Less Hustle More Coffee

It was a big day today with a lot of progress made in the house. I started the day with laundry but quickly went to do a blog entry after a few days of NOT doing one. I saw “Gone with the Wynns” had posted a new video on YouTube so I had to switch over to see what they were up to. I got a shot of my omelette that George dropped in front of me and Jason from the Wynns was in the background. If you like watching videos on YouTube, give them a shot. They bring beautiful and delightful “videos” each week. I am sure if you go to my YouTube channel you will see them there under my subscriptions. I think you can see who I follow.

Katy sent me this because I love how it smells! I thought it was just for “clearing the air” but apparently it’s really a cleaner. It smells like cloves. I was so excited to get it. I will be putting it in a sprayer today b/c it has to be diluted. She sent some toothpaste also that George loved. I like it too but we have different bathrooms and that was his gift. I told him to get me some for Christmas, lol.

We went to the store yesterday morning late – close to lunch time and OH MY GOSH – a Saturday HOL weekend – Kroger was absolutely packed. It was one of those grocery trips where you can hardly stop to decide on a product because if you do you are keeping people waiting. It was so crowded. And if you stand anywhere for longer than like 2 seconds you will be asked to move or someone will stand there looking at you like you are the biggest thorn in their side ever. I was so irritated by the time we got out of there. You could find the most OUT OF THE WAY spot to stand and STILL someone will need to be where you are. LOL.

I took this pic, mainly for Katy. She loves Pumpkin Spice lattes. I’m not fond of flavored coffees anymore. I drank a lot of almond coffee and flavored coffees in my late 20’s and it seemed after I was pregnant and had Katy, I didn’t want the flavored anymore. I like mine black. No cream. But, I like cinnamon sometimes – especially if it’s strong coffee.

So happy fall to ya’ll that like flavored coffee!

I worked in the kitchen this weekend making it a little more fallish. I changed the recipe book decor again. I also took the old lights down and put up some more. After a while it’s safest to do so. I had a light bulb pop off and some were starting to go out.

We enjoy the lights under there and it makes our kitchen festive too.

Got the fall decor done on the mantle. I’m still undecided about the mirror. I just grabbed it from downstairs thinking I could use it somewhere up here either as a mirror or a jewelry holder or as a base in the bathroom counter but nothing really worked except to put it on the mantle. It may come down. I have a fall wreath to hang and how it looks with that will determine the final outcome.

I picked out some cookbooks I wanted to peruse through for fall and have those ready to go so as we sit in the den I can grab one for some fall ideas. I like to do a meal or so every now and then as it gives George a break. He doesn’t seem to care so much though because he loves to cook. But I do too sometimes!

I pulled out some baby blankets of Katy’s to wash and send to her. Amidst them was this PINK blanket. Katy laid on this one a lots as a baby. It was a great thick one to put on the floor and put her on it. I decided that little River may NOT like pink so I put on the sofa for Maisy. The blanket is starting to wear anyway, so I decided not to hold it out for a girl. It’s a perfect Maisy blanket. She took to it immediately. She likes a little something to lay on, on the sofa.

I also worked on the sunroom, putting out the fall placemats. I opened a few screens and turned the fans on so that close to sundown it would be fairly cool in there to eat dinner. We had an awesome steak and crab leg dinner planned for us.

As I was working, I couldn’t help myself. I had to look at this Greek cook book. It’s an OLD book and has some very simple recipes in there. I’m excited to try some things. It also has some written chapters in there about the Grecian way of life and thinking. I put the book down to finish up in there. It’s easy to get distracted at home! Despite my normal distractions I stayed away from my office so I didn’t get pulled in to it! I’ve saved my office work for today and will talk about it later. Lots of pics today to share!

