H-E-B Books

In Texas we have an awesome place called HEB.  It's a grocery store.  My mother worked in the bakery for 10 years and I worked there for 3.  It has sentimental value to me and the food is fresher than anywhere else in town.  They sell local food and Whataburger ketchup, Whataburger spicy ketchup, Whataburger mustard and Whataburger fries.  A while ago, our HEB put in a reading area for kids.  Most HEBs did this.  It has a colorful stage where HEBuddy comes to visit and special visitors (like the university football team) come to read to children.  Evelyn loves to stand on the stage and "read" and "conduct music."

But all this isn't what this post is about.  Something that HEB always tries to do is better the community.  They try to be a part of any community event and they strive to bring quality products to their costumers at value prices.  HEB has also been concerned with the children of our communities. In the HEB reading area you can find books for $1, $2, and $3.

HEB have printed books of their own that are only $1.

I have made it a tradition that everytime we shop at HEB, I buy Evelyn a new $1 HEB book.  Inside the cover you can read a mission statement (Note to parents) that talks about HEB wanting to not only nourish bodies of children with fresh food but also nourish their minds with easy to afford books.  Now all these books are for the younger children but I know that it is essential to build a love for books in children to better their future and in turn our own future, the parents' furture.

"How can you work with us to nourish the future?  Read 3.  Commit to reading three books a week to your child, and you'll improve the future.  We've committed to getting good books to you.  Now you can commit to making a difference.

A,B,C and 1, 2, 3

Reading is important for me,

It's easy and really fun,

And it's important for everyone,

I pledge to read 3 times

It help grow little minds"

Taken from "Note to parents" found inside each book

We have several books but I know we don't have all that HEB has put out and I know that not all of them that we do have are in the picture.

Titles in order they appear

The Lamb-a-roo

by Diana Kimpton and Rosalind Beardshaw

That Yucky Love Thing

by Michael Catchpool and Victoria Ball

Bunny Loves to Read

written by Peter Bently Illustrated by Deborah Melmon

Underpants Thunderpants

words by Peter Bently pictures by Deborah Meimon

My Favorite Food

by Tiziana and John Bendall-Brunello

Just One More Swim b

y Caroline Pitcher and Jenny Jones

Wide Awake Jake

Written by Rachel Elliot Illustraded by Karen Sapp

If Big Can...I Can.

By Beth Shoshan and Petra Brown

The Adventurers

Written by Rachel Elliot Illustraded by Valeria Docampo

The Cuddliest Cuddle in the World

by Sarah Nash and Baniel Howarth

These are not all that we have.  If you are like us, you have books in almost every room of the house.  HEB also had books that were about mother and son, father and son, father and daughter, mother and daughter, grandma and me, grandpa and me and a book for each letter of the alphabet.  We have "E" and "G" for "Evelyn" and "Ginnett."  I colored the girls hair on each page to be the color of Evelyn's hair.  If they still have them, I plan on getting the initial of each child's first name but as plans change I don't want to jump the gun and get an "A" when we might need a "B" for the next baby.  We did get the books about the parents and son because we are sure we will have a boy at some point.  We plan on have about six kids so I'm sure at least one will be a boy.  The way that it has worked for my father in law (twice) and 5 out of 6 children is that you have a girl first then all boys.  At least four boys next.

I'm not sure how HEB does this.  I have seen some books be around for months because they have restocked them and others I have not seen come back again.  The letter and parents and me books I have seen come back but with less on the shelf than when first brought to the shelves.  So if you see a new one, grab it before it's gone!

If you have an HEB near you, please, buy these books.  They are different stories with different illustrations, kids will not get tired of these books and they are only a dollar each.  Just don't get a soda from the vending machine at work that week, or skip on getting cookies and buy a couple of these books.

If you don't have an HEB near you, find books to read to your child.  There are many places you can go to find children's books; dollar stores, Wal-Mart, Target (look for specials), Half Price Books, Barnes and Noble sometimes has their books on sales (ones that have been beat up a bit can be a great deal and the inside has no damage, only the cover).  I'm sure there are places that have great deals on children's books in your area.

Read when you are pregnant, read anything.  You don't even have to read out loud if you don't feel comfortable doing that.  If you have the habit of reading before your child is born, your children will see that you enjoy reading and want to read just like Mommy and just like Daddy!  If you already have children, it's not too late to be a good example to them.

