Happy Leap Day!

Since it will be 4 more years before I have another chance to blog about it, I’d like give mention to this Leap Day of 2012. I didn’t do anything out-of-the ordinary; it was just another “normal” day for me. How ’bout y’all?

Pinterest Curls

I’ve fallen in love with Pinterest. It’s even more addictive than Facebook! There’s always something new and wonderful, no matter what your hobby, fashion style, architectural preference, etc. But this blog post is about something more specific. In particular, two different “how to” hairstyle pins that I’ve tried, and am now comparing for all to see. Hope this helps you on your no-heat curl journey 🙂

Click on the links below to see the blog-pages I found on Pinterest. Note – I don’t  use hairspray or gel. I do wet my ends with spray-in/leave-in conditioner before putting in the sock bun or the headband.

And now, a pictorial comparison of sock bun curls (I don’t need a bobby pin) and  headband curls (watch the tutorial video!):

Air dried hair – the slight wave around my ears is because I wore a headband while it dried

air dried from the back – there is a small natural wave

I wore this sock bun all day while at work

And this is what it looks like after I slept in it

sock bun removed, and curls finger brushed only

loose curls

How I wore my hair this day, with a small clip – note that the curls did better than in the past, and I think it’s because I wore the sock bun for about 24 hours

Day 2 – barely there curls

Hair all wrapped around the headband

Headband in, ready for bed

The next morning – note that the headband has slid around on my head.

The next morning – I’ve done this several times, and the headband has only stayed in place once.

Curls, as is

Curls, as is

Curls fingerbrushed ONLY, top/sides smoothed down with a brush

Curls, Curls, everywhere!

Day 2, my favorite

Day 2, pretty, relaxed curls

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 22 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Update on Life

I have a rare extra few minutes, so here’s an update on what’s been going on since January. (Disclaimer – I’d like for there to be pix, but those are what take forever, so, sorry, you’ll just have to Google stuff, I guess :shrug )

My “I love my job” has turned into an absolute dream job! I’m officially still doing taxes, but about 6 weeks ago or so, tax business really started slowing down, and spring inventory really started to pick up … ummm, let me back up a bit further.

My boss (wonderful lady, love her!) has a local tax office. She and her husband own the local feed/hardware store. (Somewhere in the archives – time again, or I’d go digging for the link to it – is a blog post where I actually talk about The General Store; that’s the place 🙂 )

So, as I was saying, tax business started slowing down, and spring inventory started really coming in, and another pair of computer-knowledgeable hands to get said inventory into the computer was wanted, so I got drafted! And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! It can be crazy hectic at times when the store is filled with customers, and there’s an office (or a warehouse) full of inventory that needs to be put into the computer, but that’s the nature of the beast. Oh, and I forgot to mention – the C’s have 3 kids of their own, a 7- and 6- year old girl, and a 9-month old girl. So if Teddy has to come to work with me, that’s perfectly ok, because odds are good their girls will be also. And how cool is it (I know, not everybody would think so, but I enjoy it) that part of my job description is “Here, hold the baby.” 😉

Side benefits of working where I do – I get a dozen farm fresh eggs about every week (whenever I run out, I just ask for more).  But in about 5 – 6 more months, I won’t need to ask. I bought chickens! Don’t know yet if I have boys or girls, I (currently) have 4 total – 2 Aracauna’s (break out google again; these are the ones that lay the Easter Eggs), and 2 bantams (smaller chickens). My bantams, based on my own google searches, are 1 each Silver Sebright, and 1 either B.B. Red (also know as Cubalaya which I stated in an earlier post as a chicken that I want 😀 ) or Silver Duckwing (which is just a cool name 😉 ). The hatchery the store orders from sends bantams not only as straight run (they won’t separate the boys from the girls) but as assorted bantams, which means there are all kinds of breeds too. My bantam that’s an either/or also brings new meaning to the term “small” – it is TINY compared not only to the full-size (but still growing) chickens, but also to the other bantam. We are getting in more chickens in 3 weeks, though 😀 This batch will be all pullets (all hens – 90% accuracy says the hatchery), and I plan to get 2 more Aracauna. We’re also getting in just a few more of the assorted, straight run bantams. If I see anymore with the markings of my cute itty-bitty biddy 😉  (which is why I picked that one – it was just so cute!) I plan to get those also.

I LOVE my chickens! They are finally starting to make the occasional “cluck” noise, instead of just the “peep” of a baby bird noise. I love to go sit and just watch my “chickie birds” as I call them, or sometimes I call ’em “the clucks.” Very relaxing to me to just sit and watch.

