5 Way to Be Happier

1) PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE PRICE OF FUEL.

Why not? Because there’s very little, if anything, you can do to change it. So only pay enough attention to decide if you can afford it, and then don’t monitor it anymore to see if it will go down. Don’t bemoan how expensive it is. Doing this will drive you crazy. You can’t change it. Celebrate the fact that modern technology makes it possible to go see our friends 20 miles away pretty easily. Turning on your car is easier then hooking up a horse and buggy!

2) IGNORE SPORTS TEAMS EXCEPT WHEN THEY WIN.

When I was at work at the newspaper, it used to amaze me how froth-at-the-mouth ticked off the sports reporters (their office was right near my desk) will get over anything. They will easily work themselves into a foaming rage over which coach sold out to an enemy team, which top player was stupidly traded, how the announcer always seems to be rooting for the other team, etc. I recommend my approach: ignore your team until they win something major, then emerge gleefully forth to partake in the after-win revelry (or office company party, as the case may be).

3) BRING AN INTERESTING NOVEL, KINDLE, OR OTHER PORTABLE ENTERTAINMENT WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES.

If you aren’t the reading type, substitute “other hand-held entertainment” (like a Nintendo DS or Sudoku book) for “interesting novel.” If you keep something with you, you will have instant entertainment at all waiting times: in store lines waiting to purchase your margarita mix, when you are at the bank and the person in front of you wants to make a $700 withdrawal in all $5 bills, when you are waiting in the dentist’s office and all that’s in the waiting room are magazines about fishing, when you have to stand outside a public bathroom in the mall waiting for your significant other to hurry up and finish already, when you are with Aunt Edith in the restaurant and she insists on the waiter giving her a detailed analysis of each item on the menu before she orders and you are so starving you find yourself wondering how the tablecloth would taste with a little butter–you get the idea. All these scenarios could be very frustrating waiting times, but if you have some mind-stimulating reading material with you: NO FRUSTRATION. No frustration= happier you.

4) TURN OFF YOUR TV AND LIVE YOUR LIFE.

I rarely watch TV. In fact, I sometimes feel depressed when I do, especially if it is during the day. TV, in most cases, amounts to you spending your precious free time watching professionally done-up, really good-looking people usually doing things way more exciting than everyday life. Yeah, that girl on the TV is looking good in tight leather doing obscenely unrealistic fight scenes while you are on the couch with a bag of Doritoes. Solution: turn off TV, sign up for kickboxing class, feel good because you can actually BE leather-fighting-girl, even if it’s only in your mind. Life is so full of good things you can actually do rather than watching other people do them.

5) BASK IN WONDER.

I read somewhere that wonder is a bulky emotion that crowds out all the others in your head. So indulge in it! Set up a telescope at night to look at stars, go for a walk in the woods, look up pictures online of tall mountain ranges or closeups of crazy-looking tropical plants. Indulge your natural curiosity.

How to get over a cold faster

I know winter is almost over, so I wanted to get this post out there before all the snow in the country has melted. Here is…

Auntie Neffie’s 4 Ways to End a Cold Faster

(note: I am not a doctor. Not even a little bit.)

Avoid Dairy

Some people say dairy is mucus(snot)-forming and some people say it isn’t. I’m not going to take my chances—I want my drippy nose gone! So I try to stay away from milk, limit my cheese-eating, don’t eat ice cream, etc.

Vitamin C

Everyone tells you this, right? Well, I take it massively to the next level. Instead of 3-5 servings per day or whatever it is the food pyramid tells us, I eat or drink about 10 things each day with Vitamin C in them. I’ll make a smoothie by blending at least 2 oranges, some orange juice, and a handful of fresh spinach (you can’t even taste it in a smoothie) with some Vitamin C powder dumped in. And that’s just one meal. And then I envision little orange things beating up virus-things inside my cells.

Doritoes/Spicy, Crispy Junk Food

You didn’t expect this one, did you? I’m absolutely serious about it, especially if your cold is accompanied by a sore throat. Why? Whatever is growing in the back of your throat won’t like the salt content. The crispiness of the chips feels so good going down your throat, as if it’s scooping the yuckiness right off it. And if you can handle the spiciness, eating spicy food is good because it clears up your sinuses.

Garlic

(I got this idea from galadarling.com. Thank you, Gala!) Garlic supposedly has anti-microbial properties. I ate a clove of raw garlic the last time I was sick and felt much better the next day. I won’t go into this much, since there are a million articles on the internet extolling the health values of garlic. Take it at night, though, not when you’re about to go in public. Garlic actually seeps through the pores, giving your whole body garlic breath. So just brushing is not going to help much, sorry.

There you go! Now you know my secret! Take heart–cold and flu season is almost over!

Yours,
Stephanie

How to maintain purple hair

The Upkeep of Purple Hair!

To my knowledge, there is no permanent purple hair dye. So I use the semi- or demi-permanent stuff, which fades with each wash. I’ve often felt that I have a choice between clean hair and faded hair, but there are a few things I’ve discovered to keep the fading to a miniumum.

First, if you’ve decided you like how the purple looks and you want to keep it that way, then go to the hair supply store and look for Clairol Shimmer Lights Shampoo or some equivalent. It’s marketed to tone down the brassiness of hair but it’s also perfect for purple hair, because it’s actually purple itself. There’s a conditioner like it, too.

Also, if you want to go a day or two without washing your hair at all to keep up the color, get a bottle of baby power and dump some on your head, scrub it around, and brush it out. This will help absorb some of the oils of your scalp. Or try dry shampoo.

