Who Says Boys Can't Wear Nail Polish?

Today, I'm wearing The Dress very simply. It's just The Dress with a fuchsia knit scarf and brown flats. That's it. The Dress is so easy and classy as it is, that I wanted to show off just how sweet it is on its own. It's got a ruched waist on one side, and scoop neck in the front and back. I just love it. I also love that it shows off my tattoo in the back.

I went to Zumba this morning, so I only put this on an hour ago after my shower. Hence the wet hair. It being October, and Halloween time and everything, I wore a "costume" to the gym - my Harry Potter Gryffindor t-shirt with cape. Let me just tell you - wearing a cape to Zumba is awesome. When I got right in front of the fans, my cape flew and flapped behind me like a real superhero. I'm doing this more often... maybe even after Halloween is over!

But now, I'm all dressed up and have nowhere to go. I hope Jaguar appreciates my putting on make-up for just him. Although Lolly does have soccer tonight - if it's not cancelled from the rain - so I guess that's *somewhere* to go. Regardless, this month may very well be all about dressing for ME and not for anyone else, because I'm basically never going to be seen. But I do feel nicer about myself being dressed and clean and made-up, even if it's just for my own reflection in the mirror. And for Scott when he gets home, too, I suppose. He's the only other person besides Jaguar and the girls who see me regularly outside the gym, and I *suppose* looking good for him is a nice concept (though I'll be damned if I ever admit to wearing make-up just to please a man!)


Okay so speaking of Jaguar...

We painted our toenails together yesterday!


And now cue the horrified gasps. I painted a BOY's toenails!!

While I was up at the kitchen table filing and painting my nails, Jaguar crawled up in the seat next to me and stuck his feet at me. "Me!" he demanded. I was using clear base coat at that point, so I painted one toe clear. He jumped down and went to play some more. I then pulled out some colors for myself. He ran back to the table, crawled back up into the chair and stuck his feet at me. "Me!" he cried. So, of course, I acquiesced. Who could say no to that wee face?

And besides, who says nail polish is only for girls?

Well, as it turns out, a lot of people say that... Luckily I'm pretty sure no one in my little world would, not if they actually thought about it. But a lot of people would be horrified. Especially if he were an older boy.

Well, I'm just going to call BS on that. Why is painting nails, or wearing pink, or liking princesses, always considered girl-only territory? For about five months, Jaguar was obsessed with Frozen. It's the only thing he wanted to watch on TV - "Mo! Dee dee mo!" (Translation: "Snow! Deep deep snow!" from the line "Arendelle's in deep, deep, deep, deep snoooooow...") I bought him a Frozen poster for his bedroom. I even bought him a Frozen t-shirt from the girls' section in Walmart, since they don't make Frozen tees for boys. What's the big deal?

Lolly has just outgrown a blue and gray striped t-shirt with a huge pink sparkly dinosaur with a mustache printed on the front. Jaguar loves dinosaurs, so it's now a part of his wardrobe. Who cares if its pink and sparkly? It's a dinosaur, and if Jaguar could choose to be anything other than human, he'd be a dinosaur.

And if my boy sees his mummy painting her nails and wants his painted too, why would I say no? Would Scott say no to Fifi or Lolly if they wanted to help him build something with hammer and nails? Would I say no if I was doing a "gender neutral" accessorizing task, like trying on hats? Of course not. He wanted to have fun, and nail polish isn't just for girls.

Lolly in her Superman cape.

I've seen high school boys with painted nails. I've seen male celebrities with painted nails (Johnny Depp rocks the blue and black nail polish). I've seen perfectly-secure-with-their-sexuality dads kicking about with pink toes they did with their daughters. Boys wearing nail polish is just as acceptable as girls wearing superhero capes.

(And no, it won't "make him gay". If he's gay, he's already gonna be gay. If he's not, he won't.)

