move over sally jean

so i tried to order some pretty little things from sally jean...emailed, called...to no avail. in all fairness, this was during my Week Of Invisibility. so i decided, Ok - this can't be so hard to learn. i've had her book since forEver. it was just the Things Catching Fire possibility that had me a little skittish. things do seem to explode, flame out, smolder, and downright burn around me at a higher than average rate. there was some solace in the fact that my neighbor is a volunteer fireman ("nozzlehead" to insiders), so i wouldn't necessarily need to call 911 and embarrass myself in front of my former co-workers who are painfully aware of the fact that fire+Linda=a busy night for them. but i was feeling a little pissed off that i hadn't gotten a response from SJ, and was determined to make a little Whatever all by myself. SO. promptly at noon, my friend Gail who-calls-frequently-and-is-married-to-the-man-who-will-be-worshipped-by-all-women came over with her soldering gear and a bag o' ephemera. 4 hours later....NO FIRE! lots of smell at first. but it appears that the old adage "no smoke without fire" is not 100%. we made STUFF! actual good stuff! i won't kid you, there were a few moments that got me all tensed up, and when diva woke up and went for gail's ankle with full froth while i was holding the soldering iron....that perked me up a bit. but all in all, not bad. once you get your swerve on with the whole "painting with solder" idea, you're good. so i left the main stuff out ... i believe i'll be doing this again soon. and for the record, i wasn't Totally pissed at SJ...not like it would keep her awake anyway - she'd be like, "WHO?!?" but it was an incident within a week of incidents where i had to be sure i hadn't put on invisibility cream instead of the usual Avon triple-decker-wrinkles-like-your-grandma cream. and while i'm on THAT topic...pull-ease, huh? does ANYone ACTually BElieve that creams and lotions will make wrinkles disappear?? and WHY do we even CARE? why why why? i am NOT 19...and i am not stoopid. do ya think MAYBE the "woman" in the wrinkle cream picture is maybe, oh, say 18? do they maybe have to airbrush IN a few tiny lines just so we believe she's actually 60 with a face as firm as a georgia peach? i just get in such a tantrum over this. and i don't begrudge the 18 & 19 year old her wrinkle-free skin...i just don't care. and i don't feel that i need to "fight it every step of the way." i've got other things to do, and i'm way too tired. so that's my rant for today. L.