christytomlinson

Still here...

WOW! what a great weekend.. and a busy week since I have been back!

First I have to tell you I had the best time this weekend. I had several angels that were put in my path this past weekend. Without them it would have probably been not so good.  I was doing okay until I got to the airport on Friday.  The ride over made me really queezy and I realized that wasn't quite over my stomach sickness. When I finally got checked in, I figured I better get something to eat before we took off, since I hadn't eaten in days and I needed something in my stomach before I got more sick. Well who knew that the Idaho Falls Airport is so small that the only food it offers is two vending machines, one with drinks the other with candy and cookies. I was craving an apple or fresh fruit, but a snickers would have to do. I got even more frustrated when I realized I didn't have any cash on me and there wasn't any ATM machines. I dug through my purse and found 75 cents, but was short 25 cents. The cheapest thing I could buy was a buck. So I called Ben to tell him my problems and that I was seriously going to go check the pay phones to see if there was a quarter in it, when I heard someone call my name.   I turned around and there was my sister, Tia with her husband and friends, waving at me!  She was also heading to Las Vegas for the Nascar Truck Races and happened to be on my same flight (the only flight going to Vegas that day! LOL). She saved me, and gave me two dollars. I got a couple of things from the vending machine and thanked her over and over for being my 'angel" of the day. I took her picture too.   Funny how something so little meant so much to me at the time. I really wasn't feeling well.  I needed a drink of pop to calm my stomach but couldn't buy anything because you can't take drinks on the plane anymore. I figured I would get something once I was on the plane, so I didn't worry to much about it. It was only when we were 25 minutes into the flight that I realized the airline I was on didn't serve pop or even water, unless you paid for them and again.. with no cash I was out of luck. I think the stewardess could tell I didn't feel well and when I asked her if they took credit cards, she just smiled, got me a ginger-ale and went onto another paying customer. She was angel number two. So 2 hours later we were in Las Vegas and the ride was so bumpy as soon as I got off the plane I found a bathroom and everything I had eaten on the plane had come back up. Ugh.. hate that feeling. Well remember I told you that my good friend Jamie Soucy was meeting me in Las Vegas. Well there she was, waiting for me at baggage claim, and immediately took my bags and helped me find the rest. She is a travel guide and owns a travel company and so when she said she was going to book a car, I told her I would find one too and see if I could get one for cheaper. Well I did.. about 20 bucks cheaper, so I booked mine instead. Well when we got to that point, I was feeling so blah from just having thrown up, and so she told me to sit with the bags and she would take care of the reservations. I gave her the printed sheet I had and she went to go get our car. Almost 2 HOURS later, she finally ended up having to go with another company because the "cheap" company I had gotten the rental car with, was cheap for a reason. The poor lady at the rental counter couldn't find our reservations and every time she started a new one, it kicked her out of the system. I was getting sicker and Jamie was loosing her patience. I mean.. we were just renting a car and it had been over an hour and a half. It just doesn't take that long. Finally Jamie said to the lady, look..my friend is sick, I don't know why this is taking so long but could you please hurry. Do you know how much longer it will be? " The lady at the counter said quite rudely, just basically just be patient because it might be another 45 minutes.. maybe even 2 hours.. and complaining wasn't going to get a car faster. So Jamie took her credit card, walked 5 feet to the counter next door and rented a car from someone else.. it took less than 7 minutes. Yeah.. so much for my money saving "good" deal. Jamie.. you were my angel this weekend. Angel number three. (and four and five and six! LOL) After we got the car we went to find the other "Jamie's" house. who were were staying with. Jamie Valimor. Gorgeous house.. gorgeous family.. and one of the nicest people I have ever met. I had a crop that night and threw up again. I felt so bad for the woman at the class/crop. We did our mini book and then I just laid my head on the table and talked with everyone. I had a great time.. I laughed and made some great new friends! Those ladies were the best!! Jamie S helped me all night long, and got me drinks and I don't know WHAT i would have done without her. She was my angel number 3.. many times over. Did I say that already? We got lost on the way to the store and without her, I would have just given up and cried! LOL.. After the crop, we went home to Jamie V's. house and the ride home made me sick again and I  threw up again (sorry that sounds so gross!).. and I went to straight to bed. Jamie V. had driven all over town that night to find me some Cold Soar Ointment (Corona Ointment). I had forgotten mine and got a cold soar that night.. (go figure). She was so great. Jamie V., my angel number 4. The picture on the right is Jamie S. Jamie V and me at the store.

Saturday I felt much better and for the most part had a great day. A little queezy in the morning and I was nervous as all get out.. I have taught alot.. but for some reason was really nervous about this trip! But the students.. my new friends were amazing.  So funny and made me laugh. Here is a picture of some of my  students. I posted more in the photo album on the right. The classes went by so fast. I taught three of them and we had so much fuN!! I met tons of new friends and the store owner Theresa and her employees were FABULOUS! I had a great time getting to know a few of them and just felt so welcomed by all of them! Thanks to all of you who made my weekend so wonderful. you were all my angels!!  Saturday night, Me, Jamie V and Jamie S went to Sushi. Very interesting. I only had one kind.. the one without fish in it! LOL.. and it was alright. The Cucumber salad was amazing though and our host, Sunny was making funny faces at me all night. I got a couple of them on camera. Too funny.  I took pictures of him, but on Jamie's camera. I need to get those.

