Category Archives: Elise

Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy 4 Week Review

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I promised a 4 week update on my Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy experiment and it has now been 5 weeks, so even though it’s a bit late, here’s what’s up:

Pros:
Just one pro I was really looking for… results!  And I am happy to report that I’ve got them!  I actually started to see results after just two weeks.  My stretch marks have improved drastically in color (they are much lighter than they were).  They have also smoothed out a bit, although the change in texture isn’t as noticeable as the change in color.  But I’ve still got 7 more weeks before I hit the 12 week “full results” mark, so hopefully there is more change coming.

Cons:
1) I stand by what I said in my first review about it being expensive, but you can save yourself a couple bucks if you buy it on amazon.com.  Or if you’re bolder than I am, go the the drug store and open the box before you buy it.  There is a coupon inside.

2) The information inside the box says that a tube is only supposed to last 4 weeks, so they expect you to buy 3 tubes to complete your treatment.  I’m on week 5 and there still seems to be quite a bit in my tube, but just know that they don’t intend for you to make it all the way through treatment with one purchase.

3) In my first review I told you how bad it smells, and it does, but I think at least I figured out why.  The second ingredient (after water) is onion bulb extract.  Perhaps perfumey fragrance is better than smelling like an onion… maybe…

I’ll write another review at 12 weeks or when my tube of lotion runs out, whichever comes first.  Stay tuned.

I’m a Bad Person

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This is a picture of Alethea’s new toy.

Well, new/used toy rather.  We found it at a garage sale today.  Alethea located it among the toys for sale and promptly laid claim to it.  It didn’t make any noise, so I asked the lady running the sale if there was anything wrong with it.

“Oh it works,” she said.  “I just took the batteries out and told my girls it was broken because I couldn’t stand all the noise any more.”

I took her word for it and bought it for Alethea.

As we walked down the driveway with our purchase in tow, a little girl, maybe about three years old, came running out of the house and frantically asked in a bewildered tone, “Mommy, why are those people taking my toy?!”

I felt like such a criminal.  I kind of wanted to turn around and say, “Don’t blame me little girl.  Your mommy doesn’t like this toy.”  But of course I didn’t.  I slunk to the car as fast as I could and drove off.

That poor little girl has probably been scarred for life.  And all over a Disney Princess riding toy.

It Finally Happened… Sort of

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So Peter and I have known for a while that his car was going to need to be replaced soon being as he usually has to pull over and restart his car at least once after he starts driving.  Transmission problems… <shudder>

His car makes me nervous since I’m always thinking that maybe sometime when he pulls over on the side of the interstate because the car won’t move into the next gear someone not paying attention will side-swipe him, or worse.  But since he mostly drives to the park and ride and back and only occasionally to work we were hoping to nurse it along until the end of the year.

Despite our hopes, I wasn’t really that surprised when a flat bed truck carrying Peter’s car pulled up in our driveway this evening.  What was surprising was that it turns out it wasn’t the transmission finally dying, it was the front axle breaking that finally did the Eagle in.  An axle that broke on the interstate in rush hour traffic.

I guess we can just add that one to our list of fun cars on the side of the interstate stories along with the time my breaks went out, and the one where I lost my cell phone out the window and the nice PA State Troopers stopped traffic to pick up the pieces for me.

I think we’re both fortunate to be alive.

Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy Review

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(Okay, so all the guys can stop reading now if you haven’t already.)

I saw a commercial for a new product by Mederma (the scar treatment people) on TV the other day.  They have just come out with a product called “Stretch Marks Therapy” and according to the commercial 80% of women who used the product in a clinical trial saw results.  “Hmmm…” I thought, “I might have to check that out.”  After talking to a few friends, everyone seemed excited at the prospect of a stretch mark cream that really works and I think I sort of volunteered to be the guinea pig.

So today, I began my treatment.  Here are my thoughts thus far:

Cons:

1) It is expensive.  $39.99 at Walgreens for 5.29 oz.  Couldn’t find it at Super Target.  I almost didn’t buy it, but between my vanity and the fact that I’d told a whole bunch of people I was trying it, I took the plunge.  (Hopefully my husband quit reading this post back at the beginning with all the other guys.)

2) It sort of seems like a lot of work.  For optimal results you are supposed to apply it twice a day for 12 weeks.  I hope the tube lasts that long ’cause I can’t afford another one….

3) It reeks to high heaven.  I mean, it has a seriously strong perfumey smell.  Kind of like self-tanner on steroids.

