My “Go Beige” Moment

On November 15, 2017November 15, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Hmmm?, NaBloPoMo2 Comments

I remember reading an article about Sophia Loren years ago. She (at that time) only ever wore 1 lipstick colour. It was called “Go Beige”. And when she found out it was going to be discontinued, she bought up all the remaining stock and kept it in a cooler so that she would never run out of it.

I remember thinking at the time how boring that was. I loved (and to a certain extent still do) playing with makeup and to have only 1 shade of lipstick to use seemed so limiting – so like my mother’s style of making up to go out when I was a kid: red lipstick, powder, mascara…DONE! (Ladies did not wear much else in the makeup department, back then. Not if they were “ladies”.) Her makeup collection could fit in the palm of my hand. Whereas mine takes up most of a very large and deep drawer.

I possess probably way more lipstick colours than I should, considering that I usually only apply it once a day (just before I head out to work, if I think of it) and then switch to Burt’s Bees lip balm for the rest of the day.

Yet what can I say? One is always on the lookout for the perfect-er shade of red or pink or wine or pinky-mauve or browny-pink or….

For the past 4+ years (a record for cosmetically-fickle me), this is the one lip colour I have returned to, again and again:

I wish it had a cool name like Go Beige but alas, it is just good ol’ 104.

It’s not an expensive brand of lipstick. Rimmel can be found in just about any drugstore. This colour is just the perfect matte-ish warm rose that goes well with my skin tone no matter how much or little sun I’ve been getting or what clothes I’m wearing. It’s like my natural lip colour on steroids. You might as well call it my Go Beige colour.

I was at the drug store on the weekend and happened to notice that my already inexpensive little friend was on sale. So I picked up a tube, thinking it would be good to have another on hand just in case Rimmel ever decides to discontinue (horrors!!!) this line and this colour.

I threw it in the drawer in the vanity for a couple of days, but then thought about what Sophia did and decided to move it to the fridge because it might be ~~a year~~ months before I have to replace my current one and it couldn’t hurt to keep it cool.

This is what I found when I opened the seldom-glanced-at top compartment on the fridge door that I wanted to store the lipstick in:

Huh! Looks like I already squirreled an extra 104 in there, at some point. Plus a partially consumed bar of chocolate I received at my MBA grad, back in June 2016.

So now I have 2 backup lipsticks. And some old chocolate. (Don’t even ask me about the Lindt bars underneath the Athabasca bar either. They have to be at least as old.)

I’m thinking there is a high probability that there will be a 104 #3 to join 1 and 2 in the fridge someday, as once again I will see it on sale and think: Hmmm, I should pick up “a” backup, just in case.

And let’s not kid ourselves – when I finally do run out of my current tube, I won’t remember what’s in the fridge. I’ll just go to the drugstore and pick up another one up.

Sometimes I find myself and the things I do unintentionally hilarious. This is one of them.

Anybody else do stuff like this? Please?

Rock on,

The WB

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If It Lasts That Long…

On November 14, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, NaBloPoMo4 Comments

Last night I made something new. Something I’ve been wanting to make for a few years’ now.

Every year I would read posts about this stuff and vow to make it the next year. Only to be reminded too late in the season to have it ready in time for guests and gifting.

But not this year! 2017 is gonna be the year of Alton Brown’s Aged Eggnog.

This is what’s left over for ~~personal use~~ valuable research on aging nog, after I put 3 pint jars of this boozy deliciousness away in the fridge.

I had thought I had more glass jars available than I in fact did, so I ended up putting the rest of the nog into an ancient indestructible juice pitcher that used to belong to JD’s grandmother. I will find it a more suitable container or two today – one that doesn’t take up quite so much valuable fridge real estate.

I don’t like store-bought eggnog – with or without added booze – since I’ve become an adult. And I’m not one for sweet alcoholic drinks, normally. (I will make an exception for Bajan rum punch though, heavy on the lime.)

I still have the bottle of Baileys Irish Cream I bought for Mom to enjoy and she’ll be gone 2 years this December. I have to move it around the fridge every now and then to make space for something else and I never think to pour myself a glass. Talk about taking up valuable real estate! Does it even need to be kept refrigerated? I must check.

