Read. Write. Mom!

The Day Before Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Mandy

The day before Thanksgiving is turning out to be a cozy day in our home. I put in just about a full day of cleaning yesterday so that today could be relaxing. When you normally get up at 5 AM, sleeping in until 7:30 is a treat! We woke up to a beautiful, chilly day. The wind has kicked up quite a bit, so it feels colder than it actually is, but we may see 60 degrees today.

When I came downstairs, I immediately fired up the autumn scented candles in our home. I always buy one great smelling Yankee candle for each season, but I also purchased some cute little candy corn candles for $1 each at our local Dollar General and they smell great! Hubby made a delicious breakfast and even obliged when I asked him to leave the TV on this YouTube channel that shows a roaring fireplace with Christmas music in the background. Ha!

The kid (he’s 12….so, tween?) slept late so I baked him some cinnamon rolls when he got up, which only made the house smell even MORE amazing. These are not from scratch, but still good!

For lunch I had some leftover taco soup I made last night. This taco soup recipe is super easy and when it turns cold, this is served up in our home at least once a week. I add in cheese, sour cream, and taco sauce and scoop it up with tortilla chips. One bowl is super filling and I can usually get a couple of meals off one pot.

I had a nap this afternoon and have been enjoying the last of our fall decorations in the house.

We traditionally start out Christmas decorating in our home the day after Thanksgiving. While the masses are out fighting over $5 toasters, we stay inside, decorate the tree, and have some really good food.

I’m excited about Thanksgiving tomorrow and looking forward to visiting with my family and eating some amazing food!

How self care can make you feel so much better.

Why Self Care is So Important to Your Well-Being

Posted on November 19, 2017May 28, 2019 by Mandy

Self care has always been such a funny word to me. I always thought it implied laziness and selfishness. I’d read articles from women who took long weekends away alone to regroup . It always seemed indulgent and selfish. I’ve been through quite a lot in the past few years and I’ve always managed to suck it up and keep going. Why was that so hard for other people? What was so exhausting that they had to just completely shut out everyone else and treat themselves? Why did they take self care to the extreme?

Why Self Care is So Important

I am slowly coming to realize that self care is something I should be giving more thought to. My self care consists of getting a pedicure and haircut a couple of times a year. I have my summers off of work, thanks to being an educator. I learned a few years back to just say no to things that don’t bring me joy. I’m not a constantly busy person. Besides going to work each day during the school year, my life is pretty mundane and quiet. So what has made me realize that I should be paying even more attention to myself and my well being?

My life was changed last year when I had double bypass heart surgery. Recovery was long, but also frustrating. When my three months of recovery were over, it became my mission to completely bounce back. It was as if I had something to prove to the world and everyone around me. See? I’m OK! I can still do everything I want to do, and then some! I made it my mission to hardly sit down at work during the day because that would just look like I couldn’t handle it.

Reality Check

The reality in all of this is that the faster and better I thought I was doing things, the slower I was actually moving. More time was required in the mornings to get ready for my day. Never sitting down and booking it down the halls at work left me with swollen ankles by day’s end. I have gained 14 pounds since my surgery, partly due to a new medicine and partly due to inactivity. I have no outlet for work stress. I’m not taking any time for myself.

Thankfully, I have this entire week off from work to practice a little self care. I won’t ever be the type who takes off from her family for a weekend alone, but I can see where I need to make small changes. Daily as a way to maintain the health of my heart and as an outlet for dealing with stress is important. I need to just take a seat sometimes and back away from time sucks like social media. Instead of trying to clean the house in one day, I need to do one chore around the house daily. I need to drink more water. I need more long, hot baths and reading on my Kindle during the upcoming colder months.

But most of all, I need to give myself permission to be a little self-indulgent, and that’s a hard. It feels selfish. However, I know it needs to be done. My health and sanity depends on it.

Photo: m van den Dobbelsteen

Holiday Traditions and Sharing a Cup of Folgers Coffee

Posted on November 12, 2017November 12, 2017 by Mandy

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company. The opinions and text are all mine. I’m partnering with Folgers® at Walmart through the Share A Cup & A Story campaign, to celebrate new and old holiday traditions.

