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July 31, 2012

Insomnia sucks big monkey balls & related things

I really hate when I can't sleep.  Granted my sleep cycle has been off because I've been feeling so so the last few days with no clear explanation.  I finally finished the oft delayed assignment for my old job.  I couldn't decide if it was deliberate that I was ignoring it or a mix of my life is really moving on and I don't want to deal with the past much anymore.  It was probably a little of both cause believe me I was annoyed when I got the assignment weeks after I left.  But it's in and if they like it or don't my time with them is done.  Just paychecks to collect and the rest of my life here to enjoy.  I finished around 11PM and debated sending it but since I want to go in tomorrow morning I didn't want to forget about sending it.  That gave me time to talk to the boyfriend and to check the assignments for the University of Phoenix training.  Got those all done and just need to create a power point for class next week.  On the plus side the dumb assignment let me know that I still had really good access to journal articles through my public library.  LOVE THEM.  We don't give the public library enough credit really, free movies and cds and books.  You get them for at least a week and late fees are still better than anything Blockbuster came up with.  Yes I know this is all very random but it's 3 in the morning what do you expect from me lol. 

July 28, 2012

Reset Day 6 & 7 & 8


So the assignment for day six was to create your own mission statement.  That sounded somewhat intimidating and I'll admit to not reading all of the assignment because it seemed daunting at the time.  Looking back at it and instead of thinking about mission statements from work settings, the assignment doesn't seem as scary.  So here goes and if it starts to get wordy then you'll be gifted to the page break I should have put in the last one initially but that is finally there now.

July 26, 2012

Reset Day 4 & 5

Some of these things I really like since they kind of remind me of doing therapy on some level.  These are things that I would do with my own clients but yeah haven't indulged in my own therapy in YEARS.  So moving on to the reset exercises.

Day Four: Identify What's Important to You and The Top 10 to focus on.  This will be more detailed than just categories because otherwise I know myself and I'll say that's so vague and won't do a thing about any of it.  The category I think it falls under will be in all caps at the end of each line.

le sigh, le sigh

Have you ever been feeling kinda funky and while a small chat would have been okay but the extended exploration of how you're handling life just pisses you off?  I know he meant well and was trying to be encouraging my brain was not in the right frame of mind for probing of how I'm feeling.  I am not used to people really being two-faced.  I usually have good radar about that kind of thing and cut folks out of my life faster than I did this time.  And on most days I'm pretty okay with that and I'm looking forward to my new life and what's in store for me.  Today didn't happen to be one of those days and it just pressed all of my emotional buttons.  Which sucks because I looked at my fortune cookie and cracked up at what it said.  It was wonderfully appropriate for where I am right now: You do not have to know where you are going to be headed in the right direction.  Now how perfect is that?  I so don't know where I'm headed right now.  I know some things have calmed down but it still feels like things are up in the air.  I still haven't heard from the phone interview folks BUT wasn't super surprised by that.  I need to get back on the hustle about getting my books (two different subsections of fiction) published.  I need to work on a business plan for the sports management company that I've wanted to start since graduate school.  I would like to be able to support myself on my own terms.  I plan on working hard to save up money and keep paying down bills over the next few months/years whatever.  Car will be paid off next year or close to it I believe.  And if all goes well, this time next year I'd be in the process of adopting a cute kid--preferably potty trained but then I miss all the wonder that is Baby Magic and crawling so I'll keep thinking about that one lol.  In brief hair news, the snoods work great.  They are big enough to not crush my hair but still maintain the same kind of feel as the mesh hair net did.  I still need to get my routine set on moisturizing and sealing my hair because as normal when I get caught up in something that slips a lot.  Either way I didn't have to roll my hair again because the curls went flat.  I'm still loving taking care of my hair.  Each day I'm getting a little bit better I know lol.  Gonna go back to watching tv now.



there may be a series of posts

Okay I'm late on my 31 Day Reset assignments.  Monday night after feeling like crap for the entire weekend I drug my happy behind out of bed and went to the University of Phoenix assessment night.  It was good.  I think I did fine and I enjoyed myself listening to the other presentations.  Better yet it was a step to getting my identity bad in a way that felt good for me instead of the one that I'm coming out of.  I also committed to some sorority stuff too and need to send an email back about something else.  Yesterday a stupid virus hit my computer so I spent several hours last night and more hours today running virus scan after virus scan.  Okay I may ramble about this more in a different post but let's see how many of the Reset assignments I can catch up on.  Up first Day Two, an assessment of several areas of your life.

