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  • Silvertree

    Mod post: No wishlist posts in blogs

    By Silvertree

    Please be aware that we do not permit swap-related content on profiles or in blogs. Please post this content only in the For Sale, Swaps, and Wanted forums, or in the Wishlists topic. ~from Swapping 101  Thanks!
    • 5 comments
    • 7,299 views
Emain Macha
 

Writing Frustrations Part II: When Worlds Collide

Apologies for the pun. I just couldn't help myself.   So I have found that the hardest part of writing (for me, anyway) is world building. It wasn't something that I gave any appreciable thought to when I first started these novels. I just wrote in generic "fantasyland" (if you've read any fantasy or played an RPG, you know the place.) Everyone speaks a common language in fantasyland, and there are orcs and elves and a lot of heaving bodices and knights in shiny armor with big swords and wizards wear robes because...well...because. It's all the bastard step-child of Tolkien and Gygax and whatever else was sort of smushed together to make these stories. Elves are very pretty and very arrogant. Orcs are very savage and very tough. Magic exists, although it seems to have virtually no effect on the structures of societies, except maybe in as much as the villain usually is one, and maybe the hero too (or at least his mentor.)   And it is SO extraordinarily difficult to stop playing in fantasyland. There are so many tropes that are simply taken for granted, especially for a dyed-in-the-wool DnD geek like myself. For a long time, I didn't even realize what I was trying to rebel against. I simply felt this vague sense of dissatisfaction with the writing.   I was, at least at first, working with intellectual property started by my ex-husband, a brilliant man, but not necessarily a man who cared to think through the ramifications of his decisions on a meta level. You see, we had decided to write our first novel in his RPG game universe, because we thought that would make our job easier — the world building already done. Quickly though, details began to nag at me. Why did the seemingly vestigal royal houses of the Empire still persist when they did nothing and ruled no one? Because he liked it that way. Why was there a mysterious Emperor who roamed around incognito and messed around with the heroes? Because...and this one was a hard one for me to deal with once I realized it...he really liked the Emperor in the Saberhagen books, and so he introduced his equivalent in ours. Why the monotheistic God vs. Satan overtones to the books? Because my ex-husband was, at heart, still a Catholic, and he could not picture a universe that was not dualistic. Why were all the names FRENCH?   It did not bother him at all that he referenced anachronistic terms and ideas that did not just shatter suspension of disbelief but often crushed it into a fine paste and used it as spackling compound.   I know it sounds like I'm being very hard on my ex-husband. Perhaps I am. He was damn good with tricky plot complications, and a genius at pacing, but when it came to world building, he just didn't care. Not a bit. If it was good enough for Eddings or Salvatore, it was good enough for him.   I quickly found it was not good enough for me.   I began...changing things. Let's come up with an explanation for the Royal families, first of all, and why is the military structure set up like that anyway? He would complain and we would have these little catfights over details, and finally he relented and I starting making modifications in greater earnest. And then came the divorce and I insisted on the copyrights, and then well, then I could really start disassembling the whole universe and putting it back together again, a process that has been ongoing.   In the meantime, I'd come across a few authors who had a rather profound impact on me: Steven Brust and Glen Cook. Steven Brust had taken the common clichés and turned them on their ears — he made little secret that the Draegarans were "elves" (the "humans" to the East even called them that) but he plays delightfully with language (the word the Draegarans use for themselves translates as "human" which the humans think is rediculous because THEY are clearly the "humans" which the Draegarans think is rediculous because THEY...) and because he never calls any race by some stale generic noun, it all feels very fresh (perhaps it would not have, however, had I been more familiar with the nuances of Hungarian culture.) Brust also showed me the inverse of Clark's Law — that in any society, sufficient magical ability would be indistinguishable from technology. Sure, people would use magic to blast their enemies, but they would also use it for the most prosaic means if it was possible to do so — fireballs are nice, but instant communication and good lighting is better. Cook showed me that with any advance in technology, magical or not, any sufficiently organized ruling power of the land will be quick to move to control that power, and if they don't, they will quickly be replaced by someone who did. Only if that authority feels it is safe to do so will the advance be allowed for non-military uses. Plus, Cook's lands just didn't FEEL like anything in this world (at least not until later books with that somewhat transparent overlay of India.) Language barriers were often a problem, the monsters felt unique...tasty stuff.   But constructing a complex society from scratch is HARD. Excruciatingly hard -- it is a daily example of how imaginative one ISN'T. I can understand, I really can, why both Brust and Cook fell back on the easy out by using reflections of Earth cultures (Brust using Hungary and Cook using India later in his Black Company series.) I wasn't, I admit, very happy with that solution. It does have the advantage of feeling very complex and real (because it is modeled on things that are complex and real) and it is, on a base level if nothing else, easy to identify with. You rarely need to be told, for example, that an Indian-like society with a death goddess is going to have assassins. It's understood before the first cultist ever shows his strangling cord. I started up a free wiki (because it is an excellent way of seeing what you have figured out and what you haven't) and began to write down information, encyclopedia-style, about my world. I wondered if I was putting far too much time and effort into something that might get a passing sentence. Maybe.   Then my boyfriend bought me a book by some fellow named Steven Erickson. Now if you want to see what really taking the time to do your worldbuilding before you ever set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard can do for you...this man is the one to check. out. An anthropologist who evidentally started doing the fantasy novel thing as a bit of a lark, his skill at crafting societies, cultures and the broad sweep of history is really what makes these books shine with extraordinary brilliance. I won't say his work is "original" (at least three of his races very neatly fall into the categories of "dark elves," "shadow elves," and "light elves" and Mother of Darkness/Dragons is named Tiam) but these are really minor quibbles, and the unwillingness to do without elves is a faux pas I've unapologetically committed myself. Erickson's inspiration came from his example of how thorough world-building could support a story and provide it with power, scope, richness, and meaning. It's been so hard to work on the worldbuilding when I could be getting into the writing, mucking about with words and sentences, getting my hands dirty, but Erickson's books have given me an excellent lesson in the rewards of patience.   Anyway, I highly recommend you pick him up. He's a hell of a good read.
Macha

