the meandering mind of a History Hound

November 3: Feast Day of St. Hubertus, Patron Saint of Hunters

2010-11-03T19:58:00.000-04:00

I couldn't let the day go by with out posting about one of my favorite medieval Saints, St. Hubert, patron saint of hunters, dogs, forest workers, furriers, trappers, archers, metal workers, machinist, mathematicians & opticians. St. Hubert's association with hunters & hunting dogs led to his patronage against rabies, dog bites and badly behaved dogs.

Saint Hubert and the stag, artist unknown

Masses are held to celebrate the Feast of St. Hubertus which coincides with the start of the hunting season in many European countries.

According to Saints.SQPN

"Hubert was passionately devoted to hunting. While chasing a stag on a Good Friday morning, he received a vision of a crucifix between the animal’s antlers. A voice warned him, “Hubert, unless you turn to the Lord, and lead a holy life, you shall quickly go down to hell.” It was a conversion experience for Hubert.

When his wife died, Hubert renounced all his worldy positions, titles and wealth, handed his patrimony, and the care of his son, to his brother, and studied for the priesthood."

I'll revisit St. Hubert at a later date to discuss his achievements & the military orders named for him. In the mean time, I leave you with some of my favorite images of him.


vision de st. hubert

Trick-or-Treat: Pit Bull Style

2010-11-01T16:11:00.000-04:00

Have you ever reached a point on a project in which it has frustrated you to the point that you are more than ready to take a dead blow hammer to it and smash it all to hell because it has frustrated you so much?

Yes? Then you know why I am taking a brief break to spare my laptop the tender mercies of my hammer collection. Anyways, to distract myself from the urge to display the "Irish", I figured I'd post some of our pictures from Halloween/ Samhain.

The "Grem-Reaper" and "Pump-pit" or "Pit-kin"

Yep. Birdie wore that pumpkin costume all night. We walked about 2 miles on our begging route and she trotted along, happy as could be. The head gear didn't even bother her. She was more than happy to accept a huge piece of steak from one neighbor as her "treat" and collect her venison from another.

Only in suburban CT do you see fathers driving John Deere or Craftsman lawn tractors with their children in the little town behind carts and get venison for your dog while Trick or Treating. Our neighbor always gives our dogs the remains of last years venison out of his freezer on Halloween to make room.

At least the silly dog was warm.

Friday was the Halloween Parade at Gremlin's school, so we went up to watch it. Of course, Birdie had to be dressed up. She wore her skele-jammies from Target with the candy corn ruff I made her.

She kissed the cops, licked the kids and was a hit, as usual.

Then it was off to do a visit at the nursing home. The residents loved all the costumes Birdie wore in October.

CANDY! Birdie was trying to help John-John pick out some candy from the pot of candy Daddy was holding out to him, but he wasn't having any of that! No dog spit on his candy, thankyouverymuch.

After a day of therapy visits, Halloween parades and long night of trick or treating, this is how a serious working dog relaxes. On the over sized chair with a blanket & her wubba.

Veto Power

2010-10-27T11:48:00.000-04:00

No. Not dog related, but rather amusing, so I had to share.

My 8 year old daughter, the Gremlin is in fourth grade. They are studying the State of CT and the government in social studies right now.

I just received a phone call from her teacher about the test she took this morning.

When asked what a veto was, Gremlin wrote, "is when the President says NO to a bill given to him to sign into law. It can also be an italian guy too."

At least her teacher was amused.


The child who would live in BDU's if we let her

She has an A- in Social Studies, an A- in Science, can read Le Morte d'Arthur, thinks that Theodore Roosevelt rocks and wants to be a United States Marine when she grows up.

(pit)Bull in a China Shop

2010-10-27T10:47:00.000-04:00

Saturday, I ventured out to the indoor Flea Market to poke around the tools for a few metal rulers to mount to my work bench and take some pictures of the pyrex for Erica of PinkSuedeShoe.

My service dog, Birdie is so well trained that we always receive compliments on her when we are out. This time was no exception.

See? I am a GOOD dog. psssst.......Did you see that tool box over there, Mom?

She was laying down mostly out of the way while I snapped pictures of pyrex. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself about a (pit)Bull in a China Shop, so I had to snap a few pictures of her.

I'm being a good girl. Are you done yet?

The tool vendor remembered me from when I bought some hammers & pliers from him a few weeks prior, he was still amused that I passed over dishes, knick knacks and jewelery for tools. I guess seeing a woman's face light up like a kid on Christmas morning at the sight of so many tools isn't a common occurance.

Hey, what do you want? I'm not normal.

I like tools, especiallay old tools that are still functionable, because I will use them. I spent the better part of an enjoyable hour going through bins, boxes, drawers and cases of tools looking for just the right ones. I found my rulers in just the right lengths, so I didn't have to cut them. 2 for $10? Sold to Crazy Lady with the dog. He threw in the leather knife because he liked us, although I am not sure what it's used for.

While looking around, I just happened to catch a glimpse of a little marble dog sitting on a table full of dog items. I've been looking for dog book ends to keep my leather supply catalogs from toppling off the shelf, so I had to have him. The woman at the stall looked down at my well behaved dog laying down while I poked through all the dog figurines, scratched off the $15 price tag and told me I could have him for $5.00 since she knew I'd give him a good home. Sold to Crazy Lady with the Good Dog.

Flea Market Treasures

Have a look at this handsome little guy! He has a few dings and scratches, but most dogs who actually work end up with some, it just adds to their character. I got the riveting hammer (L) and the leatherworking hammer (R) along with the nippers and needle nose pliers without scoring on the jaws on my last trip. And of course, I had show off a few of the collars I've made recently. The red one is Birdie's personal collar. I made a harness to match it.

Changes are coming.....

2010-10-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

It doesn't take much to make me happy.

On a whim, I hopped into a chat on Retrieverman's weblog last night with himself and Christopher of Border (Collie) Wars. I learned about dog and human genetics that I didn't know and went to bed happy with my new found knowledge and a list of things to look up & research in the notepad that I keep next to my laptop. Nothing makes me happier than learning something new about a subject that I love.

I came to the realization that I need blog about the thing I am most passionate about, the history of dogs. Nothing fascinates me more. I spend hours climbing through book stacks, combing through book barns, searching the internet, pouring through documents, tax records, accounting, wills, estate reports and other records that are hundreds of years old, cataloging information & documenting images.

Historical Hound will soon become all about dogs. Other posts about my crafting, war paint (mineral make-up), product reviews, disability and subject matter not directly related to Canine history will be moved into another blog with a forwarding link left in the original post. Posts about the attacks by the "ladies" on the Ugly site against Kristen & Aromaleigh will remain here as well as be moved to the new blog.

Once the other blog is ready to go with all the posts moved, I will post a link.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-20T14:03:00.000-04:00

Artwork created by Hoyden Herself

Review: One Hand Washes The Other - My third order

2010-10-12T01:32:00.000-04:00

After three orders from One Hand Washes the Other, I guess you could say that Becca has quickly become one of my favorite bath product shops for a number of reasons.

Opening a box from One Hand Washes the Other is like Christmas, you never know what kind of little surprises that Becca has tucked in there, especially when you order around Halloween, because that is her favorite Holiday.

Just have a look at the goodies that were tucked into my box, stickers, skull & spider rings, an eyeball and a purple fuzzy guy. Check out the awesome ribbons that each product is tied with in those cool little decorated bags and the neat post card.

These are the soaps that I ordered for myself. Victoria Rose Cold Presses soap for a friend, Deep Black bar & Breathe glycerin soap for me. The Deep Black Creme soap is a sample product that I volunteered to try out for Becca. You can read it's review here.

Becca's soaps are wonderful. I haven't had any reactions to any of the ones I have tried, they smell good (according to my husband & daughter - I have no sense of smell), they clean my skin without drying it out, which is vitally important for someone who has Sjogren's syndrome.

These little beauties are Becca's ingenious glow in the dark Brainssss soaps. If your children argue with you about washing their hands or taking a shower, order these soaps and your problems are over.

My 8 year old daughter is quite the tomboy, so it seems like I am always arguing with her about washing up. Not anymore, she loves to wash up with these bad boys. My neighbor was amazed that the kids all trouped into the bathroom to wash up the first time I asked them because they were all dying to try Gremlin's cool soaps. Gremlin loves that she can pick her own scents for these from OHWTO's vast fragrance list .

Just a warning, you should alert adult visitors that the soap glows before they stumble into the bathroom. The glowing brain shaped object in the soap dish startled the heck out of our neighbors & a few guys that Mark works with.

Last, but not least, I love the little envelope that comes with a stamped image on it, sealed with an "O" stamped into the wax. It always has goodies in it. This time there were samples of Peach Tea, Blackberry Sage Tea & Pumpkin Eater Solid scents. My husband really liked the Peach Tea one & Gremlin took off with Pumpkin Eater. I ordered a full size Breathe.

I haven't been able to wear any kind of parfum in close to 10 years due my extreme sensitivities, but I can actually wear Becca's Solid Scents (parfum). You can't begin to imagine how happy this makes me.

Wonderful products, excellent customer service, ingenious ideas, creative packaging with generous samples are what you can expect if you order from One Hand Washes the Other. Becca's products are also vegan & 100% cruelty free.

Review: One Hand Washes The Other - Deep Black Creme

2010-10-11T22:39:00.000-04:00

Recently, Becca from One Hand Washes the Other asked for a few testers for her Deep Black Creme soap, so I volunteered & asked her to tuck the sample into my next order.    With my ridiculous allergies & incredibly sensitive skin, I am the perfect guinea pig for new products.

Since I know that I am prone to reactions, I always patch test new products before using them with a specific procedure. This is a good practice for anyone who has allergies or sensitive skin to get into the habit of.    In addition to the Deep Black Creme, I tested the "Breathe" solid perfume that I received as well.

DEEP BLACK CREME SOAP INGREDIENTS:
{Glycerin, water, sodium cocyl isethionate, sorbitol, propylene glycol, disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate, stearic acid, sodium chloride, diazolidinyl urea (and) iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, tetrasodium EDTA}, Apricot Kernal Oil, Rice Bran Oil, French Green Clay, Essential Oil Blend, Activated Charcoal, Vitamin E

1.   Clean off the surface of the table/desk/counter on which you are going to rest your products and let it dry. I use Method cleaners and then spritz with 97% alcohol.   I wear gloves and do this before I wash my hands to make sure that the cleaners do not interfere with my test.

2.   I start with clean dry skin on the inside of my arm. Usually my left arm since I am right handed. I use a super mild soap, rinse really really well, then pat my skin dry. I try to limit the number of products I am patch testing to no more than three, but if I am testing eye shadows, I'll do up to 10 as long as I can space them far enough from each other.

OHWTO Test: Step 3

3. Next I lay out the products on a paper towel along with q-tips & bandaids. Using the q-tips, I put the products on the pad portion of the bandaid. Notice that the bandaids are set up so that I can just slap them on without touching the product. What you don't see here is the rubber gloves that I use. I forgot to include them because I had to keep putting them on and taking them off so that I didn't contaminate anything.

OHWTO Test: Step 4

4. The bandaids with the products are affixed to the inside of my arm and left on for at least two hours.

OHWTO Test: Step 5

5. After four hours (was busy sewing during the waiting time) it was time to take off the bandaids. In that time, I did NOT have any burning, tingling, itching or other indicators that either of the two products was causing a reaction. If that had happened, I would have removed the test bandaids right away and washed the area to remove the product from my skin.

OHWTO Test: Step 6

6. Here's what my skin looked like after I unzipped the bandaid adhesive on one side. No redness, swelling or reactions at all.

TEST RESULTS: Deep Black Creme soap and Solid perfume in "Breathe" scent are good to go!

After the Deep Black Creme passed my patch test, I tried it out on my face & I really like it. I also have the Deep Black soap bar from One Hand Washes the Other which I use on my face, neck & decolage, but I like the creme soap for those days when my face feels disgusting and gritty after I've been outside working in the yard or at the kennel training dogs. I smooth it on my face and let it sit for a few minutes, like a mask, then I gently scrub my skin with my finger tips to loosen the grime and rinse. All the guck, oil, dirt, dog spit and what ever else I managed to get into is gone. My face is clean & my skin feels soft and subtle without that uncomfortable tight feeling that some soaps leave. It doesn't lather a lot, which I like because it means that I don't get soap in my eyes.

The ONLY complaint I have about the Deep Black Creme soap is the container. I would prefer that it be in some kind of squeeze bottle so that I don't have to put my fingers into the jar or use and implement to scoop the product out. I feel like I was contaminating the soap every time I dipped into the jar for more. I've let Becca know this and she has said the product will be sold in bottles. YAY!

CONCLUSION: When Deep Black Creme is available for sale in One Hand Washes The Other's Etsy store, I WILL be buying it because it is fantastic and I need more!

A bit of inspiration for all of us.

2010-10-07T02:20:00.001-04:00

One of my FAVORITE blogs right now is Ana White's, "putting the make in homemaker". I can not tell you how much I enjoy this blog. Ana is a woman after my own heart. She has her own tools and she knows how to use them!

One of her recent posts about a woman named Stephanie really inspired me. You see, in spite of being a quadriplegic, Stephanie decided she was going to build a farmhouse bed for her daughter and she did it! With a little help from an auto hammer (I really must get one of those!) and a little help here & there, it came out beautifully.

She says that "Sometimes in life we need all we need to do is TRY". And try she did. Please take a moment to read Stephanie's awesome story and check out the beautiful bed that she made.

