We went to a presentation about bald eagles. They're all over the place in Homer. All over the place! I see them in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night. Sunset here is about 11:00pm you know. 

We stayed in Homer on the spit for a week. This art is called "Logs on a Barge." Ha! I just thought they were neat so I took a pic. 

Education on the road. We're at the library and the library had free WiFi. Nice. 

My machine bit the bullet on our trip. It became slower than molasses. Got a new one for Mutter's Day. My husband is too good to me. Soldotna is a community on in southcentral Alaska, on the way to Homer. Break out your map! 

We didn't look right and we didn't look left. We hauled out straight for Alaska from southern California and arrived in exactly one week - this was taken on April 29, 2005. 

The Yukon Territory was splendid. We saw moose. This welcome sign is about 500 feet opposite the Alaska sign. We just ran from one to the other for a photo. Haha!  

Welcome to Alberta

The adventure begins. We made it to Canada! We would have been the very first ones there, but there were four people in line ahead of us.

The house is emptied

Taa daa! Our house is completely empty. I cleaned the fridge on Tuesday and I was so sore by night that my husband hired a cleaning lady to do the rest of the house. He is my king! Today we had the carpet cleaned by Chem Dry and it needs 3-4 hours to dry. I replanted two daisy plants to replace the ones that drowned in all the rain we had last month. Husband is putting a sealant on the truck. It shines line nothing you've ever seen before - not for long though!

Our mail forwarding is messed up. Apparently the post office can take up to two or three weeks to start sending it to the new address. Only they know why it takes so long. Fortunately it got messed up after, and not before, I received my very cool hair organizer from busyhsmom. It's beautiful and I love that it's hand crafted. When I have a chance I will get a photo of it. Thanks busyhsmom! ...The check is in the mail. For reals! It is perfect and ideal for traveling. No more searching for bobby pins or that flower or a certain hair clip.

We hope escrow on the house will close tomorrow. The property management company for our son already has a renter. They did a drive by and wanted it without even going inside the house!

My hair has been mostly ugly, as have I. I did a side braid yesterday and looked nice for awhile, but we're so busy I don't have any time to myself. It'll even out. Soon I'll have plenty of time.

I stopped at the health food store and found a fabulous selection of shampoos and I chose some Aubrey Organics shampoo and conditioner. I heard about it from Fox and she highly recommends it. I like it. It's honeysuckle rose.

Packing, stacking, cleaning, painting, oh my

I miss my blog so much. I lie in bed in our trailer at night and wonder what everyone is doing. What's everyone saying at The Loom and at The Mane Board? Who had The Huge Dog? What's happening at RV.net and The Beauty Buzz? I don't know! It's just torture.

I did finish rereading a book I just bought called The Abandoned by Paul Gallico. When I was 12 my mom took my sister and me on a trip through Canada to Nebraska to visit my grama. We lived six weeks in a van and ate only one meal at a restaurant. It was fun, although we couldn't have afforded to eat out if we wanted to. I found this book, The Abandoned, quite by accident. I just picked it off of a bookshelf at the supermarket one afternoon. I remember reading it at a picnic table in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada at 10:00pm at night. It got dark later there because it's so far north. When we got home that book was passed around for years and years till finally we lost track of who had it. It's so cool when a book does that and so many people you know like it.

Photo of my long brown hair back in the day

My hair circa 1989.

Look at those thighs will ya. This was a photo I had done for my husband's birthday eons ago. I was a runner. More of a jogger really because my time was an 11 minute mile. It's accurate to say I'm not built for speed, but I was up to 14 miles at a stretch and I was in dance class at university too, so that's something. I was hoping to enter the L.A. Marathon but I never got my mileage up high enough. My husband entered and finished the marathon.

The photographer really liked this shot and he almost blew it up giant size for his studio waiting room but unfortunately, you can't see it in this photo size, but when the photo is enlarged I have a little bit of a tummy. That is to say, I do not own a perfectly flat belly. My husband has always called it my Renaissance Tummy. I like that. Well, so what if I don't have a perfectly flat tum. I have a big nose too.

My hair was tailbone length. It was full of all kinds of goo, it was tortured with a blow dryer followed by a high heat industrial curling iron, and the make-up/hair lady even teased it - nanny nanny boo boo. My hair was frozen in the same exact style for like three days after the photo shoot.

Tired of hearing this about homeschooling

How many more times do I have to hear "I could never homeschool my kids."

I get tired of it. I never pictured myself as a homeschooler, but having 19 years between my sons and seeing the quality of the education our eldest received in Southern California really made it a no-brainer.

You do what you have to do. You do what's best for your family; for the children upon whom you have conferred life. They didn't ask to be born. They didn't ask for second best. You have to do your best on their behalf, even when what's best for them is not what you had planned for at all. When I worked outside the home I loved being an urban planner. I lived it, breathed it, thought about it day and night. Now I'm homeschooling. I enjoy it. It wakes me up. I live it, I breathe it, I think of it day and night.

If one more woman looks at me and marvels at my patience I should like to punch her in the nose. I'm not doing anything that anyone else couldn't do. Education is no big secret. It's not magical or mystical. There's no esoteric elixir to teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. It's my current job. It's a season in my life. I have determined to do my best and I will enjoy the process to the utmost. If I had told myself I couldn't do it, I would have never done it. Now look at us. We're going to be traveling around North America for a year!

We want our son to have a remarkable childhood, a life off the beaten path. Truth is, if we weren't homeschooling we'd never have reached a place in our life where we entertained the idea of a year long trip. You never know where life will take you, but one must foster an open mind for opportunity to knock. An imprisoned spirit cannot fly.

Sold the last of the big stuff

I just sold both sofas, the chair, coffee table, two end tables, two ottomans, two lamps, 36" Sony television, and the armoir. Our neighbor bought the whole deal and said we can keep it as long as we want until we move. Her son is buying our SUV. Had our last garage sale today too. Never even had to put an ad in the newspaper. God sent everyone to our house to buy our stuff or haul it away!

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.

Mayo condish - no diff

My hair turned out, meh, just okay. Son said, "Mamma, is that mayonnaise on your head?" The mayo was no great shakes. I don't think I'll put any more food products on my hair, ever, except for oils.

Mayonnaise conditioning today

11:15 am Applied mayonnaise in sections and put my hair all up in a high bun and covered le bun with saran wrap. Think I'll leave it on till about 5:00pm.

