Mom's birthday, a hair cut and other things

The graphic above? Love is someone who offers to find your stitches when you drop them? That actually happens to me. I'll grumble about dropping stitches when I'm knitting and Michael will offer to help me find them. :) You can share the quote on FB from here.

For various reasons, my son didn't get his hair cut all summer. It was making him nuts and leading to lots of gentle teasing from friends, family and even his boss (who told him to stay home during bear season!).

This is what it looked like when he was out gathering chamomile a couple months ago.
Recently I found a decent clipper/trimmer set at the grocery store in the markdown bin for 15 dollars (thank heaven for smartphones and finding reviews instantly), and figured, "Why not?" and he was actually willing to let me cut his hair.
I'm not a barber, but  I'm actually happy with how it turned out. He was really happy with it. Of course maybe the right time to remove a thick head of hair isn't just when winter is starting. But yay! I cut his hair. Why was I so afraid to for so long?

Tips? If the person who needs a hair cut and wants anything fancy or involved, leave it to professionals unless you are professional, then leave it to yourself! I wouldn't even attempt my husband's hair. Otherwise, read through the instructions that come with your set, and use the guide combs. With William's hair, it's so curly and grows so fast and thick I was reasonably sure that mistakes would correct themselves fairly quickly unless I actually clipped down to skin. The guides prevented that. The clipper/trimmer set paid for itself with that first hair cut, and with proper care, it will last a long time to handle many more trims.

Today we finally went out for our Annual Mom's Birthday Dinner. Before that, we went to see one of my favorite local potters/soapmakers, Silverbear Sundries and picked up lip balm for the winter and a gorgeous new cup. If I'm not making the lip balm myself, my husband's favorite is the lip balm she makes. So we got him a couple tubes.

Then on to the thrift store. If you recall, Mom's last birthday, we went out to eat, then to the local SPCA thrift store. So that's what we do for her b-day dinner. We go to the thrift store and out to eat and switch up the order sometimes. TG found some clothes for herself, and William found a great big squirt gun (he paints and models squirt guns into neat looking steampunk accessories). I found a stack of magazines. Some back issues of a wire jewelry making magazine I love, and lots of vintage craft magazines from the late 70s, early 80s, 2 mid-70s booklets on macrame, and a star shaped cookie cutter for fairy bread. Then we went to eat at the restaurant that's in the same place as the one we took mom to for her last b-day dinner. It's a Mexican place now. We ate well and laughed much. We talked a bit about the history of crafting, and all sorts of other things.