I don't....but I am glad I did.

I don't get groceries on Thursday nights.

I don't always buy my beloved cashew milk ice cream.  (Unless it is the Summer Olympics. For some reason those Games bring out my inner-ice cream lover.  True story.)

I don't do either of those things but this last Thursday I did and I am still so thankful I did.

Why?  Because while standing in the "healthy" ice cream aisle, I ran in to 2 of the kindest souls - Rhonda and Ginger.

It was positively a GOD-moment because just that morning as I prayed for these 2 fabulous friends of mine, I told the Lord how very much I missed them.

The day unfolded and HE sent them to me and me to them via that amazing ice cream aisle.

God used cashew milk ice cream to brighten my day and cheer me up.

Two mornings without my beloved

Monday evening as I ground the last of my regular coffee beans, I thought to myself, I sure hope I remember to buy more coffee! and then I laughed because that's just absurd.  Like I, Angela Good, would ever (EV-ER) forget about coffee.  Psh! 

Apparently absurd notions (like forgetting coffee) and I go hand-in-hand like Rhonda & Angie @ the thrift, Pammy & Jim, peanut butter & jelly, fish & chips, guacamole & chips, so on and so forth.

Tuesday night was our tutoring finale!  The children had been working all school year earning "Walmart dollars."  We loaded up the church van & other vehicular transports and took the 18 (or so students) and adults to Walmart where the children got to spend their hard-earned giftcards.  

We spent 40 minutes in Walmart and buying coffee never once crossed my pretty little head.

Perhaps the thought never occurred to me because the tutoree I was shopping with wanted to stay in the craft section.  *sigh*  A girl after my own heart...craft supplies.

Needless to say - I did not remember the lacking regular coffee until I was already home, my face was washed, and I was in my jammies.  

To get dressed and go back out???  Hmmmmmm...

No.  I decided I would suck it up and have decaf in the morning and hit the Dunkin Donuts by my place of employment and BONUS -- I had a free drink receipt!!!!  

I love how careful Dunkin Donuts is about gluten.  They have signs "Tell us about your food allergy."  At the one by my place of employment, they wash their hands and wear gloves.  The afternoon gal (we are practically friends) talks about her mom's gluten allergy.  This gal even goes so far as to wipe down the major parts of the machine.  She whispers, "I take no chances with that evil thing!"  It warms my heart...figuratively and well, the coffee warms it for real.  Wait - does it really warm my heart or does it just cause my heart to happily beat?  Hmmm...that's something to think about.

Any-whooo...  

Wednesday night when I was done babysitting the fabulous Delaney kiddos, I ran to Meijer to get catfood and a hilarious Easter card for a friend.  And guess what I left Meijer without?  COFFEE!!!  And when did I realize the missing coffee...when I was home, showered, jammie-ed, and ready for bed.  

*sigh*

Thursday morning would be a green tea extravaganza!!!  I mean green tea has some caffeine in it, right?  RIGHT!!!!  And I love the antioxidants.

Thursday morning - 2 mugs of green tea and I'm not going to lie...I stopped at Starbucks.  Why regular coffee?  Because Wednesday around 4ish, I had a slight freak-out (READ:  NERVOUS LAUGHTER FOR LIKE AN HOUR!) because we get Good Friday off and I realized I did not get everything done...even though I spent the day performing task after task.  I was checking stuff off my to do list like an OVER-CAFFEINATED rockstar that I sometimes am.  Also - it should be noted that due to the ridiculousness of my to do list, I wrote "DRINK COFFEE" at the very top so that at 8:07 a.m. I could check something off.  It was a total sense of accomplishment.  

And now it's today...Friday.  Since I'm off today, I got up early and went to Woodman's before (as I told my mother) "it gets nutso there!"  Morning grocery shopping is my preference...and make no mistake, I WANTED SOME COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Saturday Shenanigans

First thing this morning - and I do mean FIRST thing - I received the following text from my favorite co-worker, who technically is not currently a co-worker:  "Hey crazy!  I am back in town for a couple days.  Stop by if u get time, we will be in the truck all weekend!"  {Do you understand why he's my favorite?  I miss the "Hey crazy!" things.  I think he wants me to stop down and bring him coffee & homemade chocolate chip cookies.}

The second thing on my list o'things to do today was meet Jenni at Meg's for coffee and a deeeelish muffin.  {Oh, my soul, they have gluten-free double chocolate muffins.  And yes, they are as yummy as they sound.}

Once we consumed are delightful treats, we headed just up the road to Nellie's Barn Sale were we perused vintage items and found an amazing estate sale.  At the estate sale, I picked up three Pyrex dishes and a never-been-used humidifier for this winter. 