July 21, 2012

Reset, reboot, report

Was about to update the last post again and that seemed silly.  It's just easier to start a new post and share what I meant to share with you right?

Okay so someone opted not to cook because for some reason she thought I'd wait till 9PM to cook.  I ran out and got us a bite to eat and then came back to check all the blogs I'm following.  I had planned on waiting till August 1st to join the 31 Day Reset on Happy Black Woman's Blog but said screw it and jumped on in.  I may not blog all assignments but I'll be sure to tag the ones I do.  Day 1: Choose a notebook, mantra and theme song. The computer will likely be my notebook in some form or fashion.  Here are the other two pieces of the assignment.

Mantra: In order to be fully reborn, I have to let pieces of the old me die. I choose to embrace the journey ahead.

Theme Song: I Am by Christina Aguilera.

I chose the mantra I did because I can get stuck sometimes.  I'm so busy planning how to take care of this or that for him or her or them that I don't work on the things for myself that I need to attend to.  And I'm fearful a lot more than I'd like.  That too prevents me from taking the risks that I would like.  I have to be able to look ahead without the fear, or move beyond the fear, or else I'll be forever unhappy with where I could be.  I love the song I chose.  It's about acknowledging where you have faults, embracing them and how they contribute to who you are, and letting others embrace that person not the one you want them to see (free of faults and all that stuff).  Or that's what I take from it.  It makes me cry a little sometimes but it always makes me say yep that's what I want.  We'll see how the reboot goes.  I need a little structure sometimes to make myself stick to task.

OAN: I did take my hair down and it's straight surprisingly considering how puffy it was feeling BUT I would have had to roller set it to keep it out like it is now since I'm working on the no heat part of my life.  However, I'm eight weeks post right now and my hair is feeling like it's eight weeks post.  Tomorrow I'll wash it and roller set it before bed.  My hair likes that better than a simple wrap without any sort of heat.



What a Difference a Day Makes

Okay so emotionally I'm feeling a lot better honestly.  Not a clear reason as to why but I'm not feeling as blah.  It could be because I'm feeling like crud physically which stinks to high heaven but I'm not in agony.  Just feeling kinda  queasy and have a headache that I though I'd had gotten rid of but that is now coming back with a vengeance.  I went to sleep earlier hoping that would get rid of it and while the dream ROCKED as soon as mom came to bring me the mail my headache was raging.  I took some Aleve and that killed it for the last 90 minutes but I'm guessing the headache has decided to be stronger than the pain meds.  I got my Ben & Jerry's ice cream book so I can take the one I've been holding hostage from the library back whenever I head out again.  I also got a copy of The Science of Black Hair.  The price hasn't dropped dramatically and since I'm about to finish year one of healthy hair care I figured I'd check it out as well.  I've heard rave reviews and since the websites and watching youtube channels have helped before this might be a great addition to the collection.  If it's not maybe I can donate it to the library here since I know there aren't enough of us here to make it a viable purchase for them.  Heck I'm happy when they have the new brown kid cd or movie so a book this specific may not be in their budget.  It's not the richest state in the union by far.

July 20, 2012

Trying to Get Back to Happy

I have been feeling off today.  My life in most regards is going well.  I have a new job that pays a lot more than the old job.  They are super friendly and I actually like the people I work with and see the benefit my visits are having with some of them.  Yesterday felt like being reborn into newness with work cause I adored it.  Feisty old women make me smile.  Especially when they tell me I look like I'm young enough to be on my internship lol.  I may be able to teach again if I do well at a University of Phoenix test session which I haven't done since I left grad school.  There's a potential for the last six months of this year to be rather stellar but today I'm not feeling it.  I miss my family, well the family that doesn't live with me, and I'm feeling super single even though nothing resembling a decision to officially end things has come across my brain.  I've lost a spark, my impulsiveness has been greatly tempered by you know the rational idea that I need to pay bills, not leave my mother alone too long, drive 12 hours round trip or worse yet one way will kill my back. 

July 17, 2012

Yeah Shopping!!