4) The ingredient list reads like the who’s who of Chemicals Known to Cause Cancer in the State of California.  Fortunately I don’t live in California, but for those of you who do, or for anyone with a thing about parabens and other unpronounceable chemicals, this may not be for you.

Pros:

Don’t have any yet, but it’s only day one and it didn’t say it works miracles.  According to the box I can expect visible results after four weeks and full results after twelve.  I’ll keep you posted.

Snapshots

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I know I haven’t been posting much lately, so here are a few moments you’ve missed:

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SNAPSHOT 1: MY POOR BALD BABY

Me to Peter: “Today I finished updating Alethea’s baby book up through ‘My 12th month’.  Now I don’t have to update it again until either ‘My 2nd Birthday’ or ‘My First Haircut’.”

Peter: “I’m not placing a bet on which one of those is going to happen first.”

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SNAPSHOT 2: NAP TIME

Me to Alethea: “Hey you, I think it’s time for a nap.”

Alethea: promptly heads for the stairs to go up to her room.

Me: Thinking about how far we’ve come from the screaming 3 month old who wouldn’t sleep anywhere except occasionally her swing and only then when she was too exhausted to keep her eyes open.

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SNAPSHOT 3: DON’T NEED THOSE ANYMORE

Me: Putting away all of Alethea’s new clothes that she got for her birthday, but having a hard time fitting them in her dresser.  Realized I could probably pack away the whole drawer of burp cloths that I haven’t needed in several months.  So nice that Alethea has finally outgrown her reflux.

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SNAPSHOT 4: 3/4 TIME IS TRICKY

Me to Piano Student: “What’s the time signature of this piece?”

PS: “Three-four.  I don’t like three-four time.”

Me: “Why not?”

PS: “I had a hard time with that one song in three-four.  You know, the ‘Peanut Duet’.”

Me: “You mean the ‘Petite Minuet’?”

PS: “Yeah, that one.”

Me: Laughing so hard it takes me a full minute before I can resume teaching.

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Hope you enjoyed those.  I’m sure there were other moments that I meant to blog about, but I can never remember them when I actually sit down at the computer.  I should probably start writing them down or something.

A Trip to Target

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This has been a bit of a crazy week.  Peter left Monday morning for a work conference in Florida and didn’t get back until last night.  I’m so glad he’s home and want to give a big thanks to all the babysitters who watched Alethea while I was teaching piano lessons this week.

My main strategy for making it through four days without Peter was to leave our house as little as possible, but I realized on Wednesday morning when we were out of milk, orange juice and chocolate that a grocery run was a must.  So that afternoon, I told Alethea, “You need to get your shoes on.  We are going for a ride in the car.”  Not paying attention to her response, I moved to the kitchen counter to pack my purse.  I minute later I felt a tug on my pant leg.  Alethea holds out one of her shoes and says “Go?”  Yeah, didn’t know she understood that much.

So we get to Target and I’m buckling Alethea into the shopping cart when a little boy and his mom enter the store.  “Mom, Mom! Look at that little girl!” the boy exclaims as he points at Alethea. “She’s SO pretty!”  Wasn’t that sweet?

As we go about gathering our groceries, we get to the yogurt section and I ask Alethea, “Where is your yogurt?  It’s the one with the baby on it.”  Alethea looked around for a few seconds and then pointed right to the YoBaby shelf.  (Having just typed that, it doesn’t sound that impressive.  But I’m her mom, so I get to be excited about things like this.)

Anyway, it turns out that the thing I was avoiding was kind of a fun experience and it really made me realize how much more Alethea understands than what she can communicate.  Plus I got Alethea two tops and two bottoms for a total of $10.50 on the clearance rack, so all in all it was a worthwhile trip.

The Weekend Report

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Friday

Peter and I went to our third and final Twins game of the week.  It was a fun game despite a certain unfortunate event that happened in the row in front of us.  I don’t want to go into too much detail, so let’s just say the boy sitting in front of us suddenly didn’t feel well and it’s a good thing the guy two rows up was wearing a rain jacket.  Ewwww…

Besides that though, the Twins played well, we sat next to some amusing people, and I got this cool picture of Peter:

And this cute picture of us:

Saturday

This was our “All about yard work day”. We focused some time an energy on “The Bean” area in our front yard.  Here is the before pic (notice the distinct bean shape):

After raking, weeding, and covering it in mulch The Bean now looks like this:

The cutest moment of the day goes to Alethea (is anyone surprised?).  She watched me as I pulled weeds in The Bean and threw them into my big bucket.  Then she got down on her knees and started picking up leaves and twigs and putting them in her little pail.  I’ve never seen her imitate me that closely and it was very sweet to know that she wants to be like mommy.