Although my disability is very different, sometimes doing woodworking projects is hard for me, especially during times when the sjogren's syndrome flares and my hands are weak and painful. Like Stephanie, I am not allowed to use power tools unless there is an adult home, in the same area that I am working and armed with a cell phone in case I have an accident.

As I have always said, "My disability doesn't stop me, it just slows me down. Sometimes."

Hurricane Hoyden........

2010-10-01T02:31:00.001-04:00

My new physical therapist, Marc, calls me Hurricane Hoyden, hence the name of this post. He says that I when I get going on a project, I spin with immense amounts of energy, leaving a swath of chaos in my wake. I think he's either talking to my husband or peeking in my workshop when I'm not home.

I haven't been posting lately for a number of reasons, the biggest being that I've been up to my butt in alligators with work on several projects plus lots of Therapy Dog visits with Birdie. There are some reviews of One Hand Washes the Other as well as lots of projects that I need to post soon.

Right now, I'm finishing up a 1950's Pin-up style photoshoot for the 2011 Pitbulltalk.com calendar, "Pit Bulls 'n Pretty Girls" with the talented Jillian of 60b Photography. We did a shoot last week at Drazen Orchards and will do the final shoot this weekend. Here a few of the pictures that Jillian sent me already.

I made a red dress with a cute daisy print for the first shoot, but decided that I hated it because it didn't look good on me. My friend Sidney loved it and it fit her beautifully, so instead of abandoning the dress, I finished it and she wore it to a wedding. She got lots of compliments on it. She's promised me a picture of it.

Then I made a red dress with white trim for myself, in this picture, which was okay, I wore it last week for the photoshoot, but I wasn't in love with it, so I took it apart and remade it into another style. I have dubbed that dress "Franken Dress". It will have it's own post some time next week.

And a third dress (or is it fourth - since I remade Franken Dress) is almost done as well, it's a pretty yellow with tiny white, red & black dot print.

Oh! And I made the collar & harness that Birdie is wearing in these pictures. After the shoot, I added some bling to her harness, so you'll have to wait until next week some time to see it.

Another project that I've been working on is a bird book for my elderly neighbor who is in the nursing home. She loves to watch the birds, so I've been creating pages with one species per page, large pictures and print with info about each bird. Mary really loves her Bird Book.

For my Dad's Schipperke puppies, Bella & Dixie, I finished ANOTHER set of collars & harnesses. This is their fourth set of harnesses and harnesses! They are only 5.5 months old. My parents have a hard time seeing the puppies at night when they are in bed with them, so I made them little night-night collars and embroidered their names & designs on with glow in the dark thread.

Pictures of the recent gear will have to come a little later. For now, here are pictures of them in the third set of harnesses & matching collars that I made them.

First is Bella, the little Diva. She is more aloof & reserved that Dixie, but LOVES to have her picture taken.

I taught Bella to sit in about 5 minutes and had her sitting on verbal command for treats, food and by hand signal in about 30 minutes. She is a quick learner.

Next is Dixie, the little spit fire. She is super duper affectionate and bold as you please. She is NOT enamored of the camera in the least bit.

Dixie? Well, Dixie does things on her own terms. And that includes learning to sit on command. It took the better part of half and hour to be able to lure her into a sit, and the entire afternoon to get her to sit on command for a treat. Even then, she wanted to negotiate.

This little girl has a mind of her own.

The month of September brought fourth many new dog collar designs as well as finishing up several harnesses, all of which will be shown in a later post.

I also replaced some chewed up leather straps on a muzzle & put some rhinestones & floral studs into it for my friend, Alyssa so that Teeny, her Princess Peanut would look less like Hannibal Lecter when she competed.

Oldham's Teeny (Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog) became the FIRST Alapaha to earn a PSA1 title.!! Yay for Bulldogs with Bling!

And with that, I leave you with the cuteness of the B&D girls, as my Dad calls them.

Dixie & Bella - 4 months old

Oh! The things that set my imagination soaring......

2010-08-18T11:32:00.000-04:00

I stumbled upon this link somewhere rather early this morning & spent a good deal of time combing through all of the pictures, especially the details. I like details.

Threads of Time


Image from Threads of Time Main Gallery

This particular piece of beautiful work held my attention for quite awhile as I combed over the details of it's construction. The possibilities of what I could do if I learned how to do metal working like this soared through my brain.


Photo courtesy of Bonhams

Lot No: 7239
A Continental 19th century brass and black glass collar
hinged in two places, chain and pin clasp, twisted metal pattern on edges, height 1 1/4in, diameter 4 3/4in

Sunset Estate Auction, 2 Aug 2009
7601 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
Sold for $366 inclusive of Buyer's Premium

Photo courtesy of Bonhams

Lot No: 7238
A massive leather and brass collar with agate cabochons, possible goan detailed brass design applied with brass tacks, height 5in, diameter 10 1/4in

Sunset Estate Auction, 2 Aug 2009
7601 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
Sold for $1,586 inclusive of Buyer's Premium

Quick little project:: Lippie holders

2010-08-18T09:13:00.001-04:00

Lately, I've been working on several projects, so I've been pretty busy. Aromaleigh's closing has made me really sad, so I haven't felt like blogging.

I'm working on more lippie holders, brush rolls and compact mirror cases. These are some pictures from prior projects that I did for a few different friends.

The lippie holders & mirror cases are pretty simple because I do them all in the embroidery hoop.

In the hoop before pulling them off of the stabilizer.

Quick little movie on how the lippie holders are done in the hoop.

The whole set that I made for a friend. The make-up bag was not done in the hoop.

The brush rolls are similar to this one that I made awhile ago. It has three "levels" or rows for make-up brushes.

I'll post up the pictures of the current run when I get them all done.

The Terrier is FIRED!

2010-07-28T08:06:00.001-04:00

Yep. You read that right.

F-I-R-E-D!

Why, you may ask? You see, terriers are a tenacious, prey driven breed of dog that were developed in Great Britain & Ireland to hunt rodents, rabbits and fox both above & below ground. Some will even hunt otters & river rats in deeper water.

Terriers are supposed to CATCH mice, not chase them into the mouse trap behind the pellet stove, then give you a stupid look before hopping up on the chair to curl up with your pillow that she stole.

Last night I decided to sleep out on the couch so I wouldn't wake Mark up again with my tossing & turning since I just couldn't get comfortable. I must have been kidding myself. Sleep? HA! What is that? The sandman didn't just elude me, he laughed at me thumbed his nose in my general direction & sprinkled a generous truckload of wake up powder over my house.

After getting comfortable with the dog & finally falling asleep, Dozer, the big orange Cichlid decided that the tank needed rearranging & kept slamming into the filter tube. Blub, blub. CLANK. gurgle...gurgle. CLANK... blub.... blub.....   ACK! Enough already. I dumped more water in the tank, threw in some fish food and threatened to fry every fish in the tank if they didn't settle down.

I curl up on the couch with Birdie. No sooner than when I had drifted back into sleep, I hear faint rustling & clanking behind the pellet stove & along the baseboard heater. I ignore it & try to go back to sleep, but IT. WON'T. JUST. GO. AWAY.   So I get up to investigate, Birdie jumps down, spots the mouse & promptly chases it right into the mouse trap behind the pellet stove.   Wonderful. Just WONDERFUL!

It's moving around back there, so I know it's not dead, but I can't reach it.   I order Birdie to get the trap for me so I can throw it outside. Nope. She gives me this stupid look, sniffs at me with a canine look of disdain, grabs my pillow, then hops up on the chair.

WHAT?? The dog that loves to hunt, the dog that catches all the mice in the house & kills them just gave me the equivalent of the doggie three finger salute? I KNOW she can pick up the mouse trap, she has done it before when it needed to be emptied. Since the mouse is trapped, I guess it's no fun anymore, so she's not playing.

Finally at 2:30am, I had to wake my husband up to get the mouse out of the damn trap because I couldn't reach it & my SERVICE DOG refused to pick it up for me. He was less than thrilled to be woken up when he had to get up at 5:00 for work. He stumbles outside in his boxer briefs to dump the mouse in the bushes muttering about useless dogs, crazy women and damned mice.

I am still awake and I am cranky as hell.

I guess my dog has decided that she'd rather be the Princess Pit Bull, the Diva Dog & lounge around in fake furs & Mikimoto pearls rather than do the job that terriers have done for hundreds of years, the job that she usually enjoys.

So much for wordless Wednesday, at this early hour, it's been filled with enough expletives to make a Marine blush.

These make me happy

2010-07-27T00:25:00.000-04:00

Book, books, books. There can never be such a thing as too many books.

Found these images while surfing & thought I'd share since they made me happy :)

This one is my desktop background.

From http://www.creativesideblog.com/ Click here to see image in full size

Image found at http://www.creativesideblog.com/. Click HERE for full size image.

Image from http://www.creativesideblog.com/. To see image in full size, click HERE.

I saved the BEST for last.......................

You really really want to click on this link so you can indulge yourself in the details of the picture above. It is truly amazing.

Some projects I worked on during radiation treatment...

2010-07-24T03:08:00.000-04:00

During radiation treatment, I was supposed to take it easy, so no hammering of grommets or rivets, no pounding holes through leather, no heavy sewing etc. My husband confiscated my hammers, certain tools & power cords to make sure I listened.

I thought I was going to loose my mind. I rarely if ever sit still. I am always going, going, doing s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g.

So I pulled out my papers, paper punches, scissors & glue & got busy.

Our neighbor across the street had to go into a nursing home after she had a series of strokes, so Gremlin & I go visit her several times a week to bring her flowers, pretty things for her room, sit with her to keep her company and to keep her spirits up. Birdie & I also do therapy visits with all the residents once a week.

Our neighbor always loved flowers and seeing as they are seasonal here in New England, I decided that I would make as many flowers as I could out of paper so she would have flowers all year round in her room.

Name Plate with Pansies over her bed.

A bit of Shakespeare with punch art flowers

Another bit of poetry embellished with poppies sporting quilled centers.

Pictures of my neighbor with Birdie & the Gremlin that I "made pretty" per her request to hang over her bed in her room.

Pictures & drawing Gremlin made for our neighbor. She insisted that she take the picture herself and that I post it as it, so it's a little blurry.

Some of the sun catchers Gremlin & I made for our neighbor.

You don't have to be a medieval geek to appreciate this....

2010-07-22T12:37:00.001-04:00

The "Unicorn in Captivity" rendered in cake.

Close up of Unicorn. Of course, you know that I am fascinated with the collar on the unicorn & that the decorator went to extreme lengths to make sure that it was true to the tapestry AND that it is period correct.

From the Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

And wouldn't you know, it was for a SCAdian event? :)

Links here:

There do to be dragons on this page as well
Cake Wrecks Blog

The cakes creator:
Magda Cakes

Football according to the Gremlin

2010-07-22T10:05:00.000-04:00

Originally posted Dec. 6th, 2007 at 10:57 PM

I was talking to my dad and he reminded me when Gremlin was fascinated with Bullshit.

It took us 2 years to convince Gremlin that Football was NOT called BullShit. She called the ball BullShit and the game too. WHY?? Because that is what Daddy calls it when he watched it on TV.

Nothing like watching the Marines die laughing when your almost 3 year old kid tells them that she has a big bag of Bullshits for Toys for Tots and dumps out footballs.

Or better yet, when she runs through Dick's with a kid sized football under her arm bellowing across the store, "Papa! I found it! I found it! Bullshit in my size!" The sales people were in hysterics.

My dad, who used to referee College and Semi-Professional football when I was a kid, couldn't help but laugh. He understood right away.

Navigator

2010-07-22T04:00:00.000-04:00

Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian. ~ Herman Melville, Moby Dick

With that said, it is better to disembark before your ship runs aground once gain. For when you navigate by the same star, unwilling to change, you will hit the same shoals time and time again, never to be free to sail upon the open Sea. And what wonderful journey you have missed!

Voltaire - Cannibal Buffet

Whoa Baby! I'm working though my massive queue of pending posts. I have a bad habit of typing away about some thing or the other & saving it to finish later...... Must. break. that. habit.

Puppies!!!

2010-07-21T23:22:00.000-04:00

As an anniversary present to themselves, my parents are getting two Schipperke puppies. They'll be picking them up from their breeder in August.

Meet Bella & Dixie - the B&D Girls;

Two of these three little imps are Bella & Dixie.

They are so darn cute. The look like little baby bears with pointed ears.

Or maybe little fox cubs that have been playing in the mud.

Yep. My parents are going to have fun chasing these little gals around.

Good think puppy knows how to have fun, because they are coming home to a puppy shower. You know that I'll have both girls suited up in their own personalized custom collars, harnesses, leashes & doggie beds.

A starter set of gear along with car harnesses & seat belts will be sent down to my parents soon. Puppies have to travel in style, ya know?

Oh the THINGS that come out of the Gremlin's mouth.......

2010-07-21T21:54:00.002-04:00

Originally posted Jan. 15th, 2008 at 12:13 PM

I can barely type this because I STILL have tears streaming down my face from laughing.

Soooooo, I replaced one of my favorite "traffic sentences" with Fudging Rooster Licker, needless to say, Gremlin copied it.

A kid cut her off on a quad yesterday, causing her to almost crash the quad she was driving. So she screamed "FUDGING ROOSTER LICKER!" at him. Then proceeded to march her 6 year old little self over to the 13 year old boy and give him a piece of her mind about driving like an idiot, especially on the "little kid" trail.

