Latest loves

 I don't know about you but I do love a good post about someone's favorite (insert product here) or why that product didn't appeal to them; along with all the comments that results in possibly finding another product to love.

And I'm not talking about sponsored "product."  No, I want ALL the deets from someone who has no reason to lie; not that all sponsored posts are based on lie, but a normal, everyday person who doesn't have an agenda, either way.

Anyway...recently, a few new products have found their way into my home that I thought I'd share along with my thoughts about each.

The Girlfriend curated a sweet basket of luxuries for me at Christmas that I've been savoring these past few months.  I recently pulled this scrub out and I am in love!  

I AM a sucker for a good scrub - sugar or salt.  But, I'm VERY particular about scented products and generally veer away from most which I find to be over-powering, cloying, sickly sweet or medicinal - I KNOW, I'm a trial to live with...  

A coconut scent - when done right - is generally pleasing to me.  This one is perfect.  Not only that, the scrub works really well.  And this really amps up the "spa vibe" in the shower.  Once this jar is done, I will definitely buy another one; maybe in a different scent (the pineapple one sounds blissful)?  Based on a quick internet search, it appears to be available at all the usual places (Target, etc.).

Also, in the past few months I have taken to deep conditioning my hair once a week.  This product is one that I can find consistently at my local CVS and I love it.

The smell is divine and, I think, it is really helping my hair live its best life.  Between this and the sugar scrub, the shower definitely has that "spa" vibe going on.  Have I tried any other deep conditioners?  No.  But, knowing me, I will eventually - but for now, this is my go to.  Are any of you deep conditioning your hair?  What's your current favorite?

The last love affair with a product that I am having is pretty specific.

I love CeraVe products in general.  But this one really seems to get the jump on new outbreaks.  I'm not so sure how well it would work in the event of a major outbreak - but it seems to work very well for small areas.  And is unscented.  The only negative I've found is that many stores claim to have it on the shelves...but they don't.  My local CVS website consistently tells me it is in stock - but it never is.  So, my only option seems to be Amazon.

My latest and most prized love?  Drum roll please....

Of ALL the orchids in residence (six currently), this ONE has actually bloomed again!  I KNOW!  I'm ridiculously happy about it.  In all the years that these plants have been in my home only ONE attempted to re-bloom prior to this...only to, literally, wither on the vine before blooming and then?  To add insult to injury succumbed to an ant invasion and had to be put out of its misery.  I am seriously contemplating moving this particular lovely to my office where I can enjoy her - but am afraid of messing up whatever "magic" is making her bloom.

Now to figure out how to make the others bloom again...the angst of an orchid owner.

So what about you?  Any new products you love or hate?  Other than Suz (who has the "orchid touch"), have any of you successfully had your orchids re-bloom and were as over the moon as I am about it?  Dish in the comments.

Saturday Chit-Chat

I'm sure a good majority of you are sometimes honestly as surprised as I am when I pop up here.  I mean, at times, I actually post on a pretty regular basis...and then I fade away for a time (some times are shorter than others).  And then I pop back up.

I know.  I wonder about that too.  At any rate, here I am again today.  Let's just go with that.

While things have been relatively quiet around the Gigi household - many behind the scenes things are taking place.  Nothing new (really) or exciting.  Just things.

The back to work order commenced on Monday with BIG fanfare (aka...Super Spreader Events - welcome back reception in the lobby (masks optional), complimentary food from popular local food trucks in the courtyard for lunch (again, masks optional), etc.

Thankfully, those events were mainly restricted to the first three days of last week - at least they were thinking of us that aren't quite ready to jump back into "normal" life...I guess?

In reality, I DO appreciate the effort that went in to welcoming (most) of us back to the office.  AND I appreciate they also recognized that some of us would prefer coming in without so much fanfare.  Which meant that I showed up on Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, I encountered a sweet co-worker I haven't seen since we walked out nearly three years ago...unmasked; naturally.  I pleasantly declined riding up in the elevator.  When I eventually arrived on the fourth floor, I found that only seven of us were in attendance...and I was the only one who masked in the common areas *sigh*

Friday was even better - there were only three of us on the whole floor (again, with me being the lone masked individual).

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We shan't go into the very worrying things I keep reading about the latest strain; as I don't want to bring anyone angst.  Just...keep your masks at the ready and stay home as much as you can, okay?  I care for you too much for anything to happen to you.  Just sayin'... (and yes, I realize several friends, co-workers, etc. think I'm overreacting...but, I'd rather be safe than sorry, ya know?)

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As usual, in the Gigi household something weird is ALWAYS happening.  I can't decide if it's just our luck, the natural order of things or if a poltergeist might somehow be involved.

About two weeks (ish) ago, The Husband was outraged when he claimed our relatively new (ish) television just died.  He informed me of this as I was reaching into the fridge; where I noted the light was out.  When I gave him this particular bit of data; the hunt was on.  The television and the fridge are not on the same circuit breaker - so that was our initial riddle.  Eventually, we discovered that the master bath electricity wasn't working, the fridge in the garage wasn't working and a few other areas.  None of which were connected to each other in any way, shape or form.

The Husband checked the breaker box while I texted a couple of neighbors to see if this was only happening here.  It was.  And the breakers were fine; despite the random outages.  The Husband then called his electrician while I consulted with Google.  Both the electrician and Google agreed that we had a bad "leg."  (What does that even mean?!).  The electrician advised that we call the power company because if this was the issue it would be something they would have to fix.

The Husband called the power company and we prepared for bed figuring nothing would happen before morning when all of a sudden - everything was working again!  We decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and considered it a fluke.

Until the next morning, when The Husband wandered outside and noticed a weird contraption that looked like something out of a Sci-Fi sixties movie connected to our house.  Eventually, we decided that the power company must have snuck out in the middle of the night to deliver this contraption that was surely gathering data as to what might be wrong with our house.  We were curious as to why we hadn't heard from them...but since it was coming up on the weekend, we figured we'd hear something on Monday.  We didn't.

The next week, I happened to be in the garage when I heard several truck doors slamming and I went to the windows to investigate (Gladys Kravitz, I surely am).  The Husband was out; so it looked like no one was home since my car resides in the garage.  When I saw that TWO power company trucks were parked in front of the house, I opened the front door...so they would know that someone was home.

Eventually, they did - and they sent one of the guys to speak to me.  Apparently, a "leg" WAS out and the contraption attached to our house was giving us supplemental power until they could come out and fix it.  Which, I guess, was that day.  Would they have even bothered to try the bell to see if anyone was home before attempting to fix the problem?  That is anyone's guess.

At any rate, after a couple hours of work they informed us that the cable company (not ours) had placed their equipment right on top of theirs and they would have to come back.  So they hooked up the contraption again and left.

Two days later, we lost power again.  Except this time it was an all out power outage.  The guy came back (same day - shocker, I KNOW!)  Showed The Husband how to reset the contraption but stressed that we should call it in - even if we successfully reset the contraption.

And on Thursday, the power went out AGAIN - this time without anyone being home at the time.  The Husband discovered it upon returning home.  And once again, he reset the contraption and called.

Sometime, late Thursday evening, the power guys showed up again and this time (I guess because they'd figured out a way to work around the cable company's stuff) and supposedly fixed it.  Fingers crossed.  Unless a poltergeist IS involved, then who knows what kind of ride we are in for.

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I've probably got about three or four more things to chit-chat about - but I am tired and I'm sure you are bored.  But I posted...so there's that.  xo