Friday, June 25, 2010

project

I've been super busy with personal issues, and also cleaning and preparing for vacation, and working on a recycled journal swap project!  Sneak previews:





What do you think?

so here's the deal.....

I've developed a slight allergy to all things feminine.  Mostly it's the smell of it all that's putting me off.  But it's also the sight of it.  The circus of being a woman.  It's a huge production, and I'm a bit sick of it to tell you the truth.  Don't get me wrong, it's not as if I don't want to put forth any effort.  I still want to look pretty.......MY version of pretty.  Spoken or unspoken, women have rules.  We are told what we should or shouldn't be wearing, how our hair should be fixed, weather or not we should have make-up on, etc, etc.  Everyone has a different vision of beauty, so why shouldn't we be allowed to express who we really are?

I guess all this current frustration started when I decided to ditch bar soap.  I'm the only one in my house that uses it, so it would sit in the shower for a long time and get soap scum all over my porcelain tub, making it really hard to clean.  Body wash is expensive, so I smelled all the cheap stuff.  Of course I start with the pretty bottles with the girlie fragrances.  They all sound nice, but when I open the cap to take a sniff.......OMG.  Wow.  Disgusting.  All of them.  The neutral ones smell awful to me as well.  Then I think...hey...I like my boyfriends body wash.  He uses Irish Spring Aloe.  Mmmmmm.  Heavenly.  About 1/3 of the men's body washes smell good.  Why not?  I'm converted.  Then I go to find some new deodorant.  Not anti-perspirant, deodorant.  I hear that the aluminum in anti-perspirant gives you breast cancer, so I'm looking for deodorant.  Guess what?  They don't make a deodorant for women!  They had one.  One.  It was Tom's apricot scent.  It didn't smell good.  I thought it would,. but it didn't.  So once again, I start searching the men's deodorants.  I settled on Axe fresh essence.  I was drawn to the package of course, which had a dragon and a unicorn on it.  Yeah, I picked out the girliest guy deodorant, but I love it!  I also like shaving foam & it's extremely rare to find a woman's variety.  Gels and creams are everywhere, but nothing compares to Barbisol shaving foam.  And speaking of shaving, men's razors are usually heavier weighted and have more blades.  nice.  I love LOVE men's cotton pajama pants!  The beautiful blues and greys are wonderful.  I love sleeping in either those, or men's cotton boxers.  With a tight women's fitted t (in equally "male" colors), it's a really flattering way to be comfortable.  I want to wear men's underwear too.  I bought a pack of boy's superhero underwear because I thought it would be really cute to wear, but they don't fit.  I can get them on, but the design stretches and they look bad.  I have cute women's underware (that cover my whole ass!) from aerie.  Love that store.  But I'm curious as to how men's underwear would feel.  It's become this novelty to me.  Of course I do have some wifebeaters that look nice under shirts.  And I've been wearing my boyfriends long sleeve buttondowns, and they look great on me, if I do say so myself.  It's funny how a men's medium looks awesome, and a women's extra large still won't fit in the chest.  I've been looking around at fashion blogs at women in feminine buttondowns with a men's vest, paired with work pants.  Love that look.
I want to be a man.  But I am a woman.  I would never get a sex change or become butch or anything like that.  I think I would look awful as a man.  No.  I was born a woman, and I was meant to be a woman.  If I was a man I would be gay without a doubt.  I think I'm a gay man trapped in a woman's body!  Ha.  No, I really get into girlie things, it's just that sometimes enough is enough.  It's high maintenance being a woman.  I wanna brush my teeth, mess up my hair and go.  But that'll never happen.  I'm to vain for that. 

If you ever get sick of it all, try tapping into the men's section.  You'll be glad you did.

Friday, June 18, 2010

today's thougts...

  • Why can't craft supply stores be open 24 hours?
  • I can't wait to have a proper oven so I can bake again.  I didn't realize how therapeutic it is for me until I couldn't do it.
  • I want to find a good book to read.  I miss reading.  I'll probably buy Cakewalk and Uncharted TerriTORI.
  • I wish I got paid to sleep.  I'd gladly sign up for a sleep study.  If I got to sleep in my own bed.
  • I want to start a mini "quotes" journal to carry around with me so I can peek at cute inspiration.
  • I wish I could sew.
  • I just wish I had more time.  And an ice cream maker.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

art journal page 2

i did some more art journaling.......

strawberry picking...

Off to Pick & Pick farm to pick strawberries!
The sky started to look a little bit gloomy soon after we got there.  But we weren't scared.
 It was really hot and sticky so the rain felt so good.  Picking strawberries is actually kinda hard.....

....but sooo much fun!  We actually almost missed out on the picking for the season!  If you still want to pick berries around Columbia this summer, blackberries are up next.  Check out Pick & Pick's website for crop details and directions.  I hope you all are enjoying your summer so far!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

garden

 Our plants have sprouted!  How exciting!
My my how our little garden seemed to spring up overnight!  The tomato plants are up to my chest already.
They really are quite beautiful aren't they?  I use Burt's Bees tomato toner on my face....I just love the smell.
 Our tomato varieties include grape tomatoes, lemon boy, park's whopper, and super fantastic.
 We'll have to make lots of salsa because we have so many peppers planted!  Don't worry...we share.
Our pepper varieties include the big early (red bell), green bell, golden wonder (yellow bell), mucho nacho, fooled you, garden salsa, and of course jalapeno.
 What's popping up in your garden?


