Believe it or not… I’m delinquent

It escapes my mind as to whether I’ve posted that I’m going to slow down on doing reviews and more than likely stop doing giveaways. Although I love doing book and product reviews I am continually getting behind on them. I see a press release or information about a book from an author or publishing company and I get so excited because I’m absolutely addicted to books. It doesn’t matter that my to-be-read and to-be-reviewed piles are already overflowing, I accept before I know it and it grows even higher.

I do a better job of ignoring the new products coming out … uh, sometimes. But I’m getting behind in that as well so I’m going to have to put myself on punishment. At least until I have time when I have more focus and more quiet to concentrate on reading (why is it that I read so slowly now?) an entire book in less than six months to a year.

Then there are those product reviews. I may actually use the product, but unless I write about it right away I often forget. If it’s a children’s product I try to do it at the right time, but I sometimes do that at the right time as well.

And, honestly, besides free books and products I don’t get paid for them so it really shouldn’t be a priority. There are often products that help to supplement my income (you know like coupons for free pizza) and that’s always good, but I have to continue to focus my editing and writing business. That includes being more organized and productive as well as bringing in more money.

I wrote all of that to say: given my delinquencies I neglected to choose a winner for the last giveaway I had for the FRESCHETTA® By the Slice and a FRESCHETTA® storage set. If you click the link you’ll see that the giveaway ran in April, but I still have the prize so it’s only right to go ahead and send it to the winner.

The winner is ….

Andrea.

Congratulations Andrea. Please email your mailing address to me as soon as you get the opportunity (and forgive my delinquency). Andrea will also be contacted for her address information.

What’s the best thing you like about hosting giveaways or what’s the worse thing? Do you post them on your site, enter them or neither?

Pleasure factor {product review & coupon code}

WARNING: Adult content alert!

Every once in awhile I break out from the “normal” content of It’s a woman’s world and delve into adult’s only topics. (See links at the end of this post to check out some of that content.) At first I was hesitant to do so, but I’ve found it’s possible to do a review and/or write up without giving too much personal information and while being tactful. Or at least somewhat tactful.

Because, the truth is, a woman’s world (not only mine) involves more than just cleaning, cooking, caring for children and the like. It involves – or at least it should – a sexy, sultry side. Sometimes when individuals think of adult toys they automatically say, ‘I don’t need that I have a _______.” Insert man/woman/partner. Toys aren’t only used for self pleasuring, they can also be used to enhance your experience with your partner.

You can use something like the Travis, a slim vibrator that has three pulsation levels and one vibration level. It has a suction cup so it can be attached to any hard, flat surface like a shower wall (yup, it’s waterproof), which means you can get a little hands-free action. Well, so to speak. Since it has a remote control attached by a wire it’s difficult to be totally hands free and it – in my opinion – is way too small in width and length to reach any pleasurable goals (the dimensions are 5” by 1.25”). It’s described as having “a prominent head for g-spot stimulation,” but it fell short of that goal. The Travis, which requires two AA batteries, currently doesn’t have any customer reviews so I can’t share what others think about it.

Another con is how noisy it is. During “active” use the sound is a little muted, but if you attach it to a shower wall or floor of the tub and it isn’t sturdy tile and just fiberglass, or whatever that stuff is called, it sounds like it’s rattling the entire shower.

Whatever item you choose to enhance your adult time, just choose something you think may work for you. It doesn’t have to be a vibrator, MyPleasure.com carries lingerie, lubricants, books, DVDs, beauty and bath products, accessories, condoms and batteries.

And, just for you, MyPleasure has been so kind as to offer my readers a discount code for 15 percent off. You have a little time to decide what you want because the code expires on or about December 28th. Just enter code WOMANSWORLD when you’re checking out to get your deal.

What do you think you’ll use the code for? If it’s something you don’t want to share outright then just tell me it’s personal; otherwise, let’s have a little fun! ;-)

Disclosure: I received a MyPleasure.com product to assist in my review. This did not effect my opinion; any opinions expressed here are my own. For more information review my complete policy.

