What a wonderful week.

Again I have not posted in a while. The past week has been wonderful! So I'm the early part of Spring 2012, not only did my best friend move to Florida with her husband and her little gene replication, incubating, but as did her entire family. That was tough. Her family was the head of the church, and I was very close to them. 

That same year in November, my husband and his buddy drove from Michigan to see them. It was a lovely time, but probably not actual a wise financial trip. Dallas was a puppy then, and not nearly as respectful as he is now. In fact, he was at the start of his brat phase. A few months and he got pretty bad and then wonderful. (Then we got nightshade and start the cycle over.)

Visiting in 2013 was not an option as we did not acrue enough winter savings for it (seasonal job is pretty foolish yo.) and I was in school. 

Finally, the last week of August 2014, Wally, DJ and their little guy Lincoln came up and we were reunited! It was spectacular, and I had such a wonderful week with them. And it was great to visit DJ's family again, as they stayed there. 

We went to the zoo, enjoyed two bonfires, watched a movie at our place, devoured tomatoes, saw a scary movie, ate good food, and while it was short, it makes me hopeful for next time. 

 

Fingers are crossed for December between semesters. Andrew and I will not be returning to the farm, because frankly it has become unbearable and hardly resembles the place I had loved dearly. But I do have both the phone numbers of an owner and the funeral director/embalmer of a lovely funeral home. Going to give them a call. 

Additionally, school started back up. For the first time since 10th grade almost a decade ago, I have chemistry. I also am taking Spanish and Art History. Should be a fun semester. Muy bien. 

More exciting news is that my sister had her baby. Cute little boy who looks just like her (for this week anyways). 

Unfortunate for me, she is the third child in my family. The eldest had a baby five years ago (and that lad just started kindergarten. What!?!). Last year the second born had a baby, and this year the third. I am about to be bombarded with questions of upcoming infants. 

To which I will answer "I have two beautiful dogs." It's not a total dismissal, as I would love to mix mine and Andrew's genes, dearly. I truly look forward to having a little fellah who looks like a perfect blend of Andrew's large elongated head and my almost unrealistic small ears. Haha I jest. Seriously though, that would mean a lot to me. 

Right now I am 23 and in the next few years I will be in school hopefully doing lots of cadaver classes. I do not posess the patience as of yet to handle infants that I can not just give back to their mom after they suddenly smell foul. 

Right now, I love being an aunt to Tommy, Mac, and Junior (said like Seam Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He name is actually Andrew, after his dad. Ah. Now there's three Andrews in the family. Mine, Stephanies and I guess Stephanie's too.)

This post will end on this note. Note the tasty Great White Beefsteak. Also note the doughnut that was in our assortment for Saturday Market. It's a unicorn doughnut!! Although, we were so busy it took me from 7am-11 to actually eat. Stephie was not my bean friend, dang that having baby thing. So independently, I kept the table filled and sold about 30 bushels of beans, about 25 of them separated into heaping quarts and half peck baskets. Like so. 

Steph and I last year doing this. Bah I attribute a lot of hate to the lady who cut my hair at the hair college this April. 

Okay. I really am ending the blog now. Gracias, y hasta luego. 

Rebecca has left the building.

What a fluttering of a month. One reason or another led me to make nearly zero posts.

A specific reason I can name is a pretty awesome one!!

Trade the itsy bitsy one bedroom apartment for a gigando 4 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath Victorian totally loaded up on space. We can park four cars directly in front of our side door (better than wiggling around a building with a 30# bag of dog food and the rest of your groceries). Full kitchen. Seperate spacious dining room. A parlor and a living room. Plus shrubberies.

Even with our pups being confined to the first floor, their roaming space has quadrupled. Additionally, the non-carpeted flooring is amazing when it comes to working with a puppy and a full grown dog who lately decided his trigger will be on carpet. Not that that matters, as the solid week we have been here only yieled one accident from Dallas and twice from Nightshade. Dallas is more well adjusted than his baby brother, but if there is a dude walking around loud outside he was too distracted to finish business. Plus I think the walking fellah was inebriated, which sent me back in quicker too. That accident was our fault. Nightshade on the other hand was a little stressed and had stress diarrhea, but only before day 3. Both have taken to the new place like gems!

