Happy New Year! Do You Have Fat Ears?

 Hello and Happy New Year (yes, I know it's almost the middle of the month)!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and survived without getting covid or even a cold.

We had a great Christmastime and New Year's, and this weekend we will be taking down all of the decorations and putting them away until next year, which is always sad.  But then it's so exciting when they come back in December that it's worth it.

On to the question in the title of this post - do you have fat ears?  I have to admit, I've never once even given the "fatness" of my ears a thought one way or another.  I do have pierced ears, and have always had earrings that I could wear without any trouble.  But then my sister in California sent me these for Christmas:

I opened the package and thought, "Oh how nice," and it was a lovely surprise.  They were sent directly from Madewell, and she had told me to expect a package, so I didn't open it when it came, knowing it was a gift.

Then when we put away our gifts, I put them in my jewelry box.  A couple of days later, I decided I would wear them.  I put one in one ear, and it pinched a little bit, but I figured that was because I'd been fiddling with it, since the part that goes through your ear is really stiff.  I went to put the other one on, and the little post that is so stiff and goes through your ear just didn't fit.  I mean - DIDN'T. FIT.  I couldn't even push it through to try and finish putting it on.  So I gave up, and then took off the other one, which left a HUGE red spot on my other ear, where I guess it was too tight even though I'd worked it through.

OK, well, clearly they just wouldn't fit.  I called and asked if I could return them, even though I was pretty sure that since they are "personal" items, I couldn't.  And I was right.  When my sister asked me if I liked them, I told her that I did, but they didn't fit my ears.  And she responded, "Well how FAT can your ears possibly be??? I mean some people do have fat ears (do they??), but yours must be incredibly fat!"

Anyway, she said she had also sent a pair to my nephew's wife and they fit her, but "she's so tiny anyway, I'm not surprised."

So there you have it - I have what are apparently the world's fattest ears.  I have since learned that this style of earring is called a "huggie" and is supposed to fit tightly around your *thin* ears.  

Now.  Other than the fact that I thought the earrings were nice, and would have liked to wear them, none of this hurts my feelings.  This particular sister is, and always has been, obsessed with fashion and thinks anyone over a size 10 is doomed.  Also, as I mentioned above, I have never given much thought to my ears one way or another, as far as what size they wear ... 😀

I will likely pass these along to one of my nieces with skinny enough ears, but I thought it was worth sharing this in case anyone wants to start a support group for those of us with fat ears ... assuming not the only one!

In Which I Have Plans ... But Have Not Gotten Started

In my continued attempts to make small changes to my/our lifestyle that will keep us from using so many disposable products, I have decided - at least 6 months ago, if not more - that since I do a lot of knitting, and have a lot of leftover bits of yarn, that I should knit some reusable makeup remover pads.  This plan led me to a further plan - knit a few and gift them to my nieces for Christmas, along with a mini-size makeup remover product.  Good idea, right?

I have the yarn - even some leftover cotton yarn, which would be good and sturdy for this kind of thing.  I have the needles I need.  I don't feel like I need a specific pattern necessarily, but I did look to see if there were patterns and there are quite a few.  I have even identified the mini-size makeup remover I plan to buy, one at a time after each payday in our family.  So I'm all set to go, right?

Yes, I'm all set to go.  I *have* been all set to go.  So why I am not going, so to speak???

Excuse #1: There were a couple of projects that I really wanted to finish before I got started.  Fact: They are finished as of last week.

Excuse #2:  I have plenty of time.  Fact:  I had plenty of time when I first thought of this.  Now we are in to October, and as we all know, once October hits, the holidays are suddenly right on top of us.

Excuse #3:  Laziness.  Fact:  I am lazy.  I really want to make them, I do.  But I am lazy.

Solution:  START.  Often if I just simply get started, that's all I need to continue.  I am certain that if I made even just one pad, I would be inspired to continue, because I will actually get almost immediate gratification making these, because they are so small.  And I do love me some immediate gratification, especially with my knitting!

Look at these - this is pretty much exactly what I'm thinking about!

Small, with whatever colors I have available.  Since it will all be leftover yarn, the cost of this part of the gift will be only my time, and these will take no time at all.

Whereas, if I ordered them where I found the photo, I would have to pay for them, probably pay for shipping and taxes, and then hope they arrived in a reasonable amount of time, which in our current postal climate in the U.S. (why is Louis DeJoy still in charge of the Post Office???), could mean anywhere between 2 days and 10 months.

Result:  Now that I have put this out into the cyber universe, I have a responsiblity to be true to my plan and also complete it.  This coming weekend is a three-day weekend (for Columbus Day, now Indigenous Peoples' Day for us), and what better time to start?  Heck, I may even make all of the ones I was hoping by the end of three days!  

And so, in my next post, I hope to show you my progress on the whole makeup remover pads gift idea.  I am determined to have at least two to show you. 

Stay tuned ... 😊

Happy New Year!

Hello and Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a good holiday season.  Ours was quiet, but very nice, and we also finally got some winter weather this week, so I'm happy.

Did you get any glamorous Christmas gifts?  I actually got a few.