In a quandary so I phoned our pastor's wife

I've been in such a quandary over my dancing, or more specifically, the performing part. I phoned the church office and talked with my pastor's wife today about middle eastern dancing and being Christian. In a nutshell her reply was that if it glorifies God, it's good. If it's overtly sexual or sensual, immodest, a potential stumbling block to others (probably to the dancer too, I would think), it's bad.

We went shopping yesterday for a cabaret costume for me and, oh dear, I didn't find the perfect one (even a beginner costume can cost two to three hundred dollars). They all pushed the bust way, way up. Lord love a duck, as my mom would exclaim, I can't wear my boobs under my chin in front of people. Only one costume had a top that was my proper size and still, there was far too much cleavage to be seen. I went online and ordered one, pretty cute and for only $129.00. I'll see if I can wear a mesh bodysuit underneath it, but if it doesn't work I'm going to tell my dear teacher, Aziza, that I just can't do it. I believe she'll be just fine with that. And I did decide to join the troupe to begin with because I liked the tribal costuming, not cabaret.

It was tough trying on the outfits because cabaret costume tops are not elasticized like bras, plus the straps are quite long to allow for sizing, so I'm there trying to hold two straps at the top, two straps in the back, and the belt all at the same time, and get a good look at myself in the mirror too. Very doofus. And the belt with all the sequins and beading is quite heavy. Sunday night I thought it peculiar that all the belly dancers all kept a copious supply of safety pins. Well it's because they safety pin everything. I was doing plenty of pinning when I helped out as a dresser for the last show.

While the cabaret costume is currently causing me some heartburn, the tribal costuming on the other hand is much more fun! Today I ordered a flying skirt from Gwen at Flying Skirts website. It would be a cinch to sew but I haven't got the time anymore on account of we're emptying our house of all our material things to get ready for our trip around the North American continent. I own a fringe belt that Gwen sewed for me and I get lots of compliments on it. To cover my arms and tummy I ordered a long sleeved, black mesh body stocking by Janie. I need a coin bra real bad but haven't decided where to buy it yet. I'm not even quite clear as to how you wear a coin bra cover. You pin it on a bra or choli I guess.

After we saw the show my little boy said to me in the truck, "Mamma, when are you gong to dance for me?" At the festival he got to see a fire dance, sword dancing, cane dancing, and snake dancing and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. There is one male in our troupe and my son especially enjoyed his dance.

On to another topic, in the evenings I've been doing Old Yeller by Fred Gipson as our read aloud. Even my husband is enjoying the story. It is a classic after all and I hoped it would appeal to him when I selected it. I'm reading it aloud in my best southern Texas twang though technically it may be more of a southern drawl!

Wore my hair down today, but was home all day. Wore it up in a tight triple twist bun to church. It's slightly oily but looks fine in a bun.

Better is One Day

How lovely is your dwelling place
O Lord Almighty
For my soul longs and even faints for you
For here my heart is satisfied
Within your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings

Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere

I'm burned out, Baby

I've been shopping online all night for belly dance costuming. I need a cabaret costume and I need a tribal costume.

Sunday night I went to the Indio Date Festival and helped the girly girls get dressed for their dances. It was sixty minutes of dance, both tribal and cabaret. The costumes are to die for. Just gorgeous and mucho dinero to purchase. It didn't begin well because the troupe got the boot from the fair management and was told to move to another stage. This took about half an hour. They had props and bags and swords and a snake and people to move all the way across the fairgrounds. The show was good. Really, really good. The audience stayed and watched the whole hour! I expected to see people wander in and out and about like you do at the fair but the people in the chairs stayed in their chairs.

My friend Maya, who started with the troupe about three weeks before I, performed for the first time. She was so anxious yet she performed beautifully. Flawlessly I would add. There was a huge audience and she danced, gosh, in about four pieces. Amazing ability. At show's end the director and I were chatting about how the dance went when she looked at me with a sparkle in her eye and said...I was next! Yipes. I have nothing but a couple fringe belts. I have to buy everything I will need. Quick!

I wore my hair in a braid to the side today. I measured it despite this being mid-month and it seems to have not grown at all so far this month. Aaaaugh!

Homeschool holiday

This is what a day off of homeschooling looks like at our house. Diagram drawn by our seven year old son yesterday shows materials needed to construct additional drainage in front yard. My husband then wrote down all the figures and our son came up with a sum. See, you do use mathematics in real life. (And this is from a boy who hates to write so Mamma is glad to see him writing for any reason!)

Show at The Babylon

Dinner was so-so. My husband's lamb was full of gristle. Bummer. But we were really there for the show.

It was supposed to start at 8:00pm but didn't begin till 9:10pm. I think they expected people to sit at the tables and order drinks but boy did we fool them. We ate dinner, dessert, and afterward didn't order any drinks. My husband had wine with dinner but he later said the wine wasn't very good wine. We weren't there for the wine though.

The show was great! It started with three guys playing drums and one guy playing what looked like a guitar but it wasn't a guitar. It sounded different than a guitar too. Our son's attention was riveted on the players. Finally the first group of dancers came out called Devadasi. The girl with long black hair flubbed up the choreography but she laughed so much that the audience was entertained by her, and all of them. A woman came out and danced an Indian folkloric dance and was splendid. Next was the troupe I'm practicing with, Fringe Elements. They were so fun to watch. Afterward my husband commented on how fluid one of the dancers was and how all the women were so feminine and so beautiful to watch. He was struck by how many of the women were built so womanly. Most of them are not what you'd call hardbodies, but as my teacher explains, we are women not eight year old boys. Things are supposed to jiggle. And they do!

I wore my hair in a French braid, tucked underneath. It's grown so much I had to double fold it and then tuck it under. I don't like the braid to hang down at all so I tuck everything under. I wore my sparkly ruby mini clips. Okay, they're not real rubies.

I've been back on my treadmill and practicing for an hour a day. I feel ever so much better. My thighs are sore, but it hurts good.

Forgot to mention that at the belly dance show they announced the first dance was in celebration of one of the dancer's last chemotherapy treatment. It tugged at your heart strings all right. She danced beautifully, had a beautiful body and a joyful demeanor. You could tell she was wearing a wig due to the effects of the chemo treatments.

