Politician's in Hot Water!!!

"Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke." ~ Will Rogers

It seems like our politicians are in hot water, in more ways than one. Just take a look at these cute little tea bags!



I believe that's Hillary Clinton in the cup. And I recognize the first tea bag person; President Obama. Not sure who the others are though. Any guesses? If you like these you can find them and a whole lot of other really cute things at donkey products.

Iwanna Wednesday

"Champions know there are no shortcuts to the top. They climb the mountain one step at a time. They have no use for helicopters!" ~ Judi Adler

Not me...I'm a helicopter kinda gal, but then again I'm not champion either! I'm a short-cutter. Always trying to take the path of least resistance.


That's why today, Iwanna shortcut to weight loss. Now I know there's no shortcut to weight loss. Weight loss can only be accomplished through healthy and moderate eating, regular exercise, drinking lots of water, blah, blah, blah...we all know the drill don't we?


But now there's a shortcut to weight loss, and Sketchers has found it! They've developed a shoe that lets you "SHAPE UP WHILE YOU WALK" and "GET IN SHAPE WITHOUT SETTING FOOT IN A GYM"!


Now normally to work I wear these exact shoes, I have them in brown and black and sometimes I wear a different variation of them, but mostly these.




When I'm not at work, I usually wear flips flops, like these.


Sometimes a little fancier, sometimes a little plainer.

But do any of these shoes get me in shape?
In shape while I walk?
In shape without setting foot in a gym?
Nay, but they do not!
They're pretty and comfortable, but I don't see myself getting any thinner over here!

So that's why on this Iwanna Wednesday Iwanna pair of these for work...

and these for when I'm not at work...

These are the Sketchers Shape Ups
They're designed to promote weight loss, tone muscles, improve posture.

Do they work? I dunno! I only Iwanna them, I don't Igotta them :-)

If anyone out there has them, let me know what you think.
And that's it from Iwanna for this Wednesday!

Thrift Shop Treasures

"Economical use of your time and money = thrift."

Catherine Pulsifer

I was very economical with my time and money and made this a three-day thrifting weekend! And did I ever score some treasures!

I'm so excited to share! If you're here from Rhoda's "Southern Hospitality" welcome. If you're not here from there, be sure to go there if you're really into "thrifty treasures".

I started out Friday after work, heading over to the American Cancer Society Discovery Store. You all know that's one of my fav places to go. For a while now I've been very unhappy with my current kitchen table.





I really do love it. It's glass topped, small enough for my small dining room and has really comfortable chairs. I loved doing tablescapes at different holidays, see here and here and here.


But now my mom moved in with me and she likes to eat at the table and cook and stuff. I know! Who eats at the tables? Or cooks? Well not me, but I do want my mom to be comfortable and the glass top was just not for her. So I've been looking and hoping I would find a farmers style table. And I did!!! I found one. See!


Isn't it beautiful? I've been lusting after this table for over 5 years. And the great thing is that this weekend, The Discovery Store was having a 1/2 off everything in the store. So I got it for half price and the money went to a good cause, The American Cancer Society. Don't you love it? And I know my mom loves it. Only problem is there were only three chairs, but I'm keeping my thrifty eye out for another one and I'm sure it will come along soon.


Then on Saturday, my next door neighbor was having a yard sale so I headed over. I didn't find anything but it got me in the mood to go yardsaleing. And I found a few very nice, inexpensive things.


These two beautiful, plate or picture holders. Not sure what I'm going to use them for but they were only 50 cents each and one of them was brand new and still had the tag on it.

Doesn't this one really go great with this frame that has a picture of my beautiful sister and her wonderful husband in it?

At another yard sale I bought this for $2.00.

I don't know where to put it, because I don't really have any corners in my house that are wide enough. The only corner that it would fit in is the one directly behind the wire rack and I've already done something with that corner which you will see below. But I'll keep searching. For $2.00 how could I not bring it home with me? Right? C'mon someone validate this for me :0)

So that was my Saturday. Then today, Sunday I had to go get groceries and the usual household things like paper towels, toilet paper, shampoo...you know, the necessities of life and my mom went with me and we went to Goodwill just for kicks.

