On a good note, life is grand...By Kim

So although I was very frustrated in my last post, and trust me...Held a lot back!

We did have a great weekend!!! The frog came on Thursday night, I love our 2 hour drives, just to talk and dream:)

My ex owed me one day, so I collected Cheese on Friday night, so we could go to dinner and a movie, we had hoped to go to the drive in, but the rain did not allow it! Rain rain go away, come again another day! Cheese was SO ecstatic that he got to actually spend time with the frog, as unfortunately he only gets to spend half a day with him, this time we had a bonus and he had almost 3 whole days with him, the kid was more happy than you can imagine, and seeing his little shoulders slump when the frog got on the train, after watching the frog enter the train, sit down, and when the train is out of site will only take his eyes off of it, makes my heart break for him, how is it possible that he has this reaction, but when I tell him his dad won't be taking him for a day, he does the happy for joy dance?? The frog is only someone who has been in our lives for nearly 2 years, his father is not an absent father, he comes when he should, he's never stood him up, but he does nothing with him, he has no relationship I guess. So stressful.....Shit, this was supposed to be a happy post!!!

So let me continue, we ate at this great Thai place..mmmmm it was SO good, and cheap, which is even better, $24 for the 4 of us, and mmm goood! Then we went to see the movie Click, with Adam Sandler, I didn't expect to laugh sooo hard and cry sooo hard, but let me just mention, there was a little pms on my part, so I think I was overly sensitive, but boy I tell you, Pickles and I were wiping our faces and sobbing.

The next day, Saturday the kids played and picnicked at the park with the frog, while I worked, they played soccer and played in the forest for a few hours, they had soo much fun. We then went to a clients graduation party, which was an interesting cultural experience for frog, he was amazed at the spread these people gave for their daughter, granted she was an only child and such a good kid, the parents went all out, complete with these awesome cakes that looked like designer purses, yummy food, (the frog experienced pulled pork sandwiches, he ate 2!!!) and they had a cool fireworks display. The tent was adorned with hot pink tool, and flowers all over in silver containers, pink of course and pink candles all over, it was fun!

On Sunday, we went to our private man made water slide, not many people in our town know about this place, and its right down the road from us, and it's such an amazing place, long ago, over 50 years ago, where the train came into our town, they would drop off crates to be sent down the creek to a plant a few miles down, and they always got caught in this one area somehow, so the owner of the company carved out this man made water slide and covered it with cement, its flat, but the current carries you down on nice moss covered cement. We love this place, but sometimes scary rednecks show up, with all their family, smoking and polluting the air we breathe, so we leave:) Luckily we got a good couple of hours in there too!

That night we watched X-men, because the frog and kids wanted to see the third one, and I kept making excuses, any excuses for not going. I just never could imagine that I could like the X-men, so I agreed to watch the number one, and maybe the number two, but no promises! Well, guess what, I loved them both! Now I cannot wait to see the number three..Who would have guessed!!

Monday it was rainy and crappy, so we left for the train station a little early, planning on seeing X-men. We got a pizza first and asked where the cinema in Brockville was...turns out, it is being built right now as we speak. Damnit, I wanted to see the movie!! The nerve of them!!

We had some time to kill, so we took a nice walk on the harbor. The kids were playing in this fenced in playground area, and we were standing outside of the fence, and the war started!! We found one pine cone and I don't know who started it, me or the frog, but we gathered at least 100 pine cones and were throwing them at the kids. They had plenty of places to retreat and hide behind, it was soo much fun!! Sometimes its so much fun to just forget you are an adult and play like a kid!! The people from the harbor will be scratching their head wondering how on earth so many pine cones could have fallen in their little playground when the trees are all around the play area but not over the play area! :)

So now we are waiting for Friday once again, to get our frog, spend Saturday, then leave Sunday drive all the way to Montreal, stay Monday which he has the day off, go to the super aqua club, oooooh fun! And come home on Tuesday...Someday we will look back on this and wonder how the hell we did all this driving!!

Oh, one funny thing, the frog was giving me a kiss and hug to say goodbye and Cheese turned his head a little and said "Can you make a little boy or a little girl for me?"