Mediterranean cuisine and belly dance show

I'm taking my men out on the town for Valentine's Day. We're leaving in about half an hour for dinner and a show! If it's Mediterranean food, why do they use the French word 'cuisine?'

What a splitting headache

I awoke with a raging headache. It's better now but still hurts. My son is a complete chatterbox wiggle worm while he's reading aloud and that doesn't help my head at all. I have to keep asking him to be still - which is no small task for a seven year old boy.

I'm all olive oiled up

I slathered on the olive oil for an overnight deep conditioning treatment. My husband came in the bathroom and saw me dipping my ends directly into the bottle of olive oiland he rolled his eyes at me. Hhhmph. Little does he know I have really good ends on account of dipping them in oil.

Belly dance class was inspiring last night. I was feeling unworthy over the week-end. I had cobwebs in my head and kept tripping up on the choreography Friday night. Last night I asked my teacher how to improve a particular move. I don't know the name for it but it's when you do two small rib circle isolations, then you widen it way out and do two great big rib circles, side, back, and side. The effect on the audience is perceptible because after you do the little circles (performed slow with nothing but background drums) when you switch to large ones and lean alllll the way back, at can cause the audience to move forward in their seats. Very cool effect. Anyway, I was next to two long tall drinks of water. Tall, shapely, lithe and lovely, young and experienced, and then there's me, 5'2", struggling to be cool, and lucky I have a waistline at all. I felt stumpy and so little and short doing my rib isolations in comparison to them. Well I showed my teacher the move and she said, "Liliana, I can't do it as well as you just did it." Then she launched into a "love yourself" talk. Heh. So this week I'm working on appreciating how this body moves without comparing it to everyone elses. That's the beauty of middle eastern dance. It's actually folkoric dance we're doing and all body types are acceptable.

Tonight at church we had a guest speaker. He was, I'm sorry, not a very dynamic speaker, but I did benefit from some of what he shared. He mentioned in passing, a book called Living in the Light of Eternity. I like that title. Makes me remember to be mindful and to live each moment to its fullest. I should try to dance like that.

Last night I had a dream, a recurring one. I'm lost, surrounded in all directions, as far as my eyes can see, by a wide expanse of freeway and overpasses and cloverleafs. Very gray. Sometimes the place I'm lost varies, for example sometimes it's in downtown San Diego and I'm in the barrio and I'm afraid of the people. I walk in fear of danger. I need to be with my cousin Laurie but I can't find my way back to her. Always in the dream, I do not have her phone number. If I had her number I could tell her where I was and she could come get me. Always, I go into a room and there's no phone, or it doesn't work. It feels similar to when I was 20 and I'd get lost driving and I'd go in a gas station for directions and they'd give me wrong ones or I couldn't remember them after they told them to me, so I'd continue to drive. Lost. This time, the room was a dank, quiet, depressing childcare center with one person sitting in a child's chair, an open book in his hand, but no children in the room to listen. He looks at me blankly, no help at all. I go back out to the empty freeways and walk and feel like if only I can remember which way to go I can get back to the house. I never do get back.

The whole caboodle

All at once.

A group shot! These were all handcrafted by me in one, single, solitary night. Amazing, they say. I spent $44.50 at the bead store so geez Louise, I better be able to make something I really like!

Sparkle Pop and Eye Candy side by side

The two together.

Sometimes I like to wear unmatched but coordinated sticks in my hair. I might like these two together. A girl can never have too many sparkles in her hair.

It's Eye Candy

Eye Candy

The head pin is sterling silver with miniature dangles at the end. All of the beads are genuine Swarovski crystal. The top bead is called Alexandrite. It changes from lavender to light blue in different light. I was quite taken by it.

It's Sparkle Pop with a Dangle Drop

Sparkle Pop with a Dangle Drop

The crystals are Swarovski and even the dangle drop is Swarovski! What a find that was. I don't know if the dangle is sterling or not, I suspect it is but I'm not sure, but the caps holding the top bead are sterling silver, as is the eye pin.

More hairsticks I made - Iridescent Autumn

These dichroic beads are beautifully iridescent. They dance in the light (a static photograph really doesn't do them justice). I love dichroic glass beads. This set sparkles with copper, green, blue...

Tangerine Sky

I made up a batch of hair sticks. This one is everyone's favorite.

Tangerine Sky
This vintage tear drop Swarovski crystal
bead (the color is called Fire Opal) sits atop a genuine
sterling silver cone and is complimented by a Swarovski bicone
of deep, deeper, deepest sky blue.

What's so big about Swarovski crystal beads? Excellent inquiry. Swarovski crystals are manufactured in one place and one place only. Austria. Swarovski crystal beads are simply the highest quality. There are other crystals, mighty pretty ones too such as Czech crystals (I have lots of those), but Swarovski is special because of their reputation.

Almonds, air drying, and a teensy bangs braid

Don't you hate it when the days are dreary and go on and on? Well I'm feeling better, like my old self again. I'm eating almonds now. For three months I've been eating cashews. I got a wee bit tired of the cashews so almonds are a welcome change. They're like Lay's potato chips. You can't eat just one, but they're very good for the hair, skin, nails, and joints.

I've let my hair air dry several times. Today I let it air dry. I nearly took the blow dryer to it at 3:00 pm because the dampness made my head so cold, but I didn't. It's wavier in back and has a bit of the fuzz factor around my head which I'm not crazy for, but we'll give it a whirl.

About six months ago I let part of my bangs grow out so they could be more wispy and now it tucks behind my ears nicely but I don't like the way it curves, so today I braided the grown out part into an eensy, teensy braid and pinned the braid to one side. Looks kind of nice.

As for hair washing, over the past month and a half I have been going hog wild, literally washing my hair whenever I wanted to. Whenever I wanted to I say! Imagine that. I'm tired of trying to stick to a schedule to keep washing to a minimum, and most of all tired of trying to fix smelly hair. On occasion, I washed my hair twice in a row. Crazy, huh. In my estimation, I'm still progressing in my journey because though I'm washing more than I'd hope to, I may be on the brink of setting aside my blow dryer. That seems like a fair trade to me. Or is that called a big, fat rationalization.

I've been dedicated about doing a scalp wash at least once a week. That should be good for something.

Happy February 1st!

