Sunday, B2MeM and Thoughts of Dad

It was a lazy Sunday, which I really needed. I did get some beading done on my Owl Project, but not as much as I had wanted. I'm into the final two rows of the main body and it needs to be right. I did a full run across the bottom, then decided I didn't like how it was laying, so went back and pulled out three inched on each side. I like it more, now. The next step is the fancy drops, and those have to be perfect - they catch the eye and they make the piece work. I've had the components on my desk for a few days now and I'm still undecided about them. So, *sigh*, I didn't get as much done as I had wanted. 

There's something to be said for the occasional lazy day. This
was rather like my Sunday, but without the pool or the
drinks (still on antibiotics and didn't want to mix liquor
and medicines). 

We also took it easy for dinner, getting Chinese from our nearby favorite Chinese restaurant. It's always yummy, and it gives me three days of meals, but it's a bit higher in calories and sodium than I should probably indulge in. However, we don't do it often. There was a time when we had Chinese every weekend. We're not quite that crazy these days, but their food is so good, it's tempting. 

My favorite meal is Kung Pao Chicken, extra
spicy. Hubby prefers General Tso's Chicken, also
extra spicy. Our local restaurant gets the spice
just perfectly, and with the portion sizes they
have, we have enough to carryover several
more meals. 

B2MeM has started, the final year for the project. I have things perched at the back of my head. I'm unsure if they will be put to keyboard and cyberpost, but probably some of them will. Will I do all 31 days in March? That, I doubt. I have had several years of B2MeM when I have written a story each day, but most of the years, I only wrote a few. My month is rather packed, so I'm not sure how many I'll end up posting, but I'm sure I'll do some. I have always enjoyed it and am sorry to see it end. 

I love the large variety of banners and userpics designed for this
year's B2MeM, but I especially loved this one. So beautiful
and evocative. 

My thoughts turned to my father, yesterday, on the anniversary of his birth. He lived and died within a single century, never seeing the years turn from one century to another. He lived a full life, filled with a lot of accomplishments and joy, but it wasn't an easy life and there was plenty of fear and sorrow to balance out the love and kindness. He was a refugee, as was my mother. I wonder if he would be allowed into the USA these days? We're becoming insular and rather unwelcoming. 

That's it for today, though. I'm heading out to the gym, and might see about writing a quick item for one or the other of the prompts for B2MeM. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

BINGO IS OVER, LIFE CAN RETURN TO "NORMAL"

I didn't check into my email at all yesterday, spending my day wrapping up things that were pending and finishing this year's B2MeM. Not opening my emails was a mistake. I have a LOT of unread emails that I have to run through. I'll be finishing those up tonight because I'm already running late today. 

I decided to block out my time for a month and participate in
Back to Middle-earth Month 2019. 

Welcome to April. A little more than a month ago I made a commitment. Maybe I should capitalize the word. I made a COMMITMENT. There, that's better. I had several old friends from the Tolkien community who read my daily blog and had been pushing me to at least entertain the idea of joining B2MeM once again. It was the Bingo format - a format that I adore. A week or so before it started, I reviewed the cards, narrowed them down to approx 30+ that I really liked (there originally were 205 cards available, so it was a good first cull), and finally, after a lot of work, had a collection of the ten cards I was allowed to claim, plus one more I tacked on because I couldn't resist a card featuring Not Safe For Work & Kink. 

I committed to 31 days and 31 stories, plus reading and commenting
on the stories of other participants. I can usually write and edit a story
within an hour, but the other reading and commenting did take more time. 

I made a personal promise to myself to not write long stories. I would keep things short. I didn't require a month of drabbles - I've done that before and that's a tough one. I did require short, and one other requirement. All of my prompts for that day's Bingo number had to be handled in a single story. I had two times that I was assigned six prompts for a story, and one time when only one prompt came up, but I had a prompt for every day, and that was pleasing. I also ended up with two separate BINGO's on my "Horror" card, which was also a treat. 

I ended up getting two Bingos, both on the "Horror" card. I guess
the stars were aligned for my dark side. 

I read stories from old friends and some not-so-friends. I enjoyed them all a great deal. I looked at artwork, and was once again amazed at the talent and variety of ways Tolkien fans interpret and embrace his works. All of the Ages of Tolkien's world were covered, and timelines were extended and fleshed out wonderfully. All within the constraints and confines of the Bingo framework. It was a glorious month. 

My thanks goes out to those of my friends who poked me to join and
write within the fandom once again. It was a joy to return to Tolkien's
world once more, and put my own twist on the tales. 

