Soccer Mom's Use Coppertone

Every spring (and early summer) many of the hours that I don't spend at work or sleeping are spent watching soccer.  I have two daughters and they both play on travel teams, which can result in multiple games every weekend.

Over Memorial Day weekend both girls played in the Canton Cup, a ginormous soccer tournament in a neighboring town.  It was steaming hot that weekend and with all of the craziness of preparing for the tournament and making sure everyone had their cleats before we hit the road, sunscreen was far out of my mind.

Luckily as a Coppertone Water Mom I received a great pack of awesome Coppertone products and I've had some great chances to hand out samples to my fellow soccer moms and dads, and as a result of that great opportunity I had some in my purse.

It worked out well.  I was able to protect my kids and share the wealth with others.

I also wanted to share with you the Little Miss Coppertone contest!  Little Miss Coppertone symbolizes summer. She is outgoing, energetic, wholesome, charming, and full of optimism. This year, Coppertone is celebrating little girls in search for the one who best personifies the spirit of Coppertone. The winner gets a dream family vacation and will be featured in a Coppertone print ad!

No Purchase Necessary. Contest Ends on 6/22/12. Click for Details

Disclosure: I was entered for a chance to win a gift card in exchange for this post.  No monetary exchange took place.

"As a member of the Coppertone® Water MOMS group, I receive product samples and promotional items to share and use as I see fit.  No monetary compensation has taken place and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience."

Full Circle

I spent 17 years in retail with 12 of them in management and I made the decision to quit with no other job to fall back on.  I chose to go to school and work some odd jobs.  Then I landed a fairly good job with benefits and decent pay at Brighton Hospital only to lose that position due to cut backs.  I did keep a position at the hospital but I took a big pay cut and lost hours, but still had benefits and my sanity.

In the meantime my wife left her job basically for the same reason I left my first one, sanity!!  Needless to say we had a couple of rough years struggling to make ends meet but we kept it going together.  We are people that truly believe “everything happens for a reason” and we had faith that things would work out the way they were supposed to.  Our biggest challenge has been keeping our girls from feeling any of the stress we were going through.

Now, as you may know things seem to come full circle.  Stacy stayed in the advertising business by working freelance for different companies, and low and behold a few years later she is working fulltime at a new agency that she loves.  And now I have officially started a new position at the hospital and yes I have come full circle also, I am back in a supervisor role running the gift shop and I am also the volunteer coordinator.  It is strange to think I left management in retail because it was not worth it and after six years of working at the hospital I am now back in management and I could not be happier.

To sum things up, we both left jobs that really were not worth the money we were making.  We struggled though some tough times together, but we made it work. We both were able to volunteer at the schools and other activities our girls are involved in. Now we both are back working fulltime doing what we love to do and we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We will finally be able to get things under control and be able to relax together.

So my opinion is if you work hard and take care of each other things will work out.  Money is not everything and we both gave up money in order to be better at home.  This was all made possible because we are a strong family and we have great family and great friend support. 

Faith is a powerful force and as long as you have it things will work out. I had faith that I made the right decision to give up the money I was making to be with family and coach my girls and in my opinion it was definitely the right thing to do; I would not change a thing.  In this situation my opinion and my family’s opinion are the only ones that matter- because family is what really matters.

Kids "on the grid"

Years ago, when I was in my late teens and early 20's I was the "go to" girl in my family for technology problems.  If the time on your VCR was blinking then I was your girl.

As I got older, and specifically after I had kids, this knowledge disappeared from my head.  I could no longer tolerate reading instructions and I could no longer apply simple logic to the tasks.  Basically when my children came out of my body so did my know-how of anything electronic.

With two girls of my own now I am constantly amazed by what they figure out.  And how they take technology for granted.  But most of all I am irritated.  Not by what they know, but by how they use it to annoy the crap out of me.

My youngest is 8 and she bought herself an iPod Touch with her birthday money, because I refused to buy her one with my money.

In addition to games and music, she also likes to FaceTime me from across the room and text me (using Text Free) at 11 pm when I think she has been sleeping for hours.

On Wednesday night I arrived home from work when everyone else was still at my oldest daughter's  soccer practice.  Jayden was not happy that she had no choice but to go with.  Practice was at a different locale that evening due to an event at the school, and with her "Touch" in hand she managed to mooch someone's wifi and send me this:

Seriously?  She had 20 minutes left.  This text was followed by a few more and two FaceTime requests.  All of which I ignored.  I was home alone and all I planned to do was sit and enjoy avoiding technology not conversing with my poor, "dieing" child using technology.  And that is what I did.

Thirty minutes later she walked through the door.

"Mooooommmmmmmmm!  Didn't you get my teeehhhhhxxxxxtttttttt?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. But since you're home can you help me with this computer problem I am having?"

The Age of Falling Apart

Ever since I turned "the age that shall not be spoken" I have started to fall apart.  Physically.

But that's refreshing from the person who normally falls apart mentally.

Three days after my 40th birthday I went to a Mary Kay party and while I admit I was there to score some eye-depuffing products, I wasn't expecting to have to put my eyes back in my head just from filling out the profile card.

