Cvt2dvm - CVT To DVM

1 shot of whiskey (Irish is best here, I go for Jamesons or Bushmills) 16 oz hot water, 3 honey dabbers of honey, 1 bag of sleepy time honey, one bag sleepytime extra strength with valerian. Drink alongside 5mg melatonin and a 60% dark chocolate truffle. Particularly good for easing the bones and arthritis in winter. Also you can add a bit of heavy cream or whole milk to really add some decadence to this routine.

Chai tea bag + lil but of brown sugar + apple cider packet + 16 oz. mug of hot but not quite boiling water

it will not Fix You but like. maybe. maybe.

gaza will become glass and borders in europe will be redrawn and women will die in hospital parking lots and democracy will die in silence.

your protest vote sure showed the biden administration, tho.

Buy This, Buy That, "Less than a coffee now!" It seems like every time we're on social media, we're bombarded with products, fashion trends, advertisements, and new "aesthetics" that, conveniently for drop shippers and fast fashion empires, require us to buy a whole new wardrobe and interior design scheme. So, here are my top 10 tips for breaking the cycle.

Figure out who you are. Rather than the you the advertising algorithms tell you that you are.

Go through your current closet, jewelry box, vanity, and decor. Keep what makes you happy, and toss, sell, or donate what doesn't anymore. Yes, this includes those impulse dopamine-seeking purchases and the "little treats."

Make a list of things you realistically do in your day-to-day life that may need closet supplementation from what a standard "capsule" wardrobe would offer you. Church clothes? Sport-specific clothing? Officewear? Do you do a lot of formal events that require attire for certain dress codes? Do you do date night and girl's night outfits? For example: I need dependable workwear for after-hours farm calls so I keep about 5 items in my wardrobe that fit that function. I also keep a bit more workout clothing than some would since I work out 6 days a week.

In the same vein as number 3, are there places where you can increase cross-over between categories in your wardrobe? For example, choosing well-fitted tees that can be worn as under-scrubs and as casual tops around town?

Figure out if there are colors and shades that you look best in/feel the most confident in. There isn't a need to do the one-size-fits-all color analysis that TikTok and Instagram are constantly trying to sell you on reels based on the seasons. Figure out which colors you are complimented the most in, that you feel the best in, and that inspire the most positivity for you. Narrow it down to 4 or 5 colors for both colors and neutrals (blacks, grays, whites, nudes). I did 2-3 colors per season, plus my standard neutrals.

Figure out your style. Personally, I tend to have a fashion that draws inspiration from American traditional, southern prep, English country attire, and the fashions of foxhunting. Think Orvis, LL Bean, Cordings, Dubarry, Talbots, Tory Burch, Ted Baker, and Lily Pulitzer. In decor, I tend to be drawn toward colonial era antiques, leather upholstery, campaign furniture, heavy fabric drapes, ox tongue wood finishes over cherry, oil paintings, black marble, gray field stone, and polished brass. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I found it by perusing fashions, furniture, decor, even TV and movies for things I adored.

Quality over Quantity: This is a big one. Rather than buying a new outfit every time I wanted to do something, or buying each cute accessory I saw and wanted to buy on impulse, I started getting really picky about the materials and workmanship in the things I purchased. Cheap may look good for a brief time, but it fades quickly. The things I buy now need to fit well, be of good material, be tailorable, have finished seams and edges, and be of substantial enough material that I trust that it will last me 2-10 years depending on the item, with some items being things I intend to only buy once in the cases of jewelry and scarves.

Cool off: This product looks like it would solve XYZ problem for me! Will it? Put it on a wish list and save it for later. If you still think it's going to revolutionize your life a month later, work it into the budget.

Quit buying from TikTok Shop, the majority of the stuff on there is drop-shipped junk made to capitalize on a quick trend, which is also part of why there's always pressure added to the pitch "before it sells out" "For less than the price of a coffee" "While the sale is on" if a product can be sold for $9 when it's usually $100, the deal is too good to be true, and the product won't last. Same goes for Shien and Forever 21 if I'm honest.

Focus on 1-2 items per season, an accessory, a cute top or a fun dress. Reducing my consumption to replacement levels plus 1 or 2 items has drastically cut my spending on fashion and decor. I also check second-hand stores first.

I went ahead and included some inspiration boards for you, one with pretty typical accessories for me, one to help better visualize my fashion sense, and then 2 palettes, my colors and my neutrals. I hope you all liked this, I'll also be doing a breakdown of my jewelry, vanity, and closet here soon.

Love,

This doesn't seem that different from a parfait or tower desert if you ignore the plating style...

