Amazon in September

Gold under-eye patches. This is one of those super frivolous things that I would've laughed at 5 years ago but when you have a 2 1/2 year old who still doesn't sleep through the night, they become a necessity. I've tried a few different brands, styles, ingredients (rose, green tea, caffeine, etc) and these 24K gold patches are the best ones. I didn't intentionally try different ones for fun...it's just always "oh time to reorder, let's get these ones because they look good" because I'm buying them anyway and they all cost about the same. This is my 3rd or 4th repurchase of the 24K gold ones. They're a winner. 

Pacifier replacements. Because if we run out of pacifiers the not-sleeping-through-the-night might get worse :) 

Shiatsu Back Massager. Scott drives a lot. He got this to put in his truck. We tried it out at home and it's pretty amazing. Definitely recommend. The kids love it too because it lights up. 

The Boxcar Children. I ruminated for weeks over what my next read aloud book should be at school. In a world of Goosebumps and Dog Man graphic novels, I picked something they'd never pick for themselves. I owned a copy of this once but I think it's at my parents' house. 

Stamp pads. This was something I needed but they do not smell as strong as I would like. I have another from a different company that has a great strong grape smell and these aren't as good. 

Wet erase markers. Necessary for school. I've found a lot of folks don't know about these. They are so much easier than dry erase for certain surfaces (laminated pages, for instance).

Stickers. I'm not giving out candy this year. It's stickers. 

Ruffle socks. Sutton's white ones from last year were too small and also super dingy. 

Rosemary Repel kids' hair spray. I read about this on a blog and thought it might be a good idea. I use detangling spray anyway. 

Luminex white strips. Loved these. Definitely better than traditional white strips. 

Pillow covers. I actually just got these the other day because I realized I wanted to extend the life of the pillows I got recently. They're really nice. Definitely worth it if you need pillow covers. 

and a replacement clasp for my fitbit. It took me weeks to order this after mine broke. It was too easy in the end. Mine is pink but they make you buy all of them in a pack. 

Tomorrow starts the Prime Day sale and I have my eye on a lot of things for Christmas. I took some screenshots to see if the prices are actually dropping though! 

Bentgo boxes, Legos, toy cash register, toy doctor kit, this bag as a gift, this toy carseat, this bag for myself. 

We'll see! 

Linking up with Tanya for Prime Purchases! 

Three September Books

 

Sandwich

1 giant star.

I started this on a Saturday morning and finished it by late Saturday afternoon, reading here and there, entirely on my phone. It was awful. I was hate-reading by the end. 

I'm 99% sure I got the recommendation from this link-up, but I'm genuinely sorry if you liked it. This was a me problem and a terrible character problem. The main character was a really, really (really) sucky person. All of them were sucky people. Except maybe the main character's parents. But all of them: sucky. They were all so incredibly unhappy and it was incredibly obvious why and they were blind to it. They sucked. All of them. 

But, I persisted because it was a short book and I hated them all so much that I wasn't emotionally invested in the story. 

Anyway...

It gets worse as you go so I guess the first couple of chapters are okay enough to pull you in. Not nearly enough to redeem it though. 

I won't say what I disliked so much because #spoilers and all. 

They were just awful people. 

The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie

3-4 stars

This was meant to be satire, completely tongue-in-cheek, making fun of her own genre. A quick story and I definitely didn't LOL but I guffawed or groaned a few times. It was cute the way she put it together. I recommend if you like the thriller genre. It would make a good spoofy movie for sure.

Into the Drowning Deep

4-5 stars

I simultaneously did not like this book and absolutely loved it at the same time. With Sandwich, I hated it because the characters were awful. With this one, it was so out there that investing 17 hours of my life into the audio was a little embarrassing. There's nothing wrong with sci-fi, but this was like sci-fi meets Final Destination meets the true crime genre meets The Walking Dead. And, I swear, there is not one of you out there who would not spend an entire weekend on the couch watching an 8-part limited series if Netflix ever picked this up. I honestly don't understand why this isn't on TV yet. 

Anyway, mermaids attack a ship. I don't usually go for books that require a lot of visualization and imagination but this was one I could "see" and I liked that. 

Like Mother, Like Daughter is fine but I'm not that far into the audiobook yet. I'm excited to get farther into The God of the Woods because Long, Bright River was an amazing book. Both are library books though so I'd better pick up the pace...

However, this makes me wonder: Are you a normal person or do you read multiple books at a time like I do? I was actually reading all five of these at the same time at one point.

Linking up with Share Your Shelf! 

Skincare, currently.

Since Beauty Counter is not available for purchase at this time, I've had to swap out almost all of my skin care products. I've found it's cheaper, in the long run, but also hit or miss with some of it. I'm trying to not buy expensive unless I have to, which I don't think I do right now. Here's what I'm using if you want some recommendations...

Wash: La Roche Posay. I use this in the morning to wash my face and sometimes when I do a double-cleanse at night. Super gentle and not drying at all. I follow it with a toner or a serum, sometimes both. I love all their products and have tried so many over the years. 

