The Wrong Star Wars Costume

28 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Mom Stuff, Star Wars Tags: , , , ,

So I decided to dress up for Halloween this year. My office has a Halloween party with a costume contest, and I’ve also dressed up to go trick-or-treating with my daughter (though maybe she’s getting a little old for that these days).

I almost purchased a Princess Leia costume, but then changed my mind because:

A.) I’ve been there, done that several times.

B.) I’ve cut my hair short enough now that I can’t really pull off Princess Leia buns or even good Mini-buns without adding fake hair or a wig. Right now my buns would look more like crumbs.

C.) I already have a Princess Leia Costume but have misplaced parts of it over the years, and I don’t want to purchase another one because (see options A and B).

So I managed to find a Rey costume in my size, and I got that instead.

I love Rey, the protagonist in the 2015 movie Star Wars, The Force Awakens. She’s a strong, smart, energetic, and talented female character. YAY, Daisy Ridley and  J.J. Abrams et all for bringing her to life!

Plus the movie didn’t suck. It was a lot fun! I liked it more than the previous three Star Wars movies. And, probably, at least as much as Return of the Jedi. Though my favorites are still Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back. I’m pretty sentimental about those.

So, the Rey costume fits. It’s reasonably comfortable too. While it’s not a high-end, cosplay-quality costume, it’s fine for Halloween and even for wearing to occasional movies on opening nights. I even kinda-sorta managed Rey’s hair (though mine is messier and a few shades lighter with, um maybe, a couple of gray streaks).

But I had the costume on today, and I realized I had gotten something I had not expected.

Rey Costume packaging

The package looked like a Rey costume. The label said “Rey.” But somehow in my package I managed to get a Rey’s middle-aged mom costume instead. Well, crap. I don’t even remember that character from the movie. Maybe it’s really Rey 20+ years in the future?

Me in the “Rey” costume. More like Rey’s mom or perhaps Rey 20 years in the future. No Princess Leia buns, but there are buns.

A lot of my co-workers haven’t seen The Force Awakens. I think they’d recognize Princess Leia or Darth Vader, no prob. But some wouldn’t recognize Daisy Ridley if she showed up in person with BB8 while wearing a genuine Rey costume. So yeah.

A group of my co-workers dressed as the adult card game, Cards Against Humanity. They each wore large cards containing select, office-appropriate words that were either a question or answer. They could pair up together for humorous question & answer combos. I think I may need to check this game out!

The Cards Against Humanity split the contest winnings with some other co-workers who dressed as “Food Groups” — chips & salsa, milk & cookies. Get it? It was cute.

I think I’ll have to hope that Rey’s mother shows up in a future Star Wars movie. I mean, there are speculations about Rey’s parents, right? My costume is ready! I’d like to see those Cards or food groups show up at a Star Wars movie opening night, so there!  (Okay, maybe as snacks and games to play while waiting for the movie, but you know what I mean.)

And hey, my Rey costume looks better without my glasses. Shoulders back. Suck in my tummy. Hid my behind … behind me. My hair even looks reasonably close-ish to Rey’s in this lighting. (Can’t see the gray unless you look really close.)

Rey hair and lightsaber. Looks better without my glasses. I think I need new glasses.

Oh and, I wore my hiking boots with the costume, so my feet are crazy happy. They’re all like, “OMG girl, why don’t you wear these thangs every frickin’ day?” Are those mom-feet talking or what?

Rey with hiking boots.
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Glade Winter Scents 2016

25 Oct 2016 2 Comments

by alightningbug in Smelly Stuff Tags: , , , , , ,

At the store yesterday, I saw that the Glade winter scents have arrived. This follows the general trend in retail to have Christmas stuff out before Halloween’s even here. Right now, our Target has Princess Leia, vampire, and witch costumes right next to the Santas, Christmas cards, and red & green string lights. Sigh. I like my Christmas not only after Halloween but after Thanksgiving thankyouverymuch. (Though it can stay around into January once it gets here.)

