Giant Bubbles

The nice lady at The Home Depot wanted to

know what I was going to do with this pile of stuff.

Make giant bubbles, of course.

Here is a link to my post last summer that has the recipe.

I just love making these bubbles.

Once you start making bubbles, it's hard to stop.

Sometimes we do this at night.

They seem to last longer without the hot sun.
So if you drive by my house late, you might see
people in polka dot pajamas making huge bubbles in the dark.
That's hot.

This cutie took most of the photos.

Mesmerizing.

There was also a sneak hug attack after the bubbles.

And then, unfortunately, our

amazing, wonderful, beloved house guests

had to go on their way.

Hilarious Corgis

Corgi Addict posted a photo of my very nerdy Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Rascal, today.  And yes, he does cuddle up in blankets like that.  All the time.  He makes tents, too.  Nerd.

Go check them out here and see all the other insanely adorable and funny little doggies.

Today's Lunch

Today's Lunch:

Cooked and chilled quinoa

Chopped tangerine (or orange)

Organic raisins

Chopped raw almonds

Organic chopped spinach

Tangerine (or orange) juice

Lemon olive oil

This amazing lady always has great lunches if you want more ideas.

Teacher Appreciation Week

I don't have any big Teacher Appreciation Week projects going this year.  I let someone else decorate the teacher lounge this year.  Saying "no" feels good.  I am going to do one thing for the lounge, and thought it was an idea worthy of being shared.

I have a lot of magazines, and I do not need them all.  I am going to go through the piles and donate the nice ones to the teacher's lounge.  If I feel nice, I might even put them in a basket.  They enjoy having something to look at during lunch, and I'll be recycling and decluttering at the same time.

Here are some of my past teacher appreciation projects:

Paper Strawberries filled with candy



Topiaries and butterflies

Vintage tags, sunflowers and lanterns

Beach towel and magazine

Beautiful Sideboard

I really was decluttering and dropping things off at the thrift store when I saw this.  I haven't been buying any new stuff, furniture or projects lately.  But if you ask me, is there one piece of furniture you would want to score, my answer would have been this exact piece.  A woman even came across the parking lot and told me she couldn't believe it was sitting there for three days, and when she saw me she hoped I would be the one who would take it home and take good care of it and love it.  That's a sign that the universe wanted me to buy it.
Now I'm motivated to get rid of more stuff in my house, so my special things will shine.  Preferably before the endlessly patient Mr. Jones gets home from work.

Breakfast Smoothie

Today's breakfast ... Kale, frozen blueberries (or banana) and filtered water.  Add some agave if you need more sweet.   Blend, blend, blend.

Kale is a pretty stiff leaf and I find it blends better if I chop it up really well before I put it in the blender.  It's worth it because raw kale is hands-down one of the best things for your body.   Bananas have a strong flavor and they hide the kale tast well.  They are also very sweet and don't need any sweetener.

Mid-morning snack will be a big glass of fresh carrot and green apple juice.  Green apples are another strong flavor, and I never feel like I'm drinking carrot juice.

Simplifying Cups and Utensils

I'm decluttering the kitchen ala The Joy of Less by Francine Kaye, which I shared with you earlier.  Inspired by her use of tumblers instead of 20 different kinds of cups, glasses, wine glasses, margarita glasses, shot glasses, etc., I got rid of the cup crapola (cupola?).

I began with this mess.  Funny how it sneaks up on you.  You start with a nice, new set and end up with this mess.

This is what I have after taking everything out and putting back only what I want to keep.

I love these mugs that came with my Walmart dish set.  I already drink wine out of them.  I don't use wine glasses.

Because I didn't have many glasses that matched, I went to Walmart and bought these glasses for a whopping $8.00 (12 glasses in the set).  Not bad, Walmart.  In a couple weeks, I will go back and fork over another $8.00 for 1 more set.  That way when a few break, I won't start working on another mis-matched set.

The utensil drawer.  Yuck.

And afterward.  You couldn't see these beautiful utensils buried underneath all that clutter, could you?

The plastic organizer is gone because once you take everything out, you will be surprised at how nasty it really looks when it's not lurking in the shadows.

Do you ever find yourself having a difficult time getting rid of things because you could use it, it was part of a set, someone gave it to you, blah, blah, blah?  Well, here's my big tip for you:  Pull it all out and then look at it.  It all looks so much worse and is so much easier to get rid of when you are staring at the mess sitting on the counter in your face.  Better yet, take a picture and then it looks even worse!  Goodbye.

I'm going to admit to you that these are the things I still have a tough time with.  Mugs with my little people.  I know I'm not throwing the actual kid away, but I can't bear to part with them. 

Any advice for me on this one?

Get rid of the nasty ones, keep a couple new ones?

Get rid of it all?

What would you do?