I've been tackling that mountain of books at my bedside, opting for short young adult books to devour at a quickening pace. Last night I read One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau. It's a horror book about family ties. (So maybe I DID buy this book for the cover. Don't you dare judge me!)

There's several intertwining stories in this short book. One is about a man and his dog and their daily encounter with a headless ghost, another about two sisters caring for their ravenous mom, and the final story is about a young angry lesbian that pines for her best friend while seeing the ghost of her mom. They all seem to get a happy-ish ending.

I liked the writing style with dry humor and gore in this one, but all of the characters are annoying and have a problem communicating with family and friends. The book is quick because the chapters are VERY small, sometimes only one paragraph. The story is good, but I feel like the stories need more fleshing out (pun intended). At one point near the end, there was a lot of repetition from the beginning of the book, that really could have been condensed a little more. I was left with more questions than answers. *Be warned: a dog and kittens die in this book......oh yeah and a baby. (Almost forgot about that.) One black cat does survive though. Overall it was ok.

I haven't blogged about makeup in a LONG time. The last time was with Winky Lux in 2019, so after my friend gave me the Kitty Likes to Scratch palette from Too Faced, I thought it was time. 

I've never owned a palette from Too Faced before, so I didn't know what to expect. The package says it "smells like a tequila sunrise". I can assure it doesn't smell. If it does, it smells like eye shadow.

The tin is super cute and comes with a mirror inside.

My OCD is going crazy because the first two colors are in a different shaped pan, but after looking at their website all the mini eye shadow palettes are like this on the inside. I guess, it mirrors life ~ be a rectangle among the squares!

The colors look good!

I swatched the colors on my arm without primer. The "Pet Me" color is so light I could use it as concealer (it's the one at the top), but then again I'm pasty.

As usual I tried to do a full makeup look with one palette. What can I say? I like the challenge. Here's the final look in my bathroom.

Of the colors in the palette, three are matte, and five are shimmery. I tend to prefer the shimmery because I find them easier to blend. I used "Pet Me" as a brow highlighter, "Heavy Metal" as a highlighter on my nose and chin, "Groupe" as blush, "Rock of Ages" mixed with chapstick for lips, "Backstage Pass" as a base for my eye shadow, "Hair Band" as my eye crease color, and "Power Ballad" as eyeliner.

Here is everything I used to makeup my face. As you can see I'm not a makeup artist by any means. I decided to get fancy and use some eye lashes I picked up on clearance at Halloween. They are awful, so ignore my eyelashes in the pictures. The band isn't long enough and it's stiff. That's probably why they were on sale. 

I use Bye Bye Foundation from it Cosmetics because of the SPF 50 and they have my color (sometimes it's hard to find a good light match without being too orange, yellow, or dark), NYX eyebrow pencil, and Ulta brow powder (I like the Ulta brand because it doesn't make me break out, but the lids always crack off their packaging), Duo eye lash glue in black for the crappy lashes, some Wet N Wild mascara (this one is my new favorite and it's cheap), a Burt's Bees chapstick that was given to me for Christmas, and two shadow brushes, eye liner brush, and blush brush. That's it. I keep it simple.

Here's a few snaps in natural lighting. Oh BTW this background is my shop Cats Like Us.

Overall Kitty Likes to Scratch is a super neutral palette, unlike the eye shadow names trying to invoke 80s hair metal. I think I'll get the most use out of the color "Hair Band". It's a very shimmery brown. Great for everyday use, but you can also glam it up with a black smoky eye. The colors go on smooth and stay in place. I recommend it.

If you're wondering my pin was also a gift (I have the most generous thoughtful friends), it's from VincaUSA this particular brooch is no longer available, but they have lots of cute cat jewelry!

In past blogs, I've also reviewed The Never Sleep Again Palette from Hot Topic, Sugarpill's Trick or Treat bundle, Sugarpill's Feline Fancy Palette, Wet & Wild's Goth-O-Graphic Set, Lunatik Cosmetics Elvira Palette.

Thanks for reading. Feeling sexy, might delete later.

