Trip to the ER

I had myself a nice little trip to the ER today. My sister had her babies (one boy, one girl) early and by Cesarean section and she's unable to drive for two weeks. She was released from the hospital today and her husband had to work, so I was the person to pick her up, gather all the stuff from her latest stint in the hospital on bed rest (Sorry, she delivered at 27 weeks. The babies are doing fine, but are in NICU since they were so small, under 3 pounds each and can't breath on their own yet), and take her to buy a breast pump (Is my life glamorous or what...keep reading it gets better), then take her home to her house across the valley from us. Not a problem. I'm unemployed.

So, I got the call to go pick her up at about 10:00 and the hospital was about 5 minutes from the house. I packed all her gear up in the car, then we went and saw the babies. Holy tiny! Their little stomachs were just pumpin' in and out with the speed of the ventilators. I believe my sister said 600 breaths per minute, I can't remember too clearly. Anyhow...we were on our way to Babies R' Us and she realized she left her purse and wallet in the car and in her hospital room respectively. We turned around and got the required items, went back to Babies R' Us and were on our way to her house. We got to her house and we carted in the various paraphernalia to the house. She asked me if I wanted to sit down for a while and I said sure. I folded her husbands suit jacket and put it on the piano and that's all I remember.

The next thing I know, she's telling me not to move and that I had had a seizure. Yes, that's right ladies and gents. I am officially in the broken toy pile! She had called 911 and the paramedics were there and were asking me all sorts of questions like what was my name, what my date of birth was, what month it was (pretty sure I answered this one wrong, it's hazy), what day it is (failed), who was President (answered this right after some hard concentration...I almost answered Bush, then Osama. No...Obama!) and some others. My sister was terrified (rightly so, I was out for a few minutes apparently and bonus, wet myself! That's the other glamorous part) and I could tell she was freaked out just by the sound of her voice. I was carted off to the hospital in the ambulance (not a good idea for those who get motion sickness and are strapped to a gurney) and duly put under observation. My parents were volunteering at the Olympic Oval for Long Track Speedskating and my sister had to call my dad to have my mom meet me at the hospital. Six long hours later, no new answers were apparent. It appears that the seizure was triggered by medication and I will now be going through withdrawals for the next few days because I get to go cold turkey for all of it. No biggie, I can do it. I was released from the hospital and am now home.

I am now required to go see a cardiologist, my primary care doctor and I'm on 2 blood pressure medications. What joy is mine. Oh, and I can't drive. Oh, and my parents are going out of town on Tuesday. Does the good news ever stop around here? The good news is that there are no neurological symptoms and it was most likely a freak happening. At least, I certainly hope so!

So...between the brother in Texas whose family has spent most of the past 2 years in a hospital with their middle child, my sister who was on bed rest for 5 weeks and the babies who are still in NICU, another brother who had a ruptured appendix and still has a hernia, and my stint to the ER, I think our family has officially had enough of hospitals (well, it would have been enough with just the Texas Beam's, but we have to push our luck, of course!) and it's not over yet! At least one family will have a stint in the hospital for the rest of the year (My sister's babies) and we never know what else will happen!

Keep throwing good thoughts our way, we certainly need them!

Unemployed and slightly disgusted

Yes, that's right. I'm unemployed. Well, sort of. The job that I was working at has decided to terminate my "Assignment" with them (I was working through a temp agency) because I got sick too much. I wouldn't be sick if everybody and I mean everybody wouldn't come in sick to work! Case in point: One of the ladies I worked with had a cracked wisdom tooth. She had the tooth pulled and they told her she was out of absences (in the company handbook, there is no such thing as an excused absence), so she came in with a big gaping hole where the tooth was. And she talks on the phone all day. I'm still technically employed with the temp agency, but they don't have any positions right now.

I got the call from my temp agency (at about 8:00 PM) telling me not to go back in and that she would go down to pick up my personal belongings. I just asked her to have my friend who still works there to pick it up. I am my mothers daughter and had accrued quite a stash of food and other stuff like tylenol, aleve, hair stuff, makeup (for those emergecies, etc.). I'm happy to say that it looks like the person who cleaned out my desk (By 8:00 AM the next morning) took the drawer out and dumped it upside down into box. There were two boxes. I am also pleased to report that I cannot confirm or deny, but it looks like there are some things missing like a bag (We're talking Quart size plastic bag full) of Crystal Light Packets. You know, the kind you mix in a 16.9 oz bottle of water. I also cannot confirm or deny that there were two boxes of nutrigrain bars that each had 2 bars eaten out of them. The boxes are gone and I got 3 bars in the boxes. I can confirm that a sweatshirt of mine was almost confiscated because it was considered "Unclaimed." Uh, it was sitting on my desk...wouldn't you think it's my sweatshirt?! You do the math. Is this a rant? Yes. Do I feel better? Yes. Guess it's a good thing I wasn't offered a permanent position there.

Soooooo...if anybody knows anybody hiring....I'm available!

Blast it! Thwarted again!

Yeah...remember that goal of mine to walk 2 miles a day? Hasn't happened. The treadmill was flanked by a piano that we are storing here for my sister and I couldn't get around it to plug it in. Plus, I've been taking it slow this week. This week was kind of a rough week with my fibromyalgia.

Today, lo and behold, my brother-in-law and his brother-in-law come by to pick up the piano. And take the treadmill, too. I whine to my father about how I was going to use that and he tells me to use the bike he bought (he purchased a recumbant bike). Yeah, but it doesn't burn as many calories and it's mind numbing! So, now I get to use the recumbant bicycle to exercise instead. I was going to just do yoga in there (works great for my fibromyalgia, btw, doesn't make me sore), but the bike takes up all the room in there. So ride the bike I will! Good thing I got myself 2 iPods (long story) to keep me entertained while I'm peddling away!

Oh, yeah. Fair warning to my fellow curlies: Until my hair grows out and I can wear it curly all the time again and until I get back into school, this blog is going to cover just about whatever I want to talk about, which lately, seems to be fibromyalgia, since mine is acting up. Sorry, Charlie! Keep checking and I'll let you know from time to time how the hair is doing and when I'm back in school!

For your information, I recently purchased some curly hair products from CURLS. I tried the trial size of CURLS Gel-les'c (the products I purchased can be found at www.curls.biz) and my hair seemed to like it, which it doesn't seem to like anything I have in my very extensive arsenal of products. So I ordered the Children's version of most of the products as they're cheaper and seem to be the same product. I bought the cream cleanser, coconut conditioner, hair tea, moisture spray and Gel-lec's (pronounced Jealousy...lame, I know). I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I think it's time for a protein boost. Might do that tomorrow followed by a DT. I've been neglecting my hair lately, gotta get on top of that!

So...bottom line. Exercise starts Monday. Recumbant bike for at least an hour. Maybe for the duration of a movie, depends on how out of shape I really am. I know I'm severely overweight, but I think I'm still pretty fit. Guess we'll find out!

Halloween

I'd just like to state for the record that I really don't like Halloween. I think it's a lame holiday and usually just crash that night (hence me posting on here instead of being out at a party). This year, working for a new company, they celebrate Halloween. I mean, celebrate! We had a potluck lunch (soup was provided, chili and clam chowder, yum!), where everybody brought something (had way too much food, btw) and people dressed up. They were giving away prizes for most authentic and funniest costume.

So, I figured I'd dress up. I had an idea. I have a weird obsession with Marie Antoinette. I don't know why, but she fascinates me. And it doesn't help that I have a French woman in my office who tells me more about French history, it's great! Anyhow, I had an idea...my sister has a Marie Antoinette-esque dress that she bought when she was going to get married the first time (called it off and couldn't ever sell the dress). I text her and ask her if I can use it. She says it probably won't fit. I say I want to at least try on the dress. So her husband drops it by the house and I'm able to try it on. Yep, it doesn't fit, BUT it laces up the back. I have a nude tank top that I can wear that actually matches the gold embroidery and we can lace me up without zipping it up. Brilliant, right?

So I start searching for wigs. They're all sold out. Then I realize that my cousin had a Marie Antoinette wig from a Masquerade Ball from a couple years ago (maybe 2?). So I text her and ask her if she'll send me the wig. She did and I got it Wednesday. It's perfect, exactly what I wanted!

Since Halloween was on Saturday this year, we all dressed up on Friday. It was a pretty unproductive day and I lived to rue my choice of costume.

First of all, this is a wedding dress. It's heavy as all getout! It has a hooped skirt (which was interesting trying to get into my car and drive), and it's too long, since my sister is taller than me. It has a train that we tried to pin up with a couple safety pins. This did not last, so I ended up dragging the train around me and feeling like Scarlett O'Hara when I would get up to go anywhere, because I would grab one of the hoops and lift up the skirt of the dress to walk.

