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About a week and a half ago, I received a call from my friend Charles. Charles was in Australia en route to Bali, en route to Singapore, en route to Paris for an annual conference. This time around, Charles was to be on the road for three consecutive weeks; this is not out of the ordinary. What he told me next was out of the ordinary.

Charles is married to Erica. They've been together for over a decade and they have four children (9, 6, 2.5, 1.5). Unlike Charles, Erica rarely travels, she is a stay at home mom. Charles explained to me that he was to fly Erica out to Paris for a week but they needed someone to help the nanny out with the kids. I said, "Say no more, I am your woman."

Anyone who has ever met me knows that I do not like children - most children. I often refer to children as mosquitoes. I find children to be horribly annoying, always buzzing in your ear. You swat them away and they come right back.

I agreed to watch Charles & Erica's lovely kids for a few reasons.

• I like Charles & Erica and they deserve some time alone (I believe this is their first "real" vacation without the kids)
• I love Charles & Erica's four kids. I have been close with the oldest since she was born but I don't know the other kids as well.
• Their nanny is going to be present the WHOLE time, I am just there to help with dinner, homework and bed time.
• Quite frankly, the last reason is selfish. I do not have children and at times I wonder what it would be like to have babies stuck to my side

After agreeing to help out Monday through Friday, I get a second phone call, this time from Erica. Erica informs me that Charles' meetings were canceled on Monday and that she is going to fly out a day early to spend the day with him on Monday. What does this mean for Leyla? It means, Leyla's services are required ONE day early.... and, Leyla is to fly solo on Sunday night and take the kids to school Monday morning.

Is It Friday Yet?
I arrived at my friends' loft in the west loop at 7p on Sunday night. The nanny was there finishing up with the evening bedtime activities. The kids go to bed between 6:45p and 8:30p. The nanny showed me around a bit and then she took off. I stayed up with the oldest for another hour or so and then I was alone. The house was quiet, it was sort of sad without the cheerful voices which normally guide the household. 10p seemed like 2am.

Sunday night was filled with paranoia (for me). I was instructed to wake each child between 10p and 11p and make them go to the washroom so no one has an accident. This was tough because waking a sleeping child just seems wrong but I am an extreme follower of the rules so I did exactly as I was instructed. I checked the baby 3X and his diaper was dry, I finally went to sleep as soon as the Oscars were over.

I woke up several times throughout the night; I thought I heard crying babies. My friends live in nearly a 5000 square foot loft and the kids bedrooms are far from their bedroom (where I was sleeping). I got up at 1am and 2am, walked to the upstairs bedrooms to check on the two older kids and then to the back bedrooms to check on the two younger kids. No crying. It was all in my head. Finally, I fell back asleep.

600a came very quickly. The oldest insisted that I wake her, she wanted to assist me with breakfast for the kids. We got everyone's breakfast ready, packed their "snacks" into their backpacks and then woke everyone up.



After breakfast, I cleaned a very poopie diaper. I think I used 72 baby wipes and had poop under my long finger nails (don't worry, I washed my hands THOROUGHLY).

School time, I had to get the two older kids to school. I put shoes on the 2 year old and grabbed the baby (no socks or shoes, I ran out of time) and headed for the garage. Thank god for the 9 year old, without her, I would've been lost! Literally.

The kids took me to the car, they told me how to get out of the garage. I almost crashed the car coming out of the garage and I said the "S" word very loudly, multiple times as I tried really hard to steer the car away from a big yellow pole. I suck at driving. I then almost crashed again coming out of the garage - but I made it. I apologized to the kids for using profanity.

The second nanny showed up at 9a and I was relieved. My responsibilities lighten for the rest of the week as nanny #2 will be there 24 hours a day.

Highlights of my adventures in babysitting:

• Homework with the 6 year old where we read for a half hour and then played hangman for 2 hours and then drew pictures of dinosaurs on his chalkboard.
• On day 2, I was 15 mins late, the 6 year old says to me: "Don't worry, we all make mistakes" when I walk in the door
• Tonight, after bath time, the 6 year old "shaved". Apparently, he has a platic shave kit in his bathroom with real shaving cream. After his bath, I watched him cover his ENTIRE face with shaving cream and then scrape it off with his fake, plastic razor.
• The 2.5 year old only wears princess dresses
• The 1.5 year old is a big chunk of joy
• Homework is really boring
• Watching kids is REALLY, REALLY tiring. I slept 10 hours last night!

Me and the six year old and our dinosaur drawings!





Related Posts:
Mommy Blogger I am Not
My Favorite Subject - My Dad

Labels: leyla, Life, Random

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I started this ridiculous 28 Day Blogging Challenge that the infamous @thescottbishop implemented. At first, I was hesitant to join but then I became agreeable and joined his herd of bloggers. That was a mistake and I am here to tell you why.

I started this blog because I wanted a platform; a place where I could say whatever the BLEEP I wanted to say. I started out without much fear but had to curb that and tame it down a bit because my readership grew and I feared I would be held accountable for my words (which is a real fear). As I started to realize how to grow a base of "readers", I found myself writing less for me and more for them. Now, I go back and forth - sometimes I write for my readers and sometimes I write for me. I write about work-related stuff and I write about me-related stuff. Some of you are here for me and some of you are here for the valuable information I give away.

