What I'm Reading This Week #51

Well hello there!  Psst, I need to tell you something.  Don't tell the others because I only want a few people to know.  *Leans in closer than you want me to*   Santa is coming to town in like 4 days.  It's not a rumor so you know, there's still time for you to get on the nice list, you scallywag.

I can't believe it's here already.  It seems to hit like a whirlwind every year, doesn't it?  You don't have time to dilly dally so let's just get to:

The "Bad" Ingredient That Can Actually Help Lower Inflammation, According to New Research  (If you're getting your health advice from tiktok, that's your first problem)

6 Signs Your Wellness Habits Are Contributing to Burnout  (Something to consider!)

25 Foods That Act As Natural Appetite Suppressants  (Definitely on the oatmeal.  That can keep me cruising for 4 or more hours)

7 Science-Backed Ways to Relieve Stress in 10 Minutes or Less  (Good luck unclenching this jaw!  It's like a permanent steel trap!)

Every Holiday Party Deserves a Dessert Cheeseball  (Why yes it does and easy to whip up on the fly)

What Is Jet Lag? Plus How to Beat It  (For those flying this year)

Did Your Therapist Let You Down?  (Yes they did and so I switched.  Once the deductible is hit again next year, maybe I'll give it another shot.)

Does 'One-Way Masking' Work Against COVID-19?  (Trust me, it does especially in a flying tube with other unmasked folks when you're flying home to visit your older relatives.  Please consider those of us who still need to be protected whether due to age or crappy health issues we can't help.  If you're going on a long haul flight, these help make the masks not hurt your ears.)

After a Death, the Holidays are a Secondary Loss  (For my grievers)

How to Beat Sadness During the Holidays  (Not necessarily beat it more than understanding why it's there.  There's still time to make some good holiday memories this year and remember that every holiday above ground is a good one.)

Fannie Flagg Shares The Heartwarming Story Of Why Seeing A Redbird Is Nature's Way Of Saying 'Merry Christmas' From Heaven  (Sigh)

James Caan Didn’t Find Anything Funny About Will Ferrell  (Honestly, most times I don't either and I can't stand that movie because I'm in throat punch mode for 98% of it. 😆)

No doubt with the anticipation this time of year brings, it's also bittersweet. Our holidays will never be the same without Mom and we're still trying to find our way. This year has been so exhausting between our 500 doctor's appointments, vein procedures, and trying to finish reno's past that we haven't had a lot of time to absorb things. I fear that's by design but I hope we are able to take in this coming week with gratitude in our hearts for each other and all we've been through this year.  

We wish you all an amazing holiday however you are celebrating.  Take in all of the memories if you're with family and/or friends.  Enjoy the peace you create for yourself if you're solo and remember to open doors, smile, let the person in traffic during the last stressful days of the season.  Most of us are at our mental max.  (Oh and if you're taking Amazon returns back to Kohl's, if you can't use the 20% off coupon they give you in the next week, please find an older person shopping and ask if they can use it.  I've never seen the Mr smile bigger than when he does that and gets such gratitude in return.)

What are your weekend plans?

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Holiday Simmer Pot

We're a week out from Christmas and that means many are furiously cleaning for guests or just to have a nice clean home for some holiday peace.  That means you want your home to smell as welcoming and cozy as possible.  What is the typical go to for people to make their homes smell good for the holidays?  Usually a scented candle, wax melts, a mix of both under a candle warmer or some kind of room spray.  The problem for people like me with sensitive sniffers is it can induce an allergic reaction like watery eyes, sneezing or coughing.  While I have to be super selective with my candles and sprays, there's something I always go to that makes the house smell good or gets rid of cooking odors and that's a good ol' fashioned simmer pot.  

You can buy all kinds of pre-made mixes if you want to but it's super easy to make a holiday scented simmer pot of your own.  Some of it you might be throwing away anyway so why not make good use of it?

