Blonde Betty

Seasonal Decorations in Your Babe Cave

seasonal decoration

Nature redecorates itself beautifully every season, doesn’t it? It’s only natural that we want to spruce up our Babe Caves to match the magnificent new season. Here are some ways to spruce up your Cave with seasonal decorations for spring and summer.

Decorate with Flowers

Decorate with flowers. Cut flowers are expensive and have a short lifespan. Silk flowers are pretty and last much, much longer. If you prefer real flowers, consider potted plants. As long as they get enough sun and water, they will live for a long time, making them much more cost-effective than cut flowers. Of course, if you have your own flower garden, use your own cut flowers and be proud that you have the gift of a “green thumb”!

Keep It Light

If dark curtains make the Babe Cave look too wintry, sew or hang curtains in a lighter color. Make or buy some simple spring-themed throw pillows for the couch, and create a nice spring centerpiece for your side table. If you put your creativity to work, you can have lots of new spring items for next to nothing. Or, go out and get what you want. After all, this is YOUR Babe Cave. Do what you want to make it your own!

Is your furniture hindering your spring decorating efforts? Try some slipcovers. You can find them to fit most couches and chairs, and they come in a variety of colors and fabrics. A light or pastel color will complement the rest of your summery décor.

Bring Outdoors In

Rocks and pieces of wood are available in certain stores or the great outdoors. They can easily be cleaned and painted in a spring color and motif. Place them in windowsills and on end tables. Use a large painted rock as a doorstop or focal piece.

Keep It Fresh

Pick up some candles in pastel colors and fresh scents. They will make your BabeCave smell great. The light colors make a great accent for any shelf, table or sconce.

Spruce Up With Seasonal Decorations

Decorating for the season is lots of fun, and it doesn’t have to be ridiculously expensive. Finding deals on Babe Cave items and creating some of your own accent pieces or furniture coverings allow you to prime your Babe Cave for inspiration, education, and much needed relaxation!

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Improve Credit Score: Clean Up Bad Credit

Credit

Bad credit can make life much more difficult than it should be. You may have trouble qualifying for loans and credit cards, and if you do get credit cards, they might have high interest rates. Also, your current creditors might raise your interest rates. You might even have trouble getting a job or signing up for utilities.

It’s no fun when your credit haunts you in everything you try to do. But it is possible to get your credit back on the right track. Here are some simple steps you can take to get your credit report back into shape.

  • Request a free copy of your credit report from all three reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of these companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. To order, visit annualcreditreport.com.  Currently, this is the only source for getting a free copy of your report as required by law.

Since you can get a free copy of your report from each agency once a year, take the opportunity to do so. Scour each report for errors. If there is something that you don’t recognize, or if a creditor has reported incorrect information, file a dispute with the credit bureau or bureaus that list that information. They are required by law to investigate, and if the information is found to be false, it must be removed.

  • Pay your debts down. When you have one or more credit cards that are maxed out, your credit score will suffer. Stop charging for a while and put as much money as possible toward lowering your balances. Soon your credit score will start rising.
  • Get caught up on your payments. If you’re currently behind, that will seriously impact your credit score. If you have a past delinquency but are now current in your payments, the delinquencies will have an effect, but they won’t be nearly as serious. If you’re having trouble making your payments, talk to creditors and see if they will accept reduced payments and bring your account current. Many will be willing to work with you.
  • Sometimes you can benefit from getting another credit card, as long as you do not use it. This gives you more available credit, lowering your balance-to-credit-limit ratios which improves your credit score. But if the temptation to charge would be too great, you’re better off just trying to pay off the debt you already have.
  • If you have a lot of past credit problems that are still haunting you, try getting a secured credit card from your bank or a credit agency. These cards require a deposit to secure your credit line, but they will help you rebuild your credit as long as you keep up with your payments.

There’s no way to instantly improve your credit. But by following these steps, you can improve your credit scores in a few months’ time. Good luck!

