So, lately I have seen some things and been through some things that really made me think. I mean, a lot.
It is true that my mother has not been doing well these last couple of years. We have had more trips to the hospital and nursing home than we have had trips to the mall or any other venue of shopabiltiy. That makes me sad. Tonight, she is resting at home after just being sprung from the nursing/rehab facility on Friday. In phone calls I beg her to remember to eat and drink, which is something that even as I say it, is unbelievable to me. If eating and shopping were sports….I would be a second generation Olympian, to be sure. We would have a wall full of medals and news clippings of sales receipts and stained napkins. We are champions at living. She seems to want to retire. I’m not ready for it.Continue reading “Choosing to Choose.”
Happy Humpday Y’all!
If you take that seriously, I hope y’all got some air conditioning, because it is HOT today! Lord…I was afraid my new toe polish was going to bubble up in the heat.
The heat here in Atlanta is enough to make a girl reach for a regular fully loaded Coca Cola.
But, we aren’t doing that these days, right?
Of course, right.
My fabulosity for today is actually a cool drink. Well, it’s a weird cool drink, but I dig it. It has Chia seeds and juice. I know you are thinking about those commercials from our childhood with the crazy clay heads that sprout hair.Continue reading “Thirty One Days of Fabulosity – Day SIX !”
It’s Tu-Tu-Tuesday! It is also day five of my Thirty One Days of Fabulosity!.
Today I want to cut right to the chase. Today there is no lesson or moral to the story. I know, it’s a pearl clutcher for me too. HOWEVER…this is one of the simplest and most handy fabulosities that I do. I only started doing it about a year ago. I can’t believe that I even thought to do this. I mean, most of my really good shit comes from Pinterest or Facebook or Stumble Upon…or basically OTHER PEOPLE. But this one…it is a genuine bonafide cosmetic epiphany, sent straight into my brain by “Fabula, The Patron Saint of the Beauty Supply.”
I love luxury. Don’t judge me. I like the good stuff.
BUT….yes here comes my big but…
I don’t like to pay big prices for stuff that I may hate after a few days.
So, I ask for samples.
OR
I go to Ulta and they give me samples because I am a schmoozer, and I make friends with the sample giver. Rememember, no matter how bitchy he or she can be, the sample giver is gooooood. A good sample is an awesome get in the glamour world.
The bad thing is that they sometimes come in those crazy foil packets.
^ Crazy Foil Packet ^
There is usually way more stuff in a crazy foil packet than for just a one time use. You can ride the contents of a foil packet of eye cream for up to a week, if you do it right. That gives you enough time to figure out it if you love it enough to spend the chunk of money that it costs. It’s awesome, except that foil packets are hard to store, keep up with, not squish, keep sanitary…the list goes on. Well, not really on and on, but foil packets are not convenient.
I have a solution. It’s a good one.
Contact Cases
You can get them at Walgreens, in a pack of 6 for about 6.99.
They are perfect for emptying the foil packets in to. It almost fills the container and the lid screws back on water and air tight. It is perfection.
If you have more than one sample or if you don’t want to forget what kind of cream is in the case, you can totally label it with a sharpie marker on the bottom of the container.
The cases are easy to pack if you travel. They never give me the fish eye over them at the airport. Please don’t get me started on the airport…
They are really handy for home made lip glosses or any other thing that you really need and must never ever spill. They are completely reusable. I have run my cases through the dishwasher and they came out just fine.
If you need to re-lable with the name of another product, there is no problem.
Just spray some hairspray, or rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and wipe it clean. It comes off easily with alcohol, but stays on in your purse or make-up drawer.
Ta Da!!!
You can even make some lip balm and put it in there, should you be short on eyelash cases…if that is possible.
