I finally started listening to Christmas music this week even though I’ve not put up our tree. It’s a two man job getting the Christmas Paraphernalia out of the garage storage and my man has been so *extra busy; maybe this weekend it will happen. I’ve thought about NOT putting it up and when everyone arrives on Christmas Eve, just have them do it. How’s that for a gift?
*I don’t think that I’ve shared that Coach is not only re-doing our condo from Hurricane Ian, he’s taken on NINE units in our small condo complex. NINE units from top to bottom! Yes, he’s insane and I told him so. Turns out working with FEMA is actually worse than dealing with the County with permits/inspectors.
Anyhoo, the song Do They Know It’s Christmas came on and it reminded me of a story I’d heard recently. I listen to the podcast MObituaries with Mo Rocca (have you listened? It’s a great podcast) and he did an episode on John Denver. I’ve always loved John’s music and it was so interesting to me to learn how he was once very controversial to some people, (unwarranted, by the way- Rocky Mountain High was NOT about weed!) and how he was doing humanitarian work before it was fashionable to do so. He was feeding the hungry, but, he was snubbed from the BandAid movement and it hurt him terribly. See, even grown men have their feelings hurt…not just me.
I remember watching the Live Aid Concert; not only because it was a great cause and great song, but because ALL MY BOYFRIENDS WERE THERE TOGETHER!
Simon LeBon, John Taylor, Bono, Sting, George Michael (don’t act like you didn’t have a gay boyfriend!) Adam Ant and David Bowie.
This was just a month before I met The Coach, so I would’ve given all my meals to feed the hungry if it meant I could be there in person. I mean, if they didn’t see me in person, how could all of them propose to me? Wait, what am I talking about?! At the time my daily food requirements consisted of toast dipped in coffee for breakfast, a snickers bar and diet coke for lunch and probably a pop tart for dinner. That’s not a humanitarian effort.
Speaking of Christmas songs, I think I shared this last year. Or the year prior? This is my favorite Christmas song; I adore Kacey Musgraves; her voice is angelic.
And just for shits and giggles, a few vintage Christmas photos of Mark and Suz; remember, he’s the cute one. (that was a great Christmas post!)
Have you finished decorating? Do you remember Live Aid?
Did you also want to marry one of my boyfriends? If so, we would be Sister Wives today.
My Mom has had this rocking chair since Jesus was a small child forever.
It was gifted to her when she was pregnant with my brother Mark by my paternal Grandma, the only Grandma I knew. If Mark were alive, he would have turned 59 this past September. This chair is old; Mom rocked both of us on it. In it? On it?
1966-Mark. I remember that little wooden 3 legged container/table. It held sewing supplies.
1967- Suz enjoying a beer after a long day of being a baby. Probably not my first, thanks, Dad. Have we discussed recently what a dysfunctional childhood I had? See the rocker in the background? It looks like Mom changed the cushions from yellow to green.
1972? My G’ma, Mark and myself and my G’ma’s dog. Goodness, Mom has the decorating bug: She added paneling to this wall and a mantle. Do you remember having the Rick Rack trim on stockings?
1976? My parents are now divorced and this is my soon-to-be stepmom and step-sister. It was Christmas Eve, and we were at my Mom’s house because my Paternal Grandparents spent Christmas with us. I distinctly remember my father giving Mary her engagement ring on this night. At my Moms house. Ya’ll, we put the FUN in dysFUNctional! I should write a book. Or at least a pamphlet. I did (and still) love Mary and my step-sister, but they had the worst freaking nine year marriage. The police were involved quite a bit, and always around the holidays. {Merry Christmas, here’s a restraining order!} See the Rocker? Looks like Mom found gold cushions this time.
I got off-topic. This Chair Gets Around.
My Mom held onto that rocker forever and talked about painting/refinishing it a few years before she passed away. We moved it from her place in Georgia to our home in Florida, and we held onto it; I pictured myself rocking grand-babies in it one day.
We brought it up to Georgia when we first moved into our house in 2020. Once it was there, I said: I’d really like to paint it.
The Coach agreed and said we should bring it back home, and we could have the Custom Cabinet Painting department (which he was just putting together in our shop) paint it for me; much better than me trying to DIY.
So, it went back to Florida (again) and sat in our garage for two years because the Custom Painting Dept. was flooded with work, and painting the chair was put on the back burner.
A few months ago, I decided to take matters into my own hands and inquired with a custom furniture painter in our area about the chair. His price was fair, but he wanted to charge me $400 to pick up and deliver. I was shocked at the delivery price so I vented to the Coach, and he said casually:
Why don’t you have our shop paint it?
My eyeballs rolled so hard into the back of my head that I almost fainted.
DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO OCCASIONALLY SHANK THEIR AMAZING HUSBAND?
I’d been in the shop a few weeks prior and noticed a beautiful cabinet job in the process; it was painted the most remarkable dark, flat color, and I was drawn to it.
Coach took the rocker to work the next day, and I had it back in a week. Mom had talked about painting it white, but I’m more of a black girl; although I usually identify as white. Goodness, you know what I mean!
There was a large crack down the side/center of the seat, but it was still usable. Our cabinet guys repaired it for me. I recall Mom saying that chair had been airborne at some point; my father had the absolute worst temper.
Coach’s Mom made me a nice cushion, which is so comfortable. Recently, I’ve been sitting in it near the fireplace, enjoying my morning coffee while rocking a dog.
Hey, I gotta start somewhere!
Fun fact: The logo on the bottom of the chair led me to do a little research.
“S Bent & Brothers, a furniture company established in 1867 in Gardner, Mass. They closed in 2000. S. Bent and Brothers was known for producing well-made, high-quality furniture. They specialized in the style known as “Colonial Revival.” The two most common primary kinds of wood are maple and ash, stained to look like oak. S Bent & Brothers were known for their well-made chairs, especially Windsor.”
I found several for sale on Etsy and Ebay, ranging from $100 to $599.
Generally I refrain from having antiques in the house because they are haunted; this is the exception because I’m familiar with all the spirits surrounding this chair.
This chair has a new story to be told and it has many GOOD days ahead of it!
When I hinted last week at my need to share about my eyebrows, I was pleasantly surprised by how many of you were eager to discuss. (Nicole, I actually belly laughed at your comment) So, I figured that was all I needed to actually write the post.
Let’s Start with My Eyebrow Horror Story.
Picture this: Suz’s first day of 10th grade. I’m about 4’10 and I weigh no more than 80lbs. Awkward turtle with zero wardrobe compared to my peers. My brother Mark tells me as I’m getting ready that I need to clean up my unibrow. (I didn’t have a unibrow, but there were some stray hairs) He handed me a disposable razor and said: Here, use this to clean it up.
I took one swipe down the not.so.middle of my brows which took out the stray hairs and a good portion of my right eyebrow.
IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME.
What a way to start my not.gonna.be.awkward.this.year at school. My friends with straight brothers had no idea the fun I went through with him giving me terrible perms and bad eyebrow advise. I wish there was photographic evidence because I was something to behold for the first few weeks of my sophomore year; I did not have school pics that year.
EVIDENCE OF EYEBROWS A FEW YEARS AFTER RAZOR-GATE
My glamour shot photo from Beauty School. Can you even see my eyebrows with all that eyeshadow? No.you.can’t.
Through the years I did light plucking to keep my brows at bay without making any real damage. I did a lot of careless things as a young woman, but thank goodness I never over-plucked. For a time in my 30’s/40’s I would get my brows waxed just to keep them clean. When I was coming up on fifty I realized that waxing was overkill because my brows didn’t grow that much and all they required was light plucking on my part; no razors thank you very much.
It was shortly after turning fifty when I noticed in photos, I appeared to have little to NO brows. But when I looked in the mirror, it seemed like they were there, as they have always been. But obviously they, unlike my thighs and demeanor were thinning and getting lighter.
I would use tinted gels if we were going out for a special occasion and there would be photographic evidence. I’ve also been taking hair/nail vitamins for quite a while without much fanfare. Recently I invested in Revitalash. I honestly can’t say anything good or bad because I took my NEXT STEP before really giving that a chance.
Taking The Microblading Plunge
I’d been contemplating having Microblading for over a year, and the nail in the eyebrow coffin was when I saw my bestie Kelly a few months ago and she had this done without conferring with me. She lives on the East Coast, so occasionally she does things without letting me know, but still…
Her brows looked great. I did some research and found someone in my area who has been doing it a long time and had over 500 great reviews.
I made my appointment for Microblading and mentally prepared myself for this because the title of this procedure has BLADE in it. Did you notice that part?
Really though, my blade lady numbed the area and I felt nothing. Zilch. Zero pain. She drew the outline of my soon-to-be brows after measuring my crooked ass face. Woo. It looked like a LOT was going to be filled in, but I suppose when I didn’t have much to start with anything looked like a lot.
She made tiny little cuts along the drawn out areas and filled them in with ink. I was told to not have any caffeine, wine, vitamins, etc prior to this; you know, anything good that thinned out my blood. She was actually having a hard time filling in my left brow more than my right and she said that was common; that is the side where our heart is and there is more blood flow. And we all know how EXTRA LARGE my heart is. ♥️
She told me when all is said and done to not get them wet for 3-5 days. Me: Is it three? or is it five? I went with five. Which meant I couldn’t sweat, which meant I couldn’t work-out or walk to the mailbox because each of those activities involve me sweating.
