Five for Friday

And just like that, it’s mid-April! Many apologies for being MIA lately, internet! I miss you! (And I fully intend to catch up on what you’re up to.) This is one of those pell-mell times of the year, where I feel like I’m being propelled down a steep hill and can barely get my feet under me. All (mostly?) good things, but this is the first Fun Writing I’ve done in… three weeks maybe? When I go to open a document in Word, NONE of my recent files are my blog document, is what that means. (Yes, I type all my posts in Word and then transfer [some of] them to WordPress.)

Seems like a good day for a quick catch-up. And then I need to find a solid week or so to go back and read ALL OF YOUR POSTS, omg, I feel so out of the loop. 

1. I am spending today as we all hope our Fridays go: waiting for the HVAC service technician to show up. Why, yes, that was sarcasm, and yes, our furnace IS dead. I’m glad it’s not, like, January, but it is currently 45 degrees F outside and the internal temperature of my house has dropped to 65. Perfect weather for walking on the treadmill while I cross two items on my to-do list off simultaneously! 

Our furnace is 23 years old, if it is a day, so it’s no spring chicken. But we did just have the HVAC people in here this February to give it a checkup, so I’m feeling a little grumpy that it’s acting up now. Back in February, I asked the HVAC guy to give me a prognosis on the lifespan on my furnace, and he said, “Well, I can’t guarantee anything – it could stop working tomorrow! But it seems like it’s in good shape and you could get another ten years out of it.” Not sure why I didn’t hear the foreboding music swell in the background of this little pronouncement.  

2. While I drank my breakfast (which was a smoothie and a mug of green tea, not, like, whiskey), I whacked away at my to-do list a bit more. It’s at that out-of-control point again, where things keep piling up until I am buried under their weight. The section I tackled today was Making Routine Doctors’ Appointments. Well, some of them were routine. Like I got Carla scheduled for her annual well visit and her annual eye exam (which we somehow skipped last year????). I also left a message on my doctor’s prescription line to follow up on a refill that I requested earlier this week. That last one took two calls because I got through three menu trees and clicked on “leave a message for Dr. X” and then had to listen to a recording that said this was the place to leave questions for the nurse, NOT the place to leave refill requests, so I had to go through all the phone menus again. And! Most exciting of all: I scheduled an ear piercing appointment for Carla! This will be her Big Birthday Present this year. She has been ramping up the requests to have her ears pierced over the past six to twelve months, and she has really made strides in Being Responsible (she has a necklace she wears daily that has so far always come home with her; she has a dental appliance she has to care for). Plus, she got a pair of nice-quality clip on earrings from her grandmother last fall, and she wears them regulary. So I think she is ready for pierced ears. I, however, am NOT ready for pierced ears. I have never had pierced ears, or any sort of piercing, and the whole thing a) squicks me out and b) makes me extremely nervous. I am squeamish and blood/body stuff makes me woozy. I am comforted by Carla’s swift and independent handling of her dental appliance; I have never had to touch it or adjust a single rubber band, and her orthodontist says she is doing great, so I am going to trust that between her and my husband, she’ll figure out how to care for HOLES in her BODY. 

Still on the list are many additional phone calls, which I will probably avoid some more. I need to call the landscaper, make an appointment to get my car serviced, call someone to come look at our oven, call the trash collection service about whether they will collect some unusual items (paint cans and gutter guards), hire a lifeguard for Carla’s birthday party, and get some estimates to get the exterior of our house painted. Also on my list: a work project, two rather major projects for my volunteering role, a message for a family member’s Big Birthday Memory Book, finding photos of Carla for a school project, making decisions about and then scheduling a couple of other healthcare-type things, and, most daunting of all: figuring out how to order breakfast for an out-of-town group event at which I will not be present, in a town I have never visited and know nothing about.

3. A phone call I already made this week? Scheduling an appointment with our new pest control service. Even though we live, like, twenty miles away from our old neighborhood, the locations are different enough that they seem to have totally different pest problems. At our old house, we had silverfish; at this house, we have ants, stinkbugs, mice, and bats. “Probably you had rats, too,” the pest control guy said helpfully. But since in twelve years I never once saw a rat, or any sign of such, I refuse to acknowledge this as a possibility.   

While he is from the same pest control company that handled our mouse problem when we first moved into this house, he is not the same person. He tells me he was injured last fall and on leave. But he used to do pest control for the previous owners, which was useful because he knew exactly where to go and what the problem areas were. He also kind of implied that the previous owners canceled a ton of their appointments, so he wasn’t surprised we had such a huge mouse infestation when we moved in. While I feel deeply uncomfortable with service people sharing qualms about their other customers, I do feel a little bit justified in my growing belief that the previous owners did not really take care of this place. Lots and lots of things have looked lovely on the surface and then turn out to be falling apart behind the scenes, and the repeated cancellation of regular home maintenance stuff helps explain that. Don’t get me wrong – they seem like lovely people, and I get the impression they are just very busy and travel a lot. And who knows! Maybe they had other stuff they were dealing with, and/or once they decided to move, they simply stopped keeping things up. I will tell you, while I am NOT EXCITED about bats or mice, I do prefer the tiny little ants and the occasional stinkbug to silverfish. 

4. Did you know you can make queso dip out of cottage cheese? Possibly you already knew this, but I only just tried it. It was marvelous. I don’t know how “healthy” it was, especially because I ate it with tortilla chips. But it was easy and much higher in protein than covering my chips in shredded cheese while being just as delicious.

5. Speaking of things I have recently tried and loved, I have FINALLY found a travel pillow that allows me to sleep on the airplane! Sleeping is really the only way I can fly, because I find the entire experience so anxiety-producing. But I am not a person who can lean back against the questionably clean headrest or use a travel pillow. My head insists on flopping forward, no matter what, and each time it falls, I snap awake. It is neither comfortable nor restful and it’s kind of embarrassing, to be honest. I have tried so many travel pillows. So many. None of them work. But then! My husband ordered a TRTL travel pillow to use on our flights to and from spring break (four-ish hours each way) and on our first flight, he let me use it… and it WORKS. My head can rest gently in a forward position but there is enough support to prevent flopping AND it doesn’t make my neck ache! I did feel like a moron, winding it around my neck like I was bracing for arctic winds, but it was well worth it! I used it on the flight home, too, and it is now mine, all mine. 

Okay, in the time since I drafted this post, I got a phone call (friend with whom I exchanged phone numbers for my phenomenal roof/siding person; being an adult is weird), made a phone call (oven repair person is scheduled!), wrapped two birthday presents, unloaded the dishwasher, tidied the kitchen, welcomed the furnace repair person into my home, threw some ice cubes into the dryer to refresh the clothes I dried last night and forgot about, discovered that my front door will BLOW OPEN unless it is locked, tossed a load of laundry in the washing machine, and agreed to pay to have a new transformer installed in my furnace. I think I hear the heater doing its thing! 

Read Full Post »

Five for Friday

It’s Friday and I am posting this on Friday, March 15; you may not see this until June for all Feedly cares, but I don’t think I have any control over that. This is kind of a cranky way to begin a blog post, so, as I say to Carla: Let’s try that again.

It’s Friday! I am coming off a night of broken sleep (child coming in at three, returning to bed around four, husband waking up for the day at five thirty), so let’s have some Friday bullets. 

1. Are you as steeped in the Kate Middleton drama as I am? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, a) bless you and b) here is a really thorough explainer. If you are In It, I highly recommend finding a friend who is similarly obsessed so you can text her memes and links to conspiracy theories at all hours of the day. My personal opinion is that Kate is recovering from surgery, probably doesn’t look or feel her best, and just wants to recover in private until Easter as previously planned and communicated by the Palace. BUT, simmering in that dark gross part of me that enjoys drama, especially when it feels very removed from my own boring non-royal life, I am kind of hoping that someone is pregnant with someone’s love child.

2. What kind of snacks do you keep stocked in your house? I ask because we have become friendly with our new neighbors and they invite us over all the time for all manner of things. While I am a little intimidated by reciprocating with A Real Meal (they are incredible cooks and bakers, and every time we’ve been invited to their house the food has been astonishing in both quantity and quality), I am ostensibly fine with having them over for drinks and snacks. The other day, the kids went sledding and we had them over for impromptu cocoa. Luckily, we had cocoa mix in the pantry, and even more luckily the mix had tiny marshmallows, and even more luckily, we had an unopened bottle of spray whipped cream because one of the neighbor kids informed me that he really likes whipped cream on his cocoa in a tone so grave I understood him to mean that something dire would happen if no whipped cream appeared. But then there are all these kids and their parent in my house and I realized I DON’T HAVE ANY SNACKS. It’s not that I don’t enjoy snacks; it’s that I enjoy them too much. We managed to scrape together some muffins I had in the freezer and some individual bags of chips and veggie straws that we had leftover from some party or other, so no one starved. But it made me feel like I need to have at least some snacks on hand. But what?!? I’m not crazy about having a bunch of cookies around, because they either go uneaten or get devoured in two seconds. If we have chips, I will eat the chips. Cheese and crackers aren’t big among the elementary school set, and it’s not like I can have an emergency brie on hand for last minute guests (or can I?). Fresh fruits and veggies, yes, great, and I try to have those around as much as possible, but we don’t eat enough of them to have a ready supply in the fridge at all times. Occasionally I panic buy a bag of clementines, but at least a third of them inevitably go bad before we can eat them. So: shelf stable snacks that appeal to kids and adults but are not so appealing that my family will eat them before we have guests. Is this a thing? 

3. In vanity news, I have been Influenced to buy several things lately. I really like this very inexpensive multi-use highlighter stick. Of course I cannot find the video that originally persuaded me that this was an essential tool in my (non-existent) makeup game, but I like dabbing it on the inner and outer aspects of my eyes and swiping it below my eyebrows for a little bit of lively glow. Totally worth $2.94. The other thing I’ve already tried enough times to recommend it is this bronzing mousse. The weather is edging ever closer to summer, and I don’t want to scare the new neighbors with my fish-belly legs, so I’ve been practicing in the hope that I can add a little lifelike color to my skin before I appear in public in running shorts. I am always on a quest for the perfect fake tan, and this is the closest I’ve gotten. The things I like best about it are: a) It’s dark when it goes on, so you can SEE where you are applying it, and you can also see if you are introducing streaks to your thighs or stomach before the streaks have become one with your skin. b) While it has a scent, as all tanning products inevitably do, it strikes me as much fainter and less objectionable than any other tanning product I’ve ever used. c) The resulting tan is darker than my normal skin tone, but not so dark that it screams FAKE TAN. (I use this tanning mitt to apply it to my body which works really well and helps prevent streaking.) Once again, I have no idea which account suggested this tanning mousse, but I am a fan.

