Makeup Meme

Yes, that is a picture of my makeup drawer. This would be the exact same drawer Arwyn decorated with liquid makeup. Anyone who is not sans penis might want to stop reading now. Unless you are interested in makeup, then by all means, keep on reading.

Very Mom started this little project and I decided to play along. I’ve invested too much time in it to stop now! I know absolutely jack shit about makeup, but I sure do seem to have a lot of it. And this is after I threw some out during the Arwyn Decoration Project. Here are the contents:

• Maybelline Shine Free Pressed Powder in Soft Cameo – I really love my powder. It may be only the second one I’ve ever tried, but why fix it if it ain’t broke?
• Clinique Stay-True Makeup Oil Free Formula in Stay Beige – I don’t like the word beige. I tried all the cheapo brands, then decided to fork over the bucks. I’m not ecstatic with it, but don’t feel like spending the time and money to try 15 different kinds to find something better.
• Neutrogena Oil Free Moisture SPF 15 – for a long time this was the only moisturizer I could use that didn’t make me break out. I have freaky skin.
• Sonia brush from Target
• Olay Complete Defense Daily UV Moisturizer – picked up from a sample basket at the dermatologist’s office. Never been used.
• Neutrogena green concealer – don’t apply this to your lips as I did once when I was about 9.
• Eucerin Extra Protection Moisture Lotion SPF 30 – picked up from a sample basket at the dermatologist’s office. Never been used.
• Purpose Dual Treatment Moisture Lotion SPF 15 – ditto on the sample.

Eyes

• Brow/Last Brush
• Revlon lash curler
• Covergirl pencil sharpener
• Estee Lauder Automatic Eye Pencil Duo in Khaki
• Estee Lauder Color Intensity Microfine Powder Eyeshadow in Khaki and Honeydew – Bubs got me these for Christmas one year when I was experimenting.
• Loreal Wear Infinite Eye Shadow in Iced Latte
• Revlon Fabulash Mascara in Blackened Brown – I like this a lot.
• Revlon Sleek Cheeks Creme Blush in Pink Light – also purchased during the experimentation phase (this was 5 years ago?), even though I hate blush and don’t think I need it.
• Two La Cross tweezers
• Maybelline Smoked Kohn Eyeliner in Cocoa Brown and Brandied Raisin
• Covergirl Smoothers Eyeliner in Slate
• Covergirl Perfect Blend Eye Pencil in Black/Brown
• Mary Kay Eye Defining Pencil in Violet – violet??
• Bath & Body Works Catch-My-Eyeshadow in Stardust – I love this eye shadow and they don’t make it anymore
• Max Factor Lasting Color Eyeshadow in Nude Scene – the color I wear the most. I bought this trying to emulate a friend who’s eye shadow I had admired. It, of course, didn’t look the same. I didn’t even ask her what her’s was, because I’m lame and didn’t want her to know I was staring at her eye shadow
• Revlon Wet/Dry Shadow in Thundering and Stormy
• Cover Girl Professional Eye Enhancers in Fields, Grey Groove, and Charcoal Frost
• Clinique Pair of Shades Eye Shadow in Seashell Pink – this came in a “free” goodie bag for buying so much Clinique product. Its very pretty.
• Clinique Colour Surge Eye Shadow Trio in Sunburst Duo and Rum Spice – kind of garish looking. Haven’t ever used it. I think it was free also.
• Aziza Night & Day – I think this was something super cheap from WalMart. I’ve kept it because I like the medium color.
• Maybelline Expert Eyes in Almondine, Raisin Wine, and Creme de Cocoa – I like the raisin one the best. Very nice fall color.
• Maybelline Expert Wear Eye Shadow in Utaupia – so clever with the names.

Lips

• Loreal Colour Riche in Red Rhapsody and Bronze – bought the red trying to find that illusive perfect red.
• Clinique Colour Surge Butter Shine Lipstick in Crushed Grape – the fave of what I have.
• Maybelline Moisture Whip in Plum Crazy
• Ten Glass Finish Lipgloss in Quartz – cheapy from Target.
• Vaseline Lip Therapy Advanced Formula – The only item in the drawer that I wear every day. And its ADVANCED. No stupid vaseline for me.

Maybe I should just throw the whole lot out and start over. A lot of what is in there is really OLD. I haven’t been wearing makeup at all most days this summer. Its been really nice. I don’t have to worry about it getting messed up in the heat, I can rub my eyes, and I don’t have to remove anything at night. Is anyone still reading? Hello??

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

This is a cool water feature in one of our local libraries. We joined some friends for story time and a playdate after. This is a brand spanking new library and it is very pretty.

Don’t ask me what is up with the song lyric post titles. I have a hard time thinking of titles and it is usually late at night when I’m posting. Anybody know any songs about libraries?

