An experiment in turning dark red hair into something a little less susceptible to sun fading

So not shit, there I was, getting exasperated by the way working outside was fading my (dyed) dark red/brown hair into something that looked less like hair and more like somebody had too many red jello shots and puked. I wish I had thought to take a before picture. It started as an effort to go back to my born-with-peachy-fuzz color. My hair WAS a mild, mousy brown that had some nice highlights and low lights in all the other shades. But it turned blah in the winter and brassy in the summer. So in high school I started dying it red. Big marquee in the sky, sometimes fire-engine even really really red. And eventually I decided to be nice to my hair and stopped coloring it for about 6 years. And it went a darker shade of mouse brown. Blah. So a few months ago I decided to give it more of the red overtones while keeping the brown base. Ahem. I said "keeping the brown base." HAHAHAHAHA. Right. My somewhere in the medium to light ash brown with red highlights went straight to really red with the introduction of a shade by Ion called Dark Red Brown. It ended up being almost exactly their shade Medium Intense Red. So I stuck with that for a few months. But working outside, in Wyoming with the suns shines nearly every day, that was getting to be a pain to maintain. So I think to myself, if I go a very light brown, or more likely with my hair, a strawberry blonde, i won't notice the sun-fade quite so much. Now keep in mind I had tried going actual blonde several times over the years, and the closest I ever got was newly-minted copper penny.

So a very nice woman at Sally's shows me this: one'n'only colorfix. She tells me to leave it on for a full 50 minutes as you would with a bleach, but this is much gentler. So I do. And while it stinks, but not so much as a bleaching kit, but rather more like yicky eggs (that's the technical term, didn't cha know?) I achieved the mythical honey blonde.  But my hair smells slightly of yicky eggs, and you know I can't leave it at that, so I busted out another pin, Shiny, Smooth Hair and while the original page it links to doesn't exist, the instructions had me take olive oil and honey, mix well and coat, let sit and wash. And hopefully, not stink when it's all said and done.

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Updates:
SO, I managed to let that sit for 30 mins, and then shampooed & conditioned with some super-smelly good Garnier Fructis stuff. I could still smell me, but it wasn't as strong. So I hit my hair with the homemade febreeze. Let's see how much Chris reacts when he gets back from Slave labor Day, I mean Frontier Days volun- (told) teering.

It didn't lighten the natural roots as much as the rest, but I think with a sunny day tomorrow and some lemon juice highlights I could just maybe live with it :) With hair as stubborn as mine, I'll call this a win.

Just a little nervous

OK, so I'm doing a presentation in an hour in front of a church council to try to convince a bunch of old fogies that doing an Avon fundraiser is a good idea to make money for our church. I can say old, b/c my mother is on it! LOL! BUT, she won't be there today.
So why am I nervous? I've known most of these people for 20+ years! I've danced VBS songs in front of them, organized events, and sang specials with them all there!
Still trying to figure out the nerves! Maybe because I feel like if this flops, I'll have wasted a lot of time & money (that I don't have) in an effort to make some extra, while helping my church family at the same time. *sigh*
I've got a printed version of a power point (not tech savvy group...so figured hands on a better concept for them). Charts, examples, books. FAQ's already printed & reviewd a bazillion times so I can answer any question I think they'll come up with.
It'll go great, right?

Excited about work?

Signing up to be a co-seller of Avon (so I can go to Christmas Extravaganza in Indy Aug 15!!) & going to be an unofficial behind the scenes seller of Party Lite as well. We're going to call our business It's a Family Thing Candles & Cosmetics. Since its me, Julie, & her daughter Jess. We have a make-up party scheduled for the 28th, & one in Aug. and I'm working on getting PCBC to do a brochure fund-raiser, which will expose us to community & make me a few bucks to catch up on bills! So far, my "investment" (samples mainly to do party) is about $20, & the $10 to officially be a co-seller. Though I'm being smart & tracking what Avon I buy for myself, as that's earnings too! IF I do like last campaign & my sales cover my order! But I think I'd like to "make" some money too, so, let's see how I do if I work at it!! The joy of a group...Julie can hit the businesses & leave books! I can find deals on tools & such (cause disposable make up stuff, you can find the deals if you're a Google nut!!) Jess is just joining in on a minor scale, adding orders here & there, but if she gets a $20 that kicks us up a %, woo hoo!! Well, speaking of such, we're organizing an incoming order & ironing out profit details & such today, so I'd better get dressed!!