4. One of my current parenting goals is to provide more opportunities for Carla to spend time with her friends. I think I’ve mentioned before that I hate playdates. They fill me with anxiety, because they are both forced social time – sometimes with parents I don’t know well – and because I have no idea how to deal with more than just my one child. For better or for worse, that’s just how I am, and so we haven’t had a ton of playdates. But now that Carla is older, playdates presumably no longer require that social element AND the kids are old enough that I can give them a lot more independence. I used to agonize over how I was going to entertain two whole children, and so I’d gravitate toward things in my comfort zone, like baking projects or crafts. Unfortunately, those things require a lot of prep and supervision and clean up, so they aren’t relaxing or easy. But now I can pretty much let the kids go off and play together. Sometimes we all take a walk outside, and I’m always happy to take a walk, even if the kids ask me to pretend I’m not with them.

Even though playdates are, in many ways, easier now, I still of course have anxiety about them. I find myself fretting about planning An Activity, just in case. I find myself worrying about what happens if the kids get into a fight or misbehave or want food (it always comes back to snacks!) or want to be on screens the whole time.

This is so silly! When I was a kid, I don’t think my friends and I EVER had An Activity. We just went and played Barbies or roller skated in my basement or played school or ran around outside or played house. I can’t even imagine asking my mom or a friend’s mom for ideas. And snacks were not provided by the parent! We scrounged up our own snacks, and I don’t even remember a parent being present for any snacking. In fact, part of the fun of going to someone’s house was checking out their snacks. (Not as fun: eating any sort of meal at a friend’s house, because they had different foods than I was used to and different rules. THAT filled me with anxiety.) I loved my friend J’s house because they had an entire drawer full of candy, and you could just… eat candy when you wanted to! J, notably, was pretty uninterested in the candy. I loved my friend R’s house because her garage freezer was STOCKED with popsicles. At my house, we always had little bags of chips or Zingers in the pantry and Dilly Bars in the freezer and pickles in the fridge. (R and I used to each eat a pickle when we were at my house.) So I am guessing that kids DON’T CARE either what they do or what they eat at playdates. They will figure it out. And yet. We have two playdates on the schedule in the next few weeks and I am already stressing about it. I am planning to be Mean Mom and put a ban on screens, but beyond that… I don’t know what to do or what not to do. Wow, I wish I could chill out about this. 

5. You know something that always feels like magic to me, even though it’s science? Topology. Various algorithms keep serving me videos of topological experiments – because I keep watching them when they appear in my feed – and my mind cannot grasp the mathematics/physics. My dad taught Carla how to make a mobius strip and even seeing him create it with my own eyes doesn’t help me understand how or why it works. It’s witchcraft.

What are you up to this weekend, internet? And, more importantly, what kind of snacks will you be eating?

Read Full Post »

Five for Friday + Mini Giveaway

1. For Valentine’s Day, I made two kinds of cookies. I had some leftover scraps of dough, so I cut out little hearts and whipped up a strawberry buttercream frosting and made little sandwiches. They were cute and tasty. Then I added a few cookies to these adorable plates I found at the grocery store of all places and gave them to a couple of local friends.

My husband and I exchanged cards and candy and we got Carla a bunch of candy and a little pink bunny. (Side note: I happened to be near a Kohl’s recently and went in, remembering the luck I’d had finding stocking stuffers there. They had one tiny Valentine’s Day display and the rest of the holiday products were related to Easter. And not just bunnies — they had a strange array of large, weary-looking pigs, which seems a little odd for Easter. I mean, I would look weary if I were a stuffed animal on display in a Kohl’s too, that’s gotta be a hard job, but they were not particularly cute or cuddly and really seemed like they were counting the hours until they could clock out. I DID find one small, pink bunny and snapped it up.) Carla also cut out a bunch of paper hearts and stuck them all over the walls of the house. It was adorable and the hearts are still up and may remain for months.

2. A recent parent interaction has me feeling cranky. And ranty, just to warn you. I was at a school event and several of us were discussing various challenges our kids are having, as one does, and the topic turned to leaving our kids at home alone. I was struck, once again, by how adamant some people are that their way is The Only Way. The comments ran the spectrum from, “Oh my gosh, I would NEVER leave a kid that age alone!” to “There is NO REASON a kid that age can’t stay at home by themselves for reasonable periods of time.” With equal emphasis and near outrage. 

I don’t know why, after nearly eleven years of being a parent, I am still surprised by people’s inability to consider the wide array of differences in our situations, upbringings, and specific children, but I guess I am. I’m guilty of it too – I still cringe, remembering how I’d mentioned to a friend that I OF COURSE make my child sit in the back seat because the American Pediatric Association says it’s best to have them sit in the backseat until age 13… and then she’d gently noted that her child is not yet 13 and sits in the passenger seat. Gah. When I KNOW that she is a wonderful, thoughtful parent and also know that MANY of my kid’s cohort sit in the front seat of their parents’ cars, for a wide variety of reasons I cannot begin to know because I am not them. (ALSO, lest you have a moment of panic about your own car-seating choices, the APA data on why age thirteen is a magical turning point for kids suddenly being safe to sit in the front seat is not super persuasive! I have read it!) 

Okay – there are obviously some parenting choices that are less safe than others; if we’re talking about an infant in the front seat, that would be different; if we’re talking about a child riding in a car without restraints, that would be different. But there are SO MANY things that have NO SINGLE RIGHT WAY and yet some people seem incapable of understanding that there are many equally fine ways to do a thing. 

This comes up every time I mention that my daughter needs melatonin to fall asleep. People have strong feelings about melatonin! As they should! And yet I have Reasons – and have carefully considered the angles and have consulted with multiple physicians and continually revisit whether it’s a good idea in our particular case for our particular child. It’s just so frustrating when someone says, “I would never give my kid melatonin” or “If she’s tired enough, she’ll fall asleep on her own” or “She clearly needs more physical activity during the day, that’ll help her sleep” as though they know. 

And this happens with everything! I have had people scold me for allowing my child to wash her own hair. Does she do a great job? Not particularly. But am I weighing Other Factors? YES. The ways we judge one another are endless! Food – frequency, type, preparation. Buying clothing at Target vs upscale department stores. Bedtime. Age-appropriate chores/responsibilities. Sleepovers. Access to devices. 

Screen time is a big one. For my particular kid, screens are a no-go on weekdays. There are REASONS for this. Do I despise screens? Not really, no. Would I love to be able to set her up with a TV show after school while I make dinner? Sure! Would it be much more convenient if I could say yes to her playing a video game after she does her homework? Definitely. BUT IT DOES NOT WORK FOR US. I have no concerns about YOUR family’s screen time choices. None! If your kid has unlimited screen time every day, I am sure that is a choice you made based on what’s best for your kid and your family. (Please note that I am aware too much screen time can have a negative impact on children. I am not advocating setting your three-year-old in front of a screen all day every day, although of course there are still probably Reasons someone might make that choice! Like if that is the only way you can work the job that allows you to feed your family or if you are so sick or pregnant you cannot do anything else or all sorts of other situations I know nothing about.) If you ask me about screen time for my kid, I am neither judging you for your own screen time limits nor inviting you to say, “Come on, an hour of Netflix after school isn’t going to hurt anyone.” 

I know I cannot SOLVE this problem, and all I can do is surround myself with people who say things like, “This is what we have found works for us,” and who don’t make black-and-white accusatory statements about what I SHOULD and SHOULD NOT be doing without having all the information I am trying to balance, but I am SO SICK OF IT. Listen. I am not saying that I am completely free of judgment. We all judge one another, to some extent, because usually we think our choices are The Right Ones. But… I try really hard to acknowledge that we all have different value systems and different priorities and that, mostly, we are all trying our very best. Also, we can all judge one another SILENTLY. It is hard enough to be a parent, turning to other parents for support about choices that you have made based on Reasons but maybe you aren’t really sure are the BEST choices, as in my case with the melatonin, you are just doing the best you can with the information you have, without having someone who is not an expert, especially on YOUR CHILD, say you are Doing It Wrong. 

Wow. I really got fired up about that. MOVING ON.

3. Accidental laundry efficiency hack? Laundry is my nemesis. I am pretty good about sorting the clothing into piles, and pretty good about putting the piles into the washing machine and washing them. I am less good about remembering to dry the freshly washed clothing, and then really terrible about folding the clothing. Yesterday, I had two loads of clean, dry laundry to fold and I was dreading it. I had a little more than twenty minutes before I needed to leave to pick up Carla from school and I just wanted to finish my book. So I made a deal with myself: I would set my timer for six minutes, and fold laundry until the timer went off. Then I would go read for fifteen minutes. Even a little progress on the laundry would make me feel better about it, I reasoned. Plus, sometimes if you get started on an onerous task, momentum will carry you through. I set my timer for six minutes, started folding… and FINISHED BOTH LOADS IN SIX MINUTES. How is that possible? In my head, folding laundry takes HOURS. But two loads took six minutes! (To be fair, I don’t fold all of Carla’s clothes, because a lot of them hang up in her closet. Also, I only put away my own laundry – my husband and Carla ostensibly move their clothes from my bed to their own drawers/hangers.) It was an astonishing and bolstering discovery. Has this new knowledge prompted me to fold the clean and dry load of laundry that is currently hanging out in the dryer? No, it has not.

4. How about a little mid-February giveaway? Amazon has issued me a refund for a product I did not return. I ordered a book and have not returned it; it’s right next to me as I type this. Nor have I returned anything else. And yet I got an email from Amazon saying they had processed my refund. I would like to pay for a product I received and kept, so I looked online at my options… and the only option I found (“cancel my return”) simply took me in a loop back to the returns page. I was able to chat with an associate, and they said I could keep the item. Seems like the perfect excuse to do a little giveaway. I have $14.40 in money that I should not have, which is the perfect amount for a paperback book that you’ve been meaning to read for a few years but haven’t gotten around to. If you want the chance to get a free paperback book, and are willing to share your address with me, let me know in the comments what backlist book you would order. I will randomly choose someone and send them the book of their choice, compliments of Amazon. Unfortunately, I will only be able to include US readers in this mini giveaway, which is a huge bummer. But if you are from outside the US, I am still interested in whatever backlist book you have been meaning to read but haven’t gotten to yet. Let’s say this giveaway is open until midnight on Monday, February 19 or until Feedly decides to say I wrote this post, whichever comes LAST.

5. I am suffering from home maintenance burnout. This past fall, when we moved to our new house, we had to do so many things, some elective, others more urgent… and I grew so very weary of all of them.  But that doesn’t mean we are DONE with the home maintenance issues. I feel like they continue to pile up. This includes things I knew about last year that I intentionally put off until the spring (getting a tree cut back, finding a pool person, getting our air ducts cleaned, looking into the carpenter bees issue with our roof) as well as things that have cropped up in the interim (some electrical issues, a leak in our furnace, also our furnace is making a weird noise, our doorbell is caput). But I am having such a mental block to doing the things. Maybe if I write about it here, the guilt and self-consciousness will spur me to schedule at least one of them? Maybe I need to apply my laundry efficiency hack to making home maintenance phone calls, somehow? (Except they always drag on so much longer than they should, and require research and multiple phone calls and visits. This is part of the problem.)

