What Are Your Resolutions for 2011?

Happy new year to the Ungirdled nation! I so appreciate you coming to visit throughout 2011! Your friendship has meant a lot. As we enter a new year, I've made a few resolutions and am wondering what yours are. Please share them here. It's my monthly guest column for the good folks at Health Bistro and lifescript.com.

Best wishes for a new year filled with lots of love, laughter, great health, peace, and - let's be hones - a little prosperity would be nice, too! Stay safe tonight and don't forget your black-eyed peas - Will.i.am, Fergie, and those other two.

Teenagers and The Family Christmas Card

Every year, I ask my family to pose for what I think is a fun family Christmas card. I have shared a few here with you before. When my boys were little, they really got into it. As evidenced here:

At age two, my little angels were only too happy to pose and wish everyone "peace, love and joy." At age three, they happily posed with their dad as the "three wiseguys, offering gifts of gold, Frankenstein and Merv:"

As the years went on, I got less and less cooperation. This year they refused to pose and said they didn't care what I did for the family Christmas card. Hence this year's offering:

I simply cut heads from their school pictures and applied to this original photo found at the hilarious website awkwardfamilyphotos.com (which is also a fabulous gift book). I have no idea what the family who posed for this was thinking. ("It's Christmas! Grin and BARE it?") I do know it's totally put me off of "figgy pudding!" If I were built like that woman, I would certainly want to show it off, but I am not sure posing for a family Christmas card photo while wearing a coconut bra and fig leaf is the way to do it. But that's just me. After receiving this, one neighborhood mom thanked me, saying it has persuaded her once-reluctant boys to happily pose for family Christmas cards from now on.

Anyhoo...wanted to wish everyone in the Ungirdled nation a very happy holiday season and a new year filled with lots of peace, love, laughter, great health and prosperity! Thanks for visiting throughout the year!

Win An iPad at Lifescript!

The good folks at Lifescript.com and Healthbistro are offering the chance to WIN AN iPad!!! But HURRY! It ends at noon on Dec. 17. Click here for details!! Good luck and happy holidays!

Personalized Dog & Cat Prints - Great Gift! Lots of Breeds Available!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I recently began selling handcrafted jewelry and home decor products at my own shop at etsy.com. If you're unfamiliar with etsy, it's a really FABO international, online craft and vintage site featuring handcrafted goods from shopkeepers all over the world! I had long been an etsy customer. I love the idea of buying unique, handcrafted gifts, jewelry, handbags and home goods from individuals who lovingly make them in their homes and studios rather than things that are mass-produced in Chinese sweat shops. Etsy is a wonderful place to get gifts this and any time of the year. I have recently began selling personalized dog and cat prints (see dog breed selection below as well as the cat pose). You pick which number pose you'd like then visit my shop here and let me know the name of the pet when ordering. I will enlarge and set the dog (or cat) silhouette you select against antique script that's slightly "stained" around the edges for a vintage look and print it on a premium, 65 lb cover stock. (See cat and dachshund examples immediately below.) In a few days after placing your order, you'll receive a customized 8" x 10" print ready to frame in either an 8"x 10" frame or an 11" x 14" frame with a mat. I like to use the 40% off coupons from the local craft stores and pick up gorgeous frames at really great prices to put these in and present as special and affordable gifts. A terrific idea for any pet lover on your guest list! Thanks for taking a look! Happy holidays!

Sample dog print shown in an 11" x 14" frame with mat:

Sample cat print shown in an 8" x 10" frame (currently, this is the only cat pose available):

Dog Breeds Available - Use Number of Pose Desired When Ordering Here:

(you may need to use the "zoom in" feature to get a better look - images may become a little blurry when you do this, but rest assured the image on your finished print will be crisp!)

