UN-dorsement: Pretty Nails in Mason, WV

 
So...

My vacation began on Wednesday, so Tuesday before work I checked out of the motel and then had a few hours to kill before work (which is 6PM to 4AM). I decided to get a manicure.

Driving around aimlessly, in the general direction of work, I left Gallipolis and drove to Middleport. Saw a salon there (Nails - walk-ins welcome) and walked in, but they were not able to manicure me unless I was willing to return in "a couple of hours," as their manicurist had just left for lunch. They recommended another place nearby (to which I should have gone) and added, "then there's the guy across the bridge; he does nails there too ...mostly acrylic, but I think you can get a manicure there too."

So I went to "the guy across the bridge," which was a franchise of Pretty Nails, in a strip mall in front of the Wal~Mart in Mason, WV.

Instead of the "gay" guy I was expecting --okay, I was hoping to find a gay-run salon, which stereotypically I believe would be the highest quality-- instead it was an empty little salon, oriental guy lounging in a chair in front, "He'p you?" and when I said I'd like a manicure he yelled something in another language and a petite young oriental woman came out of the back room. She wanted to give me acrylic nails, but I said, "just a manicure, my own nails," and she sat me down.

Then everything happened too fast.

She put my hands in a bowl of warm water, the guy got up and walked to the front door, SHE snatched up a piece of paper and raced halfway to the door (as if she was chasing him), wadded up the paper and tossed it in a trashcan, all the while craning her neck to see where he'd gone. He came back in.

She snatched up clippers and chopped off my fingernails, almost to the quick (too fast for me to react - I sat there in shock), ran a file across them (missing most of the snags), he walked into the back room, she raced to the back of the salon, again looking to see where he'd gone, came back to see me picking at a snag on my thumbnail and said to me, "don't worry, I clean later!" ...which she didn't.

Got some lotion and rubbed my forearms with that (felt nice, but I didn't come here for a massage, I came to have my nails shaped). She trimmed the cuticles with scissors (I had no idea anyone still did that - aren't you supposed to just push them back?), gave a perfunctory swipe at a little dirt under what was left of my forefinger's nail, snatched up a buffing stone & ran it over the nails (which are still rough-edged, still dirty, and much much shorter than when I came in), then said, "you pay me now?" with a big smile.

Speechlessly I handed over $15, somehow still supposing this PROFESSIONAL was going to repair the damage done... she swiped on a layer of clear polish and I was done.

I had been growing my nails carefully for weeks. I carried an emery board. I applied nail hardener every night. They were --all but one-- long enough to see over the edge of my fingertips. I wish I had "before" pictures. Here are the "afters:"



What was she thinking?

Did she misunderstand what I wanted?

Was this done maliciously?

Was it a cry for help; is she being held against her will?

Why didn't I stop her? (I know the answer to this: I thought, "she's a professional; she knows what she's doing" AND it all happened too fast)

I do not recommend Pretty Nails in Mason, West Virginia!

I'm just so thankful it was my fingernails and not my hair!

 

What's that noise?

 

So I'm reading a thread on Ravelry, and someone referenced a video, YouTube, Liam, "You can't text-breakup," and instead of funny I find it vaguely disturbing.

Here lately I'm feeling "out of touch," or, "I'm too old for this!" After all, I'm almost 50 (Okay, first I have to finish being 48, then I'll be 49 for a year, then I'll be 50, but I'm young enough that, to my way of thinking, 48 might as well be 50! Figure that one out.), so some of what 20-somethings and 30-somethings are listening to and watching ...just doesn't work for me.

No, I'm not stuck in the Loretta Lynn / Glenn Campbell / Buddy Holly era (or Elvis <holds nose>); I have a couple Alanis Morisette CDs, some Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Skunk Anansie...

Truth is, I haven't been listening to music at all lately. My CDs, including the ones I just mentioned, are dusty. I am much more likely to turn the radio off when it's on than on when it's off. This could be due to the fact where I live there isn't a decent radio station besides NPR, and only about a quarter of the music NPR plays doesn't grate on my nerves.

