braided bow

split the top half of the head into two sections.   briad the sections starting at the center of the head.   cross the braids and bring the ends back to the center.  i used a rubberband to hold everything together leaving the unbraided ends to hang in the center.   you will use them in a minute.   now, take a section from the center under the bow and wrap it around the center to make the center of the bow.   it's important that you wrap from front to back.   you can braid it if you want as well.    i have done this with all the hair braided but can't find the pictures . . . be watching for the update.

bring your center down and braid it in with the loose ends of the bow braids.   this holds it all in place.   you can braid all of the hair or bring several braids together for the bow.   it's open for experimentation.  

and two become one braid

this is a simple technique but adds a bit of class to a braid.   

split the hair in half and under braid bringing in hair at every turn.   you want to turn the braid to meet at the center ot the head instead of simply braiding straight down.   braid to the center of the head about half way up.   braid just s little past where there is no more loose hair to bring in and band it.   do this on both sides.   then make one overhand knot with the braided ends.    the braids should be one straight up and one straight down.   bring the braids together and carefully take the bands off.   you don't want them to come unbraided though.    keep your sections separate in your braids.   bring them together and join the sections together.   so the section from outside of the bottom braid should join into the outside section of the top braid and so on.   then just braid as normal.   

you can wrap it a few times if you want, the end is the same.   it turns out really interesting and is still pretty sturdy.  

fat fishbone

this is a basic fishbone done very loosely and with gaps.   

to fishbone, you use only two sections of hair.   this is harder to hold onto while doing it since it does not hold onto itself.   bring a piece of the left side around in under into the right side.   then bring a section of the right side up and over into the left side.   that's it.   you can bring sections into it from loose hair on the opposite side instead as well.   

in this version, i fishbone for a few inches and then bring in loose hair once from each side and then plain fishbone again.   i left the hair a bit loose to give it this larger looser look.  

to end it, you can just continue your basic fishbone.   i liked a little more finished look.  i banded the braid and then took a couple sections in opposite directions around the end, through the place between the braid and the last section of loose hair that came in and then back down and around.   i then ran the ends through the rubber band.  i used a hair tool to do that.   really handy!

bound chain braid

this is a basic technique but turns out really beautiful.   

just start your braid on one side or the other.   bring your braid over to one side and bring in hair for around 5 times.   then simple braid to a length that you can reach over to the other side and bring in hair on that side for five times or so.   repeat.   easy!

coiled snake braid

this is a swerving braid that goes back and forth across the head.   it's really easy to do.   i ended up making it an up do at the end.

start with a braid taking pieces into the braid from the front only.   then braid a couple without bringing in anything and bend the braid back towards the other side.   start snaking it.   still taking sections of heir into the braid from the front but now it will be coming into the opposite side.   continue this down to the end when you are out of loose hair to bring into the braid.

 bind the braid and twist the braid up onto itself.   you can see below where i have twisted upwards and then pulled the end through the braid on the head.   then just wrap the braided end around the braid on the head to secure it.

 to secure it, weave the end into the braid.   it gives an interesting and pretty sturdy hairstyle.

tiered waterfall braids

this is not the basic waterfall braiding technique.  even for church, my daughter is so active and her hair does not stay put so i have to use a sturdy waterfall technique.    the basic waterfall is more of a twist with a piece of hair being brought through the twist in each twist.   i do a braid, i bring in a little piece of hair from the front side.   just bring in hair from one side.   the opposite side, instead of the whole section of hair being let go through the twist, i keep a braid and only let go of half of the hair on the back side.   so, bring a section into the braid on the front side, let go of half of your whole section you are braiding on the back side.   hope that makes sense.

in order to do this hairstyle, i am using the same sections to go into and out of the sturdy waterfalls.   ok, not the same sections, but i keep bringing in the sections from the braid above and letting a little section out on the other end.

