The Secret Life of a Care Bear

Day 7: Favorite movies

If I really tried to list my favorite movies, it would be about 50 titles long! I did list a few on my about page that came to mind as I was writing it, but looking at it now I’m like, “eh” to some of them. I have several favorite movies in each genre, and I have favorite genres. Yes, I think I will tell you my favorite genres! Perhaps a few movies of that genre that I enjoy, also.

Mockumentaries! I love them! Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind…they are all great. I also love Drop Dead Gorgeous!

Animated movies! Also love some of them. Most of the Pixar movies are pretty cute. My favorite Disney movie is probably Robin Hood. Actually, Robin Hood is a whole genre of movies/tv that I like, even.

Costume Dramas! Pride & Prejudice (with Colin Firth!), various Robin Hood movies (see above), The Other Boleyn Girl, The Duchess, The Young Victoria, Pirates of the Caribbean…all of them!

Ballet movies! Center Stage, Billy Elliot, also documentaries about Ballet. Ooh, I’ll lump gymnastics in here too. I loved Stick It.

Fantasy! All the Harry Potter films, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Stardust, even the Twilight films!

This is only the beginnings of a list, guys. I like movies.

If you know me well at all, you know that I often stay up late. Now that we’re in our new apartment in Peoria, we have tv channels again, but only the broadcast ones. Now when I stay up late, I have the perk of getting to watch late night television. Pretty much every channel but PBS starts showing infomercials at about 2am. If PBS isn’t showing anything I want to watch, I sometimes get sucked into the infomercials. So I present to you a list of all the products I “need” now that I’ve seen the infomercial for it.

The Shark Navigator Lift Away vacuum

Okay, this one isn’t dumb at all! This is basically the same as the super expensive Dyson vacuum that I would LOVE to own, but about $300 cheaper! Plus, the canister and wand can be “lifted away” from the vacuum to carry around like a hand vac or something. How cool is that? It has a motorized brush, which makes it better for picking up hair. This is great if you have long hair (or pets, but I’m not worried about that)! It has the same no loss of suction vacuum thingy that Dysons use. I will totally be getting this eventually!

Malibu Pilates

This is totally a legit product, people. It’s not like the Thigh Master or something. Pilates chairs are real things, but they are mega expensive. This is like a way cheaper version of one with a workout video. I CRAVE it. Unfortunately, though it is cheaper than a “real” pilates chair, it’s still super expensive.

The Chef Basket

I would totally buy this, except it’s probably not as useful as it looks. I have a suspicion that the holes in the mesh are too big for most pasta. It’s a cool concept though!

I will confess that I already own a few products that I saw first on tv…

Yup, saw it on tv, but bought it at Walgreens. It’s pretty much like vaseline. It works about the same as vaseline, too, but I like it because it’s a stick so you don’t have to touch it when you’re putting it on.

Okay, who doesn’t own a Ped-Egg by now? Also bought at Walgreens, not from the tv. I find it pretty underwhelming. Maybe my feet just aren’t gross enough for it to be useful. (Probably thanks to my trusty Heel-Tastic stick!)

Yes, it’s true. I use Bare Minerals makeup! I’d heard wonderful things about it for a long time and I didn’t like any of the mineral makeups I’d tried. When Sephora opened at the mall in Champaign, I was all over it. I love it! I feel like I’m in a cheesy infomercial when I use it, though.

Okay, this is probably the most hilarious one. I do, in fact, own a Swivel Sweeper. It would be great, except the battery doesn’t last very long and I have to spend way too much time pulling hair off the brushes!

Your turn: What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever bought after seeing an infomercial? If you haven’t given in yet, what’s something you really want?

In no particular order, here are things that I really dig right now:

My Kindle. I have the one pictured above, with 3G. People are always saying they don’t know if they can give up the experience of reading a real book. I don’t care in the least. The display feels the same to my eyes as reading paper and it’s super light weight makes reading in bed much more comfortable! Plus, I love that I can have a book on my Kindle the moment it becomes available. I had been eagerly awaiting the release of the new Pink Carnation book (I will discuss them in a future post!) and I pre-ordered it on my Kindle. On Thursday at 12:01, it automatically downloaded! Instant satisfaction. I won’t even mention the ability to change the text size or the built-in dictionary…

Gap 1969 Perfect boot jeans. These are the only jeans I have found in years that don’t fall down when I’m wearing them or gap at the back when I’m sitting. They are the only jeans I’ve had in years that don’t have a saggy butt and hips on me. Love!

