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Saturday, February 10, 2007

What a wonderful day!

Today I had the privilege of being involved in a Spa Day, sponsored by my church, for the women of New Bern House. The New Bern House is a really neat place. It's not a homeless shelter, exactly, but it's a place for families to live when they would otherwise become homeless. I don't know if that makes sense, and I can't find any information on it right now, so that's the best I can do.

Anyhoo, a wonderful woman from our church put together this Spa Day to pamper these ladies, who certainly deserved a day of special treatment just for them. We had Mary Kay ladies (myself included) there for makeup, hair stylists, nail people, and massage therapists. We had many women who volunteered to be hostesses, so that each woman who came in had a personal escort. My favorite part was the food - we had a wonderful woman, Kari, who does catering and hospitality as her business, and she coordinated wonderful food for the day, including a chocolate fountain! And strawberries to dip! Also, we took each woman's picture and printed it out on the spot, put it in a frame and sent it home with them. I had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed every woman I worked with.

Now, as a Mary Kay consultant, I am not supposed to touch people - the whole goal is to teach people to do their makeup themselves. This was particularly important today, when we were training ladies how to put on makeup appropriate for job interviews, etc.

When Miss Maggie sat at my table, though, I had to make an exception to the rules. She was the sweetest woman, and apparently quite blind and deaf, as she could not see the product on her tray (moisturizer and such) to put it on; I had to put her fingers in it. When she tried to put on her eye color, she put it on her forehead. When she could not see which end of the mascara brush to use, I decided to take matters into my own hands. She looked so pretty when we got done!

The most amazing thing about today was God's provision for the event. We had service providers who sacrificed income today to bless these special women, and organizations who donated everything from nail polish to limousines and champagne! We had enough Mary Kay product donated by local units that we were able to put together 35 looks, enough to send each woman home with full-sized product that she will be able to use for quite some time. For those who were "makeup gals," we were able to pull out some extra things and really make their day.

And you know - I am not sure who was the most blessed by this event: the women who received the services, or those who gave them. I know that I will carry this day in my heart.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Ants have names?

We got the ants for our ant farm this week, and the girls are SO excited. I have never really thought that having ants in the house on purpose was a good idea, but they are delighted. Abbie has named some of them - Lila, Mira and Twylan being the names I can remember. Apparently Lila is a "very sweet ant, and ran right up and gave Abbie a kiss" through the wall of the ant farm on the very first night she was here. And, wonder of wonders, Abbie can "tell the ants apart." She tells me frequently "who" is climbing up the wall and tunneling, etc. It's quite entertaining. She is, of course, the child who told me at age 3 that I had killed her best friend, when I squished a Japanese beetle grub in the driveway.

On a side note, I really don't like the ant farm. I do not believe it's humane. All right, they're ants, and stinging ones at that, but still - don't they deserve to have their life in the wild outside like everything else? Could be the pregnancy hormones talking, but I haven't felt very good about this since I saw one at Learning Express. The ants just have to die in there. Somehow, it does not seem fair. At least with the butterflies, you can release them outside.

And, in case you're wondering, I am not crazy about zoos, either.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Snow Day!

Yesterday, we got about a half inch of snow where we live in North Carolina. The girls really wanted to play outside, but the last time we had a little snow, they got cold and wet so quickly that they really couldn't enjoy it. This time, though, I discovered a treasure in the coat closet - SNOW PANTS! When we went to Michigan a couple of years ago for Thanksgiving, my parents picked up some snow pants for my girls, since we don't have a need for them here and honestly, they're hard to find. I don't remember bringing them back home, but there they were. Miracle of miracles, they still fit! The girls thought I was a bit loony for suggesting that they wear such odd clothing, but it really made all the difference in the world for their fun in the snow.

The first thing they did was go out to gather some snow for snow ice cream. They managed to find some that was relatively clean, so we stuck it in the freezer for later ice cream making. Then, they went outside to slide down the hill in our front yard on their sleds.

Then, they decided to make snow angels. They were really more like sludge angels, because by the time they got outside, it had stopped snowing and started raining, but they made an entire chorus in the yard in what was left.