What To Do When Your Orchid Loses Its Flowers....

I've been meaning to do this post for a while now. I got a beautiful Orchid for Christmas last year from the wonderful family I babysit for, and so I have been looking after it as best I can.

A few weeks ago all the flowers on my Orchid fell off, and the stems were turning a yellow / brown colour, so I went in search of what to do next, because I had never owned an Orchid before. I found great advice and so I tried it out - I'm hoping it'll all work out in the end. I also found out that they only flower for 6 months of a year, which bumbed me out, they are so pretty and hoped they would flower more often.

Anyways here is what I did :

My Orchid with no more flowers and the stems turning light green / yellow / brown

Close up of the top two stems

Take some gardening scissors and cut about an inch from the base of the stem. For me it was about two nodes up from the bottom. Snip the ENTIRE stem off

This is how much stem you should cut off, you can see the difference in colour change from the bottom up to the top where there are two stems

This is what your Orchid should now look like, just a short little stem like this to start growing a new stem and hopefully new flowers when it has fully grown :)

I water my Orchid using the 3 ice cube way. It is so much easier to not over water the Orchid, and I found it was sufficient enough for mine. So once a week I put in 3 ice cubes at the base. I am still trying to figure out how and when to do the re-potting part, once I have, I will do another post! :)

Happy Easter....

Happy Easter everyone!!

I know I have been EXTREMELY slack at posting, but school has really taken up a lot of my evening posting time! So just wanted to stop for a bit and post and say Happy Eater to everyone that reads this :) Last night I died eggs for the first time ever, it was pretty neat, I enjoyed it! I did some glitter ones, majestic marbled looking ones and some plain ones using a wax crayon! I had to try it myself, we don't have kids yet so why not try it if I haven't experienced it yet? LOL

Hope you all have a great day! What did you do to celebrate your Easter this year?

March Birchbox....

Woohoo!! My March Birchbox arrived today, and yes I couldn't WAIT to open it and see what I got this month.... This months theme is "March Madness".... Again I was impressed, wasn't disappointed at all with this one. I actually checked out the sneek peek video of what we could get in the boxes and two of the items I was hoping to get I got :) I would have loved to get a sample of an eye shadow, but gosh the samples I got were really awesome this month too :)

Here the pics :

Woohoo!! I got a pic of the box it comes in this time....

Woooooo!!

Here is a list of the samples I got :

1. Madewell for Birchbox Emry Board

2. Vasanti - BrightenUp! Enqymatic Face Rejuvenator (Enriched with Papaya Micro-crystals and Aloe)

3. Twistband

4. Lipfusion Infatuation - La Lip Jole

5. Whish Shave Cream

I really wanted to get the Twistband and the Whish Shave Cream. The Whish Shave Cream smell AMAZING. It is blueberry scent - omg WOW!!

The Twistband is pretty cool too, they have a website, check it out : The Twistband

If you would like to try some yourself - go ahead! It's easy to cancel!!

https://www.birchbox.com/?raf=hxlv8

Birchbox February 2013....

Hey!

Well I must say I have been pretty busy with school, and it has kept me away from blogging. We just had "Winter Break" last week, and somehow the week just got away from me - boo!! :(

Anyways, I received my first Birchbox in February! It was really late, because it got snowed in with that big snow storm that hit, but I got it and I was really impressed. There were some really cute awesome samples in my box, so thumbs up to Birchbox for February 2013!!

Here is what I received in my box :

My First Birchbox....

Open....

Ooooo....

All the samples I received....

From top - Right to Left....

1. Beauty Protector - Protect & Detangle Leave in Conditioner

2. WEI Pomegranate Buffing Beads

3. Juicy Couture - Couture La La Purfume

4. Golden Root - Purifying Mud Mask

5. Ghiradelli Caramel Chocolate

6. Color Club - Professional Nail Lacquer - Mamba Color

So pretty excited about receiving my March 2013 Box, hopefully it will not disappoint :)

If you would like to try some yourself - go ahead! It's easy to cancel!!

https://www.birchbox.com/?raf=hxlv8

Have a fab new week friends!!

I Am So Grateful....

I have ALWAYS been SO grateful for the way my Mom brought myself and two sisters up!! Being a single Mom, she has done an outstanding job of teaching us how to be thankful, fend for ourselves and helped all three of us turn into who we all are today!!