People were awed. People told my I was insane (which I realized about the time I got in my car), but I was determined to win one of the awards! So I went to work with a sideline trip to a grocery store where people were awed and said my costume was awesome (I did not have the wig on as yet). My arm movements are restricted and I'm laced up a little tight (thank goodness I did not live back then and have to wear a corset!). This is going to be an interesting day at work.

Have you ever tried to sit in an office chair with a "Gone With the Wind" hoop skirt and 30 pounds of dress on? No? I have! It's nigh to impossible! Once I got in my seat, I pretty much stayed there. The safety pins on the train popped and started poking me in the derriere. We tried to fix it, but they just couldn't hold the weight of the material. So now I'm walking around with a train. I put on the wig as everybody starts to drop by and man, is it hot! I start to sweat, which makes my makeup start to wear off a bit, so I take off the wig until pictures.

Management comes around and takes pictures of everybody who dressed up. If I can get a copy of them, I'll try and post those, too!

Around 12, my mom arrives with my contribution to the potluck (cornbread muffins, in case anybody was wondering) and a change of wardrobe. So my friend unlaces me and I am now comfy-cozy in a pair of jeans and a button-down men's shirt and a hat (the wig totally ruined the hairdo).

The good news is I totally won one of the awards! A $25 gift card to Applebee's. When I texted my cousin to let her know what I won, she replied with "Well, let them eat cake," a famously quoted phrase that Marie Antoinette allegedly said to starving French people. There is huge controversy as to whether or not she actually said it, but I wasn't witty enough to actually think to say that when I got my prize!

So, to those who wanted to know how the costume turned out, I give you pictures. I was going to paint my lips, too, but they were all chapped and it just wasn't going to happen. The necklace is real, a gift from my grandmother. I thought it an appropriate accessory. I was going to wear all my rings, but forgot them. Oh, well.

Job, Hair and other boring happenings in life

Yes, that's right. My life has been pretty boring. Mostly because by the time I'm finished with work, I'm so mentally exhausted I literally go home and crash out. Now, this job isn't hard, it just takes so much mental energy to remember all the rules and I'm dealing with 15+ different rules and regulations each day.

I do have a friend that is amazing and makes work so much more fun and we have a grand old time. Thanks to Julie for keeping me sane when I'm about to lose it!

Work is going great. I've had a few unavoidable absences, so they're giving me a probation before being hired on. That's fine. I deserve it. I need to prove that I can be at work and be productive. They deserve that proof. I've got pills to help me over most of the issues that prevented me from getting to work before, so I'll take my pills and get myself to work.

I've made some very interesting aquaitances at work. I wouldn't quite call them friends because we just go out on smoke breaks. Yes, I take smoke breaks with the smokers. Otherwise, I don't get breaks. And it turns out to be the most hilarious breaks ever in existence! I love my smoke break buddies, they're just too fun!

There is a lady at work who is from France. I love her. She is so funny! I wish I had more direct contact with her. She's across the way from me and every once in a while, she'll drop by just to chat. I love that about her. She's actually interested in me and my life and will genuinely talk to me for the few minutes until I have to get back to work. She's amazing, too! Love her!

Did I mention that I really like my job? It's exhausting, just because the fibromyalgia tires me and I sit all day looking at a computer. I don't get up a whole lot like I used to at old jobs, so I get stiff, then everybody asks me if I'm okay. I admit, this transition has been hard and days have been rough. I think I've come in to work without makeup more often that with. I need to get it together.

So I have a plan:

Exercise. Yup, the best help for Fibromyalgia is exercise. Imagine that! We have a treadmill at the house, have for years. Do I use it? No. Rumor is my sister is going to take it to walk on while she's pregnant, but it hasn't disappeared yet, so I'm going to use it. My goal? 2 miles every day. Yes, it's very little, I know. But I have to be very careful not to overdo. I will increase as I feel like I can handle what I've got.

Next, Hair. My hair has been a nightmare. It's still toasted from the bleach. So I went to my stylist that I met at the school I had been going to and asked her to do whatever she could to get as much damage off as possible. She tried a very sharp a-line, but it just wasn't working, so she cut it into a very trendy asymetrical very short bob. it's like a long pixie cut in back with my hair coming to a point just in front of my ears. Very cute and everybody says it looks cute. I can wear my hair curly again (thank the heavens!), but it's a little wild yet. I might try straightening it and seeing how it goes. I love the cut, though. My stylist (Chelsey at Landis Salon in Bountiful) did an amazing job. I'll try and style it tomorrow and post the pic. It's really fun and when I actually where makeup, it's edgy, which is very fun for me, since I've always been quite conservative.

Last. Boring happenings. Nothing much going on, except for work and trying to get my hair back to normal. I'm reading a pretty riveting book that got me hooked off a TV Series. I'm not even sure what channel it's on or if it's even aired in the US. I know it's filmed in New Zealand. The bad guy in the TV series is actually one of the elf lords from The Lord of The Rings movies. This book series is 12 books! Holy commitment! I'm on the third book. Turns out the TV series is not so much like the book. I'm hoping I'll find the connection in further books. For those of you interested, the TV series is called The Legend of the Seeker. And the book series I believe is called the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (I think). Very intriguing, but not for young adults.

So...Sorry for not posting more often, but after staring at a computer screen for 8 hours a day, the last thing I want to do is come home and look at a computer again! I'll try to be better about posting.

Slowly, but Surely

I realized I am very remiss in my blog. Part of this is because bleaching the henna out of my hair killed my curls. I have been working at repairing my hair (as much as possible with all the damage I did to it). I have been using the Kinky Curly Midnight Miracle and must say it works pretty well. It does make your hair feel soft and it's nice to put it in at night and just rinse it out in the morning.

I've also been trying to keep protein in my hair at some points, knowing it'll help strengthen my hair and stop breakage. I found a PIMP protein treatment, though it's not CG approved and it comes in individual packages. It's called Malibu 2000 Miracle Repair Conditioner or something similar to that. It perks of the undamaged curls and gived the bleached ends a little more curl.

My PIMP new stylist, who is amazing and cheap agreed that I just need to get all the damaged ends cut off to get my hair back to the way it used to be. Duh. When I first bleached it and colored it, I ended up getting about 4-5" cut off. I let that grow until it was buggin', then I went and got it cut by my current stylist (who was a student at the place I used to go to school and just went to an Aveda Salon). We decided that we would cut off as much as possible without cutting above my chin in the front. So I ended up with a pretty steep a-line. The back portion has almost all the damaged parts cut off and curls great. It's just the front, where I had to leave it longer that still doesn't curl great. I'm back to wearing my hair curly and not straightening. The less damage I do to it, the better off I'll be.

True, the front looks a little scraggly toward the ends, but where the undamaged regrowth is, it's curling like it did before! I've taken to pulling the front half up in a clip so people don't see the scraggly and only see the curls in the back. Hooray! I think in 1-2 months more, I can get the rest of the damage cut off and I'll be a happy curly again!

In anticipation of this joyous event, I have been greedily eyeing all these products I want to try! The Curls line is enticing, as is the Curl Junkie line. I'm currently poor, so those hopes will remain a dream for a while longer. I mean, it's not like I don't have enough product right now! Only 4 shelves worth on a bookcase. Yes, I realize I have a problem. Do I care? Not a lick!

So that's what's up lately and hopefully more posts will be coming as my curls return!

Remiss in my duties and Birthday antics!

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging duties probably because work is wiping me out and my hair was back in a ponytail or 100 bobby pin updos because I couldn't do anything with it. It's still a big fat mess from my bleaching fiasco and the roots were beginning to grow out, giving me a very unattractive tri-color stripe as the roots at the time of the bleaching kept the red tinge of the repigmentation we went through and the rest of the hair took on the blonde color I was going for.

Since I finally have a job again (hallelujah!) and have money again (Amen and a hallelujah!), I decided it was time to do a demi-permanent Paul Mitchell PM Shines treatment as a personal birthday present to myself. So I went to the beauty supply store and bought some stuff for a friend and a guy I work with and ended up blowing $150 in the store. Yeah...that's right. $150. I bought my demi-permanent dye in nutmeg (A light brown color with slight red undertones), the developer that goes with it (PM Shines has it's own special developer since it's a deposit only hair dye), found Hempz brand face wash and moisturizer, then I found the tanning lotions. So I bought two of those! Then I went home and found 3 bottle of tanning lotion staring back at me on the shelf. I think I have enough now!

I colored my hair last night and ended up with brown hair. Not light brown with slight red undertones. Like brunette. Silly me...I didn't account for my hair's extremely porous state since the bleach and it absorbed the color and went much darker than it should have.

So today, for my birthday, I treated myself to a haircut so I will stop wearing my hair in a pony tail and actually try to look attractive at work. The girl was fantastic and I'm definitely going to her again. She wanted to try to style my hair curly, but it just isn't curling again yet. I still have yet to cut off all the damage on the length. The back has almost all the bleached portion chopped off (thanks to a very layered stacked graduation in the back) and I'm not the proud owner of bangs (or fringe if you're in the hair business)! I haven't had bangs for probably 15 years.

