Verdict - Very Girly Post. (Really. I'm warning you.)

So, I was brave and, since Michael was going to be home to watch the kids, I went out and got waxed.

It wasn't nearly as painful and heart-wrenching as the times that I've tried to do it myself.

I'm not saying that it didn't hurt ... there were parts that sure didn't feel absolutely wonderful ... but it was much better than when I've tried to do it myself.

I had my ladybits done and my armpits, too.

There are a few stray hairs that will need to be plucked. And, oh, it does feel a little funky.
And I did have to take a shower to get rid of residual wax ...

But my pores aren't bleeding. And the gal was really nice.

She recommends coming in every four weeks ... I don't know that I'll be able to do that. We'll see.
I'm curious to see how well it holds up. Especially the armpits. (I hate shaving. Especially ladybits and armpits. That's why those areas got it instead of, say, my legs. I can handle shaving my legs ... But armpits? I always miss a spot. Or a bazillion. And that's REALLY annoying. ... And razors just don't seem to be the right shape for ... certain areas. I'm just saying.)

I did take ibuprofen before I drove over. And chatting with the gal was a good distraction. Even though I did have to REALLY concentrate on gritting my teeth and BREATHING a couple times.

It is more expensive than buying a razor and some cream ... but she did a good job. There are some bits that, once I got home, I plucked at ... and I'll need Michael's help to get some hairs in my armpits (some hairs were a little too short to get caught in the wax).

Quite a few of my friends have gotten waxed and speak highly of it. I'll see if I jump on that bandwagon. ^_^
(Truly, laying there and chatting while having hairs yanked out? Sounds really strange. It's not that bad in practice. I'll just have to see if our budget can fit it in regularly.)

(Though, really, after bending to tweeze, I could really use a massage ....)

In case you're absolutely mad to know what I paid, The Brazillian wax was $65 and underarms cost $15.
I did leave a tip ... Now, for those veteran waxees, how much is a fair tip? I gave $15 ... since I really wasn't sure. Would $10 be fair?

Not feeling it ... yet (Feedback PLEASE)

Now, I'm going to confess something: We are living in a material world ... and I am a material girl.

I shouldn't be. I know that there are many, MANY things in this world that are better than what money can buy. ... But, sometimes, I just feel a little bad that I don't have a trust fund/money tree/ something.

Right now, I've done NO Christmas shopping. Because we haven't had the money to do so.

And I HATE not giving gifts. I love to give gifts. Giving gifts at Christmas makes me happy. If I were in a financial situation to do so, I'd spoil my family.

And, at this moment, since I can't do that, I feel a little down ... and not very Christmas-sy at all.

Which is really stupid. I mean, did Jesus come to earth to give everyone a gift card? I think not. He didn't come to give material legacies. And, therefore, I shouldn't feel like a loser because i don't know what to get for my grandfolks, parents, and nieces and nephew ... let alone for Michael (Though, really ... for him? I have a very easy, inexpensive option. Hurr hurr. <-- Michael, you didn't read that. And if you did, just act surprised if that's all I get you.)

I'm having a little trouble finding a quick, easy solution to this dilemma of feeling a bit Scrooge-like and off this Christmas season. (Every other year, I've HOPPED to on the day after Thanksgiving to crank up the Christmas tunes, since Michael is STAUNCHLY against Christmas music before Thanksgiving's over. Every other year, you can find me gearing up for decorating and getting a tree put up and gifts bought [and wrapped sometime before Christmas morning] ... But this year? I know that it's only three days into December ... but I'm ... just not feeling it so much. And it kills me. I know that, yeah, most of my music is on that other hard drive ... but i might have a good chunk backed up on the external. So, perhaps tomorrow, after I install the new hard drive and get it running, I'll be able to crank up the Christmas tunes. And, if I can't get them playing THAT way, I do have Pandora or last.FM, which would work. ...)

So ... I am asking, what are you doing/what do you do to feel the Christmas spirit?

