Comparisons

Well since I've cut my hair, I've been told 10 times how much I look like Jamie Lee Curtis. It happens every time I cut my hair.

What do you think?


Image courtesy of Wire Image



Do you look like anyone famous?

Hair, The Musical

Let's just put it out there - I have good hair. Its the one thing about myself that I am vain about. I used to hate it but give me some good color and a good cut and I love it.

The cut and color are so good right now that I get stopped on the street and complimented about my hair. People have even taken pictures of it to show their hairdresser. It was better than someone complimenting your outfit. Your hair is a part of you, it is who you are. I was the girl with the cute blond(ish) bob.

Which is going to make what I'm about to say sound weird. Yesterday I cut it. I cut it all off.



Why would I do that if I am so vain about my hair? Because I also have a short attention span. I want change. I've changed jobs a lot (since graduating from law school 10 years ago I've had 9 jobs). But the easiest thing to change about yourself is your hair. You can color it, cut it, grow it out and do it all over again.

I was born with blond hair that grew into beautiful little waves. Then when it turned darker, my mom cut it short (boy short). Then I had a Dorothy Hamil and several million perms (what was I thinking). I started leaving it strait and it looked much better. It was short (really short), it was long. I also experimented with color, blonde, red, brown (my natural color, I think) and combinations of all of them. I always wanted pink streaks but never got them, maybe next time.

I discovered my safety zone is a bob with bangs. I had it in college, in law school, when I got married and recently. I know I'll always go back to it. But it doesn't stop me from trying new things.

So yesterday, I cut my hair short. It looks great. Its much easier to do. But I know that within the year I will start to grow it out and start all over again.

Of Trucks and Ants

First a little housekeeping. Don't forget to enter the 101st post contest. Just leave a comment here for a chance to win some lovely earrings from my Etsy shop.

Now on to our regularly scheduled post.

Oh the things that will fascinate and occupy a toddler for hours. Yesterday some crews were chopping down a tree on our street. When we returned from gymnastics, we found trucks and machines and men doing all sorts of work. Bunny stood stock still and screamed "Trucks, mommy."

So we sat down on our front porch to watch the show. There was a Bobcat thing with a claw/shovel that would pick up the already chopped branches. It would then carry them to a wood chipper. The wood chipper would chop them up and spray the chips into a waiting truck.

Bunny watched this for at least a 1/2 hour. She was fascinated. She kept asking questions which I answered to the best of my ability. I was a little distracted. All I kept thinking of was Steve Buscemi (name that movie for 5 points).

Well after they had cleaned up the branches and loaded the machines on the truck, I thought it was time to go inside. But no. By that time, Bunny had discovered a colony of ants living in a crack on one of the front porch steps. "Oooo a colony" she cried (yes she knows its a colony of ants, she loves bugs almost as much as dinosaurs).

So we spent the next 1/2 hour sitting on the porch looking at the ants. At first she tried to feed them leaves. But then she settled in watching them carry things to and from the colony. She would crouch down real low to get a good look, just staring. Then she would get up and move to a different location to get a better view.

Oh to be two again and be fascinated by the simplest of things.

In Dreams

Sometimes I wake up (am woken up by a cat) early in the morning. Its too early to get up so I try to fall back asleep. I've been using this deep breathing method that really seems to do the trick.

But rather than falling back in to a normal sleep pattern, I feel like I'm in this half dream/half reality world. Sounds from the waking world, like a cat's meow or a car driving on the street weave their way in to my dreams. Dream conversations feel so real that I am convinced they actually happened.

In my dreams Bubs and I had a conversation about new park I discovered with a wading pool. He told me he took Bunny and ran into our neighbors. Bunny and Elvis ran splashing through the pool while Bubs and Michael had a conversation about pre-school. It was so real it had to have happened. Right? But when I asked Bubs about when he would have gone since we just went for the first time yesterday, he looked at me like I was nuts.

In this dream/reality world, I also find that real events or conversations are re-imagined. An Obama campaign meeting now takes place with a dinosaur, my third grade teacher and Brett Farve. It didn't happen, but I wish it had. It would have been more interesting that way.

Normally I don't remember my dreams which is why these dreams have such an impact on me. What about you? Have you had dreams that felt so real you were convinced they actually happened.

Say My Name, Say My Name

There was a moment this morning, just a 10 minute window, in which Bunny and I said the other's name 1,000 times. Maybe it was more, maybe it was less but the names were said a whole lot.

Now any parent can relate to this. Your child will call out for you for a multitude of reasons. Mommy (where are you) Mommy (I'm hungry / thirsty), Mommy (I want something), Mommy (I can't find my toy/shoes/book/anything even though it is right in front of me or right were I put it), Mommy (I need you), Mommy (I need help), Mommy (I want to annoy you). The best is Mommy (I love you).

