True measures...

Early yesterday morning , my sweet friend (we will call her Andrea) picked me up to spend the day moving my things out of one salon and into another. Sounds pretty simple right? Not at all! We separated the things that I NEED everyday from the things that I could box up and take home, as my new space is substantially smaller, and then again separated that from the things I could trash. She cleaned every item that went into the new salon. Every bottle was wiped with a Clorox wipe and scrubbed till it gleamed. Once the things in the new salon shone like new pennies, we went back to load up the things that would go into my garage. Cabinets and styling chair,big mirrors, equipment ect.. These things are HEAVY and it was just she and I. On one trip back to the house we came into a hotbox. My a/c had gone out. I was freaking out, my doggies were hot, I was hot and tired, storms were coming, and we had alot more to do...this was the last thing I needed today! I cannot tell you how nice it was to have someone not quit on you at this time...not only did she not quit but she was the calm in the storm, literally. She calmly picked up the phone and called Wal-Mart to speak with a manager to negotiate an exchange without a reciept or original packinging. Impossible. I just ran around in a panicy circle like a dog chasing its tail. She actually got a manager to approve the exchange,...she has a golden tongue I swear. Sometime in the middle of all of this craziness, she managed to set me up with online banking!?! A pro at the multi-tasking!! We pulled the a/c unit out if the window, loaded it up and took it back to Wal-Mart . We made the exchange no problem . Brought the new unit back, assembled and installed it. As the house cooled down we went back for the final but heavy load. Standing in my living room with the last heavy cabinet, both hot and sweaty,( I had a heat rash) exausted,I thanked her again...she just tilted her head and smiled at me and said "Honey, that is what family does." My heart was filled. I thought that is the true measure of a friend. At the end of the day we had done more than most do in a week or more. None of which could have been done without my sweet friend, my sister. You are truly an example of the love of Christ! I love you, you amaze me and bless my life. L.

Spokesperson.

Today was clean out the garage day. I unloaded 10 years of cumbersome,dusty, out of date, junk!I had so much stuff that it made a huge pile at the end of the driveway. My pile grew really big for a little while, I had chairs, end tables , pillows , a salon trolley, perm rods and old set rollers, maniquin heads from when I was in beauty school. I mean these heads had BLUE eyeshadow and jacked up hair styles. Boxes and boxes of country art, folky 1994 teddy bears and rocking horse kinda crap, you remember the counrty blue and mauve , crafty heart cutout woodshelfy kinda stuff. Tons of it, all at the end of my driveway. It was so much stuff I really was beginning to doubt if the trash truck would pick up that much stuff. Then all of sudden I noticed that I had really been bringing the stuff out at a pretty good pace and my pile hadn't really continued to grow. In fact it seemed smaller??? Then I see them. They see me. People. Lurking people. Off to the side, kinda shifty, trash pickin' people!!! A lot of them. Some had cars and some were on bikes. One old dude ( obviously the first man on the scene) was on a little scooter, he had a little dog riding on the floor board of the scooter and he had his own little pile of my former junk stacked up off to the side. As he beamed with pride over his new found treasures and whispered to the other pickers I could tell that these were professional pickers. Then another dude(the spokesperson) took one giant step forward and with his grubby little hand pointed at the shrinking remains of my once glorious pile of crap and said "We just thought if we didn't make a mess that you wouldn't mind us going through....?" I said " of course not". I could barely get out of the way fast enough, my pile of crap was bumrushed!! The old scooter dude gave an "its ok" signal to his wife who was parked around the corner somewhere and she pulls up in a van , jumps out and in a full on sprint attacks my pile. I can't explain what a bizarre feeling it is to watch people fight over your trash . I can however tell you what I was thinking...in the natural progession of things..."these people are crazy, crazy trash pickin' people," then I thought.." do they really like this stuff? Well, they should it is pretty good stuff" then as the pickin' continued I was like, " I should have had a garage sale and sold some of this good stuff ." Then I started really wishing I had dusted some of it off at least. Then I started feeling guilty and unappreciative of my stuff... I actually found myself helping these people and I was trying to choose who was deserving of certain items. I would hold up an item and tell them about how great it was and how much value it could have in the right hands. I became an auctioneer of free trash...a new low. Can you say CRAZY....it was an insane process. One by one as they had either gotten all they wanted or could carry they would disappear until only Spokesperson was left and he told me he was homeless and this is how he made a living. He would gather things and sell them at a flea market for a few bucks. My heart felt for him as he did not get first crack at the stuff . Here comes more crazy....ready....I go back in the house to find even better junk for Spokesperson. He left with a clock,and an Aroma scent diffuser thingy some fake fingernails and other assorted items. It made him smile to ride away with his "finds", and that made me smile. Exausted and completely covered in dirt and dust I went in for a shower. I felt good like had found good homes for my trash. I used to think I was a pretty normal person. No longer. I now see myself in a new light. A light that was hidden in the shadows of a huge pile of crap. L.

