Ma'am, Is Your Car Plugged In?

Yeah, found out what the problem was with the battery in the car. Seems that when we got the oil changed last, the technicians knocked the cable loose from the alternator.

I feel like such a doofus, not even checking to see if all the cables were connected properly. *sigh* Thank goodness for free alternator checks at the parts store, right? *sheepish grin*

I'm still going to take it in and have it looked at though, mainly because Eeyore is still smoking and behaving badly.

In other news, the phone company cut service to our mobiles, so if you aren't able to get a hold of us tonight, that's why. I spent 1.5 hours on hold, and never talked to a live person, which caused me to miss going to the store and getting Ladybug her costume for spinning poi at the carnival party tomorrow afternoon. I should have the phone problem fixed in the morning, and we're going to have to make do with the costuming.

At least the car'll get us to tomorrow's events! *grin*

Lots more prep to do, gotta run!

(Hey, I posted twice today, look below)

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Bloggy Date/Time Line

A friend mentioned to me the other day, that on several occasions, she has checked my blog to see nothing there, but then come back later to find that a post was published right before she had been here last, so she should have seen it on her first visit.

Sounds confusing, huh?

Despite the fact that I have back-timed a post by an hour or so before, I couldn't think of why this happened to her so often. Then I realized what the 'problem' was.

See, I've figured out another reason why sometimes my posts appear 'after' they were written. Blogger dates and timestamps everything when I start writing it, so unless I edit the time before posting, it looks like it has been 'timed-back' by the time I actually post it, sometimes to a pretty extreme degree..

Often I start a post idea in the morning and then finish it and post in the evening, or even more drastically, I start a post seed several days in advance, wait for the idea to grow, then complete it much later. At that point, I simply must reset the times and/or dates on the post to look at least somewhat reasonable.

But for those others of you that wonder why a post isn't up, then later the blog says it was up before you came looking for it, there is your answer.

I was probably still writing when you dropped in. *wink*

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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It's The Happy Killing Time Boys & Girls!

So...

Um...

Yeah.

*clears throat*

Today really sucked.

It all started when I woke up.

Well duh!

Anyway...

I meant to wake up at, like, oh, let's call it, morning. Instead, I didn't get out of bed and mobile until about 1pm.

My mom needed me to drive her all over town to get medical records for her and the kids so we could turn them in to the insurance company of the other (at-fault) person involved in the accident. We got out of her house about 2:30pm, mostly due to my sleeping too late, and partially due to my mother's bizarre need to not get up & dressed until everyone else is there and waiting for her.

No, I really have no clue why she does this, but it's a constant.

The car's been having trouble starting, was burning antifreeze, smoking a bit, had the battery light on, and we've been planning to take it to a mechanic as soon as we had a moment.

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

With much griping, cursing, and a generalized, yet heaping dose of angst for everyone in the car, we managed to get most of the records. Some had mistakingly not been prepared, so there is some scanning, transferring, faxing, and mailing that will need to occur for her to finally get all of her things in order. I need to get Ladybug to a chiropractor to take a look at why her leg is hitching and locking since the accident so that we can get that covered too if it is going to be a continuing issue for her. My mother was about to leap out of the vehicle because she was so angry, and I was nearing readiness to drive into a tree.

Nobody had eaten by that point, but that was about to change.

Despite our high expectations, eating did not change the day for the better.

We went to Shoney's on Battlefield road and National avenue for their dinner "Backyard Barbecue" buffet. The food was pretty good, but the chocolate pudding had chunks of pumpkin pie in it, because someone had caused a spill at some point, and it hadn't been cleaned up. There were moldy grapes in with the good ones, and the sliced kiwi was slightly overripe. Now I don't usually complain about stuff in a restaurant, but this was, at the very least, something that needed to be brought up to the wait-staff so that it could get fixed. Being the type of person to help out whenever I can, I let them know discreetly.

Then I had to let them know about the fact that the pork steaks were pink in the middle, and I was seeing pantry moths all over the place. I even killed one and presented them with the corpse to prove it, nestled close to a spoon which held an artfully molded and rotting grape. It's not my fault that when I went up to the buffet, I had to pick up two plates and set them to the side before I found a third, and finally clean one that I felt safe putting my food on. After all of that, they sent out the employees to temperature check all of the food with a special thermometer, and they watched the bar like hawks, swooping in to rectify any little mistake or spill.

