In The Middle Of A Set Of Chemical Peels

 Ok, I'm in the middle of a set of chemical peels. This weekend is my fourth weekend of peels. I've upped the ante. Now I'm doing a 35% Glycolic peel and I'm alternating with a Glycolic-Lactic acid combo peel with a 35% total combination. I've decided to do 5 weeks total this set. You're probably thinking I'm obsessed but hey when you get to be my age you need all the help you can get...hehehe... Doing them myself I feel I have control of the procedure and I don't feel like I'm throwing money down the drain. If I were to go to a medspa (which I've done by the way) it would cost $100 a pop, for 5 weeks that's $500 friggin' dollars. The medspas are raking in the dough. Cha ching...suckuh! I'm doing the peels myself for the total cost of less than $50. If you do decide to do these at home procedures please be careful and use a percentage that your skin can handle.

*Allene Angelica*
       =^_^=
Sent from my iPad

John Carter - IMAX 3D

This past weekend I watched "John Carter".  I watched it in IMAX 3D.  It was worth it.  There were so many things going on in the movie that I didn't have a second to be bored.  It is a fun entertaining movie and I'd like to watch it 2 - 3 more times to catch more of the details, as it was, I was busy concentrating on the characters and following the story line.  The beginning of the movie starts with a narration of Mars (Barsoom) and the conflicts of it's inhabitants, then off to New York to a millionaire, John Carter, who is being followed by a small nondescript man who John tries to shake off his trail in order to send a message to his nephew to come see him at his estate, then off to Arizona to a broke civil war vet, John Carter, who is prospecting for gold and finds himself in trouble with the law and then to Mars (Barsoom) where his life starts to become very interesting.  The background and scenery looked and felt authentic enough.  I imagine Mars to look very similar to how it was represented in the movie.  During one scene when the Princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris, was making her escape from an unwanted arranged marriage, or wait, maybe it was the fight scene when the evil bad guy was gifted with the power of the eight rays or whatever it was called, I can't recall at the moment, I had a feeling of deja vu.  Do you remember "Flash Gordon"?  A sci-fi movie from the 80's.  I must have watched that movie a hundred times when I was a kid ("the bore worms" although they never showed us the bore worms, the way the princess said it in "Flash Gordon", I didn't need to see them...I can just imagine the torture they can cause.  Ok, I've gone off on a tangent...back to the main topic).  Of course the technology and special effects has advanced since then but at that first moment in the flying ship I got the sense of having scene the vibrant colors, lighting, background, camera angles, I don't know how to put it, I don't know enough of movie making to place an exact finger on it but that feeling was there nonetheless.  Yes, I loved the movie.  It was thoroughly enjoyable and wouldn't mind watching it several more times.

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*Allene Angelica*

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Consumed With Thoughts of the Past

So here I sit consumed with thoughts of the past.  I'm on the third 'Sara Woodbury" novel.  Her time travel series!  I love how she takes a part of history and incorporates it and transforms it into a fantasy fiction sci-fi type of story.  I'd never in my life been interested in the country of Wales.  I knew that it's a part of England but that was the extent of my knowledge.  When I read "Daughter of Time" it started a curiosity in me and I looked online for Cymry (Wales) and Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Prince of Wales.  Reading her books brought Llewelyn back to life and turned him into a hero of Wales, a unifier of Wales.  Someone who I rooted for, not only for him but his descendants and trusted allies, as well.  He was someone who in reality was betrayed by everyone around him but in her books he had family and trusted allies who loved and cared for him.  Rather than just the cold hard facts of a history book, her books took the facts, read between lines and imagined a different life for our tragic hero.  Where in reality he was betrayed, beheaded and his head set up over the gate at the Tower of London for over 15 years without a son to carry his vision into the next generation, the hope of Wales as an independent country died with him, in her stories he lived, he loved and begot an heir.  What can I say, there is something compelling about sword fights, battles and intrigue with a splash of romance thrown in, not too much but just enough.

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*Allene Angelica*

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Me and My Gallbladder

One Thursday evening, after a nice birthday dinner for one of my brothers, I was getting ready to go to bed when a dull pain started to develop in my diaphragm area. I thought it was just a case of heartburn so I proceeded to take a couple of Tums. An hour later the pain had not dissipated and had risen in intensity so I took a chug of the pink stuff, Pepto Bismol. When another hour had passed and I was still squirming uncomfortably I decided to try Tylenol and sure enough about four tablets later I was pain free enough to get some sleep. The occurrence did not repeat again until Sunday evening. I was wriggling around in pain for most of the night. Monday morning was rough with only a few short hours of sleep but I managed to make it through the day. After eating dinner Monday evening the pain started again and by now I was frustrated about what could be causing the issue. I decided to go to Urgent Care. The decision made I grabbed my keys and headed out the door.
Once I was in Urgent Care and my vitals were taken I felt like I was experiencing deja vu. I was led to the same room I was taken to the last time I was hospitalized. The same Urgent Care doctor walked in and told me that an ambulance was on it's way to take me to the hospital because once again my bp had skyrocketed. Great!
When I arrived at the hospital I was bombarded by questions and given blessed multiple pain meds thru an IV. The relief was heavenly. I told one of the nurses the pain is comparable to the contractions I felt when I was in labor with my children which means... IT FUCKIN' HURTS!
I was poked and prodded until they found out after an ultrasound that it was the gallstones in my gallbladder that were causing the issues and an infection had developed. Lovely! Surgery was immediately scheduled for the next day. Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day to me! My gallbladder will be removed for me. No breakfast in bed, no luncheon instead, no dinner, no vino but chicken broth and jello...Happy Valentine's Day to me!!!
Although my Valentine's Day sucked it made me so happy to see my honey's face as I was wheeled out of the recovery room after the surgery.
So here I sit in my brother's and sis-in-law's guesthouse recovering nicely watching "Midsomer Murders" back to back completely gallbladder and pain free. Thank you to my family and friends who have been so supportive. Love you guys! I also have to thank the hospital staff for being so wonderful to me.
*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

