How to Get Gum Out of Your Hair

I went to the hair stylist today to get a little trim.  The lady is so nice, and we always have the most interesting conversations.  Today's conversation was particularly interesting.  It started off with me saying I only wanted an inch or two cut off.

"You and me are a lot alike," she responded.  "We need long hair, because we're really feminine, and it just wouldn't be right to have short hair."

I nodded in agreement.

She continued.  "I remember when my mom chopped off all my hair.  I was devastated.  Permanently.  I still haven't recovered."

"Wow.  That must've been really traumatic," I said.

"It was."

I told her about when my mom chopped my hair off when I was six, because it had so many knots, and she couldn't get it all untangled when the school bus showed up in front of the house.  She just chopped it all off, so I looked like a boy.  That was a very bad day!

The hair stylist nodded in sympathy.  She then explained how to get knots out without chopping off your hair.   Then she added something else.  "Do you know how to get gum out of hair?"

I shook my head.  "How?"

"Peanut butter."

I figured this would be good.  "How does peanut butter get gum out?"

"You put it in your hair, and you let your dog chew on it.  The dog will work on it, and pretty soon the gum will come out."

I tried not to laugh.  "Do you have personal experience with this method?"

She nodded.  "I did it on my daughter, and worked perfectly."

So ladies and gentleman, this is expert advice from a hair stylist.  To get gum out, all you need is peanut butter and a dog (probably a small one rather than a giant German Shepherd)!  

A Little Too Much Sugar

My mom just had her sixty-fifth birthday, and to celebrate the occasion, my kids and I had a little party for her.  It began with a trip to a restaurant, where, after the dinner, the entire crew of waiters came out with a hot fudge cake, belting out something that sounded like the Happy Birthday song.

Mom decided to take the cake back to the condo where we were staying, and share it with us.  Little did she know, I had another cake there for her.  I pulled out the German chocolate cake.  "Surprise!"

She clapped her hands together in glee.  "More cake!"

So, the lady divided the hot fudge cake, cut a piece of German chocolate cake, and topped it all off with ice cream.

I looked at her plate.  And then I looked at her.  "Mom, don't you think that's a little too much sugar?"

She shook her head.  "Nah!"

Then my boy grabbed the sugar jar.  He poured at least an eighth of a cup of sugar into his cup of peppermint tea.

I looked at my kid in disbelief.

My mom laughed.  "Now that's a little too much sugar!"

Sand Castle Under Siege

When I go to a beach, I like to build sand castles.  Probably because I'm still a kid at heart.  So while the kids and I were at a beach, and they were playing in the water, I shoveled sand into pails and created an enormous pile of sand from which to carve a castle.   I worked on this monstrosity for at least two hours. (And no, I don't have pictures.  Sorry.)

When I was done, I admired my masterpiece.  It had five turrets and an ascending and descending staircase.

"Mama," my son said.  "That's really good!"

After my hard work, I decided it was time to grab some lunch. I headed to the picnic pavilion to get out of the sun. My kids joined me.  While we were chowing down on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a group of five kids, armed with water guns launched an attack on my castle.

My son spotted them first.  "Hey!" he shouted. "That's our castle!  Leave it alone!"

Did they listen?  No.  They pelted my castle with more jet streams of water.

"Don't worry about it, Bubba," I said.  "They're having fun."

He scowled and finished his sandwich.

When we were done, and the kids had finished their attack, we went over to assess the damage.  The staircases were completely obliterated, three of the five turrets had crumbled, and the castle was about half of its size.

"Poor castle," said Bubba.  "Guess you have to build another one!"

Fish Bait

While the kids and I were on vacation, we spent a lot of time hanging out in the water at a lake resort.  We noticed quite a few fish swimming around and decided it might be fun to feed them.  We crumbled up a slice of bread, waded into the water, and dropped the crumbs around us.  Soon we were surrounded by a lot of hungry fish.

"Mama, are they going to eat us?" my son asked.

"No, Bubba.  These are sunfish and minnows.  They don't eat humans."

He looked at me skeptically, and backed off while the fish continued to swarm me.  Pretty soon, I was out of bread crumbs.  But the fish wanted more. They started bumping into my legs.  A few spied my toes with their red-painted nails.  Apparently they thought my toes looked like hot dogs with ketchup, because the darn fish started nibbling on them.

"Bubba," I said.  "Maybe I ought to rethink my last comment.  These fish are trying to eat my toes!"

Bubba got real serious.  "Mama, you'd better get out, because if Jaws comes, you're going to be shark bait!"  

Mama's Clunker

I'm back!  The kids and I have returned from a vacation to Tennessee and Ohio.  It was a lot of fun!  Naturally, I have a few stories to share from the trip.  So, I'll spend a couple of days telling you about them.  The first involves a car and a very stubborn Garmin.  I bet you can't guess whose car!

Prior to embarking on the trip, I had planned the course which we were to take.  I always do that, because inevitably the Garmin loses satellite connection and has no idea where I am.

As I pulled out onto the main road, the Garmin immediately had a problem with the route I had chosen.  "Recalculating," it said.

I kept going.

"Make a U-turn," it said.  I didn't.

This went on for twenty minutes.  Finally, it got on the same page as me, and we went merrily along for almost an hour.