Now I return to a life of a bit more control. I don't have to write a story every day, I don't have to read and review every day either (because I think if you're participating, you have to participate in feedback as well), and I can return to my personal writing and my own projects. That's a good thing because it's April and I have a TON of things to finish within the next eight months. 

So thanks to all of you for being patient with me while I was off writing Bingo. I had a lot of fun. It's going to be nice to settle back to different challenges, however. But yeah - I had fun! Have an excellent Monday, I'll return on Tuesday. 

B2MeM 2019 Is Coming To An End

We're coming into the final week of B2MeM 2019. I started the month thinking "Oh, it's Bingo. I love that format. I'll give it my best shot and see how I do," to ending it with "Oh darn, I only have Sunday's prompts left and then Bingo will be over." That should make it clear to my readers that I have thoroughly enjoyed the month's worth of challenges, writing stories, reading the stories of other writers, and commenting. It's been totally awesome. 

It was a lot of fun to write within the Tolkien universe
once again. It's been two years since I allowed myself
to play in this sandbox. 

I do write every day - I blog six days a week, and I often write in my own fiction, but I hadn't played in the Tolkien universe for quite a while. Although I have wonderful friends over there, many of whom I am in touch with through my blog, I have also had some unpleasant experiences within the fandom that caused me to pull back a bit. But, I'm getting older, my skin is thick and quite resilient, and I just don't care any more. So, if I see something on LJ or DW regarding something I want to write about in the Tolkien universe, and I have the time, I'll probably do it. 

The previous B2MeM challenge I wrote within was 2017's
"Night and Day" B2MeM challenge. That challenge had
a variety of pathways that could be followed. I took the
longest pathway (because I like a challenge) and was
successful at the end of the month. Lots of fun. 

Time is the question. My Bingo entries were relatively short. My personal criteria for participating this year was two-fold: (1) I had to write short - ficlet or drabble length only, and (2) I had to combine all of the daily prompts into a single tale. Those were my personal rules. I could have written as long as I wanted, and composed an individual story for each prompt, but I set my boundaries. For me, the challenge was in melding the varied prompts into a single story that had focus - that could be told in entirety, with minimal words. 

I don't know that I'll have the time to do other writing challenges within the universe. Many of the other writing events and exchanges that run throughout the year either require longer word counts, or restrict to only drabbles. Those are both good boxes to work within, but summer is coming up and we have SO much to accomplish to be able to retire at the end of the year. Crazy busy - that's what we'll be. 

My very first B2MeM challenge was the Passports challenge
of 2011. It's what brought me from being a reviewer, editor and
commentator, to being a writer within the fandom. Again, I
succeeded in completing the challenge and I got all of the
varied passport stamps on my Visa. It was a LOT of fun and
a good intro to B2MeM. 

So, I'll probably post a big "Thank You" on Monday to the moderators and other authors for a wonderfully entertaining month of writing fun, and then I'll return to my current primary focus - making my house a place where I can merge the items for my workspace into my current home. That's rather like a shoehorn and a tightly-fitted shoe. It's going to work, but it's not going to be comfortable. 

Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back on Monday. Remember to be kind to others and to animals, and try to finish the month up on a good and positive note. 

Geological Concerns - That's What Happens When I'm Rushed

My "day off" is going to be spent on grocery shopping and the computer. The list of things I have to do on the computer today is huge - everything from buying tickets to events to writing my next story to changing some things in my credit locking system. I don't really like spending the entire day sitting on my butt in front of a screen, but might not have a choice. 

I'm not a fan of spending my day sitting in front of a computer
screen, but I don't have a choice today. I have a ton of things
to do, and I need the power and security of my desktop
computer instead of my laptop. 

I got my first Bingo yesterday for the March Bingo challenge, and also wrote what I thought would be the final story in my Thranduil/Haldir pairing. Today's number, however, brought Card 136 back into play once more. The only issue with that is Haldir has already left Thranduil's court! I am already deep into writing today's story, and think I have this resolved, but you'll have to let me know if I conquered it when I get it posted later today. 

I have part of Thranduil's kingdom encircling an old
volcanic caldera. My vision, however, is considerably smaller
than the calderas I was able to search on-line. I have a
feeling I might have to switch my "caldera" to a "lave tube"
or something similar instead to be geologically reasonable.
I've added it to my "List of Things To Do Today" list. 

