Shortcut

We've had a run of hair cuts around the house.  Olivia and Zoe's hair had gotten very long (imagine that).  Zoe's very tender-headed, so she'd cry every time I brushed her hair.  Olivia plays with her hair in her sleep, so it's constantly in knots... so I cut their hair.  It's not perfect and could use a little touch up, but they look fine.  I took Isabelle to get hers evened up, it was still a little wonky from last summer's incident.  And last Sunday, I came home from church to an almost bald husband.  I was feeling a little left out.  ;)

It's been very, very hot here.  105 right now.  I've wanted to cut my  hair really short for a long time, but I've been chicken.  See, I thought it would make my face look fat.  But then I realized, I pull my hair up in a ponytail every single day.  Even in the winter.  I hate my hair on my neck.  So thinking having short hair would make my face fatter than all my hair pulled back made no sense.  Plus, I'm really paranoid that wearing a ponytail all day, everyday, is making my hairline recede a little bit.  I tried to cut bangs in December, but I cut them long and never trimmed them.

So, I bit the bullet.  I made an appointment at the local Paul Mitchell school.  Why the school and not an actual salon?  I was skeptical the first time I went there, but I've loved it so much more than any salon I've been to and it's way less expensive.  The students are watched like hawks and have to get approval from their supervisor before they can touch your head with scissors.  Plus, I get a head massage.  You could almost shave me bald if you give me a head massage.  =)

The girl I saw last time had graduated, so I had to just try my luck again.  The second I saw Omar, I knew I got lucky.  He was quite flamboyant.  I don't mean to be stereotypical, but that particular stereotype has always held true for me.  He was great.  I was totally at ease with him.  He was very odd.... he had bleached blonde hair with a shock of purple and blue up front and smelled just like my grandfather.  He said he was from Mexico and looked about as latino as I do (which is to say not at all).  I really liked him.

I showed him the picture of what I wanted:

Source: listal.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

His supervisor came over and he went over it with her.  She turned and looked at me and said "I need to ask you a personal question.  Are you on your period or are you about to be?  Because we don't want you to leave here crying."  I guess people like to chop their hair off in the midst of PMS angst.  Nevermind the fact that it's blazing hot outside.


My "before" shot.  

She talked me into a deep conditioning treatment and while they were discussing whether or not to do it before or after my cut, she decided to just chop off the bulk of my hair before Omar washed it.  She had about 6" of my hair in her hand and said "there's no going back now!"  Glad I'm not premenstrual.  LOL

I got my head massage (nice!) and then Omar washed my hair.  We opted to do the conditioning treatment after my hair cut.  He went to work.  Apparently, I have awesome hair because I was told by someone at some point that they were passing around the chunk the supervisor cut off and were going to make color swatches with it.  We talked about coloring my hair, and I told Omar I'd consider it at a later date.  I actually hate the color of my hair when the sun bleaches it.  I've never had my hair professionally colored, but it won't hold home hair color, so I'm just not sure.  It's fine now that most of it has been cut out, though.  It took FOREVER (which is fine with me) and we decided to skip the deep conditioning.  He said all the dry hair was cut off anyway.

I had 4 different people cutting on my hair while I was there.  My hair isn't exactly like ol' Kate Beckinsale's up there in the picture... because my  hair gets poofy when it's short.  Normally, I won't let anyone near me with thinning shears or a razor, but I let them do it.  I figure since it's short and I have to keep it maintained that it's worth a shot.  I really liked the end result.  That's very rare for me.  Honestly, I normally am at least a little disappointed when I get my hair cut.

This isn't the best "after" pic, but here you go...



The truck has no AC, so it was about 5000* in there, hence the less-than-happy expression.

Bill is convinced that I'll hate it come tomorrow, and Zoe cried because I "look like a boy."  But I am happy for now.  =) 

The Weekend

Hi there!  It's me... still over hear creatively constipated or something like that. 

Do they make a pill for that?  Probably not.

We've had a fun and busy weekend.  So fun and busy that barely any laundry has been done.  Just the necessities. 

I went to my 5th yoga class Saturday, which means I have to start paying for it now.  That's a bummer, but it will be worth every penny.  I totally love it.  It's weird... I am usually such a self-conscious person and I can't do everything like the instructor, but it doesn't bother me.

