What I Buy Wednesday

I've been joking about living on my social security check. Well, I'm not really joking. I'm trying to cover all of my own personal expenses. So I paid for my scrapbook retreat this past weekend, the gas it took me to get there and snacks for the retreat. Which lead me to this:

I decided that I was going to serve hot chocolate with Bailey's---my most recent guilty pleasure ever since Ireland last year! I bought the big humongous bottle. For comparison, the bottle on the left is a regular size. The can is just there for comparison too. That big bottle cost nearly $50!!! At least there's about half left.

One thing for sure, I'll not be using "my" money for liquor. That's not really my thing anyway!!

Tuesday Thoughts About.....

...goat yoga.

Mindy has been wanting to do goat yoga. Pretty funny for a girl who lives in the city! Like downtown city!!

My thoughts?  What the h... is that and how does it enhance the workout---er---play!!!

Monday Mystery

We are having a bit of a mouse problem lately. I need to restate that. We're having a terrible, horrible, huge mouse problem. Even if it's just one little mouse, that's a HUGE deal to me. I freak out. I become unhinged and unreasonable. I threaten Butch. I threaten to call the exterminators. I want someone to put a hundred traps under the house. I'm serious. A. Hundred.

Here's the mystery: how in the heck is this mouse avoiding the trap?

So here's how it all started. One evening, I opened the trash compactor and there was a mouse sitting there. I reacted like this: 1. I screamed really loud. 2. I slammed the compactor shut. 3. I compacted it. 4. Then I yelled at Butch---like he's the reason we have a mouse. Not fair at all, but that's how I roll. We wouldn't have this problem if there were a hundred traps under the house. I rest my case.

Now the fun begins. Butch puts peanut butter on the single trap he could find and put it under the sink. We think that's where they are getting in. I looked for droppings in the other cabinets and drawers. So far, they haven't gotten in there. I "bitched" to Butch that if they did, then HE was cleaning everything out. Because if we had a hund....you get the point.

The next day, the trap was sprung, but the mouse got away. Butch thought it was probably injured. We thought that was the end of it. That night, again, I saw a mouse in the compactor. I suggested he put the trap inside the compactor. The next morning, the peanut butter was gone, but the trap was not sprung. Somehow, that little bugger escaped. Butch put the trap back in that night. The next morning, the peanut butter wasn't touched. Butch said that instead they feasted on the brownies I had thrown away. Sheesh. This is taking way too long. I just want it/them gone!!

I talked to Butch last night and he said that once again, the mouse ate the peanut butter without setting off the trap. He's decided that there is too much "give" in the compactor. That hunt continues.

So, I met this girl at my scrapbook retreat. Let's call her Lisa (not her real name---okay, yes it's her real name but I didn't get her permission to post this---oh well). Anyway, as she was scrapbooking, she kept coming across cat food in her supplies. Yes, cat food. She decided that it had to be mice. Then, when she went in to a zippered pocket of her big scrapbook roller bag, she pulled out a zippered pocket binder type thing. It was full of cat food. Unbelievable. Those mice spent a lot of time moving cat food from the bowl, somehow get in the bag, inside a pocket and then inside of a zippered case. What??

I looked at it and could not see how it got in. There are no holes or chew marks.

 I wish I'd taken the picture before she dumped it. It was solid cat food along the spine.

Most of it has failed to the bottom of the trash.

Now I was really intrigued. I quizzed Lisa to get to the bottom of it. Her scrapbook stuff is stored in the basement. The cat food is in the basement. But here's the thing. The cat food is on the complete other side from where her scrapbook supplies are!!

It's a mystery for sure!

Takin' a Break

Hey All,
I'm off on a scrapbook retreat with my sister, Jeanne and sil, Janet. We do it every winter and fall. This year it is a reunion of sorts. We're back at Kinderhook Lodge in Barry, IL. It's been several years since we did this as the girls who organized it---quit. Another friend, Erin, who I refer to as one of the  St. Louis girls is organizing it again. We had planned to go last year, but life got in the way.

When I left Nashville at 5:45 a.m., it was 65 degrees. The further north I went, the colder it got. It was raining and for at least an hour, I had to slow down to 30 mph on the highway to be able to see---it was coming down so hard. I was all tense driving in that!

 When I finally got to St. Louis (actually Defiance, MO), it was 12:30 p.m. and snowing!!! I couldn't believe it! Luckily, I threw my coat in the car at the last minute!

