fast food salad

Recently we bought fast food salads to 

take on two different last minute picnics.

First ones were from McDonald's ($5), second ones from Wendy's ($6.99). 

For the record, we think the McDonald’s salads were 

tastier and far fresher than the Wendy’s salads.

Do you have a favorite fast food salad?
Reader suggestions:
Christine - Subway Chopped Salad
Dayle - Chick-Fil-A
Cindy - Zaxbys house fried salad

affordable mascara

I have been looking for the perfect mascara for quite awhile.

It seems like after trying new ones 

I pretty much always return to 

L'Oreal Voluminous

Lately I have combined it with 

CoverGirl Lash Blast Volume

layering them both together in several coats

Next on my list to try is 

L’Oreal Voluminous False Fiber Lashes

recommended by 

The Small Things blog

I am curious if you have a favorite mascara

that cost less than $20. 

free tax preparation

Have you heard about

free tax preparation from

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide ?

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide offers free tax preparation to anyone.

With the help of a team of IRS-certified volunteers they make it easy for you.

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide has more than 5,000 locations

in neighborhood libraries, malls, banks, community centers and senior centers. 

There’s no fee and no sales pitch for other services.

AARP membership is not required.

No one asks your age or your income.

It is very popular here in Florida.

Find a location near you.

uncommon philosophy

"Keep only what you use, 

make peace with imperfection, 

and (seriously) help those in need."

{Real Simple Magazine April 2012}

I need this to be my mantra for one more month . . .

vaporub

I recently went to a dermatologist for a small rash on my foot. While treating it the doctor told me a hint that he gives to all his patients.  He says painting your toenails with menthol Vick's Vaoprub ointment everyday will keep them from drying out and help them stay healthy. 

Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Guess I will give it a try until my next pedicure and see what happens.

crib sides

Mr. Corners has been cleaning out a store room

readying donations for our church rummage sale.

He came across a small crib but . . . 

with new standards we didn't feel it should be used 

for a baby as the slats are too far apart.

One idea we thought of is to use it for a magazine rack.

 I love how the covers add to our autumn decor.

Do you have any ideas for side number two?

fruit fly bubbles

Recently Jim saw a linked-post on facebook describing a unique way to get rid of fruit flies.

You take a wide mouth jar and fill it 1/2 full with apple cider vinegar. No other vinegar will work. It has to be apple cider vinegar. Add a few drops of dish soap and then add some water until the bubbles reach the rim of the jar.

{image source: suburbanturmoil}

We left the jar on the island near our bowl of apples. The theory is the fruit flies are drawn by the scent of the vinegar, get caught in the bubbles and die.

When the bubbles disappeared we got out our milk frother and recharged the bubbles. We keep frothing our jar during the day. The post said it takes between 24 and 48 hours to get rid of all of them. We’ll see.

three down . . . 

times three

A new necessary bathroom accessory in my house is a magnifying mirror.

I recently bought one while shopping for our guest bathroom and decided to take a look.  

First of all – ouch – wrinkles are bad enough but magnified X3 they are painful to look at.

This winter we are spending four months in a retirement community and I have seen a lot of makeup mishaps on our new “older friends”.  I bet you can just picture what I am talking about.  

Hopefully my new mirror will help avoid these.

So . . . I put on my make up as usual and then looked in the mirror.

Woops – get out a Q-tip and clean up all the mascara smears.

Then smooth out that eye shadow.

Now blend both eyebrows with a brush.

A little more concealer under the eyes.

Much better. {why didn’t someone tell me?}

I guess I will have a love-hate relationship with this magnifying mirror.

A new necessity.

the cuddle cure

In a few days grandbaby Talstra will arrive.
So, in preparation we are reading . . .



and perfecting the "Cuddle Cure".

The 5 S’s: Five simple steps that trigger the calming reflex
Swaddling, Side/stomach position, Shushing, Swinging and Sucking

deck cleaner

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to
Debbie at Words On Wheels
for this deck cleaning miracle!

Read her story here: "all hands on deck"

ant parade

One morning, in our rented Florida "Italian villa", I saw a few tiny ants in the bathroom with an obvious sweet tooth. We bought an ant trap and set it on the counter that night. In the morning this is what I saw . . .



A little parade of ants marching to the trap and back to a tiny hole in the tile.
I felt like I was watching a documentary on the discovery channel.

By the next day, not an ant in sight.



And . . . no, I don't feel any guilt. Sorry.

scarves

google image

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes!



My favorites . . .
infinity ~ magic trick ~ twist and pull

fonts

Everyone seems to have a favorite font.
I usually play with different ones but am not sure which is my favorite.

google image

Do you have a favorite?

georgia
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
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Palatino Linotype
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tahoma
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ariel
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times new roman
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comic sans
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lucida handwriting
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helvetica
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garamond
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bradley hand
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kristen
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french script
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Tempus Sans ITC
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landline-less

It was a huge step leap for us but we finally did it - gave up our landline.



Two things that helped us make up our mind
1) we are saving over $40 a month
2) we could keep our home phone# and port it to Jim's cell phone



Approximately 25% of all adults live in households with only wireless telephones
{Source: National Health Institute Survey }



To begin the porting process you need to contact your cell phone provider. They will take care of everything to take the number over from the landline carrier. Do not cancel service to your landline until the porting process is complete, or that number will become unavailable. Porting can take several days but we got our confirmation phone call an hour after we got home from the cell phone office.

You could add a new line to your cell service for your home#
but we have all 5 lines we are allowed already in use by these kids.

{photo taken in 1990 - long before cell phones - just saying}

So now if you call our home phone Jim will cheerfully answer on his cell phone.

going gray

I am becoming a bit tired of dying my hair and
would like to find it's "natural gray state" but . . .
I don't know how to get there.

This is a photo of my daughter's friend with lovely gray hair.



An extensive search on the world wide web
has not proved to be very helpful.

If anyone has any helpful tips or ideas, I'd be very grateful.

word verification

I am curious if you use word verification
for your blog comments. I have removed it from my
comment section just to save commenters the extra step.
I haven't had and problems but am curious if I might?

scheduled posts

So as not to overwhelm myself or run out of blogging
ideas I schedule my posts to upload every third day.



When I have an idea I write the post, then choose
"Post Options" and enter a date to publish it.
I finish by choosing "Publish Post".



I can always check on the posts in
my queue by choosing "Edit Posts".



This is probably not new to most of you but I thought it worth sharing.
See you again in three days!

corn on the cob butter

My cousin Sue taught us this great way to butter our corn on the cob.
She put a stick of butter in a jar and poured hot water from the corn over it.
Our guests just dipped the corn cob in the jar and viola - buttered corn!

most recently updated

Probably not new to you but new to me . . . .

I have discovered how to sort my blog list widget by choosing "Sort = Most recently updated". Now when I see my list in the right hand column I can tell which blogs have been last updated. They move right to the top. It is a very efficient way to quickly check in on my favorites -- I just start at the top and keep going until I come to a post I have already read.

draining stones

I learned about draining stones from Betsy at My Five Men.

Mine are not as charming as hers but I love the look and the way they work.

bathroom

kitchen

Betsy said...
Corners ~ they aren't anything special...just a handful of small stones from my yard. The soaps and brillo pad last longer that way.