Yey!! Chesney tix sold!
I’ve been trying to unload these for a week.
Yesterday afternoon I get one nice message from Person A that sounds promising: “I am very interested in your tickets. I can give you a for sure response by 10 tonight if that’s ok? I get off work at 9 and have to make sure I can get Saturday off."
If there’s such a thing as too thoughtful, I’m guilty sometimes so I give her first dibs.
In the interim, another message arrives from Person B. “I’ll give you 55 cash {ed. note: I'm asking 40}, an $80 gift certificate for teeth whitening as well as invite you to come swim with me if you let me pick up the tickets now.” The dental offer cracks me up as someone who's spent a lifetime in the dentist chair.
She says she’s been trying and trying to score tickets. Has contacted 12 craigslisters and only four have responded. It's not only the sellers but the buyers who encounter flakes and unresponsive sorts, eh.
Her offer's $15 over my bargain price, pushing it near their face value, a fair deal for both of us, she just so wants to go.
Now I'm in a pickle. Do I hold 'em for Person A who's the maybe and won't know till 10 p.m. as a thoughtful courtesy? (and also run the risk of ending stuck with tix and no buyer if she can't go.)
Or spring for the sure thing?
I opt for the latter while gritting my teeth at possibly having to tell Person A that they were sold.
Person B and I meet at a midpont. She arrives in a red pickup truck and wearing a country western hat. (Kenny Cheney's country music.) I go, "oh yeah, this is so the right person."
I hand over the tix, she the cash and coupon shaving bucks off a teeth-whitening. "Are you a dentist?" It'd be too funny, too appropo.
"No, I work in the lab." She's so excited to see Chesney. After a lively, friendly exchange, we hug with effusive thank you's and go our separate ways.
Now the hard part, informing Person A they've been sold. I see she's left a voice mail. I nervously check.
"I won't be able to go. I have to work."
Bingo! All is well.
AND in the in-box:
“Just wanted to e-mail in case you didn't get my phone message. Unfortunately I won't be able to buy the tickets :( I couldn't get work off. Thank you for waiting for my answer though, I really appreciated it! Good luck selling them, and thanks again.”
What a day brightener (speaking of teeth)! I just love it when folks are thoughtful, considerate and follow through as these two did and things go as they should or were meant to. Today I'm a-singin' a happy tune. No relation to Chesney. That would be Marie-Elaina, tomorrow.
I’m a girl with tickets. A girl with Kenny Chesney tickets. A girl with Kenny Chesney tickets that she has no interest in using. A girl with Kenny Chesney tickets she’s trying to sell on craigslist. On the cheap.
Because this girl does NOT want to go to Seattle, home to the venue, to sell on site.
I won these two tickets as the first responder in an online drawing. I didn’t know till I talked to a few folks how big big big hot hot hot Kenny Chesney is in the country music world.
Every summer he tours with several bands that are reportedly hot too, drawing a crowd that doesn't necessarily care for Kenny. This year's are Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry and Sugarland.
Greek to me.
The concert’s Saturday afternoon and I’m trying to unload these two tix for what I’ve ascertained by research is a fair price, under face value. The seats, in the third tier, aren’t the best, but I've been told there’s really no bad seat at Qwest Field. Someone can enjoy them.
Some might argue that because I won them that I shouldn’t be selling them. I don’t feel that way. He’s a popular dude, interest is high and I really really really really (really) need the money.
My approach is win-win. I’ve set the price below face value so that someones who want to go can and to ease a burden in these rotten economic times. And I really need the money. Forty bucks is gas in the car.
Now anyone who’s tried to sell something on craiglist knows what a bitch it is.
People message their interest. Then you never hear back. They ask questions. You reply. Then you never hear back. They say they want them and let’s meet and then they fall away.
This is why I don’t like selling items on craigslist. The people.
Anyhow, I’m bearing through the flakes in the hope that the right match will appear. Because I really do want someones to go and enjoy.
And I really do not want to go to Seattle!