99 percent good; I’ll take it

I happily went to my hematology appointment today. Yup, happily. That’s the appointment where my very thorough, professional and friendly physician’s assistant reviews all of my tests and blood work from my last visit through the current visit. Then reviews the current day’s blood work, which I have to get before each appointment.

Today’s appointment mostly went well. Mostly meaning 99 percent. And I’m pleased with that. There was one blood test result – the most important one – that hadn’t been recorded yet. That particular test lets them know whether the smoldering multiple myeloma is active, and I’m sure that if it is they’ll let me know. The 1 percent that isn’t good is my white blood cell count is low; it’s lower than my normal too low results… that resulted in a reminder for me to take care not to get sick and to get a lot of rest.

Lately, that seems to be easier said than done. Even when I go to bed at a semi-decent hour I don’t sleep that well so I’m still tired. It’s a viscous, ugly cycle. There are a few other things I can try to help myself in the sleep department, but I feel like it’s the one area where I can be a little rebellious and not have any repercussions. (Come on, give me a break I take 14 pills per day!)

What’s next? Another Zomeda treatment in August (that’s to help in strengthening my bones), a more extensive x-ray (or was it MRI?) of my shoulder and neck area, follow-up appointments and monitoring of all the “little” things that are brewing. There ya have it, my health update.

How have things been going on your side of the world?

The 20th Birthday Celebration

Twenty years (and two days) ago I gave birth to my first child. She was a sweet baby who only fussed and screamed when no one else was around. Early on she learned to play independently managing to snag some scissors, cut up a page in my datebook and call 911 all before she was a year old. A week before her first birthday she decided to walk to her godfather and she hasn’t stopped since.

My sweet little girl who loved Barney, Barbie's, bicycles and bananas is now a grown-up young lady who still loves pink and Barbie's, but also bake scrumptious cakes, cooks a mean pot of greens in her “spare” time, which is between studying chemistry, being a fabulous friend and one of he best daughter’s in the world!

Yes, she has made her mommy proud.

Thursday, the day of her birthday, and Friday we had fun-filled, semi-lazy and full days. I’m going to share a few pictures from her birthday in the next few days or so. For now, join me in telling my Amber, Happy Birthday!

Click here to getImages &
Birthday Pictures - Pictures

Decorative illumination, fragrant functionality {update & product review}

Do you remember when I told you about my new life? If you missed it then take a quick look/read to catch up a bit. I posted about how I moved into an apartment, have been doing some decorating and going through the ongoing process of minimizing and organizing.

My organizing has consisted of implementing the color red into my decorating scheme. When Cari, an account executive, learned of my fetish love of all things red she tempted me with a few products from Scentsy, a home fragrance company that has decorative, wickless candles called warmers that use light bulbs to heat the wax and release its fragrance. One of the products she suggested is the Tribeca (shown here), which is part of their Wrap Collection. Don’t you just love the trendy, solid lines of it?

I immediately opened the warmer when it arrived and plugged it into the first available outlet after inserting the bulb. Then I took one of the Scent Bars and put two on top of the warmer. After flicking on the bulb with a convenient roll-type switch on the cord, the wax began to melt and released the amazing Wishing Well scent. It’s fresh, clean and subtle. I can’t wait to try the Ocean scent, but I’m really loving the Wishing Well right now.

One of the best things about the warmer is that if you want to change the scents/wax before it’s dissipated it is very easy. All you have to do is melt the wax (using the warmer of course) that’s in there then pour it back into the included mold. It will re-harden and be ready to use next time. Just put a new bar on the warmer and you’re all set to go.

Perfect, huh?

I finally found the ideal place for my warmer (because I like a place for everything and everything in its place!): I keep it next to the sink and in front of my recipe books. It gives off the perfect glow in the evening and the gentle fragrance floats about. I’ve also had it on when a different scented candle has been lit and the fragrance blends nicely.

 

The warmer is a little more orangey than my other red choices around the apartment, but I think it blends nicely – everything doesn’t have to be the same exact shade.

