Taking the beauty school plunge

     Since I have settled in from moving to a strange new place I decided it was time for me to help earn some money so I set forth to find a job. I started looking at piercing studios and found out that they aren't regulated here like they were in Texas and most of them were happy to just have an artist do piercings on the side and cheaply at that, which is not how I do things. So then I started looking for something more retail and apparently my having owned my own company for the last several years means nothing on an online application. I got frustrated and started looking at whether or not we could afford for me to go to school and found out I would be able to get enough loans and grants. I was torn between phlebotomy and cosmetology and ultimately decided I could easily open a salon one day and go back to working for myself but I would never open my own blood bank.
     I then found myself torn between a "local" cosmetology school very close to me or going to Paul Mitchell 30 miles away. In the end they weren't that far off in price so I decided perhaps the name of a Paul Mitchell school would be better for me. So here I am all signed up and nervous to start school in 19 days. It's going to be weird being away from my baby during the day and tough since it has been nearly ten years since I have even needed to be somewhere on time that early in the morning. But in the end I think it will be worth it and I will enjoy what I do and hopefully make ok money at it.
    

I went to the winter Marlboro ranch

What an amazing adventure! I don't know if words could even describe the awesomeness that ensued in Montana at the crazy mountain ranch. I've been back home almost a week getting back to reality and I miss the ranch and the food and staff so much. We got up very early to catch our flight to the ranch on the 18th and had a 2 hour layover in Utah where our ranch hats came in handy because we met a couple of people headed to the next flight with us. Then when we got off the second plane in Montana we were greeted with some friendly faces and cowboys hats and taken to a nice room at the airport to sign in and given  yummy sandwiches. Once all the other winners showed up we were all put on buses for the final trip to the ranch. The staff were super friendly and very funny once we passed through the ranch gates all cell phone service was lost. It was like traveling back in time to the good ole days of country life. We were then given keys and shown our rooms. We stayed in a huge beautiful room in the shawmut 2 building (originally built as a hotel for the miners in  Shawmut, Montana and relocated to the ranch in '96ish if I remember correctly.)  where our bed was covered in gifts. I won't go into too much detail on the gifts so all of the surprise isn't lost, but I will say that if you are headed to the ranch don't waste your baggage space with a winter jacket because the ones they give you will keep you very warm so just take sweaters and jeans.
       The next day we decided to take the tour to Yellowstone which took all day but it was well worth it. Our guides were awesome and we learned a lot of near stuff. I would love to take my kids one day but this was nice with a bus full of happy adults and no screaming and fighting and "I'm hungry" coming from the backseat. We got to get out and take lots of photos and we got to take a neat bit of a hike. The next morning we went ziplining which I never thought I would do but since this whole trip was a chance of a lifetime I decided I would just go for it and see how far I could get. Turns out there are 9 zip lines that start "small" then get up to the second longest one in the US. I did 7 then started getting really nervous because of the height part of it. I was pretty proud of myself so I stopped there and met my husband at the last one. Then after lunch we jumped into snowmobiling which was really fun but man was I sore afterwards, so glad that was last and not before having to glide across a valley on a rope with sore arms. So many amazing adventures and never have I been so well fed in my life. If I ever get invited back in the winter I will finish the zip lines for sure and definitely try dog sledding but I would love to go back in the summer and go horse back riding I bet it is so beautiful then. If you won this trip and your worried about if anything costs money DON'T because everything really is payed for unless of course you want to buy something while at the airport or if you take the Yellowstone tour there is a gift shop there that they let you stop in at.
      As far as this marketing plan goes for Marlboro, it certainly works for creating brand loyalty every time I see a pack of Marlboro's I will ALWAYS remember my trip to the ranch and you better believe I will tell everyone near me about how truly amazing it was.

