A Small House Is Harder To Keep Clutter Free

We live in a rather small house with five people living in it.  That means we have a lot of stuff!  Our closets are small, the rooms are small and we don't have a basement.  We do have a large garage where everything goes that we can't fit in the house but want to keep.  I think it's harder to keep a small house clutter free.  You don't have the space so things look cluttered easier.  I have been trying to do some spring cleaning, selling some stuff on E-bay, and putting what I don't want in the garage for a spring or summer garage sale.  I like having garage sales and you make some money for stuff you don't want anyways.  Just get some big boxes and when you find something you don't want or need any more put it in a box till you get ready to have the sale.  I get price stickers at a dollar store and make my own signs.  I'm always looking for ways to make some extra money!

My Bright Idea To Paint

Sunday I started to paint my dining room a shade of green which is called "casual day".  It all started with getting  a free quart of paint at our local hardware store on Saturday.  I was thinking about painting anyways but this got me motivated.  Two of my kids helped tape and I did the painting.  I never painted anything but white before, except a couple of years ago my husband and I painted our bedroom a lavender color.   It turned out nice but I'm not that great of a painter.  If you looked on the side of the wall you could see some lighter and darker spots.   Anyways, I  got started kind of late in the day and didn't finish it.  Yesterday my son and I had to go to the city for a dentist appointment, allergy shot, shopping, and going out to eat of course. Before we left my husband said he might finish painting while we were gone.  He had said the day before he was tired of painting since we used to paint apartments when we were resident managers years ago.  We must have painted over 100 apartments.  We had to clean and paint them when someone moved out.   When I got home from the city I was pleasantly surprised!  He had just gotten done painting the dining room and it looks good.  I'm glad he finished it for me!

Wearing Fancy Hats At A Tea Party Bridal Shower

My daughter and I are going to go to a bridal shower in the near future.  The invitation said it's going to be like a tea party and you can dress up in tea party attire if you want to.  My daughter is going to be in the wedding also.  Anyways, I like to stop at a Goodwill store occasionally when I go shopping in the city.  It's kind of of like a treasure hunt for me.  You never know what you are going to find.  I found these hats and thought they would be fun to wear to the shower.  I might wear the black one with the lace on the left since I have lots of black clothes.  The one on the right is a dark shade of blue with lots of ribbon on it.  I thought they were kind of neat and were only $1.99 each.  I had previously bought a hat at Target for $15.00 and it is just a plain white floppy hat.  So I might take that one back.  You don't see many women wear hats these days.  There was a day when every woman wore a hat to church.  Isn't it funny how fashions change.

Crazy Spam Emails!

I just looked at my email and it got me to think how much spam or junk mail I get!  It's really awful! Right now I have 810 of them.   I even have gotten some in  different languages of all things!  I don't know what they say so that's a plus!  Where in the world does this stuff come from?  I got one today that said "Chrity Project".  I guess they meant the word charity.  Then there are some that say "My Dear Friend" and "Reply ASAP".   I must have some dear friends I don't know about......ha, ha.  I had another one that said I won $850,000.00 in U.S. dollars today.  Good thing it was U.S. dollars since I live in the U.S.  I sure could use the money!  I just got one that said "reply me immediately".  Reply me?  That doesn't sound right and yes, I'll get right at that!  Well, that's enough talk about spam for now.  I know we all get it but don't you get tired of it sometimes? 

Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil Review and Giveaway

I am so excited to have my first review and giveaway, especially  from a great organic company called Tropical Traditions.  I received a quart jar of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to try and opened the box immediately.  It was packed very securely and in a glass jar.   Tropical Traditions has a video on Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil and tells how the founder, Brian Shilhavy and his wife, discovered virgin coconut oil in the Philippines.  They were the first ones to export Virgin Coconut Oil from the Philippines to the United States in 2001.

I have never used coconut oil before so the first thing I did was look on their website to see what I could make with the Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, since I like to cook.  I decided to make the No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, which is on their recipe page. I only had to use 1/4 cup of the Coconut Oil for this recipe so you will get a lot of uses in a quart.  The cookies turned out great and you could taste the coconut flavor in them.  They didn't get real hard so I think I could have boiled the mixture a bit longer.    I got 9 cookies from the recipe which were average sized cookies.  Not many, but you could double the batch I'm sure.  The ingredients are honey, peanut butter, cocoa, oatmeal, cinnamon, vanilla and the coconut oil.

                        

There are lots of other uses for Virgin Coconut Oil also besides cooking.  It's good for hair, body, and so much more!   Right now their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil Quart jar is $29.50 (Retail $40.00). 

 
I was also amazed at how many other products Tropical Traditions has, from skin care products to household cleaners, pet products, and pest control products.  They are all safe and non-toxic.   All in all I would recommend this company to anyone!

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Giveaway:  Tropical Traditions is giving a Gloria's Bits and Pieces reader a Quart of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to try themselves!  Giveaway ends on April 3, 2012.  Click on "Read More" below to enter Rafflecopter.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Thinking About Painting My Dining and Living Rooms Green!