Elsewhere in the store, the Glade winter scents are already on display. My least favorite part of this is that it usually means that the Autumn scents are either gone or will be soon. The good thing is that if you can find them they will often have clearance prices. They are sold out in many stores. The Autumn package art was beautiful and I thought the scents were really nice (unless you don’t like pumpkin, etc.). For somebody who usually prefers natural essential oils, that’s saying something.

So I didn’t buy any winter scents yet because I refuse to by them in October. I like to enjoy my Autumn in Autumn. (And I still have some of the holiday spruce scent left from last year. Dave doesn’t really like it). 

The fall products I saw and smelled in the store for 2016 were the following:

Happy Glow — an apple & cinnamon scent. It smells similar to autumn’s Spiced Apple Magic (apple, cloves, cinnamon). If anything it’s a maybe little more cinnamony, but I’m not sure if it’s even different. In past years, the holiday apple scent had a lot more cinnamon & spice than the autumn version, but I don’t smell as much difference this year. The candle color is a slightly lighter shade of red — a little more of a Christmas red. Comparing the color of the wax melts they look almost the same. Overall I like it. It’s a good homey scent.

Timeless Joy — a sparkling spruce scent. This is a traditional Christmas tree type scent. Smelling this type of scent always reminds me of Christmas. It’s not so much that it smells like an actual tree, but because similar tree-inspired scents have been in candles and sprays for Christmas holidays for so long. It automatically stirs up holiday memories.

Merry Fun — a vanilla scent. It’s a soft, pleasant vanilla. 

Shimmering Wonder — a plum blossom scent. I’d not have pegged this as a winter scent, but here it is. It’s a little fruity and floral. There’s a hint of candy (almost like Pez candy), berries, vanilla, and maybe violets too. If the Wondrous Autumn Nights fragrance was masculine, then this one is more feminine. I’m trying to think of it as sugar plum to tie it to the holiday spirit. A bit of spice may have been nice to make it like a plum pudding or holiday sugar plum. But not everybody likes spice. There may be a hint of anise here and vanilla, but that’s about it. I can’t think of any previous year’s fragrance that was quite like this. The Pommegranite Sparker from last year was maybe similar, but this one seems sweeter. They are definitely not the same. Not sure how I’ll like it in the home at this poin, but I smelled it a few more times and it’s kind of growing on me.

So far, I saw all four scents as jar candles and plug-ins (Walmart and Target). I saw Happy Glow (Apple) and Timeless Joy (Spruce) as wax melts, auto-spray refills, and solid air fresheners at Target. I didn’t see wax melts or room sprays at our Walmart, but it had auto-spray refills of apple and spruce. I didn’t see wax melts of Merry Fun (vanilla) or Shimmering Wonder (plum blossom) anywhere yet. I’m guessing maybe Dollar General will have one of those (which I would check if there was a Dollar General closer to my home). The Target had a $1 room spray in all except the vanilla scent. But I saw the vanilla room spray at a larger Giant grocery store (which, instead, doesn’t have the plum blossom room spray). I’m guessing there will be another exclusive somewhere, maybe?

So there you have it. These aren’t even listed on the Glade website yet, but you can expect them soon.


And yes, I’m the crazy lady taking pictures of air fresheners in the store. But no, I’m still not buying Christmas scents in October.


— ** Update 11/4/16 ** —

My Target added a scent sampler to the Galde seasonal display. It has a wax melt cube encased in perforated plastic and labeled with a description of the scent. None of our local stores had this previous years. I usually just smelled the candle or a package of wax melts or scratch & sniffed the sticker on the oil refills depending on what I could find. Sometimes the different versions have subtle differences. The wax melts usually have the strongest aroma.

Of note, the Shimmering Wonder fragrance is described as Plum, Black Tea, and Praline. I guess I can see that. Tea can smell a little floral and woodsy. The praline fits somewhat with the candy notes I smelled. And the fruitiness is somewhat plum but maybe a little blueberry-ish too.

