Saturday appears to have become my smell good day.

My hair is ...

... softer than bebe bee bum fluff and smells of frangipani flowers (as do my elbows & toes).Highly, highly recommended.

I've had my second haircut ...

... in five days. I'm still not sure I'm happy with it.
Sigh, why can't this be easy?

What do you get if you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole?

... you get a hot cross bunny! *teehehehehehehehehehehehehee*
Speaking of which, I accidentally bought the world's most expensive hot cross buns yesterday. I was in a bit of a rush to get to a hair-trimming appointment and knew I had to have some buns for breakfast this morning, so I popped down to DJ's Food Hall, grabbed the closest buns from the cunningly placed bun stand and presented myself at the till to pay.
"$10.50," quoth shopgirl (just like the Raven).
"Oh, righto then," say I, grabbing an extra handful of golden dollars. They are Bowan Island Bakery buns (which means I believe Ms Cookie, that they would qualify as Local!), so I'm sure they will be very good indeed.
Speaking of very good food, since my hair cutting thing went to 8pm and Mr Brown didn't fancy waiting for me to get home and cook before he could sate his hunger, he booked us in to Elio. So I got to have the stuffed zucchini flowers and the special pasta, torn pasta sheets with duck ragù, truffles and soft egg. My oh my, what a way to end a short working week!

Finding that Christopher Walken rendition of the Raven reminded me of this brilliant video, a chairdancing song if ever there was one!

Short hair ...

... I haz it!

The Recipe For Morgan

3 parts Cheek 2 parts Vitriol 1 part (evil) Genius 1 part Elation Splash of Procrastination Stir tumultuously with a pretty cocktail stick and sip slowly with sassy short hair being gently ruffled by a light, cool breeze

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

Long hair ...

... I've lost the knack for it.
I just can't get used to it, dealing with it, keeping it clean, shiny and tangle free. The water that's used in the washing of it is mind-boggling.
A few months ago I tried out that conditioner only washing. The idea is you don't use shampoo, just conditioner, and that after a few weeks (about 6) the hair & scalp "rebalances" and looks all lovely and clean and gleaming. Rather than lank and clumpy. I started on a Sunday. I was washing with shampoo again by Wednesday morning.
And the heat of it. Summer's only going to get hotter from now and already I'm getting all hot, bothered and itchy under the weight of it. I recall the last time I cut off all my hair was in the summer, after I got a heat rash on the back of my neck.
So, tomorrow, at 10:45am, I'm getting it all cut off again. Two-and-a-half-years worth. I think this will make me much happier.

End of Movember ...

... no, I've not spelled it incorrectly, Movember. Mr Brown grew himself some mustaches, as you can see (the pic was taken about half-way through). And he's raised sufficient sponsorship $$ to be in the running for a shiny new ute. I have suffered through this hirsute month, not completely uncomplainingly. I hate the Mo, it makes him look like a biker-themed 70s porn star. That, or an underworld hitman (especially when he puts on dark glasses). He's promised to remove the thing this very evening, so harmony & love'n can return to the Brown-Mouse house.
Oh, it's also the end of NaBloPoMo (thank goodness). I've looked and counted and yes, I posted at least once a day for the whole of November. To celebrate, November's WordCloud.
And one more thing. I love this clock. Go watch it do its stuff.

Vanity ...

... so about 12-18 months or so ago I noticed a few grey (silver actually) hairs popping up. "Oh well", I thought, "these things happen to us all", and gave it little more thought.
However, in the last few months I've noticed more. There's a good few dozen now and I notice them daily. Mr Brown says he can't see them but (a) he's blind and (b) he's a bloke, so not a reliable witness really.
So the question is, do I start dying my hair to cover them up or just let what happens, happen? If I start dying my hair to cover grey, am I taking the first slip down the slippery slope that leads to microdermabrasion, botox, eye lifts, liposuction, tummy tucks, face lifts, fake tans or those disgusting trout lips?
Or, am I over thinking this and should just pop down to the shops for a bottle of brown stuff?
Bloody hell.

If this is true ...

... the woman is out of her mind, (thanks CAW). It would mean her hair smells all funky, like mushrooms, and fish! Ick. Me? My hair smells like rosemary or sometimes like rosewater, but never like fish

I'm a Winter bebe ...

