The long and short of it....

I was around 6 when I got my first pixie cut.

And it hasn't been much longer ever since.  If there is a variation of a pixie cut, I have had it.  Just the other day, I paid my amazing hairdresser, Amy, a visit like I do every 5 or six weeks and she gave me this sassy little number.

I am in love. It makes me feel less like a yoga pants wearing mom and more like an edgy, stylish super star.  Gotta love a style that can give you that feeling.  Wanna be the sexist feeling mom at story-hour?  Go get yer hair did.

Over the last 25+  years, my short hair has become a part of me, kind of my trademark.  I am very secure in my own identity, and always have been. I am confident in my womanhood and always have been - even at six I was proud to be a girl and I never let it get to me when the other kids made comments about my hairstyle or when other (not very observant) adults would mention how "handsome" my parents' "three sons" were.  I liked my hair.  I loved my hair.  My hair suited - and still suits - me.

When I saw this little girl on Good Morning America one morning, I couldn't shake her and her amazing mommy from my mind.

Jackie Morgan MacDougall had recently written a very moving blog post (click here to read it) about her six year old daughter, Lucy, who had long beautiful hair down her back, and she asked her mom if she could chop it all off for a spikey "fauxhawk" style 'do. Jackie made Lucy wait awhile so that she was sure that she really wanted to make such a drastic change and while it grew long enough for a Locks of love donation - and seeming so that she could do some soul searching for herself.  She didn't want her daughter to be made fun of, to be mistaken for a boy, for people to question what type of a mother she is for letting her baby girl get "a boy's haircut."  

Jackie realized that she was letting her own appearance issues cloud her parenting decisions.  Here she was, raising a daughter, telling Lucy everyday that she was loved and that it didn't matter what others thought of her if she loved herself - and here she was, in the next breath, telling her that she couldn't get her hair cut a certain way because Jackie herself was worried about what other people would think. To quote her blog, Jackie so eloquently puts it like this: "Yes, kids might tease her… you know it happens. But the only thing worse than that is teaching her that she should make choices in life solely based on how other people (not even people she cares about) might perceive them."

How powerful is THAT revelation?!

So you know what? Lucy got her hair cut.  SHORT.  And I don't know about you, but I think she is ROCKING it.  The little pixie-cut-clad-six-year-old-Allison inside of my is high-fiving little Lucy for being so amazing.

At at the same time, the 31-year-old-mom-of-two-long-haired-beauties-Allison is saying, "Well?! What would I do if Hayden or Carly asked for a mega short cut?!?!"

Because the truth is this: like Jackie, I am living vicariously through my girls and their long, gorgeous locks. I never had them myself, and I love braiding and french braiding and trying new things. (Which, prior to Hayden, I had no clue how to do.  Thank goodness for Pinterest and YouTube.) And, like Lucy, I prefer my own hair short - even at age 6 - and I don't really care if anyone else likes it.  I have faced those bullies who have nothing better to do than bother me about my hair.  I have been called a "he" by adults. And I LIVED. No only did I live, but I thrived - because I was taught that what is IN your head, and more importantly what is in your heart, is much more important than what is ON your head.

I like to think that my answer would reflect that truth, and I hope that it would help my daughter grow into a confident, self-aware, beautiful (inside and out) young woman. And if that meant parting with some hair, so be it.  It's just hair. Hair grows back.

Unless you are like me and you get a thrill from the sound of the clippers. LOL

Spider Girl

My poor little Hoot can't seem to catch a break these days.

As I blogged yesterday, she is finally getting over a bad case of Hand Foot and Mouth that has plagued her for more than a week now.  Thank goodness. It was a long week.

On Sunday, I noticed what looked like a big mosquito bite on her right arm. We live in the land of the mega-sized mosquito, so I didn't think too much of it. That is until Monday morning when my husband said, "Yeah, you should probably take a look at that.....  I don't think it's a mosquito bite."