Then it started again.  It refused to let me take the main interstate up to my destination, and insisted that I get off and follow a different route.  I gave it a Mama growl and acquiesced to its wishes. I had a strange feeling that I supposed to listen to this computerized hunk of metal.

Fifteen minutes down the new route, I heard a terrible scraping sound.  The sound of metal against the ground when you're going seventy miles an hour is not a good thing! I spotted a gas station and pulled in.
There were many people standing around, and when they heard my clunker making its grand entrance, they all stopped and stared.

"That doesn't sound too good," one nice lady said.

"I'd have to agree with you," I said, getting down on my knees to have a look under my car.  A piece of metal was hanging off from the exhaust system, dragging on the ground.  I said a few choice words in my head, which I won't repeat here, and tried to remove whatever it was.  That thing was stuck.  I couldn't tell if I had run something over, or if it was part of my car.

"I have no idea what's wrong, here," I said. "But I think I need a little help!"

The nice lady got on her phone and called her husband.  The man arrived in no time, and took a look.  "Yep," he said.  "Your heat shroud is coming off."

"My heat shroud?" I asked.  "Is it important?"

"It helps your car not overheat, and protects the catalytic converter," the nice man explained.  "I can unscrew it for you and get it off so it's not dragging."

Of course I was very concerned that I would have to discontinue my trip and go home, but the man assured me it would be okay until I got back. Which it was.

So that's how our vacation started.  But I guess I have to thank my Garmin angel for steering me down another path.  Who knows what would've happened if I had remained on that interstate!  

A Chip Off the Old Block

My teenage daughter was in the kitchen making breakfast this afternoon.  (Yes, this afternoon. She's a bit of a night owl.)  I heard the blender going and wondered what in the world she was making.  About ten minutes after that, I noticed a putrid odor.Something was burning. I knew it was time to investigate.

What I found was a huge mess, and something that vaguely resembled a pancake sitting in the skillet on the stove.  My daughter was standing there, with a wooden spatula in her hand.

"Girlfriend," I said.  "What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm making banana pancakes, Mom."

I nodded, trying not to say anything sarcastic.  "Do you need any help?"

"No, Mom.  It's under control.  I'm making them just like you do - burnt!"  




I want to let you know, I'll be out of the office for a little while, so I won't be posting.  But don't worry,   I'm sure I'll have a ton of stories when I return!  See you when I get back!

Versatile Blogger Award

Rachel, over at When a Lion Sleeps, Let it Sleep (good advice, Rachel!) bestowed on me the Versatile Blogger Award.  Thank you so much, Rachel!

I've done this before, actually a few times, but since there are many new visitors here, I'll do it again, so you can learn a little more about me.  I'm supposed to give you seven random tidbits of information about myself.  Then I'm supposed to pass this on to seven more people, which I'm not entirely sure I'm going to do, since I'm the Mama, and I make up my own rules.

Here are some random things about me:

1.  I am a professional musician who plays and teaches violin, viola and piano.  I have a lot of stories I could share related to my life as a musician, but  I'll share just one:  In 2004, when I was five months pregnant with Bubba (my second child), I had the brilliant idea to compete in the Paris International Viola Competition. I don't know what I was thinking, being so sleep deprived and sick from the pregnancy, but since I'm crazy, I did it anyway.  Circling over Charles de Gault airport, waiting to land in Paris, was the worst.  I tried really hard to not throw up, but I couldn't hold it back.  The flight attendant provided a nice brown bag, and everyone stared at the poor, pathetic pregnant woman as she heaved up her insides.  Totally embarrassing!  (For those of you who are interested, I somehow managed to be a semi-finalist in the competition.  I think the judges felt sorry for me.  Either that, or they found me extremely amusing.)

2.  Before kids, I was a PADI Scuba instructor.  I have lots of stories related to that, too, but I'll limit it to one:  I was on a night dive in Cozumel, Mexico, swimming along, minding my own business, when an octopus decided to suction cup my face.  Yep.  I got a grand eight-legged hug from the cephalopod that covered my entire face.  Talk about a little startling!  I managed not to panic, and got the thing off of me, but it left me in a nice cloud of ink. Oy!

3.  I've always been interested in science.  If I wasn't a musician or author, I'd be a scientist (and probably make a lot more money!)  I enjoy studying genetic engineering, and had also considered being a pediatrician or brain surgeon.

4.  This is a weird one.  Sometimes I have dreams where I see things happening, and then the next day or sometime later, the things happen just as I dreamed them.  The first time I remember this happening, was when I was eight years old.  I dreamed I was in school.  I saw the girl chosen for the May crowning, I heard what the teacher said, and I even saw a paper fall off a desk. The next day it all happened just as a saw it- even the paper falling off the desk. It was the strangest thing.  Has that ever happened to anyone else?

5.  I've always wanted to skydive.  It's on my bucket list.  I'll probably end up doing it when I'm 83 years old!

6.  I love to travel.  It's my goal to visit every continent and every state in the United States.

7.  The two things I wanted to be when I was a kid were an astronaut and an opera singer.  I still find outer space fascinating.  But I'm sure none of you would want to hear my opera singing skills!



Okay.  That's it.  I'm running out of time here, so I'm  not going to select 7 people.  If you have less than 200 followers, please take this award!  Hope you enjoyed reading these random things about me.