Sunday I spent the day with Jamie and Jamie at Jamie's house (say that fast three times). Jamie V's husband was so nice, and her kids are so polite and adorable. We also met up with Jessica who goes to all the Cku's with Jamie V.. The picture to the left is off, Jessica, JamieS., Me, Jamie V and Jamie V's. two daughters. It was nice just to hang, watch TV. read books and have a BBQ that her husband made for us. I flew home Monday and on the way home, already missed my new friends. Jamie and Jamie were wonderful. Jamie S.. would have not made it through the weekend without her help and Jamie V. That is the first time I had really gotten to know her and I admit at first i was nervous because she is a model and just so gorgeous. But she is so funny and full of kindness. Her house felt so warm and inviting and I felt like I had known her forever. Like we were just sisters. She is an amazing artist both through her layouts and her modeling. She is a wonderful mother too. She made bread, cookies,breakfast and so much more while we were there. I don't even bake bread! LOL.. amazing! Well that was my weekend. I came home to kids who are on vacation because of spud Harvest (we get out of school for 2 weeks while the kids that are old enough and the teachers help out in harvesting the potatoes). My kids aren't old enough to help, so they are just home being bored!  Ben has done so much on the house!! I am going to take pictures tomorrow. He bricked the fireplace, painted and started putting backer board up for the tile in the bathrooms and kitchen. Our wood floor came in! It's a vintage handscraped 5" plank walnut. SO pretty. Can't wait for it all to come together. Carpet is in a week and half.  I have been playing catch up with work. Crazy busy but spending time in Vegas meeting those wonderful women was all worth the late nights now :) I made alot of new friends and I am excited about keeping in touch.

Well going to take Noah for a walk down to our house and see what else Ben has done today. Night.   

Leaving for the weekend...

Reminds me of a song that goes like.. dadadadada for the weekend.. (old song.. anyone.. Jessi?? Jenny?? ) I think it says something about working in there.. but not sure where.

Okay so HOLY Cow, almost packed and ready to fly out to Vegas today! I seriously thought I wouldn't be going this weekend. you know how i have been sick all week with just a head cold, sinus thing and earlier last week had a fever and body aches??  Well wed. night I started getting the body aches again, but this time, oddly bad and a gigantic headache. By the time I woke up yesterday I had a pretty bad fever, headaches and the worst body aches I have ever had in my life. (at first I thought maybe I had exercised and just not realized it and so I was sore.. but nope.. that couldn't be it because cutting paper doesn't count as exercise! LOL). Anyhow ended up going to the doctor (between kitting some extra class kits and doing all my class instructions) and found out I have a virus, a bad one that is going around. We have had several cases of West Nile here in lil ol' Shelley and so I was kinda scared it was that. But no.. just a plain old virus. But feeling Much better today. Took some medicine and had a blessing and honestly feel so much better. A little nausea if I stand for too long.. but that hopefully will go away by tonight.

Well WAIT until you see what Ben has done. oh.. so dreamy!!! I went over to the house last night for a brief moment to get Ben and got a glimpse of the wall color and creamy white trim everywhere..So pretty!  I was cutting paper and kids were in bed, when poor Allie came upstairs just hysterical that she was itching everywhere and so I told her to go take a bath. So I heard the water running for about 10 minutes and then it stopped and all I could hear was moaning and then nothing.. which kinda scared me, so I went and knocked on the bathroom door and told Allie to open it. She sounded really weird and finally opened the door and when she did, I couldn't believe my eyes! Not only did she have a severe rash and hives everywhere but her lips and ears were swollen probably 4 times their normal size. In fact she reminded me of the movie "Hitch"! I thought maybe i was seeing things so I grabbed her face and pulled it into the bathroom light and sure enough! Her lips were not only huge,  but they were about 4" wide too! Which is about double the width they normally are! So I threw a towel on her, yelled for my dad, and took her into the kitchen to give her some Benadryl. Then my dad helped her get on the couch while I ran to get Ben (since he wouldn't answer his phone). Within in about 30 minutes the swelling started to go down. We figured she must have had an allergic reaction to a combination of medicines Ben had given her earlier that night.  Anyhow. This morning she looked great and the only comment she said was that she didn't appreciate that we (me, Ben, my dad and step mom) were cracking jokes about her lips last night. (we were actually trying to get her to laugh because she was freaking out so bad.. but I guess she didn't think it was funny.. seven year olds are so sensitive! LOL).

Well I am off. Gotta take a shower and get my clothes packed. I usually don't enjoy traveling so much but a good friend of mine, Jamie is coming with me so it should be fun!! and those crazy girls in Vegas are a riot too and I am actually going to SCRAPBOOK on this trip... at a CROP!! I haven't done that in years.. Gonna miss my kids and hubby but excited to see what he does while I am gone! :)

ah the joy of kitting and more great tips!

h! you know when I created my classes for this fall schedule and decided to do a calendar class that had 12 SEPARATE pages with a cover... hum.. I don't think i was thinking very well. Certainly not about when I had to actually CUT the paper and kit all the months. Yeah.. not fun. Luckily my kids thought it was and Allie, Preston and Braden helped me! But by the last month Allie was like... mom.. don't ever do this class again! The sad thing is it's my favorite class! Ahh what we won't due for the name of scrapbooking.

I wanted to give a shout out to Jenny, Ben's sister... and Sara, JQ, Kenna and Lindsay at the good old Chatterbox office, who used to kit all my thousands of class kits, when I traveled and taught for Chatterbox. YOU GUYS ROCKED! You never truly appreciate people until they are gone.. gone gone..

Okay so I decided to share some more tips with you, since I don't have any pictures to share of the house (Ben is painting today.. we had a bit of a delay because we (okay I) decided to put wainscot up in Allie's room about 5 feet high, all the way around. Ben handmade it so it took him all day but oh it looks so beautiful! We (okay, again.. I) also decided that I wanted 2 pendant lights over the bar in the kitchen instead of one, so Ben had to drill two new holes for the light boxes and then patch the hole that was in the middle and re-texture the ceiling.. Ben.. you rock). So today is painting day!

Okay so onto the tips! Today all my tips have to do with food. Who knew food was good for things other than making us nice and fat :)

Tip one: I think I have shared this one before because Ethan fell asleep with gum in his mouth one night. The next morning he woke up with gum all across is face, hair and clothes. I tried to get it out and scrub it off.. but didn't work. SO I just left it. I figured it would come off eventually (and when I say all over his face, it was like everywhere, down his neck, ears etc...  and he looked like he he had huge scars on his face because the gum was red and then had got dust and dirt on it and dried overnight). Well Ben's sister, Jenny came over and obviously asked what happened to his face. I told her it was just gum and I couldn't get it out. She told me that Peanut Butter gets gum out! She brought him in the kitchen and spread it wherever he had peanut butter then sent him off to play outside. About 15 minutes later she brought him back in and walla! it rubbed right off with a damp dowel. We used it on the clothes and it worked great too!

