Birch Box: Samples Galore!

My little sister purchased a delightful birthday present for me: a 3 month subscription to BirchBox. I had never heard of BirchBox before but I think the idea is fabulous. Every month they send you a box full of samples (home, beauty, health, etc.) for you to try out. You declare what you are interested in on the Birchbox.com website and then they send you a random set of stuff every month. What a great way to try out new stuff!

I can't wait to give this first sample a try. It will give me a reason for one of those 40 minute tubs that I'm always taking. It is a pore minimizing mask that disappears into your skin; after 20 minutes, the mask is gone and hopefully my skin looks years younger. Who am I kidding? I'd settle for months younger.    

Cynthia Rowley Band-Aids??? Totally cute, but my kids don't rate designer Band-Aids and I haven't worn a Band Aid in forever. Still, I think they are cute and I'm glad to have them in my first aid kit!

 Next up:  Denizia Olive Oil soap.  We really don't use bar soap, although this stuff looks delicious enough to make me want to try it. Or I could save it for a cute teacher gift bag someday...

"Staniac Balm for lips and cheeks???"   "Hmmm", I thought, "looks funky".  But then I tried it and I like it!  It is just like the difference between paint and stain on a deck.  Regular lipstick (like paint on a deck) sits on top of your lips.  Stain soaks into your lips.  When you first put it on your lips, they feel a little bit sticky (like stain on a deck while it is drying) but then your lips dry and just a little color remains.  It really doesn't look like lipstick.  There is no shine or obvious product on your lips;  they just look "stained" with color.  It's a keeper.  I think it might be going into my car since I don't think it will melt in the sun like lipstick does. 

Hee Hee!  When I was taking pictures I thought that this little peice of paper was the "parfum", but then I realized there was a little sample tucked inside.  I haven't worn the scent yet, but I sniffed it and it smells good.  The note inside declares it not to be a perfume but a scent used in making perfume.  Someone should tell the designer (Juliette I presume) that that distinction is lost on us little people.  I'd tell her myself, but Juliette Has a Gun! 

All right, that's the contents of my BirchBox sample box.  Can't wait to get a new one next month!



The Dog Diaries: Really, who is the stupid one now?

Today was not a stellar dog day.  If fact, there was a fair amount of yelling and crying about the dog today.  But when I think back about the day, I wonder if the dog is really to blame.  At this point, it is really just our stupiditiy for not recognizing those things the dog is surely going to do.

Today the kids and I took the dog to the park for a walk.  I was feeling lazy and didn't put the dog kennel into the car.  I know better than that, right?  I already know that the dog eats seatbelts and  refuses to stay in one seat.  So should I really have been surprised when the dog refused to stay in one seat?  At least he didn't eat any seatbelts today. I was smart enough to not attempt to put him on a leash in the car ('cause I KNOW he would have eaten that!). 

Then I decided to let him go off-leash at the park.  Well...not exactly off-leash, since I left the leash connected to his neck.  I just dropped the leash so he could run around a little.  This was working just fine for awhile.  He was getting great exercise running back and forth.  He and Cade would run ahead on the trail and then I'd call Cade back and Chevy would follow.  Then Chevy discovered the marshlands.  He went crazy.  Super crazy.  He started jumping into the water like he was trying to catch something underneath the reeds.  Then he started running, running so fast and he crashed into Sydney.  So she shrieked and howled.  So he ran faster, back and forth, and crashed into her again.  The shrieks turned into gut-wrenching sobs.  I started to wonder what the occupants of the houses at the borders of the park must be thinking.  I recaptured his leash and walked us back to the car.  Chevy apologized to Sydney the best that he could and everyone was getting happy again...until I realized that wet, dirty Chevy had to get into the car without the benefit of a kennel, or a towel, or anything that might contain the mud.  And Chevy refuses to stay in one seat.  Now it was my turn to cry. 

We got home and I attempted to clean up my car's interior.  Later that night I picked up Subway sandwiches for the kids.  I even said to them "don't let the dog get your food", but apparently that warning went unheeded.  I was upstairs when I heard sobbing.  Cade was crying "I can't find my sandwich".  He said "I don't know if the dog ate it, but I can't find it".  That is not world class sandwich watching.  I found a pile of olives on the living room carpet, proof positive of Chevy's guilt.  See, Chevy doesn't like olives so he took the sandwich into the living room where he could remove the olives in private. 

So there you go...three seperate crying/yelling experiences and they all could have easily been predicted and prevented.  So who is "stupid" now?