Look what I found there! This beautiful pewter plate holder. I already had the plates which were purchased a few months ago at Goodwill and I forgot to blog about them. I had to put the big plate behind and the smaller plate in front as the big plate only has a border and the little plate was too small. But I think it works, don't you?

Here's the final picture. I moved it down and put the picture of the wine bottle back because I really love the picture. I had to move the small pinot griego tile to the other side of the window.


And isn't this bottle gorgeous? I'm trying to do a wine/grape theme in my kitchen and this bottle is perfect. Not sure what I'm going to use it for yet, but it is so pretty!




Maybe I'll just collect grape themed glass? I already had the vase to the right in this picture. This one has a whole story behind it, but I'll do a separate post on that one.

Ok, but I'm still not done. I also found this cute top which will be perfect for work.

My mom also got in on the act today! Here you see her modeling her new shoes. Remember a few weeks ago she bought these beautiful boots with a wedge heel? Lots of people commented on how much they liked wedge heels and boots. You rock it Momma!

And she found this adorable little pitcher which is perfect for her as she likes to make tea, but she doesn't make "sweet tea" like I do. Ya'll know what a Southern (Arizona) born and bred gal I am! She makes plain tea, no sugar. It will hold maybe 3 glasses of tea, perfect for her throughout the day.

Well that's it for our treasures. Oh wait, mom did also buy an ironing board. I have an ironing board but it's a midget one, cause I'm a midget Southern (Arizona) girl and mom is a normal height Texas woman! It was brand new and only $6.25 at Goodwill

So what all did you find out there? Do share and do become a follower. Yes again..I beg, I'd love to have a following ;0)

Iwanna Wednesday

Believe it or not, last week I didn't Iwanna anything!

I know! Hard to believe huh? I thought and thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything...so I guess Iwanna'd to not blog :0)

But there is something Iwanna this week, something that I have been lusting after for a long time. Something that I get green with envy just thinking about.

O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
~William Shakespeare, Othello

What is this item that has me quoting Shakespeare?

It's this. . .

This beautiful plant that we call the "Arizona Plant"

A plant that belongs to my sister . . .

A plant that she has grown I believe from seeds my mom and dad brought back from Arizona.

A plant that she keeps promising me she will give me seeds for, but never has!

And Iwanna this beautiful plant. Iwanna it bad. I don't know where I would put it in my yard because it requires full sun all day long. I just know Iwanna it.

Believe it or not, it's not even in it's most beautiful, full bloom mode. I missed that by a week or so because last week it was more beautiful.

We call this the Arizona plant because our relatives in Arizona had this plant, which is where my parents got the seeds for it, but it's actually I believe a Caesalpinia pulcherrima.

There is more information on the website for the University of Arizona Pima County Cooperative Extension.


Just a little FYI, this plant and it's flower and seeds is thought to have medicinal purpose. The juice from the leaves is said to cure fever, the juice from the flower is said to cure sores, and the seeds are said to cure bad cough, breathing difficulty, and chest pain.

So there you go! Today's Iwanna Wednesday also taught you a little bit about this beautiful plant didn't it? Who says that my Iwanna'ing things was selfish?


Oh, as long as I'm busy Iwanna'ing things today. . . notice in the pictures above that there is a metal windmill in some of them? Well many Christmas' ago my mom and dad bought each of their kids one of these windmills. Each of their kids, except me :-(


You know why I didn't get one? Cause I didn't have a house and lived in an apartment and where was I going to put it??? Duh, I had a storage closet off the patio in my 2nd floor apartment. I could have stored it! Now I have a home and no windmill, no Arizona plant, no nuthin!


Ah, woe is me! Summer is come and gone, But grief returns with the revolving year.
-Shelley, Percy Bysshe

The Nanny Diaries

Finished reading this book this weekend. I enjoyed it, but it did make me a little bit sad.

The Nanny Diaries is about a Nanny who takes care of a little boy and genuinely loves him, good thing too because it seems like she's the only one who does.

It's kind of like the Devil wears Prada without all the fashion, although it also was made into a movie as I've been told. I might have to try to track down the video.

