Monday, March 31, 2014

Happy Birthday Dress

My girls picked out some fabric the last time we were at the fabric store and I decided it would be good to have them done by their birthdays.  Which of course meant that two weeks before little l's birthday I was in a rush to finish the dress!

I decided to make the Los Feliz dress from this book.


One down one more to go!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Hair Detangler

My children have and had long hair.  The oldest has hair to the middle of her back.  The youngest had a haircut because she won't let me comb it and it is now about chin-length.  However, they both have very fine hair, which equals a LOT of tangles no matter the length. 

I don't really like the natural pre-prepared detanglers you can buy.  They don't work as well as I would like.  So I happened across a facebook post and thought I would try it. 

DIY Hair Detangling Spray.  It was awesome and easy, but I will say the Marshmallow root makes it a bit messy.  I don't know if I didn't strain it enough or what, but we use it with a towel under her hair and on my legs so we don't get messy.  I used the conditioner pictured the first time, and then switched to California Baby Super Sensitive for the second batch.  The second batch was even better.  I did use a little extra conditioner in the second batch because we have MAJOR tangles most days and I still can't get little l to let me comb her hair everyday, but I guess it will come eventually. 

Nice untangled hair

Simple ingredients

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Body Image

My weight loss struggle is still ongoing.  At this point, while I stress over the 15 pounds I have gained, I mostly stress about my inability to see myself as I truly am.  I know I am not thin, but I also know that I am still within the healthy weight limits for my height.  I know that I look okay, because I see pictures of myself.  What amazes me is that when I look in the mirror I do not see what is in the picture.

Where is the disconnect?  Why is this important?  Not only do I want to work through this for my own self-esteem, I also want to figure this out so that my children do not have this same disconnect.  I am sure that part of this is based on the false images we are inundated with by the media.  How do you combat that?  Apart from simply avoiding all images, which is impossible unless you have everything delivered to your home, never leave, and don't watch movies, tv, etc; you can't avoid it.

Attempting to change the media or support organizations that do is one way to feel empowered regarding the crazy way the media treats beauty both for men and women.  It also feels as though we are having changes that are slow to happen.  It still however, does not change how I see myself, and how I am critical of my own body.

I don't really know how to fix this, but I truly hope that my daughters find value in themselves outside of their looks, because there is so much more to them and my oldest is edging closer to the edge when as a girl her self-esteem is likely to dip.  In the meantime, for myself I guess I won't look in the mirror I will just look at pictures of myself (of course those are few and far between).