It’s been a typical 2-year-old emotional roller coaster around here this week. Evil devil spawn one minute, sweet as pie the next. Sheesh. I mean Arwyn, not me. har har har

I Think I’m Turning Japanese, I Really Think So

I am now officially an internet rockstar wannabe. This is my very first Cram Cream purchase from colorful cute. It is very cute and also colorful. The Fine day Cutie Cloud notebook says “I cross everyone’s mind. Let’s go to remaining the nature like the cloud it.” We aren’t going to discuss the glob of black paint on the cover ARE WE DEAR HUSBAND OF MINE???

I have just discovered the flickr group! I asked Bubby if he thought it was a mistake to Google “cram cream”. His reply? Probably. But I was quite delighted with the non-porno results. Now if I can just talk him into the shower curtain…

Post Emmy Wrapup

Back when I worked for a living (har har har) I used to write an article for our in-house newsletter called Hollywood Leta. In that vein, here are my thoughts on last night’s Emmy awards.

• I was cracking up at the writer (can’t remember his name) who’s thank you speech was all the people he wouldn’t thank: his eighth grade teacher who told him to sit down and shut up because he wasn’t funny, God who stole his hair and that’s just not cool, man.
• Why did Simon Cowell feel the need to share his plethora of chest hair with us???? Ewwww.
• I freaking cried during Dick Clark’s speech. Perhaps this was due to the three beers I had consumed over the course of the evening, but it was just so sad how he was struggling to talk.
• I still love Tom Selleck and have since he was Magnum P.I.
• After Steve Carroll didn’t win I was forced to eat another brownie in a fit of depression.
• Katherine Heidel looked nervous and awesome.
• Why did they keep showing shots of Annette Benning and Warren Beaty? Were they in the front row? Was the camera man too lazy to get a good shot of anyone else? We saw them! MOVE ON.
• Did anyone see Martin Sheen’s glasses? How could you miss them?!?!
• I HEART KIEFER. 24 rocks.
• Yay for The Office! I freaking love this show and thanks iMollie for convincing me to watch.

I cannot possibly say how glad I am that it is time for fall shows to start! I have hardly watch tv all summer and I desperately miss all my friends inside the box. Thanks, Bubs, for watching Scooby Doo with Arwyn in the other room so I could get my fix.

More August Birthdays

Tuesday was Bub’s big brother’s birthday. Happy 35, BW. He is an airplane aficiando and I always try to incorporate that in some way into his cards. Everything except the B sticker was cut from an old book that I found at a yardsale.

Today is my mom’s 65th birthday. If you haven’t figured it out quite yet, the baby of the family was also a surprise baby and my mom was 34 when she had me. Which doesn’t seem all that old nowadays, but she did already have three older kids. I’m going to go call her to wish her a happy day.

Flashback/Vintage/Retro/Whatever Friday

This picture has April 1979 written on the back in my sister’s girly handwriting. That would make me about 3 1/2. I don’t remember too much about this photo op. My brother said that is a Valiant in the background, and I do remember the old green car we had with the cracked dashboard. I liked to pick at the foam coming through the cracks. The white farmhouse in the background is my grandparent’s and the lot of dirt behind me would be the huge garden that we planted every year.

This would have been a few years before my older brother (who is nine years older than me) started teaching me to play softball in our front yard. These lessons usually ended with me running into the house in tears because he yelled at me. Then he would call me a baby for crying. As I was constantly reminded, I was the baby of the family and there was nothing I hated more than being called a baby, except perhaps “Booger”, which was another of his lovely nicknames for me. As torturous as this all sounds, I loved softball with a passion and longed to live up to his expectations of me. Those lessons were intended not only to improve my skills, but to make me tough. In later years, my nickname on the softball field was “Face” because I always had my game face on and didn’t let anyone get to me. Thank God they didn’t know all they had to do was call me “Booger”.

Chinese Water Torture

Arwyn abandoned her beloved Shaggy doll to the tortures of the bathroom sink.

Bye-Bye Mamaw Ruth

I’ve been dreading writing this post, but knew I needed to do it, for my own peace of mind if nothing else. Last week my only remaining grandparent, my Mamaw Ruth, passed away. She was 87 years old. Six years ago, she had a stroke and has since lived in a nursing home, a prisoner to her body’s deterioration, but still mentally acute.

When I think of my grandma, this is how I picture her:

This photo was probably taken about 20 years ago in my parent’s house, but that is how she lives on in my mind. She was sharp as a tack, wiley and witty. My grandparents lived next door to us and I spent many, many hours with them. My mom went back to work when I was three and Mamaw babysat for me a lot. I got off the bus at her house after school for many years, until I was deemed old enough to stay at home alone. After school, I always had a cheese sandwich and an RC and watched cartoons on their giant console tv. I spent hours sprawled on my stomach on their living room floor, watching Cowboy Bob, Heathcliff, Woody Woodpecker and Fat Albert. Mamaw had her favorite shows as well, and I was soon introduced to The Price is Right, Another World, Different Strokes, Dallas, Fame and every year The Sound of Music. She told me I “got on her nerves” because I followed her around the house from room to room. If I stayed at their house until after dark fell, I would call my mom (on our party-line phone) and tell her to turn the porch light on. Mamaw would watch out the window as I ran home as fast as my feet would carry me, sure the Boogeyman would grab me in the middle of the garden.