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Map Out Your Babe Cave Design Ideas

map out plans

A design project, big or small, has to follow a process. The best design ideas often do not come fully formed and ready for execution. They usually start as the tiniest inkling of an idea, and require lots more thought and planning before they are ready to come to life. You have to approach your ideas for designing your Babe Cave in the right way so you don’t get overwhelmed or accidentally end up with an outcome that is more amusing (or depressing) than effective.

Dream It

The first step in any design process is coming up with that initial idea – and of course, available space to turn into your Babe Cave. This is the easy part. It’s after the idea first hits you that you have to hold on and keep the idea moving.

Write It

Whenever you come up with that first initial idea for the design of your Babe Cave, write it down immediately. It is too easy to forget the details of genius plans; writing down the idea gives you more of a chance to expand on it. Throughout your BabeCave design project, remember to keep writing all subsequent ideas or details down. In previous posts, Blonde Betty suggests keeping an idea log.

Imagine It

Hold on to that initial idea and picture the design happening step by step. This will help you realize and remember potentially important details and to further expand on the details of your design. Again, don’t forget to write everything down as you go.

Plan It

Once you have the details thought out, you are ready to start your plan of action. Make yourself lists of the items you need, people you need to call, and whatever other items of action will need to complete.

Map It

Draw and/or write out your design plans in the most detailed way possible. Think of it as an instruction manual for your idea. Seeing it planned out in a map, diagram, or drawing will help you see the project from different points of view and realize the project as a whole design concept.

Ready It

Start purchasing your supplies, hiring contractors, and making the first steps towards implementing your Babe Cave design. Getting everything ready ahead of time will help you to avoid forgetting important details.

Prep It

Once you have everything you need, get everything in place for execution. For example, if you are redecorating a room that will need to be painted, go ahead and cover the floors and prime the walls.

Do It

The final step in implementing your BabeCave design idea is to do it. With all of your well thought-out details and with a well-planned course of action, your design idea will come together easily and without much trouble.

How you approach your design idea will greatly affect the overall outcome. Approaching the idea in as detailed and organized a fashion as possible might feel less “in the moment” but it will lead to a more successful outcome overall. Truly allowing your idea to blossom, putting together all of the little details of it and mapping out the project as a whole can help you realize your ideas to their fullest capacity and lead to a more effective outcome.

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Balance Your Babe Cave Design Choices

balanced room

When creating, updating, or renovating any space to create your Babe Cave, it is important to consider the balance of your design choices. The balance of your design is a concept that considers the distribution of visual weight. This means that all the aspects of the space are distributed equally to create the most visually appealing display.

Creating a balanced space will make your Babe Cave more visually pleasing as well as comfortable. This is because the human brain naturally finds symmetry and balance to be comforting and pleasing to the eye. Asymmetrical design choices, while they might seem more interesting and edgy, often lose their appeal quickly.

Factors to Consider for Design Choices

There are many factors to consider when creating a balanced design. These factors are the same no matter the size of the project, although some will be of more or less importance depending on the specifics of the space. Many of these factors are dependent on one another as well. It is best to keep all factors in mind to create a balanced design.

  • Size – The size of everything in your Babe Cave project has visual weight. The size of your room needs to be considered, as does the size of all of the major aspects of the room such as doors or windows and the size of the items in the room. For example, the look and feel of a small room will be completely different depending on the size of a window. Or in a very large room, one small focal piece may get lost and feel unnatural.
  • Shape – The shape of anything also has visual weight and will affect the balance of your Babe Cave project. The shape of the room or space will certainly affect your design choices. For example, the best window size and placement will be dependent on the shape of the room just as much as the size.
  • Color – The colors you choose will also affect the balance of your design. Dark or very bright colors have more visual weight than pale or light colors. What kind of color you use for your BabeCave will affect the balance of your design choice.
  • Texture – Much like color, texture will affect the balance as well. Too much or too little texture in any given space may offset the balance of your BabeCave design.
  • Decor – Decorative items such as art and other focal pieces greatly affect the balance of the space you are designing. You want to distribute these items throughout your BabeCave in a way that creates symmetry.
  • Orientation – Where you put all items affects the symmetry of your BabeCave. Your decorative items, furniture, and even rugs and pillows can affect the balance of your design.
  • Offset Eye-Catchers – To create focal pieces that draw the eye in and balance the room, you can use offset items that complement each other. For example, a patterned item in one area of your BabeCave may complement the color of a decorative item on the other side of the room, creating a visually appealing balance.

