Did I mention "eep?" I don't think I got the "eep" in there. Looks like I am going back to working on this the old fashioned way. Exercising, drinking water, carefully tracking what I eat, weighing on Monday, measuring once a month and taking one day at a time. Hit it. I often wonder how many times I'll start down this path again and I hear the Dr Phil answer in my head ("Until"). Then there's the Nike wisdom ("Just do it."). So that's all I've got to say about that. Yesterday was my 44th birthday and it was entirely uneventful, by my choice. Thank you to all of the people who sent happy wishes. They are very appreciated. Eric went out of his way to make sure I knew that we could do anything I wanted to do, which I did. I crawled back into bed at 10am and got up at 11:30am and wasted time for an hour until I took Nathan to town at 12:30 to get a bicycle for his birthday (tomorrow). At 1pm when I came around the curve and down the hill leading into town, I had to bow up on the brakes because there was a LONG line of cars waiting to get through the critical 500 feet of Diamond Springs. I heard a blast of sirens and looked at the clock in the car then remembered that the Labor Day parade (huh?) was kicking off at 1pm. Parades are the only time we hear sirens in our town. No way to turn around and no alternate route into town until past the parade hole (where the parade was pouring onto the main drag). I watched the horses and buckboards and kids with signs file out into the road for 20 minutes. Poor Nathan was getting restless because he was too short to see anyone. The lady behind me in the Escalade, obviously a tourist, was getting all kinds of ratcheted up over it. She ended up coming up and banging on my window to ask how much longer it would be (seein's as how I look like I know what I'm doing and have "local" stamped on my forehead). I gently explained to Madam Import that she was pretty well stuck until the stopper in the bottle neck down yonder (being a white pick up at the head of the line) was told to move. She huffed and puffed and blew no one's house down, then sniffed her way back to her expensive vehicle to wait with the rest of us. When the truck moved, about 10 minutes after the parade finished filing through, the traffic slowly began to move again, but the main part of the street was still closed off for a street bazaar, so we detoured back through several off roads to get into town. All in all, it added about an hour onto my trip. Nathan found a bike he loved (only $45!) and is thrilled. We made our way home after stopping for lunch. I noticed how quickly the trees on the way home are turning bright red and orange. Up where we are, we are still all green, but at the lower altitudes, Fall is firmly in place. When we got home, things remained quiet. I went to bed fairly early. Eric cleaned the dishes for me (best gift I could get) and then I was 44. I'm having a minor midlife mortality crisis, but I'll find peace with it. Today's big effort, since I already gazelled a bit, is to clean Delena's room. She had until this morning to get it up to par before I came in, meaning she loses all choices for what gets packed away into storage. She did a lot of work, but wow, it's still terrible. I don't think it will take me long, maybe an hour or two. So off I go to clean and sort and pack away. Then maybe a nap. I hope you all have a spectacular week. Much love, September 2, 2005 Had to rewrite the date since I see it's already almost 1am. Believe it or not, I am up cleaning. I went for the caffeine after three to keep me going because I have just been putting off too much vital cleaning to let it go another day. My ass will be kicked when the alarm goes off tomorrow (I will program myself for "power sleep"), but I am almost finished. I am waiting for the mopped floors to dry so that I can sweep. It makes Eric crazy that I always mop first, then sweep the floors. I've done this for a long time because whenever I sweep first, then mop, I always find stragglers that I want to sweep up anyway, so I end up doing the same work twice. The final load of laundry is in the washer and the couch is piled high. I'll fold like mad tomorrow. I'll vacuum then as well because doing it now would likely wake up the kiddies. So I'm almost done and I expect to be asleep by 1:30 or so (it takes me NO time to fall asleep). There have been so many strange little things around and about that have amused me that I am starting to wonder if the Universe is putting on a wonderful show for me. I am just totally entertained. For instance, today, I was pillaging through the bargain rack at K-mart in the ladies department where things were marked $3-8. As I was pushing through the round sales rack, I saw something move next to my hand (not a normally occurrence when one is alone in ladies wear) and I was surprised to