That’s all I have for today, Internet. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

Read Full Post »

Friday Randomosity: Snow Day Shopping and Request for Recommendations Edition

Due to a series of events, some planned and others not, last weekend was a five-day weekend, followed by one day of school, and now we have begun a three-day weekend. Keep in mind that our two-week winter break ended a mere two weeks ago.

I adore my child. And yet. This is not ideal. 

• Do you have a planner you love? I think I might need to become A Person Who Uses A Planner, and I don’t really know where to start. I have looked through planners on recent trips to Barnes & Noble, Target, and Joann Fabric. There is no dearth of options, which is probably what’s tripping me up. All I have been able to settle on is that I don’t want a bullet journal. I have a feeling the people in our blogging community have Strong Planner Feelings, though, so I am hoping you will direct me to The One True Planner.
• Speaking of planning, I am floundering when it comes to finding a workable structure to my days and I keep wanting to post about it (and beg you for advice) but I worry it is too boring a topic? 
• I can now add “dismantling a doorbell” to my list of skills I never thought I’d need. A month or so ago, our doorbell started making a weird buzzing noise. It did this intermittently for a day or two and then stopped. But then it started again on Monday! And continued buzzing every ten or so seconds, directly outside my office. Fortunately, my doorbell was very low wattage, so it was easy to disconnect the wires from the buzz-causing things they were attached to (I added “doorbell dismantling” to my skillset, not “doorbell understanding”), wrap the exposed wires in electrical tape, and close the whole thing up again. I suppose I will soon be adding “replacing a doorbell” to my list of skills.
• Snow days are kind of boring these days. We used to do a LOT during snow days of yesteryear – probably I whined, then, about not being able to have time to myself; am impossible to please – Carla loved the snow and seemed entirely impervious to the cold. We’d play outside and make snow angels and build things out of snow and she’d climb up the snow mountains formed by the snowplow. Now, she has no interest. And also it is QUITE chilly so I’m not really pushing for outdoor time. She is similarly uninterested in: watching movies, baking things, playing games, reading, doing chores/homework/instrument practice. So. Screens it is, I guess? “More screens,” I should say, since this is – checks notes – Day 6 of being mainly inside. Maybe there’s a craft we could do together? But that requires having the appropriate tools/materials on hand. Or maybe I just need to lean into the screens thing and read some of the blogs I’ve been neglecting???? 
• To counteract the cold this week, I made a really good lentil soup. It was based on this recipe, with some major modifications. Instead of crushed tomato, I used a 4-ounce can of tomato paste. I didn’t have much paprika, so threw in a half teaspoon of cayenne instead. I tripled the garlic because that’s how I roll. I used an entire bag of lentils, rather than 2 cups (I think it was about 2 ½ cups, but I didn’t measure; I just didn’t want a little useless scrap of lentils lying around). And I used two 4-cup cartons of chicken stock to compensate for the lack of tomatoes and the additional lentils. It is delicious and hearty. 
• To pair with the soup, I toasted some store-bought sourdough. Except our toaster has joined the throngs of quiet quitters and is now declining to toast, so I broiled the bread in the oven and it got all black and smoky. Clearly I need a new toaster. I am tempted to replace our toaster with the exact same model – this one lasted at least a decade, after all – but maybe you have a toaster you are gaga about?
• As long as I’m dabbling in some online shopping, I would also love to buy a travel mug for my tea. This has never been a thing I’ve wanted before, as I drink my tea first thing in the morning and I gulp it down so fast it barely has a chance to cool. But for various boring reasons I think I might prefer to drink my tea while driving Carla to school. I’ve borrowed one of my husband’s to-go mugs for this purpose, and it’s fine – it keeps my tea warm, it fits in my car’s cup holder, it holds the enormous volume of tea I drink – but I want my own mug. Perhaps more importantly, I’ve found that unless I’m very careful, the tea will slosh up over my face when I’m lowering the mug after taking a sip. I do not care for that. My main criteria for a travel mug, in addition to the above, is that it is dishwasher safe. And I don’t mean the wishy-washy “well, you can dishwash it, but we don’t recommend it.” I mean, it is MEANT for the dishwasher. This one looks good, and it comes in purple and doesn’t seem to have any tiny parts I have to dismantle before dishwashing. This is the one my husband has used for years – and has repurchased several times when one mug goes missing or gets dropped one too many times. But I don’t like the lid and I can’t explain why. This one is so pretty, and I feel more kindly toward ceramic as a material than I do toward stainless steel… but the dishwashability seems a little suspect. (How can the product care instructions be “machine wash” but also “hand wash only”?) What is your hot drink to-go mug of choice?
• I am having a frustrating email communication issue with someone. The communication is not optional, but it feels very one-sided, with me reaching out and waiting for days and then sending a nudge and then also getting a third party involved to nudge from a different direction. And now the person I am communicating with has finally responded and said they would attach a document I need in order to move forward, but they did not attach this document and have not responded to my request to resend the attachment. I guess the only next step is a phone call, which I HATE, but it seems like it might be my only recourse. 
• Trader Joe’s Italian truffle cheese is my new favorite cheese. It’s soft and truffley and pairs so well with a buttery Ritz cracker that I’m thinking of having some for second breakfast. 
• Twice in the past three weeks I have borked my back doing strength training. The first time, I have no idea what I did to injure my back. I could barely move for the first day and then sitting and driving were agony for three or four consecutive days. I treated the pain with ice and Advil. This time, I think I injured it either doing squats with weights or back rows. My best guess is that I tweaked my back doing the squats and then the back rows exacerbated the injury to the point where I had to quit. I love squats so I feel quite bereft at the thought of not doing them for awhile. I’m guessing something in my form is off? Maybe I need to hold the weights at my chest instead of at my sides during squats? I don’t know. Immediately after my back tweaked out (I was in the middle of this routine, where we were doing 100 reps each of squats, pushups, kettlebell swings, and back rows. Very frustrating to have to quit at 50 of each! Will I ever know if I could have done 100???), I did a series of back stretches, then took Advil and iced my back. It feels much less painful today than it did the last time I hurt it. This is an extremely boring bullet point, but I am including it for Future Me, who is bound to repeat this injury at some point. 
• Are you watching the newest season of True Detective? There’s only been one episode so far, but I keep thinking about it and eagerly awaiting the next one. It’s got Jodie Foster and Alaska and supernatural elements and mysterious deaths and disappearances. SO GOOD. I haven’t felt this excited about a TV show in a long time. 

That’s all I have for today, Internet. I am going to try to cajole Carla into doing some sort of screen free activity with me. Brownies, maybe? Who can resist brownies?

Read Full Post »

My Personal Care Regimen and Associated Costs

My personal care regimen is something I’ve been thinking about ever since Engie posted about the Beauty Tax a couple weeks ago. (Basic premise: women spend more on their appearance than men do; based on a survey, the average American women spends $877 on her appearance.) While the concept itself was fascinating to me, what I really loved was that Engie gave us a detailed inventory of the items she uses on her own hair, skin, and body upkeep. While I am a little afraid to know how many thousands of dollars I spend each year on my appearance, I still find the whole topic quite interesting.

Blatantly copying Engie, here’s my personal care routine and what I spend money on, in terms of haircare, skincare, cosmetics, and fitness.

SKINCARE:

Because I have rosacea, I have had to change my skincare regimen quite a bit over the past couple of years.

• Cleanser: I wash my face at least twice a day, and often three times a day: morning, after my workout, and before bed. I use a prescription sulfur-based cleanser which costs me $35.64 per bottle. On the occasions when I wash my face a third time, I use Cetaphil. My husband and I used to share the Cetaphil, but he doesn’t like it, so he’s now buying his own manly face wash. I estimate that I go through about five bottles of Cetaphil a year. The last time I bought it was on November 29, and it cost $8.79 at Target. It’s too early to tell about the sulfur based face wash, but I’m guessing a bottle lasts about two months.
• Moisturizer: I buy Cerave and Cetaphil products on the recommendation of my dermatologist. I use a Cerave moisturizer at night and a Cetaphil moisturizer with sunscreen during the day. The Cerave costs me $16.99 at Target and the Cetaphil costs me $15.49. I don’t love either, but they are very light. On a previous post when I was whining about my skin, someone recommended Clinique Moisture Surge, which I used to use religiously, so I may consider going back to that. My memory is that it left my skin feeling like I was nourishing it, rather than like I was applying expensive air to it. I haven’t been using these products long enough to know how frequently I go through them, but I think I’m on my third bottle of each.
• Cleansing Wipes: Occasionally, I will remove my makeup with a Neutrogena wipe. Nothing removes mascara like these bad boys. I get a big box of these wipes from Costco, for around $26.00. They last me a long time; I probably buy one or two boxes a year.
• Lips: My lips get very dry, especially in winter, so I apply Vaseline frequently throughout the day and every night before bed. The last time I purchased Vaseline was November 29, and it cost me $5.49 for a twin pack of .5 oz tubs; one tub lasts me quite a while. I bought a twin pack on May 23 (for $3.69!!! What is with the huge price increase?!) and gave one tub to my daughter. The first tub lasted me until yesterday.
• Body Lotion: I wear body lotion daily, and apply it to my entire epidermis after my shower. I use Eucerin. My favorite Eucerin (Daily Hydration) has been out of stock at Target lately, so I had to buy the Roughness Relief last time ($12.99) and I hate it. It makes my skin feel sticky. Yuck. Next time, I will buy a three pack from Amazon for $35.97.  
• Sunscreen: In the winter months, I use the Cetaphil with sunscreen and call it a day. In the summer, I use Neutrogena SheerZinc Dry Touch sunscreen, which is about $25 a bottle. I can usually get a bottle to last the whole summer.

Estimated Total Skincare Costs for 2023: $560.72

MAKEUP:

I don’t wear a lot of makeup. Most days I wear something, but only put on a lot of makeup for special occasions.

I love this mascara.

Near-Daily Makeup Routine

• Mascara: I love me some mascara, and usually if I’m out of the house I’m wearing mascara. In May and then again in July, I bought a tube of Maybelline Falsies Lash Lift Volumizing and Lengthening Mascara for $9.99. (I have bought two other mascaras since then, but I bought them in-store and for some reason I don’t have a record of the purchase in my Target app.)
• Eyebrow Filler: My natural hair color is light brown, but I color my hair dark brown. To me, my eyebrows look pale and ridiculous against my hair, so I darken them. I have my hair stylist dye my brows every time I get my hair colored (three or four times a year), but the brow color fades really quickly. So I use an eyebrow mascara for the rest of the year. My current eyebrow mascara is Revlon ColorStay Brow Fiber Filler Eyebrow Gel in Dark Brown. It cost me $10.99 the last time I bought it, which was in mid July of this year.

I don’t wear any sort of foundation. I’ve tried it before, and wore it to proms in high school and to my wedding, but that was enough.

