Mondays

I haven't had a bad Monday in quite a while. I usually like Mondays because of the "fresh start" feeling of them. You should be well rested from the weekend and ready to tackle the world. Well, THIS weekend was not restful at all. I did not feel like tackling anything this morning other than a big cup of coffee and combat my desire to crawl back in bed and start over. I know better than to pile up too many things to do on my days off, but I really wanted the girls to be able to have a little fun instead of sitting around the house being bored. I should have taken Sunday afternoon off and rested, but there were so many fun things to do that I couldn't pass up. Boy, am I paying for it now.

Like I said, things started out ok.  It was a payday which means first of all, I have to fight the urge to have a shopping spree, and second I have to actually follow through on my desire to pay my bills so that things can run smoothly. For so long, we have been in a situation to just barely make ends meet, so paying bills gets to be very painful (so I procrastinate.) Having a job also means we (theoretically) have a little more than we NEED to have to pay bills so the desire to buy what I really want (shoes) is very strong. I compromised with myself. Instead of shoe shopping, I bought a new power cord for my beloved laptop so I COULD sit down and pay my bills. (I actually only payed the water bill that was  so overdue we were about to get a disconnect notice, but I DID pay a bill, so that counts...right?) So, I tried to relax Friday night, but money always makes me tense.

Saturday was when things really started getting crazy. DH had a Wardance to attend somewhere a few hours away, so he left really early and I got to have a girls' day. First, I went to a sign language class with MIL (at 9:00 AM!) Then, the girls had friends over - one friend per girl - and they all got here around noon. So we had a houseful of girls, and then I realize I have no food for them (or us.) MIL saved the day (once again!) by holding down the fort so I could get some groceries. (She literaly WAS holding down the fort as the girls made a huge fort in the living room from chairs, sheets, and blankets.) The afternoon was pretty quiet (all things considered) but we had a sleep-over with two of the girls and there was mass confusion about sleeping quarters until after 10:00. The only way I managed to get through it at all was with the help of my dearest friend LTB and two bottles of wine.

I believe it was sometime around midnight I finally gave up trying to keep pace with the tween-agers and called it a night LTB went home and to get a little rest before getting ready for church in the morning. I made sure the little girls were finally asleep and  let the older girls stay up in the livingroom, after confirming that they were NOT allowed to watch TV all night, of course. Who knows WHAT they might have found while channel surfing.) I had already had enough wine that taking sleeping meds was out of the question so I crawled into bed and started counting sheep.

Of course, the fun couldn't stop there... DH got home at THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING and decided that was the right time to tell me all about his wonderful day. I was already up when he got home because I really don't sleep more than a few hours at a time without help. I had slept off the wine so now I was safe to take my sleeping meds, which is what I was doing when he got home. I was on my way back to bed but I guess he thought I was wide awake since I was walking around. What do you say to your husband at a time like that? Darling, I love you now let me sleep? No, I decided to be a considerate wife and listen to him...until I fell asleep in med sentence. (Hey exhaustion is a pretty mean Monster, you know?)

Sunday morning, of course, only added to the general feeling of "please make it stop." Who is  going to Sunday School? Who is going to church after that? What are you going to wear? No you can't wear flip flops. Yes you can wear blue jeans if you ONLY go to Sunday School but not church too (and you tell everyone that you were adopted by gypsies and you have no relation to me.)Why does your hair look like a random bird tried to make a nest on your head? Yes you can stay home (just this once) if you don't want to go. Yes they usually have donuts. Oh, you ALL want to go now? (several calls back and forth between me and the other mom, at this point.) DH turned into a shuttle service (in spite of HIS exhaustion from dancing for 8 straight hours) and there were several trips back and forth and everyone ended up right back at my house, strangely enough. Luckily, by noon, every one was on their way back to their own houses. I decided to take  a few minutes for  myself and actually keep the appointment to get my hair done.

After the blur of Saturday, I wanted a little pampering and I needed a touch up so I thought maybe , since I was already there, maybe I should go a touch lighter this time. I was trying to be logical about it. Since I am actually a blonde as my hair grew out, there was a stark difference between the blonde roots and the auburn hair. I thought that going with a lighter color might show the new growth a little less.

That was when I went from lovely Auburn to Carrot Top Orange.

I found out yesterday that a stylist will do what you tell them to do, even if it's a bad idea, and even if it will lead to a really awful hair color. Either she really had no clue that she was going to turn my hair macaroni and cheese orange (which is hard to believe), or she mixed something the wrong way and didn't admit it, or she DID know and just didn't bother to tell me... Seriously, who is the professional here? If I was choosing a color that wouldn't come out right, she should have said SOMETHING. Or, if she made a mistake she could have apologized. But no, she let me walk out of the salon with my hair glowing brighter than the sun. Had I been able to go home after that, I probably could have salvaged some of my self esteem, but that was not in the cards either.

I am fairly new to the whole "hair color" thing. At first glance, it was a little bright, but I felt the same way about the color the last time and I grew to love it. The longer I looked at it the more disappointed I was but there really wasn't much to do at that point. I had to meet DH at the house of a friend who was hosting a practice for a drum group. I had to drive a full hour for the privilege of being at a gathering feeling like elephant in the room that everyone was ignoring.

DH was very sweet and said, "it's not a bad color, just not the color you wanted."



