I am back from my work trip- with a cold in tow. So that’s fun. Especially since I fly out again tomorrow and if I can’t get my ears to drain my head may literally explode on takeoff. My very survival rests on this shit running it’s course and the mucinex I just took. I also took one multivitamin. On gossamer wings doth my hope rest.

The work trip was good. I did okay being away from the girls. I had a customer in a boardroom tell their bosses and my bosses that the smartest thing they ever did was put me in charge of the Texas market. I am good at my job… I might have forgotten, honestly. It was really nice to hear.

I walked out of the airbnb the company had rented for us on the second evening. Took a glass of scotch and water out to the back to watch the sunset, and as I stepped out, straight in front of me and in line with my head, was a hawk flying through the back of all the adjoining buildings. It banked up about 20 feet in front of me and flew right over the top of me and the house. Had I been seconds later I wouldn’t have seen it. I could have missed it. Does it mean anything? Aside from the way everything means something I don’t think so. But it was lovely and special and I’m glad to have seen it. The scotch was okay too. I didn’t finish it. It tasted like better times.

So! Should I be packing? Or getting out cash from the ATM? Or booking a rental car for this trip tomorrow? Sure. And I will… at some point today I will. Oh and early grief me appears to have donated my travel purse… so that’s fun. Add a trip to TJ Maxx in there too at some point to get a new one. Oh and I need to plant a rose before I leave and water plants.

All with a cold… so fun.

But for now, I have a cat sleeping next to me, and the house is quiet as the girls are with friends. So let me just plug in some things I can mention that help around here.

First up: Diatomaceous Earth.

FOUND HERE

This is a powder made from crushed up diatoms (one celled organisms whose cell walls are made from silica… so basically glass.) It is a white powder that looks like flour, but is food safe and non toxic to pets and humans, though it can irritate our eyes. Any insect that crawls through it gets the powder in the chinks of their exoskeleton and it cuts them up, desiccating them. This is why you do NOT want to use it indiscriminately- as it doesn’t differentiate between good and bad bugs. But some people dust animals in it to keep off fleas and flies. I dusted the chickens and their coop in it to keep down feather lice, mites, and flies. I’ve put it on socks to prevent ticks climbing up my shoes while hiking. I’ve put in in houseplants to kill fungus gnats. I’ve used it as a light dusting in hair while treating lice on the girls. I’ve put it around the gap in the back door where waterbugs were coming in. It also was the ONLY thing that got rid of recurrent maggots in the outside trash can (gross). It is really inexpensive and available on Amazon and I will always keep some around, honestly- it’s been so, so useful.

Second up: Birthday Candles

Stop putting candles on the whole cake and cut a large piece, put the candles in that, and put that in front of the birthday boy or girl to blow on. Like come on people- we learned from Covid, right? It’s FINE.

Third up: Leftovers

I am getting better about food waste with my sheer and insane level of exhaustion and lack of enjoyment cooking brings me lately- and so when I do cook you best believe I’m not wasting the leftovers. The two tricks I have found to this is to cook something, eat something else the next day, and then eat the leftovers the day after that. Ala leapfrog, if you will.

The other trick is to take leftovers and turn it into a soup. Literally anything can be turned into a soup. Enchiladas to enchilada soup. Dry pork chops chipped up and turned into a pozole soup. Etc etc. The only thing I can’t turn into soup is lettuce, but you best believe the leftovers of kale or spinach salad can be used for that purpose. And look- I’m not serving anything inedible to the girls, but they are well versed in the concept of “you don’t have to love it but you do have to eat it” dinners.

It’s helping get us through and prevents ordering takeout all the time.

Forth up (I hate this formatting but I started with it so I guess it continues): Flowers

This seems so obvious, but I’m putting it here anyway. Once a mixed flower arrangement has started to turn the corner it’s time to split it up. Invariably there will be some foliage and filler flowers that are still in good shape when the main flowers of the arrangement have started to wilt. Pluck those out, cut them shorter, and make a small arrangement of them. And then recycle the florist vase- they’re too big and you will literally never reuse them.

When you cut the salvageable parts down you want the stems to be 1 to 1.5 times the height of the vase you put them in. So, for example, if I was using a 4″ tall canning jar for this, I wouldn’t want my foliage or flowers to be taller than 6″ – that will ensure your ratio looks right. That one and a half to one to one ratio is the simplified version of the Golden Ratio and is what the Parthenon is built to and what some spirals of seashells form to (the TRUE Golden Ratio is 1.612). In flower arranging just know that 1 to 1.5 can be eyeballed and that it’s close enough for girls in this town, dig?

That often times means you are cutting off a lot of stem and this makes people nervous… but flowers look better too short than too tall, so it’s worth doing, promise. And besides, fresh flowers only look good when they’re fresh… dying fresh flowers are depressing and also a no no in feng shui… so get rid of them once they start to turn and keep and reuse the parts still in good shape.

Perfume (I’m changing the numbering system style/format now… I can’t do it any more)

This is the best damn perfume I’ve ever run across. FOUND HERE I found it because I LOVED the smell of the Dry Bar Triple Sec styling spray. A google search on what perfume is closest to that led me to this. It’s like cotton candy and vanilla. Sweet and clean. I get more compliments on this than anything else I’ve ever ever worn. It doesn’t change with a body pH and smell different the longer you wear it like some perfumes, and is a scent I can wear when tossing on jeans and a tshirt and it doesn’t feel “overdone.” I originally bought a tester size from Scent Split, but as I wear it everyday now I did end up springing for the full size bottle. I was never a perfume person before this, but now… I guess I am. I would recommend it to anyone.

Journal and Pens

These journals and these pens combine to the smoothest and most delicious journal writing experience out there. Pens FOUND HERE journals FOUND HERE (There are many other Peter Pauper styles to choose from.)

Seriously. The glide and feel of one of those pens over the smoothness of that paper has to be experienced. And unlike “slick” paper the ink doesn’t stay wet on top of it. This isn’t a slick finish to the pages, it’s just a smooth feeling to the pages… I just love it. I use one on my dream journal, and I’m onto my second one for my daily journal I use… I may never buy another one, these are hands down the best.

As for the pens- I was never a big colored pen girl, myself. But my husband loved the navy blue and brown pens from this set- unavailable to buy on their own, generally, so I would buy these packs, put the navy blue, blue, black, brown, and red in his Christmas stockings, and then use the rest for myself. But you can certainly buy them in just black or blue packs too. At this point I’ve grown accustomed to writing in purple and green… and I know it’s time to invest in another pack when I get down to the pink and oranges. I have never used the yellow one once in my life though.

They’re the best. (I like the fine point ones)

Sound Collar not Shock Collar for Dogs

Last up because this is wearing me out now: I have a collar I am using to train Wilson to train him out of the barking loops he used to get stuck in. FOUND HERE

It has been a godsend. He’s a sensitive moron, so the shock collar I had used on Birdie to train her not to chase the chickens was WAY to much for him. I didn’t want to hurt him, I just needed a way to interrupt his poor moronic little pea sized brain when he’s stuck in a bad behavior loop- which is always either barking or trying to pee on my kale. The battery lasts for days and days and the remote is super easy to use. It is also way less expensive than the shock collars you can buy at pet stores. It’s held up great and has made a huge and positive impact on his behavior.

Top button on the remote is sound, middle is a vibration feature, and bottom button is for shock. For Wilson I find the sound feature is usually all it takes. I’ve only once or twice used the vibrate feature. And I’ve never used the shock feature. The thing is a 10 of 10 and plays a big role in reducing his reactivity and helping to turn him into a good boy.