Going cruelty free

Sometimes I REALLY hate the people will treat others...... and I don't just mean other people, I mean all creatures, especially ones who have no voice and no choice. I am talking about animals. So, I have made a conscious effort to start buying cruelty free products. I beleive that my household cleaners, hygiene supplies and beauty products do NOT have to be tested on creatures who have no voice and no choice. This has been challenging in that many of these products are expensive, hard to find, and don't work as well. So far, here is what I have found that does work:

Products that I use and I like:
Paul Mitchell shampoo and conditioner
Mary Kay, Revlon, Almay, and Clinique
My soap is made locally by someone in Hannibal
Seventh Generation Laundry detergent and fabric softener
Ecover dish detergent (the best so far but not great)
Eucerin and Aquaphor hand cream
Burt's Bees products (some I like, some I hate)
Bath and Body products (except these are all scented; so they are only good for gift-giving)

Things that I have tried and I don't like:
Method products have a great container (I am a sucker for packaging) but they do NOT clean my dishes at all, I often have to re-wash them and this is wasteful; because of this, I will not try any of their other cleaning products.
Jason deoderant (works for about an hour, then, it FAILS)
Tom's of Maine deoderant (same as above)

As I run out of my current products, I am replacing them with cruelty free ones. I do not recommend throwing everything out and starting over. You have already spent the money, you might as well use it. As I have said before, these products tend to be expensive; so this could be hard on the pocket book.

Revlon and Almay cosmetics are convenient and affordable, so good for them. Also, there is a laundrey detergent brand called Sun that you can get at Walgreen's or Family Dollar/Dollar General type stores that is very inexpensive, however, I have not tried it myself.

So if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, or comments, please feel free to share with me. I welcome the feedback. Also, if you want to know more about animal cruelty, feel free to do some google searches or check out my friend Constantia's site on Tribe, it is eye-opening and heart-wrenching.

Be kind!
~Ailsa~

Easter memories

So, Tarl and I both have memories of this chocolate bunny.......

Remember getting this solid one and a hollow one? The hollow one was for instant chocolate gratification and the solid one would go into the fridge for the long term. You could always eat the bunny ears, head and tail but then it was always too cold and hard to finish. Remember trying to bite this and then your drool would warm it up and just enough to get a drip of chocalate saliva that runs down the outside? When I got older, I was evolved enough to be a tool user. I would get a hammer and a screwdriver to chisel off chunks of the chocolatey goodness, hence the birth of my big fat ass probably........Oh......yeah.......good times.

Insightful!

Sometimes, the more I am around people, the more I think we should listen to this cat. Did you ever see the movie "Idiocrasy"? It is a comedy where only the stupid people were reproducing like drunken bunnies and the smart people were reproducing at a much slower rate. The future turned out to be a very grim farce. It's a very funny movie but sometimes I wonder if it is not foreshadowing a bit.

Remember this?

www.youtube.com/watch

So, when I was a kid, I was profoundly impacted by this powerful video. I remember, after watching this, I made a conscious decision about being more aware of what I was doing with my own garbage. I still think about this video once in awhile and wonder if it had an impact on others as well.

On Thursday, Doug and I were driving through one of the more beautiful and upscale local parks on our way home from my parent's house and we were both struck by the amount of garbage that was scattered about the grounds. It was pathetic! I can't believe that in this environmentally conscientious day and age, we are still throwing garbage out the windows of our cars. This sparked a conversation about this very timeless video and how moving it is/was. I think it should be aired again. So, I am posting this here and maybe somehow this will encourage people to be more aware of their actions. I am certain that NONE of the people that I have in my friend network need to be reminded of this but this is just one way of reaching out to the people of this planet; so, to my friends...... Sorry, I do know that I am preaching to the choir, so to speak, but perhaps you will at least enjoy the nostalgia of this video.

Keep America Beautiful!
~Ailsa~

Things to be thankful for.....

