the most important meal of the day

For the longest time I didn't eat breakfast unless someone cooked it for me. Back when I first decided I needed to take some weight off and change my eating habits, adding breakfast was one of the things I did. If I'm home I'll make myself eggs but at work it's a little different. I don't want to have the same thing every day so my choices are

Oatmeal

Yogurt

Homemade McGriddle muffins

And most recently I added French toast sticks

I can pop those in the microwave for 45 seconds and there's my breakfast.

If you're curious about the McGriddle muffins, I found the recipe online somewhere but can't remember where.

1pound sausage browned

2 cups pancake mix

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 cup shredded cheddar

preheat over to 400. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 12-15 minutes. 

When I make these I take one the next day and put the rest in the freezer. When I'm ready for another one I pull it out the night before, pop it in a baggie and then microwave at work for about 45 seconds. I don't have a picture of these as I never thought to take one. They are pretty yummy though.

So where am I on the weight loss? Well I managed to lose 24 pounds but have been stuck for months now. My original goal was to lose 10 more pounds but I just can't seem to get any lower.

Doodles

Just a couple of doodles I've done while sitting and watching tv.

This first one, the idea came to me from the card I showed you yesterday.

And then my work doodles.

another happy mail card for me

Blog friend Lori sent the sweetest card.. it really made my day.

Not sure if you can read the front but it says

There are certain people

who, without even knowing it,

make this world a little brighter

and a little nicer...

Thanks again Lori. 

The giving box

A while back someone put up a box with doors in the parking lot of the local library. People can drop things off or see what's available to help feed their families.

I've seen it stuffed full and I've seen it almost empty. A nice way to give to our neighbors who need a little helping hand. 

walking through the hood

The day my car was off getting fixed I got a little bored. It was a really nice day so I went for a walk. I'll skip the chatting and just show the pictures from around the hood.

Just look at all that green. This time of year has a way of lifting my spirits.

The house that mice built

May 6th I finally got my car in to have the blower motor replaced. They called to say they had the old one out and it was stuffed with junk that looked like mice had probably been building a nest in there.

When I got there to pick it up he showed me how bad it was and he said that there had been even more stuffed in there.

I now have heat/air in my vehicle again. I mentally prepared myself for up to $1,000. It made it a little easier when he told me the total was $486. I suppose I should just be happy that I was able to pay it. Now I need to repair my bank account and work on getting a new washer.

How old is old

 I took a cake order recently and the customer asked that it say Happy 45th birthday Dad. I repeated the wording back to her and she laughed and said yeah, he's really old. This of course made me laugh and I had to say to her oh please don't say that, I'm 62. We both got a chuckle out of it.

Anyway, when I made the cake I decided to make the 45 a bit larger than the rest of the writing.

How does your garden grow.

Sometimes around here a garden will grow on a window. Remember those flowers I showed you a while back that I made for them to put on our front window at work? Well recently I was up front covering a break for the cashier and I remembered to snap a picture.

You can't see the one with my name on it because they've got it right next to the pole and it doesn't show in the picture. Personally I feel that as the creator of these beautiful flowers, mine should be positioned front and center. However, that might be a bit arrogant on my part so I shall humbly remain next to the pole.

While I was there I also took a picture of some of the buildings across the street.

And last but not least, I found a pair of nifty sunglasses at the register so I took a picture of me so you could see that I am the coolest cashier in town.

Fun with paper and markers

I seem to be doing more and more of this all the time. It's a nice way to keep my mind busy though.

This one is a saying that I have been reminding myself of a lot lately.

Just so you know, the ideas for these drawings rarely come out of my head. I see something somewhere and attempt to do my own version. Sometimes it doesn't go so well and I scrap it. Other times it may not be great but I deem it good enough.

Happy Mothers day

Whether you are the mother of children, fur babies or simply have a mothering nature, I wish you a happy Mother's day. I hope you do something special just for you

This is the happy mail card that I sent out for May

cards

I have a couple recent cards I've made. The first one is a box card that I made for Presley. I used some LOL doll stickers to decorate it. I cut the sticker sheet apart and glued the acetate backing to the card. This way she can take the card apart and use the stickers. This card does fold flat for mailing.

The other is a birthday card. I need two for this month and I'll do this one twice. This one however is off on the measurements. I altered the original size because I like using the 4.25" x 5.5" format. I think this was a free cut file from The Bearded Housewife. Not sure if I'll use a patterned background when I do this again. It makes it a little too busy.

Out in the yard.

 I rarely go on the one side of my house. There's just no reason to. The one day I was out in the yard and for whatever reason I wandered over that way. It was a pleasant surprise to see something pretty growing.

I know there are grape hyacinth in there and I always thought the white ones were lily of the valley. I could be wrong and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I tried to verify their identity with my phone but kept getting bluebells as a description and I know that's not right.

Happy mail for me.

 Last Friday I got home from work and there was not one but two things in the mailbox that I just knew were going to bring a smile to my face.

The first one was from blog friend Denise She sent a postcard with the most beautiful picture on it that she said is from around where she lives. She also included some basil seeds and fun stickers.

The second was from a friend I met through Wade. He used to work with her husband and we became friends. I recently added her to my happy mail list and she liked the idea and started a happy mail list of her own. This was a card that she made.

The inside has this really cool butterfly that you plant and it's supposed to grow flowers.. With my lack of green thumb, I won't hold my breath on the flowers or the basil but it will be fun to try.

What's a day off?

