I belong to a wonderful bookclub. We have been together for many years (nearly 20) and I have been friends with all of these ladies over 30 years. We do actually read books but we rarely talk about them because there is so much more we have to say to each other.
It's a small group, just 5 of us are still in it, and we meet monthly at a local restaurant for dinner and discussions. Until about 3 years ago we had it at our homes, rotating between us, but we have gotten older with different demands so we gave that up and support the local economy by eating out.
I say we meet each month but that is only in theory. We all have elderly parents and there seems to always be issues associated with parental needs, so we are rarely all together. (This month for example: Bookclub T's mom fell the morning of bookclub and fractured her pelvis, which meant she was busy getting her Mom through the emergency room and into rehab.) We try to have it if at least 3 of us can meet, but some months we boot it altogether.
Our Christmas event is usually the Big Kahuna of our year. We always have it at Bookclub C's house which is decorated to the nines and there is food fit for a king. And wine, did I say wine? Plus we exchange gifts and have a lot of laughs. This year T's mom was having serious medical issues, C's dad was/is in advanced stages of Parkinson's, P's dad had a fall and required additional care and rehab and J and I have the same mom who can be either fine or bat shit crazy, depending on the day. So we were all dealing with parents, adult kids visiting for Christmas, general holiday stuff, plus the flu.
We canceled Christmas!
Which brings me to the point of this post. Shortly after the holidays, Son3 called us to say a couple of his friends were passing through Alabama (from L.A. heading to the east coast) and would like to stay at our house for a couple of nights. It was fine but I really would have liked to get the phone call a little more than 5 hours ahead of their arrival time. Yeah, I know, people in Hell want ice water and they don't get it either. I was left scurrying around trying to get the house in company shape, which included putting all the Christmas decorations, that had been taken down but were strewn throughout the entire upstairs, in their proper place. Somewhere and somehow my gifts for Bookclub were in the Christmas stuff and got packed in my decoration closet. I have looked for them several times and they have not turned up yet, which must mean they are actually inside a sealed box. Bummer! But since I know these ladies so well they are laughing each month as I tell them their presents have still not reappeared. (Wouldn't you know this was the one time I had tiny boxes. I found them really cool necklaces by a craftswoman in New York and had bought them in April. They will still be cool necklaces and I guess now I will wait until next December and give them 2 gifts). In addition to the necklaces I had bought spray bottles to make them some homemade concoctions.
Twice now we have stayed at the Crown Plaza when visiting Son3 and his family. They have this wonderful little sleep spray for your pillow. It is called Temple Spa and I googled it and bought me a bottle to use at home Every. Single. Night. I am hooked on it and thought at first I would get each of them a bottle so they could sleep as well as I do. That is, until I ordered it for me and it was 34 bucks. As much as I love them I was not going to spend that much on a side item. Instead I used spray bottles I found very inexpensively on Jump Send (Amazon dealers who are trying to establish their product). I found several sites by googling pillow spray and used the directions but changed the actual essential oils to mimic the Temple Spa scent and came dang close.
5 tablespoons witch hazel
50 drops lavender essential oil
9 drops bergamot essential oil
4 drops orange essential oil
10 tablespoons water
Pour the witch hazel into the spray bottle and add the drops of essential oils. You can be very professional and put the cap on the bottle to shake it well or do like I did and cap it with your finger while shaking it. The downside is your finger tip will smell like essential oils for about an hour even after washing your hands well, but I will sacrifice a floral scent for ease any day.
Add the water and shake again and you have a nice little spray for your pillow. One spritz is all it takes and I promise you will sleep like a baby. (A good baby who sleeps well, not one of those babies like Son3 was, who have colic and never sleep until they are about 6 months old)
I found the Pillow spray labels here.
While I had my oils out I made a knock off Poo Pourri spray for my powder room. It follows basically the same method with just slight changes.
4 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
25 drops lemongrass essential oil
10 drops orange essential oil
4 drops peppermint essential oil.
The spray at Bed, Bath and Beyond is 10 bucks. I had the essential oils anyway left over from other projects, I had alcohol and a left over spray bottle so this was a no brainer alternative to purchasing it.
Poo Pourri knock off spray labels can be found here. I stuck both labels on using a glue stick and it worked fine, but I generally try the easiest method first then change it if I have to. Fortunately I didn't!
And this is what the final products looked like.
I am going to make another bottle of both for the guest room bedroom and bathroom. Now who wants to come visit?
It's a small group, just 5 of us are still in it, and we meet monthly at a local restaurant for dinner and discussions. Until about 3 years ago we had it at our homes, rotating between us, but we have gotten older with different demands so we gave that up and support the local economy by eating out.
I say we meet each month but that is only in theory. We all have elderly parents and there seems to always be issues associated with parental needs, so we are rarely all together. (This month for example: Bookclub T's mom fell the morning of bookclub and fractured her pelvis, which meant she was busy getting her Mom through the emergency room and into rehab.) We try to have it if at least 3 of us can meet, but some months we boot it altogether.
Our Christmas event is usually the Big Kahuna of our year. We always have it at Bookclub C's house which is decorated to the nines and there is food fit for a king. And wine, did I say wine? Plus we exchange gifts and have a lot of laughs. This year T's mom was having serious medical issues, C's dad was/is in advanced stages of Parkinson's, P's dad had a fall and required additional care and rehab and J and I have the same mom who can be either fine or bat shit crazy, depending on the day. So we were all dealing with parents, adult kids visiting for Christmas, general holiday stuff, plus the flu.
We canceled Christmas!