What are some favorite Christmas songs? (I, personally, prefer the less secular ones. I know, I'm a snob. I put up with Rudolph, Frost, and the Chipmunks for the kids' sake. Snoopy, at least, has that whole "Peace on Earth" message. But, if I'm listening to Christmas music, I want to hear about Baby Jesus ... or, at least, about that warm feeling inside. And if you try and tell me to listen to "Christmas Shoes, " I will give you the TEACHER LOOK that I've perfected by student-teaching and being a mother.

THIS is that look, as done by Tommy Lee Jones:

I don't want to give that look. Please don't make me give that look.

(FYI: Other "Christmas" songs that will incur that look are "Last Christmas" by Wham! and ... oh, I don't remember, since I've spend the last 330-or-so days trying to rid it from my brain. And, for the present moment, it's seemed to have worked. Thanks be. Let's not mention those songs. Let's do pretend that they've never existed.)

But, please, please, PLEASE -- Give me some good ideas of things that I can do to get out of this funk (this funk that I can only hope to attribute to that evil ***** Mother Nature. [Dear Mother Nature, I hate you. Stop making me a crazy, heinous witch every month. Stop making me be all bloated and overly-sensitive. Also, if it's going to be this FRAKKIN' COLD, let it snow. just enough to make a snowman. Thank you. Sincerely, me.])

Here are the things that I HAVE done:

• drank chocolate-mint Rooibos tea (YUM. Dianne, you have awesome friends. Since they are how I ever learned that such a wonderful creation exists.)
• Set up the Nativity scenes that I have -- my Playmobil one, my Calico Kittens one, and the kids Little People one.
• let the kids watch "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
• Put up TWO Advent calendars (so what it we used one last year ... it's about the NATIVITY. So it should totally be used again!)
• I sat and sang some songs with the kids. But they weren't very amenable to that. Impatient little hellions. (Good thing I mostly love them, right?)
• I've talked to the kids about WHY we celebrate Christmas.
• I'm gearing up for St. Nicholas' Day ... Dec 6. Put out your shoes!
• We're going to go to the Community Nativity Festival this weekend. (If you're in the area, you should totally go. Seriously.)
• In our town, there'll be a parade, lighting of the community Christmas tree, and a concert on Saturday.

I mean, I have some good things to do to help me get into gear. I even plan on making some cookies for our neighbors. Even the ones that we haven't really met. Who is going to be sad to receive cookies? It should be a good thing, right? I hope.

But, really, if you have some secret formula for feeling all warm, fuzzy, and full of Christmasosity, pass that knowledge on my way. I'd appreciate it.

Crazy Dream Chronicles, Part ... um ... Eleventeen

Some of my dreams are memorible due JUST to how random and odd they are.

[E.g., the dream where I was making out with the older jerk of a brother on Weird Science (the TV series, not the movie. Same character, though. (circa 1996))]

[Or the one where I was ana assassin named Violet. But I had amnesia. And I was working at a kitchen goods store in Florida, hanging pans on a shelf/wall. And making out with a very nice boy ... as another assassin is approaching to kill me, not knowing that I haven't defected ... it's just that I don't REMEMBER who I am or my mission ... (circa 1994)]

[Or the one where my mom and I are driving to Sally's, my blog-friend, yet, remarkably the South is located just down the street from our house. And there are werewolves. Yes, WEREWOLVES, chasing us and trying to tear apart the car to eat us. And I'm trying to make sure that they're not going to hurt Sally's daughter, who's with us. (circa 2004)]

So, as you can see from the aformentioned dreams, my psyche is a rather ... unusual/singular/peculiar/scary place to be.

Last night?

I dreamt that I was student-teaching. But I wasn't anywhere that I recognized. I had a male teacher in the classroom. And ... um ... he tried to, well, overpower me. (Thankfully, not in front of the students. That'd be SO much more wrong-er-er on SO many different levels.) And, to protect myself and my virtue, I was grappling with this knife-weilding teacher ... with a metal can opener ... like the "church key"-type can openers. Like for opening bottles. Or cans of evaporated or condensed milk ... so it has that little triangular hole in the lid? You know the type, yes?

(RANDOM!?!?!)

