Summertime and Its Time to Be Sexy
I hate body hair. Of course, I hate shaving and waxing in a salon requires at least a glass of wine or a pain pill — and that’s just for my eyebrows. I expect anything more intimate would require a xanax, a martini, and some chocolate (please note, I am joking… I do not recommend mixing medications with booze — Chocolate, however, is mixable as far as I know!). So, what is an Organization bitch who wants to be sleek and sexy for the summer supposed to do?
Well, I’ve got two ideas, one I’ve tried and one I wish I had thought of last night before I tried the first one.
The first is called “Smooth Away.” It is a small device rather shaped like a curry comb but with a very fine grit sandpaper-like pad that attaches to it. You then use this thing to rub away the hair from unwanted places. My mom swear by it for the upper lip, however I don’t think you could get the preciseness needed for eyebrows (unless you just want them completely gone). I tried this on my calves last night. At first glance it was ok. Took a lot of rubbing, so I figure I got one Hell of an exfoliation. It smelled funky though… There were several patches that were very stubborn. Don’t know how this would work with more delicate areas… It’s kind of a scary idea.
All in all, it was ok. Not as miraculous as I thought it would be, smelt funny, and left my legs covered in white, dead skin cells, and I have stubble this morning — that short, stubborn kind. Dammit. On the plus side, I did get a good exfoliation out of it. I think this would be good for an emergency leg clean up if you don’t have time to wax or shower.
The second method that I want to try is sugar-waxing. Unfortuantely for me, I can’t sugar wax my legs tonight because I “smoothed” everything away and you really need a decent amount of hair for the wax to grab. I am wondering if I’m woman enough to try, ahem, other areas.
Supposedly, sugar waxing, which has been around for hundreds of years, doesn’t hurt as much as salon waxing. Plus, it’s all natural. Nothing ucky and cancer-causing; just sugar, water, and lemon juice.
http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-sugar-wax-your-legs/
The link leads to an awesome how to. I think I may have a glass of wine (or three) tonight and try to neaten up an area or two. It is swimsuit season after all and I’m expecting a hot tub any day now.
I will return with my analysis of sugar waxing… If I survive. Buh buh buuuuuuuuh.
Left My Baggage on the Tracks
I’ve written before about spiritual decluttering. It’s a necessary evil if we are going to live peaceful lives. But, it’s hard, scary, hurtful. This past weekend, I got to get rid of a lot of baggage from a simple sentence uttered by my brother.
I’m not going to go on and on, suffice to say, I had a bit of a rough childhood. As I’ve said before, it led to a lot of my issues, especially the GAD and OCD. I don’t deal well with conflict and I certainly have issues trusting people. Yep, my psyche was pretty battered and bruised.
And then balm was poured over it. My brother made an offhand comment while we were discussing growing up that rocked my paradigm and my world. He said, “I never saw a lot of (what we were discussing), you got the brunt of it all.”
I admit, tears started to fill my eyes. I never thought that I would hear that from my immediate family. My aunts, yes. My sibling? Not in a million years. It definitely made me sit up and think. It also put my brother in a whole new light in my eyes.
Can we repair the relationship that was so damaged in the past? After this last weekend, I am hopeful. I’m impressed with my brother’s take on things and the way he’s grown-up. Of course, it helps that I’ve learned how to forgive and am not as defensive or wounded. We can actually carry on a conversation and neither of us seems to be leery.
So, there’s another cluttered suitcase unpacked, the contents shaken out and aired. I am well-pleased, despite the emotional exhaustion.
Bad Organization Bitch, No Biscuit!
Yeah, I can’t seem to keep up the blogging habit lately. It feels like I’m drowning in clutter (the house isn’t bad, but the garage needs serious love), drowning in responsibilities, and trying to juggle chainsaws. In other words, I can’t seem to get it together and all the lovely progress I made recently is gone.
Wow, did it hurt to admit that. LOL But yes, my progress is gone. Laundry is stacked to the ceiling (the ceiling that is minus a few tiles due to an AC issue), my son’s room needs another shoveling out, the bedroom is starting to look bad, and the upstairs guestroom is a pit. Did I mention that we’re going to have a long-term house guest in the basement? I need to get that bathroom scrubbed, the shelves cleared off so he has space (which will entail packing up all of my antique dolls), get towels and the sheets for that bed together…
Ok, so maybe I just needed to whine a little bit. I’ve been on deck as the main caregiver for my parents this month as mom recovers from major shoulder surgery. She can’t drive til next month, so I’m it. Add Dad progressing a little faster into Parkinson’s than we expected and it’s been hard.
