For April: My Favorite Things

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things with you all.  The first item I feature is on my wish list.  The others are tried and true items that I currently purchase.

I was in Walmart this past week.  The store was being completely rearranged and I had absolutely no clue where anything was.  I pretty much ended walking the whole store.  I was in kitchen wares at one point and found these canisters by Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.  If I hadn't a set of perfectly nice old canisters that I happen to like a lot, I'd buy these in a split second!  Aren't they just gorgeous?

Naturally I'm drawn to the floral ones but the Geo set is pretty darned cute.  I saw them live and up close on Thursday.  I was surprised at how nice and heavy they are, too.  These are quality metal pieces.







I'm half tempted to put them on my wish list.  Who can't use a few more canisters?  They'd be cute for coffee at the coffee pot and a nice replacement for the glass jars that tend to look dirty from the oily buildup from the ground coffee.  Doggone it!  I just talked myself into getting a pair.  The prices at Walmart are much better than at Amazon.

I've been dealing with dry rough skin for the past year.  I pulled a tube of lotion to use from my basket in the bath cabinet.  It was a moisturizing lotion I'd gotten while in the hospital.  I've been using it after my shower every morning and wow my skin looks so much better.  The scent is very light and faint.  I think it smells a bit like vanilla pudding, the homemade kind. 

I went to look for it online because I haven't seen it in stores anywhere.  I found it at Walgreens.com for the lowest price.  I just ordered some more.  The label says this product is good for face, hands and body. 



Phytoplex is the name of the product.  Mine is the purple tube and says Moisturizer on it just as this one does.  There's a whole line of products and in the future when I run low on my store brand Cetaphil, I just may swap over entirely.  Love this stuff!


Mary Kay satinlips is a terrific product.   I have a problem area that chaps frequently on my bottom lip.   I've tried various lip balms over the years most at lower price points. However, it wasn't until a friend of mine had me sample satinlips that I found a product that truly relieved the problem.  It's a little pricey at $10 a tube but you need only the tiniest bit.  I found it best to use it twice a day.  At bedtime and again in the morning after I'd brushed my teeth.  This seemed to keep the problem area from chapping and cracking even in the winter months when dry cold air was the biggest instigator. 

I'm pretty happy jut at the moment....I just discovered I could order Mary Kay products online through the official website.  No need to seek out a new consultant after all.



One of my happy discoveries was gelato.  I am especially fond of this one by Talenti, Sea Salt Caramel.  While the recommended serving is 4 ounces, I find 2 ounces is more than sufficient as a serving.  It's very satisfying in it's creamy richness and the caramel flavor is really lovely.   I buy this when it goes on sale, which is just often enough,  and stretch it out over a long period of time.  It's so rich that there's no temptation to overindulge and no feeling of being deprived when a small portion so easily satisfies. 



Aldi had a lovely Black Forest Turkey breast that we absolutely loved.  It was luncheon meat but came in a portion much as this and was pre-sliced.  We have looked in vain for any repeat of this item being in stock over the past two years.  The John Morrell Off the Bone Oven Roasted Turkey Breast I have pictured here was meant to be a one-time purchase.  I was sort of giving in to John on this, since I have been pretty much making all of our sandwich meats from my own food here at home. 

This tastes awesome!  It was so good that we felt it was comparable to that Black Forest Turkey Breast we'd found only a few times at Aldi before it went extinct there.  It's lean meat and has a very pleasing flavor, a nice texture.  For two people who  don't eat ham, I'd say this is a very good substitute for a ham any day or time.  I buy it at a discount grocer where I go in about once every four to six weeks to buy our favorite turkey sausage and Nathan's hot dogs.  It is priced per pound and like all luncheon meats it's a little higher than I'd normally pay per pound for most meats, but for convenience it's very nice.  We stretch it out.  Once I open a package I'll divide into smaller packages and freeze some of them for later use so we're not overindulging.