So why don't I get satellite radio? 'Cause I'm a cheapskate. Why don't I listen to radio-on-the-computer? Too lazy to figure it out. It comes down to this: I'd just as soon listen to the baseboard heater clicking, my fingers on the keyboard, the chair squeaking, cats galloping around the house, birds outside singing. Music has ceased to be important to me.

How sad. Or is it?

 

All right, Iowa!

(see link in title)

I'm not going to say a lot about this, just "Good for Iowa," and the following:

I don't remember a lot about Jim Crow... separate water fountains, bathrooms, etc --and this isn't about my age but rather that I lived in Germany for much of my pre-teen years-- but I do remember when interracial marriages were illegal in this country. In my opinion the "gay marriage ban" is no different. It is time to abolish it and all other excuses for discrimination.

gettin' old?

So today we stopped at the Campus Pub (on Waller Ave (in Lexington)) for lunch. For the record, they have GREAT food. I had a French Dip which came with what I have to assume are home-made potato chips and a dill wedge. He had the low-carb burger, which is their standard loaded burger without bread, and with a salad instead of chips. We also indulged in fried mushrooms and french fries (since they were out of onion rings -- how do you run out of onion rings??) Everything was great, even the volume (low-ish) on the several TVs scattered around the walls.

The TV is what I'm talking about. I glanced up to see a commercial, a Bob Vila lookalike advertising a scratch remover. The man repeatedly scraped a car hood with a nail, then each time ran the magic pencil across the scratch and healed the damage.

I wondered aloud, "Will that work on reading glasses?"

And then I said, "Would this question even have occurred to me ten years ago?"

That low-carb burger, by the way, is a great idea. Why shouldn't restaurants offer a low-carb alternative to every sandwich - just leave off the bread! Slap whatever condiment you'd put on the bottom of the bun right on the plate ("That's what they did," he said), put the meat and cheese on top of it and there you go.

Take it a step further, why hasn't someone opened a low-carb chain of restaurants yet? Same old burgers, pattie melts, club sandwiches, all that, just leave off the bread? I bet it would do well.

More musings, these on the way to Lexington... I bet in fifty or a hundred years CT, MRI and PET scans will be like home pregnancy tests are now. Your elbow hurts? Run the wand across it to see what nerve is pinched.

All for now. I need to go bake some egg rolls. Home made, of course.

four things / vier Sachen

Two things:

I hate clutter.
I hate to throw away anything that still might have a use.

These two things are not compatible.

Another thing:



And a final thing; since there are so many birds around the house I felt it was time to hang scraps of yarn to use for nesting:



Cardinals, two males and a female, were already inspecting the yarn, not ten minutes after I laid it out! In th'Mr's opinion, they are interested in the red yarn. There are also bits of grey and of blue, and long pieces of yellow and a variegated brown. Wonder what'll be gone first?

~**~**~*~*~*~**~*~

Eine Dilemma hab' ich:

Ich kann Kleinkram so überall 'rumliegen nicht leiden, und ich werfe nicht gerne etwas weg, das man noch irgendwie benutzten kann.

Die zwei Meinungen sind nicht vereinbar!

Da sind spätestens so viele Vögelchen im Garten, dachte ich es währe Zeit mal Garnstückchen in die Bäume zu legen, so mit den Nest bauen zu mitmachen.

Ein grundsätzlicher Vogel (! LOL ! Nein! So heisst er nicht! Ein roter Vogel, auf Englisch ist er "Cardinal." ! ! !) schaut schon die Faden an. Später im Jahr sehen wir dan warscheinlich bunte Stücke hoch in den Bäumen.

Honestly!

I thought we decided some time ago that racist "jokes" were --at the very least-- in poor taste!   I'm so glad these idiots are weeding themselves out of our government; they have no business making any decisions, let alone important ones.

Goodbye:
Dean Grose
Chip Saltsman
Carol Carter
Mike Huckabee

and good riddance!

OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

So yesterday I took an hour or three and looked up all the Ravelry members that had Kentucky or KY either in their locations or in their "about me" data. Then I scanned their profiles to make sure they were actually living in Kentucky. Then I made a very unprofessional list. All the ONEs are Ravelers in that location. My OCD doesn't require me to actually add the numbers up...

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Kentucky or KY

111111 Northern Kentucky
1 Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky
1 South Central Kentucky
111 Western Kentucky
1 SW KY
1 Kentucky mountains
1 California and Kentucky

1 Podunk, Kentucky
1 tucked in the woods, Kentucky
1 somewhere over yonder, Kentucky
1 backwoods, Kentucky
1 Very Small Town, Kentucky

1 Adairville
1 Alvaton
1111111 Ashland
1 Ashland area
1 Auburn
111 Bardstown
1 Bell county
1111 Bellevue
1 Berea
1 Big Creek
1 Billysburg
1 Boston
1111111111111111111111111111111111 Bowling Green
1 Brandenburg
1111 Burlington
11 Cadiz
1 Calvert City
111 Campbellsville
1 Caneyville
11 Carlisle
1 Catlettsburg
1 Cecilia
11 Cold Spring
11111 Corbin
1 Corinth
111111 Covington
11 Crestview Hills
11 Crestwood
1 Crittenden county
111 Cynthiana
1111 Danville
1 Daviess county
1 Dayton
1 Dry Ridge
11 Dunnville
1 Dwarf
111 Edgewood
1111111 Elizabethtown
1 Eminence
1111 Erlanger
1 Ewing
1 Flatwoods
11 Flemingsburg
1111111 Florence
11 Fort Campbell
1111 Fort Knox
11111 Fort Mitchell
111 Fort Thomas
11111111111 Frankfort
111 Franklin
1 Gates
111111 Georgetown
1 Glasgow
1 Glencoe
1 Goshen
1 Grayson
1 Grayson/Highland Heights
1 Greenup
1 Hanson
1 Harrodsburg
1 Hazard
1 Hebron
111111 Henderson
1 Highland Heights
11 Hodgenville
1 Hopkinsville
11 Horse Cave
111111111 Independence
11 Irvine
1 Jeremiah
1 Keene
1 Kenton county
1111 LaGrange
1 Lancaster
1111 Lawrenceburg
1 Lebanon Junction
1 Ledbetter
1 Lenoxburg
1 Lewisburg
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Lexington
1 Louisa
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Louisville
1 Louisville area
1 Ludlow (Louisville)
1 Madisonville
11 Mayfield
1111 Maysville
1 Monticello
1 Morehead
1 Mount Washington
111 Murray
111111 Newport
11 Nicholasville
1 Olaton
1 Olive Hill
1111111 Owensboro
111111111111111111111111 Paducah
11 Park Hills
111 Pikeville
1 Prospect
1 Radcliff
111111111 Richmond
1 Rineyville, Hardin county
1 Rineyville (near Elizabethtown)
1 Robards
1 Russell Springs
1111111 Russellville
1 Sadieville
1 Sharpsburg
11 Shelbyville
111 Shepherdsville
1 Simpsonville
1 Smithland
1 Smiths Grove
11 Somerset
1 South Portsmouth
1 Southgate
1 Springfield
1 Stamping Ground
1 Stanford
1 Taylor Mill
1 Trenton
11111 Union
1 Union/Boone county
1 Utica
11111 Versailles
111 Villa Hills
1 Vine Grove
1 Waco
11 Walton
11 Wilmore
111111 Winchester
1 Woodstock

I got a spam comment!

It's on the "Women's work..." post. But, you know? it's pertinent. So I kept it. And I even registered on the site, because, you know, I do buy suet and birdseed and garden stuff. And the prices seemed reasonable, but I don't know what they charge for shipping. Guess you have to order stuff to see what shipping comes to. And today is not my day for ordering stuff. Not even suet. Not even yarn.

Update, the next morning:
The shipping is high! But the selection of goods is incredible, and they have asparagus!

lint, cat, time

Some people think manually de-fuzzing a wool garment is equivalent to an hour in hell. Others find picking and cutting off each lint pill is meditative. I'm in the latter camp.

