Don't even be jealous

To start off with may I just say a huge THANKS (it's in all caps, so it's like I'm shouting in your face right now) for all the support I've gotten from so many people and so many sweet comments e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages, et cetera, et cetera. If you are my friend or my family, you are wonderful. And sweet. And delightful. And hilarious. And just all around terrific (pronounced ter-riffic, not tee-riffic. Unfortunately for me, the kiddos are going through this Barney-loving stage, and I swear if I'm going to have to listen to Barney one more time talk about how something is super-de-duper or tee-riffic, I'm gonna lose it. Or not. He has taught my kids to give me "a great big hug" and "a kiss from me to you"....so perhaps it balances out.)

Anywayyyyyyy.......sorry I don't always (or ever, really) comment or write back, but I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to my wonderful friends and family for your sweetness. You rock.

So down to the heart-to-heart. For the past couple of years I've been secretly jealous of all of my friends (and hubby) in school. I've even, may I say, dabbled at the idea of going back. Think about it: You go to these classes, learn things, do homework and learn more things.. and you maybe even make a few friends along the way. Also you can improve your skills.

(Like, what are my skills?
Well, you have a sweet bike. And you're really good at hooking up with chicks. Plus you're, like, the only guy at school who has a mustache.)

BUT GUESS WHAT? As of late my table more often than not looks like this:

I know what you're thinking. Jealousy. It's just like I have gone back to school! Textbooks and everything. And, yes, I am excited. And, yes, I've probably talked the ear off of at least 121 of my friends, family members, acquaintances, the hubs, about everything that I'm learning about autism, various treatments, therapies, intervention techniques. The works. Probably bored three-quarters (more like five-sixths?) of you to death with all of this info. Don't fret. You're not alone. There are others out there in your same boat silently thinking - nay, praying - that I would just zip it about all these new terms and acronyms and super exciting bits of knowledge that I now know. But I'll tell you, it feels empowering to be able to learn so much about my daughter and about other people on the spectrum, to be able to see and understand how everyone is so different and how people with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) think and understand things.

Lastly, I must say that I've recently picked up reading. Not reading transcripts. Reading for fun! Because reading is fun! And, no, this is not a sad attempt to try to promote the BOOK IT! program. It's not. But sweet black licorice, you can see how that's a good reward incentive though for those lucky kids because, let's face it, Pizza Hut personal pan pizza sure is tasty. Random tangent again? True as toast.

Anyway.. if any of my dearest friends love or like to read and need something new, the two latest ASD novels I've read are:
A Child's Journey out of Autism by Leeann Whiffen. It's about a mom's son who was diagnosed and their journey through an intense intervention program. Pretty good, and a book I could really relate with.
and
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Warning though: The novel by Haddon has a quite a bit of swearing in it. But I found it super interesting. It's written by an autistic man in the first person and how he views the world. I can't believe how different his views and thoughts are from mine.

So that's probably enough rambling for tonight. I could leave you with a hilarious quote about something or something else, but, frankly, I'm tired, so that won't be happening. Instead I'll laugh to myself about the funny post I saw on Pinterest "Thoreal." I'm still laughing about it. Thanks for reading.

A Little Drastic?

Perhaps. This will be a short post. (Umm just kidding. I just finished it, and I totally lied. It's not short. Medium to long. Depending on how fast you read.) It's about my relationship with my hair. 74 percent of the people I know will not even care what I have to say here. Feel free to skip to the bottom and just look at the pictures. I will not be offended and/or even know about it. For the rest of my guilt-ridden friends who feel because I've written something, it surely must be worth reading, read on. Too long of an introduction, I know.

So my view on hair is it's just that.. hair. Can be used as a fun accessory I suppose, but why anyone would pay lots of tens of dollars or hundreds of dollars for a haircut is beyond me. Here's the thing: I find that I tend to get bored with my hair about every three months or so and like to change it up a bit. It's usually a spur of the moment thing. Fine and dandy, unless a bit of crazy hits (like it does every once in a while) and I do something drastic.

Scenario: I had been growing my hair out for two years. TWO YEARS, people. That is a l-o-n-g time. My hair was super long, and I was rockin' it. If by rockin' it you mean throwing it back into a ponytail or a braid six days a week, then, yes, I was rockin' it. Don't be jealous.

Typical day.

I was running into a dilemma. Problemo 1. I was (and am) a busy working mom of two kiddos. Oftentimes I find myself doing the single mom thing with a hubby working a lot out of town. That does not leave me oodles and oodles of time for doing my hair. Well, except for Sunday, because I don't have church until 1:00, but, well, I'd rather eat waffles and gear up on energy due to the fact that church is not until 1:00 and I end up outnumbered with super duper cranky kids and trying to wrastle them into staying reverent. (You know how some people pronounce words differently? It's really hard to convey that typing a blog post, so instead I've decided I will intentionally misspell words on occasion in an attempt to have stories read in a more exciting manner.)

Anywho... Problemo 2. I am currently training for a triathlon and have been trying for weeks to figure out what I'm supposed to do with my hair during said event. Here's the thing. I swim, take my cap off and then my hair looks incredibly awesome all tangled up and matted and I really should do something so it stays off my face for the biking and running portion but do I pack a brush, stop and redo my hair? Not likely. Or do I just leave it all matted and half falling out and just hope I'm speedy enough to outlast the falling all over the place slash in my face situation? Another unlikely scenario. I'm not too speedy.

The solution: Chop it all off. Thought about it for about a whole 12 hours or so. Then I just did it. Walked into the salon and said chop all my hair off. And she did. Oh, and I colored it too since the chlorine or sun or something was bleaching my hair all weird and looking like I gave my four-year-old the bleach and said, here, just take my hair and do whatever YOU think will look great! Fun huh?

Before and after. Fine. Warning to all my picture-y friends who love photography and have nice cameras and Photoshop programs and your pictures look all professional and like they're out of a magazine. This is not that kind of blog. I took my point-and-shoot camera and I pointed and shooted (shot, I know, I know). They are not great photos but, hey, at least you get a photo. I could just describe in nauseatingly vivid detail the before and after, but this will probably be more enjoyable. (For you, not me.)

Without further ado:

Don't laugh. It's awkward taking photos of yourself. Seriously. Fine, laugh if you want.


And this is what I look like now. Or what I looked like ten minutes ago, maybe 15.



Wait for it...........


















Wait for it.......................
















Wait for it......................... (and I surely hope you're saying this in the voice of Shawn Spencer from Psych, although I'm sure none of you are since I think only 2.4 percent of my friends love that show like me. But go back and read it in his voice. You'll thank me later.)..............

"How to I look?"
"Slightly stunned."
(name that movie)

So too drastic? Perhaps. Lame to have a post all about me and my hair? Definitely. Thanks for reading.