Aromaleigh

So have you tried mineral makeup yet? Check this out! Heidi and I have both noticed that we have clearer skin when we wear makeup everyday, and this stuff is great - you know Tampa humidity is insane! well this stuff stands up to it and looks good all day.

Check out http://www.aromaleigh.com/

here are the things I love about it...

1. sample sizes - they don't cost much, and before you buy a full size banana yellow eyeshadow you need to try it out (incidentally banana yellow is very wearable)
2. along these same lines there is a customer area where people send in photos of the eye looks they come up with, it is great for ideas
3. The foundation is mixable and can be tweaked to match your skin, I have lots of red in my skin so using a yellowish color really tones things down, just call me 3YL.
4. This stuff lasts forever!
5. Those little sample baggies are easy to carry around in your bag when you travel-you can fit lots of choices in the smallest space makeup bag ever.
6. okay, I could go on and on but just try it!

Well I can only wish that someone will 'Super Putty' Billy Mays mouth shut

All that talking the guy does and the product sucks. I used some 'Super Putty' on my rainbarrel spigot, it is still leaking. next comes the caulk gun - but I'll have to wait until the barrel is empty or at least past the spigot so it can dry out. What a pain in the butt. Maybe I could use my 'ShamWoW' to soak up the water.

50,000 salad shooters - tthhhttpp tthhhttpp tthhhttpp !

Americans Deemed Unfit for Human Consumption by the USDA

Americans Deemed Unfit for Human Consumption by the USDA
This weekend I was listening to NPR's news gameshow Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. The host of the show Adam Felber, released an interesting factoid.

If cannibalism were legal here in the United States, the US Dept of Agriculture would not be able to approve the average American as fit for consumption because of the toxins in our bodies.

Look Mom It's Raining!

There was only a small chance of rain today according to the news, 30% or something and it has been raining since about 11 a.m. yippee! I hope the rain barrel is filling up.

Chelle's Birthday and Cowboy boots

Hey Miss Chelle - Happy Birthday Baby!

boy have I missed talking to you, we have got to got to got to see each other so please tell me a cold beer and lots of girl talk is in our future.

On a totally unrelated note, Heidi mentioned the other day that she REALLY wants a pair of cowboy boots. This struck a chord with me, I too have wanted cowboy boots since I was a little girl. So wait a minute, shouldn't they be called cowGIRL boots, either way what is the deal with boots? It's Florida! 8,000 degrees and humid as a fat womans p'sassy in pantyhose all the time - talk about impractical - but I don't care I want em too!

So I've started the search, and here are some contenders

Whenever I see a little girl with red or pink cowgirl boots on just strutting her stuff, I have to smile and know that she will either be a fan of boots all her life or this will satisfy the need and she'll never need another pair. I'm going to stay away from the red and pink, but they aren't going to be safe and plain brown or black - they are gonna be flashy!

Grocery stores today

Spent the day dealing with the 'coupon job' you know those machines and ads up in the grocery store that either lead you to stuff or burp out coupons? Well Heidi and I are two of the little gnomes that install the little annoyances for some extra money. It's not a bad gig, we work like dogs for 2 or 3 days a month and the rest is pretty easy. Well today was a dog day. We did breakout this morning after tearing ourselves out of the black hole (my back deck) Heidi went home to do her data entry job and I headed out to Publix for Ad Change. Got 2 done, have 1 more that I will finish Monday or Tuesday night after the office job. Tomorrow will be one of the big days we work together, we'll do 2 Sweetbay stores and a Winn Dixie. My dogs are barkin just thinking about it.

Don't get me wrong I am NOT complaining, I'm very grateful to have a way to make some extra money. At the RRE office they told everyone friday they'll have to take a 20% paycut because the company is doing so badly. M will have to give them money on payday to cover her insurance. Really. Pretty scarey.

Upside down Maters Planted

I planted 2 upside down buckets on Sunday, each has a tomato plant out the bottom and herbs on the top. I used a 2 liter soda bottle in each bucket as a olla, I know tomato plants need lots of water, especially when the Florida sun really gets cranked up so hopefully this will help. I have a yellow squash and a zucchini to plant in the top of the next 2 buckets, I'm hoping they will use the cat fence as a trellis.

