The weather is changing

It looks like I got in from the gym just in time; the weather is changing and it's looking like the sky can't decide if it wants to rain or snow. If we were up north, it would be snowing (like it currently is for a lot of New England... weather reports are saying it's bad in places). But since I am currently too far south to get the flurry stuff, it's going to rain. 

Although, the past couple days, we've been waking up to super dense fog. Like, thick enough that you can't see the intersection lights down the road. If we had enough pollution around here, I reckon it would be a "pea souper" type of morning. But alas, this is the tropics and the only pollution we have is algae bloom on the ocean and Saharan Dust issues during summer. 

The humidity is at 92% even though "it's only" 77° (at the start of this posting and according to The Weather Channel app). 

We also have a "dense fog advisory" until tomorrow morning. 

My mother and I went shopping the other day because she wanted to see what some of the local stores were doing about "after Christmas sales". 

I saw some funny towel and pot holder sets that Amazon sells the brand name of (Park Designs). The two sets that I saw are probably buried somewhere in the pages of the website, but there are plenty to choose from online. I did leave the price tag in the pictures so you'd see what it's retailing in case you decide to buy on the A to Z site. 

The same goes for a smooth "Bossa Nova Christmas" CD that makes you want to sit back, relax with a fire going in the fireplace and some sort of spirit sitting next to you. 

Unless you want to go crazy and do a little damage in places...

Napkins here on Amazon

It's totally up to you.

Considering it's New Years Eve, why not go wild? Last Tuesday of the year; make the rest of the week an epic start of 2025.

My wild will be going to bed early tonight. I haven't seen the ball drop in over a decade and I haven't had a glass of alcohol in almost 10. Considering I've been going to bed way too late the past couple weeks, I've been having problems during the day. I need to get back to a routine.  So I'm going to start doing better and hope it'll continue. 

You don't know until you try, right? Especially since I've been going to the gym almost every day since the end of May. I need to continue that as well. 

I am going to end it here; I'm a bit parched as I haven't been hydrating a lot either the past couple weeks. Dumb on me because I go do a lot of stuff at the gym and today I came home and started this post after my shower. So off I go, got to get some water and check in with people. 

Do what you need to; go out and celebrate. Be kind and considerate to each other. See you next year.

Cheers;

"Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise"

 [...] Listen to the wind blow, down comes the night

Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies

Break the silence, damn the dark, damn the light

 © Christine McVie / John McVie / Lindsey Buckingham / Mick Fleetwood / Stephanie Nicks. 

Fleetwood Mac. 1977. 

"The Chain". 

Rumours.

Some one in my community still doesn't know when dawn or dusk are, so the sign to go Nightswimming is still valid. I guess REM has been playing too much in that person's head? 

I don't know what the person who made the sign was thinking, but here it is, Christmas Eve, and people probably want to take their family to the pool. Proving no one pays attention, the hours of operation aren't going to affect them because "we all know better" than being allowed to swim from night to day. Especially since our community security system yells at anyone who is on the pool deck as soon as the sun stops shining (trust me, I experienced this myself). 

So people escaping the cold, will be splashing away in 75° Florida weather. And then go back to whatever frigid climate they came from, next week. 

I caught a gecko on my lanai.

He's been rehomed to the front of the house. 

He's not too big, as I've gotten bigger ones in this cup. 

But he's also the second one I've caught this week. They're coming in to warm up, but we attempt to get them before they run around our house and hide forever. We take them to another part of the yard and see what happens. 

I'm not mean, I'm just rehoming him. Might do them good to meet the neighbors better. 

I couldn't stand the Bath & Body Works "Eddie's Leather Jacket" soap, so my mother is using it in the kitchen. In its place, I opened the "Demogorgon" soap. 

Which, like all the Stranger Things x Bath & Body Works products, is no longer selling on any website. 

Unless you're looking to buy from third party vendors (on all sites). 

Amazon only has the candle from other vendors, so I can't speak of the quality of the products being sold. I can only speak of the soap I bought at a physical B&BW store. 

The soap smells so much better than the other one. I'm not biased because of the patchouli aspect, but this soap smells cleaner, 100%. 

It makes me excited to try the candle when I have opportunity. 

It's the first night of Chanuka and it's also Christmas Eve. 

