Soap in My Mouth - Blog of Sheree Hill, Dirty Stories from the Dirty South

Belen Echandia

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:04:00 +0000

I am in love with Belen Echandia's bags. They're a boutique out of the UK, Jackie, the owner/designer has an interesting story. She was a lawyer with a knack for networking and entrepreneurship, and ventured out on her own creating luxury bags. It's inspired me to come up with a few designs of my own.

How to Convert Any Toilet to a Low Flush Toilet

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:55:00 +0000

A lot of discussion has been going on in my neighborhood about ways to conserve water. One of the easiest and most cost effective ways I found was to convert your toilet to a low flush toilet using a milk carton.

One of my neighbors passed along this information about creating rain capture cisterns:

Current watering restrictions are likely to get much worse, as the gravity of the situation reveals itself, possibly by next summer or earlier, beginning with pressure fluctuations or restricted hours of use. Of course if it rains heavily next Spring in the very small area needed to recharge the lake, things might return more or less to normal, at least for a while.

But since Lanier is the smallest lake in the United States with the smallest recharge area serving a major metropolitan area, and climatological predictions are indicating a continuing drought, it would nonetheless be prudent to start thinking not only about water conservation, but limited independence from the system.

Serious preparation efforts would probably include the installation of a plastic ribbed cistern made of potable( drinking water standard) grade plastic that can be installed in a rear corner of your house near a downspout and catch and store rainfall, which could be used to water at least the Oaks and Dogwoods that are at such risk during a drought.

Practical sized systems might be a 1700 gallon tank, measuring 5 feet wide, 5 feet tall and 12-14 feet long. Those same cisterns could also be filled by hauled water trucks and used for irrigation using a small pump to which you attach a garden hose.

In a serious water emergency where pressure or service is limited or interrupted, those buried or above ground tanks could be used to pump filtered, purified water up the back wall of your house,following the gutters downspout upward, entering into the attic, and dropping down to upper floor bathroom(s), and could be used for showering and flushing the toilet.

Snapped

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:30:00 +0000

Some pics for my photography class. Melissa on Halloween.

Ami Chan and the Yetti overtaking the office.

On the luck of seven

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:49:00 +0000

I came across the blog The Luck of Seven. Noel a hidalgo is traveling the world, sustaining himself completely through his social networks. He uses a site called couchsurfers, a network that connects travelers with people in the community they visit.

Taking your life into your own hands for the fun of it

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:26:00 +0000

I used to ride a mountain bike. Let me explain something about mountain bikes, they're fun, they're easy on the ass but they are for biznitches. Now I am not talking about those crazy fuks that take their bikes actually ON mountains, clipped in, falling on their face eating mud the whole way down a 40 degree incline of pure pain, I'm talking about the lame-O's like my former self that would ride them around town on bike paths and sidewalks. I'm not knocking you if you have one, just put your little dog in a basket on the front of your bike and honk your self a good old time. You are what H2B lovingly refers to as "flatbars".

Now I have a road bike. It's a whole new world people, both good and ugly. Let me tell you something about riding a road bike in Atlanta. First of all, Atlantans are terrible drivers to begin with. If any of you have experience driving here you know what I'm talking about. People do not pay attention. They're too busy texting their friends, eating, smoking, talking, putting on makeup, yammering on the phone, yelling at their kids, doing bumps or as my father told me yesterday that he was doing on his way home, playing poker on his dashboard mounted laptop. All this instead of actually, well, driving. This is terrifying for someone that is sharing the road with these multi ton vehicles on a 10 lb piece of carbon strapped to 2 rapidly moving wheels and only a stupid piece of padded plastic to protect their noodle.

The scariest place that I ride is Dekalb avenue, it's the best way to get back from Decatur to Inman park. But, unfortunately its a three lane road with one lane that changes to incoming and outgoing traffic depending what side of the road you're on and what time of day it is. Of course, on Saturday mornings, there is only one lane going in my direction. Last Saturday I was nearly clipped by a Scion, Toyota and Minivan.

But you go fast. Really fast.

