I got yer mullet right here...

Yes, they still teach the dreaded Mullet.

Or in CLiC, it is called "The Renegade"

Whatever.A new name does not hide the fact that it still looks awful.

We are using our "Kyle" mannequin, who looks like a homeless person. He has long hair and a long beard. Since we have to get 5 haircuts out of Kyle, we can only cut off like 1-2 inches per haircut.

Although I completely rocked the Mullet(excuse me, "the RENEGADE") I am still a little embarassed that I know how to do it. Will people actually come in and request it? Will someone sit down in my chair and say "I wanna look like Achy Breaky heart". I doubt it, yet they still teach it. I guess we are in North Carolina, I may need to keep this one handy at the back of my mind to pull up in case of a mullet emergency.

However, since we could only take off an inch or so the overall look was a longer, fuller mullet.

Kyle has naturally bouncy and feathery hair, so in the end he ended up looking like Andy Gibb.

Now not everyones looked like Andy.
Some looked like Kenny Rogers. Some looked like Alabama, circa 1983.
One cut hers a little short and Kyle was rockin the 1982 Steve Perry of Journey cut. It brought a tear to my eye. I walked by and started singing "Don't Stop Believin'.." It was hot.


On a completely unrelated side note. I am totally ready to throw the Wii out the window.
It has become the latest obsession in our house. Man, Woman and CHild alike. It is horrible.
Wii, you are from the Devil.

A hairwrecker no longer

One of the great things about cosmetology school is the ability to recognize when i am about to forge a hair disaster upon my person.

Now that the haircutting curriculum is 3 days from its finale and I have learned all the proper techniques and angles and have the proper scissors. No more orange handled kitchen fiskars, no more cutting willy nilly and using my own "Sarah techniques". I can give a good and proper haircut...real partings, real angles, real knowna nd proven CLiC techniques. No more backroom mediocre hairdressing. This is the real deal. Christmas eve I gave Charles and the boys haircuts. They turned out very professional if I do say so myself (And i DO say so myself)

starting monday we are on color. thats semi permanent, permanent, frosting, highlights etc.

No more crappy dye from the Rite Aid, no more "do it yourself highlights" that leave large blobs at the roots. No more pink hair, orange hair, etc. No more "what have I done!!" moments. i am forever finished with frenetic phone calls to Lindsey saying "Lindsey, help I did something bad"

I have a special license that allows me to go to the stylist only stores and get the REAL stuff.

I can call upon my mad styling skills to keep me from ruining my hair from this moment henceforth. (or at least in 4 weeks henceforth when color is done with)

This fact alone is worth the $18,000 tuition.

I will use this power only for good. I will use this power to help heal other hairwreckers. I will use this power to help restore the hair of current hairwreckers.

This I do solemnly swear.

Happy Birthday Charles!

The big 35. wow. just...wow.

We were just children when we got married, how is it possible he is that old now? time flies.

So how did we celebrate?

well usually we go out to dinner, and I get him something silly, usually Yoda related, or a star wars themed potato head or pez dispenser(yes I realize i am enabling his dorkiness, I cant help it. I love this man o' mine: white, nerdy and all.)

So since his birthday fell on a sunday he asked me to prepare his favorite meal.: Lasagna.

Oh, and no cheating. I couldn't just go out and purchase a frozen one and call it a day. He wanted my "takes all day" lasagna. The kind that uses sausage and beef, homemade sauce and lots of ricotta and lots of mozzerella.

(I wish this picture was actually of my lasagna. Mine never looks that perfectly pretty when i cut into it. But it sure as heck tastes amazing. Thats one thing I am good at. Pasta dishes)

And he's going to need me to go ahead and get him a chocolate cake...that would be great, thaaaaanks (thats for all you Office Space fans out there).

Thank goodness for Harris Teeter. They have GREAT cakes in their bakery section, so he got the double fudge cake(which makes a great breakfast with a tall glass of ice cold milk) . It is rich moist devils food with fudgey frosting. I get heart palpitations just looking at it.

My parents came over and we ate lasagna and garlic bread and salad. We worked off some of the calories playing the wii(getting embarassingly whooped by a 5 and 8 year old) and then had a slice of Chocolate cake.

so all in all charles had a great day.

Carolina Panthers win + Homemade lasagna + Chocolate cake= great 35th birthday.

so thanks Panthers for helping a girl out!!

and Happy Birthday White and Nerdy. Here's to 35 more years of Lasagna and Chocolate cake!!

yesterday was a baking day

So after losing my temper with he who shall not be named, I came home and baked and baked and baked.
I made rice krispie treats, peppermint chocolate chip brownies(from scratch, I dont use a mix for my brownies), shortbread cookies(see previous entry for recipe) and Mormon Monster Chocolate Chip Cookies.

My roommates and I perfected a brownie recipe that to this day I have found no equal.(Diane remember those?? E_____ made a batch for D______ and she ate too many and blamed us for stealing her brownies?? Anyhoo side tangent.)

I substituted the Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips for the second addition of chocolate chips.
Hallelujah, praise the Lord, Pass the Tax Rebate. They were FANTASTIC.

So in honor of the Christmas Spirit, here is the "Best Ever Brownie Recipe" with christmas alternative.


