On the mend

Let's start with the most ironic part of the last seventy two hours.  I get a call from my doctor who I called YESTERDAY while they were open TODAY two and half hours after they closed.  No advice, just asked more about symptoms I had and said basically what I thought, it was viral and just needed to work it's way out of my system.  It seems to have as I have eaten two small things today and haven't felt like I needed to sprint back to the bathroom where I have spent SOOOOOOOOOO much time the last few days.

I have taken care of minor things but apparently mom wants more candy for the trick or treaters cause there's nothing in there she wants to steal in the mean time.  Still need to review for class and while my curls are lovely and defined I should never leave them up for 2 days on curlers.  It's hard to play with them for a while so I'm letting them fall as much as possible before tomorrow morning.  Thanks for the well wishes and I hope to be all better tomorrow morning. 

ok so i lied

Within hours of posting my update for the week I got amazingly sick.  I thought I was on the mend earlier this afternoon but my body said nah not really.  I'm doped up on as many things as I can be but not sure if it's gonna keep my stomach calm and my fever broken throughout the rest of the day/night.  I did wash my hair but that took a massive effort so I ended up taking a bit of a nap afterwords.  My hair was soft and semi dry by the time I woke up.  I added all my leave ins and detangled.  I have to say for a week of no detangling it worked pretty well.  I may take a picture later but feeling entirely too lazy to do that right now.  I was going to use one of the foam hair pieces I found at the beauty supply store to wrap my hair into a bun or a nice tucked in updo instead of my random bobby pinned thing.  Right now I'm still on the flexi rods because I just don't have the patience to take them down when I'm sleeping so randomly and uncomfortably at the moment.  If I recover soon I'll take some photos but if not just trust me, it's washed and set.  Speak to ya soon.

At least a two post weekend

I'm sure you all missed me terribly over the last six days.  You probably didn't even know I wasn't talking at all but it's been a busy week.  Work was varying degrees of busy and Eve was still kicking my butt a few days in there.  Wednesday and Thursday night I taught for four hours to folks who were also in varying degrees of pain so they left early in some cases.  And last night I went out with some members from the chapter and planned to thoroughly embarrass myself bowling.  Instead I was high woman for my team and came in third overall.  It was a good couple of hours to wrap up the week and made me feel like it was time to be more productive today as well.  I haven't attended to my hair yet but I did check a few things off of my list.  I kept it down and straight but pinned it from Wednesday on because I didn't have time to wash and let it air dry and am still desperately trying to avoid heat.  We'll see how the detangle process goes either tonight or tomorrow.  I also broke down and bought some more of the Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango Butter moisturizer online.  The Elasta QP site doesn't even have the most current version up (still has a photo of the Mango Butter version).  I've been using it but it feels SO thick that I haven't enjoyed it in the least bit really.  The ingredients are totally different and that's frustrating.  I found some on Amazon that wasn't  ridiculously overpriced for a three pack and had free shipping.

I've been on Amazon a LOT lately.  After fruitlessly searching for Lemon Creme Oreos I also broke down and found a steal there and a pretty good bargain on Gingerbread Creme Oreos too.  Both of them are in golden Oreo cookies which I love so that should be fun to munch on.  I got the gingerbread ones today so you can get an update on that tomorrow unless they are amazing in which case I'll be back to rave about them later with an update or something.  I got my Skyfall OPI shades today too so now that I've filed down the nails that I chipped while bowling I can clear off the polish and try a new shade. 

I got my first teaching paycheck yesterday which was amazing since yesterday was payday and I wasn't expecting it to be in hand.  I dropped it in the mail before I left for bowling so that will hit the account early next week along with my paycheck.  Since I filled in for someone on Thursday that will be an extra check between my last check for the class.  Excited about that and another class responded well to me so it got my teaching mojo flowing again. Because of that I need to go ahead and update my resume so that I can start applying for teaching jobs without hesitating.  I've graded all their work for the week and I'm just waiting on feedback from my mentor so I can post them and move on to the Halloween class lol.

