Category: Home life

A Hot Minute

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home life, UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted anything. I’ve been working on a big project that hopefully will be taking shape in June. As soon as everything is a little more finalized I’ll post it on here. But, in the meantime, this is what we’ve been up to.

Hannah and I went to the tattoo expo that happens every year here. It’s held at the Maude Cobb convention center. The grounds are just beautiful so we took a little walk while we were waiting on Gavin to arrive.

When we walked in Hannah found her tattoo artist who she was meeting there to go over the tattoo she was going to be getting the following week. I was just strolling around and met an artist from San Antonio. We started chatting and he asked if I had any tattoos. I said no, but there is one I want to get. I showed it to him and he said, sit down and let’s do it. There were about 15 rows of booths and we had just walked in so I said, let me think about it. We walked the whole place and I decided, why not get it. I loved his work and he wasn’t booked yet. We went back and I told him, let’s do it and unfortunately he was book for a big piece that was going to take the rest of the time that day. He told me I could ask the guy if I could go before him as the guy was walking up. I said hello and he did not seem at all friendly so I told the artist to go ahead with that guy. Doughboy, that’s what he goes by, pulled me in and told me that the group he was with were going to be doing tattoos in their hotel rooms that night and he would give me $40 off if I wanted to do that. I got his card and told him I’d let him know.

Here’s a little back story about weird things I’ve almost gotten myself into. When Donny and I were working for Harley Davidson, I had a customer and his girlfriend start chatting with me. They told me that they had a baby tiger in their hotel room. I was intrigued so they gave me their room number and told me to come by after work. Donny immediately said, no way, after I told him about it. Years later we are watching the Tiger King documentary and the Tiger King’s friend that took over the zoo was the guy who had the baby tiger.

Then there was the time that I was watching a ghost hunter show and they featured guest was a group out of Dallas. Well, I lived in Arlington at the time, so I found them, messaged them and asked if I could go on one of the hunts with them. They sent me over the next case they were doing in Mineral Wells. Donny read it and said, knowing you, you will bring back some sort of spirit. So I didn’t do that one. I really need to write about the haunted house we lived in that actually made Donny a believer.

I was going to go to the hotel to get the tattoo, but the expo ended at 11 that night and I fell asleep. One day, maybe.

We now have a part time dog because of this.

I’ve posted about Bingo before. She looks like a coyote and can clean their fence like a horse. We don’t want her to get picked up so when her owners aren’t home and she gets out she just comes inside our house. We’ve even had a slumber party with her.

She is so well behaved and completely house broken. Having her visit us also relieves some of the stress her owners have about her getting out.

Donny and I are forever working on the garden. We hit up an estate sale and picked up this huge galvanized washtub and metal wall hanging.

We decided to plant wildflower seeds in the tub.

We’ve got little sprouts popping up. I can’t wait to see if they all bloom.

My neighbor down the street brought me some gardenia clippings to propagate. I hope I get some roots on them because I love gardenias. The house I built in Florida had gardenias all down the side and went there was a breeze the scent was intoxicating.

Guess what opened right by our house?

Now we don’t have to drive clear across town to get their A2 milk which if you haven’t tried is so good.

I went hunting at the thrift store right by our house to see if we could find her a CD case. Being Memorial Day, they had a fill a bag for $5 clothing. She found some cute tops and I came home with these.

And besides it raining for the last 4 days, that is about all going on here. Oh, except the snack I have been waiting for since they told me it was coming out turns out to be one of the very best flavors.

I forgot to add one of my favorite outfits. I LOVE these pants that I got in Galveston. They are so comfortable. I wish someone around here, besides Earthbound sold them 😉

Dang It

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When we were in Galveston I noticed that my phone case was coming apart. The rubber around the edge had a rip in it. Because I will use items until I cannot use them anymore, I just put stickers over the tear. That really didn’t work because then kept coming off.

Donny, who also has the same case as I do, was also having the same issue with his case. I finally broke down and ordered us two new ones. His was off Amazon and mine was from Walmart.com. I was so excited when it came in and couldn’t wait to put it on my phone.