see, sitting up there as if she owned the world (definitely a Diva), a white praying mantis about 4" long. I mean this was a good sized little sucker, just popping up off of a pair of ivory colored pants and hanging out on the top of the silver rack. I even looked at it a couple of times and then looked back to make sure I wasn't having one of those acid flashbacks they promised me and never delivered. I began to worry about it (I love mantises), so I called over one of the sales clerks and placed her under threat of death if she hurt it. She carefully wrapped it in a plastic bag and took it outside to release. I didn't follow her (still had to pay for a few things), so for all I know, she could have squished it under her heel as soon as she was out the door, but I am going to presume for the sake of sanity (and a good story) that she let it go in the grass by the store. Friday night was out last Burger night of the year. It doesn't seem possible that it's already done. The whole town turned out and brought their friends, it seems. One of the older gentlemen on The Committee roasts a whole pig, then pulls the pork and brings it to the event and someone else cooks a whole pile of turkey. It was absolutely delicious and I was really wishing I had a bag of the pork to take home with me (the should have auctioned off the leftovers, I swear). The Red Hat Society was out in force with their beautiful red hats of all kinds and purple shirts. There were probably at least 100 Red Hat ladies there. God bless'em. The guy who looks like Junior Soprano was holding court and several village dignitaries turned out for the event (The sheriff, the fire chief and Marc, the bus driver). I got a little teary-eyed knowing that it's done for another year (which means snow's not far behind, dangnabbit). I got wild and rearranged my desk, computer, etc tonight and it looks considerably better. Well, for now. My desk can be equated out to people who live in their car. It never stays clean for very long because it is my hub of operations throughout the day. For now, it's clean. My list which should likely be called "shit to do" is getting a lot of things marked off on it. I still have to do four sabbats on the CUSP page, a ton of book reviews and I am very eager to get back into the world of my novel. That hasn't seen the light of day in a long time and I really miss it. I just keep telling myself to breathe... there is time... there is time. One step at a time. Stand'em up and knock'em down. Today, the house is under control. That's a major accomplishment. All that is awry is Delena's room and she has until Tuesday before I got clean it myself (never bodes will for her). If she keeps it perfectly clean for a month, she gets a video camera off of ebay. My birthday is Monday (Thank you, Marney and Sarah!) and Nathan's is Wednesday. I'll take cupcakes to the school that day, then we'll have the kid party the following weekend. We are going to double up and have Dylan's party that day as well since his birthday is in July and he didn't get a big party. I hope people don't balk at celebrating two birthdays. I'm going to have it at a nearby park so that I don't have to launch into Pagans Are Friendly People 101 in the middle of the party after unsuspecting parents wade into Pentacle Central. Plus, that gives the party a more definitive ending. When Delena had her end of the year party, the thing went on for 3 days. This is my first birthday that I've gotten my age right in about 5 years. I keep leaving off a year and then being shocked a few months later when I realized I was older than I thought. Yep, 1961, this is 44. Time to sweep or I won't make that 1:30 sleep time. Take care and have a magnificent holiday weekend. Love, August 24, 2005 Update, wow. The friend who wasn't speaking to me wrote me a wonderful email and things are tentatively much better now. I never would have thought it could happen. And harvest has just begun! PLUS, I finally pulled Nathan's scrappy ass tooth that was hanging by a thread. I said, "Let me see how your tooth is doing," then I pretty much lifted it off his gum. He didn't even realize I'd pulled it. It's a happy day! August 24, 2005 You know, my brother-in-law asked my husband recently, after happening upon the nonsoapy journal (Googling "Rasbold" will only turn up relatives on my husband. It's a fairly rare name) whether or not it bothered him that so much of our life is "out there" in public. Fortunately, Eric didn't have a problem with it because I never even though to ask him. That likely would have been prudent, but when I start writing, nonfiction or fiction, I'm pretty much in a "zone" and just go for it. I don't always think about how public this journal is. To me, I'm talking to friends, talking to myself and working through issues. It doesn't bother me, I just don't think about