Bringing Alabama to Mohammad

I was supposed to be on the road to Alabama by this time, headed north to my dearly beloved and a weekend of alone grown up time. Instead I came to the realization that I would be leaving Peyton during the throws of an increased steroid dose and after a few crying fits, realized that it was likely to get a lot worse before it got better and that’s not fair to anyone. Peter and I were both sorely disappointed not to have the adult time…and I mean that in the sense that we could watch shows with swear words and not be asked to referee the argument of the moment…we were looking forward to. The upside is that Pete was planning to come down on Sunday anyway after I left and spend the week working from home and having some time with us. So, instead, he’ll come home Friday after work and surprise the kids with his very appearance! Sort of like the Beatles walking in the front door with lots of screaming and waving of arms.

Wednesday night Nathaniel and I went to the Cure concert. As there has been some questioning of “What Cure concert?”, “Cure what?”, and “Who’s playing at the Cure concert”….I do mean THE CURE…the band…black hair, alternative rock, tall leather boots. You know you’re sadly encapsulated in the cancer world when the word Cure automatically makes people think you’re going to a fundraiser. I also found that I am so not cool anymore. For the love of joe, I wore a bright aqua shirt to the show…I was a pebble of color in a sea of black, black and more black. But the music was fabulous, we were lucky to be invited to see the concert in the hockey suite at the Forum and we got to hang with some always-fun-to-be-with friends. And as a private joke to our friends that attended: I’d like to thank #208 for all the entertainment!

Because the trip north went down the pipes, all the plans for the kids were up in the air. Our great friend David still took Nathaniel for a much anticipated sleepover that would involved nonstop video games, some anime movies, probably a gall stone inducing amount of junk food and then more video games. Peyton did go to Grandma’s for a sleepover tonight, she’s doing great but she does better when she’s got all the attention. She is even so cheeky as to admit it to Grandma that “I like coming over, when it’s just ME!” We have to be so careful that she doesn’t develop her own gravitational pull, seeing as how the world revolves around HER. This left Rachael and I free to indulge in all the fun girly stuff we’d been unable to do since school let out.

We spent the whole night at the mall, she got her nails painted and little flowers are now artfully displayed on those proud little fingers. She agonized over every shopping choice as the gift cards she held burned through her pockets. For some mysterious reason she has no problem spending our money, but it had to be THE item when it was her money. Heaven forbid there’s a murder at the mall and they do any sort of fingerprinting because I think she handled every single item in every single store. I am sort of a grab-it-and-go shopper, I usually have something very specific in mind and if I don’t find it I get out. Rachael is a BROWSER, she’ll linger over a rack for 20 minutes, and just about the moment I can feel my eyeballs start to pulse in impatience she’ll move to the next rack…to begin the torture all over again. But she was all aglow from the shopping high and the one on one time that is precious little these busy summer days. I can’t tell you how many time she just put her hand in mine and grinned great big at me, so happy to have all the attention and to not have to share me with anyone.

I have found that I am occasionally guilty of product placement in this site. Sometimes it’s the course of telling something that happened in our day and sometimes its because something THRILLED me so greatly that I feel if you don’t run out and immediately take advantage of whatever it is your life will be lesser for it. This is one of those moments.

This morning I had two appointments, one to get my hair done and the other was an ob/gyn stop….which one of my friends found hysterical.

“Do you always get your hair done before you go see the OB?”

“Hey, any time someone’s getting that close to me, I feel it’s important to look nice.”

But while my OB is a very nice person, I have found the most fantastic hair guru! I mean, seriously, he found my NATURAL color…up there in the realm of the HOLY GRAIL and JIMMY HOFFA! But I take things like the time given to get my hair done very seriously because it’s very infrequent that I take just-me time and it had better be good. This, my friends, is my gift to you…the name of the man who can do amazing things with your hair color and fix a cut that is just never-quite-right…Stephen Chappellie! Feel free to email or call for a phone number so you too can feel the joy!

And in parting, I just want you to leave this post with a smile. I love Youtube and all that it enables, and several times over the past couple of years this video has crossed my email and I laugh like it was the first time all over again. Enjoy!

The Evolution of Dance

f.r.o.G.
–Anissa