Friday, December 22, 2006

As of yesterday, I’m a card carrying member of Catherine’s "Fake it ‘till ya make it" campaign! And it wasn’t so bad!

My sister dragged me out of the house, practically kicking and screaming, and made me go shopping with her. I had yet to do any Christmas shopping. Honestly. The most I had done was to sneak off to the fabric store and come home and sew a few things for people. That’s it. I just could not bring myself to actually shop. Really, I couldn’t bring myself to shower and put on decent clothes before 3 in the afternoon.

We went down to Branson to the outlet malls then had some really good barbeque for lunch. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed to just go do girl stuff and laugh. I’ve been walking around like a zombie and really being quite a bitch to everyone. It was really nice.

Three weeks ago, my mom and the same sister put my Christmas tree up with me. I knew that I’d never do it by myself (Tom was in Chicago), and I had kind of decided that I didn’t care if one was up or not. So, we assembled the big, fake, ugly tree that is definitely on its last leg and decorated it with lights and ribbon. It was then up to me to put the ornaments on. Fast forward to three weeks later—still no ornaments. Hmmm. What a Scrooge I am. I did have ornaments on the little, bitty tree that I had bought on a whim for Nate, except most of them had fallen off and it was all smooshed because the damn cat kept knocking the tree off the table. Anyway, yesterday my sister finally got me off my ass and I dragged out the ornament boxes. We finally decorated the tree, and okay, I admit it looks much better now. I don’t know. I’ve gotten so weird about things—I’m always thinking when I run across stuff: I bought this tea when I was pregnant, I’m not going to drink it; last time I was here, I was pregnant, I don’t want to go in there; the last time I wore these socks, I was pregnant, not going to wear them; when I packed up all of these Christmas decorations, I was pregnant and excited and never so happy in my life—these decorations are staying in their fucking boxes. But now my halls are all decked and stuff and it really looks pretty damn nice. When my husband came home from work he said, "Yay! We have a real tree!"

I was feeling so good, I even went and had my hair chopped off and highlighted! Nothing like a new hairdo to lift your spirits, I say. My hair was truly awful—really mousey and dull and flat. I had lost a ton of hair after I had Nate and it was growing back, giving me these weird little punk rock bangs in my formerly all one length hairdo. And then when I would get sweaty, the inch and a half long bangs would curl. Not the cutest thing in the world. So there was that, and then my eyebrows were growing together. Picture me slumping around my house with ugly ass flat hair, curly bangs and a unibrow, wearing jacked up yoga pants and a holey t-shirt. What a sad sack. (I’m also going clothes shopping, by the way.) Now my hair is chin length and I’ve got real bangs and two eyebrows. I like it!

And for today—more shopping and some Christmas baking with my mom where I’m going to attempt Kristin’s mom’s ribbon cookies!! Faking it ‘till you make it works! Thanks Catherine!

ps--I also went to Walmart this morning at 4:30 to buy stocking stuffers. I'm on a roll now!

9 comments:

kate said...

Walmart at 4:30 am? You're more than on a roll, you're officially more insane than me!

Cookies, anyone?

Seriously, i am glad to see you posting, i have been worried about you. And i am glad that your family is around to take care of you, at this SOOOO difficult time of year.

(((((((hugs)))))))

Kathy McC said...

So, what IS Walmart like at 4:30 a.m.? You're brave!

Glad to hear you had fun with the Fake It Till You Make it theme. Reading this is very motivating!

I still have yet to bake any cookies or finish wrapping gifts and stuff. Very unlike me...well the pre-2004 me.

Merry Freaking Christmas!

delphi said...

Well, we ignored Christmas completely last year (our first without C.). I didn't even try Faking It at all. So, good on you!

Sounds like embracing a few holiday traditions has been good for you.

Take care - I've been thinking of you.

Catherine said...

Good for you! (I told ya so!)

Now don't overdo it...I don't want you to hurt yourself.

SWH said...

I think I'm finally getting ready to get a hair cut/color after a five month hiatus... so i understand what you mean. And if i didn't have to come to my office, i probably would get dressed before 3 on most days.

Oh- And I have some tea that is called mother's tea (whatever that means) that i bought when i was pregnant... and i've just shoved it in the back of my cupboard. Someday when i'm brave I'll throw it out.

So yes... it is hard. But it is also really great when you do get motivated to do things and find out that ... hey... having a decorated (or clean) house is fun and actually makes me happy.

I'm very glad that you've found some happy things. Many hugs!

Rosepetal said...

Hey! My eyebrows are growing together and my hair continues to fall out (although it does seem to be tailing off a bit now). Now at least I know I'm not (or should that be "wasn't" since you've fixed yours) the only one. And I have one pair of jeans that I wear nearly.every.day.

I really hope you have as happy a time as possible and the fake becomes real.

Thanks for your comment Laura, I actually have been thinking about you a lot recently as I knew your nephew was very close in age to Nate and I was thinking about how hard that is. I have seen some pictures of my nephew now and I was immediately struck by how he looks absolutely nothing like Moksha.

Aurelia said...

I'm glad to read you are doing well. It's surprising how a new haircut and some nice surroundings can help the mood. Faking it or for real, I hope your holiday season goes well!

Clare said...

Laura, I have just Tagged you with Bugsy's 'Weird Meme'. If you've got a spare moment, and can be bothered doing it this time of year, you can check my blog for details. Take care of yourself and happy new year ***

Rosepetal said...

Laura, I really hope your tww ended happily.....Thinking of you, Rosepetal.