Month 6 Of Growing Out The Pixie...

Ok...so here we are...Month 6.

This is what your hair looks like when you go TOO long without a trim.

This is what happens when you are snowed in for two weeks and put off your haircut. 

My hair is looking really shaggy and unkempt right now.

However...this does give a really good indication of how much it's been growing. 

Even from Month 5 to Month 6 there is QUITE a bit of difference!

That is the whole reason I am taking pictures and putting them on this collage...

So that "I" can see the progress.

Every time I cut my hair short, and then decide to grow it back out...I give up.

But I am not going to do it this time.

I'm using my BioSilk shampoo, conditioner, and treatment.

I'm using Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Renewal.

I'm taking Biotin supplements.

I think it's all working!

I'm headed in for a "mullet trim" today.

Gotta get that shag off my neck.

Trying to work on evening out the back with the sides!

We're getting there!

Frozen and Buried...

 We ventured out to the mall last night to look for a shirt and tie for my son's upcoming WinterFest dance at school.  We pulled into the parking lot and my youngest son said, "Where's the mall?"  No joke.  The mounds of snow are SO big and SO high that you literally couldn't see the mall from your car.  My hubby said, "They could literally film a movie here and people would think they were in the arctic."  It was a very weird feeling.  It was so dark and dreary...and the snow started coming down again...the wind picked up.  All of this snow and frigid wind chills (-20s and -30s)...it's really starting to get to people.

 A client of mine said, "You know, I consider myself a pretty positive upbeat person.  But this is really starting to get to me."

 It's just day in and day out.

 It has snowed EVERY...SINGLE...day.

 The wind chills have been anywhere from -12 to -30 over the past couple weeks.

 You can't go ONE day without plowing, snowblowing, or shoveling your driveway.

 You just can't catch a break.

 I have always said that I don't mind winter because I work from home.

I don't have to fight traffic or worry about the bad road conditions.

 But I have to say...it's even starting to get to me a little too.

 I mean, it's a major chore just to run an errand.

 I've been putting off a haircut for weeks because I don't want to get out in the mess.

Well...as they say...this too shall pass.

I'm just counting the days until my little spring getaway to the south.

We'll make it through this together!

My Grandma Hicks...

January 28 was my Grandma Hicks' birthday.

Isn't she pretty in this picture?
She reminds me of Snow White or some 50's pin-up model.

She passed away several years ago.

My Grandma Hicks was a spunky lady.

She was...full of it.

She said what was on her mind and didn't hold back, that's for sure.

My cousins, sister, and I had a lot of good times at her house when we were younger.

All of us grandkids used to spend the night at her house together.

I don't know how she put up with all of us at the same time.

It was wild.

She was a good cook.

She worked in the school cafeterias for years.

She made great fried chicken, mashed potatoes and cream gravy, and homemade yeast rolls.

I remember some of the few times I was at her house alone as a child, she and I made rolls together.  We'd take up the whole kitchen table.  There would be flour flying everywhere.  I know I made quite a mess flinging flour everywhere, but she didn't care.  She'd just say, "Oh Mel, we've got such a mess to clean up" and we'd keep on "working".  She also made great pies.  I loved her cherry pies.  I don't think I've had a cherry pie as good as my Grandma's.  Maybe that's why I don't eat cherry pie anymore...I haven't found one as good as hers'.

She always watched Magnum P.I. in the evening.  She used to tell me and my sister that he was her "boyfriend".  She'd fall asleep in her chair before moving to the bedroom.  We kids always slept on the pull-out couch.

All of us cousins had the greatest times playing out in her yard.  We'd play tag, Red Rover, and so much more.  We would pick clovers and tie them together and make "crowns".  

My Grandma and Grandpa had seven kids...5 girls, 2 boys.

When we'd get together at the house for holidays, birthdays, and cookouts...it was standing room only and the food was plenty.

It was quite a production when we were all at her house...my aunt who had a knack for "doing hair" would start giving haircuts and sometimes one or two would even end up with a perm while there.

People were always "stopping in" at my Grandma's house.  You were always welcome.

My Grandma crocheted and quilted.  All of us grandkids ended up with crocheted toys and lovely quilts from Grandma.

In addition to the house she lived in...my Grandma had another house, in the "country" where we could go to "get away".  She always had a big garden there when my Grandpa was living.  When my sister and I would go down to "the county" with them, she and my Grandpa would go across the gravel road to work in the garden and my sister and I would sit on the screened-in porch on the porch swing and play...and wait for them.  After we got bored, I would start yelling for her..."Graaaaaaand-maaaaaah!"  "Graaaaaaaand-maaaaaaaah!"  I would do this until she'd come back with several baskets of vegetables saying, "What is the matter girl?"...to which I'd reply, "We're bored."  She would roll her eyes and hand us a bushel of green beans.  "Here.  Start snapping these.  Now you're not bored."  My sister and I loved snapping the beans.  Well, I did.  I don't know about my sister.

Her bathroom always smelled of Avon perfume...Sweet Honesty I think it was called?

