Things that cannot die with me

1. To make black frosting, start the night before. Take white frosting and add cocoa powder, blue, red, and yellow food colorings. The next day it will have turned black, and it won't taste shitty like black bakery frosting because it's not just a ton of black ink dumped into white frosting.

2. If you're going to paint something, prime it and then add floetrol to the paint to eliminate brush strokes. It will look like it came from a factory. For extra staying power, add a gloss or matte topcoat.

3. To apply liquid eyeliner more easily, use a pencil forst and then trace that line with the liquid.

4.To avoid spending time blowing on your coffee before you can drink it, add an extra scoop of grounds to the filter, and then add ice cubes to your mug to cool it down. Also easier than making coffee ice cubes.

5. To judge a photo of yourself without nitpicking, step back and ask yourself if it would look good at your funeral. Everyone wants to look thin and young and sexy in their pictures, but seeing it from your kids' perspective lets you focus on the expression of your face and the overall feel instead.

6. Never buy dark carpet. It shows EVERYTHING.

7.  Use your things; don't store them. A beautiful silver bowl does no good in a cupboard. Make it your soap dish or put it on the toilet tank to stick your wedding ring and ponytail holder in before showers.

8. Compliment strangers. Tell little girls how much you like their shoes. Tell the check-out lady if you think her hair looks great. Everyone likes a compliment, it doesn't cost anything to give them out, and the worst that can happen is that someone you will probably never see again thinks you're weird.

9. Try listing the songs on your next mix cd by memory instead of title. Make a cd label that says "Senior prom", "Late nights with the baby", and "that time in high school we got stuck in the ditch".  Admit it, that's how you think of some songs, anyway, and why does anyone else have to understand the writing on your mix cd?

10. Baileys is a valid coffee creamer. Don't let anyone else tell you different.

11. Don't worry about whether or not your decor matches. Eclectic is a valid decorating style.