Haircuts, Heifers and Half-Days

Funny how the perspective of "half-day" changes depending on the role you're playing in life. As a kid, we loved them. As a teacher, I liked them. As a mother, I dread them. This past Wednesday, Mikelle and Christian had a half-day. 

Part of the dread is the interruption of quiet. Also part of the dread is how quick the house isn't clean anymore. But most of the dread is how Mikelle and Christian fight. It's ridiculous. 

Mikelle provokes him, Christian screams, and it goes from there. Then if she decides to leave him alone, Christian does something to provoke her.Then, after she yells or reacts in another equally seismic manner, she begins to lecture him about how wrong he is in life.

Therefore, this particular half-day, I knew the answer was to leave the house. Sure, I had to take the kids with me, but it seemed to work out better to just remove them from the house. 

We took Alexander to get another haircut. He's in a stage where he hates going to other people and really has a Mr. Drama Attack, but that doesn't apply when he's getting a haircut. He does rather well! It breaks my heart to see those precious locks hitting the ground (I love my boys' luscious hair!), but as you can see, he has quite the handsome results. 

Then after that, we went to Michaels to pick up a custom ordered matte for my Yellow Cow (that's where those pictures are taken). The kids complain aboutgoing to Michaels. I don't know why they hate it so much (I mean, it's not Wal-Mart, but we don't go to Wal-Mart, so maybe that's it. They don't know how bad it can really be!). 

I found a great frame for my Yellow Cow at IKEA and finally got the matte ordered so it could go in the frame. I was waiting for a large frame to buy so it could be part of a triptych, but it just wasn't happening. Therefore, I decided to have it framed in a large frame (even though the cow print itself is rather small) and take it to Sundust Gallery. The price point will probably have it in the outlet and not the main gallery, but at least it's there now! But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

So I had the cow all pretty in it's frame, thanks to the matte I picked up (and I have a wonderful frame lady. She's my frame angel). You may remember the Yellow Cow from this entry. 

How it appears with a black frame.

Normally, I wouldn't go to the gallery alone with all three kids, but this was an unusual day. It was also coming up on rush hour, which really made the trip harder. It's in downtown Mesa and there really isn't an easy direct route there. But one thing you can count on - traffic. BUT...we made it. 

So after the gallery (and a Drama attack Alexander had while there because I dared go to the bathroom) I decided to be nice and get the kids McDonalds ice cream. No, we didn't go in. Drive-Thru, baby! However, leaving the McD's drive-thru, something strange happened. I think that day is the first time I've been flipped off since I started my sabbatical from teaching high school. Maybe not, but I certainly haven't been flipped off in awhile.  

We were in, let's say, a not so great part of town and a couple that looked a little....um, I don't know how to describe it, wanted me to stop and talk to them. Sure, they may have had a legitimate problem, but I was being Mama Bear and with all my kids in the car I wasn't going to take any chances. My window was down and said, "Sorry, my kid has to pee..." and I kept going. They didn't like that. I wonder if it was the right thing or not. However, when it comes to protecting your kids, you can't be too careful. 

But going back to the subject of that part of town, growing up, that particular area (In Mesa, Gilbert Road and Main) wasn't considered a "bad" part of town. It is now. I think it's sad how as we see something change from year to year, we usually see it going downhill. There's another area of Mesa that has really gone downhill that I think of (over by Fiesta Mall), where growing up and even into the 90s, it was just another part of town. But now? It's sad going back through there. 

Anyway, just some solemn observations!  

I miss my Yellow Cow already, but I think he'll be happy with all the other framed artwork surrounding him.I hope someone loves him and wants to give him a home!