Weird Things I Bought

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Mon Nov 02, 2020 12:17 pm

So far laying under a few red light bulbs is much less intense than having a bladder of saline slurped up the veins!

I didn't get cold... the friend got very very cold. I think IV for me was like floating; my first experience felt not good, but I'm still curious!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Mon Nov 02, 2020 12:51 pm

Can you tell me more about the red lights? What does it entail? What is it's goal? What is it like in that room? How long does it take? Do you lie on a bed?

astral hellion · Post by **astral hellion** » Mon Nov 02, 2020 3:37 pm

I’m guessing that your red lights are infrared bulbs like at the Korean Spa? That was always my jam in the winter, back in Before Times: to lie beneath them, eyes closed, soaking in the feeling of being “at the beach.” Invariably there is someone sleeping under them, even though they are on timers & have strict warnings about limiting usage to 15 mins.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Mon Nov 02, 2020 5:06 pm

I love(d) sleeping at the Korean Spa. The greatest Before-Times-luxury.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Mon Nov 02, 2020 5:35 pm

I just started reading bout red light therapy. I guess the idea is that we live in blue light dominant environments (articial light/computers) and we aren't getting much red light. Some studies show it stimulates cell growth so it's supposed to help with skin/wrinkles, soft-tissue healing, collagen production.

You lie in a tanning bed, but instead of UV lights they swap em for bulbs with red light wavelengths. So no heat, no UV rays, just a weird pink glow. I think the light is red or "near infrared". I think infrared is more heating? I have never been to the Korean spas, so sad. I want to lie on a heated jade floor.

I'm hoping it helps with sore hips and winter SADS. If nothing else it feels nice to lay in bright light.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Mon Nov 02, 2020 5:50 pm

Do you lay in bright light or lie in bright light? I never know this one. I think lie? Lay is to lay something down? I need a word nerd.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:46 am

Word nerd (high school English teacher) here! You lie down and lay something down (on the table). Lay requires an indirect object and lie does not.

I have never been in a tanning bed. The idea of having a few minutes of feeling like you are in the hot sun mid-winter sounds pretty damn amazing though.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:50 am

On another note: I bought myself fancy professional high-carbon stainless steel Japanese fabric shears from an odd online Estonian shop. Fabric melts away from them like butter on a hot knife all the way to the tippy tip. Wow! I was so pleased with them on day one that I made them a little felt bed.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Tue Nov 03, 2020 4:29 pm

[mention]m o l l y[/mention] Thank ye and bless those fine shears.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 12:12 pm

Appropriately sharp tools are a wonderful luxury. Just bought a snazzy new kitchen knife at a Korean supermarket a few weeks ago. Every time I slice painlessly through a tomato I get a frisson of joy!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Fri Nov 13, 2020 11:31 am

I treated myself to a Japanese tsukemono pickle press this week—it's a little lidded plastic Tupperware thing with a spring-loaded press built-in, so you can easily keep your ferments submerged. I've eyed them at the Japanese grocery store for years. So far I'm just using mine to make krauts, but I'm excited to try some traditional Japanese pickle recipes next, like this one:

https://www.justonecookbook.com/tsukemo ... -pickling/

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Fri Nov 13, 2020 11:32 am

I guess this should have gone in the "What Are You Preserving" thread, huh?

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Fri Nov 13, 2020 6:57 pm

Omg... I love Tsukemono pickles, I love that we are friends who share this niche predilection in common.

A good old country wooden barrel pickle.

Did anyone on this board go to a food cart in Portland on Alberta around the 2010’s that produced a country Japan style of food?

I think it was called Pod Blotz Triangles? (edit not Pod Blotz, Todd Blotz??)

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:03 pm

Today was a good country shopping day for me—I drove to a nearby quaint town that has a walkable historic district with antique stores.

Black pleather sweats (Vera Wang) $5
A tiny golden calf pin $2
Aspirational binder/paper media organization items $12

I’m going to organize the pink out of that box of documents!