Future Story Idea - What do you think? Yay or Nay?

Within the confines of it's cell, the creature androgynous in nature, schemes. Free to wander, it slithers to and fro unbeknownst to man. Listening in from dark corners and abandoned alleyways, it gathers information to use on any unlucky soul that crosses it's path. There are few who can sense it's evil and are naturally repelled by it. We call them the Sensitives. The Sensitives are a solitary lot, preferring to be left in peace to study, research and record past, current and future events for there are the lucky few who are seers.

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

The Wretched Creature

What can I say about a heart so black with no moral guidelines, run amok to cause pain and destruction from within.  The cancer spreads it's vile poison from one corner to another felling one innocent after another, old and young alike, there is no discrimination.  The attacks vicious and cruel meant to maim and cripple.  I do not cower from this poison but I avoid it's touch.  It's touch meant to disarm is revolting.  My stomach struggles to stay calm, my body still but I am not deceived by it's assumed cleverness.  The wretched creature uses human weakness as it's door.  "Oh woe is me, oh woe is me..." can be heard through it's lips whispering into the ears of the unaware.  But as surely as the sun rises every morn the truth will out.  The beast with it's sunken dark ringed eyes will blow it's cover and the black within uncover.
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*Allene Angelica*

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My Misery Inspires Me

Pain, anger, misery
Inspires me
My blood pounding
In my veins
My tears
A torrent of rain
My fingers clutching
My pen
The words
Flying to no end
Where, where
Is my misery
She is gone
Gone from me.

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

Vlogs

My daughter and I had a short discussion last night regarding vloggers.  It was a very brief discussion consisting of short precise text messages expressing her incomprehension of why vloggers vlog.  Most of the vlogs she has watched were boring in her opinion and hard to get through but she does enjoy the ones with comical skits.  It got me thinking...I've read a few articles from writers of the opinion that vloggers just want their five minutes of fame or a step up the ladder to fame and fortune.  Whatever the reasons...I think it's similar to why people blog just a bit more obvious, they are putting their face out there for the whole world to see.  Maybe they are expressing themselves in the only way they know how.  Maybe they feel more comfortable speaking in front of a camera while I for instance feel better writing or typing my feelings, opinions, etc... down on paper or my blog site.  Do I care if anyone reads it?  Not really...it's just my thoughts and experiences that I need to put somewhere.  I have had tons of journals over the years and tucked in to those journals are pieces of scratch paper, napkins, whatever I could get my hands on at the time to jot down thoughts, poems or ideas.  Most of them I've lost or burned never to be seen again, especially my racier ones.  When I die I don't need evidence for my children or my grandchildren to find and read just how passionate their mother or grandmother used to be, not that it would make any difference, I'd be dead.  I've kept my online blogs fairly tame.  Nothing to read years later and blush about.  Although if my children were to ever get their sticky little fingers on my journals and read them I'm sure they would just laugh and think to themselves..."That's our Mommy!"

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*Allene Angelica*

       =^_^=

Magic in the A.M.

Although it's uncomfortably cold at 5:30 am and I'm so layered in hoodies I look like an Eskimo, I love it when I walk my dog and notice the grass glistening with iced dew.  With the silent streets, the chill in the air and the grass sparkling as the street lights shine on them, it feels like magic.

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*Allene Angelica*

       =^_^=

I Don't Know What People Are Talking About

People tell me that I don't look old enough to have a twenty-three year old daughter but I look in the mirror and all I see are the ravages of time. I feel old. Especially this week. It's been a very brutal week. Stress, stress and more stress. I believe it was Tuesday or Wednesday night that I woke up at 12:30 a.m. with major lower back and stomach pains. I couldn't lay down comfortably in any position, sitting up was also impossible. I took a couple of extra strength Tylenols and an hour later it dulled the pain enough for me to get back to sleep. And then for the rest of the week the pain in my lower back has persisted. Even now as I sit here typing I feel it. Maybe I need to start doing yoga again. I don't know...

