Tipsy Swistle’s Recent Highly Successful and Happy Target Order

35 Replies

I know I have mentioned before that one of the good things about Tipsy Swistle is that it is very easy to talk her into doing chores. For example, I recently persuaded Tipsy Swistle to sweep and hand-mop the entire floor area under and around the cats’ litter box, just so you understand how very useful Tipsy Swistle can be. Consider hiring her to come to your house for the low low price of several gin-and-tonics, sometime during which you can say “Oh DEAR I seem to have eight loads of laundry to fold!” and then sit back and sip your OWN gin-and-tonic as she goes to work. (I warn you that Tipsy Swistle likes to sing along with the radio while she works.)

ANOTHER useful function of Tipsy Swistle is that she will hit the Buy button on things Sober Swistle has been reluctant to order due to excessive anxiety / unnecessary fretfulness / a frugal upbringing. One such order arrived today, and it was a very happy order to unpack; I wish to show it to you.

 

A bag of Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips

(image from Target.com)

and a bar of Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chocolate

(image from Target.com)

because @devivo says the recipe on the back of the Andes peppermint crunch package is a good cookie, and I do what she says. (When tipsy.)

 

A bag of Mint M&Ms

(image from Target.com)

and a bag of mint truffle Hershey Kisses

(image from Target.com)

because commenter Chris mentioned white chocolate peppermint Kisses and mint M&M’s on the most recent grocery shopping report, and that reminded me.

 

Two bags of Popcorners White Cheddar chips, because I have been craving them and my grocery store didn’t have them.

(image from Target.com)

 

Vanilla chai tea, because I used up a box of caffeinated Constant Comment and it was pretty okay but I wanted something different this time.

(image from Target.com)

 

This cute Christmas plate, because I don’t do a whole lot of parental holiday activities, but I will buy a wide assortment of plastic Christmas plates and put meals on them. (I am waiting for the annual batch of plastic snowman/tree/Santa/reindeer plates, of which I always buy the snowman, tree, and reindeer, and only very occasionally the Santa.) (I did not grow up with the Santa tradition, and find him only intermittently appealing.)

(image from Target.com)

 

Tin foil, both regular and heavy-duty, because KC mentioned on the recent grocery shopping post that there was an aluminum shortage and that it would not be a bad idea to have a back-up roll or two just in case.

(image from Target.com)

 

O’Keeffe’s Exfoliating foot cream, because Nicole recommended it (HI NICOLE) and I do what she says (when tipsy), and because my feet have been sad of late.

(image from Target.com)

 

Books two and three of the Murderbot series, a series which COUNTLESS of you recommended and YOU WERE RIGHT (though so far I think the Ann Leckie Ancillary trilogy was better, if you’re waffling between the two). I already read book one, and our library system doesn’t have the series, and there was another buy-two-get-one-free deal, so I bought these two for myself along with a Christmas present for someone else. (I will say to those of you considering a purchase that these books are VERY SLIM for the price. Like, if you are thinking, “Wow, a hardcover for $12-15??”—it’s because the books are small and just over 150 pages each. More like novellas.)

(image from Target.com)

 

A refill of Bona Hardwood floor cleaner: the spritz bottle I bought back in March because this is what our (now former) housecleaners used on our floors and I needed to take over—that bottle is nearly empty now, and for awhile I was in denial and thinking the housecleaners would be coming back SO SOON, but…Tipsy Swistle knew we needed the refill.

(image from Target.com)

Dreams

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I have been using various things to help me sleep at night, but had been avoiding melatonin because it gives me vivid dreams, and I am having enough of those right now. (Most common theme: I am somewhere and suddenly realize I’ve forgotten to wear a mask, and/or other people are not wearing masks and I can’t get away.) But I am also nervous about relying too much on any one sleep aid, so last night I took melatonin, and I DID have a vivid dream, and you are going to have to take my word for it that the FEELING of the dream was VERY POSITIVE (I am succeeding! I have had a good idea and it is working! Aw puppy!!) even though it will not SOUND that way to you, knowing me as you do.

The dream was that I was one of many people on a team to try to make our current/outgoing president more appealing/relatable/sympathetic, and in this dream he was WELL-KNOWN for loving peanut butter (I am sorry, this is the worst part of when people tell their dreams, when they start describing the counter-reality premises that exist in the dream, and normally I edit those out but this one is crucial), and my idea was to get a peanut-butter-colored dog, have him name it Peanut Butter in a cute naming ceremony, and then take a bunch of pictures of him and his wife enjoying the darling little dog. And I had to do a lot of work to talk him into it, but I was able to, and the dog was adorable, and we were getting such good photos.

