40 Books to Read by age 40

I was serving the Internet and found several people had written 40 books to read by 40 and as I love to read, I thought I would challenge myself and anyone that wishes to join me, to read my own 40 by 40 list.

1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
4. Animal Farm by George Orwell
5. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
6. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
7. The Shining by Stephen King
8. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
9. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
10. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
11. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides
12. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
13. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
14. The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
15. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
16. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
17. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
18. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
19. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
20. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
21. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
22. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rollins
23. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
24. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
25. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
26. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
27. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
28. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
29. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
30. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
21. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
22. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
23. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
24. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
25. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
26. The Outsiders by SE Hinton
27. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
28. Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
29. The Help by Katheryn Stockett
30. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
31. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
32. A Child Called It by Dave Peltzer
33. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leboux
34. Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo
35. Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews
36. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Oz
37. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
38. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
39. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flauburt
40. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

 

Happy Reading!!!

I got this brainiac idea the other day. I had a package of 3 artist canvas panels. They had been taking up space in my house probably for a good 10 years. I don't even remember why I bought them. I also had a few different colors of spray paint laying around. I decided to make a wall art. My husband and I have something we say to each other all the time. We say "Love You More." I thought, 3 panels-3 words......perfect fit!!!! Now I am no artist. I couldn't paint a descent picture or letter free-hand to save my soul so I decided to check on my local dollar store and see what they had for stencils. What I found was letter post it notes.

Now, for the project. I spray painted all three panels the same color so that it would tie them together. After that dried, I placed the letters on in the pattern I wanted.---Note to any of you that decide to do this project --- DON'T DO IT ON A WINDY DAY IF YOU USE POST ITS!~!!!!! I can't stress this enough. The letters kept flying off!!!!! Spray paint over the letters - once you get them to stick, then peel off the letters.

Voila! You have wall art. I went ahead and stuck them to the wall using command strips for pictures. Not too bad for a first attempt!

I do think the not so precise words make it unique, so I am kind of glad it was windy after all!

Peanut's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - Jeff Dunham

Protein Smoothie

I love protein smoothies and anyone in Weight Watchers will appreciate this recipe as it is only 3 points!

All you need is:

1 Cup So Delicious Dairy Free Coconut Milk
1 scoop Jillian Michael's Vanilla Protein Powder
1 Cup frozen fruit of your choice (I used a bag of mixed frozen fruit)

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

Organize

My mani/pedi items are everywhere. Everywhere I turn, I find lotions or nail polish, so I had to come up with a way to gather everything all together so I could find it and stop buying duplicates. I went around the house and gathered everything, finding I had several clear coats and several things of nail polish remover. No one needs that many of either one of them!

I found a cheap tool box at my local Wal-Mart. It was perfect because it came with a tray for files and clippers plus is deep enough for the nail polishes and nail polish removers.



All polishes, lotions and nail polish removers

Here is the finished product:

All files, clippers, pumice stones

Uh Oh!

Several projects that I have done recently have pictures on my external hard drive and my external hard drive is saying that there are no pictures on it anymore. Sooooo I am working on both getting them back AND doing new ones so I have new posts for all of you.

DIY Lotion

I have tried many, many, many lotions for my dry hands and feet and could not find one that worked. I found a recipe on Pinterest and it works great.

All you need is:

16 oz of Baby Lotion
8 oz of Vitamin E Lotion
8 oz of Petroleum Jelly

I was able to find all of them at the dollar store -- it cost me only $4 to make several containers worth.

Pour all three into a large bowl and mix with a hand blender. It has the consistency of frosting. Pour mixture into containers.

It has a nice clean scent thanks to the baby lotion. I did find that it is hard to wear if you are planning on going anywhere. I found it works best if you put it on your feet and hands before bed and put on cotton socks and cotton gloves.

Evil Soap Scum

I have lived with the evils of soap scum for many years. This is a picture of our shower door.

I have tried and tried to get it off and nothing seems to work! I came across this recipe on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.

1 Cup White Vinegar
1 Cup Dawn Dish soap
1 Spray bottle

Heat the vinegar up in the microwave. Place the warm vinegar into the spray bottle along with the Dawn. Shake well. Spray the surface that needs to be cleaned. Let it soak for at least 2 hours.

As you can see, works like a charm! You can actually SEE the curtain behind the door. 



Tea Cup Candles

 One day I was in used goods store and saw several mis-matched tea cups. They were very pretty and I wanted to find a good use for them. I have all kinds of partial candles and small votive candles laying around the house so I decided that the tea cups would make fabulous candle holders. At the same used good store I found an old pot and then went to the hobby store to get wicks.

I brought water to boil in the pot. In boiling water I placed the jar with the partial candle in it. I stirred the wax periodically as it melted. I removed the candle wick from the old candle.

I used a metal skewer to attach the new wicks to and placed the skewer over the tea cups. I poured the melted wax carefully into the cups.

After the wax hardened, I melted another scent and again added it to the cups. After the wax is completely hardened I removed the skewer and viola! New candles!

* After I made my first few candles I realized that it is hard not to get the wax all over and decided to add tin foil under the cups before pouring in the wax. That worked much better.