Hurricane Harvey Update

I want to thank so many of you for checking on us. I appreciate it more than you know. First off, we're fine. Our home didn't flood and we still have power, thank goodness. We should have plenty of food, water and pet supplies to get us through a week or so and hopefully by then, the roads will be clear and we can get to the stores. Right now, we're stuck inside our subdivision. There are flood waters all around us. None of the stores are open because no one can get to work. 

Most neighborhoods received at least 27 inches of rain, and some received about 50. FIFTY INCHES. Can you even imagine? Just think about that for a minute...what if the waters were rising and you had 10 minutes to think about what you wanted to take with you on a mandatory evacuation? AND...you could only take what you can carry in your hands. 

So many people left for work on Friday, not knowing they wouldn't be able to return to their homes that night because of rapidly rising water. These people have pets at home that are in dire need of being fed and they're worried about them being able to get up high enough above rising water inside their homes. Heartbreaking. 

In my little town, about 1/3 of the homes are flooded. The roads are impassable. We've been hearing Blackhawk helicopters overhead as they rescue people from their roofs. Yes, their ROOF. Because the water is so high in their home. 

We received a Code Red Alert phone call from our city Saturday night. It was a recording telling people that if the water was rising in their home, to take an axe and their cell phone and get to the attic. Use the axe to cut a hole in the roof and call 911. Then wait on the roof for a rescue helicopter. Again...can you even imagine? 

You can't tell where the streets start and stop. What used to be a street is now a lake. We've seen video of a deer swimming across a major six lane road. The poor animals are confused and don't know what's going on. So many people had to leave their homes, not knowing what they'd find upon return. 

Lots of people got over 5 feet of water in their homes. Just devastating. 

But, as usual, the people of Houston and the surrounding areas really stepped up to help. As heartbreaking as these stories are, there are just as many with a happy ending. People helping total strangers. People using their own boats to go around and rescue people from homes. Businesses that weren't affected are opening up their offices as a shelter. Houston will get through this. It will be awhile, but Houston will survive. 

Again, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for Houston and all of Texas. Please continue to pray as we'll need it for a long time and please forgive me if I can't reply to your comments or visit your blogs in the coming weeks. As soon as the water goes down and we're able to get around, I'm going to do whatever I can to help my town. I plan on donating food, clothing and whatever else they need. 

If you can, please donate to the American Red Cross. You can donate $10 by texting HARVEY to 90999. People are in need of food, water, clothing, pet food, medicine, toiletries, and so much more. We all thank you. 

Here are some pictures of the devastation...

Below is before hurricane Harvey and after...

FM 528 at Bay Area Blvd...

This is a high school stadium...

Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers. It's very much appreciated. And if you can, please text HARVEY to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross. 

~Lisa

Neat App, Glasses, Contacts and Coupons

I have to tell y'all about a neat app I found. It's called iScanner and it's available for iPhone and Android. It turns your phone into a powerful mobile scanner and it's free!

You just open the app, hit the + button, then "camera." Hold your phone over a document you want to scan and it automatically finds the borders and scans it. It crops out anything in the background, so it's JUST a pic of the document. It also gets rid of any shadows (like when you hold your phone over a document and there's the shadow of your phone? Yeah, it automatically gets rid of that shadow when it scans it) No more taking a pic, then having to crop it, etc. Then you can export it to fax, email it, add to dropbox, Google drive, or Evernote. You can save it to your camera roll, text it, print it, and lots more. No need for a scanner with this little gem (which is a good thing since I never learned how to use our scanner ~ha!) Available in the app store. It's very convenient when you're not at home or near an actual scanner, but need to scan something. 

I used it last week to scan a glasses prescription and text it to Glasses.com. By the way,  Glasses.com has great prices and customer service. Lenses are included on all frames over $160 and they have free shipping. They have brands like Ray Ban, Oakley, Coach, Burberry, Armani, etc. A great place to purchase your glasses. We just purchased a pair of Ray Ban frames (with lenses) for $175. 

While on the subject, if you wear contacts, ac lens is a great place to purchase your contacts. We've been ordering contacts from them for years now and they have great customer service, low prices and free shipping. I just ordered again last week and used a retail me not coupon and saved $41 on contacts! 

Y'all be sure to check https://www.retailmenot.com/ when ordering stuff online. Just search the store you're shopping at to see if there's a coupon. They have a ton of different coupons. You just copy and paste the coupon code. They've always worked for me. 

Just letting you in on some businesses I've been using. I'm not getting paid to endorse these places. I'm just truly happy with the service.  

So this was my set up the other night while getting ready for the season premiere of Flipping Out...

I have my coffee, dark chocolate Hershey's Kisses and remote handy. Do y'all watch Flipping Out? I love it! 