Her little friends mother caught on to the meaning quick and was hysterically laughing, she could barely talk when she told me about it.

Last night, I sat Gremlin down to discuss big people words again. She said knew she shouldn't have yelled "pretend" bad words at the dumb big boy.

Then she asked, "Why would anyone want to LICK a rooster anyways? You'd get feathers on your tongue."

I lost it. And I am still laughing.

The back story..... one of the pit bull forums I am on has a pretty hilarious word filter. F&*%#ing C@ ck Sucker translates into Fudging Rooster Licker, I got such a giggle out of it that I decided to borrow it and use that instead. Usually surfaces when I'm driving and some idiot who got his driver's license from the Power Wheels box his kid's toy came in or a Cracker Jack box decides to do something stupid or rude.

OH! Hai lurkers from the nasty place. I seeeee you. Since you are spending SO MUCH TIME on my blog, I might as well amuse you.

Thought that THIS was WAY cool!!

2010-07-21T21:40:00.000-04:00

HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam . Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands . HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. In June,2007, HEMA was sold to British investment company, Lion Capital.

Take a look at HEMA's product pageproduct page. You can't order anything and it's in Dutch, but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens. Turn on your sound too.

This company has a sense of humor and a great computer programmer.

Review: One Hand Washes the Other

2010-07-21T15:07:00.001-04:00

Living with an extreme sensitivity to sulfates can make life a little frustrating at times, especially when products like soap, that you must use daily contains sulfates. I am always looking for good soap that removes dirt & grime, doesn't irritate or dry out my skin and is reasonably priced.

With my soap supply running critically low, I decided to give One Hand Washes the Other a go, especially since they are located in my state.

ORDERING & SHIPPING:

I made a small order so I could test out the products, the hardest part for me was picking which soaps & scents I wanted to try because there are so many that sound wonderful. What complicates this for me is that I have no sense of smell, so I had to consult my husband & daughter to ask what they thought of certain scents.

Ordering was easy & my package arrived lightening fast, I had it with in a few days.

PRODUCTS & INGREDIENTS:

My order arrived in a nice little box stamped with a key. The products were well packed in the box with individual packaging that was classy in an understated elegant way that I really liked.

I ordered two soaps, one for myself, one for my daughter, one solid perfume & one tinted lippie. The soaps are good sized, about 4 - 5 ounces each. I also received two samples of solid scents in my order, Pink Lady & Mango Brulee

YUZU - Handmade Hot Process Soap Bar made with Olive Oil and Shea Butter

I really really like this soap. It lathers & cleans beautifully without drying out my skin. No reactions from my stupidly sensitive skin. My husband really likes the smell & told me order a solid perfume. Mark tells me that it smells good without being sweet or too citrus smelling & that he can still smell it on my skin several hours later.

Yuzu is described as:

Yuzu is an Asian cousin of the grapefruit, whose flavor is described as a blend of grapefruit and mandarin. This scent has wonderful sparkling overtones of grapefruit, citron, and a hint of mandarin orange, making it a great uplifting choice for waking up in the shower on dreary mornings. A light sprinkling of cranberry seeds was applied to the top for decoration, but these can easily be picked off if you don't care for them. They're not IN the soap, and will wash off the bar in use.

INGREDIENTS:

olive oil, distilled water, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, shea butter, coconut milk, castor oil, fragrance, color, cranberry seeds

Victuals- Handmade Cold Process Olive Oil Soap Bar with Cocoa Butter- Vegan friendly

This soap I got for the Gremlin . This soap really got put to the test with my daughter. Gremlin is an 8 year old tomboy who comes in from playing outdoors absolutely filthy. She lathered up & scrubbed down coming out of the shower clean & smelling good. She says it's the perfect yummy blueberry scent for her. She has really bad eczema & did not react to the soap at all. The only bad thing about this soap is that we had to put it into a soap container to protect it from the dog, because she wanted to eat it. That is the ultimate compliment if it smells good enough to eat.

Victuals is described as:

Hearty rolled oats spiked with syrupy sweet wild blueberries, topped with a sprinking of maple sugar and a splash of vanilla rice milk. This is a breakfast staple for me, and is the inspiration for this yummy foody blend.

INGREDIENTS:

olive oil, distilled water, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, cocoa butter, coconut milk, castor oil, powdered oats, fragrance, pigment, blueberry seeds

FRIDA - Moisturizing colored lip balm

This lippie is a sheer coral-y color with a sheen of pearly gold to it. Worn on it's own it is the perfect subtle tint of color for the summer. I also layer it over a lip stain for a deeper color & to keep my lips moisturized. Unlike several other lippies I have tried recently, it glides on smoothly with no grit. (Lippies with shea butter can be gritty if the shea butter isn't melted at the right temperature & held at that temperature for a certain amount of time). It doesn't have any flavor that I can detect, although the web site says that it is flavored with blood orange essential oil. Then again, I have no sense of smell, so subtle flavors escape me. This lippie has been living in my pocket because I've been wearing it almost daily for the past two weeks.

Frida is described as:

"a sheer pearly coral, she's one hot tamale. With a trick always tucked up her sleeve, Frida's appearance subtly changes from orangey to pink in different lighting. Frida is very lightly flavored- but not sweetened- with blood orange essential oil"

INGREDIENTS:

shea butter, cocoa butter, candelilla wax, grape seed oil, almond oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, castor oil, vitamin e, flavoring, titanium dioxide, mica

Mess-free vegan fragrance in tubes

Bonsai - full tube, free samples of Pink Lady & Mango Brulee in clam shells.

The most wonderful thing about this is - I didn't react to it, at all. Can you say happy dance? I've been doing them. I haven't worn perfume in about 10 years because I have always developed a rash from it. But not this stuff, the scent goes on smoothly, not chunky and lasts for hours. I've put it on at 7am and had people tell me I smell good & ask what I am wearing after 3pm.

My husband isn't too fond of the bonsai scent, he says it smells like lemon bathroom cleaner, but he says that about anything that smells lemony. He really liked Mango Brulee & Pink Lady. Gremlin loves Pink Lady because it smells like candy & she has asked if she can have it.

Becca has so many scents, it would be hard to NOT to find one that you love. You can find a complete list of them on her BLOG.

Description of Bonsai scent from the site:

You get (1) .15oz oval tube in Bonsai: This fragrance is fresh with floral, citrus and pine accords, having some tropical fruits and wood tones in the background. This is an excellent zen-like fragrance that will be great whenever you're feeling particularly stressed and just need a relaxing respite in your day. I think I could use a whiff of this right now :)

INGREDIENTS:

sweet almond oil, grape seed oil, candelilla wax, coconut oil, vitamin e, fragrance

CONCLUSION:

I give One Hand Washes the Other Four Paws! I have already placed another order & can't wait to receive it tomorrow. I've ordered more scents to try out, a bunch of sample soaps, some for myself, my daughter & to cheer up my neighbor who is in the nursing home & another of Becca's wonderful tinted lippies.

(Please pardon the wonky formatting. Blogger frustrates the heck out of me with it's weird formatting glitches.)

Funny thing about shopping with a smart dog

2010-07-20T22:58:00.000-04:00

Originally posted in my Service Dog Training Blog: Apr. 30th, 2009 at 9:16 AM

Birdie knows the weekly items we buy at the grocery store & will sit under them to "remind" me to buy them. When they rearranged the store, the energy bars were moved. So now Birdie sits under the condoms because that's were the energy bars used to be.

Silly dog.

(Reposted by request)

Life According to Erin

2010-07-20T22:31:00.000-04:00

My friend Erin (Kaige) has been a source of inspiration & strength to me for quite some time. I wanted to share

Life According to Erin

Listen more. There will be plenty of times to talk. It's okay to be quiet sometimes. Honest.

Say exactly what you mean. Vagueness never got anyone anywhere.

Give more compliments. They don't hurt you or the receiver. But make them genuine.

A woman's virtue is not defined by her lovers, but by her character.

We discipline children in hopes they will learn to discipline themselves as adults. Discipline and love go hand in hand always.

Love courageously. Win or lose, you will more often regret the times you never played, than the times you limped off the field.

If you don't like your reputation, change it. You are your own PR person. Actions will always speak louder than words.

Share the spotlight. You're great, we know, your mother knows, but confidence is best displayed by someone who can let the attention shift and not fear it will never get back to them again.

They call it baggage for a reason. You choose whether or not to carry it. Put it down and keep walking. Life's too short to let the past haunt you in carry-on.

Muintir thar gach uile ní. Family first, always.

Balance yourself and you'll find the universe tends to follow suit.

Just because you can do a thing, doesn't mean you should do a thing.

Not standing up against a wrong is as bad as standing for it.

Never take yourself too seriously. If you can't laugh at yourself, people will wait until you're gone and laugh at you when you aren't around.

Have a passion. Have a few of them. People that have no passion for anything tangible are tedious.

Defend the defenseless.

Keep only the friends with whom you feel a kinship. Cut the rest. It's the difference between clan fealty and an acquaintance.

Men should never be judged by their mistakes, but rather by whether or not they've learned anything from them.

Enjoy the little things.

Happy Fourth of July.

2010-07-04T22:56:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrated with steak on the grill, fireworks after dark & smores over the fire on the deck. It still seems weird to me that I'm not marching in a band or in drum corps playing my trumpet on the Fourth of July.

Tonight, I leave you with this video of America's Dog.

Go Fug Thyself. - Oh yes! I do love this

2010-07-04T15:08:00.000-04:00

If the title of my blog didn't give it away already, then you should know that I am a history geek. I am not an expert by any means, but I've got a good amount of knowledge, mostly fueled by my voracious reading appetite and tendency to put down a book in order to go research something mentioned in it on the internet.

When I ran across Go Fug Thyself on the SCAToday.net reading list, I had to click on it, especially after reading the the author's introduction of her blog:

"In tribute to Go Fug Yourself, we document the horrors of poorly-researched, poorly-made, or just plain fugly medieval and Renaissance costuming. We're limited to professionally made costumes, and no cheap Halloween products, unless something goes so far beyond taste and common sense that anyone should know better than to make or wear it."

And here I've sat for the last few hours, indulging myself in this author's wonderfully sardonic writing & bloody friggin' hysterical commentary about "historical" costuming. Oh yes. A blogger after mine own heart.

My husband often complains that watching historical based movies with me is painful because I catch so many anachronisms and in some cases I'm up off the couch getting ready to fire off an email to the idiot who put the wrong style or type of armor in the wrong time period, mixed types of armor that did not co-exist in a specific period or has made a huge faux pas in the costuming.

Don't ask me what the hell the person that listed that costume to the left was thinking when they listed on Ebay as a Viking costume, it just defies explanation.

Heaven forbid a breed of dog is cast in a movie that did not exist in the time period of the script or was not known in that region at that period of time, I am insufferable. See my rant about the bulldog that was cast as Gladstone in the Sherlock Holmes movie here.

True Ugliness revealed..... Part II

2010-06-30T22:00:00.003-04:00

I’ve always felt that a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic. ~ Lisa Alther

Part II of the screen shots of screen shots of the "password protected" portion of the R4TU site is below.

It baffles me how someone can SAY wish the best for another, yet continue to spew vitriol and make personal attacks. I've read what was posted on R4TU & on many blogs, I've looked at both sides of this entire situation. I can not find any reasonable justification what-so-ever for the never ending personal attacks and viscous comments made on that forum about those of us who support Kristen & Aromaleigh. I do believe that it is quite possible to disagree with someone without resorting to personal attacks, bullying & launching a campaign of character assignation, however that has been lost on most of the "ladies" at the R4TU forum.

The hate fest that is R4TU has not affected just Kristen, the trickle down effect of Aromaleigh's closing will affect hundreds of people. Several people will lose their jobs. Many women, like myself, must now begin anew to find products that work for them. That is not an easy task when you have extreme sensitives & allergies. It's months & months of sampling one product at a time until you find the right product & the right color. Other women will have to find replacements for Aromaleigh products that they have come to depend on.

The sad thing is, I really don't think that any of the core group of the "ladies" on R4TU really give a damn. One can only hope that these "ladies" become pariahs for their actions.

That being said, I just want to make it clear that I am NOT grouping everyone who posted on R4TU into one category. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinions, if someone had a problem with Aromaleigh or just doesn't like the company, I have no problem with that, I am not going to bash them, disagree or get into a huge argument with them about it. However, when someone chooses to step beyond the pale, resorting to personal attacks, degrading comments & examining every facet of this person's life under a microscope, it is no longer a complaint about a company, it is a hate fest.

PART II: Links to screenshots of the "password protected" portion of the R4TU site, which has since been deleted. (Compare post counts, it's obvious some posts were deleted.) There was some sort of security loophole in the forum that allowed anyone to access this section.

Oy Yay! Another super secret sub-forum that is members only. These "ladies" sure like their super secret places to plot their insidious attacks, don't they?

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - About Gripe p1

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - About Gripe p2

Ah yes. The late blog post. Unfortunately, some nasty side affects of radiation got in the way of my desire to spend any great amount of time on the internet. Dawn Wilson/Sassybanjo & Jeanine Fitzgerald /Hottie McNaughty are both "friends" on Facebook, so they should have seen my updates on my cancer treatment there.

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Hoydens Older Woman p1

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Hoydens Older Woman p2

Wow! Multimineralgal calls me a liar because she doesn't like what I had to say. So sorry we nauseated you "ladies" At least you know how everyone else feels about R4TU.

