Happy Saturday to all! Once again, thank you, Natalie, for hosting #WeekendCoffeeShare each weekend.

I cannot believe that just a week ago, I was out of the house and on the road. The road trip still feels so fresh in my mind but maybe it has to do with the photo editing and the more photos I edited, the more I want to go back. In total, I think I took close to 500 photos, most of which were with my DSLR camera because I wanted to conserve battery on my phone. Here are some of my favorites so far:

My mom returned on Thursday afternoon. Throughout the car ride home, she did not once mentioned about my haircut, which I had gotten on Tuesday. I got the haircut in preparation of getting my professional photo taken next week. It’s nothing drastic. I had it cut just below the shoulder and told the salon lady I wanted bangs again but not the kind that’ll be bothersome when it gets a little longer. “Curtain bangs,” the lady told me that’s what that kind of bangs is called. By the end of the haircut, I have a hairdo that hugs my face, I no longer needed a band to tie my hair back, and my forehead no longer felt bald.

Anyway, all throughout the ride back, I was waiting for my mom to ask about the haircut since I didn’t tell her I was getting my hair cut. When we arrived home, I finally asked, “Did you notice my haircut?”

She scoffed, “It’s too long, you look like a homeless person.” It was the exact same words she described her sister’s son when he had long hair. She said it in Chinese and it translates to “useless youth.”

Immediately, my heart sank. That was not what I wanted to hear. How rude! I do not look like a homeless person. Deep down though, I kinda knew that’s what she would say. She’s the kind person who can squash someone’s confidence with a couple of words. All through the next day, she repeated those words multiple times and even now, as I write this, I feel like crying all over again. I even stood up to her, “I’m not you, I don’t like to have short hair,” thinking back to my middle school days when I was constantly bullied because some mean folks had a hard time differentiating my gender because of my short hair.

She never once asked how I felt and how I was doing since she’s been gone. The moment she got into my car yesterday, she began talking about herself and never stopped. Even when I told her about my road trip, she just scoffed and returned to her favorite topic – herself. Even when she was in Asia, she only contacted when she needed me to do something like book a plane ticket, look up directions, and check bank balances.

I haven’t mentioned once about my completed front garden nor have I told her I installed 2-50 gallon rain barrels in the backyard. For all I know, she doesn’t care and mentioning those things will no doubt only cause more hurt feelings on my end. *Sigh

Yes, I finally got the second rain barrel installed and connected to the gutter. Sawing off the piece of the gutter was the hardest part and after exhausting the effort with manual hacksaws, I had to ask for help. Thankfully, one of my neighbors has a reciprocating saw, which was just the saw I need to cut through the metal downspout. The barrel that was installed before the road trip had already overflowed twice from last Sunday’s snow storm. I’m looking forward to getting the second barrel filled.

Lastly, I do hope I can squeeze some garden chores this weekend. There’s a pile of leaves that must be raked and shredded as well as trees that need to be pruned. I also want to try out my new wood chipper to make sure it works before I throw away the box. It’s supposed to rain until the afternoon today, so hopefully, the sun will come out tomorrow. Until then, I appreciate you stopping by and have a great week ahead.