What's it to be? curly or straight?

For the longest time when growing up I wanted to have long flowing locks, for most the eighties I had short {new romantic} hair cuts. Then as I finished up school and made my way into the rat race I grew my hair long and would spend hours making it as big as I could possibly make it. Huge would be an excellent adjective for that mass of curly locks adorning my head!!!! Colossal even. Gargantuan.

I will confess to having a perm a time or two just to give it that extra oomph that I'm sure I didn't need. I never used conditioner and teased the living crap out of it, then sprayed what life was left in it until it stuck out three feet from my head like a mortified hay bail. I was gorgeous! just ask me.

My poor hair, it was exhausted and ravaged and dying for a break. I came to my senses somewhere in the mid to late nineties and would have it cut every six to eight weeks, conditioned and treated on a very regular basis to give me somewhat of a healthy looking crowning glory. It has been here and there between the two ever since. For some reason after the birth of my first little angel my hair decided to curl the heck up all by itself and I'm not talking waves here, I'm talking CORK. SCREW. FREAKIN. CURLS!!!! nightmare. I have managed to tame it the past few years with just a flat iron after shampoo/conditioning daily.

And then boom, Mama hits the ripe old age of 35 and some odd... and it started again. The cork screw nappy ass hair; what the eff is up with this shit??? Even the flat iron won't help and it's starting to look nothing less than frazzled... yes... Frazzle Rock.. that's me. So this past week I have investigated the wonderful world of Keratin. Where have I been? How do I not know about this product? Is it that the stylist has been hiding it form me because she's aware of the hilarity may hair is providing to the community at large? She didn't want to spoil the fun !  So having checked out all ... yes all... the reviews on Amazon I purchased me some of this miracle goop. I simply can't justify the expense of the full treatment at the salon which can be anywhere from $150 to $300... yes people $300!!! and may last about 6 months. However, being the savvy, penny pinching do it myselfer that I am I have discovered the anti-curl, the Kryptonite for my Supercurls, the bing to my bong. (I just made that last one up!).

I tried John Frieda Straightening Creme, Ion Straightener and I have the Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner from Coppola as well as their shiny spray stuff... (don't remember what that's called). Now of course I'm not using all these at one time, they have varying degrees of greatness and it depends alot on how much time I have to primp.... but my friends... well worth the itty bitty investment. Pennies well spent and I'm tickled pink with the results, smooth, shiny, healthy looking hair. And I guess the best part is that it's not permanent so if I want to curl it up some I can... oh yes I can...with alarming ease I can be Shirley Temple inside of three minutes flat.

So ... comments please... are you curly, not curly, wavy or stick straight??? and how to you attain your look? and what do you do to change it up? I'm blaming my ridiculous intake of vitamins for this change, or possibly the fact that being old as dirt my hair is trying to curl up in order not to drag on the ground when I stoop........thanks for stopping by!!

Jelly Man... some randomonium methinks...

If you have kids and a Wii the Just Dance and Just Dance 2 are a MUST! 

If you have a Wii and don't have kids Just Dance and Just Dance 2 are still a must! 

If you have the need for a giggle JD and JD2 are a must. 

If you have ever tried to photograph a Jelly Fish you'll know that it's really tricky, 

if you have ever tried to photograph a jelly fish with a kinda everyday craptastic camera

(no offense Kodak, you generally serve me well) you'll know that you would 

be happy with this shot. Imagine if my beloved Nikon was fully functional! 

phhffttt considering it's something I love so much you'd think I would have had it fixed by now! 

Ever the procrastinator even when it pains me so. 

Look at these guys... I look at them and think.. yep I can relate buddy. 

They are lovely and shiny and well groomed, have the latest shades in scales and their

yellow accessories are to die for, yet they look so, well, sour faced!!!! 

Pissed off even.

I have been obesessing lately about my aging fading looks. I'm getting to 

be so old and it's apparent to me every time I catch my reflection... I have lines that 

trickle down from the corners of my mouth making me look exactly like 

these fish. I can pretty up the rest of me for all I'm worth but I still look 

like a miserable bitch... and I'm really not! well mostly not! 

Syd was in quiz bowl this weekend and for those not in the know outside the US this

is 8 rounds of general knowledge questions that the kids answer as a team.

Teams from schools across the area take part and they answer ten toss up questions, the 

team to buzz in and answer correctly then gets first dibs at answering the 2 bonus questions.

It lasted most of the day and unfortunately my little brainiac's team didn't do 

so well. However.... I am SO PROUD of her!!!!  and her team mates. 