2010-06-14 R4TU Mod Q - Mineral Make up Forum

This set of posts is rather interesting because it shows that emmeeblue is obviously googling Kristen's name daily as she posted about the foreclosure on the piece of property Miss K owned THE SAME DAY that it occurred. It also shows that the "ladies" are tracking all Miss K's online accounts, as well as her husbands. Hmmmm..... sounds like stalking to me!!
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Ks Blog PW Protected p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Ks Blog PW Protected p2
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Ks Blog PW Protected p3
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Ks Blog PW Protected p4

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Jennas Dream p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Jennas Dream p2

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - New forum info

2010-06-14 R4TU Mod Q - FYI

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Photoshopped p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Photoshopped p2

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Stunning Contradictions on Internet Archives

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Covering Tracks

Please feel free to link to this post, spread this information far and wide. All comments are moderated. If you'd like to leave a comment, but not have it published due, please state that first when you comment & I will respect your wishes.

1 July 2010 23:38hours: Just a quick note - I have approved ALL comments submitted to this blog post, unless the poster has requested that I not post their comment. This post has had TWO people who posted under their own user name request that I not post their comment.

Any claims that I have not posted a comment that I disagreed with is false. If I disagree with you, I will RESPECTFULLY tell you so. ~ Hoyden

True Ugliness revealed.....

2010-06-30T00:17:00.007-04:00

Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. ~ Lord Acton

This post has been in suspense for a few weeks while I finished up the last part of cancer treatment, but late is better than never. At the end of this post, I am including the first set of links to the screen shots of the R4TU Moderator's Forum, which was in reality just a place for selected members to bitch about people and say nasty things about them.

There is one thing that I'd like to clear up about the accusations made by the "ladies" (and I use that term rather loosely) over at the Rant4theUgly site.

The accusation that Kristen or one of the "Aromabots" called Brandy Reeves /Ava Dahl's employer. This is not true. I gave Dawn Wilson aka "Sassybanjo" aka "R4TU" this information on 12 June 2010 via Facebook Message, but she did not feel it was worth sharing with the general public, just the "ladies" of the R4TU forum in their private moderator's section.

Kristen never called Brandy's work. None of the people that the "ladies" accused actually made the call. It was a 67 year old lady whose REAL name is Sarah Bodnar who made that call. She is a member on the Chronic Illness forum that I am on & part of a group that call themselves the "Bitchy Broads". She is terminally ill with Scleroderma that has affected her major organs that will cause them to shut down eventually.

Sarah hasn't worn make-up in 30 years. She tried Aromaleigh and is in love. She also loves Fyrinnae, so she took upon herself to take action since the "ladies" on R4TU spend a good deal of their employers time on the forum.

I did not instigate or participate in that call at all. I found out about it afterward. As a matter of fact, I've had nothing to do with riling up the "Bitchy Broads" at all, they've done it themselves. I am not even a member because I'm not old enough or bitchy enough yet, or so they tell me.

The area code from which Sarah called is 619, Southern California. So sorry, "ladies", none of the "Aromabots" are in Southern CA. I gave Dawn information that Brandy should have been able to use to verify that with her employer.

So much for the "Truth" that they claim they so desperately want.

As to the claims of dyes in AL eyeshadows? I had a friend test the rocks colors most likely to have the unapproved D&C dyes in them at the lab. I gave him sample baggies of almost 1/2 of the rocks collection & asked him to let me know which dyes were in them.

He is a chemistry doctorate graduate who at Yale who is working on projects involving chemical forensics. I've asked him to test other things for me in the past & help me narrow down just what I am reacting to when I've had bad reactions to things like soap, deodorant, face cream, store bought make-up, medications, dog treats etc... (sweating hands + dog treats with a certain ingredient which is approved for canine consumption = yucky contact rash for me that looks like eczema.)

He told me that there were NO TRACES of D&C Yellow 11, D&C Orange 5, D&C Violet 2, D&C Red 22 or D&C Red 28. Some shadows had no traces of any dyes at all even though they had "May Contain" that listed dyes on the label.

The "ladies" bashed me because I did not give his name, but he would prefer that I not share his name since he doesn't want it to show up on a google search at a later date by perspective employers.

Links to screenshots of the "password protected" portion of the R4TU site, which has since been deleted. (Compare post counts, it's obvious some posts were deleted.) There was some sort of security loophole in the forum that allowed anyone to access this section.

Wow! This one took my breath away. Class? These "ladies" have NONE. Not even a shred. How could anyone be so ugly? Wait! I guess that forum was aptly named, no?
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Could Kristen be lying about her fathers demise

I went to the Social Security Death Index to verify his death. I have attached a screen shot below.

Social Security Death Index - Robert Wm Bell

Nothing is safe or sacred to these "ladies". Read what they have to say about Kristen's announcement about her impending divorce. Their comments are just horrible.
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Divorce p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Divorce p2

And in this rather interesting post, you can see that I let Dawn Wilson know that I had indeed contacted the FDA and spent a great deal of time on the phone with them. But alas, it's not the information that they wanted to hear, so it wasn't good enough for them.

Since I do have a little class, unlike the "ladies" on R4TU, I blocked out their phone numbers. Don't ask me for them. I altered the original file. At the request of my husband, I have also blocked out my full name in the posts in which Dawn Wilson copied the facebook messages I sent to her.
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Encouragement for Dawn p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Encouragement for Dawn p2
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Encouragement for Dawn p3

This set of posts are particularly nasty. The comment made by Jeanine Fitzgerald / Hottie McNaughty about Phyrra is unbelievably rude. True to form, the "ladies" immediately jump to conclusions accusing Robyn of using a fake name, only to find out later that it wasn't Robyn at all.
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Mole is Robyn - NOT p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Mole is Robyn - NOT p2
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Mole is Robyn - NOT p3
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Mole is Robyn - NOT p4
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Mole is Robyn - NOT p5

I found this post rather interesting. OHWTO posted that she received Mica's from TKB that were labeled as safe for cosmetic use, but in fact, they were not. They were sure quick to move this post into the Moderator's section so it wasn't viewable. Hmmmmm. I guess the strrrrretching the truth is okay in their quest for the truth?
2010-06-14 R4TU - Safe Eye Pigments campaign updated

Here it gets even better, they talk about keeping OHWTO's post in the hidden section and creating another site where they can continue to their little plots.....
2010-06-14 R4TU Mod Q - Big Warning p1
2010-06-14 R4TU Mod Q - Big Warning p2
2010-06-14 R4TU Mod Q - Big Warning p3

But Wait, there's MORE!
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Its all my fault - Jenna is right p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Its all my fault - Jenna is right p2
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Its all my fault - Jenna is right p3
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Its all my fault - Jenna is right p4

And here, the "ladies" poke fun at a blogger & take the opportunity to do more name calling.
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Pinkie Charm got some sonic blush p1
2010-06-14 R4TU Mod Q - Pinkie Charm got some sonic blush p2

Now these posts are rather interesting. Jenna Whitman discusses her calls to the FDA about Aromaleigh & how a searching "aromaleigh fda regulations" will bring you to a link to the R4TU forum. She further discusses search engine ranking, reverse SEO & how to create "content rich posts" that will promote a higher google ranking. I'll leave you to read these posts and make your own decisions about what you think Jenna's motivations have been.

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Next Step p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Next Step p2

2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Forum Change p1
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Forum Change p2
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Forum Change p3
2010-06-13 R4TU Mod Q - Forum Change p4

There are more screen shots, but I will upload those in another post. If you manage to read through these screen shots without choking on the vitriol or running to the bathroom to vomit, you'll find that these "ladies" have shown their true intent. Even after Kristen announced that she is closing Aromaleigh, they still continue on with their attacks. That speaks volumes about their character, or should I say lack of character.

With that, let me remind you; Unless you can say something to someone face to face, don't hit enter. You never know when it will come back to bite you in the derriere.

ETA: Please feel free to link to this post, spread this information far and wide. All comments are moderated. If you'd like to leave a comment, but not have it published due to the vindictiveness of the "ladies" on the R4TU forum, please state that first when you comment & I will respect your wishes.

1 July 2010 23:36 hours: Just a quick note - I have approved ALL comments submitted to this blog post, unless the poster has requested that I not post their comment. This post has had NINE people who posted under their own user name request that I not post their comment.

Any claims that I have not posted a comment that I disagreed with is false. If I disagree with you, I will RESPECTFULLY tell you so. ~ Hoyden

Truly a sad day in the Mineral Make-up World.

2010-06-29T21:22:00.000-04:00

I've been searching for words to express the sadness that I feel about the closing of Aromaleigh, but I am at loss for words to adequately express how I feel.

I am heart broken for Kristen, but I understand that she feels that this is the only way to stop the personal attacks levied against her, her family & her friends. It is truly a sad day when one of the best mineral make-up companies in the business has been driven out by the incessant ranting & harassment by a handful of vengeful, vindictive women.

You have indeed won. Let's hope you choke on that victory.

Aromaleigh News, June 28th, 2010... The End.

Aromaleigh bids you adieu...

We'd like to thank everyone for the last 12 years of support and repeat business... it's been an amazing ride, but it's time.

Some of the happiest times of the last decade+ have been receiving emails from ecstatic women whose lives and outlook had changed from something as simple as makeup...

Aromaleigh never started off being about making a quick buck. I started the company with a dream of independence and creating my unique, natural line of Aromatherapy products and fragrances. We grew slowly... one customer at a time, and soon customers were requesting natural cosmetics.

Our first cosmetic product was a tinted lipbalm called "Color Wash".... our Pure Powder, in 5 shades, followed soon after... and in the months that followed, frost and matte eyeshadows, and more...

I've given my heart and soul to this company, and the last 12 years of my life. But I am unable to continue, as I have to be honest... there's nothing left inside of me to give. And what I do have is reserved for the most important person in my life.

I can't and won't provide a detailed explanation for this decision... those who know me well know that this has been a decision that has torn me in two for several months. Nothing I say or don't say can matter at this point. All I will say is "You've won... I'm gone. You can stop now..."

It's makeup. It's supposed to be fun, and empowering and beautiful. But it's all become ugly. More ugly than I ever imagined.

I'll be offering the following "Goodbye" coupon for the next 2 weeks...

ADIEU35

35% off the entire store, not applicable to previously placed, shipped or received orders... Aromaleigh reserves the right to refuse any suspect or incomplete orders for any reason, Large international orders, as per our international terms, are subject to additional ship fees.

First come, first served for inventory... most inventory is not real-time, and sold out product will be updated daily. Being able to order a product does not guarantee stock. Please allow 7-10 business days (possibly more, depending on volume) for your order to be processed.

With a very heavy heart, I thank you all for this journey... and I also look forward to a future that is serene and blessed... for all of you, as well...

Sincerely and with a bunch of tears as I type this,

Kristen

Aromaleigh Blog: Adieu

Celebrate the Summer Solstice with Lost in Faerie

2010-06-21T14:32:00.000-04:00

Aromaleigh's newest collection, Lost in Faerie, has just been released. What a great way to celebrate the longest day of the year.

This collection has 25 colors that are absolutely beautiful.

With Flash

Natural light without flash

Starting at the beginning of the spiral, the colors are: Rosina, Olinda, Alina, Eglantine, Sorette, Loxy, Luella, Cleantha, Celanette, Ellette, Erlina, Annysia, Elodie, Elysia, Calista, Naida, Meliora, Pherenice, Trixy, Liriope, Caelia, Emerenta, Xylia, Donella & Zannia

The following are individual swatches on the back of my hand. The first swatch on the left is over bare skin, the second over Two Faced Shadow Insurance, the third over Aromaleigh Eyeshadow Primer & the last over primer with Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy.

I really tried to capture the sparkles in these shadows, but I just couldn't. They are so beautiful when you see them in person. You can see more swatches at Phyrra's Blog or Cin's Blog.

I haven't decided which are my favorites yet, but I really like Ellette, Loxy, Caelia, Annysia & Liriope.

Another Hoyden update:

2010-06-21T01:23:00.001-04:00

I'm officially DONE with radiation. YAY! Six week & 12 sessions. Now I need to be weaned off all the nasty medication that they gave me. That is supposed to take at least two to three more weeks. The nausea, stomach cramps, vomiting & inability to eat dairy products can leave Now. Exit to the left. Thank you.

My right deltoids muscle is very very sore as are the rest of my muscles on the upper part of my back. My physical therapist will fix them up for me though. Mike is a master muscle magician who can strengthen, stretch and fix just about anything I throw at him.

We'll be back posting soon.

State of the Hoyden

2010-06-15T03:46:00.001-04:00

Hello Everyone, I apologize for being remiss about posting more often, I know that there are many posts due.

I am in the last week of cancer treatment so it's been really really rough. The radiation treatment is kicking the heck out of me. Everything thing tastes like kindergarten paste, I have a hard time holding food and some fluids.

In a nut shell, it just sucks, but i'll be done with radiation on Thrusday.

Until then, I'm sleeping beauty. I'm sleeping between 8 & 14 hours per night

People who inspire me: Marrus

2010-05-31T14:53:00.004-04:00

Someone who recently saw some of my leather work & sketches asked me about the people who inspired me, so I decided to post about the people and things that are part of the font from which my ideas flow.

I met Marrus for the first time at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire in 2004 and got to know her via her annual fall migration from her new home in New Orleans to the New England Renaissance Fairs.

Marrus is an incredibly talented artist whose brush strokes not only adorn canvas, but humans as well. At her booth at the Renaissance Faires, she paints the faces & bodies of patrons with every thing from decorative swirls with glittery dots to death knights, animals, celtic work and even sheep jumping off of cliffs. My youngest daughter, the Gremlin loves to be painted by Marrus.