Here's what I use:

Saucepan

2 cups of water

Orange/clementine peels or slices

3-4 Cinnamon sticks

Whole cloves

Add all ingredients together in a saucepan on medium if you're going to be in the kitchen and/or set an alarm for every 20 minutes to add 1/2 cup more water so it doesn't burn down and cause a fire.  Never leave a simmer pot unattended!  If you need to be going from room to room, it's better to use a mini crock pot.

Those ingredients give a Fall aroma but if you prefer a more Christmas holiday vibe, use the above ingredients and add dried cranberries and a small pine bough clipping of about 4".  It gives off a subtle scent that fills your home without being overpowering to guests if you're having people over.  You can keep them in baggies sectioned out and ready to pour when the mood strikes or you can add them to a small mason jar, tie a ribbon with instructions and gift it to others.

Do you use simmer pots?

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Crunch Time Weekend Recap

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What's shaking, y'all?  (Will I ever hear that phrase and not hear Norm Petersen in my head say "all four cheeks and a couple of chins?")  I somehow got all of my Christmas stuff shipped, ordered and the like.  For the second year in a row, my cookies I ship out flattened.  Last year I could understand because I was still on the terror train of fresh grief and figured I messed something up.  I know I'm under stress of a different kind this year but dang if even chilled straight out of the fridge they didn't frisbee.  I thought maybe the oven needed calibrated so I got a stand up oven thermometer to check.  The top oven, which I didn't use, was off by 25 degrees but the one I used was just fine.  Check...it was me.  I don't feel like I let the butter sit out too long so I'm guessing I whipped too much air into it or it was because I used the darker pan which alters the temperature by 25 degrees.  (I thought the parchment paper would protect me from that though, nope.)   

I knew there were some things I needed to get done this weekend but I was saving those for Sunday so I could have a more chill Saturday.  "Oh my child, thou hast always amused me" the universe chuckled.  I should preface this by saying my print provider thought it would be fun to merge with another print provider and complete that merger on Thanksgiving Day.  You know, not like it's the busiest time of year or anything.  They assured us all was well and nothing would change in a Q&A last week.  The next day I notice my new products are erroring out.  I get in touch with them and they tell me to try something which is completely asinine but worked.  I don't like it and assume more sh*t is readying itself to be lopped at the proverbial fan.  Man, I hate being right.  I got an order Friday afternoon and I kept noticing it wasn't showing up anywhere except on Etsy's side but they're the buying platform and the actual order gets produced through the printing platform.  After 20 hours of me flop sweating and getting messages that their customer service is not available, I lie about my issue to get past the bots and to a person.  I explain what happens and they tell me it's not published.  I tell them I know it's published because it's basically the only thing I've sold over weeks and they want a screenshot.  I got to my dashboard and EVERYTHING in my shop has been unpublished!  200 listings sitting dormant that were fine before 'glitch day' (of which they told me there was no glitch and I dropped a first and last name and told them to scroll up where customer service said there was a BIG one.  *crickets*)   I freaked out and in a mass panic, I republished all of my mugs to at least get my best and only seller right now back up.   When I do that, I notice it's kicking out all of the mockups (listing pictures) that take me forever to pull together and do I have backups of all of them?  Nope.  I freaked out so hard, I scared the Mr.  I was hyperventilating, couldn't breathe and let's just say a doctor's visit has confirmed that's not a good state for me to be in.  

When I calmed down, the Mr started pulling my pics for backups on his laptop and I started noticing when I republished it was making TWO listings!  The original and the new one with no pictures.  The Mr found a workaround and I worked all day Saturday to get my most perused items back up so I wouldn't need to babysit and create a manual order if any of those items were purchased.  I saw that tags I know were in most of them were gone and replaced by either nothing or some rando crap I would never in a million years put in there.  Some of the newer listings kept their tags but older and ones from when the merger was announced had the tag issues, which to me proves that's when problems started.  I think I have as much done as I can right now and I don't want to overdo things if someone on their side decides to fix it and then I have a whole new problem to fix.  Needless to say, twas not the chill Saturday either of us hoped for.  I thank the Mr for doing everything he could to help me get some backups in place.

