Defogging

I am on the search for something....a way to defog my car windows easier. With temps that keep going from one extreme to the other, my windows get foggy and I have to wait for the car to heat up some nights when I leave work. After an 8 or 10 hour day of up and down steps and greeting people all day, last thing I want is to set in my car with it running for it to heat up enough that my windows won't fog.

I had to take Shelby to school this morning for my daughter and the windows were a tad foggy. Now, Shelby is only 9 years old but she is a HUGE fan of 5 Minute Crafts on You Tube (takes her me on that topic). So she informed me today, that according to a You Tube video she watched on that channel, the silica gel packs you find in new purses are moisture absorbing and can be placed in your car window to pull moisture from the inside of the car and prevent fogging up. Who knew? 

Obviously, I went online to research. You have all kinds of "easy" fixes. Two popular ones were

1. Wipe your inside windshield and windows with vinegar - Um, no. I hate the smell and sure don't want to dry around all day with it. Plus, you would have to do it on a regular basis which sounds like a lot of work.

2. Barbasol shaving cream - Again, no. Too labor intensive to maintain and how will I know when I need to do another coat except for it to be fogged up just when I need it to be clear.

So, then I checked out her silica gel video which let me to other research about silica gel and weather you could buy it and put it in something larger than having to collect a ton of packets from purses to make it work. You can purchase the packets in quantities but then you would have to lay them across your dash and take them down or they would slide when you drive. But that was when I stumbled on the cat litter sock video. I hit pay dirt. You take a sock and wrap the top around a shipping tape roll or something like that (jar ring, anything to hold it open). Then fill it with the silicon gel cat litter (which you can get at Walmart for around $5-$6 a bag.

Once filled, removed whatever you used to hold it open, tie it off and fold the top down. Place in your windshield and it will keep them from fogging up. 

There are several brands out their and they do recommend you use only 100% silica gel. And they recommend that if it has color changing crystals only get the kind that goes from clear to orange. Do not get any that turns blue or is already blue.

I read many sites about this and watch several videos. As with everything you have a ton of nay-sayers and negative Nellies. But for the most part, people say it works. The main video I watched is from a guy who is an engineer with NASA and he posted his studies and samples of his testing on his video. Then I read another site that explained why some people say it is worthless. The guy from NASA is quoted a lot. It does work because the cat litter does absorb moisture. What they don't say is that it is good for about a month because by then, the crystals have retained so much moisture they are not long effective and you simply open the sock, toss the crystals, wash and dry the sock and pour in fresh litter. Your $5 bag is enough to last for many, many, many months of this. So I am going to go to Walmart and get a sock and do this. One video that swore by the NASA guys hack says that he has been doing this three years and he tosses one in each side of his windshield and one under each seat. He said it has worked perfect for him. So off to sock shop I go. I'll let you know if it works. 

Some fun ideas and sweet memories

I was looking online for some ideas for a craft project to start working on for the holidays. This would be really cute to make for Children's church for Thanksgiving. If we could keep them from eating the candy instead of filling the turkey. 

I also loved these little refrigerator magnets we made with subway art I printed out.

We are studying Giving Thanks in our Children's church this month. This was the bible verse we kicked it off with last Sunday. I need to print this and put it on our wall. 

Check out these cute ideas for decor for Thanksgiving.

I love the smell of cinnamon at the holidays. This is so cute and you could put a fragrant candle in the jar.....maybe vanilla or orange. That would smell great. Talk about easy to make.

Don't like working with raffia? Just use burlap and jute.

Or even easier is just wrap it up with jute.

One thing I meant to do last year and never got a chance was to make some of these little elves. How adorable are they? And looks very easy.

Another clothespin craft I want to do is this one. It is so easy it's embarrassing that I didn't do it the first time I posted it. 

I am going to buy a wooden B at Hobby Lobby or AC Moore and do this. I love it.  

I had so much fun making these little wreaths last year. I am going to do some more this year. They were cute to put on packages to my friends.

If I'm going to craft, I need to get busy. Especially any of my Thanksgiving ideas. It will be here before you know it. Before I leave you today, I want to share this little humor.

