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My mind was recently blown when I realized there are hair diary apps out there — so here's my Curl Book review.
First, as someone with curly hair, I've tried to keep track of my hair products before. About 13 years ago I would try to write my products on a Post-It and take a selfie with the Post-It before I left. Then I'd try taking a picture of the products I used and THEN a selfie (so I knew one day's products were the picture immediately before the selfie). Then I tried taking pictures and adding text directly on the pictures (in iOS). Then I tried taking pictures and putting them in my iPhone's notes app with the pictures. It all gets really confusing, it's hard to keep track and it's hard to make notes you can actually compare.
So my mind was blown when I heard about Curl Book Hair Diary — free on the app store. You can take add up to 5 pictures of your hair, which products you used, whether it was a clarification or deep condition day, ratings, and more.
Part of me thinks it would be totally possible to use the same app for other purposes — keeping track of straight hair products, keeping track of makeup products or even keeping track of very specific products (mascaras come to mind, for some reason) — but I'm not sure any one is quite as fanatical as curly girls with our systems. (I'm gearing up for my 5th attempt at the Curly Girl Method, so wish me luck…)
Fellow curlies, do you track your hair and products — and if so, how? What other fun diary apps do you know of, readers?
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Sales of note for 8.30.24
- Nordstrom – Summer Sale, save up to 60%
- Ann Taylor – 30% off full-price purchase; $99 jackets, dresses & shoes; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
- Bergdorf Goodman – Final Days Designer Sale, up to 75% off; extra 20% off sale
- Boden – 20% off
- Brooks Brothers – Extra 25% off clearance
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything; extra 60% off all sale
- J.Crew – 40% off sitewide; extra 60% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 20% off orders $125+; extra 60% off clearance; 60%-70% off 100s of styles
- Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off (ends 9/2)
- Madewell – Extra 40% off sale; extra 50% off select denim; 25% off fall essentials
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Rothy's – End of season sale, up to 50% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear in the big sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 25% off regular-price purchase; 70% off clearance
- White House Black Market – Up to 70% off sale
Sales of note for 8.30.24
- Nordstrom – Summer Sale, save up to 60%
- Ann Taylor – 30% off full-price purchase; $99 jackets, dresses & shoes; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
- Bergdorf Goodman – Final Days Designer Sale, up to 75% off; extra 20% off sale
- Boden – 20% off
- Brooks Brothers – Extra 25% off clearance
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything; extra 60% off all sale
- J.Crew – 40% off sitewide; extra 60% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 20% off orders $125+; extra 60% off clearance; 60%-70% off 100s of styles
- Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off (ends 9/2)
- Madewell – Extra 40% off sale; extra 50% off select denim; 25% off fall essentials
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Rothy's – End of season sale, up to 50% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear in the big sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 25% off regular-price purchase; 70% off clearance
- White House Black Market – Up to 70% off sale
Some of our latest posts here at Corporette…
And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!
Some of our latest threadjacks include:
- What to say to friends and family who threaten to not vote?
- What boots do you expect to wear this fall and winter?
- What beauty treatments do you do on a regular basis to look polished?
- Can I skip the annual family event my workplace holds, even if I'm a manager?
- What small steps can I take today to get myself a little more “together” and not feel so frazzled all of the time?
- The oldest daughter is America's social safety net — change my mind…
- What have you lost your taste for as you've aged?
- Tell me about your favorite adventure travels…
Lorelai Gilmore
What is one household item that has really been fabulous for you this year? For Christmas, my family is exchanging “things we’ve bought that we loved”* and I’m looking for ideas. Some of the ones on my list include:
1) Pressure cooker (bought a few years ago but just discovered I loved it this year)
2) That Dash hard boiled egg cooker
3) Diptyque candles (so amazing!)
4) Dropps laundry detergent for its recyclable packaging
5) Original and interesting artwork (but that’s harder for gifting purposes!)
What’s on your list?
*I think I might have stolen this idea from someone here and if so, THANK YOU!