Sunday

The morning was church including a good sermon on the topic “hearing God’s voice when we feel outnumbered”.  We were challenged to consider the question “What is God asking me to do in my current situation to serve Him?” which is an especially challenging question to me since I feel like being a stay at home mom requires almost constant concentration just to keep Alethea fed and clean and clothed and out of trouble.  Sometimes I know all God gets is my sloppy seconds and a few minutes of my time when Alethea finally goes to bed at night.  So I guess I will have to give further thought to the question.

After church, the rest of the day was less remarkable, but not stressful, which is the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  Don’t you think?

Watch that Baseball Soar

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We’ve sure been having fun this week with the Twins first homestand of 2010.  Peter and I were fortunate enough to have tickets to opening day at Target field on Monday.  What a great game!  The atmosphere at the ballpark was electric and everything in sight was new and clean and shiny!  (And you know how much I love new and clean and shiny!)  The weather was beautiful, Jason Kubel hit the first ever home run at Target Field and the Twins won!  Hurray!

Our View of the Twins Home Opener

Our View of the Twins Home Opener

Today we went to the second game of the homestand with my mom and our friend Chris.  We were brave (or foolish) and also took Alethea.  She did reasonably well, although Peter and I have made the definite decision that she will not be attending any more games this year since we spent quite a bit of time walking the concourses with her.  Not that it was a total loss because in the process Alethea did manage to make a few friends: the two ladies at the beer cart who thought she was adorable, the 15 month old named Molly who was (I kid you not) a full foot taller than Alethea,  the chick who had “had a few” and told Alethea that it was okay to be bald since she herself had been bald until she was two years old and finally the woman manning the Budweiser “Good Sport” booth who informed a very interested Alethea that you had to be 21 or older to win.

I don’t mean to totally diminish Alethea’s sitting still skills.  She did manage to stay in her seat long enough to enjoy the pretzel we bought her as well as several licks of my ice cream bar.  After they were both gone, she enjoyed playing with the wrappers too.  Bonus! 

So to end this post, I know that I ought to put up a cute pic or two of Alethea enjoying her first Twins game, but unfortunately I couldn’t find my camera as I was running out the door to pick up my mom, so all the pictures of that game are on Grandma Debbie’s camera.  I’ll have to post a couple once I get copies from my mom.  Until then, Go Twins!

Happy Easter!

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Sorry for not posting more this week.  Things have been a little crazy.

So, besides piano lessons and normal stuff, this week I was also part of the dramatic reading for the Good Friday service at our church.  It was a cool reading, but I’m glad I’m done having drama practices.  The service went well though and I have to say, I think Good Friday might be my favorite service of the year at our church.  It is always so thought provoking and meaningful.

Saturday we prepared Easter dinner.  Alethea was very helpful, patiently watching me cook from her high chair.  She was even so gracious as to taste test the mashed potatoes:

Saturday evening we had our friends Chris, Amie and Drew over for an impromptu dinner party.  I was a little worried that Alethea would be upset when Drew played with her toys, but she wasn’t at all.  She just seemed interested in watching what he was going to do with each toy.

This morning Alethea got dressed up in one of my childhood dresses to go to church:

We went to church and attended a lovely service.  Then we came home and had our Easter dinner with Peter’s brother Steve and our neighbors Jo and David.  The menu: ham, potatoes, green beans, rolls, salad and ‘Tunnel of Fudge’ chocolate cake for dessert.  Everyone thought the food was exceptionally good, except Alethea who didn’t eat well and wasn’t very appreciative of the quality of the food offered to her.  However, her afternoon wasn’t a total loss as she was delighted with the giant pink bunny Jo and David brought her:

She also eagerly dug into her Easter basket from Mommy and Daddy.  As predicted, the grass in the bottom was as much fun for Alethea as the toys on top.

Between the two services at church, good food, and lots of time spent with friends and family, I’d say we had an enjoyable and uplifting Easter weekend.

Stomach Flu X2

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So yesterday was Alethea’s 10 month birthday.  Some of you may have logged on to view her 10 month update and were shocked at my tardiness.  My grand excuse: Peter and I both came down with the stomach flu.  Ugggg.  One small blessing though, Alethea has thus far escaped the illness and we are hoping it stays that way.