A Day of Menial Accomplishments or Bryce's First Birthday

With hair like mine, I didn’t wash it myself until I was nearing adulthood. Hence, the scene: a head full of shampooed curls and my mother leaning over me in the bathtub breaking her back to complete a task most children my age had accomplished years before. With mom and I occupied by the nest atop my head, the task of keeping an eye on my baby brother fell to my younger sister. If you knew my sister you’d know that this plan was set up to fail from the beginning. My sister, even now as an adult, cannot be relied upon for the most basic tasks because of her propensity for distraction. And at six years old with Rugrats on TV, she was doomed. My mom had poured exactly 1 plastic cup of water onto my head when catastrophe struck (catastrophe in this instance is relative to a mother on her son’s first birthday).

Mom jumped up and ran to assess the situation while I sat watching my feet shrivel in the chilly bath water. I heard plenty of banging and yelling followed soon by my sister appearing in the bathroom informing me that she had allowed our brother to pull his birthday cake off of the table. He had proceeded to play in it and while already in his birthday outfit leaving both the cake and his clothes ruined. All of this occurred while she stood inches from the TV laughing at Tommy Pickles get into a fun kind of TV trouble unaware that she would soon be facing the kind of trouble they do not show on Nickelodeon. Furthermore she informed me that mom was after her, I believe she even uttered the phrase “help me.”

Children who live in solidarity with their siblings have always been heroes to me because in that moment I knew which side I wanted to be on and it was not the losing side of my poor sister. So, because I am my mother’s daughter I called upon a look of disgust and shook my head at her while rolling my eyes to ensure she understood what a disappointment she was not only to mom but to all of us.

Seeing she would receive no sympathy from her big sister, she retreated to her room. In the meantime I was left to rinse my own hair for the first time in my life, my brother still managed to turn 1 despite the lack of cake and my mother’s wrath grew less intense after she threw a chair across the kitchen that day. The mystery of whether the chair was thrown at someone is still heavily debated each holiday when we are together. But overall, that was a day of accomplishments: hair-washing, birthday party, and self-reflection. However, the guilty party accomplished nothing and she will still ignore your every word if there is television anywhere near her. 

Recent Happenings, Crockpot Love and Hair Update

It seems its time for a blog that won't warrant serious discussion. I mean perhaps someone will want to discuss whether or not my hair really is naturally curly. Or whether or not the crock pot makes life too easy. Or someone may want to argue that Virginia is not the most beautiful state in the fall. Okay that last one is taking it a little too far. But please let's put our opposing views aside for this incredibly important post.

Curls

First of all: an update on the curls! (not to be confused with the "girls" cause those are just fine).

Some of you may look at it and think, that poor girl with the mess atop her head. But I look at it and say hallelujah, my curls are back. Granted there are still days I go around like this:

Awkward facial expression and all. Eek. And admittedly I still love my "do-rags" as some would say. Others may say bandanna. I like to call it my Rosie the Riveter look. But all in all I'm pleased with my curls when I take the time to fix them.

Crockpot Cooking

 As things have become more busy with school, observation, and research I'm grateful that Drew has picked up another wife to help around the house. Her cooking is much better than mine and it takes her no time to get cleaned up. Frankly, she makes me look bad. Okay, I kid. But using the crockpot is totally like having another set of hands around here to help with dinner. Tonight she is making us chicken and rice. A couple of days ago she made us spinach dip. In the past couple of weeks she's made tomato basil parmesan soup, white chicken chilli, pulled pork bbq, beef roast and deer meat. Please ladies, do yourself a favor and let someone else do the work. There is nothing better than a crockpot meal on a cold night. Pinterest is full of recipes, I'm thinking of starting a whole board just for those recipes I can put on in the morning and have it ready for me when I get home. I'm much more pleasant when I don't have to come home and still make a "home-cooked" meal and this way we still get good home-cooking and I'm not scowling by the time we finally sit down to dinner. If anyone needs some recipes comment or send me a message I would be happy to share my knowledge to make everyone's life easier.

Recent Happenings

A couple of weekends ago Drew's parents came to visit. We headed to Floyd to Chateau Morrisette winery. It was beautiful and we had a great time and I think Drew's parents did too. We had lunch there and it was delicious. (Their wine is amazing also and I know for a fact they carry it at Food City in Wise so go grab some Wise Countians, just look for the black dog on the bottle).

