A little shopping therapy.......does a girl good!

Well...okay....it's not like a "real haul" or anything but it got me out of the house and I didn't spend too much.  Most was from the dollar store....underwear in bright colors and some guys t-shirts so when it cools off I can use them to layer.  I found a finance/bill organizer with a band to hold them all in.  Each month has an envelope for the bills and a space to write them down with due date and amount paid etc. (if you've been reading my blog I have been working on "finances").  The colored striped package is multicolored  STARS!!!  I have my own chore chart and I am going to be giving myself STARS when I get my priorities done and when I have a certain amount of STARS I am going to reward myself....great idea huh?  Yes...I am nurturing my inner child.  The votives are apple/cinnamon and the white board is exactly that!  A white board with a marker but wait....that's not all....it's MAGNETIZED!  Isn't that cool.....(it doesn't take much to impress me OR to make me happy).  I put it on my frig so I can write down grocery items when I run out or I'm thinking about them while cooking.  I might have to get another one....I could put it on my metal desk for listing those priorities OR I could put one on the side of my car so when I'm out and about but in a store....people could leave me notes when they see my car in a lot....hmmmm....maybe not such a good idea.  We have a new gift store in town...well, it's been there almost a year but I just went in today so it was new to me!  She had some neat things but pretty much all of it was outside my budget but I did buy some "Wood Wick "melties" and a refill bottle for my empty scent diffusers....all in apple scent as usual....I am SO wanting FALL to come.....SOON....it was 105 here today and the heat index?  Well....I just can't talk about it anymore.

Fall must be coming....I'm storing up food!

Ahhhh....comfort food!  Fall is coming, the leaves are falling from the trees (only because of the high temps and no rain), the squirrels ARE gathering nuts and I have the ac running, curtains drawn and candles burning....it's Fall in my little world!

For years I have made cornbread in muffin tins with the cupcake liners and when you peeled off the liner half of the cornbread went with it.  FINALLY....I tried making it in a pan....DUH!  So much easier...now there's actually something to put that butter on!

Dessert is on the way!  The strawberries are hulled, rinsed and draining.  I don't remember having to "hull" strawberries when I was younger but then they weren't the size of apples either!

This is torn up angle food cake on the bottom covered with a combo of whipped topping, sugar and cream cheese

Ta Dah!   These are fresh strawberries tossed with a strawberry glaze.

This is Gunline coffee....I usually drink only 1 cup of coffee in the  morning and then water the rest of the day but even taking my vitamins I've had an afternoon slump.  I'm hoping this will take care of it!  I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com and the original recipe makes 80 servings....I just made one to see if I'd like it and I do!  It's a nice pick me up made with real instant coffee but I also have some decaf on hand in case I want one in the evening.

More reading material......

This is my present reading material....I give more details of each on the right side of my blog...what are YOU reading right now?  You ARE reading aren't you?

This is the premier issue of this magazine and it is wonderful!  I may have to subscribe!  Along with forest ranger, hermit, cowgirl and long-haul truck driver....I also wanted to be a PIONEER!!!!!  I wanted to be Lewis and Clark all by myself or Daniel Boone who they wrote about in this issue.  Are you ever too old to be a pioneer?  If you like being self-sufficient or would like to learn this is the magazine for you!  Great writers, great articles and great photos.  Take a look....at news stands everywhere or request it.  It is published by Harris Publications.   I found it at Wally World.

Ok...I used to do Ebay and need to get back to it!  Here's a start!

Ok.....I'm staying BUSY!!!!

I know many of you may hate ironing but to me it is like meditating.....calming, soothing and VERY relaxing and sometimes I can actually solve a problem or do some great thinking while I am ironing....washing dishes is about the same, and hanging clothes outside and digging in the dirt and folding fresh clothes off the line or out of the dryer.  My best thing to do where I really shut out the world and would get "in the zone" as they like to say was when I was riding my horses but alas...they're gone and I have none to ride but oh do I remember that feeling.

I could blog all day....but "my girls" are wanting din-din...forget about me....it's all about them!

I made this picture over 30 years ago for my Mother.  Since she is gone it is back in my hands.  I am wanting to hang it on my new yellow hallway wall but could not find my drywall hooks OR my Command hangers,,,,DARN!  BTW I never noticed it had dogwood flowers on it....my Mom LOVED cardinals and at the time she was not living in AR but she moved here and now I am here and that is the state flower I think...if not it should be!  Anyway...coincidence?

Here is the fireplace DVD I got on clearance with an aquarium one. Of course on the DVD it is an actual fire with movement and snaps and crackles.  It has music or not, snaps and crackles or not and you can pick just one or have them change over time to other fireplaces.  I think this is "the nuts" except with heat advisories out for our area this is not one I will be watching right now but I can't wait until the "snow flies" for this one!  I have a real fireplace but it is in the family room.  I can now have a fireplace in my bedroom!  Check out www.screendreamsdvd.com     You will not regret it....ahhhhh

I got this and the fireplace DVD on clearance and LOVE them!  This has like 8 different scenes, you can pick one or have them change over time, there is music or sound effects or both.  Very calming and I always wanted an aquarium but this is no work involved and no heartbreak when the fish die!  BTW my cat REALLY likes this one!

I don't know about you but when I am dealing with any issue of any kind I try to "work it out" by "working it off".  I am definitely not "focused" right now but I keep moving and doing mundane tasks until I am "okay" or as good as I'm going to get! Ha! Ha!  So...here are some the mundanes I did today.