How to comment back on here?

I must repeat my previous entry for those who may have been in someway offended by my blue on black choice of text.....I said...I am not sure on the proper way to comment back on here, do I comment back on their page or right on my own page....you know like when Ericka says something funny( as she usually does) do I say "that is funny" on her page or on the same page as she said the funny thing on???? What is the blogger etiquette? I really don't wanna mess this up so...help? Ericka is a genius!!

For Andrea

My new email address is imahairpro@yahoo.com (p.s. I am not sure how to comment back, if I should add to my comment page or send you one so I did it this way.) Love ya. Me.

A scripture for today

Romans 14:7-9 None of us lives to himself, and none of dies to himself but to the Lord for, If we live , we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord. For Christ died and Lived again for this very purpose, that He might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Things are going well...

As of today things are going well.... as well as to be expected anyway. I had to tell two of my older ladies( I only have three) that I was moving and that I would not be able to continue doing their hair.One if them was very sweet and was sad but understood that I needed to move on. I had explained that I wouldn't be doing any shampoo and sets over at the new place. I just don't want to do that anymore... she was so nice and I was able to find her a new stylist, no problem. The other lady ( we will call her Lou or as some of you may know her as Crazy Peanut Lady) was not nice at all.I also could NOT find anyone who wanted to take her as a client. I had to pack my bags for a rather lengthy guilt trip."Yall have forgotten about us old people it is all about what you want to do" "remember you will be old one day" blah blah blah... Seriously,I have toted this woman around for over 8 years, picked her up, did her hair and took her back home,(for $15.00 I charge regular folks who just come in$20.00) took her to the store,set her up a bank account, set her up with direct deposit of her social security checks..Don't get me wrong here I am not looking for a pat on the back or anything really , But dang , I have passed up other opportunities because I had to take care of Lou. This is the crazy part...she is the one with family here ...not me, she has a husband, I don't. She has no job as she is old...but I do. She refuses to use some of the local resources that I have told her about. Free bus service to and from the salon ect... I don't get it.I think she refuses to stand on her own because she didn't have to. I feel for her, but today when I dropped her off for the last time, I really felt relief. A huge relief. Other than that everything is going well, thanks for reading my rantings...I will fill you in about the move. ...L.

Good news!!

I am very excited, I am closing a chapter in my life and embarking on a new one!! I am leaving the salon I have worked at for 7 years and moving to a salon in Highland Village. I am not one to move salons, I have been in this business for 14 years and have only moved once but I have not been happy for a long time and I have really prayed for God to open doors so I could make a change. This move is totally a God thing. I went to my new salon about a year ago and I was too afraid to make a move, it is alot smaller and a little further to drive but not much. I just let me get in His way...I do that alot. So I stayed put, and stayed not happy for another year of my life...until I (after alot of prayer) picked up the phone and gave the owner a call. By the way she is so freakin' sweet...She said she had a spot for me and I could move in right a way...so this coming weekend I am stepping out in Faith, this for me is more like a jump into the unknown, but God opened those doors, I am not about to get in the way again.

My weeds....