When it comes to things alcoholic, give me a dry wine (red or white) or a crisp lager or an ultra dry vodka martini (with olives) and I’m a happy camper.

So it doesn’t make sense that this recipe has captivated me. I must say though, the nog IS mighty tasty already (think liquid premium ice cream with a kick) and is supposed to get even more so the longer it sits. It’s gonna be amazing after 1 year.

Rock on,

The WB

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Mindful Monday – the Zafu

On November 13, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Goals & Dreams, Mindfulness, NaBloPoMo6 Comments

I’m shaking off the blog frustrations plaguing me lately and I’m going to try something new on ye old blogge – a theme for one day of the week: Mindful Mondays.

Each Monday I am going to post about something related to introducing more mindfulness into my life. I’ve been fascinated by (and dabbled in) Buddhist thinking and practice since I was first introduced to it in Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, way back in the early nineties. Reading Robert Wright’s Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment reminded me recently of all that just “clicks” for me about this philosophy.

And I promise not to get all preachy about it, like I just turned raw vegan or something. That’s not really my style. This is more my style:

Initially I balked at the idea of having to BUY something with which to sit still and empty my mind, but after a couple of painful attempts at meditating last week, I reconsidered my stance.

I found this cushion on Amazon.ca and both the price and the reviews were fantastic. I am absolutely thrilled with my buckwheat-filled zafu.

It’s still hard AF to quiet my mind, but at least my hips, legs, and back aren’t yelling at me the whole time. I could sit for a whole 10 minutes this morning. Baby steps, people, baby steps!

Rock on,

The WB

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This is Getting Old

On November 12, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Blogging, Hmmm?, NaBloPoMo7 Comments

The new email subscription widget I oh-so hopefully installed yesterday doesn’t work so I’ve removed it.

I tried subscribing with various emails (personal, work, theWB@widowbadass.com)…got an error message with each one when I clicked on the link to confirm my subscription. Shit.

Spent about an hour trying to figure out the problem with no success and finally decided it is not to be, for whatever reason. At least not for today. So the offending widget has been plucked, once again!

My old subscription widget (Feedburner) is still sending out emails with blog posts despite being inactivated AND deleted, so please unsubscribe (click link in email) if you receive one.

I sure hope Jetpack isn’t lying when they say people will be offered to subscribe to the blog through the comments. If someone could try it out and let me know if it actually works, that would be great.

This is all I have for today – I have to move on to other necessities of life, like grocery shopping and trying to catch up on the work backlog. See you on the blog tomorrow!

Rock on,

The WB

If Thine Widget Offends Thee, Pluck It Out*

On November 11, 2017November 11, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Blogging, Hmmm?, NaBloPoMo6 Comments

As (insert deity of your choice) is my witness, I will figure this blog thing out!

*From the scriptures of the little known Clueless Blogger’s Bible….that I just might write someday.

So, thanks to a comment from Joanne, the WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH commenting problem related to ye olde blogge might be because of an email subscription widget that I have been using since FOREVAH.

So I have ditched it and instead activated the subscription feature that is inside of Jetpack. I have also enabled a “follow” option for commenters. I am having difficulty testing it out because my blog already knows (and hopefully loves) me. Although I did test out commenting from outside the blog and it worked – several times! Hoorah!!!!

But because ye olde blogge knows who I am, it is not offering me the “follow blog” or “follow comments” options so I am not sure if they are even there or working.

If someone wouldn’t mind trying to comment and letting me know if they see these options or not, this clueless blogger would be most appreciative.

Rock on,

The WB

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Lordey, I Love Me a Presale

On November 10, 2017November 10, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Music, NaBloPoMo2 Comments

This morning I woke up to this:

Pretty, no? If only it disappeared by Jan 2…

It was a dark and stormy night…Last night was rainy and blowy as a cold front came roaring in. Mizz J and I looked at each other in alarm a couple of times during the evening as the wind sounded like a convoy of heavy transport trucks driving around the building. At some point the rain turned to snow – snow that stayed on the ground this time.

But enough about that. What I am really excited about is how the concert “season” is already shaping up for 2018!

I have 3 big shows lined up already – 2 thanks to being able to use presale codes.

