A Fun Girls' Get Together

If you like get togethers with the girlfriends, and are looking for something fun to do, here's an idea for you:

Get together, fix each other's hair, and have a photo session!

You would just need a few things:

• Snacks(everyone bring your toothbrushes for after snacks and before the photo shoot!)
• Curling irons, hot sticks, hair bows, hats, scarves, hair pins, and hair spray
• A handful of friends(teams of 2 would probably work best, and since it's a photo session, you probably should limit it to 4 or 6 total
• At least one pretty wall-use as many as you want!
• One or more cameras--if your friends have good quality cameras, those are the funnest to play with!  Pics turn out so clear!

Have everyone wear their favorite top, or a solid colored shirt.  Take turns fixing each other's hair.  After one group has fixed their partner's hair, add hair bows, hat's, scarves or whatever you want to finish the look, and take pics!  After your first group's pics are done, repeat the process with the partner!

  

Try out some fun poses!  

You can take pics of best friends, sisters, mothers and daugthers, or a group photo(use the timer on the camera!).  This is a picture of my girls:

You can also use mirrors, which I like!  With my wedding pictures, my dress had a full train, and my photographer had me look in a mirror, while two ladies held my dress train up in the back, filling the entire background of the mirror.  So it was my face, with a beautiful candlelight ivory satin background.

My girls and I had a photo shoot with my new camera(still need lots of practice!), and this is one with a mirror:

  

You can use props, and one that I think it a lot of fun is....a fan!!!  You can put it behind you orin front of you!  Here is one of myself that I like:

This would be a great, inexpensive and fun get together!  After you are finished with the photo shoot, you can take your memory card to Walmart or another photo center and get copies of your favorite pics!  

And above all else, have a great time with your friends! 

Winter Helpers for Hands

I hope everyone is well!  With strep, the flu and other things in our home, this blog has been neglected!  So sorry!

Here's just two tips for helping our hands in the winter, especially if you have sensitive skin, or at least in the winter time:

• Wear rubber gloves when you wash dishes!  They keep your hands dry, and keeping your hands away from wet and dry more than necessary helps them to not chap, crack and bleed in the cold weather.
• I have bottles of good lotions with the automatic pump(so you don't have to unscrew the lids) at both of my sinks and in my bedroom.  Having the lotion so handy encourages me to use it much more, which is a help for my hands in the winter, since my hands chap and bleed so easily.

And off the subject--if you read my CVS post, I got 2 free tubes of Colgate toothpaste this week! :)

More Valentine's Day Ideas

Ladies~

Valentine's Day is coming up~have you made plans???

My birthday is February 3rd, so we did something special then-not sure if we'll actually go out again, but I'll be happy with a simple card!  :)

Not only because of the hearts and red and pink everywhere, but I can tell Valentine's Day is coming up for other reasons too!  Such as the candy aisle at Walmart and the extra few pounds I've put on!  Whose bright idea was it to put the candy out a month in advance anyway!?  :)

I just want to give you a few more ideas for V-Day, and let me start first by sharing my birthday experience-maybe you can get reservations and sqeeze in for the evening show!

When I say "show", I'm talking about my dining experience at a Japanese restaurant, Hibachi.  I think that most of the Japanese restaurants operate the same way, or you could call around and find out which ones do, if you are interested.

We went to Hibachi for dinner, and not only was the food superb, but the set up for dining is different---you are seated with others on one side at a long table, and on the other side is the steel grill, and your own personal chef comes out and cooks your meals in front of you!  What makes it so neat is that he also does some impressive moves with his utensils, makes music with them and the seasoning shakers, and does a few neat things with fire, including making a volcano out of an onion and setting it on fire.

So go with your Valentine, or get some girlfriends together and treat yourselves!  It's a lot of fun!

A few other ideas:

A huge stuffed monkey or bear, with cologne sitting in his lap, on the front seat of your Valentine's car(I did this for hubby one year)

Get creative and make up a gift basket for your mother, sister or best friend---add candy, maybe a cute coffee mug, hot chocolate, and their favorite magazine.

Make up a chocolate bouquet--I have 3 shown on my other blogs--you just have to get a little creative, and you can whip one up easily--the kiddos would like this!  Cream filled candies work well--reese's, cream filled hearts, etc.  I use new, clean wire floral stems to drive right thru the middles of them to make a standing candy flower.  Or get corsage pins and a foam floral ball, and pin the candies to the ball neatly--the white ends of the pins looks pretty!  See mine here.  My other two are here and here.

