Why I Am Afraid of a Salon

google image...hair designs.

In May, I started a 31-day-to-a-cuter you...trying to revive my extremely-needed, painted, 50-year-old barn...ie. me! (click to see past post)

The years of neglect and advancing age had caught up to this old mule..."well, she ain't what she use to be" could be echoed in my house. Strolling towards the new me....exercise, clothes, make-up and hair...the train left the track and went down a side road of moving.  Needless to say, everything was de-railed.

So, trying to hop back on the train and pick up something other than the real paint brushes being used in my new home, I decided to address one of my biggest procrastinations...the much-needed attention area of...... myself.

Hair

I know you are now wondering if I even possess the female gene...I do, but here is why I hate going and having my hair done.

1. I never know what would  look good on me or what I want.  So I arrive early enough to explain that I have no idea what I want and that any resemblance of my past cut is gone.  Since every time I find someone I like, she moves or something. This means this new stylist doesn't have a clue either and she hands me the BOOKS.

Channel -Bird's Nest - the hair cut name...google image

1. Now if those pictures aren't scary enough for a 50-year-old, home school mom...well, wanting to cover up their half clothed bodies is.
2. My next big scare is the price....I mean it costs the amount of a car payment...totally insane in my book, and I just think about everything else I could get for that price.....I am a cheapskate when it comes to my hair.
3. Getting there on time... having someone to keep my little one....traffic...well, that isn't relaxing...I will address the road rage on the way to my appointment in my next post.

I had to eat most of my excuses because the pictures from the circus told it all....my hair looked horrible.  My precious daughter calls and says she will pay for 1/2 as my Mother's Day gift and she gives me the name of a stylist and salon to go to....one she uses.

I arrive wiping off tears.....tears caused by an individual's road rage... addressed in a separate post. 

I sat down to a very quiet stylist, pulled out my picture and sheepishly said,  "Will this work on me? Am I too old for this cut?"  "No, the cut is fine but forget getting your hair that color." is her informative answer.  "I didn't pick it for the color, I picked it for the cut"...yelled my nervous, internal conversation.

She starts to work...I look up at the mirror...as 3 to 4 inches are following to the ground... and I see the sign:

ONLY CHECKS OR CASH

I have neither...only my debit card.  While she is starting my coloring, I get the courage to explain I will have to go get cash at the ATM after she is finished.....silence!!!

All of a sudden she speaks, "you have the most WICKED grey hair I have ever seen! I have dealt with grey hair for years and I'm a teacher and have NEVER seen this in the books. Hey!  Come over here and see her grey hair!!"  Now I am feeling like an alien!!! The description of my grey hair is that it is striped.  Yes, STRIPED.  It is grey, black, grey, black....like a zebra all the way down my hair strand! Who knew?

An hour and 1/2 later, I come out looking great, with my zebra-striped grey hairs colored. There is an extra bounce in my step until...................... I hear what I owe and go into sticker shock while running to the car to the ATM.

Every person in Denton, Texas was lined up at the ATM!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Each car had multiple people using the ATM....can you say nervous?

I get back to the salon with the amount of a small loan in cash to give my stylist, who is outside waiting to go home!!!!!!!!!!!  She says thank-you and leaves.  The guilt starts crawling in over the money spent. I call my hubby...who reassures me that it is all worth it. He knows me...I am not a spender, and he also knew what my hair looked like.  He wants his wife to look nice, so he calms my fears.

Now you know part of my story on why getting myself back in some type of order is such an ordeal.  I have to admit...I love my hair, I feel pretty and in the long run, no one in my household is going to go to bed hungry...but I still will try to find a cheaper place next time and save the difference for more blinds in the house.

Step one of painting my barn and getting back on track has been accomplished.  Now further work is needed and I am encouraged to start my workouts (inside, thank-you at 108 degrees) tomorrow. There comes a time to take time out and make oneself feel and look better....I think my time is now.

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library?  ~Lily Tomlin

Back Off, Stand Down, Get Out of the Way!

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How you ever felt God was using a megaphone to get your attention?  You innocently enter into His presence and before you know it you are hearing Him loud and clear. At these times I might be caught speaking back in audible voice.  This recent devotional just seemed to "yell' at so many areas of my life I had to share it...along with the images that came to mind as I read. Bold letters indicate the megaphone voice I heard. These images are not intended to take away from the magnitude of the message, they are just reminding me "loud and clear" that the Lord means business in so many areas of my life.  No God didn't yell...He just tenderly said, "lets get this message very clear...I am the one in control."


My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers

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He comes where He commands us to leave.  If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself.  When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way.  Watch when you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands.  If you say, "I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here," it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says.

google image...make my duct tape in pink please

He teaches where He instructs us not to teach.
"Master....let us make three tabernacles..." (Luke 9:33)
Are you playing the part of an amateur providence, trying to play God's role in the lives of others?  Are you so noisy in our instructions of other people that God cannot get near them?  We must learn to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert.  God wants to instruct us regarding  His Son, and He wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration.  When we become certain God is going to work in a particular way, He will never work in that way again.

google image....Time to Cut Apron Strings

He works where He sends us to wait.
"...tarry....until..." ( Luke 24:49)
"Wait on the Lord" and He will work (Psalms 37:34). But don't wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can't see one inch in front of you!  Are we detached enough from our own spiritual fits of emotions to "wait patiently for Him"? (37:7)  Waiting is not sitting with folded hands doing nothing, but it is learning to do what we are told.

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These are some of the facets of His ways that we rarely recognize.

I want to recognize the many facets of my Lord's ways....so I am going to Back Off, Stand Down, Get Out of the Way, and wait patiently in obedience.

Do Everything to His Glory!

Happy August!

This is usually our month for our hottest weather, time for getting ready for school, finishing up our summer and looking towards fall.

So today I send you this video to encourage you that no matter what August holds 

for you and your family....

Whatever You Do It All Matters

Do Everything that You Do to the Glory of the One Who Made You!!

Make Him Smile....Tell the Story of His Grace

I pray you will take the time to listen and read the lyrics...I believe it will bless your day - Hugs!