10 Summer Fashion Rules You MUST Break, Dahlings

Really! Wear white whenever you want, and black too. Patent leather is always in, and please, I don't care if you're 5, 15, 50 or 92, do NOT match your purse and shoes. Oy, such a doofus!

Read more rules here.

The Brassage and Breast Cancer

The brassage is promoted as being a benefit to "the girls" and possibly preventing breast cancer. The idea behind this is that toxins become trapped, and that's one cause of cancer. By wearing the brassage, which massages the breasts, toxins are released.

A news clip takes exception to this; they interview promoter Christina Erteszek, daughter of Olga, the famous bra designer. At one point Erteszek becomes upset and walks off the set, but returns later. They show a clip of a woman who had breast cancer ten years ago, who is very angry with the idea of the brassage, saying it "exploits women." Female doctors are also interviewed; one says the brassage is "crazy." The promoters of the brassage insist they don't say it will prevent, or cure, breast cancer, just that it might help keep breasts healthy. Erteszek says, when asked if the bra will prevent breast cancer:

"Yes. Of course." But, she went on, "I say, 'help to prevent.' I'm making no medical claims that it does prevent."

The news clip calls the brassage promoter "angry," (this before she walks off), derides the inventor as not being a "real" doctor but a chiropractor, then moves on to the next clip, which talks about more cancer: young people are getting it, and drinking hot beverages can cause it.

All very interesting in its juxtapositions, and blatant marginalization of anything remotely alternative, such as the idea massaging the body can help rid it of toxins.

My point here isn't whether or not the bra does what it says it does but the slant the media put on this. According to the news clip, the bra is no longer being manufactured. In this context: the juxtapositions, the marginalization, the slant on alternative ideas, no matter how low key, the segue into cancer alarmist "news," the use of women as spokespeople in the appeals to authority,and pointing the finger at money making makes for a Big Pharma, medical infrastructure propaganda campaign; under the guise of being informative and pro-women's health, there seems to be another agenda behind their disingenuousness.

Commercial and Symbolism

Update: I'm not kidding, after I posted this, I turned off the computer, put it away, went back into the bedroom, turned on the TV, and a commericial was running, one I hadn't seen before. The commerical? Yes, that's right! This very one!

The Geekologie blog brings us this commerical clip for the Shick Quattro For Women TrimStyle with Bikini Trimmer. wQuestionable Women's Razor Commercial I'd say this was in your face heavy handed Freudian symbolism, but that could be taken the wrong way...

"We Must Take Away Your Boop-boop-da-boop"

Clip of Betty Boop sexuality, hidden drawings in the cartoons:

How to clean the house

1. Open a new file in your PC .
2. Name it 'Housework.'
3. Send it to the RECYCLE BIN.
4. Empty the RECYCLE BIN.
5. Your PC will ask you, 'Are you sure you want to delete Housework permanently?'
6. Calmly answer, 'Yes' and press mouse button firmly ...
7. Feel better?

L'Oreal's HIP Duo Metallic Eyeshadow

I read recently in a magazine article that the metallic gold eyeshadow is a good one to use for women over forty. Okay, over fifty. I'll try almost anything, well, kind of. No plastic surgery or injections but I will have fun at the local Rite Aid playing with the make-up. So I tried L'Oreal's HIP Duo Eyeshadow and I love it! It really lasts all day, looks great, and it's cute. Comes in a little compact round container, with two sides; one is the shadow, one holds the applicator and has a mirror. I think I'll try their green shade next.

Moroccan Sunrise Palette

Probably I have written about my love of Sephora before, but I really do LOVE Sephora!

Last week I ordered the Moroccan Sunrise Palette, seen above. Not only do I love the colors, but the compact is made of actual metal with enamel and is even more lovely in person!

Strange thing is that we actually have a Sephora in town and it isn't very far from my house, but I still shop from the online catalog. However, I have decided that ordering online does not work for lipstick. I ordered what I thought was a light pink and it turned out to be a bright pink. I haven't tried it, but I am pretty sure it will look crappy on me.

