July 27th, 2009 @ 9:39 pm
So, here’s something to entertain you all. I decided a while back that I would no longer be seeing Awesome Dan. Nothing against him personally, but to be honest I don’t have 4-5 hours of my life and $145 to spend on hair anymore. I just don’t. There are other priorities in my life these days.
 Also? 4-5 hours is BORING.
So I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t we go back to DYI hair?” This is all very fine and dandy when it’s just cutting and colouring with one colour. Or, you know, retouching already bleached hair. But the fights I have had with drugstore bleach have been almost epic. Bleach bought in a pharmacy just doesn’t DO a goshdarn thing! At least not in my hair.
Back in the day, when my hair was au natural, as they say, all that bleach would do would make it ORANGE. Like, bright, Orphan Annie, ORANGE. And well, yuck. But I didn’t want to just make an appointment to have the two strips in my hair bleached, I didn’t want to spend the money. So off I went to the pharmacy and browsed the shelves. I ended up with this cream peroxide for hair at 30%. I knew I needed stronger but it was the highest they had and I thought, “Eh, why not.” It was a whopping $2.47. (Really, that should have told me, right?)
I bought that and Ultra Violet Manic Panic. I put back the Cotton Candy pink because I was chicken (I went back another day and picked it up though). So last weekend I put the bleach in my hair and waited 45 minutes. Washed it out and… nothing. Nada.
So this past weekend I tried again, but I left it in my hair for over 2 hours. And that last 30 minutes I wrapped a plastic bag over my head. I was a vision in beauty I tells-ya. Still? After the shower? Almost nada. This time the inch of roots I had showing had lightened almost enough to colour with Manic Panic. But the rest (including the bleached parts still there?) Nothing.
Now it’s Sunday and I am cranky. I have a hair-make-over urge and I can’t scratch it! So I ask Shawn when he gets up if he would drive me to the pharmacy again and I’d buy new dye. Off we went. This time I got Feria Really Freakin’ White Blonde and my regular black (all that washing was stripping the last of the colour anyhow). And then I did some funky hair-in-pigtails and twisted and parted thing while I tried to dye only the parts that I wanted with the blonde and the rest black. And then I got all creative in the shower to try and not have the black bleed into the blonde while washing out.
Miraculously, it worked. So I did a little happy dance. *happy dance* (<— like that!)
Next, after towel-drying my hair until I thought it would fall out (I don’t own a hair dryer) I proceeded to goop on the Manic Panic. Vampire Red, Cotton Candy Pink and Ultra Violet. *goop* *goop* *goop* And I coloured, hair, face and sink. I was only praying it would come off of my face, I looked like a rainbow had thrown up on me.
I sat around for 30 minutes and then wandered back down for the THIRD shower of the weekend to potentially colour the shower and bathroom walls as well. Luckily the shower didn’t stain like it normally does. The odd part is that I am used to the purple sort of taking over anything I am doing, it’s hardly showing up this time ’round. The vampy red sort of hogged all the blonde. I might add a little more purple before my next shower (which after all the washing this weekend might not be until Thursday or something!) to brighten it up. Not sure.
I am more or less happy with how things turned out. And I think next time I wil just go the Platinum blonde dye route to lighten what I need to. As long as I am doing a good strip of hair it uses quite a bit of the dye.
So the total in the end:
Manic Panic #1 = $12.99
Manic Panic #2 = $11.99 (I KNOW! Cheaper at Jean Cotu than Pharmaprix)
FERIA Blonde = $11.99
FERIA Black = $11.99
Useless Bleach = $2.47
TOTAL : $50(ish)
And one manic panic I had at home. So that doesn’t count. All three manic panics are going to last me a loooong time. So I just saved a crap-load of money. And next time it’s not going to take me 2 days to do. Heh.
Trial and error. It’s only hair and I am lucky that if I cut it all off it’ll grow back. So why not play with it? Right?
Oh, after it was all finished and I’d washed it for the billionth time, I let it air-dry and then I straightened it. Once straight I decided to cut it to keep the shorter sides and angle it a little better. I am rather pleased with my results.
Might as well use it or lose it, right? 
July 26th, 2009 @ 3:47 pm
… I don’t really have very much to say right now. Life is rather dull. Which, I suppose is a good thing, right? So for now, my blog shall just suffer in silence.
I have X-rays on Thursday, though. Um… exciting?
July 19th, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
I have been to the hospital many times, I am sad to say. I have whined in other posts on this blog how there is always something going on with me. Quite frankly I am tired of it. At the same time, once I seem to over come one thing the next thing doesn’t seem like such a big deal. I mean, after you spend many years of your life medicated for one thing or another, and in some form of doubled-over-thinking-you’re-going-to-die pain, everything else seems somewhat anti-climatic.