I'm ready to go to the Marlboro Ranch

   It's the start of a beautiful new year isn't it?  In a recent post I talked about how I was notified as a winner in the Marlboro rock the ranch sweepstakes. Well I got my plane tickets today via fedex and just so unbelievably excited and anxious to get going on what I fully suspect to be an adventure of a lifetime. I will be catching my flight to Montana  on the 15th of this month at 6:30 am with a 2 hour layover in Salt Lake then on to the Bozeman airport where they will gather all the winners and take us to the crazy mountain ranch. In the package I received today I got my tickets, two personalized luggage tags, a gift card to cover the check baggage fee, a check for $750 to cover taxes, hats for us to wear so we can identify other winners at the airports, and contact cards with phone numbers because cell phones don't work at the ranch, and for once I'll be fine with that. I also got my activity itinerary which shows  I will be zip lining on the last day. I am really excited to try it but also very afraid of heights so I'm glad it's last. 

I know my girls are going to miss me, especially Madeline because she has been waking up in the middle of the night a lot lately and she will cry and crawl in bed saying she needs me, it will be hard when I'm not there for her but she will have her oldest sister here who she likes a lot. Of course with the recent holidays and the fact that school doesn't start again where we are til January 9th! I can't wait to get out of the house for a bit of me time with my husband. When the kids start bickering or making a huge mess before I am done with a two hour cleaning spree I just keep telling myself just a few more days now....I do love my family though :)  

The folks at Marlboro sent us some free luggage to pack for our trip too! They are really nice big red duffel bags on wheels. Now only 6 more days till we take off for Montana. I better get to packing.

link back to my first post

Oral B Stages and Winnie the Pooh

     Recently I was given a chance from www.mommyparties.com to host a party sponsored by Oral-B Stages. 

So that is precisely what I did today. We opened our mommy party box that contained Oral-B stages 1 and 2 toothbrushes, Oral-B Stages Pastes, Bottles of Disney Lavender Wash, Disney’s Winnie the Pooh Movie DVD, Winne the Pooh Movie Playdate Invites, Recipe & Activity Ideas, Balloons, Popcorn for guests, and guest gift bags.

So I invited some of my mommy friends that I have recently made here that have children about Madeline's age and set up a little movie theater in the sun room with all of our tiny chairs and Madeline passed out the popcorn to her new friends. The kids had a great time playing with the balloons and watching Winnie the Pooh and they were super excited to see that their new toothbrushes also had the Winnie the Pooh characters on them. The moms said they love the Oral-B Stages toothpaste and that is what most of them already buy because it works and tastes great especially for picky children and the fun Disney characters on the packaging make it all the easier to get the kids excited to brush daily. Everybody also loved the Disney Daily Renewal naturals baby wash in lavender and Chamomile which is just wonderful for a relaxing bedtime bath.

I won the 2012 Marlboro "Rock the Ranch" sweepstake!

      Omg! Omg! Omg! This is the biggest win I have ever had, way better than the atari I won last year. Yesterday morning between getting two different product party packs (which I will post about later) and a box of free cookies from bzzagent.com delivered by my wonderful mailman who probably dislikes me because he has to carry large boxes to my door every other day, I got a knock on the door from the fedex man who handed me a large urgent express envelope.....I wasn't expecting this....when I opened it there was a pretty envelope that said The Marlboro Ranch Pre-Trip Documents on the front and inside was a letter saying Congratulations you are a potential winner for a 4 -day/3 night ALL expense paid trip for you and a guest to a ranch in Montana! 

     There were all kinds of forms and release forms to fill out and have notarized and a prepaid express return envelope. This all sounded too good to be true and 5 minutes after opening it I had to rush to the dentist for an appointment making me wonder if it was true which made my deep cleaning seem like it was taking forever. When I got home I did some quick research and realized this is for real. I quickly filled out my paperwork and had my husband fill out his guest forms then we went to a notary (where I mumbled a lot and looked like a stroke victim because they had numbed one side of my mouth at the dentist) and signed it and then strait to the fedex store and sent it back. 