I still need to wash clothes so I quit running out of the things I like to wear and am stuck with what's clean.  And I think I'll finish cleaning up the floor and start on the bathroom or closets tomorrow while doing my hair.  Today though I quit being a sentimental baby and finally tossed several years of bridal magazines.  I filled up the recycle bin with them.  I need to look through a few of them that I've kept but I'm going to toss a few more I'm sure.  I may not toss the Black bridal mags because a few of those are out of print now I think.  There's more room in my bedroom now though.  You'd be amazed how much room those things take up lol.

Okay I need to go figure out dinner and what will work while I'm feeling like I've done enough for the day.  Oh I need to pick up some trash too lol, well maybe I'm not done for the day.  Oh and if anyone needs an invite to influenster.com let me know.  I still have all five free and I may be qualifying for a box soon, woohoo.  Anyhoo, I hope everyone had a good week.  Hair updates tomorrow.

Wash Day and Wii

I actually got on schedule with the wash day and managed to get my prepoo in well after I figured out why nothing was coming out of the third full bottle.  Yeah turns out my bathroom was so cold it had semi frozen the Strong Roots Red Pimento Oil that I use to prepoo with.  A brief hot water bath took care of that and all was well.  Since I knew I had to let the heat cap sit for a while I bowled with mom who beat me 2 or the 3 rounds.  I may have to start heating the cap differently.  The sides are on FIRE hot in a few seconds but the center isn't heating up as quickly.  Either I'm gonna have to take them out or maybe replace them.  I have used it quite a bit in the last year plus so I may have taxed out the gel packs.  I got my rake and smaller comb to detangle with from hotcombs.net and I am going to show you hair loss with them versus hair loss with my double rowed comb and then it all together.  The rake periodically felt like I was gonna yank out my hair but it did a good job of separating my tangles without damaging my hair.  I was slightly afraid of the smaller comb but it worked well too with very minimal hair loss.  I may have to go back to my brown seamless comb as the mid stage comb.  Anyway decidedly not that much hair and lost next to nothing in the shower but I think the rolled up puff on two rollers irritated some hair because it shed more than I thought it should.  Gonna try the straight air drying again and a little roller before bed.  I THINK I'm going to try to either bun or tuck my ends in tomorrow.  Either way, I'm on schedule and my hair is clean.  Yeah wash day.

 Small Toothed Comb

 Double Rowed Comb

 Mini Rake

 Hair Loss from Both Seamless Combs

 Hair Loss from Silver/Double Rowed Comb

Combined Hair Loss

OPI, Influenster and other random thoughts

Folks that know me know I'm about as anti-girly as one could get with few exceptions (as noted HERE and HERE, HERE and HERE too lol).  Things trigger for me in small bursts and then for a long time nada.  I told you all about my OPI Burlesque hunting and that I'd finally found all the colors I wanted in larger bottles.  There are other out of rotation ones that are cute but none that made me go yes give me now especially since the discontinued bottles tend to be crazy high.  However, in my snooping I found out that OPI was releasing 12 shades in honor of 50 Years of James Bond.  With totally appropriate James Bond-y titles the seductive shades hit my girly sweet spot.  The gold shade (Golden Eye) may be the one I use the least but you never know when you may need random golden nails.

 Photo source: http://www.beautydea.it/skyfall-opi-smalti-james-bond/

The top row are the seductive shades.  The bottom row are the dangerous shades.  Not sure how they made their distinctions.  The dangerous shades were just too dark and not girly for me.  If I'm going to doll up the nails they need to be distinctly girl.  Plus the top row includes my favorite colors reds and purples with bonus gold so I'll add to my limited color array of shiny purty nails.

Mini Update

Ok so I tried the straight air dry because of the hair loss.  Right before bed I used two orange flexirods to roll my ends up a bit and protect them while I slept.  I will say I was pretty pleased with the results--that I didn't take a photo of this morning and that I have since tied up and am too lazy to take down to take a photo of lol.  My hair was a lot thicker than it would be post perm but for the most part it was straight and super duper soft.  Whenever I tilted my head and felt my hair on my shoulder it kinda felt like a super soft roller or pillow.  And surprisingly I put just enough curl in with the rollers that for the most part my hair was off my neck and even when it wasn't it felt so soft I didn't mind.  I'll try it again after a full wash and see if there's a detectable difference.  Until then, see ya ladies (and possibly gents).

