Diva Cup

Where have you been all my adult life? As you know, I've been on vacation in Las Vegas for a week. Wouldn't you know it, my Aunt Flo decided to join me. I was SO frustrated. I hate wearing tampons in the pool, and was planning on doing a lot of swimming. I hate wearing tampons when I'm not in the pool and despise wearing pads even more. Gone are the days of birth control, where I could set my watch by my period. I would get it on a Thursday, every 28 days, and be done with it on Monday. HA! When you have children, you know the havoc it reeks on your body. I'm more irregular than regular, which has some to do with my emotions, but have been irregular since getting off the pill in my early 20's. I'm heavy, thank you fibroid tumors in my uterus, and quite frankly, would LOVE nothing more than to have the plumbing removed completely. I am done making babies, which is the only useful part of our female reproductive system anyway, and too young for menopause.

Enter...the Diva Cup! A friend emailed me about it and I became instantly intrigued. Of course the good 'ol high desert doesn't carry anything like this, and it was too late to order one from amazon. According to the website, Whole Foods carried them. I got to Henderson and asked my cousin for the nearest Whole Foods store. Thankfully, one was just 10 minutes away. I walked in, picked the last box off the shelf, and went back to my cousin's. I watched a few videos online, read the instructions, and popped the Diva Cup in. (NOTE: There are sizes, and you should follow the size guidelines based on their website.)

You can wear your Diva Cup from 10-12 hours, and wash it with unscented soap. Of course they have a special wash, for extra money, and if you want to go that route, so be it. I just use the same antibacterial soap I wash my hands with after using the restroom. The HUGE plus for me was overnight. I got to tell you ladies, not worrying about an accident while sleep was a relief! I was on vacation and not having to worry about changing my pad/tampon every few hours. When my cycle has ended, I boil it for 10 minutes, let it air dry, put it in the cute little bag it came with, and throw it under my sink until I need it again next month.

Menstral cups have been around since the 1930's. Why aren't all women told about this option? I will NEVER look back. Yes, it's a bit of a price jump in the beginning, however, how much do we spend on our feminine products every month? Now times that by 12. Subtract $25 from that, and what a savings! You will need to take care of it every month, and inspect it to make sure it isn't deteriorating, but for the most part, one cup should last you one year, much like your mascara. ;)

Home Again

We're home! We got up this morning and had breakfast with Auntie Shelly, her parents, and Uncle Mark. I'm so grateful I was able to meet Auntie Shelly's mom and dad. Our family dynamic is so funny, I can't help but laugh at it all. Cameron and Uncle Mark had a contest to see who could eat the most at a buffet. They both got 4 plates in them. Mark was impressed. Ordinarily I wouldn't allow buffet eating for Cameron, for OBVIOUS reasons, but my family doesn't think like that, and since they were paying...

The kids slept most of the way home. I wish I could have slept too. Now I'm off to unpack, do laundry and work on my Bible Study, that I didn't touch the entire time I was gone. o.O

Auntie Shelly & Sin City Comedy

I was D-R-A-G-G-I-N-G this morning! We decided to hit the pool and had a fantastic time! What a great public pool they have there in Henderson.






We got home and did the whole bath thing while Alicia took Jackson and Gage to their swim lessons. She got home and in a whirlwind we were out the door, heading to her mom's house for a family BBQ.

We snacked on pita w/ hummus and shrimp cocktail, waiting for dinner, which I didn't get. As Alicia was taking the salmon off the grill, Brian tells me, you should leave. GREAT!

I never gave a thought to my cousin's needing to transport the kiddos back to their house and car seats. Brian handed me the key to his brand new, 2011 Volkswagon Jetta. I laughed. He was serious. I drove like a Granny onto the Strip. Hilarious! When I got to Planet Hollywood, where I was meeting my Auntie Shelly, I texted Alicia and said, "Tell Brian his car corners like it's on rails." I was LMBO the entire time texting it. She wrote back, "Drive it like you STOLE IT!!!!!"

Auntie Shelly got off at the wrong monorail stop, so I had time to myself sitting in Planet Hollywood. We saw Sin City Comedy and it STUNK! They claimed to have Burlesque, and it was terrible. I would NOT recommend the show, even though it has great reviews.

