AMANDA'S BASKETS: RAINY FRIDAY IKEA VISIT

Friday, October 21, 2016

RAINY FRIDAY IKEA VISIT

It was really a very wet, rainy day today. Lady J was parked on the side of the road that was scheduled for it's weekly cleaning so off we went...right. Off to IKEA. Now, I love IKEA but visiting the store on a weekend here in NYC is not a rewarding experience.

But today I arrived when it opened. Hardly anyone around. It was a pleasure. I didn't walk through the whole place, I only wanted to check out the Market Place because I was looking for very special items.

I have been looking for chair pads - now that I regularly sit at the table for my meals - but I was unwilling to pay such a high price ($20/each) I remembered that I got chair pads at IKEA that were quality made but only cost a couple dollars.

They had chair pads for $1.99, $2.99, $3.99, $4.99 and some with flaps for more. I really wanted only red cushions and the only ones that were red were the $4.99. But, get this, they were the exact chair pad that was $19.99 at one of the stores I visited last week!

So, here's what it looks like...

...thick and comfortable.

My back cushions for the daybed arrived today. I will be covering them this weekend. I think that will be it for decorating my new home.

So do you have any plans for the weekend? It's suppose to rain all day tomorrow so I think I will be staying home. And because the first football game on Sunday is played in England, I will be watching football all day beginning at 9:30am!!!

Hope the weather is great where you are and that you have a very nice, relaxing weekend.

Thanks for dropping by...
Talk to you on Monday...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?