Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sing it, Bob!
Sorry, that's SIR Bob.
I didn't need to check the forecast to know that it was a full moon. If I didn't know better, I would've sworn I was PMSing. (women on estrogen don't get PMS, do they?). Monday + full moon + a million little things = this girl at the end of her rope. maybe I can laugh about some of this later, but I am NOT laughing now.
~*~*~*~*
Pro tip: electronics work a LOT more efficiently if you plug them in before trying to use them. I'm pretty sure the toaster is still mocking me.
~*~*~*~
I am in love with Suave's Captivating Curls Cream Mousse. i've been using the spray gel for a while but finally gave this a go. OMG, this stuff is just amazing!! It comes out foamy like a mousse (minus the "holy crap will it ever stop expanding!"), but turns creamy when you work it between your hands, and it's doing incredible things for my curls. You have to work it into soaking wet hair, and then blot dry with a non-fuzzy towel (just like the curly girls say to soak and plop!), and even without hitting it with the diffuser, I had the most amazing spirals. my hair was also really tightly curled and shorter than normal - those curls had amazing spring to them. and they were oh-so soft and silky. normally i'd follow a product like this with a gel to kinda cement things in place, but it wasn't necessary at all. it was ridiculously humid today, and my hair looked awesome.
I didn't need to check the forecast to know that it was a full moon. If I didn't know better, I would've sworn I was PMSing. (women on estrogen don't get PMS, do they?). Monday + full moon + a million little things = this girl at the end of her rope. maybe I can laugh about some of this later, but I am NOT laughing now.
~*~*~*~*
Pro tip: electronics work a LOT more efficiently if you plug them in before trying to use them. I'm pretty sure the toaster is still mocking me.
~*~*~*~
I am in love with Suave's Captivating Curls Cream Mousse. i've been using the spray gel for a while but finally gave this a go. OMG, this stuff is just amazing!! It comes out foamy like a mousse (minus the "holy crap will it ever stop expanding!"), but turns creamy when you work it between your hands, and it's doing incredible things for my curls. You have to work it into soaking wet hair, and then blot dry with a non-fuzzy towel (just like the curly girls say to soak and plop!), and even without hitting it with the diffuser, I had the most amazing spirals. my hair was also really tightly curled and shorter than normal - those curls had amazing spring to them. and they were oh-so soft and silky. normally i'd follow a product like this with a gel to kinda cement things in place, but it wasn't necessary at all. it was ridiculously humid today, and my hair looked awesome.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
new things
I hope it's a sign of growth, and willingness to learn and expand my horizons, that I'm finding and incorporating new things in my life.
last month, I began the Curly Girl treatment of my hair but co-washing with the super-expensive conditioning wash my stepmom got me. my hair rejoiced! over the last week, I've done some more reading on the methods and products, and today, I did my first co-wash with a new (cheaper) product, followed by my first plopping with another new-to-me (reasonably priced!) product. and you know what? my hair looks freaking awesome today. i've got some serious curls going on, lots of nice thick clumps, no pyramiding, and virtually no frizz. this makes me so damn happy! the plopping will take some practice to get right and to break my terry towel head-wrap habit, but if I can look this awesome every day? I'm in!
Sometime this past week, and I'm not even sure how (probably via Pinterest), i discovered Unfuck Your Habitat. Not knowing the difference between a blog and tumblr must be a sign of my advancing age. I guess blogging is for old farts like me, and tumblr is for the cool kids? whatevs. I will say, I like this approach. It's like FlyLady for real people. i haven't actually done any of the challenges or anything, but the before-and-afters are quite inspiring. in fact, i PAID FOR and downloaded the app. my house needs some serious unfucking, and maybe getting to play on my ipod while i do it will help?
last month, I began the Curly Girl treatment of my hair but co-washing with the super-expensive conditioning wash my stepmom got me. my hair rejoiced! over the last week, I've done some more reading on the methods and products, and today, I did my first co-wash with a new (cheaper) product, followed by my first plopping with another new-to-me (reasonably priced!) product. and you know what? my hair looks freaking awesome today. i've got some serious curls going on, lots of nice thick clumps, no pyramiding, and virtually no frizz. this makes me so damn happy! the plopping will take some practice to get right and to break my terry towel head-wrap habit, but if I can look this awesome every day? I'm in!