... but it seems my wishes are Spring-based. 'Tis my birthday today. So, a couple of months ago I gave Mr Brown my birthday wish list:
a native bee hive (with bees);
a pomegranate tree (with nice eatable fruit); and
dinner at The Ottoman (a favourite from our Canberra days, recently opened here in Sydney).
Well, 1 out of 3 ain't bad. We dine at the Ottoman tonight.
He did try for the full list (that's why he's my favourite) and the tree and the bees are on order. Problem is, neither can be delivered until the Spring. He did give me this though, the dafty. And, so I'd have something all wrapped up to open on the day, he gave me this too - one of my favourite smells ever (I guess that makes me an old-fashioned girl).
The whole birthday thing started yesterday with lunch at the Bambini Trust Cafe (where I had the most amazing duck liver and black truffle pate and a beautiful baked pork cutlet with pomegranate molasses and other yummy things) with some special girl friends - and they shouted me - bless their little cotton socks.
And Fiddles gave me the loveliest colour-coordinated gifty (book mark all the way from Vietnam), this is my favourite use. Then cake for afternoon tea (shared with another birthday girl and a pregnant one, as it was her last day). Then drinkies at the pub after work. I was only going to stay for 1 but have no self control and so I was easily talked into several fizzy wines and chatted and laughed and got home quite late and was in no fit state to cook Mr Brown any dinner.
Oh, and there were parcels when I got home. My new T-shirt from Remo, and one for Mr Brown (2 for 1 special - mine on the left, his on the right, apparently funny if you are a computer dweeb), and my two new Mary Russell books from Amazon (because there was no way I was waiting until they were finally published here) - it's very wild, wet and windy outside, perfect for me to curl up with good books and, perhaps, a fire.
Oh, oh, and I finally got a hair cut, 2 years and 1 month since the last one. The haircutty chappie was most surprised that someone would leave it so long, but did say nice things about how healthy it was (all that not dyeing or frying with hot irons or curling wands I guess).
Then I went and renewed my drivers license for another 5 years and can you believe it? I managed to pass the eye test - that really made my day!
On Saturday my mum will be cooking one of my all-time favourites (lemony veal and lots and lots of green beans) and the following Saturday we meet up with some old friends to eat at Chinta Ria, a Brown Mouse tradition. I am SO going to have Sassy's Duck.

Summer ...

... I know I moan a lot about summer, it's my least favourite season. But ... it does mean you can sun dry your (increasingly long & unmanageable) hair in 5 minutes, while watching blue banded bees buzz-pollinate your tomato plants. And you can have your coffee iced, with whipped cream and ice cream (if you are a piggy, like me).

The big blue thing ...

... revealed, it's a new pot, set to become the Brown-Mouse fishpond. It has a couple of holes in the bottom which are just right, Mr Brown says, for the pump (he's done this sort of thing before, he's a VERY handy man). Then in will go some fish & a waterlily or two (if needs must I'll cheat on the compact thing for the fish, I'm not entirely sure where I'd get some recycled fish, other than birdpoo!)How big is it you ask? Well, it's big enough for me (a not insubstantial mouse) to fit inside. I was tempted to ask Mr Brown to man-handle it into the smallest bathroom in the inner-west, so I could use it for a bath, but no, best not.It's blue because we like blue and it will go with some other blue pots scattered about the garden. Perhaps we were satin bower birds in a former life.Oh and look at what 20 moths of not getting a haircut gets you - a jaunty pigtail!

It was a wild & windy night ....

Last night. Rather like this one only no blackout. So I instantly knew it was 4am when Ping woke me for a game of fetch with her favourite (toy) mouse. Being a meany I hid it under my pillow and after her attempts to dig it out failed she went back to sleep.

The windy weather reminded me of another problem for the non-short haired - despite careful blow drying my "do" turned into some sort of wild electrified look within moments of my leaving the house.

Sigh, will I never achieve smooth elegance?

I last got a haircut in ...

May 2005. So I guess I must be growing my hair back. It's been 10 years since I had long hair but I'm already remembering why I cut it all off in the first place, (and it hasn't even reached my shoulders yet).

I'm already using much more shampoo and have had to start using a conditioner again. And the hair, my but a lot of it falls out, and everywhere. You just don't notice when it's short (or you blame the boy of the house). And I have to use a hairdryer every morning which is a pain, no more comb back and out the door for me. You can get away with wet hair at the station when it's short, it may be mistaken for gel afterall, but wet long(ish) hair at the station - nope - it looks lank, greasy and generally not nice.

I recall exactly why I cut my hair off all those years ago - it was summer, bloody hot and I kept getting a sort of heat rash on the back of my neck right under the hairline. Yuck. And all I ever did was wear it in a pigtail to keep it off my face, which made me look a little earth-motherish - which I am not. So, I wandered into a rather fancy salon on my day off and asked if I could have a hair cut, right now. I could & I did, "off with it" I said, "short and sassy for me".

I took the severed hair home, all done up in a plait (which I still have somewhere I think), and presented it to Mr Brown (he was another reason I cut it off, he kept lying on it in bed which was quite painful if I tried to sit up before rolling him off it). He was a little shocked but acknowledged it was my hair and it wasn't him who had to look after the stuff. Besides I'd had quite short hair when I met him (the length has a tendency to fluctuate a bit), it wasn't as if I'd been indulging in any false advertising (my didn't THAT post cause a brouhaha and a half?).

I'm not sure how long I'll continue without a hair cut but I'm quite enjoying the waves and glossiness at the moment and since summer is over it won't bother me until November or December, let's see how long it gets by then.