ODD study

Mom found a newspaper ad from the university looking for kids with ODD and no other problems. It seems they want to try an ADHD medication called Adderall on ODD kids and see if it helps any. I thought Alan would be perfect for this study. The analyst thought it couldn't hurt, and if we wanted to forgo the study, he could probably persuade his partner into writing a script for it.


I called the university and set up an appointment. They faxed me a 17 page paper explaining in detail the process and the procedures to be used. It didn't seem to be a problem, except for the blood.... they would need to draw two samples - one before the test and one after. I knew Alan would not like this.


But after talking to him, he agreed to go for it.


The interviews with the doc and Alan and I went well. I learned something in fact. Alan doesn't have all the indicators for inattentiveness, but he has quite a few of them. When the doc told me about this, we agreed that this study would most likely result in a major improvement for Alan.


At that time, the nurse was trying to draw blood. And Alan fainted :( poor guy, I wish I had been there to help. Are mothers a help in cases like this? I don't know. Anyways, he fainted and she couldn't finish the draw, so it wasn't enough blood to send. I kept hoping that Alan would continue, but he decided that was enough and he wanted out of the study. I couldn't persuade him otherwise - a hallmark of ODD is Defiance after all. The nurse, doctor and I talked about it some and thought he might reconsider on Monday. He hasn't. I'm disappointed.

French Twist

I can't do a French Twist for the life of me. I don't know if it is because I have too much hair or that I don't have the skill. I was able to get something like a French Twist by first wrapping my hair around a long hairstick and then laying the hairstick vertically on the back of my head. Then I grasped the hair and took out the hairstick. I tucked it a little more and inserted a Ficcare clip. Not bad for my first tries.

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.

Combing in the Shower

All my life I have been told that hair is especially fragile when wet and you shouldn't brush wet hair. Knowing that I comb my hair after I have towel dried it, and sometimes I will go to sleep with towel dried (but still wet) and uncombed hair. You'd think it would be a mess to comb out in the morning, but it isn't at all.

Then Mariah posted on LHC that she combs in the shower under the running water. This intrigued me and I tried it. Of course I'm very careful and don't jam the comb and drag it down my hair. I lean forward and use a very wide shower comb. I begin at the bottom portion and comb it, moving up six inches or so until I've got the entire head combed. It takes less time than combing out of the shower!

Alan is Great

Alan's been doing much better in school. Miss Cerny said he's been gettng Greats on his contract quite regularlly. In fact, she's thinking of raising the bar and hoping Alan will rise to the challenge. Right now, if he gets 6 Greats in the day, he gets a treat. She wants to increase it to 8 or 9 I think. There are a total of 18 opportunities to get a Great, so raising the number isn't outrageous.
I'm so happy he's focusing on class more. I wish he'd work with me at home.
He was invited to spend the night at Tristans this Saturday. I told him it would cost him 20 points to go, and he had about 4 chips. He worked hard to get the chips but he also complained the entire time and wanted more choices on the list of jobs. That's just like him -- to want something other than what's available.
Something else was suggested about Alan. Maybe he is dysgraphic. I'm not sure what that entails, but I'm going to look it up and find out.

Certificates for Grace

Grace got her report card last week - all A's. Pretty darn good :) Plus she received two certificates for having the highest grade in her team for that subject. She got one for Social Studies and the other was English. Her school splits the grades into teams, and the 6th grade has 4 teams, each consisting of about 200 students. So Grace made the highest marks out of 200 kids, or 1/4 of the 6th graders. I'm so very proud of her.

The Great GM Experience

I had been reading the forums and saw a lot of talk about GM treatments and GM salons. Dr George Michael is a man who has developed a line of products especially for long hairs. He also trains people in the proper use of the products and his theories of long hair care. Unfortunately, there are about 20 salons in the US that are GM trained. And the closest to me is in Dallas.

One of the ladies on LHC mentioned she and another were going to Dallas, so I asked if I could barge in on their trip. This was an exciting trip for two reasons: the GM experience, and meeting Teacherbear and Dulci! We had a great time, they are both friendly and fun to be with. We chatted on the drive up to Dallas, checked into our room (we all stayed in the same room, a nice suite-type of place, highly recommended and close to the salon!), and then went out to eat. Afterwards, we went back to the room and played with hairtoys and styles. The room could have been a brighter to see all the great things we were doing. One of the best things we did was feel each other's hair. I'm not kidding! I'm not talking hair, the strands individually. I was amazed that each of our strands felt so different. My hair felt straight and thickish all the way down. Tbear's strand felt so thin I could hardly feel it at all. Dulci's hair felt thick and thin down the length. When you turned her hair it would feel thin and then thick. It was a helix pattern, I guess that's what gives her the curls she has. I couldn't believe this! Imagine, three women who had never met in person, check into a hotel room and touch each other's hair!?! It sounds strange, but we all felt very comfortable with each other. Dulci and Teacherbear are exactly as they post online, no false pretenses with them.