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:00 pm

I'm totally not on a spending spree but if I were, I might have ordered 4oz each of pure sea buckthorn oil, kokum butter, and lanolin for a fancy winter body moisturizer. I will blend them with sweet almond oil and coconut oil, which are less expensive, and whatever essential oil mood of the moment.

And also a set of piñon, balsam fir, and juniper essential oils and a desert rose hydrosol.

Just maybe a few things to help me through this winter!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Mon Nov 16, 2020 5:53 am

Thumbs up for smells and oils. You reminded me of the piñon incense set I have quite literally wanted my *whole life* and forget to buy every time I am in the US. https://www.inscents.com/incense-burner ... e-186.html

ONE DAY!!!

astral hellion · Post by **astral hellion** » Mon Nov 16, 2020 4:23 pm

I would love a tip for where you got those essential oils!
I want to add those smells to my repertoire!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Mon Nov 16, 2020 5:40 pm

Oh man I love piñon. A few years ago we spent the night at this neat, old-time hot springs spot in New Mexico called Ojo Caliente (anyone been? So special) and I brought home a small pumper of piñon-infused jojoba face oil that I love so much I only use it sparingly in the depths of dry-skin winter sads. The smell of the desert!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Nov 17, 2020 12:55 am

*weep*

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Tue Nov 17, 2020 3:14 pm

@molly, that incensio is next to heaven. I used to buy it at a shop in Portland, haven't had any left for years... gives me a happy, home desert feeling big time.

@astralhellion, I got various oils from this Illinois distributor: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SULUORGANICS
and the desert hydrosol/essential oils from this shop out of Utah: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BackCountryBotanicaI

I'll tell you if it's bad or good

Does anyone have any experience with Wildcare hydrosols? They all look so beautiful.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Nov 17, 2020 5:43 pm

I use Wildcare hydrosols! They are SO nice, maybe my favorite thing I put on my face. Gentle, lovingly made my hand with things she grows and fresh spring water. No more whole foods rosewater for me, it's hydrosol all the way!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Nov 17, 2020 5:46 pm

I bought a couple of these British candy bars I'm obsessed with. They are pure sugar and so, so bad for me, but I love them the most. It's just a chocolate coating on a crunchy burnt sugar inner core. Toasted marshmallow and burnt sugar are some of my favorite sweet tastes.

https://cadbury.co.za/sites/default/fil ... k=gVOyIa2J

OH DAMN, IMG EMBED NO LONGER WORKS!!

astral hellion · Post by **astral hellion** » Wed Nov 18, 2020 7:56 am

@meadows I have MADE that inner “honeycomb” candy before & IT IS SO GOOD! Also surprisingly easy as far as candy making goes! I got the recipe from the Sweet & Salty cookbook by Lagusta Yearwood. It’s a vegan candy/chocolate making cookbook that is very thorough & truthfully kind of intense (I am a really confident cook & I was surprised to find candy making STRESSFUL). But her honeycomb is AWESOME & MAPLE BASED & you can eat it plain or coat it in chocolate! She talks about saving up the resulting crumbles for her mom to add to coffee!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:17 am

oh my god burnt sugar coffee!!!!!!!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:00 am

I'm buying a television for the first time since about 2003. Haven't had one at all since maybe 2010, just been doing laptops. I have an external computer monitor that we drag out and hook up for movies but it's not very big or very good, and the setup is a mess. I didn't know tv screens had gotten so cheap?! As an extremely visual person I am SO EXCITED to watch things at a good size! No more tiny films!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Fri Nov 20, 2020 6:00 pm

Good on you! We just bought a new TV ourselves after many months of putting it off and waiting for the price to drop. It makes my life partner very happy to be able to have such picture quality as to see “rich, deep blacks” without any color banding

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Sat Nov 21, 2020 1:15 am

Omg "rich, deep blacks." I love you, @jonigold!

