Monday, October 29, 2012

10 is enough, for now anyway

Last weekend I spent the weekend with my immediate family which has grown to 10, 13 if you include pets at our lake house. For self preservation I've enlisted help with meals from our older girls so I'm not solely responsible for feeding 10 all weekend long and I have to say their meals are my favorite to eat!

With 10 people, coming to any kind of decision in regards to activities is 10 times more complicated. Going for a morning walk is my favorite activity in the whole wide world, especially with Laura and Kristen. We cover lots of ground on our walks and I'm not just talking miles. Well, this time, Kristen wanted to take her two little city dogs along which could be dicey due to the rural nature of our neighborhood, and I use that term loosely. For some reason every neighbor has not one, but at least three or four dogs that we must contend with, usually by wielding a stick and praying. Then my younger two want to join us but L  had only packed his flip flops and S only her winter boots. It might be a tad early to let them do their own packing. We discussed at length which would be worse, for L to wear flip flops or his older sister's hiking boots from last year. Kristen commented that S looked like an American Eagle ad with her swim wear and furry winter boots and her usual sassiness! Once we decided on footwear for everyone we were out the door by noon for our morning walk.

Our main reason for going to the lake was to celebrate Laura and Ben's birthday and more importantly to play with Lucy. Lucy, and I realize that I'm completely biased, is not only captivating in appearance and personality, but she is the most good natured baby I have every known. She smiles easily with anyone who holds her, even when awakened from a nap! She was sleeping during cake time and Laura didn't want her to miss the party so went to wake her up. Sweet Lucy obliged and came sleepy- eyed and smiling to celebrate her mommy's birthday, shades of terms of endearment if you ask me. Another time she was left in my care to bathe while Laura and Jason went out on the boat. I laid her down in her pack and play to run the water and when I came back she had already fallen asleep on her own.  I had to wake her ( poor baby gets no rest!) and she even suffered through my clumsy bath with the silly sponge I was instructed to use. I already pity her siblings who will  be compared to her. Lucy has set the standard very high.

Eric and I regularly discuss selling the lake house.  It is hard to find time to go, a financial drain, difficult to maintain and manage long distance,  etc. yet oddly we always change our mind when we are there. It must be the extremely small kitchen where we must maneuver around each other like a game of tetras during meal time. Or perhaps it is dealing with the constant repairs and maintenance of a house that is 30 years old that we find appealing. It could also be dealing with the repairmen who over charge for marginal work done on their own time. Probably though it is that we really love spending time with each other, even the dogs. I'm going with that last reason!













Monday, October 15, 2012

To dye or not to dye

I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not I will embrace the natural graying of my hair or cover the gray. My hair is just barely starting to sprout them (Thank you Daddy!) so I have some time to try the coloring scene out. The whole scene seems like a huge time waster, not to mention money waster. I made an appointment for Saturday morning with my 9 year old son in tow to discuss my options and try something subtle. As I stepped down into the coloring section of the salon, I could tell something was different about that side of the salon. The stylist were decidedly cooler starting with my colorist Nevada who would be doing my hair. Her attire was an off the shoulder black tunic over black leggings with black tall boots. My son even told me later that he noticed most of the ladies had on boots there so it wasn't just me.

 Nevada who described herself as an artist examined my hair, showed me some pictures and went off to mix color. She then introduced me to her assistant, Rain who was wearing a black lace jacket over a black tube top, a black micro mini skirt and Pretty Woman black patent tall boots. She proceeded to give me a head massage ( I'm not sure why) Does it make the color go in deeper? I'm mainly contemplating where all these hip black clothes are purchased as I have never seen them at Gap or Banana Republic. I was then asked very nicely to go sit under a rotating heat lamp which gave me an even better vantage point of the live fashion show before me. I failed to grab my readers so I could read the magazines which btw is the most annoying thing about entering the golden years. I tried to squint and read but derived no enjoyment. The timer began to go off on my heating lamp when I'm not kidding an assistant to the assistant came and told me that she would be washing my hair until Rain was available. I've decided that I need at least one assistant in my life and two would be lovely. All I know is I felt really bad for the assistant to the assistant as I'm sure she did anything and everything no one else wanted to do. I also noticed that the assistant to the assistant wore the least hip clothes, baggy black slacks, nondescript black top and probably didn't have a cool name either.

 My color turned out barely noticeable which was the goal and Rain gave me a fabulous blow out. In my next life I would like to be a colorist so that I can wear hip black clothes, have a cool name and multiple assistants. Yes, that life is looking pretty good right about now.