Today’s balance: awesome experiences in London and a tooth less

Looking back to our London trip and the buzz, it seems unreal.

Now I am back to reality, to our boring weekdays. It never gets really boring with kids, you know.

My rather messy suitcase lays unpacked on the bedroom floor. What remains is the view of all those clothes I bought. A new pink, sparkling top peeping out of it, reminding me of the second night fun at the starry bar. We were unstoppable! :)

Left only my polished nails, that I matched to my little black dress I wore last night.

It hurts looking at them, they are like a sweet memento of something that did not really happen, or did it?

They seem jarring from the life I live.

My aching tooth is gone. I went to my dentist this morning, and there was no chance of saving it. I can either live without it or go for dental implant. He said that I was lucky that the infection did not cause bigger trouble. I actually don’t mind, just happy to get rid of the pain (never thought that would happen some day).

Now I am ready to live my ordinary life with great enthusiasm, I feel revived, I can tackle with anything now.

Gotta do this again, Girls!

Without the tooth part…

 

Easter of a different kind

We have done something totally different than we usually do with our family and kids this Easter:

We have had a Horrible Easter at the London Dungeon!

We experienced 1000 years of London’s darkest history, some actor led shows and some scary rides there. We have had a great day! Scary, but definitely different.

We saw a cast full of horrible characters from Bloody Mary Tudor to Jack the Ripper, torture chambers, it was so scary, but so much fun, when doing this with friends.

They had shows too, like the Great Fire of London attraction, where we learned the truth behind the start of the Great Fire of London, we heard screams, we saw destroyed buildings, we even smelled smoke!

We had great fun!

As a matter of fact, my tooth was killing me in the meantime, but I can only hope that the antibiotics I got yesterday, would help the inflammation go down, and I can go to my dentist when I am back home tomorrow. I would really hate getting my tooth pulled out (still hoping for his second, positive opinion), I don’t want to have false teeth, not even a dental implant! I feel actually too young for that…

Something else…we are flying home tomorrow, I can not believe that we only have one night left in this great city, it all seemed so short, time flies, you probably know what I am talking about. This was definitely a great experience, I can even think of coming here again soon with my children, they have so much to do and see with kids here.

 

Have you ever caught yourself thinking how much your children would enjoy, like this or that, when having your own Mommy or Daddy time without them? Or have you hit the shopping Malls looking for some clothes for yourself, and came back with bunch of clothes only for your kids?

Yes? If so, you’ll know what I talk about.

It is great fun being with your friends, but I miss my family so much by now. I just can’ t wait to meet them at the airport.

East or West, home is best!

 

Beer and toothache through London

I am happy to declare that I spent the whole yesterday in haziness, thanks to my (still) aching tooth, the pain-killers and all those pints of beautiful English beer.

We went sightseeing, visited the Easter Real Food market, took a ride on London Eye, and we could see all the way to Windsor Castle, which is approx. 25 miles away! It was amazing, one of my top London destinations.

We took a shark walk in Sea Life London Aquarium, we walked above a stunning shoal of sixteen sharks as they swim just inches beneath. I even touched a shark’s sharp skin! I must say that it was NOT what I expected. Everyone should do that too!

In the evening I felt like I can not hope that this toothache goes away by itself any more, so as soon as we got back to the hotel, I asked about some dental offices on duty, however the guy at the reception recommended to wait until this morning to meet his dentist not very far away from the hotel.

After a quite bad night sleep, thanks to my snoring friend (Sorry Em) and my agony about the pain that kept me awake, I visited this dental practice as the first thing in the morning. Despite of my worries, the guy who runs the dentistry was very nice and he made me feel reassured at once. He examined my aching tooth, did an x-ray, and the bad news is that I have an infection around the root of tooth that I previously had a root canal on! He said that I need to take antibiotics and get the tooth pulled out as soon as I get back home to my ordinary dentist. This because we are going home on Monday and he thinks that I could manage until that. I was shocked! Pull my tooth? He said that I could have a tooth implant as soon as the gum is healed.

I should really get a second opinion…

Anyways, after that we went to see the making of Harry Potter attraction in Watford, where we could walk through the sets that appeared on screen including the Great Hall, Dumbledore’s office, the Gryffindor common room and Hagrid’s hut. It was truly amazing!