Which brings me to the point of this post. Shortly after the holidays, Son3 called us to say a couple of his friends were passing through Alabama (from L.A. heading to the east coast) and would like to stay at our house for a couple of nights. It was fine but I really would have liked to get the phone call a little more than 5 hours ahead of their arrival time. Yeah, I know, people in Hell want ice water and they don't get it either. I was left scurrying around trying to get the house in company shape, which included putting all the Christmas decorations, that had been taken down but were strewn throughout the entire upstairs, in their proper place. Somewhere and somehow my gifts for Bookclub were in the Christmas stuff and got packed in my decoration closet. I have looked for them several times and they have not turned up yet, which must mean they are actually inside a sealed box. Bummer! But since I know these ladies so well they are laughing each month as I tell them their presents have still not reappeared. (Wouldn't you know this was the one time I had tiny boxes. I found them really cool necklaces by a craftswoman in New York and had bought them in April. They will still be cool necklaces and I guess now I will wait until next December and give them 2 gifts). In addition to the necklaces I had bought spray bottles to make them some homemade concoctions.
Twice now we have stayed at the Crown Plaza when visiting Son3 and his family. They have this wonderful little sleep spray for your pillow. It is called Temple Spa and I googled it and bought me a bottle to use at home Every. Single. Night. I am hooked on it and thought at first I would get each of them a bottle so they could sleep as well as I do. That is, until I ordered it for me and it was 34 bucks. As much as I love them I was not going to spend that much on a side item. Instead I used spray bottles I found very inexpensively on Jump Send (Amazon dealers who are trying to establish their product). I found several sites by googling pillow spray and used the directions but changed the actual essential oils to mimic the Temple Spa scent and came dang close.
5 tablespoons witch hazel
50 drops lavender essential oil
9 drops bergamot essential oil
4 drops orange essential oil
10 tablespoons water
Pour the witch hazel into the spray bottle and add the drops of essential oils. You can be very professional and put the cap on the bottle to shake it well or do like I did and cap it with your finger while shaking it. The downside is your finger tip will smell like essential oils for about an hour even after washing your hands well, but I will sacrifice a floral scent for ease any day.
Add the water and shake again and you have a nice little spray for your pillow. One spritz is all it takes and I promise you will sleep like a baby. (A good baby who sleeps well, not one of those babies like Son3 was, who have colic and never sleep until they are about 6 months old)
I found the Pillow spray labels here.
While I had my oils out I made a knock off Poo Pourri spray for my powder room. It follows basically the same method with just slight changes.
4 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
25 drops lemongrass essential oil
10 drops orange essential oil
4 drops peppermint essential oil.
The spray at Bed, Bath and Beyond is 10 bucks. I had the essential oils anyway left over from other projects, I had alcohol and a left over spray bottle so this was a no brainer alternative to purchasing it.
Poo Pourri knock off spray labels can be found here. I stuck both labels on using a glue stick and it worked fine, but I generally try the easiest method first then change it if I have to. Fortunately I didn't!
And this is what the final products looked like.
I am going to make another bottle of both for the guest room bedroom and bathroom. Now who wants to come visit?
Me! Except not likely in the cards lol. Great idea for a personalized gift.
ReplyDeleteIf you find yourself headed to Florida or Atlanta or Nashville even New Orleans, stop by. I even leave choclates on the nightstand in the guest room.I liked it as a secondary gift, but I am wondering where those blooming necklaces are.
DeleteI love your bookclub story. I'm sure those gifts will show up eventually LOL. I'll have to check into that sleep spray. My luck my DH would smell it on my pillow case next to his and throw a fit. He has the most sensitive smeller. Drives me nuts.
ReplyDeleteThey will surface eventually, and since they are already wrapped they are ready for giving.
DeleteMy boo kclub has been together over 20 years and we still discuss the books. I wonder how much longer that will last? What we do differently from yours is invite new members when someone leaves. Have you considered that or do you have a special group that you want to keep the same?
ReplyDeleteWe have not tried to fill the empty spaces. We do discuss the books as we are reading them through texts and phone calls, but when we are together we just talk about whatever is going on in our lives.
DeleteAs luck would have it, I have been pining to poop at your house! Thanks for the invite. but, you will get little notice. I can eat beef and see if the poop killer works. I still have not found the Boy Scout knife I bought my son when he was about nine. He will be fifty in April. It was in a small box, and I suspect I threw it out. Hope your gifts did not meet the same fate.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I could have thrown them out but they were all wrapped and sparkly and bowed so I probably didn't!
DeleteWhat a nice way to all get together. It probably started out as a book club and then just grew from there right! Oh and thanks for the idea of a pillow spray. As I go through the year I write down ideas for gifts and that sounds like something that would make a good gift for one of my daughters-in-law (or even just for myself - why not)! Anna
ReplyDeleteWe started as a true bookclub, but with dinner also. We still read the books and we talk about them with each other but rarely at official book club anymore.
DeleteI made a couple of additional bottles of the spray for the lake place. I have become almost addicted to lavender on my pillow.
I would visit in a heart beat.
ReplyDeleteAnd love your creativity. I do hope those gifts surface before next Christmas though. Which may be an impossible dream.
If you find yourself in the Southern States I will leave the light on for you!
DeleteGreat story. I stilll can hardly believe PooPouri is a real product and those are real commercials.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's hard to believe they air those. I sprayed some in the powder room toilet this morning after I cleaned it. I am going to start spraying it each morning because it makes the room smell really good without the chemical smells in air freshener.
ReplyDeleteLoved the story of the book club! You'll find the gifts, eventually; hopefully, in time for Christmas 2018! At least it wasn't some food that might have gone bad in the meantime!
ReplyDeleteHaha! I was not even looking for them and found them today!
Delete