Beauty Day

I've needed a haircut for a couple weeks - and decided I wanted to branch away from the JC Penney styling salon experience.  I feel for those stylists - new, learning, making minimum wage in a salon that hasn't been updated for decades.  It's just not a fun experience and while I've rationalized 'it's not too expensive' and 'it's just hair', I was looking for something a little 'nicer'.

I headed to ULTA - the store.  And their hair salon.  Got a great cut from a lady about my age who also has short hair.  Felt right at home right away.  Nice cut and a new product that provides a lot of volume which I need.

And on the way out, I met the brow guy and had my first ever eye-brow wax and shaping.  My brows are so sparse, I never felt the need to groom them via wax but he convinced me and I must say, I'm glad I got them done.  Lots less time staring into the big makeup mirror in our bathroom attempting to pluck stray hairs - and looking into that light leads to a halo effect for many minutes after when I close my eyes - so maybe regular brow waxing is the way to go.

Tomorrow morning will be the true test - can I fill them in on my own and make them look decent. Fingers crossed.

We did look at houses briefly yesterday - they looked a lot like the homes we visited in Reno.  Design concepts apparently don't vary much.  The single story was perfect for us - 4 bedrooms plus a 'flex room' we would use as an office - but the bedrooms are really tiny.  That's the trend now, too.  Space in the living area and keep the bedrooms really small.

We weren't tempted 'cuz I think we both agree Tracy is not where we will retire - though one of us already is retired in Tracy - but that won't always be the case.

We also trekked to OSH and Kelly Moore to get the supplies we need to start painting the stair risers. Company's coming over Christmas and the risers have been awaiting paint since the floors were installed TWO years ago - geez, I can't believe that.  I'm a little worried that upon painting, it will be painfully obvious that the entire house needs painting - it really does.  But we're just going to work on the risers and the trim up the stair case and maybe a little bit of baseboard touch ups.  And some wall touch ups.  And maybe a door.  When my cousin (one of the visitors) reads this, she is going to be so concerned that I'm painting my house for her visit - when really, I'm painting our house 'cuz it needs it and her visit is just the icing on the cake to get it done.

J. turns a young 67 tomorrow so I'm heading into the kitchen to bake a carrot cake and check on the pot roast that's in the oven.  I have a meeting tomorrow until 5PM so I'm baking tonight - and we will probably eat it tonight.  He won't mind -

B. heads back to Ft. Campbell tomorrow via bus.  He called very briefly on Friday evening - called the house phone so I would answer and he sounded just wiped out.  We had a really bad connection and we ended up getting disconnected - but we reconnected long enough to say our good nights. He was calling around 7:30PM our time, had been up since 4 and had to get up early on Saturday for the actual 'live fire' exercise they were doing all-day Saturday - so I really wanted him to get some sleep.
Live fire went fine - I was so relieved to see his Facebook messenger show 15 minutes at around 5PM last night after being off for 22 hours.  Facebook is great at keeping people connected - and reminding you just how long it's been since someone you care about has been online.

I took a phone survey and was surprised at the end to hear 'this survey was paid for by the Republican Party' - waste of their money since every answer was anti-them.  And Donald.  Especially Donald.

Adding potatoes to pot roast and getting the cake mix stirred up (no, I'm not making a cake from scratch.  I considered it and if I hadn't spent a couple of hours getting beautified and grocery shopping, I might have tried to) and in the pans ready to bake as soon as the pot roast comes out.

Another Monday looms.  Ugh.