Here’s something cool, found via Wyrdsmiths:

Londoners and New Yorkers gawk at

each other through a transatlantic lens

I thought it was a joke at first, seems to be true. Too cool.

I buy whatever’s cheap. This has led me to the worst-tasting coffee in the hardest-to-open canister ever. Maxwell House something-or-other. It’s bitter and harsh and hurts my teeth.

So I’m looking to increase my coffee experience. I’ve found that Folger’s French Roast is pretty good. Got any other suggestions? Is it worth grinding my own beans? Is “gourmet” worth the cost? And what the heck does that mean when we’re talking about coffee?

I guess I could google it, but I’d much rather discuss it with you.

Oh yeah, and Darcknyt, cuz he gave me an international award!

Thank you, my sweet, mysterious friend, Darcknyt. I’m honored to know how much you value my work.

Now, my readers might be wondering what Arte y Pico means, and I wondered as well, so I went to a couple of translator sites. On Yahoo!, “Arte y Pico” means “Art and Tip.” But on Google it means “Art and Peak,” so I’m still not sure what pico means in this context. However, receiving this award means I have been an artistic inspiration to someone, and that’s all I need to know.

I get to bestow this award on five people who inspire me:

1. Angela at Eclectic Recovery, because of her openness, her willingness to learn about herself;
2. Matt at Licensed to Blog inspires me with his irrepressible humor, even in the face of illness;
3. Lex Ham Rand at Blog of Rand, because of his intelligence and friendly outlook;
4. Marta at Writing in the Water is a sister in authorial angst, and a well of artistic creativity;
5. Falcon at The “Ness” in Darcness for her unflagging support and encouragement of those around her.