Not without it's hiccups though, this has been an excellent relocation. Firstly as a clueless young couple, we had no idea the gas was separate from our electric company. That means no oven and no hot showers for a few days. At this very moment I am awaiting the gas man so I can finish up my dishes and can my tomatoes. Our dryer is electric, and we need to install an outlet suitable. And as beautiful as the entire house is, the previous owners left the larger bathroom nearly untouched. The floor is frightful (but there is a nice faucet in the shower and a nice mirror with a beautiful light fixture.) We definitely have a construction project right there, but aside from that the building inspector gave us a glowing report. He even complimented my use of Halloween decoration and mine and Andrew's dragonbone helmet project sitting on our desk.

I have been attempting to record a few practice videos for my YouTube channel. Best way to connect with a pal, is to get in on what they love.  One video I would like to make is a house tour video, as I am just that excited.

Lastly, posts have been scarce largely due just not shopping much. I killed it at Ulta near the close of July, and had to let my allowance recover. Now that it has, I am taking stock of my makeup and really, I do not know if I will need anything anytime soon. Maybe my allowance can just go towards markers?

Text heavy post will end it's transition soon.

Have yourselves a wonderful night and I am going to genuinely attempt to make my blogging far more positive and less cynical.
Let's end this with Nightshade in his new bedroom (parlor)

Rants are subpar to Happies

Honestly, i do not like to go on them. It only proves to work me up and leave me upset and dissatisfied. Happiness is my favorite flavor. 

So ending a quick rant on rants, how about some things that are great. 

My dog. 

And my current youngest nephew (soon to be a middle nephew in September. Yee!)

This is Dallas. He is a two year old Shetland Sheepdog and is smart as a whip, neurotic, and a loud complaining dog. Dallas also responds to Pingo, and if he enjoys mashing his toys against your legs (sometimes with his flying disk, he accidentally noms a leg). Pingot is also a cuddle monster who will lay down on your feet while you do dishes. He is obedient and wonderful. 

The best part of Dallas is that he is always smiling!!

Enter Nightshade. 

(Or "Nightshade Pumpkin Fishbone"/Chubbs)

Another sheltie, but the BiBlack variation, Nightshade is near impossible to photograph. 

As far as sheltie averages go, Nightshade exceeded the charts at an early age. He is gigantic and reduces Dallas to Pygmy size. Shade is our baby and retained his floppy ears naturally. 

His personality manifested as a complete foil to Dallas within a week. Every action he takes is peppered with laziness and a drawl, even down to running goofy. Nightshade is sweet natured and a quick learner, following after Dallas example. 

He is my shadow and another cuddle monster. Also his somewhat dumb nature is endearing.

Those are the Pingoes. 

If ever you see me refer to a "Pingo" it is either Dallas specifically; a Shetland sheepdog; herding dog (Rough collies are always "big pingoes"); by extension dogs in general, or whatever animal is cute; or what Andrew has decided to call me this month for laughs. 

He also calls me Pumpkinhead. That and Darling make me melt. 

Andrew the neimgromp. 

Made up words regularly surface in our dialogue. Like Gibbles who gib. 

We enjoy singing dramatically in the car and laughing all day. 

Drawing and writing. 

I would love to be a Renaissance man... Err... Drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, singing like Bonnie Tyler (refined, classic music of course), and my affinity for being obnoxious and sitting on furnitures stupidly. 

Example. 

Spine where the glutes go. Terrible terrible and I know why my dog is so lazy. He gets his sloth from me. 

But, I really like to draw and have enjoyed doing it for the past decade. I can now draw decent cartoon dogs. Wow. 

Mountains of things in the world give me happiness, but these are just a few of them. 

I love happiness! And I would love to make more posts like this, just to keep the positivity flowing, as I could sure use it. 

