Low Maintenance

I love the movie When Harry met Sally.  One of the classic lines in that movie is when Harry tells Sallly that she's high maintenance but thinks she's low maintenance.  In his eyes the worst kind.

Well I am definitely low maintenance and always have been.  This is not something that started post kids but has definitely been augmented since the kids were born.  And now with 3, mornings are pretty much a well oiled machine as far as the kids getting ready but not me.  The two oldest get up to their alarms, dress themselves and come down for breakfast.  The little man is still in a crib so of course needs some help.

If I'm lucky I'll get up before they do and get a shower before they wake.  Usually by the time I'm out of the shower my daughters are up and snuggling in my bed or asking for help with their hair, or the little man is calling for me from his crib.  At which point I throw some clothes on, without much thought, run a comb through my wet hair put it up in a ponytail/bun and go get the kids ready.  I live in my jeans most of the year.  Makeup is purely for going out. I don't have time during the week. Occasionally I'll wear perfume on a regular day just to give myself a little boost (or so that if I'm in a crowd if people I know I'm not the smelly one.)

Having said that, this year I really do plan on taking more care of how I look.  I definitely need some new clothes, but really don't like to shop.  It's hard to do with the kids and when I occasionally have time to go solo, I'm just too picky (or don't want to pay full price).  What I probably need is a personal shopper to help me, but I don't really like department stores, and don't really have a favorite go to store right now.
I guess I need a good friend to go shopping with but I don't have one.

I'm overdue for a haircut and color, but since my hairdresser is downtown and my weekends are usually busy with kid stuff, it's hard to get down there.

There are two annoying things about being low maintenence.  Number 1, people think I am much younger than I am.  I know most people want to be thought of as younger than their actual age, but in my case, I'm 37 and people think I'm the my kid's babysitter or older sister not mother.  I know they mean it as a compliment when they tell me I don't look old enough to have kids age 7, 5 and 2, but I don't take it that way, and bite my tongue to prevent a snarky comeback.

Although I guess one advantage was when I've had solicitors come to our house and they ask if my parents are home.  I just say no and they leave.

The other annoying thing is then when I actually do dress up to go out with friends, they make such a big deal of it, it makes me more self-conscious, even though I know the extra attention is meant in a positive way. I guess that's what this low maintenance stuff comes down to. Being a relatively shy kid growing up, I never wanted to be the center of attention, and that's still the case today. I guess I just never was very good at accepting compliments, but just need to get over that problem and appreciate the sentiments the way they were intended.