It’s not roadkill, it’s my hair!

My Hair

Here's all 10.5 inches of it which will soon be in a plastic bag and headed across the sea to Locks of Love.  I hadn't intended to cut quite this much off.  I thought I'd do the gradual long to short thing, but when I discovered that I had enough length to support this cool organization I though, heck…  Cut it off.  A strange sensation to have someone sawing off the hair at the base of your neck…  but the results are cute, I think.  And for the first time in years, I was excited to wake up this morning and do my hair (which took about 48 seconds — yeehaw!).

I do promise to post a pix of the hair that is left asap.  My daughter cut about 8 inches off her hair as well — so it was quite the party yesterday.  Course, the party started in the morning when I was able to pick up MY DRIVER'S LICENSE after completing my 30 days of suspension… which brings me to my next thought…

Did I learn anything?

Yes.  I learned that one of the reasons I drive too fast is because I'm always late and always in a hurry and I think that's because I'm juggling too many plates in the air.  Or my plates are too full?  Or the plates in the air have spaghetti flying off them in every directions as they wizz through the sky?  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.

Melissa commented recently about the problem of the "supermom."  The thing is that in my heart, I truly AM a supermom… if only because of the unspeakable love I feel for my kiddos.  The easy part is loving them, the hard part is figuring out what is best for them.  Much due to the influence of my mom, I have always felt what was best for them was that they have as many, and as rich, and as full activities in their lives as possible.  The nice part is that it keeps us from sitting in front of the TV — the not nice part is that I often run through a day exposing my children to wonderful enrichments but maybe never looking in their eyes.

Having to walk everywhere for the last 4 weeks left me with a lot more time to gaze into those beautiful brown eyes, to sing Jingle Bells and Wheels on the Bus with them & to chat about everything and nothing with my almost-teenager.  And it's reminded me that there has to be a balance somewhere…

I'm hoping that this new year will give me the chance to try out my new acts.  Fewer plates to juggle and more playing on the floor.  Cuter hair and a chance to feel more like Joelle and not just "Momma" and "Wife."  Slower driving and slower living.  We'll see.

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Silly Organics Quiz

At
our last duty station (UK) gorgeous boxes of fresh organic vegetables and
fruit, dairy & eggs, were delivered to my door on a weekly basis.  I never had to go out and scour the shelves for organics – they were just
there. When I first arrived here I was thrilled that there was
an organic produce section at the commissary, but as it turns out it’s pretty much
carrots, apples ($7 for 4), pears ($9 for 2), peppers & cucumbers.  Not exactly enough to keep organic variety in
our lives.  So, I’ve looked for other
options.  There are canned and frozen
options – but how much goodness is lost in it not being fresh?  I don’t really know.

 
The commissary is doing pretty decently at getting in
other organic stuff.  We’ve got yummy
organic bread & butter, milk & yogurt, flour, sugar, frozen meals,
soup, cereals & spaghetti sauce.  But
it’s in the fresh fruit & vegetable area that I get really disappointed.

 
Then there are the lovely Co-ops that Kaho so nicely
wrote about.  The problem is that since I
can’t read Japanese (YET!) I don’t know what is organic, what is local or what is
imported.  My understanding is that
Japan is pretty much anti-GM products, so that’s great – but again, I’m just
not that knowledgeable about it.  So, I present
you with a few quiz questions to get your thoughts!

Rank these in order from healthiest to unhealthiest:

A.     
 Canned
organic vegetable

B.     
Fresh produce shipped from the US to Okinawa

C.     
Fresh produce bought in town from Japan (local)

D.     
Frozen organic vegetable

 
Here’s another: 

A.     
 Sugar
Cereal

B.     
Non-sugar cereal (Cheerios-like)

C.     
Organic cereal that has twice as much sugar as
the Cheerios

 
And another:

A.     
 Polaner
all fruit spread which has no added sugar

B.     
Organic Smuckers strawberry jam (with LOTS of
organic cane sugar)

 
These are probably ridiculous questions and maybe it shows I need to get a life…  but I think as parents, each of us has something that we get a little crazy about.  Mine happens to be food.  On the flip side, my son has been known to walk around the house with a pair of scissors, chew on empty balloons, plug in appliances by himself, stir things on the stove and probably many things other parents wouldn't allow.  This just happens to be my weirdness arena!!

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Yuletide Rollercoaster

I grew up in a little city north of LA that had quite a few Christmas tree farms.  We'd watch them grow all through the year and then the day would come to head out with the family and wander up and down the rows until we found the perfect tree…  no flat spots, a good top leader for the star, and that yummy wonderful smell.  Of course, as a kid I didn't understand the nightmare of cutting the trunk with a dull only-used-at-Christmas handsaw to fit into the stand, of "watering" the tree, of vacuuming the needles, and of hoping it doesn't catch fire and burn down the house. 

And to be honest, even though I've grown up, I still prefer the real thing.  So when I heard that all the fake trees on Foster & Kadena had sold out by the weekend after Thanksgiving, I was unconcerned.  I'd been told that REAL trees were sold on base sometime during the beginning of December.  I tried to find out exactly when and where, but no one I asked seemed to know.  I figured I'd just hear.

Course, I should have been more concerned when, on the Monday after Thanksgiving, I went to buy Christmas lights and found NOTHING!  All sold out.  I was informed that some more might arrive before the Big Day.  Course I'd been told repeatedly since arriving on island that if you see something you want BUY IT because it may not be there the next time you look… but somehow I hadn't thought that would apply to something like white icicle lights.  Sigh.

So last weekend we were driving to church past the Foster Exchange and I spied a line of people, some with trees tied to their roofs and I about jumped out of my seat.  I tried to talk my husband into dropping us off and going back for a tree but he felt it was a nice "family event" and that we should wait.  After church, we drove by to see what their hours were only to find that they had SOLD OUT of ALL 300 trees hours before and that even the little table top 2 footers had sold out.  Seriously.  The woman said that people had been in line since 3 am.  Nuu-uhh.

I cried (quietly) all the way home.  Christmas with no tree.  Taran is old enough to really "get it" this year and it's Lucas' first Christmas and the first time I've gotten to spend Christmas with Elizabeth.  And no tree.  Brent suggested that he could find that never-used-handsaw and head out into the jungle and find us something.  What a man. 

The next day I was sharing my yuletide woahs with a friend and she said that her church had some extra trees they were trying to get rid of cuz they weren't being used.  Did I want a fake one?

Beggars and choosers.  Beggars and choosers.

YES.  I'd LOVE one.  :) 

So, I may have to buy pine scented spray and sprinkle my floor with grass from outside so that I have something to vacuum… but I think I'll survive.

Elizabeth suggested popcorn garlands and so we've been stringing corn for the last hour.  Better get back to it before she eats all our hard work.  Happy Holidays.

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