Okay I added a new section to the sideline over there to the right of the screen.  I was waiting to make sure I was approved before adding it but now I'm officially an affiliate of Cupcake Provocateur and Shabby Apple.  Both are nods to my vintage love and depending on where you live may feed your gourmet cupcake habit.  Cupcake Provocateur has some of most adorable aprons you ever will see I swear.  A few years ago I went looking for cute ones or cute patterns to make my own and let's just say I'm glad they exist because the last thing I sewed was a pillow and a stuffed ornament for the Christmas tree--I was like 8 just so we're clear.  Good thing for me I didn't need to reinvest in a sewing machine and patterns cause I seriously have no patience for that yet.  I'm working on it though.  Anyhoo, I'm going to share three of my favorite aprons that are almost too cute to mess up but they need to be in your life if you love vintage styled aprons.

July 16, 2012

I always miss a piece lol


So I did flexi rod set my hair and it came out nice for the most part.  And as I was taking down the last few rollers in the back, the worry that I always have, because I don't part with my comb to make even curls, came true.  A few stragglers of dry but totally lacking a defined curl hair were there.  I had to run out and do some errands so I just pin curled them down and went about my day.  I rolled it last night before bed and said enough for now.  I did oil my scalp and used a growth oil mix on the back section before tying my hair down and going to bed.  I MUST say though that after the great flank steak I made some decent enchilada pie for dinner.  Really easy and if you want the recipe let me know but it's maybe seven ingredients and some patience lol, layers like a lasagne.  I'm off tangent.  Ok yeah flank steak fantastic, enchilada pie decent, Gingersnap Ice Cream just a tiny slice of heaven.  I didn't find heavy cream at the store and used heavy whipping cream in its place but oh good diety of unknown origins LOVED it.  I had a tiny bit before I went to bed last night but today after the cookies had more time to absorb the ice cream it was so good it was out of control.  If I had a first born I might have donated them away to make sure I always had enough material on hand to make the next batch lol.  It was even worth getting the real maple syrup.  Please check out the recipe HERE and let me know if it was as good for you as it was for me.

July 14, 2012

Pseudo Lazy and Please NBA Summer League die

Okay so I slept in much later than I normally do which was both fun and weird.  I woke up nearing 11 this morning but considering I was up posting at 1AM I guess that's to be expected.  I still haven't taken down my hair cause well I'm being lazy like the title says.  Snacked on some pizza, eventually marinated the flank steak and let it cook really slowly.  It's was a little thinner than some of the other flank steaks I've made in the past.  It was done in less than an hour even cooking on 325.  It sliced beautifully and the warmed up marinated coated the slices so well it was kinda sickening.  I didn't have any ginger root so I used the ground ginger in it's place.  I may have used too much but I like the tang of ginger and mom enjoyed it so that's all that matters.  There was ONE piece left when I left the living room.  The NBA Summer League game between the Lakers and Kings killed all interest in tv for me for a while.  Good LORD that was the longest half of basketball I've watched in a long time.  I know they are mostly recent signees but this was painful.  As the meat was marinating I revisited What's Cooking Chicago and got the recipe for the Gingersnap Ice Cream (just know I will be making the Gingersnap Brownies at some point in the near future but I'm trying to behave).  I used heavy whipping cream instead of heavy cream so I'm hoping there's not a huge taste difference as I had to use real maple syrup in the recipe and let's just say that's not a cheap ingredient.

I just detangled and boy are my arms tired

Good lawd,

normally when I let my hair prepoo for 24-48 hours it's just silky moisturized and dripping as I hop into the shower.  This was no different except when I finished the wash and conditioning my hair was really tangled up.  I put in my product and that did little to nothing this go round instead of loosing things up enough to make the detangling process around thirty minutes.  Nearly an hour after I started combing it through it was ready to roll my hair.  Then that pissed me off because one side was refusing to roll up easily.  It's done and I'm tired as all get out.  The satin cap is over it and we'll be sleeping in rollers cause there's no way in creation I'm getting under the dryer tonight.  I'm hot too, need to turn on the fan until the AC kicks back in. Oh and thank heavens to whoever invented Mike's Pink Hard Lemonade.  So good, so pink.  At least dinner was good, I made pizza the last two nights cause we were lazy and didn't feel like whipping up anything major.  Last night I used the mild Italian sausage I got from the butcher.  It was good, tasted kinda sweet with the pizza sauce.  Tonight I made the recipe below which I got from Aaron McCargo Jr.'s old show Big Daddy's House which unfortunately is not on the air anymore.  He made mini pizzas and grilled them.  I make the sausage and use the large crusts from the store.  Either way, got tasty pizza to eat for dinner and snack on tomorrow. 

