Lawsy, I’ve been busy – relatively speaking – since returning from vacation. It’s amazing how much piles up after an eight-day hiatus from the homefront. I’ve been multi-tasking like a motherfucking riot; taking the boys to the playground while mentally composing posts, responding to constant “fun facts” about animals while making 16 litres of tomato sauce, preparing frantically for my solo trip to Saskatchewan while photographing plates of tomato-based dishes. Did I mention I have a whole lot of tomatoes in my possession? My mother-in-law supplied me with “a few” tomatoes; “a few” meaning “fifteen pounds”. It’s a good problem to have, all these sweet and delicious tomatoes.
Although it’s been warm here the past few days, there is a slight change in the air and I realized there are only three more weeks of summer vacation left! Cherish every moment goddammit. In addition to cherishing moments and tomato preparation, I am also beginning my usual August routine of thinking about back-to-school items and festive things like snowsuits and boots. The children are sweltering as I force them to put on their boots and mittens to ascertain fit and what is needed for the imminent winter. In Calgary, you never know. WINTER IS IMMINENT PEOPLE. Cue music of doom; perhaps an instrumental version of Patio Lanterns or maybe The Devil Came Down To Georgia.
The music of doom was also playing in my mind as I found myself in the mall at 5:00 on Saturday night. Unfortunately earlier in the day I was getting my old grey mare roots coloured, necessitating the late-afternoon mall shop, which is – as we all know – is the most spirit-crushing time to attend to all your shopping needs. Why is that? Why are there so many crowds, screaming children, rude people, and despondent employees at that time? And why do I never learn? There were two lights at the end of this tunnel of consumerism: Sport Chek had sales on running shoes, which I liked since we had to buy the boys each two pairs, and we had dinner at the food court, which is the kids’ favourite, as I have undoubtedly mentioned before. A teenage girl and her boyfriend sat at the table next to us, along with this cute fellow:
Speaking of the old grey mare and giant orange bears, I decided that I was going to make a dramatic change in my hair colour, and so I took this photo to my hair therapist, who looked at me quizzically. “Okay,” she said, “But it’s kind of the colour you already have. It’s pretty similar.” No no! I said cheerfully, explaining that I wanted something more coppery. She made a change to my formulation, coloured my hair, and…it’s marginally different. Dramatic overhaul fail. It looks pretty much exactly like this photo, taken poolside last week, pre-colour. Note: my dad makes this exact same face when he’s thinking, leading me to believe once again that I am an actual younger, female, and artificially red-haired version of him. Thanks for the grey hair genes, Dad!
It’s giveaway time! Prize yet to be determined but sure to be awesome. Or at least kind of fun. Leave a comment and let me know what you’re up to this August. Or what colour your hair is. Or at what point in the year do you start thinking about snowboots? Ah, who am I kidding – leave a comment about anything and I’ll enter you in the draw. Name to be drawn August 22!
Haha awesome…i have never commented on your blog before…your hair color looks perfect in this photo…its hard to think about winter when it is 35 outside…AND what mall is this Northland or Market? i miss both!!
No…Cross Iron Mills – the outlet mall that has great deals but at what cost? MY SANITY, THAT’S WHAT.
My hair is brown … with silver “highlights.” I do not think about snow boots … I live in California. I will be using ellipses in August … as much as possible.
OH BOY PRESENTS!
Okay. My hair is the colour of that expensive furniture that moms buy when their kids leave home. Deep eggplanty wood. Not a shade found in nature. This August, I am turning 41. And going to Bill’s family reunion. And crying, maybe.
Along with the ability to gain 5 lbs LOOKING AT A DONUT I inherited my paternal side’s late greying. I am still a hair dye virgin. I take the good and curse the bad. My hair color I love. The rest, not so Much.
I’m unpacking from all our journeys, planning two birthday parties, and back to school shopping. While I used to spend money on highlights, my cheap self is all about hair-colored hair these days.
No need to mail something to the US; I just wanted to play along.
We are leaving this week for 10 days in PEI. We have a friend from PEI, and when we told him we were going to be there for the last week of August, he said, “In PEI we call that the first week of winter.” OUCH. So needless to say, we are packing lots of sweaters and pants and possibly boots, too. Are mittens too much, do you think?