I'm now reading a book by Jennifer McMahon called Promise Not to Tell. I don't know what it's not telling yet, but I'll keep ya posted.

So what are you reading this summer?

Thrift Shop Treasures

Hi Everyone!

If you're visiting from Rhoda's, Welcome!

Please leave a comment so I may visit your site. Also please add yourself to my followers. I only have three :-( Please, please, pretty please? And no...I'm not too proud to beg :-)

This weekend was a lazy weekend and I didn't even leave the house on Saturday. Hey, that laundry doesn't do itself and those kitchen floors can only be so dirty before your flip flops start sticking to the floor! Actually, floor wasn't that dirty, just spilled Kool-Aid that didn't get mopped up well enough.

Luckily I did have a chance to hit the American Cancer Society Discovery Store after work on Friday and I discovered these pretty little hand towels with embroidered butterflies! Perfect for my butterfly themed bathroom. They were only $2.00 for the set and the money goes to such a good cause.

And I found this book for $2.00 which I've already started reading. Anyone else read this one?I'll let you know how I like it.

I also managed to sneak over to a Goodwill Store that I very seldom go to as it's out of my way.
There I found two really pretty charms. One was a gold medallion about the size of an Oreo cookie and it was engraved with some inspiring words such as Hope, Love, Peace, Tranquility etc. The other was a red stone set in gold. They were in the jewelry case and I asked the lady to hold them for me. She gave me a number so I could come back and claim them and I continued shopping. I didn't find anything else and know what I did then? I forgot that I had set those charms aside :-( Yes people, I left without purchasing them!

And they were only $2.00 each! I'm going back Monday on my lunch hour and I hope they still have them! Silly me!


But don't despair, even if I don't find them I still received as a gift from my wonderful, thoughtful daughter these wonderful charms that she purchased during her weekend getaway to the beach.



I already strung one on the black cord so you could see how pretty they are going to look. I can't wait to wear that green one! She's too good to me!

Now I'm just waiting for my sister to get home as she left for the beach on Thursday and they always bring me a present! Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Now I'm off to Rhoda's to see what everyone else found. Have a wonderful week!

Do you cook like your mother did?

Had an interesting and thought provoking conversation with my mother this morning. We were watching the Food Network and one of the cooks was making a homemade pizza. She started out by rolling out a frozen, store bought pizza crust and forming it into the pan. Where by, my mom says, "That's not cooking! She's using store bought pizza crust!"


I've been thinking about this because I love the Food Network and I wondered if all our mothers feel that way about our cooking since many of us working, single or not single moms don't have a ton of time to spend in the kitchen making things from scratch.

About a month ago, I told my mom I was going to make some chili beans. My son and daughter love my home made chili beans and they're also a big hit with my son's friends during Super Bowl Sunday!


I was getting my ingredients together while my mom watched and she asked if I wanted her to make the chili for the beans. I told her, "Nope! It's easy mom, see this little packet? It's Taco Bell seasoning." She said, "What's that for?" I told her it was the seasoning for the meat. I then pulled out two big cans of canned beans, one pinto and also a can of white beans. Again she said, "What's that for?" So I told her those were the beans I use. "You don't cook your own beans???" my mom asked in shock! "No mom, I don't make my own beans. I don't have time to sit at home all day waiting for beans!"


Now I know that you can put beans on to cook in a crock pot all day. My sister does this. But we don't eat many beans. It's just my son and me. So opening a can of beans is good enough for us. So I made the chili beans and while they were stewing I pulled out a box mix of corn bread. Well I won't even tell you what my mom said then! But of course she was in shock! Corn bread from a box?


Once my homemade chili beans and corn bread were done, my mom tasted them and said they were good, for beans from a can with Taco Bell Seasoning and hamburger meat in them!


When my mom makes chili beans, she makes beans fresh in a pot. She cleans them and puts them to boil. Throughout the day she boils water and will only add boiling hot water when more water is needed so that the beans don't get dark and they stay light and pretty. I have to admit, it works. My mom's beans are beautiful. I can remember her making beans like this since I was a little girl and I remember always having to replace water in the bean pot with boiling water.


