Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1

After recovering from the waxing room it was back to the chair for a few final touches and instructions

(never use a comb and never wash your hair daily).Then back to the wall for the after shots.Before..........................................After

Before
After

Before................After

All in all it was a fun day, full of loads of laughter.

Thanks to Sister Susie for the moral support. Thanks to Lori for fitting us in and for letting us have fun. And thanks to Sandy, the Fixer for making it happen and also treating me to my first visit to C'est Moi!

Thanks for watching!

Directions to here:
Next up:
The color gray, glasses and Blazers.

Commercial Break

Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1

After Lori finished up my cut, it was Susie's turn for cutting.

Sandy was impressed with the back of my hair...I had no idea it was so, um, wild looking.






I could never in one million years get my hair to do this...and it only lasted the minute or two that I sat still.

Watching Lori cut hair was truly like watching a painter.

I know there is a method, but she just kind of moves around and snips here and there and then out comes the finished artwork.









And then, just when I thought we were all done...The Fixer (Sandy) and The Teller (Susie), told the Artist (Lori) that the star of the show (Vandercar) was going to the Waxing Room.

After a lot of hemming and hawing on my part and the dispelling of wive's tales on their part, I knew I wasn't gonna get out of it, so I gave the ground rules (I still wanna look like me), sat down in the hot seat and handed the camera over, once again.

There was lots of laughing and telling me that it wouldn't hurt that bad and even hand holding for moral support.







I'll let you be the judge whether I thought it hurt or not!

Then the pros took their turns.

Susie didn't even flinch.
And Sandy smiled thru every second.

...Whatever.

So, there. I survived.
But then was told to "sit back down," I wasn't done. We still needed to do the lip.
"Wait, what?"
"The lip."
"Um."
This is where my new friend, Lori said: "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt as much as the brows."
Believing her, I sat back down.Fortunatly for your amusement and a little show called "Funniest Home Videos," Susie found the video mode on the camera.
Sidenote:
Once when my Dad was in the hospital and kept pulling his oxygen out of his nose, the nurses taped it to his face...virtually taping his mouth shut, making his round cheeks even rounder...and he had a pathetic look in his eyes of "help me." If you look closely at the first few seconds of this video you will see Bob Vandercar's ghost.
So, did you see Lori, my new friend, jumping up and down after I realize how
"it doesn't hurt as much as the brows?"
I point at her and say, "That is not true!"
Off camera, she says: "I lied! I had my toes crossed!!"

Stay tuned for the finale as we wrap up this episode of Fixing Vandercar with the before and after shots!

Commercial Break

Now imagine this doo on a 7 year old!!!

Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1 (con't)

Like all reality shows, this is the segment where the dramatic music is cued and the subject talks really low and stifles the urge to cry while telling a secret or a story from their past.

And Fixing Vandercar wouldn't be a reality show without our very own whispered segment.

Here's the back story, minus the tears, cause I've already figured out how it relates to my fears and hopefully have put them to rest. Having said that, however, has not taken away my hesitancy to trust people with implements in their hands when they are near my head.

Many of you know that I was a late comer to the Vandercar family. I can imagine that I cramped my teenage siblings plans once or a thousand times on a friday night when they wanted to go out, but had to babysit their baby sister instead. I also imagine that I was somewhat sort of a baby doll come to life.

As I grew up I remember wanting to be wherever my brothers and sisters were and remember getting to go with them...not realizing that I was probably called a tag-a-long.

I remember going with Sister Susie and her friends to Tony's Drive INN and how I thought Brenda and Marilyn and Susie were so grown up, hip and pretty. As I remember, Brenda was planning on becoming a beautician and all I remember is one day they got it in their heads that they were gonna "set" my hair. There were rollers and a dryer involved and the whole beauty shop process and when they finished I looked like a tiny person with very BIG hair. (think bouffant). Now, many of you know that by this time in my young life, I was probably more comfortable in a Cubs hat and no shoes or shirt than a fru fru hairstyle.

So the big girl curls freaked me out.

I did NOT know what the term "SET" meant when it came to hair-doos and I had KNOW idea that when I washed my hair, the curls would disappear.
So, you can imagine me...when I finally got alone and went to bed that night, I laid my head on the pillow and instead of wearing the hairnet that keeps the hair doo tidy, I pressed my head into the pillow as hard as I could and spent the better part of the night...pressing my hair down to my head with my arms and hands. I put my head under the pillow, on top of the pillow, anything to flatten my hair back to the dutch boy cut that I was used to. Of course, I'm sure the next day I looked like a wreck. I don't remember the relief that came from washing it and it returning to normal, I only remember the anxiety that came from being torn between wanting to be with my sister and her friends and the fear that they would keep using my head for hair practice!

So there. That is the story of my early hair care. And why I might flinch if you innocently try to straighten a stray hair on my head.

See no crying.
Well, at least not yet.

