Back from the dead

That was the very worst cold I have ever, ever had. I was down, and I mean down, for three solid days. Up again Friday and Saturday thanks only to DayQuil, Ricola and running out of sick days at work. (I did just stay home with a kid recovering from surgery a little over a month ago.) Today I am med-free except aspirin and doing okay; just a little lingering cough and massive exhaustion.

I did manage to shuffle into the salon Friday morning for the cut and color, all coughy and sniffy and red-eyed. Way to make a first impression, I know. And please, let's not talk about how much this cost. (G's first response was, "You look expensive," and I couldn't argue.) But I do like how it turned out. It is quite a bit lighter than it looks in the picture, especially right in the front.

These are my first bangs in 10 years. Really, the last time I had bangs was my senior spring at BYU -- 1996. That's a long time ago! Fortunately, unlike last time, these bangs are supposed to be "sideswept," which is what my hair naturally wants to do anyhow. I just have to blowdry the good old cowlick down really hot in the morning right after I step out of the shower.

I come from the kind of Scandinavian Utah Mormon people who have jillions of little towheaded kids with cowlicks all over their heads, and the lucky ones get them right in the front so they look like they've been hit with a shovel so hard their hair sticks up in a kind of sunburst pattern. It shows up really well in the little boys just when their summer buzz cuts start to grow out. And if you don't give your little boys summer buzz cuts ... well, you're probably not from my people. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

On a mostly unrelated note, I made some killer food today. I was going to do a whole Thai kind of meal, but all the curry pastes at Albertson's looked icky (no green or red, just "golden" -- I guess Food4Less is good for some things) and so I just doubled the recipe for potstickers from the Everyday Food magazine Sally gave me, and made this amazing mango sticky rice from Epicurious. Who needs a main course anyway? We are so full! Hope it's as healing as it was comforting ...