It's ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Cockamamie Soaps now has a website. Neither the scent list nor the shopping cart are up yet because I went cross-eyed getting as much done as I did. Nonetheless, the site is up!

Sherri has already copped the prize for World's Cutest Shoes and World's Second Cutest Shoes so I'll have to be happy with the World's Third Cutest Shoes. It's sort of like winning an Oscar for best knick-knacks in a living room scene, but it's what's left, so I'll take it.

Behold, my adorable new summer sandals:

Wednesday night was a girlie night. I had my hair cut and styled, then went to the shoe store, the craft store, and the bookstore. Thursday, I wore my adorable new sandals with my pretty navy sundress printed with pink roses and the pink cardigan with ribbon roses on it.

All very good for morale, or at least that is how I justified the expense to myself.

BFF

Say it with me..."AWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Retail Therapy

So it started out as an awful Monday. Miserable things just kept happening, and while some of the weepiness was my own fault, some of the lousy things were external.

Fortunately, I got a PM that my Lush Easter Egg was at the home of my group leader and on its way to me, an e-mail that my latest Skindecent order (all loaded with birthday, Easter, secret swap and just because presents) should be here on Thursday, and when I got home from the dentist, my order of sample tarts from Soy Simple was here. After letting the dogs out, I opened the package and sniffed everything, set some things aside for presents, and sorted the rest to be stored according to fragrance. I do that with bath products, too. I've come to the conclusion that I'm just geeky that way, and it's not going to change.

I shouldn't have taken a nap, but I did, and had another weird dream, this one about tornadoes. Given that I'm reading a very gripping book about very bad vampires, I'm grateful I dreamt about weather and not blood. I'm also grateful that I got something to kick me out of the Monday blues.

Weird dream

As a rule, I don't remember my dreams. When I do, it's most often because the dream was bizarre. Today's nap dream was no exception.

I was in a wedding party. The bride's father was a dirty old man who kept hitting on the youngest and blondest bridesmaid, the one who worked at Sephora. There were seven or eight bridesmaids, all young and blonde, except for me and the matron of honor. As matron of honor, Sherri wore a sleeveless mauve satin dress, and her light red hair was all styled so it tumbled to her waist in these beautiful curls. As we dressed for the wedding, Sherri and the bride, Sabrina (wearing ivory satin brocade) expressed shock and horror at the volume of grey in my hair, and planned to dye it, with me still in my bridesmaid's dress, when we got to the dressing rooms in the church. They saw no difficulty with time or the fact that I was wearing a fancy dress, what they argued about was what color my hair should be. Then Bigfoot stuck his cold wet nose in my face and woke me up so I could serve his dinner.

Odd, that.

A Perfect Day

The sun is shining, it's warm enough to have windows open, the house is almost completely clean, the laundry is done and put away, I've got a pink carnation wax tart from Beaded Hemp melting on the breezeway, an Emerald City Cake tart from Whiff & Sniff candles melting in the study, there are clean sheets on the bed and most, if not all, of the new daffodils I planted are sprouting. I'm especially excited to see all of the pink & white daffs coming up in the circular bed I started in the front yard.

Plus, Amy came over this morning, and I got to get her started on tarts. I sent her home with a tart burner and samples of all of my tarts from Beaded Hemp, Yankee Candle and Skindecent, plus some perfume samples from BH and some bath truffles from Skindecent. She gave me $40 worth of Border's gift cards, and my Amazon order arrived yesterday, so the library is now up to 1,752 books with more on the way when I get a chance to spend the cards.

In my near future, I see a strawberry-lemonade bath and an afternoon nap on clean sheets scented with lavender, while the windows are open and the curtains flutter in the breeze. Then when I wake up, there will be a hot cup of coffee and an evening spent sorting gifts for my secret swappee from the Lush message board, and a surprise or two for friends.

*sigh of absolute contentment*

Busted!

Somehow, Mallie found my American Idol audition pics on I Can Has Cheezburger.

A Healthy Attitude

"A Fat Rant" from Joy Nash

Oh, my aching butt!

