What color is YOUR eyeshadow?

This has been one of those items over the years that has had me baffled. I have been to Mary Kay parties, Merle Norman consultations, Beauty Control parties. I've read fashion magazines and listened to make-up experts on TV. And I'm still baffled. I've been told that my eyeshadow needs to match my eyes, that it needs to compliment my eyes and that it needs to match my clothing. Which is it? I have deep blue eyes. When I wear my blue eye shadow, it makes them really stand out and I get constant rave reviews about how beautiful they look. Then one day, some "kind" friend, says "Why do you wear blue eye shadow? That is so out-dated. Everybody wears brown now." So I switched to brown. I never get any comments on my eyes or how blue they are or how good they look. So why do I have to wear brown.

In my teen years I experimented with green when we were told never to match your eye shadow with your eye color. One boy on our road saw the green and asked me why I wore "frog do do" on my eyes. Needless to say I have NEVER owned green eye shadow since that happened. And more importantly who cares. If brown is the "acceptable" eye shadow shade, why can you buy it in all shades of blue, gray, violet, brown, green, everything. There is a bountiful smorgasbord of eye shadow out there. Who determines what we should wear and when it is "in style" and when it is not. I think I'll wear my blue for the simple fact that I like it and not worry about what others think. The older I get the more I realize I want to wear what makes ME feel good about myself, not what others think I should wear. Some days, the only eye shadow I wear are the dark circles under my eyes from laying awake at night while these non-sensical ideas such as the color of eye shadow float through my mind.

It's going to be one of those days

You know it's going to be one of those days when..... ....your 15 month old grandbaby locks herself in the car - alone. ....you drive all the way to the post office to mail that all important package with a deadline, only to find out the package is at home on the kitchen table ....you write your check to the city to pay for trash pick up only you sign your check with the last name of Garbage by mistake ....you pull up and place a food order at Krystals and they actually repeat it back correctly. You pay and then proceed to drive off without your order. ....you pull up to the drive through at McDonald's with a car full of kids. You turn to shush the kids and turn back around to find out you have been placing your order with the trash can. ....you put your bra on backwards and it fits better ....you are in and out of the machine shop all day. You look good. Gorgeous dress, high heels, the works. As the day ends, one of the guys tells you he has been nominated to ask what the lump on your butt is. You rush to the bathroom only to discover that you have a wadded up wash cloth static clinging inside your dress. Yes, these things have either happened to me or to a member of my family. We all have those "days" when you just know you would have been better off in bed. But just smile and know that this too shall pass.....and with my luck, something worse will take it's place.

You've always heard it said that everything looks darkest right before the dawn. This is true. A good night's sleep can refresh your mind, your body and your soul. One of my favorite gospel songs is Come Morning. It is so uplifting and peaceful. No matter what our cross is to bear, we will always face the morning knowing the Lord has brought us through the night. Here are the words: "Come Morning" God's children too long have been burdened They are longing for Heaven's green shore Where heartaches are left far behind us And the burdens are carried no more. Chorus Come morning, I'll walk by the river And I'll rest 'neath the evergreen tree. And I'll carry my cross thru the midnight. Come morning, there's glory for me. Sometimes I'm despised and rejected And I question oh Father, how long? And then I'll take one more look at Mount Calvary, Then it gives me the strength to go on. Chorus Come morning, I'll walk by the river And I'll rest 'neath the evergreen tree. And I'll carry my cross thru the midnight. Come morning, there's glory for me.

"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek." - Mario Andretti This is one of my favorite motivational quotes. Without goals and dreams to look for in our future, we simply exist from day to day. Everyone has goals and they may not realize it. It could be a far off dream of some day retiring to sunny Florida. It may be to save enough money to purchase that new car you have your eye on. Or it may simply be a day spent with family. We all have plans and dreams of things we want to achieve, places we want to go and hopes we want to fulfill. The desire for these dreams will motivate and excite. But without a plan of action and determination, we will never achieve those dreams. Your greatest desires should be the things you work toward with determination and commitment, in hopes of fulfilling those dreams. We are not far from 2010. Ask yourself what goals and dreams you will have for the New Year. Start thinking now about the things you need to do to achieve those dreams and go after it with a determined spirit and a mind-set of YES, I CAN.

