Daydreams and Dust

Wanting something is more fun than having it, at least for the most part. Food, shelter and self-worth are really good to have, but even they can be had in excess! That ruins the enjoyment, I suppose. All that desire an build up getting a "thing" is so short lived so much of the time, and then you are just left with the thing.

As I have been purging my closets and storage space this last while, I can tell you I was frequented by the thought “what in the hell possessed me to buy ____? What was I thinking?”
And I keep thinking with horror, "If I died tomorrow SOMEONE will have to sort through this crap! Why would I do that to my loved ones?" I felt like I was caught in my own cluttered existence.

And, then, there is the lovely rule “If you buy it, you will have to pay for space for it and dust it for the rest of your life.” Just think of that while wandering around stores: few things are worth dusting, or storing for the remaining days of this life.

My "I-must-have-this" urges are sobered up with that thought, and the thought of "where-will-it-fit" too. I just have to remember to sober up before I actually pay for the thing!

There is an exception to this: I do give myself many, many things in daydreams. I go all out with indulgences in my own mind. (Then again, it is a realm where dust does not rule, and space is limited only by my imagination.)

These are such fun excursions too. I find a quiet corner of my home, or just loiter in my car after dropping the kids at school, sometimes I even bring a notebook, and just let myself have it all. It can be any time, my life can be completely different situation, or exactly the same only one small change that fills me with something special.

Glorious.

I not only get renovations done in the snap of a finger, there are castles and cars of every design and planes and boats and gorgeous vacations, amazing physical transformations and world-changing missions of mercy, mysterious menageries and I love being a time travelling tourist.... I even find that I can become THINGS: it is a daydream, so I can. It’s quite fascinating actually to see a grand home, then become the grand home — let myself actually evaporate into what it is that attracts me…and become it.

In daydreams, by giving myself every whim, it frees me. When I "get back" I feel so good about my life and what I have and can experience by taking it so far out of the realm of reality, its hard to explain....

I barely have to close my eyes and I can be a millionaire, a seductress, a crow on the wing, a Nobel prize winning scientist, a child in a small healthy village of ancient Egypt, a cherry blossom, a dragonfly, or even a sumptuous warm hardwood floor. (Oh…there’s a fun thought: I haven’t been a floor in a while.)

I think today's adventure will be a variable of the trip to Italy..... fascinating way to prepare for a trip: see the plane I am going to take; see the train and town; see the destination and all the sights sounds and smells; then…be the plane…be the cobblestone streets…and markets and…wow I could go back a long ways with this one, there is such a history to the places we are going! So many lives, so much action and changes over these 1000s of years, phew! I am going to LOVE this trip!

But I am NOT bringing back many souvenirs, I won't want to dust them when I get back.

The numbers are in

The ponytails are measured, the money was counted and the follow up article was submitted to the paper.

203 cm of ponytail (that's 80 INCHES!)

$885 collected (plus the on-line submissions!)

Thank you everyone for your support! My hair still feels pretty weird to me, but the genuinely happy response from the ladies at the Cancer Society office was so heartwarming, I would gladly do it agin!

Its a Done Deal

No turning back now, it's done! I haven't measured all the hair, nor have I added the pledges together, but the experience of a lifetime has definitely been achieved. I have taken hair exhibitionism to a new level!

Here are the blow- by - blow photos of the evening.

Auctioning off the "first cut" I was number 1 on the items for the evening. The bidding started at $20 and quickly hit the top at $60, I was thrilled. (And it was strangly fun flicking my hair and dancing about in front of a packed hall with an auctioneer chattering away!)

Getting ready for the ponytail placement, I am really starting to get a wee bit nervous.

The first one comes off and there are a few gasps of surprise in the house as it is pretty darn close to the scalp!

The second ponytail comes off and I am surprised over just how long and soft they are. No turning back now, I am left in the capable hands of Julie's Hair Works to turn it into something reasonable.

And the finished look for the evening:

OMG it feels different!!!!!! All evening T was looking PAST me in attempts to find his wife. What a trooper, he was the one taking the pictures and he seemed okay with all the attention that he and I were the focus of. Ladies were stopping me saying I was brave and it looks nice and what a wonderful cause.... it all felt worth it: the loss of hair, the work and planning, the stage fright, the bizzarre after-shock!

And here I am next to the look I was aiming for!

GOOD THING Julie is good at what she does!