I'm extremely happy with the haircut. I feel attractive again (always a bonus when you leave the salon feeling hot!) and even put on makeup to go to my nephew Bryson's birthday party. I even got a special cake because it was my birthday (I had to share space with one of my sister-in-law's sisters, but I like her, so it's cool). I told my nephew that since his party was on my birthday, he had to share half of his presents with me (He's turning 8, btw). He said he wouldn't share his presents because I had my own cake. I Guess that's considered a fair trade in his mind! We had good mexican food and I ate Carne Asada to my heart's content!

Earlier in the day, my dad asked for assistance in setting up his new "toy," a canopy. Don't worry, because the destructions were cryptic at best and we don't do destructions as a rule, so we were trying to figure out how things worked. I am proud to say that I figured it out! I am also proud to say that my dad was a smidge frustrated because I figured out the mechanics of what we were doing before he did. He's the visionary and if that fails, then logic trips in to save him. I'm the logic before visionary. I can't stand illogical people, they drive me batty!

My dad was also super sweet by taking myself and my mom out to "breakfast" (At 11:30 am, btw) at a local old-timer restaurant. I had 2 eggs, hashbrowns, 1/4 lb sausage patty and a scone. I ate everything but the scone. It was heavenly! That was my birthday present from my dad. His love language is by doing things for people. It's his way of showing he cares and it's so sweet to see. We talked about his side of the family and I realized that I come from the most jacked up, disfunctional family lineage ever!

So I'm now exhausted from my not super-busy but not planned on day. I was expecting to crash out and sleep the day away, my preferred method for spending my birthday (I hate my birthdays).

Oh! I can't forget...I also cut my mom's hair today. It looks great. I'm quite proud of myself. And while I was cutting my mom's hair, I got a call from my brother Kim. We're probably the closest siblings and he lives down in Texas. My phone was in my room and I was cutting my mom's hair, so it went to voicemail. On my voicemail was a message from my nephew Conner (I don't ever spell his name right, so it's probably wrong...sorry Conner!) Saying "Happy Birthday, Keri! I love you!" Of course, my brother was prompting in the background, but soooo sweet. Then my brother called my parents line and I talked to him. That was great. He's in the hospital with their younger boy. They thought he was doing better, but his heart stopped beating today, so if you're reading this novel...keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Another long stay in the hospital for the Texas Beams! At least they know everybody and are part of the "family" there. I wish they were closer!

All in all, a good birthday full of love and well wishes. I also received (right on time, of course) a birthday card covered with frogs from my loverly cousin Ashlee wishing me a happy birthday. Made my day! It's going in my cubicle at work!

First Day of Work

Yesterday was my first day at my new job. We'll be training until the end of next week. I woke up so nauseated from anxiety I thought I might not be able to make it, but new I had to. So I took some Dramamine 24-hour (great for nausea people, Bonine is the same thing), an anxiety pill and lay in bed until I started to feel marginally better.

I had planned on showering, but dealing with the anxiety was my first priority and my hair wasn't greasy. So after laying in bed (luckily, I didn't have to be to work until 9:30 that day) until I felt somewhat better, I got up, washed with a washcloth and got dressed. I brushed my hair, which was still up in bobby pins from the zoo the day before and I left it that way. My makeup was still on from the day before, too (technically, I wear mineral makeup so I didn't wash my face the night before after an exhausting day at the zoo and then dinner at Golden Corral with about 30+ family members), so I just went to work.

I must say, I'm a little overwhelmed and woke up again this morning with nausea and anxiety, though not as bad. I was gonna shower again, but dealt instead with my nausea and anxiety first, then washed with a washcloth (makeup still working after 3 days!) and got dressed. Now, I'm off to put my hair up (still not greasy) and off to work!

I think I'll enjoy the job, though it's a little overwhelming right now. It's basically data entry, but there are so many rules and regulations to learn, it's a challenge. But hey...I did Financial Aid. If you can figure out the Federal Education Loan guidelines, you can learn anything, I say! I think this will be an excellent position for me and I'm liking it so far!

Meeting of the Curlies

Yes, that's right. We had a meeting of the curlies! There are roughly 3 curlies involved in the Naturally Curly Forums that live in Utah. And lo and behold, we got a private message from another curly (who has personally been very helpful in my journey with curly hair) who was coming to visit Utah and wanted to meet up to have lunch! We're always psyched up when we meet up to go to lunch and swap products like the true junkies we are, so we were super psyched to be able to meet another one from out of town!

We dithered back and forth about where to eat to give Laurabeth33 the best Utah food experience and were having a hard time coming up with something that is intrinsically Utah. We finally agreed on a local but very famous (with musicians mostly, they have a wall full of musicians and celebrities that have been there that have signed the wall and left pictures). The restaurant is called The Red Iguana and it has pretty authentico Mexican, which I appreciate highly thanks to the many family parties at my brother's house whose wife is from Mexico. I looooooove authentic Mexican food, particularly Carne Asada. Yum. But I digress.

I was late (not usual for me, but I decided to take side streets instead of the freeway because my car has expired registration and has since December) and everybody was already seated by the time I got there. I was pooh-poohed because I had worn my hair straight, then I reminded them that my hair won't curl because of all the damage I did to it about 2 months ago, then they were very sympathetic.

Two husbands ended up coming along because of the place we were going and it was sooooo much fun! I love going out with friends and just being able to talk about anything! We exchanged products like the junkies we are. Laurabeth, who is a product tester came with so many trial sizes I felt guilty that she didn't end up getting anything else from us because she couldn't take it on the flight home!

Overall, good times were had and it was a great time for me to get out and about! I loved it! Thanks guys for getting me out of the house and into some good food and company! It was a blast!

Celebration Time!

After almost a year of being unemployed, I've been hired by someone! It's through a temp agency, temp-to-hire, but I'm so excited about it! The company seems like an amazing company to work for and in a field I've never thought of. It's hard to explain what they do, but they're a liaison between vendors and industrial companies to make sure they have all the certification needed to work.

I went to the interview and left psyched, thinking they were pretty impressed with me in the interview. I waited until I got home to call the temp agency and let them know how the interview went and by then, the company had already called and said they wanted me to be one of the people to start on Wednesday. The bummer is that I'm going to miss out on some of the time with the Texas Beams when they're here, but I've got a job again finally! Woot! I'm so excited for this!

This makes a really rough week so much better!

Dogs are Stupid

Okay, not really. Ours is really smart. He can pull a pork chop off a service dish without leaving evidence. No joke. Lately, my parents have been out of town, so the dog sleeps me with me. He has to touch you. For those of you who know m, in general I don't like to be touched for long periods of time. And I'm a restless sleeper. Apprarently, when I shifted position, Kujo didn't like it and kicked me. Numorous times throughougt the next few nights this happened until I kicked him out of my bed because I was mad. And to compound the fact, he's a wanderer in the night and likes to sleep under the covers, so he had to wake you up to let him under the covers. It's a good thing this freaking monster sleeps with my parents because this wouldn't go on for long!

And did it help that every time he went on his nighttime ventures, he stepped on my injured foot which wasn't splinted because doesn't need to be fore night. I learned early on to put an ACE bandange on it. Stupid Dog.

THEN, to top it off, today my dad calls and they're having an open house at his work. This has happened 3 times in my life and he's pretty much worked there my entire life. They do top secret work and are sworn to not reveal anything even if they see it on the sci-fi channel. Cool, huh? So I get to go! Then we realize there is only my car available with keys because my sister hid the keys to my parents car so I wouldn't drive it under the influence. Did I mention I accidentally hit a parked car? Good think it was a Kia with a rubber bumber, so we just have some black skids on our car. And yes...I did leave a note. We were expecting a shipment from Seattle (The parental road trip) to help finish packing up my Grandma's house that was a framed painting my brother brought back from Korea. It arrived. Kujo doesn't like strangers. I tried to grab him by the collar and he lunged to the side. Wanna guess which side? THE WRONG SIDE! So now I'm icing my foot again and sincerely wishing for a couple percocet's to knock me out. But I can't take anything because evidently even Aleve makes me slur like I'm drunk and my family thinks I have a substance abuse problem. I could only wish. I'm too excited to go see my dad's work, so I'll power through the pain, people! Just for love of DAD!

IT NEVER FAILS!

Whenever my father goes out of town, the swamp cooler breaks. I'm afraid of heights and it really hasn't been too hot the past few days, so I've just been sucking it up, but today totally bites it. Especially with that totally fashionable air cast on my right foot! I'M HOT, PEOPLE, HOT!

Good News and Bad News!

The good news is that the foot isn't broken! The bad news is that it's a level 2 strain in two different areas, which isn't good. I get the privilege of wearing an air walking cast for the next 3-6 weeks. I must say mine is cooler looking than the picture I found.