1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1 cup chocolate chips, whole

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In mixing bowl combine butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, beating well.
Add the melted chocolate chips and stir until all combined.
Gradually add the flour mixture and mix well. Add the whole chocolate chips and fold in gently. Batter will be thick.
Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until done. cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional)

CHRISTMAS ALTERNATIVE: instead of adding a cup of whole chocolate chips at the end, add 1/3 cup chocolate chips and 3/4 cup of the Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips.

I hope you enjoy. I have enjoyed posting many of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. I really love baking during the holidays, and this has been a perfect way for me to share that with all of you.
I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who stops by and reads my blog.
Although I dont have the time I used to, please know that I still keep up with everyones blog who is in my sidebar.

Happy Holidays to all! This will be my last post until after Christmas. I have a lot going on at school and trying to get ready for Christmas. I have a pile of gifts that still need to be wrapped(ugh). So in order to get everything done that needs to be done, I will forgo my usually blogging in the morning to make time for a few things that are a little higher on my priority list for now.

Yet another christmas cookie recipe

Ok these are super easy, super simple Shortbread cookies.

1 cup butter, softened.
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour

cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.
Gradually add flour until you have a stiff dough. Do not overwork.

roll out to about 1/4" thick and cut into desired shapes.
Bake at 325 for 10-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

I just rolled them out and cut them into strips and then cut tham again so I had squares and rectangles.
They are just so simple and buttery and flaky and super easy to make.

To the person I yelled at today...

Today I lost my temper with a classmate. I gave this person a piece of my mind(a very LOUD piece of my mind...complete with a pointing finger, and the mother's "dont you talk while I am talking". I then stomped out and left for the day)
I was so livid I was SHAKING. I am still enraged thinking about the whole thing.
.
I would say I am sorry. But I am not.

christmas shopping is done

It feels so good to be done. I dont have to go out again into the mob of madness, clawing my way through hundreds of people all in the same aisles, all with carts trying to maneuver, all wanting to grab that last transformer, or the only Wall*E remote control robot.
done. DONE. Done with a capital D, shouted from the rooftops, with triple exclamation points.

DONE!!!!! It feels so good to write that word.

My parents I got the Blurb photo book. Then I went to Souper! Salad! and bought them a bag of their gingerbread bread that they can mix up and make at home. It is my moms favorite bread there, she could make an entire meal out of it.


The boys got a Wii. They got Kung Fu Panda. They got a few little mini transformers, some puzzles, Guess Who (are you Clarence??), Lincoln Logs, and some fuzzy Pajama Pants. Yes, they wanted some fleecy pajama bottoms. Actually asked for them. Who asks for pajamas? I thought that was a gift, kind of like socks. no one asks for them, they just get them as a practical gift from Grammy. But they wanted them. So I obliged. I found these heavy super snuggly polar fleece pajama pants (One Transformers, One Spiderman. Peter and Finn respectively) Then we bought them a pair of flannel pajama pants as well. So they will be warm and toasty this winter.


Charles is getting _____________ (hah. Charles reads my blog.)
I almost dont want to get him anything. He makes gift giving un-fun.
When we were dating He was wearing a pair of transparent socks. You know they had gotten threadbare to the point of being able to see through the heels. he had mentioned that he needed more socks. So as joke I went out and bought him a package of tube socks. I gave them to him and he immediately guessed "socks?". he hadnt even unwrapped them yet.

Same for boardgames , movies, CD's etc. It can be triple wrapped in a wierd sized decoy box shaped like a giraffe, and he can be like "Is this an MP3 player? "(And it would be) It is as if he can smell whats inside. Monsier Nez of Christmas gifts.

One Christmas I got him the Deluxe anniversary edition of Risk. The kind with the pewter soldiers, the velvet drawstring bags, the gold foil edging on the cards etc. The real swanky frou frou set. Well I wrapped it and then on Christmas he picked it up and said "did you get me Risk??"
I yanked it back and threw the box across the room and dented the wall. Those poor foot soliders didnt stand a chance against the fury that is a ruined Christmas gift heave ho.
I screamed in no uncertain terms what he can do with his game of Risk and stomped off. I should have taken it back to the store, to teach him a lesson. So I dont even try anymore.
I might as well just toss it under the tree unwrapped. He already knows what it is.
i think last year was the first time he didnt guess. Maybe he is finally learning his lesson.

Or maybe he is tired of patching up holes in the wall.


Either way I am happy. no more shopping.
NOW I just have to wrap everything...but thats another rant for another day.

Today is baking Day

Yes, today is Saturday. We went to a Breakfast in Bethlehem this morning at church. They had about 5 pounds of butter left over from their pancake breakfast, and were just going to throw it out.

