Mar

19

Shopping roundup

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Hello! Today’s post is a roundup of the things I’ve purchased lately that have sparked joy in some way. If that sort of thing is not your jam but you have a few more minutes to spend dicking around on the Internet, I personally endorse this delightful time-suck for cooped-up wanderlust. (I want to be in you, Potato Hotel, carrying a novelty-sized pat of butter.)

I do have an entire website for the specific purpose of recommending things, but that effort really fizzled last year. Sundry Buzz rapidly went from a fun pastime to a gross feeling of “Hey everything is super awful and budgets are zero but here’s some dumb shit to buy that you almost certainly don’t need!”

Anyway, here’s some dumb shit I have bought, but only the dumb shit that has actually delivered long-term benefits as opposed to that fleeting dopamine hit brought on by the arrival of yet another package, don’t even tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Underwear that doesn’t suck. I have zero patience for bullshit underwear that creeps, slides, pinches, or is designed on purpose to get stuck in your buttcrack. Here at 47 I think I can safely say that I have tried them all and thongs are a forever no, ditto those “cheeky” styles that one must inevitably pluck at like an ass-banjo to keep the fabric in place. I am really liking these Reebok undies for all-around stay-put comfort and a cute sporty look that keeps the granny-panty vibe at bay, and this Vince Camuto hipster style that is fully no-show and rather pretty while still offering full coverage (the lacy rear gave me pause but it’s very soft, not scratchy/itchy at all).

This Internet-advertised candle. Kudos to whoever dreamed up the Instagram ad for this candle because it sure worked on me. I even bought it with the near certainty that it would not live up to expectations and yet it DID. I can only speak to the Charcoal scent but it’s downright mesmerizing, a delicious exotic woodsy cologne-like musky fragrance that is not too much or too little but just right. Also, while it is clearly an expensive candle (and unfortunately in my experience the best-smelling, longest-burning candles straight-up cost more), it is not an OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive candle, I am side-eyed you Diptyque.

A squirrel log. YES I SAID SQUIRREL LOG. We put one of these feeders in a tree in our front window a while back and hand to god that was a LIFE UPGRADE. My unwanted new hobby of staring bleakly out into the abyss has been transformed into staring amusedly at acrobatic squirrel antics which is a major improvement.

Cozy pajamas. I have never been a pajama-wearing person but in my aggressive pursuit of all things comfy I decided to try this set and I am DELIGHTED with them. I am also reliably poked fun at for wearing them but I think they have a charming sort of visual appeal: that perky piping! I mean it’s true they probably do not quite live up to the brand claims that they offer “EYE-CATCHING STYLE that keeps bedtime beautiful” but are we making bedtime beautiful or are we a full goddamned year into a pandemic? (I sized down as per the comment suggestions which worked great.)

Sephora’s “Clean Me Up” set. This was recommended by a friend in a makeup-focused Facebook group I’m in and I have been extremely pleased with it. Every single item was a home run for me, particularly the ILIA cheek/lip tint (I really like it as a creamy blush) and the satisfyingly unfussy but lovely Kosas lip balm. All are considered clean beauty products, if that is a selling point for you.

This weird little rollerball thing. “Like blotting papers, but better!” It’s true! Instead of caking your face in powder or using a billion tiny papers, you can just roll this REAL VOLCANIC STONE (?) across your shiny-ass snout and bam, no more oil slick. The stone can be cleaned with face wash (or you can do what I do and just use it over and over without bothering to wonder if you’re rolling oil back on rather than off).

A cheery retro toaster. It’s funny the things you just put up with for years on end, like for instance our crappy yard sale toaster that reliably burnt the living shit out of whatever you dared to place in its aggressive maw. I finally decided to replace it with, you know, something that wouldn’t trigger the smoke alarm on the reg, and this toaster gave me instant heart eyes. It’s very Jetsons: it looks like the idea of the future from many years back.

Your turn! Hit me with your best reccs, fire away.

Mar

13

Matryoshka

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I would like to nominate Swistle for Most Perfectly-Stated Summary of These Particular Parenting Issues, and also for the larger award of Most Reassuring and Consistently Insightful, Relatable, and/or Delightful Blog Presence During a Pandemic.

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Semi-relatedly, it’s interesting to me how I have been incredibly drawn to things that are consistent, that offer a sense of stability in the tsunami-debris of pandemic life, and yet other things that routinely happen at scheduled times each year are actively annoying to me. Easter, for instance. I mean, were the parents, especially those with young kids, consulted about this, because honestly who has the emotional energy for yet another round of holiday magic-making? I love a Reese’s egg as much as the next guy but the whole entire rest of it just seems exhausting.

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It’s been sunny over the last couple days and I cannot BELIEVE the effect it has on me. I bitch and moan each and every year about Oregon’s dark wet winters but man, this season has been rough for real. The days are getting noticeably longer now, there are daffodils and crocuses everywhere, and this March sneak peek of brighter days ahead has been just the ticket.

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Riley has his learner’s permit! I know it probably gets tiresome to hear how mind blowing it is that children do not stay small forever because duh and yet this indisputable fact never stops straight-up blowing my damn mind. My little guy, now a 6-foot-tall manchild with a mustache that must be held at bay, driving a VEHICLE.

I don’t really know how to get over the sorrow of having those small children — my boys’ younger selves — being gone forever. (Even as I so deeply appreciate being past those early years.) Sometimes I imagine that these deep-voiced teenagers are like nesting dolls, that the babies I held and the toddlers I played with are all there inside, and when I hug them now I have my arms around the whole of them, the whole of our lives together.

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