Forays into femininity

on Wednesday, May 25, 2011
How to find one's feminine side?

That's a question I've been pondering.

I've been working on a dress for myself for once.  It's yellow.  It's nice.  And I screwed it up royally, but it's still fixable.  I cut into the skirt while trimming a seam.  Still not happy about it, but it's workable.  So that didn't work out the way I thought it would.

So what else could I do find my feminine side?

We're heading out of town this weekend.  We're going to stay in a hotel with a pool, and Kirstin just got a new swimsuit.  Matt doesn't do pools and the like, so I'm going to have to be the one to go with her.

Cue hair removal.

I'm a shaver.  It works well and I'm comfortable with it.  But there's always a little bit of hair around the bikini line that I can never get.  Hmm...So the last time we went shopping I found an at home waxing kit.

And no, I did NOT do my bikini area.  Yet.  I thought to be safe I'd try it in the arm pits first.

Tonight was the perfect evening to try my new hair removal system.  Matt is at opening night for his play, and Kirstin is there along with Grandpa and Grandma.  It's just Emily and me at home.  Emily isn't as likely to remember any fun words I may use.

We had supper, I cleaned up, and then I got out the wax stuff, read the directions.  Then I reread the directions, and read them one more time.

Into the microwave it went, and "spreadable" consistency was achieved.

Alright, this shouldn't be too difficult.  Except for...

What they don't put on the box.

They don't tell you that this stuff is so sticky it could glue your grandmother to the ceiling.  And it gets EVERYWHERE!  So working with sticky fingers, and trying to not get wax all over the place, I apply it to my underarm.  Then I wrestle to get one of the papers free (should have done that right away, before touching the wax), and put it over the applied wax.  I tamp it down and pull.

And there was slight pain, but nothing too horrid.  And no hair removed.  What the heck?

There's wax on the paper still, so I apply it to my other underarm.  Pat it down and pull...

OUCH!  But still, not too bad.  This time some hair came out.  Huh.  Must have used too much wax.  I'll try it again on the otherside without adding any more wax.  EUREKA!  It worked.  Alright.  I can do this.

Until I realize Emily is watching me.  She's raising her arms in the air one at a time and looking to her own little chubby underarms.  And I think to myself: WHAT AM I TEACHING MY DAUGHTER??? (and no more hair is coming out, so I put it off as a bad job anyway).

Is hair other than on your head really that big of a deal?  I think I'll go back to my razor and wear shorts over my swimsuit in the pool.  It's more honest. That and I don't have to grow out the hair so long in order to take care of it.  Just easier all around.   

So instead, tonight I'll work on Kirstin's dress for the weekend.  I made the pattern last night, and I'm going to sew it tonight.  It should go pretty well.  The neat part is that there's enough fabric left over I should be able to make a matching pair of shorts for her to wear underneath for when she's playing.  Sewing is much more soothing than worrying about hair removal any day!

If you're going to take my money...

on Wednesday, May 04, 2011
...at least spend it on something classy!

That's what I told Matt today.  And no, Matt is not taking my money.  Some random person is.

This all started a few nights ago.  I was in a Pogo (online gaming site) game room, and got booted out because "Someone with your username has just entered the room."

Uhh...Okay?

I tried to get back in.  Same message.  Huh.  This seems weird, but maybe it's just a glitch somewhere.

I tried one more time.  I got a message that the Pogo servers were having troubles.  Okay, I guess that would explain it, but I'm still going to watch my bank account carefully.  It still doesn't really feel right.  I also had a doubt about it because we had just been to Matt's folks' place, and I sometimes play Pogo whilst I'm there.  I didn't remember playing Pogo, but that doesn't mean much.  That entire stay was a blur for me. 

Fast forward to today.  We had appointments in town, and I decided to make the most of my running around by going to the library and to the grocery store as well.  At the grocery store I went to use my bank card to pay.  The screen said the card was blocked.  Huh? 

I tried again.  Again it said it was blocked.  Hmm...I need to check this out.  Instead I used our store charge account to pay and came home.  I barely had everyone and everything in the door and I was at my computer checking on my bank account. 

Sure enough, there were charges that I never put there.  There were something like four $1.00 charges to the Apple Store and Netflix...Two services I have never used.  Uh oh.

I called Matt first and left a message (he was at lunch yet).  Then I got my brain going straight again, and I called the bank.  First I got put through to customer service, and after verifying who I was and explaining my problem, I got put through to the fraud department where I had to go through the same verification process.  Good to know they do that, too. 

Turns out my bank was aware something was going on because charges were being made that were far out of my spending habits.  They put a block on my account last night.  Yay!  I mean, it was a little bit of a hassle not being able to pay for groceries in the manner in which I wanted, but that's doable.  Turns out the person/people that stole my card number tried to charge over $950.00 to QVC and something like $1500.00 to walmart.com. 

Which is where my statement about taking my money comes from.  QVC?  Seriously?  And walmart.com?  I NEVER buy anything through walmart.com.  I find their website incredibly difficult to use and can never find what I'm looking for anyway.  Walmart is better experienced in the real world, in my opinion. 

But the good thing is that I don't have to pay any of what the thieve(s) tried to take from me.  My bank completely shut down that card number, and gave me a confirmation number to use to find out more about my case.  I should have a new card in ten business days.  In the meantime I can't use my account.  That's fine.  I can live without that for a little while just to have the peace of mind that it's cared for.  Anything I would use my account for I can get by other means.  I have a charge account at the grocery store.  And a charge account at the local co-op for gas.  Really, I don't foresee needing anything else for quite a while.  I mean, it would be nice to be able to get Matt a birthday gift, but I will still have time after my account is usable again for that.  In the meantime I can do a lot of looking and price comparisons. I love the research portion of stuff like that!

Oh and I changed my password and took my personal info off my Pogo account.  I don't foresee this being a problem again through there.

But to anyone who would try to steal my money...Use it on something classy or useful, okay?  At least try a charge at some upscale clothing store or something.