Pet Peeve of the Day

Broken umbrellas.

I should just leave it at that, really I should. But for the sake of elaboration I’ll do just that.

You see them abandoned on street corners, classrooms, under park benches, and on busses. Our society has a broken umbrella epidemic. They are plaguing our streets. 

For a while I tried not carrying an umbrella… but that ‘while’ ended 3 minutes later when I realized I live in Vancouver and not having an umbrella is cause for torrential downpour and suffering.

I remember one of my favourite umbrellas I stole from my grade 8 locker partner during locker-clean-up day. She didn’t show up, left her umbrella, so I took it. It was lime green and lasted me all throughout high school and 4 years of university.

During that whole time my family has had other umbrellas (the lime green one is much too small to share) that have come and go. We had a red one that snapped literally in half in the wind. We had a big huge yellow one that would flip inside out in wind and not flip back. There were at least 5 others that just had various metal clippings snap or break or twist or melt. Yes, I had a melting umbrella. No, I didn’t put it in front of fire.

Why are umbrellas made so flimsily? They’re not cheap to buy either; the cheapest one I’ve seen from Winners was $7.99 for a mini travel sized umbrella. Can’t someone invest in good materials but sell it for an affordable amount? This isn’t a winter jacket type of investment, this is an umbrella that I’ll leave on the floor, stick in baskets, jam into my bag, and shake like crazy when wet.

When I went to Hong Kong in 2009 I bought one on a rainy day impromptu for $15HKD. That ends up converting to about $3CDN. A deal! It actually lasted until this very rainy month when it died.

I’ve fixed my fair share of umbrellas too, in the dire hope that maybe my dexterity can make one last a few more months before setting out on the hunt again.

I don’t think I’m am umbrella abuser, I take as good care of an umbrella as I think most people do… I try not to wrap it back up when wet, I let them air out before closing them, I don’t open or close them violently…

Right now my household has two umbrellas. You’d think that would be plenty. The issue is that both the umbrellas are totally unusable. Why do I have two broken umbrellas! Why are they still around?

I don’t really know. It’s almost like I can’t bear to give them up until I have found a suitable replacement. So I’m doing just that, searching. During the busiest and rainiest month of the year. I can’t win against umbrellas. They still have the upper hand.

How I... Keep My Toes Warm!

My toes are cold. Regardless of whether it’s 25 degrees and sunny, or if it’s negative 2 and freezing, my toes will be cold. My mom has always complained of poor circulation in her limbs, so perhaps it is hereditary. She mentioned that her mother also had terrible cold feet all the time… so perhaps that explains it.

Explaining it does not provide even a bit of relief.

Last year I broke my pinkie toe because I had (or rather, always have) Chilblains and irritated my toes further. I didn’t even know what Chilblains was until a friend mentioned that she had it, described her symptoms (which matched mine perfectly) so I asked my Doctor and he agreed its very likely Chilblains.

Quick amateur medical lesson: Chilblains is basically a form of frostbite. It occurs when little ulcers form – from exposure to the cold - on outer extremities. It causes blistering, itching, swelling, redness, and general suckiness.

Since then I have had to get custom orthotics to fix my funky gait/low arching foot. Since they cannot make casts for pinkie toes (they’re too tiny) I just had to bind it to my fourth toe which caused a bit of a funny walk…

So yes, I’ve had my share of foot problems. Once you get cold feet there really isn’t an immediate cure. There is trying to get over it quicker, by keeping feet warm, but now there I have found a nice preventative measure!

I’ve noticed this year a new fad…

Beyond the ageless remedy of heated water bottles (from all the way back in the 20s), there’s plenty of microwavable SOCKS!

I found a whole table of these at Winners. Obviously I don’t really need multiple pairs of these, so I bought one for $12.99.

Light green in colour, made with a soft terry-cloth material

They’re infused with the scent of lavender and chamomile. They smell very relaxing and it is definitely a ‘napping-in-the-garden’ scent. These are essentially little sown pouches of rice (you can also use flax seeds, barley, or other herbs) stuffed into a little pocket in the bottom of a pair of loose socks.

That's the little rice packet that's inside the bottom of the sock

I ADORE THESE. How have I suffered so long without these!

You can’t really walk on these of course, being as awkward and as lumpy as they are… so I just kind of sandwich my feet between them before I head to bed.

