before I can ride my bike again so by the time I get this I will be healed up again hopefully and I can resume my 4:30am bike rides.  I can also add more crap to my seat lol.

Oh the only issue I can see with this is that the brakes won’t be long enough to reach to the end of the handlebars but that’s ok, I’m sure that when I need them I will be able to reach for them.  Or maybe they will be long enough to get close to the end of the handlebars.

But you know what?  Maybe I’m going at this all wrong.  Beach Cruiser bikes are probably not that expensive at Wal-Mart.  The last time we were there they were $60 so maybe I should just get a new bike.  Beach Cruiser bikes don’t have hand brakes.  All you do is peddle backwards and you stop lol.  They don’t even have gears which might make it a bit easier.  I’ll think about it.

LATE!

On By Michel McDonaldIn ExerciseLeave a comment

ARGH!  I woke up and it’s 5:30am because I set the wrong alarm.  My alarm clock has 2 alarms on it and I set the wrong one lol.  I didn’t even wake up from the alarm, I just woke up.  I looked at the cable box to see what time it was and I was like OMG!  I’m LATE!

Then I go to fill my camelbak with ice and water and I think hmmm, I wonder.  So I turn on my Dell DJ Mp3 player and the battery is dead lol.  Great!  Perfect!  Well, it had 0 bars but it wasn’t dead dead.  I could listen to the radio on it but I prefer music.

So Since I’m already late I might as well wait until it’s charged up a little bit more.  I’ll leave the house at 6:30am which is about the same time I usually come home from riding the bike.  According to the weather channel app on my computer, 6am will be 70, 7am will be 71 and 8am will be 73.  Since I won’t be coming home until 8:30am I might as well mention that 9am will be 76 so between 8am and 9am the temp will go up by only 2 degrees so I’m not concerned about the heat catching up to me.  That’s the only reason I ride so early, to beat the heat.

Oh well, it finally gives me a chance to fully wake up before actually starting my day.  Or… does this mean that everything else this morning is going to go wrong and I should just stay home?  LOL