It’s day four of my Thirty One Days of Fabulosity. But before I get into that, I want to take a moment to tell you all that I had the most delicious facial today. I mean it was wonderful. It was way self indulgent, but what I realized is that self indulgence in the name of taking care of myself is ok. I didn’t indulge in a box of Ho-Ho’s. I didn’t indulge with a Venti Mocha with extra whip. I indulged my senses and let my body completely de-stress. It was truly worth it, and I am beginning to wrap my head around the good things and the bad things that I could be totally okay with swapping. Could I never eat another ho-ho again if I got to have a facial like that every month or so? Yes, I could. My skin looks so much better. I was completely relaxed and the sounds and smells and feelings were rapturous. So, there may be a mindset and budget paradigm shift in my very near future. Giving up the delicious bad for the delicious good? Sounds like a plan I can get behind.
In that taking care of oneself vein….let me move on to my Fabulosity of the day.
It’s actually like a double fabulosity. That means that I read about one and tried it and the other happened accidentally while I was doing the first thing.
I am sure that you all have heard the benefits of coconut oil. I have made sugar scrubs and moisturizers and make-up removers and fried my chicken in it. I have been buying it by the great big container for a couple years. Recently, it has become my new BFF.
A month or so ago, I started having a little problem. I was waking up with crazy headaches. The kind of headaches that were so severe that I had to close one eye and walk with my head resting in my hand just to get to the bathroom in the morning.
I thought I had sleep apnea. I don’t want to wear a mask to bed, so I ignored it, thinking that if it continued for more than a couple of weeks, I would go to the doctor.
Then I traveled out of town, alone. No more headaches.
WHAAAAAAT???!
Nope, not a single one the entire time I was gone. AND there was plenty of stuff going on that should have given me a headache!
First night back home, in my nice soft clean bed, I slept soundly all night. I woke up the next day – BAM! Crazy headache was back with a vengence.
So,I thought about it and realized that only one thing was different. While I was traveling, I didn’t sleep with a fan on all night.
My partner needs the fan. She needs it so much that she cannot even begin to sleep without it.
I mentioned it too her the second night at home. We left the fan off. She couldn’t sleep. I woke up in the morning. No headache. Houston, we have problem.
So, We googled. What we found was that people who had these kinds of headaches had sinus problems, and the fan was drying out the sinus cavity and causing the crazy headache.
The solution?
Put coconut oil up your nose to moisturize your sinus.
I thought it was the grossest thing I had ever heard of.
Guess what? It kinda is. It feels really weird and just not right to scoop a small finger full of coconut oil out of the jar and stick it up your nose. Blech.
But no more headaches. It works.
Invariably when you scoop the glop out of the jar, you scoop too much. So, before I run the stuff up my nose, I smooth a little on my lips. What a difference!!
Within two days, I noticed that my lips looked smoother and fuller. No more dry wrinkly lips. They are soft and smooth. BONUS.
About a week into my routine, I thought I would try to spice it up a little. I made a sweet minty version that reminds me a little of that EOS lip balm.
It is my now a regular part of my evening ritual. I love it.
Here is how I do it.
You will need:
Coconut Oil – I just scoop it out with a plastic spoon into a small glass bowl. I do two spoonfuls so I can make enough to last me for awhile.
Stevia- Not even a half packet. You don’t even really need Stevia, but that little bit of sweetness is nice for me.
Peppermint Oil – Please be sure it is food grade. Just two drops will do. It is strong. You want “minty freshness” not “Exhilarating Minty Minty Mint”.
The Coconut oil gets melty pretty easily, so it’s not difficult to get the three ingredients mixed and emulsified. Stir it up and smooth it on.
I store my excess in an old eyelash case. Mostly because I have a dozen or so of them laying around at any given time.
Like this:
I slather this sweet minty stuff on my lips as the final step to bedtime…I mean right before I put the plain coconut oil up the sniffer.
Oh, I should also mention. I had a fever blister that started to come out on my lip. Two nights of this stuff and it never fully made an appearance. Worth the price of admission, that one. Mmmhmm…is sure is.
So as the day is skidding into home, I am finally sitting down to write this day three of fabulous things. I was going to post something different. I actually had it laid out to do, but I had such a nice time this evening that I am changing it up.
So day three of things that make my life more fabulous is….
My Fire Pit
There is something cozy and wonderful about sitting by a fire. There are no electronic devices and no distractions. Whatever magic is in that fire causes a slight hypnosis for those who gather ’round it, making conversation flow like sweet tea on a hot Georgia night.
