Saturday, May 31, 2008

Which one do you like?

I had a little too much fun today with a website where you can put your face in a celebrity hairstyle. This is what I came up with.


Brad Pitt with my hair Cindy Crawford

Oprah
Victoria Beckham (my favorite)

Bill Clinton
Some Actress I don't know
Jessica Simpson
Some girl from Grey's anatomy (I think) Hillary Clinton


Friday, May 23, 2008

Sweet Success

Taking just a moment to express gratitude for a little success we've experienced this week.



We had our very first FHE that didn't involve a significant amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Typically I feel like pulling out the WWF costumes and jumping into the ring with these two little roughians I have here. But this time, we had so much fun together. The boys have been obsessed with Abinadi and King Noah for several weeks now so we relived the story with them using gospel art kit pictures. Then we had to teach Lincoln the difference between the prophet Noah and King Noah because he was somewhat confused. He'd point to the picture of the prophet Noah and say, "Dat king Noah?", then to the Wicked King Noah, "Or dat King Noah?". Took awhile but I think he's got it now. Then we went to Dunkin Donuts for Dessert and stopped by the Little League Baseball games for an impromtu watch. All in all a delightful evening spent together as a family.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

My headache is gone

Many of you know that I've been working from home as an Independant Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay for two years now. All this time I felt like I had found the best solution for my desire to achieve financial freedom while staying home with my children. After all, with all due respect to my sweet hardworking husband, being married to a musician who teaches does not yeild high pay checks. Perhaps someday he'll really roll in the dough as a performer but for now, we really don't know what the future will bring. I want to be able to plan for the future but I also want him to pursue his passion because I know he will be happiest doing so. Unfortunately for him, he married an extremely ambitious human being who has grand plans and dreams that will never be realized when our basic needs are barely being met. Now, please do not get me wrong here. I am a huge advocate of living within your means and the knowledge that more money does not bring happiness. However, with a growing family (no not pregnant yet), and ever growing prices for basic living expenses, we are finding that no matter how hard we try to conserve, it seems we are always running short and digging a deeper hole. I agonize over the massive amount of student loan debt we have accrued that has begun looming over our heads as his schooling comes to an end. I wonder if we will ever be able to raise our children in a modest yet suitable home. I want them to have the best education I can give them. I struggle to see how things will work unless I can help in some way. So back to Mary Kay. I was convinced that there was not a better work-from-home opportunity available out there for women of small children. However, there were a few things that have grown bothersome to me about the business. I have begun to notice that having an inventory is somewhat of a headache. And just the "Details" aspect of the business was really becoming a stressful thing for me. I have started to observe more clearly how Mary Kay moms/women sort of run around like chickens with their heads cut off. At least the ones who are making money at it. Thus, defeating the purpose and false sense of "doing it all" and "keeping priorities in order". I found myself annoyed with all the hoopla and fluff that just isn't me. I longed to attend a meeting where the women were just real and gave me the facts and info I needed to be successful. In short I felt like I was spending too much time on things that didn't really matter and were not generating income. I have had an ongoing battle in my head fighting these concerns I had. I truly believe that Sister Beck's talk speaks absolute truth and I want to be a woman who knows. Not one who is running around struggling to supplement income and missing valuable opportunities to teach and nurture my children. I would like to share with all of you that I have found an opportunity that has not only resolved all my concerns that I've had in my Mary Kay business, but goes above and beyond the Mary Kay business plan that I thought was so perfect. Because of my business experience in Mary Kay, it was not difficult for me to see the simple, yet brilliant set-up this company has to offer. I attended a Melaleuca meeting today upon the recommendation of my brother and sister-in-law. Yes, it's Melalueca the Wellness company that I speak of. Some of you may have heard of it and may have preconceived notions of the nature of the business. Basically, they provide products that we all use everyday, are cost effective, and that have the best interest of our physical health and the good of the environment in mind. Most of the products come from the best of nature but are backed by intense scientific research. I actually grew up on the products and have been converting my home over since August of last year because of the problems we have with allergies in our home. The revenue generated from the sale of the products goes directly back to the consumer. This is totally starting to sound like a commercial. So I'll just cut to the chase. I want to share this company with everyone I possibly can. If you are interested in using products in your home that you invest in every month anyway, that are more cost effective, better for your health and the environment, that come to your doorstep every month then please email me asap at karabrndt@yahoo.com. For all of you clean freaks out there, you're going to love the Safer for Your Home cleaning product line. My personal favorite is the laundry detergent. You can check out the website and learn all you want to know at http://www.melaleuca.com/. I look forward to getting your response.