HIT or MISS???

 

Seems like everything from gas to groceries to toilet paper is going up in price!  I went to Wal-Mart today and spent almost $200 and didn’t even have a full buggy!  My checkbook is still squealing!!!  I don’t know about you, but I am trying to watch every penny these days.  I am also trying to spend my money wisely, but sometimes what you hoped would be a great buy turns out to be a dud☹

I thought I’d share a few recent purchases with you and let you know if I think they were a HIT or a MISS!

Let’s talk make-up.  I have used many foundations over the years, but still trying to find the perfect one for “aging skin” (you know, the skin you start getting when you turn 40 and know the clock ain’t a gonna turn back!)  I am not one to spend mega bucks on make-up but recently I decided to splurge on this…

 

 I paid $44…yikes!  I was hoping for the Holy Grail but it wasn’t.  I had a “consultant” at Belk to choose the color for me, but I’m not convinced she chose the right one.  The stuff has some good qualities like SPF 25 and Hyaluronic Acid (which I understand is a good thing); full-coverage matte finish.  But the price!!!  For that alone, I give it 7 out of 10.

I had heard a lot of hype on youtube about this Wet n Wild Photo Focus foundation, so decided to try it and WOW!!!

Comparing the color I got (which I chose on my own) with the Clinique I can barely tell a difference.  I can’t tell the difference in the feel or the coverage and…(drum roll please)…it was only $4.99 at Walgreens!  I’m not wild about the wand thingie but you can also put it on your finger or right onto a brush or sponge.  I don’t think it has SPF…so overall I give it 8 out of 10.

If God ever told me I could have a one-thing DO-OVER, I’d say MY HAIR!  Ever since I first became pregnant (over 50 years ago now), all the body and natural curl in my hair went on vacation and never came back!  It is now very fine and limp and there’s not a lot of it.  I have tried a bazillion different products for VOLUME…and I’m still looking and I’m willing to pay whatever price.  But for now I am using and liking these by Pantene:

I paid about $6 each at Wal-Mart and give them a 7 out of 10.  If you have any FABULOUS volumizing products, PLEASE let me know.

Now here is another splurge...way too expensive for my "frugal" ways...but I absolutely love them...SNS Dip Nails!!!

They really began as a necessity a few months ago...seriously!  My nails (which have always been weak pitiful) began to break and peel something terrible.  My sister suggested SNS which doesn't damage your nails like gel nails but give your nails a chance to strength and grow...and they have!  I have never had nails this long or this pretty.  They cost $50 plus tip (ouch!), and although some ladies get them every 2 to 3 weeks I try to go at least a month (or more!)  If they weren't so expensive I'd give them 10/10, but due to price I'll give 9/10.  (Word of advice:  get a good nail technician who knows what he/she is doing and be sure to have them "soak" the old polish off, not file it off!)

I kept hearing about this next product on youtube and seeing it in magazines.  It had 4/5 stars on Wal-Mart site and 4.5/5 on Amazon.

   

 

Well, I wasn’t impressed.  It’s a pink paste that you apply with a dry cloth, buff in, then rinse with hot water.  I tried it on my worst cleaning job…our shower.  It did clean the shower (but so do a lot of other products although not great), but it took A LOT of paste and a LOT of ELBOW GREASE.  Have you used THE PINK STUFF?  If so, do you like it?  I paid right at $6 at Wal-Mart and give it a 7 out of 10…too much hard work!!!

And this was even worse...

Again, it took a lot of product and it didn’t completely erase the hard water stains in my toilet bowl.  In fact, it stained the porcelain until I scrubbed and scrubbed it away!  I paid about $6 and give it a 2 out of 10!

Here are a few other products that get my GOOD HOUSEKEEPING Cheri's Seal of Approval:

This makes baking homemade biscuits sooo much easier and faster.  Be sure it’s FORMULA L.  9 out of 10...only because I still have to go through the biscuit-making process, although it's much easier.

This is great for a quick weekend meal.  My hubby loves it!  I bake a couple chicken fingers, shred them, and add in the pan after the pasta cooks.  Yummy and cheap! And sooo easy!  10 out of 10...whoop! whoop!

These are the last…I promise!

Of course, I’m gonna love me some LIPTON GEORGIA PEACH TEA…after all I’m a GEORGIA PEACH myself😊  I still make homemade sweet tea, but this is really good.    10/10

 

And I just discovered PINEAPPLE FANTA.  It was recommended to me at the gastro dr.’s office…told me to mix it with my upcoming colonoscopy prep…I know, TMI!!!  They told me it makes the yucky stuff go down much easier.  We shall see!!!  But for now it tastes good on it’s own!    9 out of 10…only because I can’t let it beat out GA tea!!!

