I’ve got it! lol

So I’ve got Google homepage and LOVE it   I’ve got all my fav. reads right there so I can see them…very nice.  This AM I open up my homepage & right away see a headline on ABC News Top Stories.  Little Known Drug Offers Legal High.  I click on it and it’s Salvia!  lol!  I’ve got that growing in my garden.  hmmm….Well.  After reading what all it does I can say I’m going to leave it just growing!  No chewing/smoking for me!  I’d be one of the ones that got the bad effect   I’d probably think my hands had turned purple or green or something & try to cut them off!   Now if they could guarentee me that it would only give me a peaceful, less stress, who cares feeling?  Might be a different story

Speaking of drugs.  I just started the Hollywood 48-Hour Miracle diet! lol   I love fruit juice so I figured this would at least taste pretty good!  Um…no.  WAY too much apricot taste IMO.  I’m drinking it extremely slowly and chasing with bottled water.  We’ll see just what sort of miracle it is!  So far I’m starting to feel a little funky.  Don’t know why usually I don’t drink anything other than black coffee until lunch or eat anything at all till then.  It says on the bottle your not supposed to have caffeine or tobacco while doing this.  I’ve got both going so who knows?  Will that stop the “miracle”?  lol  We will see!!  IF I can make it though another day of this anyhow.

Seems like summer might just be here or spring at least!  80 degrees today so me and Joe are going out walking after lunch.  Then we’ll hit the backyard with the remote control Hummer.  Poor little buddy.  He tried to play with it yesterday but it belongs to his big brother.  James let him play with it a total of about 2 mins.  Those kids are KILLING me!  It’s weird but after school  Hannah at least doesn’t have a problem playing with Joe.  They have a lot of fun together in between the fighting!  Joe wants to play with his brother though and James just won’t.  Least most of the time.  Sometimes I feel so sad for Joe.  His little face just drops when James tells him no or especially if I ask James to do something with him and he argues about not wanting to right in front of Joe.  It really hurts his feelings.  LOL!  dh told them that’s why we had 3 kids close in age!  So they could play together! Doesn’t work that way most of the time though.

Well at least while big brother is in school Joe will have his chance with the truck.  He’d better take it while he can get it!

Umm…btw.  Notice anything different in the sidebar there?  lol!  I’m shameless.  Yep.  Now everyone HAS to vote and preferably for me   Can’t wait to see the pages!

American Idol in Eastern Kentucky

Well as everyone who has read this blog lately probably knows my charity for the Queen of the Crop contest is the Christian Appalachian Project to help the poverty stricken people of Appalachia, most specifically eastern Kentucky where my family is from and still mostly lives.

I was excited to see they were going to eastern Kentucky on American Idol for the Idol Gives Back segment. They went to Letcher Co. Kentucky and spoke about illiteracy. I thought the segment was fair but at the same time not fair about the people in that region. I kind of agree with this article from The Lexington Herold Leader. The gov. kind of thought that it didn’t present a very accurate view of the area and he was right! The people of eastern Ky. are proud, good people on the whole. They are hard workers and most try very hard to make a better life for themselves and their families.

I know that a popular pre-conceived view of Kentucky is of the hillbilly. Yep. There’s hillbillies in them there hills! I happen to believe you can find them anywhere if you look hard enough! There are also very intelligent, artistic people in eastern Kentucky. It’s a BEAUTIFUL area full of natural resources that at one time were almost completely stripped away by the coal industry.

It’s true that there isn’t a huge opportunity for great employment there. It’s true that the public school systems are lacking there as well. The same is true in lots of other areas around the United States.

Well despite the portrayal I agree wholeheartedly with the charity supporting the region. In fact I have to admit that there are areas like that and people like that in eastern Kentucky. The portrayal was not totally inaccurate and as long as people realize that not all areas of Kentucky and not all people in Kentucky are like that it’s all good.

So speaking of the Queen. I did get my page done and sent. It’s different. It’s not what you typically see in the galleries. That could work against me since it’s not in with the current trends but you know what? It’s OK I LOVE the page! I’m very pleased with it! I feel like I’ve found me again! This page screams me and makes me happy

Not much more in my mind today. Dh worked all weekend and it’s been a rough one. I can already see that I’ve got to figure out some other way to do things during summer break! Keeping the kids cooped up down in the family room till at least lunch is not easy! Especially since Joe is acting like he’s going through the terrible 2’s at 4 1/2!! Ugh… Sometimes I could literally pull my hair out! Yes I take them outside but we can’t spend all day out there. I’m going to be taking them to the park and the library lots this summer but still…Guess dh will just have to get used to sleeping with the radio on between stations for loud white noise! 3 kids+small house+working nights=not a good situation!!!!

