Better?

Well, I finally washed my hair today, three days after my perm. I went ahead and suffered through after looking online and finding more and more stuff about the importance of waiting 72 hours. I didn't want to take any chances on damaging my hair or making it look worse. It wasn't quite 72 hours (more like 69), but I figured it would be close enough.

By the way, clean makes ALL the difference in the world. I actually had to wash it 3 times because it was so gross. The first time it didn't lather AT ALL when I put the shampoo on it. The second time, I got a little lather, but the third time was the charm. It felt so good to get all that oil and gunk out of it.

So, the good news is, once I had the opportunity to fiddle with it my self, I was able to make my hair actually look OK. I think I am going to like it after all, which is such a relief. It is very curly, yes, but it has some good body to it, and without doing anything to it at all, I think it looks better than it did before I got the perm either way. I'll play with it some more and see what else I can do with it.

Thanks for all the pointers and encouragement! You girls know how it is when your hair isn't right. It's just a great big bummer. But, things are looking up now, so YAY!

Bad Hair Day

It would be much nicer if this post was another one of those "remember whens"--a distant memory that I could look back on and sigh, or maybe even chuckle at. But alas, this is a current post and one that pains me to write.

Yesterday I got a perm. I had debated it for weeks, yea verily months, and finally bit the bullet. Last time I got a perm, it was gorgeous! I loved it from the minute I saw it and was sorry when it grew out. It was actually a home perm, given to me by my friend Kim's mom who used to be a hairdresser (she's amazing). This time, I decided not to bother Kim's mom and thought I'd splurge a little on myself (which I never do) and get a salon perm, cut and style. I went to JKS International Salons over on Camp Bowie because they had sent me a thing in the mail saying they were running a special on perms. Even though I had never been there, nor had I ever known anyone who went there, it looked like a really good salon, and I thought, what the heck! So at 3:30 yesterday, I drove to the salon, feeling a little anxious, but mostly very excited as I anticipated my new 'do. I took with me a picture of Christina Applegate which I had found on the Internet. After lots of searching, I finally found on her the hairdo I dreamed of. I showed it to the stylist and explained to her exactly what I wanted: an easy style that was low or no maintenance; something to help dry up all the oil; something to give me more body. She used the largest rollers because I didn't want it really kinky--just soft waves.

Three hours later, I sat in the stylist chair, watching helplessly as she "finished" my coiffure. To say that I was disappointed would have been a huge understatement. I actually wanted to cry. It looks very . . . well . . . poodle-ish, and also a bit frizzy. It doesn't look anything like Christina Applegate, and really, it's not at all what I wanted. I haven't been able to wash it just yet, so I don't know how it will look after I wash and fix it myself, but I haven't been able to do ANYTHING with it the way it is. The girl said not to wash it for 3 days, but I don't think I can wait that long. For one thing, it looks HIDEOUS. I haven't been able to even make it look decent (and it's too short now for a pony tail). For another thing, I picked up my baby boy today to hug and love on him and he said, "Mommy, hair STINKS." I laughed, but unfortunately it is so true. I woke up a thousand times last night smelling it. Plus, my scalp itches, and my hair just feels gross. I looked on the Internet and it said you could wash your hair 24 hours after a perm, so I figure I'll go with that.

I had been so excited to get my hair cut and permed and styled, and now I'm just really bummed out. Maybe it will get better really soon. I sure hope so. Otherwise I may invest in a closetful of hats, or perhaps I could do the whole Sinead O'Connor thing . . .

Shorts

Here are some funny little short accounts of silly little happenings in my life. Just thought I would share. Maybe they will make someone smile . . .

One afternoon when I was in high school, I was riding in the car with my friend Joanna. Suddenly, out of the blue, I exclaimed, "COWABUNGA!" for no reason (sometimes words get in my head and I just have to say them). She gave me a funny look and then we just sat in silence for a few minutes. I was lost in thought and my mind wandered to all sorts of unrelated things. Then I started thinking about cowabunga again and I seriously couldn't remember at that point if it was me or Joanna who had said it. So I turned to Joanna and asked, "Who said "cowabunga"? She looked at me like I had two heads and said, "You did!" Then I laughed and laughed but I think Joanna thought I needed mental help.