I always referred to it as "Granny Perfume"...but I tell you...to this day I can pick that out if someone is wearing it and it reminds me of Grandma.

We always had so many fun times with my Grandma...She never let us go without a hug and a kiss.  I look forward to seeing her again in Heaven...maybe we'll make some yeast rolls together!

I don't remember this much snow...and this cold...in...EVER!

 In all of my adult memory...

I don't think I ever remember a winter having this much snow.

We just can't catch a break.

We usually get a dumping...then the roads are clear and it's cold...and that's winter.

We may get another dumping...the roads are cleared and it's cold...and that's winter.

NOT THIS YEAR!

It is one dumping after the next after the next!

See that county plow truck up there?
Something I've NEVER seen in my life...HE GOT STUCK!

Not once...but TWICE!

That's how bad it was today.

 It snowed and snowed and snowed.

And not only did it snow.

It blew and blew and blew.

It drifted and drifted and drifted.

There is no separation between our yard and our driveway.

It looks to be about 3-4 feet straight across.

 Our mailbox is nearly covered.

We'll have to dig out at least a little peep-hole to the mailman can find the door.

The mailbox is the EDGE of our driveway...or where it's supposed to be.

See what I mean?  You can't even tell that's the driveway.

It looks like the yard just keeps on going.

 This is a terrible picture...but you can see the snow if up to the windows.

 More snow up to the windows...

 Where the walkway used to be...

 I have to say...as much as everyone complains about the snow.

I honestly don't mind it.

Granted, as I said before...I've never SEEN or EXPERIENCED this much, even in all my years in Michigan.  But I really don't mind it.  I guess it's because I work from home and don't have to get out in it.  The only time I mind it, is when it screws up my plans.

And it IS very beautiful.  Look at it on the pine trees.  How can one think that isn't beautiful!

 It snowed pretty much all day off and on.

We still haven't plowed our driveway.

More beauty...

And the temperatures...I've never, except this year, felt such extremes.

Wind chills have been -20 to -30 many days!

Brrrr!

But like I said, these are the days I'm grateful I work from home.

What's the weather like where you live?

Grandma Malone...

I was reminded today on Facebook by my Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Marcia's posts that my Grandma left this earth for her Heavenly home 12 years ago. Wow, doesn't seem that long ago.  She was so much fun! 

She was the best cook...coconut cake, fried potatoes, homemade soups!  One time we were eating vegetable soup at her house and my dad found a rubberband in his soup!  He held it up and said, "Mom what's this?"  She chuckled, grabbed it, and said, "Well, how'd that get in there?!?"  LOL!  

I used to spend the night at her house and she'd make me frozen pizzas and 7-Up (our favorite) and we'd watch Wheel of Fortune together. We'd then ride the bus the next morning & go shopping "downtown" St. Louis.  She'd take me to the "big department stores" and we were both very hesitant on the escalators.  We'd hold hands and she'd say, "Ready? GO!"

 She loved her baseball.   She was hilarious to watch when she'd get to "hooting & hollering" for her St. Louis Cardinals!  She'd jump up and down and yell!

  She was funny.  I remember her saying to my parents, even when she was older, after cooking a big meal she'd say that she was going to share the leftovers with her "elderly" neighbors. 

I loved that she always had her hair "done" and make-up on...maybe that's why I am the way I am today with my LOVE of make-up and refusing to leave the house without my hair "done".

I wish I had ALL of my grandparents around TODAY now that I'm older.  I think I'd appreciate them more and it would be a lot of fun.  Even though all of my grandparents have passed on...I think about all of them and the memories I do have of them from when I was a child...good memories.  I look forward to the day when I can see them in Heaven and talk to them again, and meet the ones I never had the privilege of knowing!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful...

 We've had Snow Days, Ice Days, storms...they've cancelled school.

But we've always managed to get out and about anyway.

But right now...Michigan...is a MESS.

We were stupid enough to try and go get pizza last night...and got stuck right in the middle of our street.  After a kind neighbor helped push us back into our driveway, we cancelled the order and made frozen pizzas for dinner.

IT IS NASTY OUT THERE.

 Not only is it the snowing...and blowing...

The temperatures are ARCTIC...FRIGID.

 The snowing, blowing, drifting, and temperatures are crazy.

This was looking outside my window this morning...complete white-out.

I had to laugh at my friend in Georgia who was saying how cold it was at 66F degrees, when we're dealing with -20F degree windchills.

How is it in your neck of the woods?

Growing Out The Pixie...Month 5

So...it may not look like much to those who don't know me.

But to me (and to those closest to me who know how slow my hair grows)...

IT'S GROWING...and QUITE A BIT!

I decided back in July/August to start growing out my pixie cut.

I started taking Biotin and using BioSilk shampoo, conditioner, and treatment.

It seems to be REALLY helping!

Normally my hair grows SO slow, but I am really seeing great strides!

It probably seems slow to other people, but for me...this is VERY encouraging.

I decided to take pictures each month to keep myself motivated.

That way, when I think it's not growing...I can actually see how far it's really come.

Until next time...!!!