We grabbed a cookie, walked around the mall of Planet Hollywood, and decided to go back to my Aunt's room at the Flamingo to wait for her husband, my Uncle Mark, her parents, and cousins to arrive. They were flying in tonight.


When we got the parking garage, I lost Brian's car. What's his license number? I don't know, he didn't either, he just got the plates last week. FINALLY we found it, by clicking the emergency button.

Back at the hotel, we jumped on the elevator and when the doors closed we all kind of looked at each other. It made a weird noise. Each floor people got on, people got off, until we were it, heading up to the 20th floor. We reached 20, and then the elevator fell slightly, to the 19th. We kept hitting the open door button, but it wouldn't open. When they did, it was SLOW. I said, "GET OUT!" I have seen one too many horror movies and we literally jumped out of that elevator. We waited for another one and got up to Auntie Shelly's room where we hung out until around midnight.

I got to see Uncle Mark, meet Auntie Shelly's parents, and cousins, and stood in the registration line with them for an hour and a half. I finally had to go, it was pushing 2 a.m. again.

I didn't drive the Jetta back to Henderson like a Granny. I drove like I ordinarily would, and pumped the music. LOVE Brian's Jetta! Nobody was awake waiting for me this time. I'm going to crash in Jackson's car bed and try to rest before we get up, get packed and head out in the morning.

BTW, STARVING!!!

Margaritaville & Drew Carey

As it turns out, Gage was dehydrated and did not have a stomach flu. We packed up, checked out and headed over to Henderson. Alicia wanted to take us to the pool, but the kids were pooled out, especially Peyton, who was complaining about her eyes hurting. We opted to stay in, and since Brian has every iElectronic imaginable, the kids had PLENTY to occupy their time.

I spent the afternoon cooking spaghetti salad for the family BBQ tomorrow, and made tacos for dinner. I had just enough time to get myself put together and head over to Jimmy Buffet's Margartiaville for drinks with my Auntie Shelly. The reason we pushed our stay longer than just a few days for Father's Day was because my Aunt was coming in to celebrate her birthday. I finally made it to Margaritaville and was pleasantly surprised to see my Auntie Pam and Uncle Mike there too. Plus, I got to meet two of my Auntie Shelly's BFF's. I ordered a Pomegranate Margarita with a bowl of corn and crab chowder. My Aunt's thought I was crazy eating soup in the 115 degree weather, but I could honestly eat soup 365 days a year. Plus, I wanted a little something more in my stomach because of the alcohol. I enjoyed my visit with my family, but it was much too brief.


Auntie Shelly offered to lend me her monorail pass to get over to the MGM Grand for Drew Carey's Improv-a-Ganza. I ordered another drink, and I don't remember what was in it, but GOOD GOLLY MS. MOLLY it was DELICIOUS! The show was AMAZING! I laughed so hard. Chip Esten touched my hand when he came out into the audience (I was in the first row, center) to grab the slips of paper with a line written on it for one of the skits. I was too busy gawking at Chip to realize Drew Carey was at the other end of the table. I caught him out of the coroner of my eye as he turned to leave. Chip Esten is HOTT!


I hopped the monorail again and headed back to the Flamingo to meet my Auntie's. Auntie Pam and Uncle Mike decided to call it a night, and I went up to Auntie Shelly's room to talk. I had a wonderful visit with her, and her room at the Flamingo...SO COOL! She was fortunate to get one of the newly remodeled rooms. Once I saw it was her bed time, I went down to the casino for a bit, played for about an hour and then headed back to my cousin's.

I walked in the door around 2:30 am. Alicia startled me when she met me in the hallway. I don't know if she was up, or heard the garage door. I've brushed my teeth, put my pj's on, finishing this and off to bed (Jackson's car bed).


On a side note: It was liberating, for lack of a better word, to be an adult in Las Vegas, to be out on the town, doing ADULT type things. I haven't had a night to myself since Mike died, almost SIX months ago! I needed this so badly.

Day 4 in Las Vegas

Today has been a nice, quiet, relaxing day. We lounged around in bed until 11 am. We went to the pool for an hour, followed by lunch in our hotel room. Hung around and played video games, read, and then back to the pool for 90 minutes. We ate dinner, took showers, I relaxed in the tub again, and now it's bed time. TODAY felt like vacation. Goodnight.