Take this award and display it proudly, even if you choose not to pass it on. You are appreciated.

~~~

If you do decide to pass it on, here are the rules:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog.

3. Each award winner (upon acceptance) should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.

4. Show the link of Arte y pico blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. Show these rules.

I haven’t felt very talky lately. Nothing wrong, just feeling quiet and lazy.

I’ve been writing every evening and sometimes I even crack open the WIP file during the day. I have to do it in secret, though, because if I tell the kids I’m writing and mustn’t be disturbed, you can guaran-goddamn-tee they are going to have something that can’t wait. If I just sneak off to the dining room, they forget I exist. Kind of hurts my feelings. Now that I’ve identified this tendency of theirs, I shall utilize it more. I do wish I had more options than the uncomfortable dining room chairs.

Now that I have a real wall separating my loft from the rest of the shed attic, I’ve focused on insulation. One side of my office is completely finished and the other (less hot) side is 2/3 done. Even with no insulation in the storage part, the whole attic is up to twenty degrees cooler than last summer, and my office is comfortable enough to just use a fan if I have to. My little a/c keeps me more than cool enough, though.

When I built my wall I pushed it out about two feet, but because of the slope of the roof, my usable space is about ten square feet. I love having a tiny office, just enough room so that the desk chair doesn’t fight with the stinky recliner, plenty of work surface to spread out on, a couple of lamps. I don’t think I’d work well in a huge space. I need to feel cocooned. Like when I used to hide in the dark closet as a child when I got mad, or in the OCU practice rooms when I tucked myself under the piano to take a nap.

So after I mentioned my new Caress Moroccan soap in the last post, the PR firm emailed me and offered to send me a sample of the Brazilian scent. I was expecting a little tear-open packet or at most a small bottle. Instead, they FedExed me an entire bottle of the Brazilian body wash. I’m going to use it for a few days and post a short review later, hopefully building some business karma. Someday I’ll have a product to push.

I’m giving up on the list of possible blog topics I posted a couple of weeks ago. Making that list showed me once again how momentary the need to post is, how futile it is for me to try to actually craft a post. While it may not showcase my talents to their fullest extent, everything on here is pure brain spew. Very little research, minimal editing, much regret. I always think, If only I’d waited a day to post I’d have seen that error, so I try to be more conscientious for a while and I lose interest and the blog suffers. Well, either that or the novel suffers. Novel wins. There will be no shower podcasts in the near future. Sorry.

Speaking of the shower, I bought this new facial scrub. It’s anti-aging/anti-blemish, I hate to admit. I don’t get a lot of blemishes, just enough to keep me always hiding one. Stupid. So I thought this stuff might help. I bought Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish scrub. On the front it says:

Gentle microbeads exfoliate and hydrate to smooth fine lines

Salicylic Acid treats and helps prevent blemishes

I have only one requirement for my anti-aging product (of which this is the first in many years) and that one requirement is this: It may not contain alpha hydroxy acid (AHA). I used this when it first came out, and it almost burned my face off. Not only did it burn my face, but it created the most massive cyst-like blemishes I’ve ever seen. But it happened gradually, so I used it for two weeks, wondering why my skin just kept getting worse and worse. It was a nightmare. Somehow I finally put two and two together (equaling horror!), stopped using the AHA, and voila! after a month of no-makeup healing I had my less-than-ideal-yet-better-than-having-boils skin back. And I didn’t touch another anti-aging product. Until now.

Looking at the front of Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish scrub, there is no indication of any anti-aging chemical in this product. It appears that the anti-wrinkle part comes from the exfoliation and hydration, which is a common claim. I turn it over to check the Drug Facts panel, and the only active ingredient is Salicylic Acid. I think I’m doing all right, then. The rest of the print is tiny, and I’ve seen all I need to see, because AHA would most certainly be listed if it were present. After all, it’s an acid, too, so it should be right up there. Right?

Wrong. This product has AHA in it. And I’ve been putting it on my face.

The only place it mentions AHA is in the tiny blurb print on the back, toward the end. It’s like, “Oh yeah, we forgot to mention there’s AHA in here, and you could get a worse sunburn if you go out in the sun.” And looking at the website, it also says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about AHA being in this product. I’m a tad furious.

Luckily I used the product for less than a week before noticing that my face was becoming uncharacteristically riddled with blemishes. When the lightbulb went on in my head, I grabbed the tube, squinted at the entire label and literally screamed in the shower, “Noooooo!” Now, three days later my face is finally healing up. The Neutrogena people are gonna get a nasty note from me, I believe. I wish I’d taken pictures.

One good product I found for my shower is Caress Exotic Oil Infusions, Moroccan. (In the link, it’s the purple tear-drop shaped bottle.) I was hoping there would be a way on the site to get a free sample, but I don’t see one. This stuff smells totally awesome. And now I must go use it.

Watched Phantom of the Opera last night. Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford sang the soundtrack to my college career, since the Broadway version didn’t leave my tape deck for weeks at a time. It’s ironic, but though I knew every word of libretto, every soaring aria, I knew only the barest nuances of whole plot, how the roles fit together, how it ended. My God, the tragedy. I never knew. I cried so hard I couldn’t speak.

My boy has music in his heart. It’s a long movie, maybe 2 1/2 hours, and it was way past his bedtime, but he watched every moment. Made me pause it when he went to the bathroom, wouldn’t go until I’d promised not to start it without him.

The Phantom touched his love of dark things. The music mesmerized him. He threw his arms wide and swayed with each swell. It was a wonderful thing, sharing that joy with his 6-year-old heart. He’ll be too old soon too enjoy a musical with abandon, once his machismo kicks in. Perhaps he’ll always be able to enjoy it with me, in secret. I won’t tell, Little Bubba.

(So Wyrdd, you see that it was ironic to visit your site this morning and see a Sarah Brightman plug. )

One of my favorite topics is the unrealistic portrayal of girls in the media, so I’m going to direct you here, where they are discussing it in depth.

Hope your week is going well.

Drifting clouds. No rolling today, no dark burgeoning or tight rotation. Peace.

I can’t imagine a prettier sky than Oklahoma’s. Especially on days like this, which remind me why I think God, beauty, and love are the same thing. My holy trinity.

The persistent breeze teases wisterian tendrils from the clouds. One cloud protests, countering the breeze with a half-hearted expansion, but soon it settles into the drift again. It is too lazy. Like me.

This woman felt ugly. This woman didn’t feel worthy of existence because she was so abnormal. This woman didn’t know that she would spend years trying to make the outside match the inside.

I think the girl has felt ugly, too, and I hope she realizes how perfectly beautiful she is before she’s 37.

This newly discovered photo has brought up so many issues, I might have to start a secret blog to deal with them all.