The Haul.

Alright, so when I went to Mac, I'd planned on buying a Mineralize Skinfinish/Natural in my skin tone, a slightly darker one for contouring, and a Mineralize Skinfinish for highlighting. I also wanted to try out a blusher as it's something I've never worn before. So I get there and ask the assistant/makeup artist person about the skinfinish naturals, and she gives me a shade which I thought would be WAY too light for my skin. I trusted her judgement though so the first thing I bought was the skinfinish naturals in light.

Then, instead of a darker shade for contouring, she recommended a Powder Blush. I'm liking it, but I'm still going to go get my skinfinish instead and use the blusher just as a blusher and not for contouring. It makes my face too red.

'Tenderling'

Again, instead of a mineralise skinfinish for highlighting, I was recommended a different product. It's a Cream Colour Base, and can be used in a variety of ways. I'm actually loving this and will continue to buy it.

'Shell'

I also wanted a concealer, and I ended up buying the same one I had had in mind anyway. It's the Studio Sculpt Concealer, and I'm liking the coverage it gives, though it is quite thick and takes a good bit of blending.

NW15

As I mentioned in my previous post, I already had a foundation from MAC. On talking to the assistant though, I discovered it was completely the wrong one, so I bought a Mineralize Satinfinish foundation while I was there. I got it in an unexpected colour for me (NC15. The NC colours are yellow toned, and I am not) but this one matched my skin perfectly. My NW18 Studiofix fluid was actually looking a bit orange on me, which is odd, but I'm pleased to have something better!

NC15

And finally I bought something which I've wanted for AGES and I have to say I'm loving it. It's Fluidline gel eyeliner in blacktrack. Love!

You can see I've been using it a lot!

So, after all that I'm loving what I bought, but I still have a bit of a list of things I want to buy. First it'll be a Mineralize Skinfinish Naturals in medium, then who knows after that. If I ever win the lottery, I'm buying out that whole shop!

Makeup obsessed.

Recently I've become totally obsessed with makeup and watching tutorials on YouTube (specifically BeautifulFreak and LittleKiva) and have started buying new makeup again. Previously I'd been using the same makeup for years, and only replacing my mascara and pressed powder when I ran out. A few weeks ago I bought my first MAC product, studiofix fluid foundation. Later I was to find out that this was totally the wrong thing to buy for my skin type, but at the time I was totally overwhelmed by the mac store and didn't know whether to pick something up off the shelf or ask someone to get me what I wanted. I ended up taking it off the shelf which was apparently the wrong thing to do, and someone got me a new one. *facepalm*

Last week I went to the MAC store again with a list of things I wanted, and this time I nabbed someone and asked for help. I ended up with a few items that I hadn't planned on getting but which I am now happy I got. I'd still like some of the things I'd originally gone for which I ended up not getting, so I'll have to go back at some point and get them one by one (because I'm now skint and can't afford to buy a whole load of products again!)

I'll do a little rundown of what I got with some pictures tomorrow, as it's now almost 11pm and I'm going to head off to bed! (Plus I haven't actually taken any pictures yet and I quite honestly cba at the moment.)

Also I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet or not, but I stretched my ears again and am now at 18mm :) I'm quite happy with this size at the moment, but no doubt I won't be after a while! My goal size is still 1inch :D

FRINGE!

So, not a completely wordless Wednesday. I lied.

This evening I cut my fringe. I've been debating doing it for AGES, and realised that the only way I'd know if I suit one is to bite the bullet and just chop. So I did, and I think I suit it :) Strangely, the picture I took to put up on Facebook looks nothing like me. It's bizarre, I can't see myself in it at all :/ Shall post here too.

Not saying it wouldn't be nice to have a face that skinny though. Must be the lighting. Maybe I should stand under my floorlamp more often...

Wordless Wednesday

I'm really glad...

...Dexter is out of nappies. I couldn't have coped this week if he wasn't using the toilet. Yep, he's not well and has the runs. TMI? Sorry!

So we've just been at home for the past week, he's been clingy and sometimes declares he's 'just a bit grumpy' and needs some calpol to make him feel better. I wish calpol didn't taste so nice then he wouldn't like it and ask for it all the time. He's also enjoying being 'naked Decky' all week. He keeps wanting to go to bed naked too, though I'm not brave enough to leave him nappy-less overnight just yet!