daniel from microsoft

i know you have had such calls, "hello, this is daniel from microsoft.", "your car warranty is about to expire", "through no fault of your own, your payment has been held up at the bank", "would you like to make money from home?". . . . . . .  "i'm going to help you"

yeah, sure you are.

please understand, i have been a telemarketer, legal and illegal. ( i turned in evidence on the illegal one as soon as i realized what was going on, by the way.)   i am nice to the ones who are legal.

 i have a bit of a twisted sense of humor so i do mess with some of them too.   i had one guy guy call who didn't speak english very well.   he told me my computer was "dangerous" and was going to "explode"!   i kid you not.   i did not pass up this opportunity to freak out and tell him i wasn't going anywhere near my computer if it was going to explode!   i kept this up for about 15 minutes until real life happened again and i had to take care of kids, family etc.   (i have nothing against people who do not speak the language.   i live in a foreign country and my language skills are only ok to meh.   i don't tell people i speak the language.   i tell them i kind of speak it.)
 i did lead one guy on who informed me that my auto warranty was about to expire.   i kept up with him for around 15 min. until i told him i didn't know if it was the warranty on my 1965 or 1964 car that was expiring.   i couldn't ask the dealer since i didn't know where it was bought because i wasn't born then. . . . he didn't think i was funny.

now, a friend of the family, a little old lady with a quick wit, used to ask if their mothers knew what they were doing for a living.   she gave them a "shame on you" and gave them what for.   she was just that awesome!

so, what's the point?!   ok, here it is - i have really started to think about my opportunities.   what can i do to not only amuse myself but also make the world a better place?   so, i have started a new approach to these scammers.   the last time "daniel from microsoft"called, (they are all daniel, even the ones who can't say daniel are named daniel), i told him that i knew he was not from microsoft and that he was lying to me.   i told him that he was trying to steal from me and that was wrong.   i told him that all the lies and theft he was committing every day for work was piling up on his head and he would be carrying those sins into the next life if he didn't repent in this one.  of course, he denied it and tried to get back to his script.   i was unrelenting.     stubborn is one of my strong suits and !hello!, i am a mother.   when you are busted, arguing with me is useless.   i continued telling him that what he was doing was wrong.   i told him that he was piling up sin upon his soul, he was only making his place with God worse and that he needed to repent.   he gave up and hung up on me.  weird.

ok, now stop laughing.   this was actually hard for me to do without laughing.   i had to keep reminding myself that i might actually get through to one of them.   while i have started doing this because it is just a seriously awesome way to deal with these guys, but also, because i hold out hope that i will be able to turn just one.

you may think this is impossible but let me tell you a sad but true story.   the, "google blog to make money" scam was going around.   i had had these guys call me so i did some research.   that is so my thing.   come at me, i will look it up and even the playing field.   the scam was that they would set you up in a googles blog and help you make money with it.   it would only cost you $500! . .  . by the way, this is where i started blogging.   i looked it up and started two free blogs with google just to see how it worked..   so, this guy calls me, i had some divine inspiration to start asking them if they had done it themselves.   this guy tells me that he had saved up and bought one for his wife!   at this point, i understood that he had been duped himself and he had no idea that what he was selling was a scam.   i explained to him that google blogs were free and that i had actually started two free ones just to try it out.  i explained how you made money with it the legal way.   i could hear the pain in his voice.   he suddenly had to go and thanked me for the information.   wish he had called me a week earlier, before he had put out the money.   i also explained how to contact the attorney general in his state.  i admit, most of these guys know that what they are selling is crap, some do not.   like i said, i worked for a place that was illegal.   i had no idea until they started telling me to call back and use a different name and disguise my voice.   having worked for legit places, i knew the laws and turned them in.

this route might not be for everyone, you actually have to believe in the good in people and care enough for them that you truly want them to be better.   this scripture says it all-

And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

might as well try. . . . and if nothing else, it's much better and more fun than just saying that you're not interested.   who knows, you might actually inspire someone to change their ways.