Immora

I'd tell Focus on the Family to kiss my big gay ovaries, but they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a woman's body. Or any being of any gender, for that matter. How's it all right for them to buy commercial time? Oh, right-- money.

But I can freely say it to my vertigo and anemia! BLARRRGH. Lots of dramamine and iron supplements for me! The general health slowly improves, and the GI did characterize me as "young and healthy".

Got a haircut this past week, and I shamelessly used photos of Rose from "Boomtown" and "Bad Wolf" to show how I wanted my hair. Just the cut, mind, not the color. I don't care to have my hair THAT blonde and the upkeep to avoid crazy roots... But yes, got me some Rose hair, which is fun to pair with the bright pink jacket I got last year, also Rose-inspired.

Between looots of sleep (little energy atm), I overhauled my website as of... Monday? Tuesday? I forget which, but I redid the design and code for easier maintenance in the future and better looks. I blame it on a design advice article that referred to tables with borders as looking "amateur," and my site was aaall about that... I also dove into PHP for the first time, though I still can't figure out how to do some things I want to do. I don't know where to go to check for code validation when it's a PHP doc; I know where to do CSS and HTML validation, but it wouldn't do the PHP pages, awwww. Anyway, still at Immora.com.

On a trashy note, I'm having way too much fun lately hollering at Little Miss Perfect and Toddlers and Tiaras, plus enjoying what Jezebel has to say about them. I wonder if any of the Bitch magazines I missed discussed them? Really gotta re-subscribe and get the back issues...

Back to the Who!

Today I finished rewatching all of Arrested Development, and you may be looking at this and thinking, "Her?" You'll probably feel some shame after and think "I've made a huge mistake" and "I'M A MONSTER!", and drown your sorrows in something watery with a smack of ham. Or not! Just sayin'!

My previous prediction that kitty Kara would be nicknamed "Starbuck" hasn't come true, at least not to my knowledge. She does, however, get called many other nicknames by the family and especially me, including: Keh-Keh, Keh, K., Crazy Kara, Crazy Girl, Sweet Love, Precious Baby, Baby Keh-Keh, Sweet Little Baby Keh-Keh... probably more I'm forgetting to list. She's definitely my baby, emerging from wherever she is when I wake up and she hears me, if she isn't already there sleeping on my bed with me. Cutely, she's become buddies with Arwen and they'll voluntarily share sofa or beds, even touching when they do it. Arwen thinks she's a kitty-dog and Kara probably finds Arwen non-threatening since she isn't a big goofy orange cat like Crookshanks (Crook, Mr. Crook, Pumpkin Head, My Boy, Cwazy Cwook).

I made a layout for a community that promptly went silent without using it, and I didn't want all the coding work to go to waste. After changing the header graphic and switching some colors, it's mine now, MWAHAHAHA! That is, see my journal if you're interested in that kind of thing.

And that's the end of one of my rarely-made posts!

Long time no post, just a quick line-- Orlando area people, stay off I-4 today, shutdown because of a shooting. Some initial info here. Anyone concerned, I don't know anybody around there so it's not something that personally affects me as far as happening to anyone I know, but god, thoughts and prayers for those who do.

Interred Shadow's ashes today with the whole family together, backyard in a lovely spot Mom prepared complete with one of the spider plants he always loved chewing on. Then proceeded to love on the pets like crazy since we were all a wreck, and they obligingly loved back.

Twice today, Kara fell asleep in my lap, complete with some adorable squeaky-snoring, and once on my chest. omg love. She got brave and decided she wanted to explore my parents' bedroom a few times, although when Crookshanks was outside the glass doors/window to the pool deck, she was growling and hissing at him. Crookshanks just look confused like he wondered why he couldn't hug the kitten. And then once she got back into the bathroom after that excursion, she promptly went for the lap for reassuring cuddles. So, so adorable.

Dad took these shots that turned out really awesome-- morning sunlight through the window. Click for larger.

Trip to the pet rescue yesterday did not end in success-- the cat we went in to look at was not a fit for us, and another we met and adored wasn't either because of carrying some sort of feline herpes, so alas. However!

