Deep Clean Not Only Your House But Your Face Too

   I am by no means an expert on face masks. I do love to use them and I do have a bit of collection going. I have face masks that peel, mud masks, put on and rinse right off, detoxifying masks, highlighting masks, etc.
    A friend of mine sells “Perfectly Posh”. I had never heard of it until I started seeing her posts pop up all over Facebook about it. I saw how much she was promoting it, going on cruises and vacations because she was a top seller and how much her young kids loved using the products. Therefore, I decided to try this brand out.
    After asking her for a few samples of soap bars and facial products, I received quite a bundle in the mail. The first product I decided to try, of course, was a face mask.
Perfectly Posh Cackle Spackle is the name of the mask. It states on the package that it gets rid of toxins, clears bacteria, and revitalizes “cursed” skin with a rich mask of Kaolin clay, Charcoal powder, Moroccan lava clay, peppermint oil and tea tree oil.
Don’t let the skull on the front of the package scare you away from this product. Don’t let the burning and tingling sensation scare you away either, unless you have sensitive skin and in that case, drop the product and run away as fast as you can and do not look back.
    I have tried several “spearmint” and “tea tree oil” facial products and usually have to step away from the mint products. They seem to make my face really burn and I cannot handle sitting around 5-10 minutes with a product burning my face. At least that is what it feels like. The Cackle Spackle mask was so delicious smelling when I opened the package, I almost wanted to eat it because it smelled of that mint. Cackle Spackle, though, was very smooth to put on where as some “clay” or “mud” masks are thick and clumpy. This went on my face like butter. (Not that I have ever put butter on my face!) It even dried on smooth and didn’t seem to crack like mud. After about 10 minutes (like it states on the package), I rinsed off with warm water and a wash cloth. I gently washed in circles on my face and because of the charcoal, I had to use a bit of elbow grease to get the mask off as it was in my pores. Afterwards, my skin felt baby soft. I even put some moisturizer on afterwards because the warm water tends to dry out my skin no matter what mask I am using.
    If I didn’t mind the burning and tingling sensation while waiting to rinse the mask off nor did I mind paying the $18.00 for a 2 ounce bottle, I would definitely think about purchasing this product. At this point in time, though, I think I am going to be sticking with the face masks I can get at the local store for less than $5 for a larger bottle. If you don’t mind paying that price though, go ahead, try it out! 

   Below is a before, during and after photo. You have to look at the photo closer (sorry I have no make up on...eeek) but you can see that in the after photo my fine lines/wrinkles are harder to see and my pores are smaller. 

Are you there?

Hello? Are you there? No, are you REALLY there? You are now but would you still be there if I told you I have an incurable disease? Would you still be there if I told you I had chronic pain associated with my illness? Would you? No, really, seriously, would you be there? Would you be there for me? For a friend? For a family member? For a coworker? For a stranger? Think about it.

If you have never been diagnosed with something so incurable or lived with pain every single day. Just imagine how lonely that person may feel. They hurt so they have to cancel scheduled or even last minute events. They have a bad immune system so they can't always be out around a bunch of people. Would you still be there for that person? Would you invite them over to hang out? Would you go to their house to hang out with them if they are unable to come to you? Would you?

“Part of what makes pain “painful” is its privacy and unsharability, the feeling of aloneness,” says David Biro, M.D., Ph.D., author of Listening to Pain: Finding Words, Compassion, and Relief. “This under appreciated feature — to that outsider, that is — is especially true for pain that persists, chronic versus acute pain.”

"Pain inverts our normal perspective," says David Biro. "Instead of reaching out to other people in work or play, we turn inward and self protective. This is an instinctive, understandable response. Something is wrong inside of me and so I must attend and focus on the threat and make sure it doesn't get any worse." To those with these illnesses, we may withdraw or distance ourselves from the world or even those we love, further isolating ourselves.

I was talking to my counselor the other night and was telling her how I felt disconnected. Those that surround me at home understand because they too either know someone with similar illnesses or have the illness themselves. Those that surround me daily at work, they say they understand but I've been told that discussing my illness can be "too much" and "constant" and they "don't want to hear about it anymore". They say they understand how I feel but do they truly? 

You will feel even more disconnected and lonely when those around you start questioning or judging your illness. I guess it more causes you to feel misunderstood. We don't want pity. We just want understanding. It is understandable on another level that without direct experience, others can't comprehend what you go through on a daily basis. Without that understanding or comprehension, your isolation further increases because you feel as those around you are reluctant to understand and so you just start to slip away from them. 