it much. This has been a really wonderful friend harvest and a personal one on an emotional level. I've been having trouble with overeating and had to realize that symptoms like that are usually pain that is being suppressed. I have done a lot of meditating on the source of the pain and of course, there are several and it's not a clear cut process. Most of what hurts me are thoughts of relationships that ended badly or had no resolution at all, so I have been working to resolve those. Some, like with my ex-husband, will never be resolved because I do not have the cooperation of the other party. I can work on releasing my attachment to that person from my side, but I can't really resolve the way the relationship ended or make any kind of peace with people I have loved without their help. I can forgive and have forgiven both the ex- and a friend of mine who refuses to even speak to me and I am actively working to find peace in those endings. In each situation, I am certain that all parties are better off since the relationships ended, but I still care about and miss the people, which makes things a little bumpy sometimes. It's hard to live with someone for more than 20 years and then suddenly just have them gone and have no right to speak to or have any contact with them. In the other instance, it's hard to be as close as I thought I was with a friend and have that friendship just explode into a big mess. I recently lost another friendship for reasons I do not even know. We were close and then she was just gone with a very curt goodbye and no explanation. People who know us both also have no idea what happened or why she disappeared from my life. I do see one common thread in these three relationships: the ex, the friend won't speak to me and the friend who just *went away*. In all three situations, I was inaccurate about my worth to these people. I completely misjudged the relationship, thinking that the marriage/friendship was deeper than it actually was. In all three situations, my love for them, my desire for their company and my value of the relationship was more than theirs for me. I have a really good sense of myself, I think. I also have a very healthy self-esteem and feel that I have an accurate assessment of what I have to offer the world and what I have to offer a friendship. I am a very confident person, perhaps too much so in this case. Because I feel good about what I bring to the table in a friendship, I tend to think others see that worth as well. In journaling this, I do believe I have figured out that the major problem I am having in resolving these three relationships and the way they ended is that in each case, I was shown that I was ultimately not important to them. I was very, very expendable. Recently ,I was able to reconnect with one friend with whom things had been strained for a while and I am grateful for that. Things seem to have been ironed out and we are pleasant once more. The final piece of that puzzle fell into place this week and I am happy that it did. Where I cannot find resolution, I am working to find peace. The fact is that in life, people come and go and when we can, it's better to release them with love and good wishes and I do. I sent an email to the friend I mentioned where things pretty much exploded. I wanted to let her know that I love her and miss her, even though it seems that it doesn't work for us to be in one another's lives. For myself, I needed to make the effort for her to know she was important to me and that she will always have a place in my heart. Having said that, I feel as though I have said my part. She communicates with me through her online journal and I got a bit of a smack down for writing, but I did what I needed to do. I am grateful for all of the wonderful friends I have and for their love and devotion. I am a very, very fortunate woman and I am more aware of that every day. I know that I can be a hard person to be friends with at times. I don't suffer fools lightly and while I don't expect perfection from my friends, if they are abusive to me, I usually do not keep them around. For the most part, my friends know where I stand and what doesn't work for me. Anyone who knows me well is completely aware of how I feel about drama and games. I guess if you live by the gun, you die by the gun. I have been busy lately on so many different things. I spent a good bit of last week being sick. I had a headache that just would not go away and a slight fever. Nathan had the same symptoms over the weekend and now today, I had to go pick up Dylan from school with the same thing. Delena missed last Thursday and Friday. Dylan tends to rebound quickly, so I expect he'll go back tomorrow. He's sleeping now and kids are home in an hour and a half. Our CUSP page, about our spiritual path, has needed an overhaul for a long time. I did it a long