So much for buying it and trying it...

... because we ended up giving it away. 

The beginning of the week, my mother and I were shopping at Sprouts and I saw a Tofurky Plant Based Roast with Wild Rice on deep sale. 

We're talking "save $20.70" deep sale, as it lists for $22.99 and is being discontinued at Sprouts, so it's on sale for $2.29.

Unfortunately, Amazon is selling it via a third party vender at such an upcharge, some of the comments are saying "shame on Amazon for letting this happen" because people know it's not supposed to be $59.64 as listed. Someone even mentioned they saw it for over $100. 

So buyer beware if you're going to look for it on the A⟶Z site; you're going to pay a hell of a lot more. 

I know you're asking if we made it, and we did. 

My mother put it in the crock pot and let it slow cook all day. In the mix was the roast, some celery, onions and baby carrots. Plus gravy. When it was time for supper, my mother said "it looks like a big kishke". She thought it was the funniest thing. 

Everything was taken out of the crockpot and made ready to be plated.

Once on a serving dish, it was time to try it.

That's when everything went seemingly south. 

The rice was awesome, but salty (my mother said "way too over salted, the entire meal"). The carrots, celery and onions were soft and good. The roast was chewy. 

Yes. Chewy. I don't want to say "almost like rubber, chewy" because it wasn't on that type of level, but if it was cooked any longer, it might have been. 

I've had Tofurky products before and haven't had a problem with them. This was the first time I ate anything bigger than sandwich slices. 

Only eating one piece (my mother eating a third of a piece), a vegetarian friend was called to see if she'd want this, because my mother was going to throw it out. 

Yes, we called a friend to take our food. My mother has no issues with that because there are times she makes enough food for an army and ends up bringing over to friends in need. So she's used to ringing up someone and asking them if they're interested in something. 

This friend, having not made plans yet for their dinner, said they'd definitely take it. Their (meat eating) husband had just left for kickboxing, but would come home looking for food. So it was perfect timing. 

My mother packaged up what she didn't slice and I took it to the friend's house, who lives around the corner. They were excited because again, they didn't have anything planned, and since this is vegetarian friendly, they could dig into it and not worry about ingredients. 

I got home and my mother said we're just going to eat whatever else was made - we had cauliflower, the carrots/onions/celery and a can of cranberry sauce. Very veg friendly supper. 

It's not something we're going to buy again, even if it's a penny. It really was over salted and I said "most of the vegetarian products have too much salt because it has to make up for whatever is not in the product. This is partially why health nuts drink so much water. They're compensating for the sodium.". I know this isn't true for everything, but I feel like (in my experience reading labels) the salt is way too much, because normal products have all sorts of preservatives and chemicals to keep the meat / poultry / etc "fresh". As vegetarian products have a quicker perishable date, something "friendly" enough needs to be added to have a few day longer shelf life. Add salt and you've got yourself a meal for Friday when you bought it on Monday.

I mean, look at all the reality shows on television right now - the ones where people are dropped off in the middle of the woods and find streams or fields. When someone catches fish or big game, what's the first thing they do if they have access to a certain mineral? Salt the damn thing (only after cutting it up to manageable pieces). 

Hell, how many times have we heard this from other people too? Isn't it part of history anyway? When hunter gatherers went out to get food, they figured out a way to keep everything for a while by drying out out the animal and slathering salt on it. Even dried fruit and vegetables have some sort of salt in them, especially the mass produced ones (although there's a sulfite difference and way too much sugar). 

To each his own, but what I thought would be a really cool thing to try, turned out to be such a waste for us. I really had hoped this "roast" would have been good, but even with the gravy, it was too much. I'm glad my mom's friend loved it and it didn't go to waste, but I'm sorry we bought it, even though it was a great change to try something new. We now know for next time, "on sale doesn't mean it'll be amazing for us". 

My mother even made the comments when I was apologizing for wanting to try this, that she wanted to try it. She's had the bean / plant based burgers and has really enjoyed them the past few years. She never liked them when we were in Brockton and I'd buy them a lot (mainly because I'd have something for Tay when he stayed over, but I ate them too). The burgers have progressed over the years to taste like real meat, so my mother does enjoy them once in a while. Cooked correctly (grilled), you really can't tell unless you are wanting to start picking at everything in it. So she said that she was willing to try this roast because she has tried other things. 

Hard lesson learned.

Switching gears to other things, we were shopping yesterday and I saw a hand towel. 

It says "Home is where your mom is" and I immediately thought of so many different things that could go wrong with this.

The first thing I did was text it to my friend Cat, and said "what if your mom is at a cemetery, six feet under ground?". Cat replied "or she's hiding under the house". I said "that means it's the championship level of hide and seek". I got one of those laughing crying emojis as a response. 

But it's true - if your mom is not in an actual building, can that be called "home"? How do you decorate that place with other "home is where" stuff? If mom's locked up in the basement, is that what home is? What about being thrown in the clink? Sure, 3 walls with a door and a cot could make a home but then you're with god knows how many other people, sharing a common area and being obnoxiously loud.

