No 'Poo 18 Year Update

 Apparently my hairgrease is now 18 years, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day old.  Because I happened to wonder "when did I give up shampoo?" and I had blogged it.

Here's a link to the post about going no 'poo:

https://simplicityandfrugality.blogspot.com/2008/05/no-poo.html

Cool.  I barely even bother to baking soda wash anymore.  Heavy rinsing is my go to.  It's like heavy petting only not at all.  If I'm in a shower with good water pressure just keep rinsing until the whole thing feels better.  Scrub scalp while rinsing.  Hard to get the hair wet through all the natural oils and undisturbed cuticle.

When I'm home with the hairwash bucket (which is watever bowl basin or bucket is clean and appropriately sized) and it's warm out or in a place with time on my hands and a good sink set up for hair washery, then I go for the baking soda (or salt) scalp scrub and vinegar (or lemon juice or skip it) rinse.  Then, a cold water blast to seal up the cuticle again.  That takes off more grease.  Sometimes so much that the baking soda, a base, will saponify the hair grease a little and I make a mild soapy water sort of thing.  Then I think..."Damn, my hair is gross" and keep washing.  This is generally in the summer especially after putting oil on the house project so it's not all hair grease, it's also house oil, making the soap foam.  And please don't picture like bubble bath levels of foam.  More like gramma's lye soap barely run through the water level.  A couple of bubbles is what I'm saying.

So, how's the hair?  FINE.  Just fine.  Curlier.  Meaning slightly wavy.  I keep it braided up or in a pony tail most days because despite being in better condition, it's still very super fine hair prone to breaking off every time it touches a shirt collar or I brush it.  Easier to comb.  When I do a big scrub after a hot day of oily dusty construction work it is the least greasy and quite fluffy.  Hard to get into a pony tail.

It's also harder to get henna to take.  I have to do a big scrub to get lots of oils out.  Then leave the henna in for HOURS which usually means I fall asleep and leave it in too many hours.  This results in a tone best described as "full bozo red".  I do not mind and must say that the funniest moment at work in years was coming in with full bozo red hair (which settles into just shocking copper by the end of a week) and NO ONE said a thing.  Just stared wide eyed and wandered off to whisper to other people for a minute.  Did they think I didn't know?   Or had some specific shade of red in mind?   In reality, I had found the henna at a thrift store, unopened.  And it was the fox and I usually used the parrot (the company I like puts a critter on each package so you can remember which one you usually buy).  The fox is much darker red.  MUCH.  And I fell asleep.  Rinsed for AGES with the garden hose pressure nozzle.   It didn't last much over 6 months and by then was faded pretty well.   I must not have stripped the grease off the hair well enough.  Last time before that I used the parrot but that is STILL in the ends of my hair like 5 years later.  My hair is the worst.

Other effects...easy to comb. easy to braid unless just stripped, and no one seems to notice if I go a couple of weeks without even a rinse as long as there is no actual dirt clods in my hair.

A handful of times over the past 18 years, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day I have done the all conditioner option.  Mostly when at a hotel and I don't have baking soda or salt in a quantity that would be worth the effort but the hair is grimier/sweatier than I think a rinse will cure.  It works but doesn't last and I'm not used to my hair smelling of cheap products anymore and that will bug me for a day or two until it fades away.  I avoid it and go for the heavy rinse if at all possible.

So...that's it.  And still no hair photo.  It's just greying old people hair that doesn't stand out in a crowd.

I Didn't ________ for _____ Days and This Happened!

 I think I will do a click-bait series where I mock the click bait, and then participate in it.  

HYPOCRISY!!!

(get it?)

So...I didn't cut my hair for 33 years and NOTHING happened.  Not even a trim.  NO ONE CARES.  My hair looks no better or worse than when I paid people to piss me off by cutting my hair.

I didn't use shampoo for...over 12.5 years and other than my hair being more water proof and well waxed if I don't get around to washing it with baking soda or salt.... NOTHING happened.  NO ONE CARES.

I didn't buy soap for a year and NOTHING happened.  Well, something happened.   People are giving me soap for holidays and birthdays because I'm old.  It's nice.   I have bought soap, but only for gifts.  It's an old lady soap giving circuit.  Soap is the new fruit cake.  I do use soap.

I haven't used dryer sheets or other laundry softener for...I have no idea...2 decades?  More?  And, nothing happened.  If I hang my clothes to dry and there is no breeze they are stiff for a minute when I put them on, then they are just like clothes with softener.   My towels DO work better for drying so I guess that happened.  I have friends who use dryer balls.  I find that they make my clothes lintier but not softer.  If they are wool balls then also statickier.

I didn't shave my legs for 3 decades and ...well, something happened.  I discovered I basically don't have leg hair.  Wasted all that time and soap and blood shaving.

So many things I don't or haven't done and it's just not that ground breaking.  But it is a common clickbait type title.

No 'Poo in the Time of Corona

Yes, that's right.  I made a bad reference to "Love in the Time of  Cholera."

I'm also covering showering off grid in the summer here.

The 'rona has forced me to buck up my ideas about a shower option at the wee shed.

I'd become gym dependent.   Now the gym is gross.

So, I tried many options, got a new camp-shower bag deal for 15$ because they won't be on sale until fall at the earliest and camp stuff was selling out willy-nilly.  The old camp shower served me for a few years, but had given up the ghost and leaked faster than I could shower.  Certainlky faster than it could heat water.  Black painted jars and other options didn't work out as well.   I ended up buying a new one.

Now I have 5 gallons of HOT water each evening after work and a few gallons of warm water in the alternate options I tried to used.

I found an insulated beverage dispenser at a thrift store, like the "igloo" ones you see on construction sites but smaller.   I fill that with HOT water when I get home.  It holds a gallon or a gallon and a half.  That goes on a step on the folding extension ladder I got at a yard sale a few years back, and an old bedspread is tied around the ladder toward the top to make a 3 sided semi-private (more so after the sun goes down since the highway is east of me...) open to the west, away from the road.  I put a rubber tub in there to stand in so I'm not stepping on thorns or wasps while I try to clean up.

The beverage dispenser holds the water hot enough for a shower until a bit after sundown so that's easier.  I live in a bit of a ravine.  By "sundown" I mean when the sun goes behind the hill, not actual sundown time.  

I can get a decent wash up using this system and a spray bottle which I fill from the warm water.  You don't stand there and meditate in the shower, but you know, you can get clean enough.  

I don't do hair in there because there isn't enough water.  I do sometimes use the water from the camp solar shower thingy.   On the weekend I pick a day and if I'm doing dishes on the rocket stove (more anon) I use the last couple gallons of hot water for the hair washing.   

