felt

Hey guys, I take my first adult one on one swimming lesson tomorrow from a young lifeguard at our pool.  I got the suit, the goggles and the awesome swim cap. 

I wanted one of those with a huge buckle and flowers.  Do they still make those?

I'm still on/off/on the bike, shaky and unsure.  My husband said tonight.  "you DO know swimming is HARD?" 

I wanted to kick him in his nether regions!

ugh, the quest to be something different to what you normally are.  WHEN will an acitivity fit ME? 

THIS IS GOOD!  I'll say so myself!  my noisy/horrible/mean/nasty/clueless neighbor last night started the music around 1 a.m.  I called police.  After TEN minutes she answered her door, only to be issued a warning.  Of course I was listening through my window!  Music stops.  4 a.m.  music starts again.  I call police.  This time I'm waiting outside when they roll up.  She doesn't answer.  They are BANGING on her door like there's no tomorrow with their huge maglites.  Just when they are going to get a warrant, to do something big and exciting, out she comes.  All innocent, etc.

I'm not sure what they did, but I think she got some official paperwork that constituted more than a mere ticket.

This afternoon her MOM came over to tell us to stop discriminating against her poor,lonely, stressed daughter.  Now, I'm mad.  Who's discriminating here?  I just want her to turn the volume down.  You are assuming that a white family is automatically not being nice to our non-caucasian neighbor!

I said, look-I'm a mom, you're a mom.  I'm sure your daughter is a nice girl.  Just tell her to turn the volume down.  If she doesn't, I can call YOU (I got the number-sometimes the internet is good) or continue to call the police.  She says, not necessary, won't happen again.  And then, begins, I wish she would just find a man, settle down, get out of her stressful job, etc.  I'm starting to get sucked in, so I start to wind this emotional tell all, bonding group hug conversation to an end. 

Remember, this is the parent who comes over once a day to: do laundry, put away groceries which she buys, clean, garden, and clean up after her daughter's dogs.  Her daughter is a fully functional, professional, 34 year old nurse for god sakes!

Man. 

Haircuts 008

I said earlier, that NO ONE was touching my hair!  wrong, wrong, wrong.  The woman who cut Ava's hair did such a great job that I asked her to do mine as well.  We'll see how we look after I get at our heads with my dreaded "round brush" non-technique.  It's like you need a third hand for the hair dryer.  I'll probably cheat with a large curling iron instead.  Who am I kidding...in a few days I'll succumb to the "putting the front up in a barrette and letting the back do it's own thing".

Apparently, I cut my hair off at the end of july and wear a black t shirt.  The picture normally posted on my front page is from LAST july with a black t shirt.  Mr. Felt says I look mean.  At least this time, I am smiling.

Haircuts 012

And, no I am not wearing a utilitarian bra.  It's a gold tank top that doesn't show up as gold in this picture!  Prairie Plains had some kind things to say about locks of love.  They were adamant about the braids being at least 10 inches.  Ava went for it, Lola did not. Ava had a LOT of hair.  Four ten inch braids...chop, chop.  As soon as they were off her head, someone whisked them away into a back room so that she wouldn't see.  I wonder if they get a lot of kids hysterically looking at their hair and thinking..."what did I do?"  Ava REALLY wanted to do this, I was surprised-to find her so serious and adamant about it.    Lola had 9 inches plus a little more, however she didn't want her ears showing.  I think they both look super cute, and more age appropriate.  Ava was starting to look like a mini Disney persona, and it wasn't a good thing.  She is only 8!

Lola also told EVERYONE in the salon, "my mom looks like willy wonka".  That would be the Johnny Depp version of Mr. Wonka. Which was humiliating and true at the same time!

Wow-we cut off a lot of hair today.  Ava cut a total of 36 inches to donate.  Apparently, some of the places that accept hair donations are more reputable than others (which I hadn't known) so, research before cutting if you are considering doing this.

Mom even got an unexpected haircut as well, which I will probably post.

So, there you go.

July vacation muddy buddy 051

Today we are going to donate our hair to "locks of love".  Here's the before picture.  Mom is a little nervous, although they are NOT touching my hair!  I hope that the felt girls are ready to feel the wind on their necks!  It's going to be a huge change.  Both girls had their hair short when they were under 2.  I'll post the after pics tonight.  Have a great day!

