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whiter_than_snow
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Name: Maria
Interests: About 5% annually. For those of you who know me, I'm Maria! For those of you who DON'T know me, I'm still Maria. :-D
Expertise: I'm great at pretending that I'm a musician!! No one knows my ignorance, however, nor the fact that hopefully I shall instruct others in musical ignorance someday as well.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  rofinvincibility
Member Since:
4/25/2005
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| Today, I finally sent in all the program information and translations for my upcoming Senior Recital. ORU, I promise that I shall graduate yet! Oh yeah, and I also sent in a picture for the LCD screens that happens to be the exact same picture I used for Junior Recital, mostly because I really didn't care about it. Evidently, I am already falling into the professional musician's trap of using a grossly outdated picture for everything. Seriously, if you look at the website, a large portion music faculty are a good ten years older than their pictures. Either that, or they have become bass clefs.  In all seriousness, though, I love the Music Faculty to death...
But I am SOOOOO ready to be done.
May the Senior Recital come quickly. | | |
| And that is exactly what happened this morning.
Every morning, I boil a kettle of water for my French press coffee, and go take a quick shower or something in the meantime. Today, instead of turning on the burner on which my teakettle rested, I accidentally turned on the burner with plastic dishes on top.
Thank God for fire alarms.
I rushed out of the bathroom, and Adam jumped out of bed, to find angry, thick, black smoke swirling overhead. We ran into the kitchen to find a huge fire a-blazing on the stove!
Things from here on are blurry. I remember Adam heroically confronting the fire... by BLOWING on it. I was a little more concerned about the neighbors forming a mob as the fire alarm pierced the air at nine in the morning, so I grabbed a fan and got it out of the box at superhuman speed. Amazing what adrenaline will do for you!
I also remember Adam dropping to the floor and crawling on all fours over to the front door to open it. Me, being much more practical, took three large leaps to the door and yanked it open, watching a huge puff of smoke billow out. I ran out, hacking and coughing.
There were several neighbors standing outside, just watching. And then I suddenly hoped I had tied up my bathrobe securely when I threw it on.
After all was said and done, I am now short one cookie sheet, a Pyrex dish, both my spatulas, and a 1/4-cup measuring cup-- the cause of the fire. I hope to have some pictures for you someday.
I had to go to work in an hour, so I jumped in the shower. The ash had migrated into the bathroom. Dear Lord...
AND... I didn't ever get to have my coffee. Talk about adding insult to injury!
I wouldn't mind if this was all that happened. Unfortunately, those of you who have observed plastic burning have also probably noticed the stringy ash it produces. Every single inch of my house is now covered in the stuff!! Luckily, the one exception was the bedroom, so I have a nice, soot-free place to go tonight. However, I spent that entire day cleaning the kitchen alone. The soot got into the cupboards, so I've been washing many dishes.
AND I've been washing them all BY HAND. Because evidently the only thing that works on this ash is Liquid dish soap!
AND I accidentally broke the French press while I was cleaning. This was clearly NOT my day! Either that, or God is going to great lengths to break me of my coffee habit.
So now, I will always look twice before turning on a burner! | | |
| I'm still very much the new Kid on the Block at work, but I am getting the hang of things pretty well! This the second week that I've been waitressing all by my lonesome, instead of trailing other waitresses to learn all their secrets.  And this means... tips! Hooray! It's so nice to actually be making money! Of course, now all the cashiers at Wal-Mart hate me because I pay in one-dollar bills these days, but I am thankful for every one of those George Washingtons. So, on to the silly things:
- Suffering a momentary lapse of intelligence, I asked a customer if they wanted sauerkraut on their burrito (should have been sour cream)
- Still having someone nearly every day ask why I'm named Maria
-Making flower pens (I should do a post on that sometime) to use at work. They are a big hit, and last night, one of my female customers went crazy over them and asked me all sorts of questions on how to make one, where to get the materials, etc. Oh, the bliss when a crafting soul meets another!
- Watching the 8-year-old girl (I'm guessing) handle the BIG responsibility of giving the money to the waitress (me), running back with the change, and then running right back with the tip, saying "Mommy wants you to have this!" Too cute.
- Me intensely concentrating on balancing something + my manager being so hyper for some reason that he inadvertently sneaked up behind me and yelled something = me screaming and providing the kitchen staff with something to laugh about all night
Somehow, I had three days off this week. I'm still scratching my head over that one, but I'm not going to question it.  Seeing that today is one of those free days, I'm going to get off and try to battle the household Clutter Monster. Later! | | |
| First things first: CONGRATULATIONS to my long-time friend Michelle on her recent engagement! Brian is a very lucky guy, and I look forward to getting you guys a fabulous wedding gift! 
