I know this is out of the ordinary, me recommending anything other than books, but every once in a while I get all excited about new stuff I’ve discovered.  I can’t believe my good luck, and I want to shout the news from the rooftops, even if no one else on the planet really gives a shit. (BTW.  Just so you know, I’m not affiliated with any of these things.)

Products

1.  Primal Pit Paste.  Despite my chemistry degree, I only recently connected to the fact that skin is porous.  It really doesn’t help to eat right and exercise when you douse yourself with all sorts of shit that will kill you.  And if you think our government wouldn’t allow a product to be on the market if it were harmful, I’ve got two words for you:  Oscar Meyer.  So I stopped using most deodorants because they contain things like aluminum, which, if you follow the news, has been linked to Alzheimer’s. I tried Tom’s and one of those new age crystal thingies, but I continued to smell little a hobo.  But this stuff.  This stuff is KILLER.  You’ve got to try it.

2.  Poo Pourri. After seeing the commercial below, I decided to buy this for my daughter as a joke.  Like me, she’d like people to believe her shit don’t stink.  Unfortunately it does.  Now, she goes into the bathroom at work and, as my friend Andy used to say, drops the kids off at the pool without worrying about other people waltzing in.  She swears by the stuff.

3. Vitamix.  If you had ever told me I’d spend $500 dollars on a blender, I’d have laughed in your face.  You don’t understand.  I’ll make a toothbrush last a year on principle. I’ve got your run-of-the-mill blender here in our home in Ireland, and it smokes whenever I add the tiniest chunk of cucumber.   With my Vitamix, I could throw in a car tire, and some ice, and produce a fluffy protein shake that would make you weep.  Spend the goddamned money. Just do it.

Services

4.  Amazon Prime.  I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  For $79 a year, get everything you order from Amazon delivered for free.  And our stuff shows up about 15 minutes after we hit the order button. Because we’re total book whores, we probably spend as much with Amazon each year as we do on our health insurance premiums.   AND, when you sign up for Amazon Prime, you also get access to a whole bunch of free streaming videos, which we watch all the time. Particularly since we don’t have a T.V.

5.  Amazon Kindle Unlimited.  Speaking of book whores, did you know that Amazon now has a service that grants access to 600,000 e-books and audiobooks for $9.99 a month?  Forget about getting ANYTHING  done around here! WTF!

6.  Netflix.  I’m aware that I’m very late to this game.  I have this thing about watching TV when I could be reading or writing.  But all that’s changed.  I’ve become an absolute addict.  I need intervention.  And the biggest culprit?

7. House of Cards.  OMG! As a writer, I’m obsessed with character development, and how characterization TOTALLY drives the plot. And as a people pleaser?  Robin Wright is my hero.

Videos

8. How You Learn to Trust.  This is pretty phenomenal.

 

9.  Jim Carrey’s secret to life.  Did you have any idea he was this deep?

 

 

10.  On a lighter note.  Because we can’t always be deep.  I’ve discovered this new series on Youtube that cracks me up.  Girls Are Assholes.  When you watch this, you’ll totally understand why this is not a slam.