Holiday traditions are so important to our family and as the holiday season approaches, it’s always fun to look back on holidays past and remember the great times that have come to define my favorite family memories. Hands down, my favorite tradition is our family’s annual Christmas Eve breakfast, which started back in the late 1980s. My parents were so brave to take on BOTH sides of the family and host everyone for breakfast on Christmas Eve. I can remember the night before was always filled with lots of prep work. My mama washed her special holiday dishes she would serve everyone from, and my dad took care of setting up the big coffee pot and running to the store for last minute items for my mama. At the time, all this prep work just seemed like stuff the adults did, and I wouldn’t come to fully appreciate everything that went into pulling off this breakfast for so many people until I was much older.

When Christmas Eve morning rolled around, I would awaken to the sound of my mama frying up bacon, ham, and eggs and the smell of fresh Folgers® Classic Roast.

I would quickly get dressed and make my way to the kitchen where the “early bird” family members were already gathering. Some of them had to work on Christmas Eve, so my parents started serving breakfast early around 6:00 AM so the early guests could enjoy it as well.

My uncle from one side of the family and my aunt from the other side of the family

My daddy (on the right) and his best friend.

An hour or so later, my aunts, uncles, grandmothers, cousins and a few family friends would start trickling in and filling our home with conversation and laughter. My mama stood on her feet for hours serving up eggs made to order, bacon, ham, biscuits, and hot fruit and my dad made sure the coffee kept brewing. I am seriously not exaggerating when I say that probably around 30 or more people enjoyed that breakfast, each time, over the years. It was something we all looked forward to and the philosophy was, “the more the merrier.”

Thirty years later, the Christmas Eve Breakfast has changed a little, but we still enjoy carrying on this beloved holiday tradition. The crowd for breakfast has gotten smaller. We’ve lost family members, a lot of the younger generation has moved away, and my mama has scaled back breakfast to make it easier on herself. Thank goodness for festive holiday paper plates! One thing that hasn’t changed in over thirty years, though, is that Folgers Classic Roast is still brewed up fresh for every guest that still comes to my mama’s house on Christmas Eve morning.

I am so excited about the upcoming holiday season, so my mama and I sat down recently and visited the Christmas Eve breakfasts of the past by reminiscing over old photos of the occasion through the years and sharing a cup of Folgers coffee.

I had to wonder how my parents fit all those people in their little home because the big crowds in the earlier years were before my parents built on to their house. We laughed about one year that my mom was feeling a little stressed about this breakfast and I suggested that perhaps we could make it a drive-thru occasion that year since they had a kitchen window. Everyone could just pull up to the window under the carport and we could hand them a bag of breakfast, fast food style. This amused my mom so much and we still laugh about it to this day. One huge part of this special holiday tradition that is missing now is my daddy. His passing two years ago has really left a void. My daddy was the biggest coffee drinker in the house, and I still can’t look at a pot of coffee brewing without thinking about him. However, these pictures and memories of holidays past are the things that fills our hearts with thankfulness, and I am so appreciative that these holiday traditions were a part of my childhood and now a part of my son’s life. When I asked my mama if she and my daddy intended for this breakfast to become a yearly affair, she couldn’t remember. It just happened like this, and I think some of the best holiday traditions are those that aren’t really planned. They just happen, everyone enjoys them, and it makes you want to continue to do it.

As you prepare for the holiday season that’s quickly approaching, pick up some Folgers Classic Roast coffee at Walmart in the coffee aisle and share a cup with a friend or family and reminisce about holidays past. It will certainly help
you appreciate the memories you’ve made and inspire you to make new ones as well.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

How to Blog Without Going Broke

Posted on November 4, 2017June 18, 2019 by Mandy

How to blog without going broke? Blogging expenses was an area of my finances that I seriously had to revisit this year. Paying down medical expenses from my heart surgery became a top priority for our family finances, and my blogging slowed down while I was recovering, so I knew some of the things I spent money on to help my blog along would have to take a back seat. Today, I thought I would share what I let go of and how it affected my blog over this year.

HOW TO BLOG WITHOUT GOING BROKE

In order to blog without going broke, I had to scale down. I first had to decide what I was able to do without. This was tough to do. Deep down, I didn’t want to let anything go. I had to remind myself of my goal to pay off debt. Then, I decided to at least try to do without certain things. It never hurts to try.

