End of the Year, 2012

I supposed it's time to look back at the goals I posted for 2012 and see how well I did.

1) revise/edit HUNTED LYON, send it for copy edit/layout by June

This didn't happen.  I had fully intended to have it happen, but the copy editor I was going to use was displaced by the High Park fire and by the time everything settled down, I decided the book needed more work anyway.  The good news is that I really like the revision work being done.

2) revise/edit/publish (probably self-pub) TALES FROM THE TRAIL

Again, didn't happen.  I've reworked how I want to lay it out, now I just have to work on continuity/flow of the stories.

3) increase my riding ability; learn more leg cues

My riding has gotten better, but I'm not as far along with my leg cues as I would like.  I kind of got fixated on doing bridle-less riding, which requires good leg cues, but found that Estes and I have some major holes in our training.

4) continue to increase my fitness/lose weight

This went really well until after the Bolder Boulder.  That 10k kicked my ass.  Once I was healed up from it, the High Park fire started and the air advisories warned us away from exercising.  And then the summer disappeared and next thing I know, it's the end of the year and I am back to being fat and out of shape.

 

Back in February, my job changed drastically, which was a giant slap in the face and it broke my give-a-damn.  Unfortunately, it broke my give-a-damn in all aspects of my life, not just work.

 

Pretty much, my goal for 2013 is to repair my give-a-damn.

 

Wish me luck.

More Apologies to Rachel

I owe Rachel an apology for stealing her Christmas idea for Bill.

And then I came up with my crazy idea of making gun-shaped soaps, so, of course, I had to tell someone about it and I shot off a text to Rachel.

Who wanted to cuss me out (she's too nice to actually cuss me out) for stealing yet another idea.

Seems the same day I started on my quest to make gun soap, she had just ordered some for me for Christmas.

http://www.KcSoapsNmore.etsy.com

Obviously, the folks at KcSoapsNmore used the same mold I did, but they are so much better at making soaps than I am.

Mine

I can't figure out how on earth they were able to manage two-tone.  I'm stumped.

Rachel did manage to pull one over on me, though.  She had Jay do a design, ostensibly a design to be used for Mr. Daddy.

She told me a box would be arriving at the Lodge for us, but all I expected was the gun soap that I was supposed to forget she ordered.  Imagine my surprise when there was a dish towl with Jay's design on it.

You got me, Rachel.  Thanks for making us smile :)

Why Is There A Turd In The Shower?

Last night, before I went to bed, I unloaded by box o' goodies from Kara's Way.  I intended to use some of the items during my shower this morning.

Only, Jay beat me into the shower and came out with just one question: "Why is there a turd in the shower?"

It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about, and then I realized he was referring to the African Black Soap.

You know, he might have a point.

It does rather look like bear scat.  And I washed my body with it today.  Yes. I. did.  I scrubbed my body with a bar of bear shit scat. 

But I have to tell you - my skin is so soft and smooth. 

Must be all the berry seeds in the scat.

Kara's Way

Photo shamelessly stolen from Kara's Way

Until a month ago, I had never heard of subscription sample boxes. Have you guys?

A friend of mine from work told me about Kara's Way because she fell in love with one of the full-size products she received in her November box.  It was the DLe Light Up Lip Gloss that sold her.  I actually fell in love with it myself and bought a tube.  At almost $9.00/tube, it's more than I've ever spent for lipshit lip stuff, but I really like it.  I always have some form of lip stuff with me, so I'm trying to convince myself to give up my other stuff and use my expensive stuff, at least at work.

For $15/month you get between 5-10 samples (usually at least one full-size item) of hippie-friendly beauty products.  I own *zero* make-up. Before, when I had an event that required make-up, I'd just borrow the Ashinator's, but now that she lives on her own, her make-up lives with her.  I easily get overwhelmed when going through the make-up aisles and have no idea what I want or even how to use most of it.  Since I'm not much of a make-up wearer (I know, I know, SGG, but I'm trying), I thought that by subscribing to this service I would get to try out new stuff without being overwhelmed.

Due to our self-imposed quarantine, I didn't get to the post office to pick up my box until today and I'm super excited.

There were six items (one full-sized) in my box.

