Hot and Cold Rice Bags

I stopped by my daughter's the other day and she had the neatest item. It was a hot and cold press filled with rice. I have vaguely heard of them, but just never gave it much thought. My throat had been so soar and I picked it up and just laid it on my throat and oh the instant relief. You can keep them in the freezer for cold compress or heat one in the microwave for a warm compress. I decided I wanted to make one so I did what I always do.....I went to Pinterest. 

You can make them any size you want. These are just small squares.

And these are more rectangle. 

As I scrolled through ideas, I found some for children called Boo Boo Bags and they were smaller for those little moments kids need one for a little boo boo. The owls were too cute. I'm thinking a lot of us in blogger world know somebody who would love these little owls.

But I fell in love with the little bird ones.

There were even Boo Boo Bunny ones. 

And a Boo Boo Bear.

One lady even had the tutorial for making an eye ice pack for those days when you head hurts so bad behind your eyes that you crazy releif.

No matter which one hits your fancy, I'm sure we can all agree these are all adorable.

Friday Foto Friends

Linking up with Friday Foto Friends.

I sometimes wonder what our fascination is with clouds. But for some reason, we just can't seem to get enough pictures of them. We had a bad storm roll through the other night. Before it got here, I took some pictures of the sky from around my house. It never ceases to amaze me how different it can be....dark in one spot, white fluffy clouds in another. 

 

  

This is my favorite. It looks like heaven just opened up and poured out its light.

Then this morning when I ran out to the store, I looked toward the East and saw this beautiful sunrise. Made me thing of Easter morning. I hope we get a good one like that at our sunrise service.

It's Thursday....

What a wild week. Worked on Sunday, off on Monday, worked a couple of hours on Tuesday and came home with laryngitis. Off Wednesday and heading in for 8 hours today and 8 hours tomorrow and then I have the day off on Saturday. My time card is going to look so weird. 

I did a few things last week that I didn't have a chance to share with you yet. I got this little rolling card for just $10 (normally $29 at Walmart) and if you look close I cut up scrapbook paper to put in the front of the drawers to dress it up a little. I think that looks neater than seeing in drawers even if they are neat and organized. That little jar is not a job jar. It is my wish/to do list. Any time I think of something I want to buy, something I want to craft, something I want do or someplace I want to go, I jot it on paper and put it in that jar. Then once a week, I pull them out and decide what I want to do, make or buy the upcoming week. Now I never worry about forgetting something. And I don't have a big long to do list.

I finally found some small daisies for my little vintage jar. I also put a spare lamp in my craft room. The overhead lighting in there is not great for close up projects so this is my temporary fix.

I took some of my washi tape and clothespins and made some chip clips. I love assorted bags of chips and clothespins seem to keep them sealed the tightest. So I decorated my clothespins.

I am very excited about my day off this weekend. I am heading to the 10 mile yard sale from Sevierville to Newport. This is a pic from last year of just one of the many areas people set up along that route. Not to mention there must be at least 60 - 80 different site at the local high school. It's an all day thing and is very exhausting, but I always find amazing bargains.

I have several things I am looking for. I am wanting vintage phones to display in several rooms. Here are some of the choices I would take. I really want the black rotary and the pink princess phones the most. Keeping my eye open for any of these though.

Of course I am always on the look for the 401 or 402 mixing bowls. These seem to be easy to find at good prices at yard sales. Problem is I normally only find ones I already have.

I would also like to find a vintage Pyrex pie plate....

....or vintage Pyrex cake pan. They made both these items in pink, blue, green and yellow. I don't care what color, I would just like to find one.

I still can't believe I got rid of the vintage utility cart I bought for $2.00. But I didn't think I had room for it and it turned out I would have. So now I'm on the search. I would like a red or a yellow, but would settle for any in good shape at a good price.

Those are my wish list items but this is my dream item, a drop leaf formica table. I need a little table for my kitchen, but a drop leaf would be perfect because I could open it up if I need room for baking or if I need to use it for buffet style meals with the kids.

But I would also settle for a non-drop leaf formica if it wasn't a full size table.

But realistically, I would probably have better luck finding a wooden one. Which would work just as well. Especially pine since it would match my dining room table.

My granddaughters are going with me to the yard sale and spending the night. I have them trained to look for Pyrex. But I need to show them the other items so they can help me keep an eye out. They love vintage shopping and yard sales as much as I do. I'm sure we will lunch at Wendy's. Alexis has become a big fan of their chicken roll up and loves to go there when we can. Sometimes she gets the loaded baked potato as well. Of course, Shelby is the Queen of nuggets and fries wherever she goes.