Commercial Break

Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1 (con't)

Sister Susie was getting highlights, so she was first up in the shampoo room and then onto the chair.
While waiting, I got a better look around the place and found these things to be very cool: lights, boots and the upside down Christmas tree! Then it was Susie's turn to wait.
While her color did it's magic, I took my turn in the shampoo room.
It was there that Lori and I decided that I will move to Lowell and open up a book/coffee shop across the street in what was Nellie Jane's (another bank building, I believe) and we will do cross promotions for each other's business! Oh, and we'll be neighbors too, cause I'll get an apartment in the upstairs of one of the buildings downtown. (please, pay no attention to my oversized neck in this picture).

Then it was onto the chair where Sandy and Susie watched Lori go to work!

This is where I'm telling Lori my first memory of getting my hair "done."
Which tho innocent enough, probably scarred me for life and made me wary of "beauticians."
Watching Lori work, tho, I was starting to relax and see that there is a difference between a person who cuts hair and a stylist. This girl, is an artist!

THEN, just when I was RELAXED..
I heard Sandy, the fixer,
say the word

WAX.

Stay tuned for the visit to the unexpected room where my new found confidence in the beauty business gets put to the test.

Commercial Break

Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1 (con't)

We got to town and parked across the street from C'est Moi, the Salon that is owned by Lori, Sandy's "girl."

I had no idea that Lowell had such a funky salon nestled in it's downtown!
And I felt pretty good about the repurposed building. Gotta love old Bank buildings.

We walked in and Sandy was waiting for us and this is where I really started to feel like I was on a Reality Television "how to I look" makeover show.
I mean, this place ain't no Great Clips (although the people at Great Clips are always very nice). The girl at the desk whisked our coats away and asked us what we would like to drink and invited us to have a seat on the sofa.

Lori came out to the front and we had introductions all around. The Fixer (Sandy) took over and told her that we were here for a makeover and that she could do whatever she wanted. Lori, said okay, but that she needed a little more direction...
so they talked about the possibilities and that it needs to be easy to take care of and low maintenance. We asked if she had the Internet and we had her google image "Kirstin Stewart Joan Jett Mullet."
I had told Sandy I liked that cut and The Fixer was convinced that I needed bangs. Lori was at the computer and as the image came up, she said "love it, love it, love it."

We then stepped into out of the parlor and behind the screens to let the "fun" begin.

First up:
Just like on tv.....

The Before shots.
Stay tuned for wash, cut and a visit to a room that was NOT on my Fixing agenda!

Commerical Break

Fixing Vandercar - Season 1 ~ Episode 1

Now that my hair has grown out and I'm almost ready for another haircut, I'm finally getting around to airing the pilot to the reality show: Fixing Vandercar.

I started the new year with a list of resolutions and broke most of them by the evening of New Year's day. But one person who has no problems keeping resolutions is Sandy Vandercar.

The first thing we talked about fixing was hair.
She told me I should make an appointment with her "girl."

But, knowing me like she does, she knew that if left to me, it would take me months to get that appointment made, if ever.
So while I slept in on Jan. 2....Sandy was on the phone making appointments for both me and Sister Susie who was looking for a new doo for her upcoming trips.

Susie opened the bedroom door and said,

"Get up! Sandy got us and appointment with Lori!
We need to be there at 11 o'clock!"

I looked at her a little shocked and dumbfounded and wondered just what I had got myself into.

(insert dramatic music here)

To be continued after a short commercial break!

Happy Birthday Girls!!

Another Munchkin : (

Another Munchkin has passed away bringing the remaining Munchkins down to four, possibly five (unconfirmed Munchkin living in Boston).

Meinhardt Raabe played the Coroner who pronounced the Wicked Witch of the East dead.

Flashback Friday....Worthy Grangers

Worthy Master:
"Worthy Steward, inform the Gate-Keeper that I am about to open the Grange."

Steward:
"Worthy Gate-Keeper, the Worthy Master is about to open the Grange. Please close the gate."

Gate-Keeper:
(dave's line)
"Worthy Steward, the gate is closed."

Steward:
"Worthy Master, the gate is closed."

Wait! Say what? Three raps on the door?

Steward:
"Worthy Overseer, there are strangers at the gate."

Overseer:
"See who they are, and ascertain what they desire."

The Steward opens the door and says:
"Who comes?"

The Hayden Family?

That's right.
All the Haydens and more were at the Grange Meeting Monday night surprising the Worthy Secretary, Sister Susie as she was named and awarded the Best Grange Member, ever.
Wish I could have been there, but then again, I probably would have been kicked out cause I don't know the password.

Worthy Sister Susie, we all think that you are most Worthy!
You are a Great Granger and a Great Person!

Directions to here:
Pictures anybody? Kelly? Anyone?
I know there are more vintage Grange shots, I can see them in my head...I just don't know where I saw them. I'll keep looking.

Fixing Vandercar - Concept Development

Every show that we watch on the television goes thru several steps before it makes it to TV. The show goes from the Big Idea to concept development to the pitch to the production and finally the presentation to its audience.

I am getting ready to air episode one of Fixing Vandercar, but thought I would give you a little background first.

As you read in the last post, Sandy and I ARE related but are very different from each other. 

We both have definite likes and definite quirks.

We are both very different people, but have similar issues. (think o.c.d. here).

I can pull on my sleeve and she knows exactly the feeling I'm having: "it's too tight," or "it's touching me."