Sunday I decide to tackle the mountain of laundry that ate my storage bench for months at a time in the bedroom.  Some of it had stuff of Mom's that's been sitting there for over a year and altogether it was a stressful way to start and end the day.  So I got most of that into a bin under the bed, purged stuff of mine I didn't want anymore whether by trashing or donating them.  We got more laundry going and I went through a lot of clothes that I couldn't wait to wear.  Unfortunately, some are not going to see the light of this season.  Sigh.  It was a rainy day all day which was fine with me and I was ready to go on our evening walk in it, at which point it stopped.  *rolling eyes*  It was dark so it was quiet and empty.

I've got my last therapy session for the year today.  I'll have to check the insurance estimate when the new year rolls around to see how far they're going to bend us over on that one.  I can't go from paying $15 per session to some insane amount.  Here's a good little chuckle for you.  The MIL sent us a little chunk of money a few weeks ago with some manipulative BS line to go with it that we weren't biting on.  The Mr offered up the whole amount for me to continue therapy and how she owed me therapy after 30 years and how hilarious that would be.  I thanked him for the thought but said I would use my half to continue a few sessions into the new year so I will make sure I dedicate at least one session to her!  PFFT!

Then it was time to collapse in bed.

How was your weekend?

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What I'm Reading This Week #50

Top of the morning to you and welcome to mid December!  Next week is when a lot of shipping deadlines go into effect so if you don't have your shopping done for your out of towners, tis the season to shake your tail feathers!  I thankfully have my peeps done, I need to slip some moolah into two cards for my local friend to put with his cookies and I think I'm done.  The one friend I shopped on prime day back in July and did both her birthday and Christmas to save some dough.  High five to past me.

Now let's celebrate:

7 Lower Back Stretches to Reduce Pain and Improve Mobility  (All ones I can't live without and yet need to do more.  But this always comes in handy for those DEEP spots stretches can't get.)

14 Melting Potato Recipes That Are the Ultimate Combination of Creamy and Crispy  (Yum!  These will get you through the winter for sure!)

Here’s How Long It Takes Before Your Muscles Decondition  (In case you're taking a break over the holidays but then get back to pumpin' iron!)

5 Micro-Meditations to Reduce Stress  (Good tips heading into the thick of holiday season!)

You Can Make That Store-Bought Pie Crust Look Homemade  (Hey, some years you've got to 'cheat.')

Avoid These Four Common Mistakes When Driving on Black Ice  (Tis the season.  Be careful out there!  Also, keep a pair of these in your car in case you realize too late the area you parked has black ice around it.)

5 Ways to Survive Your Next Family Gathering (For those who have to brace up as part of their holiday preparations)

13 Ideas for the Empty Christmas Stocking  (For my grievers)

Experts Say Family Estrangement Is Often A ‘Last Resort,’ But Can Be A Necessary And Healthy Option  (Not everyone is celebrating with family this year.)

12 “Polite” Ways You’re Talking About Grief That Are Actually Hurtful  (Something to remember whether it's someone's first year of loss or more)

12 Classic Movies You Didn’t Realize Were Actually Christmas Movies  (Well, this is an interesting list.  In case you need an unorthodox list after the classics.)

It's cookie baking weekend.  My goal is always to get them baked Sunday night and wrapped to go out first thing Monday morning.  I'll have to check with my local for a drop off time and freeze our doughs since we do ours next week.  I need to break out my baking time cheat sheet and make sure the table is cleared off for maximum wrapping room.

What are you into this weekend my fine friends?

