Comments Don't Lie and Mental Telepathy

Surfing.

Commenting.

Surfing some more.

Commenting over and over again.

Then suddenly, I was reassured that having red hair was meant to be...



Comments don't lie.

I thought it was rather funny which is why I saved it, but things like this happen to me all the time.

Back in the day when ignorance was blissful, I went to college. I was doing fine living at home, but Mom insisted that I "go away so that I could meet eligible men and get married."

Silly woman.

I was so lonely.

Really, I was miserable.

In those days, long distance costs were as much as two house payments and a tractor. Of course, the cell phone didn't exist either. Yeah, I was raised in the dinosaur era.

Anyway, when I just couldn't stand being home sick one more minute, I would sit and stare at the phone so that Mom would call me. Most of the time it was in the wee hours of the morning which meant that I would have to wake Mom up from a sound sleep by just thinking loud. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it works for us.

On one of those lonely nights at about 2:00 a.m., I sat staring at the phone willing my mother, who was a thousand miles away, to wake up.

After a few minutes, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

My mother's groggy voice on the other end said, "You just woke me up from a sound sleep. Is everything okay?"

I was thrilled that she picked up my "vibes," but I sure felt stupid for waking her up after she answered. I mean really, I was twenty years old, not five!

My point is not that I have any special powers, however, I have a very strong love for my mother and vice versa. We are "in tune" with one another and just "know" things about each other without being told.

This didn't happen overnight.

It took time. Not just a quantity of time, but also quality time. We have paid attention to each other and listened in order to know each other. As time has passed, those things have simply become a subconscious part of our relationship.

A relationship that is treasured and filled with love.

There's only one way to know each other that well...

You must make a sincere and concerted effort in the good times and the bad. This is true for any relationship not just parent-child. I think that five of the most important characteristics in obtaining this type of relationship is the desire to truly know the person, honesty, willing to listen, unselfishness and love.
.
Do I think it is worth it?

Oh yes.

I love you Mom.

No, it isn't Mother's Day or your birthday, but I thought a surprise post just for you might brighten your day. I know you are having it tough, so hang in there. Many people love and care for you. How can we help it? You are an amazing woman!






The daughter from whom there is no escape (wink),

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Your Criticism - Bring It On!

Should I be blunt? Blunt usually works well for me, so I will give it whack.

• In case you haven't noticed, I was born with red hair. I did not have any say in the matter. In your email you said,"I hate your red hair and wish that you would get it off the header." I'm sorry you feel so strongly, but I must tell you that I'm still trying really hard not to laugh. What do you suggest I use in my header? I mean really, how can you go through life and not love a redhead?! We are an awesome minority and the photo below is proof. Of course, that is purely my unbiased opinion.

Image: source

• Another day and another email stated that, "Your template is so boring. How long are you going to keep it this way? Please change it because I cringe each time I visit your blog." Hmmmm. I almost don't know what to say to that one, but let me try. I created my template and find the colors relaxing, peaceful and I think they rather match my hair coloring. The pictures are larger in my posts and I have plenty of room in the sidebar for all the widgets that mean something to me. If you cringe when you visit, why are you visiting? Are you one of those people who like to bang your head on a wall and then complain that you have a headache? Tsk. Tsk. However I do not want you to worry because your wish is going to come true. I'm working on a new template and I'm not sure if I will use the same colors, but I'm pretty sure my red head will still be in the header.

• The next email was from the very famous Anonymous who forgot to leave a link to their blog. Do you know him/her? The note said, "I am an atheist and find your belief in God almost as silly as fairy tales read to children. Surely a woman as intelligent and witty as you claim to be would see how erroneous your beliefs are and how they hold you back from having a successful life." All I can say to this is that you might want to work on your converting technique because it is a bit rough. I have atheist friends and none of them are rude to me about my religious beliefs. Maybe you should try practicing the rule that I gleaned from the movie Bambie. Thumper is the bunny rabbit and his mother taught him that "If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all." For the record, Anonymous, just ask my mother and she will tell you that I am intelligent and witty.

