Now that I have long hair for the first time in years, I have been trying to figure out different ways to wear it other than just long and straight (normal is long and frizzy).  I was looking at some youtube videos and I did try to make sock bun curls (  Sock Bun Tutorial ) but my hair was too thick and coarse to properly roll up into a sock bun.  Then I saw this video (Vintage curls ) so I thought I would give it a try a couple of nights ago. 

As instructed, I dampened my hair and used a stretchy elastic headband as instructed.  I slept on it and in the morning I pulled my hair out and what a disaster!  My hair looked like I was a mid-70's disco queen!  Huge puffy curly hair!  The method worked but it did not look attractive (at least on me).  I quickly tried to brush it out but that did not work.  I plugged in the flat iron but that made my hair look puffy and frizzy so I had to wash my hair to get the curl out.

I had a bright red straight line across my forehead from the hairband and I figured it would eventually disappear (like pillow-lines).  But two hours after I took the hairband out, I still had a bright red mark across my forehead.  I had to use concealer on it but it was still noticeable. 

Throughout the day I kept glancing in the mirror and the mark was still there and just as red!  It wasn't until late afternoon that I realized that it wasn't a pillow-line like mark but it was now raised and bumpy.  Doh!  It was a reaction to the latex in the hairband! 

I had mentioned before that I have developed a latex sensitivity.  I cannot wear latex gloves or be in a small room around latex balloons.  And apparently I cannot wear a hairband with latex for elasticity on my skin for 7 hours!  This morning is has faded some but it still there and has developed some bumps in it like an allergic reaction (which of course is what it is).  I will put some Benadryl cream on it to see if that helps. 

Anyway, so a hair disaster has turned into a skin disaster.  Maybe I should just keep my hair long and lose and straight.

The other day I bought a pound of almonds in the shell. They reminded me of Christmas when my mom used to buy a big bag of mixed nuts in the shell and over the holidays we'd eat them. It was so fun cracking the nuts and extracting a whole nut from the shell.  The exception of course were the Brazil nuts which stubbornly held onto the nut and we'd always have to pick it out of the cracked shell.

Anyway, almonds is one nut that is "safe" for us so I brought the bag home, hoping to share the nut cracking tradition with my kids.  One problem...no nut cracker.  So today I bought a nut cracker and I could not wait to finally crack those almond shells and eat the raw nut.  However, cracking nuts has been harder than I remember!  First I could not get the cracker to get a good grip on the nut.  Then when I finally cracked it, the cracker went right through and broke the almond meat inside into a million little pieces!  Noooo!  I tried again and the same thing happened.  I have not cracked 20 of them and have yet to get a whole almond out of the shell.  Just itty bitty little pieces that I have to pick out of the cracked shells.  Not fun!

Clearly my fond memories of how fun cracking nuts can be are false memories!  I just showed Cars and Dex how to do it and they were like "meh"  and asked me why I didn't just buy a can of already shelled almonds.  Goodness knows it would have been cheaper.  The almonds were $3.99 and the nut cracker was $4.99 and a can of dry roasted almonds is $3.69 (or less if on sale!).  *sigh*

Cars had his last "expander" appointment at the orthodontist today.  He will keep the expander in as a "retainer" and we'll go back in three months to see if his lateral incisors have grown in by then.  The baby ones were knocked out in May 2010 and the orthodontist says there is a chance the adult teeth are impacted.  Hopefully not because I don't want him to have to have oral surgery!

After the ortho appointment, I took all three kids for their flu shots.  Dex said he would go first then got all teary-eyed because he was scared.  I think in the end he was rather shocked that the shot did not hurt much.  Jax said it did not hurt at all but later complained that his arm was tired.  Cars freaked a bit too and cried.

But I took them to the frozen yogurt place (which is awesomely allergy-friendly!!).  All is good.

Quiet weekend. Lots of rest for everyone. I think the early hockey Saturdays are wearing us out.

Book List 2011

To date I have read 23 books this year which is much better than last year (I think I only read 18).  Many of the books I read this year were long too (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series).  I also downloaded some books onto my iPad this year for the first time (using eBooks and the Kindle app for iPad).  While I do enjoy the electronic format, nothing beats the smell of the paper when you have your nose in a book.

