Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff: Waiting

For those of you who spent their Mother's Day out on the deck in the sun, all I can say is.... psbbbbbbbt. (sound of a very large raspberry) It started raining early in the morning, and by the time church ended, we got very large white flakes. Which are STILL coming down. We've got at least a foot of snow. Supposedly it was letting up at noon, but that was 30 min. ago, and I see no sign of it. 
    In true Colorado tradition, though, school wasn't even delayed. Go figure.
    The Mama's appointment with the heart surgeon is today. I am starting to pack, but have a day's worth of appraising at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum tomorrow. I figure I'll be on my way to Michigan sometime early Wednesday morning...then will be staying in Michigan as much as possible between gigs, until early August. 
     I hate leaving the Brick to fend for himself, even though I've cleaned and cleared away as much as possible. We've arranged for milk to be delivered, and I loaded the freezer up with easy-to-heat goodies. I've tried to make life as easy on him as I could. I still will miss him terribly -- and I know he will miss me. (At the least, he'll have to do his own wash and ironing!) Charles, Abby and the chickens will be a good distraction. 
     Now, if I could only take them with me, too.
     Meanwhile:

Eating healthy on a slim budget. (From Get Rich Slowly)

Or is it cheaper to eat out, instead? Interesting discussion in this forum. (From Fat Wallet)

A $25 shopping cart trip. (From Poor Girl Eats Well)

Twisted pizza breadsticks. (From the Weary Chef)

 

Pancakes in a jar - and a review of some camping equipment. (From Frugal Upstate)

From his biweekly Readers Mailbag, Trent gave an interesting way to get the musty odor out of books. (If you don't read this Mondays and Thursdays, you're missing out. I rarely skip it.)
   
The best method I’ve found is to get a cake pan, put a thin layer of baking soda all over the bottom of the pan, then place a book on top of the soda. However, you should put the book in there standing up with the pages spread out a bit. Imagine the book standing up with the covers open fairly wide with all of the pages spread apart as much as possible. Leave the book sitting like that for 24 hours or so. (This tactic works well with kitty litter, too.)
This helps with a lot of book odors and should take care of the faint remaining odors.
If that doesn’t quite do it, try sprinkling a bit of baking soda between every few pages in the book, then close it up and leave it for a few days. Then get as much of the baking soda out of the book as you can by shaking it. This can leave a little baking soda in between the pages that you won’t notice until you’re reading it, but the odor really should be gone at that point.


How to make a fruit bouquet. (From Hoosier Homemade)

This video should be helpful, too:

Switching from freelancing to actually becoming your own business. It ain't easy...but it's rewarding. (From Make Money Your Way)

Abandoned structures...by a photographer who made a book about these sculptures of silence.

34 Crazy Thrift Store Finds.   Including a Crazy Cat Lady action figurine and Abraham Lincoln cologne. Go figure.

Quilt.con just announced their teachers & lecturers for the 2015 conference. (Nope, I'm not on the list. Yet.)

31 things to do when you're having a bad day. (From White House Black Shutters)

Wall art words - made with wire! A clever idea from Girl in the Garage.

A fascinating trip to a "clothes mountain." Wish they'd do this in my neck of the woods! (From Penniless Parenting) The same blogger has delicious-looking:

Easy recipe for dairy-free strawberry ice cream. (It's really gelato.)

Five interesting revelations from Monica Lewinsky... the reason (along with our august President) I had to explain what "oral sex" meant to our daughters years ahead of when they needed to know.
     If you're in the mood for more gossip, here's:

Oprah's former mother-in-law griping about her. Meeeannnn...but intriguing.

Did you know Pinterest has a whole section on hidden spots? Jewelry, clothing, furniture...many of the photos include constructing how-tos.

'Lazy' upholstering. Actually, it's quick -- and clever.  (From Elizabeth Joan Designs)

And this to end. (Not that I'm like this at all. Uh-unh.)

Have a good week.