I am also the proud (wasn’t so sure about that til last night, but that’s a whole other L-O-N-G story we won’t go into) owner of 4 Khaki Campbell ducks (go google that one 😉 ) – they’re almost 5 weeks old now and they’re HUGE! Still not ready for the pond though, which is why I bought them (so we’d have ducks in the pond). So my stinky – yet loveable – ducks are hanging out in the dog kennel in the back yard for a while longer. Gotta wait til they’re fully feathered so they have the best chance of getting away from the natural predators we have around here (coyote, fox, owl, etc). And in the meantime, I fill the water tub once a day, and the food dish twice a day (who knew ducks ate so much?!?), and supplement with the earliest of the spring vegetables that didn’t sell at the store that we know nobody’s gonna buy (like, ummm, say, broccoli that’s already bolted 😉 ) And should they truly survive and thrive, I discovered by reading my “Encyclopedia of Country Living” (go google that one, too, if you don’t know about that book) I did good, because they are the best egg laying ducks! And I just bought ’em cuz they were cute 🙂 (One of the kids that comes into the store calls them “Chocolate Ducks” and they name has stuck for us.) My ducks are (not always affectionately) known as “The Quack Pack,” and it’s been nice to actually hear some quacks instead of just baby bird “cheeps.”

So, I love my job, and I know own critters 🙂 There was a little more I wanted to cover, but I gotta get ready to go to work! One last thing though – 28 March made 9 months smoke-free!!!!

(not previewing, just hitting post, so please forgive any typos)

I’m alive, I promise

Just don’t have much time for blogging these days, in the middle of tax season. (Did I mention lately how much I not only love being gainfully employed, but that I love my job!)

And in case I don’t get on again for awhile, the 28th is 8 months – that’s E-I-G-H-T months! since back surgery, which also means 8 months of no smoking!!!!

God bless 🙂

I Love My Job!

I haven’t disappeared, I promise! My wonderful new job just leaves me much less time for “computering,” as Teddy would say 😉

And I haven’t forgotten my promise of Christmas pictures, etc – hopefully, one day soon, I’ll get those up! 😀

First day at work!

Okay, so it was a 1/2 day (icy weather yesterday and today), but I actually WORKED today!!! Yippee 😀 And school is back in session tomorrow, which means a full day at work for me, and Teddy’s first day riding the bus to day care; he’s SO excited about getting to ride the bus 🙄 I’M excited that he’ll be with a wonderful Christian lady who has her own daycare business! Yeah, God 😀

Wow!

I actually looked at my stats, and 45 people visited on New Year’s Day! That’s the most ever! Of course, what’s even more impressive, is that during my time of not posting anything, I averaged about 4 or 5 visits everyday. It’s just amazing to me that there are 4 or 5 people (much less 45!) interested in reading what I have to say 🙂

 

A Week?!?!?

Bad blogger, bad, bad, bad 😉

Life just got really crazy as it can do sometimes, and I hope to have time to blog about stuff-n-such later on today (unless the school calls me to sub, which would be FABULOUS!).

Possible bloggy ideas:

– last Sunday’s (not yesterday) sermon synopsis, which I was gonna do a week ago because it really spoke to me, but then I got called to sub 😀

-pictures of that oh-so-yummy supper I was telling you about before I went silent

-the South Georgia Growing Local Conference I went to on Saturday!!!!! Made some great connections, learned a whole lotta interesting stuff, and found some more internet groups I need to join/keep track of. I’ll let ya know more about the Okravores as I learn myself 😉

There, I think I’ve got myself covered if I can’t get back and talk about what I want.  And it’s very difficult to type with a very determined dog sticking his snout under your hands while you type because he wants to play. Doesn’t he realize it’s too early in the morning for that?

Have a blessed day!

 

Supper!

I’m so excited! Tonight, we are eating (translation: I am cooking, but when I’m in the mood to do it, I love it!) venison cube steak, homemade mashed potatoes, country gravy (made from a packet – anybody got a good recipe?), steamed broccoli, and rolls.

Wa-hoo! I get to break out the oil and fry something! My sister lovingly calls me the “queen of the deep fryer,” but I had to put that away when I moved back in with Mama and Daddy – heart problems, diabetes, etc. And now that I’ve adjusted to frying foods on a rare occasion instead of at least once a week, I appreciate them even more, and my body likes me better, too 😉

We don’t have buttermilk though, so I’m going to try mixing some yogurt (plain, not vanilla – I promise, plain) with some milk or 1/2 and 1/2, and see how that does for soaking/dredging the steaks in. I’ll let ya know.

Also, I might SAY mashed potatoes, but my intent is uber-creamy mashed-to-within-an-inch-of-their-lives potatoes; I hesitate to say whipped, because I don’t use a mixer, just a potato masher. And I don’t use milk. I’ve often said my middle name should be “Paula Deen” *sly, sneaky grin* I will use a WHOLE, ENTIRE stick of butter, and approx 8 -12 oz of sour cream to achieve my desired creaminess level.  (I really want a goat, just this meal we’re going through all kinds of dairy!)

But seriously, anybody got a good recipe for that country gravy?

Now, to go get started on it. I might be mean, inducing jealousy nice and share pictures later 😀