I went to the gym this morning while my mother went to the pool. We had lunch and then went to CVS and Publix because both were open and we needed some things (we have company, and they are leaving tomorrow, to go back north). Tonight for supper, it'll be a mix of things but not any type of take away. Nor will we do that tomorrow, because we will be busy making sure the company has everything they need and packed to go home. 

I really don't know what's planned. Maybe catch up on some streaming that we missed this week. If not, I started the next chapters in the Conjuring universe, so I know I have the Annabelle and Nun series to finish up. I've been slow on the uptake with a lot of the movies, but at least I have them on DVD. 

I did watch The First Omen recently. As a stand alone movie, it was okay. But to be hovering around the Omen universe, it was all right. Not the best. I mean, I could see where the directors and writers tried to make it jive to the 1970s movies, but it wasn't completely gelling. Much like the remake Julia Stiles was in, 18 years ago. It wasn't a complete reboot but it wasn't a stand alone either. 

Beggars can't be choosers. It's interesting to see these old movies get remade or continued, but at what point do we say "stop; create something new and inspiring"? 

That is a future question meant solely to be answered when we find it, I suppose. 

At any rate, whatever your holiday flavor is, enjoy it and don't try anything stupid. You're still being watched by those who believe in outer worldly magic and if you haven't gotten your wrapped gifts yet, they're on the way.

Be as happy as Buddy the Elf.

Cheers;

Minty fresh?

The other day when I wrote about the Aura Cacia "Calm" oil, I didn't talk about the Peppermint "Cooling" oil. 

As with the other version, I had a free sample. 

When I opened it, I knew better than to get it everywhere, so I poured it all into a two ounce cup with a cover and took it from there. 

The oil smells amazingly pepperminty. It's sharp enough to wake you up and know that you're sterile for a minute. 

However, my smelly challenge at the moment is... I've got Bath & Body Works' "Eddie's Leather Jacket" foaming hand soap in my bathroom and the scent of that collaboration doesn't jive well with the mentha piperita. At all. In fact, I feel like this particular B&BW Stranger Things fragrance sucks on its own. I'm sorry for all the things that the retailer does with it's brand management, but hopping on the nostalgia train with the sci fi show about kids in the 1980s, I'm not totally sold on it. 

The "Fragrance notes" are: "black leather, soft musk and smoked suede". It's currently discontinued from the B&BW site and Amazon seems to be out of it too. Some third party vendor was distributing it at one point, and another vendor has the candle version for $41.90 because they're including a charcoal scrub bar soap with it (which probably is not Bath and Body Works approved). 

It was not my idea to get Eddie's Leather Jacket soap or anything else. It was gifted to me by someone because they thought I'd like it, due to the fact I was watching Stranger Things. I didn't like the smell of it when I saw it in the store, so I didn't buy it when I had the opportunity. I felt like it was something that I'd want to immediately scrub off my hands because I didn't feel clean with it. I don't feel clean with it as I type this. However, when I had the opportunity to buy a B&BW x ST product, I did buy the The Demogorgon Candle in the store, because it was the only one I thought smelled good. Yes, it has "Black Orchids, Spicy Cedarwood, and Dark Patchouli" as its "fragrance notes", so I'm going to be filling the air with patchouli again. Guess everything comes back to that? LOL. No, I haven't burned it yet because I'm working on the Flannel candle. Now that's sharp and clean scent too, but it gives me a headache after a while, honestly. 

I know.. I've been (negatively) circling the aroma post with everything.

TL;DR: the hand soap I use in my bathroom doesn't jive with the Peppermint oil I put on my arms and legs. The mix of the two (very different) products is horrible. I want to take a shower because of this, but if it's just to wash off the hand soap, I don't want to waste a warm shower (considering it's 67° out right now and will drop another 10-15 degrees over night. I'm already in my long pajamas and ready for bed (at almost 6pm. Dude, I'm so old). 

It's sad, really. I think the peppermint oil would be nice, but also, I'm thinking as it's sitting on me, it's not so great. I mean, there's no residue on my arms or legs so it has done its job by keeping me feeling clean (although rubbing my arms, I feel a bit staticy, which isn't the best feeling), but my room smells like a mix of things and I don't like that. I probably should have waited to open the oil when I was finished with the hand soap, but I just opened that the other day. 

