Floridians rejoice, while we North Carolinian's weep.... (yes, it all goes back to hair)

It's a dark, dark day my friends.  Very dark.

Last week I scheduled a hair appointment.

If you need to know anything about me, you need to know this...I am EXTREMELY loathe to make appointments of any kind.  I don't know why.  It doesn't matter what kind of appointment, I just know that if I need to make an appointment, I will put it off for as long as I can.

It is for this reason that I rarely, if ever, schedule my next hair appointment while at sitting in the chair.  Because of this, I never get my hair cut at the six or eight week recommendation.  I usually wait until I can't stand it anymore and then I call.  Of course, it goes without saying, that on the day OF the appointment I have a fabulous hair day.  It never fails.

At any rate...I made the appointment; and in retrospect, I'm glad I did.  And when the day came, off I went happily to see my very favorite, most beloved hairstylist.  The one who makes me feel so pretty both when I first sit in his chair and makes me feel even more so when I step out.

This time, as I settled into the chair to tell him what I wanted, I noticed a hand lettered sign taped to his station.  A sign that said something along the lines of, "...want to keep in touch?  Find me on Facebook! :-)"  And a shiver of dread ran down my spine.

As we began to chat it became apparent...my one nightmare had become true.  He was moving.  To FLORIDA!

My heart was broken.  Do you know how hard it is to find a hairstylist that not only makes you look and, more importantly, feel pretty?  AND one that you actually like?  One that you look forward to chatting with?  It's hard.  Very hard.

So, he made me feel pretty one last time.  Gave me recommendations for my next hairstylist.  Assured me that I would be happy with either one.  Somehow I don't think the experience will be the same.  Oh sure.  I'm confident that the women he recommended are very good.  But will they have that special touch that he brings to his clients?  Only time will tell.

Before I left, with tears in my eyes, we hugged.  And promised to visit should we ever find ourselves in the same town again.

And I went home and found him on Facebook.  Because he trumps my hatred of Facebook.  And?  I'm glad I called when I did.  Apparently, his last day is Thursday. *sob*

How to make your husband feel guilty....

When your husband is the cook in the family and decides to go gallivanting off for the weekend visiting his daughter and leaving you home to fend for yourself...well, sometimes you just have to give him a little nudge.

I found this in the freezer....

And then sent him a text...

That'll teach him to leave me home to fend for myself.

The search continues....

I fully expected by now that we would have either found and moved into a house or would be in the process of building one.

Since I am writing this, you are correct to surmise that this hasn't happened.  *sigh*

I believe our Realtor - though not quite ready to give up on us yet - is quite sick of us.  She has apparently, thrown out all the criteria we've given her, with the exception of the price.  I say this because although we were quite clear about where we didn't want to be she continues to send me listings that are in the banned neighborhoods (as I was typing this she just sent me new listings in two of the verboten areas).

I get that we are difficult clients.  I wouldn't want to have us as clients.  We know what we want, where we want and how much we are willing to pay.  The way I look at it, that is a lot of money to spend and, by God, I won't settle.

We have seen exactly one house that was perfect - with the exception of the location and the fact it was sold.  But before the sale went through, we did a walk through with the builder.  We then asked him to go look at the lot that I've had my eye on for over a year.

I knew there were problems with the lot, but I figured they weren't insurmountable.  But apparently they are, as he came back telling us that he wouldn't recommend buying and building on that lot for any reason.  *sigh*

The main stumbling block to building is that I want to be in a neighborhood.  Very few established neighborhoods have lots available.  And the new neighborhoods that are going up are ridiculously expensive and ridiculously large.  It makes me wonder where all these people are working because how in the hell can they afford that?  I think, most likely, these people are living well beyond their means.  I'm frustrated that builder's aren't building smaller, more affordable homes.  Surely, we aren't the only people in this area that are looking for a home that isn't a McMansion.

We saw one house is a fabulous neighborhood...but...(you knew there had to be a but, didn't you?) the kitchen is small and very dated.  The master bath, while updated, feels very cramped.  BUT, everything else is okay.  Except the numbers.  This house, with taxes, HOA dues, etc. is on the high end of our budget, which means that fixing the two VERY costly issues would not be doable for the foreseeable future.

Also?  I don't want to jump on something just because I'm so tired and frustrated with this search.  Particularly as Spring is coming (please, please hurry up and get here!  I'm also tired of coats and cold.) and I know that a fresh batch of houses will hit the market and maybe one of those will be THE ONE.

So, I continue to scour the internet and drive through desirable neighborhoods all weekend long, looking for that perfect house.  The one I'm beginning to believe doesn't exist.

Have any of you heard of this fabulousness?!

Back when I was in Texas.... I noticed one of these in a local parking lot...

and, needless to say, I was intrigued.

Of course that immediately lead me to the almighty Google...which led me to Better World Books.  And that lead me to see if we have any of these fabulous dropboxes in my area.  Sadly, the answer was not close enough.  This needs to be in every parking lot across the country.  I wondered WHY I lived in such a backwater, hick town that WE didn't have these in our local parking lots.

This program, according to their website:

"All books are transported to a local distribution center operated by Better World Books.  Our goal is to extend the life-cycle of the book through reuse.  Books in good condition are listed for sale online on marketplaces such as BetterWorldBooks.com or donated to literacy partners.  Books that cannot be sold or donated are recycled and converted into pulp for new products such as brown tissue, cardboard, or even new book covers.  We never send books to landfills."

As I continued to peruse the site, I discovered if you, or I, would like to donate used books but there aren't any convenient dropboxes that you can still donate those extra books that you'll never read again  (granted, there are those that we love and will NEVER get rid off, but there are always those that didn't intrigue you enough to keep) AND they will pay for the shipping.  How fabulous is that?

Of course, I was already weepy enough, but this whole idea brought a tear of happiness to this bibliophile's eyes - as I don't have the space to keep all of the books that I buy and knowing that my donation will help promote literacy...well, it left me verklempt. (am I the only one that remembers Mike Meyers doing "Cawfee Tawk"?)

Then the other morning, I was driving by and noticed one of those fabulous green boxes in a local parking lot!!

Hmmm, so maybe this little city isn't quite the backwater, hick town that I thought.  Apparently, we are "growing."  And, in this little way, the growth isn't so painful.  Now, if we are talking about the new highways that are going in everywhere and ruining the charm and idyll of the area...that is a little more painful.