Giving Thanks

I am very thankful for my family. This week I went to visit my dad in Houston so I posted a couple of shots. We had a good time when he wasnt being too dang bossy. We went to the huge " HEB Thanksgiving Parade" downtown. There was lots of people there. On Friday I ventured into the sea of shoppers looking for a bargain. No I am not the one who waits at 4 am to save $50. Actually we left the house at 11 am and everything that were "bargains " were sold out. What a scam!!I am also posting some pictures of my sister and her new baby. She is 7 weeks old and oldest who I call Penny's baby is 4. My sister's locks are 1 year old. Wow how time flies. She still doesnt want to cut those ends. She told the consultant she will wait until 18 months or so. Well my locks are 10 months old already.

Where is Penny?

We went to see the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets. Totally uneventful. I just wanted to post another picture. Dang I need my camera back from my sister. She has a 7 week old baby girl so she is now a new photographer. I know what she need for Christmas. "Her own camera" Instead she asked for a food processor because I know she probably wants to make her own baby food or some other Susie homemaker stuff. I have made my own hair ties and wore them but can I show it now. No!!! One day she said those hair ties are cute and asked if I put a picture on my blog. I said I could if you didn't have my camera. My hair is a lil longer but you cant tell from the pic. I think I want to color my hair jet jet black!! I have some gray.

Sisters gotta love em....

Lock Loops"Interesting Indeed"

Taking them them out to start my day.
I really love this foam!
Tight lil" curls. Hopefully they will fall by the end of the day!

Just a quick post. I wanted to say that lock loops really work.I wasn't sure because u never know about things you purchase on the Internet. Somethings I have purchased looked good online but when you get it the reality is totally different. The material is foam, it's the stuff that I have my students use to make craft projects with so I thought it would tear or rip once I got it but I was wrong. It is really sturdy and very comfortable to sleep in. I must admit I like the curls. It's like a spiral kinda sorta. It's better than the country sponge roller look. However at this point all of these country roller hair styles rolled to the back is all I can do at this point. I wish I had Dewdrops hair or length in the front. I should stop trimming.

Well I simply spritzed my hair with distilled water because it's not recommended to use on fully wet hair because of drying time. After spritzing I used Motion's styling foam and rolled. I used about40 rollers. I gave my sister twenty of them to experiment with. I have been retightening her hair. I did some on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday(spent three hours each day).I would never want to do this for a living!!! I told her I would finish her head over this weekend. I used my nappylocs tool. Dang her hair is super thick.

Back to Lock Loops. The true test will be tonight when I sleep on it and hopefully my hair looks nice tomorrow and it's not mashed too bad. I am hoping the steam from the shower will help in the morning.

It's been a Long Time

I just woke up. Mashed morning hair.
I pinned up the sides.
LockLoops. Interesting!
It really works. I used it all week. I used warm deep only and warmth.
This is what I paid $60.00 for.

My new baby and my big baby! (my sister's baby) not mine.

FRIED!!
More FRIED Crap!!

Well it has been a long time since I have blogged. Quite a few things have been going on. Well Penny has a new baby, a new little niece. My sister had her baby girl. My sweetie her song is "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers. I know it's corny. I gave my two boys theme songs when they were born so songs make me simile. My oldest was 'You are the sunshine of my Life" and I used to sing it to him all the time. I called him my sunshine because he always brightened my day. He still does.

****Work****

At work they will lay off 800 or so teachers. Enough said.... Mismanagement of the budget allocations. Some bull........ I have a tendency to internalize problems so I try not to think about about it but pink slips will be give next week. It's sad that in these tough economic times people have to lose their jobs due to no fault of their own.

****State Fair***

Last week I went to the fair. Dang must we fry everything. They are know for lots ot crazy food like fried oreos, fried coke, fried snickers, fried pralines, fried peanut butter and jelly and banana sandwiches and fried cheesecake. All kind of crap. Yes I tried the fried pralines and she said would like some ice cream and chocolate syrup and whipped cream as if the deep frying were not enough. Lots of food. Too much to remember. My diet is on the road to nowhere. I bought some Hydroxycut. Why? Oh because I can drink it. It comes in a powder packet like those crystal light koolaid instant packs for bottled water. I am sorry Nihuru. I suck!! Go weight loss team.

