Speaking of natural stuff, I’ve always been something of a skeptic when it comes to natural acne treatments. I would love to be proven wrong, as I’ve been wrestling with acne since my preteen years.

Most of the over-the-counter stuff did absolutely nothing for me as a teen, and I finally ended up getting antibiotics and face cream from the doctor. That worked pretty well, but if I were to go back in time knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have used them.

A few years after I went off of the antibiotics (and had my acne back), a nurse gave me some Phisohex to wash my face in. It worked very well, but was somewhat drying. And of course it was packed with chemicals, something I’m not crazy about these days.

So now I’m hearing about acne cures that are all natural. As difficult as my acne has been to get rid of, it’s hard to imagine that products found in nature could be the answer. But seeing how I try not to use unnatural stuff any more than I have to, I would be willing to give them a try. Products I’ve used with sulfur seemed to work fairly well, and it can be obtained naturally. So maybe I’m missing out on the best thing there is for my skin.

I’ve been hearing a lot about superfoods lately. They’re foods that contain large amounts of antioxidants, and they are reported to have lots of health benefits. Lots of companies are coming out with whole food supplements that contain these superfoods.

One such product is Leptovox. It’s designed to promote weight loss with only natural ingredients, including these superfoods and herbs. It is also reported to work wonders for your skin, whether you have acne or wrinkles.

Sounds pretty intriguing to me. No money in the budget to try it just yet, though.

I’m finally beginning to get through my chronic writer’s block. It’s slow going, but I’m back up to getting a few pages a day done now (as opposed to a few pages a week). I’ve got some deadlines looming on the horizon, but if Hubby will refrain from interrupting me, I think I’ll make them.

Now maybe I won’t have to worry so much about having enough money to pay the bills. That’s all I’m concerned with right now. Once I get that squared away, maybe I’ll work toward having extra money to spend on stuff for the house, luxury watches, month-long vacations and such.

One thing that’s helping me is an increase in smaller assignments. I have a couple of sources that give me lots of small things to work on, things that don’t require a great amount of brainpower but do get the thoughts flowing. Since I can do several of them in an hour’s time, the money works out to be about as good as the larger assignments (occasionally better). I can knock out a few of them, then I’m ready to tackle bigger stuff.

I hope things continue to improve on that front. Sitting in front of a computer screen for hours and hours a day and not getting anything done is much more draining than actually producing results, and it’s not nearly as lucrative.

Hubby keeps saying that he’s going to get Pumpkin a horse. Every time he says it, I cringe. I have nothing against horses really, but I don’t think getting one would be a good idea.

My family had a horse when I was very young. She was a beautiful creature named Star, because she had a white star-like marking on her forehead. But we didn’t keep her long. I was the one who had to crawl under the electric fence to feed her, and I hated doing it. I’m not sure if that’s why my parents got rid of her or if it was because nobody rode her much, but I don’t recall having her for very long.

As far as we’re concerned, I don’t think we have the space a horse would need. Right now most of the land we own is heavily sloped, and we wouldn’t have anywhere to put any kind of shelter for it. And Pumpkin’s too little to help take care of it much. And Hubby nor I ride. The only time I’ve been on a horse was when I got on Star, and she threw me off. Hubby has been on a horse once as well, but it has been since we’ve been married.

I also know nothing about caring for a horse. I don’t have a clue about horse feed, horse supplements, or anything like that. I suppose I could learn, but I think it would be best to just forget about getting a horse for now. Maybe I can convince Hubby of that.

We finally got our satellite service canceled. I would have done it a long time ago, but when I first mentioned it I was met with protests. But Hubby finally came around. Pumpkin said she wanted her Disney and cartoon channels back, but she hasn’t kicked up a big fuss about it. And me? I don’t miss it a bit.

I joined Netflix so we would have something to watch when we wanted to without having to pay an arm and a leg each month. We got our first movies last night. I ordered Pumpkin a Hannah Montana DVD, and we watched that first. Then Hubby, his cousin and I watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story after she went to bed. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. But make sure the kids aren’t around, because there’s a bit of nudity and raunch in it.

Anyway, I enjoyed that more than I would have enjoyed sitting around watching TV. Even though we don’t have a projection system or home theater sconces, it’s nice to have a movie night. Especially when we get to watch something we haven’t already seen a million times.