Also today it snowed AGAIN. I'd hoped we'd had the last of the snow til next winter, but apparently not. Can't even go out and make snowmen though cause the boy isn't well. *sigh*

I'm off now, the boy is grumping (terrible 2's are in full swing despite him not being quite 2 yet) and I've not got anything interesting to say anyway and I'm probably being boring *shrug*

I know, I know...

... it's been ages since I last posted. I did warn you I'd forget about this! Well, actually, I didn't forget, I just had nothing to write about if I'm honest!

Today I'm really just doing a bit of a body mod update. My ears are at 14mm and have been for a few weeks. I'm leaving them another week or so then I'm going to start to stretch to 16mm. I'm bored of my white acrylic plugs I've got in at the moment, but there's no point buying nicer jewellery when I'm going to go bigger anyway. I think I'll stick at 16mm for a while though and get some pretty plugs to wear :D

Also I got my septum pierced on Tuesday! I've been contemplating getting it done for ages so when I was in Glasgow I went to a tattoo/piercing place that's doing £10 piercings at the moment and got it done. I'm undecided at the momen if it suits me but when it's healed I'll put in a smaller ring and see how that looks. I'll give it a good chance anyway :)

Yeah, I don't know what kind of face I'm pulling here...

So that's it! Other than that, I'm going to get Dexter weighed today randomly as I think he's got super heavy recently.

Just waiting on the nice weather now so I can get out and do stuff! Oh! Actually, there is something else. The pigeon eggs didn't hatch :( So now my balcony is clear and I'm chasing the pigeons away every chance I get. I don't want to be having to scrub pigeon shit off of there ever again!

See? Memory like a sieve!

I knew I'd forget about this at some point, so here I am 6 days after my last post and feeling guilty about not being a good blogger. In truth though, I've been steering clear of the internet the past few days after a stupid argument with extended family. Never good when someone starts to threaten you online.

We've not been up to much anyway. Just the usual - Gymboree on a Tuesday, shopping on Wednesday, and today we went to Ikea. Dexter got his first ever shape sorter (I know, you'd think I'd have got him one before now!) and he loves it :)

Tomorrow we're off to get him new shoes, as his feet have had a sudden growth spurt and the shoes I bought him about a month ago are too small already. Then he's going to spend the night with his Granny, and I'm going to have a nice bubble bath and read a book in peace!

The ear!

Here's the 12mm tunnel (and my keloid scar from my industrial)

Silver Vixen?

I'm properly going grey. It's not even funny. I've known about it for a while but I've been in denial, and ever ready with the tweezers to pull out the silver hairs before anyone else notices them. Today though I noticed that I've got a good three or four shiny silver hairs drawing attention to themselves right on the top of my head. Time to get the hair dye out! I'm annoyed. I wanted to go back to my natural colour for a while. I've been dying my hair for years (usually just a darker brown, but occasionally something like a bright red) and decided it was time to give it a break. Sorry hair, I'm going to attack you with dye again asap!

In other news I got my 12mm tunnels in this morning, yay! I taped for only 2 days and it only took 4 layers of ptfe/teflon plumbers tape to go up a mm. Definitely giing my ears a rest for a couple of weeks before I tape to 14mm. I've got new plugs on the way though in 14 and 16mm. Excited!

Nothing else of interest to report. The weather is properly SHIT, so I'm stuck indoors. Cue hours of kids tv and lots of trawling the internet. Boring!

The bridge, the burn, and the babywearing Mummy.

Today after Gymboree we walked to Granny's (my Mum's) house and took some pictures along the way. We crossed over the 'Stuckie' bridge:

 

Which crosses the River Leven (so, not a burn, but I just enjoyed the allieration).

And of course, I was babywearing too, hence the title. I adore wearing Dexter. I can't be arsed with buggies, and I love having him close. I recently bought an EllaRoo wrap and I love it so much! Here's Dexter in a rucksack carry today on our walk:

I might be getting a bit obsessed with wraps though. I'm always trawling youtube looking for videos of new ways to tie them, and watching African women wear their babies in a Khanga cloth (which they don't tie at all! they just roll the top rail down and tuck/roll the bottom rail under). I think I'm beginning to bore people by going on about it though. Namely the lady at gymboree, and the aforementioned granny. Hi Mum!

Arghhhhhh, vermin!!!