Methinks they thought I was an inspector or some such.

Not that I got anything out of it though. Not a 'thank you for telling us', not a 'we're sorry', not a discount off our meals, nothin'. After all that, a decent place would have thanked the customer profusely for noticing the flaws, and given them their meal for free, but not this place, not Shoney's. I should have told them that the cherry tomatoes and honeydew wedges were over-ripe or going bad as well, but I didn't bother.

Maybe some other customer will complain about that. I can only hope...

While we were eating, Keeb got a call on his mobile from the hospital. They said he'd left his wallet. Good thing they'd had him write his number on that information release form. We planned to go pick it up right after mom went to look at her possible new car.

Onward to the car dealership so my mother could look at the car she thought she might want. Upon coming close to the used car area of the dealership, our poor car Eeyore just died, right there in the driveway. Was it all finally too much, or was it that he didn't like being in a car lot, and decided to protest? The world may never know, but he was good and deadski. Luckily for us, the potential new car also had a dead battery, so they needed to bring the jumper box out anyway. They were happy to give us a jump start. The new car was beautiful, fabulous, more than she had ever wanted in a car, and she looked good in it. She said it felt like home. Meanwhile, my little junkbucket was idling it's little gas tank out, waiting for her to seal the deal.

She hasn't received all of the payments from the insurance companies yet.

But after the short test drive, she did manage to get them to hold the car until Monday, when she plans to talk to the fellow at the other insurance company. Then Eeyore died again.

Battery kaput.

We cleaned the terminals as best we could, and we got him jumped again, whereupon we drove to the horrid big box store to get some fuzes we desperately needed.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we didn't have breakfast because the fuse that serves the wall where both the stove and the refrigerator reside blew, and so all of the perishables were slowly dying.

Whoops, silly me.

After much lurching and complaining on the 1/4 mile drive to the store, we pulled into a parking space intending to let the car run while Keeb ran in for the one vital purchase of the evening. Eeyore turned himself off again, just as we pulled in to a space. So we went shopping like we had planned to do before he died. Might as well, right?

Of course, this is my mother, in a large store...

Over an hour later, Keeb had managed to wrangle a person from the auto shop to test the battery and try to jump the car. No deal, so we ended up buying a new one just to get us home (a battery, not a car). Lucky us, we met some good friends at the store, who we have been missing terribly these past few weeks, and we managed to fit in a good chat. It didn't hurt the mood of the day at all that she offered to give us a ride home if we couldn't start the car either.

Man, I'd be truly lost without my friends, and random encounters. Roll me another 20-sider deity!

But the car started *insert holy choir here* and we got home. Keeb replaced the fuse, and now the wall works. The kids cleaned the eew-food out of the fridge and it's now all outside in the bin where it belongs. The morrow brings an adventure in auto-repair, involving an actual professional in a shoppe with hourly labor fees, a return to the hospital to rescue Keeb's poor ailing wallet, and a trip to the copy place to make a few hundred last-minute business cards before the party on Saturday.

I'm in a mood.

Can ya tell?

Update: Tried to look at the disc of x-rays we got from the hospital as a more personal version of an anatomy lesson, and burn a CD of the pictures of the injuries from the crash for the fellow at the other insurance company, but my I-paid-extra-cash-for-an-upgrade-on-the-most-expensive-thing-I've-ever-purchased-that-arrived-broken-so-I-had to-send-the-whole-computer-away-for-two-weeks-to-get-a-new-one-installed DVD/RWCDs! Seems the "new" part they ordered (new?) and installed was malfunctioning worse that the one they replaced (which worked great, but was literally falling apart). I didn't really check the drive a lot when the computer returned to me like I should have, because I was just so flaming overjoyed to finally have my computer back, and now the measly 6month warranty is probably over, or would be half-way through them waiting for the part to arrive. (see here, here, here, and here in order, for the previous saga of laptop computer repair.)