Tip Two: Well since I have six kids, I have had my share of ruined furniture, etc from my kids writing with marker or pen on things. I had purchased this hand-stitched quilt for my daughters bed and one day came in to find that she had used a black pen and doodled ALL Over it.  I was seriously frantic and tried all sorts of things to get it out. Hairspray was one I had heard but it didn't work. Not sure why but it didn't on this fabric. So I franticly searched askJeeves.com and after about an hour found my answer! MILK gets out pen! I took the quilt and put it in the washer with about a half gallon of milk and some water and let it soak for about an hour. Then put it through the wash cycle and it came right out. It has happened several times since but on places like my couch (kids just find the best places to create artwork). I couldn't put my couch in the washer of course, so I sprayed it on and rubbed it with a damp cloth. I had to do it several times and it wasn't as potent as letting it sit in the milk, but it came out! I haven't tried on marker yet curious to know what gets marker out. 

Tip Three: This next tip is a two in one. It comes from both my mom and my step mom. Did you know that Baking Soda helps majorly with Diaper rash. So does Vinegar! My mom use to put a little vinegar in the bathtub when we were little and had a diaper rash or any other kind of rashes on our bums. It not only soothed it but helped heal it. My step mom says that Baking Soda works great too. Put a little in the bath or even directly onto the bumb and it helps with the heat of the rash. Corona Ointment works good to heal it, though it doesn't take the burn out.

Tip four: There are a ton of different foods that condition and ad shine to your hair. Using Mayo, eggs or honey are a great way to deep condition your hair and add shine to it. I can't remember who told me that.. some girlfriend in high school, but it worked and since then I have read it several places. Mayo and eggs also strengthens your hair. Leave it on for about 15 minutes and your hair is so smooth and soft... like butta (that's slang for butter :)).... I also read somewhere once that using mouthwash on your hair after you shampoo and condition will leave it gleaming!Haven't tried it yet but I bet I would smell good! LOL. Also another trick my mom taught me that rinsing your hair in coolish/lukewarm water helps it shine better then rinsing it in hot.

Tip five: This is another hair tip but it works great! You know how you can go to the salon and have your hair stripped. Meaning they take off all the gunk you put in your hair day after day (hair care products, hair spray etc). Well you can get the same thing by using vinegar in your hair. Let is sit on your hair for about 15 minutes than rise and it will take all of the residue out of your hair.

So there you go! Food tips.. does anyone else have any food tips they want to share? I would love to hear them! Well guess I better get back to work. I have one more class waiting to be kitted for this weekend. Plus a ton of stuff due for BHG and MM in the next 2 weeks. Hope you all have a great day!

It worked!!!

okay.. so still not actual pictures of the hair thing, but every one sends me e-mails saying they have tried it. All I can say is, it will work on every hair.. short or long. (you just need a smaller curling iron and a really hot one if it's not working.)

BUT the cascade thing DID work for someone! Robin left this comment on my blog today!!

"My husbands bachelor friend stopped by last night with a laundry "issue". He designs and sells t-shirts at car shows. Last weekend he left the box of sample tshirts in the back of his pickup. It rained....it poured....it dried up.....it got VERY VERY warm here.....and the tshirts sat in the back of his pickup the whole time turning into a moldy stinky mess. I told him I would TRY to help him. We did the cascade thing and only about 3 of the 30 or so shirts didn't make it! I was AMAZED!!!! It completely took the stinky smell out and the shirts looked as good as new!! Now I want to try it on my OWN laundry. Thanks so much for the tip!!!"

That is soo cool because I was worried she was going to say.. yeah I tried it and it sucked! LOL

Well onto the update pictures of our house which I think I have promised for a week now. I only took pictures of the kitchen and one bedroom. In the kitchen, Ben repainted the cabinets. They were a dark brown wood and looked really outdated.Here is a before picture: He talked about just having making new doors for the cabinets, but we are on such a tight time schedule that we decided to just paint them and change them next year (we think we might add onto the kitchen). If you remember me telling you earlier last month, that I have always wanted black cabinets. The kind that are a little distressed with brown stain showing underneath in places. But Ben isn't into painted cabinets. He has always like the wood ones, like knotty alder and cherry. So since we were going to replace these, he let me do the painting thing. First he sanded them all down lightly to get any finish off of them. Then he spray painted them black (yes spray paint and that is the TRICK.. Another tip from my husband. Use the cheap spray paint from walmart). Then once they were all spray painted. We took different sizes of nails, screws and screwdrivers and made little holes or dents here and there in the wood to give it an older look (see the pictures of the cabinets up close). Then he sanded them all down lightly just enough to make them smooth but not enough to to take all the paint off. Then he sanded them a little heavier around the edges and cracks to get a distressed look with the brown wood grain showing through underneath. The trick about that too is that you want a dark stain color underneath your black paint. So if you are redoing something, stain it first with ANY dark brown stain. You can do it after but it looks more authentic this way. Then the last thing he did was spray it the a matte lacquer spray (he used a paint sprayer for that).  We were worried they might be too dark for that room, and we haven't painted yet.. so we will see, but I LOVE them. I really disliked the cabinets at first because of the little line detail in them.. but now that they are black.. it's actually kinda cool. Once we get the tile backsplash and counter tops on and the flooring in (which is 5" dark walnut hand scraped planks). The room will have a more early traditional American feel. So I decided to go with brushed silver as accents, with stainless steal appliances and more modern looking lighting to give it a modern but traditional feel. I can't wait to see the finished product. He paints this week!!

so that is the update! The other pictures are of the new windows and molding he did around all the doors and windows. HE also built me a hall tree to go in my laundry room. He is going to paint it black like the kitchen cabinets and add hooks and baskets underneath. He is also building me a laundry box on either side of it. to make it look more like a built in. Man I love my husband.. seriously talented.

