What would Judi do?

This started out as a facebook status update but then I just kept writing so I moved it here. Apparently I have hair issues. I knew that but it still surprised me. I have a weird relationship with my hair. It's hair. That's it. When I'm stressed, I need it cut *this very second* so when I can't find a professional, I've been known to do it myself. I inherited this trait from my mom. I very clearly remember her doing things to her hair at odd hours. I haven't had it professionally colored since I became a single parent because it was an extravagant expense we didn't need. Fast forward to several weeks ago when I saw something on FB or IG and decided that was the look I wanted. I went and talked to a local salon that isn't one of the affordable chains I've been going to. They quoted me a price and told me 5-6 hours in the chair. What?! Really? Why? They were right. It was about 5 hours. It was 5 fabulous hours where no one needed me, no one a...

Yesterday was a beautiful day so Andrew and I walked around Lake Artemesia.  As we were walking and looking at the leaves, the fish, the lily pads and the like, I couldn't help but remember walking around the Sligo Creek trail with my kids.  I thought about how grateful I am that my kids were little before the time when everyone had a phone, ipad, leapfrog, etc.  I wonder if they're remember the things I do. Like the regular game of tell me what you see in the clouds.  Now, tell me a story about it. Like the game of how many different leaves and different colors can we find?  What shall we make with them?  (We had lots of pretty leaf bookmarks and window decorations.) Like the game of how old is that (fallen) tree?  How high can you count? Like the game of tell me a story. I know I sound judgemental and I really am trying not to be.  But I am glad that my kids grew up with limited screen time and have good imaginations. I miss ...

I was interviewed a few months back for an article on teens/tweens who color their hair for the Wall Street Journal.  I find it interesting that people find this a thing.  I've been coloring my hair pretty regularly (except during pregnancy) since I was 14. The interviewer was super nice.  I enjoyed doing it.  She asked me a question that made me think: Do you have rules in your house? Huh? Well, do you make your kids go to bed at 10?  Do you have rules about electronics? Oh, yeah.  My kids think I'm strict. Really? My kids go to be bed at 9.  There are no electronics at the dinner table.  We eat together.  We hug often. My kids refer to adults as Mr. or Ms.  I have lots of rules.  Hair isn't one of them. It got me to thinking about things and what other people might think looking into our family.  My house is unorganized.  I don't always cook the healthiest of dinners.  I'm a fairly unorthodox mom who...

Being a daughter and a mother makes me feel like the fluffy stuff in an Oreo.  I've written lots about my kids and some about the frustrations I experience being the daughter of my mother.  It wasn't always frustrating.  I grew up intensely proud of her.  I'm not sure she knows that. I had the only single mom I knew for most of my life.  No one else had a parent who died.  No one else had just a mom.  Certainly no one had a mom like mine. Before my mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, she was a force to be reckoned with. She left home when she was young - Allentown, PA didn't hold much of a future for her and she didn't want to be married off to someone and stay there for the rest of her life.  So she didn't.  She took correspondence courses to learn about the airline industry.  Then she lied to her parents and told them she had a job in New York City and off she went.  But she didn't have a job.  S...