The first thing I had to let go of was my VA, or virtual assistant. It hurt me deeply to do this because she was so amazing. If you have a busy blog and need the extra help, I highly recommend a good VA. They can take smaller tasks off your plate. This allows more time for you to create content. Total savings- $30 a month/ $360 a year

Next, I had to think about other programs that scheduled blogging tasks. There were also programs to look up keywords for SEO purposes and other various things, like stock photography and such. The stock photography subscription was something I intended to keep, but the website was taken over by another company. Suddenly my $9.99 a month subscription turned into $30 a month. Yikes and NO THANKS! So these expenses looked like this each month:

Tailwind Subscription- $9.99 monthly/ $120 year

Stock Photo website- $30 monthly/$360 year

SEO tool- $9.99 monthly/ $120 year

Total Savings- $50 a month/$600 year

I also have to add in various blogging courses, which I have completely given up on. You can read my thoughts on all of that here. Total savings- $200 a year. (And yes, I am ashamed of this.)

Finally, filler content was beginning to be a very bad habit for me. Bloggers often purchase filler content. This can be anything from recipes, pictures, and articles written and sold by other people. It fills in the gaps when your blog needs more content and you are short on time. My personal weakness is printables and book roundups. I love offering printables and awesome graphics for a book roundup for my readers. However, I absolutely stink at making these things, so I often purchase them. I had to cut expenses, this was definitely an expense that HAD to go for me. It also made me a little lazy. I knew that if I didn’t feel like blogging, I had a printable or roundup I could add in. Total Savings- $500 a year

GRAND TOTAL SAVINGS= $1300 year

NON-NEGOTIABLES

It’s no secret that you can blog for absolutely free using sites like Blogger. I’ve been a self-hosted blog for awhile now and making the switch back to free would probably be expensive. Therefore, my monthly hosting expenses are something I won’t ever give up. I consider $10 a month a bargain and I’m satisfied with my host. Ditto for my domain name renewal, which is around $29 a year, I think? I’m also keeping my PicMonkey Royale subscription. This helps me edit photos and create pinnable images for my blog posts. It practically does all of this for me and this is another thing (graphic design) that is out of my skill set. It costs $33 a year and I use it for almost every single blog post, so it’s absolutely worth it and affordable.

TOTAL EXPENSES NOW- $182 year

WHAT I DID INSTEAD

Once I let go of those big expenses each month, I had to come up with a plan to substitute for some of these at a cheaper price. I desperately tried to participate in blog hops. I just couldn’t due to time, so I let that go. If I happened to read a blog article I liked written by another blogger, I shared it. I also shared my own content to multiple platforms when I had the time. I didn’t have content constantly being shared across my social platforms anymore. Ditto for SEO. I don’t have the time to research keywords. I’m just writing about things I want to write about and letting the chips fall where they may, traffic-wise.

I’ve also been using free or cheap stock photography websites. Photography is not my strongest area in blogging, but I’m making do and it works.

Since I don’t post as frequently, I’m not using filler content. Giving up the filler content has made me want to blog more for some reason. I also took a little blogging hiatus this summer. I feel refreshed now and the ideas are starting to come back.

THE RESULTS OF BLOGGING CHEAPLY

I’ll admit that before I let all of these awesome blogging tools and services go, I panicked a little. I wasn’t rolling in the blogging dough to begin with. It was a great little side hustle to provide the extras for our family. The thought of my blog losing traffic because I had to give up these things sent me into a little distress. Did I lose money? Yes, and I don’t care. This year my focus had to shift on recovering from a major surgery and building my strength back to be able to go back to my day job and caring for my family. I have accepted only four paying blog jobs this year. I’m completely satisfied with my work on the blog this year. If I kept all of those blog expenses, I would have LOST money blogging instead of made a little.

So how did this affect my blogging game overall? Yes, I made less money. Traffic-wise, I have seen a small dip, but nothing major at all. I have to honestly say that cutting expenses and blogging without going broke really didn’t make much of a difference. However, it sure has freed up quite a bit of time. If you have a big blog with huge traffic, getting drastic and cutting back may not be practical for your situation.

Keeping Perfect Time with Jord Wooden Watches

Posted on October 22, 2017November 12, 2017 by Mandy

I received the product pictured below in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received.

