defeat

I know when to admit it.

I admit it.

I am defeated.

It's the baking soda. And the vinegar. But mostly the baking soda.

The poo-free experiment is over. Thank you for playing. It was a long three weeks.

Some time last week the Man asked me if I was ready to throw in the proverbial towel. The dialogue went something like this:

Man: So are you ready to use shampoo again?
Me: No.
Man: It's ok to say something didn't work. It gives you credibility.
Me: I'm not giving up yet. I'm tweaking the recipe.
Man: Well I think it's pretty clear why people use shampoo. It's kind of easier...
Me: I'm tweaking the recipe. It's going to work.

Yeah. No. It's not.

I should say the poo-free experiment worked out ok for him. His hair is soft and really feels fantastic to me. My hair though? Not so much. The main issue is that because of the length of my hair (long-ish) and the fact that's it's already on the dry side (except the scalp which is oily) I can't seem to get it to stabilize. Either I put something like coconut oil on it and it's a greasy slick or I don't and it's dry as hay. Neither of which is very attractive.

This is not to say that I couldn't continue to tweak and fiddle and make it work. This is just to say, I'm not going to.

It was yesterday that I committed myself to de-committing myself.

It was 10:30 am. I had just showered. My hair looked bad. My scalp itched. I couldn't get a brush through my formerly lovely locks. We exchanged looks. It was understood. I mentioned to the Man that I had seen what I thought was a nice organic alternative (not containing sodium laureth sulfate, the key chemical offender in most shampoos/detergents) at Whole Foods. For $10 per 13 oz bottle (both shampoo and conditioner, which I clearly need). This is about three times what I was paying for Pantene and it's in a plastic bottle. So fail on those counts. Baking soda and vinegar, $.50 per week probably. But again, cost was not my primary motivator and lo and behold Walmart carries the SAME brand. Avalon organics. The Walmart price is a smidge less at $6.47 per bottle.


All I could think about all day was going to buy shampoo.

And taking a shower.

My hair looked bad last night and I said to the Man, "How's my hair look?" (It looked bad. I knew it.)

He said, "Not bad." I said, "Really, it's looks bad you can say so." He said, "Yeah it looks a little like straw." I said, "I can't wait to wash my hair."

I never wanted to wash my hair so badly in my life.

I had dreams about shampoo. (Not really. I only had a dream about having to be a clothing model and not fitting in the clothing and not remembering how to apply lipstick. It's got nothing to do with this post but I think you can sense I have some issues with clothing at present.)

This morning I did yoga for a bit. I would have done it longer if I didn't want to wash my hair so bad.

Then I washed my hair.

I wanted to luxuriate in the silky softness of conditioner and the sweet smell of lavender.

But the baby was screaming.

So I just hurried up and washed and conditioned and got out of the shower. Then I laid down with the baby to nurse her (and stop the screaming) and she fell right to sleep.

And I fell right to sleep. With wet hair. For like 20 minutes.

I woke up when I heard the Man coming up the stairs. "Crap I'm getting your pillow all wet. And now my hair is going to to look bad."

Now it's soft but looks awful anyway.

Defeat.

Better luck tomorrow I guess.

Green product review: Method dryer sheets

This may or may not be interesting to you. If it's not, I apologize. Come back tomorrow. I promise to be more interesting then.

Anyway... I thought that I'd start a weekly product review of some of the things I use that are more "green" in nature.

Note: This is not sponsored content. Method does not know who I am nor do they know I am using or reviewing this product. I simply like this enough to tell you about it :). My blog isn't wonderful enough for Method to even care. At all.

Moving on.

So what are we talking about?

Method dryer sheets.

Continue.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that I liked the Charlie's for laundry washing but that I missed the softness of fabric. Well I tried to get over it and, aside from hating the crunchy socks, I really did in fact, get over it. However, I was at Whole Foods last week and I was just walking around the store looking at all the wonder that is that place and I always like to check out the cleansers and whatnot and I saw these:

This package is very small (though the photo may not indicate). It is about the size of say a small box of tea bags. And I was intrigued. They had a few 'flavors', which you can see here. I picked the "baby" version which is rice milk and mallow. Just so you're aware, mallow is a plant. They also have unscented but I found this scent to be very light and pleasant. A little like sweet milk.

Impressions:

1. They are wet. Like a baby wipe. Only slimy They are actually even the size of a baby wipe. (I don't use baby wipes.) This I find strange but ok.

2. They are good for two uses. Wow. Ok . That's awesome. And they really are.

3. Five-ish bucks for essentially 80 loads. Not too shabby. As long as your kids don't switch the laundry and lose it (I'm not naming names but it was my middle son). Also I bought them at While Foods but Target sells them and frankly it's probably generally cheaper to buy there but they were on sale at WF's so nothing lost.

