Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444, from Half-Past Kissing Time, hosts Friday Fragments each week.    Musings, ideas, photos of flowers and a pet peeve - it's all in here this week!  Thank goodness it's fragment day.  Whew.  I wasn't sure I could keep it all in this week.  Please visit Mrs. 4444's Fragmented post so you can find even more fragmented posters like me.

My cousin is going to a wedding this weekend.  Her friend is the groom and his last name is Deal.  The bride's last name is Good.   So they are going to the Good-Deal wedding.  Cute, huh?



I've been scraping together money to put into my rental condo accounts to pay the bills this month and the upcoming because I've got two of my units unoccupied.  My law of attraction mantra is "I get checks in the mail."  I am truly amazed how often checks come in the mail - sometimes, I have to admit, the check is for a quarter and I have to sign up for something in order to get it, but still, it's a check...even if I don't cash it!  Today, however, I got a check in the mail that was from one of our condo mortgage companies.  It was an escrow refund that was enough to cover one of the mortgages this month.   I get checks in the mail!

Pet Peeve - I dislike pumping my own gas, I really do.  I used to go out of my way when I lived in Lansing, MI to go to the Bay station because there was no self service there - and it was the same price as self service at other places.  Those guys would check your oil and wash the windows.  But anyway, back to my pet peeve.  I really dislike the gas pumps that slow down to a mere trickle if someone on the other side of the pump is also trying to get gas.  As soon as the one person is done the gas flows like mad for the remaining person.  I've actually stopped and allowed the other person to finish before I put any more gas into my vehicle because it's going to take less time to go one at a time.  Most gas stations don't have that problem, but every time I go to one that runs like that, I make a mental note to never ever go back.

I do dishes just so - I wash them by hand, even though I have a working dishwasher, I stack them like a puzzle in the dish drainer and I clean off all of the counters.  I lay my towels out to dry and I make sure the sink is clean.  It's probably an obsession.  When I get up in the morning, as I'm making my breakfast, I put away the dishes and the kitchen is ready for the day.

Speaking of dishes - I made meatloaf the other day and forgot to fill a sink full of hot soapy water before I began. It's just a rule of mine that doing dishes as you cook makes for an easier clean up, but I was already involved in meatloaf making so I didn't fret too much about it.  I put the meatloaf in the oven, set the timer and washed up the dishes.  I kind of laughed when I realized that my clean up (even though I didn't fill the sink before starting dinner) took me less than 5 minutes.

I received some really great book suggestions from last week's FF - I want to Thank You.  I haven't started reading any of the books suggested, because they are for my trip, but I did read reviews and look up each book.  I think there are at least three books that I will be buying for my Kindle.

I promised to post some sunny photos for those with cold toes and/or cold weather.  I hope you have enjoyed the flowers I found today on the Mayo Clinic campus.  I was quite surprised to find these bushes filled with flowers, as the cold weather we've had has killed off a lot of plants.  I guess these are hardy!



Are you looking for some Valentines Day treats?  I found this recipe while stumbling the other day -- I'd say it would be pretty sinful.  The photos are excellent, too!  Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles.

One Pretty Thing had a really nice Valentine Round-up.  There are printables, kids school printable valentines, stained glass box instructions and many others.  Take a peek!  Oh, here's a Kid Specific printable Round-up also from One Pretty Thing.

Have a great weekend!
Kristin