Wish me luck for the rest of the day…if you never hear from me again send in the troops!!

“Choose Not A Life Of Imitation”

Sitting here waiting. Waiting to be able to take the photos of myself needed for Queen of the Crop Sigh….how come I look different in the mirror than I do in photos??? Do I really look that fat & old?? I guess the camera doesn’t lie. Ugh….

So since I decided to give this contest thing a try I’ve had ideas galore. Andy (andyapc) knows how my process goes!! lol~~btw~Andy you need a blog!! If doing something for an assignment or contest my process is to proceed at the last possible min. & change my mind & page at least 1000 times! This time NO WAY will I be changing my mind! HA!

Above is one reason why~these photos thanks to Google images What do the Red Hot Chili Peppers have to do with this?? Well I usually listen to lots of different music while I scrap or surf the internet. Usually my genre is country but back in the day I was quite the rocker chick..lol. I’ve always loved the Chili Peppers~specifically Anthony Kiedis & Flea sooo I started listening to & watching videos of them this AM. Good stuff! I now have 1 page of inspiration down from watchin’ Chili Pepper videos!! lol~~Watch out!

btw~isn’t Anthony Kiedis enough to make you want a cold shower??

It’s a good day. Idol tonight. I thought it was great last night. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jordin walks away with it. WOW is she good! I was really touched too by the video of Simon with the charities. lol~deep down he really does have a heart. Did you see that small segment for helping the kids in the US? They were down in Eastern Kentucky for part of it. That’s where my heart is & where my charity $ is going if I win the contest. They didn’t talk much about that region, just had those little boys on there, hopefully tonight they will show some more.

Ok. So guess instead of blogging I should be doing something while Joe watches his show. Guess it might be a good idea to do some laundry? Naaaa….the Chili Peppers are still playin’!

Sissy Permed Laughing Woman!!

yep! Right now I’m for sure a sissy, permed, laughing woman!! I was checking out my blog stats and “sissy permed laughing women” was a search term someone used and got pointed to my blog! ROTFLOL

LOL! I needed that! What a weekend. I think I’m married to a cross between Al Bundy and Tim “the toolman” Taylor! We had bought the kids a new metal swing set back a few weeks ago when it was on sale, because the old one we had was totally rusted through, not to mention Jack the attack dog had chewed up the bottom of the slide as well as the seats off the teeter totter. We got this thing & it sat in the garage because of rain~cold & basically yuck weather.

Finally it was going to be nice out all weekend so we agreed to put the thing up. Dh had to work all night Fri. overtime & only got 3hrs. sleep before the set up. I was just hoping we’d have it done by today

To make a very long story sorta semi short…it all starts by just getting the thing into the yard. Dh was going to pull it in his cart with the lawnmower. Cart’s tires are flat, he gives ds#1 the pump to pump up the tires. DS#1 lets all the air out, tire comes off the rim. Sigh. That’s ok cause in the meantime dh discovers that the lawnmower’s battery is dead. Won’t hold charge. Sigh. I tell him to take down the section of fence that is supposed to come down & drive his truck back there with it. That fence hasn’t come down in at least 10yrs. Crack went the pole, underground. Sigh…

He gets it back there. We start. Get the thing up and the poles are wrong. Ok. Take off poles, switch them around. Finally we set the poles in the ground with concrete. Then try to put on the slide. WAY too tall, won’t meet the pole it has to attach to. Push the slide into the ground, now the 1st step on the ladder is on the ground. Sigh… Go to do the teeter-totter & then see in the instructions that you shouldn’t set the poles in the ground or anchor until the teeter-totter is put up cause you have to set it into the ground a good 8″. Ok. We pull the whole swing set out of the ground cause dh did the concrete wrong and it hasn’t set

All this was being done with 3 kids who need drinks, popcicles, have to pee, have to poop, getting bored…etc… LOL