Anon
Air fryer, AirPods, the light alarm clock, the revlon stylizer, hand and stone membership, spin bike + weights, racquetball equipment, gym membership
Anon
Listening to YouTube channels while walking the dog. Thanks to whomever recommended Homemade Wanderlust. I may never do a camino, but the dog and I liked hearing her stories of what to pack and how to pace yourself and budgeet.
Fleece-lined pants.
Cat
French press for making fancy weekend coffee at home
Milk frother (see above)
Extra long phone charger cords (I think we have 12′ ones from A-z-n)
Cute plastic wine glasses for outdoor meetups
Anon
Link for the wine glasses?
Cat
They’re stemless plastic from Pottery Barn – if sold out now probably will be back in spring!
Anon
Littler things but my Beauty Pie membership and especially their concealer brush.
A clip-on lamp for my piano music stand that is USB rechargeable
Nutpods coffee creamer
Also Diptique candles
A Knife-Aid gift card (mail away knife sharpening)
Anon
I forgot a recent one. My husband and I finally bought new reusable shopping bags (ours were all falling apart) from TJ’s and oh boy are we disproportionately excited about them. They’re new, they all match, and they have bottle holders for wine bottles etc along the sides. We would have been THRILLED to receive these as gifts.
Anonymous
I love that BP concealer brush too!
Anonymous
Cordless vacuum, new bike, and espresso machine. Use them all the time!
Wheels
Us too, we bought one that has a few different temperature settings for different types of tea or just drinking warm water with lemon and it’s great!
Hot water thermos jug and robot vacuum cleaner.
H13
I really love my Dash waffle maker. I make regular waffles in it but also cheese/egg waffles which are delicious.
Anonymous
Was going to suggest this!
AIMS
Not new but I am obsessed with my electric tea kettle.
Anon
+1 I bought an electric tea kettle in 2021 and it changed my life, no joke.
I was personally very underwhelmed by the Dash egg cooker and the robot vacuum, fwiw. The egg cooker is fine but not really any easier than just boiling eggs in a pot (the hard part of cooking boiled eggs is peeling them, which this doesn’t help with) and the robot vacuum gets stuck and needs rescuing constantly so it takes more time to use it than to just manually vacuum.
Anonymous
Swedish dishcloths.
Anon
Norwex? My husband is in awe.
Sloan Sabbith
AirPods.
Bagel guillotine.
Long iPhone charger cords.
Air fryer/toaster oven combo.
Silicone thing that goes over the sink to dry dishes on.
Silicone mask ear thingies.
Clinique Chubby Stick or black honey lipstick.
Reed oil diffuser for my desk. Nice smell, no fire.
A wifi-enabled heater that I can tell Alexa to turn on before I wake up.
Hollis
What’s your favorite color for the chubby stick? I forgot how much i loved these but now don’t know which one i should try out…
Vicky Austin
Bagel guillotine!! Hahahaha.
Anon
Silicone sink thing link please?! Thank you
Anon
This book light. USB rechargeable. Has several different settings of warm and cool light with different intensities so you don’t blind your spouse who goes to bed at 8 pm when you stay up reading.
Book Light, Blue Light Blocking,… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ86S1Z?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Anonymous
Robot vacuum
New silicone spatula
Wool rug to have under my WFH station
New pillows and pillowcases for the bed
SLS free hand soap
pugsnbourbon
Two from Am@zon:
– zeroUV polarized sunglasses – I sat on them during vacation and immediately ordered a replacement pair
– SimpleModern insulated tumbler – go with the ombre or solids vs. the printed patterns (which flake off in the dishwasher).
Jules
I also love zeroUV sunglasses – I wear the knockoff tortoise shell Ray-Bans – but get them directly from that company’s website (reducing Amazon shopping). I can usually find a coupon code online.
Anononon
I’m late to the party, but in the hopes folks will see this, a plate warmer! Got it pretty cheap from Amazon or BBB or something (just one of the ones that is basically a plate-sized heating pad), but it’s life changing in this 18 month period where we’ve eaten at home non-stop. Pop the plates in with 20 minutes of cooking or so to go and they are warm and your food stays warm the whole meal. Never realized what a big part of the restaurant experience the warm plates was.