This quote from Marrus' Live Journal post, Jumping off cliffs, spoke deeply to me. I've printed it in pretty fonts, embellished it in photoshop and shared it with friends who have in turn, shared it with others.

I believe that no matter how outlandish everyone tells you your dreams are, they are possible. Visualize with crystalline clarity what you want. Write it down. Look for opportunities everywhere. Evict naysayers from your life. Learn, without jealousy, from people who are leading the type of life you want. Teach freely the things you’ve learned to others. Give no voice to the negative. Expect abundance. ~ Marrus

We are usually on site at the CT Renaissance Faire well before the first cannon, Gremlin finds Marrus before the gates open so that she can paint her face first. No matter what kind of bizarre creation Gremlin decides she'd like to be Marrus is up the challenge. We've seen a Death Knight, lion, tiger, wolf, werewolf, feral beast and the unforgettable "Grem Reaper".

Marrus also sells prints of her artwork at the Renaissance Faire too, several of which adorn my walls.

Last year, Marrus published a book, Lightsurfing: Living Life in the Front of My Mouth, which I highly recommend purchasing and reading. I read it cover to cover in one day, refusing to put it down. Then I had to go back and read it again to savor and explore each of the illustrations in the book.

You can check out the wonderful work of Marrus on her website, Marrus Art

The Marriage of Heaven & Earth

Dreamstag

Surprise Sale! Save 35% of Aromaleigh!

2010-05-29T20:48:00.000-04:00

YAY!! Aromaleigh Memorial Day Weekend sale. 35%, yes you read that right 35% off all Aromaleigh products in stock!!!

Make sure you try out the new Limited Edition Victoria's Revenge collection. I've already received it & I love it :) My favorites are Gaslight tears, Brazen & Bitter, Perpetual Motion, Freakshow, Private Lunacy & Cyanide Sorrow.

Surprise Sale! Aromaleigh Memorial Day Weekend 35% OFF sparkle-fest!

This weekend, through 11:59 PM EST 6/2, save 35% OFF the entire Aromaleigh inventory!
Required coupon code at checkout: MEMORIAL35
Enter code in coupon code box and hit "apply" to see your discount taken prior to checkout!
**One coupon code per order, this code can't be used with any other Aromaleigh coupon codes or promo codes. This offer is applicable to new orders only. It does not apply to previously placed, shipped or received orders.
Happy Shopping!

Intense Debate is still on the blink!!

2010-05-26T12:58:00.000-04:00

I just uninstalled Intense Debate because it was not posting comments & deleted some when I updated it. Unfortunately, it took more comments with it. I will have to muck with it later when I get back.

Spreading the Sparkle

2010-05-24T17:57:00.001-04:00

In addition to therapy visits to the VA Hospital & nursing homes we make as a group, one of the places I make a therapy dog visit to at least twice a month is the Woman's Shelter. The ladies & their children really enjoy playing with and spending time with Birdie.

A friend of mine works within a program that helps women who have been displaced for whatever reason get back on their feet. She helps the women find jobs by assisting & teaching them how to write resumes, interview & dress appropriately for those jobs, whether it be a cashier, construction worker or a clerical position. Through donations they have a good sized closet full of work appropriate attire, shoes & accessories to give to these women.

Two of the women I met there have overcome so much that makes me realize that I even though I could cheerfully strangle my husband until he turns purple & his eyes pop out, I am very fortunate. They have both come a long way, finding jobs in order to support themselves & their children and finding a place to call home that they can afford on their own. Everything they had was cruelly torn from them, so they started all over again.

These first two sets of Sparkle are for those two women. A little congratulations present that they can pamper themselves with. I am happy that I can call them friends and that we have learned from each other.

Sparkle Bag #1
My version of the 5 minute face with Aromaleigh

Porcelaine Oil Control Primer
Twilight Powder in Lustre
Foundation
Blush
Ultra Refined Finishing Powder
Lip Balm
Lip Stick

and a few eye shadow colors that she likes for a little extra when she has time.

Sparkle Bag #2

5 minute face items sans the foundation, a few eye shadow colors all from Aromaleigh & a few of the wonderful Lip Lustres from Fyrinnae.

All tucked into the little bag that the Eco Tools Bamboo Five piece brush set comes with for a woman on the go!

This batch of Aromaleigh, Fyrinnae & Meow Cosmetics was donated to the Working Women program my friend runs. It amazes me how just a little bit of make-up can cheer them up, give them hope & make them feel good about themselves.

This final bit of Sparkle was given to another Veteran that we visited with. She is one hell of a spunky woman that isn't going to let her age slow her down.

She has an issue with one of her hands, so she likes her make up in little jars, so I put together this little bag for her with goodies from Aromaleigh, Fyrinnae & Silk Naturals.

I reuse all those wonderful little baggies that mineral make up comes in as gift bags to Spread the Sparkle in. :)

NOTE: All items were either purchased by me or obtained through trade with other women on a mineral make-up forum.

Clarisonic Mia Pink Donation to a War Veteran

2010-05-24T14:47:00.009-04:00

Phyrra had a Clarisonic Mia Pink Giveaway sponsored by SkincareRX on her blog earlier this month. Even though I already have a Pink Clarisonic Mia, I rarely win anything no matter how many times I enter contests or giveaways, but I knew someone who I though would really benefit from the Clarisonic, so I entered.

I was floored when Phyrra announced that I had won it!

You see, there is an a young War Veteran we have visited with while making Therapy Dog visits at the VA Hospital that I wanted to give the Clarisonic to. She has been through a lot & is working hard to rehabilitate herself after her injuries, but she is often depressed because she feels ugly due to her wounds & the permanent scars that she will have.

The reality is that she is really a beautiful girl who is struggling with the grief portion of healing after a major injury. I struggled with the same feelings of frustration, grief, depression & self loathing after I ended up with permanent nerve damage that resulted in the loss of use in my lower right leg, so I know what she is going through and I really wanted to do something more for her then let her cuddle & play with my dog during our visits.

During our last Therapy Visit, we gave her the gift bag and she was totally overwhelmed and thankful. She has since let me know that she loves the Clarisonic because it is so gently for cleaning areas with scar tissue without irritating or hurting them. She loves all the products included & sounded so much more upbeat & confident that it really made me happy. **

This is everything that I put into the gift bag which was a backpack purse with neat pockets that one of the other Therapy Dog volunteers made for her.

All of the make-up & brushes fit into the neat little black make-up baggie that came with my last Fyrinnae order.

Included with the Clarisonic were the following:

Dermalogica Skin Smoothing Cream Sample
Eminence Organic Skin Care Mask - Sour Cherry

These are the other goodies that were purchased for this gift bag:

Aromaleigh:
Aromaleigh Aromatherapy Lip Balm - Soothing Flowers
Aromaleigh Nourishing Color Creme - Juliette Bete Noir collection
Aromaleigh Porcelaine Oil Control Mattifying Primer - Light Medium
Aromaleigh You're a Doll Finishing Powder - Parfait
Aromaleigh Ultra Resolution Finishing Powder - Peaches & Cream
Aromaleigh Twilight Supernatural Face & Body Powders - Lustre
Aromaleigh Pure Mineral Rouge - Veritas
Aromaleigh Gothic Lolita Rouge - Dolly
Aromaleigh Pure Eyes - Eggnog (full size because it's a great under eye concealer too)
Aromaleigh sample eyeshadows in the following colors: alexandrite, alyssum, giselle, jasmine, le mystere #95, oyster, petit fours & tea

Fyrinnae:
Fyrinnae Lip Lustre - Lollipop-Pop
Fyrinnae sample eyeshadow in the following colors: Delvian, Happy Fun Pink, Polar Bear & Randy Ferret

Silk Naturals:
Silk Naturals Eyeshadow - Sandy
Silk Naturals Sleep in a Jar Under Eye Concealer - Extra Light Peach
Silk Naturals Black Label Luxury Lip Gloss - Cherry

Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara - Black
EcoTools - 5 piece Brush Set
Silk Fiber Face Brush # 32
Two Faced Shadow Insurance

** Due to the Privacy Contract that all volunteers must sign & agree to, I can not share anymore information about the recipient or pictures of her. What info I did share about her was cleared with the Organization prior to publishing this post.

FOTD: Lousy Tipping Polar Bear w/ Knickers in a Twist

2010-05-24T00:54:00.005-04:00

First FOTD look posted in this blog! I was introduced to Fyrinnae Cosmetics by Phyrra and all I can say is WOW! I absolutely love the shadows these guys produce.

This look is from Wednesday May 19th. I've just had a chance to sit down & resize them to be uploaded & write out the descriptions.

EYES:
Two Faced Shadow Insurance
Aromaleigh Alchemy - Inner corner of eye, browbone
Fyrinnae Polar Bear - Inner 2/3 of eye lid
Fyrinnae Lousy Tip - Outer 1/3 of eye lid
Fyrinnae Knickers in a Twist - crease
L'Oreal 16 hour Eyeline - Black
Cover Girl Lash Blast Infusion Mascara - Black

CHEEKS:
Fyrinnae Glow Blush - Hypnotize

FACE:
Meow Pampered Puss Foundation - Frisky Korat
Aromaleigh Ultra Refined Finishing Powder - Peaches & Cream

LIPS:
Maybelline Superstay Lipcolor - #709 Born with It
Fyrinnae Lip Lustres - Indies

I love the Fyrinnae Lip Lustres, but I wasn't getting the long wear that I wanted from them. Then I stumbled on this nifty little trick. I put on a good long wearing lipcolor in a lightish tone, let it dry, then put the Fyrinnae Lip Lustres OVER them. Voila - they stay on for at least 8 hours of normal wear.

In this picture, I had that lip color on for SIX HOURS! During those six hours, I was working with a new dog, constantly sipping water or gatorade through a straw, giving the dog commands and getting licked by the puppy. That's staying power!

These colors are so much more vibrant in real life. I'm using my daughter's camera since my youngest daughter & dog destroyed my beloved Konica-Minolta by racing though the house like demon possessed lunatics.

Oh yes, before I forget. My left eye is VERY red, it's not the make-up, an over exuberant Belgian Malnois caught me in the face with his tail. He was so happy to see me, he was turning inside out.

Friday Questions:

2010-05-21T16:43:00.000-04:00

1.What shoe size are you?
US Children's 3.5 or 4. European 35 - 36. I have wicked tiny feet. Adult shoes don't fit well because they're not wide enough.

2.Where do you work?
For myself, at home, in my pj's. Ah bliss. I make custom dog collars & dog gear. I also train dogs part time for a trainer whose clientele is Law Enforcement for the most part. My specialty is socializing dogs to different environments, teaching them to work through distractions and making sure they are "bomb proof".

3.Favorite piece of clothing you own :
My "training pants". Navy blue military style utility pants with 101 pockets for treats, toys, poop bags, hand wipes, cell phones, lippies etc.

4.Your favorite blog?
I plead the Fifth!

5.Do you have any pets?
Yes I do. One beautiful American Pit Bull Terrier named Birdie who is my Service Dog. My husband says that she is my other half.

6.How many siblings do you have?
One younger sister.

7.If you could live anywhere where would it be?
Ugh! There are several places I would like to live. Ireland. Italy again. Maybe England so I can finish a few research projects. On the Tugg Hill Plateau in upstate New York. In the mountains far away from people.

8.What were you doing before this?
Rewarding Birdie for holding a wrench in her mouth while sitting pretty.

9.Your favorite food?
How about food group? Dairy. Cheese, milk, ice cream etc. I drink at least 2 gallons of skim milk by myself each week.

10.Do you have a middle name?
Yep. It's almost the same as my first & last names. My first, middle & last name all translate into almost the same thing. Go figure.

11.Your favorite websites?
Sites with historical information about dogs. I spend hours on museum sites going through paintings or dogs. This site is one of my favorites: Le Chein dans l'art.

12.Who do you tag?
Anyone who wants to do this!

Pitty in Pink: Birdie's new raincoat

2010-05-18T17:07:00.000-04:00

Birdie goes with me everywhere since she is my service dog, even in nasty weather. I've been looking for a raincoat that fit her & would cover her belly for quite some time, so I was THRILLED when I found one that fit her at Petco. Even happier when I found it was on clearance for $3.00!!

Today, we did a therapy visit at the nursing home. Birdie loves to visit the nursing home & all of her friends there. Since it was raining, I put Birdie into her new pink rain coat, with a pink, magenta & red print heart collar, a pink & red heart necklace and Aromaleigh Rocks! Sonic Cosmetic's Glam Glitter powders in valentine & icing sugar.

We spread our sparkles everywhere today & made lots of elderly people happy.

Birdie sniffing around in the wet grass. Her coat is a hubba bubba bubble gum pink. The flash washed out the color :(

Ack! Can't believe that Mark mowed that grass on Saturday! Having an Arborist for a husband has it's benefits.

Birdie modeling her rain coat in the rain. I don't think she appreciated me pushing the hood off of her head.

The Importance of "May Contain" in product labeling: The Full EDM Saga

2010-05-18T14:23:00.006-04:00

With all the recent histrionics & drama that certain individuals have created over the issue of "may contain", on product ingredient labels, I felt that I should post about the importance of accurate product labeling.

As a consumer with allergies & sensitivities, I need to be aware of all ingredients in every product that I use, else I risk a serious reaction. Knowing that a product "may contain" an ingredient that I am known to react to makes the difference whether or not I purchase it.