We give up. Despite 3hrs. sleep dh stays up to watch our NetFlix movie, An American Haunting. It was pretty good really, just had one of those ending that makes you go, “hmmmm????”. So then dh can’t sleep. Up 1/2 the night. He looks like Al Bundy right about now

We start again Sun. with the swing set. Get the teeter-totter up after having to bend the pole for it. I think I probably stepped on it one too many times. Now the thing is finally up but the kids can’t swing on it. It’s now on top of the ground not anchored. Can’t cement it in this time. There’s only 1″ that will go into the ground. Just not enough to cement! Instructions say there’s a optional anchor, not included of course. I called everywhere. ToysRUs is supposed to get it in. Wends. Dh comes up with the brilliant idea to buy dog ties & chains to hold it down. We’re at Wally World looking at them. I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut about this. I tell dh there’s no way in hell this is going to work. He says he’ll drill a new hole in the poles to attach it. We argue about this a while. He buys the stuff. Sigh…

Fast forward~we’re home. He gets out the drill. Immiditly the bit bends almost in 1/2 I couldn’t help it! At least I turned my head to smile!

He tries again. Gets a hole, chain won’t fit so he has to crimp it. After realizing it will take at least 100 days to crimp the whole thing & then breaking another drill bit he finally gives up Did I not tell him it wouldn’t work?? We’ll just wait for the anchors to come in. We clean up. Go to drive the truck back out front & the battery is dead. Kids killed it playing in it & leaving the lights on. Dh says and I quote, “I hate my life!”. LOL He has to take out the battery, walk it around front to jump it from the Durango since that won’t fit through the fence to the back. Thank goodness it worked! Then he has to fix the fence back. It’s still not right. Sigh…guess ol’ Jack the attack dog won’t have the run of the yard for awhile now.

By the time all this is done it’s 6pm. Dh looks literally sick. Very pale & kind of unsteady on his feet. Sorry but, awww…. Now maybe he knows how I felt working 3rd and staying up with the kids all day? Nope. He says it’s from staying up & doing strenuous work. Ah. Ok. That’s different! NOT! He decides to call in to work. I didn’t complain too much even though that’s one of my anxiety indusors. He’s been told they’ll be working both Fri. & Sat. night next week so he won’t have a day off for the next 2 weeks.

So that’s basically the way the weekend went. A 2 hr. job took us 2 days. 1 dead truck battery, 1 broken fence, 1 cart tire off the rim but a new swing set that can’t be swung on Not to mention the old rusty, broke one still out there. Such is my life.

Now since dh stayed home last night, he’s up today. My routine ruined. Now I have to vacume. Sigh…

Here goes nothin’

You know when I 1st heard about the Queen of the Crop contest at SBG I was excited! Then kind of overwhelmed. Then unsure. Then finally back to excited again!

I’ve been in this slump I guess you could call it, for way too long. My pages were always 1st and foremost for me and then maybe I lost sight of that? I don’t know. I do know that I love doing it. I printed out 2 of my pages, framed them & put them in our family room and WOW! That was enough to get me going again They look great, the kids & dh love them, so do I. That’s what it’s about.

This contest is a way to stretch myself again. Not to mention to try giving back a little. When dh was laid off this last time I honestly thought it was all over for us. Then we were incredibly blessed. Without the help it would’ve been all over. Fast. Honestly we would have been in that spot within a month with no food, no electric & then no home. I’ve been grateful every day and I’ll never, ever forget how the help of people I’ve never even met kept us going. Having a chance to give back a little through the charity that will be donated to for this project is enough to push me to do my best. If I don’t get enough votes to take it that’s OK. I’ll find another way, in another time to give back

So my main charity will be the Christian Appalachian Project. It’s a interdenimational, non-profit Christian organization who provides help to the proud, wonderful people of the Appalachian region.

My family is from eastern Kentucky. My parents and grandparents and grandparents before them were all raised there. My mother’s father was a coal mine employee for many, many years. He was an accomplished welder who basically came up with the 1st mig welding in the area. My father’s dad was a lumber mill worker and eventually bought his own taxi opening up “Floyd’s Taxi Service”. Both my parents were born in the 30’s and times were beyond hard. I still have aunts, uncles & cousins in the region. My own father lives there now too In Whitley county, originally from McCreary county.

