Putting My Money Where My Red-Painted Mouth Is!

I said I was going to do it, and I have! All last week (with the exception of the day I received news a friend of ours passed) I have put in an effort to wear makeup, do something with my hair and wear decent clothes. I refuse to go into public with ripped clothing, my behind hanging out, or ratty tennis shoes.

This all paid off last night! I decided to go ahead and reveal my look to my husband's band members. I slicked the red lipstick across my lips, and applied eye makeup in the traditional fifties manner. I even curled my hair. I received more compliments last night than I have my entire life...I'm not kidding! Some said I was "glowing", another said I "looked classy", and another said I looked "elegant". Really, they had always seen me where makeup to their gigs, but I put some effort into my appearance.

Today, I volunteered to help my sister with some promo shots for her Valentine's Day pin up specials. Here's me in my interpretation of Rosie the Riveter. (ps. This may or may not be the only pic of my face ever put on this blog).

So, I started writing this days ago, and am now finally finishing the post. For an update, I was out and about several times this week. When I was home I still wore makeup and a decent shirt, but wore jeans when I was home. Yesterday, I left the house with my hair in a forties style complete with victory rolls. I went shopping with my mom, searching for a pencil skirt, and instead came home with a new coat. All the skirts were just too short for the style I'm going for, so I guess I'll be hitting some vintage shops next week.

Have a great day, everyone!

Finally getting into a routine!

Today is Monday, and I'm finally getting into a good routine now that the kids are back in school. Thursday and Friday I made sure to put on makeup, styled my hair, and wore decent clothes. I refuse to wear junkie clothes into public ever again. A shopping trip yesterday confirmed my feeling of that. Everyone seemed to be wearing sweats, pajamas, or really low cut and saggy pants. It was almost as if they had given up. I, on the other hand, felt like I was walking a little taller. I didn't have anything more than mascara and lipstick, and my hair was twisted into a bun, but I looked pulled together. I had planned on posting pics of my look this weekend but I just acquired a new phone and haven't had all of my pics transferred over yet.

On to another part of my new routine. I've always made my bed when the family left in the morning (husband is still stirring in bed when I climb out), but I've added more to my ritual. Every morning, once I've made my bed, applied my makeup, and done my hair I collect the laundry throughout the house and get a load going. This has kept me from being swamped by the ever breeding dirty clothes. I also make sure to do all the dinner dishes and shine my sink per the Flying Lady's method before I go to bed. When I wake up there is no mess to get in my way while I make my morning coffee. If I didn't fix husband's lunch while making dinner I make it while the kids are getting ready for school. I'm getting ready to add to my routine, and I'm really feeling confidant and motivated!

On a side note, I went shopping today. I bought a couple of vintage items to add to my collection and can't wait to wear them! There's only a couple of dresses, a handbag, some scarves, etc, but they make me feel like such a lady.

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great day!!!

Almost There!

The kids go back to school tomorrow and I'm ready to start my old and new routines! Originally, I would get up at 6am, wrap my robe around my cold body, then go about waking the kids up and making coffee. I would stay in my robe and/or pajamas for half the day, usually only getting dressed before I had to run errands, or just before the family got home. After the kids were gone I would make myself some oatmeal for breakfast (I have fructose malapsorption and lactose intolerance, so I'm limited on what I can eat), and wash dishes while the water was boiling. Eventually, my bed would get made and some cleaning would get done in between writing and/or researching.

No more. No more will I hang out looking like Mrs. Frumpalot for the whole day. That does absolutely nothing for my self worth, nor my self-esteem. Starting tomorrow, I will brush my hair and teeth before waking up the kids, and will "get dressed to laces" including my hair and makeup.

Along with my physical appearance, I've been compiling my daily routine list and forming a control journal to keep myself on track. Have I mentioned how much I love the Flylady website? FLY stands for "finally loving yourself". In her way of thinking taking care of yourself and your home is something we all deserve, not something to strive for perfection. We are right where we're supposed to be. I love that way of thinking. Instead of giving up before I even start because of feeling overwhelmed I can jump right in where I am at the moment. Yay for not feeling like I don't measure up to someone else's expectations!

Time to Make the List!!!

Going with my new theme of getting things done, and sticking to it, I've decided to make a list of major to-do's around the home. These are not major remodels, or even major repairs, but little projects I've neglected or put off out of sheer laziness. Of course, at the time I didn't call it laziness; I always had an excuse for something getting put off - laundry needs to be folded (even if I never got to it), my book needs to be finished (instead I'd play on the Internet)...you get the point.