Next on my list:  Groceries @ Woodman's.  Somehow I went $3 over budget...which is really weird because I really don't think I splurged on anything extravagant.  It must've been those purple grapes.  Total impulse buy...but I don't regret it.  And I won't even apologize.

I must say - I used one of the new U-Scan lanes at Woodman's.  The nice Woodman's employees helped me bag my (confession time!) way-more-than-20-items limit.  The bagging girls put all my groceries in 3 bags.  And let me just say - those bags were packed full and quite heavy.  I know it looks like I have rockstar arms and can probably handle a load like that...but FOR REAL-ZEES...it was quite a workout lugging them from Rosie up the stairs to my delightful apartment.

...which by the way, I still totally am smitten with my apartment.  It's quiet and very safe. 

After putting away my groceries and grabbing a snack, I picked up Lexie and we headed off on our Find Miss Angie A Cat mission.  We began the adventure at the PAWS Humane Society Adopt-A-Pet truck parked infront of PetSmart on 173.  We met Lillianna, an adorable Siamese, who was adopted and awaiting pick-up.  It was wonderful news hearing that she had been adopted by a caring couple who could offer her a safe home.

One of the PAWS foster kitty parents tried to convince Lexie and I that we were in need of a gray - hissing kitty-cat.  Ok - a couple things...I'm a firm believer that when you meet the right cat, you will just know it's the ONE.  Not like a beam of heavenly light will shine down or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will waft through the air.  But you will just KNOW...  I know that I will know.  This hisser was not the one.  And it's not that I have anything against a hisser because this poor cat was rescued from a cat-hoarding home situation.  Apparently someone in the county had a home with 116 cats.  Not even kidding.  One hundred sixteen cats in one home!!!  Some were caged.  Most were malnourished.  Who does that???  It's awful.

Anyway - the hisser was not the one.

We checked out the cats inside PetSmart. There were two females - delightful creatures.  The PetSmart employee informed me that I need to have a copy of my rental agreement that states I am able to have a cat.  {Having grown up in the country where it didn't really matter, this was news to me.}

Lexie and I promptly left PetSmart and headed to my home to find my lease.  It worked out grand because just last week I was perusing my lease to confirm the cost of added felines to my current rent.  It's a per cat fee with 2 cats being the limit.  It's a shame that 2 cats are the limit as I could've taken several of them home with me.  Some of them just had sad stories...and when you look at their eyes and know that they just want love...{Sigh}...well, it breaks a girl's heart.

Lease in hand, we headed across town to the Animal Shelter.  Funny story...next to the Animal Shelter is an old folks home.  Yes, I turned in to the first drive and told Lexie, "Hmmmm...I think we are at the wrong place.  I'm not looking to adopt a new grandma."  We laughed and left.

At the animal shelter, we were introduced to about 20 cats.  They were divided in to 2 rooms.  The first room had one particular kitty that captured my heart...Patches.  She has a bit of a kitty cold which makes me a little hesitant... 

In the second room, we met Romeo (a giant tiger-ish male) who's lackadaisical approach to life was delightful and charming...  He appeared to be content with his life...and let us know that should he be adopted, he would expect the world to revolve around him.  Cats...I LOVE THEM!!!!

Also in the second room was a sweet gray and white kitty.  Her markings were pretty much opposite of Maggie - where Mags had been white, this kitty was gray...and where Mags was gray, this kitty was marked white.  She was lovely.  A little skittish, but lovely.

We went back to the first room and I studied and petted Patches...honestly at this point, I thought she was the cat for me...and then she started coughing.  It wasn't a scary cough...she has more of a cold cough.  Again - hesitant about her because of the cough.  I went out to the lobby and asked the workers about her cough.  They said she was done taking her medication...yet, she still coughed.

We asked permission to go back in to the cat area.  (You have to be let in there.)  One our second time through the second room, I noticed a cat in the far corner of the room.  Her tag said her name is Debra (not spelled like the prophet Deborah which I am sure will sadden Sara).  She is 2 years old.  She's not nearly as scrawny as some of the others.  Lexie and I left her out of her cage and she pranced about.  She, then, proceeded to go over to the wallspace between the cages and the wall and squeezed her body in the confines of the area.  I called to her, "Kitty! Kitty!" and watched as she turned herself to face forward and came out from hiding.  I found the whole thing amusing as she was able to squish herself into such a small space and then turn herself about with little or no effort.  She seems to have a great personality and she didn't mind being picked up...  Oh - this reminds me - in one of the rooms there was a cute tiger kitty with the label "Loud meow."  They weren't kidding.  She had a loud meow.  She was equally delightful...however, I'm smitten with the little black w/brown spots kitty named "Debra."  I'm wondering if she wouldn't mind being called another name... 