I also keep dreaming about babies, which I haven’t done for awhile. One dream was a stress dream, where I was in the hospital and I was going to have a c-section the next day, but I was protesting that my jeans were barely tight, surely I was not far enough along for the baby to be full-term. But most of them are good dreams: I’m carrying a baby or nursing a baby, and there’s nothing stressful about it.

Okay, I have told you one full dream plus two categories of dreams; I owe you reciprocal listening to your dreams, if you want.

Grocery Store Report

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I had about a day and a half of relief and happiness after the result of the presidential election was called, and now I am back to feeling stressed, as we see a sizeable portion of the U.S. population refusing to believe the results, and some of our elected officials encouraging them in that; and our president building some sort of barrier around the White House and firing officials crucial to our national security and to a peaceful transfer of power, including the official who stood up to him on the topic of whether the president could turn our armed forces against our own citizens. It’s fine! It’s fine. I have two new hives, and it’s fine.

Well. I am trying not to borrow trouble. Sufficient unto the day, maybe stay offline and read a book, etc. But also, I went grocery shopping today to top up our supplies. I did a two-cart trip a few days before the election so that we could stay put for awhile if needed—but things have stretched on a bit, and we have still not reached the point at which, if there is going to be violence, the violence will happen. (Maybe it won’t happen! Maybe all this drama and wall-building and reality-rejecting and protocol-refusing will just…fizzle out! Maybe it’s fine!) Anyway I topped up our supplies.

One happy thing was that they had Diet Mountain Dew! They still didn’t have the 24-packs, but I bought Paul three 12-packs and he is a happy man. They also had Cadbury Caramello bars and Cadbury Fruit & Nut bars, which are my FAVORITES; all they’d had for months and months were the regular Cadbury bars, which I ALSO like and was very grateful to have, but it was lovely to see the ones I like even better. This was too small a thing to be worth mentioning before (they weren’t Emotional Support items), but it was really nice to see them.

Here is another small thing barely worth mentioning (which I say only in the fear that I will come across as picky and whiny and spoiled; if YOU have “small” things to mention, know that I will be RIVETED, and even MORE interested than in the bigger things): they did not have the little boxes of Gatorade Zero powder packets I like. I am not sporty, as you know, but on keto I have found zero-sugar sports drinks to be helpful if I feel icky. I also drink them if I have had any alcohol, to help reduce after-effects. There were still plenty of bottles of liquid Gatorade Zero and Powerade Zero, so it’s not like I have to suffer without—but the bottles take up so much room in the cart, so the little box was just such a satisfying efficiency, and they haven’t had them for my last few grocery-store trips, which is a little odd because they seem to have a good supply of other powdered drink mixes.

They had SNICKERDOODLE SmartFood popcorn. How can that be good? Yes, of course I bought a bag. I like to store up things like this to eat on my next Day Off.

They had NO crushed tomatoes. They had cans of tomato puree where the crushed ones should be. It’s fine, it’s fine. Even in normal times there are these little occasional gaps!

No familiar all-purpose sprays. No Lysol spray. No sanitizing wipes. There was a woman in the cleaning supply aisle talking aloud to her small child, saying “Let’s see, Mommy needs Lysol. Lysol, Lysol, Lysol. Where IS it? Are we in the wrong aisle?” I wondered if this were the first time in 8 months that she’d looked for it. I imagined her tracking down a clerk and asking where she could find it. Clerks probably thought they were long since done explaining the cleaning-supply situation.

Chicken looked normal: three normal pieces in a normal pack. No ground turkey, though. It’s fine! Even in normal times they were sometimes out of ground turkey.

Very low supplies of vegetarian meat substitutes, no fake chicken nuggets at all, but they DID have the Gardein Beefless Ground they usually don’t have.

Regular chicken nuggets seem to be increasing in variety and availability, though not totally up to normal (no chicken strips today, for example), but so much better than when it was down to dino nuggets and nothing else.

Paper towels were low-ish, and seemed to be only store-brand, but no limit.

I got three bricks of cream cheese, so now even if I don’t go shopping again until after Thanksgiving I can still make the chocolate-crusted pumpkin cheesecake, so THAT’S a relief. That was the only thing I wished last time that I’d gotten. Oh, and also a can of whipped cream. And golden raisins for the spice cake (I mince them so small they don’t even seem like raisins, because I do not very much like raisins but I like how they work with this cake)—OH SHOOT I forgot I need another cream cheese for the spice cake frosting! Well, I think I have a cream cheese in the freezer. And if not, that cake is also good with buttercream frosting.

