June 22,
2015
Day 748
It's a humid,
rainy Monday.
Which means
it's a good thing that I decided last week to go natural with my hair. Because it would sure be going natural in
this weather today, anyway!
There was the
video circling FB in the last couple of weeks entitled something like,
"Wait until you see what she does to her hair with this
t-shirt!" I eventually watched the
video which ended up being an instructional piece on something called,
"plopping." The idea is that
you wash your hair before bed, work some inexpensive products through your
hair, and then wrap your head in a t-shirt.
In the morning you should have gorgeous curls.
I tried it and
it worked! Never in my entire life have
I ever gone natural with my head because I always end up with frizz. I have spent my entire teen and adult years
trying to subdue my curly hair.
Of course, if I
ever remarry, I'm not sure how this will
work. I look pretty crazy every night
with a t-shirt wrapped around my skull.
I have a feeling that would be somewhat detrimental to the whole bedroom
experience.
But in the
meantime, I'm saving quite a bit of time by not needing to shower in the
morning (Maybe this will also show up in decreased water usage on my next
bill?) and standing in front of the mirror blowdrying and smoothing my hair
into obedience.
I had a hair
appointment today and my stylist went crazy when she saw my hair. I don't think she even knew it was really
this curly. She wants me to grow it out
a bit, which was one of my questions for her.
I'm afraid that keeping my hair as short as it has been will result in
me looking like lollipop. I definitely
don't want an 80s permed white Afro look.
But with that, I am concerned that 44 is much too old to wear my hair
longer than my chin.
But then Sarah
made my day. She informed me that 1)
natural hair is "in" right
now 2) I don't look 44 and 3) I need to
look at my lifestyle right now. I am a
mom of very young children. That's what
people see when they look at me, she said, and because of that it won't seem
odd for me to have a little bit longer hair.
She snipped a
couple of dry ends and told me not to come back for 4 months. And she wouldn't take any money because she
said she didn't do anything. I like
her.
And now I've
spent more than 9 paragraphs blabbing about my hair, which probably indicates
its level of importance in my life. Of
course, I'm not the only one. At this
very moment, Lizzie is on Youtube, perusing videos on beading black hair. I tried my hand at that for the first time on
her head last week and she loved it.
I guess hair is
pretty important to we female types. At
least us curly-headed ones. I imagine
women with straight hair don't have to give theirs much thought at all.
*******************************
I got my porch
painting project finished over the weekend.
It used to be all light gray, the color of the old siding. I don't remember if I painted that or
not. I know I never touched the
ceiling. Whoever painted that last
(white) didn't go all the way to the edges and you could see the light blue paint
poking out there. I read once it is or
was, at least, a southern tradition, to the paint the porch ceiling a light
blue. Not sure why - maybe to mimic the
sky? But up here in Iowa, we're a far
ways from being a southern state.
Anyway, my
porch is now black - the outside wood and the three posts. And the ceiling is now red. I really do like it. My deck chairs are all bright red, the door
is too, and I have a red pillow on the
porch swing. I also repainted my wooden
H that I have on the bench out there to
be the same shade as the ceiling and door.
It's probably pretty easy to figure out my favorite color!
But, I think I may have just painted my house
to look like a brothel.
Maybe I just
need a lamp in the window with a red scarf over it? Hah...I might start having problems with my
neighbor again if I do that...
I injured
myself in the weirdest way doing this project.
I didn't fall off the ladder and I didn't trip over the can of
paint. I was wrapping up the paint tray
with plastic wrap so it wouldn't dry out overnight and I could use it again the
next day. So I was standing on the
ladder with the box of wrap, wrapping the tray that was sitting on top of the
ladder when the box dropped. I could
feel it scraping against my leg and especially my knee, but didn't really think anything
of it. This was close to 9pm on Friday
night so I couldn't see real well anymore.
After I finished and picked up the box from the porch floor I did notice
what I thought were drops of red paint on my knee. It wasn't.
