Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I may be a mom, but I am still a woman


I love being a mom and I mostly love being a wife. I am so happy that my husband is able to provide enough for our family so that I can stay home and take care of the kids and the house. Don't get me wrong, we have to make sacrifices for that luxury, for instance we don't pay for cable or satellite and we are a one car household for the moment as well. But that's fine, because I get to meet my kids at the bus stop in the afternoons and give them a snack while we talk about their day at school. I am here to help with homework and make sure my teenage son isn't getting into trouble on the internet. The problem is that it's so easy to slip into the mindset of practicality over appearance. Since I'm not going to a "job" in the corporate world or even to anyplace more fashionable than the grocery store I can get away with wearing my yoga pants and a lucky charms t shirt all day with my hair pulled into a ponytail. I think we all, as moms, think of that as one of the perks of our job or even think we don't have time, energy or money to do so. But I want to convince you to change that.
I have recently changed my mindset on that. My husband works hard every day and he deserves to come home to a pretty wife and I deserve to pamper myself a bit as well. I have made it my goal to put on makeup, fix my hair and wear a decent outfit most days of the week . He actually gets out of the house so I know he sees pretty women everywhere and I certainly don't want him to think the grass is greener on the other side. We women are so bad about presenting a beautiful package when we are trying to catch our husbands, but when he's caught we just toss it out of the window or maybe we just stopped caring about ourselves because we were so busy caring for others. Now my husband is not one to complain, but when I make the effort to look pretty for him he actually looks at me and then smiles when he walks in the door. It reminds him of the version of myself that he actually fell in love with. When I first started doing it he would ask me where I had gone that day, now he is used to it and if I haven't fixed myself up he kisses me and asks if I'm not feeling well. It really doesn't take that long to put on light makeup and fix your hair and you can pamper yourself fairly inexpensively with stuff you already have around the house. I have also invested in a couple of aprons so that I don't have to worry about getting my "nice" clothes messed up while cooking or cleaning. The best part is that it not only benefits my husband, but my kids notice and are proud to have me standing there at the bus stop for all of their friends to see and it makes me smile every time I look in the mirror. My confidence has improved immensely. The bottom line is that there are more benefits to taking a half hour out of your day to glam yourself up a little than there are to taking advantage of the fact that you don't HAVE to. So with that explanation I am going to do another fun hair tutorial today. 

First for the pampering part. Did you know you don't have to go to an expensive salon to have a great conditioning treatment? You can stay at home and get stuff done, all while giving your tresses some much needed tlc. Thanks once again to Jillee I have an awesome recipe for a deep conditioning treatment along with some funny pictures. 

You will need:

2 TBS coconut oil
1 TBS olive oil (I didn't have olive oil the first time i tried it so I used vegetable oil and it turned out fine.)
Plastic baggie (like the kind you put your produce in at the store) or saran wrap

Start out by mixing the coconut oil and olive oil and stir them to make a paste. The first time I did this I decided to melt the coconut oil in the microwave so I could pour it on. Big mistake, way messy!!! It will still be messy as a paste, but not as bad. So, coat your hair with the oil, use all of it and just work it through really good. The coconut oil is so good for your hair, it actually repairs it from the inside out. When you have covered your hair in oil pin it up and then put the bag on your head.  


Take a picture of yourself making gangsta signs so you don't lose your street cred



 and then blow it with your hair dryer for about 10 minutes. Duck face is optional.


 You will need to leave your hair like this for about 30 minutes. I just did some laundry and worked in the kitchen while I waited and prayed that nobody would come to the door. Then take the bag off, wash and condition as usual and blow it dry.

I was amazed at soft and light it was. I guess you can't really tell by the pictures, but here's a close up anyway.



Now to style it! I love having a big bump in my hair. I hope it never goes out of style! So you want to start by back combing the hair at the back of your head.





Then lightly brush over the top so that it looks smooth on top. Next, I usually use some bobby pins to push the bump up a bit and keep it from falling.

Pull the sides back and pin them criss crossed in the back to cover the bobby pins.


Pull your hair into a side ponytail. From this point you can proceed and add a sock bun or if you like your hair down, you can just leave it as a pony.



Here are some pics of the finished product. If you don't like the idea of the ponytail showing in the back, you can hide it with a cute flower clip or some other decoration. Now, go and glam yourself up a bit, if not for your husband, then do it for yourself. Go on, you deserve it!

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