Just before my procedure and right after. I hope you know how much I despise taking photos of myself, especially sans makeup; I did this for you.
What I didn’t fully understand prior was that you go through a few ugly phases while healing and you don’t get the full color/look until six weeks later when you have a touch up appointment.
The first few days I couldn’t pass a mirror without surprising myself. They seemed SO dark, so BIG, so Groucho Marx. Even the Coach kept staring at them…he said he wasn’t, but I know he was.
Do you ever watch The Walking Dead? You know, with all the zombies. Sometimes they’ll be walking around willy nilly and a body part (fingers, leg, arm) just falls off, but they keep going. Well, there were a few days where I would walk by the mirror, take a glance and see part of my brow just hanging there, willy nilly. For real. They were scabbing up and falling off. It was SO hard to not just rip off the dangling bits, but I didn’t want to ruin all that I’d gone through. Within 12 days, they looked pretty normal and I’d gotten used to them. Although, the left one does need more fill-in than the right one; I have an appointment in October to have them touched up.
The procedure is supposed to last 12-24 months depending on your skin type, how much you sweat, etc…so I’m guessing mine will last 4 months. KIDDING, I’d better get two years out of these brows. I was in her chair for just over two hours, but part of that was us talking about it and the numbing part. Overall it was an easy procedure and depending on how long it lasts, I’d probably do it again.
BeforeJust after20 days post-Side eye
My hair also got a little attention between the ‘just after and 20 days’. After my upcoming touch up, I believe my brows will be a little bit darker, but not by much.
I never in my life imagined that I would give my eyebrows a second thought. What a time to be alive.
Do you think I’m crazy? Don’t answer that.
Have you been microbladed? Were you taught to over-pluck your eyebrows and are now eyebrow bald?
Happy Labor Day. For my Canadian friends: Happy Labour Day!
Let’s talk about earning money.
DISHWASHER
My Mom was a waitress for a good part of her life and when I was eleven/twelve we moved from FL to GA. Bev had a hard time finding a job and ended up waitressing at The Waffle House while looking for something better; she was with Waffle House for sixteen years as a waitress/manager. I think she just gave up and settled down there. When I was twelve I worked as a Dishwasher there. I wasn’t officially employed, but the waitresses would give me a couple of dollars and then feed me something scattered, smothered and covered. If you know, you know.
Beverly and look who’s photobombing? That’s my brother Mark; she convinced him to work there for a while.
AVON
When I was Thirteen I sold Avon. Which is kind of a lie because I purchased more than I sold; THE MAKEUP!
BASKIN ROBBINS
I Scooped ice cream at Baskin Robbins and earned $2.50 an hour in 1981 at fourteen years old. The owners of the shop were HORRIBLE people. Mean. Cheap. Horrible. And I’m here to tell you that scooping ice cream is more challenging than it appears. This wasn’t soft serve; that’s for sissies. I looked it up and the minimum wage at that time was $3.35. Do you think I can get back pay?
PONDEGROSA& MARSHALLS
I was in 10th grade and I’d moved back to Florida and was now living with my Dad. I needed a job because Phil didn’t care to share his income with me and this girl needed some fashion. I was a waitress/runner at Ponderosa Steakhouse; do you remember that place? It was buffet style dining. I worked my biscuits off; some weekends found me working double 8 hour shifts and when summer came I took a position at Marshalls that was in the same plaza and worked both jobs; some days I would walk from one to the other and change clothes. I ended up working at Ponderosa for about 2 years and stayed at Marshalls for about 3 years. I can’t remember why I ever left Marshalls because my butt sure as heck visits the one in my town at least once three times a month and I could use a discount!
SCAB WHAT?
After High School I attended Cosmetology College and the most interesting job I had happened while I was in beauty school. My friend Tanya’s Mom was a supervisor/manager for the Phone Company (Bell South? AT & T?)and there was a time when all the Operators went on strike. Tanya’s mom convinced us to go through the training and work as Operators until the strike was over. Ya’ll I was young and didn’t realize what was happening until Tanya and I arrived at the location and there were picketers all over the place and they were hollering SCABS!! at us as we drove into the parking lot.
I didn’t have a clue in what we were getting ourselves into. But hey, it paid well; I think $15 an hour. It was NOT an easy job. Was 911 a thing in Florida yet? I’m not sure, but I got a lot of emergency calls and some of them I can not get out of my head all these years later.
My first job as a hairstylist. I wonder if that lady tipped well? Fun fact: I still have that belt and I purchased it at Marshalls with my discount.
Busy Bee Suz 