No blog yesterday - I'd love to say it was because I was super busy and didn't have a minute to write anything, but actually I did nothing all day, nothing remarkable happened, and so I had nothing to write about. We did go visit my Dad in the evening though. Dexter had an 'accident' and had to be brought home with my scarf tied round him like pants/shorts *facepalm* That was the highlight of my day!
I did make a discovery yesterday though. I have a balcony coming off my livingroom, which Dexter plays on in the summer. With the weather being so crappy at the moment (seeing as it's winter) I haven't been out there in weeks! I decided yesterday to go out and give it a tidy, and to bin the foam square things that I had down as a sort of 'flooring' for Dexter. They've gone all manky since they've been lying out there. So anyway, I go out there and start moving stuff about and I scare the shit (probably literally) out of a pigeon that was out there hiding in a corner. This seemed ominous. In the summer the same pigeon had a nest out there and it caused me no end of stress and I had to clean up a LOT of pigeon crap. I prayed there were no eggs. Cue me going 'Pleease no!' 'Awww crap!' :(

 

 

 

The offending eggs!

The pigeon Mummy is pretty though. Nearly all white. So anyway, for a split second I contemplated kicking her nest over the edge, but I couldn't do it. They may be vermin but they are cute (the chicks are UGLY though, as you will no doubt see over the coming weeks as they hatch). I'm NOT looking forward to cleaning up their shit though. I'm chucking that blue foam tile in the bin as soon as the chicks leave.

In other news, I got my 11mm tunnels in, yay! I'd been adding a layer of tape to my 10mm tunnels every day, and I tried my 11mm ones last night, and the right one went straight in. The left was being stubborn, but after another wrap of tape last night, I got it in this morning with no trouble. LOVING this stretching method!

11mm tunnel :)

To Glasgow!

Ok I forgot to take bathroom pictures. It's not finished in any case as I went and ripped a big bit of wood off the wall. It was annoying me. Need to touch up some paint now and then it shall be finished at long last!

Today we're going to the Apple shop to find a new computer for my Mum, and we're meeting up with my brother who we haven't seen in a few weeks. Dexter's excited about seeing 'Huncle Gary!' Hehe.

Sourdough starter...

It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. It's day 3 and it smells VILE. I think I got some bad stuff in there. I'm gonna ditch it and start again. *vom*

I'm off out in a bit to get some bathroom bits and pieces. I finally got round to painting it properly after over a year of living here, and today I'm gonna get a mirror and some tile stickers and maybe some graduated fish for the wall. We shall see what I can pick up when I'm out!

I'll blog properly later and depending on what I purchase today there might be pictures on offer. Right now though I'm off to get washed and dressed and to wrap another layer of tape round my tunnels :D

Teflon tape is my new best friend.

So aside from being a Mummy, and doing domestic things like baking, I'm also really into body modification. A few years back I was an apprentice tattooist, and although it was fun at the time, I realised I enjoy being tattooed more than I enjoy doing the tattooing, so that career path is out for me. I've had a fair few piercings over the years too, most of which have been retired, but I still have a few (double tongue, navel and lobes), the latter being the point of this entry.
I've been stretching my lobes for about 4 years now. I started out with standard piercing gauge which is teeny tiny, and I stretched up to 8mm which I stayed at for aaaages. Eventually I did the 8-10mm stretch and I was satisfied with that size. In October 2009 I moved into my current home, and during the moving process I knocked one of my glass tunnels out of my ear and I lost it :( Those tunnels were the only comfortable jewellery I had at that size (I did also have glass spirals but they're too heavy for everyday wear) so I had to downsize to my 8mm plugs. Time went on and I just never stretched up again, despite finding my (now chipped) glass tunnel, but after a trip to Nirvana body piercing (Glasgow) at the end of 2010, I was reinspired to start stretching again. My Mum bought me a gorgeous pair of buffalo horn tunnels in 12mm, and I was all set to start stretching again.
I thought the stretch back to 10mm would be easy. Generally the lobes stretch slightly of their own accord, and from experience with previous stretches that had been far apart, the taper generally slides right through with no resistance. This was not the case! I ended up wearing my heavy glass spirals overnight and finally got my double flare glass tunnels in again the next day. I let them heal over Christmas and then I was ready for the stretch to 12mm! What I didn't know is that it's possible to get jewellery in 11mm (7/16ths if you're American) and that going from 10-12mm was skipping a size. I got the taper through one ear and it HURT. Like, a lot. I tried to follow through with the jewellery (single flare stainless steel tunnel as my gorgeous buffalo horn plugs are double flare) and it just wasn't happening. 2 days with the taper in and I finally managed to get the tunnel through. My ear was not happy. Sea salt soaks eased it but it was still complaining. I tapered the other ear anyway, and again couldn't follow through with the jewellery. Left it in for a couple of days and then while cleaning round the jewellery I discovered I'd torn my right lobe. I had to downsize :( Sad times! So I downsized to my 10mm tunnels again and that's where I've been til today! Luckily I avoided any blowouts though which is one good thing at least.