Here’s a photo with both grandfather’s in it

Time’s are still hard in Appalachia. Appalachia spans 13 states in the US. Here’s a list of the states and counties.

Alabama: Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Colbert, Coosa, Cullman, De Kalb, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Macon, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, Pickens, Randolph, St. Clair, Shelby, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, and Winston

Georgia: Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Dade, Dawson, Douglas, Elbert, Fannin, Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Gordon, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Haralson, Hart, Heard, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, Walker, White, and Whitfield

Kentucky: Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Garrard, Green, Greenup, Harlan, Hart, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, McCreary, Madison, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Wayne, Whitley, and Wolfe

Maryland: Allegany, Garrett, and Washington

Mississippi: Alcorn, Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Itawamba, Kemper, Lee, Lowndes, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, Webster, Winston, and Yalobusha

New York: Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins

North Carolina: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Davie, Forsyth, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Stokes, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey

Ohio: Adams, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Carroll, Clermont, Columbiana, Coshocton, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Tuscarawas, Vinton, and Washington

Pennsylvania: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland, and Wyoming

South Carolina: Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Oconee, Pickens, and Spartanburg

Tennessee: Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Cannon, Carter, Claiborne, Clay, Cocke, Coffee, Cumberland, De Kalb, Fentress, Franklin, Grainger, Greene, Grundy, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hawkins, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Macon, Marion, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Overton, Pickett, Polk, Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Smith, Sullivan, Unicoi, Union, Van Buren, Warren, Washington, and White

Virginia: Alleghany, Bath, Bland, Botetourt, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig, Dickenson, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Highland, Lee, Montgomery, Pulaski, Rockbridge, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise/Norton, and Wythe

The following independent cities in Virginia are also within the Appalachian Region: Bristol, Buena Vista, Covington, Galax, Lexington, Norton, and Radford.

West Virginia: All counties: Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mineral, Mingo, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Wayne, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, Wood, and Wyoming

Times are better but not a ton easier compared to the rest of the US. There are children, elderly & disabled people some of who are living in terrible conditions. You’d think that people wouldn’t be living like they do in the US in 2007. Here’s a little something showing you the median income levels for McCreary county. I’ve said in this blog before that we dreamed of moving there, living in the beauty there. This is one reason we just can’t.

INCOME SNAPSHOT

Median household income
Local

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$19,348National

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$41,994
Source: 2000 census, U.S. Census BureauFor more census details and comparisons, see our McCreary County demographic reportsIn 2002, the per capita personal income in McCreary County was $14,912. This was an increase of 26.2% from 1997. The 2002 figure was 48% of the national per capita income, which was $30,906.

County seat: Whitley City

The Christian Appalachian Project provides tons of resources and help for these people. My own grandmother’s were both helped by volunteers from this organization. They came and made repairs, did yard work & cleaned up around their homes I’m proud to support this organization and hope everyone will take a few mins. to take a look at their site.

There are so many wonderful charities helping children and people all over the world…I wanted to do something just a little closer to home this time. It’s sad to see little kids living in such poverty right here in our own country. It shouldn’t be.

If you’ve read this far, thanks! Whoever wins the charity will be a good thing Now we just need votes to make this happen! Also I think Maya deserves a HUGE round of applause for doing this! What a great thing!

tagged

Got a message from Kim Hill saying that she tagged me :p ACK! It’s about writing original posts on your blog! lol I think that’s kind of funny cause I sure don’t feel all that original! I’ve been posting a little more than usual but in the past I’ve been hit or miss at blogging. So here goes, I just copied and pasted from Kim’s blog.

“So here’s the scoop. It all started with a ‘Be Original” post on Mohit Singhania’s blog. I’ve lifted this off Susan’s blog who lifted it from Michelle’s blog who lifted it off Angie Pedersen’s blog – ha ha ha – isn’t that ironic in that it is so NOT original to lift stuff from others. LOL Anyway, here’s the deal from Mohit’s original post about how it works:

In a new blog post, list and write about 5 to 10 methods you use to create original posts. At the start of your post, tell your audience (briefly or at length) what you are doing with the “Be Original” Project and link to the project. Link/trackback to the blogger who tagged you for “Be Original” Share your “Be Original” methods with your own audience Pick as many bloggers as you want and “tag” them to take part in the fun…After all, that is how a meme works (a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another). Sit back and learn from the discussion.”