The most grateful thing I always think about, is how she didn't buy us things, she taught us how to WORK for something we wanted. Everything I have, I have purchased on my own, after working for the money to get it. I bought my own first Cell Phone, I bought my own Laptop, I moved out and paid my OWN rent!! There are a lot more examples, but those are a few of the big ones I'm going to mention. All of those have enabled me to be independent and do things on my own.

Maybe you are thinking, why did she blog about this? Well a lot of things have made me want to blog about this, but never did. Eventually I decided to blog about it tonight, because I see SO many young kids these days (especially after moving to America), that are so ungrateful, and say hurtful things to their parents that GIVE them everything!! So many kids don't work for what they have. Note, I did not say ALL so please do not read this the wrong way. But there are a good amount of kids out there today that demand all the latest things, and when they have it they always find something else they don't have and need NOW, and say their parents suck because they don't have this and that. It saddens me to see those comments from kids....

So thanks to my Mom for being the BEST teacher I have ever had and always will have in my life!! Love you Mom :)

Picture taken in 2010 :)

Winner of The Second Giveaway for Budget Savvy Diva''s book....

Hi all....

Again thank you ALL for participating in this exciting giveaway!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!!

Below is the winner (click the link below).... The winner has 48 hours to message me to claim their prize!! Please contact me via my Facebook page : South African Girl in America :)

http://www.randompicker.com/protocol/22349x82215

Congrats again to the winner :)

How Did Your Sunday Go?....

Firstly, can you believe it is already FEBRUARY!?!? I seriously can't believe it!!

How did your Sunday go?

Mine ended up rushing myself to the Emergency section of the Hospital here!! My all time WORST fear since arriving here in May 2010 came true - having something bad happen and not knowing what to do or where to go, and worst of all, doing it by myself!! The medical system here makes me nervous and it intimidates me for some reason, LOL....

Want to hear the story? It's funny NOW, it wasn't at the time!!

I decided to make myself some guacamole for some guacamole and chips (no, not for the Super Bowl game!! LOL) to enjoy, only because I love guacamole and the mix I found in the store the other day.... I had already put one Avo out into the bowl, I was now on my second Avo, done one side and was trying to take the pip out of the other (I had done this for YEARS with Avos), this one was a bit tough to take out, and the knife slipped, went through the flesh of the Avo through the back and sliced the inside of my left index finger. I'm going to spare all the next gory details. But basically I ended up having to rush myself to the emergency room (luckily it wasn't too far). *Just have to put, thank you to my friends / neighbours for the thoughts, even though you couldn't help - everyone gets busy and it is understood* :) you guys are still special to me!! :D

2.5 hours later after rushing there, giving information and waiting to be attended to, then getting my finger cleaned and 3 stitches in, I was getting my pain meds and off home, with a very numb finger. I must say, the numbing injection, has got to be the WORST pain / feeling I have EVER felt. It stings, it's uncomfortable and literally swelled up my finger :( - not the best feeling in the world. BUT it was the best feeling in the world once it was done and my finger was numb and there was no longer any pain.

All my life, I heard / saw so many people I knew break bones, fall and need stitches, but never me. UNTILLLL today!! Haha.... Well I now have had my experience with stitches and I will say, I never want to go through that again!! NEVER!! Not a great start to February, but lets hope this isn't a start to a bad medical history for me!! Lol

Other than that it has been an okay day. I also received an amazingly delicious pasta dish from an awesome neighbour, which made it so much easier for me....

Sort of better :) 

(I'll spare the other pics for you :P)

2nd Giveaway For Budget Savvy Diva's New Book....

Yes! Yes, I am!! I decided to be a sweet heart and give another book away (hey if it's not the winner buying it it's me, it's a win win situation, right? :D). So many people would like to have her book, and I know some people struggle, so I think this is a good idea on my part to do this!! To help another person out :)

So yeah! You know the drill, put your entry in below and GOOD LUCK!! :)

This giveaway will run from 01/28/2013 at 8:15pm to 02/03/2013 at 6:00pm. The winner will be announced on my blog on 02/03/2013 at 8:00pm. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner For My Giveaway Of BSD's New Book....

Hi all....

Again thank you ALL for participating in this exciting giveaway!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!!

