Thursday, September 30, 2010

Organizing Your Lingerie

How do you organize your lingerie? If your underwear is just tossed in a basket you might want to consider organizing underwear.

There are plenty of ideas for how to organize your underwear. From expensive Lingerie Chests which are chests of drawers but the drawers are shallow. But you don't have to have a fancy lingerie chest, you can use your chest of drawers or closet organizers to make a place specifically for your lingerie. You can purchase drawer organizers or make your own for your folded underwear. I noticed that people fold their underwear differently. Some roll it and store it on it's end. Others roll it and store it on it's side. I've never rolled my undies but fold them. I use drawers in my bathroom vanity because that's where it's most convenient for me. I have a drawer for my unmentionables and one for my socks. I use a shelf in my walkin closet for my pajamas and gowns. Here are some of the ideas I found on the Internet.
































Happy Birthday, Dad

If my Dad were still around, today would have been his birthday. Come to think of it, around or not, it's still his birthday. Regardless, even though I am fully aware that he (likely) does not have a computer or the Internet, I'm still doing it this way.

Happy birthday, Dad.
We'll be having your usual birthday dinner tonight. No sense in missing out on that. I sure do wish you could be here for it. As far as everything else goes, since I talk to you all the time, I won't go into a ton of detail because you already know everything.

I sure do miss you and I really wish you could come back.

Happy birthday, Dad. I love you.

Jail Isn't The Only Punishment


There are a whole lot of different kinds of crazy out there. Some of the crazy is the kind where the person absolutely can do something to help themselves. And the other kind of crazy is the kind where the person absolutely needs some serious freaking help. And in situations where no one else is really overly harmed, I don't think that there needs to be much more of a penalty than getting the person some serious, and I mean freaking serious, help.

Take the case of a one Bethany Storro. About a month ago, she looked like this:


She's a fairly attractive woman in that photo. I don't know that from looking at that photo (or any photo, for that matter) that you'd be able to tell that she is one seriously disturbed individual. I say that because after August 30, she looked like this:


Yeah, see the facial disfigurement that you're witnessing there came from what she claimed was a black, female stranger coming up to her on the street and throwing acid in her face. Ouchie! She said that a woman who she didn't know came up to her on the street and said something to the effect of, "Hey, pretty girl. Do you want to drink this?" The alleged woman then allegedly threw an extremely caustic substance in Ms. Storro's face. The burning off of her skin did immediately commence.

And yes, that sounds like a tragic tale. Many people thought the same thing and the donations came pouring in to the tune of around $28,000. People can be really giving and generous at times. They can also get seriously pissed off when they find out that the person that they are giving money to staged the whole thing herself and doused her own face with acid. Wait. What now?

Correct. Ms. Storro has admitted to throwing acid in her own face and making up the entire story. According to the Daily Mail (why I can't find this particular bit of information in US media sources would be simply stupefying if I hadn't already come to grips with the fact that the media blows), Ms. Storro "...had poured the drain clogging chemicals on her own face after buying it from a DIY store." So, she burned her facial skin off with Drano, essentially? Seriously. What the what?

See what I mean? She's not well. And here's where the thing gets just a little complicated. (Not much, mind you. Just a little.) See, she took those $28,000 in donations and began spending it on herself and her family. Yeah, you can't do that when you're lying about stuff. It's really frowned upon. She allegedly bought a computer, some clothes, train tickets (people still take trains?), and took her family out for expensive meals. Kind of odd behavior (if you're asking me) from someone whose face was allegedly just ruined in a random, hideous attack by a stranger.

I'm guessing it was behavior such as that which sort of clued the cops in that there might be something more to this. That and the fact that the patterns in which the acid had scarred her face were not consistent with something being splashed upon her. And when she finally confessed that she made the whole thing up, that's exactly what the deal was. It hadn't been splashed. It had been dabbed on, as "...Miss Storro told police her original plan was to commit suicide, but she changed her mind as she dabbed the acid on her face."

Holy freaking hell. How on earth could you stand the pain of having just a little acid dabbed anywhere on your body?! Then again, how on earth could you think that dabbing acid on your face would kill you? I don't know either, but when she realized that she had chosen the wrong suicidal path, "She allegedly told police: ‘When I realised it wasn’t killing me, I thought maybe this was the answer to all my problems - to have a completely different face." Turns out, it was just the beginning of her problems, though she did accomplish her goal of a completely different face.

