Campylobacter

Campylobacter is a bacteria that causes severe diarrheal illness. This bacteria can be found in bird feces. When butchering poultry, if not handled with care, this bacteria can get onto the meat causing contamination. If not cooked thoroughly consumers can contract campylobacteriosis. Or one can contract campylobacteriosis by coming into contact with bird feces. This bacteria survives in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals, the reason for causing severe diarrhea. Symptoms of diarrhea can last 2-10 days. Typically, treatment is not needed as the body will eventually get rid of the bacteria. Other times if the symptoms are severe medical treatment is needed such as antibiotics and fluid to treat dehydration.

I was diagnosed with campylobacteriosis last week. This is the worst food borne illness I have ever contracted. I was out of work for 3 days (Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off that's a total of 5 days). It's been a week and I still haven't recovered completely. My stomach (abdominal area) still ache with the after effects. When I visited my doctor I lost 4 lbs in 3 days. I was extremely dehydrated and was advised to go to urgent care or ER but I went against my doctor's order. Money is tight right now, urgent care is around $50-75 and the ER is $200 for admittance. I couldn't afford the cost. I knew if I had gone to urgent care they would refer me to the ER. I survived without going to either that's how I am able to write about it today! Currently, I should take in more fluids but I'm not. I just hate visiting the restroom often especially since I'm back at work. My doctor initially thought I contracted H1N1. He prescribed Tamiflu (a flu prevention medication produced to treat H1N1 potential victims within the first 48 hours). Tamiflu cost me $40 for 10 pills! It's a 5 day course prescription. After finding out I had campylobacteriosis my doctor prescribed an antibiotic which I haven't picked up from the pharmacy. Within the last month I spent over $200 on medical treatment. I know my health is importance but I am on the road to recovery, I'll let me body do its job. For more information on campylobacter visit www.fsis.usda.gov.

Welcome Home!

Finally after many months of searching for a house we found one! It's a 3 bdrm/2 bthrm home, approx 1150 sqft. It's perfect for us, 2 humans and 2 dogs. It still feels surreal. I suppose it's because we haven't moved in yet. Finally, I have something to call me own (or should I say our own?). No more headaches from roommates, no more drama with people not picking up after themselves. I just want our home to be full of peace and serenity. A haven full of happiness and puppy loves! I can't wait to settled in and start a garden box in the backyard. It's going to be so exciting growing veggies in the summertime. I am so thrilled to get over the nightmare of finding a home. For a while, we were convinced a house wasn't in our future. For those who are having difficulties finding a house, my advice is to keep looking. The right house will fall into your lap. Make sure you're working with a knowledgeable agent and loan officer. Our agent was an idiot! We discovered he was leaving areas in the contract blank allowing the selling party to have advantage over us. He wasn't on top of things, it was too late to get rid of him by the time we discovered he was an idiot. Regardless of the bad experience, we are THRILLED to have a home again. I am so thankful to my in laws for allowing us to stay with them rent free! They allowed us to save money for a better home. I have the best in laws! Seriously, they opened their home to the dogs, my parents would have never allowed that. My parents still bitch about the dogs, whatever, puppies have loving grandparents on their papa's side. =P

My Big Boy

Meet big boy! Greyson Vang. He is such a baby. Can you tell from the picture with his baby blue blanky? He cannot sleep without this blanket. It drives us crazy when the blanket is in the washer and it's midnight. He will cry at the top of his nose until that blanket is in his crate. He is the biggest lovable pitbull. I use to be scared of pits before we got Greyson. Now, I can't imagine my life without him. He's such a big part of my life. He's the reason why I come home every day after work. He just shows so much affection and love to everyone. Sometimes people take it the wrong way when he rubs against them or sniff them. They expect him to be like Betty, tamed and cute. He is a big dog, big dogs need real love. Little dogs want love from afar. Little dogs like their space, that's why most are not good with young children. All I can say is Greyson has changed the way I think about pits. He is definitely my baby. It's funny how our dog situation worked out. Fred got Greyson for him and we got Betty for me. It's exactly the opposite now. Fred is so attached to Betty he can't live a day without her. Betty is for sure his dog. Mine is big boy! He will always be my baby love.

Coastal Scents Palettes

Coastalscents.com is known for their popular finished makeup palettes which has been compared to MAC cosmetics. You can find makeup artists and makeup guru's on youtube and makeup forums ranting and raving about how great these palettes are. After watching and reading much reviews I decided to get myself a few palettes. Typically, I only buy cosmetics from department stores, Sephora, or Ulta. Here's what I think about the palettes...

The first palette is the original 88 matte palette. The dark colors are very pigmented. My favorite shadow from this palette is the black shadow on the bottom right side. I wish Coastal Scents sold this color separately. They currently sell custom palettes with colors from 4 of their makeup palettes but they don't have this particular black shadow available. There are a few shimmer shadows in this palette but for the most part these shadows are matte.

The second palette is the 88 ultra shimmer. I have to say this palette was very disappointing. The palette has too much filler and additives. The shimmer is cheap. If felt and looked like the makeup was bought from a flea market, no joke! Both the matte and shimmer palettes come with a lot of light colors and a few of the colors are even duplicates but placed apart. I can only put half the palette to use. I just don't know what to do with the light colors. A few can be used as highlighters but most are just plain ugly!