Here is my list for 2011:

1. The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein, 336 p *also read previously
2. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak, 576 p
3. Rough Country, John Sandford. 400 p
4. Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss, 672 p *also read previously
5. Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss, 1008 p
6. Little Bee:  A Novel, Chris Cleave, 304 p
7. The People Code, Taylor Hartman, 336 p
8. Middlesex, Jeffery Eugenides, 554 p
9. Miss Bossypants, Tina Fey, 288 p
10. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
11. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley, 416 p
12. Replay, Ken Grimwood, 320 p
13. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, 600 p
14. The Girl who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson, 630 p
15. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest, Stieg Larsson, 563pp
16. Marley and Me, Grogan, 320pp
17. The Lion’s Game, Nelson DeMille, 448pp
18. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald. 192pp
19. Plum Island, Nelson DeMille, 704pp
20.  Room, Emma Donoghue, 321 pp
21. Shanghai Girls:  A Novel, Lisa See, 336pp
22. Bad Blood, John Sanford, 432 pp
23.  Still Alice, Lisa Genova, 320 pp

My 24th book is "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver.  I am reading this book with my Ministry of Mothers Sharing group but I am not sure we'll be done by the end of the year.

When I was sick last week, I completely blanked on all of my to-dos for the day.  I did call the school and tell them I could not do either of my volunteer stints.  And I did let my book club know that I would not make that night (although it was a shame because I really was looking forward to the discussion (Still Alice by Lisa Genova).  But I totally blanked on Jax's guitar lesson (only our 3rd week of it so easy enough to do, I guess) and also on the flu shot appointments I had made for Jax, Dex and Cars.  And those I just realized yesterday!  Thankfully I was able to get new appointments for them for next week (and am assuming I will not be charged for missed appointments since it is only with a nurse and not a doctor?!).

Anyway, I have written the new flu shot appointments in very large letters on my calendar, have put it in my cell phone appointment calendar with a 15 minute reminder.  In fact, I think I will put the reminder on every appointment I schedule into my phone calendar from now on.  Getting old and forgetful stinks!

Ok, I watched what I ate today ( even though it wasn't all exactly as planned - I really did not need that rice crispie square).

Shamefaced I will admit that I did not exercise. No excuses. Just laziness. Better luck tomorrow.

Well, I somehow managed to lose a very lengthy post where I admonished myself for carb-loading and not exercising.  Suffice to say I shan't recreate it but when I return tomorrow to post I shall have exercised and recorded what I have eaten.  Baby steps back to good health...

Darn, missed blahgging yesterday!  What a day it was.  The kids had the day off school so we decided to have Cars' birthday party that day (3 months after the fact).

I made just about the worst cake every (well, last year's was worse because the icing melted in the heat and the top layer of the cake slid off the bottom layer as we drove to the venue).  Cars loved the cake but I was a bit embarrassed about it and glad that no other adults saw the cake. 

We had a video game truck come for the party so all of the kids went inside and played video games.  I did say that they could let the kids play Halo (since there is no blood or gore like in Call of Duty and others) but the rest of the games were rated T or E.




It had been a rainy day but during the party we had a torrential downpour which changed to hail and sleet! When the parents came to pick up the kids everyone got soaked, even with umbrellas. And the temperature dropped so quickly that even this morning there is still frozen hail on the lawn and deck.

Woe is Me

I have contracted some sort of stomach bug and spent the day not far from the bathroom.  Totally blew away my plans for the day.  And I could not even go to Book Club!  Also, tomorrow is Cars' birthday party and I do not have all of the things I need for it so I will get up at the crack of dawn to run errands before Stephen leaves for work.  Hopefully my stomach will cooperate. Else I just might need to make the drugstore my first stop.

Time Change

We "fell back" last weekend and am still struggling with the dark evenings and feeling like I am going to fall asleep in my chair at 9:30pm (until my second wind kicks in).

I really hate driving the boys to hockey in the dark. I don't like when we are sitting down to dinner in the dark.

I do like that it is lighter in the morning ( at least for now). I am never comfortable with Jax standing in the dark waiting for the bus. Soon though, it will be plenty dark in the morning and he will be schlepping a flashlight with him.

And I am sitting here yawning as my second wind has died off. And it is gold in the house (did I reset the time in the thermostat??). Time for bed.

This is Jax being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society (wearing his new clothes). 

I am so proud of him.  Of course the ceremony took a while because there were like 200 other kids (the school has 1100+ students).  Hardly an exclusive club but I am very proud of how hard he works at school.  He is a great kid and I love him so.

