This week on the blog: put your legs up a wall, eat a freaking incredible sandwich, and figure out why your garage door sounds like it’s summoning the dead.
Is any of this related? No.
Will you leave healthier, hungrier, and slightly more paranoid in your own home? Possibly.
This is the kind of well-rounded journalism nobody asked for.
1. Laying on your back with your legs up against a wall at 90° for a few minutes each day is something I highly recommend. I’ve been doing this in the evening for the past couple of weeks and it’s so relaxing. When you were you younger you probably found yourself laying like this naturally. I know I remember doing this laying in bed to talk on the phone (a landline phone🫣), or while watching TV. (I also remember getting yelled at by my parents for having my feet on the wall but that’s neither here nor there.) The next time you have the opportunity, treat yourself to this pose.
2. Never underestimate the healing properties of a “basic” sandwich. I’ve been eating varieties of cold sandwiches lately: bread, meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce (I’m throwing caution to the wind on this one lately), and pickles for crunch. If you add potato chips- next level. A hot sandwich like a Philly cheesesteak or roast beef and cheddar are equally healing. And a classic peanut butter and jelly? I mean, it’s a classic for a reason. Sandwiches are the MVP of the menu.
3. If your garage door isn’t reinforced the correct way, it will eventually declare its independence from the opener. We came dangerously close to the door free falling onto my beloved modern classic 2005 Mustang (the first model year of the S197 generation, with the major retro redesign that deliberately brought back styling cues from the 1960s Mustangs), all because the support bracket was installed about 2-3 inches off center from the track. Go check yours now.
To start this off, 2/3 of the things I learned last week came from the same source: the book “Life After Life” by Kate Atkinson. It took me almost two weeks to finish because I liked it so much (that will only make sense to a few of you). So when I reference “the book”, that’s the one I’m referring to.
1 Two undeniable facts are I love assorted boxes of chocolates and Cadbury chocolate is far superior to all other chocolates. For my whole long life these have been true but separate facts.
Imagine my surprise when I was reading the book last week and came across “milk tray”. The book is set in England so I figured it was a British thing and I looked it up real quick. Stop the presses ✋🏼🛑 How have I existed on this Earth for 44 years and not known that Cadbury makes their own box of assorted chocolates called milk trays?! Even the name sounds lovely.
2 As I mentioned, the book was set in England during World War II. There were many phrases written in German that I was constantly looking up the translation for, as well as words from the lexicon of someone who was raised in England in the 1930’s – 1950’s (i.e. milk tray🥴, carriage clock, pelmet, sanguine, growlery, stalwart) meaning I’m wasn’t familiar with them.
This past week, “shelter suit” was used often and very casually. I had an idea what I would find but just to be sure I googled “WWII shelter suit”. As expected, I found many responses, including a few “vintage suits” that are available for purchase on various websites like eBay and Blighty Militaria.
First thing I learned was “shelter suit” and “siren suit” seem to be interchangeable. The one for sale on Blighty Militaria explains these suits as follows: They were produced in the build up to the Second World War and during the early part of the war and were made famous by Winston Churchill who was pictured on numerous occasions wearing a red siren suit. This design offered an easy to don, comfortable all in one suit which was both practical and popular as a garment to be worn when going to seek refuge in an Air Raid Shelter during a bombing raid.
My brain has such a hard time comprehending a reality where “…the problem of modesty” was even mentioned in context with literal bombs falling from the sky let alone part of the advertisement campaign.
3 Lastly, on the subject of fashion (which I suppose shelter/siren suits were), last week I learned that Stitch Fix and I are parting ways this month. After 4 years and 131 fixes together, I’ve been identified as a low-roller, small potatoes, a customer they do not benefit from. That last one was loosely how it was phrased by Hillary, the client support rep who kindly replied to my email asking for clarification on the upcoming change to my membership.
Let me be clear- Stitch Fix didn’t send me an email saying they wouldn’t style me anymore. I can still be a customer of theirs if I choose to be. What they did do was send an email letting me know that they decided to not renew my individual “style pass” when it expires later this month.
The style pass was $49 annually, charged to my card on 11/23. The style pass fee was also credited back to my account for future purchases. It was truthfully the thing that hooked me as a client, and if you’ve heard me talk about Stitch Fix over the past 4 years, you’ve probably also heard me specifically praise that membership option.
