derpy Christmas presents

I've been reading (and loving!) the Books of Adam blog for a while now and I've always coveted his custom derpy pictures. A few months ago, I showed them to Ryan and he wanted one of us immediately. Unfortunately, Adam's drawings are in-demand so you have to act at just the right moment to commission one. I caught a break in the fall and sent in my order.

Ryan has always liked this picture of us, so I sent it in to Adam...



...and this is what we got back! I was so excited to show Ryan but I wrapped it immediately and held out til Christmas.



I need to scan it out of the frame to get a clearer picture, but you get the picture!

Making Christmas

This year I made good on my threat, er, promise to decorate for Christmas. The tree, truth be told, looks pretty much like every year. The same ornaments just always look the same. But every year, I have to marvel at the Tinker Bell on top of the tree. This year, Ryan did an amazing job at arranging the lights behind her wings to give her a lovely glow.



To step it up, I decided to use some extra mini trees to gussy up the shelves on the TV console that hold my various toys and bric-a-brac.



First up was the Pee Wee's Playhouse crew. Pee Wee and Cowboy Curtis are having fun playing with their new train set and teddy bear (respectively).





Miss Yvonne smiles happily at the gigantic pink diamond (my gift from the Kidlet gave me last year) and the cupcake themed Vinylmation toy from Disneyland.



The miniature dollhouse is actually a miniature Barbie Dream House that was a Hallmark ornament from the 80's (maybe?). I found it at a comic book store in Florida, of all places, and had to have it. On the balcony is a Mardi Gras baby Jesus and a miniature Cinderella in her winter finest. Beneath is a Disney bus and Mickey Mouse's house (look, the tiny Disney things come in blind packs and to get the Haunted Mansion that I wanted, I had to get a lot of other random things). There's also a naked black baby girl that Styro sent me. The little ghosts are wooden cut outs from Chris Yates who makes custom cut wooden puzzles and for Comic Con a couple of years ago, he had some surplus wood pieces that he made into ghosts. I just love them. Also hiding under the tree is Nibbler from Futurama.



The Haunted Mansion shelf got a "Haunted Holiday" make-over that mixes the Nightmare Before Christmas with Haunted Mansion.



The Mansion got some snowmen and a miniature Christmas tree, along with some Dia De Los Muertos characters from Mexico.



Sock Zombie took over Rocket's sweater and Santa's mini chair and is waiting to hear your wishes! Next to him are the three wise bacons, courtesy of Mr. Toast, and clay angel cats.



Sharing the shelf is Godzilla wearing the reindeer antlers and decorating his own tree. Beneath is a woody replica, hauling its own tree and the sock puppet versions of me and Ryan and Ruckus (made by Kate).



Even the mermaid lamp got in on the action! She's wearing a plaid green scarf to keep herself warm out of water.



Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't also decorate the local livestock! So here's Rocket, modeling his collection of holiday ready-to-wear!

Hare today goon tomorrow

IRT the post title: did anyone else say this joke at the end of Little Bunny Foo Foo? Because the fairy would threaten him with being turned into a "goon" if he didn't stop bopping field mice on the head... so after his third warning she says {along with the music} "Little bunny Foo Foo/I've already told you/ STOP picking up field mice/ and bopping them on their heads" and with a wave of her wand POOF! He was a goon! And the moral of the story is hare today, goon tomorrow.

Am I the only one who did that? Probably.

ANYWAY, this post is about hairs not hares. It's about styling that mane on your head while you sleep without curlers or rollers or hot tools of any kind!

 

This is how I started out - freshly washed and air dried hair, about 90% dry, naturally curly with NO products or hairspray

 

Then I rolled it up, according to the video's instructions



I wore the roll-up overnight, but I had a pretty bad night's sleep. I tossed and turned and thrashed around a lot so I was surprised to see that the whole thing hadn't come undone.



After taking out the headband, I didn't brush or spray my hair. This is what it looked like. Incidentally, it's hard to photograph dark hair!

 

This last picture was taken about 5 hours later. You can see that the curl has relaxed a bit, but not a lot. If I had used some product, it probably would have held tighter but this was just an experiment.



Overall, I'd say that this was a success! Although I'd probably touch it up with a curling iron here and there if I was going someplace exciting (today was a work-at-home day), it still saves SO MUCH time when you're getting ready. Rolling it up took about 5 minutes and taking it down was about 10 seconds. A curling iron touch-up might add 5 minutes, but a 10 minute hairstyle to look this good? You're WAY ahead of the game!

Notes for next time:

• roll while hair is wetter, so that the natural curl doesn't fight against the roll-up
• use a tiny bit of liquid gel or mousse to help hold the curl (unless waves are desired)
• touch-up with a curling iron where needed in the morning
• don't take pictures of yourself at 8am. No one wants to see that.