Do you ever have those nagging things that you should do but you just don’t make the time? I’m talking about simple things that might take a moment longer than you’d like but in the end will actually save you time and/or money? Yeah. Me too. And today I’m thinking about 3 of them in particular.

1. Fixing the receipt printer at work. Right now it doesn’t advance the paper as much as it should when printing a receipt and that means we have to hit the button to advance it by hand. Normally this isn’t a big deal but these days we need those receipts to be long enough to go into the books and not fall out. Have we made the time to figure out how to program the printer to automatically make the receipts longer? Nope. Because it’s a pain in the ass. But would it save us time if we just spent the time making it right? You bet it would.
2. Installing my new Quip toothbrush head and battery. Are you familiar with Quip? It’s a great electric toothbrush and a great price and they automatically send you a new head and battery every 3 months. My latest refill came about 3 weeks ago. It literally takes less than 2 minutes to take out the old brush head, clean it up, install a new battery, and attach the new brush head. Have I done it? Nope.
3. Cleaning my make up brushes. I have an awesome cleaner that I buy from Senegence, it even works to remove built up foundation on my foundation brush. And it takes minutes to clean my brushes and I know I should do this once/week. My make up goes on easier and looks better when I just take a few moments to clean the brushes. But do I? Nope.

Hopefully writing this post will inspire me to get these things (and others that I’m sure I’m ignoring) done!

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The other night (err, morning) when I was lying in bed awake I was thinking of beauty products I loved as a teenager. (Don’t even try to figure out why I started thinking of this, I have no explanation for you.) I remembered, not surprisingly, three in particular.

This shampoo:

Just as it claimed, it smelled great! I actually went back and forth between this one and Lemon Up (remember how the cap was a lemon?) and Earth Born Strawberry Essence. My hair was long and straight (it was the 1970s) and I smelled fruity.

This deodorant:

I lobbied hard to get my mother to buy this for me. I remember that I was in 7th grade and I was convinced I must have BO (I’m pretty sure I didn’t) and I wanted this in blue because it (get this) matched my bedroom. Yep, I had a blue dotted swiss bedspread. So I finally got the okay to get this and I bought the blue and then . . . the joke was on me because the colors were actually representative of the scent and the blue was . . . unscented. Damn. After about a week I tried to convince my mom that I had used it all up, I even went so far as to wipe a lot of it on tissues (I think I went through a whole box of kleenex) but my mom was wise to my tricks and it was a long time before I got to buy deodorant again.

This perfume:

I literally remember when this ad was in Seventeen magazine and I chose the dress I wore to my junior prom based on this photo. Yep. White eyelet and off the shoulder with a blue ribbon running through it. Talk about sentimental memories! Was there a teen girl alive who didn’t wear this in the 1970s? The marketing was spot on and I had not only the perfume but also the powder and the lotion. I took layering scent very seriously, apparently.

This was actually a really fun post to write and it brought back not just memories of the products I used but also memories of my mom using Jean Nate after her bath and also Enjoli – the perfume for women who could bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan! Hello women’s liberation marketing. I hope this sparked some fun memories for you, too!

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This week I have 3 random things yet again. Random is how I roll these days, apparently. Let’s go!

1. I recently found the website Good Black News. I’m clearly late to the party as it’s been around for 10 years, but nevertheless I’m really glad to be reading it now. It’s run completely by volunteers, and the purpose is to focus on positive news and stories of interest about black people all over the world. I was directed to the site when I read this editorial that a friend shared on Facebook and I’ve been reading and exploring ever since.
2. If you aren’t already listening to Brené Brown’s podcast, Unlocking Us, I urge you to start. It’s described by Brown as follows: Conversations that unlock the deeply human part of who we are, so that we can live, love, parent, and lead with more courage and heart. Each week I have learned something new, sometimes about someone else and always about myself, I have laughed and cried and I truly look forward to it and find myself hanging on every word. Give it a try.
3. Speaking of podcasts . . . the Happier podcast, which is co-hosted by sisters Gretchen Rubin and Liz Craft, has a book club and on July 8th they will be discussing The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I listened to this book last year (it’s narrated by Tom Hanks and he’s wonderful) and I know many of you have also read it. I’m looking forward to hearing what Ann Patchett has to say about the book and I thought you might want to listen in as well and you’ve still got time to read the book if you haven’t already.

And that’s it for me this Thursday. If you wrote a post to share this week please include your link below. Thanks for joining me!

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I’m busy and a little scattered so how about some random thoughts this Thursday?

1. We started curbside pick up at my library this week. The Assistant Director and I met last week to discuss how best to offer this and then she went forward and put our plan into motion to make it happen. On Tuesday she and I put out 47 bags to be picked up and it seemed to go pretty smoothly. At one point I saw people out there picking up their library materials and browsing the cart of free books we put out as well and my librarian’s heart overflowed. Even if we can’t greet them personally it feels so good to be getting books into people’s hands again.
2. On Monday afternoon at 4:20 it was exactly 4 weeks since Dale got hit by a car. We paused for a moment, looked at each other, and hugged. I feel like ever since the sutures got removed last Friday and we passed this 4 week milestone things have been moving in a good direction for him. And I know Dale feels it too because on Tuesday afternoon he told me he thought he’d turned the corner . . . that he felt like himself again. He’s pretty much ditched the wheelchair except for sitting outside for periods of time or moving around in the driveway and he’s using the walker much less and the crutches much more. At home PT ends this week and next week he starts outpatient PT. Thank you all for your support and love and concern as we have maneuvered this last little while. Keep sending good healing thoughts his way, please!
3. I’ve been thinking a lot about racism in this county and the work that I need to do as a white woman. While this is at the forefront now on a national level, I started doing some work with this personally last year and I’m glad that I did because it has helped to prepare me for some of the conversations I am having now. I still have lots to learn and I’m trying to listen more than I speak and I am committed to being an anti-racist. If you are making that commitment as well, and I hope you are, I urge you to do some reading. This list is on Good Reads is a great place to start.

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