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Upgrade Those Boob Lights for the Holidays

So many of us don't give a second thought to the lights in our home.  When it's dark, we flip it on, what more could we need?  Well, if your home was built in, or the last time you updated it, was in the 90's, chances are you have the ubiquitous 'boob light' that was so popular lighting up your life.  

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Despite this fixture being really outdated to the point of memes, it oddly is still at the top of the search results for many stores.  It's the 21st century, we can do better than that and it doesn't necessarily have to be expensive.  Within 15 minutes, you could be looking at a nice, refreshed space you're happy to show off to guests.  (Eh, screw them, this is for YOU!)

Let's peruse!

Industrial/Farmhouse Semi Flush Mount Ceiling Light

This semi flush mount light will brighten things up with full on clear glass that can lean industrial or farmhouse depending on your taste.  It comes in several different finishes like gold, brushed nickel, brass, oil rubbed bronze and black chrome (gun metal).  If you don't like the clear glass, you can choose seeded glass as well.

You wanna see the ones we just installed for our space that serves two purposes?

Crystal Ceiling Light Fixture

Is it a bit extra?  Yes but we're going for a semi vintage Cotswolds hobbit hole feel over here and I was done with my modern farmhouse looking fixture.  We also have effed up smoothed ceilings (aka- fine to most people- atrocious to type A's like me) and this casts out a pattern on the ceiling that is not only lovely but covers the sins of crappy contractors past.  It comes in black, brushed nickel and gold bases.

Modern Sputnik Chandelier 6-Light Fixture 

For those of you digging the mid century modern vibe, a modern take on the Sputnik fixture may be just what you're looking for.  It's a fun addition but still classy.  Comes in black, gold, brushed nickel and black and gold combo.  This would be great for basement hangout space or game room to tell everyone the party starts here!

Drum Modern Ceiling Light

If you're looking for a semi-traditional yet modern look featuring a lamp shade, this could be for you.  It gives off a diffused light so consider that if you are going to purchase something similar.   It could work for both a modern or vintage look.

Boho Ceiling Mount Light Fixture 

Is your taste more boho?  This light fixture is for those who prefer texture and an earthy feel.  The woven design projects a pretty pattern on the ceiling which is like free art! 

2-Light Rustic Flush Mount Light Fixture 

You like it rustic?  This one has a cover with a modern rustic vibe.  It's versatile enough for modern farmhouse to industrial.  It's also available in a lighter oak color as well as a distressed white if shabby is more your style.

Tiffany Style Mission Semi Flush Ceiling Light

Are you lucky enough to have an arts and crafts home or love the style so much you're bringing it in wherever you can?  This beautiful Tiffany inspired light is the prettiest way to walk into your space and did I mention this is a 3 pack?  It's a pretty sweet price too so snag it while you can!

This is just the start of the bazillions of lights out there.  You can do a search and see what strikes your fancy.  Hopefully it gave you some inspiration on what's out there or you can find the fixture to light up your life!

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12 Holiday Treats for You

Cookie baking and gifting time is here!  Whether you bake with your family, for others, for yourself or just want a nice collection of recipes at your fingertips, I gotchu!  I've tried to include some recipes good for gifting, last minute drop by's and snacks for movie nights.

Let's dive right in!

Grandma's Butter Ball Cookies go by many different names Mexican Wedding Cakes, Russian Tea Cookies, and Snowballs.  These were cookies that only my grandma and mom loved so it connected them and connects me to both of them.  These cookies are great if you need a sturdy cookie to ship to others as well and is great for dunking!

Seven Layer Bars were never my favorite because I didn't like coconut but I always remember my uncle salivating when they made them on cookie baking day.  It was so funny to watch.  It was very similar to the way the dad in A Christmas Story was jonesing for the turkey.   As I got older and got an appreciation for them, I'll still grab one if they're around.  The great thing about these is they are bars that can be cut as big or little as you want and if you wrap them individually, you can freeze them and they'll help get you through the winter!