Hope everybody is having a fun St. Patrick's Day!  Today I got some paint from our local hardware store since you got a quart free  just by filling out a coupon with your name and address.   Don't you just love free things!  I purchased a couple of gallons also since a quart won't be enough; but it was nice to get a quart free!   I have decided to paint my dining room and living room.  Right now most of my rooms are white, except my bedroom which is a light lavender (my favorite color).  My bathrooms are wall papered.  I decided to get a light shade of pale green which is called "casual day".  It looked really pretty on the paint sample card.  Now all I have to do is get all my supplies ready (brushes, roller, tape, paint pan).  I don't think I will get started today any more.  I'd rather be on the computer but will show some before and after pictures when I get started on the job.  Maybe my husband will help me if I get lucky!

My Teapot Collection!

I collect teapots!  I must  have about thirty or more of them.  They are mostly on two long shelves that a man at our church made for me.   I have them in the dining room, in the kitchen on top of the cupboard, and in the living room on a long shelf.  It must be about ten years that I have collected them.  The purple one in the picture is a musical one and is my favorite color!  My husband has gotten me some for gifts.  Lots of them I have gotten at garage sales or estate sales.  It's fun to look for interesting ones.  Some are made in England that I have.  I don't use any of them but just have them for decoration, although I do enjoy a cup of tea once in a while!

My Husband's Perch Fishing Catch

My husband went fishing the last few days and caught these nice perch.  He never went fishing since we were married, which will be 28 years in May.  He was always too busy working or sleeping.   Now he is retired and has time to enjoy this past time or hobby.  Perch are my favorite fish!  They are great just coated with flour and seasoned with salt and pepper, then pan fried.  Sorry for the glare from the window in this picture. 

Easy Tuna Noodle Casserole

1 -large (16 oz.) bag of medium noodles
1-can of albacore white tuna
1- can cream of mushroom soup
1- 8 ounce bag of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 to 3/4 of a can of milk (from empty soup can)
Pepper

Boil noodles in large pot in boiling water as directed on bag until tender or al dente.   Drain and put in large casserole dish.  Sprinkle with pepper.  Add tuna, soup, cheese and milk with noodles and mix well.  Cover dish with lid or foil.  Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

First Spring Flowers In My Yard!

I went outside today to take a picture of my tulips coming up and noticed that there were some purple flowers by my garage!  They are so pretty and are my favorite color (purple)!  They come out in very early spring and are called snow crocuses.  I don't even remember when I planted them years ago but they come back every year and are always welcome to see!   The picture on the top left are some of the tulips.  Beside that is a mum bush. In the middle are daffodils in the front corner.  They come out in mid spring and are yellow.  We've had a very mild winter in Michigan and can't complain; but I'm happy to know spring is here! 

Our First Estate Sale Of The Year

Friday and Saturday my husband and I, along with my sister and her husband, had an estate sale for a couple whose mother had passed away.  My sister has had estate sales for people for about 15 years.  My husband and I have started to help them out getting their sales ready recently. 

It is interesting to see what other people collect over the years.  This lady collected Cherished Teddy figures, teapots, Fenton glassware, and bells.  She had some very nice oak china cabinets, a roll-top desk, and lots of Christmas items and other glassware.  It wasn't a real big sale and only took us about a little over a week to get everything cleaned, organized, set on tables and priced.  Friday morning the people were lined up in the cold.  I couldn't believe some people came at 7:30 to wait to be first in line in that weather.  The roads were really icy and we saw a couple of accidents on the way to work at the sale.  If there are a lot of people waiting to get in we hand out numbers to the people and only let about a dozen in at a time.  That way it isn't so crowded in the house and people aren't bumping into each other.

We had a wonderful turnout.   The second day we sold just about everything in the afternoon.  Then a lady came to pick up some furniture she had bought the day before.  She had her husband and another guy with her.  She was buying a lot more stuff and we were giving her deals for a group of things.  At the end she bought the rest of what was left for $80.00.  She got quite a deal for a lot of stuff but we were glad to get rid of everything.  We figured she must set up and sell at flea markets or be a hoarder.  She had a trailer load of stuff when she left! 

Cheesy Potatoes

1 large bag of frozen hash brown potatoes
1 - 16 ounce container sour cream
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 - 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese plus 4 to 8 ozs. more to put on top
6 tbsp. of butter or margarine
garlic powder

Thaw out the hash brown potatoes and put in a large bowl.  On stove top melt the butter or margarine in medium pan.  Add sour cream and soup.  Mix together until well blended and heated through.  Add this mixture to the hash browns in the bowl.  Add the 8 oz. of cheese, sprinkle some garlic powder in and mix all together real thoroughly.   Put in  9 by 13 inch pan.  Sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese.  Cover the pan with foil.  Bake for approximately 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours at 400 degrees until potatoes are fully done.