There are days I really hate Eve

No not the rapper, even though she's not high on my list of people I do like lol.  I've been taking the depo shot for the last three or four years because when I have cramps of any kind they can almost incapacitate me.  If I don't get the pain killers in soon enough my day will be shot to high heaven and today I mistimed the whole thing.  My mother is working on that last good nerve because she has to do things a certain way and when she can't she just whines and whines until I'm ready throw her outside, lock the door and go back to bed.

I got some work done for other job but days like this I'm cranky and not functional so chatting with people is a bad idea.  I did talk to my brother and that was good.  Made me miss him and we swapped crazy mommy stories.  I had to account for his share because she hasn't gone to visit in quite some time much to my chagrin.  From home shopping networks to random other craziness I had plenty of doozies to share with him.  I want to wash my hair but my head hurts so much right now I'm worried about passing out in the shower but I may give in and do it since today is the appointed wash day.  Plus I am interested in seeing how the three combs work on my hair after four days of extra curls.

Maybe I'll eat some ice cream and hope the sugar rush calms my system down.  I'll be back later and finish this.  Okay I'm back.  I did go ahead and co wash my hair and I'm glad.  Even though there was less hair loss than the last big wash out from a flexirod set, there was still more than I would like it to be.  So I've opted to skip the flexi set tonight and have tied down my edges to see if I can accomplish a mostly straight airdry.  I can always pin it up in the morning if I need to, bobby pins are the greatest things I swear.  This will help me do a few other things with my hair as well.  Until the next wash I can moisturize and seal without damaging the style and I can tend to my edges a bit more.  They actually look fine and are thicker than they used to be but the hairline isn't as long as all of the hair around it so it needs more attention.  Including photos from the last major detangles which were were about a week apart.  So yes LOTS less hair loss but still more than there probably should be most of the time.  Sorry it's blurry cause I took it with my camera phone instead of my camera.  And after reading a page on KISS I may need to up my iron intake.  I'm usually anemic which makes no sense to me as I take multivitamins and hair vitamins.  But I have been several times before as I don't consistently eat red meat or green leafy veggies.  Even today when I wasn't feeling great I had a piece of chicken and a ham sandwich.  I want food I don't usually crave beef though.  Oh well.  Just placed my order with the nice cub scout who came by to sell us popcorn who triggered my mother's favorite story of me as a brownie and my EXTREME reluctance to sell cookies to our neighbors.  Yeah for forced kiddie sales lol.  Okay enough babbling for the day.  Trying not to be annoyed by the hair on my neck now that it's hanging down lol.

Wash Day: Detangle Away, Knock Off Recipes & Babbling

I co washed my hair Friday and had my ever present roommate braid it up for me cause I was going to go with the braid out for the rest of the weekend and tomorrow.  It looked rather atrocious when I took it down on Saturday morning and it wasn't dry in every spot which was weird since it had been air drying for 15 hours at that point.  Last night I didn't bother to tie it down because I knew I'd be washing it out today.  I just covered it in my satin bonnet and went off to nappy land.  After grading my class papers for the week and watching my fantasy football team go down in flames AGAIN, I washed my hairs and tried out a new detangling process I read about on KISS and longing for length called the 3 Comb method.  It's also discussed HERE on a site called hotcombs.net.  Anyhoo, it basically just involves taking progressively smaller combs to detangle your hair in order to minimize hair loss during that process.  You've seen a few of my last hair balls which so sucked but I was just going to deal with cause what else can you do?  I reviewed all the comments about the the 3 comb method and ordered a rake and a mid range sized comb since I already have two smaller seamless combs that should work for the final stages depending on which ones I want to use.  But I also figured I'd give it a try with the combs I had here that are my cheapos but pretty reliable.