Also seconded on electric kettle. Used to live in the UK and bought one the day after I moved back to the US. I don’t know how I lived without before.
Anon
I have a gmail account and Google form that I created using a laptop computer. I have the gmail app on my iPhone and also Google Chrome but I cannot access the Google form from my iPhone (just the computer I created it on). I can’t seem to trouble-shooot accessing the form on my iPhone. Any guesses or thoughts of things to try?
Anonymous
Do you have multiple gmail accounts? Invite all of the ones on your phone to the form. Also make sure you’re opening the link in the browser, not the email app. (I just sent the link to a form I have access to to my gmail account. opened link on my phone Gmail app and it said at the bottom “request edit access” but when I then clicked the little Safari compass symbol or whatever I could edit the form.)
S
Don’t you need the google drive app to access it?
Anonymous
Could use some thoughts on how it is in other families – how much do you worry about your parents health wise if at all if they’re say age 75-80+ and are complaining of symptoms BUT have seen all kinds of doctors- internal med, cardiology, urology, neuro, geriatrics and had testing and drs say they’re fine/maybe it’s anxiety? Now parent is railing against these doctors and has become big on webmd etc and is looking for more doctors and testing. Thing is I believe there are symptoms but some part of me says if all of these experienced doctors are saying it’s nothing, couldn’t this be aging? And wouldn’t going to doctors all the time, constant reading about this give you anxiety? BUT I don’t want to be that person that ignores how an elderly person is feeling/discounts anything either yet this has been going on for years and not to be rude but I feel like saying – omg take a vacation and see if that helps. Anyone experience this?
Anon
Do they have friends? I feel like if they knew everyone else went on a walk and then promptly needed a nap they wouldn’t be DYING OF CANCER but are typical for someone who is 80? That is where the people in The Villages may have an advantage on my aging in place MIL, who is nervous anyway but has no one but Dr. Google to compare notes with (she has outlived everyone else and is a hoarder, so can’t move out).
Anonymous
OP here – this is such a good point. No on the friends – no friends locally; they never made any and aren’t going to now. They have some friends long distance and a ton of family long distance so they talk to them. Dad’s best friend is the same age and very go-go-go personality — his days are full; waking up at 5 am, gym; some kind of volunteer gig 3-4 days a week like doing taxes in tax season or hospital reception desk etc; and then errands like grocery shopping etc. So my dad looks at it like see he’s so healthy and can just go and I’m so tired. Thing is that guy gets tired too (and had prostate surgery during the pandemic so it’s not like he’s all perfect) — I’ve seen him sit on the sofa after his day and catch a cat nap for 20 min — but he doesn’t obsess about it; he catches a nap and gets on with it.
Dad’s brother – same personality as dad; lives a half a world away but will talk on the phone about how much his feet hurt, how weak he feels etc. when it seems like (IDK – just according to his kids) that some movement in the right pair of orthotic shoes would do him some good.
I think maybe seeing that other older people have the same issues and keep it moving may do more good – rather than just hearing the highs from the active old people or the lows from the ones who only talk about health; yet I 100% cannot be involved in making friends for them – they don’t ever want to be around anyone they haven’t know since they were in their 20s even though those people live far away; nor will they consider the idea of retiring closer to their siblings because of some ridiculous obligation to us “kids” because we’re unmarried – even though we’re 40+ with our own lives/homes in different cities and can just as easily fly to visit them in Dallas where the family is but they insist on staying living between our 2 cities.
Anonymous
My great grandmother was a bit of a hypochondriac in her old age, the woman was convinced she had diabetes among other things. We always took her concerns seriously the first time and ensured they were tested by a real medical doctor, however after we verified nothing was wrong we just sort of ignored her. She lived to 100 and was very healthy.
Anon
As someone who is not old, but has a chronic illness, it’s important to remember that just because someone’s symptoms aren’t a sign of something “serious” doesn’t mean that they’re nothing. Doctors are mostly going to focus on ruling out things that can kill you,but that doesn’t mean that the things your parents are complaining about aren’t real, aren’t something affecting their lives, and can’t potentially be improved. Aging is real, but shouldn’t be an excuse to just write things off. It’s possible that they have unreasonable expectations, but I wouldn’t automatically assume that just because they’re old.
