Prepare yourself!!

To get the full effect, we'll start back in August with the first major hair cutting I'd had in quite a while. And it was the first haircut I'd had at all in over a year.

BeforeAfter

Results: sent to Pantene Beautiful Lengths and Mom

And now here we are 2 months before the arrival of baby boy #2.
Before:

And after:

And the resulting two ponytails will be sent to Pantene Beautiful Lengths again.

I had thought about it for a long time and realized that I needed to simplify my hair before little Rastus showed up. I've been dreading and putting off washing my hair for the last few months and that's not a good habit to be in when you have a new baby. So far, I really like it!

I don't think my hair has been this short since my sophomore year of high school when I grew out my bangs. No more buns for me and no more braids. But ponytails will now be light enough to be possible!

Oh! And the maternity shirt I'm wearing is one that Mom made for me! It has sparkles all over it and makes me feel like a birthday cake with sparkler candles. Pretty cool!

My hair

This morning, I washed my hair for the first time since we cut off 9 inches. I know! Earth shattering news! It feels wonderfully short. Blissfully short. It seems to be drying so much faster. When I slung my head back and forth to get out more water this morning, I laughed at how light it felt. Wonderful wonderful wonderful! I can wear it in a ponytail again! Before it weighed too much. Last night, Hubby complimented my hair several times. He said it looks really beautiful shorter. Now that it's shorter, I can wear it somehow other than braided or bunned.

Nine Inch Braids

The Results: 9 inches!
The Before Shots:

Mid-Process was funny looking:
And the After:
Last night, I was combing out my hair in order to braid it before bed. At 10pm, I was ticked off that, once again, it took me 30 stinkin' minutes to just comb out my hair. So while I was still annoyed by that, I decided to cut it NOW! Hubby was amenable to cutting my hair for me. There's two aspects of that: he was amenable to me having "shorter" hair and also was willing to do the cutting. Not that I have to have permission to cut my hair, or anything, but I didn't want us to possibly BOTH be upset that it's shorter.

And I love that it's shorter!!! I love that I can run my fingers through it now! It's not too long to do that now. My hair was nearly longer than my arm, which is ridiculous. I love how light it feels. I love that I can swing it back and forth.

So now I have two braids in my bathroom. I have not decided yet if I'm donating it or selling it. So don't ask!

Inconsistency

I realized Tuesday morning a great inconsistency with my recent thinking. While cleaning out the entire house, including attic and garage, I've felt very virtuous about donating so many things to goodwill that I could have made some money on if I'd listed them in Craigslist. I've felt like I'm paying it forward and that the Lord is going to bless me one day as a result. I've nearly wrenched my mental shoulder patting myself on the back.

I've also seriously gotten my back up about donating my hair. My hair nearly reaches the seat of the chair and it's driving me crazy. I've found places online where I might be able to sell 10 inches for $300-500. I've been thinking that I want my money! I want to spend it on something tangible that I can point to and say, "I bought that with my hair money," like a stove or something. Or a piece of furniture. What do I want to spend it on? What is it that we need that's that big? And smaller than a car down payment or a roof. Nothing that I can think of. NOTHING! How often is it in life that there's nothing that you're saving for?

So I'm frustrated because I want my money and I'm frustrated because there's nothing I can think of to spend it on. While being self-righteous about donating other things and prickly about the suggestion that I donate my hair to Locks of Love. I find myself sitting around preparing comebacks when people chirpily say, "Oh! You could give it to Locks of Love!" as if this had never occurred to me. As if no one would ever have long hair because they like having long hair. Some of my snappy comebacks include, "So could you if you just shaved your head!" and "And YOU could donate your car!" and "Do you still have two kidneys? Well you could donate one!" See? Really snarky.

Also I'm really annoyed by how long my hair is and wanting to cut it like NOW. I'm waiting waaaay too long between washings. It's too long to enjoy running my fingers through it - its nearly longer than my arm. Because I dread it, and put it off, it takes me 20 minutes to comb it out. Last night, combing it out put me in a bad mood.