I think I’ve made it pretty clear my hate-hate relationship with the city. The drive, the traffic, the concert parking, the crowds to sell the tix ... not my idea of a good time.
But it’ll be between that and tossing them if these don’t get sold on craigslist and soon. Within less than 48 hours.
Sending rockin' positive thoughts for the right person to come through.
Everyone’s talking about the heat.
Like just last night, KIRO radio, based in Seattle, selected it as the topic of its call-in show. “Whaddya think, is it hot? Or not?” It was like 97 (36C) yesterday and they were forecasting possibly 100 (37.7C) today. So I called in. “What a bunch of weather wimps!” I enthused. The host cracked up. To his questions I replied I’d lived in deserts where it was routinely 115+ (46.1C) and a cool 90 (32.2C) at midnight. So these temps ain't no reason to get the panties in a twist. He so liked my "weather wimps" he said he was gonna use it. I said please do and I wouldn’t even request royalties.
By the way, I hate the heat. I'm a water baby. It's why I live in the cool Pacific Northwest. Yet if I hear one more moan about how hot it is at a hundred, I’m gonna scream!
Speaking of which, I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream. Until. Well, read on:
Parmesean cheese. Not just for pastas anymore:
Meeting the daily requirement for vegetables, Salad ice cream, from Japan, with red and orange peppers, cucumber and tomato:
Chicken-fried steak ice cream. Simple recipe. Take greasy gunk left after cooking up chicken-fried steak. Make the ice cream. Use in place of gravy. Barfing is optional.
Ox tongue ice cream. Another concoction from Japan. The graphic sorta sums it up:
Oyster ice cream. Word is that classes of colonial America treated themselves to this one. Thankfully I wasn’t there:
And those ices from Japan keep on comin’! Here's fish ice cream, made with sanma -- Pacific saury. The sanma kanji translate as fall (autumn), sword and fish. Appropo since after ingesting you wanna fall belly up on the nearest sword:
Pit Viper ice cream. You gotta credit that Japanese ingenuity:
Astronaut ice cream. Freeze-dried dessert developed for astronauts. Reportedly a seller at some space museum. Too cloying to describe it as out of this world?
Cold Sweat ice cream:
The invention of this guy in North Carolina with perhaps too much time on his hands, Cold Sweat is made with three kinds of hot peppers and two kinds of hot sauce. It’s so spicy, a touch turns the fingers hot. C'mon, it's ice cream. How hot can it be? Well, he requires customers to sign a waiver. No tastes to anyone under 18 without consent of a guardian, pregnant women and those with health problems. That hot.
Finally, raw horse meat ice cream -- basashi in Japanese. Derived in a region where raw horse sashimi (which btw I’ve had) is the specialty. Maybe the Japanese should stick to building fine automobiles. Cute lil' fella on the container though.
Dear Peeps:
Never did I imagine this letter.
Regular readers know me as a writer who blogs daily. It has been a week since the last posting. With the exception of two neighbors, no one has sent a message of concern, of "are you OK?" "Has something happened? Or “you are missed and I just wanted to check in on you.”
You, the peeps and readers, are my family. It is this tenderness and fondness for each and every one of you that put me at risk for disappointment and heartache. I know that I have been a good neighbor, loyal and present, offering intelligent and insightful comments, smart remarks, observations, humor or a simple greeting. I know I ofttimes come across as cantankerous and eccentric but that is me; behind beats the heart of a sweet, sensitive, caring and tender human being. The intent is always good and my loyalty heartfelt and genuine.
For the past week I’ve been away from Vox not by choice but crisis. I might have met a calamity. Been in the morgue. Coping with a death. I may have been in a hospital bed from an assault or accident. I may have moved onto the streets or into a shelter, unemployed and unable to pay my rent. The possibilities are many.
Any peep who blogs daily and abruptly falls off the map catches my attention and is a neighbor whom I’ll be contacting, particularly if I know he/she may be going through a very hard time. Perhaps my mistake here is empathy and caring. However, there is little to be accomplished by comparing what I would do with what others do. I share what I would do only to convey my fondness and concern for my peeps as family and proclivity to approach those absent at length or who may be in trouble or distress.