That style pass charge covered unlimited “fixes” for the year, meaning I didn’t pay the $20 styling fee each fix, a fee that is also credited to any purchases you make in that specific fix, but not refunded or rolled over if you decide not to keep anything.
I’ve seen many changes to Stitch Fix over the past year. I follow their new CEO Matt Baer on LinkedIn and have read the Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results in full (I’ll link the report at the bottom). Since he started at Stitch Fix in June 2023, he’s been aiming to stabilize financially and improve operational efficiency after a challenging period. The company saw a decline in revenue and active clients, with FY 2024 revenue dropping by 16% to $1.34 billion and active clients falling by 20% to 2.5 million.
As Hillary explained to me in one of our recent email exchanges, they’ve been busy, ” …carefully reviewing current members as they approach their re-enrollment date, ensuring that the program continues to be beneficial for both you and us.”
This is a cost-saving measure on their part because I admittedly don’t spend nearly as much as I’m sure they would like me to be spending. I get that revenue is priority. It was almost even refreshing to have it so transparently shared with in that term “beneficial”. Best wishes to Matt Baer and Stitch Fix for returning to revenue growth by the end of their next fiscal year.
1 I was reminded of the word “crotchety” while reading “Life After Life” by Kate Atkinson. I used to use this word a lot (best guess is between 1992-1994) and then I just – stopped. Last week I learned that I still really like this word because it’s so situationally specific.
2 Bless all the humans working overtime curating their gardens and plant collections and allowing them to thrive. 🙌🏼 I don’t have a green thumb despite my best efforts and intentions. Succulents are supposed to be low maintenance and I’ve just recently been able to keep them happy for longer than a month.
Knowing this, Brad always chooses to present me with orchids, notoriously very difficult to care for. I always try to keep them happy and I also always manage to kill them within 10 days.
Last week my birthday orchids came with instructions I’ve never seen before for “simple” orchid care. I’ve seen variations of watering instructions before but never this specific treatment plan calling for a 1x per week, 1 minute soak. Let’s go.
3 There’s a little town about 40-minutes north of where I live called Cassadaga. Cassadaga is known as the “Psychic Capital of the World” and a place where psychics, mediums, spiritualists, and healers are abundant. Visiting Cassadaga is like stepping back to the past and genuinely feels like the spiritual vortex theory is accurate.
I’ve visited Cassadaga a few times over the years but hadn’t ever stopped in the cemetery. Aside from being a very lovely cemetery, it’s also home to the most famous of all “Devil’s Chairs”- an oversized stone chair that is said to summon the devil himself when sat upon. Brad and I spent Friday evening for looking at multiple pictures and videos of it for a good 20 to 30 minutes and decided we’d visit the following day. (We were both undecided on whether we’d actually sit on it).
We arrived at the cemetery the next afternoon with no issues and drove around for a minute before parking and confidently walking to a site where a crotchety (accurate, I promise) security guard was sitting close by in his car, seemingly keeping watch. We approached the stone chair and saw that it was completely enclosed in a low wall, so sitting on it was no longer an option. We accepted this as fate, took a photo, paid our respects to a few of the departed (one grave was a gentleman who fought in the Spanish-American War) and got back in the car to head to the spiritualist camp.
Last night I pulled up the pictures I had taken and when I saw the one I had taken of the Devil’s Chair I IMMEDIATELY said, “That’s not the right chair.” Like, it was so instantly clear that the chair we stood in front of and identified as The Chair a few hours earlier was most definitely not the chair we had spent 20-to-30 minutes looking at the previous evening.
I can’t explain this other than some kind of phenomenon overtook our awareness and made us blind to this discrepancy the minute we entered that cemetery. I learned that some kind of Jedi mind- trickery cloaked the real Devil’s Chair from both of us and redirected us to a chair that barely resembles the real one yet absolutely convinced us both that it was the one we had studied the night before and had come to see.
1 At 43-years-old, my eyes are slowly but consistently losing their ability to work as they always have. I needed glasses to see far distances since 4th grade, but up close (let’s call it anything 6 feet or less), they’ve been great. Until they weren’t.