To get it repaired again, I will have to send it back again. That includes removing all of my data from the hard drive again, and with no CD writer, that's impossible. So I'm either forced to risk all of my valuable data, or I'm stuck with a bad machine.

Whatever happened to quality testing these things before you send them out to the public?
Know how much the part costs if I want to replace it myself? About $200. *growl*

I am SO not amused.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Wordless Wednesday: Advertising Everywhere

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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JingleBlog JingleBlog Jingle all the Day

Happy Ho ho, Festivus, and gifty season everyone!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I feel the need to decorate. Seeing as how we have no home of our own to make pretties, I decided virtual decor was going to have to do. *grin*

This is my first time decorating the blog in any way but a small image in a post, and I likely wouldn't have gone so far with it (note image banner, colored text, and fancy new super-light green background color) had I not been inspired by an outside force. Heck, I even changed the colors of the Google Adsense ads to match! *laugh*

Of course, the happy little Deck The Blogs Un-contest from Contest Hotel didn't have anything to do with it. *sly wink*

It was really fun to try out decorating, and I even managed to put in a third column, which I've been wanting to get done for ages. It was a great lesson in CSS, and heavens' know I really needed a good, working knowledge of that.

So in thanks to my lovely and talented motivators, and in cooperation with the contest rules, you will see the contest badge on the left side of the page.

Oh what fun it is to find a new contest to play!

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Random Drive-By Gifting

Moosie was driving around late last night trying to soothe her babies into sleep when she saw a house fire raging, and a woman standing outside in the rainy cold, wearing only her nightie and a pair of flip-flops. The woman looked to be close to my size, so I was called upon for a clothing donation.

Well, we went through our clothes and slimmed everything down to the bare minimum a few months ago, and most of our remaining things have been stored in my mother's garage for quite some time, so this presented a problem. We did eventually find a shirt and slacks that I could bear to part with from my slim remaining wardrobe, and as a bonus, they were one-size-fits-most largeish, in really great shape, and matched! *chuckle* My mother donated a couple of coats to the cause, and Moosie dropped by to pick them up and deliver back at the fire.

By the time she got back to the woman, someone had already given her and her husband coats (he had clothes), and had provided her with an umbrella. People can be great in a crisis. *smile* She couldn't use the coats, but was so very thankful for the clothes saying that she could really use them. Our Moosie assured her that she wouldn't loose everything in the fire, and gave her advice on how to get the smoke smell out of her clothes and linens. (a cup of Pine Sol added to the washload).

There was the obligatory crying and hugging that happens when a person is standing by helpless and watching their world go up in flames, but there were folks, willing and eager to help, and that counts for a lot these days.

It was a really great feeling to be able to help. Thanks Moosie, for thinking of us when you thought of others!

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Whooo Aaaare Yooouuuu?

Who indeed.

Red Monkey writes about cultural identification, what it means to have a place to belong, and the search for a heritage, when there is none to be found in your own family. Robin's family always said they were American, which led to a personal lifelong search for something that fit. It's a great read, and really made me think.

We also say that we are American, but only because our family tree branches like Yggdrasill. I am Spanish, Italian, Scotch, Irish, English, German, and Native American. Keebler is Norse, Slavic, French, Scottish, Irish, Spanish, Polynesian, Egyptian, Native American, Greek, and a light dash of some Asian, such a small amount that they haven't properly traced it back yet. Ladybug's father is mostly English with a dash of French and German, while Littlebit's birth mother is English and Welsh. 100% muttbred. *grin*

We adopt cultural traditions and recipes from all over, creating in our own family a sort of mashed cultural identity, which I deem very appropriate for who we are, the place this country is, and who/what all goes into it to make it what it is.

We are all people, from all places, coming together for common goals. We are a blend of the best and worst of all cultures. We are American, even if we never achieve the goals that first brought us together.

Who are you?

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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First Impressions & Comparisons: Face Paints

Received a sample of a new kind of paint in the mail and looked at the ingredients first off. I only got red, white, and blue to test, so the possible designs are limited, but the ingredient listing was already telling me something I didn't want to hear. The paints are made with food coloring. A good thing for some people, my kids are allergic to blue #1, the main pigment in the blue (and likely included in all of the greens as well). I started testing the paints with express instructions to my girls not to get any of the blue paint in their mouths. Red#40 and Blue#1 are increasingly common allergens. There was no Red#40, a gift I am thankful for.

