Number SIX! A CAR.

This post isn't going to be really long because there's not much to it except that I've reached a mile stone in my life that everyone reaches eventually. I have purchased my first car. It's a Nissan and it's light blue. I bought it outright so I own it now. So far, so good.

She has some issues already because she's a bit of an older car, but it's nothing I didn't anticipate. Yes, it's a she. Her name is Trouble, which some don't think is wise to call her. But I figure if I get used to her being Trouble, then when something comes up that really is a lot of trouble, I'll already be used to it and it won't be that much of a shock.

This was the reliable form of transportation that got my baby to the hospital. It is also the source of my being broke. Lol. But I think it's worth it.

Read me in my next post!!!

NUMBER FIVE!!!!

CIRCLE LENSES!!!

Brought to you by PinkyParadise!!!

SO, I'm planning to cosplay at the upcoming RocCon in Rochester. And I wanted something that would give me a little something different from the usual cosplayers I've seen around here. Not that I haven't seen awesome ones, there were some amazing ones! That's the point though. I wanted something to make me stand out a little more as a hard-core cosplayer. Thus, circle lenses.

I did a LOT of research and decided that although I never was one who liked it when people would stick things in their eyes, I could get over it. So I watched lots of people sticking interesting contacts in their eyes and got over the initial squeamishness of it. And because many reviews and people swore to the website of PinkyParadise, I perused the options. And may I just say, it was worth it.

I purchased a pair of dark green circle lenses by Geo for around twenty bucks and PinkyParadise sent them with a cute contacts holder in the shape of green piggies. SO CUTE! I also purchased from them Rohto Z eyedrops and, from Walmart, contact solution. And then I tried them.

Ignore the way my neck looks. My mom saw this photo and she thought I looked like a starved child from Africa. Lol, really it was just the way I held the camera. REALLY. So nobody panic! I am not that skinny! Oh, I just realized this is that first time you readers will be seeing a picture of me... like, up close. Well, this is meeeee.... except the eyes. Those aren't mine.

Circle lenses are created to purposefully cause your eyes to appear larger and doll-like. They are all created to have a larger diameter than normal eyes, so the edges of the contacts actually go our farther than the borders of your irises. The middles have a clear hole in them so that you can see normally through them. I started out at 14.8 mm diameter, although they range from 14.5 mm to 15 mm (and rumors say larger). 

It took me a good 30 minutes to get one in the first time. Now I've got it so at most it take me 15. The second one seems to always go in easier for some reason. And taking them out is super easy. 

If anyone is thinking of getting some, I can say they are really cool. But ALWAYS make sure to do research and learn all about the eye care and contacts care involved. You don't want to risk losing your eyes, you only have one pair of those. Always wash your hands thoroughly before handling the contacts, soak them in the solution for at least six hours before the first use, make sure they're not inside out or have any foreign particles before insertion, DON'T apply make-up until AFTER they are in, on't wear them for more than 8 hours at a time, aaaannnnnd I can't think of anything else right now. But if you have any questions, do some research or ask me in the comments. I learned a lot just from tutorials on Youtube.

I can't wait to wear them with my cosplay! I'm going in a Japanese Lolita dress from another awesome website called Milano. Lots of bows and lots of cuteness. It's black and white and gray, but it's not gothic-lolita. It's actually sweet-lolita style and it's styled like a maid uniform. It has cute little teapots and spoons on it! I'm hoping the contacts will kick up the whole doll-like effect more. And stay tuned for the hair style I'm going to go with! I'll supply lots of pictures when the event is over.

And if any of you are coming to RocCon, maybe you'll see me!

Read me in my next post!

QUEENIE DOES IT AGAIN---SORT OF

Okay, so I think that my precious Queenie has made it her accidental mission in life to make me have a heart attack. You already have heard of her exploits of the "outside". Now, you shall hear of her exploits in the animal HOSPITAL.

So, I own this tiny t.v. that's about 30 to 40 pounds heavy and it sits about two feet from the ground on a shelf. And unfortunately, to Sapphire, all surfaces are her domain. She doesn't care how high or low it is, she will find a way to climb on top of it and settle her big butt on it. And this is what she did at exactly four a.m. in the morning last Tuesday. I was sleeping as soundly as I could when I was awoken by the sound of my t.v. tipping over and hitting the floor.