Home is home to people. 

My home is haunted. I smudged a few weeks ago, but someone's back. The other night, at three different times in the night, I got woken up to very loud banging on my bedroom door (I sleep with my door closed). At one point it scared me so much, my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. Don't laugh; it was the middle of the night and I was sound asleep.

Someone's here and won't go away. 

I'm starting to think that the beliefs are real - that leaving an empty chair in a bedroom is an invitation for a spirit or anomaly to come pay you a visit and watch you. 

Okay, let me back up for a minute. 

I have an old Ikea Tirup chair, that is so far discontinued, that you can only find it on auction sites (eBay, etc). 

According to the internet, there's a supernatural myth about leaving an empty chair in the bedroom and it being an open invitation for visitors. If it's cold in your room, you're more apt to get someone to stop in, especially during "the witching hour" of ~ 3AM. 

Which would explain why there are nights I wake up between 2 and 3, and it's not even "I gotta pee" time. It's just that I woke up when I had only fallen asleep 4 hours prior. Someone is in my room and I can't see who (or what) it is. They're here to eff with me somehow. 

There are times I see the shadowing of someone, but it's not something everyone sees when they're here. I see lights flicker randomly and my mother thinks I'm nuts. 

But if these legends are real, then there's some sort of written backing for me to "prove" I'm not making this up. I'm sure there was a conversation or two in the iNTO THE FRAY RADIO - Encounters with the Paranormal podcast (which I am totally behind in listening to. I've been finding other shows and have gone down too many rabbit holes. I've got to play serious catch up with the stuff I was listening to a couple years ago). 

I assure you that I'm not crazy. I've dug into conspiracy theorem before and have had plenty of supernatural conversations with my friends (specifically Cathy and Tay) and we all are on the same page with this stuff. One of the last big conversations I had with Tay, we talked about how he was woken up in the middle of the night by a strange noise outside his house. It sounded like horses, but he is nowhere near a farm or horse area (he lives in the hood). We think it was a specific type of owl, which would make more sense. Coincidentally, it was around the time a burrowing owl showed up in my community - a neighbor called my mother saying there's an owl in his shared walkway. Owls themselves are considered supernatural, so it was definitely a sign. 

Whatever you want to believe, this is all so strange to those who think it's fake. I don't think it is, and some of my friends agree. If this means I need to get rid of my chair, well, maybe I need to get myself my own place (since I live with my mother) and decorate the house how I need to, in order to be safe and not worry about being watched while I sleep or having my door being battered on. The lights need to stop flickering and I want to know someone else understands this stuff. The Truth Is Out There; you just need to find it. 

Cheers;

"There's time I need direction | There's time I need to roam"

I heard a song on one of the folk stations on Sirius the other day. It's called "Arrow" by a band called The Head and The Heart. It's a fairly new single for them, but this is the first time I'm hearing the band. They definitely have a unique sound for being listed as "Alternative/Indie". 

I had to look for it because it's catchy and you can find yourself singing along to it if you listen to it a few times. It might be one of those workout songs in the near future - the type that pop up on a playlist while you're running (outside or on a treadmill). It's got that much of an upbeat, for being an "interplay of how you see yourself vs how the world sees you" (according to a Facebook post about the song).

Since I don't know anything about them, outside a quick internet search regarding "Arrow", the results say the band has been together since 2009 and are out of Seattle, Washington (surprise but no surprise). They've had a tiny hiccup in changing band members, but from the most part, have stayed the same in their lineup. When I searched for them on Amazon, the website suggests The Revivalists as a related artist. I've heard of The Revivalists, so I must be searching something okay? 

As I type this post up, I'm listening to other songs. They're a very chill band; low key enough that you can just let them play on background and soak in the lyrics. There's nothing fancy about them, nothing outrageous. They're not screaming or loud, they're just here. I think I need to acquire their albums and add their songs to my collection. I've found a new band to listen to.

I've also got some pictures to post. Last night, I took my iPhone 11 outside at a couple different times and took images of the sky. All because my mother was like "The planets are aligning tonight; go see if you can see them". Instead, due to the way the phone can take night shots, I think I got Orion instead. It is winter, after all, and that's always a constellation I look for. 

I didn't do any editing, except put my name on the photos (using Photoshop).I know it's only seven, but I was out at two different times. I don't like standing out in the dark for a long time here, and I'm not going to get into reasons why. But I'm willing to go out for a few minutes and take pictures as needed. For as much as I love to use my Canon T7i, I don't keep it all together. It takes longer to put the battery, camera card and lenses on and then dismantle everything. It's no excuse, I know that. I'd prefer to use the DSLR when I can, but due to my little issues about being outside, it isn't worth it.