Now to get through the next two days and I'll have a great day off. 

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Today would be Allen's 65th birthday. I miss him so much but so thankful for so many wonderful memories.

Like the crazy trip to Chattanooga where we fought almost all day because we never could find where we were headed and then laughed about it for years because when we gave up looking we ended up right where we were looking for. 

Like the way we always ended up with all the teen nieces and our daughter in our car when the family came to visit and he was having to listen to conversations over who had the biggest butt. They didn't have any qualms about discussing whatever they wanted in front of him. 

Like the way we watched McClintock with John Wayne or American President with Michael Douglas every time it came on. We loved those movies.

And the way we would sit on the porch swing in the evening and talk and talk and talk. Or sometimes we would sit there and not say a word...just enjoying the quiet time together.

And how we both felt like we had to have supper over with before 8:00 so we could watch American Pickers or Counting Cars. 

Then there were the endless hours we would go for a drive out in the country and if we saw a place that looked interesting we would stop. Sometimes we would be gone all day and never stop anywhere except a little dive to eat lunch.

And oh, those wonderful trips to the beach and all those hours we spent walking or flying his kite.

Oh how excited we would both get when we found out another grandchild was on the way. He was very proud of each and every one of them.

And best of all was the times we just hung out at the house and enjoyed spending time together. 

I miss him so much every day, but every day I count the blessings that I have so many wonderful memories to keep me company.

So, happy 65th birthday sweetheart. I hope that heavenly choir is singing Happy Birthday to you today.

The way my mind works at 2 a.m.

This is a true story and you will get a good laugh out of it. I had to laugh at myself so it is okay for you to see the humor of this.

Last night was a very windy/rainy night. With a metal roof, I get a lot of noise at night during these storms. It is very hard to sleep when your roof sounds like it is going to blow off or get beat to pieces from the weather. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night.

But at 2:00 this morning, as I lay there awake, the wind eased up and the rain had quit. When all of a sudden I heard an outside noise that startled me. Six loud pops. Now this is where you will see how crazy my mind works....

My first thought was who is sitting off fireworks at 2:00 in the morning....on a weekday....in April? Then I realized there was no lingering echo of fireworks. So I decided some moron was sitting off basic firecrackers. I counted. There were six extremely loud, evenly spaced, precise pops. So then I thought that was a little loud for just a basic firecracker and why set off six in a row? 

Then, I thought "You know that actually sounded like six shots fired from a pistol. One right after the other. Then I remembered the old western where handguns were called six-shooters. And I thought "Six shots or six firecrackers?" Then I was afraid to get up and look out to see if I saw anything....like smoke from the firecrackers or a dead body. 

Then I thought "Should I call 911?" just in case it was a gun. But what would I say? I heard a noise that might or might not have been a gun that was outside at my neighbors house but I can't really tell you which neighbor because I'm in bed.

Then I remembered I have no voice so they couldn't have heard me if I did call them. So they would have freaked out and with my luck just heard the word "gun" in my conversation so then police would fly to my house, guns a blazing and burst in my door to see what was going on. At 2:00 in the morning. 

So then I rationalized that if it was firecrackers, so what. No harm done. And if somebody fired six bullets that doesn't mean anybody was hurt. Could just be somebody drunk and trying out a new pistol. Plus I just read a book where a man saw a murder and had to go in a witness protection program and I didn't want that to happen to me. 

So I decided that I have a very strange mind and just went back to sleep.

And so it begins....

Last Monday, I woke up with a stomach bug. Today, I am waking up with a head cold, sore throat, coughing and achy all over. Fevered on and off all night. Highest it  got was 100.4. Back down to 99.9 this A.M. This is all I have to take. I need to get the energy to run to the store for some cold medicine. On top of all that I have almost completely lost my voice. It was hoarse yesterday morning, but got worse as the night went on. Now I woke up this morning and can barely talk. If I'm going to the trouble to get dressed to go to the store, I might as well go to the doctor because his office is just four doors down from the store. 

Hope to feel better tomorrow. I'm off work today and they are calling for thunder storms so I hope to sleep like a baby all day.

Have a good Monday.

Sunday Songs

It's shouting time in heaven....what a wonderful sentiment! Some of my favorite songs today that make me want to shout!