Hair

T-MINUS 1 DAY!!!!

I charged through yesterday on only two hours of sleep, desperate to be so exhausted that I'd crash at the end of the night. That didn't happen. My brain has been working overtime lately; and since that's a new condition for me, I didn't fall asleep until about 10:00. Then my eyes sprung open at around 2:30, not 4:00 as I wanted. So I laid in bed, with my iPhone (exactly the wrong thing if you remember the factoid from yesterday) and turned my radio on very quietly. I finished turns at Words Free, (awesome game!) and Scramble (awesomer game!) then jotted down a few ideas so they wouldn't run screaming from me. I also read a few chapters of The Long Drunk by one Eric Coyote. This is a delightfully original whodunit about a homeless man who endeavors to solve a murder in a week that the police can't, so he can get the $25,000 reward to pay a vet to save his dog who was hit by an SUV AND has lymphoma. He emailed it to me after seeing my review of American Psycho on Amazon (and I penned that years ago!) He was understandably bowled over by my insights and asked me to review his book. I'm not yet finished, but the review will be positive.

Then at 5:00 I rolled out of bed - just after Ben gave me the bright idea of starting a FB page specifically for this blog, since I griped to him about someone who groused about my ode to Howard Stern yesterday - I'll address that in a minute.

Despite yesterday's assertions regarding my vampiric state, I managed to grab a nap this afternoon. After I put Shiloh down for her nap I started typing today's gem. I couldn't stop yawning and my eyes were slamming shut as I sat the table. Maybe I was tired enough to get some daytime ZZZZ's after all? I was. I got about forty-five minutes of ZZZZs (anyone know how that came to represent snoring, anyway? Never heard a snore that sounded like that...) Then I laid in bed awake for a half an hour listening to local analysis of the Romney-Obama-Santorum-Healthcare-blahblahblah, missing Howard even more... Then I stumbled to get Shiloh from her crib in that quasi-zombie state reserved for waking up after a 45 minute nap, came downstairs and got more COFFEE!

So while completely immersed in properly conveying Howard's awesomeness, it had completely escaped me what a polarizing figure he can be. While I find him entertaining to the nth degree, many do not. There were some comments yesterday intonating that Seal Team 6 should track him down, take him out, then dump him in a watery grave ala Bin Laden. Then this person wouldn't have to breath the same air as him. I think this type of reaction to any celebrity/entertainer - that horrible, bloated windbag Rush Limbaugh included - requires way more energy than it's worth.

I understand that some people just incite passionate responses in individuals and I don't expect that everyone agrees with me. I welcome to differing viewpoints - it's more fodder, plus I actually enjoy seeing things from another angle. However. Just spewing hateful venomous statements and then doing that obnoxious written yell (ALL CAPS) is not enlightening. So I deleted the offending comments and de-friended said person. That's right. I de-friended. When I told Ben about this he suggested I start a FB page for the blog (since I've gone to Twitter and Google+ and another blogging website to promote this, I can't believe that I didn't think of that myself! But that's one of the myriad benefits to this husband o mine - he can show me something obvious hiding in plain sight.) He also had to throw in that I shouldn't de-friend anyone from MM FB page for a not agreeing with me (duh!) If you don't agree with me and feel the need to - do tell! But please, for the love of God, and your own lives (channeling Bill Murray in Scrooged here), don't dump brain droppings of hateful turds all over the place.

Moving forward.... Since my ultimate goal is to please, today's posting is about as uncontroversial as a subject can get. Hair. 

http://www.freakingnews.com/Trichophobia-Fear-of-Hair-Pictures-27743.asp
Love the internet! Just typed into Google "pics of hair"

I added a photo of myself (no not the hand hair!) If you look to the right and click on the teeny picture to blow it up (that's my awesome cuz with me just before we went out to paint the town red) you'll see my haircut. I LOVE it! My mental telepathy is kicking in again. You're thinking, "Of course you do, Meghan! It's fabulous!" And you're right. It is. But I have my even more fabulous hair stylist to thank for it. And my hair is now burgundy, not black. I've spent the last six months growing out the black hair dye. I will have a new pic taken tomorrow before I go to meet Giada - I'll need to doll myself up as best I can! (Everyone say a prayer, or whatever you do, for my friend's daughters! There is a danger she might not be able to go with me because one of her adorable girls is sick. I'm going no matter what, but a solo trip isn't as bright and shiny as one shared. Since I am a Chatty Cathy, I should be able to find someone in line who's ear I can talk off since this voice of mine won't shut up!)

I cut all my hair off in Augustish... It had grown halfway down my back - longer than I'd ever had it before - and I was D-O-N-E - DONE! I actually scheduled the appointment after Mom, in her infinite wisdom, informed me that I was getting on in years and the black would look ridiculous before I knew it. I did try dying it back to red a few years ago, but the black dye had permanently stained my hair and the bleach wouldn't lighten it. And I wasn't ready to cut it all off then.

So while I now have a fabulous haircut thanks to my stylist and a cool color, courtesy of Loreal Feria in Blowout Burgundy, I will throw in the wrench. I HATE my hair. Its normal color is a dishwater brown. It's super-fine which means long is not an ideal state. I ALWAYS wanted long hair growing up - like my younger sister's. I've always been jealous of her hair. She has the best hair. It's this beautiful, rich red that cascades down her back in gorgeous swirling ringlets. She spends years growing it to her rear and chops it off to donate it to Locks of Love. When I had my hair chopped it was actually long enough to donate and I did. When I saw the pittance my stylist was holding I couldn't imagine how that was going to make a wig.

Segue back in time - when I was in second or third grade, Mom said that because my hair was so fine it would never look good straight; so it was constantly permed. Anyone who remembers me from St. Francis knows that I had quite the poof of Little Orphan Annie curls. It was about eighth grade when I realized, "It's my hair and I'll do what I want!" Ahhhh! Freedom! And as soon as that realization dawned on me, it was beginning of my life of hairstyle-changing bonanzas. First the Orphan Annie perms changed to spiral curls and eventually went the way of dishwater - out. And at Mom's suggestion, I started dying it red. In the 9th grade, after I had my hair straightened it was all frizzy and dull. A girl I'd befriended who knew her way with make-up and hair introduced me to (drum roll....) a curling iron!! She brushed out my hair and curled the ends under and it was a whole new me! My very own,  She's All That, ugly-high-school-girl-gets-a-make-over moment! It was a revelation.

I found a box of pictures recently and some of the photos are at least twelve years old. And in some of them I have blonde streaks in the front and no bangs. Others my hair is completely red, and ends at my chin with blunt bangs. My look has changed so much over the years. Ben's brother called it my "hairstyle of the month". And now that the black is gone, I can try all the shades of red again. It's awesome to have a plethora tools at my disposal to shape the protein strands sprouting from my skull into something I adore!

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

Tonight's Giada creation is baked Baked Angel Hair Timbale. 'Round here we like to call it a pasta pie. This is definitely a dinner to make on the weekend if you work all day. Some effort and time is required. Also since I can never find Japanese eggplants, I substitute zucchini and summer squash.  The first time I made it the puff pastry stuck to the sides of the spring form pan, tearing when I popped the sides so the viscera spilled out. Tuesday night I made it and remembered to spray the pan with Pam before dropping the puff pastry in. Everything came out perfectly. Ben brought it into work and the guys he shared it with loved it! Yay me!! Spreading the love, I tell you!!