The other night, I decided to remove my toenail polish and clean up my toenails. They were not long enough to require cutting, just a little filing back. As I moved from toe to toe, I got to one toe where the nail was quite a bit longer than all the rest, like it had gotten skipped over during the last pedicure. I said to myself that this is my coke nail and that thought cracked me up like you wouldn’t believe. I did not mention this to anyone until now, mostly because the only person I know who would have found it to be as hilarious as I did is no longer physically here.

Michael and I have slightly different senses of humor.

Today is Michael’s first day back to work after a nice but weird summer break and I have to get back into the routine of things. One of those things is spending time on Sundays to prepare veggies for the meals we have planned during the week. I started doing this back in the early Spring and wanted to slap myself for not starting this habit earlier. I just didn’t realize how much easier this would make my life. Well, about a month ago, I received a newsletter from Wirecutter about this vegetable chopper. Normally I would say no to any kitchen gadget. No one needs a special tool for cutting avocados or pineapples. You just need a good set of knives, but this chopper went into my cart because sometimes I’m a sucker.

The chopper arrived and Michael immediately cut his finger on it while washing it. We had not even chopped a vegetable yet. It didn’t really come with instructions, just a small sheet of paper describing the different blades and a list of safety rules on the box. The best, most favorite safety advice on the box hands down goes to number two on the list: Get the kids away from it. That is the exact sentence. Since Michael has already demonstrated that he can’t be trusted with the new chopper, every time he goes to use it I yell “Get the kids away from it!” I don’t think he thinks this is as funny as I do. Really he should feel lucky that I let him use it. I had a mandolin for about five minutes once. I sliced open my thumb with it on the first try. Chris took it away and I never saw it again.

I used the chopper on Sunday to get our veggies ready for the week and I love it so much. Every time I chop onions, it looks like I’m bawling. Red, teary eyes. Snotty nose. The works. Even if all I ever do is use the chopper to chop onions, it was worth the money. It took me a minute to dice an onion and then it all fell into a closed container. The container is big enough for me to chop an onion and a bell pepper without needing to be emptied. Then I easily poured the contents of that container into a ziplock baggie and labelled it ‘Tacos’. There were no tears or sniffles in the process of chopping onions and my life is significantly improved. That chopper cut down the amount of time I used to spend chopping vegetables by half if not more. I got a bunch of things accomplished yesterday because I spent less time chopping.

Coke nail toenails and vegetable choppers, at first, don’t really sound like they belong in the same category, but both of these things are excellent examples of self care. I’m taking care of my toes. I’m eating lots of vegetables. I’m finding ways to make it easier to eat those veggies.

I’m making my life easier.