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The memory of needing [SOMETHING] is strong. It keeps niggling at my brain – you need to get this, something is missing, make sure you get this.
The memory of talking about [SOMETHING] is strong. All three of us were in the kitchen. My daughter was eating ramen with eggs and edamame. My husband had just returned from the office. I can see myself informing my husband, “I am going to buy [SOMETHING] and reusable chopsticks for Carla.” He asked some follow-up questions about these items (this is how we keep one another’s spending in check; one of us expresses a need or want for something, the other pushes back, and we discuss whether we really need to spend money on said item) and I have a vague recollection that he disagreed slightly with my assessment of need. It wasn’t a strenuous disagreement, by any means, otherwise I would have simply crossed the [SOMETHING] off my mental list.
But what is the [SOMETHING]?!?!
This has been bothering me for two days. Yesterday, I was in the kitchen when it suddenly appeared to me: the [SOMETHING]. Ah yes, I thought, relieved. And then promptly forgot it again.
I have asked my husband and my child. Both recall the conversation. Neither remembers what the [SOMETHING] was.
WHAT WAS IT?!
I suppose that it must not have been super important, if I have forgotten it so easily. (Twice.) But also, it keeps itching at my brain, which makes me feel like it must be moderately important.
Memory works in such strange and funny ways. I have been wracking my brain, trying to figure out the identity of [SOMETHING], and have come across several other things:
- New shoes for the treadmill: Yes, I do need these. The heels are wearing through in my current shoes. But that’s not THE [SOMETHING].
- Kitchen mat: Yes, the first one I ordered claimed it was washable in the online description, but the tags on the item itself said it was not washable. So I still need a replacement for our well-worn existing mat. But… it’s not the [SOMETHING] I can’t remember.
- Hair dryer stand: I mean, I long for one of these every time I bathe the cat and spend twelve hours blow drying him. But this isn’t it either.
I find it fascinating that I can both not remember what the [SOMETHING] IS, and yet be so very clear on what it ISN’T.
It has to be something kitchen-related, doesn’t it? I mean, I mentioned it to my husband while were all the kitchen, so it seems like that was the trigger? Or maybe it was the fact that Carla was eating ramen with a fork (the horror!) and so the desire for reusable chopsticks was fresh in my mind? I have no idea.
What do you think it was????
Okay, so onto something that I DO remember, which is a magical gel that my mother introduced to me.
She has touted the wizardry of this gel before: when my daughter and I visit her in the summer, and inevitably get eaten by mosquitoes, she pulls out the magic gel and applies it to our bites. It contains an anesthetic that soothes the pain and itching, but it also has an antiseptic element. It works so well that I now have some of my own, which I either purchased or stole from my mother.
Just last week, I was visiting my parents and I had a giant zit forming on my chin. One of those awful, painful, enormous, bright red cystic pimples that make you feel like you have a glowing neon ACNE! sign on your face. My mother pulled me into her bathroom, wiped my dermal leviathan with hydrogen peroxide, and dabbed some of the magic gel on it. “This will work in 24 hours,” she vowed.
Sure, mom.
I knew better; this kind of pimple lasts at least a week, and I was on Day 2, the point at which it had just begun to breach the surface of my skin.
The next day, it had shrunk to half its size and the pain was gone. The day after that, it had vanished back into the depths of my cells. HOW?! I have never in my life had a zit cure that worked so fast or so well! Certainly not since I got diagnosed with papulopustular rosacea a couple of years ago, when pretty much any pimple treatment simply made my face double down with a profusion of additional spots.
Anyway. The magic gel costs less than $5 on Amazon, and I’m guessing it sells for a similar amount at your local drugstore, and it is amazing and has at least two more uses than it seems to claim. What else might it treat?!
It is our second snow day of the week. Carla is once again doing Remote Learning, which is giving me unpleasant flashbacks to 2020.
Snow continues to seethe ceaselessly through the grey.
I am constantly forgetting {SOMETHING} and it drives my batpoop crazy!
*Wailing* I cannot for the life of me find a place to buy the magic gel in Canada. Though a Google search is suggesting eBay! Apparently, this wizardry is a tightly held American secret…
Oh my goodness, how strange! WHY is it not available in Canada?!?!
I loathe when I have those mystery moments. Like you, I usually can recall every thing surrounding it – the conversations and reactions, the place it went down – but when it comes down to the specific *whatever*? Sigh … why do our brains do this? 😂
I hope you remember it – for keeps – soon! 🙂
I read once that our brains benefit from the act of remembering — although I seem to recall (ha) that the examples were about trying to find a word that had slipped from mind, so perhaps it doesn’t apply to scanning one’s brain for all the ways it wants to spend money…
Okay, I’ve been wondering about this for weeks. Why are you bathing your cat? Cats don’t need baths? They bathe themselves. TELL ME ALL!!
Same question!
Campho Phenique! I remember that from when I was a child! I haven’t seen it in YEARS! Consider me influenced.
My memory has been worse since….entering menopause, losing my dad, getting covid, and the medication I take to prevent migraine. I do believe that writing has helped me- if I didn’t write, I’d be babbling and drooling.
Your Amazon affiliate income is going to spike from all of the $5 magic gel orders! I know I just added it to my cart. I have a good remedy for bug bites (the off label use of an old prescription eczema medication from one of the kids) but nothing that will make a one week pimple disappear in 24 hours.