Special Occasion Makeup Routine

• Highlighter: I love my Tula rose glow cooling and brightening eye balm. It feels so good on my skin and I think it really helps deflect from my under eye bags. I got the stick I have in a FabFitFun box in early 2021, and I am still using it. Is this the best in terms of health hygiene? No. Do I care? Not particularly. I am getting near the end though, and will definitely buy it again. It costs about $38.00.
• Eyeliner: I have been using Almay ink liquid eyeliner for years and years. Even though my Target app is pretending like I have never once purchased it, I certainly have. It costs around $7.49 a tube, but one tube lasts me a long while.
• Blush: I use a Clinique Chubby Stick Cheek Color Balm to add a little color to my cheeks. Again, cover your eyes if you believe that skincare products have an expiration date, but I have had this so long I cannot remember when I got it. Also, I am 99% sure that I got it from my mother, who may or may not have gotten it as a free gift with purchase.
• Eye Shadow: I am not good at applying any sort of “fancy” makeup, but once in a while I like a little shimmer on my eyelids. This Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick in Soft Bronze is my favorite. I bought it last spring for around $33 and it’s still going strong.
• Lip Gloss: I feel like a huge weirdo when I apply any sort of lip color, but sometimes it’s still nice. This Haus Laboratories lip gloss is my current go-to. I think it was around $25 when I bought it last spring and I don’t see it running out anytime soon.

Estimated Total Makeup Costs for 2023: $135.95

Except for the bar soap, everything on the left side is mine. Except for the Cetaphil, everything on the right side is my husband’s. I hate our shower so very much. See that tiny shelf up on the right? There’s an identical shelf on the opposite side of the shower and that’s it for storage. Also, there’s no place for me to rest my feet when I shave my legs, so I have to balance on one foot while shaving (or have water in my face the entire time).

HAIRCARE:

I have longish, thickish hair that greys easily. My biggest beauty expense every year is my hair, because I get it professionally cut and colored. (I tried coloring it myself during the height of the pandemic, but I hated it so much. It was awkward and I felt like my hair always came out with weird streaks because I didn’t apply the color correctly. I am HAPPY to pay a professional.)

• Cut and Color: I get my hair cut and colored three to four times a year. With tip, this costs approximately $160.

• Shampoo and Conditioner: I complained a few times to my hair stylist that the dye wasn’t taking to my hair very well, and she suggested that my cheap drugstore shampoo and conditioner were to blame. I bought a ridiculously expensive bottle of fancy shampoo from the salon and used that for awhile, but I just couldn’t stomach spending that amount on shampoo again. So I bought a twin pack of TRESemme Keratin Smooth Color Shampoo and Conditioner and have been using that for awhile. (Neither Target nor Amazon have a record that I made this purchase, but I think it was from Amazon sometime this past summer.) If I were to replace both bottles today, it would cost $20.99 on Amazon. I only wash my hair once or twice a week, so shampoo and conditioner last me a looooonnnnng time.

• Styling Cream: After I wash my hair, I comb some Aveda Smooth Infusion through it. My hair is naturally wavy, but I straighten it 90% of the time, and this styling cream seems to help keep my hair smooth and frizz-free.  I don’t see my specific bottle available on my salon website, but I could by something similar (though only 5 oz instead of 8.5) for $37.

• Hair Ties: Does this count? I am counting it; it’s an expense my husband doesn’t have, and one I repeat. I put my hair into a ponytail every time I shower, every time I exercise, every time I drive my kid to school without doing my hair. I prefer the Goody Ouchless Elastics. The last time I bought a package (of 37 hair ties) it cost me $4.99.

Estimated Total Haircare Costs for 2023: $744.96

MISCELLANEOUS

• Fun Hand Soap: My husband uses the Up and Up brand of clear liquid hand soap, 99 cents per 7.5 oz bottle, $4.79 per 50-oz refill.) But I love having fun, nice-smelling hand soap in the bathroom. I love the Method French Lavender Gel Hand Soap and the UltaBeauty Foaming Hand Wash…but they are $3.99 and $7.00 respectively, so I only buy them when they go on sale. (Occasionally, Ulta will have a sale where each bottle is $2.50 or $3, which is reasonable unless I compare it to my husband’s 99 cent soap.) I have probably purchased three bottles of fancy soap this year.

• Body Wash: I don’t like bar soap, so I use body wash to clean my body. I am not super picky about what I use – it just can’t be exfoliating because that clogs my pores. I usually go for whatever combination of decent-smelling and cheap that I can find. I’ve used Suave Essentials body wash, which is $3.19 per 18-oz bottle and am currently working my way through a bottle of St. Ives Eucalyptus/Tea Tree body wash, which was $3.99 for 22 ounces. I quite like this scent so I will stick with it as long as I can find it at Target. I probably buy a new bottle of body wash every six to eight weeks.

• Razor: I shave my legs every single time I shower; I cannot stand the feel of stubbly legs, particularly when they are wet and stubbly. I shave my underarms every other time I shower and my bikini line whenever it needs to be tended. When I need new razors, I buy them from Costco at about $36.99 a pop. If they are on sale, all the better. I am terrible about changing the heads of my razors, so they last me a very long time. I did have to buy new ones this year, though.

• Foot Lotion: I owe so many wonderful things in my life to Nicole, and the O’Keefe’s Healthy Feet Cream Exfoliating is one of them. This stuff is amazing. I use it once or twice a week. It costs about $8.96 for a 3-oz tube and I estimate I go through about three tubes a year. Once I accidentally bought the non-exfoliating foot cream and IT IS NOT THE SAME.

• Hand Lotion: O’Keefe’s Working Hands Hand Cream, at $7.97 for 3 ounces, is my favorite hand cream of all time. It’s not greasy, it’s very nice and think, it’s soothing, and it helps keep my hands from cracking and bleeding all winter long. I have a tube of this in my nightstand drawer, a tube in my car, and a giant tube in the kitchen. It is magic. I go through probably eight tubes a year.

• Nail Polish: I hardly ever get my finger- and toenails professionally painted, because it lasts such a short time. But I do like to paint my toes in the summer and occasionally I will paint my fingernails as well. Because I am very impatient, I prefer the quick-drying polishes – Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Color ($5.98 on Amazon), and Essie Expressie  (around $8 or $9, depending on color). I probably buy between one and three bottles of nail polish a year.

• Deodorant: I use deodorant every day and probably go through three sticks a year? I prefer Secret. I haven’t bought any deodorant at all this year because I bought a six pack last year… from Costco, maybe?

Estimated Total Miscellaneous Expenses for 2023: $189.90

PERFUME

I love wearing perfume. Especially now that I smell faintly of sulfur due to my medicated face wash, I wear perfume pretty frequently.

And if you think I keep my makeup for a long time, you have no idea. My bottles of Lucky and Dream perfume are from high school. That was in the 1990s, people. They still smell good! The Allure, I got in college, and my bottles of Truth and Blue are from the early aughts. My newest perfume is the Tiffany Sheer, which I love. I got it for Christmas in 2019 and it’s nearly gone, so I’m on the hunt for a new scent.

One of the women I volunteer with smells amazing and I would LOVE to know what perfume she wears (so I can buy it for myself). But I don’t know her that well. Would it be super weird to ask her the name of her perfume?

Total Perfume Expenses for 2023: $0

This weight looks so weird in my hand. I promise it’s symmetical.

FITNESS

While I do strength training approximately three to four times a week, I follow free videos on YouTube. (My favorite workouts are from Lindsey Bomgren of Nourish Move Love and Tracy Steen of Move Daily Fitness.) Sometimes I think about paying for a membership for Nourish Move Love, but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. In years past, I really enjoyed barre classes, but I haven’t felt moved to go back.

This year, my fitness purchases have included hand weights ($34.99 for a pair of 20s, and $25.99 for a pair of 15s) and a yoga mat ($21.98). (Also, I got a giant yoga mat for Christmas! Woo!) In previous years, I’ve spent money on grippy socks, fingerless yoga gloves, and headbands.

Estimated Total Fitness Costs for 2023: $82.96

Estimated Total Overall Beauty Products for 2023: $1714.49

(Looked at another way, this is $142.87 per month. I don’t know which way makes me feel worse.)

Okay, this total is honestly a bit lower than I anticipated. HOWEVER, it doesn’t include my dermatology appointments, although it probably should. It doesn’t include things I do for my overall health, like doctor’s appointments or acupuncture or mental health care, which seems pretty closely related (especially if I loop all these things into one “personal care” category). It doesn’t include any dental expenses or eyecare expenses (I wear contacts), although maybe it should. It doesn’t include any sort of clothing, even though pretty much all clothing falls under the umbrella of “beauty.” Even if I stick to more rigid categories, I buy leggings and shirts and sports bras and shoes JUST for the purposes of Fitness but I didn’t count any of that. Plus, I’m sure there are a few one-off things that I have forgotten about or missed, so the total is probably closer to $2,000 in overall “beauty” expenses. And that’s still probably a conservative estimate.

That total probably fluctuates year over year, too – I mean, I won’t be buying the same hand weights again next year, and hopefully I’m all set for yoga mats. I am betting I can make the razors last for at least a year. But maybe my hair dryer will short out and I’ll need to replace it, or I’ll decide to get all new hairbrushes next year or something.

All that said, I really don’t think I’m a particularly big spender when it comes to personal care stuff. Maybe with the exception of my cut and color (which I am not giving up, no way, no how), it feels pretty reasonable. And I think YOUR expenses are reasonable too. We have bodies, and we need to do things to take care of those bodies, to preserve them for the future, to make them feel good.

What is your most expensive body care category? What perfume do you wear? Do you prefer bar soap or body wash? What’s the last beauty splurge you made and would you do it again?

Read Full Post »

Some Recent Purchases

In discussing my new phone case the other day, I realize that I have made a few recent purchases that I feel equally delighted about. 

• A New Bra: I am pretty much down to one bra that I wear. And, believe me, I wear it as infrequently as possible. Most days, I live in a sports bra. But sometimes I do need to wrangle the ladies into something that’s not athletic wear. I have some bras that kind of fit, and then the one bra that MOSTLY fits. But I finally broke down and bought a bra that actually fits. It’s SO NICE to have a bra that fits. Why is this a lesson I must re-learn every few years???

image from Nordstrom.com | Not really the most aesthetically pleasing of bras, but it’ll do.