A big bowl (thrift) is both the dish pan and the hair washing basin.  I rinse it out with the hose before switching to hair so I don't get cabbage bits and grease on my head.  

Fill it with warm or hot water, get the hair wet in there by sticking my head in it, and using a cup to move water over the parts I can't submerge.  Then, scrub the scalp with the baking soda slurry like usual.  Rinse.  Rinse with more warm water.  Rinse with the hose which is right by the shower AND the dishes station.  The hose water is cold but it's been hot weather and I finish with a cold rinse anyway so not a problem.   Then I do the vinegar rinse like always.  Rinse again.  Cold hose rinse.  Done.  It gets cleaner or better rinsed than when I try to do this in a regular house or gym shower stall. 

Takes 20minutes.  Wrap up in a towel and go.  Not really up for doing this first thing in the morning so I've had to let go of the idea of starting the day with totally clean hair.

I'm washing once every week or two since I keep the hair in a braid at all times and actually, 2 or 3 braids during the 'rona times.   It keeps the hair out of my face and keeps it from fighting with the mask.  

This was a boring post but there you go.

TOO Many Puns So It's Just Blog Post about the Build Project

Things have been moving FAST.

The plumbing (owner permit...a.k.a ME).  I buggered it up the first time.  Slammed through another day with new help and MUCH more knowledge thanks to the friends who helped me through the first draft and passed the inspection 49 hours after the "fail". I got a green sticker on a random pipe sticking out of the ground.    I also ended up with 2 big boxes of unused bits and pieces to return to 3 or 4 different hardware stores.  As soon as I have slept a bit, I will get on that.

The first two assistants taught me a TON!  Thanks Jyl and Snuff!  For reals.
The final one...I told him that since it passed I would think of him every time I took a dump.  He was flattered.

So, the hole was filled and tamped. Gravel...tamping, more gravel...more tamping...lather, rinse, repeat.

Got the permit Thursday morning at about 8:30 AM and by 5pm Friday, 90% of the rebar is in.  The builder had a question about a detail (rebar drawn as though floating in the air...hard to pour concrete
on that and keep it in place).  So, he added some more rebar, had me take a picture and send it to his boss (aka Mrs Builderman) and hopefully the engineer will OK the slight modification.

At one point, the Mr Builderman said, "I tend to overbuild things."  Yep.  They should put that on the sign.

This morning 3 people showed up, 2 barely know me!!! And helped me rough in the pex tubes that will distribute heat in the slab in the imaginary magical solar future.  We'll see....
I'm sleeping on it and then in the morning I will go back and start tying them more definitively to the rebar.  The helpers (no names...well, they have names but I don't like to name names) were SUPER good.  None of us had done it but we watched the how-to video.  I watched it on a loop for a couple of hours and took notes because I am me. 
Anyway, here we are:

And the tubes.   I will neaten them up a bit.  I may have help tomorrow morning for that.

I will try to fish out some plumbing pictures too.  Perhaps one of the EPIC plumbers crack on the last assistant.  Cripes!!! It reminded me of the "credit card" joke my sister told me once.

You can admire the beautiful green "right to poop" sticker on the vertical black post.

The builder labor guys complimented me on having all the plumbing in one spot.  YA!!  AND interior wall.  The shortest heat tube goes through the kitchen and bath areas on either side of that.  Kitchen faces south.  The roll of tubing on the left of the picture is where the manifold will be.  It ends up under the kitchen counter.  I had wanted it in the bathroom but at 4'10" wide, with a 2'6" door...and a water supply pipe (that might actually be in the kitchen???  was supposed to be in the bathroom but the wall is 2" thick max so things have floated back and forth around it.  I don't really care...drill a hole and voila...water supply and most incoming water plumbing back in the bathroom), it was too crowded. So I remembered I didn't have to put this near the hot water heater.  If I put solar units on the south 2nd story wall or porch roof, I'll want that thing on the south wall anyway.  And it sorted out the tubing plan.   

I must have done a dozen tubing lay outs.  All of which would have worked and none of which we ultimately used.  Bits of each.  The boards are where walls will be more or less.  It struck me last night on layout 3001 that I had TOO MANY TUBES going through the bathroom if the main manifold is in there.  I'd be melting the toilet wax ring all damn winter.   That is apparently a thing based on the BIG RED LETTER WARNINGS in the installation manual.   Moving the manifold simplified the layout and limited the number of tubes that had to cross each other.  

Turning also turned (HA) out to be the biggest installation challenge.  So, at the suggestion of EG, a super friend and helper, we went the long way on the north living room and south/east living dining area.  BINGO.  Saved tubing and labor and it was easier to get into the vestibule where the solar batteries will live.

I thought to switch the supply/return path on the north loop so the sleeping area will get the water after the living area.  I like a chilly bedroom.  

Now I'm wondering if I could hook up inground tubes through the landscape around the house but deep in the ground and chill the floor in the summer.  

One helper (Hi C!!) suggested that this heated floor will be excellent for passing out drunk so I need to start drinking ASAP.

Cousin-in-law BG (not a real relative...no Norwegian has that status) had already suggested drinking when the first plumbing inspection was a fail and there was 2 days to hit the next inspection.  I may consider it next week.  The concrete pour will either happen or not happen.  Either way, I will be stressed out.  

In better news...my hair is suddenly down to my belt!  And NO I did not switch to high-waisted pants.  Since I am the shortest waisted person in the west, I'm sticking with the low waisted ones.  I keep the hair braided pretty much all the time so I hadn't noticed it got longer.  

SP and JH let me mooch a shower today and I went for the hair. My head was encased in a hard cap made of dust and scalp grease welded to hair.  Like adobe...hairdobe?  I can't imagine what it did to their drain.  But hey, if they need a new drainpipe run, I not only know how, I have enough plumbing parts in the car and on the porch to do it.  

Thank you to one and all who have helped, visited, encouraged and brought sustenance and expertise (except the Norwegians)

More anon.  

No 'Poo Update

It's getting toward 10 years of no shampoo.

Since I'm mostly showering at the gym, especially in winter, it's kind of a pain to do the baking soda and vinegar rinse.  It takes a while and I hate to have the shower running for 20 minutes.  In the summer, using a bucket or big bowl of water, it is easier to get my hair wet (natural oils repel water...probably one of the reasons head hair evolved was to keep the brain warm and keeping cold rain/snow off the head helps with that) and I don't have a shower running the whole time.  Shutting the shower off at the gym and hanging out in the stall just raises questions.