Laughter seems to be a sweet side effect from this magic, raising everyone’s vibration to a sweet place. The flames dancing in the darkness cast shadows and light on everyone making it impossible to look at anything other than the person you are talking with.
Sitting around a fire seems to be a cure for disconnection.
That makes my life more fabulous.
Sorry this is so late getting posted. It was total slammaramma today at the glitter mine and I was extra late getting to the Swingin “S” Ranch and Grooveteria. Also I may or may not have stopped to get some dinner and a salty margarita with Fernandooo.
That little ditty above is a freebee fabulosity that is not assigned to a day, but makes me pretty happy very frequently. I feel it, you know what I mean? 🙂
So…on to the Fabulosity of the day!
If I am being honest, today’s fabulosity is a little bit granny-fide along the edges. HOWEVER, it is one of the fabulous things that I do that makes me feel good.
I am a pretty crafty girl. I love to make things. I love the energy of hand made things. I feel pretty strongly that if someone gives you a handmade gift, especially if they could have gone over to the Target and bought to for twenty bucks, but instead spent two days AND some hard earned money….you better believe that person loves you. Don’t take a hand made gift lightly. There is a lot of energy in that little prize. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner and don’t you forget it.
So, since I am trying to love me fully, I decided to stop giving all of my love away and shooting some back at myself. That is just some good stuff. I felt a little guilty about it at first, but now…I am a self gifting whore. Yes I said that…or was it the salty margarita, Fernando?
Anyway, I love bath time luxury. I love to buy things that make it even more special, like scrubbies and gloves and all those sudsy accessories. When I was perusing Pinterest one day, I looked up hand made scrubbies and washcloths and found a pattern for a hand crocheted washcloth
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These are my handmade washcloths.
The pattern looked pretty quick and easy. I figured I could do the whole quick gratification thing. So, went to the Walmart, not because I love the Walmart, but because it is the closest place to the house that has yarn. While I was there I purchased cotton yarn and some cream horns. They both made me happy, BTW.
I like to get Peaches and Creme yarn. It is 100% American grown cotton. I don’t know if it is GMO cotton…but I’m pretending it isn’t until I know for sure.
One ball of this yarn can yield two of these washcloths. Each ball is $ 1.77, so it’s pretty darned economical.
Crochet Skill Level: Beginner / Very Easy
Materials Needed:
Yarn: You’ll need a high-quality sport weight cotton yarn.
Crochet Hook: I used a size H / 8 – 5.00 mm crochet hook to crochet my washcloths. This is the hook I recommend you start with, but please feel free to use a different hook if necessary to achieve a comfortable tension. I mean, no one likes a tense hooker, right?
Other: Tapestry Needle for weaving in ends
Gauge:
5 sts = approximately 1 inch; row gauge is not critical.
Gauge is not crucial for success with this project. However, I included gauge information for those of you who might want to check your gauge. But really, you are going to be scrubbing your butt with these things. So I think accuracy is really irrelevant as long as it is big enough to do the job.
Finished Size:
My finished cloths each measure about 7 inches square.
Abbreviations Used in This Pattern:
st= stitch
ch = chain
rep = repeat
sc = single crochet Project Instructions:
Ch 35. The original pattern I found said to chain 19. I am assuming this person was a size 0 or making washcloths for toddlers. I am neither one of those things, so I increased it accordingly.
Row 1: Sc in 3rd ch from hook. [Ch 1, skip next ch, sc in next ch.] Rep sequence in brackets across the entire row. Ch 1, turn. ( Hint hint…I like to get mine done quickly and sometimes I don’t want a thick thick cloth so I do a double crochet instead of single)
Row 2: Sc in 1st sc, skip 1st ch, [sc in next sc, ch 1, skip next ch.] Rep sequence in brackets across the entire row. Ch 1, turn.
Design Notes: In rows 2 and up, I found that I was able to achieve straighter edges when crocheting my last stitch into the turning chain instead of crocheting it into the last sc st. You can do it either way, but whichever way you choose, be sure to be consistent.
If all goes according to plan, you will end up with 17 sc sts and 16 ch sts in each row.