• A Stripey Dress: I don’t see my exact dress available at Loft anymore, but oh my goodness do I love it. I love how the top has horizontal stripes and the skirt has vertical stripes, I love how it nips in at the waist and is nice and flowy through the skirt, and I love the length. I think it’s super easy to dress up for evening and also it’s casual enough that it works for daytime. What may be skewing my love for this dress is that I wore it for the first time over the weekend and got not one but TWO compliments on it. One from a friend, which is always nice, but also one from a complete stranger who called to me across the street that she LOVED my dress and WHERE could she find it. That’ll make a gal’s ego soar, I tell you. (It’s also a good reminder to me that I should give in to the impulse to compliment strangers on things. Usually I stuff it down out of fear that they will think I am a weird weirdo, but probably they will be delighted as I was.)

image from postmark.com

• A Line-a-Day Journal: I have never been a person who journals; I am not good with consistency. (I cannot tell you how many journals I have received as gifts over the years – if you are a writer-y type person, it is a very easy gift for people to buy for you. But I would always – ALWAYS – either a) write diligently in them for less than a week and then give up forever or b) be too worried about marring their perfect unblemished insides and never write so much as an exclamation point in them.) But a friend recently told me how much he was enjoying his new line-a-day journal, and I thought, hmm. Why not give it a try? A line a day seems doable, even for me. I have been keeping up with it for more than two months now and I really love it. There’s no pressure with it, really. Some days I write something stupid like, “It was hot.” And some days I have to write in teeny-tiny letters to cram all my thoughts into the tiny space. I am also kind of looking forward to next year when I circle around to where I started and I can read what I was doing at that same time a year before. 

I think a line-a-day journal is a perfect option for non-journalers and I really love the one I decided to buy. I DID have to get over my own personal hurdle of “you can only begin a journal on January 1.” That is purely, in this case, because the journal is labeled by month. So, it says AUGUST at the top of the page, currently, and then there are little spaces where you can write in the year and the date (and I have been putting in the day of the week under the date as well). Possibly, if that is a hurdle you cannot leap, and I would not blame you ONE BIT if it is insurmountable, you could find a journal that has no monthly labels. Or you could buy this one and save it until January 1. OR you could throw caution to the wind and begin on a day in the middle of the week in the middle of the month!!!! I am lightheaded with the wildness of that suggestion. But the one I have is so pretty, I am urging you to consider wild things nonetheless.

image from amazon.com

• A Flowy Tank: I have gone a little wild this summer, ordering things from Loft. Their clothes are exactly what I want to wear and they are so summery and cute. But the T-shirts and tank tops are a little boxy for my taste. Seriously. I thought they were cute when I bought them, and so I kept them. And then after the first washing, they seem to have ALL shrunk vertically and I hate them all. What a waster! Yet, I continue to crave tank tops. I finally got fed up and ordered a LONG tank top from amazon and I really love it. It is nice and long – I like to cover the buttular region when possible – and it is flowy. I like the little knotted detail in the front. I can create a similar effect by knotting my t-shirts myself, but I find that the little knot tail is always escaping from where I carefully tucked it under the hem of my shirt and I don’t love that. The fabric of this shirt is nice, too. Definitely synthetic if that’s something you avoid, but it has a nice weight and a small amount of stretch that I find very pleasing.

image from amazon.com

• Some Useful Parenting Books: In a nod to yesterday’s post, I have been reading a couple of really good books about parenting lately. Usually, the parenting books I read make me feel bad about myself and my (lack of) parenting ability. (I do not need a book to help me along that path.) But these books, so far, have been easy to read and positive and full of good, useful, actionable advice and completely free of judgement. Your results may vary, of course, but I wholeheartedly recommend both:

Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen by Michelle Icard

image from amazon.com | I love this book so much that I want to read everything Michelle Icard has ever written and to invite her into my home to give me one-on-one coaching.

The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud, PhD, and Ned Johnson

image from amazon.com | I originally checked this out from the library and found it so useful that I bought my own copy.

• A Night Oil: You have heard me wax poetic for years about my regular face oil. But a few years ago, I got a sample of the Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate and I loved it. So when it went on sale during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, I got a bottle. I love the very light rose scent it has and I love the way it feels. Is it doing anything for my forehead wrinkles? Not so that it is obvious to the naked eye, but perhaps it is working some magic under the scenes.

image from Nordstrom.com

• A New Favorite Board Game: We ended up getting Carla A Ticket to Ride for her birthday and we have played it together as a family and I LOVE IT. All the rave reviews are true. It is fun and interesting. And from a mom perspective, I like that it requires some math and a lot of thinking ahead and strategizing. Plus, a little soupcon of geography. 

image from amazon.com

Have you made any recent purchases that you love?

Read Full Post »

Window Shades

We tackled a little home project over the weekend that was very satisfying: we replaced several of the window shades.

The previous owners had installed these soft, white cellular shades on all the windows on the upper floor of our house, and we never changed them. They are the kind that have a plastic tab at the bottom, and you use that to pull them down or push them up. They are inoffensive looking (to me) and they filter the light nicely – by which I mean they dim the rooms but don’t make them dark – and they offer privacy. 

Over the past, oh, year or so, they have begun to show signs of age. The shade in our bathroom stopped working fully. You can pull it down to its full length, but it declines to rise more than halfway. Then a little horizontal tear appeared in the shade in Carla’s room. And then, this weekend, the one in my bedroom just collapsed, fully, leaving the entire window naked. I wish I had taken a photo of it. It was quite comical, like an old timey slapstick film where a character’s old timey bathing costume pools around his knees. 

Typically, household failures of this sort follow a trajectory of “oh no!” and some poking and prodding to see how to correct the issue, maybe even some light googling, and then we learn to live with the thing, and now everywhere I turn things are broken. It’s not a great way to live, but it is difficult to deviate from so well-worn a path. 

However. This shade failure was, to me, an emergency. The shade is in our bedroom and the window it covers looks out over our street. And in no way do I want my across the street neighbors or any passersby on the sidewalk to be able to look up and a) see me in bed or b) witness me crossing the bedroom in my pajamas, which is often only a T-shirt. My husband tried to duct tape the shade in place the first night, but it kept falling off in the middle of the night. So we googled and I pushed and we went to Lowe’s and bought replacement shades. 

I would have purchased the same shades again, but ours came from J.C. Penney and I don’t know where a J.C. Penney is, in relation to my home; nor am I sure they currently sell home goods. I suppose I could look it up but I am choosing ignorance. What we did purchase were the shades our local Lowe’s had in stock. They look virtually identical to the ones we had. 

The installation is simple enough: You drill a couple of little brackets into the window frame (we were able to use some of the holes from the previous shades’ brackets) and then you clip the shade into the brackets and voila! All done. (I wonder if my husband would want you to know that clipping the shades into the brackets is NOT as simple as it should be, and that the brackets can be stiff and difficult to clip into place. But in THEORY it is very simple.)

We got a kind of shade that you can cut to size. We measured the windows so we could cut them, but when we were standing in the shades aisle of Lowe’s, I got a little nervous about altering the shade permanently before we were able to see if we could hang them. Luckily, the shades they had in stock were only about five inches wider than our windows, which I figured wouldn’t look too weird. Also in the plus column for not cutting them to size was the fact that there was a cutting station in the shade aisle and it said “Out of Order” on a big red sign. 

We got the shades (they were more expensive than I expected – about $80ish a piece) and brought them home and my husband and Carla installed them while I made dinner. They look fabulous (by which I mean they look exactly like the previous shades did) and the one in the bathroom WORKS and I am very pleased. 

Extra pleasing is that we got a blackout shade for Carla’s room. We have been talking about getting blackout curtains/shades for her room since she was about a year old, which is when we discovered her propensity for rising with the sun. And now we DID it, and I am writing this at 8:30 in the morning and she is STILL ASLEEP, which is unheard of. 

We have yet to install curtains on any of the windows on the lower floor. But maybe the success of this little project will spur us on.

Read Full Post »

Monday Randomosity: Pell-Mell May and Various Types of Inertia

May is chaos. I was whining to the mom of one of Carla’s classmates recently about busy I feel, and she said in a gritted-teeth, long-suffering voice, “That’s just how May is. And it will get worse as the kids get older.” So that was cheering. 

It feels like I was just chugging along, doing my thing, and then suddenly realized that I have fifty deadlines heading my way and I am only partway through each project.  Luckily, this isn’t true (at least in the paying work sense; I am on top of those at least). But it FEELS that way. Worse, it feels like everyone else has alsosuddenly had the same realization. My email inbox is jammed with teacher conference requests and reminders to schedule my gutter cleaning and invitations to end-of-year parties and check-ins about summer swimming schedules and gently scolding messages from camp to fill out my kid’s many, many forms already and notifications to update school payment plans and on and on. 

We had, in the past week, an invitation to a musical performance at Carla’s school literally three days before the performance itself. And then a notice, seven days ago, from Carla’s teacher, that the class has themed days all this week – and require things like sandals that I had not yet purchased. Then we had to schedule a meeting with one of the teachers to review Carla’s goals for next year. And I (stupidly) signed up to volunteer at a big end-of-school carnival. Not to mention, we get alerts near daily about Covid cases in Carla’s grade. Plus, Carla’s been working on her big Eleanor Roosevelt research project. IT’S A LOT.

I have not felt up to most things lately – reading, cooking, planning meals, blogging – but I miss those things (except planning meals). So let’s try a random info dump. I will try not to complain TOO much, but no promises. 

Zoom Awkwardness: While I am deeply, sincerely grateful for the ability to meet with people virtually, I wish someone would figure out how to solve the end-of-meeting awkwardness. You know what I mean. When you have all already said goodbye, but then you have to fumble around to find the button that ends the meeting. I realize that this awkward moment lasts maybe five seconds, but I find it excruciating. Often, I find myself distracted in the last moments of the meeting itself because I am trying to plan my exit in the quickest possible way. But no. Even if I can find the “end meeting” button ahead of time, I inevitably fumble it, or forget that I’ve carefully hovered my cursor over it for exactly that purpose, or the “are you sure?” box pops up and I just want to die of embarrassment. I realize this may not be as big a deal to some people as it is to me, and obviously I have lived to zoom again, but I HATE IT. Just let me out of this virtual discomfort! 

End of Year Teacher Gift: Every year, our Room Parent (i.e. Room Mom) collects money for a class gift. Every year, I dutifully send in money. Every year, I fret and worry and scour Etsy for an additional gift that my kid can give to her teacher, personally, on top of the considerable amount we have already sent in. Every year, I decide that the collective gift is BETTER – usually it’s a gift card, and I’m guessing it is much more useful/appreciated by the teacher than whatever dumb crap I could come up with – and exit Etsy without buying the personalized water bottle/bookmark/coffee mug I was pondering. And yet, despite going through this for SIX YEARS NOW, I inevitably find myself in the last week of school, fretting and fretting about the possibility of being the ONLY person who doesn’t double gift with a physical gift in addition to the cash contribution.

Road Trip: I am doing a right terrible job of Not Complaining, so let’s talk about something positive. My husband and Carla and I are going on a Road Trip this summer!!!! Aside from the astronomical cost of gas, I am really excited about our Road Trip. (Yes, I am capitalizing it.) We finalized all our hotel stays over the weekend, and so now I am gleefully shopping for Road Trip Necessities. This is what my father refers to as a “Tool Buying Opportunity,” which is part of what makes the planning portion of something (an event, a hobby) as enjoyable as or more enjoyable than the actual thing itself. My husband is researching the best family audiobooks to buy (or check out from our library) for our trip, and I love that this is the way his trip planning excitement manifests. He has already played a few samples to Carla, so that they can figure out whether she’ll have trouble understanding the accent of the narrator. 