 

Every day since Feb 5 ~ the day my cat Ginger died ~ I've cried about her loss. I AM a crazy cat lady, but maybe I was only crazy for Ginger? She was my best friend and the love of my life. I feel cat-less and empty. Sure there's Vicktor, but he's just as indifferent to me as he was to her.

I'm coping the only way I know how, writing about her, making a shrine to her in my house (which I'll share when it's done), and reading. This week I read Signs From Pets in the Afterlife by Lyn Ragan. I'm by no means hippy drippy, but I do believe there's more out there than just our physical form. I'm not religious, but I try to be spiritual.  

The weirdest thing happened a couple weeks ago. It's was a Saturday morning and Andrew ~ the hubs ~ and I were driving in to work at my shop Cats Like Us . We left the house and the lights on my car were flashing in the driveway, like I had left the hazards on over night. When I sat in my car, I saw the button wasn't pushed in to turn them on, but I couldn't turn them off for a few minutes. I checked my blinker lights and they worked fine, but the flashers were not turning off and I never left them on. Then they just turned off by themselves. I know my car is old (2009 PT Cruiser), but that was an oddball occurrence. Let me interject here that flickering lights have followed me my whole life. From street lamps flickering, lamps, overhead lights, sometimes new bulbs just burning out, etc. I honestly think it was Ginger trying to communicate with me. Of course, it's easier to believe if you want to believe it.

Since the weather has turned nice, I've been taking walks and seeing white feathers on the ground. I think it's Ginger too. She was light as a feather and her favorite toy was a feather wand, and I'm going to take it as a sign. This book says white feathers are trying to show you that your angel is with you. She will always be with me.  

This book is basically an index of all the things you might come across that could be afterlife signs, from dreams, seeing certain animals, or consecutive numbers etc. There are stories from real people along with translations of the signs and messages. The signs are pretty much the same for people that have passed too. So I guess the generic answer is to just be aware, take everything as a sign, and thank the spirit for showing you. (Note that this book doesn't cover electronics or flashing lights.)

I want to also thank everyone that has donated to the SPCA Serving Erie County on behalf of Ginger. It means a lot to me and I'm sure the animals in need too.

I haven't been ordering too many things for myself lately, but when the BlackCraft  Hellcat Box was announced I had to have it! I ordered a mystery box from them back in 2018, and loved it, so I thought what the hell?...cat. (he he)

I knew it would contain 2 Ts, 1 sweatshirt, a sticker pack, and mystery item. Here they are in all their hellish glory...

(Andrew claimed the one above. That's what happens when you and your husband are the same size. That cat bears a striking resemblance to my Vicktor.)

The stickers match the prints!

This was the "mystery item".

Overall I really liked the box again. I'll be placing another order soon. I should also mention their customer service is outstanding. I feel good supporting fellow business owners that love what they do. If you're on the fence about ordering from them don't be. Great company!

I'm staying away from cat topics for a little bit because the passing of my Ginger kitty is still raw. So here I am reviewing one of the cult classics that's been swirling aound on my list of movies to watch... The Brood from David Cronenberg. (I reviewed the original Rabid a few years ago.)

I'll preface this by saying I'm not a fan of kids in horror movies...also I'm not a fan of kids. Although, I feel like if the parents are cool, the kids are usually cool too. I don't think I can relate to kids for a lot of reasons. I never wanted kids, I was an only child growing up, and I came from a broken home where I was raised by my mom and grandma. The idea of having kids just seems like a burden that I would never want. I know I have a lot of psychological damage from my upbringing, so watching a horror movie about kids doesn't appeal to me at all. Off the top of my head... The Babadook, meh. Constant screaming kid. The Omen, meh. Super boring. Children of the Corn...ok a little better than meh. You get the idea. The Brood appealed to me after I read an article that Cronenberg wrote the movie about his personal life and going through a divorce and custody battle with his daughter. Now this I can relate too.

Cronenberg's early movies have a look about them, and The Brood can be grouped in the same category as Rabid. They are filmed in dreary overcast Canada, they often feel like you are watching them from the middle of an ongoing story, experimental medical facilities looming, and they combine psychological issues with bodily horror. 

