More vanity

Not that anyone cares, but my hair is a mess. I've been trying to go "natural" and stop using shampoos. So, last spring I switched to baking soda/water as a cleanser, and vinegar and water as a rinse. Result: Straw. Clean straw. So I changed the rinse to water/honey. Result: Ants in the shower and all over the spray bottle of honey/water, and dry, but less frizzy hair. Next, switched to olive oil based bar soaps. Homemade ones, like you get at the farmer's market. That plus the giant bottle of cheap conditioner you get at Costco. So I've been using that for a while, but lately noticed on closer than normal inspection, that my hair is so dry and brittle, it's breaking all over the place. Forget "layering," it looks like someone sat me on a spinning chair, spun the chair, and just started clipping wherever the scissors landed. It's not pretty. So I'm back to normal shampoo/conditioner for dry, curly hair. I did some research and found some products that will help cure my dry hair problem, but to buy them, I'd have to opt not to eat for a week or so. But I did find a cheaper version of the same, and am on day 2 using it, and am very pleased. My hair is shiny again, and is much softer. Hoping this will protect the remaining chopped hairs till they grow longer. The next option is just to stop washing my hair for months on end, which I have heard leads to beautiful, shiny, luxurious hair...yeah. Whatever.

Inspired

I chiselled about an hour this morning to do some reading with the kids. Instead, I read blogs and made the kids read alone. That's just how it goes. After 30 minutes, Michael had dumped the toybox and was searching it for lost treasures, Emily (who's birthday it is today, was painting the girls' nails) and I was getting inspired and belly-laughing at the witty humor of several blogging Catholic moms. I'm no writer. I really wish I could inspire such laughter and commeraderie that these women do as they describe the mundane tasks and thoughts about life. Here's my current life: I have a teenager who thinks he's in love. He's mentally absent since he's texting "her" constantly, but when he does come around (from a physical whack to bring him back) he's all floaty and happy. Good for him. My pre-teen is still sweet and creative and pining away for the day when she will be wrapped up in a busy, event-filled life of a teenager. (hoping for a soft version of that). My little girls are still playing pretend and perfecting their hip-hop and ballet, and my 2 yr. old is finally potty-trained. He is a force to be reckoned with. All boy: superhero's, muscles, fighting invisible bad guys, showing off his muscles and flirting with all women/girls he meets. My husband is plugging along through a bad economy, trying to make the best of economic challenges, keeping us warm and fed, and working nightly to get our wood floor put down. In the meantime, we are living on the subfloor, and NOT utilizing MOST of the common area downstairs. Not that I'm complaining. (see above about being warm and fed) My 25th high school reunion is coming up and I'm WAY excited about taking the kids "home" to see where I grew up. I want them to swim in "my" beaches, and drive on my old roads. Hubby is not for going. I'm going to keep working on him so it's as painless as it can be. My hair is turning grey, but I'm determined to keep my muscle that I gained last summer, and not flab away to a soft, 40-something blob. Vanity. Haven't figured out how to reverse the wrinkles, so they're here to stay. Crap. So that's my every day. It's all good. Sometimes it's sucky, but then bedtime finally gets here and I shut down to recharge and do it all again the next day. And somewhere in the middle of it all, someone says something to make me laugh till I think I'm going to pee. Like my sister. Or my Sophie, who the other day, pointed out the car window and yelled, "SHAVED CAT!!" Where???? "Made ya look!"