The Barbershop Mystery

For the past two and a half years I have been taking our grandson, Michael, to our local barbershop for a haircut every five weeks.  We live in a very small town with only two barbershops.  The owner/operators of the shop we patronize are two brothers who appear to be in their forties or fifties.  My husband also gets his hair cut there and occasionally takes Michael with him.

Every time we enter the shop I am mystified by the conversation that takes place.  It doesn't matter which barber does the cutting.  The conversation goes something like this:

Barber:  Hello, young fella.  Take a seat right up here. (Looks at me)  How would you like his hair cut?

Me:       Oh, just like it is now, only shorter.

Barber:  Does he wear the front combed down?

Me:        No, his mother combs it over to the side when he goes to church.

Barber:  Which side?

Me:       Over to the right.

Barber:  Do you want a little sideburn?

Me:       Yes, and can you cut it pretty high over the ears?  It grows really fast.

Barber:  Do you want the back blocked or tapered?

Me:       Blocked.

Then the barber proceeds to cut Michael's hair and carries on a little conversation with him.  When he's finished, Michael climbs down, gets the piece of gum the barber offers, hands him a check and we're out the door.

The mystery:  Each time we go there it's like they've never seen us before.  Why don't they remember us, know that they cut it previously, and just cut it the same way it looks, only shorter?   Can't they look at the back and see that it's blocked?  Can't they see the little sideburns?  Can a five year old grow sideburns where there were none in just five weeks? Really, how many little boys call their grandma "Googoo"? That alone would make me remember us. Also, I never hear them ask these questions to the men who get their hair cut while we're there. They just start cutting.

Oh well, if they ever do remember us and just start cutting, I'm going to be so disappointed.  This is so much more fun. I walk in feeling like I'm entering Floyd's shop in Mayberry and I walk out feeling like I'm leaving the  Twilight Zone!          

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate, anyone?

A few months ago, my husband and I spent the night in a cute little bed and breakfast in Jefferson, TX.  Early the next morning he asked me to go down and get him a cup of coffee while he dressed.  On the buffet in the diningroom was this amazing coffee brewer with a little carousel of assorted coffees in tiny containers.  All I had to do was pick one out, put it in the receptacle and it magically brewed this steaming hot cup of coffee!

Weeks later I was still thinking about that beautiful, sleek-looking coffee brewer.  I even looked it up online and discovered that it brews different sizes of cups, is available in red, and has two different types of carousels to hold all the little coffees.  I thought about how cute it would look on my counter top and how much fun it would be to twirl that little carousel and look at all those different little K-cups. I could name it Katie (that's what I would have named my third daughter if I'd had one), but no, Katie Keurig sounded too much like Katie Couric and I'm too much of a political conservative to be reminded of her each day.  Beginning to sound like an obsesssion?.

I think so.  Because you see, the problem with all this is I DON'T DRINK COFFEE!!!  Now I tried to justify this obsession with the fact that it also brews tea and hot chocolate.  But, I don't drink hot tea and I only drink lowfat, sugar-free hot chocolate which isn't available in the K-cups. I did think about how much my husband would enjoy having me fix it for him.  But really, he only drinks coffee on Saturday and Sunday mornings and downs a whole pitcher in about 30 minutes.  Oh, and did I also mention that I'm extremely practical and even on vacaction I only buy gifts for myself that are functional?  Hence, my big collection of cookbooks, my rolling pin from Silver Dollar City (who buys a rolling pin when everyone else on the trip is buying jewelry?), and a jar of molasses from some little town in Tennessee. 

So, how, oh, how was I going to justify spending a great deal of money on a beautiful, sleek, shiny, black, magical coffee maker that was obviously calling my name?  Well.........I didn't have to! Because my son-in-law's sweet, sweet mother heard about my ridiculous obsession and understood the need in my life to own something that was completely impractical.  So when she showed up at my door on Thanksgiving with this big, exquisitely wrapped box, my joy was complete!  I now have this ...........

 sitting on my countertop!  Isn't it beautiful?  Then I had to go out and buy this..........

so it wouldn't be lonely!

And now of course, the only way my practical side will ever relax and let me enjoy this thing is by frequent use.  So don't be surprised when you walk in my door and the first words out of my mouth are..."Can I fix you a cup of nice, hot coffee, tea or hot chocolate?" 
Thanks again, sweet Gina, for understanding!

Christmas Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is............................

Leslie!  Congratulations and look for it in the mail later this week!  I hope Makenzie likes it!

Christmas Giveaway!

To celebrate my favorite month of the year.........
 I'm having a Christmas giveaway this week!  You can win a cute little personalized "I Spy" bag  just like the one pictured below.  It contains at least 30 items hidden in the plastic beads. It's a great toy for church, doctor's office  visits or long car rides.  Older children can read and find the items alone, while younger ones can enjoy some quality time with a parent or grandparent.
To win, just leave me a comment telling me who you'd like to give it to. You can leave a comment on this post, email me at msandlin@prodigy.net or leave a comment on my FB wall. (If you have trouble leaving a post here, just sign in as "anonymous" and leave your name in the post.)  One entry per person, please.
The giveaway is open until midnight Friday night, CST and a winner will be randomly chosen and posted on Saturday.
Merry Christmas and good luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine. This year we celebrated with our son-in-law's family. We had a wonderful lunch.

                                   Lots of great conversation........                             

                                      

                                       

                                        Busy children..............                                                                                

                                  Happy children..........                                                                                            

                                   Silly children............                                                                                     

                              An after dinner walk...............                                                        

                           Some beautiful music........                                                               

                                      and one tired little boy who's already

                                      dreaming about the next holiday!

Thirteen people entered my drawing for the Thanksgiving apron and this little guy with the spiffy cap wanted to select the winner!

And...................

the winner is.................

Glenda Davidson from Arnold, MO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations, Glenda, hope you enjoy wearing your apron this Thanksgiving!

Thanks to everyone for entering! I enjoyed all your comments and the new recipes a few of you shared. I'm planning a few Christmas giveaways soon so I hope you'll stop back by for those.

Gobble Gobble Giveaway

If your comment won't post, just leave me a comment on my FB wall or email it to me. Don't want you to miss out! msandlin@prodigy.net
Good luck!