Simple Mask Tutorial

This week, I had to go for my treatment at the Vanderbilt Infusion Clinic. They emailed me the day before to let me know that they would be screening me for the Coronavirus. When I arrived, there was a nurse sitting at the door. She took my temperature and asked me several questions. I was happy that they were doing it---just one more way to protect us and them. 

I wore this sticker all day! Proudly! It reminded me of the button I wore as a kid: "I gave my tooth to science!" Or in recent times, "I voted!" It's kinda fun. As adults, we don't get to wear stickers much. Maybe we should change that. Everybody likes little rewards!

Anyway, on that day, I just wore a pashmina and pulled it over my face whenever I was around anybody. It was fine for that day. But I knew I needed a real mask for other situations. So, I made my own.

 1. You can use any large square. We don't have any bandanas, so I used a heavy, cloth napkin.

 2. Fold it in half.

 3. Fold it in half again.

 4. Add a rubber band to each side.

 I knew those large rubber bands from the post office would come in handy one day!

 5. Fold over the sides. You can tuck one side in to the other if you want, but it's not totally necessary. I wanted my mask to be comfortable and not too tight over the ears. So there wasn't much left to tuck.

 Voila! A heavy mask. 

I can see one problem. I'll probably obsess about matching my clothes to my mask. Butch's mask clashes with his turkey shirt! I like to call it his Thanksgiving shirt. I guess this is his way of thanking me for the cool mask!

You're welcome!

Friday Funnies

This and That Thursday

I always marvel at how many "church" envelopes we get every month. Besides the regular 4 envelopes for our parish and the gold one for the diocese, there are always "add ons." There are envelopes for school, to benefit Haiti, collections for flowers for the altar---I don't really pay attention to the others. It's too much. We just do the main ones and skip the special collections. Plus, we pay our contribution directly through our bank. I would imagine they could save a ton of money if they eliminated the paper envelopes. On the other hand, maybe if they did away with them, people would not give. 

Recently, Connie was telling me about how she cleaned out her "plastics." I told her that years ago, I hit upon an idea that really works and has worked for a very long time now. Storing the containers and lids can be a problem I tried putting the lids on, but that takes up way too much space. I tried keeping the container in one drawer and the lids in another---still too much space. I tried having everything just thrown in as a hodgepodge---that drove me crazy. I tried putting all the lids in a bigger container with the others stacked. I didn't like that either. Then I finally hit upon this.

I stack all the bowls, and then stack the lids on their edge according to size. This is by far the best method. You can easily find the lid you need. Plus, it looks nice and organized. Exactly what I want! Even Butch can handle this. The only time it's a mess is if someone else unloads the dishwasher (which doesn't happen very often) and they just toss things in. Plenty of room for just about ALL the plastics. I have some large ones that I keep nested in with my casserole dishes.  

 Mindy shared her enchilada recipe. I streamlined it a bit by cooking the chicken in the crockpot with the sauce at the same time. Plus, I put the chicken in frozen. I know that you are not supposed to do that, but I've been doing it for years with no problem. When I do, I cook it on high, so the crock pot is really hot.

 I cut the recipe in half. I cooked the right amount of chicken, but froze that for future use.

Mindy's Enchiladas

Chicken breast (1.25-1.5 lbs)

6” flour tortillas (I used Mission Carb Balance)

2 cans Verde enchilada sauce (found in the international aisle with the tortillas)

1 can/package red salsa or sauce (we absolutely LOVE the Frontera “chicken taco skillet sauce”— also in the international aisle)

Shredded Cheese (1/2 bag)

(1) cook chicken (I personally really like the texture of shredded chicken, so I cooked mine in the crockpot and then shredded it)

(2) preheat oven to 375°

(3) mix in sauce/salsa with chicken

(4) lightly layer the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with verde enchilada sauce

(5) roll chicken mixture into 8 tortillas and place horizontally in 9x13 dish, seam down

(6) cover tortillas with remaining verde sauce (no need to use all of 2 cans—just use enough to cover the rolled enchiladas)

(7) cook at 375 for 25 minutes

(8) remove from oven. sprinkle cheese over top (just enough to cover the top in a thin layer.) place back in oven for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Thanks Mindy! It was delicious. We're getting 3 meals out of a half recipe!

 Remember this from last week when my sisters started sending me pictures of their condiments? Sandy had an overabundance of tuna.

Well, this week, she found 3 more cans!!! I told her that made me crave tuna casserole, so I made one. I've shared it with Nicky because Butch hates tuna casserole. I made it a lot when the girls were little and Butch was traveling. I thought they liked it too. But when I offered to give some to Mindy and Stephanie, it was a hard pass! Steph even sent the vomiting emoji!! Luckily Nicky likes most everything! I've tried to freeze some too, so we'll see how that works out.

While Sandy was counting purses and totes, she found this---yarn covered hangers that my mother made. I made some  early on, but they were too boring to me. My mom made them for all 7 of us in different colors to match our rooms. Plus that's how we could tell which were our school uniform blouses from the others---she also sew colored "x's" in to our clothes with embroidery floss to match. I can't tell you how we fought over socks. You heard a lot of "take off your shoes!"

Well, when my mom died in 2010 (gosh, I can't believe it's been 10 years already), all of a sudden, those hangers became very important to us. 

We divided them up and each got about 2 dozen. I have them in my hall closet, well,  because I like my hangers to match---fanatically so. Sandy, I can spare some! I never have this many guests at one time!

 I have plain white, cheap, plastic hangers in my closet. They have to match!! 

I even went so far as to order white wooden pants hangers. Seriously, matching hangers is what makes your closet look neat and organized.

