Happy birthday, Vyolette Stella!!

My sweet girl is turning one today! I'll post pictures as soon as Bryan returns from exile in Florida with the two cameras. Trapped there by the storm last week, he's roughing it on the beach at Steve's new house.

Eczema and aromatherapy

As many of you know, Wynter and Lily had/have awful cases of eczema. Testing has shown that lily's allergic to trees and mold while Wynter we suspect is allergic to grass -- so much so that her feet break out in blisters. I make a great black walnut salve that has helped the girls so much, as well as helping other skin conditions on friends and family, that their reactions have diminished enough that Wynter no longer has cracked and blistery feet and has been clear for over two years. My recipe came from some experimentation and research in essential oils, I'm sold on their benefits!

My favorite place to purchase oils is Birch Hill Aromatherapy, visit their recent newsletter to find out more about how oils can help eczema plus other conditions for stress, concentration and better health. Al has been kind enough to answer my questions in the past, these people are great!

huh?

Miss Lily turns five *weep*

Between birthday parties and upchuckie cheese, Lily turned five years old on Tuesday! Didn't I just give birth to this monkey five minutes ago?

I somehow joined the ranks at MySpace.com. I blame my friend, Lisa, entirely. She was lost and alone so I joined under the name Lulu Finkelstein so I'd show up on her site and now I'm trapped under that name.

It's not such a bad thing, however. I have made contact with a lot of other writers and after deleting the spammy comments from people I believed were there for good instead of evil, it does keep you in the loop. Who'd have thunk it?

Be a MySpace drone by adding me! http://www.myspace.com/lulufinkelstein

Jazz hands

Oh. Good. Lord.

Who the heck ever said exercise was a good idea? A friend and I went to our first death march, er, Jazzercize class last night to whip our bodies into the teenage shadows we once were. Since between us we've given birth nine times, we had a way to go. It started out nicely, Robin didn't let on that her day job was beating small puppies into submission. Chris and I swayed to the music, giggled at the enthusiasm of the other 20 ladies in the class and then amid pelvic thrusting and jazz hands I broke more of a sweat than I had in years.

Robin's eyes started to glow dark red as she honed in on the newbies and head spun around as she sashayed into a corner and hop-skipped into the next. Chris was doing admirably; I shook my butt and wished for death. My non-skid sensible shoes flew across the floor while my jiggly arms struggled to mimic the movements of the seventy year old woman in front of me, her pink sneakers mocking as she kicked higher than anyone else.

Water break! We scurried to the far corners of the room in search of our bottles, unearthed from under the car seats on the way there or fresh from the fridge. I, naturally, left mine in the car so had to stand in line at the fountain behind sweaty women who had also neglected to lock and load the bottle.

Robin, dewy - never sweaty - called us back, her body bouncing from excitement and flipping her blonde hair back over her shoulders. A huge smile on her face, I knew she was up to no good; another 30 minutes of posing, skipping and thrusting and I was ready to crawl back to the car but she cheerfully called out for weights. Chris and I feigned ignorance that we should have brought hand thingys, we haul around babies all day long, doesn't that count? So we pushed the air and watched the others suffer. I still have burn marks from the eyes boring into my back by my death campmates.

An hour later and at least one pulled muscle, I feel, if not tone and trim yet, body parts that had the crap scared out of them that I'll go again.

Zombies in the cheese dip

YAY zombies!

I belong to an excellent writers' forum -- Absolute Write (link on the title for more information) and am pleased as a chicken in springtime to have won the February Freelance Assignment contest! My winning article was entitled Zombies in the cheese dip and gave tips on how to tell the perfect summer ghost story. =D

One of these days I'll have to suck it up and learn how to submit something, perhaps this will get me in the big leagues!

Duties

Three men were sitting together, bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

The first man had married a woman from Indiana , and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning that needed done at their house. He said that it took a couple days, but on the third day he came home to a clean house, and the dishes were all washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Utah He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, the dishes, and the cooking. He told them that the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the
dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third had married an Oregon girl. He said that he told her that her duties were to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, just enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and telephone a landscaper.

Gotta love those Oregon girls!

Siding at last

Need I say more?

Hide the coffee table and suck up the carpet crumbs!

To her surprise, Vyolette has begun to crawl! I'm an old hand at this now so we've moved the coffee table and are searching for the stair gates. She woke up last night yelling her head off because she'd sat herself up and couldn't lay back down. *sigh*

Tis the season to return gifts

Naaaaah, I never return anything. It's the hoarder in me or my plain abhorrence of anything that resembles bad manners. I will hold onto that 8-track tape deck until the day I die. Or until Bryan pitches it when I'm not looking.