Did I mention for Halloween my daughter is going back & forth on the witches from Wizard of Oz?! The pink is obvious, but hearing her run around & say "I'll get you my pretty!" and laugh is awesome!!

New Jobs?

   I applied for multiple jobs today. I have decided that it is a time for a change. I want to get out of long term care and back to oncology. I applied for a hospice, oncology, radiology, and a few jobs taht the hospital. The jobs at the hospital is in hope that I can get on at the hospital and then transfer to Oncology.
  I am also working in applying for Grad school. I have all the references that I need and just need to work on my statement about why I want to go to Grad school. So I will be busy for another 3 years with school, but it will be worth it in the end. It was also another reason why I applied for these jobs. They will help me with paying for school.
  What this mean for you guys? Well you will get to hear more gripes about school, but the good things is that this means that I maybe able to think about doing some real traveling, so maybe we could find some way to get together, but final weeks will be crazy, so no major plans for the last weeks of April and November or the first weeks of May or December.

Talk to you later.

Technology, Ain't It Grand!

Now that Google has actually SENT me the link, that's 2 of 3 that can post! I'm sure ~Mi makes much more sense than I do, but hey, rambling means I've just got an over active brain, right?! Now, here's the fun...do I simply post here, or my tumblr? I've not had it long...so maybe just keep this one related to stuff that the other BFF's that LOVE me would be interested in, and not have to worry about FB opinion! Not that I really care, but still, ya can't be too careful somedays that some idiot will try to add drama to my life that I avoid like the plague!

So I'm attempting to actually USE those pins...

So far, I've used about 5  of my oodles and oodles of Pinterest pins.
My pan lids now live under the cabinet in the corner, looking like little flying saucers. I have no idea where that pin went, but two cup hooks and your pan lids can hide under the upper cabinets, in easy reach of the stove, and not cluttering up the actual cabinet space. I managed to put 3 more casserole dishes in the most - accessible cabinet once I moved the lids out.

Yep, that's my messy counter corner...you're missing out on the stuff I just yanked to the side for the picture...the random pitcher, the one remaining lid that has yet to get a hanging spot because I ran out of cup hooks, the plastic bags that just got washed and are ready to reuse... I wasn't planning on showing you my REAL kitchen, but since I can't find that pin to link to, there you go. Since this is a corner cabinet, the lids all fit under it and it has yet to experience the "I'm trying to cram too much on this counter top and it got bumped and knocked down" feeling. And yes, that's my bottle of fully crystallized honey- anyone know how to get it back to flowing when you can't microwave the bottle?

I started my celery end in water today, hoping I won't need to buy any more. I got that idea here: Grow celery from celery Now if I can only figure out what to do with the bit I have left before it goes bad.

I made my own cleaning calendar, but mostly it just tells me what chore I don't feel like doing today. At least it is a happy blue accent in the kitchen right now. Since I have one of those mythical better half / partners / statistically significant other / zombie apocalypse team leader type guys that really, honestly, helps around the house, I may need to take another crack at it and make something more along the lines of "this needs to be done in a given week" cross-off lists.

I tried that t-shirt folding trick, but this is how I already fold t-shirts, and the drawers in the dresser are not tall enough to accommodate this way of stacking them in the drawer. Which is a shame, really, as his t-shirts occupy 4 out of the 6 drawers. Nope, I don't actually use the dresser- I don't actually use "his" closet in the bedroom either. This house was built in 1956. While our closets are really spacious in 1956 terms, I have a lot of clothing. He has a lot of uniforms. And boots. Why the man needs that many pairs of boots, I can't fathom. Maybe we'll get closet systems for Christmas. Any of those would be really helpful. (HINT HINT HINT HINT! I'm looking at you Ma- you always ask what we want for Christmas, and I have yet to see a closet organizer gift card! I'm actually serious when I say that! I can't help that you raised a weird child.)

Speaking of bedrooms, my blankies are all nice and smelly-goody thanks to making my own Febreeze. One of the nest pins out there, in my (sort-of but not really) humble opinion.

Next task is finding proper-sized baskets to try this number.  No, not that crazy shower curtain, the baskets!

Our bathroom is TINY. And I want to get my bottles and goos and brushes into a more organized state, which means finding ways to get more things OUT of our poor, overworked cabinet.

That's one sad looking cabinet right there. It doesn't help that the bottom shelf is at eye level. So the second and top shelves are not terribly easy to reach. I probably shouldn't use the hamper as a step stool, either. But what is youth, if not to do stupid things now that you can tell stories about later? Except that probably falls under the heading of "Things I shouldn't admit to doing". :P