We did not adopt Debra today.  You know how at stores, they will make closing announcement, "Attention shoppers, the time is not 8:45 and our store will be closing in 15 minutes.  Please make your selection and bring your items to the front to purchase."  It's nice.  It gives you a warning that they are closing.  This does NOT happen at the animal shelter.  At 3:30, the girl came on the PA system, "It's 3:30.  Adoptions are closed for the day.  We re-open on Monday at 11 a.m."  No warning.  Nothing.  Talk about break a girl's heart.  I looked at Lexie and said, "Your mom said you are free on Monday night.  I can come and get you after I get off work and we can come and adopt this cutie." 

After 3 hours and 3 adoption establishments, I returned Lexie to her home and gabbed with mom for a bit before finally heading home only to realize I was supposed to be at the Michael's Craft Store on East State Street to attend Nancy's cropping/stamping event.  I threw blue stamp pads, coordinated printed paper, solid paper, white cardstock and a paper cutter in my tote and headed out the door.

Ten cards and 2 hours of laughter later...I returned home to fill you in on the events of my day. 

There you have it...a fun-filled day of shenanigans.  I love my ridiculously fabulous life.  Hope you had a nice Saturday.

Accomplished

I am feeling quite accomplished.

1. Worked all day {Technically 8 a.m. - 12 'noon was a defensive driving course - required by work.}  The class was informative.  After said class, I went to the office where I answered the phones and WOW-ed the masses with my typing and/or organizational skills.

2. Went to the gym...even though I felt like not going to the gym.  I am more of a social work-out kind-of girl.  No one was going with me.  However I knew if I skipped, I would feel guilty about skipping. 

3.  Got groceries.  Before I went in to Woodman's, I had a little chat with myself.  "You, Angie Good, will exercise self-control.  You will not buy extra items not on your list. Yes, you are feeling hungry but that does not give you permission to buy extra stuff."  Worked like a charm.

4.  Hauled in 6 paper bags full of groceries and a 20-pound container or litter and a giant bottle of laundry soap.

5.  Moved everything out of the kitchen, laundry area, and bathroom.  I, then, swept and mopped.  Boy - did it need it....and that's not to say I live in filth lest you are concerned.  I just swept and vacuumed for the past two weekends and didn't clean-clean.  No worries...tonight my bathtub/shower listens like the first snowfall.  It's sparkly clean.  {Sigh.}

6.  Painted my toenails.  Which I am still technically paint-ing them.  I just thought I would blog in between coats of "Sugar & Spice."

I am super excited about getting all these things done tonight.  It means I can enjoy the remainder of my looooooooooooong weekend without feeling like I have to hurry home to clean.

If I was any cooler, I would be a superhero...and then I would need to sew a cape.

"Donde esta the basil?"

I do this thing when I am stressed-out at work...and it works.  I talk out loud in the third person in Spanish.  Grammatically poor Spanish, I should confess lest I mislead you and you walk away having read this blog post, thinking ~ Wow!  That Angie Good can do anything.  My normal poor-attempts-with-the-Spanish-language happen when I am trapped in Excel or Word...but mostly Excel.  Why that program randomly formats stuff is beyond me!!!!

The other day I went to Woodman's to get groceries.  I've been wanting to try to recreate my friend Summer's garbanzo bean flour pizza crust.  I painstakingly jotted down all the spices I needed...crushed red pepper, oregano {which I totally had in my cupboard....should've checked my spice inventory list ~ yes, I have a 3x5 card listing all my spices}, and basil.

At Woodman's, the McCormick section of spices appears to be in alphabetical order.  I scanned through the A's.....then the B's.....and then there was Chili Powder.  Wait a second......what happened to the B-spices????   Where was the basil????

And this is when it happened....

I'm not sure if it was because I had just ingested a large chai from Meg's or if my lack-of-substantial-breakfast-food was causing my brain to revert to my Spanish-speaking self....but I said out loud, "Donde esta the basil???"

Several seconds later, a well-manicured nail taps! taps! taps! the third shelf down.  I look at the nail and look where it's pointing...BASIL!!!  I, then, said outloud, "That's what I was looking for!!!"  Too which the person associated with the tapping voiced, "Well, you did say, 'Donde esta the basil?'"

Yes.  Yes, I did.

Impulse buy...

Tonight I stopped at Choices to get eggs...
As I left their parking lot, I contemplated my supper options. 