A company's failure to list all ingredients or to indicate that a product "may contain" trace amounts of ingredients can result in a consumer being exposed to something they are allergic to and that is what happened to me.

Late last year, I had a massive allergic reaction to Everyday Minerals products which resulted in $586.00 in out of pocket medical expenses and $7,936.00 paid by my insurance company for multiple doctor's visits, medication and several allergy tests. The end result was that through lab testing, it was determined that both of the products that I received contained lauroyl lysine.

Whether it was through contamination in manufacturing, mislabeled products or an undisclosed formula change, we have no idea. Everyday Minerals was in the process of changing their formulas to include lauroyl lysine at the time that I had ordered, but these product formulas had not been converted yet & their labels did not list lauroyl lysine as an ingredient.

We have known that I am allergic to lauroyl lysine for quite some time, so I do not own any products with lauroyl lysine in them. Had the product ingredients included lauroyl lysine, or stated "MAY CONTAIN" lauroyl lysine, I would not have used them.

The manner in which Everyday Minerals handled this situation was deplorable. Since I've posted about this before so I am going to copy those posts in full below. I've attached the correspondence I received from EDM so you can read it yourselves.

5 Dec 2009, 19:38

I would like to caution anyone who is using or going to use Everyday Minerals products that you have recently ordered/purchased to make sure that you do a test swatch before applying it to your face. I have had a bad reaction to two products that I recently received which was severe enough that I had to go to the dermatologist to get it cleared up.

I placed two orders & received a full size of Abbott’s Perk Me Up concealer (09/09) and Aussie Perk Me Up concealer (10/09).

On December 1st, I put aside the mini containers of Abbotts & Aussie concealers that I had been using for when I traveled because they were smaller & pulled out the full size products with the white lids. Note that I have had these two concealers for awhile, the Abbott’s mini had a purple lid, and the Aussie mini has a green lid.

I applied the new Abbotts the way I usually do, to my under eye area and the areas that tend to get red, up the insides of my eye sockets to my eye brow, around the outside of my eyes, across the bridge of my nose, along the sides of my nose towards my cheeks & on my chin. I applied the new Abbots to the inner corner of my eyes and the indented area next to them.

Soon after that, those areas started burning, so I immediately washed my face to get all the make-up off. When I got the make-up off, my face was angry red and the areas around my eyes were swelling & getting puffy. My face was still angry red and swollen that afternoon, so I called the dermatologist & got an emergency appointment for the next day.

I suspected that something was not right with the Abbott’s & Aussie concealers so I compared the ingredients on the labels of each product to make sure they were the same ingredients as before. Then, I swatched the old concealers on one arm and the newer ones on the other arm. My left arm, the one with the newer concealers reacted the same way that my face did.

I brought ALL of the products that I had put on my face the previous day, including the older concealers to the dermatologist. After examining me, she gave me a RX for medications & cream to get the reaction under control. She also did a comparison test on my back by swatching all of the products that I had used the previous day.

Again, only the new Abbots & new Aussie concealers caused a reaction. The reaction to the Abbotts was worse than the reaction to the Aussie concealer. The dermatologist confirmed what I thought; the formula in the newer product was different, despite what the label said.

To be fair, I do have an autoimmune condition which makes my skin overly sensitive and causes my body to suddenly react to things that I have used for a while. I know that my skin can be sensitive to things, so I swatch products that I have never used before or products that I have not used in 7 – 10 days just to make sure I won’t react to them. I never suspected that a product that I used almost daily would have an unannounced formula change & cause such a bad reaction.

To add insult to injury, I sent four emails to Everyday Minerals beginning on 3 December, but did not receive a response. I don’t need to tell you how much this infuriated me. Especially since I now have over $200 in medical expenses from this incident.

Someone here suggested that I contact Coral on Facebook, which I did yesterday, December 14th. Coral responded to my message on Facebook, then emailed me. The response I received is simply insulting.

15 Dec 2009, 20:06

I am beyond furious at the response from Coral & Everyday Minerals. I just don't have words right now. At least words that won't get me banned.

The only thing omitted is my last name & email - to shut my husband up.

Here is the Facebook Convo.

Here is the E-mail, read from the bottom up

16 Dec 2009, 21:48

Here is the response that I received from Jennifer at Everyday Minerals. I debated about posting it, but I feel you ladies have a right to know.

I highly suggest that you make sure you are sitting and do not have a beverage nearby.

PDF letter attached to email received from Jennifer of Everyday Minerals

23 Dec 2009, 11:28

Here is the update about my trip to the Doctor's office & the meeting with the Attorneys on Friday.

I saw the dermatologist on Friday for a check up & picked up a copy of my patient file relating to this allergic reaction that included her documentation that states my reaction was NOT acne as well the results of her patch tests of both the older products & the newer products, which concluded that the new product did in fact cause a severe allergic reaction. She included further documentation that this reaction was in no way caused by my autoimmune illness.

With that in hand, I went off to my meeting with the Attorneys. I must say, the meeting was pretty informational & comical at the same time. (I'll get to the comical part later.) The consensus was that if I choose to sue EDM, I do have a strong case based on the fact that some error on the part of Everyday Minerals, whether it be contamination in manufacturing or an undisclosed formula change that resulted a variation in their product that ultimately was the cause of harm & incurred medical expenses & suffering.

They are willing to take the case, but if I opt to sue, I would have to remove this thread & mention of my experience with EDM from the Internet & not discuss it until the suit is settled. I was advised that EDM would probably settle and insist that as part of the settlement I do not comment or discuss the case or my experiences with their company or products.

After talking about it with my husband, we agreed that it is simply not worth it to us to pursue litigation because the bottom line for me is not about money, it's about finding out what caused that reaction so I know to avoid what ever it was.

Had Coral promised to look into the matter, apologized for EDM's lapse in responding to my emails, requested the invoice numbers so she could refund me for the products, put through the refunds, inquired how I was doing or showed an ounce of concern or compassion, I would not have been so angry.

Since EDM has made their position clear & added insult to injury, I will be damned if I am going to keep my mouth shut. People need to know that Everyday Minerals is not the company that they purport to be. The quality of their products is substandard, their customer service is deplorable, if you can even get a response from them and that undisclosed formula changes, inconsistent product volume and unannounced discontinuation of products is normal operating procedure for this company. (Anyone ever notice that you have to seriously hunt through their site to find the product weights & size containers? They don't list them with the products like most companies do.)

After Christmas, I will make a blog post about my experience with EDM so that anyone can link to it. Right now, we are just so swamped with holiday madness that I won't have the time until then.

Incidentally, the order that I placed that had the Abbott's Perk Me Up concealer was a group order with my neighbor. She has ALSO had a reaction to Abbott's. With the holidays & other things going on in our lives, I didn't get a chance to talk to her until last Thursday and she told me she had a reaction to the Abbott's & had to go to her doctor to get it cleared up. She didn't know about my reaction at that point, so I filled her in on what happened to me. Coincidence? I think not. I've asked her to post about it, but she's not one to go onto forums.

And now for the comical part, Jennifer now has a place of infamy. The attorneys & law students were absolutely floored at the letter I received from her. From the lack of company letterhead, failure to follow professional business letter formatting, to poor sentence structure, horrific grammar, contradicting Corals correspondence, insults and an utter lack of any recognizable business etiquette, this letter is a prime example of what NOT to do.

I gave permission to use the correspondence from EDM with certain identifying info removed as instructional materials and to serve as an example of how a company can quickly escalate a customer service issue into litigation.

Posts in the Queue

2010-05-18T01:00:00.001-04:00

Since someone emailed me to ask, here are the posts that are in the queue.

In no particular order:

16th century period correct tents for camping with the Landsknecht group.
Burts Bees, Very Volumizing Shampoo review
Paternosters
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
Silk Naturals review
Fyrinnae review
Aromaleigh review
Chagrin Valley Soap review, including dog soap
Poodle history
Clarisonic Mia won from contest
Therapy dog visits
Summer dog safety tips
Lists of plants toxic to dogs
Training you dog to pee in ONE stop of your yard
SLS sensitivities & allergies
Dog food rating
Avoiding dehydration with Sjogrin's Syndrome

Edited to add:

Teaching your dog NOT to bark at the doorbell
Meow Cosmetics - review

Chemical Sensitivities: Cigarette Smoke

2010-05-17T23:55:00.002-04:00

One of the symptoms that plague many people with chronic illnesses and/or asthma is sensitivity to tobacco smoke, especially cigarettes. Whether it is second hand smoke or the smell of smoke on items, it can cause an adverse reaction.

I had originally intended this post to be about Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, so it was sitting as a draft while I assembled all the links and information that I wanted to post.

That changed when I got a rather angry phone call last Thursday night from my friend Faith (her user name, not her real name) who I met through the chronic illness forum that I am a member of. She was quite upset with me because I had recommended Stardust Cosmetics on the forum, so trusting my mineral make-up company suggestions, she had placed an order only to have it arrive smelling of cigarette smoke.

Faith has really bad breathing issues due to her condition, exposure to cigarette smoke makes it worse. When Faith's husband went to the post office to pick up their mail he left the package from Stardust Cosmetics there because of the smell. He didn't even bring them into his car because Faith rides in his car.

Faith was pretty angry at me until I told her I didn't realize that someone at Stardust Cosmetics smoked. Even though I have received one order from Stardust Cosmetics, I wouldn't be able to tell if it smelled like smoke unless someone told me because I have NO sense of smell. You could wrap a dead skunk around my nose & I couldn't smell it. We don't have gas appliances for fear that I would blow up the house if there was a gas leak.

Many people, not just those with chronic illnesses or asthma, are disgusted when they receive a product that smells of cigarette smoke. It is unfortunate that companies do not declare that their products are manufactured in an environment that contains cigarette smoke as it is not only an aesthetic concern, but a health concern. Even if no one smokes in the same part of the manufacturing area, as long as there is someone smoking in the facility, it will permeate the products, whether they be make-up, clothing, blankets, base ball cards, books, fabric items etc.

It's elementary, Watson! You have the WRONG dog!

2010-05-17T22:48:00.005-04:00

Oh yes! I am Mrs. McPosty Pants tonight. Since my meandering mind tends to hop around quite a bit, I write rambling posts and leave them as a draft until I can clean them up and publish them. Ohh, there are probably 14 or 15 posts worth in the queue. And on to my post.

Mark received the Sherlock Holmes movie last weekend via Netflix & we sat down to watch it. As soon as I saw Gladstone, the bulldog, I was up in arms.

Why was I so upset about the bulldog? Elementary my dear readers, the bulldog they cast was NOT PERIOD correct to the late 19th and early 20th century time period in which the Sherlock Holmes stories were written!!!

For a movie that many of my history buff friends claim was quite correct in it's details to the late Victorian era (I wouldn't know, the time period is too late for my area of interest or expertise.) I find it rather annoying that they didn't make SOME attempt to cast a dog that bore some resemblence to the bulldogs of that era.

Observe. Historical pictures of the bulldogs from yesteryear, before the show ring ruined them.

The first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles tales of Sherlock Holmes appeared in print in 1887 with the last case being published in 1914, so I will stick to photos of those time periods, even though I can go much further back.

First, may I present Sir John Falstaff - 1889.
Quite a handsome fellow, isn't he? But alas, the damage to the noble working dog has already begun.

New England Kennel Club Bench Show - April 1890
The bulldog is the brindle & white dog in front of the St. Bernard.

Sleeping Bulldog - 1898

Bulldogs with their owner, 1910. Notice the huge difference between the two dogs? The one on the left is closer to the bulldogs of old while the one on the right has elbows splayed out, a chest that is too wide for it's body and has begun the descent into being brachiocephalic.

And this is Gladstone. The bulldog of 2009 doesn't look like the bulldogs of 100 years ago, now does it?

I wish the producers of this film would have made some effort to cast a dog that looked like the actual bulldog of the time period.

The bulldog that we are used to seeing today is a ruin of a dog that most people dare not own unless they are related to the vet or have a bank account with a balance sufficient to cover the medical bills from the numerous problems that these poor beasts suffer from.

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If you are interested in some further reading, you might find these links useful;

BBC could drop Crufts over unhealthy 'freak show' breeds
Rosettes to Ruin: Making & Breaking Dogs in the Show Ring
A Terrible Beauty
Terrierman's Blog - awesome dog blog that I enjoy reading & have learned a lot from.

BTW - The painting on the right side of my banner is called "Bouledogue et terrier ecossais" by Alexandre Gabriel Decamps (1803-1860). It is located in the Louvre, Paris, France.

Living with Chronic Illness

2010-05-17T20:29:00.001-04:00

I have Sjogren's Syndrome, a chronic auto-immune illness in which the abnormal production of antibodies attack the moisture producing glands in my body. One of the "fun" things about Sjogren's is the allergies & sensitivities to random products as well as finding products that do not dry out your skin, eyes, hair, mouth or any part of your body making your symptoms worse. Dealing with the complications and frustrations of this illness day in and day out has not been easy, coping is an art.

Before I started this blog, I decided that I would share the many things I have learned about my illness in my blog as well as review the products, medications and therapies that I have tried in hopes that my trials and errors will help someone else.

To that end, you will see posts about products reviewed with comments and notations about the potential benefits or issues of each as it relates to someone with a chronic illness.

The Importance of "May Contain" in product labeling

2010-05-17T19:46:00.004-04:00

With all the recent histrionics & drama over the issue of "may contain" on cosmetic ingredient labels, I felt that I should post about the importance of accurate product labeling.