My job as a librarian in an elementary school requires me to be a meticulous manager of my time. I shuffle seven classes in and out in a day’s time and have to make sure I leave enough time at the end of each class to clean up and make way for the next group of kids coming. I have to use my planning time wisely and often find myself down in the copy room where there is no wall clock, so making sure I don’t run late for my next class is crucial. Teachers don’t like to be made to wait when it’s their planning period and I’m supposed to be taking their students! Since becoming an educator many years ago, wearing a watch has become absolutely second nature because I have to be aware of the time no matter where I’m at in any given part of the school. This was hard for me to get used to since I’m not one who wears a lot of accessories in the first place, and I’m also very picky when it comes to style. Watches with metal bands were uncomfortable, so those were always out. Leather bands often felt hot and sweaty in the summer months, so I would take them off to let my wrist “breathe” throughout the day. Did I already say that I’m also picky about the style of the watch itself? Yeah. You’d often find me wearing the same old watch for years and years until it literally fell apart.

Finding a comfortable, stylish watch has always been a challenge, but since experiencing the natural wood band of a stylish Jord Wooden Watch, I’m completely sold on this unique and beautiful way of keeping time. Before giving this watch a try, I had never seen a wooden band used on a watch and figured it would be a little uncomfortable, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! The watch I have, the Frankie 35 , is not only comfortable to wear, but also absolutely beautiful and I love how the face of the watch catches reflections and light and gives off such a different look at any given moment.

Jord has an absolutely stunning line of watches in their men’s shop and women’s shop to choose from. These make the perfect gifts for any occasion and are truly packaged in such a beautiful way that the product packaging itself is genious! When your watch arrives, it comes in a beautiful wooden box, complete with cleaning oil and a special cloth to get you started off right in caring for your new watch.

You can also make these watches super special as a gift by having them engraved. Check out Jord’s Pinterest Page to see how personal and special you can make any Jord watch for any occasion. I opted not to have mine engraved, but now I wish I would have! You can even have the beautiful box engraved as well!

My watch features a dark sandalwood as the band, but there are so many other wood option to choose from, including walnut, bamboo, maple, zebrawood, and so many more. The quality is outstanding and each piece is handcrafted from raw materials.

WIN IT

Would you love to have your own Jord Wooden Watch? Enter here to win a $100 e-gift code from Jord to put towards your own beautiful Jord watch. Giveaway ends on October 29, 2017 at 11:59 PM.

Wooden Wrist Watch

How to Make an Edible Plant Cell Project for School

Posted on October 22, 2017December 7, 2025 by Mandy

Making an edible plant cell project might sound like a time consuming project to take on at first, but they are easy to make. It’s also a fun way to learn the parts of a plant. My son had to make this edible plant cell for a classroom project in science and he kindly let me know on a Tuesday that this was due on Friday! YIKES! I’ll admit I panicked a little.

I’m a working mom with a LOT going on this month with reading fairs and book fairs, so adding a science project in the mix was almost enough to send me over the edge. However, thanks to the internet, we were able to get some great ideas for making edible plant cell projects and it turns out, there really wasn’t anything to get worked up over.

Edible Plant Cell Project

If you decide to go the cake route for making an edible plant cell, you may as well buy your favorite flavor of cake and icing, because chances are, you’re going to be bringing a lot of this cake home. We’re partial to chocolate cakes with fluffy white frosting, so a trip to Dollar General was all we needed to get the necessary cake mix, frosting, and candy to decorate with. We also bought a disposable pan to use for this in case the cake didn’t make it back home. It’s easier to transport than a heavy cake pan and no clean up afterward!

I mixed the cake up and put it in the oven to bake. While that was baking, I made some little flags to identify each part of the plant cell. I just typed these up and printed them out, then wrapped them around tooth picks. This was probably the most tedious part of the whole edible plant cell project. If we would have had more time, I would have ordered these awesome little food flags to use.

