I don’t want to forget these random thoughts that have been floating around in my head, so I’ve written them down in the notes section of my iPhone. I’m sharing them with you because I suspect they may be something that you can relate to as well.
Or not.
If you’re here for the first time, welcome! You’ll be able to find the other parts of this series here.
1- One of my extremely toxic habits is reading Goodreads reviews in which the reviewer writes scathing book reviews about fan favorites. I could spend an afternoon doing this.
2- Without my knowledge, my daughters changed the term “OMG” on my phone to “I farted” a number of years ago. The rest I will leave up to your imagination.
3- For as long as I can remember, I’ve had to sleep with a fan in my room. My two kids are the same way, and my mother has to sleep with the television on. My husband, on the other hand, can sleep in silence. BUT he snores, so he isn’t truly sleeping in silence. I don’t understand how people can sleep peacefully in complete silence. Please share your talents with us.
4- I dislike the iPhone’s back delete button. It’s either too fast or too slow. I need an intermediate setting.
5- For some reason, I assumed Joyce Carol Oates was from the 1800s. She is still alive and well.
6- Try saying “Henry Winkler” five times fast.
7- Speaking of Henry Winkler, my dad informed me that he was not only the Fonz, but also the producer of the TV show MacGyver.
8- What is it with wine, women, and gift shops?
9- I recently witnessed a DSW employee checking another employee’s purse before she left for the day (for theft), which evoked a memory. I used to work for Banana Republic and Old Navy at different times, and both businesses did this to us as well.
What message does it send to the people they rely on to run their business if they have to inspect their belongings before they leave each day? If we’re going to discuss theft, let’s also discuss the reality that retail workers are not paid a living wage.
10- As I previously mentioned, I am not a big fan of traditional Christmas music. It could be because I spent over a decade working in retail (see above) and was forced to listen to Christmas music nine hours a day, seven days a week.
I created a playlist called Christmas-Ish, which is full of Christmas music that is bearable to my ears and lovely little songs that can be played throughout the winter. If you can relate, here are my playlists:
I’m sending my love to everybody who is celebrating a holiday this week. I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you. You bring so much joy into my life. ❤️
A Grace Full Life 
I’ve read some scathing GoodReads reviews on books that I enjoyed too. And usually I have to wonder what about the book triggered this person so badly that they felt such a review was necessary.
I hope you have a love-filled, peaceful and calm holiday with friends and family, Kari. All the best for 2023!
Deb
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Right??
I hope all the same for you, Deb! Give that schnauzer a hug from me. ❤️
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I’m laughing over the omg I’m farting thing!
,
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😂
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My daughter told me that some kids replaced their parents “no” with “of course you can do whatever you want. Have fun.”
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That’s great. 😂
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I enjoyed your random thoughts. As for #9, I worked for a major brokerage firm and they placed a camera over my desk. Totally intimidating.
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Oh, Elizabeth! Such an invasion of privacy.
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It was! I couldn’t stand it.
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I bet!
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“…. my daughters changed the term “OMG” on my phone to “I farted” a number of years ago.”
OMG, that is freaking HILARIOUS!!!!
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve had to sleep with a fan in my room.”
Me too! And not only for the sound (to block out all the city street noise), but also because I have to have air movement on my face when I sleep or I feel like I’m suffocating. And I do this even in the winter.
LOVE that shirt because I love both snow AND wine. LOL!
Yup, they still do that in retail jobs. My backpack, coat, and pant pockets have to be checked before I leave for the day or my lunch break. Meanwhile, we have customers stealing products all day long and they do nothing about it.
“I’m sending my love to everybody who is celebrating a holiday this week. I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you. You bring so much joy into my life.”
Ditto, Kari! So glad we met! X
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And continuing on the OMG/”I farted” theme… Did you know that the oldest recorded (in cuneiform!) joke in recorded history is … a fart joke?! Yes, for real!
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I love a good fart joke! 😂
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You must be ready to be a Sumerian 🤪
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😂
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Up until I texted someone I didn’t know well, it was absolutely hilarious! 🤣
Even when it is five below, I sleep with a fan on! I also bring a fan when I travel. I had to purchase a smaller fan to put in my suitcase.