4. The clothes are not static-y.

5. Also they smell good. Like really good. But not perfume-y or overbearing. Nice.

6. No animal testing (a must, but worth mentioning). Necessary.

7. The ingredients are natural:

See:

All in all I feel pretty good about using the product as far as it's environmental impact is concerned (except what do I do with the wipe-y thing when I'm done. I mean I'm not even using paper towels.) Also I feel fine putting this on my peeps skin because it's not chemical-y.

And my socks aren't crunchy anymore.

Amen.

on sisterhood

Sisters.

I have one.

This post isn't about her.

She's brilliant, gorgeous, athletic, funny. I waited 14 years for her. She gets her own post. This isn't it. This post is about a different kind of sisterhood.

Before I go into it let me tell you this, I was one of *those* girls in high school. To all the girls I went to high school (or junior high school) with, I apologize. I wasn't the boyfriend stealer. I wasn't a snob. I wasn't a bitch (Actually, I probably was a bitch. Feel free to tell me if that was the case. I'm doubly sorry for that.) I just didn't have girlfriends. I started out having girlfriends but as girls sometimes do we betrayed each other. We acted snarky. Talked badly of one another. Lost touch. And ultimately stopped talking at all.

So I eventually just hung out with the guys. All guys (Jordan, I'm talking to you if you're reading). And I had fun. Guys aren't catty or bitchy. They don't care what you're wearing to the prom. You can make them a pie and they are just happy you made them a pie. They don't try to make a pie better than you or curse you out for trying to outdo their pie. I went on 'dates' with guys. To concerts with guys. To pizza with guys. I studied with guys. Rode around (and got stuck) in a 4 WD pick up with guys. Listened to Metallica (and some George Strait and Joni Mitchell, we were a varied group) with guys. Watched Monty Python with guys. I think you get what I'm saying. I hung out with guys. The memories are good. Very good.

But I missed girls.

Here's the thing about girls: We are in constant competition with each other. Who has the smarter kid. Who is skinnier, prettier, smarter, funnier. Who has the better (or worse) husband. Who has the bigger or nicer house or car. Who. Is. Better.

I don't get it.

And here's what I know, when you meet a girl that you don't have to feel like you're in competition with, hang on to her.

Recently someone I only barely knew in junior high commented on my blog post about secrets. It said this:

Joni, I'm a lurker on your blog and, well, just read this: http://stefdwe.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-blogging-inspiration-aka-im-so.html.

So I went there. Cause what am I, some kind of jerk? And what did I find? A blog post about me. Yep me.

Little ol' insignificant imperfect me.

I hope you read it because it drives what I am about to say home.

When I read it I was awed. Just awed. Here is this sister, beautiful, intelligent with a beautiful family and an enviable life and she is talking about how I make her feel inadequate. How she actually AVOIDED reading my blog because of this feeling. (Read her blog by the way, it's really good.)

Which is, you see, why I had to write this.

Because when I look at the Pioneer Woman I feel inadequate. She is a blogger extraordinaire. She cooks. She's witty. She homeschools. She leads an interesting life. She wrote a BOOK for godsake.

But she's my sister too.

And here's the truth: I'm not inadequate. And neither is Stefanie. And neither is anyone else reading this or any other blog.

We have the same struggles. We share the same hopes and fears. We want the same things for our families, our children.

We are sisters.

And we should act that way. We shouldn't have to blog about it because it should just be.

We should help each other through nursing school.

These sisters were there when I thought I couldn't write one more care plan.

They should stand by each other through whatever.

These sisters? I've know them since I was a punky little kid. My wedding wouldn't have been like it was without them (like I wouldn't have had flowers because I couldn't cut 575 stems alone, 8 and a half months pregnant.)

They should fix your hair when you get married.

Like this sister.

And they should be there when you have your babies.

This sister rubbed my back for at least 6 hours. The one up there ^. She took all the pictures.

These are a few of my sisters.

And I treasure them.

Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister. ~Alice Walker

Ella Bella

Ok it's not Ella's turn for a blog post featuring her but I. Am. Dying. Here.

Last week my friend Staci and I got together (as we do on Tuesdays because it's the only day she's not in nursing school and I'm not running kids all over creation) and we took some pictures of Ella. She is 4 months and 1 week old which is in no way a milestone but you know I have four kids so whatever. Don't you judge me for not even having a baby book.

Please.

Anyway can I just say. Oh. My. God. Staci is great with the camera but how could you go wrong with this subject matter.

Without further adieu, I present to you, my readers, the. Cutest. Baby. Ever.

I swear to god she's made of butter. And sugar.

Yup. She's in a basket.

And just as this was being taken she actually rolled over for the first time. I'm sure she could have rolled over before but frankly she's never on the floor long enough.

I took this while Staci made goofy sounds.

Don't be fooled, she can't sit up. Also she peed on my bed.

Super baby.

This flower is bigger than her head. Ella, I apologize. It's too cute.

Biological clocks engage.

If you thought you were done having children, I apologize. This baby might make you want another one.