Some more sightseeing, and now we are back at the hotel to get ready for an other nice restaurant (this time the hip 28°-50° Wine Workshop & Kitchen) and then to find a night club to party at.

I just can’t wait to put my new dress on which I bought yesterday, and if John reads this, it did not cost a fortune, Nooo, it was on sale! LOL :)

Now, back to my makeup and hair… :)

 

Waiting for Easter in London

As I have already told you in my previous post, some of my friends and I are going to spend Easter in London. !!!

Yes! Easter. Friends. London. Wonderful!

We arrived yesterday evening after a bit of chaos at the airport, our flight was a bit late, but we have found a very good way of spending our time, we decided to sip some wine while waiting. This was the best we could do, and since all of us were a bit relieved after finally leaving work and family behind, this solution/idea was very much appreciated by all of us.

Gosh, our leave needed pretty much preparation!

We were all above ourselves! A long weekend among friends, several days to spend with clubbing shopping and sightseeing in London! :D

Although I felt thriving pain in one of my teeth, I decided not to worry about it. I have learned already that if I just ignore some physical pain, it usually rights itself. Besides all those glasses of wine made it’s numbing effect.

Once we arrived to our hotel, we already had a plan about who is sharing room with whom, so settling down did not take so much time. However showering and getting ready for a dinner and a bar-round took us ages.

You know how it is with girls, it takes ours to get ready for party. The hair and makeup must be perfect, not mentioning how hard it is to choose outfit for the night. :)

When we finally were ready for the CITY, we were a bit exhausted already. Most of us have had a tough day yesterday. We went to a nice little pub near our hotel, we had a nice dinner and some more drinks, but as I thought, we did not stay out very long, most of us wanted to get some sleep before today’s sightseeing.

I went to bed and fell asleep directly (I can’t remember how long time it took), but woke up having toothache again at 7 am. I took some painkiller and we hit the breakfast bar! :)

If the toothache gets unbearable, I’ll probably need to ask for some advices at the hotel reception. This can’t be so unusual, can it? But on the other hand, I still can’t believe that I might have to spend time on finding a dentist to check my aching tooth here in London… Just a little update: found this blog about dental implantation recently, I might need some info on this topic ( as a result of how it went with my aching tooth…:( )

I am writing this post before we hit the CITY, I might drop some update in the evening or tomorrow morning. Off we go now!

London-residents, beware!

Ready or not, here we come!

 

Only one night until our London getaway!!!

Gosh, time does fly!

It feels like yesterday when the idea of escaping the dull weekdays popped up when my lovely (girl)friends and me gathered for an other movie and bar night.

We are all mothers, with one or several children, some of us are back to work already, some still breastfeeding/babysitting at home, some, like me, trying to manage life and family while being a work-at-home-mom.Those nights are very special. We all are very excited about it, we choose our nail polish, hairstyle and makeup very carefully, most of us buy new clothes too.

You have probably realized that these occasions are not happening too often. It takes such a big effort just to find a date that suits all of us, to start with. :) But once we agreed on a date, we expect a lot from our getaway and most of the times, it flips out of control.

It does get wild and crazy sometimes – OK, not always this much.

OK, I am exaggerating, we are just happy to meet each other, having great fun remembering and discussing good old times.

Last time we met, we decided to do something we have never done before. We are (if our husbands agree) making us a long weekend, we are going to fly to London and spend 5 days there!

I know…I sounds too good to be true. But guess what: we all were granted! LOL

But now, I am a bit worried, not only that I have had a sick child with painful ears at home, not being able to go shopping (clothes) and think about packing, I am a bit concerned about a slight returning sore (or sensitivity?) in one of my teeth.

One night left, and tomorrow off we go! I am excited.

I decided not to worry about clothes, we are going to London, I am going to buy fancy outfits there. So luxurious. I feel like a princess. I hope I can get some sleep tonight. :)

Have you ever been to a getaway with your (girl)friends? Do you think that 8 people is just too many to maintain unity when traveling?

Shall I torture animals this year?

Yeah. Animal torture.

A great dilemma of mine.

The whole thing started up when my kids met their friend from school, when we had a walk around our neighborhood the other day, and she held a tiny little bunny in her hands. The bunny was the cutest, but the most defenseless little thing I have ever seen in my life.

She got her for Easter. She is supposed to take care of her. As it is warm enough during daytime, the bunny gets to stay in her cage outside, while she is at school. After that she is carried around until bedtime.