I want to love wine. I get headaches from it… I suppose I’m envious.
I hate the fact that they are still checking employees.
Ron, I’m so happy we met. 😘
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If I dislike a very popular book (say, Lessons In Chemistry), I will purposefully go on Goodreads to find the negative reviews to make myself feel less alone. And now I feel even less alone!
Um, doesn’t Kathy Hilton take a fan with her on those Housewives trips?? I’m a person who can’t sleep (if I get 5 consecutive hours, I’m happy). Maybe I should try a fan?
When I worked at O’Neil’s at the Richland Mall, ‘Loss Prevention’ would check my purse if I was leaving after having worked the night shift (I think we closed at 9:30). However, if I was working the day shift and left at 5:30 pm, there was no purse check. It made zero sense. Also, if any item in my section arrived damaged, we were supposed to throw it away. Well, guess what? I left one day at 5:30 pm and took a pottery nativity set that had a broken piece on the Joseph. It seemed ridiculous to me to throw away an $89 nativity set. I used a hot glue gun and it currently resides in my living room for the holidays 37 years later!
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That’s it! This happened to me recently with a book I had been waiting over a year to read. Everyone raved about this book on Instagram and TikTok. I was excited to get it. I may have read 50 pages, but I hated it. The reviews on Goodreads didn’t let me down.
Yes, Kathy does! Definitely try a fan. If it’s good enough for Kathy Hilton…🤣 (By the way, Spotify has a fan noises playlist)
What the actual hell? That is absolutely ridiculous. Like only during the night shift theft happens?
I love that story. ❤️
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I can sleep in a silent room BUT I have to fall asleep with some sort of sound; usually the TV going on a show I’m not heavily invested in. I’ll set the sleep for 30 minutes and usually fall asleep within 10 if the rewind function is anything to go by the next day.
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Yes! I need some sort of sound. Not dead silence. I mean, the fact that we call it DEAD silence…😶
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Ooooh that is a good playlist! I have one called Nicole Christmas and it’s just all my fave songs. We have a lot of overlap on our playlists!
There is an account I follow on IG that is one-star reviews on Goodreads. It is hilarious. I admit I just looked up the most recent book I have read – which I hated – on GR and felt very validated, looking at the reviews.
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Ooh! I’ll listen to your playlist.
It does feel incredibly validating, doesn’t it?
What is the name of the Instagram account?
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I can sleep in bright light but require absolute silence, which is why I’ve banished the husband to the living room to watch tv at night. He always falls asleep with it going full volume.
And I think I need that shirt.
🍷
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You are also magical. ❤️
It’s at Kohls! Which is where I spent 13 years working in retail.🤣
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I think I love your daughters 🙂 And I wish I knew how to change someone’s phone like that. Oh, to be a digital native! (But not really. I’m so glad to have been young in the era before smartphones.)
As for working in retail: Did it once, for about 6 months. I’m still sorta proud that I quit the week before Christmas. They were going to make me work Christmas Eve, which would have meant missing that night at my grandparents’ house. I’d spent every Christmas Eve of my life there, and at 19 I knew it wasn’t going to be that way forever. So I quit. I hated that job. Retail is demoralizing. My daughter is working at a mall right now (at the ice rink, which I love), so she has similar feelings about Christmas music. I’m so looking forward to trying your Spotify list. Can you believe that I didn’t venture onto Spotify until just a month or so ago? (See: not a digital native).
Sending you wishes for a wonderful holiday, and looking forward to “seeing” you here in the year to come.
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I found out during a group text, and my friends and I started giggling hysterically. For a very long time, I could not figure out how to change it!
I worked too many “holidays” to count, including 13 Black Fridays, 13 Christmas Eves, and 13 New Year’s Eves. Retail IS demoralizing.
I love Spotify! I recently got three months of premium for free. It feels like a Christmas present. ❤️
Wishing you a happy holiday in return. 😘
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Thank you for the laugh today. You are always entertaining! And, by the way, I have to sleep in total silence!