On another note, work is going good, it's very very busy and I so wish I had pictures to show you this cool bride that I did on Saturday, she was the neatest person, I'm hoping she sends me photos, as her hair was soo amazing, jet black hair, all sticking up, on top, fanned out, very soft and demure in the front with a loose wave, hair down in the back with a soft bend, and a crystal and red stoned tiara. Apparently her dress was a very straight corset type, with a splash of candy apple red, like in the tiara and we did her make up to look like a geisha..I know this all may sound so strange, but it was very cool!!! Too bad I don't have the pics to prove it huh...mental note, bring camera to work on Saturdays for proof to fellow bloggers:) Oh and we also sprinkled red glitter all over her black hair! Tres chic!

The other wedding updo's that I did was for my friend who her brother in law was marrying the black sheep of the Prada family..*gasp* I wonder how she was ever able to watch the wedding and not the bags and shoes and clothing. From what I heard the devil really does where Prada ;)

Hopefully I'll get a photo of that one too!

This last photo, is why you wear grungy pants to the chutes, although the cement is nice and mossy, it can tear your pants right down to your tushy! OUCH!!!

A 7 year old, who already gets it...by kim

Is this conversation normal?

Cheese: Mom, guess what? My Dad asked me if I would like him to pack me a lunch or if I would like to buy..

Me: Cool, and so what did you choose?

Cheese: I said I'd like to bring my lunch!

Me: Great! What did you bring then??

Cheese: Oh nothing, my Dad didn't make me one, he always promises to do things and then never does them!

I was so sad on one hand, cause he has to feel this way, when this person should just unconditionally be there for him and if you are going to fricken ask if you want to make a lunch for someone, then the least you could do is make the freakin lunch!! Is that soo difficult!???

On the other hand, I'm glad he gets it kinda, because then when a situation arises where he cannot go to the day camp that is right up the road because his father was supposed to sign him up and for the last 3-4 weeks I have been asking him to do it and he has blown it off. So today when the kids woke up expecting to go to rec center playday, and I called and Pickles was fine and able to go, but because Cheese was not signed up, neither could go.

So now both their summer plans are totally blown because of this asshole that claims to be a father. I was holding out on signing him up because every other activity he has been in I have paid (which I guess I will just continue to do that from now on and not even bother with him, as this is the second activity he has not been able to do because his father was supposed to sign him up and did not) and he told me he would sign him up for this, so I figured that I would have to end up paying for it, but did not take into account that it could fill up, it never has before! I was silly to think anything would change!

Oh and to top it off, Cheese's cute little mohawk, that he waited all winter for and the last day of school for...and his brother and him were matching...well now it's just a brush cut, his dad picked him up, Pickles asked him, how do you like our hair styles, and he said "great!" Took Cheese home and told him, "I'm buzzing off your mohawk" no choice, just that! Apparently because I never "asked" him if I could give him one, it was NOT ok.. yeah that makes sense, I should start asking for permission to put him in a blue shirt on fridays...ayayayayya.. just shoot me now!

Cheese was so upset about it, but holds it all in, he says he's too shy to tell his dad and can't tell him things like that. I guess it makes sense when I say he doesn't have to go to his dad's house, he does the happy dance!

I just don't get how you can use your children as pawns?? It makes no sense to me, I could never NOT put them first..I just don't get it!

Well I guess, I should just count down the days till he is 18 and I don't have to deal with him!

Oh and maybe he'll get a clue someday to stop leaving his 7 year old son alone in the house while he drive 2 miles down the road to get cigarettes or who knows what, without a phone available to him...and start concentrating on how to be a real father.. yeah that is what was happening, and could I mention it to him?? NOOOO, because then he would take it out on Cheese for telling me anything...arggggg

So now I will try to figure out what the kids can do for the summer, they have camp for 1 week, and my parents house for 1 week..then 6 weeks left to plan...argggggggg

The picture at the top is true, divorce does not have to be war, but when you have one person who is insistent on using a little boy to get back and teach the mother lessons or whatever the frick he is doing..it makes it very difficult for it not to be a war. I would love for it to be nice and still a team, I thought anybody could do that if they tried, but if you only have one trying, what is the point??

This is the letter I sent out, just thought some of you might like to read it just for fun!

I am delighted to inform you that I am returning to the village!

I’m looking forward to a new and exciting opportunity at Arabella Salon and
Day Spa, and I would like to invite you to join me in this new endeavor.