Can't believe February 2005 is here. I'm drinking Gatorade to replace my electrolytes and I'm eating medical chocolate. Medical chocolate - similar in concept to medical marijuana only requires no doctor appointment and no prescription - just a trip to the cake and cookie aisle at the supermarket to pick up a bag of Tollhouse Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. It's working.

I need to do my measure-in with everyone at The Loom soon. Gosh, I read back a few days and looks like I've missed lots of fun. I can't believe all the great pics, and hairsticks, and French twists, etcetera, etcetera. Seems the board picked up speed while I was out!

Bad case of the blahs

I don't want to read. I don't want to sew. I don't want to bead. I don't want to teach. I don't want to dance. Nothing sounds good to eat. I don't want to type. I didn't want to go to church. I don't even want to surf the WWW - which is very strange. I don't want to go to bible study. When I barfed a week ago Saturday till I thought I was going to die, I must have barfed out my soul. I did do a scalp wash yesterday, but I hardly have the energy to pin my hair back. This hair is very lackadaisical. At least the circles under my eyes are gone, but I don't know when my husband is going to ever kiss me again after hearing me retch my guts out followed by diarrhea at the other end. The door in the travel trailer provides as much privacy as a plastic curtain.

Then to add insult to injury, in the emergency room the doctor asks if I can keep Tylenol down for the fever (I couldn't) so he tells the nurse, "Give her the suppository," and he walks out. My eyes, boing!, open up and I said I want to take those pills now, only I'm so weak no one can hear a thing I say. I got, ugh, a suppository.

A quote from The Sheltering Sky

"Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."
-Quoted from the book The Sheltering Sky

All I have left is packing

Sheesh. I have the cooking done, the cleaning done. All I have left is to pack my own stuff. Yay.

We're going to Karchner Caverns. We're going to Tombstone too.

Must pack

I am dying to post at The Loom. Everyone is adding such great photos! But I have to pack for our trip and if my husband sees me sitting here typing he will surely strangle me!

Today in my new top with fringe! 

Cleaning up throw-up

Our poor kiddo. He tossed his cookies at 3:30 this morning. We've been trying to clean up the stink ever since. My husband cleaned the carpet and the blankets. I got our son all cleaned up and back to bed. We've been cleaning one spot on the carpet over and over again all day long trying to get rid of the stink. There's no stain, but oh dear, such odor. No church for us tonight.

I washed my hair completely today. I felt smelly all over what with all the cleaning up.

Now I'm going out to clean our trailer. We're going on a camping trip to Arizona!!!

Stomach flu

I have the stomach flu and now our little boy is coming down with it. I'm hoping he won't get it as badly as I did. The cramps were terrible! Worst of all, I'll miss belly dance class tonight. My hair is in a plain bun and withstanding the illness like a trooper.

Asked for a diary

Our little boy (in second grade) asked for a diary. My husband bought him one at Office Max and now he's been writing in it diligently. This is quite a milestone for me. The reason why it's a milestone for me the mamma is because I have postponed writing despite the fact that there's quite a bit included in our rather rigorous curriculum. Sometimes it's scary following my own instinct (well, I'm prayerful too).

The word curriculum is derived from Latin and it means 'to run.' Sometimes we can get so caught up in the running, that we overlook the quality of the learning. And education is not a race, but a marathon. I purchased curricula to serve me, not for me to serve the curricula. If I forced my son to write as much as is required in my lesson plans I have not a shred of doubt he would come to hate writing. I wanted more than anything to avoid this. I want him to write for the love of writing, not because it's required. Now my patience is rewarded. He even asks me to spell some words for him! Praise the Lord!

I took a vacation from my hair

I needed a short respite from my hair. I took it and I'm back. I missed my blog.

Since I wasn't blogging I didn't stick with my two hair washes per week. I just did whatever I wanted. Last week I fully washed twice and did one scalp wash.

Last night was a complete Vita-Veeta-Vegga-Min regimen beauty night. I was up until 3:00am. I polished my toes with a spectacular electric pink, I waxed all parts in need of waxing (except for my knuckles which drag on the ground so all the hairs are rubbed off already), and I uber oiled my hair with coconut oil overnight. Now I'm semi-attractive (semi: a prefix signifying half, and sometimes partly or imperfectly) and ready to greet the week.

I found a new belly dance class in town and I signed up. It's six weeks, so now I'm taking my new class on Tuesday, my old class on Thursday, and troup practice on Friday nights. Last Friday we danced for three hours! I ordered a silk veil from Akai silks on Ebay. She sells a lot of seconds, meaning stuff that didn't turn out perfectly, and her imperfect veils are beautiful. The one I ordered is black, burgundy, and gold banded. Good colors for ATS (American Tribal Style) which is the dance style I'm interested in. We did veil work for the first time last week and it was so much fun. The teacher showed us some basic moves plus about five ways to wrap the veil and tuck it in here and there around your body to look pretty. It's just so girly!

My scarf wouldn't stay on

I was completely disgusted today. It was a bad hair day and the French braid with tiny flowers didn't happen. Instead, I fixed up my new scarf in the Jerusalem Twist style. My husband liked it and my son liked it. I got in the truck and drove us to church for our Isaiah study and the mere turning of my head this way and thataway caused my scarf to fall off completely. Each time I turned my head it fell off a little more until ten minutes later when we arrive at the church parking lot the thing is just flopping around my neck. I was so disgusted with the whole ordeal.

Now I have to rethink my whole scarf 'do.

I absolutely hate fiddling with my hair in front of people, so I had retire to the ladies room, pin my hair up again, and I just tied my scarf plainly. It was maybe a little cute, but not that cute wrapped plainly. I will have to write a special email tomorrow. I know someone who has worn head scarves and perhaps she will give me some tips.

I inadvertently deleted myself

[ S I L E N T S C R E A M ]

I just deleted my most recent post in its entirety. I cannot retype because I have to go to bed now because tomorrow I have to be at Bible study at the crack of 9:30am.

My husband's daughter and her beautiful little boy spent the day at our home yesterday. My husband and his daughter are rekindling their relationship at record speed. They're getting reacquainted. I watch them trying to make up for 20 lost years.

I'm doing coconut oil deep condish tonight and tomorrow, French braid tucked underneath and pinned securely with tiny fake flowers decorating it.

That's the short version.

[ /S I L E N T S C R E A M ]

No silicone products. Experiment completed.