So, the system no is to mostly just rinse the heck out of the hair while scrubbing my scalp with my finger tips and nails.  This is followed with a some diluted vinegar in a reused small dish soap bottle scavenged from work.  I can squirt this all over my hair and work it through, let it rest in there while I finish up showering, then rinse and finish with a cold rinse.  I step to the side of the main stream of shower water and just put my head in for the cold rinse.  Fortunately the gym has big shower stalls with room to hang a towel and clothes and get dressed...and to step away from the water during the cold hair rinse.

I brush it well every couple of days.

In the last week I've gotten multiple compliments on my hair.  Apparently this is working.  

I do the rinse bit once a week or 10 days.  Partly because I'm lazy and partly because I'm not out working in dusty conditions while sweating.  Winter is good for that.

I am also keeping my hair braided most of the time including at night. My hair tangles easily and in the past I've had whole chunks of hair missing from coat-collar length down due to tangles and rats from rubbing on coats and shirt collars. Even in a pony tail it was suffering snarls and breakage.  Keeping it braided seems to prevent those issues.

It's braided overnight because in the winter I wear a hoody to bed.  Or sometimes a hat.  It's warm when I GO to bed, but not always when I wake up so the head cover really helps.

The braiding, less washing, brushing, etc, has resulted in longer hair than I've had in a while.  I haven't had a cut or trim since 1989 so the length is related to the health and breakage alone.

8 Years No 'Poo Update

Well, so far so good.  I'm still "no 'poo" and still using the baking soda scrub with apple cider vinegar rinse.

This is slightly difficult to maintain when traveling, especially outside the US where I may not know the local word for either product.  In those cases I've used a good scrubbing of my scalp under hot water, followed by a rinse with whatever acid I can get (any light colored vinegar or lemon juice diluted in water), and a cold finishing rinse.  Works well.

A few times I've been traveling in the US and too busy/harried/tired to get to a store after a flight to get vinegar and baking soda, or I forgot.  In that case if I've got no acid source (batteries are NOT an option...or I would have stolen them out of the remote at a variety of hotels), I do a conditioner only job.  Just we the hair good, scrub the scalp with fingers to get up the 'druff and larger crud.  Then glop on lots of conditioner and work it through well.  Then rinse. Keep rinsing.  Still rinsing.  Always rinsing.  Finally, a cold water rinse.  It works OK but there is some itchy scalp from the chemically product my head is no longer used to and it doesn't last as long as the baking soda/ACV method on my hair.

It's been pretty easy doing this off-grid in the summer.   A jug of water in the sun for the day is plenty hot enough to wash hair at night.  For the cold water rinse...the ice water melting in the frozen jug in the cooler that's always there does the trick.  well!

Winter off-grid with no home shower has been tougher.  When I travel the first thing I do upon arrival at a hotel, if I drove, is get out the baking soda and ACV and have at it.  Then again before I leave at least a rinse with vinegar and cold water.  I've conditioner-onlied at the gym (where I shower most of the time) but it takes a while and one doesn't want to hog the public shower.  I've also gone to a friends' house and bogarted a shower and hair wash. 

It's nearly warm enough to go back to the outside washing which is my favorite now.  Uses the least water and I throw the used water on the shrubbery so it's not wasted.

As for the hair.  Still nice.  Most days when I've washed my hair it's too slick to stay in a pony tail so that's about the only day it's down.  People often compliment it.  There are broken bits here and there, but there always were and they correspond to where my pony tail holder hits (yes, it's metal free, but my hair is thin and wispy compared to most), where my glasses hit, or some other mechanical breakage source.  I don't think I can blame the no 'poo.

And pretty non-greasy even if I have to go 10 days without a wash.  I do go to the gym and lift weights and get sweaty so it isn't that I'm just keeping it clean.  There IS less dust in the winter around here so that does help keep the hair less grimy.  Anyway, as long as I brush it well with a boar bristle brush a time or two a day, I can get away with 10 days without a wash.  I'd rather wash more often.

How to Save Time and Money in the Morning!

Ugh.   I keep reading (WHY do I go to those stupid "news" aggregating websites in the first place) stupid "how to save ____ " "news items" (hah...not new, not news...whatever).   Maybe just to feel superior?  Habit?  Because I like being irritated?  Who knows.

Anyway.  One "headline" today, and probably for the last several since these asinine sites like to recycle their "news" quite a bit by just refreshing the headline or photo, was "How to Save Time in the Morning."

Basically you should be organized with your hair and makeup routine.
Um...I save EVEN more time and a bucket of money by NOT wearing makeup in the first place.   I have a zero cost makeup system.  I just live with the face I have.   Moisturizer is coconut oil (like from the food aisle) or shea butter bought in bulk.  Just shea butter.  Not shea butter or coconut oil based lotions an potions.  Simply the actual article.  Annual cost:  about 20$.   Time savings:  who knows.  I don't even know how long people spend putting on makeup.   How much money do they spend?  I truly have no idea.

Being "organized" with the wardrobe will also "save time" in the morning.  So will not really giving a crap and buying clothes that all go together.  I have a range of colors for shirts and the shells I wear under them, and I wear jeans or other sturdy work pants, in blue, brown or black every day.  My wardrobe isn't going to win any awards for fashion, but no one seems to complain.  There are no two items I can put together in my wardrobe that will make anyone flinch (well...maybe that one lavender shell shouldn't go with the orange cowboy shirt but they never meet in the wild since the shell is for work and the shirt is for gardening).   I save time by wearing whatever is first.  Right now there are about 5 button down shirts in rotation that were worn once last week with an undershirt so they can be worn again this week with a clean undershirt.  I guess I also save time and money by working in a place and job where no one gives a crap beyond "is she clean, professional looking and able to do her job in those clothes?).   (I think I had punctuation build up at the end of that last sentence...Angela will let me know if I've messed it up.)   Obviously the clothes are from thrift stores so double cheap (and often bought when they are on sale at thrift so triple cheap.)  The shoes are bought new, on sale, and the socks are generally gifts (much appreciated gifts!).

I recently read that I could save money on shampoo by diluting it.  Uh...no I can't. I don't use shampoo.  That's right.  Still no-pooing the hair and still happy with it.  Hair still clean and healthy and whatnot.  I've read that some people even give up washing their hair entirely, not even a rinse.   I'm not planning on going that route.  But more power to them.  They are saving my estimated 10$ in annual hair care costs.

One last time saver for the morning:  Take your shower the night before.  Since I've been doing more digging at the new place (slow slow slow digging) I'd sometimes needed a shower in the evening.  I decided to not double that with a shower in the morning if I wore clean jammies, slept in clean sheets, and didn't get all sweaty.  So far no complaints.  Granted, I work in a building with IT nerds so I doubt anyone would really care if I did stink but I'm pretty sure I don't .  I'll switch back to morning showers one of these days.

