Where there's 40 degree weather...

 ... there's no snow? None to be had?

Woke up this morning... in Florida.. to 45 degrees. The highest it got was 58, and that was after 12 noon.

It's Christmas. 

Palm trees covered in lights still has no positive affect on me. Nor does seeing fake trees lit and decorated with an air of awesomeness. The season isn't the same in the sand. The fresh sky dandruff mixed with dirty streets plus the blinking strings makes the month go quicker. And knowing there's a few more days left in the year, gives hope that it'll be better. 

As per usual, I've got photos to dump on the yearly holiday post. Difference is, today I worked. S L O W day, but still had things to do. 

The pictures were taken over the course of the week, all on an iPhone 11 (basic). No edits. The night shots are in my neighborhood, the day time was today at work. 

Quite honestly, what I get out of the night shot photos, is where a specific non-Apple brand smart device was going, over 15 years ago. It took that long for a competitor to show up, or at least a non-Windows/Android phone to catch up. Had I gotten a smart phone then, I would have gotten the phone that took amazing night photos and used it as my intro to digital cameras (plus a cell phone), but I stayed with dumb phones (flips) until 2014 when I got the iPhone 4. 

I also wanted to include the Brothers Gnome. I got the sibling to the red hat this year, and they are currently holding court in the living room, on the entertainment center. With them is the Be YOU tiful mouse and the three wise flamingos (I can't find the "Hear no evil see no evil speak no evil" flamingos on Amazon, as I picked them up in a big box store. I have found random other ones, though). Again, all taken on the iPhone.

Well, that's about it from the cold Sunshine State. 

Until another time, stay warm and healthy!

And happy holidaze :P

Cheers;

#dirtybirdy

I'm starting to get used to the Tom's of Maine Fresh Coconut Natural Strength Deodorant (emphasis not on the "fresh coconut"), I am still smelling like I somehow dipped my pits in patchouli, even though my mom told me on Friday that I "smell like pot". Welp; if I'm going to smell like weed, maybe I need to find a joint and actually enjoy the high instead of get a contact smell from my under arms? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I have to admit, using it for a week, has paid off. I'm not getting breakouts with it or any other overly gross smells from it. Even though I don't smell like the advertised coconut, I find myself not smelling like stink at the end of the day. It's not a true 48 hour freshness either - the organic smell is stronger in the morning when I apply it. By the time I get home, it's minimal. Again, it's not a horrible sweaty smell, like I've been hitting the gym for 2 days in a row, but it's not maintaining its fresh point. Plain and simple. 

By 5:30 at night (close to 11 hours after first application), I feel I smell like stale patchouli. I don't know how else to explain it. It's not a horrendous smell, like I'm turned off from wearing it, but I also feel self conscious about it. No one has mentioned to me that I stink or that they smell my deodorant from across the room, so I guess that's a good thing. 

Another "perk" is that it's keeping me dry as well - where some antiperspirant (more on the natural side) sticks leave you feeling wet after heavy (physical) activity, I'm finding that I'm maintaining a decent dryness with it. Almost like I've been wearing spray deodorant. Although, admittedly, there have been moments where my underarms felt slightly moist (stop guttering). It wasn't one of those moments where I felt I couldn't continue working - I happened to have a hoodie on and working outside (in the Florida "cold"), so sweat was (and is) inevitable. The "good" thing about even the slightest wetness? It's not leaving a mark on my uniform, where I had read reviews on Native's stuff, saying people were seeing stains. I didn't have the problem with Native, but conversely, my friend Erica did. 

Erica and I were comparing notes last time we saw each other, and were sharing experiences with Native. She found one of the turn offs was the fact her clothes were getting slightly stained, and she didn't know why. I said that I think it's due to the other oils and "chemicals" the company uses. People have said that they noticed yellowing in their outfits, and Erica agreed; she was bummed to notice areas where the shirt sleeves meet the shirt, were slightly discolored, after a day of wearing Native. I guess I should be glad I didn't have that problem? 

Needless to say, I was at a grocery store today. I had another dollar off coupon for Tom's so I ended up buying the Unscented version. The difference between Publix and Amazon is $2.85, as Amazon is listing this particular model with their Pantry brand. Honestly, since the brand is working and I had another dollar coupon, I decided to buy it. I'm not going to continue to seek it out (since it's $5.99), but at the same time, I'm not going to not buy it, if other brands are of similar or more money and it's a crap shoot to see if they work. Hell, I almost bought my "go-to" brand (Degree spray), but it was close to $1.50 more in this store... which makes sense for Amazon to have it that price as well.  

It'll be interesting, to say the least, as the Tom's Unscented is claiming to have a "24 hour natural odor protection" and is "long lasting". The coconut is "long lasting" as well, but as it only smells like coconut in the tube, the protection is based on the use of the stick on your arms. Which, the long of the short of it is, they're right. I'm not gross by the end of the day by any means. I just am finding myself becoming self conscious about the smell. Which in no way affects the stick in becoming a negative. It's in my head that it's a negative, not in its use. Call me crazy, but I hope that makes sense. It works, but it's the combination of what they're putting into the tube, that doesn't jive with the label. 

Let's just hope this works, because Native prices have one up to over $13 per stick and I don't want to have to chase around looking for a better deal.

