1) Book club 2025
For the past two years, my book club took a different approach to our monthly meetings. Essentially, since we had six members, every member got to “own” two months (their birthday month, since none of us share a birthday month, and a non-birthday month). When it was your turn, you chose three book selections that the group would vote on and planned a fun book club outing. This year, we decided to switch things up because a) we now have a seventh member, which makes evenly splitting the year was not possible and b) it can be a lot of pressure on people to own all of the planning for one month. Instead, we all came to our January meeting last weekend with a selection of book ideas and a selection of activity ideas. We all wrote our ideas on Post-It notes, folded them up, and placed them in two jars. Now, every month, we will select three book ideas and three activity ideas to vote on! This is going to make things very exciting, I think.
We kicked things off by selecting our February book (our February activity was already chosen; it was actually supposed to be our January activity but the place we were going to had to cancel on us) so we only chose a book during our meeting (it was between The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Good Material by Dolly Alderton, and What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon—we chose Good Material). The books/activities that aren’t chosen go back into their respective jars to be perhaps picked another month.
God, I love my book club. We’re the best.
2) Goods Unite Us
My friend Amber introduced our group to this app during book club called Goods Unite Us. The app shows you all different companies and where they stand politically. It takes into account any donations made to political campaigns by the organization and its senior employees. It also gives each company a Campaign Finance Reform Score from -100 to 100. You want a positive number here. As the app states, “The higher the score, the more likely that purchases from the company or brand will lead to meaningful campaign finance reform.” And vice versa – buying from a company with a negative score means helping to keep corporate money in politics. I’ve been obsessed with looking up companies on this app, and I feel like it is one small way I can try to make a difference by not shopping (or shopping a lot less) at companies who (a) lean Republican and (b) have a negative CFRS.
You can also answer a few questions to learn what your overall rating is and CFRS. That was a sobering experience for me. (My score was -4, sigh.) But knowledge is power, right?
One big change I want to make is to switch from Publix (86% Republican with a -86 CFRS) to Aldi (they have a perfect CFRS because they do not give significant money to political campaigns). I love shopping at Publix, but do not love their political contributions, so this is an easy change I can make. (Plus, Aldi is a lot cheaper than Publix so that’s a win/win if I’ve ever heard one.)
3) Medical routines
There’s nothing that screams “I’m getting old” than talking about medical routines, eh? I seem to be building a repertoire of them. Let’s discuss:
- Radial nerve pain – Every night, I use a hand massager to try to reduce some of the inflammation and then I slather on topical lidocaine all over my fingers, palm, and wrist. Right before going to sleep, I put on a splint to keep my wrist immobile.
- Scalp psoriasis – Every night, I use a prescription-grade scalp solution on my problem areas (I have three of them, two on each side of my head and one at the base of my scalp) and 1-2 times a week, I wash my hair with a prescription shampoo (clobetasol propionate).
- Sleep apnea – Obviously, I sleep with my machine every night. In the mornings, I wipe down my mask and dump out the humidifier water. Once a week, I take apart the whole machine and soak it in unscented, gentle detergent.
- Hidradenitis suppurativa – My newest condition! Twice a day, I slather on antibiotic ointment and whenever I shower, I use a prescription-grade soap for my underarm where the burst cyst is located. Hopefully, this will clear up within a few weeks.
And if I have to add an entire diabetes treatment regimen to all of this, I might lose my mind.
4) Mushrooms (not those kind)
One of my goals for this year is to try one new thing every month. I almost missed January because the thing I was going to choose as my “one new thing” ended up getting cancelled. But I did my new thing this week, which was eating a new type of food! This week, I made beef stroganoff and typically I leave out the mushrooms because ick. But then I got to thinking… are they ick? I’ve never actually tried mushrooms. Maybe I’ll love mushrooms! So this time around, I dumped in a whole carton of mushrooms into the meal and hoped for the best.
And… ick. My spidey senses were correct. I do not like mushrooms. Live and learn!
5) Weekend plans
Oh, I have a beautiful plan-less weekend ahead of me, which is great because my upcoming weekends are going to be quite busy. I will have my regular writing date with Mikaela on Saturday morning and my mom and I are going to try out a new yoga class on Sunday morning. Other than that, the weekend is all mine!
My score was -12!! So I have some work to do, although I am not going to buy a non-Toyota and I can’t change my banking relationship or health insurance provider… We do buy as much at Aldi as possible. I have Amazon Prime and it’s hard to imagine dropping that as it’s kind of clutch for people with young kids… but Target is the next best option and they are terrible too. So I am at a loss about what to do. I’ve long boycotted Walmart. I guess big retailers are just going to all be terrible? Gah. But that is a super interesting ap and I will be telling my book club about it next week!
Your quiet weekend sounds lovely! Mine should be pretty low key too! I am actually excited to take the boys to Dogman. Listen, it won’t be a high quality film but Paul has been so excited about it for MONTHS so it’s fun to see him excited about a book-based movie. Taco is coming with too even though he’s a bit young for the movie. But I couldn’t leave him out as going to a move in the theater is a rare treat!
I know – I lucked out in having a Kia and my bank being a credit union, but there are just some things you can’t change willy-nilly! I think the Amazon vs Target debate is such a hard one. What other option is there?! But it helps to just have the awareness at least.
I hope Paul and Taco love Dogman!
THAT APP! So fascinating— thank you for posting it!
You’re welcome! It has been very eye-opening.
I wish that information were available on the website and not an app. I just refuse to put apps on my phone at this point. It’s probably killing me financially (think of the savings in-app coupons have), but I am trying so hard not to be on my phone unless I absolutely have to. So I guess I’ll live without it.