I get the luxury of wearing this wonderful cast for the next 6 weeks with tennis shoes. Anytime I have a "load bearing" situation, I have to put this cast on with tennis shoes. What a pain in the tush because I usually walk about the house in bare feet. Guess I'll have to adjust.

Can I just say this doctor was the ultimate best. He explained that was going on, felt for where the pain was and laughed with me when I lauched off the exam table at an unexpected momen of pain. He then went and relooked at the x-rays and told me the good news was that I hadn't broken my foot. Hallelujah! I love good doctors, they're the best and hard and all get out to find! Too bad he's a sports medicine doctor or I would totally change to him! He was so cute because he was so country...even wore a bolo tie. Awwwww!

I asked him about a massage and he advised against it because the foot needs time to heal before a massage. Bummer. I need to go find some Arnica. Anybody know where I can find this stuff?

The adventures continue

Wednesday, my back started hurting, so I called my doctor on Thursday to make an appointment. She doesn't work on Thursdays in the office, so I got scheduled with another doctor who is the biggest hardass I've ever come across. My blood pressure was low when I went in, so he wouldn't give me any muscle relaxers to help with the back/ankle pain because they drop the blood pressure. Never mind that my blood pressure is normally borderline high "We have to treat you as you come in." were his words. He took a look at my ankle which is black and blue on all sides. Toes, black and blue...left side of ankle, black and blue spot, right side of ankle, black and blue the whole side. The ankle is still swollen but not twice the size of my good ankle anymore...thank goodness!

He then procedes to drill me about how I fell down the stairs, trying to get me to say I was dizzy and fell down the stairs because some of the medication I'm on has dizziness as a side effect. Too bad I hadn't taken ANY pills that night. He keep rew0rding the question like I'm stupid and might finally admit I was high on all the pills the doctor gave me and fell down the stairs. Wrong. Dumbass.

The doctor decides to bypass the back pain like it doesn't matter and decided to give me a slight upgrade in pain medication for my foot, which doesn't hurt (Not what I was asking for, but he thought I was) and said if it's not better in 2 days, I need to take prednisone for 4 days. Now, I went with my dad to the spine doctor who says he never prescribes oral steroids for inflamation and/or pain because it doesn't do any good. When I addressed that with the doctor, he treated me like I was stupid, said he had read all the literature and that he's the doctor and I should do what he says. Say what?! For those of you who know me...if there is medical proof that something doesn't work any better than a placebo...I'm not doing it. I don't care if you're a doctor or not.

So I was sent to the hospital for x-rays because he thinks my foot might be broken even though it doesn't hurt when I walk on it...only when I move it side to side and up and down. I still have yet to hear the results which were supposed to be in today. Great. Meanwhile, my back is killing me. I'm calling the doctor's office tomorrow to see if they have the results of the x-ray.

The only thing he was good for was giving me samples of migraine pills. Explain to me why it's okay to give me a bag full of migraine medication, but not listen to what is wrong with me?!

Biffed it hard

Evidently, walking down the stairs early in the morning is hard! Recently, my dad had injured his back, so we'd been watching him and he's slowly recovering due to a cortisone shot in his back. He's still weak, but too stubborn to stop and recover.

I went and saw my doctor last Friday because I've been having insane anxiety. Well, she decided to try me out on a new fibromyalgia pill. So I'm tapering off my generic anti-depressant and stepping up on the new pill that isn't an anti-depressant but acts in similar ways. Last night, I woke up with a pretty bad anxiety attack and think I might have been hallucinating because I ended up waking up my parents saying something bad was in my bedroom. I've had nighttime visitors, but have always been able to tell them to go away without any problems. Not so last night. So they (my parents) humored me (and slightly ticked me off because I thought they were pooh-poohing me when this was real, dangit!) and I moved into the other bed in the computer room for the rest of the night. After a few hours, common sense returned and I moved back into my bedroom. About 6:00 this morning, I woke up starving and thirsty, so I decided to go downstairs. Dad was in the upstairs bathroom, which is a unique experience.

Well, the first step down, I slipped and fell all the way down the stairs. The dog fought his way free of the covers and came barking, then sniffed my head. My dad opened the bathroom door and asked if I hurt my back (Why my back, I'm not sure, but I guess it made sense to him). I thought for a minute or two that I had broken my ankle, but it's just good and damaged. It's swollen to about twice it's normal size and my knee is slightly damaged, too. This family is just one big walking disaster right now!

Recovery

Slowly but surely, the hair is getting better. The elasticity is getting back to normal and it doesn't tangle as much when I brush it. Hooray!

Downer: My hair will not curl. I hate to straighten my hair. It's a pain and it's short in the back, so it's hard to get the hair to lay right in the back because the growth pattern back there goes sideways.

I tried to wear my hair curly this week to no avail. It turned out to be just a fuzzy kinda kinked look. It's (the hair) trying to curl, but I think I broke the curl structure in the hair by using so much bleach. I've been avoiding straightening my hair because it takes forever to dry due to the porosity and the hair wouldn't comb.

Today, my parents and I were planning on driving up to my brother's house to witness my niece's baptism (I'm LDS or Mormon, whichever you recognize...it's the same religion), so I got up and showered. I'm using silicones in my Redken Extreme line products I purchased to try and repair the damage I've done, so I mixed some shampoo with conditioner in a hair color applicator bottle and mixed it, then applied it to my scalp and scrubbed. This seems to help my hair keep the moisture it desperately needs while allowing me to get the silicones out of my hair. Anyway, back on task. I got in the shower, washed, put some Redken Extreme CAT Reconstructor and let it sit while I shaved one leg. After rinsing that out, I applied some Biolage Conditioning Balm with some KBB Nectar mixed in and let it sit while I shaved the other leg and washed my body. I rinsed, applied some Redken Extreme Anti-Snap leave-in and put it up in a towel (I knew it had to be straightened, so I was trying to get as much water out as I could). I left it up in the towel turban, then switched the sides of the towel and put it up in the towel turban again while I got dressed.

After taking it out of the towel turban, I put some Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Balm, combed it through, then began to dry it. I'm kind of a freak of nature when it comes to straightening my hair. I like to dry it upside down with the nozzle just blowing the hair everywhere until it's slightly damp, then I start to use the round brushes or paddle brush, depending on how long my hair is. Right now it's a round brush. To my surprise, the hair would actually do what I wanted and dried smooth (and pretty fast) and doesn't look fuzzy on the ends anymore. The best part is that it actually moves now! Before, it was in such bad shape that when I straightened it, it just stayed put and wouldn't move in the breeze or when I moved my head. I hate that. Hair should move. Period.

So, I'm starting to think this can work until my hair grows out into curls again. Hallelujah, I say!

Sorry for the boringness (I know that probably isn't a word, but I liked it anyway), but maybe it'll give someone else some hope if they did what I did to my hair.

So, ta-ta for now!

Hair Repair Journey

As you may remember from a couple posts ago, I completely and utterly obliterated my hair's healthy status by trying to bleach out henna. For those of you who don't know, henna is a vegetable dye that is beyond permanent. It took me 4 bleach sessions to get most of it out. Then I recolored. Bad news. My hair wouldn't dry, felt spongy (like cotton candy to the person who ultimately cut inches off in a bid to get it workable) and stretched for miles (okay inches). Hair that is healthy and has the right moisture/protein balance is supposed to stretch (I believe) 20% then return to normal. My hair, I'm not kidding, stretched 5 inches. I'm not even sure my hair is 5 inches long anymore!

I have to straighten, but that was another subject on another post, so we won't rehash my woes of destroying my curls along with my hair.

My sister has two friends who are cosmetologists and I figured I would talk to them to see what I might be able to do to rehabilitate my hair and/or return my curls to a semblance of their former glory. They recommended Joico KPak Reconstructor. I had already tried it. Little to no change. Then they suggested a reconstructor in a little glass vial from a beauty supply (I looked at the ingredients and didn't see any protein, but it promised to have it). It was obviously written in a different language first and had a poor translator. I instructed readers to apply the liquid (really thin like water, but kind of chemical smelling) to the double ends (took me a while, so I'll save you the pain...they meant split ends) first and friction (rub) the liquid in, then start applying up the hair. I did and just let it dry on my hair, though I think technically you're supposed to leave on for like 20 minutes then rinse out. When I next washed my hair, it was feeling better, but still not great.

So then I turned to my beloved people from www.naturallycurly.com. Seriously, I don't know why I bother elsewhere, though I admit the cosmetology consult was probably a good idea in theory. Too bad my hair is beyond the restorative properties of mainstream beauty lines. I posted a question on how to try and repair the hair until it grows out, stop the breakage and stop the horrendous dry time as well as the stretch factor. Wonderful people! I love you! It was suggested (I believe by RedCelticCurls) that I try the Aphogee protein treatment from Sally's.