November 22, 2004 through January 2, 2005.
I'm done with my no silicone project. I had read that some women found lots of split ends and general dryness to their hair when they discontinued using 'cone containing hair products. The consensus was that by using Pantene (or other silicone product), the 'cones were actually disguising split ends and general poor health of the hair such that the hair appeared healthy when in fact it was not. I felt I had to try going completely without Pantene in order to assess the true health of my hair. Well, my hair is the same. It has the same feel, same fullness, same appearance, same, same, same. So I'm done. I did it and I'm glad.

Yesterday I bought Alterna enzymetherapy hemp seed straightening balm. I tried a sample prior to November last year and knew I liked it. It works pretty well to smooth out those pokey silver hairs at the nape of my neck. It is loaded with 'cones! I like all the oils I use very, very much...and, well, I like the silicone products too. I will use them sometimes.

I made a Chinese Bun

This is called a Chinese Bun. And I'm wearing my Chinese dress.

Last night I finally decided to put some almond oil on my ends right before bedtime; a generous but not heavy application. I was surprised that my hair had absorbed most of it by morning. My head seemed so content that I decided to do a scalp wash so the ends could just be themselves today. Went to Bible study wearing my hair in a bun with my new Buddha hair stick and my husband's overalls. I used bobby pins to secure my bun to ensure I wouldn't have to touch it or adjust it at all during the study. Perish the thought that anyone might know that I fuss over my hair as much as I do.

I learned how to make a Chinese Bun from instructions at The Styling Station.

Poor quality photo, but shows length

Terrible picture, bad flash, but it's all I have tonight.

I'll delete this pic after I get something better. It's not desirable when the front door looks better than your hair.

Awhile back I sewed a satin pillowcase and I thought it might get ruined in the laundry but it came out perfectly fine. My hair likes satin. I like satin! On the nights I oil I just use a cotton pillow case, but other nights I use the satin. What I like about the satin too is that it doesn't make my cowlick stick straight up in the mornings. Cowlicks are so dorky when they stand straight up. I guess some things you never grow out of.

I was impressed by the nicest quote today at the Long Hair Community. A lady named Wholeheart Mom commented on MemSahib's lovely new silver hair sig pic and, referring to the generous grey distributed throughout Carla's long hair, she said it appeared as though the Master of the Universe (God) highlighted her hair, and did a marvelous job. Is that a unique sentiment or what. I thought Wholeheart Mom must be a poetess to express herself with such eloquence. Her statement reverberated through my mind all day. I asked her if I could use her words and she said sure. Next time my old dad starts telling me I would look so much better if I'd tint my hair, I'll enlighten him with this delightful repartee.

January measure-in coming up

My official measurer, my little boy, says I am three lines away from number 30 on the measuring tape. I'm debating using 29 and 5/8 or rounding down to an even 29.5 for my official measure-in measurement on Saturday, January 1st.

My husband tried to take 3 month photos of my hair tonight but my doggone camera takes awful indoor pics. The flash is far too harsh and washes everything out. We took a photo with me standing in the foyer at the front door and the oak doors came out simply fabulous. My hair on the other hand was blindingly stark, drab, and lacked all detail due to the flash. Pooh. Now I have to wait to take photos outside in the lame old backyard.

Washed my hair tonight especially for picture taking. Now the wash routine is completely out the window for the week, and I have not even one single good photo to use.

It looks like my ends are in need of a little clean up. I might use Feye's trim method.

Pondering hair and head coverings

I really liked Girl With a Pearl Earring. Based on the book authored by Tracy Chevalier, this film and the painting by Johannes Vermeer captivate my imagination.

The author of the book names the girl Griet (pronounced 'Greet') and Griet keeps her hair covered at all times. The very act of covering her hair causes it to become a forbidden fruit of sorts. (Thus, my interest in ordering a scarf and learning to create the Jerusalem Twist.) I have no intention of keeping my own hair covered at all times, but I am intrigued by the idea, the effect, and the significance of the covering of a woman's head.

The Bible addresses the practice of veiling in 1Corinthians 11:1-16. These verses are among the most controversial in the Bible. No where else in the Bible are head coverings discussed in detail.

Two separate issues come to the fore. One is the issue of authority and the other is the issue of modesty. In 1Cor 11:3 we read that man is the head of woman, just as Christ is the head of man and God is the head of Christ. This (exceedingly briefly) sums up the matter of authority. The time that Apostle Paul is addressing the Christians in the city of Corinth is around 55 A.D., a time when all respectable Hebrew women wore veils over their heads when they went out in public. What Paul was saying is that women should wear such veils when they worship. (The Adventure Bible, Zondervon, 1985 p. 1267.) This (exceedingly briefly) sheds light upon the modesty issue.

The one and only verse I have memorized is Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." For me, I couldn't really wear a head covering because I'd need to be able to put it on often or wear it all day. And when Paul referred to head coverings did he mean a full covering like entire head as well as the face, or all of the hair but the face can show, or most of the hair with some hair peeking out in front, or would a cap do? It's open to interpretation. And it depends on local custom. Even among the Amish the size and style of the head covering varies.

And women have a natural inclination to want to be attractive. We're hard wired that way. I lost the page but I read a testimony about head covering where a woman noted that it was not uncommon for young women to primp and ask how their tails looked, meaning they wanted to be sure their scarves were arranged to look pretty. The chick factor is inescapable.

I do like head coverings on women. When I see a woman with a head covering, I know it's an outward sign of an inward attitude and I have a lot of respect and admiration for that. At the market I see women who wear traditional hijabs. They look so pretty. When we were traveling in Montana last year we saw a very large family, must have been ten children, sit down in a restaurant and every single girl wore a small white cap and they were dressed very plainly. They were friendly too.

So I'm thinking about keeping my hair up, though uncovered, all the time.

I'm just pondering hair and head coverings tonight.

Missed my hair slide on Ebay

I waited three days to bid on the hair slide I wanted then completely forgot to bid. (I always like to bid at the last minute.) Now I have to wait another six days. I missed my item all because I was wrapped up in watching the Lakers play the Miami Heat. Lakers lost in overtime.

I'd post a link to my desired hair slide but I dare not lest some long hair grrrl tries to outbid me on it. I'll show it when I buy it. It's unusual.

I made a pair of hair sticks.

Compliment on my hair from a Goth Girl!