We wrapped it up, brought it home and I am proceeding to spend the day making Snickerdoodles, brownies, Krispie treats and peppermint chocolate chip cookies.

totally not helping the diet, I know.

redwood table

The other day charles and I had to move something that looked like this (very similar) upstairs to our Piano room. It was our antique redwood slab coffee table. Charles parents got it in California back in the 60's. It is a giant slab of Redwood tree, polished, shines, shellacked and put on a base of more redwood tree. It is REALLY awesome and beautiful and unique. Our slab is thicker than the one shown here, and the base is a little shorter and a lot larger in diameter. Our table has lots or little natural holes that make little tunnels into the base section, which has lots of little caverns and slides. We picked up this table, which was approximately the weight of a newborn baby elephant and turned it sideways. We hear tumbling, and coins and more tumbling and out through the slides and holes and caverns of the base comes pouring out money, matchbox cars, marbles, magnets, candy, decorative vase rocks, paperclips...basically anything the boys could put down these holes and forgot to pull out. It was sick. I found a necklace that had gone missing, some bali silver beads that had gone the way of the Dodo, and about 22 broken crayon pieces....nice.

We struggled to get this behemoth table upstairs to the piano room. But we did it. It has a nice new home, looks beautiful and even more important, made room downstairs for THIS:

"God bless us, everyone".

Beauty School Drop Out-Christmas in Tokyo

Here are some great pictures from school yesterday.

We had a Holiday Fantasy Hair Show.

Each class had to do a Holiday theme and do hair, make up and fashion.

It was fantasy, so we could have lots of fun with it.

We knew that everyone would be putting on prom dresses and doing up-do's on their hair, and we didnt want to go that route. We wanted to stand out and really stretch our creative wings.

so our class picked an Oriental theme and ran with it. We were CHRISTMAS IN TOKYO.

This is a little banner I made on a piece of Copier Paper and used Dry Erase Markers to make everything. Not great, I know, but it worked for our show. I taped two chopsticks on the back for handles and Curnel walked in front of our model around the school during the "catwalk".

Since we havent done nails in our curriculum yet, we just glued on the tips, without the acrylic, painted them red and left them dragon lady length. I took a black Sharpie marker and copied some symbols from a japanese paper lantern onto her nails. So who knows, maybe her nails are saying "Buy bread here" or "Twinkies are great". I also took some little red christmas bulb ornaments and wrote the same symbols on them and made her matching earrings.If my nails offend, I apologize, I was plagarizing the symbols from a picture from the internet. I did then best I could!!

We took a short bob wig, that you can see on the bottom and used that as our base. Then we took stockings and nylons and filled them with stuffing and covered them with other synthetic hair extensions and hair pieces. We made a giant bun on the bottom, then two other buns. Stacked them all together and sewed and glued it all together. Mimi and Bianca and Nakisha did a fantastic job getting it all together. They really went to town. Mimi is AMAZING with extensions and design. That is really her specialty.

I went to AC Moore and found a Poinsettia shrub(fake) for 50 cents. I pulled off the flowers and where the stem stuck through the flower was a hole. I put an extra large hair pin through the holes to make the poinsettia flower hairpins. Same with the little pearl and jewel picks coming out of the top of her head. Just cut up a 50 cent decorative christmas stem and wrapped it around hairpins. At lunch Amanda crossed 4 lanes of traffic(on foot) to go to the christmas lot across the street and ask for a sawed off branch from one of their christmas trees. They have it to her and we broke off twigs and arranged it in the wig as well. so not only did we make complete awesomness, we endanger life and limb for this show...)

You can kind of see it better here.


Lainey and I purloined some disposable chopsticks last time we went to China One for lunch. I wrapped them with red and green jewelry wire and acrylic beads to make some jeweled chopsticks for the hair.

The Final finished product! we put on a japanese song from Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift and got a TON of compliments. We were SO PROUD of how it turned out.

All the other classes had prom dresses and up do's. But one of the other classes went all out and spend like $90 on fake hair and styrofoam and all this stuff to make a Christmas tree and snowman and mrs Claus. Theirs was fantastic, BUT they have 18 students in their class, and they each chipped in $5 for their fashion show. We spent $1.10. Thats it. Between the 10 of us, we each did a little something to contribute. Everything was brought from home, stuff people already had etc. The only money spent was on the poinsettia and the christmas decorative stem.

The directors really liked it. But I dont think they realized how much time we spent on the wig and making everything. I dont think they realized that we spent NO MONEY putting together our show and theme. We have the smallest class in school and we were as awesome as the bigger class who spent a ton of money for theirs.

I am just really proud of this. These photos are going in my portfolio.

ATTENTION ALL TWILIGHT FANS!

Found out this morning that NEW MOON will be coming out NOVEMBER 20, 2009!!

Girls, do we need to start planning another Movie and Pei Wei night??

Snickerdoodles...stupid name, great cookie

I Love Snickerdoodles. I make them every holiday season. They are just so comforting and tasty. Nothing better than warm snickerdoodles and a glass of milk.
Stupid name, great cookie. These snickerdoodles, if kept in a tupperware, will stay soft and moist and not get hard like stale toast. The cinnamon to sugar ratio is just right, so there is no cinnamon overload. everyone should have these ingredients in their cupboards.
SO here is the greatest Snickerdoodle recipe I have ever found.

SNICKERDOODLES:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt


in a separate container, mix together 2 TBSP sugar and 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon and set aside for later use)

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla, stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Dough will be sticky.
Dust hands with flour and roll heaping tsp of dough into balls.
Roll balls in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on UNGREASED baking sheet, 2" apart. DO NOT FLATTEN.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until edges have set and are a nice golden brown.