Wheels
+1.
Anon
They’re both having symptoms? I honestly can’t tell if this is just a past time for them, but I would also not underestimate a dozen specialists’ ability to miss something diagnosable and treatable (happened to me). After my experiences, I would be firing up UpToDate (more thorough than WebMD) and looking up not just my symptoms, but my lab results, and the things doctors told me. For example, did their doctors “rule out” an issue with a test that doesn’t have enough negative predictive value to do that? (Happened to me.) Did they brush off an abnormal test result? (Happened to me.) If they have any diagnoses, are they being treated appropriately? Doctors do sometimes treat things as “just aging” that might be taken more seriously and treated in a younger patient (I have one diagnosis that is considered “normal” in older patients, who I suspect often just live with the symptoms that I, as a younger patient, get treatment for!).
But if the symptoms are super vague and seem like they genuinely could just be aging, I don’t know if seeing a sort of integrative/functional type doctor would help them? Some hospitals have clinics that are more focused on managing symptoms and improving quality of life through lifestyle interventions. My mom is on an individualized “anti-inflammatory” diet and a simple exercise routine to help manage her autoimmune condition. I was super skeptical about all this (I wanted her on all the drugs ASAP), but her research hospital specialist is actually really pleased with how it’s been going. And now she’s putting her energy and effort into fruit and vegetable smoothies and staying active instead of worrying so much about symptoms.
Anonymous
Sorry – OP here – just 1 parent. The other parent vacillates between – this is because you just sit all day/don’t exercise/have let yourself get old/don’t want to do anything vs. OMG I am SO worried about him (and then panic calls the “kids” to relay said worries).
Anonymous
I love the idea of connecting your parents with a functional medicine doctor/health coach. I’ve had some medical issues recently and I can’t tell you how validating it is to have someone who can work with you on these things – whether it’s asking you to do smoothies or helping you work out an exercise routine. This stuff is hard and lonely and it’s hard to feel like you’re doing it right. Maybe a personal health coach or nutritionist or something along those lines would help give your parents a place to direct some of this energy.
Anon
My mother had symptoms in her 80s. She shared these with her doctor, showed him some evidence, and was dismissed as anxious and that’s what getting old is like. By the time she was correctly diagnosed by another provider, her cancer was so advanced that she was dead within the month. I tell this not to make you a wreck, but to encourage you to consider that the doctor(s) involved may have age bias resulting in missing things that would be taken more seriously if your parents were younger. Second opinions, perhaps?
Bewitched
Having had the privilege of seeing two parents and two in-laws to this age, I appreciate that of course it can be cancer, but in my experience (with all 4 parents), this is what old people do. They sit around and talk about their ailments and perseverate about them and see doctors about them and talk to their friends about what the doctors said. I agree with Anonymous at 2:59. If the symptoms have been explored/are on the radar of a doctor you trust, I would think it’s more likely to be aging than cancer. My two parents and two in-laws were all very different personalities fyi, but they all engaged in this behavior to some extent. Just my 2 cents.
Anon
Reading with interest because my mom is doing this; our call this weekend was challenging. She is doing what she chastised my grandparents about: obsessing about every little symptom and going back to the doctor over and over looking for problems that aren’t there. (When she was caregiving for my grandparents, she used to tell my grandpa, “You’re not 40 any more, it’s not reasonable to expect you will feel like you’re 40 at age 70” but she will not take her own advice.) Recently she thought she had developed diabetes basically overnight, and insisted that she get her A1C and fasting glucose retested even though she’d just had it done 6 months prior and both were firmly in the normal range. She just does not have enough to do, and instead of going out and doing something, she is convincing herself she has “health problems” (verbatim from her doctor at the last telehealth appointment I sat in on with her: “your mom is in remarkably good shape and health for her age; I wish all my patients were this healthy”) and so she can’t volunteer or travel or see friends because she can’t do anything that would conflict with her doctor’s appointments. She won’t see a therapist or get on antidepressants.
