Fun with Henna

Tools of the trade: a spray bottle filled with lemon juice sealant, and my henna cone

For the first time in some weeks, I did a henna tattoo. Normally, I reserve doing this particular activity for Sunday as it's a leisurely hobby. But, the baby was being demanding and by the time she got to sleep, it was too late for me to henna myself (cuz that's parenthood!).

So, while she took her mid-morning nap the following Monday, I took some time to myself to do a freehand henna tattoo of a peacock on my thigh. I did it completely off the cuff, so if it looks kinda random, it is.

Technically, it's upside down. But, it's practice so I don't really care

After I sprayed on my sealant. I think I put on a bit too much...

And then while playing, the baby kicked the design and smeared it. Guess it wasn't as dry as I thought

I make my own henna paste. The recipe I use is not too different from that of the henna I color my hair with (see here for that post), but with the addition of lavender essential oil and sugar for enhanced stain and staying power, respectively. As for the applicator, I use cellophane chip bags cut down to my preferred size and rolled into cones. I've seen cellophane squares sold on henna vendors sites specifically for cone rolling, but I'd rather use chip bags cuz I find the cellophane squares expensive. Also, with chip bags, I can buy them with food stamps so it's a better value for me (eat the chips, and use the bags for cone rolling). I started out using bottles, but cones are more traditional and more cost effective in the long run.

The sealant spray, however, is a completely new endeavor. Traditionally, I always used paper tape to seal my henna designs (something I learned from my friend who taught me the art of hennaing). However, having to always buy paper tape from the drugstore or dollar store tends to get a bit costly after a while. So, I decided to experiment with making a sealant spray. After I found a recipe to make sealant spray in a Facebook henna group I belong to, I made the spray using lemon juice and sugar, plus a bit of water to get the consistency of the sealant to a fine mist when sprayed.

This particular hobby of mine is one I've done on and off for years as I could afford to. This is why my work looks so amateurish. But, hennaing is an exercise in skill, technique, and patience. A cursory search on Google or Pinterest will yield all sorts of amazing images of henna tattoos. One day, I aspire to join those ranks too.

A Day at the Swap Meet

This past Saturday, we decided to finally take a trip we'd been planning to do for a while, but hadn't been able to accomplish (mostly due to weather, but other stuff played a part too). It was time to introduce our baby to a Tucson classic, the Tanque Verde Swap Meet.

From the large koi pond near the entrance

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, a swap meet basically is a giant open-air yard sale where people bring stuff to sell for cheap. Another name for a swap meet is "flea market", perhaps a more familiar term. Anyone can do it, and all that's needed to reserve a spot is a $15.00 sellers permit which is purchased at the entrance.

Sign high up reads "Yard sale with us! $15", while the stands in the foreground sell kettle corn and Sonora dogs

After parking not in the zoo of a lot, but across the street in the industrial park, we made our way to the entrance. It was a busy Saturday, with plenty of families enjoying the evening.

I made the mistake of parking in the parking lot the first time I drove here. Never again...

Play area for kids near the entrance

Our first stop was to a discount book seller. My hubby insisted on going in there not only because he is a bibliophile, but he is on a never-ending quest to find a Douay-Rheims Catholic bible in hard copy. He insists on getting one that's NOT Challonaire or Haydock annotated, but the original without any "protestant" translations (and he uses a line from the Gospel of Matthew as his litmus test). It bugs me when he does that because my husband HAS a Douay-Rheims bible in soft copy, and for someone who hates paper (most of his literature is in PDF form anyway), this is one paper book he wants to acquire at all cost.

While we've purchased bibles from this particular vendor in the past, she did not have his elusive bible. Much to my delight, however, were the Little Golden Books she had available for sale. As a child, I had many of these books, with their distinctive gold spines and memorable characters. I no longer have the books of my youth, but I remembered some of the titles, so I was able to buy a bunch of them for the baby. My hubby also had a number of Little Golden Books when he was a kid too, and he encouraged me to buy as many as I could. Though she's a bit young now, there will be no shortage of books for our child to read.