Macha

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

The Kidz

Happy Mother's Day (in advance) to everyone out there who's a mom to a human kid, and also to everyone else who has pets, since they certainly do become our babies!   So here's my kidz... Mugzy and Ella Bean. Mugzy's a Boxer and Ella Bean is a Basset. Mugzy and Ella were both abandoned dogs found during cold, snowy winters.   Mugzy was found wandering down a country road by a farm family, who located his then owner. The owner said to shoot him. Thankfully, they knew they had a sweet, sweet dog on their hands and turned him over to Boxer Rescue. The poor little guy had pneumonia, but he recovered nicely and came to live at my house 5 years ago. The Mug-Bug is the sweetest man on the planet. He is utterly devoted to me and he follows me everywhere. Now that he's getting to be an older guy, I cherish every day that he's still here.   Ella Bean was sighted wandering near the Interstate in a rural area. Her rescuers had quite a time catching her, because she'd probably lived on her own for a while. She was eventually captured and turned over to a shelter. She was a wreck when she came to live at my house; she was stressed, skinny and extremely distrustful of humans. She has a big lump on her ribcage, the probable result of being kicked. But two years later, she's a squishy, happy, devoted little soul. Basset feet are the cutest things on the planet. I never knew I could be so endlessly charmed by dog's tooties!   We all work out our maternal instincts one way or the other, don't we??
valentina

valentina

4
Denise's Cool Blog
 

Forum order received!

from jejunery:   eos bayou catherine titania (frimp!)   Titania was on my wishlist, too, so special thanks to jejunery for thinking about what she sent me .   That one ALSO seems to be my favorite out of the 4! YAY.   *still didn't get my bottles from Germany. I want to cry *
eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

0
Whiskers and Whispers
 

Killing my wallet.

