Monday, January 28, 2019

Musings - January 2019

Here's the round up of the first month of January. I hope your year had beautiful start. 

Books: I got all flummuxed on what to read! I still want to try to do 50+ books for the year, but then I read where someone said the book you start the year with IS your year. And well, at the time, I was reading both an older social media book and Midnight in the Garden fo Good and Evil - I obviously didn't want to start my year with either outdated info or deception, so I had to go to my bookshelf. And there was the book I was meant to read, LaRae Quy's Mental Toughness for Women Leaders. She's ex-FBI. Since it's 52 tips, I guess you could read and concentrate on one per week but I decided this book would be the perfect way to start my year. And then I finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. (I prefer the movie. Sacrilege, I know.) Which is clearly less than the four books I should have read for the month but still not a bad start to the year.


Gratitude: Trying new things. Good chiropractors. Fun restaurants. Unexpected boxes. Cool co-work spaces. Purring cats. Cleared roads. Amazing friends. New ventures. Soft snow.

Listening: Even more podcasts! I went to a luncheon that had Interview Valet's president as a guest and learned about more podcasts! Southern Lady Code is my new favorite as I mourn the coming end of the Bombshell Businesswoman.
Perfume:  Most weekdays I've been wearing  Les Perfumes de Rosine Majalis  and Dirtyque's Ofresia.

Recipes: I'm honestly not sure I cooked most of the month. (Okay, cobbler was made, but the kidlets pretty much require that.) Things have been very busy. The only exception was New Years Day. We made something delicous and sweet to start the year with sweet success.  

 Fruit pizza!

 Super delicious and easy. 
- 1 container of crescent rolls (I get the reduced calorie kind)
- 1 jar of Nutella
- Your choice of fruit

Unroll the crescent rolls as a single sheet and bake. Allow to cool. Top with Nutella and then your favorite fruit. At our house, that's strawberries (17 loves them) and raspberries (12 loves them) plus blackberries for me. Most the rest of the house eats a combo of fruits.

Self-Care: The soap love continues. My new favorite day is "new soap day" when I open up one of the Cellar Door Bath Supply soaps. The only - tiny - criticism I have is the dark colors do make a bit of a mess in the bath. But they smell gorgeous and lather beautifully enough to double as shave cream.

 The great face oil experiment continues with specific oils for evening and morning. (Sad update - no one this month mentioned thinking I'm years uounger than I am.) Every day. Here's the day and night routine:

- Day -I'm still using Juice Beauty's Stem Cellular  Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum around the eyes. And I'm still totally Juice Beauty for the day. Serum, oil, eye cream, CC cream. While I like to experiment - that pretty much is my standard and it continues to serve me very well. 
- Night - I've kept using  Predire Eye Care Ant-Aging Night Serum. (And reminder, I did not pay retail for it! I picked it up for about 1/10th that price on a Vegas business trip last fall.) I'm still using Little Barn Apothecary oil  plus Juice beauty nutrient cream as my skin has started to chap with the winter weather change. 


Things 12 said: We went ice skating. 12 was magnificent. I clung to the side of the rink for 5 turns. I fell 4 times and had to visit the chiropractor a few extra times the next week. But when I asked what the best part of her week was, she said ice skating - so there is that.

 There was also cross-country skiing! My second time. 12 and 13 took the hills like champions, and Guy was amazing. I fell. A lot. But like life - it counts that you keep trying to get up.
- 12: How many times DID you fall?
- Me: I gave up counting after 5, Little.
- 12: You did keep getting back up.
- Me: And that is what counts in skiing and most all of life.

 Side note - snow is MUCH softer than ice, if you have to fall on something. 


Watching: Tidelands which has the most gorgeous soundtrack ever. (The mythology is a touch wobbly but it's a good Netflix watch.) I caught up on Bull and Criminal Minds. And then I re-started The Americans from the beginning.  

Random: I made things! A gallery that teaches fused glass classes has opened up near me; I've taken a few classes now. Last month, ornaments. This month, pendants. 

