Bagging it...

Purses, handbags, pocketbooks, totes. I'm a bag-aholic. I love collecting things and there are many things in my house that I have numerous items of ... teasets, clowns, beach items ... but my biggest obsession is purses, bags and totes.

This is just my collection of Thirty One products. I also have Donna Sharp purses & bags, some Vera Bradley, and some Aigner, not to mention various purses from Kohls, Belk, Target and Walmart. I call myself a closet purseaholic....simply because I have one closet dedicated to bags, purses, and totes.

Am I alone?

I change purses all the time. Sometimes I will carry one purse for several weeks and sometimes I carry several different purses in one week. I change billfolds to coordinate with the purse whenever possible and there are times I change my purse just because it goes good with my outfit.

With all the new patterns and designs out there, the days of black purse black shoes/brown purse brown shoes are gone by the wayside.

What about you?

How often do you change your purse out?

Do you have a lot of different totes for other purposes?

Do you change your billfold everytime you change your purse?

Just curious....

A touch of decor...

I'm riding the Tuesday Train at My Mad Mind

I wish I could hire my sister to decorate my house. She know where to find the "good" stuff and how to put it all together for the best look. She recenty purchased a cabinet at an antique store. This generated several changes in her kitchen. She simply rearranged things, "shopped" around her house and storage building and the final effect is nothing sort of spectacular. It is definitely country cozy.

Thoughts of spring....

I have no clue why I am in a spring mood. I just can't "get into" winter this year. I guess it is because our temperature goes from 23 one day to 60 the next and back down in the 30's the next.



It is crazy. I'm so confused. I don't mind winter. In fact, I like a little snow days once in awhile. Cozying up in the house with a good book or a craft project. Snuggling on the couch with my favorite blankie that my Mom made me.

Sipping hot chocolate with marshmallow.



And just watching the snow fly outside the window. That what winter is supposed to be about. Not 60 degree days. Even my poor trees are confused.

It's a long way to go for spring and they are already showing buds. Since I just moved in the first of November last year, most all leaves were gone so we don't have a clue what kind of trees they are.

I don't get the blahs in winter when it is snowing. I get the blahs when it can't decide what it wants to do. So bring on the snow and let's get winter rolling so we can get it out of the way.

My love affair with yarn....

I love yarn. I can't help myself. The deep rich colors, the soft pastels, the variegated shades and mixtures. If it is yarn, I will like it.

I make a lot of plastic canvas projects...mostly baskets, boxes and coasters. I find it very relaxing. Since I make up some of my patterns as I go and some are so easy that once you do it one time, you never need to look at the pattern again. I can do a coaster in about an hour. Baskets and boxes take longer so I work on them a little just about every evening that I don't have anything else going on.

I have let my projects go for quite a while. I have a bad habit of going gung-ho and then if I have to stop for any length of time, it takes me a while to get going again.

Last night I decided to clean and organize the yarn area of the craft closet. While I was at it, I cleaned out the drawer that has my plastic canvas material. I keep most of my scraps for those times when I need to make something small and can find enough pieces that I can cut it out of without having to use a new sheet. While I was cleaning that out, I saw my assortment of pre-cut shapes I bought last year at Hobby Lobby on sale. I had forgotten about these. I'm going to figure something to do with tall the little hearts for Valentine's day.

I found some projects in the drawer I hadn't finished...for one reason or another. So I'm going to work on everything this week and get some of them finished. One of these little coasters is completed, but the other one only needs stitches around the outer edge. About a 3 minute job at the most.

I started this about a year ago and had forgotten all about it. It is going to be a box to hold Yahtzee pads, dice and ink pens.

This past summer I started this little basket to sit in my bedroom to drop my watch and rings in that I wear the most. I never did get it finished.

I just started this two nights ago and have the top, bottom, one side and part of another side done already. I'll finish it by Tuesday or Wednesday. It's a box for my sister to put on her dresser to keep her bracelets in.

Now all my yarn is organized. All my works-in-progress are in one place with my current project in my craft bag. I'm ready to catch up on things. Please tell me I'm not the only one who has projects laying around that I've never completed. What are your incomplete projects?

That's just plain crazy...

Our bitter cold temps of 18-23 degrees took a jump yesterday to 60 degrees. Not sure where that came from, but I'll take it. I had to run over to the store. So I (snicker, snicker) put on my flip flops.