Below is the winner (click the blue dot :D).... The winner has 48 hours to message me to claim their prize!! Please contact me via my Facebook page : South African Girl in America :)

http://www.randompicker.com/protocol/21756x88810

Now because this was pretty popular, and there are so many people that really want Budget Savvy Diva's book, I'm going to hold another giveaway for a chance for a second winner!! *The winner of this giveaway (one I just had) cannot enter again* This just allows a fair chance for others :)

I have made a new post for the second giveaway. (This will be the last giveaway for BSD's AMAZINGLY POPULAR book, lol)



**Just wanted to add that for both these giveaways - it was MY idea and NOT BSD's.... This is alllll me :D

Pencil Cases for School....

I am SO use to using a Space Case or Pencil Bags for my stationery for school, that when it came time to finding one I really liked here I could NOT for the life of me find one!! It was so frustrating. I had decided I wanted a Material Pencil Bag, I spent a week looking for the perfect one. One that was long enough to fit a 30cm ruler and all my other things I needed.

I eventually found a ton on Etsy.com, they were all small though, too short for a 30cm ruler. I went through MANY different peoples stores on there, and didn't find a material or look I really liked!! UNTIL I came across a few Pencil Cases made with the "Mini Owl" material - so freaking cute!! I instantly loved the look of the bags she made and she had an interesting selection of materials to choose from. I ended up messaging her to ask if she would be able to make two Pencil Cases that would fit a 30cm ruler in it, and she replied SO quickly saying she absolutely could. I was so excited, and chose two materials I really liked and she got the order done and out VERY quickly!! I was so SO happy with the service from her and how quickly she did the custom request for me, because I was starting so quickly, I really wanted to get it as soon as I could :)

When I received them I was SO impressed with the quality, and how they were made! I'm sure they are going to last me a LONG time to come :)

Go ahead and have a look at her store : teniamariecreations she has some really cute things!!

Thanks so much again Bernadette!! 

Cute right??

* I was NOT paid for this. This is my personal opinion about this product....

Tear Stains on Dogs -- How To Get Rid of Them....

Have you got light furry balls of fun fluff? Have you battled to keep your wonderful light furry balls FREE of Tear Stains?

Well I answered YES to both of those questions months ago.... I was told briefly about Angels Eyes but never really paid attention to it, until the look of my little Max's VERY tear stained face kind of "shook me" - you know when a person takes their hands, puts them on your shoulders and shakes you? LOL...

I then remembered the Angels Eyes name and started to do some research on it. To my shock it was SO expensive!! For a 2.12 oz bottle of the powder it costs $25. You can order from their site directly, but with doing my homework, it was A LOT cheaper to order it through Walmart.com and choose the "free ship to store" option. You can click here to go directly to the Walmart.com page for the Angels Eyes just to make it easier for you :) Only thing is that on Walmart.com they only have the Beef Flavor. But on the Angels Eyes site they have all of their flavors : Beef Flavor, Chicken Flavor and Sweet Potato Flavor.

I can safely say that I noticed a big difference when using it within the first 2 weeks! Use it as recommended on the bottle and you will not go wrong!! I use it twice a week now and it still works great!

Have a look at the difference in Max's face.... The pic will probably be too small on the screen now, so try clicking on it so you can see it good :)

* I was NOT paid for this. This is my personal opinion about Angel Eyes....

Budget Savvy Diva's New Book - GIVEAWAY!!!!....

So here it is....

I am giving away ONE copy of Budget Savvy Diva's new Book "Budget Savvy Diva's Guide to Slashing Your Grocery BIll by 50% or More. Sara Lundberg."

This is an awesome book, and I know anyone that wins this will enjoy it as much as I have already and I have only had it for 2 days!! Here is my review for I wrote for her on Amazon I wrote hours after I received the package and started going through it : 

"I got this earlier today - and yes I already have a review!! It is such an easy and informative read for ANYONE!! She has some great fun tips on how to save money, I love that part, but also love the tips on doing a meal plan, she makes it so EASY the way she does it!! LOL.... I love how a budget tip book also has recipes to go with the budget, I have personally made some of her recipes she has posted to her website ([...]) and they are SO easy, cheap to make, and every one of them has been delicious and FULL of flavour!!