It was blood! The serrated
edge of the plastic wrap box was so sharp that it really did a number on my
left knee as it tumbled off the ladder.
Three days later and my knee is still pretty tender!
*************************
After I got my
hair done today (well, not that she really did anything) I ran to Walmart to
get a $110 worth of stuff and to pick up a birthday present for Ellie I had
ordered on-line. Then, I drove out to
the country to some people from church's house.
Jay helped me charge my air conditioner.
I didn't even know you could do this at home. Saturday it was really hot and humid and it
sure didn't seem like my AC was keeping up very well. I figured I'd have to
take my van to the shop but wasn't quite sure how I was going to manage
that. So I talked with this guy at
church yesterday and he told me he thought he could fix it for me and told me
what to buy. It turned out that I was
really low on freon and it worked wonderfully all the way home. All for a $23 bottle of Freon from Walmart!
**********************
And for another
good deal... I heard from my propane company last week that my budget amount for
the next year has fallen by $25 a month.
In addition, I didn't have to pay in April or May. I finally called them last week wondering
where my bill was and they said I was all caught up. I'm just now figuring how this budget thing
with the propane company works. This
must have been a good year because in that same letter it also said that all
unpaid balances have to be taken care of before the start of the new billing
cycle. So that leads me to think that
there may be some years when a chunk of money would be owed in April or May
instead of not having to pay those months.
*************************
I got home
today and Deb, my friend, and Ben's SCL provider was at my house. She had come to work with Ben and was sitting
on the couch with Sam and Ellie because she is a real favorite of all the
Littles. She commented to me on what a
"pistol" Ellie is and how I am going to have to really keep my thumb
on her for probably all her growing up years.
She said she'd had to "get after" Ellie while I was gone and
hoped she wasn't overstepping. I told
her to please feel free to do that anytime at all! Deb then echoed my own thoughts about how
different the girls are. Lizzie has
settled down, relinquishing her desire for control, and has a very tender heart
and a desire to please those in authority.
Ellie, on the other hand...
Some people
keep telling me Ellie's behavior is a "phase" but I am not so sure
about that anymore. She has been pretty
awful since she turned 3 a year ago. There
are some periods of time where it is worse, but it's fairly consistent. I've tried to step back and look at her,
wondering if there is something I'm not seeing - like autism or some mental
challenges. But I do not believe that is
the case. It's not her brain, it's her
heart.
Last week I
just happened to be in the kitchen when Ellie got mad at Lizzie and quick as as
wink, she shot her fist upward and extended her middle finger at her
sister. I have never seen a
preschooler do that, let alone one of my preschoolers! I don't even have a clue where she would have
learned that!
Today I've let
her have a little bit more freedom, but from about last Wednesday on, I made
her follow me around the house and pretty much sit and do nothing all day
long. I explained to her that until
she's trustworthy, I can't let her go off and play on her own because that's
when she does terrible things - like coloring on furniture, crushing new bags
of chips, cutting doll hair, throwing paint at windows...just to name a few,
recent offenses.
Our family has
a pretty good name in the Pville school district but I am fearful that's about
to go down the tubes once Ellie starts school.
Of course, that's pride talking.
I suppose I should be more concerned about the state of her heart than
our good name!
***************************
The other day
my friend and neighbor, Charlotte, called me.
She had a box of beauty supplies for me.
She has a friend, who is elderly and, apparently, not all that concerned
about her money. This woman sits all
alone in her apartment and orders stuff off QVC all the time. Then, most of it unopened, she mails it to
Charlotte who has started passing it along to me. This time I ended up with so much anti-aging
moisturizing cream that I'll be looking like I'm 30 when I'm 100! If the stuff doesn't go rancid before then,
that is. These are all very high quality
products, too. It's really beyond my
understanding how someone could do this.