 Here they are unfired and fired. Strangely, I almost prefer the unfired. Something about the sharp edges appeal to me. 

Take-away - Your life is made up of the every day. It's the small habits that that make you or break you. Want to change? Start with one small thing and build it. And never step away from the opportunity to do something new.

 PS - January 21st is the day that marks the fall of resolutions. If you need a kick to start back up, I have a digital book that can help! (Click here to read more.) 




Original musings posts you may enjoy:


All photos by moi! And you can tell...

*Juice Beauty is a staple in my beauty cabinet. I stray, I try other things - but it's my favorite "foundation" (I used the CC Cream) and great skin care. If you like Juice Beaty too, here is a link. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links which helps support this blog.

- Skin Care by Juice Beauty
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Monday, January 21, 2019

Lessons - 2018


Each year. as the year progresses, I write things down. To learn from them. To remember them. To share them. I keep them in the Random area of my blog until the year ends. 

 And then, I share them! This is that post. And I'll frame it by noting this was a heavy year with relationship changes: eldest #NotMyDaughter got married, my paternal family underwent some massive shifts in family stress, I left a professional board I'd been on for more than 10 years, and my maternal family circled the wagons on family loyalty (with me on the outside).  Wave after wave of changes. And this is what I learned from them.

  1. All relationships can be boiled down to the pronouns used and the money. (Ex:Watch what they say and how they spend their resources. It tells you a lot.)
  2. Stay curious
  3. Instead of RBF, try Resting Pleasant Face
  4. When you can't help, step back so someone else can.
  5. Everyone thinks they invented it (so no one will use your referral link.)

I took number 5 from the 2016 lessons and made a 7 Day Boot Camp digital book. Click here to check it out:



Take-away - Life is short. Make everything a little bit special. (Picture top - cake with a bit of fresh fruit brings it to another level.)
Other posts you might enjoy:

Pictures by me.
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Monday, December 31, 2018

Musings - December 2018

Here's the round up of the December. And I wish you a lovely turn of the year!
Books: There were several business trips but somehow I got a bit of reading in. (Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia.) 
- The Art of Social Media: Power Tips by Power Users by Guy Kawasaski and Peg Fitzgerald   - which held up pretty well to the current social media landscape but was obviously made to be a digital book as it had constant references to links that don't work off paper.
- Crimson Death by Laurell Hamilton which was about 300 pages too long. (It doubles as arm weights.) She really really needs an editor to help her get to the point. Less than 200 pages of it were in the location which was the point of the book.
- Your First 100: How to Get Your First 100 Repeat Customers by Meera Kothand was a quick digital read. (Go Kindle Unlimited!)

Gratitude: Travel. Communication. Gorgeous scented candles. The 4 non-whiny children. Pictionary. Time off. Perspective. Creating pretty things. 

Listening: Holiday music via Pandora. All the podcasts. Dave Ramsey podcasts. Christy Wright's Business Boutique podcast. Susan Hyatt's Rich Coaches podcast.
Perfume:  I've been wearing the Carolina Herrerra body cream and Les Perfumes de Rosine Majalis while traveling. I love the cinnamon rose/honey scent of it. Most weekdays continue to be Dirtyque's Ofresia, which I have decided is entirely too light for winter. I may finish out the Majalis and then come back to it. 

Recipes: We made a ton of things for Thanksgiving! So, for Christmas, I bought food. Seriously. Local restaurant had a holiday catering menu. Since we were just back from Philadelphia and I was tired from the trip/driving, it was the perfect solution! I highly recommend delegating things that could stress you out of the season, and for me, this was one.

 Alright, full disclosure, I did make the Freezer Cobbler for dessert! This continues to be a big hit in our household - even beating out the fancy chocolate eclair pie that came with our Christmas dinner.


Self-Care: The soap love continues. Seriously, Cellar Door Bath Supply is just phenonmenal. I ordered them for small gifts (a clean start in 2019) for an event I hosted. AND... one of my friends gave me soap from a new area soap place!