I look at a computer screen for 8+ hours a day for my job and over the last few months I’ve started to struggle with how small everything seems to be all of a sudden. After a quick search I learned that there’s a very easy solution to this. I now zoom in and zoom out my screen as needed throughout the day like a pro.
2 Something else I hadn’t been aware of is the RF exposure info on my phone (which I’m also annoyingly having trouble seeing lately because why is everything so small all of a sudden?). Radiofrequency (RF) exposure is exposure to radiofrequency radiation, a type of non-ionizing radiation that includes radio waves and microwaves. I watched a reel about iPhone RF and followed the steps to find more info on my own phone about it’s RF levels:
iPhone general->legal & regulatory->RF Exposure
According to what I read, 5mm (about a pencil eraser) is how far away the phone should stay from the skin. Seems like common sense, what with all the warnings as a child about not squashing my face against the microwave, but also not something I’ve ever given much thought to recently.
3 Rounding out last week’s Three Things was initiated by a Washington Post post about Halloween candy trends. Apparently, chocolate is on the way out and gummy candy is in. As an adult in her mid-40’s, I actually agree with what I read. I love chocolate (Cadbury milk chocolate will always be supreme) but I’ve been reaching for the sour gummy candy for movies and treats a lot more over the past couple of years.
The post listed some “fresh takes” on consumer favorites that will be popular this Halloween. I hadn’t heard or seen any of them before but now that I’ve looked them up I want to try ALL of them. Immediately.
1 In reference to the eye of Hurricane Milton, a local meteorologist said on Monday, “It will miss us by a whisker…” and since then that phrase has been living in my head rent free. I’ve been trying to find opportunities to use it organically in my own conversations since I heard it because it’s really fun to say.
2 We did end up getting a cat 1 hurricane through Oviedo, so last week was a blur. Part of the hurricane prep was bringing all patio stuff inside. While I was doing that I noticed a pretty good sized spider web. I thought, “There’s no way that’s going to survive the wind.” Well friends, I was wrong.
While I was returning things to the patio Thursday I saw that not only was the web still there – in perfect condition – the resident spider was also there and it looked like a crab. No other way to describe it. It was a crab spider 🤷🏻♀️ That’s what I googled and results came in as yes, definitely a female crab spider- otherwise known as a spinybacked orbweaver or Gasteracantha cancriformis. This gal built a web that survived sustained hurricane conditions for hours. I don’t particularly like spiders but that’s really impressive.
3 If you know me you know I love scary movies. Last month I saw that the Terrifier franchise was releasing a 3rd movie this month so Brad did the right thing and bought us tickets. We went to see it Saturday afternoon, hoping to not be disappointed since we loved the first two so much.
What I learned during and after watching this movie was there were almost no lines left uncrossed. Gone are the days when gore and violent acts are suggested but the details are left to the imagination. This movie left NOTHING to the imagination. After one particularly “eventful” scene, the entire row I was sitting in let out a collective exhale and a few small “Holy shit…”’s 😮💨 Brad was mostly silent on the drive home and through dinner. We were not prepared.
*Bonus lessons* 1) I didn’t know parking was $30 at CityWalk until we got there and I said, “$30?!” and Brad said, “We won’t be seeing many movies here in the future..”. 2) The man taking our $30 to park told us that if you see a movie in the theater at Citywalk, the movie theater reimburses the $30 you have to pay to park there, and it turns out they reimburse you with cash.
1 I ordered some Eucalyptus Peppermint Menthol Shower Bombs and hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed. I learned they really do elevate the shower experience and open the sinuses right up. One word of caution- there was some leftover residue on the bottom of the tub, and I happened to sit on that area one night for a relaxing soak. The butt cheek that was sitting on top of that spot promptly went cold, then numb and it stayed cold and numb for about a hour after I got out of the bath.
2 I’ve been listening to a podcast this past week called “The Exorcist Files”. Ironically, I happened upon this podcast because another podcast I listen to called “Made For This”, which is an extremely Christian podcast, (I listen to a wide variety of topics, beliefs and opinions) had one tiny episode about demons and spiritual warfare and I was like, “Ok then, lets try to find more episodes on demonology because that was interesting.”