I came home from Sav-On all atwitter. I'm a mess but I had to get a couple money holders for my nephews so I left the house after only finger combing my hair and pinning it in a loose bun. I didn't even brush my teeth. I'm wearing jeans, workboots, and my ugliest black fleece top with pills all over it.

At the register while I was trying to get my debit card to work the cashier said "I like your hair." I was surprised, first just at getting a compliment and second, that it was from such a young girl. She had long jet black hair, white skin, and heavy but pretty eye make-up. I told her lots of people don't like grey hair at all and she was so sweet. She said she liked how the grey shined like highlights and she liked the streak. I hadn't noticed the way it was pulled back accentuated a streak near my temple. She went on and on. It's wasn't just a single sentence and the end. I could feel my face go blushing.

I asked her if she visited the long hair boards and she said no. So that means this is a bonifide compliment from someone entirely unschooled, unaffected, by the great grey hair debate.

Maybe the Lord looked down and said "Send old Liliana a compliment today because she looks like she needs it."

Anywho, I feel like getting fixed up and doing something now. I'm absolutely certain that the only reason I've gotten any compliments on this hair is due to deep conditioning with oils and my new hair care routine that I learned from The Loom and The Mane Board. And I believe the compliment came from the Goth Girl because she is the type of individual who doesn't buy in to commonly held conceptions regarding commonly accepted standards of beauty.

Tomorrow is family visit day. When I need it, I will think of that girl, her face, and her words.

Billowing silk and stunning hair

We rented a DVD called Hero. It's Chinese (Mandarin) with subtitles in English. At first I saw sword fighting and thought, ugh, martial arts (a guy movie). Then I caught sight of Maggie Cheung. Her beauty in the film is positively intoxicating.

If you like silk, and you like hair, and you like to see them both blowing in the wind, rent this movie. The cinematography is exquisite.

All desire for Pantene evaporated

I now embark upon my fourth week of two hair washes per week. Things are copacetic. My ends are doing quite well. Yesterday I ventured out and about to do errands with my hair freshly washed, blow dried very straight and down, and I got a couple corner-of-the-eye second looks at the market and at a restaurant. This is a good sign.

I just couldn't wait till January 1st and I measured. I'm at 29 inches now. Soon I'll be in a whole new set of tens! Wow. I'd be thrilled if I got a whole inch of growth this month but it's unlikely. It happened once that I know of though.

After an entire month I can honestly say my desire for Pantene conditioner has evaporated. I'm still Pantene free and sulfate free. In place of the Pantene I'm using Paves conditioner and strictly oils. I use a smidgen of jojoba during the week and then heavy olive oil conditioning twice per week (overnight before I wash).

Belly dance student in a belly dance troupe

I was quite afraid to go to troupe practice because it's far and I have trouble with driving directions and because the world is so full of danger I never venture out at night. My husband said he'd take me and asked where the class will be and I told him. But he wanted an exact specific address. Men. So I found the address. It turns out they rehearse at the Senior Citizen's Community Center. My husband said, "Honey I don't think there will be much mayhem at the senior center." Okay, that's probably true.

There was a different teacher, new dances and I was overwhelmed. They did about three dances: Hadouni (the one my teacher choreographed), lead and follow, and a cane dance. I was out of step, off count, and graceful as a three-legged camel. I'm going back for more.

What I especially like about this dance and these classes is that there were women of all ages and sizes and all are welcomed into the fold equally. Of the ten dancers present about three are very, very good. The rest are about like me. Well, like me except they know the steps. With persistence and practice I will learn them too. My teacher says, "The dance reveals the dancer." I like that.

I have yet to decide how to assimilate my belly dancing with my Christianity. Notice, I did not say I'm deciding how to assimilate my belly dancing with my faith. It's just that I haven't yet met a professed Christian belly dancer. Is saying you're a Christian belly dancer like a saying you're a bartender for Jesus? If so, then Houston I've got a problem.

I know I will choose modest attire but that's not due to any measure of religiosity but mere personal preference. Though many of the older women show their bellies, that's not for me. I have a fair tummy but I already had my day in the sun so to speak. I will prefer to be lovely, modest, and attempt to be an example of mature semi-beauty. That's my plan anyway.

Thinking about hiking and driving hair

This morning we went to The Desert Museum and hiked up a mountain in Palm Springs. Well, maybe it was a very big hill. There were lots of switchbacks and it was rated as a strenuous hike. Above is a photo of the view part ways up. First we ate breakfast at the best breakfast restaurant in P.S. which is Elmer's. (Don't go there on a Sunday morning though. Long lines.)

The drive and the hike made me realize I must soon decide what to do with this hair on long trips. We'll be putting in some long driving days to get to Alaska and the leather seat is not kind on my hair. I didn't used to much care, but now I do. Maybe I should try making a satin bun cover. Maybe a snood. A driving snood! Even an hour drive messed up my bun today.

For belly dance class I had to wash my bangs. My hair got very sweaty and dusty dirty today so I made a part and brought a small amount of hair around my face forward (knotted the rest in a bun and covered with a plastic baggie) to wash it. I felt and looked much better. I have a pretty new sparkly silver barrette that I put in just for looks above my braided bun tonight.

We danced an actual choreographed dance tonight. Thank heaven for epinephines! Once they kicked in I had a great time, but I nearly went home because I thought I just didn't have in in me, and why shame myself in front of others. I didn't go to troupe practice last week because, well, I chickened out. But tonight I am renewed. Aziza said I did well picking up the routine and she gave me a complete music CD with the song on it (our song is 3 minutes and 50 seconds in length). I acted calm on the outside, but I was delighted on the inside that she decided to give me the music her dancers are dancing to. I am encouraged.

Tomorrow night is a fresh chance for me to attend troupe rehearsal and to not chicken out.

I sewed a satin pillowcase for myself

I finally cut and sewed my white satin fabric. It made a pretty pillowcase and I'm happy to baby my hair, but I'm sorry to say it's not especially photogenic. I also realized I didn't check the bolt of fabric before I bought it to ensure it's washable. Hope I don't end up with a ten inch ball of wrinkled pillowcase after it goes through the washer and dryer.

Ordered a scarf today

I ordered a head scarf! I've really been wanting one and the selection at the mall wasn't very attractive or unique, so I settled on this one at Headcovers Unlimited. The site is geared toward people with illnesses that cause them to lose their hair but they have such a pretty inventory. If I like it and it works for me, I will also get this one at Tzinus.com.

