Baby's First Halloween!

Well, sort of anyway. Amara was 9 months old last year, Michael was deployed, and the dog ended up at the emergency vet that day (the later part is like deja vu since Michael is gone yet again, and the dog was at the vet for the same problem as last year just last week.) We didn't do trick-or-treat, costumes, or anything Halloween-like for that matter. So, while it was her second Halloween technically, it was her first time getting the experience.

This year we were ready very early. I think I ordered her costume back in August even! Wanted to make sure we had time to do any exchanges we needed with the slow mail in case we got a bad costume or needed another size. We bought from halloweenexpress.com, and they stood up to their name. Super speedy service,and we got a quality costume inexpensively. They even had free priority shipping for military APO/FPO addresses! Lots of coupon codes too. I think I got 20% off on top of using ebates for cash back.

Purple witch costume!

We got to go trick-or-treat twice though. Which is really good considering Italy does not do Halloween like we do. They celebrate All Saints Day and Souls Day on November 1 and 2. They are more respectful celebrations, where they take flowers to the cemeteries and pay respects to the deceased. They do open up the base to the public for American style trick-or-treat and the Autumn Festival for them to get a taste of Halloween.

Anyway, they had an Autumn Festival this past weekend for 2 days. Day 1 they had a trick-or-treat lane. We got all dressed up, got there right at 5 when it was to start only to find the line was ridiculously long already. Poor Amara was dreadfully bored by the time we got to the front. They had everyone packed in there like sardines too. She wouldn't walk and was a little too overwhelmed to even realize what had happened. She didn't realize she had candy until we were out of the line and she had some space.

Trick-or-Treat lane. Waiting in line

Then we went and let her bounce in the bouncy house for the first time. She LOVED the boing boinging (as she called it). It was all I heard about Saturday, so she got to do it again that day. First day, they also had a talent show. We stayed for all but 2 acts of the show. Then Amara started telling everyone around us night night, so I took it that meant she was done. She barely made it to bed still awake, so I'd call the afternoon/night a success!

The second night they had a Michael Jackson and Friends show we attempted to stay for after looking around a the vendors, doing the kid's crafts, and bouncing. Italian Michael Jackson was terrible though. Couldn't even lip sync right let alone come anywhere close to his dance moves. It was actually kind of embarrassing, so we left. We went home with a caramel apple and an apple topped funnel cake though, so it was still a good night!

They had traditional door-to-door trick-or-treat in our housing complex Halloween night though. It was rainy all day, but cleared up briefly when trick-or-treat started. We got about a half hour in before the rain kicked up again. First house we got to, Amara spotted their cat. She went right for the cat and asked for it, completely ignoring the candy. Then towards the end, she started getting mad that no one was letting us inside their house and were just handing us things. I had her saying 'trick' and 'thank you' at home before we left, but she got really shy once we left our house and didn't say much to anyone (other than asking for the kitty).

Ready to go trick-or-treat Halloween night. 

Amara and Diesel checking out the candy loot. That, or the dog is just smelling her ear?

Is this thing on?

I *think* I got all the kinks worked out. Looks like the Blogger template I had picked out was not properly coded in some places. Found a way to use Blogger templates, but still add on some fun color. Grabbed my header and background from Shabby Blogs. They had a bunch of super cute backgrounds to use too, several that I really like for the upcoming holiday season. I'll let Halloween and Thanksgiving pass before I switch to something more festive though. I'm not thrilled with the header right now. I wish I could make the background of it transparent instead of white like it is now. I'm sure I can, but haven't figured out the how of it yet.

ETA: Figured out how to center right after I posted. I used this site for direction in case anyone else didn't know how to do it.

Comments should work now! I can click on them myself, but that doesn't mean much I guess since I have full reign over the blog. I checked to make sure everyone could comment setting wise too. I had those settings right, so it really had to be a code error in the previous template. Whoever had created it tried to put a place where you'd click to comment, but it wasn't correctly linked to actually allow any comments. I was wondering why I was getting messages on Facebook, or comments there, rather than here. Not that I mind that, but I know I usually comment right on blogs I read rather than going back to a link on Facebook to comment.

Looking much better from a full sized screen too. It was hard to get a real feel for what was going on using an iPad or our Dell mini laptop. The small screens were cutting things off. Much easier to do all these changes from the desktop.

I suppose that is enough procrastinating. Need to finish up stuff around the house since we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow with it being Halloween and pay day. Off to a costume parade at the school in the morning, grocery shopping, home for naps, and then off to trick-or-treat. They are calling for rain though, so hopefully we don't get too wet (or even better they are wrong!). 

