The Secrets of .....MOM

Oh my stars.....My sister and I were talking and laughing the other day, remembering all the "small" things our mother has taught us over the years. You know when we were younger we just thought that she "didn't get it"! BUT...and I do not say that lightly...but now we understand that it was US that "didn't get it"!! Yes, mother is 99% right most of the time!! Mom, how do you like that...YOU WERE and ARE 99% of the time RIGHT!! April and I were saying to each other that if people had had a mother like ours the world would be a much better place to live and everyone would look a lot nicer too!!! Mom has always, and I do mean always given us her opinion on clothing styles, make up selection, and attitude perception. "Look in the mirror!" she would say, "Just look in the mirror! Is the zipper pulling? Is that button up shirt suppose to pull in the front? Does the heam on your shirt hang straight? What is that smear on the side of your blouse? Just really look in the mirror! What do you really look like and what do your clothes really look like on you?" We decided that we would write down some of the advice mom gave us over the years and share it with the world. I will start with a few pieces of advice from mom and if we get a pretty good response we will share some more with you or maybe we will save them and put them all in a book and become famous.....Dream big.

1.) LARGE FRAMED GIRLS DO NOT WEAR STRIPES IN HORIZONTAL PATTERNS. This might not seem very far or nice, but it is true. I have always been larger framed and "busty", trying to look smaller was always high on my priority list. Vertical lines on a shirt will always give the allusion of a smaller frame. Smaller lines are better than wide lines. No lines are better than any lines. This was hard for me to handle in 1983, because Joan Jett and Madonna always had stripes on their shirts, remember those stupid sweat shirts! Head bands, sweats shirts, leg warmers!! Oh my stars.........Voluptuous girls could not wear that stuff and still look good. My friends could wear it all day long but they did not wear a size "36DD", hello!! When you are 17 the last thing you want big is your chest when everyone else is wearing a "B". I just wanted to look good and horizontal stripes did not help me look good and they still don't.

2.) DRY THE BACK OF YOUR HAIR FIRST, THEN WORRY ABOUT STYLING AND DRYING THE FRONT OF YOUR HAIR. Mom would always say, "You can re-wet your bangs, dry the back of your hair first." You know, we had to get those bangs "high"! It took a lot of hairspray, teasing and spritz to get them to look like that...we looked good. But when we turned around to leave....oh my stars...our hair was flat, dull, and most the time we had the "big-hole" in the back of our head, you know the one. You style and style and your hair looks wonderful until you look at the back of it and WOW, major hole right at the top smack dap in the middle. Well, by the time it took us to fix the front of our hair we sure didn't have time to mess with the back of our hair, so who looked? MOM DID. "Barbi, dry and style the back of your hair first. Dry your hair in sections. Starting with the back. Pull your hair up in three sections, making sure the first layer is dry before starting the second layer. Once the back is dry and smooth,then style the front, if the front has air dried just lightly mist it with water and then style. I remember looking at her as if she were from Mars....but you know what...SHE WAS RIGHT.

Those list just go on and on...from hair cleansing treatments to homemade facial mask..to boy knowledge...spiritual knowledge..more clothing tips....you name it our mom has told us about it.

So, the next time you see me or April and you think to yourself, "Boy, she is pulled together." Go tell mom. Go tell our mom what a great job she did with us, and when you see her...well, you will know. Mom practices what she preachs!