AMANDA'S BASKETS: WEATHER!!! & OLT CHALLENGE

Friday, March 2, 2018

WEATHER!!! & OLT CHALLENGE

Well, I don't know what the weather is like where you live but we really are experiencing what has been called a 'Bomb Cyclone'! Alternate Side Parking was not cancelled today which meant I had to move SnowWhite. I needed to pick up some meds at Valley Stream so out the door I went only to be met by snow! Snow? This was supposed to be a rain event.

It turns out that there is a mixture of snow, sleet and rain...along with hurricane winds. Let me tell you that as I sat in the parking lot and the gusts came up, SnowWhite (which is no shrinking violet as she is a truck) was rock and rolling!

Two semi-trucks turned over on the top level of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which closed the bridge to all but cars, etc. Lots of trees are down, switches have broken on the subway and regular trains are not running on the coastal areas. Add to the wind, the predictions of flooding which had already taken place on the Belt Parkway, and you have New York City folk experiencing one big mess.

Here are last week's One Little Tag Challenge tags...

I seem to be running behind in posting photos of my challenges but that's because I am behind in actually taking the pictures!!!

Yesterday was another day of house hunting. I think I drove around 275 miles. There was one really nice house with lots of land, but I think the house has foundation problems. Going to look into it, though, and actually find out.

I did find out one lucky fact, I love the eastern part of New York, especially the lakes and areas surrounding them. They seem to be less of a vacation spot and more year round living. That is a plus for me.

The lights are blinking...I hope that doesn't mean that I am about to lose electricity...I think I will close now, just in case.

Thanks for stopping by...
Looking forward to visiting again with you next week...

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?