Good On You is another good place to go if you’re trying to figure out how to spend your dollars. It rates clothing brands based on who produces them, what they’re made from, how workers are treated, and what impacts the products have on the environment and animals across their life cycles. It’s been useful for me in trying to figure out what ethical clothing is/could work in my life.
Your screen time number must be really good! Mine is abysmal, lolol *cries*
I think you have mentioned Good on You before! I definitely need to check them out and do a bigger deep dive into ethical clothing. There’s just so much to be aware of; it easily gets overwhelming!
Wait – you’d never had mushrooms in your entire life?!!
Well, now I have – lol. You’d be surprised at the number of fruits/veggies I’ve never tried. If you’re not exposed to them as a kid, it’s easy to continue to write them off!
I need to know more about the mushrooms. Did you just randomly put the mushrooms in, whole? Because that might be part of the problem. I mean, I have my own things (omg do not even come into my home with celery, as an example) but I find mushrooms to be delicious. I like them raw with dip but I also love them sauteed with garlic butter or in a stir fry. I think they are better when they are sauteed in a fat of some kind, like olive oil or butter, so if they were just put in the stroganoff…well…I mean, like I said, I have my own things so I support you on your no mushroom lifestyle, but…
They were sliced and cooked down, and they were surrounded by pasta, so if I don’t like mushrooms WITH PASTA… I don’t think you can convince me that I’ll like them better any other way, ha.
I have amazon prime, and two toyota cars, and I bank at chase (they took over my bank in the financial crisis back in 2008, and we talk sometimes about going to a credit union, but then we never do it), so I am NOT going to look up my score on that app.
My daughter mostly dislikes mushrooms too, though if they are chopped very fine and mixed into something she is fine, and there’s a fancy vegan restaurant she loves that does a deep fried version that she LOVES. The way you described it, just dumping them in, could be the issue, as Nicole said. If you take sliced mushrooms and sauté them in some butter or olive oil until they soften, then brown a bit, then maybe put in a splash of white wine, and some salt and pepper, and reduce it a bit, they are delicious. Over creamy polenta with cheese? Yes please.
I have an idea for your book club get together – have a pot luck where you each make something that you love that someone else has an aversion to, and see if any minds are chosen. HA! For example, I would bring a creamy, cheesy polenta with roasted mushrooms, and see if you liked it. If everyone is bringing something, even if you ended up hating the mushrooms, there would be plenty of other things to eat. Also, no, no one should try to convince me to eat liver. Blech.
I really enjoyed Song of Achilles, I hope you end up reading that at some point. I haven’t heard of the other two.
See if any minds are *changed* I meant, not chosen.
They were sliced and cooked down, so I don’t really think the problem was the way they were cooked. Plus, it was in a pasta dish! If mushrooms don’t taste good to me surrounded by pasta, you’ll have a hard time convincing me they’ll taste good another way, haha.
That’s a great idea for book club! We have a lot more adventurous eaters than me, though, and some with food allergies, so that would be an interesting conundrum!
Sounds like maybe you are right, mushrooms are not your thing. I hope you find a way you love them, but if not, more for me! I mean, I don’t want anyone to try to convince me that celery is yummy.
You would have to have rules about the book club…nothing anyone is allergic to! No hospital trips!
I feel so sorry for you for not liking mushrooms. They are the best and so underrated.
That app seems to be eye opening.
Hey, that just means more mushrooms for you!
That is such a great way to do book club! I am excited to see what you do and read this year!
Let me know if you need help transitioning to Aldi! I’ve been shopping there since I was a kid and I know it’s kind of intimidating to start.
Look at you, taking such good care of yourself! I am proud of you!
Mushrooms are disgusting.
I may pick your brain about Aldi – I’m a little intimidated to go somewhere new since I know there are some rules that other stores don’t have!
THANK YOU, re: mushrooms.
Your book club sounds truly fantastic! And I have been wanting to read Good Material — hope you love it!
Oh yes, the medical routines. Sigh. My question is, are we just going to keep piling more and more medical routines on top of things as we age??? If so, how are people in their late 70s ever able to leave the house?!?!
Good for you for trying MUSHROOMS!!!! I am proof that a person can develop a like for mushrooms, although I will not eat a raw mushroom, no thank you. And you were super brave for trying them at all — they often come up on “most hated” food lists, and they have a weird texture, so I’m not super surprised that they weren’t a hit. A little sad, though — I love mushrooms. But there are plenty of other amazing foods out there for you to discover!
So far, I’m 60% into Good Material and would have abandoned it if it were not a book club book. Merp. But we often have dissenting opinions on books so maybe this means you would love it! HA.
I knew I was getting older but sheesh, it’s like I turned 37 and my body was like “alright, time to fall apart!” I guess it’s really time to get serious about my diet and exercise so I’m not piling MORE medical routines into my life, bah.
Ha! I don’t like mushrooms either. DEFINITELY ICK.
I’m intrigued by that app, although I’m sure there are a lot of things I don’t really want to know. I do a LOT of shopping at Publix, sigh. But, I can switch things up.
This past weekend was hard with no football, but I did take your advice and focus on reading! Now we have the Super Bowl to get excited about.
Your book club really does sound amazing.
I know – it’s hard to get out of my Publix routine! But I know it’s a good thing to do.
Yay for reading! I’m looking forward to the Super Bowl!
Mushrooms aren’t for you? Move on to the next. What other veggies are on the not-for-me list? For me, green olives (not black, ha), and some hotter peppers. And again, lack of exposure will do that!
We all envy you your book club, I think. And yes, routines related to medical stuff will continue to grow. Think of it this way: routines >>>>> crises. So, do the routines, hopefully avoid the crises of various degrees?