Between Buddaphlyy and Just_Isabel I might actually update on a regular :laugh:

And WHY must there be hair drama? *shakeshead* This is one of the reasons why I went *poof* for a while - there was so MUCH drama (con.stant.ly) on another hair board that I was/am on, that I just got sick of hair... :laugh: or at least sick of others peoples ISSUES with hair. *sigh*

Anyhow - checked the freezer last night, and I have a whole POUND of FNWL henna still in powder form, so YAY! for that.

I've managed to not buy anything new on eBay yet - I'm drooling over some stone dangles at Kona. *sigh*

Well, it's been a NICE little while since I last updated. As usual, I'll start with hair, and move to holes.

My hair is - it's amazing, really. It's slowly turning into something - someting wonderful. It's growing (man, is it growing!) but more importantly, it FEELS happy. I was just reading my last journal entry, and realized that this weekends henna is supposed to be a henna/coconut/lime mix - hrm, that should be interesting. I can't remember if I left any henna powdered, like I was supposed to! *slaps forehead* I'll go home tonight and check.

Okay - pictures!

February to June comparison:



I posted this in my photo journal, and several people commented that it looked thicker and shinier (and obviously longer) and it IS. It's MUCH thicker - I'm not sure if it's just as it gets longer, it 'poofs' more, or what - but it's WAY thicker than it was - but it still compresses down to about nothing. It's also shinier - that, I assume is the combination of continual henna'ing and jsut general improvement in it's overall health.
When it's wet, it's - wavy - really, and it LAYS DOWN. I'm sure KeenKitty will talk about me flashing again ( :laugh: ) but I'll have to take a fresh out of the shower picture jsut to show what I'm talking about - hrm, I think I'll do a before/after picture this weekend for the HLC treatment.

It's also gotten ALMOST long enough (if I twist right on the edge of my crown) that I can put my hair into two flattwists down either side of my head. I haven't been able to do that since I cut the last of the bleach/dyed hair out.
It's interesting, because the nape hairs don't seem INSANE long anymore - but they aren't SHORTER than they used to be, the rest of my hair has just caught up.

Hrm. I ran out of the Creme of Nature stuff that I had been using in my hair, and forgot to pic up a new container, so desparate, I broke into the Hair Souffle that I had tried before and hated. I don't remember WHY I hated it (I'll have to scan back and see if I talk about it) but it ROCKED on my hair Sunday. I have two WHOLE containers of it, and it's rich, so I only need to use a little bit, so if my hair seems happy when I take it down this weekend, I'll continue to use that.

*thinks* What else, what else? I'm starting to see breakage again, and I think it might be the MTG I was putting in my mister - so I'm stopping that once I empty out the last of this mister bottle (tomorrow or Thursday, I'm sure). The breakage isn't NEARLY as bad what I was getting before, and I've noticed that if I don't 'swish' my hair around (I take it out, comb it straight back, condition it straight back, dentangle straight back, and then twist/braid as needed) it stays MUCH less tangled, and seems happier, in general.

Or, it could be that I've skipped my protien treatments the last two months - hrm, maybe my hair is getting TOO soft. I need to read back and see my logic for determining when my next HLC treatment would be - as to me, that works as an INTENSIVE protien treatment. I think doing it every other month - even skipping the week 3 protien treatment, might be overkill. *Thinks*

Month 1 - HLC/no protien
Month 2 - henna/no protien
Month 3 - henna/protien
Month 4 - henna/no protien
Month 5 - HLC/no protien

Hrm - that's kinda spread out - I would only do a HLC twice a year on that schedule - I think I wanted to it it every 3 months..... I'd much rather do that treatment, and just totally dump the week 3 protien treatment, and replace it with something else.
Hrm. I've also been kinda 'skimping' on the clarifying on week 4 - I REALLY don't use much in my hair (though, I've started back with the Burnt Sugar this week, so I'll definitely need to clarify) - so I haven't felt the need to 'strip' my hair. If anything, I've mixed a wee bit of BS with my conditioner, and run that through my hair RIGHT before I henna.