Since I have the cup marked, I think I'm going to wait it out. I'm going to finish the hand soap and not use the oil. I'll just keep using regular lotion to heal my hands and feet, and see how long it lasts me before I totally throw out the soap and start new with something else. I hate to be that type of greedy waster, but there's only so much you can take of a product, when you didn't buy it yourself. It's a nice gesture, sure, but I wish I was asked first. I buy the soaps all the time, but I am very particular about which ones I get. Everyone has their preferences, and I sometimes walk out of that store with a headache, but I know I've gotten things that I can stand and use. 

Hopefully no one will send me to the Upside Down for this post... 

Cheers; 

Welcome to the road less traveled?

Couple things for tonight and the last may explain the post title. 

I was in Sprouts the other day and got a free sample of Aura Cacia Chill Pill Body Oil. Amazon is listing it as both an essential oil (as a room spray or for a diffuser) and a body oil. Most of the versions are seemingly from third parties for this smell, so it is a matter of what your preference is. 

This explains (possibly) why Sprouts was handing out freebies. I don't know if they're getting it from Aura Cacia itself, or another place, because I didn't see it on the shelves anywhere, unless I completely missed it. This might be such a new product, that it's hiding in plain sight in an aisle. 

But I got a 0.1 Fluid ounce square of the body oil. There's so much liquid in it, I didn't realize there'd be extra for days. 

I had so much on my hands, that my palms were shiny. I should have taken a picture of that because it was comical. 

I do have to note about the link above for the oil before I go on. 

Please be forewarned, if this is something you are going to purchase as skin care, the suggestion with the straight essential oil would be (per Google):

• To use essential oils on the skin, it is crucial to dilute them with a carrier oil, such as coconut oil or jojoba oil. 
• The recommended dilution ratio is typically 1-3 drops of essential oil to 10 ml of carrier oil. 
• Apply the diluted mixture directly to the skin or add it to a moisturizer or serum. 

Because there's no carrier agent (coconut oil or jojoba oil) in the straight essential version on Amazon, unless you're buying the body oil from one of the third parties. The straight oil is missing a lot of extras, which makes the body oil smell pretty good (freshly clean like a dirty hippy). I didn't sample the regular oil because they weren't giving it out at the time.

The full list of ingredients of the body version are:

Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Citrus Sinensis (Sweet Orange) Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Pogostemon Cablin (Patchouli) Oil, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Ocimum Basilicum (Sweet Basil) Oil, Chamaemelum Nobile (Roman Chamomile) Oil, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E) Oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Oil.

Where as the basic essential oil is:

Citrus Sinensis (Sweet Orange) Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Pogostemon Cablin (Patchouli) Oil, Mentha x Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Ocimum Basilicum (Sweet Basil) Oil, Chamaemelum Nobile (Roman Chamomile) Oil.

Therefore, this last list would be your diffuser level smell. 

Even the diffuser link says for a "Calming Massage Oil:

1. Combine Aura Cacia Chill Pill and Sweet Almond Oil in a bottle.
2. Apply as a massage."

Again, please read carefully on which you're going to buy, but as I was writing before I got squirreled, the sample had a lot of oil in it. I almost made a huge mess in my room last night because I wanted to try it as a regular skin care item and not massage item. 

My knuckles have been cracking lately and not feeling so well because I've been washing my hands a lot (and using the Bath and Body Works Cleansing Gel Hand Soap in Eucalyptus Spearmint, so I think that's been taking a toll on my skin. My fingers have been drying out and rough around the edges after this soap. I'm hoping it's not a sign that I'm allergic to yet another type of "essentials" on my skin (much like the armpit fiascos with lemongrass and Arm & Hammer / Tom's). 

So it was a new thing to try, this calming oil. I wanted to use it before bed so I could sleep all night. I'm not getting enough rest due to back issues, so it's been a rough couple months. I'm willing to try anything within reason, so lavender scents mixed with the last of the Barker Wellness night time gummies, what the hell... right? 

Both products taken together seemed to work, as I slept for a little over 9 hours with no interruption. I'll have to try just the oil tonight and see what happens. 

The oil itself, again, is messy. However, the smell brings back memories from my youth, due to the patchouli. It's like when I was wearing the (now discontinued) Tom's of Maine Natural Strength Fresh Coconut Deodorant. I loved that product because it was (not totally) cheap, easy, lasted all day, and smelled amazing. I didn't get the "ew" stinks from it. In fact, it smelled like patchouli for some reason, and every time I got a whiff of my pits, I smelled the perennial herb instead of coconut. It was the weirdest thing. 