Adding to the horror – my hair is due for a root touch up right in the middle of the week, and I don’t intend to attempt to colour it myself in a cottage on the beach in PEI, so all our lovely family photos will feature grey roots. I can hear the teenaged voices now saying, “Nice roots, MOM.” GEEZ.
THAT WAS ME. Last week, an inch of grey roots. Every picture, I can see the roots!
Never underestimate an ‘opposite of extreme’ makeover. NEVER.
After being blonde all my life (Subtly enhanced of course in my adult years) I dyed my hair brown about 6 years ago. I figured it was time for a change and thought being a blue-eyed brunette was the way to go. WRONG!
I walked in to the hair dresser with a picture of a beautiful young woman with 5 times as much hair as I that was an exquisite shade of deep brown, and came out the colour of watered down merlot (she over-estimated how much red it would take to cover the ‘ash’). MANY tears, several ‘corrections’ and a over a YEAR (yes a YEAR) later, my hair was healthy enough again to endure highlights and my hair was restored to a somewhat damaged and traumatized version of its former self.
OMG. OMG.
Also, Your salsa looks SO yummy. I recently went to a Mexican resto in Palm Springs that served up the best fresh salsa. I asked for the recipe and they basically recited yours, (AND THEY DID NOT GIVE YOU CREDIT, I’m just saying), however – they grilled the tomatoes on high heat just long enough to get those little black lines which gave a subtle roasted flavour to the salsa. TRY IT!!
Well, that story alone is enough to keep me from doing any kind of extreme experimentation with my hair! I think I am going to try the roasted tomatoes – how could it possibly be anything but amazing?
Oddly, I dyed my hair all through my 20s, various shades of awesome red, but now that it’s 50% grey I am growing out the grey because it’s like hair dye but free! Oh except for the white hairs are really wiry and weird looking. Especially against the rest of my hair which is brownish orange, maybe from years of dyeing or maybe..just for fun. I got my hair CUT the other day so it’s closer to your hair’s length, it was four inches too long which gave me a certain Kim Mitchell vibe (except for the balding) so I’m feeling more pretty today than I did last week.
I love fresh tomatoes.
For August I am trying to yell less. *ohm*
I just found your blog via Yummy Mummy and am loving it! I thought I was the only crazy mom who makes her kids try on winter clothes in August. Here in Northern Ontario winter is imminent also. I lived in Calgary for six years and I must say, I liked Calgary winters better. Hooray for chinooks that offer a reprieve! Thanks also for your Greek salad recipe…totally yummy!
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah! I’m so glad you like the salad, and I hope you enjoy the blog! What can I say, we northern moms have to be ahead of the game because you never know when winter will strike! xo
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Oops. I thought I was clicking an edit button (to fix a typo) — instead i have deleted my comment. Needless to say: my comment — though fleeting — was poignant and witty. Trust me.
What am I up to this August? Canning. 25 pounds of blueberries, 80 pounds of nectarines, 80 pounds of peaches, 80 pounds of pears, 80 pounds of apples, 100 pounds of cherries, 200 pounds of tomatoes (I’ll probably increase this by 40-ish pounds by the end of the fall, though). Then worrying about killing everyone with botulism. You know, like one does.
That…is a lot of canning! Holy crap!
And I am fruit-less because I didn’t want to buy groceries before leaving for the Little League World Series (I’ve given up all pretense of not telling everyone I know that we’re going to watch my son play in the Little League World Series – other bloggers….the checkout woman at Shoppers Drug Mart….homeless people on the street). I went to my Mom’s house and begged a peach earlier. It’s pathetic. My hair is multicoloured and stripey. I’ve given up all pretense to any kind of natural look. I love your serious thinking face.
You SHOULD be telling everyone. Hell, I’M telling everyone!
Going on holidays again, I will probably wind up picking wild blueberries at some point because my mom drags me out with her. My hair colour… true colour is mousey brownish grey but I dye it a pretty dark brown.
I dyed my hair last week…after waiting since June to get around to it. It turns out, I’m almost entirely grey now. Awesome.
My hair is grey but artificially dark brown. I colored it last week and went too dark because now everyone is asking me if I colored it. Sigh. No one used to ask me that.
I also had it cut and had a conditioning treatment and bought salon product (which I never do) so I finally understand what you mean by hair therapist.
As for August – it is flying by, I too am trying to cherish every goddamn moment amidst the shoe shopping and trying on snowsuits.
Time for a glass of wine. Cheers!