HOTTER THAN HOLY HELL!!

Which is why I spent the whole day indoors where it was nice and air-conditioned!  This morning we had one of those in-home demonstrations.  On the phone, they told us it was for an Air Purifier.  Which is was, partly, but mostly it was for a vacume cleaner.  One that my mom already has one of, so we can borrow anytime we want. DOH!  The gal who did the demo was not very old, maybe 21 or so, and was a musician/composer.  She was very nice, and I kept apologizing to her for coming all the way out to our house and giving us the big presentation when we knew we weren't going to buy anything (especially not for the $2200.00 she was asking).  She was really nice about the whole thing. She understood that nobody really knew what they were getting into when they agreed to the demo.  It was nice to have someone honest about the whole thing for a change!  I mean, really, we just did it to get some free stuff.  Cause we don't have money to buy stuff! (duh!  if they really wanted to sell those things, they'd be targeting a different population, right?)

A Minor Career crisis is handily averted.....

...when I left work Saturday, I had spoken with a woman, who had her hair cut at our salon, on the phone about the hair cut she had gotten. She didn't like it and wanted to come back in and get it changed a little.  I said no prob, come on in. After I hung up, I got all paranoid about whether it had been one of MY clients and whether I had screwed up the cut.  THEN I got a re-do sheet for one of my OTHER clients, who came back in because "one side was 2 inches linger than the other side".  TWO INCHES!!!!!????  HOly shit!  I mean, I've been a little off, but I remembered that lady and I didn't think we had taken more than about a half an inch of of ANY of her hair.  DAMN.  Did I do that?  Could it be true?  I was racking my brain trying to think about it.  A couple of things could have happened that aren't necessarily _my_ fault. But still...it's on my record.  And that is a big mistake. 

So there I was freaking out about how I thought that I was doing so great at this hair thing and now I find out that I SUCK and what the hell am I going to do NOW??? I still owe money for the goddamned student loan...etc.  And when I came into work today, one of the gals that I work with had put a small, dicreet note in my station saying that it had NOT been one of my clients that came in for the re-do.  *WHEW*!!!I was very relieved.  I mean there is still the whole 2 inch thing, but, what are you going to do?  I guess, since that is the only lady to come back in the two years that I've been working for the company, then I'm doing okay.  And how thoughtful for my co-worker to think of letting me know, quietly, that it wasn't my error!  She rules!  I think she understood my fears about it. That means a lot.  Make me feel more normal, anyway! 

HELP!  You bastards!  I need help!

Thank you, Hunter S. Thompson.  But I really do need help, and not in the form of some crazed antidote made from the adrenal gland of a small child, either! (I already had coffee this morning) 

I'm bored, and consequently, I'm BORING. This totally sucks. I'm not used  to being the boring one. I'm used to being the one with the crazy ideas. The one who doesn't care how late it is. The one who doesn't have anything to lose.  Aaaaiieeeee.....   Don't get me wrong...I love being a mom, and really, I think that I could do better at thinking up creative things to do with my son.  I thought that all this unleashed creativity would flood out when he started getting old enough to DO stuff and the two of us would be an unstoppable flurry of creative activity.  Mostly, though, I spend my mornings doing dishes and laundry, trying to get him to pee in the toilet, while monitering how many computer games he's played.  I get dressed, I go to work.  I come home for "night-night".  We read and/or bathe.  He asks a dozen questions trying to delay the inevidable (kind of cute, actually..."Mommy, I need to tell you somethin'.",  "What is it sweetie?", "I need to tell you about the cars.", "what about them?", "They are in a box.  Okay, you can go now!  Night-night!"  blows me a kiss.  Awwwwww!)

*sigh*  I feel close to something big, but I can't tell what it is.  It's like a dream that you can only remember vague impressions about after you wake up.  There are so many things I want to try. I got my license to do hair in the hopes that it would be a vehicle to something else. But now that something else is on the back-burner until I can A. Pay off student loan from beauty school and B. Think up a different "something else" because the old one isn't that appealing anymore.  (I wanted to go back to college, get my bachelor in Art History, I only have like, 45 credtis left to go, and then get my masters in education so I could teach.)  Now that I have a child that I'm planning on HOMEschooling, going off to spend my day with other kids who are trapped at school doesn't sound so great.  Yesterday I started thinking about becoming a Beauty school instructor.  But dammit!  I just got my new health insurance through my work, and I would have to give it up to do something new.  SUCK!  How boring is that??? Gawd, I feel like an old lady, sometimes.   

One of these days, it will come to me, like a lightening strike on a sultry summer day....*crackle*  BOOM!!!!!

A fair representation of myself is in order.  It's kind of cheating to pick out the very best stuff and only show that, eh?  Hmmm....