Today was another tough day at the shop, a friendship died. I had this"friend" who I have poured into for a long long time. I have been there through thick and thin, literally sickness and health. I always felt this need to walk lightly with her, as she had revealed in the past a very short temper. She admitted that she had a problem but had grown as she got older. The past few weeks she has been getting little digs in here and there about my praying for people, just kind of snide remarks about me in general..."my friend" it seems had an issue. So I began to ask questions trying to figure out want I have done to initiate this. I got nothin'.She would act as if everything was fine. We went out to eat, nothin', hung out, nothin'. I really had chalked it up to maybe she was having a bad day...that was until today... Several of us were sitting outside enjoying the rain cooled air, in between clients. One of the girls had mentioned she liked this mood fingernail polish....chit chat for a minute about that..back and forth..blahblah...I asked if you( no one directly) are in a bad mood will it (the mood polish) turn black. She said you better shut up before you cursed out... I at this time was like, right, for what reason would I get cursed out? And she totally went off on me . Dropping F bombs and my all time (and she knows it) most hated curse word GD. She was in my face on her feet angry...really angry, so I stayed seated and simply kept repeating what are you mad at? What is the problem? I got nothing but a facefull of cuss words..and insults about my faith..and personal insults as well,but nothing about what set her off. I still don't know. I guess what hurts the most is the cussing in my face with no explanation. This was someone who I have ran with for the last few years...someone I see or talk to almost everyday, ate lunch with, I have been to her church and she to mine, birthdays, dinners. I feel really let down. Disappointed. The more I think about it, that friendship is/was very one sided...always her thick my thin ...her sickness my health... I never have had to really lean on her and by her actions not only today but the last few weeks, I think I would have fallen if I had. God has a way of pulling the weeds from your garden. I will continue to pray for her heart if you made it to the end of this would you please pray for both of us to heal from this. Thank L.

Things that make me cuss ( or at least want to)

People who can't, or more often than not, choose not to make a plan!! Just because you leave for vacation tomorrow at 9 am doesn't mean that I can cut and color your hair on Sunday at 3pm. Now that doesn't mean that I don't want to do that for you, it means that I won't. Unless there is an emergency other than you just put it off till the very last second, such as a death in the family or a really important last minute interview for a job or I even take pity on a " oh my goodness he finally asked me out" kinda deal. See I am flexible, I am not a freakin' contortionist. Alot of cussin' takes place when people are inconsiderate of my time. I also take issue with people asking me stupid questions like.." why don't you have kids?" or " don't you want kids?" o.k. I get it people are nosey.. but come on people... nunya.!! When and if The Lord wants me to have kids I will. Leeme alone already. And because I am faced with this everyday now....people (neighbors) who refuse to feed and/or care for their animals really make me cuss. I am right now taking care of ANOTHER of my neighbors dogs. He is sweet but I don't want anymore animals and I have my hands full with what I had, however after exausting all other options, I am this critters only hope. So I do it. Love thy neighbor right? Well what if the neighbor is never home? Does that extend to his animals? I'd like to think so. But still I cuss.

Goodbye sweet Sally....

Today has been a hard day for us at the salon...one of us has died. Her name was Sally Jaquess (pronounced jackwess) she was around 57 or so and was a little ball of fire. She was from the hills of Tennessee (same as me so we really connected) and oh my word did she have an accent. She would drag out a syllable (sp?) for days and days. She had red hair (sometimes) but that is how I will remember her,and she was extremely talented...I beleive she worked behind the chair for 30years maybe more. She was one of the hardest working women in this business. It was rare not to see her there, behind the chair,turning them out and making people beautiful. She lived hard in her earlier years and I have heard stories of her crazy days...one thing about Sally is she lived the way she wanted and did as she pleased. That is until she began to live for the King! She knew the Lord and loved Him deeply.I had several conversations with her and anyone could tell by her words that she had experienced His saving Grace. We all will feel the loss of her but I am happy that she did not suffer and that the Lord in His infinate wisdom chose to take her home today. She was a good ol' girl or gaaaal as she would say. Rest your feet honey your day is done...Lisa

I have a new email address!!

In an effort to reduce or remove alot of junk email and spam I have resorted to an address change... I am excited about it, now I can hopefully keep alot that junk outta there....and I really like it, it is imahairpro@yahoo.com or imahairpro@gmail.com. I am not real sure how smart it is to post that info on my blog but I did it anyway.

4th of July 2007