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Conair Heat Waves Hot Rollers Review- They’re back!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy New Year! When I say the Conair Heat Waves rollers are back, I mean hot rollers never went away, they just did for me. I myself have not used hot rollers for many years. I had no need; I just had a vast array of curling irons. My hair is naturally curly, but I straighten it. In this past year I’ve come down with the dreaded ‘menopause hair’. It sucks! Of course I’ve been in menopause for almost six years, so I guess I should consider myself lucky I didn’t get it sooner. Menopause hair is gray, wiry, frizzy, and generally uncontrollable. It especially blows for me because up until June of 2013, I had the most amazing hair I have ever had in my life. It was long, blonde, very healthy looking. You know your hair looks good when people you work with (that you know don’t like you) compliment you on your hair. Then in June of 2013, my hair was changed forever. I had gotten some low lights for my blonde hair that ended up being too dark. I went back to the salon to get it corrected, and my stylist left the bleach on my hair too long. My hair was damaged beyond repair. I had been seeing this woman for 3 years, and I always tip very well. I was crushed. My hair broke off and I had visibly thin spots on my scalp. I spent nearly $400 buying hair pieces to cover up the damage.
We as women are usually obsessed with our hair. A good hair day can make a big difference on your outlook for the day. I’m middle aged, so having awesome hair was really a treat for me. My hair finally grew back, but it’s never been the same since. Luckily for me I look okay with my hair up. But I’ve been wearing my hair up for the past eighteen months. You kind of look like an old lady when you wear your hair up all the time. I take pride in my appearance, by wearing make-up and having a stylish wardrobe.
I never did tell my former stylist how much she ruined my hair. I was afraid I might punch her if I went back. It’s ironic because she was always telling me what great condition my hair was in, and I could go for a long time between haircuts and highlight touch ups. My dermatologist told me I shouldn’t put any bleach on my hair for at least twelve months, use Moroccan oil and take biotin supplements.
I went to back to a salon I had frequented in the past, but stopped going to because they got too expensive. I was told that there really wasn’t anything they could do. The stylist told me to go on Pinterest to look for cute up dos. Are you flipping kidding me? Nothing I can do? I had spent over $300 at this salon getting partial highlights and hair cuts on several occasions. The stylist told me she felt sorry for me, but really could not do anything about my hair.
Before hair disaster
Well, I tried yet another salon. This time the stylist was older and was very knowledgeable. She was familiar with my ‘menopause’ hair and suggested hot rollers. What an angel! I always use a heat protecting product when I style my hair, but the Conair Heat Waves rollers are flocked, they also heat up in 85 seconds. What a great alternative to using a curling iron. I’m getting the same results but not damaging my hair.
I bought my Conair Heat Waves at Ulta.com for $15.99, the regular price is $33.99, but they were on sale and I had a 20% off coupon. Here is a link to Ulta.
http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod540578&skuId=2050458&_requestid=189261
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 35 trips to carry that many people.
Virtual Makeover-Modiface.com
I have thoroughly enjoyed having the past five days in a row off. It was nice spending quality time with the family, cleaning the basement, watching too much HGTV, you get the picture. I was looking for some websites to try on a different hair color and came across Modiface.com. OMG! I must have wasted over two hours tweaking myself. Let me rephrase that last statement, I downloaded a head shot and played with make up for two hours. Of course I noticed I now have a dent on my forehead. Yikes! I opened my car door and smacked the crap out of my head a few weeks ago. It barely bled, so I was surprised to see a scar. Oh well, scars add character right???? It’s a good thing I wear bangs.
The really cool thing about this site is that it has an anti-aging tab along with the usual hair and make-up colors. You could alter your appearance via a virtual nose job, jaw contouring, face lift, etc. It was way cool. I kept showing my husband “look, here’s me at 35” I’m 55 so it was really cool seeing my younger self. Check out the link below. Have fun!
http://www1.modiface.com/mf_share/poll.php?sid=d26ddba2f23983d8c7cbeb67e81bb942
Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil-Review
I received a full size Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil in one of my Ipsy.com packages. This is the best all-around highlighting product I have ever used. I’ve been wearing make up for ages, and am always on the lookout for a great highlighter. The Chella pencil I received in Ivory is for fair skin. It’s a matte finish and works great on concealing blemishes. I use it above my eyes and also as a highlight color under my brows.