When I started the 28 Day Blogging Challenge, I stopped writing for me, I stopped writing for you - I started WRITING FOR SCOTT BISHOP. My blog became work and I stopped writing. I write for work ENOUGH. I write a blog for a client and I am in the process of writing 90% of the content for a website I've developing for forever and a day. The last thing I need is to put a deadline or some sort of a parameter on MY PERSONAL BLOG.

Here is what happened...
I started strong. I wanted to meet @thescottbishop's challenge. And, for about 2 days, I did. By day 3, I started to hate Scott Bishop with a burning passion. I found myself saying horrible things about Scott Bishop - loudly and in public. I would forget to blog, realize I had forgotten just as I was falling asleep and get out of bed to write a damn post! The first day I skipped a post, I was riddled with guilt and felt the need to apologize to Scott Bishop.

By the second time I forgot to blog, I felt guilt, resentment, anger and feelings of failure. All because of a stupid 28 Day Blogging Challenge. When this happens to me, I bury things. So, I buried MY BLOG! THIS PLATFORM OF MINE THAT I LOVE. All because of SCOTT BISHOP!!!! The last straw was last week when I had horrible dreams about Scott. I dreamed that he had kidnapped me and was making me drive the getaway car as he knocked off gas stations and liquor stores. True story. I really did have that dream. That was when I had to quit.

Clearly, I know that the aggression was mis-directed. Scott didn't do anything wrong! Scott came up with a brilliant idea, a great challenge. The anger was misguided. I was really mad at MYSELF for sucking but my brain is really good at pointing fingers.

What did the 28 Day Challenge prove to me? What were my results? I will tell you - Look at my last post, it was February 19th! Look at my other posts, I rarely skip more than 2 days. What I learned was... When forced to write, Leyla doesn't write!

From this point forward, I write what I want, when I want about what I want! Got it Scott Bishop!?! You are not the boss of me!

Labels: 28 Day Challenge, leyla

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You can see in the right hand column that I sometimes receive free products and services in exchange for a blog post (and other promotion). I will happily disclose that my friend and stylist Todd Fischer manages my mane in return for some publicity. This is a harder job for Todd (who works at Free Nation of Beauty) than it is for me. I have crazy hair! and Todd is a great stylist so it is simple the truth when I say great things about Todd.



For the past few months, Todd has been trying to convince me to come into the salon for a "Brazilian Hair Straightening," which is a Keratin smoothing treatment for frizzy hair, I refused - over and over again. I was concerned about the price, the upkeep, the chemicals, etc. After MONTHS of Todd insisting that I would love the process, I agreed to give it a try. (Just a quick note, this treatment was not free for me but it was discounted)

We took before and after pictures of my hair because I wanted people to realize HOW CURLY and frizzy my hair is when it is simply washed and dried. Todd is a miracle worker, let the photos serve as evidence.



The Steps:
First, Todd washed my hair thoroughly with a clarifying shampoo. At least two washes with a shampoo which is clear of Sodium Chloride and no conditioner before the treatment. The hair must be absolutely clean and free of any product to ensure that the Keratin is properly absorbed into the hair follicle.

We then trimmed my hair because I needed it desperately. Next Todd sprayed the keratin treatment into my hair, section by section, making certain that every last strand of hair was saturated by the treatment.

After my hair was saturated with the treatment, Todd blew it dry. My hair was completely blown out, bone dry. Next was the flat iron process. Todd took pieces of hair, about two inches of hair, and flat ironed my hair. I tried to capture the steam coming out of my hair but it was difficult to catch. The flat iron process took about 35 to 40 minutes as we had be certain that each strand was ironed. The heat infuses the treatment to the hair.




What to Expect

It takes a long time. I was in the salon for close to three and a half hours (including my cut & color). Without a cut & color, you should still expect to spend an hour and a half to two hours in the salon. But, you'll come out looking as fabulous as a P. Diddy era J. Lo at the Grammy's.

There is an odor. I was not bothered while Todd was spraying the stuff into my hair but during the blow dry and the flat iron my eyes burned and it made me cough. I know, it sounds scary but it is in the name of beauty.

Honestly, the process is far easier than I imagined

It is not cheap. The process runs about $350 and lasts between 8 weeks and four months.

Maintenance
You cannot wash your hair for 48 to 72 hours after the process. You also cannot tuck your behind your ears or put it into a pony tail. The hair must remain completely STRAIGHT. (Don't tell Todd but by day 3, I had to put my hair in a pony tail, in fact, it is in a pony tail right now).

The MOST important part of this process is after care. Once you receive the Brazilian Hair Straightening, you must wash your hair with a shampoo which does NOT CONTAIN SODIUM CHLORIDE. Todd recommended to brands of Shampoo: TRESemme which you can find just about everywhere and Pureology which is a salon brand.

You can purchase TRESemme on Amazon.com or Drugstore.com
TRESemme European Shampoo, Vitamin E Moisture Rich, Dry or Damaged Hair 32 fl oz (946 ml)



The End Result




Related Items You Can Buy For Straight Hair:

CHI Turbo Digital Microchip Ceramic Hairstyling Iron

Labels: 28 Day Challenge, leyla, Random