Afghan 14

Airedale 16, 117

Australian Cattle Dog 57

Basenji 40

Basset Hound 95, 114

Beagle 121

Bedlington Terrier 111

Bichon 94

Bloodhound 87, 138

Borzoi 113

Boston Terrier 6, 29, 116

Bouvier des Flandres 54

Boxer 106

Brittany Spaniel 96

Bull Terrier 5, 118

Bulldog 55, 62, 84, 119

Bulldog Puppy 13

Bulldog, American 12, 38

Bulldog, English 25, 50

Cairn Terrier 79, 80, 97, 134

Cavalier King Charles 110

Central Asian Sheep Dog 39

Chihuahua 7, 142

Chinese Crested 8, 92, 102

Chow 48, 59, 68

Cocker Spaniel 63, 76, 135

Collie 141

Corgi 112, 130

Dachshund 4, 27, 120, 136

Dachshund, long hair 60, 67

Dalmatian 20

Dandie Dinmont 101

Doberman 26, 37, 41, 53, 58, 100

Fox Terrier 139

German Shepherd 1, 17, 51, 52, 74

Golden Retriever 22, 137

Great Dane 23

Great Dane, German 18, 47

Great Pyrenees 85

Greyhound 10, 104

Hound 121

Husky 19, 143

Irish Setter 96

Israel Canaan 28

Keeshound 59

Lab 2, 15, 45, 98

Lab Puppy, 46

Malamute 143

Maltese 125

Mastiff 38

Papillion 61

Pekingese 115

Pharoh Hound 24

Pit Bull 11, 26, 65, 86

Pointer 107, 132

Pointer, German 43

Pomeranian 48

Poodle 44, 93

Portuguese Water Dog 99, 108

Pug 144, 145

Puppy 49

Retriever 15, 20, 22

Rottweiler 56

Schnauzer, 30, 82, 122

Scottie 70

Setter 69, 83, 103

Shih tzu 105

Skipper Kee 28

Spitz 124

Springer Spaniel 96

St. Bernard 3

Terrier 90, 91

Westie 79, 80, 97, 134

Whippet 10, 104, 109

Yorkie 125

HORSE POSES NOW AVAILABLE:

Samples of some of the patterns available:

Camo:

Pink Damask:

Beach Stripes:

Halloween - Not Just for Kids & Skanks! Costume Ideas For Busy Moms!

If you’re a busy mom of teens like me, your days are jam-packed with bribing teachers, posting bail, and trying to figure out why Tupperware containers emptied of leftovers are placed back in the fridge while half-full milk and juice cartons are left on the counter over night. You’ve got little time to come up with a costume for your kids, much less yourself. But Halloween shouldn’t be just for kids. We adults should make the time to enjoy it, too. Today, I share some fast, easy costume ideas for us busy moms where I am guest blogging at Lifescript.com - a terrific site for Ungirdled women! Click here to check it out, and please leave a comment at the end with your ideas! Thanks and happy Halloween!!

Teenage Enigmas

If you’ve ever encountered a teenager, either in the wild or its natural habitat, you know the species are walking-sassing contradictions. I have the torment pleasure of observing two in the habitat I share with them. Some observations from the field:

• The same subjects which spend hours grooming their hair to get it just right will play it fast and loose with the rest of their bodies while operating a motor vehicle. Need proof? Watch the chaos in the student section of a high school parking lot ten minutes before the first bell rings. Your hair will turn gray - if you live to tell about it.

• The cross country athlete who will regularly run 5 or more miles at practice will find it impossible to make the 17 foot trek from table to dishwasher.

• The member of Model UN, a group which focuses of solving the world’s most pressing problems, can’t figure out how to shut the refrigerator door.

• The same specimen which will not let you forget that you got the name of one of his six teachers wrong FOUR YEARS AGO can’t remember to pack the next day’s homework in his backpack.

• The subject which rarely misses a shot on the basketball court can’t seem to ever make an item of dirty laundry land in the hamper or used tissue in the trash can.

• The typical specimen can text 272 words a minute to a friend, the same amount of time it takes them to type five for their English essay.

• While in its natural habitat, subject behaves as though separated from John McEnroe at birth. Natural enemies teachers report behavior of angel while outside the habitat.

• The student who dreads oral presentations doesn’t ever seem to mind lecturing you at home. Not ever. Favorites on the in-home lecture series include: “You don’t know how to act in public,” “My life is WAY harder than yours!” and “There’s nothing to eat in this house.”

• You constantly ask yourself how the most clueless, most embarrassing couple in the entire universe could have produced people who know absolutely everything except how the two of you can be so lame.

I know there are some I missed, because the study of these creatures can be exhausting and the liquor intake required to live with the can make you forgetful. What contradictions have you observed in your study of teen behavior?

Card above is ©Tracy Kunzler and sold at www.bottman.com, see “Reel Life Horrors” cards.