Pushover

I admit it. When it comes to dogs and cats, I'm a real pushover. I love animals, and they seem to love me in return. {Okay, so those occasional bribes of dog and cat treats don't hurt...}

Anyways, I think I mentioned the Black Lab my parents now own (Libby). She's adapting well to the family, gets along with Annabelle (Queen Bitch of the roost) and Snickers (the token feline), and even knows how to get attention. One night, mom was reading a magazine when Libby came into the room. Since Libby wants nothing more than to be paid attention to, she immediately snatched the magazine out of mom's hands with her teeth. Mind you, she's all of 13 weeks old here - but that's one smart puppy. :)


Last night after work, I decided to go out to a mall to find something to wear for the work Christmas party. The mall I went to had an Adopt-A-Stray, which of course, I went into. The first dog I saw belonged to one of the employees, and was a Great Dane named Annabelle. She was a gorgeous dog - black, grey and white - and very friendly. I started talking to her, telling her that my family has an Annabelle of their own, but she's much much smaller. Well, this Annabelle ended up getting on her hind paws, and put her front paws on my chest, waving one in my face, as though she wanted to "shake paws" with me. I took her paw into my hand, and shook, which made her happy. It wasn't until after I'd left that I noticed that I had a huge paw print on my sweater, right over my heart. So somebody's pet liked me!

Of course, I saw the other dogs and cats, and my heart almost melted. Puppies, kittens, adult cats and dogs - they were all so adorable. Even if I was looking at the Chow mixes and thinking "you're cute ... but the insurance companies hate your breed". Yes, that would prove that I need to get a hobby. ;)

I still think that the pony-sized Annabelle was a very cool dog. Even if she'd look at my family's Annabelle as being an appetizer.

not another dumb blonde

I'm bleaching my hair. Well, okay, just a few front pieces - with an emergency back-up box of red hair color if it bombs.

The last time I did something like this, I was 15 and my mom somehow convinced me that my mud-brown hair would look great frosted. Mind you, I was in no position to make such an important decision about my hair - I was recovering from the trauma of having it cut too short the day before. For those that don't know what frosting is - have you seen people with dark hair and gaudy almost-white streaks in it? That would be frosting. Something best left to blondes.

After having strands of hair yanked through a plastic baby bonnet-style cap with a glorified knitting needle, you get bleach put on those streaks. The end result was horrific. Mom tried to convince me that it looked great, but I couldn't believe it. I thought it looked like shit. I spent the semester being heckled by my personal bully, Kevin, whose idea of fun was to call me "Clorox" or "Snow". Kevin was a putz who needed to get a life, but that's best saved for another time.

Thankfully, that hell only lasted a few months, because when my hair had grown out, I got the hairdo debacle cut out. Since then, I haven't let my mom come near my hair with a box of dye or a highlighting kit. I spent years getting my hair dyed at the salon, only to decide that I could do it just as well myself. My hair stylist had no problem with that, and actually complimented me on my handiwork on many occasions.

But, there was one thing that I was apprehensive to do myself - highlight it. I left that to the pros. My thing was to dye my hair, then have blonde highlights put on top. It sounds wierd, but looks really good. Once the color and highlights grow out and develop into roots, I just dye over it, and it still looks good. :)

Tonight, I'm taking a chance and doing the highlighting thing myself. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's rinse-out time. Or, maybe not. Another 10-20 minutes baking time. Darker hair takes a while to bleach, dammit.


p.s.: It didn't get "baby blonde" - except for maybe a few strands. Otherwise, it's a decent coppery/caramel blonde shade - and all I did was the front.

The emergency back-up box of red will wait until I need to re-dye ... or whenever. :)