You will NOT regret buying this book! It's the perfect size to not get overwhelmed with a MASSIVE amount of looooong drawn out tips, they are straight to the point, easy to understand and easy and fun to read - which makes it easier to remember :) Congrats BSD on your new book!! Can't wait for the next one! LOL"

I will need to contact you via your email address if you are the winner so please leave it in the comments. Otherwise make sure to keep an eye out for the winner, and if it is you you can contact me :)


Good luck!! 

First Week Of Being A Student Again After 8 Years & Two South African Connections....

WOW!! What a week!

So as many of you know I started my first week of studying at Washtenaw Community College this week. It has been quite an adjustment going back to school after 8 years, especially it being evening classes, so it has made for really long days for me (3 in a row), I'm hoping I can get through this first semester with good grades, and actually survive the sleep loss, LOL....

Some will probably say my schedule isn't that bad, but for someone going back into studying after so long I think it is semi-brutal, with it having to be evening classes!! Okay maybe I'm over exaggerating a bit, but still, LOL

I thought I would just run through my first week of my new adventure being a student again in a USA College, for friends and family back home (or anywhere) that are interested in hearing about it :)

So on Monday I went for a mandatory Orientation at the Writing Center at WCC, it is Mandatory for all who sign up for specific English Classes. It was an hour long and they basically told us what to use the Writing Center for, and to give us a list of Assignments that we have to do on our own, which then count towards 25% of our English Grade at the end of the Semester. There are 12 Assignments to do, and starting January 31st they are due every Thursday! Wow!! LOL.... So I started on them so I could be finished with them early and have them behind me, so I can just concentrate on class work.... We had to write a paragraph of what we remembered the lady telling us about the Writing Center, and then take it to one of the Tutors that are always there during the week, to read it and sign it off and file it away. I randomly picked one lady and she ended up being born in South Africa!! How weird is THAT!! Her Mother lives in West Bloomfield (even weirder, coz that's where I Au Paired in 2006 - 2008), lol.... She was super sweet and offered help in all aspects of my life, which I thought was amazing :)

Tuesday evening I had ACS (Academic Skills Seminar), this helps us with how to study etc etc. Have a nice lecturer, she is the International Student Counselor, which is pretty nice if I may say so myself!

I also have a Math class on Tuesday evening, so I end classes at 10pm :( boo! LOL.... 

Anyways, I was pretty nervous about this class, having not done Math for YEARS!! I just didn't know what to expect! He is retired already and now only lectures a few classes.... Anyways it turned out that my lecturer had lived in Swaziland for 2 years with his wife and kids! His son went to a small school with the other missionary kids that were around there with their families and two of his daughters ended up having gone to school in PIETERMARITZBURG - where I come from, now seriously, how weird is that?? LOL.... I must say I was pretty shocked! I couldn't understand how I of all people ended up with a lecturer that had been to SOUTH AFRICA, lived there AND his daughters went to school in PMB, he had been to Durban often and also Johannesburg where friends of theirs they met lived. Funny thing was, that the family they knew in JHB, their son was engaged to one of the ex Miss Michigans while they were there!! LOL

It's just all so shocking to me still, two South African connections in two days and at the same College that I'm going too. Pretty strange but AWESOME at the same time!! :)

On Wednesday I had English, well what can I say about English? It's my first language, but I hate "learning" English, it must be the most boring subject ever, however, I will not complain TOO much about it, as I have to do it and I am enjoying College so far. I will be honest and say I will probably battle a bit with that class, not because I don't know the work and language, but for other reasons, I won't go into detail online for the world to see, and me get into trouble, LOL... One good thing about the class already, is that we all voted to not take a 25 min break in the middle, but to take off 25 min at the end and leave early!! So instead of 9pm ending, it is now 8.30pm :D

Thursdays are a repeat of Tuesday evenings :)

What I like so far is that all of my classes are all in the same building this semester. Which is nice because I can get use to this block and later on know exactly where to go if I have more classes next semester in the same building.

Student Center Building, I love this pic for some reason (I think it's the colour of the trees :) )

This is to the left of the building I have my classes in. I couldn't find a day picture of the side I go into...

