Hate Kiss My Face Soap

I wanted some natural soap so I bought a bar of Kiss My Face. I give it five thumbs down. It makes my skin squeaky clean. I think it's stripping all the natural oils from my bod. The size of the soap bar is way too big for my hand. Twice, I sniffed some bubbles up my nose by accident. Thought I was gonna die. Like a cat with a hairball I sneezed 32 times straight.

Number of washes down

Wow, my number of hair washes has gone down significantly. No reason really except I just haven't washed it as often. I've washed it only a couple times per week for a couple weeks in a row. I have no explanation. The big April measure-in is coming up. I hope I will have some growth to report.

I'm all atwitter today because I received my belly dance tribal tassel bra and belt with matching vest - my piece de resistance. I expected the vest closed with velcro but instead it has a gorgeous oriental style button. The coins and the jewelry on it are gorgeous. I jingle! The bestest thing about my costume is that the bra has a jewelry piece about 2"x5" that hangs right in the middle down my tummy and when I add the vest over it it comes down a little lower on my midriff and, oh my gosh, I believe my tummy looks nice enough to show. I purchased a mesh net body suit thinking I wouldn't show my stomach, but with the jewelry hanging down, the vest over it, and low lighting in the restaurant, I believe I can get away with it. On the flip side, I can't wear the bra by itself unless I want to look just like a hooker. But! I bought a black, velvet, 3/4 sleeve midriff top and it goes just perfect underneath. Tada, cleavage trouble solved. I am so happy. It looks like it's all working out. Actually, I was mortified when I first tried on the bra. It looked too small. The thing is, I totally went to the mall and tried on the exact bra she uses to construct the costume bras and this is the size that fit. What I did, this is so bad I know, but I didn't want to return or exchange it because I do love the set, but I cut the inside lining and pulled out as much of the push-up padding as I could. It helped but like I said I still have to wear something underneath to cover up some. I'm such a K-Mart girl. I order a $370.00 dollar costume and cut it up.

I didn't go to Bible study tonight or last week. I've been tired out. That's a thin excuse I know. We are emptying out the house still - liquidating our life - and it's a bit of work. Today my husband took down the light fixture in the kitchen, cleaned the ceiling, repainted it, and put the fixture back up. It looks much brighter and better. I had a man come today and give me an estimate about putting in closet doors in our two extra bedrooms. We took them down years ago and put in shelving, but tenants will need closet doors and a rod to hang clothing. Our living room is looking very bare. We're going to have one more garage sale.

Hugs to my girlfriends!

Easter and grama

Easter was nice. I went to San Diego because our son wanted to go to Grama's Baptist church for Easter service. She goes to a teeny weeny church and there were about 30 people including the worship team. Our son was the only kid who came to Sunday School and Grama is the teacher, so he had her all to himself.

After church, she said something very nice to me. She said I was doing a very good job with our son. Coming from her this is a high compliment because she's not a proponent of homeschooling.

My big red ear

Last Sunday I hugged my sister good-bye and her hair was real prickly. It looked soft but it had tons of some kind of frizz-ease goo on it. I was going to say ouch but decided it might hurt her feelings so I just kept my face there for a second while we hugged good-bye. I got home and showered just for insurance. Well, it didn't do any good. Monday morning I had a big red welt on my cheek. Tuesday morning the welt was gone but my ear was red. Wednesday morning my ear was itching really bad. It was bright red and swollen too. It's a really attractive look for sure.

Saturday I could stand it no longer. Went to urgent care because my Kaiser doctor couldn't see me. I was prescribed Keflex (an antibiotic), Prednisone for the affliction, and Hydroxycene for itch. I am so happy. Today I'm almost all cleared up. The ear still itches too much. The medications make me sleepy and I feel angry a lot. I want to strangle my son. I'm wishing he was in public school the last couple days because I feel so terrible. I'm grateful for the amazing meds, but I don't like feeling so mean and hateful.

One half inch growth (unofficial)

I punished my hair and it must have worked. I took down my braids to wash them. I air dried, blow dried and then had my son measure it. He says it's at 30 1/2 inches. Yay!

[Music from The Twilight Zone?]

My hair grew not a whit in February

My hair did not grow an inch, a half an inch, or a quarter of an inch in February. I now protest. My hair has been in the same two braids for three days. I will never take them down.

I may punish my hair until April 1st at which point I will take the two braids down. But if it hasn't grown by then, look out!

Beware the Ides of March

Happy March 15th. It wasn't happy for Julius Caesar though.

Wildflowers galore in Death Valley

You'd never guess - it's a little flower in Death Valley.

Bidding on a Kuchi cuff / Having tribal set made

I'm bidding on a Kuchi Afghan cuff to go with my costume that I'm putting together for the upcoming April 9th performance. I have my skirt. It's beautiful and I feel beautiful in it. This cuff has a piece coming off but it's petite and it's hard to find petite sizes

I've placed an order with Domba! for a custom made tribal style bra and belt set with matching vest. I'm excited. I ordered the purple and red. It won't look exactly like the one on the page because each one is different, but it'll have the same trim, red tassels, and a darker purple tassel than what's in the pic.

Best of All

Is the Lord speaking to me or what? My first performance is for an animal adoption benefit. A good cause.

I believe I have fallen into the class of one of the best instructors in the United States. I've met another teacher and taken one other class and there is no comparison. The more I come to know Aziza, the more respect I have for her - which is no small thing in these times. Should I say "Thank the luck!" Nah. No one says thank the luck. It's "Thank the Lord." I am thankful that the joy of the dance has reentered my life. It's been so long. I have a teacher who helps me with my mind and my heart and the dance. Man, I should be paying her a lot more, but I can't afford that much!

I wore my hair down to class last night. I'll be performing with it down probably, so I figured I ought to get used to moving with it down.

He's getting better

Nothing showed up in the blood test - no anemia, no Hepatitis A, all other levels (platelets, calcium, potassium, etc.) all fine. He's getting better too. Today he yakked my ear off and came running down the hall and skidded to a halt in front of the homeschool room; something I tell him not to do but frankly, I was happy to see it today. We suspect West Nile Virus as we have mosquitos in our area, have had dead birds in the past, and there was some standing water nearby, and West Nile was in the news today. Unfortunately they don't check for it unless you ask and we didn't think to ask until the testing was done. The house was deathly quiet when he was sick. The neighbors commented to my husband about how they missed seeing our son outside. He's a helper, quite the busybody, and normally spends hours outside every day. I think when he grows up he's going to do outside work. I don't know what, but something that gets him outdoors. He loves the outdoors. Maybe he'll be a geologist.

I've worn my hair down last couple days. It's been pretty for some reason. It's all in my head probably, but that's where it's all at, right.

Blood test results tomorrow

The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with our son. Took blood and we'll find out tomorrow if perhaps he's anemic. He's gone to bed all by himself. It's awful early for bedtime.

He got a lil' Brave Patient Award for not crying when they drew blood from him.

It's March

Where oh where is the year going? I can't wait till Daylight Savings Time!

I got my cabaret costume in the mail and it's sure pretty. I'm going to take it to class Thursday and try it on for my teacher. She'll give me a very honest appraisal as to whether I ought to keep it or return it. I received my tribal skirt and it's gorgeous. When we have time I'll get a photo of it. It's ten yards of fabric!

Husband and son are at the doctor's. Our son has been complaining about not feeling good but he has no fever, or aches and pains, or cough or cold.