 

1. I just talk about whatever when I feel chatty.
2. I sometimes post pictures.
3. Sometimes post scrap related info.
4. I try to just be me and be real.

So that’s about it I guess. Thanks Kim for thinking of me for this one! Now to continue it on I guess I’ll tag a few…umm… Janna, Becky and Dena!

Over the weekend we worked our butts off around here. Rearranged the whole downstairs family/play/computer/workout room! lol We’ve been needing to do this for a long time and when we got the treadmill it had to be done. Moved everything and cleaned everything. I couldn’t believe the amount of dust! Geeze! Pretty gross to think we were breathing all that! We put soo much stuff out in the garage for a pending yard sale that it’s full! Had to park outside. I’ve made up my mind that nothing that I took out there to get rid of is coming back in! We had tons and tons of kids/baby clothes. Especially girl clothes since Hannah doesn’t have anyone to hand down to! If they don’t all get bought it’s time to call in the freecycle people! I was going to do GoodWill but they are hard to donate to around here it seems like! They’ve become picky and I don’t have time/energy to go through everything for them. As for anything else left over? Well I think I’ll put it at the end of the driveway with a sign that says “FREE”! I give it a hour or 2 if I put that sign out I haven’t even started on the upstairs. I’ll have tons more for the yard sale if and when I get to all that junk. WOW things sure accumulate! I’m not too yard sale adept so if anyone has any tips/tricks about having a successful one please let me know! I think part of the problem is I don’t have any tables to put stuff on. Don’t have any way to hang up clothes etc…you know presentation shouldn’t be everything!

Tomorrow dh will be going with dd on a field trip! lol! This is his 1st time going with any of them & it’s funny. He looked at the list of chaperons her teacher had in the newsletter and said, “it’s all women!!”. Then he saw 1 other “Mr.” listed & didn’t feel so bad. What did he expect? Most of the chaperons and volunteers are women They’re going to the Kron Conservatory and The Cincinnati Art Museum. If they have good weather they’ll eat lunch at Eden Park. Looks like they’ll have to eat lunch back at the classroom, we’re expecting yet more rain! Not to mention chilly weather! GRR…what’s up with the weather anyway?? Yesterday I had to laugh at dh though! He signed up for this field trip then yesterday we get a new slip for another more fun field trip that dd is taking in May! The Cincinnati Zoo! I get to go to that one! YAY! I have to admit that I’m not thrilled going on field trips. I like going with my own kids but there always has to be other kids in our group. Isn’t that terrible? Wanting to be just with my own kids? lol I can’t help it though! Makes me a nervous wreck having to keep tabs on someone else’s child! I had a rough time with that on the last field trip I went on with ds. Kind of scared me away from doing any others. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for this one.

Is anyone else doing the Queen of the Crop challenge from ScrapbookGrapics? I’m going to try it. I don’t know though. I feel dried up I guess? It’s like I’ve forgotten just how to scrapbook. I think I need to stay totally and completely away from galleries and probably the internet altogether to get some umph…back. I don’t feel at all original or anything anymore. This has been going on for a long time with me. A really long time. I have to force myself sometimes and I don’t like it. I kept thinking if I got back into the community more it would pick up but it hasn’t. I look through my gallery and like my old stuff. Wish I could do some new…sigh. Who knows? Maybe a challenge like this will revive something inside? Anyway I’ll post a bit about my charities in a day or so. We’ll see what happens.

I was a learning tool!

yep! I was a learning tool! lol I did go to get my hair done. Even without a phone call. Actually the spa called me to try & get me to come in earlier as my hairdresser had a cancellation but no way was I going to get dh up any earlier than I had to!!

So my hairdresser, Kathleen, comes to get me & says they gave her the wrong phone # for me. Ahhh…I told her what I was thinking & showed her my picture of the Dove ProAge lady, she’s like, “hmmm….let’s go talk about it”. Not a good sign. We go sit down & she starts running her hands through my hair saying she wasn’t so sure about my idea. Thinks my hair is just too thick & already too curly. She was scared that I would have a afro when we were done She decides to go get the #1 hairdresser in the shop, the owner’s wife, let her talk to me & see if this could be done.

