Whew!  Today is Monday- my "Kick Butt at Home" Day.  I try to not schedule anything else on Mondays so that I can just be home- grungy!- and get my house cleaned, my laundry caught up, etc.  I live in a big, old, 3-story house, so keeping it clean is a major job!!  I need a maid!!!  I have decided- especially since there are only 2 of us and a cat- that we really don't get THAT dirty, so I am doing a weekly rotation of floors.  I am trying this out to see how this works.  Hopefully things won't get as dusty if every 3 weeks the entire floor is getting deep-cleaned.  Today is 2nd floor which includes: full bath, 2 long hallways, master bedroom, and dressing room (which is a converted bedroom).  I still have the bathroom and one hall to do.

I got my rebounder back, and decided to bounce on it this morning- I run in place and do different things on it.  I am SO out of shape!  I was winded in 5 minutes- and I think I pulled a leg muscle!!

I found out today that I can get one of my "necessary" beauty services done at our local Aveda Institute for HALF the price of going to the salon!!  AND- you can't tip, so I am going to save a lot of money!!  woohoo!!

Last night we were spontaneously invited to the home of our good friends.  He needed "rescuing" because all the girls were getting ready to watch a Jane Austen movie, so he invited George to come hang out with him, and I got to watch the movie with the girls!  Fun!!  I love spontaneanity.

Okay... think I'm going to go attempt an at-home hot oil treatment on my hair while working on my house. (http://video.about.com/beauty/How-to-Make-Hot-Oil-Treatment.htm)

CIAO!!

Ooooo... a hot oil treatment sounds very nice about now! I'm certainly due for one. Hmm... I may just do that very thing tonight.

Blessings to you, Gina, my friend!
Lacy

I've had my hot oil treatment in for about 4 hours now! haha My hair- which is THICK and curly and tends to be very dry and frizzy- was in dire need of MOISTURE!! I sure hope this is doing the trick!!! Need to rinse it out eventually...

Oh I am sure you'll love the hot oil treatment. I'm a bit of an "unconventional hair care" junkie LOL. You wouldn't believe some of the things I've put on my hair. I will refrain from offering unsolicited advice here though... just know if you ever need to know anything I might have answers or advice for you, and if not I know where I can go to get the answers you may need. haha

Anyway I was just stopping by to let you know the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie will be on ABC Family this Friday night, if you get a chance to watch it. I know you were wondering about it. It is a fairly cute movie; I've actually not read the book so I can't compare them though. But I just thought I'd give you a heads-up that it'll be on tv soon.

Thanks, Leah! My hot oil treatment definitely made an improvement- need to do that regularly. Feel free to offer unsolicited advice!! That's why I started this blog- for fun girl talk!!
Thanks for letting me know about the movie coming on TV!!
:-)

*snicker* Well I'm taking that as leaving the field WIDE open for me! haha

I was going to suggest you try CO (conditioner only) washing to keep your hair moisturized. My hair is only wavy (or, I think so anyway... it can't make up it's mind - some days it's straight, others it's wavy, and sometimes it's wurly, something between waves and curls. I've even had some curls pop up here and there occasionally.)but I CO wash and my hair loves it. Shampoos are often pretty harsh, and strip the hair of all it's natural oils thus leaving it dry. You can actually dilute (most) shampoos before using them, about a tablespoon of shampoo to one cup of water seems to be the most frequently used ratio. But conditioner does contain cleansing agents, so ditching the shampoo and just using conditioner can work wonders. (If you want more info on CO washing just ask and I can go into more detail about it later.)

Or there's the CWC (condition, wash, condition) method where you apply conditioner to your length and don't rinse, then shampoo your scalp and rinse everything out then condition everything and rinse.

I was also thinking you might want to try going 'cone free for a while. Many hair products contain silicones, which while not evil may not be good for your hair either. It's really individual. I personally avoid them. They coat the hair and most of them are not water soluble, so no matter how much you rinse they're still there. (This is why certain products leave build-up on your hair.) You need to clarify to get the cones off your hair, either with a clarifying shampoo or by mixing a little baking soda with your shampoo. The barrier cones leave on your hair will seal moisture in, which is good but they also block any more moisture from getting in, so in that aspect they are bad if you need to get more moisture into your hair. And for me using cones makes my hair totally flat, dull, and just plain yucky. But some people use them and love them, so to each his/her own. The

whoops... my comment was too long. LOL ---

The only way to know for sure what will work better for you is to try going cone free for a while (about a month or so) and see what happens.

You might also want to take a peek at www.jessicurl.com and www.ylcf.org/gotcurl - they have lots of tips and advice for caring for curly hair.

(And all this is just the tip of the iceberg for me... I could go on all day!)

Hi Leah! You are just so cool! I love that you are so good with hair and creative about hair and skin treatments. I was actually going to ask if you would be willing to write a guest post on my blog and show pictures of your amazing hair mixes. I so admire you for making them up with all-natural ingredients. The fact that they work -- you just rock like KISS!

I think I'll have to try the CO method, my hair is always frizzy.