Remember when I blew up hot eyebrow wax on my chest, neck and face? If you do, you’ll remember how it burned the heck out of me and I swore to not use the stuff again.

I’m rethinking.

I recently bought a Sally Hensen wax kit, not realizing until I got home it was the microwaveable kind. Oh, well, I figured, I need something, so I went ahead and nuked it. Three and a half minutes later, the stuff was still hard as a rock!! I hate cheap stuff…grrr…

So I went out and bought Nad’s, something I used years ago with success. (It’s a sticky, thick, green sugar wax that you don’t nuke.) Well, I didn’t use it on me; my sister used it on me. I was too chicken to do it myself.

I tried it a couple nights ago and it started out ok.  Then one particular glob spread where it wasn’t supposed to go and ripped off a chunk out of eyebrow. Nice.

So in order to fix them to make them even and not totally weird-looking, I had to make them a good bit thinner than normal. Now there’s still a chunk missing, but hopefully not too noticeable.

I’m gonna continue to give Nad’s a shot since I have the stuff and it was pricey…plus everything new takes practice.

But I gotta admit, the hot wax is looking pretty good again!! I may have a scar on my chest, but at least my eyebrows were never crooked.

I ran across a post on a blog recently about a parent that lets their 3 year old child watch horror movies. This person went on to describe how the child now won’t eat pumpkin because it’s afraid of them. I was shocked, so I left a quick comment about those movies not being appropriate for a 3 year old. I don’t expect the writer to approve my comment but I just hope they think about it.

In the world we live in today, where bad news is everywhere, I think it’s crucial that the home be a positive place of learning and of love. I disagree with the argument “Well, they’re gonna see it, so it’s best they see it with me there so I can teach them it’s (movies, violent games) not real.” People use the same argument with alcohol or drugs…”at least they’re in the house so I know they’re safe.” That doesn’t mean it’s ok!!

Toddlers have great imaginations, which makes it more important they watch only age-appropriate movies/cartoons. They don’t know scary, fiery pumpkins don’t fly around at night…if they see it, it’s real. And it’s likely under their bed or in the closet. It’s our job as parents to give our children a secure beginning so they grow up to be sensitive, secure adults. It’s not a good thing to be hardened to the news on tv where a mother killed her child. Or animals were severly abused.  Or screaming/yelling at family members (verbal abuse).

Sensitivity is not a bad thing! How else do we help/acknowledge those that need help? I saw a video on tv recently where a pedestrian was hit by a car…a full 30 seconds went by with no one stopping to help the man or see if he was ok. I’d want that time to be a lot faster if it was me or my husband or my kids.

I’m not saying a child watching horror movies is necessarily going to make them an insensitive, heartless adult. But it does start somewhere.

Have you heard the complaining about Sarah Palin’s expenses on clothes, makeup and hair? $150K on her and her family.

“The clothing purchases have raised questions about the propriety of using party money for such expenses. The Republican National Committee said the clothes belong to the committee, while John McCain’s campaign said the clothing would go to a “charitable purpose” after the campaign. It also sought to deflect the issue by criticizing the media attention.”

To me, it’s such a silly and desperate thing to whine about. Oh, boo-hoo, she tries to look nice. She’s in the public eye! What’s she supposed to do, shop at Goodwill and get her hair done at SuperCuts?? Even if she shopped at moderate places and spent less, there would be people criticizing that and others saying if she had the money, why not.

It’s not the Dems that donated money to the party’s finances, so why are they complaining?

But it’s not just her…”If Palin’s $2,500 Valentino jacket seems expensive, consider that Barack Obama wears Hart Schaffner Marx suits that retail for about $1,500. John McCain consistently wears $520 Salvatore Ferragamo loafers, while Vanity Fair editors estimated that one outfit worn by Cindy McCain cost $313,100, including diamond earrings and pearl necklace.”

I think it’s all just a bunch of nit-picking. It’s really absurd. I don’t give a rat’s rear how much our future president/vp’s shoes cost. If I had their money I’d buy the same stuff!!

Entrecard friends, sorry I was MIA yesterday…we had a crazy afternoon and something scary happen last night that kept me off the computer and nearly put me in the hospital.

My luck lately has not been good!

I had a very bad migraine yesterday evening and took some Exc. Migr. like normal. My sinuses were also killing me (part of the reason my head was so bad) from a cold I’ve had this week. My sweet husband suggested I take a Mucinex, something he takes when he’s congested. I did. I was fine for about an hour, then I began to get kinda dizzy, so I went to bed.