After lunch we explored the winery and headed to downtown Floyd to the Country Store for some ghost stories.

It's truly like going back in time. I believe with all of my heart that Drew and I will live there one day. If you never visit any other small town in Virginia, make it Floyd. And if you can make it on a Friday night all the better. My Appalachian Geography professor plays bluegrass outside the country store every Friday night. I mean not just him, but lots of people. Even you if you want, take your banjo or guitar and join in.

 I took this pic on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sweet Virginia.

It was a fun weekend and I was glad that Drew's parents got to come for a visit!

 Other happenings have been that I purchased my first bird feeder right before our first snow. We were out buying a propane heater, gallons of water and a Coleman stove in case we lost power. And Drew looked at me like I had 3 heads when I told him we have to help the birds prepare for bad weather too.

 As a bird lover's daughter I know birdies are like people and they love to eat when it snows. It has been out for almost two weeks and I finally saw three eating at it yesterday. The mistake, however, was telling my mom because she immediately quizzes me about what kind of birds they were. And I'm left saying things like "the regular kind" or "small and black" she's never been more ashamed I'm sure.

Other than that excitingness we have just been doing the regular ol' things. My mom asked me the other night if we were "the party house" because we were having people over again. But I love having people here. Granted I have to close off the disaster that is our bedroom right now but I love that people feel comfortable just stopping by or staying the night. So anyone in the mood for a road trip come see us! I hope to have Christmas up in the next week or so, so come one come all. The crock pot will cook us an amazing meal and I will let you fix my hair. It'll be a blast!

Operation: GMCB and life

For those of you who have known me for very long, you know the life-long battle I have had with my hair. I was cursed with blessed with naturally curly hair. I, actually, used to have beautiful curls. However, I have straightened them and straightened them until now I have a fuzzy mess atop my head at all times. When my hair dries naturally it is no longer curly but wavy to a certain point, then straight and very fuzzy.

I recently found, on pinterest, some suggestions for making the most of your curly hair. Admittedly, most of them were things my sister had suggested to me for years and I chose to ignore. But I was inspired. I made Drew hide my straightener and I am in. Whole-heartedly. I have already seen some improvement. But I'm calling this Operation: Get my Curls Back!

This was day one, one week ago. I definitely need to find the products that work best on my hair because the products I had on hand were sub par.

So far the changes I have made:

Not using a straightener. Ever. At All. For any reason.
Not washing my hair everyday.
Rinsing my hair in cold water.
Conditioning! (I never used to do this)
Drying my hair with one of Drew's old T-shirts instead of a towel.

I will keep you posted on the status of my fuzzy mess. I am hopeful that once I find the products I want to use that I can have beautiful hair again. Oh and going home this weekend to get my hair colored to cover the ever-increasing grey. I know that isn't good for my hair but call me crazy I'm not ready to be grey-headed at the age of 23.

In other news, I start school tomorrow! I'm so excited but after 17 years of school, still nervous. I'm feeling better everyday about my decision to do Education. Don't get me wrong, history is still my passion but everywhere I turn I see more reasons to invest in the future of our youth. Watch Waiting for Superman. (you can watch the whole thing on youtube). It makes me want to be back in D.C. like yesterday. My dearest friend in the whole world is in the Mississippi Delta doing her part to bridge the gap and she suggested I watch the movie. I had no idea how hard it would hit me.

 

So, obviously, there are some changes happening around here. In really good news, Drew has been moved to Pulaski which has cut his commute in half! Hooray! He is much happier and so are Ike and I. He gets more sleep and no longer spends more time in the car in a day than he does with us. He is going to be playing softball this fall with Northstar so he's pumped about that. Oh and his boyfriend David is back in town for school so he is happy as a clam.

 

I have been taking Ike to the dog park every day. He has made lots of new friends and is able to run out some energy. He's a bit lazy compared to some of the other dogs and is usually the smallest but he holds his own. Except for when he gets scared and runs over to hide between my legs. He is such a weirdo but I love him. I'm hoping he adjusts to my new school schedule well, he has gotten very used to having me around 24/7.

 

 

That's an update on the happenings here on Bishop Road. Life is changing and moving forward, we're just trying to keep up.

 

 

 

Jesus Never Fails.