Referred to as "Advisory Labeling" by the FDA, it's purpose is intended to inform/warn the consumer of the that a product was a) manufactured in the same factory/facility and/or B) processed on the same machines as certain ingredients so therefore there is a possibility that certain ingredients may be included in that product through unintentional cross contamination during manufacturing.

There have been some rather hateful and libelous accusations made about certain Aromaleigh eye shadows by a few individuals. See my earlier post here for more details. Their point of contention is that the ingredient labels on certain Aromaleigh eye shadows list dyes under "may contain" that are not approved for use around the eyes by the FDA.

So I called the FDA myself to ask a few questions. I left a message last week & the phone call was returned this morning.

Here are the questions that I asked and the answers that I received:

Question) If a D&C dye approved for cosmetic use around the eyes is processed in a facility that processes other D&C dyes that are not approved for cosmetic use around the eyes & arrives with a "may contain" label that lists dyes not approved for cosmetic use around the eyes, must the make-up company include the "may contain" ingredients even if those ingredients are not used to create the product ordered from supplier or the in final product?

Answer) "Yes. If the FDA approved dyes had an advisory label of "may contain" ingredients, those must be listed on the finished products to be in compliance with FDA labeling regulations." "May contain" on the label has two purposes the first being eliminating the need to create multiple labels for shaded products cosmetics products intended for the same use and sold by the same company in which the only ingredients that differ are color additives. The second is to warn the customer of the potential for unintentional cross contamination during manufacturing.

To clarify I asked her, "If the dyes are not FDA approved for cosmetic use around the eyes, but have to be listed on the label because of the advisory labeling by the manufacturer, does that make the final cosmetic product in violation of FDA regulations? The dyes I am concerned about are D&C Yellow 11, D&C Orange 5, D&C Violet 2, D&C Red 22 and D&C Red 28.

The answer was, "No, it does not. The FDA requires ALL product labels to be truthful and not misleading about the ingredients in a product. The five D&C dyes you have listed are safe for cosmetic use. If the dyes were not certified for cosmetic use, there would be issue with the product.

So there you have it. Since the dyes in question are approved by the FDA for cosmetic use, the slim possibility that there might be some minuscule TRACE of them in products intended for use around the eyes does not appear to be of great concern to the FDA. The woman I talked to was more concerned about whether or not the product was labeled correctly.

So you may be asking yourself why is this "may contain" business so important to me?

As a consumer with a chronic illness that presents itself with allergies & sensitivities, I need to be aware of all ingredients in every product that I use, else I risk a serious reaction. A company's failure to list all ingredients or to indicate that a product "may contain" trace amounts of ingredients can result in a consumer being exposed to something they are allergic to. Knowing that a product "may contain" an ingredient that I am known to react to makes the difference whether or not I purchase it.

Another concern that many people with chronic illnesses & asthma have is products that arrive smelling of cigarette smoke, but that is a post for later.

Late last year, I had a serious allergic reaction to Everyday Minerals products which resulted in $586.00 in out of pocket medical expenses and $7,936.00 paid by my insurance company for multiple doctor's visits, follow up visits, medication and several sets of extensive allergy tests. The end result was that through lab testing of the product itself, it was determined that both of the products that I received contained lauroyl lysine.

I had no reactions to the same products that I had been using for months, but had a reaction to the newly received products. Even though the labels on the products were identical, it was obvious to me and my doctor who swatch tested the products on me herself, that the newer product was not the same as the older product. I had an immediate reaction to the newer products that she swatched on my back, while I did not react to the older products at all.

Whether it was through contamination in manufacturing, mislabeled products or an undisclosed formula change, we have no idea. Everyday Minerals was in the process of changing their formulas to include lauroyl lysine at the time that I had ordered, but these product formulas had not been converted yet & their labels did not list lauroyl lysine as an ingredient and it wasn't listed in the product ingredients on the web site.

We have known that I am allergic to lauroyl lysine for quite some time, so I do not own any products with lauroyl lysine in them. Had the product ingredients included lauroyl lysine, or stated "MAY CONTAIN" lauroyl lysine, I would not have used them.

Many companies fail to properly label their products, but I personally find it rather ironic that a company that has complied with FDA labeling guidelines is being crucified for it.

Things the Gremlin has taught us

2010-05-11T23:37:00.017-04:00

Reposted from Oct. 14th, 2009 at 10:07 AM

I was reading a post on one of the forums I frequent entitled "Sharpies & Things my kids taught me". Someone posted "Things I've learned from my children" that was circulated via email.

I had a good giggle and decided that I should create my own list of the lessons we've learned while raising the Gremlin.

Things that the Gremlin has taught us:

~ Children like to wear camouflage for a reason, so they can hide from you. Usually at the most inopportune moments.

~ LARGE dog crates are better than safety gates, playpens & pack-n-plays to keep a child out of trouble while you use the bathroom. They can climb over gates & out of the pack-n-play, they can't get out of the dog crate.

~ Failure to let your child "play" in said dog crate will result in your child getting through all the locks on the front door, running out to play in a heavy snow storm & being brought back by a neighbor while you are on the toilet.

~ If you give a child a toy sword to play with, they will undoubtedly manage to smash their father or other convenient male in the groin with it or you in the mouth. Most likely both.

~ Hide the large BBQ forks or put them up very high after your child watches the Little Mermaid. They resemble King Triton's trident so much that your child may get bright ideas as to what they can do with said trident fork and none of them are good.

~ Your favorite dress, skirt or pair of jeans is the most convenient napkin for them to wipe their faces on. Usually when they have something that will stain on it.

~ Pantyliners make great eye patches when you color them with a sharpie. Especially since they have adhesive on the back. Our dog Petey, did not appreciate having a pantyliner patch put over his eye that does not have the patch on it like Petey the Pup from Little Rascals.

~ After watching The Christmas Story, your child will try to lick "metal" poles. Thank goodness most of the playgrounds coat them in some kind of plastic/rubber coating now.

~ Purple Sharpie DOES NOT come out of white dog fur easily. Especially when applied by a pre-schooler weilding a large chisel tipped marker. Rubbing alcohol will dilute the color a bit, but STRONG vodka will do a better job at removing the marker from the dog's fur. Just don't let the dog drink it. Make sure you wash the dog really well after dumping vodka on it. Keep the pre-schooler out of the vodka too.

~ Preschoolers & duct tape are a very bad combination. Especially when the it is the preschooler wielding the duct tape. Stuffed animals get diapers, casts, & accessories taped on, the walls loose some paint, the chair legs loose some varnish, the dog looses some fur and the child always manages to get some stuck in her hair and looses some hair too. Meanwhile Mom looses her sanity that morning.

~ Peanut butter. Kids can't sing when their mouths are gooped shut with peanut butter. So the next time your little darling has sung Rockin' Robin TWEET TWEET or the Barney Song AD NAUSEUM hand them a spoon full of peanut butter or peanut butter & fluff and sit them at the table while you try to get that ear wig out of your brain.

~ Never, ever let Dad have a beer after work while giving your child a bottle. Dad will tell Baby that the beer is "DaDa's BaBa" when Baby reaches for the beer bottle. Baby will figure out that you can buy "DaDa's BaBa's" at the grocery store & insist that it is the FIRST thing that goes into the wagon when grocery shopping. God forbid you go shopping on a Sunday or when you can't buy beer, your darling child will screech like a wailing banshee "Geeeeeet DaaaaaDaaaaa's BaaaaaaBaaaaaaaaa!" through out the entire time you are in the store. Really wish I knew how well peanut butter gummed mouths shut back then.

~ Hammers of any kind, toy or real tool, are for bonking people on the head or smashing toes. Or driving pretend nails (crayons) into surfaces. Hide the hammers and see the note about WD-40 below.

~ You must make sure you have WD-40 on hand before reading Harold & the Purple Crayon. It works miracles for getting crayon off of painted walls, linoleum floors, tile, wood floors, appliances, wood furniture, filing cabinets, bath tub surrounds, cupboards and the metal frame around sliding glass doors.

~ Breakfast cereal tastes much better than dog food, your dog knows it and is conspiring with your child. Don't be surprised to find your toddler holding open a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch so your dog can stuff his head in there to munch down the cereal.

~ While on the subject of food, anything your child won't eat, your dog will most likely be glad to take off their hands or plates. Unfortunately, some things just won't agree with your dogs' digestive system. We found out the hard way that linguine eaten quickly by a dog does not digest well when we found a regurgitated wormy pile of pasta on our bed one evening when we went to go to sleep.

~ Dog collars with vinyl or plastic side release/ snap buckles are great for leashing chairs to table legs and chairs to each other so that your child can not use the chairs to climb and get into things like Sharpies, pens, crayons, scissors, hammers, BBQ forks etc.

There is a reason WHY they say that Insanity is hereditary, it's because you inherit from your children.

Unfortunately for the Gremlin, I have photographic evidence of many of her little escapades, some of which, I have posted here. You can believe that I intend to exact revenge at the most opportune moment.

Horehound or Hound Whore?

2010-05-09T22:41:00.002-04:00

While at the doctor's office last week, a woman behind the desk at the Doctor's office asked, "Horehound?"

Without even a thought I replied, "No. Hound Whore." Then I realized she was pointing at a dish of candy. We both got a bit of a laugh out of that one.

Only me.

Mother's Day Goodness :)

2010-05-09T10:39:00.004-04:00

35% off your order from Aromaleigh

Here's a special Mother's Day offer especially for Moms, but available to all... the coupon code is HEARTMOM and it is good for 35% OFF on an order of $25 and up.

ENTER HEARTMOM in the coupon code box at checkout! (don't forget to press "apply" to see your discount taken)
For all the details, click HERE

Current reading fare

2010-05-06T21:11:00.002-04:00

I might as well keep track of what I am reading here too.

I am currently reading: Scent of the Missing, Love & Partnership with a Search & Rescue Dog by Susannah Charleson

So far, I am really enjoying it. I'll review it in full after I finish reading it.

Oh the places my mind goes, mastiffs you know

2010-05-06T16:16:00.008-04:00

I caught a snippet of a TV show the other night with Michael Rhodes talking about war dogs, specifically the mastiff.

You know that I grabbed a note pad & pen so I scribble some furious notes for further research.

Dogs are my comfort & joy, it doesn't matter whether I'm buried under one while reading a book or burying my nose in some kind of dog related research.

So anyway, back to my scribbled notes.

Henry VIII is said to have gifted 400 mastiffs to King Charles V of Spain. Whether to be used in war or to guard his castle, it depends on what source you look at. I found an interesting book on line entitled The History of the Mastiff, by M.B. Wynn that I downloaded to read. Mastiffs are one of the earliest mentioned dogs in history & have held a variety of jobs from guarding dwellings, to hunting, to war. (Side note: Charles V became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, succeeding Maximilian I of the House of Habsburg - He is the HRE during our Landsknecht period of 1529, two years after the Landsknecht sack of Rome in 1527). The portrait to the right with the mastiff is the Archduchess Joan of Austria (1535 - 1573) Infanta Juana (Johanna) Infanta of Castile and of Aragon, Princess of Burgundy and Flanders, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. Perhaps the Mastiff she is pictured with is one of the dogs sent by Henry VIII but is more likely a descendant of one of those dogs. Notice the beautiful collar on that dog.

Mastiffs or the Molossi were introduced into Britian in 55BC by the invasion of the Romans. Later, Marcus Aurelius (121 -180) imported Mastiffs from Britain. The Column of Marcus Aurelius was said to have images of mastiffs used in war or hunting, but those images were destroyed by restoration.

Michael Rhodes introduced speculation of how the Mastiffs were used in war. The dog were unleashed onto the enemy, as the dogs reached the enemy, archers would fire arrows, prompting the enemies to raise their shields to protect themselves from the rain of arrows, leaving the lower body of the soldier exposed to attack from the dogs. This, I need to research further & find his source.

Bull Mastiff dog, Roman 1st century, Antique art Florence galleria degli Uffizi.

Pliny talks about troops of War Dogs in battle, so I'll have to comb through the writings of Pliny the younger & the Elder to determine which made mention of dogs in battle & research it.

This should tie in rather well to my research about the jobs held by dogs in the medieval time period.

<<<------- With that, I leave you this rather handsome fellow.

Statue of a Mastiff from ancient city of Persepolis

Wise words from an 8 year old..

2010-05-03T21:23:00.002-04:00

Considering the drama that has been going on, I felt it was rather appropriate to repost this entry:

Reposted from Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 10:27pm

While listening to Trans Siberian Orchestra's Night Castle CD this afternoon, I hear Gremlin chanting to Carmina Burana. The portion of her version of the lyrics had me cracking up....

we're-not-her-tics
you-are-hyp-o-crites
No-Ho-ly-Grail-for-youuuuuuu

Recipe for Red Lobster Chedder Biscuits

2010-05-03T21:08:00.004-04:00

As requested, here is my recipe for the super yummy cheddar biscuits that you get at Red Lobster.

CHEDDAR BISCUITS

Biscuit Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix (you can substitute the low fat mix if you'd like.)
3/4 cup cold WHOLE milk (2% works fine though, anything less than 2% doesn't work well)
5 tablespoons of COLD butter
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1-1/4 cup of grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Take off your rings, watch & bracelets, your hands are going to get dirty.

3. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a bowl using either a large fork or a pastry cutter. Don't mix it up too thoroughly as there should be pea sized bits of butter in the mix. (that's part of what makes 'em yummy)

4. Add in cheddar cheese, milk & garlic powder, then MIX BY HAND, but don't over do it. All of the powder should be moist & the dough the constancy of kindergarten paste.