Birthday Planning Stagnation: Despite ALL of your lovely suggestions, I have made ZERO progress toward planning Carla’s birthday party. Zero. This fills me with dread and anxiety. However, I will say that with every confident, encouraging comment about hosting a party here, I grew more and more entrenched in my certainty that having a party in my home is NOT the right way to go. So that was extremely helpful, and I am so appreciative. I genuinely envy those readers who are so easy-breezy about hosting an in-home birthday party. You make it sound so easy! And fun! And like the better choice! But my gut was clear: NO. So whatever we end up doing, it will be somewhere else. Your kind, helpful suggestions also clarified for me something that I already knew – but did not know I felt with such stringency – which is that I loathe trampoline parks. We used to take Carla when she was smaller, because it was a great way to release her endless reserves of energy in the dragging months of winter. But even then I always felt like I had to be careful not to touch ANYTHING, and I would always through Carla in the tub and her clothing in the washing machine the instant we returned home. Perhaps this speaks more to the cleanliness of my local trampoline park than to anything else, but since that’s what we have available, I am going to skip it. So I suppose even if I haven’t made any forward progress, I am at the very least narrowing the field. Thank you so much for your help, even if you may feel like I am ignoring your very helpful recommendations. Your advice is helpful nonetheless. 

Handyman: In other good news, I finally finally got a handyman to not only return my call, but to come over and look at my long list of projects!!!! He seems great. He reviewed things and took measurements, and was very clear on things he can/will do and things he cannot/won’t. The most important result, though, is that he CAN and WILL repair our ceiling. I don’t know if I’ve described our ceiling hole in this space, but I am going to do so now in case you want to skip to the next equally riveting bullet. It is not a hole, per se. It is more like a place where the plaster has declined to provide its normal coverage. The plaster is peeling away from whatever material forms the ceiling, and so it looks like a hole. We have had the spot examined several times by a plumber (and by our fathers), and it does not appear to be a leak. And it’s been there for YEARS, so I think we would know by now. But this stupid plaster lapse makes me so self-conscious about our house. It looks terrible, and it’s right above the kitchen table, and I hate it. And now it will be fixed!!!! Of course, there is no scheduled date for the fixing; the handyman warned me he is booked out for several weeks. So I guess now I am just hoping he really will send me an estimate and offer some dates. I almost don’t care what it will cost because I want it fixed. But then again, I have no idea what this kind of thing should cost, so… I will report back on whether it is a swallowable amount or something that kicks me in the gut and forces me to live with the stupid hole for longer. Like I said, we’ve been living with it for YEARS, so it shouldn’t be such a big deal to keep on living with it. But at some point in the past few months, I have reached some sort of tell-tale heart level of complete inability to co-exist with this thing for one second longer. 

Calendar Bedlam: Recently, I am having an issue that makes me think my mind is on a steep decline. I keep making plans, putting them in EMPTY SPOTS in my calendar, and then realizing – sometime later – that I have double booked myself. Example 1: A friend invites me to a performance. I check the calendar and see I have plans that night. I decline. Later, a friend invites me to dinner. I check the calendar and see I am free, so I accept. The next time I talk to the performer friend, she mentions the day of her performance… which is on the day I originally had free but now do not. Example 2: I set a playdate for Carla. The next day, I notice that she in fact has an orthodontist appointment that day, so I have to reschedule the playdate. Example 3: I have to do a mandatory nicotine test per our insurance, so I schedule it in an empty spot on the calendar. I get a reminder for the test at the same time I get a reminder for a meeting with Carla’s teacher, because I have scheduled them in the same time slot. WHY AM I DOING THIS AND HOW CAN I STOP.

Dirty Martinis: I recently learned the joy and beauty of a very, very dirty martini. My whole life, I have been staunchly anti-vodka, but it seems that may be because I have only ever had cheap vodka? I recently had a martini with really good, smooth vodka and it was delicious. Then I made one at home, with the fancy expensive vodka my father-in-law drinks, and it was also delicious. I am now out of olive juice.

Jury Duty: My stint of jury duty went GREAT. The summons said that we needed to be available for five days, beginning on a Monday. So I prepared to be gone that entire week. When I did jury duty several years ago, I went in on a Monday, sat around all day, and then was called to a courtroom near the end of the day. I wasn’t selected for that jury, but I was released from jury duty for the rest of the week. This time, you call a number in advance of your service and figure out if your jury number has been selected for that day. I got to miss two days, but my number was called for Wednesday. Then I arrived at the courthouse, sat around all day, and… was released. I didn’t have to go back at all! It was… kind of pleasant? Of course, the anticipation was the dreadful part. I had to worry about childcare for Carla for the whole week, and then I had to worry about driving on a freeway during rush hour, and I had to worry about parking downtown. But once I had Carla stowed at school, had made it downtown, parked, and successfully made it to the courthouse, it was fine! Pleasant, even! It was a beautiful day and we got ninety minutes (!!!!) for our lunch hour, so I got something from Starbucks and walked around downtown. I was even a teeny bit disappointed that I didn’t get selected for a case – I think it would be interesting to serve on a jury. The biggest inconvenience of the week, it turned out, was that I kept having to email the school to let them know that Carla would or wouldn’t be arriving early for babysitting services. 

Step Off: My watch has developed quite an overblown sense of its own roll in my life lately. Constantly telling me to stop and breathe, or noting that I am usually more active at this time of day what is up????, or advising me that I can “still do it!” if I just take a brisk 20-minute walk at 11:15 pm on a weekday. And now this??? Stay in your lane, watch. I am doing the best that I can.

Keto Stall: I feel the need to give you a keto update. During my extravagant jury duty lunch hour, I ordered coffee with cream (despite the fact that I hate coffee) and a pre-made lunch kit that seemed to be fairly keto-friendly: salami, cheese, and some nuts/dried fruit that I ate even though I’m sure it was full of sugar. I did not eat the crackers. Anyway: I continue to follow a low-carb plan. And I have completely stalled. It is SO frustrating. I am doing the plan, I am eating the high-protein/high-fat foods. I am in ketosis. And yet my weight has gone nowhere. It wouldn’t be so terrible except that I HATE it. Food is not fun or enjoyable. I do not look forward to meals, and in fact actively dread them. I cannot stand to plan meals, because they are inevitably some variation on meat + veg, or else they are complicated and frequently end up tasting awful. I am constantly asking my husband what I should make for dinner. I am not having fun, I am not losing weight, it is all awful. And yet any time I LOOK at a carb, I instantly gain two pounds. So I don’t think I’m ready to quit keto either. At least I am maintaining this not-quite-ten-percent-of-my-bodyweight weight loss. ARGH. 

A Good Salad: I did make a really good salad recently. It was arugula (yum) and spinach (yuck), heavily weighted on the arugula side for me and on the spinach side for my husband (who dislikes arugula). I added goat cheese, blueberries, strawberries, a sprinkling of sliced almonds, and grilled chicken. And then I added balsamic dressing because I love dressing as much as I love sauce. (Perhaps this is causing the stall in the previous bullet, perhaps indeed, although I don’t eat salads often because of the dressing factor.)

Strawberry Marketing: The strawberries in the aforementioned salad were PINK. My grocery store had a big display and they had a lot of marketing to assure customers that the strawberries are fully ripe! And taste like pineapple! I had to try them. My husband wondered if they might taste like underripe strawberries and indeed they did. They were fine with some goat cheese and balsamic dressing though, but NOT worth $6.99 per container when I can buy actual ripe strawberry tasting strawberries for $3.50. Between these berries and the miniature iceberg lettuces, produce marketers are really working hard for their money, let me tell you.

Garden Inertia: Let us turn to another pleasant topic, which is gardening. Of which I have also done ZERO. What the hell am I doing with my time, if I am not cooking or gardening or planning Carla’s birthday party? I am fretting and wringing my hands and going in circles is what. We have people coming for dinner this weekend, so now I am suddenly feeling Very Urgent about having at least some flowers in pots. It’s not like my “garden” is anything impressive. But I do like to have a few pots with flowers and I need to do that. Perhaps Carla and I will go after school. 

Spring Shopping Syndrome: In addition to fretting/hand wringing, I have been struck by Spring Shopping Syndrome. You are familiar with this yes? The point at which the weather begins to edge carefully toward warmth and suddenly you hate every single item of clothing you own? I have been buying (and then returning) things with great abandon. Loft has been my latest obsession, and they know it: they keep emailing me with adorable dresses front and center, and so I order the dress and then it doesn’t fit and I take it back. But, to get free shipping, I added on a cute blouse, and that DID fit, so now I have that sweet, sweet dopamine rush of clicking “buy” alongside the possibility, however small, that the item I bought will be cute, which makes me want to repeat the process all over again. Interesting how I am able to analyze this behavior and see it for what it is and yet I still can’t stop/won’t stop. 

All right, that’s it for now my dear Internet.

What’s clogging your calendar this month? Have you made any springy purchases? Tell me which deer-proof flowers to buy for my garden. 

Read Full Post »

Sunday Shopping Spree: Not So Much a Gift Guide as a Holiday Gift Idea Browse

It has been a lovely quiet Sunday and Carla has been busy crafting and my husband has been at the hospital. We finally ordered our holiday cards, and I have nothing to do (besides laundry, which I am ignoring) but fret about all the holiday gifts I have yet to buy. Won’t you join me in moseying through a big unwieldy list of ALL the possibilities that we can narrow down at some point in the VERY near future? (Reminder that I use affiliate links in the amazon products.)

