fenchurch | Passionfruit! Stupid things! No more cedar!

Last Friday, I found some passionfruit at a local grocery store for a not-completely-hideously-high price... and, of course, that means only one thing: cheesecake!!! So,

rackham made cheesecake on Sunday evening and we've been indulging in a slice every night since then, with wonderful fresh passionfruit pulp squeezed over the top. Yum!

The last few days a few things have cropped up that have made me want to smack my head on the desk a few times, because obviously my brain hasn't been working (warning, this is all rather boring and somewhat embarrassing, but I figure if I share, maybe I'll be inspired to use my brain a bit more often in the future).

Stupid thing #1: Yes, the brand of shampoo really does matter.

About three months ago or so, I ran out of my regular shampoo... which is a bit on the pricier side (although I generally buy the mondo bottle and it lasts me over a year) and can only be purchased at licensed outlets (okay, it's Aveda). I didn't exactly have the time to run up to the Aveda store in Alderwood and I was leaving on a trip so I picked up something from the grocery store that looked like it would do the job... and it did. In fact, I was actually fairly happy with it... enough so, that when my hair started having problems a few weeks later, I didn't connect it with the change in shampoo. So, for the last few months I've been battling horrible hair day after horrible hair day. And then three days ago I stumbled across a bit of the old shampoo still in my cupboard and the wheels in my brain suddenly began turning... Two days of hair washing later, and my hair is happy, healthy and cooperative. *headdesk* I sure could have saved myself a few months of grief if I'd put two and two together back in the beginning.

Stupid thing #2: Hey, did you know Outlook has its own Junkmail folder?

I didn't. Well, I did... you know, in a theoretical sort of way, but not in a practical "Oh, I should check the Junkmail folder to see if the mail I've been missing has been languishing there for the past SIX MONTHS." *headdesk again*

Part of the problem is that we were using some REALLY good spam filtering software on our mail server until the first part of the year when we had to find a different spam filtering solution... and the previous one was good enough that the Outlook junkmail folder was a dusty wasteland of nothingness, so I had quit checking it and completely got out of the habit. Considering how long things had been piling up since the switchover, I was a bit surprised that there were only about 3500 messages in there (meaning our alternate spam filtering methods were actually working, mostly) with around 200 of them from email lists I really did want to read: a bunch of CJ stuff, everything ever sent on the Beta-reading email list I'm on, half the stuff sent to another SF&F list since February... you get the idea. I'm just glad I noticed the lack of messages from CJ this last week (when I knew there had been some) and finally thought to check it out. *add another headdesk for good measure*

And, finally, I found the coolest stuff up at Top Foods recently, in their garden department... it's a garden mulch made from shredded coconut husks! It looks quite a bit like regular bark mulch but is much more lightweight (it has to be rehydrated after you spread it) and comes in a compact little cube wrapped in plastic, so it's easy to transport. Even better, it's not cedar!!! No more worrying about itchy eyes, swollen eyes, swollen throat, or having my lungs seize up. Yay!