A. Jason's Deli ~ order a huge salad and have supper & leftovers for tomorrow

OR

B. Stop at Woodmans and get salad stuff....

After considering the cost....Rosie and I went to Woodmans where I purchased all the salad fixings AND a bag of cashews for dessert.

My splurge???  Radishes.  I know.  I know.  I'm such a wild, big spender. 

Impulse shopping

I did not need raspberries.  Raspberries were not on my list of things to buy.  Yet...in a moment of weakness, I bought two packages of them.  Here's what happened...

Tonight I had to run to Village Green after the gym.  It was humid and icky walking around swatting mosquitoes or gnats.  I'm not sure which one - and they could've potentially been BOTH.  Gross.  So I was hot and sweaty and being nearly mauled to death by flying insects.  I was at Village Green to purchase a birthday present for a co-worker from another co-worker.  I volunteered for this job.  I know, I know.  Martyrdom at its finest.  (Sigh.)  Sooo after meandering through the rows upon rows of perennials, I purchased a dahlia.  A white dahlia.  I figure this will bloom for years...long after said b-day girl co-worker has retired.  It's the gift that keeps on giving.  Or something like that.  :)

Dahlia purchased and in Rosie.  I was driving home down E. Riverside when I had a hankering for guacamole.  The hankering lasted from those cute gray-ish, two-story apartments (the ones with the white balconies) all the way to Alpine Rd where Rosie took a right heading towards Logli.  As I drove down Alpine, I made a mental note to buy black bean chips and guacamole.  Avocados are soo good for you...and I know the sensible thing would've been to buy a couple of avocados, some gluten-free Greek yogurt, some salsa and make my own, right?  Well, it was close to 7 p.m. and I was hungry and tired so I opted for Wholly Guacamole. 

In order to get to the refrigerated guacamole, I had to walk through produce.  And when I saw the sign that read, "2 for $6" I was drawn to the raspberries like flies to honey...like Yoda to the Force...like peanut butter to jelly...  It was as if a light shown down from heaven guiding me to my beloved fruit. 

Have you told you how I spent the fall and winter only eating food that was grown in season?  Do you know in January nothin' but gross stuff is in season.  Bleh! 

It's warmer now and the raspberries called my name.  Not outloud so other people could hear.  They whispered it...like it was a secret..."Buy us, Angie Good!!!  We will fill you with our goodness!"

Braeburn apples

I'm not sure what to title this post so for now, the title reads "Post title." 

I went to Woodman's this afternoon.  I want to make a crockpot of chili -- mostly because it's easy and I will have leftovers.  (I heart leftovers.)  (I, also, heart my crockpot.)  (Not sure why I used two separate sets of parentheses.)

While at Woodman's, I also wanted to pick up a bag of apples.  I'm a Fuji apple kinda gal.  Fuji apples, in case you've never tried them, are FABULOUS!!!  They are a sweet apple because they remain on the tree until after the first frost. 

Well...Woodman's did not have bags of Fuji apples...they did, however, have Braeburn, Granny Smith, and Delicious.  Let's work backwards...Delicious?  No thanks.  I'd rather eat a sponge.  I don't care of the texture and too be honest, the last Delicious apples I purchased from Woodman's had sponge-like texture.  I'll pass.  Granny Smith...too tart.  I use Granny Smith apples to make crockpot applesauce which normally would be wonderful; however, my crockpot will be employed making me chili.  Granny Smith - no thanks.  This left me with Braeburns.  I bought a bag.  They looked pretty.

Fast forward several hours later...
Instead of making something for supper, I decided an apple and peanut butter would suffice.  I carefully watched my Braeburn apple and cut it up into delightful pieces.  I opened my new jar of peanut butter and scooped out some creamy bliss.  The apple chunk received a good smothering -- as all apple chunks should be smothered in peanut butter.  I took a bite...and WOW-ZAHS!!!  Braeburn apples are tart.  The skin looked sooo pretty and apple-ish that I never considered the tart-factor.

(Sigh.)

While eating the tart apple and trying to cover up the tartness by an absurd amount of peanut butter, I decided I might take the rest of the bag and make baked apples...I could use some raw sugar or honey to sweeten them.

Note to self:  Just because the apples look pretty, it doesn't mean that they will taste "pretty."

A new treat

Every now and then I will get the urge to try something new.  Tonight I went to Woodman's after an hour-long cardio session.  Good idea - get groceries;  Bad idea - get groceries when you are hungry.  :)

Actually it wasn't a "bad" idea...and I honestly didn't over-spend or indulge in mass quantities of junk food.