After listening to Sandy state her opinion over the years, I've learned that there are certain topics that she is usually almost always right about.

For instance:

Certain food combinations:

If she tells you to eat two things together...no matter how bizarre, it's usually very good.

Shopping:

She once was shopping with me for an emergency wardrobe crisis and picked out a pair of pants for me in no time flat AND they fit AND I liked them. That NEVER happens to me.

So, when I got ready for the Christmas Eve service this past year and realized that I packed the sweater that I meant to leave at home and left at home the sweater I meant to bring, Sandy noticed right away that I was having an issue with my clothes. It was an okay sweater, but it was

1. touching me...and

2. I didn't like the way it looked with the pants I had. and

3. Blah, blah, blah.... 

The issue with the sweater made me not like the way my hair was and my shoes and it reminded me that my glasses felt like they were giving me a headache and that I didn't like my coat cause it was making me feel static clingy...and so on and so on.

Then I looked at Dave Vandercar.

And thought, He's Bob Vandercar's son, how does he not have all these issues?

Dave always looks very well put together and very comfortable.

And then I said "ah, hah. He has Sandy." 

I was in the car with them when I figured all this out and I got the big idea for a reality show and right there developed the concept and gave the pitch for the show to Sandy.

I told her, I need Fixing Nancy advice....and before we drove the country block that it takes to get to church, we had extended it to the several topics and the whole family and named the show:

Fixing Vandercar.

Fixing Vandercar - The preface

So one of the Sandy’s famous shticks that never gets old is the “You know we’re related” line.

Several years back, there was a particular shirt tail relative who, well, to use a nicer term than Sandy would use, was in a word: odd.
Whenever he would see Sandy out and about in town, he would insist on talking to her and would always remind her “you know, we’re related, don’t you.”
She was always quick to remind him, that no, SHE was not related.
It was Dave that was related.
She simply married a Vandercar.
So, “no, …no relation.”

Well, as you know Sandy IS related to us Vandercars and has lived with a Vandercar and around the Vandercars for over 30 years now.
And if you spend anytime with her at all, you will know time spent being related to us has given her a huge arsenal of material to use in her stand up comedy act.

Every once in awhile in the middle of a story about Dave or as she’s telling a story about my odd behavior, someone will say…”ah, leave him alone”…or they will try to defend me.

I say don’t worry it’s okay!
My sister-in-law and I have been thru enough highs…(laugh till our sides split) and lows…(I said “dinner”)…that there is very little she can say that will offend me.

Sandy is who Sandy is.
And I am who I am…
And even tho we are two VERY different people,
we are each happy with being ourselves and yes, we are even happy to say
“You know we’re related, don’t you?”

And so I present the first installment of the

“You know we’re related…”
photos series:
Vandercars at the V.F.W.

Things that humor Me....

My Brother Mike has a ongoing feature on his blog called
TTHM
(things that humor me)

Well THIS humored me...
check it out!

Directions to here:
Who's next??
Janet didn't you tell me that you were the FFA sweetheart??

What Resolutions?

Still playing ketchup.

I have learned to make my New Year's Resolutions start date on the first Friday after whatever day January 1st lands on.

Why?
Cause I usually spend New Year's Eve on the farm...eating and drinking while ringing the old year out and the New Year in.

And even tho January 1st is the day for New Resolutions, this is what I wake up to:The breakfast of champions

eating powdered sugared donuts with the girl!

And since it's Farmer Jerry's Birthday...
the feast doesn't stop at breakfast....Sister Susie always out does herself with this kind of spread:After dinner there is usually talk about starting the Biggest Loser and why this year will be different!

This year for some reason, Jeremy ended up in the basement and a came upstairs with and gave us all a laugh and some motivation to get up and burn some calories:Then Matt joined in...
and then Jamie made the reunion complete!

Future Farmers!

And we ended up entering in our stats for the Biggest Loser and working off some calories with the wii fit.

both little kids
(Drew's ready)

and big kids.

Dave was ready to go home and had no desire to play...none whatsoever, at all...
until he tried downhill skiing, once:...and 37 trips down the mountain ("one more time") and 30 minutes later,
he finally gave the controller over to Jerry so he could get weighed, aged and enter in his Biggest Loser stats.
Directions to here:
Were we suppose to do something after it weighed us?
Does the game make us lose the weight or what?
Oh, we have to play it?
Wait, what?

Ketchup/Catsup/Catchup

How do you spell it?

Ketchup? Catsup? Catchup?
(here's the history)

For now, I'm going with Catch Up.

I wanted to write more on this blog in 2010, but have not even got Birthday posts up!!

I've got some catching up to do.

Of course, it doesn't help that Jerry's birthday is the first day of the year...so if you miss that one...you're already behind on resolutions before you start!

Anyway...here's a shot of the birthday boy and his entourage:

Bad Blogger.

Resolutions are made to be broken.

Lots on my mind...but not on the blog.

Got a lot of catching up to do, but in the meantime...keep checking in on the "I wish" post...

I'm updating it a little at a time...it makes me realize how blessed we are.

Happy Anniversary!