Ditto to Dee Can. Really: It's HURTING YOU! And just because you go to the hairdresser only a few times a year that makes it OK and a trivial problem? A Brazilian wax is supposed to hurt. (not that I will ever get one! doing the eyebrows was enough!). A blowout is not. It's not the hairdresser's own hair she's pulling. She doesn't have any idea of how her pulling strength is affecting you. I speak up when my stylist keeps the blowdryer on a section too long -- yes, it does hurt my scalp. Just tell her, and in a polite way, as I know you would. She will not feel offended, esp. if you go with Carla's advice to ask her why she's drying your hair with such a hard pull. Don't you think she wants you to be a happy client? Don't you want to walk out feeling as good as you look?

I started back in 97 when my dd was born- today she turns 9! I did her baby book and it was ok. Then I discovered Creative Memories and all the stuff out there. I redid her pages- thanks to double prints- and it is much nicer. I used to use a 3-ring binder and page protectors from office supply store. I used solid paper as my page. I used some stickers and a little journalling. I have since taken all those pages and put them into CM albums. Now I use the regular white pages and use the colored paper for frames or accent strips. To organize and make things go faster I use an easy method. I have a binder with sleeves in it. When I develop film I separate in dated or event order. Then I divide by what pics would fit on a page. I drop those pics into sleeves. Then I take paper that matches the pics and drop it in the sleeve. I may put some stickers in there too. Then when I go to scrap, I just grab a sleeve and work that page. I have already picked out the stuff for the page, just need to assemble. Unfortunatly, I have a digital camera now. It was so easy to develop film and then sort out the pics. Now I have to download onto a CD, take to a place or use an online service. I have not done this yet, which explains why I have over 600 pics to print, and at least half I need doubles of- one for my dd and one for my ds albums. One nice thing about digital is that I can print only what I need, so I may print all my dd birthday pics for her album, but only print a few for my son to have in his. Hey soggy6- aren't you the one with the pool that had plaster then switched to ptec after a crack or something? Are you going to, or do you know about, the event at Newburg Hall down by Sac State on 4/29? My CM gal and her friends are having an all-day event. After spending last year doing the build, it will be nice to spend a day scrapping. I am taking all our vacation pics- the ones before we had kids- and getting them all into albums. Won't be super fancy like my kids books. The goal is to have them in an album instead of not.

If you have many different mediums and a lot of pictures, an easy but great way to go is with a d-ring album (I recommend American Crafts and you can buy those at Hobby Lobby... watch for them at 50% off!) then purchase photo page inserts (either vertical or horizontal or both!) and then you don't have to scrapbook ALL of the photos... maybe just scrap a few of them and then all corresponding or similar photos can just be tucked into to the photo page sleeves (like a regular photo album). I did this with my "year in the life" album. I have 4x6 photo pages - both horizontal and vertical - intermixed with 12x12 scrapbook pages and even some 8 1/2x11 scrapbook pages just for fun! If you go with a D-ring album, ANY 3-hole page protector will be able to be easily inserted where ever you feel it needs to go! There should be PLENTY of room left over if your son wishes to add to it later. GOOD LUCK!

Coming out of lurkdom due to a dire need for information. :) I have very curly hair. When pulled straight it is to the middle of my shoulder blades, but it draws up to shoulder length. Most days I wear it in a ponytail, because I run and work outside. Some days, I'd like it to look nice. I live in the South, with the humidity. I wear it long for two reasons: 1) my mother made me wear it short as a child, when all of the other girls had Marsha Brady hair. Everyone thought I was a boy. 2) If I wear it short, in the summer it looks like a Brillo pad. To those of you who referred to curl gel or other products, can you please be more specific? I want to be able to wash and go, partly because I've never figured out how to blow dry it without frizz. Also, I rarely want to take the time. I've tried a number of anti-frizz products, but have had no luck. Thanks in advance!