The third palette is the 26 shadow palette. This palette has a lot of pink/red/maroon tones with some brown and neutrals. These colors are very pigmented. I prefer this palette over the 88's. It's very sheek and pretty. There are a couple of colors that are bit too red for my skin tone. It makes me look like I have red eyes. The blushes are nice shades. I love the last blush to the right. Such a pretty color on any skin tone. You can put a little on to give your cheeks some life or build it up for a dramatic wine cheek look. Overall, these palettes are great for beginners who have no experience with makeup or for young girls to play dress up with. Eventually I will give away my 88 palette to my 7 year old cousin, Carolyn. She's a doll, she'll have a ton of fun with the colors.

I have purchased several brushes from Coastal Scents. For the price you pay, the quality isn't bad. This doesn't go for all the brushes. I only have a handful of brushes from Coastal Scents. They ones I have are satisfactory for the low price.

Eyeshadow Primers

I loveeeee eyeshadow primers. They lock in the colors and sustain on your eyes for 8 hours+. Here are a few primers I've tried. First, L'Oreal's De-crease. Let me just say this stuff sucks. It clumps and doesn't lock in the colors at all. It feels like gluey concealer. This stuff just doesn't work and is not worth the $8 spent at the drug store. Bottom line, don't buy it. You will end up disappointed.


The second primer I tried is Urban Decay's Primer Potion. This stuff works! This primer will hold in your eyeshadow for over 8 hours. The only thing I don't like about this primer is it comes with a wand that you can use to apply directly onto your eyelids. Overtime I discovered the oil from my eyelids changed the consistency of the primer because I'm using the wand and putting it back in the bottle. I found a really great trick to avoid using the wand. Just cut the bottle in half and scoop out the primer into a container! How smart is that?! Here's a clip showing how to transfer the primer from the bottle into a container. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zen9pM8Sxpc&feature=player_embedded
I believe the primer in the video is the ex-large bottle sold at Sephora and Ulta. The ex-large bottle is a few dollars more then the regular bottle of $18. It's worth every penny!


The last primer and my favorite of the three is Too Faced Shadow Insurance. I like the fact that I can squeeze the primer out of the tube. I don't have to deal with a wand or container which would require a brush that would change the consistency of the product. Since I have no contact with the primer in this tube the consistency stays the same. But watch out, keep this primer out of heat. If left in heat the oil in the primer will separate from the creamy foundation. All you have to do is shake it up and let it sit in a cool area but definitely not a good idea to leave it in the heat. If you want to get every drop of the primer you can cut the bottom of the tube to scoop out every last drop. My tube has lasted me over 3 months. My eyeshadow stays on for more than 8 hours from 8am to 10pm. I use this primer daily, it's definitely A+ in my book. It's the same price as UD's Potion Primer. I wish Too Faced sold an ex-large tube! Both primers do not crease or clump.

My sister uses MAC's primer. She loves it and won't try other primers out there. I personally haven't tried MAC's primer, I'm sure it works well that's why I can't get my sister to try other primers out there.

Sweet Little Betty Vang

Meet my baby love Betty! She is my precious princess. She rules the universe. Everyone lives in her world and jumps on her cue. She loves barking at the neighbors. Actually, she loves barking at anything that moves. She's not as annoying as a chihuahua but pretty darn close. She is 5 lbs of beauty and full of character. She is very independent. She doesn't like to be snuggled or picked up. Rather, she prefers to walk at her own pace and eat and sleep at her own discretion. She is a rebel with lots of naughty ideas. She chewed off 8 inches of our fence. She's gone swimming in the neighbors pool (on two occasions that we know of). She will fight any dog from a distance. What I love about her is she is very good off the leash. A dog should always be on a leash but when I'm getting the mail or just going out to my car to grab something I don't want to put her on a leash. She is attentive to her name which I absolutely adore her for. She's a doll! She truly is the life of our household.

Friendship

I decided to create this blog not caring if anyone in this world may stumble across it. This is mainly for my own mental health. I need a to vent, be free, share my thoughts and ideas. I need a place to publicly speak what I would normally only consider in a private diary. So I don't care if a single person ever comes across this blog spot, all it matters is I'm here and I'm speaking my mind. This is my voice in writing.

I have a friendship which has been strenuous for about two years now. Quite frankly, since I'm making this public it doesn't matter if she happens to stumble across this blog. I hate confrontation. I really don't think the issue needs to be confronted, just addressed. We use to be good friends, there for each other. Buddies who can talk to one another and then one day it just changed. Our friendship changed tracks before my eyes blinked. I'm not even sure if she thinks or knows our friendship has changed. She has just become very unfriendly and unpleasant to communicate with. When we're together in person, we're friends again laughing and having a great time. But when we're emailing or on social networks claws come out of the woodwork.

Maybe it's a friendship not meant to be saved? Maybe it's a phase? I don't know but either way I hate wondering what went wrong. People change over time, they evolve into the person they were always meant to be. Through this darkness, all I can rely on is the good times we had together. Not hold grudges and move on. Maybe one day it will reconcile itself.

Hello Bloggers!

This is my first blog. It's about 1:31am PST in beautiful California. After long contemplation of which makeup palette to purchase from sephora.com I finally settled with the Tarte Treasure Chest for this holiday season. I can't wait to receive it in the mail. The palette's retail price was $52. I used a promo code (ff2009) for 20% off so the palette came out to be $41.60. Not bad huh? Now you can see why I was so tempted to buy it! I watched a few youtube reviews. I was amazed at how gigantic this palette box is. Check out a better review of this pallete at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yD6aBGGH1k. This girl also has swatches on her blog. So far the colors look great, stay tuned for my official review of the palette! Good Night ya'll!