So far I've tried three designs to test the various techniques and styles that can be used with this paint to create new faces, and I've nearly succeeded with two. The images in this post are not indicative of my usual quality of work, rather they are what I ended up with in my two almost-successful attempts at creating something beautiful with these 'new' paints.

* Lines: I've discovered that I can indeed get a good bright line. This sort of surprised me, as this is a cake makeup that works a lot like a watercolor. Dip your brush in a bit of water, pick up some paint and begin. Very straightforward and intuitive. If you need a lighter color in a line, mix it with white. This takes extra time out of my painting that I don't like to spend making my customers wait. I don't know if there is a way to make one's own colors in advance of a painting event.

So it passed the bold color and line tests for paintbrushes quite nicely. I didn't have to dip my brushes any more than I do with my current paint type. Another bonus over my current paint set: it's solid almost constantly, so there's no risk of spilling your paints and making a mess, and they weigh less for travel. Fabulous.

* Blending: The blending, shading, and light color test went a little oddly. It takes a bit of getting used to, and I eventually had to wash off the first attempt because I could not figure out the proper ration of water to paint to get it to work right. As you can tell from the photo above, applying a thin, translucent layer of paint is very simple. However, this isn't what I was going for. I was trying to get a darker blue edge, fading into nearly non-existent near the eyes. Was it too much water, not enough pressure applied to the face or to the block of paint? I guess I'll find out later when I try them more. I am not the type to give up easily on something that so many in my field say is the best on the market.

* Layering: Putting one color on top of another (base) color provided a challenge, as these paints never fully dry, but are reactivated whenever they come into contact with moisture. This led to quite a bit of inadvertent mixing when I was trying to get bold highlights. I also had to rinse my brush more often to prevent the base color from getting into and mixing with the color in the paint pot.

* Wear: My kids and I simply love the way this stuff feels on the skin. It feels just like skin and doesn't crack or peel. It will run if you sweat, and it will smear if rubbed, even after it is dry. It will stain your clothes if it gets on them. It's a natural side-effect of using food colorings in your paints, but it feels natural.

* Removal: Wash with soap and water. Well, that's what the instructions said anyway. More like wash with soap and water multiple times until all of the remaining dye staining your face is finally removed. My girls both had to wash at least twice to get the paint off. Once, we had to wash 5 times, then gently sponge at facial creases with a clean damp sponge for three minutes to get it all off.

* Instructions: There aren't any instructions beyond 'use a damp implement'. I understand why, of course; different color saturations require different mixes of paint and water, and blending is another story entirely. It'd be really hard if not nigh on impossible, for the manufacturer to describe how to get what effect on the back of the small included info sheet, and even if they tried, it'd still take some trial and error on the part of the artist to really get anything of quality going.

* On Allergens: No matter how natural or harmless an ingredient, the numbers of people with allergies, and the number of people on earth, give cause to believe that there must be someone allergic to it somewhere on earth. Nothing is truly safe for everyone.

* Notes: I have to say that the reason I wanted to test these paints was that I had heard some people talking about what a horrible and potentially dangerous thing it is for people to use the type of paint I have been using for over 15 years with no problems at all. I can only assume that these other people are thinking my paints are some other brand, containing toxic ingredients, carcinogens, formaldehyde, ammonia, and metal flakes. Yes those are the things I was told about the type of paints I use, not my particular brand, though it was insinuated with the broad "every paint of this type" type of comments. I have a mild case of multiple chemical sensitivity which also includes an acute sense of smell, and I've been drinking my paint water as a comedy gag for years. I think I'd know if there was something toxic in them. Let us not even go into all of the very obvious and glaring warnings, and disposal instructions there would be on a paint that contained any carcinogens in this day and age. We're talking about warnings bigger and more noticeable than those on cigarette packs. Certainly no product with these horrid ingredients would never be labeled as certified safe & non-toxic as my paints are.