I continued to try face oils on a schedule. Yes, specific oils for evening and morning. Every day. And... I'm pleased to announce that we have achieved a change! Someone I've known professionally for several years thought I was a full 10 years younger than I am. Go oils!

 Here's the day and night routine:
- Day -I'm sampling Juice Beauty's Stem Cellular  Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum around the eyes. And I've gone back to being totally Juice Beuaty for the day. Serum, oil, eye cream, CC cream. While I like to experiment - that pretty much is my standard and it serves me very well. 
- Night - I've kept using  the layer of Predire Eye Care Ant-Aging Night Serum. (And NO, I did not pay retail for it! I picked it up for about 1/10th that price on a Vegas business trip last fall.) I'm still using Little Barn Apothecary oil  plus 100% Pure Multi-Vitamin serum. It's very active but not super moisturizing, so the night oil helps with that.

And... I've been trying out different bone-colored shadows and highlighters for the last 8 or 9 months trying to figure out what I like best in combination of what I have and wear regularly and in different seasons The trio included: a swipe shadow (technically a 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow) from Bare Minerals and a powder shadow (Soul) from Bare Minerals as well as an Ilia illuminator called Moombeams and Polka Dots. The last two are my favorites for looking close to natural and still giving a little gleam. I am absolutely sold on the Ilia Beauty highlighter. It's amazing!
Things 12 said: We pass a place with animal statues on the way to Petsmart. (Yes, that's it.) We often joke about the statues we'd like to put in yard to challenge the dog's sense of rightness with the world. It has cows. She said she'd like to put them in our yard to ride. 

 When 18 and I tried to point out the cows are stationary since they are statues, she mentioned a tornado would allow her to ride the statue cows. And then she said she'd like to move to Florida so with the hurricanes the possiblity of her riding them happens more often. We (18 and I) saluted her intrepid rodeo spirit.


Watching: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel which is awesome but quite reminiscent of Amy Sheridan-Palladin's Gilmore Girls. (Plucky, pretty, blue-eyed heroine who comes from money and everyone's mysteriously amazed by her. Seriously make Lorelai a Jewish girl form the 1950's NYC and yes.) The Magicians is back and was a great holiday binge. Also, Travelers is back with Season 3! I'd thought it cancelled, so that was happy. 

 Holiday flash - We did a mini-movie marathon of the Pirates of the Caribbean. 


Random: 1) Guy and I know how to do a date day! (Envy us.) December the 22nd, we toured a closed factory to look for salvagable parts for his business, had a perfectly lovely lunch at The Belgian Cafe, then did a historical tour of an abandoned penitentary, and then to a science/history museum with dinner at a pub. Top that!
2) They might all be crazy. You may be the sane one. Or they might all be stuck in an old pattern that you are part of. You leaving may be the only way to change that. And, in the end, people who don't value you aren't your family anyway.


Take-away - Take a moment. Think about what brought you joy in 2018. Something that you can do more of. Make a plan, right now, on how to do that. Because, in the end, you are responsible for your joy.



Original musings posts you may enjoy:


All photos by moi! And you can tell...

Juice Beauty is a staple in my beauty cabinet. I stray, I try other things - but it's my favorite "foundation" (I used the CC Cream) and great skin care. If you like Juice Beaty too, here is a link. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links which helps support this blog.

- Skin Care by Juice Beauty
Follow my blog with Bloglovin  - A new way to follow!
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Sunday, December 2, 2018

Musings - November 2018

Hello! November is always my favorite month with Thanksgiving near the end. I hope yours was good!

 Ours was fantastic. I made all the things (pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, yeast rolls, corn muffins, yellow cake with blueberries and a lemon glaze, corn casserole, vegetarian dressing aka stuffing)! And then 12 made her famous deviled eggs and pigs-in-a-blanket. Guy took care of the roasted potatoes, ham, and turkey plus made something called "spicy tomato fritters". We also put out a bag salad which was fairly well-received- mostly because I felt like we needed more food without butter and bread as the main components.