Well better head to bed. LONG week ahead of me.. I will be waiting for those e-mails of hair.. waiting and waiting..

Come on ladies....

I know you are out there.. trying that new hair technique I showed you. In fact I have had a couple of e-mails of  "I tried it, but don't want to share a picture" kinda of thing..that's crap I tell ya!! LOL

I was just so sure everyone would be so willing to post their luscious locks with me??? don't let me down! I am kinda down tonight. Maybe It's because I got sick yesterday... that bad nasal thing going around and the flu. This weekend was Spud Days here in Shelley, where we have a parade, eat free potatoes, have a tug of war in a mashed potato pit and even have a potato digging contest. I didn't go, I felt bad.. but some of my kids did. I was just not feeling good and the 30 MPH winds and 45 degree weather.. just didn't make it seem any more enticing! LOL

I think the reason I am down is my husband is out of town.. sorta of. His friends truck broke down while they were getting ready to come home from a hunting trip. My husband was supposed to go, but opted to stay home to get our house finished. Well they called Ben and asked if he would go by the part they needed and drive it to them about 3 hours away.  He was like... "see you in the morning". He acted all sad about it, like he felt bad that he was leaving me while I was sick.. but I knew better! LOL.. I have never seen him move or pack so fast! .. gotta love him.

So I watched this movie tonight that seriously disturbed me. In fact I should have turned it off but I didn't. I am kinda funny when it comes to movies. When Ben is out of town I like to rent the dumb, girly movies he won't watch with me. Even like the teenage Disney movies (shh don't tell anyone). So I rented Bring it on.. all the way.. .. or something like that.. the first two were pretty good and cute. But this one. SERIOUSLY. in the first 30 second of the movie I wanted to cry because I thought "if that is really how high school girls talk, think and act, my kids are going to be HOME SCHOOLED!!!".  The sexual comments.. and I mean comments, not innuendos, that they were saying to each other and the boys around them. I thought I was going to die!  The movie itself was okay, but I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes of the show without really feeling sad for my kids generation.. having to grow up with media thinking all that crap is okay to put out there in front of teenagers.. but that's probably not even it. The problem is that IS reality in most schools and it makes me sad to see such a lack of morality among young people. wow!

Well earlier today I spent the day cutting paper.. for my upcoming Las Vegas store visit. With the seriously drop dead GORGEOUS models who work at Scrapping Time, Jamie and Chelsie.  Jamie e-mailed me a few weeks ago to ask me what I wanted to do on Sunday after all my classes were over and before I headed home... she mentioned shopping, going to a show.. and then she wrote that she had a swimming pool so to bring my swimsuit. I almost choked from laughing so hard.. and politely wrote back to her.. NO WAY! LOL.. I have a heard enough time convincing myself to get into a swim suit around family.. I am not going to get into a swimsuit in front of two blond model bombshells. But that's why I love them.. because even though they do turn heads as they walk down the street (even at cku where there are mostly women) they are the seriously the sweetest girls you will ever know. I swear they go to every CKU event That is how I met them, they would always take my classes when I worked for Chatterbox and bring me food or drinks from cool places "off campus". Seriously so sweet. Anyhow, if you are in the Las Vegas area this coming weekend, come hang with us there. We are doing a crop Friday night, and then I think 3 classes on Saturday. In the end I told her I just wanted to hang at the store and crop. I don't think I have been to a "crop" in almost 3 years... that I really just cropped at... wow.. sad. Anyhow. Better get to bed. Got church at 8:30 am and I doubt Ben will be back in time to help get the kids ready. Plus my self tanning stuff is finally dry and I can go to bed now! LOL (i bought some new Loreal stuff.. called "sublime". I will let you know how it goes. I just want that "natural" summer glow.. yeah RIGHT! :))  Night! and I WILL be posting house pictures tomorrow!

Did you hear about this??

First, off thanks to EVERYONE who posted all their great tips! If you didn't read what other posted, click on the comment under my post and read them! They seriously rock! :)

Okay, soo.. if you have ever wanted to be apart of the Making Memories Design Team.. hold onto your seats! Making Memories is hosting an Making Memories Designer Idol Event.!  One lucky winner will win a spot on in the next MM book and a guest spot on the MM design team! Now that is cool! I am excited because we get to help pick some of the finalist! For more info, check out the MM blog and MM website! 

Check it out. Too cool!

So onto life in general. Had a really great day. Hardly worked at all.. I spent the day with my husband at the Temple. The house is coming along great! Did I already tell you the Kitchen cabinets are done and up?! He is painting tomorrow. So I have decided I might as well wait until he starts painting to post updates. Ben already textured the walls, but you can't really tell because the mud is white when it dries. Anyhow. I promise (I know I have said that before).. that I will post updates later this week. When there is a big, wow, to show you!

Well better go make dinner. Thanks again for everyone comments and tips yesterday. You know what I would love? I would LOVE to see everyone try the curling iron trick. The hair thing. If you do.. PLEASE take a picture and e-mail me! I will post them on my blog!

Have a great night!

Five cool tips to share...

I am up late doing a working and need a major break! The kids are in bed, already watched a movie with my hubby (The Sentinel.. pretty good), and got my layout almost done! So I was thinking maybe I would share a couple of cool tips that might interest some of you.