Co Wash Day and Leftover Pizza

I feel like total crap so the wash was last, final style was late and now I'm sitting in my bed getting ready to show you the photos I managed to take of the process.  I skipped the prepoo again cause it was spur of the moment wash again.  I ran through the conditioner lineup and deep conditioned again.  My leave ins didn't change and I did remember to seal all the yummy goodness in this time cause I forgot it last wash day.  I'm not completely loving the back middle of my hair in these photos especially before I detangle.  That area has always been slightly problematic for me but I need to do better than I have been this stretch on taking care of it.  There doesn't seem to be new breakage but it's growing slower than the rest of my hair which is annoying.  The second photo is after a t-shirt was used to dry my hair for a little while but before I did anything to it.  Last photo is after all the leave ins and detangling had been completed.  I'm trying a braid out instead of a flexi set to see if there is a different with the hair loss.  Oh I forgot that picture, I'll add it in a second.  Still more shedding than I'd like but not so much that I'm in tears.  It happens when I go more than four days without combing out my hair and giving it a wash or co wash when I'm in the flexi sets.  We'll see ow it works out.  I need to go enjoy my leftover pizza and try to figure out why my feet are acting so dang on goofy today.  Have a good night all.

Really the last photo this time hee hee

Just a Quickie---Influenster.com

Since my feet are not cooperating with me today and causing me a lot of pain I'm off them for a while.  While I'm resting I'm on the net.  Here's a site to check out that I found from a fellow blogger who was reviewing a Box of goods she got from them.  Influenster seems like another great review site but with the added perk that the more you use it the more you may qualify for products you could be interested in using in your life based on your activity on that site and any other you choose to link to the profile.  Check it out HERE.

Co-Wash Day Aborted, Yeah Pizza

So I went to work, did my thing which was fine.  I planned on coming straight home and doing my hair but that didn't happen because I was hungry and tired.  And before I looked up good it was five and then it was six and my desire to make dinner kicked in.  Plus apparently it's national sausage pizza day and let's just say I LOVE sausage pizza.  Mom was already planning to make spaghetti so we shall have both tonight and then have lots of leftovers tomorrow unless I turn into a hungry hungry hippo and ingest everything in a two mile radius.  Oh and I got an after hours call from first interview.  For those of you unfamiliar with colleges if someone calls you after five their time it is usually so you can't call them back in case they miss you lol.  In a moment of relief I was not offered the position, at least not right now they may contact me again if they so desire but for now they didn't like me or the other person.  I know where I wanted to end up in theory (I don't have an actual location in mind yet lol) but I know it wasn't there.  Anyhoo, in honor of national sausage pizza day I'll be using the Italian sausage recipe from Aaron McCargo Jr. Click below for the yummy goodness.

Grilled Sausage Pizza

UPDATE Photos of part of dinner for tonight.  My contribution were the sausage from scratch and creating each of our pizzas.  Mine was pepperoni and sausage and mom's was the same with grilled chicken as well.

So it's official....

I am just getting in and winding down from my first night in the classroom since 2004, yeah it's been a while, and I'm reflecting on the whole thing.  I managed to keep all of them involved and in the room the whole four hours.  Mentor seemed happy and impressed.  I think I'm going to mix up a few things based on her input and still need to work out class in a few weeks since it will be Halloween and several of them have kids they want to take trick or treating.  Considering how the day started and how I wasn't really at a 100 percent when class started I'm happy with myself as well.  But it confirmed something I had been wondering about.  I miss teaching and I think I'm good at it.  Short of the ice breaker that couldn't go off as planned do to space issues it went well and I enjoyed myself.  I'm late for one teaching position application but I think I'm going to reach out just in case.  It would get me back to the family and doing something I might enjoy too.  It is on a conservative/religious campus but I think it would be worth it.  I loved it, it was great lol.  Tomorrow is co-wash day as long as I don't get sick in the process of the day.  All right it's time for more relaxing so I can get some sleep.

Totally Playing Hookie and Class Hasn't Started Yet

I watched The Voice cause I have to, I really have to my luscious husband to be if we ever meet cause he's gorgeous and wonderful would miss me loving him through the tv.  I watched Go On cause it's hilarious.  I'm semi watching The New Normal because it's cute sometimes.  But what I'm not doing is prepping for class but I'm basically ready for that I just need to copy the slides onto a jump drive and plan my quiz which shouldn't take too long.  I sent my nieces a box and it got there MUCH sooner than expected so I'm just waiting to hear them squeal about what's in it.  I love small humans.  Oh and I must say that even though I had to make a few substitutions because I didn't have enough paprika on hand and there was something else I was missing but regardless I LOVE Joelen over at What's Cookin Chicago for her Creole Fried Chicken recipe.  I loved it, the buttermilk marinade and seasonings were fabulous.  Soaking in the buttermilk takes at least four hours so be prepared for that but oh my goodness the chicken is so delicious it's out of control. 