My eyebrows are starting to get lighter than the photo I posted earlier in the week. It's OK, they actually are supposed to do that, but I'm looking at the new shade and I'm undecided about whether I like it or not. I still have three weeks of healing to go through before I'll really know what the shade is that Heidi chose as best for my skin tone (very pale) and my eye color. She did such a great job with the actual tattoo, I'm sure she chose the best shade, so I'm curious now. But, I'm pretty darned happy after almost a week. It was the right decision to make. 

Lava tubes could work for me. Here's a photo of a lava tube in
the Hana Caves on Maui, Hawaii. This is closer to my internal
vision of the King's steep-sided garden in the Northern
Fortress of Mirkwood. 

I'm running SUPER late today, and still have to dive into my business email and get in touch with a mail order customer about product availability, so I'm cutting this short now. I hope you all have a totally tremendous day and I'll be back tomorrow. Happy Wednesday! 

TMI? Perhaps, or Probably - LOL

Yesterday was difficult - I only got 1-1/2 mile on the elliptical, but I did manage six miles on the bike, so it was not a total loss, and I kept my pace up. Still, those two days off really made a difference. My usual gym crew all gave my eyebrows a 100% amazing grade, and so even though I don't photograph well, I'll share with all of you too. I'm quite happy. I have my touch-up and my eyeliner application appointment scheduled for mid-April, that will be the end of this stage of reinventing moi - LOL. 

No makeup yet, and of course I hate selfies, but here are my
new eyebrows and I'm really happy with them. 

Back to Middle Earth Bingo is forging ahead, and today's prompt will give me a Bingo win on my "Horror" card. Huzzah! I have the story almost written, but it needs a final revision, and I need to decide how much graphic description I want to put into it. It's Haldir's last night in Mirkwood, I hate to fade to black, but I know some people would prefer that. It's a balancing act since I'm writing within a specific market instead of my own works. 

Since today's story features the use of a spanking bench, I thought
I'd include one of many styles of such an item. I'm sure King
Thranduil would have something quite well built and probably
more versatile than this, but this gives my readers an idea of
what the basic bench can look like. 

Do other people reading my blog use PayPal? I'm curious if you got a notification from them about updating your records for how they deal with your account balances. I generally always pull out any account balances, but I also know that they are becoming an alternative banking system for many people, with their own credit cards, etc. I just hate to have a lot of personal information out there unless it is for a legitimate cause. Share with me, please, if you have had a similar request, so that I feel more comfortable about it. 

PayPal - I've used them for many years, but not
very extensively. 

So today is short and sweet. It's going to be a busy day at the shop with a shipment arriving and packing and tagging to do. I'm finally getting in one color of a bead that I have several people, including a few mail order customers, awaiting. I'll be sending out emails within the next day or two and get some of them sent to owners who will make beautiful things with them. 

Kiwi Delica bead has been sold out for a while, but
should be back into the store today. I'll get that packed
quickly and start notifying my customers who have
been back-ordered on the color. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Time to go back to the gym for more voluntary torture. Oh well, I may not like the machines as much as the water, but I always feel better after my morning exercise. Have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Today It's Back To The Gym

I'm dressed and ready to go back to the gym today. OMG, I can hardly wait! Yes, I'm stuck without the swimming pool for weeks still, but I can work on endurance and stamina on the Elliptical and the Recumbent Bicycle while listening to either a book or some good music on my Sirius, so I'll consider just getting back to exercise a total win. I also had fun with my writing over the three days, and fun with my characters in LOTRO, who are slowly making their way over Middle Earth. 

DH lent me the assistance of one of his dwarves, and we
headed down into the Gorge to kill trolls and huge spiders.
We succeeded, and my repair costs were minimal. My little
human only has 12,000+ points, trolls are more than
100,000, so it's not really a battle as much as running away. 

We are now entering the final week of this year's Back 2 Middle-earth Month event. I was coaxed into writing for it because it was Bingo, a format that I adore. I have to admit it's been a joy writing within the Tolkien universe once more. I've crossed paths with some old on-line friends, and been unfriended by one who probably should have done that years ago, so all is fabulous and fantastic on my end. Sometimes things just work out for the best. 

I enjoy the Bingo format, and I've actually gotten reasonably
good at the tags, but I'll be happy to see the month end
and return to the other projects I have pending. 

Last night, DH and I had a minimal dinner, but when I was cleaning up afterward, I noticed a large amount of water on my flooring. After drying things up, I opened the under-sink cabinet to find that we had a leak in a hose, thus the water on the floor. It took a bit more than 2 hours, and a trip to the local hardware store, and a LOT of cursing, but DH finally managed to replace the leaking tube and it's ALMOST 100% resolved now. We'll be getting a new sink and counters within a year or two, so I'm hoping the repair will work that long. Crossing my fingers, for sure. 