 Books: It was a fantastic month for reading! I finished 10 books over the month, thanks to the holiday and catching "plague":

- The Colony by John Tayman   - this was the book I picked up from the Puerto Rican book exchange at the hotel last month. It was dense reading, as many good non-fiction books are! It was filled with personal accounts of the leper colony on Hawaii.
- The Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells  - which I'm late the party on and have never seen the movie. It was a very enjoyable read from my local Little Free Library and made me want to hunt down the other 2 books! (Which are sadly not on Kindle Unlimited.)
- Lynchpin by Shannon Mayer via my Kindle Unlimited which was not super exciting or illuminating but I'm a finisher.
- While I had plague, I ran through the whole Blood singer series by CT Adams after finding Book 5 at the local Little Free Library the week before. Thanks to the awesome digital option - I was able to download the others to my Kindle for instant gratification. (Blood Song, Siren Song, Demon Song, The Isis Collar, The Eldritch Conspiracy, To Dance with The Devil, and All Your Wishes.) 

With these books, I've clocked in 54 books for the year! And there is a month - with business travel and a week off - of the year to go! One of my friends suggested counting how much I read a year to see if I read one book per week, a common goal; I'd never done that before and my reading tends to ebb and flow as I have time. These results are surprising to me. If asked, I'd have said I didn't have time to read that much! 

Gratitude: Time with family and friends. New ventures. Guy's ingenuity. Family adventures. Remembering self-care. 

Listening: All the podcasts. Dave Ramsey podcasts. Chalene Johnson's podcast. Bacon Marketing podcast (yes, by the guy from last month's book.). Christy Wright's Business Boutique podcast. Susan Hyatt's Rich Coaches podcast. Hirsh Marketing (which I ended up unsbscribing to due to lack of meaningful content).

Perfume:  Diptyque's Ofresia. It's  reminiscent of a garden but I'm not sure I like it for "winter" . And I've been using that Carolina Herrara lotion, Good Girl, for quick days. (I'm so stuffed up I can't smell. So, I've been careful about using fragrance sparingly.)

Recipes: We made a ton of things for Thanksgiving! (See above for the list - here's a quick shot of the stove the day of as I baked.) I didn't create anything new but we tried vegetarian stuffing (dressing but not in the bird) and yeast rolls - those were new and well received.

Earlier in the month, we made Day of the Dead bread due to 13's interest in his Spanish class. I had not worked with yeast in a while. He did not realize how patient he would have to be. It was good exercise for him. (And why we had yeast rolls for Thanksgiving - I had left-over yeast packets to use up.)

 And I made up "bottom of the refrigerator salad": shredded broccoli stem, cut up raw brussel sprouts, shredded carrots. Topped with chickpea crumbles, red pepper and tomato. Dressing: orange juice, ranch dressing and a bit of horseradish. Super nutritous and filling!


Self-Care: Last month I mentioned my slight soap obsession (hello, Villainess Soaps). Well, I opened up the full sizes with Pearl Diver in September and Krakatoa in October. This month I popped over to a different brand, Michigan-based, Cellar Door Bath Supply Company. Let's start with awesome ingedients, beautifully packaged, and the hands-down BEST confirmation email I've ever seen. (I loved them so much - and they are such a great price point - I gave a number of them away as gifts.) 


And this month I finished out my favorite  (sale) mask and the Lumene cream while I continued to try face oils on a schedule. Yes, specific oils for evening and morning. Every day. It's a continuation of last month with just a few additions and a switch out. For the month. I grouped them in the top photo by day and night:
- Day -I'm sampling Juice Beauty's Stem Cellular  Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum around the eyes. And I've gone back to being totally Juice Beuaty for the day. Serum, oil, eye cream, CC cream. While I like to experiment - that pretty much is my standard and it serves me very well. 
- Night -Same as last month until I ran out of  Lumene Vitamin C night cream mid-month. I've kept using  thelayer of Predire Eye Care Ant-Aging Night Serum. (And NO, I did not pay retail for it! I picked it up for about 1/10th that price on a Vegas business trip last fall.) And I'm still using Little Barn Apothecary oil. The  substitution is the 100% Pure Multi-Vitamin serum. It's very active but not super moisturizing, so the night oil helps with that.