I like details. Paying attention to them, that is.

Since I'm no good at darning, this morning I patched a sock. Couldn't find any more of the green yarn, so this patch is blue. After I patched, I picked lint pills. Except for the fact there's a blue patch on a green sock, don't they look brand new?

I should have posted a "before" picture. Hindsight, as always.

The socks, after patching and pilling:

*****************

Chains of thought have always fascinated me. Like, five minutes ago I was thinking about one thing, and now I'm thinking about something else. How did I get from the one to the other? It's fun to try and unravel the chain.

Chains of events are pretty cool, too:

On Ravelry in your profile there's a space to enter your birthday, if you want to. I did. As a result I now know several Ravelers whose birthays are the same as mine. One of them sent me a Valentine's greeting yesterday. This caused me to go look at her profile again, and since she had linked her blog to her Rav profile, I saw the titles of her last few blog entries. One piqued my interest, I followed the link, I read the entry, saw (in the entry) a link to a pattern that interested me, followed that link to Knitty.com, and decided to knit the pattern.

The pattern was a heart.

I spent all day yesterday knitting this heart, appropriately on Valentine's Day. Well, I didn't spend exactly all day, but I did cast on yesterday, off and on throughout the day I picked up the needles and continued on with it, and eventually, last night, I finished it and presented it to th'Mr.

He briefly considered giving it to his cardiologist, but decided to keep it for himself. I think. At least that's where it stands right now. :)

The heart, unfolded:



The heart, folded, front and back:



*****************

I've been neglecting my blog these past couple of weeks, especially in the photo department. I think I have rooted out the cause of this neglect:

I join lists, groups, knit-alongs. If I'm invited I join. If I see something that interests me, I join. If someone I like belongs, I join. I post a few items, add my sigfile, I get responses and email and people come look at my blog and make comments, people look me up on Ravelry and send messages, I feel happy and popular and noticed, and then...

Then I run out of time. I try to read all the list posts, try to follow all the links, and I get overwhelmed. I switch from "individual emails" to "digest" and still I fall farther behind. Suddenly I don't have time to write interesting things people will respond to.

I really don't know how to deal with this. I want to belong and participate. I also want a life away from the computer. I'd hate for the nice people I've met to think I've wandered away because I'm not interested, when it's really the opposite that's true: I'm too interested, in too much!

*****************

Roadie, my little alien, isn't feeling well. I noticed a scab on his side, and his side seems tender. Then I noticed a little scab under his jawline. He's spent the last couple days sleeping a lot. Last night I noticed the side of his face is swelling. This morning it was more swollen.

He doesn't like to be handled; he's really a feral cat. Normally we don't even see him when the weather is moderate. In the winter he comes in and decides to be a house cat for a while, but even then he acts spooky, like he's afraid we'll eat him (or something).

Last night he slept with us. At times his loud purring actually woke me up. I know purring is sometimes a sign of severe pain or distress. This really bothers me, one of the animals hurting. Today is Sunday and the vet isn't open.

This morning when I came to the computer, in a little while he came in and lay down on my monitor. I decided to try and clean up his jaw. Got a hot damp washcloth and pressed. Immediately the pus started flowing.

He didn't put up with it for long; once he got away from me he stayed away. An hour or so later I saw him sleeping on the bed again. I prepared a couple washcloths and some neosporin. Picked him up and carried him into the bathroom, shut the door. Applied hot damp cloth, switched to clean hot damp cloth while the first one rinsed, did this a few times. Finished up with a dab of neosporin. Put him back on the bed (he promptly went under the bed).

I don't know if that helps, but it can't hurt. At least I'm getting some of the pus out.I sure wonder what caused that. A fight, sure, but with what? Owl? Hawk? Possum? Racoon? Squirrel? Another cat?

Roadie ten days ago:



Roadie today:

disjointed thoughts

I've been up since fourAM, so what I write may not be entirely coherent.

