A New Do and the Wedding Shoes

This is a long one but it makes up for the month since my last post... it will be worth it!

So...... There was to be a wedding!  A wedding that would have my son getting married!   To  very special young lady!  I had the dress ordered, and as the date drew near I talked with my mom about what to do with my darn hair!  It's just weird - it never does what I'd like it to do! I slso do not really try very hard to do things with it - I most of the time do not care about my hair!

 

Above is my usual hair!  Hot mess not quite a brown football helmet!

She said "I am giving a "Love You Gift" card for you at The Hair and Color Bar in Wasilla.  You will go and get your hair done before the wedding!"

In theory, this is so awesome it brought me to tears!  In reality, I also cried a little with anxiety about going to the hairdresser!  I have some issues!  I also had to go shoe shopping at some point in time and get just the right shoes to go with said dress!  I also do not love shopping unless it is at a fabric store!

But Mom said she had seen a lot of ladies coming out of there when she was waiting for one of my neices (pre driver status days) to get done working and there "was never anyone who came out of there who wasn't beautiful!"

The dress arrived and I made the hair appointment and prepped to go shoe shopping too!  The making of the appointment was interesting - I use pretty generic shampoo and conditioner and I dont own a blow dryer, straightener, or curling iron and I have not had my hair professionally done for about 20 years!  I have been cutting my own hair for most of that time - literally when Im sewing and hair falls and is in my way - I grab those paper scissors and cut it off and in the garbage it goes!  Totally not kidding! The appointment application asks lots of questions about your "hair regimen".  I do not have one!

I know one of the hair professionals at the Hair and Color Bar but of course she was to be out of town until after the wedding so I messaged her and asked who I should go to as an anxiety ridden self hair cutter?  She said - Stephanie all day long!  So I booked with Stephanie.....

Day of the appointment - I did some housework and then went and visited my father in law for a bit and then I went shoe shopping - had the day all planned out so I couldnt freak out and cancel any of the things!  Famous Footwear has Birkenstocks and that is what I wanted for the wedding shoes - they can be kind of fancy but still work at work too!  Double win!

Shoe shopping took a little longer than I thought it would, there was a young lady trying to find her perfect pair of Crocs, and a couple who were beach shoe shopping and I couldnt find exactly the right thing either until I only had about 15 minutes to get across traffic, through a few stoplights and up a hill to the hair appointment.  So ..... I rushed us - me and the shoe clerk.  She opened the box, said "left, right, 41, 41 and same color!  Great!" Rang me up and away I went - with the reciept in the box.  (Make note that we opened the box during this transaction at least twice - it will be important later).

I made it to the place - Hair and Color Bar - tucked into the mall in between the Geico offices and the Northern Knives store.  Took a few minutes to get ready to go in - "everything will be ok- everything will be ok!"

And Im in!  Smiling and greeted kindly by a very lovely receptionist.  Checked in and told Stephanie will be right with me.  "Everything will be OK!"  

The before picture - in the chair and ready to do the hard thing that is also very exciting!

They offer you tea and water and here I am with Stephanie behind me uptting the "fun Foil" in my hair to get me "sun kissed highlights" started! Notice that both of us are smiling!  I very much liked the idea of "sun kissed highlights"  I want something seriously low maintenance, and not trying to cover up my grey, but just to have it be a little brighter and look good for the wedding!  They ask you when you make the appointment if you will committ to having an "hair update" at least every 6 months - I said "I dont know when Ill be able to do this again so lets just see how today goes?"  She was good with that - having seen my level of anxiety coming in the door!

Drinking my tea and reading a real paper book while waiting fot the "fun Foil" to do its thing!

When Stephanie had started the whole process, she asked me what it looked like when I look in the mirror and brush my hair?  I know I had a confused look on my face and I said "I don't look in the mirror - I just brush my hair and go out the door!"  Stephanie is familiar with my story as the lady I know who works there is also a loss mother and had told her some of the things.  Apparently, not looking in the mirror is a trauma response - for various reasons - I had not realized that I didn't often look at myself in the mirror - rarely ever....

Stephanie gently said "I know you want to look good for your sons wedding, that is the whole reason you are here today.  Part of self care is looking in the mirror to brush your hair so that on the day of the wedding you will know what to d and how to make it look the way you want!  I need you to start looking in the mirror!"  Then she showed me how she was brushing it.

