Look at these pretty flowers in my garden!

This is the first year the columbine have flowered, after nursing them along for the past 3 years. They’ve had a lot of upset in that flower bed but they keep trucking along. I need to get my gardening inspiration back, at the moment we’ve been too busy for it.

Last evening turned out to be a cluster of epic proportions. I can’t go into it all, as much of it is Mr. Ink family drama. The arrival of family back in this city went precisely as expected by me, which is to say a whirlwind of boundary breaking, boundary pushing, and expecting my family to drop everything to tend to needs of someone who is an adult and could help himself but has chosen instead to not communicate or plan anything in advance. My answer to all this was a very firm “No, that’s not going to work for me.” (Thanks Captain Awkward!) The moment you set boundaries with someone who doesn’t have them set regularly, all hell breaks loose, right? But I feel strongly that setting them now, upon arrival in the city, is the ONLY way to begin as I mean to go on.

I genuinely wish that my 41 year old self could teach my 21 year old self all about boundaries. There’s a point that you finally need to set them despite knowing that you will NOT be liked, and yet that’s still more peace of mind than not setting them at all. I went to bed with a clear conscience last evening, despite high irritation. I have limited the affect this extended family can have on me in my own home.

So, let’s talk about the stuff that happened that can be talked about. Miss Butterfly had a choir concert last evening. The last one of the year. There’s always a fairly quick turn around between getting home, getting the dog walked, getting a snack, and then setting out for choir, since the kids need to be there early. When Miss Butterfly went to change into her choir dress, she realized that she had grown out of it and donated it earlier this spring. She never mentioned it to me, and I assumed she still had it and we were all set. So we both panicked. After about 15 minutes of flailing and trying to come up with acceptable options (leggings, white tshirt, and grey flannel) that all didn’t work that well, I thought “I wonder if we could get away with the blue and white striped dress she wore to the wedding?” I took a look at the dress, and indeed that blue does shade toward grey. So we decided that would be the best option. She got all ready to go and we headed out the door. Thankfully I do believe we got away with it. That dress did look grey and white striped from stage, and so many people complimented her on it.

Due to the family drama, Mr. Ink had to miss the choir concert, which he was quite disappointed about. Again, a child should not suffer lack of parental support due to the drama and poor planning of extended family. We are NOT doing this again.

Stay tuned for actual knitting and spinning photos in the near future. Maybe even biking photos! But, today is for my mid month project pan check in. Plus, with all the drama I didn’t have time for knitting/spinning photos, nor did I have time for knitting and spinning.

Here’s the first original photo. The Clinique cc cream is gone, as in thrown out. The Clinique cleanser is at that point where I will need to cut the container to dredge out the last bits. I’ve made almost no progress on the highlighter or the elf setting spray. I’ve been wearing the dior perfume daily except while on vacation, but naturally it looks like no progress was made. I’ve been wearing the elf eyebrow pencil daily as well. And, on the eyeshadow? Well, I got smart and weighed it before I began, I have used 2 grams. Which I think is great! I’ve been trying to jazz up the eye look with adding in different eye palettes or colored eye liners when this gets boring, but I am going to need a break at the end of the month I think. Plus, I’ve looked at spoilers for my June boxes and I am anticipating at least one new eyeshadow palette.

Now on to the second original photo:

I did think to weigh some of these. No weight difference in the eye cream, but 3 grams of the night cream and 2 grams of the gel cream are gone. I failed to get a weight on the hair balm originally, but I have been using that regularly as well. I didn’t check the lip scrub, I’ve hardly used it and I feel confident there’s not much gone.

So, mid-month check in, I’d say things are moving along pretty well. During the past week or so I’ve identified some other products that need finishing, so these are getting added:

Left to right:

Peter Thomas Roth peeling gel exfoliant-I LOVE this product. It came in one of my boxes, and this is one of my absolute favorite products I’ve received. I didn’t expect to love it, but it’s fantastic. Will I repurchase? I dunno, it’s pricey and since I haven’t tried many face exfoliants in my lifetime,  I think I’ll wait and see if I get any more in boxes. I use this product about once a week, and I’ll be surprised if I can get another month of use out of it. But a girl can try.

Clinique gel moisturizer-I think this sample came to Miss Butterfly via Miss Marja. We actually have a full size of this one, so I guess you could call it a staple at our place. But, Miss Butterfly decided she prefers the Clinique cream moisturizer over the gel. So this became mine. There’s very little left in there at the moment, and it’ll need to be cut for the dredges soon.

Benefit Porefessional primer-I use this on my forehead as I’ve got a strange hole in my forehead. It’s not a pore. I don’t know what it is, perhaps a long forgotten injury. But it becomes very pronounced the minute I put on foundation without primer on my forehead. As soon as I kick this one, I’ve got another sample size, as I got another in a box this month. It’s a good primer, so I am not mad about it. But I do also have other primers I like better. Of course, if I use it as I did this morning, bending the tube to try to get the remainder out and then accidentally having it erupt all over my desk, it’ll be gone post haste.

Urban Decay’s eyeshadow primer potion-this works very well for me, and it’s almost gone. This is another sample I picked up. I need to cut the tube to finish at this point. I will not be repurchasing at this time, as I have a wet n wild eyeshadow primer that is nice and cheap and works just as well. Plus, I am testing out a heavier duty mac painterly paint pot to see how I like it. Totally different kind of primer but it too works very well for me. I also have heard recently that there’s a great cover girl eyeshadow primer out there that I can try. I think-when I can go drugstore brand with similar results, I should.

And that’s the mid-month update. I’ve got some items worked on, some items not at all, and now I am even adding some in. I’ll update again at the beginning of June. Meanwhile, Miss Butterfly is busy working on some of these as well, so I get an extra face to work with. She’s also emptying some products, so I’ll have to see if she wants to add anything to my empties box for next month, and give opinions on it. In the meantime, I am trying to think of what I can next post about in my makeup world, and I am thinking I may choose a thing or two from boxes and give a quick review on those. I just wanted to get a little wear time under my belt for those things.