Ugh! I'm having newbie problems

I can't believe I'm just realizing this, but I hate the layout. It's far too narrow. I was trying to put photos side by side. It looked all good and dandy where you type it all out. Then I go to the preview view and it's a hot mess. All this time I hadn't gone to see how other people are viewing it. Probably not the best way to go about things.

Going to be working on some changes. Hopefully it's just the layout I picked and I can find something that looks neater and doesn't stretch the posts out so narrow. Makes adding photos a pain, and makes the entries look super long. It'll give me something to do once the munchkin goes to bed.

My new goodies are here!

I've been impatiently waiting for this package to arrive. With the holiday mailing season upon us, APO/FPO mail slows down randomly. This package was sent, but yet other packages sent on a later date beat it here. Doesn't make sense, but not much with the mail here lately does.

I got some products I've gotten a few times, but just needed more of. I also got some new ones though. Amara was just as excited to rip into this package from My Beauty Addiction as I was. She loves this stuff too! I ordered from their website rather than Etsy shop this time around since new Etsy rules prevent them from selling a couple of the things I was wanting at this time. The website was acting wonky though. Some items would add to the cart, but entire categories would not load to the cart. I figured they were just updating the site. I run into that a lot on U.S. websites living in Italy. Makes sense to update the site when most of your customers are sleeping. I shot them a message, and turns out it was a problem they were unaware of. She ended up taking my order by e-mail. Then I also got free product and a discount! All just for pointing out the issue and being so polite about the situation. It pays to be nice still! I'm always impressed with their service, but I am even more impressed now.

I got some more of the Ocean Mineral Face Wash that I've already raved about in a previous post. Then I also got more of their Vegan Deodorant. I've tried a few other natural deodorants and keep coming back to this one. The others have left bad white residue, or leave me feeling like I smell funky. This one keeps the stink away, smells good, and doesn't leave white marks. It's also important to remember, this is only a deodorant, not an antiperspirant. To make it antiperspirant, you'd have to use some nasty chemicals and it'd no longer be vegan. I've tried a few scents, but my favorite for the deodorant has to be Butt Naked in Bed (which is what I got this time around). It's described as 'Apple, Pear, Melon, Vanilla, Musk'. They have TONS of scents though, and they can be found here. If you can't find something you like, your nose must be broken! Another favorite is Paris Twilight, but I usually get it in lotion.

My freebie for being a polite customer was an Apricot Lip Butter in Candy Baby. It's a super light pink, like pink cotton candy. Just enough for some color, but not enough that it screams you have something on either. I have used the Apricot Lip Butter before, but I got the version without color and just used it as a chapstick. I love it, so figured I'd get one with some color. I had planned on buying this, but she gave it to me instead!

Candy Baby- a nice light pink with just a little shimmer.

 
Now, the new stuff I haven't yet tried. I got a face mask. Which is a first for me. I've never used one before. I got the Calm & Clarify Oil Control Mask. It claims to fight the bacteria that causes both white heads and blackheads all while helping your skin balance to become less inflamed and oily. I'll probably wait until next week to try this one out. It has a sunburn warning stating it can make your skin more prone to burning after use. I burn very easily as it is and since we were outdoors a lot this weekend and will be for Halloween, I think I'll wait at bit to give it a try to be on the safe side.

It's a nice thick, mud like one would expect!

My other new product is a foot scrubbie. It's a sweet peppermint soap with ground pumice stone in it. My feet have been very dry with cracking heals lately. The soap is a natural glycerin soap and promises to be very moisturizing from glancing at the ingredients.

Soap on bottom, and gray is the ground pumice

You get two this size.

Then, they almost always send a free sample of one of their many, many different shades of mineral eyeshadow. This time around I got Chrome. It's described as a metallic white/silver. The sample is pretty generous, and I'm sure you could get a few applications out of it.

I had trouble getting a photo of it since I'm so pale myself. It's very light/white and glittery.

This Doll...

Who knew picking a doll out was so time consuming? I do not even know how many dolls I looked at, or how many hours I ended up spending looking and reading reviews. I do know my head ended up spinning over it. I wanted a good quality doll that was going to with stand rough play from a 2-year-old girl. One hat was washable, but not solid plastic so it was still huggable/snuggly. One that could have it's clothes changed, and was big enough for diaper changes and baby doll baby wearing. I also didn't really want one with silky hair that was going to look like a rat's nest in a short period of time.