As for your question: once my mom (or my dad, but he’s done this to a much lesser extent) has gone to all the specialists and had all the tests run and gone and gotten a second opinion and there’s still nothing that can be identified, I stop worrying. In my experience, within a few weeks of the doctor saying “we can’t find anything so let’s just wait and see; I’ll see you in six months,” the critical, oh-my-God-this-is-terrible, life-threatening symptom that no one can find the cause for fades out and is replaced by a new critical symptom in a completely different body system, warranting a different round of appointments and testing by a different specialist. My mom’s on her fourth terribly troubling symptom in two years. After the second one I started wondering if this was mental vs. physical and now after the third round of doctor visits, testing, more doctor visits, etc. I am sure of it.
Anon
Did anyone here do Girl Scouts as a middle schooler or high schooler? I was a Brownie for a hot minute and until lately, no schools or churches near us had a troop for girl scouts (the green uniforms for older girls, not Brownies). Is there a way to describe what it is like and if you’d recommend it as something to explore now that COVID is letting up and kids are doing more activities? We don’t do organized sports but my kids enjoy activities like biking and hiking. I’d like to get them involved in something (to me, it is a plus if it keeps them off of screen time), but searching around as to what exactly. Youth group reopened but was a bust. A lot of their friends are really into sports (soccer, swimming) and have drifted away with 3x/weekly practices, so those kids aren’t even really available to casually hang out with due to their own activities.
Anonymous
I am a Girl Scout leader for a troop of 6th graders (they are called “Cadettes” and wear tan uniforms) and I love it. This fall, our girls have earned badges in trail adventures, public speaking, animal helpers, and comic book artistry. They are organizing a bake sale to raise money for charity and making holiday cards for our local senior center. We are also planning a camping trip this spring and hopefully will send a group of girls to sleepaway camp this summer. We’re also doing a “journey” (GS word for a longer set of programs) on being a good friend, and that has been an amazing opportunity for them to connect with each other and talk about the transition to middle school. We do meetings 2x per month, plus one weekend event/month. The girls lead each badge – so each girl chooses a badge to lead and then they are responsible for leading the meeting on that badge topic. They also are responsible for picking activities. We are really focused on having it be a “girl-led” experience.
The challenge with Girl Scouts is that it is so dependent on your troop and troop leader. The whole organization is deeply focused on having girls be the leaders. Sometimes that works brilliantly and sometimes it doesn’t. For us, it’s been well worth it, but you have to accept that the girls are learning to lead and they don’t always get it right.
If you can find the right troop and leader, I think it can be a really amazing experience.
Anonymous
It is hugely dependent upon the troop and the leader. My daughter did Girl Scouts through eighth grade with an amazing leader. After around sixth grade they stopped working on so many badges and focused mostly on the Silver Award, interesting field trips, and being Program Aides for service unit day camps and events. The girls who remained in the troop are working on their Gold Awards. The badge curriculum is incredibly weak, as are the outdoor activities due to inadequate training for adults.
I have a friend who leads an all-girl Boy Scout troop, and it seems much more structured and much stronger in the outdoors department.
Anonymous
I have a son in Boy Scouts and a daughter in Girl Scouts. You have to think hard about whether you’re ok with the Boy Scout legacy of sexual abuse, anti-gay rules, and patriarchy. They are getting better, but it takes time. They’ve also had to sell some assets to fund their settlements with survivors, though they still of course have cool property (as does our Girl Scout council, which has amazing conference and camping sites!). I will say that the Boy Scouts have the best current anti-sexual abuse training I’ve seen. It is rigorous and serious.
Boy Scouts is much more about the Program and the Curriculum. Girl Scouts is about the girls. There are advantages to both approaches. I think Boy Scouts can survive a bad leader more effectively than Girl Scouts can.
Anon
I wish my daughter’s Girl Scouts experience had been as positive as your daughter’s. My kid was in a group with parent leaders who were sort of a mom clique, which I wasn’t in because I worked full time. Their daughters were my daughter’s friends at school (not her besties but part of a larger friend group) but the moms actively encouraged their daughters to stick together and exclude the girls whose moms weren’t part of their own clique. There was a Girl Scout ski trip all the girls raised money for, but then there “wasn’t room” for anyone but their daughters. When cookie sales happened, my daughter came to my office and sold a bunch of cookies, very motivated by the prizes, but then the mom leaders said it wasn’t fair that she won more prizes than others and distributed them too “all” the Girl Scouts (ie their daughters).
