Thursday, June 7, 2012

Serendipity Again

Wow. I seem wholly incapable of writing an essay. No focus. None at all.


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I suppose this makes sense. Times of transition always scatter us a bit, don't you think? Just as the move has settled down, the kids are out of school. Life happens. 2012 is almost half finished. It will be Christmas before I know it, as all the Hobby Lobby Christmas decorations, which go up in July, will tell me.

Here's some of what I'm noticing this week as life blurs by me.

+People post actual porn on Pinterest. (And now Questioning my Intelligence will receive lots of hits from people googling porn...and boy, won't they be disappointed!) I'd seen edgy stuff on Pinterest before, borderline porn that made me roll my eyes and know for certain that men were pinning. George and I don't let our children stare over our shoulders as we surf that site. It definitely gets an R rating. But yesterday, I reported a picture for the first time ever, and it was so obviously porn that I didn't feel the least bit prim doing so.

Considering how many tens of thousands (okay, okay, hundreds of thousands) of photos I've viewed on Pinterest, I have to congratulate their team for image management. One out of that many is a pretty fabulous record given the, uh, free-for-all that is the Internet.


+Isn't it just awful when someone does something mean to you in a dream and you wake up ready to plot revenge?

+I might not believe in karma, but karma believes in me. When I was a child, my grandfather took me shoe shopping...precisely one time. After that incredibly painful experience at Kmart, Papa told my mother he would pay for my shoes but never, ever, under any circumstances, take me shoe shopping again. Fast forward 35 years or so, and I find myself at Shoe Dept. with my firstborn son, who spends precisely ninety minutes choosing one pair of shoes. That's ninety minutes of my life I will never get back.

Papa, I'm sorry.

+While we were at Shoe Dept., Jack wandered a bit...easy to do in the aisles of a shoe store and not alarming because Jack was making so much noise I always knew where he was. At one point, he found me again and loudly said, "Mom, I'm just a kid. You need to keep better track of me!" A very attractive, well-dressed lady near us snorted like a dude. If she'd been drinking, she'd have shot Diet Coke through her nose.

+Why are flattening irons for hair so expensive? Seriously, you can pick up a curling iron for $9.99, but a flat iron costs $100? My hair looked good when I left the salon yesterday, but it won't look that good again for a long time.

+I'd rather spend my money on stamps than on my hair. Which is why so many people ask, "Are you going to color your hair?" And I say, "No."

+Still, I'm developing a complex about my gray hair. Darn that Tina Fey. She looks so good with color from a bottle. My friend Mary clearly thinks I'm insane for not coloring my hair, and I catch other friends--who just as clearly color their hair--staring at my head with looks of pity.

+Then, I remember a conversation with Nick's fourth-grade math teacher, who told me she admired my courage in going gray. See, I'm not old, I'm courageously making a statement about artificial hair color and embracing middle age with grace and style.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing.


+I just snorted coffee on my laptop screen.

+Let's see how many google searches we can mess up. Cougar. Lactating Mothers. XXX. Gas prices. Winnebago. Queen Elizabeth. Jubilee. Terrorism. Celebrity photos. Labradoodles. Cheese. Lasik. Money laundering. Barack Obama. Mitt. Inflatable dolls. Pixie Sticks.

+ADD can be fun!
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15 comments:

  1. I'm snorting diet coke at my screen as we speak. Thanks for the morning giggle! I go back and forth on the hair-colour issue. There's no prize or morality in going grey (that's my current stand, because I have highlights for the summer(not to cover grey, nope)), but I felt very proud of myself for my lack of vanity during the previous 4 years when I did not colour my hair. So I can go both ways!! The important thing is that you do what feels right for you!

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  2. I {heart} this post! Not only will I not cover grey, I don't buy clothes (ok, well some are a necessity - I'm not running around ), or shoes, or makeup, or purses, etc... but my stamp collection ROCKS! :D Now if I could only stamp CAS as awesomely as you, I'd be set!

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  3. Bahaaa - my rated x google magnets got removed from my comment....sorry, was just trying to help ;)

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  4. Thanks for my morning giggle :)

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  5. - Unless you have crazy curls that you have to heat into submission every day, a $15 flat iron from Target will do the trick.

    - All-over gray hair is far more aesthetically appealing than a dye-job with gray roots. That line is so hard to avoid when you have dark hair. Don't get sucked into that trap.

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  6. This made my HOW IN THE WORLD DID IT GET TO THE AFTERNOON ALREADY?

    Afternoon.

    I color my hair. It is my one expense. Don't have my nails done. Waste of time and money when I have to keep them really short for patient care and have the habit of doing yard work with no gloves.

    I have a 15 year old wardrobe. And, yes, I do still wear that sweater, thanks for asking.