They are all so sweet, they tried hard, there were no ego's or disagreements.

These five kids just got out there and had fun and did their best, I am impressed! 

OK don't want to keep ya here all day... ups and downs of the randomonium are

now over!!! Come back and see me next time y'all!!! mwwuaahhhh

In which they crash an Indian Wedding....

So, there we are enjoying a family getaway in North Atlanta in a very nice

Hilton that they call the Castle on the Hill. The girls always like it when we 

go to a hotel, they're well traveled and could match Martha Stewart in the secrets to 

packing for a successful trip. I actually like going away with them now! as opposed to 

the days when no one could get any sleep because of screaming babies or 

forgetting some essential item like diapers or that Blankie. 

So we settled into the room, did our stuff, you know, trip to the Aquarium which

was good but my OMG they need to know when to start turning peeps away. 

They have a great tunnel like at Sea World where you can experience whale sharks, 

giant manta's and potato groupers swimming all around you and over your heads; 

however unlike Sea World they pack five gazillion ticket holders in there at once. 

Eeeewww.. Armpits abound as they all point upwards at the amazing aquatic 

delicacies swimming by, I couldn't help thinking it had to be the most 

unhealthy place in Atlanta, I tried to breath through my nose so as to trap any molecules of

pitness but the smell then deterred me so I had to kinda hold my hand over my mouth 

while trying to shield my kids from the armpits of Atlanta!!! 

After the Aquarium we were lets say... freakin' exhausted... must have been the bad air 

in there, or the noise; noise exhausts me. 

We chose to head back to the hotel and take a little nap, girls allowing. 

They allowed... but they timed it too... only an hour and then we were up and running

again, this time to find somewhere exciting for dinner and entertainment. Well when

looking for dinner and entertainment you can't go wrong with the Medieval Times! 

It... was... awesome!!!! 

So two hours and a couple o hundred silver coins later we were well fed, happy 

and ready for a good night of sleep in the castle on the hill. 

When we got back it was chilly and we parked closest to the door on the side figuring 

we could easily run in there and not get too cold. It wasn't the main entrance but hey

should be easy enough to find the lobby right? 

Wrong...... not when there's a huge, traditional Indian wedding reception in full swing! 

Yep, we walked slap into the middle of a beautiful wedding with all the 

finery, the ladies were gorgeous in their sari's and the guys were 

dressed equally splendidly in their suits. We walked in on the buffet just outside the

main ballroom wearing out paper crowns and carrying various crap we had

picked up that day... well excuse me for getting a fit of the giggles! 

It seemed like it was the longest walk ever to find the entrance to the main lobby

and the guests seemed just as surprised as we were to be there. 

Eventually one of the food servers helped us out of there... and as we 

got to the elevator Syd announces "can I get an AWKWARD!!"

That was it for me... I think I laughed until I peed my pants all the way up to the 

tenth floor!! I love my kids!! 

We probably should have stuck around a little longer because the food looked and 

smelled delish! I love Indian food and the onion bhaji's looked FANTASTIC!!! 

I wonder if anyone would have noticed me filling up a great big napkin with goodies and 

smuggling it up in the elevator??? 

If only l could get my thoughts straight...

We headed to the big city... we drove what seemed like forever yet it didn't seem long at all.

We arrived late, went to bed and awoke early. 

Tired yet excited to see what the day would bring we ate a delicious breakfast and then 

headed out the the Aquarium. 

Beluga whales, sting rays and lion fish.... 

and much, much more. 

Then we headed back to the hotel for a well deserved nap.... just an hour! 

Before off to the Castle for some Medieval entertainment... the little 

Princesses loved every moment of this great feast and all the entertainment. 

After meeting their valiant Knight it was time to head back and call it a night!! (urgh)

Another wonderful breakfast in the morning and we were ready to leave and 

head South, one stop at Centennial Olympic Park on the way home. 

 And it was time to head home, tired, happy and full of stories to tell. 

Next time dear bloggers next time... the words are just stuck for now: I'm humbled by my

 wonderful family and just how happy they make me. 

Smiles. 

and another new toy.....

Hello World.. I have discovered another new toy and it's pretty neat for someone like me who uses different computers all over the place and can't keep up. It's on the Bighugelabs site and it's called Writer. You can just start typing and there you go. Then you can send it, save it, print it, wordcount it, you name it you can do it! Awesome n'est pas?

