Perfume Love



Confession - I rarely wear perfume.  I used to love Estee Lauder's Knowing, but then it started smelling weird on me, so  I've been relying on scented body lotions for a little extra zip.

California Daughter gave me a subscription to Birchbox for Christmas.  Every month I get a box full of products - lotions, hair stuff, face creams, the occasional wild -colored nail polish, and little bottles of perfume.  I've been spritzing on the perfume, but wasn't wild about any of them.

Then came the March box and a sample of Harvey Prince's Ageless - I've found my new perfume! It has a light mixture of floral and citrusy (but not overpowering orange peel-ish!) and the scent lasts all day.

According to the website, the company was founded by two brothers who were inspired by their mother to create this fragrance.  Here's the claim made on the website:
"Here's the secret: Ageless is inspired by recent studies conducted by the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, which find pink grapefruit and mango to be the olfactory antidote to aging.  Women from around the world are loving Ageless; based on their testimonials and our own trials, Ageless makes you feel and smell 8-12 years younger."  I'm pretty sure that just code-speak for  "We don't want Ma to smell like an old lady".  So this perfume has no hint of rose, no musty powder, no blast of chemicals that make your eyes water.

I'm not expecting anything more of perfume than to make me feel good wearing it.  I'm not looking for a miracle in a bottle.   Thanks, boys;  this does it for me.

Spring Eggs

I've never done much decorating for Easter, but I love nests and eggs - a perfect Easter combo.  I'll be adding this nest to my (meager) spring decor.

The candle stick was a thrift store find -a yucky, puke-green find saved from humiliation with a blast of white spray paint.  Add a grapevine nest.  This one started out a natural brown color, but I wanted to tone it down.  I found this can of paint at a tag sale (lord knows how old it is, since I think all the Ames stores closed a decade ago!).  I've never seen this before - a spray white-wash.  It toned down the brown but let some of the natural color peek through.

Now for some eggs.  I started with these paper mache eggs from Michael's and then tore strips of dictionary pages .  I've found that tearing along a ruler makes a nicely textured edge neater than my hand-tearing and produces a softer edge than cutting.

I used diluted ModPodge to glue the text strips to the eggs.  I just dragged the strips through the mixture to coat with glue and then started sticking them to the eggs.  After doing a couple, I found that rubbing the egg with a little of the watered down ModPodge first helped to seal down the edges.  After covering the egg with the text strips, use your glue-y fingers to work the text strips flat, trying to eliminate any bubbles or wrinkles.  The aim isn't for perfection, just to cover the egg and keep it's egg-shape!  Air dry the eggs - I use an old cookie rack.

Add some moss from The Dollar Store and arrange the eggs in the nest - instant spring!!







Art Play with a Friend



Last year we escaped to Florida - remember all that snow, ice and nasty weather we had?  I got to spend some time with my good friend Shiela  and have some serious art fun.

Shiela (yes, that's how her mom spelled it) is a fantastic artist and that a world-class collector of supplies.  She had an old wool blanket in her stash that she felted by washing in hot water and drying on high heat.  She also had about twenty bottles of old Plaid spray mists - really old, as none of the spray pumps were operational !  Put the two together and let the fun begin!

We spread the blanket out on the front lawn and started pouring on the paint.  Cars driving by slowed down to see what on earth was going on and a couple of brave souls stopped to ask .This was a seriously messy operation.  We did wear gloves, but still somehow ended up with hands covered in paint.  I  managed to keep the paint off my white shirt - not a smart choice for a paint-pouring project!

We cut the colored squares apart and left them to dry in the Florida sun.  The wool took the color up wonderfully and our random pours produced some great variegated color patterns.