The shop owner’s wife was estatic when she saw my head She says, “Hell yeah we can do this!!”. Kathleen had already cut just a little off the length of my hair, maybe about 1/2″ so the other lady (I’ll call her #1 hd) grabs the sissors and starts cutting. She was showing Kathleen the best cut, texturizing and thinning method for my extremely thick, curly, coarse hair. She ends up cutting my whole head! Says it’s better to get the cut 1st then the perm instead of vice/versa. Keeps the new curl from being stretched or pulled out until it “sets”. She starts calling other hair dressers over to watch. Before long I was (or rather my head) was the center of attention for at least 10 hair dressers! I’m just sitting there. Humming! lol

Then the receptionist gets in trouble. She didn’t listen to me. She didn’t schedule enough time. When Kathleen told #1hd that she got busy. She asked me if I would mind if other hairdressers helped or did my rolling up. I told her that was fine as long as they knew what they were doing.

Getting on with it lol They get me over to start rolling me up. I was on my 2nd cup of coffee by then. Kathleen & another girl start the rolling. A spiral wrap. Here comes #1hd. She grabs the squirt bottle and starts showing them a “faster, easier way” then she takes off again and comes back with a army of hair dressers. They’re all crowded around for her to show them her way of sectioning, rolling. About this time I’m wondering if any of them have ever done a perm before!! Bwahahaha!!!!! She just spoke to them. Telling them how this “look” was coming back for the “young” & looks better than before. How playful and fun looking I’m going to be. I’m thinking I’d better look 1/2 decent anyway!! To my disbelief she gives them all a turn at rolling my hair! When she paused to take a breath I decided to ask if with soo many people having their hands in my hair, would it all be rolled up and sectioned equally or would I end up with part of my hair with small curls, part with larger, etc…She tells me not to worry. All’s good. Um. Ok.

Kathleen has to go do her next appt. Enter this hot young guy, a Justin Timberlake look alike/wanna be. He and the other girl start with the perm solution. I’m wondering what the heck I got myself into when she says she’s not sure if she got 1 part with the solution or not. I told them to dump a vial of it on my whole head. Took 2 perms (I knew it would) & according to them they had to be careful or it’d have been 3. Sigh…more $. Then it’s the wait. Another cup of coffee. I’m looking at this kid, thought at 1st it was a guy but she was a she. She had a pink mohawk. It was kind of light maroon I guess. It was long and she was having it cut. All kinds. Takes all kinds to make the world go round! lol!! Really people might think the same about me when they see me with these curls!!

Here comes the little gal to rinse me & neutralize me~that sounds funny! Then another wait. Kathleen gets there in time to help unroll me, the JT lookalike is telling them how beautiful the curl is & that he’ll never be that good!! Bwahahahaha!!!!!!

I’m done! I love it! Was just what a wanted. Talk about curly! To say I’m curly is a understatement! Remember that gal on American Idol with the super curly hair? Sabrina? She was voted off kind-of early on I think.

That’s what my curl reminds me of only a lot shorter. They didn’t take more than a 1″ of length but it sprang up.

I ran into a girl I used to know there too. This woman just walks up to me and asked me if I knew a certain person. I say yes not knowing who this woman was. It was a girl I had known a little through my best friend in high school. I didn’t recognize her! I hate to say it but she looked…old. Really old. She asked if I still talked to my friend. I say no & told her to tell my old friend that I missed her, that I just couldn’t do it anymore. That’s a huge, other blog post. Made me sad. I truly do miss my friend. We were friends from the time we were 10, she was matron of honer at my wedding. We understood each other. Once.

Well to get on with this incredibly long, probably incredibly boring post guess I have to show a picture of my hair. lol I took it the morning after (while I was chatting with Andy~andyapc) and remember can’t shampoo for 48hrs. not to mention I had slept on it soooo….put down all drinks! I’m not responsible if you ruin your keyboard!

Ignore completely that “middle” part! Not going to happen! Good thing I like this! It suits me.

Spring???

Where?? lol I seriously believe that there really is a direct corrolation with moods and seasons. I was feeling sooo much better when it was sunny and warm those few days last week. Was it only last week? Since then it’s been cold, rainy, even snow flurries. YUCK.

