Beauty

[dosey]

Thanks, everyone, for all of the nice birthday wishes!

How is everyone doing with the No Buy?  I'm hanging in there.  Ulta sent me an email reminding me that I have points to use.  Ulta is so cruel.

I finished the last bit of Alterna Volume Spray.  This is a nice product because is it lightweight and leaves no residue, but it is also $25 for about 4 oz.  I haven't decided if I will repurchase it.  I found a drugstore blow out spray (John Frieda) and would like to find a drugstore volume spray.  But not this month, of course.

Tomorrow, we are going to Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, NC!!!   That will be my fun activity for August.  For the first time, we are going to buy fast passes so we can avoid the long lines.  DD said that she will finally ride some of the rollercoasters.  This will be great.

I continue to love my job.  There is so much to learn, and it is challenging, but I like that.  I want to push my mind to learn new things.

So what is everyone up to?  Enjoying the Olympics?  

[dosey]

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@just bee wrote:

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@dosey wrote:

Today marks my 54th year on this planet.  You know what that means.

Are you suddenly feeling pressure for some kind of significant change? 

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YES!!!!  I am planning just that.  Details to follow in a few months........

[Beauty$Junkie]

Dosey, Happy Belated Birthday.  I hope you enjoy your trip to Carowinds and it is not too hot.  I also live in Charlotte, so what a coincidence.  I have been so tempted by the no-buy commitment, even though my vanity and every bathroom shelf and cranny is still stuffed with unused products.  I did pull out some clothing items to donate and had another pair of Clarks shoes fall apart when I was wearing them, so I am getting rid of some things--LOL  I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend.  Thanks for being their for me with all your postings.

[rnmom]

Hi everyone!

I had been doing well on the August no buy, congratulating myself on getting thru a week and a half and only 3 weeks to go, no problem, easy peasy. My family did some garage saleing yesterday and we stopped at a house where hubby knows the fammily. So there I found a bottle of Philosophy Cinnamon Buns, 16oz, 3-in-1. I took the top off because I thought for sure it had been used. Nope, brand new with the seal intact. And they only wanted one dollar for it. One dollar! So of course I had to get it. I don't have a huge shower gel stash, in fact, my hubby is using his last one, my kids just opened their last one, and our spare bathroom in the basement doesn't have a back up either. I'm the only one who has "extra". I have 4 going in the shower right now that I'm working thru, and only one unopened. So either myself or the kids will end up using it soon. I just couldn't pass up one dollar! Now back to the no buy!

[just bee]

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@dosey wrote:

Thanks, everyone, for all of the nice birthday wishes!

How is everyone doing with the No Buy?  I'm hanging in there.  Ulta sent me an email reminding me that I have points to use.  Ulta is so cruel.

I finished the last bit of Alterna Volume Spray.  This is a nice product because is it lightweight and leaves no residue, but it is also $25 for about 4 oz.  I haven't decided if I will repurchase it.  I found a drugstore blow out spray (John Frieda) and would like to find a drugstore volume spray.  But not this month, of course.

Tomorrow, we are going to Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, NC!!!   That will be my fun activity for August.  For the first time, we are going to buy fast passes so we can avoid the long lines.  DD said that she will finally ride some of the rollercoasters.  This will be great.

I continue to love my job.  There is so much to learn, and it is challenging, but I like that.  I want to push my mind to learn new things.

So what is everyone up to?  Enjoying the Olympics?  

---

It's so interesting to see "love" and "job" in the same sentence!  Usually one will see other words there: "To," "quit," "this."  Good to hear you're liking it.

How nice to be going to an amusement park.  Alas, those spectacular rollercoaster days are over for me.  Living in New Mexico, just driving to work is thrill ride enough.

Still committed to the no-buy pledge.  Which really surprises me considering how much I wanted a pair of shoes that I, of course, don't need.  But I just kept putting off ordering them and eventually the urge to buy fizzled. 

The "fun" thing I'd planned turned out to be not-so fun.  We went to the Boz Scaggs/Michael McDonald show Tuesday night and I suspect this may be my last concert.  Great seats, oddly enough.  It was good to see Boz, but I went home and wondered why I watched the band perform a Mink DeVille song and a Steve Winwood song instead of the handful of favorite Boz Scaggs songs that had made me buy tickets and take a night off from work.  They didn't play the songs I came to hear.  That was disappointing since they were on the set lists of the shows in other cities.  I could have stayed home and watched Boz on YouTube or I could have bought CDs and I could be listening to those songs right now.  Instead, I spent more than that on beer at the show.

Michael McDonald started off with political commentary.  If I'd wanted political commentary I would have stayed home and watched cable news.  I bought tickets so I could get a break from political commentary.  When the band started playing "What the World Needs Now Is Love," I nudged Better-half and told him that it was time to go.  No, Michael.  What the world needed at that moment was a better sound system and more Doobie Brothers tunes.

And Better-half was in a foul mood because he was harassed for vaping.  The concert was outside.  Steve Miller's concert was canceled recently because of lightning and they're worried about steam?

Not watching the Olympics but I probably should have been Tuesday night.

