Unmitigated

Random Tuesday: Various Body Parts

keely is the UnMom keely is the UnMom keely is the UnMom keely is the UnMom keely is the UnMom

Hair:

I have a thing about my hair. It's my favorite part of me. Right now, it looks nothing like my profile pic. Actually it looks like this:

...which is great if this 1972 and I am a teen hearthrob. For 2010, and 15 years from retirement? Not so much. Also, there should be about an inch of gray at David's roots, there, for it to be a little more accurate. And since mine is in a "grow out" stage, he actually has better layers than I do.

"Growing it out" is almost always my reaction after having short hair for a year or so. Maybe I should go with this:

He's so....pretty. Did people say that about Mick Jagger once upon a time? I can imagine Paul McCartney as a pretty boy, but not the bad boy Stones.

So I have scheduled the color for this afternoon, and the cut for Thursday afternoon. Getting in to see the stylist and the colorist (husband and wife, btw) on the same day means waiting much longer.

Feet: Next Monday, will be the pedicure,for which, oh be joyful! It's been too long.

Other body parts on the "like list":

I've heard you should pick five body parts that you love, and I was always able to do 3 pretty easily, hair, feet, and eyes. Leslie and Larry scolded me, and said, what about your beautiful skin? They had to convince me. I tend to see the flaws. Freckles and age spots and skin tags, everywhere! But they say I have lovely smooth, non-wrinkly skin, and nice hands, as well. So thank you very much to Leslie and Larry!

Not-so-likeable parts (but I'm working on it):

Just had another 'procedure on the right side of my back, which now feels wonderful because of the local anesthetic that they inject. In a few days, it will be icky for a little while, then much better. Of course, now the left side is acting up. If it's throbbing like this through the pain meds, I shudder to think what it would be like without! So, maybe the left side will be next.

Somebody else's body parts:

My son is afflicted with the same cystic acne his father had as a teenager. He finally asked to see a dermatologist about it. The day of the appointment, a cyst showed up over his left eye (just below the brow) that was bad enough that his eye could barely open. Now he has a new cleanser, and a couple other prescriptions, including an antibiotic to help control the bacteria. The doc offered to "take care" of that big one, and a couple smaller ones, which meant that he injected steroids directly into them. Yowser, but he took it like a man. And a day later, it was almost gone. Amazing. I'd have been happy to take him years ago, but I knew he wouldn't stick to the regimen if it wasn't his idea.

Now, he and two friends are discussing renting an apartment together after the first of the year. Don't know how I'll handle that. The girl was kind enough to move across the street, so mama bear gear didn't need to kick in. Holy crap. people, I could be an empty nester soon!

 

RTT: Plenty of Time Edition

There are blogging windows. Not the kind I open to relieve the flashes, I'm talking about windows of opportunity. One of them is putting up a Random Tuesday Thoughts post on Tuesday morning. And I was all ready to do just that.

With this here, badass button from Keely.

Except Bright House had an issue today. For hours upon hours. I discovered it at about 6:15 this morning, and it was still going strong at 1o'clock this afternoon. Not sure when it came back, but when I tried again at 5:30pm, it was ready to go.

Window of opportunity missed. Ah, well...

• If a blogger sh*ts in the woods, and there's no one there to hear it, does the pope still wear a funny hat?
• My son likes Dickies. Heh. The clothes, ya know? When he trains at martial arts, he can't stand the uniform pants that have elastic at the ankles. He wears a pair of black Dickies work pants. He needs some more of those, and some new pants for work (as a bagger/stocker at a little grocery store), so I went to Kohls, J.C. Penneys and Dickies own website. Guess who had the best deal?
• Two black work pants, two black pants for martial arts, a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt, all for 99.50 plus tax, free shipping, too. All from the Dickies website.
• I think it's time for me to go find my friend Ellie, and go for a stroll. Back + needle procedure coming up next week, so my current top speed is "strol" up slightly from last week's "meander."
• Does anyone else get up two hours before they need to leave for work in the morning? There are blogs to be read and commented on, people. I have to make sure I have enough caffeine, or I'll be ready for a nap by the time I get to work.
• Heh, heh. I said "dickies."
• If you haven't added your contribution to a great work of art, click back to this post and get in the game!
• Then go visit Keely. Just don't mention the zombies.

Things I should have posted for Random Tuesday, except they didn't happen until Thursday.

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening, say, two hours, searching for an old flash drive on a lanyard that may or may not have some photos on it, one of which, I was interested. Bad news? I found the lanyard, thus reducing the recognizability of the flash drive to near zero.

I wanted the pictures, since they represented nearly all of 2008, but I was looking for a hi-res version of something I posted here a couple years ago that had to do with the 2008 election. I'm sure it will turn up somewhere, but the fruitless searching seemed like the guy who looks for his glasses for an hour without realizing they are on his face.

Add that to increasingly sucky hot flashes, and there I am. And yes, spellcheck, sucky is a word in my universe, just thankfully not too often.

There are pumpkin carving events coming up at work. 800 pumpkins to line the streets of Greenfield Village don't carve themselves, people! It gets turned into a social event, and we can bring friends. Anyone want to join me?

