Looking and Feeling Your Best (in photos and in real life)

I hope that everyone is ready for some Oprah-worthy advice. Sit down and take notes or, better yet, print this post. I had someone I knew from high school tell me I looked "the same" and how did I do it? It's all multiple layers of trickery...
Taking Good Pictures
1. Don't take pictures with skinny people. Find an excuse to get out of doing it... you have to pee, your child needs you, whatever. Don't do it.
2. To make number one easier you can do several things:

• Be the photographer
• Go out to eat with your friends often and ply them with beer and fried foods. Then eat lettuce yourself.
• You can't avoid taking pictures with family so learn from my mistakes. My sister-in-laws and sister are all pretty. If I could turn back time I would find wives for my brothers that were not as attractive and would have checked to make sure there weren't pretty women in Kevin's family before it was too late. I would also have slipped weight-gaining materials into my little sister's drinks. It is all too late for this.
• Be a recluse. If you don't have friends then you won't have friends who are skinnier than you.

3. Children and pets are great props and distractions in pictures and in real life.

• You can hold babies over your weak spots (notice how I usually hold Lila in front of my belly) or, when they are older, have them stand in front of you. This also works with big dogs. It doesn't work if your face is your weak spot because then the pictures will just look stupid.
• Dress your children cute. Then people will notice your cute children first and just do a cursory glance over you. The same applies to cute little dogs. They may think you are goofy if you dog is wearing clothes BUT that is still a good distraction. This is why I had Lila; the boys wouldn't let me dress them cute anymore (gym shorts and tee shirts!) so I had to have another baby to take the attention away from me.

4. Do NOT look your best in high school. I know it may be too late for you but think about it this way; just as you don't want your favorite team to be ranked pre-season number one you don't want to be the most attractive in high school. Teams that are ranked number one usually just fall hard. On the same token, if you look your best as a teenager you can only go downhill. That is why I wore frumpy clothes in high school. It was part of my master plan to get better with age.

Those are my pearls of wisdom for the day. Maybe for the month; my wisdom is in short supply so it may not come your way again anytime soon.

Businesses That I Like

As somewhat of a businesswoman myself (somewhat because I don't have the hassle of a storefront or inventory!!) I like to let people know when I find businesses I like. Here are some of my favorites right now. Many are in Prairieville because a big plus for me now is convenience!

1. You R Invited: They have locations in Geismar on highway 73 and on Airline near an Elegant Affair. A great place to get gifts and run by very nice people.

2. Salon Eden: my friend Mary and her husband own this Salon in Baton Rouge. The stylists are very good, professional, and carefully selected and although it is a nice salon it doesn't have the snooty feel of many places. It is located by The Backpacker near Bocage.

3. Personal Impressions: I got the necklace pictured online at http://www.personalimpressionsjewelry.blogspot.com/ Tracy Perrine is located in Arizona and is the one who makes the necklaces. She was very easy to work with. I am very particular and specific and she did my necklace just as I requested, down to the last detail. She has a lot of great samples on her blog and her prices were very good compared to similar necklaces. Some sites' prices were double what I paid with Tracy.

4. Prairieville Produce: I like Prairieville Produce on Airline Highway. The owner is very nice and they have a good selection of produce and other great products. It's a lot like Southside produce just in Ascension Parish. I also haven't had problems with rotted fruit or produce that spoils too quickly as I have at other produce stands.

5. Made-by-Mary: If you like custom children's clothes and accessories you will like Made-by-Mary. Mary is also someone who was able to meet my specific needs and went out of her way to obtain some fabric for a dress for Lila. http://www.madebymary.com/

6. St. Michel Day Spa in Prairieville: This business is owned by a local girl who is very nice but also quite professional. In addition to having great services at a comparable price Michelle Babin Tranchina (the owner) gives to the community. She even came and talked to my Free Enterprise class last year when I had local business owners come and speak to my students about owning your own business.

7. Dutchtown Care Care Center: Now going there is NEVER fun for me. I hate spending money on car repairs; it seems like such a waste to spend so much money and have no clothing or jewelry to show for it. However, they are very helpful and I like to get my oil changes and inspections done there. They also helped me with my batteries and inspected my tires once. They could have easily taken advantage of me and said "you need four new tires NOW" but instead they told me I had another eight months or more left on them and sent me on my merry way.

8. Harvest Supermarket in Geismar: Sure, their prices are a little higher than Wal-Mart's and I don't get all of my groceries there. We do get 90% of our meat at Harvest and a lot of smaller items throughout the week. They have a fantastic liquor selection so we usually go there before a party. They have good meals that you can grab if you need a quick dinner or lunch and I have never had a problem with freshness. You can also always find someone to help you and the friendliness of a smaller store is refreshing. The best part is that my kids like to go there and it only costs me $.50 to bring them. No, they don't charge a fee to bring your children in; they have those cheap little gumball machines in the front of the store. I bring $.50 for each child and use it as their bribe to be good. Then once I am checking out I give them their $.50 and they get something out of the machine. I find it amazing that this still works with my kids at their ages. I would have thought they would have grown out of it by now but Cullen and Carson are refreshingly naive at times and I kind of like it.

