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  • The Value of Christian Marriage

    This past Friday, I read something that made me wonder if we as Christians truly value marriage?  I mean seriously, if you label yourself as a believer of God whether you’re Baptist, Catholic or Methodist, etc, and you get married you are charged by God to keep your union holy and pure according to His standards.  So, why then do I see so many couples practicing things within their marriage that disgraces the sacred union they entered? 

    For example, I read on a certain blog that I subscribe to that the author went to strip clubs with her husband on a few occasions and doesn’t mind him going to those kinds of places. Now my logic is this: if you still feel the need to oogle some other chicks naked booty and breasts then why are you with me?  When you take your wedding vows, you vow to honor the other person and to love them.  Well, honor means to show the purest of respect.  And while love can’t really be defined, I can say that if my husband is still going to strip clubs he can’t love me enough.

    I can’t help but feel like more and more we as Christians are selling out to the world’s standards.  I feel like I’m becoming a minority when it comes to doing the marriage thing God’s way.  Seriously, if my future husband ever asked me to go to a strip club, I would:

    1. Ask if he was crazy.
    2. Remind him that he’s married and has a wife who has the same goods as those girls at the club.
    3. Hit him divorce papers if I found out he was making strip club visits on the regular!

    Yea, some of you might say number 3 is a little bit harsh, but I take my faith seriously.  And having come from a family where all my aunts and a most of my uncles are divorced due to adultery, I have learned that marriage is not something you enter in lightly.  I’m not holier than thou either because I sin, but I don’t make the conscious effort to do so or cosign on my mate sinning and disrespecting our marriage.  I’m pretty sure that Lust is one of the Seven Deadly sins.  Also, we can find quite a few stories in the Bible that warn against coveting others who are not your spouse.

    So, why then are some women and men content to let their spouses out to places like that without a word?  More important why get married if you’re going to keep up behavior similar to living a single lifestyle?  Let’s be frank, you’re traveling a path to Hell anyway, so not just move in together and skip the marriage vows?  If it’s having legal rights to a person’s property when they die or whatever they make wills and last wishes that could take care of that.

    Maybe, because I’m getting married in the near future I’m getting heated about this.  Or maybe it’s my fear of wondering what kind of marriage my daughter will have that scares me.  Seriously, if people of my generation and even those twice my age are settling for this, what will my Moo have to settle for?  And why is it so hard for us to live by God’s standards instead of the world’s?  I am forever puzzled by this complex issue and can never seem to come up with an answer.

    My only hope is that wholesome marriages like the Huxables portrayed on The Cosby Show will come back in style.  I for one will be doing everything in my power when I tie the knot to uphold my vows and the marriage commandments outlined in the Good Book!!

  • Facial Therapy

    Good afternoon.  So, I was telling you guys that the lovely people over at Hachette Book Group sent Babushka’s Beauty Secrets and of course I was so pleased with how well their soaking treatment for my feet went that I decided to try a few more treatments from the book.  Let me be the first tell you all that I have severe dry skin.  And my recent stress eating has not been helping out either. I have been binging on sweet foods and sodas.

    Needless to say my skin, especially my face has had to suffer.  So, I decided to try one of the face souffles and an all natural serum for my lips.  I tried the Date Souffle which is a mixture of egg (whites for oily skin, yolk for dry skin), sour cream and vitamin E.  You apply the mix to your face, let sit for 10-15 minutes and rinse with lukewarm tap water. Personally, I think you get a more even application if you use a makeup sponge or a cotton face pad instead of your hands.

    I put mine on using a circular motion to make sure it really got into every pore.  And you can certainly feel it working once it dries.  Let me just say that when I rinsed off the souffle my skin looked wonderful and this morning it looked even better.  Seriously, I had a lovely glow.  I had to take a double glance in the mirror. Also, let me mention that since I was not going on a date, I decided to follow up the souffle with a nice helping of baby vaseline as moisturizer.   My skin feels so soft and my break out is already showing signs of remission!!

    Now for the lips, I chose the Forget Flaky Lips serum.  I don’t know how many of you are familiar with LL Cool J and his lip licking, but I’m a frequent lip licker as well.  Mainly because I’m horrible at keeping up with Chapstick and lip glosses. They end getting washed in my pants pockets ruining my clothes.  So, I settle to lick my lips which are chronically dry as well.  All that saliva coating has made my lips a little flaky and while I used use a medium bristle toothbrush to scrub them, it got old buying a separate toothbrush just to scrub my teeth with. It can get pretty expensive because I like to change mine every month because of germs and dead skin getting caught in the bristles.

