It’s my thousand dollar day….  Trying to hit a thousand in retail sales! 

 If you want to help and want some awesome skin care and cosmetics you can have 15% off your order:

www.marykay.com/supersteph

Have fun! 

We were driving in the car the other day and as usual I was listening to one of my motivational Mary Kay cds.  The lady was talking about goals.

Engineer, who is always listening, says "I think I need to set a new rule."

Pretty sure he interpreted "goal" as "rule", I piped in, "You need to set a new goal?"

"Yes," he says.  "I think my new rule should be to be nice to my friends."

I tell him that sounds like a pretty good goal. My goal this week is to finish up my star quarter and sell A LOT of product without getting too frustrated.  What about you?  What are your goals this week?  (Besides of course, being nice to your friends.)

You know, one of the challenges of being a work-at-home mom (with a business, since ALL moms work-at-home moms) is switching back and forth between business woman and mommy.

I caught myself saying to Sugar today, "Yes I would love to read you stories.  I’ve just got to make a quick phone call, shoot a quick email out and then you and I can get together."

Whaaaa?

As in, "Yes, I would love to get together with you for some stories and a quick facial.  What’s better for you, evenings or weekends?"

Sheesh. 

So, I am on the phone today, trying to rectify a Mary Kay prize situation.  The lady on the phone asked for my consultant number which happens to have the letters Z and F in it.  She wasn’t quite getting the letters, so she asks me to repeat them.

Me: Z

Her: As in?

Me: uhhh…. uhhh… Zoo..oo.ology?

Her: Okay, next letter?

Me: F… as in… (Frank?  Fart?  No, I can’t say F as in Fart, this is Mary Kay.) Frank?

I don’t know why I wanted to post this, but are there really not that many words that start with F? And what is that saying about me, that the second word I came up with was FART?  Seriously? 

…so right after I go and promise to not be a self promoter, Jenny goes and has a beauty tips round up.

Of course I am going to participate!  Am I or am I NOT a Professional Beauty Consultant? 

Okay, so here’s a product that will make your life easier and faster: 

It is tinted moisturizer.  I love it, love it, love it

What could be better than moisturizer, foundation and spf all in one little bottle?  It is simply the best for making your morning routine go FAST.

 A must have for moms.

And you can get it here. 

Sorry.  I couldn’t help myself. 

That’s the title of my new blog.  No, I am not moving.  No, I am not leaving the Mommiverse. 

I just want a forum where I can talk about my business without feeling like I am alienating my readers.  

I just want a place where I can shout out my enthusiasm for my independent consultant status without seeming like a self promoting something or other.

I just want a place on the internet where people can read about the positive things about Mary Kay to balance out all the negative stuff from bitter, former consultants that rages through the web.

I’ve gotta say it somewhere.  So I am saying it over at Mary Kay Rocks. 

Check it out.  Or don’t.  Up to you. 

Okay, well Erin and Beth both know me from real life.  And they guessed that I am….  27!  Cheaters!  Oh, well, they will still get their prize, which is… Mary Kay eyeshadow!

BUT!

The good news is, any of you can get a free eyeshadow too!  All you have to do is…

…go to my personal Mary Kay website and place an order of some kind today or tomorrow and you will get a free eyeshadow!

(I know, totally shameless, but hey, I’ve got a HUGE sales goal this week and it was my birthday yesterday…)

Besides, these would make really great holiday gifts:

They are the mark of distinction in someone’s bathroom. They are a touch of class. They are a total handwashing experience for all the senses. They are:

The handsoap dispensers from Bath and Body Works. 

I just like them. They’re pretty, they smell good, they’re… fancy. I have always liked them, and felt so special when I used them at someone elses house, but I have never bought them.  I always felt they were too expensive for me. Too out of my league. Too at the mall.  

But, I got a B & BW gift card for Christmas in the amount of $10, and there was really only one thing I knew I could buy.