I keep everything separate because I read once that if you leave the battery in the camera, it can do more harm than good. If the battery leaks or the camera gets hit, you're going to have more problems than anything else. It's safer to leave the battery out due to the lithium ION properties. Things can go south quick. With the camera card, it's not the same, but it can still get caught or zapped or anything else. If you want your toys to last long, you have to take good care of them. I know that from experience because I accidently dropped the 75-300 Zoom Lens when my friend Rachael was here and we were at the Edison Ford Estates. The lens has a little scratch on it, but it's not noticeable when taking photos (thank god). I learned my lesson that day, and when I bought the T7i (I had the T3 at the time), I bought the warranty plan "just in case". The warranty has expired and the T7i is already a "renewed" / "refurbished" item on Amazon, so I did get my money's worth, especially with the photos I've taken since purchasing it. I don't regret any of it. Both cameras got me into the 21st century (I was using a Canon Rebel G film camera when we moved here. Good luck finding film and a place to process it... and get your negatives returned with the prints).

It's getting warm out. It's currently 65° out, so I think I'll get ready for the gym and go get my workout in before it gets too late. 

Stay humble

Cheers;

"Today I don't feel like doing anything"

Yeah, we're definitely being punked.

I woke up in the middle of the night to pee and checked my phone. My window was closed, but it was cold in my room. Both the Apple bloatware weather app and the Weather Channel app said it was 40 (Apple) and 45° (Weather Channel). Both were reading that it "feels like" 32 and 31. We also had a cold weather advisory in effect. 

When I woke up, it wasn't that much warmer (it was colder), but the advisory went away.

The thermostat is reading 67° and my mother said that's good, considering how cold it is outside and that her window is open. 

How is this good and why is the window open? 

Because she got hot during the night, even though the heat is not on. 

As much as I don't want to try to find it, I have a space heater somewhere in the garage. I don't want to use it, but I'm half tempted to go search for it. If it's not here, that means we sold it in a garage sale. If it's here, I could turn it on and see if it works. It's so old (I had it in The Dungeon in Brockton for eons), it might catch fire. That's all we need. 🙈 I can't even find it on Amazon, that's how old it is (which is why I just linked to the main space heater page). 

This is not fun. I know my friends up north are dealing with worse weather because they have all the nasty stuff associated with the cold, but I was lied to. I think we all were. Florida isn't supposed to get this cold, especially this far into the state. One of my friends said "it's global warming" and I think she's right. The more we're doing, the more the world is going crazy.

I read a headline the other day that said something like the Earth's axis shifted a degree and "true north" isn't what we know anymore. All sorts of GPS units need to recalculate (try saying "recalculate" and not hear it in your device's voice. LOL). If the Aurora Borealis can somehow reach us (to an extent), then you know something is going on in the world we don't know about. 

As Tay would argue, "Matrix glitch!! Keep watching; you'll see more tears!!". 

All of this is giving me The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 vibes. Plain and simple. 

Or, if you want to be a little more current (and something in the preppers realm), watch how a certain electric vehicle can ruin the only one way street (post richy rich apocalypse), download Netflix and find Leave The World Behind. The movie is based off a 2021 Rumaan Alam novel of the same name. I haven't read this yet, but intend to, once I get down to a reasonable amount of books in my room. 

I don't know, man. I don't know. It's supposed to warm up next week and we can forget about this crazy for a while. 

Hopefully we get some warmth, or we may end up turning on our heat (although we'd be more apt to just bundle up).

Until we can figure it out, stay safe and warm.

Cheers;

See Also

* Title of post comes from Bruno Mars' The Lazy Song (track 5 from Doo-Wops & Hooligans)

Are we being punked?

I feel like the past couple weeks, the weather has been getting colder, not warmer, especially since it snowed in Pensacola the other day (which made national news) and it's been rainy / dreary here (and anywhere between 40° and 60°). We're reverting into northern weather for being a tropical area. 

Hell must be fully freezing over right now.

For area context, Pensacola is 8 hours and 45 minutes north west of me, according to Google Maps. It's one of those northern border cities that is near the Alabama/Florida line. Pensacola is a mere 70 minutes to Mobile and if you want to go further west, it's a 3 hour drive to New Orleans. Therefore, I'm about 11 hours and 45 minutes from The Big Easy (should I be driving that way). 

New Orleans got snow too, and it from what I read, it was not only a "once in a lifetime" snow, it was a snow that broke a "record". I would tend to say yes, it broke whatever the record was, if it's a once in a lifetime ordeal. Same goes with Pensacola. No one expects the tropical states to get snow, but the way the world is going right now, anything is possible. 

Which is why it is 67° in my house right now (according to the thermostat) and it's 48° (but feels like 43) outside. It's still ugly out because it's wet out there due to the misting. We've had rain, but we've had a constant low cloud coverage that won't stop the constant itty bitty water droplets from drying up.

It feels like you're in one of those automatic water feeders in the vegetable aisle at the grocery store. The type that just quickly blasts liquid on the veg the second you reach your hand to grab it, and now your arm is slightly wet. With the cold, you get get warm. 

