I decided to bake a cake and a Bundt cake at that. Got those Duncan Hines mid-20th Century vibes going on with a boxed carrot cake.
And some pecan coconut icing I bought on a whim. It sounded good or gross. Not sure which.
It’s cooling now.
It was almost a relaxing day. It should have been relaxing completely but I had lots of chores to do and a doctor’s appointment.
But the morning included a visit from my friend Buddy and a nice walk with him, Jan and Sobaka.
Buddy
I got my first pedicure since the pandemic started. Nala has been chewing my toe nails and eating the dead skin.
And speaking of Nala, she didn’t react well to the bass drum that ended up in my living room.
Now to ice my cake… I swapped some of the eggs for organic apricot applesauce… the cake has a lovely texture and amazing flavor but I flipped it too soon. So you’ll have to stop by for a bowl of cake.
Today we made a very difficult decision regarding the fate of one of our Greek Pride kittens, that we are fostering for Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab.
Hades, the little black cat who bit me and sent me to the hospital, is inquisitive but hides most of the time. She now has caught ringworm from her brother Hermes, so we crated her.
Hades
Even in the crate, we can’t get the anti-fungal cream on her.
The complete opposite of her sister, Zeus (the runt!!) loves people and runs into any situation to protect her siblings.
With a heavy heart, the teenager (#1) called our FURR foster godmother and asked if she could help us determine if Hades behavior was based in fear or aggression.
Together we decided that Hades is a female cat who will always feel trapped and cornered in a home environment and would do better as a barn cat.
In more optimistic news, Zeus and Apollo will be returning to Petsmart this weekend for their second adoption fair and may head to an in-store habitat to increase their visibility.
And we’re working on teaching Hermes to cuddle. He’s been the sickest of this group so poor guy has spent most of his life getting scruffed and having medicine applied: first antibiotics and eye cream, then ringworm cream on muzzle and belly.
Timid but lovely Hermes
Onto the insane news, we got MORE kittens! This will be our second set, trapped this morning, and will be named after Roman Gods.
The last several weeks have featured a bevy of local non profit workshops and presentations.
Two of which happened last Wednesday night— the second in the Yes! Empowerment Series from the YWCA of Bethlehem and a panel on Quality of Life Women’s Issues hosted by American Association of University Women Easton Branch featuring Megan Lago (who coincidentally is my neighbor), the communications director for Lisa Boscola; Janice Thomas, homeless services director for Third Street Alliance for Women and Children; and my former colleague Antoinette Cavaliere (pictured below), program director for ProJeCt of Easton.
It’s energizing that local non profits can interact with each other and the public so fluidly and easily through social media and video conferencing platforms.
The focus of the AAUW panel was the problems facing families during the pandemic, which many of them seemed to revert to age old problems like lack of education and domestic violence.
This week’s YWCA session was on giving and receiving feedback, another interesting reflection on how we communicate and interact with others.
Then I opened my LinkedIn to discover that the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley featured a photo of me, my colleagues and one of our Women United supporters on their LinkedIn post to promote their upcoming Women United event.
With the teenager and teenager #2 in my home more often than not, they are forcing me to explore new looks.
Zoom has influenced this as I also am trying to look alive and vibrant on camera.
I have started posting “before,” “after” and “product” shots on my Instagram, but let’s call this my “week in review.”
“Griffindor” look by teenager 2 using primarily my Rimmel “jewel” palette
The “Griffindor” look at the pub
Rimmel “jewel” eye palette with blue “snapscara” mascara and trepidation red lip gloss from Baby Bat Beauty
Snapscara in blue & lime and blue from Revlon Player palette with the fancy name
My Target favorite finds— Maybelline “snapscara” in blue; Rimmel Magnif’eyes Jewel, and Revlon player enjôleuse
I love sparkle, and my Oryza nude shimmer and contour palette serves as my everyday base eyeshadow. That was the best find so far via Ipsy, I even ordered a second so I don’t run out.
Now keep in mind, my makeup experience was non-existent five years ago.
Before, with Nala
After, hidden by sunglasses
After
Sunday October 4
Today
I start everyday with some Oil of Olay moisturizer with SPF 30, a promise I made to my primary care physician to protect my skin. My brand loyalty is based on sales & coupons. (CVS)
When I start to put on my makeup, I used some re:p (real elemental practice) phytocell moisture serum. I like the way it makes my dry cheeks feel and it smells like oregano or some other garden herb. (Ipsy)
My primer today was IT your skin but better color correcting full coverage cream SPF 50+ broad spectrum UVA & UVB. Thought it would hide my dark circles for my zoom. (Ipsy) This is teenager 2’s go to when she works my make-up.
