A Busy Week is Now Behind Me

I'm sure my readers are familiar with the weeks that fly by leaving you wondering where they went and what did you do anyway.   That was last week for me.  Nothing profound happened, just, it flew by. I took pictures to prod my memory for the blog.  Thankfully, because I'm shooting mental blanks right now.

Let today be the start of the list of accomplishments for the past week.  First thing I went to pick up my new glasses.  Being older and having a desire to preserve my eyesight as long as possible I opted for transitional lenses.  The sun now bothers my eyes.  The transition is slow and hardly recognizable
But my eyes are thanking me for spending a bit more to help The lady who was fitting my glasses had pity on me and provided me with a cool animal print case that has a hard cover and snaps shut.  Animal print not being my first choice in most things, this case being the exception.  Things really are relative, wouldn't you say?

How cool is this case?  I'm styling!

From there a stop was made at Marshall's.  I picked up a cute container to keep next to the bed to put my night time items in.  It has front pockets, but I have no need for them now.  Maybe in the future they will come in handy.  The clearance section had multiple items in it so I found a journal that I'll use for next year's notes.  I started using a journal this year to jot down any notes as reminders of things not to forget.  The pages on the left, I jot down reminders and on the right, I jot down recipes and projects.  Things I've tried (such as making hand soap) I mark with a small strip of colorful  washi tape as an indicator that I like it and will incorporate the recipe into my life.
I also have a journal that I use to record my gardening dates and tips and outcomes.  This journal will be used until it's full, with the year written before notes are taken.

The bedside organizer holds the remote, tissues, glasses case
and a note pad in the event I remember something I don't
want to forget.  Did that make sense?

'In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different'.
(Coco Chanel)  This described me to a tee.  The being different part.
Seeing the rest of the sentence I consider a gift as I was always under
the impression that being different than the mainstream
population was considered unacceptable.  Something
I struggled with until I was around 50.
 

There's a big movement concerning datebooks.  My daughter and I go to the book store each summer to purchase our date books for the coming year.  We go in the summer because her year begins in September with the start of school.  Both of us are happy to have the books with little to no embellishments.  The trend is to purchase multitude types of stickers to decorate as well as commemorate special dates such as birthdays.  I've never been one to go all out and crazy over anything, so I don't see me getting on board with this trend.  I do put a sticker next to birthdays which helps me to spot them at a glance.  

It appears the two lizards in my garden had a baby.  He is braver than his parents and zips by the pup while she is laying in the sun.  Of course she totally ignores the little guy.  It seems she can't be bothered.  None of the plants have been ravished by bugs, only by too much rain.  Wait, I lied.  The sunflower has huge chomps out of a couple leaves, but doesn't appear to be effected by it as each of the four plants have produced flowers.  One of them must be nine feet tall as it towers well over the top of the six foot fence.

We are never too old to learn new things.  I just learned something this past month.  Let me preface this with letting my readers know that I have never been into fancy makeup or clothes or grooming products.  It's just who I am.  I've secretly looked up to women who knew how to use products to enhance their inert beauty, but I don't know how to, nor do I have a desire to enhance what I am.   I do have a desire to care for what I've been given.  I keep my personal space clean ad free of dirt.  Face always washed and hands washed more times a day than anyone would care to count. (The hand washing came from working in the medical field.)

The feel of moisturizers on my face is unpleasant to me, until recently.  I was become gaunt looking so I increased the water intake.  This helped a bit, but nothing noticeable.  Then I discovered a product from Japan that promised to hydrate the skin.  I was apprehensive, but the promise was I could return the item with no questions asked.  The belief that these types of products were just hype to sell something was still in my mind.  With a mental picture of my friend, Kyoko, I thought it was worth a try.  OMGosh!  The product does indeed hydrate.  I love the face wash so much, I went back this month to purchase the moisturizer.  The gaunt look is gone and my face is plumped up once again.  I'm now a believer.  But, not in all product claims.

I'm not advocating the purchase of this particular
product,  I'm only saying that there are really products on
the market that do indeed follow through on their claims.


 

This week also had a visit to the famer's market at the end of the day with lower prices on tomatoes and peppers along with a free ear of corn. 

I also went to the wholesale flower shop to look for a BOGO deal which I found in some beautiful yellow flowers.

Stay safe.  Feel free to share what you've accomplished (or did not) this week in the comment section.
 

Small Dollar Tree Haul, After a Visit to the Physician

I had some annual blood tests done on Friday.  When the doctor called me with the results she asked me if I had recently been sick because my white cell count was a little high.  No, not really, just a bit tired and an ear that was difficult to hear from.  She advised me to follow up with my primary doctor, so as a dutiful girl, I did just that.  I'm not really dutiful, as I was looking for ways not to call the doctor.  Until I woke up this morning with a painful face.  Yep, it's time again for the semi annual sinus infection.  So off I went to visit my primary care physician.

I indeed did have a sinus infection on the right side of my face.  The left ear was plugged, not because of the changing barometric pressure, but because it too was infected.  A double whammy!  Off to the drug store to fill the antibiotic prescription, then on to the Dollar Tree.  I couldn't waste the trip out without checking what the dollar store was offering this week.  I spent eight dollars. 

Four of those dollars went to 4 eight pound bags of soil that will go into planters for tomatoes.  This year the plan is to put three pots in the driveway close to the house where the tomatoes will get all of the morning sun light.  It will also be more difficult for predators to find the plants.  I hope!

I also packed in the cart four packs of seeds, two of them being heirloom varieties - carrots and lettuce.  I know these veggies are not expensive in the stores, but they are so tasty fresh from the garden.  The other two packs are not heirloom varieties, but radishes and parsley are two favorites, as well.

They also had well made decorative pots that looked to be mistakes from a high end manufacturer.  The mistakes were in the glaze, inside of the pot where no one can see once the soil and plant are in the pot. 

There were multiple colors of this pot available, but I'm more
of a natural color girl, so black was chosen.

The remaining items are not so exciting.  I picked up a pack of 25 screen cleaners.  If I knew what the cleaner is made from, I'd make my own.  Since I have no clue I bought a pack that should last at least twenty five weeks.  The main reason I needed them is my computer is a touch screen model.  The fingerprints - even if they are my own - bother the hey out of me.  I also invested a dollar in small pieces of sticker paper to see what I can come up with.  I'm thinking of using it on the Easter tree squares I made to add a bit of spring color.  We'll see.

Who knew sticker paper was available? 

The time has come to take a short nap.  These infections are beating my butt!

Stay safe.