As I’ve gotten older my nose has gotten bigger, along with my ears, which blows. I put a thin line down the center of my nose, and blend to make it look thinner. It works great. The Chella website is not up, but you can buy the Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil at Amazon.com and Dermstore.com. I’ve put links below. I’ve also included a short tutorial on the pencil that shows you ten different ways to use it. The cost is $18, but well worth the price. I’ve used mine every day for the past few months, and still have half of it left. The pencil is a creamy consistency, but stays put once you have it on.
http://www.dermstore.com/product_Highlighter+Pencil_31835.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f6Wqtvd3PE
http://www.amazon.com/Chella-Lace-Highlighter-Pencil-Count/dp/B004VM968U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419382148&sr=8-1&keywords=chella
http://chella.com/
A Little Christmas Cheer
Happy holidays to everyone! Christmas is less than one week away. Here is what I am hoping for Christmas this year. Can people just stop with the daily “selfies” already. We have become such a narcissistic society. Do people forget what they look like from day to day? Do their looks change every day? I don’t get it. Maybe I’m just too old school, or wait not insanely vain. I use to laugh when I would get my mother’s annual Christmas card with a photo of herself inside. I would call her up to ask her if she thought I had forgotten what she looked like. Needless to say, mom was very vain.
Politics have gotten so ugly lately. I don’t have the same political views as some of my siblings, and my brother is going off the deep end with his. I may not like his views, but I don’t rant and rave whenever I talk to him on the phone like he does with me. I just tell him we’ll agree to disagree, I think he just likes to argue, which is kind of sad.
I think deep down we all want the same things. A decent job, good schools, healthy children and a planet that will be here for years to come. I wish big money would get the hell out of politics. Women’s rights are being trampled day by day. I hope in my lifetime I will earn the same as a man for doing the same job. Is that too much to ask? I do wish people would take responsibility for their own actions. I get so sick of people whining about everything being someone else’s fault. Here’s a news flash for you, get up off your ass and change your life. No one is going to do it for you.
I’ve decided that 2015 is going to be a great year for me and my family. 2014 was pretty good, but I’m going to be a better wife, mother and friend going forward. Life is too short to not be happy.
You know I hate to brag, but……….
I must be doing something right if someone 10 years younger than me is asking for anti-aging advice. I do love helping others. It’s all about good skin care, and in my case getting rid of some of my massive inventory of Ipsy goodies! How many primers do I need anyway?
Oh and don’t be too skinny, it really ages you.
P.S. I’m not a fan of Sarah Palin, but I thought this was funny.
Attention Sock Manufacturers- Get some bigger sizes!
Why in the heck can’t I find men’s socks over a size 12??? Every man in my family (which is spread out over three states) wears over a size 14. I just don’t get it; I’ve seen women’s size 13 shoes at Payless. Which is the only place that I can find size 15’s for my teenage son.
I wear a size 10, which was the biggest size for women when I was growing up in the 1970’s. I use to envy my friends who had smaller feet than me. My mom, who wore a size 9 when she really should have been wearing a 10, ended up having foot surgery late in life due to wearing the wrong size shoes.
But socks sizes?? Come on, what’s the big deal. It’s not that much more fabric. My husband wears a 14 and rarely finds shoes in his size that aren’t a fortune. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I had a hard time finding shoes. I would be devastated to say the least. I don’t know what the fascination is with shoes for us women. I actually gave a bunch of shoes to Goodwill recently, and I didn’t keel over. I guess I’m finally becoming an adult. Well, considering I’m 55 soon to be 56, I’m a senior citizen and should probably be wearing orthopedic shoes.
It hurts my feet to even think of wearing shoes with any kind of heel anymore. I remember those glorious days of disco dancing wearing 3 inch heels. They made me almost six feet tall when I wore them. Now I’m all about comfort, which really blows. Sure I have lots of stylish shoes, but I envy gals who are my age and can still wear high heels. They look so fancy, and I look well functional. I guess there are worse ways to look. Like wearing socks that are too small.
How not to be a rotten boss-by a former boss-Part two
I should know when I write late at night I am bound to forget something. I wanted to add a few things to my previous post of the same name from November 7th.
So here we go.