I didn’t know having like banana bread/muffins etc WITH your yogurt and fruit was common?? like in the same bowl and everything:

Quit over buying

Hunt and utilize your entire harvest, stop going for big racks, focus on meat and pelt quality

Get a simple milk soap bar for hair body face etc

Cut unnecessary subscriptions

Buy bulk where you can

Speaking of can, learn how to can so you can preserve your foods you grow/buy during the growing season for the off season

Swap bread for rice 20 lbs bag of rice is $15 lasts 6-12 months for a single individual and provides sufficient carbohydrates

Yogurt and hard cheeses > milk lasts significantly longer

Ground meats are cheap, easier to integrate organ meats into, and take up less freezer space than cuts, you also have better control over your fat intake and the price per pound is a fraction of cut meats

Canned chicken breast: versatile, good storage life, shelf stable, and cheaper than buying chicken breasts

Ramen + produce is better than Ramen alone, and cheaper than eating out

ways to actually save money

stop buying animal products ($10 for a single meal vs $10 for months worth of beans) + benefit of saving planet

use wash cloths for wiping urine + benefit of saving planet.

get a menstrual cup or panties. yes, even if you have a heavy flow.. the chemicals in tampons and pads leads to heavier, more painful, and smellier periods. +benefit of saving planet.

shampoo bars, lasts way longer + benefit of saving planet.

stop buying name brand

stop buying makeup + benefit of saving planet

stop buying nail polish + benefit of saving planet

stop buying synthetic clothes. + benefit of saving planet

reuse (soap free) tub and shower water for plants, laundry. + benefit of saving planet.

hang clothes to dry, even if you don't have an outdoor area. hang in the windows, by fireplaces, by heaters and ac units. + benefit of saving planet

stop buying niche chemical products. for almost every single cleaning situation you only need soap, baking soda, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and bleach. this goes for gout removal, rust removal, urine removal, window cleaner, sanitizing wipes, literally every single thing. + benefit of saving planet

repurpose old clothes and towels by making them into wash cloths and oven mitts.

stop buying from shein, temu, amazon, and using afterpay. (im not demonizing pay later. i utilize it all the time. I've just found a lot of people who do use these payment methods treat it like a 'buy now, pay NEVER' option and are surprised when it fucks them over)

remember this any time someone tries to tell you being eco friendly isn't affordable.

know what really isnt affordable? buying disposable products every week.

My answer to this, and I've just figured this out in the past 6 months or so, is being largely apolitical on social media. There's a few reasons for this:

Social media is built on engagement metrics, so the most ragebaity, sensationalist accounts covering current events get the most engagement and therefore end up in your feed the most.

Social media is the least effective method of praxis

Social media also has the most room for misinformation, disinformation, and propoaganda.

Social Media also has a habit of engaging with news, politics, and political discourse in the worst possible bad faith.

What I do instead:

During my morning coffee I listen to my local NPR station.

I have a few select news podcasts from a variety of leans and angles, (The New Yorker, NPR, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The American Conservative) that I rotate throughout the week, so that I have a bit of background on what all positions of the media are saying about certain issues.

Using Allsides for big issues, find them here. They present articles from across the political spectrum on current events issues, primarily for US politics.

CSPAN is your friend. It is... quite literally just the facts, with opinion lines for both liberals and conservatives, and it's where most of the livestreams of congress and political events are done.

I’ve seen quite a few people this past week ask something along the lines of ‘how to be up-to-date and properly informed about current events and politics and also not get super depressed?’

While most of these were phrased in a joking matter, it actually is a really good question. Being able to balance awareness of the shitty things happening in the world, but not letting that shittiness destroy you is a skill.

Being well informed is vital. However, if you become so informed that it’s starting to effect your life, you’ve gone too far.

The point of being aware of current events, especially bad ones, is so you can do something about it. Read about it, post about it, donate to charity, volunteer, etc. Something you can’t do if your overwhelmed with (rightful) anger and sadness.

So the answer to the original question is that you become informed enough that you want to do something about it, but do not overload yourself to the point where you feel too depressed to take any action.

Burying your head in the sand isn’t good. But neither is doomscrolling into oblivion. Find that middle where you are actively interested in what is happening in the world, but not to the point where it becomes a hinderance to regular life.

Being aware of the world around you is super interesting, but don’t spiral. Misery loves company. Stay informed, stay active, stay hopeful.

Sorry, I've been away lately, Y'all. The patients have been good and interesting, and instead of blogging about it here, I've been talking about it with my local Farrier (and living my childhood horsegirl's dream of dating & attending church with a kind and handsome farrier) so I've been a little busy, I'm also on Instagram now under the same tag. Sooooo yeah