Oh and I got some of the Burlesque nail polish today.  The photos aren't great but you can see the colors.  I love the thumb and my ring finger, the index is cute but the orange and gold haven't grown on me yet.

Managed to get a wash in after all

I was going to skip wash day since I had co washed on Thursday.  At most, I figured I'd wash tomorrow night or co wash again but I suddenly remembered it's been quite some time since I last clarified my hair.  I didn't prepoo because I decided kind of spur of the moment to take care of my hair.  I used my Carol's Daughter Rosemary Mint clarifying shampoo and then followed up with my normal wash day routine which you can see under the Current Regimen page.  It took a little longer than I planned because I got dizzy and had to sit down for a while.  Hair loss was minimal for the amount of curl that was in my hair lol.  Detangled with little effort and was rolled up not too long after 6 so that was good.  I found some Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship Split Ender leave in conditioner at Big Lots that I added for today and will test it out for the next month to see how it impacts my hair.  It didn't feel that heavy so that's good.  In light of some of the horror stories I've heard about recent trims other people have had I'm going to try to keep paying good attention to my hair and be polite with it between now and the next relaxer.  I also need to spend some time on youtube (yes I know I've said that before) trying to figure out what to do with it that doesn't put curl in my hair but also keeps my hair off my shoulders.  It's still weird to even see it there I swear lol.  But I'm glad I got it there with help from the best stylist EVER lol.  I should have taken a photo when my hair was detangled but I was feeling quite lazy.  Back to reading for class lol.  See ya

It's Still Cold Inside too

I knew there was something I was forgetting to tell you yesterday.  My teeny bopper show ended last night.  Of course it wrapped up all the loose ends and had a mostly happy ending for the most central characters and the bad guys got their comeuppance or redemption or whatever.  Telenovelas tend to not have sequels so I doubt this will continue into a new season since this was based on a telenovela.  I'm not sure where the drama would be now.  Main characters are off living their rock star dream and have fallen in love.  Their parents have also fallen in love which could be slightly creepy but they managed to not go there with it.  The managers who had a weird chemistry together are now both single and you are left to imagine what will happen there.  The pseudo criminal has been cleared of the most serious charges and is marrying his pregnant girlfriend.  His sister/cousin (if you really want to know ask and I'll explain but otherwise just go with it lol) has found a job in film also going into her dream life and is in love with a nerdy but sweet boy who also loves her.  Their parents continue to be uptight and preachy but everyone is happy there too.  The batshit crazy lady confessed to the serious crime so the pseudo criminal could marry the pregnant girlfriend.

Baby It's Cold Outside

The weather has taken a decidedly fall turn.  Not sure if it will stay that way but I tried to get mom to turn on the heat last night to no avail.  This morning however it's 64 degrees in the house and she's more willing to at least knock the chill out of the air.  The heat is only at 67 and that's usually enough for both of us to feel comfortable so we'll see how it goes from there.  She's trying to cover me up like when I was an infant so if I disappear it's because I'm sweat to death from the blankets and robes and what not.