 

So…have you tried any of these products?  Or what new products have you tried, and were they a HIT or a MISS? 

 

Wishing you many more HITS than MISSES!

IT’S NIFTY TO BE THRIFTY

 

When my granddaughter (now almost 17) was 14 or 15, she and her buddies taught me the art of THRIFTING.  None of them could drive then, so I was often asked to be their chauffeur.  We would hit up the only THRIFT STORE in our small town, then head 30 miles away to a GOODWILL.  Those girls would just crack me up going through all the clothes as if they were looking for the Golden Egg at an Easter Egg Hunt.  And they would always come away with a bag full of tee shirts and other items and their pocketbooks still holding some change.  (Yes, I’m old-fashioned and still say pocketbook!)

Well, you guessed it…I caught the bug, and I’ve been thrifting ever since.  I don’t mind wearing “slightly used” clothing since I grew up wearing my cousin’s hand-me-downs.  And although I do love getting good bargains and saving myself money, I am also happy that I am helping the environment.

“Shopping at thrift stores is a simple & easy way to go green.  Manufacturing, producing, packaging, & distributing new clothing takes a lot of energy & water.  Disposing of unwanted clothing also takes a toll on the environment.  In the U.S., individuals throw out 60  to 80 pounds of textile waste each year.  It can take months & even years for these materials to fully break down in landfills.  By choosing to buy secondhand clothing instead of brand new, you reduce waste & help the planet.  In this way, thrift shopping is the ultimate way to live out the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ motto.”

              www.cincinnatigoodwill.org 

 I recently visited our local BROTHER CHARLIE'S THRIFT STORE which helps drug-affected and homeless men in the community.  You can get some great deals for only $2 or $3.  For example, this is a GAP jacket I recently bought and it’s like new.  I absolutely  love it…and I got it for the grand price of $3!  I snatched that thing off the rack so fast it made my head spin.  

And look at this sweet jacket by EMMA JAMES that will be perfect for spring that I got for only $2!!!

 

 And this is the prettiest sweater by CHICO'S that I also swept up for $2.

I don’t find too much at Goodwill…the nearest one is just not very good.  But occasionally my husband and I make a trip to SAM’S CLUB for supplies and we’ll do a little thrifting there.  I’ve even got my husband hooked after he got these ORVIS pair of pants that normally sale for about $119 for $15!

My favorite place to thrift, however, is online.  Although I’ve only found a couple of sites I like my favorite is POSHMARK.  It is sort of an “upscale” thrift store with prices from very low to very high.  I even have my own “closet” on there which I’ll tell you about in a moment.  Here are some recent goodies I scored at (to me) great prices:

 $7 + shipping

 $10 + shipping

 $16 + shipping

 $10 + shipping

(Yes, I’m a shoeaholic!)

 $17 + shipping

  POSHMARK is amazing but can be a little overwhelming at first because there is SO MUCH at all different price points.  It takes awhile to get the hang of it whether you are buying or selling but I think it’s worth it.  One good thing is that if you don’t like the price shown, you can make the seller a lower offer and every time I have done that (and I always do that), the seller has given me a better price.  The down side of POSHMARK is the shipping…$7.97...unless the seller is nice enough to give you discounted shipping.  There are some good youtube videos to better explain POSHMARK.

 Another online thrift store I have had luck with is THRED-UP.  With this one you have to look through a lot of duds before you find that diamond in the rough.  To make it a little easier, you can search for what you want and you can set your size, preferences, etc.  You can also save your favorites (can do in Poshmark also) and go back to them later.  THRED-UP has good sales often so that’s a plus.

 Both pieces $29

If you like a good bargain, don’t mind hand-me-downs, and want to help the environment, I highly recommend THRIFTING.  (By the way, I do wash/clean each piece when I receive it...just in case!) And to get started, I’d love to have you check out my POSHMARK CLOSET at:

CHERI'S CLOSET

https://poshmark.com/closet/cherischatter

HAPPY  THRIFTING!!!

Try it....you just might like it and the environment will thank you!

PS:  This lady on youtube (LITTLE POET) does a lot of thrifting and finds the neatest things.  There are also lots of other youtube videos about thrifting and about Poshmark.

Hello, Blog...Long Time No See!