It didn’t fit. I don’t know what happened. I never return anything, but I decided I did want to return this case. It was a little over 14 dollars and I didn’t just want to throw that money away. When I got on their website to return it, I got a message that my refund had been issued and to just keep the product. I immediately went on Amazon and ordered the same phone case Donny got just in Teal. I don’t know I’m going to do with the too small case, but if anyone has a moto G slim I’ll gladly give it to you.

And yes, today is Mother’s Day. Donny was convinced that I needed a flame thrower for the dewberry vines. This was not a joke. he was serious and mentioned it at least 5 times. Okay, I can barely use a weed whacker without taking off part of the house. I’m pretty sure me using a flame thrower is a bit more dangerous and I could possibly burn down the block. I did not get that. I don’t need or want anything. I am working on a project that is going to be slightly expensive so my saving money right now is important. Plus, he got breakfast this morning, cleaned the kitchen and has been cooking with me. Baby, that’s all I need.

This is what it looked like when we got up around 7.

We were expecting a big storm. An hour later this is the sky.

I’m keeping a close eye on Mr. Whiskers. He is the head honcho of the feral cat colony. He got into a fight. A bad fight. We are thinking it was with this rottweiler that has been roaming around. I tried putting our cat wound spray on it. I got on spray out before he ran. He came back for lunch and I was able to get a glob of neosporin on the main gash on his face before he took off. I was thinking I could try to get him to the vet tomorrow, but I cannot even get my domesticated docile cat in the carrier so I’m not sure how I would get a feral Tom cat in one without him going berserk on me. I’m still going to call them and see if they can give me any pointers how to treat it at home.

It looks a lot better in this picture taken today than it did yesterday. His whole head is tore up. Poor guy.

One of our sunflowers opened up.

I’ve never planted this type with the orange around it, but I really like it. The lavender is doing well also.

Now I’m going to go back to watching movies and relaxing. I’m going to take full advantage of this Mother’s Day.

Bathroom Reset + OOTD

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Last night as I was taking a shower I noticed that we are getting the dots of mildew again. It just happens because of the steam from showers and the fact that the fiberglass shower doesn’t go all the way up to the ceiling. We just have the plaster. When I went to get my moisturizer I also annoyed by just how messy the cabinet has gotten. My plan today was to take care of the bathroom and that’s just what I did.

Here’s a little before of the cabinet.

It was a nightmare trying to find anything. It didn’t take that long to sort, throw away and wipe it all down.

Here are a few of our mildew dots.

I keep touch up paint at the ready for scenarios just like this. I bought a long handled paint brush for this particular project because I actually prefer the shorter handled ones. While I’m doing my balancing act the longer handle makes it so much easier.

I love these touch up cups because they have a ball in them that makes mixing the paint so much easier.

It’s amazing what a little paint can do.

Our wall baskets have been bugging me for a while now because they weren’t spaced evenly. I rehung them, used a little nail hole putty and I’m very happy with the results.

At Avalon Faire a few years ago I bought Donny a ceramic mug that had a shaving soap disc in it. He used it for a while and then it just sat there. I threw away what was left of the soap and washed out the mug because it will make a perfect coffee cup.

My new resolution is to actually get dressed everyday in something that doesn’t make me look like I live in a tent. I had gotten into a bad habit of throwing on running shorts and a t-shirt just about every day. I feel better when I get dressed in actual “I can be seen in this and not feel embarrassed” outfits. I have decided to document what I wear. Mainly because sometimes I just forget what I have worn.

Anyway, today I wore A.N.A. pants, a Chicos shirt and my silver Birkenstocks. The weather was perfect for the light chambray shirt and I love comfy pants.

Jackson’s room has the only mirror that works for this.

Hannah and I went grocery shopping today. She needed some sunscreen so we hit up Drug Emporium first. They were have a big makeup clearance. I found the perfect shade of lipstick for $1.99. It’s Loreal nude intense in the color Nu Arttistique. I normally only wear lip gloss, but I really like this color and I couldn’t beat the price.

I took a chance on a new snack and I’m so glad I did. The rice chips are so addicting. I will definitely be back to purchase more. I also wanted to try this new soda. I had the watermelon one and it’s only slightly sweet. It’s really good.

