Archives for September 2010

Hello!

How are you!

I am fine!

But somewhat manic!

It’s just been one of those days. Family and work and errands and supper and church and deadlines and emails and last but not least, SO MUCH UNWATCHED TV ON THE DVR THAT IT MAKES ME ANXIOUS.

WHAT IF I NEVER CATCH UP?

I haven’t even watched the Rachel Zoe season finale yet. And I know it was, like, SO MAJOR. And I bet she LITERALLY DIED nine or maybe even twelve times. I also bet that there was some dress that didn’t get to her studio on time and it was A TOTAL NIGHTMARE.

Anyway, this has also been one of those days when I’ve had a bunch (“a bunch” being a very relative term) of ideas for blog posts I’d like to write, but do you know what? I’m not going to write them. It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that I’ll know that I’ll never get around to it. I’ll write a paragraph or two and get distracted by a football game, or I’ll write a sentence and decide that I need to go to Walgreens, or I’ll write three-quarters of it and decide that it’s garbage.

This is why there are currently – hold on. let me check. – EIGHTY THREE partial posts in my drafts folder.

Apparently I have some issues with finishing things.

Anyway, here’s a list of the stuff I thought about today. In no particular order, mind you. I’m just going to put the list out there so that I can get back to the important business of catching up on “Survivor” as well as the 16 unwatched episodes of “House Hunters” that are currently on my DVR.

Here we go:

1) There are no realistic married couples on TV (at least not on the shows that I watch) except for Eric and Tami Taylor on “Friday Night Lights.”

2) When I look at a church’s website and see that the pastor is featured more prominently than anything else, it makes me uneasy. And maybe a little judge-y. Which is another good reason not to write a post about it.

3) Today I bought a $25 Groupon for $55 of “hair services” at a local salon. It made me so happy that you would’ve thought that I’d won the lottery (however, if I had won the lottery, I’m guessing that THE BAPTISTS WOULD HAVE SOME ISSUES WITH ME).

4) I’m getting my hair cut Monday, and once again I’m filled with blind optimism that this haircut will be The One. It’s been three years since I’ve had a cut that I loved. I think it’s time.

5) I don’t understand how people learn to pair certain foods with certain wines. There was a whole episode of “Top Chef” about this very skill, and I kept thinking that if I were in that competition I’d serve my food and then ask people if they wanted sweet tea or diet Coke. Because as far as I can tell they’re good with everything. You may have picked up on the fact that I’m very sophisticated.

6) Tonight at church I heard a sweet woman telling a joke about her husband’s gift of discernment, and I wondered how many times a day people (okay. Baptists.) use spiritual gifts as a punchline. WE’RE SO WACKY.

7) “Like Incense” by Brooke Fraser Ligertwood is a gorgeous song. GORGEOUS. The second verse makes me teary-eyed. A chorus by Rich Mullins never hurts.

8) My sister-in-law and nephew got home from Uganda yesterday. They met all four of their Compassion kids, and I can’t wait to share some of their stories with you. A couple of nights ago I looked at my nephew’s pictures on Facebook and just bawled. The kids’ smiles were like pure sunshine.

9) My hoop earrings with multi-colored beads are hands-down the best accessory I have ever owned. Sometimes I think about what my life would be like without them, and it makes me sad. In a completely superficial way, of course.

All right. I’m all better now. Might even be able to sleep now that I’ve set the crazy free.

Thank you and by all means have a lovely Thursday,
Me

Last Thursday afternoon I stopped by the Walgreens to see if they had any Mentholatum. A few of y’all had commented and emailed to tell me that sometimes Walgreens keeps the Mentholatum behind the counter (I have no idea why? maybe because of its supernatural mentholated goodness?), so I couldn’t WAIT to get to the drugstore and ask the pharmacist.