For two reasons, I had to buy the handsoaps. The first being that, because of the business I am in, as a matter of principle, I choose not to purchase the same product from a competitor that I could buy through my own business. For example, we sell eyeshadow, so I won’t buy one from M.A.C. no matter how cute the color, but since Mary Kay doesn’t make shampoo, I go with Biolage. Make sense? I can get body wash and lotion and such from myself, so I won’t buy it from Bath and Body Works.  Why?  B & BW is not tax-deductible and really  how would it be if some random stranger said, “Ooh, you smell nice, what is that?” and I said, “Oh, it’s from Bath & Body Works, it’s such and such, but I sell Mary Kay and we have lots of nice smells, so do you want to try one of them?” If such an event ever were to happen it would be so much better to be able to say, “Oh yes, it’s Bella Belara. I sell it, would you like a catalog?”

It’s a business thing.

My obvious second reason for buying the handsoaps, is my covetousness for them. So when I was at the mall this last week, I decided to stop in at the Bath and Body Works.

The soap was on sale- 3 for $10. Perfect.

Because I had decided to do this stop on the way out, upon entering the store, Sugar had a meltdown. Assuming (falsely) that I could get one for a buck, I bribed her with the promise of a chapstick. She calmed down and I found my soaps.  Engineer was thrilled and he wanted to carry one, but Sugar was disappointed at the price of chapstick. My wallet forced to instead buy a $3 body wash that smells like Cherry Pie. (’Good for kids,’ said the lady though when I got home discovered that the label says “for adult external use only.”) But at least I got my soap.

I have since discovered that the soaps are not only a hit with moms, but are also well loved by 4-year old boys. My son who hates washing his hands, foamed up at least five times the day we brought the soaps home. He put a soap in every bathroom and announced it to us proudly.  I don’t know if he loves it because of the foaming action or the smell or because he grew attached as he mothered it while lovingly carrying it to the car.  I don’t care the reason, I am just pleased with his new and bizarre interest in hygiene.

Sugar forgot about the chapstick and the bodywash so today, I smell like Cherry Pie. Good for deceptively impressing my more domestic friends, but not very good for selling lotion.

I publicly cried last night whilst talking about my move to the Rainy Place.

It was during my Mary Kay unit meeting.  My director asked me to come up and tell everyone what I was doing.  I told them we were moving, and could not hold back the tears.  I think this was the first time I cried about the move at all.  

Some of them cried too.

I really am not depressed.  I am too stressed for that.  But as much as I am excited to move and be closer to my family, I am leaving a handful of dear and wonderful friends behind.  People tell me I will make new friends, and I know that that is true.  But even though I will make new friends, they won’t be these friends.  

When I think about the saddest day of my life, it was the day I left the Rainy Place after 8 months to come back here to Utah.

Ironically, I think the new saddest day is going to be when I leave Utah to go back to the Rainy Place. 

And now, just what the title says:

1. Why I can’t seem to make myself go to bed, even though I am exhausted is beyond me.  It must be the quiet time to myself that I so rarely get.

2. On occasion, I grow a chin hair.  Just one little blonde chin hair that I always come across at inopportune times when a tweezers is far away.  Today I was doing a Mary Kay facial when I noticed it had regrown.  It was an effort not to keep touching it. 

3. Engineer at 4 1/2 years old, still has some funny mispronunciations.  Snawich, instead of sandwich and nouglass instead of necklace are my favorites.

4. Sugar has taken to blowing her nose without a tissue.  She exhales through her nose as hard as she can until she has snot trails down to her lips.  She then pulls on the snot and (blech) and sometimes eats it.  It is DEE-SGUSTING.  On Sunday at church she did this and I really don’t know if I was laughing or crying.  (Taking three small children to church sends my anxiety though the roof). 

5. I really don’t like going to Costco when it isn’t sample time.

6. I really don’t like going to Costco with a husband who keeps asking me if my impulse buy is on the list or not.

7. I am loving this color right now.  (Not this car particularly, but this color on any car is HOT!)

8.It is currently 11:33 pm, can YOU tell me why I am not in bed yet?