Friday Link List: Writer's Block

I love cats, but K and I are both terribly allergic, so we can never have one. Despite the allergies, I'm still thrilled to visit and play with my friends' cats, even if I pay for it later with allergy symptoms.

It seems I've gone straight from one of my most productive writing months ever here to having some writer's block! I have quite a few post ideas and pending drafts, but they tend to be on the more serious and complicated side, so I've been slow in getting them out.

Work is not terribly busy at the moment, though my schedule's been less predictable than I'm used to. In the last few weeks, I never know if I'm going to have a busy week until Monday afternoon, or later, which always throws me off. Plus the weather's been all over the place, which isn't fun. 

1. // Now this is slightly terrifying to anyone who writes reviews online, but Monat Global, apparently a pyramid scheme that sells allegedly problematic (and expensive) hair products is suing someone in federal court for managing and posting on a Facebook group for disgruntled customers. This strategy seems designed to scare all critics into silence, and because even litigation that ends at the motion to dismiss stage is expensive (I'm not familiar enough with the causes of action at issue to know if they're particularly amenable to being dismissed at an early stage), the tactic could well work. 

2. // P.S. for anyone who related to my description of my own longtime tendency towards coasting, complacency in my 2018 goals post, Yet Another Personal Finance Blog linked a helpful "Ask Polly" column that I think is an important corollary to that. While some instances of self-acknowledged "laziness" or slacking are genuinely just that, sometimes it comes from something deeper, a place of fear, or maybe from being overly harsh and unkind to oneself. Something that's related, though maybe not about the exact same thing is Wait But Why's "Why Procrastinators Procrastinate" comic, about how procrastination isn't as simple as a "choice" to be "lazy". 

3. // A few recent blog posts to check out: Lin at Out of the Bag recently posted about a few things, including the interesting discussion resulting from that New York Times piece about "Modest Dressing as a Virtue". The original piece was a bit tedious, so I took notice of it and the resulting discussions, but never read it closely enough to formulate my response. Archana at To Universe with Love posted a while back with many helpful suggestions for moving towards a zero waste kitchen. I'm such a beginner in that area that I don't have too much to add, except that I liked that she promoted the two to three kitchen knife lifestyle, which I'm a longtime adherent of (one large kitchen knife, one small paring knife, and the third knife can differ from cook to cook - I don't keep a third knife myself, as it's not needed for my cooking style). 

4. // I used to love that TLC show What Not to Wear, and wish it (and Say Yes to the Dress) were still on Netflix. I was really sad to hear that Stacy London had a tough year financially, emotionally, and with regards to her health, and she wrote a very honest piece about it on Refinery29 that I enjoyed reading. 

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5. // I can't help but keep window-shopping for smaller, card case-sized wallets, even though I'm perfectly happy with the Kate Spade Saturday (R.I.P.) one I already have. These pink Fossil mini tab wallets are cuter and more practical, in terms of total capacity, than most I've seen (and quite discounted to boot!). Coach makes a very similar accordion card case, but it's significantly pricier, even when on sale.

This shopping month is definitely going to be a heavy one in terms of total cost, though hopefully not in terms of total items. That's not entirely for lack of trying, as I keep getting tempted to order other things to try on. Because my Uniqlo tech gloves prevent me from waking up my current phone with the home button, I've been in the market for those convertible, pop-top mittens, and have tried on and returned a pair from Kate Spade (similar). I may try either these cashmere Bloomingdales brand ones or these wool Kate Spade ones. 

Did anyone else really love What Not to Wear? I always thought that Stacy and Clinton were great, always kind and empathetic, and ultimately very helpful to everyone who appeared. (One of my favorite episodes can be seen here and they tend to all follow the same formula.) And well, that's exactly the kind of low-stress, light television I like to marathon on Netflix.