7ToF: Backpedaling

1. I'm scrambling for post ideas, so I'm letting us all off the hook and ending the daily posting. I have no idea what I was thinking. Next week, back to the usual Tuesday and Friday, although I may miss a few since we are traveling for Thanksgiving.

2. Yup, that's right-- for the first time in more than twenty years, we are heading to Texas for Thanksgiving. We had a miserable experience traveling with toddler PellMel a very long time ago, and decided that it was not worth the trouble to fly over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. But for some reason this year we decided to do it. I'll let you know how it goes.

3. After seeing a reference to them on ArghInk, I've been reading Catherine Aird's Calleshire Chronicles mystery novels. I'm only on the third one, but so far, very fun, very British. The first one was published in 1966, but the most recent one came out in 2016. According to Google, Aird was born in 1930 and she is still alive. Part of the interest for me is seeing how much things have changed--sometimes it's hard to remember what things were like pre-Internet, pre-cell phones, pre-feminism, pre-NCIS.

4. Bodily concerns: In this post (scroll down to #5), I wrote about my difficulties with finding deodorant that didn't have aluminum in it. Now there is Kopari, a coconut-based deodorant that is hugely popular-- but fourteen freaking dollars. I decided to try it. Verdict: it's OK. I don't think it's worth the money compared to my previous choice Old Spice Wolfthorn (the deodorant, not anti-perspirant-- Wolfthorn comes in both). But Wolfthorn contains propylene glycol, which some people can't tolerate, and Kopari is "all natural," so YOU BE THE JUDGE.

5. To be fair, part of the reason I didn't love Kopari all that much is that I'm not a huge fan of coconut scented anything, unless it is food. Coconut cream pie, seven layer bars, piña colada? yum. Coconut-scented candles, hand lotion, or (apparently) deodorant? not so much. So if you love the smell of coconut, Kopari might be exactly what you need.

6. I started wearing my Fitbit again yesterday. It was a busy day, and I took the dog-who-is-not-getting-enough-exercise for a walk, so it was pretty easy to get to 10,000 steps. Today, only 5,000. Not sure exactly what I'm hoping to accomplish with this, but for some reason I thought I'd try it again.

7. Awhile ago I set a goal to start reading books I already own instead of buying new ones. Yeah, well, .... I did OK for awhile, but recently it's been a total fail. I'm afraid I have a bit of a distractibility problem when it comes to new books. You may have noticed. But inspired by Whitney Conard's Unread Shelf Project (on Instagram, @whitconard hashtag #unreadshelf2018), I'm trying again. I have dozens of books I really, seriously want to read waiting for me right there on my own shelves. I may not be entirely successful, but I can try.

Have a great weekend! Read a good book!