So help us God, there is no reason why our child should become illiterate

After the book vendor, we just walked around, seeing what people had for sale. Since I had the baby stroller, I couldn't go into the displays to see the wares more closely due to the stroller being bulky.

Funny signs for sale

Most of the stuff was just junk, but occasionally something interesting caught my eye. I was tickled to death to see how much counterfeit makeup was on sale. I've been wanting the Naked eyeshadow palettes for some time and the ones being sold at the swap meet were significantly cheaper than buying them directly from Urban Decay website. They were some pretty good knockoffs too; if I didn't spend so much time on beauty and makeup blogs, I might not have known that Urban Decay was putting out palettes like Naked 5 and 6 with the US Capitol building emblazoned on it (hint: THOSE WERE FAKE!!). There were also some pretty dubious MAC eyeshadow palettes too. As much as I love makeup (eyeshadow in particular) and cheap prices, there are some things I'd rather buy through reputable channels than risk something grisly happening cuz I bought a knockoff.

There are a few established vendors at the Tanque Verde Swap Meet. They're largely Mexican establishments selling everything from jewelry to leather goods and shoes, to religious items, clothes, toys, and cell phones. Some, mostly owned by whites or in a few cases, Blacks, sell weapons (mostly knives) and incense or knick-knacks. An Indian family owned a large stretch of lots that sold clothes, carpets, bedding, and toys. Meeting that particular family proved to be quite fortuidous, as the first time I went to the Swap Meet was while I was in college, and I was wearing a sari I'd just purchased from a costume shop. One of the proprietors of that stretch of shops, seeing my outfit, told me where I could find a top for the sari when I mentioned that I was looking for one. He also gave good deals on Catholic-themed clothing featuring saints and Lady Guadalupe t-shirts. I wear the Lady Guadalupe t-shirts he sold me to church every Sunday.

As for the big highlight of the night, it had to have been when my husband encountered a "Good Ol' Boy" selling Confederate memorabilia. Since that one cracker in South Carolina shot up a Black church in May, Confederate flags have been all but banned. The toothless vendor emphasized how hard it was to get Confederate memorabilia nowadays, but happily sold a flag and "Forget Hell" license plate to my husband. Being a born-and-bred Southerner, Confederate memorabilia is something my hubby wanted to have as a reminder of home.

Whenever we go to the Swap Meet, I always try and get an elote. An elote is a type of Mexican street food that is made with corn, mayonnaise, sea salt, lime juice, and topped with dried cheese. Elotes can be served as an intact corn-on-the-cob, or as a coctel (in a cup). It's fine on its own, but I always add a hearty dollup of chamoy (a multipurpose Mexican hot sauce that goes with fruit as well as other dishes) and some chili flakes to give it some flavor.

Elote. It's like a corn soup

As I enjoyed my elote treat, we sat at some picnic tables and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Swap Meet.

The "supermoon"

Finally, it was time to go home. The baby enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Swap Meet too, but she was worn out by the trip.

The playground

Saying bye-bye to the fishies in the koi pond

Exit sign

Picture of the Day

Man at work

Recently, our ancient and leaky bathtub faucet went to faucet heaven after corrosion finally destroyed the seals in the hot/cold handles. Since we live in a trailer, RV plumbing is both readily available where we live, and quite affordable too. The latter part is important because while we probably could have replaced the seals, that job would have been more costly and trouble than it was worth. So, we shopped carefully and ordered a new faucet for the bathroom. My hubby spent the evening installing the new faucet and making sure nothing leaked. No longer will we have to gorilla the handles when finished bathing.

As difficult as a financially impoverished existence is, it can be quite an instructive way to live. Since calling a repair person is not affordable, one has to learn how to fix things not only by themselves, but if parts are not readily available, what are acceptable substitutes.

I'm very grateful to have my husband in this regard. He's my handyman and my McGyver. It's a shame so much repair know-how is gone. Our disposable society has rendered us infantile.

Melancholia

Tonight the ghosts of the past
Swim 'round in my head like a whirlpool
A life gone by and miscast
Fallen, disregarded, and cruel.

What began with such promise and riches
On to whom dreams and ambitions were pinned
Stay on the path and in leashes
Lest you become the Other and chagrined.

