Holy cow! Do people think before they say things???

I want nice looking, not trashy plastic rings. I do like different, but in this case of body jewelry, not flashy and crazy. Websites or local shops work for me. I would love it if Tiffany’s made them…unfortunately they do not But now that you know what kind of taste I have…

Suggestions welcome….and needed! ASAP!

What I want to know, is why it’s inappropriate for me to say uterus, cervix, cervical, cervical cancer, uterine wall, endometriosis, my period or anything pertaining to menstruation? 

All of these things are inappropriate for me to say when someone asks what’s wrong or why I must have surgery AGAIN, but we can have TV shows that are based solely on making jokes about bowel movements, burping, farting, gas and every single gross and disgusting thing the body can do.

Someone explain to me how this makes sense!

I love Sephora. And surprisingly, my husband is the one who introduced me to it when we first started dating! One thing I discovered while I spend two hours during my first trip to Sephora was a new lip plumper.  I asked the associate what they had and told her that all the ones I had encountered seemed to give me GIANT lips which look silly on my peanut face or do absolutely nothing.

She went and got a product called Lip Venom that came in this very cute cardboard tube. On the outside it was pink and had all the instructions, ingredients and all the normal things that come on the outside of a box of lip plumper. I obviously couldn’t try it, but I was able to open it, put some on my hand, smell it etc. I was pretty certain that when I opened the cardboard tube and pulled out the actual plumper tube (which was almost the same size) and the angels started singing and the stars started sparkling around it….that it might be the perfect lip plumper for me!

I took it home and I don’t remember the fact cost although I could quickly find out if you are curious just let me know.  As soon as we got to the car it was the first thing I tried on.  At first I got the tingle that I like out of plumpers.   The smell of it is delightful and within about a minute I got the perfect amount of plump. It wasn’t too much, it wasn’t too little. 

It was the perfect lip plumper!

Any questions feel free to ask

12 weeks later I brought him home. There was questioning by a lot of people.

“How will Mandi handle such a big dog?”

“Can Mandi afford such a huge dog?”

“Does Mandi know how to take care of such a BIG dog?”

There were a lot of doubts as you can see. (I had a really supportive boyfriend as you can see). But I didn’t care. I may have fibbed a little and told him we were going to “look at puppies” and had the cash in the pocket When I saw the runt of the litter. The last Dane left, my heart melted. Danes are typically wanted for their size and no one wanted this boy because he was the “runt”.  There was no other choice, he was coming home with me.

I put him into training classes right away, because some of the doubts people (some of which were from family members) had were valid. I was 75 pounds at the time and I knew Butkus had the ability to go up to 200 pounds if he got overweight. Unlikely, but still possible.  I had to have him trained ASAP. He loved it. He loved agility, he loved his puppy classes that were basically just socialization, and he even loved the ones where he had to pay attention and learn how to sit and stay…and do puppy aerobics. Which he can still do at age five.

Unfortunately, right before his first birthday he had to stop training. My big boy got since and we couldn’t figure out why. XRays and medicines didn’t work and after three weeks and $3,000 he had to go into an emergency surgery.  Monday morning he went in and 8 hours later he came out with 8 inches less of his intestine, neutered, and his stomach pexied.  He had an intussusception in his intestine, this is where the intestine telescopes inside itself.  But not only did it do that, it wrapped around itself. 8 inches of his intestine had died and while they were in there with his entire stomach open, they did the other necessities.

I took him home a few days later, and it was his birthday. He had a 50/50 shot of making it and that was being generous. He was in rough shape. I was terrified that before my baby even made it to his first birthday I’d have to say goodbye to him. And here he is. Laying on my feet at 160 pounds. A giant scar that’s probably 10-12 inches long…but a scar on him means life. Literally.

He had the most amazing vet. Dr. Dan Stack on Velasko Road. I will forever see him and will recommend him to EVERY ONE I know. I even had Dennis switch Paige to Dr. Stack. I will never trust anyone with my dogs like I trust Dr. Stack. He saved my Butkus and without him and my sister Cas, he wouldn’t be here today!

I am unfortunately STILL trying to figure out how to get everything back to normal! Bear with me….one day these posts won’t post 3 or 4 or more times…and my settings will be back to normal and it will all be good again.

In the meantime, you can always become a follower of the blog and then you’ll get an email when I write something you might be interested in

Ladies, when you buy an iPhone and download an app….it does NOT automatically make you a model. There are many beautiful models out there. Professional and up and coming….let’s give them the credit they deserve. Yes, I was a promotional model and have done some photo shoots, AND I have an iPhone…but you don’t see me taking my own pictures with my phone and calling it a “photo shoot”.

 What’s wrong with just taking pictures and saying that you were taking pictures for fun? Why is it that you have to say you are a model and you were doing a photo shoot? Don’t you think people realize that it wasn’t a professional photographer and that it was in fact your smartphone taking those pictures?

The ladies who model, whether it be promotional, or runway or hand-modeling work hard…let’s not take that away from them. 

 *Leave it to the pros ladies*

The hard part is getting out of these little funks. Bringing yourself back up. Getting over the things they say. Moving past the things they do.

This afternoon I’ve been in one of those little funks. Very annoyed. Cranky. Someone’s dog wouldn’t stop barking. A neighbor ALMOST HIT ME WITH THEIR CAR, but still, I just wanted out of the mood. I put away laundry thinking I’d feel accomplished. I cleaned all kinds of stuff thinking the scrubbing of random things would distract me. I started organizing some of the spare bedroom and the office. Nothing seemed to get me out of the mood.

Sometimes you just need an unexpected lift from a genuine friend. I received this…and there’s no way to bring me down now…

“You’re a legend now….a Greek goddess! Xoxo…

…I mean it and you are very welcome…you are a gorgeous woman inside & out & I am honored to call you my friend. You have a way about you, a positive, gentle strength that makes all who know you smile & feel like a better person just for being around you”

I literally don’t think anyone could say anything to make me question myself right now. Thank you Christy Dannible. You are truly an amazing person!