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Apparently, the influencers are currently stocking their Amazon Storefronts with "Summer Essentials" that are really only essentials if you're into overconsumption... I mean, I live in Michigan, and I'm still only working with five bathing suits, and I feel very weird saying "only five." I don't have an Amazon Storefront, and most of my essentials aren't really consumables, anyway, but I'm still going to drop some non-sponsored links to products I do use. One: Japanese Sunscr

And as of the end of May 2026, 8 months nearly to the day from the Big Chop, I'm officially back to the length I was able to achieve and maintain during Natural Hair Movement v.1 in the 2010's. It's not a surprise why it's the length I could maintain, particularly when I mostly wore my hair down in wash-and-go's... this is about the point where ends meet clothing fabric, and I lose all retention thanks to friction. My ends are far thicker and more even this time around. I hav

While I'm over here reminiscing on Millennial Summers of Yore, remember when Evian launched the mist bottle of Evian water? That's it, it's just Evian in an aluminum mist bottle. And it was THE beach and gym bag item of the summer the year it was launched, probably somewhere in the 2017-2018 years. Y'all, they sell that stuff for $3 an ounce. It's... water. Mineral water, yes, I have sea salt in my cabinet, too. Here's how the trail of innovation happened... I bought a contin

Here's a hyper-regional reference for you: use an orange slice and dilute it just enough and no one will know it's not an Oberon... Fellow Millennials, remember when rosé wine was the symbol of Summer 2015? When all of us 20- and 30-somethings, and by "all" I generally mean feminine women, were wearing short white shift dresses with gladiator sandals and big, floppy straw hats with giant designer sunglasses to brunch, where we spent three hours gossiping over chilled bubbly r

It's okay, my boobs laugh at those lacy things, too. And as a current 36K US myself (that's a 36I British), we need to talk about how we're keeping our underboob from rashing out and splitting apart when the temperature rivals that of the hotter regions of Hell this summer. I'm about to make bra recommendations. None are sponsored. All (okay, most) have been actually worn by me, on my 36K's (which have also been 38J's and 40I's in the recent past - the weight loss dropped my

After 10 years on them, my hip surgeon took me off my continuous low dose birth control six weeks before surgery this past December, and I never went back on them after that. So, I'm approaching the six month mark without The Pill. Prior to being sent over to orthopedics for my hip, I was sent to a pelvic floor therapist, who put me on Benefiber for my digestive and high cholesterol issues. I took Benefiber for a few months, until I realized there were cheaper, easier ways to

It's been the customary two days since my last hair wash and hot chebe butter treatment, which is when I used up the last of my customary coffee & rosemary infused olive & papaya scalp oil. Have I had a full 48 hours to do something that takes maybe a half-hour of hands-on work? Yep. Did I do it? Nope. So, I got out of the bath with a freshly scrubbed scalp, stood there butt naked and dripping wet, and concocted something to put on my scalp based on what was in the linen cabi

Last night's stir-fried mung bean sprouts were a huge hit. The original plan was to thaw some chicken to throw in the wok as well, but the mung beans and rice were that perfect blend of filling but not heavy, and the chicken never actually came out of the freezer. That started out as 1/2 cup of dried large mung beans. I bought 2lbs of dried beans for $2.99. So, that's 75 cents of sprouts that fed my family of five as a main dish along with pennies worth of rice and sauce per

Behold, my new "easy food" - super soft pita bread made with my white bean protein bread dough, hummus with added lemon zest, roasted garlic, thyme, and sumac, and raw lentil sprouts from my own windowsill. That's a grand total of THREE BEANS in ONE SANDWICH. We're having fun brainstorming other spreads, and veggies to add in. And I have an array of legumes in my pantry to sprout. Notice I cut my pita in half before I even started building the sandwich... I can't eat THAT muc