Washed the blanket on the long sofa in the sun room. My cushions have all faded. They are expensive to replace. So I just covered up the chairs with blankets. I mean after all the dogs are on them anyway. Even if the cushions were not faded by the sun, the big flowers are probably pretty out of style by now, lol. We don’t get to sit out here much as there is no longer any a/c or heat out there. So we are out there very little anyway. There is a gas fireplace but I don’t think it’s safe to use. It would always get too hot with it anyway. I use the mantle and that’s about it.

The “tea center” is all ready to go. We will drink more tea in fall and winter. I stuck the “China Moon” menus for take out in the basket as a fun reminder to do some Chinese take out. We love it and it’s great during the fall winter.

I stopped to grab of pic of the crab thawing. We don’t usually see Crab in our house. We only had enough space for the one box when we bought them. Now that we’ve eaten that one, George is going back today to get another one! It was great! It is rarely that cheap. It was $14 for a 2 lb box.

Stuck some “fall flair” here at the “snack basket” center. This is where we put the crackers and chips and almond slivers and such. Also where we would tack up gift cards and invitations and events we were going to. Boy has this year been bland. That board is almost unnecessary now, lol. We have a few bucks left on a Cracker Barrel card left I think and a few reminders George stuck up about voting and I’m not sure what the other thing is – maybe oil change? lol

We love a good weekend to just be at home and be domestic. George worked on the meal board. Here’s the next few meals coming.

No shortage of good meals around here. That’s why it’s hard to lose! I have to try to eat less all day and save up for night. :-O

I added “Loon Pasta” and “Loon Chicken Salad” to the list. I watched a couple of shows on YouTube of “How to Feed a Loon”. It’s two guys that do a splendid job of explaining and cooking a recipe. They are a lot of fun as well.

Told ya there was a lot to share today. Give me an extra day at home and I’ll get into a LOT. This is a reality blog and this table is rarely clear. So to show you the fall flair, I have to show you the real thing, lol. I had MY stuff removed from the table early on, but it’s just a convenient place to put things. From wallets to recipe books to ipads, to — A1 sauce? Yep a new bottle I think for dinner. George made us some cocktails from sherry. It was a bit sweet for me. So he made me a Paloma.

In the den, I set up the diffuser for a lemon and rosemary smell which is one of my favorites. I think I will order some more clove and cinnamon though for fall. I just threw some fall leaves out here.

I have to laugh every time I am near this “table” below that I begged for, as it matched our dining table. Times were a bit tight at the time. I had $200 in Christmas money to spend and we’d only be out a $100. He was going for “no”. I knew it was perfect for this spot and perfect for the room and for a dining table match. It was a different kind of table too – an unusual style.

Immediately it became evident that it would become a liquor cabinet and George’s ipod deck went on top. I could care less about a liquor cabinet. I like a beer here and there and wine. I like to have a dark rum around and a lime or cucumber vodka in the freezer, but for all the hoopla surrounding the onset of getting this table, it’s ironic that it is mainly George’s. lol lol lol

And I’m ok with that! He’s a great bartender and manages to offer a good selection to friends when they come and go. I have plenty of room for my stuff elsewhere but it I mainly wanted the table to fill the spot, to put things like crock pots and kitchen extras, and to decorate on top. But I’m married and I can share. I still have a little room for photos and it’s a great place to put pics of some of our buddies. I need to add a few more. I’ve not updated this in a while. I don’t think he uses that dock anymore though. Why is it still there? I could put something in that spot! So I threw a bit of color here as well. Kinda pitiful on the fake sunflowers there. lol. I probably need to tuck the vase behind a frame so you don’t see the bottom. I’ll rearrange I’m sure.

And the foyer has a bit of fall flair too.

So I’ve been a bit unhappy with my bathroom lately. My major complaint is really that it was becoming unfunctional for me getting ready and it looked untidy. When company comes I have to either clean up or let them see my make up mess. So I worked on the storage drawers and also the cabinet space underneath. I really just had a basket of collected makeup and it was messy. I also have masks soaking in there a lot. And then I like to listen to Alexa in the morning. I have a “news briefing” set up with a collection of services like NPR, AARP, and a local news station. It gives me the main headlines in the morning, including the weather and a Bible verse. But it’s always hard to figure out where to keep it. I’ve tried hiding it, tried hanging it, but this is the best set up yet.