I stink of: Death on a Pale Horse, Perfumed Garden, and a bit of Aegis.   Whoa, what an update that was. Another formidable slew of beautiful stinky things. Lotus Moon is even more intriguing than I expected. I love lotus, and I adore rose and amber too. I'm curious as to how the opium and pine will play along. I'm hoping the pine doesn't amp like in Hearth 05 when it went a bit OMGPINE!!! for a moment before becoming nutty-sweet, and that the opium is the same yummy kind as Red Lantern and Sleepy Moon. Litha-oh mah gawdz. I'm hoping Beth does all the sabbats this year-if Beltane and Litha are anything to go by, anything is possible. (in other words...more Mabon, pleeeeaaase?) I had to get this summer solstice scent-it's got a lot of ingredients I'm not familiar with and a lot of stuff I really like-and it has mead!!! Those Salon scents seem so awesome-pricey yes (thank goodness for decant circles!) but I bet those scents are going to be worth every buck. There's something almost like they are LEs, even though they are GCs-maybe it's the new, exciting, expensive and unusual ingredients? They all look so tempting but the one that grabbed me, predictably, was the Egypt one. I mean, looking at the notes, I know it is going to work. It reminds me of one of my favourite non-BPAL scents, a perfume called Isis with honey, myrrh, cardamom and amber amongst other things. It also seems like the ultimate kyphi scent, with yummy red musk instead of the usual wine used in that incense blend. Don't get me wrong, I looooove Cairo (the wanderlust scent) but it doesn't smell like any of the kyphi blends I have-this one seems like it will though. Other Salons I might want to take the plunge with include Bat-Woman (I love those nocturnal scents that Beth makes!) and Lucretia (VANILLA MUSK!!!), Orpheus (may be a tad masculine but dammit, it's Orpheus! Mythology rocks!) and The Death of Sardanapal (this seems very exotic and resiny-spicy, hopefully the lemongrass won't take over) and all of them really, but since I am a bit broke from my orders, I'm going to get decants for now and then decide....   Talking of killing my wallet, my credit card took a real battering today, not just with BPAL. I bought new shoes-I needed new trainers (that's Brit-speak for sneakers) and Lush moisturiser-am I the only girl who uses Cosmetic Lad? I call it Cosmetic (insert Little Britain impression here) Lady! I just love it's texture and it's scent-white chocolate orange, yum. I also bought some posh chocolate because as I said before in this blog, I don't do cheap choccy as much as I used to. Pink peppercorn white choc is more my thing, yum.
PurringPulsar

PurringPulsar

0
This Old Snark
 

A spoonful of sugar...

Perhaps in the midst of the hair-and-dust-raising activities of "packing up", Snarky will think back on her and The Mister's history together. Like many couples these days, they met online. The first month of their acquaintance was spent practicing the simultaneously high and low tech tradition of courting over email.   Their exchanges were refreshingly open and honest from the get-go. She was finishing her degree in a field she did not respect, and he was working in an industry that no longer interested him. They found a kindred spirit in eachother's restlessness.   Sometimes they made simple poetry challenges to eachother. One day The Mister asked Snarky to compose a quick poem using words no longer than four letters. Here's what she came up with:   soft paws pad pad pad pad purr cat eyes look at you a grin? (too fast to tell) now she goes zoom! on your lap pad pad pad pad stop "mine" say her eyes you nod, "yes"
darkitysnark