      Now I just have to wait 2-6 WEEKS for them to confirm my age and info then set up my flight and trip info. I have seen a lot of the people that are winning the 2012 Marlboro winter ranch trip got an email with an rsvp number. I didn't get an rsvp email I remember getting a postcard type ad in the mail with a reference number on it to enter the sweepstake that I remember calling in and thinking I'm not gonna win but it's worth a try eh. to be continued.....

....... CONTINUED ........

       The first letter said that the background check could take up to 4-6 weeks but luckily I didn't have to wait that long. I got my second set of forms exactly two weeks from the day that I had gotten the first and sent it back. And of course I also got this delivery mere minutes before my second dentist appointment. Upon opening this fedex envelope I found a letter of congratulations along with more forms to fill out asking me to rank which activities I would like to participate in most. These activities are zipline adventure, snowmobile intro, snowmobile adventure, archery adventure, and dog-sledding. I am so afraid of heights but I also really want to do the zipline adventure for some reason. When in Rome I guess. The other form asked about my smoking preferences and hat, shoe, and jacket sizes. From what I have heard from previous winners they hook you up with some great gear. This is awesome for me now that I live in Idaho with snow that I am so not used to or prepared for so it will be great for me to get some good cold weather gear that I really didn't want to spend the money on for myself. ( I really have to stop wearing flip flops to take my daughter to school in the mornings now that it is getting down to 16* but old habits die hard.)
     In my letter it says I will be departing for Montana on January 15, 2012 and returning January 18, 2012 and I should receive my plane tickets and a check for $750 to cover the taxes from winning by the beginning of January.  EEEEKKK! I am so excited! This is really a dream come true to be able to take a vacation like this with my husband and not have to worry about any cost.
      For those of you that are reading this because you got a letter delivered CONGRATS and I found a facebook page here for the 2012 winter winners to get together and share and ask each other questions........ TO BE CONTINUED...............

Spooky Halloween Tortilla Chips

It's almost Halloween and I am planning for my daughter's third birthday party. I just did a practice run on a party recipe that I will be using this year along with my mummy dogs. These are my spooky tortilla chips and essentially this is a great idea for any holiday or occasion because they are so easy and cheap to make into any design.

All you need is :
a cookie cutter
package of corn tortillas
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon lawry's season salt
1 teaspoon paprika
salt

mix oil, season salt, and paprika in a small bowl
cut out your shapes and align on a cookie sheet in a single layer then brush or spoon and spread the oil mixture onto both sides of tortillas then bake at 375* for 5-10 minutes until crispy then ad a pinch of salt to taste. These are great for dipping.

Be the Chef with Chef Boyardee house Party

Last weekend I hosted a Be the Chef with Chef Boyardee house Party from signing up at houseparty.com (my all time favorite website) where you sign up for free and apply to host product parties where you simply have fun with friends and family with the package they send you if you are picked to host. This doesn't cost you anything they just want you to spread the word about their brand. Personally this method of advertising gives me a greater respect for the brands that choose to work with houseparty and other like websites that allow me to truly test a product and not just take some actors word for it on a commercial that I may just fast forward through anyway.

houseparty.com currently has a Halloween party that you can apply for now that looks like a ton of fun. I am excited about this one because I already know I am getting in on it because almost a year ago I was chosen to do a survey through their facebook page about google and after I completed it I was awarded with a VIP party pass to be used on any one party and I waited until it was almost expired in hopes for the perfect party to snag without chance. We all know how much I love Halloween so I used it right away now I just have to wait till they start selection and send out the monster green boxes. EXCITED! They also have some other cool parties you should check out such as Zumba on the wii and Just Dance 3 if you have an xbox kinect. Who knows you might win a party too. Do you have a favorite deal website? I would love to know.

!Deal Alert!

This week the Disney Store online is having a great deal! You can take off an EXTRA 25% from all clearance items when you put in the coupon code ---->    SALE25     I just checked out the clearance section and they have a few of their beautiful princess nightgowns on sale, and I must say that I personally love these and wish they came in adult sizes. both of my daughters have princess nightgowns from the disney store and they are quality made and better for playing in and cheaper even than the crappy play dresses you can get at most other stores. 

