List of Six

I just got an email that talked about the List of Six.  I am over 50 flipping years old and am just now being told about this! What gives?  Why am I always out of the loop?

Apparently there is a List of Six things that you are allowed to be as snobby about as you want to be.  But only six.  After that you are just being a snob and no one wants to put up with your triflin' ass.

This article gave examples of the perfect cup of coffee, hubcaps, head-turning boots, whatever floats YOUR boat.  You are allowed six items to be that particular about and the whole world will be with you and support this.

So of course I had to start thinking about what my perfect List of Six might be.  And as they love to say on DWTS, "here in no particular order" is my list.

1. Vosges Chocolate Bars

Have you tried these?  Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness.  The absolute BEST chocolate bars made.

The very first one I ever tried is the Red Fire Bar.

It's like letting all the best things about Mexico melt on your tongue at the same time.  Deep chocolate, vanilla, a little cinnamon, and then different types of dried chiles that wake up the back of your throat. Lordy, lordy, I don't even know what to tell you about this one.  It is still my favorite, even after trying so many others.

My second favorite bar from Vosges is the Mo's Bacon Bar.  Chocolate, applewood bacon and alderwood smoked salt all combine to make the perfect taste experience ever.

Until . . . . .  My sister bought me a box of Vosges Mo's Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix!

I know, right!!!

Some warm pure maple syrup on top of those babies and you will want to sit right up and slap your mama.  It's like a bit of heaven on a fork.

So yeah, I am gonna be a snob about the Vosges chocolate.  Check out their website to see all the outstanding flavor combinations and giftie stuff they have.

2. This one is going to be completely different, but I am going to be a pushy advocate here.  I have become extremely selective about how things are packaged, where they come from and how those companies choose to treat their employees and Mother Earth.  So if I have a choice of a product that is inexpensive but bad environmentally produced or an alternative that is much more sustainably produced and more expensive I am going to support the sustainable one.  Less often due to the cost, but enough so that they know to keep doing what they are doing.

Case in point; I was looking for some bay scallops for a recipe the other day.  Bay scallops are the cute smaller ones about the size of mini marshmallows, not the big ones you want to wrap with bacon.  The store I was at had 2 scallops, the big ones and the little ones.  I needed the smaller ones for my recipe (which I need to share with you) but on the sign in the scallop bin in the fine print it said 2 things that got me. 1. Farm Raised and 2. Product of China.  Ewww and Ewwwww.  There was so much wrong with that product there was no way in hell I was going to buy it.

If you don't believe me just go google factory farming of fish and seafood and see what you think.  Then think about doing that in China.  They are willing to put melamine in the baby formula, put almost nothing in their cheaper drugs so essentially you are wasting your money and NOT getting well by taking them, and to top it all off these scallops then have to be shipped all the way across the world to get here.  That sounds safe and appetizing, doesn't it?

By the by these farm-raised Chinese bay scallops were going for 5.99 per lb.

The other scallops that I ended up buying claimed to be wild-caught from the U.S.A.  They were 15.99 per lb.

I consider the extra $20. I paid for those 2 lbs. of scallops a bargain.  And if it meant that I couldn't afford the difference, then we would have had beans and rice instead.  Be selective and never settle for an inferior product.  I promise you won't be happy with it anyway.

So that is my number 2.

3. My Teva sandals.

I used to be a shoe-holic.  I had so many pairs of shoes it was crazy!  Like more than 100 crazy.  That's how crazy I was about shoes.  Love the shoes!  I still love shoes.

But if I look at my life on a day-to-day basis and what I do and where I go and what I wear to these things, I see a pattern of wearing the same 7 or so pairs of shoes on a more consistent basis and the others less often.

And I said to myself the other day, "Self, if you could only have one pair of shoes for the rest of your days, which ones would they be?"

My Teva sandals.  Hands down. Number one choice, no debate.  Love the Tevas!  Other than dressing up, there is nothing you can't do in these shoes.  Nothing.

4. Giant screen t.v., cable and dvr.

Oh please!  I know it makes me look like a wiener that watches too much mind-numbing t.v.  But have you met me?  I can't imagine any person that loves their t.v. as much as I do.  And t.v. combined with a great cable package with a dvr?  Well, you have just hit the motherlode!!

I can think of many, many things I would, and do, give up to keep that t.v., cable, dvr combo going.

5. Customer Service.

I am fanatical about great customer service.  If you as a company don't care enough to put your best people in the front lines dealing with your customers, you don't deserve to have my money end up in your profits.  That's it.

Treat me with respect, consideration and above all, do what you say you will do.  Have some integrity, for heaven's sake!  And I will be a loyal customer forever.  But you fuck me over and treat me badly (speaking directly to YOU dickweeds at Home Depot) and that's it.  We are done.  I will never, never darken your door, I will never drop another penny into your coffers and I WILL tell every single person I ever come in contact with about your shoddy excuse for customer service.

Oh hell, now I have gone and gotten on my high horse about the jackwagons at Home Depot again.

I treat my clients with the respect that I expect to be shown and can't imagine why it should ever be otherwise.  And this is why I am happy with T-Mobile.  They are always, and I mean ALWAYS, great to deal with.

Yay T-Mobile!!  (boo, hiss on the Home Depot)

6. My Borsa Bella Bag.

I have shown you my Borsa Bella bag before.  (Good Lord, that was alliterative!!)

This is the fabric I chose.  It's called Kleo Pink.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I have the larger Kindle DX and so I have the larger eReader bag to house it.  In the front zipper pocket I have room for the headphones, the little reading light, the charging cord and any other little things I need to have with my Kindle.

If you have an electronic device of any kind , an iPad, an eReader, a laptop, whatever it is, if you want to carry it around with you safely and in style you should have a custom-made Borsa Bella Bag.   I truly love my Borsa Bella bag.  Enough so that I called Melissa and had her custom make a particular bag with a certain fabric and do custom monogram on it for my mama for her birthday.

So go check out Borsa Bella Bags and tell Melissa I sent you.  She had a deal on facebook for a while that if you liked her page she would give you a code for a discount.  Check it out and see if it is still running.

Okay, that's my List of Six for today.  I am sure if I made it again next week it might be different.  Maybe not.  But it's a woman's perogative to change her mind.  Just ask Bobby Brown!

Please do share your List of Six here, I would love to see them.