Hair Dye Tutorial

In honor of my friends commitment (or lack thereof) to home- dyeing her hair, I have made a home hair dyeing tutorial.



Step 1 Choose your hair color or colour if you are going with L'Oreal.

I happen to love cinnaberry as a temporary color. But we all know that the economy is bad and it's hard enough to put real berries on the table so to speak, without shelling out 9.00 for hair color that lasts only a couple of weeks!





So, for those penny pinches might I suggest a different berry option .

I know it sounds bizarre, Kool aid, I can't dye my hair with kool aid, can I?? Let me submit to you, yes you can for less than .69 a packet. It is temporary, and affordable, and has a myriad of color selections available

* Strawberry Raspberry
* Scary Black Cherry
* Rock a dile Red
* Cherry Cracker
* Golden Nectar

I think that covers most of the color choices, blonde, red, and black .......


Step 2- Find a willing model (we only have kids around our house, so a 10 year old will have to suffice)

Before....



Step 3 - Dunk hair into cups or bowls of the kool aid mixture. I used 1 packet to 1-2 cups of warm water.









Step 4- Pat dry, do not rinse, and blow dry on high heat to set the color.




**note use gloves, but if you don't just scrub some baking soda on your hands and rinse. It came right off. That is also a way to get it out of your hair ;)

And because we also have a 5 year old, and a gallon of orange koolaid sitting around we did her too. And there was enough left for momma, a few of her friends and Orange kool aid with dinner!!

So, Ladies I hope this will help out any of you who might be on the fence about hair dye... No fear , here! And when all your kids come over for the next slumber party, I will show them my new skills!!

Boys

Being the mom of a little boy, and never having brothers myself has been an eye opener to say the least.

I found a post on a friends' friend' blog that sums up boys pretty well. So I am no longer going to try and understand I am just going to marvel at the way God created boys. Fearless, pushing that edge. If not would we have our heros, brave warriors, defenders of our families?

So next time Ethan is sticking his nose in a puddle of milk on the light socket, jumping off the couch, flooding the upstairs bathroom, riding his little tike horse down the stairs, or licking the electrical cord for the thousandth time, I will remember this post

Memory Lane

15 Years Ago today I was beginning my freshmen year at Berry College in Georgia. I drove a honda CRX that took only 5.00 to fill up, and gas was only .80 a gallon. Even then I was often scrounging change for gas ;) My dorm was an castle donated by Henry Ford. And I worked at the horse barn on mountain campus. I would get up early to go feed and turn out 50+ horses before Biology I and then return in the afternoon for feeding, fence mending, doctoring, driving the water wagon, and other barn maintenance....

10 Years Ago today I was starting my first year at Lake Sumter for the nursing program. Madeleine was 8 months old. Mike was 6 months into recovery from a tractor trailer accident which took his arm, crushed his left leg, and left him with a traumatic brain injury. We lived in a little rental house on South Grove St in Eustis.

5 Years Ago today We lived in our current home, Liv was 8 months old, Maddy was a brand new homeschooled kindergartener. This was my first year of homeschooling and boy was I a sprayed roach!! Talk about crazy, stressed out poser homeschooler... I literally decided to homeschool a month before school was to start! I worked every Saturday at Waterman on PCU with my friends Darilyn and Rhonda.

3 Years Ago today- I was 7 months pregnant with Ethan, and had just found relief from my horrible morning sickness. I was working on CPU at the new Waterman hospital every weekend. Madeleine was 7 1/2 and Liv was 2 1/2. We didn't school much this year ;)

Present- I am home with Liv who had her tonsils out last week. Maddy is 10 going on 16, Liv is 5 and this is her first year of homeschooling. Ethan is almost 3 and a happy, energetic little boy. School is resuming tomorrow for Maddy. Ethan and Mike hang out during school hours. My aunt is slowly slipping away and I am really missing my sister.

