Baby It's 10 AM & I haven't slept again

This insomnia is so annoying.  I sleep great for a few days and then boom back in the middle of not sleeping fits.  And then I get tired in the middle of the day and if I fall asleep I'm not waking up until dinner time which just continues the overnight wakefulness crap.  Anyhoo, it's given me a good chance to read a bunch of blogs and watch more weird movies.  I tried to read A Casual Vacancy because the dusk jacket seemed very interesting.  Couldn't make it a page in before I got bored and it could have been because I was all read out after speeding through all the Hunger Games books.  Review of those will be posted in here cause yeah I keep forgetting.

In preparation for the move, we've been cleaning and dumping things.  I swear I saw mouse poop in a corner but haven't seen a mouse.  While I will stomp a bug in a heart beat, furry things that move but shouldn't be in my house creep me out.  I'm using a bunch of trap free repelling things right now even though I did buy traps I just don't want to use them.  I don't want the little rodent to die I just want it to leave before I do.  Oh and mom is on a tear with sorting things to keep and sell and has found a bunch of old things that I really thought were lost.  Like this bedspread that she made for me when I was like 6 or 7.  She couldn't find Orange Blossom who was my favorite and she didn't really like the ones that were available in the other characters so she really did outfit my poster bed with valances, dust ruffles and the aforementioned bedspread.  It's a little too beat up for me to hop I can use with my own daughter one day but I'm going to try to have the center salvaged and made into a center piece of a blanket.  Isn't it cute?  Okay gonna go back to surfing the net and looking at things I'm sorting through (oh yeah and prepooing my hair).  Book review is after the jump.

What do tornado warnings and insomnia have in common?

Honestly not a flipping thing.  Except I was up a bit after my workout and then decided my hair was feeling gooey from the sweat so I'd washed it.  Actually I used a clarifying shampoo first to get rid of build up and then was doing my air dry when the phone rang.  Yeah not my cell phone which could have been random scary things but the house phone which is NEVER good.  Turns out it was just the city warning us that the storm headed our way could produce tornadoes.  The air dry kept going at that point because I was preparing to hide and/or flee the domicile if necessary.  Turns out wasn't necessary as the warning ended without any issues.  Flash flood warning replaced it and now even that is tapering off.  What I discovered while I was waiting is that the back of my hair is doing the weird breaking thing again but only in the mid section again.  The hair from my crown to about mid way down is growing just fine and is covering up that spot.  There feels like there is random new growth there so I'm happy about that especially since for a second it felt like knots--nope super curly hair growing in strong.  Since I got my second wind with the working out and washing my hair as needed not just as scheduled I'm going to be more diligent about nursing that area like I did the front right edge after it broke off as it's growing back in nicely and has almost covered all the hair that was lost.  The back always requires more effort and since I would seriously have a mild heart attack (ok maybe not) if I had to cut the sides I will just recommit to doing a better job.

I didn't take any before or after pictures since it was spur of the moment and then yeah storming lol.  But I did take a photo of the hair loss during detangling because virtually none was lost in the shower.  Here's the photo.

And minor miracle--had a great day with mom after crappy conversations with a mover.  But that's why I started talking to her so I guess I can't complain too much.  We actually talked some things through and if she really embraces what she said she would then we all might be headed on a good path.  Yeah crappy mover guy.  And after that we remade the dinner from last night cause she loved it.  And then we watched Tombstone cause she had never seen it with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and she fell in love with him before it was over.  Val is seriously amazing in Tombstone so if you haven't seen it PLEASE WATCH IT.  After you watch it tell me how you like it and just how much you want to jump 1993 Val Kilmer's bones.  Ahhh, you're no daisy at all if you don't lol.

The workout was good.  I really am liking the boxing.  Good full body workout and I get to destroy a punching bag.  Was a good day overall.  Now it's time to watch The Hunger Games since I ravished the books.  I still haven't put up my review.  I will soon.

Oh and the recipe is for a Garlicky Lemony Shrimp.  Super easy.

Try this quick way to make the best shrimp.