The fall from high up is hard
But the writing on the wall is clear
This old life, you must discard
An illusion, sustained by the financier.

To keep these creatures of comfort
One must work day and night
Hard work, no less, must assert
Your privilege, in a society Darwinite.

Good bye, middle class home and lifestyle
Good bye, luxuries of wealth
Good bye, existence juvenile
Good bye, retirement and health

I knew what I was getting myself into
When I walked away from it all
Disappointment, difficulty, make-do
Were sure to make trouble and stall

Charity is a two-way street
In both giving and recieving
Bottom-feeder, tick, deadbeat
Liberator, clever one, always scheming

Oh Melancholia, cruel mistress
Why do you trouble me now?
To remind you of illusions dangerous
And your freedom to preserve and endow

On Guns

On 8/26/15, in a style that rivaled something out of a Hollywood movie, a disgruntled former newscaster went postal and murdered two of his ex-coworkers before killing himself. Just after he'd shot and killed reporter Allison Parker and her camera man, Adam Ward, Vester Flanagan II faxed his manifesto to ABC news in New York, posted his confession on social media, and then turned the gun on himself.

Could easily be a scene from a movie or videogame if it wasn't real life. Image from here

As we enter the "why" phase that precedes any tragic event, one big issue looms like a pink-polka dot elephant in the room: guns.

This year has been a particularly bloody year for mass shootings in America. In May, a South Carolina cracker shot a bunch of people in a Black church in Charleston. Prior to that, there were a bunch of people shot in movie theaters. School shootings happened too. The list continues.

The common denominator in all these tragedies-individuals who have no business even dealing with weapons, getting a hold of a gun and using it to murder people.

Naturally, this brings up the topic of guns in America. As many know, America loves its guns. The Second Amendment of our Constitution protects individual gun ownership by calling for a "well-regulated militia", which isn't possible without gun ownership. At the state level, gun laws are variable and range from open carry (Arizona, Texas) to all but outlawed (Illinois).

With such patchwork state gun laws in existence, the safeguards that exist also vary widely from state to state as well. Here in Arizona, you can buy guns without having to undergo a background check (restricted to private sales and gun shows, while gun shops still require background checks), whereas in my home state of Illinois, the amount of paperwork and licensing requirements are so onerous that it's a pain in the ass to even bother acquiring a gun. Lobbying groups, like the notorious National Rifle Association, don't help matters by buying politicians and stoking fears of "liberals" taking away peoples guns for one end or another whenever the subject of gun control comes up.

'Murica!

I'm no "liberal" (in fact, I'm a Pinko/Magenta Catholic), but even I know not everyone should have a gun. Even if you arm the general population to the teeth, it's not going to stop mass shootings from happening.  We'll just wind up with a militarized society that's a powder keg waiting to explode in a hail of bullets and blood.

But I'm not against gun ownership. As many beefs as I have with America and the way my country is run, I realize that the right to own a firearm is one that not many other nations share. I just believe that before you own a gun, you should have to undergo at least some safety training and be subjected to a thorough background check before purchase. Some individuals should also have a psychiatric evaluation done in addition to the standard background check before being allowed to own a gun if there is something that pops up in the background check that warrants it. I'm in favor of reasonable safeguards. I don't like the idea of banning guns because they do serve useful purposes, like self-defense and hunting. Remember, a gun is an inanimate object; a human holding it is what makes it deadly.

Of course, changing the culture around guns from one of seeing *insert preferred Other (immigrants, Moslems, etc)* crawling out of the walls to one of rationality isn't easy. Guns are a hugely profitable industry, and one that is very well politically connected from the NRA to the military-industrial complex. These people get their rocks off from seeing more mass shootings happen cuz then they can increase profits off the tragedy (arming both sides means more money in their pockets!), rather than support modest changes that would help reduce the likelihood of guns winding up in the wrong hands.The Ammosexual Agenda, if you will.

Stay safe out there. And may the victims of America's gun culture find peace at last

A Short Review of Beer: Steel Reserve Blk Berry

On a recent trip to the grocery store to get some food and pull money off my debit card to pay for the car insurance (yes, this is what happens when you're too poor to get a proper bank account), I decided to take a trip back to my beer drinking roots and get a can or 40oz bottle of Steel Reserve.