We are enjoying catching up with "old" friends---and I don't mean that kind of "old"! It doesn't bother me, but would you believe that I'm (and by that I mean WE) are the oldest people here? Jeanne hit the nail on the head when we arrived. "Hey, since we're old, maybe the other girls will help us with our stuff! And they did!! Love these girls.

And the views ain't half bad!!

I hope y'all have a great weekend---I will! See ya' next week!

What I Buy Wednesdays

I bought this humongous curling/blow brush. It's supposed to be a volumizer. We'll see about that. I fall for volumizing products all the time, but they don't really work for me. Any recommendations?

Adding it to this tangled mess. Now you might be asking yourself, "how does one person need so many hair appliances?" Well, the answer is pretty simple. I don't. I have one blow dryer and assorted curling apparatuses. The reason for that is there have been times (3 to be exact), where I've forgotten my curling brush/iron at home and had to buy another. Luckily, they are cheap.  It's easy to forget it. I pack as I get ready for a trip. My curling iron is left to cool on the counter and then somehow doesn't make it in my suitcase. Now that I have extras, I should just leave one in each of my suitcases! Yeah, that's what I'm going to do!

 I put my regular size one next to the new one so you can see the size difference. And it's pink, y'all (although that is not a requirement for appliances)!

I haven't used it yet. I'm a little nervous. Because, well, if I am in danger of poking myself in the eye with it, maybe it's too much for me! Wish I'd known that ahead of time!

Travel Tuesday

Hey All! We managed a little get-away this past weekend. We stayed close to home and went to Clarksville for the day. It's about 50 minutes away, but we had never done any geo-caching or sightseeing here.

 On they way, this popped up on the radio---quite a coincidence don't ya think?

 This one popped up the last time we were on Route 66! Love those little coincidences!

 Clarksville was established by John Montgomery and named for George Rogers Clark.

 Across the street from the founder's statue is the old Roxy theater.

 The Customs House is quite fancy. We didn't get to tour it because we were there too early. But on the other hand, there was no traffic and we were able to park next to everything we wanted to see.

 The court house is pretty awesome.

 I found it interesting that it was just about exactly the same on the backside. I'm going to have to pay attention from now on. We see a lot of old courthouses in our travels. There's is always a cache there.

These old buildings are favorites of mine. This is called "ghost" advertising---old ads that are painted on the sides of old buildings. This one is from 1845. The paint remains because it is lead-based and seals out moisture. Ghosts because the sun has faded it a little. "Uneeda Biscuit"? I do, but then I might need the undertaking! Furniture and undertaking---quite a combo. I guess they might just be referring to caskets but thought "furniture" sounded better. (PC in times gone by???)

Butch shared a moment with Sergeant Carter (Frank Sutton) from Gomer Pyle. He was from Clarksville. Who knew? He was from Clarksville. We drove by his boyhood home. It's still a home today--small typical house. We were going to go to the cemetery to see his grave, but we forgot! Cemeteries are usually one of our stops as they ALWAYS contain interesting geo-caches. Apparently, not this one, since Butch didn't have it on his list.

 I really like how murals on buildings have become a "thing" again. We have plenty in Nashville. I hope they are the "ghost" buildings of the future. They might not last very long without lead based paint.

The Wilma Rudolph event center. This black woman is honored throughout Clarksvilles due to her olympic accomplishments, despite having polio as a kid and ultimately wore a leg brace. She won several gold medals in 1960 while running with a sprained ankle.

 After our geocaching and sightseeing, we went to The Catfish House for lunch. OMGosh y'all!

Instead of bread, they bring you "all you can eat" fried okra---and it was delicious! We had just the one bowl. They also bring you unlimited white beans and cole slaw. We didn't care for the cole slaw as it was the vinegar type. We prefer the creamy. The beans were good. I commented to Butch that I never really thought about white beans as a side dish. They are usually part of a larger dish, like ham and beans, or white bean chili, or bean soup. I really liked them as a side. I told Connie that the four of us just might have to take a road trip to dinner sometime!

That about wraps up our little adventure for this week. All of these trivial things are exactly why we like geo-caching---although Butch does the actual hunting. The sport takes us to random sights and out of the way places. We want to do and see it all! So much fun!!! And we learn so much. Every. Time.

Monday Mystery

Well, it's a mystery as to why I bought this:

Had I known it could burn my eyes, I might not have bought it!! I guess you'll have to wait until "What I Buy Wednesdays" to see what it is!!