Goodbye October, Hello November

I have really enjoyed posting pics of fall and Halloween. So as we say goodbye to October, here are some cute snacks my niece Emili and her friend Brittany made.

I especially love these. So adorable.

Their doggies were even festive for the holidays.

And that did some last minute pumpkin faces. This girls are both talented and love to craft.

While meanwhile back at Mamaw's Place, I have been busy getting ready for Thanksgiving decor. I can't believe I actually had it out and ready to go on November 1st. It usually takes me until I can get a day off, but I had one yesterday so I went right to work. I kept out a lot of my fall, put away my Halloween and then incorporated some of my Thanksgiving into what fall was still out. I changed up the coffee table some by replacing acorns with a pumpkin and candle and changing out my table runner. This is another of the no-sew ones I made.

Just replaced some things on my place mat on the kitchen table.  

Got out my little Give Thanks and put it with my other word art.

Mommy crocheted me this ripple afghan in 1981 when my living room was in these colors. I get it out every fall.

Just a little display on one of the end tables.

Now to the fun stuff (you know I am happy when I use Pyrex to decorate.) This is the Harvest Wheat pattern that I wanted for years. The last vacation Hubby and I took together before he passed away was to Panama City Beach. We went antiquing one day and he found me these. A set of three bowls is normally around $49 - $69 for the set. He bought me this entire set for right around $25. I cherish them because they were the last Pyrex he ever bought me and it was on the best vacation we ever had. I made the little turkey no-sew runner they are sitting on.

This is another of the primitive stitchery dish towels my mom made. I just love the turkey.

My favorite Thanksgiving pieces are my little chipmunk salt and pepper shakers. Bought these at a yard sale and I think they were about .50 cents for the pair. I absolutely adore them and can't wait to get them out every November.

My little rock I've had for many years. 

Put it all together with some of my fall bowls I already had out and you have my favorite area for decorating for the holidays.

Have a happy November 1st!

Sunday's song

One of my favorite songs ever. We are so blessed and sometimes we don't even realize it.  The songwriter asks "What if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise?" We have days we are on top of the mountain and days we are sunk down in the valley below. I have often wondered if we didn't have any valleys to go through, how would we ever appreciate those God moments that put us on the mountain top and bring us pure joy. Please take the time to listen carefully to the words of this song. They are beautiful.

Friday Foto Friends

I am hooking up with Friday Foto Friends today. Of all the rooms in my house, I love my kitchen the most. I adore my roosters and my Pyrex and other vintage items. So I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you today.

This shelf holds my tulip collection from Glasbake and some of my rooster collection.

The top shelf holds my Colonial Mist Pyrex collection and my little milk glass stuff for the kitchen. My Colonial Mist along with Town & Country are my two absolute favorite Pyrex patterns.

Here's the two shelves together for my wine rack. There is a bottom shelf not shown because it is a work in progress at the moment.

This is the top shelf of the Baker's rack. This shelf focuses on my fall colors. You will see some of the Town & Country Pyrex pattern on the top right hand side Cinderella bowl. Followed by the large Cinderella bowl in Town and Country right below that on the right. That is my Harvest Wheat Pyrex set in the middle of the bottom row.

And I adore this collection. It has my Town & Country, Americana, Daisy oval and Friendship bowls. Out of all my Pyrex, I have more items in the Town & Country than I do in anything else.

Here's the two shelves together. Sometimes as I walk by, I just stop and admire it. 

I am running out of room for Pyrex (GASP!) But I had a couple of thoughts. First off, I could always change it out seasonally but that would be hard to do because I really love seeing it all. So I realized I could replace the cart my microwave is on with a microwave style hutch, similar to this. I checked dimensions and it would work. This would add more room for storage plus, some more shelf space for Pyrex. It's a thought. 