Her poor arm was so swollen and hot to the touch.  She claimed it didn't hurt, but I honestly don't know how it couldn't have been hurting. Looking at it hurt me.

I was just going to keep an eye on it, but a friend put a little bug in my ear that I should probably have it looked at ASAP just in case it was infected.  Better safe than sorry. She wasn't trying to scare me, but a little girl she knew had just had the same thing happen and she needed antibiotics.

At first I thought it as no biggie, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that she was right. (Thanks, Mandy!! <3)

At about 1:15, I called our pediatrician's office to ask if they thought that I should bring her in.  I had just put Hoot down for a nap and Bug was fiddling around in my bed, fighting taking a nap herself.  They called me back and said that they thought that I should come in at 3:45.

Now, this may seem like no big deal to you, and despite the fact that our doctor's office is an hour and twenty minutes away, it really seemed like not big deal to me either. I agreed to come in and called my husband.

"Okay," he said, "but the trailer is still on the Suburban."

Ugh.

He had left the huge flatbed trailer attached to my car and heck if I know how to detach it and I sure as hell have no clue how to drive with a trailer.

So I did what any wife would do in my situation and I yelled at my husband.  LOL  He works 30 minutes away and was just headed into an appointment, but I told him to figure it out.

Soon, my dad came and saved me.  Thank goodness for him - but I probably don't want to know what was said about me in the conversation between my husband and my dad about what a baby I am in regards to the trailer and how I yelled at my husband. LOL

Any way, I woke Hayden up (she cried when she found out what I was waking her up for) and combed their hair and got everyone pottied and changed and gathered up all of the random crap we apparently need to travel (blankets, babies, Innotabs, books, diapers, extra clothes, kitchen sinks, etc) and we loaded up in the car.

It was promptly noticed by my kids that their stupid Innotabs needed batteries(if you don't know what that is, click here - we love them - but they eat batteries like nothing else) and by me that we needed gas.

We pulled up at the Maverik, where it was promptly realized by me that I had forgotten my debit card, credit card, and all other forms of payment and ID at home.

Sooooo, back home to retrieve them we went.
I ran in and grabbed my stuff.
Annnndddd then back to the gas station we went.

All the while my kids are crying and whining because a)the stupid Innotabs didn't miraculously begin to work again (imagine that), b)they think that we are not going to the Maverik anymore to get gas/snacks/batteries and we are just going home (not true), c)the little one never had a nap and the big one got woken up from hers, and d)they are fighting because one is looking at the other or touching the other's blanket or saying something that pisses the other off (isn't that supposed to come later in their lives?) or any number of other ridiculous things.

We hadn't even made it out of town and I was already late and ready to drive my car off of a cliff.

So we filled up the gas tank, and went inside the Maverik. In a gas station spending frenzy, we picked out snacks, drinks, and batteries.

Finally we can hit the road.

I am balancing three drinks and the bag of snacks and trying to lead two small children out the door and to the car when (of course) Hayden (loudly) announces that she has to poop.

We are so late right now.

But I am not willing to deal with a 3 year old with poopy pants on the way there.  Or ever.  So I herd everyone into the Maverik bathroom, all the while balancing three drinks and all the snacks.

The kids file into the large bathroom stall and I follow them in. I immediately shriek and shove them back out when we discover that something totally disturbing and gag worthy has occured all over the seat of the toilet and the floor.  I have little kids and have seen a lot of gross things happen in a bathroom - but whatever had happened in here was beyond words.We squeezed into the small stall, drinks and snacks and all. It was by no means spotless (and at this time is VERY crowded) but it was exponentially cleaner than the other one.  I will nevert be the same after seeing the other one.  Shudder.

But I digress.

At this point, I was still balancing all of the drinks and snacks and trying not to let Carly touch anything and trying assist Hayden with her pooping process - all in the world's smallest bathroom. And Hayden was taking forever.

My patience is already waning.  Well, actually, my patience is already drained.