Greetings from Idaho

We did it, we up and moved the family to Idaho and it was a long hard ride but I feel I am getting settled in now and I really love it here. The people I have met have all been so friendly, not something I am used to from my old neighborhood where 2 days before the big move some hoodlum stole my bicycle and sold it to a thrift store at the end of my street for $10 bucks and I had to actually buy the bike back because I didn't have proof lying around that it was mine, uhg anyway, finding a house to rent from 1800 miles away was hard because they couldn't hold anything for more than 2 weeks and we had to be super fast in getting an application in and we got disappointed several times but finally found a great 2000 sq ft 4 bedroom house in a culdesac at an incredible price with a great back yard that opens up to a huge common area park that we got first dibs on.
       My husband, the dog and his dad drove the Penske moving truck and drove strait though while I had my 6 and 2 year old and my 11 and 17 year old step kids plus my mom for moral and driving support oh yeah plus my 2 old cats in the back of the minivan. The plan was to drive as much as possible straight through but with so many people the bathroom stops alone took time but we were doing pretty well and two days in decided to stay at a place in Wyoming because it was getting very dark and we were in the middle of nowhere so when we did find a motel we took it, then set out the next morning and just after entering Utah I lost control of the van and manged to get carefully off the road thinking I had a flat tire but it turned out that my wheel bearing crapped out on the back and the tire was just wobbling side to side ( and we were in the middle of nowhere) so I called my insurance and they located a tow truck that could take us BACK to Wyoming (let me add this was a Sunday morning) so we waited on the side of the road and waited then this crazy tow driver shows up and as odd as he was he was very nice and helpful because I was afraid of how the 6 of us and 2 cats were going to get there because we all cant fit in the tow truck and we wouldn't be able to walk but the man told us he would tow us to Ogdenville, Utah so we would be closer to Idaho and that we could ride in the van on the truck (scary) but it was our only option, so for an hour we held tight going along the mountain edges.
       The driver dropped us off at the Kia dealership in Utah and as he began unloading the van the tire just fell right off and as we were deciding how we would all get to the nearest hotel the driver offered to take us in two trips and the only way to get both my cats in their carriers was for them to ride on the back of the flat bed which was my scariest moment of the whole ordeal because I could picture them going over a big bump and falling off in the busy road (and boy were they mad at me for the next two days) but we all made it and the next morning I got a rental and drove everyone to our new awesome house in Idaho and then drove all the way back to give away all the money we had saved up for new furniture to get the van fixed. But that's just life and I love it here so far.

It's time to start...growing my own Mango Tree

My brother in law and his wife recently sent down some of the yummiest mangoes I have ever had from a tree they have in their yard in Florida. They sent several that my family devoured but while cutting open the very last one I thought hmmm I wonder if I would successfully grow a tree from this seed. See I have always had this idea that while renting I would at some point start growing a tree from seed and hopefully by the time we are able to buy a house of our own we could plant it in the back yard to flourish. Well, after watching several youtube instructional videos some helpful and some just weird, "no homo" <------ quoted from a instructional video. I found that I needed to crack open the seed casing which I always thought was the seed itself to get the seed from inside. Most people said to wrap the seed in moist paper towel or put it in a cup of water but I went ahead and immediately planted it in a planter with soil and watered it then placed plastic wrap over the top and put it in the kitchen by my window. I was getting worried that maybe I should have done more because I checked about a week ago to see if it was rooting yet and I could pull it out of the soil then I checked four days ago and was not able to move it because the roots began to grow so I was pretty excited. Three days ago it started to sprout :) I decided that moment to set a timer on my phone so I can take a photo everyday so I can make a slide show later on. The only problem is that if I were staying in Texas my chances of growing my tropical tree are better than if I move to Idaho because they don't do well in cold so it will have to be a potted tree for a long time so I can bring it in for the winter. Who knows, I might be back in a few years or I can always bring it back on a visit and plant it in my parents yard.

 Day 1

Day 2











Have you ever grown a tree from seed?