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.

Aced the curriculum

I am feeling very proud of myself.(pat pat pat)

For the past two weeks I have been studying and memorizing and analyzing etc. I know the difference between a macule and a chloasma. I know what a Bulla is. I know what a keratoma is. I know about 42 other various skin lesions and disorders, such as Vitiligo(and I am pretty sure Michael Jackson does NOT have it).

I know the various layers of the epidermis and the dermis and what each one does, is responsible for and contains. I put up with the younger girls laughing every time the Stratum Corneum was referred to as "The Horny Layer".

I learned how to wax facial hair. I learned how to tweeze properly. I learned how to give a totally amazing facial and how to apply make-up beautifully.

I took 2 written tests, gave 3 facials, waxed eyebrows and applied make-up. I went on a field trip to South park Mall(the Hoity Toit) and went to Dillards and Belks to the make-up counter where they were having make-up extravaganza days and giving free make overs and demonstrations and lessons. We then got to tour the Carmen!Carmen! salon and day spa and meet Carmen himself. He is a brilliant hair stylist(a bit of a diva) and I really enjoyed listening to him and he gave us lots of great advice and words of wisdom.

So with my attendance at 100%, my written tests at 100% and my facials at 98 and 99% and my make up at 98% and my waxing at 98%, I averaged a 99% for the skin and make up curriculum.

A disclaimer for the 98%...My teacher does not believe in giving 100% on practicals. She says there is always room for improvement, no matter how long you have been in the industry. So if you didnt sweep up and out enough on one pass through, or did the petrissage for 10 seconds too long, she would dock a point etc. so my 98 and 99% were for little things like my wubbie under my materials was crooked (wubbies are the paper towel type things they use in salons), or my toner cotton ball wasnt thrown away the second it came off her face.

So to keep up with my skills, I will also be offering facials and waxing out of my home to practice, the cost would be to cover the materials. So waxing eyebrows would be $3 and a classic european facial with massage and mask would be $10. (massage of the face and neck, not the body) If anyone is interested just let me know.

tomorrow we start on long hair design!

SHHHH! I'm sleeping

Being in cosmetology school has been REALLY tiring.
I dont mean a "I need a nap" type tiring. I mean "tiring" as in Pregnancy tiring.
You cant hold your eyes open or your head up. You are just so exhausted that moving is an almost impossible chore.
And no it is impossible that i am pregnant. I am just really exhausted from school.
I come home and am just wiped out. I practically fell asleep with my face in the chicken the other night at the dinner table. I feel like I am in 11th grade varsity track all over again.



The first few days I seemed to be OK, but then we starting getting hands on with the
waxing and the facials and the make-up. Always touching people, always having your hands on their face or head etc is exhausting.

I was talking to Lindsey(massage therapist extrordinaire) and told her of my dilemma.
She said that people are natural energy vampires. You are putting yourself into them with your energy and they just drain it from you. She gets it too when she is massaging people.



Last night I went to bed at 745. I fell asleep before my kids.



So SHHHHH, I'm sleeping.

Finn Playing Soccer

Here are some pictures of Finn playing soccer in a little church league that Michelle had formed.
There were several moms who wanted to enroll their kids in soccer, but didnt want to pay $100 to have a mass of kids in one huddle all trying to kick at the ball. So we formed our own little league and they play and have fun every Saturday.

He actually is pretty good. But everyone is 4 and 5 years old, and so there isnt a whole lot of technique or rules. The Red Team(team Jolley), has the strategy of " We All Hold Hands Like Red Rover and They Can't Break Our Defenses"

The Blue Team has their secret weapon, Hannah. As she is running and kicking the Ball , if she sees people coming to try and get it from her, she lays down ON the ball...being careful not to touch it with her hands of course.

Last Saturday Finn scored 2 goals!

Here is his team rarin and ready to go:

After the game the all celebrated with Otter Pops.

So Thanks Michelle for doing this! Finn has loved it!

Finn is Barak's #1 fan

Finn cracks me up.

At school they did "Kids Vote" and up on the bulletein board they had the election process, the candidates and where they were from, and which party they were for. Thats all. No discussing issues, or what republican meant, or what democrat meant. After all these are 5-10 year old kids, and discussions and lessons of that magnitude would cause their little brains to implode.

Well Finn comes home a few weeks back and was talking about it.

Our conversation.

FINN: We voted today. Guess who I voted for!!

ME: Well you dont have to tell me, votes are supposed to be private. It isnt anybody's business who you decide to vote for. But you can tell me if you want.

FINN: Well I voted for Barak Obama

Me: Why?

FINN: Because he has a cool name and I like his picture.

ME: Gosh that seems like a good reason to elect someone as President.

So I explained when he got older that he would be able to vote for real and he would need to listen to what each person believed in and how they would help the country. That we shouldnt vote for someone based on looks or their cool sounding name. She he asked who I was voting for and I said that I was going to write in Mr. Witt, his school principal. (He LOVES Mr Witt and he thought that sounded like a pretty good idea, but that his picture was not up on the board, and how were we going to solve this dilemma?)

Then last night he was in on the potty doing his business with the door to the toilet room shut. I was in the main part of the bathroom at the sink, trying to undo the make-up "dramatic eye" that Laine had given me at school during our facial make-up theory.

I hear him just singing and making up songs, no idea I was in there and listening.

(Just sung to random tunes and rapping a little bit)

"I like to color. Didnt you know? I like to color, especially with green."

"Get up off your easy chair, V-O-T-E, vote. Oh yeah, Barak Obama, Barak Obama won. Didnt you know I voted for Barak. Barak uh huh, Barak Uh-huh, Barak Obama."

So we go out to dinner with my parents and he is sitting next to my mom. He said hey gram! Barak Obama won! (She voted for McCain), so teasingly she put her hand over his mouth and said "Oh No! John McCain Won!"

Finn cracked up laughing, and as soon as she took her hand off his mouth he yells out BARAK OBAMA! So it kind of turned into a game and he just kept saying Barak Barak Barak Barak.

He just likes saying the name...over and over and over again.

My son...Barak's biggest fan.

favorite pics from Disney

So I know I have been remiss in posting Disney pictures

I have been crazy busy(not an excuse I know). I shall claim laziness and I didnt feel like downloading all 252 pictures from my camera, resizing and naming them all.

So with the time change this morning, waking up at 5am, I realized I had a few hours to kill.

And whilst stuffing my face with 50% off peanut M&M's from CVS, I finally got it all done.

I do have a few that I really love:

THUMBS UP AT EXPEDITION EVEREST IN ANIMAL KINGDOM

BOYS AT THE TREE OF LIFE ANIMAL KINGDOM

FINN HAVING "A MOMENT" THAT KID CAN BE A GROUCH EVEN AT DISNEY WORLD!

JAZZ HANDS AT THE HAT IN HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS


MEETING CHEF MICKEY AT BREAKFAST

SHEER TERROR ON FINN'S FACE ON THE JURASSIC PARK RIDE

PETER METTING ALEX AND THE PENGUINS AT UNIVERSAL ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE

FINN RIDING THE HORSE AT THE ICE CREAM PARLOR AT GIVE KIDS THE WORLD

ANOTHER FAMILY SHOT AT THE HAT IN HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS. THE BOYS HAD HAD IT WITH HAVING THEIR PICTURES TAKEN. I HAVE ABOUT 42 PICTURES WITH UGLY FACES.

So there are some of the highlights of our trip. We had SUCH a great time. I am already planning our next trip for Finn's 8th Birthday. So September 2011, watch out. The Vacation Nazi will be heading your way!!