June 1st wish list

The most asked question - after how the dog is... who is doing great! :) Thank you all! ha
So the next question is...

What are you going to buy when the year is up?

It seems like such a monumental occasion. 

It seems like I should buy something just because I can. 

But what do I really need?

Aside from some conditioner, mascara, and my favorite perfume 

(My obsession with smell... obvious)

Surprisingly enough, I'm not dying to buy anything in particular. I guess not anything "new". In fact, it's almost become such a fun "challenge" to find things "old"... it doesn't seem as fun to go shopping in a regular store.
 Just this weekend I was talking to some girls who asked about the skirt i was wearing. I had to break it to them it came from a thrift store, so the likelihood of them getting one of their own was slim to none. But when I told them about the whole nothingnewforayear thing you could see the wheels turning. From cool vintage tables and funky lamps... to outfits that you'll rarely have to worry about seeing show up at the same party - there's a lot of fun that has come out of this year.

Of course throughout the year I certainly hit low points. Moments where I wanted to be able to just pick up and buy something I saw online or in a shop... and maybe it's my bad memory, or maybe it's just that unimportant... that I can't really recall that many things that have been haunting me this year. 

I can only recall two things. 

And because I prefer "new" swimsuits... 

Although I would ante up for that tan and a body like that if it's for purchase :)

I've entertained the idea of trying to go to the grocery store with a list, and challenging myself not to go back to the grocery store until all the food is gone... Which would not only make meals interesting... lol. but it would also make me think more about what I really want to eat and not being so wasteful. But I travel a lot so it wouldn't be nearly as interesting as if I was home most of the time and trying to work it around multiple meals a day. 

I gave up sweets for Lent and when it was over - the flood gates opened! I'm almost afraid to do that because it's so easy to fall back into bad habits...

There are a few things I'd like to be able to buy regularly... as you can imagine, but for the most part... I really enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

I guess I'll have to see how I wake up on June 1st and let you know.

eau de detergent

I've mentioned before my love affair with scents... and the harsh reality that my all time favorite perfume has had to sit largely unused during the last 8 months in order to make it last the whole year. 

Well, let's be honest. It's kind of weird to go to the gym smelling like an expensive bottle of perfume. It's weird to throw on some old clothes to clean the house and smell like that either (although I don't mind - I suppose it's unnecessary)... for those instances, I prefer the smell of detergent. Really... good... detergent. 

When I was a kid a lot of my friends lived in "new" houses. They were often the first occupants. We did not.
Our houses were the "fixer uppers".
We were the family that always sought out bent cans at the grocery store, dug through the "remnant" pile at the fabric store, and bought our detergent in 20 gallon buckets from who knows where.
It was smell-less. My mom only cared about how white our whites were (which came from her trusty bleach concoctions) and that we didn't look "dirty". A certain scent??? that's a bunch of hooey she'd say. We can do a load of laundry for 6 cents! 

As a kid I wasn't too aware of our differences from other families in many of these ways, until my school uniform never smelled like the other kids. 

Junior high saw yet another move for my family, I think it was #5 or 6. It was my first time going to a private school and my first uniform. Thanks to my parents thrifty ways....With mom at work that first day the nuns handed me a very faded and 3 times too big navy sweatshirt with our school name on it, a 'peter pan' collared shirt and a plaid skirt that hit my shins. My teeth were crisscrossed in front of each other and my mother had only recently agreed to let me grow out my permed mullet and bangs.
(Thankfully I had the spelling bee champion title from my old school under my belt - or perhaps it was that I spent more time hanging with my friends parents that kept me from getting beat up.)

She didn't think it was necessary to pop for the brand new, dark navy, brand new smelling sweatshirts... the old ones would do just fine. (come to think of it, she was starting this whole not being wasteful thing... right? why manufacture a new sweatshirt when there was a perfectly wearable, although faded and worn out one right here for 1/3 of the price.)

If that wasn't enough, at my first sleep over I became very aware that apparently we were one of the only families that cooked at home... or... that our home was so small, our clothes smelled like we cooked in our closets. 

All the other girls' uniforms and sleeping bags carried the most incredible aromas I'd ever smelled. They weren't all the same, but they were all incredible. And their houses! They had these pretty little rooms we weren't allowed to play in, where dried potpourri wreaths hung on the walls, and in bowls. And their laundry rooms emitted those aroma's I'd smelled at school...It was like a dream. That's where I vowed to get a good job so I could afford the luxury of the expensive detergent.

It soon became my job at slumber parties... sniffing out our identical uniforms and placing them with their rightful owners. The twins mom used Tide with bleach, so did Tanya's mom (They were probably the kids who came home with more grass stains). That was kind of tricky, but I basically lived at the Twins house so I just knew which ones were theirs.
 Gina's mom used All,  and so did Tiffany's but Tiffany's mom had all that potpourri so hers had a tinge of dried flowers. While two of the Stephanies both used Cheer, one of them spent a lot of time with her grandparents and they smoked so that's how we could tell them apart.
It was fascinating to me.

I was happy to always be the sniffer because then no one had to sniff mine... which would likely tell you that my mom had a love affair with bleach and drank a pot of coffee a day, my father loved to pretend he was Italian and our house was so small that when mom decided to use the smoke detector as her timer... the smell permeated all 1,100 square feet. Including the closets.

Needless to say, when I reached an age where I was purchasing detergent for myself I would spare no expense on price. At first I thought being able to afford Tide meant I had finally made it.

It was good, but after the initial bottle I realized there were so many smells out there! Now, I stand in the aisle removing lids and sniff each bottle.  Even their cleaning power doesn't really factor in. Isn't that sad? My mom would be so disappointed... but my true love... is smell. As far as I'm concerned people won't notice if my whites aren't as white if they're mesmerized by how good I smell... maybe I'm wrong, but living in clothes all day long that continually emit the most amazing scent, is where it's at for me.

For awhile I was all about Gain - the Red bottle - Apple Mango

But I really love the Febreeze Spring Renewal... and then I noticed they had mixed that smell with detergent... so I had to buy it...

I figure it's cheaper than perfume... and I can't really buy it used... so my new favorite "perfume" the one that comes with cleaning power and costs anywhere from $.20 - $.70 a load - so be it.

So thanks mom and dad for helping me learn how to cook, and the importance of good working smoke alarms... And of course the appreciation of a hard earned dollar saved by being a good shopper and resourceful and useful in the kitchen because now... I can splurge on detergent rather than costly perfume.

I love the smell of detergents.

P.S. pie plate made it home. Crisis averted

Spray the Closet

Perfume the closet!

It just came to me. If I spray the closet with perfume, then everything gets to smell like the perfume I like so much... that is almost out.
You know what else is a good way to keep clothes smelling good, especially when you're traveling a lot... dryer sheets in your suitcase. I can't remember who told me that, but it's genius.