Have you ever gone inside a Lush store? The first thing that assaults you is the smell (I seriously cannot imagine how people manage to work there); the second thing is the salespeople. Lush employees are the pushiest, most annoying people in any store I’ve ever been in—and I’ve been in a lot.

The Chop’s sister works for a Lush, and she’s managed to get us hooked on a couple of products, thereby forcing us to go to the store when we run out (yeah, we could order it online, but shipping can run up to $10… not worth it). However, after yesterday’s debacle (one of many), we’ve decided to bite the bullet on the shipping, simply to save our sanity.

We always walk in fast, angle around everyone, grab what we need and head to the counter. The goal here is to a) not make eye contact with anyone, b) get exactly what we need as quickly as possible and c) checkout and flee, so that I can once again breathe the free air (the fumes, oh my god, the fumes).

The mall was the place to be yesterday (torrential thunderstorms), so the store was crowded, but there was only one person ahead of us in line (score!), so I think this is where I lost my concentration.

The checkout chick wrapped the soap of those ahead of us and that somehow set her off on a tangent about how she took online origami. Don’t. ask.

Finally, our turn! We set our stuff down (two things of each—we don’t like to run out) and waited to be rung up.

Oh my gosh, you have TWO things of Big [shampoo I am addicted too—damn his sister!] and you don’t have any Veganese?!

OK, their products, I swear, are named so that you’re stuck saying, uh what?

You DO use the Veganese, right?!

Um, what’s Veganese?

It’s the conditioner! You MUST buy it!

(And now here is where the lack of concentration comes into play….)

I don’t use conditioner (I was actually thinking wtf, and when that came out, I realized my grave error.)

WHAT?! You have to use conditioner!

Random other girl who works there and is halfway across the room… Not conditioning is SO BAD for your hair! (While looking at me in disgust.)

If I give you a sample of Veganese, will you try it?!

Sure, why not. (At this point, hi, just want to flee. Chop is trying not to bust a gut laughing—knowing that I’ve stepped in heaping pile of shit—and I just want all of them to quit looking at me like I mistreat my hair. It’s HAIR people, and YES, I condition, but I don’t use your conditioner. I use CHEAP conditioner, since I spend so much freaking money on your damn shampoo.)

The rest of the time checking out I got a lecture about using conditioner, she kept saying, but isn’t it dry and stringy? and I kept saying, nope, no, nope, great hair, no problems.

Sigh.

When we finally managed to escape, Chop pointed out my error… the “what is Veganese” question. But here’s the thing… it’s called VEGANESE. How do you NOT want to know what the fuck that is?

It’s been five years and I still feel like it was yesterday my Nana passed away.

How time flies.

We miss you still.

So the Chop got a full time job (yeah, it’s been awhile), but the crappy thing is I was really used to having someone else at the house with me all day. Sigh. Now it’s just me and the crazy animals and honestly, they are not the best conversationalists without Chop to do their voices.

I’m starting to check out the area where he’s working (50 miles north), and aside from central air and no oil (omg, the oil bills), my house preferences aren’t very specific. Well, it’d be nice if it was perfect and only cost $200,000, but I know when I’m beat, lol.

We’re both still doing a lot of contract work, hence the silence. After you’ve spent 12 hours straight working, you lose your will to update a blog. 🙂

Oh my god, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion.. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

GO WATCH NOW. It comes down July 20th. You will laugh sooo hard.

Our adorable dog has decided food is not really her thing. We’re not sure if it’s the weather, she’s ill or she’s just being cantankerous, but whatever it is, it’s driving us crazy.

We’ll put out food in the morning, but she usually won’t touch it till after 2PM. Same thing with dinner.

We’ve heard that dogs change their diet in the summer (the heat), and when we took her to the vet, he thought she seemed fine.

So either she’s trying to drive us insane, or this is normal. Anyone know?

My parents are in town this week, so today has included the mass grilling of multiple kinds of meat, pie-eating for breakfast and watching the parade on TV. My parents are very predictable. 🙂

Their favorite things to do when they visit: go to the restaurants out here that they love, sleep, watch movies, sleep some more, eat some more and hang out in the hammock. It’s so nice that they’re this easy, lol.