Co-Wash Day and Sickness--do over lol

Okay today started off quite literally with hacking.  I couldn't breathe which isn't out of the ordinary with the weather being what it is and my allergies developing into what they are.  But after that it quickly went down hill.  I started dry heaving after my shower before other contents of my body decided to join it.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it out to work at all but after making sure the connection was stable for the video interview and setting up information for the class I am preparing to teach I gave it a go.  I swear my clients know when I feel like crap cause they do too and don't want to talk.  I ended up seeing a few of them, running to the grocery store to get a few things and the Cinderella dvd and banks for my nieces (gift set including blu ray/dvd and the bank is 22.96 in store at Walmart--which was cheaper than online and no shipping ha!).  I grabbed lunch, ate and passed out afterwards.  Well tried to, my mother does not seem to sense when I feel bad and continually knocks on the door for little things.  I kept saying get up so I could wash my hair and look presentable tomorrow lol.  It didn't happen till 5 but I did get up, used my As I Am Coconut Co-Wash and the rest of my conditioner line up and remembered to try my Shea Moisture Curly Coconut whatchamacallit on my hair too.  Hair was rolled up and ready to go by 6:15 which is only 15 minutes outside of my if it's not done by this time just get under the dryer rule.  So hopefully I'm presentable tomorrow morning and I can try to see the clients I missed today even though Fridays seem to be outing central so we'll see on that.  Lost more hair than I'd like during detangling but it's again my fault for not properly tending to it during the week.  I'll try to do better on that even though my hair seems to be okay right now.  Everyone have a great weekend if I don't post before then.

P.S. I am rarely plagued with girly moments.  I was talking about this earlier at work with someone who wanted to make sure she wasn't crazy lol and neither of us invest in the whole gotta get gussied up to be more girly thing.  And I hold to that with few exceptions.  Vintage, as I've mentioned, is my like epitome of all things girly when done well and I got sucked into one of my favorite movies shortly after I posted this.  I LOVE Burlesque so much that I have the cd and the dvd cause I must watch Stanley Tucci, Cher and Christina cause I LOVE them.  Well when looking for a new photo for another blog I maintain I found out that they released (they being OPI) nail polish to go along with the movie.  Anyone familiar with OPI knows they move on to the next thing ASAP and these were released a while ago.  I wanted to see a few of the shades closer up because they looked like they were in the range of things I'd wear and of course in my impulsive girlish lust they were totally colors I'd love.  Yeah too bad totally discontinued and then through the power of google (what did we do before google?) I found several shades, some in four packs, on eBay of course.  Outside of investing in my hair it's the one purchase I can say was made because it made me go oooohhh yeah in that way that we women do when we find something that hits deep in the center of our girl goo lol.  After they arrive I'll take photos and let you see my Burlesque OPI collection.  Surprisingly not as expensive as I thought they'd be considering they were OPI but two sets are mini bottles to let you try the shades which is good because there are only two for sure I'd love love love in each four pack and then two others I had to have.  If the other four impress I may go searching for full size bottles of them.  K I'm done and I'm back to being my normal tom boy self.

blah blah blah

Work week started off well, hit the inevitable crash of not enough folks to see that can screw up my mood.  I'll go back out in the morning and try again.  Should be a packed day, maybe lol.  Need to get excited as I have another phone interview on Friday with a different school that I applied to and thought I really wasn't being considered for since it had taken so long to hear back.  It's much closer to my family and in a city I'm at least vaguely familiar with.  I sent out a thank you card to my former coworkers for the gift they sent even though it's really not my style and I'm trying to be grateful and think of things I could use it for lol.  I'm feeling some kind of way about people I worked with for seven years not having a better idea of what to get me if you had to get me anything at all.  I'm back on good aunt duty though.  I will be stopping by Wal-mart or Best Buy soon to grab the latest Disney re-release so that they can watch Cinderella.  And since I saw it I have to get the coin bank for each of them.  If I can't buy it separate I'll just have to send the extra movie to someone else.  Regardless I like sending reusable gifts to the cutie pies.  I need to update the blog I created for them more too so they can see whatever random silliness I'm up to.  Maybe I'll post the photos of my next roller set day ha so they can see my multicolored head.  And I've confirmed my pay dates for my class, as well as taken care of a few other things to get ready for next week.  It should be fun and if it's not then oh well lol it's only five weeks and I would have my life back at the beginning of November and an extra check right before Thanksgiving.  And who knows what my plans will be then.  I feel oddly unsettled but strangely okay with that.  Hair photos will come soon as I wash again, I'm surprised how well this flexiset is holding up but I'm not complaining either. 

Just a Quickie: Miss Jessie's Coupon

Hey everyone here's a coupon for Miss Jessie's.  You can take 5 dollars off any 20 dollar order.

http://missjessies.com/invite?ref=MJ442396