 UPDATE:  After posting this for some reason I cannot now reply to my readers' comments which I usually like to do.  It keeps telling me to sign in to my Google Account but I am signed in!!!!  Oh the frustration!  If anyone knows how to fix this please leave a comment.  I would greatly appreciate it.

My poor, poor blog…it has been SO very neglected.  I love writing so I don’t know why I keep shutting my blog down for months and months at a time.  Oh, wait a minute…yes, I do know……..it takes LOTS of time and work plus BLOGGER can be so aggravating at times!!!  I am RETIRED though so you’d think I’d have lots of time.  I do stay rather busy, but I really do have time so I need to see if I can get myself back into the habit!!!  If nothing else, it will give me memories to look back on!

 

So what have I been up to since I last wrote in September, 2022????  Well, the MRI I had showed nothing…I was both glad and somewhat disappointed.  I had hoped they would find a tiny little something causing my problem so we would know what all the hurting was about.  HOWEVER, as of now (knock on wood), I am not hurting.  Hopefully whatever it was is long gone never to return.

My college boy (grandson) made Dean’s List his first semester and also was initiated into his dad’s and Papa’s fraternity…Kappa Sigma.  I don’t know which of the 3 was the proudest!  The boy is absolutely loving college life!

 

My beautiful granddaughter still has her boyfriend which has definitely cut into my “girl time” with her, and she is still using her God-given talent to paint.  She has also been bitten by the acting bug since taking theater in school this year.  She will have one of the leading roles in an upcoming play…her grand debut!!!

My Valley Girls along with husbands and MANY other high school and college friends recently attended another reunion with our high school “boy band” giving us a chance to once again “shake a tail feather”….even though the average age of the band players is 75😊  We had a fabulous weekend.  Our Class of ’67 had a mini-reunion the night before.  Little compares to going back in time with your old friends, some I hadn’t seen in more years than I can count.  A wonderful time was had by all.

 I am still tutoring 3 kiddos every Tuesday morning and teaching my Girls in Action group at church on Wednesdays.  Also teach an adult Sunday School class every 4 weeks.  I try to get in my walking as many days a week as possible.  My life is soooo exciting (cough, cough!)

Hopefully my next post will be more exciting than this one and that I will come up with ideas for future posts!!!  Happy 2023 to everyone…hope it will be a blessed one for all of us.

LONG TIME NO SEE!

 

Wow…I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I posted on my blog!  I love writing my blog, but sometimes LIFE just gets in the way.

 

2020, of course, was the year THE WORLD STOPPED SPINNING…well, that is a slight exaggeration…but a lot of our lives did SHUT DOWN due to that awful monster COVID.  Many of us got used to living in our pjs or loungewear during that year, but sadly many of us (including me) lost a lot of people we loved and cared about.  Thankfully things are better.

 

I sailed (although not without complaints) through 2020 without my husband or myself getting Covid…he did get it a few months back but thankfully he just slept a lot!  However, my sailing came to a screeching halt with terrible stomach pain that lasted 7 months….7 very L-O-N-G months!  And the crazy thing was, none of the tests I went through showed a single thing….nothing, nada!!!!  My dr. told me he had tried every medicine he knew and nothing worked. 

Finally he did give me what is called a GI COCKTAIL.  Well, honey, let me tell you…it didn’t taste one bit like any cocktail!!!!  It tasted like you took every bad-tasting thing you could find, put it in a bottle, and shook it up altogether.  That stuff was V-I-L-E!!!  I think they should have called it THE DEVIL’S POISON.  However, once I “choked” the mess down, it did help….temporarily!!!  But let me tell you…it was a difficult decision between hurting like Hades or drinking that stuff!!!

Y’all, then the strangest thing happened…one day my pain simply went away!!!!  I am considering it MY MIRACLE because I had prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed!  I think the Lord got tired of hearing me wailing and crying.  For whatever reason, miracle or just my crazy body…I was so very grateful not to hurt anymore.  That was a L-O-N-G 7 months.

 

UPDATE:  After not hurting for months, my “discomfort” has returned.  I went to a 4^th dr. this week and he is scheduling an MRI…so please say a prayer or send along some good vibes.  I can’t tell you how nice this guy was along with every single person in the office.  I didn’t even cry (this time) when my blood was taken!

 

A lot more has happened since I last wrote.  This young man…my one and only grandson that can just make my heart melt with a hug and a smile…graduated high school.  He has now finished his third week of college (with a short break to deal with covid!). The day he left I started crying and didn’t stop for 3 days…literally!  I think I took it harder than his Mama & Daddy!!!  But he’s all settled in now and seems happy as a bug in a rug…and I pray he stays that way…and that he makes good grades.