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

I Really Did Try

Back on October 1st I swore to myself that I would really try this holiday season to not indulge too extravagantly, to stay on the straight and narrow, workout regularly and stick to a tight budget.  Well it is now December 15th and I'd say I did indulge (several times, I must have gained 100 lbs I'm sure), stepped off the beaten path here and there, worked out sporadically and blew my budget out of the water, to my boyfriend's chagrin.  I'm glad the season is almost over but I can't say I didn't enjoy the lunches, dinners, shopping and parties because I did...immensely!  The one thing I've been consistent with is not smoking...hooray!  I'm really proud of myself for that.  I do still have some shopping left to do but not a whole lot, to my boyfriend's relief...hehehe....  The year is starting to wind down and I'm already thinking about my New Year's Resolutions.  This year I'm happy to say I accomplished one of my resolutions, which is a first.  It's time to set new goals for 2012.


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*Allene Angelica*

      =^_^=

My Aphrodisiac

As I lean in to kiss him, I inhale his familiar scent. The scent of Irish Spring, Armani, cigarettes and whiskey on the skin of the man I love, for me, will always and forever be an aphrodisiac.

*Allene Angelica*
=^_^=
Sent from my iPad

I Don't Mean to Offend But...

So, I read an article today, probably on Yahoo somewhere, I can't really remember exactly where I saw it.  You know how cyberspace works...we flip through millions of information a day between that and actual work by the time you get home your brain is exhausted.  Anyways, back to the main topic, I read that scientists did a study on college students to find out how many times realistically do men and women think about sex.  They found that the men thought about sex over 300 times a day while the women thought about sex around 140 times a day.  Huge difference!  Well then that got my brain thinking back on an asian anime that I watched a year or so ago, I'm sure it was rated R.  Well, this particular anime was majorly gory, I couldn't watch the entire series but I do remember clearly this one episode where a woman was being guarded because she committed some sort of offense and because she was miserable she wasn't eating enough and had lost a lot of weight.  The two guards guarding her were talking about her weightloss and made a comment that she was so thin that when she bends over while bathing they can see her butth--e and that it was so unattractive.  I was like "Really?".  So of course you know what I had to do, don't you?  I went over to my wall mirror and bent over...hahaha...and was relieved to find that I had enough junk in my trunk...hahaha...  So back to men thinking about sex over 300 times a day...I wonder if one of those times during the day if that particular thought passes through their brain?  Well, as for me, if us women think about sex 140 times a day, I'd say that thought has crossed my mind today about 10 times already.  And when I see an especially thin woman my mind wonders.....hmmmm....

FYI...Red LED Light Treatment

Just to update regarding the red LED light treatments for my eczema.  I no longer have the eczema issue on my face.  It's been completely abolished and has not relapsed since my last posting about the subject.  I am still doing the red LED light treatments on my face a couples of time a month.  Usually during the week after I do a chemical peel.  So far so good.  Really happy with the results.

My Spa Weekend at Home Part 2

Ok, compared to today yesterday was a breeze. How many of you have heard of coconut oil? To use for the face, body and hair? Well if you have then I must have been living in another dimension for the last few decades because apparently coconut oil has been known and used worldwide for quite a few centuries. Why didn't I know that? I don't want to get into all the specifics, you can google it yourself, but it has been proven to be a healthier oil to cook with and use as part of a beauty regimen for the hair and skin. There has been some controversy regarding using it on the face. If you read the reviews some people have benefited from it's antimicrobial properties but some claim that it's comedogenic. I think it just depends on the person and how their body reacts to it. So, I spent most of this morning googling coconut oil and by the afternoon I was excited enough to go run to the nearest Whole Foods Market and purchased myself a jar. When I got home I was dubious as I looked at the white solid oil. It smells delicious but it looks a lot like that Crisco lard that people use to fry some fried chicken in albeit the coconut oil looks a lot prettier. So standing in front of the mirror I had to plan my strategy. I wanted to use the oil as a pre-shampoo treatment so I used a clean spoon and scooped out about a teaspoon full and warmed the oil between my hands by rubbing my palms together. It melts quickly. As soon as it was melted I saturated my hair with it concentrating on the ends and working my way up to my scalp and then massaging my scalp with the oil. When I was satisfied that I had slathered on enough to saturate each strand I rolled my hair up and secured it on top of my head and covered it with a plastic cap. While the oil was doing it's thing I prepared my face for the fourth installment of my chemical peel treatment. I did the treatment leaving it on for five minutes and then rinsed it off with cold water. I then got in the shower and did a sea salt and honey body scrub. I massaged my entire body with the scrub. It felt invigorating. I then took off the plastic cap, let my hair down and shampooed it. After rinsing the shampoo and all of the scrub off. I got out of the shower and towel dried my hair, while it was damp I scooped out maybe 1/3 of a teaspoon, melted it by rubbing my hands together and softly ran it through my hair concentrating on the ends and avoiding my scalp. I don't want my hair to look too greasy and then I scooped a little bit more of the oil, melted it and massaged it on my face. I know I'm taking a huge risk experimenting with an unknown product right before Thanksgiving but I'm just too curious to not give it a try. Hopefully I don't wake up Thanksgiving morning with a break out of acne or pimples. Knock on wood. So here I sit on my bed feeling soft, relaxed and smelling like dessert. My dog keeps sniffing me and looking like he wants to take a bite...

*Allene Angelica*
Sent from my iPad