Our blessings

Yesterday I had the privilege of being the leader for Children's church. I had a mixture of boys and girls from ages 6 - 9. When we had completed the lesson, the singing, the praying, and the activities suggested for that day, we still had some time left. I decided to discuss this being the month for giving thanks and asked everyone to think a moment about the important things in their life and what they were thankful for. I found it oddly amusing the different answers between boys and girls. The boys answers ranged from my X-Box, my football, getting to play soccer, my DS, etc. Most of them were thankful for either a material item or a chance to be on a sports team. When I polled the girls, I was amazed at the depth of difference. The girls were thankful for their parents, their family, their health, their friends. But one girl blew me away. In all the years of giving thanks for everything I am blessed with and all my years hearing others give their testimonies and their blessings, I have never heard this answer. When I asked one young girl of 9 what she was most thankful for, without hesitation, she simply said Life. How true is that. When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, that one simple word covers it all. Life. The simple, beautiful act of simply being. Everything we have, everything we are and everything we do is because we have Life. What a poignant answer so filled with reverance and awe that God can give us the one thing that nothing or nobody else can. Life. Out of the mouth of babes. It is definitely food for thought.

The Day After

We had a whopping 2 trick or treaters last night, which is one more than we had last year. I guess that's the problem with living at the bottom of a long hill. We were smart though, we did buy only candy that we like. Every year, I buy those huge bags of assorted and end up with junk we don't like and it hangs around till Easter - just in case.

My grandchildren were all adorable for Halloween. Garret was a Star Wars Clone Trooper and Alexis was Cinderella. Caleb was a Transformer and Shelby was Snow White. So I guess we are raising Warriors and Princesses.

I am 52 years old and this is the first time ever I forgot to set my clock back. I blame it on them changing it to the same night as Halloween. I'm old. I can't handle two events on the same night.

I never set an alarm clock because my internal alarm goes off between 6:00 and 6:30 every morning. Once in a blue moon, I sleep until almost 7:00 and feel like I'm behind all day. I woke up this morning and it was 6:10. I thought to myself, "I don't want to get up right now" The bed felt good and warm and I knew the house would have a slight chill. I laid there a few minutes and thought I'd better go ahead and get up. So I got, laid my clothes out for church and had a bite for breakfast. Around 6:30, I decided to see what happened on Facebook last night (my version of a soap opera). I'm sitting there reading and admiring pictures and for some reason the bottom corner of my computer screen caught my eye. You guessed it, it was 5:30. I was so mad. By this time, I was too wide awake to crawl back in the bed. I guess my internal clock is going to get switched to an alarm clock. I'm not going to get up at 5:00 everyday just because my body feels like it's 6:00. Why did we ever start this switching of time anyway?

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable day today. I remember growing up and the excitement of preparing for Halloween. We always had homemade costumes: Gypsies, housewives, hobos. I remember taking gold rings from Mason canning jars, tying a piece of yarn through it to make a loop, then put the loops around are ears. It may awesome dangling earrings for our gypsy outfits. My fondest memory was the year me and Rachel went as housewives. We were Mom's old "house dresses". She tied scarves around our heads like we were getting ready to do housework. We got to wear rouge and lipstick. I remember Mom taking pillows and folding them up to place in the front of the dress. She would put a belt around us under the pillows as they became our "womanly chest". However, by the time you walked all over the streets of Barboursville for 3 hours going door to door, running from yard to yard, our "chest" had slid down to our waste. Now instead of a nice rounded figure, we looked like we were pregnant. It was hilarious when I think back on it. I miss those days of dressing up and being carefree. And I especially miss the free candy! Please have a safe Halloween.