Easy Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies are pretty much the perfect cookie.  Festive and gorgeous?  Check.  Easy to throw together?  Check.  Gets better with age?  Checkity check.  They are very soft so definitely not a good one for shipping but somehow they magically stay soft and taste better with every passing day...but good luck with many days passing with as good as they are!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies.  Do I really need to sell these?  I do?  Well okay, how about STUFFED Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies??  I usually pop a Rolo inside and they are friggin' amazing.  My friend says they're like Christmas crack and he'll just smell the bag.  You definitely don't need to wait for the holidays to make these but they've become a holiday favorite in our home.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Squares are a great dump and go bar treat.  If you're not in the mood to sit and roll a bazillion peanut butter chocolate balls, this recipe is for you.  (I don't feel like I need to sell chocolate and peanut butter)

Cookie Butter Fudge is seriously one of the easiest recipes ever and pretty much one of the tastiest.  If you haven't had cookie butter and you like a caramel like graham cracker flavor (is the best way I can describe it) then this is your soul treat.  I'll warn you, give some of it away because it's super easy to want to throw a few blocks down your fudge hole.  Trust me, people LOVE this as a gift.

Ginger Molasses Cookies are my favorite.  It makes your home smell like the holidays and these cookies are soft and chewy.  I'll be honest, I love them even more with vanilla frosting on top like one of my favorite Chicago burb bakeries but they don't need it.  They're also a favorite of my bestie and are always a part of her Christmas cookie box from me!

Peppermint Pretzel Bites are the thing you throw together when someone says "hey, I'm in town, you gonna be home in an hour?"  Keep the ingredients for these on hand for a fun party snack, movie night treat or to make people think you're (insert latest popular home goddess here).  

English Toffee Cookies are definitely for you toffee fiends.  They taste comfy, cozy and can be customized with whatever nuts you prefer.  If you don't want nuts, leave 'em out and add an ounce more of toffee bits or get creative with a different crunchy topping.  Make them as big or small as you like.  Big for an indulgent dessert or small for a dainty afternoon tea!

Egg Nog Cookies don't require you to be a egg nog lover to like these cookies.  No seriously!!  I don't like egg nog and these cookies are drool worthy!  Soft, chewy and that spicy sweet taste of Christmas in every bite.

Cut Out Cookies are a Christmas staple in these parts.  It's literally not Christmas without them and reminds me of us just starting out.  While I get the warm fuzzies thinking of how the cut outs were from my childhood, I tweaked for a slightly thicker frosting when we were married.  While I used to be really into doing colored frosting, my brain says no these days so we keep the frosting white and jam out on sprinkles for color.  Don't forget a glass of milk!

Gingerbread Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze is...oh my Lord.  Ricotta cookies on their own are just so pillowy soft but you add molasses and those amazing spices with this glaze and it is beyond.  Another one that gets better with age and if lemon is not your thing, leave it out and make the glaze on its own.  Yes, I'm well aware I put two gingerbread like cookies on the same list- one chewy and one pillowy.

Bonus recipe!  Iced Gingerbread Popcorn is perfect for a movie night marathon.  If you're having some kiddies over and plan on throwing on a holiday movie, bag up some of this and be the hero!  Or if you're snuggling in with your honey or a self care night, grab a big bowl and enjoy some Christmas cheer.

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What I'm Reading This Week #49

