Beauty

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@aprilskies wrote:

I think everyone is starting to feel that way about Christmas cards. I have stopped sending them a few years back. I just found that time escaped me and I couldnt seem to get to them and finally eliminated the stress.  I only now just mail out a handful and this year, it may even be less.   I always love getting them but I think this is a tradition that seems to have petered out.

Like you @geezerette, I am starting to let go of the "should do's," "must do's," etc.  The only thing I am managing to create is stress.

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@aprilskies

@geezerette

There's a thread on Among Friends about Christmas cards and I was surprised to see how few are sent and received.  I swear I get more from businesses and other organizations than from people I know.

Mailed mine yesterday.  I always display the ones we receive during the season.  My problem is that I can't bring myself to throw them away in January.

Yup.  I save greeting cards, too.

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I always used to enjoy writing out Christmas cards, and receiving them.  But a couple of years ago the dread started.  And when we got the few we did, I’d look at them without much interest.  Either I didn’t really care what the person had written, or I already knew it from contact on some sort of internet connection during the year, or they just signed their name and said nothing anyway.  We also get more cards from businesses than friends or relatives.  I used to display them, but then the display got so pitiful because it was so small that now I just leave them on the counter for a day or two, then toss.

I think that when it first started to dawn on me that I should scrap the snail mail cards was when I no longer even cared about the ones I was receiving, let alone enjoyed sending them.

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

@just bee

I am definitely interested in doing a minimalist 2018–and beyond.  In fact, for  quite a while now I have been looking at all aspects of my life and realize I have to change many things about it.  So many that I think in order to be successful at all, I need a new mindset.  To look at life differently, and consequently, act differently.  The beginning of a new year seems like the perfect time for that. 

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@geezerette

My brain is due for some tweaking, too.  You might also be guilty of this.  I commit myself to something and then, as the event or appointment approaches, I just feel dread.

It's like I'd rather be doing anything else than doing what I'd signed up to do.  But I do not bail -- I do what I've scheduled and it's almost always worth the time and energy.

So why the dread?

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@just bee

Oh yes, all the time.  I can’t say no to someone’s face.  I just try to weasel out of it after the fact.

I just plain don’t like to do things away from home.  Basically, I’m antisocial. I’d much rather spend my time at home; I’ve always felt this way.  I always tell the joke that my mother couldn’t punish me by sending me to my room because I’d rather be there anyway, it wasn’t punishment for me.  Punishment would have been to make me go out and enjoy myself with people.

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@geezerette

I've worked with people who will volunteer for overtime because they're bored.  To them, a day at home is boring.

I'm never bored at home.

Sometimes I think what they mean is that they're lonely.

I don't get lonely at home, either.  Even when BH went off to deal with things in another state. 

I suspect I have introvert tendencies.

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

@just bee

I am definitely interested in doing a minimalist 2018–and beyond.  In fact, for  quite a while now I have been looking at all aspects of my life and realize I have to change many things about it.  So many that I think in order to be successful at all, I need a new mindset.  To look at life differently, and consequently, act differently.  The beginning of a new year seems like the perfect time for that. 

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@geezerette

My brain is due for some tweaking, too.  You might also be guilty of this.  I commit myself to something and then, as the event or appointment approaches, I just feel dread.

It's like I'd rather be doing anything else than doing what I'd signed up to do.  But I do not bail -- I do what I've scheduled and it's almost always worth the time and energy.

So why the dread?

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@just bee

Oh yes, all the time.  I can’t say no to someone’s face.  I just try to weasel out of it after the fact.

I just plain don’t like to do things away from home.  Basically, I’m antisocial. I’d much rather spend my time at home; I’ve always felt this way.  I always tell the joke that my mother couldn’t punish me by sending me to my room because I’d rather be there anyway, it wasn’t punishment for me.  Punishment would have been to make me go out and enjoy myself with people.

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@geezerette

I've worked with people who will volunteer for overtime because they're bored.  To them, a day at home is boring.

I'm never bored at home.

Sometimes I think what they mean is that they're lonely.

I don't get lonely at home, either.  Even when BH went off to deal with things in another state. 

I suspect I have introvert tendencies.

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@just bee

Definitely separated at birth.

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

@just bee

I am definitely interested in doing a minimalist 2018–and beyond.  In fact, for  quite a while now I have been looking at all aspects of my life and realize I have to change many things about it.  So many that I think in order to be successful at all, I need a new mindset.  To look at life differently, and consequently, act differently.  The beginning of a new year seems like the perfect time for that. 

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@geezerette

My brain is due for some tweaking, too.  You might also be guilty of this.  I commit myself to something and then, as the event or appointment approaches, I just feel dread.

It's like I'd rather be doing anything else than doing what I'd signed up to do.  But I do not bail -- I do what I've scheduled and it's almost always worth the time and energy.

So why the dread?

---

@just bee

Oh yes, all the time.  I can’t say no to someone’s face.  I just try to weasel out of it after the fact.

I just plain don’t like to do things away from home.  Basically, I’m antisocial. I’d much rather spend my time at home; I’ve always felt this way.  I always tell the joke that my mother couldn’t punish me by sending me to my room because I’d rather be there anyway, it wasn’t punishment for me.  Punishment would have been to make me go out and enjoy myself with people.

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@geezerette

I've worked with people who will volunteer for overtime because they're bored.  To them, a day at home is boring.

I'm never bored at home.

Sometimes I think what they mean is that they're lonely.

I don't get lonely at home, either.  Even when BH went off to deal with things in another state. 

