Year: 2013

Bye Bye (much too) long hair!

I decided, that when my diagnosis of the clump in my breast is negative – meaning it’s a good clump and not cancer – I’ll get my hair cut and donate it to women who’ve been diagnosed with cancer.

I like having long hair – I’ve had it long for the last 4 years, but I’m sometimes also annoyed of it because it’s just much too long at times. Donating my hair seemed like a great idea and after I found out that there are a few organisations who take your cut-off hair and use it to make wigs I couldn’t wait to get my hair cut.

Hair Donation Before
Hair Donation – The before shot: the left image shows my daily hairstyle

So I did some research on where to donate and until yesterday I was sure to donate it to “Locks of Love“.
I actually wanted to donate to women my age who are diagnosed with cancer but didn’t find anything and L.o.L. seems like a nice organization. L.o.L. take donations for kids who mainly suffer from “Alopecia Areata” and not cancer, which I’d be ok with, seeing it’s terrible for kids to not have hair in any way.

I called my hairdresser on wednesday and my lovely stylist squeezed me in today at 3:30pm

Pantene Beautiful LengthsYesterday I did some more research and after reading a lot (also a NY Times article) and mainly after clicking following link: American Cancer Society I’ve decided to donate to “Pantene Beautiful Lengths” instead, although I was a bit sceptical at first to donate to such a known and big company – I never trust big companies ;).

But, there are a lot of points which made me feel very confident about Pantene:

  • the wigs go to the American Cancer Society
  • PBL supports women who have lost their hair through any types of cancer
  • The women get the wigs for free

Here’s the Pantene WP blog.

So, here’s my journey…
At the hairdresser:

Hair donation - before and after (ugh the natural wave)
Hair donation – before and after (ugh the natural wave – but also from the hair tie)

I washed my hair this morning at home so my stylist cut it dry. I told her the lenght I’d like to have my “new” hair (about 1-2cm beneath my collarbone) so she cut a little further down so that she has about 2cm left to style my hair. I feel so good now and I can’t wait to send it out to the States on monday šŸ™‚

Hair Donation - before and after - the after shot - I need to wash my hair again tomorrow and dry it to get it nice and straight
Hair Donation – the after shot – I need to wash my hair again tomorrow and dry it to get it nice and straight

It’s amazing, I actually was worried to get 21cm and still keep the length I want, but a great 31cm (around 12 inches) long ponytail was cut , I never thought it would be so long. I’m very happy now šŸ˜€
Pantene Beautiful Lengths Logo

I’ve found following organisations to donate hair to:

Flotni (israelic cake)

For the dough:

  1. 500g flower
  2. 300g butter
  3. 100g sugar
  4. 1/2 glas white wine
  5. 4 eggs
  6. 1 egg for the coat

flotni_dough

Mix everything and put the dough in the fridge for one hour.
After that you separate it into 5 pieces.
flotni_18

For the filling you’ll need:
flotni_3
Take an oven-safe form, not too small, an add first a layer of dough, then a layer of the filling, then a layer of dough and so on, until the last layer of dough lays on top.

1. layer:

  • 1 glas plum butter
  • 250g grinded nuts
  • 1 bag raising (if you like them)

Start with a layer of dough first, then add the rest
flotni_layer_1
2. layer:

  • 50g honey
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 3 soup spoons of white wine

Always start with a layer of dough!
You can either mix all three together or put them on separately.
flotni_layer_2
3. layer:

  • 2 bags of poppy seeds

flotni_layer_3
4. layer:

  • 4 cut up apples

They might not all fit and remember, you still need a cover topping of dough.
flotni_layer_4
On the top coat of the dough you whisk a egg and spread it on it. The last thing you do is pull lines with a fork.
flotni_layer_5
Bake for one hour at 175 CĀ° Celsius. Enjoy! (It will feed a lot of people)
flotni_done Flotni
*Note to self: next time use less dough, plum butter and poppy seeds and more apples.

In a Family of Five

In a family of five, you always seem to have something to worry about. No, that was wrong – not something, but someone! My sibilings are in their late 30s, early 40s, my parents are in their early 70s. When a sickness or weird symptoms suddenly occur, you immediately start to worry. At least I do, my family members too.

I always think of the worst. I really do believe there’s something like carcinophobia (at least there are posts about that but no wiki article yet) and I think I’ve got it. To some extend. I don’t run to doctors right away when I feel pain somewhere but I think about cancer a lot. I’m worried about getting it although I do believe, the older we get, the more we have a chance to all get it somewhere sometime. I’m much more worried about a family member getting it, especially the parents.

I do believe that you can hardly influence if you get it or not. Sure, I try to eat healthy most days, I don’t eat burnt food with a black crust, I eat fruit and veggies daily (a lot!) BUT – I live in a city with many cars (exhaust gases I breathe), I like to sunbathe, …, I think through environmental influences nowadays you’re lucky to not get cancer.

To not worry so much and just hit the OFF button of the brain would be great sometimes. A lot of times, actually.

Let’s just hope that all the people we love will live a long and healthy life. That would be so great!

Holidays

So I took next week off of work. Yay!
I’m going to make a detox cure which contains 4 x 500ml of fruit juices and 1 soup for either lunch or the evening. I’m making this for the first time and for five days. I wonder how it goes and if I’m going to be in a bad mood the whole time because I get no decent food šŸ™‚