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 I unloaded 10 years of cumbersome,dusty, out of date, junk!I had so much stuff that it made a huge pile at the end of the driveway.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.