A Comparison/Contrast of Fiber Bars

Here's a little comparison/contrast essay on the difference in fiber bars. I'm going to make this really simple. In fact, I'm just gonna go right ahead and turn it into a photo essay.

These are delicous.



These are not.



Yup, that about sums that up.

An aside: How could Fiber One bars not kick Kelloggs' trash? Hello, chocolate chips are the second item listed in the ingredients. That's right, the second thing listed. There are more chocolate chips than there are oats in those puppies. No wonder I love them!

That is all.

This one goes out to Cousin Julie...

Yes, this is a picture of my bosom. (No, this isn't turning into that kind of blog.) I just had to show Julie that I am now the proud of owner of not one, but two, dresses that are trimmed in Ric-Rac. *She'll be super jealous, I know.



In other news, Mom and I walked to the park Sunday morning and sat and listened to the water trickle as we watched kids play and ducks beg for bread. Mom pointed out this crane to me, and I said:

"Now, that's a weird looking bird!"



Don't worry if you didn't think this was an altogether appropriate and/or funny post. Julie will, and that's what matters.

*There's no need to be jealous if the Ric-Rac sundress. They're at Wal-Mart, in about 10 different colors/patterns and they only cost $14. Go out and buy one today, you'll feel like a 6 year old, circa 1962. (Read: you'll feel adorable, esp if you put your hair in a ponytail while wearing it. I promise.)

Adventures in Wigland.

My cousin Julie came for the weekend. It was a great time. We ate Whoppers, Pringles, ice cream, candy, waaayyyyyy too much for every meal. We went to Sonic for cream slushes and read by the pool. We ran errands and played with Chris and Jo. We went to dinner, and we watched a Christmas movie in March. We stayed up way too late and then got up too early, just to lie in bed and talk some more. We ate. We drank. And we made merry.

Oh, and we shopped.

For wigs.

You know, just in case...

In case anyone who knows either/both of us has ever wondered, this is what we'd look like without hair. (Or maybe as a bank robber. You know, if we pulled the stocking over our faces. Which we did, but not in front of the store owner when she was taking this lovely pic.)



Here's a fun little comparison/contrast of how different the same wig can look on different people. (And yeah, I know, part of the difference is the distance of the camera to the person in the pic. Also, the plaid shirt and thumbs-hooked-in-the-belt-loops look gives her an obvious advantage.)

Julie as Ellie Mae = Super Cute!



Me as Ellie Mae = Bad Weather Girl Wig (Just give me a local cable news show and an umbrella and/or beach ball, and I'm ready to go!)



And here's another comparison/contrast:



Versus:



And, yeah, I know, the mullet/pony is supremely tacky. That side pic was just too funny not to show you. (I have too dang much hair to keep it all in a wig cap. My pony kept falling out. Finally, I opted to just leave it out, as it was bulky and was making it even harder to get a good fit.)

But seriously, how nuts is it that the same wig could look so completely different on two people?

And as if those two weren't enough comparison/contrasts to prove the theory that it's better to try on your own dang wig, because it'll look monumentally different on you than it would on your cousin, check this out.

Here's Julie, wearing the Genova Girl:



And here's me, wearing the Genova Girl:



Are you kidding me?! How is that the same wig? ... And yet, it is. I know it is, because Julie took it straight off of her head and gave it to me to try on. How nuts is that? (This was one of my personal faves, btw. I loved how smooth and soft the hairs were.)

Because I can't help myself but take document every single thing on film, here are some fun cousin bonding pics. (You've got to love the self-portrait-with-the-cell-phone routine.)

Here we are, brunette twin cousins. Just like Patty Duke. (But totally NOT like Patty Duke, because we are actually two different people. But still. Just like Patty Duke.)



And here, we're the on our way to the gym in our workout wigs. Super hot, right? And totally believable. Like, maybe if I had cool hair like this, complete with the Olivia Newton-John headband, I'd be inspired to get physical or something. Uh... Not.(These were surprisingly difficult to get on, btw. I mean, surprisingly difficult. Most definitely not for the weak wristed. They required some serious pull and tugging. I'm just saying, you have to BE tough to LOOK tough.)



And here's a fun look into Opposite Land, where Julie's a brunette and I'm a blond. (I wanted to see if they really do have more fun. I think I'd have had better play if my bangs had been in the right place, and not popping up off my forehead because my head was too darn big for this wig. ... Not the sexiest look of all time.)