So, I haven't blogged for a very long time. I have a great desire to write about things that I feel compelled to share, however, many of them involve the type of people and situations that I deal with at work and since I work in a hospital, I feel it is in poor taste and could be considered a HIPPA violation if I put things in print that affect me. Like, how people always want me to give them something for nothing; and somehow, it is my fault that they don't want to work and I need to convince the government that they are truly disabled. On the other hand, I don't understand how many of these people on disability can still go hunting and ride their ATVs and have computers and take vacations and have multiple cars, continue to drink and smoke but they have no insurance and can not afford to buy their meds or pay their hospital bills

Yes, I now refer to myself as having become a corporate bitch rather than a rebellious hippy that wants to "stick it to the man". I am not thrilled that I have chosen the way of the corporate bitch, however, corporate bitches get a nice retirement plan, whereas rebellious hippies ....well, ....not so much. .....Now don't get your panties in a bunch by my comments, I am speaking allegorically here. I know plenty of rebellious hippies who have jobs and are able to plan for their retirement as well, but they don't work for "the establishment", or they do work for the establishment but when they get tired of the bullshit, they will simply move on to somewhere else. I, on the other hand, do work for "the establishment" and I have embraced their coporate values and comply with their rules and regulations because I want my security of my future and this job looks pretty good for me. Do I like my job? Yes, most of the time it is okay but I don't love it. You know there is a reason it is called work.

So, I am thankful for having a good and secure job.
I am thankful for friends and family.
I have the most wonderful husband who is also my closest friend.
I am thankful for my sense of humor and that I can find humor in many things....It is a wonderful coping mechanism.
I am thankful that my dear little kitty companion of 17 + years is still healthy and sleeps with me every night.
I am thankful that our country is moving in a new political direction and that finally the American people opened their eyes to see that we needed change and not McSame and his ridiculous running mate who couldn't lead this country out of a wet paper bag.

By the way, as far as politics go,.... I work with many republicans and my family were all big McCain supporters too. They have made it known how horrible Obama is and this country will likely implode due to this election according to them. They are outraged about this election and are screaching about the end of all things wonderful. Now, I do understand their feelings, because that is how I felt 4 years ago when W did not win (well, he did not win the popular vote - that was John Kerry - W won the electoral vote - which made him president), and I felt that way 8 years ago when he did not win then either. However, I will say the one good thing about W was that he is funnier than hell! The man is the WORST speaker but damn the stuff he would come up with....... BRILLIANT..... and God Bless that evil media for never letting his social ineptness get old..... YAY! So, my condolences go out to all of the mourning conservatives, I know how you feel, but if we could survive the last 8 years, we will survive this next one too. ....And, don't worry, in 4 years, you will have the opportunity to change it again and may the best candidate win ....just like what happened in this election......FINALLY! (oops, sorry if I offended any conservatives with that last little jab, but ....what the hell..... it's MY blog!) :-)

So, in 4 years, when Palin runs for this office (and you know she will). Please remember this video while you are at the polls: (WARNING: this video is NOT PETA approved)
www.youtube.com/watch
....Oh, and who is at fault? The media? Palin? It doesn't matter if you eat meat or don't, you have to agree that this is in very poor taste on BOTH of their parts.

celebrating milestones

So, Tarl and I celebrated 20 years of marriage on Wed. I can't believe how time has just disappeared but I am so glad that I had him to share the last 20 years. I believe that I have found myself what I call a "catch" and I am looking forward to the next 20. I sure do love that guy!

How cool is this?!?!?!?

I soooooo want to be this woman!

www.youtube.com/watch

I live in a pond with furniture!

