Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Negotiations.

Anastyn {aka Miss Sassy Pants} has been entertaining me with her negotiation skills the past couple weeks. You have to keep in mind that she's only 2 years old. I know all small children are like little sponges. They soak up so much - good and bad. The thing that amazes me is that they are clever enough to take all the words, images, circumstances, etc. that they have soaked up and wring it all out in very adult ways.

I know where Miss Sassy Pants has learned how to negotiate. Obviously, I do it with her all day long. For example: "If you eat your dinner, you can have ice cream later!", "If you don't stop throwing rocks, we will have to leave the park and go home!", "No, you cannot have candy...how about a banana?", "If you promise not to yell, stand up in the cart, or make mommy behave like a crazy person while we are at Wal-Mart, I will buy you a toy!!" etc, etc, etc.

But I didn't think she would start doing the negotiating so soon! Her new thing is to say, "How 'bout..." She wanted apple juice - I said she could have water - she said "how 'bout milk?" O-kay. She was supposed to be taking a nap. She wanted to do puzzles instead. I told her we could do puzzles after her nap. She said, "how 'bout one puzzle?" It really is very funny. I get a chuckle out of her. And I am wondering what she will come up with next...

Matty made me giggle the other day. She was sitting on the stairs wrestling with her shoes. She was trying to put them on, but she was having some technical difficulties. She was grunting and making noises under her breath. I could tell she was getting really frustrated. And then she shook her hands in the air and said in her little growly voice, "Are you kidding me, shoes?" Ha ha!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Welcome Home, Kacee!!

My sister-in-law, Kacee, has been doing my hair ever since she started Cosmotology School. She has done an excellent job from day one - she is just a natural! The bad thing was that she never lived close by. So sometimes there was some waiting in between haircuts and color jobs.

About a month and a half ago, after waiting patiently for 6 months for Kacee to plan a trip home without success, I finally caved and decided my hair could wait no longer. And besides that, I didn't want to contribute to the overwhelming amount of family members needing their hair done the next time she was able to make the trip home. So I decided to find a stylist around here to make me pretty again. After asking around I decided to go to a lady that I had never met (I will not mention names. And the lady is not in Lovell.) So I made the trip to her salon-with all the excitement you can imagine from a girl who hasn't had her hair done in half a year. Upon entering the salon I saw that the hair stylist was just finishing up with a previous client. So I sat down, picked up a copy of Short Hair and patiently thumbed through it while watching the lady work. I started feeling uneasy when the stylist started using her very hot flat iron to dry/style the client's wet hair. As thick steam was rising into the air and the water from the girl's wet hair was sizzling on the flat iron, I wondered if this poor girl was going to have any hair left by the time the stylist was through with her. My gut told me to get up and walk out. But, what do I know?? She's the hair stylist...she must know what she's doing!

Finally it was my turn in the chair. I needed two things done - both of which I figured were pretty straight forward and easy to handle. 1) I needed my color touched up - nothing fancy - just the same thing Kacee did six months ago. It should be pretty obvious. 2) I needed my hair trimmed. An a-line with a few layers. I explained all this to the lady. She looked at me blankly and started asking me all these questions about how to go about doing it. I was getting really worried because I've never had to tell a beautician how to do her job before! Anyways, she got a book out and showed me a picture of a lady with blonde hair and highlights, etc. It looked nice so I said, "ya...that will be great".

The next red flag that this woman may have been a beauty school drop-out was that she kept reading some sort of instructions during the whole foiling process. And she just wasn't doing the whole process the same way I was used to seeing it done. At this point I was just hoping for the best. Keeping my fingers crossed that it would all turn out really, really cute like I was counting on...

When the foils came off, and my hair was washed, I explained to the lady how I usually had my hair cut. It seemed like she understood. But, uh-oh...another red flag. She proceeded to tell me that when she cuts an a-line she likes the hair to be dry. Really? That's different. I've never had anyone cut my hair when it was dry. Ever. Of course I didn't say anything. I just bit my lip. She dried my hair. And that's when I saw the color. My hair was full of these brassy, orange chunks. And there was a big chunk on the side of my head that was brown and didn't even go all the way to my scalp. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

She got her scissors out and cut across the back of my hair and down the sides. She didn't put any layers in. She didn't even check to make sure the sides were even! She finished me up and styled my hair with one of those combination curling iron/hair dryer thingies. Barrel size of about 1". She asked me if I liked it and told me that if I didn't she would fix it. I just wanted to get the heck out of there before she screwed it up any more. And I needed to go quickly, because I was on the verge of tears. I wrote out a check for the 70 bucks. 70 bucks down the drain.

I left quickly. The tears started coming as soon as I was in the car. My hair was ugly. I was so upset that Kyle decided to text Kacee. And then I felt terrible because the whole thing that I was trying to avoid - making Kacee drive all the way up here just to do hair - was happening. She drove up about a week and a half later and fixed my hair for me. All better now! Thank you, Kacee!!

The Moral Of The Story:

When your most beloved hair stylist - the one that always does an excellent job, the one that you can trust, the one that can read your mind - when she lives far, far away - go pack her up and move her back home! Which is exactly what I did...

And my hair lived happily ever after.

So, if you are looking for a beautician...Never Fear - Kacee is Here!

She is working at Gracie's Backdoor Salon.
The door is in the alley behind The Box Office in Lovell.
Phone number is 548-2456
Kacee's cell is 435-210-0372
You won't be disappointed!

Life Happens...

June and July have gone by in a blur. So much has been going on and we have been extremely busy. There have been so many activities, family visitors, and basically a lot of chaos. There is really no way to even summarize....to tell you the truth, I probably wouldn't even remember many details. Everything has been happening in such rapid succession!! But such is life.

I am reminded of a quote by Gordon B. Hinckley that I love...it helps me remember that life isn't supposed to be perfect:

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey … delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

When I think about the beautiful vistas in my life, I am extremely grateful that I have as many as I do. My family being the most important. What a blessing it is to be surrounded at all times by people who love and care deeply for you. I am so proud to belong to such wonderful families that rally around eachother and support eachother in all things wonderful and difficult!!