Jax has been invited to join the National Junior Honor Society.  I don't know anything about it other than he has to be a good student and do some volunteer work throughout the year.  I have been asking him for weeks to find out more about it, including the induction ceremony which is tomorrow night.  He keeps saying that there is nothing going on.

Then today I asked him AGAIN and he said that they said something on the announcements today about it but "I missed it", meaning he did not listen to the announcements.  I looked on the school's website and see that the ceremony is "formal" which means he has to dress up!  Eek!  He has NO dress clothes or dress shoes.  And tonight I had to take Cars to hockey then Dex to guitar while Stephen took Jax to hockey.  Now they have to stop at Fred Meyer after hockey practice (the store is thankfully is open until 11pm) to find Jax some clothes to wear tomorrow evening.

Anyway, I hope they easily find clothes tonight!

Thanksgiving

Stephen and I are trying to decide what we are going to do for Thanksgiving this year. Our tradition was to go to our friends' home for dinner. But last year we went to Minnesota. Then this summer our friends moved to Minnesota. What shall we do?

I guess we could make a big turkey dinner. It has been a long time since we've attempted one. I think the last time was before Carson was born! And it was horrible. We brined the turkey using a recipe from from our newspaper's weekend magazine. The turkey, gravy and stuffing were all inedible because of the amount of salt. Here's the letter to the editor: Salty Turkey

Anyway, it is probably a good thing that we don't cook turkey. :)

Weekend

I packed up the Halloween decorations and now just need Stephen to put them away in the garage attic. I do not have any thanksgiving or fall decorations to put up other than the pumpkin I grew in my garden and did not carve up.

So I spent a great deal of time today looking on Pinterest for the ultimate gal wreath to make. The one I liked the best was made with wine corks. I need to drink A LOT more wine to have enough to make the wreath. Glug glug glug...

Today I went to the Nordstrom sale.  I met Ash there and I told her that whatever I said or did, she must NOT let me buy any shoes or boots.  None!  I have more shoes and boots than I need and while I am not yet to be called Imelda, for someone who is a stay at home mom, I do not need more.  Well, that is not entirely true because I need (or rather needed) new running shoes.  Yes!  I caved!!  I bought a pair of running shoes that were on sale.  I really did need them and I was sooo good and I did not look at boots or casual shoes or dressy shoes (although I really wanted to try to find a pair of nude pumps because I love how they look but I have no where to wear them) or fancy shoes or sneakers (not the same as runners).

Poor Ash did not even have a chance.  I waited until she was busy trying on a gorgeous pair of grey boots (which she too bought - they were fabulous and ON SALE!) then I snuck over to the athletic shoe department to browse then I tried on and purchased the running shoes.  They are utilitarian and grey and pink although I wish they were grey and blue. 

Anyway, I am proud of my restraint at the Nordstrom sale because I did look at a lot of things.  And I was a little bowled over by the $450 child's sweater by Burberry.  Wow!  I rarely spend one TENTH of that on clothing for myself (which I hopefully will not outgrow in a couple of months).  In fact, I was mulling over a $25 sweater and decided against it since I had already purchased the running shoes.  Frugal me is proud!

Test Post

I keep getting errors trying to post to my Blahg on my iPad so I have downloaded the blogger app to see if it works. It is nearing midnight and I really don't want to get out of bed to update my Blahg at my pc to ensure I meet the NaBloPoMo deadline. Sorry for the lame post.

Ack!  My post disappeared when I tried to publish it. Trying to re-write it and publish before the end od the day for NaBloPoMo.

We had a positively gorgeous autumn day. It was cold and crisp in the morning with patchy fog. Driving down the hill from the school into a patch of fog that was glowing as the sun was rising behind it took my breath away. The trees are the most vibrant colors they have been in years. Gold, orange and red trees abound!

Of course tonight the wind and rain moved in. Back to our regularly scheduled November rain.

I Retain the Meanest Mom Title

So, yesterday was Halloween and Cars also had an orthodontist appointment at 3:00pm, which is the time he is normally dismissed from school.  I had to go pick him up early and I did not even THINK when I scheduled the appointment that it would be during his class' halloween party.  *doh* 

Who remembers that I did this to Dex three years ago - dragged him crying from his Halloween party to go to the neurologist?  And embarrassingly enough, it is the SAME TEACHER!  She must think I am so cruel to my children.