Children are never too old to see their parents be good examples.

Read to your children.  With books at a $1, you can't afford to skip out on giving the gift of reading to your child.  Any child.  It's become more common for couples to ask for a book with a message inside instead of a card at baby showers.  If you go with a $10 bill and change to HEB (or similar place) and buy 10 books for a baby with a new mommy and daddy, they will be extatic.

Build your childrens' library and encourage their love for reading now so that when they are in high school and have to read a book by the end of the week and give a ten page report on it, they won't see it as much of a bother.  At least to read the book they won't.  Can't say they would be happy about the report but I know that when I enjoy what I read, it's not hard to talk about it or write about it.  And what is writing if not speaking in type?

I will say one last time on this post...

BUY YOUR CHILDREN AS MANY GOOD BOOKS AS POSSIBLE AND YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT AND WILL ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL FOR IT!

The Broken Cup

On September 8, 2013, at church, we talked about Unity.  One woman used the example of a cup that is broken, that it always would have something in between, either the crack or what you used to mend it.

I thought of that.  I liked the use of a broken cup.  With a broken cup, you can lose pieces if it has been broken too much, epecially if the pieces have been ground and beaten into a fine powder, and if you try to piece it together, but do so unevenly, you can't use that cup anymore.  If it doesn't fit back the way it should, if all the pieces don't come back together, then the cup is useless; but if you have all the pieces, if you fit it back together right, then you can use that cup again.

Unity in marriage is crucial to the survial of a family.  Unity of the members of church is crucial for the building of God's kingdom.  Heavenly Father will still be there even if we are not, I know I want to be there with him again.

If you break unity, it can be put back together, as long as you don't break it so harshly and lose pieces and as long as you put all those pieces back in their proper place.

"Fear not I am with thee, oh be not dismayed, for I am thy God and will still give thee aid.  I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand."

With Heavenly Father, anything can happen.  He can turn that fine powder back into a cup if you let Him.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I wanted to talk about the picture I just put up for my profile.

Taken September 8, 2013

There are several things I want to talk about in this picture.  To start with, I wanted to have a profile pic that would show off my curly hair.  How can I be the Curly Texan without it?  It's all natural too!  When I was younger I didn't know how to keep them nice so I desperatly wanted straight hair.  I got my curly hair from both sides of my family, but my parents didn't have curly hair.  It skipped them.  They had uncles that had really curly hair like me, so they didn't really know what to do either.  I have learned through experience what to do with my curly hair and I am so gitty that I have them!  I recently got my hair cut, really short on the back, the girl needed help from another stylist on the back because it was curling so much and she need skinnier fingers to cut it.  The girl giving the extra help said, "Oh, do you know how many people want your curly hair?" she asked me as if I was only going to straighten my hair (yeah right...) and I said, "Yes I do.  I hear it all the time."  And I really do, and I like that something that God gave me that is special can be seen so easily.  Sometimes the gifts a person has can be over look by the person that has it because its something inside making it harder to find and easy to dismiss.

How to take care of Curly Hair:

1-Use hydrating shampoo: Use shampoo that is meant to hydrate hair.  You don't have to get shampoo for curly hair, just as long its made to hydrate.  If you don't put in hair products to style, shampoo only every other day.  Washing your curls everyday will dry them out causing frizz and your locks to seperate.  If you use hair products to style, wash your hair everyday otherwise it will get greasy.

2-Use conditioner: Anything to help hydrate.  Leave-in is good to use also.  Follow the instruction.  Too much can be really gross.

3-Styling products: You need these much of the time.  Use hair oil if you have regular to dry hair.  If you have oily hair then use moose to hold down frizz.  When putting in moose, gel, oil or anything like that, cover the ends first then the crown of your head.  If you start at the crown of your head when using oil, you will make your hair uneven, the crown will be very oily since that's where the oily-ness starts and with the moose, it will weigh down your hair or make it harder than the rest of your hair.  Never start at your hair line!  Not only will your hair get uneven and oily but so will your skin causing break outs.

Tip: Until your hair is dry, keep it off your face.  I would always break out on my cheeks and then I noticed that it would get worse after I cut my hair again and since then I have been very careful to keep the wet styling products off my face so I wouldn't break out anymore.

