Monday, March 18, 2024

February's Cape Escape

 February's Cape Escape was a nice two-night, two-day stay during February vacation week, and my mom was there this time too. Among other things, we got some productive things done on the house, watched My Fair Lady, got mini-sized hot fudge sundaes from Cape Cod Creamery that were delicious, and finished the puzzle that I had started in January. 

We cleaned out and organized the basement utility closet. I took everything out and it didn't get to go back in unless I felt that it deserved to be there (ha ha). Needless to say, I got rid of a lot of stuff that had been sitting in there for years and was very likely not going to be used.

I should have taken a "before" picture, but here's the "after." Much less cluttered than...before.

My mom found this old tool hidden up near the ceiling. It felt like discovering an antique! An old, rusty mysterious one. 😆 We couldn't figure out what it was. When I posted this picture on Facebook, several people who are apparently smarter than us said that it was a weed wacker. Just yesterday at church, someone asked me if they could have it if I wasn't going to use it. (They can.)

I cleaned out the beach toys and beach gear too. I have to get containers for the toys so this section of the closet isn't done yet, but when it is, I'll take a picture and I'm sure it will be included in a future blog post.

There was more snow on the ground this time for my beach walk.

I took some selfies because my hair and skin looked good that day. 😄



And last but not least, here's the finished puzzle!

There won't be a March Cape Escape to blog about, desafortunanadamente (that's my favorite Spanish word 😁). It was going to be this weekend but some things came up. April, however, is right around the corner (is it just me or is time flying?), and I'll be back then!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Valentine's Day 2024

 Valentine's 2024: my first single Valentine's Day since I was 19 (23 years ago), so that was something different. Ideally, that would have happened two years ago, but unfortunately, my divorce took forever and a day. After the trying ordeals of the heart that I endured with that, I've been enjoying this new chapter of life on my own. I treated myself to a few things, and Sam got to be my special valentine. 😊


This was a cute pick-up line I saw somewhere. With its clever pun, this would work on me! 
Plus, I sometimes work in my town library!  

I have this thing about wearing holiday colors. The whole ten days or so around Valentine's Day I wore red, pink, or purple. And this week for St. Patrick's Day, I'm wearing something green each day. I've done this for a long time. It's the little things that make life more fun! 

In Relief Society we did a group picture making hand hearts.

My mom and some of my good friends are all in this picture (and me too). Galentines indeed!

I bought a dozen pale pink roses because they're my favorite and I hadn't bought myself flowers in awhile.

I got this festive little chocolate mousse cake at Whole Foods. Chocolate mousse cake is one of my favorite desserts of all time. It was delicious!

And I bought myself some sweets from Harbor Sweets
Those "Grand Prix Jumpers" are dark chocolate caramel and they're. so. good. It's a good thing for my health that only six of them come in a box.

I got Sam a chocolate Hershey heart.

I went out to lunch with Sharalyn and got one of my favorite meals at the place we went to, avocado toast with smoked salmon. 😋

This was a nice little gift from Sharalyn. She's the ultimate Galentine. 😊

And for the second special meal of the day, Sam and I enjoyed our feast of a dinner at Olive Garden. I hadn't eaten there in a couple of years. It was good to be back. 😁

My entree

Get off your phone, kid!

Soup and salad and breadsticks, oh my! 😄

Sam made me into a two-headed hydra.

I'm a one-headed hydra here (ha ha). Aren't I cute in my cute sweater? So cute. 😆

Here was Sam's dessert. I was too full for dessert, which was kind of sad because I love Olive Garden's black tie mousse cake. Maybe next time I'll get less food and leave room for dessert.

LOL

Sadly, the roses didn't bloom well. I should have removed all of the outer petals when I got them. 

I spread the petals on this one and made it bloom!

It was a nice Valentine's Day. Maybe my next one will have more romance in it with a special someone, but even if not, I have people in my life who I love and who love me, and when you have that, every day can be Valentine's Day. (Apologies for the heartfelt 😉 but cheesy closer!) 💖

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Antiques and Owls and Nancy Drews, Oh My!

 Last month I discovered a huge new (to me) antique store housed in a big old factory with separate businesses and shops inside of it. It was on the more upscale side, and I liked it a lot!

Before I went I snapped a picture of my collection of vintage Nancy Drews so that I could reference it in case I came across any potential acquisitions to add to my collection (which I did, so this picture came in handy!).


The first shop wasn't an antique shop but it had quirky fun things in it, like these soap bouquets. If I still had my jacuzzi tub, I would have gotten one. (I miss my tub so much! 😭)
These flowers are entirely made of soap!


I almost got this owl tissue box because I liked its clever design and, of course, I like owls, but I exercised restraint and held off.

A few fun things I spotted throughout the antique shops...




Nancy Drews, FOUND. 😁 Some of them were almost $100 each! I bought two that I didn't have that were in the $30 range.

I like a pretty tablescape. 😍


This shop was full of pretty things.


Can you tell that Valentine's Day was on the horizon? 

A true antique that was still part of the building!

Giraffes make me think of Sharalyn's mom because she liked them (kind of how I am with owls, but maybe to a lesser extent 😉), so I snapped this picture and sent it to her.

These were the things I got. The two new Nancy Drews were great additions to my collection.

I loved these books when I was young. Nancy Drew will always be one of my favorite characters.

This little trio of owls was so cute. Whenever there's a trio it makes me think of me, John, and Sam. This one was perfect because of what looks like a mother owl (that would be me), a young adult owl starting to stretch its wings (John), and a youngish owl still at home (Sam). It's my family.

And this was a cute little owl on a book, two of my favorite things!

I added the two new books to my collection and there's no longer room for all of them on the shelf. They're in numerical order.

And here's this cute little guy in his new spot.


A couple of weeks later my friend Shelly texted me a few pictures of cute owl things that were in a shop she was in up in New Hampshire. I asked her to get me this set of snowy owl bookends (I paid her back). I collect bookends, especially when they're owls, and I didn't have a set of snowy owls yet. When she dropped them off she'd also gotten me this cute owl bookmark as a nice little surprise. My friends know me well, and I love them for it! 😄


Alright, so in February I had a bit of a lapse when it came to buying owl-related things, but I got it out of my system and my self-discipline has once again returned. I don't regret my purchases--one of the good things about budgeting and having to be a lot more careful with my money is that I'm now very deliberate about what I do choose to get, so my purchases tend to mean more to me than they did in the past. Long story short, no buyer's remorse here! 😊