To the left the warmer isn’t turned on, but you can see the glow (below) even when other lights are on. In the last picture you get somewhat of an idea of how it looks in the dark. (My camera isn’t that fancy so the details aren’t that great -  but you get the point, right?)

Now, let me give you a little peek at some of the other small decorate items that I’ve done since the last time. Remember the little lamp with the red shade on the entry-area table? Well, some more items have been added to the table and some pictures above it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the right of the picture of Amber and Anna, and above the “live, laugh, love” plaque, I’m going to put some wall decals – probably something with vines that trails down between the sets of pictures.  I even added some chair cushions for the eating area. Two different colors… one to draw in the colors from the living room area and ones to match the table:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m also going to be doing some other wall decals, but there are a few small ones up already. The first one is on the wall next to the door of my bedroom … it’s something I really need to remember:

  

And this one is above my desk in the office area:

On the organizational side of things, I’ve finally put up the hanger thingy in the laundry room for brooms, mops, etc.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I discovered that a random table/cart that was hanging out in my eating area was perfect to help with the organization in my closet:

It’s not the cutest setup, but it has really helped in corralling the little stuff.

So, what do you think? Let me know in the comments whether you’ve tried or heard of Scentsy and give me your ideas on decorating and organizing. (Don’t forget to look at the other post to see what you’ve missed about the little bit of decorations.)

Thanks for reading!

Disclosure: I received a Scentsy Tribeca warmer and Scentsy bars for free for the purpose of this review. Any opinions expressed here are my own. For more information review my complete policy.

This is GNAT funny

I don’t know why every summer they have to test my patience. This summer has to be the worse. There is no fruit out. I’m trying to keep the kids’ sticky little trails off of the table and everything else they touch. I’m putting away and yelling about the wet towels – from thousands of baths and hundreds of pool visits – and still they prosper!

It’s gotten so bad that gnats are invading my person space. Why must they fly toward my face and bounce off of my cheek? Do they have to come see what I’m eating or ponder my plate if I turn away for just a little second?

This whole thing has caused a seriously crazy and frenzied cleaning, wiping and spraying fest. If I find out where the worse of them are they better watch up ‘cause I am not playing – they.have.got.to.go!

It feels good… yea!

Remember my quest to organize and minimize? (Jog your memory by reading my first post of the year about organizing.) Well, it’s still in the process and I’m continually making progress. Today I needed to catch up on (and organize!)  some bills and in the process I had a lot of papers to go through and a file to clean out. I didn’t know when I pulled the file out of the cabinet that it would be such a gigantic task. It was so much that I had to ask Amber to help me. She’s such a wonderful daughter!

Here she is sorting papers for me into three or four piles so I can find the most recent one. On the right are most of the papers that were discarded.

And below are the final ones that I had to sort before I could anything away. I’m pretty pleased that I made a dent in minimizing and exceptionally pleased that I caught up on my bills.  

Now if I can get through my book and magazine reading piles, the needs-to-be-reviewed pile and go through the pile of other paper items to review and to do I’ll feel even better.  

What did you do today?

Enjoy the beat of 175 Cherry Lane

For the past two years or so I have explored different types and genres of music and I have been quite surprised at how my tastes have evolved. I recently previewed 175 Cherry Lane by KO and, in all honesty, I was surprised. It’s an album that draws you in and one you’d like to put at the top of your playlist especially if you’re a fan of rock. To me, it has the sounds of soft rock without any jarring tones or dramatic yelling. Each song is relatable and provides soothing sounds to accompany whatever you’re doing – whether it’s simply relaxing to listen to music, getting a little work done or taking care of housework. It’s perfect for bopping along to. It’s a perfection that’s expected from those who love KO. They love his sound and the messages in his music that hit the heart and soul.
If you’re interested in a sound from Kevin O’Connor an “introspective guitar and vocal artist who has been performing and recording his original music in the New York area for 25 years” then you have to pick up a copy of the CD 175 Cherry Lane from KO from cdbaby or iTunes. You’ll be glad you did and so will your friends when you share it with them.