On a side note, other business owners who came to speak with my Free Enterprise classes were Tammy Murphy from Memory Mania and Miles Holley from Treads and Care. I am still so appreciative of their help; teaching Free Enterprise was a stretch for me since my only prior experience in economics was being a good shopper and having my Stampin' Up! business.

Hostess Club: January

Close-up of the eye.

Shaker Card

Glittery card... I will use this one for a little birthday girl at the end of January

These are the two cards we did for my hostess club here this month. One is a glittery card that is SO simple; we used adhesive letters and numbers and simply pressed down into a pile of glitter until the letter or number was thoroughly covered. The other card is a "shaker" card. It's cuter in person. The heart shaped eyes of the skull and crossbones are cut out and the card is designed so that you can see glitter and beads behind the eyes (which are covered with a thin clear paper) when you shake it. It looks and sounds cool. It makes for a fun, special, birthday card. Instructions for basic shaker card design and another sample can be found here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/shaker_card/. The stamp set I used for my shaker card also comes with a bow you can stick on the head of the skull. I have heard that skulls and crossbones are popular on girls' clothing and accessories. This isn't something I have seen but I am not yet in the Secret Club regarding girls clothes. Kevin is actually trying to block my membership into this club. ;)

Table Manners

Lila loves to eat. It doesn't matter what we are presenting her; like her poor mother she is not very picky. Lately when I have been feeding her she has repeatedly lunged unexpectedly for the bowl and started to lick the bowl and chew on it. I don't know if she thinks it's a more efficient way to eat or if she thinks she's an animal but either way it's really messy and I don't think Emily Post would approve. We're trying to do things right with this baby and start her off with better manners than the boys but Lila is largely uncooperative thus far.

Speaking of the boys... at dinnertime I have been reading manners hints from a children's cookbook my aunt sent them. Most of it we have discussed before but they needed a refresher. I find that since they have so little time to eat lunch at school (somewhere under 10 minutes) they really shovel their food into their mouths like little cavemen. I have tried to convince them that no wild beasts are coming to take their food from them. I have also had to remind Cullen that saying "I can't believe you eat this" is not how you speak of something your mother has lovingly prepared for you. They haven't learned my trick from my youth of feeding the dog my unwanted food. I won't tell them and if they do it I will act shocked and horrified. I'd better start practicing.

Photo Frame Clipboard

I actually did this project a few months ago. I used one of Stampin' Up!'s 9x9 clipboards and decorated it using the "Rock-a-Bye Girl" Simply Scrappin' kit (there is a boy version too!). It was really easy to do and I have also done several for gifts. The kit comes with so many components that it seems like I have barely used any of it. I also used it to decorate a 14x14 plain white memento box that I got at Wal-Mart. Whenever I have a keepsake item for Lila (like a card or her hospital bracelets) I tuck it in the box. One day when I start to scrapbook again I will put some of those items in the scrapbook but for now I know it's in a safe place!

Just "The One"

This has always been something that grated my last nerve but today it happened again. I was trying out a new gym and talking to another mom in the nursery. In explanation of something that she did that she thought might be a little over-protective she said "Well, I just have the one..." as in the one child that she was possibly overprotecting. I have no problem with parents doting on their children. I do it myself. I am also a little overprotective. However, don't act like my child's specialness is diminished each time I have another one. I may have three but we don't live in the olden days when Ma and Pa had spare kids in case one died. All of my children were wonderful gifts; none of them is the human equivalent of a spare tire. I will admit that when I was pregnant with Carson and Cullen was just a little guy I wondered how we could ever love another human being as much as we loved our first baby. I soon learned that there was enough love in this old heart for many children. Cullen was about four when a friend squirmed about me putting her child in the third seat of my vehicle. "It's more dangerous in the back; can you put Cullen back there?" As if that wasn't bad enough on it's own she then proceeded to say "I only have (insert child's name here)". So my child is expendable because I have backup? Now they do aggravate me on occasion (OK, multiple occasions daily) but even at their worst I will never run screaming from danger and throw back one of the kids screaming "Here, take this one! Me and Pa had some extra younguns!"

Why are our children so amazing?

Lila got two teeth yesterday. You would have thought she climbed Mount Everest or won the Nobel Prize I was so darn proud. Teeth! She grew TWO teeth! After a few hours I thought about it in perspective... doesn't everybody's baby grow teeth? How many babies around the world probably popped out a couple of canines yesterday? Yet why is it so amazing when our own children do the most mundane things that children pretty much all do? I haven't grown out of it with Cullen and Carson. I am still amazed by the things they do and say (although sometimes they need to go into time-out for the amazing things they do or say). Lila being my third hasn't lessened my amazement with her "accomplishments" at all. In fact, I think the spacing has made me even more impressed with her. I have decided that this is something that God has instilled in parents to serve as a protective shield around their children. Isn't it nice knowing that your Mom will always be proud of you or that your Dad will always think of ways to keep you safe? I think God makes us impressed with and enamoured with our children to help them feel good in a world that sometimes can be a little rough. I even think it's cool that "parents" of pets have this same feeling. It must be inborn. Did I mention that Lila grew two teeth? Two. My baby is so efficient. I am sure I will post a picture of them as soon as they are visible in a photograph.