Fingernails, Hair Dryers And Other Stuff

There was a time in my life when one of my two best physical attributes were my hands.  The other was my incredibly thick hair.  I mean, really I received compliments from strangers about my hands.  I never had issues with growing lengthy, healthy nails.  My hair was so thick it took an hour to dry even under one of those old beauty salon beasts.

'Borrowed' from
 http://www.stylelist.com/view/style-throwback-bobs-bangs-and-flips/

Arthritis, aging and DNA have now reduced my two only really good physical attributes to a sad state.  My nails are paper thin.  There are ridges that run lengthwise creating the perfect locations for chips and tearing.  The once smooth skin of my hands is now that of a 67 year old woman, wrinkled and weathered.  The situation with the nails was not helped when I smashed the last two fingers of my left hand last year.  The damage to the nail bed was so severe I am not sure they will ever be 'normal' again.

Mangled nails and crooked fingers.  But still a queen )

I never minded my hair turning grey.  My hair was blonde as a small child, then darkened into a red.  Eventually my hair became sort of the color of sable.  Not bad at all.  And I always had lots of body.  When the Dorothy Hamill 'wedge' hairstyle was the 'in' do, my hair rocked it.  It still can, just not as full or long.  The Chandler female balding gene is at play in my scalp these days.  Or maybe it is stress or medications.  Whatever, it takes less than a couple of minutes to blow dry my hair these days.  I am fortunate that my now grey hair does not have the yellow cast that can plague former redheads.  It is just a nice, mostly silver color with more pink skin visible.

Beautiful Dorothy Hamill with 'The Wedge", a cute nose and chin to boot!

We came home a different route from the Lewisville area.  It was in the tradition of  the book by Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways.  We followed Texas highways and lesser traveled US highways.  The views were so beautiful in the sun filled day.  There are still colorful leaves to be seen in patches among all the cedar trees.  Of course the trees are not the towering kind of the Northeast.  Trees in this central area of Texas have to be hardy to survive the ever present long, dry, hot summers.

So my mom in years past talked almost constantly.  Only when she nodded off for a nap would there be silence in the room or car.  When we lived in Missouri she came to visit for a full month ... once.  She awoke talking and would continue hardly giving anyone a chance to get a word in edgewise.  Then she would dose off to sleep in a chair with her head dangling on her chest like a broken chicken neck.  Really.  She could sleep that way for hours.  Then suddenly she would awake and just start talking a blue streak immediately.  It was sort of startling and unnerving at the same time.  

Today as we traveled down the road I remembered how Momma had ridden home from Missouri that one time.  She preferred the back seat.  She talked constantly and if she ran out of anything to say she read road signs, store signs, street names, etc.  Husband already had no hair so he was ready to pull my hair out by the time we arrived at our destination.  As we were driving down highway 281 today, I realized I was talking.  I was talking about nothing but still constantly talking.  I had turned into my mother.  That was when I took note of the lack of advertising signs.  Surely there were the road and street markings as needed but almost no advertising signs along the countryside of the highway.  Momma would have been at a loss for something to read. 

The one advertising sign that caught my eye was at a ranch.  "Bite my Butt" was the proud proclamation written in 4 ft. high lettering on the side of a semi trailer parked in a pasture.  This was presented by a Texas rancher encouraging folks to buy and eat his/her beef.  And I just had to tell you folks about it today on Random Tuesday. 

Oh, one other thing, I have decided to sell all 8 of my circa 1970 Drexel Heritage dining chairs.  I have really enjoyed them.  Now it is time for the next person to have the pleasure.

Ready to go to the consignment store

Decked out for Christmas in 2012.

For other randomness pop on over to Stacy Uncorked.