Hello Atlanta, once again!

Today Mike and I  traveled to Atlanta, where Breanne and Danny and Belle and Zay were picking us up for a mini vacation.
The trip started out just fine....I actually ended up with an empty seat on a "overly filled" plane, according to the attendant. Score!! The guy in the aisle seat was as giddy as I was.
Mike sat in front of  me because we both wanted window seats. So be it.
All went well until the sleeping child behind me woke up. Half way thru the trip.
From then on, it was "let's see how many times I can kick the seat in front of me and oh, let me jam my foot in between the seat cushions so I keep nudging her in the behind!"
In case you're wondering, yes, I asked him to stop. twice.
The third time, I lifted myself up and turned towards him ( while his brother and grandmother were totally ignorant of anything happening around them) and said" Ok, that's enough, Now. No More."
He kinda shrunk down in his chair and looked at grandma. No help from her, she was oblivious. She was more interested in giving geography lessons. " Is that your cul de sac boys? I think I see your house! Can you see your Prius?"
I sit down and"boom"....another strike with the foot.
By now I am a nervous wreck just wanting off the damn plane. And mentally plotting his demise and where to get rid of the evidence.
We finally land and I could not get off that plane fast enough. Where I proceeded to wait in line for the restroom ( last place I would want to "rest") 17 women deep. Only to get a stall with no toilet paper.
Forced to ask the lady in the next stall for some. " I don't have any either" she says.
Wonderful.
Seat covers have more than one use, turns out.
As I exit said restroom, I noticed the boys waiting for their grandma. The one locked eyes with me and I gave him my best " if I could get you alone, you would be a goner" look. He looked away.
That's right kid. May your next flight find you sitting next to an extremely flatulent man.
I have my family to meet.....not another thought wasted on you.
They took us to a farmer's market that was called Dekalb Farmers market.
Dekalb Farmers Market was founded in 1977 as a compact urban produce market. The company operates a world market in a 140,000-square-foot facility in Decatur, Ga. Dekalb Farmers Market provides a variety of services, such as an in-house bakery, with more than 175 varieties of fresh baked breads, rolls, bagels, muffins, cakes, cookies and pastries; a floral department, with fresh and exotic flowers from Holland, Hawaii, Georgia, California and Florida;  Dekalb also features a meat shop, with beef, pork, chicken and seafood; deli, with sliced meats and cheeses; produce department, with fruits, vegetables, herbs, juices and specialty products; and a beer and wine shop.
Because they do not allow any photos of this place, I had to find them on the internet for you.

When you enter, it is bustling with hundreds of people all buying their produce, meats , seafoods and breads. We ate at the cafeteria they have where they sell home made dishes, salads and all around delicious food ,all organic. Mike tried the goat and loved it. Anyway....we finish our food and then walked all the way down to one end of the building to start exploring. Let me just put it this way...if they don't have it, it doesn't exist. I was fascinated by the spices.....check out the prices on these in the picture!

I start going thu them all and buying whatever I could think of that Mitch would want in his new kitchen. I got a big bag of bay leaves for a dollar. Whaat? I felt like I was robbing them.

The fruits and veggies were beautiful, the breads amazing and we didn't even make it to the meat and seafood section. It was time to go home. 

Since we have an almost 2 hour drive home...we needed to get going.

Time to go home and relax for a day before we head out for a beach vacation!

See you then!

The most Disgusting and Wonderful thing , ever!

Allow me to begin this journey with telling you that I have always wanted "baby feet" , like my husband, Mike has.

Seriously, he has feet of  a newborn. And it's ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I mean I am super jealous.

That being said, in my explorations of products to lighten  my happy little dark brown elbows ( a whole other subject), I discovered a product called, of all things..."Baby Foot".

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Ok, this could be interesting. 

 This "miracle" product claims to give you baby like feet within 7-10 days. Can this be?  After much research into this and reading a million reviews ( I NEED to be straight forward and honest with whatever I post, it was my responsibility to make sure I was not presenting something to you that you would curse me about later.)