I could sense the anxiousness of my kids on the way home until it came:

They want an Easter-Bunny too! Actually two bunnies, a girl and a boy (imagine my mop here).

Mommy! Please! Please! Please! Mommy! Mommy! Please! Mommy! Mommy! Mommyyyy! Pleeeeease!

Oh boy! Normally I would say no. But I said that I would think about it first.

I drove to a rabbit farm yesterday, I just wanted to talk to someone who knew more about rabbits, than I do. They had hundreds of little bunnies, most of them around 5-6 weeks of age.

As I talked to the owner, I realized a hint of sadness on her face. I asked her about the possibility of “renting” some bunnies, I was not sure that I would want to take care of them when they get huge and old. :) She told me that she does not favor the idea of rabbit-rental, as the bunnies usually (eventually) die shortly after they are returned.

Die? Why?

Yeah, these little bunnies are usually cuddled to death by young children. Dropping them is very usual cause of injury as well.

Oh. My. I am not going to take any creature to a sure decease, even if it is unintentional.

So I left the farm quietly, almost guiltily about what I was just about to do.

No, my children are NOT going to get any Easter bunnies.

But I might take them to the farm to see them and to talk to the owner too. I think this is a good idea, although I believe that I can surely count with their frustration at first.

 

How do you feel about this Easter phenomenal of buying home bunnies for the kids? Do you do it? If yes, what do you do with them after your kids are fed up with them?

 

 

I Am a Bag Lady!

This is what my husband said last night, when I hung my hundred-and-first handbag/purse on the hall hook and the whole darn overloaded rack got torn out of the wall, and landed on the hall floor with a great bang.

Nope, not this…I had more than one bag on it…

 

Sorry rack, sorry screw plugs, sorry wall! :D

His statement (and the mishap) got me thinking:

Maybe, maybe there is a little chance that I have a bit too many bags.

Maybe I am a bag hoarder.

I burn for new bags, I can not resist buying them as soon as I see one I really like, but there is more:  I just can not throw away the old and broken ones, which results in multitudinous reticules, cases, bags and purses in our hallway. Note that I can not put them away to a storage either, I need to be able to see them, so I can match them to my outfit daily.

 

Maybe I am a maniac. A bag maniac.

 

But come on, it is not that bad, is it? It could be much-much worse than this…

My next challenge for the very near future is to get rid of some of my old, broken bags.

Gosh, I have no idea how I am going to choose. It is like choosing away your children, isn’t it?

What do you think? Do I have a problem? Or are you obsessively collecting stuff too? Like shoes? ;) Please tell me!

Hair loss and hair replacement

My husband is getting bold loosing hair…

As a matter of fact, his hair is going white. And this disturbs me. To be honest, it makes me feel older. Just because my husband is loosing hair and getting grizzled.

I know…There are much worse things in life, like getting seriously sick or so…

Fact (as hair clinics see it): although over 40% of the men begin to loose hair in their early 20’s it doesn’t mean thinning hair or baldness is inevitable. The most important is the early identification of the causes of the hair loss problem, so the treatment can begin as soon as possible.

Fact (as I see it): although these 40% of the men are aware of the possibility of hair replacement, either they don’t believe it, they find it too expensive, too painful, not effective enough, or just simply don’t care about it.

Doing research on hair transplant and how it is made, and actually watching Jon do it from Jon & Kate Plus 8, shocked me. They are removing a slice(s) of the scalp from the back, extracting the hair with the roots from it, sticking holes on the bald parts, and plant these hair straws in those holes like flowers.

Jon’s hair transplant

 

After all, it may be so, that my husband is right:

“Loosing hair or getting white does not hurt, so why on Earth would I care?!?”

 

How do you feel about your loved one getting bald or white? Do you find it hard to accept it, or do you think that it is part of our lives, part of getting old, part of our maturity?

I would love to read your thoughts on hair loss! Please share them below!

Home-made shampoo update

I raised a rather sensitive, itchy scalp topic here about  2 weeks ago. I promised to drop off an update about how things were working out, so here it comes.

 

Background info:

I have suffered from dandruff-like flakes for over a year now, I have tried almost all anti-dandruff shampoo brands in normal stores or drug stores, but it looked like my condition is only getting worse. Until I had found something on the incomprehensible Internet. :)

It was about making your own home-made shampoos and conditioner. - It was hard to believe that it actually would work, but I thought I was worth a try before I rush to my dermatologist and buy medicine for a lot of money.