What do I do with all that time savings in the morning?
Well, I sleep.   Then I make a decent breakfast.  Take out the compost.  This morning I hung out some laundry (WOOHOO!  First laundry hung outside of 2014) and returned books to the library.  I guess all of those actually save me money in the long run.

OK, enough time spend feeling superior for a Monday.

Thrifty Packing

So, as noted in the previous post, I pack so that I have ONLY a carry-on.   This saves baggage fees and the hassle of hanging out at the airport waiting for bags.  I don't want to pay extra fees and I want to get the most vacation for my flight dollar.

This trip, as with most, I packed in an ancient day pack I used through much of grad school (so purchased sometime before 1997...I think...it might be a lookalike that's only a decade old but I think it's closer to 20 years old).   It has one main compartment and one outside front pocket, 2 shoulder straps.  That's it.   I have an alternate bag for trips where I need a bit more or expect to bring back a bit more, but we'll stick with this bag for now.

We knew we had a washer and dryer in the apartment we'd rented (more on the apartment at a later date) so we knew we could do laundry easily.  Even without a washer/dryer, I find I can wash everything but jeans in a gallon ziplock bag. 

Here's the total of what I brought, clotheswise, including the outfit I wore on the plane:

2 pairs of jeans
2 turtlenecks
1 silk thermal undershirt
1 shortsleeve t-shirt (for jammies)
2 longsleeve t-shirt
1 button down overshirt
1 nice sweater
5 undies
3 pairs of wool socks, various weights
1 pair of light hiking boots
1 pair sturdy walking shoes
2 bras
1 leather coat
1 color coordinated scarf

All clothes are in one color range and yes, I pretty much looked the same every day since I ended up wearing the button down shirt as a jacket.  Oh well.  I wasn't in DC to impress people with my fashion sense (of which I have none).

I could have left the coat home and just worn a thick thermal undershirt.  I don't have a decent light jacket at the moment and the weather forecast indicated some chilly temperatures...which didn't really appear.  I never took the coat out of the apartment once I'd arrived.

To get all this, and my toiletries and sundries, in the pack, it's important to pack tight and be willing to carry the weight.
Wear the heaviest things even if you'll be a bit too warm on the trip.  Once you wear it onto the plane, you can stuff it under the seat in front of you, or roll it up for a lumbar support in those CRAP airline seats.   So, the boots, coat, a turtleneck, button down, scarf, socks, undies, bra and jeans were the outfit of the day.
The rest went in the bag.  First, I put the undies in a thin, and clean, veggie bag left over from a grocery trip, then stuff them in a shoe.  There was room left over for a rolled pair of socks.  The other shoe got more socks, a bra, and the silk undershirt.  I also packed an extra pillow case as I had recently put henna in my hair and didn't want to dye anything at the apartment.  This pillow case was an old one so if I needed to lighten the load, I could leave it behind.   One pair of undies was beyond the pale and was chucked rather than brought home.  1 t-shirt and 1 turtleneck were also potential donations if there wasn't room on the way home.

So, the stuffed shoes went into the bottom of the bag for rigidity.  Then the jeans.  Fill in around the edges with rolled or tightly folded shirts.  The pillowcase was folded to the size needed to make a layer across the entire bag and the packing thus far, then the sweater and the rest were layered on.  I had about 4 inches of space left in the top for my neti-pot and sea salt and threw in a cloth handkerchief for good measure.  Also in the top were the phone charger, ipod charger, etc.  The toiletries bag goes in the small outside pocket along with the travel journal.

I have an expandable, but still very small, travel purse that I can take on the plane as well.  It was purchased because with the expando-zipper around the bottom open, it will hold a water bottle upright.  The purse had the water bottle (filled at a drinking fountain after passing security...saves on those stupid expensive bottles of water at the airport), a bag of almonds and craisins, a pencil, tiny earbud type headphones, and the like.  

The combined weight of pack and purse was maybe 10 lbs.   That didn't include the clothes I was wearing.

Packing tight like this, also makes for easier travel on public transportation.  I took the Metro from the airport to the apartment and it was no problem.   On the Metro back to the airport at the end of the trip, the only problem was when I set my backpack on a bench to wait for a train...then got on the train without it.  I immediately noticed and was able to jump back off and grab the pack and get back on.   Thank goodness!   In DC, and at the Arlington Cemetery stop, that bag would have been taken by security and possibly blown up had I left it behind. 

Arlington Cemetery stop you ask...Why yes.   We (Mom and I) stopped at Arlington to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the way to the airport.  Since we'd packed light, we just took our bags along.  I wouldn't choose to hike that far everyday with a pack, but it meant we could make the most of our final day in the city.  Nice.

Mom also packed VERY light.  She did put a few things in a clothing donation bin before we departed.   I had plenty of room so went ahead and brought my potential-donation clothes home to take on the next trip.

A final note:  I did not take along any toothpaste, shampoo or etc.  I don't use them anyway.  I took a small jar of sea salt (fits in the neti pot) which I use for tooth brushing.  I wash my hair with baking soda and rinse with dilute vinegar and figure I can get that at pretty much any store.  The apartment was well stocked and had both on hand.   The apartment also had plenty of lotions, potions, soaps and shampoos so that if you do use such things, you wouldn't have needed to bring any.

No More Plastic Beverage Bottles

Well, I made the Earthday choice.
I'm giving up plastic beverage bottles. They are a scourge on the planet, violate basic human rights to clean drinking water (by making people pay for it in poverty stricken areas and by making clean water a non-issue for middle class and wealthy people who routinely buy bottled water and thusly forget about the state of water on this planet when it is not contained in a petroleum based skin).

I got a 20 oz. or so sized "klean kanteen" to get started with. It's stainless steel and should last forever. It will get a bit hot in the sun so I may make it a nice wool cozy (which when wet will actually cool the water down a bit) with some pendleton blanket scraps or something.
I think the biggest challenge will be camping and needing to haul in the water for drinking, cooking and washing. I think I see a filter in my future...and a bigger "klean kanteen" for field work and hiking.

It took a few more looks at the ditches around here littered with plastic bottles and a friend who reminded me that even at 17$, if I skip buying 17 bottles of water it will be paid for in no time.

I rarely by beverages in plastic bottles anyway, but when I forget water, I do break down and buy a bottle. Now I must remember to bring the "kanteen" with me all the time or use my insulated cup that is usually in the car rather than just being lazy and buying water in a petroleum skin.



This bit of info helps me when I lose my resolve to cut back on plastic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

And photos like this don't hurt either:















That bird died stuffed with GARBAGE...plastic garbage. If one of those caps is from a bottle I used, it makes me ill. Time to drink tap water from a reusable container.