Aside from the eye shadow and icky colored lipstick I ordered a bunch of lip glosses that were on sale and in vintage looking tins.

I loved those tins and can use them for various things even if I don't like the lip gloss, though, all the lip glosses were yummy!

My favorite thing that I bought on sale also contained lip gloss, but it is a larger case about 4" x 3" and has Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Mostly silly things, but I liked them. They are fun and who doesn't love fun, especially when it is on sale?

Dyson vs. Bissell Pet Vac -- Final conclusion

I am sure that overall the Bissell pet vac is fine for people that have a small fluffy dog, short haired dogs, a few cats, or vacuum daily, but it isn't for me.

There are good things about the Bissell pet vac, which I think I covered in previous posts. However, when I got to the really hairy and dirty part of the house (the living room) I quickly began to not like the Bissell so much.

Not only do I have lots of dog hair, but also my dog rolls in plants, dirt, pine needles and so on and she carries a lot of that into the house on her hair. The Bissell not only has a hepa filter, but also some other filter than I have no idea of the purpose. When the other filter clogs, the suction stops. It clogged every couple mintues for me and I finally just removed it. Likely that will eventually cause some other problem, but I don't have the time to stop and clean that out every few minutes.

The Dyson never loses suction is what the commercial says and that is pretty much true. There are some extreme things I have vacuumed that caused my Dyson to almost lose suction, but it isn't an easy thing to do. The Dyson also has no fiters to cause problems.

I do not like the canister emptying on the Bissell either. It is a far more dusty job than the Dyson.

As I said, the Bissell pet vac is not for me and I imagine that in a couple months when I have some extra money I will spring for a new Dyson -- the pet vac model.

Sometimes things are expensive because they are trendy, but Dyson is expensive because it is the best and I will gladly pay the expense again. Vacuuming is not a fun job, why make it worse by having something that doesn't work as well as you really need?

Vermont Teddy Bears must DIE!

I am sooooooooooooooo sick of this commercial. It is ridiculous! The worst part is that they must be selling A LOT of these bears because they can afford to show this commercial a zillion times per day.

Men -- don't fall for it. I can't imagine any woman that would want one of those for Valentines Day. For $70 you can come up with something much better, even if it is just a romantic dinner somewhere.

Some fun comments here -- http://jezebel.com/5148173/what-do-women-want-for-valentines-day

Update on things that suck -- vacs

Yesterday being Superbowl Sunday kept me from doing any major cleaning (thank you football gods!). I actually was curious about my new vac though and decided to take it out of the box and give it a try before the superbowl.

It went together fairly easy, but that was no real thanks to the instructions which I did not feel had enough diagrams to show me which part was which.

The first test is what I call the big step. I think a landing is the right term for it, but I am not really sure. Anyhow it is just 3 steps below our bedroom and the dog sleeps there most nights so it is completely covered with hair most of the time. The new Bissell vac did great on it! Much better than my near death Dyson. It was also on the stairs that I tried a new tool -- the contour brush. By far the best tool for stairs with carpeting that I have ever used! The wondrous attachment is shown in the photo above.

Nobody without carpeted stairs and a big fluffy dog can quite understand how hard stairs are to clean. I have often times had to spend 30 minutes or more just on the stairs. The regular vacuum head is pretty useless because it is so much bigger than the stairs.

After that test I vacuumed the bedroom and it worked as a vacuum should.

Later today I will try the turbo brush. I was never impressed with my Dyson turbo brush, we will see if this one is any better. Also, I will give it another test -- the downstairs near the front door where Pooka not only sheds hair but also shakes off leaves, sticks and other outdoor stuff that easily can clog a vacuum hose.

A couple more good things about my Bissell pet hair vac -- Unlike my Dyson it has a light. I don't know if the new Dysons have a headlight but mine didn't. Also, the attachments actually fit into the holders on the vacuum and don't fall off while you are vacuuming. I think this is the first vac I have ever had where the attachments actually fit in their storage spaces and don't fall out.

So far so good, maybe I won't miss my Dyson as much as I thought I would and maybe not at all.