I give of myself here. I give of myself at my blog, striving and working diligently to provide quality writing, and equally at your blogs in full presence and attentive listening.
If these feelings are hard to understand, allow me to personalize by asking: How would you feel if after lying in a hospital after a car crash or health crisis (thinking here of Aubrey) you excitedly returned to Vox to discover that only two family peeps had taken note of your absence?
I'm disappointed in some more than others. There is nothing at the moment further to be said except that all is spoken from the the heart.
I wanted to bop a buddy on the head. Hard.
The other day he tells me this story. Only the names have been changed.
So Paul -- that’s the buddy -- is babysitting/borrowing the car of two friends while they’re on vacation.
Paul lives in not the best neighborhood. One poised for gentrification but it’s got a ways to go before its shed of its historical crime, drugs and gangs.
Paul is outside his house watering the yard around 1 a.m. His partner, Bob, is inside sleeping.
Paul goes back into the house, soon hears a knock on the door. A couple’s standing there -- a black man and a white woman around their late 20’s.
The man’s clutching his side saying he’s been injured and can they come in and take care of it with gauze, if Paul has any.
Paul says sure. Lets them in and goes to get the gauze.
Don’t recall whether the man retreats into the bathroom or remains in the living room to wrap his (alleged) wound but it’s not important.
They chat a bit -- Paul’s quite affable -- then the two leave. Paul goes to bed.
Next morning Paul and partner Bob awaken to find that the cash and credit cards in Bob’s wallet, which had been on a table in the living room, are missing. Along with their cell phones and keys, including the key to the car they're babysitting. And the car.
Obviously the “injured” man and woman had secretly helped themselves to the keys and returned later while the men were sleeping, entered the house then helped themselves to more.
Since partner Bob is a longtime friend of the woman on vacation, plus he’s afraid, Paul has his partner call and break the news to the pair that their car’s been stolen.
What a way to ruin a vacation.
About a week later the police call to say the car’s been located, abandoned in the next town but apparently in okay condition. It’s being held at the impound center. And x-amount of money is required for its release.
Paul can't retrieve it, only the vacationing woman since she’s the registered owner. The couple’s thrilled by the good news delivered by phone. And pissed as hell.
Partner Bob picks up the returning couple at the airport. The tension is thick and words few on the drive from Seattle back to Tacoma.
Buddy Paul assures them that he’ll reimburse the impound fees {insert: may be moot, insurance should cover it}.
Last we talked, the couple was set to retrieve their car the next day and a nervous Paul was trying to figure out how to talk to them and apologize again.
Assessing this is a no-brainer. Most obvious is that this could’ve ended up so much worse. My buddy and his partner could’ve ended up dead. Their entire house robbed. Their friend’s car gone for good, totaled or trashed. It’s a long list of “what could’ve happened” ... and didn’t, thankfully.
What got me and made me wanna bop him hard on the head is that you never open your house to strangers. Especially not at 1 a.m.! There are exceptions few and far between, none applicable to city-town life. As a rule of survival, safety and common sense, you don’t open your home to strangers claiming they’re injured or requesting to use the phone because the car broke down or any other inventive plot to gain entry.
You ask for the number, close the door, lock it and call yourself. They need medical attention? You call 911. Or give them supplies outside the home, close and lock the door.
This is knowledge I gained when very young and I thought it was fairly universal; evidently not.
Oh. And buddy Paul, he’s 30. And they live just down the road from a hospital - for that “injured” black man at the door.
First, I’m so relieved and glad that nothing worse happened, buddy. And a seriously big hard bop on your head.
Pink Floyd sings about the dark side of the moon; today we talk about the darkening of the sun.
I’m without words for the public today while also desiring to take a moment to honor this mighty eclipse. So I’m sharing this laudable composition by intuitive astrologer Simone Butler posted at the lovely tarot.com.; thanks, SB. Also, FYI, NASA's following the eclipse at its Web site and with Google Map created an interactive map.