Sometime this past week, and I'm not even sure how (probably via Pinterest), i discovered Unfuck Your Habitat. Not knowing the difference between a blog and tumblr must be a sign of my advancing age. I guess blogging is for old farts like me, and tumblr is for the cool kids? whatevs. I will say, I like this approach. It's like FlyLady for real people. i haven't actually done any of the challenges or anything, but the before-and-afters are quite inspiring. in fact, i PAID FOR and downloaded the app. my house needs some serious unfucking, and maybe getting to play on my ipod while i do it will help?
Friday, January 25, 2013
Coffee
As a kid, one of things I always associated with being a grown-up was drinking coffee. My parents both drank coffee, so it made sense that when I grew up I’d drink coffee, too. except I never really liked it. when I was 21-22, I worked as a nanny, and the parents were heavy coffee drinkers – more than a pot a day, whereas my parents never finished a pot. I remember one of the parents telling me once, jokingly, that they didn’t trust people who weren’t coffee drinkers. Part of me was hurt by this statement (they’re paying me to care for their children – how can they NOT trust me?) and part of me didn’t understand why it was a big deal. I was (and still am) a Diet Coke girl. Why did my caffeine delivery device matter to them?
A year or two later, I finally gave coffee-drinking a go for real. I’d tried in the past, by adding increasingly larger amounts of coffee to my cocoa, but at the end of the day, I just wanted my Diet Coke. Artificial sweetener (which is sweeter than sugar) and lots of creamer (or nonfat dry milk powder at home) helped make it palatable, but I still didn’t feel like a “real” coffee drinker, so therefore I didn’t feel like a “real” adult. Yeah, I had issues.
About the time I turned 25, I got my first real full-time office job. The guy I worked for was too cheap to spring for a fridge or a microwave, but he bought a coffee pot, creamer and sweeteners, and my coffee-drinking habits were formed.
Fast forward 16 years. Starbucks has infiltrated the Midwest, along with Tim Horton, Panera, and Caribou Coffee. You can even get a pretty decent cuppa from your local gas station.
I’ll let you in on a secret: I hate Starbucks. It’s freaking expensive, and the menu intimidates me. I just want a freaking cup of coffee, and let me doctor it up myself. I’m not going to pay you $6 so you can intimidate me when I don’t know the lingo, and then load it full of crap I don’t need.
That said, I do love the coffee/chocolate combo (like making my hot cocoa with coffee instead of water), and a frozen milkshake-y mocha is a nice treat. It doesn’t even have to be frozen or milkshake-y, just cold and chocolate-y. Silk used to make a mocha soymilk, but I could almost never find it, and it’s expensive. One day it occurred to me that all I needed to do was add coffee to chocolate soymilk and boom! Instant mocha! So, armed with a half gallon of chocolate silk and a jar of instant coffee, my home-mocha-making was born.
Iced Soy Mocha:
Stir a heaping spoonful of instant coffee into about 2 tbsp water in your glass to dissolve. Add a cup or so of chocolate soymilk. Stir and serve over ice (if desired)
Yummy Iced Soy Mocha Treat:
Take the above and run it through the blender to make it milk shake-y. serve with an umbrella straw.
Cheater cappuccino:
Make a packet of instant hot cocoa using coffee rather than water. Add a creamer or two for extra richness.
Eventually I got tired of it, or would forget to get the chocolate soymilk, and it’s easier to just buy a case of Diet Coke (or the cheaper store-brand equivalent) and go on about my day. Then my friend Grace got a Keurig. And she raved about it. she made all sorts of concoctions for her morning caffeine hit, and would tempt me with it any time I was over. It didn’t take long for me to covet thy friend’s kitchen gadgets, but at $200 there was no way I’d be getting one. I casually mentioned to Grace that I’d like to get one, I didn’t think she’d find me one. Her mom had a spare, one of the smaller models, and was selling it for less than half the retail price. She still had the box and it had hardly been used, so of course I jumped on it.
Iced Mocha a la Keurig:
Brew a lg cup of strong coffee using the Keurig. Take a hot cocoa K-cup, open it (ignoring the warning on the foil lid), and stir into your cup of coffee. Pour over a large tumbler full of ice. Stir well and enjoy.
