I dont wanna....

This is a post that has been a long time coming. This is something that is hard for me to discuss. I have decided this year, 2012, is a year that I am going to stick up for myself and take care of myself. For the longest time I just went with the flow. I work very hard for what I have and what I do. How do I even start with this post?
I love hair, It is my passion. There are so many reasons as to why I don't do hair full time, I want to but I don't. Maybe it is that I cant. It just isn't in my cards at the moment. When I started doing hair I always told myself that I would keep prices affordable. I wanted everyone to have the chance to feel as good as I do when I get my hair done, even on a budget! so lets just get to the point. I need to get some things out that are not easy to say. I don't want to point out one person in this situation but these things happen all.the.time.

• First off I wanna say that there are no longer going to be 'family' or 'friend' discounts. The prices I will set will be the same all across the board for everyone. 

• I will also no longer do trade work. I don't want anyone feeling that they are getting the raw end of the deal including myself.

• I will also now start charging a service fee for any product that one may need. It will be around $5 per item, the more you get, I will lower the service fee. I worked very hard to become certified in what I do and I don't want to be giving product out at my cost (I haven't ever charged for my time or gas).

• I will now put into effect a cancellation fee. I get alot of cancellations and hour before appointments and those are impossible to fill. The cancellation fee will consists of the price of what you had scheduled (if it was a color and cut, it would be the price of that color and cut) You must cancel 24 hours prior to your appointment.

• Payment is due at the time of service. I will no longer accept IOU's. I have too many people do that and I tend to forget with all of them. If you forget cash or check you will be required to run to the ATM or home to grab money. Please make sure you have money with you to pay for the services. 

• Because I work a full time job please allow 1 to 2 week to get scheduled, especially with color. Haircuts are a bit easier for me to fit in and don't always require as much time to schedule.

• I try really hard to fit hair in on the week days (Monday - Thursday). I feel that I deserve the weekends off since I am working 60 plus hours a week. I appreciate all that my clients do for me and sticking it out with me all of this time.

So lets get to pricing:
Cuts

• Men $5
• Women $8
• Shampoo and style with any cut $4

Color

• All over 1 color $40
• Half head weave one color $45
• For every color added to half head weave will be an additional $5 (if you have 3 colors the total is $55)

• Full head weave will be an additional $20. (If you have a full head weave with 2 colors that will be $70
• Color corrections will be $100 an hour (color correction is applying the color - usually bleach - and washing the hair more than once. This is a tedious task and time consuming)

All of my colors include a cut.

Updos/down dos - starting at $45 (Contact me for high school proms. Those will be a tad bit lower for a high school budget)

Perm - call for details. It will depend on length and type of perm you want.

 Wax

• Lip $5
• Eyebrow $5
• Nose $5
• Underarm $10
• Arm half $10
• Arm Full $15
• Leg Half $15
• Leg Full $20
• Bikini $15
• Back $10

*I will not be doing Brazilian wax at this time.
**If you don't see something on the list please ask! I may have forgotten some things.
*** bundling is accepted so please ask!
****Prices are subject to change.