Clocking in at six minutes and 39 seconds, the total solar eclipse taking place today
Aries (March 21 - April 19)
You may be releasing an attachment to a romantic fantasy or watching a child fly the coop at this New Moon eclipse, Aries. You've done all you can to feed and nurture this situation; now it's time to call it quits and let go. Solace comes from a healer in your community or a friend you've been on the outs with who is there to help. Pouring your creative energies into an original project is therapeutic, and births a new aspect of you.
Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
You've been on intense "output" mode for the last month, Taurus, quite likely over-giving to those in your immediate environment or family members. The New Moon eclipse is a death knell for this pattern of taking care of others, demanding that you begin to nurture yourself instead. A sensitive career issue comes to a head, taking a turn for the better as you forgive and let go. Changes at home are for the best; surrender to them.
Gemini (May 21 - June 20)
You may face a crisis of faith at this New Moon eclipse, Gemini. Since you're so imaginative, it's easy for you to spin convincing stories about your life -- both positive and negative -- and then watch them come true. Now you're challenged to birth a new reality by using your awesome mental powers to visualize and affirm what you desire. Slow down, ground yourself and calmly make a choice based on sudden info that arrives.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22)
A healing crisis with someone close to you, or the need to let go of an addiction of some kind, triggers feelings of insecurity at this New Moon eclipse, Cancer. You're birthing new priorities and putting your talents out to the world now, a scary process for one so sensitive to the possibility of rejection. As the old passes away, dig deep and find your true nourishment and security within. And, demand what you're worth financially!
Leo (July 23 - August 22)
You've been in preparation mode for a month, Leo, and this New Moon eclipse springs you out of the starting gate. Is there something still left undone, perhaps an emotional attachment you need to release or a fence to mend? Do it now to clear your slate for exciting new opportunities this month. Let go of recent burdens and let your light shine forth -- others will notice the changes you're making and step forward to assist you.
Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
Your mental and physical health is the focus at this New Moon eclipse, Virgo. Don't give in to the temptation to run around like crazy or overreact to news of an ending of some kind; you're meant to slide into rest-and-rejuvenation mode now, and let others carry the ball to the finish line at work. Care-giving comes naturally to you, but now it's crucial to cut back on your duties, take care of yourself and take time to relax and heal.
Libra (September 23 - October 22)
You're so close to manifesting a big dream you can almost taste it, Libra, and this New Moon eclipse is pushing you over the edge. But first you may need to address any insecurities about your talents or performance, or assuage a loved one's feelings about you moving into a new social realm or status. Is there an old friendship or association that has outlasted its usefulness for you? Don't debate this any longer; let go and move on.
Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)
You're about to make a big splash in the wider world, Scorpio; allow the powerful changes initiated by this New Moon eclipse to propel you forward. It's not important anymore for you to have things under control or to make it all happen. In fact, it's time to surrender to your higher calling and let old career ambitions or ideas about who you're "supposed" to be fall by the wayside. Renewing family bonds helps a lot.
Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21)
An unexpected development or news from afar could have you scrambling at this New Moon eclipse, Sagittarius. You've likely been thinking in narrow terms about an important matter, and now you suddenly see the bigger picture. Take this opportunity to broaden your knowledge, embark on a trip or have a life-changing adventure. A long-standing concern about a relative or neighbor gets healed now, due to your forgiveness.
Capricorn (December 22 - January 19)
Everyone sees you as having it all together, Capricorn, but this New Moon eclipse is apt to shake you to your core. Don't hide what you're feeling, especially if it involves a loss, as opening up to your deeper feelings is the higher purpose of this cycle. And, dis-identifying with your financial or relationship status may be part of that. As you let go of any assets or commitments that aren't serving you, you'll heal your self-worth.
Aquarius (January 20 - February 18)
Sudden changes with a partner, client or loved one force you to redefine your relationships at this New Moon eclipse, Aquarius, and take some time for self-healing. A phase that may have been characterized by this person's overdependence on you is over, and it's time to move on. This should actually come as a relief once the dust has settled. Though you may be accused of insensitivity, it's not your fault -- be kind to yourself now.
Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
You try to be all things to all people at work, Pisces, and this New Moon eclipse orders you to cease and desist, or your health may suffer. Burning the midnight oil to finish an assignment could stress you to the max -- ask for more time or enlist coworkers to pick up the slack (which they should have been doing all along). You're experiencing a healing behind the scenes now; make sure it's voluntary and not the result of overwork.
All’s right with the world again.
In the world of lotions anyhow.
To recap, the Neutrogena body moisturizer was nowhere to be seen on the shelves of the two retailers that normally stock it.
So I did a blind selection: Nivea Replenishing lotion, in a nice pretty blue bottle. Well, it sucked. Big time. Greasy and sticky. Like a thick layer of humidity clinging to the skin.
So with receipt in hand (reminder: UNLIKE TARGET, this retailer takes back opened products), I return to Fred Meyer market.
Here’s what went down.
I get to the customer service window. Hand over the container. Before I even open my mouth, the clerk, a female, early 30-ish, exclaims: “This is terrible! Greasy and sticky!”
I kid you not! Cracks me up. Instant rapport. So we go on sharing notes, bemoaning the stickiness, the greasiness, how it goes on thick and even when it’s absorbed still feels gross and how we’d never buy it again.
She says she couldn’t use it but didn’t want to toss it and didn’t think to return it so uses it only to remove her makeup.
I reply that I wouldn’t use it even for that and besides don’t wear makeup.
She hands me my money, tosses the lotion into a drawer with a thud and we start reviewing other lotions. I warn her about Olay’s Quench -- super perfumey. She praises Dove -- moisturizes well and no scent. FYI.
Of course I’m a Neutrogena fan. And, as such, that same evening, when I found myself on the other side of town for an event, I stop at that Walgreen’s.
Same outcome. No lotion. There is though an orange tag on the shelf, emptied of the bottles, that reads: “Last Chance!” with the sale price. Apparently Walgreen’s is discontinuing my lotion.
So I race across the street to a Bartell, a locally-owned drugstore. Arrive at the body-care section. Lo and behold, there’s like five bottles of my lotion staring at me, all singing “welcome! welcome!” I'm reunited with a friend, a junkie who has found her supplier!
It gets better. Not only do they have the moisturizer I've been looking for but another Neutrogena lotion, with the sesame oil, that I particularly love and don’t see 'round much. So I buy that instead. And leave happy and smiling, bottle in hand, no bag.
Like I said, all’s right with the world again, when it's of moisturizers.
Well, that's a short-lived excitement.
In my last post I mentioned an e-mail received in response to a resume that stirred my anticipation. A new facility is hiring petsitters / doggie daycare assistants. I was thrilled to get a reply because I love animals - and more than people - also because I've no formal experience so in my cover letters bring my shelter volunteering to their attention; evidently it was sufficient to secure an invite to an open interview Thursday.
Then I read her circular:
"I am looking for flexible people who love animals. Our hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. until sometimes 11 p.m., 7 days a week. You will be required to work in a play group of dogs at times up to 10-12. You will be responsible for the safety of these dogs at the same time allowing them to have fun. All training is included but you must be able to follow instructions exactly!
"In addition, you may be required to do in-client home petsitting or daily dog walks. The schedule with these positions is very difficult. When people go on vacation, they may go for 2 days up to 3 months. We visit their pets in their homes each day that they are gone, sometimes multiple times per day. It can get very tiring and there is a great deal of driving involved. I do not reimburse for gas nor do I pay mileage.
"You are required to work early mornings, late nights, weekends, and holidays. You will also be required to pass a background check. The job is dirty with dogs slobbering on you, and you may step in waste; you will have to clean up waste and vomit, scoop litter boxes, etc.
"You must be very responsible, prompt, honest, and work well in a team setting and as well as independently. I may not email you with a job for a month or you may work a month without a day off. This is not a job where I can promise a set income, so if it is your only source of income, you may think again.