Flour seems back to normal, and they still had yeast.

They had a big display of canned pumpkin, canned cranberry sauce, stuffing mixes, flour, sugars, and baking chocolate. I’d been a little panicky about baking chocolate when I couldn’t find any awhile back, but since then I’d been able to order it from Target; still, good to see it available again.

Do feel free to put your grocery-shopping notes here! My interest has not diminished.

Kamala Harris

16 Replies

I am such a mix of WEEPY OVERJOYED to have a WOMAN vice president, and SO ANGRY that this is THE VERY FIRST TIME, ONLY NOW IS IT HAPPENING FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY, OH MY GOD HOW HAS THIS BEEN TOLERABLE. I feel like the men in my life, as enthusiastic as they are about this, as glad as they are, don’t and can’t understand what this is like. The FIRST woman. This is the FIRST TIME. They have no idea what that’s like, and they can’t. I appreciate the ones who make the attempt to understand, and I don’t blame them for their failure.

The Day After the Day After the Day After the Election (It’s Friday)

26 Replies

My brain is so fritzy this morning. I keep attempting to use it to do other things (Christmas shopping, maybe write a baby-name post), but all I can do is scroll Twitter. I remember the Bush/Gore situation in 2000, when we waited more than a MONTH for election results—and part of it is that I wasn’t paying much attention back then, and part of it was that I had a baby and couldn’t focus on anything else anyway, but all I remember is thinking “Wow, it’s so weird we still don’t know who’s president!” There wasn’t any stress about it, just a sort of amused surprise. I double-checked with Paul, and he remembers the same: it was kind of NEAT and INTERESTING that we didn’t know who was president yet, but not STRESSFUL—and, he said, he hadn’t remembered it took over a month. (I wouldn’t have been able to say how long it took, either; I would have said “Weeks? I think?”) This time, every day feels SO LONG.

There was a shift on Twitter last night. If you’re not on Twitter: scrolling Twitter is kind of like being at a giant party, and there is definitely a MOOD to that party, and it changes. Sometimes it’s wayyyyyy too worked up and panicky and I leave almost right away; other times everyone’s sitting around quietly, drinking too much wine and being morose and commiserative; other times there’s a lot of jokes and silliness and memes of cute guys and re-watching that Tom Holland “Singing in the Rain” video; and so on.

Last night there was a sort of hepped-up joyful energy I haven’t seen in awhile, like we got a taste of REAL HOPE for the first time in years. I think it was a combination of an increased certainty of a Biden win, plus various media outlets finally, finally, finally calling out our current president’s lies AS lies, without that “Well, what TRULY IS ‘a lie’?” stuff. I wish they’d done more of that the last five years (at this point there’s more of a rats-deserting-sinking-ship feeling to it), but I’ll take what I can get, and Twitter-in-general seemed to feel the same. There was a sort of suppressed, anticipatory GLEE happening. We’re all traumatized by 2016, so no one wants to have too much faith—but on the other hand, it seems to be Really Happening. Anyway, it was a delight, and very much like going to a Really Good Party.

Perhaps we will know the results of the election TODAY! And perhaps the violent coup won’t happen after all!

Day After the Day After Election Day

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I am hiding up in my room because our FURNACE decided to quit DURING AN ELECTION DURING THE WINTER DURING A PANDEMIC, and I admit I am exaggerating when I call the first week of November “winter” but I am STICKING WITH IT FOR THE INDIGNATION FACTOR, and also even if we say “autumn” it’s all pretty outrageous timing and I think we can agree on that, FURNACE.

Anyway. Strangers breathing in my house right now. It’s fine. It’s fine. I keep thinking of solutions and then realizing those don’t solve the problem. “We could all leave while they’re here and go to the….oh.”

On Election Day I was cheerful and energetic and LFG. The day after the election I was saggy and discouraged and I ate a lot of candy. Today, the day after the day after the election, I am feeling better than yesterday, and ready to count the good things (while still being kind of flattened by all the bad things). I know it’s counting chickens, and we still have a coup to avoid, and we still have a large part of the country believing in an alternative reality, and we will in the best case scenario be blocked at every step by the Republican-controlled Senate (I am not currently accepting applications for hope re: the Senate)—but I am also imagining how we can perhaps soon AT LEAST remove some of the corrupt/incompetent appointees. We can perhaps AT LEAST have someone in charge who believes in the existence of the pandemic and the need to react to it. And there’s the possible-VP-elect to think about. We can think about HER.

