A Post About My Hair

Most mornings when I get up, I don't even look at my hair in the mirror. I already know it's a mess, it probably resembles something like a nest to a large rodent of some kind, and it has enough tangles to tie a boat to a dock and keep it there through a hurricane.

But over the past few weeks, there have been a few occasions in which I accidentally catch a glimpse of my hair before I rush to a brush to "fix" it. And I'm starting to notice that... it doesn't need fixing.

Let me use today as an example, and I'll backtrack through time like Quentin Tarantino and show you how I realized what I did this morning.

Okay so I get up this morning to the sound of a large truck out front. Realizing someone was here, I rush into a pair of jeans and into the bathroom to grab my brush. I glance into the mirror first, and I notice that besides some light frizzing, my hair didn't seem to be messed up at all... it actually seemed to be curly. Mike was dressed at this point and went outside to greet our visitor, which gave me the time to actually examine my hair and what it was doing. It was indeed curly. Not like, a bunch of small, tightly-wrapped curls; not large, perfect Shirley-Temple curls; just light, relaxed, loosely flowing, natural curls that started a few inches from my head and got more defined as they went down. This was so intriguing, that my hair was actually curling on its own, that I decided instead of brushing it out, to simply run my fingers through it, gently breaking up tangles and calming frizz with my leave-in conditioner. The curls were less defined for a few minutes, but just moving throughout the house, getting a drink, and checking again showed that they had already reformed.

I started to think back to all those times over the past weeks that I had noticed my hair in the mirror, and I realized that it wasn't just a mess. It was starting to curl. The natural waves that my hair has always had, the annoying ones that bend and curve in odd directions, they were forming into curls. Over the past few weeks, or perhaps over the past YEARS, my hair has been trying to curl. And so far, it seems it's slowly succeeding!

So I thought back yet again. How long has it been doing this? And why now, out of nowhere, is my hair curling? What inspired this change?

Was it having the kids? Did pregnancy do this? ...no, because my hair was still mostly straight with waves after having David, as it has been ever since high school.

Ah, high school. Reminds me of when I first started dying my hair. My favorite color to dye it was that "Cherry Coke" color; it's actually a deep burgundy, but it always reminded me of Cherry Coke.

THAT'S IT!

That's when it hit me. I've been dying my hair since high school, but I stopped dying it after I had David. The last time I dyed my hair, I was 7 months pregnant with David, and I told myself I was done with it after that. Not only did I want to see what my natural hair color was (and your natural hair color is not just the color your roots come in between dye jobs; you have to let it grow out a bit to get a real idea of your natural color) but I also didn't want to have to worry about dying my hair anymore when I had a newborn to take care of.

For the first year after I stopped dying my hair, it was still weighed down with the dye, though. It took a while for it to grow back out, and it took two trips to the salon to get all the dyed parts cut off so that my hair was still at least shoulder-length. Which of course means it took a year, until I was pregnant with Levi, before my hair was completely, 100% natural.

 Now, once I had my natural hair back, it still had some repairing to do. It was so used to being dyed that I assume it was much weaker than it could be. I changed hair products every few months, trying to find one that actually seemed to give me some improvement. And each change I made did make my hair better... for about a week or two, then it went right back to being "blah" and broken. Split ends, frizz, easily broken... I was going crazy. I finally stopped with TRESsemmé Split Remedy, and so far it seems to be doing much better. I've noticed a HUGE decrease in breakage, so let's hope it keeps working!

Anyways, I guess I should have noticed that my hair always seems to be the same length, even after it should have been at least an inch longer... probably because it curled up that last inch!

I wonder if it will continue to curl? Especially as the right hair care products really kick in and make it even more healthy? Hm. Can't say I'd really complain. Even after brushing out the curls, it's still a much prettier curve than the "waves" it had when it was dyed.

I know this was just a really long post that could be summed up with "My hair is starting to curl! How exciting!" But I felt like telling a story today. =)

Little Life Update

It's been a while since I blogged, and I thought to myself this morning, "Who cares?" Well, I care.

