Good Fortune Today

I spent the entire day working helping my friend on her basement. I ran a few errands for her as well. It is funny that every time I go to help her, I find more rooms in her home. It is so large! I finished one bedroom and cleaned out half of another. 

It is nice that I am available to help her and while cleaning we are finding coins. When I was working upstairs, we had a cup we put the coins in. In the basement, she told me to keep the coins. I had a handful yesterday in the few hours I worked, and today, I ended up with over a dollar. 

While cleaning, in the bottom of one box, there was a fortune from a fortune cookie. I thought it was a "good" fortune to get while cleaning. It said, "Everybody feels lucky for having you as a friend." 

I would hope that the fortune is true. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends, and hope they feel blessed having me as a friend as well! 

I hope YOU have a blessed day!

Finding Treasure Through Paintings - Thrift Store Finds

I have shared in the past about finding treasure through buying bags of jewelry and gold at second hand stores / thrift stores / and yard or garage sales. I have a treasure hunt playlist that I share on my YouTube channel about that. 

I have also shared in the past about how you can find treasures in the toy section. The one thing I don't think I have shared about is about finding treasures in art. 

I don't think the art is a treasure in money, but I do feel like they are treasures still. I didn't used to care about things like art and color, but over the years I find myself growing with a love and appreciation of art and colors. 

I used to just skip over the art / print section at thrift stores. In the past few years, I find myself checking those sections regularly. I haven't taken the time to research the painting much that I buy, but I buy things that I like. I have found about five paintings in the past few years that I really love. 

I have two that really need cleaning and one from the late 1800's that needs a repair. I want to learn how to clean and repair the paintings, but haven't taken the time to study that yet. 

I found a beautiful floral oil painting that I hung in my room. It is so well painted that I enjoy admiring it daily. 

Today, I found another piece of art I am excited about! It needs cleaning, but even with that, it is so beautiful! It reminds me of a Monet painting. I am so happy about it! The best part, is that it was $5!

I have several other painting in my seaside decor bathroom that I enjoy as well. One is an oil of boats, and the other is a coastal water color. It amazes me the skill some people have for painting. 

I have done some tole painting, but have never done much above that as I have never had the opportunity to take lessons. I have always wished I was more artistic and have tried drawing in the past, but it hasn't been something that comes naturally. 

I enjoy making things and am artistic in many ways, but just not in drawing or painting. It amazes me that all of these paintings are in different mediums. One is charcoal, one is oil sticks, one is water color, and several are in oil.

Maybe at some point I will make taking lessons a priority. I wonder how much natural talent you need to paint well, if it can be taught or learned? Perhaps it is like singing. I have a natural talent for singing and know that some people are tone deaf and can't be taught to sing. It will be interesting to examine that further in the future. 

My advice is to search for treasures wherever you can find them. In the end, the value of a piece is in how much you value it over how much you pay for it! 

Have a blessed day! 

Working Hard Never Smelled So Good

I am back to helping my friend clean out her house. I shared a bit about this before the holidays. We took a break over the holidays and it has been busy for her until this week. 

She has a large family and still has a young son, but also grandchildren older than her younger children. Her husband works out of state so she has LOTS going on. It is really hard for her to get through things with the amount of things she has going on. She also has three or four different jobs going on, so I am in awe sometimes of all she gets done. 

She is a distributor for a scented warmer business. She had a room full of documentation, old catalogs, and tester smelling scents. It was really cute that her children and grandchildren wanted to help us get organized. We were trying to get the tester scents put into small drawers so that she can have a clearance sale. It was hard working with a mask on, but it was nice as we sorted I was able to smell some really nice smells!

The kids liked putting the tester scents in the drawers top up while we organized all the paper work. We were able to throw out two large containers of papers, get all the small scents ready to sell, and put all the other items into boxes for us to be ready to sort tomorrow. Lots of the boxes are things that have collected on the counters and then were scooped into boxes when they had to clean up for events. I have a family member who is a paper collector like that and my mother was the same way, so I am good at sorting through boxes of papers and putting them into functional piles to go through quickly. 

My hope is that tomorrow, we can get through lots of those boxes as she has a bedroom that could be used if we could get through all the boxes. Her garage is something we want to get done as well, but it is really cold out, so we thought we would work on the house while it is cold. 

She wanted a waffle iron I was selling on the local website that flips to a grill as well. While we were sorting through things, she found some broken gold necklaces and said she would trade me for the waffle iron so I could have the necklaces. I thought that was a nice trade. As you know I collect silver and gold for emergency purposes and you can see a post about that here. 

