Even on my worst day

One of our favorite tv shows is Monk, on USA network. We watched it Friday night, and I laughed so hard that if we didn't have a waterbed frame holding me in, I would have fallen out of bed. I picked up a new line that I plan on using from now on.

In the episode, Monk is temporarily blinded, and when he's called in to ID a suspect, the police want him to feel the guy's face. The guy they've brought in is a transient. And Monk, who has OCD and would never normally touch a regular person, let alone a transient, objects. Strenuously. "Even on my worst days," he says, "I could still say, 'At least I've never felt a transient's face.'"

So from now on, when I oversleep, the kids are running wild, the dog pees on the floor, the last of the milk gets spilled on the floor, and there's another diaper to change, I will say to myself, "At least I've never felt a transient's face."

Carnival #8

This week's Carnival is about My Favorite Things. Check it out!

And next week, if you're a female blogger who's been wanting to join a carnival but aren't ready to join the blogroll, the Blogging Chicks Carnival is open to all women bloggers! So hop over to the BC blog and check out the guidelines for joining in!

Tags: Carnival of Blogging Chicks

My favorite things

I suppose I could write a very deep post on my favorite things, but instead I'll just point out that the Blogging Chicks Carnival this week is themed My Favorite Things. I've been keeping a second blog for quite a while now that is full of my favorite things. I don't write in it every day, but more when the mood strikes. So if you'd like to know what some of my favorite things are, click here!

Happy birthday, Dad!

Don't worry - I won't embarrass you like I did last year!

Have a great day!

SPF - Oh, we're all REALLY scared

This week, newlywed Kristine has come up with some interesting topics. So here we go!

-Something mean looking

My seven year old. He really is very sweet and cute. He just insists on being photographed like this.

-Your weaponsEach and every one of these little beans is my weapon. If I can get a steaming hot cup of java, I can conquer anything.

-Your hiding placeI don't actually hide in the bookcase, of course. I like to escape into a good book, or even a mediocre book. When you're a SAHM with four kids, you get away when and where you can!

So, did you play?

Edited to add: For those of you who wanted to see a front view of my new haircut, scroll down to Monday's post.

Tags: SPF, Stuff Portrait Friday

Following up on yesterday's extremely long and boring post...

Just to answer a couple of questions I received:

If you are warm, that doesn't necessarily mean orange will look good on you. It will just look better than red. Most women sort of know instinctively which colors look good on them. Go with your instinct. In the case of a warm with pale skin and freckles, you definitely do want to avoid purple. As far as pink, it would depend on the shade, but again, you probably know instinctively what looks good on you. I probably would avoid black, too though. Try something in a soft gray and see which color looks better on you.

Color also applies to your makeup. Most quality brands of makeup are classified warm or cool. Stick with your colors here. The wrong makeup colors will be very noticeable - like, "Hey, when did you join the circus?" sort of noticeable.

I've already gotten a bunch of hits from people searching for information of this type, which makes me happy because hopefully that means I'm helping somebody!

Of course, I also get hits from people looking for "how to scare a guy," "grass too long to cut," and "70s hairstyles." Wow - my blog distilled into three search phrases.

You're getting warm... or cool

This is where it gets difficult. If I could see you in person, I could tell you if you're warm or cool very easily. But I can help you figure out on your own which you are.

Why does it matter? Well, warm and cool is not just for makeup, it's for clothes, too. Have you ever worn a certain color and people told you all day you looked tired? That probably wasn't the right color for you. Have you ever worn a certain color and even though you forgot to put on makeup that morning, everyone told you how nice you looked? You found a good color!

Since most people don't have lengths of gold and silver fabric laying around the house, which would be the easiest way to tell if you're warm or cool, I'll talk about your hair and eye color. It should be pretty obvious which you are.

If you have black or dark brown hair, or your hair has gone white or silvery, you are a cool. Most likely you are a dark cool, or what you've probably heard called a winter. If your hair is ash blonde, ash brown, or medium to light brown, you could also be a cool, but a light cool, or autumn.