This picture was taken at the Orangeville Community Center when I was about 3 or 4. That’s me in front (obviously) with Mamaw to the right of me in the green suit. My grandpa is also in the picture, on the right side at the very far end of the table. You can just make out his arm and half his face. They went to the community center for lunch during the week and I tagged along, just me and all the old folks! I had a lot of friends there! I still have a small rolling pin that one of the men made for me.

Some days we would go to town to run errands. We’d stop at the farmer’s Co-op to get gas and if I was lucky, she’d let me tell the serviceman to “fill’er up”. My favorite place to go was the drugstore, where I could get a piece of Super Bubble or a Dum Dum sucker (butterscotch was my favorite flavor). I don’t remember her ever swearing, but she said “fiddle sticks” and “hen’s teeth” a lot. I loved her ham and navy beans, mashed potatoes (Hungry Jack) and biscuits (also Hungry Jack). She would say I “didn’t eat enough to keep a bird alive” (those days are long gone!). I always sat on her lap and she would count my ribs (i.e. tickle me). I didn’t like it when I grew too big to set on her lap.

The longest months of my life were the winters that Mamaw and Papaw spent in Florida. I would cry when she called and ask when they were coming home. They were probably gone all of four months, but it seemed like a lifetime to me. Mamaw had an entire fence row planted in irises and I knew when the flowers started to bloom, it would soon be time for them to return. I would check every day to see if I could spot their truck and trailer sitting in the drive.

Mamaw loved to make quilts and I can remember her sitting on the end of the “davenport” (couch) stitching away and there were always needles, quilt pieces and pattern pieces cut out of sandpaper on the arm of the couch. I have several of her quilts and I will post those some day.

My aunt and uncle and their three kids lived in Kentucky, and when they would come to visit either my cousin S would spend the night with me or we would all stay at my grandparents, camped out on the living room floor. I was always the first one to wake up, and Mamaw would start her day with a cup of hot tea.

When I got older and learned how to cook, she liked for me to come to their house and make Rice Krispie treats and “sit a spell”. She always had a bag of the colored marshmellows in the refrigerator. The second semester of my freshman year of college, I decided to come home and return to school the following fall. She threatened to “yank a knot in my tail” for quitting school. I promised her that I would return and I did, graduating a few years later.

I am thankful that she got to see Arwyn many times, and Arwyn knew who “Mamaw Roof” was, even if she won’t remember later. The last time I saw Mamaw was at Arwyn’s second birthday party when my parents brought her down for a visit. She had never been to our house before and we sat in the yard for a couple of hours. It is difficult for my husband to comprehend the scope of our loss. She had her first stroke before he met her and couldn’t talk much in later years. He didn’t know her the way we did. It is hard for me to let her go, moreso knowing she is the last and the one I was closest to. I miss you already, Mamaw.

Somebody Come and Play

Today we went to the park. Doesn’t she look lonely in this picture? Doesn’t anybody want to play with me??

Then our friends showed up and the day was saved. Yay! We have THREE playdates this week! This is a good thing for both of us.

This is what her hair looked like when we were ready to leave. No, that’s not lice, it’s sand. She was covered in the stuff. Needless to say, she had a bath as soon as we got home.

We are having a hard time with naps these days. She lays in her bed, kicking the bedframe, calling for “Mooooommmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyy”, singing songs to her stuffed animals, etc. Today I went in twice to settle her back down. If I don’t go in, she just gets louder and louder. Then I decided to go ahead and get some things done outside, since it didn’t seem like she was going to go to sleep. While I was going in and out the door 50 times, moving furniture and using the staple gun, she finally fell asleep but only for about an hour (she’s normally down for 2 hours). I am NOT ready to give up naptime. NOT AT ALL. I don’t know what to do. Put her down earlier? Let her stay up later? Quit giving her all the crack and caffeine she can handle????

Uncle A

We had a really good weekend. My big brother came to visit, so we spent some time with our extended family, talked about all sorts of things, and then ripped out all the gigantoid bushes around our house! I thought about taking some photos, but I’m really kind of afraid to look. There were two smallish trees in the front corner of the yard that Bubs has never liked, so while they were at it, they took those as well.

Last night Bubs and I headed to Lowe’s to scope out grass seed, fertilizer, etc. It looks like we’ll be re-landscaping in the spring. Thanks, Uncle A, for bringing your big truck!

Here’s Arwyn modeling her Mrs. Potato Head earrings.

And here she is modeling her cousin’s pj’s.

Arwyn was lucky to survive the weekend, as Sunday morning she got into my make-up drawer, got the lid off the liquid foundation and proceeded to pour it over everything in the drawer. What with that neat trick and sticking foam parts up her nose, we’re entering dangerous territory here.