Fabulous Friday!

I am always off on Friday's, but what makes this day fabulous is yesterday's activities.  Because I was so busy yesterday, today has a much slower, do what you want pace to it.  Woo!

I have discovered some new favorite things and wanted to share:

Microfiber towels:  Not new to the market, but new to me.  Here are my thoughts.

1. They clean fingerprints off the fridge without any sort of cleaner.  Dry.  
2. Amazing duster.  Again Dry & no cleaner.
3. Soaks up an amazing amount of water.
4. Bright vibrant color that doesn't dim in the wash.
5. Super soft.
6. When dirty or dusty, goes right into washer.  Don't use fabric softener as it reduces the fibers ability to collect oil and dust and dirt.  (to the microfiber, the oil in fabric softener is the same as fingerprint oil - it's collected and trapped there til the next wash.) 
7. I have both dish towel and dish cloth size.  As I've mentioned before I like the dish cloth size for a lot of different things and I find them perfect for dusting.  But I like having both.

Corelle Dishes:  Not new to market, but I've never owned a set.  I've been thinking about new dishes for a long time. I've owned and used: Pfatzgraff, heirloom china, hand made pottery and some vintage glass dishes.  Some were priceless and some were bargain priced finds.  Some were gifted to me.  What's different about these dishes is I picked them out myself.  They reflect who I am and where I want to dedicate my time.  They also remind me of the dishes I liked the best, which were the vintage glass set (a very incomplete set).  Why did I go with Corelle?

1. Durabilty
2. Availability
3. Selection
4. Mix and Match
5. Dishwasher safe
6. No pressure. God bless the people who can use heirloom china without worry or breakage and happily hand wash it all.  I cannot.  These are readily available, easily replaced, reasonably priced.  
7. They make everything in Corelle - serving dishes, dessert bowls, ramekins, etc.  
8. It looks great with the French White pieces I've owned and loved for years.  

I picked out 4 sets of black and white dishes.  I'm only picturing 3 here because the 4th one is larger (be sure to read the dimensions before purchasing - - which I did not.) and it's going back.  I really like to have 12 plates.  It's a lot, but we've had 12 in both the china and hand made pottery and I discovered how handy it is.  Having 12 means that we can have people over and not have to wash dishes if we've (gasp) used plates for lunch! ;-) (oh geez, I crack myself up).  The patterns don't match, but because they are black and white, they 'go'.  Corelle has everything you can imagine to go with your dinner set, so I cleaned out all the hodgepodge bowls and platters and now everything is white or black and white.

I love these dishes.  I shopped at multiple sites because some patterns are exclusive to different merchants.  

Some people say it's wrong to 'love' objects.  I disagree.  I think that objects can enhance our lives and feeling positive emotion about a better life is natural.  Maybe it's the word love that people object to.  Since I am not Gollum and haven't started calling anything My Precious, I think I'm all right.  But if you find loving dishes objectionable substitute like-like or appreciate.  

Since it's Fabulous Friday, think I'll go and dig in the dirt!  Enjoy! 

Day off... Very Thankful!

I decided to take the day off.  Actually, on Tuesday when every other word I said was 'freaking' I knew I needed a day to detox.  Today was that day.  It has been great.

Here are a few things I did:  dropped a package @UPS; made a return @TJMaxx; purchased new kitchen towels; made a futile trip into JoAnn's for soapmaking supplies (what the heck JoAnn's?); went to the tire place to fix a slow leak (which they did gratis & rotated the tires, too); bought some soap making supplies @Michael's; bought some new shorts (4 pairs actually); stopped for lunch; came home to pick up one of my favorite guys, went back out searching for veggies to plant in the garden; found veggies and some flowers for pots (which is a tricky proposition since last year the freaking chickens systematically moved from pot to pot eating every single bloom, bud and leaf); did a quick turn through the grocery and then an even quicker turn through the liquor store.

Pineapple Margarita

Good grief!  It's no wonder I'm beat.

And then when we got home, we worked to make this little beauty, which I found on Pinterest.  Geez I love that site.  Anyway, here's a link to the creator's website, which has the recipe.  It was delicious.  These are 8 ounce glasses and it made 4 plus.  We put crushed and regular ice in the glass and just used the lime wedge for garnish.  We also had some delicious Tequilla Lime Chicken Tacos.  Fabulous.

Not much of a day off if I were going for relaxing, but to be able to cross all these items off my list is amazing and I feel lighter, and more relaxed than if I'd lounged all day.  Think I might take a power nap!  Try a Pineapple Margarita - they are tart and crisp and sweet all at the same time :)

What's with that...

Okay, have you noticed that people will post things that are shocking or surprising or cryptic or sad, but just enough to make you react, but then never post the rest of the story?  Never respond to questions or act coy about it.  Happens everywhere, Facebook, blogs, twitter.  What's with that?  