YUUUUUMMMMM!

Enjoy!

My Favorite Christmas Cookie

These are my FAVORITE holiday cookies. My grandma has been making these for as long as I can remember, as well as my mom. i make them every year and we cut out and decorate them. They are super good. They are similar to a sugar cookie, but a milder, less sweet taste. They are GREAT for holidays, you can make a ton and give some away...or eat them all yourself. It's up to you really. You can't eat just one.



HOLIDAY SOUR CREAM COOKIES

2 cups sugar

1 cup softened butter

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

5 cups+ flour

Cream together sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream.
Gradually add in Soda, powder and flour.

Dough will be only slightly sticky, if it is too sticky add a little more flour.
Flour your rolling surface, your hands and your rolling pin.
Roll out dough thin(about 1/4") and cut out your shapes.

Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 8-12 minutes, or until edges have set and are light golden brown.

When cooled, frost with your fave brand of icing and decorate with sprinkles, sugars etc.



Like I said these cookies have been around longer than I have. My mom said that my grandma has been making them even brfore I was born, so I know that this recipe has been around longer than 33 years. It's practically an antique. I guess I shall call them VINTAGE sour cream cookies, huh??(vintage, according to most, being older than 20 years.)

Try them, You will like them, you will like them Sam I am. AND this is the first time I have ever given out this recipe publicly.

Pictures from the year

Going back through the year I found some super cute pictures of the boys.
Little Finny Foo Foo is just so darn photogenic, I cant stand it.
I REALLY had to force myself to give them equal pages and pictures in the blurb photobook I made for my parents.

Peter CAN be photogenic if would truly just have a good time and smile and laugh like he means it.But I have managed to get a few good ones of him too.

This was taken at the Easter cook out with my parents and brothers and their families. Finn was so grumpy all day. He just didnt know what he wanted. This picture ssums up perfectly his attitude that day. Yes, he is just like his mother.





This picture of Peter was by pure accident. I had the camera ready and he happened to look up at me and snapped immediately. He didnt have time to grin or squint or close his eyes. Just Peter, having fun, making a cupcake.

This day at the zoo, completely downtrodden by Finn's "dontwannadoitearacheitis". He cried and whined for 4 hours straight. Kept saying his ear hurt (sometimes it was his right ear, sometimes it was his left). Then as soon as we got him he was jumping on the trampoline. It's funny how his condition always flares up when we are doing something that doesnt mesh with what he wants to do.

This is Jake, laughing at Charles attempt to kill the bee's nest in our backyard.


Peter trying out a saddle at the Horse Show. That night raised money for the UNC Childrens Hospital.

Merry Christmas-Studio 54 Style

I Like the Night Life, I love to Boogie.

Merry Christmas. Enjoy watching me shake my groove thang...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Great Christmas Gift

I NEVER know what to get my parents for Christmas.
What do you get for the people who have everything? Honestly.

Every year I get my mom a sweater or shirt that never gets worn, or some pajamas that she says she wants that never get taken out of the box, or jewelry that she wears for promptly one day and then only breaks out every 6th year on months ending in "R".
Cookbooks? Dusty. Homemade Jams and Jellies? Uneaten. Handmade Bottle art (vinegar with the herbs and peppers in it)? undisplayed and unused.

And My dad...wow. He has a whole closet full of expensive ties that have never once been coordinated with his beautiful tailored suits. I have given him book gift certificates, which I KNOW have been re-gifted elsewhere, I tried getting him Golf coffee table Books, History Buff videos, make your own marinade kits etc. I always feel like a "Gift Failure".

I wish my dad could be like Lindseys dad, who giggles at the thought of a "Come to the Dark Side...We have Cookies" T-shirt, and who would willingly wear it in public.
Had I given my dad a T-shirt like that it would have been cut into strips and used to varnish their hardwood floors.

SO I really struggled this year to find the perfect gift for them. Something they would love and enjoy and use. One thing they LOVE are Peter and Finn. They have BOXES of pictures and are always asking for copies of pictures that we have taken and always want to see pictures from events etc. So the wheels started turning.
So THANK YOU to Heather, who told me about Blurb and showed me her Blog Book.
You can actually go onto Blurb and MAKE a book. You can make a Blog Book, (unfortunately Blurb no longer slurps from blogger, so you would have to cut and paste and add the pictures)
You can make your own cookbooks, photobooks, journals, wedding books and more.

So I made my parents a year in the life of the McBride family (mostly the boys).
It goes in Chronological Order up to the present, and I chose various picture formats for the different pages, added some captions and text, added titles for certain Pages, and voila.
A 50 page hardcover photobook that they can have for always. No gluing, no cutesy scrapbook tags and papers. Just upload the pictures, arrange, add text and submit.
It was super easy and fun. AND the perfect gift for them.

You can preview it HERE.

I think this is one gift that will get good use.

anonymous comments

WAAAAAYYYY back in March I wrote a blog about Josiah Lemming.(here)
I said i dont understand his music. i dont understand why people were all in a tizzy about him.
I am not ashamed that I dont like him. I am not ashamed to admit that I dont think he is all that as a musician. You all know who I am, what I like, what I dont like, how old I am and what I am about. I am not embarassed to say that I, Sarah McBride, do not like Josiah Lemming. I never did, never will. The more I hear from him the more I get irritated. So I wrote about it. big whoop, over and done with.