I must give it up to the fixed gear no brake folks, although I do think they're a little insane. One of the coolest ones I saw was a dude that had two tattoos on his legs, it said fixed on the back left of his calf and gear on the right back of his other.

I do admit feeling like a dork in my padded pants, but dammit those seat Feking HURT!!!!! I decided to create H2B a custom jersey to give a little bit of cred to his gear. The logo above I created to stencil on a jersey I got. I found a really cool way of silkscreening without having to use emulsion. It's called EZScreenPrint. You can check out their products here.

think of a happy place

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:01:00 +0000

Because those last two posts were way too fucking serious, I give you an example of great use of company time.

Pharmaceuticals in Our Water Supply Are Causing Bizarre Mutations to Wildlife

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:04:00 +0000

A coworker of mine was sharing with me a story of her associate who just got back from China, where she was studying the effects of pollution on China's water supply. Her findings peaked my interest and I did some research myself and came across this article.

It seems that the levels of pharmaceuticals in the water supply are causing mutations in fish, frogs and birds in our rivers and streams. I had no idea that when you take birth control, most of the hormones are flushed through the body and redistributed into the water supply, and that those hormones can cause male fish to become inter sexual.

"Meanwhile, federal officials continue to study the human health effects of the pharmaceutical compounds found in water known as endocrine disruptors, including possible links to neurological problems in children and increased incidence of some cancers. Federal officials are investigating a wide range of fish health problems in Cheasapeake Bay and its watershed. Several studies of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers have revealed inter-sex fish, a wide range of "abnormalities in which both male and female characteristics are present within the same fish.

The abnormalities include nine male smallmouth bass from the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, Maryland (about 60 miles upstream from Washington) that developed female eggs inside their sex organs. Inter-sex bass were also found in a study three years earlier, after fish kills about 170 miles upstream in the South Branch of the Potomac in Hardy County, West Virginia."

I know we all have to take certain medications to live, but this made me consider finding other holistic or organic remedies whenever possible.

Chip implants linked to cancer in Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:06:00 +0000

A friend of mine's pooches were both diagnosed with cancer recently. The tumors were in the areas where they had chip implants. Both had their legs amputated and one passed last weekend. This alarmed me as one of my dogs has a microchip from Banfield The Pet Hospital. I did some poking around and came across this article in the AP today about chip implants causing cancer in lab mice.

"Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous "sarcomas" — malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.

_ A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent — a result the researchers described as "surprising."

_ A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors' cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, "These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence" of cancer.

_ In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors "are clearly due to the implanted microchips," the authors wrote.

Caveats accompanied the findings. "Blind leaps from the detection of tumors to the prediction of human health risk should be avoided," one study cautioned. Also, because none of the studies had a control group of animals that did not get chips, the normal rate of tumors cannot be determined and compared to the rate with chips implanted."

As a concerned pet owner I called Banfield requesting to have the chip removed. The receptionist informed me that they would not remove the chip, as there have been no studies that prove the implants cause cancer in dogs. I was outraged that this research is out there and Banfield is refusing to remove these devices.

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:34:00 +0000

I'm not dead

HTB (Husband to be) and I just got back from Italy. Here's a shot of the haunted villa where we spent a week of stormy nights gorging ourselves on pasta and panini. I can not believe how much food the Italians eat.

More italy pics here

Blog redesign and content soon to come....

Pain in my head

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:49:00 +0000

Pain in my head. Friends insisted on rounds of mancala and hours of shit talking while the red wine flowed...painful awakening in twisted sheets that smelled of ciggys and tousled perfumes. I've been listening to the cure for pain album all morning.