Pop Rocks! I still love them

My oldest daughter Amber and I decided to eat at Crackle Barrel this past Saturday. Wait, let me clarify: Amber wanted to eat there and it didn’t take much for her to convince me after I found out she was going to pay for it. :-D

Fans of Crackle Barrel know that they have a little shop with all kinds of old-fashioned, country goodies as well as candy that is seriously a blast from the past. They have boxes of candies from different decades – 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s – with Jaw Breakers, Now & Laters, those little tab-like candies that are stuck to the white paper (do you remember those) and thousands of others.

There was one candy included that I decided to buy separately. I bought two little packages of Pop Rocks in the original flavor cherry. I didn’t even know – or remember – that they came in different flavors, but I do remember that they were the coolest, “funnest” and yummiest candy ever.

I excitedly paid for them and was even more excited to share with my neighbor – he’s 40 and I knew he would get a straight blast-from-the-past moment of enjoyment at the site. (Well, I figured he would be as pleased as I was.)

Amber was driving so when I got in the car I carefully tore open the package (so I could save it. Yup, crazy, huh?) and poured some into my hand. I gazed in wonder at the little rocks… Would they still pop? I mean the package said “still popping after 30 years,” but was it really true?

YES IT’s TRUE!

I popped them in my mouth and widened my eyes in memory of the childhood joy. I started bobbing my head and smiling. Amber, who’s almost 20, says, “I’m glad you are enjoying yourself” and was shaking her head at me. I didn’t care. I popped some more and opened my mouth a little. That caused another teenage roll of the eyes, but it didn’t change my happiness.

Just writing this post has me smiling at the memory and you can best be believing that I will be going back to Crackle Barrel for some more real soon.

Do you bite your lip?

In all honesty I have no idea where to start with this one. It seems like an easy question and answer, right? It’s either:

1. No, I don’t bite my lip.
2. Yes, I bite my lip accidentally sometimes when __________. (eating, chewing…)
3. I only bite my lip when I’m nervous or thinking.
4. Uh, no.

Normally my answer would be number two: I occasionally and accidentally bite my lip while chewing. Lately, probably over the last week or so – give or take, I’ve been biting my lip in.the.exact.same spot. I don’t even have to tell you how painful that is, right?

Each time it has happened has been without warning. I’m minding my own business chewing a piece of gum or eating dinner and then wham! There have been a couple of times that I’m only yelling at reprimanding the children when I’ve suddenly bitten my lip in the same spot. I grab my mouth, pause for a moment and mumble for my children to leave me alone and just do what I said.

Then things go back to normal… at least ‘til the next time.

That next time came last night. I decided to luxuriate in the bathtub and enjoy some semi-quiet time. Did a lot of girly stuff, oiled down and piddled around. Eventually I unlocked my door when my neighbor knocked to see if I was ready for dinner. I could hear all of our children as well as my oldest and her friend hoopla-ing it up in the living room.

I decided to enjoy myself alone. When I finally decided to eat, she brought me a plate and I sat on my bed. I took a bite of the salmon (OMG, it was soooo good), scooped up some homemade mashed potatoes (Mmmm, yea baby!) and savored my famous spinach pie (needed more seasoning). Just as I was really getting into my meal I chomped down – really hard – on my lip in.the.same.spot!

The pain was excruciating and there was a piece of something dislodged. As I tried not to dribble the food out of my mouth and get it carefully chewed and swallowed I could feel the piece of my lip sorta hanging out. I had bit the same spot open and a piece of the inside of my lip was on the outside. I summoned my oldest daughter and after some investigation, mumbling and OMG-ing and whatnot, we decided to go to the ER at the Veteran’s hospital. I figured since I couldn’t eat at all or talk well that it warranted an ER trip.

After some numbing, snipping, bleeding, cutting and more bleeding the piece was finally removed.

How many times have you said eeewwwww while reading this?

Come to find out – now here’s the not-so-funny part – is that because of the Sjogren’s disease I have to be very careful. Huh? What? Well, the doctor said because of the dry mouth that can cause me not to realize how hard I’m biting down. I maintain that I don’t have time to realize anything ‘cause I’m in the middle of talking or chewing. When I asked my daughter who is my backup medical observer and absorber she said she had no idea either. Just to be careful.