I also took the “green” plants from around the den and kitchen areas in which I placed more fall looking foliage, and placed them in the bathroom. Seeing this made me realize I’d needed a color pop in there all along. It only takes an item or too to get creative juices flowing. I actually have some “weird” but cheap ideas going. I hate to spend a lot on decor. Maybe you can tell? lol I just think when you decorate it has to be functional and it has to give you “THAT FEELING” when you walk in the room. I always have used that term “good CHI” which came from reading about feng shui – which only interests me from an intriguing decorating standpoint – not from a religious or spiritual standpoint – but YES “Good CHI” or GOOD ENERGY is definitely what I look for when putting a room or a space together. We all seek that moment of liking whatever we have created. Not near as perfect as what God must have felt when he created the heavens and the earth and said “it was good”. But I loved what the green did and I love way it turned out. Not perfect but more along the lines of acceptability.

The green mask was there to be washed next. I decided to use the little cream bowls for washing masks and make up brushes.

Now it’s making me want to take the plain pics down that I threw on the walls of our nature hikes, and put some pretty prints that have color in them. But what I have in mind may be a bit different than what many would do. I want to be able to change things around in there and don’t want to spend a lot of money. So I have some ideas that might work. I’ll hold on to them for now and we’ll see if it comes to fruition. My wheels are turning though. I did not put fall in here! I’m keeping it green. Sometimes you just need a place that is fresh and green away from fall, Christmas, winter, or whatever. So I’m keeping the fall decor mainly in the living areas.

I also was able to move all the camera set up to it’s new case in my office.

We had our nice dinner in the sunroom. It was a long one. We had a lot to eat and the crab legs take a while. But they were so good!

After dinner I sat in the sun room for a bit, letting dinner settle and reading some and catching up with messages and such on the phone. Maisy knocked off my doll on the sofa and made herself a tent.

I put the doll back and told her she had to share the sofa with the doll.

I think she was politely telling me it was bedtime. And it was after a few games of candy crush. That game relaxes me and sends me to the finish line. I really think it doesn’t matter what I’m doing – about 9 – I turn into a Pumpkin. I’m done, unmoveable, and just gone for the day. Pretty much fell asleep knocking a candy into another one – swoosh and snore!

Today is a fun day for me. My office day. The decorating done, the cleaning done, and now I will clean up the office a bit which won’t take long. I will be doing the following today:

• Changing my autoship for that company I use for the products I’m needing for this month.
• Return or swap some jeans from Belk that didn’t fit. It’s so hard to buy pants on line, especially jeans as they are so form fitting.
• LTD order (maybe) which is www.ltdcommodities.com
• Might order my decor stuff to decorate with or at least look into it.
• Devo
• Change my watch band from the white one to the sand color one.
• Refill the vitamins which I keep in my office.
• Tell the white chili recipe ingredients to Alexa for the next store run.
• Download my 2 available Audible credits.
• Work on my iMac files – I’m reorganizing a few things.
• Do a back up of the files that are not on icloud. I’m still a bit confused about all this – may watch a few more videos. I’m still trying to get around the Mac learning curve
• Do my iPhone updates
• Drag photos in for the next videos coming up.
• Drag other photos into the 2020 spots for saving
• Delete old photos from my iphone
• And I guess that is the main thing. If I get all that done, I’ll be doing good. I’ll move onto other things on the list.

Well told you there was lots to share. But I’m done now and anxious to get started on my day! Ya’ll have an excellent Labor Day holiday! If you made it to the end, let me know! ha. Here’s to all that get to see a beach this weekend! I miss being around the water!