Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Monthly Archives: March 2026

• To Go Quietly

  Posted at 7:30 pm by kayewer, on March 28, 2026

  Some weeks it is more difficult to find happiness in the news than others. This past week my heart broke for a woman named Noelia Castillo Ramos, a young woman of 25 from Spain. It’s alleged she was brutalized, possibly on two or three occasions. After the last degrading incident in October 2022, in desperation she jumped from a building to bring an end to her psychological torment, only to survive with partial paralysis and chronic pain.

  A policy in the country known as the Organic Law Regulating Euthanasia is available to put an end to interminable suffering, and Noelia applied in 2024 for the right to decide her own fate. Her petition was challenged by her father and a group of Christian lawyers who argued that she did not have the mental clarity to make such a decision. Three courts overruled the father’s protests. In one of her last interviews, Noelia said the decision was personal, and she did not want to appear as a torch bearer for euthanasia as a solution for anybody else but herself under her circumstances.

  On Thursday, March 26, Noelia voluntarily received an infusion of intravenous drugs designed to bring about a painless end. Her mother and a close friend were denied entry to be with her. She chose to leave life by herself.

  Of the more than 1100 people in Spain who chose euthanasia, only two were younger than her by 2-3 years.

  It’s not just the tragedy of somebody departing this world so young and aware of what tortures this life can bring, but the fact that none of the alleged assailants were ever brought to trial. There also remain questions about quality of life when the mind is clouded by images of inhuman indulgences and the body bombarded by jolts of pain from within (or worse, rendered lifeless by the disconnect of nerves and muscle response).

  Why is it we are so used to hearing about man’s inhumanity to man, yet we balk at some people’s attempts to humanely bring an end to themselves? Who are we to determine that one or the other is more abominable? Noelia’s suffering is over, and several men who hastened her end are walking free for all we know, when they are the true criminals.

  We cannot find more happy news if we ignore and do nothing about the bad news.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged euthanasia, life

• Always Rolling

  Posted at 3:19 pm by kayewer, on March 21, 2026

  I have spoken about toilet tissue before, because it’s something that we Americans understand collectively as a unifying subject that we all need and use. Along with bread, milk and eggs, the past two months were big sales periods for booty wipes. The only exception to that unity being the ongoing debate of whether your roll should be installed under or over (for the sake of argument, the patent for TP showed the roll going over).

  That argument has been reinforced recently by none other than Charmin, the pop culture TP of choice in millions of households. 1.22 billion dollars in revenue annually are pocketed by Proctor & Gamble for both the Ultra Soft and Ultra Strong varieties. The “Mega Roll” concept of paper products which don’t run out quickly was also a part of the Charmin experience, with bold callouts on the packages saying this roll is the equivalent of so many of the regular variety.

  Well, now the folks at P&G have outdone themselves with what they call the “Forever Roll.”

  Sure, you say, nothing lasts forever. This behemoth of a roll of Charmin may come rather close. It consists of a foot in diameter roll of 1700 sheets (32 times the number of an average TP roll), and a starter kit comes with a pair plus a weighted free-standing dispenser base and pole with spool for around $30. The average two-person household, it is said, would take one month to go through one entire roll.

  I saw boxes of the starter kit at the market. It reminded me of the discount club’s multi-pack, which I only need to buy periodically. The box the kit comes in is large and as unwieldy as the plastic-wrapped big pack, but you only need to endure purchasing it once. If, like me, you have a small bathroom with no floor space for the equivalent of a tricycle tire suspended from a large pin, you can go on the Charmin website and find a screw-in wall mount or an adhesive version. I can’t imagine even 3M can come up with an adhesive that would hold the 2-pound spool, and apparently there is an extra-large(r) roll available as well. Just like the Mega Roll with the optional adaptor for wall mounting, there is something for everybody.

  The roll is mounted flush, so the end always goes over. This may disturb roll under purists, who may then switch to whether the roll goes clockwise or counterclockwise.

  The burning question is, how will this huge institutional-sized household product fare among the masses? Will it bring relief to those with a compromised digestive system and the need for frequent rest stops? What will cats make of it? Will Mischief Night in October become too big a problem? Will mummies be grateful?

  Inquiring minds may not care, but I submit the facts for you to enjoy or discard as you see fit.

  It’s a wrap.

  Or a wipe.

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• A Good Rabbit Hole

  Posted at 3:35 pm by kayewer, on March 14, 2026

  Social media makes it easy to get distracted. The volume of posts being sent around our global online sources is beyond counting. We see people daily who sit (or even walk) while scrolling endlessly. Many of the stories are emotionally charged, but if you’ve seen one true crime video, you’ve seen the next week’s worth.

  What I found while checking my video feed one day, however, blew my mind.

  I saw a header about deodorants which warned that the video contained a list of deadly underarm products. In the past few years, I had been using what I figured was a safe product, because it was aluminum-free, so I was curious to see if it was on the list of products which were tested and proven. I took a few minutes of my time to watch.

  My brand was on the naughty list. On the recommendation of the video, I switched brands and am happier with what I’m using now. It doesn’t slide onto my skin with slippery agents, but it also applies easily and lasts longer and better than before. It’s also composed of safer ingredients than the brand I had thought had a history of safety. Instead, my new/old school choice was reformulated to increase the possibility of cancer. Who knew?