darkitysnark

0
The Road to Santiago
 

Adventures in decanting and blending

I've been working with a variety of TAL oils in order to get myself mentally prepared for this journey and on days when I need to get myself to a very strong place I'll wear several at once on appropriate places on my body in addition to annointing talismans and burning annointed candles. I have room in my bags for five imps of BPAL, which will live in a ittle Tic-Tac box, but I can't take my TALS in their bottles, and I don't have imps of those. So with the utmost respect for Beth's amazing talents regarding the creation of the TALS, I blended my most important TALS together into one tiny bottle (about 2 imps-worth) so I can have them with me. After focusing long and hard on my goal, I went heavy on my daily staples White Light and Anthelion, added several drops of Lionheart and Determination, a few drops of Fiery Wall of Protection, and just a drop each of Charisma and Crown of Success. I added each component until it felt right, and there's my Pilgrimage Blend. I was tempted to add a touch of ACMD, but this is not a blend for material gain, but for spiritual support-- what 12th-century people walking this route would have sought.   This has been a stressful, weepy morning, but in the process of blending these oils together, my heart has lightened and my spirits lifted, I feel optimistic and motivated (even though I would love to just go back to bed). One of the things I want to do is take a picture for Beth of a vista on this pilgrimage that embodies the feeling these oils give me. Somewhere along the way, I'm going to come across a view that makes my heart soar, like these oils do, and I will know that I need to stop and embrace the moment.
Heretic

Heretic

0
Denise's Cool Blog
 

The update...

is a bit overwhelming! Last night's Lab update is my first as a BPALer, and I'm sort of flipping out! How can I begin like this! LOL. There are TOO many new items! I may be crazy, but I'm pretty sure they do not normally add so many new items at once *scared*   *wallet runs and hides*   I'm definitely ordering Litha. Lotus Moon doesn't really appeal to me, so hopefully when I sniff HennaFairy's whenever she gets it I won't like it. LOL. As for the Dragon scents, I know I am not getting any of those (dragon's blood scent honestly makes me gag. oops). And the Salon!?? Yikes. I love the way all of that is laid out, and designed... but since they are GC, I'm not going to freak out and order a ton (as they won't be leaving any time soon). Phew.   Then there are THREE new categories sitting on the Lab's page waiting for debuts. AND more will be added to GC & the Salon!   So, my plan is to order Litha before it is over. Then probably just an imps pack of 6, to get a few items on my wishlist that I don't tend to see on people's sales/swaps lists.   still awaiting my shipment from Germany. It BETTER get here before the Meet N Sniff in NJ next weekend!! grr...
eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

0
Do you have a flag?
 

Woah.

Has it been a month since I wrote anything here? Sheesh. I thought it had been maybe a couple of weeks.   I would really like to start writing more in this blog because I don't have any RL friends who are into BPAL, except my husband. My LJ journal is mostly just full of entries that have a company's name in the title and then a list of all their products I've tried and whether or not I liked them. I suppose it's not helpful to anyone but me.   And I don't want to be all over the place making all kinds of posts everywhere about every BPAL oil I try because I don't want to be a pest. Plus, it seems like it's very easy to irritate people on the Internet, so I'm cautious about that. (If someone heard me talking it would sound different from the way text looks.) People tell me that I have an extremely expressive face, and I also gesture with my hands a lot, and all of that gets lost when I type.   So I guess I'll just post here. It seems pretty unobtrusive. And I'm pretty sure no one is reading this anyway.
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

1
Do you have a flag?
 

The true state of my collection.