I microwave them at 30 seconds intervals (on high) until they’re warm enough for my liking, then either place the rice pouches (you don’t have to microwave the socks themselves, the rice pouches fit into the sock later) directly on my feet, or I put them into the socks for less of an intense heat.

No, I don’t get them hot enough to burn. I just get them nice and warm so I can get some circulation going and start to feel my toes again.

The scent does start to fade after many uses, so the packaging suggests just spraying the pouches with any scent you’d like, or add a drop or two of whatever aromatherapy/essential oils you can find.

Since buying these in stores at the end of September I have seen these rise in popularity. They now have microwavable neck pillow, mittens, back pads, whatever you want. You can also pop any of these into the freezer if you’d prefer a cold compress, but staying cool is not an issue of mine! :P

In case you do not want to spend the money on a pair (though in my opinion they make a great gift) you can just make one!

…I would have made my own instead of buying these socks had I known how easy they’re constructed. Though to the credit of this product, the infused scent and socks are wonderful.

You will need:

·      Thin cotton fabric (the size will depend on how big you want your pouch to be)

·      Sewing machine/needle and thread

·      Rice/flax seeds/barley

Optional:

·      Essential oils

·      Aromatherapy scents

·      Pair of really loose socks

1.              Sew a ‘pouch-like’ pocket with your fabric. Leave about a 1-inch hole to pour in the grains. Make sure you sew it tightly enough that none of the grains will all out of the seams

2.              (Optional)

                  Add a drop or two of essential oils to your rice or spray your rice with aromatherapy scents.

3.              (Optional)

If you want to make it easier for the rice to ‘stay flat’ or keep even (not all bunched up on one end of the pouch or the other) you can sew 2 or 3 little lines down the pouch. This will assist the grains to stay in separate sections, so when heating and when applying it not all the grains will bunch up (causing uneven heating).

The blue rectangle represents the fabric pouch. the two darker blue lines are where you could sew extra lines.

4.              Using a funnel, or just being careful, pour in your uncooked grains. Do not stuff it. The grains should move around loosely… this makes it easier for the pouch to conform to the area of your body you wish you warm. Fill it to about 50-60% of the pouch.

5.              Sew up the remaining 1-inch hole.

6.              Shake it around to ensure nothing falls out.

7.              Pop that thing into the microwave and heat it up! Now put it anywhere you want for nice warm comfort!

Or, even easier, you could just fill an old sock with grains and microwave that… using it like a compress!

Deals: Winners!

“Nothing lasts forever – not even your troubles.”

                        Arnold H Glasgow

My old flat iron died. Lasted me ever since grade 9 of high school, so well over 5 years. Looking at reviews online, it looks like the CHI flat irons just aren’t made to last long-term. Too bad, because I did really like it (plus it wasn’t cheap so I was bummed that I expected to have to spend over $100 for a new one).

I know a person can find very high quality things for a good affordable price, as long as they know where to look.

I’m not too picky about a flat iron – I just want it to flatten my hair, smooth it out, get hot enough to do so, have variable temperatures, have a tourmaline ceramic coating, be light, have an automatic switch off… - I could go on forever… :P

To be real, I do only want it to smooth and straighten my hair. Anything in excess of that is spectacular!

Obviously the first place I went comparison shopping is online. Flat irons are expensive! How can anyone spend $300 on something! Actually, it isn’t unbelievable… just inconceivable that I could spend that much…

I also looked into the Conair straighteners… they looked decent, got good reviews on YouTube and on the interweb, so I thought I may just buy one.

I went to Zellers and saw the aforementioned Conair straightener for $34.99. Ehhh. Maybe I’d try Superstore? Maybe Wal-Mart? I’d walk around… So I decided to go into Winners. I absolutely love Winners, it’s like a treasure hunt!

I went to a rather abandoned location in the middle of a workweek, so there was hardly anyone there. Guess what I found!

 

That’s right, I got this for $30!
A Ti Creative Styling Flat Iron.

The box has the suggested MSRP at $200...

A very successful and happy day for me. I had seen this exact flat iron online for a sale price of $70… Pretty sure I got a bargain. Not to mention the fact it works wonderfully! It even comes with its own little heat-protecting pouch!

Even the nice man at the cashier remarked about how many people were buying the exact one and that they were really popular. Glad I found one!