Where is the ritual
And tell me where where is the taste
Where is the sacrifice
And tell me where where is the faith
Someday there'll be a cure for pain
That's the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain
Where is the cave
Where the wise woman went
And tell me where
Where's all that money that I spent
I propose a toast to my self control
You see it crawling helpless on the floor
Someday there'll be a cure for pain
That's the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain
When they find a cure find a cure for pain

eyehatechristmas

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:49:00 +0000

I got an email today from S. He has a home in Virginia Highlands, an area of Atlanta saturated in the urban domestic 30-something’s mommies and daddies that run their jamboree clad tykes in $800 strollers past remodeled homes once falling to pieces, now shining in all their million dollar glory thanks to all the artists and gays that make this great gentrification nation possible. My friend, who shares my distaste of Christmas refused to put up Christmas lights and decorate his front yard with snowmen and blown up Santa clause statues. To add insult to injury, he left his pumpkin from Halloween on the front porch to thumb his nose at the entire affair. He woke up this morning to find that someone had hung a Christmas stocking on his front door and little ornaments all around his front porch. They even attempted at making a snowman face on the defiant pumpkin. Holiday vandals, what's next? Forced sex on valentines day? Hmmm..

So in honor of christmas vandals and scroodges alike,
here's to you

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 15:09:00 +0000

The Coolest 8 Year Old In The World Talks About O'Reilly

Loved this spot.

playing with food

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:54:00 +0000

Ami sent me these pics that are so cute they make my face hurt. Crazy Japanese!

lachapelle

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:38:00 +0000

I love the way Lachapelle uses saturated colors and his set and costume design. His music videos are highly entertaining.

threadless

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:33:00 +0000

So my t-shirt design was posted on threadless, vote or flame me.

branded

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 18:09:00 +0000

I submitted this t-shirt design to threadless. It was a sticker idea that I came up with awhile ago, but forgot about on my computer. We'll see if it will fly with the LV logo on the gun.

roaster

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:14:00 +0000

Everybody can do a few things well. For some it’s throwing a ball, others it’s cursing someone out. I can do chicken. All different ways, baked, fried, noodle soup, but a favorite is the roaster. It's amazing; you've never had a sweeter, tenderer, juicer piece of fowl in your entire life.

Well last night I made one, but instead of getting the usual 3 pound bird, I went for a 6 pounder. Due to its massive size, it took 2 hours to cook instead of the 1, and because I had to cook it at 550, let’s just say it was a tad warm. I had to turn the heater off because it was starting to feel like a Turkish bathhouse.

So 2 hours and 2 bottles of wine later I went to pull the chicken out of the oven and the heat from molten pan that it was in passed through my oven mitt and burned the shit out of my hands. I dropped the bird, the pan and all of that sweet juice, fat and oil into the oven, which instantaneously shot forth a massive fireball. I stood there completely frozen, entranced by the demon mouth licking flames from its door mouth, sizzling black heifer chicken half hanging out, looking like it’s trying to escape a burning building. I was having multiple thoughts at one time but could not act on one them. "Should I get the fire extinguisher?" "wow that looks insane" "where are the dogs?".

Luckily my roommate had seen the reflection of the blast and had the wits about him to turn the oven OFF. G pulled the bird out with metal prongs and threw its charred carcass on the table. I just stood there, hands burning, dilated pupils from my eye exam that day tearing up from the black smoke that filled my house, fire alarm going off piercing my ears. I started laughing hysterically, maniacally. What a show! And damned if that chicken still delicious.

mondays

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:19:00 +0000

I hate Monday depression.

indecent proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 01:27:00 +0000

My intention last night was to be a good girl and stay inside with a friend, fire and bottle of pinot to watch Valley of the Dolls, which I must say is an absolutely fantastic movie. But, as usual the evil banshee that I try keep at bay named Consuela started rattling her cage and forced me to go to my spot ESL for few.

There is this corner of the club that has benches, it happens to be in clear view of the line to the bathroom, so there is always something entertaining to watch or someone to talk to while they do the pee pee dance. So I'm sitting there with G and a random stranger walks up to us, the conversation went something like this:

Stranger: "When's the wedding?"
Me: "Excuse me?"
Stranger: "Aren't you guys getting married?"
Me & Date: (in unison) "No no no" (laughing)
Stranger: "Oh yes you will, you’ll be married" (walks off)
Me: (turning to date) "what in the hell was that?"
Date: "I have no idea"

In our intoxication we laughed about how ridiculous this man's comments were and proceeded to joke that we should just hop a plane to Vegas and get hitched as the man must have been clairvoyant and it was some sort of sign. What would possess someone to say such a thing I have no idea, but it was entertaining to be told my future by some drunk strange man in a dark bar.

harassment

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 16:00:00 +0000

So I was talking to a friend last night about an bad experience he had with sexual harassment in the workplace. It made me think about something I experienced that was devastating at the time, but ended up being the best thing that could have happened to me. I worked for 6 years for a large business doing uninspiring corporate graphics and torturous powerpoint presentations. My manager at the time was mid-level grunt whose shortcomings in life led him to get his rocks off by taking credit for my work and make me feel as small as possible.