And I'm loving Kismet's Country Roads lipstick for color!


Things 12 said: Well she didn't say much funny because she was sick for a bit - but she kindly passed it on! And it took me O-U-T for better than a week. 


Watching: 007 is back on Hulu. (Hello.) And I hadn't caught up with this year's Criminal Minds. But now I have! I also found the perfect "plague" binge - Schitt's Creek is light and funny. I'm 2 seasons in!

Random: 12 and I were supposed to go to a glass class but she had basketball (she's trying out for 7th grade basketball, even though she's only in 6th grade) so, I took 13 to the glass class. After he got over being the only male in the class, we had fun. We made some awesome ornaments!

Take-away - Let it go. Because whatever happened, it wasn't about you. It was about them. When you hold it, you allow them to anchor you down. (See post from my book on the left.) 



Original musings posts you may enjoy:


All photos by moi! And you can tell...

Juice Beauty is a staple in my beauty cabinet. I stray, I try other things - but it's my favorite "foundation" (I used the CC Cream) and great skin care. If you like Juice Beaty too, here is a link. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links which helps support this blog.

- Skin Care by Juice Beauty
Follow my blog with Bloglovin  - A new way to follow!
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Sunday, November 4, 2018

Musings - October 2018

Hello! This month included the most beautiful skies - whether over Michigan or Puerto Rico. I'm always in love with October blue.
Books: It was a decent month for reading, due in part to the business trip to Puerto Rico. Sit down! I avoided the airport bookstore!!! (Mostly because my bags were already super heavy on the way there with business stuff.) But since we took a few days extra vacation, the resort allowed me to "little free library" a book from their collection - which is dense reading and I'm still working on. (It's amusing that I borrowed a harder book than those I brought!) Check out the On The Shelf area of the blog for good quotes. Enjoy!

I did manage to finish 3 books a week (keeping up the streak) over the month:

- Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas  - this was a good self-improvement read. Perfect for a beach! (I took a picture with it off the beach from a cabana at Rio Mar in Puerto Rico)
- It's Not About You, It's About Bacon: Relationship Marketing in a Social Media World by Brian Basilico by Laura Shapiro - has held up to the test of time
- The Greensmith Girls: A Supernatural Witch Cozy Mystery by Raven Snow (Kindle Unlimited)  which is about the most perfect cosy mystery ever. 

With these three, I've clocked in 47 books for the year.

Gratitude: Tropical rainforests. Vacations. Apps that are fun to use. Bacardi Mixology training and certification. Being treated as though I matter by people I love. Corn mazes - and I still want to know why they aren't Maize Mazes. Purring kittens. Gorgeous full moons.

Listening: All the podcasts. Dave Ramsey podcasts. Chalene Johnson's podcast. Duct Tape Marketing podcast. Marketing Over Coffee podcast. Christy Wright's Business Boutique podcast. Susan Hyatt's Rich Coaches podcast. NPR's Money Planet podcast.

Perfume: Two things -  Diptyque's Ofresia. It's  reminiscent of a garden.  I do like French perfume. And a simple Caroline Herrera body cream called Good Girl which I got as a free gift from Ulta. I find hot places with multiple showers a day (Puerto Rico tourist adventures) not good for perfume but a bit of scent with lotion works well.

Recipes: The Freezer Cobbler was made about 3 times this month at the kidlets' request. It is our go-to quick dessert.

 I also dreamed up a casserole. (It might be a Midwestern thing.) I'm not sure it qualifies as a "recipe". I basically lined a glass pan with overlapping rows of Mrs. T's Pierogies and then added chopped peppers and onions.Then covered it in Garlic Cream of Mushroom soup (a la Green Bean Casserole) and baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. In the last 5 minutes, I covered the top in bacon. This is not a healthy recipe nor vegetarian. But, it's warm and filling for the fall months and super easy.


