November Favorites

Buongiorno Amici! It's a cool, rainy Sunday here in North Georgia. We need the rain SO BAD because of the wildfires burning around here. The smoke has gotten better this weekend, thankfully, and now that we have some rain I'm hopeful that the fires will be completely put out.

I have spent my weekend (so far) trying to recooperate from a very fun week with Cosette and Austin and other family members who have visited us. ALWAYS good to spend time with the three dimensional people... yet sadly, always takes awhile to recover. Yesterday I had a "turn off the lights-get out the ice pack-overdose on advil" kind of migraine which also made me miserable. My nieces came over for awhile and we talked about Christmas and caught up on their very exciting and active lives and it was a wonderful distraction.

I thought it was time to once again share some of the things that are making life better for me lately on the odd chance that they might make your life better too! Hope you enjoy and I hope you will share some of your favorites with me!

1. Not because it's the most important but... it does improve my quality of life in some ways... I'm loving grain free cat food. I don't actually eat it myself - in case that wasn't clear - I feed it to my three cats. Side note - I just found out on Friday that Little Kitty is a girl. All this time - I've had him her since July 2011 - I thought he was a boy but in fact HE is a SHE! My cousin was working for a vet and got him her to be a barn cat for their property. He she was too clingy and cuddly to be an outdoor working cat and I needed a comfort animal so she gave him her to me. How did I miss the detail that it was a lady cat and not a boy? I have no idea! My friend brought her up here on the day that our house was struck by lightning and we had to send her right back to my mom's house for a few days until I found a place to live so maybe that little detail was lost in the multiple details I was having to sort out at that time, who knows? But my cousin was in on the surgery to remove Little Kitty's ovaries so she is 100% certain that HE is a SHE. Mind blown! Now back to the cat food issue. I have been reluctant to buy the pricier high protein food for the cats because it is more expensive but after finally getting fed up with the constant bouts of cat vomit - cleaning cat vomit is vomit inducing for myself - I bit the bullet and splurged. Once they started eating the zero grain food they started eating significantly LESS food  so... my actual food expense has decreased and the vomitting has nearly ceased, other than a hairball here  and there. Two of the kitties are overweight so eating less has to be better for them. Less vomit, cheaper... that's a win in my book! Rachael Ray's Nutrish brand is one of my favorites for them.

2. Something I have been eating consistently and really loving is toast made with pumpernickel bread and good butter. I get the bread from Walmart (since we've been shopping Ingles less since Austin no longer works there). The butter I love most is the President butter which is slightly more expensive than the store brands but totally worth it for the taste. I never buy margarine - I won't touch the stuff. I also don't feed it to Cosy when she's with me. I am strongly opposed to margarine, like, I could be an anti-margarine activist, I'm that much against it. Butter is much better for you and it tastes better, especially if you use a better brand. Buy better butter. That's my campaign slogan. ANYWAYS... I've always loved darker breads. Pumpernickel, especially from Walmart is - I'm sure - not my healthiest option. I'll work on that. But for now... pumpernickel toast with better butter for the win!

3. Since yesterday was on of THOSE migraines, I resorted to a tried and true non medicinal pain reliever - my clay ice pack. The clay stays cold longer than the traditional ice pack... it molds to whatever it's cooling much better than anything else I've tried... it doesn't get soggy or make anything the least bit wet. I think they can be heated as well but I've only ever used it cold.

4. For the past few years I've been unable to really drink coffee because of my tachycardia. Every now and then I try again and my heart races so much it makes me miserable. I do drink both hot and iced tea. I drink hot cider. And lately I've been enjoying a hybrid k-cup cappuccino with a packet of hot chocolate mix. I'm using a brand of k-cups from Walmart - Grove Square - and it's cheaper than most other k-cups on the market and really tasty. I think I mentioned this before... I also use a chai tea k-cup with the packs of powdered hot cider mix. I use a big mug and make the equivalent of about a cup and a half of liquid.

5. Last year by this time all of my Christmas shopping was mostly done. I've moved more slowly this year for a lot of reasons... one, I feel like money is flying out of my bank account like it's grown wings lately between my expenses and Austin's expenses and my splurging on things for the babies. Also... life just isn't as "merry" this year. My pain is worse, my mom's illness, the custody case, my aunt's illness, Austin being out of work... so many things to drag us down. But the truth is that Christmas is coming and I don't want to be a Scrooge this year so I have started - just in the past week or so - my Christmas shopping. I found a lot of great unique gifts online at Miles Kimball. Most people in my life have everything they need and most everything they want so it's hard to buy gifts. I don't always trust my taste because I'm definitely... different... Miles Kimball sells a lot of personalized gifts and honestly, gave me a lot of good ideas for some of the harder to buy for people in my life. I'm also trying to remember to use eBates for cash back but I'm such a newbie that I forget half the time. I buy a LOT of things from Amazon and I've been shopping at Walmart a lot more this year because Cosy likes to walk around Walmart.

6. This time of year just makes me want to keep candles burning all day long. It makes things feel cozier and it keeps things smelling fresher since we've got the windows closed now. My favorite scents are things that are pine / woodsy / green. I don't like sweet smells like vanilla or baked goods but I do love fruity smells. The Better Homes and Gardens candles from Walmart burn nicely but of course my favorite candles are from Yankee Candle. Walmart does have a Yankee Candle version that they sell but I think they aren't as strongly scented as either the official Yankee Candles from their store or the Better Homes and Gardens ones. By the way, this post is not sponsored by Walmart but it should be.

7. Ok... last one because I've been working on this post forever and you're probably tired of reading it by now! My favorite treat right now is the butter cookies that come in the little round tins. No matter what brand you buy or how cheap they are they ALWAYS taste good! Austin hates them because everyone always keeps the tins to keep sewing stuff or other random trinkets in. You come across them and think "yay! cookies!" and it's a bunch of thread. But when they really do have cookies in them... SO YUMMY!

Honorable mentions for this post are my big fuzzy robe that I got last Christmas. I use it more as a wearable blanket because it's intentionally oversized and SO warm... my memory foam padding in my big recliner nest... my new fuzzy slippers... and my still under construction Mermaid themed bathroom that now has a new light fixture thanks to Cody and Austin!

Tomorrow my eldest turns thirty! I'm officially old. Not sure if I'll get a Reasons to Love Monday post out since I've been sort of hit and miss lately with the blog-spiration so I wanted to go ahead and mention his upcoming birthday. Hope your weekend has been wonderful and that you all have a great week ahead! Love and hugs, y'all!