I read about women with "hooves" and "cracks in heels the size of the grand canyon" and "feet that scare small children". I swear, I can't help but to look at women's feet now whenever I go anywhere. Ew. They ALL touted the wonders of this product. All! 

 I'm in.

 So I bought one. It cost me 20 dollars on amazon. Since I am a prime  member, it got to me in two days. 

Did I jump in and try this immediately?

Heck. No.

I will admit, I was afraid . Afraid that I was going to be the ONLY person in this world that this did not work for.  Because let's face it, if there is one person that something ridiculous would happen to, it would be me. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to be the only person Baby Foot could not help. 

So after about two weeks, I put on my big girl panties and finally did it.

Join me in my journey, would you?

Warning: This is not for the faint of heart. This is not for those who hate to look at other's feet. You have been warned. Turn back now.

So last Sunday, I got the box out and looked it over. Here is what the booties look like.

I washed my feet first ...because they suggested it . I thought to myself " who would put their dirty feet in these" anyway?  Ok.....I looked them over and then put then on. They come with a couple pieces of sticky tape to close the area around your ankle.

Now, when you do this, you should just be stationary. No moving around. They are very difficult to walk in, due to the plastic sliding around on your foot.

 Oh,what a shame. I have to remain still for one hour or more. 

So I left them on for an hour.( I have since read that you should leave them on for a little over an hour if you want faster results. Dang it. I obviously didn't read a million and ONE reviews.)

After the time was over, I took them off and washed my feet again. Put cute socks I bought just for the occasion on my feet because they suggest it. Maybe because all that skin comes off so fast? Cool.

Then waited in anticipation.

Remember, this was a Sunday.

Monday came = Nothing.

Tuesday came = Nothing.

Wednesday came = Nothing.

I will admit, I was beginning to feel like this was not going to work. Really? Why me?

 I need baby feet for the summer!!

Thursday came= oh. Oh ... what is this? My feet feel "rough".

 I feel the need to tell you I have heels that do  crack sometimes and that , even after a pedicure, I can still see the lines and small cracks and dryness in them. Makes me feel like I just threw money out the window, with the exception of the nail polish , of course.

my usual feet....see how dry and ick they look? Not attractive.

 I look at my feet and ( * insert glorious angels singing here*) lo and behold,  I saw some little bubbles of loose skin!!! YESSSS!!

must. peel. skin. off.

It wasn't anything amazing but I felt it was a start right?

Throughout the evening, my foot was morphing before my eyes. Brace yourselves, here come the icky pictures. I warned you.

I was so excited to see that something was happening and I was NOT going to be "THAT" girl who Baby Foot did not work for! I mean, A million women used this and for me to have that notoriety was just not working for me!

Of course, I log online to read more and scan other women s pictures ( holy crap) and discover,

 ( again, I was negligent in my research) that other women soaked their feet every day. I was not doing that. Maybe that is why it was taking so long? Duh, Colleen.

Now, let me tell you....during this time, my feet may look sore or tender but they absolutely were not! No tenderness at all. 

However, I should tell you that they warn you NOT to pull the dead skin away if it resists. It should just peel away like a suntan that you want to stay! Not pulling at the skin is a toughie. I wanted to. Man, did I want to.

Today is Saturday and I am still in the process of achieving baby feet! Look at today's pictures! See the new skin underneath all the  (ugh) dead skin? How in the world can I be so excited to see this and share this with you? (No, I am not being endorsed by Baby Foot But I should be!)

glorious new skin !

I see new skin!!! Hallelujah!! I am on my way to baby feet!! Hah! Take THAT, Mike Shelley!!

The reason why I decided to post this early is so that you can see that this product works.

 And in the chance that you would want pretty summer feet as well as I do, you could buy this  and discover your own horror/sweet story!