ETA: I actually wrote this on about April 8th, I just never figured out the Publish button thingie until just now.   Allrighty, figuring out how to set up this blog wasn't too rough.   I wanted to start a blog because my BPAL habit is getting out of control. Not in terms of sheer numbers of imps and bottles, mind you -- that would be silly. Clearly I can never have enough BPAL. The part that is out of control is the organization of it.   I have a box for keeper bottles, a box for keeper imps, a box for swaps, and a box for imps I haven't tested yet. I also have a box for frimps from the Lab because I like to keep those separate so I know which ones were "straight form the Lab" for swaps. Everything in my "keep" boxes has labels on the top. The imp labels are color-coded by scent category.   I have a color-coded spreadsheet that lists all the oils, their categories, their notes, a basic summary of what I read of their reviews, and my own thoughts on them.   And apart from that, it's a DISASTER. I forget I bought an imp from my wishlist and I buy it again from someone else. My to-be-tested imp box is overflowing. I can't sell or swap anything to save my life, so I end up with like 3 imps of Jabberwocky that I'll never wear. I begin to panic because I'm terrified I'll swap something that has been tampered with before I got it unbeknownst to me, and then I'll get blacklisted in the whole community, so I start to think I need at least 2 of everything before I can sell it so I can compare them and make sure they both seem legit. I have reviews of some scents and not some of others, and I've already swapped away a few imps that I didn't write reviews/thoughts for, so now I'm thinking I'll have to buy the buggers again. And the biggest horror of all: What if my tastes change? What if my skin smells different today because I used the Decadence smooch? What if something I thought I hated and swapped away turned out to be something that I will love 1 year from now? I better just keep everything...   I keep telling myself I will NOT buy any more until I get this situation straightened out. But here I am at 11:00 on a Friday night trolling the sales posts to see if by some miracle someone has an imp of Spanked they want to sell. Sigh.
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

0
Do you have a flag?
 

My poor blog...

My blog never gets bumped whenever I add a new entry. Sigh. Poor little guy. It hurts his feelings.   And even though I have written several entries, in the blog list it still has a big fat ZERO for number of entries.   I wonder what this "Publish" button is for...
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

0
Sourball Ho!
 

Update!

I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl with this update. This was the first one in almost 2 years where I was actually online and then noticed Beth's announcement. It was exciting! Like a rollercoaster, woo! *bounces in chair*   The Salon scents that sound great are And There Was a Great Cry in Egypt and Death of Sarandapal. Both have honey, which due to my love of O are tempting. Plus Litha sounds nice, but it sounds like something with the specific goal of annoying my allergies with all those plants So I'm on the fence, but I have a couple weeks to decide. I knew Lotus Moon wouldn't work because lotus is bubblegummy on me, and paired with pine it became a no-no   This was a great end to a craptastic week.
dawndie

dawndie

2
HennaFairy's Blog
 

icons

well eviltemptress has been so good at the icons i've been intimidated... but i have a new favorite scent tonight, and so i made an icon for it!     edited to add another one! or more...           usual disclaimers, do not hotlink, save to your own site (photobucket.com rocks!)
HennaFairy

HennaFairy

1
HennaFairy's Blog
 

Henna Boxes

I did henna on two boxes but i can only show you one! (one's a gift for somebody!!!) anyway - my "test" one was a smaller box i already had on hand. it doesn't fit bottles, only some imps if they are laying down. anyway, it was a good practice run!     i'll let the henna sit for a a few days, then remove the paste, wipe ammonia to get the henna stain to darken, and stain or seal the box!   more to come...   goodnight!
HennaFairy

HennaFairy

3
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Smut-O-Rama

Remember Thomas Hardy's book "Return of the Native?" Well, today was the Return of Teh Smut to my abode. I'd ordered multiple bottles of Smut when it came out in February, but Smut, my body chemistry, wintertime clothing and heating systems running all day long just didn't match up very well. It got a little overwhelming. And I hadn't really adjusted to wearing something that didn't have a lot of patchouli in it. I was still wearing Urd day in and day out. I sold or swapped my bottles of Smut.   So fast forward to May; it's warmer, my body chemistry is in the spring/summer mode, and I've become very habituated to both O and Monster Bait: Underpants. I began to get a jones for some Smut. I was kicking myself for not keeping a bottle. So I went to "Wanted" in Swaps and begged for some Smut. I got it! Actually, I got two imps and a bottle! This way, I'm able to share an imp with a friend.   The two imps arrived today and I did a test run of Smut all alone and then a test run of Smut with O. What would that be called? Smut-O-Rama? I like that idea. Smut and Smut-O-Rama both work on my seasonally adjusted body chemistry, breezier clothing and the furnaces shut off. I am happy that I will soon have a bottle of Smut to sit between O and the Panty Monster.   Did you see the Lotus Moon t-shirt? I adore Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu diety. He represents good fortune, happy beginnings and learning, particularly in the arts and humanities. The design is beautiful and regal. All of Macha's designs are great, but this one really grabbed me. Needless to say, I ordered one already. And it's my good fortune to be able to own one!
valentina