    So, I when I came across the serum I was like what the heck.  It’s a mixture of olive oil (I used veggie oil), honey, sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.  You let the serum sit on your lips for 20 minutes if you can do so without licking it off. LOL.  I did manage to resist the urge to lick my lips I must brag.  You wash off with lukewarm water and apply Chapstick, gloss or whatever it is that usually use.  Oh, when I washed mine off, my lips felt so soft.

    The dead skin was melted away.  And surprisingly it wasn’t that hard getting all the sugar and honey off.  I guess the acid in the lemon juice helps with that and the dead skin.  I am learning a lot from this book.  In addition, to these treatments and serums they give you tips.  For example, eating lots of cucumbers help to prevent your body from retaining a lot water.  I never knew that!  I’m learning something new everyday as I read and flip through this wonderful book.

  • Facial Therapy

    Good afternoon.  So, I was telling you guys that the lovely people over at Hachette Book Group sent Babushka’s Beauty Secrets and of course I was so pleased with how well their soaking treatment for my feet went that I decided to try a few more treatments from the book.  Let me be the first tell you all that I have severe dry skin.  And my recent stress eating has not been helping out either. I have been binging on sweet foods and sodas.

    Needless to say my skin, especially my face has had to suffer.  So, I decided to try one of the face souffles and an all natural serum for my lips.  I tried the Date Souffle which is a mixture of egg (whites for oily skin, yolk for dry skin), sour cream and vitamin E.  You apply the mix to your face, let sit for 10-15 minutes and rinse with lukewarm tap water. Personally, I think you get a more even application if you use a makeup sponge or a cotton face pad instead of your hands.

    I put mine on using a circular motion to make sure it really got into every pore.  And you can certainly feel it working once it dries.  Let me just say that when I rinsed off the souffle my skin looked wonderful and this morning it looked even better.  Seriously, I had a lovely glow.  I had to take a double glance in the mirror. Also, let me mention that since I was not going on a date, I decided to follow up the souffle with a nice helping of baby vaseline as moisturizer.   My skin feels so soft and my break out is already showing signs of remission!!

    Now for the lips, I chose the Forget Flaky Lips serum.  I don’t know how many of you are familiar with LL Cool J and his lip licking, but I’m a frequent lip licker as well.  Mainly because I’m horrible at keeping up with Chapstick and lip glosses. They end getting washed in my pants pockets ruining my clothes.  So, I settle to lick my lips which are chronically dry as well.  All that saliva coating has made my lips a little flaky and while I used use a medium bristle toothbrush to scrub them, it got old buying a separate toothbrush just to scrub my teeth with. It can get pretty expensive because I like to change mine every month because of germs and dead skin getting caught in the bristles.

    So, I when I came across the serum I was like what the heck.  It’s a mixture of olive oil (I used veggie oil), honey, sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.  You let the serum sit on your lips for 20 minutes if you can do so without licking it off. LOL.  I did manage to resist the urge to lick my lips I must brag.  You wash off with lukewarm water and apply Chapstick, gloss or whatever it is that usually use.  Oh, when I washed mine off, my lips felt so soft.

    The dead skin was melted away.  And surprisingly it wasn’t that hard getting all the sugar and honey off.  I guess the acid in the lemon juice helps with that and the dead skin.  I am learning a lot from this book.  In addition, to these treatments and serums they give you tips.  For example, eating lots of cucumbers help to prevent your body from retaining a lot water.  I never knew that!  I’m learning something new everyday as I read and flip through this wonderful book.

  • Pampering Our Feet

    So, Hachette Book Group was nice enough to send me a copy of ‘Babushka’s Beauty Secrets: Old World Tips For a Glamorous New You‘ by Raisa Ruder and Susan Campos. This book couldn’t have come at a better time.  Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know that Moo has been suffering from a bad ear infection since Saturday.  And I have to admit that since embarking on my Single Mom Journey, I have kind of let somethings go.   Not to mention, the fact that I’ve just really started dropping the reminder of my baby weight.  So, I’ve been trying to revamp my wardrobe and my beauty.

    Let me tell you that as a child we tried our share of natural beauty tips from Seventeen Magazine and beauty books targeted for teens.  More often than not, the serums and scrubs did not work.  So, I was a little apprehensive about trying some of the treatments from this book.  However, the fact that Raisa is a licensed esthetician to some of Hollywood’s greatest and brightest stars kind of nudged me to try a few.    She promises, “Babushka’s Beauty Secrets creates glowing skin for under $5.”

