Author: boomingbanter

There are some products that never leave you. You can smell them and feel them even though you may not have touched or even seen them since the last time there was a year of the Metal Rat!

A recent post about hand cream immediately made me think of a product called Nulon. It was very PINK and had a lovely smell and it was the sort of thing that, as an affordable little luxury, you’d get as a gift for a birthday or Christmas. The only image I can find doesn’t do it justice. This bottle was the seventies plastic and not the original glass and has clearly aged less than gracefully.

My Moms beauty routine was simple. Oil of Ulay moisturizer and a little lipstick and if someone had bought it for her a rub of Nulon on the hands too. She didn’t buy hand lotion for herself.

My Mums Mum Granny Gibson was very partial to talc especially Yardley’s Lavender and again this was used like a perfume on special occasions only. Granny Barr was older and never dreamed of using anything other than soap and water. Any soap would do but if it was Pears she’d be delighted! I think she even washed her hair with soap!

I spent a lot of time at my friend Carols house and her Mum was younger and a little more adventurous than mine. No foundation or blusher or eye makeup but she might have a brighter colored lipstick than my Mum and she had Ponds Cold Cream that was very thick and exotic and had to be used very sparingly. Carol and I sampled it in secret! Just the tiniest touch!

The funniest product of all that Mrs Braithwaite had was a hair gel called Dippity Do! You could set your hair for a week with this. It was to all intents and purpose pink super glue and gave us the giggles.

All these items came in small bottles often glass or in thin metal tubs and were used in tiny amounts and treasured like gold.

Does the abundance we have today diminish our ability to appreciate the beauty of something as simple as a little dab of cream? As my Mum often would say “little pots of powder little dabs of paint makes a girls complexion look like what it ain’t” 

Maybe that’s why all the wrinkle creams don’t work. We just use too much of them!

Blessing # 599 – Mini Magic

With the ring safely back where it belongs in the jewelry box the washing of the gems in the rough got started.

This is such a joy finding these little beauties and then seeing how well they look when they are all cleaned up. They take over the kitchen for a while though!

It feels so good to think that these once loved items will one day find a chance to be loved again. They are selected on the basis of their appeal to me. I’m not going after one particular category which is maybe not the way to work. It might be their color or the fineness of the work. Somehow though they all seem to look good together and now you’ll laugh they look happy!

There is always the chance they’ll suffer an injury during their facelift or on their journey to the store but with this lot of lovelies all went well and they are now on the shelf waiting patiently for their new family to take them home.

Blessing # 598 – Safely Gathered In

After the bread drop yesterday Krishna and I went to an estate sale in downtown Columbus. We were hoping to stock up for the store and we weren’t disappointed. We got a huge amount of lovely things three boxes full to be precise.

Thrilled with our success we got home to find that Aaron had surfaced, been out shopping too and spent three times more than we had buying a fancy speaker for his iPhone.

As he was explaining the intricacies of this piece of hardware to me I was taking off my jewelry in preparation for diving into the sink to wash my haul. That’s when my heart sank. My wedding ring was gone!

Maybe I dropped it when Scooby jumped on me so I scrambled around the floor and even moved chairs to look for it. No! Maybe it was in my pocket. No! Maybe I didn’t even put it on. Check the jewelry box. No!

By now I was almost sick and I was praying. Please please please let me find it. Not in the car either! Should I go back to the house where we bought the things!

I didn’t say a word to Krishna or Aaron and decided the only thing to do was bite the bullet and accept the loss.

 

How you might ask could this have happened. Well you see my fingers  were so thin all those years ago that I now have to wear the ring on my pinkie finger.

It must have fallen off when I was helping pack the things we bought.

I could have cried but instead I got down to the business of  unpacking all the time praying I might find it.

On the third box a miracle happened. I heard a little ping and out of the newspaper came the little ring.

Talk about relief it was like winning the lottery and I have to say when I explained to Krishna he was happy too!

Blessing # 597 – Lost is Found

Today bread was high on the agenda. It started rising yesterday!

Last night we had our annual chili dinner and did great business. We make enough chili to feed several hundred so we always have tubs to sell the next day at Church.

People like to have chili as they watch the super bowl that’s on right now. Well it’s half time! We had made lots of corn bread too so  anyone getting a tub of chili got bread for free today! We made over a $1000!

Last night when I was safely tucked up in bed sound asleep Aaron arrived home with another huge box of leftovers from work.

Normally these delicious goodies are picked up from Panera by Churches to distribute to food pantries but it’s seems there is a high no show rate on Saturday nights. Maybe because most food pantries aren’t open on Sunday.

Last Sunday I’d done a bit of research and found a homeless shelter for men in central Columbus that would accept the items. Not everyone will take them. So while Aaron was still fast asleep Krishna and I made a drop there last weekend on his behalf and went there again today.

The same manager was on duty today so I’m anticipating a new friendship may be in the making.

Hoping none of you are offended by what I’m about to say next but all I could think about today was Give Us Today Our Daily Bread.

We were giving bread to those supporting missions and we were bringing it to a mission itself and we still have a load of cinnamon buns stashed away in our fridge to keep us sweet for the week!

Blessing #596 – Gluten Networks

Have you seen these tests on Facebook where you plug in some detail about yourself like the month of your birth and in an instant they analyse you and tell you what a wonderful person you are. I love them. We all need to be told regularly what our good points are even if it’s a social media concoction.

Today for Chinese New Year Aaron got Scooby a new chew toy.

The one he got for Christmas had been shredded pretty good so let see how long this one last.

When Aaron does things like this I get all gooey about how kind he is. This usually last about an hour until he and I have a go at each other about something stupid like just now when I told him to tuck his pockets into his jeans and he took the huff with me!