There were a few different things I considered blogging about over the past week or two, but I just didn't have enough of anything to give you a good blog post. Well, it's the little things that count, and they sure do add up! Now I have more than enough to tell you, that will be more than "Hi blog, that's all. See ya."

Well first of all, I should mention the garden. The day after I planted it, we had a huge storm that washed away pretty much everything. All that grew was corn, sunflowers, some cantaloupe, and a squash plant. So, last week my father-in-law came over and tilled the entire thing up, made nice pretty rows, and the ground was nice and soft again. I replanted everything, and over the past few days, Mike has set me up a new sprinkler system. It's four sprinklers that mount on the top of T-posts, and they are aimed so that each one waters a quarter of the garden. They are up higher, so when (if) plants grow, it will still be able to reach everything. We're just waiting now to see if they actually grow this time. If nature tells me yet again that I am not meant to have a garden this year, then I will finally listen. This is my last attempt... let's hope something grows! On the bright side though, the corn and sunflowers are doing very well. If sprouts start coming up in the next week, then I can start posting Garden Updates like I did last year.

Next, we move onto the kitchen. We have been under construction for a while now, and things seem to be at a stand-still. Which of course is my own fault, since right now the next step is sanding and applying texture (both of which are my job). We did recently install a brand new dishwasher, the first that I have ever owned! I'm so excited about it, too. Dishes are finally ALL done, and have been staying done. It's as easy as unloading it in the morning, loading it throughout the day and turning it on before bed. Now we just need a new dryer... I know, that has nothing to do with the kitchen. But it does slow me down as far as household chores go. It broke a while back, and with hopes of it being fixed quickly, laundry began piling up. It finally did get fixed, and it worked perfectly... for one day, and three loads. When it broke a second time, I gave up. I had no hope of it working again, and I could not wait so long to do laundry again. So as soon as the weather cleared up outside (about a week later) I began washing loads of laundry and hanging them out on the line outside. I have to hang them either outside the yard, or high enough so the dog can't reach them, because all she sees is chew toys. At least it's getting done, I suppose.

Then we have my doctor appointments. We started setting them up regularly, every two weeks. Yesterday's appointment I finally let down a few walls and started actually discussing real problems and issues, rather than just being vague and skipping around. I'm not going to go into detail, but I will say that I have a homework assignment before my next appointment: set up a date with my husband! Just me and him, alone, no kids, no friends--just the two of us spending time together, talking, hanging out, maybe taking our time and really enjoying a meal together, or cuddling up to a movie. Just being "us" again, and remembering why we got married in the first place... who we are as a couple has nothing to do with the kids; we were "us" before we were "all of us" if you get what I mean. My doctor did also bring up the "M" word yesterday... medication. It was just a passing comment, at the end of a session; nothing much was said about it and I didn't have much of a response to it either way. I'm sure it will be brought up again in future sessions, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I know I don't want to be medicated and relying on a pill to tell me how to feel, but I also don't want to rule out an option that has been proven to work and that could help me. I just don't know... all I know is, I want to get better and get away from the emotions I am having all too often. But I can already feel myself being lazy about things... I want to get better, but I don't want to put forth any effort or work to do so. Such a vicious cycle.

Well, other than that, life goes on. I feel a bit overwhelmed sometimes, knowing that I have to take care of the kids, the animals, the garden, the pool, the house, the cooking, the cleaning... but I guess this is the job I signed up for. I feel like I get my break in the evenings, when I settle down for some World of Warcraft. As it is, I'm looking forward to playing tonight, because it's Wednesday--every Wednesday a few guildies and I get together and run Firelands. All this time and we still haven't killed Ragnaros yet... but we got him less than 50% last week, so I know we can totally do this. It seems like Dragon Soul is easier, which is crazy since it's newer. But as long as I'm running with friends and guildies, I'm happy.

And now, back to the real world for a few more hours. Back to laundry, dishes, sweeping, mopping, dusting, picking up toys, and keeping children entertained until their daddy comes home... and probably well beyond that as well.

PS: Thank you to whoever invented the slow cooker; your invention allows me to cook dinner perfectly on days when I'm too busy otherwise to do so. ♥