dawndie

That reminds me, I need to save a picture of Snarky's turtle before I forget. A little Instant Zen!

I'm glad I put the spoiler tags in -- I had it regular-typed before, and when rereading it I heard screeching TMI brakes in my head and figured some might not want to hear about my weekend The Office is one of my favorite shows, natch. Like Valentina said, it's good to have fellow sufferers wherever you work.

Pshaw, I bought this bottle new last year and never reviewed? I'm a flake In bottle: rose soaps On skin: lots of roses, but not the wallop that Rose Red packs (in a good way! ) Half-hour later: dusty rose In conclusion: this blend is simple and straightforward. I am a devoted fan of the BPAL Roses and this does not disappoint. The dry, musty resins are a beautiful complement to the roses.

Estate sales dropped off over the holidays and they’ve started back up again, so we’ve gone to a few. It seems we aren’t the only ones jonesing for them to return, as the past few weeks most houses we go to have been packed with people. This weekend I bought a souvenir shot glass from San Francisco ($2) and an unused Las Vegas postcard of the original Aladdin hotel for 10¢. The coolest purchase was at another house: two big bags of matchbooks for $4! Going through them last night was a lot of fun -- they were from the ‘60s and ‘70s mostly, lots of restaurants and some old Vegas ones, and some from Paris, London, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, Cairo, and most were unused. The funniest was from a Chinese restaurant in Berlin named Hung Wang. Hee hee! Yes, I’m ten years old. We like going to see the houses, but there’s a constant struggle with buying things. I’m trying to be good and not fill the house with crap (especially with my weakness for old souvenirs). I don’t like shot glasses in general, they’re kind of a give-up souvenir that seem to be for sale everywhere, but I have a soft spot for San Francisco and since it was so cheap I bent the rule a bit. I don’t want to start collecting shot glasses though -- I like the older weirder wackier souvenirs like plates or tablecloths or matchbooks. Another dilemma is furniture -- we like some of the pieces we see, and by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around they’re usually 50% off the tagged price, but 1) where are we supposed to put all this? and 2) how are we supposed to get it home? The house with the matchbooks had (along with the very cool Wurlitzer organ) a huge beautiful bar, like a pirate bar! Two pieces, front and back with 3 barstools, the guy said they paid around $6000 for it and we could have taken it all home for $600. We have a Camry and an Altima, and we don’t know anyone with a beater truck or van. Maybe this is a good thing, as we’d be filling the house with furniture instead of smaller things. Oh, but I want a bar! In my house! I’d never leave

Oh, that's not a bad rate at all to rent a truck. So should we rent the truck first, then drive around town trying to fill it? That could be dangerous.

I've noticed that with a lot of these "brutally honest" people, they can dish it out but can't take it. If you call them out on something, their reaction is often "Well! How RUDE and inconsiderate of you to say that to me! I'm only expressing myself, and you're being disrespectful" etc. ad nauseum And yes, contrarians (a/k/a shit-stirrers) should be avoided as much as possible.

That's fun to say over and over! Big Bald Bob Big Bald Bob

Congratulations!

Ugh, it’s only Thursday? I’m dragging this week. We went out with my cousin and his friend last night to watch the Mavs game, and I think I drank too much Guinness. No, I know I drank too much Guinness But it’s so good! It came to the table with a little shamrock on top, like the more talented baristas can put a creamy heart on top of your coffee. Cousin’s Friend had a picture in his cell phone of a coffee he ordered in Santa Barbara with a big smiling cat face on top, which was really impressive. I’m distracted by online shopping the past couple of days. I placed a Possets order on Tuesday for a few of the new LEs: Kitty Cupidon, Haute Love and Silver Roses. Wednesday was incense and a few perfume samples from feMaledictions, and I finally placed an order to try some Fred Soll incense. I’m also eyeballing the 4 Fat Cats Wax Works update, as I’ve ordered from Holly previously and really liked her tarts -- strongly scented and no dye. Last week I received an order from My Lady’s Chamber for more incense, and I can barely close my incense drawer as it is, so why am I ordering more? Is my house subliminally stinky? I just love coming home after work and lighting candles and incense, and on Saturdays as I’m doing chores having simmering oil or a tart burning. It must be a nesting thing. I guess I’m making up for lost time too, as the end of 2006 was money-stressy since I didn’t know where/when I would be working. It’s not like any one purchase is terribly expensive, but these buying flurries are obviously something I need to get out of my system. Once I get a few new things in the mail to play with, I should be fine. Yeah

I ordered XXX, New Rose and Golden Proportion incense. I tried the Chocolate-Covered Rat and Sweet Rot before, and even though they're smaller and kinda thin sticks they're very strong and worth the money. I like NK too, they have great scents but I just like the bigger stronger sticks. I have a rather large area to "smoke out" and I like them stinky!

Me too

Oh no! I'm so sorry this is happening. I've been in that situation a few times, that initial PANIC!! when it's announced the office/company/etc. is closing. If it was a great place to work, definitely look into transferring to another store -- you keep your tenure and don't have to be on the "open market."

