Day 73. Yuck.

Isn't he disgusting?  I know he's one of God's creatures and all, but if these guys get inside my house, they are fair game to be destroyed.  However, if they're outside, I leave them alone.  And this guy was minding his own business, climbing on the outside of the back porch.  I needed a subject for Day 73... so here he is!

Day 72. Baseball.

I've brought some teasing upon myself this week, in the fact that I've openly admitted that baseball season is just not really "my thing."  I mean, most folks who know me well are already aware of this shameful truth.  However, posting it on my Facebook status brings about a bit of controversy.  :)  I will confirm it here as well, that I am not ANTI-baseball.  And I'm certainly NOT, heaven forbid, ANTI-CARDINALS!  I'm just bored by the sport, in general.  I know, I KNOW!  How can a girl grow up in St. Louis, and not live, eat, and breathe Cardinals baseball?  Well, I will tell you... It's very simple, really.  I grew up in a family who could NOT have cared less.  I've already explained the passions of my the males I grew up with in a previous post:  Childhood Memories.  You may note that baseball was never mentioned once!  Baseball was never on our television.  Cardinals t-shirts were not owned, let alone worn.  It wasn't taught that there was a problem with it... it was non-existent, really! 

My surroundings completely changed when I married my wonderful husband, who passionately adores Cardinals baseball.  He's fine with the fact that I don't get into it.  We are secure enough in our marriage to not have to SHARE every interest one of us may have individually.  And it's a good thing, too, because we certainly do have different interests (don't worry, we agree on the things that matter!).  But to make matters more complicated, I gave birth to three sons, and like their father, they enjoy a good baseball game.  I can't win for losing.  I will, however, play along.  After all, who can turn down a good ol' fashion trip to Busch Stadium?  The sea of red brings about a bit of excitement for me.  My favorite color IS red.  The field of green is a sight to behold, and nothing matches the peanuts and cotton candy you buy at a ballgame (also a good thing, because you will pay a fortune for the experience).  I did not hesitate when my oldest child asked me to decorate his room in a Cardinals theme, and I very much enjoy the sight of my little ones all decked out on the day of the home opener.  :)

It's all really just another reminder of the irony that is my life....  This is a pretty good picture of what it's like to be me... a spot of pink, in a land full of testosterone.  I assure you, I wouldn't have it any other way!  :)

Day 71. My Ever Changing Hair!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I get bored WAY too easily.  I change things often.  I will spontaneously change the paint color of a room just as easily as I change the color of my hair.  This particular post is about the latter, because I'm currently BORED with my hair, so change is abrewin'!  :)

I've compiled a "few" pics from over the years.  If you're still bored enough to be reading this post (and it takes a "special" kind of person to truly care about reading about my hair style... and, by the way, I LOVE a good hairstyle conversation!), then rest assured that I've spared you my lifetime of "do"s and I've only scanned through the last five years.

This pic is actually of me with my sisters and my mom.  It was taken about five years ago.  We've got some strawberry blonde going on, with a few golden highlights.

Shortly thereafter, I decided to add in some layers.  I don't know what's up with the joker lipstick smile, but someone should have told me to do something about it, for real.

Here, we've let the layers grow out again.  This is about as long as it EVER gets.  (My kids took most of these candid shots.  Can you tell???  Haha!)

The problem with my hair when it's long, is that it commonly looks more like this than actually "fixed" and presentable.

So, I will usually convince myself that in order to "spice" it up a little, I should go short again... as I did here.  And apparently, I went darker at this point as well.

It got about this long, when I did the next do:

Lesson to learn:  If you really do NOT like change, do NOT change stylists!  And NEVER, EVER tell them to "do what you want."  I don't know when I'll learn this lesson, but I've gotten more bad haircuts this way than I can count!  Ugh.  Looking back, I guess this wasn't so horrible.  But I HATED it at the time.  I didn't want it this short... but it grew!

At this point, I was letting it grow out... not only in length, but also to its natural color.  Honestly, I hadn't seen it in YEARS, so I was curious.  Well, this was it... the real deal, God-given color... while it lasted.

Here we are, still growing out, with some layers stacked in the back.  I may have added some highlights at this time, but I'm pretty sure the base is still natural.

Let's do a bit of red to match the fall weather, shall we?

How 'bout some curls?  This was just an experiment.  I hadn't curled my hair since... oh, probably highschool.  :)  I think we'll keep it that way.  Shirley Temple isn't really in right now.  :/

Are you bored yet???  Haha!  Red never lasts long.  It's hard to maintain, and it fades so easily.  So, we'll try dark again!

As is my trend, as soon as I get any length on it at all, I tell my current stylist, "Be creative!  Do something new!  I trust you!" ...and this is what I get.  Can you see the crown of my head?  That hair was probably about an inch long on the top of my head.  Oh dear.  (Incidentally, this was the last time I went to that stylist.  It wasn't her fault.  But I needed to move on.)