Oh, and Pam tells me that the whole 'no poo thing is going mainstream. It got space on MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30337386/

In the past week I've had 2 people ask me exactly how to do it so here is the shorty short version:
Supplies: cup or bowl for the baking soda and, later, vinegar (do not mix them unless you are making a volcano in a cup)
Wet hair thoroughly (easier in a sink than in a shower but whatever), all the way to the scalp.
Mix about 1T of baking soda (some use less, some more) into a slury. Part your very wet hair so you can scrub a bit of that mix into the scalp. Scrub a lot. Part a bit to one side, repeat. Do that until you've scrubbed your whole scalp.
Rinse well.
Dilute about 1T of apple cider vinegar in the cup or bowl of water.
If you have long hair, dip the long bit in this, then slowly pour it over your scalp while working it in a bit (this will keep the baking soda from drying out your hair and scalp and acts as a detangler).
Rinse.
Finish with a cold water rinse (again, easier in the sink than in the shower). You can just do one cold water rinse rather than a rinse and then a cold rinse.

Again, my hair is longer, fewer split ends, easier to comb and wavier than it used to be with shampoo and conditioner. Since it's been a year I figure I've saved about 4 plastic bottles from the landfill and/or an ocean bird's gut. That's because I was already refilling bottle from the bulk shampoo/conditioner station at the co-op. I only used new bottles when I went to a hotel and enjoyed the freebies.
El Kid...he's still using shampoo. To each his own. He recycles the bottles and that is much appreciated.

So, I no longer get plastic grocery bags and only sometimes use plastic veggie bags (when I forget my woven ones and have fruit or veg that would be damaged rolling about in the bag or basket...like say strawberries or mushrooms or a soggy lump of tofu...and onion can roll about all it wants). No shampoo or conditioner bottles, I've been re-using the same dish detergent bottle for at least 2 years now, get my peanut butter in recycled containers (all this is from the bulk stuff at the co-op), so the next elimination of plastic could be tougher to locate!

Happy post-Earth Day everyone.

Happy Earth Day!!

Happy Earth Day.

Here's a quick link to Earth Day History:
http://www.earthday.net/
Begun in 1970 by a Wisconsin Senator, the unfortunately named Gaylord Nelson, to focus some attention on the environmental costs of our way of life.

Again with the leadership in the midwest! First Earth Day and then the right to legal marriage affirmed. And only 39 years apart.

Anyway, I like to celebrate Earth Day. It will be low key today. I've done some garden planning (may never make a garden but it's good to plan) and am trying to figure out what to "give up" to help the environment (and as a side effect these things always help the budget). Last year I gave up shampoo and conditioner about this time of year. For the past year I have not aquired a single plastic bottle for either of those things and my tub drain is shiny clean from all the baking soda and vinegar.

This year I don't know. I may give up industrial lotions. I use mostly unrefined shea butter anyway. Or I may try to totally give up plastic beverage bottles. I've mostly given that up, but now and then I've forgotten to bring a water bottle and end up buying a gallon (more cost effective and less plastic per ounce). This could be tough when camping and sometimes in the field but I think it could work if I just remember to keep containers in the car and in my field bag. I keep a 3 gallon jug of water in the car...plastic jug that isn't refillable...most of the time so I'll have to find a better container. I used to have a gallon thermos jug. I wonder if that is still around. I could also use the iced tea jar I forget is under the counter.

I'll let you know what I decide to do.
Eventually I may give up all forms of industrial meat. Only fish I catch (with the Tribe's stocked trout ponds there is a guarantee of a steady catch), stuff I kill (and I don't hunt at the moment so there won't be much of that), stuff killed by people I know, or buffalo from the guy who raises it himself and has it custom butchered. Chicken from my friends who raise their own would be fine too. This would be super hard on vacations so may need a caveat for that, or a switch to vegetarian travel food.

Alright, I'm at work so best get at it.

No 'Poo Update

OK, it's been a while since I've posted about the not shampooing.

I'm still doing it. Apparently so is Jeanne (Hi Jeanne) who went camping with me.

I did find that lately my hair was not as nice as it had been (not like when I shampoo'd, not total straw). I had gotten lazy and not done the icy cold water rinse at the end of the system. I tried doing that again and now my hair is pretty good again.

Apparently the serious brushing each day with a natural bristle brush and a good icy cold rinse after the wash are pretty crucial steps.

On other hair news...a colleague at work noted that my hair is longer. It is! Well, the half I don't pick at as much is about 3 inches longer in the last year. While I was still shampooing it had reached a dynamic equilibrium between breakage and growth and appeared to stay pretty much the same length. Now the half I pick at less is longer. Yes...I've tried to quit picking at the ends but it doesn't work. I'm trying to pick at it more all over rather than just on the left side. And, to spend more time removing the split ends.

On other hair news: sometime this spring, about April, it will be 20 years since I've had a trim. No, I will not be celebrating with a trim. It's working for me so I'll just leave it alone.

'No 'Poo Update

Isn't it time for a serious 'No 'Poo update?
Well, it's my blog and I say it is.

"But Jill," you say, "How are you blogging? I thought those bastards took away your free internet."
Well, I'm typing it into "Notepad" and saving it on my thumb drive, then taking that to work and posting from there while still not abusing our internet privileges.

Anywho, it's been too cold to leave the house (apartment...trailer...)
(that's a Girls Will Be Girls reference for those following along at home)
{{I can't find a Girls Will Be Girls clip that is REMOTELY appropriate to include here}}


in the morning with a wet head, so I washed my hair this evening. And, rather than take another shower I washed it in the sink.
I think that actually works better. It's hard to get my hair wet now that it is all coated with healthy hair coating stuff (sebum?) so soaking it in a bowl actually works better than trying to get it wet in our shower with mediocre water pressure.
And scrubbing the scalp with baking soda takes a bit longer than working up a shampoo-y lather. Also, I like to let the long bit sit in the vinegar rinse for a bit and that is easier in a bowl than in the shower with just a cup.
The final benefit: it's good to finish with a cold water rinse. That is an issue in the shower because even if you just stick your head under the cold shower spray, you still get cold shower secondary spray all over your nude body (sorry for the visual...pretend I'm hot) which is fairly traumatic first thing in the morning.
In the sink, the water stayed pretty much just on my hair and my head. Much easier. Of course, in the apartment our water pipe runs up 2.5 stories of uninsulated exterior wall and it was 5 degrees outside today. That was some seriously cold water.