• As far as the comment, "Be real! No one has a life that is always so happy!" Why do I always get this comment? I'm trying to be p-o-s-i-t-i-v-e because it helps make life h-a-p-p-i-e-r. Obviously, this reader has been living in an internet cave because wasn't it just a few weeks ago I was blogging about my father's death? There was also the terror of my daughter's brush with death a few months ago. To top it all off, today my husband was laid off again. Obviously, degrees on the wall don't override tenure or familial connections within a company. Yeah, it rather stinks like Limburger cheese and I hate the stress. I hope this is being real enough for you. All the weight of earning income for the family is back on my shoulders which hold up the intelligent and witty red head that the first and third Anonymous writers don't like very much. I think, however, there are millions of other families that are financially struggling, so I've got company.
  

Since I am in the midst of making some major changes to my blog and my life, I am reaching out for your personal preferences and opinions about my blog. I won't necessarily use them all, but I want to know the feelings of the vast majority of my readers. I created a poll that you will find in my sidebar. All your answers will be anonymous which will give you the freedom to be brutally honest. If you want to be specific in the comments section, you can do that also. I would greatly appreciate your candor, expertise and opinion.

Oh, I did leave out the spammers that are obsessed with their body parts. Let me just say that if you send me the emails in English, Chinese or any other language, I do the same thing to them that I do to Bella's little piles of poop. Yep, gone forever without examination. Ewwwwww....please tell me that you didn't get a visual of that poop thing.

You did?

Yuck!

I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist the temptation. Just be glad I resisted posting a picture.

Your face all scrunched in disgust is rather funny!

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Go Ahead and Laugh

This post is definitely about me. I'm sure you will get a chuckle or two out of the complete craziness.

Listed below are four fun facts about none other than me. I am participating in a giveaway at Aspire and this post was the requirement, so I thought it sounded like a great idea to tell you a few of the more weird things about me.

1. I didn't like high school. I graduated with honors at the top of my class of over 500 students, but I found the whole high school experience to be boring and socially stressful. I was quite introverted back then and enjoyed reading and watching old movies, so I stayed home a lot and skipped school. Mom always knew about my absenteeism and even gave me her permission, but the Assistant Principal was not ever very happy with me. For some reason it bothered her that missed a total of thirty-six days one year. Doesn't make sense, does it? (laughing hysterically now remembering her face when she asked me if it was really necessary to miss so much school). Children can't do that any more because now schools have "rules" against that kind of behavior. I would have been a great candidate for home schooling!



2. I never leave the house without my makeup applied because I am so pale! As a matter of fact, I also do not open my door for anyone to visit if my makeup isn't on...well, I do let my family visit, but I remain in the house like a mole hiding with my pale face. Hmmmm, a redheaded mole. (no one better say this looks like me!).



3. I do not wear my hair in a pony tail because it makes my head and hair sore. Really! If I put my hair in a pony tail for as little as an hour, when I take it down and move my hair with my fingers, it is sore on my scalp. It might just be the plainness of the style. (Alyssa is rolling her eyes and saying that I am crazy) Maybe I should try one of these ponytails...



4. When I was in elementary school, my shoes were AAA widths. Now they are normal size B's, but back then it was rough finding shoes for a narrow foot. Mom and Dad always had to buy them at a specialty store and I used pads around the back of my heels to keep them on my feet. There wasn't anything hip about my footwear because I had to wear granny shoes!



That was rather fun remembering those silly things and I enjoyed drawing hair on the mole.

I can hear you now Mom...do not try to dispute that the shoes looked like old lady footwear!

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The Hair Lottery

As much as I make fun of my funny second grade picture with my orange hair in a bouffant, I actually do love my hair. When I was younger, it was short until I was around sixteen and then I decided I wanted to try to grow my hair longer. Up until that time, I just knew that if I grew my hair long that it would make my neck too hot. I know that doesn't make sense, but don't forget that I was really nerdy. When I think about all the excuses I had for keeping my hair short, not wear make-up or wear jeans, I can't help but laugh at myself.