Melt a stick of butter in the pan. Slice one lemon and layer it on top of the butter. Put down fresh shrimp, then sprinkle one pack of dried Italian seasoning. Put in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 min. Best Shrimp you will EVER taste:)

Share this to your wall and you'll always know where to find it: www.facebook.com/SharonsPamperedChefConnection

Working Out is Hard to Do....... & So Are Two Strand Twists

You should definitely sing the title of this post to the tune of Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.  And after you're done you can keep reading.  I get to officially update the workout count today and I need to get back to the daily workout.  I always feel better afterwards as I mentioned and this other thing happens lately that I completely forgot about in the stress and hubbub of deciding on which job to take and what to do if a shinier opportunity presented itself.  Even though every fiber in my being kept me lazy and my sleep cycle is still out of whack (clearly which is why this post is going up at 5:30 in the morning) I ran a few errands and got my official offer letter from my new job today.  I ran to the library and got a few books as well as returning the final two books of the Hunger Games series.  The books were great even though the third was uneven and felt slow to me in comparison to the first two but I'll save that for another post.  Part of my library run was to grab a book of stories that I was hoping were like the ones my father told my younger brother and I when we were little.  They fascinated us and we could only remember snippets of them when we tried to compare notes.  After asking one more time if anyone knew anything about the bits and pieces I could recall I got lucky.  Turns out they really were African folk tales and there are a LOT of them.  The main character is Anansi the Spider who is periodically an insect, man, or anything else as the story dictates and depending on which author's interpretation you end up with.  There are also stories with Ananse which seems like it would be a subtle difference but that's the volume I got from the library and how Anansi got stories to the world is totally different so I went with the version closest to the one I remembered and sent some to my nieces and got a few for me too.  They are kind of like Aesop's fables but with more settings in Africa and told from a slightly different tack.  LOVED them and I hope my nieces will too.  Anansi and the Box of Stories is the one I heard all the time in case you're interested.  You can find a few of the stories online too if you have small people you want to impress as you commit the somewhat short moral tales to memory and whip them out like you are the best thing ever.

I also ran to the grocery store and got some lemons for a recipe I saw on facebook that looks super simple and should go well with some pasta or something maybe a nice salad.  Not sure on that but as my two weeks of lazy only netted one pound weight gain I'm going to try to keep it light up and up the working out again to see if I can turn my mostly better eating habits and combination of working out to weight loss.   I have to say though I need some different work out socks or supportive thin shoes.  I got blisters on the balls of both of my feet from the working out.  They just starting peeling and right now they feel like they are kind of on fire which isn't particularly helpful.  Beyond that I feel great.  I figured out that I can do more of my own random stepping around the board and it still count.  Actually when I did the side to side steps and front to back instead of just up and down I moved faster.  It ended up meaning a little more than 100 steps greater than my normal twenty minute frame and was 2152 today.  A little more than 100 steps a minute so I'm happy with that too.  And the rhythm boxing which somewhat frustrates me also starts and immediate burn and toning around my waist.  Even if I don't do the step everyday I may need to figure out a way to keep that up.

I did twist my hair yesterday after I washed it.  I think my hair wants more twists than the four I tried to do and doesn't really like the flexi rod for the ends.  I may pin curl them next time because I keep ending up with semi wavy hair with really flipped ends.  The twists that were so well defined before were with assistance.  I need to work on nailing that on my own for when I have spur of the moment wash sessions.  My hair feels good and there wasn't much in the way of hair loss in the shower or during the detangle.  Just need to make sure I moisturize and seal it later on and then pin up my ends.

Have a good one everyone!

Mid Week--sorta--Co-Wash Day

I haven't routinely co-washed my hair in a while.  But after reading Jeni's post @ Just Grow Already about doing a mid week deep condition it occurred to me that my hair was getting dryer than normal and needed some love.  I didn't prepoo cause it was a spontaneous decision but my hair feels good.  I didn't roller set it at all.  I tied down the edges and I'm letting it air dry right now.  I don't really have anywhere to go for a while so I can let it take it's time.  I'll roll up the ends slightly before bed but that's about it.

It's time to start packing too--well not right now but soon because I took the teaching position I was offered and will be moving there by July.  I'm trying to figure out how to squeeze in a visit to see my brother before I start working but after checking some travel times between here and there it looks like they'd be there with my things faster than I was expecting.  We'll see on that.  Okay nothing else to tell you.  I'm starting next phase of career soon. 

Wash Day and Edge Update

So I returned to my Sunday wash day and all was right with the universe.  Later in the week just feels off even though I'm not working right now.  I was horrible to my hair last week and it made it know with the amount of hair that shed during the shower and detangling (I'll share those in a minute) since I had it in a flexi set and really didn't do much of anything to it at all last week.  Shame on me, I've already done better this week even with the crazy weather and more insomnia than you can shake a stick at.  Wash day was uneventful, prepoo lasted a few hours, wash is actually getting more streamlined and then after air drying a bit I worked through my hair, added my leave ins and flexi set my hair again.  By Wednesday or Thursday it will either be down totally or washed again so we have no more week long tangles to deal with.