Goals

My month is coming to an end and I still have no idea what my goals are going to be. Most of the things I would say would be half-effort. Really they would. I am trying hard to figure out what my yearly goals would be but most of them dont just involve me and I cant make commitments for other, I can only make them for myself (i.e. change positions at work - I am SICK of the phones!). So I sit and ponder. What do I want for the year of 2012? Here is what I want...
I wanna go back down to the Paiute. That is already in the works
I wanna go to Island park. I have been talking about this for 2 years. This is already in the works. I have spent the majority of my day today and countless hours on Friday looking for an awesome cabin that we would call home for a few days.
I wanna do something different, fun and for myself. That is already ongoing (my cake decorating class)
I wanna get back to grocery shopping bi-weekly and doing night dinners... my week off accomplished that one.
As I said, half hearted? yes.. I think so. It is kind of the easy way out since I have put all of those to action. So again, I asked again what I would like to accomplish this year...??? and again I am BLANK!
So here is what I THINK I want to do. It may change in the next week but we will try:
I want to get back on weight watchers and lose 20 pounds. So pathetic but yes, 20 pounds. and I wanna keep it off.
With that one said I am going to do my not-so-remembered goal from last year of getting back to kick boxing. Not to lose weight but because it is something I truly enjoy and it gives me a sense of empowerment.
Again, another not-so-remembered goal from last year, wearing makeup at least once a week. I have some awesome makeup but I don't care to put it on for work. I rather get that extra 10 minutes of sleep. Now I am using a product called 'la lash' that gives me incredible eyelashes so I want to flaunt them!
one more goal for biogsphere. I want to start doing 'my favorite things' post. I don't want to put a restriction on how often because I never know when I am going to start this but just like Wednesday wonders, I wanna put out there things that are currently my favorites must haves or new tries.
The next two goals are purely selfish! the first one. Buy a cute pair of shoes (and take a picture) every other month. Yes that is 6 new pairs of shoes. No I am not telling Bryce :)
The second one, Try a new restaurant every month. Lately, I have tried some new amazing places that I would never think to try and I love them! I want to share them with everyone. This will be a little bit harder since Bryce is so sensitive we are apprehensive to go to new places but I am sure I can find someone to go with me. (Takers??? anyone???)

Now for our goal as a couple:
We are trying to go out on a 'date' once a month. Dress up, look nice and spend the entire night out together with no one else. We go out, but on a whim or we do a grab and go because we are both so busy. We spend alot of time with each other but it is doing other things. We put half effort and go to applebees or villiage inn. This will be a nicer place like the outback or cheesecake factory.

I think that should cover my goals for the next year. It looks like i have alot to accomplish, for now I will take it one at a time. Here is to 2012!!!

Wednesday wonder....

I wonder why companies now feel the need to overstep boundaries when reminding you of an upcoming bill. I mean one call, text, email or letter is fine.. Sometime you forget. But what about the other 500 email, texts, and call I get BEFORE my bill is even due? I really get annoyed with those, I know my bill is due. I know that it is coming up. Call me when I past the 5 day grace period. It makes me not want to do business with them.

Simplify....

I have had the last week off and it has been amazing! I have come to realize that I would NOT be bored if I didn't have a job. As a matter of fact I would still be just as busy as I am with working. This week was about refocusing for me. Not everything goes as planned but I tried very hard to refocus on more important things. Things I have let go of recently because I am too busy to do them (and people ask me when I am going to have kids!). Things I really enjoy.. but who has time for joy right? Anyways, I got alot on my list accomplished. There is so much more that I want to add. Yesterday, Bryce and I (and by that I mean mostly me - I still love him!) tried to tackle our bi-weekly menu and grocery shopping. I hate grocery shopping on Saturdays! I feel like a cow in a herd or something. This is where Bryce comes in - when he is with me I keep my sanity... If I was going to have to take on the burden of walmart, Sam's club, Costco and Harmon's on a Saturday Snowy afternoon, so was he. Before I left I mentioned to him that I wanted to simplify our meals. I have added a new thing to my schedules on Tuesday night (more on that to come) and that leaves 3 days to cram in hair if I want the weekend off. Things I love are becoming chores and I am getting to the point that I dread doing them. Like cooking for example. After working a long day at work, pulling in 10+ hours and then coming home for a 45 minute break of what is suppose to be making dinner and eating, then going back to work for 4+ hours is exhausting. Grab and go looks very enticing. Bryce tries so hard. He really does, but lets face it... chicken, rice and veggies is not something I wanna eat 4 nights a week. So here we are, on my getting back on track week off from work and work (hair), I decided I want to simplify more. How do I do this? Well here is how.... My list of bi-weekly meals consist of mainly this:
At least 2 beef meals, we eat alot of chicken in this household.
At least 2 crock pot meals
At least one meal that is a salad
At least 1 soup - if it is colder, I try to incorporate 2 soups
At least one meal has rice.
At least 1 meal a week is a new recipe
I plan 8 meals for 2 weeks. It gives us some freedom from not wasting food if we don't take some for lunch we can eat it for the next nights dinner or we go out to eat - stuff like that.
*If I have something like tacos - I will always have lettuce and tomato left over - I always try to incorporate another meal to use the left overs on... like a salad. If i do something like enchiladas, I will always have tortillas left over since I don't eat the corn and Bryce cant have the flour. So I will do another meal where I can use them: Breakfast burrito or fajitas. I am horrible at freezing tortillas and I try to use as much fresh as I can.
*I try to make fish for Bryce every now and then. I don't eat seafood so I will always keep a pizza or frozen meal in the freezer for myself. I am not a fan of cooking 2 meals but I will for fish, or I will go without. 
*Last but not least, I always make enough to take to work the next day for both of us - so it eliminates us eating out.

