Tag: friends

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April Fools day

April Fools Day or, All Fools Day, is supposed to be (according to some ) the most light- hearted day of the year. To me, it’s kind of scary. In my years, I have had some pretty harmful or frightening April Fools jokes/pranks pulled on me. I know that the family and friends who have done this in the past, did not mean for them to be terrible to me, but they were, none the less.

I can be light-hearted like the next person, but my problem is, I used to believe people when they tell me things sometimes. Especially when they say things with a very straight face and seem to be honest and sincere. I have adopted the, “Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear” attitude. So, have a fun filled and day, people.

Myself, I’m going to go out in the gardens where I’m “safe.”  Hopefully some of my early plants and the weather won’t play any pranks on me!!

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Chocolate gift ideas

All of my friends adore chocolate. I’ve been letting my fingers do some shopping online and have seen some great gift ideas. I usually don’t eat sweets or much sugar at all, but every once in a while I get a craving for some chocolate. It’s a craving that usually strikes believe it or not, in the middle of the night. My mom is the same way. She keeps a chocolate bar in the drawer of her night stand and in the middle of the night, will break off a piece and eat it, then go back to bed. In fact, my oldest daughter is the same way. I think we get it from my mom!

Online I found some great gift packs to give my friends and family for Christmas. Usually my mom will always get a box of chocolate covered cherries from all of “us kids” (I have two brothers and three sisters), but she secretly gives most of them away, I found out. But we have been giving her boxes of them since we were young. It’s sort of a tradition. I like them, but only if they have the clear liquid in them, not the white kind.

My youngest daughter always asks for her stocking to be stuffed with chocolate. She loves the dark chocolate, so she’ll be set for sometime. I found a great sale on it and the chocolate mint is my favorite!

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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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Sick ickys

A virus and the flue are going around.

It seems so many of my friends and family have come down with this stuff. Melancholy, headache, flu like symptoms…it’s a miserable feeling.

I know this, because I have come down with it too. It seems to come and go. Not good. Not good at all. To everyone who is experiencing this, feel better sooner than soon. My thoughts and healing energy are with you.

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New floor

Last weekend we pulled up our old nasty carpet and put down a new wood floor. It was a huge job that took us the whole weekend to complete. I was very happy to have a lot of help the boys and one of their friends who is a carpet installer helped, I could not of done it without their help. The floor looks great and it is such a joy not to have that old ratty carpet on the floor. The whole house looks so much nicer and smells better, too! The dogs love it they go sliding when chasing the ball and I think they are having a blast on the new wood floors.

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Great garage sale finds

Because of this season, I love all of the yard sales, garage sales and the barn sales. Oh heck, I love all the roadside sales we veer right into while taking road cruises.

Today, since most garage sales start on Thursdays, I didn’t think I would find much, but one’s man junk is another man’s treasure. I’ve been wanting to find my daughter a ceder chest to uses as a “hope chest” since she will soon be leaving home and moving out of state. To be honest, this is sort of tearing me apart, but I did find a Lane cedar chest that she can be proud to have. I got the man down by bartering, from 100.00 to 45.00.

This chest does have some dings and a bit of scratches in it, but it is old. I’m pretty certain it is an antique, but will have to check with a friend who deals with these kind of things. I’m sure it isn’t worth more than what I paid for it, but I’m happy with it, and know my daughter will be, after I clean it up some and use some natural scratch cover on it. Now I can start stocking it!! 🙂

 

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Keeping cool and dirty pool water

We’ve been having record breaking high temperatures the last week and this coming week it’s supposed to be even hotter. Of course most of the US is like this, so it’s no big surprise. We all have been trying to find ways to keep cool.

For me, it was a matter of keeping the pool clean. The pool and pool accessory place that I go t to has been running out of chemicals I need. One would think that being in that kind of business, these people would be up on the weather situation and the need for stocking more supplies.

Because4 of the heat, covering the pool at night, just is making algae form very fast on the walls and bottom of the pool. Tonight, I’m not going to cover it and just run the filter and pump all night. I’ll see how that works. A good skimming a few times a day will help also. So stay cool, my friends.

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New bathroom vanity

Getting a new vanity in the bathroom had to be put on hold for awhile because we had developed problems with the pipes that came up from the under the floor and though I had kept telling my husband that I thought we had a leak, he had been too busy with work and other things he had on his plate, to even check it out. Something that of course upsets me to no end, as I don’t really know anything about pipes and plumbing. I didn’t even know how to begin to fix the leak or who to call that wouldn’t’ charge me a small fortune.

After talking to a good guy friend of mine, he came out and looked at it and thank goodness it was a fairly easy fix. I ended up using the barter system and promised him three loaves of homemade bread for him to fix my leaky pipe.

Shopping for the vanity was easy. There were only three that I had looked at and really loved, but only two that would fit the space. Since I couldn’t decide on which I wanted, I let my oldest son pick. I like his style and he knows mine, so we came home with a really nice looking and functional vanity. I’m happy with it and it does give me more storage space.

 

 

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Attic renovation and organization

After spending the day upstairs in the attic yesterday, I’ve decided it is in dire need of some organization and in general a major overhaul. I’m seriously thinking about putting better flooring in and also drywall. I need a dumpster first to throw out junk I’ve sort of hoarded over the years, that I really don’t have any use for. I went shopping and got storage containers for clothes but I know that the boxes that are in the attic need replaced by something plastic, since the air despite of the vents in the attic, was a bit humid.

There are basically two rooms up in the attic, and I took measurements of the one side we don’t use. It could be made into another room, and I want to contact a contractor or even a few of my guy friends that know how to renovate rooms or “transform” attics to see what it would cost to make a useable room out of this room that is basically gutted.

I found a bunch of wall hangings and items I forgot I had and am switching the decor in my living room. Sort of swapping things. This will save money on redecorating also, since no one has seen this stuff. We’ll see what the professionals say about fixing the extra room up there and I’ll have another winter project!

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Plans changed with saleing

It’s nearly midnight and I’m thinking that today’s plans were not what had been planned in the first place. I love it when there are NO plans. The kids and I did hit some garage sales, but then we passed a place to eat. Once that was finished, we decided to go real shopping, as they call it.

We found some great bargains on summer things. I actually thought that prices would be low after the holidays, but I was pleasantly surprised at the great sales we hit.

Now everyone is in their bedroom waiting until tomorrow to figure out plans and what they all want to do without me tagging around. Fine by me. I need to play in the gardens and call some blogging buddy about her bale gardening. It would be good to meet up with her again and we could do a quick see what we can see and find trip. Maybe some flea markets or antique shops.