Santa and Mrs. Claus

When I told Mrs. Claus that my television was broken, you would have thought I told her I was being evicted. Before I even finished talking about trying to find a repair person, Mrs. Claus announced that Santa would be getting me a new one. Really? Now... Mrs. Claus just made Santa reimburse me for my airline ticket--which he grumbled about--Santa thinks I'm too old for gifts, especially since I have a job. But what Mrs. Claus says...goes. I have helped Santa paint. I have helped Santa lay down a new wood laminate floor. All because Mrs. Claus said make it so. I have seen Santa hang his head on Christmas eve and go out for a gallon of milk, a quart of oysters, a dozen eggs...Because I told Mrs. Claus I needed it to cook whatever it was she put on her holiday menu. Yep. Santa had to jump to it. He's lucky he didn't have a cell phone or Mrs. Claus would have called him while he was out to get more things that she thought of while he was away. And when he got back, Santa dare not go to bed before he started Mrs. Claus' pot of gumbo.

Even though The Clauses are going to give me the money, I still thought it would be unnecessarily extravagant for me to get a fancy TV. After a lot of internet searching, I figured out the features I should look for and the size I was comfortable with and decided on a price I was willing to pay. I headed out to Big Box Retailer in New Jersey--because it's too hard to park in Manhattan and because I wanted to take the drive. Sigh. Even though I lived in New Jersey for four years, I still managed to get lost...for like an hour. But finally I got there.

Even with a list, I nearly got pulled into the vortex. There were so many TV's! I'm so glad I did some research first. I was already aware of the change from analog to digital that will take place in 2009, but I was not at all clear about the alphabet soup--SDTV, EDTV, HDTV, CRT, LCD--sheesh. I had some minimum specs for resolution so I ruled out about six sets right away. Then there were three pathetic sets nobody was interested in--they were not up-to-par technically and therefore 'not worth buying-- and they were HEAVY. Everyone was crowded on the opposite end of the display aisle. When I got there, I found one of the models on my list...but right next to it was a larger version from the same manufacturer. Ay caramba! Unfortunately, the larger one was sold out. Darn it. It would have been worth the extra money. But that meant I was distracted by the larger sets. I put the model on my list in the cart, but I started thinking how much more I would be willing to pay for a larger set. I found a set that's about as big as I could carry or need in my apartment, but it was twice the price of the one on my list. In the end, I stuck with my budget and got the set on my list. It was reduced an additional $25 too! So at the end of the day, the amount I spent on the TV could be deducted from my cash allowance for this month--especially since I'll be spending part of the month eating at the Clauses. So now I'm catching up on Oprah, cool. Did y'all see the show with the hoarders?!

The Sublime and The Ridiculous--A Sisterlock Story

So I was whining about my hair earlier this week. Aggravated with myself because I can't bring myself to hack in and cut myself some bangs. Despite the fact that it would look better, despite the fact that it's good to shake it up every so often, despite the fact that I really don't want to fall into any kind of rut about how I look. And Sunsail asked for some pictures...So even though I go off on tangents, I figured I'd circle back around and come back to my hair for a minute.

I know there are some of you checking out blogs to get an idea of how Sisterlocks will turn out over time. So let me clarify, I love my hair. I am completely tongue-in-cheek about complaining it's 'too long.' It really isn't much of a problem at all. I want to take full advantage of the possibilities for styling my hair though.

To bring you up to date, I've had Sisterlocks since Spring 2002 and I've been maintaining them myself since Winter 2002. Except for one visit to a SL consultant last year when I was in Virginia, I have done every single retightening since I took the class. I have colored my hair...several times. Ahem. I do not recommend it, but if you want to do it...wait until your SLs are completely settled in, be prepared for some breakage, and do not attempt anything crazy...like going more than one or two shades darker or lighter than your natural color. Pick a color and stick with it. Black over blonde or red makes green, remember that. But I'm talking about styles now...

The consequence of my hair having reached this length is, on the one hand, roller sets don't last because my curls fall by their own weight. But on the other, it means I can make all kinds of interesting styles by arranging my own hair. So...

In a couple of these pictures you can see me making like Cousin It...somewhat for comedy, I admit. My point is that there's lots of room to jazz things up and let SLs fit your personality.

In the others, you can see the fruits of my creativity. I'm convinced I made up this hairstyle, so when you copy it give me respect...lol. It should be possible with medium to long SLs. I did it without pins but a few hairpins would do the trick. And it was very easy. I did it in about five minutes while I was watching the Today show. It is basically a cluster of bantu knots. After gathering my hair in a ponytail with a loose band, I took small sections of hair, twisted them like a candy cane and then wrapped the twist into little buns right next to each other. And they lasted all day without pins...cause my hair is too long (smile). I am starting to think updos are easier for the office. Wearing it down and uncurled, especially in a ponytail seems a little casual to me. And I'm trying to polish up after all.

Sorry about the glare, the only way I could take the pics is in the bathroom mirror over my own shoulder...And I still cannot figure out how to get the pictures to go where I want them...

Five Words I never thought I'd say...

My hair is too long!

This has been coming on for a while. At first it was little things...my curls drooped. Then it got more serious... my locks all tangled in the neck of my shirt. Then it was code red...ponytails everyday.

I don't want to do anything drastic. But I think, given my face shape, I'm going to have to do some cutting. I really need some bangs. Really. Nothing severe. But I need a shorter layer to soften this fivehead I've got going. Not even a real bang...a one-row fringe just below my nose so that I could swoop it over to the side.

Here's the problem. Every time I go to the mirror with the scissors, I chicken out. This has happened three times this month already. Whenever I go to snip, I hear all these voices saying "How can you cut all that hair off!" The 'trim' would take four or five inches off. But it's just one row. Why am I being such a chicken? It's six or seven locks. Cause I'm too chicken to go more than one row.

I'm going to end up on the Maury show...you know how they bring those sorry women out who haven't cut their hair since Ford was in office. Their hair trails sorrily behind them. They have on those elastic waist pants and knit tops. Sigh.

Help me. Tell me to stop being a wimp and cut the six locks. It's just hair. It will look better. And if it doesn't, it's just one row and I can hide the dirty deed.