time ago and it looked fairly amateurish. Joe did a basic design for me and I took it from there and have been working on it for a few days. It's here for those who are interested: www.thecuspway.com I still have to work on 6 more sabbats, but then I am done except for occasionally updating the events page. I got our workshop and ritual listed on Witchvox, which is a national networking website for Witchy types, so maybe we'll get to meet some new folks along the way. Eric is enthusiastic about the project, which is a really nice bonus. He was skeptical at first, mostly because in the previous times that we've worked in a public forum, it has been a lot of work with very little return. I feel the same way, so this is sort of the test to see if we ever want to do it again. We've been private for a year and a half now and this is just a matter of putting a toe in the water and seeing how cold the water is now. (it was frosty before) Eric is out of town for a bit to tend to some things in Porterville. It's a mixed blessing when he's gone. I miss him terribly, but I have longer days in which I can get things done. Yesterday and today, I have been immersed in web work between Eye on Soaps and the new site, plus a few other irons I have in the fire. I have not given my house the attention it needs or my exercising and I very much need to get those underway. Just checked on Dylan and I have to amend the thought that he is likely to go back to school tomorrow. He is really feeling rotten. I gave him some aspirin for the headache and fever and left a bottle of water with him. He's very good about drinking water and I need for him to stay hydrated. I plan to do mad cleaning tonight and this afternoon. I finally feel as though I have the energy for it. I have more brush to mow tomorrow and much, much laundry to finish. Both Delena's room and the boys' room need a complete overhaul and I'm sure I should likely clean the kitchen at some point. We've been eating on paper plates and not making much kitchen mess, but there is definitely an accumulation. I have a dog issue and I am undecided about what to do. Belle, the stray, is pregnant, as we suspected. She still will not let us within 5 feet of her, so there's no way we can take care of her. Eric wants to call Animal Control to come and get her so she can deliver safely and not in the wild. I don't have a lot of trust for Animal Control and don't want to see her put down. Hell, I don't know what's right. We have all kinds of wild animals up here and overall, I think she'd be safe under the truck where she is likely to deliver. She had her heat about a month ago and she's not very big. I am glad she won't be delivering in the heat of the year or the frosty cold. It's very nice out now. In fact, it's downright beautiful. I actually had the heat on for a little bit today. It was hanging out around 65 in the house for a lot of the day. I am so glad the heat of the year is past and we aren't at the snow point just yet. We had snow at Halloween last year, but only for a day or two. Then it snowed off and on until the big one hit in January. Until then, it only would hang around for a day or so. I can deal with that, then manage through the 4 months or so of snow up to my ass if I have to. It's worth it to live up here in Heaven. The scents outside are so heady right now. The trees and the earth and the very air is so rich with the coming Fall. Fall and Spring are the times when I especially love being on this earth and being alive (thanks, Ma). Now if I can just get Operation Clean House underway, all will be right in the world. Anyone want to come talk to me while I clean? Talk to you later. Love, August 24, 2005 If this past weekend qualified as one of the quietest, most uneventful weekends, then yesterday was definitely one of the most nonproductive days ever. Once in a while, if my eating has gotten to be more than it should be (which it was), Nature takes over and kicks me in the ass by making me sick for a while so I can't eat much and my body can hit the reset button. My stomach has been upset, I've been having lots of poops and I am just exhausted. I know part of the tired is from not sleeping well at night. I don't know if it is the menopause issue or something else altogether, but as soon as something wakes me up, that's it. I am up for at least a couple of hours. There is no drifting back into sleep. Last night, I was cruising along nicely when around 1:30am, the dog started barking like mad. Mind you, this dog NEVER barks, so that was fairly interesting in and of itself (never found out what set her off), but I knew as soon as my eyes flew open that they were not going to close again for a while. Came downstairs and had some toast since my stomach was a little upset and jumped online for a bit. Delena's dad was on AIM (he works nights) and we