I got as far as the bathroom and felt like I needed to throw up. I kneeled over the porcelain god for awhile, then started feeling faint. I called down to my mom to get my husband. He came up and I started having convulsions and couldn’t talk. I literally could not control my body during a convulsion.

After a few minutes, he helped me to our bed, where I continued to feel horrible. He then suggested I drink, since he thought it all might be from dehydration. I did. He then thought that it might be the Mucinex, so he looked up side effects of it. He read off a list of side effects, most of which I had…(fainting, nausea, dizzy, convulsions, chills). He read in 2007, one person died and 20 others were hospitalized.

Then I got a lot worse. I laid back down and got horribly faint….I knew I was going to pass out but was very scared…I felt if I let go, I wasn’t going to wake back up again…my kids kept popping up in my head and I fought as hard as I could.

I told my husband I was very scared and he said he’d take me to the hospital, but I knew I couldn’t handle the drive, so he suggested an ambulance. The only thing I could say was, “Heavenly Father, please let me be ok!” He went and got my parents. While he was getting them, I threw up. That seemed to do the trick. The fainting feeling went away and I felt almost ok.

The convulsions came back, but I just prayed (my husband also) that the fainting wouldn’t…that was awful. My husband checked my pulse and said he could find it but it was very slow and faint…I assured him I was still breathing. He said I was very cold to the touch, too, though I couldn’t feel any temperature in the room. I just laid on my stomach (felt better in that position than my back) holding my little bucket just in case I threw up again. This went on for about an hour, feeling horrible, then dry heaving and feeling better, then horrible, etc. Finally I managed to throw up again and felt like I could sleep. At 3am I rolled into a good sleeping position and managed to sleep (off and on) until 7:30 this morning, when the baby woke up. Today I’m a little weak, but not sick, thank Heavens.

I’m very surprised that a normal otc drug could do this! I’ve never been affected by anything like this, certainly to the point where I was literally scared for my life. So be careful what you take and read about it if it’s anything new!!

Today I’m thankful I am alive.

Ok, another “Are you kidding me???” moment! This one is serious though. I was totally shocked and appalled at the hypocracy of PETA, a supposed animal-saving organization.

Read this.

I’m not much of a soapbox person, but really, this is one of those moments. News of this needs to be spread. Something’s got to be done. This needs to be brought out in the open and talked about!

For whatever reason, I just can’t get into entrecard.  I’ll keep trying so I can read & drop like normal, but if you don’t see me today, that’s why.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again for the sympathy & well-wishes regarding my burn. The 1st degree ones are already healed, but the 2nd degree ones (w/scabs & blisters) are a little more stubborn.

I have been so busy the last few days!  Phone calls to make (various people, various places), house to clean (my parents are coming for a visit this week), kids to take care of, pets to take care of, lots of baking to do. We harvested our pumpkins and I’ve made pies, breads and muffins. And more to go!

I was so pleased with myself today…I only had one more thing to do on my list…wax my eyebrows. Always a joy.

Both boys were asleep and dd at school, so I figured I would be able to do it in peace. I put the wax in the microwave (something I’ve been doing for 5 years) to heat it up. When I pulled it out, I saw the top wasn’t melted, so I tilted it for some reason. Then it happened.

The hot melted wax underneath erupted like a yellow volcano all over my chest, neck, and a little on my face. I was so shocked, I just stood there taking it in.  Then I realized I’d better get this stuff off. I went upstairs to the bathroom and the wax was already hardening. I began to pull it off, noticing it was taking layers of skin off.

Then the baby began to cry. I went down to take care of him and went back up to pull off more wax. It had to come off…can’t leave it there forever! I was nervous about blisters forming under the wax. I peeled more off and began to feel really light-headed (I’m not a fan of pain), so I thought, “who can I call to take care of the baby if I pass out?”

Fifteen minutes after the initial accident, I finally called my mil, who came over. She suggested I put ice on it to harden the wax, making it easier to get off.

By that point, every time I touched my wounds I would get fainty, so I figured it would be best to get someone else to try. Eventually my dd came home and she tried, but I had to stop her. It just hurt too bad. Gradually I’ll get all the wax off, I hope, when the initial pain and burn fades. My upper chest and neck are quite lovely now, a beautiful shade of red with spots of deeper layers exposed.

So, I think I’ll find another form of eyebrow waxing. I’m not anxious to try this again.

Paul’s new car got me thinking about my first one, so I thought I’d share a piece of my past.