Therefore having the plant in this oil, is great. It's not a bad funk of a smell. I actually smelled more of the citrus than the lavender, but didn't get a sniff of the mints in the calming balm. It was strange because this morning and through out the day, I smelled the patchouli more than anything else. Even my watch smells like patchouli, as I write this, a mere 24 hours later. 

Yes, I wore my watch to bed last night, after putting the oil on my arms. You can see my watch and mismatched band in one of the pictures above (the watch is a Series 3 which isn't sold online anymore because it's old as dirt, apparently). 

Anyway, when I had told my mother about trying the oil as a lotion, I told her to take some off of my hands because I had too much. She did, and immediately smelled the lavender and patchouli. What was the first thing she says? "It smells like the 1960s. Hippies". 

Thanks, Ma. Just what I need. 

She then said she loves the smell. 

Great, because I got enough for the both of us, in this little sample.

She used some more and than realized she better not put any on her feet (heels) because she didn't want to get up in the middle of the night and fall on the tiles in her room, as this would be a tripping hazard. 

Duh? Much like anything you put on your feet, including regular lotion? That's what socks are for, especially white cotton, which is what people usually suggest with Vaseline on your heels to help heal your feetsies. 

I guess that means we'll have to look into maybe buying a small bottle in Sprouts, if I find it. I don't want to pay out the butt for it. That's my problem, because I know it's not something I would use every day. I like the smell, I like how the product soaked right in to my skin (outside of my hands because I had a lot that I was working with), but this really might not be an every night routine. If they had a roll on, which would be cleaner, maybe I would think about it. It did help me sleep and my elbows in particular aren't as scratchy today, but my knuckles need some more help. I've got a few weeks of wear and tear of washing on them. So the oil would probably be better than the roll on, but that's also what regular lotion is for.

I've probably gone in such circles right now, that none of this makes sense, so I'll go on to my next topic. 

I was in a store today and saw a shopping bag for purchase. 

It's one medium reusable bags to go shopping with. I had such a laugh at it because UFOs and drones are out in the news again this past week.

I meant to share the image with one of my alien loving friends. Cat, if you're reading this, I forgot to text it to you earlier. I got wrapped up in things today. 

However, I can't find the image online. A Google Image search led me to Stupell Industries Welcome Roswell New Mexico UFO Canvas Wall Art, Design by Ziwei Li art piece, which as as close to this bag as you're going to get. Minus the "Welcome to the road less traveled" and adding "Roswell New Mexico" instead. 

Whoever is marketing the bag has taken a little advantage of this picture. I don't know who owned it first, but I did try to find the background image and then the wording, but only came up with the Stupell version. 

Which means there's someone out there who likes a little Robert Frost, a little bit of the southwest, and a little bit of extraterrestrial beings / UFOs. 

I can't explain it; I didn't nick it. I found two completely different things that look highly similar. I just wanted to share what I found. 

If anyone cares to try to guess at this, please go right ahead.

Until then, I need to do some laundry and figure out how to keep my room smelling like a few people from my youth while I dream about my back not hurting. 

Cheers;

I miss Halloween

... so much, that I haven't taken the skeleton tongs out of my car yet. 

Yes, I have skeleton arms in my car, and I don't remember the packaging saying they're salad tongs, when I had bought them. 

They glow in the dark and I guess by looking at them, they appear to be for salads. 

Who cares what they're for? I wanted Halloween decorations for my car this year and just haven't been bothered to take them out yet. So they're going to stay where the are until further notice. 

Just don't mind the dirt on my windshield and the cracking Autism Awareness Heart Puzzle Car Window Decal Sticker. It's another one of those decals that are getting beat on by the Florida sun all year round. Another picture proving how rough this state is for outside stuff. 

My blog post title is an art piece by a gothic guy named Ludwig Van Bacon. He has a piece on his website that is a Christmas tree outfitted with spooky decor. Unfortunately, it's not on Amazon for me to link to, but the A → Z shop has a lot of his other works (which I find oddly fascinating. But readers beware, a lot of his work is Not Safe For Work, but other pieces are totally retro for those who want to relive 1980s, 1990s and very early 2000s gems). 

