I Did What No Woman Should Do……

Not a lot of people know this, as it’s quite embarrassing to admit, but just before Christmas I did what no woman should ever do….

I CUT MY OWN HAIR!

This is, of course, asking for trouble at the best of times.  I’m sure everyone has given their own fringe a trim as a kid – the results were never good.  And come to think of it, none of my Barbie’s looked particularly stylish after I’d given their hair a bit of spruce with a pair of craft scissors.   The writing was on the wall, you might say.

Anyhoo, there I was one night.  Him indoors was on a rare night out, children were in bed, I was having a glass of Bailey’s and a trawl through YouTube.  I somehow came across a huge number of videos of girls with beautiful hair, giving me tutorials on how to cut it yourself. Ooof, this will save me loadsa money, I thought.  That looks so easy, and those girls have fantastic hair.   Bolstered by the Bailey’s, I grabbed the kitchen scissors (yes, I know KITCHEN SCISSORS, this was never, ever, ever going to end well) and headed off to the bathroom.  I’ll just trim the split ends off, I thought.

To, eh hem, cut a long story short, the results were not good.  I had some sort of weird mullet with short bits sprouting up from the top and uneven long straggly bits at the back.  My shoulder length hair was ruined.

Thankfully, my mother-in-law was visiting a couple of days later.  She used to be a hairdresser, so she did the best she could with what she had to work with.  I now had shortish hair.  I’ve never had short hair.  Haven’t got the face for it.  But everyone thought it suited me.

This weekend, I took the plunge and am now the owner of I a proper haircut.  I’ve got a pixie cut and I love it!  I had a bit of a wobble, worrying I looked a bit butch but now, I love it. This may sound ridiculous, but it’s the haircut I’ve been waiting for.  I feel different, more confident.  I’ve found a style that suits me.  I’m going to be channeling a bit of Jean Seberg, I’ve always loved her hair and her simple, chic style (minus the ciggie).   So now, I am hoping my ‘I don’t know what to wear, boo hoo’ trauma will be solved by asking myself ‘ Would Jean Seberg wear this?’.  Simples.

So, let this be a warning to anyone contemplating cutting their own hair.  DON’T! No matter how many Bailey’s you’ve downed.

Christmas Adverts

So, the time of year is upon us where, I love to get the girls off the school bus in the afternoon and bring them home to a festive, cosy looking house and let them watch some children’s TV with a lovely mug of Nuttella hot chocolate and a mince-pie.  Ahhhhh, lovely. It’s hard work going to school, don’t you know?

The peace does not last  long though, because as soon as the adverts come on I am practically deafened by screeches and squeals of “I want that, I want that!!!”  It doesn’t matter what the advert is for, (it could be for a shiny turd, as far as they’re concerned) they want it.  Even Frankie, who can’t even say ‘Mammy’ properly (he says Ma-eee) is word-perfectly eloquent as he joins in with his sisters in bellowing:

I WANT THAT!!!!!

Grrrrrrr.

Talking of adverts, has anyone had to answer any awkward questions from their children regarding the reality of Santa because of  the flipping Littlewoods advert?

“Who put an x-box under the tree?  My lovely, lovely mother…”

What?  Where the hell has Santa gone??

Years of hard-work gone into bringing the magic of Santa to the children ( the complex explanations of how he gets in when we have no fire-place, the glittery snowy footsteps left on the stairs, the reindeer teeth marks in the carrot stumps that Dasher, Dancer and co couldn’t finish etc, etc) are slowly being undone by that advert.  Surely, there must have been a parent on that production team who realised this wasn’t really in keeping with tradition of Christmas? It’s giving the game away!!!!

And how could I talk about Christmas adverts without mentioning the (supposedly) tear inducing John Lewis advert.  Now, I don’t know if I’m the only snow-cold-ice-queen out there, but this just does not make my eyes leak.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dead, I did cry at the Lion King, and I do think it’s a lovely advert – the little boy who can’t wait to give his parents his present. As if! Bless him.  But after missing it on the TV, and seeing the flood (via Twitter) of people in tears, I watched it on You Tube and didn’t get emotional. There I said it.

The advert that does get me going though, is the Disneyland one.  Families surprising their children in various ways with trips to the promised land for children is marketing genius.  Now when I say this advert gets me going, I mean, yes it makes me cry.  Not because I am so happy for these little kiddies who are squeaking with delight, oh no it’s tears of guilt! Guilt that I am not surprising my little darlings with such trips.  So much so, that I have promised myself that we will take them next year.  As I said, guilt-provoking advertising genius.