Hair things: Part III

In this final segment dealing with a few hair accessories that are a part of our everyday life around here, I figured it’d be nice to end on a positive note. I have mastered the object above. I refer to it as a “rubber band hair thing.” Pretty sure that’s not the official name of it but my moniker works. The kids know what I’m talking about and that’s pretty much all that matters.

If you can comprehend the mechanics of a rubber band, you can figure out this guy. If you can’t figure out a rubber band then I’m fairly certain you can’t figure out how to use a computer. In that case you are not reading this blog. Generally speaking, you're probably not reading. Moving on…

Anywho, I love when the girls approach me with this thing in hand, requesting to have me “do their hair”. I’ve become quite talented in the art of ponytail making. It took me a while, but I finally learned that “ponytail” is the singular, and “pigtails” is the plural. For some time I’d interchange the two terms, always evoking correction from the kids. Silly me.

I rarely attempt pigtails because when I’m finished, their heads always look asymmetrical. The bundled sprouts of hair on either side are very difficult to make evenly. From the back, the children’s melons look quite odd. From the front, they look slightly insane, perhaps even a little deranged. Neither of which are looks I want my daughters to have. I’d be afraid they’d never find husbands in that case, resulting in them living with us forever. Yowza.

Like the other two hair accessories featured this week, this rubber band style can be found everywhere: sinks, drains, couch cushions, washing machine, the dog’s poo etc. Rarely are they found in weird places like dressers or heaven forbid vanity drawers. That’s just crazy talk.

When they’re swept up in the vacuum, at least these are quiet. So that’s nice. Same goes for when they’re run through the washing machine. Yet just another reason why I prefer these to the other 2. When they’re lying on the carpet, I always think they resemble coiled up night crawlers that have come out onto the ground after a rain. I guess this goes along with the analogy that the metal clip style sometimes look like a cockroach.(see yesterday’s post)

I've learned over the years that little girls love to be told they're "pretty". Fortunately for them, my girls look like their mother. No girl wants to be told that she looks exactly like their father. "Wow honey, you look just like your daddy!."

"Uh, my dad has a beard and receding hair line. Gee, thanks...jerk."

I think it's especially important for them to hear complements from their dad. If not, the first loser who comes along with a few kind words could sweep them off their feet. I'm going to try my best to keep that from happening. For now, I want to be the only loser in their life. Wait...I mean...oh whatever.

Have a great weekend people.

Hair things: Part II

So getting back to hair issues...

This particular hair thing is impossible. It is the weird, more fashionable cousin of the bobby pin but it is absolutely worthless. There's no technique that works for me in trying to get this to stick on my girls' heads for any extended period of time. And according to my wife and daughters, "Duct tape has no place in styling hair." Whatever. I still occasionally give "the old college try" and manage to somehow stick them on their heads for a short while. It should be noted that when I think of college, the last thing that pops into my mind is "trying" however.

Although lacking in the sheer innumerable quantities like the bobby pins, these guys still pose some similar problems: falling off of heads, getting caught in the vacuum cleaner, startling noise made when sucked up into said vacuum cleaner etc. However, unlike it's skinny anorexic relative, this one will make a grown man cry if stepped on with bare feet. (My reference to "grown man cry" doesn't necessarily apply to me. It's just a vague analogy. Seriously, I am very tough as well as macho. No need to verify that with my wife though.)

There are a few differences between the two, however. For whatever reason, I find these continually in the washing machine. I have no idea why exactly but it's crazy. It's almost like the girls allow me to put them in their hair, as if a token gesture to make me feel good about myself, and then when I'm not looking they remove them and put them in their pocket. Inevitably, with this scenario they'd easily end up in the wash. Hmmmm...



In just the right light, these things look like giant bugs. Sort of like winged cockroaches or one of those weird African beetles that people had to eat on Fear Factor. These hair clips can make a person do a double take. Sometimes, if it's a dimly lit room, they might even make a grown man shriek like an adolescent girl thinking it's a large insect. (Again, "shriek like a little girl" does not appertain to this man's man. It's just another totally hypothetical situation. I don't even know how I came up with it. Honestly.)

Kayla & Jason's wedding

Here are some pics from Kayla & Jason's outdoor wedding this past weekend. We could not have asked for a better day. The setting was fantastic and so were the people I had the privilege of photographing.

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Preview

The hunt

I know I mentioned yesterday that I was going to do a series on "hair things". Well, change of plans. I woke up today and decided to write about something else. This is yet another confirmation of my ADD tendencies. Maybe tomorrow I'll get re-focused and do the hair topic. Hard to say.

Yesterday afternoon, while running some errands by myself, I heard peculiar noises coming from the back of my seat. At first, there was a squeaky sound, something along the lines that a chipmunk or mouse might make. I kind of got scared for a moment, thinking that some sort of woodland creature was going to jump on my shoulder at any time. (picture Clark Griswold in "Christmas Vacation" -a classic)

I should mention that I love the outdoors. I like animals. However, I think that animals belong in their natural habitats - the woods or preferably the zoo. I don't mind squirrels, or rabbits, or birds being outside. That's fine. But put 1 of them in a confined area with me such as a house or in this case, a car, it freaks me out. I will scream like a little girl and run fast and far away. Not necessarily proud to say that, just being honest.

Anywho, I noticed that each time I slowed down, the odd noise occurred. I thought that my braking was somehow making the varmint mad. Weird. But then I noticed if I stopped or sped up quickly, in addition to the clicking/squeaking noise, there also projected a ringing bell sound. Very weird.

