Lippy Stuff

For a couple of weeks at least.

For the last few weeks we've been taking care of our friend's chickens while they were away, and wow are chickens the easiest animals in the world to take care of. It's pretty much feed, water, shovel poop out of coop 2x's/day, with a total daily care time of 10-20 minutes. How much easier can it get? And you get free eggs! Abi requires at least 3-4x's that amount of care and there is no free food after all that work. Somebody's getting the raw end of this deal. It's a good thing she's so cute.

Here is a picture of the hens, Lucille, Pat and Job.


And here is a picture that explains why we don't have chickens of our own.

Why is this blog called "Lippy Stuff"? To answer that question, we have to go back a bit.

In my last semester of college my hormones decided to conduct a final assault on my body, and by doing so 1) turned my hair from board straight and easy to manage into just wavy enough to be a funkified mess if I don't do something about it every day; and 2) turned my face into a pock-marked wasteland. It was awful. At the age of 21 and about to enter the professional world I was dealing with what most people dealt with at 15. I had to do something about it. After trying every dermatological antibiotic available, I was left with the dreaded Accutane.

If you're not familiar with Accutane, it is a horrible, horrible drug with some of the most horrendous side-effects I've ever seen in a medication approved by the FDA. With that said, I also consider it a miracle drug as it completely cleared up my acne, so much so that people who meet me now cannot believe I ever had to be on it. That's how great my skin looks now.

The worst side-effect I experienced from taking Accutane was dry, chapped lips. I'm not just talking a little chapped, or even dry cracked lips. I'm talking stranded in the desert for a week straight with no water parched. My lips would peel off in layers. It was gross. Horrible. Disgusting. To help with the dry gross grossness of it all my doctor recommended using Aquaphor Healing Ointment. And oh, the bliss of putting specially formulated petroleum jelly on my lips. It made a HUGE difference.

The only problem is, ever since the Accutane experience, I must have some kind of lip ointment on AT ALL TIMES. If my lips start to get dry and I have nothing readily available to put on them, I will stop whatever I am doing until I find something, some kind of lip ointment, anything, ANY LIPPY STUFF WILL DO! You could say I'm a little bit OCD about it, but it's not my fault. The drugs made me this way.

OK, I've got to let something out here for a minute.

Over the last year Matt has really gotten into road cycling. He commutes to work 2-3 days a week when the weather is good, and typically goes for a long ride on the weekends. About 6 months ago I decided to join him and was fortunate to have a friend loan me a bike for a while. I decided I really enjoyed the sport, but that I needed my own bike, one that fit me better and didn't have down tube shifters (whoever thought that was s good idea?). So, for the last couple of weeks we have been looking around for a bike for me.

I'm a small person with a small frame, so we've generally been looking at women's road bikes, assuming they would fit me better. However, have you seen women's road bikes? They are hideous, painted in shades of purple, pink, and sky blue with decorative swooshes on them that I can only compare to patterns I've seen on yoga clothing. What makes manufacturers of women's bikes think I want a sparkly purple bike? I find it hard to believe any market research would have led to this outcome.

The first 10 speed I ever had was lavender and pink. I thought I was pretty hot stuff riding around on my Huffy Sweetheart bicycle. And I was...for a 10 year old. However, I am now 30 years old and would like something a bit more sophisticated, thank you very much. When I'm on my bike I want to feel tough, powerful, like I can conquer any hill that comes my way. Call me crazy, but pink flowers don't really inspire awesomeness in me.

My original intentions were to just find a men's bike that I liked and maybe put a women's saddle on it to make it more comfortable. But yesterday we went around to some bike shops so I could test out different bikes, and as sad as I am to admit it, I really need a women's bike. My shoulders are very narrow, even for a woman, which means my grip is narrower and a women's handlebar is just so much more comfortable. Women's bikes feel like they fit my body better. It just frustrates me that I'm going to have to sacrifice style for comfort, and only because I am a woman. Bike manufacturers need to get their proverbial heads out of their proverbial asses and realize women want to kick butt just as much as men do. Make us a bike that can help us accomplish that.