AMANDA'S BASKETS: TODAY DID NOT GO AS PLANNED...DOES IT EVER?

Friday, February 5, 2016

TODAY DID NOT GO AS PLANNED...DOES IT EVER?

Well, today began early as I got up in time to get ready and leave for the thrift store. Lady J is packed full once again.

Alarm went off. I got up. Took care of the critters, Chip and Dale and Linus and Lucy. Got dressed. Was about to take off when I finally opened the blinds and realized that it was snowing! Ah...I wasn't prepared for that.

So, I checked the alternate side of the street site only to find that the rules had been suspended for the day. Looked out the window again and it was snowing quite hard. Checked a website for the snow amount forecast and realized that where I was going was supposed to get a lot more snow than here.

Hmmmm. Do I really want to buck the Friday traffic on a snowy day? Took about a New York Second to realize that NO, I did not.

So, Lady J is full of stuff to donate and it will have to, once again, wait until next week before delivering it to the thrift store.

What did I do today? Cleaned the house, washed clothes (remember it's not an automatic washer), organized the hall closet and read a Laura Child's Tea Shop Mystery - Ming Tea Murder. I really do enjoy her mysteries. Maybe because I love visiting tea shops.

I did read it on my iPhone and for the first time I ventured all the way to the end and read the resources that she uses for tea master Drayton's blends. I love tea including the plain old Lipton teabags.

But I especially love the whole range of what I call mysterious (Any tea not found in a regular grocery store in a tea bag!) teas. At the end of the book she includes publications about tea, American tea plantations. interesting tea websites and blogs and purveyors of fine tea.

There are also locations in Charleston for information and places to visit. I have been to Charleston many times and enjoy her descriptions of places I remember visiting. If you're in the area, I highly recommend spending some time in Charleston.

I was surprised to see that there are tea plantations in the states. Of course, she listed many in Hawaii, but also one in Charleston, one in Fairhope, Alabama (I have actually been to Fairhope which is across the Mobile Bay from Mobile, Alabama many times but did not know there was a tea plantation.) one in Mississippi and one in Burlington, Washington.

I think it would be interesting to visit a tea plantation to see what goes into growing, harvesting and drying tea. I may have to include a trip there sometime...just not in the summer when it's hot and muggy. Me and hot and muggy days do not go together too well!

Well, the last of the football games for this season is Sunday...the Superbowl. Do you have a favorite? I would like to see Denver win but odds are against them.

After Sunday, my Christmas decorations will be taken down and packed away. I will miss my tree. It still makes me smile to look at it.

Thanks for stopping in...
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?