Random for your Monday

I was waylaid by a malady last week. When I took to my bed it was spring, with the flowers and the mild temperatures and the dampness and the leaves budding out everywhere. But when I shuffled outside a couple of days later and peered, mole-like, up at the sky, it had become summer. Yeah, it's like 90 over here. The bulbs are done. Everything is green. And oy, the humidity.

There is a cage match going on in my guts right now, probiotics vs. antibiotics, but I am mostly feeling better. Of course, now the kids are sick (with something completely unrelated)(yes, I'm sure) and home from school today. Ain't that always the way?

Being ill for a couple of days had one advantage: it allowed me to catch up with Season One of Game of Thrones. Ho. Lee. Crap. That is my new favorite show. We didn't have HBO when it first aired, and we won't have it anymore starting about halfway through this current season (we have a free trial right now because of our recent switch to DirecTV)(which I still HATE), but I will enjoy it while I can. P is reading the first book now, so shhhh! No one tell him anything! He doesn't know about Ned yet! Or Viserys, even! Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to go on record as having been a huge Peter Dinklage fan since WAY before this series started. Hello, 13 Moons, anyone? Am I the only one who saw that movie? Probably so. Anyway, I have dibs on the Dinklage, is what I'm saying.

I am reading Barry Estabrook's Tomatoland right now and it is blowing my mind. I knew that off-season grocery store tomatoes didn't taste like anything, and that the conventionally grown ones were covered in pesticides, but what I didn't know was that they were most likely picked by slaves. Actual slaves, as in people "owned" by other people with absolutely no civil/human rights. I'm not quite halfway through the book but already I have vowed never to buy another out-of-season grocery store tomato, or a non-organic grocery store tomato, or a tomato grown in Florida, ever again.

Let's see, what else is going on?

Today is Autism Awareness Day and son C, who has an autism spectrum disorder, is vehemently opposed to the entire concept. He explained why very eloquently on his Facebook page, and I won't copy and paste his words here, but I will say he gave me a lot to think about.

Our next-door neighbors to the east have moved away and the new neighbors haven't moved in yet and I am nervous, because I don't like change. Or people. Or people who change. I liked the old neighbors just fine -- they were a couple maybe 10 years older than us whose children were grown and out of the house and whose dog never barked (their cat pooped in my garden though, I'm pretty sure). We know nothing about the new neighbors except that it's a family and the dad is from the same neighboring state as P. What if their children are obnoxious? What if their dog barks? What if they tear out all the beautiful landscaping, like we did when we bought this house? I might need medication to get through this, you guys.

(Incidentally, if any of this sounds incoherent it's because H has come in and interrupted me about 4,783 times since I started typing. Yeah, she is SO TOTALLY going back to school tomorrow. What is it about the sound of fingers on a keyboard that brings children and spouses running? And P wonders why I haven't written that novel yet. HA HA HA.)

In closing, here are some things I've tried and liked lately:

• Yes to Blueberries cleansing facial towelettes (large, soft, non-irritating, they remove all my makeup and they smell nice)
• Covergirl & Olay Tone Rehab foundation (feels and looks lovely on the skin)
• Covergirl Lash Perfection mascara (removes with plain water but doesn't smudge!)
• the Green Machine flavor of Naked juice (looks so gross, tastes so good)
• wearing my hair in a ponytail (it's almost long enough not to need clips, and it's either this or cut it all off again)
• showering at night instead of in the morning (saves time, helps me sleep, and makes a lot  more sense during pollenpalooza season)

Things I have tried and NOT liked:

• Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream (felt icky on my skin, did not like the fragrance, and the lightest shade is too dark for me)
• Method fabric softener (the pump weirds me out and it doesn't soften as well as my usual Seventh Generation)
• the new Seventh Generation fabric softener bottle (WTF with that redesign, Sev Gen?)
• unsweetened 100% cranberry juice (oy)

And that about brings you up to speed.

* This is NOT a sponsored post. All of the products mentioned were purchased by me with my husband's own money.