The Body Shop’s Shea Body Butter. Anyone I tell about this always gives me a weird look because it’s called “body butter”. This is THE BEST lotion I have ever had. It is the only thing that gets my poor dry skin through the winter. Also, it smells divine. I’m not a big fan of wearing perfumes or other scents, but this has a very very subtle scent that lasts quite a while. I cover myself in this in the morning and it’s still working at night. It’s a bit pricey, but a tub of it lasts me several months and it’s worth it to avoid the dry, itchy winter skin!

Method cleaning products. I first got into these because I wanted a bathroom cleaner that didn’t leave that horrible cloud of toxic fumes around the shower. All the products are supposed to be environmentally friendly, but I don’t know enough about that to say if it’s true or not. I just know that none of them have that horrible chemical smell! The ones I love and use are the tub n’ tile cleaner (pictured above), the toilet cleaner, glass cleaner, dish detergent, wood cleaner, hard floor cleaner, multi-surface spray, and kitchen antibacterial cleaner. Can you tell I’m in love?

Thirty-One Gifts. There’s a reason I sell this stuff, people. I looooove it. I love being all matchy-matchy too. I would gladly own everything in the above picture, in all it’s hot-pink lime-green glory. Specifically, I love my Retro-Metro bag and my Large tote. I use that giant tote for everything, especially for corralling groceries in my car and then carrying them inside all in one load.

Moroccan Oil. OH MY GOSH, you guys. This stuff makes my hair feel awesome. It takes me about half the time to straighten my hair when I use this and it looks twice as good. Not to mention the fact that it smells wonderful. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, to the lovely Jenna for this one. My life will never be the same.

E-mealz! It’s $15 for 3 months. You sign up for a certain plan and each week you get a dinner meal plan and corresponding grocery list. We have the Aldi’s for 2 plan and it’s great. The plan is tailored to what Aldi is carrying and has 5 dinners a week (The family meal plans have 7). You get a grocery list that’s organized into the different store areas. It makes dinner planning and shopping so much easier.

YouVersion
I use the website and the iPhone app. They have the One Year Bible reading plan now and it’s so convenient! It pulls up all the readings for you and you have a check list so you can check them off. I am a sucker for check lists!

S’mores Pop-Tarts. Yes please! These are my guilty pleasure. Yes, they have a disgusting amount of sugar. Yes, I love them anyway. I’m not a big fan of other Pop-Tarts, though. It’s all about that graham cracker crust.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish. I am really digging this stuff. When it says it dries in 60 seconds, it is not kidding! It goes on really thick and dries right away, so it’s like instant polish! It’s not the best quality stuff I own or the best colors, but it’s great when you don’t have lots of time. I love that it dries before I have a chance to smudge it! Now if I could only get it in my current favorite nail color…

I crave this shirt, y’all. It was all over the Lands’ End clearance catalog I got today, but is sadly NOT on clearance. Sigh.

I have a thing for nautical looking clothing. I think it runs in the family. My mom & grandma loved me in sailor dresses when I was little, and clearly my great-grandmother enjoyed the sailor look too, as you can see from this photo of my grandma & great-uncle when they were little:

Or they’re wearing some sort of costume, I don’t know. I just needed something to make this post more than the shirt I want.

Mark and I started doing Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class at church at the beginning of the month. We’ve had his book, Total Money Makeover, for awhile, but never got around to reading it. I wish we had. The class is great. I really feel like we have some control over our money now. We’re going to start doing the cash envelope system when next month’s budget starts and I’ve been looking into getting a new wallet that will work with that.

I’ve been wanting a new wallet for awhile now, because the one I have is too small and the pockets are all stretched out, which causes my cards to slide out. I want a wallet that I can put everything in, including my checkbook and envelope system. The catch is that I’d really prefer it not look frumpy. My mind works in such a way that if my wallet is cute, I’ll be more onboard with the envelopes thing.

The envelope thing that comes in the FPU materials doesn’t have space for my normal wallet stuff, and I’d rather use cloth envelopes that won’t tear up as easily. So I’ve been looking around online to see what other people do, and found some cute handmade options. I’ve come up with a plan where I could combine a fun envelope thing I saw with a cool wallet pattern, but unfortunately I don’t have a sewing machine and the materials, and even if i did, I’m not very good at sewing.

Here’s the fun envelope system someone has made (which you can buy on Etsy):

And here’s a cool quilted wallet tutorial that I want to use. (This person also has an Etsy shop.)

I’d love to combine these two ideas into a wallet with space for my cards and checkbook and with some cute envelopes in it. I’m thinking I could make something like the bottom one, but instead of unfolding all the way, it would be like a clutch, with all the pockets on the inside, with enough room to put several cloth envelopes in it.
I think I’m going to show my idea to my grandma, because she quilts and has a sewing machine, and maybe she can help me make it.