Bleached hair holds color better than non-bleached hair. But bleaching is hard on your hair, so I’d avoid it if your hair is damaged.

Also… buy a bottle of semi-permanent purple hair dye (or do what I did and mix blue and red if you can’t find the perfect shade). Then mix some of the dye with ordinary conditioner and use this occasionally the way you would any other conditioner. Make sure none of it gets in your eyes, and when you’re dispensing it onto your head, make sure it has as little contact with your fingers as possible because it will tinge them purple.

Another thing you’ll want is dark-colored bath towels, since the dye will bleed onto your towels when you’re drying your hair.

Wash your hair in cold water! Then clip it up and you can still have a nice hot shower for the rest of yourself.

If the color on the top of your head fades more then the rest because of sun exposure, there is a simple way to touch it up. Get an old toothbrush or brush, dip the bristles in your semi-permanent dye and brush it through the top layer of your hair. Let it sit a few minutes or hours and rinse it out.

I had dark red hair for a year and used most of these tips on my red hair, so these tips work with any unusual color–except the tip about the purple shampoo. That one, obviously, only applied to purple-based colors.

I’ve also read that petroleum jelly applied around your hairline before you dye your hair keeps the dye from staining your skin, but I’ve never tried it. I have tried it with lotion, but I didn’t pay enough attention to tell if it worked.

Nail polish remover can sometimes help remove hair dye stains from bathroom surfaces. It you’re not sure how much of a mess you’ll make ( if it’s your first time coloring your hair) cover every conceivable surface with newspaper and keep a roll of paper towels handy. Better to be safe than sorry. The first time I did dark red hair the dorm bathroom looked like a bloody massacre happened; just kidding.

Lastly, make sure you comb the hair dye all the way through your hair, and if you have very long hair or very thick hair, get two bottles of the dye initially or mix it with conditioner to extend it (I did this and it didn’t hurt the effectiveness of the non-permanent dye by much at all).

In closing, have fun with your hair! Remember, hair can be an art form, so be proud to be expressing yourself! Your head is your own canvas!

7 Reasons to Self-Publish

1) TIME FRAME- I can get a book available to readers in a fraction of the time a publishing house would. Publishing houses can take up to 2 years to get a book on the shelves. All I have to do is put it together in the proper formats, get the cover done, and I’m done.

2) DISILLUSIONMENT- After reading some pretty terrible books and finding out that some of them were almost immediately snapped up for publication, I’ve largely lost my faith in the publishing industry as a quality filter. If I can’t trust publishing houses and agents to screen out the sub-par fiction, then what are they for?

3) CONTROL- I can design my own cover (I’m a graphic designer) if I want, and can keep the book the way I want it. It’s 100% MY vision, not that of an overstressed editor.

4) OWNERSHIP- The books are mine. If I want to give you a free e-book, I can.

5) MONEY- Amazon gives me 70% of the cover price. My royalties from a publishing house would be a mere fraction of that. I can charge you less and still make more money. We both win.

6) STICKING IT TO THE MAN- Being indie makes the rebel in me smile.

7) CHANGING INDUSTRY- People don’t just buy books at their local bookstores anymore. Now there are e-books and e-readers, even I-Pod applications that let you read books on the go. And sales are going up. This is the future.

7 Hurricane Tips

Yesterday was Hurricane Irene, one of many I’ve lived through.

After talking with a friend up here in Boston, it occurred to me that not everyone is born with the Hurricane Instinct that those of us from the Gulf Coast are born with (along with the gene that makes us hoard newspaper for crawfish boils). So here are my 6 best tips for hurricane preparedness, from my experience. I’m not an expert, but I have lived on the Gulf Coast for 23 years and survived an alphabet soup of hurricanes. I lived an hour away from New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit and didn’t evacuate, so I’m hardcore (stupidly hardcore?).

6 Things to do if a Hurricane is Coming and You Aren’t Planning to Evacuate

1) Have a full tank in your car, and get it early. Gas prices go up and long lines form. You never know when you’ll need to evacuate or you’ll have to fuel a generator if your power goes out. If these things happen (hopefully not) you don’t want to be 20th in line for the pump with a Category 5 barreling down on you. Fill up your tank early and if you have extra gas containers, now would be a good time to fill them up, too.

2) Fill up the bathtub and any empty containers you have with water. If you lose power and can’t flush the toilets, you’ll need water to manually do it. (to do that: just pour water quickly into the bowl. Whatever science/voodoo/balance system that makes toilets work will cause the toilet to flush itself if you have a normal toilet).

3) Keep all cars away from trees in case branches fall. Put them in the middle of the yard if you have to.

4) Make sure you have flashlights, batteries, candles, and extra ice. The extra ice is for in case you lose power and your refrigerated/frozen food starts thawing.

5) Tie down any outdoor swings, gutters, yard decorations, and potted plants. Or bring them inside.This one’s pretty much a no-brainer, but I figured I’d include it anyway.

6) Think twice about opening windows to cool off. I learned this one during Hurricane Gustav, when I evacuated to a friend’s house, and it’s best used if you think you’ll be without power for awile. If you throw open all the windows in your house to catch a cooling hurricane breeze, consider leaving one room sealed shut. Why? Because of humidity. The breeze may feel nice now, but when that high-humidity post-hurricane day comes, your house will be humid and uncomfortable. When that happens, the room you sealed off will still have old low-humidity formerly air-conditioned air in it, and it will feel better.

7) Bag It. If you have anything not in a container in your fridge or freezer, put it in a plastic bag and seal it. That way, if it melts, it will make clean-up easier. (Thanks to my friend Jamie for this tip!)

Good luck!

SV