15 (OK, Maybe 20) Minutes of My Life I'll Never Get Back

...a/k/a, "The Day Alyssa Completely Lost Her Mind".  What can I say other than...you now have proof that sometimes a curious mind is a bad thing.

So let me back up a little...SweetPea loves My Little Pony.  More importantly...secretly...so have I for a very long time.  Maybe it's because I wanted a real horse and never got one (cue the sad music...sniff, sniff).  Maybe it's because they were launched in 1983, when I was 12 and going through a phase where I was trying to prove to the world I wasn't a little girl anymore...which meant I wouldn't have been caught dead with one, even if I really...really wanted one.  Whatever the reason, I've pent up years worth of wanting a chance to play with My Little Pony...and opportunity knocked when SweetPea came along.  She didn't always love the Ponies.  I brought home her very first one when she was just short of two years old.  We were getting ready to move to Houston...The Man had moved down ahead of us and we were staying with my mom...SweetPea was falling in love with horses (she had a plastic stallion figurine she picked out at Target) and I thought "ooh...here's my chance to bring home My Little Pony!"  SweetPea loved her Pony...for about a day, then found her no more interesting than her stallion.  I admit...I was a little bummed at her lack of enthusiasm.  After all, how was I going to justify bringing home more ponies for me her to play with if she wasn't interested?  Then...about six months later, it happened.  Rainbow Dash (the Pony I bought her) suddenly became worthy to play with...and take on car rides...and to sleep with.  I had it...my in.  Fate must have known what it was doing...next thing I know, McDonalds is putting My Little Pony in Happy Meals...people are giving her more Ponies for Christmas (I have no idea who might have hinted that I she would want more of them)...we had Pony DVD's...yep...we were on a roll.  Next thing I know, she's asking for them by name..."Mommy, Scootaloo needs more pony friends.  She'd like her sister Cherilee...can Santa bring Cherilee?"  I created a Pony fan.

OK...so what does any of this have to do with the picture? Weeeeellllll...for Christmas one of my friends got SweetPea a DVD of the live My Little Pony stage show...and knowing she has a birthday coming up, she started to ask for Ponies from the DVDs...Ponies that are no longer sold in stores.  So what did I do?  I started trolling eBay for older, previously owned "G3" (seriously, don't even ask) Ponies.  As you might imagine, My Little Pony collecting is a serious business...and I was lucky to find the Pony she really wanted in an eBay store.  While I was looking at them, I marveled at how "like new" a lot of the pony manes were...then learned (this is why me + Google = scary) there was a whole method for reconditioning Pony hair.  Being the sickly curious mind I am...I had to give it a try....hence...the picture.  Seems you take one frizzy Pony...rub in a little conditioner through the hair (like how I found use for one of those "free in your hotel room" conditioners?)...run the hair under very hot tap water...pat dry...then...brace yourself...take a straightening iron to it.  Oh yes...yes I did.  Imagine me...standing in my bathroom flat ironing Scootaloo's hair (very low heat setting, thank you).  20 minutes later...well, you can see.

When I was all done, I proudly walked out and showed SweetPea the fruits of my effort.  I tell her "Look...I made Scootaloo's hair all pretty!" to which she replied..."Mommy...what did you do...Scootaloo's hair is so...big."  Whoa, whoa, whoa...I totally did not give Scootaloo 80's "mall hair".  "You don't like it?" I ask (crushed).  "I DO like it Mommy...thank you!"  WHEW.

So...there you have it...20 minutes of my life I'll never see again!