My husband wondered why I'd want a scarf and I told him it might be good for days when I don't like my hair. My big hoop earrings will go perfectly too. And when we begin our travels through North America in May 2005 in our 24' trailer it may be ideal for dusty, dirty camping hair. Our first stop is Alaska. We tried to get there last summer, but at Mile Zero of the Alaskan Highway our money ran out. Had to come home.

This time we're selling the house and getting rid of a lot of stuff before we go. We'll store our money in a tin can.

Deep conditioning with olive oil

I bought olive oil at the market on sale, half off the regular price. I've heard it's heavier than sweet almond oil. From earlobes to ends, I loaded my hair up with a very generous application on Saturday night, pinned it into a sloppy, knotted, braided bun and went to sleep looking forward to leisurely washing it out in the morning before church. Duh. Husband wakes me up at 9:00am with 30 minutes to get ready to go.

Anyway, the conditioning quality of the olive oil is good. The odor, while it is mild, is stronger than the almond oil in my opinion. This week I inadvertently over oiled my ends, and in doing so caused it to look greasier between washings than if I had used the jojoba more sparingly. I still stuck to my Wednesday and Sunday hair washing regimen though! I'm so glad I found the whole long hair care microcosm on the WWW. My hair is doing well because of it and so is my psyche.

So now I'm experienced with jojoba, sweet almond, coconut, and olive oils. I think that might be all for me. I don't see that I need very many oils.

Lord, how will you use me today?

Saturday morning I opened my eyes and wished the day would go away. Closed my eyes and opened them again and the day was still there. So I did what I do every single morning and asked the Lord how He would use me this day.

I was basically a blob most of the day. I messed around with my hair. On Saturdays I'm fairly looking forward to washing on Sunday morning but I did get it to look nice in another low bun. I'm into low buns lately. That was my whole morning. By 1:00pm I fixed myself some toast and coffee. Got on my computer and noodled around. Looked out the window and there's my husband and son on their hands and knees working in the front yard pulling up weeds after they had spent the morning putting up Christmas lights. Pass me a big plate of guilt. I knew had to do something with lazy self but not housework which I have plenty of to do.

Instead I went to the bookshelf and dug out the cookbook and wrote down all the ingredients for pasta primavera, a dish I just learned to make and one my husband likes a lot. It has many good veggies in it like broccoli, snow peas, carrots. I went to the market and bought all the ingredients and totally lucked out because for some reason hardly anyone was at the grocery store so I was in and out quickly and got front row parking to boot. And that's not all. Our little boy was with me and I took him to the fabric shop and he selected three different flannels for me to sew him three more pairs of pajamas. So, tada, I had accomplished two things for other people by days end. That's worth something. At the fabric store I did slip in one yard of white satin at $4.99 a yard to make myself a pillowcase. Satin is supposed to be gentle on hair. The satin has been lying in the middle of the living room floor for 36 hours now. All I have to do is get over there and cut it out.

Lord, how will you use me today?

I asked the Lord how he would use me this morning and His reply went beyond cooking a favorite meal or making pajamas.

My husband and his children from his first marriage have been estranged for many years. All communication stopped long ago for reasons which are ultimately between them and I don't fully understand. There was much history before I met my husband since I'm a third wife. But despite whatever transpired, as a child of divorce myself I well know that divorce is unpleasant business and the children get shortchanged.

After dinner at about 6:30pm I was washing dishes and there was a knock at the door. I heard talking and figured it was a solicitor that my husband would send away. I went back to the dirty dishes and then my husband says, "Look who's here."

In the middle of our family room stood a tall, attractive, well manicured woman in a tan, tailored, sleeveless dress, short brown hair, and high heels. She was smiling at me expectantly. Considering we practically never have guests of any size or shape in our house I didn't recognize her, but her smile was so broad, and my husband's so wide, that I got a sense that something was expected of me. But what? Who was it? Suddenly it dawned on me. It was Juli! She's my husband's eldest daughter; age 38 now. The last time we laid eyes on her was 20 years ago.

We, or rather they, talked for hours. It's an utter shame how years are lost due of misunderstandings and anger. Juli poured out her heart. My husband cried, and she cried, and I cried too. I think everyone has a new perspective now.

Since the Lord works in us and through us, my usefulness to my husband will be to encourage continued contact. I don't know if things will be fixed or if things will be renewed, but I am optimistic for them. We plan to invite Juli and her family over for a meal. She's married now and has a little boy. I'm not a good cook. I'm a bad cook and guests make me anxious. But it's not about the food, and it's not about me.

Blogosphere

I told my husband I actually have a tiny number of return visitors coming to my new journal. I told him I suspected my readers are a very few, very devoted, yet very deeply disturbed group of people.

He gazed up towards the kitchen ceiling and said, "Yes, there's a symmetry to that."

The frailties of the humans

Riding up the escalator I could hear but not see, someone was coughing or choking, and a woman's voice obviously in a state of alarm was saying, "Shall I call someone, shall I call 911?" I made my turn and quickly moved past the two rationalizing to myself that the woman seemed to be recovering now. Then, she distinctly looked up and made eye contact with me. It was not to be a clean escape for me. I quickly diverted my eyes and walked on. Did she suffer from asthma, have a panic attack, was she choking? Why didn't I take two minutes out of my time to simply go over, offer a word of comfort, put my arm around her for a second, exhibit any tiny bit of emotion? I don't know. I just walked by. She was probably embarrassed about choking in front of everyone and I should have stopped to inquire as to her well-being. If my husband had seen this happening he would have stopped. That's the way he is. If I had walked by the man lying on the road would I be like the Good Samaritan? (Luke 10:29-37) Doesn't look like it. I had a bad feeling at the very instant that I did it. Is there a pounding my head against the wall emoticon?

Then in Macy's dressing room I overhead a young woman, a retail clerk who I'd guess to be about 19 or 20, talking to a customer who was very frail and sitting down. The elderly lady had health issues, I forget what they were, but I was struck when I overhead the young lady tell the elderly woman that she had had colon cancer and she proudly announced that she was now a survivor. She said she got a check-up every six months to ensure her body was cancer free. By looking at her you would never have guessed that she'd fought, and won, against a life threatening illness.

