Avon For The Holidays

Being an Avon rep, I know ahead of time when something good is coming up. That's why I set up my email newsletter that runs alongside, yet seperate from, the ones my customers get through the website every other week. I offer up the best deals I can find each campaign and make them work for you! You won't find these specials anywhere else! Email me for details at BrosiasBeauties@ymail.com or check out the website at http://www.youravon.com/lrayburn

Happy Shopping!

A Worthy, Yet Lengthy, Quote

"My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others! My manner of thinking stems straight from my considered reflections; it holds with my existence, with the way I am made. It is not in my power to alter it; and were it, I'd not do so. This manner of thinking you find fault with is my sole consolation in life; it alleviates all my sufferings in prison, it composes all my pleasures in the world outside, it is dearer to me than life itself. Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness. The reasoning man who scorns the prejudices of simpletons necessarily becomes the enemy of simpletons; he must expect as much, and laugh at the inevitable. [. . .]"

--Donatien-Alphonse-Francois Sade (Marquis de Sade), in a letter to his wife, written from prison in Vincennes, early Nov. 1783.

I couldn't have said it better myself!!!!

The kids are growing up on me!

The other day, my brother asked me what size my 5 yr. old wore so he could buy his presents and it dawns on me....I wasn't exactly sure anymore. After looking through his clothes and finding pants and a shirt I knew fit him, I finally told him size 6. It didn't take long to realize that my infant is now needing a bigger size also, the transition from 0-3 to 3-6. He's not even 2 months old yet! Not bad for a child who only weighed 5'10 at birth.

It sounds like a cliche when you hear "they grow up fast...", but it's true enough to make a mommy wanna cry sometimes. Pretty soon, they'll get their license and drive off to college...but not too soon. In the meantime, there will be runny noses, picnics in the park and resolving fights between friends. It's part of the journey to miss each stage as it passes, and to look forward (in joy and fear, lol) to the stages ahead. Enjoy the ride.

That's much better...

I think I finally have a system in place for calming some of my stress. Lately, the schedule has been 'very little sleep and waaay too much to get done' and the result was a manic mess that couldn't relax at any cost. Once I realized that some of this stuff is no where near as urgent as I'd made it out to be and set a regular schedule for what I need to get done, I had my "Aaaaah!" moment. Nice :)

A Word of Inspiration

Reading through this blog, I came across these words of wisdom written for a friend. I'm gonna post the link for you all so you can read it for yourselves. It's a good reminder for those of us who forget that our troubles are temporary and as life goes on, each experience gets traded for a new one. We all know how easy it is to get sidetracked along the way and at some point, we all need to hear that "this, too, will pass".

Blogging as a Home Business

I'm new to this whole blogging for profit thing and I've found that there are quite a few sites out there willing to pay for your opinions and/or space on your blog. Add all the affiliate programs you could get into and what you get is a lot of time spent online putting it together before you see anything resembling a return. That's where I'm at right now. Not to mention, I've had to start new blogs because the one I have on myspace either isn't good enough to qualify, or myspace itself won't let my blogs get posted.

It's enough of a drain on my time trying to put together a website for my gift shop while also keeping the house presentable, taking care of my young sons, managing 2 businesses and going to school. How much time exactly does it take to sign up for something? I'm finding that getting the sign-up set up is taking longer than the actual work involved in the blogging business.

Has anyone else had this problem and if so, can you suggest a way to make the transition smoother? I'm more than willing to put the work in so long as i'm not on for hours a day just trying to get qualified for an opportunity that works, or find a site that'll give me quick verification so I can get started. I'd rather put in my time actually writing something!

Couldn't think of anything to....

...write about, which lately has been a common problem. Brainstorming came up short. Then, it hit me....people are always saying "write about what you know" and even though I know a little about a lot, one thing I know pretty well is making clothing patterns from scratch.

When a friend decided to make some dolls to sell, she came to me for making the clothes they sport...we wound up going half and half in the work and everything. I'll post pics up of the most recent ones soon. We considered going into business for it...maybe we should re-visit that idea...hmmmm.

I've been sewing since I was 5 or so and have been actually making things since I was 15. It didn't take me more than a garment or two to realize I had a knack for it. So, at some point in the near future, I'm gonna put up a post, or series of posts dedicated to "how to-ing" pattern making.

Faire Memories....

Once upon a time, I worked for some Renaissance Festivals (or Faire's as we called them). The more hectic my life becomes and the more distance time puts between those days and today, the more I miss working there.

Out of the 3 years I did them, 2005 was by far the best season! A lot of my friends were working there that year and we rocked that place! We prepared by making the costumes we'd be wearing and working on our accents...setting up our campsites when we got there and meeting the people we never seen before, as well as happily greet old friends from previous seasons.

Every Thursday that year, we host a 'drum jam', during which we'd get out the bongo drums, light a bonfire and just hang out together. Us girls enjoyed breaking out the jangle-belts from our costume bags and bellydance around the fire. I even met a cousin I never knew I had at one of these jams.

I really miss how relaxing the enviroment there is and how much fun we'd have, whether we'd be working, hanging out at camp or doing something as a group. But I gotta say...we definitely had more fun AFTER work than during! In fact, at the Texas Faire (where they have a separate campsite for the patrons), we used to joke that the patron camp was so happening (their drum jams were wild!) because they liked to party the way they THOUGHT we did after work, lol. Usually, we wound up going to their jams once a week.

If you're into historical re-enacting, costumes and the like...check out a Ren Faire sometime. The one in southern Ohio is just about the only one in the country to feature an un-choreographed full-armor joust for your entertainment. You never know, you may just surprise yourself with how much fun you have!