Lovely lips forever

Warning! Seriously girly content ahead!

The situation in the bathroom has been desperate lately. I’m down to the dregs of my absolute favorite tinted lip gloss - the one my mother gave me when I was a teenager.

I know, I know...you’re wondering just why on this green earth I still have lip gloss that predates the Clinton administration. I can only say in my defense that it’s pretty much perfect: the right shade, the right consistency, and it makes my lips feel so good. The only reason it’s lasted this long is that I forget to wear makeup ... oh ... almost every day.

Neutrogena to the rescue! When I was at the drugstore today, I discovered arguably the most divine tinted lip gloss on the planet. I’m even willing to say it one-ups old faithful because it has a seductive, tingly sensation and SPF 20. If there was a Nobel Prize for cosmetics, the inventors at Neutrogena should get it.

I’d like to buy truckload and have lovely lips forever.

(Image from Neutrogena.)

What I learned in school today

When I was a kid, my dad used to ask me “what did you learn in school today?” over dinner. I’m a little out of practice at this, but to satisfy all the parents out there reading this blog, I thought I’d give you a few examples of the things I learned in Criminal Law class today:

First, when you have something intelligent to say, raise your hand and say it - at least once a day if you can muster the effort. If you don’t, the professor will decide randomly to call on you one day because you haven’t said much (or anything at all) and you’re going to sound really dumb. I can only imagine how painful it must have been for the professor to try and tease the obvious out of some of my classmates today. (Side note: I’ve been told that the quiet people aren’t always at the bottom of the curve, so I’ll have to keep an eagle eye on them.)

I also learned not to ask stupid questions, because you’ll likely be very embarrassed. From an actual exchange in class today:

Student: Is someone who causes harm as a result of stealing a bad person?

Professor: That’s an interesting question you might try and answer when you’re talking about the news in a bar, but you’re in front of a different bar here.

Seattle’s illustrious beginning

One of the other things Floyd and I did while we were downtown last Friday was visit Seattle’s underground. It’s a little embarrassing, but toilets figure prominently in our city’s history, making it what it is today.

Imagine if you will the idea of outhouses in the 1800s that drained into a tide flat. The twice-a-day consequences would be quite smelly. Modern “crappers” arrived in Seattle a few years after they were introduced in Europe, but no one predicted the resulting geysers due to back pressure on the sewage system. Seattle needed better drainage.

Fortunately after eight years relying on the tidetables to plan their day, a carpenter named John Black accidentally let his glue pot boil over then tried and smother the flames with sawdust and water. The devastating fire that resulted burnt the city to the ground in just over 12 hours, allowing everyone to start over.

This was part of Seattle’s original water supply system. Is it any wonder why we lost water pressure during the fire?

City officials decided to raise the city by 10-32 feet, but they couldn’t prevent shop owners from rebuilding immediately. They asked everyone to build out of brick, naturally, and make their buildings at least two stories high. Over the next 8 years, they built retaining walls around the sidewalks and filled in the streets.

This being Seattle, of course, the project didn’t get completed correctly or on time. By the time the city had finished the streets, they ran out of money for sidewalks connecting the streets to the second story of each building. Their solution? Place ladders at every intersection. If you wanted to cross the street, you needed to climb 10-32 feet onto the street, cross and climb down again. This went on for two years!

In addition, the city didn’t monitor the fill dirt very well. Turns out people were throwing dead animals and other organic debris into the streets. When these things started to decompose, they caused huge sink holes. It would make sense to fix the holes rather quickly, but Seattle took another tack - they named them and put them on the map. (Are you starting to figure out where the city’s tendency toward back asswards public works projects comes from?)

Continued...

Meet Rachael

It is so fun having guests in town who have never been to Seattle before. Floyd, a Big Rider from Pennsylvania, is here for a few days before he takes off on his cross-country adventure. Needless to say, we went to the market to meet Rachael (the pig) and buy some of the delicious Copper River salmon. 

Meet the new family

Amelia

Litter #11 arrived on Sunday the 10th. We’ve had a little over a week to get to know them and I can firmly say this is one of the most well-behaved, adoptable bunch yet. Except for a bit of calici that’s infected all of them and kept them quarrentined in the back bedroom, we’ve been having lots of fun.

Shackelton, pictured immediately below, is by far the lovliest of the bunch. He is such a lover (he’s purring in my lap as I type), and has wonderfully soft long hair.

Edmund is wild. He bounces and attacks just about everything that moves. Cradle him on his back for a belly rub though and he’s as docile as the rest.

One of their favorite games is “king of the scratching post.” It has a few variations, but always ends with four kittens sleeping on top of each other on the scratching post.

Then of course there’s Amelia. She’s the least people-friendly of the bunch - a little like Vespa for those of you that know our cats. But how can you not just love that face?!

Beryl was a little harder to photograph for some reason. When you pet her, she immediately flops over to have her belly rubbed. Strange behavior for a cat, but it’s cute.