Mom also makes her own chili for the beans. She takes dried New Mexico Chile's. She likes those as she says the New Mexico ones are a bit more flavorful and a little more spicy than the others. She takes the dried Chile's and cuts off the stem, slits them down the middle, cleans out the seeds and puts them in a pot with boiling water and blanches them for a bit. Then she puts them in the blender with a few cloves of fresh garlic and various other spices. I have no clue what they are. She puts some of the hot water that is left from boiling the Chile's and grinds them all up into the sauce.


She then browns her ground beef, adds fresh beans and the Chile sauce she's ground up in the blender and adds more salt and other seasonings to taste and lets them boil so the flavors all come together. Let me tell you. . . they are mmmmmmmmmmmm, wonderful. I love my mom's beans and when she's invited to a potluck her beans are what people request that she bring.

And when she goes to all that trouble to make chili beans she also makes these small breads we grew up calling "panecitos". They're small round bread that's made like tortilla's except they are not rolled out flat like tortillas but are left about the size of a hamburger bun. When the weather gets cooler and my kitchen is not 140 degrees I will do a blog of my mom making panecitos. Remind me!

And that is why my mom says my chili beans are not home made! Hers, in her eyes are homemade! So I thought about this all for awhile and then asked my mom what her mom would have said if she had been invited to dinner and my mom had made homemade Chili Colorado and beans and then she had pulled out a package of store bought tortillas? Wouldn't her mom have commented on why my mom didn't make homemade tortillas and not store bought? And trust me, we know how to make homemade tortillas, just watch this video?


I then told my mom that someday, my daughter and my nieces will watch their daughters put a small pill into a bowl of water and it will automatically turn into chili beans and then I will make fun of them and talk on and on about my homemade chili beans with Taco Bell seasoning and canned beans!


I guess my point is that no one cooks like mom cooks. Homemade like moms made in the 40's, 50's or 60's or homemade like my sister and I cook now...to our children, it's mom's food and nothing tops that!


What do you make that your mom would tease you about if you called it homemade?

Iwanna Wednesday

I mentioned in this previous post that I'm going to try making my own jewelry because I'm sensitive to almost everything I wear, even nickel free stuff. Just this morning I had to take off some earrings because they were itching so bad!! I know that one of the reason's I'm getting more sensitive is because of the thyroid medication I'm taking, but I've always been sensitive.

I haven't figured out how to make earrings yet that won't hurt, but Iwanna start making my own necklaces with black silk cord.

Here's one I've already made and have worn. . .

What Iwanna today is to find some more beautiful charms. I'm not going to buy any unless I find them at thrift stores, yard sales or antique stores because it's just too easy to buy them brand new! That's what I did with the one pictured above...it came from Walmart. I love the thrill of the hunt!

But, since it's too hot to go shopping right now, I went shopping online in the comfort of my air conditioned home. What Iwanna today is to find charms/pendants similar to these:

Aren't these gorgeous? Green is my favorite color. I'm not a big fan of red except that I do love roses.

And this lovely little turtle? Doesn't he look like a sea turtle swimming in diamonds and flowers? Or maybe I like him because he reminds me of the turtle in one of my favorite movies, Finding Nemo. "Hey Dude, Awesome", "No hurling on the shell Dude!"

And these Victorian lovelies are so dainty and beautiful. I'd love a tiny little waist like these!

Here's another red one. I know I said I don't like red but I think this one would look beautiful on a black sweater, and I have to find some red silk cord, or maybe really thin red silk ribbon? I'm going to check out Michael's tomorrow at lunch.

This shell pendant is just so unique. I wonder if you can hear the ocean on the other side?

And Iwanna this one really, really bad! I would even buy this one brand new! I love the colors, I love butterfly's! So shiny and pretty!! You should be able to click on it and see it larger and in more details.

It's going to be so much fun on Thrifting Saturday to look for more charms. Which one is your favorite?

Thrift Shop Treasures

We made the rounds again Saturday, me and my partner in crime, my mom; all healed from her spill in the kitchen and ready to find treasures. We were joined by my sister Lisa who went only because she didn't want to miss bonding with her mom.