There are a few of these treatments. There is the 2 minute protein treatment, and what I call the long-term protein treatment. I jumped. I purchased two packets of the treatment with following moisture treatment, washed my hair, conditioned, towel dried, then applied the protein treatment. The instructions tell you to use heat (I had my trusty soft bonnet dryer handy next to the computer) and warn you that your hair will dry hard. I sat with my soft bonnet on for approximately 45 minutes because I was so absorbed in what I was doing. My hair might have been dry at 30, I can't remember.

Taking the bonnet off was a challenge because my hair really was rock hard. Like someone had put epoxy glue in my hair. Usually when the hair is hard, you can work with the hair and break it up a little...not this stuff! I was afraid if I manipulated the hair, it would break off, that's how hard this stuff dried!

I'm a lazy person by nature lately, so I dinked around the house with my helmut head before heading up to shower, rinse off the helmut, etc. I got in the shower and spent a good 10 minutes working the treatment out of my hair. I used a mixture of a slight bit of shampoo and conditioner to "cleanse" the extra protein hardness out of my hair, then followed with the moisture treatment attached in the packet. I must say...I'm none too impressed with it. I would have preferred my Biolage Conditioning Balm. I washed, shaved my legs, rinsed, then rinsed out my hair. I squoze (probably not a word, but who cares?) out the excess water, put my hair up in a towel to soak up the extra water and dried off. I got dressed, took down my hair, applied some Redken Extreme Anti-Snap leave-in and combed through, then left it to air dry again.

It's still a long way from being okay, but the body seems to be coming back and hopefully in time the curls will, too. I gave up the protein for the next shower session in lieu of Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose conditioner mixed with some Biolage Conditioning Balm. Again, I let it air dry because I'm not going anywhere and don't have anybody to impress. The ends are still frizzy and like cotton candy, but it's on it's way. Hopefully after a few more treatments and lots of TLC, the hair might recover a might!

I hate my doctor's medical assistant

Hate. I hate her. I loved her 2 old ones. One quit to stay at home and one got a job somewhere else. This new one is a joke. My doctor only gives me usually 1 refill on my prescriptions (except the usual birth control, anti-depressants and diabetic meds), so I have to call and have them call in a prescription to the pharmacy. This duty is to be completed within 24 hours, per their own voicemail message. My average with this new girl is roughly 1 week. I kid you not. I even plan ahead and call a week before I need anything and the timeframe keeps getting longer!

So...my hate has evolved to pure loathing and disgust. I've been sick (again) and was sick for about 2 weeks. I have my suspicion that I might have had swine flu because I worked closely with an instructor who was responsible for shutting down a high school and an elementary school when he was diagnosed. I was so sick, I couldn't even call in to let them know I wouldn't be in. If you miss Monday's, you have to have a doctor's note to come back to class. I left a message Wednesday asking for a letter from the doctor saying I was ill and can return to school. I left another message on Thursday. Didn't ever hear anything. Today, I put in another call asking for the same thing. Nothing.

I think I'm going to have to throw a fit. It seems like that's the only time I can get a response from her.

Bit the Bullet

I finally bit the bullet and had the hair cut. A comb wouldn't go through it, I couldn't straighten it, I couldn't wear it curly...it was a mess. So I made an appointment. It was so bad, the instructor had to end up cutting it. She called the ends "cotton candy." Nice. Makes me feel nice. The back is cut into an a-line with the nape being about 1/2" long and the front just touches my chin, when straightened. It's gonna be a fun few months, since the instructor told me this was going to be a hard haircut for me because of the curl. Great. Fantastic. At least the color looks okay now. The ends were the part making it all look bad. I think. We'll see.

In other good news, tomorrow is the last day of class this week and I don't get to deal with insane people! I had a real quack tonight and ended up in a hair color war with the mentor I was assigned to because we were both trying to color the same head of hair. NOT EASY! I'm kinda smudged. She's worse. I'm sure it was horrible for her, she has OCD in the way she does things and I do them the way I've been taught. Hard mix. I learned a lot, though!

Tomorrow, I think I'm working on a mannequin and learning how to do weaves. Hello iPod!

It's Bad...

Very, very, very, very, very bad. The color is splotchy and my curls are non-existent. I can't straighten because I have a very choppy hair cut. My curls resemble a bad 80's era perm that 1/2 fell out. Yeah, it's bad. I really was in tears today.

Here I am, trying to go back to school, where you need to look good all the time and here I am looking like a bag lady who let an infant style her hair!. I decided I had nothing to lose after coloring so many times that I poured liquid protein on my hair to try and make the color uptake more uniform, then reapplied the color mixture with a little difference in mixing and I left it off my roots. I am now the proud owner of spongy, damaged, non-curling hair that has a wonderful shade of green caste to it, even though I used NO products that stated ash in them.

The good news is that I brainstormed with my first instructor at class and she made a suggestion that will fix the green caste, and help improve the condition of my hair! Hallelujah! She also said she could cut my hair, trying to salvage something of a style out of it from the damage, but she can't do anything until after memorial day. Three weeks with this hair? Can I do it?!

Say goodbye to my hennahead!

That's right. I am no longer a hennahead. One day, I got a bug in my ear in was just tired of my red hair and wanted my natural hair color back. Ummm...wow. What a process. I knew the henna was going to be hard to remove, but I didn't know the odyssey I was in for!

I made my way over to the local beauty supply store and talked to one of the sales people. She advised me that since they didn't have a vegetable stripper in stock (the easiest way to strip the henna), she recommended mixing bleach with equal amounts of developer and shampoo. I did it. It was okay. My head was a little tender, but I ended up with white roots and flourescent orange ends. I made my way back up to the beauty supply store and purchased a tub of lightener/bleach and made my way back home to do it again. This time I tried not to let it touch my scalp, but it did. I left it in as long as I could and rinsed it out. The roots were very white and my ends were now flourescent orange!

Enter's sister: I asked her to come help me bleach my ends so the color would take. I put in bleach + 40 volume developer. For those of you who don't know...40 volume developer is the big guns. She applied it, we let it sit and I rinsed it out. The ends were now an orange creamsicle color. I decided I had fried my hair enough (and my scalp) that I just needed to get the color on so I could go back to classes on Monday (Remember, I had to take a hiatus for medical issues).

Since I had to bleach my hair so much to get as much henna out as I could, I had to repigment my hair before putting on my color. Basically, it's restoring the natural bleaching process (i.e. when you bleach your hair goes from red to orange to yellow, so I had to go from yellow-orange to red to dark blonde). We applied the repigment. My scalp was objecting to more developer on my head, but I cowboyed up. After processing for 10 minutes, they (my mom was now involved because my sister decided she wanted to be blonde again from being a dark blonde. The day before, I had bleached from her demarcation line to the ends. The next day, I had put some bleach on her roots and put a stronger bleach on her ends before we got to my hair) had to wipe off the color. They were trying so hard to be gentle but it was basically torture. My scalp hurt so bad and my head was so tender that no matter what they did, it hurt. I was pretty much in tears when they decided they'd cleaned it enough. Then they had to put the actual color on. My mom on one side, my sister on the other. By then end of that ordeal, I was shaking and my lower lip was trembling and I was just about in tears. Blissfully, it ended.

After my processing time, I rinsed, shampooed and conditioned with a really rich conditioner. The roots are very dark. Presumably from their inability to get all the repigment color effectively off my scalp. The ends look pretty good. I won't know for sure until some of it washes out, but dang. I'm not sure it was worth this torture! I have little sores all over my head! Once I get a chance to take a picture, I promise I'll post.

So now I'm finally back to my natural color...sorta. It looks good and my poor hair needs a couple good protein and moisture treatments. When my hair was wet after rinsing it out, I did the stretch strand test. I'm not kidding...my hair stretched 3 inches, then bounced back to it's original length (I think). Sad to go from such healthy hair to damaged. It could be worse, but it's still a shock!

Sunshine gets a haircut

This happens on a semi-regular basis, but this time is different. My hair was really starting to bug me. I always does when it gets longer than my shoulders. Plus I think I look better with a 'do about chin length. I have a round face. Very round. Not as round as it used to be...say...3 weeks ago, but still round.

The difference this time is that I asked my sister to do my cut for me. I like choppier cuts because it helps define the curls a little bit more, so I wanted a semi-inexperienced cutter (is that awful to say? She did a good job!). I gave her instructions and walker her through how to do a semi-complicated cut, when necessary, demonstrated on my mannequin head and I'm quite pleased with the results! I haven't worn it curly yet, but it's almost exactly what I asked for. There are some straggly curls that stick out, but I want to give it a few days to recover before snipping.

So, good job, sis! Your very first woman's haircut! Impressive.

Sorry, no pictures. Again, corrupt camera card.