I worked 6 hours today but didn't have the best night sleep last night and am fighting a starting migraine as we have been having storms. I hope tomorrow goes well for both of us. 

Have a blessed day! 

It's In The Bag

A few days ago, I was making some treats to take as "Thank You" gifts and "good luck" gifts as some leadership in our local congregation changed over.

I made some popcorn treats and needed gift / treat bags to put the treats in. I used to put on a huge boutique each November and rent out spaces. I would make items all year and used to buy the cellophane treat bags bulk in the boxes of 100 regularly for use in the boutique. 

I haven't done the boutique in many years as it was so much work all year and I wasn't making enough to justify the work as being a single mom took so much of my time. 

I also use the bags as treat bags for class parties, youth camps, girls camps, drill and cheer gift bags, and each Christmas I would fill the bags with dried apples, and the homemade popcorn treats which are both shown in the post linked here.  

Since we had Covid this year, I didn't give out my normal treats. Since I am no longer working with the boy scouts, and no longer have girls at home, my need for these bags has declined. 

I pulled out my bag collection which I have in a plastic drawer and realized it was a mess. I had so many different bags tossed in. It has been years since I organized it. Last time was when I was making treat bags for Drill team competitions when Princess Five was till in high school! Here is a post where I share about making those gift bags which we made for most every competition! 

I did want to share how I purchase the bags. I usually shop the "after holiday" sales to get the bags for the next school year. Being "room mom" for most of my girls classes, I would make treat bags for each holiday. They are usually between $.25 to $.75 for a package of 10 - 25 bags. 

The dollar stores usually have bags for each holiday so you can get enough for a few dollars. The other place I get bags sometimes for cheap is thrift or second hand stores. So many times I get bags of new bags for $.50 to $1. Recently I got three boxes of 100 for $1 which breaks down to a penny each bag. 

I used to buy those boxes of 100 for $10 for the smallest bags to $15 for the larger bags and I am sure they are even more expensive now. 

I spent some time today to sort and organize the bags and get rid of somethings I won't use. It is a weird space to be in as sometimes I think I should get rid of all of them, and other times I think I may use them for service in church groups or for my grandchildren. It is organized now by holiday and I decided to keep some for now. 

Have a blessed day!

Life and Parasite Update - Tried Sulfur

I thought I should give a life update since my last parasite life update was in September. 

I tried something new this week after not trying anything new for some time. I had a neighbor that had some sulphur and I had several people suggest sulphur / sulfur soap saying it has helped them in the past.

I decided this week that I would try mixing some of the compounding sulphur into some lotion to see if it would do anything to the parasites. 

I used the sulphur in some lotion a few times. I didn't notice that trying the soap did anything for the parasites. It didn't seem to make them move more, come out of the skin, or react in any way. 

It did smell like I had used LOTS of matches. I was glad it didn't smell like rotten eggs though. I don't mind that smell so that was fine. 

I did have some issues when eating as I used my fingers to eat some pineapple I was chopping. I realized I started having an allergic reaction and then remembered that my mother had a sulfur allergy so I thought I had better stop using it. I think I used it long enough that I should have had a reaction if it was going to do anything to the parasites. 

I made an update video sharing how I also use some products to keep the parasites down in the hairline on the back of my neck. 

Have a Blessed Day!

It's Been a LONG Time Since I Found This Much Gold in a Grab Bag

I found a grab bag of assorted jewelry at the second hand thrift store the other day! It has been a long time since I have found gold in any grab bag at my local store. 

I was making a video of the bag when my computer filled up and the video stopped. 

I took a few photos of the gold jewelry I found in that bag and was VERY happy with my $20 purchase. They have finally been putting the gold and silver in bags again. It has been about a year now that they haven't had any in the bags. It makes me VERY happy to see that they are putting it out again. 

I saw they had a bag today with some silver in it but it wasn't worth the $20 bag. They also had a gold ring for sale individually. I hope they continue putting it out as it is nice to have that option again! 

Have a blessed day!

I Needed A Bit Of Sweetness Today

I was a bit sore today from yesterdays fall. I also realized that my phone is now having issues not only the crack but a clicking when I talked to others, they hear noises so that was frustrating. 

I also was watching a YouTube video on my Chromebook when the flood happened and it also fried from water damage and doesn't work, so my little flood yesterday was costly. 