Based on the tips in 168 Hours, Tranquility by Tuesday, and Best Laid Plans, I have really been stepping up my note taking so I am catching a lot more of the [SOMETHINGS] than I used to. But my [SOMETHING] retention rate is still not 100%.
Good luck with the endless snow school shutdown. I know those can make for some long days!
Since you were in the kitchen and talking about food, I would think it would be something food related or some kind of useful kitchen appliance. I do the same thing! I can remember all the details of the interaction EXCEPT the main part. I know that product; my late husband used it a lot for cold sores. My younger daughter and he were/are prone to them.
We used to use Campho Phenique for all of those things – a liquid, not a gel. But it was, indeed, magic… if you could tolerate the scent! Ahh, the 80s. Throw in some Sea Breeze and Noxzema and I’d be home.
I have had those exact memory lapses!! I hope you remember it eventually (you will)!
I know, I KNOW that exact kind of forgetting. When my parents were deciding if they should move here or near my sister, there were three major factors. I remember telling this to somebody, and I knew the first too and then…… I could remember the entire conversation until it petered off after the second item. Also, once I was listing what we had had for dinner the past few days and one day was just a blank until I finally remembered in the middle of the night that Matt and Eve had made pizza.
You will have to order me the Campho Phenique and keep it for when I come to Ohio, because I am determined to come to Ohio.
Those zits are the worst. For a while when my hormones were being weird during or after pregnancy I would get them on my neck, and they were insanely painful.
Obviously I am going to buy some of the magic gel.
I can’t STAND that feeling of knowing I was going to buy/do something, and then it’s GONE. I have paper and pen in almost every room of the house now (I do not have paper and pen in the bathroom, but have sometimes wished for a whiteboard in the shower), so that I can write it down—and then I will think, “No: I will remember this!” And then I forget!!!!
I recall Campo Phenique liquid as a child and, as I recall my mom seemed to use it for just about everything. I can almost even remember the smell. I imagine the gel is even better.
I can’t remember ANYTHING anymore. In fact, when my son came by to take a walk with me about a week ago, I insisted that we take my car to the park, so we could use the clicker because I couldn’t remember the code to the garage.
I hope you’ve remembered!
True story. Two years ago we went to England. We would be spending several days in London at the home of a blog friend and I asked her what she would like us to bring her. She said, “Have you heard of campho phenique?” I actually could remember the advertising jingle — “Stop hurting, start healing, with Campho Phenique.” I found it at the Kroger pharmacy and if it’s there, it must be everywhere. I’ve never used it but between you and Jenny for recommendations, I’m in!
I highly doubt it was this because grocery purchases don’t seem to be at the ‘discuss it with a spouse’ level of costs, but could it have been chipotles en adobo?
“and I used the last cube of frozen blended chipotle I had, and I didn’t see any other cans of chipotles in adobo in the cupboard, so I may have slipped up in my chipotle stocking.”
I had no idea that Campo Phenique had so many uses! I’ve never tried it, but I do remember the advertisements for it. They must have put on a good campaign! Does Lenny like getting a bath? I’d be terrified to bathe my cats! I’m pretty sure they’d shred me to bits!
I am of the age and temperament that practically requires that I forget why I entered the room.
Yes, that is what the snow is doing. Seething. Ceaselessly.
Now I want to buy the Campho Phenique at my local CVS and mail it to all of my Canadian friends. I wonder if they have any in stock?
We never bathed our cats…is it because Lenny has such luxurious locks? Does it keep them from getting matted? My stepmom has a Maine Coon, and I think she has to have her groomed for that reason.
The magic gel has been ordered!!! I am a mosquito magnet, and we have them year-round here in Florida. Also, pimples. THANK YOU!
Seems like my CVS has that product in stock! Will check it out. That’s the Worst feeling when you just can’t remember The Thing! I usually remember it about a week later; it’ll sneak into my head when I’m doing something completely unrelated. Also, related: not instantly recalling names of people! These days I have to think Hard about names. It’s terribly embarrassing when I’m introducing people, usually aquaintances, in a social situation and their name is just out of reach, even though I know it!
I don’t know what [SOMETHING] is, but you will tell us when you next remember, right? And that way, you won’t forget again.
I thought I was the only one with Mystery Moments? I feel so much better now! I wish I could help you remember what it is that you keep forgetting!
Suzanne, I remember using Campho Phenique in my childhood for something, but it wasn’t for cold sores. What did we use it for? Certainly not mosquito bites, as I don’t remember being eaten alive then, as I am now. I will add this to my mosquito regimen and see if it helps when they come back (any minute, I’m sure!)
I’ve done this exact thing. It usually takes shape in the form of something I want to add to my list of things to do, and it can drive me batty. It usually pops into mind when I’m not trying to think of it.
Two snow days, wow. It’s cold here – freaky cold and we are supposed to get snow on Friday, but we are not buried in snow. The two little girls go to schools without devices (which is our preference), but when they don’t have school there is no e-learning. So, crossing my fingers we don’t have any additional weather related days off. They were off on Friday due to the cold temps.
It drives me *nuts* when I can’t remember {SOMETHING} but rest assured, it happens to all of us regardless of age or time of day. I have the Brooks Ghost 16 (in black) and I love them! I also buy the “old” model because $95 is enough to spend on shoes that will wear out faster than I can say speed workout.