Saturday, June 12, 2010

the meat train

I think I want to be a vegetarian.  I've been really grossed out by meat lately, particularly in the last week.  I'm really not sure what it was that made me want to jump off the meat train.  It will most likely be a gradual process.  I'm not ready to give up fish and seafood yet.  And I will never ever become a vegan.  I love milk and cheese and eggs waaaaaaay too much! 

My reasons to give up meat:
  1. It's expensive.  Especially if you are purchasing organic meat (which you should be doing, but that is a whole other topic).
  2. It's disgusting.  I've always been creeped out about raw meat.  I just hate walking past the butcher section in the grocery store.  It stinks.  And all those neat little packages of bloody meat lined up in neat little rows on display just feels terribly wrong.  Raw meat has bothered me since I was a little girl.  I have to double bag it and place it on the bottom of the cart so it doesn't touch any of my other food.  In the check out I ask that the meat be put in a separate bag.  And when I have to cook meat I usually don't want to eat it.  I still eat it.  Meat tastes good.  But preparing it yourself is awful.  Eating out is worse though.  I can't believe the things they try to pass off as meat!  Those cold slimy slices of chicken with fake grill marks in salads, the bacon in sandwiches that is either burnt crispy ash or greasy transparent floppy slices of fat with a little meat mixed in, the steak in a fancy restaurant that leaks blood, the shriveled up chewy chicken patties, the ground beef and pepperoni that is bathed in orange grease......uuugh.     *shiver*
  3. It makes me feel good to not eat it.  My body actually feels better.  My mind feels clearer.  My body less lethargic.  Food tastes better.  And I like animals.  Cows, lambs, pigs, chickens.....all very cute.  I've seen animals get mistreated and slaughtered inhumanely and it makes me want to throw up.  I understand the food chain, and that animals eat other animals and all that.  I'm ok with others eating meat.  I don't think it's incredibly unhealthy.  I will still serve it to my family on occasion.  I would never ask someone to prepare something special for me at their house.  It's simply a personal choice.  Eating meat is just something I'm not comfortable with anymore.
Just thought I would share.....and share some lovely paintings from one of my favorite artists Mark Ryden.  You should check out his other work as well.  It's hauntingly beautiful in a funny way.  Here is a link to his official site.

Friday, June 11, 2010

*absinthe fairy*

 

....there are distracting things online.  how cute is she?!

under construction

the blog is going to look a little messy right now.  i'm messing around with the design (and with little technical skills this is tricky and might take a while)..........please bear with me.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

packaging whore

  I hate soy milk.  It's barftastic.  I just couldn't resist the adorable packaging.  I buy anything if it's cute.  Screw the contents.  It's a weakness, I know.  I did try the soy milk.  Gross.  Just as I had suspected.   But I don't care.  I have my pretty package.  It's worth it because it makes me happy every time I open the fridge.  Are you a packaging whore too?

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

homemade laundry detergent

I finally have a working washer and dryer back in my laundry room again!!!!  You have no idea how excited I am!  It has been nearly 2 months since our washer broke.  At first I didn't think it would be that bad.......laundromats are fun right?  Wrong.  They are scary.  And dirty.  And full of creepy characters like this one:
 
Ok so I didn't actually see a guy in a bunny suit, but still.  And did I mention inconvenient?!  Clumsily lugging huge baskets of dirty clothes and heavy bottles of detergent and ziplocs full of quarters cannot be done alone while watching out for creepers who might steal your purse or your nintendo ds or try to murder you.  You gotta have a companion.  Preferably an adult male companion.  Taking the kids along adds a whole other level of stress.  And you definitely can't go at night.  Or early in the morning.  That means clothes accumulate if you only get the chance to wash them about 3 times a month.

So you can imagine my delight when I finished my first load in our new to us washer and dryer.  No problems.  Just clean fresh fluffy clothes.  I was a bit worried about the smell of our second hand washer though.  I made sure I put bleach in the first load and washed with hot water.  It seemed to do the trick.  All is well.

I bought a book a while back on natural cleaning recipes.  I've been feeling really crafty lately, so I thought what better than a lazy Memorial Day Monday to try some of them out?  We made the regular washing detergent, and the hard water detergent & mixed them together, adding essential oils.  Here's our recipe:

Lavender Mint Laundry Detergent

2 C grated soap flakes (we used peppermint Dr.Bronners)
2 C washing soda (we used Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda)
1 C baking soda
1/2 C borax (we used 20 mule team)
essential oils (we used tea tree, lavender, and spearmint)
Pour all dry ingredients into large storage container.  Shake well to mix.  Add in a few drops of essential oil.  Shake again.  That's it!  Easy.  You just use half a cup for each load and wash as usual.  Our clothes came out clean and fresh.  The detergent smells wonderful before and during washing, but after drying I couldn't smell anything at all.  Maybe more essential oil next time?  We also made fabric softener.

Lavender Mint Fabric Softener
2 C white vinegar
20 drops essential oil (we used tea tree, lavender, and spearmint)
Pour ingredients into clean empty squirt bottle (we used an old soft scrub bottle that we de-labled and rinsed out really well) and shake to mix.  Add a half cup to the wash during the rinse cycle.  I worried about the vinegar smell, but mixed with the oils it smells fresh.  Clothes came out smelling clean.  Come to think of it, I didn't catch the wash during the rinse cycle, so I rinsed again adding the fabric softener.  Maybe that's why the clothes didn't smell at all when they were done.

Anyway, I was really pleased with the results.  This is a very fun and rewarding project to do.  And it saves lots of money!!     

enjoy