25 Bucks!

Shortly after Mother's Day we headed up the road a few miles to one of my favorite stores in the area, Highway 13 Antiques. I have found all sorts of goodies at Highway 13 Antiques: Candlewick glasses, embroidered pillowcases, cast iron, Corelle dishes, and so much more. On this particular day the boys found goodies for their blacksmithing endeavors and I found a CHINA CABINET!
I wasn't looking for furniture in particular. But I did need to find something for my teacups, they were stacked up on the roll top desk! I had looked at a wall mounted curio-type-shelf for $25 on previous visits, but didn't want to commit. On this particular day I found a lovely hutch of sorts, for $225. A rich maple with a honeyed finish tempted me; the "no-lay-away" sign depressed me. But one booth over I found another hutch. This one looked like some sort of office piece with blood or barbeque sauce all over the front of it. Honestly, it was beat to hell. (I wish I had taken a before picture...) The price was marked down to $25! Could that be right? I took the ticket to the cashier to ask if it was correct and to inquire if the seller of the maple cabinet would do a lay-away.

Long story short, the ugly, blood/barbeque stained cabinet was indeed $25. The owner of the maple cabinet couldn't be raised to answer my question so I left my number and bought the $25 cabinet. To my pleasure I discovered that the glass doors were intact and safely stored between cardboard. We were in Grace, the Kia, so we headed back home. Orion and I returned with Maggie, the truck, loaded the cabinet, headed home, and just about the time I finished the second cleaning (about an hour after I got home), the shop called and said "yes" to the lay-away. I was so tickled with my cabinet that I passed! Besides, the storage capacity of the blood/barbeque stained cabinet was twice that of the $225 maple piece.

So I cleaned and I scrubbed and I gave it the once over, twice over, and thrice over with Murphy's Oil Soap. The previous owners left a few wedding or anniversary napkins. While the hutch dried, I scrubbed the glass doors. A few passes of Old English Lemon Oil and I was looking at a nice piece of furniture.

It was so nice I decided to display my china, originally my mom's china from the early '60s, Midnight Rose! Take a look below. It's gorgeous!

Lash Blast

My beauty regimen usually consists of washing my face in the shower and slapping on some moisturizer with sunscreen (when I remember). If I happen to put on make-up it usually consists of mascara and tinted lip gloss. I seriously resist putting on foundation or powders. But I digress. Regardless of how much make-up I plan to wear or what effort I am willing to give, I always try to slap on mascara. The 30 seconds it takes for each eye is well worth highlighting my unusually colored eyes. (They're hazel, ma. Not brown. And almost green, if you make me cry. And nearly topaz if I am up to no good.)

Well, last Friday I made another trip to the city to visit Costco. This time I brought along a friend and we had a marvelous time. However, I think we both worked up a sweat shopping! Well, I had a coupon for $3 off Lash Blast mascara by Cover Girl. Being that I have been a Maybelline Full N' Soft (about $4.50 to $7.00 a tube) customer and a Neutrogena Weightless Volume (roughly $6.00 a tube) customer for decades I wasn't quite ready to buy a three-pack of mascara that I had never tried. Unless the price was well worth it. It was. The Costco price was $13.99 for 3 tubes of Lash Blast mascara. With the coupon it was just about $3.66 a tube. What a deal!

I got it home and there it sat. For about four days. Then I tried it yesterday and again today. Holy smokes! These are eyelashes worth batting!

I love how the Maybelline mascara adds volume, definition, and color. The Neutrogena mascara does the same, but in a more subtle, nearly natural kind of way. The Cover Girl Lash Blast does all that and more. I am impressed! Think fake eyelashes without faking them! I love this new mascara! My only complaint would be the shape of the tube- ultimately the feel of holding the brush. The barrel so fat, it's kind of hard to hold on to.

