Funny...I Never Thought of Taxes as "Fancy"

Spring

when a girl's fancy turns to

trying to

CATCH UP

a year's worth of tax information

and get it to the accountant.

Well. That was Anti-Climactic.

So for the last week, I've cleaned, straightened, tidied and generally freshened up. Because there are so many things that need to be done around our house (and we are in the middle of scads of unfinished projects) I am always self-conscious to have company. I girded up my courage in preparation for the family visit.

They arrived a little after 9pm last night. We visited for about an hour and a half then B&SinL went on to a motel I had reserved for them (I didn't have enough beds to go around an I don't think all the blankets in the world would soften a concrete floor.) and the two girls spent the night with us on an air mattress.

This morning we all met up for my girl's soccer game and after that, they were gone. The visit lasted 15 hours.

1 1/2 hours of it, the adults were actually, physically in my house.

That was so not worth the week of freak I did.

Sorriness: a Definition

Every Monday morning for at least the last three weeks, I have carefully set my alarm to go off at 5:20am, sternly telling myself that I would go to the gym.

For the last three weeks, I have risen at 5:20 am.

After dressing in my workout clothes I walked into the kitchen, picked up my keys, paused and said....

Nahhhh.

How to Cut Your Own Hair...Or Not.

"I have too much hair on my head." says me.




I know where the scissors are." says I.




"Are you sure that's such a good idea? Maybe you should wait and let one of the girls at work cut it for you." says me.







"They're always busy or I'm busy when they aren't. Besides, I cut hair all day long! Surely I can cut my own hair!" says I.




"You've always said you turn into a mere mortal when you apply the scissors to your own head..." says me.




"Shhh!" says I, "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind's made up!"



"Pass the scissors!!"


***********************************************




How to cut your own hair--that is, if you want it to look like someone stuck your head in a blender, which, fortunately is my signature look.







Working systematically around the head, (which, coincidentally, is the ONLY logical thing about this whole situation) pick up thin vertical sections of the hair. Starting from the shortest layer (or determine how short you want your shortest layer) begin cutting, sliding down to the longest layer. This will create choppy short-to-long layers.



If your hair is dense (no dense jokes here, please) like mine is; use your hands to find the thick spots and cut from underneath beginning closer to the head and cutting/sliding outward to the ends of the hair. This will "air out" your haircut, removing bulk. Use small sections-- you can always cut more, but you can't put it back!



Use a cream paste styling product to accentuate the disheveled choppiness.







*Note: this haircut is not for someone who leans toward neat and tidy hair and symmetrical layering.

P.S. My haircut is a combination between the two photos you see here. Longer around the face, shorter through the crown and interior. When I get my laptop back, (GEEESH!) maybe I'll get some photos of my actual hair posted. What a novel idea.

An Example of Aiming at Nothing and.... Bullseye!

After my envying dedication at the gym yesterday in spite of a headache, (Truth: if I hadn't had an appointment with the trainer, I wouldn't have been there.) I crashed and burned this morning.

It is disturbing to me how easily I can demotivate myself.

Speaking of Demotivators....this one spoke to me on a deep level today:

It says: "Success is a journey. Not a destination. So stop running."

I took it as a sign this morning.

There's always tomorrow.

Said Scarlett.

A Week's Worth of Action in Two Days

What an adventure filled week!

Monday I went to a neighboring town (if a town that's an hour away can be considered neighboring) to take a cutting and coloring class from instructors from Paul Mitchell. I didn't learn anything radically new, but it was a good class overall. I found it interesting to watch them use one foil for several hilites. That was their contribution to saving the planet.

In other news, I went shopping afterwards and found a pair of pants for $9.99--in a size smaller than I've been wearing! The length has to be altered, but I think I still came out ahead in the price. Besides, if for no other reason, I had to buy them as a trophy!

Our girl went to the dentist for the first time yesterday. After reading a couple of books on the subject she was ready and rarin' to go! She enjoyed it and was such a big girl...until they started spraying and sucking. She didn't like that too much. In hindsight, I think if they had shown her how those items worked before hand, instead of trying to convince her of their coolness while they were being used, she would have been more accepting. Overall, she was proud of herself for going to the dentist and spent the rest of the day going up to people and opening her mouth wide and pointing to her teeth. (You then were supposed to know that she had been to the dentist and tell her how pretty her teeth looked.)

I've been busy cutting and coloring. Thank God, because I can't count and my bank account reflected that this week. There's nothing worse than thinking you have money and acting accordingly and waking up the morning after depositing money in your account and finding you have none! I told my hubby last night that I'm so glad God still takes care of me even when I make stupid mistakes.

Usually Thursday is the end of my week, but I'll be "doing" a wedding this weekend and then will attend it later in the afternoon. Then I have to figure out what to take to church for potluck Sunday, then a class on Sunday evening.... the weekend will be as busy as the week!

Well, Do You Have a Better Idea?