It seems like alot already as I am writing down - it took me a while to get into the swing of things but it is possible and it saves me so much money, compared to running to the store here and there. before I get into my 'simplify' I thought I would give you my bi-weekly meal plan that I put together yesterday so you can see what I am talking about (we did 7 meals because Bryce really wants pizza. and thanks to my sister who gave us a gift card to a GF pizzeria, we are going out to eat instead of making it in home):
Enchiladas
Crock pot Italian chicken
Taco soup
White Chili
Taco Salad
Hawaiian haystacks
Peppered steak

 *Peppered steak and Hawaiian haystacks are eaten with rice
* I made burritos a few days ago so I already have the tortillas - so we are doing enchiladas so we are not throwing away food.
* Taco soup and white chili are both soups.
* White chili and Italian chicken are both crock pots
* Taco salad is my salad and part of my at least 2 beefs (hamburger)
* peppered steak, taco salad and taco soup are my beefs
(no new recipe this week)

 When I follow my 'rules', making the bi-weekly meals is a snap! I just make sure to change it up as to what kind of 'soups' or what kind of 'beef'. Simple... right? Ok now to 'simplify'. Those who know me know I am crazy busy. Right now I am working 10 hour days only to come home and do hair for 4-6 hours a night. NOW I have added a class on Tuesday nights that not only require taking up a couple of hours on Tues (no hair on Tuesdays) but also require some time from me on Mondays prepping for my Tuesday class. To work a full schedule at work, come home do hair and cooking dinner and clean up seems impossible. Even with Bryce's help. So we had a discussion yesterday. I see simple as crock pot: Who doesn't love shoving raw food into a pan and leaving it all day and come home to a yummy meal that smells delish! right? But how many crock pot recipes can you take in a row. To live off of a crock pot would be pretty amazing. I also buy my beef in large quantities and separate it, date it and throw it in the freezer. Dethawing is part of the cooking process and sometimes I just don't have time. So this thought occurred to me.... We eat so much chicken, most of which has to be pre-cooked before we add all other ingredients. I have boiling chicken because it is a pain. Crock pot chicken always turns out nice, moist, soft and shreds itself. Beef - it is a pain to dethaw, only to have to ground it up afterwards. I am already separating it and throwing it into the freezer. So my 'simply' is to throw at least 2 meals worth of chicken into the crock pot with any kind of sauce: Ranch dressing, Italian dressing ( I keep alot of dry packets in my food storage since we use them so much - throw one of those in with 2 cups of water and there you have your flavoring!) or even bullion. Let it cook all day and come home and throw one part into the fridge for the next meal and use the other part for the meal that night. Like enchiladas... pull it out, put it into the tortilla, add toppings, and repeat til done and throw it into the oven to bake. Saves the hassle of me cooking the chicken when I get home and shredding it.  Next night: Hawaiian haystacks, the chicken was done in the crock pot the night before so I just have to pull it out, make some rice and chop up the fresh fruits and veggies to put on top and I am done! Saves me one again from having to cook chicken. This also gives me a whole night to throw the crock pot into the dishwasher and get it cleaned before I have to use it again. (we only run our dishwasher every other day or so because there is only 2 of us).
Now to beef. I am already prepackaging it all. Why not ground it before I throw it in the freezer? It saves me time from having to put it in cold water for hours to dethaw. If it is ground I can just pull it out and throw in in a pot/pan and continue on my way. Example taco soup - It already has to simmer for 30 minutes for best flavor. Throw in the frozen ground hamburger with the rest of the ingredients and I am done, instead of standing at the stove for 20 minutes while I ground it... not to mention waiting on it to dethaw.

