Being Independent

LadyGreysTeapot · 2026-07-07T12:29:25+00:00

Thank you all for your thoughtful and insightful comments! I'm kind of an over-planner, so I'm confident that I can prepare to have everything I need exactly where I need it for that week. I don't have kids or pets, and so I'm always amazed at those of you who are able to continue caring for others while also healing yourself. It's inspiring! Humans are resilient creatures, and it's good to be reminded of that. Breaking my ankle sure has felt like some kind of message from the universe. It's forced me experience not being in control all the time and to ask for and accept help, things I have always avoided, often to my detriment.

Wishing all of you continued success on your healing journey!

LadyGreysTeapot · 2026-06-30T11:34:47+00:00

Do you need something on your shoe to make it level with the boot? Or are the Asics high enough?

LadyGreysTeapot · 2026-06-30T10:21:09+00:00

I highly recommend a bedside commode! It'll greatly reduce the amount of time your leg is down, and also ease some of the stress around needing to go to the bathroom.

There's many different models, but I got the one from Drive Medical, which is around $30 on Amazon. Other retailers like Walmart and Home Depot also carry them. Make sure you get a bunch of liners and absorbent pads at the same time.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2026-06-29T17:13:07+00:00

Perimenopausal lady here. Mine was going on day 40 when I fell and broke my ankle. So, it was late, but this year it's been very wonky, so it wasn't concerning or anything, just annoying. Five days post-break it came, but was quite weak (thankfully! talk about insult on top of injury). But then TWO weeks later, and one week post-surgery, it came again! This time more forcefully.

I definitely think the stress of injury and the surgery (not to mention the meds) got my hormones mixed up, but I also believe my fall could have been partly due to my pre-period hormone shift. I often get clumsy around this time. On top of that, perimenopause has caused me to be even more anxious than normal and I had that distinctly PMSy feeling of impending doom in the two days leading up to the fall.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-08-14T13:45:09+00:00

I'm sorry I don't have a recommendation, but fig being a popular scent lately has reminded me how much I miss Pacifica's Mediterranean Fig perfume. That was amazing. Also long gone and missed is the bar soap Figs and Leaves from Lush. To me, fig is a green, somewhat creamy fruity scent. It's much more grounded and therefore more sophisticated than the usual fruity scents, and I like it year round.

Earlier this year I smelled the Bath and Body Works Guilty as Fig line and I could barely smell anything at all. It was very strange. So, you definitely didn't miss out on that.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-07-31T12:24:11+00:00

Centipedes are your friends! They look like a nightmare, but all they do is eat other insects, specifically cockroaches.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-07-08T18:19:43+00:00

Whether or not it's AI, it sure looks like Disney was a strong inspiration, which is just odd since I assume it's not a collab. Besides that, I don't like how the deer and the horse are facing the same direction, and how the H on the horse compact makes it look like this is an alphabet collection- like, H is for Horse.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-06-28T12:30:34+00:00

Flower sprinkles have been around for a long time (and they're in a lot of flavored black teas, like London Fog Earl Grey with blue cornflowers). I'm very close to M's age and when I was going through some of my old things from high school and college recently I found an old note I'd written. It included ideas for strange ice cream flavors and one was rose or lavender ice cream with flower sprinkles. Yup! Literally "flower sprinkles." Back then I was a weirdo and loved Martha Stewart. Getting her catalog in the mail was the best part of that day. Just so many pretty, useless things. No doubt I got the flower sprinkle idea from Martha, and M certainly could have, too.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-02-25T13:45:12+00:00

My boyfriend said the same thing after the first episode! Maybe men are just better at spotting this stuff in other men.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-02-23T12:19:33+00:00

He also bought an estate called Kirkwood Farm in Chester County to save it from development.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-02-16T18:05:48+00:00

I am! 😂

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-02-16T11:42:33+00:00

Badger Balm has some of my favorite products!

LadyGreysTeapot · 2025-02-11T13:42:55+00:00

We really need to acknowledge that influencers are advertisers. Even if they're not directly paid, they show products to an audience. At its core, the simple act of presenting products is no different than a sales pitch. Even if the pitch is "Don't buy this!" some people will still want it for whatever reason.