Done!  I love it!  Stephanie was amazing, gentle, kind and didn't berate me for the uneven levels in my hair from cuttin it myself.  She just fixed them, and showed me how great getting your hair done can be!  As I was leaving I said to her "Stephanie - I would do this again!"

Cool Mo Lis in the car headed home with a beautiful new do and some confidence (along with shampoo and conditioner) that I can manage my hair for the wedding and for all the days really!

Once I got home I was exhausted, but happy!  Until I opened th box with the shoes to make sure they really did go with the dress and.....

TaDa!  Two different shoes in the box!  Yes!  The box we opened at the counter twice!  Holy Crap!  I have to go back to the store!

The next morning I toodled back, and when the clerk asked if I was returning or exchanging I said "Neither, I just need two of the same shoes in my box please!?"

The clerk sort of freaked out - "What if the other pair of shoes got sold too and they dont return them in time for the wedding!?"  I did not freak out - "Then we will find another pair that will work for me!"

It took us 40 minutes and the clerk and the store manager and anyone else who would jump in to help - but finally..... 

TADA!  towo same shoes that fit me in the same box!  Yay! 

Here they are on - perfect with my dress and ready for the wedding!

Stay tuned for the wedding post - coming up sooner that I have been doing - its all a long story!

I hope you have people who love you enough to help you get your hair done when you are afraid to and shoe people who care to get you two shoes in one box!

Blessed Be!

Everything I need to save your life!

A few months ago I had occaision to have a little visit with my sister at her office- she runs the local homeless shelter - its really much more than that - its a training center, a gatering place and they have a daily supper that everyone is welcome to and the staff and the youth sit down and have dinner conversations "family style"! Its really amazing and they do so much more than I can include here without loosing sight of the jist of this post. Check out the program HERE AT MYHOUSE

Anyhoo.... I digress, and she rarely gets to have a spare minute so when I get to say hi to here there its a treat!  We started talking about purses and how I have a giant purse - Chelle only carries a wallet.  The roles used to be reversed and I only carried a wallet and she had a giant bag.  High school times.

This is my bag.  It is about 40 pounds worth and has everything from chargers and cough drops to water bottle, first aid kit and also a sewing kit, Narcan and some quarters for a load of laundry or a newspaper!  We laughed about it for a minute and she said - "I dont need a giant bag - I can get anything I need in about 5 minutes at a store or borrow from a neighbor!"  I said "Everything I need to save your life is in that bag!"

 

She paused for just a second and then asked "Why would you need to carry all that with you?  Whose life is in danger?"  I had not thought about it for a while but the life I want to save is the life I missed saving almost 8 years ago.  This giant bag of crap is a trauma response to the death of my son, Rye.  If I have everything I need to save a life, I wont miss it the next time around - no matter who it is!  There is a comfort in knowing that.  There is little comfort in carrying that much crap around though.  It can be painful!  It also has to have "enough" pens and paper!  I have no idea how much exactly "enough" is though!

I also have some household hoarding that I am dealing with too (see above grocery bag that is half full of filled water bottles).  Books too - lots and lots of books!

I am working through it and have abandoned the giant bag for now in favor of a wallet that holds a lot of stuff but weighs only about 2 pounds!  It has been freeing and epiphanous all at the same time.  I am looking around at all the piles and begining to go through some of them - downsizing a lot of them and creating more manageable space.  Its a good thing and it might save a life anyway!

I hope that you have all that you need to save a life and that you can carry it all in a big heart and a small sack!

Blessed Be!

An Eggs-cellent Storage Plan - Water Glassed "Limed" eggs

Every once in a while a brilliant idea hits me and sticks! Such is the case with the plethora of eggs I ended up with during a spell in December!  I had asked for unwashed eggs from one of my "egg dealers" and they provided an 18 pack along with an 18 pack of washed ones for us to eat!

The unwashed ones I wanted so that I could try "Water Glassing Eggs" aka "Lime Eggs".  I had been hearing about it for a while and decided to check it out.

Lisa Bass at The Farm House On Boone has great directions and advice for this!

