Shopping .. for myself??

I hardly ever shop for myself. I know .. it's pathetic. I put my kids before myself all the time .. I even put my husbands needs before my own. I wish I was one of these women that go shopping every week .. instead of like three times a year! My fluctuating weight issues over the years .. losing weight .. gaining it back .. losing it .. also don't help. There is nothing fun about shopping when you are overweight!

I wear scrubs to school so I don't really need nice clothing to wear on a daily basis .. most of the time when I get home I practically jump into my pajama pants right away .. they are just so comfy.

Sometimes however it is neccessary to actually buy myself some things. Now that I've lost 25 lbs .. that's twenty-five my pretties!! ..  shopping doesn't seem so depressing. My husband and I had a very casual wedding reception to go to this weekend .. yep it was in a barn .. it was very low key! I went out to see if I could find a summer dress thinking they would all be on sale at this time of year .. well I didn't find a dress but I did find some nice tops.

I really like this one ... I have to wear a black tank under it .. I paid $10 .. regular $36!

This one is kind of elasticated just below the waist so it tucks up a bit at that part .. super comfy .. again I paid $10 .. regular $36!

I also got some tank tops from Ricki's as they where having an awesome summer sale. It was buy one summer clearance item get one for $1 so I ended up getting these for $5 each!

And finally I got this green shirt and some shorts .. the tshirt was $5 and the shorts where $14.99 .. I also got a black pair of shorts but they are in the wash already!

I seriously couldn't believe the deals! I didn't luck out on shoes though .. why does shoe shopping suck so bad in this city?

Mabels Labels Giveaway Contest!

My children are notorious for losing stuff .. and it drives me nuts! Seriously, there is nothing more irritating than spending good money on stuff just to have it go missing. My daughter who is 12 is actually worse than my 8 year old!

I recently had the fabulous oppourtunity to review Mabels Labels, a Canadian based business which began in 2002. The first thing I noticed when my Mabels Labels Classic Ultimate Back to School Combo arrived was the fantastic packaging. All the labels are securely enclosed in plastic envelopes. I just love companies put thought into their packaging .. it makes such a difference!

Mabels Labels has a ton on selection .. my daughter and I sat on the computer for a good while before we decided on the color and icon she wanted. It was alot of fun to do this with her!

My kids don't have allergies but I can only imagine how fearful some parents are about sending their kids with allergies to school. Teachers are so darn busy these days I would feel alot better with my kids having these allergy alert labels on their things.

Mabels Labels also makes personalized stationary! I know alot of us moms have our own businesses .. how cute are these business cards?

My overall opinion is ummm .. how do we say .. why the heck didn't I think for this first??

Now .. ON WITH THE CONTEST!

Here is how to win your very own personalized Ultimate Back to School Combo (classic or colorful line):

Mandatory Entry:

Visit Mabels Labels and tell me what color you would pick!

Extra Entries:

Follow me on gfc

Follow me on twitter

Tweet about this contest and leave me the link (1x per day)

Enter my Shaklee contest

Follow Mabels Labels on twitter

Like Mabels Labels on facebook and comment One Cheap Canadian Mom sent you over!

This contest is open to Canadian & U.S addressess and will close on Friday August 27th which is just over a week from today.

Shaklee Giveaway Contest!

I'm a certified clean freak .. yep I get excited about cleaning products .. sad I know .. so when Bette from Frugalmomx3 contacted me about reviewing Shaklee products I jumped at the chance.

Haven't heard of Shaklee before? Shaklee specialized in earth friendly, family friendly products. They conduct over 350 tests on each product to check for harmful traces of certain chemicals! That's more than I can say for the Mr. Clean I've been using.

One bottle of Shaklee Basic H cleaning concentrate makes 723 L of cleaning solution .. now that is economical!

Shaklee also carries health and beauty products.

Now I've been using good old Windex but haven't been that happy with it .. I always feel like I'm struggling to get the streakiness out of the finish .. well let me tell you .. I just cleaned my windows (okay a couple of them)  using the basic H concentrate .. TWO DROPS MY LOVELIES .. for 16 oz of water .. and I couldn't believe the result. Streak free .. crystal clear .. me likeee!

Okay enough of my bantering .. ON WITH THE CONTEST ..

One lucky reader will win a $25 gift certificate to Shaklee courtesy of Bette at Frugalmomx3!

Mandatory Entry:

1. Tell me what you hate to clean the most in your house.

Extra Entries: these are worth one comment each

2. Follow me on gfc!

3. Visit Bette's Shaklee website and tell me how you would spend your $25

4. Follow Frugalmomx3

5. Like Bette's Shaklee facebook page

5. Follow me on twitter

Good Luck!

Please leave your email address in the comment box if it is not available in your profile.

This contest will run until August 31 2010 and is open to U.S. and Canadian readers!

That's like two frickin' sacks of potatoes!