Last night I finished a book, David Baldacci's Saving Faith, which I began way back last summer when I was "living" in Charleston and working at the John Amos plant. Now I think I put it down for good reason, but in the 2009 spirit of finishing what I start, I've been slogging through it.

Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad book. It just badly needs editing. The storyline is fine --Washington D.C. political intrigue/CIA/FBI/romance-- but there's so much extraneous material that distracted from it. The "romance" scenes are written so goofily that after the first bit I just skipped over them. It's like someone surgically injected a Harlequin into a Tom Clancy (and then had a novice rewrite it). Ouch, that's pretty harsh. I finished the book, okay? I just probably won't read any more by this author.

Day before yesterday I finished knitting the scarf; still have to weave in ends (a ten minute job, tops) but have felt like knitting, not weaving in.

Last night I finished the first ball of yarn on the sweater. This gets me almost through the shoulder leaf pattern.

This morning I'm knitting the heel flap on the 2nd sock. I'd like to turn the heel today and finish the pair before Feb 1, just to be able to count them as "January" socks. Otherwise all I have are a couple pair in large gauge, and although both sock challenge groups say that's acceptable I feel I should offer socks, not socks as my entries.

I've decided my February firsts will be finishing the SKP2008#5, Olympic Medal socks, which I put down after getting stuck on the short-row heel instructions (something wasn't making sense). Then maybe another pair of the gansey socks. I'm thinking about adapting the design to use a thicker (less stitches per inch) wool.

Speaking of wool, I am longing to try out some Cascade220.

Speaking of trying out, my little bag from Knitpicks is here on my desk, tempting me also.

Speaking of my desk, there's also a cross stitch I started last year sitting here, patiently waiting for me to get over the yarn already.

I still have visions of a fair-isle potholder (mitten-type) dancing in my head. Last night after unsuccessful attempts at something resembling a frying pan I charted a spiral (to represent stove burners).

I'm also thinking about that entrelac curtain a lot.

And, although I have no money to spend, I pre-ordered two books from Amazon.com:



The first is the result of a recommendation on Queer Joe's knitting blog, the 2nd came to my awareness from a comment on Franklin's blog. Am I easy to influence or what?? It's a good thing I don't watch TV. Think of all the yummy commercials.

Speaking of yummy, there's another new thing: a birthday resolution to "get in shape." That means diet & exercise, however you slice it. I tend to exercise just till I get results, then I call it "done." Then a week or a month later I wonder why I'm missing all the clothes I threw out because they were "too big," since now everything I own is "too little."

So a few days ago I hauled the stationary bike in out of the garage, where it had been awaiting disposal. The best (also the only) sister-in-law gave it to th'Mr for Christmas 2007. He used it for a week, decided he was done, and out to the garage it went.

For several days now (three?) I've biked at least five miles a day. I'm thinking of giving up butter (whaaaah!) and half-and-half (WHAAAH!), or maybe restricting it to once a day instead of slathered on at any excuse. My first cuppa tea in the morning thus will have the real thing, subsequent ones get lite non-dairy powder. Excuse me while I go toast and butter an English muffin.

Oh yeah, the BIG news is a few minutes ago I beat Zuma's level 3-4 for the first time ever. Now I go into the uncharted waters of level 4-1.

Inauguration eve day eve

Other than some brief cheers in early November I haven't said much on this blog about the past election and the coming inauguration. This is because I have not been able to find words to express all I feel. I'll try...

I am so pleased, proud, anxious (over the Obama family's safety), stunned, amazed, proud (did I mention proud?) and proud that we have elected this man to be our president.

He's smart, well-spoken, thoughtful, good looking, fit, smart, young, smart (did I mention smart?) got a beautiful family, got his head in the right place... and he's a black man! That's a super bonus! America, we have elected a black man to the highest office in this country, and not just because he's black, but because he's oh so qualified. (but he's black, too!)

I am 47 years old, six months eight days older than our president elect. In our lifetime so much change has come. I walk around with a goofy grin on my face whenever I think about how much has changed. I'm goofy-grinning now.

