Month-In-Review: $4 DIY hair coloring, a new Mitford novel and twin witches

When Jorai (on the right) told me she wanted to be a witch for Halloween this year, I hesitated. We don't do blood, gore and witch stuff for Halloween. But then I saw a gorgeous Glinda the Good Witch costume and thought: "Hey! The twins could be sister witches from the Wizard of Oz!" Witch-dilemma solved. Here we have Jasiel as Glinda the Good Witch and Jorai as The Wicked Witch of the West. What's funny is that Jasiel is TOTALLY the floaty, fancy, girly-girl and Jorai is the go-getter-rough-and-tumble-gal. They crack me up.

After this latest bout with Depression, Mama needed a little Autumnal spruce up. I had a coupon for L'Oreal and so I bought two bottles of "Burgandy" hair dye for $1.99/each. I applied the whole first bottle to just the crown of my head and used the second bottle for the long hair in the back. Then I piled it all on top of my head, wrapped it in a plastic grocery bag and secured it with a chip bag clip. You know, keepin' it classy. I let the color soak in for a good 40 minutes. Then rinse. Condition. Blowout. And hot rollers. VOILA! It's amazing what $4 of hair dye and some red lipstick can do for a girl. I almost feel like my old self again. :)

It's been awhile since I went to a play. This past weekend I was beginning to feel well enough to leave the house. I attended "Zealot" at South Coast Repertory. What a show. It lit a fire in my heart; a fire that will always burn bright for the rights of women. How I loathe the abuse of women at the hands of religious "authority" and yet, how I refuse to seek justice using the old tactics of might makes right. The feminine way understands that progress is through nurturing relationships and truthful storytelling. The conscience of humanity will be be pricked when we courageously share our stories and unashamedly live our full humanity. As an American woman, I often take my privilege for granted. This play reminded me that to remain silent while women suffer is to abandon them and become complicit to their oppression.

Jewel's hamstring has FINALLY healed up and she is back to full training. Because of her hamstring injury, she was unable to work on a new solo. So, she is re-training for the classical pointe solo she performed last year: Lilac Fairy variation from Sleeping Beauty. We are excited to see where she places at YAGP in January. It's such tough competition. The girls she will be competing against are world-class dancers whose parents are able to invest FAR MORE money into their daughters' training than we can. We still clean Jewel's studio to help afford basic tuition! Regardless, we are so proud of Jewel's hard work and know that her passion for dance is what will bring her the most satisfaction and joy.

For Halloween, Jude is dressing up as a "nerd." We've added a pair of bright green suspenders to this outfit along with some tape to the middle of his "broken" glasses. He really plays up the nerd-act and gets into character. Funny kid.

My new morning routine includes praying a Rosary, reading several chapters of Scripture and journaling. I'm finding the Rosary acts as a meditative balm to my mind. As soon as I start saying the Creed, I can literally feel my brain start to relax. I use the Laudate app on my iPhone and pray along with the audio Rosary. At the beginning of October, I committed to praying a daily Rosary. I have so needed her comfort during this most recent bout with Depression.

During this past month, I've stopped listening to the news, reading Twitter or catching up on Facebook. My days became very quiet. My mind was in such a dark place that I could not bear to hear anything distressing. My kids wanted to talk to me about Ebola—apparently there's been a big Ebola outbreak?—but I asked them to wait. I caught up on some of it this past week. And I'm glad I waited. Instead of listening to the news or watching TV, I've done quiet reading. The Mitford series have always been special books for me. I read my first Mitford book in 1997. I love Father Tim like he's a REAL person. I've missed Barnabas, Dooley, Cynthia and the guys who chatted it up in the old Main Street Grille. I've tucked into some quiet space with this most recent Mitford book. It's very slow moving. Gentle. Just what I need right now....

What has your past month looked like? What have you written? What have you read? What are you into right now? Feel free to leave links in comments.

I've missed you! :)