And I just have to document the “wasps nest” that Donny made to keep the wasps from building their nests in the corner where they always seem to build them. We used to have a lantern type one but it blew away in a bad wind storm and we never found it. This weird one seems to actually be working.

Also, for any short nailed girlies out there, I found this at the Army Navy Store and it is wonderful. I used to have a plastic fork in my nightstand, but this baby is telescopic and wonderful.

Laaaaazy Day

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Yesterday we woke up to a cool front that had moved in overnight. Not only was the temperature amazing, but there was a steady rain coming down. Donny ran Jackson to Kilgore and then headed to Gilmer to pick up one of his salespeople whose car had not wanted to start. I took this opportunity to climb back under the covers, watch a little TV and then fall into a wonderful nap. I woke up just as Donny came in from doing some work in the chicken coop. I had a not so great dream about being in this weird hotel room with my mom, dad and other people who I can’t remember. It was nearing checkout time and no one would help me clean up and pack our things. I had brought my vacuum cleaner and when I went into the hallway to empty I ran into Dwight Shrute from the office and he came in and helped me clean up. I think that comes from watching too much of The Office late at night. Anyway, it put me in a grumpy mood.

To get out of my funk, I turned on Practical Magic, which completely turned it around. It was leaving my streaming service soon and I wanted to watch it one last time before it did. I honestly cannot wait for the second one to come out. Unlike The Devil Wears Prada sequel, which looks horrible, I’m excited for this one. I hope it doesn’t disappoint as most sequels do. Except for Aliens, that one was better than the first one in my opinion.

Donny came in to lay down with me and we watch The Gorge with Anya Taylor Joy and Miles Teller. I had already seen it months ago, but Donny hadn’t and it’s so good. It’s on Apple tv if anyone cares to check it out. We napped some again after the movie. This was our view most of the day.

And, of course, Monkey had to be right in the middle of everything.

We’d only been snacking all day and were getting hungry. Gavin and Hannah had gone to get sushi at Evergreen and I was on a cooking strike after having made a huge pizza that only two people ate and the rest was giving to the chickens. I made Donny decide where to go get food and he made a very good choice.

Jucys tacos are so good and hit the spot. Even Jackson and Olivia approved. Of course I ate mine in bed because it was bed rot day in my book.

Ever since we got back from Galveston I have been wanting to recreate the creamcicle margarita I had at The Spot. We had picked up the ingredients days ago. It’s not exactly it, but boy was it tasty. I just used a 2 oz of tequila, some pineapple juice, a squirt of cream of coconut and two squirts of lime.

It’s more of a tequila Pina colada, but it works.

I think everyone deserves a bed rot day. I’ve been going full speed since I started feeling better. Both Donny and I needed a day to recharge our batteries. I used to feel guilty about taking a day to do absolutely nothing, but I realized I have nothing to feel guilty about. We both work hard and just need a day’s break. Especially on a cool rainy day because there’s no better nap than on days like that.

Cats just know how to do it right.

And in garden news, our zinnias are blooming!

Change Of Plans

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For over a month we had an Airbnb booked for a two night trip to Granbury and Glen Rose. We also already had our tickets for Fossil Rim, the drive through safari. We were looking forward to staying on the lake, kayaking and doing some antique shopping. Just a nice little getaway in the middle of Donny’s vacation time.

We kept our eyes on the weather as the dates approached. It was not looking good at all. Stormy nasty weather was predicted on all 3 of the weather sites I use. Luckily, the Airbnb allowed us to cancel with a full refund. My daughter, who lives in the DFW area, can use our Fossil Rim tickets for her family. So that worked out well.

Our problem was where do we go. Every place that sounded fun was getting the same bad weather. Then I thought of a destination that I hadn’t been to in years, Galveston. Starting from scratch with the Airbnb s is daunting because I have to go through every minute description and read ALL of the reviews. I had decided that we needed an extra day because the drive was double of what the original trip was going to be and there is so much more to do in Galveston.

I found many, narrowed them down and went to Donny to have him look at them. Monday through Thursday is what I had added to my wishlist. I was so relieved to have that out of the way until Donny let me know that he had changed his vacation days to Tuesday through Saturday. This meant that my original list of airbnbs would not be accurate due to the different dates.