Once again, it grew... a little.  And the color faded... a lot. 

I started seeing a friend of mine, and she does a wonderful job!  She listens to my requests and actually DOES as I ask. 

We're nearing the end.  I know you're thankful.  This was just last summer.  I decided that a Kate Gosselin look might be cute.  My sister warned me not to do it.  She said it was one of the ugliest haircuts she'd ever seen.  Well, I didn't listen.  This is what I lived with.  I actually liked it for awhile... not long enough to let it stay, though!!!

Don't worry, we're nearing the end, folks!

This was at Halloween.  We cut the top to match the rest... and I'm still trying to get the brown to stop fading back into red.  So, I keep going darker and darker!  I think this is a level 3! (for those of you who have any idea what I'm talking about!  :)  My stylist-friend taught me some color tricks that are working beautifully!

And this is the last time I got it cut... January 2010. I haven't had it cut since. Here, I've gone shorter and spikier again. Lots of texture and lengths.

This was taken just today.  I've trimmed my own bangs and sides just a bit, because I don't want to have it cut until I know for certain what I'm doing.  Should I stay short?  Should I let it grow?  Oh, what to do.

Yes, it's silly, I know.  But it's entertaining for me.  And fortunately, I'm not married to a man who could care less how my hair looks.  He gets a kick out of my changes, and has been known to say things like, "Yeah, I never know WHO I may come home to in the afternoon."  I think he finds it an endearing part of my personality, as opposed to a flaw.  Lucky for me!  Then again, maybe he's just thankful that my boredom gets taken out on my hair, because I certainly have no desire to get rid of my hubby!  :)  He's stuck with me!... funky hair, and all!!!

Day 70. Weekend Breakfast

For years, on Sunday mornings, I've served my kids cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Since our recent food changes, I have not bought this canned product to serve to my kiddos, and tried to replace it with something new.  One week, I tried English muffins with several choices of toppings.  They didn't like any of them.  Another morning, I tried waffles, which they enjoyed, but nothing has come close to the cinnamon goodness they were accustomed to!  I think I finally found a winner.  The point is, it has to be something quick and easy, but different than what they'd eat through the week.  This is a modified version of "monkey bread," since I don't have a bundt pan.  These are canned biscuits from Trader Joe's, but they have whole ingredients instead of preservatives and hydrogenated oils.  Never mind the fact that they're 10 grams of fat per biscuit!  At least it's natural, and their bodies know how to process it.  After all, it's a "treat" once a week, so I think we can make allowance for it!

Day 69. Bed Time.

A few entries ago, I posted a photo of this same bed, with Superman hanging from his feet, off the side.  If you don't remember it, you can take a look here:  Superman Photo

Only a few nights later, I went into my youngest child's room to check on him before I went to bed myself.  He was sound asleep, with all of what you see above him.  What a goof.

Day 68. Happy!

I'm borrowing this picture today, from Easter Sunday... because I wanted to... because I LIKE it, and because NO ONE is going to stop me!  :)  Haha!

This is my "little" brother and his adorable wife.  They've been married for just over three years now.  I adore them.  They make me smile.  My brother is eight years younger than I.  Growing up, the age differences among my siblings and myself made quite a difference, but the gaps get slightly less noticeable as we all grow older.  I am the oldest of the five of us, and it's an interesting place to be in the birth order (not that I know any differently).

My husband and I were married young.  I had finished all of my "growing up junk" and quickly became the "old fuddy-duddy" by the time all of my siblings were going through their own teenage drama.  My baby brother turned 19 (not the one in this picture) this year.  For all practical purposes, we're all adults now.  :)  We have fun when we all get together.  We laugh and tell old stories about growing up together.  We talk about silly things we did, or fun memories of my grandma.  We talk about our kids and our dogs and our jobs... or the good things AND not-so-good things we inherited from either of our parents!  We enjoy one another.  We have our differences and certainly argue occasionally.... but there's no doubt in my mind that any of us would drop what we were doing if one of us needed anything.

As for the picture of this particular brother, I enjoy it because they are still so newly married and enjoying life as a couple "before kids."  They were also married young, and they're working through their "growing up together" moments, and I think they're doing a great job at it.  They have fun, and they laugh, and they fight, and they make up.  I have seen first hand, how they bring out the better in one another, and how they build one another up.  I love spending time with them, and my sweet sister-in-law has grown into our family, becoming "one of the girls" as much as the rest of us.  We tease her that she's my dad's favorite daugther.  :)  She just smiles sweetly and says nothing, because I think she just doesn't want us to believe that there's truth to it!  Whatever!  :)

Day 67. Back Porch View.

This is the view from my back porch (as stated in this entry's title)... if you look straight up into the sky, that is.  I love these two trees in the spring.  Once they both bloom, they stand on either side of my back porch and meet right in the middle.  It's like they're saying "Good Morning" to one another!  So pretty!