***Spoiler Alert***

The Brood is about a couple ~ Frank and Nola (who has amazing fluffy disco hair) and their daughter Candy. Nola is sequestered at the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmatics treatment facility for controversial treatment of her psychological dysfunction. Frank picks up Candy from her weekend visits with her mother and he sees bruises and scratches on her back. Frank then confronts Nola's doctor. He hopes to get full custody of his daughter if he can prove Nola is abusing her.

Frank getting tough. 

Side note: He reminds me of Misha Collins that plays Castiel on Supernatural. See below.

Frank leaves Candy with her grandmother, Nola's mother, and we find out that Nola was abused by her mother. Her mother is then attacked by a child monster and beaten to death in her own kitchen. Candy finds her dead on the floor and even sees the monster. (We the audience really only see it at a glance at this point, so it's pretty creepy.) 

Here's your glance.

Nola's father comes back to town for his ex-wife's funeral and is bludgeoned to death by the little child monster too. Frank chases the monster through the house and kills it. The monster is described as having no retinas, no speech, no teeth, no sex organs, a stored "yolk sac" type lump, and no navel which means it's not born the traditional way. 

Meanwhile Frank is trying to build evidence against the doctor for custody of his daughter and befriends one of his ex-patients. The patient blames the doctor for his festering lymphosarcoma growth, that is briefly shown in all of it's off-putting putrid glory. 

We find out that Nola is the "queen bee" after 27 other patients are removed from treatment facility except for her. Foreshadowing....

Poor Candy is still trying to have a normal childhood going to school, but wait there's more of those child monsters! Two of them kill her teacher after Nola suspects she has a relationship with Frank, (not because the teacher has a mom Brady mullet. The hair in this movie is pretty great.) She's killed in front of all of Candy's classmates, and then the two minions abduct Candy. So now we know that it's Nola controlling these little monsters.

This teacher knows Frank's life is complicated. Check out that look.

Frank finds out that Candy is being held with "the disturbed kids in the work shed that your wife is taking care of. " Huh?! We find out that Nola is the monsters real mother and they are the product of her rage. She manifests them as growths on her body that become large enough sacs to hold what looks like a small baby, we see her then open the bloody sac with her teeth and lick it clean. Nola states to Frank she'd rather "kill Candy before I let you take her away from me". 

The ultimate in body horror. Nola uses her body to make her own monsters. (Check out her hair. I wonder if she uses hot rollers to keep it so bouncy?)

But in the end Candy is saved by her father after he kills her mother, and we see a couple lumps on Candy's arm... possibly her manifestation of psychological trauma as a silent witness this whole time?

It's really a movie about a father's fight for his daughter and the trickle down damage a dysfunctional family life can have. I wish I was fought over. Instead my real dad turned full custody over to my mother and I never saw him again. I was 5, around the age of Candy in the movie. I liked this movie because I could relate. I feel that often you bring your own experiences to watching a movie. I give it 4 and a half stomach sac growths out of 5. Candy is def going to need therapy after everything she's seen.

Poor Candy. I was traumatized for her.

The trailer in all it's late 1970s glory...

 

I'm ever so slowly working through the stack of books at my bedside. I was attracted to Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero because it was a best seller, all the reviews mentioned Scooby Doo and funny horror, and just look at that cover! (I thought, "Ok, that's my jam!")  But after reading it, I'd say it's more like the second part of It by Stephen King, with damaged adults coming back to their childhood haunt to find answers to a supernatural event.

It was well written but spent a little too much time describing fight scenes and I'm not sure why people found it funny? I might be a little dense, but I like goofy funny, think "dad joke" type stuff and dry humor. This was neither. It wasn't the engaging kind of book you had to stay up to read, but it was entertaining to find out what exactly they were fighting, (Psst it's a Lovecraft-type old god mixed with some black magic). It read more like watching a movie to the point of the writer describing the characters cues. 

I did enjoy that there was a dog main character. Don't worry nothing happens to the dog and you find out he's actually much cooler than he appears to be. There's some plot twists that make it enjoyable, but overall I'd say it's just ok. Not a must read, but a great book to fill time that you can pick up and put down easily without missing a beat...down (fight scene reference intended).