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Once when I was in college, there were a bunch of us hanging out at my apartment. Our living room was literally full of people, and there was not even a spot on the floor to sit. Rex was sitting on the arm of the couch, and I was sitting on his knee (we were dating at that point). I guess Rex was overcome with affection for me at some point because he pulled me suddenly to himself and said, "I'm going to squeeze the tootie out of you!" Well, he squeezed just hard enough that that's exactly what he did. Everyone in the room heard it, and I was absolutely mortified. Everyone was laughing with me instead of just at me , but it probably scarred me for life ;)

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When I was in middle school, I had this crazy friend who could make me laugh like none other. I think that nearly every day of school I literally wet my pants from laughing so hard. You would think I would have wised up and brought an extra pair with me each day, but no. One day we were bored in band practice--we were always bored because the director was always working with another section. Looking for something to pass the time, we started digging through our purses. I pulled out a small pill container that had aspirin and Vitamin C in it (this was in the dark ages, before you weren't allowed to bring things like that to school). So this is how it went: my friend would chew up the pills and I would laugh hysterically at the faces she made while doing so. Let me tell you, the faces one makes when chewing up Vitamin C are pretty stinkin' funny. The tablets are incredibly sour and make your whole face pucker. But the faces one makes when chewing up aspirin are even better!! Those things are terribly bitter and I don't know when I have laughed so hard! Definitely had wet pants after that.

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Well, there you go. I'll think of some more later.

I Had to Laugh

My husband really cracks me up. He's just so unassumingly funny. I think that's what really splits my sides. Most people probably wouldn't even think he's that funny, but man, I do! Sometimes he gets me laughing, and I just can't stop. A chuckle ends up turning into a guffaw. And then my stomach starts hurting and tears start running down my face and I have to lie down so I don't fall. Then I'm literally ROFL. That's when my child gives me the look--that he's about to pick up the phone and have me committed.

I made some muffins the other day. They were delicious--oatmeal date. I got this great cookbook called 500 Best Muffin Recipes and I've been trying lots of different kinds of yummy muffins. But, I digress . . .

Nathan usually loves muffins. I really thought he would be crazy about these because he loves oatmeal and he loves dates. So naturally, he should totally devour an oatmeal date muffin as soon as it hits his plate, right? Wrong. That particular day he didn't care anything for either oatmeal or dates evidently, because he only picked at his muffin and tore it into pieces. After some time I gave up trying and, not wanting his muffin to go to waste (and hoping that he might come back and eat it later), I picked up all the pieces of his uneaten muffin and put them in a container with the other leftover muffins.

Rex soon came in from mowing and sat down to eat some muffins while I was in the other room playing with Nathan. Later, he tells me, "By the way, I ate that totally mauled muffin that was in there." I said, "Oh. Well, that was Nathan's muffin, but you were welcome to it, I guess. I figured you would eat a whole one" And Rex says, "Oh, well I was wondering why that muffin was so mauled. I just thought it came apart for some reason." I am laughing even as I type this. I don't know why that struck me as funny, but it really did. In fact, I nearly died laughing. I think part of the reason was that it reminded me of a past incident that was even more hilarious.

Rex and I were eating some kind of meat for dinner. Might have been steak, might have been chicken. I don't remember because I've slept since then. Anyway, as I was eating mine, I ran across a gristly piece that I couldn't chew up. After working hard on it for some time, I decided that it was futile and I ended up discreetly spitting it out onto the side of my plate. Now, when you've been married a good long while, that kind of thing is not that big of a deal--I could have even showed it to Rex and grossed him out with it. But, I didn't want to make a scene out of it, or even mention it because I think we were in the middle of an important conversation. I try not to spit food out very often anyway because it is gross (even to me), but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

So, we were talking and enjoying each other's company at the dinner table, as we usually do, and at one point I looked down to see that the piece of meat that I had spit onto my plate was not there. I looked to see if I had inadvertently gotten it mixed up with the rest of the meat still on my plate, or underneath some vegetable I was working on. Nothing. The piece was just GONE. Disappeared into thin air. This really bothered me because I couldn't figure out where in the heck a gristly, chewed up piece of meat would just . . . well . . . GO. I finally decided to ask Rex. I'm not sure why I thought he might know ANYTHING about it, but it was such a mystery to me that I just HAD to ask. When there was a brief lull in the conversation, I said, "Hey, I know this is a strange question, but did you just happen to see where that piece of meat that was sitting right there on my plate went? It just disappeared and I can't find it." And he said, "Yes--I ate it." I imagine that the look of horror on my face was a little disturbing and I yelled, "EEEWWWW! I had chewed that piece up and spit it out!" He was a tad bit grossed out, but then said, "Oh well." with a funny sort of resolve. Then I burst out laughing until my sides nearly split wide open.