My blanket squares have been asleep in their box until last week.  You know those twisted fabric flowers that are all over blog-land and Pinterest?  I decided to try making them with strips of our dyed blanket.  These flowers are so easy and in case I'm not the last person on the planet to try them, here are some directions.  Since the wool is pretty hefty, I cut strips about an inch wide but did not fold them over - I just rolled the single layer wool into flowers.  I used a cotton remnant to add some more color - here you can see through the fuzziness how the rolling goes.  Hot glue every now and then to hold it all together.

 I used my flowers (and a few leaf shapes cut out of the green wool) to embellish an inexpensive wooden frame from Michael's. 





I made a collage out of white-ish scraps of paper and washed some diluted white paint over everything to  unify all the scraps.  The tiny little colored squares on the left are from the reservoir of a square paper -punch - pretty cool! 

Next time maybe I'll try making flowers by cutting out individual petals....oh, the possibilities!

Thrift Stores - Review of the Big Three

"It is better to have old second hand diamonds than none at all".

~  Mark Twain

I've blogged about my thrifted scores many times.  Let's talk about the stores - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I'm lucky to live in an area with lots of thrifting options - the big, name-brand ones and lots of small operations as well as all kinds of consignment stores.   I try to make the rounds regularly (harder now that I have a temporary full-time J.O.B. that requires my attendance every day)! 

The Goodwill, or the GW if you want to pretend that you shop at some chi-chi boutique, has been around forever.  I've been to several Goodwill stores that have relocated to nice digs in better locations, but ours isn't one of them.  Ours is sad, very sad, but I keep going back because I have stumbled on some fantastic finds, like the silverware  I blogged about here.  And check out this jacket from Two Star Dog that retails for $165 - mine from The GW for $10.99, pricey by their standards, but a serious score.

Lesson learned at The GW - if you see something in the donation pile that you want, get them to price it right away !  I walked away from a fantastic table because the clerk told me it would be priced "in the morning".  When I went back first thing in the morning,  I found out that someone smarter than me demanded they price the tablepronto  and she walked out with it right after I left.

Goodwill apparently doesn't toss out any donations, so you have to be willing to look past lots of yucky stuff - the kind  you can't imagine anyone buying in the first place!  But the treasures in the rubble keep me going back.







The Salvation Army  -  the SA Ltd, or Sally Ann's -  oh, how I wish I could give you a glowing review!  In a previous life I was an Emergency Department nurse, and I could always count on the Salvation Army to provide food and shelter for the sad souls everyone else had abandoned.  So I have a soft spot in my heart for this organization that does so much good.  But their thrift stores - OY!  Two major gripes, both deal-breakers.  The clothes are not grouped by size, or color, or anything.  So shoppers are forced to go hanger-by-hanger in the hopes of finding something in their size.  Second problem - price tags are stapled to the garments - and apparently they like the security of multiple staples!  In the past I have bought clothes only to have them ruined by even the most careful staple removal. I asked the manager about it and he said lots of people complain about the stapled tags, but  " we're not changing it any time soon".  Guess they must have a huge stock-pile of staples to use first.  So I cruise the perimeter, check out the home goods and the few racks up front with the "select" goods.  I never venture into the sea of clothes in the middle.

The newest kid on the block here is Savers, and frankly, I love it.  Unlike the GW and The SA Ltd., Savers is a for-profit retail store (that does have a commitment to charitable contributions).  It is far and away the most organized of the Big Three.  Clothes are grouped by size AND color, making it so easy to shop.  Need a large green shirt? No problem- no need to slog through all the other colors and sizes!  A great , well-organized book section, lots of home goods, linens, and craft supplies make it my favorite.  I've found lots of goodies here, like these boots - Belle  by Sigerson Morrison that retail for many times what I paid.  I found these by using my "which one of these isn't like the others" approach. I look for what's different - what doesn't really belong ! 

While I love shopping at Savers, I divide up my donations between Goodwill and The Salvation Army.  I figure the for-profit folks are doing fine without my additional contribution.

Happy thrifting!



Alert Level Gone Cray-Cray

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Ever have experiences out in public that make you wonder if we we're slipping off track? I've had a few recently .