12mm taper in first ear!

I've decided I'm done with tapers and what's best for my ears is gradual stretching so I'm going for the teflon tape method. Today I wrapped my tunnels with 4 wraps of the tape which my ears took to comfortably. From now on I'm gonna be doing ONE wrap per day or so til I can get my 11mm tunnels in, then a nice long rest and I'll tape til I can get my 12mm beauties in!

The goal is 20mm I think, but we'll see when I get there if I decide to stay at that size. It's addictive you know ;)

Noms!

My latest hobby is baking :) Specifically bread. I've always loved to bake, but I always go down the cake route rather than making anything savoury. So 2 days ago I armed myself with flour and yeast and I made my first loaf. It was YUMMY and there and then I decided that I'm not buying supermarket bread anymore. Making my own was easy, cheaper, and much tastier.

Today was my second attempt. I decided to be a bit more adventurous, so in with the flour, salt and yeast went some oregano and black pepper, then after proving and knocking it back, I rolled out the dough into a big rectangle, spread it with tomato puree, sprinkled on basil, cheese, ham and some baby plum tomatoes (cut in half) then rolled it up like a swiss roll and put it in the oven for half an hour.

It's already half done and it's not even lunchtime yet. OOPS! Dexter's loving it too, though I do have crumbs all over the carpet. He will insist on wandering about with his food. So here's the finished product, and the recipe too :)

500g strong white bread flour
1tsp salt
1 1/2tsp vegetable oil
1tsp oregano
couple of twists of black pepper
Yeast - you can use a sachet, but I used the stuff that comes in a tub. Dissolve 1tsp sugar in 150ml warm water then add 3tsp of the yeast and leave it somewhere warm for 15mins til it froths (and makes your kitchen smell like a brewery)
Up to 150ml warm water, added slowly til your dough is the right consistency.

Knead your dough, leave it somewhere warm til it doubles in size, knock back, roll, then spread on your tomato puree and whatever you want to fill it with. Bake on a baking sheet, gas mark 6 for 30mins.

Eat!

Picnic in the cold!

So today we went for a picnic on the shore of Loch Lomond, which we live right beside. Nothing fancy, just some crisps and sausage rolls, and throwing stones into the water. Dexter fell in though and was soaked so ended up wearing pyjama trousers which for some reason I'd packed in my bag rather than jeans or jogging trousers. *facepalm*
      Got some lovely pictures though with my Mum's camera. I'd love a proper camera like this of my own but I can't afford it. I think it's something I'll maybe start saving for though as I love taking pictures with it.

Here's my favourite picture of the day: Beautiful scenery and Dexter sat in the Loch.

Zzzzzz

Waking up at 3:30am and having to go downstairs and get Dexter a drink = Yawn! Waking up at 3:30am and realising I potentially have at least another 4 hours in bed = bonus.

But then it doesn't work like that, because inevitably the small child who woke me up for a drink initially is now going to continue asking for a drink for the rest of the night. Yawn! So it's in this knackered state I start spouting my random nonsense of the day.

You know when you're half asleep and your mind just comes out with the most mental stuff? Yeah well last night, as I was being woken constantly to the tune of  'More orange juice Mummy', my mind decided that each period of time I slept for was like a giant scale of a fish. At the time, in my sleep deprived state I decided that this was quite poetic, but in the light of day I can only think: Why the hell was I dreaming about fish, let alone giant ones that only come into existence through my disturbed sleeping pattern? So I looked it up online (though I'm not sure I believe in dream dictionaries)

'Scales

To dream of fish scales is a prediction of good financial luck - you will have an increase in material wealth.'

 Nice. I'm inclined to think I'm just a lunatic though.

I've been meaning to start a blog for a while, but never got round to it. I put it off as I thought I'd have nothing to fill it with. Day to day life is pretty repetitious and, to some, seemingly dull, but there's little moments throughout the day where Dexter does something, or I just think about something completely random, and if I don't write them down then they're lost. I forget what my train of thought was or Dexter moves on and does something else and I forget about little things.

So anyway, here's where I'm going to spout random crap. Hopefully I'll remember to actually come on and share the random crap and not forget about here too. I have a memory like a sieve though so I make no promises!