My son on the other hand had a really positive Boy Scouts experience, which was scout led rather than parent led, very non-dramatic, was mostly camping oriented, and they camped at some of the most beautiful spots I’ve ever seen. Since we are in the liberal Bay Area, his particular troop never discriminated against gay scouts (one of their leaders was a gay man) nor atheists. My kids’ experiences were night and day.
roxie
This is a great summary, thank you!
pugsnbourbon
As someone who made it to her first year as a Cadette but had a not-great troop leader – you are an incredible troop leader!
Anon
I was a junior and cadette Girl Scout and loved it. It also really suited who I was as a person – a natural leader and achiever. There’s something immensely satisfying about accomplishing whatever tasks are necessary to earn a merit badge – it can be a real self-esteem boost. Girl Scouts taught me real life skills – orienteering, sewing, cooking, survival, emergency preparedness. That said, my troop leader was like Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and I still remember her fondly today. It all depends on the troop.
Seventh Sister
I co-lead a Cadette troop and yes, it’s highly dependent on the leader and (to a lesser extent the other parents) to make Girl Scouts a good experience instead of a not-so-great experience. We’re a fairly focused “camping and hiking” troop, and in practice, that means that the leaders and parents do a fair amount of camping and hiking with the troop because we need chaperones and drivers. About half of the girls are working on their Silver Awards, which is a volunteer-and-service oriented project. We do the fundraising and a little crafty stuff, but it’s not all about those things.
While I feel slightly disloyal saying this, I’d check out Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts programs in your area for this age group. The membership model for Girl Scouts is basically: moms and girls start troop of 5-15 girls, girls are all about the same age/in the same grade, troop functions for a number of years, troop is disbanded. Boy Scout troops are chartered by local organizations (Rotary, etc.) so there could be dozens of kids at a time and the troop lasts for decades.
While I think the Girl Scouts “curriculum” is a better fit for my slightly shy, definitely gawky, mildly nerdy daughter, there certainly are girls that benefit from the Boy Scouts program.
Anon
My son did Boy Scouts and my daughter did Girl Scouts. Now that Boy Scouts is gender integrated, I’d consider looking into having my daughter join that. They have so many more resources. If you are at all interested in camping, it’s Boy Scouts hands-down. Boy Scouts USA owns some of the best spots for camping in the states, and you can only access them through Boy Scouts.
Anon
Thanks — I had thought of that but was concerned that it’s so new that maybe it’s not as good for girls (yet) as it is for boys? It seems like eveything is doing a hard reset after COVID and half of the adults that used to do things as leaders just aren’t anymore (e.g., school used to have an anime-drawing afterschool club; it has vanished and I’m not optimistic it will come back).
Anon.
I can’t speak to Girl Scouts, but recommend checking out if you have any local 4-H clubs. Non-sporty me got a lot of value in highschool from 4-H.
Anonymous
My friend’s daughter is in 4H and they’re teaching her some really questionable things. It’s so pro animal agriculture that they lie to the kids and teach them misinformation. I would not recommend it at all, would strongly suggest avoiding.
Anon
Interesting. What’s the misinformation?
Anonymous
Well I assume this would be dependent on the local group. But she was spouting a bunch of propaganda about how her cow was saving the planet and so environmentally friendly and she was protecting the country. Her enthusiasm would have been cute if it weren’t so sad that adults had clearly been lying to her.
Anon
Imagine being shocked that an agricultural org is pro ag.
Anon
Not the poster you’re responding to but you can be pro ag without telling kids outright falsehoods.
Anon
I think it would be great, but they seem to be at least a county away, outside of our city, so not really feasible. Rush hour traffic has come back and people have forgotten skills like merging and one-way streets, so it is all I can do to get home.