On the other hand, if you have red, auburn, red brown, chestnut brown or honey blonde, you are a warm, and probably a summer. Light warms, or springs, tend to have golden blonde, strawberry blonde, golden brown or gray hair (the kind that appears almost yellow).

Now combine your hair color with your eye color. Winters can have brown, hazel, blue-gray, dark blue, icy blue, or green with yellow or white shades. Autumns tend to have clear blue or gray blue, dark to light blue, aqua blue, pale gray, green gray, hazel, or soft brown. Either of these, of course, would be cool.

Dark warms can have brown with black flecks, hazel, pale green, golden green, avocado green, turquoise blue or teal. Light warm or spring can have clear blue or deep blue, aqua, clear green, golden green, or light golden brown hazel.

So now, just match your hair color with your eye color and you should know your season! If you're still not sure, try this simple test. Get two different fabrics, one predominantly red, one orange (try to use a solid colored fabric, not a pattern). Cleanse your skin of any makeup or this won't work right. In front of a mirror, drape one fabric over your left shoulder and one over your right. You should notice that one side of your face looks lifted and brightened, and almost like you've applied foundation. The other side will look tired, unhealthy and dragged down. I've seen it look so dramatic on some women that it almost looks like they had a stroke! If the red side is your good side, you're cool. If the orange side is, you're warm.

So now that you have this knowledge, what do you do with it? The first thing I did was clean out my closet. If it wasn't my color, I got rid of it. I found a site with a color chart here, so you can see which colors are best for you! Happy closet cleaning!

Tags: color, clothing, warm, cool

In "Other" Words - 7/25

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells
on the beach. One can collect only a few,
and they are more beautiful if they are few."
~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~

At the risk of answering a quote with another quote, this reminded me of a favorite Rockapella song of mine. The songwriter compares moments in time to diamonds:

Diamonds - that's what they are
These memories we're making now
I can't explain it well, but this I know,
They will never lose their glow.
Diamonds, that's what they are,
Our love will never let us down,
Think of the brilliant moments yet to come
All of them diamonds...

God has given us amazing brains that can store vast quantities of information. But just like the little girl whose basket can hold only so many seashells, we are not capable of holding every moment in time in our conscious memories. Many times I've been told about something that happened to me or something I did in the past and I honestly can't remember it. It doesn't even ring the faintest of bells. The other day, I came across a letter I wrote to a temp agency I was working for years ago. I described my job duties so the agency would know how to bill the company I was working for. As I read the letter, I had absolutely no recollection of that job! I must have spent many weeks of my life there, but I don't remember it! Clearly, it was not one of my seashell moments!

As my children grow, I often wish I could collect every little thing they say and do and keep those moments forever. Sure, video and photographs help somewhat, but I still miss so much. And I know I won't remember it all. I can remember the most ridiculous trivia facts, but I easily forget that cute thing my four year old said. But the things I do remember, those things will become my seashells, my diamonds. I will hold them in my heart, I will look at them in my mind's eye, and I will treasure them.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

As promised, here is a front view of my new haircut. Keep in mind that my fabulous hair stylist did this and it will never look exactly like this again.

Jenny has been cutting my hair for about eight years now, and she was freaking out. She kept saying, "Are you sure you want to do this?" About three times, she got the scissors close to my hair and then pulled back. There was a teenage girl there who lives down the street (this was in Jenny's basement), and she kept shrieking every time the scissors got close, as though my hair being cut was some kind of torture for her! After calming herself, Jenny informed me, "There is no crying in my chair. You're sure you want to do this?" I assured her that I did.

It feels so nice to be rid of all that weight on my head. I mean, yes, I liked my hair, I liked the way it looked and all, but in the summer I had to wear it up. There was no choice. Now, it's so nice to just brush it and go. And no tangles until it grows out some! So I'm very happy with my choice.

Hubby, on the other hand, looked at me when I got home and said, "It'll grow out again, right?"

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #7

Go here for this week's Carnival! It's a summer theme, so throw a couple burgers on the grill and click away!