So now, I wait for all the fruit acid peel to do it's complete job and let the days take care of themselves. 

And resist the urge to whip off my shoes at the closest human being and say " Look at my feet! It works!!"

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

Here are my feet as of today....still peeling a little on the top but all in all, almost done! No more cracks in the heels and down the sides of my foot anymore!! Look how new it all looks!! What are YOU waiting for???

look how smooth and new it all looks!!!

no cracks, just old age.....hahahhaa

Summer Dessert

Yes, Summer is finally here! And with this, comes to mind a dessert that I have had for about 30 years. I make this every summer. Sometimes, I mix it up and experiment with different fruits ( because I am a rebel like that) and sometimes I stick with the basics.

This is my Strawberry Angel food Heaven Dessert.
To make things as simple and easy as possible, I am going to take the convenience route.

 Go buy a store bought Angel Food cake.

No worries that it will affect the overall taste. It will not. So don't go trying to make your own home made cake...trust me, it makes no difference. Tear this cake up into bite size pieces.  Keep in mind you want some big chunks in there as well. Set aside.

 Now take a box of strawberry jello and make it according to the quick set instructions:

This is for a 3 oz box

Stir 3/4 cup boiling water into gelatin in bowl at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Mix 1/2 cup cold water and ice cubes to make 1 1/4 cups. Add to gelatin, stir until slightly thickened. Remove remaining ice. refrigerate 30 minutes for soft set or 1 - 1 1/2 hours until firm. 
When your jello is the consistency of egg yolks ( or runny snot, take your pick) then add either fresh or frozen strawberries to the mixture.

The next step is to prepare your whipping cream. Originally, this called for one container of Cool Whip but because I prefer REAL whipping cream, that is what I use instead. You can use Cool whip, I will not judge. ( or will I?)

Walk this jello over to your bowl of chunked up angel food cake. ( I might have made that word up)

Slowly fold your runny jello and berries into the bowl of cake. Add a dollop of whipped cream. Add more Jello. More  whip cream.
You want to gently fold it all together, not manhandle it. Manhandling it is for later.
 Now, you  pour all of this into a tube cake pan or just pour it into a bowl. I use both. Depends on who I am trying to impress.  This picture is of the mix poured into the cake tube.

If you use a large bowl, make it a pretty one, so at least you get presentation points.
Then you simply scoop out the servings you want.
This dessert tastes like a mixture of shortcake and angel food cake. For obvious reasons.
As I said before...I experiment.
Sometimes it's strawberries, sometimes it's
raspberries, or peaches.
Use whatever you like. Only, if you use Raspberries, use Raspberry Jello. Duh.
 Alright, there you have it! A great fourth of July recipe to bring or , to just make and hoard.
I repeat. I will not judge.
You're welcome.

It's a beautiful hot almost summer day and I have to be productive.
I have to.
I could get in the pool but then I would be staring at what I should be doing and then have to get out.
So I avoid the pool and tackle the......plastic adirondack chairs.
You know the type....you buy them in a pinch and then you regret the color or the chair itself and it ends up on the side of the yard never to be used again.
Well. No longer.
Today we are doing something about it.

See? I told you do. Plain. Boring. Blah.
So today I am going to show you what I did to /for them.
I began by painting with a can of outdoor spray paint. Good on plastics. I decided to make it two tones to match my new umbrella I am in love with. Yep. I said it.

I sprayed several of the slats an aqua color. Then I let that dry. In this heat and weather, that equated to about 3 minutes. So I gave it a good ten, just to be sure. That, and I started to overheat and had to get some ice tea.

Making sure the paint was on there good , I used painters tape to lay over the aqua color.So that when I added the next color, it would not overlap.
Then I used a Royal Blue spray paint that I got at Hobby Lobby for an amazing price of 4.19 a can, on sale. Seriously a great price.