  It seems many of our products have become victimized by corporate cost-cutting, in a manner similar to how our healthcare needs are now settled in a boardroom instead of at a dying person’s bedside. The FDA apparently doesn’t regulate in the manner we would expect, so many products banned elsewhere in the world are liberally used in things we buy, and with little study or oversight. Often the result is neither, but those in charge simply look the other way.

  We are a country of misguided consumers, and folks in suits and ludicrously expensive homes and vehicles are printing up the signage.

  What becomes a piece of merchandise for health purposes may have been created in a laboratory rather than a kitchen. That oat-based moisturizer you slather on your skin, thinking it’s a healthy product, is actually a small (as in single) percent oats and the rest chemical compounds and scents to mask their odor. Imagine putting a derivative of crude oil on your skin to add moisture. It doesn’t do the job and, in fact, the product blocks your pores and does nothing to nourish skin. Some of the additives, the video revealed, are too large to be absorbed into pores, so your skin remains dry and needs more product. Which pays the manufacturers more money.

  Since that day of revelation, I’ve watched a few more videos. The narrative can be uneven, and the soundtrack repetitive, but the information appears to be well-researched and is based on actual studies. It also mentions past court cases in which the companies responsible needed to pay huge settlements for deceptive practices. A big one is Johnson & Johnson’s talc lawsuit for the use of asbestos in their talcum powder. Their baby products also contain chemical derivatives. The companies destroy our trust while still making money from labels they are apparently under no obligation to alter. When you look at the labels of the products you use, what do they tell you? Look on the back instead. Read the ingredient list.

  Videos of this nature–the creator of this series, which I feel safe to recommend, is called Dishclosure and appears on YouTube–show up right next to the Karen in the wild stories and cute cat clips, and seek to bring some reality to an otherwise sugar-coated fantasyland of society’s foibles being beamed on a small screen into our subconscious.

  If we learn how we are being taken advantage of by big-name companies, we might be able to save our skins. Literally.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged beauty, dishclosure, skin, skin-care, skincare, skincare-routine

• Totaling the Damages

  Posted at 3:10 pm by kayewer, on March 7, 2026

  This week saw the end (we hope) of the severe winter weather. By the time Friday arrived in its own sweet time, the entire block had melted except for random piles which were solidified and needed extra time to surrender to the high temperatures.

  My front lawn was the site of two of those piles.

  I have been a suburban neighborhood resident nearly my entire life, and one of the unwritten rules of the realm is that anything standing out on your property is suspicious. This means that the last vestiges of snow on my lawn served as a reminder that we just had winter, and it drew unnecessary attention to my home. This could not be tolerated, but what to do about the problem?

  My best guess was to offer a gentle coaxing of the snow piles so they would go quietly into that puddle of water and leave my entire lawn green as before the first flakes covered it in late January.

  The first attempt involved breaking up the piles with my snow removal tools, spreading the white topography around and thinning it out to expose more surfaces to the climbing temperatures. The effect was good, but gradual.

  I had been gifted an electric kettle which I have been using to prepare my morning cup of tea, and I realized it was the perfect way to concoct a faster answer to my snow woes. I filled that vessel to the maximum, then took the kettle of boiling water out to the snow pile and poured it strategically through the peaks and drifts. The satisfaction of watching the snow melt away was liberating. I went back again later to do the same.

  Somebody who might have been watching probably thought I had lost my marbles. I didn’t care. Better to be without marbles and snow-free like everybody else.

  Today there is a slight winding trace of snow left on the lawn, and it’s obvious that it won’t go without a fight. Fortunately the temperatures are high enough that it will disappear entirely in hours, bringing the storms of this winter to a conclusion. Whether it will be twelve hours or 48, I can’t be sure, but I won’t miss it.

  The melting snow also brought a surprise. Nestled among the landscaping, I found what appeared to be a piece of paper blown in by the heavy winds of the blizzard, but it turned out to be a small envelope containing a bracelet I had ordered and considered lost in transit a few weeks ago. The seller had never provided a tracking number or status update, so I had started to give up hope of receiving it. The item wasn’t valuable at all, but had it still not come within the week, I would have looked into replacement. The contents were dry and intact in spite of the foot and a half of white stuff which had apparently buried it for what I guess is two weeks or more.

  Other than a holly tree limb which broke under the weight of the snow, things are back to normal. My trash cans are accessible again, the impossible pile of driveway snow that affected my putting out the trash also melted away (and faster than the patch on the lawn). The birds are being fed from the feeders instead of on the icy ground, and the first jonquils of the season are even starting to pop up in the garden. A trace of spring has come to the land, and it’s a reason to breathe a sigh of relief as March vanquishes the winter blues of January and February.

  The best things are often worth waiting for, but I think we all agree that two months was two too many. Let’s hope 2027 will be milder and more tolerable.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged nature, snow, weather, winter

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  	Eden on A Good Rabbit Hole
  	Eden on Free Secretary
  	Eden on Getting the Message
  	Eden on The Unasked Questions
  	Eden on And Her Shoes Were #9