LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

I’ve been spending the last few evenings cutting up meat shapes out of felt and using puffy paint to apply marbling.

Not USDA approved

Yeah. I’m going there.

***

After a few months of trying, I’m deeming my visual task list a failure. I was putting color coded Post-its on my wall at the office to try and show people how much work I had to do. Most people didn’t care and even when my wall was littered with notes I was still being asked why things weren’t done. It turned out to be a waste of money (I was buying my own notes). So it’s down and my wall is bare again.

***

I had a dream last night that I got a job at TMZ (site occasionally NSFW) and my first task was to write a story about Screech becoming baptized and being born again. My headline was: Saved from the Hell.

***

Are they vanity-sizing bras now? As in…upward?

Because I’ve always considered myself pretty average-of-rack and as of my most recent measuring I’m rocking a size now that seems over-the-top. It fits perfectly. It’s just…the size…wow.

***

WM’s sister is getting married tomorrow! It’s a super-small civil ceremony and they didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so he’s driving out there to surprise them. Which leaves me with a bachelorette weekend.

Which I’ll be spending … cutting meat shapes from felt.

Thanks to The World of Strawberry Shortcake Clip Art Gallery!

Yes, I went no ‘poo for about 9 weeks last year & only used a homemade baking soda paste on my hair. It was horrible (itchy & greasy) for 3 weeks, amazing (gorgeous thick waves) for 5 weeks and horrible again (oil slick) the last week. So I gave up. When I shampooed for the first time after that it was like I was at the most posh spa on earth.

Lately I’ve been frequenting sites such as No More Dirty Looks and making a small list of things I want to avoid in my beauty supplies. So what does a girl who wants to do the right thing for her hair without having to work for it do?

I found Burts Bees Raspberry & Brazil Nut shampoo, which claims to be 99% pure and free of parabens and sulfates. And while my hair isn’t as bouncy as it was when I was shampoo free it is healthier than when I was doing Head and Shoulders. And I smell like Raspberry Tart, too!

The only downside is that it doesn’t lather and I had a difficult time adjusting to that. Lather was a visual/tactile indicator in the shower of which parts of my hair were shampooed and which weren’t. Without that I have to pay more attention and make sure I get all parts of my scalp. I’ve found that going front to back, nape to back and sides to back, in that order, works for me.

But I haven’t stopped there. I’m using Burt’s Bees Milk and Honey moisturizing lotion and it’s doing a much better job keeping my skin soft than my beloved Warm Vanilla Sugar lotion did. (They changed the scent on that, by the way. Not as yummy now.) Plus it’s paraben free as well.

And I’m testing using a natural tea tree oil soap bar (from the Ren Faire no less) on my face instead of the Proactiv. Watch me be all broken out again in 2 weeks. But it’s worth trying.

It could be gimmicky but as a lady approaching 40 (weep!) I figure the better I treat my skin the better it will treat me.

This is not a paid product review.

The thyroid gland is butterfly-shaped. Photo by Vicki's Nature on Flickr.

My latest thyroid followup exam was last night. The blood test showed that my TSH was at 2.7 (which falls into normal by his standards where over 4.5 is high, but falls into the very high end of normal by the 2003 AACE standards where over 3.0 is considered high. (More TSH wankery here) and my T4 was 13.1, which is high. So he’s dialing me back down to 25 mcg a day from 50 mcg a day.

He asked how I was feeling, and I replied that I was still tired and still cold and a bit blue because I spent the whole summer (my favorite season) wearing a gray sweater. Much to my surprise, he replied that my symptoms are not thyroid related and, hey, here’s a pamphlet on Lexapro and have I considered general anxiety disorder?

(record scratch)

I didn’t start this process because I had symptoms of anything. I wanted a routine physical exam because I hadn’t had one in years. Doc found the thyroid problem in the routine blood test and told me I had hypothyroidism. I checked out the symptoms and realized…wow…I *have* been cold lately and I *have* been really tired and look my skin *is* dry. So I believed him and took the pills and read up on the problem.

I don’t want to become *that* patient, but I’d rather the doc say…

=> “Hm…still feeling poorly? Maybe we should take a closer look at your iron levels/circulation/diet/glucose levels…”
=> “Well, sometimes what’s normal on paper isn’t normal for everyone. Maybe we should run the full thyroid panel…”
=> “Let me refer you to a colleague of mine who’s an endocrinologist.”

I’m resentful that 7.5 minutes into a 15 minute appointment I was written off as having GAD because my symptoms didn’t magically go away when the thyroid levels hit a certain number.

So now what? I put on a second pair of socks and go look for an endocrinologist.