Online Friendships? Beware

Hi everyone. Today I just wanted to share a very unpleasant experience I just had.

A few months ago I had met someone on social media. This person was always kind, always left nice comments and then this person began sending me gifts. I have to be honest, at first I was a little irked by this but I thought well I guess they are just a very nice person who likes to do nice things for others. We began talking a lot online and then we were on the phone almost every day, two and three times a day for the last few months. 

I……thought we were very close. More like sisters than friends. I shared very intimate details of my life with this person. During this time, the gifts kept coming and I kept saying thank you but please don’t spend any more money on me, don’t send me any more gifts,  it’s very nice but I don’t need things, our friendship is blessing enough and I meant it. I felt uncomfortable with all the gifts but regardless of how many times I said no I can’t accept it was given anyway and I didn’t want to send it back because I didn’t want to insult them. I should have listened to myself and done just that.

Well, sadly it turns out this person was not what they said they were.. After doing some thinking I realize I was manipulated. This person suddenly flipped out on me(at the worst time because I had, had a VERY bad morning that morning and they knew how upset I was because we spoke on the phone about it, so basically they kicked me when I was down) because they didn’t like the way I was living an accused me of being all kinds of things (which are not true) for no good reason.. The funny part is for all the criticism they threw at me they are simply no different than I am, act no different than I do with the exception of one aspect. I don’t try and buy people and then try to dictate to them how they should live and be. 

So because I am not what this person thinks I should be, and I am not living how this person thinks I should be they, after having been cruel with words, in an instant blocked me from their social media and cut me off at the knees like I never existed. Before I was blocked (for no good reason either) I responded in kind and was told that I was being hostile. Hostile??? Really??? NO, I was not hostile, I was hurt, very hurt and still am. I thought this person was a best friend, a sister. Two titles I do NOT give out easily, I opened my heart to them and I trusted them.

But even for as bad as I might feel about this all is not lost because I have learned a few valuable lessons. 

1. If someone comes at you bearing gifts (especially when they don’t really know you), and that same someone keeps sending you gifts despite your constant telling them not too, and that same someone does not take no for an answer in reference to these gifts, be aware. Be VERY aware. Something isn’t right.. You’re being bought.

2.  As for myself, my hurt will heal (and my personal embarrassment at being so stupid) and I will not allow this to make me bitter but I will never again open my heart to an “online stranger”. I will never again trust an “online stranger” and I will leave them or keep them as two things. Acquaintances or strangers.

3. I will never fall victim again to allowing myself to be bought because now I know what it looks like and I will not allow myself to ever be manipulated by someone again by believing everything they tell me about themselves.

 To sum up, looking back now I see a pattern that I didn’t allow myself to see. This person told me about other “friendships” they had and how it was hard for them to trust anyone etc. and for one reason or another this person had cut them off( and it was always the fault of the other person).  So, for all of you who have “online only friends” be careful. Be very very careful. I should have known better. I’ve been online for over a decade and I’ve seen a lot I’ve just never been victim too it until now. I always took people at their word and I realize now that I can no longer do that. Do not believe everything someone tells you. People are not honest. They will paint themselves to be whoever or whatever they want you to believe or even scarier what they believe themselves to be…

Life Updates And Some Chat

Hi everyone…I felt like writing a post today and thought I would just kind of chat with you all.. 

Happy February! It’s been a busy week so far and it’s only February 2nd but the first week of the month is always busy for me because I do my monthly food shopping and figure what bills need to be paid when and all that good stuff.

This month I got a nice break with the food shopping. Usually I go to Costco one day and stock up on our bulk items for the month like toilet paper and paper towels and then the next day I hit the Walmart and get the food we will use for the month and then the third day I hit the local grocery store and get my produce. I like getting it there because it’s always so fresh. This is a tiring routine for me as I don’t have a lot of energy to begin with but, this month hubby went to the Walmart and did the bulk of the shopping while I did the Costco haul. That was a huge help to me. Then one day this week I”ll go get some produce.

An update on the dogs. Our Toby is still having tummy troubles so today he went to the doctor , they took a sample (use your imagination), and they sent it out to an outside lab. He’s being tested for a lot of different parasites. I hope we get some answers soon so we can get him to feeling better.  Matty, one of my lab mixes has been on a thyroid pill for a couple weeks now since we found out he’s hypothyroid and I think they are making him mean. He’s been super nasty to our other dogs including his brother who is and always has been his best friend. It’s been a lot of fun dealing with that. (yes, that was sarcasm). Matty will go in on the 15th of this month to have his blood run to see where his levels are at and at the same time his biological brother Jake will be tested to see if he’s hypothyroid as well. Fun fun (more sarcasm)

Bailey is holding his own. What more can you expect from a fifteen year old diabetic Lhasa Apso? And last but not least, Sarah is doing just fine. Growing like a weed and turning into a beauty.

Hubby still has a sinus infection and is on round two of antibiotics. I finally got hit with it over the weekend and am headed to the doctor on Wednesday morning. Seems there’s some kind of bug going around that’s causing a sinus infection because many, many people I know have it and it seems to not want to let go.. Crud…

We have had some nice weather here the last two days in South Carolina. 70’s and sunny. I’m still wondering if it’s really February or if I slept through Winter and woke up in Summer because last night I got a mosquito bite on my arm and this morning I almost got stung by a bee.. Hello? February? But ah, this is coming to an end. Wednesday and Thursday we are to have rain and thunder storms and the temps will drop back into the 50’s which, I’m not complaining. I like the cooler weather plus, I am not under six feet of snow so I’ll take it!.