Now, for the topic of the day. I was going to wait a little longer to write this, but circumstances compel me to share the tidings sooner! Read on, read on! FOR THE MALE READERS: this post is all about feminine hygiene, so you probably don't want to read any further. Leave the computer, and go try to wash off all the cooties you have just gained from reading even this far.
About a year ago, I was really hating the whole disposable pad/tampon thing, for a variety of reasons.
ENVIRONMENTAL- Pads are made out of plastic, so those used pads are going to be around till kingdom come. GROSS!!!!!!!! According to this pad calculator, I would probably use around 7700 more disposable products, starting today. I hate the thought of leaving that much trash behind me! And that's just little old me. According to this page, over 20 BILLION of these products are filling up landfills... EVERY YEAR. Ugh.
Not to mention, think of all the resources and energy expended in just manufacturing them. All that shipping and packaging. Pads are individually wrapped, (and tampons often have all those plastic inserts and stuff), then wrapped together in another plastic package, and then shipped to the store in a box. That's a lot of waste, and overpackaging does not necessarily mean sanitization. Read on...
HEALTH- Chlorine and plastic-related chemicals are used in the manufacturing process-- things I would rather not have in such close proximity to my body. And then there's the increased risk of TSS, especially with tampons. They tend to dry out tissue, which makes it easier for microscopic tears to develop, which provides an opportunity for evil bacteria to infect the body. Yikes!
COMFORT AND WELL-BEING- By the end of my period, I was always very raw and chafed from the plastic. I hated having to carry extra pads everywhere and feeling panicked if I ran out. Also, I hated creating more waste. Oh, and perpetually shelling out money for something I was just going to throw away kind of rankled me, too. And... THE DIAPER FEELING!! AAAAAA!!!
And then, last year, I found out about GladRags. And I bought this. And my life has never been the same again. Cloth pads are so amazing! I just wish more people knew about them! They are so comfortable, it's like wearing clothing. Since I use a menstrual cup, I never worry about being without protection when I'm out and about. Sometimes, though, I will carry an extra cloth pad in a Ziploc bag, just in case, but I rarely need it. And here's the best part: no more spending money! I am actually planning on buying a couple more, but that's more for convenience's sake. I'm tired of hand-washing and drying my three pads every day of my period.
One nice thing about using cloth pads is that it has forced me to get real about menstruation. It's really sad for me to see women try to pretend like it's not happening, to talk about it in hush-hush tones like it's some sort of disease, and watch ads for pads that skirt around the whole issue of menstruation. My last roommate summed the mentality up perfectly when she said, "I don't want to see it [blood], handle it, or know it's there. I hate periods!" What a sad way to approach a perfectly natural and good phenomenon of life. Handling your own blood is not gross. if you think that is too gross to handle, then may I suggest that you not have babies or pets, because you will be dealing with far worse stuff.  Now that I use alternative products, I feel so much more positive about my period. Honestly, how can you not feel happy when you get to wear pretty floral pads?  I feel more feminine now that I feel more free to embrace this aspect of being a woman. And suddenly, leaking in public does not seem like a fate worse than death. Thankfully, this has not happened, but if it did, oh well. I guess everyone would be surprised that I'm a woman or something.
Sorry to talk you ear off. If there's one thing I would like for you to carry away, it would be this: GLADRAGS IS HAVING A GREAT SALE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY! You will get 20% off any order of anything when you type in "HappyNewYear09". No, they are not paying me to say this. I am just a very happy convert, spreading the gospel of better women's health.
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| Currently, everyone in Tulsa is holding their breath and waiting for an ice storm to hit this area. Last year, we had an ice storm, which broke many tree limbs, felled many power lines, and crippled my city for several weeks. My manager was telling me last night that he went three weeks without power! Since Adam and I are from the north, we like to laugh at how panicked Southerners get when the temperature dips below 33 degrees. However, being without power for a few weeks is no laughing matter! So this is what I did today to prepare:
- Filled all available containers with water.
- Stocked up on shelf-stable food
- Did any laundry that NEEDS to be done
- Checked the flashlights and got extra batteries together
- Bought a few extra candles
- Thought about baking bread. Sandwiches would be good. Too bad I'm too lazy.
Am I forgetting anything? | | |
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