Now fast forward nine months... I get THIS comment on that posting:

" I disagree...I think he is talented and has passion for music. You all must have such amazing talent to judge so harsh. You all must be bitter old ladies!"

Yep. I am a BITTER...OLD...LADY!
He still sucks. (in my amazingly talented bitter old lady humble opinion)

Oh and I am disabling my anonymous comment option. So if you want to say something snarky, then say it to me with your real name and not hide behind some "anonymous" front.
And I am moderating comments now. So thanks for the extra work...as if I dont have enough to do on my bitter old lady plate.

Honestly, I am too old for this High School BS.


so there.

Not just done, but Damn Done

100%!!

yay and phew.

the written test was really hard. Lots of tricky questions, funny wording and a few questions I completely guessed on. But I am done done done. I am "Damn Done"

When my roommate from college (Jackie)c finished her Radiation for cancer the first time, she had a "Damn Done" party.

Not just done, but "Damn done". That is kind of how I felt about fingerwaves and pin curls.

Buh-Bye.



I was looking through my computer this morning and realized I have so many great pictures from this year that I am going to do nothing but post a few pictures a day for the rest of the year,

For Christmas I am going to have a book published for my parents with all the different pictures from the year in it with little stories and descriptions

I think thats a fairly nice and reasonable gift.



Now just trying to figure out which ones I love, and which ones I hate and which ones to include so this little book doesnt turn into a $100 coffee table paperweight.

last day of ethnic hair!!

I am so excited. Today is my last day of this darn curriculum!
For the past 3 weeks I have done nothing but Relaxers, Jheri Curls, Pressing, fingerwaves(shoot me now please), pin curls, marcel curls and corn rows.
I am SO out of my element with certain aspects of ethnic hair.
I can do a relaxer and Jheri curl with my eyes shut. I can hot press hair without causing the hair to melt, scorch or set off a fire alarm. I can use my marcel iron with the best of them and my popeye fore arm. I can even pin curl and corn row. And by golly your flat wrap will be the smoothest, flattest wrap ever.

But, i CANNOT fingerwave. I hate it. It sucks.It sucks. It sucks.
For 7 hours yesterday I fingerwaved. I recombed. I fingerwaved. I re-combed. I tried again and again and again. Finally in frustration I threw down my comb, cursed and bowled my mannequin head into my locker, like Janeen Garafolo in Mystery Men. I have had it.
Thankfully today is the last day of this darn curriculum. And I have it on very high authority that we almost NEVER do fingerwaves on the clinic floor.
Today is the final exit exam for the curriculum. I will be ace-ing my 33 question test (all about relaxers, ATG, Lye vs no-lye relaxers, curling etc) and Monday morning start Hair cutting.

I dont have school tomorrow, which will be a nice break to recoup.


When I own my own salon i am putting out a sign that says "If you even ASK for fingerwaves, you will owe me $50...then you will be kicked out".

Lindsey, thou art hilarious

So my BF Lindsey is a genius.

Remember the Potato Chip shaped like Illinois on e-bay a few months back that caused all the commotion in the media?

She has it topped, by a longshot.

And I fully expect to see her on the news, ET, Inside Edition, Extra, and The Soup.

Here is the full story. courtesy of Lindsey Aramburu:

"I'm a chocoholic, I admit it. I'm also over 30, and I've heard that's when the female body starts to produce its own fat (Which, by the by, I consider to be extremely unfair. We women have to deal with the other fairly provoking female internal workings, PLUS grow and push out the babies! Harumph.)
One fine day not too long ago, I was seized by the immediate need for chocolate. I'm sure you other chocoholics empathize. In an attempt to stay somewhat reasonably proportioned, (and having also heard that if you must ingest chocolate, peanut M&M's are a wise choice due to a lower fat and higher protein content) I purchased a large "tear 'n share" bag of peanut M&M's. (Did I plan to share? Not remotely! My kids stand the chance of losing phalanges if they stick their chubby fingers within reach of my gnashing teeth while I'm consuming chocolate.) These particular M&M's also happened to be pink Susan G. Komen M&M's, which made me feel even more sanctimonious about my choice. I'm supporting those who do not support breast cancer! I am great!
I happily sat down on the couch to enjoy my treat while watching the latest episode of "America's Next Top Model" (don't judge me). Suddenly, I noticed something strange about the M&M I had just extracted from the bag. It had a...protuberance. Upon further inspection, I discovered that the M&M looked incredibly like...like a boob. A breast. A mammary. It had an areola. And what looked just like a nipple. Was this a joke? Were all of the pink Susan G. Komen M&M's like this and I just had not noticed in my satiated chocoholic haze? I checked the other M&M's. None of the others had this anomoly.
I quickly read the package. Had I won something? Was this like Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket? Were they going to pay for me to get a boob job by one of the Dr. 90210's? No. It said nothing on the package about finding the boob M&M. I pondered my choices. I could do the obvious, which was eat it. On the other hand, what if that lady had eaten the grilled cheese Virgin Mary sandwich? She'd never have been able to buy herself an 8-person hot tub. (I'm not sure she did, but that's what I'd buy.)
After much introspection, I felt it incumbent upon me to share my discovery with the world, or at least with the English-speaking population who logs onto Ebay and looks up the weird and unusual.
So here you have it. What does it mean, you ask? That, my friends, is for each man or woman to decide for themselves.
And by the way, I expect highest congratulations regarding my own self-control for not consuming the M&M."