Some of you have been my clients and friends for a long time, others only
briefly, and some have come and gone more than once.

A good hairdresser is like a good friend; even if you don’t talk to her for
ages, she welcomes you back with open arms and the friendship resumes where
it left off.

I understand the need for change. Getting a new perspective is a healthy
and natural thing to do. As a client myself, I’ve had many hairdressers who
excelled in different areas and suited my different moods. This makes
perfect sense to me.

If you do not follow me—or if I haven’t seen you in a while—please know that
I don’t have hard feelings. That’s just not my style!

It would be wonderful if you decide to join me, but if you do not, I wish
you the best and hope to see you around other places to catch up on things.
Please know that whenever I can serve you in the future, I would be glad to
pick up where we left off!

Thank you!
Kim

She has up and left the building...by kim

Not really, I just changed jobs:) And that is why I have not been able to be lazy and blog as much as I would like these days:)

My new digs, it's hard to see, but its a nice shabby chic, kinda cozy place, very warm and inviting, we always have coffee and herbal tea, iced tea and lemonade, and champagne on weekends. I like it here:)

Summer...Ahhh summer...

Busy as a bee, they say...

I have not been blogging much lately, mainly due to a large change in our schedules and some extra work, plus it's nice out (well it is supposed to be at least;) So what have I been doing these days??

I will tell you:

Composing a letter to all my clients.

Going to Staples a million times in one week.

Buying nice clear labels and almost ripping them to shreds, throwing my mac against the wall and running down the street screaming like a wild women. (Only being able to use 120 of the 300 after getting sick of trying to format the addresses, giving up and cutting them with little scissors and making myself insane, then just handwriting the rest)

Licking 150 envelopes. (Fine I'll admit, I licked 10 and then paid Pickles $2 to do the rest)

Thanks God for self adhesive stamps!

Making lists and lots of lists of what I need to do, and what I need.

Ordering business cards, spending hours online just to order free business cards...I suck at making decisions that should be soo simple.

Spending hours in the color lab, deciding which color line to go with..Goldwell...L'anza...ahhh the choices..(did I mention I suck at making simple decisions??)

After 150 people get their letters, spending hours and hours and hours and hours on the phone, in the grocery store, at the gas station, congratulating me and supporting me for the move and right down to business, what's the gossip, why'd ya leave, yadayada....

Then running into people that I forgot to send a letter to, and explaining why so and so was told but not them..ayayayayya

Trying to come up with a catchy ad, so everyone knows, it's a small town, who am I kidding, they were talking about it at the freakin pancake breakfast. (No really, in our town, on the front page of our newspaper, there was a 2 page article on this girl who moved here from Indiana in her senior year, and how she describes this town as not preppy, but where everyone is very conscious of what they look like, and more girls owning more than 10 Vera Bradley bags..Yes, it's small town breaking news!)

Starting at my new place, with my three girls that I worked with before, Lori, who I adore, Tammy who I like very much, and Sara, well that is a long story and maybe if I ever get the energy to tell that tale, would make a very interesting post.

So as you can see I have been very busy, busy as a bee!

After having one days notice that my pay was changing after 2 years, and being fed up with a certain rednecks (no offense to you nice rednecks of course:) who was not even my boss, but pretended to be. I went home on Saturday June 3rd, and thought, I have to get out of here, I need to find a place now, I want to be in town and ayayay, what to do...called a few places that were for rent, but one was way way way tooo much, and the other way too small and no windows! Waaaaa, what do I do??

Brrrrngg Brrrng...Hey this is Tammy, do you by any chance want to come and rent with us????? Wow, things when they are right, just work, don't they?? I of course said "YES"!

After stressing the whole weekend about how I would get the needed names from my book, just to be sure that I hadn't missed any, but didn't want it to look obvious...I go in on Wednesday, planning on covertly attaining any extra names from my book that I had not written down..and low and behold..Both girls are sick and staying home, I was all by myself, so I was able to write down and check my list off, without spying eyes. When you make a decision and it is the right one, the path just paves itself!