With the Hobby Lobby opening being the most exciting thing to happen in the last 10 years in this town; well, you can see life in a small town moves at a very slow pace.

Also, the fact that I (and the whole town, really) are so excited over some major name stores moving into town makes me concerned over what we value. ("Consumerism--Buy into it!") I've been looking at my own finances recently and am working more intently on paying off debt and not incurring any new debt. I hate the fact that although I make enough money, I never have any because I/we don't manage it as wisely as we could.

Our pastor spoke last week about the economic bailout. Dangerous stuff for the pulpit, some may think, but he hit the nail on the head when he made it personal. The reason we are in the mess we are, is because of Pride and Greed. "I want that and, doggone it, I work hard and I deserve it!"

Have you ever thought about what you really NEED? When it boils down to it, we need food, water and clothing and shelter. And it doesn't have to be food from a restaurant, Evian water, designer duds, or a 3,000 sq. ft. house in the 'burbs. We've skewed our view.

We have lost our common sense.

As of 10-7-2008, the national debt is $10224252192942.42 The US Census Bureau states that there are approximately 305,369,385 Americans which means your share of the national debt is approximately 33,481.54!

How do we get out of this mess?

Well, personally, I'm going to begin paying cash for my purchases. I'm going to pay off my debt starting with credit cards first. I'll start with the one that has the highest interest rate and after it's paid off, I'll snowball my payments to the next one in line. I will not take my loan company's offer of an extra 2,000.00 and lower monthly payments. (That doesn't even make sense.)

I'll give us a spending allowance that is for "whatever" purchases. That way I can go to Hobby Lobby but not go nuts when I'm there.

I'm going to concentrate on making more art and I'll stop waffling when someone asks me if they can buy one of my pieces. (That should be a no-brainer, but sometimes it's hard to let go of something that is a part of you.)

It's a start.

A Little Work Rant

Perhaps there should be a revolving door on the front of my salon.

I live in a small community although we do have a university. We often use college students as assistants and they come and go with regularity. Schedules change with each semester and sometimes they are unable to work the schedule we need. That's understandable. There is a good bit of turnover as a result of that. That doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is the seeming increase in people who quit or we have to fire. People who consistently show up to work late, leave early (when the owners aren't there to hold them accountable) and just generally try to do the least they can get by with. We try to be gracious employers; having a meeting, discussing the problem, stating that this behavior is unacceptable. Employees nod, occasionally ask for a raise while they are at it ("because I've been with you for a long time, I've stuck with you when others left...") They leave me shaking my head in wonder.


I find it very simple. I lay out my expectations from the get go, and expect these rules and regulations to be followed. Why don't people just follow the rules?! That's what a job is! Nobody said you had to like everything about it, but while you are there (which is about a third of your day, but less for them because they almost never work an 8hr. shift) you should do what you agreed to do when you took the job. And this is a relatively short term job. This is what they are doing to get through school to do what they really want to do. It's not like they are going to be washing hair and sweeping floors for a career.

I have to do some research to break this cycle. I don't know if the secret to finding a good employee (loyal, capable, self-motivating, trustworthy, one who will work) is in the interview process, or if it is somewhere during the pow-wows we have during their employment. None of the three owners of this salon (including myself) have any business background other than what we have learned along the way.

I guess I get frustrated because, as the old saying goes, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." No amount of pep talks can change an employee's bad attitude. I guess it bothers me so much because I care about the people who work for me. I have an employee who has been through some stuff (outside the salon but it affected her work) that she should have been fired for and we decided to keep her anyway in good faith and give her a second chance. I'm all for mentoring and coming alongside people, but my loyalty with them becomes a little thin when, by their behavior, they devalue my investment in them.

Thanks for hanging through my rant. Any guidance from those with more experience than I in this area is most welcome.

Lost! ....Found!...Whew!

8Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
9And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
10Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Luke 15:8-10



Yep. That pretty much described me.

Except, they didn't mention panic. I was kinda panicked.

I went up to the salon yesterday morning to do the book work. One of the deposits I was working on was my own. I went to get the money out of my purse and...

It wasn't there!

Gulp!

O.K., I distinctly remember putting it in my purse the night before. Did it fall out? (Please God, No!) I could sort of remember what I had done, but not exactly.

I called hubby, who was in his own panic trying to get to a doctor appointment. He looked around the house.

Nothing.

The world stopped. I went home to look for my self. In the vehicle, on the couch where I was when I dug out some new checks for him. I retraced my steps, praying all the time.

This was almost my whole week's income I had lost.

I got a reprimanding, "Go straight to the bank before you come home from now on!" (Don't worry, I will.)

I remembered putting everything into an envelope before putting it into my purse. Then I remembered that I took that envelope out that morning and put it with my bill pile.

There it is! And everything was still there. Cash, checks. Everything.

Thank you, God.

Rejoice with me, I have found what I had lost.