Suddenly shocked awake, my heart pounding, my eyes found the source of my interrupted sleep. Sapphire jumped up on my bedside table as I picked the t.v. up and promptly went back to sleep. Unbeknownst to me, Sapphire may not have cried out or yowled, but as she had done damage to the t.v. so had the t.v. done damage to her. And when I woke up later and went to greet her good morning with some petting, I was again sent into an adrenaline fueled shock as blood came away on my fingers.

On closer inspection, I found that poor Sapphy's tail had a two inch split in it and was bleeding profusely. I immediately forgot breakfast and packed her into her kitty taxi. Thankfully I has a reliable form a transportation, for which I shall blog about later because it's a big one and you all should hear about it. 

SO! I took her to her usual vet but at this time I am so broke it's not even funny and my vet tells me that my baby needs sutures and that to do the work, the cost would be around 250 dollars. At most, I had 90. So I needed to borrow 60 in order to pay a down of 150 that would allow my vet to do the work and I would pay her the rest at a later date. I wasn't sure at this time of where I could acquire the needed dough, so my vet suggested I take my baby to the humane society of lollipop farm.

So I take her there and discover that they would do the work on her for free... if I SURRENDER her over to them and forfeit my right to adopt her back after the work is done. YEAH. RIGHT. If I could do one thing to express the gut reaction to that suggestion that I experienced at that time, I think I would have punched that nurse in the diaphragm. I exited the building and determined that I would never go back there again. 

It was then that I sat in the parking lot and called my grandpa. My grandpa is an amazing person and I knew he would help me if he could. Right then he was actually down the street at the CVS so I drove and met him there. And it was a good thing that this wasn't a real emergency because grandpa couldn't help me this time. He felt really bad but I understand that times are hard right now. So, I called my dad.

After explaining what happened up until then, he told me to come on over and he would give me the 60 dollars I needed to take her back to my usual vet. I drove to his house and sat down for a tired moment with him. My dad is pretty awesome to be there for me and Sapphy. I'm so grateful to him for helping me out because he loaned me the money and gave me food (berry poptarts yum) and called the local Phelps Vet, who turned out to do everything that needed to be done for just 150.

So Sapphy got her sutures and antibiotics and is now home with a cone around her head. I don't even want to get into the ordeal at the vet's. For one: I slept in the parking lot until the vet was supposed to call me and tell me she was done. However, when six p.m. rolled around and they started locking their doors, I began to wonder. So I go up to a nurse at her car and tell her how I was told that my cat wouldn't need to stay overnight and she brings me inside to pay and gather my baby. 

At this point, the only thing I've eaten is two poptarts, I haven't been to the bathroom, and I've been waiting for three hours in a parking lot. SO I pack my baby in and head home, finally. And now she is sleeping and being all cute again. 

She runs into things with the cone and makes a mess of her food. It's funny to watch. Lol. Hopefully, she won't be causing me to have any more heart attacks for a while. Until then, she gets the sutures removed on the 13th and then she can say good bye to the cone. For now...

NUMBER 4! *GULP* Make-up.....

Okay, so you know Scout Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird? How she's like the poster child for tomboys? Well, when I was little, that was me. Without the whole investigation/ racism undertones. If I didn't have dirt under my nails and burrs in my hair, it wasn't a normal day. If I didn't have some sort of pet bug or rock collection, it wasn't a normal day. If I wasn't outside exploring the woods and crossing the creek to terrorize the neighbors, it was not a normal day. 

Now, at this same time that I was feral child, my sisters were discovering make-up. They were cheerleaders, skirt-wearers, boy dreamers. They relished every opportunity to capture and try cosmetics on me. And thus my history of torture began with mascara eye-pokes and pulled hair curls. And ever since I've ran from offers for make-overs, ignored "girly" stores, and even hated shopping. I even used their make-up in a prank against them once. It involved sparkly gel and a pillow and it went beautifully in my ten year old mind.

But recently, I've noticed this strange urge. It's there, underneath the girl who seemed okay with and was often happy with the image of herself without make-up. I am confident enough in myself to say that I like the way I look without make-up. I am confident enough to say that make-up is not a "NEED" for me. However, I must say: it's fun.

Make-up is fun. There's the truth of it. It alters your look, it adds to your look, it highlights and let's you explore your look. And because I have an artistic side to me, putting on make-up is like drawing or painting. Everyday I put on make-up is like wearing a masterpiece on my face (when I don't mess up). 