Happy first Friday of December!  Have you started watching any Christmas movies yet?  Are the real tree folks planning your attack for the perfect tree this weekend?  We had a week of appointments and it's the last of the year.  I almost wondered if I wandered into an audition for a pincushion because I was stuck 8 TIMES to get blood for the tests for my annual.  They were begging me to go to the lab and I refused and said I didn't care if I had to flag down a hobo, someone was getting a needle in my arm before I left.  Sweet lil Asian lady for the win!  No hobo necessary.  There was some news out of that appointment I'm still processing.  Then Wednesday I went in for my final vein appointment for an ultrasound follow-up.  She said all was closed and basically her job was done.  I asked her about a spot on the other leg from over a month ago that the Mr and I didn't like the appearance of.  The skin looked off and she said she didn't like the look of it either.  I waited 20 minutes and she did an ultrasound on that side and said while everything is closed, there was trapped blood that was trying to come to a head on it's own which was not good.  So I got stabbed 4x and had her pushing with all of her might to manually squeeze old blood out of my vein.  It was quite painful and made me brace so hard I locked my neck and upper back to the point my chiropractor couldn't crack me even if he wanted to.  So now I'm back on compression again for the week when I thought all of that was in my rear view.  🙄

Now let's get to:

What are ‘Super Agers’ and How Can You Become One?  (Interesting stuff!  At this point I just want to hit 80 because I can't take the world swirling down the twa-let)

Is Almond Milk Good For You? How It Compares To Whole Milk, Oat Milk & More  (It's good for a creamer for coffee or tea in this house.)

French Onion Cabbage Soup Is a Fun Twist on the Classic  (They should probably consider the alternate name of "no sex soup" because your ass is going to be skywriting after that!)

45 Squat Variations to Keep You on Your Toes  (Good lord, I didn't know there were 45 different ways to squat!)

Hormone Therapy Was Villainized For Decades. Now, It’s Back, But Who Should Really Be On It?  (Please do your own research especially if you have estrogen fueled cancers in your family history.)

Avoiding Consumer Decision Fatigue  (Lord knows there's plenty of that right now.)

The Mental Load Amps Up A Lot Around The Holidays — Here's What To Do About It  (It can be hard on everyone.

8 Tips for Remaining Present at the Holidays While Grieving  (For my grievers)

My Best Advice for Shipping Christmas Cookies Without Ruining Them  (I get the idea of "like with like" but my cure for that is wrapping a stack in cling wrap, then wrapping that stack in Press and Seal, then placing that stack in a holiday treat bag.  There...no need to segregate cookies.  Though if those on the receiving end are having a different cookie experience, please let me know!)

De-Bug Your Christmas Tree and Other Things to Do Before Bringing It Inside  (Good tips for the folks grabbing their live trees soon!)

30 Mason Jar Gift Ideas for Friends and Family  (Always good gifts to keep in your back pocket)

I'm sure we'll make merry and watch some Christmas movies.  I need to get my dry mixes in mason jars since cookie baking time is sneaking up on me.  My local is going to have to settle for shipped cookies because Covid is in da house and he can keep that shizz.  I suppose I'd better get to churning my vat of butter!

What's churning out for you this weekend?

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Protecting Your Home For Holiday Travel

Many people are making the trek to visit family, friends or get the hell away from everyone with a holiday vacation.  A lot of people think having an alarm is good enough and while it certainly helps, if Harry and Marv are casing the joint, they may have some tricks.  It's only fair that you should have some tricks as well, right?  

Here are some items that may help you rest easier as you make merry in whatever way you choose this year.

SimpliSafe 8 Piece Wireless Home Security System

Look, I don't know about you but I'm not down with contracts.  Simplisafe doesn't require a contract and has all kinds of different levels of protection you can select as well as add ons for whatever level of mechanical dragons you want guarding your fortress.

3" Screws

One of the easiest ways to reinforce your door from getting kicked in is replacing the screws that go into your door jamb for your lock and deadbolt with 3" screws.  Even if you get a different type of reinforcement, putting these in is only icing on the cake so just do yourself a favor and do this under $10 solution.

Door Armor Max 

This is an anti-kick reinforcement kit that has hinge covers.  If you've had break ins in the area or you don't want to be the first on the block to start the trend, this can give some peace of mind and comes in three colors.

2 Pack Door Security Bars

Not only can one of these babies be put against a door (like a side or rear door) but can also be used in a slider door.  You can also travel with one to use in your hotel at night especially if you're a lady traveling solo.

