Over wintered

If you follow my photos on Instagram or my Project 366 on Posterous, you will have seen that I recently sprained my ankle quite badly.

When I looked back at them, the horrendous swelling and bruising wasn’t the most shocking thing in the photos. It was this:

Look at that messy, chipped and worn nail varnish. Yuk! My toenails would never look like that in the summer and then today I noticed that my eyebrows are starting to look a little straggly* and I don’t know if it’s just because I have a horrible cold, but my skin looks awful. Can a cold make your wrinkles look deeper?

My body is completely and utterly in winter mode and I don’t like it. I am tired and have been telling myself that I’m mainly at home at the moment or wrapped up in hats and scarves so don’t need to pay attention to these trivial matters, but it’s not about what others can see and of course these things are trivial and I don’t need to do them, but I want to.

The worthy, earnest ‘me’ would tell you that it is what is on the inside that matters and that I am being shallow and vain, but the realistic ‘me’ knows that how you feel when you glance in a mirror or a shop window does matter and providing you are not over-fixating on it, there is nothing wrong with caring.

I am on limited funds though, so a splurge at a salon is out of the question, plus, if I’m honest there are lots of other things I’d rather do with an hour or so of child free time. So, what tips do you have for me? How do you pamper yourself when funds and time are limited? I think I shall start with those awful nails, even though my toe nails won’t be on show for at least another four months.

*Do NOT suggest threading. Nothing is worth that pain, not even the chance of groomed eyebrows