Source: community.babycenter.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Actually I don't even feel like the top picture, it's the bottom picture all the way.  But I want to do it and I always mentally feel 100% better when it's over.  I actually pulled out my yoga mat for the first time in who knows how long the other night and did some at home.  I intend to do it again this week.

I even have the kids into it.  They took a little class at the library a week ago and I've found some videos on youtube for them. 


Isabelle in fish pose.

The girls and I went swimming after I got home from yoga.  Between yoga and swimming, I'm not sure there is a single muscle in my body that isn't yelling at me today.  Oddly enough, I enjoy that. And even with making sure we're all doused nicely with sunscreen, I am much more tan than I think I've been in years.  Which means I've been outside much more than normal, and that's a good thing.  Vitamin D therapy =)

Today, after church, we packed up and headed out to pick peaches.  This has been on my mental summer bucket list for a few years, and this is the first time I've crossed it off.



It was hot, though... 100* hot.  So we didn't stay very long.  We let the girls pick most of the peaches, so it seems like we got more not-quite-ripe ones than wonderfully juicy ones.  I dropped a small bag off at my sister's house as an early birthday present, and we had ice cream and grilled peaches for dessert tonight.  Awesome.  I'll probably make a pie and most likely have to freeze some.  Even if I wanted to can some.... I honestly don't have the counter space.  Or storage space.

Hopefully this week will bring creativity.  It's bringing my endodontist appointment for sure tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

A Picture Perfect Day

But I have no pictures.  I didn't think to bring my camera and I even forgot my phone. 

After I got off work, we headed out to the Toltec Mounds.  We've been there before... it's a nice little walk.  But they were closed.  Hmph.  The girls were ready to revolt, so we headed to the closest park, Willow Beach.  Which has no beach.  It's just a fishing pond, really, but so gorgeous. 

We headed to the playground and it was just the perfect temperature in the shade and there was a breeze blowing.  I laid down under a tree in the grass and just relaxed for a little bit.  I've been a bit frazzled lately and have been trying to find my peace.  That was definitely a good place to find it. 

Then we decided to walk around the pond.  It's a good size pond, and well kept.  We walked under a few willows and were greeted by swarms of dragonflies (my favorite animal/insect).  As we rounded the far end and headed back to the van, Bill and the girls decided to go out on a fishing pier to look at the water.  I don't like going out over the water, so I stayed back in the shade and watched.  There was a man fishing with two poles and after a few minutes, he offered to let the girls help him fish.  They were just so excited.  I sat there looking at the awesome blue sky and white puffy clouds... the sun glinting off of the water... the breeze was blowing... my family was having fun.  I couldn't have been much happier at that moment.  I was almost in tears with how perfect it was.

I told Bill that I wish we could just sell everything we have, get an RV, homeschool the kids, and just roam around finding all the perfect spots just like that.  He told me that wasn't very practical... how would we finance this adventure?... but it's still nice to dream about.  No one said dreams had to be practical.

I feel ready for big changes, you know?  I feel like I'm in a rut.  We've been having a really great time so far this summer after I get off work, but I just want more.  And I want less.  I want to just take all the junk in the house and throw it out.  Less toys, less clutter, less mess.  I want to take a week off of work and send Bill and the girls away and just purge and scrub the house.  I want some kind of fresh start (with them, of course). 

I am making one change.  I'm unplugging more from this stupid machine.  I found myself all in a frenzy the other night over some really stupid stuff.  Stuff that doesn't even involve me and I really don't even need to know about.  But checking Facebook all day, you are in other people's heads constantly.  Not to mention that the other night I realized I had literally spent almost 4 hours staring at a screen.  4 hours of my life just wasted.  So I made the decision to step back.  I can check it in the morning and I can have about 30 minutes in the evening on the computer and then I have to go live my life. 

I may not be blogging much, as a result.  Which I haven't been blogging an awful lot lately anyway.    I just need to focus.  Get things done and do something that doesn't get me all worked up for no good reason. 

And with that... I'm going to go read.  =)

Family Fun Day

This summer, I have signed the kids up for Kids Bowl Free.  You get 2 free games every day all summer at your local bowling alley (if they participate, of course).  You do have to pay for shoe rental, but it's still a great deal... games are $3+ per person, per game.  With 3 kids, it racks up quickly.