I am so pleased. My perception of how the rest of the world sees the United States of America has always been this: A huge, powerful, scary, wealthy nation, whose defining characteristic is ...are you ready for this? ...racism. Yes, a huge, powerful, wealthy, scary, racist nation. And we're on the road to redefining ourselves! That's so freakin' wonderful.

I am moved to tears. Over and over again, for the past three months, I have cried tears of joy and amazement.

That's where I am.

And I'm proud.

And amazed.

Our new first family.
< big happy sigh >

math problem

If I use two packets of Splenda in a cup of tea, drink one cup on mornings I go to work and four cups on mornings that I don't go to work, how many days off can I have and still have a 1000-pack box last a full year?

What if I change to 1 packet per cup??

Tic

My eyelid is twitching. It's been a while, but when I was a kid it twitched every day. It's always the right eye. It's twitching now. This has been going on for about a week. I must be stressed. I don't feel stressed. I feel pretty relaxed, though I still haven't made time for a nap, let alone a daily one.

I'm also still biting my nails. I should be able to control that. Maybe if I quit biting them my eyelid will quit.

Open letter

Dear old woman in the mirror,
Who are you and where am I?

Who'd a thunk it?

Just on a whim, in Ravelry's "people search" I typed in '8 cats' and got 120 hits. That wouldn't include people who have 9 cats, or 10, or 11... also doesn't include me, because my profile says "8 lovely cats..."

The Daily Meme

I say ... and you think ... ?

Resolution ::
Break ::
Tied ::
Suffering ::
Instead ::
Divorce ::
Slash ::
Cough ::
Happy ::
Sniffle ::

I'll put my answers in the comment section, in case anyone wants to play along without seeing my answers first.

split and stack

Today my neighbor delivered another load of firewood. I paid him $150 for it. I said, "Didn't I pay you for both loads..." He said, "I wouldn't cheat you." I said, "I know you wouldn't..." when what I meant was, "I know you wouldn't cheat me intentionally." People forget things. I swear I paid him $350 for the last load, the price to include this load he delivered today.

I guess next year I do it differently, keep records, have a witness, something.

The more I think about it, the surer I am I gave him $350. I remember thinking that was an awful lot for a truckload of wood (albeit a nice BIG truckload), until he said he owed me another load. Then I thought, "$175 is not a bad price."

I'm going to let it go.

I'm not being a doormat. I think of it as karmic... I know at some time in the distant past I ...didn't take advantage of people but rather took advantage of the good nature of people. At the time I needed a boost up, financially. Now I can afford to do a little boosting.

So it's payback time, and I'm not going to resent it.

Homebody

I've known for a while I'm tired of leaving home to go to work, staying away from home to be at work --though I do, usually, like my jobs, whatever they may be-- and in general I resent the time work requires me to be away from home.

So I got laid off a week ago Wednesday, December 31st. (It's not a worrisome thing) Yesterday morning I went to my doctor because I have had an earache for a while. As I was pulling out of my driveway I realized something: this is the farthest I've been from the house so far this year!

Yeah, I like being home. I don't leave without a reason.

Wow, it's dark out.

I've been working on my income taxes since early afternoon. Can't believe how fast the time went by (and I'm only halfway done)!

No progress on any projects (just a few rows on the scarf at the doctor's office this morning - I got an earache treated), but there's a lot less paper around and under my desk, and the dresser is almost cleared off.

I think I'll grab a book and head to bed early.

Tomorrow will be a good day to knit. And put up pictures of knitting. Here.

strong thinking

I once decided that "poisonous snakes" is an "old husbands' tale" (why is it the old wives get blamed for all the stories, huh?) to keep the wimmin and children out of the woods and back at the farm doing chores.

Ever since then I've seen only benevolent snakes. Guess I "thought" the dangerous ones away. Sort of like praying "peace, no pain, no fear" at roadkill. If I'm quick enough and diligent enough I can turn a dead dog, cat, rabbit, raccoon, squirrel, possum... into an old jacket, dead branch, or piece of litter by the time I get up to it.

I can do magic before morning caffeine! Or at least I think I can.