Last time Foo Fighters were in town, Mizz J and I weren’t able to locate tickets (at non vital-organ-selling prices) and I deeply regretted missing this show and seeing Dave in all his Dave-of-Thrones, broken-legged glory. But this time – THIS TIME – there was a presale that I could take advantage of (thank you Capitol One!!!) so those are IN THE BAG for next July.

And yesterday I was able to use another presale code (thank you LiveNation!) to grab a pair of tickets to see Royal Blood and Queens of the Stone Age in London in May. These two bands were in Toronto fairly recently – just after I came back from Kelowna in September – and I was triggered to pick up a ticket every time I heard the show being advertised on the radio. Which was a lot.

Well, due to an attack of sudden-onset miserliness I ultimately decided to take a pass on this one. So they came and went without me in the audience. And I had regretted it ever since. Until yesterday!

The 3rd show I’m committed to is actually not a concert per se, but a weekend-long music festival. I am going to return to Riverfest Elora, August 17-19. And I have sold Mrs. & Mrs. Me Too on the idea so they are going to come down and stay with me and WHAT A TIME WILL BE HAD BY ALL, let me tell you!

Thinking on these 3 events and dreaming of what other 2018 shows may pop up on my musical horizon to tempt me is going to be a bright spot during the long, dark, cold days ahead.

Rock on,

The WB

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Commenting on Ye Olde Blogge – A Public Service Announcement

On November 9, 2017November 9, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Hmmm?, NaBloPoMo6 Comments

Around the time of April’s A to Z blogging challenge, I learned that a subset of the few people that actually read my blog – the commenters – couldn’t. I started having replying troubles around the same time. If you go back to my posts during that challenge, you can see all my little updates and PSAs as I worked through the problem. Spoiler: Unsuccessfully.

If I replied to someone from within ye olde blogge – through the WordPress dashboard – no problem. If I tried to reply directly from the page, I usually got the WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH. And my oh-so-carefully crafted and witty response had gone into the ether like mist on a July morning, just like it did for my commenters. GRRRRRRRRRR.

So I tried researching this problem through the good ol’ Interweb and came up with squat. Then I called Bluehost and Mr. Bluehost had no problem commenting on ye olde blogge no matter what web browser was employed. But of course you did. So no solutions found there.

This problem was so bad I wasn’t even getting spam anymore, and I complained about it to Mr. Bluehost and I think this gave him the laugh of his day if not his week.

I tried everything I could think of. I changed themes. I installed plugins. I removed plugins. I swore. I drank. I shook my tiny fist of rage at the screen. Then I begged its forgiveness. I burned incense and meditated on the problem. I laid offerings in front of the iMac. Nothing worked.

Fast forward to now – I AM back to getting spam again. Hoorah, I think?

So I thought the problem was fixed. But some other bloggers have been telling me it is still there.

So I reached out to Joanne of My Live Lived Full, who seems to have found a work-around. This is what she does, to successfully comment without triggering the WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH:

What I have learned is:

1) if I see that my info has not auto filled in the comment section (i.e. my blog name, email address etc), I know that my comment will not post and I’ll get the white screen. If I manually enter the data, the comment will not post.

2) my work around is that I will return to your home page and then reopen the post from your home page. It seems that every time I do that, my data will then auto fill and I can comment without issue.

I am sorry, dear Readers/Potential Commenters of Ye Olde Blogge, that I don’t have anything more to offer than this. And thank you Joanne, for sharing the secret to your commenting success.

I am contemplating moving to a paid theme at some point, in hopes problems like these will be non-existent, or at least fixable. And then I can access some support when these things arise, amiright?

Who uses a paid theme? I’d love to discuss this with you. Please ~~leave me a comment~~ shoot me an email.

Rock on,

The WB

P.S. And now I can’t seem to get the paragraph spacing to work after I inserted Joanne’s workaround notes so the bottom part of my post is all scrunched together. Fuck it, I gotta go to work. Sorry.

Misery DOES Love Company

On November 8, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Hmmm?, NaBloPoMo4 Comments

I am backlogged at work. And I seem to have a new project or ~~problem to solve~~ opportunity dumped on me every day lately. I love challenge and ~~solving problems~~ investigating opportunities but even I have my limits.

