Trust me… I am a licenced professional. But not really. I just like to think I am.

Posted on April 5, 2009
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Irony Anyone?, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity | Leave a Comment

What is it about women that we believe we are all innately hairdressers disguised as lawyers, office workers, waitresses, and police women?

Standing in front of the home hair dye aisle at the store this weekend, I did the flip back and forth over blond or red, blond or red?

Blond. I decided because I am a hairdresser, rather adept at home dying, just that stupid.

So, home I go with a home bleaching kit, dye and toner.

4 hours later, my hair is an intriguing shade of banana yellow and tangerine orange. No amount of bleach or toner is ridding me of the reddish tones not to mention that the light colour washes me out completely anyway. So I do the walk of shame.

You know it, the mad dash from the car to the all night pharmacy with Coco the Clown hair tucked under a baseball cap because it is simply TOO embarrassing to be seen with banana hair and orange highlights (lowlights?)

I debate endlessly whether or not I want to bring the pharmacist in on my humiliation while I stand perusing the aisle once again. Now I don’t know if I choose the red colour I had originally contemplated, it will turn my hair red or pink, so I cave and ask the pharmacist. Who doesn’t know!

It’s not enough that I have to come clean to her; she goes and asks EVERYBODY ELSE in the store if they know what to do. Nobody does. So she looks it up online and comes back assuring me that as long as I go darker, it should be fine.

So I wind up buying the exact shade that I was looking at in the first place when I debated the red-blond issue.

I’m a red head. It looks OK but my hair feels like a horse’s mane for all the shit I put in it this weekend. Now I need a haircut really badly.

I wonder if I should go shoulder length or really short? Bet I could cut it myself….

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Things that make you…

Posted on October 3, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Irony Anyone?, Japan, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Things that give me inspiration | Leave a Comment

Cry

Smile

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The “C” word

Posted on August 15, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Irony Anyone?, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity | 3 Comments

Recently, we had a bit of a cancer scare at home. And by “a bit of” I mean full blown panic. A large portion of my family has been lost to cancer of one kind or another so I can be a bit paranoid at the slightest change in a mole or freckle much less the dreaded word tumour.

My father passed away from a melanoma on his cheek, a gruelling and terrible thing to witness, so when my husband had a bump in his nose checked out and the doctor as much as blurted “Cancer!” I went into full meltdown mode…

Upon recovery, we made plans to see a specialist and have the offending “bump” removed. It turned out to be a full blown surgery that had Brian in the hospital all day and rather groggy that night. Thankfully, the pressure that had preceded the operation has eased instantly, leaving him feeling a bit better.

From there, it was simply the waiting game. Wait for pathology to check it out, wait for another appointment with the specialist. Wait, wait, wait…

I hate waiting in the queue at the bank, this nearly did me in!

Finally, we managed an appointment after the results had come in. The verdict was…non-cancerous tumour.

There is, however a 30% - 40% chance of it growing back and there is no guarentee that it won’t be cancerous next time, so Brian is meant to go back to the doctor shortly for a post op exam and then every 3 - 6 months for follow-ups to make sure there is no re-growth.

It’s certainly not something I’d ever wanted to have to go through with my husband, and I think I uderstand a little more how my mother felt when my dad went in to have a “little bump” checked.

Somehow, knowing that there is always going to be the possibility of disaster is more real now. You don’t think about getting hit by a bus everyday of your life, but a near-miss will make you look both ways…twice.

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Procrastination,… I’ll tell you about it later

Posted on December 11, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Irony Anyone? | 8 Comments

Ok, so I’ll tell you about it now.

I’ve not written a post in some time as you may well have noticed. This was my attempt (obviously in vain) to leave my Japan post in the top spot as long as possible so as to attract some comments.

Though I did get one comment, my efforts in getting advice on Japan in my blog were, evidently, fruitless. I did however, get an email from a friend who has a friend who’s sister lives there… or something like that. LOL In any case, I have a contact in Japan now which I am very grateful for. (Thanks, Gillian!)

Speaking of travelling, I’ve just found out that I have a distant relation (we have an aunt in common) who is travelling around the world for a year and just happens to be in Australia at the moment. She also happens to be blogging the experience here.

Said aunt alerted me to this and I promptly read her blog - tres amusant - and offered a BBQ dinner if she made it to Western Australia during her time in Oz.  Perhaps I should have offered her a poutine?

Mmmmmmmmmmmm poutine *drool drool*
I realize those of you not from Quebec will be a little puzzled by that last comment and I will explain it….

…later. :)

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Rest assured it was only a rash

Posted on October 27, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Irony Anyone? | 1 Comment

An unlikely title, I know. Lately there has been a rash of birthdays, work events, school events and unfortunately as actual rash to deal with.

My BIL Garry, Connor and a family friend Claire all have their birthday one after the other making for a pretty busy week in terms of shopping for cards and presents, dinners, breakfasts, visits and phone calls.

Chloe graduates from high school this year and there have been exams, social event and graduation assemblies to attend. As a parental figure, the thought of Chloe graduating fills me with anxiety, nostalgia and pride for her and in her, so of course we’ve attended all events.
My work has had several work, and social events in the past few weeks, meaning that free time after work has been about nil. I stumble in, exhausted and can’t even bring myself to THINK about doing anything other than switching off.
On top of all that, I’ve been sick as a dog (a well deserved cold after I so blithely commented to a friend in Canada that her family always seemed to be sick and that we suffered very little here in Australia.) Chelsea, sadly, suffered the same cold.

As for the rash, Connor tripped over into a bottle-brush tree and stood up covered in fire ants. (My mind is screaming in horror over this one!) Before he could get all the nasty little buggers off of him, they managed to do quite a bit of damage. Several nights of crying and sleeplessness ensued with me making a rash creme from baking soda and applying gently a couple of times a day and night.

So, dear readers, I assure you. I have not forgotten you nor have I lost interest in regaling the anonymous public with my families tales of comedy and woe. I’ve just simply been busy enough to make the thought of sitting at the computer and using my brain one second longer than absolutely necessary, extremely daunting.

Hope all is forgiven!!

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