Today was our first time to go.  The girls have been bowling maybe twice before.  I wasn't really in the mood to bowl, so I sat out this time and let my husband and the girls play.  At first, we couldn't find a ramp (so the kids could push the ball down the ramp instead of trying to throw it), and when we did find one, only Zoe used it.  I'm telling you, it was the slowest game of bowling ever.  We only played one game because that took us an hour!  LOL  The computer tracked the ball speed somehow.  My husband threw the ball about an average of 15mph... the girls 3mph.  I joked that I could have walked to the end and kicked the pins down faster. 

Kids' bowling shoes are much cooler than adults'...

Well, you do what you gotta do.

It's easier in shorts, though.  ;)

It gets boring waiting for the ball to return (Isabelle took this picture while I was in the restroom, I shooed them away from the ball return over and over and over...)

Zoe took care of the ramp herself.  She's a big girl, just not strong enough to get the ball down the aisle.

Final score!  Daddy doesn't bowl too often... he takes a while to warm up.  They were beating him the first half ;)

Evolving idea...

I don't know about you, but once some idea gets stuck in my head, I have to do something about it pretty quickly or it drives me nuts.  So, I'll tell you that this pin has been driving me insane:

Source: craftster.org via Jennifer on Pinterest

This is just so fun and whimsical.  It's been on my brain for weeks. 

Then I saw this on a Little Pink Monster:

Source: littlepinkmonster.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I just knew that this had to happen.  I like the coloring book style of the top one, but since I rarely wear dresses or skirts, this was going to be a kid project for sure.  My plan:  make skirts, draw a picture for the girls to color along the bottom of the skirt.

Monday, I tricked Mr. Bill into going to JoAnn's with me and I grabbed some fabric markers.  Friday, I tricked the girls into going to Hobby Lobby with me, and I bought some fabric.  I am loving 40% and 50% off coupons this summer.  Many times when I'm at the craft store, I am not buying much that will get me more than a few bucks in savings, but these kids' crafting ideas can get a little pricey.

But, you should know I'm all kinds of impatient and couldn't wait for the chance to sit down and cut out and sew 4 skirts.  Yes, 4.  I want to color one, too! Like I said, I was being impatient and I had an extra undershirt from our tie dying, so I thought I should practice a little before working on the actual skirts.

I will say this... ribbed knit is a terrible test fabric.  But I did it, so I'm fairly positive that my skirt idea is going to work out just fine.  Want to see the coloring book tank top?



I think it will definitely look better on smooth cotton.  This was all off the top of my head free-style.  I will probably plan the pictures out more for the skirts.  Probably draw something and trace it onto the fabric.  I considered ombre dying the top blue for the sky, and it's still an idea for the skirts, but it's late and my "yarn fingers" (I have a few fingers that stay dried out and cracked, and it didn't start until I started crocheting, so I blame the yarn) are still blue from tie dying, so I passed for the test shirt.

I'm trying to scheme up as many ideas for the girls as possible.  I need to teach Isabelle something that she can do on her own... something to keep her from spraying whipped cream all over the deck and spraying the grass with purple hair spray.  She's Dennis the Menace in a skirt, I swear.

Looks like puke to me

Our garden is going quite swimmingly.  I picked a 150 lb zucchini last week (maybe not 150, but it was HUGE) and have been coming up with ways to use it up before it goes bad.  I have a few recipes pinned, but there was one that I was just really curious about trying. 

Source: fastpaleo.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

When I actually got around to reading the recipe, I was REALLY curious.  I've heard about the Paleo way of eating... no grains and whatnot... and this is a Paleo recipe.  No flour.  No flour?  How does that work?  So I decided to give it a go.  I was briefly reminded of the black bean brownie disaster I made a while back which tasted and chewed like a tire, so I wasn't entirely convinced you could make brownies with zucchini and almond butter.

I grated the zucchini and added the almond butter (which my girls thought was really good... it didn't taste that different from peanut butter to me).  When I went to get the honey, I remembered that my kids had the bottle outside doing God knows what with it, so I had thrown it away.  I did have agave nectar, so I used that instead.  I mixed it all up and threw it in the pan.  It did not look really promising, let me tell you.