This is actually one I bought a month or so ago, for myself, and then gave to The Tim to give to me.  Of course, I completely forgot that I bought it, so I was pleasantly surprised!

I bought this after I was talking with a woman at Nordstrom's one day about the lovely lipstick she was wearing.  She said it was this, and shortly after I saw this holiday sample set at Sephora on sale.  So far I have only tried one of the colors, but it is lovely, soft on the lips, and lasts a decent while (at least on me, who is always drinking something ...)

I was trying to find a link if you were interested, but it seems to be sold out online, unless you want to buy it for lots of $$ on Ebay.  Sorry about that!

This set was a gift from my sister Nancy.  These are shots of the outside case and the inside.  To give you an idea of how lame I can be, I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying open this case on Christmas morning, to see what was inside.  I was ready to give up when The Tim said, "Doesn't that little black elastic band on the top move so you can open it?"

Yes.  Yes it does.

Eejit.

Anyway, I have not tried any of these yet, but they sure are pretty, right?  I hope I like them better than the lip glosses I tried a few years ago that were way too sticky for me to be able to stand wearing them.

I see they still have these at Nordstrom.

This one is perhaps one of my most glamorous gifts ever.  The Tim bought this for me, because he "has heard of Chanel, and thought it might be nice.  Plus, the perfume was the best price, so I just got that."  !!!!  Nice, huh?  He said it seemed like it might be a "nice treat."  Oh yes, it is!  This is a scent I like, but would never splurge to buy for myself.  Yay TheTim!

This one is available pretty widely at almost any department store, but also at Sephora and the like.

I guess it was a kissy and fragrant holiday for me!  :-)

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday - YAY!  Unlike most people, I love to celebrate my birthday.  Because no matter how you slice it, having a birthday is better than the alternative, right???

Though this year, it's hard for me to realize that it will be the last year I am in my fifties.  That just seems incredibly weird to me.

I had a truly lovely birthday, and received wonderful gifts.  I even received a gift that I was planning to review for you - so no time better than the present, right?

And here you are - Sephora brand Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover.  I received a large bottle of this from the kitties and Dug.  :-)

Now, I have never been a big fan of products that were specifically touted as eye makeup removers.  The ones I have tried have been too greasy, too ineffective, too expensive, too likely to get in my eyes and sting ... well, you get the picture. And for a long time, I just tried using whatever I used to wash my face to get rid of eye makeup - and would not buy waterproof eye makeup, since it wouldn't come off.

Then I read about an eyeliner I wanted to try (that's another review altogether), so when I bought it, I also bought a small bottle of this to try.

This stuff works!  And it works without having any of the negative qualities listed above.  It's very gentle, very effective, and not expensive at all.  I was actually planning to buy it again, and get a bigger size.  But The Tim said that every time he reached for his deodorant, he would see the one I already had, and noticed it was getting to the point of being empty, so I "must use it."  So he decided that it would be a good gift from the pets.

I would say that even if it is not your birthday, you should give this a try.  It has worked really well for me, and I was going to replace it myself, never thinking it would be done as a birthday gift.

(For the record, The Tim is not necessarily a "noticer" where beauty products are concerned, so this was a *real* surprise!)

A Little Bit of Beauty for Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Day, and to be honest, we are still enjoying Christmastime.  It's always nice to have a day to just be together, and enjoy the feeling of the holidays.  In our house, that usually includes a fire in the fireplace, which makes it just seem that much  more cozy.

Many lovely gifts were given and received as well.  The Tim and I were somewhat more restrained than usual in our gifts to each other, as we decided that the major part of our gifts would be new chairs for our living room.  (We have identified the chairs we like, now we just want them to go on sale ...)

My sister Nancy who lives in California has had issues over the past few years sending packages through the USPS.  For whatever reason, the packages never arrive, or arrive damaged, etc.  So this year she decided that she was sending our gifts directly from Nordstrom.  As it turns out, hers were the only beauty-related gifts I received and they are wonderful as far as I'm concerned.  My box contained two small bottles:

This nail polish, called Piece of My Heart.  I've heard of Deborah Lippmann nail polishes and products, but have never tried them, so I am excited to both receive and try this.  (Though not right away, since I currently am wearing OPI A Ruby for Rudolph, since it's Christmastime.)

She also sent this:

It's a topcoat, called Addicted to Speed, which is supposed to be a quick-drying, setting coat for your manicure.  Nancy and I agreed that neither of us would be likely to buy this for ourselves, due to the cost, but that it was great to receive as a gift.  She knew about it after receiving a bottle from a friend for her birthday.

My hands and nails are not particularly great-looking, but I try to take care of them, and I love nail polish.  I have even found a system that keeps the polish on and - most of the time - not chipping for as long as 5 days, so I try to polish my nails somewhat regularly.

The fact that my sister even bothers to send gifts is gift enough, as she has kids of her own, and grandkids to buy for.  Getting something fun like this is just an extra treat.

I'll let you know once I use the polish how I feel about it.  But it's looking like even if the rest of me doesn't look much different in the new year, my hands will!