If all else fails, I just need to keep asking myself:

What Am I? Flypaper For Freaks?

Stay safe and unsmelly, y'all... 

Cheers;

See also:

* Amazon Pantry Deals & Info

#smelllikeahippy

 Alright, so... I was in one of the local big box grocery stores a couple weeks ago. I had a store gift card to use up, so the $4 and change (ish) price tag got dropped down to under $3. 

I bought the Tom's of Maine Natural Strength Deodorant, for Women, Natural Deodorant, Fresh Coconut, 2.1 oz. As Amazon has roughly the same retail price ($4.95) as the grocer's I'm not feeling too bad about the money I spent.

I don't want to go and jinx myself, but in the week I've been wearing it, I've not had any reactions to it. The only challenge I'm facing with it, is the fact in the container it smells like a hint of coconut. On my body I smell like a patchouli'd hippy. I do have to agree with one of the reviews on Amazon, where they said they smell like they trolled through a Vermont co-op. Someone on the Tom's website claims it "smells like weed" - like they smoked up. 😶

I'm just lucky to be using it for the week and not have my pits look like I rubbed sheet metal laced with sand paper on them.

Honestly, it's not bad... but if you're not used to the fragrance of an old vegan lesbian, you're not going to like this stick. Okay, okay... don't jump down my throat. I realize I just passed judgement on a group of people who have a particular taste in certain genders, spiced smells and non traditional foods, but I happen to know a few of those humans and have memories of them from my youth. To which I correlated this smell to. My first thought (after a day) was "I smell like an old hippy lesbian", although I am not one to fall into those categories mentioned, it does happen to be an oddly clean smell, in a round about way. 

Sounds insane. I know. The oils must have seeped into my head already and screwed with my brain. No wonder I've had problems concentrating this week. 

It's weird - I know I said I don't want to jinx myself (because this brand seems to be working), but if it has all these different oils in it (coconut, castor, soybean, palm) and little of the essentials ("natural fragrance") , it's surprising that I'm not getting break outs from it. Because yes, the scent is strong of patchouli, but it's tame in the negative effect to my pits. There has to be little essential oils in this, as I've not had an adverse reaction like I've had with other products that have "made with essential oils!" on their label. The lack of coconut is confusing, but the heft of being a hippy is overpowering odd. 

Overpowering is the wrong word. I mean, I smell slightly like I bathed in some of the different earthy essentials, but no one has come up to me and complained that I need a bath or a shower. I made a comment to someone I work with, and they said they don't even smell it. Like they weren't paying attention to me, even though I need to pass by her to get to my office / desk (we work in close quarters). We usually smell certain residents when they walk into the room, as they seriously douse themselves in all the oils (Emi and Erica know who I am talking about). So for me to be non existent on the nasal radar...that's a good thing. 

I am going to finish using this flavor, but I'm on the fence on buying it again. If it's not a fluke that it doesn't smell like coconut, I'm not going to rush out and get that beachy clean feeling from another stick. I'll maybe try a different scent, but I still have a spray bottle of Dove left from when I got my Native order, plus one more Native stick. 

I'm covered for now, so I'll see what happens in the new year.

Until then... stay fresh,

Cheers;

"There's a light...."

 ... not Over at the Frankenstein Place, but at the Thanksgiving Table in Sarasota.

I went to a cousin's house for Thanksgiving this year, much like we always try to do. It was low key enough that it was a dinner for 6 instead of 16. All because there's still the pandemic going on.  

Yes, the city / state /government said to be careful traveling this holiday season because that's when things could potentially spike even more, but the house I went to, we've all been careful as it is. My mother and I don't go running around and visiting a lot of places or people (we don't go out and act like everything is normal, pre-2020 by going to the movies or loads of restaurants), the people we visited do the same thing (much to the disagreement of one of the person's sibling), and the other couple were brave enough to come over and eat (they stay in as well). 

Among the plethora of plated stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, poultry and desserts, there was a very interesting light on each table. We had sat outside on the back patio, so we all could social distance enough but still be together. 3 card tables separated by some sober feet, we ate til our bellies felt like they were going to need bigger pants. As the sun went down, the lanterns got brighter. 

These little lanterns are pretty neat - they are self contained in such a way, that they look science fiction. Gone are the days when a full scale model light is enshrouded by hard plastic. The plastic brightness is a little less than a foot in height and when you pull the bulb out (by the attached hanging handles), it's a little over a foot. The overall width is roughly the size of a can coozy. It's comfortable to grip to be able to pull the bulb up, but where it has 2 hooks on it, you don't have to worry about holding it all night - you can hang it on a pole or just have it sit on a table. 

I have to say, that when you're using them as the center piece on a card table, it can get pretty bright, as the LEDs over power the place the canister is sitting at. There was a point when I needed to push the bulb back into the holder because it was starting to bother me - I was having a little trouble focusing on the conversations at hand, as the light was too bright and the people were too spread out. You'll be able to see in the photos how bright the thing gets, and I had turned it on before the company came and while it was still light out. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of what the brightness looks like in full dark. 

Overall, I think these would be good for emergencies, camping or a party (put them in a corner and light up the area), but I wouldn't suggest using them to replace any light fixtures you already have. 

Stay safe, stay lit. 

Cheers;