At stoplights I tried to turn around and find the source of the calamity emitted from behind my seat. No luck. I had to wait until I got home to figure it out.

Upon arriving home, I hopped out and opened the back door of my car. (yes, I drive a 4 door sedan...2 door cars are for pansies) And there it was. A creepy, diabolical thing that has been around our home for approximately 9 years. I think I've tried to dispose of it a dozen times, but somehow it keeps eluding my attempts. And now, it had made its way into my car of all places.

What it was doing under my driver's seat, I have no idea. It always seems to move from location to location, never staying in one spot for very long - kind of like Osama bin Laden. I think that's how it's managed to survive for this long. Just when we decide to exterminate it, we can't find it. And when we do find it, our youngest child at the time decides to befriend it again and thus we have no choice but to accept it.

And to make matters worse, it always wears an evil grin upon its face. The mocking, taunting smirk is ever-present. Never relenting, never changing, always aggravating, and fueling my hatred for it.

So finally, I had the opportunity to rid ourselves of this menace. I forcefully grabbed it, and brought it inside the house. As it turns out, that was a costly mistake. I should have taken a hammer to it and threw the remains into the garbage can when nobody was looking. But I didn't. My ADD kicked in and I became side tracked with something else. Such a fool am I.

Because I didn't follow through with the elimination process right away, it has managed to yet again avoid its own demise. I've lost track of it once more and really don't feel like hunting it down. So, I'll just wait for it to show itself as it inevitably always does. This is my punishment for being a procrastinator. Somewhere, it lies waiting for the opportunity to unleash its array of audible annoyances.

Laugh now, Fisher Price beast. You'll have your day. YOU'LL HAVE YOUR DAY!

Hair things: Part I

This week I'm addressing some hair related issues...

Ok. What is this object in the picture? I believe it's called a "bobby pin". I do know that it is not a "safety pin". I won't go into great detail of how I learned the difference between the two, but I will just say that it involves a little pain, crying, and repeatedly saying the words, "Daddy's so sorry, sweatie." My wife had made the mistake of assuming I knew the difference between the two pins when she asked me to "please put a bobby pin in the girls' hair." My bad.

Whatever the name, this is one of approximately 468 that are lying around our home. They are in drawers, under furniture, stuck in drains, and pretty much any flat surface has at least one on it. We always have them in our bathtubs, which, if they are left in a wet tub, they leave rust stains. Fantastic.

My theory is if I was to put two in a drawer over night, in the morning there'd be at least three in there. Some how, they have the capability of reproducing. Sort of creepy.

They are hard to see when lying on the carpet, incidentally making them easy targets for the vacuum cleaner. I cringe whenever I hear the ricocheting clatter emitted from the sweeper. It sounds like a nail in a blender.

Additionally, I have yet to figure out how to use these. I’ve tried. However, the children’s heads look like pin cushions when I’m finished. They give me a glare of disapproval and quickly resort to trying to do it themselves. Of course, if their mother's around they avoid asking for my help altogether - which is nice. When they do have to come to me, I have really tried to make them stick in the girls' hair but within 2 minutes of my attempt, they fall back out. The girls refuse to let me use tape to help matters so I basically just decline to try anymore.

These little pieces of metal have turned me into a big proponent of hats.

What is that?

As with most families, odd situations pop up in our house continually. People tend to believe that these things only happen to them, when in reality we all go through these experiences. At least I hope. Otherwise, our family is very odd.

The other day, I stepped in the shower and prior to turning on the water, I looked down to notice a brown smeary glob by my feet. Now, I didn’t have my contacts in at the time so my vision was blurry. I couldn’t make out what exactly I was looking at, so I stepped back out to retrieve my glasses.

No longer legally blind, I still saw just a smudged brown mess in our bathtub. The hairs on my neck stood up as I considered the possibilities of its origin. Without sounding too crass, the substance in question resembled what might be left behind from a bathing individual who had intestinal issues. With this thought, my own stomach churned a little bit.

The dark gooey matter didn’t rinse out when I turned on the shower. So, I opted to stand straddling it, careful to not step on it. I usually take long showers, but on this day I voluntarily sped up the process. I felt icky just sharing the same space with it. Had our tub been reduced to a poor man’s bidet? Our kids are past the potty training stage (ages, 4,6 and9) but the youngest child has had some incidents in the past that might suggest her possible guiltiness in this situation.(stories for another day)

I dressed and walked downstairs to the kitchen. My wife was busy cleaning up after breakfast. Before I had the chance to mention to her about the disturbing circumstances that I just witnessed, she provided some information.

“By the way, that is a chocolate chip in the bathtub,” she interjected matter-of-factly.

Momentarily, my mind eased a bit. She chuckled at my obvious expression of relief. With this revelation, I no longer needed to locate rubber gloves, ammonia, and bleach. However, her news also raised another question.

“Sooo, why is there a chocolate chip in our bathtub? That’s not exactly normal,” I contended.

Sadly, at that time she didn’t have an answer for that one.

The word on the street right now is that one of the kids had been eating a cup of chocolate chips as a snack. One fell on the ground and rather than throwing it away, perhaps into something called a "trash can", they chose to place it in the bathtub instead. Makes perfect sense, eh? Weird.

My wife just shrugged and continued her kitchen cleaning. I too shook my head and went on about my day. In this house, you kind of just learn to roll with things. Personally, I’ve also adopted a motto to live by in situations such as this.

WHEN IN DOUBT, DON’T TOUCH IT

Lydia