To dye for!

Have you ever tried something that should be easy?...I mean like REALLY easy?!?  So easy that you think there is no way you can ** it up??  Well, let me share with you a story from this morning.

My quest was to dye my hair.  I've heard of my friends doing it for years and it sounded sooo simple! In years gone past I was one of 'those' women that went to the hair salon and paid upwards of $200.00 (God, I hope Gary does not read this!) to get my hair professionally dyed, cut and styled.  And, I wasn't paying as much as some of my friends if you can imagine!

So, just prior to moving from the city into the country I went to Sally and bought a bunch of hair colors and 'equipment' to ease me through the process.  I spent time asking the gal that worked there how to do it etc.  She assured me it would be simple.  Hmmmm.  This was my morning fiasco!

Garrison went off to school, Gary was out in the shop and I had a quiet morning planned doing what I call House Mouse stuff.  Routine, clean up, make beds, tidy from breakfast etc.  I gathered my supplies which consisted of: dye, solution, bowl, a brush thingy, an old towel, a fastener and a grocery bag. I was proud.  Had all the supplies and got ready to dig in.

First, I laid my towel down on the new counter.  Got out the bowl and blobbed some of the dye in the bowl (no directions given as to how much so I guessed) added about double of the solution.  I peered into the bowl and gave a shrug (that should be enough...right?!?) and stirred.  That should have been my first clue of disaster.  The shrug.  That shrug should have been the BIG warning sign that I had NO idea what I was doing!

I parted my hair like the hair dresser did so many times (she made it look easy by the way!) and started in the middle.  As I raised my first brush full to my head...blop...it went on my shirt.  FACK! Oh man...of course, it had to land on my shirt and NOT on the towl around my shoulders.  I'll never get that poop looking blob off my jammie top.  Crap...well, keep on going was my thought.  So, I did it again and did a fairly good job around the crown of my head.  But, then came the rest of the hair. And, I have alot of freaking hair!  At that point, I'm peering into my bowl and realize I don't have enough mixture so I mix another batch.  I drop the solution and it goes all over the floor...are you freaking kidding me!  It sailed all the way across the room onto the shower doors!  Aggghhh!   I'm on all fours mopping up this complete disaster when Gary calls me from the other side of the house.  

I quickly walk towards his voice as I don't want him to know of the catastrophe I've created in OUR NEW BATHROOM!  Just before I get to the back door, he says "What are you doing?"  I'm just about to the doorway and say "I'm dying my hair"  Sounding all light and assured of myself.  I get around the corner and his exact words were "Sweet Jesus!"  Picture this.  The front of my head caked in wet dye.  The rest of my hair is in a matted mess. I have what looks like a skidder running down the front of my shirt...nice, eh!...aren't I a beautiful bride :)  He says "Never mind" and closes the door.  Quickly I might add!

So, I go running back to the bathroom all the while chastising myself for being so clumbsy...calculating how exactly I'm going to clean up the mess as quickly as possible, praying that it will in fact it does clean up.  Thank God it did!  So, I get back to the rest of my head.  Oh ya.  Back to that crazy amount of hair that I have.  And, I  need to figure out how exactly to get dye on it and keep it on the top of my head.  Again, something not so easy to do by oneself!  Every time I'd go to take a strip of hair and put it on the top of my head, it would roll backwards. Ugh.  Okay, so I employed both hands and a ton of bobby pins.  Messy, but it did the trick.  My hair all has dye on it and now time for the bag.  Note to those that are doing this...ensure that all the tags are out of the bag prior to putting it on your head. Whoops, my bad.

So, I waited the half hour required and pulled the bag off my head.  Amazingly I still had hair, the hair was the color it was supposed to be and now I'm in search of my therapist's phone number to talk through the whole mess...lol.

My skidder! :0(

My final suggestion...go to the salon...it's alot less stressful! :)


Kim

PS...please like our new Facebook page (The Rusty Pitchfork) and I will put your name in the draw for a free Happy Feet kit!  Draw to be March 31st!

The Lumpy Lepper

I've been asked to start blogging again...and with our reno's and move-in pretty much complete...I can do just that!