Yep, definitely needed to whine. Now, it’s time to pull up my big girl panties (and yes, they are lacy and cute) and figure it out. I have a to do list for today and I need to determine how much of it I can get done.
I recently posted on the fan page that my goal was to get back into the habit of blogging every day, for both this page and my writing page. I’m even going to go so far as to buy sparkly stickers to put on my calendar on the fridge for every day that I blog.
A Decluttered Mind
Is a decluttered mind truly possible in today’s society? There are pages upon pages of websites online, shelves of books, radio shows, TV programs, all promising that self-same elusive Holy Grail. It’s the same old story. We’re reminded of how things were better before technology, that we’re working harder because of those very same devices that were supposed to make life easier, and noise is simply a constant part of our days.
I want a decluttered mind. I want to feel at peace and content. I want the baggage hidden under the stairwells in the recesses cleared out. I want to learn not to sweat the small stuff and that, as the saying goes, it’s all small stuff.
I don’t know how to begin.
If you ask my psychiatrist if this is possible for me, he’d probably laugh. My brain isn’t wired to be calm, in all honesty. The bipolarism is medical, but the other issues, the GAD and the OCD, are all environmental — learned behaved that kept me sane as a child.
You know, the paragraph above made me stop and think… I can’t change the bipolarism but I am taking meds for it and can see a huge change as it comes under control. As for the GAD and the OCD, they were learned behaviors. AH HA! That is the phrase that caught my eye. I learned the the OCD rituals to feel more in control of my surroundings and my life. I learned to always be worried about what would happen next so I’d be prepared for anything.
If I learned them, I can learn NEW behaviors to put in their places! That is what I need to focus on: learning new behaviors and responses. YOu know, it seems so simple when you see written out. It seems so simple, I’m sure, for people on the outside of my head. But, like most things, unless you think of it yourself, it’s not going to stick.
I’ve still got my list of things that seem like good things to try and I want to start implementing them. I already deleted four (4) email addresses off my Blackberry — yeah, four. I still have my primary email address, my eBay address (waiting on an order to ship LOL), and my work address. I’d like to wean the work address off by the end of next week.
Thoughts on a Foggy Morning
My drive into work was intersting this morning. The fog was dense enough to make even the highway I drive on slow down — and if you know about Louisville, then you know people actually slowing down on the Gene Snyder is big. Since I was driving really slowly and listening to some contemplative music on my iPod (Hildegarde von Bingham — one of the three extent female Christian mystics from the Medieval time. Her music is awe-inspiring), my mind began to wander…
I feel like my life is like the foggy highway. There’s no real clear-cut direction these days. If I’m brutually honest, it’s my own fault. I haven’t given myself a true direction since coming back to work several years ago. I give myself goals, but never move towards them. More than my house, my mind is cluttered. I can organize the Hell out of some closets and kitchens, but I’m not sure where to start with my own head.
It’s easy to come up with excuses why I can’t or don’t. My bipolarism is still in the stage of balancing out, I don’t know how to act when I’m not manic, I’m too tired when I get home from work, I don’t have enough time in the evenings… I think it’s time to start thinking of ways that I CAN declutter this head of mine. I need to get rid of the excuses and fears.
I don’t have any firm ideas, yet. But, there are a few seeds perking in the back of my mind.
Being Serious for a Moment
I’ve not posted in forever it seems. So much has gone on that I just didn’t have the energy.
I’ve hit that moment in life where I’ve moved firmly from being the child to being the parent. Let me tell you, it sucks. My dad is no longer able to stay by himself and has to be reminded to eat, take his meds, and take his insulin. His blood sugar was routinely over 300 and he forgets things. His diagnosis is Parkinsons and the early stages of dementia with diabetes added to the mix.