[just bee]

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@dosey wrote:

---

@just bee wrote:

---

@dosey wrote:

Today marks my 54th year on this planet.  You know what that means.

Are you suddenly feeling pressure for some kind of significant change? 

---

YES!!!!  I am planning just that.  Details to follow in a few months........

---

I'm riveted.  I think this could be the year, so get back to planning.

[just bee]

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@Beauty$Junkie wrote:

Dosey, Happy Belated Birthday.  I hope you enjoy your trip to Carowinds and it is not too hot.  I also live in Charlotte, so what a coincidence.  I have been so tempted by the no-buy commitment, even though my vanity and every bathroom shelf and cranny is still stuffed with unused products.  I did pull out some clothing items to donate and had another pair of Clarks shoes fall apart when I was wearing them, so I am getting rid of some things--LOL  I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend.  Thanks for being their for me with all your postings.

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We're almost halfway there!

[just bee]

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@rnmom wrote:

Hi everyone!

I had been doing well on the August no buy, congratulating myself on getting thru a week and a half and only 3 weeks to go, no problem, easy peasy. My family did some garage saleing yesterday and we stopped at a house where hubby knows the fammily. So there I found a bottle of Philosophy Cinnamon Buns, 16oz, 3-in-1. I took the top off because I thought for sure it had been used. Nope, brand new with the seal intact. And they only wanted one dollar for it. One dollar! So of course I had to get it. I don't have a huge shower gel stash, in fact, my hubby is using his last one, my kids just opened their last one, and our spare bathroom in the basement doesn't have a back up either. I'm the only one who has "extra". I have 4 going in the shower right now that I'm working thru, and only one unopened. So either myself or the kids will end up using it soon. I just couldn't pass up one dollar! Now back to the no buy!

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Don't sweat it.  I think I paid $8.50 for a cup of beer at the concert the other night.  And I needed more than one.  A buck for several scented showers is a major bargain.  Fall's coming.  Put some of it in a pump bottle at the kitchen sink to wash your hands.  Noms!

[just bee]

Got a couple bargains myself this month.  First, when I went to Walgreens on Senior Day to buy hard candy for work, not only did I get my senior discount, but those bonus points kicked in and I saved an additional five dollars.  Ended up getting ten bags of candy for $10.90.  They even had a bag of root beer barrels.

Has my life fallen to such depths that this purchase is the highlight of my month?

But wait -- there's more.  I needed tea.  Harney & Sons had my favorite variety on sale so I pounced.  But I also ordered (on sale) a bag of Bangkok, a green tea that has a "mixture of coconut, lemongrass, ginger, and vanilla flavors."  I wasn't expecting much.

My package arrived and I set it aside.  Had a night at work that was... well, unpleasant on several levels, so when I came home I opened the tea box and put my teas away, but before I shut the cupboard door I decided to sniff the Bangkok.

Instantly transported to another time and filled with joy.  This was a scent I hadn't experienced since life behind the Redwood Curtain.  This tea smelled exactly like my favorite college-days tea: Pelican Punch!  A magical blend of "peppermint leaves, roasted barley malt, chamomile flowers, roasted carob, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, and natural vanilla flavor."

The Bangkok ingredients are different: How could it smell the same?

I knew it wouldn't taste the same.  Having a cup now and there are similarities, but it's not Pelican Punch.  I can live with that.  And now I'm tasting the ginger in this.  It's not bad.

I probably won't need tea until next year.

[just bee]

On the HEP front...

For the heck of it, I sat down and started adding up the grams of sugar that are in some of the foods I regularly consume -- especially at work.  Things like peanut butter, bagel, yogurt, vanilla chai tea beverage, fruit.

I figured 20 grams of sugar daily would be a good goal.  The Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chai Tea drink that I bring to work as that little something to look forward to in the middle of the night has 26 grams of sugar.  The drink is sold in three sizes: 15.2, 32, and 52 ounces.  I used to buy the 15.2 oz size but it's more economical to buy the 52-ouncer and pour individual servings into a mason jar.

What's an individual serving?  Clearly, this would depend on the individual.  If I have a 15.2 oz bottle, that's a serving.  Not according to Bolthouse.  That's two servings.  One serving is 8 oz.  That's 170 calories and 26 grams of sugar.

Multiply that times two, then add a Noosa yogurt -- maybe coconut -- that has 30 grams of sugar.  Because I went to school before they stopped teaching basic math, I can see that is a total of 82 grams.  That doesn't include my 13 grams of sugar from my bagel and 6 grams from my Skippy.

The only good news is that the light beer I drink has a lot less sugar in it than I would have thought.  Less than anything else I consume in a day.  At this point, an all light beer diet might be healthier.  Kidding.  Sort of.

So I've added a couple items to my no-buy list.  No more specialty drink at work.  I bring water and that will have to do.  No more yogurt.  Even plain yogurt has a lot of sugar.

I can give this up.  But I'll give you my Skippy and bagel when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

ETA:

Actually, Skippy peanut butter has 3 grams of sugar per serving (2 tablespoons) -- not 6.