Looking at my edges in side by sides has shown some growth--not massively overflowing growth but considering the weather changes, traveling, and admitted off week I think it's decent for a month and proves my hair is not trying to abandon me it was just mad at my disinterest.  Back to the oils and conditioners on the regular.  Enjoy the photos.

 Edges Shot--starting to fill in slowly but surely

 Hair loss after 3 comb detangle, hair was pissed--so was I

Hair tangles that said bye bye in the shower

Hair after all the detangling, it was late and I didn't want to set up the length check shot

Shabby Apple Love

Here's a quickie to tell you about Shabby Apple's new line.  You know I adore Shabby Apple and if I can stay on my fitness routine I will be able to slide more comfortably into more of their yummy clothes.  They are delicate and feminine and rock so hard.  Please check out the new line and grab as much as you can.  Oh and right now they are running a sale.  Buy one dress from the line and get a second for 40 percent off.  Run if you have the funds and then let me live vicariously through your purchases.

Why Raising a 61 Year Old is Hard or I Wish I had money for shoes

I know I've mentioned that mom lives with me and I think I mentioned why.  Regardless, today after I got up early and reached out to the job site about what I would need in order to take the position I got a knock on my door.  My mother was sad and accusatory because my sister in law had reached out about her lack of visiting and was very upset.  They know my mother is difficult at times but I don't think they fully understand that her emotionally maturity level is probably around the same point as their kids.  If she can't get what she wants how she wants it then she doesn't want it and won't go to whatever it is.  I get why they are upset, I need a break from her and would be happy for her to spend more time with her grand kids.  I've said as much but every year post surgery she gets more and more obstinate about what she is willing to tolerate and how long she is willing to visit if I won't be there.  These moments make me miss dad all the more because he LOVED kids and would be all over the grandfather thing. Oh well.

I really want these shoes but either can't find them in my size or can't find them without paying 60 bucks on them--yeah can't do that for Oxfords I saw in Marshall's for 16 bucks.  So if you see a sale or the other pair in a size 9 please let me know.

Late night meandering of my very sad brain

God I really hate when I smile sometimes.  I turn into a Blasian girl with no open eyes whatsoever.  Anyway this is what my hair looked like after I took it down from the flexi-rods.  I parted it a bit more than normal and then just finger combed it out.  After a week of stalling I think I'm going to take the job that was offered so I'll be moving sometime over the next few months I guess.  I made a pro and con list and seriously they were dead even really but waiting here hoping one of the other teaching positions comes through seems silly.  If I move when  I think I will I would have been here eight years.  That was partially because I thought I would be teaching another class that got pulled from my schedule at some point yesterday which I seriously wouldn't have minded but my class that just ended saw their upcoming schedule with me on it and will be asking me what happened.  Which I really can't tell them more than I know.  Classes were merged and I was low man on the totem pole.  So I could leave earlier I guess it really just depends on how long it takes me to find a place that I can afford and has enough space for me and mom.

I'm in a funk about leaving though.  I have really good friends and things aren't really spread out and as is my nature I love the kids I've been teaching the last six months since I've had them in a rush.  It was time for this chapter to end I know there's not a lot for me to do save go into private practice which can be feast or famine and even the one interview I had with that hasn't panned out into anything substantial.  And honestly I'm scared.  What if I'm only good at teaching because it's five weeks and not a full semester?  What if I suck when left to my own devices?  What if I hate the area after I get there?  What if that whole missing my family thing sucks more than I think it will?  I mean I miss them desperately now as it is.  And right now I'm really missing my dad.  No move will take care of that but this kind of decision is something I would talk over with him and he would give me great advice and I would take it and everything would be okay.  I haven't been able to have those discussions since 2001 and mom just says do whatever will make you happy and I guess that's the other issue.  Lots of things are making me happy but nothing is keeping me that way.  I'm tired and moody and stressed and afraid and scatter brained.  I jump from job searching to cooking to crocheting (which I haven't picked up since the first night) to working out to adoption.  All of those have given me moments of joy and then I'm back in the valley.  

I incorrectly assumed my life would be about more than work and my hair and trying to shed weight in my late thirties and that's also depressing as hell.  I know it will get better.  Some time after we finish negotiating I'll be happy to see friends.  Figure out how to see my brother before I get moved or after I get settled.  I already know what I need to do to get licensed even though I can't do anything with that until I get there because I can only do part of it in the state.  I wish I was excited.  I think I was excited when I took the job out of internship.  Not about the area so much but about the possibilities.  And I guess those intrigue me now from a different end of the professional spectrum but nearly a decade after the start of my internship I don't feel anymore settled in my professional identity as I did before I got there.