**** Oh yeah "My Hair"****

I bought some lock loops. I did trim my hair some more. I was trying to make sure it was evenly cut. You know picking up the layers and trimming in sections. I am still retightening myself. Actually I have an appointment but I have to get my car fixed. I smell gas when I drive and that trumps the treat to the salon. my kids were in the back seat and they said they smelled gas. Why is it that when your car is almost paid off(5 months left) mess starts to happen? I will post pictures with the lock loops results soon.

**** My Playlist****

I know I have a lot a stuff on my playlist. You know what I do. I load all that stuff so that I can work and sing along. I upload my blog and close the window and open other windows while my music plays. I do it while looking at other people's blog. I almost always mute the music on other blogs because I want to hear my music. Crazy! Music is therapy for me. It's relaxing.

***New Makeup****

I bought "bare minerals" I like it. I was breaking out with the MAC(studio fix). I went in my sister's mother-in-law because she swears by the stuff. I let her give me a mini make over. I was cool. We went into a cosmetic store and allowed them to give me another makeover and then I purchased the kit. It's all in the brush.

However you have to make sure you don't get all that crap so that you don't look gray. Don't use all that stuff. This week I had an allergic reaction to some lip gloss and my lips swelled up like "sherman Klump" in the Nutty professor. I had to take lots of benydral which took two days to get back to normal. I am still trying to find a nice shade of lipstick I like that looks nice on brown girls.

Just Leaving "Tyler Perry's New Movie"

Well this is my sister and she didn't want me to take her picture.Her sisterlocks are 10 months and she started with a relaxer like me but she still has her ends. I don't encourage her to cut them at all. I don't think she is ready because she has never been natural before but I have on several occasions. I think she should wait until she gets some length that way she will be more comfortable and probably her husband will too. She thought I was crazy to break out my camera after the movie. I always forget to take her picture to show her progress. I think it's the hormones. Oh guess what after leaving the movies her water broke and she is a bit nervous not at full term yet 36 weeks to be exact but I know that things will be fine. I decided to blog as I wait anxiously by the phone to find out if it is indeed amniotic fluid........

I guess I will talk about the movie. Dang wasn't Sanaa stank in that movie. What an itch. She was very crude to her husband and very snobbish. The theme made me think about myself (not the crude and snobby parts)and some of the poor decisions I have made in life and how your parents really influence you. Do you believe in generational or family curses? She was trying so hard not to be what she thought her mom was and ended up in a similar situation. Of course there is a story there with me but I won't share it on the Internet. Anyway in the movie the question was posed Are you living your life or are you merely existing. I hate to admit it but I am merely existing. I am content with the status quo because who knows whats out there. Merely existing. I did do something interesting on Friday night I went to a Lebanese restaurant with two coworkers. That was different. They invited me to water rafting the next day but as usual I have an excuse not to go. I do have limitations with my rheumatoid arthritis. I am Merely existing and wasting each day that God has blessed me with. I must apologize to my father in heaven for not doing anything great. Do you ever wonder what's your purpose?

.....Still not a word from my sister....... I gotta go..... Long day tomorrow.

Next week I will see Lake view Terrace with Sam Jackson.

Things have been busy.

I don't have much time to blog lately. I have been busy busy since school has started and I must admit work has been stressful. Anyway I am trying not to sweat the small stuff and trying to ignore the big stuff. I also joined by buddy Nihuru's weight loss challenge group. I don't know how to find the time. I have been getting home late and then when I am home I am working and I have to help with homework, make a meal etc.... Just swamped. My hair is just doing what it do! It looks the same to me. I will post again after I retighten. I think my sister made me an appointment in Oct. However I will retighten a few before then.

You know what I hate my computer room/guest room/junk room. I really need to do something about it. It has lots of potential but right now it's so blah! Just a space to log onto the Internet and work and close the door. I want to convert it into an office but I am afraid when I have relatives over they won't have anywhere to sleep. Maybe I will disguise the computer and get a computer cabinet. It's such an eyesore looking at all those plugs and flashing lights and the two printers. I have thought about changing the door to a french door and buying home office furniture but what about the bed. I wouldn't get a tacky futon maybe a sectional sleeper. Oh well it won't be anytime soon.I should be ashamed to put pictures of such a tacky room online for all the world to see.

