I'm outta here!

What are you still doing here? I have my new diggs, go on over and check it out. Update your bookmarks and RSS feed. It is still a bit threadbare, but the new site is up! www.lifenotforliving.com See you over there!

What a bargain!

Not quite. I know I said I was going to be busy getting the new site up, but there is nothing I can do until the switch over is complete. I am looking for some new shoes and I came across these lovelies!?!?!?! Emilio Pucci has done it again! I am speechless. I love Pucci prints, but this? I am speechless. I should add, for those who are reading this in RSS or just don't want to follow the link, these puppies retail for 1089.99 USD.

Stasis

My web site is in stasis right now. I cannot EVEN begin to tell you of the ordeals I have been through getting this up. I am way to cheap to pay anyone to install the things I need, so I am doing it by myself. After all, I have a Ph.D. I should be able to get a web site up and running. Right. The web site is up ( I would say, up and crawling). It looks nice. I have my main page up (gorgeous), but my blog is not yet even up, let alone crawling. I decided to use WordPress as my blogging software. I wanted a powerful blogging software that would allow me to use my own template. I can do this with blogger, tis very true. I wanted to put in category support. No can do with blogger, not easily anyway. I also wanted some additional tabs for everything else, without having to make up separate blogs for my sewing, makeup, etc that I didn't want on my "main" blog. Wordpress seemed like the answer. The only problem is that I can't seem to get it working. I may have fixed the problem, but I have to wait for my hosting to update which can take up to 72 hours for me. The other problem is that while I am sure Wordpress has very good help and FAQs, they weren't really much help to me because the silly site works intermittently for me. So I wasn't able to access any of the forums. What I ended up doing was Google searches, then I would look at the cached page. A bit crude, but effective in the end. In the meantime I decided to come on over a give an update on what I have been doing. If anyone ever goes over to my other blog, you know that site has all but been abandoned. I was going to start posting some of my fiction over there, but I ain't writtin' no fiction in a lOOOOOOng time. I have a few scribbled notes but not much. I also bought a domain for that as well and when I finally get the kinks worked out of wordpress, I get that site up and running. Although to be honest I'll probably just keep blogger on that account. For now. Maybe. I'll see. Makes me tired just thinking of it. I just needed to take the time to sit down and DO this. I can't get it done at home because of the kids, and the fact that my battery died. Oh, don't even get me started on my battery, like where is it and will I ever see it again? Speaking of which I am calling those yahoo's right now. I hope to have a skeleton site up this weekend. OK. Let me put it this way, I'll move over to the new site regardless of what has happened this weekend.

Silence

Time is at a premium. I am in the process (of going mad, Martin is screaming his brains out, why why why? It is 1am for crying out loud, and he is still awake. Screaming. Incoherently. Why? I am going crazy) of moving to my new web site so expect some silence from me. Sorry, but wait till you see the new site, IT IS AWESOME!!! It is also (louder screaming now, why? What is wrong with him? I go in there, but he just keeps screaming. He does not want a drink, what does he want? What?) very pretty. I am in the process of getting everything uploaded and I still have some code to tweak. I also have a website to do for work, so I'll be busy over the next week or so. Watch this space for updates. Okay I must go and see Martin. Again. Always when Jason travels, always. *sigh*

Project Runway – Recycle!

I wanted to write this up right away, before I read everyone else’s recaps. I don’t want anyone else’s opinions to creep in. So Michael won and Allison is out. I am sad to see Allison go. She was one of my favorite designers on the show. She was pretty and cute AND she could design. The paper dress she made was not the best, but I think Vincent did a much worse job than she did. I think she was really thrown by the fact that her original idea did not work out, and then all she had left to work with was some paper. It was funny though to hear her and Tim Gunn talk about “her big model”. Whatever, she was probably a size two or something. As much as I love Kayne, I think his was worse than Allison’s. I think they had the bottom three spot on though; Allison, Kayne and Vincent. You could just tell Kayne was FLABBERGASTED that he ended up in the bottom three. He was probably thinking, “How on earth did I end up here when I am the fabulous Kayne?” I will be very sad to see the last of Allison; I was really looking forward to seeing more o her work. Vincent on the other hand, I could care less about his designs and I have not liked a single one. Just like Angela. I don’t really like Angela, and I have no idea why. I think we are just polar opposites of what we like and I find everything she has done distasteful. If they buried me in one of her designs, my corpse would re-animate just to rip the offending garment from my body. I think her Audrey Hepburn gown was a disaster and I find it hard to believe that Audrey Hepburn would ever put that on. Square neckline? P-P-Pul-lease. Laura is also one of my favorites. I just love how impeccable she always is, and her designs. The woman has five kids, and apparently more money that God (which would also explain how she gets on with five kids), but I love her designs. I was cringing at the end of the episode. I was horrified that Jeffrey would win. No No NOOOOOO!!! Jeffrey landed firmly in my DO NOT LIKE pile when he bashed on my woman, Laura. I think she must have really given him the business off camera, because he does not like her at all. His newspaper garment was all right, but I was happy when Michael won AGAIN. Go Michael Knight. All I could think, though, was “Poor Nazhri having to wear that plastic drape it’s probably all sticking to her,” but she worked it nonetheless. The look on Jeffrey’s face when they announced Michael the winner was PRICELESS!!! Love that show, I can’t wait for next week.