I just feel out of sorts and as such the diet and workout crashed and burned this week.  I'm used to two weeks or longer for job offers to be made and I really have been wanting to get back closer to family.  Those jobs haven't been interested in me the same way I've been interested in them so I guess that means it's not time to be there yet.  I really wish that wasn't the case but a golden opportunity has been handed to me and I really shouldn't keep looking at it like it's trying to bite me in the proverbial butt.  I need to get some where and start my research up again.  I need to really see if my teaching philosophy plays out with traditional age, campus based students.  I need to see if I really can be an asset to a campus when I'm not tethered to a clock in the same way.  I know this can be a good thing I just need to get on with the letting go.

On the upsides: McAfee tech support was free and friendly and surprisingly helpful today.  Took about twenty minutes and a reinstall of the software that started bugging after an update but all is good now.  I watched Snow White and the Hunstman which was better than I thought it would be.  Kristen Stewart almost felt like an afterthought cause she really didn't get to talk all that much.  I'm guessing that will be different in part two since its underway.  Chris Hemsworth oh he's just delicious and Charlize Theron was great as the Evil Queen.  I saw Sparkle a few nights ago, don't know if I mentioned that or not, it has no resemblance to the original movie short of the number of main characters--and that's mostly--and the songs felt decidedly different but the two at the end were quite good.  I used my freegal downloads from the library for those.  If your library has freegal use it.  It's great.

At least my hair is cute lol.  See ya later.

Rental Cars, Workouts & More randomness

Being unemployed mostly has left me with a crap ton of free time on my hands.  It's why I've been able to go on all these interviews recently unencumbered though and looks like that as of now I have a job if I want it.  I was going somewhere with that.  Oh yes.  I've been semi panicked about finances even though I knew I could potentially file for unemployment or tap my 401K which my mother was freaking out about.  However, I remember telling an interview person that I really wasn't stressed about the money thing right now because I figured out I was a lot cheaper to keep than I thought.  And my last bank statement which I never really look at proved it.  Even though I made next to nothing last month I only ended up spending a few hundred bucks more than I took in.  That made me feel much better about my fiscal responsibility.  I will still probably have to raid the 401K a tiny bit for moving expenses even though some of that will come back to me depending on which job I take.  Hell there's only one offer right now so let me not go pretending I'm big balling lol.  I wish some of the jobs closer to family were posted sooner than they were but I knew it was possible that nothing would come through that way.  That sucks for me cause really if I could have gotten one a few hours from my brother that was also a good fit for me I would have jumped on it.  Nieces could have watched Disney movies with me and I could have dropped mom off for extended visits when she started acting crazy lol.

During the last interview I got a Toyota Yaris to drive.  Let me just say it felt like I was driving a turtle even though it got great mileage.  It was small enough that I could it rock it on my own when it got semi stuck in the snow in the parking lot lol.  Sound system was buggy to figure out and because it's one of the rentals with nothing automatic except the transmission I ended up breaking a nail while trying to adjust the stupid steering wheel.  I was very glad to turn it in.

I was able to sneak in another workout before the end of the month.  20 minutes of free step (2083 steps) while watching The Big Bang Theory and Futurama.  Then I did 12 minutes of rhythmic boxing.  Let me just say that sweating that much is crazy but it also feels good.  Like I'm getting rid of a bunch of toxins and icky things as the sweat rolls down my face and back.  And thank HEAVENS for those sports bras.  My daily bras aren't getting taxed and icky.  We'll see if I can keep it up and make it necessary to get clothes altered.  Please please please.  Plus I at least want to be toned before the pinup photo shoot that I am still shooting for in December.

Got a call from the ex.  It was weird and awkward and I felt bad for not being more warm and fuzzy but I'm kind of in what do you want mode instead of yes let's get back together mode.  Ehh we'll see.  I am in the process of prepooing my hair.  I started grading papers, then I had dinner, then I worked out so no washing tonight.  Hopefully no one needs anything from me early in the morning.  Okay I'm done rambling now.  I'll try to post photos when I'm all done.

P.S.  If you have ever wanted to try the Roots Only applicator bottle Jeni @ Just Grow Already is running a giveaway now for four bottles--I think that means four winners.  I already have two so I'm not entering.  And Nakia @ Vogue & Vintage is giving away a gift card to Shabby Apple which I love and want to win but it's rude not to share.