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Thank you, Laura!
In my opinion, you are quite magical. ❤️
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Wine, women, and gift shops are a trilogy on at one end of a spectrum the other end of which is beer, men, and raunchy bars
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😂
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I used to sleep in silence, but the kids get home late or go to bed late and they are loud. I sleep with a noisemaker on. My mom used to want to know what time we got home. I say – hey, fill me in tomorrow but DO NOT wake me.
I can take Christmas music in small increments and I never worked in retail. It sounds like it would be an unpleasant job. I DID work at Burger King, and that was enough unpleasantness to last me a lifetime.
I didn’t know Henry Winkler worked on MacGyver.
Curly changed her name in my phone to say CURLY, THE BEST DAUGHTER EVER. The fart trick is pretty clever. Tank once changed our landline so that it would announce a call from our family friends with the title ‘Weirdos’ instead of their last name. No one knew how to change it back. We now usually text with them, but if they ever call our landline it would probably still say that. There 3 kids are the same ages as my 3 youngest, so the kids knew he’d done that and they would often be at our home when their mom called and it would announce her as CALL FROM WEIRDOS. Smooth. Real smooth.
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I fully agree with the need to muffle the sounds made by children.
I also spent two years working in fast food. That also had some unpleasant parts.
Before my dad told me about it, I was unaware of that fact about Henry Winkler. My dad is a fountain of information. ❤️
That’s funny!
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Having never worked retail, I can tell you I’d be pretty offended to have to be patted down every day at quitting time. And yes, they are not paid an adequate wage.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Kari!
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It was really humiliating.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Gigi!
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Brian and I both have to sleep with a fan on, too – and so does Tim. White noise! Most of my friends do, too. My mom sleeps in complete silence. I don’t know how she does it. I also have to have total darkness. I have blinds and blackout curtains; I cover the little light at the bottom of our bedroom TV with a blanket; and I hang an old sock over the light from the cable box. When I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I then don my sleep mask.
Your hubby snoring…has he ever had a sleep study done to check for sleep apnea? Snoring is not “normal”!
That is terrible that retail is checking the employee’s handbags. To me, that’s a violation of privacy. I mean, why don’t they then body check them, too? Maybe that will be next.
You know I’m with you on the dislike of Christmas music. Yesterday I had to run a couple of errands and that awful non-stop retail Christmas music was blaring. I couldn’t get out of those stores fast enough. Between the awful music and the long lines, I almost had a panic attack.
I’ll check out your Spotify playlist!
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Love you bunches.
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He is getting a sleep study in January.
It is an invasion of privacy. It should be illegal.
Honestly, I very rarely listen to Christmas music. Usually only on Christmas Eve and Day.
Merry Christmas, my friend! Love you too!
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I farted.
How does one even change a phrase on your phone?? Your girls are too funny.
I love to sleep in silence and darkness. That being said, any noise wakes me up. I just ordered a sleep machine; I think white noise will help.
I agree with the Mom Wine Culture. I enjoy my wine, but it’s almost like daily drinking is the norm when you’ve put in a full day. It’s a slippery slope.
Merry and Happy to you and yours!
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It’s buried within my phone’s settings. Where a Gen Z can get there in five seconds. 😂
White noise is helpful.
You are right about the slippery slope.
Merry and Happy to you and yours!
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Ha – that shirt made me giggle. IS it calling indeed.
Your dislike of traditional holiday music makes total sense after working in retail. My husband worked in retail for a couple of years and some songs from the store playlist still transport him back to those days! I don’t think he ever had his bag inspected for theft though — yick.
Have a wonderful, wonderful holiday! I am so glad to be a reader of your blog!
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Retail trauma is real. Sigh.
Have a wonderful holiday! I am so glad to be a reader of yours as well! ❤️
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3. Two words: white noise. Tara and I can’t sleep without it, even when we travel. Thank god for free apps!
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Yes! I’ve used those apps in the past when traveling. I also discovered that Spotify has white noise playlists.
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Que bien
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Gracias
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