As I was on Amazon to link to the stuff above, my front page had "stuff you may like" / "keep searching for". It's all the alcohol holders I was talking about the other day. 

There are two that caught my eye, both guitar based liquid holders. 

The first one is listed as Champagne Wall Holder Champagne Wine Metal Cup Holder Guitar Shaped LED Champagne Wine Cup Holder with 12 Slots Liquor Bottle Display Rack for Party Club, KTV, Bar, Birthday, Wedding, Anniversary. It has LED uplights on the glasses and looks so fricking cool. If I were still a drinker and having routine parties, for $102.99, I'd probably think about this. It's totally a conversation piece and looks solid (not because it's iron material, but it looks really cool).

The second is listed as Guitar Whiskey & Wine Decanter & Mahogany Base - The Wine Savant 1000 ML Glass Decanter with 2 10oz Glasses 14" For Whiskey Music Lover & Guitar Player Gifts Musician Music Lovers. I know a few whiskey people that would adore this, especially since there's an electric guitar version (and their house is full of plugged in instruments). This one too, is a conversation piece, but not necessarily something I feel I need to obtain for my own drinking. It would male a neat gift, but I don't know if I would spend over $115 for someone, not knowing if they would use it more than once. 

This is what happens during season. You see one thing online and all of a sudden you're getting links to everything else. 

It is also why I haven't felt the need to take out the skeleton hands from my car. I guess I can always start singing "Gimme your hands 'cos you're wonderful" and throw on David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (of which track 11 is Rock 'N' Roll Suicide has the lyric quoted). I am not immune to random blasting, as I used to turn on track 21 (Hang On To Yourself) from Bowie at the Beeb (The Best of the BBC Sessions 1968-1972) while I zipped down Route 24 when I was commuting back and forth to school. I'd always get to the point in my drive where I'd hit a landmark on the drive and that song would pop up. So I'd turn it up, turn down the windows (if it was nice), and just sing to myself. Wild out. I'm crazy like that, but we all have our moments. 

Which also means my time is up for today's post. We have some plans over the next couple hours and I have taken too long at my computer today. 

So be well, be safe. Don't get caught in any snow drifts or tunnel flooding. Take your sugar high and wrap all your presents. Last day for USPS Ground Advantage shipping is December 18, so you have four (4) more days to get your stuff together if you expect your people to open it on the 25th or 26th, depending on holiday.

Until then;

Cheers;

It's not tie-dye...

... it's 365 days of Florida sun beating down on it, changing its colors.

I keep old t-shirts around as seat covers in my car. Once they get too ratty / tattered on the seat, they get refurbished as cleaning rags. 

I've kept a New England Revolution shirt as the driver side seat for several years now, and it's high time it gets changed out. The holes are starting to become pits and the inside is shredding to the point little cotton dust bunnies are roaming around my car. 

Side note, allegedly lint from your dryer can be used as fire starter if you're out camping or need heat in your fire place at home. It's not to be confused with the stuff Amazon sells, as the website has boxes of pellets that look like lint but aren't (they're a mix of charcoal, pine and or other materials). It's pre-wrapped and ready to be sparked. Versus the stuff you scrape off your dryer trap, which is all the materials from your clothing, including hair and other nasties you might not want to think about. I've read that if you put a decent amount of a lint ball inside a (finished / used) toilet paper roll, it's got enough of a bang to allow you to save a couple pieces of small timber for your pit. It's almost the equivalent to using old newspapers to line the bottom of the fire and start cooking that way. 

But I digress. I'm not going camping any time soon and my condo doesn't have a fireplace. So I don't need to save the cotton; I can rid the bunnies one dust buster cycle at a time. 

I did want to show what years of sun can do for fading on things, though. Which is the whole point of this post. 

I took various photos: 

In the living room

In the guest room

and outside on the lanai

Just to show various light sources and that I wasn't trying to do any trickery. 

It's so weird to see how the colors are transformed through out the shirt. You can tell at the sleeves and bottom of the shirt how dark the blue originally was, and how the constant sun has faded it to not a light blue, but a very well mutedly lighter shade of dark blue. Almost dirty dark blue. Some points are whiter than others in the natural light, but overall in the house, it looks like it needs a good washing. 