I’m such a spazz. I meant to post a nice Mother’s Day message on Saturday, but I never got around to it. I thought about it yesterday, but I was too busy enjoying my Mother’s Day to turn on the computer. At any rate, I hope all you moms out there had a good one.

Mine was pretty good. Pumpkin made me a Mother’s Day booklet at school, and at first she said I couldn’t have it until Mother’s Day. But she just couldn’t stand to wait, and ended up insisting on giving it to me on Friday night.

It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. By the time I was done looking at it (and listening to her read it to me), my eyes were filled with tears. Some of it made me laugh, and some of it warmed my heart, but I will always cherish every last page. It’s good to be loved.

I talked Hubby out of buying me something for the time being. He says that he is going to get me something, but I’m hoping he forgets about it. We all had a good time together on the big day, and that was the most important thing. Flowers and gifts are nice and all, but right now we need to save up our money to work on the house and make the mortgage payments.

You’ve heard the expression “April showers bring May flowers,” right? Well around here, this year at least, April showers have brought… more showers in May.

Today is a day that wouldn’t seem out of place in November, if it weren’t for the flowers on the ground and the leaves in the trees. It’s about 1:30 pm, and the temperature is a blistering 44 degrees. That’s right, I said 44 degrees!

It has been very windy, and of course there has been more rain. And the forecast is calling for even more rain, almost every day this week. I’m trying to remain optimistic about it, because at least we’re not getting the dreadful drought conditions that we had last summer. But seeing gloomy skies day after day is rather depressing, and it puts a damper on getting things done outside that we need to get done.

I keep telling myself that it’s a good thing we’re not getting the hard frosts we had in May a few years ago. But I’m yearning for some nice, warm sunshine!

I had to break down and wash some clothes today. Hubby is out of work pants, so I didn’t have much choice in the matter. So I looked up the weather to see if I would be able to hang them out on the line.

It said that we would get rain, but not until late this afternoon. That brought a smile to my face, because we still don’t have the dryer hooked up. I’d much rather hang stuff out than go to the laundromat. In fact, I’d just about rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp object repeatedly than go there. A few years ago I did it all the time, but now I guess I’m spoiled.

So I got a basket of clothes together and trotted off to the basement. The sky wasn’t all bright and shiny, but it didn’t look like there was eminent danger of precipitation. I confidently put the clothes in to wash and got back to work.

Once they had had time to wash, I grabbed my clothespins and headed out the door to get them. And what was I greeted with? Raindrops.

It wasn’t a hard rain, and I think it’s over with now. But I’m afraid to hang the stuff up on the line. The wind is pretty fierce today too, so it’s quite possible that they could get blown away.

I’m thinking about laying the stuff out on the porch railings. If it rains the moisture in the air won’t let them get dry, but at least the roof will keep them from getting much wetter. Unless the wind blows the rain in on them.

(In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m grasping at straws here. I really, really, really do not want to go to the laundromat today.)

I hate junk. I have a fair amount of it, but I can’t stand it. It clutters up the living space and takes up storage space that could be used for more important stuff. I have a minimal amount of Christmas decorations, because I hate the thoughts of something that I only use once a year taking up space that could be used more productively.

Some people, on the other hand, live for junk. My mother-in-law is one of them. Any time I need to get rid of something and can’t think of anyone who could use it, she’s the first one I call. She will take almost anything, even if she has no use for it at the time. Dish drainers, rugs, ancient baby cribs, old hardware, you name it.

When Hubby and I cleaned out the garage, she came over and helped us. We offered a lot of stuff, and she took almost every bit of it. The only thing she didn’t take was an old 8-track stereo. We had actually tried to give it to her before, and she said she wanted it but asked us to hang onto it for her. When we asked again and she said to hang onto it again, we told her we would have to toss it because it was taking up space. To my surprise, she didn’t argue.

I need to go through the stuff that is still packed up and see if there’s anything else we need to get rid of. If so, I know who to call.

Today, I have a ton of stuff to do. I have a report that I need to at least put a major dent in, and a bunch of stuff I need to do around the house. I also need to go town, because the cupboards are bare. So I’m gonna have to get cracking.

I am going to do my best to stay away from distractions online. No looking at new stuff for the house or comparing prices on Lipovox for me. Just work, and working on the house until I leave. Nothing else.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll believe it when I see it.