I did, however, try a new snack food.  The name of the bar "The gluten free bar."  I promise you - that was it's name.  They have a fabulous website www.theglutenfreebar.com. 

My snack was the peanut butter bar.  I did purchase the chocolate & peanut butter combination bar to keep for an emergency situation.  You know...when the day needs to be ended in chocolate.  Let's not try and deny that we ever have THOSE days...  I know me and you know you.  There are some days when at the end of the day chocolate is calling our names.  I've heard it call your name too.  :)

I must confess, I was a little nervous about trying this new snack.  The last time I tried something new it was a box of brown rice crackers.  My first clue should've been the look of the cracker.  It looks like corrugated cardboard.  Note to self:  If the cracker resembles cardboard, it's probably going to taste like cardboard.  (Sigh.)  I tried.  I even tried eating them twice.  The first time was dreadful.  The second attempt only occurred after I felt guilty for preparing to throw them away due to the amount of money I spent on said box of cardboard -- er, crackers. 

No worries...the second attempt was made and the grossness was still a factor.  The box and the contents went in to the trash.  For 0.3 seconds, I considered throwing the crackers out in the yard for the squirrels, but I was fearful that the squirrels wouldn't like them and retaliate by chucking nuts at me!  I know the two oversized squirrels that are residing in the tree adjacent to the cottage...they are BIG and squirrelly!!!! 

Fabulous Saturday

Today I arose from my slumber and was greeted with a sunshine-y Saturday.  It was cold out - but somehow the cold is more bearable if the sun is shining.  I got ready for a fun day of errands.  My original plans to meet a friend in Freeport for coffee and thrifting were cancelled because my poor friend has that illness that I suffered from last week.  It's not fun - fever, sore throat, cough, tiredness, etc.  It lasts about 7 days - and if you happen to catch this illness, don't be surprised if you start feeling better and then BAM - four hours later, you feel miserable again.  This illness is evil and the trickery it plays is of epic proportions!!!  I mean SERIOUSLY, if I am going to feel better, atleast let it be FOR REAL and not a faux feel better for a bit and then slammed back in to bed. 

Today is Day #9 of the illness for me and I am completely healed...but it did take every bit of 7-8 days and lots of zinc, garlic, and HerbaTussin tea.

My friend is about halfway through the illness.  I do hope she gets better soon.  I missed her today. 

Not wanting to be completely bummed out about the change of plans, I decided to go to Trader Joe's - it's a grocery store in Algonquin (about 45-50 miles from the cottage).  Trader Joe's has 5 pages of gluten-free items.  And even when I calculated the gas and tolls, I still saved money by shopping at Trader Joe's. 

After TJ's, I went and spent my Christmas money on a new blow dryer.  I've not had to purchase one of these since 2002.  10 years!  My faithful blowdryer survived a decade!!!  Wow!  It had a good life.  Ok - so writing "it had a good life" reminded me that yesterday at work, my co-worker's electric stapler died.  Honestly, this particular co-worker cracks me up with her randomness.  I asked her if she would like to gather the department and we could stand around the smaller turtle pond, join hands and sing "Kumbaya."  We did not do this.  I wish we would have.  This singing might've made my afternoon a lot less stressful.  Instead I ran hither and yon making copies and getting paper cuts.  (I will not digress and re-discuss the events of yesterday.)

As I returned to Rockford - the snow began to fall.  It was funny....there was a definite rise in temperature around the Marengo exit because the snow turned to rain.  Infact I believe the temperature rose 3 or 4 degrees.  That is quite an increase when you think about it.

I did support Hobby Lobby today.  Did you?  I bought some yarn to make a surprise scarf.  You see, yesterday I read a Pay-It-Forward post on Facebook about doing something randomly nice for the first five people who comment on a post.  This got me thinking about something fun I could do throughout 2013....it involves my fun scarves and handmade cards.

Have I told you how much I love crafting? 

Well, I've taken a break from crafting...and I am blaming the BOOKS!!!!!  I'm about 3/4 of the way through Christmas Shoppe by Melody Carlson...and then I want to read Monday's lesson from our Refresh Your Heart Bible study book...and then my chronological Bible reading....and I stumbled upon some other books borrowed from a friend.  I love to read.

A confession, a chair, and snow

I have a confession for you.  And I want to begin this post with my confession and then move on from there. 