Plant Cell Parts

Once the cake was finished and cooled, I frosted it and then my son was able to start decorating it like a plant cell. This is the candy and food items he used to decorate each part:

Nucleus/Nuclear wall/nuclear envelope- Hostess Sno-Ball with a jelly bean in the middle for the nucleus

Cell wall- small colored marshmallows

Cell membrane- yellow decorator icing

Vacuole- Blue decorator icing

Mitochondria- Fruit Gushers

Endoplasmic Reticulum- sour gummy worms

Golgi apparatus- Fruit by the Foot

Cytoplasm- Cake frosting

Chloroplast- green sprinkles

Lysosomes- jelly beans

He was pretty pleased with how it turned out and he ended up getting an A for the edible plant cell project itself and another A for his presentation of it. I never would have came up with an idea like this, and I have to admit it was a fun project to do together and it really helped him learn the parts of a plant. There are so many different variations of this edible plant cell project online…I’ve seen them with gelatin, pizzas, and other ideas. I guess it just depends on how much time you can put into it. The cake was quick and easy for us.

I won't buy another blogging course. Have you spent loads of money on blogging courses, only to be disappointed? Here's what you can do instead that's absolutely free.

I Won’t Buy Another Blogging Course Again and Here’s Why

Posted on October 14, 2017May 28, 2019 by Mandy

I won’t buy another blogging course. I’ve bought several well known blogging courses that people in the world of blogging make you feel like you just have to have in order to be a “professional”. I’ve spent many hours working these courses and trying these techniques until it has made me absolutely crazy, and guess what? I still can’t quit my day job. My blog doesn’t make enough so that my husband can quit his day job, either.

I Won’t Buy Another Blogging Course

It’s All Free Anyway

The best things I learn to help my blog grow are absolutely free. Now, let me be real clear. My blog is not making me rich and never has. It most likely never will. However, it has surpassed ANY dreams and expectations I had for it since starting blogging ten years ago. Nearly everything I have learned about blogging has been for free. If I want to learn something, I watch Youtube videos or read other blogs.

I wish I still had a link to the FREE blogging course that I found five years ago that taught me how to optimize my Google ads. It was the best thing I had ever read on AdSense, was easy to understand. It actually worked! And it was FREE!!

It’s a Cycle

Most of us that purchase a blogging course want to learn how to make more money blogging. These courses also want to make you an affiliate. Some people are great at selling and have built quite a substantial income from affiliate sales of blog courses. I personally suck at selling anything. Pretty soon, every blogger is pushing the same product. I have personally unsubscribed from four blog newsletters this past week because they ALL were trying to sell me the same course. It turned me off because I think the only thing they took away from that particular course was how to sell it. I personally hate when I feel like all I am to a person is another sucker or a potential buyer.

In hindsight, if I could go back a few thousand blogging dollars, here’s what I would do instead of buying expensive blogging courses:

Join a blogging community– Honestly, find yourself a like minded community of bloggers in your niche. Find some other bloggers that blog about the same things you do through Facebook. Ask questions and seek advice from people who have been blogging a while and have a good track record of earning and growing. I have learned almost every single thing that works from my blogging buddies. One in particular is super successful and she shares her trials and errors and amazing advice absolutely free. It may take you awhile to find a group you feel comfortable and welcomed in. Some groups are just TOO big. I personally like smaller blogging forums. Make sure these groups are filled with bloggers similar to what you blog about.

More Self-Teaching– I’ve taught myself a few tricks or two by simply searching up what I want to know through Google or watching YouTube videos. It’s free and it works most of the time.

Get a Consultation– Reach out to people in the blogging community who you admire or feel like could help you and ask for some direction. You have to remember that time is precious for everyone, so be willing to pay for that time if at all possible.

Be Patient– It took me five years to ever start making any money with my blog. Times have certainly changed since then! It’s much easier to jump in and build a blog pretty quick. Reading about how other bloggers have “skyrocketed their traffic by 1000% in ONE MONTH” can make you feel like you are doing it ALL wrong. If you can afford that expensive blogging course, by all means, go ahead. Just don’t be so hard on yourself, especially if you are just starting out. Almost NOBODY is an overnight blogging success and quits their job. If they claim that, they aren’t telling you the whole truth.

Put Your Head Down and Work– Looking back, my blog earned the most money when I was just writing and doing my thing and not looking around at what everyone else was doing and writing about or worrying about HOW they were earning their money. I just created and didn’t care if I was doing it wrong. When you’re so busy looking around you waste time you could be using to create your own stuff.

Am I saying all blog courses are trash? No, I’m not. I’ve picked up a few slightly helpful tips from a couple that were in the $10 range. And not every blog course costs something. There are PLENTY of free ones floating around out there. Pinterest is exploding with them!