 DH took the kids with him to drumming practice in a town close to where WP lives so after the salon, I headed up there to meet them. The only comment anyone made was, "I wouldn't have recognized you had you not posted your picture on Facebook." Not exactly what I was hoping for. What I was hoping was that I was just being silly about the new color and that it actually did look decent. The reality was that I looked like I had used orange Kool-Aid as hair dye and no one wanted to tell me how bad it really was.

 A full dozen of us met WP at a restaurant for dinner. Not a hole in the wall place, either. This was a nice, big, BUSY steakhouse and we were seated right near the door. I saw so many people looking me over (and looking away embarrassed) , that I felt like I was on display at some sort of Bad Dye Job Freak Show. We didn't leave there until it was past bedtime for the girls and nearly bedtime for me. As much fun as I had hanging out with friends and seeing WP, it was totally worth it. But, by the time I was able to wind down and get to sleep, it was much later than it should have been. That, of course, meant getting up and out the door for work was even later that IT should  have beem

So, that is why my Monday started out with a bad hair day But, I know it's bad because no one said anything. I mean NOTHING. I got some funny looks from strangers, and my co-workers carefully avoided looking directly at me. My boss got that look on her face that said, "If I can't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything at all." I guess I should be thankful that people aren't pointing and laughing...at least where I can see or hear them. A head full of hair that looks like a bad wig would have made any day start off bad, but today was a Monday and that means there is the potential for a bad day to go horribly wrong.   and THAT was on top of a busy weekend and not enough sleep. I was falling asleep sitting up and fighting a headache and sugar cravings all at once. What I wanted to do was take a nap in the car. What I ended up doing was going shoe shopping.

In my defense, I was trying to avoid napping to prevent throwing my sleep schedule off. Plus, I am still on the hunt for dress shoes that I can wear for more than 15 minutes without feeling stabbing pain from my feet to my hips. Beyond that I had a coupon (well, at least I thought I did...) so it was very logical for me to go to the Shoe Mecca  that is only a few blocks away from work. I even took an early lunch so that I could be back in the office before everyone else went to lunch. Browsing and window shopping is very fun to me and I thought I might make my Monday a little better by stopping in to take a look at designer shoes that I could never ever hope to wear. I started out looking for a way to relax for a few minutes. I ended up switching to "Hunter/Gatherer" mode and I simply could not be satisfied until I had found The Perfect Shoe.

Somehow I ended up with a really awesome pair of shoes that fancier than I wanted, had higher heels than I wanted,  and cost way more that I wanted. Oh, and I forgot my coupon, so I paid full price. I NEVER pay full price. It absolutely drives me NUTS to pay full prices (especially when there is a coupon and it isn't being used!) Nonetheless, I bought them. Then I put them on in the car and wore them the rest of the day. Not only did this seal the deal and prevent me from being able to return them, but it showed everyone in the office that I compulsively bought new shoes.

I guess I was more upset about my hair than I thought. Unfortunately, retail therapy did very little to improve my mood. I should have been floating on the high of New Shoe goodness. Instead I was beating myself up about what I paid for them. And they weren't even as comfortable as I thought they were. And they are the type of leather that you have to be really careful about because scuffing will ruin them completely.

Don't get me wrong, they are way cute, and I will probably wear the hell out of them. I'm just not the type of person to buy expensive shoes that are pretty and not practical. I know that no matter how careful I am, I will ruin them in a very short amount of time and I will be stuck with a pair of nice shoes that I will wear and look shabby in them or they will stay in my closet and be a waste. Not only that, but my last shoe hunting trip ended up with TWO pairs of shoes that I couldn't wear so I gave them away after wear them a total of two times each. Positively embarrassing.

Back at the office, I still felt myself nodding off while staring at spreadsheets and budget reports. My headache got worse so I took the anti-migraine meds which only made the problem worse. For the next few hours I was hurting, queasy, sleepy, AND drugged. How I managed to it through the day without misappropriating 60 cases of Pino Grigio, I will never know. 5:30 could not come fast enough, so I left at 5:00. That was exactly the time when a nice line of thunderstorms came through.

In Texas, this happens all the time. A little weather change here or there and we have thunder and lightning and black clouds for three hours. Then we get rain for 15 min. We might get BUCKETS of it, but it doesn't last long. No one around here has a real rain coat or even an umbrella. If it rains, we just wait around for a few minutes. It will probably stop. It will, however, leave water and puddles that will ruin a really nice pair of shoes. So, when I pulled up to the house, I carefully put my new shoes back in the box, and put my ugly loafers back on. Now, it looks kind of like I am trying to hide the fact that I went shoe shopping. (at least that is what the mean side of my brain is saying.)

Now, I am sitting in my home office (my side of the bed with my computer on my lap) wondering if DH is going to freak out about the cost of the new shoes tonight or of he is going to overlook them until later and THEN freak out about the cost AND that I didn't tell him. Really, I am not afraid of him. He is extremely indulgent and sweet (as well as wise) and knows better than to get upset at me for something I've already paid for - especially shoes. (Before the purchase is made he will argue till he is blue in the face, but once I have the receipt, there's really nothing else to say.) Mostly, I am embarrassed to admit to him that I lost my cool and shopped impulsively. I have been trying to be good and not go crazy, and I have even been telling HIM not to go crazy, and then I go crazy and that makes me a hypocrite.

Right now I am ready for this day to be over. Tomorrow, I will still look like someone lit a chemical fire on my head and I will still have a pair of shoes that I really shouldn't have bought. In fact it will mostly likely still be raining and I will probably still have a headache.

But at least it won't be MONDAY anymore.


Debbie "Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down" Lollar