Tuesday, August 28, 2012

JCP Free Kids haircuts

At the end of July I heard that JCPenny's was going to be offering free kids haircuts for kids PreK age to 6th Grade for the month of August.

Free...sweet.

So, August 1st I called and set up appointments with my local JCP for a week before school started for Maddie and Parker, I specifically told them to schedule them back to back and not at the same time so I could give my attention to each of them. Mackenzie had already gotten a haircut by my friend Kathryn, plus she has an adult head of hair.

When we got to the salon, at 10:30am they weren't busy at all. We waited for less than 3 minutes before we were called back.
Parker was first. For the first time ever, Parker was not excited by getting his hair cut. JCP salon as nice as it was...was definitely NOT a kid friendly environment. It took me 5 minutes to get Parker in the chair without him saying he wanted to get down. The stylist saw how put off he was and asked if we usually go to 'those kid places' Nope, never, not since they butchered Mackenzie's hair, we've always gone to a boring old barber shop...wherever Howard or my Dad was getting their hair cut at the time. Anyway, when I was convincing him to get in the chair, he got a little fussy because he just didn't want to. During that time every time Parker would refuse the stylist would get this frightened look on her face and physically take a step away from us, which both annoyed me and amused me. Please, don't get me wrong my son was not crying or raising his voice at all, he was just refusing.

I got him in the chair and the stylist took a deep breath before walking up to Parker, like she was afraid of him. The haircut went smoothly, Parker moved his head, and stayed still accordingly. He giggled every time she touched him with an electric shaver and in turn made the stylist laugh loudly...every time. By the end of the haircut, Parker looked like less of a shaggy puppy and the stylist had warmed up to him enough to offer him a lollipop.

About half way into his haircut Maddie was called to a different stylist, across the salon. I asked if she could wait until after Parker was done and the response was a sarcastic smile and a sweet voice saying, "now or never". Oooookay then. So, I left Kenzie standing next to Parker and went and told the stylist for Maddie that we wanted a trim because she is growing her hair out, long layers and a bang trim.

Luckily, Parker's hair cut was done moments later, so I could focus on Maddie. Her haircut went great, it looks beautiful and is easier to manage.


So besides the stylist attitudes I have one other complaint concern.  Their bangs. Parker's are jagged, a one inch piece in the front is longer than the one inch piece to the right, and the piece to the left is in between them. There is no symmetry. Maddie's are perfect in front, but as they frame her face, they go wonky. I will rectify this after their bath tonight because I've been ignoring it for a week and it's driving me crazy.
I can't complain too much, it was free and all things considered...my kids really needed their ears lowered.

Did you take your kids to get free JCP haircuts? How did it go?

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Review: 3 day Military Diet

I came across the 3 day military diet on the incredible Pinterest which is originally HERE. The diet said that if you follow it exactly you can lose up to 10 pounds after your 3rd day is complete.
I looked at the diet and all the comments and thought, "Wow, if this works, this would be awesome!" It's very easy to follow and very inexpensive to do as well, which is a major factor for me. 3 days out of my life for around 10 pounds, heck yeah I'll try it! So, I did. The rules state you must follow the diet EXACTLY, drink lots of water, you can use lemon/lime, salt and pepper for seasonings and you're supposed to do 3 days on the diet and then 4 days of regular, healthy eating.

Day 1- Monday- 7/30/12
I weighed in this morning after I woke up and used the bathroom, I will not share that number but I was glad that it had gone down since my previous weigh in. 
Breakfast: 1/2 a Grapefruit, 1 slice of toast, 2 tbsp of Peanut Butter and one cup of coffee or tea
With this, I did exactly as it called for. I did have crunchy peanut butter because I love it and one small drinking glass of iced tea with lemon.
Lunch: 1/2 cup of tuna, 1 slice of toast and one cup of coffee or tea
I realized that a 1/2 cup of tuna is one regular can. I seasoned it with lemon juice and salt and pepper. 
Dinner: 3 ounces of any meat, 1 cup of green beans, 1/2 a banana, 1 small apple and 1 cup of Vanilla Ice Cream
For this meal I had 3 ounces of grilled chicken breast that I seasoned with salt and pepper. I had 1 whole cup of cut, steamed green beans (and man, that was a LOT of green beans!) The only other thing I did here was wait about an hour after eating dinner to have my ice cream, which was delicious!
Besides the 2 glasses of iced tea I had, I also drank a half a gallon of water throughout the day, sometimes with lemon in it. 

Day 2- Tuesday- 7/31/12
Breakfast: 1 egg (boiled, fried, scrambled), 1 slice of toast and 1/2 a banana
I scrambled my egg seasoned it with salt and pepper.
Lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup of cottage cheese OR 1 slice of cheddar cheese and 5 saltine crackers.
I forgot how much I LOVED hard boiled eggs. That was delicious, as was the slice of cheddar cheese. I am not a fan of cottage cheese, so I chose the slice of cheddar. Want to know how to make the PERFECT hard boiled egg? Click HERE. Lunch was truly delicious, I could eat this on a regular basis.
Dinner: 2 hotdogs (no bun!), 1 cup broccoli, 1/2 cup of carrots, 1/2 a banana, 1/2 cup Vanilla Ice Cream
Hotdogs are gross, y'all. I am planning on doing turkey or even soy ones next time because...bleh. I steamed my broccoli and ate my carrots raw. I also waited an hour after dinner to eat my ice cream.
Today, as I'm sure you noticed there is no drinks allowed besides water. I was outside in the heat of the day today and drank about a gallon of water and sometimes had lemon in it.


Day 3- Wednesday- 8/1/12
Breakfast: 1 slice of cheddar cheese, 5 saltine crackers, 1 small apple
I messed up this morning. I ate a slice of toast (that I'm supposed to have for lunch) instead of the saltines by mistake. Oops.
Lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 slice of toast
Instead of the toast that I accident consumed this morning with breakfast, I ate the 5 saltines in its place. I found myself to be hungry within about an hour and a half after eating this. Today was a LONG day. 
Dinner: 1 cup of tuna, 1/2 a banana, 1 cup of Vanilla ice cream
I was starving by the time dinner came around. The one cup of tuna, I ate out of the tuna packages instead of the can seasoned with lemon and salt and pepper. I couldn't finish it. It was too much. I was not a fan of tuna by the end of dinner. Once again, I waited an hour before eating my ice cream.
I also drank about a gallon of water today, sometimes with lemon. Today was by far the hardest, especially after like 2pm. However, I could not help but notice how UN-bloated I was! There was a significant difference in my abdomen, face, hands, feet, legs. I was very curious how the weigh in was going to go in the morning.

Day 4- Thursday- 8/2/12
Today I woke up hungry but definitely could not deny the flattening of my stomach and the lack of any bloat in my body that I could see. That my friends, felt GREAT! I told myself if I lost more than 5 pounds in the past 3 days that I would keep at the program. I weighed in...I lost 7 pounds. 7 POUNDS IN 3 DAYS! YAY! No, it's not 10 pounds, but darn it I couldn't be upset with 7 pounds in such a small amount of time.

I have lost 53 Pounds since March 14th. I am pretty proud of that. Since I have been at a plateau for a few months I am going to keep at the Military Diet.
Try it, and please let me know how you did!!!!