It takes Pickling lime, filtered water, a great glass jar and unwashed eggs!  Simple!  When I say unwashed eggs they are eggs that have not had the "bloom" taken off them by washing them in any solution - straight outta the chicken is what you want!  I did wipe off a few bits of feather or dirt with a tissue - very gently so as not to remove the bloom.  Seems to have worked fine but the cleaner the egg laying boxes are the cleaner your eggs will be - straight outta the chicken!

Mix 1 oz (6 tsp of my product) Mrs Wages Pickling lime with 1 quart of filtered water and stir it in to incorporate it.  It doesn't dissolve into the water - it will look cloudy or milky - no worries - still good!  I used filtered water out of my fridge filter - mind doesn't make cold water - its basically filtered room temp water - if yours makes cold water - let it warm up to room temperature before using!

Gently lower the eggs "pointy side down" into the lime water.  My eggs did not stay pointy side down and Im not sure it matters at all?  Just be gentle - I used a long handled wooden spoon to help me lower them into the jar and that worked well.

Once you have a dozen or so eggs in there (I put 18 in this jar to start and they all fit with about 2 inches of the water on top, Im sure it depends on the size of the eggs too) you can seal up the jar.  I just used a Ball lid and ring system for mine.

Here you can see the Mrs Wages Pickling lime bag - I got mine from Amazon but you might be able to find it local too.

Then store the jar in a cool dark place!  Easy peasy!  The label you see here is how I am doing my jars.  This way if something didn't work I can adjust and retry.  I just did another jar of this size today.

The lime on the bottom of the jar is normal and nothing to worry about!  There is still wnough lime inthe water to preserve the eggs!  DO NOT try to tip the jar and mix it in!  You might break one of the eggs and ruin the whole batch!  It wont dissolve in anyway!  The water takes all it needs and leaves the rest on the bottom!

Truuuusssssttttt Mmmmeeeeee! 

So - here we are 4 months later getting ready to use a couple of the glassed eggs to make cookies!  I took out the amount I needed - in this case two.  They smelled and looked fine and the shell didn't really feel "fragile" like I expected.

I started by cracking them into another bowl first just to make sure - didnt want yukky eggs in my batter if this process hadnt worked!

First one and the yolk didnt even break!  Beautiful!  Smells good and looks good!

Second egg - I broke the yolk on this one cracking it but still smelled like an good egg and looks good!

Into the batter bowl they went and made perfect cookies!  They didnt taste funny or make a different dough and no one who tasted one could tell that the eggs had been stored for 4 months in a jar of lime water!

I have not stored eggs for two years yet - I have heard that they can be stored for at least two years - I will keep you posted as I go!  I dont know if you can use the lime water again - I have not been able to discover that.  I have however added eggs to the startup jar and not had any problems with them!

May you be brave enough to try this and blessed enough to have eggs anytime you need them!

Blessed Be in All Things!

 

Ive Been Mugged! In a great way!!!!!

There is a new trend in appreciating coworkers and others who are special in our lives right now - MUG THEM!!!  Sounds horrible I know but it really is a good thing in this case and maybe - might just maybe be life changing - maybe - dare I say it -  even world changing!  

I came to work the other day to this on the door...... an "I've been Mugged" sign!

And to this on my desk...my new drinking "Mug" that says "Never forget the difference you have made!"  I need the mug and the reminder every day as I sometimes struggle (as I have wrtiien about before) to see the purpose for my being here on the planet.  I also need to drink more water during the day!  Double win!

There was also the directions for how to continue the "Mugging" as sort of a pay it forward system - if you are "Mugged" this way you get to "Mug" someone else too!

So much fun and so uplifting to the giver and the getter!

But my favorite part was this, a little note that said - "Check the Culinary fridge for a Saturday morning treat" and this lovely Butterscotch Bubble Bread" ready to go in the oven for a delicious Saturday breakfast with my coffee!

In its own brand new bundt style pan and with all the fixins and directions for baking!

Easy to read and follow for perfect success!

Baked to perfection and ready to flip!

Now we just have to wait a minute for it to release from the pan......

And viola!  Beautiful Butterscotch Bubble Bread Mugging to make my Saturday!

I mugged a couple of people at work with funny mugs, some fresh sourdough bread, and a jar of Honeyberry Jam - easy peasy and it doesnt have to be expensive - just from the heart!

May you be blessed with good friends who Mug you in a good way when you most need it and with the wisdom to know the good you have done, and to spread it around!