“Chronic pain can affect the roles people have. They miss out on children’s activities, family functions, and parties with friends,” says Murray J. McAllister, PsyD, executive director of the Institute for Chronic Pain.  “As a result, many people struggle with guilt. Guilt isn’t the only emotion that is common to living with chronic pain. Patients tend to report a combination of fear, irritability, anxiety and depression." This is one thing I am currently trying to work on through counseling. I feel a lot of guilt and now with all the medications, I have the feelings of anxiety as well as depression because I am not the same person I was before. Now that I know talking about my illness can be annoying for some, it makes me more depressed than before. I feel I have lost friends. 

What I am trying to get at is that if you have a friend or family member suffering from any chronic illness or any dibilitating disease, all they ask is your support. We don't need pity. We don't need to be judged. And last thing we need is to be told we are annoying and that we talk too much about the issue at hand. Have you maybe thought that we talk about it to spread awareness so those that don't know about it will learn and maybe one day there will be a cure. The one thing we pray every day for....a cure. Another thing we pray for every day...support and understanding. 

Are you there? Are you really there? Think about it.  

Mondayest of Mondays

I just cannot continue with this Monday. If I was to tell you about my day without even telling you it was Monday, you would say "yup, sounds like a Monday to me!"

For starters, my youngest did not get much sleep last night. I was in so much pain and HAD to be at work this morning so I took all my medication last night keeping me in a drowsy fog. 

While attempting to hang SOME laundry and start the coffee pot for this morning, I actually had started to brew the coffee. That was last night. It wasn't even Monday yet. 

I drop off the youngest child to his Aunt's house and then proceed to sit in traffic for about another 25 minutes. I arrived late to work and when I was getting all my items from the car, I noticed my lunch bag was NOT in the car. Seriously? I had packed a really good pasta salad with some Arizona Sweet Tea. Oh well, there it sat...on my counter at home. I texted my husband and told him what had happened and he put my lunch bag in the fridge. 

While stuck in traffic, one of the lights came on and I called Enterprise where I am renting the car from and the customer service rep, Jake, had told me that it sounded like it could be the air pressure gauge and if I brought the car back, he would exchange the vehicle and upgrade me at no charge. I was able to go on my lunch break and exchange the dinky clown car 2016 Ford Fiesta for a brand new Kia Soul. 

The phones would NOT stop ringing at work, everyone was coming in all at once and checking out all at once. I was in so much pain and I can't take my pain meds while at work. I was ready to throw in the towel so many times. 

Now that I am home, it is just the youngest and myself. We are watching Snow Buddies on Netflix and I am about to take some pain meds and crash for the night when hubby gets home. 

 

The End Of Summer?

My oldest sister informed me one night of an app called Influenster. She said she received free boxes in the mail of samples as well as some full sized products to try out and review. I thought "No way are these free". What is the catch? There is none. You just start a profile, add some "snaps" and review products, ask questions about products as well as answer other questions. 

I have received my 2nd Influenster box a couple weeks ago. It was the "End of Summer" voxbox. But does this really mean the end of summer is here? For some maybe, but this is Texas and it is still hot outside. 

In this box, I received 3 samples of Numi Teas, a sample of a chocolate Iron Tek protein powder for a smoothie, MaxFactor liquid eyeliner AND mascara, a base/top coat and nail polish from Seche as well as Not Your Mothers "Way to Grow" leave in conditioner. 

I love getting these boxes. Everything in them is complimentary/free. All you have to do is blog about the products, share your reviews on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as some of the retail sites you can buy them at (Target, Walmart, CVS, Ulta, etc)

 Don't miss out, click here and start a profile and start getting boxes and leaving your reviews. 

Just because I received the END OF SUMMER voxbox does not mean it is the end of summer for me. 

 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Remember when we were in grade school and the teacher gave you a sheet of paper that you stared at for decades? 

To be honest, I still do not know what I want to be and I am 32 years old. I knew for sure I wanted to be a wife and a mommy. Those, I am. 

What I know I didn't want to be was someone battling an every day illness that has no cure. That, I am. 

Hello to all my readers. My name is Teresa. Alan Jr is my husband and I have 2 boys, Aidan (my oldest, 10) and Trey (my youngest, 3). 

In late April, I was diagnosed with Lupus. In August, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I also battle with having iron deficiency anemia and my red blood cell count keeps dropping.
I have more doctor appointments that actual work hours. It is exhausting.

I am not writing this blog to bore you all in my day to day life, but I will be writing like this is my personal journal. I will also be reviewing products, doing some tutorials, sharing recipies and trying to be an inspiration to those other "spoonies" out there that also suffer with some chronic illness. 

Please follow along, share your blog in the comments and I will follow in return.