Favorite Finds: May and June

I like Pepperidge Farm cookies.  I seldom ever indulge in them but Publix offered a buy one get one free deal on these cookies in May.  I thought the Maui ones sounded especially good, so I got a package.  Oh my word.  Crisp, delicate coconut flavor, chocolate chunks and just a hint of crunch from the almonds.  So good.  I haven't seen any since and there's good reason why I haven't gone to look for them but boy oh boy...Vacation splurge food?  Here it is.  Special occasion treat?  Right here.  Oh yeah!




When I went to look for green plants that would do well in my living room this past January I was really disappointed in the selection overall.  I found a Staghorn fern that was both reasonable in cost and different enough to please me.

Originally I put the small pot in a large blue and white flower bowl with an equal sized ivy from my front porch plant stash, but by summer it was obvious both had outgrown their space.   I repotted them both.   I have never had a Staghorn Fern before and I must say that it's done very well in my living room which often gets less light than I'd like despite the two huge double windows either end of the room.    I've found the plant to require water only when dry to the touch and it's grown just fine despite the low light.  It's easy, low maintenance and has done really well.

Mine is planted directly in the blue and white flower bowl, all by it's lonesome and I set that inside a decorative birdcage I purchased at some thrift store or other this winter.  If you want something low maintenance and easy to grow, try the Staghorn fern.

When I mentioned in May that I'd done well with food waste in all but the area of cucumbers, Louise recommended this produce keeper.  I ordered one right away and bought a cucumber that very week.

Immediately upon opening the plastic wrapper, I put the cucumber in the box.  I found it still fresh at the two week mark but by the 2 1/2 week mark I had to toss it.  However, we did get to eat far more of it than usual and I will lay a portion of the blame on myself for planning poorly and not factoring the cucumber into more meals.

Years ago, when I was about 13, Granny noticed me frowning in the sunlight.  "You go get yourself some sunglasses and wear them!  You'll have wrinkles if you keep squinting like that!"  I've worn sunglasses ever since.

One of the frustrations I've had in wearing glasses is that I have had to switch back and forth.  If we're on a trip, etc., I have to take off sunglasses and put on my glasses to see the map or street signs.  I end up with smudged lenses or bent glass frames (when I wore metal frames) even if protected and the frustration of juggling two pairs of glasses when you must follow an alternate route with many turns and switches of roads...Argh!   Now this was only a minor irritation when not on a road trip, but I often would forget my glasses if I'd been wearing sunglasses.  And usually I didn't remember them until I was well away from my car.  Anybody else hate to backtrack to retrieve a forgotten item?

So last summer when we got our new glasses I told John I was going to order prescription sunglasses.  After pricing them I told him "No.  I'm not."  He kept suggesting clip on sunglasses and I kept resisting but eventually we found Solar Shield clip-ons at a local supermarket.  $16 vs. $349...No contest, right?  You can also order them direct from the website.  I have a hard case I keep my clip-ons in when I'm not wearing them but the packaging does include a snap case.  That's it right there in the photo above and it's a simple matter to remove the paper backing.   I can't say enough about how nice it is to be able to see and read clearly and wear sunglasses.

John listened to me rave about them for about six weeks before he broke down and bought some for himself.  John's eyes are extremely sensitive to bright light and he was wearing super dark sunglasses but he didn't use them at work because he needs his glasses and hated switching back and forth.  He'd tried transitional lenses in his regular glasses in the past but found the lenses often remained dark when he'd entered a dark house or room and in his line of work that can be dangerous...So he finally bought the clip-ons for his thicker framed glasses.  He too was sold on them.  His first pair snapped in two one day but he put them on and off multiple times on work days so I felt they'd held up pretty well to make it 9 months.  I bought him two pairs in May to replace the one pair.

I mentioned how much I hated heating up the house when cooking in these hot months.  My gas stove is situated near a short wall.  Even with the vent on the hot air flows up under the cabinets and directs all that heat right into the living/dining area.  The AC will run and run if I'm doing any extended baking.  I began debating a toaster oven in April and by May had read enough Amazon customer reviews and heard enough of you all's opinions about why you liked the ovens to feel sure I would appreciate one.  I bought one at the end of May.

I chose a Black Decker oven that is just 4 bread slices big.  I don't have a lot of counter space available, and knew the oven would need to fit in a small space.  I ended putting mine on the top of the microwave which displaced the crock pot...I am planning to move that to the baking counter for the duration of summer.  I also chose a smaller oven because I don't need to roast a whole chicken or beef roast in mine.  I'd made up my mind that those could go into the crockpot or onto the grill.

I have nothing but praises to sing about this little toaster oven.  We can't fit a pizza in it but we can pretty much cook anything else we choose and we have.  I do have to watch that I have enough space between the top heat source and the dish I've put in the oven if I'm not using the handy little baking pan  but mostly that hasn't been a trouble.  I have broiled, baked and toasted in this oven and have no complaints about those functions. I love that preheating is completely unnecessary with this oven.

There is only one thing I think should be addressed.  The 'off' knob feature is a bit confusing.  That bottom knob is a timing feature and it appears that you can cut it off once it's set.  You can't unless you are using the 'stay on' feature on the timer.  If you are using the timer feature, you must  cut off the temperature and function buttons, which stops the heat sources immediately.  The timer has to run out on it's own unless you use the 'stay on' feature on that knob.  It was just a simple trial and error thing to figure this out.  Once the two function knobs are set to off, there is NO heat whatsoever.

It's cut down tremendously on the use of the oven which is an energy saver for us.

I bought mine at Walmart but it's also available on Amazon, as well.  It was quite reasonable at about $34 and I'll wager we'll save that much on the electric bill for June.


I know I haven't shown any real photos of the front porch yet despite the newly painted chairs and floor.  The truth is I'm not done with it...but I do want to share this really nice  heavy Coir door mat I purchased from Amazon for the porch:

It is so bright and colorful and really nice.  The current pricing is higher than what I paid and this particular design is not currently available ,but I can't recommend these mats highly enough.  I ordered one for Katie and liked it as much as I liked my own.  If you're in the market for a new door mat and want something different than you're finding in stock in the stores by all means do a search for Calloway Mills door mats and just look at all the wonderful designs.  Most are quite reasonable.

Mine has been on the porch for about three weeks now and I've had no problems with it at all.  By the way...that pink in the doormat matches my chairs...