The Nun in Me

Well, I cut my hair short last night—real short. It’s a bob. I was attempting a Katie Holmes look, because while I know I do not really look like her we do share a lot of similar features: dark hair, big eyes, big eye lashes, long jaw line, goofy grins. I went to Great Clips, because I am cheap. It did not turn out to be such a cheap hair cut and she did not really do what I asked. I took in a picture of Katie Holmes from a hair styling website and right below it said to ask the hair stylist for “a wedgey bob with layers for volume.” So that’s what I asked for and she did her own thing anyway. One, it really is not wedgey at all. It’s just short and kind of boyish. She cut icky bangs in front. She said she was going ot frame my face. Why do stylists always want to do that to me? Stop cutting my hair short in front! I did not even know she was doing it until it was done. She tried to tell me that the cut Katie Holmes had was a straight cut bob. (She had given me an unattractive bowl cut.) I was really polite and said, “I think I really want it shorter in back," (to complete the wedgey bob look). It came out shorter than I intended, but I can work with it. After some styling this morning it is more Katie Holmes-esque. It will grow out pretty cute. It’s pretty cute today anyway. I got the name of a stylist who guarantees a wedgey bob—next time! I was just hoping to look really chic and sexy for our trip to the Big Apple next week. I think I look like an adorable, soccer mom. C’est la vie. Est ce ce que vous obtenez quand vous êtes bon marché. (That is what you get when you are cheap. Although, Bon Marche literally translates as "good buy" and this was not a good buy.) I will try to provide a picture for those who are curious.

The blog helps me get annoying thoughts out of my mind—like an obsession to get a chic, wedgey bob. I should have blogged about it, then maybe I would have not gone to Great Clips...Na, just kidding my cheapness will not go away. Even when I was a little kid I was cheap. I remember doing all sorts of weird cheap things. It is not that I am afraid to spend money. I will spend with glee. I just have to feel like I am not spending too much while I do it. Or, I have to know that I “need” it and not “want” it.

I think what created “Cheap Renee” was my second grade year in school. I went to a poor Catholic school and my grandmother moved in with our family. The Catholic school was run by nuns and they had all grown up in the Great Depression Era. The principal, Sister Katherine Mary, was over six foot tall. She grew up with six siblings all large/tall girls. Needless to say, feeding six large girls during the Great Depression was an impossible feat. They went hungry a lot and eventually their parents shipped them all off to convents just so they could be fed (probably not just to be fed, but that was a major factor). Sister Katherine Mary taught us all a lot about appreciating what you have and not wasting. No student could leave the lunch room without finishing their entire lunch. There was very little waste. After the Thanksgiving holiday she collected turkey carcasses from parishioners and the students’ families. She and the other nuns would pick meat off the bones, so they had meat and again, no waste.

While Sister Katherine Mary was making a huge impression on me, my grandmother, who also grew up in the Great Depression, moved in with my family. The way she lived and acted and the lessons she taught us were very similar. She taught me to only take what I needed and not anything more. Combined these two women taught me to never ask for more, because I did not need it; I have so many things and blessings. It is very easy to live happily on very little. It is very hard to want much and have much. I could go on and on about these lessons on need and want. The point is, there is a little voice in the back of my head saying, “You don’t need it.” and, “Less is simpler.” "Don't spend too much." Simplicity is one of the ways to get closer to God.