This was so much information! Thank you! I want to pull out what I found to be the most interesting and post it on it's own. "Just as the body was formed and operates on a priority basis, so it heals on a priority basis. This means that the most important parts of the body get the healing attention before the less vital tissues. We can't force the body to place its healing priority on weight loss when in fact the liver is about to die, for example. The liver is more important to your body than the extra pounds. So all the energies of the body go to heal the liver and weight loss will stop. The body will not compromise what health and vitality it does have in one part of the body to bring about healing in another. In other words, the body will not "rob Peter to pay Paul." So you may be eating nutritionally and exercising and you start out losing some weight. But then all of a sudden, you become stuck at a certain weight -- the needle on the scale won't budge anymore. The body is rejoicing on the inside and saying things like, "You know, we have all this extra energy now because Mr. Doughnut here has decided to start eating right and exercising -- let's take some of our new available energy and start the healing process on his congested liver!" So the body will take all the available energy and channel it into the liver. As a result the weight loss stops. The body will NOT take away any energy needed for daily activities and maintenance. It will only take what is left over to start the healing process. It's my belief that the body does not completely heal one part before moving on to the next item on its priority list. Rather, it heals a part to the degree that it is no longer a priority. At that point the healing attention is shifted to the part of the body that is now in most need of repair. In the above example, once the liver has been cleansed somewhat, the body will refocus its attention on other areas... perhaps back to weight loss. During my weight loss period, I would hit plateaus where it seemed like I'd never lose another pound. I lost 10 pounds and then nothing for 3 weeks. During that time I woke up one morning and my arthritis was gone and my blood sugar had stabilized somewhat. If you keep on your diet and exercise program, you will eventually lose all the weight you want. A healthy body is not overweight. Remember, "Always strive for health and the weight loss will happen!"

I agree with Donna, make a written budget and stick to it. Allow so much for "fun" money out of it too because more than likely you're going to spend it anyway and you need to be accountable for it so you know where your money is going. I allot myself/kids $100 a pay period to just blow on whatever. So much for food, don't go over the amount so before shopping you need to write down what you plan to buy and keep a running total either with a calculator or by rounding off in your mind. I allot $200 a pay period for food and other household items like toilet paper, shampoo and other necessities. Movies, eating out comes out of the "fun" money. Up until I decided to give up sugar I was still buying an occational white chocolate mocha at Starbucks on my way to work. It came out of the fun money. It's amazing when you do a budget how much extra cash you come up with that you were just blowing. 2 1/2 years ago I was living paycheck to paycheck. I had a good paying job and so it was frustrating not having anything left after paying my bills. I decided it was time to get out of debt and started trying to pay off my debts one at a time. Then at the end of the first year I started listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio, I started doing a written budget and paid off as much in six months as I did over the whole previous year. I still have a ways to go and went off his plan a year ago to save for our upcoming trip, using the same budgeting principles. The whole trip is being done with cash. Get rid of credit cards and other loans because that's what eats away your money like it's nothing. I have 3 loans now besides my house payment and those 3 will be gone before the end of the year. Plan for birthday gifts and Christmas by saving for it each paycheck. Less likely you will have to charge those gifts at the last minute. Same with vacations. Oh, and if you blow the budget one pay period don't throw your hands up and give up saying it doesn't work, because you're going to mess up every once in a while. Have fun staying at home and enjoy your kids while you can. Sooner than you think they will be teenagers and heading off to college. ) :

I asked my hair stylist that same question, although my obsession is with the "Kardashian" hair. My hair is blond and wavy... It'll never get that long, unfortunately. She told me that they use a shine oil, they flat iron and even the Kardashians use human hair extensions. Certain ethnic groups (Asian, Indian and Mexican/Spanish) for example, have individual hair strands that are naturally thicker, stronger, and the hair as a whole grows faster. Dark hair also reflects more light, so it looks super shiny and healthier. The majority of human hair extensions are Indian remy hair - the hair naturally grows faster. A lot of the commercials you see show dark hair for this reason. In the Garnier commercial with the blond, she more than likely has extensions, although if you have "virgin" hair (no color ever, no perm, wash every few days, no hot tools) you may be able to grow out blond hair. I just wear my extensions when I want long hair - it's too hard to take care of it when it's naturally long. LOL

@strawchicago z5 -beautiful pic of your CPM. I love how many blooms there are, mine never had that many at once this past season. The above pic of my orange is Carding Mill, I think I called it CM to shorten, but it isn't my crown princess. I wish my crown princess was as healthy as my Carding Mills. Hopefully next season it will be after it over-winters with alfalfa hay on top. I did notice that my cPm DID get deeper orange/dark pink tones that then faded to yellow a couple days later after I watered with Neptunes this past summer. There weren't as many blooms as yours, but the Neptunes seemed to make the few fowers I got, a deeper color :)