I need to rebuild my tuchis calluses. After four weeks off work, I'm no longer suited to sitting in a semi-comfortable office chair for eight hours at a stretch. Granted, I'm never actually in the chair for more than thirty minutes before I have to get up and make a copy, dig something out of a file or go help Bosstopus discover the wonders of her hard drive, but it's still pretty much sitting.

Yesterday and today were pretty much a matter of jumping right in to the deep end of the pool. We have three accountings to finish up, two Medicaid applications in progress, one estate to start, two JWROS affidavits to complete and file, and a domestic clients clamoring for attention.

Two of the accountings are sorted, but I have to go through two fat files and find one lone bank statement for the third, and we are still waiting on evaluations by doctors for annual guardian's reports. Sadly, most doctors who accept Medicaid compensate for the ridiculously small amount of money they receive per patient by increasing the number of patients they have, and so detail stuff, like annual evaluations, goes by the wayside.

Even though my butt and my brain are both sore from the unaccustomed exercise, I'm glad to be back, and Bosstopus is glad to have me back. I think Vegan Lawyer & Goldilocks are too. :-)

Nausea-inducing

Arguing tends to make me sick to my stomach, even when I am arguing about something in which I believe strongly. This is probably because, as a friend pointed out to me, I want people to like me. There's a thread I'm going to have to avoid from now on, because despite what I thought were fairly calm, coherent posts on my part, I've failed to convince anyone that my argument has any merit. That said, there's another thing that makes me sick, and I'm going to vent about it here.

There are a couple of tv shows and a website which exist to entrap "sexual predators" by having decoys enter chat rooms and pose as underage teenagers, then lure chatters into meeting them. If they show up for the meeting, they are arrested. This subject has actually come up on two different message boards. At the first, I stayed out of the discussion, but on the second, I participated and wound up nauseous and frustrated.

After a talk with a friend, I am somewhat less upset about the entrapment portion of the problem. From what little I have seen, the decoys are (generally) not the ones initiating the sexual portion of the chat, which does put the adult subjects in the wrong.

The things which bother me have to do with pandering to society's lowest common denominator, news organizations forgetting what they are supposed to be doing, misleading and inflammatory information and vigilantism.

These shows are selling fear and violence to make a profit, and America, at least, is buying it. The tv shows which run these "stings" are successful in terms of viewers and advertisers, or there wouldn't be more shows made. The Romans had their circuses, and now we have "To Catch a Predator" or whatever. I'm sure that if the subject showed up at a house and was greeted with a hungry lion, the ratings would shoot through the roof. Yes, there are plenty of people out there who get their kicks sitting in their nice, comfy living room saying, "Wow, he really deserved to have six cops tackle him. I'd like five minutes alone with that guy." We don't need to feed those kicks.

Second, news organizations are supposed to report the news in an objective fashion, not create it. Why don't we send Stone Phillips out with a pocket full of Molotov cocktails and addresses for every single person who's done something the viewers can agree is "bad." That'll make some news and some great ratings!

Third, in the thread I am not permitting myself to post in any longer, one of the posters who is a big fan and proponent of these shows stated as a fact that "there are millions of predators on the Internet." Erm. There may be. I'm sure there are millions of people with internet access, and some percentage of them are probably potential or actual predators. But children and teens are still at more risk from someone they know face-to-face. Stirring up hysteria with stories about epidemics of sexual predation is irresponsible.

Finally, while one of these shows (the only one I've seen--watched half of an episode, turned it off and threw up) utilizes the police, the website and possibly other shows use decoys who are strictly "concerned citizens." Yes, it's such a good idea to add vigilantes to our circuses. We ought to be all out there, prepared to trap and expose others' misdeeds instead of working to improve ourselves and have a positive impact on the people around us.

If the police feel that this is a decent use of their time and resources, so be it. I see no need to dramatize and televise it.

Ugh, I'm still sick.

Sponge Bob, I hate you.

Because of the bariatric surgery, I am supposed to take a sugar-free chewable vitamin daily. Chewable vitamins, of course, are marketed almost entirely for children, so I have bought Scooby Doo and Winnie The Pooh vitamins, making my decision solely on what's available and sugar-free on a given trip to the pharmacy. The 'fruity' flavors were a big chalky, but nothing I couldn't live with.