Two hours later I had whittled my list of 29 down to 5. Donny and I went through them and he and I both picked the same one.

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It’s so cute, cozy and right by the beach. It will fit our needs perfectly.

We leave tomorrow and I’ve been racing around trying to get everything off my list accomplished.

Is anyone else a list maker? I think I’m just a type A trip planner. I feel like it makes it so much easier once we get there to know we have everything that we need. I also make a packing list that I take with me so that I don’t forget anything.

And with all of my planning, Donny will just throw some clothes in a backpack and he’ll be done.

I honestly cannot wait to get away even if it’s only for a few days. Kids are in charge of the house. Let’s pray that my garden and chickens survive.

Speaking of bird, we have had martins build there nest in the soffet aria of our house since we have lived here. Every year a baby will fall out of the hole. Martins only have 1-2 babies and last year they only had one. It fell out of the hole twice and we put it back in. The parents scream at us until we come out and find it. It didn’t make it and the parents mourned that baby. I can’t have that happen again so I made a baby bird catcher.

No baby bird is going to die on my watch again.

Party?

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Tomorrow Hannah turns 20. She came down with a horrible cold a couple of days ago, so she isn’t sure she is going to be up for her get together. She wanted to sit out by the fire pit, play corn hole and board games with her core group of friends. The way she feels right now would not be fun for her at all. But, things could change in 24 hours so that meant that I had to get the yard ready just in case.

While I was mowing I noticed that the mulch was piled up over my cucumber plants in the front bed. I thought Donny might have done it when he was watering. Nope, it was the cats. I dug them out, measured the length and width, and we headed to Dollar Tree to get some kind of barrier. I had seen some in Kilgore that I thought would work. Our Dollar Tree hardly ever has anything because it sells out so fast.

They had 11 left. I didn’t know if it would be enough. Donny said it would, plus they were all tangled up so I just scooped them all up.

He was right, it was exactly the right number that I needed. I didn’t even notice when I bought them that they have the same curly scroll that the big one has.

While I was waiting for Donny to get ready to go to work I decided to paint the sun on the front of the house gold. It was bronze and teal. I just didn’t like the way it looked. I think this is much better. I am planning on painting the black cord white.

While I was mowing the back I found this hot wheels bread truck from 2014. It’s missing a wheel and was full of dirt, but it’s so cute.

We have a pretty big backyard, but 2/3 of it is wonderful but that other 1/3 is so lumpy. I have no idea why. It makes it so hard to mow that side. Luckily the good side is the side where you walk in.

We are doing a bulk trash pick up because there was a huge pile of branches that had been sitting by the gate (you can see the big dead spot) for over a year. Not only are those on the curb, but the blue chair and some other trash we have will soon be added to the pile.

The fire pit needed some help so I used the hoe to get rid of the weeds. We have had a 50 pound bag of sand just sitting by the patio. It wasn’t going to get used. We got it for the chickens put its not grainy enough. It works great for around the fire pit.

The weather was so beautiful today that I just didn’t want to go inside. My cat O’malley is the chicken protector so we laid on the grass and just chilled with the chickens. I did try that thing where you fall to the ground and play dead to see what the animals will do. The only chicken that had any interest was Penelope, one of our oldest. All she did was cautiously walk up and peck my belly button.

I spend so much time in the front yard and hardly any time in the back. I think that’s going to change because in the afternoon there is so much shade from the trees it makes it so nice to be out there.

And just because, I made a lamp out of my solar lights. I didn’t know what to do with them once I hung up the electric ones. I think it gives off a nice little glow.

P.S.

Even if she is feeling better the party might not be here. Gavin is house sitting for his neighbor while they are on a cruise. They gave him permission to have a pool party which Hannah is more than agreeable to use for her birthday. I guess we will just wait and see.