So – I found The Exorcist Files and started to binge listen to probably-too-many episodes about demons. The podcast is part interviews with bishops and priests and their personal experiences with demons, and part dramatic recreation of transcripts of real exorcisms. I don’t scare easily but while walking Magnus in my neighborhood one afternoon with my AirPods playing (transparent, not noise cancelling) an episode recreating an interaction with a particularly creepy demon who was refusing to leave, I hear a demon-like voice IN REAL LIFE beside me say, “Welcome to Hell! I want your soul…” That voice was overlapping with the actor in my AirPods recreating the transcript of the demon. I was all of a sudden an extreme believer in manifesting dark things by accident.
I yanked the AirPods out of my ears and did a 360° turn and didn’t see anyone. THEN I noticed that by the front door of the house I was passing, there was an automated demon who must have a motion activation sensor and when he sensed Magnus and I walking by, he said what he said. I know that’s true because he repeated himself once more when we started to walk again.
That afternoon I learned I genuinely thought I had summoned a demon by accident AND that I can’t listen to that podcast everyday but I will listen to it a few times a week because I’m learning a lot.
I tried to take a picture of it the next time we walked so I could show Brad where I almost died. It’s surprisingly well hidden even during the day.
3 My lexicon expanded by one word last week. I learned the word “pedagogy” while listening to yet another podcast. Max Bennett was a guest on Armchair Expert and he used that word in a sentence so casually and easily that I had to pause the episode to look it up. I could infer its meaning by how he used it, but it wasn’t a word I’ve ever used myself.
1 I learned about a new true crime podcast this week and it’s been a large part of my personality over the past few days.
“Missing Niamh” is a 12-part podcast about a woman called Niamh Maye. After finishing school, she took a gap year before university and embarked on a working holiday fruit-picking down south in Batlow, New South Wales, Australia. As Easter 2002 approached, Niamh made plans to travel to Sydney to meet her sister, Fionnuala so they could travel back to Armidale for Easter with their family.
But Niamh never made it home. Investigations have now spanned two decades. There are so many theories about what might have happened. Numerous reported sightings of her led nowhere.
I binged all the episodes over the past few days and I highly recommend it.
2 I happened upon learning about The Temple of the Descending God while watching JK Ultra’s Tuesday Night Live this week (she’s going to be visiting this site on a Galactic Origins cruise in December).
Located in the ruins of the Mayan city of Tulum on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, this god is depicted upside down, hence its name, and found usually holding something in one or both of its hands. Not a lot is known about the Descending God, however, is associated with the Maya God of the Bees, named Ah Muu Zen Caab.
The amount of really interesting things from the past/present I am just oblivious to is overwhelming.
3 Speaking of the past, I grew up familiar with ye olde “Body Mass Index” (BMI) being the Thing to measure and compare for the Things. I recently learned that BMI has some modern day competition.
“Body Roundness Index” (BRI) is the new kid in town these days. BRI is supposed to be a more accurate measurement of body composition than BMI because it uses a few additional factors other than just weight and height.
I don’t think I’ve ever lost any sleep over my BMI, but it’s interesting to see the evolution of … science? Is health science? So many things I don’t know.
1 I sometimes use the Otter app to transcribe voice notes. The app was running on Monday morning while Brad was getting ready to leave for work and I learned that AI summaries of our every day conversations (and in this case Brad’s struggles to get Magnus to take his medication) are highly entertaining. It also low-key burned us in the Action Item section.
2 I was watching a podcast about Feng Shui and learned that the southeast corner of your home is the wealth corner, or money corner. To find the wealth area of your entire home, stand at the formal front door of your house facing in, and locate the far left corner. Once you locate it, it’s recommended you observe what’s happening there. Are there broken things? Clutter? God forbid a trash can?
The far left corner of my home is the primary bedroom, and more specifically, sitting in the far left corner of that room is a fan and a dirty clothes hamper. Don’t mind me, all my wealth is just blowing away after it gets smelly. I’m wondering if putting a Money Frog in that corner would help or if that would just be desperate. I’d also have to buy that Money Frog which might be counter intuitive to keeping my money.
3 On Thursday evening I tuned into Turner Classic Movies and saw that “Desk Set” was about to start. It’s a 1957 rom-com with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Katherine plays a library reference clerk stuck in a dead-end relationship with a boring television executive at the company she works for. Her life is thrown into turmoil when computer expert Spencer Tracy’s character enters it. He has been assigned with automating her department, and she is fearful that his new computers will automate her out of a job. It’s hilarious and eerily still very relatable.
