Once upon a time …

The Continuing Saga of Mr. Plastic: When I did my weekly shopping a couple weeks ago now, Mr. Plastic was once again behind the meat counter, which bummed me out, until I noticed The Beard Net Kid was also there. (Beard net, like a hair net for facial hair — what’s that thing called?) Beard Net Kid is younger and seems quite jolly — and he tried to sell me bacon, so he’s probably all right.

Johanna wanted to use my phone at the store ... and this is what I found later. Artistic!

Johanna wanted to use my phone at the store … and this is what I found later. Artistic!

Anyway, I waited until Mr. Plastic was out of the picture before heading to the counter. BNK let me put my orange tupperware on the scale and did the whole tare thing … and then tried to put a paper sheet between my layer of pork chops. Mr. Plastic was back at the front by then, and when I told BNK it was cool, I didn’t need any paper, he said something to BNK that was pitched too low for me to hear. I can only assume that Mr. Plastic was complimenting my grandma’s awesome tupperware. I apologized for being high maintenance, which actually made him snort, and then he added more quiet commentary for BNK, which I’m pretty sure was about how great it is that there are people trying to cut down on the trash we produce and save the world and all of that.

And hey, we all won: Mr. Plastic didn’t have to wait on me and I didn’t have pretend it’s okay to get my container back with meat slop all along the sides from him trying to get the lid on after overfilling it.

P.S. This week I didn’t buy any meat at all. This whole ordeal is kind of making me rethink becoming a vegetarian. I’m exhausted just by the thought of having to deal with those guys.

What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate: The Walker Four had a very intense conversation over lunch on Saturday regarding who chose what for their bye item and why no one thought to include chips. Intense mainly because we all really miss chips. Anyway, no one seemed willing to swap their original item for something else — Abby was pressuring Johanna to give up the ice cream, since we don’t get it very often anyway, but Jo held fast. Abby doesn’t want to give up her cereal, so she turned to me, suspicious, all what did YOU pick?, and I was all, actually nothing, and she was like, CHIPS. I’m tempted, you guys. It’s hard just eating carrots all the time.

The Irony of Oregon Weather: I am totally in love with my homemade deodorant, especially now that I’ve added some beeswax — just a smidge — to keep it from melting. The Gorge was just so dang hot there for a while that every morning I’d wake up to a sheen of coconut oil that I’d have to mix back in. I kept it in the refrigerator for a couple of days, but that made it rock solid and hard to apply. But that bit of beeswax has made all the difference. It’s a lovely consistency now. Which also smells like peppermint because I broke down and got some essential oil. I don’t mind. If I could find some cocoa butter, I could add that too and then smell like a Girl Scout Thin Mint. Goals!

My homemade deodorant, of which I am a big fan.

My new and improved homemade deodorant, of which I am a big fan.

The irony part to this otherwise joyful tale is that a couple days after adding that beeswax, we went from 90ºs to 60ºs, which is rather too hard on a body. So melting isn’t really an issue at present, although the consistency is still gorgeous so you know what? That’s my new recipe, the added beeswax. Now I just have to remember to update that original post …

In Which I Get Lazy: I made that oatmeal facial scrub in hopes that would replace my purchased facial cleaner, but all that happened was I had a mess in my sink and I got sad. Then I moved it to the shower and got scared because it was in a glass container and … well, the threat of shards and all. But then I went to our farmers’ market and there was a lady selling handcrafted soap. She was super nice and excited about her products, and I was happy to see that most weren’t wrapped. So on her recommendation, I got a bar that’s supposed to be good for your face and was all ready to place it into one of my reusable produce bags when she took it and put a sticker on it, “so I could see the ingredients.” SO CLOSE.

But hey, the oatmeal scrub is all used up now and I’m happy with my new soap. I’m also happy to farm this one out. There’s something to be said about not making something from scratch when you don’t have to. Sort of a tangent, but I went to a soap making class years ago, and what I took from that experience is that it’s such a pain to make that it’s worth buying it from someone crazy enough to undertake it.

Now you’re all up to date except for that other stuff I didn’t write about. (Ha.) Hey, what are you guys up to these days? Any stories to share?

Next up: Not actually sure, but it won’t be until Friday. This is the girls’ last week of school and the calendar is looking rather full. Also, I need time to have a breakdown because Abby is going to be a senior next year and Johanna will start middle school and I CAN’T EVEN.


9 Responses to Once upon a time …

  1. I feel for you, with kids getting too old. I no longer have an elementary schooler — middle and high school next year!

    I’d call the farmer’s market soap a win (except for the sticker) because you’re supporting zero waste business in the community. 😉

    And the woman who used to roll her eyes when I used my jars at the cheese counter has stopped doing that. So there is hope for Meat Counter Guys.

    • Eye Roll Woman sounds like she’d get along GREAT with Mr. Plastic! Maybe they’re related. And I gratefully accept your justification of my soap purchase!

      Because of the difference in the girls’ ages, we’ve been at our elementary school for 12 years. It’s going to be so weird not being there anymore. I gave the girls the option of repeating grades the other day, but they declined for some reason. 😉

  2. Just a note, if the soap lady actually has a business, she is required by the Federal Cosmetic law to label her soap – so the sticker isn’t her fault, just a legal thing. I know because we have to label ours here in Texas!

    • I had no idea that was a law! And hey, better a sticker than plastic wrap. I was just so excited to see soaps that weren’t wrapped, it was a little disappointing to end up with even a sticker at the last possible second. It IS pretty great soap, though, so it’s hard for me to feel too bad about it.

  3. Pingback: Zero waste DIY: Facial scrub, deodorant (and armpit detox!) and toothpaste | The Simple Year

  4. I have a friend who makes her own soap and sells it. She’s even made a calendula one! Message me if you want me to hook you up with her.

  5. I laughed at the artistically arranged fish. Also, I feel like you did not owe the Meat Men an apology. I work in customer service and think your requests to use your own container and skip the paper should have been pretty easy to accommodate, especially when you were polite in making the requests. Sure, it probably felt weird for them to have to think about something other than their usual routine, but it’s not like you could go back behind the counter and do it yourself!

    • I am sort of apologetic by nature … 🙂 I try not to feel too bad about it because I read somewhere that whenever you get a negative response to your containers, you’re really just expanding that person’s mind with an idea they’ve never had before (sounds MUCH better than just driving people crazy with your assorted weirdness, doesn’t it?) but I still do. So I appreciate the nice words and the encouragement!

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