    With Summer weather officially here, it is time to pull out the flip flops and open toed sandals.  And as women we know the first rule of wearing any kind of shoe showing off your feet is ‘Get a good pedicure.’  Well, it just so happens that Babushka’s Beauty Secrets has a hands and feet section.  Since I’m on my feet a lot I don’t have to tell you that calluses are the things to watch out for.  Therefore, I decided to try their Clear Away Calluses treatment. 

    Reading the ingredients I was a little uncertain that it would work-1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup of kosher salt added to warm water.  The instructions said to soak for twenty minutes and then scrub with a loofah or foot scrub.  Simple enough and I had all the needed items in my kitchen.  I decided that I would enlist my baby sister and my mother to try in this with me to make sure that it really works.  And Moo decided that she was feeling well enough to join in too.

    So, we filled up our foot tubs and mixed in our baking soda and salt and got down to soaking.  Now, when you first put your feet in this mixture you will feel a slight tingling sensation.  (My mother claims she didn’t feel the tingling, but me and my sister did.)  It should stop after about two minutes.  It’s not painful or unbearable.  While we waited out a our twenty minute soak we watched a little Cupcake Wars on Food Network.

    After soaking twenty minutes, we removed our feet one at a time and got to scrubbing.  Boy did the dead skin peel right off.  I mean we didn’t even have to scrub hard either.  My mom was able to rub hers off with a towel and then switched to the loofah for a deeper scrub.  I was kind of excited and have made up my mind to try more treatments from this book and post my experience with them on here.  I’m looking forward to regaining my fashionista attitude without having to break the bank.

    Tonight, we’re trying step two of the Date Souffle.

  • My Weekend WrapUp

    Well, let me just say that I for one was very much looking forward to this weekend.  For the last ten days, I had been watching my niece and younger sister for mom while she was away on business.  That was a total of three kids(including my Moo)-two of which were very busy and while the other is slightly boy crazed at the moment.  Add the fact that none of them can get a long for more than five minutes and you can tell that I had a very trying ten days.

    Saturday, I came up with the grand idea to whip my mom’s house into shape. She is somewhat of a hoarder but refuses to admit it.  I keep telling her the first step to getting help is admitting you have a problem.  However, in her mind her excessive need to buy or pick up stuff off the curb when she doesn’t really need it or have space it is not a problem. LOL.  So, anyways, I thought it would be a good idea to get rid of small stuff that she wouldn’t notice.

    We started with socks. Yes, socks!  She had this huge green clothes basket full of every kind of sock you could imagine.  I’m talking about white socks, black socks, blue socks, green socks, Santa socks, Dora socks, etc.  Well, I thought we were making could progress on matching up the socks, throwing away the ones with holes or that were too worn to wash back white.  Out of nowhere my younger sister decides that only after 30 minutes of matching she’s ready to take a break for Facebook.

    I was like you haven’t even matched a good five pairs of socks.  Her 30 minutes of matching was mostly spent complaining and texting.  I tell you the kids today are not looking very promising on the domestic front.  I could not convince her to keep matching socks.  I could have put my foot down, but it was not worth it. I finished matching the socks in less than 15 minutes more and bagged up the rest.  Then it was on the kitchen and so on.  We end up getting rid of a total of three trashbags worth of stuff that I’m sure my mom will not notice is gone.

    Also, this weekend it was extremely hot, but that did not stop us from grilling out Saturday when Moo’s father dropped by for his bi-weekly visit.  It was kind of fun until he started turning into the annoying five year old that he can sometimes be.  Like seriously, he knows that I can stand to be poked in my side, pinched or tickled along with a few other things that get under my skin.  Finally, I had had enough and he left.  I was a little sad that for all the progress and change he talks about having made, ditching his five year old alter ego is not one of them.

    Sunday morning when I woke I had an extra pep in my step.  I was just hours away from being freed from babysitting duty.  Thank you Lord! I did some final cleaning that got so good that I completely lost track of time and was late to airport to pick up my mom.  Thankfully, it wasn’t entirely my fault. We would have been kinda on time had her plane not landed a whole 30 minutes early.  But she got a surprise when my younger brother joined us.

    We decided that to welcome her back home we would head out to eat. Now, having spoken to my brother earlier that day we had decided that we were going to eat at CiCi’s.  So, I was a little shocked when he asked my mom where wanted to eat as if we hadn’t already agreed on a place.  It wasn’t that we didn’t want our mom to have a choice, but him being a college student and my being a single mom put us on a tight budget.  And my mom does not have tight budget taste.  And sure enough she picked one of the most expensive buffet restaurants to eat at on a Sunday afternoon-The Thunderbird.