Included in my box:

• Hollybeth Organics Grits and Honey Scrub sample size ($25/2 oz) - I'm getting old and have been looking for something to use on my face.  It's so dry here and I constantly battle with my face in the winter.  I'm really excited to use this.
• Sheswai Lacquer full-size ($16/bottle) - This is definitely hippie-approved; there is no formaldehyde, toluene or dbps.  I immediately tried this (pics later) because I had read some pretty impressive reviews on it.  I will say, I am disappointed in the brush, it's not all one uniform length, so there are four or five strands that are longer than the rest and it makes it hard to use without dragging polish all over your cuticles.  I'm relatively certain that it's not the norm for them, that I just got a not-so-great brush.
• Native Touch Warrior Bear Rub sample size ($11.99/ 1.8 oz) - This is supposed to be good for dry skin, cracked heels, cuticles, etc.  I opened it and don't like the smell.  There's tea tree, lavender, and rosemary essential oils in it.  I think it's the tea tree oil that is off-putting for me.  Since I have a friend who makes fabulous balms that I *love*, I think I'll pass on this.
• Coastal Scents African Black Soap sample size ($12.95/16 oz) - This is made in Ghana and is supposed to be great for skin problems - rashes, acne, eczema, and dandruff.  I can't say as I have any of those issues, but I'll try the soap out because I really like the idea of it.
• Priti NYC Soy Nail Polish Remover Wipes sample size ($9.99/10) - Are you kidding me? Almost ten dollars for fingernail polish remover?!  Uh, no.  I'll keep poisoning my body with the buck-a-bottle crap from WalMart or King Soopers. Having said that, it worked beautifully to remove the paint from my nail that was all effed up from the dumb brush on the lacquer.
• TruJoy Sweets Organic Candy Cane bonus sample - it's listed as organic, corn-syrup free, no artificial colors or flavors, vegan and gluten free.  I'm no so sure about it.  I might not be brave enough to try vegan candy.  Oh, who am I kidding?  It's candy, I'll try it.

Like I said, I immediately tried the nail polish lacquer.  Other than the brush issue, it went on nicely and dried fairly quickly.  I only put one coat on:

You can see that I had some issues around the base of my nails because of the funky brush, but one coat covered my nails well and I don't see any need for a second coat.  I'm hard on my nails - usually I have chips within 24 hours - so we'll see how long it lasts.

Overall, I'm thrilled with Kara's Way. I signed up for a three month subscription, though you can do it month by month if you'd like.  I was so excited about the idea that I bought a two-month subscription for the Ashinator for her birthday.  Hopefully, she'll like it as much as I do.

Has anyone else used a subscription sample box?  Who have you used and what have your experiences been? I'm dying to hear, because I think I'm pretty well hooked.

Note: this was not a solicited review - I was just so excited about my box, I had to write about it.

Christmas Eve in Quarantine

As I type this, I hear Mom and Bill clumping up the stairs to our front door.  But they won't come in.

They're dropping off our Christmas presents and picking up theirs.

It sucks.  We're T-1:45 hours from our annual Christmas Eve at Grandma Mary's and we're stuck in the house.

I shouldn't complain, but I didn't realize how much missing out on all the family festivities would suck big old hairy donkey balls.

Once we were sure they were well clear of our plague-infested door, Jay opened it to get our presents.

It immediately fixed my feeling-sorry-for-myself attitude.

Guess Christmas will be okay afterall.

So Much For Christmas Break

I was pretty excited to take my first Christmas break since high school.

No, really.  I know that in real, grown-up life, there is no such thing as Christmas break.  You might get a couple of days off at Christmas, but then it was back to work.  I knew this, and I accepted it.

But last February, my job duties changed and I was to teach only.  No problem, teaching's what I do.  It took a long time, though, for me to figure out that if I was teaching only, that meant I could take the same two weeks off of work that our students had!  Even better, Jay has the same two weeks off of work.

I had big plans, even scheduled an Open House for after Christmas.

Thursday was the last day of work for both of us.

Friday, about 0300, Jay woke up with a dry cough.  He didn't feel bad, just had a cough, no biggie.

We get up Friday, start to do some run-around, hit the laundromat.  At 1500, the fever started.  By the time we were done with laundry, he had "flu eye".  Nebalee teases me about "flu eye", but after surviving the great influenza outbreak of 2000 (or was it 2001?), in which we diagnosed 30 cases a day in the office for weeks, I can spot influenza at thirty paces.