This is one of the silliest and yet most adorably charming things ever: a sweater for your mug. From Etsy shop ValKnittingShop, these cup cozies come in all different colors. I cannot imagine buying this for myself, and yet I would be DELIGHTED if someone bought it for me. The perfect gift. (photo from etsy.com)

The eight-and-nine-year-old set are obsessed with Cat’s Cradle these days. If you have a child in that age range in your life, perhaps you need to find them a Cat’s Cradle. Carla informs me that rainbow is the most popular color for the string, but that solid colors are good too. (photo from amazon.com)

And if your Cat’s Cradle enthusiast is, like me, completely new to the world of string figures, then perhaps you need an instructional book to go along with the string. (photo from amazon.com)

Fidgets are, of course, very popular lately. If you or anyone in your life doesn’t yet have a Pop It, that would make for an excellent stocking stuffer. (photo from amazon.com)

This magnetic rings fidget looks like a good way to keep active hands busy. Plus, it’s not a Pop It, which is a big bonus in my opinion. (photo from amazon.com)

Carla is obsessed with these Mini Brands toys lately. I don’t fully understand it – well, I guess I see the appeal of teeny tiny items based on real products; I would have loved those as a kid. And I guess I see how manufacturers would love to start brand recognition among the very young – but we got a bunch of them for Carla to shove in her stocking. (photo from amazon.com)

Am I the only person without a ring light? Perhaps. But this is on my own holiday wish list, and perhaps you know someone in your own life who needs one as well. (photo from amazon.com)

For those who are botanically inclined, these little bird-shaped self-watering bulbs are perpetually in my Amazon cart. I think they are too frivolous to buy for myself… but I would love to get them as a gift. (photo from amazon.com)

Here’s a set that looks like colorful mushrooms. (photo from amazon.com)

Or this terra cotta hippo head would be adorable peeking out between the fronds of a fern. (photo from amazon.com)

Carla is still Very Into Dinosaurs, and also crafting. This paint-your-own-dinosaur kit is the ideal combo, if you know someone with similar fixations. (photo from amazon.com)

Along the same lines, this dinosaur soap making kit looks very fun. I think I mentioned that Carla’s grandmother bought her something like this, and they made soap favors for her birthday party guests. She loved it. (photo from amazon.com)

On the dinosaur front: These Spinosaurus teeth would become one of her most prized possessions, I’m sure of it. (photo from boneroom.com, which I did not know existed until I read the comments under one of Swistle’s recentish posts)

Carla specifically requested a pottery wheel. Yikes. I don’t know if that’s something my mess-aversion can accommodate, but I’m sure she would love it and make all sorts of beautiful sculptures. (photo from mindware.orientaltrading.com)

After visiting her grandparents over the summer, Carla has been really into tools. She persuaded us to buy her a pair of needle nose pliers and some wire cutters. Her grandfather made her a small tool set a few years ago with hammer and screwdriver… but I wonder if there’s something a little more comprehensive? This Junior Carpenter Set looks like what I have in mind, but alas I think it’s too young for Carla. (And I’m not quite ready to get her a REAL drill yet.) (photo from walmart.com)

I was looking for something on Etsy and one of the auto-fill search terms was “Lisa Frank shoes.” Obviously I clicked on that immediately, and then became almost breathless with longing for the resulting footwear, from the CuzShesCrafty shop. (photo from etsy.com)

Carla and one of her friends did a lot of jumping rope during playdates this summer, and it reminded me of how great jump roping is. This jump rope is budget friendly (some are $100 and up omg WHY) and would fit great into a stocking. (photo from amazon.com)

When it comes to candles, I am a WickHabit fan (though her candles last so long it’s been awhile since I’ve bought anything new!), but the SkiinTones Etsy shop has some very beautiful sculptural candles that I love. (photo from etsy.com)

We went to a friends’ house for an outdoor dinner recently, and they had a zipline in their yard. Obviously, that works only for families with the right tree setup, but man would it be a fun gift if you can make it work. We cannot, and I am coveting a zipline anyway. (photo from amazon.com)

Outdoor fun makes me think of sledding (it is snowing right now) and from last year’s extensive research, I believe that saucers are best. This one – am trying to ignore the giant L. L. Bean logo – looks sturdy. (photo from llbean.com)

While I was looking at gift ideas for Carla, I came across this fully-stocked dress-up purse. The purse is so cute and it comes with everything the contemporary kiddo needs to emulate grown-ups. I would have DIED to have this as a kid; I’m pretty sure Carla would too, although I think she may have outgrown it. Maybe my niece would like it? (photo from amazon.com)

She has definitely not outgrown her obsession with LEGO. We are strongly considering the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower for her big gift this year. (photo from target.com)

I think she’d get a kick out of this LEGO chain reactions kit, too. (photo from amazon.com)

Carla requested a few board games this year, and it’s fun to look through her suggestions (circled in catalogs – do you remember doing that as a kid? I do; I loved it. So many possibilities!) and see which ones would be good for our family. LineUp looks really cute and it’s a strong contender. (photo from amazon.com)

Cat Crimes also looks adorable and fun. (I will go to great lengths to avoid playing Candy Land.) (photo from amazon.com)

She also loves playing Linkee (which is a perennial favorite) and Trivial Pursuit with us, but the questions are often a little over her head. I would love to find a trivia game that we can all play together. (There’s a family edition of Trivial Pursuit, but the reviews stink. And at one point, it looks like there was a kids’ version of Linkee, but it looks like it’s not made anymore and the websites I’ve seen it on are unfamiliar to me.) (photo from amazon.com)

Oooh! Here is a new twist on Scattergories – a family favorite around here – that looks really fun: Scattergories Categories. (It was VERY difficult not to type “cattergories.”) (photo from amazon.com)

This cute cooperative game looks perfect for my niece. (photo from amazon.com)

If you are looking for a fun family game that’s a little unusual, we got this DropMix music game for my husband earlier this year and it’s a lot of fun. You get to mix and match different beats and instrumentals from familiar songs. We love it. I’m probably going to get my husband the rock music expansion pack for Christmas this year. (photo from amazon.com)

Speaking of my husband, I am wondering if he would like a pair of fancy sneakers? I have heard great things about Allbirds shoes, and they look very chic PLUS they are washable. (photo from allbirds.com)

For those on your list who like sweets/consumables, this pack of mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa look amazing and fun. (photo from bakedbymelissa.com)

Ditto these indulgent cookie gifts from Big Fat Cookie. I am drooling. (photo from eatmebigfatcookie.com)

Speaking of sweets/consumables… I got my husband a boutique tasting box from Sugarfina for Father’s Day, and it was a huge hit. It was also the perfect amount of candy: four or five behind each little door. Sadly, it’s sold out, but its success makes me very amenable to trying out one of their bento boxes. (photo from sugarfina.com)

My husband has received peanut butter for the past few gift-giving occasions. And twice I got him jars of Chai Spice Peanut and Almond Butter from Big Spoon Roasters because he LOVES it. (I like it, and I do not care for peanut butter.) I am eyeing this winter gift pack while I decide whether I’m weary of buying him peanut butter. Could be nice to split among several gift recipients, if you know multiple lovers of unusual nut butters. (photo from bigspoonroasters.com)

Oooh… or I could get him a jar of cinnamon almond butter. It’s less decadent (less pricy, but also a brand we see at the grocery store), but also makes me more inclined to get it as a stocking stuffer rather than as one of his primary gifts. (photo from amazon.com)

My husband’s primary gift, FYI, is a new Kindle Paperwhite. His existing Kindle is one of the first generations models, and doesn’t have the backlighting that the new Paperwhites offer. His is starting to be verrrrrrry slow when he tries to turn the pages, too, so I think it’s time for a new one. (photo from amazon.com)

Carla has started knotting her t-shirts, sometimes tying a corner into a knot, other times putting a tiny hair elastic around a little bunch of t-shirt. I saw this little gadget that helps make the perfect knotted twist. I kind of also want one for myself… (photo from twist-teeknot.com)

Carla would love this Secret Message Lab kit. I had something like this when I was a kid, and loved learning about and using secret codes and ciphers. (photo from blacktoystore.com)

I don’t take baths, but I do like a nice spa-like shower experience. My husband got me these shower steamers for my birthday or Mother’s Day last year, and I really really love them and plan to give them to both of my sisters-in-law. (photo from amazon.com)

Anthropologie has a shower steamer gift set, as well. A little pricier, but I wouldn’t expect any less from Anthro. (photo from anthropologie.com)

You know who DOES like baths? Carla. She would get a huge kick out of this geode bath ball, considering she also likes geodes and bath bombs! (photo from anthropologie.com)

There are many people on my gift list who would appreciate a bookmark. I love this Storiarts one featuring an Oscar Wilde quote. (photo from storiarts.com)

Or this gorgeous leather bookmark from Ox and Pine, which you can personalize with someone’s initials or a pertinent quote. (photo from oxandpine.com)

Carla and I have been tossing around the idea of her making homemade bookmarks for her friends and family this year. I found a kit that provides all but the artwork. This would make a great gift for a bookworm, too. (photo from amazon.com)

Oh my goodness – or these diamond painting bookmarks. The perfect mashup of diamond painting, which was a hit last year, and book crafts! (photo from amazon.com)

Carla did a brief unit on making comic books in school this fall, and really seemed excited about it. Uncommon Goods has a comic book making kit that she might enjoy. (Also available at Amazon.) (photo from uncommongoods.com)

Here’s a book of blank comic book templates that requires little more than imagination. (photo from amazon.com)

My sister-in-law recently bought these gel crayons for Carla (bonus: shaped like cats!) and they are awesome. (But messy.) (photo from worldmarket.com)

She paired them with this stand-up sketchpad, too. Carla found it quite delightful. Perfect combo for any young artist. (photo from amazon.com)

Carla would get so much joy out of this cat stationery set. Cat paperclips! Cat sticky notes! Cat pens! (photo from amazon.com)

Or this set has cat page flags as well, plus a little cat pencil case! (photo from amazon.com)

These little cat paper clips/bookmarks are marketed as “pliable.” Supposedly you can soak them in water for a few seconds and reshape them. I have no idea what that means, but it might be worth $7.99 to find out. (photo from containerstore.com)

Because Carla has been wearing clip on earrings – old ones, that I bought a million years ago for myself – I think maybe we should get her some of her own. These dangly cat earrings would please her greatly, I think. (photo from amazon.com)

I love this collection of clip ons – no cats, but there are so many other good options! Christmas trees! Snow flakes! Dinosaurs! The little seals with their little scarves! (photo from amazon.com)

I think I mentioned that my sister-in-law is hoping for an opal necklace. This one is so pretty (from Irin Skye) – although I’m not sure which initial to choose. Maybe hers, maybe her daughter’s. (photo from etsy.com)

This may not sound like a very exciting gift, but I am hoping to find a pack of these reusable cooking sheets in my stocking this year. I use aluminum foil and parchment paper all the time, and if these are good replacements, I will be delighted. (photo from amazon.com)

Along similar lines, I think I would get a lot of use out of these round silicone baking mats. ROUND. (photo from amazon.com)

Something that I long for constantly – especially when we have any sort of guests over – is mini tongs. I would use them for everything from cheese trays to taco bars. In my head, I was thinking of something in the wood family. (photo from amazon.com)

Or maybe simple silver. (photo from containerstore.com)

But these rainbow tongs are FANTASTIC. (photo from amazon.com)

As long as we’re ogling beautiful and largely unnecessary kitchen items, I’d like to give a shout out to these gold, leafy teaspoons. SO PRETTY. Surely we all know someone who needs them, right? (photo from anthropologie.com)

More practical but still something that would give me a tingle of joy: these odd-size measuring spoons. I would measure the spelt out of these. (photo from surlatable.com)

As a big fan of the resurgence of the charcuterie tray, I have been eyeing this fancy cheese board. Mainly because it has a RIM (no more cracker avalanches), but also because it has all these cute dip dishes and a little compartment to hold the cheese knives. Would they still manage to end up floating around my utensil drawer? Perhaps. (photo from amazon.com)

Would I be happy with a simple round, rimmed platter that I could repurpose as a cheese board? I think so, if it is as simple and lovely as this one from Crate and Barrel. (photo from crateandbarrel.com)