We've had to replace/repair the sink sprayer in the
past. Our sink doesn't have this much space, we
have a garbage disposal attached as well. It
made for very tight working conditions for the
wrench work. 

I'm looking at the elements for today's story. I think I almost have it resolved in my head. I'll probably push the actual writing off until I'm at the shop and just do it on my laptop, but I think I know where I want to take it. We're nearing the end of the Event, and two of my favorite elves are nearing the end of their current stolen time together. Since I don't know which of my cards might come up in any Bingo draw, I may not be able to attain the conclusive resolution I'd prefer, but I'll do my best. I also noticed that at least one of my friends has now achieved Bingo! Congrats! 

Congrats to my friend, Linda Hoyland on
getting Bingo in the B2MeM event! 

On that note, I'm plugging in photos and heading out to the gym. YES! Have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. At least, that's the plan. 

Today Things Came Together Perfectly

It's always nice when things just come together. Last night's Bingo number was released and I looked at the four prompts thinking, "There's actually a lot I can do with these, and a lot of characters where they might work well." On that note, I called it a day and crashed. I didn't dream of the prompt (sometimes I'll get a writing thread into my head so much that it won't let go and sleep is restless). I did let the prompt curl into my brain for the night. 

I often go to sleep and ponder on a plotline, a character, or an
event. Sometimes it can make for a restless night, other times
I can gain clarity through sleep. I've tried keeping a notebook
handy, but since I hate writing by hand under the best of
times, it's never worked well. 

When I sat down at my computer early this morning I decided to start writing instead of dealing with emails and product inquiries first thing. I had time - I can't go to the gym until Monday, so my 90 minutes of exercise were open for reassignment. I sat down and started writing, one line at a time, describing an unknown person, I had no idea who. The fourth stanza revealed who I was writing about, as much a surprise to me as to my readers. When I checked it in review, it pinged out as a perfect 100 words. I don't get that lucky that often, but I was pretty darned happy. 

I was pretty darned happy with the wordcount. I was also pretty
surprised that it came out exactly at 100 words first time! 

As usual, in addition to writing for B2MeM, I'm taking a variety of writing courses and working on a variety of writing exercises. I've been serious about my writing for many years now, I just rarely write within fandom any more. It's been quite fun coming back to Tolkien after many months away. I've lost some in-depth knowledge that I now have to look up again when needed, but the characters still speak to me. Will I continue after B2MeM? Probably not. I'll more than likely return to my own original works. But I still have a community out there and I still care about it and those who write within it. 

I have been enjoying this year's Back to Middle Earth
Month event. Bingo trips all of my circuits. It's completely
unpredictable, and it's always challenging - but not in a
huge way, just in small snippets. Great fun! 

So as we enter into the final stretch of B2MeM, I'm sending out a "thank you" to those who decided to do Bingo this year. It's a format I love, and it got me pulled back into a world I adore, interacting with old friends and new. It's been a great experience, and I'll be sorry to see the daily story prompts end at the conclusion of the month. 

I'm a great believer in positive thinking, and I'm also a
believer in 'small steps make long journeys possible.'
I put that into daily practice and it works for me. Bingo
seems to work well within that kind of mindset. 

My eyebrows? Still there. The best thing about them is that nobody has commented on them. That's important. That speaks to me, and says "They look natural, like they should be there, and nobody's going to comment on something that's usually overlooked on most people." If she had done a terrible job, people would say something - cloyingly positive or achingly negative. My customers have been on this journey with me and they would comment. Therefore, I'm happy! 

Have a wonderful Saturday. Since I'm running so far ahead of schedule, I think I'll go into Middle Earth and kill some orcs. I'll be back on Monday, when I can finally return to the gym, although I'm stuck with no swimming for weeks to come. 

Spring Has Sprung

We are now officially in Spring, even though I still have a snow mountain of more than four feet in height in front of my home's entrance. I've had years where we still had a spot of snow on the ground there in June, even July one year. It doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight, so it hangs around forever and ever, like an unwelcome house guest. I'm hoping it actually melts by the summer solstice, but there's certainly no guarantee. 

Spring has sprung. Of course, we still have a lot of
snowpack, and we can still get some snowstorms
(think last year's April blizzard), but we're through
the worst of it now. 