I have really short hair, but if you have long hair, when using styling products, start application as if you were making a ponytail at the base of your skull and work it down to the ends then do the crown of your head.  I used to have my hair reach down to my lower back, so I have experience with long curly hair too, I'm not pulling this part out of the air.  For my curls, medium hold has worked best for me with both long and short hair.  I like my curls to hold but not be crunchy.  If you use a blow dryer, please use products that will shield your hair from the heat.  Too much heat is one of the worst things for any hair. 

Different kinds of styling products: wax, moose, foam, gel, silk drops, hair oil, creams, pomades, hair spray (I don't like that for my curls because it makes them crunchy but give it a try for yours), heat shields, and hair glue...I'm sure there are more than that but those are ones I have tried.

4-Try everything!: Try from the $0.99 shampoo and conditioner up to the $25.00 bottle of shampoo and conditioner.  Save up money if you need to be able to try all these things, but don't be afraid to explore.  It will take time.  I have been trying different products since I was about 13, so I have over 10 years of trying new and old products and I am still finding better products than before.  It will take time.  You need to use each product at least two weeks before you really know how it effects your hair.  Buy the smaller bottle when trying to find what's best for you; you don't want to get the big bottle when the conditioner weighs your curls down and you try the shampoo without the conditioner and the shampoo dries your hair out.  Waste of money.  When I was younger the professional and the super cheap stuff would dry out my hair (I tried two or three brands for each), now its different, so as time passes, try new things also.  Explore to know what is best for your curls and remember it will take time to know what you like best.  Right now I am using Regis Enchanted line (it smells just like Victoria Secrect's Love Story and I like their heat shield!), before that I used Evercurl from L'oreal, before that Everclear, before that I can't remember, it might have been Clear.  I used Everclear when I first saw it and as soon as Evercurl came out I got that.  It worked better than the original.  Sometimes you will find a brand you like but the type is not the best.  Try different products from the same brand.  Companies make diffents products for a reason: to fit the needs of more people.  Keep a small notepad and pen in your bathroom and after using a product for at least two weeks, take notes of what products you used, the results and if you like those results.

My Ring

When my husband proposed, it wasn't really a proposal, we just said, "Okay, what date do we want?"  Sweet in a way, it had been two months or so since our first date.  The ring I got for our engagement was a perfect snug fit, as well as the wedding band, so when I become pregnant, they didn't fit me anymore.  I didn't loose the weight, still "working" on it, and Tom gained weight during my pregnancy also, so we got new wedding bands after Evelyn was born.  We went to James Avery.  A Texas love. 

Tom had wanted a hammered ring before, so that is what he got. 

Amore Band by James Avery.

I got the Claddagh ring.

Adorned Claddagh ring by James Avery

The Claddagh ring symbolize giving ones heart to ones love.  My mother in law has a lot of Irish in her and her birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, so Tom likes things that are Irish and I always thought the Claddagh rings were romantic.

My Shawl

The shawl I am wearing in my picture was made by my sister in law for my birthday.  When Jer and Emma came in July for vacation, Rachel had a ball of red yarn that she had been working on everytime I saw her.  She even took it with us when we went bowling.  I asked her, "You've really been working on that, do you have a date deadline you're trying to make?"  It didn't even accure to me that it was for my birthday.  I got it just this last week.  She has four kids, three of which are home schooled the fourth is a year old...she had plenty of reasons why it took a while.  My favorite color is red, that's why she made it red.  The accent color of our living room is red too.

The Backround

What's in the backround?  Behind me in the picture you can see two things: a painting I made that says "Love" and a sign that says "Bless This Home" with faux glass knobs and large name tags hanging off each knob.

I painted that Love while watching Love Actually.  I can't remember when I did it but it had to be before 2007.

The "Bless This Home" sign I bought at Hobby Lobby at 60% off!  I cut out tags from scrapbooking paper and hung them with red ribbon.  They kept spinning and flipping around because they were so light, so I cut cardboard and glued them together to weigh them down.  Each tag has one of our names on it; Tom, Erica and Evelyn.

I like to be playful in my pictures, cheesy and totally young, yeah, but to me, curly hair means playful.  I've gotta show that!

(1,509 words, give or take a two, not including this or links)