Coincidentally...the apartment fix-it guy called me at 3pm to tell me that there had been a "serious flood" and thus the water would be off for a while. I had just got home from the library (I worked in Spokane today as the car is in the shop getting a full physical) and had chosen, STUPIDLY, not to pee at the library, but instead to wait until I got home. After about an hour of thinking about the fact that I wasn't supposed to pee...I had to pee REAL BAD. We have a grocery store with a whizzer right across the street, but what if the water still wasn't on by bed time? (I was saving the single flush of water in the toilet tank for the inevetible morning whiz)
I didn't want to run to the grocery store multiple times this evening having it become obvious that I was just going over there to piddle. I get all my groceries there and thanks to Sher's gift of a teal colored handbasket that I shop with and all the check out chicks love (see previous entries), I'm quite well known over there and can't just slip in unnoticed. At about 4:15 I give up and go back to the Gonzaga University Library to enjoy a relaxing, unobtrusive whiz.

I thought this was bad until I called my friend BLANK (name removed to protect the potentially humiliated) to ask how things were. She lives with her sister and brother-in-law about 10 miles out of Moscow, Idaho on a mini-farm. Well, with the cold weather their toilet, which is always a bit iffy, had decided that it would only allow liquid to pass through the system. And I mean ONLY liquid...no paper. No..well..."solids". She refused to say what they were doing to cope with non-liquid-toilet-appropriate-items. She did concede that whatever the current system was...it was not, apparently, dog-proof. (EEEEEWWWWW) I've always argued that dogs are better than cats because if you die alone in your trailer/apartment/house/mansion with a dog, it will NOT eat your face. I may have to rethink that because it seems that the cats are uninterested in human effluvia, unlike their canine compatriots.
They have several cats, but I did not suggest that they put all the cat litter in a giant box...and...well....

As I type, I'm enjoying the classic film "A Christmas Story" [Angela: I know that should be underlined or italicized as should the title above, but I have limited capabilities on Notepad and limited time to post the blog at work. Please forgive the inappropriate formatting.]
{to everyone but Angela: She's a tenured Professor of English and quite unforgiving about spelling, punctuation and formatting. More than one student has shed a tear when cut by her razor like wit. My favorite current story is when Angela had to inform a young ADULT student that "you" is spelled Y O U, not "U". F'ing text messaging is ruining our youth.}

Of Cars and Crap

Oh for pete's sake!
So, I'm on the way to Moscow, Idaho--not Russia, today to get some holiday shopping done, pick up groceries, and be on the radio. As I am always early for EVERYTHING, I left the house at about 7am.
By 8am, I'm sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck. The dash lights had been wonky for a day. Then, they went REAL wonky. Then the car started chugging and slowing down. Then, I pulled over and called a tow truck. They wanted to know where I was. It was so foggy I was unsure, other than the mile marker on the highway (yes, I pulled WAY off the road).

The tow truck guy and his wife...and their dog...came for me. They were very pleasant. Thanks to my habit of buying AAAplus, I have 99 miles of towing up to three times a year. So I got a 33 mile tow to Moscow, where my most excellent friend Maia picked me up. We got brunch, then some craft supplies, then over to her place where she and her sister and brother-in-law gave me one of their cars to use until I can get mine sorted out. How amazing is that?
Not only are they funny, they are so sweet. It's a new subaru with 120,000 fewer miles than mine (that's right FEWER). They are willing to sell if mine is a goner, but I'm so attached to Betty (my subaru) and want to drive her 400k miles just like the elder we work with who drove a similar subaru 400,000 miles. It recently passed away.
Sometime tomorrow I need to decide how much I'm willing to spend on the repair. Always a tough decision so I'm going to have them run a full diagnostic and check on the thing. If there are a bunch of things about to go bad...well, then we'll see. But if it's just a few hundred more dollars in repairs for another many thousands of miles, I'll keep using the car.

Environmentalist and frugal principals say to "make it work, make do, or do without". Doing without a car is a slim possibility. It would be monster inconvenient and probably impact my job too much. So, we're starting at the other end and trying to "make it work".
Here's hoping.

The word from the mechanical husband of a friend is that the wonky lights could be the alternator going out. That's not that bad. You'd expect to replace that at 200k miles (Betty has 205k miles). So let's pray for that.

Frugality says also "don't pour money down a rat hole" (that's either frugality or one of my Grammas). Hmmmmm....
Keep in mind that Grampa once replaced the manual transmission in a POS pickup truck with an automatic, then replaced the bed (rust), and I'm pretty sure the engine. We used to tease him that while it occupied the same space as the original vehicle, he'd replaced the entire thing and thus it was a different truck.
So I'm genetically inclined to repair perhaps beyond the bounds of reason.

THEN AGAIN...how do you know when you've hit the point of spending more on repairs and hassle, than you would buying a different car? You don't know until after.
Also, a different car can have problems too. I hate that.

OK, on another topic, just because I haven't done a "No 'Poo" update lately...the hair is fine. I dropped my good hairbrush in the trash in a public bathroom the other day so I haven't been able to brush it as much as I'd like, but it's still doing fine. Not itchy even with the change in the weather.

OH! And, yesterday I accidentally made a super good vegan pot pie.
I had roasted root vegetables earlier in the week and needed to recycle them creatively.
So, I grabbed a pie shell that I'd had in the fridge at the trailer for a while.

Put the bottom crust in the pie pan.
Put in 3-4 cups of left over roasted root vegetables (sweet potato, regular potato, onion, carrot--seasoned with rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper--roast until tender).
In a sauce pan, fry some chopped garlic in oil (I think it was 4 cloves or so).
Add a tablespoon of good vegetable bouillon mix (no salt kind), a quarter cup of nutritional yeast flakes, a quarter cup of flour. Stir and fry that together a bit.
Then add enough water to make a thick gravy. It was probably about a cup or a cup and a half.
Into the gravy, put a cup of black beans (because they are left over and frozen in the freezer), some corn, and some green beans (all salvaged from the freezer).
When the frozen beans/corn have heated through in the gravy, pour the mess over the veggies in the pie shell.
Top with the other pie shell. Seal the edged and bake until you think it's done.
I left it in the 350 degree oven while I cooked some squash so probably 45 minutes or an hour.

It is seriously good. El Kid thought it had meat in it...heh heh. He came back for more before bed.

And good night.

I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty...

But not witty or nice.

I washed my hair today. With the baking soda and a lemon juice rinse because I was at the trailer and out of apple cider vinegar. I'm at work an hour and a half early anyway so decided to deal with my hair here rather than at the apartment in Spokane. I don't like that shower as much and the lawn sprinklers are on (in the RAIN) every morning at 4:45-5:30. That's when I need to be in the shower. There is no water pressure. That makes me angry.

Anyway, so I wash my hair and comb it out but don't brush it because it is still wet. I go to work with a big mop of wettish hair that dries in to a big mop of dryish hair. I don't want to put it in the daily pony tail until it is dry AND brushed. So I'm walking around with a big pile of messy hair.