"Since this business is based on people’s needs while they go on vacation, the work is sporadic. One week you may cover 10 jobs per day, sometimes only one. The one that you may do may be in the middle of the day.
"You may have 3 visits spread out, one at 7 a.m., the same house at 3 p.m. and again at 10 p.m. This schedule may continue for days. Or you may job share with another petsitter and be required to cover all p.m. visits, etc.
"Starting pay is minimum wage (in my state, $8.55/hr., AU 10.6) for the daycare and 35% for petsitting (approximately $10.73 per hour). You will start immediately."
I've got my take on this. Curious, what's yours? Opine away.
Sometimes it happens like that. There’s no explanation or reason. You have a good day when things work in your favor.
Sometimes it’s the little everyday things.
Take yesterday.
1. I go to the unemployment office to address a matter resulting from an error on their part, one with potential of aborting benefits and putting me on the streets immediately. Not gonna discuss details, only that the error occurred during a phone call for which there is no record, a classic case of their word and mine.
Long story short, I'm assigned Sue, a marvelous woman with a command of her job and system. I feel like I’d met a kindred spirit. She listens, informs herself from my materials and judges that I'm being truthful and sincere, and I am, heartfully so.
Together we approach the problem methodically and articulately. This marvelous woman really helps! I leave feeling enormous relief, reasonably confident this'll be resolved in my favor thanks in huge part to Sue and gratitude. We warmly shake hands and I vow to myself to zip her an e-mail later to express my appreciation.
I leave the unemployment office with a bounce in my step.
2. Next to the bank, where my question's answered in the affirmative. Yes, I can make credit card payments there electronically direct from my account and there is no fee!
Superb news because I've been desing an alternative to checks by mail. I do not and will not pay bills online. And paying by phone incurs a fee, which because it’s the mean motherf***er Chase is likely about $10 -- and I refuse to pay in order to pay a bill!!!!!!
I've paid by check for years and so far have fortunately dodged any mail disservice bullet but one error on the post office's part and I'm decimated. I'm not willing to continue taking that risk. Most excellent news in my favor!
The bounce in my step leaving the bank is definitely gaining.
3. I pause for coffee. The male barista is young and genuinely sweet --- awwwww -- and gets a tip. I've not eaten all day and need a snack. I eyeball the bagel and cream cheese -- sometimes ya just gotta go for the good stuff, ya know? Normally I'd pass for budget reasons till I spot a sign tucked behind a jar: Bagels half off after 4 p.m. Whooweee!!
I enjoy my dark brew and bagel with a newspaper and people-watching at my window seat. Ahhh, these are the simple things I love and adore when I travel, and in life.
4. Suddenly I remember it's Third Thursday! The downtown art galleries and stores stay open later and entrance into the museums is free
And the History Museum has been on my to-do list a long time. I'm headin' right over!
There's unmistakable bounce action happenin' now.
4. I thoroughly enjoy the informative and interactive displays on the history of Tacoma, the town I love, and environs (I skip anything related to sucky Seattle). Included is a gigantic model railroad display that fills the room -- Tacoma being from birth a gritty railroad and port town -- complete with the chugging trains and tiny men in their hard hats directing cranes and the old names on the buildings. The details are riveting, the information rich. I drink it in - and all for free!
Big bounce, biiiig bounce in the step as I descend the stairs.
5. Down a flight, I happen on a soiree celebrating the debut of the Native History display. It's open and free to the public, the snacky foods and non-alcoholic beverages. A few skewers of chicken, bits of bread with dip, diet soda and for dessert a white chocolate chip cookie and I'm good for dinner.
Leaving and if there’s any more bounce in my step, I’ll pogo to the moon.
6. A rendevoux with pals is a deflating experience. Oh well, that’s OK, I don't let it get me down in a day so splendid.
7. I arrive home to an e-mailed response to a resume -- and a most surprising one at that! (More another time.) It puts a smile on my face and a small song in my heart.
8. Moose, the neighborhood's handsome roaming samurai Zen black cat, stops by for a long visit. I’m not a cat person, but Moose has charmed me with his exceptional intelligence, awareness, alertness and character. We're friends and thus he's permitted entrance into my abode and permission to hang long as he wishes.