This is the side of the building I go into every time. I took this pic on Thursday eve to send to my Mom :)

I am aiming for at LEAST a 2.0 GPA which is a C, I would LOVE to get a 3.0 which is a B, but we will see. This is my first Semester here, first time back at school after a very long time and so I don't want to PUSH my expectations too tooooo hard :) But I will have an update of my end of Semester Grade at the end for sure!!

HERE'S TO A GREAT FIRST WEEK OF THE REST OF MY LIFE AND A DREAM OF MINE!! ELEMENTARY TEACHING DEGREE HERE I COME!!

Budget Savvy Diva's First Book.... Also a surprise :)

Wow!! I have not been this excited about a package delivery and a post in a while....

Today a VERY exciting package made it's way to my door! It contained TWO amazing books that I have been waiting patiently (well trying to, lol) to be shipped (I pre-ordered them on Amazon a few weeks ago) and be delivered.

I have mentioned before in previous posts (food posts) how I follow Budget Savvy Diva on Facebook and get the recipes I have made from her. I have also got a page on my Blog dedicated to her and her AMAZING Frugal Recipes, with their links to her website.

WELL she now has a BOOK!! I am so freaking excited to have now received that book and can't wait to start trying out her amazing Frugal Recipes and slashing my grocery bill by 50% or more.... You can order her book on Amazon here. You seriously won't regret buying it! The recipes are also so EASY!! She also has a ton of awesome tips on how to save money in many areas of shopping!

Now I have something even more exciting (the surprise :)).... I decided to get TWO of these amazing books because I thought it would be fun (and nice) to give one away (I'm keeping one obviously, duh! haha).... Soooo I will be having another giveaway soon :) In the next 2 days or so, so watch out for my giveaway post so you can enter and who knows maybe you'll be the lucky winner!! :)

Have a great weekend friends!!

 

Just Have To Say.... And Teachers Blogs I Love...

I just got to say this.... I can't wait until I can start a Teachers Blog! I just wish I knew how to make all those cutesy things the other Teachers Blogs I'm finding are making, LOL...

They are so awesome (the Teachers that do the blogging), they are most definitely going to be giving me some awesome ideas - so glad I found them, and look forward to finding more and more awesome blogs....

Have a look and see some of the Teachers Blogs I have found and LOVE so far...

src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXAjTRu6-ryQKKeSe-OA1jGmUx35A41AYkW0_ptGn2rTnpSW8z2EKvioRRaVMV7MF1XVLZ3dsv7c2ShCl-FSwKi7HxKgSelbGDb6PtIhS1Mfcqtc5dGaVYzHbkDoAtsOL1rkzFnbT04R7i/s1600/button.png" alt="Bedford, Love, and Teaching" width="125" height="125" border="0" />

LeParcel.... This Is For The Ladies....

Hey!

This is for the ladies :)

So I was online the other day having a look at random things and look what I came across.... It is called LeParcel I thought it was a BRILLIANT idea for us ladies.... Pretty cute too :) I decided to try it out, so I'm still waiting for it to arrive... It arrives on the same day you choose it to every month :)

Thought it was a pretty fun idea :)

Have a look at the video to understand it a little more : 

Happy New Year - 2013....

Today begins a NEW DAY and a NEW YEAR....

Although this feels like a normal day to me, and does not feel like a New Year like every other year (Christmas didn't feel like Christmas for me either), it is a New Year, and I intend to make 2013 an AMAZING one for myself!!

So far all I can say is that one of my dreams will be coming true - I AM STARTING MY BACHELORS DEGREE for Elementary Teaching!! I can not tell you how excited I am about this, but I'm also pretty nervous, not too sure if I am going to be able to do it while being busy all day then going to classes in the evenings (only two evenings a week for now), making for very long days for me, then waking up early on a Saturday and going for one class and maybe working at Kohls still on a Saturday and Sunday.... 

One decision I will need to make pretty soon, is about working at Kohls. It's a sad decision to make, but will probably be a good decision to decide on sooner than later! I really don't want to stop working at Kohls (that is my social life right now, lol), I also like the Associate Discount, lol, but it's still a different environment to be in - a GREAT environment to be in....

So right now school is the only exciting thing happening THIS year :)

Hope you all have a wonderful 2013 and that all YOUR Hopes and Dreams come true for you!! Let it be filled with LOVE!!

P.S. What are your New Year Resolutions? :)