And I escaped, rather unscathed ... but breathless and running away ... right into ANOTHER dude who's main objective is to get himself a (unwilling) piece of this. What. The . H????

And, yes'm, I fought him off, too. Must have been with that dang can opener.

So, if any of you out there are up for a challenge, what the bedevilment does this cah-ray-zee dream signify????

Perhaps I am feeling vunerable? Perhaps I need to buy more can openers? Perhaps I need to stay the H away from Education? (Not too hard ... since I'm not really headed back immediately. Especially if I'm having dreams like these.)

Little-known fact regarding myself: Yes, I'm squicked out by spiders and their inherent creep-factor. But, for as long as I've been aware what it was, I've been worried/scared that I'd be raped. I do not know why. Just one of those things.

Back onto a happier-ish note, I shall regale you with yet ANOTHER of my Crazy Dream Chronicles®:

Now, this dream occured around, oh, 2002? Somewhere around there.

In my dream, I was just chillaxin' with Jackie Chan (awesome!) and Jean Claude VanDamme (okay ... odd). And as we were hangin', what approaches us but an INVISIBLE NINJA LORD!

*cue dramatic music: Duh-duh-DUM!!!!!*

Now, VanDamme goes and starts fighting him. I'm watching through my fingers, huddled into a ball, as he loses against the INVISIBLE NINJA LORD!!!!

And Jackie Chan goes and fights ... he's whirling and kicking and doing all the amazing things that Jackie Chan can do ... and still, he fails against the INVISIBLE NINJA LORD!!!!

So, there I am ... I know that I can't just let the INVISIBLE NINJA LORD triumph. And I also know that, as I fight ... trying to anticipate where the heck he's at and what he's doing, since I can't SEE him, since he's an INVISIBLE NINJA LORD ... if JACKIE CHAN, who's only completely made of AWESOME, can't beat him, then I have NO chance of winning ...

And I am left bruised and bloody, panting for breath on the hard, cold surface on which we had fought ... and the *dum-dum-DUM!!* INVISIBLE NINJA LORD triumphs over us all.

*Holds up sign: Fin*

Yeah, that's pretty much my life motto. If Jackie Chan can't fight So-and-so and win, I have no business whatsoever trying to fight that person.

But, really, I never try and fight ANYBODY.

Mostly because I'm kind of a wimp. I don't like to get dirty. I don't like pain much, either.

(Also, about that strange, unexplained fear mentioned above, I like to consider that with the one song, "Everbody's Free (to Wear Suncreen)" ... the line "The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm

on some idle Tuesday." ... And since I HAVE worried about this odd fear, well, then it should never happen. ... And thinking of it that way puts me a little more at ease. ... But maybe I should buy a few more can openers and secrete them in various places where I might have need of them. I'm just sayin'.)

However, there's one dream that I've had over and over that I wish I could find the place. In my dream, I'm with a bunch of children (like a class), but I'm a leader ... but, like, a teenager? ... And I've had this dream off and on since I was ... um ... maybe nine?
... BUT, in the dream, we're walking up (okay, DOWNSTREAM) Canyon Creek. And we come to this place where the current lessens a little and there's a bit of an island(?) in the middle. And it's covered in trees (Poplar, maybe?) and it's just SO nice.

Since I've had this dream over and over, I would (just about every summer) wade/walk/whatever down Canyon Creek and look for it. Never found it.

But I was able to catch and watch lots of newts on my way.
I like newts. They're just so cute.

So, yeah ... just another look into my brain.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Thankful

Things that I'm thankful for (No particular order):

1. Priesthood blessings
2. Friends that call (hey, Rox!)
3. Kisses from toddlers
4. A husband that pets my hair
5. Ice cream
6. Family Home Evening (YES! We did one!!!)
7. Toddler hugs
8. Clean bathtubs
9. City garbage service
10. Being healthy

I figure that I do tend to get a little too caught up with what's happening RIGHT NOW. I need to work on keeping an eternal perspective and concentrating on the good things.

It's good to know that Heavenly Father loves me. It's good to also know that my friends love me, too.

So, what's one (or more) thing that you're especially thankful for?