Tag: Fridays

First Friday!

Hello! Happy Friday!! Happy First Friday of 2024!! Welcome to the best day of the week during the best year of your life!! (don’t doubt it, make it so) On Fridays, I discuss my favorite stuff which helps to make life more fun. Today’s favorite is a last minute extra Christmas gift that I purchased for each of our four kids who all moved into new apartments last year. These portable Acacia Wood sofa arm tables make a stable place to put a drink or a small meal or the remotes and they include a holder for your phone or your iPad. They are made of hardy acacia wood and are movable to any kind of arm, on any kind of chair, due to the spring action of their holders. This is the modern day version of TV trays. You can purchase one of these handy tables on Amazon for $30. Here is a link:

www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQRJZVYF?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Have a fun first weekend of the year! Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

2166. When you lose touch, what snaps you back into reality?

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Friday Fire

On Thanksgiving evening, a few friends and I were texting and it turns out that we were all doing the same thing in different places, from all of the way up in Massachusetts, down to Virginia, and finally all the way down to here in Florida. We were all outside, sitting around fires with our families and we sent each other pictures of our families, with everyone’s faces glowing in the beautiful, flickering firelight. I love beautiful, intriguing fires. I am a Sagittarius, which is a fire sign. My husband is a fire sign. Five out of six of our immediate family members are fire signs. (Yes, things can get really loud and bold and igniting at our house, really quick. I do sometimes feel sorry for our poor little less combustible Cancer son, who does his best to put the fires out.)

So with firelight in mind, my two favorites for Favorite Things Friday on the blog, involve fire. My husband reads the paper version of the Wall Street Journal every day, so he decided he would make use of the paper, by making newspaper briquettes to burn in fires. So every once in a while he sits with a pile of newspapers and a bucket of water and he uses his heavy steel newspaper briquette maker/newspaper log maker, to make bricks/logs to help fuel our mini-bonfires. You can find different models of these ” newspaper brick makers” on Amazon. Ours is made by a company called “Bits and Pieces.” To get the fire started, I like to use Maxwell’s Mystic Matches. These matches are admittedly a bit of a splurge. They are wide, thick sticks of Palo Santo wood that when struck, make an enormous, immediate flame. I love the smell of the Palo Santo as it burns. To start the fire with flames from these matches, makes the fire seem extra special and almost “sacred” in a way.

I hope that you enjoy a warm, passionate weekend, with the homefires burning! Happy Friday! Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow, fireflies!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Friday is for Furniture

Happy Friday!! Yay!! Friday is here. On Fridays, I keep it on the surface and I discuss stuff that I like. Today’s favorite comes from living in Florida long enough to realize that the hot Florida sun is tough and intense on everybody and everything that it shines upon. When we first moved here from North Carolina, twelve years ago, I brought with me this adorable little white decorative wooden rabbit who had sat and adorned our North Carolina yard for several years. In less than a year in Florida, the white paint on the rabbit completely disappeared (seemingly vaporized), and the rabbit looked more like a misshapen brownish gray blob. Through trial and error, we figured out that our best bet for outdoor furniture in Florida is made out of Polywood – my favorite for today. Polywood is a hard, durable, heavy plastic that dares the Florida sun to “Bring it!” We recently bought some more Polywood outdoor furniture, and it is so well-made and solid and comfortable and attractive. A man at my husband’s work also recently bought a Polywood table and chair set because when he was at his friend’s house, he complimented his friend’s bright white outdoor furniture and asked if it was brand new. “No!” his friend laughed. “We’ve had that furniture for over a decade.” We started with Polywood adirondack chairs and they still look as good as the day that we purchased them a few years ago. Polywood has a plethora of styles to choose from and they deliver your order quickly.

Enjoy your weekend, friends!!! See you tomorrow.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Pumpkin, It’s Friday

Hello!! Happy Friday!! On Fridays, I keep it on the surface and I discuss the stuff that I like. Fridays on the blog are all about my favorites. Please add your own favorites to my Comments. We all love the joy of finding new favorite things to help us to enjoy life on an everyday basis! It’s all about the little things, isn’t it?

Sadly, we don’t have a Trader Joe’s close to us, but we were visiting my daughter at her university last weekend and she and I could not resist a visit to one of our favorite shops. True to the season, Trader Joe’s is not immune to the pumpkin craze. There was pumpkin everything, everywhere you looked. So, my daughter and I loaded up the cart with pumpkin stuff (and even an actual, real pumpkin for her balcony). My favorite out of this lot (and my daughter’s, too) is Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Body Butter. Surprisingly, this body butter does not smell like pumpkin. In fact, it has very little scent. The secret ingredient, however is the pumpkin seed oil, on top of coconut oil and shea butter. These ingredients combined make this cream easily absorbable, long lasting, and particularly emollient. As usual when it comes to Trader Joe’s, this big jar is a bargain at only $4.99!

Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow!!

Credit: Courtney W. May, Pinterest

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Friday C.R.A.P.

credit: THE-KEEP-CALM-O-MATIC

Here’s a couple of really good perspectives, for going into the weekend:

“When things are at their worst, you are at your best.” – what the extraterrestrial said about us humans, after visiting Earth, in the movie Starman

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso

Happy Friday!! Happy Best Day of the Week!! On Fridays, I keep the deep thoughts for Jack Handey. (If you ever need a deep belly laugh for laughing at a statement that shouldn’t be funny, look up some of Jack Handey’s deep thoughts. They are hilarious and ridiculous and easily a favorite of mine, when I’m in the right snarky mood for them.) Anyway, today’s favorite is a technique I heard about in a podcast. It’s a way to get rid of your negative thoughts and worries and ruminations, devised by people who study neuroscience. It’s called the C.R.A.P. board. C.R.A.P. stands for Conflict/Resistances/Anxieties/Problems. If you write all of the situations down in your own life that would fall under any of these categories, on to a piece of paper, and then do a few relaxing things like yawning, stretching, deep breathing, while looking at your C.R.A.P. board, supposedly this tricks your brain into believing that it can stop ruminating on, and trying to fix all of your C.R.A.P. because your C.R.A.P. is “stored”, and really not such a big deal. The three minute video below by the creator of the C.R.A.P. board, Mark Waldman, goes into more detail with it. I’ve only started mine this week, so I can’t attest to how well it works, but it was a worthwhile experience for me, just to put my own C.R.A.P. into perspective. For instance, lately I have been telling myself and anyone who is willing to listen to me, just how “stuck” certain things have been in my life. Interestingly, though, when I took a relaxed, detached look at “the stuck list” which I had written on to my C.R.A.P. board, I noticed that nothing there on the list was truly stuck. Every situation on the list is progressing, just not as quickly as I deem it should be going. The experts on the podcast I was listening to, kept repeating the idea that our beliefs and our stories that we tell ourselves are just thoughts that we keep thinking repeatedly, until they become embedded as our beliefs and stories about ourselves and life in general. Making a C.R.A.P. board can help you to find and weed out some of the faulty belief systems you may have programmed into yourself with your repeated, unexamined negative thoughts.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10153317002418658

Get rid of your C.R.A.P. and have a great weekend, friends!! See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Smart Car Friday

So yesterday, I took my car to the dealership to have its fluids changed. My car had made the appointment for itself, all by itself. (I’m not kidding. I had noticed that its brake fluid light had come on, and I “was going to” make an appointment, but then I got a text that the appointment had already been made, and there was a link to change it, if I needed to change it, much like my doctors’ appointments.) My car is a 2019 model. It’s nothing new, and it’s not particularly “teched out”. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Is this a convenience, or arrogance and a “control” move on my car’s part? I mean, if my husband had made the appointment for the car, I would have probably been slightly miffed and may have felt that he had overstepped some boundaries. I may have felt slightly judged and controlled. But at the same time, I would have been relieved to have the car maintenance on the schedule, without having to think about it. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with today’s technology. It intrigues me and it terrifies me, all at once. But it’s Friday, so I’m just riding the waves . . . .

Today’s favorite, for Favorite Things Friday goes back to “the good ol’ days.” (the days before inanimate objects started ruling the world) My favorite for today, is one of Sinead O’Connor’s best songs, in my mind. It’s called The Emperor’s New Clothes. Like so many, I was saddened to hear of Sinead’s passing. I know that she was a troubled, controversial figure in her lifetime, but her music and her lyrics and her voice has the ability to strum up deep, evocative emotion like few other artists have achieved. So yesterday, I decided to listen to many of her songs that I had forgotten about. (Unfortunately, Nothing Compares 2U was the only song that came to mind when I first heard of her death). Explore Sinead’s music today. You won’t regret it.

“My creative process is quite slow. I hear melodies in my head while I’m washing the dishes and I allow my subconscious to do the work.” – Sinead O’Connor

“To say what you feel is to dig your own grave.” – Sinead O’Connor

“They laugh ’cause they know they’re untouchable
Not because what I said was wrong
Whatever it may bring
I will live by my own policies
I will sleep with a clear conscience
I will sleep in peace” – Sinead O’Connor ( from lyrics in The Emperor’s New Clothes)

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Coasting into Friday

I’m assuming that a lot of you are closeted (or not so closeted) book nerds like me. I recently purchased a couple of these sturdy, engraved bamboo coasters for myself from a local bookstore. The maker of these wonderful coasters also has an Etsy shop called “Homemeadeshop” where you can purchase any one of these coasters for $8 each. They are well-made, easy to clean and so far, they are holding up quite well. These coasters make me smile any time I look at them (when I am pulling my nose out of a book). These coasters are my favorites for today, on the traditional “Favorite Things Friday“, here at the blog.