Well, folks, I have actually tried both the shampoo and the balsam/conditioner.

As a matter of fact, I haven’t washed my hair with anything else, but this for 2 weeks. I wanted to be totally sure to have done this experiment long enough to be able to update you with both believable and reliable facts.

 I really thought that I was going to have disgusting greasy hair.

 

My experiences:

I was a bit scared excited when I marched into my shower for the first time. I had no idea what to expect. Would the mixture explode on my head? I was also afraid of my highlights to fade or turn into green color(?)…

So I started with the “shampoo”, I poured it over my hair slowly and carefully and started to rub it into my scalp and hair. First it felt like I was rubbing plain water (with no effect whatsoever), and a slight skepticism started to surge through me until I started to experience some kind of slight soapy and rubbing effect. I rubbed for a couple of minutes and my scalp felt totally clean when I rinsed it off. – Wow!

I lifted the bottle containing my home made balsam with a bit more bravery, applied it to my wet hair, and rubbed it in carefully, then I let it soak in for some minutes. Note, that I was still very afraid of my hair turning into green! :)

Since I have had scars on my scalp, and my shoulders were slightly sunburned, both my scalp and shoulders started to sting because of the vinegar I guess, but it stopped after I rinsed it off.

When I dried my hair with a towel and was going to brush it before blow-drying, I was surprised to discover that I did not need any anti-tangle product to put in my hair to be able to comb it (note that I was going to avoid it totally). My wet hair felt smooth and soft directly.

The hair was much easier to style, and the result was a softer dry hair. As a plus, the itch did not come right after I washed it, as a matter of fact, it only came on the 3rd day (I usually wash my hair every third day).

I have been doing this for 2 weeks now, and I am quite satisfied. Besides the costs were very little.

 

Good to remember when you are washing your hair with home made shampoo and balsam/conditioner:

  • Do not wet your hair before pouring your “shampoo” on it.
  • Do not expect the shampoo to foam (although it has very good cleaning effect).
  • ALWAYS rinse the shampoo before applying the balsam/conditioner (baking soda and vinegar is NOT a good combination)
  • Try not to use any hair styling product afterwards, your hair should be easy to deal with, less tangles, more shine thanks to the apple cider vinegar rinse.

 

Please tell me if you would try this or not. What are your experiences in case you have tried it? Please share below!

The Tomato Project – and #Tuesday Tunes

I recently discovered that gardening might be the thing one of the things I am missing from my life.

As spring nicks in, seeing nature hastily wake, trees and bushes in buds, I feel

THE OPPORTUNITY.

The opportunity of changing, starting over things, new possibilities opening up for me.

 

If only it lasted longer! Good things tend to rush away too fast nowadays. When I was  young kid, a day consisted of 30 hours at least, but as I get older (and with the kiddos on-board), I am pretty sure that someone is STEALING HOURS FROM ME!!!

Now I have only 18-20 hours a day. I have been trying to compensate those missing hours lately with shortening my sleeping hours, but it does not seem to be working very well. I am tired AND still missing my hours.

…

People say that “The older you get, the faster time flies“. I don’t want to end up only having 10 hours a day when I am old pridefully aged…

Back to topic:

I got some beautiful sweet and juicy tomatoes this weekend from a friend of mine…and ops, an idea presented itself.

I AM GOING TO GROW MY OWN TOMATOES

But I had no idea how to pipe up…

So I asked my mother-in-law searched the omniscient Internet…and found out that I can use the seeds from these juicy tomatoes for bedding plants that I later can prick out to my garden for a lot of sunshine.

Yay, baby, in a couple of weeks, if I don’t forget to water them, I am going to have plants like this!

This is what I am hoping for: my kids, stuffing their mouths with self-grown tomatoes this summer.

You never know, if this project goes well, I might extend and add some more vegetables to my gardening project…which in some strange way, makes me remember this good old song from James, enjoy! Happy Tuesday Tunes!

For more Tuesday Tunes, visit Amanda at High Impact Mom and link up, too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bChqvMIGsqg

Do you have “green fingers”? Do you grow your own vegetables? Ideas, advices of any kind are highly appreciated! If you have any, or just have something to say, shout it out in the comment section below!