Future- I hope that our kids grow up healthy and happy. I want to travel with them and not only teach about things in books but show them. Do I have the guts to do it? I don't know.. I would like for us to live closer to the rest of our family up north. I hope to stay close with all the great friends we have here.

Thrifty Thursday

Okay it is not Thursday, but there are some great weekend grocery deals out there that I thought I might share.

Albertsons - Huge Meat Sale

BOGO- bottom round roast, chuck roast, pork chops, pork tenderloin, tilapia,
5.98 lb T bones
.78 lb whole chickens
1.88/lb boneless skinless chicken breast

BOGO - Russet potatos
BOGO- bag salad
and 50 cent items throughout store - diced tomatoes, soups, etc... limit 50

Publix

Lots of BOGO- capn crunch, pillsbury, Pickles, kens salad dressing, pot chips lays, instant oatmeal, cheeze it's, ritz crackers, kraft mayo, slad bags, mac-n chz, baby carrots,

Frozen Veg. - green giant 10 for 10
Milk 3.79
Bread .89
ckn-whole 1.19 lb
Cabot block cheese - 2 for 5.00


Winn Dixie also has alot of produce 10 for 10 mix and match

It's that time of year again!

Yes fall planting for a garden. Mine is a nice raised bed of grass at the moment, but now is the time to get those seeds sprouted. Last year I had alot of lettuce, kale, green onions and 1 sad broccoli.

This year I am going to try:

tomatoes
lettuce (not so much as last year)
onions/ green onions
carrots
strawberries
and some herbs


anyone have any suggestions (Michelle??)

Praying for the Leblanc Family

As many of us have followed and prayed for Misty and her family, it is with a heavy heart I read Darren's announcement today. Misty has passed away. Please keep this husband and family in your prayers tonight. http://leblanclife.com/

Tina Fey looks just like Palin!!

We are home and Liv did great!!

Ok I'm going to blog

Yes, I have been just posting on everyone elses blog, and ignoring mine. It is so much more fun to comment than try and come up with a witty interesting post. Especially when all I have been doing is cleaning toliets, closets and climbing Mt laundry. Not alot of excitement there!



However I must say I have sucessfully whipped my closets, school room, kids rooms and laundry into shape. Why the need to do this, you say?? Well we have started our school year and as many of you know I have house ADD when it comes to school. I cannot teach math if dust bunnies are taunting me from the baseboards. I cannot focus on spelling knowing that the geotrax, legos and little people are all dumped out and intermixed in Ethan's closet. Crazy, I tell you but please read more in my post from 2006 http://homeschoolinginthesun.blogspot.com/2007/08/dusting-baseboards-is-necessary-for.html

Well all that being said, I also am trying to get everything organized and in line for Olivia's tonsilectomy on Wednesday. As in 2 days away. She has been having problems with her tonsils obstructing her airway, and she is thrusting her lower jaw out to make room for more air. It kind of gives her that bulldog effect when she talks, and her speech, Oh my, will we be in speech this year!!

So I am nesting, without the morning sickness!! I am secretly looking forward to having a really good excuse to stay holed up at home for 2 weeks. Please keep Livvy in your prayers. It is rough for 4-5 days, thank the Lord for Tylenol with codeine! She is a little bit anxious, as is her momma. Does anyone know anything about Dr Vaught in Leesburg? He seems great, but I have yet to meet anyone who has personally used him as their ENT.

On top of my cleaning weekend, Maddy and Ethan caught colds. I quarentined them so Liv wouldn't get sick, yeah easier said than done! Ethan touched Liv and she ran from the room hysterical that she was going to get sick.... like I said crazy, I tell you, crazy!!

Olivia's hijacked my blog

Dear Jake,

I am sorry but Barbie is NOT boring. I have two barbies and the barbie Island Princess elephant. The barbie Island Princess sings and I can make it dance, and umm with that barbie comes an elephant, but I didnt bring it to Awanas. The elephant has a sprayer so it can wash it's body off...

i am sure if Jake knew that the elephant had a sprayer then it would not be boring....