This must be what passes for "sexy" in Idaho. I had two co-workers (not the usual lecherous-y ones who don't even count...normalish ones) stop me and say I looked real good today. It ain't the outfit (sweatshirt from a thrift store, muddy jeans and shoes that have seen better days...all in shades of grey and brown). It ain't the makeup because I don't wear any.
Each then felt the need to get specific "Your hair is down. You look different." No kidding?
Then "You should wear your hair down more."
Um...now we've crossed into EEEWWWW.

I can't get a photo and it will be all deflated by the time I can so you'll just have to trust my not-usually-creepy coworkers that my hair looks fantastic.

Running in Circles

I've had one of those weeks!
El Kid needs wound care every 8 hours so it's hard for me to get anything done! First thing...clean a wound. Right when I get home from work...again. Before bed .... again with the wound.
Some people would find structure in it. I find it interrupts my valuable ME-TIME. Is that selfish?

Oh well. he can't help it and he's doing really well with it all.

It's been similar at work. I have things that MUST be done because it's the end of the fiscal year for government types. So, all other projects stopped for a week to get budgets sorted out.
Then there were big issues with a budget so other budget work stopped to deal with crisis budget.
THEN there was a field call that was an emergency that only I am qualified to work on. So the crisis budget got set aside to deal with the field emergency. Field emergency done. Back to crisis budget, back to regular budget close outs.
And then, deadlines were missed.

Oh well. Nothing can be done about it now!
Good think I cook ahead and put stuff in the freezer. 2 days this week I took plastic containers out of the freezer and was not entirely sure what was in them. I'd get home and deal with the wound and then see what had thawed out (both were chili...different kinds). At least we had something decent to eat and plenty of it.

I didn't even have time to go to yoga this week or meditation. MUST get back on that next week. I'm starting to get even crankier than usual. That could be all the chili too. Lot of fiber. Is that too much info?

This weekend I have the radio show so that will be nice. We've got too many guests again, all cool. So I won't have much airtime but I had lots last time.

That's all for now. There wasn't really a point to the post today other than bitching. But, I'm still ahead of Pam and the flood blog and that's what's really important...winning.

No 'Poo Update: I took a break at work to wash my hair and it is all fluffy and wavy and pretty.

This one time, at band camp....

OK, it's not band camp, but I am going camping and thought I should let my loyal reader know.

A friend and I rented another cabin in Montana south of Missoula in the Pintler/Deerlodge forest area. This one is on the Skalkaho highway and says it has a gate right on the highway so no rifraf will be camping near us. We'll have to be the only rifraff in the neighborhood.

The other cabin was cool so we're hoping this one is too. It's RIGHT by a trout stream so I must remember my fishing pole and think about getting a license this time.
The weather is supposed to be perfect...low 70s during the day and 30s and 40s overnight.
There wil be 5 of us an only 4 beds but I get there like 12 hours before the rest of them so no problemo for meo. I can't decide if I want a top bunk to avoid people stepping on me, or a bottom bunk because it might rain and I'm sure the roof leaks. Maybe a top bunk and I'll keep my tarp over my bed.

I leave Thursday morning but don't know if I'll get to blogging again before then.

I hope you all have visited the flood blog lately to see the GORGEOUS bamboo floor tha they've put down. Very nice. I'm pretty sure they are going to be on some sort of "floor tour" now. The garden tour is probably a bust this year after the floods and all.

And now for a No 'Poo update: The hair is doing great now. It's been rainy and I did not get a case of fuzzy-head like I used to when it was humid (like the whole time I lived in the midwest). My hair actually lays down now. It does seem to be bleaching in the sun, but it probably does that every year, I just don't look at it.

Anyway, must do a bit of research and watch an episode of Mary Tyler Moore Show on hulu.com before I fall alseep.

Home, Home on the Rez...

Where the stray dogs and cats play...
sort of lost the rhyme there but you know what I mean.

I'm back in Plummer. I avoided work but just snuck into the office late to update the blog on the office computer (no dial up or anything at the trailer anymore).

Turns out on Tuesday I drove 792 miles...cripes! Too far.
Only about 230 to get to the rez. I plan to come to work super early tomorrow so staying in Plummer tonight rather than driving another 100 miles to Spokane and back.

I think the weekend will involve many things that do NOT include driving.

The last day on the road was thankfully uneventful.

I haven't gotten the flood update this evening. At noonish the house was still drying, the stairs were still not opened up, but Stan had come to get his giant generator and move some stuff out of the neighbor's yard back into Sher's yard (some piece of equipment). Sher had pulled nails out of wall studs until the house got too hot from the dehumidifiers. She's going to find out how long before she can paint those with Killz and get the wallboard back up.

Sher is also researching floors to replace the hardwood. She is thinking cork for the kitchen.

Here is some back story that didn't make it in earlier blogs.

Fred said that for the next flood he has that 10 sand bag system (just block the holes in the foundation rather than trying to build a levee).

Pam suggested a 2 bullet system instead. One for Fred to shoot himself. And one for Sher to make sure he's dead... (we're not a nice people...but we DO show up if you actually survive the disaster. And if you don't survive the disaster we make sure there is plenty of jell-o salad at the funeral. It's the least we can do.)

Fred and Sher will be going to Elkader for a day over the 4th which is nice. A little break will do them good. There isn't that much left that can be done by them personally until it's time to paint and paper. I wonder if Sher can contract herself to do the work...then use a Small Business Administration loan to pay herself. If Cheney/Haliburton can do it, why not Sher?
(sorry...politics just snuck in there)

OH MY GOD!!! I forgot to ask what they ate today!! Damn.

The No 'Poo (as in no SHAMpoo...see previous posts for explanation) update: My hair still had a crust of plaster dust and poowater on it even after a couple of good washings. It felt like it had glue or some sort of shit-adobe in it. So I filled the sink with water and baking soda and soaked my head in it for like 20 minutes then did a dilute apple cider vinegar rinse. Now it is clean and SUPER fluffy. And I do NOT smell like pickles.

REO Speedwagon!

(WARNING: This thing isn't letting me edit font or spacing again so just keep scrolling to get to the text) (cripes)

Remember that '80s band REO Speedwagon...well, just keep them in mind. We'll get to that in a bit.




Today's activities:


1) Tearing out the bottom 2feet of walls


2) Washing poowater off pipes and whatnot in the basement

3) Tearing up floors

4) Eating lovely food

...and much much more.



Here are some images of the walls:

















That's the living room. The poowater was 9" deep on the main level and the advice has been to take out the wallboard/plaster 2feet up. That way you cut one drywall sheet in half (they apparently come in 4x8foot sheets) and get the most bang for your labor-buck.