First retry at Co-Washing

So yeah, I'm slightly (Or totally) obsessed with my hair. Today, I decided to shower (a big move for me, I hate to shower because my skin freaks out for days) and begin my trial of full CG. I conditioner washed my hair with Garnier Fructis's silicone free Extra Body conditioner or something to that effect. I scrubbed pretty hard because it had been so long (6 days, gross I know) since my last shower (In my defense, I did absolutely nothing during that time). After co-washing, I added my KBB hair milk as my conditioner, let it set while I washed my body, then rinsed out. I used a bit of Jessicurl Too Shea! Conditioner, the let my hair drip while I lotioned up and dried, etc. I was gonna just let it air dry without products, which I've been doing lately, but just couldn't resist a product assist.

So I scrunched in some re:coil and plopped in my brand spankin' new (Well, newly cut at least) sheet triangles. I had a plan in mind...don't you worry. These olllllllddddd sheets are probably as old as I am and you can see completely through them. I cut them into large triangles and planned on using my soft bonnet dryer (think 1950's). With the thin fabric I could dry my hair in the plop mostly, then let it down and still dry it with the bonnet while I surfed the internet, posted on nc.com, etc..

I plopped for a while and when the fabric was soaked (not hard to do with how thin it was) and when I was starting to get cold, I set up my soft bonnet dryer on the bed in the computer room and secured it to my head. I let it go until the air no longer felt cold on my head, then pulled out the plop and continued the drying with the bonnet. I do have results pictures, but the camera memory card is somehow corrupt and I got the blue screen from death. Trust me when I say it didn't look half bad! There's frizz from manipulation (for air flow) and rubbing against the sheet, but I have pretty good lookin' waves. Not as good as if I had used my full compliment of products, but not bad either. It's still slightly wet toward the roots, but I'm not going anywhere, so it doesn't matter.

So the first co-wash seems to be a success! No oily, greasy roots, better curls (My hair actually curled in the shower, an almost unheard of event as of late) and the experiment with my soft bonnet dryer wasn't half bad either!

So sorry if you're family and you had to read (again) about my hair obsession, but you should be used to it by now, right? Right. Deal.

Happy Easter, Everybody!

Sorry, I don't have any photos. I forgot to run upstairs and grab the digital camera. Today was pretty lame. I'm a heathen. For the first time since I was born, I didn't go to church on Easter. I meant to, honest! I'm just soooooooo smart and took a sleeping pill. I woke up at 1:00 pm. Great.

Anyhow, my brother Kris, his wife Rosy and their two kids came over. The Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma's is legendary. Grandma is super generous with both candy, nuts and money. The two kids each made a haul of a bowl of candy (I'm talking small mixing bowls people) and approximately $30 each in cash, between change, $1, and $2. I tell ya, kids just aren't as impressed with $2 bills as I used to be. We used to get one of these every year from a grandma and save and save and save it because they were soooooo rare. Then when I finally spent it, I was so disappointed by the reaction of the cashier...nothing.

Bryson, the one nephew had nasal surgery in Friday. He had some very swollen nodules since he was a baby and they found out when they went to go take him to the orthodontist that since he's never been able to breath out of his nose, his jaw is growing down instead of out. So they took him in to surgery to remove the nodes/nodules/glands (I'm not really sure what they went in to remove), but ended up taking out his adenoids, too. Now the poor guy has gauze packed into this nose, has to have nose drops, take antibiotics (He hates any kind of medicine, it makes him gag) and refuses to take pain medication (prescription). He says he's not in pain, but I think it's more of a medicine taking deal than him really not being in pain.

So we had to take the Easter Egg Hunt a little easy because he wasn't supposed to run. That stuck for about 2 minutes, then they were running all over my parents yard. They each ended up with approximately 60 eggs and I already told you their haul. Gravy, who knew a 1/3 acre lot could have so many places to hide 120+ eggs?

After the hunt and watching them open all the eggs, dinner was almost ready and the smell made me nauseous, very, very nauseous. So I excused myself upstairs took some nausea medicine (I do not have the same problem as Bryson!), OTC Meclizine. It's actually what's in the long-acting Dramamine, but since I've had nausea problems for oh...the past year...the doc just said to purchase it from the Pharmacy and I can get 100 pills for $5 instead of 8 pills for $7 (the Dramamine). So, you know, a note to the wise...Though be aware, it makes you a little drowsy. I crashed and burned for 3 hours after I took this stuff.

Well, that's how our Easter happened! A Happy Easter to you and I hope it was a safe one!

Giving it another go!

So, I hennaed my roots last night, overnight, and was rinsing it out this morning. Lately, I have had the flakiest and itchiest scalp ever. I know it's not dandruff, just dry, since the rest of my skin feels the same way. It doesn't help that this diet has forbidden the use of any "nourishing" oils. Not in cooking, not in face cream, not in lotions. I have broken the rules for my hair, but haven't been rubbing it into my scalp as I'm trying to adhere to the spirit of the law, if not the letter of it. No wonder the scalp has been so dry! I've been using shampoo, of course, making it worse because I never was able to get co-washing to work for me.

Well, today, while bent over the tub rinsing out the mud from my hair, I decided to try using what was left of my Suave Tangerine whatever conditioner. I had been using it as a shave cream. I grabbed it, squirted some onto my hand, worked it into my fingers and slid my fingers very carefully to my scalp through the upside-down hair. I rubbed and rubbed, then took another dollop and worked it into each section of hair upside down. I must say...this seemed like a good co-wash.

And since my scalp is dry and itchy, henna makes my hair dryer and the season's are changing to super-dry instead of mildly dry, I decided that I would give co-washing another try. Keep in mind that last week, I bought a whole bunch of "good for your shampoos/body washes" because my skin had been acting up so bad. Guess I'll have a little more for body wash, huh? I trekked off (literally, trekked, as in walked...I don't walk anywhere, usually, but the store was less than a block away. We live in the neighborhood behind it.) to the Kmart and browsed the selections. I was a little disappointed by the selection, but finally found what I was looking for.

I ended up purchasing 4. Yes, 4! conditioners! I purchased Suave Juicy Green Apple, Cherry Blossom something (that took some looking), the new GF Body Boost that is silicone free. I love the smell of GF as a whole, but the other conditioners I bought as well. Then, lastly, I bought VO5 Blackberry Tea something conditioner.

So...wish me luck on my journey. This may end badly like it did before, but I think I might have the hang of how to do it now. Maybe my poor hair will become less dry, my scalp less dry and itchy, and my curls a little tighter. Here's hopin'!

I survived!

Well, I survived the weekend. The Saturday night dinner wasn't really a problem because we went to Red Lobster. I ordered a steak with broccoli. I just cut off a portion of the steak and ate it and brought home the rest, which I ate Sunday for Lunch and Dinner. It was goooooooddddd!

Sunday was my self-restraint-strained-to-the-max day. I ended up helping my dad cook the breakfast, as usual. I ended up cooking the bacon while my dad cooked the sausages, both link and patties. Then I started to cook hashbrowns, but had to leave for a bit, so my brother took that over. I also cooked the scrambled eggs. So as a recap, we had bacon, link sausage, patty sausage, bratwurst, regular hashbrowns, hashbrowns with chives, scrambled eggs, fried eggs (for those who wanted them), Cinnamon burst toast, strawberries and pineapple. And to drink we had Crystal Light White Grape and Strawberry Banana. Every year, we always forget to buy juices. I don't get it.

I ended up eating a few scrambled eggs and strawberries for breakfast, but all day those dang hashbrowns and sausages and bacon were calling my name. They are still doing that right now. They just smell so good in the fridge! So far I've been strong, if not exactly following the diet to the letter, pretty dang close to it! Today I had gained .2 pounds. I just want to have a gorge day today where I eat it all, get it out of my system and start again tomorrow. Must remain strong...

Old is creeping up on me

The other day, I had to finally bite the bullet and buy some reading glasses. It all started with not being able to see clearly the screen of the computer and it made my eyes burn after a little while. Then I realized whenever I read (All the time) I would wake up the next morning with a raging migraine. I found some cheap-o reading glasses and all is well in the world. Now I just have to remember to put them on. As I type, they're sitting in my bedroom.

This milestone makes me feel so old! I shouldn't have to have reading glasses yet! I shouldn't! But I guess this is one more pill I have to swallow and smile while wearing them. At least they don't make me motion sick like they used to.

Catchin' up

So, the diet is going well. I'm getting a little into a rebellion phase where I just want a piece of pizza or a bowl of spaghetti (I have some sneaky plans that involve zucchini as noodles for my vegetable), or even a grilled cheese sandwich! I cleaned my room because my brother's family is coming down for General Conference and my room is the only room with a queen size bed. AKA I give up my bedroom (which is always cluttered with stuff, clothes, books, makeup, medication, shoes) and I found 1/4 bag of peanut butter M&M's and 1/2 bag Skittle and 1/2 bag of Cookies 'n Cream kisses. Man, it was definitely hard to throw them away. It's especially hard to cook for just one person. I've tried cooking enough for the 3 of us, but nobody will eat my food. It really does taste good, I promise! And this weekend is going to be a trial from hell. I'll explain.