My car is a 2013 Hyundai, and it's starting to show the fading on spots around the vehicle as well. The handles to open the doors, the internal seat belt "push" button is now a soft but very light salmon pink instead of a deep red. The Boston Red Sox decals are now a starched white instead of the red we're all used to. 

It boggles my mind to see the slow creep of things fading into the past. I try to take good care of things, and the longer I seem to be keeping them, the more prone to slipping away they become. 

Which is weird because I have one of those Himalayan pink salt lamps in my bedroom.

I've had it for at least six years already, if not more, and there's no sign of it wearing down. There are some spots where it's starting to clump off, but a simple brushing over it, solves everything. As if it's still brand new.

The night table that it's sitting on, is as old as I am. It's been sanded down and repainted so many times, I'm surprised it's still standing. I've got so many stickers on it, that it's a crazy advertisement for various bands, quotes, protests, and everything in between.  I acquired them either from (band) promo days at a local (New England) music store (okay, Newbury Comics) or through various promotional advertisement with things I was looking in to at the time of receiving. With some of the bumper stickers (quotes), I found them to be inspiring. Or just cool and interesting. Or as an ally for friends and family.

I keep rambling off topic because I've got other things to post as far as pictures are concerned.

The other day I was in the passenger seat of the car and we drove through the resident side gate into my community. I always like to see who's got their Wi-Fi up and what my phone catches. 

Well, there are some neighbors around the gate with pretty epic and weird sprays:

I did edit the generic ones out - like the security system the community uses. By the look of it, someone likes Dr. Seuss and I happened to not catch "Pink Fluffy Unicorn", which usually pops up every once in a while. Someone obviously has a Google Nest, but I don't know what the hell "The Chinese" is. Someone doing random Asian take away? Who knows. That's the first time I've seen that one. I tried Googling that "we piranha" one and have gotten mixed reviews. No one can really answer it, but it seems like it has to do with Comcast's modem. 

The holidays are nearing closer and for those who love wine (my mother needs to pick up a bottle of Kosher wine to take to a house we might be going to), there's some pretty interesting wine bottle holders on the market. We have something similar to this table, but it doesn't hold glassware. It holds about a dozen bottles, all spaced out. 

What got me thinking about the drinkies, was that I saw this holder in one of the stores the other day:

I thought it was different and rustic. I wish I got a different angle of it, so you can see the sides. But it's a giant bottle of wine (outline) that holds four bottles. I tried searching for a "wine bottle shaped wine rack", and all I got was this. Several different hits but mainly single holders or more than 4 bottles, holder. I wonder, for those who don't drink alcohol, if you can fit cola bottles in the spaces? 1 liter bottles or even two liters if you're lucky? I know racks exist for water and soda bottles / cans, but it makes me wonder if a wine rack can hold a thinner bottle of something else? I might have to try it on ours one day. 

I feel like I have squirreled enough on today's post and have listed way too many odd things for one shot. So I will stop here and let everyone decompress. If you're not a wine drinker, there are other "Holiday gift ideas" on Amazon, but the first page is food, clothes and a couple gift cards. 

Should you choose the snacks option, keep in mind, Christmas Calories Don't Count. Just be nice to one another. 

Yes, that's a decal and a skeleton on my bathroom door. I keep them up year round.

Until next time...

Cheers.

See also (photos taken / editing):

* All photos taken on an iPhone 11

* All editing done with Photoshop

Stickers on table:

* Bon Jovi promo sticker for Lost Highway

* Eleanor Roosevelt quoted bumper sticker: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent

* Always Remember You're Unique. Just Like Everyone Else – Bumper Sticker/Decal

* Mickey Avalon promo sticker for Stroke Me

* (HRC) Equality sticker

* The OBX sticker is "Don't Drill off OBX". Not available on Amazon.

* Recycle decal

* "Tank" is from the Surf's Up movie

* Jiminy Cricket Umbrella sticker

* Spongebob Squarepants faces stickers

* Alien head sticker

* Union Jack sticker

* Australia flag sticker

* There's a JLab sticker that came with the Go Sport earbuds

* plus many more that are not in blurry background pictures

Change the batteries

I can't tell if it's a battery issue, a struggling issue, or some other type of issue, but my mother attempted to use the Kitchen Mama Mini Electric Can Opener again today. When the battery door is off of the machine, the contraption whirrs like no tomorrow. It's ready to fight and it knows it'll win. When the door is on the machine and it's on a can, the opener struggles to maintain full speed. Almost like being on and in motion / gear is draining the battery to the point you've used it too much and for too long and you forgot to charge it after you used it last... like a decade ago and you're lucky it's still running.