So, without further adieu, here's the list. (pics of before and after to come later):

1. Living room needs to be painted. Already painted two walls, but it would be nice to finally finish.
2. Started "antiquing" my dining room chairs. Now, I have six chairs with four different colors.
3. Ceiling tiles in the basement really need to be rehung, and some more need to be bought for the rest of the spaces.
4. Chimney REALLY needs to be cleaned before I start a fire!
5. Tupperware and kitchen appliance cabinet needs to be organized.
6. Plastic needs to be hung over the rest of the windows.
7. Bathroom closet needs to be cleaned and organized.
8. Curtain in hall bath need to be hung.
9. New toilet seat for hall bath.
10. I have three patterns and fabric of dresses and aprons I bought and never finished.
11. Do you realize how much outdated makeup I have?
12. Garage needs to be cleaned. I had intended to have a garage sale over the summer and it flopped. I still have BAGS of clothing to take to the Goodwill. Plus, my poor husband can never find any of his tools due to my bad habit of just tossing the tools on the closest shelf.
13. Front porch needs to be cleaned off. (This is actually on this week's Flylady schedule.)
14. My coupon stash is out of control and desperately needs to be filed properly!

That's all I can think of at the moment. It's hard to think clearly when kids are constantly talking to you! I'm sure you can all sympathize.

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I have a game plan!!!

Okay, so this is the second post of the day. I've done so much since my last post, and still have so much to do to get my home where I want it. I've heard of people doing just fifteen minutes a day to keep their homes up, but they don't live with my kids. They have dirtied the same room three times now, so I've put them to work.

I came across a website some time ago and revisited it today. It's called flylady.net. The way these women do it is by forming routines, or habits. They're big on "not being behind, but starting right where you are". Their program splits up the home into zones, and you work on these zones throughout the week, while doing your usual upkeep of the home. In other words, your home gets a deep clean every month, rather than just your typical spring cleaning.

Another huge focus is getting dressed to lace up shoes as soon as you get up. In other words, get up, get dressed all the way to your shoes (including hair and face) before starting anything else for the day. Now, I don't know about doing my hair and face first thing in the morning, but there's no reason I can't get dressed, brush my hair and teeth and have my shoes on before I start my coffee or wake up the kids. I mean, really, how long does it take to throw on some clothes and run a brush through your hair. Granted, we start our day at 6am, but that's no excuse for looking like a slob every day!

Okay, so there's my game plan. While I'm working the steps on Flylady.net, I will also tackle one project every day. I have so many projects that need to be done, anything from socks to be darned (yes, I do this. I see no reason to throw them out if the elastic is still good in them), to walls that still need to be painted. We've lived in this house for over a year and I still haven't finished painting.

Here's the deal: I will post a pic of what I'm wearing and what project I've tackled every day (or at least I will try to. I do work from home as a published author, and writing must be done in order to get paid). I will also post what I've accomplished on the Flybaby list for the day. I hope you will join me in reclaiming my life!

Have a great New Year's!

Yet another failure at being a vintage housewife!

It's now Sunday, New Years Eve Eve, 12:20pm and I'm still in my pajamas. No, I don't wear nighties, or anything like that, but they're still what I slept in. I have yet to brush my hair or even my teeth. (I know, ew gross!) I keep trying to tell myself it's okay because I'm packing away the Christmas decorations, and will be making several trips in and out of the garage to hoist the boxes into the attic, but we all know this is nothing more than an excuse to avoid doing anything with my appearance. Why are we, as a society, so against spending time on ourselves? What is so wrong with wanting to look nice, even if it's just for your own family?

I aimed to look like this everyday:

And instead, I've looked like this everyday:

Okay, maybe not quite...I don't have a mask on, nor am I carrying around chocolates (only because I don't have any.), but you get the point. Why is it so hard to convince myself it's perfectly fine to look nice while cleaning? It's not like I'm sweeping the chimney or something. Well, at least not today. There's really no cleaning I have to do that would destroy my clothing, even without an apron.

I'm contemplating posting pictures of myself every day as a way to keep myself accountable. But, being as I have no followers, I'm pretty sure I could get away with a lot since no one will see them. lol

I would love to know how the women who are pulled together every day keep themselves motivated. Is it something they had to work at, or a way they were raised? My mom used to never leave the house without lipstick, but I think I'm rubbing off on her. She's been known to go into public without a stitch of makeup quite often lately. Is that a sign of low self-esteem on both of our parts?

Okay, So I'm a Hypocrite!

Yep, I'll admit it. It turns out I'm a total hypocrite. I complain endlessly about how there is no chivalry, how men and women no longer have defined roles. Tonight, I went to the grocery store, and was standing in line to check out when an older gentleman complained about the young girls outside gathering the carts from the parking lot. He said it wasn't safe with all the weirdos. Without a second thought I blurted out "I can't believe you actually just said that. Don't you think we women can take care of ourselves in this day and age." The moment it escaped my lips, I realized I had become part of the problem.

How can I, a self professed traditional housewife, declare chivalry is dead when I single-handedly shot it dead in one grocery trip? That man was doing exactly what those of us with old fashioned values crave, yet I very vocally stopped him in his tracks. Now, I wasn't rude about it; I was smiling and joking with him, but you could tell by his body language I had made him uncomfortable. So, how do we break ourselves of these "worldly" and "feminist" thoughts when it's been drilled so hard into our heads?