Rambling on about books, baking and beauty…
Here are some of my favourite female quotes, gather the inspiration and go!!
“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman” – Virginia Woolf
“If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain” – Dolly Parton
“Well behaved women rarely make history” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Create your own style, let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others” – Anna Wintour
“Nothing in the world is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’ ” – Audrey Hepburn
ramblingmads
Short answer – yes.
Longer answer – still yes. They’re not mutually exclusive.
I’m a feminist, more than that I’m an intersectional feminist who doesn’t hate men, has never burned a bra (those things cost) and loves beauty products and wearing make up.
If you’re not, then that’s cool. If you think the beauty industry subjucates women, is fatphobic, racist etc, then that’s fine. I see your point, I even agree with some of that, but I don’t see the harm in wanting to make up my face, in enjoying skincare and perfume and washing my hair.
I read feminist media like Bitch and Bust magazines, The Riveter, and others, but I also haunt the make up aisles of Superdrug and read beauty blogs, follow Caroline Hirons and Sali Hughes (beauty writers, who also happen to be awesome women) and listen to music that isn’t mainstream.
And that’s cool. There’s room for all sorts in the world. There really is. Just not if you’re an asshole – please take your negative, bigotted views elsewhere. There’s a world that needs changing out there, and I am so looking forward to it.
ramblingmads
It’s been a bit quiet round here, I’ve been a wee bit busy.
I started a new job last week, which so far, so good. But it’s meant I’ve been a bit knackered and not had the energy to write much. Once I get my routine sorted, that will change, promise!
Working a three day week, then it’s Christmas, so that’ll hopefully give me some blogging time, before I head back to the office in the New Year.
However, I am a bit more active on Instagram and Twitter, so feel free to find me there and say hello, I’m @ramblingmads on both.
Keep an eye out for the posts I am busily drafting and polishing.
ramblingmads
I was skimming along my twitter timeline the other day and saw a link to another gift guide on some website or other, where a gift was recommended that was “only £4,995”, that “only” just kills me.
A lot of people are struggling at the moment, finances are tight, a shop assistant I spoke to today said that they were still waiting for the Christmas rush, she was worried that if there wasn’t one she’d lose her job.
Five grand is a lot of money, and completely out of many people’s ability as a one off spend on a Christmas present.
Growing up there were times money was tight, when my dad was made redundant, when my mum was not working because she had two small children at home, when my parents bought their house. But we never went without.
We always had presents, I remember getting a new bike one year, and my auntie used to send us dresses every year, which we wore for Christmas day lunch, there were pyjamas, books, board games, toys, but not more than we could actually play with, we certainly weren’t spoiled.
So when I see these completely unrealistic gift guides being promoted, and there are more realistic ones out there, with presents that very few could buy, it makes me cross.
You don’t have to be religious to celebrate Christmas, Jesus was probably born in June and people have celebrated the solstice/yule etc for thousands of years, but it shouldn’t be all about stuff.
We’ve become too materialistic, yes I blog about beauty products, but I am also passionate about things that matter, I’m a proud feminist, I speak out against injustices, I am currently furious about the foul way some people treat other members of their communities due to race or religion.
Christmas, for me anyway, is about family, friends, being together, doing things like decorating the house, eating a meal, watching cheesy films, together.
Not about how much stuff you get, or how much money you spend.
So, I won’t be suggesting gifts, I won’t be telling you that spending £4,995 on a gift shows someone how much you love them. Just be with them, do things together.
ramblingmads
The lovely Laura of Style Breakdown posted this tag post on her blog. As I am a famous procrastinator I thought I’d answer the questions as she suggested. If you like it, please do the same.
1. Name the beauty regiment that you rarely do.
I am always planning to apply a face mask to deep clean my face and rarely do because I am lazy.
2. Is washing your makeup brushes something you rarely do?
Yes, although Sal and Tifa would probably tell me off. I put off doing this all the time.
3. How long will you last with chipped nail polish?
Depends how annoying it is, I have been known to pick at the chips and make it worse, needing to repair the damage sooner.
4. How long will you put off buying/repurchasing a beauty product, even if you need it?
Not long, I tend to have a spare waiting in the wings, but if something really run out then it’s off to Boots I go.
5. What is your worst beauty habit?
I pick and poke any lumps or spots threatening to appear. I know I should leave my face alone but I can’t.
6. Name something non-beauty related that you put off doing all the time?
Taking out the recycling, only when it’s overflowing do I run out to the bins. Just sheer laziness.
7. When going out somewhere do you put off getting ready to the last minute?
Not really, I get anxious about being on time so often rush to get ready but I invariably forget something and have to rush around at the last moment.
8. Can you commit to a spending ban?
As long as nothing essential runs out, sure, but essentials must be repurchased.
9. How organised are your beauty/nail polish collections?
Not as organised as my brain in its analytical obsessiveness would like, but I’m working on getting it so.
I hope some of you lovely people take this tag up and have some fun with it. Thanks for reading.
ramblingmads
During the festive season one of my favourite things to do is camp out on the sofa and watch Christmas films. I tend to stick to a few old favourites.
Rent – yes this film is about people dying of AIDS in poverty in early 90s New York, based on an opera (La Boheme) and it’s a musical but it begins and ends at Christmas and I love it. I know all the words to the songs and cry at the sad parts. It’s ultimately a story of redemption and love overcoming all odds.
Muppets’ Christmas Carol – by far the best version of Dickens’ famous festive tale. Michael Caine as the crochety Mr Scrooge being shown the error of his ways by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, while his employee Bob Cratchit (Kermit the Frog) struggles to provide for his rather large, mixed species family. With songs. And Muppets.