Tip Number 1: Did you know that bleach actually makes whites, gray, in most situations? Because of all the minerals etc in city water, well water and even with water softeners... it most likely will give your whites a little gray tint rather than brilliant white. Well living with my step mother, Maria.. (she is the queen of what cleans the best, what gets things out and probably one of the best cooks I have ever known.)... she told me the secret to keeping whites white. I am always amazed at how white her towels are and all of her white clothing. The secret? Cascade dish-washing detergent and a good soak. She will put her whites in at night with a full cup of Cascade dish-washing detergent (she says it has to be Cascade), and your regular cleaning detergent (NON bleach.. like tide or the cheap stuff we get like sun??). Let them soak overnight and then in the morning just start your wash and walla! She says she rinses them twice because there is so much soap in it. She also says you don't have to do it every time you wash them, just every other time.. but NEVER use bleach.. even when you aren't using cascade.   So there is tip number one! Thanks Maria :).

Tip number 2: comes from a girl I met about a year ago. Don't know her name but she has saved my hair on quite a few occasions since. She was checking me out of the massage therapy place (ringing up my bill) and her hair was just so stinking cute. It had a curl in it but more of a wavy curl. I instantly thought it must be natural, so I asked. She said nope! She used a curling iron. A smaller size one. Not the smallest but the next size up. I would say 3/4"" barrel. Many of you sent nice e-mails and left comments about my picture and my hair. on my blog.... Well it's all because of the no name girl. So here is the tip. It's almost like curling your hair into ringlets except instead of starting at the bottom of your hair, you start at the roots. Open the barrel to your curling iron and wrap your hair around the barrel until you can't wrap anymore. Don't worry if hair is hanging out. It looks even cuter that way. Then close the barrel, wait a few seconds depending on how hot your curling iron gets and let go! It creates this wonderful wave that starts right at the top of your head!

You can do bigger chunks of hair (like 1" sections") or you can do strands.. both ways are cute. But that's my secret to GREAT hair! and the best part.. it stays all day. I can even wear it a second day and just do a few touch ups. Which is CRAZY for me, because I have thin hair and I can only wear my hair down one day before it's major greasy or just plain flat. So that is tip number 2!

Tip number 3: This tip goes along with tip number two... dirty hair curls better and stays longer than clean hair. It's true. When I was first married I used to be one of the people who helped do all the girls hair for drill team competitions and cheerleading competitions. Dirty hair just curls better. Now.. it can't be TOO dirty.. but say.. wash it one day, and then curl it the next. Which is also another trick. Wear you hair straight the first day and then the next, shower but don't wash your hair and then wave it! It will look cute and stay even better! Thrn the next day  (the third day) don't wash it again and put it in a messy bun or half ponytail and it will still look "hot" because you will have this wave in it and some of your bangs or hair around your face will fall down and just kinda be messy. So that is tip number 3! By the way, I usually only wash my hair 2-3 times a week. Its much healthier for your hair.. PROMISE (but I do shower more than that! I think...LOL)

Tip number 4: This is another beauty tip. Growing up my mom was a Mary Kay consultant Which was great because I got HOOKED on MK product. I swear by it. That's why I look so young for my age  or so people tell me. I am sure I would get carded if I drank.. but i don't.. but I have been carded for buying spray paint! LOL.. (eeks! almost 32.. and freaking OUT!).. oh! so back to the tip! Okay... so for SOO long I thought that since my eyes where brown I should wear brown, orange or bronze eye shadow to compliment my eyes. Thats what my mom was taught and that's what she taught us. But I learned early last year from another MK consultant (my mom sadly does not sell it anymore.. but she did get her car!!)... well I learned that actually opposite colors make your eyes stand out. So for me, wearing purple or reddish eye shadows will make my eyes stand out more... the opposite color just makes my eyes pop! (which makes sense. You can also translate this into scrapbooking when it comes to pictures) So if you have blue eye: wear browns. Hazel eyes: Wear purple. Dark brown eyes: wear green, and Green eyes: Hum.. not sure.. maybe blue? I need to find that one out. That's probably one everyone knows.. so I will throw in one more.. just to make it good.. putting foundation on your lips and then using a lip liner to lightly dust your entire lip too, before putting your lipstick on, will make your lipstick last 2-3times longer sometimes even more! So that is tip number four!

Tip number five: Well this is my favorite tip because it has saved my skin more than you know. It is the cure all, end all of BE all. (for me anyway). This tip came from my wonderful mother-in-law, Ann, who has a remedy for EVERYTHING. In my family, we get alot of cold soars and I have tried EVERYTHING i can think of.. including Abreva and other prescription medicines ( that is actually supposed to stop them once they  have started.. but nothing works!!)  I mean sure there is Lysine which helps heal it faster and Abreva and other stuff which heals it faster too. And then even medication.. but all they do is make them HEAL faster. This stuff.. seriously STOPS it.. if you put it on your cold soar the MINUTE you feel a bump.. and I mean just clump it on.. It will go away! Now if you don't catch it at that stage.. Still use it because it will heal it in like 3 days.. I am not even joking. This stuff not only works for Cold soars, but everything. cuts, soars, pimples.. you name it. My sun licks his lips alot and it his skin right above his lip gets really red and soar. That stuff heals it in no time! Now here is a warning: .. it's only for external use.. and check with your doctor before using it. This is my personal opinion only.. so please don't sue me if it breaks you out in hives! LOL..

okay so what is it? It's called: Corona Ointment. It's for horses and cattle but I use it and love it. Ben's family has used it for years on everything their children had. External stuff and it really does work. It's pretty greasy but that's okay. I just clump it on and leave it. If I am going out , I rub it in just a little on my lips and it still heals it but looks more like lip gloss. And that folks is tip number five!

so what's your tip?  I would LOVE to know it... seriously! Can't wait to hear!

The rest of the story....

So I promised you all the story of the fair and the hypnotist.. Warning THIS A NOVEL.. so if you don't have alot of time.. don't read it! LOL..

First off, let me start by saying I have been hypnotized twice before. Once at my High School graduation party and a second time as an audience member at another event. So I should know better. But of course.. I never listen to my basic instincts!  So Ben and I hadn't been on a date in weeks, (since we moved here!) and decided to go the fair by ourselves, to just browse all the cool buildings, eat food and just hang..  When we got there we noticed the hypnotist was going to be there and it was a free show. So we decided to go and watch. I told my husband several times that I didn't want to be a volunteer as both times in the past I didn't have the best of experiences. But for some reason when the guy asked for volunteers my hand went up!  I quickly put it down and then for some reason when he was looking right my way, I put it up again and of course he picked me (stupid stupid)...