Repeat row 2 until your dishcloth is square.
End off. Weave in ends.
mmmm…..love in the tub.
Now, go run your water and get to scrubbing with your thick soft and wonderful washcloth with your own fabulous energy in it. DIVINE.
Oh and you can throw these things in the washing machine and they come out great and even fluffier.
So, the first stop on the thirty one days of fabulosity tour is really the oldest and loveliest fabulosity I do.
I love to take baths. I mean, I really do.
Taking a good bath with the right ingredients can not only get your body clean, but can also get that etheric energy scrubbed up too. I mean who cares if you have a squeaky clean crack when your aura is a dumpster, right? So, CLEAN it ALL up!
I make several kinds of bath salts. It depends on what I need at the time. They all have some basic components, but vary in oils or salts. I am going to share two of them with you. The best thing about making your own bath salts is that you have total control over what goes into your tub, and that includes the intention as well. Your intention is so powerful in making a blend to clear away negativity and allow you to relax and renew your spirit.
I have three favorites that I use on a regular basis. You can make them at home mostly with products that you can find right there on your own personal island… or in your kitchen if you are too young to remember Gilligan’s Island.
You can see that I keep them in jars so they will be ready made and handy when I am really needing some tubby time after a busy day.
The first recipe is for:
GGET THIS DAY OFF ME SALTS
You will need:
One Tub of Hot Water ( Hot yes, but please don’t burn the baby, or the kitty )
1 cup Sea Salt ( please use fine grind or you will be sitting your precious behind on gravel, and that is never pleasant)
1/2 cup Epsom Salts
1 lemon quartered
12 drops of sage essential oil ( You can totally uses whatever oil makes you smile)
7 drops of lavender essential oil ( Again use what trips your trigger)
Personally I like the clearing aspect of sage and lemon combined with the healing aspect of the lavender. I sometimes will throw something minty in here as well, just because I like the way it smells.
BUT…in the jar goes the salts in a 2 sea salt to 1 epsom salt ratio. Flavor as you go or put in your oils. It is up to you.
The initial recipe is good for one bath.
Light a candle and relax, ask Archangel Michael to clear you of any energy that is not your own or does not serve your highest self. Thank him. Meditate if you want, or just relax. No more than thirty minutes though, or you will be absorbing it back. Blech.
I like to do this at least once a week. I am a psychic, so I tend to pick up and carry a good deal of energy. You may choose to do it less. Whatever works for you is good.
I also like to throw in some smokey and rose quarts into the jar so that the essences of those stones permeate through the salts. Smokey quarts absorbs negativity and rose quartz is just big love love love. We all need that.
The second bath recipe I want to share with you is a nice self love bath. It is a little unconventional, but it is DIVINE. The ingredients are lush and smell so sensual that you can’t help but love yourself. It is delicious pampering and it makes your skin feel like silk.
It makes me feel like Cleopatra or Zsa Zsa Gabor. I don’t know who, but for sure it was someone who wore a tiara or two on their head.
The Baby I Love Me, Don’t You Love Me Too Bath
You will need
One Tub of Hot Water ( minding the temp, ahem)
3/4 cup Sea Salt
1 Cup Powdered Milk
1/4 cup Epsom Salts
2 TBS Vanilla Powder or 1 TBS Pure Vanilla Extract
11 drops of sandalwood essential oil
1 tsp Cinnamon or 4 drops of cinnamon essential oil
White candle, turn out the lights, music if you want to or you can softly hum or chant or pray or whatever makes you feel the calmest. I like to pray to Mother Mary for a few and then chill out and feel my girly girl emerge and take over. She is an indulgent one and I love to be her.
No visitors. Just you, the water and the energy. You will feel like a sultry princess in the dimly lit ambiance of your warm and sweet smelling palace. Yes you will, you little fabulosity, you. When your bath is over, slather on some fabulous lotion and go lay naked in your clean sheets. That is bliss, y’all. Sheer bliss. I hope you get some of that kind of stuff.
That kind of me time is really the best stuff ever. They say that what you do in your alone time is a true indicator of your character. Well, if that is true, I am gonna take more baths because I am one clean and fierce and sultry female in that alone time!