I mean if you are going to put it out, put it out there.  If it's truly private, keep it to yourself.  

The thing is, if you put it out there and people actually care about you, they are going to be concerned and want to help.  Have the decency, the common courtesy, the humanity to respond.  

I've had my fill of it today.  You'd never call everyone you know and say "Please pray for me.  I am in desperate need of your prayers." and then not tell them why or let them know when things change.  So why is it okay to text or write it?  

So, you know who you are.  Cut it out.  Act like a grown up.  Everybody has troubles.  Everybody.  Yours are no better, no bigger, no more awful than anyone else's.  Thinking that they are is a sure and fast way to more troubles.  Clearly people care about you.  It's time to care about them, too.  

(rant complete)

Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into this space...

This is a good guideline to live by.  I was faced, no confronted, no assaulted today by a co-worker who came bearing attitude and rudeness.  It's tough, when someone else is intentionally rude to try to understand, to not respond in kind, and to not take it personally.

So, I'm sitting here trying to figure out just exactly what to say or not say to this freaking rude person tomorrow.  I'd like to say nothing, but it's a pretty small office space.  I'm not really ticked.  Though I'm not too thrilled with it either.  I realize that the FRP (freaking rude person) isn't my responsibility and since I didn't do anything to provoke the situation I am not taking it personally.  That being said, I won't be treated like that.  I'm a person and therefore deserving of respect.  I give it and I expect it.  Period.

Yet another day to be a bigger person.  Woot.  But if it's okay, tomorrow I'd like to just coast.

Let there be backsplash

Here is the first picture of the penny rounds we chose for our back splash.  We were tiling pretty late last night, so it isn't grouted and probably won't be today.  But I couldn't wait to share.  

What do you think?  

It's variegated and warm and looks lovely with the counter and looks lovely with the cabinets and is perfect and we love it.  Here's what's really interesting is that 1 &1/2 tiles fit in the space between the counter and cabinets perfectly. The only cutting we've done is tucking into corners and around the light switches.  Woot!

Here is why we chose this tile:  

One: the color.  It's warm and the variation in color just draws your eye along it.

Two: the shape.  The roundness is in contrast to the sharp lines in the counter and really the entire kitchen which is filled with straight lines, rectangles, etc.  

Three: We both liked it.  It took my hubby a while, but once he saw a demo of this at the tile place we were both on board. 

Duck, Duck, Goose

We have a large pond on our property and some time in April a pair of Canadian geese stopped and have never left.  Last weekend, I noticed a pair of ducks arrive and when they did the geese ran for the corn fields.  Hmmm...

It's happened a couple of times since. The ducks come and go. The geese are in the pond, the ducks arrive, the geese immediately vacate the pond, only to slip back in when the coast is clear.  

The goose is easily 5 times bigger than the duck. Maybe the duck has special powers ;-)

Today I'm hearing the geese honking and I look out the window and notice the ducks are back.  The geese are at the edge of the corn field and one of them is giving the duck what for.  Mind you the corn field is a good 50 feet from the edge of the pond, so he is giving the duck what for from a very safe distance.   

And what is the duck doing?  Swimming, dunking under to eat whatever yumminess the pond is growing and completely ignoring the goose chatter.

This is what is really meant by water off a ducks back.  The duck is having a lovely swim and probably wouldn't give two figs if the geese were in the pond.  But the geese won't share and are being such whiners about it.  

Life is fascinating. 

Work and growing pains and finding a new path

Last September I went from working 3 part time days to 4 full time days.  Not a big deal right? Added another day.  No biggie.  But, surprisingly it is...

It's not just that it's one more day.  Each of the other days are longer now and I'm noticing the adjustment is still going on.  It's trying to get the laundry done, cleaning, shopping, etc., which I always used to do on one of my weekday days off.  And trying to get some kind of dinner on the table before bedtime is turning out to be the toughest transition.

And yes, I realize other people do this, 5 days a week or more.  I'm not saying that I'm sooo much more deserving of sympathy or have it worse or in any way comparing myself to anyone other than me as I've been operating the last 7 years.

I enjoy cooking.  I like trying out new recipes.  I enjoy it and I'm a pretty good cook.  Trying to enjoy it when you are starved, tired, stressed, and it's way later than you want to eat is challenging.  Then by the time I get dinner together I'm so tired I'm not enjoying eating it either.

And here's the thing, I like working.  I like where I work.  I like the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a job and the reward of a paycheck.  So going back is not an option.

I'm going to have to come up with a different plan of attack.  It will mean changing the way I shop I think and will most likely involve some kind of menu planning.  Arrrgh.  I much prefer to look at the foods we have and come up with something from there.  It's a very creative outlet for me.  But, I can always continue to do that on my days off.

Ah, this blog is therapeutic. Willing to share a quick and easy weeknight menu?  I'll share what I come up with, too.

Have a great day, one and all!