1/3/17

Some changes....


I didn't pick a word of the year this year for the first time in a long time. There were so many that applied, it would have taken a long time to narrow them down. I also didn't make any resolutions. I am going to try just winging it this year. Because my resolutions rarely last. Life has a habit of getting in the way of our plans. 


I have made some decisions though for this year. Effective 12/31/16 I terminated myself from being a Thirty-One consultant. It was a lot of work to make it successful and it was a lot of fun. But when the year end rolls around and you realize that you spent way more time trying to make it work then you did actually selling things, it's time to walk away. It had started to take up too much of my spare time. I still love the product and will still host parties so I can earn freebies, but I'm not selling it any more.


I worked on getting my Christmas stuff all put away yesterday and getting my house back into shape. I did get most of it like I wanted it, but I'm taking a couple of days off to spend some time with some of the grandchildren and will finish it up on Thursday.


Have a great Tuesday.







1/2/17

Some great information...


This popped up in my Facebook Memories today and it has some great info in it. Enjoy!


THINGS YOUR MOTHER SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU

1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
2. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!
3. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
4. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
5. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
6. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.
7. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
8. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!
9. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
10. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
11. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
12. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
13. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
14. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
15. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
16. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.
17. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
18. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... guess what! ... static is gone.
19. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. (Or spray the measuring cup or spoon with Pam before using)
20. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
21. Re-opening envelopes
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.
22. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.
23. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
24. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
25. Dryer Filter
Even if you are very diligent about cleaning the lint filter in your dryer it still may be causing you a problem. If you use dryer sheets a waxy build up could be accumulating on the filter causing your dryer to over heat. The solution to this is to clean your filter with with a toothbrush and hot soapy water every 6 months.

1/1/17


Welcome 2017! Happy New Year! 



12/31/16

Pillow talk...


Let's talk pillows. I am in the process of converting the home office to an all purpose room. One thing will be my sewing machine coming out of the closet and starting to actually use it. I want to make some pillows for various places in the house. Here are just a few that I saw I like. I want to make them with Wunder-Under and fabric and do the primitive type stitching around the applique. The sewing machine will be to sew the sides of the pillow up after I make the front piece. Here are some I like...





 





12/30/16

It's almost a new year....


I can't believe it is a new year just around the corner. Today is my last day of work for a few days. I'll be off somewhere between 5-6 days I think. We don't have the schedule yet. I may work one or two days next week but maybe not any. I will welcome the break. I want to take the tree down and get my house back into normal order. 


I'm thinking I will do a marathon watching my fave movies on Saturday night. Just not sure what my fave movies are any more because I rarely watch movies. 


But whatever I do, I plan to get some rest in the process. Have a great Friday.


12/29/16

I did it!


I did it. I got some rest. I ended up not pulling a double yesterday. I actually got to come home at 4:00. So what did I do with myself once I got home? NOTHING! Caught up with my Facebook friends, read my book, and ate a good supper. Then I rested all evening. It was wonderful. I feel so good this morning. Very refreshed. 



Thanks everyone for the advice yesterday. As far as the Brookies I posted yesterday. Here is the link to the recipe: http://77easyrecipes.com/brookies/ I may try them soon. 


I am amazed how many times my  homemade pizza bread pops up on my Facebook memories. Funny thing is, every time it pops up it makes me want it so I am having these for supper on my next day off. Which means I will probably post them on Facebook, which means they will pop up in another memory some day which means I will make them again. Do you see a pattern here?


I found this picture on my computer yesterday. It made me want to just snuggle in the house and pray for snow. I even posted that I didn't feel like going to the beach this year...me the queen of toes in the sand and flip flop weather with two rooms decorated in a beach theme doesn't want to go to the beach this year???? What????


Never mind. This popped up last night and I'm already checking out what date I want to go back to Myrtle Beach. Just a temporary blah moment.


I should have know better. I'm not giving up my beach vacations.




12/28/16

I don't wanna....


I don't wanna adult today. I wanna be a kid. I wanna be on Christmas break. I wanna lay on the couch in my jammies all day. I wanna take a nap. I wanna play on my tablet. I wanna watch TV. I wanna take another nap. I wanna just relax.


I sure don't wanna work the 12 hours I'm facing with the majority of it on my feet today. I am so tired that I feel like I may never rest again. I'm getting plenty of sleep, it's the the hours I am awake that are making it rough this week. 


I don't remember ever being this tired after Christmas. I think they need a law that allows you to hibernate 3 days after Christmas before you face the real world again. Sometimes you just wake up and think "UGH. I have to see people today."


A friend of mine posted this in Facebook and asked me if I thought I could make it. Well, yes I could. But my first thought was to run screaming from the room. NO! I baked enough the past two weeks to last a lifetime. Why is it baking cookies at Christmas is so much fun before Christmas, but afterwards you really don't want to bake anything for 6 months....if ever.


I think I am coming down with something because I just want to go crawl back into a bed and roll in a ball. 


At least it's over the hump day and the next two days will be my easiest, shortest days this week. Despite all the crazy hours, I do love my job.