I set out on my task and was amazed at the hundreds of choices. I was quickly disappointed that not many seemed to fit the above description. I didn't think I was looking for anything too extravagant. I finally narrowed it down to a few options. A Classic Cabbage Patch doll, one of their newer dolls, and a Corolle doll.

When it came down to it, the Classic Cabbage Patch doll seemed like it was going to be too large for my daughter to handle. That left me with a doll in the cart at Toys 'R Us and one at Amazon. The Corolle doll didn't have any downsides for me, but price. It was a bit more, and if it wasn't good quality, or she didn't like it, I would be upset we spent so much on it (and I see the price went up from when I was shopping too). The Cabbage Patch kid had the silky hair, but was very cute and fun looking. I was also worried about which style doll I would get. From the looks of the reviews, you got to pick hair color, but the rest was going to end up a surprise. Some of the hairstyles were ones I knew would just become a wreck. I was thinking about asking someone to go to a local store to pick up the exact doll I was after. I decided to sleep on it, and maybe ask if someone would mind the doll hunting task as well as being responsible for getting her mailed ASAP.

See how cute the new dolls are! But, you aren't guaranteed this doll, just one that has red hair if you order online.

Later that day, I get a call from Michael. He says he has ordered everything I had sitting in the cart at Amazon with the computer parts he wanted. Dilemma solved, Corolle doll it was since he didn't realize I was still debating the matter.

Now the doll is here, and I think it ended up being the right purchase. She actually smells like vanilla like they claim though. I opened the box and was pleasantly surprised at the sweet smell rather than a plastic smell only kind of covered by vanilla. She's got just enough beans in her bottom to allow her to sit, but not too many to take away from her plush body. She also has 'sleepy' eyes that close when the baby goes night-night. She seems to fit all my points above perfectly!  We might pitch the pacifier now though. Amara never used one, and I don't want her trying to use the dolls.

 She really does sit by herself!

And one next to a water bottle for size comparison. The doll is 14" when 'standing'.

Now to get her fitted for her cloth diapers and her Boba-like baby doll carrier. Looks like I've got some sewing to get done over the next few weeks during nap time (or after bed time) so hopefully Amara doesn't see the baby or her accessories too much before Christmas.  She also needs some less pink clothes. Apparently, from other reviews online, she fits well in preemie sized baby clothing. Real clothes also appear to be much less pricey. The Corolle clothes were not cheap for something that will likely end up ripped, stained and just all around put through the ringer by a 2-year-old kid.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

That's all we seem to be doing lately. Waiting to hear how much longer my husband has to be gone. He was only supposed to be gone for 3 months. Meaning he was due to be home in September. He got bumped back a bit, so we figure no big deal. My daughter and I hopped on a flight and visited him for about a week and a half. We came home thinking he'd be hot on our tails.

Now here we are at the end of October, and he's still gone. I'm starting to get annoyed now. Deployments on the ship were longer, so I know I can handle it in that regard. We are lucky he can Skype almost daily where he is, too. I had a wonderful support system when he was on the ship though. Here things are quite different. I spend about 5 days a week just me and my daughter. The other 2 are days where I take her to playgroup or toddler time at the library. Yes, other mom's talk to me, but it's not the same. Before it was also just me and now we have an almost 2-year-old daughter. She will ask for daddy, or will get the laptop and want to call him. None of this is what we bargained for when taking shore duty orders. To us, that meant while he might work longer hours, he'd be home every night and every weekend.

It's also time to start waiting on orders. Michael put in for orders this week, so now we wait and wait some more to hear our fate. I feel like our options are all lame at this point. We are done and getting out in about 15 months, so it doesn't leave many options open to us. His options are looking like we stay here, do unaccompanied orders for the last year, or he goes to a ship. No matter what he will be away from home. He's put in for the unaccompanied orders though. This would mean he goes alone and the rest of the family moves back to the U.S. That is the only plus side to this. At least we get the comforts of home rather than being stuck here in Sicily. We can be in a place where we can easily get around, visit family, and hopefully settled in a house for once.

This doesn't mean they won't come back and say sorry you guys are staying put, or we need you on the ship though. So, we wait and see if we get what he consider the lesser of the evils, or if we just get stuck with what the Navy wants. Our waiting could be just a couple weeks, or it could be a few months before we know anything for sure. I'm hoping we know sooner though.

UPDATE 10/25: He did NOT put in the orders. Decided we needed some more time to talk about my concerns about him going unaccompanied. It's a big decision to make voluntarily, so we want to make sure it's right for our family before we just jump into it. Hopefully they don't just stick us elsewhere while we decide though...