And it's fun watching all the amazing tutorials of how to do certain things with your eyes or face to find out what works for you. Because THAT is the key. In middle school, I knew a girl who wore a LOT of make-up. And it was all blue. And she looked like a sad blue clown with red, red cheeks. PLEASE GIRLS! FIND OUT WHAT WORKS FOR YOU! IT'S EASIER THAN YOU THINK! When I started wanting to get make-up, I went to Sephora and asked the very nice girl working there to pick out a few things that would match my skin-tone and look good on me. I also asked her to teach me how to apply the products. It was easy and fun and the girl was happy to help.

Now, you don't have to go Sephora. It's more expensive than most stores. I just happened to go there on a whim. But you can go pretty much anywhere that has a make-up counter with beauty consultants. They know what they are doing there. Like me, though, you may have to get over some inbred fears of products going near your eye.

In the future, I may post some tutorials for make-up that I found works for a lot of people. I'll post them with pictures of before, in-between, and after photos of the area being enhanced. Maybe you'll be inspired, like me, to try some of these things. So all you tomboys out there, don't forget you're allowed to be a girly-girl sometimes. Even if Scout was a cutie.

And remember: you don't NEED make-up to be beautiful. But it sure is fun to play with.

Read me in my next post!!!!

NUMBER THREE! Warning: this may seem trivial, but girls all over the world will understand.

SHORTS.

Shorts have been around for men since the late 14th century, originally created within the British military as a way to keep cool in hotter climates. Women cyclists had worn them since the 1890's, but shorts only crossed over to women as a fashion when, in a bold and jaw-dropping move, 1932 tennis star Alice Marble wore them during a match. Since then, famously known gals such as Betty Grable and Audrey Hepburn, shortened and brought respectable style to the name of shorts. And the rest is history.

Shorts only came to me in the month of August, 2013.

Okay, girls. Now is the time to come clean. I know for a fact I'm not the only one to stress about how my legs and especially thighs would look in shorts. And nowadays it is especially difficult because girls tend to think that as long as we don't see ALL of their hoo-haa, it's appropriate to wear. I'm sorry, but if I'm not employed as a gynecologist, I don't want to see your lady parts. And the certain girls that just SHOULD NOT WEAR ANYTHING THAT GOES UP THAT HIGH just don't help to convince me that shorts are something good to wear.

I mean, look at Audrey Hepburn. She wore those with class. She closed any argument that sexist men tried to even breathe about shorts at that time. Not to mention, she taught us all that you can still look good and feel good without having to bear all of your unmentionables to the whole world.

But I get it, we are not all Audrey Hepburn. We don't all have amazing legs and thighs like her. Which brings me back around to my issue; and probably a lot of women's issues. I think there are clothing that can highlight your good parts and bad parts, you just have to find the right ones for you. And in the past, when I would wear shorts, I would inevitably discover too late that the shorts just did not look good on me. So, my confidence in them shattered, I stopped wearing shorts all together for many years.

But, like my previous posts brought out, I have been trying new things lately. And I decided to finally face the music the other day. While shopping with my friends for school, I decided to try on a few pairs of shorts. And, delighted by the way they made me look and feel, I bought them.

Now, like I said above, certain girls feel they have to bare-all-to-get-all. Or maybe they just like the way they feel when they get attention for the lack of cloth they have around their bodies. I don't feel that way. Let's return to a time when women were approached by men. When women had the power, so to speak. When men weren't cowards who played games with the woman they were interested in. When they just came out and said if they liked you and asked you if you'd like to go to dinner. A time when things were done with class and respect. THAT was a time when women were confident and self-sufficient and didn't rely on a man to take care of everything. When you could walk around without being looked at like an object by men.

I'm not a feminist. I just believe that girls should wake up. That they should realize that, despite what men try to tell them, they have the power. They are beautiful. And they don't have to stoop to low levels to get a man or feel good about themselves. Like I said earlier, you just have to find what looks good on you.

And don't be afraid to uphold your values. I live by the fingertip rule. If when you put your arms to your sides, your fingertips touch skin, it's too short. If they touch cloth, you're good to go. And don't think that because of this rule you have to sacrifice cuteness or hotness factor because I promise you, I found some good looking pairs of shorts that are really stylish. 

