AMANDA'S BASKETS: EYE DOCTOR, GRAND CENTRAL APPLE STORE & A MYSTERY BOOKSTORE

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

EYE DOCTOR, GRAND CENTRAL APPLE STORE & A MYSTERY BOOKSTORE

Well, I made it out today in the cold, drizzly, cloudy day. And although I walked 4 miles which isn't bad, I climbed 18 sets of stairs. Eighteen, folks! Can you guess what's hurting? Knees? Nope, my hips!!! I rarely have problems with hips but I think with the large amount of stairs - I think they keep sinking the subway trains deeper and deeper! - and the weather, the hips have had it. They better hold on for a couple more days...tomorrow, the Bronx.

Today was an appointment with the eye doctor...last connected with my surgery. All's well and I finally got new scripts for glasses...three pairs. What a wonder. Can't wait for this bill.

I also met up with a friend from Empire Quilters and we exchanged our round robin. I'll share photos tomorrow.

Next I went to the Apple Store at Grand Central Station. This photo is from the balcony...

The last time I was at this Apple store it took over the back balcony. It has more than doubled in size as it now takes over the back and side balconies. Lots of folks were at the store but I was at the genius bar in less than five minutes and the genius staff was taking care of my problem in less than ten minutes. Turned out that all I needed was to have the speakers and the ear speaker cleaned. It works beautifully. Gotta love these iPhones.

From there I took the shuttle over to Times Square and picked up the #1 subway which is a local down to Chambers Street. Why? I found a mystery bookstore. It's located at 58 Warren Street in the Village. Check out these photos...

The store itself is small, but it has floor to ceiling bookshelves crammed full of books. They send out a newsletter as well as have authors visit frequently. Once I get my new glasses I will be visiting this store regularly...I will be able to actually read the titles without either standing several feet away or get downright personal with each and every book!!!

And it's already past 8pm and I have another full day tomorrow with an early rise. So I will close this for now and talk to you again...

Thanks for visiting...

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?