I have a problem: Yes, I know this is my subconscious’s way of trying to take control in uncertain times. Ridiculous subconscious.

I used to have self-control.

That was before I got hooked on the ‘tizer.

First I got small packages.  What Bath and Body works had in order to keep me in the classroom come Fall.  I didn’t pay attention to scent.  Most of the Spring scents available were unobtrusively pleasant and mild.

Then I ordered a huge supply from office max or something that would keep us set conceivably for the entire pandemic (we could just refill the little bottles as necessary, I thought).  It didn’t come in small sizes.  But that package didn’t come and didn’t come.

So I ordered more small containers from Bath and Body Works.  And I started noticing that I liked some of the scents better than others.  It came in different forms– gel and spritz.  Both were nice.  The spray was especially good for voter registration and protesting.

Finally the Office Max order came.  I had the generals for a hand sanitizer army.

But by this point, supplies were loosening up.  Hand sanitizer started being more readily available.  And the fall scents came out at Bath and Body works.

I desperately wanted to try these pumpkin spice and related scents.  And I wanted to get rid of and never use the summer scents that smelled strongly of men’s cologne.  Ocean.  Gingham.

I realized I could give some of these unwanted hand sanitizers away as prizes.  Surely that would justify buying more.  Even though I had enough large containers of the unscented kind.  So I bought the fall scents.  And some of those scents (Flannel, Eucalyptus spearmint ) were too strong and went into the prize pile.  Others were lovely.

But I only used up about one little container a month of the stuff I liked (DH tended to use the unscented bottles but wasn’t going through any quicker), and they came in packs of five.  And winter break came and I wouldn’t be going out anywhere.  I wouldn’t need any more sanitizer until school started again (though we did put some out along with snacks for delivery people to take).  Even though the winter scents had come out and I very much wanted to try them.  Peppermint.  Vanilla.  But no, Christmas would be over before I had a chance to use them again Spring semester.  Vaccines would be widely disseminated long before I could get through my army.  DH’s job-loss meant we were no longer stupidly high income.  I resisted, looking wistfully at the page every few (let’s be honest, I want to say weeks, but it’s actually) days.

Then the winter scent five-packs went on sale for $6 each because the Spring scents were coming in.

I caved.

My Hand Sanitizer Army

I’ve been pretty good since– the spring scents are out and I haven’t tried all of them, but I haven’t felt the need to get more.  Maybe that’s attributable to Joe Biden.  Or maybe I need to whittle the army down a bit before building it back up again.  Sadly the left Clorox container is almost empty and I was really lucky to score the right one at Target last month– we’re responsible for providing our own wipes and wiping down everything before each class.  The university provided us with exactly 10 wipes at the beginning of the school year along with a single terrible quality cloth mask (somehow DC1’s high school provided their kids with a way better quality mask including 3 layers of different fabrics and a nose thingy).

Have you been collecting any pandemic-related gear like sanitizer or masks?

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