Andi, Daniel is quite the catch. As are you. And you are just so adorable together.

nutmeg doesn't look like it will go ashy -- most of the natural instinct colors I have tried are bright than the box, if that helps.

Yeah, it helps. I've had their reds and purples go even brighter than I have expected so while I might be wary, I realize it's pretty unwarranted.

I didn't do the hair tonight though cause my mom showed up and distracted me by demanding dinner and generally cheering me up.

I may go whine and try to get her to rub my neck and see if I can slay the nightly headache demon tonight. It's frankly not amusing at all.

~ma of the exam sort, Gris.

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Andi, Daniel is quite the catch. As are you. And you are just so adorable together.

We live to make you go, "Aww". Also, hope you escape the nightly headache thing.

I am sipping what was meant to be hot lemonade with honey to relieve cold symptoms. As it happens we do not have lemon juice in the house. Did find some lime juice, so I figured I should see how well it stands in for the lemon. Not too bad. Then I found a lone herbal tea bag with rose hips and lemon grass. So that's steeping in the hot limeade with honey. So far it tastes ok. Daniel felt my forehead a while ago and suggested that the troubles I was having in constructing a Christmas stocking by hand (it was bunching and puckering) were due to fever.

I don't know what became of my digital thermometer. Lost it a couple years ago, and I expected to find it while packing and cleaning during the move. No sign of it. I haven't asked Daniel, but I'd guess either bachelor-like he has no thermometer or thrifty-like he has a glass mercury thermometer of the sort that I can only read on the third tuesday of months in which both Venus and Mercury are retrograde during a new moon at low tide, and I have new glasses.

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If I do a semi-perm (darker) on my hair and don't like it, are there any non damaging ways to fade it a bit? My hair tends to keep the colors up well but I never really stray too far from my shade unless I go purple. I am tempted to go a darker but less red shade, just to see...

Soap cap. Works for perm, too, but only lifts about a half shade to a shade. Use either Prell or dish soap with a capful of peroxide, work through damp hair and leave on for five minutes. Rinse, and condition the hell out of it.

NI shades all seem to skew red, even the "ash" ones.

Meara, once you've faded, if you want to try for a lightish but not too light or too red brown, try mixing the light and the medium browns. I, too, have found that drugstore medium brown is a hell of a lot darker than medium.

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Thanks Plei! I think I am going to try it tomorrow and while I am hopeful I won't need the escape clause, it is comforting to have. The couple of times my hair went ash were traumatic. More so than the Hooker Red catastrophe even. I think one of the NI calmer "reds" was the one that looked like I dipped my hair in grape Kool Aid, so yeah, they skew red.

We live to make you go, "Aww".

And you do it so well.

Also, hope you escape the nightly headache thing.

It's here -- but way less intense than normal. I am taking it as a win. Also going to take a hot bath in a moment and stretch too. Combined with the pain meds and such, I am feeling a little hopeful.

There is a spot back from my temples, about an inch or two above the highest part of my ear, which is excrutiating to work on but seems to do go things. Maybe my brain wants to grow and thinks that the Stewie look on Family Guy is something to aspire to. Either way, one pain seems to help the other.

There is police activity going on around here tonight. Well, sirens a few times and a helicopter was up a while ago with a megaphone sounding not unlike Charlie Brown's teacher. This is not helping my mom think I am safe in this neighborhood. Which I am. I'm just a few blocks down from some areas that aren't as charmingly boring.

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...nightcap...

I am shamelessly in love with my bathtub. It's old and cast iron and deep and long enough for me to stretch in. Granted it takes two tries to fill it because my hot water heater is wee and weak, but damn... I can't believe that I ever get out of that thing.

Hot, steamy water lightly scented with a honey and green tea bath gel; enough candles so I could watch them flicker and also read without a painful overhead light; iPod on a favorite mix; and a new book, The Red Tent that looks interesting.

I am relaxed now and heading towards bed. And I like having positive things to post. It's like learning a new trick.

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t blowing kisses at Cass

You'll like The Red Tent, I think. Good book.

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I read the prolouge-ish bits and then 10-15 pages in and I am looking forward to reading more tomorrow. I am definitely whirled into a realm where I want to keep reading.

How are you doing?

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That is the one thing I love about my pink snakeskin bathroom - big deep tub!

And I do think you'll like The Red Tent.

Embassy Athens hasn't received any mail for a week, and I'm missing about half of the DH's gifts and Mallory's major gift. Hoping really hard that the mail starts coming through this week.

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I miss my tub so very much...sigh...

How are you doing?

I'm doing well overall, thanks. Moved today. My stuff lives in my new place. Me, nsm. As soon as they finish the baseboards and painting the bathroom and a hundred other little odd jobs, I'll actually be able to unpack and start to settle in. Right now it's just filled with piles of boxes and furniture.

I'm glad I'll be seeing my mom and gram later this week, but I really wish I had a little more time before I have to leave (Wednesday morning) so that I wouldn't have to come home to chaos.

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so that I wouldn't have to come home to chaos.

Ugh. That would be nice. I'm so sorry this has been such a pain in the ass.

I am sleepy this morning. I didn't want to get up. I think shopping did me in yesterday...

ION, though, I had a dream that I bought a plasma TV. With Emily's money. She was not happy...even though I got a great deal. Goofy dream.

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