Is there a better smell in the entire world than lemon verbena? I think not. It's better than lemongrass, it's better than just plain lemon, it's better than anything. What the hell is a verbena and why does it smell so amazing? Frankly, I don't need to know, I'm just thrilled that it doesn't make me wheeze.

I went to the supermarket yesterday and got some of those delicious Quaker rice cake snacks that The Raccoon introduced me to the other day, the caramel corn ones and then I also got the ranch and the cheese ones.

The caramel corn are one point for seven of them, seven! And since I keep snacks in four point groupings, that's a massive amount for snacking, and really yummy as well. The ranch and cheese are not quite as good and are two points for nine and ten of them, respectively, still a nice-sized snack, but anyone out there who is interested in a really good snack that happens to be good for dieting, I cannot recommend the caramel corn ones more highly, especially if you like Cracker Jack.

Also at the store, I was looking in the frozen food aisle, because the fact that my freezer is completely stuffed to the rafters and would not hold even a single ice shaving means nothing to me, and suddenly there were taquitos! I love taquitos, but they do not exist on the east coast. In Los Angeles you cannot even move without tripping over a taquito, but in the northeast there is such a dearth of Mexican food that even the humble taquito is not to be found. Until now!

I somehow managed to hammer it into the freezer, along with the pizza and the frozen dinner that I got, but I'm by golly going to have to concentrate on emptying that freezer before I buy a single other bite of frozen food. Not that I haven't said that before.

The frozen dinner was a bit of a horror, though. I adore Swanson's Meatloaf frozen dinner, it's what I have eaten since I was a child, it's only eight points, and it's filling as hell. This time at the store, they didn't have the normal meatloaf, now marked under the title "Homestyle Classics", but they had a different meatloaf, "American Recipes Angus Beef Meatloaf". I was suspicious, but I bought it.

And when I got home, I was horrified to find that not only does it have French cut green beans rather than regular ones, not only is there no dessert, not only does it have gravy rather than tomato sauce, but the meat and the mashed potatoes are in the same section! The whole point of a frozen dinner is having all of the food items segregated nicely in the different tray sections, and having two different items in one section is, frankly, horrifying to me. Also, it's nine points instead of eight. It's all terribly upsetting.

And the last thing that I was looking for was Pepsi, just some simple, ordinary Pepsi in the coolers, but Pepsi was there none. However, there were simply masses of Pepsi Blue. Dozens and dozens of bottles. Possibly a clue as to how popular that beverage isn't.

See how going to the supermarket is an adventure for me? Lucky thing, too, because I'd still be writing about it even if it wasn't, because I don't do anything more interesting than shop of a weekend.

My bath was a good one again this week, involving the using up-edness of the products. I decided to use as many of my new Tipton Charles products as possible, because theme baths are fun! I may have gone completely insane, but at least I'm having a good time.

Bubble bath: Garden Botanika Buttermilk Bubbling Bath
This stuff is great, so nice-smelling and so super bubbly. I put in a whole bunch of it, and then when I re-filled the bath, I used up the rest of the bottle. So right for the get-go I was making progress!

Hair masque: H20 Spa Hair Repair Seaweed Masque
Again, I used this forgetting that you are supposed to use it after the shampoo, not before, so the fact that my hair turned into a big ball of tangles was basically my own fault. On the other hand, I used it up, so that was another soldier down. I'm not buying it again, though.

Facial Cleanser: Lush Ultrabland
A fine fine cleanser for those of us with the delicate skin. I've never had any kind of a bad reaction from it.

Facial Scrub: Origins Never a Dull Moment
God, I've had this for centuries. It's a lovely little scrubby that clearly will never be used up. Feels mighty good.

Facial Masque: Tipton Charles Black Mud Mask
Wow, this stuff is fantastic! This is the first mud mask that I have ever used that actually seems to be made out of actual mud, but it doesn't feel dirty. It's Dead Sea mud, and truly feels as though it's working when it's on, very tingly. God, I love Tipton Charles.

Body Wash: Tipton Charles Lemon Verbena Shower Gel
Ummm, lovely lovely lovely. Very smooth and sweet-smelling.