I told my boss on Friday the 9th. I then told her my last day would be the 10th, she wasn't too happy about that, I would have liked it if in this business you could give 2 weeks notice, but the moment that I tell them that I am leaving, I become competition to them and the enemy. It is too difficult when clients rebook, to say, sorry I will not be here, I will be somewhere else but I cannot say...and not to mention, working in a small salon, the tension, especially the tension from the manly women that was a redneck, would be just unbearable and not good for clients. She knows that, its normal in this business.

I started on Wednesday, had a great day, great energy and vibe in this new salon, it's a Bumble and Bumble salon, so all new product and goodies.

Worked all day Thursday and then had Friday and Saturday off to jet off to Montreal to see my frog:)

Pickles and I stayed from Thursday to Monday and had a great time!!

We went to Little Italy to watch the Italy and USA play...and yes, we pretended we were Canadian!! Aye! Wow young Italian girls from Little Italy in Montreal dress like hookers! Almost all of them were dressed like those hooker barbie dolls, BRATZ dolls, and the hair was interesting too, very big!

Then on Sunday we watched the France game against South Korea, and oooh that one shot should have been theres, but oh well.

Went home on Monday, and somehow it took us 6 hours to get home, well I shopped some on the way home, and stopped alot, time was going soo slow!

Worked Tuesday, Wednesday, 10-8, Thursday, 9-7, then driving to get the frog, as he has a nice long weekend, till Monday night! Hooray!

So once things get settled and I don't have to please all these people and I can say no a little more, I will be posting more, but right now, I'm downright exhausted!!

It is 11:46 pm and I still have to pick up the laundry:) oh la la la:)

Everyday I am looking at all your blogs, as that I could not give up, but for me, of course it is more interesting to read about you all then to write about my stuff:)

Maybe someone could gently or harshly remind the frog, that I have many many more posts than him and he could fill in a bit more often;)

OH YEAH, I have also been busy making my kids look like punks, or hoodlums! To bad when they open their mouths they are these uberpolite little gentleman, but they do love the attention they get with their new "do's"

Strange animal behavior......by kim

Can someone tell me the reason that my Male Neutered Dog and my Male Neutered Cat have a "thing" going on??

It's been going on for some time, but you know it's a bit of a Brokeback mountain thing, and just like Ennis said "Bottom line is... We're around each other an'... This thing, it grabs hold of us again... At the wrong place... At the wrong time... And we're dead." Dash the cat is saying the same thing.

He's very discreet about it, and if we catch them, he has a panicked look on his face and then does just what his name says - Dash!

Ticky the bumbling fool, will steal a chance at luvin' any time he gets, mostly its when he comes in from outside.

But let me tell you, the weirdest thing is when the cat is trying to ride the dog, it's very awkward, the dog has to be focused on chewing on something on the floor and the cat comes over on his tiptoes and carefully (trying hard not to let his body touch the dog of course, that would be gross says the cat) positions himself over the dog and then he bites his back or grabs with his teeth the fur on his back. It's a very strange sight, I will tell you.

This dog is the strangest dog in the world and honestly I think he really doesn't realize he is a dog, or a male dog at least. He pee's and still squats, okay that is semi normal. But this little boy dog is the only little boy dog I have ever had that has not made it a habit to hump everything laying on the floor, I mean my other dogs all would take advantage of my stuffed animals, friends legs, shoes, blankets, you name it( and they were all neutered)..... this little guy Ticky, he doesn't get it, and he really doesn't do the cat in a way that tells me he is trying to pleasure himself, he just does a little hump, hump, growls a bit and then starts runs away.

Maybe I'm wrong all together, but my theory is not that I have a romantic couple here, but a dog that thinks he has to show the cat who is the boss every time he steps outside and comes back in...The cat, I'm not so sure why he does it.

Maybe someone can shed some light on this strange behavior, until then I will hang a rainbow flag by their food bowls and give them some private time, just to let them know that I support their lifestyle:)

The Flower and the Cheese...by kim

This is Rose!

Isn't she cute? Such a nice, sweet little girl...

Doing the parachute thing here with Cheese.

Cheese really likes Rose, a couple of weeks ago he came home and asked me if he could call a friend, I said sure, would you like me to get the school phone book out? He pulled out a giant construction sheet, with her name and phone number and said,"no thanks, Rose gave me her number, we decided to call eachother."

He called her and they made small talk, like, "So, how was your day?" and "What are you going to do for dinner?"