valentina

0
This Old Snark
 

Wedded, Pissed

Snarky has to interrupt this regularly scheduled home improvement program to do a little theraputic venting/stream of consciousness whangdoodle:   Givens: 1) Snarky hates moving. HATES it. With a deep, burning, vitriolic passion. She suspects she might be a little OCD about her Stuff being Messed With, even if it is she who is doing the messing.   2) The Mister has been suffering from low-grade depression for as long as Snarky has known him. That would be eight years.   3) The Mister only recently started getting treatment for said depression when it developed into anxiety attacks that affected his work performance and also showed up as heart attack-like symptoms.   4) The Mister had to stop taking his "happy pills" because they gave him a rash.   5) The Mister hates his job. This is probably what pushed his depression into anxiety.   6) The Mister's job is so consuming that he's too busy during the day to do anything "extra-cirricular" and has also had to bring home "homework" that sometimes has him up past midnight (or in one instance, he never came to bed). Therefore, Snarky has been doing all necessary research for the house/move.   7) Snarky really, REALLY hates moving.   8) Snarky wrestles with her own issues of low self-esteem (coupled oddly enough with a raging ego, work that puzzle out) which can create overblown reactions to criticism.   Catalyst:   So today, all those factors came to a head as Snarky tried to secure temporary permits to allow the Snarks to park a fourteen foot moving truck in front of their (essentially, for the purposes of this story) downtown apartment building. It's always the little things that set off the best explosions, no?   This could have just as easily been a week-old stack of unwashed dishes in the kitchen or an odd comment on the appropriateness of a certain pair of pants to a certain type of musical venue. Something trivial and small yet monumental, like dripping water or straws on camels' backs.   Results:   A very terse, very public cellphone conversation in the middle of the engineering department where at points Snarky had to hold the phone away from her ear because The Mister, in his best moods, cannot use an Inside Voice to save his life. As he was at times apoplexic with anger (at Snarky, the world, his employer, again with Snarky, and again with work), fuming with frustration, and exclaming in exasperation, his Outside Voice was just about at Football Stadium Level.   Snarky responded with hushed, angry, trying-to-be-not-"you-statements" speak and had a fun time wrestling her features away from alternating between tears of rage, tears of sadness, tears of fear, and just plain good old fashioned WTF.   Snarky admits she is not blameless in this. She is passive-aggressive, sensitive, and requires much grooming. She's usually pretty much self grooming, but enjoys a fluff every now and again from her paramour. She can be a demanding diva bitch banshee at times, but has been working hard to recognize when those "chocolate and pickles" style impulses present themselves.   This is the rockiest point before it gets smoother. This is the abyss from which, after the dust has settled, they will look back with their arms looped around eachother's waists, and they will say "Whew! That was a close one!" And they will be glad that they had eachother to lean on, rail against, and be pushed through by in order to make it to the Other Side.   They just have to have faith and get there together.   Solution:   Snarky plans on making peace offerings tonight. But for now, she has a job interview for which to prepare, and a slowly rising tide of panic to quell with logic and love.
darkitysnark