So it appears that they do make a wax melt of both the Plum Blossom and Vanilla scents. They just don’t actually sell it at my Target (or Walmart as far as I can tell). 

 



And it is November now, so maybe I’ll try one of these soon. 
–** SAFETY NOTES 11/08/16 **–

I’ve read a few complaints regarding the Glade scented oil refills dripping out and ruining the finish of furniture or floors. 

Please keep in mind, that there is liquid inside that can leak out once the product is opened. So the “bottle” must be kept upright once opened. 

I saw one person post photos along with a complaint and noticed that this individual had their Plug-in inserted into the wall outlet UPSIDE DOWN. Yes, it will leak then. 

As far as causing damage, even many 100% pure therapeutic-grade essential oils will eat the finish off wood and dissolve many types of plastic if it touches it for a while. That is common with any kind of concentrated fragrance — natural or lab-created. 

So be careful not to plug in a Plug-in upside down or sideways. 

Vote Kodos or Kang*! (Actually, no. But please vote!)

17 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Beyond Uncategorized, Star Trek, Uncategorized and beyond. Tags: , ,

This year I feel like I (along with the entire country) have been transported to an alternate universe. Somewhere around here Spock must have a goatee. And Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are our major-party candidates for President of the United State. Many of you who are registered to vote have decided on a candidate and will vote for that candidate. Yay, you! (I’m not going to try to change your mind.) 

But if you’re even remotely thinking of not voting, I’m writing this for you. If you don’t like either choice … can’t find the time … don’t think your vote matters …

Please vote any way.

Today is the last day to register to vote online in my state. The same may be true for your state, so check it out and register if you haven’t already. 

Some people say that both candidates are bad. So they say they won’t vote. As if that will show them. As if not voting somehow sends a message to Washington.

“Bob Smith didn’t vote; we must be doin’ somethin’ wrong,” said no politician ever.

The only message sent by not voting is one that says that you don’t care enough to vote. Status quo is okay with you. Let other people pick your leaders.

There are men and women in other countries who fought and died to be able to vote in their elections. Ladies, remember when it wasn’t legal for us to vote in the United States? Neither do I. Yay! Now, use your right to vote. 

You may think that you don’t have a choice. That you must pick either Donald or Hillary. But you can vote and still not vote for Hillary or Donald if you want to. Just be sure to vote.

There are some who may tell you that you’re throwing away your vote if you don’t vote for a Democrat or Republican (depending on whom you ask). When folks feel that way, some of them end up not voting. But the only way to throw away your vote is by not voting at all.

You can vote 3rd party.

You can vote via write-in.

You can vote in the congressional, senatorial, and local elections, but then not vote for a President if you wish. 

Just please vote! (And really you should still vote for a President. Even voting for Kodos* or Kang* is better than not voting at all.)

Make your voice heard. It may be a small voice, but it is an important voice. It is your voice.

If we see a record number of voters voting it says that people care enough to spare a bit of time to have a say. It tells Washington that you’re paying a little bit of attention. (Well, a record high number of voters is good. Record lows. Not so good.) 

And if this election sees a record-high number of write-ins and 3rd-party votes, that says something too. It sends a message (even if the person you voted for doesn’t become President). 

I know I won’t change anybody’s mind about whom to vote for. I probably don’t want to change your mind about some things, and I would love to change your mind about others. But I’m happy to agree to disagree as long as the voting happens.

Mind made up? Mind not made up? All fine. Vote!

*Kang and Kodos are aliens as depicted on the TV show The Simpsons usually showing up on the Halloween episodes in some form or another. I don’t really want to elect either one of them President. (I could say the same about some real, live humans.) But I do think voting, even for creepy, green aliens is better than not voting. 

Be Daring

04 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Mom Stuff, School, The Daily Prompt, WordPress Tags: , , ,

 

The WordPress Daily Post’s Daily Prompt is Daring. Ha, that makes sense as a sentence.

WordPress bloggers dare to put it out there. They don’t just say they’re going to blog. They blog. Be like WordPress Daily Prompt bloggers. Be daring! Blog.