Flooding is happening downstream from us, and that's no surprise. When we get dumped snow the way we did this year (fourth highest snowfall for us on record), unfortunately there will be a serious melt. What amazes me is the towns downstream in other states who were forced to LOWER their levees and dikes to meet federal standards. Now the waters are more than four feet higher than the lowered levee height, and flooding ... yeah. Lots of it. I'm thinking of my friends in affected states and just hoping they are all right. 

With melting snow comes flooding downstream. I'm thinking
about my friends who might be experiencing flooding now and
hoping they're all right! 

Yesterday's impossible story turned out to be wonderful and when I switched into humor and "out there" mode, it clicked like a fine machine. "Hell is Naugahyde" might end up being my favorite story of this year's B2MeM experience when the month ends. Of course, I still have ten days left, so there's lots of writing still to do, and today takes us back into the "Chamber" with two of my favorite elves. Just small touches of BDSM to make things interesting. 

I little bit of rope play for my story today? Maybe. I haven't
made a final determination yet. But it will be fun to
return to the Chamber. 

Eyebrows are on my schedule for the day. I'm taking a "sick day" and driving out for a 1:00 pm appointment. By dinner tonight, I'll have eyebrows, I'll be a bit red and sore, and I'll be banned from the gym until Monday and from the pool for 3-4 weeks! Argh! No morning swimming, I'll have to work out on the elliptical and the recumbent bicycle instead. Not as much fun, although I did some serious work on my Spotify workout playlist yesterday and it might almost be ready for a good listen. I also have Project Runway on Bravo tonight, so I should have things to share tomorrow if the internet is kind with photos. 

So, off I go for another day, but this one will change my appearance for years to come. Bring it on! Have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow, although I might let myself sleep just a little bit later since I can't exercise until Monday. 

Five Disparate Prompts - The Challenge of Today

Yesterday's B2MeM prompt was easy for me to write to. But today's!!! Not so easy. Mixing 'herding sheep' with 'cannibalism', 'ink', 'curiosity' and 'coward' is straining my brain. Today's post will be a late one. I stewed over this all night and think I might have a kernel of an idea, but I'm not quite at the point of jumping into that pond yet. It might be one of my most difficult days ever. I love a challenge - LOL. 

Herding sheep. Hmmm. I've seen the dogs herd sheep in
many demos over the years and they're marvelous at it,
and if it was just herding sheep, I wouldn't have a problem
with the prompts. Today is challenging. 

It's the start of two days off and the final day I'll swim for up to eight weeks! The no chlorine water might drive me crazy - I'm not a great fan of the machines at the gym, but I won't have a choice. Tomorrow I get my eyebrow tattoos and four weeks later, after everything is healed completely, I'll be back getting any touch-ups needed for the eyebrows as well as a wonderfully thin permanent eyeliner tattooed. My instructions are clear - nothing causing sweat or water on my eyebrows for three days (thus no gym at all on Friday or Saturday), followed by no swimming until everything is totally healed. 

Cannibalism isn't unique. Here, in a rare photograph, one
hippo is eating the remains of another. 

I need to have DH take a photo of the tattoo I have in the back of my neck. I don't think it's aged well, and might want to look at getting a cover-up sometime in the next year or two. I love ink, but it has to look good, and I've lost a lot of weight since I first had it done. That can affect how a tattoo looks over time. 

Ink is another of today's prompts for me. How about
something like this tower of sheep tattoo? It might
work into the story ... or not. 

Do any of you, my readers, have tattoos? Have you wanted some but never indulged? I'm not sure if my parents would have been supportive or horrified. They had been dead for many years, though, when I got my first tattoos. DH isn't fond of ink, but he tolerated my getting them done, and actually does like my dragon tattoo. 

I guess I can't be a coward because I have to
make today's prompts work. Good thing I have
other things to help occupy my mind. I won't
spend too much time thinking about the prompts,
I'll just dive in and start writing when I get home
from my morning errands. 

So, I return once more to thinking about how to combine five totally disparate elements into a single story. Argh! Today won't be easy. Maybe clarity will come in the pool ... or maybe not. In any case, have a wonderful Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with easier elements to meld for Thursday's story. Enjoy the day! 

Today Will Be A Perfect Day - At Least, That's The Hope

Sometimes the day starts out great. Today is one of those rare days, and since it's only 4:00 am, I'm just hoping that the way it started is the way it continues. Why or how did it start so well? Things clicked. Easy, peasy. 

I love it when things come together beautifully. This morning
was one of those wonderful and rare times. Since I have my
income tax appointment with my accountant tonight, I'm
hoping this trend continues throughout the day. 