Okay while Maddy was laying on the floor she passed gas. I said Maddy, and she said everyone does it... Olivia says yeah your butt has to breathe, too. It sucks in air and then it comes back out.

okay, well I know what topic we will be studying in science tomorrow........

Baby Burrito

The girls just happened to be playing with the pink blanket that Ethan was pictured in a few posts below. So I said let's make a baby burrito. Do you know what a baby burrito is? Rhonda and I used to call swaddling babies in the hospital "making a baby burrito". You know its like tucking them up nice and cozy in a burrito shell......Ok, well anyway you know about my folksy
talk.

Anyway here is my baby (toddler) burrito.... Yes, the girls are at co-op today so I have had some time on my hands....and what's more important , folding my 100th load of clothes or making a baby burrito????

Some of My Favorite Things- Fall Edition

* The feeling of a clean slate, a new school year, anticipation of all we will learn and do this year.

* An Indian Summer in the Mountains (crisp cool nights, sunny days)

* The First Day of A New School Year (new pencils, backpacks, crayons, and schedule)

* A purring cat curled up next to me at night in bed.

* A cold day, a good historical romance novel, and a wingback chair in front of the fireplace.

*The first days of December when the air turns breezy and crisp. I open the windows and let the wind whip through the house.

*Octoberfest in Helen, GA. The leaves change, the weather is cool, and the sound of a cold rushing water over flat creek rocks (not to mention funnel cake)

* Cool days sitting on a blanket at the park with friends.

* Picking a pumpkin at the Trinity Pumpkin Patch

* Trick or Treating in Debi's neighborhood with the golf cart pulling the trailer.

* Fall baking, chocolate chip pumpkin muffins!!

* Publix's cinnamon brooms

* The anticipation of making a "Christmas List"

* That Christmas songs start playing on the radio the day after Thanksgiving

Baby?

Do you ever just miss having that real tiny baby? Does the feeling that maybe you could have just one more ever go away....? Ok, never mind Ethan just poured out my coffee creamer all over the floor. I feel the feeling receding .. ......

Friends at Night of Joy

Thanks Julie for the picture, I was bummed that I wouldn't get any from Mike...

Memories

Anyone feel nostalgic for our quilt group???

Some of the perks of having a husband who is the junkman is that he sometimes brings home cool toys like this.
A little carwash and good as new! Too bad it's bright pink!! Daddy I want a 4-wheeler or a Jeep!

On a whole different side note while I was watching them play, Liv stopped and Ethan got out and popped the hood. ( Yes it came with a hood) He jiggled the battery wires, shut the hood and got back in the car!! I was dying laughing, what a man!

Casting Crowns: Slow Fade Video

I ran across this video and thought I would share. I love Casting Crowns. What a powerful message.

Home Again!!

We are back and ready to get back into the school year. My aunt is maintaining and I hope to have the month here in Florida. Well I am going to bed, sleeping indecently late in the morning, and staying in my pajamas all day.

On the Road Again

We will be back in a week, call my cell if you want me!

Kill the Squirrels

Fay came and went and we now have a bathroom ceiling to paint, because of the squirrels!

It is open season in our yard. Come one an all with your B.B. guns, we have about 45,000 squirrels on our 1/4 acre lot. They scamper across my pool cage, do obscene things on my front porch, eat and tear up my bird feeders, and NOW they have eaten through the molding around a roof vent. Thus letting rain pour into the attic and stain my ceiling!!

So aid me in a little population control!

Tropical Storm Fay, No Way!!!

Okay, Fay was coming! We were warned for days of her imminent arrival. Cautioned that we could go to bed with her a mere tropical storm and wake up to a monster Cat 3 (remember Opal??) We all stayed glued to Tom Terry heeding his warning to hunker down! There were bread shortages at Publix, schools shut down, and yet nary a strong gust happened. And we all poo-pooed Fay!!




And then she went out to the Atlantic and got all fat and sassy, and backed right over our a**..

Now we are on day 5 of our little tropical storm, and I have a yard full of debris and limbs to pick up tomorrow.