It’s not as though I expect something to happen once one thing is over. I tend to realize I’m feeling ok and think “Wow, this is what it must be like to feel normal” and BAM! I am hit with Chapter The Next. Oh, well.
Since the pain in my hips, lower back and knees has gotten so bad I often have to crab-walk up the stairs to bed, I made an appointment with my GP to figure out what it was. This has been going on for 2 years now, the first year was fairly innocuous. I would have joint pain and swelling only during my PMS week and then it would get better. One day it forgot to go away and it would increase with each month. Since I had some pills to renew anyhow, I though I would bring it up. Hence the blood tests I was sent for during the winter to check for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Those came back negative, thankfully. Of course other things were sort of off-the-chart and when I had my follow-up appointment (almost 4 months after the results came in!) my GP handed me a referral to see a Rheumatologist. (Which IS a word! I wish my spell checker would just accept that already!!)
I will admit I was scared. Not so much as to what might be ailing me (because the results are actually inconclusive, they just mean there is SOMETHING there) but because when it comes to meeting new doctors and visiting new departments in this hospital, well, it’s hit or miss. Even my GI doctor is a coin toss as to whether or not he’ll be friendly or so condescending that he’ll have me in tears by the end of our 30 second appointment. I was not cherishing this new encounter. Plus some people at work mentioned that generally rheumatologists aren’t always that friendy.
Friday morning I drove into town with Shawn, sat in Second Cup and had some tea, a bagel and a brownie thing, read for an hour and a half and then made my way up to the hospital. First – the bus showed up as soon as I got to the stop and I got a decent seat. Second – when I got to the hospital the elevator opened and I didn’t have to wait 15 minutes for it. Then I wandered off at the 6th floor and followed the signs to the department. I went through these double fire doors that looked uninviting and entered… Hospital Utopia.
It was bright, clean, spacious! People were smiling! The receptionists were FRIENDLY (in GI? Not so much. Nope. I don’t think they know the meaning of “smile”.) These two ladies? So nice! As I waited in line to hand in my cards I watched as doctors came up to the desk to take files, they greeted patients by first name, joked with the receptionists, smiled. It was calming actually. I was a half hour early, which was good because I had to fill out a little paper thing.
When I was call – ON TIME!! – my doctor (young, handsome and smiling!) apologized for the long walk to the last exam room in the hall. I told him I didn’t mind because this was like some magical secret garden part of the hospital I had never seen before and I was enjoying seeing what was around. He laughed. LAUGHED! (I know I am positively witty and charming, but it doesn’t always work on hospital doctors. ). My appointment went well. He asked me questions, LISTENED to my answers, LISTENED when I mentioned some other things he didn’t ask about and not once did he say “oh, that’s not related at all, I’m the doctor, I ask the questions” (which has happened to me in the past). He examined me, poked and moved things and apologized when I yelped a couple of times due to extreme pain.
Then told me he was sending me for more blood tests to see if anything had changed since March, X-Rays and a complete head-to-toe bone scan. Blood tests I was just going to wander down the hall and have done since I wasn’t going into work that day, but I wasn’t relishing phoning those two other departments for the tests because they aren’t always the friendliest on the phone AND I was thinking, this will take months!
Yeah, no. The receptionist PHONED and made my two appointments for me (!!!!) x-ray in July and bone scan 2 weeks later in August and my follow-up appointment there? September (wanted to make sure they had the bone scan results in by the time I was seen again). So I took my little blood test paper when they handed it to me and was saying “ok, thanks, you guys are awesome, see ya!” when they said “just go through that door and she’ll take your blood.”
They have their own blood test technician!! Wooohoooo! I didn’t have to take a number and wait 3 hours for my tests in the main clinic! *dances* So I said “Wow, you REALLY ARE awesome!” they laughed. I even thanked the doctor for being so nice. He looked at me funny and I said “Well, I was really nervous about seeing a new doctor. You never know, right? And you’re really great, so thanks!”
So I have no idea what is wrong with me. I am scared in the back of my mind because I keep having nightmares about it, but during every day concious thought it doesn’t cross my mind. Sure, I hurt a lot and I am actually in way more pain than I let on. I was about to say those I work with don’t even know the amount of pain I hide from them, though those that read this will now know. So don’t ask me to pick stuff up off the floor for you, I’m not being rude, I just can’t do it.