If you want to spoil someone who needs to get more rest, how about a new memory foam pillow?  My hubby got one for Christmas, and he likes it!  Why not go all out and get some 400-600 count sheets too??  Those things are dreamy!!!

Isn't it fun being a woman, enjoying all the things we do?  :)

Great Savings on Hair, Skin and Hygiene Products!

A big thank you to my wonderful sister-in-law Alicia for this one!  I didn't know what GREAT deals CVS had until she showed me and explained to me how it works!  And it is SOO easy!

Since this is my blog for us ladies, I mentioned great savings on hair, skin and hygiene products, but if you decide to check CVS and their sales out, you will see that the savings goes beyond shampoos and body soaps!  I've gotten shampoos, toothpastes, allergy meds, toothbrushes, deodorant, mouthwash and other items FREE--yes, FREE, and they make this available to ALL of us!!!  

Although at the time I took the pictures to give you the info on how to use the rebate program, I did not use beauty products in the pics I took(blogger limits me to 5 pics per post, and the ones I have shown explain it best).  But so you don't think this is misleading, I have gotten Aussie, Vive Pro, Herbal Essence, and other hair products free or cheap!  Often times, they will have rebates of $10 extra bucks when you spend $20, or $5 extra bucks back when you spend $15, on Olay or Nutragena-use with coupons for greater savings!  I'll explain the extra bucks and CVS' program below.... 

First, you will want to get their sale ad and their rebate booklet(pictured-the yellow booklet)-which in our store, is right next to the sale ads upon entering the store.

When you glance thru the rebate booklet, you will see what items they are giving rebates on, and what items will be free for the month.

Now, what is special about CVS rebate program?  You don't have to mail anything in--your rebate is instant at the register, and comes back to you on your sales receipt!  Let me explain....

First of all, you need a CVS card, which you can get one when you go in-they'll give you the short application for one.

If you notice the back of the rebate booklet I've shown, there are three items that say FREE.  The way it works is, you purchase the product, and when you check out and pay for your items,your cash register receipt will give you back EXTRA BUCKS, which is the same as cash on ANYTHING in the store on your next purchase. 

So, if you purchase the 3 items on the back of the rebate booklet, you will give the cashier $16.97(we won't figure out tax).  When you get your sales receipt back, it will have an EXTRA BUCKS coupon for each different item you purchased, which will equal $16.97(3.99 for the Nutra Trim, 4.99 for the kids' coolers, and 7.99 for the nasal spray).

Sometimes your receipt will have extra coupons on it as well.

If you notice my picture with the receipts(I had to cut the one in half to fit it in the picture!), the 3rd paper is not a receipt.  

Are you familiar with the scanner machines that will tell you the price if you can't find it on the shelf or package?  Well, here's another great little treasure!  If you scan your CVS card, it will print out extra coupons for you!

If an item has a rebate on it, you can also use a manufacturer's coupon with it!  Sometimes the scanner coupons will give you $3 off a $15 purchase, so occasionally, you will get back more extra bucks than what you actually spent!  My first time doing this, my items cost around $22.  I got around $24 extra bucks back!  If an item is free after extra bucks, and you had a $1 off coupon, you earned a dollar!

You can use your extra bucks on other items that will give you extra bucks.  If I paid for the 3 items on the back of the rebate booklet with extra bucks I already had, I would still get back more extra bucks for these purchases.

Keep in mind that when you receive your extra bucks, they expire one month from the day you get them.

The rebate booklet offers rebates on many items all over the store, but not every items in the book is free.  Many have a few dollars rebate on an item.  You can watch the sale ads for the month and use coupons for greater savings.  

The rebate items do have limits.  Some limit one offer per household, and some offer 5 rebates back on an item.  Look at the small print on that particular item.

I have saved SO MUCH MONEY on CVS's rebate offers!  I didn't used to shop there because their regular prices tend to run rather high.  But if you check it out yourself, you'll be glad you did!

For Brenda and Larry, Laura and Mary-Kay

Brenda is my dear friend, and Laura and Mary-Kay are her two daughters.  This lovely family, along with their husband/father, Larry, lost their 18 year old son/brother 2 years ago today.  My blogs are all dedicated to Nicholas today.  

Please remember this family in your prayers today, and ask God to give them strength and comfort.  

I've always admired what a loving, patient mother Brenda has been.  She's truly been an example to me.  Brenda and Larry raised a fine young man!  

Please take the time to view all of my blogs today-each one is dedicated to Nicholas, and each one is a little different, trying to fit them according to the style of each blog.  Be sure to read the cute story Laura wrote about her brother in my Chocolate Bouquet blog!