At my Sunday night fellowship meeting there's a woman, a mother of two, whose 5 1/2 year old son was born with cancer. How does a child get born with cancer? He's healthy and well now but when she shared her heart wrenching account of what they had gone through at the hospital and in their family, there was not a dry eye in the room. She looks like a regular mom. I'd never have guessed by looking at her that she'd gone through such a trial.

Life is so tenuous. Everyone has a story. People I see, people I pass by every single day, people I'm too busy to talk to, embody wonderful and fearful stories that I don't even know about. I walk by, completely unaware.

A compliment on my hair!

I received a compliment on my hair last night. In real life. In real time.

A gal in my dance class, a very smart lawyer to boot, said my hair was pretty. A compliment like this is a rarity for me. And that's not all. She went on to say it gave me grace. What? Me? Grace? I'm still on cloud nine. She has no idea what a sweetheart she is in my book now and forever or that my blog is alittlegrace.blogspot.com. How weird is that. It's like, cosmic.

My hair was in a braided bun. I always wear it up to my belly dance class. It was sprinkled throughout with five miniature sparkly claw clips that I found on my recent shopping trip - the shopping trip of torture.

I have prevailed. Infinity bun done.

Insurgent attacks threaten to delay upcoming elections in Iraq, U.S. students fare badly in international survey of math skills, and worst of all Karl Malone isn't coming back to the Lakers. It wasn't a great news day.

But here's a pic of my first 'Infinity Bun.' It could be called a 'Lazy Eight' too, but infinity sounds classier. The infinity sign was first used by John Wallis, an English mathematician (he lived from 1616-1703) who was friends with Isaac Newton. There seems to be some supposition regarding whether he borrowed it from the Romans or the Greeks.

I tried and tried to get my hair to do this a couple months ago but my ends were too thick so it required way too many bobby pins to hold it in place, then it would self destruct anyway. Determination, plus 50 attempts in 90 minutes, have paid off.

Two washes per week routine - good start

Last week I did indeed follow through on my two washes per week plan. I went all the way from Wednesday to Sunday morning with the same hair.

I've been raised up to believe that I should shampoo daily and if I don't I'm not exercising proper hygiene, so I thought I'd feel grimy but go figure. I didn't really. I was fully anticipating that my scalp would get itchy in which case I would immediately cease and desist and run for a hot shower but, no itch. By Saturday it was necessary to keep it in a bun tight to my head to disguise the oiliness but that's to be expected.

Something did up though. On Saturday I noticed...odor. Yikes. Definitely objectionable.

I'm somewhat unique in that about the only place I sweat is on my head. Weird I know. In 5th grade the kids in El Centro called me La Red Mamasota during recess. In college I used to be envious of girls in dance class who sweat under their arms, on their back, or between their breasts. Me, I sweat on my head and face, and that's the sum of it. To offset the lack of sweat (which other people are amazed by) I get a really bright red face. Real attractive. I couldn't avoid sweating on my head at belly dance class on Thursday, then during my own at-home work-out on Friday. This made my scalp smell. Anybody close to me would be able to detect it.

So I applied some grapefruit essential oil to my fingertips and rubbed it into my scalp for about five minutes. It helped immensely. It was not overpowering in the least and it eradicated the odor. Five gold stars go to grapefruit essential oil, $4.95 for .5 ounces.

I have a pic of day three unwashed hair. You'll see it wasn't that bad. This photo is also noteworthy because finally, finally I can make an attractive everyday low bun. I realized that if I don't wind so tightly and if I hold it in place just right while I put in bobby pins, it looks nice. In the past I simply could not bear to wear a low bun because it gave me that school marm look.

My bangs did require washing every day, but those are a cinch to do in the sink.

The Madora comb is IN!

What's so big about combs? Not much...to the untrained eye. But there exists a whole 'nother realm of combs in the comb world that you may not be aware of.

If you want real long hair, real healthy hair, why then you need to baby it. I've always used combs from the market that cost me, hmmm, maybe $1.99. They did the job just fine. But you see, if you look closely you will see seams. Check it out. Each and every tooth on your comb may show a seam from the plastic molding. If these seams are present they can tear your hair, or at the very least scrape every individual hair the whole way down. You want to avoid this. As Heidi says, you must treat your hair like fine lace. It is a fiber. Heidi would know on account of she has hair almost to the floor.

This new Madora comb is seamless. It seems to be made of plastic and I wish I knew what kind, but it has a solid feel to it. It's handmade in Switzerland. It's a pretty ivory color and I can see striations in it - added purely for looks. I need to get that Hello! software so I can upload a really big photo of it so you can view the striations. Okay, enough with the text, on to photos...

It was made in Switzerland, I ordered it from New York.  It shipped via ground transport.

The UPS man left it at my door. I love packages.



New and old comb comparison.




The back of the Madora has an indentation for your hand hold.


The Madora has a bit more space between the teeth. The bottoms of the teeth are larger than my old comb.



A hardworking comb.



Madora and the babies.

Happy December!

I now own ... an archive.

Three gifts

We give our son three gifts from us for Christmas. We decided on three because Jesus received gifts from three Wise Men. It's worked out well. It helps us stay focused and avoid the chaos and materialism that is rampant in the U.S. this time of year.

We spent Christmas in Tahiti once and it changed our attitude toward Christmas and the whole holiday season. We used to spend, spend, spend, and rush, rush, rush just like everybody. But in Tahiti they don't do that. It's much more simple. It gave us pause to examine and reflect upon what we were doing and why.

I intend to wash two days a week

It's been decided. I will wash my hair two times a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, just like Avrilon! She has such pretty hair. I'll never look like an Avrilon, I have no chance, but I still have aspirations. She's 53 and still very cool as her photos clearly show. I think she has the face of a model though she's never mentioned modeling. It seems like everybody who is anybody who has long, long hair, washes only once or twice a week, not daily.  I want to get with the program.

My DSL went on the fritz for a day and a half. That was horrible. Couldn't access lessons, couldn't access email, couldn't access the blog. They had to fix the line out on the main street.

I had worn my hair in the same French braid for two solid days (must have been because I had no DSL) so this morning I popped awake and did a scalp wash, blow dried, mixed some jojoba and grapefruit EO, brushed through, put my hair in a tight bun, went to Bible study. It looks nice and I feel better.