Don't get me wrong, it works wonders - this opener. It's so cool to just attach it to the lid of the can and let it go round and round, but you do need to attach it in such a way, that it will latch on and actually create a different type of seal. You still need to find a way to loosen the newly formed cover because the seal is that good, that you need to pry it off the can. 

Which is great, considering we are all so used to the lid falling in to what we just opened and that's not cool (it's gross). If you plan on keeping the can for something else (or splitting what is inside), the new top is a nice way to have everything together instead of using multiple containers. Or, if you recycle / upcycle, you know you have a top to the can and have it all together. 

You'll see the struggle in the video I'm posting below, on trying to get the lid off, however. Even with two hands, my mother had said that she needed a spatula for help prying on a different can, because she was afraid the rounded / buffered edge was going to cut her. It's slightly sharp, and I think if you're holding it too tight, you will get cut. So you have to be really cognizant of what you're doing. It's duller than a normal edged lid, but it still can do damage nonetheless.

So, after a few false starts again today, we got open two different sized cans for a meat sauce for dinner. We opened a small (6 ounce) Publix brand tomato paste can and a big Tuttorosso (28 ounce) can of tomato puree. Both went in the Crockpot with seasonings and hamburger meat (which is what my mother is working on as I was making a video of the can opener doing its thing). 

We currently have enough leftovers, that we've got meals for days. All because she bought enough meat and put enough stock in the two quart slow cooker, it simmered enough gravy that we can do all sorts of stuff with it.  

She originally intended on giving some to a neighbor (as it is, all cooked) and when she offered to bring some to them, the person thanked her but said they had already eaten (this was around 5:30). Their spouse is in the hospital and my mom thought a fresh home cooked meal might be good for the person instead of worrying about dinner. By the time the question was raised, the person had already eaten and was too nervous to accept the food, as they are worried about the spouse. Which is totally understandable. So we got back in our house, split the sauce up into multiple packages, and froze a couple containers for when we get company in another week or two. 

Be advised: at one point in the video, my mother dripped the puree can on the counter so I had to reach for some paper towel and still try to get the video of the can opening, so don't mind the crazy back and forth when you watch it. I also dumbly shot in vertical (portrait) mode rather than horizontal (landscape) mode because I wasn't thinking. The part I was thinking about, was "don't get everything that's sitting on the counter in this video like last time". I'm not that bright some days. Haha.

I used my iPhone 11 to film the video, Pinnacle Studio to edit the video and I also used stock audio that comes with the software. Again, the video exported with some arrows looped in. I still can't figure out how that happens. Apologies in advance. 

Hopefully it's just the generic batteries we use in this opener, that makes it slow, because taking 3 minutes to open a 28 ounce can is not so economical. Especially since you have to put the opener on the top of the can just right, to get it to turn on, and then start moving. 

It really did take a few starts and pushes to get it going. The generic AA batteries we used were opened for this specific thing too, and they were bought... maybe in July? So it's not like they're 5 years old; just five months old. Guess for these purposes, using name brands are always better? Who knows though. When we open the Duracell pack, I'll be sure to update the review and say we've tried those, and let it be known how they fared. 

Until then, stay hungry. 

And sorry for being all over the place with this. 😟

Cheers;

"Yes we can can"

Okay, it's not the protest / coming together / "we can work it out" song that the Pointer Sisters' had on the radio - Yes We Can Can (track 1 off of Yes We Can Can: The Best Of The Blue Thumb Recordings) or the Young@Heart Chorus cover of the song on their 2008 Documentary. But my mom received a Kitchen Mama Mini Electric Can Opener as a surprise gift from a cousin because he wanted her to try it before he bought one for himself. He has a new house and wanted something small and easy and knew she not only needed a new opener, but she would gladly give it a shot. 

Since this week has been soup weather in Florida (it's been high of 75 all week with no humidity. Low of 40 and they're expecting frost at some point), my mother tried the opener by making meals for a few days. 