Self-Care: Last month I mentioned my slight soap obsession (hello, Villainess Soaps). Well, I opened up the full sizes last month with Pearl Diver. This month it was Krakatoa. (I have a tropical theme happening - the book I borrowed is about Hawaii.) The scent is GORGEOUS. And the soap lasts a surprisingly long time - like a MONTH per bar!

And this month I continued to try face oils on a schedule. (I tend to just try whatever I feel like that day.) Specific oils for evening and morning. Every day. It's a continuation of last month with just a few additions and a switch out.  For the month. I grouped them in the photo but the Facial Mist goes with both:
- Day -I'm sampling Juice Beauty's Stem Cellular  Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum around the eyes. The rest of the face was like last month:  Physician's Formula oil + TonyMoly Green Tea Lotion (both grocery store bargains) until the Green Tea ran out mid-month. Then I switched out to H2O+ Beauty's Infinity Youth Serum with the oil and Juice beauty product. (I got the H2O+ on clearance with a coupon for $21 - which I don't mind spending to try something new!) It's all okay. None of it is a miracle in a bottle, so far, just nice to use. 
- Night - Little Barn Apothecary oil + a bargain bought Lumene Vitamin C night cream over a layer of Predire Eye Care Ant-Aging Night Serum. (And NO, I did not pay retail for it! I picked it up for about 1/10th that price on a Vegas business trip last fall.)


Things 12 said: Make more cobbler.


Watching: Bull. Blackish. Fresh Off the Boat. American Housewife. Orange is the New Black. (Best quote from Kate Mulgrew, formerly of Star Trek - "We are living in the future.")

Random: Dog is re-trained. It took a few days at the vet and a food switch! Boom! He also got a great new haircut.

 Fun fact: Neck wrinkles on women used to be called Venus lines. 

Take-away - Life is largely what you allow. If you don't like something, you need to change it. (Small changes count.)



Original musings posts you may enjoy:


All photos by moi! And you can tell...
Juice Beauty is a staple in my beauty cabinet. I stray, I try other things - but it's my favorite "foundation" (I used the CC Cream) and great skin care. If you like Juice Beaty too, here is a link. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links which helps support this blog.

- Skin Care by Juice Beauty
Follow my blog with Bloglovin  - A new way to follow!
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Saturday, September 29, 2018

Musings - September 2018


Good-bye September! You were a pretty good month.

 Books: It was a good month for reading, due in part to a business trip to Nashville. (Which also means an airport bookstore. We know this is my Kryptonite. I used moderation. Only 3 new books. Amazing!) It is also the month my Quotle app died, so I'll start including any quotes I like in On The Shelf area of the blog. Enjoy!

 I did manage to finish handful of books over the month:
- The Mermaid by Christina Henry - this was a good read. Nice for a beach!
- What She Ate by Laura Shapiro - this was a lovely series of short stories. Recommend! (And already passed to a friend to share.)
- The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett which was a bit boring for a grown up. I read it to check if 11 might like - I suspect she would not. 

 Gratitude: Machines, specifically dish and wash. (Seriously.) Love notes left on doors. Guy and what appears to be his never-ending patience. Kittens, purr-monsters who like to cuddle at night. (And fight with each other). Breakfast with friends.

 Listening: Dave Ramsey podcasts. All the podcasts. Chalene Johnson's podcast. And I've finally trained Pandora to only play things I love - Halsey, Carly, Sting, etc. To keep this from being a rut, I've created a new Pandora channel with only music with the word BLUE in it - song title, band name, etc. Results are ...interesting.

 Perfume: Sing a small sad song. Finally managed to finish off that rather large bottle Paper Flowers from Love + Toast. Happy dance as I opened something new - Diptyque's Ofresia. It's supposed to reminiscent of a garden, so it's a nice transition into fall (for me) because I miss the dwindling flowers in fall. And apparently, based on this and Les Perfumes de Rosine Majalis, I like French perfume.