And I hate the feeling of being reactive instead of proactive; of not being able to meet deadlines; of being so busy that items fall off of my radar at work. Of racing the clock to be ready in time for a meeting or a conference call. This is what I am feeling right now. I hope it passes soon.

My boss called me yesterday to book a meeting to get started on my performance contract for this fiscal year, which we are already over a month into. Ideally, this should have been all wrapped up well before now. I have not had a chance to even start drafting this document. So I apologized to him and made a rueful remark about barely treading water at the moment.

He said – Well, if it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way. In fact all of us over here* feel the same way.

I said – Strangely enough, I actually DO feel better hearing this!

Then we both laughed and made a date to meet on Thursday to start hammering away at the details.

Rock on,

The WB

*meaning the rest of the Leadership Team at the Head Office (which is a different location from where I work)

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The Vipassana Dream is Reawakened

On November 7, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Goals & Dreams, Hmmm?, NaBloPoMo5 Comments

You know how sometimes you come across a thought or an idea and it’s something you became intensely interested in at one point but then completely forgot about and now you are even more enamoured of it and you wonder how you could have ever let it drop in the first place? Yeah? Me too.

A couple of years ago, my then massage therapist told me of a silent meditation retreat about 2 hours north of Chez Badass, called Vipassana. I was intrigued and looked it up. And I kept returning to the site and tried to imagine partaking.

10 days without speaking
10 days of eating only 2 vegetarian meals per day
10 days without reading or writing or being connected to the web
10 days of being alone with your thoughts

Number 3 freaked me out the most, I will confess – followed closely by Number 2. For whatever reason(s) – probably because I was neck-deep in home renovations and MBA shit at the time – I dropped the idea and it was forgotten.

Fast forward to today: I am in the middle of reading an excellent book, called Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment, by Robert Wright. (You had me at science, Bob.)

And guess what, ol’ Bob here is all about the Vipassana Retreat! The dream has been re-awakened!

I’m no longer as concerned about items 2 and 3. I think I can handle it, she writes with more confidence than she actually feels.

I have added another concern to the list, though:

5. 10 days of sitting on a cushion on the floor for hours at a time.

Last night I tried meditating – cross-legged on my bed – for five – only five – minutes, and my body complained LOUDLY the whole damn time. Who knew you had to get into shape to sit still? Hehehehe.

Realizing my Vipassana dream is still a few years away, I have decided. I don’t think it is something I will apply for before retirement from work. But I know now that it is something I WILL do.

Rock on,

The WB

Learning to Love Uncomfortable Feelings

On November 6, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Hmmm?, NaBloPoMo6 Comments

November and December haven’t been happy months for me, for a few years now. Traumatic things have happened. I have lost a lot of people (including a special fur person) lately – and not just in November and December, although that is when their absence is most keenly felt. Every year lately at this time my spirits take a dive as I can’t seem to help reliving the past and the ghosts of all those feelings come back for an extended visit.

And it really doesn’t help that the rest of North America (at least according to what is blasted all over the media) goes into Holiday-crazy overdrive right after Halloween with a non-stop blitz of over-spending/over-eating/over-scheduling/over-everything until it seems like everyone is looking forward to having a ~~magical~~ time of it and I’m the only one that just can’t catch that buzz.

No matter how hard I try to fake it till I make it, I just don’t make it…anymore. I used to, though. I wasn’t born a bah-humbug. I was a certifiable Christmas freak in my younger days, before life beat the snot outta me over and over again.

At this time of year I do grieve the loss of my former joyful Christmas-anticipating self on top of everything/everyone else I am grieving. I’m not normally down so I’m not very good at dealing with myself when I am. It makes me uncomfortable.

Then a link to this post arrived in my Inbox today: In Love with the Heartbreaking Beauty of Discomfort.

Life is hard, dammit. And beautiful. And it is a privilege to have known and loved and lost souls and then to grieve them.

I’m gonna get back into a meditation practice and let my thoughts and feelings bubble up as I know they’re gonna do when I try to quiet my mind. And I’m going to notice and acknowledge them and practice gratitude for the heartbreaking beauty of this experience.

Thank you Leo of Zen Habits. Thank you Discomfort. Thank you Life.

Rock on,

The WB