We’ll see what happens. I’m not holding my breath that they’ll find anything. Advil and Tylenol don’t seem to be cutting it for pain killers but I also don’t want to be popping all sorts of pills. So I’ll deal. It’s what I do. After everything I have been through in my 33 years, it’s what I am becoming a pro at. Dealing.
July 18th, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
Meet Hex:
Hex is a 9-month old, male, Standard Schnauzer. He weighs about 30 lbs. He is my in-laws’ new little baby.
This is what Jinx thinks of Hex:
Jinx, if you’ll recall, is a 4-year old, 50 lbs, Finnish Lapphund. He is also a big ol’ puss. Note how he has pushed me to the edge of the couch so he can hide behind me. What prompted this? Well, Jinx was on the other side of the couch, hiding from Hex (who isn’t allowed on the couch yet) when Hex came over and, get this, licked Jinx’s nose!
THE HORROR!!
At first they played, though. The first day they met (last Sunday) they played for a good 25 minutes before we all went into the house. But once in the house, Jinx had had enough and was tired, but Hex wasn’t even winded and kept jumping all over Jinx. Jinx didn’t like that. Jinx doesn’t know how to say NO!. I think we need to introduce him to that anti-drug campaign.
Hex met Annie, too.
He even tried to get her to play…
But Annie didn’t seem to care about him at all. She was curious, sure, but then she just shrugged and wandered off into the house where she took over his bed.
I think I have to get her one of her own now. It was only $24 at Costco. *cough*Dadddycanwego?*cough*
The hiding behind me photo was taken on Wednesday night. This was Jinx’s second visit with Hex. Baby. We were over again yesterday afternoon (Shawn was getting their new lap tops hooked up) and Jinx’s girlfriend Nixie was over again. He was happy to see her, but whenever he went to try and play with her, Hex jumped in to play, too! Jinx didn’t like that. Annie camped out in the house where the central air was on and she had TWO beds to choose from! Hex’s bed and Nixie’s bed! It was like heaven for her.
Oh, boy! Lots of dogs to play with! Wait.. I don’t like that new one. He’s scary!
Personally, I think Jinx is heartbroken that Nixie has another boy in her life.
Hey, buddy. Stay away from my girl, y’hear? Or I’ll whup ya good. Or, you know, go hide behind my Mummy. Potato – potahto.
Nixie gives Hex what-for though. Teeth flying and snapping. Because of that he doesn’t bother with her as much as he does with Jinx the Puss. But because Nixie was there yesterday, Hex actually left Jinx ALONE for most of the visit. And yet, Jinx turned to Annie to protect him.
What a big baby!
I think Hex is beautiful. His dam was a black Schnauzer and his sire Salt and Pepper. His face is dark, but the tips of his eyebrows actually SPARKLE with the silver. And it is very hard to capture on camera (especially since the dog doesn’t sit still for a second!)
His colouring is gorgeous. And I am not even a particularly huge fan of Schnauzers. But he’s not only pretty, he’s very sweet and well behaved too. Sure he has puppy energy and likes to play, but he loves everyone! And even with all the distractions he listens right away (though once you tell him to sit and he sits he tends to get right back up to play again!)
And now we have a full pack o’ dogs. Ok, so Nixie shouldn’t be over as much now that my in-laws’ have their own dog. They might be less likely to watch her as often, but so far they all seem pretty content. (Click to enlarge.)
July 12th, 2009 @ 9:43 am
(ha ha! See what I did there? See?)
Since getting back from our somewhat lousy vacation I have been busy at work and so earth-shatteringly exhausted that my head will start spinning and I feel like I will just fall over in the spot I am standing. So I haven’t been blogging. But I can’t see that lobster photo anymore because it’s driving me crazy. I want another one!
The weather has been odd. Almost like it’s confused. Rain, sun, hot, cold, cloudy, windy – all at the same time it seems! I don’t mind the cooler temperatures, though I do like to see the sun. It would be nice if the sun stuck around long enough for my back yard to dry up. It’s still like a swamp out there and it’s hard to cut the grass!
In the past month and a half I have seen 4 movies and I have liked one of them. My mini-reviews:
 Bolt (June) – I rented this on iTunes to spare Shawn, though I think he might have liked it because it was remarkably funny. Even I was surprised. But hooooboy did it make me cry. And cry. There’s this part near the end when Bolt finally makes it back to LA to reunite with his human and he picks up his carrot squeaky toy from when he was a pup and sees her and gets all happy and runs to see her and he thinks she sees him but then she cuddles ANOTHER Bolt! The expression on his face nearly killed me. I had to pause the movie I was crying so hard. Jinx, who was already on the couch with me was upset by my crying and tried to crawl into my lap while wagging his tail as if to comfort me. Of course that made me cry more! I am sensitive, ok? Mental note: Do NOT watch this while PMSing.