Anyway, by the time I finally got pregnant with Alyssa (I was 30 years old), my hair had grown several inches past my waist. I was in love with my own hair! I felt like Rapunzel. The prenatal vitamins made my hair grow even faster and healthier. All thoughts of ever having short hair again went out the window.

A few years later we had to move to Virginia. One of the worst parts about moving to Virginia was having to leave my beautician. I knew he was good and so did the women's who competed in the Miss Texas pageant. I like being able to sit down and not panic about the way I will look when I leave the salon. So my first order of business when we moved here was to find "the" beautician. Someone that wouldn't terrorize me with his scissors every month.

My mom has colored her hair forever, so I figured that when she found someone who could color her hair without making her look like a crayon or burning it off to her scalp, then I would trust them to cut my hair. Mom was the guinea pig!

It didn't take Mom long before she found "the" best beautician. When she got home and I saw her hair for myself, I believed her. So I called him up and made an appointment to get my hair cut with the new guy named "Thomas." I have been going to see him once a month ever since then and I never feel panic at having him hack off a bunch of hair.

Not only that, but Thomas has become my friend. He is a wonderfully talented man with a huge heart. Actually Thomas is an enigma. He cuts and dyes hair all day, and then goes home to rebuild cars, lay floors, and ride motorcycles! Maybe that is why there is never a shortage of beautiful women with him! One thing is for sure...I'm so glad that Mom found him and that I get to reap the benefits of Thomas' cosmetology skills. I almost forgot to mention the head massage he gives when he is washing my hair. Let me just say, I think I won the hair lottery!

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Who Put The Gray Hair In My Eyebrow?

Eyebrows have always bothered me. Since mine are the lightest and palest red, I didn't want to make them too small, but I also didn't want to have giant caterpillars crawling across my face. My eyebrows drive Alyssa, the Plucking Queen, crazy.

I was applying my makeup while looking in the magnifying mirror when I paused. What is that? Could it be? Oh my goodness! It is a gray hair in my eyebrow! How did that happen?! Well, I know how that happened, but I can't believe that age is beginning to creep into my eyebrows! I immediately plucked it out!!!

Now I am obsessed with eyebrows and I begin to compare mine with...


I start to feel better. Those eyebrows are just atrocious and look unkempt, but then I see...


Now I realize I am not even keeping up with someone who was born in 1920. Maybe I should just ignore the gray in my eyebrows. What is this thing with gray hair anyway? Personally, I think these people are very attractive...especially George...


The hair on our heads is made up of a shaft (the colored part) and the root which is surrounded by a tube of tissue under the skin that is called the hair follicle. The hair follicle contains pigment cells which produce melanin and that in turn gives the shaft it's color. When we get older, the pigment cells in the hair follicle dies which means that each hair gets less melanin and thus less color. In this case, less color is white, silver and gray.

Obviously, it is impossible to avoid this process. Men get to go gray with grace much younger than women due to pressure from society. We have all heard it: Men look distinguished and women look old. I don't think that is the case with everyone...Look at Meryl Streep! With the knowledge that my hair is just going to keep on turning gray, I can not continue to pull out every gray hair or I will be bald and without eyebrows! Aging is going to be a funny thing to watch on me because although I am not totally vain, I do have some vanity and gray hair does not fit in very well with the picture of myself in my head.

How exactly do I pluck my eyebrows?

The video in the middle of this page --->Pluck Your Eyebrows does a great job at explaining how to mark your eyebrow for plucking according to your own face.

The following video is basically great all the way around and you can see everything she is doing.


:
I really need to concentrate on getting the shape of my eyebrow "right" before my daughter has a baby cow...LOL. I think I will blow this picture up and put it on the bathroom mirror. She's got red hair and nice eyebrows...


Maureen O'Hara even looks great in black and white. Did anyone ever notice her eyebrows or was it just her big, full lips?


Maybe if I put collagen in my lips no one will notice my brows.