After all of that, we shuffle out to the car at a snail's pace (why do kids walk so. damn. slow.??) and we load up and we can FINALLY hit the road.

Oh, wait - the stupid Innotabs.  Kids crying.  Needing batteries. Holy crap.  Shoot me.  I stop AGAIN, replace the batteries so that the whining will stop, and NOW we can FINALLY hit the road.

Holy hell.  All of that drama was exhausting.

And we are supposed to be at the doctor's office in an hour.  To bad it takes an hour and twenty minutes to get there.

Ugh.

And of course, the adventure didn't stop there.

Even though the weather had been pretty windy at home, it had been dry.  That was not the case by the time we got halfway to Carson - it was like a torrential downpour. We live in the desert for Pete's sake! We don't have rain like that!!  Pilot cars were leading drivers around water in the roadways, flash flood warnings were issued, the rain fell so hard and fast and the wind blew my car all over the road. It was like  whitewater rafting in a Chevy Suburban.

All of this for a spider bite.

When we finally made it to the doctor's office, they were kind and understanding about our lateness and ushered us right back into an exam room and took a look at Hayden's arm.  Dr. R. confessed that the reason that she wanted us to come in was because she was concerned that it would need to be cut and drained.  Thankfully that wasn't the case - I'm not sure that I could have handled that.  Thankfully, all it needed was a prescription for antibiotics and for us to keep an eye on it.  She drew a black circle around it with a Sharpie and told us that if it gets any bigger or looks any different, to call her back.

So we loaded up in the car again  for our long ride home. Carly screamed for 45 minutes before she finally fell asleep.  Hayden whined the entire way because she wanted to stop at Target.  It continued to rain like crazy.  And I continued to lose my mind.

Thankfully, when we got home, my husband was waiting there with pizza and wine and my kids were appeased for 30 minutes with Play-Doh so that I could decompress.

How something so simple became such a drama I don't know, but I do know this:

This is one brave, strong, adorable little kid.

And that is one huge spider bite.

Later in the evening, she looked at me and said, "Hey Mom! Isn't this how Spiderman getted to be a super hero?!"

Yes, my love, it is.

LOL

She is totally worth taking a wild trip to the doctor's office.  What a girl.

As promised, more on my latest foray into Felt Food Land....

So we all know that when I get started on something, that I have a tendency to become a bit obsessed.  

I am not afraid to own my obsessive nature. It is part of who I am, Why fight it?

Well, after the yard sales were said and done, I had a little bit of pocket money.  Well, actually my girls had a little bit of pocket money, as it was their clothes and toys that I sold.  

So we were talking about things we could do with their yard sale proceeds and the idea of a play grocery store came up.  

I fell in love with the idea.

They have been playing house like crazy lately, using their little kitchen and their dollies - I couldn't get over how fun it would be if they had a little store to shop in, too!!

Annnnndddd, lucky for us, my girls just happen to have this little space between their bedrooms.  

 

It is kind of a little pass-through between the two bedrooms, and as you can see, it currently houses a whole herd of Littlest Pet Shop toys we had handed down to us.  Wouldn't this little hidey-hole make a great little market/bakery/shop?  

So I started researching things to stock the shelves. I have been coveting those little wooden foods for who knows how long, and while I found that some were sort of affordable and all were absolutley adorable, I also found that there is no way on Earth that I could afford to stock an entire grocery store with wooden food.  

So I had to regroup a little bit.

Then I remembered the Felt Food Frenzy of 2010 ... That was fun and easy - and best of all CHEAP.  And my girls still play with that stuff every day.  

So after some time on Pinterest, I got to work.

I have been sewing veggies like a mad woman ever since.

These are pictures from my phone, which for some reason has a little black dot on the corner.  I am too lazy to get my big camera out today, so this is what I have. LOL Sorry.  Maybe another day. You get the idea.

 

And I have started some fruit.  

 

All I have in that department is lemons, and apples and oranges are all cut out and stitching them up is on my Nap-time TO-DO list today.  