The next morning was the GM treatment. We had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel (they have a waffle maker!) and then went to meet Bill Mahavier. It is in a large complex of salons and beauty experts. I haven't seen a store like this before, but it was wonderful and very nice looking. Bill is a very friendly guy and has a great sense of humor. He took a look at our hair to determine his battle plan, I was to go first, then Tbear, then Dulci. I first was shampooed with the creme shampoo, rinsed, then he slathered on the conditioner. After the conditioner, he wrapped my head in wax paper, then put a heat cap on and let me 'bake' for an hour. Dulci and I talked while he did Teacherbear. After the hour was up I returned to the sink and was rinsed. Then he applied the creme rinse. I then sat in the chair where I was rollerset with big rollers and then sat under a hair dryer for about an hour (I didn't time it). I had to stay under the dryer longer after Bill checked the hair.

After the hair was suitably dry, I was unrolled and brushed out. Wow! The hair felt so smooth and silky! Bill gave me the brush and I brushed my hair following his instructions. After the brushing lesson and the fun of seeing my lovely hair, I stood up straight and let Bill trim the ends. I didn't care how much he trimmed, after all he's the expert and knows what is good hair and what needs to go. I think he cut about 1/2" off.

Bill's attention then turned to Tbear and Dulci. Teacherbear's hair was so golden and smooth, like flowing honey. Her hair is so long that she got to stand on a stool for her trim. The flip at the bottom was very sexy. Dulci was looking forward to running her hand through her hair without it snagging on her curls. She got to do it! But it was short lived, because her curls slowly started bouncing back in. I loved it though, her hair has so much body.





After the great care provided by Bill we had him take lots of pictures. We then turned our attention to Nordstroms for hair toys. I learned how to pronounce Ficcare (Fi -car- ray) and found a large maximus in brushed silver that I just had to have. The Mei Fa's were very pretty too. Dulci bought a pair. I also bought a Ficcare circle barrette in brushed silver and a velvet scrunchie in brown tones. At the Ulta store I picked up a brush that Bill recommended for me to help with the flakes I'm plagued with. I also bought some magic Grip pins and a cheapie tortoise shell prong. I forgot to mention that I also bought the GM shampoo, creme rinse and 12 min conditioner from Bill.

As if reading this wasn't enough, you can read more about it and other's comments at the net54 board where we posted our trip report.

Lifting

I kinda figured Alan was stealing poker chips when he had the chance. I set him up and he denied it. The next day, he fell for it again. This time I told him I knew he was stealing and he should come clean. He did but it took some time for him to relent.

So now the poker chip bank has a padlock.

Getting Rid of the Flakes

I've always had a problem with flakes. That's one negative thing about having dark dark hair - everything shows up light a neon sign. At first I thought it was due to using the same old shampoo week after week. Then it was not rinsing well enough. Then it was the change of the seasons. At the GM treatment, Bill suggested I should brush my scalp more often. That only made the flakes smaller and more numerous!

This time I think it is dry scalp. All my life I've thought of myself as being an oily. Maybe and maybe not. I'm not going to worry about what went wrong then, I've got to deal with this scalp now. If my scalp is dry, then it needs moisturizing. So my plan for the past week is to condition my scalp in addition to my hair and see how the flakes react. So far, I have noticed a definate decrease in the flakes! I'm keeping my fingers crossed, I'll keep this up for at least another month to confirm my findings.

-- posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2003



UPDATE: I think my test is working. I've been conditioning my entire hair including the scalp and have noticed a significant decrease in the number of flakes! After I shower and comb out my hair I used to see flakes appear on WET hair, now I don't see any! This IS a major major improvement in the health of my hair as well as in decreasing my stress.

Mei Fa Hair Sticks

These little hair sticks are very classy in an understated way. I have bought several on Ebay and really like the design. Here's one set that I just bought; they are black sticks with a gold disk, a black ring, a cut design to add sparkle, then the long gold bead with a small black bead on top. The picture doesn't show off the detail (note to self: figure out how to show detail better) but they are just darling. The small size scared me off at first, but then after trying them, I realized they hold up my buns very well and don't poke my neck at all.

Two Silver Slides

I like this slide because it is a simple design. It is too small to hold all of my hair, but it looks great with my front hair pulled back into it. Because my hair is so slippery, I often use a pony elastic to hold the pulled back hair. I then use the slide to cover the elastic. Having the elastic in place holds the slide much better. The stick on this slide is straight; I didn't bend it like I did the others. Measurements: 3.25 x 2 inches (8.5 x 4.5 cm)

I fell in love with this slide. I like the spirals and the small flower accent. I think this slide could be used 'upside down' easily (something for lefthanders to think about.) This slide measures in at 3 3/8" wide and 2 1/2" tall (8.75 x 6.5 cm) I bent the stick part a little to accomodate more of my hair. It wasn't easy to bend, but it did with some care.

Bunjiibun

If you haven't seen or heard of bunjii's you're missing out on a wonderful product. It has replaced all my pony elastics because I can get the tension I want with the bunjii and they don't tear up my hair when I take it off. Also, it holds ALL day. They come in a variety of colors and can have a pretty bead or smaller silver beads added to the tail.

Besides the normal ponytails you can make with them, I have worn it to secure a bun and left the tail hanging down for a different look. This picture is of an orange bunjii with silver ends and a cute lampwork bead. The bun is larger than what I normally wear, but is typical of my cinnamon bun making abilities.