Random Shots

My sister says that I can't see my color. She thinks I am colorblind. Ok I can tell I have a color under the light. Well anway the relatives just left to go back to Louisana. Many people are without lights and are discovering damage to their homes. The shelters were filled here. In my sister's neighborhood their were lots of cars with Louisana plates. My mom didn't have any damage to her home but shcool is out until next week. My ex stated that trees fell through the roof of his aunt's home and my sister's entire extended family had to evacuate because they live in Morgan City which was also near the water. Dang as a kid we never left. Never!

"I colored my hair"

Before the color After the color ( the pic in the blue t-shirt is the before shot and other is the after shot)

Well I decided I needed a change so I colored my hair. I used Dark and Lovely "auburn". Personally I can't tell the difference. I notice my scalp is another color. I guess I thought it would be more dramatic. I was worried that the color would straighten my hair. I read that on someones blog. I am happy to say it didn't but I needed to retighten my hair anyway. I am almost finished but I really hate it. My neck hurts. I am trying to do it all in 2 days. As far as styling goes I set my hair on sponge rollers and wear that look for a day then free style the next and the same routine all over again so I freestyle every other day. I don't wear a head band either. I like the messy layered look! In this picture I didn't do anything to my hair. I just let it air dry because I am still retightening.

Relax, Relate, and Release

Well this week we went on a family /faculty retreat. It was a nice resort. There were lots of activities for us to enjoy such as the various pool areas, golf, water skiing and spa treatments. The purpose of the retreat was for us to renew our minds and refresh ourselves as well as reset goals for our children(our students). We had so much food to eat. We have the best school in the world. At our elementary school we have over 700 children and 42 faculty members approximately. If I told about the technology we have and the tons of resources at our daily disposal you would contact the local school districts to find out why every school is not as equipped as ours. We are so awesome that we have a waiting list for kids and people who want to work there. In my classroom, I have 6 student computers, in focus machine(data projector), document camera, etc..... We have several smart boards and video conferencing material where our children can go on virtual field trips or interact with kids around the country and the world!!!

We focused on 5 levels of communication and strategies to effectively communicate which was facilitated by our counselor who is from Puerto Rico. I love her because she is so innocent and genuinely nice. There is a pure beauty inside her and her accent is cute because her English is not great so it's cute when she talks because you can picture her brain trying to find the word in English that she so desperately wants to say in Spanish. She used to be a nun! You just want to kiss her. I learned lots about myself and what others thought of me. I am not surprised by their comments. Most people stated that I was honest, straight forward, supportive, blunt/no nonsense, knowledgeable and determined. I know that I am a problem solver and I like lists. I like to know details. I want to work on being flexible and taking things lightly. I should lighten up. I am very sensitive but no one knows that. Whenever I say that people say "not you" "no way". They don't know it's my barrier. Last year when I was nominated Teacher of Year I was shocked and I told the principal I thought other people were more worthy because I don't like attention. I guess my humility is another attribute.

No Freestyling for Me

My photographer and I made up! :) Well I have discovered that I can't freestyle it is not for me at this time. My locks look like limp noodles when they are not curled a little. This week I had a workshop for three days and I felt a little self-conscious about my hair. Of course no one knew that but me but I avoided the mirror in the bathroom during the workshop. I return to work in 2 weeks and one day this week our faculty has a retreat so I am still working on hairstyles. I realize that I have to do sponge rollers everynight until I get length. When I had the permed ends I could wake up in the morning spray my hair with water and roll on rods for at least 30 minutes and take them out before I walked out the door and have a head full of curls. This is not the case not anymore. Dang the point of cutting out the perm was so that I would no longer have this routine in the morning of rolling my hair and I could get up, get dressed, spritz and go. Oh well I have to roll on sponge rollers until my hair gains some length in the next 3 months which is cool. My ultimate styling option is the braid out with in which I can wear for a couple of days and curls that last for a couple of days. Well I know that day is coming just not today.

Docudrama " My Photographer is trippin"

My photographer is in red! He was in the bell choir at school last school year. Don't be fooled by the cuteness! It's a trick! I fall for it daily!( I wore corn rows for my last month of transitioning when I didn't want to comb any more) pic Dec 07>>>>pics to the right Aug 08

Today I styled my hair using sponge rollers. However the curls were too tight intially for my taste( in regards to loc styles) so I spritzed with water and the steam from the shower helped to loosen the curls. I have this sort of shag layered look that I like for the moment.