Then I got the bright idea of buying the big bottle of Centrum Sponge Bob sugar-free chewables at the warehouse store. For $13, I got a six-month supply, instead of paying $6 for a two-month supply. Great deal, right? Erk. Now I'm stuck with 173 of the worst-tasting vitamins I have ever run across. Most of them appear to be grape, which is a flavor I have always hated. None of the flavors are bad at first(except the grape), but they leave an incredibly bitter aftertaste. Each morning when I crunch one of these suckers, I pat myself on the back for doing it, and try not to think about the fact that I'll be doing this daily until next September. Bleah.

Don't like Ohio weather?

Wait five minutes, it'll change.

Last night, when I couldn't sleep, I sat on the breezeway and watched the thunderstorm for a while. It was quite satisfactorily flashy and noisy, and I enjoyed it very much. I entertained myself by thinking of songs that mention rain, then tried to remember exactly how Terry Pratchett described Sam Vimes' childhood imaginings about raindrops as soldiers.

Littlefoot was less delighted by the storm than I was, and kept trying to plaster himself up against me. The accepted wisdom is to ignore the fear, because when you pet & reassure the dog, it reinforces the thought that there is something to be afraid of, and reinforces the needy behavior as well. Cruel pack leader that I am, I ruffled his ears and wouldn't let him crawl under the covers with me when I finally went back to bed.

This morning when I woke, it was snowing. The snow continued long enough to coat everything, including the daffodils & grape hyacinths that are just starting to sprout. Even though I know this happens frequently, and that the plants will be fine, I still feel sorry for them, getting snowed on when they are just babies.

The snow also highlights all the downed tree limbs in the yard, and now that I am permitted to lift up to twenty-five pounds, I may go out this weekend and drag a few of them up to the driveway so I can break them up and stuff them in a bag. I think one of the reasons I've been sleeping poorly is that I haven't been active enough to get tired. If I spent Saturday out in the yard, I have all day Sunday to recover so that I can go back to work on Monday.

The Bath

At last, I may have proper tub baths, with no worries about evisceration or other untoward consequences. All afternoon I pondered which scent I should use for my first (approved) post-surgical bath. I decided on carnation, so I started with a Holiday bar, a limited-edition Christmas product from Lush, which I've been hoarding. I added half a bath truffle (fizzie) in Pink Carnation from Skindecent, and washed with Pink Carnation foaming bath butter, also from Skindecent. Afterwards, I used Pink Carnation whipped moisture cream from Skindecent and just for me, a dab of Flirt perfume from Lucky.

I am one happy Jammies, floating around on my spicy floral cloud. However, I will still have to choose what type of bath to have tomorrow night. Hmmmm...

Spring has sproinged

It doesn't matter what the calendar says.

It doesn't matter that there are still heaps of old snow at various points in my yard.

It doesn't matter that the weather is grey and damp.

Rooter is awake, so spring is here!

Yes, when I got up this morning, Littlefoot ran to the breezeway door and stared very hard at the farthest point back in the yard, and there was my resident groundhog, galumphing from one side of the yard to the other. If Punxatawney Phil can indicate how much more winter we're going to have, then Rooter can damn well indicate that it's over. She looks good, a bit on the skinny side, but good. The minute the doctor says it's okay, I'll be out in the yard cleaning up downed limbs and mulching flower beds.

I'm also planning some flower orders for the spring, and I can't wait to get out there and get my paws muddy. I have a list of things I am going to ask Hot Doctor if I can do when I see him on Monday, including drive my car, take a tub bath, resume riding my exercise bike, vacuuming and lifting heavy things. I am not going to ask him about going back to work, I'm just starting back part-time on Monday. I know that Bosstopus will be understanding if I say I'm hurting and need to go home, I know that I will pay attention to what my body is telling me, and I absolutely know that if I wait another week, I will die on my first day back, probably from an avalache of piled-up paperwork on my desk.