Or maybe this wooden serving tray. It has a rim AND handles! (photo from nordstrom.com)

When I think of charcuterie trays, I think of fun food options to add to them.  Like some delicious crackers. I’m partial to the kind that have fruit and nuts, like this cranberry and pistachio option. (photo from mouth.com)

Apple crisp crisps might be a fun alternative to crackers – I bet they would be tasty with cheddar or brie. (photo from igourmet.com)

Or perhaps some fancy olives. I love olives soaked in gin; maybe olives soaked in vermouth are just as good. (photo from igourmet.com)

This ginger honey would be fun to spread on sliced baguette… or drizzle over apple slices. (photo from mouth.com)

My mom loves pickled watermelon rind, an acquired taste and a hard-to-find delicacy, so I’m planning to give her a jar. (photo from igourmet.com)

There is also pickled watermelon, which may appeal to her as well. (photo from mouth.com)

My daughter is obsessed with capers. Maybe a two-pound jar all for her would be a fun treat? (photo from igourmet.com)

Something I NEED is a good quality silicone whisk. My husband got me a set of silicone whisks a few years ago, but water got into some of the handles and some of them broke so I am down to zero silicone whisks. Not a particularly FUN present, but a useful one. (photo from surlatable.com)

Going right on down the “not a particularly fun present, but a useful one” path, I think my mother-in-law needs a package of silicone straws. She hoards straws from Starbucks to reuse in her iced coffee each day, but the silicone ones have to be sturdier and more sanitary, and I’m guessing (hoping) they are better for the sea turtles. (photo from nordstrom.com)

I always love a good fancy hand cream. This year I specifically requested the Beautycounter hand cream trio. I’ve gotten it before and loved it, and this year there are new scents: Ginger and Earl Grey! Neroli, whatever that is! Lavender and Tonka! (photo from beautycounter.com)

This hand moisture pack looks like it would be fun and good for my dry, dry hands. Plus, it’s a nice stocking stuffer price. (photo from anthropologie.com)

I usually ask for some fancy nail polish for the holidays. Maybe this year I will ask for this peel-off nail lacquer? Sounds very satisfying to remove. (photo from anthropologie.com)

Someone – perhaps my sister-in-law, who knows these kinds of things? – says that these cooling facial globes are the new jade roller. They look very soothing.

As an alternative, Anthropologie has cooling eye gels, which would make great stocking stuffers for all the tired-eyed people in my family. (photo from anthropologie.com)

Ooooh they have lip gels, too! Would this finally put an end to my peeling lips??? Supposedly they “hydrate and smooth” as well as “help you relax and de-stress.” (photo from anthropologie.com)

I am in LOVE with this Little House of the Prairie book blanket from Litographs. The book text makes up the drawing on the blanket. (photo from litographs.com)

There’s a version with Robert Frost poems, too! My mom might need one of these. OH MY GOSH there is also a custom option and YOU CAN UPLOAD YOUR OWN TEXT.

Speaking of things my mom and I might both enjoy: these Scandinavian dish cloths are gorgeous and sustainable! Okay, I ordered one moose print and one woodland trees. The shipping is very reasonable! (photo from threebluebirds.com)

You know that I can’t resist a good dish towel, and I find this Ted Lasso “biscuits with the boss” dish towel from Moonlight Makers to be quite charming. (photo from etsy.com)

Oooooh this set of rainbow towels is so lovely! Who DOESN’T need these? (photo from anthropologie.com)

Sticking with the rainbow theme, I MUST have people on my list who need one or all of these little rainbow pots. SO CUTE. (photo from anthropologie.com)

While I don’t think I have room in my life for another vase (although this one is SO small and SO pretty), I am sure someone on your list needs to have this bud vase, right? (photo from anthropologie.com)

Speaking of things I don’t have room for: Mugs. I need another mug like I need another pickle jar. And yet I want this Ted Lasso mug from Journo Travel Goods very badly. (photo from etsy.com)

Or a Roy Kent mug from You Had Me At Cadeaux. Featuring Roy Kent’s gloriously cranky and deliciously handsome mug. (photo from etsy.com)

The same quote, on a mug from Byron Betts Store, without the face. (photo from etsy.com)

This quote (now on a rainbow-lovely mug from Little Canada Prints) is starting to make me quite teary, hearing it inside my skull in Roy’s fierce growl. I love it so. (photo from etsy.com)

To fill our new Ted Lasso mugs with something more interesting than hot brown water, might I suggest some of these micro-ground tea lattes from Tea Squared? I have no idea what they are or what they taste like, but they sound VERY interesting. Especially the pumpkin spice chai latte and the London foggy ones. (photo from teasquared.ca)

Carla marked several cooking/baking items in the catalogs she was trawling through. This surprises me, as she doesn’t show a whole lot of interest in doing things in the kitchen. Well. Maybe a “toy” would help encourage this interest. Perhaps something like this tiny baking kit. (photo from amazon.com)

Or this cooking challenge kit – which includes recipes, cooking challenges, and score cards. (photo from mindware.orientaltrading.com)

 

And she would definitely enjoy this knife set. I’m guessing my niece would as well. Knives all around! (photo from mindware.orientaltrading.com

Last year, Carla hung a wall calendar near her desk for the first time, and she really likes having one. I asked if she wanted one for next year, and she said without hesitation: “Yes, with kittens.” Maybe this one? (photo from amazon.com)

Or possibly this one, which has kittens AND puppies. (photo from amazon.com)

Oh my gosh, or this calendar featuring dogs in sweaters. Carla would LOSE IT. I don’t know how you choose. (photo from amazon.com)

My husband, who has been very poorly represented on this list, alongside every other man in my family, egads I am terrible at giving gifts, likes socks. He has too many socks, in my opinion. But he LIKES them. And these light butter socks look soft and have the type of charming pattern he normally likes. (photo from nordstromrack.com)

He might also enjoy this basil scented body wash. I think I would enjoy him smelling of basil. (photo from nordstrom.com)

Or perhaps basil, lime, and mandarin. Also: sheesh, this is expensive. (photo from nordstrom.com)

He and the other men on my gift list might get some fancy soap. Poor men. BBQ tools, liquor, socks, and soap. That’s all I can think of for anyone male. (photo from nordstrom.com)

Or some cozy pajama pants. Jammies all around!

If you have a person in your life who also owns an Apple watch, I highly recommend this leather watch strap. I got one for my husband for his birthday, and he loves it. (photo from nordstrom.com)

My husband also enjoys a good puzzle. This multi-colored pine trees puzzle looks challenging (but not impossible) and it’s very pleasing to the eye. (photo from llbean.com)

We got this Times Square puzzle for my mother-in-law, and we’ve all been putting it together on my dining room table since September. It is VERY challenging, and perfect for your favorite puzzle fiend. (photo from amazon.com)

This smaller version might be a little less frustrating challenging. I’m getting it for my mother-in-law to do at her house. (photo from amazon.com)

And I think maybe my husband needs this puzzle with a Paris scene. Although, hmmm, I am 50% concerned I have already purchased this for him. (photo from amazon.com)

KP suggested, on my last post, looking for gifts for my parents as they go on their road trip. GENIUS. This would be a big splurge gift, but I think they would get a lot of use out of this iceless cooler, which would plug into the cigarette lighter. I suppose I need to make sure their car has a cigarette lighter, which seems like an old-fashioned amenity. (photo from amazon.com)

They might also appreciate a new atlas. Is that the most boring gift in the history of the universe? (photo from amazon.com)

Perhaps an Allersac sheet set, since they will be staying in multiple hotels on their drive? (photo from amazon.com)

Or, to really amp up the Christmas gift-opening enjoyment, perhaps this bed bug prevention suitcase liner? Nothing says happy holidays quite like hoping someone doesn’t encounter bed bugs on their journey. (photo from amazon.com)

One thing I KNOW they would like is an audio course – something like The Great Courses used to offer. But they prefer things on CD, and it doesn’t look like Great Courses offers CD options anymore. I suppose we could buy something and burn it to a CD (using an old computer, because new computers don’t have CD drives anymore). (I asked my husband about this and he doesn’t think it’s possible.) Or maybe I could find a couple of audiobooks on CD to buy them? I loved In the Heart of the Sea, and enjoyed the first half of The Mayflower before I put it down some months ago. (photo from amazon.com)

Childhood road trips with my dad meant car snacks, and he favored Necco wafers and spicy peanuts. Maybe he’d appreciate a package of Cajun peanuts? (very odd peanut photo from nuts.com)

Or these taco seasoned peanuts might be a fun flavor. (very odd peanut photo from nuts.com)

Not for imbibing on the road, of course, but I think I might get my dad a whisky tasting kit. I got him one a few years ago and he really enjoyed it. (photo from flaviar.com)

I think my dad would get a kick – and a lot of use – out of this 6-in-1 tool pen. (photo from amazon.com)

My brother, whom I have NO IDEA what to get, might appreciate this thermal phone case. (photo from amazon.com)

Or a boot dryer, for his ski boots. (photo from rei.com)

New gloves are always nice. My mom and my sister-in-law might find a pair of these fleece-lined wool gloves under the tree. (photo from orvis.com)

I am also eyeing this beautiful ceramic paint water cup from BNCA Pottery. My mom is an oil painter, and I feel like this would add substance and beauty to a necessary aspect of painting. (photo from etsy.com)

I have absolutely no use for this mini toaster oven, but I could not resist adding it to this list. If I had any college students to shop for, this would be a strong contender. It is SO CUTE. (photo from nordstrom.com)

Read Full Post »

Summer Uniform

If you recall, last summer I went through a shorts renaissance. That cannot be the word I mean, and yet that is the word I am sticking with. 

Anyway, I found a new pair of shorts this summer – after trying on many, many, MANY pairs. It fits my specific requirements: high rise, roomy leg openings, and free shipping. This year I also added “not too short” to my list of Shorts Musts, and these adhere to that criterion as well.

Madewell Relaxed Mid-Length Denim Shorts (image from nordstrom.com)

They are a leeeeetle too ripped for my taste, but not terribly so. They are very flattening (not to be confused with flattering, which they are not) in the buttular region, which takes a lot of doing when it comes to my particular rear. Fortunately, I have reached the phase of life where a) no one is looking at my rear and b) I don’t really care what anyone thinks about my rear anyway. Also, if, like me, you happen to have a thigh/hip to waist ratio that deviates from what American Fashion considers to be “normal,” they may be a leeeetle bit loose in the waist area. I have been addressing the issue with the other aspect of my Summer Uniform, which is a long, loose tank top.

I have this in white and grey:

Madewell Whisper Shout Cotton V-Neck Tank (image from nordstrom.com)

And this, in black and red:

Caslon Muscle Tank (image from nordstrom.com)

This is what I plan to wear every day this summer, unless it is cool, in which case I will wear the Caslon track-style linen pants I now own in green and grey, or unless something fancy is called for, in which case I will wear my scoop neck tiered flare dress from Ann Taylor. 

Read Full Post »