And dare to do other stuff too. At our recent back-to-school night, one of the teachers had this single slide up on the screen through the entire presentation for the class.

img_5331

Other teachers had PowerPoint presentations that covered lots of stuff. Each was many pages long. Class schedule. Topics covered. Projects. Grades. Contact information.

I took a few photos of information that I thought may be of value. But I liked what this single slide said the most. And it was for a math class no less! The teacher also said that when kids told her that they didn’t know how to do something, she corrected them by saying, “you don’t know how to do it YET.”

I hope the class goes well for my daughter. I’d hate to like the presentation so much only for her to have a bummer of a class experience. But I’m not going to worry for now.

So far, so good. The year is early. I’m sure not everything will be perfect. I’m going to enjoy these ideas while fresh on my mind. And perhaps my daughter may even learn more than just math in this class.

Students learn so many new things every day. I need to bust out of my own comfort zone more often!

I need to try some new ways.

I need to be daring!

 

Of Value

03 Oct 2016 2 Comments

by alightningbug in The Daily Prompt, WordPress Tags: , , , , ,

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt is: Value.

I always like adding that a post came from a Daily Prompt and what the prompt was. Sometimes, I read other posts linked from the Daily Prompt pages, and I’m thinking, “wait, where did this come from? Why did they write it.” Some posts tie-in so beautifully. Some, you can find the inspiration easily, but the blogger really took it and ran with his or her own idea. They made something unexpected but really good. Other times I have no idea what a post had to do with the prompt, but the link in there. So, okay.

Value

The idea of value has a lot of variety too. We could be talking money … time … emotion. You could have a valuable car or antique vase. Well made clothes may be a better value than cheaper, poorly made clothing. They last longer.

There’s the value of words. Of lessons. Maybe that’s one of my favorites — learning a valuable lesson. Do we ever learn lessons that aren’t valuable? Maybe, I’ll look at that farther on down this page.

Valuable lessons are often those that are hard earned. “Wow, you really earned a valuable lesson there,” implies that something bad happened first. Then a lesson was learned. The valuable lesson is usually the knowledge needed to prevent oneself from having the bad thing happen again.

Touch a hot stove. Get burned. Know not to do it again. That is something of value.

It starts when we’re old enough to remember stuff, and hopefully it keeps happening until we reach a ripe old age. We learn enough to help us to get to that advanced age. Get the tough lessons out of the way when we’re young. That way once we’re old, we can avoid lots of crap and hot stoves. But we may still learn new things too.

Some days, I’m still working on the hot-stove lesson. (Pot holder, Deb, pot holder.)

I took a class in basket weaving one time. When I was a teen that was a running joke among parents, “she’s studying underwater basket weaving in college.” (I wasn’t. It was a community class.) But the sentiment implied that it was a completely useless course of study. No value. The expression could be used to refer to any course of study that was considered to be useless. Film making and art weren’t far behind.

Underwater basket weaving does not require that the weaver should spend time submerged in water (maybe a little part of me was hoping for scuba tanks). The materials are soaked in water. Not sure that this knowledge has much value except that I giggle when I picture people wearing scuba tanks and weaving baskets at the bottom of the sea. I like to laugh.

I’m sure basket weaving is valuable for folks who make a living as artisans who sell fine, handmade baskets at arts & craft shows. 

Lots of people will only give value to something they can measure with money. But the basket weaver (who may also scuba dive, it could happen) probably, hopefully, really enjoys making baskets. So it’s a valuable way for them to spend their time, it makes them happy, and folks might pay a lot for a beautifully handmade basket.

But basket weaving is probably not so valuable for accountates or math majors. Unless, say, the math major loves basket weaving as a form of fun and relaxation. Then it, once again, has value. (And you do have to count in basket weaving, so there’s that. Crochet is the same.)

So value can take a monetary form, be a good use of time, emotionally pleasant, or be the lessons that get us through life. It is what we make of it. I can value that.