New Clothes for ME!

I'm sure like many other mom's out there, I neglect myself. I know I especially have since being overseas, and even more so since Amara's arrival in our lives. If I buy stuff, more often than not it's for her or for me for her (baby carrier etc). My wardrobe was starting to look very, very sad. Things were stained with baby spit up, starting to have holes worn in them, snagged from kitty cat toes, and so on. I was pretty oblivious to it all for quite some time in my new mom, sleep-deprived stupor. It wasn't until spring time when I really started to realize it. I also started to realize my closet was full of Aeropostale t-shirts. I was looking like a walking billboard for them. Nothing against their tops. I love them, and they last. I have a feeling they are also a part of why I get double or triple carded still, the gate guards on base occasionally ask if I'm old enough to drive, or (my favorite) when people think I'm taking my baby sister out on errands so my mom can have a break. I needed some more 'grown-up tops', but nothing that screamed mom clothes either.

Since then, I've been trying to better with up-keeping me. I find time to paint my nails, or buy myself a new shirt or shoes. My most recent purchase was a couple weeks ago. I found a store online called Papaya awhile ago. I remember seeing the store in malls when we lived in San Diego, but it wasn't one I had ventured into while there.

I read some reviews online first. I saw the low prices, and was worried it also meant crummy quality and/or service. Only down side I found was their sizes seemed to run small, so to order a size up. Taking that into consideration, I decided to place a small order and try them out since they seemed to have some cute items.

I ordered a couple of their $3.99 v-neck t-shirts. I got one in burgundy and one in purple. The burgundy one is fine. Fits well, and is the color I expected. The purple one, wasn't as good. It had some white strings running through the front of the shirt, and the color didn't match up with what was online. I was expecting something more plum, but it was a very bright purple. That one got sent back today.

I also got a black (I realize this one links to red, but the black appears to be sold out now) and a grey open front knit cardigan. The black one went back as well. Nothing was wrong with it quality wise, it was just too long on my short self. The knit is nice for Sicily since it doesn't exactly get cold here, but you do need something long sleeved for those chilly, rainy days.

Then I got two wrap type tops. A black short-sleeved sweater (also appears to be sold out) and this teal and grey top. The black top is adorable. I like that I can play with the collar. The teal top is the only one that was a little big. I probably could have ordered my usual size small, but it hasn't been washed yet either. I'm hoping it shrinks just a bit.

The rainy weather has arrived, so I should be able to wear some of this stuff soon without melting. Fall has been slow to arrive to us this year. It's still been in the 80's. 

They also have a point system. You get 0.02 points per $1 spent. Once you reach 1 point you can apply it towards your order for money off. I used the points I earned on my first order even, so you do not have to wait to redeem them if you do not want to. My original total was $51.55 and I had 3 points to us. The points took my total to $48.55, so $1 off per point. They also had a shipping special. Usually it's $75 purchase for free shipping, but it was $50 when I ordered.

I ordered on October 6, the package shipped October 8 and got the package October 15. A week for the package to get from Los Angeles to Sicily. I'm impressed. I know they can't exactly control how fast it gets to me once it's in military mail system, but they filled out customs forms right, and packaged everything well. It also just makes me happy when places offer shipping to FPO. That means I don't have to ship it elsewhere to have it forwarded to me and pay double shipping.

Now I'm thinking I need some new brown or black tall boots to go with some of this stuff...

All about the Face

I know this may make some of you cringe, but I had no face routine up until about 4-5 months ago. I just washed my face with water and whatever soap was in the shower. I never had bad acne as a teen, but post baby it seems to have gotten worse. It's nothing I'd consider terrible, but it's definitely worsened.

I started off with Clean & Clear's Foaming Facial Cleanser for Sensitive Skin. It was inexpensive and something they carried at the commissary on base. Not having to order things online and pay for shipping to our FPO address is so nice, but the base is very limited on what brands they carry (I'm also not big on venturing out in town to search for things and play charades in Italian). It said for sensitive skin, so it had to be okay for my skin right? It started making it all dry, flaky, and redder than usual. I have redness to my cheeks no matter what, but this just made it worse. I got to looking at the ingredients, and soon realized this stuff was not as sensitive as its name states. 