For a few years now I've been able to check that 35-44 box on most profiles and surveys.  But not on the Mary Kay card.  In Mary Kay's world of beauty it's much more cut and dry than 35-44.  In her pink world of women we are in our 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and so on.  So three days after I turned 40 I had to check the 40's box and it all went downhill from there.

Pain in my side, that's led to a battery of tests with no results.  I swear my cramps from my monthly friend are worse than they've ever been and any time I eat anything that tastes good, it seeks revenge on my digestive system.  Yeah, being 40 sucks.

Oddly about the time all of this was happening I was also invited to join StyleUnited a new website where I could get some beauty and fashion recommendations.  Those that know me can probably attest to the fact that I abandoned beauty and fashion in my 30's (yes, THAT box on the Mary Kay profile card).  OK, not entirely but these aren't things that are forefront on my agenda.  But since I am now checking that "other" box I figured a little look-see couldn't hurt.

StyleUnited is brought to you by brands including Olay, Frederic Fekkai, DDF Skincare and Cover Girl. Providing access to exclusive editorial content and personalized recommendations, StyleUnited connects women to their full style potential using these unique tools:

• Style 360 - a fully personalized diagnostic quiz that has been designed to understand your individual needs in skin care, hair care, cosmetics and fashion. 
• Customized Beauty and Fashion Content - hundreds of curated articles, blogs and how-to videos from industry experts created to answer your every question while keeping you up on the latest trend news.

I immediately did some of the Style 360 quizzes and quickly found that my fashion style is "casual cool" and my makeup style is "fresh".  Both of these descriptions are in fact, quite accurate, and I also agreed with the product recommendations given to me by the programs.  I liked the recos because they weren't full of high priced shampoos and eyeliners, the items were reasonably priced and ones I knew I could find in my local big box store.

I really like StyleUnited.  I am by far not a Cosmo Girl.  But I found that this website didn't talk down to me, and it seemed to really use my answers to the Style360 quizzes to determine it's recommendations for my beauty and fashion style.  That doesn't happen much on other sites.  I don't fit into a typical mold when it comes to my style and personal habits but I didn't get the impression that it mattered.  I got the impression that I mattered and it was OK to be me.  Even if I now check the 40's box.

Oh and as a bonus for joining StyleUnited you can also enter the New View, New You Giveaway to win a $500 shopping spree at Macy's or Nordstrom. Entries are now open until June 8th!

Disclosure:  I will receive a complimentary gift from P&G/SheSpeaks in exchange for this post, but all opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Driving me crazy

As you know I like to write about my opinions and I am not going to stop now. So today I will write about school transportation.

It's not about the buses or anything the schools do because I believe they do a pretty good job; however the parents that bring their kids to school need some education.  First of all, I know sometimes we need to take our kids to school for different reasons like missing the bus or school of choice and things like that, but some take their kids to school everyday just to take them.  Maybe they are those helicopter parents or they just don't trust the buses or whatever it may be.  Whatever their reason, let me tell you-living by Lakes and Farms I see how many and it is mind boggling to me. 

It is one thing to take them but you need to be respectful to everyone else, and that can be done simply by following the rules.  Just yesterday in fact I was trying to leave my subdivision and at the corner the light had changed and two cars just could not wait, pulled through and blocked the intersection, come on give us all a break!!  The few times I have had to run my girls to school I have seen some dumb ass people.  Let me explain; at Farms there is a drop off zone that is about 5 car length long and you are supposed to pull to the front so others can get into it as well, and then drop off your kids.  But I see people stopping before they even get to the zone or just getting into the zone and stopping.  This just slows the process for those behind you that do follow the rules.  Let me guess- you are the same parents that raise hell when your kid gets in trouble for breaking the rules because you think it is OK for your privileged family.

I am not going to say to much about Lakes because it is an elementary school so I kind of understand some of the crazy things I see, but not fully.  With that said there is another thing about Farms, oh yea, 5th and 6th graders, that drives me a little insane.  I have had to pick my child up early from school and there are already parents parked in front of the school.  Now I am not talking just a few minutes early, I am talking an hour or more.  I guess if you really do not have anything else to do then fine but at the very least pull all the way up so others can get in also.  Don't give me this crap that your kid knows you always park here so they can find you.  We are talking about 5th and 6th graders, 10,11, and 12 year olds, they are capable of looking down the row to find their parents car.  Maybe some independent thinking is just what they need.

I am not ridiculing anyone that has to bring their kids to school; however I am ridiculing you if you are one of those parents that think your kid is the only one that matters and you don't have to be courteous to the other parents and the school officials.  If you don't trust the buses or you just can't let your kid go and feel the need to helicopter them that is your choice, but please learn to be respectful of others and teach your kids the same.  Chances are your kids are breaking rules because you are, and you allow them to.  Our school officials and teachers work hard to educate our children and keep them safe, but they need the help of the parents.  If you don't care then why should the schools care.

In closing, it is my opinion that there are way too many disrespectful parents out there, and all I am talking about is driving your kids to school.  Take the time to be respectful and teach your kids the same.  Show the school officials the utmost respect because they are taking care of your child during the day, and guess what, they enjoy what they do.