As the title of this post suggests, it has been a taxing week.  No, not really difficult, although it was busy.  Just not in a Santa Claus way.  Although I was off work this past week, I didn't get as many of the items on my honey-do list complete as I would have liked (painting and yard work).  It seemed like every evening or day was occupied by some Toastmasters related event or other (contest season).  Perhaps the worst of it was yesterday and today... when I knocked out my taxes for the year.  Yes, I do my own, and completely by hand.  Well, I use spreadsheets to crunch the numbers, but I created them myself, and update them year to year.  Just an idiosyncrasy of mine, but I've been doing it since the 80's.  But that's finished (owe: $800+), and I was able to turn to other things.

Today, I was re-watching the video recording on Santa Ed Taylor's site for Beard Whitening and Care (again).  I originally watched this video back in late December or early January, and at the time concluded that it would be better to have a professional bleach my beard the first time around.  Now, however, a little bit of grey is starting to creep back in, and I'm thinking that I may want to re-bleach before Fall as I had originally planned.  Since the professional who knows how do the job is a 2 hour drive from home, and costs $80 - $150 (I just had beard done last time, will need top done next time), I am rethinking the idea of doing it myself.

With that in mind, I put in an order for a bottle of Trionics and a container of Bleaching Powder.   I figure I can do a little cautious experimenting, and have plenty of time to recover from any mistakes that I may make.  If it proves too difficult, I can always go back and have a pro do it in October.

While I was shopping, I ordered some got2b glued styling gel, which I've heard does good things for run away hair.  My mustache is behaving well, developing a nice curl even when dry, but the part over the lip doesn't want to stay put.  I'm sure that as it fills out, I will be able to make it behave all by itself, but in the meantime, I want to be able to glue it up out of the way. As far as eating and drinking (coffee!!!), this is a must have.  I won't even talk about the ribs I had for dinner last night...

My contract is supposed to be restarting this coming week, which is good, since it keeps the money flowing.  Depending on the budget, I am debating whether I can afford a new Santa Suit... higher quality than the cheap one that I bought in February.  My wife has promised to sew some other items for me (vest, hat, etc.), but the entire suit may be pushing the limit for right now.  Have to put that request off until next year.