Some Before, During or After Photos

I had my whirlwind trip to Idaho and back and it has taken me a week to get over feeling so spaced and worn out.  I now have a cold and go through 50 tissues a day--I must have caught it from the four planes I had to take to get there and back.  I won't ever rush the trip again like I did but I am glad I did this time to get home before the airports turned Thanksgiving crazy.  Plus I managed to go and not get stuck in a snow drift (although at the Utah/Idaho state line the temp dropped and snow flurries began and I almost freaked out except the roads are nicely salted).  This past week my head has been full of memories of gorgeous scenery.

North of Salt Lake City I saw an In 'n Out Burger place and I had never been but heard so much about it so I pulled over.  I did like how the menu was very simple.  I have to say though that I was not in love with the burger.  However, I was blown away by the super friendly service of the young people working there.  I would return for service like that.

OK, onto some before and after photos..........of my hair.  I realized that my hair lady has been going a little crazy and rushing when doing my highlights.  Instead of highlighting thin pieces, she highlights chunks of hair.  She also loves to use low lights which is good, but also very dark lights, darker than my own hair.  I had become a lady with frosted hair.  Not good.  Check it out:

Take a look at the hair above my right eyebrow  That first color is not a shadow.  It is very dark hair next to a light chunk.  And at my left temple was a big highlighted piece which I hated.  In fact, right after I paid for this in mid-October, I texted my hair lady to tell her I needed to come back in to darken my temple areas.  Then I was going to counsel her on how we can no longer have such light and dark contrasts any longer.  But I couldn't get in to see her during the times she suggested and my so-called frosted life went on.  Then it became 5 weeks later so I made another appt and I told her about the issues.  What I wanted was not such blonde, thick highlights.  What did she do?  Gave me dark brown hair with an auburn look in the sun.  I think it is darker than my actual hair.  And she still managed to put in highlights, which she even had to tone down while my head was in the sink.

There is light shining on my hair here--I think it is actually darker.  Of course she still managed to get in some chunky highlights on top.  I picked up my youngest from school and he said all in one sentence, "Well, I liked it better lighter, but you look sophisticated and it goes well with your (brown) jacket)."
I am going to see if I can wait till spring before spending any money on my hair again.

Our master bath remodel began on October 31 and it is still going on.  The demolition took place by Hubs and the boys all during October so for two months we have been sleeping on our guest bed which is a queen and not a king.  Gah!  I still hang on to nine inches on the side because my other half gets in the middle.  I think the remodel would have been done by now except a couple weeks ago our worker only worked Mon and Tues as he got sick and then last week he only worked Mon and Tues.  But since he is paid by the day we are not mad.  But ready for him to get done and get the hell out. Lucky for us, this past week Hubs has been able to do some things we would have paid him to do.

Remember this photo of Oldest sweeping where an old garden tub was?  Well, that is my new closet now where he is standing.  Hubs taped up that big mirror which was above a garden tub which I never used.  The mirror is in our garage and will go above new tub). On the right, near his left foot is a vanity.  So popular in the '80's.  It got ripped out.

The new bathtub is along the wall where that vanity was.  Oh, and lots of insulation went into the wall--the other side of the wall is hallway to the kids' rooms.  I don't want to hear their loud noises when I do my future soaking.

Ignore that toilet in my closet.  That is just sitting there out of the way.  The bathtub is completely tiled now (more photos to come).

And now above is a shot of my closet--the floor is interlocking bamboo.  Hubs has since put in white floorboard molding.  Hubs painted the closets plain white.  That back white wall is where the mirror above the old tub was.  And there will be a pocket door to save room on that new wall between the closet and tub.  My closet is not big but I am still going to have a party in there.  There's a skylight toward the right inside.

One of the biggest changes is we have a large bedroom and then this funky shaped large bathroom but we had a little doorway going from the bedroom to the bathroom.  To the right of this doorway is the closet we shared and just inside this closet was a linen-shelved area which used seems like 10 trees worth of wood for the shelves.  It had to go since we widened the doorway to allow for French doors.

If you look at the ceiling you can see where the old hallway was vs. how it is widened.  It makes a huge difference.  And I don't know how we have remained sane for five years but we lived with that striped wallpaper in our cavernous bathroom.  The walls are now a taupe color:

The sink will go under that taped-up mirror and everything should be wrapped up soon.

In the meantime I have not yet bought one Christmas present, I didn't shop Black Friday for the first time in years, am very grateful we did not have to travel to Florida for Thanksgiving this year, and another change is that we usually buy our Christmas tree at Home Depot the weekend that just passed but we did not.  It was 71 degrees on Sunday!  Now it is 39 degrees so maybe tonight we'll get it.

Driving in Idaho

Have I mentioned there is occasional travel for my new job?  I have to visit Idaho in a week!  I think it will be an awesome place to visit in the summer, and that will probably happen, but since I have to go in November, you can best believe I have been consulting weather.com on a daily basis.  It indicates that there are snow showers going on.  I don't do snow in a vehicle.  Maybe I'll have to.

