Stuff I like lately

Just wanted to note some of my favorite simple things as of late:

I heard about Lemishine from Pioneer Woman. I finally found some & have used it a few times now. We have very hard water here (until we get the water softener installed one of these days.) I actually thought that this product made a big difference with cloudiness & spots on dishes from the dishwasher (even though I already used JetDry which doesn't seem to help much lately). I like that Lemishine will help keep the dishwasher clean from hard water grime too.
Amy told me she liked A book of a Thousand Days so we headed to the library last week and it was on the shelf. Hurray! One tired night this week I sat down and read a bit. I loved it. Then yesterday on our drive to Logan I read the rest. Shannon Hale is one of my favorite authors. I loved Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Princess Academy. Now I just want to read, read, read. I go in spurts of reading - like once a year I just love to read and become lost in a great adventure story. Have you discovered Good Reads? It's fun to get book recommendations from friends.
The other day I was really feeling like a snowcone. I haven't had one in years and years. This week, after our first trip to the Lehi library, I was driving the back way out not knowing where I was and low and behold, we came across a SnowShack. I was elated. Also surprising was the fact that they don't cost $5 like I thought they would by now, but were just $1. I got Tiger's Blood and the kid's got Cotton Candy. We drove home and ate it on the porch while watching the workers across the street stucco a house. The kids were so cute to be so grateful for a little outing to the library and a snow cone. Oh - Summertime!
I haven't used body wash for 6 months or so, and when I saw this, I thought it looked refreshing. I love the fresh smelling flavor of grapefruit and lemon. My skin is thanking me for some energizing moisture.
With wearing sandals, being on my feet so much, and all this dry heat, my feet were in desperate need of repair. I've never had a mani or a pedi but I decided I could at least do something to relax and soften. I bought one of those sandpaper files for heels and I found these products by Earth Therapeutics at Walmart. I love the Tea Tree Oil and Peppermint. Right before bed it brings huge relief and relaxation to my tired legs and feet.

I've been a horrible housekeeper, especially in the bathrooms. I thought I'd try these Scrubbing Bubbles wipes to do quick run-downs on the sinks and toilets. They have been extremely handy for a quickie wash to spruce things up. They especially do well to clean up after the kidlets with toothpaste globs in the sink and mini accidents on the pot. Enough said... moving on...I feel like we have a bazillion loads of towels (and burp rags) lately. I had decided we'd just all use white towels so I could just bleach them all together (instead of pastel, white, and dark towels we did have). But when I saw these bright ones at Walmart which are bleachable and can be washed in warm water without losing color, I thought we'd just all get a different colored towel. Then I can wash them all together and we won't get confused about whose is whose. I'd rather have lovely colonial blue towels for my bathroom, but oh well... right now, I'll go for convenience for laundry purposes.

When we lived at Bishop Christensen's in Florida for a summer, they had a big square table with a square silverware container in the center of the table. I loved the idea of the kids having a quick spot to get the silverware. Years ago I found this one at Mikasa for 1/2 off clearance. I've loved using it ever since because it makes unloading the dishwasher easy for the kids and the silverware is so handy at dinnertime. (p.s. I love my Splayds from Australia in there too)We finally found some awesome sweet white corn. I love fresh corn on the cob in the summertime.

Saturday was an Oreo day. I woke a bit blah! and didn't want to work AT ALL. I wanted to retreat to my room and read a grand book all day, but I didn't. Sigh... After doing a wee bit of work, once suppertime rolled around, I made these Oreo Chocolate chip cookies from Picky Palate. They were a fun change... plus I actually had cookies turn out for once.

The other day was a doozie! I was up to my eyeballs in brown boxes and just wasn't sure where to start or where to find focus and motivation or energy. I finally found some motivation but I was needed as a mother. Which is good and all ... but I'm still working on balancing my life with all my roles. So after a few tears I sought out some inspirational tunes to make it through the day with more cheer. I found the song GRACE by David Tolk. Peaceful music calms my soul and reminds me that everything will be okay in the end. Here's a portion of the song GRACE: