Fun Finds for October 2024

 

I have several fun little finds for you today! These are things I’ve stumbled upon randomly throughout the month and thought I would pass along to you in case you, too, need a fun find!

            ONE. We all know I love books, and while I don’t think this is possible, some might say I love them too much. I tend to prefer purchasing my books because I often want to mark in them, and libraries frown on that. (I do read library books too, but if I think it’s going to be a keeper or a “writer,” I have to buy it. And that gets expensive!) Years ago, I learned about the website Thrift Books, but I always found it challenging to locate the particular books I wanted, and if I did, the prices didn’t seem that much lower than buying new. Maybe it’s just the books I read. I’m not sure. But this month, while reading a blog post, I learned about Better World Books, which is a website that sells used books to keep them out of landfills.

            According to some stats I read, this site has raised $35 million for literacy, donated 38 million books (they donate a book for each one purchased), kept 475 million books out of landfills, and has served 87 million customers. Not too shabby! I transferred my entire book wish list into that website and ended up placing a pretty big order that will keep me reading for a while. I loved it that all the books were in good shape, and some almost seemed brand new. Some had been library books, so they had stamps/markings from that, but I don’t care. My only complaint was that the company puts their own bar code sticker right on the spine, and it’s super sticky. Took a while and a lot of Goo Gone to clean that up. But the savings mattered to me, and I loved being able to find books that I can’t even get on Amazon anymore because the books are too old/out of print.

            TWO. I go through a lot of Greek yogurt every single week. I eat it every day, and I use it in a lot of cooking. It gets pricey to purchase a couple of tubs of that every week, so I found this post that teaches how to make a lot of dairy products at home. This month I branched out into making my own Greek yogurt. The great news? It’s not hard at all. The not-so-great news if you’re a busy person? You do need to be home to do the steps on a timeline. I have made it three or four times now, and I think it’s tasty! And it’s markedly cheaper than purchasing it. I am basically one step away from being Caroline Ingalls now. Note: We are just using store-bought milk for ours. I know this post is about raw milk, but it works with store-bought too!

            THREE. Maybe I’m the last person on earth to know about this, so just pat my head and bless my heart if you knew it and can’t believe I didn’t. You know my dear love of color coding, and in my day planner, I use Flair pens, because they write smoothly and are so pretty! But my one complaint is that when I write an appointment in the little square on the calendar, and then it gets rescheduled or canceled, my pretty page looks messy. I hate that. (And I’m running out of my stickers that say canceled and rescheduled.)

            The other day, I got curious about something and did some research. A few years ago, when I was in a Bible study back in Kokomo, the leader gave us erasable colored pencils. Like regular, sharpen-them-yourself colored pencils, but erasable. I love using them to highlight in my Bible, because if I realize I’m using the wrong color, I can erase and start over. But I didn’t think I’d like using them in a planner, because as the lead dulls with writing, the line gets fat and thick, and I don’t want to be tied to a pencil sharpener every moment of the day. But it made me wonder if they make colored MECHANICAL pencils, and it turns out they do! Did you know this??? I’ll keep using my Flair pens in this planner (so it all matches) but I am putting this on my list for next year’s planner!

FOUR. I mentioned this one a few days ago in a different post, but I wanted to come back to it again. (And if you didn’t see in the comments, Tracy also gave it a great review!) I went to a workshop at Camp Lutherhaven in Albion, IN, and it was the prettiest little place. This is a Lutheran Church campground, but they do offer an opportunity for people to come for a day or an overnight for a personal retreat. In fact, the day I was there, a gentleman was spending the day retreating and resting up so he could return to his busy life in school administration. If you’re in the Indiana area and want to read more about it, check out the retreat tab. Super peaceful place!

FIVE. Within the last year, I’ve been using ELF skin care and makeup products because they strike the balance for me between affordability and an ingredient list I can handle. I’ve been trying to find some similar balance with hair care products. Goodness, they can be so expensive!! I have a lot of hair, and it’s very attitudinal, so with any product I use, I’m going to need a chunk of it to manage this big ole mane. (Haircut is possible…stay tuned on that one.) Anyway, I happened upon Kristin Ess hair products and have decided I might give them a try. I purchased the dry shampoo, because I didn’t have any at all and wanted to see if it would work on my hair. It does! I’m going to slowly add a few more things as I go and see how it continues to work.

SIX. Ryan and I haven’t burned candles in our home for quite some time – largely because of our desire to eliminate synthetic fragrances. We get our fragrance from diffusing oils, and it’s been working really well for us for the last few years. I confess, though, that I miss the ambiance of a burning candle sometimes – especially in the cold weather seasons. So I’ve bookmarked this Antique Candle Company page to explore this fall. The candles are not super cheap, but they are made from good ingredients and address some of the toxicity issues we are trying to avoid. I haven’t made any decisions on it yet, but I am glad to at least have found the option for it!

SEVEN. This one showed up in my Instagram feed and blew my mind. Maybe you’ve seen it before, but it was new to both Ryan and me. (And we watch Shark Tank! How did we miss this?) It’s called a Kettle Gryp, and it clasps around a dumbbell to turn it into a kettle bell! WHAT!?!?!!?!? This saves so much space of buying both pieces of equipment! Mind blown.

EIGHT. Again, perhaps I live under a rock, and everyone knows about this one but me, but in case you don’t and it’s helpful, here you go! I read about these candies on a blog last week! The brand is called Unreal, and the candies are made with less sugar, no dyes, and better ingredients than traditional candies. If you are working on cleaning up the ingredients in your life and need an option for your sweet tooth (or want your kids to be able to enjoy what other kids are enjoying…without all the bad ingredients), maybe this would be a good option! In full disclosure, I’ve not tried them, but they look really yummy!