I ended up having to stand in line behind a sweet older couple who were apparently moving every single prescription they have ever been prescribed to the Walgreens pharmacy. About the time that they were digging out their IDs and preparing to sign a blood oath that they were who they professed to be, one of the Walgreens employees asked if she could help me. Maybe she could sense my determination since I’d been standing in that line for upwards of ten minutes. Or maybe she could sense my frustration because I WAS READY TO KNOW ABOUT THE MENTHOLATUM, ALREADY.

I’m sort of guessing it was the latter.

Anyway, I told her what I was looking for and she said, “Um, I don’t know what that is. But I do know that we have Vicks right over there!”

“No. Not Vicks,” I replied. “MENTHOLATUM. It has menthol like Vicks, but it’s a completely different product.”

“Well,” she said, “I know that there are several different kinds of Vicks. Let’s take a look! Maybe you’ll see something that will work down on this shelf!”

Apparently I wasn’t doing a very good job communicating the degree of my Mentholatum need. So I took a deep breath and dove right back into the mentholated confusion.

“No ma’am – it’s not a Vicks product. It’s made by The Mentholatum Company. It looks like this,” I answered – and then I dug around for my (rapidly dwindling) Mentholatum in my purse and pulled it out so that she could see it. Because crazy people like myself ENJOY A VISUAL AID.

The Walgreens lady took a quick look at the shelves and said, “Nope. We don’t carry anything like that – sorry!” and started walking back to her station at the pharmacy counter. I closed my purse and was about to head for the exit when I heard a voice behind me saying, “Honey? I KNOW. IT’S AWFUL. I CAN’T FIND IT ANYWHERE.”

I turned around and found myself face-to-face with the woman who’d been moving her prescriptions earlier. She told me that she too had been looking for Mentholatum everywhere, and as I nodded in agreement with every single word she said, she leaned in a little closer, looked around to make sure no one else could hear her, and whispered, “You know, you can’t even find it at the Walmarts anymore.”

“I KNOW!” I exclaimed.

I think my enthusiasm may have been a little more than she bargained for. But then she said one more thing:

“Honey? Have you looked at the Rite Aid?”

And do y’all know what I realized?

I HADN’T LOOKED AT THE RITE AID.

I’d looked on their website with no success. And I’d looked at Walmart, Walgreens, Publix and CVS. BUT I’D FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT THE RITE AID!

I told the sweet lady in Walgreens that I would definitely look at Rite Aid, and when I cranked my car in the Walgreens parking lot, there was just a glimmer of mentholated hope in my heart. A vapor, if you will.

Friday was cuckoo busy between family stuff and work stuff and football game stuff, but Saturday morning I was rested and rarin’ to go to the Rite Aid. Our little family was planning to go to lunch, so I asked D if we could PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE stop by the Rite Aid on the way to Chuy’s (we are creatures of habit and also, I might add, slightly addicted to the deluxe tomatillo sauce).

So we pulled in the Rite Aid parking lot, and I was out of the car like a shot. Couldn’t get in the drugstore fast enough. And I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a Rite Aid, but they arrange the aisles at all sorts of angles so that once you get inside the store, you feel a little bit like you’re trapped in a maze. My guess is that they’re just hoping that at some point you’ll give up trying to escape and start filling your cart to pass the time while you try to figure your way out of there.

Anyway, I finally made my way to the cold care aisle, and WOULD YOU LOOK WHAT I FOUND, WOULD YOU JUST LOOK, IT’S AN ALMOST-BUT-NOT-REALLY-AT-ALL MIRACLE!

Oh, you’d better believe that I shook those boxes like maracas all the way to the cash register.

And I promise that I’ll never ever mention Mentholatum again.

Unless Rite Aid quits carrying it.

Because clearly in that case all bets are off.

Edited to add a little clarity: Mentholatum is what God makes to cure a world of hurts: chapped lips, dry skin, stuffy noses, bad coughs. I’m particularly fond of it as a lip balm, but I’ve also been known to rub it on the bottoms of my feet before I put on socks. :-)