July 11, 2012

More randomly randomness

Hey folks,

I've gotten all off track with the wash routine because I've been super lazy the last week or so.  I went to work yesterday and that was good.  It's nice to feel busy even though learning new paperwork is always frustrating.  My Folica order shipped within about 12 hours of the order so that rocks.  My unnecessarily delayed Maroon 5 cds just shipped from Top Spin.  It just reminded me why I hate preordering things.  Same thing happened with my Prince set an eon ago.  It took almost two months after release date to fulfill all the preorders.  Yeah we go an extra cd and ended up with something else free, a t-shirt maybe, but it was such a pain to see everyone with their four cd set with nice cover art and you got bubkiss to deal with on your end of things.  And then one of my sorority sisters showed me a site that I shouldn't know exists because it combines good deals with my cheapness without all the hassle of paying for bids or hoping the deal goes through.  I so love that lol.  Anyway nomorerack is like the best site ever.  I got 1600 thread count sheets for 29 bucks and a headset with microphone jack for 9.  Ahhh cheap girl love.  And you get 10 free bucks for signing up.  I picked up a few ice cream books at the library after work and really didn't find anything that must be tried.  A variation on the white chocolate ice cream that could be good and that led me to searching the net for a version of the limited batch Ben & Jerry's Gingersnap Ice Cream that was so good and is now buried in the vault.  That led to What's Cooking Chicago.  Food lust at it's finest.  Please check it out.  After today's running around I'll deep condition my hair and wash it in the morning.  I may take photos again so I can see the difference between my wet length and whatever style I come up with.  Back to bad daytime tv and cartoons ohh and frozen yogurt lol.  Still working on the crunchy toffee batch, so yummy.

July 9, 2012

Free Samples, New Hair Stuff, Awkward Phone Interview Oh My

Hey people,

I think I've completed the last bit of tinkering to the site I'll do for a while now that I've added the signature.  I may make it a little bit bigger so people can see the rollers more clearly but it's cutesy and I like it.  First things first, a huge thanks to the ladies at Ebony's Garden for mentioning my blog.  I was overwhelmingly surprised and it made me smile.  And as I was roaming there I saw that Miss Jessie's hair care line is giving away FREE SAMPLES of up to three products and shipping is free too.  Check it out soon before your favorite product is gone or something you just want to try out.  Last night as I was checking out blogs to add to the Hair Diva section I came across a post on Relaxed Hair Health mentioning purchasing more expensive tools or products to take care of your hair.  Now it wasn't saying only buy pricey items but that sometimes the front end expense is worth the better care your hair might receive.  So I quit hemming and hawing about it and finally purchased the Denman brushes I had been eying on Folica.  I added two oil infused wide tooth combs and with the promotion that was running everything came up to a reasonable price considering I had four items heading this way.  I know the Mason Pearson brushes are top of the line but I gotta baby step up to those if I ever get them lol.  Right now I'd backhand myself for dropping that much on a brush but who knows it may not seem that big of a deal in six months or so.

July 7, 2012

Just a Quickie

I was tinkering around watching tennis.  Woot go Serena congrats on getting your FIFTH Wimbledon title today.  And since I couldn't remember exactly when my hair journey started but knew it wasn't time to get a perm for at least six more weeks that I'd miss whatever the exact date was (I'm thinking it was August 3rd since that's when the first picture was taken).  But I wanted to see what progress looked like visually since last August and created the photo I'm about to share using pixlr.com because they are the absolute coolest site lol and I have found a place to vintage up shots without struggling to get things right in Photoshop.  Really LOVE pixlr.  Well the men's doubles is about to wrap up so I'm going to tuck in the photo and get back to watching Wimbledon because Venus and Serena are trying to get their 5th ladies doubles championship.  If they win they will share 15 Wimbledon titles, 5 singles a piece.  Ok scratch that about to wrap up, two sets all going into what is sure to be a tight 5th set.  Here's the photo anyway lol.