You can bid on this gloriousness here.

Happy Turkey day

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.



Things I am Thankful for:



1. My husband and kids



2. (see #1) and their support of me going back to school. I know it has been an adjustment and difficult, but I really love their willingness to help me realize my dream.



3. The country I live in, the freedoms I enjoy, my right to vote, my right to free speech and right to choose for myself. My right to bitch and complain about the government and not get my tongue cut out. My right to choose to worship the Almighty, the right to choose when and where without having to hide it or be ashamed.



4. The soldiers who fight to keep our rights and freedoms. God Bless You and God Bless your families. I am thankful for those who have gone before to fight for this country and for those who currently fight.



5. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy!! Once a year I stuff myself silly and eat way too much...and reget it not one tiny bit.


happy thanksgiving. remember to count your many blessings today!!

R.I.P

I am feeling a little melancholy. ABC has cancelled Pushing Daisies. Now granted they didnt specifially say "Cancelled", they just said "not ordering more episodes". Seriously? I honestly don't know what some of these producers and directors are thinking! Golden Globe and emmy nominations for the show and the cast, yet they are cancelling it. Are they smoking crack?? I hope they know they have one pissed off lady here to deal with. I hope ABC is ready for the buttload of mail they may possibly get from me (in my spare time I like to write mean letters to companies that tick me off, or products that suck. And right now, ABC SUCKS! yes ABC, I hope you are reading this. YOU SUCK!...BAD!)



It is a shame. It is one of the very few prime time shows that was clean, witty and entertaining.

It was just so quirky and cute and enjoyable, I am really kind of ticked off about it.



So RIP Ned the Pie Maker, A Girl named Chuck, Olive Snook and Emerson Cod P.I.

You were loved, and I shall never forget you!



Of course I have a plan...If we all write in and beg the producers to bring it back, maybe we can pull off a Jerico!

Twilight

I liked it, I loved it, I hated it, I liked it again, I loved it.

That was the range of emotions I felt while watching the movie.
All in all I would give it 4 stars.
I felt it was true to the book, they introduced the characters well and you dont really have to have read the book to enjoy it.(it doesnt hurt)

And it was ONLY the Twilight book in this movie, they didnt borrow from any of the other books.

I recommend it. Just try to go whern there arent as many giggling silly teenage girls oohing and aahing and twittering when they kiss. That was what I hated most about the movie. Listening to thes girls behind us, who had obviously seen it more than once, talk along, giggle and gush through the whole thing. Ugh.

But all in all, very enjoyable.

Movie Trailer

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! 4pm tomorrow!



Ahh Twilight, you are only a day away!

Hair Pressing destiny

The other day we worked on Hair Pressing.


It is a technique that many african american women used to use on their hair to straighten it without the use of chemicals or permanent relaxers. Most women just use a flat iron now, but some of the old school ladies refuse to have it done by flat iron.

Pressing combs are special heavy combs made out of metal that you put on the stove or in a special heating stove. You then have to comb through the hair slowly and firmly both on the top and on the underside. It is kind of a long process, because the amounts of hair you take are small to make sure it gets as flat, sleek and smooth as possible.

Well, we pulled out Destiny, our african american doll, and plugged in all the stoves and started heating up the pressing combs. Unfortunately for us the class who had learned this technique previous to ours failed to properly clean the combs. The room filled with smoke from the oil sheen and other oil based products left in the combs.

Of course we test the combs on a paper strip first to make sure they are not too hot before putting them on the mannequin hair. And you have to coat the hair with a thermal protectant, like Oil Sheen. So the hot combs, the oils sheen and human hair...

Our classroom was BILLOWING smoke out the door. You could smell burning hair and we set the fire alarm off. Every time someone would pass by they would wrinkle up their nose and say something like "Whew, you guys must be burning hair in here". It was horrible. The teacher dragged in 3 different fans to blow it out and to keep it away from the fire alarm(again)

And the Oil sheen was just as bad. It is oil in aerosol form, kind of like cooking spray, but finer and mistier. So when you spray it, it swirls through the air and lingers like a gentle fog on a drizzly morning in San Francisco. so between the Oil Sheen fog, the burning hair and the smoking combs , by the afternoon I was DONE. It took everything out of me.

We had all straightened our Destiny dolls, all burned ourselves on a comb and I know for sure we had burned our mannequin heads at least once. The girl next to me, Cammy, said "Ma'am I am truly sorry about that ear. May I recommend a good plastic surgeon?"
But I got a 96%, which is better than I thought I would do in this curriculum. By biggest fear is melting or burning hair. But I find myself growing more confident working with african american hair. Now that I understand the structure of the hair and the differences between caucasuian hair and african american hair I am not as timid.

today we are finishing up our finger waves (which by the way I threw my wave comb across the room I was so frustrated) and next week it is onto ethnic chemical relaxers and perms.