It was the cutest thing I ever saw, he has a girl, that is a friend!

I never thought it was anything more...

He invited all the kids to his party, but was most concerned if she had responded, every day he asked.

Why didn't I see the writing on the wall?

I should be used to this..

I have another son, he is 12 now, he once told me when I asked him if he liked girls, like the other boys in his class...he replied "liking girls is a biological reaction, I have not had mine yet!" Yep that is Pickles for you.

Pickles likes a girl, the same girl for 2 years now!

She is the smartest girl in the school, that is why he likes her.

He made her a necklace for Christmas, out of a glass arrowhead he got from a museum, he put it in a small wooden heart box. She said thank you, but they never have even talked outside of school.



That is okay, I can deal with that, he is 12 afterall, almost 13! Like a girl from afar, that is fine with me!

BUT, 7???

And must I really go break a little girl's legs, because she hurt my baby??? Ugh!

Having boys is supposed to be easy, no????

Who knew little boys were so sensitve and could be hurt so easily???

How many little boys did I hurt?? I'm feeling guilty now!

I'm sorry Christian, when we were 5 and you asked me every day to marry you, I'm sorry I shouted "NO" everytime, except for the day that you asked my friend and I shouted, "I said YES today, you will marry me!!" I hope I didn't hurt you like this little flower hurt my Cheese.

Cheese came into my room and said, "I have a secret, and please don't tell anyone." He went into his room and brought me this piece of paper!

It said in his 7 year old print: I HAVE A CRUSH ON ROSE.



My heart melted! What a sweet boy, and I'm the one he chose to tell me!

THEN he said "wait, I have something else too." His cheeks were all flushed and pink.

AND he brought me this in the same 7 year old print: ROSE KISSED A DIFRENT BOY.



My heart broke! He was trying to be big, and not let the tears in his eyes fall.

I just hugged and hugged him and he told me that Rose told him this on Thursday. I told him maybe Rose was just telling him that, so he knew she kissed boys. He didn't know. But he said it hurt him here! (pointing to his heart)

*SIGH* having boys will be harder than I thought!

ET C'EST PARTI

That's it, it started today with a 4-2 for Germany... One whole month of football, soccer if you prefer (what the heck soccer means anything, it sounds awful). I cannot believe that for the first time in my life I am not going to be able to watch it (just listen to it on radio) as no public TV is playing it in Canada, grrrrrr!!!

Anyway, you must be European (and a guy I have to assume) to understand what this event mean. Europe and a bit part of the World will just slow down, people taking holidays, TV at work, or like me the radio very loud in the office.

My brother is flying right now to Germany and will stay there for 5-6 days...I will post some of his photos :)

Note: I swear that as soon I can afford it, I am getting sattelite TV that allows me to get European channels. I just cannot live with Baseball, or American Football, No rugby, no football, no handball...eeek why did I leave civilization

He's turning french, no?

When I am complaining alot, Thomas will say to me, "You're really turning french, no?"
I make this face, like - How dare you!?
But secretly I love it when he says this:)

At dinner the other night, we were on our second round of drinks (water that is) and the frog of course being french always orders his water with no ice, and we have heard all the reasons for it, but heck we all love our icey cold water! So let me just say, it totally surprised me, and almost made me choke on my ice cube, when Pickles said this:

"Could I please have water with no ice??"

So, I guess we're all turning french!

What will be next?? :)

My joie de vivre...By Thomas

I promised this post a long time ago, but never got the chance to write it. One day, One of Kim's friends asked what was french "joie de vivre". This seems to be an intriguing concept in America, and yet it is one of the simplest thing.

I am not pretending to give a definition of "joie de vivre", but I will tell you what it means for me. Literally, happiness of life. I come from the south West of France, from a Spanish immigrant family (3rd generation), and what I am going to describe will definitelly differ from other parts of France.

To me, it is all about enjoying life, enjoying things and persons around you, enjoying the moment. We all have very active lives and sometimes it goes so fast, that some of you will just miss insignificant things, but that if you were paying attention or just appreciating it for what it is, would be amazed by the beauty of it. I am not sure why, but a lot of Americans have a very materialistic view of life, always focusing on what they want rather than on what they have around them, and in the process, they miss everything!