Home Alone – the first one is brilliant, Macauley Culkin may be a much derided child star but this film with its genius level child building a lifesize version of the game Mousetrap to catch two bungling burglars, is every child’s secret dream.
Elf – I’m not the biggest Will Ferrell fan but this is hilarious and silly, Zooey Deschanel is all big eyes and Ferrell as Buddy the Elf is just perfect.
The Grinch – not the rubber faced Jim Carrey one but the original cartoon adaptation of Dr Seuss’ rhyming book about the grumpy Grinch and the good hearted Hoos of Hoosville who change his mind.
Scrooged – Bill Murray was riding high when he made this, a high powered exec who follows in the footsteps of Ebenezer Scrooge by being miserly and mean at Christmas before ghostly visits have him rethinking his life. Murray’s Christmas special is currently on Netflix and is on my festive ‘To Watch’ list as is this very 80s film.
What are your favourite Christmas films? Do you have any traditions you’d like to share? Leave a note below.
🎅🎀🎄⛄🎁
ramblingmads
I live with Christmas’ number two fan (his mum is no. 1) and this weekend we put the tree up and made our little flat all festive.
We also discovered that rats are scared of the sound of Michael Buble singing (or maybe it’s when trees suddenly grow inside the house). They quite like the sound of Santa Paws and extra treats.
We also wrote cards and wrapped presents to the sound of a gospel choir singing Christmas carols and discussed which films we will watch to get into the spirit.
We’ve started our own little traditions and have ornaments that mean something to us, like the way all the ones on my parents’ tree have meaning and a story.
I apologise in advance to whoever gets the cards I wrote last, my handwriting can only keep it together for so long before becoming unintelligible.
We have a mix of traditional and contemporary decorations. There’s a Nativity scene and a herd of reindeer, Santas and angels. We’ve even got our first few cards up.
Over the last few years I’ve got quite good at snagging cards and wrapping paper in January’s sales so we’re stocked up well in advance, not scrambling about trying to grab the last pack of cards or roll of paper.
I have a weird relationship with Christmas, growing up it was all about the Sunday School presentation and getting a decent looking Christingle orange and not having my hair set alight by my friend’s little brother (small boys and lit candles are not a good mix).
Presents were not ostentatious or in their multitudes, we had nice things but my mum the ex-hippy doesn’t really do commercialization and she’s religious.
My best memories are of Christmas days at my grandparents, with Grandad’s gag gifts while dressed as Santa and my Nan’s mostly sherry trifle. My cousins bickering over the post lunch TV selection, my dad sleeping off the two types of potatoes and the washing up being done in shifts.
ramblingmads
In one of his masterful Discworld books, Terry Pratchett created the Death of Rats, and now he comes to lead little Peaches on her way over the rainbow bridge.
A few weeks ago Peaches had a stroke, resulting in left side paralysis and weakening. Since then, sadly she’s declined, struggling to move around and not eating or drinking. There have been a few tumbles and a case of lose bladder while having a cuddle.
Her sisters know something’s wrong, cuddling her and washing her face, while the boys are being a lot more gentle.
We’ve made the sad decision to aid her on her way at the vets’, wanting to put her beyond pain and suffering, rather than dragging it out.
I know this will be the best thing to do, but it is very sad. If you’d told me a year ago I’d care this much about small rodents, i’d have laughed. At least I know The Death of Rats will be there to gently take her little paw and lead her to her rest. SQUEAK.
ramblingmads
I know this isn’t the usual content but I am fed up of the government’s war on women. The Budget was announced on White Ribbon Day – a day to commemorate and demand an end to violence against women and girls.
The Tampon Tax has made headlines already this year, a tax on being a woman and having a uterus (these two things are not the same BTW).
Now George Osbourne announces that instead of scrapping a gendered tax, instead the money will go towards funding women’s health care and domestic violence charities.
Women are already unfairly punished by cuts to services and instead of remedying it, the men in charge decide, women can pay for services.
Services that in many cases wouldn’t be needed if it wasn’t for men. Domestic abuse is society’s issue and the need for refuges for women is overwhelmingly because of men.
1 in 4 women will experience some form of domestic abuse in their lifetimes, and women are most likely to be murdered by an intimate partner or family member.
Now I’m all for funding women’s health services and domestic abuse services but not like this. Essentially women are paying for themselves. Because they have uteruses that once a month bleed.
Both David Cameron and George Osbourne have daughters. I hope they’re prepared to defend this when those girls reach puberty – and can see how sexist and misogynist this decision is.
For more on this, The Debrief had some great articles today and I’m sure more will be forthcoming.
ramblingmads
Let’s be honest, the world is full of heartbreakingly sad things, and people arguing about them.
My anxiety levels are through the roof in general at the moment and all the carrying on online is only making it worse. So I removed the app from my home screen, I didn’t delete it because I genuinely don’t know my password and should I ever go back, I’d like to be able to get into my account.
I haven’t used Twitter much recently, and having deleted dozens of random accounts I was following, I’m going to try to use it more, bite sized info that I can handle. I’m also on Instagram. Imaginatively my handle on both is ramblingmads, so do come say hi.
Facebook was overwhelming, too many voices screaming for attention. If I do decide I want back in, I think scaling back groups and “friends” will be a must. I’m starting to think my friend Jack, who does not use any social media, may have a point.
If you need me I’ll be reading a book and painting my nails.
ramblingmads
ramblingmads 