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Things I found cool in October + general life ramblings

Yo guys, I wanted to talk about three things I thought were cool last month. I’ll also probably just have a bit of a ramble. At the time of writing I am up in the night feeling ill, so I have decided to finally crack on with this post because sleeping is obviously not going to happen, although who knows when I will actually publish this.

So, let’s get started.

Reusable hot/ cold pad

I discovered this gem after my recent bad knee dislocation. The extra tissue pain was really affecting me, and I wanted something therapeutic I could put around my knee instead of just an uncomfortable brace. Disposable heat patches are expensive, Freeze Gel wasn’t helping enough, and I also happened to be fed-up with continually running out of Kool n’ Soothe cold patches for migraines.

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So, I decided to buy this wonderful reusable gel pad. It comes with a cover which has a long elasticated strap, so you can use it on pretty much any part of the body, or just not wrap the strap anywhere, or just have the pad out on its own, it’s pretty damn versatile and I love it so much.

I sometimes leave it in a freezer drawer waiting to be used, and sometimes we put it in the microwave briefly to make it nice and hot. It depends on what I need at the time, really. I’ve strapped it around my knee, around my head, over my ear, and I’m holding the naked pad against my ear a lot at the moment to deal with the pain of my healing piercing. I honestly love this thing.

Get it here on Amazon!

Balloon clips

This is a bit of an odd one, I’ll admit. I’m sure I’m not the only one who hates tying balloons. It strangles your finger and it hurts, and the knots are impossible to undo again if, like me, you attempt to reuse the balloons (I’ve had the same glow-in-the-dark star-print balloons for Halloween for 3 years!). For the past two years, I used binder clips to try and hold my balloons shut. This only worked for a few hours at a time. And, the binder clips were heavy, so balloons often fell down from where I’d tried sticking them.

This year, it occurred to me that somebody must surely have invented something for this situation. I think I tried a few different variations of search terms before discovering that “balloon clips” was the right one.

There are a few different designs out there, and most of them have bad reviews, but I eventually found these round ones. The little holes in them appealed to me because I knew I could loop elastic bands through them to fasten balloons to things (particularly, the pipes that run down our walls).

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They were a great success, and my balloons are still inflated and in place a week after my party!

Buy them here.

Peel-off pore mask

I’m no stranger to a peel-off face mask. I enjoy them. But it’s rare that you actually find one that properly tugs the gunk out of your face. I find this particular one absolutely fascinating. I’m sure there are a variety of these out there, but this is the one that I have bought and used.

Before applying it, you first need to widen your pores, which I did by running a flannel under hot water, wringing it out, and then flopping it on my face for a while. I checked in the mirror to see if my pores had gotten any bigger and, when they had, I applied the mask over them. Thinner layers are definitely better with this one, I found out the first time I used it that some areas simply won’t dry if you try to make the application look even.

This mask feels properly tight on your face, and if you peel it off slowly it will really tug off that dry dead skin (which the somewhat mistranslated instruction booklet refers to as “old waste horny skin”) and get dirt and pus out of your pores.

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Dat gunk.

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The first time I used it, I got a lot of gunk out, especially from my nose, which is a typical blackhead area. On subsequent uses, I don’t get quite as much, because I’m doing it quite a lot now and there isn’t a buildup, but there would be over time if I was patient enough. You don’t even have to use it on your whole face, you could just use it on a problem area.

 

Will doesn’t understand my need to get filth out of my pores and skin (and other people’s, if they let me!), and maybe you don’t either! But I always have done, even when I was a kid, I just instinctively squeezed bits. You may not realise that little dark dots on your skin will actually shoot up a little pillar of dirt when pressed. Dirt! I would love to put the things I extract under a microscope.

Incidentally, if you haven’t discovered Dr. Sandra Lee, I recommend doing so, and you might see why this stuff is so fascinating!
I don’t think we have that kind of service on the NHS in this country, but I wish we did, I would love to get the bejesus scraped out of every pore on my body. I think everyone should get their body skin cleaned out once every 6 months, just like how people go to the dentist and the optician and the GP etc. It would be great.

Anyway, get the face mask here, I recommend it.

 

Let me know if you think of any cool things I should try!

 


 

In other general news, my new piercing, while having been perfectly fine during the actual needle-stabbing, has come with some horrendous healing pain. Apparently a vertical industrial is one of the most painful piercings you can get. I am inclined to agree.

I am now on Co-Codamol because of it. On the one hand, I’m annoyed that we don’t get this kind of pain relief for having horrible disabilities, or for when we rip muscles so painfully we think we must have broken a bone (it must be nearly a year since that happened!). But when the medical community hears that you’ve had a cartilage ear piercing, they say “Oh dang, have some opiates for that!”

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I do agree that people should get these painkillers for this pain. Because it is actually pretty grim. I just wish we got them for more serious things too, despite all the bollocks stigma around them.

Co-Codamol is pretty good to be honest. I’m trying not to take too many, but they are dulling the pain and also letting me have a pleasant snooze a few times a day. I just hope the piercing gets to a point where it will stop hurting so much, even if it does take another 6 – 12 months to heal entirely.

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The “intestine pillow” is super handy because it has a hole in the middle.
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Some ear crust imaging for you. Excuse my PCOS facial hair.
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I was initially worried about the white stuff at the top, but it was actually just solid crust.
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Dat crust. I find piercing crust almost as interesting as pore grossness. Also I find pictures helpful for seeing what I need to clean.
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I couldn’t resist taking the bar out earlier, to give it a good clean. You can see from the distance between gunk, how much tissue the piercing actually goes through. Hence, very pain.

I know, I know, externally-threaded jewellery is bad. But at least it’s titanium. I get my jewellery from Jo Bananas (which I pronounce to myself as “Job-Ananas”) and I’m not sure they actually do anything internally-threaded?

I know I wasn’t supposed to take the bar out for months, but getting at all the gunk around the holes with just a cotton bud was hard, so I took it out to give it and the holes a thorough clean. Taking it out actually didn’t hurt too much. Putting it back in, I almost passed out, I’m not sure if that’s down to POTS or the pain (I fainted when cleaning my piercings after getting my lobes done, which was definitely an overreaction on my body’s part).

What I do know, though, is that I won’t be doing it again.

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Without bar.
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Bar returned, much cleaner.

 

In other news still, I’ve been trying to work out what my “aesthetic” or general style taste is. I know “aesthetic” is quite a horrible word. But anyway, this train of thought culminated in a Pinterest board.

 

 

Overall, it’s clear that I like jewel tones (especially them purples and teals), and I like cushions and throws, and blankets, and tapestries, candles and suncatchers, pointy dogs and spindly cats, loungewear but also crochet and nice dresses.

A term that seems to come up with this stuff is “boho” or “dark boho,” which I wouldn’t have used on myself in a million years, but apparently that’s what it is.

 

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My beautiful floof.

 

Some super big news is that Will, thoughtful good boy and love of my life, got me a Foldachair! On credit of course, because it’s very expensive, but it’s still a big commitment to make and I’m incredibly thankful ❤️

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And finally, here’s a rice cake with some cheese that looks like Israel.

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