When I was in France, I didn't have a big flat screen TV, a big house, or a big car, but I had the biggest garden one can dream about. I was living near the mountains, near the ocean and in the middle of a forest. I could spend hours with my brother doing nothing, and just sitting, looking at the ocean, and the sun slowly going down till it was dark, and then see the stars shining one after another. I have been watching these sunsets at the same exact spot during more than 10 years and they were all different. With my family, during the dinner outside, we would just stop and listen to the birds singing for hours... On Sundays we would get an endless breakfast, from 9 till 11am, just taking time to enjoy our food, and if we were patient enough we could have little birds stealing food from our plates or squirrels and rabbit looking for crumbs at our feet. Hiking was such a pleasure, see all these wild horses running in the mountains or just a simple flower growing on the side of the trail, or even climbing real quick to see the view of the valley from a waterfall. I moved away from these beauties and could just complain about what I don't have anymore, but I found different beauties over here.

Few months ago with Kim, in Montreal we went to a hike in a park and looked at baby squirrels playing (we could have so easily missed them). Pickle even had a bird landing on his finger (trust me, he will keep that memory FOREVER and it was worth more than any playstation - he will realize it eventually). Sometimes we will just sit by a creek and let the water run on our feet. Or take breakfast by the lake.

I still don't have a big house, or a big car, but all these little moments, that can sound insignificant, are just pure magic, and that's what makes me happy. Life is not going to wait for me to realize that it is full of beauty all around, so I am just opening my eyes and enjoying.

In a way "joie de vivre" doesn't really mean anything, as it is something very personal. But it is all about taking time to appreciate what you have, what is around you. As my father always said, "Mieux vaut un petit chez soi, qu'un grand chez les autres". You can always feel you need more or you want more, but the more you have, the more you want, and then you don't appreciate what is in front of you.

So my advice is simple, sometimes you just have to stop, open your eyes and appreciate. As the movie says...Carpe Diem, seize the day!

Some photos I promised from Montreal, Parc Jean Depreau...

Do you like the frog I caught with his tongue sticking out to catch flies??

Recipe for beautiful hair...by kim

First you must start with someone who looks good even like this! :)

Then you start to curl and curl and curl..and curl some more, careful not to burn your finger or inhale too much hairspray!

When the curls are all done...

You loosen them up, shake, shake and seperate. Think Texas hair!

Spray a lot of very strong hold hairspray, the kind that defies gravity!

It's fun to scare them, and say, "All done!"

Take inventory of hair pins, will be usefull to client when they take them down!

Hold your breath, and turn the girl around, and hope she smiles brightly and you don't have to take it all down!

Doesn't she look beautiful, it took about 1 hour, 8 pins, plenty of hairspray, and a lot of patience on my part!

Here is another bridal party, I don't have too many pictures of my styles, and my portfolio, is way outdated.

Do Scottish men, wear boxers or briefs, under their kilts??...By Kim

(First let me say, very quickly, I am sorry if this picture offends anyone, I'm really really sorry, but I just could not resist any longer!!;)

Last summer we went to a Scottish festival, there were four of us, my friend Erica and I, and Thomas and Frederic. Thomas and Frederic studied together at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, so they were very enthused to see what we New Yorkers considered a Scottish festival.

It was an okay festival, they had the traditional games and plenty of Scottish clans, but the food was not anything like what they had in Glasgow. It was pretty bad actually, Thomas was excited to try some of their Haggis and was very disappointed after the first bite, I didn't think it was too bad, and I was actually thanking my lucky stars that it was not real Haggis, because after I tasted that one, he told me what the real one was made of and *gulp* I'm not so sure I could have "stomached" that:)

While we were all there and watching the men in skirts, er, kilts. I was wondering what everyone wonders, (don't you?) Do they wear underpants under the skirts, I mean kilts?? We had a very long debate and discussion on why they are kilts and not skirts, and it was funny to look at of them for sale, damn...Why didn't I think to have my frog try one on for me..(mental note, have frog try a skirt, er kilt on for entertainment purposes only:)

When I came across this picture, a while ago, I saved it to my desktop, and am just now posting it, I laugh everytime I see it, as I think of our discussion about the kilts and if they really do wear underpants underneath, well, apparently these guys decided against it, and what happened to their little purse that is supposed to keep their skirts down???