chatted for a bit, then I played Bookworm and went to bed again a couple of hours later. The alarm was like a dagger in my head, but I did manage to get up and get Delena out the door. Now I am wearing sweet Dylan like a parrot on my shoulder, just talkin' away. :) They'll leave out in about an hour or so. My damned scanner isn't working which is pretty well pissing me off. After I reinstalled Windows, I learned that the software for the scanner is missing and it is old enough that the downloaded drivers and such aren't working, so my scanning capabilities are pretty well jacked. I don't really scan that much stuff, but I hate having this big paperweight in my desk, knowing that the second I disconnect and move it, scanning will suddenly be absolutely essential. I wish they still sold the damned thing in stores (it's an old Mustek 1200CP) because I could buy the thing, install the software, then return the new one. The other possibility, distasteful as it is, is that I could go mad out in the shed and actually find the disks I need that accidentally got packed away with some office things I didn't really need. God, that sounds formidable. After the hyper-productivity of last week, the past two days seem like I am standing still. Eric stayed home on Monday, not feeling well and I went to town to get groceries. I love shopping on my own rather than with a child. That is working out exceptionally well even if it does mean an extra trip into town. I spent a lot of time resting yesterday and suspect I will today as well, even though I am feeling better. I need to get some novel writing done and some book reviews finished (about 40 of them, in all honesty). I heard the death knell for "Dead Like Me," one of my favorite shows that Showtime, in its ignorance, canceled. I was watching part of the Tuesday marathon last night and after the last episode, they announced that Mandy Patinkin (Rube) will be starring in a new series about an "elite team of profilers" called "Criminal Minds." MP has such a knack for picking excellent roles that are written in a very clever manner (in addition to Rube, there was Sam Francisco from "Alien Nation," Enigo Montoya from "The Princess Bride" and Jeffrey Geiger from "Chicago Hope"). I really do hope this show is another winner, but wow, no Rube = No "Dead Like Me" and that is just a crime. The thought of these wonderful characters not being in my life any more makes me feel a little sick(er). There was hope for a while that SciFi was going to pick it up, but of course, they would sterilize it and the swearing gives it so much texture. Man, I'll miss those guys. I've seen quite a few movies lately and oddly, I liked them all. First was "The Skeleton Key," which I went to with a fairly open mind. I don't usually expect much from horror movies and then I'm surprised if they are really good. This was one where I came from the theater thinking, "That was pretty good!" and over the next few days evolved into "You know, that was REALLY good!" I don't enjoy boogedy boogedy movies where the scary part is someone jumping out of dark corners to slash up the main players one by one. The whole "Friday the Thirteenth," "Halloween," "Terror Train" slasher parade did nothing at all for me. I love a horror story with a good (actual) story behind it, some very tense moments and a good, preferably twisty and surprising, resolution. Some of my favorites are "The Changeling" with George C. Scott, "Poltergeist," "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others." I don't like knowing how the story is going to end with a horror movie in particular and although Joe says he had this figured out from about 10 minutes into it, I was totally pulled in, as was Eric (who is really sharp about these things). I had part of it figured out by about 2/3 of the way trough, but there was enough of a twist and surprise ending that I was very satisfied. The parts I didn't figure out were amazing. The story built up at a really nice pace. The acting was very good. The representation of Houdoin as a very vital and potent religion was very well conveyed. (I have studied up on it and I am quite impressed. I believe most people who criticize it have not actually researched it thoroughly) I definitely need to stock up on some Papa Justify records. All in all, it was $6 very, very well spent. At Delena's insistence, I watched "Second Hand Lions" with Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osmont and, well, wow. What a wonderful movie. I did not expect to like it as much as I did and so I was completely blown away. Very nice! Now the boys are safely packed away on their school bus and the house is totally quiet. That's how my writing goes. Write some, get up, do something else, sit, write some more, get up again... Lastly, I watched "Constantine," another movie I did not approach with specific