 

This sweet girl had a rough year last year with a lot going on, but she hung in there and pulled through.  Someone recently asked my husband what would happen when this one went off to college.  My husband’s reply:  “We’ll have to put her in the hospital!”  I can’t even begin to think of it!!!

She now has her first real boyfriend…son of a preacher man!!!  He’s also a favorite teacher.  He’s a mighty talented boy…sings, plays several instruments, paints, plays baseball pretty well, and makes friends with anybody who walks by!  He makes my girl happy…so I like him😊

 

So what have I been doing?  Nothing much really…small town living doesn’t offer a whole lot, but I’ve been:

 

*tutoring one day a week during the school year

*teaching a girl’s group (1^st-5^th) at church

*teaching Sunday School

*pairing down and organizing for an eventual downsizing  (update:  we had a yard sale and got rid of lots of "stuff")

*going on a girls’ trip to Savannah this summer...my high school girlfriends are the absolute BEST!

*selling (a little) on Poshmark which I decided to try…and I’ve done OK…made about $200…but it does take some time

*working on reading the Bible straight through…boy, is some of that Old Testament stuff rough!!!  Some mighty bad people lived back in those days.  (Guess nothing much has changed!!!)

I try to stay busy…can’t stand being idle or not having a project on hand.  I’ve decided I must have developed ADHD in my old age…or maybe I’ve always had it?????

I feel sure this is boring to anyone reading it, but I just needed to jump back in and see if I want to continue this blog.  If anyone has an idea of an interesting theme I could use, PLEASE let me know…some people have a cooking blog or a decorating blog or a raising kids blog…but I don’t cook as much as I once did, my house is about as decorated as it’s going to get, and my grandkids are about grown up.  I NEED SOMETHING NEW IN MY LIFE!!!!!!  Any ideas of how to keep an old lady bright-eyed and bushy-tailed???

 

Hope all is well with you and yours.  I need to catch up with my favorite bloggers.  Sending love & hugs!!!!

 

And a special THANK YOU to the Little Pirate who recently sent me a note saying she missed me…that meant so much.  I hope to write more in the days to come…hopefully it will be more interesting than this post!!!

 

THIS AND THAT AND NOT MUCH MORE

 

I had such good INTENTIONS of writing more on my blog....but you know how that goes!  I have been one busy gal lately.  Remind me that I am retired and I should not have any more BIG IDEAS.  Why?  Because I was put in CHARGE of my BIG IDEA, that’s why.  And has it ever been      B-I-G!

Our church has been through several transitions over the last few years and to make a long story short, our church needs a big, big cleanup and decluttering!  I talked to our chairman of the Deacons about it, then he asked me to speak at the Deacon’s monthly meeting and....WHAM!!!!  They told me to come up with a plan and they would be right behind me!!!!

Well, I have been working on this plan...and doing a lot of cleaning out all by myself...for about two months and the big CLEANUP DAY is Feb. 26.  I have thrown away, donated, decluttered, and organized until I’m one tired puppy!  BUT....I’m not complaining because I’m DOING IT FOR THE LORD:)  Hopefully I’ll have lots of help to finish up on the 26^th.  If not, I’m sending the devil after them!!!!

So what can I share with you that’s more interesting than dirt & clutter???  Well, here is something that made me do a happy dance.

I had been wanting some cute spice jars to put in my cabinet since I don’t have enough counter space for a spice rack.  I kept looking but didn’t want to pay the high prices.  Then I learned about AMAZON WAREHOUSE....am I the last to hear about this?  I checked it out not expecting much and would you believe one of the first things that popped up  was the exact jars (with printed labels) that I had wanted and the price....$13!!!!  I jumped on those cuties before I could blink.  I just love labels!!!

And before I go, how about a quick and easy meal...my husband loves it.  We have it on a Sat. or Sun. night when I don’t want to cook much.  And is it ever filling!!!!

To give it a little more oomph I bake a small chicken breast or two chicken tenders, chop them up, and add to the pot.

 

This last time we also enjoyed this with some yummy bread to dip in it.  This lovely Infused Sunflower Oil is produced in the next county and it was a gift from our son.  Really added some pizzazz to our simple meal.

 

I hope all of you are well and not dealing with Covid as many here are...good thing is few are going to the hospital and this strain is basically like a bad cold along with tiredness...I still don’t want it!

Hope those of you with snow are enjoying it...wish you’d send me a snowball or two!  In other words, I hope all is well in your world and that each day you count many blessings.