Unfortunately, the store was out of cans and charged way too much for the 40s. So, I got a 24-oz can of Blk Berry, Steel Reserve's blackberry-flavored malt beverage. After all, as my husband likes to say, "science must be served!" And since food stamps don't cover alcohol (another reminder of America's psychotic relationship with alcohol), this cheap can of "beer" was the perfect item to pull the insurance money off with.

Nice to see you, old friend

A few days later, after stating he was going to find a paper bag to put over his head to hide his shame that I love drinking such garbage, my husband poured my blackberry "beer" into my favorite frosted beer glass. True to its name, it looked and tasted like blackberry juice.

If I hadn't seen it coming out of the can, it could easily be mistaken for some sparkling juicy juice

It is so sweet, I could hardly taste the alcohol at first. But, that came through as a faint aftertaste at the end. I actually thought it tasted pretty good with the way the flavors came together. Colorwise, it's a dark purple and when held up to a light, one can pick out a bit of gold/light brown hue too. Like a lager, it goes down pretty smoothly with hardly any bitterness. The can states that it's 8% alcohol by volume, so it's pretty potent. There will be a buzz afterward.

The secret to this drink's success is that Steel Reserve brews their beers with some corn syrup. Corn, as we know, produces ethanol and results in a smoother tasting beer with a higher alcohol content.

This particular blend of Steel Reserve is a total party beer. House party, college party, birthday party, party party. It's really easy to get shitfaced drunk on this one. Talk about life of the party...keep it away from the kids.

Cheap, smooth, and potent. It's easy to see why I fell in love with this brand from the first sip and still consider it a vice to occasionally indulge in.

As always, please enjoy all adult beverages responsibly

Breaking Bad, Home Edition

Today, my wonderful hubby decided to surprise me with a treat: homemade root beer!

He bought the root beer extract (he'd tried to find Zatarain's, but the store didn't carry it) and dry ice. My husband then proceeded to make the root beer, mostly according to the package directions, but using water carbonated with the dry ice instead of soda water as the directions called for.

Dry ice in water

So far, so good

Just about ready to bottle up

But what happened next was both a spectacular display of physics, and something to make Walter White and Jesse Eisenberg jealous.

After he poured the finished root beer into my beer growler for storage (which also contained dry ice to maintain carbonation), the pressure from the carbon dioxide in the dry ice caused the root beer to explode, the force of which shattered a glass on the counter top. The only reason my growler hadn't turned into a root beer and carbon dioxide-filled bomb was cuz my husband, seeing how the root beer was rapidly bubbling up in the growler, quickly took the cap off just in time to see his creation blow.

Oops...

I actually had not witnessed the explosion. I was in the bedroom, playing with the baby, when I heard a loud BANG! My first thought was that my growler had exploded. My husband reassured me that it hadn't, but called me into the kitchen to survey the damage.

There was root beer EVERYWHERE. It was on the floor in the kitchen with the broken glass, the ceiling, the counter, and the root beer even made it all the way up into the living room! The work area and server were splashed with sugary brown root beer, as were our shoes and the front door. My husband spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the fallout and vacuuming up the broken glass.

The aftermath

Miraculously, the growler survived. Its cap went missing (if it hasn't been blown into another dimension, I suspect it's under the fridge or between the counter and the fridge), but the vessel remained intact. My husband, though, cut his hand. How it happened remains a mystery, but I suspect it was from flying bits of dry ice.

I refused to drink what was left of the root beer since the remaining glass was covered in blood from my husband's hand. After bandaging his hand, my hubby wiped down the glass, drank the remaining root beer, and said it was tasty.

The costliest glass of root beer in the world

As it turned out, the critical error was not letting the carbon dioxide vent before sealing the bottle. My husband resolves to try again, but hopefully with less explosive results next time.

No matter what, "science MUST be served!"

And I'm still searching for my growler cap...

*Update 8/28-I found the cap! It was somewhere clean on the other side of the living room. The Doctor was kind enough to drop it off as the TARDIS buzzed by during the night. Hope it helped defeat whatever villain he had to deal with next.