Call me crazy but I couldn't help it. Sixty degrees felt great and I was just going to be gone a few minutes and well, I've been having flip flop withdrawal.

Hubby worked last night and I was bored without him there, so I surfed the web to find out what is going to be available in flops this year. Maybe that wasn't one of my smarter moves, because I can see a lot of shoe store trips in my future. Here are some of my favorite finds....

I actually found tons of "jellie shoes" that are coming back into style.

These blue ones are just too cute. But I'm on the fence about the pink because I don't like the strap around the back.

Crocs has a gorgeous selection of two tone flip flops.  

I love the little butterflies on the lacey pattern. Too cute.

I alrady have about 3 pairs from this collection, but would like more colors.

I have these in blue. I would like to get the brown as well as gray and black. These are from Kohl's and usually go on sale for about $5-$10 at the beginning of spring. Absolutely my #1 most comfortable flip flop of all time. I could wear them everywhere and my feet and legs never hurt.

I am just falling in love with this next pair. It comes in lots of colors. I'm not sure why but blues and aquas keep drawing my attention this year.

I'm also loving corals and peaches. These little bows just make the shoe. I have got to find these.

How beachy are these? Love them! (Again with the blue/aqua. What is up with that?)

These are too cute in the red as well.

These were at Shoe Carnival. Don't they look so comfy?

I'm not normally an animal print person, but I do have one summer tank top that has assorted animal print on it with a little glitz and glitter for dress. These would go perfect with that shirt and my capri pants.

What about you? Do you wear flip flops or are they something you can live without. I have over 30 pairs and add to it every year. Can't seem to force myself to part with any of them. Please tell me you have a lot of pairs as well....or am I just addicted?

Scared for life and scarred for life...

On Wednesday's Hodge Podge, one of the questions was do you watch scary movies. I don't. I am not even tempted to pause on one when I'm channel surfing.

But one of my readers posted something that brought back a memory for me. She doesn't like scary movies either and feels it is because of watching Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds when she was younger.

I totally agree with her. I had forgotten about something that happened to me about 15 years ago.

My hubby and I were on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, taking a day cruise on the Captain Anderson off the coast of Panama City. As we left dock and headed for Shell Island, the seagulls were flitting and flying around the boat as we were leaving. I was admiring their aerodynamics when one of the mates on the boat mentioned that if you bought Cheetos at the snack bar and held them out between two fingers, a gull would come down and gently remove it from your hand.

I thought that sounded really cool so hubby bought me a little bag of Cheetos. I proudly carried the little bag to the railing, all the while anticipating like a little child the excitement of actually feeding the seagulls right from my own hand.

I pressed up to the rail. I tore open the package. I gently placed one lone Cheeto in between my forefinger and thumb. I gently leaned a little over the rail, the ocean breeze blowing in my face. I extended my arm out hoping to attract a gull.

Boy, did I! All of a sudden over a dozen gulls flew right toward me as if in attack mode and honed in toward that one lone Cheeto. I freaked out. I had a flashback to Alfred's movie The Birds. I could just sense they were waiting to peck my eyes out. I panicked. I screamed, threw the Cheeto in the ocean and tossed the entire bag, package and all right into their midst as I backed away and clung to hubby.

Everybody got a good laugh at my expense. But I didn't care. I braved the Birds and walked away with all fingers and both eyes still in tact. I still chuckle today when I think about it.

Going together like PB & J

....like pen and ink

....like a pencil and eraser

Somethings are just meant to work well together. One of my most favorite combos that I cannot live without is Duncan Hines and Pampered Chef.

If you have ever made brownies that don't turn out right or they stick or burn around the edges, no matter what you try, then you need to mix Duncan Hines and Pampered Chef.

I have tried every brand of brownie mix out there. Betty Crocker, Ghiradelli, Pillsbury and numerous unknown store brands. But nothing and I mean nothing compares to Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge brownie mix. They are delicious.



There are several pan size options on the back....9 x 13, 8 x 8, 9 x 9...and I have tried them all. I have bought Wilton cake pans and specially made brownie pans where they come out pre-cut. I've tried Bakers Secret pans and I've tried all three sizes. But I am here to tell you that the best pan for these brownies is the 8 x 8 square baking pan of Pampered Chef.

Just grease the bottom of the pan and pour the mix in and bake per the directions. It is the absolute best brownies you will ever eat. They turn out perfect every time. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go one with some ice cold milk.