Adel Blue Lagoon cleansing oil. I use this at night in the shower. It does not make your skin oily but it moisturizes it instead. I think I was over-cleansing with washes before.

Toner: I've been using this e.l.f. toner since last winter. I love it. It smooths out my skin and almost filtered my face when I first started. It's super gentle. Highly recommend for the price. I use it once or twice a day, depending. 

Serum: I miss my BC serums the most so I've had to get creative. I bought this moisturizer from Adel but it's more like an oil. I mix a drop of it with a gentle moisturizer and I use it at night only. 

I also grabbed this at Walmart and I love it. It's $14 and it's a perfect vitamin C serum. Even smells wonderful. It's worth a try if you need a new product or are between products and don't want to spend a lot. I'll probably buy it again. I've been using it for about a month. 

Moisturizer: I was looking for the most basic, non-greasy, unscented, gentle product I could find and I landed on Vanicream. I like it a lot, mixing the moisturizing oil with it. 

Tretinoin: I have a prescription for this that I'm supposed to use for hormonal acne but the breakouts have been much fewer and farther between since I've started using cleansing oil(!) <<< the $29 for the cleansing oil would be worth it for anyone, in my opinion. 

But I do use tretinoin all over once or twice a week. I also spot-treat if needed. It is way, way too drying to use more than that so I use it sparingly. Also, the next day, it's usually better to stay out of the sun. I definitely learned this the hard way over the summer. I ended up basically burning my face and having to use vaseline for a few days as a moisturizer. 

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So what's where we are at 38 years old and 2 little kids + 3 pets and a full-time job. (does stress affect our skin? absolutely.) I also use those gold eye patches in the mornings and occasionally ice-roll. I'm not a mask fan, and I have no interest in actual invasive procedures. I started drinking the GreenSynergy probiotic from Arbonne because it's also supposed to help your skin, overall. I try to drink a lot of water but probably am not getting nearly enough. Such is life. 

What is your favorite skincare product right now? 

Friday, Fri-yay (I hate that word)

 

I don't know if I'm going to replenish the Arbonne supplements. I do like the Green stuff though. 

Watching: I finished The Perfect Couple last night. It literally took me two weeks. I've never read an Elin Hildebrand book and I likely never will because if I wanted to, I would've by now. The show was fine but it wasn't so good that I kept going after each episode. I would like to think that Greer is what Nicole Kidman's personality is in real life. I just can't picture her as anything else for some reason. 

Reading: I have a few different books going and maybe I'll finish one this weekend. I did finish my first read aloud of the year: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and, honestly, I don't know that a more perfect book has ever been written. I moved onto The Boxcar Children (book #1) because I always enjoyed it and I feel like if I don't introduce kids to this simple way of life in a railway car with blueberries, pine needle beds (they didn't know what a pine needle was until we googled pictures), bottles of milk in a "refrigerator", and gathering dishes from the dump, I have no idea who will. I'm doing Little House on the Prairie later this year for the same reason. I get worried that they'll never read/hear these classics otherwise. 

Eating: Nothing interesting. I am placing a dinnerly order for next week because I can't handle the mental load of dinner and we need some inspiration. What I like about dinnerly is it is real, raw ingredients. It's not half-prepped food. It can easily be recreated if you save the recipe. It's also the most cost-efficient of the kits, I think.

Plus, Scott accidentally unplugged our deep-freeze so we lost a lot of convenience foods I had stashed away for "emergencies" (weeknights).

I have been packing both kids' lunches this week because I'm starting to deep-dive into ingredients (something else I don't have time for but I feel this is important) and I've noticed Wells isn't as hungry when he comes home from school now. Sutton, like with most things I try to make life easier, has shown no change. But I've been packing her lunch since school started. 

 

Wearing: I need to do a full round-up on false fall outfits. I have had the same tan booties since 2019 so I  had to buy a new pair for this year. I was torn between Dr. Scholls and Lucky Brand. The Dr. Scholls are more of the style I wanted: ankle boot instead of a really low-cut one. 

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Recaps and things.

I didn't mean to just take off there. 

Honestly, speaking out loud is just so much effort lately. I talk all day. And all night. And all weekend. I don't have the effort to find the words to type. You can find me sharing my thoughts on Stories almost all the time though. Sitting at my computer usually means I'm doing some sort of school work. 

To recap the last couple of weeks...it's been hot, as usual. 

Scout had a rough hunting trip last week so he earned himself a special trip to the vet. Scott thought he was actually dying for a day or so there. Ugh. The vet told me there's nothing wrong with him....I'm not even kidding. She just said "he's 11". He still has a bit of a limp but seems to be okay.

Sutton at daycare. 

If I could recommend one professional development activity for you, it would not be LETRS. This course is, yes, full of useful knowledge. It's just incredibly impractical to be taking in all this information and be in the classroom at the same time. It's a huge time suck and I get absolutely nothing out of it. Last year I got a stipend for passing part one and now I'm in part two. Absolutely not worth a few hundred dollars. The amount of at-home work that needs to be put in...it's multiple college credits' worth.