The crazy thing is the bedroom windows are open. As much as my mother and I are like "it's cold", she keeps insisting on the windows being open. 

This is how you get sick, but it's the only time we get to keep the windows open and get fresh air. I know people up north can't do that right now because they actually have snow, but they also get to keep their doors and windows open more than we do through out the year since the humidity sucks the life out of you here. 

Now it's one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations because we complained about the heat and humidity too long and now we've got cold and rain. I'm glad I don't have to drive around 5 miles of road on a golf cart in shorts, for sure, but I also would like to have just a little heat because this is crazy. 

Whoever said "the brochure sure does look nice" is full of crap. Although, the pictures I took last night when I took the trash out, do look like it's pretty nice out, don't let the calmness fool you.

Which is what it is. Calm. And cold. It all may look pretty, but it also looks like something stormy is coming. During the day, it's dull and gray, looking like it should start snowing when we know it's not going to reach us this far south (it did once, in the 1980s I heard. Naples got a quick flurry but it dried up quicker than it could land on the ground). 

If we're going to be threatened this much with nasty weather, can we at least move back north so we can justify turning on the heat and wearing 3 layers of clothes under down blankets? I feel like this is turning into an obscene show and tell where nature tells us how cold it is and we show you why no one barely has deep winter clothes. 

I think I've sat here long enough, that my hot coffee is now iced coffee. All in a matter of 45 minutes. It turned cold quicker than it normally does. I'm going to have to shut my window and take a shower soon because we need to get out and attempt some errands. 

I am lucky there's no ice around to fall on, but I've learned to be careful in crocs, especially when the bottoms are worn down. You can still fall on your butt and break something if you're in an old pair and the ground is wet. I've slipped a few times in parking lots because the painted lines on the ground aren't the best in rubber shoes that have no grip. Today is not a day to wear them. I'm definitely wearing my Nightmare Before Christmas (canvas) shoes and I wish I had high tops to keep my ankles warm under a long pair of pants.

Even my mother just came to tell me tonight is going to be one of the coldest nights all year, even though it's been pretty cold during the day. She's wearing long pants and a long shirt too. It's one of those times where we've got to dig around through your closet to see if you have anything warm. All I can say is "thank god that I saved most of my long pajama pants and have bought new long pants". I moved to Florida wearing my Revs hoodie, so that's never been packed, even though we moved in the summer. I've got another Revs sweatshirt in my closet, so I know I can grab that if I need it. I refuse to wear my Columbia jacket I bought to go to Elgin in 2016. I need to bite my pride and just put it on if we're going out. Give in to looking like a local when I don't consider myself one. 

Ugh... 

Ooooh! I can see a little of the sun! I guess it's a sign to get moving. 

Stay warm and stay dry. 

Cheers;

See Also

* First two gifs, found online, are scenes from The Rocky Horror Picture Show

* The photos I took were with an iPhone 11 and I used Photoshop to put my name on them. 

* The brr emoji was found online. 

Knowing what I know now...

... makes it weird to sing along to the songs. 

But I do because they're embedded in my head. 

As well as the threat from Tay of "keep singing that and I'll force you to learn it on guitar" because he knows the entire discography and history of the group I'm going to talk about. I kept joking with him about one of the songs ("Do You Want To Know A Secret?" track 11 off Please Please Me, for reference) and he'd tell me he'd make me learn it (Tay's an awesome guitar player). He also is the one who told me about the book I'm going to talk about below. 

I have a three month trial of SiriusXM Radio because I got some service done on my car. They have a deal together where you get three months free after completing certain services at the dealership. I ended up taking the offer and have my 2013 radio assigned the freebie until mid April.

Honestly, for me, it's not worth downloading the Sirius app because it's only three months and I don't intend on subscribing due to the fact I have an iPhone 11 and use the stock podcast app to listen to everything. I'm currently halfway through a "Spotify / Parcast original" series called Mythology. It got cancelled a couple years ago, but I'm just finding it. I've delayed way too many shows I usually listen to because I've found way too many other interesting series (you're still on my list, Rach! Trust me!!). 

Squirrel!

On my way to the gym this morning, I had on the Beatles station and the song playing was "Hey Jude" (track 21 off the 1 album, for reference). I started softly singing with the song, fully knowing the windows of my car were down (it's still nice out - no humidity) and this wasn't the real Macca telling Julian to "play it cool". It's a ruse. 

Okay. Rewind a minute. For context. 

Last year I wrote about listening to the audiobook version of the The Memoirs of Billy Shears: The Nine After 9-09 Edition. The informative "let's let as much out on the table as we can; it's almost time" story of the conspiracy theory of Paul really dying in a car crash in September of 1966. This is also the theory that there's been one guy (William "Bill" Shepherd aka Billy Shears) who has been the replacement of Paul all the days since.