You must check out some of the AMAZING pictures I got using my underwater camera. The one's of Peyton remind me of The Little Mermaid.

Day 3 in Las Vegas

I woke up this morning and began calling hotels to see if I could find us someplace to stay for 2 nights. Everybody was booked. It looked like we were going to have to pack up and head home, and I was out the money for Drew Carey's Improv-a-Ganza ticket. Finally, I tried The Grandview, where we were already staying with my dear friend Maureen, and they had exactly 3 nights opened. I made a mad dash down to grab the key, they were even able to keep us in the same building as Maureen, and then packed up and moved down 2 floors.











Once we were settled in to the new room we headed out to have lunch. Yelp came through for me again, and we ate at this FANTASTIC wood grill pizza place. I had the veggie pizza, which was OUTSTANDING.



After lunch we drove to the nearest grocery store and picked up a few staples for the next few days. Albertson's had this cute Mickey Mouse made out of a Coke display.


Back at the hotel, it was POOL time once again.




We showered, ate dinner, and in bed by 9 tonight. Well, the kids were anyways. I took the last hour and decided to soak in the jacuzzi bathtub. BLISS. The only thing that would have made it better? If my Beloved had been here to share it with me.

Day 2 in Las Vegas

We survived another day in Las Vegas. We got up and headed out to the MGM Grand because Maureen had coupons for shows. Wouldn't you know it, she left the coupons back at the hotel. While we were there, I inquired about Drew Carey's Improv-a-Ganza, and bought a ticket for Thursday night's show. Once I bought the ticket, we checked out the Lion Habitat and then off to M&M's World.

Did you know the M&M's World has 4 stories? Good grief. I thought that place would never end. We explored all 4 floors and even watched the movie. I left the store without purchasing any M&M's!



Back at the hotel we ate lunch, and tried to get Peyton to take a nap, which was unsuccessful, as she catnapped on the way back from the strip.

The kids had been begging to hit the pool, and so before dinner, we did just that. The kid pool at The Grandview is awesome. It goes to 2 feet and I felt comfortable letting Dylan and Peyton run amok. Kristin and Dakota, Maureen's children, did not feel comfortable and watched Peyton like a hawk. Those kids sure got a work out tonight.


Once our hour was up (Cameron can only be unplugged from his pump for an hour), it was back to our room for showers, to change Cameron's insulin pump, and dinner. When I opened the fridge to get Cameron's insulin, the bottle was broke. Dylan had opened the fridge in the morning to grab a water bottle and did not report that the bottle had fallen out. Fortunately, I had brought 2, and left one at my cousin's in Henderson, a 25 minute drive. I gave Dylan and Peyton their baths, and took off for Henderson.

Alicia called and said they would meet me halfway, at Eastern. What a relief. When I got to the 7-11, she walked up to the car and said, "You got the stuff?" I was cracking up. I said, "No. YOU do!" Ha Ha Ha! I drew up the insulin, and since I was right across the street, I picked up In-n-Out for the troops, knowing Maureen and I would eat later.

Back at the hotel, Cameron had taken his shower, and we redid his pump. Dylan and I had a conversation about telling Mama when something bad happens, NO MATTER THE CONSEQUENCES!

We put the kids down for bed, and Maureen and I went next door to Southpoint to The Oyster Bar. I had read great reviews on yelp and wanted to try it out. I ordered a lobster grilled cheese. OMGoodness! It was too rich, with the lobster, butter, and white cheddar cheese, I could only eat half.



I knew I had to play nickel poker for Grandma, and so we headed to the casino. I played the same $10 for the 90 minutes we were there. I switched back and forth from Poker to Blackjack. I was down and had told myself that if I got back over $10 I would cash out. I hit 4 of a kind with 4's (Maureen called it) and was up to $12.80. I cashed out and sat the voucher on my machine to bless somebody else.

While at the casino Alicia texted me and told me that Gage had the stomach flu. UGH! With Cameron's diabetes, I can't allow him to be around that, so I don't know if I'm leaving in the morning, or if I can find a place to stay for a couple of nights, as I have that ticket for Drew Carey in 2 days. We'll see.

**NOTE** I found out that the second I sat that voucher on the machine, the money belonged to the casino, and if anyone picked it up, they are considered, legally, to have stolen from the casino. So, if I wanted to bless someone, I would have had to handed it to them. I'm not sure if I would have just left it in the machine, and not cashed out, if the same law applies.