SPF - Takin' Names and Makin' Wishes

This week, Kristine has assigned the following:
Stuff unnoticed
Your wish
Stuff under your sink

I really should not wait until 7:45 Friday morning to look at these assignments. My brain does not run correctly this early in the morning. Okay, here goes:

Something unnoticed: I know I sure didn't notice how fast time was passing. This adorable little bundle in my arms is about to turn 10 on Sunday! How? When did that happen?

My wish is a two-part photo. You see, I decided to donate my hair to Locks of Love. So here I am yesterday before the hair cut.

And here I am after. My wish is that they will be able to use my hair to make someone who's lost their hair to cancer very happy.

Under my kitchen sink. Not terribly exciting.

So there you have it! Did you play?

Summer vacation

One of the little perks of teaching my children at home is the ability to observe the summer vacation. I remember so fondly the years of my own schooling, when we'd get down to the last few days in June and I knew summer was coming. As much as I loved school (yes, I was a freak), I looked forward to three months of time off, to do my own thing on my own time.

Well, now that my own kids are school age and I teach them at home, I get that same feeling every year. I know some people school year round, and certainly we do educational things year round, but I really crave that summer vacation time, when I don't have to be the task master and we can all just relax. The boys get to do what they want, when they want. And I get to take on projects I just don't have time for during the school year, like assigning Dewey decimal numbers to all my books in a database (Shut up - I know I'm a freak).

So while many people who send their children to school outside the home scramble to think of things to do in the summer, for me it's just the opposite. I get to take time for me. And that's the best summer vacation of all!

WBW - Home Sweet Home

In part 2 of the assignment, TKW wants to see the interior of the house I grew up in. I have quite a few photos of this. My parents bought the house in the late 60s, so it went through quite a few changes over the years, but here's what I found in my photo albums.

This is our basement, or at least one end of it. Our house was a rancher with a full basement. Part of it was unfinished for many years, but this end, which we called "The Den," was finished for as long as I can remember. Dig that 70s wood paneling!

This is one of the later incarnations of our living room. We had a sunken living room, and I used to use that step on the left as a stage to entertain family and friends. Yes, even at that young age, I was shy and introverted.

This is me sitting at my desk. Next to it is my dresser. Behind me would have been my canopy bed, with a canopy that matched the curtain you see. And look! Nikes! I never knew I was that cool.

Now, while this is a very cute picture of my cousin, the real point of this photo is the wallpaper. That wallpaper was in my room from the time I was little until I was a teenager. If that wallpaper doesn't tell you what decade I grew up in, nothing will. Well, the avocado green appliances would, but my scanner stopped working just as I was about to scan those in. Maybe it got scared to death.

So, did you play?

Mardi Gras recipe for Tee

I mentioned this recipe on Tee's blog, and now she's asked me to post it. So here it is. This is something my great-grandmother used to make, which my mom then made all the time (and still does), and which has become a favorite of my husband and my boys. It's called Mardi Gras, but I don't know why. Anyway, here it is:

Mardi Gras
In a large casserole dish combine the following ingredients:
1 1/3 cups Minute Rice
1 cup water
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can tuna or chicken
1 tsp oregano
cayenne pepper to taste

Then, over medium high heat in a saucepan:
1/2 stick butter
3 Tbsp flour
Stir until blended. Slowly add 1 can evaporated milk, stirring until thickened. Slowly add 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, stirring until melted. Pour the cheese mixture over the casserole. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with paprika. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

I usually use fat-free cheese and evap. milk to lower the fat content. Enjoy!

Making it up

Well, at the risk of boring my Dad some more, let's do makeup tips today, shall we? I didn't wear makeup until I was 25, except for at the pageant I was in and at my wedding. But now there are certain things I won't do without if I'm going out in public for any extended period of time. Certainly my way of applying makeup is not the only way, but it has worked well for me for ten years. In fact, when I taught a class at my homeschool co-op on Image for Girls, my class helper was a Mary Kay consultant, and she had never been taught some of these things. So, here we go.

• When choosing a foundation, select several colors that are close to your skin tone. Put a stripe of each color along your jawline. The one that disappears is the correct one for you. We've all seen women who are wearing an orange "mask" - don't be one!
• Apply foundation from the forehead down. This smooths down all the little hairs that, like it or not, are all over your face, and keeps them invisible.
• Blush should be applied starting at the little triangle in your ear and sweeping forward. Avoid cheek "balls" and emphasize cheek bones!
• Your "natural" blush color is the same color as the inside of your lip. Choose a color close to that for the most natural look.
  