I've been kind of overwhelmed the past two weeks.  First with my role in the Christmas cantata.  Ann.  Overwhelmed, negative, and quite a downer.  The biggest hurdle for me was her incorrigible lines to the "nice" couple about their lack of children.  Saying these lines (and yes, I am aware that they were fictional lines!) outloud caused me quite a bit of grief.  It wasn't until I figured out who my "Real-life Ann" was that I could finally get in-to-character.  It took some pondering...but once I figured out who she potentially could be in real life, I was set!!!  [It still made me sad that she "said" these hurtful things outloud...but I told myself, "Some people don't filter and consider their words before they speak them."]

My second stress was my mom's surgery today.  The Lord worked a wonderful miracle and she was able to have the entire surgery (pardon my phonics :)) lap-row-scop-ic-ally.  I taught 2nd grade.  I break things down phonetically.  It's what I do.  :)  And don't lie, you like it!!!! 

Currently I am sitting in my living room at my desk...but not in the traditional way that one would assume that I am seated at my computer desk...you see, I've not found a computer chair that I like.  I'm looking for a wooden chair.  Are you wondering, Why in the world does Angie want an uncomfortable wooden chair???  The answer is two-fold...A) I don't want a super-comfy chair as I will end up spending too much time blogging (GASP! She said that outloud!!!) and/or pinning fabulous crafty things on the Pinterest website.  [Did you know - 27,000 people joined Pinterest in the month of November?  It was one of those early morning trivia things on the radio.]

Where was I?  Oh, yes the chair.  Soooo not having a computer chair, I dragged in a taller cafe-style chair from my kitchen.  I'm seated in the kitchen chair with my feet propped-up on the ottoman.  The keyboard is in my lap and I am typing away.  And actually it's quite comfy.  I could go for this set-up...but I do think I'd like to find a wooden chair BECAUSE...... B) I saw on Pinterest a cute painted chair idea.  I could coordinate my chair with my living room decor.

I cannot believe that there is only one week until Christmas.  I'm going to miss having my tree up.  My favorite thing to do in the morning is pour a mug of coffee, plug in the tree, and sit in my over-stuffed comfy chair and wake-up.  I will miss those soft white lights.

A big winter storm is headed out way.  It's estimated time of arrival is Thursday, December 20th at 9 a.m.  They are calling for anywhere from 2 to 20 inches of snow.  Nice.  I am trusting the Weather Bug website and my co-worker's aching back.  Something is a-brewing and it ain't my coffee.  I am hoping we get around 6 - 12 inches of snow.  You see, I LOVE SNOW!!!!  Tonight at the gym, the guy next to me was talking about the weather and I informed him, "I love it that it's going to snow!!!  I hope we get a foot!"  He looked at me like he was a small child and I said, "There's no Santa."  There is a Santa.  Technically, there was a Santa.  :)  The gym guy about fell off his elliptical which would've made for a lovely blog post and I have a feeling I would've nervous laughed.

I love the snow.  I love waiting for snow.  This snowstorm reminds me that I should go to Woodman's and make sure I pick up some more coffee, supplies to make hot chocolate, and ingredients for soup.

Tomorrow night is Christmas caroling!!!!  ...and there's a chance of flurries.  How perfect - caroling and flurries.  (Be still my beating heart.)

I hope you've had a lovely Tuesday!!!!

Dish Gloves, Scraping, and A Trip to Target...

Wow -- what an action-packed end to my week. 

Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to be a blessing and break out the cleaning supplies!  It was such an enjoyable evening.  It gave me a chance to get to know two fabulous little guys...and their delightful parents.  And let me just say...who does not love lavender cleaning supplies?  And green apple dishsoap?  All I can say, thank you for concocting girly-smelling cleaning products!!!!! 

Friday evening was 5 hours of wallpaper-scraping, laughs, and secrets shared among close friends. Another memory made...so that in a few months, I can look at the goofy pictures and remember...and smile.  There's something about scrape-scrape-scraping that brings out the craziness in us.  Ummm and can I just share -- if you are looking for a great arm work-out, scrape wallpaper.  It works alot of muscles!!!!  Add laughter and you can smooch 500 calories goodbye!  :) 

Saturday...blessed Saturday.  After purchasing groceries, I meandered through Target.  My purpose for the Target trip was to procure a package of cashews.  (Have I ever told you that I could probably consume my body weight in cashews?  It wouldn't be pretty...but it would tasty!!!)   While meandering about, I ended up seeing some crazy polka-dotted and heart socks that screamed two college students' names...what goes better with fun socks that Dove Milk Chocolates?  I mean, HELLO!  CHOCOLATE + SOCKS = Fun Package from Miss Angie... 

And now I have the entire evening to enjoy at my leisure.  Pitter-patter...

I hope you have had a delightful end to your week.

45 items....