Balancing your design choices will help create a comfortable and more visually appealing space. Remember: your BabeCave is a reflection of you, designed for you. Make it comfortable, with a balanced design, so it’s a place you love to call your own – your own BabeCave. Forget being a princess – you’re a Babe!

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Goal Setting Quotes

In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goalposts are.
Arnold H. Glasgow

Goals are dreams with deadlines.
Diana Scharf Hunt

You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short term failures.
Charles C. Noble

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
Sydney Smith

Goals determine what you’re going to be.
Julius Erving

Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take small steps.
Helmut Schmidt

The most important thing about goals is having one.
Geoffry F. Abert

Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.
Bo Jackson

People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.
Earl Nightingale

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars.
Les Brown

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Interior Design: Create Your Space

organization plan

Major projects understandably have better results when there is a plan and an end goal in mind. To create your very own BabeCave, you should know your end goal, plan out the details, organize your plan, and break your design project into achievable tasks.

You know how you eat the elephant, right?: one bite at a time. You don’t want to rush in with the great idea to create your own BabeCave sanctuary and immediately start knocking down walls.

To start, implement, and achieve a great BabeCave design project, you need to know your end goal. Then, you can work backwards to plan then execute your design project perfectly.

Keep an Idea Log

An artist in any sense of the word should keep an idea log. You can use your smartphone, a notebook, or even napkins as long as you can keep track of them. Even if you think you could never forget such a genius idea, write it down with every detail associated with it just in case.

Develop the Plan. Work the Plan.

Make yourself a detailed map or draw out the end goal of your BabeCave design project. Start with small steps or tasks, arranged in an order you can accomplish within a few hours. For example: clear the space, clean the space, prepare walls to paint, etc. This will help you work out project specifics and will also help you come up with other ideas and details to push the project along.

Make Lists

Whenever you are planning a project, you need to make lists for everything. Keep lists of supplies you already have and supplies you need, as well as lists of items and tasks that need to be completed to reach your end goal a task at a time.

Buy All Supplies

Use your lists, of course. Never go to the store without a complete list of everything you need, including brands if you know.

Prep Your Work Area

Get your BabeCave space ready for your end goal. Clear out old items, put up tape if needed, and do all prep work in advance.

Thorough preparation is key to reaching the end goal of creating your BabeCave.

Organization before Execution

Organize everything you need to complete your project, using your lists and drawings from the planning stage. This will help you avoid being caught without a tool or supply that you need.

Recheck Everything

You’ve planned and prepared to reach your end goal. Look over all of your plans, lists, and prepared supplies twice to make sure you are ready to start the first task in your design project.

Make your BabeCave the Sanctuary you Deserve

With your plans and drawings on hand, and your carefully prepped work space, you are ready to make your vision take shape, starting one task at a time. Simply by developing a step-by-step plan to reach your end goal, you can make your BabeCave, turning available space into the sanctuary you deserve.

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Take your art to the next level

Art is a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, usually involving imaginative or technical skill. In their most general form these activities include the production of works of art, the criticism of art, the study of the history of art, and the aesthetic dissemination of art. This article focuses primarily on the visual arts, which includes the creation of images or objects in fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media. Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts; however, like the decorative arts, it involves the creation of objects where the practical considerations of use are essential—in a way that they usually are not in a painting, for example. Music, theatre, film, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of art or the arts. Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts.