The King is on TV

My son Peter is part of the UNC childrens Promise telethon to raise money for
UNC childrens hospital.
News14 came and did a story on him, and is being broadcast every few hours today.

You can view the video here

Ignore the fat lady in the background...

a cure for the cough?

so Peter has had chronic winter cough since he was a baby. Then after his transplant he developed a cough that never went away. For almost 2 years I have been dealing with hacking phlegmy cough, 3 bouts of pneumonia, countless rounds of bronchitis/bronchial infection and endless antibiotics. It has been keeping him up at night, causing sleep deprivation, a bad attitude, missed days of school and numerous trips to the pediatrician.

So I got an e-mail about putting vicks vapor rub on the soles of your feet to calm night time cough. I thought "What the heck, it is only $5 at walmart, I can try it".
The difference is AMAZING. We put it on his feet at night. Just slather a layer on the soles of his feet, put socks on and he doesnt cough all night. In my case it really works.

Yesterday Charles took Peter to the pediatricians, thinking he needed another antibiotic.
Instead they prescribed albuterol through a nebulizer twice a day breathing treatments.
Then the doctor noticed Peter was on Enalapril (blood pressure med). He pulled up the sheet for enalapril and it turns out that it is an ACE inhibitor and one of the side effects is a cough.
So I dont know if he has an Enalapril induced cough or not. I am going to call his cardiologist and find out if we can switch blood pressure meds, something that is not an ACE inhibitor and see if the cough clears up.

So there may be a light at the end of the tunnel with this cough (If it is an enalapril cough)

on Base Curls and a Marcel iron

SO we have been learning about the different types of curls and the volume they create in the hair. Depending on what angle you start the curl at, and where it ends up on your base determines how high you can get your hair.

Yesterday we broke out Destiny, our African American doll, and went to work.

We used our Marcel iron, the professional curling iron and learned how to twirl and click, twirl and click. The marcel irons do not have a spring loaded clamp like regular curling irons. You have to use the lever with your pinky to get it to open just a touch. You have to continually twirl and click to get it to the base until your curl is set. It isnt an excessively easy technique and takes quite a bit of practice.

I used muscles in my arms that I never knew existed. My forearm was on fire yesterday, all the way up to my shoulder and behind my ear. Just on my right arm , shoulder and ear. my left side was fine. I am positive it was from my marcel iron and learning to use it. My teacher did say that when she first started her arm was killing her and didnt think she would get it right. But it just takes practice. So I suppose I had better break out the Advil and heating pad, put on my big girl panties and deal with it. She actually suggested we pull out our marcel every night and practice twirling it to build up our forearm. (I am quite positive my right arm will resemble popeye within the next 6 months)

THEN we are starting on the finger waves. These are the WORST . You actually create those ridges and valleys with your fingers, a comb and lots of hair product. It is the one thing that most stylists hate doing. My teacher said she fully expects to see combs flying, dolls getting beaten up and bad words to be expounded.

This is going to be my hardest curriculum. I am used to caucasian hair, and have never worked with ethnic hair. It is so different and requires so much extra and different care and styling than i am used to.

But I have a good attitude and know I can do it. I just need to pay extra close attention so i dont melt hair, burn anything off with too much chemical and make sure I dont forget the extra steps requires in the relaxers or perms on the ethnic hair.

Life sucks sometimes

It is one of those mornings. Nothing is going right.

Charles and I are in one of "those" fights.
He didnt get a paycheck on Friday, the manager said he thought they mailed it, so somewhere is a much needed paycheck floating around in at the US Postal Service. So, while trying to keep our heads above water and get Bills paid, until that check shows up I have like $40 in the bank account that is not earmarked for something. Of course this is the month that school needs $5 here and $6 there and a donation for teacher birthdays and class parties and field trips. Then I get upset for him paying $10 to the library for overdue fines and it just escalated. Honestly.

I am starting a new(and difficult) curriculum at school and am a little nervous (chemical relaxers and ethnic hair care/styling). . So for the next 3 weeks I will be pulling my own hair out while trying not to chemically burn off Destiny's(my mannquin).

Peter STILL has a nasty cough that seems to get worse, then better, then worse then better.
So I have to call his pediatrician and see if I can get in for an appointment and get an antibiotic. So if I can get an appointment today I will have to leave school early and there goes my perfect attendance record for this cycle, which actually pisses me off. A LOT.

I have a giant fist hole in my bathroom wall from SOMEONE punching it in anger (tsk tsk tsk).

So to quote one of my favorite songs from when I was a kid (Don Williams Jr.)
"Lord, I hope this day is good. I'm feeling cranky and Misunderstood
I should be thankful Lord, I know i should, but Lord I hope this day is good"

just breathe.

pictures from the week

Just a few pictures from my week.

I caught finn putting stickers on his face:

Here is the Gang from our Willie Wonka Movie Theme at School:

Here is my final exam up-do. It was a "make your own" using at least 2 techniques we learned in Long Hair design. i did pretty well and the teacher said it was creative. i used a french roll(vertical twist) with loops and hand formed curls. I did a braid on one side as well and some two strand cross overs.

Thats about all. Hopefully I will have more to post next week.