Anyway, in one scene they’re having dinner and something called “floating island” was served for dessert. Zero explanation what that was so I assume it used to be popular. I looked it up and learned it’s a dessert consisting of meringue floating on crème anglaise (a vanillacustard). This character just happened to have these prepped and ready in her ice box even though she was planning to be away that night/weekend.
1 “Hey you guuuuys!” Have you heard there’s going to be a Goonies sequel?! 🤔 I read about this supposedly very real possibility last week and was quietly considering my emotions when a couple of people also reached out to me to ask a- if I knew about it and b- what I thought about it.
You guys, I just don’t know if I’m on totally on board. Goonies has been in my Top 5 favorite films basically my whole life. I’ve traveled to Astoria, OR to see the house and the town and the beach and the rocks and I’m a self-professed Goonie at heart. This movie is just so perfectly preserved in my heart as part of my childhood that I’m unsure how I feel about this “new adventure”. Despite my mixed emotions, will I go to see it if it’s actually made, with Spielberg directing and the rumored returning cast part of it? Absolutely. Goonies never say die.
2 One of the podcasts I regularly listen to is “Stuff You Should Know”. They recently did an episode about Celebration, FL. Most of the stuff in that episode I already knew but, as usual, there were a few things that came up in the episode that I didn’t know. (It was a great episode and I recommend it).
Paraphrasing and summarizing without fact checking this myself, they mentioned that at one time (early 1970’s I think) there was an airport that allowed small planes to land directly on Disney property. As part of that runway, there were rumble strips that allowed the plane to “sing”, “When You Wish Upon A Star” when it was taxiing.
That lead me down a “rumble strip” rabbit hole which lead me to a few videos of this long-ago singing Disney runway, as well as learning that there’s currently a rumble strip on Route 66 plays that plays “America the Beautiful”.
It’s the little things, always ⭐️
3 I’ve been using the Cheirosa ’62 Sol de Janeiro Hair & Body Fragrance Mist on repeat for years. It’s described as follows: This warm, sunny, beachy scent with notes of pistachio, salted caramel and vanilla conjures the happiest vibes and instant smiles – not to mention serious compliments; An iconic, forever-summer scent.
On a whim I decided to try a different scent, not because I’ve stopped liking the OG Cheirosa ‘62, but because I started to have FOMO because I didn’t want to take a chance on something new meaning I was missing out on trying a potential new favorite. The newest scent offering was Cheirosa ‘76 so I went for it: An amber floral perfume mist that opens with a spark of black currant, while midnight jasmine and lush freesia dance with amber woods.
I learned it’s … aiight 🤷🏻♀️ I’ll be sticking to my ‘62 in the future though.
1 Dragon fruit is so visually pleasing, nutritionally sound, AND absolutely and completely flavorless. I’ve never had higher expectations for a fruit which is a lesson in itself I guess.
2 I read about a company called Fork n Film while perusing the latest US Weekly. Fork n Film is movie theater experience (which seems to have locations in CA, NY, Las Vegas and London) that includes food, as they explain in their website: Our unique concept fuses two of life’s greatest pleasures, food and film, into an immersive journey. We curate a multi-course meal inspired by your favorite movies. Each dish is meticulously crafted and served at the exact moment it appears on the screen, offering an unprecedented level of engagement with the movie.
It looks like some of the current and upcoming movies are Scream, Hocus Pocus, The Princess and the Frog, Ratatouille, and Frozen and a lot of showings seem to be sold out already. I now have FOMO.
3 While sitting in traffic at a red light, I looked out my window at the Waste Pro truck next to me and for the first time actually read the side of the truck and the motto “No Can Left Behind”.
That made me think of what it meant for me to think of, which is “No Man Left Behind”, and that made me wonder the background of Waste Pro and if it had any military roots in its founding.
These trucks and dumpsters are everywhere in the area I live so it was kind of fun to read about the company on their website. Started in 1973 by John Jennings, it’s grown steadily and now operates from more than 90 locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina.
I reached out to their President and CEO Sean Jennings via email just to say their truck caught my eye and to ask him if he could give me any background on the motto. He replied the same day:
Three Things I Learned Last Week 