after a really rough week last week, this week has been so much better. one of the big project I was working on got completed.

The boys are having a lot of fun with their Aunt and Uncle staying with us for the week.  Liam adores his Uncle Greg (like almost a little creepy adores--- like he has to be all up in his space and breathing the same air and Greg has to swat him away just to go to the bathroom and Liam would stand outside the door talking to him the entire time if we let him).

I lost my wedding ring on Thursday. And by "I", I mean I took it off to take a nap in the boys room and left it on the stairs to the loft bed and when I went back a few hours later it was gone.  Which resulted in me searching the entire house several times, Jeremy too.

Finally found it about 24 hours later at the bottom of the stairs, somewhere we had searched a dozen times.  Beckett had gotten it and flung it down the stairs.  When I saw it , it was so obvious and I have no idea why I didn't see it to begin with.

Thankful that isn't back on my finger.

My abs have been sore. I've mixed my workouts up a bit than from what is on the schedule because I missed a day last week and was trying to get two shorter workouts together for Thanksgiving since I was off.  Anyways, ended up doing like 4 workouts in a row that were ab centric.

Thankful that I love working out. Thankful that the boys come down and "workout" with me, which is total cuteness.

We have a $50 organic fresh turkey. I wanted to get a fresh turkey, but not an organic one since they are freaking $20 more than an organic one, but I deferred to Jeremy to buy one since, really, what right does the vegetarian havin picking out a giant dead bird to eat? But by the time he made it to Costco today, all the non organics were already snug or cooked in people's houses. So, now, there is a $50 organic and non-antibiotic bird in our fridge.

So, we do buy a lot of organics. We get most of our vegetables through green bean delivery. It forces use to get fruits and veggies that outside of our radar during the year, and makes us at a varied diet. And when we get it, I have a pretty self righteous attitude about it... High five, Virginia! Way to spend $3 on a squash. At least it's organic!

We also buy not organic. Cereal... The boys love cereal. Our range of choices are pretty limited though... You would not believe how many cereals have freaking coconut oil in them.

And we do bountiful basket but we did they organic once and didn't really think it was worth the money since you got less food.

Point of this post? I'm not for sure. Maybe that that damn bird better taste like heaven.

November is the anniversary of when I became a vegetarian--- I usually don't think about it too much, except when it comes up and someone asks me how long I have been a vegetarian, and then I have to do some mental math by counting from Thanksgiving of freshman year of high school.  It just to be easier to calculate, when I was in college and pharmacy school, but now that I'm an actual grown up, the years after graduation seem to blur together.  Like, I really have to think about how long I've been a pharmacist. (5 and a half years).

So, I'm looking at 18 years of being a vegetarian.--- I was 14 when I started and I'm 32 now.  So, I've been a vegetarian longer than not.

I was joking with the boys tonight because Jeremy made them turkey sandwiches for dinner, and Beckett was stuffing the lunch meat in his mouth like a crazy man, and I said "you boys are for sure your father's son." and Jeremy made the comment "well, the guy you had the affair with could have eaten a bunch of meat too." And I responded back, "welp, you're raising 'em now, so you're on the hook regardless."  It was completely banter and we were teasing each other, and Liam chimes up "it's doesn't even matter!"  we sometimes use that phrase when the boys are arguing with each other over something silly and we are trying to put their toddler brains in perspective.  Like, when they are fighting over who will sit in the middle carseat in the van--- it doesn't even matter. (in the Prius is a different story--- Beckett is still rearfacing and can annoy the crap out of whoever is sitting in the middle seat--- in the van, his carseat has higher arms so kicking and grabbing is much more difficult).

So very cute that Liam told Jeremy that my imaginary affair doesn't even matter:)

shampoos

For those of you who know anything about me, you know that I love shampoos.  Like, different shampoos. tons of variety.  Prell, Suave, Aussie, Dove, you name it, I've likely tried it (if less than $10 bucks a bottle). I typically keep an entire buffet in the shower, so I can pretty much use a different shampoo every day.  I like how the constant rotation keeps build up from occurring so when you wake up in the morning, you don't have greasy hair.  I love shampoo so much, I typically ask for shampoo for Christmas, with the hopes that people will buy me a slightly more expensive brand that I've never tried before because they have some underlying guilt for buying me such a cheap practical thing that brings me happiness.

So, if you can't tell, I like shampoo. Except, now I don't use it anymore.

Rewind about 6 months ago.  I had already been through my major post partum hair loss and my regrowth was pretty good--- up to 1.5 inches, so I didn't look like a complete freak.  The hair that I managed not to lose was pretty long, but awfully thin and extremely stringing.  and would frequently get tangled.  I went an entire week trying my rotation of shampoos- deep cleaning, extra moisturizing, damaged hair--- nothing was working to keep my hair from looking like a limp rat's tail. 

I needed to try something. and I've heard about no shampooing.  people swear by it that do it.  They say the oily build up is extra the first few days, but then everything regulates, and you go back to your normal baseline production, rather than your hyped up "you just stripped you head of all its natural oils by scrubbing it with shampoo and now it's going crazy to replenish the horror you did to it" production mode.