Although,....hmm........ she missed Miami, maybe once she runs over the panhandle she can back up and hit Miami. I mean why not finish the job? I'm just saying.........

Back To School

Yesterday was the girls first day back to Co-op. Olivia started for the first time and was very excited about going to school with her sissy.



Maddy said she waited for her at lunch and Liv sat with all the 5th graders!! Can you believe I have a 5th grader??? I had to beg her to take her picture at the school. She protested loudly that she was too old for that. Finally I just demanded a pic for my scrapbook, and as you can see she barely accomodated me.. Her eyes were closed and she refused a second shot!

The Road I don't Want To Go Down

It is good to be home but in the same token bittersweet. I feel torn between my family and home here, and my home in Atlanta. I do understand my first obligation is to Mike and my children. I still can't help but feel the need and desire to be with my aunt.

My aunt is like a second mother. To best describe her would be butterflies and roses. Warm sunshine on a fall day, the front porch swing we would sit at and drink tea, and hot chocolate. The late nights in my dorm room with oreo cookies and Dr Pepper, the little table in her kitchen we would sit at and solve all our problems. Tea parties on the front lawn. All the recipes she has taught me over the years, how to make ritzy chicken. Sitting in her closet praying that special prayer. Sleeping on her hard-ass bed. She was a dreamer, when everyone would spout reality, she, with a twinkle in her eye would dare you to go for your dream. When others said you can't she would say you can. She clipped southern living house plans and decorating ideas, yet scrimped and saved to stay home with her children. She planted the seeds of motherhood that I now embrace today. She values above all else being a wife and mother. Her back door always open and welcoming. Sweet and kind, loving and strong she is an amazing woman.


I have found myself wondering will I forget the smell of her clothes, how she walks, the expressions she makes. The sound of her voice? I find an urgency to soak it all in so I can tell her daughters all the stories she told me. All the advice over the years, I am storing away for when Sarah and Amelia will ask those same questions.


My aunt was hospitalized last Thursday and will probably stay in the hospital until this weekend. We are nearing the end of this battle and I am amazed that life is going on. I talk to people and try not to share too much. I know it is a depressing topic, so I feel very disconnected. It is hard to chat about school and the park with any real enthusiasm. It is just surreal, and much easier to stay within the cocoon of our family. I will be leaving again this weekend and could really appreciate prayers in regards to having a peace about staying or leaving. The girls start their co-op tomorrow and it will be weekly until October. This will make it very difficult for me to stay. A 8 hour commute to school. Yikes!

My grandmother is at the house with Amelia, who starts her senior year tomorrow. I think it will all be easier once Aunt Elaine comes home from the hospital. The hospital is an hour away in Atlanta, and the traffic is horrible.

So schooling has been sporadic. I am making an effort to continue Math and Reading and History. Everything else will fall in later. We are currently reading Oregon Bound and just finished watching the PBS special Frontier House. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It was a wonderful peek into pioneer life, juxtaposed against the 21st century.

Well enough typing, we have co-op in the morning, and I need a good nights sleep.

We are home, I am exhausted, and I will catch everyone up tomorrow!!

Hi

We are still in Atlanta. My aunt started chemo today and hopefully we will see some relief . The kids are doing well, and I am trying to keep up with school. We painted pictures of covered wagons on the Oregon Trail today and hope to finish up Oregon Bound tomorrow. The weather up here is great! The highs have been mid 80's with no humidity and 60's at night. I would love to sneak up to the mountains for a day, but we will have to see....

My totally cool super model sis will be here this weekend. She had a big sales meeting in Orlando so we crossed paths as she was coming down, I was going up... remind me to tell you what she had to do to pay for dog sitting...it is rated R so I will type it later past the 9:00 hour...

Here is an old picture from last summer. The only pics on this laptop are back to school 2007, and a few from Maine, so you all will get random old pics to look at ;)


Call me if anyone wants to talk, and Amy did you go get the milk and creamer out of the fridge??