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Brewing the Perfect Tea

Care for a spot of tea? Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to Asia. After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some teas, like Darjeeling and Chinese greens, have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have vastly different profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes.

Tea originated in the southwest of China, used as a medicinal drink. It became a popular drink throughout China during the Tang dynasty, and tea drinking spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to the West during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among Britons, who started large-scale production and commercialization of the plant in India to bypass a Chinese monopoly at that time.

The phrase herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs made without the tea plant, such as steeps of rosehip, chamomile, or rooibos. These are also known as tisanes or herbal infusions to distinguish them from "tea" as it is commonly construed. Of course, a spot of brandy in your tea may be relaxing too!

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Flower Arranging Tutorial

Flower Arranging

Floristry is the production, commerce and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design or flower arranging, merchandising, and display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related supplies to professionals in the trade. Retail florists offer fresh flowers and related products and services to consumers.

Floristry can involve the cultivation of flowers as well as their arrangement, and to the business of selling them. Much of the raw material supplied for the floristry trade comes from the cut flower industry. Florist shops, along with online stores are the main flower-only outlets, but supermarkets, garden supply stores and filling stations also sell flowers.

Floral design or floral arts is the art of creating flower arrangements in vases, bowls, baskets or other containers, or making bouquets and compositions from cut flowers, foliages, herbs, ornamentalgrasses and other plant materials. Often the terms “floral design” and “floristry” are considered synonymous. Florists are people who work with flowers and plants, generally at the retail level. Floristry differs from floristics, the study of distribution and relationships of plant species over geographic areas. Floristry also differs from horticulture, which more broadly relates to the cultivation of flowers and plants so they will remain fresh as long as possible, and would be desirable for purchase, which also involves knowledge of customers’ requirements and expectations. The ability to create a variety of floral designs such as wreaths, bouquets, corsages, boutonnières/’buttonholes’, permanent arrangements and other more complicated arrangements is also important.

Education, both formal and informal, is another significant segment of the floristry industry. Established floristry designers and artists impart their craft to students interested in floral design as hobby or career. Courses are generally available through community colleges, private post-secondary vocational schools, and professional florist trade associations.

The floristry business has a significant market in the corporate and social event world, as flowers play a large part in the decor of special events and meetings. Centerpieces, entryways, reception tables, bridal bouquets, wedding chuppahs and stage sets are only a few examples of how flowers are used in the business and social event settings. Flowers are also traditionally used in ecclesiastical settings and their arrangement is often done by skilled church volunteers.

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Mammogram Prep

mammogram

MAMMOGRAMS

Many women are afraid of their first mammogram, but there is no need to worry. By taking a few minutes each day for a week preceding the exam and doing the following exercises, you will be totally prepared for the test and best of all, you can do these simple exercises right in and around your home.mammogram

EXERCISE ONE:

Open your refrigerator door and insert one breast in door. Shut the door as hard as possible and lean on the door for good measure. Hold that position for five seconds. Repeat again in case the first time wasn't effective enough..

EXERCISE TWO:

Visit your garage at 3AM when the temperature of the cement floor is just perfect. Take off all your clothes and lie comfortably on the floor with one breast wedged under the rear tire of the car. Ask a friend to slowly back the car up until your breast is sufficiently flattened and chilled. Turn over and repeat with the other breast.

EXERCISE THREE:

Freeze two metal bookends overnight. Strip to the waist. Invite a stranger into the room. Press the bookends against one of your breasts. Smash the bookends together as hard as you can. Set up an appointment with the stranger to meet next year and do it again.

YOU ARE TOTALLY PREPARED!

AND, just a thought for all the women out there...
MENtal illness, MENstrual cramps, MENtal breakdown,
MENopause.....
Ever notice how all of women's problems start with men?...And When we have real trouble it's HISterectomy!

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