I guess that’s it for tonight. I hope you all had a wonderful day! 

What We Want Vs Need, Capabilty

Sometimes, it takes some people to really understand what living within your means, truly, means. No pun intended. I was one of those people but I have finally gotten it. I have finally at the age of almost forty-six realized that the only way on the income I have that I will ever be semi comfortable is to begin living within my limited means and sacrificing things I want. Getting those you live with may not always work out or it may take a long time for them to ……get it…

I have made many financial mistakes in the past thirteen years, I didn’t make them alone, I know the reasons why I made them.  But, regardless of the reasons or who made them with me the point is they were made and now it’s time for reality to take hold or our lives will never change. We will always be short at the end of the month having to borrow into the following month, every thing that breaks down will be a crisis because there will never be any back up finances to pay for it, we will not get much needed medical care, we will always be scrounging. I have lived my entire life like this and I don’t want to live this way..

Then there may be others in your life or people you know who, still live like this but also still want what they want regardless of what’s really important and they ‘feel’ they are ‘entitled’ to have these things because after all, they worked hard their whole lives and so they should be able to have whatever they desire.. Well…… that’s  a nice idea if you didn’t have to start all over halfway through your life, if you didn’t make all the financial blunders you did and if you’re financially well off..

I have never been financially well off, I will never be financially well off and most of the people I know are not and never will be financially well off. This is a fact that I have come to accept and I am fine with it. It can be very hard to get people to understand that what they have is enough. We live in a country where society tells us we need more, more and more and we need better than we had or have. This is one of the biggest lies to ever come down the pike. Even those of us who have minimal financial means, if we live in the United States I can bet we all have what we already need as far as material items go.

A large majority of us are very blessed. We have a roof over our head. No it may not be a mansion but it’s a warm in the winter, cool in the summer, comfortable roof over our heads. We have beds to sleep in, clothes in our closets, food on our tables, cars under our butts, computers, smart phones, tablets, etc. and the means to pay for it all regardless of how we make our money.. What else do we truly need when it comes to material things? I’d say, not much. But we have been lead to believe it’s never enough. So many people in this world don’t have even the smallest necessities to sustain life and we complain? Here’s the hard part.. Getting your spouse, family etc to see this, accept this, be thankful for what you do have..

How do we do that? Honestly, I have no idea.. I am trying but having a very hard time.. Are you having this problem? Have you had this problem? If you have and you have been able to get your family /spouse to see, would you be so kind to share with those of us who are struggling?

2016 Make-Up Challenge!

Hey friends!

The other day I was, yet again, sorting through my makeup “collection”. I called it a collection because ridiculously enough, for me, I have acquired so much there’s no other word for it. As I was sorting through I threw away any pieces I knew I wouldn’t use or haven’t used an I kept only what I know I would use and really like.. As I was doing this I realized I was still left with a lot as far as eye shadow palettes, lipsticks and blushes. These are my three addictions when it comes to makeup. As I looked at all of it just staring back at me I thought to myself “this is ridiculous! You have to use all of this and not add to it”

So I came to a few realizations that I am going to stick to this year.

1. I have enough eye shadow palettes and blushes for ten women and two years.

2. I have a shopping problem which I’ve always known and thought I kicked it only to realize I didn’t I just replaced jewelry with makeup.

3. I’ve wasted  a lot of money over the last two years on makeup. Now if you’re a makeup artist then I can completely understand having a ton of it but for the average woman like myself, no one ‘needs’ all this.

4. Lastly and most importantly I realized that I thought by having a lot to choose from it would be freeing and fun. Instead I’m not free at all and it’s not fun. Why? Because there is TOO MUCH to choose from. That’s not free or fun. Every morning is a battle deciding what eye shadow I want to wear, what blush etc. The truth is when we have such an abundance of something we actually create more stress than less and more stress is the last thing I want. What I want is easy. I know what I like, what looks good on me and I want to sit down to my makeup in the morning without having to take ten minutes to decide what I should wear. 

In light of all this I decided to do a 2016 makeup challenge.

I chose some eye shadow palettes and a few blushes that I want to use and I put the rest away. When I am finished with these I will then pull out what I have left and I do NOT want to add to it. I don’t need anymore and I don’t have the money to waste.

So I thought I would share with you all the products I’ve chosen to use up. I hope you enjoy it 🙂 

⇔Eye Shadow Palettes⇔

For those who have not seen the Tatrtlette Tease Palette as it’s fairly new I’ve snapped a photo so you can see the colors. 

⇔Blushes⇔

The rest of the photos are items I use all the time and will replace as I use them up.

⇔Foundations⇔

As for lipsticks. I pretty much got rid of most of them and I left myself with four lipsticks and three lip glosses. I’ll do a separate post on those if you’d like to see what I chose. 

Remember The Sabbath…

Psalm 37:1-6

1 Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
    like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.

Review! L'Oreal Revitalift VoxBox!

Review! L’Oreal Revitalift VoxBox!