The echo of a million voices needs to be heard.

I haven't blogged in quite some time.  I worked hard to build a network of followers, of friendly faces, of people I care about and who care about me, and I've left without a word.

Life and love have been difficult.  Through my own drama and tragedy, I have been helping to mitigate the dramas and tragedies of a few of the people I love the most, in any way I can.  March has, as is tradition, brought challenges that have tested even the strongest of our reserves.

Today I come to you and I'm begging you - even though it seems as though I've abandoned  you, stand with me.

KB at Wanderlust, a beautiful soul with two amazing children and the fortitude of a giant, needs our help.  Her life has been it's own horror film, full of the horrors that we naturally recoil from.  Child pornography and exploitation, a secret life being lived right next to her, unusual weapons hidden but in plain sight, abuse, threats, and the discovery of chilling "horror porn" being used for sexual purposes by someone she was most intimate with.  These are the things that can choke out a person's light.  They can leave a hollow and empty shell, and that's under the best of circumstances where that person is allowed to leave the scene of the crimes.  KB hasn't been able to.  She stays there, day after day, providing as much stability as she could for her children, the innocents caught in the plot of this twisted screen play that has become her life.

Please go, read her posts, offer your support, retweet, repost, share, text, pull strings, act on ideas... do what you can to help her.  There are hundreds of other women and children that become statistics, but you KNOW about this family, and you have the opportunity to help.  You have the opportunity to lend your voice to hers, to help her be heard, and to help her remain safe.  Maybe in the movement we create, we can establish a protocol, a guideline, a way to keep helping, so that we can pare those numbers down, one by one. The KB spouse and children protection act, or something equally as hopeful sounding.

http://www.wanderlustlust.com - it's not easy reading, but I encourage you to keep going.  Know the extent to which she is trapped.  Let it sink in that it could be you or me.  Help me help her.

Glittersniffer Cosmetics: A lesson in keeping faith in others in the face of a dangerous deception.

I am going to refer you to two different places for details of the story, but the gist is this: Proprietor Lela Warren made bank with the production of truly outstanding eye makeup.  She offered a product that was brighter, sparklier, and more popular than many other cosmetics companies.  She had an outstanding story - a small business staffed by friends and family, a product she loved making and loved selling, and a soft spot for philanthropic pursuits.

She claimed her products were safe.  So safe, in fact, that she marketed a specialized kit just for the little girls we (her customers,) knew who would love their own bit of glitz. 

She ran raffles and sales for charity causes.

Turns out, it was all a lie.  Pigments and dyes not approved for use anywhere on the body, let alone the eyes.  Coloring agents approved for use in soaps and candles only.

The charity money? Presumably used to fund her alleged drug habit and God knows what else.

I'm sorry, faithful followers.  I'm sorry that I recommended her to you.  I'm sorry I used her products on my own child.  I'm sorry, most of all, that people like her - you know, duplicitous and unrepentant, full of lies and a proclivity towards doing things she knows to be wrong without an ounce of guilt - are able to get ahead in the world while good people, honest people, people who have done nothing but try to make the lives of the people they touch in one way or another better, are so often handed the short end of the stick.

Through this all, though, I have learned to look for certain signs, and look for them I have in my efforts to find a new cosmetics maker that I am comfortable with.  The absence of those signs has led me to one I have yet to be disappointed by.  That said, I'm going to keep it under wraps for now.  I have faith, and have become friends with the mix master and owner, but regardless of that... Well, there will be a review soon enough.

Oh, I almost forgot  your clicky links for the details and the updates on the legals and such.

First, visit Krissi's blog: http://krissisandvik.blogspot.com/2010/12/falling-in-and-out-of-love.html

And then check out the clearing house of current info: http://glittersniffercomplaints.blogspot.com/