Hair doooooo

I am HOPING it will end up like the 2nd one on the left.... that's the plan.

Presently I have a load of donations, and FOUR ponytails (One from Spider, 2 from Christine and I found the one I cut off 5 years ago too!) waiting to goto a worthy cause, and I made it to the front page of the paper today..... (I am really bummed that they did not acknowledge the photographer nor hairdresser....)

3 more days to collect more pledges and my final ponytail to add!

dreamland stress

I had a TERRIBLE sleep last night!

I had trouble getting to dreamland, T was lying awake beside me and I could hear him just breathing.... I have come to depend on his locomotive snore to serenade me to sleep... I can tell something is on his mind lately, he doesn't seem agitated, just a bit distracted. I will ask him about it today -- I think.

ANYWAYS, back to my bad sleep. I finally drift off and I start having stressful dreams. I can't remember specifics except glimpses of cities that are completely submerged (complete with VW bugs still on the streets) and being spammed by hundreds of junk blog comments.

I wake up and decide its time to pee. Its 2AM. I go to the en suite bathroom and ALMOST sit on the plunger that T left in there (luckily I checked the seat being up first! ---- house of boys and all) So with that shot of adrenalin, I wandered to the main bath and caught the cat's attention. She happily "murrs" at me and jumps up onto my lap (!). More adrenalin.

I stagger back off to bed, and the cat starts meowing noisily while scratching the door.... now me AND T are awake. SO I jump up and toss her outside.

Time to lie awake for a while......

More tense dreams then my darling son dashes into my room making alarm buzzer noises at full volume "BEEE BEEEP BEEE BEEEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom, get up, I want breakfast"
GROAN its 1/2 hour before my alarm is really due to go off.

Resulting thoughts: How do I silence my children without resorting to violence? What the heck was with those dreams? Must ask T about whats on his mind, and scold him about the plunger!
Cat is bad at 2AM.....

Oh ya, and #2 son wet the bed -- and missed the blotter -- I have to wash his sheets, and febreeze and dry his bed. Thanks. That's great.

sigh............

mindless DIY

As Spider already knows I managed to injure myself with a hammer while destrying a perfectly functional leather chair. It is an UGLY chair to go with the ugly couch... and I was "customizing it" to fit better in my familyroom lifestyle. In fact I was trying to remove the whole arm of it, but discovered that the best I could do was lower the arm height. Much sawing and hammering happened, and I was bound to be injured by such a poorly thought out endeavour. I was taking a back-swing while inside the arm of the chair.... hard to picture I know.... and the claw of the hammer grazed my left upper arm rather forcefully on the way by. Nice big bruise! Oh well, it only hurt for a bit, and I didn't bleed until I jabbed a furniture staple into my finger. Lots of cursing going on.

The result?

A very strange sectional. I am not sure it worked entirely, but at least its more comfy now. No I am NOT posting pictures.

[ shaking my head in disbelief at myself ]

I'm committed now!

or maybe I should be committed? I am beginning to think I'm crazy..... My hair-raising scheme is developing a life of its own and I like it!

Now, not only have I had the photography done,(Photography generously provided by Vanessa Haentjens Dekker Photography: 247-8731) I have already started to collect donations in support of the Canadian Cancer Society and I have a venue all picked out! Our school is having a dinner/dance/auction this month and they have agreed to let me chop it then! Its on April 20th, to be cut by Julie (of Julie’s Hair Works in the Cinnabar Valley : 741-0807).

I am having mini posters printed to post at the school and around town, and I will do a press release too.

PLUS I challenge all of you to make a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society! Either, contact me to contribute, OR make a donation directly to www.cancer.ca

In loving memory of my Dad, Steve Ford (1943-1990) and for the hope of finding a cure!

Where is the Magic?

I came out of an evening meeting last night, the sun was down and the sky had that really deep, vibrant blue hue to it. Breathtakingly clear and calm I walked back to my car. A family was heading through the parking lot and a lovely, long-haired little girl about 8 years old gasps in wonder as she looked to the heavens.....

"I think I see the first star!" Her eyes a-twinkle.... In that split second I thought --- "make a wish little girl, it's magic!" But, before I even had a chance to fully think it, let alone say it, she followed up by saying "Or is that a planet? Mom, I think I see a planet." And the magic was gone----poof! In a cloud of pixie-dust.