This ‘n That

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First I want to start by saying we had a scare last night. Hannah and I went to workout and got home about midnight. I was checking on everything when I heard the neighborhood dogs barking like crazy. I looked up and there were two huge coyotes just walking down the middle of our street. If the dogs hadn’t alerted me I wouldn’t have even known they were there because they were ninja quiet. I start yelling at them to go away because our two male cats were outside. Donny heard me and came out to see what in the world was going on at that late hour. We hopped in the car and started chasing them around the neighborhood to get them to leave. They did not want to leave and kept circling back to our street. We had the windows down yelling at them and honking. They finally left but I’m sure they will be back. We have a feral cat colony across the street and it breaks my heart when there is a missing cat.

Fridays are like every normal person’s Sunday for us. It’s like the end of the weekend because Donny has Thursdays and Fridays off. Since we did all of our running around yesterday today was home day. While he was cleaning out and fortifying the chicken coop (we had a possum sneak in the other night in the wee hours) I was painting one of the old tires that we had in the backyard. Donny had used it for planning potatoes a few seasons ago and I wanted to spruce it up and use it for cucumbers.

My cucumbers are almost ready to be planted. I don’t know how well they will do in the front because it is just so dang shady. I’m going to plant some in the full sun and some in the shad and see how it goes.

That’s some of my tomato plants in the round containers next to the cucumbers.

I may have overdone it with the tomatoes, but who knows if they’ll all live.

I have 3 that I cheated and bought at home Depot. They are still living so that’s a plus.

My watermelon is finally sprouting. Those are my babies because I love watermelon and buy so many during the summer. I would just love to be able to pick them from my garden.

So far everything is going well. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

As soon as the compost is ready I’ll be spreading that all over. For some reason Making compost has always intimidated me. We made it all the time at our house in Bryan. I have no idea why I felt this way. I decided that if I don’t do it right, that’s okay, but so far it’s been really easy. I also found that using the weed weasel thing to mix it up is so much better than the hoe and stick I was using.

Sorry about all of the garden talk it’s just that I am trying to record everything so I’ll have the records for next time and it’s also what took up the majority of our day today.

But, that’s not the only thing. Hannah and I went to Crunch to workout. I absolutely love this gym. No one cares what you wear. Everyone is so nice and helpful. We have started doing the circuit workout and then cardio. Tonight we found the holy grail of working out. It’s the sauna! We sat in that beautiful hot room and when we got out it felt like we had taken a sedative. That will definitely be our ending every time we go. I just can’t even explain how wonderful I feel after sitting on those cedar benches for 15 minutes.

Because Sprouts is in the same parking lot I had to run in and get some lotion. I am almost out of the patchouli buritti and decided to go with a new scent.

This is my favorite scent. It says floral in the description (I’m not a floral girly at all) but I’m not getting that from it. All of the scents that I have tried are really good, but the lotion itself is outstanding. Non greasy, soaks in and keeps my skin soft all day long. Highly recommend. Natural Grocers, Vitamins Plus and Drug Emporium also carry this brand.

Now I’m going to talk my cat Malley off the ledge because he is wanting to go outside. He can’t meow so it’s the grunting sound. Poor thing. He always settles down when he realizes he has lost the battle of wills.

Swap Out + Jewelry Making

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Since all of the trees are blooming we feel like there isn’t going to be another freeze. I was so sick of looking at my sweaters and how much room my winter clothes took up I decided it was time to swap out for my warmer weather clothes.

Bye bye winter clothes.

All washed and ready to be hung up.

I’ve decided that this summer will be the Summer of maxi skirts. I really like skirts in the hot weather because the air flow is unmatched.

After everything was washed it only took about an hour to bag up the winter and hang up the summer.

After many days of waiting for the weather forecasters storm to hit, it finally did last night. I slept through it but when the kids woke up they told me that it was bad, thundering, lightening and pounding rain. The storm stuck around most of the day so I decided to make some jewelry. I wrapped my first piece of sea glass.

I practiced making a few spoon rings.

It takes a lot of arm strength to get a good bend on the rings. I’m getting better at it. They really are a lot of fun to make.

I made shrimp and crawfish etoufee.

I doubled the recipe thinking I would freeze some for a later date.

It was a huge hit and luckily there was enough leftover for Donny’s lunch.