expectations, especially since Joe hated it. More and more, I am finding that my taste in movies runs almost completely contrary to Joe's, which is unusual for us. This one was no different. Both Eric and I really loved it. Taken from a comic book, the energy of comic bookiness is not lost and I found I could visualize exactly how each scene would look in print. Rather than detract from the atmosphere of the movie (I loved the X-men movies and for me, there was not a hint of comic book there, even though I knew intellectually that it was of comic book origin), I found it accentuated it and lent a slightly campy, surreal (as surreal as an 'end of times' kind of good vs evillllle story can be, ha ha) tone to the story. I loved how unapproachable and dark John Constantine was and how just enough of his own story came out to accessorize the actual theme of the movie rather than overpower it. I loved how the intermingling of divine and demonic entities with human life was pretty much presented as matter of fact rather than 'Ooooooh, loooook!' I thought the make up and special effects were great and the dialogue was wonderful. It's also important to know that I go to movies for two reasons and two reasons only: total escapism and utter entertainment. Enrapture me, inspire me, enfold me, embrace me, tell me a good story either through great writing, great acting, great direction, great special effects or all of the above. As long as a wonderful, intriguing story is told by some marrying off of those elements, I'm a happy girl. I think that's why I loved "Spainglish," "Sisterhood of
the Traveling Pants," and "Love Actually." Even though
they were each missing one of those key elements, the others
still came together to entertain me and tell me a good story.
It's like when a person is blind or deaf and their other
senses heighten to compensate. If a movie is weak in one
area or another, but the other attributes beef up to make up
the difference, I don't really care.
"Get me in the dark and impress and entertain me," has shown
me a lot of good times in my life. Movies are
just one of them. Guess I will pull up a couch for a while and do some more resting. Hope you all are having a wonderful week. Love, August 22, 2005 Weirdness. for one moment, it seemed perfectly reasonable to write "November" for the date. I'm getting old. This definitely qualified as one of the quietest, most uneventful weekend ever. We did about as close to nothing as a person can do and still be breathing. Friday, I scurried into town with Nathan as soon as the kids got home from school, then got back too late to go to Burger Night, so I had Eric take the bake sale cookies down to them while I made a shepherd's pie. That got me into a casserole mood, so I had to look up good recipes for Tuna Casserole and Tater Tot Casserole (which I've never had and have heard people rave about). On Saturday, we went to the river, which where we go is more creekish than riverish. Delena had a friend down and they immediately headed upstream for the waterfalls and deeper water. The boys were content to fling rocks into the water, which I thought is what we were going to do for the duration (or I would have worn different shoes). Eric decided to take the kids further upstream and since I was only in slip on sandals, I waited for a while and ended up falling asleep in the chair. Out there, there is no indication that we are anywhere near the 21st century and near where I was sitting, there is a small drop off (and I mean *small*) that creates a little waterfall and listening to that lulled me right out. About 20 minutes later, I woke up and they still weren't back and I couldn't hear them talking or squealing, so I knew they weren't going to be back any time soon. Rather than just sit there for however long it took, I grabbed the chairs (left the cooler and towels for them) and threw them in the jeep and headed back. Nature is lovely and all, but I was getting bored sitting around and being eaten by mosquitoes (they love me, what can I say?). They would all fit in one vehicle (we brought 2), so I went on home and enjoyed the quiet of the house a bit. Yesterday, Eric and I spent about 5 hours watching the 2nd season of "Dead Like Me," one of our favorite shows. I just got it on DVD and the kids were otherwise occupied, so it was a marathon (we still have about 6-7 hours to go). Definitely is a crime that Showtime did not renew this. (But somehow decided "Fat Actress" was more entertaining - idiots) That was my weekend. Eric didn't sleep well last night (at all, he says), so he's home today resting. I am going to go to town after the boys leave and pick up some things, like birthday presents for Aiden (my grandson). His first birthday is Wednesday and we are heading into Sacramento this coming weekend to celebrate. It will be good to see the