Baby Lips, Just Peachy; A Review

So last night I had a little splurge. I replaced my way-too-old, crusty mascara; which I bet is crawling with s. aureus or e. coli, in excess because you know. bathrooms exist. I would hate to see how much growth I would get in MacConkey agar. The thought gives me the shivers.

Anyways that was replaced with something from the trusty Maybelline selection. I have repurchased some of the same four mascaras a billion times.

Another splurge was to replace my 85% used up black nail polish. Studio M, of course. I had such a long usage of that polish and was impressed. Two coats to total opaque, totally acceptable with one when I felt lazy. I also bought a pastel pink, and dumped my "Fushia Power" Sally Hansen in the garbage.

In the cart also went in a Baby Lips. Recently, one of my sisters had a birthday. So another and I made a gift jar with a few drug store makeup finds and a book. We had Baby Lips Dr. Rescue picked out in Berry Soft. While at the Farm yesterday she had this lovely matte pink to her lips and it just looked...berry soft. I said, "Jessica. what lipstick are you wearing?" and she responded that it was the one we picked out.

I will be darned if I didn't snag one. Her warning was that on some days she loved it, and others she exclaims "WOAH PINK." as it isn't meshing that day. I believe that. It's quite pink. The shade I elected was "Just Peachy".

First application I was shocked in my passenger seat mirror. I did not expect such a slidy layer of color. I applied too much. Since the summer, I have made my own lip balm out of a simple beeswax, cocoa butter recipe. It tingles and smells of peppermint. Rather lovely, but you have to rub a bit on. That was not needed with the baby lips.

While my lips feel hydrated, and not dried out there is this distinctive feeling to them with product on that almost seems like a grit feeling. Very fine grit, that evidently I can not feel when I rub my lips together. Shea Butter and a few other oils might lend to the somewhat greasy feel. Yes it is greasy if I over apply. Going to sleep last night and waking up at 4, long after the balm would have wore off, my lips were still rather soft. All in all, Dr. Rescue is a nice balm. It's just not on the same level as medicated Blistex or Chapstick brand. I blame the tint.

0.5% Menthol as an External Analgesic. I have read some reviews comparing the smell to Vicks Vaporub. I only smell it directly from the tube. Perhaps I am so immersed with the smell of flowers and Formalin (aqueous formaldehyde solution), that I am not noticing the smell any more. Either that or our long winter of wearing Vicks as a neck tie. It should be noted, that I do not mind the smell of Chlorine in pools or embalming fluid. I do mind the smell of rotten potatoes and onions. 

Why do I feel like this makes my lips look larger?

As far as color goes. It's beautiful. I'm in love with the matte nude look it gives against my skin. Maybe it's a cool pink? It's fun and I see this looking extra fab during the summer months too. There is a high likelihood that I would repurchase from this line.

Subjective and arbitrary scaling! 7/10. 

Most of those points are because I adore the color, but as a balm It's normal, or perhaps under-average performing. If it were not tinted like it were, it would receive a 4. Another point was lost due to the very cheap feeling tube. I had little clue as to where to hold it. It was very, very cheap and flimsy feeling.

March 2014 Ipsy Unboxing

Okie doke, I'll take the lot.
Like I had stated in my preview impressions post, I would willingly take any of the products released.

Last night, as I was waiting for the glam rooms to open (which would have been a 4AM in my EST zone, so needless to say I just went to sleep) I was lamenting on what I might recieve and it became very clear what I was excited for. There were some definite wants and things I was wishing I wouldn't get for my first glam bag.

this post will be updated when I actually receive the bag in the mail. 

[ETA: March 11] perhaps this will aide other folks waiting on their bag in Michigan, but I finally got the tracking email. It's in Kentucky. Bleghghh.
[ETA: March 13] Bag came in around 2PM EST. I didn't open it yet, I was spending time with my sister. 
[ETA: March 14] Wore everything for a day at work. I work in a greenhouse. It's 30˚ƒ outside, 85˚ inside.