The writer - Thomas E. Uharriet (or writers if you believe the single anagram, like someone has stated) with the help of said Billy Shears (not of the anagram but of another name or two) mix a fictional yet factual account of the rumor we all have heard at some point in our lives and they layer on the truths behind this, with information pulled from real sources (i.e. Billy's recollection of everything including lyrics of the Beatles work plus sound comparisons, places to look through the band's history to see where it was a little rough and edgy, etc). 

Both men don't mince words when Billy has to point out that his lawyers strongly advised him not to put all the aces on the table at once, since it jeopardizes more than he wants or cares to get off his chest. So he has to sprinkle some magic dust in the story to make it sound unbelievably fake but believable at the same time. He is still under "contract" to perform as one of the two remaining Liverpudlians. 

Therefore, he has to be very careful how he describes certain circumstances of how he came to be one of the most famous faces and voices in pop music history. 

He makes light of a lot of instances, and throws in some suggestions for those who aren't fans of the Beatles, but fans of music. How vocalists need to train themselves in singing specifics or they ruin their vocal cords. He had gone through that in the early days of being Paul and had to adapt the way he was going about it, as he said he'd have lost his voice before the end of the 1960s. 

"Sing from the diaphragm and not from the throat", he'd say, with context to the way Original Paul would sing (throat) and the way he would sing (diaphragm). Which is true; I remember when I was in middle school chorus, learning that. Tay would mention it as well because he's a musician. Taking that information, I compared it to other artists out there because you wonder how they can reach the levels they can; it's due to how they're pushing air through their body and not just in one section. 

So singing along to tunes in my car, I'm subconsciously cognizant of these things. I'm not any type of the world's best singer, by any means, but I understand the concept (thus going back to singing along to Hey Jude). 

I remember in middle school taking a music class where we had to bring in a song every week and break it down in front of everyone. If you want to know what I chose, I specifically remember bringing in "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal, off the Batman Forever soundtrack [track 4 for reference]. It was on audio cassette to boot. If you must say it, yes, I just aged myself.

Double yes for seeing as much of the Batman movies as I can, up to the most recent Sparkly Vampire 2022 version - I've yet to see that one, but I have tried to see most of live action movies starting with 1989 and going forward. I've seen part of the Adam West series as well. I've got a Joker duckie I call "Cesar Romero" because it's definitely that version's Joker and not the Nicholson or Ledger version. I've also seen some of the outliers - Joker and Suicide Squad [if that counts]. I haven't seen Justice League or Batman vs Superman. It's on my list. 

I guess as far as the movies are concerned, I could be more of a DCEU (DC Extended Universe) fan than an MCU / MCEU (Marvel Comics Universe / Marvel Comics Extended Universe - for the outliers) fan, although I'm not against any MCU stuff. I've read my fair share of X-Men comics (and saw some of the movies) as well as the iterations of the Hulk films (I remember sneaking into the theater to watch the Jennifer Connelly version because I had ended my shift at the time and didn't want to go home. So I stayed for Hulk. I'm a horrible person; haha). I've also seen the Iron Man films and Deadpool movies (including the new Deadpool and Wolverine movie) and at least 2 of the 3 Guardians of the Galaxy movies. I know the Howard the Duck reference in Guardians (spoiler alert) because that was one of the first introductions to the MCEU for me.

Again, I aged myself with that 1986 "gem". 

Squirrel! 

Anyway, we had to explain where certain breaks in the sound come from or what we think the chords are for each instrument, how the melody might shift / change or what the artist's range is. This was before we all had internet at our fingertips or in our homes, so you were really needing to pay attention and figure things out. I'm old enough to remember what it was like before we ran to an internet search bar for these things. 

Maybe this is why I majored in communications and went into radio (and still want to work in audio. I've free if anyone wants to chat! I've certainly shared enough videos.. so you've seen my work)... it evolved from music being on in my house (along with NPR) and taking music classes all through my  school years. 

My, how we grow... and overshare. Haha. 

But yeah, little things we randomly remember and try to piece together to make other connections. This is probably also why I've got too much "pub trivia" because I just ingest way too many "out there" facts. I've said things / made comments / references to people in conversation, and they're like "where in left field did you pull that from?". I don't know; it's something I stumbled on eons ago and kept it locked away in my brain. I can't do math or be on Pop Culture Jeopardy, but I can still kind of follow along to the normal one. It might take me a minute because it's so hidden in my head, but I get it. If I don't, the answer pings something relevant and I'm like "oh yeah. That was also when...". It's weird like that - how we all work in our own ways. 

If this all makes sense, thanks for following along and getting this far. If it doesn't, well, welcome to my blog. Sometimes I get so unfocused with everything, at some point it'll gel. I promise. 

Until the truth comes out in full force, turn the knobs up to 11 and remember "[a]lthough what you are about to see is a work of fiction, it should nonetheless be played at maximum volume".