I know there are some truly genuine people who really do want to help other bloggers who are struggling to get started or struggling to improve on what they’ve already built. I’d even guess that people buy blogging courses and just never get around to completing them. I’m just personally tired of buying blogging courses and getting burned by reading the same old same old. And nope…”visualizing it” and “dreaming big” and filling out seventy umpteen workbook pages that I have to personally print out (sold separately from the course, might I add!) about my dreams, visions, and target audience isn’t going to help me grow my blog.

You know what does? Writing about stuff people WANT to read about. Unless you are a celebrity or someone with an exceptionally interesting life, nobody really reads personal blogs anymore. It’s a rarity, but it’s amazing if you can find that type of audience. I still blog personal things because I want to, but if your blog is nothing but a family diary, you just can’t realistically expect a lot of traffic and money if that’s what you are looking for. You certainly don’t need to spend $100 or more to come to that realization. People come to blogs looking to learn something.

Have you been burned by blogging courses? Have you found one you absolutely love? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments.

How to Find Discontinued Makeup and Other Items

Posted on October 8, 2017September 30, 2018 by Mandy

How to find discontinued makeup and other items when something you really love is no longer sold can be a real struggle! I swear, this is the story of my life lately. I find a product, fall in love with it, and then it seems to get yanked from the shelves! I have gone to some big extremes to find the things I use and love that are no longer being made. I’ll share how I hunt down some of those hard to find items online.

Discontinued Makeup

This is definitely the product category that hurts my heart the most when something I use gets discontinued. Most recently, the brand of makeup I have used faithfully since I was 13 years old has shut down their business. I just recently learned that Beauticontrol has gone out of business and I am literally stunned and left scrambling for my favorite products before they disappear for good. 30 years of customer loyalty is a long time and I’m not thrilled about having to search for an alternative. As much as I’m shocked that this happened, it also doesn’t surprise me because of the huge changes that have taken place at that company in the last ten years or so. The products became smaller in size (but certainly not price!) and you could tell certain colors (like my favorite foundation) weren’t exactly the same formula anymore. I hung in there hoping it would get better and now it’s all over. I’m encouraged to read online that someone from inside Beauticontrol will be starting a new cosmetics company that will hopefully bring along the best of Beauticontrol while also taking things in an even better direction, but until then I’m on the lookout for my foundation, powder, eye shadow, and blush

Where to Buy

So where DO you go to buy your favorite discontinued makeup or other items? I check around in a few places:

Amazon– I start here because I can usually find plenty of my item in stock and at a fair price. The shipping is fast and often free if you’re a Prime member, which you can try free for 3o days. It’s a great deal if you regularly order from Amazon.

Ebay– Like Amazon, Ebay is also a place online to find just about anything, even those vintage items no longer made. I’ve had great luck on Ebay finding those hard to find discontinued items, but this is where you have to be careful because sellers here are looking to make a profit and my favorite discontinued makeup is selling for 4 times as much as its original cost. Naturally, I won’t pay that price, but some people will.

Direct Consultants– Did you buy your favorite makeup directly from a consultant? Brands like Beauticontrol and Mary Kay are sold through consultants, so checking with them for any leftover product is smart. If they don’t have it, reach out to consultants on Facebook, through Twitter, or Instagram. They may be able to help as well.

Discontinued Beauty has some of the more upscale salon products for the hair and body and BuyMeBeauty carries the major drugstore brands of cosmetics. Discontinued Lipstick can custom mix cosmetic shades of your old discontinued favorites.

Dollar Stores and Salvage Stores– I recently lucked up and found bottles of my favorite scent of detergent that had been discontinued at our local Dollar Store. Once I discovered this jackpot, I also went around to several more around town to see if I could score more! If you have those salvage stores nearby, you might also luck up on some of your favorite discontinued products that are there simply because the box may have a dent in it or it just wasn’t selling well elsewhere.

Holding Onto Hope

Somewhere deep down I always hope that companies will bring my favorite things back, even for a short period of time. I was recently just tickled to see a Caboodle in a store the other day. Now, I’m in my 40’s and really have no need for one, but the urge was strong to buy one of these again, just like the one I had when I was 14. In the event that you just can’t find your favorite product anywhere, sometimes you just have to move on and try something new. As much as this isn’t fun, sometimes you just might find something better.

Photo/Eshan Namavar