Friday Photos

Here's a look back into what made it into the camera roll on my phone this past week. In general, I take pictures of things to help me remember something I need to remember, I take screen shots of humorous or political or inspirational memes, and of course I take photos of images that I want to preserve. This week was no different in the picture taking/ screenshot saving department and here are a few photos that document the mundane moments of the week. 

I got this picture of Alyssa and her best friend through Snapchat.  I joined the ranks of the snappers only because Snapchat recently put some (almost negligible but still) parental controls for parents of teens. But the parent has to be on Snapchat in order to use the controls. So I joined. I am only friends (is that even in the vernacular?) with Alyssa, her best friend (in a group chat), Donnie and Jacob and Abby. I have no desire to use SC as much more than a way to keep tabs on Alyssa (she knows this. To use the parental controls, the teen has to opt in so teens know if their parents are using the controls). Don't get me wrong, the filters are fun to use and what gal on the wrong side of forty doesn't want to see her facial features softened and enhanced?

The group snaps and pictures of Alyssa and her best friend crack me up:

Alyssa's friend wrote this, "Happy Friday! I'm keeping a close eye on this one." "This one" could use a close eye on her, that's for sure; actually, they both do ;). 

Slowly but surely trying to declutter (as I am in the midst of buying things for the family room :(). I sent these pictures to a friend to ask if her teenage daughter wanted the make up mirror. It belonged to one of the girls, Abby I think, but she got a new one and didn't need this one anymore. My friend's daughter wanted it so it worked out well.

I deleted the IG app months ago but decided I wanted to still look at some IG accounts. So I created a new account, have zero followers and follow zero people, did not download the app (so I have to open a browser to scroll) and, due to those measures, have not spent as much time on IG as I did before. 

I took a screenshot of this post. Sometimes I send these types of posts (ones that display hypocrisy, overt bias, outrageous things that politicians or celebrities say about current events, etc) to the kids. All three kids are in public educational institutions and suffice it to say that my political leanings are quite different than the leanings of the majority of those in academia and in mainstream media; I feel it's imperative to give examples of what "other side" believes and publishes to my kids because I know they aren't going to hear anything negative about the other side in their respective schools. 

Oh boy (/Oh girl?)...

Moving on to a lighter and better smelling subject, this week I took wax melt action. Alyssa and I were in Walmart to buy something Alyssa needed for school and I couldn't help but notice that its wax melt selection was meager and that my favorite scent was not available to purchase. I don't know if it's a supply chain issue or what but I wasn't chancing running out of my favorite wax melt scent. I checked my wax melt stash once at home and saw that I only had four packages left of my favorite scent. The time to act was now before I ran out completely. Walmart did have some on its website but I found a better deal on Scentsationals website (only because I got a new customer discount). To get free shipping, I had to order a large quantity but that's fine. 

This scent is so good! Though it's called pumpkin apple muffin, I don't think it's a purely fall scent. I use it year round except at Christmas when the ambrosial scent of balsamic fir (via wax melts) delights our olfactory senses.  People who come to our house when I have a pumpkin apple muffin wax melt on almost always comment about how good the house smells. 

This order should help to keep the house smelling good ;)

I have not subbed this school year yet (it's still the first week but last school year, I subbed two days the first week of school) so I feel like a bona fide housewife during the day when Alyssa is at school and Abby and Donnie are at work. While I have gotten a decent amount of things done around house I do spend some time relaxing in the morning. This was such a pleasant view one morning. Comfy blanket, Chromebook in lap, Kindle near by...

caffeine in a can also nearby...

...on my favorite coaster (each library board member was given a library check out card turned coaster as part of a thank you gift and I loved that I received a Leo Tolstoy/ Anna Karenina coaster since Tolstoy is one of my favorite 19th century authors).

Alyssa wanted to go to Trader Joe's one day after school so we made the trek (there are probably ten grocery stores closer to us than TJ's is... but, they aren't TJ's so we went ahead and made the drive.

It does have great snacks- the apriums, a cross between an apricot and plum are really good

We also like two of its fries a lot- sweet potato and regular potato. Abby loves the Waldorf salad. Alyssa wanted to try a frozen pizza (we rarely buy/ eat frozen pizzas. Alyssa really liked this one.). Alyssa also loves macarons and I loved that large eggs were just $2.19. At two other grocery stores that I was at recently, a dozen eggs were over three dollars. 

That was the end of my picture taking (on my phone) through Friday. Exciting, huh ;).