Ouch! On second thought, I think I will just concentrate on the eyebrows.

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The Real Red Is Rare

What do all these crayons have in common?

That's right. They are are all red.

But what about these crayons?

Hmmmm.

I have been the proverbial red-orange crayon. I was born with FLAMING red hair. I was complimented by adults and persecuted by my peers. According to RHCP, there are sixteen different "red" hair colors:

1. metallic
   
2. copper or cupric
   
3. ruddy
   
4. brownish
   
5. strawberry
   
6. fawny
   
7. sandy
   
8. flaming
   
9. orange
   
10. ginger
    
11. golden
    
12. yellow
    
13. straw
    
14. cinnamon
    
15. rust
    
16. carrot

Don't let me lose you because this gets really interesting. Besides, this is REALLY about ME, so be polite and show a little interest (grin). Appealing to my left brain, here is a plotting or mapping of the red hair color.

Do you know one reason why that is truly fascinating? I'm going to tell you. I'm sure that is shocking. (I'm in a funny mood)

Approximately only 1% to 2% of the world's human population has red hair! People with red hair often also have fair skin color, freckles and sensitivity to ultraviolet light. There is a gene called the MC1R that is found on chromosome 16 which is the basis of red hair. This means also that melanin is lower in people with red hair, thus their inability to "tan" and the higher prevalence of skin cancer. That is why I wear sunblock 75 during the summer. Did you even know that they make sunblock 75? Ridiculous isn't it!

So the mutated MC1R cell also does something else that redheads in general do not like to hear, but here goes...The "mutation" in the cell causes the release of the hormone that stimulates these cells and it in turn stimulates the part of the brain responsible for "pain" and the sensitivity to pain. Ugh. That was hard to type! The positive is that everyone in my family who laughs at me because I act like a lunatic when I get hurt, needs to apologize. OBVIOUSLY my pain is REAL and I REALLY CAN'T HELP THAT I HURT AND LOOK LIKE A WIMP. Wow! This is getting me all worked up!

Here are a few facts:

• Contrary to popular belief, red hair is not going to become extinct in the near future. Because of the recessive aspect of the gene, it will be in existence for a long time.
  
• That same recessive aspect means that even if both people do not have red hair, they can still have a redheaded child. This was the case with my parents...both had brown hair. I had a couple grandmothers who had red hair.
  
• All redheads do not have a "fiery" temper. I did. (No comments from my family) I did not like the lack of control that I felt when I became angry, so I purposely worked to improve this trait in myself. I CHANGED! I do not get angry three times a day just "because" as I did in the past. People who know me now can not imagine me ever getting mad. I would say with that statement, I can claim to have successfully killed off the demon of ugly, fiery temper which is now buried. May it ever rest in peace...that was really funny.
  
• Redheads have been worshipped in some time periods and murdered during other eras. Strange how we can be upheld like angels and Gods and yet not soon after, burned like witches, vampires and demons. To set the record straight we are not any of the above although the mystery behind people with red hair is ever present.
  
• Carrot tops are GREEN. Have you ever pulled a carrot out of the garden? Before you pulled it out of the dirt, what color did you see? It was GREEN. You saw leaves. Duh! When we are children, we do not like all those names you think are cute. So if you have a redheaded child, please realize that we have a rough time at school and our peers see us as the perfect target for the brunt of all their bullying. Now that I'm grown, I just love my red hair. It adds to my quirkiness and uniqueness.

The other person in my family who has red hair is my niece, Brittany. I wanted to attach a picture of my hair compared to her hair. As you can see below, they appear to be almost identical in color. My hair is on the left and Brittany's is on the right. Phenomenal.

So compare that with my daughter's blond hair. Talk about contrasting colors!

Did you learn anything? I left out the part that redheads are the kindest, most sincere, highly intelligent, extraordinarily talented people on Earth. Oh come on, don't you believe me?!

So the next time you lose a redheaded friend or family member in a crowd, just stand on something tall and I'm sure you'll spot them quickly. See? There ARE advantages to having red hair!

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