July 28, 2005. It's random product endorsement day on World of Julie. Because hey, why not. It's been a while.

First of all, I love Dove's new volumizing mousse conditioner (officially called Extra Volume Foam Conditioner). I bought it because it seemed like a fun little novelty: conditioner that foams up like mousse. But it has turned out to be the best conditioner I've used in a while. So if you have a lot of straight hair that just hangs limply, like I do, give it a try (note: my hair's natural inclination is to hang limply, this isn't a description of how it looks after I've used the new conditioner).

Secondly, I have to say my life has been somewhat transformed (really!) by the Scrubbing Bubbles Fresh Brush disposable toilet cleaner thing. I am usually someone who is so vehemently against disposable cleaning products (except for paper towels, upon which I have an unnecessary addiction that I'm forever trying to break free from), but I guess I am someone who is also vehemently against cleaning the toilet with a regular toilet brush. There is something about taking the dripping toilet brush out of the toilet and putting it back into the little holder which just makes me feel like my whole arm is crawling with microscopic skeevybugs. Consequently, I'll admit the toilet didn't get scrubbed too often. But now that I can just eject the little toilet scrubby right into the water and cleanly flush it away, I actually clean the thing before it looks like it needs it. And I think the disposable brush happens to clean much better than that ratty old non-disposable brush did anyway. Now, I know there are about 16 different varieties of these things available now, so maybe you use one that you like better, but the Scrubbing Bubbles one is just the one I happened to get about a year ago, because I had a coupon. But I have to wholeheartedly endorse any product that makes a habitual non-cleaner (who wants to be reformed, mind you, and become a cleaner) actually clean more often. Thus ends a paragraph of purple prose about a toilet cleaner.

P.S. Gracious, the Scrubbing Bubbles site also advertises a frightening new shower cleaning system that involves spraying who- knows-what chemicals all over your bathroom. It's an intriguing idea, and fun in a sort of Jetsons way, but judging from the walk of the cartoon lady in the demo, she has already begun to suffer neurologically from random particulate spray.

July 26, 2005. Don't you just love what we've done with the place?

In an attempt to discourage door-to-door solicitations, we have removed our front door entirely. Our neighbor remarked on how the tar paper adds a nice goth look, which also might help repel unwanted callers.

July 21, 2005. So it's been a hot, rainy summer here so far.

Changes on World of Julie! The Cat Page has been sent to the archives. It was a little ridiculous to keep the cat icon on every World of Julie page, when the cat page itself hasn't been updated in years, and one of the cats (Theo) is no longer with us.

Also, another World of Julie page that hasn't been updated in years, the Book Club page, has been revised. Our local book club is no more, but I still read, after all, so now I'll use that page for posting reviews of books I enjoyed.