Money Smart Moms

Amy’s a Supahstar!

My friend Amy is this week’s Supahstar! I knew she was a Supahstar when I met her. I first ran into Amy on a message board, and I noticed two things immediately. She was well-spoken, and she lived pretty darn close! I actually got the chance to meet Amy a little while back, and she’s really a sweetheart and a gorgeous woman. It was a lovely experience to spend time with her. I look forward to a longer visit in the future.

Amy has a blog you’ll want to check out called “Whatever I Feel Like” and you’ll immediately get a kick out of the category topics if you’re a Napoleon Dynamite fan! You can feel her passion whether she’s talking about her boys or Grace.

She has a recovery category that you’ll want to read. She talks about her struggles and how far she’s come forward. This is one amazing woman, and if you were reading her blog, you’d know that all ready. Head on over to Amy’s blog and show her some loving!

If you’d like to participate in Supahstar Saturday, check out Geeky Speaky for more details.

Self-Portrait Sunday: Upside Down!

I missed the last two Self-Portrait Sunday’s over at DigiCass.com, due to vacation and a forgetful mind last week. I’ve got it up one hour early, 11pm EST!  I thought it would be fun to flip it upside down! You can play along too…just head over to DigiCass.com and post your link and picture into the Self-Portrait Sunday comments.

Making Yourself Beautiful

If you scroll down, you’ll see me talking about my Rosacea. One of the things that I adore is mineral makeup, and taking the time to do my makeup. Whether you enjoy Makeup Mirrors, use a vanity, or just do your makeup in the bathroom, taking the time to look your best will make you feel better inside and out.

While I was in Skin Care school and learning about skin care, besides cover cosmetic chemistry, products, biology, anatomy and other topics, I also had to learn about makeup and be comfortable with not only the basics but being able to use camouflaging techniques. When you’re able to help somebody feel better about themselves, there is always a good feeling attached to that.

Business and Growth

I’m starting a new business blog which will cover business, marketing and technology. It’s a lot to sit down and write about, but I need to pencil out a goal and direction before I go along. I’m hoping to cover things that are internet related, small business related, how to improve your performance, and things like Financial Consolidation Software. To do them all justice, I want to take my time and know that I have all the angles covered. I’ll let you know when I have it all up and running!

If there are topics you’d like to see covered, let me know. I’d like to look at different kinds of software, applications, plug-ins, business resources, tax help, as well as SEO and growth.

Religious Symbols

I remember the first time I saw someone pray on a rosary. I wondered if the beads they held made their prayers be heard stronger. It looked like a long necklace of beads to a little girl who didn’t grow up with a strong religious background. The first time I went to a religious store, I had to look at all the rosaries and decided that I would buy one or two and start praying with them. I was baptized Catholic, but without being raised that way, I had a lot of confusion when it came to religion. As I grew older, I started to seek out different paths, not knowing which one was for me. I still have the rosary, but because it wasn’t ingrained that I was to pray with one, it’s a habit that just didn’t become solid in me. I look at the religious symbols in my house that I have acquired over time and still keep them. I’m not sure if I’ll put them out and use them, but they are here.

Rosacea Redness

I added this picture to my blog for a couple of reasons. I know that people are curious to see what Rosacea looks sometimes. It can show in many different ways, and this past week or so, mine has been just nuts! I just woke up and didn’t grab my shower yet, so please excuse the mess of myself this morning! You can see the redness spreading, and lately my forehead is getting a lot more flushed as well. Stress tends to aggravate it as does multiple things. As for now, besides showing you this, I want to notate that while my skin is red, it is smooth. Last week, I had multiple bumps with it, but since lowering my sugar intake, my skin has smoothed out. Yes, even food affects my skin! I didn’t aquire Rosacea until my thirties and it seemed to come out of nowhere. My sister also has it, but her’s is much less severe. She gets a “little red” at times. Mine is pretty much constant based on what I’m doing, what’s going on in my life and more. I have dry skin (lack of sebum…lack of water is dehydration) for those of you who are checking this out who are estheticians. Being a licensed skin care specialist myself, it can be quite frustrating dealing with this. If I go into work (which I do on a fill-in basis), I use mineral make-up which tones down the redness. You can see me here, ready for work, which is a picture from a previous post.

You still see the pink undertones, but compare the two pictures and you’ll see the miracle of mineral make-up!

I’m also posting these pictures for another reason. I missed Self-Portrait Sunday last week, and was away the week before, so I wanted to send a shout out to my friend Cass and let her know I’ll be participating this week. For now, this is what I’ve got until Sunday!

Weather Wise Wednesday: Fog

You’ve seen clouds in the sky, but did you know you’ve also seen clouds on the ground? When moisture forms in the atmosphere, it forms a cloud. If the cloud is closer to the ground, it becomes fog.

Clouds are called fog, when they are at the earth’s surface, rather than in the sky.

Fog can be categoried in multiple ways:

Ice and freezing, in valleys, steam, radiation and ground fog are a few of the categories.

Brit Seeks Help, and a Mother’s Thoughts

Britney Spears entered rehab Tuesday after a bizarre weekend that included shaving her head and getting a new tattoo.
Spears’ manager, Larry Rudolph, told People magazine’s Web site that Spears, 25, had voluntarily checked herself into an undisclosed treatment facility.

I just was reading this on Yahoo! News and I have to say, this poor girl makes me sad. This young girl, just another casualty of bad lifestyle choices. It doesn’t say if it’s for drug rehab or alcohol rehab.

This is a woman who had a career that had millions of fans searching for her on the internet on a regular basis. She has the potential to come back as a music artist big again, when she cleans up. What makes me sad though, is that as a mother, seeing somebody acting out in such a manner as shaving her head, clubbing all night, and coincentally having every moment of it publicized for the media…she’s crying out for help. This girl, who is now a mother of two sons is so desperate for help.

She has been sucked so far down, she has to have some form of normalcy in her life. I hope she gets the help she needs, and that she comes out of this healthier so she can be the mother her children need.

When you’re a mother, you ache for your children when they ache, but they have to learn from their own mistakes. We want to reach out and help, but it’s not something we can force on people. When I was a teenager, I acted out as well, and while my parents may have had a difficult time dealing with me, I had to get through those experiences to become who I am today. It’s difficult to watch people suffer, and this poor girl keeps getting into the thick of it over and over again. She is on a surefire course of destruction, and hope she finds the peace and comfort in her life that she desperately needs.

Supahstar Saturday: Marcus is a Supahstar!

My friend Marcus is this week’s “Supahstar” for Supahstar Saturday! Marcus is one of those guys that you really enjoy having for a friend. He can take a good ribbing, and is the kind of guy who has your back when you need it. I met Marcus first through his blog “My Thoughts“, where he dishes about sports, local sports and his own thoughts and ideas. I then got to know him better through an online community. I really like Marcus, and I know if you get to know him, you will too. (By the way, he’s single ladies, and in the North Carolina area!)

Marcus has also recently taking up to blogging about tech gadgets, programs and all things technical over at TechBoyardee. Take the time to check out his sites, and see what a great down to earth guy he is. You’ll enjoy his comfortable banter, and his friendly voice.

To learn more about Supahstar Saturday, check out Geeky Speaky!

ICE it!

There’s a new contact you should be adding to your cell phone labeled ICE. ICE stands for “in case of emergency”. Simply add a contact of the person you want contacted in an emergency. Officials both at hospitals and emergency response crews are able to use this information to contact the person in this listing, if you aren’t able to speak to mention who you want called.

If you’ll need a second person contacted, add it as ICE2.

Don’t hesitate, add an ICE contact today.