As is the case with most instances that are completely inexplicable (totally without splick), she thought that she was smarter than everyone else. She told the police, "I thought there would be no evidence of me doing it to myself. I thought that you guys would give up trying to find the person and it would be done." Wow. Not a lot of faith in the long arm of the law. Does she not follow any news at all? If a bunny rabbit gets a blister on its paw and it makes the news, people send in donations like there is no tomorrow. Of course it isn't going to go away that easily.

Because Ms. Storro used the funds that were collected under the guise of her poorly thought out ruse, that amounts to what is called 'theft by deception' and she was charged with three felony counts of it. My question here is: Is that really necessary? Look, I understand that it is not OK at all to take advantage of the inherently good nature of a lot of people. Does this really need to go through the legal system? Can't she just be committed to a mental hospital/facility for quite some time? She is obviously in need of some intense treatment for some severe mental issues. What good is dragging this through the courts going to do? I could see it if she was one of those scumbags who claim to have cancer and then the entire town holds a myriad of bake sales and the person turns out to not have cancer at all and has spent all of the proceeds on a new double wide trailer. Those people need be dealt with by an angry mob of the people that they ripped off. But this woman? Come on. Really?

I don't know how long it will take to treat a woman with the issues that Ms. Storro obviously has, but I hope it takes a really long ass time. I hope that the folks at the facility that she has already checked herself into are going to recognize the extreme depths of her problems and treat her accordingly (unlike the dolts at UCLA who let Lindsay Lohan out after a couple of weeks and said that she doesn't have a substance abuse problem). Make her return the money that she spent and drop the charges. Trust me, she'll be punished for the rest of her life having to live her life as herself. It's never going to be easy from here on out. Isn't that enough? I think that in this case that it probably is.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Organizing Your Jewelry

Is your jewelry organized? Mine is. How do you organize jewelry? Well, my goals were:
* Convenient and easily accessible
* Dust free
* Safe from getting scratched and tangled

I bought a wooden toolbox that has felt lined drawers sort of like this one:


I did a Google search for ideas on organizing jewelry and here are the results. I tried to pick ideas for those who don't have a lot of jewelry to those who collect jewelry from cheap to expensive ideas. I'm always to amazed at how creative people are and thankful for the Internet where they share their ideas.



This bamboo silverware drawer organizer can hold jewelry too.



This secretary desk makes for good jewelry furniture.





















Old ice cube trays make good organizers for small earrings.





Or use some egg cartons to organize those earrings.



You can purchase jewelry organizer trays that fit into drawers.





Some closet organizers have jewelry drawers that you can integrate into your closet system.





















Here is a smaller wooden toolbox. They are very nice. You could even look for vintage toolboxes that you can clean up and line with felt or velvet.



Maybe you like the industrial look? Then the metal toolbox, big or chest size can be used as well!



How about wooden fishing tackle boxes? They are compartmentalized too.



Vintage tackle boxes would work too!



I love this vintage leather tackle box!



Maybe you have a good jewelry box but you haven't cleaned it or sorted your jewelry in a long time. It may be time to dump it out, untangle necklaces, match earrings, clean your jewelry and vacuum out your jewelry box before you put your stuff back in. Maybe you've grown out of your current system. Maybe you need to sort and discard or give away stuff you no longer wear. If you have beads, bangles and rings that you want to get rid of, think about making a jewelry box or drawer for your children or grandchildren to play with. My Aunt Ruth had a drawer of old jewelry that she let us play with when we came to stay with her.

Another tip: It will be a waste of time and money to buy organizers and jewelry boxes if you don't put your jewelry back where it belongs when you come home. If you just toss your jewelry in a bowl on the bathroom countertop, then organizing isn't going to help you. There are three steps to organizing anything: Assess and sort (which includes tossing); clean and organize; maintain. If you don't maintain then the first 2 steps are meaningless. My habit is to put on my jewelry as I dress to go out. As I come back home, I go back to my room and put my jewelry away and change into my house clothes. I don't wear any jewelry, including my wedding rings, around the house. Work on developing a habit. If you have little girls that get into your jewelry and messes it up, then lock your jewelry box or your bedroom door when you aren't around. Teach them to organize their own. Involve them in the cleaning and organizing.