You know those people who use the U-Scan aisles and totally disregard the sign that reads "20 Items or Less"?  Tonight I was that person.  I, Angela Good, used U-Scan...and I had 45 items in my cart.  Now...before you judge...I did take a quick glance at my cart and it wasn't its normal fullness...so I just assumed that maybe I had 25-ish items...ummmmmmmmm 25-ish plus 20!!!!  Goodness.

The U-Scan police didn't say anything to me regarding my disregard for the rules.  She was actually rather nice and bade me a "farewell."  When I got near the exit, I glanced at the bottom of my receipt and read, "TOTAL NUMBER OF ITEMS SOLD:  45."  Oooooh dear...

In my defense, I picked an excellent time to go to Woodmans -- Thursday evening.  The place was soo not crowded and the shelves were stocked. 

The trouble with going tonight was that I did not have a fully exhaustive grocery list.  I keep a running list, as the week progresses - I jot down what I need...  I remember on Monday thinking, I really should go through my crockpot cookbooks and see what kind of soup supplies I need to purchase on Thursday...  And that was where that thought ended.  Sad, right? 

Thankfully I have the recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup stuck in my brain. 
A - It's my all-time favorite soup!
B - It's tasty!
C - If I throw an extra can of black beans in the crockpot, I get a couple extra servings!

Sooo I bought the items on my list and then the supplies for Chicken Tortilla Soup.  I will probably need to go back to the grocery store early next week...but for now, my fridge is fuller than it was this morning!

On a side note and totally not related to this post in any way, shape or form...my co-worker pointed out that I use alot of hyphens when I type.  I like to hyphenate things.  I think it's the blogger in me.  You know -- the run-your-thoughts-together-because-they-are-that-way-in-your-brain.  SEE -- I DID IT!!!  Maybe hyphenating is a tragic flaw in the world of un-hyphenation.  Let's bring back the power of the hyphen!!!!!  And italics, while we are at it.

Happy Almost Friday!

~ Angie

Gold Star Moment!!!!!!

True story...
This afternoon, Leah and I conquered the bike path...I'm fairly certain that we walked close to (if not exceeding) eight miles.  8 miles!  On our 8 mile journey, we saw:

2 snakes (1 was deceased)

a gazillion grasshoppers (mostly small with some freakishly large ones)

several un-identified cricket/beetle-ish bugs

We both determined and uttered words of thanksgiving that we were not alive when the Lord sent those plagues -- locusts?  Ummmmm...ick!  I, also, believe we both commented, "We are such girls!" 

After walking for two hours, we both ended-up at Woodman's.  Old Navy's slogan is/was, "Shopping is fun!"  But I think the really fun place to shop is Woodman's.  Maybe it's 'cause I'm a foodie and I love to cook.  I do...I love, love, LOVE to cook!!!!  Baking...(sigh)...it makes my heart go pitter patter. 

Tonight at Woodman's, I decided to make a change to my menu for the week.  Instead of making chicken tortilla soup, I decided to save some money and make Black Bean & Corn Soup...unfortunately, I did not have the ingredients for the other soup.  Soooo I did what any smart girl would do -- I attempted to call my brother; instead of being at home where he could pull out his copy of Fix It & Forget It, he was commuting from the grocery store to his place of residence.  My cellphone service was shotty (at best)...so I opted for Plan B - text a friend.  [Remember that gameshow, Who Wants to be A Millionaire? hosted by Regis?  I thought it was cool that you could Phone-a- Friend !!!  I always text/call my friend Tanya when I need useless information.  We were roommies in college and she is a wealth of useless information.  I still call/text her even know...especially when I am at Meg's Daily Grind.  They have a trivia question that if answered correctly will save you 20% on your latte.  You do that 5 times and it's like getting a free latte!  Seriously!  It pays to do the math and have fabulous friends!!!!  Not that I use my friends...that sounded terrible.  I don't.  Tanya will say that she has a wealth of useless information stored in her brain for moments like this -- to save her friends money on their morning caffeine fix.  She says it...OUTLOUD!] 

Right before the Text - A - Friend, I prayed asking the Lord for help!!!  I was really hoping that He would allow Bryan to get home in a milli-second or for my friend to read her text...but He had something even better in store!  (Ha - ha - ha - "in store" as IN THE STORE!!!!!!!)

Where was I?  Oh yes, text a friend.  Waited a few minutes -- all the while staring the multiple choices of canned tomatoes...stewed, Mexican, whole, diced, Petite diced, tomato sauce, etc.  There are many choices....MANY!  I remembered that the recipe called for two different kinds of canned tomatoes...but I could not for the life of me remember which type I needed. 

