Busy Is My Middle Name...

Busy is my middle name... it has to be!

Over the past three days I have gone shopping for decorations, food for Thanksgiving, and honestly I believe I've lost track of everything else because it feels like everything is going in circles.

One thing I do know for sure is that I'm really looking forward to having the first family Thankgiving at my hubby and my new house with both sides of our family together. I have no idea what the day will be like but I have a lot planned so far and I just want everything to turn out well so that everyone will want to do it at our house every year from now on. And who knows, maybe I can get the best wish of all and have a vegan meal next year for Thanksgiving.

I know, you hear the word "vegan" and you think, "Eww, yuck! What a way to waste a perfectly good day on eating vegetables!" Well, maybe you're not thinking that but here are my thoughts on the matter. Yes this may be the one time of year where Turkey is the huge theme, but think of this, people eat turkey many more times of year than they realize in sandwich form or in soup. So while we are celebrating on what we are thankful for this year lets let the turkeys be thankful to by us not eating them. Just one thought and I do have others but I'll keep it nice and short for tonight.

Other than that I've been having lots of things happening health wise that have really been throwing my weeks off track. If it's not my low back giving me problems then it's my left knee, if it's not my left knee then it's concern about my right foot, if it's not my foot then it's probably my back again or all three have ganged up to get me.

I have a second back injection scheduled for this next week and if this one does not help then I will be seeing a new back surgeon. I do have fear of what could happen if I go through a third back surgery and honestly the idea scares the daylights out of me. Mostly I'll be going to see him to see if it's now the stenosis that's my primary problem or if in case it's something else.

Due to my back problems I'll have to take it easy now for the rest of my life. No strenuous activity, which means even my hard work outs have to be pulled back to more of a minimum. When I've tried my work outs, even after this last injection in my back, afterward I had a bad reaction and was couch and bed ridden for the rest of the day in pain within hours of the work out or at least by the next day. Honestly it's not fair that a woman like me, who's done so much over the past three years to get healthy and stay healthy should be plagued by back problems to the degree that I have to limit physical exercise or physical activity otherwise I could make my back worse. That's right, worse! The stenosis in my back has only gotten worse over the past year, as the CT Myelogram clearly show the degeneration and stenosis spreading in my back like a slow wild fire. I'm not even 30 yet and I feel like I have the back of someone fifty years older than me...

But at least I have my overall health, clothing so I don't freeze, food so I don't go hungry, a roof over my head and a very beautiful roof by that, a wonderful husband, two loving kitties, good family, great friends... what else could I ask for? :)

My hair, from most recent MANIC look to when it was long brown.

My Manic Panic look

When I decided to re-bleach my hair this past time I used the same product I did back in September. Manic Panic Flash Lightening hair bleach.

The first time I left in it in my natural un-dyed hair for about 60 minutes and it took me to a shade of yellow blonde. After that I used a color through Ion to make my hair look more natural blonde. I liked it but was worried that I wouldn't like it so quickly dyed it to a very dark deep red shade.

By the end of October I was ready for a change and decided to bleach out the color again but instead of making my hair a yellow blonde it turned orange. That's what happens when you use a dye with red highlights or if you have natural red highlights same thing still can occur. As it turns out all I needed was to keep in the bleach just a little bit longer and I would have achieved the desired shade of blonde, but I didn't realize that at the time.

Over the past two weeks I have been slowly taking out the orange color in my hair with the thanks of Head and Shoulders shampoo, and Sun-In hair lightening product. Finally I was ready for a fun change and I had ordered all my new Manic Panic hair color from Sally Beauty, Red Passion that is an amazing shade of pink and Virgin Snow which is white. I first put in the Virgin Snow and it only lightened my hair up a little bit. Now looking back at the photos I don't believe it changed the color at all. Frustrated by this attempt I went out to my local Sally Beauty store to pick up more Manic Panic bleach and then headed home after some shopping. It was officially time to have some fun, though I knew that after a third time bleaching my hair in three months, my hair would be fried afterward.
First I mixed up the bleach and then it was time to apply it to my hair.
I left in the bleach for about an hour because I was worried after three times bleaching my hair would surely fall out and I would be in tears with no hair left on my head. But as it turns out I have very strong hair and strong roots because my hair has grown out so much since my hair cut in September.
Then it was time to get the dye ready once the bleach was rinsed out and my hair was clean and mostly dry. I first wanted to have a beautiful main layer of white so I first applied the Virgin Snow Manic Panic hair color. I decided to use heat to help the color take hold of my hair. I left the color in my hair for about 90 minutes, then washed it out.
Then it was time to prepare the Red Passion Manic Panic hair color. I didn't need to use very much of the color because I just did the tips of my hair this time. Once the color fades I plan on doing different strips of color or colors. Or who knows, perhaps I'll mix the color with some white and make a beautiful pink out of it. As it turns out there are other colors I would love to try like Cotton Candy Pink, Mystic Heather purple or Vampire Red.
I left the color in my hair for about fifteen minutes, I used heat on the bottom portions of my hair and today I did a little bit more of the upper portion of hair and used some foil to make sure it wouldn't get on the bottom parts of my hair. Next time if I just do my tips I'll do the bottom only.
Overall I am very happy about the results. Manic Panic gets a 5 out of 5 points for best colors, bleach and other fun things that they sell like cosmetics. Manic Panic gets a 4 out of 5 for price of their products, as I would probably buy more if it wasn't as expensive. However I'm lucky to have a Sally Beauty card so I am fortunate to be able to purchase some of the Manic Panic products through their store and that does save me some money. The white didn't look as intense as it would have if I had not bleached as much before, my roots and where the hair has grown out took to the white much better and as far as I feel, it looks beautiful to me. White and pink look very pretty together. And even if my hair does look a little blonde instead of pure white, it's a long way away from how orange it looked weeks ago. So, you tell me. What do you think of my look? I think I love it! Thank you Manic Panic for making wonderful product that I love so much! I can't wait to get more and have fun with my hair in a few weeks or however long it takes for the color to fade.
My After picture (as seen above), and my Before picture (as seen below).
Naturally my hair is a medium brown, however it's been a long time since it was it's full natural color. I've been dying my hair for about fifteen years now. I can say that Manic Panic hair bleach and color have been my favorite to use so far.