So, if I dump the protien treatment it would be -
Week 1 - Henna
Week 2 - Deep conditioner (Still in love with the Elasta - though, I've started 'craving' something new.....)
Week 3 - ????
Week 4 - Clarifying, if needed, otherwise another DC

and

Month 1 - HLC
Month 2 - Henna
Month 3 - Henna
Month 4 - HLC

Hrmm.. moisture/protien balance is the crucial thing. I don't want to over moisturize (and shockingly enough, I think my hair is getting to the point where that MIGHT be a possibility) and I KNOW my hair gets grumpy REAL quick if I over protein. Hrrrm.
Maybe I'll start experimenting with various herb washes/treatments on Week 3 - that might be fun.

I totally stopped using the Lenzi's Request - *shrug* it jst seemed to be more of a headache than it was worth. I has started using the MTG I got in a swap - shaking up the bottle, dipping a qtip into it, and just dabbing alng my hairline. I did that for about three weeks, didn't see any change, and was like - screw it. So, that's that for the topical treatments - I'm so happy to see my hair GROWING, that the speed is - eh. It'll happen as it happens, ya know?

*LOL* I have flyaway hairs that are long enough to get into my EYES when I'm driving - not many, mainly from that odd section of hair right behind my ear, but it's throughly amazing and amusing all the same.

[b]Okay! Holes! [/b]

I've stretched up to 6g! The jump from 8 to 6 has been the MOST painful one - my left ear seemed okay with it, then it went all wonky, my right ear was PISSED from the start, and once the left ear went wonky, decided it was satisfied and healed totally in like two days. :eyeroll: Anyhow! I'm wearing 'small' 6g's in my ear now - lemme see if I can dig up the pic... Ah! Found it!

I call them small 6's because of the way they taper in the middle - I liked that, because I figured it would help keep them in my ears at night (snort, that TOTALLY doesn't work - I still wake up every morning missing at least one), but I know my ears can ACCOMODATE a 6g, because I have to slide the 'thick' bit through to get there.
I LOVE these - they are heavy and curly curvy, and just lovely.
I still have 10g in my second holes - I'm debating taking them up to an 8g - but I'd have to find SMALL earring to go there. I had a perfect set of spirals, but one got sucked into a black hole in my bedroom somewhere (I went to bed wearing two, woke up wearing one, and haven't been able to find it since) so my second holes are mismatched - but I don't mind - it's funky. And, it gives me a way to use that non-mirror image set of short helixes I got - a spiral in one ear, and a helix in the other.

I'm itching to buy some new 6g stuff - I've experimented with horn earrings, and I really don't like them - at least the ones I've had - because they are too LIGHT. I like the feel of something substanial dangling from my ears - it makes me feel grounded.
I want to try some wood, but I suspect they will feel too light too.

And I think I'm ALMOST ready for a set of goddesses. Oooohhh. But, I msut go a wee bit more ebay crazy, first. :laugh:

I thnk that about wraps it up... I'mREALLY going to try to be better about posting/hanging out here - it's just that truly - besides the CONDITION of my hair - nothing's changed. I've hit that wonderful place where stuff WORKS, and I know what to do when it DOESN'T work, and - :grouphug: I really owe MOST of that to the wonderful folx here.

Thanks ya'll, on the real.

10:25

Sick.

Nervous.

In shock.

Scared.

It's not the OMG/happy/joyful feeling that I expected.

It's - shit, I'm shocked. Amazed. Astounded. All of these emotions swirling around, and none of them that I can look at and peg - happy.

Holy Fuck, I'm pregnant. Or, at least that's what this faint pink line is telling me. 3 cycles, and I'm still not ready. Or, maybe I am ready, but I just don't believe, just yet? Or, maybe I'm afraid that it's a chemical, I'll have a miscarriage, the baby will be deformed.....something.