And then there were these fun costume wigs. (Because how could we NOT try these puppies on? I mean, honestly?)



Too bad it was the day AFTER St. Patrick's day, otherwise, I'd have been sorely tempted to buy this.



Also, I think Jule should totally be Storm for Halloween next year.



Here's a lovely shot of me as a Latina Stepford Wife. (The black hair? Not a good look for my pasty skin.) Also, why does my forehead look about 7 inches long? I'm not sure. But one thing's for sure, the not-a-hair-out-of-place hairline was a little creepy and robotic.



Just call me Norma Jean. Or Marilyn. I'm fine, either way. (Why would anyone ever want to be this blond? I mean, really? Why?!)




And here's Jule, striking a pose. This wig had Charlie's Angels written all over it.



And here I am with a swoopy blond wig. (Like I'd ever wear something that was short on one side and long on the other? Please. Is it 1991 and am I attending Snowflake High School? No and no.)



It was a lot of fun. We spent a good hour or so trying on wigs. I'd guess I tried on over 20 wigs, and while it was a good time and I laughed out loud at the thought of becoming a blond for a night, just because I could... In the end, I realized that, when it came right down to it, if I do have to do the wig thing for real, I need something that is my natural color. I realized that my hair is so closely tied to my identity - to who I am - that I'd need something that was the right color. I am a brunette; it's as simple as that.

Here are my favorites.

This is the ponytail version of the Genova Girl I showed you before. This wig had the best feel. It was soft and pliable and looked like real hair. (No, not like my real hair, because we all know that my real hair is out of control and has a mind of its own. But still, it looked real.) Plus, it could be pulled back into a low pony. I'm always a fan hair options, and sadly, most wigs don't lend themselves well to that.



This one was shorter than I'd ever thought I'd consider going (and would you check out the highlights?), but again... Sleek. Not ratty. Easy to comb through. And the no bangs was something I liked here, because that's familiar to me.



This one isn't smooth and sleek like the others, but it has a realistic blend of wave that pretty closely matches the hair that grows out of my own head. Also, it could do the low pony thing. (Major plus.)



And here, we have the long hair/most like my current hair option. My concern with the longer hair wigs is that they're kind of ratty. As in, not so smooth looking. (Hi, it's more than 2 feet of doll hair. Of course it's gonna start to look unmanageable. Just think about what Barbie's hair looks like after too many visits to "The Beauty Parlor" - by which I mean, your average 2nd grader taking a pick to Barbie's hair in a desperate attempt to make it pretty again.) I loved the length. It looked like my hair. The color and length were spot on, but I don't know about having two feet of doll hair on top of my head. I sense rats coming on. Lots and lots of doll-hair-like rats, and I just don't know how I feel about that.



In the end, if I have to go this route, now I know what makes/brands/colors I like. I could order them online, or send someone down to Wigland to pick something up for me. Of course, I'd still rather have a wig made out of my own hair. (Because my hair is freaking awesome - also, I'd love to be able to pull my hair off my head and hand it to people when they say things like "I wish I had hair like yours." or "Your hair's so thick, I wish I knew what it was like to have that kind of volume!". I'm sick, I know.) But at least now I know what I like, what brands fit best, and what color I'd need to order (#4 - and only #4 - thankyouverymuch), you know... should I ever need such a thing. Like, next month.

And worst case scenario (which is actually best case scenario), I won't have to do chemo and Julie and I will have blown a good hour or so trying on wigs before we got chased out of the store for having (grossly) exceeded the 5-wigs-per-customer-maximum. We're such rebels. Heh heh heh.

She LIKES red!

Okay, okay. Who's kidding who? She loves it, actually.

Behold, my birthday present to myself:



It's red, it's shiny, it's sparkly, it's a little ostentatious, and it has a diamond center. This sucker had my name written all over it. You know I had to have it.

Happy Birthday to me! :-)

Screw the Earth

WalMart is going the way of the environmentally friendly. They're no longer packaging their half & half and heavy whipping cream in plastic bottles. They've gone back to the 70's, it seems. I remember these pseudo-cardboard cartons from my youth. I hate them. I hate that they don't have a cap that'll just pop/screw off. I hate that I have to open them the old fashioned way (I always seem to rip the cardboardy stuff). I hate that these old school cartons never tightly close again.