    My stamp collection is "ok". I'm working on rebuilding my art supplies for painting and drawing. Yeah. I would rather spend money on art supplies than my nails or clothes. My hair, obviously another story, LOL!!

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  7. You had me in stitches. Thanks for a great post. And don't start on the hair coloring. Once you start you won't be able to stop.

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  8. SQUIRREL!
    Free-for-all...that's a pretty diplomatic way to put it ;) I always refer to YouTube as the cesspool of the internet. And don't get me started on their comments...I've had to explain to Riley many an offensive term thanks to them, and he's now learned to not read them. Thankfully.

    My recent experiences with a 13 year old have also brought karma around to our house. I'm sorry, mom.

    Way to go, Jack :) You brought delight to that woman's day, and I bet she told a few friends and made them giggle too, all while just being funny and not actually looking neglected. Score!

    My husband is a strange duck. He cheerfully paid $120 for me to go have blonde and pink streaks in my hair a few months ago, but try to spend $50 on stamps and holy moly, what am I wasting money on? Not sure how these things are supposed to make sense, but I've started to take advantage of it & gone all girly with hair & skin products.
    Have a wonderful weekend with your nice carpet - wait, what? :)

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  9. Well, I snorted a few times while reading this post, Susan! You totally cracked me up... again and again!

    I personally think dark hair gone grey is beautiful. It is a pity to cover up the beautiful greys with dye. From the photos I've seen of you, you don't need to dye, your hair is beautiful.

    I spent about 90 minutes choosing a pair of jeans with my 10 year old daughter recently. We walked out with a pair, thank goodness. Last year, we walked out after not finding a single pair that she would wear, argh!

    I don't get the cost of straighteners. The ones that you're "supposed" to want are about $250 here (in Australia). Who spends $250 on these things??? Stamps.... that's another matter. :-)

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  10. I love your random posts; err, serendipity. I appreciate a good giggle in the morning.

    My karma with my mother was hair. She regularly smacked me with the hairbrush as she tackled my naturally curly (frizzy) hair. My daughter only got tapped a couple times; she was smarter than me.

    I have six brothers and sisters. I'm the oldest. The youngest and I both color our hair. The rest are much braver; and let the gray shine. Although the fourth in line has recently started shaving his head. Not because of the gray; but the lack of hair.

    I'm with Starla, coloring my hair is my one vanity. I do wear a little makeup; and I get pedicures occasionally during the summer.

    My hair is not gray, it's white! The curse of the redhead; we don't usually gray. I wear it long and let the curls be natural. If it were white; I'd look like an old hag. At 55; I'm not quite ready to be old.

    I keep telling my husband that when we retire; I'll save the haircolor money and finally let it go. I used to do it myself; then had an unfortunate streak of poor color and mismatches. So I started having my hair dresser do it. I'm very fortunate; I've been going to the same hairdresser for close to 25 years. She only charges me $65 to color my hair.

    I would much rather spend that money on stamping. But like One Crafty Mama; my husband wouldn't get the correlation....LOL

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  11. I figure I save $70 a haircut by not coloring my hair-besides I'm not responsible for all those chemicals going into the water supply. I'm not old-I'm economical and green!

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  12. i really enjoy both of your blogs, pinterest is getting risque, i'm glad you had the courage to report something. i got upset about something i saw the other day, but i didn't report it, wish i would have. pinterest started out so nice & classy, of course all the wierdos would have to show up.

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  13. Love this post but then I love all your posts.
    I've reported stuff on pinterest too, because it's a great site and I would hate for it to be over run with porn.
    As for gray hair. I do not color my hair. I've recently joined a dating site and well some very young men have emailed me and yes you can tell I have gray hair. So be pround of the gray because that is who you are. My former brother in law (the a**) was shocked and made rude comments because I didn't cover my gray. Do what makes you happy when it comes to your hair girl!

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  14. You are not alone in the gray hair world. I've been gray since my early 30's. With as fast as my hair grows, I'd be coloring it at least once a month...can all that dye really be healthy? After all, aren't pregnant women advised not to dye their hair while with child? And, besides, I much rather keep my stamps and other card making misc well stocked with that $$$. I've recently convinced a friend to stop dyeing her hair so that she can have more $$ for stamp supplies. Go Gray!

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  15. Susan wrote:
    +Isn't it just awful when someone does something mean to you in a dream and you wake up ready to plot revenge?


    Yes! My poor husband gets very confused some mornings at how badly I'm treating him, until I remember that the incident I'm angry with him about was just a dream!

    Even worse are those dreams where somebody you love dies. I really hate those.

    I follow your Simplicity blog, but I think I'm going to have to pop over here regularly too! You have a wonderful writing style, and your dry humour really makes me laugh.

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Thanks so much for taking time to comment!