Come On, Irene

Hurricane Irene is 'a coming! 

For those of you who don't know, I live right on the water. It's an inlet to the Chesapeake Bay. I live about 300 feet from the water. The state I live in has already issued a pdf file showing where the worst flooding will occur.

We won't be hit until late tonight, approximately 2 a.m. I grew up south of here, again, right on the water. When Isabel came through in 2003, we had water waist-deep in our living room. We didn't even live in a flood zone! Trees were down all over the place, making the roads impassable.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. The flooding I can deal with. When we moved into this house, I bought the most flood insurance I could, just because of my past experience. For some unknown reason, we weren't required to buy flood insurance because we aren't considered to be in a flood zone. My next door neighbor is, however. Weird.

I'm worried about a tree on my property. The thick branches dangle right over my roof, where my son's room is. Tonight all the kids will be camped out downstairs, just in case.

I have my two camera batteries charged and ready to go to take photos of the damage for insurance and to share with you guys. I can't help but document any kind of unusual event.

Our energy company called a few days ago to let us know that they had called in about 500 out of state workers to help. They also warned that we would likely lose power for about 72 hours.  I bought every flashlight I could find at Home Depot, which wasn't much. I hit the store much too late and all that was left were children's Disney flashlights. I bought the eight remaining ones and a ton of batteries.

Since the hurricane is coming, I will probably be up tonight, waiting and watching. So long as I have power, I'll keep updating here.

Edit 8:53 a.m.
It's ominously silent outside. We usually have TONS of birds singing in our backyard because I have a lot of bird feeders, but I can't hear a single bird. I looked into our trees and I saw none, either. The birds must know something's up.

12:15
The wind is picking up and it's raining. I think the outer rings of Irene are starting to hit us. The news keeps going back and forth as to whether or not we'll be hit by Irene directly or tropical storm conditions from Irene's rings. Sigh. I wish they would make up their minds.

2:35
The wind is steadily growing stronger. The gusts are a little scary. I think a branch might have broken in my neighbor's hard because I heard a loud crack. The governor of Maryland was on the news saying that the worst part of the storm would hit us around midnight. I'll probably stay up, just in case.

3:50
We heard a huge boom. My neighbor poked his head out the window and said "There goes the transformer," I have no idea what that means unless Bumblebee is having transmission issues down the street. We lost power twice and I'm sure we'll lose it again.

5:50
The wind is getting stronger and it is pouring rain outside. I can't believe the trees can bend so much without breaking!

12:15
I've lost cell phone service. The cedar tree in my back yard is swaying back and forth so violently I can't imagine how it's still upright. We still have power (obviously,) but I'm not sure how long that is going to last. I stepped outside and the wind gusts were so strong they actually scared me.

7:35
We still have power and my cell phone is now working. The wind gusts are about the same as last night. The cedar is still miraculously standing. Broken branches and leaves litter the road and my back yard. We're still under a Tropical Storm and Flood Watch. Those won't end for a while, so we'll see how things go.

Sale Alert: Ravenslair

Ravenslair is having a sale! You can save 20% at Raven's etsy shop, Ravenslair. Just enter the code  1ETSYRELEVANT and save 20%.

Isn't that comb gorgeous? It would look perfect tucked into a bun.

That one reminds me of the upcoming fall.

If you've had your eye on something special at Ravenslair, swing on by her Etsy shop. 20% off all items.

Getting Used to the Haircut/ Cool Find: Non-slip hair ties

You know, it's funny. I started to have difficulty making nautilus buns when my hair was classic. No matter how tightly I wound my hair, it still drooped and looked sloppy. I never realized my hair could get too long for certain updos.

Since I cut my hair back, the nautilus looks like it should. That's kind of exciting. I still miss my old hair, but I know I made the right decision.

I was browsing my local CVS for hair accessories for my girls and I came across Scunci's "No Slip Grip" hair ties. They feel like those black plastic bracelets that were popular in the mid nineties, only they come in better colors.

In fact, they remind me of a much larger version of those teeny silicone hair ties.

Anyhoo, since Sofie just started cheerleading and needs to have her hair in a pony tail, I thought I'd give them a try.

I really do like these. I never wear my hair in a pony tail because the tie would cause breakage and droop halfway through the day. These hair ties work great. Since it's been so warm, I've been wearing my hair up most of the time. My go-to hairstyle these days is a braided pony tail since I can use these ties without breakage and slipping. They really grip without tearing! Plus, they keep my daughter's crazy hair up and out of her way while she's rah, rah, rahing. Of all the "no slip" hair ties I've tried,
 these are the best by far.

Because there are so many "non-slip" products out there, these are the ones I'm talking about:

Blueberry Picking

We made a last minute trip back up to New England. I really love it here.

It's blueberry season, so we packed the kids into the Honda and hit the "PYO" scene. Okay, that sounds way cooler than it actually was. We just visited a local "pick your own" farm.

I've never been blueberry picking, but I do like blueberries. The blueberries were so cheap that we got a ton and I'm going to have to get creative to use them up before they go bad.

 Incidentally, you may notice Sofie's hair is growing back nicely from that giant cut not so long ago.

Winnie's hair is growing really fast now and it's about BSL at its longest. She's never had a haircut before, so she's got quite a few different lengths going on.

 "OMNOMNOM!"

In Which I Cut My Hair

After all the bad luck we've been having (I had a car accident, we had a child in the ICU unit for three days, someone in China stole $1000+ out of our bank account) I figured that was a clear cosmic kick in the butt. I made a promise- time to pay up.

After putting it off for a week, I finally decided to just do it. My husband took his pocket knife, which has scissors on them, and cut five to six inches of hair. It feel so weird! I feel like I have short hair, which obviously isn't the case.

Time for pictures!

I know it doesn't look that much shorter, but I think it's the camera angle.

I knelt at the side of the fire pit and smudged myself the entire time with a sage smudge. It took forever for my hair to burn, which I attribute to the good health of my hair.

Although it felt like a huge amount of hair, I think that it was only the growth I've achieved since I made the promise. I'm going to keep growing after this.

I gotta say, too, I felt much lighter and it felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. I'm happy I fulfilled a vow I made almost two years ago and I feel better, too. I've gone from past classic to hip length, as far as I can tell. It may be tailbone length, too. I need to get used to it before figuring out exactly where I am lengthwise.

Comments?

New Arrivals: Ravenscroft Moon Fork

Check out Ravenscroft.

New Length Shots

 I figured it's high time I got you guys some length shots. These are certainly not the best, because we were trying to catch the last light of day while getting the kids down to sleep. I hope you enjoy them anyways.

I've come a long way since starting this blog. To refresh your memory:

That was taken about a year ago, I think. I've developed some serious fairy tale endings in my length, but I like them better than the blunt cut I used to have.

My hair is not that red. The light of the sunset made my hair appear much redder than it is in person. I'm not sure what's up with the waves I've developed over the year. Maybe my hair care routine did it?

I promise to get better pictures next time, when we aren't in such a hurry.

**I put up the option to "Follow Me" under "Cool People." I know there are WAY more than 11 people following this blog, so if you could kindly add yourself to the Cool People, I'll have an easier way to track my readers.

When I first put it up a year ago, it seemed pretentious. Now, I just want to see who's been reading my blog, because I know there's a lot of you! Thank you guys so much!**