The trickiest part was getting the leaves of the tomato plant through the opening without breaking them all off, I finally used a length of netting from a bath pouf pulled over the plant and held taut to keep everything together while I pulled it through the hole in the bucket.

Drought, Desalination Plant Woes Force More Groundwater Pumping
By Neil Johnson The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 17, 2009

With rivers gurgling to a trickle and the desalination plant limping because of mechanical problems, water suppliers are turning up the pumps to tap groundwater at a rate not seen since 2002.
Last week the region's water supplier shut down the plant that treats river water. That happened as its massive reservoir in southern Hillsborough went dry, unable to provide another drop to the thirsty Tampa Bay region.
On Monday, Tampa Bay Water sent 213 million gallons of water to residents in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. Of that, about 198 million gallons came from the aquifer. The balance came from the utility's desalination plant.
Demands on groundwater will only grow as the state enters its driest, hottest months when water use peaks and a three-year drought continues.
By May, wells could be asked to provide around 210 million gallons a day with the bulk coming from 11 wellfields in northern Hillsborough and southern Pasco. Wellfields scattered over central and southern Hillsborough will also add groundwater to the supply.
That is if the desalination plant in Apollo Beach can get back to its capacity of 25 million gallons a day, said Alison Adams, senior manager with Tampa Bay Water, the utility that provides water for Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, St. Petersburg, Tampa and New Port Richey.


Looks like it's time to step up the water conservation! Here are some ideas I want to work on, and they all make mom roll her eyes and say I'm nuts...

• The outdoor shower - use the water twice plan, want to set up a length of black tubing with water in it to heat in the sun, and send the used water out into the yard via a soaker hose or drip system.
• put the 5 gallon bucket back into the shower, again using the water twice. I did this in the bathroom and kitchen for a while, but emptying the bucket is a long, heavy (sloshing) walk outside so I need to refine this a little.
• Install the water interuptor in the shower, turning the water on and off can be a little shocking to the system, my system that is, because you have to cycle through the cold to get to off and back on, would be better to just stop the flow out the shower head while soaping, shaving etc.
• less lawn! Interested in planting perrenial peanut instead of a turf yard - needs no irrigation once established and no fertilizer etc. can be walked on and needs little mowing to maintain. Unfortunately the hard freeze we had a few months ago has cut back on supplies, so it might be hard to find right now.
• If it's yellow let it mellow if it's brown flush it down.

I might be just one person in the grand scheme of things but it will make me feel better doing something - and I love the challenge!

Rain Barrels

Finally got my rain barrel hooked up to the downspout, I had to put plumbers putty around the spigot to stop a leak and needed to get some concrete blocks to raise it up off the ground as high as possible. I placed it in my side yard, up against the backyard fence. The spigot will be accessed through a hole in the fence because the water will be used in the backyard which has no sprinkler system. The higher I can get the barrel off the ground the more pressure there will be. I would like to have a drip system run off of the barrel but don't think I'll get enough 'head' from stacked cement blocks.

Mom is going to visit Aunt Dottie in NC later this month, she is putting in a long raised bed for growing vegetables so we're going to put together a rain barrel or two for her - mom is on it as we speak.

Still have some points to work out for Dottie's set up:

Will need to address disconnecting and storing for winter so the barrels don't freeze and crack (not a problem we have here in FL)

Need a way to strain out acorns and leaves. A colander was a good idea, you can cut an opening to fit and just lift it out to empty when the leaves and debris fill it up.

If she is able to set up a barrel at Jeans house she will have more push for irrigation- a soaker hose with the pressure ring removed might be the perfect way to keep the garden watered without having to fill and carry a watering can.

I just read somewhere that you can solve the mosquito issue with dunks or a small amount of vegetable oil on the waters surface to keep the mosquitos from either laying eggs or the larvae from hatching (not sure which).