The Long Awaited Header Woo Hoo!

Okay if you've visited before you'll know the plain gold header, while lovely, is now defunct.  The bespectacled young woman to your left was created by Jessica Weible as part of her custom character designs.  I stumbled on the background image on Fotolia.  You aren't seeing all of it but it's because the image got slight distorted when I tried to make it fit EXACTLY.  I'd put it up here for you to see but I don't want anyone stealing it from the lovely person that created it.  But here's the exact name and name of the creator in case you were wanting to see it in all its glory: Vintage silhouette of girl on tapestry background. © pugovica_88 #35212902.  It is really adorable and since she was gesturing with her hand just in opposite of the custom character it actually warmed my nerdy little heart.  I was going to add a few food and hair items to the header but that just felt busy so I kept it simple.  I may edit it later but if I do it will probably be a total revamp. 

July 5, 2012

Happy Sadness

You know how you see things and totally forget about them later on.  I did that with an adorable blog that two parents created to make the most of their very sick daughter's life.  She has a, had a genetic disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy, that did not have the best prognosis.  They created a bucket list for her which seemed horribly tragic and wonderfully amazing all at the same time.  They are much stronger humans than I am I can admit.  I hadn't checked the blog in a few months because I've been caught up in my own stuff but and when I checked it today I found out that Avery lost her fight with SMA at the end of April.  But here's the truly amazing thing.  Her parents have kept up the blog and their awareness efforts.  It's no less endearing knowing that she's not here anymore.  For those in the area of the fundraising efforts please attend.  Please share the blog with others and keep Avery's memory alive as well as her fight.  I may be back later but had to do this now before I got caught up in my own stuff again.  Avery's Bucket List


July 4, 2012

My hair is PISSED but the brisket was good

I need to take my hair down and moisturize and seal again.  It's mostly been wrapped for the last two days save a short trip to Wal-mart to get supplies for today.  But as I went to wrap it a few days ago there was shedding and when I took it down there was more shedding.  Not so much that I'd start crying but more than I would like considering the amount of shedding I had on wash day.  But it seemed to appreciate the m&s better this week so maybe I've just been neglecting that more than I should.  Other than that it's being nice and just doing the normal yes I'm growing and yes I'm gray.  It actually looks white right now since my hair is so dark and not burgundy.  I'll tend to the hair in a few minutes.  I really only contributed brisket to the hot part of the meal today. Yeah I grabbed buns and other things to make sure we could eat how we wanted but I was tired.  Been feeling off the last week or so--could be lack of work.  I am so not a person that could work from home unless it was active work cause I swear it's painful.  Anyhoo back to the brisket.  I woke up much earlier than I wanted and since I was up I mixed two dry rubs that we had in the cabinet with some brown sugar and heavily coated it before letting it cook @ 250 degrees.  Probably a little too long but it was good and I didn't have to hear it's undercooked.  Mom is a seriously cook it till it's desert dry kind of human.  I may start working on another round of frozen yogurt.  I am trying to stay off the Golden Oreos as I prepare to get healthy again.  Okay enough witty banter now.  Trying to plan out how to do a good deed.  See ya.


July 1, 2012

Sleeping in Just Ain't Happening

Hey people,

the blog is almost done with it's makeover.  Waiting on some graphics to finish the header and then it will be all done.  Today is wash day, usually one day over the weekend is, and I used my Red Pimento Oil treatment on my scalp along with some coconut oil as an overnight prepoo.  It definitely helped me detangle my hair easier before the wash--very little hair loss/shedding then.  I switched up the order of my conditioners today and put on the deep conditioner last.  Not sure why I hadn't been before other than the timeline made sense (3 minutes dc, 2 minutes reconstructor, 1 minute KPAK).  My hair is always in need of moisture so not putting that last seemed silly all of a sudden.   I'm air drying as we speak.  Not on the flexi rods this week because I've been lazy the last two weeks and it showed when I detangled my hair.  Way more hair loss than I would ever want.  It's on rollers now and hopefully by bedtime I can take it down and wrap my hair after I moisturize my scalp.  Then hopefully I'm cute for training in the morning for the new job.  I'm looking forward to it but I'll have to admit I'm still not feeling settled for some reason.  I'm not feeling sad or upset about whatever is coming but just like things are set just yet.