On my Delightful Domestications and Radiant View blogs, I've included a slideshow and song of the Masiker family.  

 

Lovely Locks!

I LOVE having long hair!  With 3 females in my house-all of us with long hair-we've had a lot of fun learning new hairstyles, and using different accessories to match outfits, or just add a classy touch!

If you have long hair and are looking for a new style, here are some ideas!  If you don't have long hair, but have considered growing it out, go for it!  Long hair can be very versatile-the possibilities seem endless with what you can do with long locks!  Many of these hairstyles don't take long to do either, so you won't be standing in front of the mirror for an hour!  And when you are a busy lady, an easy, quick hairdo is a definite plus!

Not everyone's hair grows the same-some of us with long hair only have hair down to the middle of ou

r backs.  Others have it down to their knees.  And others are somewhere in between.

 

Claire's Boutique is a great place to find all kinds of fun accessories, and tools to give you more options of what to do with your mane.  They offer chopsticks for the up-do, bows, tools for twists and donut styles, headbands, and one of my favorite

 accessories-flowers!!!

Hot sticks, curling irons, hot rollers and hair

 straighteners are nice tools for beautiful curls, or taming unruly, coarse hair.  But don't go

 overboard!  Be gentle to your locks-treat them with care!  There are many conditioners and treatments on the market for helping your hair when it is damaged.  We use them for "precautionary" measures as well.

Grab a brush, a few hair pins, barrettes, and whatever else you want to play around with,

 and have fun!

The Day of Expressing Love

In just a month, Valentine's Day will be here!  When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of heart shaped candy boxes, roses, heart shaped confetti and love!  

I'm know it is different for every woman, but I think we can all enjoy the day of love anyway!  Some ladies are married, some single, some widowed, some divorced, and some who feel they fit in the "other" category.  

But Valentine's Day doesn't just mean expressing love to a spouse--do you remember how we used to pass out Valentine's Day cards to everyone in our class in grade school?  

Here are some ideas for that celebrated day-enjoy!

Give a child a sheet of heart shaped stickers.

Give a card to a widow(or widower), letting them know that they are still loved.

Invite a divorced friend over for dinner for the same reason as the widow-letting her know she is loved.

Hug your children and tell them you love them!

Give your nieces and nephews some Valentine's candy.  

Send your mother a beautiful bouquet of flowers!

Send your sisters/brothers a card.

Make a heart shaped cake for your family-let the children decorate it.

Give your husband a giant chocolate Hershey's Kiss.

Give your husband a kiss!  :)

Stick a Valentine's card in your hubby's lunchbox.

Put a chocolate heart sucker in your children's school lunchbox without them knowing.

Call a friend to say I love you!

Take your parents out to dinner, or invite them over for your homemade specialty.  

Surprise your husband and take him out to dinner, or cook his favorite meal, or bake his favorite dessert.

Get a small box of Godiva chocolates to share with your husband, best friend, children, or for yourself!

There are two other ideas that I like a lot, one for a friend, and one for yourself!

I heard this idea on the radio~if you have a friend who is going thru a hard time, or who is struggling with life, send them flowers anonymously.  A woman did this for a friend, and the friend wondered who it could be that sent her the flowers~her mother?  the young man in her college class that befriended her?  her best friend?  one of her co-workers?  

Eventually, the woman admitted to her friend that is was she who sent the flowers.  But what this little gesture did was make the friend think of all the people who loved and cared for her.  It reminded her that she is loved.

I thougth this was a wonderful idea!

And last, but not least, the one for yourself!

If you don't think you will be receiving flowers from anyone, why not splurge on yourself?  I think most women love flowers, don't we?  

You know, when we find a beautiful new dress that catches our eye, and hey!  It happens to be on sale-50% off!  We don't think that it's silly to treat ourselves, do we?  So why feel that way about giving ourselves a bouquet of flowers?  For an extra special treat, for about the same price of a new dress, you can have flowers delivered to you at home or work!  

Flowers make me smile inside.  I bought myself a small bouquet several months ago, and they seemed to last for ages!  It was a nice little smile when I saw them on my kitchen table every day.  

What's also nice about flowers is that you can either go all out and splurge on a huge floral arrangement and have it delivered, or if you don't have much money, you can go to your grocery store and get a cute little vase and floral arrangement for under $15.  

You can add a heart shaped box of chocolates to your personal treat, and sit in front of your beautiful flowers and smile, with each and every bite.  :)