On to Abilene

What a sweet girl! We spent yesterday taking care of odds and ends. Rich, Bonnie, Emery and I went to Jason's Deli for lunch and baby did great, sleeping the whole time. From there, another Target trip to buy another suitcase, some bubble wrap for sending photo frames back home, and some Christmas gifts.

Rich and I tried to get haircuts before we left Unalaska but our hairdresser was gone. We then decided we would get cuts in Chicago but got called away to Amarillo before we could get that done. We were both looking very shaggy. Bonnie tried to get me an appointment with her hairdresser and she had no openings till after we left. While we were at Target, we saw a ProCuts nearby and decided we would just "do it" and get haircuts last night. While at the house, I thought I would look on the internet and see if there was something closer to Bonnie's, finding a Supercuts nearby. I gave them a call and noticed that the woman answering the phone called it something other than "Supercuts," but I promptly forgot what she said. I asked if we needed appointments and she said no, we could come on in. We noted the address, got directions from Bonnie, and got on our way since some of the kids' friends were bringing dinner for all of us and we needed to get back soon.

The address led us to a shopping center, where we did not see anything called "Supercuts" but we did see a place called the Haircut Lounge. Haircut Lounge? That did not sound right but the address was correct. We walked in, asking "Did this used to be a Supercuts?" Two hairdressers were sitting around looking bored but replied in the negative and seemed puzzled by the question. I continued, "Did you just get a call from someone asking about two haircuts?" No. "Is there a Supercuts nearby?" No. "But we would be glad to cut your hair." I felt weird about staying since I had given the "Supercuts" (or whatever it was!) people our names and said we'd be right there. But we couldn't seem to figure out what had gone wrong and they were offering to do our hair, so we accepted. It was the grand opening for the Haircut Lounge, so we got haircuts for 10 bucks each and two entries into a drawing for Dallas Cowboys' tickets. (Big fans that we are, we will be gifting the tickets if we win!) The Haircut Lounge serves alcohol (though we declined), has TVs and internet available for its customers. You'd think it would be packed but we were the only customers. Guess the word has not gotten out yet. I asked how they could possibly serve alcohol in a hair salon and was told it was okay because they were giving it away and not selling it. We sat side by side and enjoyed chatting with our hairdressers about Alaska while they trimmed us up. As we were leaving the shopping center, we drove around back to get to a traffic light and there sat "Cost Cutters." Oh, yeah, that's what the woman had said when she answered the phone--Cost Cutters. It was right behind the Haircut Lounge. Do you think they really thought that there was not another salon in the same shopping center? I felt bad since I had told those folks we were coming right over, but not bad enough to walk in and admit our mistake.

We took a few family photos but Emery was either sleeping or crying so we did not get any outstanding ones, though we think she is precious no matter what. We watched "My Sister's Keeper" which was a tear-jerker! And we had to watch "Hoarders," which is our latest weird obsession.

This morning we got up early and took Emery in for her two week checkup. Her doctor said she is doing great and everything looks good. From there, we drove back over to the hospital for her PKU blood work. We woke up to snow in Amarillo and by then it was really coming down. Here's a wonderful idea: the hospital has valet parking! Yes! We stopped in the covered driveway and a nice young man took the car while we walked into the heated entry to the hospital. Sweet! Blood work is no fun for a two week old and Emery was no exception. She cried and cried while they pricked her little heel and took out what seemed to be an exorbitant amount of blood. The tech was really nice and said she had just returned from maternity leave herself so was very sympathetic. Mommy and Gigi made it through the ordeal and Emery eventually just conked out and went back to sleep while we waited for the car to come around. I am just thrilled with this valet parking idea. Genius!

Then back home for some lunch and back out to get our rental car. In the meantime, the snow melted and the wind kicked up to 50-60 mph. I know that is nothing to you Unalaskans, especially lately, but it was still pretty wild. We had to say our goodbyes to Bonnie and Emery (David was at work teaching) which was sad and hard to do, but we were also excited to be on our way to see the rest of the family. I was worried we were going to have icy roads on the way to Abilene but we had big winds, blowing dust, and loads of tumbling tumbleweeds on our way instead. One big tumbleweed slammed into the car and Rich was sure it did some damage, but we couldn't find any, thankfully. The winds finally died down around Lubbock and the rest of the trip was calm.

We got in a little too late to see Susan and the grandkids out in Clyde tonight since they all have to get up early, so we are just taking it easy in our hotel and are anxious to visit with them tomorrow. We pricelined a hotel and got the Courtyard by Marriott right by the mall. The cute young lady who checked us in said, "Oh, you are from Alaska?" Small world--her dad's in the military and she grew up in Anchorage.