 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June) – On our first full day in Fredericton we went and saw this movie. We really only did it because apparently nothing is really open on Sundays over there. The big mall was, and it had a movie theatre. Boy did this movie suck. It had no plot that I could think of, it was almost as if the Autobots weren’t even in the movie and it was 2 and a half hours of my life I will never get back. Also? Why they felt the need to add in that new annoying college roommate character I have no idea. He ruined pretty much the entire thing for me. So did the new autobot that pretty much was onscreen the entire time whereas the original ones, the ones we wanted to see, had maybe 5 minutes in the entire movie! We loved the first movie so much I had feared that this would happen. I was hoping that it would be different. But this movie wasn’t even FUNNY like the first one was. How disappointing.
 Inkheart (July) – yet another iTunes download. This movie actually came out on my birthday and we almost saw it while at Disney World (we were right next to the theatre in Downtown Disney) BUT it was 2 hours until the movie started and there’s nothing to DO at Downtown Disney in that section and we were tired. So we went back to the hotel room. I wanted to see this because I enjoyed the book (back in the days before I really started to review books properly. ). However I didn’t hold very high hopes for it because I can’t stand Brendan Frasier and I was right. The story is about a GIRL whose father is captured. They made this movie about the FATHER who happened to have an daughter. Where as this movie was visually stunning at times it’s like they forgot to add a story to it and just stitched all the plot points together. I think I might do a longer review over on my bookblog because so many things bugged me about it. Grr!
 The Dark Knight (July) – ok, so Shawn and I watched this last night. Neither of us had seen it yet and my father lent me his copy. We’ve had it for I don’t know how long, but finally felt like giving it a try. Wow. Why were people raving about this movie? Yes, Heath Ledger’s Joker was awesome and he did a great job, but the movie itself? Lousy. Also, what was up with the stupid “I need a Fisherman’s Friend” voice that Christian Bale used for Batman? Did anyone making that movie not realize how stupid it sounded? Every time he’d appear “stealthily” on-screen and you’d hear his voice first, Shawn and I would burst into a fit of giggles. It got so bad I almost stopped watching altogether! Not only did he have thart stupid growl thing, but there was also a lishp. Batman talked with a lishp. Beware badguysh! I do like the Alfred from this movie and Joker was great, but the rest? Meh. I am happy we didn’t go out and spend money to see this when it was out in theatres. If only we didn’t spend money on that Transformers movie either.
I have not been practising piano at all. I feel guilty about it but I just have not been in the right headspace. I am, however, practising scales while trying to fall asleep. Not the musical part, mind you, but the coordination of using both my hands at the same time. So while my left pinky is moving, so must my right thumb. Left ring finger/right index finger, left and right middle fingers, left index finger/right thumb, left thumb/right index and so on. It’s HARD, but I am getting better at it since I do this while trying to fall asleep. My brain is more receptive to things as I fall asleep I think.
Every night, since we have come home, I have been up sick at 2AM. My body decides it doesn’t want food in it at that point. Actually it didn’t happen on Friday night, but I guess the fact that I was sick all day yesterday made up for that.
Last night was the first time I have been able to sleep through the night with my mouth guard in. Slept the entire time (only got up like, twice to pee! That is a miracle!) I didn’t get sick last night, either, which is good because I had that night guard thing in. Boy did I feel a difference when I woke up this morning. I am glad it didn’t bother me too much last night. Also I had my earplugs in because the air conditioner was bothering me. Normally it doesn’t. Mouthguard, earplugs and hair in pigtails. It’s a wonder Shawn can control himself around me at night. I am such a vision of beauty. Heh.
My bladder problems seem to be getting worse, only now I have a couple of good days in a row. But then I am back to having to pee every 30-45 minutes. Which sucks. This has been going on since May now. I am going to see if it has anything to do with my hip/back pain, because it seems to be worse when I am in more pain. My Rheumatology appointment is this coming Friday. I don’t think it’s related, but you never know. And before I make another appointment with my GP who doesn’t think this is a big deal to try and make her think otherwise, I want to make sure it’s not something else. But I am sick of this.
Ok, this is long enough. All the other random thoughts I had yesterday when I had planned to write this are gone. I am sure I’ll think of more. You can always follow me on Twitter if you want Cat-randomness on an up-to-the-minute basis. I tend to write as I think. Hehe.
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i'm darkness and light and bubbles and faerie wings. i love purple and faeries and music and i'm pretty sure that WordPress hates me.
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