Last night, while watching the first episode of this year's "Spring Baking Championship" I cobbled together a very sad story for today's Back to Middle Earth prompts. The prompts, 'rust' and 'spirituality' made me think a bit - those two words don't work smoothly. Then I thought of prayer and how people will say that they are 'rusty' at praying when they haven't done so in quite a while. OK, rusty prayers. 

Prayer - to some people it comes easily, perhaps too
easily. For many, however, it is something that
is rarely practiced with true heart. 

Why would someone need to pray? Usually, for someone to finally use prayer when it has been put aside for a long time, there is an event - often tragic - that pulls the person to appeal to a higher being. That appeal can be harsh, or accusatory or just a long groan of a "why?", but it is tragic and heart-felt and immense. 

There are 1000's of images of Maglor, but this one is one
of my favorites. Kudos to Elena Kukanova for a
beautiful rendition. 

I turned to a character I've written about many times in the past - Maglor, musical son of Feanor - and his stunned reaction to his father's death. Death was almost unknown to the elves, they were immortal and would live on Arda for as long as Arda still existed. To live as long as a planet is not absolute immortality, but it's a VERY long time. Thus, elves are immortal in my eyes. Yet, here Feanor, an immortal, had died and been pulled from the Circles of the World and thrust into the Halls of the Dead. 

There are a lot of drabbles and drabble challenges out there. I've
participated in some of them in the past, but no longer force myself
to keep to the 100 word structure. Still, it was fun to have a
story fall into that without even trying! 

His sons must have been devastated and stunned that such a thing could even happen. So I wrote a small part of this through Maglor's eyes, edited the story this morning just before starting my blog post, put in my headers, and quickly checked my word count. It was exactly 100 words. I had a drabble without even trying for the word count. Yeah Me!!! 

Thus, my day starting out great. Of course, I'm going to hope that I'm going to continue with a great day, instead of having it shift around. I want to slide down the mountain today, not pull my gear out of storage and begin a hard climb up. Here's hoping your Tuesday is fabulous and fantastic. I'll be back tomorrow - at least, that's the plan. Happy Day to you all! 

A Super Nice Gift - Alternatives Are Wonderful to Have

Sunday turned into a day of surprises and a bit of pampering. My B2MeM story for the day came together quickly after a bit of research the night before, and breakfast was quick and easy (even though one of the eggs broke in DH's eggs-over-easy. Oh well ...). We settled down to play Lord of the Rings Online for a little while and DH asked when the wig store opened - "Noon," was my response. 

Creative Hair Design opened up a Roseville location about
a year or so ago, and it's quite near our home. It made things
much easier than just looking at wigs online and choosing
something without actually seeing how it looked when
worn. The staff was extremely friendly too.
A total win/win. 

DH has been after me to get a wig or two so that I had some options instead of just doing my bald look all of the time. He loves my bald, but he's right - there are some times when it would be very nice to have a more polished look, and wigs are an alternative look that I've used on and off for most of my life. Just for the fun of it. But I told him I wasn't going to look at or get anything without him along for input. After all, I'm wearing the wig, but he's looking at it. 

The inside was almost overwhelming - so many choices. But once
I started talking with the sales associate, and we started really
looking at options, things became pretty clear. I ended up
with synthetic hair in colors, styles and lengths similar to
what I've had for my own hair in the past. I've never been
shy about playing with my hair colors or styles, so this
was another opportunity to play. 

We spent more than an hour at the wig shop and I tried on more than 20 wigs. We ended up with one short and one long wig, and they're really cute. I'm quite happy with them. It's funny - I haven't had that much hair in like ... ever ... and it's a bit odd to look at myself with one of these on and realize that most people really do have that volume of hair. 

See that mirror in the back on the side wall? That's where I
was sitting when I was trying on wig after wig after wig.
It was a total trip and I really enjoyed it. Great experience. 

So I handed the nice lady a credit card - DH didn't even want to know what he was paying, he said he'll pay it when the bill comes in. Lucky me! I left wearing the long wig, and wore that one for a while, then I switched to the short wig when we went out to dinner at Olive Garden, then I put them onto their stands and went back to being bald me. I know I'm not going to wear them that often, but he's right - it's going to be really nice to have alternatives. It was a SUPER nice gift. 

Here's hoping you have a wonderful, awesome Monday. I plan on being back again tomorrow, so play nicely with others, be kind to strangers, and treat your pets to a special treat. It's Monday and we all deserve a day of good strokes.