Things I have learned in the last 72-ish hours: It's a lot easier for me to track my macros and decide on what to make for dinner based on what I still need in my diet that day, and what I have on hand. For instance, today's been heavy on the healthy fats, I had two chicken thighs and some olives for lunch, on top of my usual seed consumption. So, I'm chasing carbs and protein for the rest of the day... smoky pinto beans and cornbread from scratch for dinner it is. Edit: I or

I saw a video clip recently about how one of those Silicon Valley billionaires who thinks they can MAXX themselves into immortality saying that they pay a personal chef $500 per meal to cook them a diet with 30% dietary fiber, 20% more than what the average American gets in the Standard American Diet. Y'all, this rich fool is spending $1500 per day to eat grains, beans, and vegetables. And he thinks it'll make him more immortal than your average Old World grandfather. Whereve

It's 40°F outside right now!! The giant snow overhang outside of my bedroom window is obviously melting. This is pretty common weather behavior in Michigan in February. You'll get a day or three where it can even get up to 60°F, a lot of the existing snow melts off, you start to feel that little budding of spring hope... and then a bomb cyclone hits an Atlantic clipper right over your county, and dumps another three feet of snow on you. And then we rinse and repeat this proce

You know how I said my body is like "give me all the calories, and I want it 100% in sugar carbs!" which is to be expected, because it takes a lot of energy to heal big bone and muscle, and also I have to be off the sugar craving meds right now. This drink is helping to take the edge off the cravings. Mostly because it's packed with what my body is actually craving, so it doesn't want to spiral into comfort eating. Incoming: a new Menu on my recipe blog on how to meal plan fo

So... I've had the panic pukes all this past week, which means I'm eating very blandly and sparingly, and the extra brown rice I made for the meatloaf didn't get eaten. And since the family dinner tonight was very allergy-unfriendly, I decided to turn it into Sardine & Brown Rice Croquettes and freeze whatever I don't have for dinner tonight. If I have two per serving, I have seven meals worth in the freezer. I didn't talk myself out of the binder this time! And it adds plant

One week to New Hip Day!! My BFF and surgery buddy is under the knife right now, lots of good thoughts to her! And I finally have meal number 1 in my freezer! So, I made up a meatloaf recipe with pork sausage, brown rice, and mushrooms. I use flax eggs instead of chicken eggs because I'm allergic to chicken eggs, and I went back and forth on whether the starch in the rice would be enough of a binder or not. I went with just the rice... why do I always blow 50/50 shots? It def

I am aware that blog is on hiatus, but my mom keeps bringing home bagels that I can eat, and cream cheese that I can't. Not an issue with an Everything bagel, I always have the fixins for hummus around, but she brought home brown sugar cinnamon, and blueberry... I've never been a huge fan of the brownie hummus the way most people make it, but I started throwing ingredients in my food processor, and... ended up replicating the flavor of Aldi's Jaffa Cakes exactly. Not what I

If there's a word for 2025, it'd be "hygiene." All of a sudden, thanks to people talking about it openly on the internet, women especially are learning what no one bothered to teach us before. Which means we're beating the hormonal stank in ways our mothers and grandmothers didn't. But, one thing that all the hygiene influencers I've seen have in common is hair removal - they all shave their body hair. I stopped removing my body hair altogether after my last spine surgery. Th

I took my last birth control pill today for the next six weeks. Wish me luck 😬😬 I’m not even off the damn pill yet, and yesterday, I get a HUGE, nearly marble-sized lump deep under my skin on the right side of my chin. It’s been awhile, cystic acne. This is after getting diagnosed with roseacea for the first time in my life a few weeks back. I have the kind where the cartilage in your nose hardens over time. Good grief. Now, you may or may not remember back in the days befo

I just spent the last 3 hours making the personal care products I do make - namely coffee-infused scalp oil, chebe butter, and deodorant. And my phone was on the charger and not taking photos or video 😅😅 That’s okay, I’ll give you recipes instead, probably more useful! Why do I make these three products, specifically? Cost and ingredient control, mostly. Wild Growth Hair & Scalp Oil is what got me on the scalp oil train to begin with, it’s a wonderful product… but $10 for 4