Argh.

I hate to have to pay more for my fatty milk products, but I'm gonna have to see if Safeway still carries cream in a plastic bottle. I don't care if the plastic bottle is non-biodegradable and I am the sole contributor to a land-fill full of plastic cream bottles, I WANT MY CREAM IN A RE-CLOSABLE BOTTLE, dangit!

End of rant. (And aren't you glad?)

I think I'll go and pick up a 32 oz Coke at Circle K now. (Did I tell you that they went back to styrofoam? I'm their biggest fan right now. I heart styrofoam cups, because they keep my drink colder longer.)

And now that I've made that additional statement about my love of styrofoam, I think I'm really done. Thank you for listening.

End of rant. (Officially and truly, this time.)

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Okay, so I don't know if these little guys actually keep my toilet that much cleaner than it would be, but I'll tell you one thing... they make my bathroom smell clean, and that's good enough for me.

Not having kids in the house, I can keep one of these little guys alive for about 2 weeks at a time. Every single time I flush my toilet, the bowl fills with semi-bubbly water that smells like cleanser. It's pretty much like Christmas. I love them!

I will admit that it took me a while to figure out how to dispense those little gel buds, but that's the one and only complaint I've had about this product. I heart the smell of cleanser, because it tricks me into thinking I just cleaned my bathroom (which is so clearly not the case - anyone who's ever seen my counter top and/or mirror could tell you that a true down & dirty, top to bottom cleaning happens about once in a blue moon). I love the little bubbles, because they make me think my toilet's super clean. Pretty much, this is the most happiness $6 in the cleanser aisle can buy a girl.

Go forth, go shopping, buy these. I'm pretty sure that you will love them.

*And if you buy them based on this review and then end up hating their guts, please know that you can hand your left-over product over to me and I'll enjoy them for you. So, you see, it's pretty much win/win (for me, anyway).

Behold, I have been delivered...

Or, rather, my 5 lb bag of Cinnamon Bears has been delivered.

Either way, now I shall be saved.

Or, rather, now I will survive - and numerous other people's lives will be saved, because I'll be able to twist and pull little Cinnamon heads off, instead of actual people heads.

Life is good.

Or, at least, life is better.

*By the time I reach the end of this 5 lb bag of gummy candy, life may feel a little worse... but that'll just be the sugar rush. I'm sure I'll get over it. And then I'll get back online and I'll order more (because now that I know how easy it is to order candy online, you know I'm gonna be doing that a lot more often).

I've been searching every candy aisle I've come across - both supermarket and convenience store aisle, I might add - looking for cinnamon bears for months now (not even an exaggeration, my friends), and I've come up with nothing. It's been a bitter, lonely, sad, unfulfilled few months, people. And then, this past Tuesday in a fit of frustration when I couldn't find the candy I wanted at the danged store, I went online to see what I could find. And, glory be! I found what I was looking for. Granted, I wasn't exactly looking for a 5 lb bag... but that's what I could get with free shipping on Amazon.com (the candy, coupled with the 500 Days of Summer dvd, brought me to a total of $25.32, which just barely put me over the $25 minimum... yay!).

Five pounds of sweet/hot cinnamon-sugary goodness, folks.

Let the weekend begin!

I am holding WalMart personally responsible...

See, it started like this. Yesterday Burn Notice Season Two came out on DVD and I went to WalMart to buy a copy - and they didn't have any copies left. (I went after Institute last night, so it was after 9:00 PM before I got there. I knew I should have gone first thing in the morning - I just knew it.)


So, I left the store last night all kinds of bitter that I wasn't going to be able to catch up with my boy Michael Weston, which is how I'd planned on spending my Tuesday night. Argh.


I woke up this morning, bound and determined to go and pick it up, and went first to do some returns at Michael's. (I'd spent about $12 on some little candle things that I ended up not using a few weeks ago.)

Armed with $12 more than I had been when I woke up this morning, I decided to stop in at Ross and see if they had anything fun that I could buy with my $12. It turns out that they did have some things that were very fun - these two dresses, for example. (And yes, I know, they're the same exact dress, just in different colors. I couldn't make up my mind, and since they were both only $15, I got both of them. And yes, before you bring it up, I know that $15x2 does not equal the $12 that I'd planned to spend. But listen, they were only $15 and the retail version of a DKNY sundress goes for about $295, so I figured that getting two of them for $30 vs one original for almost $300 was a steal I couldn't pass up.)

