That was then, this is now

One was my mom's when she was a kid -- it's eyes light up, it takes four steps, stops and barks three times, four more steps. We keep him with the Christmas stuff as we have since we were kids. That's probably how he's lasted so long. I remember when we were kids and his paw pads wore through a bit -- my Gram sewed on red felt to fix them.

Lizzie got an ipuppy for Christmas. We had a race -- no contest, ipuppy smoked that old dog. The old dog would have had a better chance if it didn't stop to bark every four steps -- also his legs are a smidge bent and it causes him to walk in a wide circle.

If celebration is any indication, the girls didn't seem to care about age difference -- they took the sweet victory and did a "sweet victory" dance.

The humiliation of Gurty

...Because we can.

My poor neglected blog

I don't even have lights on my Christmas tree yet, but at least I've got the tree. I need to get to wrapping presents so my call to the blog will be brief.

Here's an overheard Lizzie gem from two days ago: "Winnie, I know we were made in mom's belly, but sometimes...sometimes do you ever wonder how we got in there?"

I don't get it

I finally got one of those tourmaline hair dryers I've been meaning to try. I'd read about them in a magazine, and again in a blog post (swishy?).

The claims are: faster drying, shiny hair -- I got the one with optional ion technology for less frizz (optional because maybe some days you want a little frizz). I'm a skeptic, but as much as my kids hate getting their hair dried, I was willing to gamble twenty-four bucks for the chance to shave a couple of seconds off of the drying time.

I don't know about faster time, but the shine thing is for real -- I don't get it. My shopping buddy was laughing at me and what a sucker I was for buying a blow dryer when I already have one. Well, I tried it last night and thought my hair did indeed look a bit shinier and perhaps a bit darker? I couldn't tell you if it dried any faster -- maybe, but nothing significant.

I forgot all about my fast dried, shiny, frizz free hair until this morning when I passed a mirror and I was definitely having a good hair day -- straight out of bed and carried over from last night. My husband thought I must have gotten a new shampoo with the millions I just spent at Origins -- but, "no honey, same old Pantene -- new rock in my blow dryer."

I called my friend at 7:10 this morning to tell her about my shiny hair. She wants me to dry it again, only do each side of my head with the different dryers and send the pictures.
...Maybe I will.

Last comment: Did you know you can buy spray on shine for your hair? You can, and I do (love it!). What's going to happen when I spray the shine on my already shiny hair? I think shepherds will come and bring me gifts, that's what I think is going to happen.

Go tourmaline!

Eloquent Lizzie captures one of the wonders of snow

We live in part of the country that got hit with the big snow yesterday. I knew going to bed Thursday night, that there would be no school on Friday and was looking forward to sleeping in. Lizzie, as usual, had other plans.

She went to sleep with a green lawn outside her home and woke early the next morning to a winter wonderland. A lot of snow had dumped and was set to keep piling up for several more hours -- it truly brought that magical feel to the air.

Old snow can kiss my ass, but the fresh stuff -- what is it? It's so calming, and sprinkled with pixie dust.

As Lizzie marveled at the sight of all that snow, she couldn't quite put together why it meant there would be no school -- she asked, "Are we going to have a snow storm?" I said, "We are having a snow storm right now."
She lost her breath for a moment and her eyes flashed a you gotta be kidding me, that's so cool -- kind of flash, then she took a breath and said in the perfect tone of awe, "I never knew a storm could be so gentle."