Tissue

I've always been a Kleenex girl. Several months ago, during a bout with a horrible runny nose, I needed some with lotion. The store was out of Kleenex. So I got Puffs with lotion.

I'm now a Puffs convert. No more Kleenex at our house. There are many reasons that Puffs are superior to Kleenex. The first, and very important, is with that first tissue you pull out. With Kleenex, you ALWAYS get two. And they are so tight and crammed in there, it sometimes is impossible to get them out. So you get pieces of 2 tissues. Argh. With Puffs, the first one comes out easily. And each one after that just unfolds with ease. And really before you even get to that first tissue, opening the box with Puffs is so much easier. You just have to peel back the perforated cardboard, unlike Kleenex with the angering plastic situation. And with the lotion... Kleenex makes you keep some of that lotion on your hands for a while after you use the tissue. Puffs with lotion is just enough lotion - soothing on the days you need it, but not annoying on the days you don't.

So it's Puffs for me! Plus I have a friend at work that used to work for quality control at Puffs. I've heard about how they make and test their tissue! Puffs it is!

Bird

We have a new little friend on our front porch. A little bird has been sleeping up under the eaves in the corner. For the past four nights, he is there about 8 pm, with his head tucked into his chest. Even with turning the light on to walk the dog, and another animal being out there - nothing disturbs him. And in the morning, he is gone. On the third night he came, of course I had to name him. So now, each night we check to see if Winston is out there and wish him goodnight!

Cats

I took Molly to the vet today to get her nails trimmed. For many reasons, we cannot do this at home. She is impossible to handle, with the skwirming around and biting at us. And she has black nails - very difficult to see how much to cut. So every two months or so, she goes in for a trim.

I was getting heartworm medicine for her. The tech asked if I needed it for just her. I remarked that she is an only "child" - no other pets at our house. And she asked "what about the cats?" What cats?? Apparently, we also have three cats - Max, Callie, and Simon. She wondered why they didn't need medicine, and she mentioned that they had never been in to the vet. I told her that we didn't, nor had we ever had cats.

Who knows how they got attached to our account. They've been there since 2005. The mystery cats are now removed from our account. I'd always wondered why they asked if it was Molly that was coming in, like there was a choice. But apparently there WAS a choice. I just didn't know until today!!

Outdoors!

This morning, we drove out to Bass Pro Shop. It's not really close to our house. And we never really have had a reason to go. So this was our first visit. My husband won a gift card in a golf tourney for Bass Pro. And we are the last people that would need this gift card. The driveway into the store was very long - kind of like a queue at a theme park... getting you in the mood for the ride. But when we finally did get there, as we suspected, we stuck out like sore thumbs. And they didn't even have golf stuff in the store like we had hoped (it's only offered online). But I did get a hat - with SPF! I had been wanting a hat - and it made the trip worthwhile!!

That afternoon, I planted my garden. It was much easier this year. Well, last year I had to dig up the entire bed and actually MAKE the garden bed. And I still had the rings of the soaker hose pinned down. So all I had to do was rake the mulch to the side to find the rings! Well that and dig a little holes! I planted 3 tomato plants and 1 pepper plant. And the big mass of green on the left is chocolate mint, which aggressively came back from last year. While outside, I noticed the grass needed to be mowed. After mowing and planting, I laid in my hammock.


Just as I was getting relaxed, our neighbors came over to offer to burn my huge pile of limbs and branches. They said they would burn sometime later this week, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity. So I left my cozy hammock and went inside to convince my husband to leave his recliner to transport limbs. They let us borrow their lawn mower trailer and even came over and cut the really big tree limb with a chainsaw.


Then after yard work part two, I went back to the hammock.

So tonight - I am totally exhausted. I feel wiped. But I am very glad that I slathered myself up with sunscreen. Many times I underestimate my time out in the sun. But today I was prepared. But the allergies are hitting. I didn't think they were getting to me as bad as they have. Yuck. But a beautiful day outside was worth it.

Dreams

I've had very vivid dreams the past week or so. They involve people from my past and some fictional people - from movies and TV. These dreams feel very real, but do have quite a movie feeling to them. They really seem long and epic, but I do wake up rested, if not confused! In the morning, I try to remember what the dream was about. I have only been able to do this about half of the time. With the dreams being so vivid, if I do wake up a little - that place where you are still asleep, but aware that consciousness is coming soon - I think that there isn't ANY way I'd forget the dream. But a few hours later, during my morning coffee, I only remember the feeling of the dream and cannot recollect the people or places that had me believing it was real.

Cupcake Pops

I have been inspired recently by several friends and their baking. One of them showed me a blog of an awesome baker and her ideas. Cupcake pops.

I love baking. And these cupcake pops seemed easy enough but still challenging and rewarding. I got my bark for coating and my sticks to make the pops. I was going to wait till this weekend to do it, but I was so excited to try it out.

I made the cake - halving the total recipe so that I didn't have an overwhelming amount of cupcake pops that would need EATING!! Then the assembly began. Crumble. Mix in frosting. Roll in balls. Chill. Shape. Chill again. Then dip into "bottom" bark glaze. Wait. Dip into "top" bark glaze. Wait again. As this was the last step, this waiting was the hardest!!

So the didn't turn out as pretty as the ones from the blog pictures. I didn't really think that they would. But for a first attempt, I think they are pretty cute! And yummy too! Somehow, I was able to eat just one. They are very rich!

Even though these pops were very involved, they were worth it in the
end. Each step was really fun - more like a creative process than just
baking. I will definitely try these again. I do have the other half of
the mix still...

Midway through

...and the finished product!

New door

We got a new front door today! The installer got here at 10am. Right
on time! It was just him and a door in the back of a pickup truck. He
was really nice, soft-spoken and looked like a combination of Uncle
Rico and Matthew McConaughey!!
The process:
10:20 - After measuring, prep and removal of hardware, the old door
was gone. And I heard the click of the door knocker for the last time.
It was sadder than I thought it would be!
10:23 - Loud noises - the trim was coming off!
10:40 - New door on. Already!
10:58 - Trim going back on. Very loud!! He had this cool nail gun
thing that seems to charge itself - air-compressor like!
11:00 - Cigarette smoke smell in the house. Lit candle.
11:07 - He was outside finishing. The inside looked pretty much done.
We are going to have to do some touch up painting. As well as painting
the outside of the door.
11:10 - Caulking
11:15 - Tested the deadbolt and knob.
11:17 - DONE!! He had cleaned up (as much as workmen do) and was gone.

It went really well. And really fast! Besides being able to open and
shut the door easily without major force or leaning in with your body
weight, it's really pretty. I have my first "fancy" door. This is one
of the major things that I wanted for our house. Yea!!

Before:

After: