Beat The High Cost Of Fancy Manicures!

From Selz Cute Things

Do you head to the manicurist weekly or every ten days for a new manicure? Ever wish you could pump up your manicure yourself and save some cash? Do your own nail art--Dollar Store nail art?

 

Impossible you say? Not so! Perfect nail art is easy to do all by yourself at home with a trick straight from your Dollar Store!

 

What do you need? Your favorite base coat, favorite polish, sealer, contrast color for design, and masking tape. And from you Dollar Store? A design punch! Little stars, hearts etc. are perfect for decorating your nails. Can't find one in the Dollar Store? Try Michael's Crafts or your favorite local craft store, theirs will cost more but work the same.

Just punch out a shape or design on masking tape. So easy! I picked up a heart shape punch from my Dollar Store! Perfect for this project! A steal at a dollar! It might take a few tries to get the punched hole right  because of the stickiness of the tape, but keep trying.

Attach the design cutout piece of masking tape to your nail firmly, otherwise your polish will bleed.

Apply your contrasting color polish. This is when you can go as wild as you want. Try glitter, dots, animal prints anything you can think of! It's impossible to make a mistake because your manicure is covered by masking tape!

After about a minute of dry time slowly and gently peel off tape. Very slowly. Soft and slow will keep you from messing up your manicure. Then add your sealant. You can use the same piece of masking tape over and over.

See I told you! (I know, it's rude to say 'I told you so." But it works to give you the perfect addition to your manicure!

 

And while you might want to let the manicurist do your nails for special occasions, this nail art is perfect for 'fixing' nails that had somehow gotten nicked up over the week after your manicure.

 

So give it a try, for a dollar or two you can't go wrong.

Dirty Dancing--History In The Movies

Last night I went to see the 25th Anniversary of the movie Dirty Dancing sponsored by Skinny Cow, the makers of low cal ice cream treats. While I am the first to admit how much I enjoy this movie, as much now as when it first came out, the historical perspective you get watching this movie is without par.

You see the difference in health care. An illegal abortion--how scary it is to think we could ever go back to those 'good ole days?' Yet there are politicians today who are hell bent on doing just that. 

The movie also illustrated the difference in how women were treated and their expectations. There was the belief that women would grow up and even if they had a good education, they were supposed to 'decorate' the arm of a man at best.

The 1960s---a time of change. When girls were becoming women, and women gained power in more than just the home. A time when men were having to adjust their attitudes in the way they treated women but were uncomfortable with those changes.

Baby? Frances? One of the people near me in the audience commented on 'why did they name Baby Frances?

It seems few of them realized that Baby was named for a highly influential woman in the Roosevelt cabinet, Frances Perkins, a social worker and economist (as well as an early feminist) who was FDR's Secretary of Labor. Frances Perkins was one of the first women to fight for the right to retain her own name after her marriage--you go Frances!

There was also the racial component of the movie. Maybe 1 out of 50 cast members were not Caucasian. The early 60's was a time when Caucasian Americans accepted African Americans and other non-Caucasian as entertainers but not as equals.

I hope all of us learn something from Dirty Dancing other than how to do the Mamba or the Cha Cha.  I hope we learned how important tolerance, acceptance, and equality are.

I hope we learn we do not want to go back to those 'good old days' no matter how much Rick Santorum and friends would like us to.

At the end of the movie when Baby and Johnny do the last dance and the dance lift is a success I see it as a symbol of how the two of them have lifted the consciousness of each other and of some of the people in the movie. They didn't solve the issues, but they made a start. A few people at time. A few issues at time. It's the only way we make change.

#HeyTomCorbett Look What You've Done Now!

#heytomcorbett all our students in all our schools need the arts saveudarts

Sometimes I think Governor Corbett and the others working on the budget have forgotten the 'little people.' The people who elected them. The people who can vote them right out of office again. The people who want to Save Upper Darby Arts.  The people whose signatures are on this petition.

#Hey Tom Corbett, did you forget the special ed students! Where will they go? Save UD ARTS

As a parent of two special education students who went through the Upper Darby School District Special Education System, I will admit it has it's positives, but negatives as well. But one problem is that many of the special education students are not mainstreamed into regular ed classes except for 'specials' like art and music. Governor Corbett wants to take these away. Where will this leave our children? The people who signed this petition want answers. The people who signed this petition to Save Upper Darby Arts!
 

#Hey Tom Corbett are you pushing special ed students back into segregated classrooms?

Our children will be left on one floor in the high school, segregated from the rest of the school population because many of them cannot be mainstreamed into regular education classes. Sign the petition. Be one of the few, the strong, the outspoken, the signers of the petition to Save Upper Darby Arts.

 #Hey Tom Corbett do you care about special education? Save UD Arts!

I was fortunate. My daughters were mainstreamed. Mostly because they had a combination of regular school, a great tutor (paid for by us), and they were also taught at home. Regrettably most special education students aren't that lucky.  People care about equal education for all. These people signed the petition to Save Upper Darby Arts.

#Hey Tom Corbett make all our children count!

Use these tweets, make up your own. But be sure to sign the petition to Save UD Arts.  Choose you tweets, choose one, choose all. But sign the petition to save Upper Darby Arts.

#Hey Tom Corbett do you care? do you care about all students or only a few?

Let Governor Tom Corbett know you care and you will stand up and speak out and sign the petition to Save Upper Darby Arts!  Use the power of twitter to get other parents, former students, teachers and current students to sign the petition. Their signature is power. We have to take the power back into our own hands. Tweet now. And vote your conscience later if we don't get results.

Your Spending Profile-Are You A Shopaholic?

Are you a shop-a-holic? Read through this article (then print the questions in it and stash them in your purse) and see how much money it saves you!

Do you spend more than you should with each trip to the mall, Target or Walmart? If this describes you as you are about to walk out the door, STOP! It's time to ask yourself these important questions:

• Why am I going shopping?
• Will I feel better emotionally after I go shopping?
• How did I feel before I went shopping?
• What would happen if I put off making the purchase until tomorrow or next week?

These questions will help you identify if you are shopping from an emotional need and if your shopping is driven by feelings of stress, loneliness, boredom or acquisitiveness.  Take the time to walk to the other end of the mall or strip center and then back again before making that purchase.  Will you still want it? Still need it? Or was it a spur of the moment impulse buy?

Then ask yourself WHY you want to make this particular purchase. If you aren't making this purchase to stave off a needy feeling of one kind or another then why are you making it?

Next ask yourself:

• What will I use this item for? Do I REALLY need it?
• Can I afford to pay for this item (without using my credit card or some other long term payment plan?)
• What is there about this dress, pair of shoes, book, handbag or whatever the purchase is that makes me sure that this is THE item I need.
• Does the item really fit? Will it mesh with the rest of my wardrobe or decor?
• If I walk to the other end of the mall and back again how will I feel if the item is no longer available?
• And if I take it home and it doesn't match the rest of my wardrobe will I return it or will it sit in my closet with the tags still on?

If after you have asked yourself all the questions and you still feel this is the item you want and it's the very best use you can put the amount of money you are spending to, then make that purchase. But if you get it home and find it doesn't match, take IT BACK! Or if you have 'buyer's remorse' don't just leave it in the bag or hanging in the closet complete with tags and never enjoy wearing it. And don't go back to the store and buy something to go with it.

I hope these tips help you curb your spending!

Face of Delaware County

Looking for makeup tips? Visit Avon in Delaware County and Avon Rep Carly Vecchione. Hear all about new products, Carly's favorite products and more!

Tell us what your favorite Avon products are! Did you know Avon has a line known as Tiny Tillia? Great products designed just for kids. No more sharing your bubble bath with your toddler, now Tiny Tillia has bath and other products designed just for you tot!

Looking for a gift for a grad or dad? Avon has it all!

Don't Forget! It's Avon Walk Time!

Scarf available through your Avon Rep or Direct Delivery

Don't forget it's time for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Whether you are walking or are looking for another way to support this cause if you're not a distance walker it's time to be proactive!

Car Magnet Available through your Avon Rep or direct delivery

Visit your Avon representative in person or online (click on side panel ad) and see the new products available that make perfect gifts. Whether you purchase a scarf, shirt (shirts are available for men and women and in multiple styles and colors,) umbrella, or other product, help Avon fight this disease.  If you can't walk, support someone who does and/or buy products that support the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, this disease effects us all, if not directly than through family and friends.

Shirt available direct ship only see link for your Avon Rep

Do You Live With A Drama Queen?

Drama Queen image by Mish

Do you live with a drama queen? You know who you are if your daughter is one... every comment starts with "Oh mother!..." and ends with her huffing off in disgust. In between there is cajoling, (and if that doesn't work she'll resort to flat out begging,) then sniffles and crying jags and hissy fits interspersed with the words you come to dread hearing "You just don't understand!"

Does your daughter seem to overreact to every little hiccup in her life? Blowing each small incident into a huge event? As her parents were you either for or against her, with no in between? Oh yes, I recognize this! Did your daughter's whole world seem to fall apart at the smallest provocation? And if you ignore her? Oh my god! You just started World War III! And yet as a parent, you have to put a stop to it, you can't let her think the world revolves around her, forever! (Although there are times it is tempting, because face it, it is way easier than putting your foot down!)

Yes, every event becomes a tragedy (or once in a great while a huge comedy!) Remember the day she was so over the top you had to go hide in the bathroom to stifle your giggles over her craziness?You learned Will Shakespeare had nothing on your pre-teen or teen daughter! And that as much as she aggravated you, if you kept your sense of humor about the whole thing, you'll remember and one day get back at her by writing a book or a sit com about her! Or at the very least commenting about her teen years to her future husband--(just so he knows what he's signing on for.) Because has she REALLY changed? Or has she just learned to bury the drama and haul it out for the times when she really wants something?

I have friends who remember when their daughters (also drama queens) wanted to drive to the shore when they'd just gotten their driver's license the day before. And the daughter didn't quite understand why her mom took the keys and hid them? Informing her under no circumstances was she driving down to the beach with five other girls was not a conversation any mother would want to relive! Not only that, the girls had all conspired ahead of time and so drama queen-itis was enacted all over town!

Yes, drama queens are alive and well and living, or at least used to be living in my house. Ah! The day she moved out was very...quiet.

Yes of course I miss her. I love her dearly. And I admit, sometimes I even miss the sheer entertainment value she provided me with!

Where did she get the propensity for dramatizing everything? Uh, well... you see I have to admit she got it from me.  And it's likely I taught her a lot of what she knows.  So what goes around comes around. Or as some mother's are fond on saying (although to be fair, my mom refrained) "I hope you get a daughter just like you!"