Some of you may be asking "What the heck is General Conference?" Well, I'm LDS as is my whole family. Our church bi-annually holds what is called General Conference. It's held in a huge conference center in Utah, but it's televised nation wide. We were lucky enough when we were kids to just be able to stay home and watch it because we live in Utah. People outside Utah were not so lucky in the past and had to go to their churches. Anyway, I digress. Years ago, my dad started a tradition of taking the boys out to get ice cream after the General Priesthood session. Think of it like a men's pow-wow, whipping them back into shape. This eventually evolved to dinner and eventually the girls were invited. Now that everybody but me are married, the spouses and the males over the age of 12 all go. Yes, It's a big crowd. This time, there will probably be 11 people. Usually, if we have all the kids (as in my siblings) and their kids of age, there would be 15-16. We have a nice dinner, talk about what was discussed, then hike it home. So, finding something to go along with my diet guidelines is going to be a challenge.

2 out of my 4 siblings live in the Greater Salt Lake Area, so they just drive home and drive back over the next morning. I have one sibling who lives in College Station, TX and they recreate the activities there because it's become such a tradition. I have one brother who lives in Logan, UT, which is about 90 miles away...something like that. They're the ones who end up crashing at Grandma and Grandpa's. The kids love it because they don't get to spend a lot of time with our side of the family.

Anyway, the next morning, Sunday morning, my dad creates this huge feast. I usually end up helping because the other siblings don't arrive until right before breakfast is supposed to happen. When I say huge...I mean huge. We're talking (remember, this is usually for 15 people and we can't seem to whittle down the food, which is okay because we munch on the food all day) 3-4 lbs of bacon 3 lbs of patty sausage 3 lbs of link sausage, 1 lbs of grilled ham, hashbrowns, eggs, cinnamon rolls, toast, orange cranberry biscuits, juices...the works! Now, tell me, how am I supposed to maintain a diet when we're eating succulent food like that?!

Basically, I'm planning on gaining some weight in the next day or so. They say it takes 3 days to recover from a slip-up in the diet. Great.

Picky Picky

For those of you who might remember, this is Mikey from the Life cereal Commercial. I loved those commercials and was devastated when the went off the air.

Anyhow, I'm like the picky kids in the commercial. I am an extremely picky eater. I don't like yogurt, pudding, jello. I also loath honey dew, cantaloupes and watermelon. Oh, and peas...let's not forget peas! It's a texture thing. Those little grape leave wrapped Greek food? I threw it up. Raw tomatoes (even the smell) are the bane of my existence, thought I can eat them cooked. I generally don't like casseroles because all the food is mixed together. When I dish up, I separate my food and eat it one by one. The other foods cannot touch and I circle my plate clockwise. This amuses my friends and family to no end because I'm the only one who does this. The other siblings, mix their foods together and/or pile them on the fork/spoon before shoveling it into their mouth.

So, along come this supposedly miraculous weight loss diet. I'm down with it, but figured out already that this was going to be a challenge of monotony for me. I looked that the allowed food list and most of them I hate (well, at least I know I hate them raw. Most of the time I can't get past the memory of it raw that I can't even try it in anything else).

But I'm proud of myself! I went shopping and actually bought vegetables I hate. This includes Cabbage, cucumbers, green and red peppers (eh, I can take them or leave them. Raw, they're too squeaky), spinach (great in a salad, but I can only dress my salad in balsamic vinegar, gross), radishes (my my dad ate in 2 days), zucchini, mushrooms, chard (it looked gross, so we'll try again later, asparagus (I don't like this on it's own...ewww), 1/2 cup eggplant (texture and the looks ooks me out) and tomatoes.

I will, at some point during this diet, try each an every one of these vegetables I don't know. Who knows, I could widen my horizons!

Venturing out into territories unkown.

First, an update on the diet. It's going well. Sure, I'd like myself a hamburger, but for the most part, I'm happy with the food. The weight isn't coming off as fast as I'd like, but I think it's because I'm not drinking a lot of water. I despise water sometimes. In an effort to try and inspire me, I bought a couple cases of my favorite water. Fiji ( love the bottle most, square. It's just so unexpected!) and Smart Water. It just tasted sweeter to me..

So, here are the results from day 6 and 7.
Day 6 (04/01/2009, no practical jokes, thankfully): 229 lbs or 104.09 kgs
Day 7 (04/02/2009): 227.4 lbs or 103.36 kgs

So that means, since my highest weight measurement (even if I was gorging, hey, I'm trying to make myself feel good, okay)? And the total is...10.7 lbs! Hooray! If we technically start day one, the total is 5.8. Still not too shabby. I'm happy for right now. I'm gonna see what I can do to accelerate that a bit.

Weight loss stats

This is kinda weirding me out because I don't reveal my weight to ANYBODY. Maybe my size, but never my weight, but just for the sake of someone out there who might need some enouragement, here you go. Remember Days 1-3 are considered innefective injections as the hormone has to build in in your system.

Day1 (03/27/09): Weight 233.3 lbs or 106.05 kgms
Day 2 (03/28/09):This was my most shocking day. Weight 238.1 lbs or 108.23 kgms
Day 3 (03/29/09): Weight 237.2 lbs or 107.82 kgms. Though I started the regular diet this day, you don't see the results until day 4. I know...lamo!
Day 4 (03/30/09): Weight 231.8 lbs or 105.36 kgms
Day 5 (03/31/090: Weight 229.6 lbs or 104.36 kgms

For me, I weigh myself in the morning, then inject myself at night before I go to bed. It seems to be working okay for me right now. Guess We'll See.

And the hunger sets in

Okay, not really hunger, but the craving to eat, even if you're technically really not hungry. I found this cute picture and thought it was apt.

Do you think that might work? I'd give it a try. Right now I'm chugging down water and that helps to cut some of the hunger cravings.

Today was my first day on the actual 500 calorie diet. For the first 3 days, you're supposed to gorge yourself. I didn't quite manage that, but did eat a lot more than I usually do. People who have done it tell me that if you didn't eat enough during the loading days, you tend to get hungry during the diet days. Oh, well. I have some Hoodia pills I can take.

On the up side, the diet isn't as restrictive as I thought it would be. I thought I was only restricted to apples, grapefruit and strawberries for my fruits. Turnes out I can eat apples, oranges, strawberries, grapefruit, fresh peaches, fresh plums, cherries and dried apricots.

My real worry was the veggies because I'm a really picky eater. I thought I could only eat spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage. I hate cooked spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, raw tomatoes, fennel cucumbers and would rather not eat asparagus. Good news! According to my booklet, not the internet, I can have Broccoli, Celery, Fennel, Cabbage, Cucumbers, Green or Red Peppers, Spinach, Green Beans, Cauliflower, Radishes, Zucchini, mushrooms, onions, garlic, lettuce, chard, asparagus, eggplant and tomatoes. Much better! I adore broccoli, Green and Red Bell Peppers, Green Beans, Cauliflower and eggplant (sometimes).

The way the diet goes is you generally do not eat breakfast, only drink coffee (I don't drink coffee), tea (sometimes herbal) or water. You can only have 1 tbsp of milk per day and can only sweeten the drink with either stevia (A wonderful, wonderful products) or saccharin. You can also have up to 1 tsp of agave nectar for cooking if needed.

So I had some water for breakfast and was starting to get hungry at about 11:oo, not relishing what I could eat. I looked at the cookbook included with my instruction booklet and found some really good recipes! I decided to make fajitas and they were yummy! I even made my own fajita seasoning! It was great just as it was, even without tortillas. I also had some slightly questionable apples. We buy the pre-sliced organic apples that come in individual bags with the right serving. Well, if you don't eat them quick enough, they start to spoil. Some of my slices were like that, but it didn't matter because I was full.

Tonight, I think I'm going to make oven fried chicken. No oil, just chicken coated in seasonings and some crushed up crackers and backed. Yummy. And probably some broccoli and cauliflower and maybe a plum. Yum!

Anyway, so far, so good! Tomorrow, I might be brave and post my weight loss...if there is any!

Embarking on a Diet

I've been overweight my whole adult life and most of my adolescent life. Since I turned 12 years old, I don't think I've ever been smaller than a size 14. When I was 23-ish I had a life changing event (diagnosed with fibromyalgia and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and lost over 70 pounds, taking me down to a size 14 again. Slowly, over the space of 6 years, the weight has come back. Part of that is due to a lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle. Part of that is a side effect of taking the prednisone for my eczema. Now, I'm back to the weight I was when I lost it all and I hate it. Though I could stay this way, it's not healthy and it causes more health problems for me.

One of my fellow student/friends mentioned a new diet she had gone on to lose her baby weight. I consulted my doctor and she gave me a few precautions, but said she thought it would be a good idea if diet and exercise weren't working well for me, which they weren't. It's called the hCG diet. This is a pregnancy hormone that they render from pregnant women's urine. Gross, I know. The theory is that this hormone saturates your blood with your stored fat and helps you reduce the unused fat in your body.