I can already see gender stereotypes drifting away. I can foresee a future where my kids, no matter what they do or wear will be accepted as acceptable. I see more and more people being cool with girls who like "boy" things and boys who like "girl" things. As long as we parents foster an acceptance - and make it very plain to our kids that there's no such thing as "boy or girl" things - our kids will grow up much kinder and much more accepting of everyone else. It's natural already to kids to accept others as they are; anything goes with them. As long as we adults don't perpetuate and enforce the stereotypes on them, our kids will grow up a lot less likely to bully each other for their individuality.

50 Shades of Féria®

I'm kinda known for my changing hair colors. I started dying my hair when I was sixteen. I was in West Side Story in high school, and I didn't have much of a part, I was Riff's girlfriend Velma. But I used it as a chance to convince my mom to let me dye my hair red. Well, strawberry-blonde. My hair was darkish blonde back then. That was pretty much the last time I saw my natural color (besides a stint where I dyed my hair back to its natural color, according to the roots, but it didn't last long).

My hair has been red, burgundy, purple, black, black and blue, black and fuchsia, blonde, ash blonde, platinum blonde, platinum blonde and pink, brown, dark brown, orange... I think that about covers it. Last year, I managed to stick with shades of blonde for a whole year, by far the longest I'd stuck with one color family. This year, I've been various shades of red all year, except a two weeker when I tried to go purple and it went nearly black. I bleached it back out and went back to red almost immediately.

I'm done with red now, and after much consideration and very little listening to other opinions (including but not limited to Scott's), I've decided to go back to blonde, this time with the intention of trying to get back to roughly the color of my roots. At this point, my natural color is probably a light brown, dark blonde with saddening spurts of gray. I'm thinking blonde or dark blonde with highlights, something along those lines. For how long? Who knows. But for now, that's the idea.

So tonight I bleached my red hair blonde. Only, it didn't come out blonde. It came out an odd sort of orangey-pink. Interesting.


I've been doing this a long time; I'm no fool. I knew it was likely to go orange. I knew I'd likely need to give it another bleach in a day or so. (Hairdresser friends, you may cringe now.) That's how I got it so blonde last year.

Unfortunately, I'll have to look like an off-duty clown until then.

The fact that I dye my hair is kind of completely against everything else I believe in. I'm totally against all the chemicals in our everyday beauty products. If I could afford it I'd wear only natural make-up and salt deodorant, all natural shampoos and conditioners, fluoride- and SLS-free toothpaste, and I'd eat only free-range, non-GMO, organic, non-processed foods. (Okay, the non-processed part maybe isn't entirely true. There are too many delicious junk foods out there that I'd have a hard time giving up. I'd want to give them up though. That counts?) I use reusable silicone feminine hygiene products, I don't take artificial birth control, I rarely use pharmaceuticals... But... I dye my hair. All the time. The chemicals I massage into my scalp are horrifying.

Maybe my thinking is, if I avoid chemicals and toxins in everything else, I can get away with the toxins I'm polluting myself with in hair dye.

With that said, I am looking forward to being a blonde again. :) Welcome 2014!

A Brief History of Hair:



Raver days. Sometimes those pink streaks were blue.



Looking at this one, I wish I'd decided to go black again now...



Maybe I should grow it back out?



The closest I can reckon my natural color is. Ooh, maybe I'll just go back to this.



This is what I'm going for now.



At the start of 2013. The shade was called Mango.



A couple of weeks ago. Ooh, I really like that shade of red.

This topic of 'hair dye' brought to you by a long overdue November request from Joy. There is still a long list I'm working my way through because I promised I'd write about each one.

My Diet May Contain 10% Ethanol

I had to go for a health assessment at Scott's work for our family health insurance. (Never had to do that in Scotland!) I was certain I'd meet all the criteria for a healthy person -- and I did -- but only just.

As it turns out, I have high cholesterol.

What? I thought high cholesterol was for older people with poor hearts and awful diets. Perhaps I'm older than I realize, and perhaps my diet is worse than I'd like to admit.

I guess if I'm honest with myself, my diet really *has* been awful since I moved here. Not really because of all the awesome fast food, because I very, very rarely eat out (once, maybe twice a month tops), but more because I've been depression-eating.