The Heather sent me a get-well box, filled with deep dark chocolate, Lush bath products, a trashy novel, a frog note holder, a journal, a bathtub rubber froggie which squeaks, and froggie socks. I am forever spoiled for ordinary chocolate, I had to hide the squeakyfroggie from the puppymonsters, and I can't wait to take a bath and wear my socks. Erm, not at the same time, of course.

The Evil Alpaca sent me an otter t-shirt to go with the plushy otters he, Sherri and Capt. Spaulding have sent me. Despite the fact that I have now lost 110 pounds, I have not yet lost any weight in the boobage, so the picture sort of looks like otter porn. *blush*

All in all, there is a pretty happy Jammies looking forward to spring this year.

Overdoing has its price

I'm pretty sore today, owing to multiple trips to the basement Sunday and yesterday. Then yesterday afternoon, Doc came and took me shopping. We hit Yankee candle, where I bought a huge stash of tarts and tealights, and then to BJ's Wholesale, followed by a quick trip to Giant Eagle. I was not impressed with Giant Eagle, which took over Tops last year. Poor selection in some important (to me) areas. If you want to carry only two kinds of cleanser, fine, but one of 'em better be my brand, and it wasn't. *grump*

On a more serious note, I have been pondering since I got yesterday's mail. In the mail was a note from a friend. She's a "work friend" rather than a close friend, and I was very surprised when she confided in me that she got divorced last August, and hasn't told anyone but a counselor. I've been writing and re-writing my return letter in my head, trying to get it just right. It may take a while.

Here's what I have so far. Comments & suggestions are welcome.

Dear X, Thank you, both for the compliment about my bravery, and for your
trust in confiding in me. I am honored beyond saying that you would share this
news with me, and of course I will respect your privacy. However, I want to make
sure you know that I am here any time you need someone to talk to. We could even
stick with written correspondence, and you'd never have to discuss anything.

Although my relationship with [Fartface Ex] was nowhere near as long as
yours with [former Mr. X], I do know the heartbreak which comes from one person
refusing to admit that there are problems in a relationship. That kind of
blindness is extremely destructive, and while I don't know all the details, I
think you did the right thing. I wish this hadn't happened to you, and I
certainly hope that your life moves upward from here.

If you would like me to tell [mutual friend I thought she was closer to
than me] what happened, I will do so, otherwise, I will not say anything to
anyone. I am tremendously complimented by your trust in me, and will not breach
it. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,

Cocktailing

I am usually disparaging of the practice of turning nouns into verbs. However, I will make an occasional exception when the word so used describes a process either not yet described by common vocabulary, or when such a word fills a creative need. The term "cocktailing," which I learned at the Lush forum, is one such word. It means combining bath products in different scents to create a custom bath, and it is something to which I have taken like an otter to water.

Not only do I cocktail my bath products, but I have discovered the joys of combining a tealight in one scent with a wax tart in another scent. So far, in both bath products and home scent, I have tried strawberry/lemon; lemon/orange; chocolate/mint; sugar/cinnamon and lemon/grapefruit. The last one smells rather like dishwashing liquid, probably because that seems to be the top note on the wax melt. Eww. Not doing that again. The strawberry/lemon combo has worked out so well that I have requested custom bath products in that scent combo from my new obsession, Skindecent.

Skindecent, which is a one-woman operation, has basically replaced my Lush addiction. There are more scents, more products, and most of the scents come in all the products, which allows for layering. The Pink Carnation scent is probably my favorite, followed by Tropical Rainforest and the combination of Fresh Squeezed Lemonade/Strawberry Fields. I hadn't realized how much I missed being able to use soap or scrub, lotion and solid perfume in the same scent until I got mad at Lush and went looking for alternatives. *grin*

And yes, I am going to try to be good and just take showers until I see the doc again next Monday. *sigh*

Obsessed

I want a bath.

I desperately crave a bath.

I need a bath.

I am horribly nauseous, and a bath with peppermint/spearmint bubble bath is exactly the solution to my troubles.

Two more weeks until Bath Day.

I may not live that long...aargh.