On a cardboard box at work, for your viewing pleasure. Best available lighting too.

Bare Minerals

Marvelous Moxie™ Lipstick in Get Ready

Full size retail: $18
Near as I can calculate, this looks to be a little less than halvsies size. So let's change that value to about $7.95

Either way, I like the size of the stick. I have the tendency to keep all of my makeup in my purse (also previously stated, I have little). This little guy will really help avoid what happened to my Miche bag.

Super Elfin Coral.

This was one of the items I was ultra-focused on last night. I wanted the gloss. Swatches I saw of it were just lovely, and not too glittery. It's overall a nice pink. I was a little disappointed to see the lipstick, becuase I already have Revlon's Blackberry. It's sort of vampy red, and was thinking of the lipstick as too close. Erroneous fear of course, Get Ready is not vampy in any way. BareMinerals describes it as a "Warm Rosy Pink". Well. I'll take that too.

Get Ready reminds me of one of the flowers we grow at the greenhouse. Like an impatien maybe Super Elfin Coral.

 It's not shimmery, thank the Lord, but it has somewhat of a petal look. It's not nude like I've been wanting so bad for a few years, but a color I would wear. It's not nearly as intimidating when the pigment isn't staring right at you in the tube.

This I applied throughout the day, and giggled over the size of the tube. If I dab it on, it's my lips only better. If I applied it with two or so coats, it was a Super Elfin Rose (again, impatien comparison. I speak in flower). It still looked lovely.  This is something I would purchase I think, but maybe a different color.

NYX

Love in Rio Eye Shadow in Bikini Bottom

Full Size Retail: $6
This is was a fufilled wish. While Bombshell's Bora Bora quad was cute, the colors were not totally suited to what I wanted at the moment. You see, I have a green trio for my green-hazel eyes. A purple trio, and a reddish trio. I have no brown for the days I just want a 'colorless' - if you will - look. I've been using my eyebrow palette to achieve that look, and it's been lackluster. Satisfaction had.

As far as usage goes, that sponge applicater is useless. I had trouble getting any color on my eyes from it. Eventually I resorted to using one of my own brushes, which yielded far more favorable results. This one was somewhat a pinkish brown? Warm brown? I don't know.
But the lightest shade made a great brow highlight. The other two went well with the blue liner, and I applied the darkest shade at the crease. Had I not been doing this in the car, I'm sure it would have been nicer.

I would probably purchase from NYX again, if I had some brighter colors to test. Test swatches at the store are very pigmented.

Chella

Indigo Blue Eyeliner

Full Size Retail: $24

Another satisfied customer. Out of the three choices, I wanted the nail polish the least. While I am desperate for nail polish, I'm relieve not to have a gritty one, albeit in a cute color. My best frand has some chocolately eyes, and whenever she put blue eyeshadow on them - I mean Superman's blue - they made her whole face pop. I'm excited to pair this with the brown palette, and deviated a little from the usual black.

I think this is full size too? I have never spent more than $10 on one makeup object, let alone $24. Dang son. I'm excited to try this.

I was surprised by the felt tip. I had one like it a few years back, but it got gunky quick, and I lost it. A more expensive brand hopefully lasts longer. Overall, even though I had no idea how to handle the pen and it went on sloppy, I felt it was great quality. It did not smudge and stayed on my eyes all day. Going to work with application, because I am very satisfied. 

Pixi Beauty

Mini Flawless Beauty Primer

Full Size Retail: $9
This is a .4oz (roughly 12 ml.) I believe it's full size deluxe sample or something.

Aside from the under eye treatment, this is also the one I wanted the most in that grouping. I have been meaning to try a good primer. I am tired of not having eyeshadow on my eyes after an hour. Hooded lids do not help either. I realize this is a foundation primer, but I will likely fudge my usage for eyeshadow. I don't use foundation, just concealer under my eyes on occasion. We can try that too.

