D.. d.. d.. d.. Dora....

Last week I took the girls to my salon for haircuts. I got one at the same time. Riley & Sammy looked in a hair magazine and found two really cute short cuts they liked. I wish I'd done the same thing, because somehow my description was lost in the translation. I now have what is best described as a Dora the Explorer hairdo. It's absolutely lovely. Everyone knows that when you have a big head, it's best to get a short rounded hairdo with bangs to accentuate it.

Stock Tip: Invest in Rubber Gloves

I finally took Riley to get her ears pierced. A friend suggested we go to a piercing studio rather than one of those places at the mall. I had to agree, since I doubt those 16 year old girls at the mall are really very worried about sterilization and stud placement. I know this partly because my own earrings are all cockeyed and point in different directions.

So Riley went to Iris Piercing in Sugarhouse and when we got there the guy asked if I'd brought her birth certificate. Doh! I'd forgotten... and I really didn't want to drive all the way back home to get it. I mean.. couldn't he TELL she was my daughter? I suppose I could have started saying embarrassing things and let her freak out publicly as proof of our relationship, but instead I dug through my purse until I found an insurance card with both our names listed.

Next she got to pick out her earrings. She went for some tasteful Titanium hoops, and we headed back to the piercing area.

It looked like a doctor's examination room... if he had spent time in Tibet and Africa and decorated with masks, paintings and bamboo. There was the little exam table in the center of the room, the red bio-hazard bin for the old needles, the boxes of rubber gloves... beyond those medical necessities the room was tricked out in granite counter tops, one of those cool bowl-type sinks and copper faucets. Oh and The White Stripes were playing in the background, so it was a pretty cool "doctor's" office.

A very nice guy named Nick did her piercing.

Apparently at Iris they are ALL about sterile conditions. Nick used 5 pairs of rubber gloves. First pair.. he swabbed her earlobes, 2nd pair he uses a toothpick & paint to mark her ears (this takes a good 10 minutes as he's looking at her from all angles and marking & re-marking the fronts and backs to get them just right).. 2nd pair of gloves in the trash, 3rd pair.. he swabs her earlobes some more.. then opens a metal container that has been sterilized. 3rd pair in the trash.. he removes the 4th pair from within said sterilized container and wipes something new on her ears.. gloves go in the trash. 5th pair of gloves are now on and the piercing may now commence. He uses a 2 inch long needle and pushes it through one earlobe, then attaches the little hoop to the end and pulls it through, closing it by pinching a little ball between the two ends of the hoop... meantime Riley is uncharacteristically calm and quiet and doing deep breathing exercises. Next ear goes just as well as the first and she's done! We had a 5 minute after-care discussion of just what should and shouldn't be done in the next 6 weeks. (I don't remember those girls at the mall telling me any of this stuff... nor do I remember them requesting that I come back in a couple of weeks just so they could check on it)

So... long story short... Riley was completely happy with her ears and even claimed that it was worth the pain and it didn't hurt that bad. I was satisfied that not only would her earrings be directionally accurate and well centered... but there was little to no chance that she would be getting an infection from THAT piercing studio. Now... if we can only follow the multitude of rules for aftercare... One of the rules being not to wear tight clothing.... I'm thinking that one may be for a different kind of piercing altogether.