And that was my day. Like I said, there's no explaining those days when everything works in your favor. They sure do feel good. By the time I hit the hay, there was so much pogo in my step, I wouldn't be surprised if when I slept, I touched the moon.
Nuthin’ more irritating than skin that looks and feels like this:
Hence I’m on a mission for a quality body lotion that ain’t the cheapo crap from the dollar store or breaks the bank.
It’s a temporary mission -- least I assume so -- spurred by the non-presence of my longtime preference, Neutrogena Body Lotion, at the local two retailers where it's normally available.
Yes indeed. I’m at Walgreen’s drugstore yesterday scanning the shelves for the product and finding none. What gives?!
A clerk happens to stroll by and asks if she can help.
“I can’t seem to find the Neutrogena lotion, the regular, in the tall bottle,” I gesture.
She responds to the effect of: “We don’t have it right now. I assume we'll get it back. The supply’s stopped because they’re redesigning the packaging.” She points to another Neutrogena product in a modern-looking cranberry and silver, a departure from the longtime and familiar blue and white.
Darn! I’ve been a loyal Neutrogena user for, well, most of my adult life. I don’t even know where to begin in the land of lotions staring at me!
I remember one of my peeps recently raving about (Oil of) Olay, so I try that first. Spread a sample of Olay's Quench on the arm. Peeeeee uuuuuuuu!!!! Good lord, that's perfumey!! I don’t wear perfumes, do NOT like perfumey products of any sort. The only thirst Olay's Quench is satisfying is for another product. So nix that.
“How’s the Jergens?” I ask the clerk.
“I didn’t really like it.”
“How about the St. Ives?”
She liked it. Times I've used it, it's OK; doesn't ring the chimes.
“How about Nivea?” I once worked with this woman, Carolyn, 28 years ago. It's all she'd use. I still remember her blue-and-white jar she kept at her desk.
The clerk can't say. I sample, a dab of this, a brush of that. None really resonate. They're either greasy, perfumey or both.
So, not excited by the options, I chance that another retailer might have the Neutrogena, so with hope in my heart I head, in the opposite direction of home, over to Fred Meyer market, they've always carried it.
Search the shelves top to bottom, right to left. Nope. Not a single Neutrogena body lotion to be had! Apparently the clerk was right.
So I ask the lady who happens to be there stocking shelves: “What lotion do you use?”
“I don’t use lotion.”
Uh, oh, well, that's no help.
“I’m looking for a lotion. Are there any you’ve heard good things about from the customers?"
Negative.
Darn! If I’d had my laptop and the market had Wi-Fi, this is about when I’d be googling “body lotions consumer reviews.”
So another round of scanning, sniffing and sampling starts, though now my arms are so peppered with assorted emollients, there’s barely a free patch or way to distinguish one from the next, aside from the Olay, which is still reeking. (And will continue to do so for the next three hours, while the rest have faded; a good choice if you like a perfumed lotion that lasts.)
After 15 or 20 minutes of head-scratching and "I dunno, I dunno," I finally settle on the choice of Carolyn the coworker 28 years ago, Nivea, specifically the Essentially Enriched body lotion.
Get home and in all anticipation give it a go. Blech, blech. It goes on thick, well, I can live with that, but it feels greasy and sticky. My skin feels as it did when I lived in humid climates. It does seem to soften though so no visiting alligators but this greasy and sticky feeling, it won't do.
So back it'll go. And UNLIKE TARGET, Fred Meyer DOES take back products that have been opened (full refund with receipt).
So the search continues. A good part of last night was spent reading reviews online. The next two candidates are:
1. Euricin Daily Replenishing Lotion - which gets high marks for being non-greasy and unscented.
2. Curel Ultra Healing -- voted the best by Real Simple magazine.
Oh do hurry! hurry! with that repackaging, Neutrogena! Would anyone groan if I wrote that I’ve got a real big soft spot for ’em?
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