NORMALLY you would NOT see a scoop shovel cavalierly sitting on Sher's lovely 3/4inch oak floor. But...the floor was dead (dead floor lying there) so the rules don't apply.


Here's the wall removal system. First,

















Shelly and Brian, our lovely cousin and cousin-in-law from Minnesota (he's a construction worker, ya), cut the wall at 2 feet with a skill saw set to the right depth to hit wall, but not studs or electrical work. Shelly follows with a shop vac to keep most of the dust under control. This worked pretty well. You can see in both pictures the plastic taped over things to also help with dust control.



THEN, the demolition team goes to work.

Here are Megan (SORRY about the spelling...I have no idea how Megan/Meghan/Meghanne/?? spells her name), Shelly and Brian's daughter, and Pam using small sledge hammers and crowbars to tear out the wall board below the cut.

Then someone takes a scoop shovel, clears up the wall debris and loads it on the truck headed for the dump.

I tried some wallboard but my arm (bad tendon) could take about 10 whacks with the sledge and suddenly I had hook hand. So, back to the basement poowater patrol for me!

Obviously, that is not me in the photo. That is Sher (note the coordinated top and gloves...she was voted best dressed in high school you know...her public counts on her to have a lovely ensemble for every occasion). She's using one of the Red Cross clean-up buckets.
Pam was also on poowater patrol for a while. We have about 75% of the basement pipes and cables washed. Once we're done with those, we need to do the duct work that can't be removed (that house is well built). (Like me...heh heh).


At some point a decision had to be made about the hardwood. The advice from Brian tipped the scales. He's a builder and said the moisture would have to be taken down to 6 or 7% in the wood to know for sure that the mold would not come back. That is pretty tough and would cost thousands. Almost as many thousands as a new floor. And it might not work. Also, the paper between the wood floor and the subfloor could be full of mold. So the floor has to go. We'll see how much of that they get done tomorrow. One a bit of wall left to go out.


We'll get to the food at the end. First, here is the COOL truck they got to use for hauling trash.

And our cousin Sara Jane at the helm (she didn't drive, just pretended).















Look at those guns! The girl has some serious biceps.
















This truck is an ACTUAL REO Speedwagon. The manufacture is REO (people here pronounce it "rio" as in "rio grand" not "r" "e" "o" like the band). They used to make fire trucks. The story is some guy drove this from Pennsylvania...at a top speed of 40miles an hour. Anyway, it's cool and hauls a lot of trash. The wallboard and floor don't sit around to depress anyone. It's gone as soon as it's out. The truck belongs to Al and Jackie Miller. Such a generous loan. Most people with a truck like this wouldn't do actual work with it much less let someone else drive it. We did get a kick out of the box of Decon rodent poison sitting on the floor.

Now for the food report:
Breakfast was on your own.
Lunch: there were two. Brian likes to have a sandwich at 10am so we all had a sandwich at 10am. Shelly and Brian brought fruit, sandwich makings, and fresh veg so that was first lunch.
Second lunch at about 1pm was the same only I brought some cake because I like a bit of cake. (go to time point 2:00 or so to get to the point).

Sara Jane had brought fresh picked strawberries with her so we ate PLENTY of those. Delicious.

At about 5 or 5:30 the boys, Fred and Brian, went fishing. Us girls had some cake and coffee then showered (no...not all together. In fact we showered in 3 different establishments).

For supper we ordered from Pizza Ranch and used Sam and Gary's gift certificate (just a small portion of it actually!). Chicken, pizza, broasted potatoes, coleslaw, and cheese bread. Rob (Pam's squeeze) picked up Dairy Queen treats for dessert. I had some more cake. Can't eat that much dairy.

I'm sure there was more food but I'm coming down off the sugar high so I'm having trouble focusing.
Must be time for me to get back on the Wii Fit and see how much weight I gained today.

Oh! One final note for those following my No 'Poo (that means "no shampoo") adventure...Pam looked at my hair which I did not wash today, just brushed, and said, "your hair looks pretty good considering." But when I did brush it out...I was showered in plaster dust. I'll wash it tomorrow night. No point in doing it today.

I Like a Bit of Cake

I like a bit of cake.

My friend Wanda took me out to lunch today and the restaurant gave me a free tiny cake. This was perfect because I love both cake and tiny things.

And, it was pretty good cake.

She also gave me a very cool t-shirt which I will wear tomorrow, but you won't be able to see it because it's cold so I'll be wearing a sweatshirt over it. Still, it's the thought that counts, right?

I haven't done a hair update lately so here it is:
No 'Poo Update: the hair is good. I forgot to brush it yesterday until evening but once I did, it sorted itself out nicely.

Also, yesterday I got my license renewed and my new photo makes me look like an axe-murderer. Oh well. I could be worse. I could look like a serial axe-murderer.
And I think I saw a fake deaf guy there but I'm not sure. There was someone doing what looked like sign language or the manual alphabet. He was wearing grey pants, grey jacket, and a grey cap with a mustache and curly hair. The translator was a woman in a purple coat. He was taking the written test and she was saying, "So you want 'a'?" or something like that...yes, SAYING it.

THEN later I was at the goodwill and so was the woman in the purple coat and a guy in the same outfit with the same hair and a 'stache. THEN I'm done shopping and I'm walking to my car and a guy in grey with a different woman walks out behind me. I didn't get a great look then, but I heard him talking with no issue even though in the license office the guy was pointing and gesturing and the woman was supposedly translating the test. But then again, why would a deaf guy need a translator for a written test? Maybe he's just illiterate. But he was totally not talking to the drivers license lady. Maybe he's illiterate AND pretending to be deaf. But if it was the same guy, then he left the goodwill with a different woman who was not at the license place. There must be a story in there somewhere.

Lovely Parting Gifts...

OK, I'm still a few days away from the birthday and already the prizes are rolling in!! Angela's excellent DVD of Kathy and Mo Shows is already a new favorite. Now a package comes from Sher (mom), though I suspect that Pam had something to do with it since the gifts are signed "Sher and Fred" rather than "Mom and Dad". I haven't opened the wrapped presents yet, but the ones just rolled in newspaper I did.

I LOVE the bodum travel mug that is also a french press. This solves a coffee issue I'd been having.
The bamboo rice is also cool. They just got this at the Moscow Co-op but I hadn't bought any yet as it is quite pricy. I plan to try it on my birthday or there abouts.

Thanks!

Angela requested a hair photo but that may be beyond my blogging abilities right now. We'll see.

For some reason I'm beat right now and headed off to sleep even though it is only 8pm. I'm lame. And old. Old and lame. If I were a horse you'd shoot me.