So part of my laughter the other day was in remembering how my garbage disposer of a husband ate the chewed up piece of meat. The muffin incident was not nearly as funny (or as gross), but for some reason, it still made me laugh. I think I've added several years to my life getting such a kick out of Rex. I knew I married him for some reason. ;)

More Product Reviews

Here are some baby product reviews that I have posted on Amazon.com:

Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat
Booster seat and portable high chair all in one! Awesome! (four stars)

I LOVE this booster chair! We actually use it more right now as a portable high chair, and have been so pleased with its performance. We take it to church luncheons, restaurants, other people's houses, etc. and always get positive remarks about how handy it is. We have put it on a wide variety of different chairs and never had any trouble securing it to any of them. It's very easy to set up and take down, and folds neatly for compact carrying. It has two trays, so if you're traveling and can't clean the first tray before you need to use it again, the second is ready to go for the next meal. I love that it has the snap-on cover to keep the tray clean during transit. The cover also keeps crumbs and food particles put after use too, if you can't clean it right away. The whole thing is also very easy to clean. The trays are diswasher safe. Since the chair can be used with or without the tray, when my son gets bigger and graduates out of his high chair, this will be the booster seat he will use at the table everyday.

The one thing I wish it had is a latch or something to keep the white tray attached to the blue one a little more tightly. It comes off very easily and now that my son is a little older, he can pop it off himself, and he does. We have gone to using the blue tray more often for this reason. That's the only reason I gave it four stars instead of five. Overall, I love this chair and would recommend it to anyone.



Fisher Price Power-Plus Plug-In Swing
A huge disappointment (one star)

We were so excited to find a swing that actually plugs in so that we could save a lot of money not buying batteries. It was super cute, and my son LOVED swinging in it. However, the first disappointment was that even though there were supposed to be 6 different speeds, there was very little difference in each one. I have read the reviews that some found the high speed way too fast, but we found that even on high, the swing didn't move that much. The second disappointment was that after only a couple of months, the swing just stopped altogether. Fisher Price sent us 2 different motors (all free of charge--kudos to their customer service), but we had the same problem every time. The swing would just get slower and slower until it would completely stop. At this point, my son weighed 14 pounds, and it seemed that he was just too heavy for the swing to move him. However, the weight limit on the swing said 25 pounds, so it should have worked just fine. We ended up sending the swing back to Fisher Price and they sent us a full refund. I hope they can improve on these flaws by the time we have our next baby, because a plug-in swing is such an ideal invention.


Diaper Champ by Baby Trend
This product STINKS! (one star--if you could give a zero or a negative, I would)

I have been so disappointed in my Diaper Champ. It came highly recommended by a good friend, and the fact that it used normal grocery bags rather than expensive specialty bags was a huge draw. However, we have tried everything and still this pail stinks up our son's nursery. And it's not just a faint smell. The stench is so powerful that it practically knocks you down when you open the door. It doesn't matter how often we empty or clean and sanitize it, nothing seems to help. We would have to empty it after every diaper change, and that sort of defeats the purpose of having a diaper pail. Go with something different. It would be worth the extra money to get rid of the odor.


Pampers Sensitive Baby Wipes
Won't buy anything else! (five stars)

After trying several brands of baby wipes (and hoping to get by with some cheaper ones), I have latched onto these Pampers Sensitive wipes and keep buying them every time. The other wipes just weren't doing the trick. I tried Huggies and some store brands, and found that I was having to spend lots of time scrubbing my little one's behind to get it clean. With the Pampers Sensitive, I can wipe much more gently and get him clean much more quickly (and quickly is of utmost importance with a toddler!) Also, we have had no problems with diaper rash since I have been using these wipes. I don't even care that much for the regular Pampers wipes, but these are great, and I would highly recommend them. I wish they were a little cheaper, but I just try to look for sales and coupons. Best wishes!


Fisher Price Amazing Animals Sing and Go Choo-Choo
One of the best toys we own! Great for children of all ages. (five stars)

We bought this train when our son was 6 months old, after watching him thoroughly enjoy one at a cousin's house. He loves it and we are thrilled that we bought it. He has played with it ever since, and even more than any other toy he has. Not only that, but every child that has come to our house has enjoyed it, whether they were 6 months old up to 9 years! It simply captivates children of all ages. This thing is super cute and extremely durable. Even after repeated abuse (beating on it, throwing it, standing on it, even puking on it ;), it runs like a top! It even runs great on carpet! The batteries last surprisingly long on it too. In a year and a half, I think I've only changed them twice, and considering how much it is played with, that is remarkable.