kiddies again. A friend of mine whose husband is a charter pilot (she does the flight attendant stuff for him when he flies) called yesterday to tell me that they flew Johnny Depp into Aspen the day before, supposed to be some kind of party there, and were flying him back again later Sunday. I wasn't even thinking, even though it had been heavy on my mind just hours before, that the "party" was Hunter S. Thompson's memorial service. I was more involved with the fact that my friend had handed Johnny Depp a ginger ale. The week is open with kids heading out the door in 45 minutes, a novel to write, book reviews to do and laundry to finish. It sounds just lovely. I made great progress through the brush with the mower on Friday and will try and do more each day (since it's great exercise and actually shows something for my effort). Before long, we should have a front yard that extends the distance over to our neighbor's yard, which is a good piece away. Until now, that whole area has been an unusable patch of brush and small trees. The trees I am leaving, but with the brush gone, it will look much more open and accessible. It's much cooler today than it has been in a while. It feels as though Fall is definitely upon us. I am always happy to see the heat of Summer behind us. I'm not much for extreme temperatures in either direction, which is why Spring and Fall are my absolute favorite times of the year. Nathan is in the process of losing his first tooth, not by any effort on his part, mind you. His permanent teeth, the two in the bottom front, started coming up behind his baby teeth, so didn't really get them loose until the new teeth were pretty much taller than the baby teeth. I have seen this happen before, so didn't really freak out or anything. One of the baby teeth isn't really very loose yet, but the other is not only hanging by a thread, but is being rejected by the gum from the pressure of the new tooth and is pretty much being pushed out the front of his gum. He won't pull it. I guess he's too scared the first time. Eric is dying to get at it, but we have always employed a hands off where certain things are concerned. Pulling teeth is one of them. We only do it ourselves if the kids ask us to. It will come out eventually. Splinters is another. After years of being traumatized by my mother digging them out with sterilized needles, I found it works just as well (if not better) to let the body reject the foreign object itself unless the kid wants me to try and get it out. We just throw some peroxide on it and let it do its thing. Another hands off is tickling, which honestly, I equate to child abuse. Of course, we tickle our children, but only for a second or two at a time and the MOMENT the kid asks us to stop, we immediately back away. It breaks my heart to see a kid begging for an adult to stop tickling them. In fact, it breaks my heart to see one adult begging another adult to stop tickling them. I am not sure who ever got the idea this was funny or at worst, enjoyable to both parties, but it's nothing more than a control issue that leaves one person feeling completely helpless if the aggressor doesn't stop when asked. Eric, my kids and I all love light tickling, but the heavy duty stuff just doesn't fly. I am also very open-minded about how my kids wear their hair. I guess that's a throwback from being raised in the 60's-70's. As long as they keep it clean and combed, I don't care of it's long, short, blue or whatever. I did ask Delena not to dye her hair black because it is so hard to get it back to anything else. That has been about my only intercession. Nathan likes his very short, getting it cut every month or so. Dylan likes his fairly short with a 1990's rat tail (go figure), but he has recently told me he wants to grow it long like "Dad's and David's" so he can pull it back into a pony tail. Delena is growing her hair long until Halloween because she and her friend want to dress up as Jay and Silent Bob (Delena as Jay), then she's getting it cut. After having 3 boys, I was so excited to have a little girl so I could comb her hair and put it up in braids and little fountain heads and ribbons and such, but from the time she was tiny, she was having none of that. I never did get my little girl hair fix and now I'm too old to care. Like me, she's now more apt to swoop it up into a pony or a bun rather than spend any time curling and blow drying and crimping. I did an updo for her when she had a formal dance last May and it came out really well. That and having her hair done for Joe and Sandra's wedding was pretty much the pinnacle of her styling days. Nothing else is much going on, so I believe I am going to pull up a sofa and catch some zzz's before heading into today. I hope you all have a positively stellar week! Love Always,
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