Today, our vet was having an open house, so my parents hit that. Gotta show some support with all the trips we had to make in the last year with Shadow, and the vet was so cute calling my mom to get condolences (and offer, but really, she was sad about him too!)

One of the techs had rescued a pair of sister cats from a crack house. She brought one of them to the open house since she couldn't keep both. This poor kitty's about seven-nine months old and had gone over a week without eating because her owner decided to buy heroin instead of food, and she was a bit pregnant as well (not any more and fixed now). The tech recognized my folks, and there was much crying all around with her saying she thought our family was the perfect one for her, cat loved on my parents like crazy, so when I woke up today, we had a beautiful new kitty.

I don't have any pictures yet, but she's got green eyes and a really amazing coat, sort of spotted tabby but with tuxedo white (paws, belly, chin) and this cute orangeness around her nose. Her ears are huge and she's got a surprisingly long tail, but she looks grown into paws, so I have no idea how much bigger she might get. She's understandably stressed right now with the situation she was in and now being in another new location, so sometimes she gets growly and bitey like "that's ENOUGH petting now" but she doesn't use her claws to say it, just her mouth and paws. When she's not in stress mode, though, she is a snugglebunny, rubbing up on our legs, getting into laps and almost falling asleep there, looooving to be scritched on the ears and chin. She doesn't like to be picked up, maybe since she so recently got fixed plus the stress. She's staying in my parents' bathroom for now to separate from Crookshanks and Arwen, who keep sniffing and putting paws through the gap under the door fascinated by the new smell. She, on the other hand (paw), growls and hisses at the door and any cat things that smell like Crook, so she now has her own toys, basket-turned-bed, and scratching post.

In family tradition, Dad got final say on her name and went with the sf/fantasy geekery— so welcome to the family, Kara! You'll totes be nicknamed Starbuck.

Not-funny pet news this time. Shadow broke his leg this morning, Mom took to emergency vet, found he'd broken it because he had osteosarcoma or something like that-- bone cancer-- broke along a tumor in the bone. Considering his age and pain he was in, he was put to sleep about an hour ago. Got to say goodbye. I thought a year ago he was going to be gone so I was sort of ready but not, didn't expect sudden thing like this, but I'm calm (or stunned?) since every other day, Mom and I have been giving him fluids for about a year because his kidneys weren't doing the job themselves, had to take a couple pills every day (blood pressure and something to help with dizzy spells from a brain tumor) so it was something that was coming eventually. Playmate for Ellie's Kiki? Except Shadow's the king so there might be a power struggle.

Fuck.

Here's Arwen, begging for turkey on Christmas. She is a shih-tzu.

My little 3-year old neighbor, however, is not. He is adorable and comes up with some amusing stuff, though.

After dinner tonight, neighbor with mother in tow comes to our door. As mother explains, they were out today and she asked him if he'd like to get any friends something for Valentine's Day. What did he say?

"Arwen. She's my best friend."

So, they hit a local doggie bakery, picked up a doggie cookie with Valentine's-appropriate red "icing," and came over to give Arwen her Valentine. Arwen found it extremely delicious and oinked her way through it.

I am totally not letting that kid live it down when he gets older and I told his mother to do the same. He's going to be hearing about this cuteness for years and having it told to people, oh yes. You've done it now, boy.

I did some friends list clearing up some months ago since it was getting to be too many skips for just a day's posts and, well, I honestly couldn't remember who some people were any more, didn't talk to them any more, or had gotten to where I was only skimming their posts. I'm going to do another clearing soon, so if you do get removed, it's for some reason like that.



More updates on the product use and making fronts!

My eyes are doing well with Honeybee Garden's mascara. I only wear makeup occasionally for things like neighborhood parties or special dinners, and I hadn't worn mascara since prom night since my eyes have always been "blech" about it and removal has sucked. I don't know what maaany-hours wear of the Honeybee Gardens stuff would be like, but for the few hours at a time I've worn it (I think maybe 8 at the most), no irritation at all. It comes off easily with canola oil and even if a little accidentally ends up in the eye during that, my eye isn't bothered by it if I can't get it out and have to wait for my eye to flush it out on its own.