It is a noise-maker, with songs and sounds, but there is a low and high volume switch (as well as an off switch) and the low setting is very tolerable. The music is really great--anything gets annoying after it's repeated many times of course, but all things considered, these songs are very well done and I enjoy them.

Just a side note that has probably already been mentioned: if you get all the train cars and hook them up, the engine isn't quite strong enough to pull them all. And then, it may do better on a hard floor rather than carpet--I haven't actually tried that. Nevertheless, that hasn't ruined the experience for my child in any way. He loves this toy, and the animals all by themselves are enough to entertain for long periods.

One more small thing: you have to buy all the rest of the train pieces and extra animals separately. This can get pretty pricey. I have seen a few deals where you can get a couple of cars and animals in a multi set for a better price. We had grandparents and friends who were encouraged to add pieces for my son's birthday and Christmas, so it actually worked out quite well. All in all, this toy gets a A+ from our family, and I would totally recommend it to anyone!

Product Reviews

I like to read product reviews--Amazon is great for that. I like to know if something I am considering buying is really worth the money and all it's cracked up to be. I have shied away from more than a few purchases based on negative reviews. I like writing reviews too. I figure, I'm helped by those that I read, so why not help someone else who may read mine.

For the last several months I have been a Bzz Agent with BzzAgent.com. It's awesome. They send me free products and I tell other people about them, and then I get MyPoints which I can redeem for free stuff later. Can't beat that--free stuff now and free stuff later. What's not to like?? Anyway, I thought I might review a few of the products that I have received lately, in case anyone is interested.

I got a Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber starter kit recently. Basically, it's a foam handle with velcro on the bottom and it attaches to these disposable cleaning pads that have Scrubbing Bubbles cleaner built into them. You attach a pad, wet it, and then start cleaning. When you're done, you take off the pad and throw it away. They're mainly for tubs and showers, tile, sinks, countertops, etc., although the sky's the limit as to what you can come up with to clean with them. I tried it out just a few days ago on my bathtubs and sinks. It's not bad. It's handy that you don't have to use an aerosol spray (what I usually use), and I had hoped that the fumes would have been much reduced, even to the point that my overly sensitive, asthmatic dad could tolerate them. While there was no overspray or any particles from a spray can, the fumes from that little pad were still very strong--strong enough that they choked me up. The cleaning pad seemed to do a great job on my guest bathtub (which wasn't all that dirty) and I cleaned the sink and counter with it too. The foam handle was comfortable and easy to use. When I took it to my much dirtier master bathtub, however, I was disappointed. It didn't do a thing on mildew stains, and I had to REALLY scrub to get the soap scum off. Even then, it didn't remove it all. And I wasn't that impressed with it's performance on body oils and grime. Now, I have to say that the claims didn't say anything about removing mildew stains (that usually requires a bleaching agent), but they boasted a lot about soap scum and dirt and grime. I'm here to tell ya--it's not that great. I also had a little trouble with the pad staying on the velcro. When I would scrub pretty hard (which I had to do), the pad would start to come off. It was pretty annoying. I'm not sure how much these little buggers cost, but I personally don't think they're worth looking into unless you're looking for something that's easy to transport/travel with. I think for home use, I'll just stick with my spray can and my scrub brush.

Even more recently, Bzz Club sent me some Max Factor makeup. LOVE that! There were several products: ColorGenius Blush in Peaches with a ColorGenius makeup brush, Lipfinity lipcolor (in Burnished) and moisturizing topcoat duo, and Volume Coture Mascara in Rich Black. I was so excited about trying out makeup--I hate buying stuff not having any idea ahead of time if it's even going to look good on me or be the right color. First of all, I have to say that the blush was a bust. It looked like just the right color for me, but no matter how much I brush on, I still can't even tell that I've used it. It's like once you get it on your face there's no color to it, which totally defeats the purpose of having BLUSH. So, that one didn't fly. I really like the lipcolor though. Burnished is a great color, and it definitely stays on until you take it off. The moisturizing topcoat is fabulous (and it smells nice, too!) because the lipcolor is very drying, but you have to reapply it really often. I found that my lips stayed pretty dry, even with my usual lip balm over the lipcolor. I have to use makeup remover to get the lipcolor off, but I really like the fact that it stays on even while you're eating and drinking, so I don't mind. I like the mascara too. It has a different kind of wand that really separates your lashes well. If they make it in waterproof, I'll probably buy it--I really like to have waterproof mascara.

So, there you go. I'll review some more products another time. I have a bunch of reviews of baby items that I'll post soon in case any of you are interested in my 2 cents about those things.