If I had money to burn I think I'd rather give away to some worthy
organization than buy face products I'll never use. But I am happy to be the benefactor of her
foolishness, I guess.
So, I sorted
through the stuff the other day with
Lizzie. I gave a lot of the actual
make-up to her and she was over-the-moon with excitement about that. I kept enough for myself so that it will be
quite awhile before I need to visit the Clinique counter again, though. I boxed up most of the moisturizers, thinking
they will last me a few years. And then
some stuff I just threw out. I knew it
was like throwing money in the garbage but it was stuff I'd never use - eye
creams, wrinkle serums, lip plumpers - stuff like that. Lizzie rescued a tube from the garbage and
asked me what it was. I explained it was
a facial masque. She asked, "Is it
supposed to make you look younger?" and I told her that was the idea. She then said, "Well, you should use
this Mom!" I told her I didn't have
time for that. I've got my beauty
regimin down to a routine and it doesn't allow time for things like that.
Lizzie then
exclaimed, "But, Mom - how are you going to find a man, then?!" Oh, I about died! Where did she get that in her head?
She then mused
that if she used the masque on her own skin she might come out looking like a
two year old! She rarely intends to be
funny, but she cracks me up quite a bit!
****************************
I have two maps
hanging in the basement, one of the United States and a world map. It seems like the proper,
"homeschool" thing to do.
Don't all, good, homeschooling moms have at least one map displayed in
their homes? Hah! Actually, I've been surprised by how taken my
kids are with those things.
One day last
week Ellie asked me to show her on the map where Daddy lives.
Sigh...
Yesterday was
Father's Day. And it was hard. I remember the first Father's Day after
Paul's death. It came just five days
after the funeral. We pretty much
ignored it, other than to buy a small, "Happy Father's Day" balloon
at Hy-Vee. We stuck it in the freshly
disturbed earth that housed Paul. I
haven't done that since. Maybe I
should. I don't remember much about last
year, if Father's Day bothered me much or not.
But this year it did and that kind of surprised me.
I felt bad for
the kids and I felt bad for me. When
they had all the dads stand up in church I
didn't want to look at them because all I saw was the empty spot in our
pew where someone no longer stood. The
sermon was miserable for me because it was all about the importance of a
father. I know how important a dad is and it kills me that I can't give
that to my kids. I don't even do that
great of a job of fulfilling my role as mom - I'm not even going to try to be
Dad, too. Afterwards, they had gift
cards for all the dads, so I cut around the line and dashed out of the church
as quickly as I could. Maybe next year
we'll stay home on Father's Day.
We went on our
postponed - from -the-anniversary-of-the-funeral-day picnic afterwards, which
was nice, even though it was sticky out.
We got fried chicken and other junky foods from Hy-Vee, loaded up the
bikes, and went down to the park in Pville.
Maybe that's when we should do this annual picnic, anyway.
I texted Will
to let him know he was missing out on our picnic with the fried chicken and he
texted back to say we were the ones missing out because he was enjoying an elk
and bacon burger.
He didn't say
anything about Father's Day.
A couple people
did offer encouragement to me yesterday.
I appreciated that after this length of time, there are still those
sensitive to what the day can mean to us.
An older friend at church pressed a note into my hand last night that
read, "You are such a good mom."
I will treasure that always. I think I may hang it in my house, actually,
so I can read the affirmation frequently.
I appreciate the thought, even if it's not really all that true.
It occurred to
me today that I am now in my third summer of widowhood. Doesn't seem like there should have been this
many of them already. I guess time goes
by quickly when you're spending most of your time figuring out simply how to
survive.
And I
am...surviving.
I think I'm
actually doing a little bit more than that these days.
It's a good
thing.
Sarah, you are doing a WONDERFUL job being a mom. Those kids know that you love them. And, since their dad now resides in heaven, it is God's job to fill that void in their lives. Your job is to continue being the best mom you can be. And, you're doing a top notch job, if you ask me :-)
ReplyDelete~Mari