It ’s weird though. When I was a kid my dad was very into feeding the birds and housing them. He had bird feeders which he kept filled year round and bird houses on all the fence posts around the yard, he made them all. Some he made out of hollow logs:) I never paid a whole lot of attention to them except maybe the bird houses. I loved to see the mamma birds fixing nests and then watching them help the babies when it was time to fly, if my cat didn’t get into them that is

I had always meant to put out a bird feeder here, just never did. Well my next door neighbor was very into feeding and housing the birds. He had tons of feeders, I always felt a little guilty about our cats, they usually did a lot of hunting over at his place! My neighbor died kind of suddenly last summer and his wife and daughter decided to move. Before they left they told us to go in their shed and take what we wanted and told us to take the feeders. I got 4 feeders, 2 were in bad shape so just kept 2 and lots of bird seed as well as squirrel and critter feed:) We just put up the feeders during those warm days & I’ve found I love watching those birds! We put one in the willow tree where we can watch it from the dining table and I just can’t believe all the birds we have now! They sure are piggy little things though, we’ve had to re-fill the feeder already after just 1 week and they’ve almost got the refill ate. I find myself sitting there at the kitchen table watching them for a long time before I think to move Love it!

Speaking of rain we had some storms here last night. Not too bad at our house but lots of heavy rain showers. It cleared up around 7:30 and the sun started poking out. I was getting Joe ready for bed when James hollers to come see the rainbow. We all went and looked and WOW what a sight! A gorgeous rainbow! The colors were so bright! Then we noticed it was a double one! There was another much more faded rainbow right above it. Gorgeous! Of course what kind of scrapper would I be if I didn’t go for the camera? I got some really nice photos of it.

See what I mean about the color? WOW was it bright! It was one of the longest lasting rainbows I’ve ever seen too. Joe talked about it right up until he was in his bed!

Well my hairdresser was supposed to call me about what I wanted done. Did she? NO. Grr…I’ll give her the fact that she might not have gotten the message. It’s really funny cause the look I want I really have anyway when my hair is a little shorter. I just figure with the correct rolling I might have a little more control that’s why I was thinking perm. My hair is super, duper curly but I have spots. Spots that don’t have much curl, especially right in the back. I’ll have tons of curl on the sides and then in the back at times it’s almost straight! Drives me nuts! I’d honestly rather have smooth, shiny, straight hair but every time I’ve had it straightened it’s just been a PITA. It grows out of the straightener so quick! Not pretty AT ALL to have waves coming from your scalp and then the rest stick straight! Also not pretty to have big hunks of hair straight and big hunks with tons of wave or curl. Sigh…So some people are thinking right about now, “what about using a flat iron”? LOL! Right. If you could only see my head in person! I have enough hair to cover probably 2 1/2 heads! It’s seriously that thick! I can’t think of 1 time that I’ve gone to a hairdresser when they haven’t commented on how thick my hair is. I’ve even had them call over other hair dressers to see it and run their hands through it! Used to be this woman at work how kind of weired me out about it. Every time she came anywhere near me she touched it! I like my personal space so that was freaky!! Ugh…

Before I show this picture of how I want it I have to tell about Joe! That kid!!! Between him and dh I’m getting a complex!! lol I was looking at my new Good Housekeeping mag. Joe is sitting there, looks over and sees the advertisment with the photo of how I want my hair on it, points to it and says….”Mommy!! That’s YOU!” lol! The ad is one of those Dove ProAge
ads!! The woman in it, though beautiful, is at least 55!! lol ! In little buddy’s defense & the only thing that saved him lol he is only 4. Lucky for him!!!

Here it is. The photo of me! Bwahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!

KIDS!! HUSBANDS!! Where would my self-esteem be without them??

Yada*Yada*Yada

It was a nice Easter:) Too cold to do egg hunts outside. Seems that when I said it was spring I was sorely mistaken!!! Guess we had just enough spring to get us in the mood and to make my flowers/trees bloom. Going below freezing again for several days took care of that though. Grr..

The kids are finally back to school this week! WOOT:D Of course that’s both good and bad! They were OK I guess, they got really bored though after the cold hit and they couldn’t go outside. There’s not a ton to do here during the day. We have a very small house for 5 people, they have to stay in the downstairs family room mostly cause dh has to sleep working the night shift & they are much too loud up on the main floor! Oh well, bordom can be good for a kid sometimes!

Good thing my kids do actually spend a lot of time drawing, doing crafts, reading and writing! DS#1 actually does tons of writing! He’s written 2 books that are really very good! Little stories about our family:) If they aren’t spending time doing that or playing with Joe I get the “space cadet” look….the STARE at the TV.