Today I can't get this song out of my head .. want to know why?? I weighed in this morning at my weight watchers meeting and I am 24 lb down!! Oh yeah baby .. momma's gonna be smokin' hot in no time ..



Okay now that I have that out of the way .. let's talk motivation. I know alot of us struggle with this no matter what our goals are but for the sake of this post let's stick to losing weight .. okay? Kay.

Where does motivation come from? Motivation is not something you can buy, win or steal .. (duh) .. but you can find it.

It is within all of us .. sometimes lying dormant! I often talk to my mom about losing weight .. she talks about motivation as if it is something that is going to magically appear, drop down out of the sky .. tie her shoelaces up and hold her hand while she goes around the block. No No No.

Motivation comes with action. Ever wonder why you feel so good after you have done something good for yourself? This can be anything from exercise, doing your nails, going to bed early, eating healthy .. the list is really endless.

You feel good physically because your body is thanking you. But it's more than that .. you feel good emotionally because you acted. Purposeful action has a snowball effect .. you feel good for treating yourself well .. and therefore you will want to do it again. You are motivated.

I'm not kidding you and I'm truly not trying to sound like some infomercial guru .. but this is the honest to God truth about tapping into your motivation and spurring you on to reach whatever goals you have. Come on girls! We can do it!

This momma ain't so cheap.

Yep .. despite my blog name I didn't feel so cheap yesterday. I took my kids back to school shopping and dropped a bundle of cash. The sad thing is I'm not even done .. we went with the goal to buy the shoes, backpacks and socks. I always find shoe shopping the most time consuming so I wanted to get that out of the way first.

Do you want to know something even more sad? My kids have nicer stuff than I do!! whaaaa! It's not fair! How did this happen? It's so pathetic how I've jumped on their name brand wagon instead of my own.

Ohhh look .. Etnies .. try these on Griffin ..

I've bought cheaper shoes for them in previous times only to see them fall apart in a month. Griffin is hard on his shoes .. aren't all boys? Payton is getting older so she needs a good quality shoe for gym especially .. from what she tells me they work pretty hard in gym class and I've seen her red face more than once when I pick her up from school.

So with that in mind I splurged a little this year in hopes that their shoes will last. I have no idea why he feels the need to do this to the laces .. apparently it's cool but I don't like it .. it's not even!! I need things even!

These are Paytons shoes .. the ones on the far left where $5 !! Okay I got my cheap giddy for the day .. and what kid doesn't need a pair for kicking around in the yard?

I love these Adidas ones ..I might get a pair for myself. I tried a pair of the Nike's on myself but felt like a total loser .. lol.

So next it's lunch kits and a few clothes .. I'm just so happy to get the shoes out of the way!

Why didn't I do this sooner .. cabinet organization.

You know when you think you are fairly organized and then you start looking at something and realize your not? Yep that was me this morning looking at the state of my bathroom cabinets while brushing my teeth .. ughh .. can we say gross? GROSS! No rhyme or reason to this disaster.

I'm lucky to have quite a bit of storage space in the bathroom but I needed some containers to group like products together. If we didn't have kids I would pick the pretty fabric lined ones .. but in our house it's just not practical .. I need to be able to wash them out easily. 

I found these little baskets at dollarama. I like them because they don't have the little annoying holes in them for stuff to fall out. I wish they came in better colors but they work and I'm cheap so whatever!

My camera is a pile o crap and takes crapola pictures if you haven't noticed .. I am shopping for a new one this weekend .. but the labels say His Stuff, Teeth Stuff, First Aid and Medicine. My first aid basket even has a first aid manual in it .. wootwoot .. isn't it amazing the things that excite you as a 35 yr old mother?

 

And of course I have to have my own cabinet. Yeah I'm a bit of a product freak.

Her Stuff and Extra Toiletries .. on that topic why is it necessary to open four different bottles of shampoo and three different body washes at the same time .. this drives me batty ... twitch.

I'm pretty happy with it .. as long as it stays that way (it better!).

On my wish list.

So I'm not one for following these celebrities (do I really need a reason to make their wallets fatter than they are?) and I certainly wasn't a huge fan of Jennifer Aniston until she did Marley and Me. I think it was that scene when she just puts the baby down for a nap and Marley starts barking and she has a complete flip out on her husband. Yeah .. I definately saw myself in that scene.

In my opinion she also has a great sense of style .. and um hello?? A perfect body. I hate you Jen.

When I heard she released her own perfume I admit I was a little intrigued.

'Jennifer Aniston' is described as 'a fruity/floral perfume, inspired by Jennifer Aniston’s earliest and most treasured recollections of scent. A captivating blend of blooming jasmine, citrus notes and a sensual musk base evoke long sunny days at the beach and balmy summer evenings'.

Sounds like my kind of perfume! This will be on my Christmas list for sure .. what fragrance are you all wearing right now?