No text reply.  I began to wonder if standing in the same aisle for 7-10 minutes was considered loitering...? 

A few more minutes and I begin to re-think the Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe...I could make that...but this other soup would be more economical...but I don't know what to put in the crockpot...And then I had an epiphany!  Woodman's sells cookbooks.  Maybe, just maybe, they will have a copy of Fix It & Forget It.  I meandered over to the shelf o'books...and on the second shelf, there it was -- the beloved cookbook!  It was like that crazy movie from the 1990's when the teenage girl is walking by the fountain and she has this epiphany and says outloud, "Oh my goodness - I LOVE JOSH!"  And the fountain springs to life and the music crescendos!  Well...at Woodman's, it was like that...only different.  :)

The wonderful Table of contents directed me to the recipe.  I scribbled down the list of ingredients and went skipping all the way to purchase said ingredients.  And I was right -- this other soup was waaaaaay cheaper than the original soup!  I'm so thankful that the Lord impressed on my heart to change recipes and He also provided the specific book I needed!  It's something soo small...but it was an answer to prayer!!!

What a wonderful day.  Thank You Lord for sending me to the cookbook aisle.  Thank You for letting Leah and I get accosted by grasshoppers and two snakes (one was deceased) on our 8 mile adventure on the bike path.  :)  Thank You for a wonderfully warm Saturday.

Tonight I did a very brave and slightly dangerous thing...

I went to Woodman's without a grocery list.  Now in my defense, I had actually taken the scribbled list out of my purse this afternoon and began re-writing it...
A. more legibly
B. in the order of the store

I always start in produce and work my way from there to the meat department and then through dairy, around to frozen, then up the healthier food aisle, and then there's the coffee aisle (sometimes I go down this aisle even though I do not need to make a single purchase)...and lastly it's the other canned food area.  Ending my gallivant through Woodman's in the Kleenex/Paper Towel aisle.  I love my predicable-ness...it makes writing out my list easier and it makes shopping easier if it's in the order of the store.  I even noticed that at Customer Service they have handy-dandy maps of the store.  I should get one and then scrapbook about my love of buying groceries.  It really is fun for me...I'm not sure if it's because I love to cook and bake.  But for whatever reason, getting groceries totally relaxes me.  Now the second part of my love of grocery shopping confession is that I truly love to grocery shop either early Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons.  But today -- well, I hadn't grocery shopped in over a week...and I really didn't want to have to eat scrambled eggs and blue corn tortilla chips for supper.  Actually I could've had a bowl of cereal...but I really needed groceries so I would have stuff for lunch tomorrow.  I am not a fan of eating lunch out.  I don't know if it's because at my previous place of employment, I would eat out regularly...or if it goes back to the fact that I heart cooking.  Whatever the reason...I needed groceries.

I parked the car and then began riffling through my purse...only to discover that I was list-less.  Now I had a choice to make.  Since I wasn't overly hungry, I decided that I should probably go in and get groceries while I was here.  It seemed silly to waste the gas...sooo I went in.  On my walk in to the store, I prayed:  Lord, help me to not spend over my budgeted grocery amount.  And keep me from temptation!  I'm so tempted to try every singe item in the healthier food section....organic dark chocolate, organic milk chocolate, organic dark chocolate with raspberries....you get my drift.  Sooo it was a Lead-me-not-into-chocolate-temptation sort of prayer. 

I managed to get everything that I believe is on my grocery list which is situated on my Steno Pad at work.  I know right where it is...next to my phone and adjacent to my knitting.  I made a dishcloth using size 13 knitting needles.  It's kind of a loose stitch and I am curious to see if the stitches will tighten up when it's washed.  I hope soo otherwise some little girl is going to be getting a nice blankie for her doll.

Back to the grocery store bravery...
At Woodman's, I was able to recall all the ingredients to make a crockpot of Chicken Tortilla Soup!!!!  Soup and my crockpot....two great reasons for fall and winter.  I don't really use my crockpot much in the summer.  Tragic, I know.  But really -- summer is a time of year for salads and not  cooking recipe!  I'm such a salad junkie in the summer.  It's a beautiful thing.

Soo there you have it...Angie Good did something daring, dangerous, and brave.  She proved to this old world that she can go into Woodman's without a list...without a plan...  And she came out victorious. 

I did happen to accidentally go down the pasta aisle...half-way down, I cringed and said to myself, "This is how Superman must feel when he is put in contact with Kryptonite!"  Then I laughed and laughed as I quickly escaped the gluten-filled aisle.  There's really no need to play with fire.

Tootles!