I got this crappy little digital camera for free for letting some business have my address (I'm sure) and now it's just making me wish I had about $300 to spend on a DECENT digital camera, because even photoshop, in all it's glory, cannot really "fix" the pictures that it takes.  It's that bad.  Oh well....it was free, right?  I'll keep it in the glove compartment in case we need to take pictures of an accident or something. 

This is what _I_ do at 3am...how about you?

I worked today.  It was a good day at work...started slow and then picked up towards the end of my shift.  I like it when it's like that because it allows us time to kind of go slower in the morning, but then the end of the shift goes by fast.  And I did a perm the last two hours I was there.  That makes the time pass pretty quickly, too.   One of the ladies whose hair I do pretty regularly got her LONG hair cut really, really short today!  (!!!!) It was cool!  I love doing big changes like that!

She also wants me to color her hair.  We're going to make an appointment to do it outside of my work, because they don't let us do color there...only perms and cuts.  I miss doing color!  This lady has amazing red-red hair, very thick, and she wants some blonde highlights in it.  She is going to look so beautiful!  Sometimes I start thinking that I've chosen a career that is so superficial, there really is no real value in what I do.  But then I have customers like this lady, who really like not just the service, but also the company, and the conversation, and simply, the human contact.  So few services are performed hands on any more.  The Beauty industry serves more than just to provide superficial glam, and up to date style-lish do's. I like to think we also provide some benefits like human touch, gentle contact, and caring that you rarely get in our fast paced world of internet and computers, and order on line. 

This is what I like to tell myself, anyway!

Well, I made my first trip to the Country Fair.  I had a fabulous time, too.  Not only was the fair a rare and very brazen look at a lifestyle that I crave about 80% of the time, but the company was terrific!  I Loved roaming through the crowd, trying to keep track of everyone, but not really _worrying_ about getting lost. Sharing wonderful food. Buying frivolous things.  listening to great music.  Watching all the people, who, when at the fair, are really at their best.  Everyone is all dressed up, sparkling and dancing down pathways that are shaded in cool trees, soft paths to step on, and amazing crafts to oggle.  Heaven!!  One of the best booths there was the Utilikilts booth.  Cunning, and useful.  They really know their market.  I also liked Renaissance Rags.  When I'm independantly wealthy, these are the people who I will hire to make my clothes.  Beautful fabric, to the eye and to the touch.  Fabulous designs made for real life women, not the ones in magazines.  Love at first sight!

Next year, I may be working there doing hair-tricks.  How cool would that be?

Let's all say it together...."THANK YOU STEVIE WONDER!!!!"

Yeah, baby! You are the apple of my eye!

"If you want to accomplish big things, I am convinced that you first have to have big dreams"

Carlton Hilton

I have been so sore the last couple of days.  My shoulder, my lower back, my butt.  What the hell???!!  I'm not that damn old, yet!  I was all worried about my premature aging and getting feebly before my time, and then I remembered that , duh!  I started to work out again last week after, oh, like , 12 years!  Huh, jess, maybe that has something to do with it!  (I'm so brilliant sometimes!)  I started going to this place called Curves and I really like it.  Even more so now that I'm realizing that it's actually _doing_ something!  My butt really does feel like it's been worked out!  And my thighs.  Boy do they need it!  I feel better when I sweat for a little while, I guess, even though I hate to sweat.  I really do.  It's worth it though.  I need to lose a couple of sizes before October.  right now, that's not looking very realistic, but at least I can give it a shot!  My Step Brother is getting married in Vegas and it sure owuld be nice to have a sexy dress to wear, instead of the tents that I'm wearing now.  Ugh.  Maybe I should just get rid of all of my mirrors.  I usually feel fine until I see myself in one. 

I LOVE fireworks!  We saw a few really great ones last night in a "Preview show"  at some friends house in beaverton. They were great.  Nicholas was not as thrilled as I had hoped.  But I'm taking him to see them big show tonight, so I'm hoping he'll really enjoy himself.  I have always like fireworks....

I was just 5 years old.  I remember thinking that the funny fireworks we had were about the coolest things I'd ever seen!  The sparklers were especially cool, because I could actually hold them in my hands while they went off!  How funny!  (In the background, my father's Purple MG.  How I loved that car!!!)

Exactly what you're NOT supposed to do...light another firework with a sparkler...ACK!  Well, I still have all my fingers, so it can't be that bad, right? 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

140 years ago today the three-day battle of Gettysburg ended, leaving
over
50,000 dead and wounded Americans on the fields, and roads, in the
college,
the seminary, the homes and hills and forests around the town.

"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in
vain,
that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not
perish
from the earth."  -Abraham Lincoln, 1863

Have a peaceful and happy 4th of July.
(stolen from Chris gattman..thanks, Chris!)