Pretty gross, right?  

So, what happens when you bake that mess?



Brownies.  Kind of.  They're more like cake than brownies, but maybe if I had grated the zucchini finer, it would have been more brownie-like.  And believe it or not, they taste really good.  Very moist.  

I did look up the nutritional value, but I didn't save it to give an accurate report.  But I can tell you they are not a low-cal alternative.  Almond butter is pretty high in calories, so that stands to reason.  They are, however, lower in carbs, by maybe 1/3-1/2.  That's a definite plus.

I was pretty impressed.  The girls liked them, too.  And I only have 56 more lbs of zucchini to do something with now.  ;)

Summer Crafts with the Kids - Tie Dying

It just stands to reason that I would make sure to include some crafty activities for the girls this summer.  They enjoy it and we all know I do. 

Our first big project this summer was tie dying some tank tops.  I was a little unsure how well this would go over, especially with Zoe since she's only 4.  I bought a kit (50% off coupon!) and some little boy undershirts.  All in all, I spent about $16, and for 5 shirts, I figure that's not too bad.  We tie dyed 4 of them and I have something else in mind for the other.  A little experiment for later.

I pulled a few old tshirts out of the closet for clothing protection and we decided to go out in the backyard to do this on a tarp.  I'm crazy enough to play with dye with the girls, but not crazy enough to try it indoors.



The kit came with instructions on several different types of tie dye, which I thought was great.  And the bottles had the dye powder already in them, making for much less mess mixing than I had anticipated. 



Olivia and Zoe both chose the swirl method.  And the same 3 colors.  ;)



Isabelle chose the bull's eye method and used all the colors.



Mine was a pleated method.  Unfortunately, I don't have a finished picture of this, but trust me... it's a really cool effect.  I used black and blue, since they were the least popular colors ;)



The girls did very well.  They followed directions and were very patient.  I was very impressed.  We bagged the shirts up to sit for the recommended 6-8 hours and went about our business for the rest of the evening.  After we got home from Vacation Bible School, I rinsed them out (don't be a dummy like me and think you can do this without gloves... I'm still slightly tinged blue) and washed them twice then dried them.

Here are the results!



Isabelle's bull's eye.  I think it's really neat how the center looks like an eye.



Olivia's swirl.  We need to work on saturation next time, but I like it.



Zoe's swirl.  Not sure what's up with her face.  Crazy kid.



I think they did an excellent job!  They got a lot of nice comments today on them.  We ran into a few Sheriff's Deputies at dinner and they complimented the girls.  =)  And they were a hit at VBS tonight.



They want to do more, and I'm sure we will.  I bought 3 yards of white fabric and I'm thinking skirts next time.  Maybe some socks.  There's still a bunch of dye in the bottles (they loose their intensity after time, but they're still useable) and packets of more dye, so we could do this all summer.  LOL

Tomboy

If I thought I could keep her from becoming the next cracked-out Lindsay Lohan, I would so get this child into a modeling/acting agency.

She's got personality, she's gorgeous, she's funny, she's got an unusual voice for a kid, she has the best style for a 6 year old.  She's the coolest kid.  =)

Oh, hi there...

Sorry I've been quiet lately.  I haven't really had a lot to talk about.  I haven't sewn or crocheted in a week, at least.  I just haven't been feeling it.  We're trying to get adjusted to being out of school and new routines.  Trying to stay very busy to avoid the boredom-induced mischief.  I guess my kids are having adjustment issues, because almost everything I try to get them to do results in three kids clinging onto me like I'm asking them to jump off of a bridge. 

We went to the library today to watch a children's music performer.  He was really fun and I would have expected them to be up jumping and dancing with all the other kids, but halfway through, I had to go sit on the floor with them because they kept begging me to go home.  We have Vacation Bible School this week, and they've separated the girls (normally they don't), and it's just been so frustrating to me the way they're acting.  It's hard for me to deal with them being so clingy because they're usually not.  I really hope it gets better, and soon.

I'm hoping to have more to blog about soon, when we're over our bumps.  I have some tie dye planned and I have some fabric markers so we (or I) can design our own fabric.  Lots planned.  So bear with me.  =)