So there it is. I've ranted long enough. And now I have some cute shorts to wear so I don't have to suffer out in the heat and so I can mix up my look. So have fun with it! I know I did. 

THE QUEEN GETS LOST!!!!!!

Yes, you read the title correctly. My poor Queenie escaped the other day and was missing for two whole days! So yeah I wasn't thrilled.

On top of that I had been having a really bad week. And then, one Sunday morning, I woke and got ready to go to the meeting, only realizing later that I hadn't seen her. Now, normally in the morning, I immediately go to find my baby and squeeze her. That morning I was running late because I had barely slept. So I left and when I got home I looked for her.

But no baby.

She was not in her usual spots. She was not in her unusual spots. She was not hiding in some seemingly impossible place. We TORE the house apart. And when we finally had searched the house through and through for the hundreth time, we gave in to the growing fear that she had somehow escaped the house completely.

Thus the problem grew from a contained house-size problem, to a huge open unknown problem. And as my cat is a BIG BIG BIG part of my life, you can imagine my reaction. I had had Sapphire longer than any other pet in my whole life. She had been through at least FIVE moves with me. We had made it through thick and thin and she was there for me no matter my mood. She was there to cuddle with and take funny pictures of and laugh at when she did something stupid like fall off the bed. I could not imagine my life without her.

And at that moment, all I was doing was imagining the worst. I don't know how long a stared at the busy road that spread right outside my window, where cars went 55 to 60 mph. I don't know how long I stared at the thick woods behind the house where she would be lost forever. And when one night had past, morning came after many tears and with a SIGHTING.

My aunt lives in a trailer park across and down the road and she knows a lot of people in there. And that morning she called me and related a sighting that made me want to cry some more. I think I did, actually. She said that one of her friends owns the only other calico cat in the trailer park and some of her neighbors had caught a kitty that they thought was hers. They brought the kitty to her, but upon being told that it wasn't hers, they let the poor thing go. They hadn't known yet that my baby was missing and that the very cat they had once had in their hands was MY baby.

But we then knew where my baby had gone. I set off to the trailer park to search for her at once. Unfortunately, as it was a hot day, my aunt informed me that all the cats in the trailer park normally hide under the trailers to escape the heat during the day. And so, the search was deemed impossible. Because something you must understand about this trailer park is that it's HUGE. And most of the trailers have openings underneath them, not to mention the porches that adorned EVERY SINGLE ONE. 

So we decided, much to my crazed mind's dismay, that we would wait until the sky began to darken to pick the search back up again. According to the people my aunt know, they all said that the cats would always come out when the sun went down. And so when it got dark, we set out again. With time running out the darker it got.

Shaking a bag of treats, spreading pictures, and talking to all we could, the night came and I turned on my flashlight. We couldn't stay out much longer. Two people sent us in the same direction as to the last time they saw a cat fitting my baby's description and we were about to head that way when a friend of mine called us on our cells. He was in the opposite direction and was claiming he saw a kitty like Sapphy.

We had to decide whether to follow the direction of two or one who wasn't sure. We went to my friend first. And it was a good thing we did.

A man who lived in a house right before the trailer park was outside with my friend and said he saw a cat that wasn't one of his own. He said it had been under one of his pine trees but it had run off. We began to search over his yard and then came the cry: "There it is!"

I ran over and shined my flashlight over a cat that crouched under a pine tree. Her eyes reflected the light back at me and I drew a shocked breath: "It's her! It's Sapphy!" 

And there she was. I told the others to stay back and I approached slowly with the treats. At first, she ran a little ways away, but then she registered the treats in my hand and drew close enough for me to scoop up. And then we were reunited!

I brought her home and shut her in my room, safe and sound. She ate like a fiend. And she purred. And I prayed in thanks that we found her. And now here she is, in my room, sleeping on my makeup stand.

And for all the ways I imagined that she could have escaped, I followed her the other morning and found a window with a broken screen where she jumped out of and tried to escape again. So now we keep that window shut. And because she is still VERY curious about the outside (she meows and sits at the door) I am going to purchase for my little dork a harness so we can go outside together, without the threat that I might lose her.

For now though, she will just have to deal with the fact that she is grounded until Armageddon. 

Even more so now that she has finally discovered our new family member, Zari, and now tries to hunt her in the middle of the night.

Read me in my next post!!!