Well I got up on stage and sat in the chair and you know did the whole relaxing thing and as he was counting and getting us into hypnosis.. I kept telling myself i was NOT going to be hypnotized. That I just couldn't do it.. the audience was too noisy and I just too distracted. Well after he had counted us all the way down and then asked us to wake up. I did.. (I looked around and thought.. NOPE! not hypnotized.. good.. he will send me back down to sit with my husband.. ). Then he told us all the make a fist with both hands and and then when he counted to three we would try as hard as we could to open our fists (which were straight out in front of us) and we wouldn't be able to ( I was like.. okay... I'll play and then he'll let me go because I will be able to open them). And then I freaked out.... I tried and TRIED as hard and as much as I could to use every muscle in my body to open my fists and I couldn't! At first I freaked out.. then I started to get REALLy mad.. and that was my mistake!

So he put us to sleep again and told us when we woke up we would act like we were in a rock band and be all crazy.. now let me first tell you, if you have never been hypnotized.. when a hypnotist used the term "sleep", you are not really asleep. You can hear EVERYHTING that is going on around you and infact you are acutely aware of everything you are doing.. but you can't control it. even if you think in your mind.. you aren't going to say something or do something, it's almost as if you open your mouth and it just comes out. But when you are laying there uncomfortably usually in some weird position on top of someone else, all you can do is listen to what he is saying and telling you to do next and think "i am NOT going to do that".

Well so he told us that when we woke up we would act like a rock star and the entire time he kept repeating himself, i was thinking (no way.. that is so dumb.. I am not going to do that.. I am just not! i won't do it! That is so stupid!) I was already very mad at him because when he puts you to sleep, most of the time he jerks you violently with your arm or hits your neck and pushes you onto another person or chair next to you. Well the kid that had been next to me hadn't gotten hypnotized and so he left and the chair was empty. It was one of those hard chairs, metal ones and when he pulled on my arm to put me to sleep he pulled so hard that I banged my head on chair. PLUS i have a very bad back and so I was in an awkward position and in a lot of pain. THEN when he put the lady next to the empty chair laying all of her body weight on top of my head and upper back! I was ready to scream. I was so uncomfortable and in alot of pain and that just made me madder by the minute. I tried as hard as i could to physically move and I couldn't. I would often spend my "asleep" time telling myself.. you can move Christy.. you can.. it's your body.. all you have to do it MOVE it... and I would concentrate as hard as I could and nothing. I even tried to open my eyes.. and nothing which just made me even more mad! Okay so back to the rock star part. Well so he woke us up and all around me people were beginning to act like rock stars.. taking off clothing.. yelling, screaming and I just sat there. I was like, I am NOT going to do it and I didn't. I was too scared to move because i thought if I did, I would act like them, so I didn't move an inch..... I think this made the hypnotist mad and he came over and told me to get up. I just looked at him not moving my body, and then he hit my neck and I fell back asleep. I heard him tell the girl next to me to go sit down with her family, as she was not hypnotized and i thought (wait! let me go! I want to go too!). Well so he had put me to sleep facing forward which at first I thought was pretty comfortable. But then as I breathed harder and deeper my body began to sink forward and in after what seemed like about 10 minutes.. I fell head first onto the floor and fell with my back to everyone in the audience which was my worst fear because I was wearing low rise pants and a long sweatshirt. I hoped my sweatshirt was still covering my butt.. but when I started to feel a cold breeze, i just KNEW my butt in some form it was showing. I had underwear on. INfact I had full coverage underwear as I like to call them (I am LDS and we were special garments that act as underwear and are sacred to us). So those were showing as well. All the while we was having everyone do all sorts of dumb things like sniff each others arm pits, lick each others feet, do sign language with their entire body but he was having them do erotic behaviors. Most of this I didn't even know was going on and i had no concept of time. My husband told me all of this later. I wasn't paying attention to the guy, I was mostly trying to convince myself to get UP and move.. or at least pull my sweatshirt down to cover my butt again.. but tried and tried and my body just wouldn't do it. I was getting even more mad when finally he walked over and pulled me up. He told me to quit sleeping on his stage that I was boring and so he was going to punish  me. He told me to touch my nose.. which I first refused but then my body just did it. He told me to try and pull my finger away from my nose which i did.. and found it was STUCK to my stinking nose! I could hear everyone laughing which was making me mad ( think anger was a reoccurring theme tonight for me)... but then he pulled my finger to where to where it was just pointing at me and put my other hand and finger onto my ear left ear. He said.. "now spend the new few minutes trying to figure out how to get both of your hands down! and he laughed and walked off. I tried and tried and pulled and pulled as hard as i could with both hands and NOTHING. Both arms started to cramp so bad that I seriously thought I was going to faint because of the pain. So I started to calm down and tried to "talk" myself into putting them down. I stared as hard as I could at my finger that was pointing at me and thought "i can do this.. just slowing put your finger down".. but the harder I tried. the harder my muscles cramped up and I just wanted to scream.. then when i realized I couldn't move.. really couldn't move them, I started to cry and grunt.. the lady next to me looked at me weird and i thought.. oh leave me alone. Finally I started getting so mad and seriously thought I would burst if I wasn't able to put my arms down that I yelled in kinda this really low almost evil voice.. HEYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!. The hypnotist was busing making a grown man act like a little girl who wanted a Barbie and didn't hear me. So I yelled again and this time even louder and more angry and evil (which kinda scared me because I didn't recognize this voice I was using) .SO the hypnotist walked over to me and laughed and said.. can I help you? I  started crying and just begged and pleaded with him to PLEASE let me put  my arms down. I told him I had huge cramps and that I promised I would be good. Of course everyone laughed and and so did he, which made me cry even more, partly because i was in no mood to play games and because he thought it was funny I was in so much pain. So he put me to sleep in yet another uncomfortable position.