 Recipes: Nothing adventurously new this month for creation. I made a bit of this, a bit of that and a few cakes. It was kind of like a Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade kind of month:
- Due to being bored, I finally created a cake the boy (13) would eat! 1 box King Arthur's gluten free yellow cake (plus a touch of vanilla), into which I threw about 1.5 cups of frozen blueberries before baking as directed. I didn't have frosting - that was the turning point for the boy, who does not like frosting (too sweet, he says, like that is really a thing). I used the juice of 1 lemon and 2 cups of confectioners sugar to create a lemon glaze. The kidlets said it was like a cake donut. Delicious!
- Due to a birthday, I made what I like to call a "boxes and cans" cake. Box of Betty Crocker pound cake, can of raspberry pastry filling (cut the cake and put in layers), can of vanilla frosting, and a box of fresh raspberries on top. It's 11's favorite, and she requested it for her special occasion.
- Due to the garden being crazy abundant, I made zucchini patties. Which were surprisingly delicious! Equal parts zucchini and King Arthur's gluten free flour - about 2 cups of each in this case.(Grate the zucchini and let it sit on paper towels for 5 minutes with salt to get moisture out.) A bit of salt, pepper, grated onion, a pinch of baking powder and  double pinch of baking soda. I used 3 eggs to keep make it mix. Fry in a bit of oil (olive) flipping often. I served them with spicy ketchup and with curried Indian sauce. Both delicious!
Self-Care: Last month I mentioned my slight soap obsession (hello, Villainess Soaps). Well, I opened up the full sizes - starting with Pearl Diver (pictured). It was a lovely, creamy lather and I loved the bits of Irish Moss + Kelp. While the generous sample packet they sent made me feel pretty happy in my purchase, now I feel very much justified in the extravagant soap purchase!

 And this month I decided to try face oils on a schedule. (I tend to just try whatever I feel like that day.) Specific oils for evening and morning. Every day. For the month. I grouped them in the photo above:
- Physician's Formula oil + TonyMoly Green Tea Lotion (both grocery store bargains)
- Little Barn Apothecary oil + a bargain bought Lumene Vitamin C night cream

 I think my skin looks better - eye crinkles a bit less, the couple of dark spots on my forehead and darker skin around the mouth lighter.  But no one raved about seeing a big difference. (No one who knows me. I did have a dermatologist that I just met in a social setting be shocked at my age.) So as I keep trying things, that will be the "yard stick" - if people who know me notice the skin in a positive way. (Yes, I'm still a serial sharer.)

 Apparently September is National Self Care month - so don't forget to take care of you. And if you need a kick- start your self-care, click here to check out my ebook on doing just that.
Things 11 said:
Me - You can't count on being cute to get what you want. Someday you won't be cute.
11 - But that day is NOT today.

 One Sunday, she also make an Kitten Inn. Please note, it has a 5 star rating - probably due to the grooming salon. 

 This month is her birthday. Henceforth, she will be known as 12!

 Watching: Agent Carter. Yep, I do themes. I rolled on from last month's Agent X to Agent Carter. Then onto the next season of The Blacklist. And now on to The 100, at 11's request. 

 Random: I need to get the dog re-trained. He has taken to pottying on the floor, specific location.  At first in protest of kittens. Then they got ginormous (both 7 lbs now!) and stopped being in that space. But now, he seems to think that is okay. It is so not....

 I was almost famous in Nashville. I stayed where Reba McEntire lunched a few months ago and where - apparently - Drake was staying.  I danced at Blake Sheldon's bar - and just missed seeing him leave his car (rest of my group noticed him, I spaced.) 

 As we head into the holidays, I'm going to take some time to talk with someone because "family" time like that can be stressful for those of us with less than loving families of origin. (As I've written, I do that to help keep my perspective.) This month, I've had a few family run-ins that mean the next few months will be trying. 

 Take-away - Never forget to count your blessings. Remembering them will keep you from falling into the trap of thinking your life has "lack".

Original musings posts you may enjoy:


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