Hair Today-Gone Tomorrow

Stages of hair over the years

Sometime in the 80's

1/23/2010

My friend Val can tell you that I have been on a quest since the 80's to have peace with my hair.

My hair is thick. It has unruly cowlicks that make it really hard to work with. It doesn't have enough natural wave to just "wash & wear" it. It has to be dried & either curled with a curling iron (I can't even remember the last time I did this) or flat-ironed.

My hair has been big (80's big), it has been short ("man short"), and it has had many periods of in between the "man short" and "I am growing it out". It has been shades of red, blond, & dirty blond (as my kids now call it). Now I am facing what to do with the gray that is becoming more & more prominent throughout the dirty blond.

As I sit here and write this blog my hair is causing me to feel guilt. I should be thinking about & praying for the people in Haiti instead of blogging about my hair. I should be folding the laundry and doing the dishes instead of blogging about my hair. I should be grading math tests & essays about asteroids, meteroids, and comets. But here I sit-a shallow, peaceless person blogging about hair.

I blame today's revisiting of the constant search for hair "peace" on my visiting teacher. She is a lovely lady, but she did something that has stirred this whole peace pot up again. She cut her hair. It is not "man short", but she went from a "I'm growing it out" stage to "I have three kids and I can't mess with longer hair" stage and her hair looks pretty darn good. So good, in fact, that her hair has been the object of my obsession for the past 2 weeks.

To cut or not to cut? That has been the question. I have been in one of those "I'm growing it out" stages for the past couple of years. I have gone from "man short" to completely growing out my bangs and actually having almost enough hair for a pony tail. What have I learned??? Having longer hair is not all that it is cracked up to be.

So, yesterday I went to get my hair "trimmed". My hair lady has been cutting my hair since we moved to Bountiful 10 years ago. She knows about the cowlicks. She has been with me from "man short" to "I am growing it out" and back to "man short" many times. So, it is not unusual for her to ask me each time I go for a haircut "So, what are we doing with your hair today?" She asked this question yesterday, and without even thinking twice I told her to go "man short"-again. She convinced me to only cut about 3 inches off. She said, "It is easier to cut a little more off than it is to put it back on!"

It is a lovely cut, but I still don't feel the peace...

2010 Resolutions

--Addy resolves to spend less money than she earns from her jewelry making business.
--Delaney resolves not to make any resolutions (like Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes).
--Darren resolves to lose 2 inches off his waist (it has expanded a little over the past couple of years) and become strong enough to lift Addy to the ceiling.
--I resolve to lose my pregnancy weight (from the birth of Addy-almost 13 years ago), make peace with my hair, keep my house cleaner, eat more veggies, cut back on the Diet Pepsi, finish reading the Book of Mormon, have more patience with my lovelies at school (and at home), learn how to overcome my insomnia and sleep, and stop worrying about the dog hair that seems to constantly cover the house.

Which one do you think I should really work on???

It Only Took 20 Years

Today I am making my sister-in-law's truly yummy cheesy potato broccoli soup. This is a "blog worthy" event because I actually have enough pots & pans in which to make the soup without having to stop & wash a pot or pan. I didn't even have to borrow a pot or pan from my good friend Lisa or from my mother-in-law!

Thanks to generous Christmas money donations from my parents, Darren's parents, my Uncle Jack, and even one of my little lovelies at school, I was able to purchase my first ever (in 20 years of marriage) complete set of pots & pans!

The bad news-now my family expects me to cook!

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Cheesy Potato Broccoli Soup Recipe

3 large potatoes

10 oz. fresh or frozen broccoli

6 Tbsp. butter

6 Tbsp. flour

1 Tsp. salt

1/8 Tsp. pepper

1 1/2 cups chicken stock (1 1/2 cups water + 2 bouillon cubes)

2-4 cups of milk (I use 2)

2/3 lb. Velveeta cheese

Peel potatoes, dice, and boil until tender. Drain. Cut up the broccoli and steam until tender. While the veggies are cooking prepare the white sauce. In a stock pot melt the butter. Blend in the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken stock. Add milk to the desired consistency. Cook over medium heat until it thickens and boils. Add the Velveeta. After it melts add the veggies.

Merry Christmas PJ Girls

Swine Flu & Halloween

It is true. We've had the swine flu at our house this past week. I came down with a nasty case of it (along with mild pneumonia) earlier in the week-probably picked up from one of my lovelies at school who have had it. This morning Delaney & Addy woke up with "flu-like" symptoms-fever, chills, aches, sore throat, cough-which the doctor at the IHC Instacare said is swine flu even though she didn't test for it. Evidently, they are deeming all cases that come through as the swine flu because it is so rampant right now. Delaney also has pink eye.

And yes.....we hosted our annual pre-trick-or-treating feast (hot dogs & chili) to over 100 friends and neighbors last night! I actually had been "fever-free" for at least 24 hours and did not participate in any of the food preparation (thank you C.K.). I spent most of the evening waving to & talking with friends from the back deck, as I didn't want to spread my germs around.

The girls were able to enjoy the Halloween spirit a little before they actually came down with the flu.

The girls & Darren actually carved pumpkins outside this year because the weather was so great.

Delaney had a Halloween piano recital this week. Her costume had to have something to do with her song.....Ghost in the Piano!

Fruits & Veggies....Oh My!

I love September when all of the fruits & veggies are ready to harvest, but at the same time I am completely overwhelmed with ALL of the fruits & veggies that need to be harvested! It seems that everything comes into season and is ready to be bottled just about the same time that I have to go back to school. We spent all day last Saturday bottling 40 quarts of peaches, 15 quarts of green beans, blanching & freezing 20 quarts of corn, and picking one of the apple trees. I haven't even been able to touch the tomatoes yet, but I have had many neighbors who have been using them for salsa & spaghetti sauce. I shouldn't complain---it makes me very happy to see my food storage room filling up with yummy things from the garden!

Addy & her friend Minju picked the apples from one of the trees.

Delaney was a huge help with the peaches.

The peach tree was so heavy with peaches that Darren had to support one of the branches with a 2X4.

Here are just a few of the green beans from the garden.

Thanks Again to My Heavenly Father

Last year on September 28th, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. Last week my dad had his 3rd PET scan since having his left lung removed and receiving alternative medical treatments in Mexico.

My thanks to my Heavenly Father-Dad's latest scan shows no cancer!