Body Scrub: Ole Henriksen Loofah Body Scrub
Years and years I have had this. I don't use body scrubbies nearly enough, it takes me centuries to get through them. And then when I do use them, I wonder why I do so rarely! Much better than a salt-scrub, too, especially after shaving one's legs.

Shampoo: Tipton Charles Basil-Nectarine Shampoo
Peculiarly, this turned my hair into a pot scrubber. It was already tangled after the hair masque and it was even worse after shampooing. I wasn't certain whether it was the shampoo itself or the combination of the shampoo and the masque, so I will reserve judgement until using the shampoo again during the week.

Conditioner: Tipton Charles Botanical Conditioner
Really super-thick, like a hand cream, but worked great on repairing the mess made by the masque and the shampoo. It was hair rather than a Brillo pad when I was done.

Goddamn, the problem with doing these bath review things is that in looking for the URLs for the manufacturers, I see still more things that I want to buy! Get thee behind me, Satan! Or rather, get thee behind me Garden Botanika Mint product line!

Anyway, products used up: 4, and products used up last week: 2, which makes products used up recently: 4! But on the other hand, products bought recently: 7. Plus all of the stuff that I got for my birthday, so I'm really not making any progress when it comes right down to it, but I have decided to ignore that and just say, products used up: 4! Hooray for me! Now if I can just keep away from the Garden Botanika Mint product line I'm in clover. But not mint.

Besides the shopping and the bathing, I spent most of the day vaguely listening to the high school marching band practice in the ball field next door (and, since school just started, it's really pretty appalling), knitting and watching TiVo.

I finally finished the green scarf--I say finally because even though I actually knit it terribly quickly for me, the bulk of it being finished over the past two weekends, and I had only a tiny little bit left to do but could find almost no time but for my lunch half hours to do anything but a row or two at a time.

But yesterday I finished at last! And, unlike last time, I managed to finish it off the needles properly, which was quite a thrill. I made it for Cynthia for one of her Christmas presents, since green goes so nicely with red hair, but it's really more chartreuse, a yellow-y green, and since she's a trifle sallow, yellow is the flat-out worst colour for her. She has a light blue top that looks amazing on her, so maybe I'll get some blue later and make that one for her. Who will get the chartreuse scarf now? I know now. However, the new one that I started is burgundy, and that's definitely for Mom, as that is her colour--it goes with the garnets she collects.

One of the shows that I watched was the new Family Affair, which is a little bit horrible, but Tim Curry is a little bit wonderful so I might have to watch it for a few weeks until it gets canceled. O wait, it's on the WB, it'll never be canceled.

I was glad that they kept the kaleidoscope opening titles, but mostly I spent the show missing the original actors. Everyone but Sebastian Cabot, really, not that I didn't love Sebastian Cabot, but Tim Curry is a worthy enough replacement that I didn't yearn for the real Mr. French. Gary Cole is a lovely actor, but there wasn't a second that he was onscreen that I didn't wish that I was watching Brian Keith. The kids seemed okay, if relatively undistinguished. Hmm, there seems to be a new Jodie in upcoming episodes. I guess the one is the pilot simply wasn't blonde enough.

Ooh, they showed a preview of the new Harry Potter movie and it looked just swell!

I also wept buckets at the Sex and the City season finale, watched several episodes of Night Visions, and frankly if I never see another show, play or movie for the rest of my life where someone doesn't know that they are dead, it'll be too soon. It's been done brilliantly and badly, but now it's really just done too often. Can we give it a rest for a decade or so? Maybe after then it will seem fresh again.

I also finished watching the Hitchhiker's Guide disc of extras, and my Christ, the outtakes are the worst ever. Just a bunch of people mildly fluffing their lines. I realize that Hitchhiker's fans are compleatists, but honestly, enough is more than enough.

And then I went to bed because my wild wild life is exhausting!

Today's horoscope:
An small, unexpected gift brightens your day. Generosity on your part gratifies a loved one.

One year ago today:
I like pretending that life is like it was last month, last week, last Monday.

* Yesterday / Index / This Month / Tomorrow *

E-Mail / In the Belly of the Hedgehog

Graphics by the graphically inclined Saundra!

This page was written by hand. My hand. Only pussies use HTML editors.
Last Updated Sat 22 September 19:57:09 2002