Hope you enjoy these baths.
Watch all your troubles go swinging down the drain!
Smooch Out! http://www.susanrushing.com
Ok, so I took a blog class last December. The class made me excited about blogging and I wanted to do more with my blog. Then suddenly, without cause and without pre-meditation, I stopped blogging for a while. I am not sure why, really. I think I felt like I wasn’t enough in the blogging world and that made me sad. Finally, I got over it and realized that I don’t need to be the next over the top money making blogger. I do this for fun and to share and to connect with my fellow cosmic fabulosities.
The instructor for this blogging class was none other than the beehive wearing smart talking glitter bomb that is Hollis Gillespie. One of the things she suggested what to blog everyday for a month. I never did it. The whole linking and guest blogging thing still causes me anxiety. So, instead I think I will do my own thing and every day share something that makes my life a little more fabulous. I will share the places where I found them and give credit where credit is due.
I hope you enjoy this Thirty One Days of Fabulosity. Steal the shit out of this stuff if you feel like it and make you some fabulosity too!!
Mother has had a recent epiphany. Yes Sweetie, another one. I am about to share it with all of you all. I appreciate your reading it. I wonder if you will agree. I think you will at least through some of it. What I really hope is that you will think about it from time to time and join me in my little plan ( sounds sinister, I know. Totally isn’t.)
I am trying to come up with a plan so that you and I can maybe make a positive effect on this planet, or at least our local grocery store. If you know about the hundredth monkey thing….I guess I’m hoping some other apes will start washing their sweet potatoes, if I start washing mine.
The Epiphany:
I was at the grocery the other day and I noticed several times people who seemed to be talking to themselves. Of course, they were on their phone with a bluetooth thing in their ear. I realize that. “Is she crazy or on the phone?”, has been a game for me for the last several years, but there is a clear difference these days. These days people are in full out loud conversations. In fact, as I headed down the soup isle, a woman turned into the isle with all of her teeth shining like the grill of a new Chrysler. She was guffawing like she was in a loud tavern, or like a hyena with no filter. The energy of it was startling. She looked like she was clearly and diagnosably insane. Really, unsettling so. I stopped looking at the soup and stared.
I was looking right at her, I am sure with some kind of weird look. She looked back, right into my eyes and instead of doing what I thought she would do (which is acknowledge me with a wink or nod or wave or something to signal that she is okay and just on the phone), she looked right in my eyes and continued on at top volume as if no one was there.
Amazing.
This is not my first experience with this kind of self involved containment system. It is not uncommon for people to act as if they are by themselves in an isolation booth when they are actually in a room full of people. They don’t seem to be effected by those they are effecting. I also notice that many others tend to just ignore them, enabling those people to believe that they are actually alone…..in the crowd of people.
So, my epiphany is this : People just don’t care if you think they’re crazy anymore. They don’t. No one person has one shit to give in the situation of anyone questioning who or what they are in public. It is irrelevant if they connect to you, because they are previously connected to some electronic device that allows them to connect with anyone they want to connect with, including Cher on Twitter. I mean….who really wants to look and connect to some poor schlump who is meandering down the soup isle when you can tweet the hell out of Cher instead? I can’t give you an answer.
But, I gotta tell you. You need to connect.
I started this thing a few weeks ago. When I go to the store, or when I am walking out it public I will make it a point to make eye contact with everyone I come upon. When I started it, every time I did it, I would say in my head ” One for humanity!” That little cheer kind of bolstered my confidence and raised my energy to be able to do this little task readily and happily. I realized that I had stopped connecting some time ago, and it took a little practice and a locker room speech to get me back in the game. I’m good now and I actually enjoy meeting eyes with other people. Not everyone looks back, but some people do, and they seem happy to see me too. I think…” aha…you are awake. Hooray for being awake!”
I believe that we are all connected. I believe that the connection is important. So, whether it’s the soccer mom in line with me at Whole Foods, or the grocery bagger dude at Publix, I make eye contact and smile, or say hello. People might think that I’m weird. Hell, they might even think that I am crazy…but I don’t care.