I am sure that people are smarter than I am to come up with this idea. Scratch that! People have more time to sit around and come up with ideas like that. I think we already discussed how much time I DON'T have right now. I personally think it is a brilliant idea that I am going to put into action (even if someone came up with this years ago).


*If any of those recipes sound good or you have no idea what they are and would like to know, leave a comment and I will gladly email them to you. :)

Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end...

Can I tell you I hate new year resolutions. You make them, within in 3 weeks, or if you are good 4 weeks, you break them. I try to myself to not make them. Instead I make January 'goals'. Maybe it is a mind set that if I make them at the beginning of the year I can break them as fast as I make them and fall in that category along with the other billion Americans. So at the end of every January I make goals. Since I need to start thinking of new goals (as I eat this yummy piece of chocolate cake) I remind myself that I need to see how I did on last years goals. So here we go....
1. Wear some form of make up at least once a week to work. Preferably eye shadow. Since my alarm goes off at 5:30 I would rather sleep that extra 10 minutes than put on makeup. I guess I pass it off well :) but I really need to try harder to put effort into myself. Consider that a dud! I don't even think I got a week into that one without breaking it. oops... I am NOT off to a good start.
2. 2. No texting while driving. I know I did this last year but I really need to buckle down on it 100%. For those who are keeping track - I made this one the year before too. I remember saying that I did great until the end so I completed this 85%. Well this year I did a few time (GUILTY!!!!) but now that I have this new smart phone, it does everything for me when I tell it to... no longer a problem. I say I completed this 99%. I know it isn't 100 but 99 is pretty dang good!
3. I want to start back up kick boxing. You always here 'I wanna lose weight' that is not the case here. I felt like I could concur anything when I went to kick boxing. I felt like I could take on the world. It is not a matter of losing weight, it is a matter of feeling better about myself. Simple enough, right? uhhhhhh was I on some sort of drug when I wrote these???? Because I do not remember writing number one or three... oops! Maybe I should have a 6 month evaluations on these. FAIL!
4. no soda. period. I have taken to soda more than water in the month of December and I am done. I don't need it. I wrote this post on January 26th 2010. I am proud to say that as of January 17, 2010 I have not had soda!!! (Thank you Wendy's for having fresh lemonade. You are my hero!!!!). well I lied again. About a month ago we went to go get something to eat after a long exhausting day and no dinner. it was 11 at night. I got my food with of course a fresh lemonade (Do you now know who the screw up was???) I took a swig with instant burning.... How someone got root beer from lemonade is beyond my knowledge. I was pissed... one swallow ruined it all, or did it? I dumped the rest down the drain. I am still mad.
5. I have several bank accounts and one in particular is not suppose to be touched. I even have it at a different credit union for the purpose of not going there and not using it. I have failed miserably so as of Feb 1st there will be NO TOUCHING it at all. That is suppose to be my new car fund for when my car hits the crapper (which I hope isn't for at least another 5 years , at least!)
5 is a good round number... Can we skip this one too????

Last but not least... our couple's goal. I had this written down on one of my post but I think I deleted it. It was to get our food storage going... How did we do on this??? By the skin of our nose we have it ordered and on its way. We tried really hard to get a few things her and a few things there but things always get in the way. Luckily we got a killer deal right before Christmas (yes I am such a smart shopper) and it is ordered and on its way. I am very excited! As my SIL says - 'you know you are an adult when you get excited about food storage!'

Stay tuned for this years goals!