can it get ANY worse???

Yes, it can.

Tonight, I had dinner with some ladies from 2 jobs ago. Out of the 8 of us that showed up, only 2 of us left that job by choice (me and another lady in my department). The rest were swapping stories about being laid-off, who was still there, and the current financial state of that company. But in the end, all of us were in a better place...even though my lay-off was delayed until my next job. All I recall was sluggishly getting up in the morning, having to drive 45 minutes to a job that I grew to hate. I liked the people, but the work (or lack thereof) was unsatisfactory.

Anyway, I sat next to an older, white lady that I used to shoot the breeze with in the mornings. She would look out for me anytime another department had doughnuts, so I could do some quick ninja-like movements and beat the crowd. I believe that she favored me b/c we often bonded over our fondness for Pri.nce.

I hadn't seen her in 4 years.

Someone made a comment about loving her hair. She responded that she was just so happy that it grew back after her surgery.

This was a case where I wanted to know the backstory, but I didn't want to be intrusive...but I still REALLY wanted to know.

Someone else asked.

Thank God, b/c I was dying inside.

She said that she'd give us the short and sweet story.

A while back, she had a procedure done that essentially tied off the arteries supplying blood to her fibroids. She had a scheduled check-up some weeks later, but while in the parking lot at her doctor's office, she passed out next to her car. A police officer happened to see her and rushed to her aid. It turns out that she had an infection, related to that procedure, which spread into her bloodstream and she had gone into septic shock. She was informed that if she hadn't been under medical care that she probably would've died within 18-24 hours b/c the infection was spreading to her organs.

The doctors refused to perform surgery b/c of her condition, so they pumped her with a high dosage of antibiotics, which treated the infection. However, her veins collapsed in the process and she then developed a blood clot. Once the infection was treated, it was necessary that she have a hysterectomy...but she also needed a blood transfusion.

She cried out to God, "Can it get any worse?"

Surgery successful. She goes back to the doctor's office to get the staples removed. However, her doctor shares more news. Apparently, she had a very aggressive and rare form of cancer and it was speculated that she had 6 months to a year to live.

The doctor explains that he'd still like her to do ch.emo and radia.tion treatments. While processing this, she scrambles to change all of her insurance forms and gets things in order. She comes to accept her prognosis but finds comfort in the fact that she's accomplished everything in life that she wanted to.

Her friends frantically prayed for her. In fact, they were still on their knees from the beginning. She goes back to the doctor and he says...

"I don't know how to tell you this. I've had 4 other doctors look at your records and they can't explain it. There doesn't seem to be any cancer in your body. I've read about this happening in medical school once, but you're the first patient that I've actually witnessed."

She just celebrated her 50th birthday.

I sat there as she spoke, eyes glazed over, mouth ajar. I rubbed her arm. She tilted her head towards mine. I think that she thought that I was consoling her, but actually, I just wanted to touch what I perceived to be a miracle.

I learned a long time ago to never ask if life could get any worse. Damn if this story doesn't put a great many things into perspective...

this weekend

Yesterday, I drove up to northern VA to visit my best friend, who is a mommy now. She wasn't due until early September, but baby Jor.dan decided that he had better things to do than to be curled up in a womb all day. She had been in the hospital for a few weeks with early contractions. I have to admit that I was so worried b/c she had a high risk pregnancy due to her own health issues. Well, she gave birth on Tuesday and everything was great with her and her new baby boy. God is good. Focusing on my girl and her fam has been a nice mental break.

I went to Babi.es R' Us and suffered temporary insanity as I started throwing the whole store in the basket. I don't know why I even bothered to print out her registry. I might've gotten one thing off of it, but there were so many things that I thought the child should have. As for her baby shower that was planned for the first week in August...I don't know. Her husband informed ME of the date, so I guess that meant that either he or someone that she's close to up there is planning it. I'll probably go back in the next couple of weeks anyway. All of my friends tend to be spread out across the country (and tend to move around almost every 3 or so years) so I'm just glad that we live in close proximity during this season of our lives.