I mean, that’s in style these days, isn’t it?
I dig a trend, y’all.
I saw a post on Facebook yesterday. It was another one of those quizzes I love to take. I mean, who doesn’t want to know what Hollywood Icon they are or what car is most like them, right? AND…for the love of all things holy, how did I ever get by without the knowledge that I was most like King Lear than Lady MacBeth? Today there was a question in the quiz du jour that asked to define myself in one word. One of the words was “real”. It set be back a bit. Am I really real? I like to think I am. People tell me I am. I think it is important to be real. However, my hair color is not real. My eyelashes are not real. The color of my lips and eyelids and cheeks are all enhanced to promote their positive and eliminate their negative. So, I wondered if those things made me inauthentic. I thought about it for a good little bit. I even came back to it and thought about it some more on the drive home. What does it mean to be authentic? What does it mean to be real?
I decided that my outside enhancements were really a part of my authenticity. I love being a girl and I really love a little glamour. It’s a part of who I am. It gives me joy. It’s part of my realness. I don’t hide that I do it. I laugh about it, I am real about it. It is my truth. My fabulous indulgence is authentic.
Then I went a little deeper. I decided that authenticity really has nothing to do with the outside. It starts on the inside. Living in truth and living in peace with the truth. That sounded more like realness to me.
Then I got a little deeper. If being real means being in peace with your truth, then must you be at peace with ALL of your truth? Because I am certainly not peaceful with all of my truth. I struggle with some of my truth, and some of that truth fights like a Russian wrestling bear, let me tell ya.
Then I thought about that. The fact that I am honest about the struggle and work to gain peace means that I am being real and authentic. I am owning it and not ignoring it. Finding peace in all of my truth will never come until I can fully love and forgive myself. That love is what brings peace.
When I got up this morning I started looking at articles about authenticity. I honestly don’t love the word. I mean I used to, until it got Oprahsized and is used way more than it is felt or achieved. So, I decided to call it realness. So, while I was looking I came upon a quote from my favorite little kid book : The Velveteen Rabbit.
I got this book from the library when I was seven or eight. I loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that I renewed it several times. If you know this book, you know that it’s a slender book. It doesn’t take long to read it. One week, when I returned the book, the librarian told me that I needed to return it and I couldn’t keep it indefinitely. It made me tear up, mostly because I was embarrassed. My step dad, who always took me to the library on Friday thought it was because I loved the book so much. My parents drove an hour to Columbus, the next day, so they could purchase a copy of the book for me and have it on my bed when I got home from visiting my Dad that night.
That is what my copy looked like. I still have it. I still love it. Now I love it even more.
It is crazy to me that forty years later I find a quote from that very book that has left me with an epiphany that not only validates but gives me new insight into the ability to love myself and where it must begin. I believe that it begins with that young girl who was a serial renewer of that book. As I get older, the search for self love seems to become more important. Mostly because the surface isn’t holding up the way it used to, and I am getting slower and creakier with each passing year. I find myself loving others with more compassion and in deeper and more tolerant ways. I search for that same love to self. I understand from my work in mediumship, self love and forgiveness makes our transition easier to the other side. But I also believe that it makes life on this side a lot more tolerable.
Here is the quote that has opened a new window in my mind:
“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’
‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.
‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’
‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’
‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” ― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
That is a big idea for a little kid. I am grateful that it was written. I am grateful that I found it. I am grateful that the importance of it is surrounded in love. It’s almost as if God put a big parenthesis around this event, or bookmarked it for me to get back to. So, I say a gratitude for it.
So, I am off to read this book again and try to reconnect with that skinny dark haired girl that ran wild through fields and neighborhoods and laughed with wild abandon and shouted to the sky without restriction. She was often times met with ridicule and she didn’t fit in certain circles. She made herself welcome and made people laugh to gain admission. She sang and danced and laughed for acceptance until she became me, who does the same. I hope she will recognize me. I hope she will talk to me. I hope she will forgive me. I hope I she will love me, because like the skin horse says……when a child REALLY loves you, then you become real.
Love Yourself Through It! 