I gave the chair three coats of the Royal blue. Now, I know this make look a little streaky but for those of you who KNOW me, it is not.It's just the glare from the sun.
So I will let this set for a day and then put it next to my happy new umbrella.
Did I mention I love that thing?
In case you missed it, this is that bad boy.

So now you know why I choose the colors for the chairs that I did.
Chairs, Plural. I did two. In this heat. '
I am exhausted. I need more sweet tea.
What do YOU want to paint today?

"Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...."

Ahh, it's Christmas time. And this is the way my home would look if I had my way. Maybe a few more ornaments on the tree, but that's it.
Unfortunately, I have been sick since Thanksgiving and this is what my tree looks like at the present. Only not as pretty.

I took my wonderful 400 dollar tree out of the box and discovered there was water damage to the lights at the storage unit. Out of 2000 lights, only about 100 of them worked. This was a dilemma.
I did not want to go out and purchase another tree when mine was perfectly fine! No! Don't want to spend 300 bucks on one half off!
I know!!!
I will cut off the lights and then buy new lights! yes?
No. Said my son Mitch. "waaaay too much work Mom".
" Oh come on Mitch, it's worth it!"
Fast forward FOUR hours later when my back was on fire from searching and cutting and separating and extracting lights and wiring. All the while , I kept thinking Mike was going to be so happy I was being thrifty and saving us some money!
He came home from work and saw me with the carcass of a tree plopped onto the dinning room table and me performing intricate surgery on the thing. I explained my dilemma and my decision to be frugal.
" I would have bought a new tree" he says.
Seriously?
Well, you know what? It took me four hours but I was glad I did it.
I went to Big Lots and found some C-9 bulbs like we used to have when I was a kid ( I love anything vintage!)  but, SCORE! They were LED's!!!! In the cart they went!!!
So now I have to put the lights on the tree.
 Even tho my Doctor told me today to "STAY DOWN AND REST"
Hahhahahhha, that's funny Dr.
Like that's gonna happen. This is Christmas time and I have things to DO!!!
Stay tuned for the final product.

Come fly with me.....

Yes, it is THAT time of year.

When flights are overbooked and passengers are irate and cranky and an all around  embarrassment to human kind. 

I made my travels plans a couple of months ago....booked it and choose my seats. 

I guess that doesn't matter to some airlines. On my return flight home yesterday, I discovered they moved me from my chosen window seat to a MIDDLE seat.

Let me repeat that. A MIDDLE SEAT.

My girls don't DO middle seats.

So I approach the travel desk to discuss exactly this.

To which I got " we're sorry, we are overbooked and cannot make any adjustments."

"Why did my seat get reassigned anyway , when I had already checked in online?"

" we're sorry, we are overbooked and cannot make any adjustments"

Did I want to miss this flight and wait for a certain flight out at 9:55 pm with a 400 dollar voucher?

Did I want to hang out in the Atlanta airport for 8 more hours? Uh, no. I just want to go home in a window seat.

Not gonna happen.

Wonderful. Now my mindset is panicky. I had already taken a Xanax ( those of you who know I hate to travel and fly alone KNOW this is necessary) and was starting to feel as though it wasn't going to be effective.

Make the best of it Colleen. Maybe your seatmates will make up for it.

One word. 

Nope.

I boarded and got all situated. Waited in the window seat, on the edge of it. Not buckled in or anything or even reclining. Just patiently waiting for the person to get there so I could buckle in my own seat. And make the best of it.

When I see this older women with a scowl on her face coming down the aisle. She locks eyes with me and then immediately turns around and calls for an attendant, 

?????

They ask me what seat I have. I tell them 29B and that I am waiting before I buckle in to let the window seat person thru, when they get here. 

"it's MY seat and YOU'RE in it!"

Well exccccuuuuuse me for living.  This is gonna be fun, I can just tell.

She barrels thru and seats herself. The other woman and I buckle ourselves in and settle down.

No words are exchanged. 