Wow, another huge update! Let's see what we have here: Crow Moon -- meh, too many flowers Oborot -- too much pine & woods which don't work so well on me Fire Pig -- now this one sounds interesting! There are a lot of ingredients, but it may work together like 13 does. Luckily it's hanging around so I can read a few reviews before next month's update & order Enraged Groundhog Musk -- "Cranky groundhog musk," hee! Sounds like Vice with additional musk, yummy And the Carousel! I have just one Gaiman collection at home, of the Death stories (1995 or thereabouts), but I've read other Sandman storylines from that time period. It sounds like he had some input with these, which is neat! Bilquis -- great googly moogly, another honey blend that sounds divine Mad Sweeney -- I love the boozy blends, but the straight-up wood not so much. Waiting for reviews Mama-Ji -- probably too spicy for me, especially with my skin occasionally breaking out in rashes Mr. Ibis -- this sounds interesting too, with the papyrus and musks and white sandalwood. I'll watch for reviews Mr. Jacquel -- usually amber as the main ingredient means it will smell nice but disappear. BUT Haunted is just amber and musk and that one lasts and lasts and is a big fave of mine, so we'll see Mr. Nancy -- this one sounds weird, cookies with a bay rum cologne? It's so crazy, it just might work Spider -- another cologney one, probably too masculine on me but I'll want to read reviews In conclusion: I ordered Chintamani-Dhupa, Svadhinaopatika and Enraged Groundhog Musk

That? Is the cutest thing EVER

--Ack, I was bumped to the 2nd page of blogs! This means that 1) I'm not updating enough, and 2) there are lots of other people updating! I'm glad to see people joining us on Blog Island (TM Antimony) --As to my previous post, this collection agency has obviously been carpet-bombing people across the country with demand notices for phantom amounts. Lots of complaints posted on ripoffreport.com and complaintsboard.com. I filed a complaint with the FTC online, and since I demanded proof of the debt I'll hopefully never hear from this company again --We went to World Market on Sunday to spend some gift cards. I love being able to walk through that store and grab anything that looks interesting without having to spend cash. We got a couple bottles of wine, some beer made by Trappist monks, shortbread cookies, Irish oatmeal, mushroom & wine pate, pasta sauce, a bunch of incense, a big candle, and some replacement forks. Rats, I listed all this and now I'm hongry! (TM darkitysnark) --I definitely read everyone's blogs, even though I don't comment most of the time. We have a great bunch here

Hee! I didn't think about that -- it's more like "quick thoughts that fly in and out of my brain" Eh, my foot feels OK -- if I'm running around all day it starts to get stiff and swollen which is irritating.

I am trying the 2006 version, thanks to the lovely valentina! In bottle: dusty florals On skin: blast of flowers, almost making me sneeze Half-hour later: patience is a virtue with this one -- the slightly sweet honey combines beautifully with the champaca flower, which is quickly becoming a favorite floral (nothing can beat the BPAL Rose, however ). Amber is dusty and instead of disappearing it's hanging out with the flowers and honey In conclusion: I love almost every BPAL blend with honey, and this doesn't disappoint. It's sweet without being too foody, dusty without being too sneezy, floral without being too migraine-y. Really nice!

I loved that whole album when it was first out. I still love it George Michael's SO owns a gallery here in Dallas and they're rumored to have a pretty sweet house here. I'd love to eat at Pappadeaux's in Uptown (great creole food) and have him walk in. *wallows in '80s crushdom*

In bottle: butterscotch pudding On skin: lots of sweet foodiness, but nothing overwhelming. It's reminding me a lot of Monster Bait: Closet (cake and blackberries) Half-hour later: more resiney and mellow, not so foody In conclusion: I really like the "wine grapes" as a fruity element, they seem to add sweetness and light without being too overwhelmingly sweet. It ends beautifully, incense with an extra jolt of sugar and lurking fruit.

I love the Carnaval Noir throwback labels! In bottle: fresh apple juice On skin: fruit and herbs. No Snake Oil that I can tell Half-hour later: very creamy fruit, with a bit of dusty amber. I can barely pick out the Snake Oil base, it's not as strong as I'd like at this point, but I'm impatient In conclusion: it took a couple of hours for the Snake Oil to become recognizable -- there's no "where'd it go?" disappearing act with this one! I'm so glad these many variants are being released and I want to try more!

I'm so sorry you're going through this. Feel free to vent all you want!

Don't we all want to be like Valentina when we grow up? I'll occasionally get motivated beyond the maintenance bare minimum, with the nails and the shaving and the self-tanner so I'm not too pale. "From now on, I'll rilly rilly keep up with this!" That lasts about a week, then it's back to normal. My tombstone will never read, "Gee, Her Nails Looked Terrific!"

Glad you didn't slide or get smushed! I don't know where you live, but we've had unusually icy weather here in Texas, the worst since we moved here. I woke up Wednesday morning to icy sheets instead of roads (Tuesday night they were predicting we'd see "maybe a flurry" ) but I drove to work anyway. I saw nary a treated road on the entire drive in, even through downtown. I'm in an Altima Texas is totally deluded in that when they do "treat" the roads and bridges, they use sand instead of ice melt or salt, presumably to save money. Um, sand doesn't melt ice I didn't realize Ohio was so advanced because they use all sorts of ice-melting technology to keep the roads safe. Then people here are shocked at the accident rate! Shocked!

You're my hero I giggled at the same thing.

Good Luck and Kick Ass! *grr*