• Eyeliner should be applied from the outer edge of the eye in. The top lid should be lined all the way across. The bottom lid should be lined 1/2 to 2/3 of the way. The longer the bottom line, the smaller your eye will look.
• If you use eyeshadow, apply it after the liner. There are many different ways to do shadow. Experiment and find the one that works best for you.
• A translucent powder, if you use one, should be brushed on from the forehead down before you apply lipstick. I use one to set my makeup and reduce shine.
• Lipstick is as much eye makeup as it is lip makeup. Don't forget it! Using a lip liner first can reduce feathering.
• If people compliment your makeup, you should tone down the colors. People should notice you, not your makeup!

That's about all the advice I can give online. I used to do makeup for Glamour Photos so I'm pretty good at the one on one thing, but obviously that's not going to work here! I hope this helps somebody!

In "Other" Words - 7/18

The one enduring lesson of womanhood that Christian author, Mary Pierce, learned from her rag doll, Lulu:

"When life whacks you so hard your head flies off, sew it back on and keep going."
~ Mary Pierce ~

I think this is the Mom's Credo. Seriously. It doesn't matter what is happening to me personally, psychologically or physically, I am still Mommy. I still have to get up in the morning, get the kids up, make breakfast, do laundry, and all those other million little things moms do. Sometimes, I know I'm not putting my all into it. I know I could be doing better. I know I'm just hanging on by a few rapidly unraveling threads. But I keep going.

And something amazing happens. Slowly but surely, those threads grow stronger. What I have rapidly sewn together in an attempt to just make it through the day is strengthened by my family. Every "Mommy, I love you," adds a thread. Every time my sons say dinner was yummy, or my husband does a load of wash for me, or I get hugs and kisses for no reason, those threads grow stronger. And then the next time life whacks me, it's not so hard to hold onto my head.

I'm falling apart!

I almost had to check my birth certificate to make sure I'm only 35.

On Friday, I had this pain in my knee. It hurt whether I was sitting down or standing or walking. It wasn't really bad, so I could kind of ignore it, but it still hurt.

Saturday morning, the knee pain seemed to be gone. But as I got up and around, I realized that the pain had migrated to my right hip. If I stood with my foot pointed straight ahead, it was fine. But if I turned my foot at all, or rotated on that leg, ouch! At one point, I almost fell down it hurt so bad.

So I was happy yesterday morning to wake up and find that pain gone. We went to church, I sang in front of the congregation, and everything seemed fine. Then, as we sat there during the message, my back started to hurt. It was both sides of my lower back. By the time I had to get the baby from the nursery, I could barely pick him up, and I had to hand him over to Hubby right away. It was bad. We went straight home and I spent the day lying flat on my back because doing anything else hurt too much.

What in the world? It seems to be better today. My oldest son pointed out that the pain seemed to be migrating north and I should expect my shoulder to hurt today. Thanks, son, that helps a whole lot.

Carnival #6

The new Carnival of the Blogging Chicks is up here. The theme this week, as you can see from the graphic, is dreams. Go see what other women have to say on the subject!

The skin you're in

Today, I will focus on skin care. Many of you were kind enough to tell me that my eyes don't look 35 back when I posted a picture of one of them (see October's archives). I try to take care of my skin. I have the skin of a teenager - covered in acne. Haha. No seriously, in all those hours of class I took, I learned some tips that I still follow. I've been doing this stuff for ten years now, and when I see some women my age and even younger looking five years older than I do, I can gloat inwardly. Heh heh. So, on with the skin care tips.