Cheers;

It's dreary out

... and semi cold, as it's 54° out. So the pictures don't do it justice when I say "kinda looks like snow's coming". My mother says "it's ugly out". 😂

I have to apologize in this post. 

Last night I wrote about using the HIT! Balm and the smell dissipating in the night. 

Depending on where you're putting it and how much you're actually using, the scent wears itself down, but if you're sleeping, your linens will take on that smell. 

At first, I had gotten up in the middle of the night because I had too much water before bed and my bladder was screaming for the toilet. When I got back into my room, I noticed it smelled like the balm, even though I had been asleep for a few hours. Maybe it's partly due to my sleeping with my door shut? Nowhere for it to go? When I got out of bed this morning, I checked my sheets and there was truly no staining, but after laying down for 10 hours, the various fragrances of the balm got embedded into my bed. 

Full disclosure, I'm wearing a black shirt, so I can't say or tell if there's any staining on that. My sheets are a teal (but more green) color so anything that would stain would still be seen. And I couldn't see anything. 

As it's been chilly lately, our windows have been open. So I've been sleeping with my bedroom window open most nights (sometimes the neighbors get too rowdy and the lights outside keep me up, so I shut my window and shades). I feel like with the window open, this can explain why there's no active smell in my room from the balm, although when it's first settling into your skin, it can be too much. Once it starts being absorbed, you get used to it. The open window more than likely helped; I admit to that. 

I don't hate the smell, so it's not a deal breaker for me, that my bed soaked up any residual spice tones. I didn't make my bed this morning, in hope that the cooler air will kind of push things around. Almost like a when people would hang their clothes outside on the line to dry them after a wash; if the air can do that, why can't it do something similar inside?

But yeah, after that long writing yesterday, I'm sorry for any misleading on the smell. It's one of those things where I shouldn't have waited so long for a review because I didn't have all the context to correctly post. As far as pain is concerned, once the ingredients got into my system, it was fine. I was able to sleep until I had to get up to use the bathroom, and when I got back into bed, my back didn't hurt like it usually does if I get up. Even now as I type this, I know it's wearing off, so there's just a tinge of "ow", but not a lot. Once everything settles in, it feels like nothing bad has happened. If it's the smell that's a bothersome, then so be it. I'd rather live with cloves, cinnamon and menthol around me than be crying in pain because I don't know what to do about my back issue. Plus, these being non chemical ingredients, I know they're safe and I find the various compounds somewhat soothing. Brings me back to certain memories - places, people. It's one of those "turn a negative into a positive" things. I'm still going to keep an eye on my sheets and clothes, but at this point, I feel like I'm safe with no marks anywhere and just need to keep a window open.

If this deters people, I'm okay with it. I just thought I'd share something I found and tried. Like I put in the disclaimers yesterday, as well as the times I've remarked about researching stuff, you have to do your own thing. Consult your doctor about using new medical products. Look into pros and cons of everything. See what other people are saying about the item. Don't just dive into it thinking it'll be okay. I know for a fact that I can't tell my friend Cat to try this balm because she's allergic to cinnamon. I know she'd love to try it for her rheumatoid arthritis (and I hope it would work), but she can't take any of the product line due to her allergy. I don't want to risk a friendship because I put her in the hospital over a recommendation. Read ingredients. Ask questions. Make sure you understand what you're getting in to. 

Just because this balm goes on heavy in the aroma department doesn't mean it doesn't work (it does work. Or it did for me at least). You have to take the bad with the good. I understand completely if people have an odor allergy or sensitivity. I don't know if any of the other products are so heavy in the smell, so I can't comment about it. I implore you to find out more if this is what you're looking at and would question for yourself. 

Do your thing, chicken wing.

Cheers;

When is a free sample not free?

 When you've got to pay $3 plus some shipping and handling for it.

Albeit, it'd be worth it if it works because this is the type of sample that packs a punch. 

I have to start off by saying I'm not a doctor. I'm not in the medical field nor do I specialize in anything in the medical industry. I am not your doctor, nurse, therapist, dietitian, or any other person you may see in an office setting. The information in this blog post is just that - information. It does not constitute medical advice and you should always consult with a healthcare professional in regards to how your body will react to anything you take or do. I can tell you how I fared with a product, but as I am not you or your doctor. I can't tell you how you will react. Please consult your treating physician with any concerns.

Therefore, the contents of this website, such as text, graphics, images and other material are intended for informational and educational purposes only and not for the purpose of rendering medical advice. The contents of this website are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Any links you click and make purchases on, I earn a commission (like Amazon) or earn a percentage of points that turn into money towards my own purchase.

For example:

* Plant People [you get $15 discount and I get a $15 discount]

* Barker Wellness [you get $5 off and I get $5 off]

* Native [you get 20% off and I get 20% off] 

* Pacha Soap [you get $6 off your first purchase of $20+ and I get $5 for each referral]

* Hit! Balm [you get $10 off and I get $10 off]. NOTE: Must be 21 and over in most states as the product contains CBD. Check your legal listings before purchasing.

