adios . . .

August . . .

Hello, September!

If you're an American, and you've been "laboring" this weekend, you're in trouble. Stop immediately and get thee to the nearest davenport/couch/divan/sofa/bed/loungechair/chaiselongue (And, no, I didn't type that last one wrong. That is the correct way to spell what I thought was chaise lounge. Who knew?). It will be Labor Day in a few hours. We are NOT to labor.
So.........DON'T.

That is all...
smooches from--
The Leighton Gals

Oh. Yes. I did.

Yesterday (Saturday), I headed into town early. I left our casa at 6:45 a.m. I needed to go to Walmart (aka Wally World aka Hellmart) to pick up a few things. I arrived at my destination at 7:10. When we lived in town (it’s been over fourteen years now that we’ve lived in the country), it only took us about three minutes to get to our Walmart. I often went early in the morning or late-ish (9:30 or 10:00 p.m.) in the evening to do my shopping. It was never crowded at those times. So much less stressful.

If one has to go to Hellmart around these here parts during the lunch hour or anywhere near 5:00 p.m.? It is HORRIBLE. Seriously. You just want to slap yourself for not being a better planner and finding a way to go at an “off” hour.

My Sweet Hubby (MSH) and I have been seeing commercials for Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits at Whataburger. MSH is all about jalapenos. I mean the man eats them straight off the vine. The hotter the better. He puts them in lots o’ dishes. Eggs. Salads. On sammiches. In rice. In taters—mashed or baked. In burger patties. In sauces. On nachos, of course. He is My Jalapeno Man. So I told him I’d treat him to a Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuit! I’d do my shopping and then hit the Whataburger down the street. He was very excited. Very grateful. Almost giddy. Yes. That is sad. I know.

It only took me about fifteen minutes to get my groceries/supplies/necessities at Wally World. Praise the Lord. I got in line at the drive-thru at Whataburger by 7:35ish. I wasn’t sure I was going to order myself a Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuit. And then I saw exactly what I wanted—needed: A Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit! Wwhhhaaaattttt? (May I remind y’all—at this point—how much I love biscuits? I’ve called Little Leighton “Biscuit” from the time she was about five days old. Because I adore biscuits almost as much as I adore her.)

A biscuit…with a fried chicken tender…and honey butter on it. Oh. My. Goodness. Gracious. Sakes.

I ordered MSH two Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits with sausage and myself one Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit. I also ordered a Diet Coke—something I don’t do all that often lately. Their drink machine was broken. It just couldn’t be the perfect morning/trip to town, could it?

I had that Chicken Biscuit eaten in no time. I typically try not to eat while driving. I couldn’t wait. I’d had nothing but water before I left for town. I needed that biscuit.

Perhaps I should have looked at the App on my cell that tells me the calories of all foods—including fast. I think I might have decided I didn’t need anything except an English muffin, once I got home. Had I known my Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit was going to have 590 calories—FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY CALORIES—I might have passed it up.

One of my talents—and TLC will agree I’m right-on about this—is that I can make a “calorie” guess of food I’m/we’re eating and come within about 50 calories of the actual number. It’s a gift. That comes from counting calories for almost fifty years.  I would have been shocked if you’d told me that biscuit was over 500 calories. I was figuring about 450. So 590? Y.I.K.E.S.

Funny, too, because I was telling TLC the other day I hadn’t had a donut or a pancake in about eight months. Yet I look like I eat donuts and/or pancakes every single day of my life for breakfast. So what is the point? Why don’t I reward myself with a donut, pancakes, or a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit about once a week? Or even every other week?

I just might start doing that. Right. I will. Who am I kidding? No one.

byefornow!smoochesandhavealovelyweek,SweetFriends,

ELC

The Next-to-the-Last Mascara...

For an explanation of my title, please check this link out!

Y’all knew we couldn’t go more than a few months without a new mascara recommendation. I mean, seriously.

Drum roll, please…

I discovered this one. (And I'm overwhelmingly compelled to say "Duh.") TLC agrees with me, though, that, of all the mascaras we’ve tried and liked in the past three and a half years of doing our blog, this is by far our FAVOURITE mascara!!!

Maybelline outdid themselves on this one. We like the name. Very scandalous-ish. We like the wand. We like the texture. We like that it doesn’t clump. We like everything about it—most especially the price. (It’s approximately $10…I’m sure you could find it cheaper with a coupon.)

Hope Y’all have had a Marvelous Monday!

smooches…

ELC

Old Man Winter...

We Texans typically don’t mind winter. In fact, right about now, as we face day after day of 100-degree weather, we dream of winter! September is usually not much better than July or August. October? It begins to get “Fall-ish.” I don’t personally know One Texas Soul who doesn’t love Fall in Texas!

Last November and December in North Central Texas? BRUTAL. I think I told y’all about being marooned on the top of our hill for seven (that is 7!) nights. Unable to go down our road due to a major, bitter, unbelievably harsh ice storm. My Sweet Hubby (MSH) and I survived. Well, obviously. We didn’t run out of bread or milk until Day 5. We had plenty of food in our pantry and freezer to last us another month.

TLC worried about us. A lot. Being two hours north and east of us, their roads were not ever quite as bad as our private, country road from our gate to the top of our hill.

Long about Day 3, she asked me: What will I do if something happens to one of you? Who will I call? How will they rescue you? We’d joke about a helicopter landing on our driveway. MSH did, in fact, fall a few times on his way to our Barn to see about our cat, Mortimer. I fell on Day 7. Because I got downright cocky. I was actually laughing at our Chocolate Lab, Buddy Bear, who was doing unintentional donuts down the steepest part of our hill. He’d gotten a teensy cocky himself. Karma got my tailbone—I hurt for days.

Twice a year, we have a delightful young Landscape Man (LM) come to our home—with a small crew. They do cleanup, fertilizing, trimming, etc. Spring and Fall. (Have faith—this does relate to what I’ve been talking about!) He was a tidbit late this year and came towards the end of May. MSH and I were certain we’d lost two garden sections of jasmine groundcover. LM and his company had actually been The Peeps who had planted it fourteen years ago when we moved into our home. This is what one section of jasmine looked like when he was here:

LM assured MSH and me it would be fine. It’d come back—no worries. Here is what it looks like as of today—August 14, 2014:

MSH and I are, in fact, worried. Sigh. As we long for the crisp, cool days and nights of October, November and December, we gaze at our garden every day and are reminded how happy we'd be to do without a repeat of the heartless ice and snow we witnessed last winter.

These pictures also make me think of what Little Leighton (LL) has been through in the past six weeks. Her tiny body was so sick. She’s slowly healing…every hour of every day. For this blessing, I shout:

THANK YOU, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY…

Friday is almost here, Friends…Have a Wonderful Weekend!!!