What a Week it Was

Last week was one of "those" weeks. The best thing I can say for it is that it is finally over.

It began last Sunday with a trip to the pediatrician to find out that Emily had pneumonia. So, we got the prescribed antibiotics and hoped for the best. Since Miss Em was boycotting taking any kind of medicine (a new twist for us), upon the advice of the Dr., we tried to mix the first double dose of medicine into her applesauce. It didn't even begin to work, so right off the bat, we had wasted a dose of medicine. So we forced the antibiotics in her for the next couple days, but then ran out. So two phone calls to the Doctors' office and two phonecalls to the pharmacy, plus one more trip there, and $20 extra dollars later, we had enough medicine to last the final two days. Thankfully, other than a persistent cough and hoarseness, Emily is doing much better.

Then on Wednesday, I finally broke out of the "sick house" to go to a late-night worship band practice at our church. This church happens to be 30 minutes away, but I didn't mind the drive...I was free for a while! Around 9:30 or so that evening, practice ended and I walked back out in the dark parking lot and climbed into my van, put the key in the ignition, turned it and....nothing. No lights, no radio, no sound whatsoever from the ignition. I quickly walked back up to the church where I discovered that all the doors were locked from the outside. I pounded on the doors and prayed that the few remaining band members would hear. Thankfully, they did and I explained my car troubles. So the consensus was that we should try to jump the battery. And we did...and nothing happened. So, the worship leader and his wife offered to drive me home because of course by now, it was after 10:00pm and I had the van with the carseat, meaning Andrew couldn't come get me since he was home with Emily. So I moved the stroller and carseat into their car and got home about 10:30 or so.

Now of course, this isn't such a big deal really, except that we had spent Tuesday and Wednesday trying to figure out if we could swing a pretty substantial paycut that would result if we accepted a new job position with a private firm here in town. It was going to be uncomfortably tight, but before church, Andrew and I had pretty much decided we were going to give it a shot. An unexpected car repair was not a welcome thing.
So Thursday rolls around. Andrew went in to work to resign and I called the tow truck and dealt with the car repair issues. Around noon, I talked with Andrew and long story short, we turned 180 degrees on the job situation due to some new information. (really the details are boring, but we really believe God was answering prayer here, just in an unusual way). I then spent the rest of the afternoon switching cars with Andrew, taking him back to work, waiting for the tow truck, consoling a very upset Emily (who missed her nap), meeting the tow truck and driving back home. Fun stuff.

Friday was filled with haggling over car repairs (none of which, of course, were covered under the extended warranty). Nearly $600 later...we all felt like we had been through the ringer. But Saturday was coming...a day for something nice and relaxing.

Andrew watched Emily on Saturday while I got out of the house for a while. I went to the mall to do a little therapeutic shopping and pampering. I needed to do something about the highlights in my hair, so I took care of that while I was there. I told the lady that I wanted something very subtle, I wanted to get rid of the out-grown highlights and I wanted something a little richer and warmer...but very subtle. I'm a natural dark blonde, by the way.

At this point, I think I'll let the pictures do the talking. (I hate almost all pictures of myself, by the way, so this is humbling, but I think it must be done to prove a point.) So here goes:

Before:

After:

The beautician swears this is a shade of blonde, and while the pictures don't really do it justice, this is NOT any shade of blonde anyone, male or female, has ever seen. So now I'm living life as a rather dark brunette. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or not....