Hello, my friends! I hope you are having a wonderful week. I admit that I have been doing a lot of reminiscing about our trip to Italy this week as I peek through our photos. It is, perhaps, because I am celebrating my birthday this weekend and remembering what a lucky lady I am to have experienced that this year. I am looking forward to celebrating with my family & friends this weekend and also have planned a much needed (and deserved) pedicure on my agenda.
It’s going to be an embarrassing visit, I admit!
I’m also looking forward to consuming some books this weekend and I have two good ones in this week’s stack. I have never read short stories before, but this collection is just amazing. Each time I finish a story, I’m just wowed and sit in that moment for a minute. To think they were all written by one woman. I also started this one on audiobook and it is fantastic and such a great narrator. Thank you, hoopla!
Here are a few things I have been indulging in this week:
Beltracchi: The Art Forgery
My husband and I LOVE watching documentaries about art and I have to say that Beltracchi: The Art Forgery is one of the most fascinating documentaries I have seen about a man who managed to dupe the art world for over 40 years. Wolfgang Beltracchi is an incredible artist that could have painted anything for himself, but instead decided to forge the art of famous artists for fun. The documentary starts just before he head to jail and tells how he, his wife, and two accomplices sold hundreds of these pieces as original works by famous artists including Max Ernst, Heinrich Campendonk, Fernand Léger and Kees van Dongen. In 2011, Beltracchi was sentenced to six years in prison and in this documentary he explains how they pulled it off and his reasoning for doing it.
You can stream this documentary through Netflix or it is available for streaming on Amazon!
I would not say they are apologetic about the work that they did so if things like that frustrate you, this one might not be for you. We found it be very compelling and gave this one a solid 4 out of 5 stars!
Clairol Age Defy Hair Color
I have been coloring my hair at home for years and years. At first I started doing this because it of the cost and now that I could afford the splurge I do at home because of my time constraints and frequency I would need to visit the salon (HELOOOOO, GRAYS!). I bounce around trying new color brands and I found out that my favorite brand (Nice ‘N Easy) has started a new Age Defy line that claims to fight the seven signs of aging. I can’t speak to the marketing slant on this product, but I can tell you that I absolutely LOVE this hair color. It has a little more depth in it than the original product and my hair actually felt healthier than it did before I colored it.
There is one extra step with this one though. It has a pre-treatment that you apply before adding the color on. You put it on your hair, but no additional rinsing or anything like that. It’s still really easy to use.
I have been getting lots of compliments on my locks after I used this so I’m feeling good and I love that it costs less than $10. For those that have dark brown hair like me, I stuck with the Medium Brown color and it is perfect!
I don’t know if I look ten years younger, but I was really pleased with the results!
Circle– One Month Later…
I have been getting a lot of texts and emails from friends asking how we are feeling now about Circle, the internet monitoring device we decided to use after things got admittedly BAD in our family. I can honestly say that it is working really well for us, but we did have one minor snafu that I would like to mention.
If you haven’t heard of it, Circle was created through a partnership with Disney and it is an internet monitoring device that you can purchase for a flat rate of $99 (no additional fees or monthly fees). You plug it in, it connects to your Wifi, and then you use an app to set up profiles for each family member so you can monitor each person in the home with their own settings, time limits, and bedtimes. You can also use the pause button on the app to pause a family member’s internet time or the whole family if you need family time.
When my son got behind on his science fair project this week, we made it “easy” for him to focus by pausing him until his project was done. As a punishment tool, it is easier than requesting his device or worrying if he was getting sneaky with us by sneaking it back. Super simple and a great way to take away privileges.
Our snafu was putting the devices to bed at a certain time and then going out on a date and them having no way to contact us which was kind of a scary evening when no one was responding to me. We now need to remember to extend the bedtime those evenings or make sure that we provide them another device (assigned to us) for them to be able to text us. Other than that though, this has honestly been super easy to implement and has been a wonderful addition to our home. It’s put us back in the control seat and I feel really good about that!
I would recommend this as an affordable and smart tool for any family with kids. Feel free to ask me questions on this one!
*this post may contain affiliate links- I only recommend what I love though. Check out past editions of It’s the 3 Little Things!
Now it’s your turn! What’s making you happy this week?