I can’t even be normal when it comes to biting my lip? Seriously?

It was all a bit funny and sitcom-like until I found it it’s related to one of my diseases. Sigh…

Anyway, do you have any crazy, bite-my-lip stories? Tell all in the comments.

Bigger than me

Today I went downtown to Morehouse School of Medicine to participate in a research study on multiple myeloma. (You remember that’s one of the things I’ve been diagnosed with, right?) I read through the materials regarding the study and was even more pleased that I chose to participate. In layman’s terms: The study is looking into the genetics of those who carry the whatchamacallit (yup, that’s the medical term) that causes multiple myeloma, which – per Wikipedia - is defined as:

“Multiple myeloma (from Greek myelo-, bone marrow), also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease (after Otto Kahler), is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for the production of antibodies.^[1] Collections of abnormal cells accumulate in bones, where they cause bone lesions, and in the bone marrow where they interfere with the production of normal blood cells. Most cases of myeloma also feature the production of a paraprotein, an abnormal antibody that can cause kidney problems and interferes with the production of normal antibodies leading to immunodeficiency.”

(I left the links to the various terms so you can get more info if you like.)

It took about an hour and 15 minutes to answer a bunch of questions and give blood. Piece of cake. And it even gave me the pleasure of knowing that I can remember almost every address, entirely, from the time I was a toddler ‘til now, but I can’t remember how long I’ve been taking some of the medicines that I take everyday. At least my long-term memory is intact, right?

I wanted to participate because it’s something I deal with and because if my dealing with it can help those in the medical field discover a cause, a cure and a better treatment just by me answering a few questions and giving some blood then I’m all for it. (Here’s a link to the last post I wrote about  my health.)

This study is so much bigger than me. Do you know what I mean? … My experiences and participation have the potential of helping others.  Now that’s priceless.

What experiences do you think are priceless?

14 pills a day

Once a week, on Sunday or Monday, I refill my daily pill thingies. It’s one of my most dreaded tasks. Why do I dread it so much? I’m not exactly sure of the answer because I often hide thoughts deep in the recesses of my brain, but what I do know is that it takes way too long to finish and it’s a reminder of sickness/illness/disease/limitations.

I keep the majority of my medications in that white basket, which sits on top of my refrigerator. I line up the day of the week containers and fill them. I spent about two to three weeks not doing that because I wanted to do something else with my time and not think about it. So I took the minimum and went on about my business. After running away from home last weekend I realized I need to get back to taking good better care of myself so I re-started filling the daily thing.

That’s what it looks like (on the left)  after all the pills are in there. The little lids come off then pop back on. Then I put the little containers into the stack thingy. There is only one pill in there that isn’t prescribed and I have one condition that isn’t currently being treated because it’s in remission. Yippee!

(For those new to my blog, check out my health and weight loss journals for more information about my health challenges.)

This is just a day in the life of a “chronic babe” … It’s also one of the reasons I have my womanly wishes. Is there something you do everyday, or weekly, that’s necessary but annoying? Do share.

5 womanly wishes

There are quite a few times that I’ve shared my inner most thoughts with you. It can come out in a vent about people, my children, work, money and everything in between. I very seldom share my inner most, womanly thoughts. Since this blog is mostly family friendly (except for a few adult posts you should check out! {whisper: search Eden Fantasys!} LOL), I don’t reveal too much on the girly side of things.

I’m going out on a limb to share them with you:

5. I want a man to take out my trash everyday…

4. One who will keep the van cleaned and maintained…

3. Someone to go to barbecues with and…

2. Who gives the best hugs and kisses with extra attention for hard days

and

almost importantly:

1. To kiss me deeply; make mad passionate love to my mind, heart, soul and especially my body… and to love me endlessly and truthfully.

That’s the short list!

What are some of your wishes – womanly or otherwise? Share yours in the comments; I can’t wait to read them.