I do love my Pyrex. Many years back, I had some of the snowflake but due to it only being out once a year, I sold it when I downsized and could have kicked myself because I have room for it now. All I have left is one little bowl of snowflake garland (I think I still have it). I love red and aqua in my kitchen at Christmas. This is what I did several years back and I still have just about everything on the shelf except the Pyrex. Guess I will be going on an antique shopping trip soon. I want to try to replicate this. 

Well, hope you enjoyed my pretties as much as I do.

Color me crazy....

I have been coloring my hair on and off since I was 18 years old. I didn't do it to cover the gray, I did it because sometimes I thought my hair looked drab and I wanted to lighten. Then there were the times I decided I wanted just a touch darker and ended up with almost dark walnut color. The first time I went with a slight reddish tint, I ended up with that carrot red hair that is bordering on orange in the sunlight. Then a hair dresser who knows we have Irish ancestors and a propensity for auburn to show up in our genes, recommended I only used shades that had the words Ash in the color title. It would avoid the red and she was right. So when I want to go lighter, I use light ash blonde. Which is what I did this past summer and it is wearing off. This was in June or July. It's gotten even more gray starting to show through.

I was going to do the light ash blonde again to color it and lighten it up at the same time. Then my daughter suggested maybe I should go darker for fall and winter, but I said I would think about it. Just a few hours later, a friend of mine posted this picture of me when I was 17. Oh my, I love the color of my hair in this picture for fall/winter. In high school, I considered it just drab brown but now I like think I like it like that. However, the one time I tried to die it back to the original color like this was when I ended up looking like a ripened walnut. So I don't want it to go THAT dark again.

Knowing about the ash factor and knowing that when I use any shade of medium brown it always ends up darker than what I like and I look washed out. So I compromised from the lighter hair I like and the darker hair in this photo and decided to go with Light Ash Brown. If it goes lighter, oh well and if it gets to dark, oh well. It's not permanent. And I'll just live with it. But what the use of being an old lady if you can't walk on the wild side sometimes.

I'm going to do it this weekend while the grandgirls are over for the weekend. That way they can take a picture for me to share with you. Wish me luck.

Can you believe it?

I am having tons of random thoughts today. One thing I am thinking about is the fact that there is just one week left until November is here. I love all three of the last months of the year. Tomorrow is a Halloween Sweets & Treats day at work. I'm making cookies for the office and the servers in the arena. Going to make the brownie cookies like I made the other day. Just up in the air if I want to make the frosting for them like I did a few years ago.

My Facebook memories today popped up about the croissant donut that Dunkin Donuts had a few years ago. I loved those things. Wonder why they quit carrying them?

Since I am going to have another Saturday and Sunday off this weekend, I am going to make a pot of veggie. This is one they call school cafeteria soup and it is the best veggie soup ever. Here's the recipe. 

School Soup

1 48 oz. can tomato juice

1 lb. fresh lean ground beef

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables

1 8.5 oz. can lima beans

1 14-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed and with juice

2 potatoes, diced

2 med. onions, diced

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Bring tomato juice to a boil. Slowly add crumbled ground beef. Cook until beef is separated. Add onions, mixed vegetables, potatoes, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Add more salt if desired.

Time to start watching the Family Dollar store for my favorite November/December candy. This is the only time of year you can buy them. I snatch up about 3 boxes at a time so I can build a back stock to last me through the winter.

I can't wait to get my Thanksgiving decorations out and put the jack-o-lanterns and witches away till next year. This is Tom the Turkey. I bought him with the thought of instead of Elf on the Shelf, he could be Tom on the Table. But Tom doesn't get into any mischief. He just sets someone and behaves.

My favorite, favorite Thanksgiving decor is my little chipmunk salt and pepper shakers. I got these several years ago at a yard sale and I have loved them ever since.

I don't know how my Thanksgiving holiday will be this year, but I know one thing. I have not done in the past two years is to have a graham cracker pie. This year I am going to bake one. I hope I can make it as good as hubby's always were. I love Thanksgiving because the family is always together. With my grandson away at college this year, I am hoping the holiday works out that he can be here at some point and we can get together while he is here.

And then of course I have all the wonderful Black Friday ads to look forward to.

So you can see, I love November just as much as I love October.