After I left Ross, I had to stop in at Ulta and get some new eye primer. My last tube of the original Mary Kay formula is on its last leg, and well... no one wants to see me with eye makeup creases. So, at the advice of one of the Ulta sales girls who was wearing a lovely combination teal and cream eye shadow (insert eye roll here), I picked up this little guy. (Per the sales girl, it keeps her makeup crease-free for 14 hours. As her makeup was about the most intense thing I'd ever seen, that was a good enough endorsement for me.) I'll report back to ya'll on how it works.

After leaving Ulta, I drove across the parking lot to Best Buy, where sure enough, they had Burn Notice Season Two - for $39.99. Which, as much as I do love Michael Weston, seemed like a bit much. I held him in my hands for just a moment, had the thought "I'll bet I could get this cheaper online", and then decided to come home and go to amazon and/or half.com and see what I could find.


On my way from Best Buy to my car, I saw the BOGO sign at Payless and had to run in, just to see if there was anything fun.

Uhm, yeah... there was something fun. Chocolate brown peep-toe wedges, hello! I'm in love with these stupid shoes. Who cares if they make me 6'1?! Not me, that's who! I'm in love with them. In love, I tell you.

And then, because it was buy-one-get-one-half-off, I had to get these cute little flip-flops. I'm grooving on the buckles. (I know, between buckles and bows, I'm so blinking predictable when it comes to new shoes.)

After all that shopping, I was feeling the need for some liquid refreshment. Lucky for me, Danny's is right there. Danny's with its crushed ice and Cherry Coke. Oh, and Hostess products, too. (I am unable to go into a convenience store and NOT buy a Hostess and/or Nabisco product.)

And then, after I had taken all my new things out of their bags/boxes and put them away, I sat down (coke in hand) to do a little online shopping. And, would you lookie there... Amazon.com had Seasons One and Two for $39.99 - and because it's more than $25, it qualified for free shipping. Eat your heart out, WalMart and/or Best Buy, I got both seasons for less than I would have had to pay you for Season Two alone PLUS I went on quite a shopping binge, to boot. Man, I love this day!

Why I am NOT ALLOWED to shop after work.

Yeah, so last night I ran by the store on my way home from work so I could buy a 10 lb bag of potatoes (I'm assigned mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner tonight). That should have been about $5, right? Yeah, too bad I didn't get out of Safeway for less that $30. Here's a little sampling of why I should not be allowed to go to the store when I'm hungry/tired/emotionally drained/snacky and/or on the phone with Genevra Lynn solving the mysteries of the universe.

I went for a $5 bag of potatoes. This is what I came home with:

1 10 lb bag of potatoes (The needed item.)
3 bundles of daffodils (1 and 2 were too few, 4 was too many... I'm silly, I know)
2 1 lb bags of pistachios (They were on sale buy-1-get-1 free. I had to.)
1 giant tub of hummus (It's not even that good, I'm sorry to say,)
1 dozen eggs (For the carton. That's right - the carton. I don't need/want the eggs.)
1 carton of fresh raspberries (Delish, as usual. I do LOVE fresh berries.)
1 3 inch square piece of chocolate cake w/ chocolate icing (Listen, I wanted to buy a whole cake - which I have no doubt I would have eaten in one sitting. So that $3, 3 inch piece of cake was actually a bargain AND a really smart purchase.)


And when I got home and I was putting the fridge stuff away, my first thought was "DANGIT! I forgot to get more cookies & cream!". (I ate the last of the ice cream Thursday night, whilst watching LOST online. I was on an emotional roller coaster throughout the show, so I wolfed down about a 1/4 carton of ice cream that night.) Good grief.

Anyway, yeah... $30 dollars. On the weirdest stuff. THIS is why I need to be careful about when/where I shop. Safeway just sucks money out of me. The store's so little, I can walk the whole thing (or at the very least, my favorite - the frozen, dairy, fruit & bakery - aisles) in five minutes. And last night I had no filter as to what I needed/wanted and I bought it all. The upside is that now I have some pistachios to snack on this afternoon. And I do love pistachios...