The pot calling the kettle black

Meaning

The notion of a criticism a person is making of another could equally well apply to themself.

Origin

This phrase originates in Cervantes' Don Quixote, or at least in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation - Cervantes Saavedra's History of Don Quixote:

"You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'."

The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some fruits of solitude, 1693:

"For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black."

Shakespeare had previously expressed a similar notion in a line in Troilus and Cressida, 1601- "The raven chides blackness."

Pots and Pans

annoying egg

How to deal with a loud neighbor who plays music from 10 p.m.-5 a.m.  We are so lucky to live next to a grown ass woman (34!) who is a professional (nurse!) who is so rude, and clueless that she finds it necessary to play music so loudly that with the windows closed in both homes, I can literally FEEL the beat of her music as I lie in my bed.  Now, I am a light and sensitive sleeper who is often awake most nights.  However, my husband, who sleeps through most everything (crying babies, thunderstorms, phones ringing, alarms, etc) and my Dad who sleeps and snores his way through the night, and spent the night here last night, actually thought the boom-boom-boom-ba-doom-a-doom, was Mr. Felt's motorcycle acting up (when he goes to work at 4 a.m.) I realized, okay this is not just me.

I have called the cops about 10 times, and she doesn't care.  We have politely asked her to turn it down a notch.  Each time, I think she actually turns it up a notch. 

Anyone have any legal, ethical, humane suggestions? 

Knox Leon and Vivienne Marchelline?  No, these are not names of gelatin and lingerie.  They're the twins of Brad and Angelina.  Why do I care?  Why does anyone care?  Because we want to live vicariously through this glamour couple?  Because they're beautiful?  Because they are friends with Bono?  Because they can basically go anywhere, do anything, eat anything, fly anything, star in any major motion picture they would like?  Yes!  (but the Bono thing goes a LONG way with me.)

However, I digress.  Having named a daughter Lola Leilani, I certainly cannot argue with Vivienne Marchelline.  She is bound to be an actress or a highly paid porn star.  Either way, I see rehab in this poor girls future.  But, she will be beautiful, and probably able to carry this name off.  Now, for the poor boy.  Having to live up to his older brothers whose names end in X, he ended up with Knox.  If they have other boys, I shudder to think.  Box?  Cox?  Ox?  Botox?   It's starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book instead of a cozy little United Nations which is what I think they are aiming for.  BECAUSE THEY CAN, DAMMIT!

If you live under a rock, here are the other kids names.  Maddox, Zahara, Pax, Shiloh....

We did hear the song Lola by the Kinks today, which I did listen to before we named Lola, but I listened again today, really listened and imagined a teenage Lola of mine saying "oh my god mom, you named me after a transvestite?"  and me saying, "oh, well, in a way, it was just so cute when Ava would sing it to us..."  I'm gonna have to think of another reason....and who am I anyway, I named my kids two syllables that both ended in A, so here I am the pot calling the kettle black (which is a saying I never got, which makes me sound stupid, so if Flamingo Dancer could enlighten me in a gentle way, I'd be most appreciative...or Barb.  She's smart too.

Hey Lucy can back me up on this...but sigg bottles?  NO YUCKY AFTERTASTE.  Or beforetaste.  Or nasty, plastic liner taste.  Or anything.

I love my sigg!

I've been bandering about back and forth with some of you about books.  So, I thought it would be fun if we listed our ALL time top ten books that are must reads. They're not typical beach reads, so you should be able to find them.  I'll start:

A tree grows in Brooklyn

Anne of Green Gables-LM Montgomery

Angela's Ashes-Frank McCourt

A Circle of Friends-Maeve Binchy (almost anything by her)

The Thirteenth Tale-Diane Setterfield

The Custodian of Paradise-Wayne Johnston

The Heartbreaker-Susan Howatch (the whole series)

A Pocketful of Names-Joe Coomer

Away-Amy Bloom

The Linnet Bird-Linda Holeman

I could go on...but these are past reads from my book calendar.  I've explained this before.  I have a yearly calendar and each time I read a book, I note the title, author, a brief synopsis and a system that I use one to five stars.  Simple.Effective.I have no idea how I came up with this, and I don't do it by specific date. I just list them, so I guess I don't have to use a calendar, it's just a format that works for me.  Anyone want to chime in???????