After the lemon hair disaster, my hair's liking the Burt's Bees pomegranate shampoo. I don't get shampoos for the smell, but it does smell nice. More importantly, it's actually getting my hair clean and not going flat or greasy-looking, and no itchy skin sulfate reaction since it has none of that. Yaaaay.

I stopped using the oatmeal face cleaning mix since it kept going bad-smelling fast, nothing to preserve it. I found this recipe, though, and my skin's doing well with it-- and it's based on a naturally bacteria-resistant ingredient, so woooo that helps.

Honey Cleanser, from Janice Cox's Natural Beauty for All Seasons, p 147:


• 1/4 cup honey
  
• 1 tablespoon liquid soap (I used Dr. Bronner's castile soap)
  
• 1/2 cup glycerin

Mix together all ingredients and pour into a clean bottle. Use something nonbreakable if around a bath or shower. Yield: 6 ounces.

Cox says, "Honey gently softens and cleanses the skin. This is a mild nonsoap cleanser that works well for dry skin types. It's not at all sticky and can be used as either a facial cleanser or bath gel." I can confirm that it isn't sticky! It goes on very lightly, actually. If you don't like the smell of honey, be warned that it definitely smells like honey. I started with a smaller batch to try it out, but I'll be making a larger one now that I've seen my skin's approval. I've even gotten compliments on my skin since I started using it!

I didn't post before what the hand soap mix was, but in case anyone wants it:

• 1 cup distilled or filtered water
  
• 3 tablespoon liquid castile soap
  
• 1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin

Mix it up and funnel into a pump bottle-- reuse an old one, for example, though one that's too strong might send the soap shooting out in a liquid mess because it's on the thin side. The site I got it from also recommended drops of your choice of essential oil, which I have none of, and tea tree oil as an antibacterial and antifungal, which I also don't have, so I didn't use them (obviously). Mint extract scented a downstairs bottle nicely and that's also the bottle where I discovered the amazing shooting soap, so... be warned!

I made a gingerbread body scrub and soon discovered the truth in warnings that the oils released by cinnamon and ginger can irritate sensitive skin-- WHOA! Yeah, not making that any more! I'll use those for potpourri-type yumminess but not to put on my skin, ouchies! Ow, ow, ow. Bad. Ow. So, no more of that.

Probably more to come in future days on what I've been cooking (mostly baking). Oh, and I'm totally using Dr. Ken's toothpaste now and that has nothing to do with you, Ken, and everything to do with having no SLS and also yummy spearmintness, so there.

Finished the month with 50,370 words-- woo! Figured out how to do automatic chapter numbering in Word so no more manually doing them and cringing at thought of having to redo them someday-- further woo! And the pumpkin bread was a hit.

My hair has made the terrible discovery that a lemon juice-based shampoo mix makes my hair disgustingly sticky. The horror, the horror! So much for thinking the citric acid would get through the alkaline haaard water somehow. Dang. But on a positive note, rubbing the lemon in my sink and toilet did nice things for them. But then back to sticky, it was horror again when Mom tried it on the kitchen tile grout. We have a lemon tree with way more lemons than we know what to do with, you see, so... we've learned some not-to-do-with-them. Hopefully the Burt's Bees shampoo I picked up will do the trick. I'm not using tonight's oh-god-get-the-lemon-out shampooing with it as a judge for it because I won't usually be using it following a lemon disaster, but so far it seems good. Hope it stays good!

It's been awhile since I brought you local bad baby names, but here they come. Brace yourselves. A random observation: this year's popular middle names seem to be Rose, Hope, and Grace, usually in decent pairings. Sometimes... not. I couldn't decide what the best of the worst were, so there are three of them. Last names omitted from all but the first listing.


