Happy Second Sunday of the Month!
Dean, if you’re reading this, I’m going to get to the connect cards after the newsletter, and after my homework, and maybe after an episode of Survivor.
Dean is my friend and boss and pastor. Last fall, Dean invited Annie Parsons to join our Life Group. And at the time, I was a little peeved, because I felt like I had just cornered the “cool single girl” market in our group (of otherwise married 30 something’s) and here come’s this decidedly cooler, also single, girl.
The little peevement soon washed away because Annie is simply the best. She is charming, and warm. She has a cool house and a cool job. She does cool things like riding her bike to church, and going to Alaska on her own. There is so much I admire about Annie. Annie embraces the risk of heartbreak. Embrace might be the wrong word - but from where I stand, Annie is willing to take on things that might have a big emotional outcome; good or bad, and she’s rides the ride. And to me, that’s coolest of all.
Annie also, at her house, has what truly feels like a great basement to make out in; I don’t know from personal experience, it’s just the ambiance!
Ok, so Annie is here to share her Five Things. If this is your first rodeo, every other week I share Five Things I love, and then once a month there’s a guest writer. The last Sunday of the month paid subscribers get something random from me writing-wise. If you are ever interested in guest writing, just email me.
I hope today is beautiful for you.
Number One: Fetch
Do you buy things? Do you love free gift cards? Then Fetch is for you. Fetch is an app that allows users to earn points by scanning and submitting their receipts – receipts from anywhere! Grocery stores, superstores, club stores, drugstores, convenience stores, basically all the stores. Here’s how it works:
• Download the app onto your phone.
• Shop anywhere – again, we’re talking retailer agnostic.
• Take a picture of your receipt and upload it to Fetch.
• Fetch scans the items purchased and awards you points accordingly.
• Rack up the points and trade them in for digital gift cards.
It’s easy and addicting and requires very little beyond what you’re already doing (shopping). You won’t get rich. But someday you might have enough points to cash in for $10 to Chipotle, and in my opinion, that’s true wealth.
Number Two: Root Touch-Up Spray
As a gal who has suddenly found herself with a decent amount of grey, I get my hair professionally colored every three months. Listen, I know I could let it go, be au naturel like those gorgeous women on Instagram who embrace their silvery locks, but… not yet. I need this one thing. Just let me have it.
Between appointments, my roots start to show (I really should get it colored every eight weeks, but who has the money or the time?). Enter R+Co Bright Shadows Root Touch-Up Spray. A quick spritz across my part, and I am restored to the luxurious youthful mane of a woman who has never chased her 6-month-old puppy running for the open gate at the schoolyard while muttering the F-word (last night).
Number Three: Composting
I’m a recent convert to composting; I bought a compost tumbler and everything. Every day I throw my food scraps into a little bucket under my sink, and when it’s full I take it out to the backyard and empty it into the tumbler, along with some dry leaves of which in my yard there is never a shortage. Then I tumble it a few times. And that’s it.
What is my end game with the compost? Who knows. I don’t have any garden beds. I don’t have any plans to garden. But I’m really enjoying the virtuous feeling I get from keeping organic material out of landfills, thus decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and my subsequent shame from, you know, being a person on this planet. (Maybe I should garden.)
Number Four: Sweet and Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps
These Sweet & Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps are a quick, easy, and delicious dinner to whip up any night of the week.
Number Five: Standard Time
In about a month, we as a country (minus Hawaii and Arizona) will “fall back” by setting our clocks earlier by an hour, thus ending Daylight Savings Time and reverting to Standard Time. A throwback to our agrarian roots, this twice-a-year time change tends to provoke the ire of parents of young children who bemoan the havoc it wreaks on kids’ sleep schedules, and also complaints from those who suffer from seasonal depression. In March, the Senate passed a bill that would do away with this bi-annual time warp and make Daylight Savings Time permanent; we’ll see if the “Sunshine Protection Act” makes it all the way to Biden’s signature.
Call me a curmudgeon, but I don’t like the idea.
Starting on November 6th, the sun may set before dinner – but the trade is for blessedly bright mornings, waking up extra early for a cup of coffee and a walk with the dogs. Standard Time means kids waiting at the bus stop in daylight, not cloaked in darkness. And it’s better for our circadian rhythm, the earlier darkness allowing our bodies to produce melatonin to help us fall asleeplike the cozy winter hibernators we should be.
Sure, I don’t have kids, nor do I have seasonal depression (mydepression knows no season). But when March rolls around, the switch back to Daylight Savings will bring a jolt of joy when we realize the sun is still up after 6pm. And who wants to miss out on that?