Category — Random

I haven’t been posting much this week for several reasons…

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Sweet Salvage was last weekend and I found the most wonderful hand-painted vintage window frame/pane pieces of art.

There were four of them hanging from the rafters.

Do you want to try to guess which one “I had to have”?

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It’s been nearly a month since Christmas and ever since then, I’ve been meaning to share with you my two favorite gifts.

The first is the fabulous Arizona cutting/cheese board that Marissa gave me. Isn’t it wonderful?

Oh, how my girl knows me!

She knows I adore my beloved AZ. I love cutting boards. And, of course, we share the love of CHEESE!

… speaking of cheese…

The second favorite thing is this vintage dairy display slab that Marissa and I found and then Dave gave to me to open on Christmas morning.

Dairy and butcher display slabs were commonplace in English shops in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The slabs were used in markets and grocery stores as countertop displays for sausages, butter, lard, and cheese. These white stoneware slabs were seen as the ideal blank canvas for advertising, thus serving a dual purpose.

A few years ago I purchased two reproduction slabs.

This rectangular “Pure Butter” slab sits by my stove …

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The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will be in Phoenix on Super Bowl Sunday.

Tickets went on sale yesterday morning at 9:30 Arizona Time. I set my alarm, just in case. Didn’t need it though. I was at the computers at 9:00, ready to log in.

Then, at exactly 9:30:00, I pushed the link and went to the screen below, on three separate computers in the house.

I waited, absolutely certain that I would be the excited recipient of free tickets to see The Tonight Show in Phoenix on Super Bowl Sunday!

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I’m still in Chicago. The NYE wedding of our gorgeous niece, Maureen, to the handsome, Brandon, was beyond beautiful and the reception was the best NYE party ever!

Marissa and I felt like we were on a reconnaissance mission – as we were stealing all sorts of creative ideas – for her upcoming nuptials in October.

Dave and I are staying on for a few days with Dave’s mom, while Connor and Marissa fly back to Arizona and California.

In the meantime, I found this great article in Good Housekeeping … it is too good not to share.

Here’s to a Clean, Happy, and Healthy New Year!

10 Surprising Things You Can Clean in the Dishwasher

Your dishwasher has been holding out on you. Sure, “dishes” are in the name, but this machine can clean so much more!

1. Kitchen exhaust filter
Avoid getting messy, gunky oil buildup on your filter by cleaning it in the dishwasher once a month or as often as your range hood manufacturer recommends. The high temperature combined with a good detergent should be sufficient to cut through tough grease without any effort on your part.

2. Dish sponges
Bacteria and mold love a moist environment, and your dish sponge is a perfect setting for them to thrive. We’ve found that using the “heated dry” setting is an effective way to kill most of the germs.

3. Plastic toys
This should wipe out germs from that last play date fast. Warning: Don’t place any toys with electronic components in the dishwasher. You might get shocked or short them out.

4. Toothbrush holders and soap dishes
Have you ever looked down into your toothbrush holder’s holes? Yeah, it can get pretty gross. Place them on the top rack since they tend to be delicate.

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Soon after Christmas, we’ll be going to Chicago for a our niece’s wedding.

It’s cold in Chicago! I’m going to be wearing scarves, a lot!

I don’t wear scarves all that often in Sunny AZ, so this video is going to be my go-to guide!

This next video makes it even easier with, step-by-step directions…

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I was overdue for a haircut and color. Long overdue! Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for my hair, and as you can see, I’ve got a lot of it to work with!

People with straight hair don’t always understand why people with curly hair don’t EVER let a comb or brush touch their dry hair.

Curly wet hair may have a comb, brush or even fingers run through it.

Curly dry hair… NO!

Here is why! It turns into a lion’s mane! The erased face belongs to me. The colorist/stylist has to comb out the hair to apply the color, so this is what happens.

Lovely! Nothing is as wonderful as looking in the mirror and seeing Roseanne Roseannadanna staring back at you!

After the color and cut, this is the more manageable and less scary effect. As you can see, I really needed that color. The summer’s highlights had grown out and the result was bad! Welcome winter and warmer color.

That’s it for the “hair” part of the post. The “helpful hint” part is next and was such a revelation that I just have to share.

I was talking to my stylist about how it is possible that she doesn’t get hair dye all over her clothes and what sort of dye she uses. She was telling me that back in school, she got dye on her all the time. But the school uniform was black, so thankfully it didn’t show. She said that the real problem was when bleach got on the black uniform. Then she shared with me that the way to fix that was to just dab on a bit of black hair dye to cover the bleach stain.

What? A stain to cover a stain. Brilliant!

I told her how Connor has two pairs of black chef’s pants, that were not cheap, had accidentally been splashed and splattered with bleach.

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Last week, I posted this Friday Funny.

Beneath it, I wrote, “Seriously! If Google could make that a reality, I’d get at least 8 hours added back into my life each and every week!”

I wasn’t kidding! Let me tell you a little story to illustrate how my life typically goes:

One thing, you may or may not know about me is that I LOVE my car! It’s a 2002 Acura MDX. I know, it’s nearly 13 years old! But I love it all the same. I’ve never been one of those people who needs a new car every other year, I don’t subscribe to that sort of “disposable” lifestyle.

My friends and I call my MDX the Magic Car.

It is magic because it can haul and hold any and everything we ever want it to haul or hold.

When I go to Sweet Salvage with Peggy, Anne, Sheila, or Kim – even though they all have newer cars, we always take my car. Because we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that if we find something big to buy – it WILL fit in my car.

Sure, little things are falling apart on it, but it still drives like a dream, it gives me no headaches or heartache. It is simply The Best Car Ever!

One might ask, “Linda, your car is 12 years old, if it’s such a great ride, why not trade it in and get another Acura MDX?

That sounds like a good plan, trouble is, the newer MDX models do not have the same cargo space as mine. They’ve made them smaller and that is a problem! So I hold on to it. I love it, I want it to last forever!

All that being said, yesterday I was thinking that my treasured MDX had its last ride…. all because I lost the keys. Not just one set of keys, but two sets of keys in the span of about 15 hours!

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Sorry, no new recipe today. I did not cook over the weekend.

I spent Saturday trimming the house. Along the way, I found the photo album of Santa photos. Gotta love 1-year-old Marissa in this one!

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