It changed my life...

Do you ever have a product come into your life that is a "life changer"?  Something that after you discover it you wonder how you lived without it and would like to hug the inventor?  If so, I would love if you would share in the comments of this blog. I think we could all use a few revolutionary inventions or gadgets in our lives to make them easier.  As a family, we will sometimes joke about inventions that we are super thankful for.  Obviously items like the refrigerator, microwave, car, etc... were game changers when they were invented.  What has been invented in your lifetime that you can't live without today.

I'm super thankful for the cell phone.  I know that they have become way too all consuming and that we spend too much time on them.  But in reality, I am glad that I never have to go back to the days of printing off mapquest directions and having someone read them to me as I tried to drive through rush hour in The Cities.  Or wondering where in the heck my ride was or my kid was or when I was supposed to be somewhere.  Anyone who knows me knows that I would never remember anything or be on time anywhere if it weren't for the calendar and reminder apps.  And don't even get me started on the calculator.  There is a small mean part of me that wants to call up every math teacher I ever had who said, "What are you going to do someday when you don't have a calculator with you?  You're not going to have one with you everywhere you go!"  Oh yes I am!  But today isn't about the cell phone.

It's a little known, overlooked and under appreciated gadget called....

the headlamp. 

I'll be honest.  When Tim first offered me his and was wearing it to help with chores one time, I actually thought to myself "no way in heck am I wearing that thing.   It looks ridiculous and the horse's hate when it shines in their eyes."  I mean, in their defense, imagine what it must look like to them.  It has to seem like those crazy humans have sprouted a bright blinding EYE in the middle of their forehead.  So I held off using it for as long as possible. 

I do chores early in the morning.  When it is still pitch dark out.  I turn on the yard light which helps with a lot of things.  One of the chicken coops has a light in it which makes it super easy to feed and water those chickens.  Well, both have a light in them but one of the coops has a WORKING light fixture.  But the yard light doesn't reach the horse pasture or the second chicken coop.  Enter the cell phone flash light.  It works great and I have kind of become a ninja at balancing it under my chin or even holding it in my teeth while I pour water in or undo fences, etc...  And then I dropped my phone one day and it missed going in the stock tank by inches.  So I thought to myself.... "Self.  What's more important?  Your cell phone (see above) or your pride?"  And then I thought to myself that literally NO ONE is up when I am doing chores so who is going to see me anyways? 

The next day I used the headlamp and I am never doing chores without it again.  Sure the horses still look at me like I'm the creature from the Black Lagoon.  But I'm throwing them food so they quickly have gotten over their fear.  Food is the world's greatest motivator to horses.  Hands free flashlight? Heck yeah.  I can literally do every single chore and walk anywhere without having to turn on any light switches in buildings or worry about dropping the phone, my buckets, the hay, etc...  No more tripping over snow piles or slipping on the ice.  I can see where I am going.  This little gadget has changed chore time for me forever.  I don't care if I feel like a coal miner, I don't care if I look like an idiot.  I am wearing this sucker every single time from here on out.  Maybe in the spring I'll even spring for one of those super sexy light up baseball caps. 

So what gadget has revolutionized your life?  I bet you weren't expecting the headlamp to be such a big deal.  But then, as always, it is the little things.