Door Reinforcement Lock

Consider this like an impenetrable chain lock without the weak chain and comes in many snazzy colors.  It's designed to withstand 800 lbs of pressure so between that and the 3" screws, that effer that tries to kick your door down will be writhing in pain on your porch before crawling away and you can enjoy it on...

Eufy Wireless Doorbell Camera

Pretty much everyone has one of these now and we love this one in particular because it doesn't need to be hardwired.  We've tried a few and they all have about the same rate of misses but this one is budget friendly and we like that we can program our own responses.  For instance, if someone shows up to solicit, they will hear Doakes from Dexter say "surprise mutha f**ka, you'd better have a damn good reason for being here."  If you think I'm joking, you're obviously new here.  We also have a hawk sound to scare away birds and vermin.  We don't have a life, give us this.

Kasa Smart Security Camera

Because we had some misses with our old doorbell cam, we also have this one on the front door window.  We also take one with us while we travel because once you're almost broken into in San Francisco and had another owner of the home coming in like tenants weren't renting it, you want some deterrent.  This is cheap and sends alerts to your phone if it detects movement when you're gone.  Tons of relief for a little bit of dough.

4 pack Kasa Smart Plugs

These babies are awesome not just to set up a timer schedule for your bedroom, kitchen, living room, etc but if you want to turn on the light in the office before entering or whatever convenience you want to set up and run via the app.  We have these for both home and travel as well. Love. Them.

2 Pack Solar Spot Lights Outdoor with Motion Sensors

We got these when some jag decided to have a jingle at my car door after the Super Bowl on Valentines Day.  After taking a picture of their shoeprint to plaster on every mailbox, we bought these.  These babies have been going strong and go off even when cars go by further than you think would register.  Because they're solar, no worries on maintenance.  You just need to wipe off the top every now and then from dirt or snow to keep them functional.  Even if they did poop out, they're cheap to replace.

Solar Lights Outdoor 120 LED with Lights Reflector and 3 Lighting Modes

One night when we got a notification from the above cam facing the back yard that some super douche with a flashlight went poking around on our neighbors porch in the middle of the night, we knew we had to intervene.  Enter these babies.  We mounted them to the back of the fence, one close to their porch and one on the other side of the fence.  Because they're solar, they always have juice and because we have low standards for entertainment, when we get an after dark notification, we can't wait to watch the footage of someone walking their dog get blasted in the face with these high powered babies.  FYI- flashlight creeper has never come back.

Home Security Television Simulator

Do you watch the tube in your living room which several neighbors can catch a glimpse of?  Draw the blinds and put one of these babies close-ish to the window and it comes on at dusk for 5 hours.  This could also be a good thing controlled by the smart plugs if you don't want it running every night and becoming predictable.

SwitchBot Blind Tilt Motorized Blinds

Are you someone who comes down and throws open the blinds to start your day?  Well, if someone has been casing your house, they may notice those blinds haven't moved and start getting ideas.  If you'd like to retrofit your old blinds to open when you want them to, this is your gadget.  Now I don't open my blinds so it would actually be sus if mine were open because we're hobbits but for you sunshiney folk, consider this to keep your blinds humming whether you're home or not without having to buy expensive new motorized blinds!

Portable Door Locks

I friggin' LOVE these things and this is more for travel though they could go on a side door in a more out of sight location.  There are always more points of entry in our rental than I care for so these are great for those obscure side doors.  This can also work well for a hotel stop over but you absolutely need to practice unhooking it several times so Lord forbid there's a fire or something, you are able to quickly disable the lock.  Also consider this is going to make it harder for emergency services to get to you if you have a medical emergency in your room.  So weigh your pros and cons before using it for a hotel room.

We use or have used these products and had great success with them.  They go a long way to make us feel secure both at home and when we travel.  If you have any tried and true safety tips, feel free to share them!

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