7ToF: phew. what a week.

 1. Things I've tried so you don't have to: Native brand deodorant. This gets advertised quite a bit on various podcasts, and the hosts will give you a discount code for ordering it online. But just so you know, you can also buy it at Target and Walmart. It has no aluminum, no parabens, etc etc. So if those things bother you, it's a great choice. It smells great, and it actually works, unlike the last natural deodorant I tried. But it costs twelve dollars for 2.7oz. It would have to be way more amazing than it is for me to switch from my usual deodorant, Old Spice Wolfthorn, which works just fine and costs $4.99 for 3 oz (and is frequently on sale for less than that). It's in the men's section, but it doesn't make you smell like a guy.

2. Trivia that I don't know why I know: anti-perspirant usually has aluminum in it, deodorants usually don't. Aluminum makes me itch, so I've never been able to use anti-perspirants. Deodorants don't bother me, even when they contain parabens or propylene glycol. Just make sure you look at the label-- it will say right on the front whether it is an anti-perspirant or a deodorant. Wolfthorn, the one I use, comes in both an anti-perspirant version and a deodorant version so you have to read the label to make sure you're getting what you want.

3. I'm so tired of everything. Just thought I would tell you that. Politics, paperwork, the driver's license bureau, not going to restaurants, more confusing conversations with friends, and above and beyond everything else, the freaking pandemic. (cue stirring music) Frodo: I wish it need not have happened in my time. Gandalf: so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide.

OK, so maybe that's a tad melodramatic. Whatcha gonna do? It's not even that bad around here, so I'm sure some of you have had much more trouble with it than we have. I'm just whining. Rough week.

4. I may have given the impression in my reading report that we never watch TV, which is not true. Our TV is often on in the evenings (almost never during the day). We watch a lot of sports, and some movies. We are especially bad about re-watching our favorite movies. And recently we have also tried The Mandalorian, Schitt's Creek, and Queen's Gambit. They are all pretty good, but I max out at two episodes per night so other than Queen's Gambit, we're still working our way through.

5. My unpopular opinion for this week: I have never, ever seen an episode of the Bachelor or the Bachelorette. I know that makes me a party pooper and I am missing out on a lot of fun but honestly, the whole concept just horrifies me. I told you, unpopular opinion.

6. Speaking of movies we re-watch, one we did this week was Pirates of the Caribbean. Sometimes when we watch an old favorite, it hasn't survived the passage of time, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I know Johnny Depp is problematic these days, but I'm going with the headline that said his "issues" are recent, and since Pirates came out almost 20 years ago, I'm giving it a pass. 

7. I'm declaring Monday, February 8th Aunt BeaN's Unsubscribe Day. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I've signed up for three trial periods of services that I no longer use but I'm still paying. Oh, lord, the more I think about it, the more I think maybe it's four, or five. Add to that the one billion political emails I receive for the party that I do not support and have not voted for since 1980. On February 8th, I'm unsubscribing from all of them. I have to work up to it. Join me? More on this topic next week.

Have a great weekend.

7ToF: in which I restrain myself from using very bad words.

I started this week's Seven-Things-on-Friday days ago because I knew I would be busy getting ready for vacation. Instead of making it quicker to write, though, I ended up spending at least three times as much time on it as I normally would. Then I accidentally freaking DELETED IT. I am saying ALL THE BAD WORDS.

Even after I googled how to recover a deleted blog post and tried a dozen different things, I couldn't get it back. I spent so much time on it that I'm sick of it and I have no desire to re-write it. So here is the abridged version.

1. We are going on vacation for two weeks, leaving on Saturday: two Souths (Carolina and Dakota) for back-to-back family reunions.

2. I'm feeling guilty again about having too much crap after seeing a TV ad this week about how charities don't want your stuff, they want your cash. Since I'm still clearing clutter, what the heck am I going to do with all this stuff?

3. So I'm having a hard time justifying buying a new comforter, even though our current one is ten years old and I'm sick of it, because I don't know what to do with the old one.

4. But I'm overcoming that guilt and buying one anyway because I'm not all that virtuous and I wants one.

5. Continuing my rampant consumer theme, I went on a (noble) quest to find good beer mugs. ha. I'm buying microbrews in cans now (we can't recycle glass locally), but I don't want to drink it from a can. So here is a picture of our new beer mugs, which I got at TJMaxx. Dishwasher safe, sturdy, and with a handle.

Check me out, stylin' a photo. Don't laugh.

6. I have a household hint. I may be a rotten housekeeper, but I'm good at finding things that work like a charm and save me a lot of work. To remove coffee and tea stains from ceramic mugs, put a tablespoon or so of baking soda in a mug, add a bit of water to make a paste, scrub around with your fingers. It's like magic. I'm so smugly pleased with myself I almost posted a before and after picture.

7. Originally I had planned to re-post some stuff from my old blog while we're gone, but at the moment, I'm so done with the whole blogging schtick that I'm taking a break instead. I guess accidentally deleting all that work struck a nerve. I'll probably be back at the end of the summer, but who knows.

And there you go. I'll be over being pissed (probably) by the time you read this. The good news is that it's WAY shorter than the original. Have a great weekend and a great summer.

Day 21: Last Saturday was skin, so this Saturday will be hair. har.

I was planning something else for today, but we ended up deciding to get out of town this weekend and we will be out of internet range, so it has to be something I can type out in fifteen minutes. Hence, hair.

I first heard about the "no-poo" (no shampoo) idea several years ago--in fact, I wrote about my experiment with it in #4 of this post. The idea is that when you wash your hair, you strip off all the natural oil and create the need for a bunch of hair products that you otherwise wouldn't need.

Day 14: OK, this is how low we've sunk. Another makeup post.

Back when I wrote that "favorite cheap things" list, I said I'd do another one on cheap beauty stuff. Here you go.

7ToF: These are a Few of My Favorite Cheap Things

I'm writing this several days in advance since I'll be out of town the rest of the week and I have no idea what will be happening with us by the time you read this. This is a post I've had in the back of my head for several months. We so often gripe about how expensive things are ($30 for a hardback book! $5 for a loaf of bread!), I thought maybe I'd pay homage to a few things I love that are under $10.