• When choosing skin care products, buy from the same line. Particularly your more expensive brands are made to work together, so you want cleanser, toner and moisturizer made by the same company under the same label.
• Your cleanser should be applied in circular motions all over your face and neck. The neck is the most neglected area of skin and consequently, you can really see age on women who don't tend to it.
• Continue the circular pattern of cleansing for two minutes for maximum benefit.
• After rinsing the cleanser with warm to hot water, apply toner with a cotton ball or pad. Think of toner like a rinse cycle for your face. Would you wash your dishes and then just dry them, or would you rinse the soap off first? That's what I thought. Toner also closes your pores after cleaning.
• Moisturizer should contain an SPF of 15 or more to protect your skin. Sun damage is one of the main causes of aging in your skin. Make sure you get your neck, too!
  
• If you use other products, such as an alpha hydroxy lotion or eye creme, apply them before the moisturizer.
• When applying products around the eye, pat gently with the tip of your ring finger. Rubbing the eye area will damage the supporting structure underneath and eventually cause the skin to wrinkle.
• Use a lotion with at least SPF 15 on your hands every day, or especially on days when you will be driving. Think about the sun coming through the car windows and hitting your hands. Hands show age almost as quickly as the neck.

Okay, I think that will do it for now. If you want to see the products I actually use and love, you can go to My Health and Beauty Zone in the left sidebar. Next time, would you rather learn about color (am I a cool or a warm?) or makeup application? Let me know!

The mind of an engineer

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

My hubby, the engineer, says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be for the amount of liquid available.

The other night, my oldest son said he was out of tea. Hubby said, "Maybe your glass is just infinitely larger than it needs to be."

WBW - There's no place like home

This week, TKW wants to see the exterior of the house I grew up in. No problemo. My father took tons of pictures of our house. We have the house when my parents first bought it, the house in the winter, spring, summer and fall of many consecutive years, the house in a blizzard, the house with new siding, etc. He does the same thing now, except with his motor coach. You'll have to ask him why, because I have no clue. But it did make it a piece of cake to find one, so here it is:

My parents bought this house before I was born, and only sold it six years ago, so I was lucky enough to live in the same house my whole childhood. I understand the people who bought it have removed most of the trees and shrubs, put on a new roof, new siding, and other stuff like that. Wonder what they've done inside?

And speaking of inside, next week's assignment is the interior of the same house. Wait until you see all the pictures I have for you (thanks to my Dad!).

Did you play?

Hair Care 101

Many of you may not know that I am a certified image consultant. I have taken over 85 hours worth of classes on everything from clothing styles and textures to hair and makeup. I know I don't always look like it (for example, I'm sitting here right now in shorts and a t-shirt [my new Shiner Bock t-shirt - thanks, Jody!]), but I do know what I'm talking about.

Now, with such knowledge comes the ability to give other people advice. But since it just isn't nice to walk up to someone on the street and tell them they're wearing the wrong color, or have applied their blush incorrectly, I thought I'd share some of my vast reserves of image knowledge with you here, where you know I can't see you. And if people across the internet are searching for such knowledge and happen to find it here, than I have helped many.

So today, my subject is hair. Almost everyone has it. Here are some things I've learned that have made a vast improvement in the condition of my own tresses:

• Shampoo is made for cleansing the scalp and the hair near it. Unless you've got dirt of some sort all over your hair (you've been painting, sandblasting, swimming), you only need to shampoo your scalp.
• Likewise, conditioner is really only needed on the ends of the hair. The exception would be if your hair tends to tangle near the base of the skull, in which case you should apply some there as well.
• When drying your hair with a towel, blot. Rubbing damages the hair follicles and over time causes split ends.
• Excessive brushing also damages the hair. You shouldn't brush for any longer than it takes to remove tangles and fix your style.
• Changing to a different shampoo for a couple of days a month can remove buildup left by your regular products, which can weigh down your hair.

So, I hope you found that informative, as opposed to boring. If you'd like me to share more of my image information, please let me know.

There's nothing funny about pirates

As I was recalling several funny moments from The Movie, and proudly showing Hubby my new blog template, he said to me, "You know, there's nothing funny about pirates."

Yes, I realize that. I completely understand that Disney's pirate movies bear almost no resemblance to the historical facts of piracy on the high seas. I know that real pirates didn't go around cracking jokes and fighting each other on rolling water wheels. I. Don't. Care. In much the same way that I don't care that the future shown in Star Trek will never happen, or that the leaves on the Swiss Family Robinson's tree in Disney World are made of vinyl, or that there never was a Middle Earth. It's just fun to let yourself go to that make-believe place, where it just doesn't matter. Let go of reality and just enjoy the entertainment.