Changing the subject a little sometimes I wonder if I should just kill my dh! So I was telling him that I made an appointment to get my hair cut and that I was going to see if she would have to put a perm in my already very curly hair to get the look I wanted (I’ll show that in a min.) and he says, “Remember when you had it straightened that time? Of course you were as thin as a rail then!!“. He’s smiling as he says this. Ummm…is that supposed to be a compliment or a jab?? Then he tells me to wake him up an hour early, that he has some things to go do. Ok. I get him up when he says and ask him where all he’s going. “Oh just got some things to go do, have to go to the bank and a few other places.”. OK. It’s not payday, no check to go into the bank and we have no $$ to spend.

Well he finally gets home about 2hrs. later. Says to come downstairs. We go, me and the kids, & he brings in this gigantic treadmill! WTH?? His friend that he worked with at his old job had offered him this treadmill a long time ago. Said that his S.O. didn’t use it & it had been taking up their living room for 2yrs. & he was sick of it. When dh said yes to it his friend came back a few days later and said he was sorry but the S.O. wanted to keep it, thought one day he just might use it. Well dh talked to the friend again & this time he said to come get it! Said they had to make some room and after yet another year his S.O. still hadn’t gotten on it.

Now I’m really glad to get it! I’ve been wanting one for the longest time. Have got to get off my ever expanding ass and lose some of this digi-scrapping weight! It’s hard to do walking outside with a good pace, enough to really help, because Joe is too small so I have to walk slow. I love the treadmill. It is HUGE though! We have to totally rearrange everything in the downstairs family room. This weekend I will be filling and I mean filling the garage with things I have to get rid of! I’m going to try another yard sale, everything from tons of children’s clothing to a toddler bed and I can’t wait! I’m going to call it my simplify my life sale.

All this is well and good but what gets me is dh’s comment. Says he remembers when I was “thin as a rail” and then gets up early & drives some distance away just to get this treadmill for me???? Maybe I’m making too much of it but kind of makes me wonder just how he sees me! I’m a little overweight for sure but I’m nowhere near obese or just gross with it! MEN!

Since this post is so incredibly long I won’t do the photo today of what I want to do with my hair. I’ll save it till tomorrow! Tomorrow is the day I’ll have it done if my hairdresser thinks it will work anyway. She’s going to call me today to discuss it so we’ll see!

btw~I still haven’t given up on the eyebrow piercing! I’ll pretty much be able to hide it if I get my hair done the way I’m wanting to;)

Have to leave this post with a few more photos! WARNING cute kid alert!! lol For some reason Joe thought it was hilarious when he or his sissy didn’t get a match when they were playing the matching game! I just love to see his smile:)

Here ya go:)

***Edited to say*** thanks so much for your interest in my little freebies   They have now expired~keep your eye open for some more…you never know when I might get the urge again!

I like share with the community but as always I’m putting a disclaimer on this!! I’m not a designer!! No way!! No how!! lol I seriously don’t know how they manage everything. I can barely manage my time enough to scrap most days, much less design. Of course it doesn’t help to be surfing the internet!! lol

So anyway here’s a few things that I doodled. Some of them I did over the winter and just never did anything with them. Yet. Hopefully someone will find a use for these! Oh!! IF you do use them, please send me a link or something! lol!! I gave out templates awhile back and have yet to see them used! Could be that they just sucked but also it’s likely that I just didn’t notice either since I also seem to have trouble getting to the galleries!

Ok. Here’s some previews of the doodles:)

Here’s the link to grab them if you want them;) Doodles They are all in seperate zip files so take what you want:)

In other news…spring has sprung for sure! They keep saying rain but so far so good! At least till tonight! I’m going to get out and fix my front flower beds, better a little late than never.

Don’t forget American Idol tonight!! lol! Even though I did the Sanjiah hair do I want to see him OFF Idol! I feel for him but this isn’t supposed to be about looks or hair! My bet is that he’ll make it through yet another night. I heard somewhere that the American Idol they had in England went off air because of stuff like this. I hope this whole vote for the worst stuff doesn’t ruin our show! I really like Idol, usually.

Ok. I’m off to get the mail, feed the kiddos and do some yard work! Have a good one!