Spring Prep

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The weather the last few days have been glorious. The 10 day forecast is supposed to carry it on. I know it could be a false Spring, but I’m just going to pretend like this weather is here to stay. When the weather starts warming up is when I do my seasonal clothes swap out. It’s not time for that yet, put I have been noticing that there are items in my closet that I just haven’t worn in forever. So I did a closet purge.

I’m getting rid of 17 items and I’m sure that by the time it warms up I’ll be getting rid of more. I still need to purge my purses and shoes, but for right now things fit in our shared closet. That’s one of the drawbacks of living in a house built in 1961, the closets are tiny.

By the time I finished with that the sun was shining and I was itching to get outside and start prepping the garden. It has been bugging me for a while because the weeds were out of control and we had dead tomato plants and cantaloupe vines.

I also dug up the weeds around the garden. Next I moved to the baby pools. They took were so weedy.

I got the easier one done first because I have to move the wire fencing around the other one and get the weeds that are growing into it.

We are still debating if we want to till part of the backyard for a bigger garden. What I think I want to get are the oval galvanized raised beds. I just think it will be easier to take care of and the chickens, hopefully, won’t eat everything out of it. Whatever we do, we need to decide soon. With Donny working so much the responsibility will be falling on me so I’m thinking smaller.

By this time I had been outside several hours. You know if you weed it’s a lot of squatting and digging. After I came in Donny said, “let’s go to the gym”. We joined Crunch 1.) so Hannah would have someone to go with and 2.) since we are getting older I want to make sure we lose muscle tone and stay in shape. I shouldn’t have gone after all I did outside. We did the elliptical and the recumbent bike on the Alpine program. When I got off I couldn’t walk because my lets were like jelly. Today my thighs and butt are killing me. I keep telling myself the only way out is through. Guess I’ll be back at it on Monday. Ouch!

Snowmageddon

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I am so happy that the snow and ice is starting to melt. I don’t mind the cold weather, it’s just the snow and temperatures in the teens that I don’t like. I worry about our feral cat colony. I put out more food than normal because they need to eat more when the temperatures drop.

Mr. Whiskers came for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I would bring him in if he would let me. He will let me pet him and sometimes hold him on my lap, but he gets very nervous. The feral colony actually lives across the street, but I made them a bed just in case they wanted to warm up before they headed home.

My cat was the only one that used it, but he loved the heating pad. All of my cats have the ability to go out and in when they want to. All except the kitten and she has no interest to go out into the cold.

We were going slightly stir crazy since we were iced in and couldn’t go anywhere. We did watch this guy free climb to the top of a building in Tai Pei . I am deathly afraid of heights but I had no trouble watching him climb. Donny is not afraid, but he did not want to watch it. We were watching it live and it was a bit nerve wracking.

My favorite part of being snowed in was how quiet it was at night. No owls, frogs, insects, nothing. The snow made it so much brighter. This was after 9:00 and the street lights didn’t even come on. It was both beautiful and eerie at the same time.

We were very relieved when we were finally able to get out and do things again. Hannah and I ran some errands. When we were in Aldi we saw the saddest Valentine Day decor.

Doesn’t everyone want a colorless concrete heart bookend? And I’m using heart loosely.

But wait, you can also get X’s and O’s bowl filler that look like cat toys. I have no words.

When we got home Gavin was waiting for Hannah. I looked out the window and saw this snow thing in the yard.

Gavin had built a little snowman.

Ok, it doesn’t have a face or arms, but I still thought it was so cute.

Hannah had been wanting me to go to The 504. It’s a 6000 sq. ft. thrift store. There are 9 rooms and every room is filled to the brim. I got lost from Hannah and Gavin because this place was a maze. I could spend hours looking through everyone’s booth. It’s funny because I have two framed pictures of antique sheet music and the day before we went to this store I was thinking how I really wanted to change them out. One of the booths had antique sheet music and I found 2 that I really liked.

Donny still hasn’t noticed that I changed them out. I like these so much better than the ones I had in.

The only other thing I got were some matches.

There is just something so special about lighting candles with matches. The store had so many to choose from and I think the next time I go back I’m going to pick up some more. These were my favorite because, well, I love celestial anything.

That face!