While out shopping, I've had a few enounters that left me wondering if we've gone to the crazy place with children.   I started down an aisle and a small boy shopping with his mom started to say hello.  His mother went into high-alert mode, telling him, "Don't talk to strangers.  How many times do I have to tell you never to talk to strangers?  Strangers are dangerous!"   The little guy started crying, and I backed out of the aisle so the kiddo could calm down.

Awhile later I headed down an aisle and there they were again.  This time the kid started wailing and screeching,  "The stranger is coming down our aisle".  Once again I quickly got out of the way.

On another outing recentlyI overheard a mom tell her two kiddos that they couldn't go and look at something without her "because some bad person might kidnap you". 

A few thoughts :  I know bad things happen and parents need to teach their children to be cautious.  I know what it is like to worry about someone stealing your children.  And I am a professional worrier, so parents that excel in the worry department get no flack from me.  But what are we doing to our children by making them think everyone they don't know (and on most outings, kids won't know many of the people they see) is about to kidnap them?   Isn't there a better way to protect our kids without making them neurotic?  I read something today that recommended parents  teach their kids be  to never go anywhere with a stranger or take anything from a stranger.  That seems to be make more sense than teaching kids to assume that everyone they meet is a potential kidnapper.

"You should learn not to make personal remarks.  It's very rude".

-  Alice in Wonderland

One more thing - in line at the check -out, a woman reached over and picked up something the customer behind her was purchasing and asked, "Was this made in China"?  While the startled guy stammered that he didn't know, she turned it over and announced, "No, it's made in Korea.  Same thing - they're both our enemies".   What?  First - no touching, no comments about what other people are buying (unless you love it and must run back and get one for yourself).  I understand the idea of buying locally produced goods,but  the people in other countries who make things we want to buy  are not our enemies; they are working to feed their families just like we are. Our demand for cheaper and cheaper stuff means it takes cheap labor to produce all that junk.  We find that cheap labor far away.  Back to my original idea - no personal commenting on what other people are buying/doing/eating - unsolicited advice is never welcome nor polite. 

What do you do when you encounter situations like this in public?  Run for cover?  That's just about what I did. 

Broken Nose - The Bright Side

I fell this week and did a face-plant in the parking lot.  (The first thing I did after extricating my face was to look around to see if anyone had witnessed my klutz act).  Let me tell you something, a broken nose isn't one of those attractive, socially acceptable type of mishaps - you know, the kind where no one can actually see the damages, but can be effusive in their sympathy.    Nasal fractures are the yucky kind of injury, and and  the yuckiness is out on full display.  Plus, every single person who expressed their horror and concern about my injury did so through poorly suppressed laughter - even those people that I brought into this world!  Something about splatting your face on the pavement is apparently very funny!

But, in a rare moment of Pollyana-ishness, I've realized that even busted noses have a bright side.  I've been blessed with some great friends, wonderful kids (the above-mentioned laughter infraction notwithstanding) and a supportive Captain who made this unpleasantness bearable.  The Captain  waited on me, shuttled me to various appointments and brought chocolate goodies when he thought I had reached the end of my tether!  I've been showered with all kinds of well-wishes.

My friend Fran sent a box with these directions:



And inside, all kinds of goodies for pampering - tea, cookies, eye mask (actually a fantastic idea for any eye/nose problem needing the power of COLD), manicure stuff and some great sunglasses to hide behind. 

A big envelope came from Boston daughter  that made me laugh out loud when I opened it :

What do you get for someone who has busted their nose?  Some replacements, of course!  And glasses, complete with noses!  And chocolate, because she knows her mother very well.



Gift certificates, fancy flowers from coworkers - a girl could get used to all this attention!

While I love all the goodies, I'm most happy that I have such kind and thoughtful people in my life.  Acts of kindness make us all better people and the world a better place.   Me and my poor nose are feeling the love.