Anon
You say they don’t do organized sports, but what about something like track or cross country? If they like biking and hiking, those sports might appeal and are usually easy to start in middle or high school, even if you don’t have much experience.
anne-on
Is there a local outdoor or hiking club? We have a few and I feel like people were CONSTANTLY hiking during lockdown and then transitioned into skiing/snowshoeing (Northeast). Our local rock climbing gym has a ‘team’ and they also do outdoor climbing/hikes on the weekend – maybe check that? I am not coordinated and hated contact sports so I’m thrilled that there are so many options these days beyond baseball/soccer/football but the gulf between the super duper athlete travel all the time for sports kids and the dabblers is a real thing in middle school/high school.
Anon
I was a Girl Scout up through earning my Gold Award, and I deeply regret it. It was a cliquey, miserable experience where I was bullied and left out all the time. My parents forced me to do it for the supposed scholarships that turned out not to exist.
That said, troops vary widely, so vet HARD before joining.
Mrs. Jones
I was a GS through high school/Gold Award. It was great. it DOES depend on your troop and leader so you might ask around your area.
Anonymous
May I suggest school choir, band, or orchestra? For middle school band or orchestra, if you get them into lessons now they will be in good shape for next year. Probably too late to catch up with an instrument if they are in high school. Up through around grade 10, they can probably do beginning choir with no experience. Band, orchestra, and choir are super fun and they will make friends. Choir is especially great because it’s pretty easy to find opportunities to sing with mediocre choirs as an adult, especially if you attend church (which I assume you do because of the reference to youth group).
Anonymous
Other non sport ideas: chess club, destination imagination, dance, theatre, rock climbing (athletic but not a sport), volunteering at an animal shelter, a less school-bound sport like skiing or sailing, school newspaper, film club, if in high school something like key club (similar time, if there is a parent or other mentor then working on engines/cars/etc, spending time in the library maker space. Or get a babysitting gig. I didn’t do high school sports but I made $12/hr sitting after school in the 90s.
Just some ideas- I’m sure others have more!
Anonymous
Does anyone have recommendations for CHEAP wireless air buds that’ll work with an iphone SE? Quality etc. doesn’t matter as long as they allow me to hear the music. I don’t want to spend money on real airbuds because I know I’ll never use them/will lose them. Quite honestly I’m trying to “bribe” myself not to cancel a few doctors appointments I have set up from now through year end and at least 2 of these doctors have significant wait times once you’re in the room and my heart rate just goes higher and higher, so I’m thinking it may be nice to zone out a bit to music if I end up waiting a long time. In regular life, I’d just play whatever I wanted on my phone (because I’m never on public transit etc. where I can bother others), but I don’t want to do that even in an exam room alone as walls are thin.
Anon
I bought the earfunfree bluetooth earbuds on am*zon and cannot recommend them enough. I got them pre-COVID and they are going strong. They are extremely easy to set up, hold a charge for days, and are compact and more comfortable for my ears than airpods. And, they’re cheap to replace if you need to.
Anon
Is there a reason they have to be wireless? The Apple ones are $19 and work just fine…
Anom
+1.
Anonymous
I like tozo
Vicky Austin
JLab (available on A’zon).
Anonymous
I do not have the energy to keep a hair diary.
Anon
Take out the word “hair” and you have hit my energy level.
Anonymous
Sing it.
Sloan Sabbith
I just do not have energy. Period.
LaurenB
I have stick straight hair (the kind that doesn’t hold a curl even when professionally done and sprayed within an inch of its life). Is curly hair *really* so difficult as to warrant all this? I can’t help but think this is a more recent phenomenon, or maybe I’ve been oblivious to the struggles of curly-headed people, or both.
IrishMidori
My thought exactly. I have accepted that good and bad hair days are the result of the alignment of the stars and have nothing whatsoever to do with me. Got other stuff to worry about.
Anon
A hair diary for curly hair should probably include the daily humidity level. Great for type A people, but not for me.
C
I’ve reconfirmed the fact that I cannot focus past 5:30pm and am going to plan my gym schedule out to accommodate that fact because I find something athletic or gym related is the best way to get out of work on time