And there are lots more good thoughts we could be having, but even as a person who does NOT believe in The Universe as an entity that waits eagerly for me personally to say Unwisely Hopeful Words so it can rub my face in the dirt of irony, there is only so much cultural superstition a person can shake off. It is plenty bad enough that I ordered some flags IN CASE there is a reason to use my brother’s idea of Democrats displaying the U.S. flag again once it no longer symbolizes approval and support for a white nationalist administration. I wouldn’t have ordered them ahead of time, but…I wanted to have them on hand If It Became Time To Use Them, and already they won’t be here until Saturday. If I don’t need them, I will wrap them carefully and put them aside for a future election.

Oh, here is a happy thing that won’t make anyone uncomfy about taunting The Universe. I mentioned I’d read the first book of N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, and I think I mentioned that when I went to order the next two, I found that the cost of ordering the whole trilogy was LESS than the cost of ordering Books 2 and 3, so I ordered the whole trilogy. (A LITTLE disheartening since I’d already BOUGHT Book 1 and could have saved even MORE money if I’d bought the trilogy to begin with—but this is a perfect example of SUNK COSTS, and the trilogy STILL cost less than buying the other two books. Plus, if I hadn’t liked Book 1, I would have wasted money if I’d bought the trilogy. LIFE IS A SERIES OF GAMBLES, WE WIN SOME WE LOSE SOME.) (And now I can add Book 1 to the pile of books I’m planning to pass on to others who might like to try them.) I ordered the trilogy on November 2nd, and I ordered it from Target because I am trying to reduce orders from Amazon—and that meant the predicted arrival was November 9th instead of November 4th. I’d HOPED the books would arrive sooner, but I couldn’t count on it. I started re-reading the first book because I didn’t feel like reading any other story—and I just got an email notification that the trilogy is arriving TODAY, days and days before it was expected! I can start reading the next book TODAY instead of NEXT WEEK!

Day After Election Day

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Well! Yesterday’s energy and relief were short-lived! Today I am back to having to force myself out of bed and into the shower. I had been hoping, perhaps stupidly, for a thorough trouncing: a good symbolic rejection of this president and his corruption and his incompetence, and also a punishment for some of the most blatantly terrible congresspeople. But no. I don’t know how to pass the time as I wait for what can in THE ABSOLUTELY BEST-CASE SCENARIO, in the absolute HIGHEST ACHIEVABLE DREAM, be a tepid victory that is not followed by a violent coup.

Election Day Distraction Chatting: Gift Ideas, Assorted Jumble

56 Replies

I was thinking about how my favorite gift guides are the ones where it’s just one big mixed jumble of ideas (as opposed to sorted by type of recipient), and I wondered if it would be useful and also fun if we talked about some of the good gift ideas we’ve had for this year, to make one big general gift-ideas list for others to pick through: it seemed like it would be a really good comments section. I can’t participate as fully in this one, because my parents and sibling and sibling-in-law read my blog. But I can tell you that I got Paul two three-layer rimming trays (the five-layer one was more than twice as expensive, so I just got two three-layers) and a bunch of rimming salts/sugars:

(image from Target.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

Lemon drop, Citrus Jalapeno, Citrus & Petals, Cranberry, Sweet Heat, Lime Margarita.

 

I got Elizabeth this clothes-folding board on a total whim: I saw a video on Twitter of some guy adorably enjoying using one, and I went to see how much they were, and this one was on a Lightning Deal for $11.99, and Elizabeth had recently spent quite a bit of time making a Very Tidy shirt pile on her closet shelves, and I just impulsively bought it. I would maybe have gotten one for William, too, but I could only get one on that deal; if I see them on sale again, I’ll reconsider.

(image from Amazon.com)

 

I would recommend N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy as a gift idea for someone who likes Not By A Male Author science fiction. FIVE of you recommended it to me, and you were right! I have only read the first book so far, and I have ordered the next two books, and while waiting for them to arrive I am re-reading the first book because I don’t really feel like reading anything else. I will tell you up front that there is Child Death—but you know I have a very low tolerance for that, and I could bear it, and in fact am re-reading it right away.

(image from Target.com)

Election Day Distraction Chatting: Gift Ideas for College-Aged Kids

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The WORST TWO people on my list this year are Rob (age 21) and William (age 19). They don’t WANT anything. The things they do kind of want are BORING, even to them: clothes (but nothing in particular), gift cards.