I actually did my cheeks next — I did a whole lot of bronzer. My tarte bronzer in park avenue princess is another product from Ipsy.
Eyes today are the palest Oryza shimmer color, with a layer of the bronze shimmer color and a spread around some slightly purple glitter from the Starlit Dio kaleidoscope palette I ordered from Target.com.
Lips were my Seraphine botanics lip gloss in Berry & Juice. This lip gloss has the best berry smell.
Before
Yesterday’s Look
Yesterday
Yesterday I started with my normal Olay complete, and some of the rep serum, and did my hair with the Brazilian hair cream.
Did my eyes with my normal Oryza shimmer, blush was Will Powder from Ipsy, but lips were from Baby Bat Beauty, there celestial lip gloss I believe.
The heavy duty glitter on my eyes is Baby Bat Beauty Glass Slipper.
So today is going to be a hard day. Even though I put on my sparking eye shadow from Baby Bat Beauty and finished my look with some of my beauty products from Ipsy.
I’ll offer a review of those products in a future post.
Right now, I want to use this space to talk about our FURR foster kittens who will turn 6 months old in a couple weeks. (For more information on FURR, visit their web site Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab
We took two of them, Apollo and Zeus, to the adoption event at our local Petsmart.
Our godmother in the organization, I’m not sure how else to refer to the person we report to, introduced us as the new foster family that took a litter of five very difficult feral kittens to try and turn them around. And told the story of how I ended up in the hospital when Hades bit me. (This is the blog entry that starts to chronicle those events: The Unfortunate Cat Bite.)
I had asked Gayle to help me make a sign about Zeus’ personality as I knew she would be nervous and scared and not herself. And we included a QR code to load a playlist of YouTube videos of the whole litter playing.
The other members of the organization loved this.
And we even ran into my former work colleague Emery and her husband who adopted three cats from FURR.
Hermes has ringworm and we’d been medicating him— but now Hades has ringworm on her head so I’m not gonna lie I’m scared to catch her. Not for my own sake, but because Hermes has lost the ground he gained in trusting me because of his need for medication.
These kittens had some bad cat colds when we got them and to add ringworm to their other struggles seems so unfair.
So I’ve wanted all day to do a “Nonprofit Roundup” that talked about the remaining workshops I attended this week and the hygiene kit event that Aspire to Autonomy hosted at Terra Cafe today.
But I am exhausted, so instead you get a review of the Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter.
Short version: I love Yuengling & I love chocolate beers. Of local craft beers, Twin Rivers Brewing has a really good one. My all time favorite beer is Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout.
I found this beer very smooth, enjoyable and easy to drink.
Me with my porter at Three Mugs Pub
My dad likes to come to town to visit Three Mugs Pub and we all love the Shruty’s Burger, a special burger designed by the former owners and my husband and I were the first paying customers to order and eat it.
Ah, the memories.
Today I also tried the mango habanero hot chicken dip, which when my stepmom liked until she got too much in one mouthful and experienced too much spicy heat.
Teenager #2 channeled her inner Griffindor, so she said, when she did my makeup today.
The last few days have been emotional, challenging and at times full of mirth… so as expected, it is the full moon.
I attended a few trainings and meetings and will be (or was) on the county council meeting agenda to serve on the drug andalcohol task force. I also sat in on a meeting of the YWCA of Bethlehem’s Empowerment and Justice Committee.
Today was the first Friends of Pete mixer since the pandemic started!
But let me not get ahead of myself.
I did two loads of laundry, tended some pets, had coffee with a neighbor, vacuumed my room, tried to get information on my unemployment claim (tried two different agencies and could get through to neither), went for a walk with another neighbor… and learned some high school physics.
And then Sarah, my lead intern in the communications department at ASPIRE to Autonomy visited! It was our first in person meeting despite working virtually practically side by side since June.
She knows the delightful crazy in my house— the naughty cockatoo, the sibling grey cats, the visiting dogs, the foster kittens, marching band, teenagers 1 & 2, the blind poet friend, etc. She’s seen & heard a lot of silly and strange things via video chat.
And now she drove 90 miles to see the real thing. Maybe a should start my own reality television show… and then run for President.
Teenager #1 proclaimed that Sarah was “even prettier in real life.”
She tried to make friends with Nala, met lots of cats, and then I went to take her on a tour of my neighborhood.
And there was construction blocking on end of the street and no lie a MUFFLER and TAILPIPE at the other. To get out of my street, we had to move part of an exhaust system. To which Sarah merely said, “I am not even surprised.”
