Not Another Single Mom Blog!

I have been licensed to perform hair services in Washington state since 2010. Currently I work as a stylist at Great Clips and I love my job. March 16th was the last day I was legally allowed to perform services and it's looking to be until at least the end of April before I will be back, so I wanted to take this time to talk some hair and offer some tips! Disclaimer: I am not offering any specific techniques or trade secrets, just trying to help bridge the gap since I know we're all dying to get back into, or in my case behind, the chair! CUTS - For men, clippers are the way to go! You can buy any at home kit from drugstores or online, just make sure you clean and oil them to help them last longer. For women, please avoid any kind of layer tutorials. They just never turn out good. If your hair is long, only cut split ends you can see. I've heard people call this "micro trimming" although that's not a technical term, in the chair it's still just a haircut....

March has been some kind of month for me. I haven't been able to fully process some of it because it all happened incredibly fast. It started with me having a botched tooth extraction for which I am finally starting to see pain minimize after almost a month. After spending months trying to find a dentist who would accept my insurance I said fuck it and went to a community center (for low income). I went back twice to be given a prescription for a mouthwash and then sent home. I finally gave up with them and paid cash for better treatment. The dentist there found bone fragment and severe abscess. My gums were ripped to shreds and my jaw bruised up. It hurt. Then, I was met with trying to move out into a bigger home. Many of you know I live in a two bedroom apartment with my two kids. It's getting cramped, but I knew if I could budget right I could afford a better place for all of us. I found the perfect place. I had to contact the company several times myself, only to find t...

This year-end is not just the end of 2019. It is the end of a decade, the end of my 20s. Bring that shit on, because my 20s were an absolute dumpster fire. I got into a relationship I didn't want to be in, fucked up all of my career plans and everything else that followed. All because I had no boundaries. But I'm finally standing up for myself and the next decade is going to kick ass. Before I go on about my accomplishments for the year, I want to do some reflecting and be honest. I don't remember a lot of my early 20s simply from the traumas I went through including childbirth. Without looking at pictures of Summer or Isaiah as infants, I wouldn't remember their first two years at all. I was isolated and miserable. I missed out on so much and blamed it on other people because I let someone control me. I purchased a set of four ski passes to a resort that I lived less than 20 miles from in eastern Oregon and never got to go because I wasn't allowed to go. ...

I spent most of my young adult years thinking I was broken. I struggled to fit in, to have my own identity. I suffered a lot with depression, not really knowing how to handle it. In my more recent years especially since my separation from my ex husband I have learned that I am not broken. Yes, I have memories of my childhood of a somewhat dysfunctional family. But instead of blaming my problems on my past, I embrace the past and it helps me to understand why I am the way I am today. All of my romantic relationships have been with fixers. I understand a lot of men are built this way. Naturally when a problem is presented, they want to find the best, easiest, fastest way to solve it. That's great and fine, but does not work for everyone. See, as I've discovered more about my mental health I have learned how to predict a depressive episode. I tell this to my potential partner(s) and even when presented the information, it still doesn't make sense to them. Why would you ...

On April 17, 2017 I decided I needed some kind of radical change. My now ex-husband had told me he was happier without me there, and that he wanted a divorce. I remembered from several years earlier after a break with my first codependent relationship, that a friend had recommended Codependents Anonymous. I didn't even know what codependency was at the time, but I was desperate to get my husband back and wanted to try anything and everything. What I've learned in the last two years, is the following: - I have so much more power than I was ever aware of. I never really made a decision for myself. T and I got together when I was 18 and I never knew what independence was like. Especially as a stay-at-home-mom with severe PPD I never felt like I had my own decisions to make. My life revolved around my kids. I was never put on my exes bank account, so I never saw where the money was going. I make less now than he did before, paying more in rent than we did before, and yet some...

Hello and Happy New Year to my followers! For a little while there wasn't much to speak of, but it seems like there have been a lot of little things happening in the last few weeks and it is my due diligence to share with all of you, obviously. This post might jump around a lot, so bare with me. Firstly, holy crap! 10,000 views. Thank you to my faithful followers, and my new readers as well! The second thing I'd like to bring up (and if you follow my IG account, you already know; if you don't, @notanothersinglemom) is that I have made the decision to drop out of school. When I enrolled in school, I had found stability, confidence, motivation, support, and managed my time well enough that I knew I could start school and still prioritize, above all, being a mom. That was five months ago now, and a lot has changed in five months. My kids started at new daycares and new schools, which is great! They are absolutely flourishing. Isaiah is meeting his IEP goals, and Sum...