And yeah, we meet at a restaurant this year. 

I jumped on the Arbonne train for this supplement. I like it. I'm giving it 30 days and we'll see if I feel like investing more than that. 

Lunch-packing. Sutton gets breakfast too. I wish I could get Wells to eat breakfast at home but he's never hungry. I've started packing both lunches now and I'm hoping to grab some more bentgo boxes in the upcoming prime sale in two weeks. 

I found the Daniel Tiger toy! It was 100% in the barn but now I'm looking for a piece to the Skip Hop table so I can sell it. 

Also these great pieces of fake food that you sort by color. 

Still looking for that black skirt (RIP). 

I've been buying these lately. 

This is such a bargain. Just used up the last of the bag so it's going on the Costco list for next month. 

Neither of my kids really like candy corn so that's good for me. 

Last week was *Farm Safety Day* at school. Among other things, they showed the kids the safe way to get someone's attention if they are on a zero-turn mower or a tractor. (Out in front at a 45 degree angle, wave your arms.) It's rednecky for sure, but this has definitely come up at our own house so maybe Farm Safety Day is for us after all. They didn't go over what to do when your dog won't stop jumping up on the tractor or mower though while it's moving. Which is something that comes up here a lot. 

The fall that was not

Supposedly the calendar rolled to "fall" over the weekend. 

Meanwhile, I still haven't bought mums because I'm afraid they'll shrivel up and die. 

I don't know why I'm shocked when September rolls around each year and nothing changes weather-wise. It's always such a disappointment. 

I think we had one nice weekend...maybe it was Labor Day?.... and it's been nasty and humid ever since. Also, very dry. Always looks like rain, never actually rains. 

Trying to get out on the weekends. 

(This past weekend, I didn't even try lol...like, see you in October, outside.)

It was 90 degrees by 10am last weekend. 

Scott often takes the big dogs hunting on the weekends so I'm left with this guy to amuse. 

This day, you could cut the humidity with a knife. 

"Hope"

The first rainbow I've seen in Missouri in forever. I don't even think it rained? We saw them in CO constantly (not that I'm advocating a move back to CO, I just miss rainbows). 

Even my summer clothing is starting to give up: My romper ripped so I did wear it like this for several hours. I guess I got two summers out of it. 

August books (plural)

I did read more than one book in August (unlike July) but I didn't devour anything after like the first week of August. I did DNF a few but I won't list them out here. The transition from summer reading to fall reading, I think, is hard. 

The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding 

My first book by this author. I've been on a wait list for The Arrangement for months and then the library inexplicably doesn't have it anymore. This was on Kindle Unlimited. I liked it. The style of writing was good. I kept waiting for the twist. It was a good enough story/tale. I could've read it in a day if I'd wanted; I think it took me 3 days. Definitely a long book, though. I recommend it if you like a mystery. 

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

I pre-ordered this because I've had a lot of luck with Shari Lapena books this year. Honestly, I liked it enough to read it in a few days so it was 100% worth buying for me. Many seem to be comparing it to The Lovely Bones which, if you've read TLB, there *is* no comparison. It stands by itself as a classic of sorts (if you've not read it, you should).

I didn't love the twist? I did kind of predict it? The writing was good. It moved along quickly. The biggest issue was this, which I put into a Goodreads review:

The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding

Nothing and no one could've made me care about the characters in this book. They all were the worst. I thought the story was far-fetched and an example of bad parenting. I honestly kept going because I was curious, not because I was invested or because I cared. It seemed like there were so many random bits and pieces thrown in (blackmail! teachers who were predators! Oregon! Only F*ns! Hazing! Kleptomania! Guns are bad! Gangs! Vegans! Drug use! Disgruntled teens!) that it was like a BINGO card for a Lifetime movie.  I don't recommend it, but I did finish it. 

^None of that is even a spoiler. I could tell you major plot points and you'd still never guess what was actually going on. 

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager

I wanted to like this. I've DNF'd a lot of Riley Sager books in the past few years. It was better than the last couple of books by Riley Sager (Survive the Night and The Only One Left). I do believe I would've finished it much more quickly if it'd been on Kindle. I hate reading actual books these days. There were a lot of characters and, I felt, a lot to keep track of because I definitely didn't read it in one sitting. Reading it all at once over a few days would've made this easier. 

When all was said and done, I read like 3/4 of it and then started reading spoilers because I couldn't take it anymore. I'm counting it. The characters weren't great, the plot was a slow one. I almost felt like there was a Stranger Things element to it but he wanted to do that without saying so...if anything, it speaks to the obtuseness of 10 year old boys who turn 40 and still think and assume like 10 year old boys. 

Anyway.

The Drowning Woman was good and What Have You Done? was worth the pre-order. 

Linking up with Share Your Shelf!