THis time it didn't last long because he told us that when we woke up we would think we were on the Jerry Springer show and that we would be compelled to share some dark secret we had been carrying and we would get crazy. I thought. I don't have any thing to share.. nope.. not going to do it! won't do it! he can't make me. So he woke us up and started at the other end of the room.. one by one people were confession they had slept with so and so.. or had a child they gave up.. or "did it with three sisters but they didn't know" I mean.. BAD disgusting stuff and the whole time I was just looking at everyone thinking.. these people are SICK! Seriously.. Well then one by one random people would just jump us and not even wait their turn to confess things.. and he had made his way down to my side. I kept telling myself.. don't say anything.. you don't have anything to say and then I found myself tugging on his shirt telling him I had something to say. I grabbed the microphone and said " okay I have two things to say, first: I stole something in high school (i was horrified.. i actually had.. but NO one knew it.. and I had never told anyone about it because I had prayed and prayed so hard to ask to be forgiven..). Then I said.. and I want to say something to the rest of you.. you ALL should be ashamed of yourselves.. you are rotten people and are just sick! I could hear laughter and a few people on stage say stuff like "oh your an angel... or please forgive me", and then the guy 2 seats down from me, starting saying what a hypocrite I was.. that I was just as bad as them all and I lost it. I don't know where my energy came from.. but I just started pounding on him.. and yelling at him.. telling him he was a "freaking jerk" as my husband told me later. Has hitting him so hard that the hypnotist grabbed me and put me on my seat and told me to that my hands and feet would be stuck to my legs and floor. Then for some reason I started to just cry.. I was begging him to PLEASE PLEASE not make me do that again.. that I didn't want to be punished again and that I was sorry. I remember seriously crying so hard I couldn't see in front of me.. like sobbing crying. SO he laughed and put me to sleep. Anyhow.. he made us do a few more things and each time.. I would start to get angry and and want to just hurt someone because I was so mad that the hypnotist for making me do dumb things and I couldn't stop it them. The poor guy next to me was having a baby (the same one that I beat up) and he was whining so much and i was supposed to be helping him and calming him down, but he wouldn't listen.... when I told him to just calm down and breath.. he just moaned louder and louder.. and it made me frustrated and mad.. so I yelled at him and pounded his chest and told him to buck up, shut up and live with it. That i had had six kids and it was no big deal so to quit being such a baby!

Then he woke us up one last time and I remember barley hearing something about being awake.. and feeling normal again (which I only caught in bits and pieces because the crowd was so loud) but  for some odd reason I still felt very much the same.. almost like in a trance and that things were just weird. I saw everyone else on the stage around me laughing and being normal and going down to their families and I just stood there.. almost like i was paralyzed.  Ben finally came down to the stage and got me and said asked me if I was alright. I remember thinking.. NO I am not alright! Something is terribly wrong.. but for some reason I can't do anything about it or tell him,  but all I could say was.. hum.. yea??? I just kept looking at everyone around me and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. So Ben took me over to the hypnotists who was busy selling dvd's to everyone (as video or camera's were not allowed).. so Ben had me sit down on a bench and we waited until almost no one was left. Ben and I walked up to him and told him that something was wrong and the I didn't feel right. He told me to sit down on the bench in front of him and then he put me to sleep one more time. He told me that when we counted to three I would feel better and my mind would be free of him. Then he did and i was! I felt instantly better and told him thank you. As we walked away, Ben said that he watched me the whole time on stage and new something was wrong.. he asked me why I had volunteered and I told him "I don't know" I told you I wasn't going to"  then he told me he wondered if it had something to do with what the hypnotist had been playing as music before the thing started.. I was like what music? He said before the show started he had music going and in a really low voice the guy's voice would come on and say "if you have ever been hypnotized before you will have the urge to raise your hand and be hypnotized again" . I told Ben he was full of crap and he said.. NO seriously! I even said that to you.. when I heard it the first time.. but you must not have heard me.

So the moral of the story. Don't be hypnotized. It's seriously a scary thing. The thought that someone else can control your body even when your mind which should be the strongest part of your soul, can't will you do change it.. is VERY scary. I told Ben that I didn't even want to watch another hypnotist again.. that even the thought of being in the audience scared me. It told him I couldn't believe how angry and mad I was the entire time. I was so mad at the guy for making me do all these things and I spent most of "sleep" and awake time trying to convince myself that I could stop it.. which in the end.. was sad.. because I couldn't it.

So that's my story! LOL.. very long I know. I know hypnotics can be used for good.. in controlled settings for doctor purposes. But I think for now, I will stay away from them! LOL

Okay! so an update on the house! Ben got the cabinets done and installed in the kitchen. I made and put up all the trim around the doors, windows and floor and has almost textured the entire house. I PROMISE I will go over later this evening and take pictures. I was going to on Sunday but the doors weren't on yet.. so I figured I would just wait. Well better get back to work! I have a ton of assignments due this week for BHG and MM.. so better go! :)

Great week...

oh! what a great week I had, spending time with Allie. That was her first plane ride and it was great to see her get so excited as we got higher and higher. Of course she acted like it was no big deal... like she flew all the time.. but I could tell she was fascinate by the grin on her face. (she likes to act older than she is).

I am sorry to report that I didn't take ANY pictures. I remembered my camera.. but the battery was dead.. SO frustrated! So I am going to post pictures of Allie throughout the post because it's her Birthday tommorow and I know she would love it. Tuscon was so interesting! I mean it's weird not to see tons of trees everywhere and grass. It was more weird to see cactus and palm trees everywhere and to see gravel for peoples yards. Up in the hills where the resort was, most of homes had flat roofs and were built right into the hills. Here in Idaho most of the land is cleared and leveled before they build houses and we don't have flat roofs. The thing i loved MOST was the beautiful nights they had there. Tucson is surrounded by mountains that from far away seem like are covered in green grass ( as you get closer you realize it's cactus and sage brush).. but when the sun is setting.. the view is breathtaking. We stayed about 40 minutes away from the resort.. so we got to see alot of city, as we had to drive through it to get there and through the residential areas.