My five year old photographer is trippin! He just snaps the picture, he doesn't ask if I'm ready or nothing. This is two pictures out of ten. The other eight are a hot mess! I have a missing head! As a matter of fact, I don't think he looks at the picture in the lil" window All I see is flashing lights. Then he has the nerve to act like I'm bothering him. Now I know you think I am exaggerating so I have to put up the third picture of me reading something that just aggravated the mess out of me. Of course the photographer took a picture of that. Lil paparazzi in the making! :) Gotta love em! Did I tell you he is my personal food police? Always asking me if what I'm eating is healthy. I can't eat pringles in peace. Gotta go the nine year old feels it's his turn to use the computer.

Question: What is the biggest room in the world?

Answer: The room for improvement!

How can your improve your life or the lives of others? How can you be better at home, at church, at work , and in the community?

Just call me "Edward Scissor Hands" Somebody Stop Me

(Before the snip and the "BIG TRIM) Lots of relaxed ends! I started with only 2 inches of natural hair. I transitioned for almost 9 months before having my sisterlocks installed by Ms. Hill . (Creyole blogged about her before.)

I couldn't resist snipping some more. I am compulsive. I have to finish something once I start.(why doesn't this compulsiveness kick in at the gym?)I took off all the permed ends. I will get a final trim when I make a year. Wow look at this progress. I am only 7 months. I decided why keep an inch of perm so I just took the scissors the next day and continued snipping. So this is a side view. This is the back of my head. You can see just a few bunches on the ends and some curly ques. I looked fully locked. At 7months. After I snipped I washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo and banded because I wasn't sure if any of the locks would unravel which is why you have to be careful when your snip. I retightened my back and my hairline because my hair tends to slip when washed.
This is the rest of my hair. Now the pictures reflect the relaxer that was placed in the sisterlock pattern as well. When I snipped before, I snipped only the loose ends that I could curl but this time I snipped where the natural hair and the relaxed hair in the pattern meet.(that pile of hair is mini sisterlocks done to my relaxed hair which never would have locked in the first place) Before snipping I had to feel where the locked hair stopped and snip at that point. I guess it is true that relaxed hair will never lock! I often wondered because people with straight hair lock their hair and I wondered if the permed ends would look like that when locked. Well at least for me it didn't.

Today I threw on my sundress and a cute lil bohemian bag that I draped across my shoulders and went to my doctor's appt and the grocery store with my wash and wear hair.I took a deep breath ,put on my black leather headband and spritzed and finger combed my hair. I had to keep telling myself that it is "natural to be natural" and "it's ok not to have straight hair" with my hair sticking up all over the place. I looked at some pics of "goodnaps(when she had shorter full locks)" and "southern girl" or just sisters with short cute hair .Wow I will have to take more deep breaths when it's time to go back to work. Our faculty have a retreat in a couple of weeks. I don't think anyone realized I had locks. I don't explain my hair to anyone. I think people thought maybe it was short micro braids. I get asked that a lot in public. Anyway I won't post for a minute until my hair does something like"GROW". I will post about my sister if she lets me take shots of her hair. She thinks I am lame!

7 months

Snip, Snip, Snip

Time to snip!
Why do my locks look fatter? Goal is to have only a inch of perm left.
I think I can live with this hair do in the fall. Too short for curly sue!

Bye Bye more permed ends!
Definitely more lock than perm .

I love these cute hair pins from Claire's


I said to myself I am not ready to snip my ends and I declared that I wouldn't until I was good and ready. I even told myself I wouldn't clip for a whole year. Huh! But ever since the big trim I have been obsessed with clipping my ends and free styling to a degree. However I was doing my hair and decided to snip to make my hair even. At least that's what I told myself but before I could stop myself I became a snipping machine. A snip snip here and a snip snip there, here a snip, there a snip , every where a snip snip. I was supposed to be experimenting with hair styles before school begins in a couple of weeks. I ordered Tomoka's Twist and I will post about that lil look on me when I get it. I ordered DNatural. I find that with my locls I have to dress a certain way( good/cute all the time) a certain bohemian/Moroccan/Afrocentric/eclectic flavor.

Afro-Latin Experience Exposed

http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part2/index.html

Is Nappy another "N" word we shouldn't use?

Say it loud I am black and I am proud 60's


Jherri curl kit the 80's

Minstrel Show Mammy

nap·py
Audio Help (nāp'ē) Pronunciation Key adj. nap·pi·er, nap·pi·est
Having a nap; fuzzy: a nappy carpet.
Often Offensive Tightly curled or coiled. Used of hair.