Lunch At Bennigans and Movie "The Artist" With My Daughter

My daughter is on Spring break from college and she wanted to see the movie "The Artist" today.  We naturally went out to lunch first and went to Bennigans.  It was our second choice since The Olive Garden was packed and people were waiting to be seated.  It was a nice atmosphere and I like that they have real glass for glasses.  I can't stand drinking out of a plastic one.  I didn't really care for the club sandwich though, which was dry and not very good.  The potato soup was very tasty, with bacon and cheese in it.  Karissa liked her hamburger, which was huge and had lots of yummy toppings.  She didn't really care for the sweet potato fries though. 


Then we went to the movie!  I thought it was pretty good and definitely different.  Karissa wanted to see it since it was a silent movie and won five Academy Awards, including best picture.  I think she liked it better than me.  It was unusual not having people talking and just listening to the music and reading the words on the screen.   John Goodman was in it and the guy that was in "Babe" -James Cromwell.  All in all it was nice to have time together with my daughter, just the two of us. 

Getting My Hair Highlighted and Cut

Today I got my hair highlighted and cut.  Boy, does my hair grow fast.  I just got it cut a little over 3 weeks ago.  I get my hair highlighted about every 2 months or a little over that.  It sure makes a difference when I get it highlighted.  I have so much more body in my hair and it's a lot easier to style it.  I live in a small town and get my hair done here by a very nice woman who I've gone to for many years.  It's $50 for highlighting and a cut.  I don't know what prices are in the city but this seems reasonable and she does a good job.  It really makes me feel good after I get my hair done.  The last week or so I couldn't do anything with it!  I have light brown hair and highlighting makes it a lot more summery looking!  I'm ready for spring!

I've Got To Quit Eating Candy!

Since last fall I have been buying the pretty individually wrapped candy for all the holidays.  You know how nice they look in the store in those brightly colored wrappers.   I thought I'd put them in a candy dish at home on the kitchen counter for the kids. First there was Halloween and Christmas.  Then came Valentine's Day and now Easter.  I now have to eat some every night.  It's become a habit.  Before I go to bed I have to have a "few" pieces.  They taste so good but it only takes two bites to eat them.  The fat stays on the body a lot longer, ha, ha.  Now I've got to lose some weight.  I go walking every day for two miles.  I've made up my mind not to buy any more.  If it's there I'll eat it.  If it's not I'll eat some fruit.  It seems like in the winter you can cover yourself up with clothes.  When Spring comes, you wear less and show more.  So I am going to try hard to not eat candy, starting tonight!

Allergies In Our Family

I've gotten allergy shots for about ten years or so.  I get an injection about every other week.  I first went to an allergy doctor because I get sinus infections, usually in the spring and fall.  The first time I went to the allergy doctor my nose was so stuffed up I couldn't breath without using nose sprays.  That was the wrong thing to do, because it wasn't getting better.   I'm allergic to three different types of mold, dust mites, dust, cats, and some types of trees, grasses, and weeds.  My doctor recommends that his patients get re-testing every three years.  So yesterday I had my re-testing done and found out that I'm now allergic to feathers also!  The test was really easy and only took about half an hour.  One of my twin sons has gotten allergy shots since he was in second grade.  He was always sneezing and getting colds.  It seems like he has gotten better or has outgrown his allergies.  He's 20 years old now.  Then about a year ago my other son (his twin) started getting sinus infections quite often.  I took him to the allergy doctor to get tested and now he has to get shots for allergies.  So one of them seems to have outgrown it and the other one got it. 

Seeing "Gone With The Wind" At An Old Movie Theatre

My daughter and I like old movies!  She looked up theaters that show old movies and found one in Detroit.  It's a historical movie theater built in 1928 that plays old movies.  It's restored and has the original pipe organ.  It's called the The Redford Theater.  This weekend they are showing "Gone With The Wind".  We live about two hours away from there but she really wants to go on Sunday afternoon.  She has spring break next week so it will be a real treat!  I hope it doesn't snow very much since the weather forecast is calling for snow showers.  Sounds like a fun time!

Update:  We made it to the theater and didn't even get lost finding it (since we're not very good at directions).  The movie on the big screen was so neat!  I've seen the movie on television before but seeing it at a theater was so much better.  There was a woman there who was a Gone With The Wind movie buff.  She knew everything about the movie and information about all the people.  She had a lot of items that she collected over the years pertaining to the movie.  She had a Gone With The Wind lamp, hankies, watch, and other memorabilia.  The theater was packed and it holds about 1,800 people. 

My Daughter The Artist

My daughter Karissa is going to college for a Bachelor in Fine Arts Degree, focusing in Graphic Art Design.  I'm not much of a bragger but she is a smart girl (like her mother, ha, ha).  Not really, she is much smarter than me.  When she was two years old she was doing 100 piece puzzles.  She got a 29 on her ACT score in high school, which is very good.  She was second in her class with the ACT score and GPA score combined.  She could have gone to school for anything;  but she is going to school for what she really loves, which is art.  Karissa is always drawing and has a sketch pad with her when she goes away.  She made a bust of her head for a class and I took a couple of pictures of it.  I asked her if she would mind if I put them on my blog and she said it was okay.  So here they are!  I think it's really cool, and it does look like her.  She is a beautiful daughter and person!  I'm very proud of her!