Okay. Disclaimers over. Onto the show.

I recently signed up for Hit Balm and got a free sample (with the aforementioned three dollar charge plus shipping and handling) of the Extra Relief | Original Strength salve. I call it a salve because it's not oily like massage oil, but it's not super smooth like lotion. It's a waxy substance that ends up going on smooth when you rub it into the places that need a little help in the hurt department (back, legs, arms). It then disappears and leaves no residue. 

This sample, according to the website, states that it "is made from 17 potent plant extracts, cold pressed olive oil and harm free beeswax. Both warming and cooling, anti-inflammatory and pain relieving, Hit! Balm Extra is the go-to solution for anyone needing to feel better fast". 

In case the back of the pack is too blurry, the ingredients in this balm are: "Cold-pressed organic olive, grapeseed, and coconut oil, Colorado full spectrum hemp extract, harm-free beeswax, camphor, menthol, cayenne extract, essential oils of Japanese peppermint, eucalyptus, ginger, turmeric, clove and cinnamon, sunflower oil, angelica root tails, cinnamon bark, dragon tree resin, notoginseng, turmeric, and mint". Which is why I said it's got more of a salve texture than an oil base. It's the beeswax that is the thickener. 

BE ADVISED: HIT! products contain CBD (Cannabidiol). Hence the "Colorado full spectrum hemp extract". According to the website, CBD is "a naturally occurring compound found in the resinous flower of both hemp and cannabis, a plant with a rich history as a medicine going back thousands of years. Today the therapeutic properties of CBD are being tested and confirmed by scientists and doctors around the world for both internal and external application. A safe, non-addictive substance, CBD is one of more than a hundred “phytocannabinoids,” which are unique to hemp and cannabis and endow the plant with its robust therapeutic profile."

"CBD is closely related to another important medicinally active phytocannabinoid: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that causes the high that cannabis is famous for. Unlike THC, CBD does not make a person feel “stoned” or intoxicated. That’s because CBD and THC act in different ways on different receptors in the brain and body.

The fact that CBD is therapeutically potent as well as non-intoxicating, and easy to use in a variety of forms, makes it an appealing treatment option for those who want to explore CBD’s benefits."

So you can't smoke it. 

Side note: The Hit! Balm website disclaimer includes the following:
"These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Must be 21 years of age or older to purchase any hemp-derived product in Minnesota and Rhode Island. Must be 21 years of age or older to purchase full-spectrum hemp-derived products in Louisiana, Oregon and Virginia."

This is on the bottom of all their web pages. 

So it's another disclaimer as I've just referenced them and will reference the products even further.

Please take this into consideration before you order anything.

Back on track.

Your body "ingests" this in other ways, like a lotion in this instance. Rub it into the area that is painful and let the ingredients do their job. 

Other options include chew it in gummy form or use the dropper to just get a little liquid on your tongue and not worry about kids stealing what looks like your snacks. I'm sure they won't touch what looks like a medicine bottle, because what kid loves medicine? 

For you animal people, there are dog products too, in case your fur baby needs some extra support. 

When I decided to try the balm, I tried it on my ankle at first. I was getting pain in both my ankle and foot for a few days. It felt like I sprained my ankle, but I know I didn't. I might have just been tying my shoes too tight for a few days and that was making my foot hurt. 

So one night before bed, I opened the pack and rubbed it on my foot. There was no mess where I would have expected it to leak everywhere, but it was tough to get out because I was afraid I would actually make a mess. That and due to it being a little thick, it doesn't just pool out of the packet it was in. It's almost like you have to knead it like you're baking bread, in order to get it out. I don't know if that activates any properties before putting it on, but it did seem to work well when I finally got it on my foot. 

It was warm at first because it was in my hands, but then it does have a cooling factor due to the menthol in it. Again, it wasn't too oily but it felt like I was putting on lotion once I got it worked in. The smell is okay; there's definitely a mix of scents going on in it. You can't tell what each is, but if you're thinking there's a skunky smell due to the CBD, there isn't. 

Or at least the idea of what the more potent / smokeable version is like. This isn't at all what you would expect, although I don't think CBD has a smell overall. Unless it's being masked with whatever flavors are mixed with it, but how can you have unscented versions? 

I don't know; I'm no chemist, although I'd love to ask one of the old ladies I met at one of my jobs. She was a pioneer for her time - one of the first women in the science / chemistry field and if I recall correctly, she helped create some of the makeup and other female hygiene things we know and use today. Her patents went in to a wide variety of beauty products and those are sold world wide as we speak. I can't give a lot of information out for privacy reasons, but I can tell you I did see her old paperwork and photos and can attest to the validity of it. A (close to 90) year old woman wouldn't know how to fake any of this stuff, and I'm sure her (several years older) husband wouldn't have been able to falsely manufacture it either. They were both smart friggin people (he had advanced degrees in chemistry and psychology) but they wouldn't try to fake this. 