5. With an ice cream scoop, drop 1/4 to 1/3 cup sized portions onto a cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 16 - 18 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits start to turn golden brown.

Topping ingredients:

6 tablespoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley flakes
1-1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a pyrex in the microwave

2. Stir in garlic powder, parsley flakes & salt

3. Using a brush, spread the garlic butter over the tops of the biscuits just as they come out of the oven. Use ALL of the butter.

Makes about 10 - 12 biscuits

Veritas - Truth and the lack of integrity from Stardust Cosmetics

2010-05-03T15:39:00.010-04:00

Ah yes, truth. Funny how everyone is always asking for it but when they get it they don't believe it because it's not the truth they want to hear. ~ Helena Cassadine

The recent drama & wide spread ranting about Aromaleigh & cosmetic safety has really opened my eyes to quite a number of things, namely that we must remember that people are not as honest as we assume them to be and on the world wide web, many times people are not who they claim to be either. It is quite easy for one to create another “identity” in attempts to hide their own when they wish to conduct themselves in a manner that most of us would find insidious and reprehensible.

Veritas, means truth in Latin, so I found it very ironic that another independent mineral make up company owner is behind the recent drama about Aromaleigh. All things point to the fact that she created an alter identity with the sole intent of intentionally causing harm to Kristen & Aromaleigh. What I find even more disturbing is that in my opinion, she preyed on other individuals who had complaints about Aromaleigh & used them to further her own agenda.

In Roman mythology, Veritas was the goddess of truth, daughter of Saturn and the mother of Virtue. It was believed that she hid in the bottom of a holy well because she was so elusive. Rather interesting that SheVARITAS also opted to be elusive as well.

For your consideration, I present the following time line of events, with links to documentation so that you can have a look and come to your own conclusions.

~PLEASE NOTE - Image links have all been updated with links to viewable files. Please use ctrl + to make images bigger. ~

27 October 2009: Jenna contacts the Mineral Makeup Muntiny

2009-10-27 Jenna of Stardust Cosmetics' email to the Mineral Make-up Mutiny - full email

2 009-10-27 Jenna of Stardust Cosmetics' email to the Mineral Make-up Mutiny- header showing IP location ,

69.31.250.86, IP location

28 October 2009: Jenna posts an entry in the Stardustcolor blog regarding her opinion of the Mineral Make- up Mutiny

2009-10-28 Stardustcolor blog - Jenna's opinion of the Mineral Make-up Mutiny Crusade

17 January 2010: Iame Veritas (shevaritas @ hotmail.com) contacts Aromaleigh customer service with Product questions. Note the originating IP address is 69.31.250.10 which is Alberta, Canada

2010-01-17 Email from Jenna/Shevaritas to Aromaleigh Customer Service

IP Location for 69.31.250.10

14 February 2010: Jenna posts an entry into the Stardustcolor blog regarding Cosmetic Safety. Note that in the first screen shot post #6, dated 16 February 2010 at 12:43 pm made by Shevaritas appears however in the second screen shot taken on 3 May 2010, post # 6, made by Shevaritas has been deleted

2010-02-14 stardustcolor blog post- Cosmetic Safety - original post

2010-05-03_2010-02-14 stardustcolor blog - Cosmetic Safety - post showing deletion of Shevarita's post

16 February 2010: Shevaritas posts a SINGLE entry to Sheveritas.livejournal.com regarding the dyes used in certain Aromaleigh shadows & her opinion of the Mineral Makeup Mutiny. Please note that at the bottom of the post, there is a tag for stardust cosmetics.

2010-02-16 Sheveritas.livejournal.com post

Screencap showing the deletion of sheveritas.livejournal.com

As of 2 May 2010, this Journal was post was removed & the Journal itself was deleted by Shevaritas. What I find rather ironic is while Jenna/Shevaritas is questioning Kristen’s intentions, calling them hollow & claiming that the Mineral Makeup Mutiny is “a load of brilliantly polished marketing dung” on her live journal post, in her 27 October 2009 email to Kristen at Mineral Makeup Mutiny, she commends Kristen & claims that Aromaleigh inspired her to start her own company.

26 February 2010: Email sent from Hoyden2894 to Jenna Stardust Cosmetics with an inquiry about yellow base foundations. Please note that the IP address from which Jenna replied is 69.31.250.10, which is the same IP address from which the 17 January 2010 email from shevaritas@hotmail.com to Aromaleigh Customer Service originated from.

2010-02-26 Email from Jenna @ Stardust Minerals to Noel/Hoyden

IP Location for 69.31.250.10

Since we have established that Jenna is indeed Shevaritas, it would appear that she has logged into her blog under her covert identity to talk to herself.

3 April 2010 – A thread on www.makeuptalk.com entitled “Al Rant/Drama – shocking” was created by Flowind. On the second page of the thread, post #28 was made by “Shevaritas” on “Today, 05:31 PM” in which she shares her opinion & posts a link to her 16 February 2010 post at Shevaritas.livejournal.com. (The date of the post was 04/29/10 if you look at the current thread.)

2010-04-29 makeuptalk.com - AL Rant page 2 - WITH post #28 by Shevaritas

However, if you look at a screen shot of that same thread taken on 3 May 2010, you will note that post #28, Shevaritas post has been deleted and that she claims she had to delete her post & her journal entry upon the advice of an attorney.

2010-05-03 makeuptalk.com - AL Rant p2 - post #28 from Shevaritas has been deleted.

2010-05-03 makeuptalk.com - AL Rant p2 - post were Jenna/Shevaritas acknowledges deleting post #28

2010-05-03 makeuptalk.com - AL Rant p2 - post where Jenna/Shevaritas claims "I'm being cyberstalked"

It is such a shame that Jenna/Shevaritas decided to go to these lengths to undermine another mineral make-up company, because it calls into question her integrity. Personally, I need to be able to trust the person or company from whom I am buying my make-up from due to my illness & skin sensitivities, since Jenna has compromised that, I will no longer purchase products from Stardust Cosmetics and urge others to think twice before spending your hard earned dollars with a company who is run by someone with such a duplicitous nature.

Happy Birthday Birdie!

2010-05-01T09:52:00.004-04:00

Today my Birdie girl turns SIX years old. She will have her favorite dinner tonight, steak followed by ice cream.

Why do I celebrate my dog's birthday you may ask? Well, this is no ordinary dog. Yes, I know that a lot of people say that about their own dogs, but Birdie is the dog that gave me back my life.

Birdie is an American Pit Bull Terrier & she is my service dog. She is my "other half". She is by my side almost every hour of every day with very few exceptions. She's given me the freedom to lead an almost normal life without the need to be accompanied by someone where ever I go.

She has greatly improved the quality of my life and touched the lives of many people through the therapy visits that she makes. Birdie is ambassador for her breed, showing the world that pit bulls aren't the demon dogs depicted by the media.

So today as we celebrate Beltaine, we also celebrate the birthday of the dog that gave me hope & helped me come to terms with living with my disabilities.

So a funny thing happened in the court building today....

2010-04-30T23:05:00.000-04:00

Originally posted Nov. 13th, 2007 at 7:04 PM

I had to stop into the Court Building to pick up some forms for work this afternoon.

As I was giving my purse to the Sheriff to have a look though, a police officer from the next town over who was standing with two other police officers tells me "You can't bring a dog into the Court Building".

I look over at him and tell him, "This is a service dog."

He responds with, "If that's a service dog, I'm a trained monkey."

Without even thinking, I say, "Then you better start dancing."

The two police officers he was standing with are trying not to laugh. The Sheriff turns to tell the officer that he's got it and when he turns back to me, I can see he's trying to hide his amusement.

When the Sheriff started to bend over to run the wand over Birdie, I told him I could call her up onto the table if that was easier, he said okay. So I tapped the table and told her "UP". She hopped up, I told her to "STAND" and she stood perfectly still while he ran the wand over her, then pet her and told her she was a good girl.

I gave her the "OFF" command for her to hop down and we went on our way.

On the way out, the other Sheriff thanked us for a good laugh and asked if he could pet Birdie.

So let's hope that I am never pulled over by Officer Monkey, cause I'll get a ticket for sure.

Reflections on being a first-time owner-trainer

2010-04-30T23:03:00.001-04:00

I am going to start bringing over posts that pertain to service dogs because so many people have asked me to make them public. This is one of the first ones. I'll be including their original dates.

March 2008

Article/ forum post

My personal opinions and experiences on training my own service dog.

I grew up with animals. I started volunteering for a vet in Italy helping to care for strays she took in when I was 11, she hired me after I turned 13 years old. I grew up on military bases and would do just about ANYTHING so that I could work with and play with the military working dogs and hang out at the kennels because we couldn't have our own dogs. We did have cats though.

I have also worked as an assistant animal control officer.

I checked out two programs that train service dogs, and I wasn't impressed with either. Especially when they kept pushing a long haired dog onto me, when the thing I hate most is grooming. I did not want a shepherd, golden or a lab.

Somewhere along the way, I decided that I really wanted an American Pit Bull Terrier since I loved the breed and had seen what great working dogs they were. A program in my state told me that they would train an owner dog. But in the two years it took me to find the right dog in the shelters, with the right temperament, that passed the health tests, their liability insurance changed, so they could not train an American Pit Bull Terrier.

So with the help of several trainers, I set out to train her myself.

I will say with all honesty, training my own dog was one of the hardest things that I have ever done and the most frustrating. There were days when I just sat down and cried because I had messed up some part of her training and I had to start all over from the beginning on a least one task and re-do it because I done something wrong.

I needed training, just as much as my dog did and the trainers I worked with made no bones about it. There were times when they would tell me to come for training WITHOUT my dog so that they could work with me. While I had a lot of DOG experience, I did not have a lot of TRAINING experience. And the the training experience I did have was more suited to training police or protection dogs, not service dogs.

I also started with a dog that was approx. 12 - 14 months old that was picked up off the streets at 5 months old (still had puppy teeth) and then adopted out to a NY State certified Dog trainer at 9 months old who fostered her until she was approx. 13 months old. He house trained her and took her through intermediate obedience before I adopted her.

Training my own dog was alot of work. Time consuming, frustrating, tedious work that took alot of patience, discipline and perseverance. When you read the teamwork book and he mentions "Slow is Fast". He isn't kidding. Slow, steady and consistent training, with repetition and proofing is the key. Any attempt to leap ahead, will only put you further back.

Before I took the training patches off of my dog, I paid a woman who has trained service dogs and who has trained dogs for many levels of competitive obedience, tracking and personal protection competitions to test and observe us working through each level. And test us she most certainly did. But first, I had to agree that if at any time, she or any of the trainers we worked with felt that my dog was not suited for service dog work, I would respect that and discontinue training her for service work. She was pretty critical and blunt, but in the end she was happy with how my dog worked with me.

In hindsight, would I recommend that someone who does not have a vast amount of dog training experience attempt to train their own dog? Absolutely not. I got lucky. I had a good support group of trainers, a very sound dog and I was too darn stubborn to quit.

Were I to have the opportunity to repeat that portion of my life, I would have gotten a program dog and apprenticed under experienced trainers before attempting to train my own dog. I would have learned alot more and I would not have subjected myself to so much stress and frustrations.

Will I train my own dog in the future? Yes I will.

Why? Because time and time again, my dog has performed better than the program dogs I have seen. I'm friends with many people with program dogs and they all marvel at how well my dog works no matter what kind of crazy chaotic situation I put her into. I feel that this is in part due to the fact that I set the bar pretty high because of her breed. She had to be better than the other dogs because of the stigma associated with Pit Bulls.

What will I do different next time?

I will NOT get a rescue dog. I spent alot of time un-training things, addressing fears to things she had and building her confidence. I almost quit because she was afraid of silly things until one of our trainers told me that all dogs have fears and it's HOW they address and overcome those fears that is an indicator of their temperament. Through training and obedience work, we built up her confidence, so that now at almost 3.5 years old, there isn't much that phases her. She is bomb proof. And I also want to note, that even though I got her at 12 -14 months old, an "adult", she was not MENTALLY an adult dog. It took her until she was a little over 2-1/2 years old to fully mature.

My next dog will be either a puppy or a young adult from one of the breeders that I know and trust. The dog will be from working lines with parents that have been health tested and passed and are also temperamentally sound. These breeders have many many many years experience in picking the working dogs from the litters of pups, so I will rely on their judgment when the time comes.

Raising puppies is not something that I really enjoy, it's a TON of work. But on the other hand, addressing fears, bad behaviors and other things learned before you got the dog is also a TON of work. So if I am going to have to put that much effort into a dog, I'd rather start with a puppy and begin to socialize, mold and shape behaviors at a young age.

In the end, I spent two years looking for the right dog and then 15 months training her when I got her. So almost 3.5 years from when I started.

So to sum this super long post up, while I truly learned alot by training my first service dog myself, I would honestly recommend that you give serious consideration to getting a program dog first and begin working with a trainer so you can learn. Better yet, a service dog training program that would allow you to apprentice to them so you can learn while you wait.

Either way, should you have any questions about training or my experiences, I will be happy to answer them for you to the best of my ability.

First post

2010-04-22T02:01:00.000-04:00

Such a mundane Title. It's after 2am & my brain has eluded me. But I scored a cool url..... HistoricalHound :) That makes me very happy,

Now onto adding on all the blogs I read & figuring out to customize this bloody thing.