I also went to the Chiropractor today because of my fall and am even more sore tonight. I picked up some groceries and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. After that, I thought I would like something sweet. Since Princess Four moved out, I haven't been eating them as much. I have lots of gluten free baking mixes that people have given me or I got when volunteering at the local food bank. 

I rarely bake anything gluten free as I don't tend to do well with them, but today, I thought I could use some sweetness in my life. I decided to clean out some frozen zucchini and apples from the freezer as well as a baking mix from the cupboard and had some walnuts that needed cleaning out. I made a huge batch of muffins to clean out all those items and ended up with four 1/2 Tupperware containers full to put in the freezer. 

They were really sunken for the first batches and then I added a bit more flour and rising agents and the second half were a bit better but in the end, the muffins tasted more like brownies. I added different items to each pan putting cranberries, crushed Heath bars, some chocolate chips, almonds, walnuts, and popcorn in the different batches. They are really good. I will have treats for months in the freezer. I probably shouldn't have made them but I really could use some sweetness in my world today. It has been a hard week! 

Have a blessed day!

Not My Best Day - Flooded the Bathroom

 

I went to get the mail today and there was a Moen cartridge for the upstairs bath, so I screwed up and didn’t turn the water off. I don’t know what I was thinking. I haven't been feeling well and just thought I could do something quick but I should have known better.

In the past year, they put a new water tower in and my house water pressure is really high and I can't turn on any faucet full on as it splashes all over. I flooded the bathroom as I couldn’t get the cartridge back in and had to run to the basement and shut the water off and the bathroom flooded and ruined the ceiling in the basement bathroom. I had to wash a few loads of wet rugs and towels and cut the drywall out. Wasted day for sure. I also cracked my phone dropping it and slid on the slick floor and fell. It was not a good day.  

I guess I should be happy it wasn’t a full-on flood with carpet etc. I can do drywall, but it is going to be a hard fix. It isn’t where there is wood to screw drywall into in one spot. I have fans running and will let it dry for a few days and then fix it. 

Silly me! I shouldn't try and do home repair projects when I am not feeling well! 

Have a blessed day!

My Memory Is Full & Great First Day For Princess Four

It was a migraine day. I have shared that I have had LOTS of headaches and fatigue in the past few weeks. The highlight of my day was a call at lunchtime from Princess Four telling me she is LOVING her new job on her first day!  She reaffirmed that after work this evening as well! I am so proud of her and happy for her!

With the girls being home for the past 7 months, and helping them get moved on, along with the health issues, I just haven't had the energy and time to transfer photo's and videos onto a back up drive and off my phone. 

It has been a full year since I took videos and photos off my computer to my back up drive. Having a blog, a website, and a YouTube channel, you can imagine how many videos and pictures I take every year. 

My computer was so full that even the thumbnail pictures wouldn't show up. I haven't pulled everything off yet, but I was able to pull off a few larger videos so that I could at least see the thumbnails as I couldn't find the pictures I want to post because I couldn't get the thumbnails to come up.  

I hope I start feeling better. I want to get back to working on finishing my garage but it has been a few rough weeks.  

Have a Blessed Day!

Wish Her Luck - Princess Four Is Starting A New Job

Princess Four is having a big day today. She moved into a new apartment in the past few days and is starting a new job TODAY!

She interviewed for seven different jobs in the past few months. She was offered five of the jobs that she interviews for but didn't feel like they were what she would want after looking into them further after getting offered the job. The two jobs that she didn't get offered, she REALLY wanted and made it to the final 2 for the job. She got second interviews and lost it to one other person. 

But in true form, Her Heavenly Father knows what is best for her. He is so good to give us what we need over what we may want! 

She applied for a different job that was VERY different than any of the other jobs that she had been applying for, and it wasn't something she would have thought about going into. She ended up getting an interview and there were over 100 applicants. About 20 people got a first interview, and four or so ended up getting a second interview.

She had been working a temp job for a week or so just to help her have something until she found a job she felt would be a good fit for her. She was offered the job and is REALLY excited about it. I told her that it was wonderful that she has finally found something that she enjoys to do and is going to be a manager of a retail store! They are expanding and want her to move and open a new location in a different city but will be in training for 6 months to a year first! 

She is excited to be starting and was able to leave her temp job on good terms as she was planning on giving them 2 weeks, but they said they were fine with her finishing up on Friday. She is really excited about this new job as it is with a store that she really enjoys! 

I am excited to see her doing something she finds interesting and is excited about herself! 

Have a blessed day!