I bought William this teal corduroy Gap jacket when it was on sale for about $50, and I do think he’ll like it:

(image from Gap.com)

 

I bought Rob this t-shirt (the Meow Meow Meow version) after he mentioned liking Edward’s:

(image from Topatoco.com)

 

Annnnnnd that’s pretty much it so far.

Rob mentioned wanting more Soylent powder, but I got him some of that last year, and also I find it vaguely annoying for reasons I can’t quite put a finger on, but definitely it has something to do with Rob’s former college roommate who made a big deal about how this was the ideal food, and also claimed it was a cheap way to eat when IT THE HELL IS NOT.

William mentioned wanting gift cards to Netflix, Patreon, Spotify; Gap brands, Adidas, and Levi’s; and maybe a skincare brand (he suggested Cerave or Paula’s Choice “or whatever”). My friend Surely mentioned subscriptions to Dollar Shave Club, and he said that sounded good too.

Both boys want new socks, but I’ll put those in their stockings.

 

Here are some ideas I’ve had:

• Rob makes pizza A LOT. He makes his own crust. When he goes back to college and/or moves into his own place, he is not taking our pizza stuff with him. I could get him his own pizza pan, his own pizza cutter, his own oven mitts, his own mixing bowl. It wouldn’t be EXCITING, but it would be useful in the future—and maybe kind of a HOPEFUL gift, because of that: he won’t have to live at home with us FOREVER, someday he will be FREE.

• Rob’s phone broke, and he hasn’t wanted to replace it. The main thing he seems to miss about his phone is the timers/alarms, which he used for waking up, reminding him of his classes, etc. When the kids were little, I had a watch that let me set alarms: I had them set to remind me of the bus stop twice a day. I wonder if they still make watches like that, now that everyone has phones? If you’ve seen a watch like that, let me know.

• The five kids have been playing games together one evening a week—some online/video games, some board games. I was thinking maybe I could add a new game. If you know of any games that are good for five players, especially teenagers / college kids, let me know. So far they play Jackbox Games, Dixit, various card games.

• I think William would use a bathrobe if he had one. It’s not a thrilling present, but I think he’d find it satisfying to own.

• William loves Taco Bell Fire Sauce, which is sold in bottles but not in any stores near us, so he orders it online. I was thinking it might be fun to see if I could buy the little individual packets like they have at Taco Bell.

 

So in the comments, obviously I am hoping we can pool our ideas for this difficult age.

Election Day Distraction Chatting: Thanksgiving Thoughts, Plans, and Recipes

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We always went to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, until they started coming to ours. This year our households can’t quarantine enough to mix safely (Edward still has to go to his Remicade appointments, which are not just at a hospital but in a BIG CITY with a much higher infection rate than our small town; Henry still goes to orthodontist appointments; Paul has to go in to his office about once a week), so we’re on our own.

I have considered the idea of…skipping it. It’s three days of cooking for 20 minutes of eating, and I am not entirely sure I know what it celebrates or whether we should be celebrating it. At this point I think of it as a celebration of Thanksgiving Foods: the cranberry-raspberry Jell-o salad, the chocolate-crusted pumpkin cheesecake. I do enjoy being in the kitchen, making the familiar recipes, imagining so many other people in THEIR kitchens making THEIR familiar recipes. And I enjoy the leftovers. But it is a lot of work for one meal. Well, several meals, considering the leftovers.

Or, our local grocery store has a Thanksgiving package: a meal for 4-6 people, with a couple choices (turkey or ham, pumpkin or apple pie), but basically a box of pre-cooked food you pick up and heat up. I have been curious about that (can it possibly be any good?), and this might be a fun year to try it. I floated this idea to family members, who raised issues: we’d still want to make the Jell-o salad and the pumpkin cheesecake, and also we’d need to make our own vegetarian stuffing, and some of us prefer turkey and some prefer ham so we’d want to make the one that wasn’t included in the box—and at that point we’re basically cooking the meal anyway, so what is the point of the box? Except it still might be fun to try.

Another issue is that with more of us home, more of us can HELP COOK. I made this point rather pointedly when people were expressing doubts about doing the grocery pick-up box, and seemed to be thinking it didn’t save THEM any cooking so why would they prefer that?

Well. What are your Thanksgiving plans? Do you feel like talking about recipes, either ones you always make or new ones you’re going to try this year? Have you ever tried buying Thanksgiving dinner from a place where you can just pick it up in a box, and how did that turn out?