We had a guest pastor this morning. It's sad, b/c if had I known that ahead of time, I might've skipped. I still received the Word. There was this tall, nice-smelling, man that walked in and sat next to me while I was praying. When I opened my eyes and peeped him in my peripheral vision, I was trying to figure out how to look at him...without looking at him. Leave it up to a black church to tell you to turn to your neighbor and tell him...something, anything, When I did, I thought that he looked alright. But then I heard him sing along with the praise team, clap furiously, and truly get into the service. Then, when he started speaking in tongues, my curiosity was peaked. But I swear I heard this dude say, "...ma-ma-say-ma-ma-sah-ma-ma-coo-sah, you da MAN!" I started laughing and then I thought that maybe that was God's way of directing my attention back on Him, lol.

Distractions, both a blessing and a curse.

and...hair

So...hair.

When I packed for Chi.cago, I wasn't in the mood to lug around a bunch of products, plus I didn't want to spend a lot of time on my hair during my vacation. I pretty much reasoned that wash n' gos were the way to go. And when I didn't want to wear it all the way out, I was down for my puff. When I returned, I told myself that I should probably do some twists to give my hair a break.

For some reason, I do not like twist outs in my hair right now. I like it when my hair is in twists, but when I take them out...not so much. I'm steadily practicing my flat twists.



Pardon my fo'head...

While on a trip to Tar.get a few weeks ago, I got suckered into buying more than planned...as always. I went there for Dry.el sheets, but came out with Dry.el sheets, junk food, soda, rollers, a diffuser, Yes To Cu.cumbers conditioner, and Shea.Moisture Dee.p Conditioning Mask.

I diffused my hair for the 4th...and I wasn't really a fan. My hair was big(ger), I suppose, but I felt as if I could've achieved the same results if I had just air dried. Most likely, I need more practice in this area.

Last week, I finally decided to try the deep conditioner. Loved It! Shea.Moisture has great ingredients and my hair thrived off of each and every one. So then I said, I'm gonna go BACK to Tar.get and see what else is in their line and maybe I can try something new for my twist-outs.

Tar.get suckered me again! I had to get some head gear.

I believe that my hat count is up to 6, excluding baseball caps.

I also bought Shea.Moisture's Curl En.hancing Smoothie, in hopes that it would be a great moisturizer for my twist-outs. Well, it IS a great moisturizer...but not an excellent styler, since it has absolutely no hold. I ended up slicking it back into ol' trusty, but my hair was ridiculously soft.

My next thought was to flat twist it, using both the Shea.Moisture and Eco.styler. I gots no love 2 days in a row. I was extremely frustrated. Truth be told, it more than likely failed b/c my hair takes forever and a day to dry but I didn't have that kind of time. And I surely did not plan on wearing the flat twists in public. I was disappointed b/c I really wanted to make that Shea.Moisture smoothie a part of my holy grail.

I called the Stay.Natural hotline and was talked off the ledge. Since I had done battle with my flat twists for 2 nights in a row, my g/f suggested that I break from it and recommended Kink.y Cur.ly for my wash n' gos. My only issue with my wash n' gos now is that I can't get more than 2 good hair days out of them. But that's not really much of a complaint since its the summertime and I don't have a problem with wetting my hair every day of the week, if necessary.

When I first big chopped, I used KCCC and hated it. I then vowed that I'd only use it as a gel. Well, I didn't have anything to lose by trying again.

This was the end of the first day...

And this was at the end of the second (without re-wetting...and with my hair pinned back in the front).

Pros - not a terrible amount of shrinkage, a good deal of movement, a nice sheen, great defintion, firm hold, humidity-friendly, and compliments.

Cons - PRICE (although I've had this jar since this time last year), stickiness (I believe that this is what I disliked the first time, but the stickiness subsides after a while).

Is it worth me trading in my regular routine? Eh - I don't know. I have a feeling that when I finish up this jar that I won't re-purchase. I am determined; however, to make that Shea.Moisture work for something...I believe that I will use it and the Eco.styler gel for my next wash n' go.

I'm trying to see if its possible for me to go a week without putting my hair in a puff. Highly unlikely.