Comment Spam

In a bold move to make my comments more accessible and complete my transofrmation over to my new site (coming soon, I promise. It's just that this whole family and work thing keep getting in the way), I have opened up my comments. This has attracted quite a bit of comment spam. I delete it as it comes in but if I don't get to it first, please don't click on the links that look like: >>. I don't know where these sites will take you. Categories: Sitenews

My goodness

So today starts my first day of life without Jason…for the next 11 days. He’s over in Japan for two conferences. Usually I could look forward to some nice duty-free goodies, but No…not now. I really had my eye on the Lancome Hypnose or Armani Code fragrances, but it is not meant to be. Hello full price. Don’t even get me started on the futility of the air travel restrictions going on right now. I’ll just wait until I have to actually get on a plane and travel, then I’ll start the complaints. Until then, you will only hear my silence. So Jason is gone which means I have 11 (ELEVEN!!!) nights on my own. Eleven nights of getting home and getting dinner on the table, getting the kids family-timed alone, and getting the kids to bed…alone. I did prepare by making a huge pot of curry, spaghetti sauce and meatballs. I figure these should last Martina and I most of the week, maybe with pizza or something one night. Martin LOVES curries and (usually) spaghetti. We shall see. I guess the silver lining is that I can do whatever I want after martin goes down, provided of course Emma lets me. So I can read, surf, sew, whatever. The cloudy is that it will just be me, the kids and my mom. We’ll see. I actually had a post in mind when I started and now I have lost all focus. Hair So, I read Lorraine Massey’s Curly Girl book. I found it mildly un-informative as I have previously stated. I finally went back to twisting my hair, and my last two showers have been heaven without having to deal with the huge mess of my hair on a daily basis. I did make the twist quite large, so they will only last a few days before I need to re-do them. I just did them on Saturday and they are already looking a bit frizzy. Maybe tomorrow night I can re-do them. What I’ll say is, I’ll re-do them any night the kids will let me. It took me about an hour or 90 minutes to do these, total, on Saturday. Actually I spent the early afternoon doing them, in between the kids and etc. Besame Reviews This was what I really wanted to discuss Besame cosmetics. Online, and wonderful. I have had my eye on this company for while, but when Carla did her review I put my money where my mouth was. I mossied over to Besame and ordered me some samples. The samples are 1.5 each and you really do get a very generous sample in these nice containers. They say 3-5 applications. I guess if you are a giantess three to five, but I would say more like 10. I got a sample of their face powder, blusher, lipsticks and foundation. Face powder: Heaven. Heaven in a tiny jar. My, MY, face powder of CHOICE is T. LeClerc. Sometimes I use this Coty Airspun I bought ages ago, but T. LeClerc is where it’s at baby. Other brands try to lure me away, but I am just not having it. This lovely, sweet smelling powder from Besame has my T. LeClerc running scared. It comes in translucent (which it really is), works like a dream leaving my skin very smooth and soft. Love it. A little goes a very long way. Foundation: Meh. One day I love it the next day I hate it. Today I hate it, yesterday I loved it, the day before that… Here’s the deal, they call it a soufflé foundation. This stuff is thick, so thick I didn’t need a concealer. I would call the coverage full. Full and most buildable. You can really do a pancake face with this formula. Maybe I’ll change my tune this winter when my skin could stand a heavier foundation, but for now I am sticking to my beloved Virtual Skin. I may still use it as a concealer. Blusher: They call it rouge. I call it very nice. I got this in Sun Kissed which is one one those all around beautiful shades that look good on everyone. I usually go for medium foundations, and this worked really nice for me. I don’t really like a pigmented blusher, I like a sheer wash of color and that’s what I got with this. I think this will go into my shopping cart. It is lovely. Lipstick: Hold the phone, ladies. If you are looking for a red lipstick that is CREAMY and NON-Feathering, look no further. My lips have about a billion tny wrinkles around them (Martin so nicely misplaced my de-groovie) so I have to be careful with my dark lipsticks. I got this in Red Velvet and Besame Red. I found the Besame Red very bright, the Red Velvet was slightly less so, but I was able to tame it with a darker liner. These lipsticks are heaven. Very creamy and long lasting. It was heaven to wear. I am wearing a Sephora Artist Red lip color and you cannot even compare the two. I was hesitant about ordering this one, I mea how many red lipsticks do I need, only one if I would wear it. I would definitely wear this one. A dream. Categories: Beauty, General

Karma is a Mo Fo

That's right baby. It will come right back and bite you where the sun don't shine. So be nice. I believe I was wronged. I have been sulking for the last two weeks or so. Then, WHAM! Karma baby, sweet sweet justice. Louis may say, TANJ (There Ain't No Justice), but there is baby, oh yes, there is. So be mindful if you "get over" on someone, Karma will be looking for you. I am a big believer in Karma. I know that every time I done wrong, it was only a matter of time. The thing about Karma is that it waits until you are fat and happy, then it gets you. Karma loves complacency. So watch out for the Karma. And play nice.