So recap of the weekend... I know I'm losing it because I have been doing crazy things lately like forgetting to put a pizza in the over and then this weekend we were supposed to be going on a little trip but I forgot to book the dogs into the kennels!!! Urgh.. major fail. Syd cried and I felt awful. Our trip has been postponed and hopefully we will get away this coming weekend. We took the kids to the mall instead, very lame I know, but they needed some new shoes and clothes so the mall it was. O.M.G. I haven't been to an actual mall in some time, it was packed and claustrophobic. I did not like it one bit.. there see I am getting old.

Syd apparently has grown about three shoe sizes since the last pair of shoes I bought for her.. which incidentally was about five weeks ago!!! I'm alarmed at the rate she's growing and what's happening to her little self. She's almost a middle schooler and it's starting to show. It is one thing to be the mother of a little kid but to be the mother of a big kid is overwhelming me. I know that in a matter of probably just three years she will have outgrown me, then how do I discipline her when I have to look up to her? I didn't ever expect to feel this way...to feel panic stricken at my daughter the amazon. Luckily Little Bit is still a wee slip of a thing but her feet are alarmingly long (and alarmingly narrow) she refuses to wear anything but Crocs or flip flops. Anything else just is not comfortable and she flops around like Dick Van Dyke in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when he's entertaining the King as a rag doll. It's just not worth the hassle to try and put her in proper shoes, luckily in the South we can get away with casual pretty much all the time!

So they both got some new shoes and a couple of outfits and we made it home pretty much unscathed. Ash then proceeded to do a little fashion show for us that she insisted on calling a fashion walk. Six year olds parading around in new clothes never fails to entertain! I will miss it when she's all cool and mysterious like her older sister... who by the way is now telling people she's ten because she's only a couple of months from her birthday.

We have had gorgeous weather these past few days, it's easy to imagine the grass turning green again and some of the flowers blooming. It's just plain weird for it to be so warm and yet so brown and ugly! His gorgeousness made a comment about my white legs... better keep them under wraps for a few more weeks and work on the tan in a can!! Wouldn't want to upset anyone now would we although he better take a look at his own chicken legs before talking about mine.

Anyhoodles that's it for this update. I'm done boring you and hope to come up with something better later in the week. Tomorrow is Corner View day and I hope to be able to make a decent contribution as I have been a major slacker on that particular project. Toodle Pip!!!

This Mama loves travelling...

Yep I have a long way to go....

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

This weeks Corner View is Blue... and although I'm stretching the theme a little

I like this. It's another great toy from BIGHUGELABS.COM.

You can click on all the places you have traveled and make your own personal map of 

the world. Fill in the blanks. 

I still have a long way to go but I think it's pretty cool for a wee lass from a village 

in Scotland who never expected to travel as much as I have. 

My kids love to travel too, it's in their blood I guess. 

So hopefully if we carry on we can make it a lot further although it's getting rather

dangerous out there so we may wait a while. 

Where have you gone? and what's your Corner View Blue?? 

Click on the other participants on the sidebar and enjoy Corner Views from all 

over the world. 

Forgive Me Elvis for I have sinned...

It has been seven days since my last POST!!!! 

Wow this week has flown by and I'm barely keeping my head above water. 

Today was President's Day, this is one 'holiday' that's either taken or not depending 

on who you work for and whether they respect the Office of the President of the 

United States or not.... well that's my take on it anyway. 

Fortunately I am employed but the respectful type of company and was bestowed

with a day of freedom to do that which pleased me. 

Then why did I choose to do something that didn't particularly please or displease me. 

I took five little girls to the movies and the fact that our local theater chose not 

to have any screenings until the evening hours chapped my ass. 

I had to drive an hour each way with five squealing, singing, aggravating little princesses.

I enjoyed the movie though... Gnomeo and Juliet... go see it, very funny. 

Then we drove home again and the first thing I did upon crossing the threshold

of my home sweet home was pour myself a massive glass of wine and send the 

girls outside to play in traffic. Urgghhh I feel bad but sometimes I just think I'm not

cut out for this mothering business!! 

I had a head full o' crap to blog about today and it all seems to have disappeared 

somewhere between the herding of girls to the bathrooms and the making sure

they all watched for traffic in the parking lot. I just can't think, I mean my mind has 

been turned to mush... thick blobby mush without any coherent thoughts whatsoever! 

Even now there's no peace, no escape and I think I'll just end with this. 

blfodfsdpfosidaskhferiyheiwsdcksndflskdfg.

Now that's good stuff!!!! Please come back another day when I can function like

a blogger and not a blithering idiot... to some it's the same thing!! LOL.