Last week, my mom had major shoulder replacement surgery. For three days, I stayed with dad, making sure he was in good shape. Despite him calling me a “bitch” six times, I got him on a routine where he ate every two hours, tested his blood 3-5 times a day, took all of his meds (and adjusted the times that he was taking them too)… It was like taking care of my son and it broke my heart.
I’m not going to look at my dad with rosey glasses, but I will say that it is hard to see a man that once prided himself on how he spoke forgetting words. It’s hard to see him unable to remember where my mom was. I don’t know how she does it day in and day out.
The worst part was when I took he and my boy to see mom one day. I left them at the pedway and parked the car. I think you can see where this is going — they weren’t there. By the time I found them, they had made it up three floors and into the adjoining hospital. I was frantic! The worst part? Having to discuss my dad’s illness with my son and explain that his grandfather’s brain was sick and that he needed to do what I told him and not what his grandpa said because sometimes grandpa’s brain might make the wrong choice.
So, here I am, trying to balance a lifetime of baggage with the heart sickness of watching my parents need me more and more. Trying to balance not being the rug that they walk over with making certain that they are healthy and everything is running smoothly. And, despite what they might think, trying to balance what is logically right with what they want emotionally.
Growing old sucks.
Back from Life…
And yet, I can’t think tonight. LOL I SHOULD be finishing up some laundry and tidying up around here… And yet, I’m sitting here pretending to blog. Bad Organization Bitch. No shoes! LOL
Yeah, I’m procrastinating. You can’t procrastinate with laundry! So, my butt’s heading to the laundry room and swapping loads, folding loads, and then getting us ready for our overnight with friends in Nashville. I still have to pack me, pack the Boy, finish laundry, make up my bed, make sure the house is tidy, pack my “I cna’t live without you even for one night” tote bag, and still get some sleep…
Yep, time to get off the computer. See, even the Organization Bitch procrastinates! Le sigh.
Like a General, Commanding Minions for the Umpteenth Time
Here we go… My schedule for today and tomorrow is crazed:
7:30 to 4:30…..Work
5:15 to 6:30…..Clean house for my steps coming over and pre-company clean
6:30 to 8:00….. Grocery shop for brunch and lunch for Saturday.
8:00 to 8:30….. Put away groceries and figure out what to make first.
8:30 til Whenever….. Pre-make the sausage casserole (have stepson do this since he volunteered to help cook), prep all the ingredients for crab quiche (have stepdaughter do this if she wants and is comfy cutting things), make white chocolate mascarpone fruit dip (have stepdaughter do if she’s not comfy cutting things), make Pop-art Raspberry Icebox Cake, slice onions for beer brawts, finish company cleaning, set table for morning.
6:00AM….. Put quiche and casserole into the oven. Shower and get dressed.
6:50AM….. Put biscuits in oven and start setting out food.
7:00AM….. The party starts!
So, wanna guess why I’m not freaking out? Yep, my Road Maps. I have a Map of where all of my recipes are. I have a Map of everything that I’d like done around the house. I have a grocery list. So, I won’t have to hunt for my recipes, I can hand my hubby and the kids (if the kids don’t want to cook) the cleaning list while I cook, and running to the grocery will be a breeze.
I started prepping for this family BBQ last weekend. I didn’t do anything major, just kept a mental list of what I wanted to serve. Then, in my spare moments, I wrote down what I needed for each recipe, added what I needed to go along with them, and made a note of where I found them… No sweat there. I always have a company cleaning list at hand (you can even find it on the blog to the right). it’s pretty self-explanatory, i.e. anyone can follow it. (They may think it’s too picky so, if I’m not trying to juggle other things, I give them the big chores like vacuuming and dusting and hit the nit-picky stuff).
In all honesty, the house isn’t bad. I need to pick up a few things (like get the laundry into the laundry room), vacuum, mop, dust, freshen up the bathroom, and do a quick tidying up… Anything else is just gravy and probably won’t get done. But, by having my Road Maps, I know what does and does not need doing and the best part? I can go on complete autopilot and relax.
Oh, and check back to see if I score anything major in my yard sale trek!