Look at the definition of nappy according to the American Heritage Dictionary. "Often Offensive" Wow, offensive to whom. .Why do some African Americans and others still cringe at the sight of natural hair? I don't have a problem with hair styles but I do have a problem with feelings of disgust that some may have for African Americans and anything that is inherently natural for us as people such as skin tone or shades of our skin and our naturally curly hair.For some people it may be a sign of rebellion instead of a natural god given pure place of origination. We constantly give people the right to define us and use their"special words" or not so special for us. "Nappy" that's not cute?In my opinion you cant make that word any more positive as some seem to think. It is just as offensive and is meant to insult you into taking some action toward fixing your "natural" hair. Remember you go for your retouch the stylist says "girl your hair is nappy". Translation : glad you here so we can fix it up. Is there a special word for straight? Oh sometimes we use the word silky for straight. Hmmm!

I was reading the latest post on Blaqkofi and she said something that grabbed my attention. I tend to be a scanner of blogs so as I was scanning I read "It's natural to be natural". That concept is liberating if you think about it.Then I started to think about how people write how they are happy to be nappy and refer to their hair as nappy but to many people nappy has a negative connotation. Well guess what I am happy to be natural. I have curly hair and not offensive hair. I don't have to explain my hair or my hair choices. I am not the hair police but if someone uses the "nappy word" when having a dialogue with me I will correct their terminology.

According to Marcus Garvey African Americans need to get the kinks out of their minds and not their head. Malcolm X , W. E. B Dubois , Cornell West and other scholars encouraged us to look at our beautiful black selves. It's natural to be great in school, it's natural to love your family, its natural to Love GOD our creator, it's natural to give to others and walk in love with the holy spirit, it's natural to be natural and that means loving everything about yourself flaws and all. A flaw can be a gift! Don't let others negativity define who you are because their definition will always be wrong. Just think of all the negative and wrong assumptions that are made daily about certain groups of people.

"Nappy" Offensive!! Huh!

What do you think?

DIY Retightening Locks

I completed my retightening using my nappylocs tool. It took 3 days off and on. I used a total of 1 1/2 hours a day. I read on Dewdrops blog that she retightened every 4 weeks. I think that would work for me because I only had to make one rotation. However on a few I had to make several rotations using the 4 pt pattern. If you have the nappylocs book you know that there are more rotations such as the 6pt and the 8pt rotation. I noticed that my hairline is thinning. It might be chemical alopecia( permanent hair loss from use of relaxers).I know its not traction alopecia because I don't do the braids thing to the degree that it would pull my hair out by it's follicle. It's noticeable on the pictures but not in person unless you just staring at my head. I must admit however that when I took my sisterlocks out in Dec 2006 that the hair came out pretty bad. I was quite depressed because the hair and hair follicle or bulb did come out in some places. I was angry that my hair came completely out. I wondered if it would grow back the way it did before. It did but it was much thinner. I am pleased with the progress. I am learning patience.

My Lesson

I remember back in the day when there was this lady name Pink e on lock it up. She always referred to her hair as a "hot mess". I definitely internalized her hair issues and thought that my hair would never look right. I remember when Creyole joined lock it up then she was using her real name"L"... and I remember when Blaqkofi joined. I say this to let you know how long I have been trying to be patient with this hair thing. I was on lock it up daily reading every post. I think it was a gift and a curse. I say it was a gift because you could see the progress of others and it was a curse because then it gave you a point of reference for what your hair was not doing. "yeah we all know that every one is all different but that doesn't mean anything when you want your hair to look a certain way. The only pictures then were on the file and in peoples fotki . At any rate I was extremely dissatisfied and I thought well my hair is a hot mess too. However when I think back it wasn't. I let someones issue become mine. There were not blogs like knots and locks and doc locs or other women who had nice hair with relaxers.Mybe there were but by that time I had decided to take them out and removed my name from the list at lock at up. Sure their was Brunsli but she was mixed and didn't relate to her hair story.Her hair texture is different and if you have mixed friends like I do you know what I mean. This time around I don't read negative stuff and I don't let others hair experience determine what my end result is going to look like. Don't get it twisted I have my favorites and hope that my hair will be similar and then there are those that I say "hell" hope my hair don't look like that!

Penny's

Locked Jan. '08"

Work in progress