The plane departs. Ms. Window seat immediately takes out her laptop to watch a movie. Her window cover is broken.

What a shame.

Can you feel my sympathy for her? No? good. Because there was none.

She proceeds to jam her coat into the window and it proceeds to fall off about 15 times. At that point, I decide to hand her a menu card and tell her that maybe is she slides this into the window trim, it may stay there and block the light.

" I don't need your help, I am doing fine"

Okaaaay then.

Fast forward to when the attendants come down the aisle to ask if we would like something to drink. She gets to our row. Ms Aisle seat responds and so do I . Nothing from Ms. Window seat. The attendant asks again.

Nothing.

So I quietly ask her if she would like something to drink.

When will I learn?

" yes, I want two vodkas and tonic" to the attendant and to me she says: " DO NOT KEEP BOTHERING ME"

Excuse me? When did I "KEEP" bothering you? Whaaaa?

I looked at her and bust out laughing. 

Mind you, MANY other responses came to mind. Many! But I decided not to be like her and just laughed.

At that point, I could have cared less if her window broke open and sucked her straight out.

I would have welcomed it.

This is the point where I decided t go ahead and sleep. And I don't care if I snore. Good. I hope I do. 

Our flight finally landed and she immediately popped up as if to escape.

No Ma'am, not gonna happen. If she tried to cross over me to get out before me, I am pretty sure at this time world war three would have erupted. You don't get to treat me like crap when I do something nice for you. Nope.

I stayed put. Right up to the very moment when Ms Aisle seat got up and I waited until she got  all her belongings together before I stood. up. Ms Window seat was pissed. Did I care?

Hhahhahahhahhahaha..uh no.

I took my sweet time standing up and then retrieving my carry on. Straightened my outfit, fluffed my hair and then proceeded to walk down the aisle. She was RIGHT UP against me. I could practically hear her breathing.

So I walked slow.

Right up to the point where she could overtake me and pass me when we got to the terminal.

Goodbye Ms window seat.

Have a lovely day.

Hey, at that point, all I cared about was that I didn't become so overcome with anxiety from crossing my arms together the whole 5

hours in flight and forming one giant boob. Yeah, imagine how good THAT feels.

She escaped scott free if you ask me.

Life is what happens when you make plans.....

"Life is what happens when you make plans"~ a quote from John Lennon, I believe.
Regardless, this much I know is true,
I have been looking forward to this Thanksgiving/Belle's first birthday trip since August.
And what happens the second day I am here?
I get sick.
Coughing, every 2-3 minutes sick. I have never really gotten a cold, it always goes past Go and straight to bronchitis. Which I haven't had for 3 years now. Guess the chain had to break sometime.
And when I get sick, I see images I can't even begin to describe to you. Aka~ hallucinations. I KNOW I am sick when I see these things. And for the last two nights, I have been inundated with them. But the strangest part is not the hallucinations but my brains ability to send me a message through them.
Last night, I kept seeing an image ( I could not begin to describe it to you in a way that would not make you look at me funny) that my brain was able to unravel and I got up in the middle of the night and put a pain patch on my hip, that was hurting. As soon as the pain went away, I was able to sleep a little. Which was huge for me, since I have been coughing non stop for about every 3 minutes. I know, that makes so sense,
But apparently, my brain knew what I needed even if I couldn't figure it  out myself.

I am beginning to think that booking family photos is a curse. When we booked them in July, we all got food poisoning. We booked them again for tomorrow and THIS happens to me. Hmmm, family photos seem to be the common denominator.
So today is Thanksgiving and I missed good company and even better food all prepared by my daughter, Breanne.
I barely have an appetite and picked at a few things that Michael brought me. But I am sitting upright and hopefully that is a sign?
The bad thing is Breanne is coughing now and it is looking like our black friday shopping will not happen.
The rest of the world is already in full bore shopping out there and it would appear we will not be joining them.
Ah, life is what happens when you make plans.......