In fact, the only two 'problems' I have ever heard from a customer is that they tried the wrong removal method and ended up scrubbing their child's face pink to get it off, and someone coming up to mock-complain about how their skin didn't tan through the paint. *chuckle* 100% sunblock. How do you remove my paints? A little warm water. Wipe a wet face painting, and off it comes, easy as pie. My kids are allergic to what I am testing if they ingest it. How many other kids are too? It has been said that normally, a face painter never hears about problems caused by their paints... How many people have had problems with these other paints and nobody has said a word?

When People who use these new paints hear people trying to talk kids out of having their faces painted, they say they hear things like "No honey, that itches, remember?" and "Remember how red your face was last time?". When I hear parents doing the same thing, I hear "It'll just rub off in a few minutes anyway.", "Honey, it's too hot, it'll just sweat off." and similar. I've had numerous parents warn their kids to not touch their paintings, and seen the looks of pleasant surprise when I show them that their designs are already dry, and tell them that the art won't come off from a simple day of hard play. My customers aren't afraid their designs will smear if their kids go into the bounce house, and the owners of the bounce houses don't worry about paint all over their equipment.

My paints don't smear, rub off, or stain the clothes after they dry. They also don't sweat off, and they have a good long wear time. Then again, my paints, undiluted, can have a tendency to itch and peel if used on active or mobile ares of the face (ie: around the mouth). Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

The thing is, the 'new' paints are licensed as cosmetics, clinically proven safe for use on the skin, and my paints haven't been sent through that testing and approval process. As a business aside, cosmetic grade paints are nearly free from risk of litigation, whereas my paints have none of that surety because they haven't gone through that costly process.

My paints keep my prices exceedingly low, as they are inexpensive, but the 'new' paints cost over three times what mine do. I would have to pass that cost on to my customers.

Neither paint is greasy or slimy, but only this other paint should be used in full-coverage body painting. I know the limits of my supplies.

* Conclusion: These paints are about equal to mine, but for different reasons. Beyond what I have already said above, there are a few things I need to add. I have to paint much faster with my paints because they dry so quickly while the other paints lend themselves better to blending and art that takes more time and nuance. I would have to completely re-learn how to paint larger designs with the new paints, since they cannot be layered. The 'new' paints feel better on the skin and can be used for advanced shading.

* Questions: Finally, I have some questions for you my beloved reader;

Should I try other cosmetic-tested paints, just to see if there is anything as good or better than what I currently use, or should I stick with what I know?

Which would you want on your child's face, or on yours for a day at the carnival?

Why do you answer that way?

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Feeling a Bit of Affluenza

I went against it all, and looked at the Black Friday sales ads for the first time in my life. But I looked online, in order to save both time and paper from the ads I never care to keep, so that makes it better, right? *sheepish grin*

It is amusing to see what folks wake up at 3am for these days, whereas I simply haven't been to bed yet 'cause our visit with friends was so great, we stayed WAY too long. *chuckle* First showing of a new a movie I can understand standing in line for several hours for, but the vague possibility of a random goody at half-off if you are one of the first 100 people at the door? Nah, I can wait for the other loss-leader sales that happen at other times throughout they year.

If I'm desperate for a particular item, I have learned that I can likely buy online, without leaving the house, days before the sales start in the stores, possibly even having it in my grubby little hands with free two-day shipping several days before everyone else has a chance at it. Not that we have the cash to pull that off this year, but still, it's nice to know we could if we wanted to, had the money, and actually needed something that was going to be some sort of amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal.

Not likely though, everything that goes on sale today is some sort of frivolous non-necessity. I know, I looked. *wink*

There's lots of stuff we'd just love to have, if we suffered from Affluenza, and lived like what seems like 90% of the American public. But throwing ourselves deep into hawk to get pretty little possessions that will just weigh us down so we can look cool and have the neatest new gadgets, isn't how we like to live.

We'll spend this Buy Nothing Day the same way we always do. At home, with family, spending time together; laughing, singing, and eating leftovers. For one day a year, we consume nothing except for utilities and leftover food. "cept this year, I'll also be making phone calls around to apartments, always on the hunt.

