U.S.A. part 3: hairdos and raccoons

L.J. continued . . . .

So there were hairdos and raccoons, but not together.  Hmmm . . . where to start: hair? raccoons? hair?

Okay, we'll start with the hairdos.  First of all, my sister, Dawn, is a hairdresser, or as my Little Pickle would say, a Saloner, which she wants to be part time when she grows up when she's not being a mediciner, but I digress.  For the record, not all of these hair dos came from Dawn . . . .

I'm gonna go ahead and start with what I think is the very best one.  Curly Sue's hair as straightened by her 9 year old sister.  I'm just glad that there were no burn marks or singed hair . . . .

And then there's the front . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . .

BAM!  And there it is!  Yes, I strategically put my name on this one because I can't alter her outfit.  You may or may not be aware that prior to our visit, Belly took some scalloped edged craft scissors to her bangs (they were as long as the  back of her hair) and took some kids scissors to one side of her head (yes, the side showing!) . . . how very Posh spice of her.  Anyways, I think the combination of all things considered contribute to the overall beauty of this moment in her life :)  Yes, like mother like daughter with the red lipstick.  She applied it herself!

The heart of the operation happened in the room of a very loving and special teenager who took the time to love on her little cousins even when they were pilfering through her closet, her make-up, her room, her electronic devices, etc.

This was before Aunt Dawn cut off 6 inches of her hair - so straightening it was totally an act of love by a very patient cousin.

Little pickle with crimped hair, cat eyes, ribbons and her cousin's shirt . . .

Then Aunt Dawn stepped into the picture and did some cuts and highlights for some giddy little girls.  Pickle would have gone with purple, but Dawn was saving that for me!

And the little twinkies all highlighted up . . . .

AND then, it was my turn.  This is me post-Harbey (my Dominican hair artist) and pre- Dawn.
I asked Harbey from some "chunky" highlights and I walked out of his saloon blonde, and while I felt better when people told me I looked ten years younger, I really couldn't handle the straw like feel of my hair.

So when Dawn called and said, "I wonder if you might be interested in being my guinea pig and let me put rainbow colors in your hair? I answered "YES!" without hesitation! You see, our arrangement has always been something like this.  You give me  haircuts and color.  I let you do whatever you want to my hair.  Win. Win.  (And secretly, I've always wanted a thick streak of turquoise or fuscia in my hair, so it's not that much of a hard sell for her! Now, the day she wants to give me an updated mullet or something like that, the deals off, but until then, I'm hers!)  And since my hair was already stripped, we just knew it was gonna drink up all the color.

But hair can be unpredictable, and so can new products, and when it was all said and done (the first time) the colors were hardly noticeable.  (Insert pouty face here.)

So, Dawn became mad scientist hair saloner mixing up more color, and I sat nervously watching hair brush more color onto my hair wondering "Where oh where had the hot pink and electric blue gone?"

In the end, I for a brief moment, had a colorful head of hair (but honestly did not notice it myself until I saw this picture! Hey Dawn, I like the green and the purple color, for future reference :)

Now, the raccoons get the bad end of the deal b/c I'm all worn out from all these hairdos.  Here's the short of it.  My other sister, Kim, lives on a lake.  They have raccoons that come around their house at night.  My kids, thrilled by the sight of squirrels everywhere, were even more excited about the possibility of seeing raccoons up close.  So, the trap was set:  dog food on the porch by the sunroom.


Wait for it. Wait for it. Wait for it.

Wake up!!!!!!! Raccoons!