This diet consists of (for me) 30 days of injections. For the first 3 injections, while the hormone is building up in your blood, you do what is called loading. You gorge yourself with food. Literally. They advise you to force-feed yourself the most fattening, highly caloric food you can to saturate your blood with food. Then after the 3rd injection, you go down to a 500 calorie, high protein, low carb diet. You don't add any fat to the diet and can only have 1 tbsp of milk and the juice of one lemon. You can add all the seasoning you want as long as it doesn't have added sugar, including vinegar. Yes, select fruits and select veggies are part of this diet.

One of the instructors at the school started this diet while I was still enrolled and I found out today he's lost 17 pounds. Very promising. This diet continues for 3 days after the injections, to allow the hormone to be removed from the body, then you resume eating normally with no starches and no sugar for 3 weeks afterward. Then you can begin slowly adding the starches and sugar back in moderation, monitoring your weight closely. If you gain more than 2 pounds after your weight stabilizes, you remove whatever you added or reduce it until you're back to your baseline weight.

I'm excited to start this! I think this just might be what helps me drop the pounds, get my weight back into line and help me become more active, so I don't need a "diet aid" when I try to lose more weight. Wish me luck!

I'm a Twilight Freak

Yes, that's right. I'm a Twilight fan. I actually read the whole series earlier this year and loved it. Though the books were quite wordy for my tastes (I thought it could have been covered in 1-2 books, personally, but hey...I'm not an author), I loved the writing style and witty passages that made me laugh when I was the only one in the room. I loved the vision of the author in her imagined world of the vampires. I love that she made them more human and less animal. I love that she has an awkward heroine. I love the diverse experiences and knowledge that I inadvertently gained by reading these books.

I love reading romance novels anyway. I don't have any romance in my life, so I figure I can live vicariously through books and boy, did this one deliver. I found myself slightly frustrated as I was reading, wishing Edward would just break down, but secretly egging him on to stay strong.

So when the movie came out, I had to see it. I love the movie and it's been on my TV constantly for the past week it's been out. Things are obviously different from the way I saw them in my head, but I think the director did an awesome job. Though I hated Rosalie in the book, I loved her small part in the movie. Emmett cracked me up to no end in the movie, he's just like a little kid, excited at every aspect of life. Alice looked a little different than I pictured her (I envisioned a pixie cut, not the longer style they sported), but visually her overall character was dead on. Jasper was a slight disappointment. I wish they had portraid his "power" more and had shown him a little more relaxed. While I though him awkward with the other characters in the movie, when they showed outtakes, he fit in so much better as he acted more relaxed. Yeah, I realize he's struggling with his thirst, but I never envisioned him so stiff. I imagined Esme different, but loved the character in the movie. And Carlisle...wow. He's better than I imagined in my head. One of my favorite lines from the movie is when they're playing baseball and Bella calls Rosalie out and Carlisle taunts her by saying "Nice kitty." Hilarious!

Perhaps my biggest struggle with the movie was Edward. I love Rob Pattinson as Edward and don't think they could have cast it any better. But at times I see him in the movie and think, "He's just not that attractive." Then he smiles or cracks a joke or just relaxes slightly and I can see the hotness factor. And yes, I probably will see the new movie he's in, even if it is a scary movie. I don't do scary movies. My mind works overtime with those kinds of things. Probably why I love the Romance genre so much.

I have 20+ movies on my iPod, but this is the only movie I've watched since it came out. I was the same way with Pride and Prejudice and Another Cinderella Story (hold the mocking, please). So yes, I am a Twilight Freak. I'm okay with it.

Brainstorming

So...Girl with Curl made a valid comment on my last post. She asked whether a second opinion might be warranted and I figured I'd combine this post with the brainstorming session I had with my parents last night.

I don't think a second opinion would change the outcome for me. I'll explain. This problem of getting staph infections in my fingers is kind of a compounding problem. I've been taking prednisone to supress my immune system to keep the eczema flairs down. With my immune system supressed, I can't fight off infections, therefore allowing the staph infection a head start and my body can't fight it off like a normal body could. Besides...the side effects of prednisone usage are horrible. Among the worst I experience is: hair loss by the handfuls (I've lost probably 1/3 my hair mass in the past 2 years of taking this stuff intermittently. My cousin, who was on this stuff at very high dosages and for an extended time period took approximately 5 years to recover her hair mass), insane insomnia, depression associated with said insomnia, intense increase in appetite (I'm already...oh...about 100 lbs overweight...I don't need any assistance in that arena) and big-time illness after I go off it...like go to the hospital illness. I've learned that my body kinda goes into an adrenal shutdown after taking the prednisone, so I now take big quantities of herbal supplements to keep my body from doing that, but it's only so effective. Other long-term side effects are bone density loss, increased hormonal imbalances, adrenal issues (already seen some of that), and more. It's not a pretty drug.

So my parents and I were brainstorming last night because my dad has finally seen how much I enjoy what I'm doing. He made a suggestion that I simply wear gloves whenever I am doing hair. I mentioned that I can't feel the hair like I need to and gloves tend to pull on the guests hair. My dad is nothing if not logical and sometimes, I want to strangle him for it. Last night, I could have kissed him (we're soooo not that kind of family). He made the valid point that surgeons do very intricate work with gloves on and manage to compensate with the feel. He simply suggested that I purchase some lightweight gloves and see if that would solve the problem. He agreed that I need to follow doctors orders and take a leave of absence for a bit to get the eczema under control and see when I go back if I can do everything with just gloves on. Hey, it's worth a try. Especially because I believe that part of my flare-ups are due to the sulfates and silicones in the products we use. If I provide a barrier, that might solve the problem.

In other news, tomorrow, I'm supposed to cut my brother-in-law's hair and my sister's hair. Guess we can give the glove-test a try with family members. My sister has a really hard head, so she can tell me if it's pulling on her hair more than usual and my brother-in-law's hair is short, so it'll help be know if I can have a good feel with gloves on. I guess we'll see.

At least I have some options, which is better than just feeling like I have to give up on my dreams.

Down and out...

I'm frustrated and a little bit down. I went to go see the doctor for the 2nd time since starting school about the eczema on my fingers. My eczema on my hands has been out of control since I started and she told me today that I need to take a leave from school to determine if it's school that's making my hands so bad or the change in the seasons. We argued (I'm nothing if not stubborn) about me staying in until after the seasons are finished changing because I want this so bad, but this is time #2 that I've had a staph infection in my fingers. Not cleanly for haircutting and not good for me, either. I've been taking prednisone, a horrible if wondrous drug to keep my fingers under control and it still isn't doing the trick. And it has too many side effects to keep taking it like I have been.

So, this blog will change slightly into more of a life and/or hair accounting until I'm able to return to school. If I'm able to return to school. Yeah, I'm frustrated. Yeah, I'm mad. Doesn't do me any good, so I'm just gonna go be frustrated and mad for a while on my own.

Men's Cutting

This week, we have our floor tests for men's haircutting. Too bad we've only had about 3 hours instruction on it, if that. It feels a might daunting, I must admit, but the instructors will be there every step of the way to help us, which is a relief. Plus, I'm cutting my brothers hair. He can't exactly explode if I make a mistake, right?

The rest of the night was spent in our lunchroom on product knowledge. We covered the Color Care line, which is a great line. They also gave us a sample of the Super Strong leave-in or something to that effect. Too bad it has silicones in it, because it's supposed to be protein rich and my hair loves protein. Oh, well...I'll go ahead and give it the old college try. After all, it was free...

I got my test results tonight and I passed. My evil plan is working and I get to move on to the next stage of classes, which is protege. We mirror a student who is further along in the program for 2 weeks, then we're on our own.

We might be going out Saturday night to celebrate getting past the "hardest" part of school! Notes to follow, I'm sure.

Tonight, we witnessed a manicure and a pedicure and a mini melt-down from one of the younger students. She wanted the pedicure and another classmate suggested that since she had had her eyebrows (I think) waxed, that maybe she should let another classmate do the pedicure. A full-on fit ensued including the one wanting the pedicure calling the responsible one "mom." Grow up, people. Grow up. And she "got even" anyway by going and having something else waxed during the pedicure. Lame. I'll be glad when she's out on the floor and I can distance myself from her.

Tomorrow, we have our celebration with a movie night, pizza and potluck. It feels like a huge hurdle we've reached here and we are ready to move on!

Written Test Ovah!

I don't know if I passed or not. I'll find out tonight. Why is it that everything you know immediately flies out of your head when you're taking a test?! Seriously! I couldn't even remember the color wheel. I had to come back to it.

Did you know there are 19 steps to doing a perm? 19!!!!!! And I had to list them all in order! I think I got that right.

I have blisters on my toes from the floor test (yeah, I was dumb and wore heels). I lanced the liquid last night and took the skin off one of the toes...BIG mistake. I'm hobbling all over the house sans shoes. Imagine what it'll be like with shoes tonight.