Random thoughts

Project Runway I really like this show. I like fashion and I like sewing so it is only natural I would like this (reality) show about fashion designers who go each week to make fashions, with all the requisite back biting, etc you see on reality TV. It was the fourth challenge, and my least favorite designer, Keith, was kicked off. I was happy and sad by this. I was happy because he was so annoying all pompous, sad because he’s such a good source of entertainment, but I DID NOT want him to win the show. My favorite is Laura, followed by Allison. I like Laura because she really seems to have it together. I know she is in a income bracket beyond me. I mean, she shows up on the show with a collection of LV. I am sure I cannot even afford a LV purse, let alone an entire collection of luggage. She has five boys, God Bless her. FIVE! BOYS! CHILDREN! Yikes!!! Her designs are always very simple and elegant, and so is she. I cannot imagine her soaking around the house in yoga pants or an old grungy tank top (like myself). I like Allison because I really like her designs. I still think she should have won the doggie challenge. I loved her outfit. I really look forward to seeing more of here designs. I am also looking forward to more single challenges. I mean, we have had four and two of those were team challenges. Out of the two individual challenges, only the last one where they had to design for the dog was worth anything. The first one where they had to use their apartment furnishings was a bit weird. Though I did LOVE Laura’s design. Who knew you could make such magic with a bathroom rug? My Hair My long time (and maybe not so long time) readers will know I have a real, love-hate, with my hair. It is curly beyond belief. I have been blowing it dry, then using The Chi. This was okay. It wasn't very damaged, but it was a bit annoying because I was beginning to really hate blow drying my hair, and it was getting so long (and out of control) that all I was doing was putting it in a ponytail because if I left it down it would turn into a huge frizz ball. Especially with it being summer and all (hello humidity). For a long time I would twist my hair but that takes forever, especially with my hair being so long. I think I will do that tonight, be damned with the time. My hair looks like crap right now. At least I think so. I read this book. I forget the name but it is one of those "it's okay to be curly" books, where everyone in the book has less curly hair than I. Trust me. The author really did make it seem like all I had to do was not use shampoo, rinse my hair everyday, use gel and I would have this beautiful, curly hair. So I "washed" my hair with conditioner. I was immediately suspicious. As usual, my hair turned into a huge tangle. No combs! No brushes! Okaaaaaay. I looked in the mirror. What I saw was a triangle, with the apex at my chin, huge bushy hair. I sighed. I put the gel in. Okay, the gel did work a little bit. Instead of having a huge bushy afro, I have a smaller less bushy afro. She said it might take TWO WEEKS. There is no way my hair is going to magically turns into nice ringlets in another week of HELL. I just have to face up to facts. I have huge, frizzy, curly hair. The only thing that will change that is heat and chemicals. My hair has been depressing me all this week. I did this experiment on Saturday. In fact, when my mom saw me she says "Oh you didn't feel like doing our hair today?" I mumbled something like "yahhhh, urrrrr" then this morning she was all" you know that hair was cute when it was short but now it's not so cute" I think this is mom=speak for "You hair looks like hell, why don't you get off it and do something with it." When it boils down to it, it is my hair. My afro doesn't look all that bad. I would rather walk around with this than a head full of damaged, chemically straightened hair that is all uneven because it falls out if I look at it too hard or whatever. (Been there, done that) As far as afro goes, it is nice, and under control. Oh yeah, it is still a ponytail. I really have much too much hair to just not do ANYTHING with it. *sigh* I blame my genes. Other stuff I started writing this on Monday, it is now Wednesday. I have been working on the new site. It looks GOOD! Should be ready in a week or so. Categories: General

Isn't this cute?

Very quick, because I am all busy and junk. I made this cute little thing for Emma a few weeks back. I reviewed it already on patternreview.com. If you are a sewer I highly recommend this website. Can you believe it is already August first? Yikes, where has the year gone? I have decided that the Target by my job SUCKS. I went there a few weeks ago, mostly for the Boots stuff, they had NONE. The today I ran over (quickly) for some double-sided sticky tape for work. I had heard all about the new Max Factor long wear lip color (damn if I know the name of it) from the Lipgloss and laptops podcast. The target does not carry Max Factor. I am not usually a huge fan of these. The colors are just too weird, but it was highly recommended. Some other time. Categories: Sewing