Two months ago---right before the "stay at home" order---Connie pawned one of her errands off on me. She asked me to take these jars to Karolyn who I was supposed to see that evening. Well, Karolyn didn't come. Of course  I'd do anything for Connie, but now I'll be driving these darn jars around for God knows how long!! 

Well, we've been asked to wear masks whenever we go out. We don't have makes, so decided to make our own. Both of these are made with athletic socks.

 The top one is the one I made. You need a tube sock and two rubber bands. You simply slide the rubber bands on the ends and fold the sock over in the back and tuck in to the sock opening. 

 It worked perfectly, but Butch didn't have a tube sock. As a result, the rubber bands are really tote on the ears. 

The one that Butch made has been cut to make straps to go around your ears. It gaps in an odd way. Plus, when I put on my glasses, they fogged up. So obviously this makes isn't all that air tight.

I stuck with the rubber band method. I used a cloth napkin folded up. It's nice and thick and feels perfectly fine. This is what I'll be wearing when the time comes---like tomorrow when I go to the post office!

Well, I couldn't get the photo to cooperate for my last item. Yesterday, Sister Anne Catherine, principal of St. Cecilia Academy (all girls school), had red roses (red and white are SCA's school colors) delivered to ALL the seniors. They posted the seniors individually in a big group collage. I guess for security reasons, they figured out a way that no one could "get" the photo. Still, the picture was so pretty with all those red roses and those surprised happy faces! What a great idea!

That's about all of this and that for Thursday!

What I Buy Wednesdays---the purse challenge

This week, it's about purses. I haven't bought any purses in quite awhile now. I love a nice purse. Kate Spade is my favorite designer. I have a couple Coach purses, but only because I liked the size. 

Let's talk about purse habits. I tend to carry two main purses---one for winter and one for summer. Occasionally, I'll swap out to a color, but just for a day or two. I'm funny about wanting things to match. 

I only use crossbody purses these days---I like to say I prefer that so I can have my hands free to catch myself when I fall! But really, it started with my hives years ago. Carrying a purse on my arm too long would cause a hive reaction. Anyway, now-a-days, crossbody style is all I wear. Sooooo.....

....on to the challenge. Just like the shoe challenge and the soup challenge, now it's time for the purse challenge.

I'll start with my own count. 

 I thought I had 8 purses. I actually had 12 counting the one I'm currently carrying. 

 As for my totes, I thought I had 8 and only had 5! That's a first---that I thought I had more than I really have. That includes my beach bag on the left. That's a duffel on the far right. I didn't get rid of any purses or totes with this inventory as I still use them all.

Connie thought she had 12 purses (I thought she had more and definitely more than me) and she actually had 14. Only 2 more than me. As for totes, she guessed 6 and had 6.

Karolyn started off by saying that she doesn't really care about purses and shoes. Still, she thought she had 8 purses. The final count was 13. I'm sure she'll be shocked to find that she has more than me!!

As for totes, Karolyn thought she had 5 but really had 9. 

Sandy is the one who came up with this idea to count our purses. She had---ding, ding, ding---we have a winner!---26 purses! She also has 10 totes!

Next up is my niece, Jackie. This girl knows what she has. She thought she had 9 purses and 1 tote. She actually had 10 purses and 1 tote. Not sure how you can only have 1 tote, but for Jackie, I guess I'm not really surprised. She has some minimalist tendencies!

My sister-in-law, Janet (Jackie's mom) had 9 purses and 6 totes. She said she was happy to eliminate one purse.

Nancy A. thought she had 8 purses but had 12. As for totes, she guessed 4 but had 7. 

Other than Janet, no one reported getting rid of any. That includes me. I go through my purses when I clean out my closet---about once a year in January. When you consider I only carry 2 neutral color purses most of the year, you'd think I could weed out a few more. I should really consider that. Now that I think about it, I do have a couple that I only use for traveling---they are a little smaller. So I guess I really carry about 4 of them regularly. If you add the colored ones that I use now and then (5) plus an evening bag, that means that of the 12 purses I have, I'm really using 10 of them. That's not too bad. The next time I go through them, I'll use my 1 year rule. If I haven't used it in a year, I'll let it go!

So, how many purses and totes do you have?

Thanks, Sandy, for a fun idea!

Taking suggestions for another challenge. Just let me know your idea!

Travel Tuesday

About two months ago, we went to Atlanta to visit Sandy and family. We had a great time---as usual.

While we were there, Sandy told us that the mobile groomer was coming on Monday to give Titan his monthly spruce up. I was really excited about this because I've been intrigued ever since Sandy first told me about it when they lived in Charlotte.

When the truck pulled up, it started.

As soon as Titan saw the truck, he started barking and darting all around the house. Sandy picked him up and handed him to the groomer. I was asking the groomer questions about her set-up and asked if I could take a peek. The "gal" said that I could---after she was finished. All this time, Titan was shivering in her arms. I guess he was really scared! Poor little guy!

When he was finished, we came out to see the truck.

The groomer didn't invite me to step inside, so I just looked. in.

She didn't invite me to step inside, so I couldn't see everything. Still, this is so fascinating to me. She said that Titan is really good once she gets started. By the time she brings him back, he seems to love her! But, we don't think he likes the smell!

 It was so funny seeing him roll all around the floor---seemingly trying to rub off the smell!

 And then there's his cute little curly tail.

 The groomer always puts a cute little scarf on him. This one for St. Patrick's Day.

Make no mistake. Titan is Sandy's dog!! He loves her and she him. But the main reason I took this picture was to show off those awesome wreaths on the front door. Sandy was so excited to find two of them!

I hadn't ever heard of such a thing as a mobile groomer. Why don't they have those for people? I could totally be on board for someone pulling up to the house and doing my hair, nails, facial or massage.

Now there's an idea. Anyone????