Generally bad names:
Denim Khalib Payne (ouch)
Ja'marion Ah'moni Da'vion (some'one likes a'pos'tro'phes)
Starlie Peyton
Olive Lily
Mistilyn Nicole
Pellie Parks
Angela Dang
Jaylynn Myly (whyyyy?)
Zander Gene Berber (double the middle names, double the... what?)
Kellyannette
Hannabrianna


Stripper or hippie?
Willo Raquel
Trinity Jade
Melodie Ruby
Scarlett Ann
Scarlett Hope
Serenity Hope
Serenity Grace
Destiny Faith
Destiny Rose
Angel Dawn
Angel Ariel
Frankie Sunshine
Roxy Rae


Best-worst twins:
Princess Jakila Fayth and Princeton Josiah Keon


Best-worst names:
Dehandsome Barack
Couture Beauty
Reality Caché

To catch the interested up on what I've been up to:

Since last month, I've started doing a little cooking. It used to be that the most I'd branch into was scrambled eggs and maybe pancake from a bought mix, or helping Mom bake something she did most of the work on-- otherwise, any "cooking" I did was microwave or toaster oven. I did take a high school class that did some cooking, but it didn't appeal to me. For some reason, I've got on a kick of doing some cooking that's more... cookingy? Like fixing things for Mom and Dad to eat, too, not just heating something for myself. I've done some breakfasty stuff like applesauce pancakes and egg quesadillas, and last Friday I even did chicken, which I've never tried to cook before! Very different from putting something in the microwave or toaster oven.

The thing I've really been enjoying, though, is making my own bread instead of eating store-bought stuff. I'm working on perfecting a craisin-oat-wheat bread recipe modified off one I found, so I might share that sometime if I feel I've got it right enough to share it. Otherwise, the thing I'm keeping on hand is low-fat pumpkin bread. Mmmmm. I looove pumpkin. I'll be making a couple loaves of this for Thanksgiving since at least one of my cousins and another aunt also love pumpkin.

Puuumpkiiiiin. :D~

I'm also getting more attentive to care/cosmetic things. I've tried for years to figure out natural brands, and then still run into things where the labels natural/organic don't actually match to the ingredients in them. Trying to sort that out and still having shampoos and body and face washes leave my skin itchy isn't a happy thing.

But the wonders of the internet helped me find a beautiful thing: Dr. Bronner's Almond Castile Soap. Shockingly available at Target, not just the local health food store. Switched to it for my body wash-- and no more dry itchiness after washing with it. Years of that, no more when I use this. I should do testimonials or something because I'll happily gush about the wonders it's done in just a couple weeks of use. For a hand soap, I'm using a mix of that diluted with distilled water + vegetable glycerin. I tried that for my face and my face was kind of iffy on it, so today I tried mixing up a recipe I found for an oatmeal cleanser that's mild and good for sensitive skin (me!), and my skin seems to love oatmeal like my tummy does. Mmmm, oatmeal. I'll see how that goes.

I wanted to switch from the detergent-based shampoo I was using since I know I react to ingredients in it-- hello, sodium lauryl sulfate, how I hate thee in all your uses. I've tried a couple mostly-natural shampoos over the years that just didn't get my oily hair clean, so I still haven't quite found the solution for it. I tried one of them again (a clarifying rosemary shampoo) after switching to Dr. Bronner's, and I tried mixing the shampoo with some of the Dr. Bronner's hoping it'd get out more of the oil, but no luck yet getting my hair as clean as I'd like without the skin-unhappy shampoo. I used the unhappy shampoo again today to compare results and man did my skin react-- redness, itchiness, a hive... Yeah, great stuff. Pretty sure it was the shampoo and not the oatmeal since I did an oatmeal mask before without reactions, used oatmeal scrubs before, etc., and I'm known to react to that stuff. Ugh. So, I'm researching more of what I could do to give the more natural shampoo some *oomph* or what I could make myself. I've found recipes aplenty, but don't know what's actually effective. And after I do some ingredient-shopping, I'm going to try out making my own lotions and lip balm/glosses. Should be an interesting experiment :P

So, if you happen to have any shampoo advice... holler! My hair and skin need it!

Writing/revising continues. Almost done for the month!

46000 / 50000 words. 92% done!