So, the Midwest rains have been freaky! On Tuesday, we had an extremely bizarre rainstorm during the night. Since, we live in our bunker-type house, we are always unaware of what the weather is like, however, I was awake most of the night Tues (as was 3/4 of Quincy's population) because the storm was extremely loud. Also, probably because I just got a tune up on my bionic ear as well, but that is a different story. Anyway, when I got up and put my feet on the floor I felt a very strange and extremely cold squish under my feet. At first, I thought that Princess had gotten sick but as I moved my feet, I became aware that the entire Nort side of my house was soaking wet from my kitchen which had a giant puddle into the middle of the floor to my master bathroom and it was a span of about 2 feet wide. SUCK!!!!!! Now, we just spent several hundred dollars taking care of the south side of the house that normally has this problem and it is now dry but now we have the north side. .....Sometimes, I really HATE this fucking money-pit that we just had to have because it is historic and cool, and we got to determine how we wanted it to be built. .....After buying another fan and dehumidifier and going through all of my towels, everything is now dry. I don't think my carpet is ruined, but it will have to be cleaned which sucks because it is only a little over a year old.

I did learn, however, that we actually had it rather mild in comparison to how others had it. Many people who had dry basements ended up with water in them. When we bought our dehumidifier, there was only one more left on the shelves. Also, I quickly learned that there were homes on the east side of town that ended up with raw sewage in their basements as well and there homes had to be treated in the manner of a toxic spill. Oh well, I guess it can always be worse, still, I love this house less and less these days.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Well........

I don't know if I believe in ghosts but I DO believe in things that happen that I can't explain. So, here is what happened to me yesterday at work:

My office is an actual pt room at the hospital that has been turned into an office. I share this office with 3 other Care managers and 1 Social worker. My desk and one of my coworker's desks is actually ment to be in a cubicle. It has an upholstered towerwith an overhead cabinet. It is a very nice space and I have always enjoyed my office and my coworkers. As a matter of fact, I like my office so much that I prefer to work there rather than to be out at the nurses station where all of the action is. The other great thing about my office is it is a great place to have family conferences and the nurses have a safe and private place to come and "discuss" what is going on.

Yesterday, a nurse neede to see me about one of her patients. This is just a normal run of the mill day and a normal run of the mill situation that we are dealing with. Kim (she is the nurse) sits in my coworker's chair in the middle of the room so that we can have our conversation. As we are talking, something flies off of my coworkers desk and hits Kim in the arm. We are both stunned! "What was that"? She picks up a push pin that was originally stuck in my coworkers upholstered tower (used appropriately as a bulletin board). .....NOW,.... there were only the 2 of us in the room....... I ask you, how does a pin come out of a bulletin board and fly half way across the room? Tarl thought that maybe someone on the other side of the wall was doing some construction or hit the wall or something, BUT....... this wall is on the 3 rd floor and it is the end of the building. Besides, if that were true, the pin would have just fallen out of the bulletin board and onto the desk and then rolled to the floor. This had some force behind it as if it were thrown. Kim is convinced that there is a ghost in my office. I am convinced that something happened that I can't explain.

There is still more to this story.... I use a laptop that uses the hospital's wireless network. For the last 2 weeks, I have been frequently kicked off the network for no reason. When this happens, I will lose my work if it is not saved. This really pisses me off. Yesterday, after the incident, I was CONSTANTLY being kicked off the network. I made 3 calls to our help desk because, not only was I getting kicked off the network, I was getting a blue screen as I tried to get back on. I even traded out my computer because I was wasting so much time. This made no difference AT ALL! I finally found a network cable (don't tell anyone because I actually took it from someone else -but they weren't using it- they use wireless......dumb ass) and then connected that way and I turned off my wireless. Even after I did that, my computer was still occasionally looking for the wireless network. I did not leave work until 7:00 PM last night because of all of this trouble.......THAT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!

So, tomorrow (Sat.) I have to work. I will be one of only 3 care managers in the entire hospital. I will stay in my office most of the weekend unless I have to go to another department to take care of any problems. I will likely be a bit jumpy. I hope my computer will work for me or else I will have to go to someone elses office to get my work done and who wants to do that.

So, what do you think? Am I being haunted? Is this just something that I can't explain? It is just a bit freaky don't you think?

Another cool version of my favorite Cantiga

uk.youtube.com/watch