We all know what that is. We feel down, and there's nothing to do, so you open your pantry, but everything needs to be made and you can't be bothered so you eat half a bag of potato chips instead. And an hour later, you're bored, depressed, and peckish again, so you open the cupbard, but everything needs to be made and you can't be bothered so you pull down a handful of old Halloween candy. Rinse and repeat ad literally nauseum.

That's kind of how I've been eating for the past several months. A bowl of sugary cereal for breakfast only holds me for about an hour, then I snack on crackers, crisps, and pickled okra until lunch. I don't feel like making anything up, so I have a cheese quesodilla or three. Then I have a couple cups of tea, with a chocolate each time, until dinner, when I make a fairly reasonable family meal. But then the kids go to bed, and I'm feeling crap (I wonder why?) so I make a cup of hot chocolate to cheer myself up while I lie on the couch and watch Netflix until bedtime.

And then I'm surprised to find out I have high cholesterol.

Luckily my 'ratio' -- whatever that means -- is still good. I apparently have a good level of the good kind of cholesterol, because Scott and paleo have convinced me that animal fats, meats, cheeses* and eggs are healthy, but clearly the bad kind is pretty extreme too. This worries me.

It's worried me enough that I decided on Monday after that to get serious about my diet. I've gained a little weight - maybe between 5-10 lbs - since moving here, which I'm unhappy about, but I'm more unhappy when I reflect on how my poor eating habits of late are affecting my health. It's also highlighted for me my mental state lately too. I'm not saying I'm 'depressed' clinically or anything. I suppose in all truth I'm lonely, I'm bored, I'm cooped up in a town I don't love, and these things are affecting me emotionally and psychologically. I wear my jammies half the day. If I do get dressed, it's jeans and a t-shirt, no make-up, and a pair of glasses instead of contacts. This is so not me. I see the difference when I have a Pampered Chef party to go to, when I put on a cute outfit, fix my hair, apply my make-up and put in my contacts. I see myself in the mirror again, and I recognize the person at the party who is taking the lead, talking too much, and basking in work that she loves loves loves. THAT's me, not this slightly over-weight, frumpy, grumpy, tired, unhealthy person I'm becoming during the day.

I need to get serious about my health. The cold weather has meant I walk to school less, so I need to find another way to exercise. I'm forgoing cereal in the morning now for eggs and bacon. I'm trying to eliminate sugary/unhealthy snacking. (Though all these lovely goodies from Scotland are very tempting! All in moderation, right?) I'm trying to stick to my weekly meal plan. But mostly, I need to get in charge of my attitude. I think once I start eating better I'll start feeling more energetic and optimistic, but I also need to make an effort to be less depressed and reclusive.

Somehow the diet seems easier. And I understand more fully now how it must feel to be truly depressed. Nothing seems like more work (and possibly more useless) than trying to get out of this mental and emotional low. It's easier just to watch Netflix.

But I'll start with the food.


*Paleo doesn't officially stamp its approval on cheeses.

**The topic of 'diet' requested by Stephanie. The previous post dealt with 'loss' as requested by Alex. Your topics, people, have been a great reflection of my real life.

Top 3 Favourite YouTube Videos

For the Ultimate Blog Challenge today, there was a list of 50 suggested blog titles to work from. Most were much more creative (like What My Popcorn Maker Taught Me About Demand in Business), but it's early, it's Sunday, and I'm tired.

So after a lot of thought, here's what I've decided are my top 3 favourite YouTube videos. They are all very different: an amateur music video, a hilarious meme poking fun at us 'natural mamas' and an unbelievably cool costume make-up tutorial. Enjoy any or all of them!

Saskia Hamilton


Sh*t Crunchy Mamas Say


Pop Art/ Comic Book Make-Up Tutorial


*****

Ooh and just as a bonus, I forgot about this one. Just recently saw it, but it is WORTH WATCHING.

Pilobolus' Shadowland