Father's Day

I have dreaded this day for so long, that I think I made more out of the dread, and once the day was upon us, nothing. Perhaps it would have been different had Dylan and Peyton known what today was. Or, maybe the fact that we left town to avoid it was the key. Whatever the reason, I wasn't as down today as I expected to be.


Dylan said, "This is the most beautiful view I've ever seen" so I took a pic.

We left mid-morning for our 3 hour drive to Las Vegas, where we met up with my cousin's, Brian & Alicia. We were suppose to go to the circus with them, but couldn't get tickets, so off they went and I took the kids on a drive to find a Whole Foods (that blog post is coming shortly). Anyone who knows me knows I am directionally challeneged, and I have earned the nickname Goes in Circles.

As I followed my little blue dot on my iPhone, there it was, The Cheesecake Factory. A reminder of what we have lost. Hubby's favorite dessert was cheesecake and the minute I saw the sign I said, "What if we eat at The Cheesecake Factory?" The kids screamed from the back, "YEA!" It was settled.


While we were eating, Cameron said, "Do you think these people are wondering why we're eating with you and not Dad today?" Tears welled up in my eyes and I had no answer. If we were in Apple Valley, we are in a fishbowl, and everyone knows us there, but in Las Vegas nobody cared.


I texted my Dad during lunch to wish him a Happy Father's Day. I warned him months ago that emotionally that was all I would be able to muster, and he agreed. His reply to me was, "Thanks. Happy Father's Day to you too, on behalf of Mike and the job you now do. Luv ya." Only my Dad would put a positive spin on the day, and it completely set the tone for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

After lunch I got lost trying to find Whole Foods, which, as you might have guessed, was in the same parking lot as The Cheesecake Factory. Ha Ha Ha! I found what I was looking for, and back to Brian and Alicia's we went. The kids and I hung out there until my friend Maureen made it to Las Vegas.

Maureen, a dear friend who God brought into my life after Mike's death, is also a widow. She wrote me on facebook a few weeks ago and offered to share her timeshare with the kids and I to get away for Father's Day. I instantly took her up on the offer. We stayed at The Grandview, next door to Southpoint.

We unloaded our things, got up to the room, well, technically it was a one bedroom apartment and unpacked the necessities, i.e. fridge food. Peyton was playing with Maureen's daughter, Kristin, when Peyton tripped over the rug and hit her eye on the coffee table. By the time Peyton walked from Maureen's apartment (just a few steps) to ours she had a massive bump and bruise starting. I picked Peyton up and put her on the counter, hugging her, comfortting her, as Maureen grabbed a baggie of ice. I placed the ice over her eye and we prayed over her.


Courtesy of gift cards given to use after Mike passed, we ate at El Polla Loco for dinner, and back to Grandview we went. The boys slept on the pullout couch, while Peyton and I enjoyed the king size bed.

There You'll Be

Cameron graduated 6th grade this morning. He asked to wear one of his Dad's ties, so I pulled out the tote of Mike's clothes and grabbed his purple one out, still knotted. I am so proud of Cameron and the young man he is becoming. He has grown leaps and bounds over the last 21 weeks.

The emotional basket case I was on Monday didn't hit...until the end. One of the student's is moving to Florida in a few days and she sang a song to end the ceremony. The minute the song began I lost it, and I knew...I knew my poor boy was sitting up in the front doing the same. You see, of ALL the songs this girl could have chosen to sing, well, Mike used her to give Cameron and I a message today because she sang There You'll Be by Faith Hill. It's a song that I picked for Mike's slideshow, and a song I listen to often for comfort.

After the final announcements I watched my boy walk up to me, eyes red, still visibly shaking, and for those who didn't know about Cameron and his Dad, looked on at Cameron and I holding each other tightly while we bawled our eyes out. His little heart hurt so badly from the absence of his father.




We said our goodbye's to Grandpa, my dad was available to be there with me today, which meant the world and all to me, and off to Red Robin we went for Cameron's celebratory lunch. Angelique and the kiddos met us there and we had a great time. We weren't the only AAE'ers there. Cameron's final count was 15 other 6th grade graduates. Red Robin was HOPPING!