I tried as hard as I could to be a good worker, stayed late, did extra projects, bent over backwards to make him and everyone else happy. It got me no where. One day I was at home checking my messages and saw that I had missed this pocket dial call from my boss:

Background noise – loud bar, drinks

Man: “You know Sheree, she’s got a nice rack”
(muffled sound)
Man: "...bimbo"
(muffled sound)
Man “Ya she’s just a stupid bitch”
(more muffled sound)

(click)

My heart dropped into my stomach, I felt like I had been slapped in the face. This bottom feeder that I had been busting my ass for was in some bar talking shit to one of his lame friends about me. I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to face this asshole again, knowing that all my hard work meant nothing and all he saw me was my bra size. I thought about bringing it to HR, but then the mess that would ensure was something I surely didn't want to deal with. So I took a different approach, I decided to get even.

I ripped the phone call to MP3, took it to work and told someone about it who I knew would tell him. His attitude changed, quite quickly. Suddenly mister nasty turned into mister nice guy. I started looking for another job and landed one at a real ad agency, close to where I lived. The day I was going to resign he nervously followed me into the back office; with a smile on my face I told him that I would be leaving and thanked him for EVERYTHING he gave me to the look on his face was absolutely priceless. It was the best thing that could have happened to me, if it hadn’t I might not have had the resolve to leave that place. So I thank you, for being a complete pig and leaving that message on my phone, it’s helped me get to where I am today.

social suicide

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:45:00 +0000

Men really get the short end of the stick when it comes to fashion, we females have so many options, but for the most part, you walk into any store and the boys are a bit more limited in selection. Social Suicide is a London Based label that uses the their clothing line as a social commentary on allusions to money, power and war. The details are impeccable, concepts clever, clothing beautiful. Social Suicide Web site

Boogie

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:22:00 +0000

Boogie is a brooklyn based photographer that shoots people and street scenes. His work is raw and haunting. http://www.artcoup.com

Ami gave me a link to this today. The name is hysterical.

whitestar and orange juice

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:15:00 +0000

I was wrong.
i got an email from someone that I did wrong so long ago. There were so many things that I had to say. Closure is such a weird thing. It's like you hold so much pain inside of you for these things that you did to other people or to yourself. I'm glad I was able to say these things buried inside of me. I don't know if that's selfish, but I hope it made them understand that it was me that was wrong. I wanted them to understand that I see things differently, time does that to you, age does that to you, the things that seemed so important in youth fade in time. As we grow older we gain different priorities, who knows maybe 10 years from now I might think the things that I think are important are nothing. That's life though right? Perspective changes, it's like we're on a shifting plane, learning to see things from all sides. Like a wooden labyrinth with cosmic knobs. I truly feel remorse for hurting this person or losing out on something that could have been. I seem to hurt people without meaning to. i think that's a maturity challenge, to act for oneself without hurting others, to not be wreckless with people's hearts because you're lonely or lost. It's so hard. Because it's so easy to get what you want when you don't consider others. It's a slippery slope. One I need to go find an ice pick or strong rope for. I truly am so sorry.

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:43:00 +0000

halloween bitches

whipped

noreply@blogger.com (Sheree) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:43:00 +0000

So this weekend some inherent truths that were drilled into my head yet once again.

A. Do not bring expensive fetish gear to Halloween parties
B. Jell-O and Brownies might sound like a tasty Sunday school treat, but add pot and vodka to the mix and you have recipe for destruction.

The latter most likely facilitated the former, however seeing as that last year my good paddle was lost as well, I am observing a trend. Damn perv drunkard thieving hooligans.

More pics from the party

Tagged: [halloween] [whip] [party]