I've always hated greasy roots- when my hair was a lot lighter when I was younger, they would literally be black if I made it back the 14th hour of the day and it would look like a bad dye job.  So I couldn't cold turkey it right away.

I had some Honest Company bath and body wash- bought a two pack from Costco- I'm always on the lookout for dye free and fragrance body washes for Liam since his skin is so bad.  didn't think to check until I got home the ingredients and the damn thing has coconut oil in it, which is one of Liam's HUGE flair up causes.  That stuff it literally EVERYWHERE these days.  snacks, candy, shampoos.

Anyways, if you have ever tried this stuff, it doesn't suds up. Like, it's not even a soap.  Like, I couldn't even shampoo my hair with it if I wanted to if I poured the entire thing on my head.

So I grabbed this out of the cabinet where it had been gathering dust, and put a quarter size squirt into my hands and massaged it into the very top of my head. Not the sides. Not the back. Definitely not the length.  Just the top.  where my head is the greasiest.  Again, it didn't suds up. I imagine that it bound up some of that oil that was there, but didn't completely strip it.  then I rinsed.

Finally step... 3 hugh squirts of conditioner down the bottle 8 inches of my hair (my hair was really long at that point). I rolled my hair with the conditioner like I was starting a fire with a stick all the way down to the ends.  and let it sit for at least 3 minutes.  No conditioner on top of my head. No conditioner at the base of my head.

that was day one. I repeated again and again the next few days.  and I'll be damned if my hair didn't start doing exactly what all those no-shampooers say it would do. started getting a healthy shine without excessive greasiness.

Now, I'm not an extremist.  Some people will shampoo every 2-3 days.  I don't do it that often, but more like every 4 to 5 days.  And since I've cut 7 inches off of my hair, I no longer due to conditioner part (almost too short, and I feel like my natural hair oils are able to take over at this length).

I sort of had the ultimate test the other night- I didn't shower the other night (and I always shower at night- have this OCD thing where I can't get into my bed dirty). But I was staying somewhere else, and my co-sleepers were Beckett and a random dog, so I went to bed without showering. 

And when I woke up in the morning, my hair was fine.  Slightly more texture to the roots, but nothing I would define as greasy. and not a different color. and not digusting to run your hands through.

So, these days I still have a shampoo buffet in my shower.  It's just not getting used as often.  on my 4th or 5th day, I still want variety to pick from.

If you're thinking about getting my something for Christmas-- go ahead and walk on pass the shampoo aisle this year.  I might need some conditioner though:)

not too bad of a day- sleep late (6:45am is late for me). Got the boys up, fed them breakfast, watched a little TV- little disturbed that I put it on Disney only to realize when I went to turn the TV off, it was on Nicholodeon. The little monsters can change the channel.  I can barely change the channel.

Took them to daycare, then off to work for a few hours to catch up.  I had stayed late yesterday (something I very rarely do), and I still left with a ton of work to complete. I spent a few hours there getting things taken care of, then back home to try and nap- didn't actually sleep but was nice to lounge in bed.  Then, up to work out, fold laundry and head back out to get the boys. 

Dinner from Taco bell per Liam's request, with frostys for dessert. about 20 minutes of iPad time, and then some homework. Now there are in the nursery playing with a blanket and a laundry basket together- the house is still clean--- I cleaned up after every mess.  Space heater is cranking in the bathroom getting ready for bath time. I accidently forgot about the preprogramed thermostat and it freaking got down to 50 in the house--- I just thought I was a pansy because I needed two blankets.

Have my lunch packed for tomorrow and have been lucky enough to text Jeremy a lot today.  I miss him a lot.  looking forward to him being back in the country

We had friends from out of town stay over this weekend, which involved 5 kids 5 years old younger in my house.  It was a fun time, but was glad when everything quieted down.

Going to have the living room carpet shampooed tomorrow, and I am really excited about that.  Sometimes I day dream about the day when we can get the house painted and having nice clean walls.

Jeremy is going out of town this week to Mexico for a business thing, and tomorrow he is won't get home until after 7pm- so I get to pretty much do solo parenting for the next 6 out of 7 days. Not looking forward to that.  In a pretty good place though and not too short of patience, so hopefully hugs and kisses with prevail rather than snapping and yelling.

went to day of the dead at the Living Arts and Science Center. It was fun, but very crowded and we weren't able to see the performers very well or do all of the activities.  Beckett decided he wanted to walk from the cemetery to care and I was tired from holding him for the past hour, and I'll be darned if he didn't walk about a quarter of a mile on his own while holding my hand like the cutest little thing ever.  Can't believe he is almost 19 months old.  Bittersweet to go through these stages since he will be the last little one.

we've never had 100 kids come trick or treating, and I always buy 120 or 150 pieces of candy and have a ton of stuff left over. So this year, I only got 90 pieces.  And we had over 150 kids.  whomp whomp. I ended up giving out fiber one bars.  Which, although the kids were disappointed, they won't be once they eat one of those things because they are like crack.

I hid the boys candy and created a scavenger hunt for them to find it.  Liam should get a kick out of figuring out the clues and the other boys will have fun just running around the house.