Saturday, May 7, 2011

Keeping up appearances

A few years ago I watched an episode of Rachael Ray where there was this "Old fashioned" family. The wife stayed home and did all the cooking, cleaning and child rearing. The husband worked, and spent 1 hour with the children while the wife had her "me time" on the treadmill.

The wife mentioned that prior to her husband returning from work, she would re-apply her makeup and fix her hair.

At the time, I had one baby, and worked part time. This family I mentioned above was totally outrageous to me. Why on earth would she go so far as to fix her hair and makeup just for her husband? She's been home with the kids all day...

I have never been a sloppy dresser. I don't have sweats or baggy comfy clothes. Even with this, a few months ago I started feeling extremely frumpy. With two young kids, I still find it hard to get up and dressed in the morning, while still having to prepare breakfast, bathe and clothe them.

After weeks of feeling frumpy, I mentioned this to my husband. He laughed and said I looked fine. I still didn't feel fine. Then I remembered that episode of Rachael Ray. The wife touched up her lipstick before her husband came home. That meant she already had lipstick on. I implemented that one little routine in my day, and it made a world of difference! I do get dressed at some point during the day, but now I make sure to have lipstick on during the day too. And when my husband is getting home, I try and touch it up. I even keep some in my car now, just in case I rush out without putting any on.

Lipstick may seem trivial to some, but to me, it's a very simple thing I can implement  to make me feel a little less frumpy. It is also one little thing I can for my husband, to show him that even though we have kids, I still think it's important to try and look nice for him. There are a few other small changes that I have made in the past few months, but I'll share those later.

Have you changed or added to your beautifying routine since having kids? Or are you in a rut?

2 comments:

  1. I saw that segment too-- Courtney blogs over at Women Living Well. I try to get ready for my day before the kids get up-- I'm much less grumpy if I have half an hour to myself. But I almost never "freshen up" before my husband gets home. I'm lucky if I can get my son to pick up his toys before dinner! :)

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  2. @Amanda Thank you! I had that episode on my DVR for so long because I was so fascinated by the idea, but we switched cable providers. Happy to know who it was, and a little excited she blogs too! I try to get up, ready and get a cup of coffee down before the kids get up, buy I can't seem to get my daughter to sleep through the night anymore, so I am exhausted most days. And I feel for you on the toys. Towards the end of the day, toys are always a battle for us. I am slowly eliminating a huge amount of toys because of this (Legos and lincoln logs, for example, have been put into bins and stored in the garage).

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