Wynter and I went coat shopping on the 26th of all days. I expected long lines and deeply slashed prices, I found long lines alright but only at the coffee kiosks at the mall. The stores were pretty empty, I'm sure because of their dismal sales. It's not as if they weren't trying to pull you in with their "buy one now and pay for it many many times over with 27% APR store credit" sale. Can you feel the excitement in the air? Me neither. Wyn and I finally did find a coat that wasn't insanely priced and actually fit. Now we'll find out if she can keep out of trees long enough to not rip the puffy blue material or snag it on something as she drags it behind her from the bus stop. I'm not holding my breath.

Have a lovely New Year!

Urban Botanic

Shew. You know how I love smelly things, well this company has me under its spell already and the concept is intoxicating! Urban Botanic takes the home party to a new level, helping women create their personal scent to add to lotion, parfume spray, and bath items. How fun is that?

I'm waiting to hear back about having a party here and perhaps saving up for their hefty consultant fee of $500. Eh, if nothing else, I'll smell fabulous!

Fool on the Hill update

It's getting closer! Meh- I've been saying that for three years now... ;)

We're having the house re-wrapped and sided, soon the stonework, ductwork and actual walls will be in (aim high...)!

Click on the photo for a clearer picture!

Wee Ghostie stories

Check out the newest stories at Wee Ghosties, I have another one entered in a contest right now at Dark Recesses Press. If it flops, perhaps you'll see it in the blog!
Wish me luck!

Online parties

Whoooo! I had a lot of fun at that party! I love it when people get into bidding wars during auction parties, they're having fun and I get to shake my bad thing and let them go crazy. I've been asked to write an ebook on how to do online parties, I'm also considering becoming a chat hostess for hire for those who would feel more comfortable with back up or they'd like me to run the thing while they get the orders for their company! It's alllll good, baby. Check back for status on the ebook!

Black Friday Weekend Auction Party!

Join me at 12pm EST on Saturday, November 25th, for a Basic Mineral Makeup party! Learn more about mineral makeup (you know you want to) and tips to apply it. Win fabulous prizes and meet some great people doing it! Heck, I'm throwing in some salves and aromatherapy things in for prizes too just for fun -- hello -- stocking stuffers!

How auctions work:
Earn bucks by doing some of the very simple things below. Pre-order and earn more bucks! Then, the day of the party, come by the chat room and we'll get even more bucks by playing games -- some answers are on my website so please have another browser open to switch back and forth, if you don't know how to do this please contact me before the party and I'll get you ready -- then when I start the auction you use your bucks against other guests to WIN! Simple as that!

Time: 12pm EST
Date: Saturday, November 25th
Place: http://holidayboxswap.com/chat.html
To Order Visit: http://basicmineralmakeup.com/stacey.htm
Then email me at: stacey @basicmineralmakeup.com . Please put BF/Basic Mineral Makeup Auction Party in subject line and send me your order instead of buying through the site at that time. That way I'll know when you order and can give out more auction bucks! I will enter your order after the party in case you get into the bidding frenzy and need more bucks (saves on shipping ).

Earn Auction Bucks to bid on PRIZES!!

How do you get Auction Bucks??

RSVPing to stacey @basicmineralmakeup.com - $300 Auction Bucks
Being There on Time - $300 Auction Bucks
Being There - $100 Auction Bucks
Purchasing BEFORE the party - $1,000 Auction Bucks
Purchasing DURING the party - $500 Auction Bucks
Being one of the first 5 paid orders BEFORE the party - $2,000 EXTRA Bucks
Bring a friend who participates in the party -$500 Auction Bucks

There will be games during the party to earn auction bucks as well!!!

Hope to see you there!

If you have any questions at all, just give me a jingle. Have a fabulous holiday!
Stacey

Bath and Body Recipes

As many of you already know, I've been fiddling with making my own bath and body things for a long time. I love giving them as gifts and even started my own business with salves and herbal pillows. I wanted to share some recipes online for others to get started so will be putting one up daily. There's also an ebook available (not my recipes) for download. Let's get crackin' on Christmas presents!!

Daily Slow Cooker Recipes

I'm a slow cooker nut! I love doing this for the family, it's quick, simple and everyone enjoys a hot meal. I started a blog with slow cooker recipes, one will be posted a day or you can download the ebook with over 450 recipes! Come check out what's in the crockpot today!

BOO

GOTCHA!

Is it me, or are there an awful lot of pictures of the girls in this blog?