Compare Paper Towels By Weight Volume - Huge Price Difference

When buying paper towels at my local grocery store, I bought a store brand and national brand larger bag of paper towel. The reason was that I ended up buying both larger bags even though everything seemed the same, was that one felt heavier than the other. 

At the checkout, the store brand cost $2 more per bag for the same size bag than the Sparkle Brand. 

When I arrived home, I weighed both packages and sparkle brand was over 1/2 pound more in weight than the Walmart Great Value brand! It was amazing to me.

So, for $2 less, you get more than 1/2 a pound more! I think I may start weighing my paper towel and toilet paper to find out which brand offers the most paper for the price just to know. 

Have a blessed day!

Not Sure Why I Am So Tired

I made a few videos today and was hoping to get them uploaded and posted on youtube, but I can't keep my eyes open. I am so tired lately. I got few things done but just can't stay awake. I have been like this for a week or more. I can't stay awake to blog and fall asleep in the chair exhausted trying for hours to post. This has been one of the worst weeks of fatigue in years. I hope whatever it is, I get over it soon.

Making a Base for a Game Piece

I get lots of my games at thrift stores, second hand stores, or yard sales. 

I try to clean up all the games and make sure they have all the pieces, put all the pieces into baggies and elastics, and if it is missing pieces, I try to find replacements or I make replacements. I have even made puzzle pieces in the past to replace lost or missing pieces.

Here is a link to how I make new puzzle pieces that are missing. 

Here is a link to a video where I share how to make a new replacement game piece. 

Here is a link to my blog post about making puzzle pieces:  

Here is a link to my blog post about making a piece to a game.

 I made a video showing how I made the new base for the game piece. I share how you can use a domino, dice, poker chip, or any other larger piece that is big enough to hold the piece up. 

I use different sized table knives to cut the domino making a new slit or slot to hold the piece in the base. The knives used need to be the right thickness of the playing piece needing to stand up. Make sure you don't use a thick knife if the piece is thin.  

Check out the video if you have in any questions, feel free to ask. 

Have a blessed day!

The annual Couch Conditioning and Snake Skin Hat As Well

 

I shared about how my front room leather couch was fading due to UV rays starting in 2014. I found a great product that I use called Lexol. Here is a link to the original post on that.

I then posted in 2015 a part 2 showing it needed more conditioning since I hadn't conditioned it in years before 2014. The color of the couch was fairly dark still. Here is a link to that post.

In 2017 I posted here showing a post of what is going on in my life but also one of the couch showing how the color had faded over those past few years.

In 2018 I purchased a Rattlesnake Skin cowboy hat and shared how I used the same product to condition the snakeskin as I use on the couch. I have also used it on a leather holster for my fathers vintage gun and other leather straps. When I conditioned the hat, I also conditioned the couch at the same time. Due to the wear of years of sitting in the couch as well as so many years of UV sunlight on the couch, the dye and coating on the couch have completely worn off. 

When I conditioned the couch that last time, the leather took the conditioner differently than it had before. It was more wet like a natural non-dyed or conditioned leather. In the spots where the dye and initial color of the couch was intact, the conditioner slides over the couch like wiping down a counter. In the parts of the couch that are worn, the finish on the couch is completely worn so when I conditioned it, the conditioner made the leather very wet and I had to use LOTS of conditioner! The leather soaked it in and became dark due to the moisture rather than becoming dark due to the dye in the leather. 

I haven't conditioned the couch as often now because the product that I use has tannin in it and is a bit sticky for a few days until it dries. I also worry about the chemicals transferring through the skin. I have tried to do the last few coats of conditioner when no one will be visiting and using that couch for a few weeks at least. 

I noticed when conditioning it this time, that even more product soaked in and that the leather is now really soft with no finish left on the cushions. There is still some finish on the backs of the back cushions, but none on the seat cushions. 

There is no color left on the seat that sees daylight and I noticed as you can see in the photos of the couch per-conditioning this time, that where the couch pillows stay, there is a bit of color left, so I am going to remove the pillows from the couch unless family is home so that the color will fade more evenly in the next few years. It is really frustrating that the color has dissapeared, however, the conditioning of the couch has left it very soft and supple which is nice as I have seen other natural leather couches crack and get brittle. 

You can see the difference of the color of the couch by looking at the first link and post in 2014 compared to the photos of this post. I also did some repairs on the couch this year but haven't posted that video or post yet, but I am grateful that I was able to repair the couch and that I learned about this product to keep the couch soft and functioning so we can enjoy it for many years to come!