Squatty Potty

Posted by random olio

I know, I know… I somehow frequently bring up potty talk, but this time I could not resist. Last week I came across a Fast Company article about a new device called “Squatty Potty.” For those of you without kids, please keep reading as it is actually not a potty for training little ones. It is a potty for us all. I am including a video below that explains the process in full. The gist, in case you do not watch it, is this. For those of us that live in the western world, we sit on a nice porcelain vessel that allows for excrement to quickly flush away. What we have lost sight of is the best way for our bodies to shit it all out.

The Squatty Potty is a step stool of sorts that allows your feet to basically be the same height as your butt. When we sit normally on a toilet we are at a 90 degree angle, the Squatty Potty shifts your body to a 35 degree angle (see their website for illustrations). The way we sit on a toilet impacts our puborectalis muscle, and does not allow it to relax. By ensuring our body is in more of a squatting position, the puborectalis muscle is relaxed, allowing for ease in the pooping realm. Who knew!? I am fascinated.

Before I go out and buy one, I made a makeshift one yesterday out of 2 shoe boxes. If after a few days of trial I see amazing results, I might purchase the three pack. So beware future guests, you might just wonder why there is a “Squatty Potty” in your bathroom. It will be my treat to you.

What my email needs from you

Posted by random olio

Do you ever have days when you never see the end of your email inbox? When you could literally spend the entire day reading and responding to emails? I recently read this Fast Company article “Why Every Email Should Be 5 Sentences Long.” and it really made me think. What if we were blunt at the beginning of our email if we need someone to take action?

I will give you an example:

ACTION: I need you to review the below and give your feedback by 5 pm today.

[Body of the rest of your email that needs to be reviewed.]

I have always been of the email camp that an email should be a conversation, and I am not backing away from that stance. Except. Yes, there is an exception. I think it depends on the audience and intent of the email. If it is from a company and they are apologizing for an issue that they caused to a customer, then they need to have a more structured email. They need to greet the customer (just as they would if it was in person), state what needs to be said and conclude/say goodbye. That process I still strongly think needs to happen.

It is the action oriented emails that need a change in behavior. These are the exception. With the volume of emails that we receive on a given day, we all need help to know which emails are important. That is thanks to those of us who may have colleagues that have abused the red exclamation point to the extent that no one really knows if an email is truly urgent.

Try it today. Any action oriented emails, put ACTION at the top, and tell others right at the beginning what you need them to do with your message. I would love to hear how it goes.

Groundedness and gratitude

Posted by random olio

I recently read a book that has made it to my top ten list for 2013. It is a memoir of food, life, and recipes. I find that I am often a magnet for good food writing. Which is funny because I cannot cook for the life of me. I am a baker, but do not expect me to whip up a dinner, unless you want to go with raw foods. So when I read “Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes” by Shauna Niequist, not only was I inspired by her outlook on life, I found pages and pages of recipes that looked easy, unpretentious, and like the yummy comfort food that makes you want to snuggle on the couch with your significant other and nibble away.

Niequist intersperses God and her faith a bit throughout the book, but not in an over the top way. She made me think, ponder, and appreciate life and food so much more. She uses the word “groundedness” in this quote and I love it. Don’t we often look for what is next? For something more? Just last weekend I was looking at a painting of mine and said to Chris I want to give that painting another life. It is time to paint over it and move on. I do not do that often, as I love most of the artwork I have done, but there has always been something about this set of paintings that I have wanted to change. I am grateful for the time it served in our home, but time for something more.

“I want to cultivate a deep sense of gratitude, of groundedness, of enough, even while I’m longing for something more. The longing and the gratitude, both. I’m practicing believing that God knows more than I know, that he sees what I can’t, that he’s weaving a future I can’t even imagine from where I sit this morning.” page 59

Does Niequist mean this about that next job we want, or that person we want in our life? Who knows. Maybe it is our next meal that we are craving because we have such an insatiable desire for food — its tastes, flavors, and our craving for it. That could be, as she talked often about her addiction to food. Whatever it means I feel she has encapsulated such a wonderful idea. To cultivate gratitude and groundedness. To know that what we have is enough, even as we stay open for something more.

We cannot be overly grateful, and yet, in order to grow and not stay complacent we need to yearn for more. Gratitude and groundedness seem like just the right balance.

Holstee Manifesto

Posted by random olio

Many of you may already be familiar with the Holstee Manifesto. It has inspired many individuals in the last few years to live their life, and live their passion to the fullest. Last week, I came across this Fast Company article about mindfulness that mentioned the Holstee Manifesto.

A bit of background from the Holstee website about how the Manifesto came about: “Together with good friend and founding partner Fabian, a new journey starts for Holstee. This small team sits together on the steps of Union Square to write down the things in life they want to work towards, value and not forget, an inside document that would later become the Holstee Manifesto.”

It was a good reminder for me as I had forgotten about Holstee and it reinvigorated my thoughts to slow down more. I have a tendency to go.go.go, and not slow down too often. The article mentioned six ways the guys at Holstee handle mindfulness:

Presence // Architect your life // Personal time // Ask “why?” // Know your food and appreciate meals // Understand the impact of what you buy

In this go.go.go world, I try to keep up. I could do a better job at staying present, talking less, and creating more boundaries around my time. There are so many ways in our lives that we can slow down, and yet we do not. I find that I often cram as much as I can into each day. On one hand I live my live life to the fullest, and enjoy each and every day, but does doing that also take a toll? What would it look like to just be a vegetable for an hour a night, rest, relax, and ponder your day? Yet, the Holstee Manifesto says “Life is short.” So maybe as long as you are doing what you love the rest does not matter.

What do you think?

Must be over 21 to remove nail polish?

Posted by random olio

I might have been a Barbie girl, but I am not much anymore. Now I am a flip flop, comfy clothes wearing, keep it simple kind of girl. Having said all that, in the summer I like to paint my toenails. I have never been one to paint my fingernails. I like to keep my fingernails trimmed short, clean and free of polish. Toes on the other hand have an entirely different standard. I’ll tell you why. Feet are gross, and by connection so are toenails.

Since I am a flip flop girl, I spend most of the summer in my flip flops, which means my toes are freeing it all on their own. Since toes are gross, I have resorted to toenail polish. Generally speaking I keep them dark red, or my current color of a greyish blue. So when I came across this newsworthy information I was flabbergasted. Due to issues with using the acetone in nail polish remover for meth, CVS stores now require those purchasing nail polish remover to be over 18, show an ID, and you cannot purchase more than two bottles. I remember there were similar issues with Thera Flu, and now you can rarely find it in the store when you desperately need it.

Note: As of last Friday, CVS has reversed its decision and now it only applies in California, Hawaii, and West Virginia.

What will my toes do in the summer if nail polish remover becomes scarce? What has this world come to? Will we have a future of layers and layers of polish due to nail polish remover scarcity?

#firstworldproblems