We stopped at the grocery store so I could buy the makin's for chicken noodle soup, some Advil cold and sinus, and gatorade.

I made dinner and he was in bed by 1900.

This morning, I asked if he wanted to go to the doctor and initially his answer was no.  He took a shower to see if he would feel any better and came out of the shower agreeing to go to the doctor.  Our doctor's office is closed on Saturday, so off to Urgent Care we went.  Along with approximately 5,398 other people with "flu-like symptoms".

We checked in at 1030, finally got seen about 1230 and were told what I already knew: Jay has Influenza A (okay, I didn't know if it was A or B, but it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things).

Poor guy sounds like a dying monster, "groan-inhale-groan-pant-pant-groan-coughcoughcough-ohgodthathurts-groan".  Sometimes he mixes it up; "moan-pant-pant-groan-coughcoughcough-sonuvabitch-coughcough-killmeplease-moan".

Almost $75 later, we have Tamiflu and guaifenisen/codeine cough syrup.

When I asked for a 'scrip for me, I was denied, which pisses me off.  Total breach of best practices, there Urgent Care.  Oh, how I wish my doctor's office was open.  She believes in treating the caregiver, especially considering how contagious influenza is.  So now it's a waiting game: is GunDiva going to develop influenza, or is her immune system still rock solid from years of working in doctor's offices?

Maybe next year, I'll just plan on working through Christmas break.

Teens are in the Rearview Mirror

Today, Ashinator said goodbye to her teens forever and is now stuck, for the next 364 days, in I-can't-legally-drink hell.

Being a grown-up sucks sometimes, as she's finding out, but those days are usually off-set by days better than you could ever imagine when you're younger.

Love you, baby girl.  Happy Birthday.

WTF? I've be hacked.

A couple of years ago, I deleted my Lyon's Roar blog.  It was a temporary blog for NaNoWriMo in 2009, I believe.  Anyway, Bill has alerted me that someone has hacked it and is posting crap.

If you get anything from: http colon slash slash gundiva hyphen lyonsroar dot blogspot dot com, IT IS NOT ME! If you were a follower of that blog, please remove it from your feed so you aren't inundated with crap.  Sorry :(

Also looks like some other deactivated blogs from other people have been hacked.  Mommasgotthemilk and Anatomyofafailedmarriage all have posts that look a lot like the one on my deactivated Lyon's Roar.

Depressed Food

The Ashinator isn't having the best of weekends.  In fact, the last two weeks have been kind of rough.  And it sucks moose tit (thanks for that one, Mrs Mom).

I'm the mom, so I'm supposed to be able to fix it, but I can't.

So, instead I took to the kitchen.  Isn't that what everyone does?  Ok, not everyone.  When I was Ash's age, I did the whole depressed not-eating.  But now I'm old and fat and everything should be fixed with food.

I went to my favorite cooking blog, Cooking Classy, and found something easy to make.  And it included chocolate, which we all know is perfect for depression.

This is what her yumminess looks like.  Mine, not so much.

I read the directions and it sounded easy enough, so I bundled Ash up and dragged her to the store with me.  I needed to buy:

• square pretzels
• Hershey's hugs
• M&Ms

But I ran into a snag with the pretzels, so I bought regular pretzels and hoped they would work.

Linin' up the pretzels

Topped them with hugs

Warmed the pretzels/hugs up in the oven,
pulled them out and topped with M&Ms.

They didn't look anything like the ones over at Cooking Class.  Really, you should go check hers out, because they are beautiful.

Next up, I'm trying her recipe for Funfetti Popcorn.  That involves a double boiler on my end, so wish me luck.

It's a Good Damn Day

Even though I'm currently sitting at work.

So far...

• My press credentials from NSSF came (OMG, I'm a real, honest-to-god media professional *squee*) for SHOT Show in January.
• My first shipment of Thrive foods came.  I'm a lot in love with Thrive.  I've been wanting to order since July, but finally had a couple of bucks that I felt I could part with and placed a small order.
• It's almost sixty degrees outside.
• I'm going to the range with Tara!
• Duck Dynasty and Nashville are on tonight.

Yep, it's a Good Damn Day.