darkitysnark

4
this machine
 

smelling of spanked, like i could own the world

Last night i really wore spanked for the first time. I very luckily came into a special rare imp which i then swapped for spanked, and wow. I now understand why people hoard and drop mad cash on ebay for this. I tested it lightly when i first got it and loved it, though i was surprised by it's similarity to geek (same leather i think, and a similarity in the cardamom vs cinnamon part too). Similarity is too strong really, but i related them in my mind, probably because i love geek so much.   Anyway, last night i went to the local music awards ball with the bf (he didn't win this year, too bad), and i looked smashing and decided it was time to break out the spanked. I didn't spare on it either - something that beautiful is meant to be used. DAMN did i smell good. Damn damn damn. That is one fucking gorgeous oil. It was a totally different experience really wearing it instead of having just a tiny swipe on my wrist while i hung around home. I felt like a million bucks, and now i have the twitching, drooling urge to hunt me down some spanked and drop some scary cash on it. I've been trying to stay in control about those super-coveted limited editions, because it's just such a loop to get into. But yikes. I covet.   In other news, i got a frimp of the bow and crown of conquest, my first white musk-containing scent. I hate white musk based on a friend who used to wear it (body shop's white musk though), and a few floral-based frimps i've hated. But this little puppy, boy howdy. Good stuff. I think it reminds me a bit of st. germain, which would make sense. It's really nice, and i'm pleased that i now know not every white musk will make me gag.   But now i really want king of spades and lenore. Sigh. Anyone wanna swap me?
this machine

this machine

0
Is Anybody Out There?
 

Chris

It's JUST a TV show... but I'm so sad that Chris is gone, and I feel an odd sense of guilt for not voting enough.   This should NOT be effecting me to this degree. Dammit.
smallvoice

smallvoice

2
Sourball Ho!
 

Updates and BPAL-ing

OK, so we got a new DSL modem. It's working great, except it poops out every half-hour or so. It'll just die, then come back I'm seriously tempted by darkity's reminder about cable, but other than the burps things are working fine.   Back to BPAL: I've been so impressed with the last couple of orders I've received. The Maelstrom scents I tried were great -- I have bottles of Berenice, Masque and Montresor, and Montresor is an all-time favorite on the level of Perversion, Morocco and Hellion, my favorite dark blends. I was tempted with Tell-Tale Heart too, and will maybe sniff eventually.   Monster Bait: Closet is great too, really nice sweet & fruity.   On Monday I got my teeny April Fool's order of Underpants, which is wonderful While it sounded extremely foody, it's a beautiful sweet vanilla scent. As if to reiterate the vanilla, the Lab sent a frimp of Antique Lace with it, which I previously tried and liked so much I already have a bottle, purchased when it came back in stock.
dawndie

dawndie

0
HennaFairy's Blog
 

Storage Boxes

Finished my first two!!   They are both even prettier in person - the blue one has glitter on the top, and some on the paper inside. I just have to decide if/how to seal it. I'm thinking a spray finish very lightly, just on the top/outside.   Here's one - it came with dividers (it's actually for tea) which i painted white, they just aren't dry enough to put back in yet. (you can see them in the photo of the previous post, that's this box open before i started.) i'm probably keeping this one for myself!!         And the second - I made dividers out of balsa wood. a pain in the ass, but they work!!    
HennaFairy

HennaFairy

1
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Pet peeve!

OK, this is a hang-up of mine, a silly pet peeve, and if any of you do this and your man-things or woman-things think it's hot and sexy, good for you and good for them. It's just something I'm not going to do, ever.   I have a hang-up about women who grow their toenails long and paint them in a French manicure. As in long, I mean that the nails may reach or surpass the toe-tip, depending upon the shape of their nails and their toes. It makes their feet look like little paws. And then the French manicure -- I think that looks just plain goofy. French manicures on the fingers are rather pretty and I can appreciate it. Especially because my fingernails never get long enough to do that. But on the feet, I don't think so.   I think my hang-up stems from the fact that prior to this recent trend, the only people with long toenails tended towards being unkempt. There were usually other hideously disgusting things going on with their toenails or feet that I won't even bother to mention.   I have a foot fetish, I will admit, and I like to see nice feet. But when I see toenails that look like they could leave a swipe across your skin like a cat's claw, I just cringe. Toes should be able to move all around the body without accidentally drawing blood, you know.
valentina

valentina

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