Beauty, Beauty Every Where and Where You Least Expect It
It’s been a while since I last visited the concept of looking and feeling fabulous. Frankly, I had fallen into a bit of a rut. So, on Derby morning, I went to the hair salon and got my hair cut. Short. Really short. And she showed me how to scrunch some stuff into it to make my natural curl look good! Yay! So, I am back and here are my new faves:
Paul Mitchell Styling Foam… White bottle with a red cap. I love, LOVE this. I scrunch a pretty good amount into my hand. How much do you ask? Well, it’s easy. I make a Marshmallow Peep (chicken not bunny) out of the foam. Pefect amount every time and it amuses me!
Oil Slick Eyeliner by Urban Decay… I’ve been a huge fan of Urban Decay for longer than I care to admit — let’s just say it was my make-up of choice during my Manic Panic phases (and if you recognize THAT, I won’t tell! LOL). Oil Slick is the perfect color! It goes with every eye color because it blends so naturally with your lash line! It makes my lashes look so thick at the base. The point is perfect for getting in there without making a huge line and it’s so soft… No tugging or pulling on that delicate skin over your eyes. oh, and there’s just the teeniest hint of glitter to it that brightens up your eyes.
Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer… And speaking of brightening your eyes… This concealer is my new BFF! It covers just about everything, including my “do-a-racoon-proud” dark circles! I look ten years younger thanks to this stuff. And it is very economical. A teeny, tiny amount, like the size of two pin heads, is all I use to get under both eyes, around my mouth (skin issues there, ugh), and any little bumps or redness that appears. When you use this, make sure you blend it up into the inner corner of your eye for that deewy, young look.
Fresh Mascara… I love mascara. If I don’t have a reason for my fake eyelashes, you can bet I’m wearing mascara. Fresh’s Supernova and Firebird are a new favorite of mine! I found them by accident in Sephora because, I admit, their packaging was just darned cute! The tubes are as long as my middle finger and gorgeous! One is black with white vines and the other is peacock blue with gold. Ooo, shiney! Imagine my utter delight when I found that they are exceptional mascaras! I’ve ben alternating to see which I like best but haven’t come to a conclusion. However, Fresh recommends that you layer them for an amazing pop to your lashes — and yes, they pop!
Stila Tinted Moisturizer… I love tinted moisturizer in the summer. I live in the Ohio River Valley and let me tell you, the humidity will kill you! (Literally some times!) If nothing else, it will definitely make your face slide down until it nestles in your cleavage. Not attractive. So, this time of year, I swap to a tinted moisturizer that has SPF to keep my face feeling light and fresh. I’ve tried a lot of these and I think I have to say that Stila is my fave (with Studio Gear a close second, however, it’s a bit thicker than Stila).
And now, my super secret, you’ll never believe this in a million years, holy cow I can’t believe I’m admiting this favorite new product……………
Gillette Complete Skin Care Lotion for Men (in the white tube)… I always have problems with scaley skin arouns my mouth during allergy season. None of my doctors have been able to fix it and it drives me up a wall. My hubby suggested I try this lotion because it helps him when he has face issues. So, what the Hell! I am now SO hooked! The tone of my skin is the most even it has been since before puberty! My pores are teeny! It’s evenly moisturized! Best of all? The scaley bits around my lips are going away!!! Who knew???
Now, granted, it doesn’t have a sunscreen in it, but my foundation does. So, heck with you $20 to ungodly amounts of dollars face creams. I’m going with Gillette, baby!
I dare you to try it! LOL You might be surprised!
There you have it! My new favorite products fresh from Mothers’ Day and Derby. I’d love to hear your experiences with them!
How Organization Can Lead to Our Dreams
I constantly complain that I don’t have enough time to pursue my dreams of writing fiction and poetry and taking photos. That is the whole point of getting organized, isn’t it? To find those hidden chunks of time that inefficiency keeps from us.
For me, the house seems to be moving smoothly. I have a few places that need tweaking here and there (the bedroom for one! I can’t seem to keep this one clean no matter what) but things are going well for the most part. So, now it is time to start carving out those blocks of time I’ve recovered. I’ve started making a weekly writing goal list and posting it on my writer’s blog. I am hoping that doing that will keep me more accountable. I really don’t want to admit to the world that I haven’t met my goals. LOL
Ugh, I just realized that I fell asleep there for about five minutes in front of the screen. I think it’s time for me to wash my face and head to bed. I’ll be using some of my extra time to get some extra sleep tonight.
