A Plastic Banana Clip

I think this clip is called a banana clip, they used to be very popular back in the 80's. The clip is hinged at the bottom with the teeth on each half of the clip. I put this clip on my hair by bending over, flipping my hair over and placing the open clip on the back of my head where I'd like it to be. Then I stand upright, flipping my hair back and into the combs of the clip. Then bring the top of the clip together and secure. Problem is -- the clip slides out of my hair pretty easily, resulting in a fix up two or three times a day. But I like the look, a sort of long ponytail that looks almost Roman to me.

An Interval PonyTail

I bought a bunch of small brown wraps (it seems we lose a lot of these, I'm always buying some) and thought I'd use the wraps at intervals down the length of my ponytail. I think it looks great, and keeps the hair together well.

Stealing and Playboy

I am terribly upset and angry today. Yesterday I noticed that the
bags of Ron's mail that I had sitting next to my desk were rummaged
through (some of the mail was out of the bag.) Then I noticed an open
envelope that would have contained a Playboy magazine. I instantly
thought of Alan, and called him about it. I asked if he had been
opening Ron's mail, because one of his magazines was opened and is now
missing. Alan said he didn't do it. I then told him I wanted it
back, it wasn't his to open and it needs to be returned before we go
to bed. He still said he didn't do anything. When he and I went to
eat, Grace called me and told me she found 3 magazines in Alan's toy
backpack. I was livid, but I didn't mention it to Alan, because I
wanted him to come clean and return the magazines on his own. That
didn't happen, because at 10pm when I kissed him goodnight I again
asked about the magazines. What would you say if I know where they
were? How bad would it be if I found them in your room? He agreed it
would be damning evidence against him, but yet he still didn't admit
to anything. I pulled them out of the bag, and nothing happened. I'm
so very mad about this.

This morning I decided that his punishment would be to owe me 10 chips
every day. He already owes me 55 chips for spending 5 hours at a
friends house and watching tv. Alan thought I should ground him until
school is out, and at first I agreed, but now I think this is a better
idea and keeps in line with the chip earning and spending.

Just now, I'm in his room helping him clean his room. Actually I
wasn't cleaning, I was trying to get him to put things away instead of
having everything out and in the way. It was then that I noticed a
book of my checks were on his dresser in addition to a laser keychain
of mine. I never gave him any of these items. What did he want with
my checkbook? I'm furious now, and I'm just wondering what he's doing
next.

Evita Peroni

	With the great success of the Ficcare's, I decided to throw some more money and buy toys from EP. EPs are less expensive than Ficcares. I bought a gold Mimi Stick which is a great stick to have. It really feels good and is the perfect length. I bought a maximus look-alike in dark brushed silver. I also bought a millenium clip in bright gold. Both work well. The EP toys don't have the extremely smooth edges as the Ficcares, but that can be taken care of easily.
I also got a Julia stick in gold dust, which is the center stick in the picture. I'm not as thrilled with this toy; it's made of plastic and the ends are blunt which make it difficult for me to get it into my hair. I think it will work best for loose hair styles rather than the tighter buns that I can do.
	This is the equivalent to a large Ficcare Maximus, Evita Peroni calls it a Patsy Pelican. I had already bought a dark matte silver clip (which looks like pewter to me), so I got a shiny gold one recently.

Ficcares

I bought my first Ficcare (Fi-care-ray) on the Great GM Experience in Feb 2003 (see trip report below.) I had been reading a lot of great experiences from other long hairs, so I decided to give it a try. My first one is a large brushed silver maximus clip. It's very strong, yet all the edges are smooth. I twisted my hair up in the usual fast messy style and slid the maximus in. The top part of the clip lays on top of the hair, and it stays all day! I'm very impressed. They are expensive ($25) but very pretty. The Ficcare catalog has some great colors and styles. I then was given a couple of Ficcare beak-type clips. They are pretty and would probably hold a French Twist pretty well, but I can't do a French twist.

Volleyball and Frogs

Grace has been playing volleyball in the local YMCA league for 6-8th grade girls. The coach is a young lady who didn't smile much, but certainly knew how to play. She had two assistants, which has turned out that they are coaching all the time since the coach has taken an internship and it is taking all her free time. It's best anyways, the girls didn't like the unfriendly coach much, they really like the two guys. They still do the drills as before, and it is very new for Grace, but the guys are fun and smile and tease the girls, so it makes it bearable.

She's played 3 games thus far and has won each week. There are a lot of great volleys between each team which makes for a great game.

Last Friday while I was pulling my bonsai down to take some pictures, I found a little frog sitting in the saucer of my frankensence. I caought it for Alan who promptly started to create a home for it in the little bug container we've got. We tried to identify the critter by doing some searches online, but I couldn't readily identify a species. So, we took the guy to the local pet store. This isn't an ordinary puppy/kitty/fish store, oh no. They specialize in snakes, lizards, frogs and turtles. They took a look and pulled out their frog guidebook and decided that Alan's got a Western Chorus Frog. Cool name huh? Then we asked some questions (what should it live in, what does it eat and how often?, etc) and bought a dozen 2week old crickets. At home, Alan put 3 crickets in the cage and we waited and watched. Sure enough, the frog stuck out his tongue and zapped the crickets quick and neat. I hope this guy lives for a while, Alan's enjoying having a pet again.

Brazilian Raintree

I was lucky to buy this tree from a fellow bonsai society member. There aren't too many raintrees in our region, and this one is gorgeous. At first glance you might think it is a Texas Ebony, another favorite native of mine. The leaves and thorns are similar, but it is the trunk that is very different. The Texas Ebony's trunk is round, while the Brazilian Raintree is flattened and squarish. It makes for a very interesting tree. Like the Ebony, the leaves close up at night or when stressed.

Boxwood

I won this boxwood at last years Bonsai Convention. I was so happy to get such a beauty of a tree. I love how the bark is smooth like a crepe myrtles. This guy is bigger than what I'm used to; it's in a five gallon pot.

Green Island Fig part 2

My second fig. I got this guy at the bonsai convention in New Braunfels last fall. I think it has lots of potential. It is leggy, but I can fix that.