AMANDA'S BASKETS: Day Thirty-one...need I say more?

Friday, October 22, 2010

Day Thirty-one...need I say more?

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

Now, you are probably wondering why a picture of a firetruck is my picture of the day. Well....let me tell you about today's adventure at the storage place. Our storage unit is on the second floor and we use a freight elevator to get there. There are several such elevators to use, but one is kind of finicky (that's actually putting it mildly!).

So, the boxes in my tank (no that is not my tank in the picture) were unloaded onto dollies and to the elevators we went. The elevators were all gone, so I went up to see if I could bring one down. The only one available was the 'finicky' one, so no, I was not going to take it. However, the couple waiting to go down decided to try it.

Every time they got the elevator to the first floor, it went right back up without allowing them to unload. After three tries, they decided to just get off on the second floor BUT the doors wouldn't open. So they used the phone in the elevator to get help. Unfortunately, the phone they choose went to 911. And they did this just as the staff was in the process of getting the doors open for them.

In the meantime, the other elevator came down, we got on, brought our stuff up to our storage area and took the stairs down only to be met by a dozen firemen with axes, sledge hammers, etc. looking around for someone to help them find the folks stuck in the elevators.

They immediately swarmed over to us asking if we were the ones stuck...and of course, we weren't. The couple who were stuck came down in the elevator we used right after that.

All we saw as we were leaving were the firemen laughing on their way to their trucks. I guess it's not really funny, but it is kind of reassuring to know that they came quickly. Thus, the picture of the fire truck.

Here's a picture of our storage unit. There's lots of room left...I am still bringing in boxes, so I haven't finished stacking things orderly. You are only seeing about half of the room...as I said, I was not going to make the same mistake that I did when I rented a truck to move to Maine.

I took all the craft magazines and books which I was getting rid of to the library today. Here's a picture of the books I kept.

I know it looks sparse, but I have lots of how-to downloads and digital magazines. And, as I told you before, when I want to know how to do something, I google it and usually find videos on YouTube as well as written resources.

Oh, and finally, here are the pictures of the background (for the musical) which I decorated using stamp pads.

I have since sewn them onto a larger piece of fabric with a blue sky and a beige 'wall'. And I attached a piece of black fabric on the back...it just looks better with that additional piece of fabric.

It's been a wild week...our trip to NYC was scheduled with back-to-back appointments. When we finally got home, we just had to veg out for a day to catch our breath.

Next week I should be on schedule for posting daily...

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?