Month: August 2015

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Skin Care

Sometimes my friends and family tell me that they think I am crazy. Over the years I have tried several different Natural and Organic Skin Care and Makeup products, and when they come in a pretty jar, when the jar is empty, I wash and save the jar. (Yes, I am a packrat, but not a hoarder – yet! I actually DO throw some things away, and donate other things to charity organizations like GoodWill and local thrift stores like hospital auxiliary thrift stores!) I have a nice collection of pretty jars.

These jars don’t sit empty forever, though. I like to buy hand and body lotions that come in a pump-style plastic bottle. I like keeping them on the counter-tops beside the bathroom lavatory and the kitchen sink, and pump some lotion on my hands (and rub the lotion on my throat, neck and elbows) after I wash my hands. The lotions that I use are so thick that once the level of the lotion gets too low to pump out, turning the bottle upside down to drain into another bottle does not work.

Rather than throwing out the remaining lotion (there is often more than 1/3 cup of lotion left!) I will take a very sharp kitchen knife and cut the plastic bottle open. Then I use a spatula to scoop out the remaining lotion and deposit it into one of the pretty, empty jars that I had saved. Then I will use that lotion from the jars until that runs out before putting a fresh plastic pump bottle on the counter-top! I like how this saves money and reduces waste of product!

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Cooler weather

It really cooled down last night. The temperature gauge on the porch read only 63 degrees at about midnight and I was chilly even in sweat pants and a sweat shirt. I put on some fluffy socks and sat outside for awhile looking at the stars. The night sky was so black and clear and there were so many stars that could be seen, it sort of made me realize exactly how small we are, if that makes sense. This morning I noticed that the leaves one of the dogwoods in the front yard is starting to change to red already! It won’t be long now before we are all complaining about the winter weather again!

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Have you ever wanted to get published?

I have a lot of friends that tell me that they would love to be able to have some of their writings get published, but they don’t know how to get started. I often tell them that they could start their own blog, for free, using WordPress, but that seems to scare them off somehow. I think that they are afraid that they will then have a huge commitment to write everyday.

Some of them try using Facebook, but I don’t really think that is the best platform for creative writing, and to be honest, I’ve struggled with trying to find older posts on Facebook. A lot of people will post something on Facebook and write “Share on your own wall so you can find it again.” I have not had good luck finding that thing I shared again – ever!

Believe it or not, I get a lot of emails from people asking me if I will pay them money for them to write a guest post on my own blog. I wouldn’t mind doing that from time to time, except that the people then want me to pay them big money for inferior writing that is really all about promoting their own services or product! They claim it will help my search engine rankings, but I know better than that. I get angry that so many people think I am that ignorant!

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Hard to Be One Handed

Silly me has hurt her arm. Well, hurt my wrist is more accurate. I was in a hurry, I slipped on the porch steps and I fell. I can’t even blame it on anyone else by my own silly fault. I don’t think it is broken, but it sure hurts.

I think I will keep it wrapped tight in an elastic bandage today and if it still hurts this badly in the morning then I might try to see a doctor about it. I just don’t want to waste anyone’s time and money if all I did was sprain my wrist. Sure, it’s hard to do anything around here with just one hand. But a sprained wrist takes it time healing up and as long as it is not actually broken, there is nothing I can do except keep it wrapped and deal with it for a week.

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Adapters are a good thing

I have to admit that I have a love-hate relationship with technology sometimes. I think technology is great, but there are so many different connection types for things that it can make my head spin! Would you believe that I have three drawers full of different types of adapters? These are an accumulation of at least twenty years! Some of them are a mystery to me at this point. I wish I had been smart enough to put them each in a zipper-type of plastic bag and labelled the bag with what type of adapter was in the bag! Doing that would come in really handy when I need to find a dmx 5 pin to 3 pin adapter! I am going to start doing that, starting with the next time I am putting an adapter in the drawer! And from now on, when I have to rummage through the drawer to find an adapter, when I find what I need, I will label it before it goes back in!

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The best iced tea

I drink a lot of tea, but normally it’s all herbal, as I really don’t like the speedy feeling that happens to me when I drink anything with caffeine in it. It makes me shaky and very jittery. I must admit though, now that warm weather is here, I make sun tea and only use Luzianne tea for it. I realize that there is caffeine in it, but this kind of tea doesn’t give me that shaky feeling that I hate. Plus, in my opinion it is the best brand for iced tea! I’m pretty picky about my iced tea and do not use sugar at all in it. I’ll never change brands.

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Decorating Ideas

Although I don’t have a lot of money, I love to look at magazines and websites that showcase interior decorating. I like to fantasize about how beautiful my house could be “if only” I had plenty of money and the kind of family that wouldn’t break everything within two hours of the arrival of the items I had purchased! Today I was looking around at the domestications bedding section of a website that sells home and patio decor and was surprised to see that they were selling melamine serving ware for what I would consider a hefty sum of money!

I can remember when I first moved out of my parents’ house, my first set of dishes was melamine. I bought them because they were the least expensive set I could find. I was really pleased with them because they were not likely to chip or break, and they lasted a good long time. (I don’t remember whatever happened to them – did I donate them to charity?) Anyway, I was surprised to read the descriptions of these particular melamine products, how the descriptions said that melamine was highly valued for their durability. Made me wish I still had those plates (maybe they would be worth some serious money!)

But continuing to read the fine print about melamine, I saw that it is not recommended for use in the microwave, and that hand washing is recommended. The description said you could wash them in an automatic dishwasher but over time it would ruin the finish. Thinking about how almost all of my cooking is done in the microwave, and how much I use my dishwasher to wash my dishes, pots and pans, I was quite surprised to learn that there really is still a market for melamine dishware at all!

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Time flys

This summer seems to be flying by really fast, and it seems that with working so many hours, I’ve missed it. I’ve wanted to do so much this summer, but all of July it seems that I was not feeling well at all. I think it was the heat that got to me. It never bothered me before this year. Is this a sign I’m getting old? (Horrors!!) Anyway, it is already August and where did the days go? Hopefully next summer we can at least take a family vacation. Or at least go on a vacation of some sort, and any of the kids that wish to come, can tag along. They are all into their own thing though, so we’ll see what happens. School starts for two of the kids still at home and I’m figuring my oldest son will also take up some college courses. It’ll be nice to have the house to myself for a few hours during the day when I’m not working. Maybe I can get some deep cleaning done around here. It’s nearly impossible with them at home. Ask for help? Yeah right… lol!