Red Tuesday

Late posting today. I swear, I think my creative writing skills are frozen, it's so effing cold out!

Yesterday was 'Blue Monday' -- what is supposedly the most depressing day of the year, because it's not just any Monday (those are bad enough all on their own). It's the first Monday after the Bacchanalia of the holidays, that first day when you reflect on not only how much you overindulged but also how much winter is left (thank you, polar vortex, for that subtle, sub-arctic reminder). Yup, life is the sh*ts.

The new Crate & Barrel catalog doesn't help matters. About half the catalog is spent pushing all manner of cleaning things. Brooms, dusters, fancy buckets, blah blah blah. Even cleaning supplies -- like, actual sprays and scrubs and what-have-you -- from the 'Better Life' brand that Crate started selling last year.

You ate too much! Spring is a lifetime away! Your house is filthy! Happy Blue Monday!

That's not the only rub: do any of these products actually improve your life? That imported hardwood scrub brush doesn't change the fact that someone still has to do the scrubbing. The $20 wash tub (with built-in drain!) doesn't mean I don't have to wash dishes. All it means is that I STILL have to wash dishes, but with my wallet $20 lighter -- money that I could have used to save up for a cleaning service.

And you know what else? Those expensive Better Life products that Crate is schilling aren't all that better. EWG wasn't impressed. Sure, like every other brand, Better Life has a few products that rate well, a few that rate horribly, and the rest that flounder somewhere in the middle (or closer to the bottom).

Maybe I was a little touched by Blue Monday yesterday. I flipped through the catalog and wasn't inspired; I was annoyed. I saved myself a lot of money by tossing that catalog right into the recycle bin. Then I fell asleep on the couch watching TV.

Happy hibernating,
Jazzy