It Works!!

This is what I learned today.  If someone in your house calls 911 and hangs up (you know, just to see if someone will answer), then the dispatchers do call back.  Following a call from dispatch, they really do send out officers.  They might even send two officers who park away from you house (so it looks like it's really a problem at the neighbors' house) and walk cautiously toward the door from two different directions - just in case.  And then the officers are really nice when they come to the door and talk to the family.

Just wanted you to know in case you ever wondered if it works.......

A new favorite spot

Call us weird, but Dale and I discovered a fun little restaurant today.  We had lunch at the Serving Time Cafe.  It's a small restaurant in front of the prison at the point of the mountain.  It's one of several industries that is there to give inmates job experience.  I had no idea they did so many things, but the restaurant is just one of their self-supporting businesses.

The food was good, plentiful, and cheap!  And the staff was great.  They serve breakfast all day (Daniel was thrilled to hear of the possibilities), sandwiches, soups, and salads.  I love the premise of giving the inmates something productive to do that allows them to learn job skills.  I love the small, simple atmosphere.  And how can you go wrong with good, inexpensive food?

So, if anyone wants to serve a little time with me sometime, let me know and we can go say hi to my new buddies!

Aforementioned Fire Experiment

Apparently a mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch is the best.  And there is now a much more developed delivery device.  Either way, it's kind of cool to see a big ball of flame fly across your yard. 

Note:  For those of you who think we're crazy for letting him do things like this, we've found that he's satisfied when we let him do most of what he wants and we're in the loop.  If we disallowed it all, I fear he'd be trying things without our involvement.  And most of these fairly safe experiments are pretty fun too!

In the Name of Science

A gathering with our friends, the Lindleys.

A mention by Daniel of something his Physics teachers taught them about how you can use a large garbage bag and a vacuum, and it makes you feel like you are being crushed...... Did we need anything more than that?????

Cheyenne looked like a bat!!!

As a side note to the garbage trick, a sweet little Lindley girl mentioned that she's always wanted to be totally wrapped up in saran wrap.... Did we need anything more than that????

Who knew that once wrapped in saran wrap (or Kirkland wrap from the mother ship), you can slide down the stairs much faster? We didn't - but we do now. Experimentation is such a great source of knowledge.

It's Blogger Time!!

Wasn't there an old commercial that said, "It's Miller Time!" Well, that ad seemed to imply that it was party time. I'm claiming that It's Blogger Time because it's finally time to write something about my life to all my blogger friends! It's kind of like having a party, right?

Let's start with my hair. Yesterday marked the two week mark since I had it done. As far as I can tell, everyone has liked the change. It's been super fun for me! First, no one has ever seen my hair this straight (because it's never been this straight!). For two weeks now, I've been able to blow it dry and have it not take an hour to do it, and blowing it dry pretty much covers it. I haven't had to follow that with hours of straightening. It's been awesome. It's soft, healthy, and so fun to do something different for a while.  So, here it is two weeks after the fact.

Then there's the purple streak. Pretty much, everything has been more fun with purple hair! I love having that little bit of happy streak in my hair. And, frankly, it's been so shocking to people because very few people expected ultra-conservative Cheryl to throw in a little color. Dale is sure it's because I never rebelled as a teenager. However, the truth is that you hardly notice it at all unless you're close to me and my hair is turned just right. In some ways, that's even more fun 'cause it's my little secret happy streak!

Beyond the hair, I'm pretty sure that February and March have been two of the busiest months of my life. Ah, I guess you've heard that before, eh? Some day I'll come to accept that my life is just always busy! In addition to doing the regular things with my kids and doing lots and lots of math, I've squeezed in some other awesome experiences and fun times. Since I clearly have missed my chance to blog about them all separately, let's hit some highlights:

- Trip to Disneyland with only adults (more to come on that later)

- Trip to New York City with a group of Wilde Women (more to come on that one too)

- Trip to Beaver Dam, Arizona to see my mother-in-law and get warm (it was in the 40's and raining the whole weekend)

- Valentine's Day

- Brief stint as a DECA judge for the state high school DECA competition. I got to role play as the owner of a travel agency. It was awesome and I met a few more people in the world.

- Scientific experiments involving flame, vacuums, and saran wrap. Hmmmm... Okay, so those things were used in multiple experiments, not the same one!

- Cross country skiing

- Lunches with friends

- Lots of visits with longtime friends from high school and mission

- A couple of NCAA games to watch BYU get to the sweet 16

- A couple of lunches with my party group of sisters and nieces who make me happy

- Book Club (and all the reading that goes with that!)

- A visit from my mom for a couple of days

- Filing my taxes (bleh, bleh and double bleh!!!)

- And the list goes on....

But, here I am in the second half of March with my health and my family in tact.  We have a job, we have food to eat, and I have way more to be happy about than not.  And to top it off, spring officially started today!!!

Finally, I have to send a shout out to all my friends who have been lurking on my blog.  Thanks for showing yourselves over the hair comments.  It makes me really happy that you are still a part of my life!!!

I dealt with the crisis....

When I look at my last blog post and realize it was in January, I'm a little shocked. February happened at light speed! So, let's talk about February and my hair. Thanks for all the input on what I should do. In the end, I decided to get it colored and cut a few inches off. The cut and color were both good, but the change wasn't dramatic.

This weekend, I went a little more dramatic. Thanks to a recommendation from my sister Cathy, I partook of a Brazilian Blowout! In a nutshell, it's a keratin coating that's put on your hair to make it healthier, less frizzy, softer, etc. So, yesterday I had it done, and I came home with my hair straighter than it's ever been in its life!

The stylist assures me it didn't get rid of my girls, but it will tame them. In the meantime, she used a flat iron and straightened it out section by section. This time the change was dramatic! Oh, and did I mention the streak of purple??? Just a little dream I've had for some time to go to church with purple hair. I'm still a little too conservative to dye it all purple, but the streak is fun!
The fun part is that I didn't get it cut this weekend. This is the cut I've had; it just looks a whole lot different when it's straight.

I don't intend to ever permanently give up my curls - they are too much a part of who I am, but I have to say that the change has been dang fun! And my hair has never felt so soft. Thanks for the encouragement, Cathy!

Midlife Hair Crisis

It's been coming for some time, but this week my midlife hair crisis hit me like a ton of bricks. Perhaps it was seeing that picture I posted of me and Dad where you could see how red my hair used to be. Perhaps it was the acquaintance who yesterday leaned over and said, "You have a lot of gray hair." Perhaps it was even the cute, stylish woman at church who had two little pink extensions clipped into her adorable blonde bob. I don't know all the reasons behind it, but I know it's real.

So, what does a woman do, but turn to her friends. She turns to her sisters, her nieces, her vast readership of blog followers [even lurkers like you, Emmalee (wink, wink)]. I am taking suggestions for what to do.

Do I let it grow longer? Do I cut it shorter? Do I leave it the same and continue to appreciate my 'instant' hair straight out of the shower that many women envy? Do I go more blonde? Do I dye it purple just because I can? Do I go darker with more highlights? The options are endless, right?

Truth is, when I think of the women who read this blog, I have way more faith in your fashion sense than in my own. Please help me! And for you couple of men who read along for fun, I'm definitely open to a male opinion as well.

I can handle it. Be honest. After all, the acquaintance already broke the news about the gray. Daniel has already suggested letting the gray roots grow out longer, then dyeing just the roots dark so it would have black and blonde striped look. I can take it. Let me have it.

I have an appointment scheduled with my hairdresser next Thursday. I'll be taking any and all suggestions until then. In advance, I thank you from the bottom of my follicles.