Because you are their parent, your child expects you to drop whatever you are doing and answer their call. The world revolves around them. If you do not answer right away Mommy becomes MOMMY, becomes MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY, becomes MOOOOOOOMMMMMMMYYYY.

Now there is the flipside to this. As a parent you utter your child's name repeatedly through out the day. Bunny (where are you), Bunny (come eat/drink) Bunny (you need to do something), Bunny (come pick up your toy/shoes/book/anything I'm getting sick of stepping on them), Bunny (don't do that), Bunny (stop what you are doing immediately), Bunny (time for a time out), Bunny (listen to me, for the 100th time, listen to me). And yes the occasional Bunny (I love you).

And because you are their parent, your child ignores your call. The world revolves around them and frankly they have better things to do than listen to you. If they do not listen right away Bunny becomes BUNNY, becomes BUNNY, BUNNY, BUNNY, becomes BUNNY MIDDLE NAME, becomes BUNNY MIDDLE NAME LAST NAME.

Its no wonder children learn their names so early.

101

This post is my 101st post on this blog.

When I started this blog a little over three months ago, I had no idea what it would be. At first it was just going to be a way to document Bunny's life and share pictures of her. It was really meant for friends and family.

I had/have another blog that I sometimes posted in. It was mainly for my jewelry busines but I talked about my life there. I figured that I would keep that blog going for myself and this blog would all be about Bunny.

But I learned something, Bunny is my life. I can't really seperate one from the other. She has shaped how I view the world, how I react to situations. It seemed more appropriate to talk about things here.

I started my other blog in 2006 and I never was really comfortable blogging there. I'd ignore it for long stretches of time. In fact in two years I've only posted there 98 times. 101 in three plus months or 98 times in two years, no contest as to which one I care about more.

I shared my other blog with the Etsy community. But I never got the same sort of reaction to it as I've gotten from you all on this one. Perhaps that is why this blog has become my primary outlet, because of you, my readers.




So in celebration of my 101st post on But Why Mommy, I am going to give away this pair of earrings from my Etsy shop. All you have to do win is leave a comment. Tell me how you found me, what you like about this blog, if you think I'm nuts or whatever you feel like telling me. I'll keep the comments open for a week and the winner will be announced on August 11.

The winner will be chosen at random. Well actually it will be chosen by assigning a number to your comment. The number will then be chosen out of a hat by Bunny or her father should Bunny decide to dump the numbers out, choose multiple numbers or in anyother way act like a 2 1/2 year old. On second thought the winner will be chosen by Bubs.

Further Proof I Need My Head Examined

Just a few days ago I wrote a post about being overwhelmed. I was tired, cranky (hormonal) and I just didn't think I could deal with having a toddler who didn't nap. So my mom took Bunny for a few hours on Wednesday and then again on Thursdays like she normally does. This gave me a chance to recharge my batteries, to get some things done without a toddler hanging all over me and apparently to lose my ever-loving mind.

It all happened so simply. On Wednesday after dropping Bunny at my mom's, I went and had coffee. Then I went to get the oil changed on my car. I waited in line for a while and by the time I got in, I was bored. I sat there playing Tetris on my phone when all of a sudden the phone rang. It was my friend Janet.

We hadn't talked in a while so we caught up. She works for the Alliance Francaies and was telling me all about the Bastille Days festival she had helped work on. Blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda. And then she hit me. She said they were putting together a committee for their Beaujolais Nouveau release party in November and she wanted to know if I'd be on it. There'd be meetings, planning, organizing, finding donors for the auction and helping get new people to the event.

It sounded like fun. Something I totally would have done pre-Bunny. So I said yes and then immediately regretted it. How can I give up my time? I don't have any time. But then I talked myself back into it, I'd be meeting new people, spending time away from Bunny with adults, there was wine involved. So it was a good thing. Right?

Which lead me to my second and slightly larger problem. I had already decided to do some volunteerinig for the Obama campaign. I used to be involved in politics right after college and loved it. I feel passionately about Obama and wanted to do something about it. So on Saturday I went out on a voter registration canvass. At first I didn't want to do it but ended up having so much fun.

When I got back to the office, they asked me if I would become involved in a team. The team would be responsible for one aldermanic ward, canvassing, phoning and general organizing. The ward was in my neighborhood so I said yes.

Yesterday I went in to the office to find out further details. It would be about 10 hours a week starting in late August. The time would be flexible around your schedule. The more we talked, the more I thought I can do this. And then he asked if I would be the team leader. He said you are a mom, you're used to dealing with "difficult" people, I think you can do this. By the way it would be an extra 15 hours a week. I almost said yes. But then I thought better of it and said I'd think about it.

So in 4 days I went from feeling like I had no time to get anything done to volunteering my non-existant time to two organizations. I need to get my head examined.