Just as well we have Scooby to talk to and console us!!

Blessing # 595 – A Good Heart

This is our first Chinese New Year with Scooby. Born September 2018 he is appropriately a dog!!! Takes after his Dad!!!!!!

It’s such a joy to watch Scooby learn new things and see how quick he is to read what’s going on. We might be a bit biased but feel he is very smart indeed.

Before each walk he follows me to the place where his leash is kept and puts his paws up on the counter till the leash is clicked on his collar. He then puts it in his mouth and walks to the door till I get my coat on.

He hears or sees or smells things we don’t. For example, when his doggie friends walk by on the street he runs barking from one window to the next watching them to let them know he’s around.

When we go for walks if I say long walk he knows where to turn or if I say quick quickies he goes another way.

The sound of the pantry door opening of course brings an immediate response and as soon as Krishna puts his shoes on Scooby heads for his little kennel.

Today he gave us a good laugh. After a long walk, when we had finished our lunch the lad disappeared. He wasn’t by the window and he wasn’t in the hall which are his usually haunts. He’d taken himself for a snooze to bed.

Well how wise is that? Just couldn’t  resist the temptation to join him! He’d be so lost in that big bed all alone!

Blessing # 594 – Learning a Lesson

Today we went to see a movie that will have a lasting impact on our lives. See it if you can!

Bryan Stevenson’s work deserves a Nobel Prise.

His quote at the end of the movie bears remembering. «Hopelessness is the enemy of justice »

Thanks to him and his colleague including his first partner Eva Ansley at The Equal Justice Initiative 140 death row prisoners have been released!

Blessing # 593 – Freedom Fighters

Last night my attempt to produce an authentic version of the Sichuan specialty Ma Pao Tofu bombed. It looked grey and insipid compare to the recipe picture. Maybe because I held back on the chili oil because a certain young man doesn’t like it hot!

Today that same person has work this evening so he has to through something into himself between work and school. So I have to make something that he’ll like but that will hold for Dad and me till later in this evening as were fed up eating dinner at 3:30!

Chinese food doesn’t hold that well so Irish Stew in the crock pot it had to be! Very fitting too as it was also the cultural fair at school and Aaron as usual, rather than taking Chinese things, took all his Irish rugby gear and paraphernalia!

Wednesday is our trash pick up day and because of that this stew really got going really early. It was in the slow cooker by 7:00.

The reason? Well I have a confession to make and am interested to know if other people are like me. When it’s trash day I will do things like drink any extra milk in the bottle just so I can bin the package. It’s becoming a bit of an obsession to clear things out. Sort of the opposite of those people who hoard things. I gotta get rid of straggly stuff and if I find a bottle or box with just a little bit in it I get mad as a hatter.

Thats why making stew on trash day feels so good to me because I can get rid of all those potato, carrot and onion peels rather than have them hang around fermenting for a whole week.

There must be a name for this type of behavior. My Mom was like this too only she took it to the extreme  and cleared out the whole fridge. Mind you it was about the quarter size of ours and she’d turn it off and scrub it with baking soda too!

As yet the clear out hasn’t extended to a clean up but as I continue to morph into my Mum it most likely will.

Blessing # 592 – Scrapless

At Chinese New Year families give each other gifts. The kids get red envelopes with money but when families return to see their parents they often bring them the very special gift of tea. This can cost a fortune and is a true sign of love.

My dear Mother never tasted green tea but one of her favorite sayings was “not for all the tea in China”. She’d use this to reinforce a point on any issue. For example a certain politician she’d never vote for under any circumstance!

Tea was a very important part of her life and therefore mine too. If you have a weak stomach stop reading now. She more or less weaned me with tea because I would not drink milk she’d put plenty of milk in a mug of tea and mash up two or three chocolate digestive biscuits in it and give me that to eat as a breakfast or snack. It is beyond yummy but looks like puke. We even had a name for it Naty-Mate!

Tea bags were anathema to my Mum. They were the cheap sweepings off the floor and we had to always have the same brand. Nambarrie loose leaf tea and it was served very strong.

To this day each time I go to Belfast I bring back Nambarrie tea bags that no doubt Mother is frowning on from above.

When we moved to China in 2001 it was amazing to meet people more passionate about tea than my Mum. One of them was my colleague Dr Lien who introduced me to the finer varieties of green tea. Much as she tried I never did develop a passion for it but appreciate her willingness to try to educate me.

Those of us used to a British brew just can’t imagine what the Chinese green tea looks like when consumed by the common man. It looks more like chopped cabbage than tea but it is much loved and held so close to the heart of this great nation.

Such a gift they gave us!

Blessing # 591 – Camellia Sinensis

A New Year would not be a New Year without a few resolutions. So this Chinese New Year where better to look for some thought provoking guidance than the philosopher Confucius.

He was born around 550 BC in a middle class family went on to marry, have children and progressively become more influential within local government and as a teacher.

He has touched and guided the culture not just in China but across Asia from Japan to Tibet.

One of his followers once asked him if he had to sum up his belief in one word what that would be and he answered RECIPROCITY! Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself!

He was also a firm believer in the need to find contentment.

Are you content? I’m not but I am improving and no longer constantly searching for novelty and change.

Think for just a moment about a person you know who embodies contentment.

After some reflection the person who came to my mind was someone I worked with in Switzerland. His name is Jacques and he and I are almost exactly the same age. He was always so thankful for his life for his wife and kids his work and always seemed to find joy in the simplest things. I don’t think I ever heard him say a bad word about anyone.

So what is the secret to contentment? Modesty is probably a good starting place.

A little quiet time perhaps?

Or maybe just finding more to laugh about.

Blessing # 590 – Going for Gladness