The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Blankets 22 & 23
I did these during designated nap times at Disney. I doubt I will be so productive this week in Washington:
Fleece from Penny’s stash. Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn in White. Three rows of single crochet.
Blanket 21
Home and Online
I was at Disney World with my brother, Scott, and his family. This is the way I will remember it:
Alex and his daddy on the runaway train. This was his second trip – I took him the first time and he was so thrilled that I told my brother not to miss out. I don’t know what Alex is pointing out to him, and I don’t think it even matters.
The Answer is Nine Days
The question is:
“How long can we live in a house with no dog before we start to twitch?”
The search begins. And it starts with Petfinder.
The Eyebrow Thing
In a funny twist, after I wrote about botching an eyebrow wax, my friend Fluffycat asked me to post about home waxing. I do not want anyone to learn technique from me. However, I am happy to talk about product, so as to save some time and money.
When I first started, I bought one of those roll-on waxers. It seemed to me that something with an applicator would be easier to use than freehand with the popsicle sticks. I thought I would be able to control the amount of wax better.
Wrong. I could not control the flow of the wax. And, as Marilyn reminds me all the time, you either have to keep the head of the roll on really, really clean – or replace it after each use. So I went to the next level.
Still not convinced that I wanted to invest in the whole shebang, I bought Gigi’s microwavable creme wax kit. (I still have the box because I keep my cut muslin strips and popsicle sticks in there, as it fits really nicely on my medicine cabinet shelf):
This kit includes everything one needs to get get started and worked just fine. It retails at Sally Beauty Supply for $18.99 Once I was confident with the tools, I bought the full sized stuff:
Obviously, one isn’t required to use all of the products in the line. In fact, most people just use astringent to cleanse their faces, baby powder to prep and baby oil to clean up the skin. and Marilyn isn’t all that impressed with the Gigi wax – she prefers Satin Smooth products. But I am satisfied with this stuff, particularly because I shop at Sally and it is all right there.
Here are my tips:
- Go conservative. The reason I have been making mistakes lately is that I’ve become lazy about taking the time with tweezers to clean up loose hairs in the brow line. Don’t be lazy.
- Keep everything clean. Use the collar on the wax warmer. Use the cover when not in use. Keep the applicator sticks and muslin strips clean and dry. If bacteria starts to grow on supplies and equipment, the very least that will happen is that your skin will start to break out.
- Don’t get fancy. One reason I decided I could do this at home is that I am not interested in the artistic shaping. I want my brows to be symmetrical, with clean lines and just a bit thinner.
- You are not committed until you tear off the strip. If you applied the wax badly, or even if you just have a bad feeling about it, you can use the oil-based stuff to remove it and start over. It’s better than botching it.
- Have the appropriate cosmetics handy in case you botch it.
Girl Thing Redux
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0017KYD96&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrWe interrupt this program for a totally unpaid product endorsement:
I believe I have mentioned that I wax my own eyebrows, as opposed to having them done in the salon. There are two major benefits:
1. Not having to pay $12 – $15, plus tip, every time I have it done.
2. Being able to do it any time I want to, because sometimes, it seriously has to be done right now.
Marilyn, my aesthetician who is so good that people hire her to teach classes on the subject, added a third: I know just exactly how sanitary (or not) my stuff is.
You can’t trust every random place that does waxing.
There is, of course, a major downside:
I am not a professional and sometimes screw up. Hence the point of the story.
A couple of weeks ago, I accidentally waxed too much. A loose drop right in the middle of my eyebrow. I have had minor accidents in the past, but this was major. There was no way to even it out so as to look natural.
Panic.
However, I prepared for this contingency. Bare Minerals has an eyebrow powder that is absolutely fabulous. It comes with a sealer in a mascara tube to make it look less powdery and, theoretically, set it. I didn’t think it would hold up the way I needed it to hold up. So I tried using the powder with the Weather Everything eyeliner sealer, about which I have raved before.
You have to be careful, because the stuff is strong and rather sticky until it dries. But it worked like a charm. Worked so well that I started to understand the women that permanently rid themselves of eyebrows and pencil (or tattoo) them in.