Yesterday at work, I took a little stroll to the candy machine in the afternoon. I had been typing furiously all day, and just need a break (and a snack). I made my selection, E2, the peanut M&Ms, and put my dollar in the slot on the left side of the machine, which I thought was a little weird. Oops. That's the change machine I just slid a single into. In return, I got a dollar coin...one of the newish, brassy ones with presidents on them. John Tyler.

John Tyler? There weren't many less memorable presidents. Tyler became president when William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia a month after his inauguration. He then proceeded to work against just about everything his party in congress put before him. Almost all of his cabinet resigned at that point, and his own party kicked him out.

No, I didn't know any of that, except the part about Harrison. I looked him up on Wikipedia.

At this point, I have completely forgotten about the M&Ms and decided it was unacceptable to walk away with John Tyler in my pocket by himself. So, of course, I tried again. Another single. Another president. Ahhh, this time it was James Madison.

Much better. Fourth president, Founding Father, principal author of the Constitution.

Now I could eat the M&Ms.

John Tyler, my eye.

Ed: Although I am employed by The Henry Ford, this post, in no way, reflects the opinions of The Henry Ford.

RTT: A Different Kind of Tuesday

Just to add a little spice to the Random Tuesday Thoughts, I am messing with the format. That's just the kind of wild and crazy woman I am.

Or, my life is sufficiently un-exciting that I can "shake things up" by not centering Keely's button. Hold on people, it's gonna be a bumpy ride

You may be wondering why I am not at work today. You were, weren't you? You could tell by my typing, and this devil-may-care attitude that I am still in my jammies at 10:37 a.m., couldn't you? That's just how perceptive you are. It's why I love YOU best (keep that on the DL, I don't want to hurt my other readers' feelings--they're very sensitive). Any way, I am not at my regular job today, because an amazing opportunity presented itself, that I couldn't pass up.

What was that opportunity, you ask?

Well, here's where things get sticky. I can only say so much...you may recall that the film industry has tremendous tax breaks here in Michigan, and that I have previously had the chance to work as "background," or as a film 'extra.' On set they call us background, as in..."Roll film...background...and action!"

That's how important we are. We enter the scene before the actors. Except the actors are usually called "talent," to distinguish from us, the untalented, I suppose. And we aren't allowed to mingle with the talent. 

So there's a film being shot here currently, and it stars that Oscar-Winning Rabbit that rhymes with Lawn Men. The movie's name comes from the title of the Talking Heads song that Buddy and I picked for our first dance at our wedding, 25 years ago.

So, when the chance came to be an extra in the filming of a concert scene with the original performer of the song? I jumped at the chance. Even better, they told us we could bring a guest between the ages of 18 and 50, so we just squeaked under that line there.

So that's this afternoon.

So far this post doesn't seem too random, so let's jump into the WABAC machine and head to...yesterday. Short trip. I saw my pain guy yesterday, Dr. R, and we tweaked the meds a bit, and decided it was time for a refresher of last year's ablation procedure. Not my favorite thing to do, but I went from January to August of this year with little or no pain at all. 

The latest version of the Educator Guide from The Henry Ford, EDventures (get it?) is all published and pretty, and not only am I quoted in it, my picture is in it! I think I need to talk to those film people about moving me out of the 'background" category, and into the "middle-but-kind-of-out-of-focus-ground."

Yeah.

Go see Keely.

Random Tuesday Thoughts: New Button

Keely's new, post-apocalyptic button links to her made-over blog, The UnMom. Go there.

1.) Just returned from a restful, fun weekend with lots of friends. Chico and Chickadee were our hosts. I have used Chickadee as a litmus test for when I should warn readers of questionable content in a post. Here's why: During a game of Trivial Pursuit, Silver Screen edition, Chickadee had to pass this question to her partner, as she was unable to read it aloud:

Who was the actor that Alfred Hitchcock routinely introduced on set as "Master Bates?"

Yes, it was Tony Perkins, of the Bates Motel, in the movie Psycho. She couldn't read it aloud. It was very funny, and she was a good sport about letting us laugh about the whole situation.

B.) I was short by two books on my 12 Books, 12 Months challenge, but as of yesterday, I have found another book. Sarah Vowell has a new book coming in March, 2011! It's called Unfamiliar Fishes, and it's about the history of Hawaii, the only part of the U.S. ever to have been a kingdom. Consider that to be book 11. One more to go.

III.) I have gotten hooked on a game on my Kindle called Shuffled Row (the game is called that, not the Kindle. Surprisingly, I don't yet have a name for my Kindle. That seems wrong. I'll need to work on that.) Anyway, Shuffled Row is kind of like Scrabble played against a clock. I highly recommend you stay away from Shuffled Row, unless you have plenty of time to kill.

4.) This is the first day of the second year of me not teaching. I miss hanging out with the kids and my teaching partners. I don't miss anything else about it.

5.) Our long weekend was spent in one of my favorite places to photograph, so I have lots of new photos to process.  I'll share a couple, though...

Both of these shots were taken before we even reached our destination. Imagine how awesome it got after that!

I need to get ready for work, kids. Go visit Keely for more Random Tuesday Thoughts.