One. Tiny. Fucking. Line, and my whole world has gone 'atilt'. And..... I don't know how I feel about that.

I'm not telling C until Sunday - Happy Fathers Day, Love!

I wanted to know before I told him, so that I could - come to grips with this. My life as I've known it is going to change radically at some point in Late Feb. And I'm terrified. It's going to change to the life I think I want - the life I've been telling myself I want - and I'm SCARED.

That's what it is. The joy and the celebration, and the OMG!!! YES!! is cloaked by this level of fear - will I be a good momma? Will I really be happy at home? Will we be in the poorhouse by June? I'm scared shitless, and it's a gray cloud hiding the sun of......

And it's so damn faint - hopefully it will get darker, and darker, and darker. Though, it IS only 11DPO. So.

Oh my god.

I'm pregnant.

Randomness

It's about midnight, and I'm stil up because I have henna in my hair.

Well, okay, it's not really the henna that is keeping me up,because I could wash it out at any point in time.

It's the fact that I've never kept henna in for less than 12 hours, and the thought of washing it out at the seven hour mark feels rather pointless to me - even though I know that to some people, 6 hours is a bit of an acheivement.

Anyhow, I'm still awake, and will be taking a shower in a bit, to wake me up even more.

I spent most of the day either futzing around, or building bookcases. I built five today, and they are all nicely installed and attached to the wall so I don't have to worry about the bookcases pulling an Evie.

Tomorrow, I'll catalouge hopefully the rest of my books. I'm looking forward to it - I think that the library will soon be my next favorite room.

I'm watching Iron Chef America, and watching DH fall asleep.

I also have some of the WORST hiccups ever. Ugh.

See.

I warned you.

Randomness.

*yawn*

I'm still not pregnant. I was rather hoping that I would get knocked up as soon as I stopped trying to not get knocked up. *snort* Yah, not so simple, eh?

I really hope that Bobby Flay doesn't win. I'm not fond of him - such a stuck up asshole.

I need to call Andi. Dear Gods, I need to call her - I'm such a sucky slacker of a friend. Fuck all, for that matter, I need to call Alison. Gahhhh. I suck.

Still with the hiccups.

GAHHHH.

Tomorrow is DITL.

I could do it - shit, today is DITL. Hah. I think I will go and get the camera out of DH"s car.

Mwuahahaha. .

G'night dolls.

ETA: Bah. Ah well, wont' be doing DITL, as DH left the charger at work. At that's assuming he didn't lose it, which would prompt me to strangle him.

AHHHH!

*sigh*

 

 

Ouch.

There's that cramp - low and angry on my right side, that makes me wonder - despite it all - could I be?

But I know I'm not, and I'm hiding from taking a test because - hello, I'm bleeding, it's SOO not happening - but the same cramp, in the same spot, all the time? Maybe it's a been fighting to not be broken free.

I don't know.

It's not HOPE, really. It's - wondering. It's - craving. It's desire.

And it makes the pain worth something - maybe, if it was true.

*snorks*

Well. Pointless pain. Well, at least it was a shorter period this go around!

 

She's ALIVE!!!!

Yes, I haven't suffered an untimely demise.

In fact, I'm just fine.

Work, is workly.

House, is WUNDERBAR. Here, this is a bit of what we've been up to. This transformation took about, oh, 8 MONTHS, but still - it looks quite nice, if I do say so myself.

And can I say that BigLots is my personal home decor store of choice? That place ROCKS.

The garden is going along - all that stuff (when I update) is on the dirtydirty MySpace blog - link to that is on the front page.

Urm.

I've realized that I write VERY few FO entries, and my favorites list is crazy long, so I think I'm going to have to pare it down... that's one of the reasons that I come here so rarely - I'm scared of all them there updates.

But really I don't read em all.

Um.

I think that's it.