May you have a joyous and loving anti-consumerist holiday.

Happy Buy Nothing Day!

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

*"Protest Turkey" was completely hand-drawn with a mini optical mouse in Paint Shop Pro 11/06. "Protest Turkey" is about 7x8 inches and took 30 minutes from start to finish.

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Tryptophan Addiction

Every year around the 10th of November, it starts; an undeniable craving for the luscious sleep-inducing turkey-drug, Tryptophan. Now, I'm not craving turkey, I simply need the pleasant drowsiness and sense of well-being that comes on after gorging on the bird., especially this year. Turkey is the best way to get this fix of course, as it also contains chemicals that speed up your metabolism so that while you are in your stupor, you body digests through the feast quicker, so not gaining as much as you might have without the saving graces of the great bird.

All hail turkey, the master meat for all diet nuts!

Not that I really care personally, but it's nice to know that the holiday season has some built-in weight-loss. *grin*

Today, I get my tryptophan, and all will be well. *chuckle* Planning on heading over to a friend's house right after an oil change in our poor Eeyore (that'll probably include a full 2 hours' wait because we procrastinated with all the other lazy folks this Thanksgiving), but it will get done.

Later, we'll be going on over to spend a few days at Keeb's mom's house. She'll be gone until Sunday afternoon, and we have permission to not only use her high-speed internet but also sleep on her wonderful pillow-top mattress (that we gave to her when she moved from our old place). Sleep will be rich tonight! *grin*

Happy Thanksgiving all. Stay warm and safe!

Update: It didn't take two hours to get the oil changed! *grin* Come to find out, if you procrastinate longer than all the other procrastinators on the planet, they'll all be done and you'll show up to the oil change place to a bunch of bored mechanics playing some sort of ball game in the repair bays. *chuckle* Yaaay for no waiting!

And we had a fabulous time at our friends' place. *smile*

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Family Size Discriminations and the Car Insurance Blues

Are you in the mood for discrimination? Do you need more than a simple one-person serving?

Well, you're in luck!

Here in Springfield, Missouri, we have family size discrimination!

See, if your family is one or two people, you can live anywhere, in any size apartment, including an efficiency, for dirt cheap. Add another person into the mix, and the chances of getting into even a one-bedroom are pretty slim. Add yet another, and most places will try to mandate that you live in a two-bedroom, despite your desire to size down your life, because the apartment owners and managers all seem to think they know what is best for your family.

Somehow two people can live in a tiny room with a kitchenette and a bathroom, but four supposedly can't live in two large rooms with a bathroom and a full kitchen. Crazy!

I guess this type of insanity is common, or at least contagious.

Still we search.

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My mother has spent the last few days at my grandmother's house, helping out and visiting. This is a sure sign that she's feeling quite a bit better from her accident, though I don't expect that to last for long, as she's now out of her pain medicines she got at the hospital. At least she's had a bit of a respite.

When she got home, she was seriously ticked! The insurance company called her and told her that the loaner vehicle (that she doesn't like, and that hurts her to drive) has to go back on Monday instead of at the end of the month like they had previously told her. Seems their 'policy' states that, while the coverage amount will cover 'up to' a certain amount, when they total a car, you have literally two days to return the rental, 'cause it's not covered by the insurance anymore. *boggle* Not when you find a new vehicle, not when you get the recovery payment check, and not when you get your "total loss" letter, but two days after they declare it totaled and tell what they will give you for it, on the phone.

After much wrangling, arguing, and listening to what must've been the most long-winded claims adjuster on the planet (even my mom complained about this woman not being able to shut up!), I was finally able to get the letter emailed to me to print out, and I was able to fax the paperwork they needed to their office, so they can get at least part of her check cut for her car. Of course, for her perfectly working car with it's two brand new tires, they are giving her a grand total of about $700. Wow, that'll buy her something nice.

I seriously dislike her insurance company. Now she has to either magically find a car like hers that both runs well and she can fit into comfortably, over the holiday weekend, without any money to pay for it (they mail the check), or have me drive her all over hells' half acre to find one after she gives up the rental.

Lovely, just sunshine and flamin' candydrops lovely.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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