Ani-TV and not ashamed. We have a mini projector we use for movie watching, but I will be the first to admit that the blacks are far from rich. An episode of DS9 would basically just be 40 minutes of a dark grey screen and shouting.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Mon Nov 23, 2020 7:33 am

Ok last think about our new 1988 Discman. It comes with a boss shoulder-strap.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Mon Nov 23, 2020 9:26 am

That’s some excellent technology

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:43 am

Just received the first online 2nd hand CD order: Randy Newman's grossly underappreciated 1999 album, Bad Love.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:18 am

Update on my Japanese pickles: Thrilled to discover how fun and easy it is to pickle veggies in miso. You make a paste with about a cup of white miso, a few tablespoons of sake, and whatever flavorings you might want to add (strips of kombu and garlic do the trick). Then you glop that into a ziplock bag, or a tsukemono pickle press, and toss in veggies, like sliced carrots or radishes. Mush it around a little bit so the veggies are well coated in the miso paste, and leave it sealed up for a few days. Boom! They pickle right quick and taste divine. Scrape off the excess miso paste when you eat them—you can keep reusing the paste too!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:31 pm

Fun thing I bought today- evergreen boughs, wreath frames, and floral wire. Making wreaths is really easy!

I'm not actually a christmas-y person, but I love the smell and wanted to get the stuff for my mom to make one and now I'm making one too. Crafts!

I also bought a very beautiful little terrarium house and planted it for a snail friend. Said snail is extremely nocturnal and doesn't want to hang out. I will eventually put them back outside, but for now I'm enjoying the slime trails and the 10 minutes a day I get to watch them crunch on leaves.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:33 pm

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 7:59 pm

We love this for you!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Sat Nov 28, 2020 9:03 am

I want my mom to make wreaths! I googled "planted terrarium house for snail." Is it as cute as it sounds/looks?

I am blackfriday binge-buying pdf sewing patterns from indie designers. It feels ok!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:11 am

It's pretty cute! I need to put a few more plants in it, and do some research on how to make it even more lush and cute. There's a plant guy I follow on instagram who makes the most incredible terrariums and glass-cased plant boxes, and he makes forms for moss to grow on. I think he basically glues a certain kind of moss to his substrate and then he has cool shapes and vertical structures for things to grow on. I want to try it!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:11 am

Also, my mom made a wreath and it is very cute. I'm going to take a stab at mine today.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:47 pm

Sally’s gone full cottagecore! I love it!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:21 pm

tbh, "cottagecore" is almost all stuff that i've loved my whole life, so i'm in!
except for the part about hoarding rural land for private enjoyment, that part i'm skeptical of.

my mom was recently telling me that as a child my interests were things like "animals having a tea party in the forest" so.... yeah. snail terrarium!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Dec 01, 2020 1:27 am

Have you ever tried moss graffiti? https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to ... ome-108580 Guerilla gardening!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Dec 01, 2020 10:09 am

I've heard of it but never felt moved to try. Maybe now's the time... acab in moss??

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:33 pm

my dudes, having a big old tv screen rules. that is all.

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Thu Dec 03, 2020 3:51 pm

I spent a week this summer staying with some friends who had just painted a cement wall in their backyard with a moss smoothie, which was of much collective interest during my visit. also learned how to plant moss by soaking it and bonding it with the soil (pic attached). moss is COOL!!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Dec 03, 2020 4:09 pm

INSTANTLY set that beautiful dithered moss pic as my iPhone wallpaper, thank you for that!

Is dithering the mossiest form of image compression?

alex · Post by **alex** » Thu Dec 03, 2020 7:28 pm

Def the lossiest

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Fri Dec 04, 2020 4:56 am

yourfriendclaire wrote: ↑Thu Dec 03, 2020 4:09 pm INSTANTLY set that beautiful dithered moss pic as my iPhone wallpaper, thank you for that!

Is dithering the mossiest form of image compression?

Is it time to replace the painted dad-shoes on my phone? Korneel gets grumpy every time he sees them.

astral hellion · Post by **astral hellion** » Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:25 am

Homemade honeycomb in all its glory!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:53 am

WHOOOOOOOA!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:42 am

I want to eat all of that!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:25 pm

Related to Molly's fabric shear purchase, I bought myself a ROTARY CUTTER to use for sewing projects (new hobby) and it's such a joy to be able to cut any shape perfectly. They're extremely sharp! It's a fun tactile experience!