I might redecorate later.

I havent' been chatty journal wise, cuz I've been SO chatty forumwise. I *heart* my forums.

Oh, yeah - my little experiment. So far? My worst has been 37 miles per gallon. Right now, I'm shooting for 40, I think - I've got half a tank left, and 220 miles on the trip meter. Mwuahahahaaaaa! Take that, Prius!

Spanking...

C made an offhand comment about me telling DC 'Just wait til we get home' and then he added - well, you might be one of those moms who jsut hauls off in the store.

I calmly said - oh, I'll never spank our kids.

Yeah, they just won't need to be spanked.

No, not that - well, I think that every parenting choice you make is teaching your child something - and the only thing spanking teaches is that if I'm bigger and stronger than you, I can hurt you to make you do what I want you to do.

Not if you give them an explanation for why you're spanking...

Well, if you are explaining it - what's the spanking for? It's using pain to enforce - thus, teaching that as long as I'm bigger and stronger than you, I can hurt you to make you do what I want.

I made an example of how silly it was to punish a child for hitting a sibling/smaller child, when the parent hits the child, and he kinda brushed it off.

Then, I wrapped up with - you don't even train animals by hitting them, and I would hope our kids are smarter than animals!

He was quiet for a while afterwards, and didn't say anything more - but I know he's thinking about it, and mulling over it.

Ahh.... the education begins.

I've already got him down with cosleeping with a sidecar.

No vaxing will be interesting - but I don't think he'll have too many reservations.

Ahhh......

*sigh*

A sudden sadness has fallen over my heart.

I've been doing a lot of online talking/reading/thinking learning lately, and suddenly, someting settled on me.

I'm an outcast twice.

My skin makes me an outcast in the culture my mind/attitude would 'assign' me to.

My mind/attitude makes me an outcast in the culture my skin would 'assign' me to.

The Fast & The Frugal - Memphis Drift

So, I'm trying an experiment, and I figured I'd share with the rest of OD, and see if anyone else is doing the same thing.

I drive a stick (o, how I love the stick) and one of the cooler things that I've always 'heard' but never done was drift/coast in the car - to save on gas.

So. What I started doing last week was drifting. As much as I could - slipping the car into neutral, and letting the inertia carry me down the hill/to the stoplight/off the exit ramp/etc..... just doing it off an on, for a week, upped my MPG from 32 to 34. I know, I know, a measley two miles per gallon, but still - considering gas (when I filled my tank last night) has crept up to the lovely price of 2.79 (member year before last when gas didn't get this expenisve until AFTER Katrina took out the oil refineries in LA? WTF, ya'll? ) I figure that anything I can do to save fuel is - wise, on so MANY different levels.

So far - I've gotten 37 miles, and the needle hasn't even shifted from 'over-full'. I usually only got 25 miles before it started drifting into the actual gauge range.

I keep safety in mind - I simply CANNOT do this on the highway - drifting doesn't give me enough power to go safely fast enough to stay in the flow - and we don't have many hills on the route I drive home/to work. On the city streets - every hill is an opportunity, every stoplight/stopsign is DEFINITELY an opportunity - if I HAVE to brake, I'm in neutral - period. I can switch lanes easily, and I can pop right back into 3rd/4th if need be.

*evilgrin* It's like having a hybrid, without the plug. *LOL*

What's Growing On?

I haven't posted for a while about the garden - not much has been going on. I've got LOTS of stuff sprouted now, and I've been watering once a day/every other day - assuming it's not going to rain, that is.

I stayed home today waiting for our counters to be installed - so I spent some time out there, thinning the Skyscraper sunflowers, and spraying the garden with Kiya's Crunchy Food & Pesticide Mix... I need another sprayer doohickey ALREADY! The one I have now sends more water back onto me than it does into the container, and the mix ratio doesn't seem to be right. I think leaving it out in the freeze cracked something. Oops.

Anyhow - pictures!