We went shopping, swimming, read books ( I am reading this fabulous nonfiction book called The Wild  Swans about three daughters from China during the years of 1900-present day.. VERY interesting) and we went to the local Scrapbooking store.  I thought it was so ironic it was called Making Memories. It was a GREAT store.. holy cow! They had tons of new paper I had never seen or heard of before and all the new Heidi Swapp stuff in. If you live in the area or are visiting.. you should go! The ladies there were SOO nice.. seriously.. so funny too. Allie got a bunch of stuff too to scrabpook all the pictueres we took. Oh wait.. we didn't take any..

oh! I forgot to tell you about Liz!! Well she didn't win.. or make top ten.. but that's okay. We still love her and Allie and I had so much time to spend together it was great.  It was SOOO interesting to watch the pageant especially since it was being taped for TV. IT took almost 4 hours because of all the redo's and commercial breaks etc. You would think that those would just be edited in.. but they actually took the time alloted for a real commercial break. They also had us do stuff like fake laugh.. in different tones and from quiet to hard and loud.. then clapping.. clapping with out signs.. clapping and cheering with signs.. and then clapping with laughing.. It was pretty fun to experience that. Allie thought it was weird! But the host was great. I don't know if any of you are Seinfeld fans but if you remember Elaine's boss. ( I can't remember his real name for the life of me).. he was the host with his wife and he was DANG funny.

But by Thursday we were ready to go home.. tired and Allie was getting emotional and wanted to go home. We were on standby and almost didn't make our second flight because it was overbooked. But we did.. but they said we wouldn't be able to sit together. We got in line quickly (southwest doesn't have assigned seating it's first come first serve). We were way at the back of the line.. but not tat the very back, so I had hope we might be able find seats next to each other. Then we realized as we started to give our tickets to the lady that Allie had left a bag she was carrying over by floor where we were waiting. I snapped at her to go get it  and she started to run and just then a cleaning man picked it up and put it in the garbage. She started to cry and I so I had to step out of line to go help her get it out. On the way to back of the line, I snapped at her telling her that because she forgot her bag we definitely wouldn't be able to sit together. I know others around heard me and thought I was so mean.. and I was.  The flight was an half hour late and EVERYONE on the plane was super cranky.. I just knew we wouldn't be able to talk anyone into giving up their seat for us to sit together.  Allie was crying and I was emotional, hugging her telling her I was sorry... and then we got on the plane and as we were walking down the first few seats, two men who were up front,  both offered to give up their seats so we could sit by each other. They had to go all the way to the back and sit in middle seats (which I know men hate the most because of the leg room). I was so overwhelmed by their kindness and felt so bad at the way I had treated Allie that I started to cry right there on the plane. I really tried to stop but couldn't. Then Allie started crying even more and we both just sat with our heads on each other shoulders and snuggled and cried.  I could tell we were all vacationed out but felt so grateful that others were kind enough to give up their seats. I am sure everyone on the plane thought we were freaks.. or at least me...

We had to drive home another 3 hours since we flew out of Salt Lake City, Utah. So we stayed the night at my mom's and she threw a small party for Allie for her birthday (which is Sunday and in case you didn't hear her the first 3 times.. she will remind you again! LOL) . The next morning we headed home... But it was a fast and good ride home. Allie and I laughed and sang songs. I still felt bad for yelling at her in the airport.

Anyhow.. that is a recap of our trip. Sorry there are no pictures. I feel really bad for Allie because that is our first real "girl" trip together and wasn't able to take any. Now it's back to day to day life. This weekend we went to the fair, the park, rented movies and got ice cream with the kids. I will have to share with you my experience at the fair, later this week. We went to the hypnotist show and I volunteered to be on stage.. what a mistake.. Too funny though..

Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!

Here she comes... Mrs. America

Hopefully that is the song I will be hearing on Wednesday night, in Tucson AZ as my best friend, Liz walks down the stage.....

My best friend Liz, is an amazing person. I actually knew her in High School though in HS we weren't that great of friends. We hung out with the same crowd.. but had different things we were into. She was into pageants and sports and I was more into drama and boys! (not drama WITH boys.. but the actual class.. drama and writing plays etc.. and then I liked boys too! just had to clarify that...)

But years later.. we met again and instantly reconnected.. our kids are close and we are lucky enough that our husbands are best friends too! I miss her though, since we moved.. I have not seen her. This year she competed in the final stage of pageantry competitions, Mrs. Idaho. It's for married women and the last pageants you can compete in. So she competed back in March and won!  Then about 2 weeks ago she left for Tucson, AZ to compete in the National event, Mrs. America. She really just hopes to make top 10 (which Idaho has only done like a small number of times). And I really think she will!

So for my daughter, Allie's birthday, I am taking her with me.. just a girls week.. to Tucson! We leave today because we are driving to SLC to fly out.  We will be back on Friday.. so I probably won't be posting much this week. I also get to spend a little with my mom while in SLC... can't wait!

And here is a house update.. sorta of :)....I went over to the house to take pictures yesterday and my camera died! So sorry no updates... But Ben's parents came into town yesterday to spend the week with us and so I predict when I get back the house will be all textured and trim will be done! Ben and his dad make a great team! I am lucky to have Ben's mom here too.... We didn't plan it, but it will be perfect since Allie and I are leaving for a week, she is going to help out with the other kids. She rocks. Whenever they visit or come over she just jumps in and takes charge and finds out what needs to be done. She is amazing like that!

Well I hope you all have a fabulous week! If you want to watch the Mrs. America Pageant it airs on the WE channel September 23rd at 8:00 and 10:00 pm. .. the pageant is a little delayed in airing (like 3 weeks) but it will still be fun to watch!