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Friday night I took Briar, Brad and several of Briar’s friends to the movies in Paragould. They decided to go see Halloween II, which I wasn’t very excited about.

Luckily, my husband doesn’t work far from the theater, and he met me there when he got off work. We left the teens (Brad says they are too old to be called boys and that I shouldn’t do it anymore) there and went to Wal-Mart to walk around and pass the time until the movie was over.

The drive to and from Paragould with five teenagers was very entertaining. Here are a few things that I already knew, but have been confirmed once again…

All “teens” talk at once, but everyone seems to hear and know what everyone else is saying.

Teen boys like their music extremely loud, and want to sing along (with their own made-up lyrics) at the top of their lungs… while head banging.

If it involves horrendous smells or someone getting hurt (not seriously injured… just a bit of pain) it is VERY funny, and the more it hurts and the worse it smells, the funnier it gets.

Any and all food placed in front of them is instantly devoured.

Even though they are teens now… boys will still be boys.

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In addition to being the Advertising Consultant for The Times Dispatch, I am also an Independent Beauty Consultant for AVON. I LOVE make-up! I think I actually love make-up more than SHOES, if you can imagine that!

I am also a huge fan of “What Not to Wear” on television. Carmandy is the make-up guru on the show. I’ve discovered that I use a lot of her same tricks & tips on putting on make-up. Now, I’m not saying I’m an expert. But, I have worn makeup, daily for 25 years. ☺

So, I thought I’d pass along a few tricks of the trade:

1. Please make sure your foundation &/or powder is the right shade for you! Don’t apply to the inside of your wrist, to match the color. Instead, apply a dab to your neck (just below your jaw line). If you don’t see streaks, then you’ve got a winner!

2. When applying eyeshadow, use a vanilla or very light shade of pink or gold to apply right under your brow & also on the inside corner of your eyes. This brightens & opens up the eyes.

3. Apply mascara to your bottom lashes first. Then you won’t get mascara mess on your eyelid.

4. If you have very dry skin or wrinkly skin, do not use a lot of face powder. Just a light dusting of translucent powder to set your foundation. Also, for this face type, try to use a cream blush. It doesn’t settle in the “cracks” as badly.

5. Only put emphasis on one feature at a time. If you are doing a dark or smokey eye, then use a pale lip color. If you want to do a deep or bold color on the lips, then go light on the eyes. If you try to do both at once, it can look clownish.

6. When doing a smokey eye, you don’t have to use only browns & blacks. Depending on your eye color, try a dark navy or steel gray. Also, dark plum & copper shades work great!

7. Waterproof mascara is harsher on the lashes. It’s harder to remove, and can cause your lashes to break & dry out.

8. Red lips are still IN! Just make sure you find the right shade of red for your skin tone.

9. Please remove your makeup before bed! It really does make a difference in the way your skin looks.

10. Use moisturizer, with a sunscreen, year around.

11. Keep your eyebrows groomed. You don’t have to go to the salon. It’s really easy to take care of this at home. There are tweezers, waxes, eyebrow tape, etc. The shape should be as follows: The inside corner of the brow should line up, diagonally from the inside corner of the eye. The arch should line up by going diagonally, from the pupil of the eye (up and out.) Finally, the outside corner should line up, diagonally from the out side corner of the eye (up & out.)

Just remember...
Beauty comes from within! But, a little lip gloss never hurts!

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The first day of school has come and gone. I really missed having an open house this year. My youngest entered the eighth grade, and they stop at seventh grade at Hoxie. Of course my eighth and 10th graders were NOT ready for school to begin.

I picked Brad up, but Briar had football practice, so I didn’t get to talk to him right away. I asked Brad how his first day was when he got in the car… “It sucked,” was his response. Which wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

Brad has only one class with his “best” friend, but was excited to have a study hall and to have Mrs. Davis for homeroom… even though they don’t go to homeroom very often.

I believe he was a little unprepared for Mr. Hackworth. If any of you had him as a teacher, you know what I mean. He was one of my favorites, though, when I was in high school, and I’m sure he will soon become one of Brad’s favorites, too.

When I picked Briar up from football at 6 p.m., he just said, “Eh, it was school.” He did, however, make a couple of new friends. He has a tough schedule this year, but is very positive about it.

Even with the time they’ve had getting up early for football practice, I don’t think they were prepared for the school day. They were both exhausted last night. They were in bed by 9:30.

Once we’ve adjusted to the school schedule again, I think we’ll have a great year.

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Do you ever wonder why they say the “average” size for a woman in America is a size 10/12? Really??? I know a lot more women, myself included, who happily fit into the size 14 to 18 category. It’s quite funny to me that a “size” is actually used to describe a person anyway. Especially since every clothes designer uses a different scale. A size 12 in one brand would be more like a size 8 in another. While you can lay on the dressing room floor & squeeze your gut in to try and wiggle into a size 18 in another brand. Then, comes the joy of trying to get up from that dressing room floor! There’s some exercise! I mean, let’s face it, most dressing rooms are smaller than a closet. On a rare occasion you can find a large dressing room, complete with a bench or a chair. Ahhh… those are nice!
Since, I too am more of a curvaceous/voluptuous woman (let’s not use the words fat or fluffy), I feel your pain. Quite literally, at times. Don’t you just love “elastic?” Seriously, I do love clothes, accessories,and especially shoes!! Yes, I am here to admit it, I am a shoe addict! It’s very hard to find cute, trendy, fashionable items in “women’s sizes.” If you can find it in a size that you can actually breathe in, then it is usually very “matronly” or makes you look much older than you are, or actually makes you look “bigger” than you are, just because of the way it is made. Hmmm…. Now for every one of you lucky ones who truly are a size 6 or under, you might be saying “Why don’t you fat girls just lose some weight & then you can wear the same cute clothes that we can?”
Well, my answer to that would be, “Why don’t you skinny girls just enjoy a box of Twinkies every once in a while & then try to zip your jeans?” ☺ I do not hate nor wish any ill towards skinnier women, I really don’t. I am just looking at it from a plus-size prospective, and adding a little humor to it. ☺

Let’s all just be healthy! My wise words for those who are standing in front of the mirror & cursing your thighs, would be this:
Try to get some form of exercise every day. Try to drink lots and lots of water. Try to avoid eating “fast food” 3 meals a day. Smile, enjoy life, enjoy your friends, enjoy your children, enjoy every day. Finally, put on your size 18 jeans with some fabulous high heels, shiny lip gloss, and just be YOU!

In closing, here are a few funny thoughts…

“The hole is the least fattening part of a donut. Unfortunately, you have to eat the rest to get to it.”

“Potato chips are crunchy, like lettuce. So, they ARE diet food.”

“I’m in shape. Round is a shape.”

“DIET” is a 4-letter word.

A fat-free “diet shake” is really good (when you dunk Oreos in it & chase it down with some “cheese-doodles.” ☺

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