It took a few tries once we put the batteries in (2 AA), but we figured it out (because of false starts). It has to align just right with the can in order to work properly. You don't think it's doing its thing, but it really is. You just need to trust the process, I guess. Watching it spin around the can, all I could think about was the line in the song "yes you can can" because the opener was turning with a struggle and we wanted to help it out, but knew not to touch it while it was going. It has to move without help or the can won't open right and you'll break the mechanisms in the opener.

As much as the description says it doesn't leave sharp edges, you have to still be careful because the cut creates a lid to put back on the can. So you need to attempt to wiggle off the new top since it no longer falls into the can you just opened. 

Don't mind the K-Cup in the bottom picture; we try to combine recycling when we can. 

The lid is dull, but it's still sharp because it's piercing the sides of the rim. It's weird to explain and the pictures don't do it justice. 

Not even the video helps, but it did seriously take almost three minutes to open the can, and these are new batteries. 

I think; it doesn't sound like they're new batteries, but at least it worked? 

My mother also took a video and sent it to her cousin. She gave her review and he was excited. He told my mother's brother, who ended up buying one for himself as well. So now three people have this can opener because one person wanted it for himself. What a whim of a purchase? Too bad ours is orange, because it doesn't match everything else in the house. Cousin should have spent the extra thirty one dollars and bought the rechargeable red one. Shh; don't tell anyone or it may just happen. We tend to get random stuff sent to us - sometimes amazing, sometimes not so amazing (once in a while we get repeats). 

Switching gears, while I was in Bradenton last week, we stopped in Ollie's. 

I ended up buying five Tazo Iced Passion Tea concentrates because it's the lowest I've seen them in years ($1.99). 

I used to buy them in Publix for $3.49 and sometimes found a dollar off coupon (making them $2.49). Then the price went up to 4.49 and 5.49. There's been no coupons for a while either. Now they're up to $6.49 and I've been saying "nope" ever since they were 4.49.

Walmart has it for $5.28 and that's still too expensive.

So seeing it for under two bucks, I'm like "don't be greedy", but I was the fat kid in a candy store. I couldn't help it; I like this tea, as much as I know I shouldn't drink it. Spending ten bucks and change was worth it, because I don't have to worry about watching for any type of "sale" for a while. 

Yes, before you ask, the dates on the Tazo are far enough out, that I am happy to report that they won't spoil before I have opportunity to drink them. I might end up trying a little in a smoothie one of these days.. see how that plays out.

To go online shopping, Amazon has it for over six dollars, but it's one of those "sold by Whole Foods" things attached to it as well as an added delivery fee (almost $14), so that's out of the question. However, there's a two pack that is "Sold by Amazon" and with subscribe and save option for $10.98. It's retailing for  $14.99, so the sale price right now makes it $5.49 a box. Which is a dollar cheaper than Publix and 21 cents more than Walmart. However, if you're already doing a monthly subscription for something with Amazon, it goes down to $10.43 and you save five per cent. 

Is it worth it? For the little times I drink it lately, no. But as a treat, yes, espcially for the deal I got. You still need to do your research when buying things. This is something I've said time and again, and this particular thing shows how prices fluctuate in different places. Even the Ollie's sticker says "Their price $4.49", if you look close enough. 

Ollie's is good like that: They put a competitor's price on the tag so you know you're getting a "deal", as big or little as that may be. I've seen a swing of fifty cent difference, all the way up to ten dollars or more. Shopping at Ollie's makes me miss shopping at Building #19 (and their other shops) as well as Ocean State Job Lot. At leas the latter is still in business. The former has been defunct for decades. I'm willing to bet a lot of New Englanders reading this post remember Building #19. Wonder which one you all went to! I think there was one in Norwood, but my mother remembers the one in Hingham.

You don't know what you miss until you see knockoffs. I know Ollie's is using Building #19's artwork, and that's originally what I said about the store - Ollie's is the new 19. Which makes everything relevant again in some way, shape or form. Got to get "good stuff, cheap" as they say, and sometimes the cheap is worth it as you never know what you'll find. 

Going to wrap this up for now, and hope to find more bargains some where, some time, soon.

Stay warm and stay classy for nostalgia;

Cheers; 

See Also:

* All photos (and video) taken with an iPhone 11

* Photos edited in Photoshop

* Video roughly edited in Pinnacle Studio (because I really need a new computer. This edit took way too long and I had a faulty ending)