A site I've come to love is Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. You input your cosmetic of choice, and it gives you a rating based on the ingredients and how harmful they are (they also have a database for things like dish soaps, detergents, and other household cleaners which is handy too). They also do base some of the overall score on the company (i.e. if they are cruelty free, how they treat the environment, or employees). You can also just look up ingredients individually if the specific product you want to research is not part of the database yet, or if it comes from some place like an Etsy shop. Anyway, the lower the score the better it is for you. If there are concerning ingredients, it will tell you exactly what it is and why it's concerning.

The Clean & Clear contains:
Sodium Laureth Sulfate-skin irritant, and leaves skin dry
Cocamidopropyl Betaine- skin, eye, and lung irritant
PEG 150 Distearate- can contain impurities that are known carcinogens
Fragrance- does not disclose type so people could have a wide range of allergic reaction
Tetrasodium EDTA- made from formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, that can break through the skin barrier and go right to your bloodstream

And that's just a few of the ingredients that are 'gentle' for your sensitive skin. Yay for washing with some cancer face wash that will leave your skin dry and irritated. 

I had ordered a few items from a shop on Etsy (MyBeautyAddiction) such as deodorant and lotions. I was on there browsing around and noticed they also had face care items. The shop sells mineral makeup and other more natural beauty products. You'll probably see a lot more about this shop. I've loved everything I've gotten from them so far. Their service is also outstanding as they are always fast, and well packaged. Also, can't beat their sales. They quite often have a coupon for a percentage off, a certain dollar amount off, or free shipping (find these on their FB page). Also note, due to Etsy policy changes they do not currently have the face care items, as well as some other items, listed on the Etsy shop. Instead, you need to head over to their website for these items for the time being.

I ordered their Ocean Mineral Face Wash and Moisturizer. It contains ingredients you can understand without having to look them up like aloe vera, lavender water, olive oil, tea tree oil. The ones I wasn't familiar with I quickly looked up, such as Decyl Glucoside and quickly found it's naturally derived.

What a huge difference this combination has made! I wish I had a before photo to show. My skin feels much smoother. It's less red too! I must confess though, I have not been the best about keeping to washing my face. Sometimes I just do it in the morning, or not at all. I've just gotten through a phase where I wasn't keeping it up. I should take a picture since I've got a recent break out right now. The ingredients are almost all organic too! I also find a lot of the time the face wash is so moisturizing that I do not need to use the moisturizer. No more red, irritated skin. 

I've got another order from them on the way. I have some new face care items to try out, as well as some other new things.

Getting Started

I'm new to the blogging world, so might fumble around with this for a bit before I sort out how all this works. I thought this might be a more convenient way to keep friends and family up-to-date on us rather than short little snippets on Facebook. I also thought it would be a great place for reviews of products, sharing recipes, or crafts. Maybe even sharing books or movies that were especially good. Sort of like a catch all blog I guess. Just a place for me to babble about whatever happens to strike my fancy.

I've managed to change my layout and add on some gadgets, so I must not be doing too bad. I'm sure there is still more to learn or cooler stuff I have yet to find. I'm open to suggestions to make my transition into blogging easier.

Most of the people reading this for awhile will probably be friends or family, so I'm not sure if an introduction and background is necessary. I'm Brandi. A wife, a mother, and a recent college graduate. I'm currently a stay-at-home mom to our daughter Amara (20 months old). Since my husband has orders to Italy currently, I'm not able to go on and get a job. I got my degree in social sciences with a focus in education hoping to teach. Unfortunately, I am unable to do my student teaching overseas putting me at a stand still. I do not at all mind getting to say home with Amara though. It's precious time I know a lot of working moms wish they had when their little ones were this age. By the time we get moved back to the U.S., Amara will be about ready for preschool. I'm thinking in theory this will be easier on me to start working again. I'm sure it won't be though.

I'm attempting to change us over to a more natural/green lifestyle. As we us up products, I've been finding DIY recipes or better options. For example, we don't use dryer sheets anymore. Rather we have wool dryer balls. When my Degree deodorant ran out, I bought a natural, plant-based deodorant instead. I'm sure products along these lines will be reviewed and brought up on here frequently since this is an ongoing transition.

I'm also just starting to dabble in natural and mineral makeups. I didn't learn as a teen how to apply make up. I didn't wear any makeup in high school. I just had some lip gloss and nail polish on to go to prom, and even on the day I got married (not that we had a fabulous fancy wedding at the JOP). I got the urge to start learning though recently and have been buying products here and there to sample. I've got some new goodies coming in probably this week I'm excited to try out.

I suppose that's enough babble for now! I've got some projects coming up, so plenty of ideas. Hopefully I'll keep this blog kept up!