Things Going On...

...with my face

It's stained purple.

Every year we participate in a Color Run that my friend Jennifer organizes in our neighborhood.* Yesterday, after the run, I gave everyone (including myself) a thorough scrubbing. It's impossible to get all the color out in the first wash cycle - this is to be expected, but I've never had the color stain my face.

I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror and saw that I had a purple mustache. I washed my face again in the sink... still purple. So I got a wash cloth and scrubbed. A little came off, but... still purple. Then I took an alcohol swab and scoured my face. It got lighter but... still purple. I figured it probably looked worse to me than it would to other people, so I stopped fussing. I got dressed and walked outside to talk to Scotty, and the first thing he said was, "Nice purple face!"

The worst of my purple staining is at the corners of my nose, which also happens to be where I am inconveniently growing gigantic, painful zits on both sides. I've been battling the zit pain for the past week, thinking, "Just surface already, and get out of my life!!"

My poor nose.

In other facial news, besides being purple and zitty, my skin looks pretty decent. I bought some facial products on Prime Day - I've never been one to moisturize or any of that stuff, but I started thinking, hey, I'm 34. I should probably start taking care of my face so I can pretend I'm only 32. I don't know if the products are helping my face or if I'm just having a good facial week, but I think I can totally pull off 32. Maybe even 31!

...with my three-year-old

I'm realizing how much Eva is suffering from Youngest Child Syndrome. I think most of us go into parenthood truly believing that we won't treat our kids different based on their birth order, but it's right before my eyes: Eva is the baby of the family.

I signed her up for preschool and dance class this year, and there's a pretty good chance neither of those things are going to happen because this child thinks she is a baby. She's not going to leave my side. She just wants to stay home and be held and drink milk.

She doesn't have to do preschool or dance, of course, but I wanted to put her in preschool so I could have a few hours during the week to help in my other kids' classrooms and take care of myself a little bit. And Eva loves to dance! In the spring I could hardly keep her off the dance floor during her sisters' lessons, but since they haven't been doing dance during the summer, Eva hasn't been watching their classes for a while. If she could have started in May while the other girls were still dancing, she might've joined right in.

...with my hair

Remember how it's rapidly turning gray? I honestly think my gray hair has tripled over the summer. This has been the hardest summer I've ever had mom-wise. Scientists can continue arguing over whether stress contributes to gray hair, but I'm a believer!

Anyway, I saw a photo of my hair close-up last week, and it was worse than I thought, so I dyed it. It was about 75% effective in covering the gray. Good enough for a $7 investment.

...with my feet

I've whined a lot on this here blog about how my feet hurt all the time. When summer began, my feet started feeling a lot better. In fact, it got to the point where I hardly had any pain in my feet at all. I would go several days at a time without my feet bothering me.

Then I made the mistake of telling someone that my feet weren't hurting anymore. Within two hours my feet hurt. What the heck, Subconscious? Why you gotta be like that?

I did talk to a doctor about my feet and she wasn't particularly helpful. She basically just told me everything I already know about plantar fasciitis. I pointed out to her that my symptoms don't match the description of plantar fasciitis, but she was insistent that that's what it is.

I need my three-year-old to go to preschool so I can have some time to go to a podiatrist.


*Photos to come