First - my little friend who was hidden SOMEWHERE in the strawberry patch. I went over to look at my strawberries (which have COMPELTELY recovered, by the way!) and he came hopping out. He was a bigun, too!

 

Look at how big he is compared to my GORGEOUS strawberries? I love the little red edging around the leaves. I hope that's not a BAD thing.  

 

In the same box, we have two kinds of lettuce, the sunflowers across the front, onions, marigolds, and spinach. The last three are still pretty spindly.

This box seems to be doing the best - I'm not sure if it's the screening that I put up for the strawberries shading the soil, the mix of clay/sand that's in there from the dirt in the old bed, or what.  I'm kinda kicking myself for using JUST compost and peatmoss in my boxes - I'm wondering if it's got enough nutrients in it.

I need to start digging out more lettuce seed, as it's high time that I sow some more - I might try it in one of the beds that's kinda *waggles hand* Eh.

Okay - in the next bed, we have the two kinds of green beans. I suspect the first picture is of the heat resistant ones, as they are doing much better than the others. I'm going to thin the threesome down to two, once I can clearly see which two are strongest. Right now, they are all growing beautifully.

 

 

The cukes are looking pretty good too.

There's other stuff in this box, but none of them have moved as impressively as these. I haven't seen a peep from the cauliflower, and the brussels and brocolli are looking kinda weak too - I think it might have gotten too hot for them already. If I don't see anything serious from them in two weeks, I'm going to write them off as a VERY early spring/fall crop.

 

The next box has the 'runners' in it - pumpkin:

 

Squash:

And watermelon!

 

I'm finally getting a WEE peep out of my tomatoes - well, at least I HOPE these are tomatoes, and not a random windborn weed. But I don't think a weed would be quite so organzied.

I think that the peppers are starting to break too, but I'm not sure....no picture yet. This box looks - it looks like it has the potential to get really full, really quick. I tried to plant the runners in the middle, so that I can run them BETWEEN the other taller plants, and if need be, (and they get that big!) I can run them OUTSIDE the box too. Mwauauahaha. And the peppers and tomatoes are going to be trellised (I need to start thinking about that soon) so, that'll free up a little more ground space.

 

Lastly, the flower bed.

The morning glories appear to be rather snackable to SOMEONE. Hurmph.

And the sunflowers are, as usual, doing wonderfully. These are the ones I thinned  - also the ones that make me worry the most about nutrients. The peppers looked a LITTLE yellow I thought, but the sunflowers have several yelllowish lower leaves. I know they are VERY thirsty plants, so I'm hoping it's just low moisture right now, and be sure to triple water them every time I water.

 

I'm going to get back on a STRICT every day watering schedule, and I'm trying to talk myself into waking up a little earlier, so that I can go outside and water BEFORE I go to work, so that they are good and moist during prime sun time. *sigh* I know it's for the best, but ICK.

I figure, between regular watering and the lovely food I gave em today, things should improve.

Notes for next year - get screening for ALL the boxes when going right into the ground in late spring. Early spring (ie, Feb) not so much. Late Spring (ie late March/early April) definitely. Also - go with all heat resistant - hopefully by the end of this year, I'll have figured out enough to feel comfy in buying some full price heirloom seeds. Also, next year, I'm going for some fruit trees.

 

---

 

In other delightfully domestic news - no, the countertops did NOT get installed.

Well, one did. *lol*

The longer ones (around the sink) were MISMEASURED. *asplode* *sigh* So, it was too short, and they have to come back Wednesday. Thankfully, I'm salaried, and take any chance possible to escape from work, so I don't mind TOO much - but still! Dammit! I want my countertops!

Once nice perk - they put in the lift BEFORE they realized that the counters were too short, so we will still be able to install the dishwasher!! They also installed our gorgeous new faucet, so whoohoo! *sigh* I was so hoping that Sunday would be the last time I had to wash dishes. *LOL*

Murph.