 This past Saturday I was sound asleep when my phone started ringing at 6:35AM. They needed me to come in again for the bakery. The deli manager is still sick and couldn't stay. She's been having a lot of trouble and I do worry about her. 

I hadn't slept well the night before so I told them it would be a while but I would be there. I got dressed and made sure I got a cup of coffee in me before I headed off to work. This kind of ruined my plans of going to the laundromat early before it got busy. 

I got to work at 7:30 and got everything done by 10:30. It was a no frills day, just the basics. The extras would have to wait for the next day. 

Next stop was the laundromat. I lucked out and when I got there I only saw one other person. It's possible there were more people with clothes in washers because while I was there 3 people came in, put their clothes in a washer and left.

Thankfully this place is not out of the way. It's between home and work. The worst part was that when I left the house to go to work, I put the laundry in the car but forgot to grab quarters and the laundry soap. Good thing I work in a grocery store that had both. 

It took $3 in quarters and 30 minutes and I was heading home. My dryer still works fine so I just needed to wash everything.

Just my two cents.

 Saturday, April, 27 wasn't such a good day. Oh it started out ok. The typical day off where I sleep in a little, slowly wake up with coffee and blogs. Then I got the ambition to get some housework done. I had done the bedroom and bathroom, thrown in a load of laundry and started working on mopping the kitchen, living room, dining room area. Part way through mopping I get a text message from work asking if I could come in and finish the bakery. The deli manager who works bakery on my days off has been sick and she went home. She's not one to call off so I knew it was for a good reason.

It only took me a half hour to finish up what she didn't get to so that wasn't bad at all. The trouble started when I got back home. I put the laundry in the dryer and started a load with towels and some rugs. Later I go back to check on it, lift the lid and the washer is full of water. The washer has washed it's last load.

Am I upset? Well sure, everything seems to be breaking down on me. However, this washer is over 30 years old and I would say it has served me well. I dread the thought of going to a laundromat but until I get the car taken care of a new washer will have to wait.

So my big question is, why do washers always kick the bucket when they are full of water? Why can't they go through the spin cycle and then die?

I went about scooping water out and found my two cents at the bottom of the washer

I won't be considering these lucky pennies.

Line doodles.

 I sat down once again with paper and markers and started drawing. I did a line across the page, and then another and another. When I was done drawing, I added some words.

I've also got two more sheets from work with the doodled tops. I'm a bit behind with the pictures. I didn't get last weeks or the current week yet.

Who knows, those doodles on the top picture may end up on one of my work papers one of these days.

A visit with my dad.

When I was on my way to my appointment with the audiologist last Monday I passed by the cemetery where my dad is buried. I had time so I stopped to visit.

My dad always had a green thumb and grew flowers and vegetables. It was fitting when I saw these growing in front of his headstone.  This picture is actually sideways but the blogger app on my phone won't upload a picture in portrait for some reason. I took a few extra steps to make sure the last picture didn't come to you sideways.

Then I snapped a quick picture of these two pieces that are next to the headstone.

The taller of the two I didn't realize when I took the picture that I cut off the top. That one is from the Knights of Columbus.

now hear this.

I had gotten a letter from OVR saying that the authorization had gone through for my hearing aids. Last Monday I had an appointment with the audiologist and got the new ones all set up.

This place I am going and the doctor I'm seeing are simply amazing. I can't say enough about how wonderful they are. Dr. Kelly really advocates for her patients and gets them what they need. I let her know how amazing I thought she was too.

When I first got there she took the loaner pair of hearing aids out of my ears and handed me the new ones. We went through the set up and she explained all the features and everything I needed to know. I handed her the case for the loaner hearing aids and then she asked if I just wanted to keep those in case of emergency. I was floored. She said it was no problem because they had gotten them free. Then I was going to return the remainder of the box of batteries she had given me and she told me to keep those too because I might need them. 

Let me just say that technology has come a long way since my first pair of hearing aids and that was only five years ago. These can actually detect when if I fall and they will send a text message to anyone I have sent an invite to if I don't respond withing a certain amount of time.  It can also translate for you. If you are talking to someone who is speaking another language, the hearing aids will translate for you. Not quite sure how that one works but I don't see myself needing it. 

Another cool feature is that it can track my activity. Here is a screenshot of the details it will give me.

They really are quite impressive. I go back in another 2 weeks and I think I may have to talk to her about some settings. I don't notice it so much with voices but I hear a bit of an echo on certain noises. It gets a bit annoying.

Finally across the street from their office I saw this cool mural painted on the side of a building.

Be quiet I'm trying to watch tv

That's what I thought when I first looked at this picture of Gibbs. He's looking off in the direction of the tv and definitely trying to ignore me. I can't recall what was on tv at the time but he sure looks like he's interested in the show.

There's a good chance that he was watching an old black and white rerun of Perry Mason.

Flower power

You may recall around Easter I had made eggs with everyone's name on them to use to decorate at work. 

One of the managers asked if I could do flowers. I was happy to oblige. There were a total of 16

She was thrilled with them and has them running across the front window of the store. She added stems to them and it looks like a garden.

Funny story. We have an employee named Bob. His last name is Dimon. The schedule has him listed as Damon and it's never been corrected. When I was making these flowers I made one for Damon. I don't know who he is but he's on the schedule so I figured he should have a flower too. In case you're wondering Bob also got a flower.

cakes

Happy May 1st. This year sure is moving right along.

Today I've got the two most recent cakes I've done at work. 

This one she told me to do whatever I wanted. I didn't get very creative. The customer was happy with it so that's all that matters

This one was easy peasy lemon squeezy. A border and writing and nothing else