And then there's this little thing I received from Joyce Meyer Ministries about the power of generosity. When I first saw it and felt all smug because I've been very generous lately with my stuff. Except for my hair.

Here's the message from Joyce Meyer:

When you focus too much on the sacrifices you must make in order to give, you will fail to see that the act of giving, in itself, can create true joy and fulfillment! If you’re going through a difficult time, be even more determined to invest in the lives of others in a radical way. If your life is going good right now, KEEP INVESTING in others…it’s working. As you choose to live a generous life and reflect on the Father’s heart of generosity, God will not only change you, but also the world around you!

Today, you can have every blessing God has for you. But the way to get there is NOT through focusing on yourself, drowning in your own misery or worrying about how others treat you. Think about the impact you can make if you look for opportunities to be generous to others everywhere you go. Embrace generosity and give of yourself every day to make the lives of those around you better. You will be blessed more than the person who is receiving the blessing.

We can generate positive change when we make practical, everyday choices to give to others with a heart of love. God loves a cheerful giver, yet many of us need an attitude adjustment (Goldy-locks!). Every believer needs to deliberately declare war on selfishness. Jesus went about doing good and we should also. So many people need to know that someone cares. Here’s your challenge today: spread the love of God by being generous. It could be through simple, deliberate acts of kindness or sharing your monetary resources. Trust God to lead you in practical, yet loving,, ways, with joy.

The key to seeing miracles happen in your life is getting outside yourself and becoming involved in the lives of others. You can express generosity by giving your TIME, TREASURE (Goldy-locks!), and TALENTS. Are you willing to share your time, compassion, prayers and attention with someone who needs it? Do you give not only your money, but other resources – including yourself (Goldy-locks!)– to others who need a helping hand? How are you sharing your talents, gifts and abilities with others? We must be willing to give ourselves as a sacrifice, (Goldy-locks!). Decide to live a life of loving generosity and then watch what God does IN you and THROUGH you.

The best way to survive a financial crisis is to be generous. The biblical perspective of finances is to keep on giving, especially during challenging financial times. You can reach out to bless others in your family, your neighborhood, your church, on your job…anywhere and at any time. As we obey God and help others, He will meet all of our needs and bless us. The enemy wants you to be fearful about tomorrow. Instead, do whatever you can to live in righteousness, peace, joy and generosity and trust God for the rest. Proverbs 28:27 says, He who gives to the poor will not want…THAT’S the power of generosity. (End of Joyce Meyer pamphlet.)

So now I'm actually thinking about Locks of Love completely against my will. Sometimes when the Lord is working on you, there's the distinct chance that it will make you really crabby. I hate doing things that are good for me.

Mmph.

Visiting my hair

Hubby took the small fry to daycare yesterday. (Skipping a long nasty rant about why that's not every day.) I also washed my hair for the first time in.... I'm going to take the 5th on that, on second thought. Anyway. It made me absurdly happy to have clean hair that I could LEAVE HANGING DOWN!! With no small fry to deal with this morning, I could both leave my hair down to finish drying AND WEAR A NECKLACE!! So all day I played with my very long hair and basically visited it like an old friend. I learned that it's only two inches from the chair seat when I sit up straight! I had no idea it was quite THAT long. And when I looked in the mirror, I could see my honeymoon emerald around my neck! AND NO ONE WAS SWINGING FROM EITHER GIRLY ITEM!!! It was a wonderful, free feeling.

When I picked Quint up from daycare, I still had it down and he looked at my hair laying on my arm with curiosity and immediately clinched his tiny fist around it and put it in his mouth. Good thing there was enough slack in it that this didn't pull and hurt me. Up in a bun it went. A while later at home, while he was nursing, he did his standard thing of trying smooth out the hollow of my throat (who needs that dippet anyway!) and found the necklace. He didn't let go nursing, but his eyebrows shot up and he started to wrap his tiny fist around the chain. I managed to take the necklace off quickly without loosing the charm.

Today I have my hair down again but will probably braid it before the day is out. It's nice to visit my hair on occasion!