    When I was younger we used to eat there at least once a month until money got really tight.  And they weren’t super expensive and the food was actually good. But Sunday our dining experience there was a HOT mess to say the least.  Let’s start with the fact that they charge you almost $5 for kids under 3 to eat.  I’m not saying that my child isn’t worth $5 but let’s be real she’s not going to eat $5 worth of food and she was sick.  So, we tried to explain to the lady running the register that Moo wasn’t eating and she got an attitude saying that they have to charge for anyone who comes through the door.  WTH?!!

    Then on top of that it was $9.22 for adults to eat.  Let me tell that this place is no Golden Carrel by a long shot.  They have one tiny little hot bar and a salad bar the size of a water well. This was strike two and should have been our cue to flee but we knew she was looking forward to eating there again and we wanted oblige her. Not to mention it was a good 98 degrees outside.  So, heading back out into the heat in search of another place to eat was not an option with a sick child.  Yes, we forked out $50 bucks to eat! 

    My wallet is still in shell shock.  Strike three was when we had to search high and low for a clean table to eat at. Like really you’re charging almost $10 to eat here and you can even clean your tables in a timely manner so that incoming customers have a place to seat?  After being passed by several hostess, one lady was nice enough to point us to a big and CLEAN table in the back. 

    The fourth strike came when we learned that only sweet tea and water came with our meals.  You had to be pay extra for soda.  At that point  I was just fed up.  Now you’re putting restrictions on my drink choices I thought quietly.  Strike number five was when we realized that we were being watched like a hawk by our serving staff.  Seriously, they assigned people to stand over the tables and watch you eat. I guess they want to make sure that people don’t sneak food out, but watching me like you’re an overseer and I’m a slave is not the way to do it. 

    The restaurant was cramped and strike six was that the air didn’t work.  So, I paid almost $10 for some food that was loaded in grease and butter and pretty much flavorless only to not be able to enjoy out because one I’m being stared down and two I can’t eat well when I’m hot.  Our experience was horrible!!!  So, horrible that we ended up cutting our meal short and leaving but not before we got my money back for Moo. She did not eat and I was not going to let somebody keep my hard earned money.

    You would think that my Sunday would have ended there. Nope, a visit to the emergency room with Moo was on the menu too.  She was past by sick.  Her fever was up to 103 and she wouldn’t eat or drink.  Not to mention she was feeling a little sluggish. I was very worried and had her father meet us at the ER.  The diagnosis was that she had a middle ear infection.  My poor baby.  She had been suffering for who knows how long.

    I can certainly say this weekend was not the best.  It had its share of ups but mostly downs.  Here’s to hoping this week will be better.

  • YUMMommy Receives Trendy Blog Award!!!

    I am proud to announce that Mommy Glow has bestowed YUMMommy with the Trendy Blog Award!! 

    This is our very 1st blog award.  I feel so honored and humbled that anybody would think of my blog as trendy.  I always thought of my blog as being different or unique. Now it’s great to be able to officially add trendy to my description.  As I accept this award, I just want to thank God first of all for giving me the courage and strength to put myself out here the way that I do.  I want to thank my mom because without her, I wouldn’t be here. 
    And I have to thank my lovely daughter, Moo.  She has been the topic of many of my posts already and I’m sure that she will continue to be going forward.  Thank you to all my supporters and friends who keep me encouraged and motivated.  Thank you to all the silent stalkers who come by and read my posts but can’t bring themselves to comment.  Your presence is still greatly appreciated.
    And finally, I would like to nominate the 8 (well 9 because I’m going to renominate Mommy Glow) Trendy blogs listed below for a Trendy Blog Award of their own:
     
    To receive this award,you must share this with 8 other blogs that you think are Trendy!
    1. Post about your award in your blog.
    2. Share with your fellow bloggers.
    3. Ask recipients to give this award out to 8 as well
     
    Be blessed guys!!

  • Me Time Monday

    I’m sure some of you read my Oh So Emotional post from last week.  Well, today I decided to take Kenya’s advice and enjoy a little Me Time.  Kenya is the author of {{In My Own Words}}, an absolutely amazing and keep it real blog that I am falling in love with!!  I invite you guys to check it out. I’m having a blast reading some of her older posts.  Oh and she’s the an author in real life. She wrote “This Too Shall Pass.”  I’m in the process of ordering a copy to read.

    I’m always down for supporting my fellow blogger friends.  But back to Kenya’s advice, I took a little time to pamper myself today and it felt wonderful.  Right after I wrote about my hitting the wall with my current single/co-parenting situation, I called Moo’s dad and told him that I needed him to be more active in her life other than what was outlined in our court ordered visitation agreement and he agreed that he would start picking her up to free my afternoons on his days off.  Well, today I was trying to iron some clothes and what not but as usual I couldn’t because Moo made up her mind that she wanted Mommy to hold her for almost an hour.