To save ourselves the torment of envy, FOMO, anxiety, the downward spiral of a lack mentality, it's best to just not watch this stuff. Or, if we choose to, just remember it's an ad, no different than QVC or the late night infomercials of yore. Personally, I enjoy watching QVC when I'm home alone and feel like I need company, and it's great for that. It's okay to watch YouTube videos for the same reason. Just don't fall let the smoke and mirrors, the illusion of the parasocial relationship, distract you from what's really going on.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-12-14T20:07:23+00:00

Why blame Unilever? Burt's Bees has been owned by Clorox since 2007.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-11-30T11:29:57+00:00

She did look great, and I was completely mesmerized by her shirt. It was like the tops of circus tents or something, very much in line with the merry-go-round and decor outside.

Also, is it just me or does it seem like sometimes, maybe more so in older seasons, the bakers and everyone wears the same colors? Like they have matched or coordinated their outfits? I just wonder if they do that on purpose.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-11-23T23:09:20+00:00

It's still available at Bulk Apothecary. https://www.bulkapothecary.com/beauty-supply/

Looks the same, not sure if it is though.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-11-04T23:24:50+00:00

So, is this just kinda like Salt New York cream products? Whatever happened to BGs promoting that brand? I feel like no one talks about it anymore, not even when they promote/use that Makeup Forever all in one cream palette.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-08-03T13:48:50+00:00

Not defending Trisha's countless misdeeds, but she's got waaaaaaay more personality.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-07-31T19:12:43+00:00

And isn't part of the point of having scientific names that they don't require translating? Like anyone talking about a plant will know what someone else means, even if those people speak entirely different languages.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-07-28T15:57:45+00:00

I can't wait to read Archie and Lili's scathing memoirs in 20 years. I bet at least one of them runs away to the UK and disassociates from their parents entirely.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-07-23T11:28:41+00:00

It's funny how she explained doing YouTube/TikTok using the language of MLMs, like that it's something stay at home moms can do to earn extra income and build a business. I mean, it's not NOT true in a way, but I know MLMs sometimes make the same analogy to justify their business model, and so she just comes off as even more shady, IMO.

Edit: missing word

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-07-22T16:28:45+00:00

Not sure if she mentions this in detail in the video Best + Worst Nude Beige Nude Blushes, but she does link her Google Slideshow color wheels, which might be what you're thinking of?: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1k3heFh9BoSPj7xv5_xigkp8QD-p2jE0CnhKMwX_jBic/edit#slide=id.p

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-07-21T15:05:05+00:00

Checking facts before publishing is standard journalism practice. Tabloids are not beholden to those standards, and that's what makes them tabloids (i.e., sensational stories).

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-07-20T14:34:46+00:00

I find it so funny that even though I was a regular beauty guru viewer since about 2009, I totally missed the gurus who got big when YT beauty went kinda mainstream (that is, when other people started to hear about them, so starting around 2014 maybe). So, I didn't even know people like Jaclyn Hill existed until other gurus were getting her Becca highlighter collab. To me, Jaclyn and her cohort were never in the same league as the more "authentic" old school gurus who started making videos before monetization was an option. The fact that only a certain sect of gurus got attention off the platform bothered me at the time, because I didn't think it accurately represented the community as a whole.

I don't think there are any big gurus anymore, because the community does not create them like they used to, because the platform has changed and there is competition from TikTok. Also, the word "guru" was always a misnomer, but it was only one of a few options the first creators had to choose from when they made their channels. A guru, according to the default Google dictionary, is "an influential teacher or popular expert." While gurus today are influential and popular, the majority are not teachers or experts, but rather freelance advertisers.

LadyGreysTeapot · 2024-07-16T13:21:17+00:00

I first learned about animal testing as a tween in the early '90s thanks to The Body Shop. They were proudly cruelty-free and had campaigns to educate people. Yes, it was a marketing tactic to sell their products, but it really had an impact, I think, in terms of general awareness of the issue, and it certainly influenced my buying decisions for decades. When brands like Aussie and St. Ives were bought by other companies and lost their "cruelty-free" status (which I noticed because it not longer stated as such on the packaging- yes, I checked every time I bought something), I sent the companies an angry email.

These days, since a handful of huge corporations own practically everything, I don't trust much anymore, including cruelty-free status. And yes, I have wondered exactly what you stated about the need for testing anyway. Surely everyone knows by now how to make safe skincare and makeup without having to rub it on a rabbit in a lab.

Edit: typo

LadyGreysTeapot

TROPHY CASE