Not that I’m going there.
P.S. My natural brows have (half) recovered now, so don’t bother staring at me.
Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson
This biography of Albert Einstein was an odd pick for me, inasmuch as I don’t know the first thing about physics. And hardly care. I was interested in Einstein’s personal history as a German Jewish intellectual in the time that Germany was coming apart.
Isaacson gave me what I wanted. And the science, too.
Here’s what I found interesting: Einstein renounced his German citizenship as a young man, when he went to Switzerland. His first wife was…Serbian, if I remember correctly..and apparently, they had a daughter before they were married that somehow disappeared from history. The predominant theory is the child died in the care of a family friend before the Einsteins could reclaim her. The theory continues that the first wife never quite forgave him. After several years and two more children, and a return to Germany, they separated. Thus ends the tabloid-y part.
So why did Einstein go back to Germany? It sounds to me like it was partly money, but also that Germany was where the action was in the scientific community at the time. At least among physicists. And when the Nazis came to power, they were reviled and bailed out – many to the U.S. Einstein was here when he heard that Hitler had been elected.
Toward the end, there are many anecdotes about Einstein’s FBI file and communist ties and McCarthy. I like that for all his iconoclastic behavior, Einstein maintained that his questions of authority were consistent with the very spirit on the U.S. Constitution. I have often heard that foreign-born Americans “get it” better than many native-born. The privilege and responsibility of the Freedom of Expression. He also reserved the right to change his mind, upon the entrance of new evidence.
Toward the end, Isaacson makes a really cool observation:
Einstein was convinced that the U.S. was heading down the path of the fascists in the early 1950s. By the end, though, he had figured us out, “…somehow they manage to return to normality. Everything – even lunacy – is mass produced here. But everything goes out of fashion very quickly.”
Packing Up
About a week ago my dog, Shadow, died. It was not an epic tragedy, but if you are interested in the details, you can find them here. We haven’t decided if or when we might look for another dog, so I packed up the perishable stuff, thinking I would take it to a friend with dogs.
Bags and bags of treats, some opened and some brand new. Extra doses of Frontline, Heartgard, glucosamine. Different types of canned food. So I loaded up the car and took it to Heartland Animal Shelter, in Northbrook, along with a pile of old newspapers.
I walked in the front door and was greeted by two ladies, thrilled that I was bringing things for the dogs. I wasn’t sure if they would want it all, particularly the open boxes and bags of treats. They sure did – particularly all of the things we’d tried for Shadow’s sensitive stomach. Which made me think about the rest of the kibble – I’d left it in the pantry at home. They were happy to have that, too.
So, those treats that your dog doesn’t like? Those vitamins my cat refuses to take? The toys they never touched? Those blankets and towels you were ready to throw away? Think of Heartland, or any other local animal shelter.
Shadow was also a shelter dog, and I can’t tell you how much easier it was to pack up his stuff, knowing it was going to help out other animals. You can find Heartland’s wish list here.
BTT: Book Reviews
This week’s Booking Through Thursday question was:
Do you read book reviews? Whose do you trust? Do they affect your reading habits? Your buying habits?
I do read book reviews – generally from whatever source is reviewing a book that catches my eye. If a headline pops up in an online periodical, like the Chicago Tribune or USA Today, I will probably read it. I have the New Yorker’s Book Review in my Favorites, but I don’t read it religiously.
My new habit, and it isn’t a good one, is to look up the book on Librarything and check out the collection of reviews garnered from members. This can be really dangerous in that there have been several popular fiction books that I have read and actively disliked – The Time Traveler’s Wife is a good example.
But in general, Librarything reviews balance each other out until I can get a reasonable idea of whether I will enjoy something.
Kids are Heroes
The more time I spend in the Land of Charitable Institutions, the more I see about kids – children – rocking their causes. Conor O’Phelan, of Vonate.org, has been doing the “donate a daily tweet” to Kids are Heroes. While I am not committing to tweeting this every day, I do think you should check out this video on what they are all doing:
The Next Dark Age 