We drove by a couple of yard sales but didn't see anything worth stopping for, so we went to our favorite place, the Goodwill Stores. I didn't have a whole lot of luck this week in locating curtain rods that I liked, but I did find the following items. . .

This book by Nicholas Sparks. He's the author that wrote the book turned into the wonderful tearjerker movie "The Notebook". If you want a super romantic, make you cry out loud movie; this is the one.

If you look over to the sidebar on the right at my list of books read for 2009 you will see that I've already read two of his books this year. At First Sight and The Wedding. They were good books, a bit too "happily ever after" but still good. I'll let you know how this one is. It's a hardbound copy and was only 95 cents.


I also found a pair of pink sandals. These were $4.25 but they were brand new, still had the tag on them and they're Cherokee sandals. I'm wearing one to show the sequined detail, (don't look at my unpedicured toes) :-(

I left the other sandal without my foot in it so you could see the detail on the all leather sole. They're really pretty, don't you think? I love pink!

I've also started collecting a new thing. I have a sensitivity to almost all metals, so I can't wear any costume jewelry that's made out of any metals. Sometimes I can wear things that are nickel-free, but sometimes I can't. I have gold earrings I can wear but I've never had pretty necklaces. So my sister came up with this great idea of collecting charms that I like and putting them on black satin rope.

The one below is the first one I've done. I purchased the charm new at Wal-mart for $2.97 and a spool of the rope for the same price. So now I'm going to search when I go to Goodwill's for pretty charms that I can string and use as necklaces. Good idea right?

I found this pink one. It's made of glass, like the one above and it had a pink rope chain on it, but it was really thick and I didn't like it, plus it had a metal clasp and would have irritated my neck.

My mom gave me this one. She had it in her jewelry box and doesn't remember when, where or how she got it, but I think it's going to look beautiful on the black satin ring. I'll have to remember to take a picture of them both when I wear them. I think the pink one above was $3.75, the cameo of course was free :-)

Mom scored some clothes, but her big score of the day was the boots below! It's funny because when she saw them she loved them. But when she looked inside at the size she saw that they were 6 1/2. I wear a 6 1/2 so she brought them to me but I immediately vetoed them as I despise wedge heels. She tried to talk me into trying them on as she loves wedge heels but I refused. So she made my sister try them on. Lisa wears a size 7, but when she tried them on they were HUGE! Turns out they weren't 6 1/2 but 26 1/2!! Not sure what sizing that is but it turned out they were a perfect 9 which is what my mom wears! It was meant to be. Don't you love when that happens?

Here's a close up of the wedge. Mom loves wedgies...umm, I mean wedges. They are pretty, just not my style.

That was it for our treasures yesterday. We have a great lunch at Carrows, then we went to Wal-mart and then the grocery store! All in all a full day. How did you do? Any treasures?

Don't forget to join the party over at Rhoda's Southern Hospitality and see what other thrifting goddesses found!

Iwanna Wednesday

I'm trying really hard to purchase only things that I can find at thrift shops, yard sales, antiques stores, etc to furnish and decorate my home. But I am making an exception for clothes because...well because I don't wanna include clothes! That's not to say that I won't buy clothing at those places named above cause I will and I do, very, very often!

That being said, I purchased a beautiful curtain for my bedroom for a mere $8.00 at the American Cancer Society Discovery Store. I mentioned it in my Thrifting Treasures post but here's a picture for anyone that might have missed it. . .

I mentioned that it's only hung temporarily because Iwanna find some beautiful curtain rods to hang them from. Once I find the perfect curtain rod I want to move it up higher almost touching the ceiling. Rhoda at Southern Hospitality says that draws the eye up and makes your ceiling look higher...or something like that.

So, I did some online shopping to get an idea in my head of what I might want and this is what Iwanna. . .

They're all beautiful aren't they? Which one do you like? Which one do you think would look good with the curtain and my bedroom?

Now I know it's going to be hard to find any of those in a thrift store or yard sale, but there's no big rush. I'll take my time and look. You never know what you're going to find out there, the hunt is just as much fun as the kill right?

I know this one is sorta immature, kinda silly, but I do love butterflies and I know they would get along beautifully with the angel's in my bedroom right?