It is like a felt farmer's market!! 

I have big visions of a fully stocked produce area (I'd say that I'm well on my way), a bakery, and a meat department.  I have my work cut out for me. :-)

I also ordered a few things from Amazon (including a wooden cash register and scale!!! LOVE!!!) and bought some stuff at Michael's, and we are on the hunt for baskets and other accessories to make that little room go from Pet Shop junk room to Hayden and Carly Mart!!  

I will keep you updated.  And if you are thinking about joining me in the revival of my felt food obsession or making a grocery store of your own, here are my Pinterest boards to get you started with a little inspiration!!

FELT FOOD FRENZY

Play Grocery Store Inspiration

Stay tuned for our progress!! :-)

Three weeks

That's how long it has been since my last post.

Am I the only one who feels like a family can "have nothing interesting going on" while being extremely busy at the same time?

A recap of the last three weeks:

-My garden froze. In another Case of the Curious Weather of Northern Nevada, my beautiful garden FROZE on the 21st of May. Even being covered wasn't enough to save it from the freak happening 27 degree night.  I was so sad.  I cried a little, pouted all day long and had some drinks at the nursery (We have an amazing nursery that serves drinks sometimes.  Does it get better than that?) and commiserated with other  gardeners who had suffered the same fate. I ended up having to replace all of my tomatoes  - all 15 of them. Ugh. I think we are back on track now.

Thank goodness.

-We have had two yard sales.  Yeah, TWO.  My parents recently moved from a 300 acre ranch with three houses to a one acre lot in a subdivision and one house - so they needed 300 times less crap.  So we had a yard sale at their house one weekend and one at their storage shed the next.  I helped out and also took the opportunity to unload some of the stuff we had laying around here.  While it feels good to be free of our crap, my dad and I have been joking that the prospect of having another yard sale is enough to deter us from ever buying another thing ever again.  We certainly got an education in the Wonderful Weird World of Yard Sale-ing - let's just say that we are not cut out for it.

The kids suffered right along with us.  Poor things.

For Yard Sale #2, my husband was conveniently out of town....  I now see just how convenient that was. LOL I had to make sure that no Yard Sale Weirdies (believe me - they were like 99% weirdies) took my kids or ran them over with their cars AND do yard sale deals - while he drank beer in Arizona with his friends.... I love my husband to pieces, but for this he should be flogged.

-Hayden has had Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  AGAIN.  She ran a fever all weekend (during Yard Sale #2) and had a little runny nose, but I figured that she was fighting off a cold.  Eventually, I figured out that I was wrong.  I noticed that after the fever subsided, her symptoms were a lot like she had had in the Fall - the first time that HFMD struck this family.  That time was mild, and I you can do is wait, so I didn't freak out.  But this time was WAY worse.  Her gums were swollen up over her teeth and bleeding; her tongue, throat and teeth were covered in blisters.  She cried all day for a week.  Awful.

Also, lemme tell you something - if you don't brush your three-year-old's teeth for almost week because she is in such pain, her teeth will be SOOOOOO dirty.  And her breath will smell so bad.  I couldn't take it anymore and I tried to gently clean them.  Even gentle cleaning made them bleed like I had punched her in the mouth. I have never seen so much blood come from a mouth unless it had been punched.  I barely touched her. I felt awful. We both cried.

But oddly, after the blood stopped flowing and we stopped crying, her mouth looked and felt better.  I am hoping that we are now on the down hill side of this.  She has been eating and drinking yesterday and today without crying and the complaining has been minimal. My fingers are crossed that it is almost over and that we never have to deal with that again.

-We made a list of 100 Things to do With Our Summer.

 This weekend, we were able to complete several items - and we can't wait to complete the rest!!

-I have re-started the good old Felt Food Factory. Remember this?  Well, I am revisiting my felt food making days.  I will make a separate blog post on this shortly.  Let's just say that my craftiness has been EPIC lately. LOL

-We spent our weekend like this:

And we loved every second of it.