This quickly became the item I was least excited about. I don't like the "youthful glow" it gives, because it's a translucent sparkle and I have bad lighting in my bathroom. I felt odd putting it on. All the same, where I used it, I could recognize exactly where I applied my eyeshadow hours later. It did it's job. I don't know if I would purchase it again, but it was not a bad product in anyway.

Total Retail of Contents

$46.95/10 
370% additional value. 

My look. 

Badly aimed sunlight ruined shot. Point of this is to show that this was 5:30 PM. I put on this makeup (sans the lipstick) on at 8:30AM while I rode in the car. Eyeliner is where I put it (yep. I put it on that badly) And the eyeshadow is where I put it.

My eyemakeup is not in my suborbicularis oculi. Win. The lipstick after some car application, while riding home.

If you wish to subscribe to Ipsy, it's $10 monthly for 4-5 beauty items, you are welcome to use my referral link here.

Where I am Regarded as Entertaining.

I have some cute stories of my dog that I could graciously share.
I also have those wonderfully incriminating childhood bladder stories.

Whilst in thought last night, I had the realization that there is a wealth of amusement in my toddlerdom. I was the youngest of four very different girls. It's not that we're all 'weird'; we just has vastly different personalities. The eldest of us is a fiery brunette who is 'one of the guys' and has no shyness in talking about anything really. She's funny.

The next is a Susie-Homemaker who adores conversation about budgets, making pasta from SCRTCH, and news today. She's funny.

Right before me, is the diva kindergarten teacher who could be summed up by saying she has an almost non-platonic crush on Jane Austen's literature. She's funny.

Then is me. My mom always called me her 'Breath of Fresh Air'. She finds me refreshing because I'm the weirdo of her kids (not the obscene one, or the one who knits her own headbands, and certainly not the one who relates personally to Fanny Price). Aside from weird, she calls me morbid and the only one who laughs at my Dad's jokes. And in most documented photos of me - especially those for the holiday keepsake photos - I am the one making a non-generic smile. I was born to make dumb faces.

Between my sisters and I and our collective efforts of giving my dad grey hair before he was 30, I probably have a lot to talk about.

My dog isn't the only interesting thing in my life. My parents are also funny people. I'm not one of those people who can relish in their time with friends. I didn't go to parties. I didn't do anything. I was somewhat reclusive when highschool came to a close. I really only talk with Non-Dog BFF and her family.

But really, I could just tell a thousand different stories about how creative I was when I peed my pants as a kid. Pun intended, they're juicy stories.

Prince Derp Dog

I find myself entertaining until I choose to talk about it.


I drew a picture of my dog in roughly twelve minutes.

This is Prince Indiana Buford Frankenstein.
He is a very swell dog, despite his lacking in man-parts. He's a nice dog except for his small head. And his badly done tail docking and horribly scarred dew claws (the man who owned the barn that Indy and his family were bred did it himself, and the litter was an accident.)

Man-Man just read over my shoulder and I got quite self-conscious.




Everything aside, I really could write an entire anthology, depicting all the Adventures of Indiana Frankenstein. I want to write his biography. Anyone who enters my house, will be annoyed by him. Anyone cooking at the stove, will be shouting "INDY. WE ARE EATING." (recently a new command has been issued, varying with 'Cooking' as opposed to 'eating'.) Anyone who sleeps in the beds of my house, will find this dog's small head resting gently on it BEGGING to lay under their blanket.

I'm at that silly point of writing that I just feel ...silly. My grammar skills are trash right now.

I had at least thirty-two anecdotes I could have shared, instead I default to my three year old BFF.

Fact: Indiana is listed as my son on Facebook. His father used to be Man-Man, until he either felt dumb over it or he wanted people to take him serious. Of course, no one takes anyone serious with a son named Frankenstein.

I've been told that I start doting on the dog for no reason. I've been told that the dog just needs to be standing there and I find something amusing about him. Nobody understands me.

No one.

So I suppose, if I have nothing else worth commentating on in my exciting life (I think it's exciting and filled with all the laughs in the world...whutevs) I can at least write about my dog.