3 Things I’m Loving Right Now: A New Feature! {1}

Gosh you guys. I don’t know about you, buy my soul is craving something, ANYTHING, that does not have to do with politics. I thought it would get better after the election–the hate, the fear, the anxiety–but it has gotten worse. I have officially reached my saturation point. Dear Jesus, come quickly.

If you are like me and want something else to read that has nothing to do with the election or the outcome thereof…something with the spiritual nourishment equivalent of a donut and a Diet Coke, here you go.

From now until I run out of things to love, I’m doing a regular blog feature entitled, “Three Things I’m Loving Right Now” From gadgets to books, practices to products, here are a few things that, somehow, someway, are assisting me in my continued pursuit of a well-balanced life.

1. Progressive Lenses (formerly known as “bifocals” but rebranded to make middle-aged people feel hip):

First, some history about me and my eyes. I’ve been wearing glasses for nearsightedness since 6th grade and contacts since 10th grade. At age 40, suddenly and without warning, I joined the ranks of the middle-aged and could no longer read anything while wearing my glasses or contacts. Oddly, I could still read perfectly without glasses or contacts. In other words, I could read without prescription glasses, but couldn’t see far away. Or I could see far away with prescription glasses or contacts, but couldn’t read my texts or the back of an Advil bottle. If I was wearing prescription glasses, I had to take them off to read. If I was wearing contacts, I had to wear reading glasses to read. This meant, all day, every day for the last 8 years, I have been carrying 4 pairs of glasses with me: prescription, readers, prescription sunglasses, and cheap Target sunglasses. And I did this little dance where I’d be taking off glasses and putting different glasses on depending on the situation. Glasses and contacts everywhere. It was all chaos and confusion.

Enter, progressive lenses: Nearsighted at the top, farsighted at the bottom and no ugly line between the two! For the first time since my 30s, I can see everything, all the time. I wish I would have done this years ago. 100% worth the extra money.

2. The iPhone calendar: I realize I’m a little late to this party. I tend to resist technology. I am a paper calendar girl to the core. I love seeing my whole month at once. I love that anyone in the family can write an event, erase an event, see all events, refrain from asking me about upcoming events. What I don’t love is standing at the orthodontist office and being unable to make my kid’s next appointment because my entire life is hanging on the dining room wall. I also don’t like scheduling said appointment, only to get home and realize I double-booked. And I especially don’t like having to call the office back to reschedule. What a time-waster!

So, one day a few weeks ago, I took 3 hours of my Saturday and transferred an entire year’s worth of events from this:

to this:

I’m not gonna lie: it was a grueling process. And, to be honest, I wasn’t sure I would like it. Neither was I sure if I could or should maintain both calendars. But, alas, I’m about a month in and I gotta say, I’m a big fan of the iPhone Calendar! I love being out and about with complete ability to check my schedule. I love having reminders pop up a day or two in advance for things like birthday parties or classroom volunteer obligations, where I need to purchase something, but historically forget to do so until the day of. I love the ability to input the location of an event on the calendar and have it tell me what the traffic is like and what time I need to leave in order to arrive on time.

I still maintain the paper calendar, as well, which feels a little redundant and cumbersome. But it is much less cumbersome than standing at the orthodontist office trying to schedule an appointment and being completely unable to do so—or doing so, only to come home and realize I double-booked. Again.

3. Baking Soda: If I was late to the iPhone Calendar party, I’m SUPER late to the Baking Soda party—a good century or two, perhaps. I love natural cleaning products. But I was having a difficult time finding something to clean tubs, showers, sinks, and toilets well. Grime piles up and it becomes difficult to remove, even with Method spray and a scouring pad—I’d usually resort to Clorox Clean-up with bleach about once a month to cut through it, which I prefer to avoid because it’s so toxic.

Do you know how clean and shiny baking soda gets a sink? Very. And showers: every few days, I sprinkle some around the edges of my shower, get into the shower (literally, because it’s non-toxic and fragrance-free, I can take a shower WITH it), and before I get out, I quickly scrub around the edges of the shower and rinse it out. SHINY! It even works in teenage boy tubs.  You know this is a big stinking deal if you have teenage boys. And it’s cheap! You can get a 13 lb bag of it to keep in your bathroom for about $10 at Wal-mart. I think this 5 lb bag cost about $2.  (I credit my friend Stephanie O’Dea and her book Totally Together: Short Cuts to an Organized Life, for this tip.)

What are you loving right now? Tell me all about it in the comments. (Unless you are loving politics. Then, please, do NOT leave a comment.) 🙂

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