- Be fair to all of your staff. I cannot stand favoritism, especially in the work place. Any boss who blatantly favors one employee over another needs to be bitch slapped. I always feel warm and fuzzy when the boss is saying how so and so should be cloned because they are so flipping wonderful. Really? Who says crap like that to their staff? Oh wait, that would be a rotten boss, oh never mind.
- Upper management really needs to get a clue. If your customers, employees, etc., complain about a boss’s horrid behavior, you need to take note. It’s expensive to train people, and good workers are hard to come by. It’s especially galling when upper management (owner level) witness firsthand the terrible behavior and chose to do nothing. And they wonder why they have a huge employee turnover.
- Do right by your staff. The last time I managed others, I was promoted after the VP of finance was fired. The accounting person had been working her butt off for the last five years for this company. But she had only gotten one raise. The first thing I did was get her $1.50 an hour increase. It was difficult because management thought she was being paid accordingly. She most certainly was not. This person had been through many management changes and was constantly having her workload increased. By the time I left that position two years later, I had gotten her hourly rate increased by $3.50 per hour. She was a hard worker, and made my job easier.
- Do realize you are no better than the people you manage. I always tell my staff in the beginning that I’m no better than they are; I just have more education and experience. People really do appreciate that honesty. If you work well for me, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.
- Never raise your voice to your staff. Once your voice goes up, the person will tune you out. If you have a problem employee, work with them. They are not your children to be yelled at. It doesn’t work.
- Your staff can hurt you. If you treat them poorly, do you really think they give a fig about what happens to you? Come down off your high horse, and just be a decent human being.
- Last but not least, be decent to everyone. I’ve always made it my policy to be nice to everyone in the company. You never know when they might be your boss at your next job.
How not to be a rotten boss-by a former boss
Every October I get a statement from the Social Security administration. It shows me how long I’ve been working, and what my wages have been. I’ve been working steadily for the past 42 years. I’m so tired of working; I’m especially tired of working for rotten bosses. I’m looking at the last stretch before retirement. Don’t get me wrong, as I have had some great bosses over the years. I’ve even managed others for 15 years of my career. I’m a college educated professional who is tired of being treated like a pimply faced teenager at McDonalds.
The first time I managed others, I decided that I would never treat my direct reports how I have been treated in the past. I still talk to many people I have managed over the years. Some tell me I’m the best boss they ever had. Aww, that’s always nice to hear. Plus the best part of keeping in contact with old co-workers is being able to hear when the rotten boss you worked for finally gets fired.
I so often wonder how people get management positions that are not even qualified to manage a midnight trip to the bathroom. I got out of management because, well middle management sucks, and I’m too pro employee. I think everyone in the work place should be treated with respect. I don’t want my employees to kiss my butt just so that won’t lose their job. I’ve seen so many abuses of power in my work life it’s disgusting. Talking to human resources was always pointless. They don’t care about the employees, it’s whatever management wants.
So here are some of my suggestions for being a good boss.
- Respect your staff. Your subordinates will be much more productive, and make you look better if they are treated well.
- Don’t expect your employees to work a crazy amount of hours just because you do. They have lives outside of work. Plus they usually make considerably less money than you do.
- Be flexible. We all have kids, aging parents, you name it. As long as the job gets done, don’t be a troll.
- Listen to your staff’s suggestions. I’ve been working for many years, but I’m all about working smarter, not harder. We all have a common goal at work.
- Never comment negatively on your staff’s performance in front of others. Nothing makes me less productive than being humiliated in front of my co-workers. This is probably the worst, especially if the boss has a twelfth grade education, and you have a Bachelor’s degree.
- Show concern for your employee’s wellbeing. We all have different things we are dealing with.
- Set a good example. Not the do as I say, not as I do.
- Go to bat for your employees. I’ve done this time and again for my staff, and it’s always greatly appreciated.
- Be honest. If you can’t give your employee a raise right now, try to give them more paid time off. Flexible hours, etc.
- Go the extra mile for your staff. I always gave gifts to my staff at Christmas, and their birthdays. I also bought my staff gifts whenever I traveled. A lunch out on the boss is a nice gesture.
Believe me when I say a happy staff is a more productive staff. Not a staff that could care less if you got hit by a bus.
cornfedcontessa 