Anyway, I still have some of the salve left, so I'm smelling it as I type this. I can smell the cloves and cinnamon, for sure. Those two spices might be the most potent of the entire package, and this has been sitting / opened in my medicine cabinet for a week. Even my mother (who tried some of this on her knees), said she smells something with ginger - it's spicy. I said "cloves and cinnamon?" and she agreed that's what she smells. It got so bad for her that night she tried it, it was overwhelming to sleep because the fumes were that bad. However, she said her knees didn't hurt even though she would have killed for a shower and clean laundry, just to get the stench out (sometimes fragrances bother her).

As a whiff of the Bog of Eternal Stench is concerned, "smell bad"? 

Squirrel!

I ended up trying the stuff again, this time on my back, since I have lower back issues and am trying way too many things to get some relief (injections, exercise, topical ointments). Maybe something mixed with menthol and CBD would help, as I've noticed the ActivIce (roll on especially) really helps but it takes time to get into my skin because I use it all over my back. However, when you go through enough of it, you need to start looking for something else. Sometimes the menthol smell gets too much and it gets on my pillow because there's been times I've used it on my shoulders / upper back. I roll everywhere in my sleep so that doesn't help. 

But the Hit! Balm did seem to work. Larger area than my foot, mixed with a bigger smell, but no stickiness. I might have slept through the night (sometimes, as with different attempts at stuff, I end up waking up in the middle of the night because they don't last long). As it was last week when I did this, I don't remember the amount of hours I lost to the dark. However, I know it worked because it didn't feel as bad laying down and I really think I had a solid sleep. 

I know it's probably a mind over matter thing or at the very craziest, a placebo effect, but somehow it worked. Like it did on my foot because oddly enough, either I stopped thinking about it or my foot stopped hurting. There's not that kind of pain now, and I've been wearing the same type of socks and shoes since I first felt the pressure. No, there's been no trippy side effects from it, as you may think because it's derived from the same type of plant as the joint version. I felt just as sober as I do when I eat a poppy seed bagel with cream cheese from Dunkie's, as a drink my iced reglah on the side. 

In the end, maybe the creator of this balm (Lawrence Miller) is on to something?? 

If you try it, let me know.

Stay pain free because that's the way to be.

Cheers;

I feel like I need to find myself a hippy commune and live off that land, the way I'm going with all the "natural" products I'm trying...

As Nelson would say..

"Haw Haw!"

Gif found on Giphy

(can you believe The Simpsons have been on for 36 years?? Where'd the time go???)

A neighbor apparently had enough of someone / multiple people complaining about their refrigerator being on the curb for over a week, so they ended up taping a (somewhat rude) paper all over the outside of the (duct taped) appliance.

Note: I don't own that fridge, I don't know the owner, and I don't know what happened to instigate this.

I had walked to the gym on Wednesday and saw all the flyers attached to it, so I got closer to read the papers. 

I feel like the owner "obviously has nothing better to do" because they took the time to research, write, print / copy and then tape it to every side of the fridge. Again, I don't know what transpired to make them go full Karen on this, but I feel like the new refrigerator needs to be stocked with some chill pills. Something to tone down the argument. 

However, they got what they wanted on Friday (which was trash day), because they were tagged. 

I edited out the citation number, but left everything else in. So this means they've got 3 days to do something about it (according to their print out). But, the tag says someone needs to call Waste Management to schedule a pickup. 

Therefore, if the owner leaves this out and forgets it, by Tuesday it should disappear (I'm counting "business days" - Friday, Monday, Tuesday). If the person does what's right and makes a phone call, it can be any time because I don't know when the appointment would be made. 

It's like when someone else recently had their stove sitting out on the curb for 2 weeks. They got a tag but didn't do anything immediately. It did end up being picked up and no one was the wiser. Meaning, there was no "mind your business" sign on it, no squawking from neighbors on any of the social network apps. Nothing; all is quiet. All is fine.

But this Karen with the fridge... holy cow. Way to start the new year. 

My friend Erica said "Wow... we just continue to get dumber and nastier ☹". 

Which is true. There's no reason to post that paper six times on your trash (I didn't check the back, which is facing the house. I'm sure there was a few notes there too). If you're that upset over it, talk it out with the person who angered you. That person that said something did so in private, with no business to the rest of the neighborhood. Taping a nastygram now makes it a (public) fight. The owner should have done the right thing and kept it moving without being rude. 

It's also the times we're living in. People are getting angrier and angrier, nastier and nastier. You can't leave your house without someone starting something on your block, let alone in a store. What happened to being fair and kind? Now it's every person for themselves. No longer is it "love and war", it's just "war". It's sad.

I don't even know what else to say, without stepping into a political realm that I don't want to step in to on here. I wanted to point out what I see on my day to day business, and hopefully pass on some positivity. All it takes is changing one person at a time into something better. 

Be good to each other and do what's right. 

Cheers;