I'm not divorcing myself from Maybelline or Neutrogena products. I love them. In fact, Maybelline Full N' Soft mascara just received a very positive review in Real Simple last month. And on the off chance that I use a powder foundation, I have been using Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Powder Foundation and I love it. Oh, and this summer I have been using Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Moisturizer (SPF 45). I'll let you know what I think.

Fabulous Friday

Friday was a wonderful day! It was the first "dry" day we had in nearly a week. Up early Orion made his way to the bus and we made our way to sign another year's lease on the Big House. We've come to view the river in the basement more as a water feature than an obstacle or nuisance. I made it to campus long enough visit with a student and then we were off to Overland Park! We rarely make it to the city, which is a shame- there are so many fun things to do there! And despite our limited visits, we've decided we really like the Overland Park area a great deal! We first explored the area when we took Orion to Children's Mercy South and were looking for Asian markets. We have since expanded our trips to include book stores and now the Overland Park, Costco!

Our first stop Friday was the Happy Dragon on W 103rd Street! This small Chinese restaurant was suggested by one of John's Asian work-study students in the computer lab. There was a line out the door to get a table! The buffet was simple, but wonderful! My favorite was Butter Shrimp! How can you go wrong with two of my favorite things? Yum!

From there we made our way to Half-Price Books on Metcalf! I love that store! (Thank you Sal for introducing me to HPB!). The store sells new and used books! I was so excited to find three of the Foxfire books for my collection! I also found a couple of lovely children's books and some Hello Kitty thank you notes. Their stationery prices are wonderful!

Then we stopped at Ambica Foods, an Indian Market, for spices, tea, and samosas! But we were still so full from lunch that the samosa were placed in the cooler for another time! Next was the Oriental Supermarket, a Korean market, where we picked up 25 pounds of jasmine rice, super-thin, sliced rib-eye for bulgogi (Thank you Tree and P.D. for introducing me to that wonderful Korean dish!), and the largest bag of Shrimp Crackers (Orion loves these shrimp flavored chips!) I've ever seen! Around the corner was the Indian Emporium where we bought 15 pounds of Basmati rice, more spices, flat breads, and other tasty treats! This store has a clothing section that I often walk through and drool over. They do not have my size, but they do have some lovely saris and salwar kameez outfits. I would have to say my favorite part of these stores, however, is the smell! Walk into any of them and your nose is greeted by the warm smells of cumin, clove, coriander, fenugreek and more! Yum!

Last on the list was Costco! I was already getting pretty tired and knew I might have to hit the 'hard stuff' (Read: Coke with caffeine and sugar) to make it through the warehouse! Last spring my friend, Ruth, purchased me a Coscto card for a belated Christmas present! Last summer I made three trips to Costco to purchase staples for the pantry and freezer! I didn't have to buy toilet paper until spring this past year! While I hadn't planned to visit Costco till summer school started, I had several coupons for items that we use on a daily basis! We really raked it in! We spent a lot. But we saved $89 with our coupons! And we didn't buy anything we don't regularly use! Some items to come home with us included: a case of canned corn, a case of green beans, a case of black olives, toilet paper (of course!), 96 pounds of Iam's dog food (I had $10 off coupon, limit two- so that was $20 of savings!), 6 months of Claritin (another coupon opportunity, and I'm wishing I had purchased 12 months!), batteries, bagels, brooms, and other assorted things. We were both exhausted when we walked by the cat litter (40 pound bags of Fresh Step) and John shook his head, "no room in the Kia." So we headed to the checkout counter! After loading the car and proving, once again, that the Kia was bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, I returned for two bags of Fresh Step! It is $7 for an 18 pound bag at Wal-Mart and $10 for a 40 pound bag at Costco! There's no hard math involved!

It took us about an hour to return home and another hour to unload the car and put everything away! The best thing is that I received another book of coupons for Costco for later this month BEFORE this trip so I knew not to purchase paper towels, Zip Loc bags, and other items on the original list till our next visit when I can use the coupons! Hooray for Costco! And thank you, Ruthie (again), for my first year's membership and turning me on to Costco!