As Uhura said in Star Trek 3, "This isn't reality. This is fantasy."

And if they want to put Orlando in a leather coat and pirate boots for two and a half hours, that's my kind of fantasy. I'm just sayin'.

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks 5

Check out this week's carnival! There are a lot of great Blogging Chicks out there, and this is a great way to sample their writing. And of course, yours truly has an entry. Go, read now!

I saw it, I saw it!

Hubby was sweet enough to take me to see POTC: Dead Man's Chest last night, and I loved it. Maybe that's an understatement. I wanted to see it again, immediately. I enjoyed everything about it. And yes, I have even changed my template to reflect my appreciation for this movie. Thank you, Disney, for the wonderful picture!

Now, for those of you wondering, "Should I spend my hard-earned $8.50 (or more) to go see this movie?" let me ask you a few questions: Did you like the first one? Or like me, did you watch the first one so many times you pretty well have it memorized? Do you like action and adventure? Are you willing to suspend your disbelief? If the answer to either of the first three questions is yes, you probably already want to go see it, so go! If the answer to the last question is no, you might want to wait for the DVD. There is a lot to take in during the course of the movie, most of it unbelievable.

I will not spoil any aspect of the plot for you, but trust me, it's fantastic. And it answered a big question I had from the last movie, for which I highly applaud the writers. There is not a lot of romance, but boy, can Orlando ever pull off the hurt/jealous look. I just wanted to hug him and tell him it would be okay. The special effects are of course spectacular, and the stunts so amazing my hubby swears they were done digitally. There is plenty of humor, and the return of some great supporting characters from the first film. The bad guys are maybe not quite as scary as the skeletal pirates of COTBP, but still pretty creepy. And the main bad guy, well, let's just say I won't be eating calamari again anytime soon.

So now I'm counting down the days until I can buy the DVD, watch the commentary, see the behind-the-scenes stuff, etc. And then another wait for the third movie. Does anyone have a time machine I could borrow?

SPF - I hear wedding bells!

As Kristine and Shaun's wedding approaches, she gives us a lovely wedding-themed SPF for this week. Best wishes, guys, and congratulations!

My love: I have always loved this picture. Taken at our wedding, I think it captures perfectly a casual, unposed moment where you can actually see on my face how much I love my husband.

Honeymoon: How about a cruise to a private island, where waiters will bring you champagne while you swim? Yeah, I thought you'd like that.

Something blue:

In keeping with the tropical island theme, you can't get too much more blue than this!

Did you play?

Happy birthday, Joshua!

I can hardly believe my second son is turning seven today! He is such an amazing kid, sweet and funny and affectionate. He loves giving hugs and kisses. His favorite things are Legos and Thomas the Tank Engine. He adores his brothers and plays with them all the time. When he was a baby, I used to stare at him for hours, just so thrilled that he was mine. Now, when I try to take a picture, this is what I get:
Trust me, though, he's still adorable. Happy birthday, Joshua!

Coming soon

I saw him the minute I walked into the room. He stood there, his black, wavy hair slicked back, a few strands loose across his forehead in a careless, casual way. His brown eyes seemed to look right through me. And yet, there was no doubt that despite the gorgeous girl next to him, he was looking right at me. I felt the heat rising in my cheeks as his gaze burned into me, a look that said he didn't care if I had four children running around my feet, a look that ignored that ring on my finger. I smiled at him, but the intensity of his gaze never wavered. There was a daring abandon to his expression. Let the adventure begin, he seemed to be saying, You're in for the time of your life. I held his gaze, as if to assure him. The time is not right, I thought, willing him to hear. But I'll be back.

Just then, a hand touched my shoulder. My husband was ready to go. Reluctantly, I turned away from the poster. I'll see you Friday, Orlando.

[To see what I saw, click here.]

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks 4

This week's Carnival is up, and I actually got my link in on time! Just click on the cute picture!