This is a 1968 Mercury Cougar. Not mine, but just like mine. Mine was even red. It was my brother’s when I was 15/16, but he wrecked it. It got fixed, but was left in in our field for about a year. This whole time I begged my dad to let me have it. He said I could, but I had to get a job to fix up the body (it needed some work). It was good motivation, so I got the job. I had it painted and the interior completely redone. I even did a little of the work myself.

I lived a lot in that car when I was 16/17…my parents were divorced (now remarried-long story) and I had to go back and forth between the 2 houses for awhile. I kept all my school stuff in my car, bags of clothes, makeup, etc. Even food. It was a thing of solidarity, of peace, of comfort. I could get away in it and it was mine. It was my baby. I remember sitting in the parking lot after school a couple times fixing the carburetor so it would run again. I learned that car. It was a thing of much pride.

It was awesome…I still miss it. I haven’t driven it in 11 years (when I graduated high school-yikes, I’m getting old). I moved out of state that summer and it stayed behind with my dad. Eventually he brought it to me, but it needed work done (to run well) and I could never afford it.

Eventually I got married I moved out of state and again, it stayed behind with my dad. A little over 3 years ago, our family needed a car but could not afford one (another long story). So I told my dad I’d be willing to trade the Cougar for a car he had. My Cougar needed work done still and we didn’t have the cash, to fix it up…I had to sacrifice my car for my family.

I told my mom if they ever sell it (even though it is theirs now), I will die of heartbreak and come back to haunt them. We even have enough cash now to fix it up, but not enough to buy it back…*sigh*  Maybe someday. If you ever hear me scream for joy, you’ll know I somehow got it back.

Oh, yes, I will get it back

Can you just feel the sarcasm dripping down my page?? It’s there I assure you.

This morning I woke up to rain. That’s fine, I love it when it rains.  But not when I have things to do.

I came downstairs and looked at Evil Furball’s stitches…and saw her intestines. Nice…gotta call the vet and get her restitched. But first, I had to get my car to the dealer for it’s first new-car maintenance done.  We took both cars, (he drove his, I drove mine) because the plan was to just leave it there and have it picked up later.  Then the dealer told us it would only be an hour…so then what?? We went for a nice country drive. Then Pierce had to go potty, so we drove back into town and stopped at a store. Paul and Pierce came back out with breakfast (we hadn’t had time to eat) of Nutter-Butters and M&M’s. They were peanut, so at least Pierce had something healhty.

Anyway, we picked up my car and came home. I called the vet…no answer. So what am I supposed to do…use duct tape on the cat??? Grrrr….

Oh, and to top it off (can you tell I’m a bit ornery??), by back is so sore! I worked out yesterday, doing things I hadn’t done in a year…I forgot I had muscles back there.

And the boy just got his head stuck in the kitty crate.

This is definitely the makings of a migraine.

Ok, not really.

But have you ever been around someone who always talks bad about his/her spouse? It’s really awkward. And annoying. I always wonder, ok, why are you with this person if they’re so awful?? And why are you telling me??

We know someone, “Bob.” Bob dogs on his wife frequently. Paul recently heard another friend talking to Bob on the phone. That other person dogged on Bob’s wife and laughed! What Bob didn’t realize that when you dog on your spouse, you give other people permission to do the same. So why let other people say bad things about your spouse?

One of my sisters and I talk on occasion and typically, our husbands come into the conversation. We’ve come to the conclusion that men don’t always put dirty socks into the basket or put the new roll of tp back on. And I think joking about those general things is harmless. It crosses the line if I were to call her angrily or very frustrated and say, “Why can’t he just put his dirty socks away? He’s such a slob and I always have to do everything! He thinks I’m his maid!”

At that point, my sister would probably wonder if all wasn’t well in paradise. And after just a few of those calls, she would question the type of person he is or if I should get out. Usually a person is mad at their spouse when they call someone to complain. The outsider doesn’t witness the make-up. They just get a view of a bad relationship.

I think people complain about their spouse to others because they think it’s the popular or cool thing to do, as childish and jr-high-schoolish as it sounds. My husband knows quite a few of these people and it drives him crazy.

We made a vow when we first got married to never talk badly about the other person. If there was a problem, we’d seek counseling if we had to. But it has to stay between us, resolved by us, and always kept that way. We defend each other if necessary and are always a united front. When you allow others into the marriage, you inevitably allow a crack that becomes a fissure.

**Disclaimer….Paul did read this before it was posted…I wouldn’t want him to think I was doggin’ on his dirty socks