Even in the depths of winter, this is usually my morning caffeine hit. Once at work, I drink decaf, hot.
I suppose I can call myself a “real” adult because I am finally a “real” coffee drinker.
A year or two later, I finally gave coffee-drinking a go for real. I’d tried in the past, by adding increasingly larger amounts of coffee to my cocoa, but at the end of the day, I just wanted my Diet Coke. Artificial sweetener (which is sweeter than sugar) and lots of creamer (or nonfat dry milk powder at home) helped make it palatable, but I still didn’t feel like a “real” coffee drinker, so therefore I didn’t feel like a “real” adult. Yeah, I had issues.
About the time I turned 25, I got my first real full-time office job. The guy I worked for was too cheap to spring for a fridge or a microwave, but he bought a coffee pot, creamer and sweeteners, and my coffee-drinking habits were formed.
Fast forward 16 years. Starbucks has infiltrated the Midwest, along with Tim Horton, Panera, and Caribou Coffee. You can even get a pretty decent cuppa from your local gas station.
I’ll let you in on a secret: I hate Starbucks. It’s freaking expensive, and the menu intimidates me. I just want a freaking cup of coffee, and let me doctor it up myself. I’m not going to pay you $6 so you can intimidate me when I don’t know the lingo, and then load it full of crap I don’t need.
That said, I do love the coffee/chocolate combo (like making my hot cocoa with coffee instead of water), and a frozen milkshake-y mocha is a nice treat. It doesn’t even have to be frozen or milkshake-y, just cold and chocolate-y. Silk used to make a mocha soymilk, but I could almost never find it, and it’s expensive. One day it occurred to me that all I needed to do was add coffee to chocolate soymilk and boom! Instant mocha! So, armed with a half gallon of chocolate silk and a jar of instant coffee, my home-mocha-making was born.
Iced Soy Mocha:
Stir a heaping spoonful of instant coffee into about 2 tbsp water in your glass to dissolve. Add a cup or so of chocolate soymilk. Stir and serve over ice (if desired)
Yummy Iced Soy Mocha Treat:
Take the above and run it through the blender to make it milk shake-y. serve with an umbrella straw.
Cheater cappuccino:
Make a packet of instant hot cocoa using coffee rather than water. Add a creamer or two for extra richness.
Eventually I got tired of it, or would forget to get the chocolate soymilk, and it’s easier to just buy a case of Diet Coke (or the cheaper store-brand equivalent) and go on about my day. Then my friend Grace got a Keurig. And she raved about it. she made all sorts of concoctions for her morning caffeine hit, and would tempt me with it any time I was over. It didn’t take long for me to covet thy friend’s kitchen gadgets, but at $200 there was no way I’d be getting one. I casually mentioned to Grace that I’d like to get one, I didn’t think she’d find me one. Her mom had a spare, one of the smaller models, and was selling it for less than half the retail price. She still had the box and it had hardly been used, so of course I jumped on it.
Iced Mocha a la Keurig:
Brew a lg cup of strong coffee using the Keurig. Take a hot cocoa K-cup, open it (ignoring the warning on the foil lid), and stir into your cup of coffee. Pour over a large tumbler full of ice. Stir well and enjoy.
Even in the depths of winter, this is usually my morning caffeine hit. Once at work, I drink decaf, hot.
I suppose I can call myself a “real” adult because I am finally a “real” coffee drinker.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
too much? not enough?
So far today, I've had:
7:00 AM: 800mg ibuprofen (usual morning dose)
10:30 AM: 2 Aleve
Noon: 1000mg acetaminophen
1:30 PM: 800mg ibuprofen
And I’m still in significant pain.
contemplating taking my evening dose of ibuprofen now, vs later (usually when i go to bed) simply because i'm still in pain.
this is partly a flare, and mostly a strained muscle in my neck/upper back. my ability to cope with this is pretty much non-existent, i'm dangerously close to crumbling into a pile of sobbing mess. it's times like this that hate living alone/being single, that I wonder how I'll ever get through the work-week, never mind the winter. It's times like this that I contemplate starting the process of applying for disability since i'll no doubt be denied the first time. it's times like this that i feel lower than low, utterly worthless, and hate everything about my life.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
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