    I was just about to get frustrated, but I took a deep breath and told myself that ironing could wait.  And since school is out, I don’t have to hire a sitter. My baby sister babysat for free while I got my hair relaxed, cut and curled.  I feel like a new woman!!!  Let me first say, I had been going natural for over two years until about 6 months ago when I tried to put a relaxer in my hair.  Guess what, it didn’t take. 

    I have super curly hair that I prefer straight and it has a mind of it’s own at times.  Now, I know that some girls say they would kill to have the hair that I have, but quite seriously I was tired of firing up the hot comb and the fishing out the pressing grease.  Not to mention, I still haven’t found a product that will tame my frizz when it’s wet or humid out. And as an up and coming business woman bad hair days have to be a thing of the past.

    I came home refreshed and relaxed. I was so relaxed that I didn’t even get upset when Moo stole my Ranch burger only to play with it and throw it on the floor.  I didn’t yell when she smashed cheese puffs all in her play pin. I’m learning on this journey of motherhood to pick my battles and to use the help that God sends me even if it’s not the person I want it to be.

    Yes, it would have been nice if her father hadn’t bailed out saying he was going to work overtime to pay for some new apartment he wants to move into.  However, I know that she was in good hands with my sister and had blast running around at my aunt’s house.  New pics coming soon. Good night out there.

  • My Weekend WrapUp

    Although the weekend might be coming to a close, I’m sad to see it go.  I don’t have to go into the office tomorrow. Therefore, I will be sleeping in for as long as Moo will allow me to.  Another reason I’m not sad to see the weekend go is because my Mommy will be back from her ten day conference training session.

    I have to admit that I didn’t think I was going to miss her, but I do.  I even got her a ‘Welcome Home’ gift.  I’ll post pics in my next Weekend WrapUp.  This weekend has been kind of long. Saturday was graduation. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to any of my little cousin’s graduations because of work. Ugghhhh.. Frustrating but what can you do?  Bills have to get paid and diapers have be bought.

    However, I did make it to the cookout and got a chance to hang out with family. Some people I hadn’t seen in ages.  I tell you I’m glad that school is out because I have heard promises of more family cookouts to come.  And I’m proud to announce that I will be starting off the family cookouts with Moo’s Baptism Celebration and Memorial Cookout in a few weeks!!!

    My mind is running a mile a minute planning out menus, decorations and everything.  I want this event to be perfect or as close to perfect as it can get.  Looking forward to creating an atmosphere in which the younger generation will get to know the older generation.  Cookouts are the perfect setting for telling stories and teaching youngsters their history.

    And today was wonderful.  We made it to church just in time for the offering.  And yes, I was THAT mom again this week. Moo was quite talkative and had a bad case of Ants in the Pants.  I think that her terrible twos came early.  At least we didn’t have any more Bible tearing accidents.  So, that is an upgrade. I sent up a special prayer that God will continue to shape her and smooth out her rough edges.

    I did enjoy a nice dinner with my immediate family today as we gathered for a surprise 49th birthday party for one of my uncles. He was genuinely happy to see that we had thought enough to surprise him.  With all the death in our family lately, we have learned to give each other our roses while we still have life.  Nothing will remind you what’s most important like death will.

    I’m looking forward to many more birthday celebrations to come.  Well, I am officially still stuffed from my dinner. I will certainly have to work out double time to get this off. Planning a little Mommy and Me retreat to the beach and I want to look super cute in my new bathing suit. 

    So, how was everyone else’s weekend?

  • Oh So Emotional

    Greetings out there.  So, I think that I’m finally hitting the wall where I’m about to give out from being overwhelmed.  I’ve been doing so well with this single/co-parenting thing until recently. I have to admit that having Moo pretty much 24/7 is stressful at times. Not that it’s her fault or anything. But it’s hard to get work done and do my bookkeeping when you have a busy one year old crying in the background because her favorite toy is out of reach.

     Hell, I can’t even go to the bathroom without hearing the patter of little feet trailing behind me.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that she is my number one fan and finds it cute to see what Mommy does every second.  However, I am in need of some alone time.  I feel like my life is at a crossroad of sorts and I need some peace and quiet to figure it out.  I pointed out to Moo’s father that he could be more helpful.

    I suggested that instead of sticking to his court ordered every other weekend visits, it would be nice if he stepped up to the plate and volunteered to keep her on his days off as well.  Even though she wouldn’t be staying overnight, I could do a lot of work with an entire afternoon free from Mommy Duty.  I think that it’s time for this SuperMom to hang up her cape for a few hours.