I suspect I have introvert tendencies.

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@just bee

Definitely separated at birth.

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@geezerette

[aprilskies]

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@geezerette wrote:

@aprilskies

@It’s not so much about the journey, as you phrase it @aprilskies, more like I need an attitude adjustment for the trip. And I need to ascertain what in my life is a necessity and what is something superficial that can be, or rather needs to be, thrown out and done in.

@I’ll use HEP as an example because, for me, it is probably the most important and a basis for most everything else in my life now. I know I need to eat healthy because to not do so at this point is making me ill, and in turn, affecting all other aspects of my life negatively. But acting upon this knowledge seems to have become a sticking point. Why? I’ve done it before, for years, in fact. Why can I now not seem to “just do it” when it’s so important? Upon reflection, I think it’s because, as you said @aprilskies, it’s hard work. Eating well takes time and preparation and forethought. Why can’t I do that now? Because I have too many other things to do in addition. And many of them are things I’ve taken upon myself and are totally unnecessary. Those things need to go.

Also, my attitude needs to change. I am a pessimist. I look at everything negatively. But in order to change my diet, I need to change my attitude about it. Instead of continuing to think I'm missing out by not eating junk food, I need to look at what I’m gaining: good health, feeling well enough to think clearly and do things I want to do.

That’s why I talked about a different mindset. I need to change how I think about things, then I believe it will be easier to accomplish what I want, and need, to do from here on in. I believe, that for me anyway, paring down and minimizing everything in my life will lead to being able to concentrate on the few important and necessary things.

Life really is very simple. But the one that complicated it is me. So now I have to set about “uncomplicating” it.

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@geezerette, Totally relate. I called it a journey from my own perspective, I suppose, because for me, it will be one.  I think in order for me to start to fix anything, I need to fix my sleep.  When I don’t sleep well, I don’t have the willpower to make good decisions.  So, fixing my sleep and my eating habits will be a challenge.  I know, why is it so hard to do what we know is right for us?  Mystery. 

Health for 2018.  

[just bee]

I needed to pick up a couple things from Walgreens and did what I don't do at Walgreens: Browse.

I ended up with two cheap eyeliner pencils (wet n wild $.99, but i paid $1.29 each at Walgreens -- because I'm worth it) and two Burt's Bees gift sets that were marked 50% off.

I haven't bought half-off holiday gift sets at a drugstore in ages!  I used to love that.  Anyway, I picked up a set of 4 lip balms ($4.99) and a Tips and Toes Kit ($6.50).

Just the lemon cuticle cream and hand salve would be $6,00 so I pounced.

Didn't need these.  But at that price I won't feel bad about actually using them.

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

I needed to pick up a couple things from Walgreens and did what I don't do at Walgreens: Browse.

I ended up with two cheap eyeliner pencils (wet n wild $.99, but i paid $1.29 each at Walgreens -- because I'm worth it) and two Burt's Bees gift sets that were marked 50% off.

I haven't bought half-off holiday gift sets at a drugstore in ages!  I used to love that.  Anyway, I picked up a set of 4 lip balms ($4.99) and a Tips and Toes Kit ($6.50).

Just the lemon cuticle cream and hand salve would be $6,00 so I pounced.

Didn't need these.  But at that price I won't feel bad about actually using them.

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@just bee

Walgreen’s is first on my shopping trip next week.  I wonder if ours would have this.  Have you used any of these products before?  I need something for my fingertips, actually my thumbs to be exact.  Every winter they dry out, crack and bleed.  And hurt.  Both are a mess right now, besides the fact I leave a trail of blood on everything I touch.  Any type of salve I’ve tried doesn’t work at all.  I’m thinking of raiding a beehive for straight beeswax.🐝

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee

Walgreen’s is first on my shopping trip next week.  I wonder if ours would have this.  Have you used any of these products before?  I need something for my fingertips, actually my thumbs to be exact.  Every winter they dry out, crack and bleed.  And hurt.  Both are a mess right now, besides the fact I leave a trail of blood on everything I touch.  Any type of salve I’ve tried doesn’t work at all.  I’m thinking of raiding a beehive for straight beeswax.🐝

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@geezerette

The problem I have since changing careers and having to do background checks that require my fingerprints is this: I have no fingerprints.

They have a heckuva time getting anything that even looks like a print off my fingers.  I could have had a spectacular life of crime and didn't know it.

But when I go in there to do the prints, inevitably the office staff will rub some kind of Burt's Bees hand product on me.  They seem to help and they always smell great.

The hand salve gets high marks on hand cream reviews dot com.  I haven't been able to use it consistently but I plan to once I ditch the gauntlet.

[just bee]

@geezerette

From the hand cream reviews website:

There are many reasons why you might choose Burt’s Bees Natural Hand Salve for yourself. It definitely has its plus sides, and they are numerous.

For one, it is a natural product, meaning that it is perfect for those of us who simply want to stick close to nature.

For another, the beeswax and other soothing ingredients mean that this product does an amazing job at what it advertises.

And, because it has such a powerful formula, you won’t need to use as much of the product, nor use it as often, in order to get the same benefits that you would see otherwise. There aren’t very many cons.

However, there is at least one. This product can, if overapplied, leave your skin and hands feeling greasy. But, other than that, this is perfect!

You do need to rub it into your skin.

[geezerette]

@just bee

Thanks!  I’ll definitely have to give it a try after that flowing recommendation, it sounds like it has everything I look for.  As long as it doesn’t have a strong fragrance.