 

My blog tonight is about making homstead creations.  I make everything from curtains to bread to homemade soaps, candles and lotions etc.  Friends like Corrina Knoll and Cherylee McKinney will understand that sometimes we have successes but more than likely...many flops, but heh, we keep on keeping on! ;)

When you live in the country it's not easy to just run to the store to buy "X".  Sometimes, in more rural communities like where we live in Fraser Lake, THERE ARE NO "chain" STORES...I know...shocker isn't it?!?  This is one thing that I have had a wee bit of a hard time getting used to. But, it makes a person more resourceful in the end!

My funny story for the night revolves around me wanting to have a bath.  I had visions of a hot, gorgeous tub of water with bubbles, candelight and a face mask soaking on my skin.  But then I remembered...I have no mask.  Bummer. :(  Oh!  I can make one.  Right?!?...so I got on Pinterest (which is one of my favorite things to do now Kathleen Boland) and found a receipe for a homemade oatmeal facial mask.  And SCORE...I had all the ingredients!

This recipe called for Oatmeal (which I use Gluten Free and have it already ground and in the cupboard), Olive Oil, Honey and half a Banana.  I used a fork to mash the banana and then added about 1/2 cup of the Oatmeal, 2 TBSP of the Olive Oil, about 3 TBSP Honey.  I then added about 2 TSP of Vitamin E Oil and about 4 drops of Doterra Lemon Essential Oil.  I stirred it together and then set off towards the bathroom.

On my way I bent down to give my darling Hubby a kiss on the cheek as he was watching the Superbowl and not really paying any attention to me.  He half heartedly looked into my bowl and sniffed at it and asked "Oh!...is that my dessert?!?".  "Ahhhh..no...It's my face mask".  The look on his face was priceless.  I'm pretty sure he thought I was bat shit crazy.

So, off I treck with my concotion in hand with sweet anticipation of how lovely this 'bath date' was going to go.  Bubbles, check.  Candles, check.  Magazine, check.  Facial Cleanser, check.  I climb into the hot tub of water (no, this isn't a 50 Shades of Grey version!), clean my face and then scoop up a generous dollop of loveliness and smear it on my face.  Well, the first 5 seconds were grand.  But after that the stuff started to slide down my face and plop onto my chest.  Hmmm...this isn't going as planned! :0  So, I decided that if I slid down into the water just a tad and arch my head back against the tub that would make my face level with the ground and it would stay put.  That was great idea until I hit the back of my head against the tub.  Ouch!  And, then within minutes it began to look like someone had pooped in the tub! OMG!  Little blobs of oatmeal poop were surrounding me!  Ummm...this isn't as peaceful as I thought it would be!

Not giving in, I scooped up what was left in the bowl and slathered it across my forehead thinking it would eventually slide down to my chin where some of it was supposed to be anyways.  I adjusted some of the mass around my forehead, eyes, cheeks and chin thinking in my head I must look like a woman at the spa...that's what I feel like as it smells sooo good!  ( I paid $100 once to have an oatmeal facial and this felt the same...sort of).  Well, I peeked in the small mirror I had on my bath board and OMG!  I looked nothing like I had envisioned...I looked like a lepper...with LUMPS!  Half my face was where it was supposed to be, the other was very gooey and drippy...I scared myself so badly that I turned over the mirror and decided not to do that again!

I thought that perhaps I should try and take my mind off my slithering face and tried to read my magazine, but every time I went to turn the page more lumps would plop into the water or on my chest. Blech.

I guess if I was stranded on an island and was truly hungry, I could have eaten the mixture as it was made from all natural ingredients and it could be like eating unbaked apple betty, except with bananas.  But of course I would have to get over the fact that it looked like poop.  That was it...I was out.

I made it about 15 minutes and gingerly tip toed over to the shower for a rinse.  The good thing is after getting all clean, it really made my skin very soft.  And...I'm not a lepper after all!

My moral of the story is to keep trying different things...sometimes they just might work.  Or sometimes you might have to tweak them.  Oh ya right...I forgot.  The expensive facial mask was draped in a muslin cloth before it went on my face...I'll do that next time! :)

Have a great Sunday!

Kim

PS...I will be blogging soon about my horse round up foibles, clumbsy mounting skills and a bunch of other funny winter stories ...so keep checking back !