Big Willies Chocolate Shop and House of Weave

Today is the last day of up-do's and long hair design.
We are taking our final written test, doing the fan twist up-do for a grade and
demonstrating our own personal design for a grade.
I was up until almost midnight last night with my beading group and practicing for today.
I totally didnt get enough sleep.

Yesterday was Movie theme day at school. each class got a movie and we had to dress up and do hair and make up and do a skit.
Our class got Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old version)
. We did " Big Willz and da chocolate shop"(the ghetto version of W W)
it was hilarious. We used 50 cent "Candy shop" and 69 boys "Tootsie Roll"
we got lots of laughs and I took lots of pictures. The Oompa Loompa and Willie (Big Willz) were the best hair and make up and clothing. It was hilarious. But we were Ghetto.
The golden tickets were bought on the black market, from a guy in a trenchcoat, Big Willz had a strong pimp hand and came out to a shake your booty song.
Curnel(the one guy in our class) was Mike TV. We had him dressed up in this little black leather vest with roses and fringe, a cowboy hat and we bought a plastic gun with holster from the dollar store. He went up to "Big Will" and pulled out his gun, cocked it gangsta style and said "Break Yourself fool!" (pronounced Break Yo-self, foo).Our teacher laughed so hard she was crying. Curnel is NOT gangster in any way. When he was first practicing he was like the white preppy "whats-up" budwiser commercial. "What is up? How are YOOOUUU doing". we had to ghetto-fy him. We have been laughing for 3 days straight while practicing.

But the Oompa Loompa was Crazy awesome. She had this white overall dress that she wore with white leggings and brown leg warmers. I made pompoms for her shoes. We braided her hair on the underside and had it all sticking out in ponytails and knots and spray painted them with green hairspray. We used a really dark orange foundation on her skin and I did her eyebrows with a silver eye pencil and used a silvery gray eye powder. Her eye make-up was green. It was really awesome. She looked just like a little Oompa Loompa (it helps she is only 4'10" tall)

Mimi was Violet (the gum chewer). Her hair was braided in corn-rows up the sides and on top had a mohawk of weave etc. She wore a blue shirt, blue leggings with blue booty shorts, and blue sparkly shoes. We did her make-up in blue.

Kisha was Charlie and wore a newsboy cap and scarf, and Bianca, who was Verucca, wore lots of bling and pink and a coat with a fur collar. we looked so good and got a lot of laughs.

I will post pictures later. I forgot my camera in my locker at school.

Worlds Greatest Christmas Tree

I got this email from Dawn. I laughed until I cried.

This is THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS TREE!!

This tree is made entirely from PVC Piping, wire and Mountain Dew cans.

They then string lights and red bulbs on it. The tree topper is a giant 2 liter bottle with a light in it.

so ya had a bad day

whew, yesterday was ROUGH.

We did up-do's ALL DAY LONG.

4 strand braids, rolls, twists, figure 8's, 5 strand braids, off the scalp braids, on the scalp braids, chignons and french rolls.

My hell will be 10 brides all coming in on the same day wanting their "wedding hair" done.

But here is my french twist that I practiced at home. I am demonstrating it today in class for a grade, and it will look much better after I get some pomade and sculpting wax on it with some hairspray to control all the flyaways and to get it slick and chic.

voila, the french twist (the vertical roll).

Fall Foliage

Autumn is my second favorite season (first is spring).
I love the changing of the leaves, the brilliant golds and flaming reds, the burnished oranges all contrasting against each other in a riotous mass of color.
Our neighborhood was particularly lovely this year. I dont know if it was the drought and then the rain, or why they were just so spectacular. Here are a few of my favorites:(these have not been retouched or photoshopped in any way)



This is a view down the street from our yard (ignore the recylce bin that Charles didnt put away) That yellow tree across the street looked like a giant golden sun. It is just so beautiful.




Here is that same tree, just a different angle.
Looking out the window at it makes me happy.





this tree was 2 streets over. I actually stopped the car to get out and take a picture of it. The picture doesnt do it justice. When it is sunny outside the tree literally glows.





Here is that same tree, just closer.








Here is our own humble Japanese Maple Tree. It turns a beautiful scarlet red every autumn, but this year was so much more intense.


Of course the leaves are all disappearing now, falling off the trees to be raked up and bagged. But for 2 perfect weeks my neighborhood is the idyllic autumnal collection of color.
At least I have my pictures to remind me.

The Basic Bow

Today we started Long Hair Design in school.

We started with the 5 basic techniques: the coils, single strand coiled braid, the loop, double strand twist and three strand braid. (all seen on the mannequin here. The coils are on top, the loops are on the right, the bun is next to them, the 2 stranded twist is center and the braid is the farthest left)

We then learned the Basic Bow. we will be graded on it tomorrow. Today was a practice run through and practice grading. tomorrow is the big day. I got a 90% today, because i got 5 points taken off for each bobby pin showing. So tomorrow I will make sure they are hidden and score a 100 on this bad boy.

Here is mine

You can see why it is called a bow. You make the hair look like a ribbon bow.

Here is a side view of the Bow.

Yet another view of the basic bow. I personally think it looks like a butt...with a bobby pin.

Ta-da! The basic bow.