So…what is the Monday Poll?
Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).
1. Flared pants or a flower crown?
Give me the flares any day! Flower crowns make my forehead itch.
2. One of your favorite paintings?
Van Gogh’s starry night. I love the movement in the night sky and all the shades of blue.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no?
This used to be an all caps YES for me, but lately it’s a hard pass because of migraines. I know that certain scents trigger headaches, so I keep it unscented – for now, at least.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now?
Hmm, let me think. Something that’s challenged me lately has been figuring out all the different personalities I come into contact with at work. Can I just say, some people are really quite rude in their email exchanges? I don’t think everyone understands you get so many more bees with honey.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week?
Prep for Connor’s birthday on Saturday and her birthday party on Sunday! Figure out whether or not the ottoman I bought yesterday on a whim at Marshall’s is too small and if I need to eventually get a bigger one (all signs point to yes). Eat some salads, as my body needs veggies.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown?
2. One of your favorite paintings?
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no?
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now?
5. Some things on your to-do list this week?
1. Flared pants or a flower crown?
Flared pants.
2. One of your favorite paintings?
The Scream by Edvard Munch.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no?
Most of the time unscented – I have to be in the mood to wear a scented one!
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now?
I feel you about different personalities, Karen! It can be difficult when co-workers are having a bad day and basically take it out on you. I always try to remain positive no matter what is going on personally!
5. Some things on your to-do list this week?
Meal prep on Wednesday night – I made a few meals last night for the next couple of days so I’m working on meal prepping a couple of nights a week to avoid the dreaded “What are we having for dinner?” conundrum.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? Flared pants.
2. One of your favorite paintings? “Master Bedroom,” 1965 watercolor by Andrew Wyeth. I have a print in my bedroom.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? Only a few as I have eczema and fragrance can irritate, currently wearing Sweet Orange Goat Milk Lotion by Bend Soap Company (goat milk lotion seriously helps my eczema)
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? I have a new administrative assistant due to a division reorganization- she’s awesome but she’s nervous as she’s new to working for me and I’m trying to make the transition from another boss easy for her.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? Homemade refrigerator pickles and some veggie soup for the freezer (I just reheat it, and add a little Miso and green onion).
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? Preferably neither, but flares if I had to choose. And not those Cher-flares that are super tight to the knee.
2. One of your favorite paintings? The first one I’m thinking of is La fenêtre ouverte à Collioure by Matisse.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? Nope. Most scented products give me a headache or cause wheezing. And 99.999% of scented products have way too much scent. It’s trial-and-error with anything that’s not “no fragrance added”. I can still tolerate Jergens Ultra Healing, so that’s what I use.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? Some people at work just want to bitch and browbeat people about things that happened in the past. Luckily they are putting forth a small amount of effort of improving things for the future, because if they weren’t I’d be even more aggravated.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? Taking my car in for an oil change (not at the dealership) then scheduling a recall repair at the dealership. Need to get back on the meal planning wagon.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? Flared pants.
2. One of your favorite paintings? Anything by Thomas Kinkade
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? Yes, but I make my own, so I can choose whatever scent I want.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? I’m in a soap challenge group and this current challenge is daunting. A landscape soap with a border.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? Meal prep.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? flared pants .
2. One of your favorite paintings? Andy Warhol soup painting
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? yes.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? school
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? clean, cook , study
1. Flared pants or a flower crown?
Neither, truthfully, but a flower crown, if forced to choose.
2. One of your favorite paintings?
Monet’s Woman with a Parasol.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no?
Yes, but only certain scents. A lot of them set off my allergies or asthma.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now?
Having to let my grown-up niece make what I know are big mistakes in her life. (And I know they’re mistakes, because I made some of the same ones at her age.)
5. Some things on your to-do list this week?
Clean. Clean all the things.😄 And get our taxes done.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown?
Flower crown. (Fake flowers because I don’t want no bugs in my wig.)
2. One of your favorite paintings?
Mark Rothko untitled 1968 which is a mix of warm browns, yellows and oranges. Many of his paintings were “untitled”.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no?
Usually no because scented lotion irritates my skin. And I don’t like scent from lotion mixing up my perfume scent.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now?
ADHD meds for both me and my son.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week?
Clean out a beauty drawer, organize through papers, get a birthday present for a kid’s party.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? Oh, dear! I was a young college student during the sixties—peace, love, flower power. I wore flared pants, flowing dresses, and even flower crowns.
2. One of your favorite paintings? Flower Girl by Alexei Harlamoff. I have a beautifully framed art print on canvas that has been with me for over fifty years.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? I wear unscented day in; day out, but a lovely scented body cream or lotion is a real treat.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? My husband had surgery this morning and he’s the worst patient in the world.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? Making sure my husband is well taken care of.
My husband is a terrible patient too . He had out patient surgery last month with general anesthesia and insisted he could drive himself home. (I drove) The nurse looked at me & said ‘he’s going to be fun’.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? Flared pants.
2. One of your favorite paintings? “Whistlejacket”by George Stubbs, 1762. This is a huge painting, probably life-size, of a Thoroughbred racehorse. Stubbs was to horse painting as Leonardo was to human painting. He even dissected horses like Leonardo dissected people, in order to better understand horse anatomy. I have seen this painting in person, when they brought a Stubbs collection to the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth many years ago. It is an incredibly impressive painting. The caretakers of this collection are to be commended, as these paintings are in incredible shape – almost no cracking in these 200+ year old paintings.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? On rare occasions, yes. My skin is a bit sensitive, and I’d rather stay away from these.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? Settling my mother’s estate.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? See no. 4. Also, watching a movie I got from the library as I have to return it next weekend.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown?
A flower crown. I don’t trust myself not to trip over flares. Been there, done that.
2. One of your favorite paintings?
Right now? The Scream by Edvard Munch.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no?
Yes please!
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now?
The home hospice nurse told us that my mom has about two weeks left to live, so I need to decide how much of this information I will disseminate, and to whom.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week?
I have a first appointment with a gastroenterologist to address my GERD. I’d like to cancel in light of what’s going on at home, but we’ve been playing appointment tag for about a month now.
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? Flared pants…but not too flared
2. One of your favorite paintings? Anything my kids make😊
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? No
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? Life, Parenting, Work…
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? Go to Sephora or Ulta to swatch the Nars concealer…I am really struggling choosing one
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? I’d have to do the crown 👑 because you’ll never catch me in a flared pant
2. One of your favorite paintings? Hmmm..🤔 ve always been a Monet & Van Gogh fan. Van Gogh’s Sunflowers probably I have a portrait of my grandfather that his brother painted. I got it after my mom passed because grandpa wanted me to have it so I could light candles under it for him (a shrine basically 😆)
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? Not lately
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? Juggling the last bits of our year long home renovation
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? Finish painting the living room
1. Flared pants or a flower crown? Flower crown
2. One of your favorite paintings? Gaston La Touche. Pardon in Brittany, 1896 or Harald Sohlberg, Fisherman’s Cottage, 1906. Both at The Art Institute of Chicago. But really there are so many more, it’s just I happened to have revisited these two this past weekend.
3. Scented body lotion – yes or no? No. I have too many perfumes to worry about matching body lotion to perfume.
4. Something tricky you’re navigating right now? Figuring out how to support Dear Daughter as she navigates acceptances and rejections from PhD programs.
5. Some things on your to-do list this week? The usual. Menu planning. Catching up on laundry since returning from trip.