Do you see that town called Pocatello in the southeastern part of Idaho?  Once I land in Salt Lake City, Utah (where I have never been either) on my second flight of the day, I have to rent a car and get on I-15 and drive 2.5 hours north to Pocatello.  The client says it is an easy drive on I-15.  I bet the client has lived in Idaho his whole life.  Whereas here in Atlanta the entire state I think owns three snow plows so if it ices or snows families stay home and watch the news clips of cars slipping and sliding.

So, anyone ever been to Salt Lake City and had to drive on I-15 north to Idaho?  Please tell me.

The day I arrive there will have been snow showers for two days with a morning low of 12 degrees.  But it should get up to 36 degrees and be sunny when I'm there so at least it is above freezing, right?

On the bright side, I am coat and boot shopping this week.

Go Look at the Full Beaver Moon

A couple of nights ago I saw the moon almost full with a bright star just to the left of it.  Turns out that was Jupiter.  I was just now driving to the grocery store and the moon was so bright in the dusk sky I almost drove off the road looking at it.  Tonight that bright star to to the right of the moon is Jupiter.

Why was I heading to the store at 5:45 p.m.?  Because my oldest son just pointed out we were almost out of milk and there were no juices or anything else to drink (I just drink water about 80% of the time).  We go through 4 to 5 gallons of milk a week and oldest son alone would drink one bottle of cranberry juice a day if I let him.

Me: "Wha???  I have already been to the store twice this week!"

Him: "We are growing teen-age boys, Mom."

Well.

I've written about the Full Beaver Moon before.  This is when the Native Americans saw the beavers getting ready for winter. And then the fur traders expanded the West big time in pursuit of the beaver.  Did you know they are the largest rodent in North America?  We have a small one living in our house (a Russian Dwarf hamster).

Tomorrow is 11/11/11.  I know of someone getting married tomorrow for the date 11/11/11.  I would do that in a heartbeat.  One of my oldest friends and I will be chatting tomorrow on 11/11/11.  Ever since high school when we were together on 7/7/77 and talked about it then, we've made it a point to always remind each other of how we talked about the future and would we talk on 8/8/88 or 9/9/99 or 10/10/10.  There have also been conversations or messages left on 01/01/01, 02/02/02, etc. Can't really do it after 12/12/12.  Well, there is always 01/03/13.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods under this November Full Beaver Moon.

That down time is now a Vague Memory

The days are flying by!  But I am so glad that I have the flexibility to be here a lot when the kids get home or to pick them up from school.

Here is what Middle School son looks like when he sees me taking his photo after picking him up from cross country practice after school.  I couldn't help it.  He looked so vibrant and healthy (and I am so grateful for these blessings):

And Saturday morning was chilly but so crystal clear and gorgeous outside watching him run cross country:

(never mind that I get a photo in front of the porta potties).

After about five weekends our master bath is completely demolished.  I'll post more later on how it is a miracle we weren't electrocuted in the shower these past five years we've lived in our 30 year old house.

And the wallpaper in the bathroom included two layers on top of drywall so the only logical thing to do is take down the dry wall.

We have an excellent tradesman and his bad-ass daughter who were the latest crew to be given the tour of our crazy-designed master bath and who got the job of re-creating it this week.  More on that later.  Hubs and I are guests now in our own home being in our guest room and all.

So many areas of parenting are harder with kids getting older.....but not Halloween.  It was easier this year -- I found that out even though I've been lamenting the younger years and gazing at photos.  Being easier this year really worked out well because I haven't had a lot of down time.  The days of getting three pumpkins and carving them all fancy are over.  I did one:

And a couple weeks ago our youngest son (5th grade) told us he wanted to be an IRS agent and carry a briefcase.  He needed a suit jacket anyway.  He watches lots of TV (and is smarter than everyone in the house put together) and said he saw an ad for attorneys "Montlick and Asso" and then an ad for "Are debt collectors after you?" and he got the idea.  He asked Hubs for a week to show him how to tie a tie and Hubs showed him about an hour before trick or treating and now he is the best tie-er in the house and tied his own tie.

When I asked Middle School son what he was doing he said grunt, grunt.  Then suddenly on Halloween he told us that he and some friends were going to go around our 'hood and he got out the bag of past blood, scars and amputated hands and found facepaint and made himself a zombie with dirt and leaves in his hair and blood on his shirt and he left for a couple hours.  Oldest son left for a couple hours too to a friend's house.  I think it was a coed low-key party of sorts.  But he was back home at 9:00.   I walked around with some moms in another 'hood as our n'hood is too hilly for maximum number of houses to cover.  Fortunately Youngest was ready to go home the same time I was.

In one month there'll be a Christmas tree in our house.  Amazing!