View from my garage
I drive her to the teenagers school, show her Easton Area High School (the size of which blew her mind), and (don’t judge) visited two Dunkin’ Donuts out of the six within 2.5 miles of my house. We only got drinks at one. Note: Sarah uses almond milk.
We drop the car off and take a walk around the neighborhood which she enjoys because she can’t go anywhere on foot at her house. And she asked a lot of good questions discovering the history of the Dixie cup along the way.
We return to the house because I told Sarah we were going to light a few candles. Apparently I had never mention to Sarah that I was an animist pagan (or in practical terms a witch).
Oops.
Luckily, she has a history as a Catholic and Catholics light as many candles, burn as much incense and if you consider a prayer a spell, then do as magic as witches do.
So around 4:15, we did a candle burning ritual to coincide with the 5:05 full moon. I gave teenager 1 a white candle to draw the positive light to us and keep our intentions pure. I gave teenager 2 a purple candle as I want her to draw peace, calm, and safety into her life. I gave Sarah a blue candle as her friend had cancer surgery today and we wanted to pray for her healing. My candle was green. I need money, a job or some sort of resources.
After Sarah’s first ritual, we left for the Friends of Pete mixer— the Pandemic Breakout Networking event— in downtown Easton. I also showed her my old office at ProJeCt of Easton and then we drove by the new office for ASPIRE.
I reconnected with some old acquaintances— including Gil Bean of InFlow Advisory and PeteReinke. I met some new people and got to have drinks with my ASPIRE peers. And forgot to finish explaining to Amber, the co-founder of ASPIRE the difference between a Wiccan, a pagan and a witch.
I had a gin-elderberry-lime-berry cocktail and calamari at Ocean. I’d dined at all the other restaurants on the list so it was nice to finally try Ocean.
But let me back up and explain— Friends of Pete is a Lehigh Valley networking group that has a strong LinkedIn presence, a weekly Zoom check in and used to have monthly mixers.
It is how I met Darnell in August 2019.
And Sarah realized she’d been to Easton before— to visit The Crayola Factory. Which I had written the original press release when Binney & Smith first remodeled the old Orr’s store and launched that attraction more than 20 years ago.
Earlier this week and late last week I was struggling emotionally— my financial status growing more precarious and my friends feeling distant, etc. Nothing any more serious than what many other people are going through.
And then Tuesday happened.
That was yesterday I think.
I had Zoom meetings, Google Meets, programs and in person meetings from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. After a coffee meet with a marketing client, I accompanied an ASPIRE peer to our new office space in downtown Easton. I’m not sure it’s official official yet so I can’t provide details.
But I went to use the restroom.
And I forgot I had car keys in my pocket and they fell into the flushing toilet. Whooooop— right down the hole.
Well.
My first thought was, “What do I do????”
And then I realized I have the only electronic key fob currently in existence for my car.
So I stuck my hand into the toilet. Thank heavens they were there. Pulled them out, covered a paper towel with some sanitizer, wiped it down and popped the fob apart to try and dry it.
And I laughed at the situation. A few days earlier I would have cried.
In other silly news, my crew had some fun with musical instruments. YouTube videos here:
Last night I stayed up late and joined a Zoom call at 10 pm Eastern Time sponsored by the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center in Seattle. The theme for this social justice “cafe” was “white privilege.”
I love to see what other nonprofits are doing to promote racial and social justice, and more importantly, how they foster discussion on important topics.
So, I picked this Zoom, in part, because the facilitator is the sister of the matriarch of The Velez Family, dear dear friends of mine. It’s so amazing to attend an event where you know the people running it have something impactful to say and come from a diverse background.
And I got to socialize with folks from the West Coast!
Sam opening the session
The really, really neat part of this discussion wasn’t the fact that it covered a very important topic—oh no! The wonderful part of this discussion is that the host organization has designed the materials as a “kit” to allow meaningful conversations that can be reproduced among various groups.
The reflections, questions and materials promote open dialogue of various perspectives and hopefully will challenge the participants to have a better understanding of how race-based privilege, unintentional/ socially ingrained bias and ancient laws/codes all still exist and prevent society from truly “moving on” or working together.
I encourage you if you need resources to launch discussions of social justice, explore this nonprofit’s web site: International Peace & Justice Center. They are a faith-based group, but they recognize that everyone has a different spirituality.
Their web site opens with calling racism a sin. And even though I am not a Christian, I will be the first to agree that racism is a sin. Especially now. It’s 2020. Humanity should be ashamed at how we treat one another.
Angel Ackerman 