I read a couple of these truisms on Holiday Mathis’ horoscope column this week. I believe that these probably apply to all zodiac signs:

“Don’t try to be likable to all. Be likable to you. You are the one who must hang out with you the most.”

“If you ignore it, and it doesn’t go away, it’s reality.”

And I just read the sad news that Tony Bennett has passed. I remember being so enchanted watching him with Lady Gaga, on a holiday special not too long ago. RIP to a delightful legend.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Goodr/Better/Best Friday

I had a doctor’s appointment this week and the doctor was probably in her early thirties. At one point she said to me, “You’re young. You’ve probably got about thirty years left.” And that last part took my breath away a little bit (I wish that she had just left it at the first sentence). First, I felt indignant that the doctor was writing me off at age 82 (even though the current life expectancy for women in the United States is 79). And second, she struck my panic button.

“Yikes! I’ve got “a lot of a lot” to pack into my next thirty years (or more, fingers crossed),” I started thinking to myself as I could feel my heart beating in my neck, and at that moment, I started wondering if perhaps the doctor had made a terribly inaccurate estimate, and maybe to the surprise of us both, I was about to stroke out and die, in her office, right there, on the spot. But, thankfully, I caught my breath. I decided to give the woman a pass. She’s a good doctor. These are the kind of dumb things that I said to older people when I was younger, too. Karma is a b*tch.

Since it turns out that I have a good thirty years left in my lifetime, I must take care of my eyes, and so this brings me to today’s favorite on Favorite Things Friday: Goodr Sunglasses. My friend has been wearing a pair of these shades that are amazing looking. She looks absolutely cool and badass when she wears them, and so I asked if I could copy her (since we live in different states). She kindly obliged. Her style is called “Amelia Earhart Ghosted Me”. Goodr Sunglasses were originally created by runners, for runners, so that runners could have more stylish and affordable sunglasses options than were currently available at the time. But these Goodr sunglasses are so good, so light, so comfortable, so stylish, so affordable (and they’re polarized) that even us non-runners are flocking to their website. Check out their website. I am willing to bet you won’t be leaving the website without purchasing at least one pair.

Have a “goodr” weekend than you ever had in your life, friends! See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Wear the Pants Friday

Good morning!! Big Friday hugs to everyone! On Fridays, I get out of my head and into my stuff. On Favorite Things Friday, I just talk about the stuff in life that makes my life fun to live. Please check past Friday posts for more good stuff to get, to eat, to buy, to smell, to try, to wear . . . . and please list your favorites in my Comments section.

My daughter had to buy a few pairs of black slacks for her ice cream serving job this summer, and she immediately said that she knew exactly what pants to get. She said that her friend who is a hostess at a nice restaurant, told my daughter about these black slacks, and these are now my daughter’s go-to black slacks for any dress casual business event at school, etc. After seeing how flatteringly these slacks fit on my daughter, I asked her if she minded if I also bought a couple of pairs for myself and when she said, “Sure!”, I promptly ordered two pairs. These pants are nicely cut, inexpensive, yet good quality, durable, and they have a little bit of stretch to them. Old Navy High-Waisted Pixie Flare Pants for Women are my favorites for today. They come in other colors besides black. My daughter and I both purchased a size up from what we each normally wear, as these pants seem to run a little small. These pants are a great staple for any woman’s closet!

Okay, put your big girl pants on today and let yourself have a weekend to never forget!! See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

It’s Me, Friday

Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!! I’m not going to be writing much today, because I am going to a matinee with my favorite daughter (yes, she’s my only daughter), doing one of my favorite things (going to the movies), and seeing a movie based on one of my favorite books of all time. (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume) I’m so happy that they finally made a movie out of this great book. I love all things book related. Not only are books my favorite, but so are bookstores, and libraries, and those little free libraries that look like bird houses, and bookmarks and book covers . . . . . .

Today’s favorite has nothing to do with books, however. Today, my favorite is a hairspray that the kind, informed clerks recommended to me, when I was at Sally Beauty Supply the other day. (Remember, I live in humid Florida. Humidity is not kind to hairstyles.) When Sally clerks first recommended their best selling hairspray to me with the selling feature of “it works, but you can still comb through it” in my mind, I automatically turned that statement into, “Oh okay, so it doesn’t work.” But I took the professionals’ advice anyway, and it turns out, this hairspray is good stuff. It works! Professional Sebastian Shaper Plus Hairspray is the best that I’ve tried yet in my long life with my fine and stubborn hair.

Now, I’m going to go use a little bit of this liquid gold in a bottle on my hair, as I prepare to see my movie with my best girl. Have a great Friday!! See you tomorrow!!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.