That's all for now. Hope y'all have a good day!

~Lisa 

An Easy Scone Recipe and Decor Pics

I wanted to share this easy Mocha Chip Scone recipe with y'all today. I made them twice last week. Don't they look yummy?

It's Sandra Lee's recipe. Here's a link:

Sandra Lee Mocha Chip Scone Recipe

Speaking of good things...look what I found at the store this morning...

Thin Mints cereal!!! So yummy! 

I get questions about my plate wall all the time...

Here's what I used to hang the plates:

I got mine at Hobby Lobby.

I try not to bore y'all with the same pics over and over, so here's a different view of my living room...

And my foyer...

Just trying to mix it up a bit. :) 

Hope y'all have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

~Lisa 

Around The House

Has school started in your area? It's about to start back here. With my youngest starting college, this will be the first time in 18 years I won't have to worry about meet the teacher, open house, schedule pick ups, buying school supplies and filling out those stacks of registration forms. And you know what? I'm kinda loving it! My son drove himself to school last year, but prior to that, I endured car lines for 17 years!!! And for 7 of those years, my boys were in different schools, so that meant 4 trips a day to 2 different schools. Whew! I'm enjoying my much deserved break. :) 

Holly keeping watch on the front door. 

So I have to admit something...

I bought Pumpkin Spice Creamer the other day. Too early? Maybe. But with this heat, I needed something to make me think of fall. 

I might have also purchased this...

It was buy one, get one free so I couldn't resist. :) 

Speaking of coffee creamer, have y'all seen this? 

Reese's PB cup flavored creamer!!! Reese's PB cups are probably my favorite candy. I haven't been able to find it yet, but I hear Walmart carries it. Have y'all tried it? 

Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

~Lisa

Another Walmart Deal

Hey, y'all! Thank you so much for your input on the kitchen counters! The clear winner on here and IG was Ouro Romano. I think that's the one we're going to go with. I'll keep you posted. :) 

So I took my youngest to his last pediatric dentist appointment the other day for his cleaning. They "age out" when they're 18, so he'll go to our family dentist from now on. He's been going to the pediatric dentist since he was so little and it's weird that it was our last appointment in that office. He could have driven himself of course, but since it was his last appointment, I wanted to be there. :) 

If anyone in the Clear Lake, Friendswood, Pearland, or Bay Area needs an excellent pediatric dentist, I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Bogert on Clear Lake City Blvd. 281-480-8877. He's not only the best children's dentist, but he's also one of the kindest men you'll ever meet in your life. Everyone in the office is so sweet and helpful too. So happy we were able to take our boys there for all these years. If I could go to Dr. Bogert myself, I would. :) 

So, you've probably noticed how popular tassel earrings are right now. I bought some Bauble Bar ones at Target on clearance, but now they carry an entire line of them at Walmart! AND...they're only $4!!!

I bought the white and pink, but they had a ton of other colors. Here's a pic from the WhoaWaitWalmart Instagram page...

Look at that selection! And all only $4!

In other news, my parents finally moved in next door a couple of weeks ago! My aunt came out yesterday and we had a "girls day" at the tea room for lunch and then took my mom grocery shopping. It was so much fun being able to get together like this again. I made a lemon pound cake for us and I was going to share it on here, but it wasn't very good. Lol. I'd much rather have lemon squares. :) 

Holly says "Happy Friday!"

Thanks for stopping by!

~Lisa 

Kitchen Counter Samples

I mentioned the other day that we're thinking of replacing our kitchen counters. I'm pretty sure we're going to go with laminate again because we've been so happy with it. I love being able to use any kind of cleaner on it, from natural cleaners, to Clorox Clean Up to my nightly wipe down with vinegar and water. It doesn't stain, you can leave water on it for weeks and it won't do any damage and the new color choices are spectacular. The new edge options are my favorite part. Instead of straight or just rounded edges, you can get the Ogee Edge. 

In fact, I still love my current counters, I just don't love the edges. I should have paid extra to get the Ogee Edge in the first place. Note to self: Spend a little more in the beginning and get what you want, rather than paying a lot more in the future to replace the whole thing. 

I thought I'd share some samples I received to show you just how far laminate has come. And by the way, I didn't lighten or edit these in any way because I wanted their true colors to show through. The Milano Amber color is from Wilsonart, but all the rest are available from Formica.

I brought out this sample I already had of our current counters in Milano Amber color...

And here are the new samples I ordered...

The one below, Ouro Romano, is one of my current favorites...

For awhile, I was trying to decide between Ouro Romano and Argento Romano. But I wanted a combo of greys and creams and the Argento Romano is more black and white. P.S. All this "romano" talk is making me crave pizza. ;) 

My other favorite is River Gold. Here are some examples of Ouro Romano on the left and River Gold on the right...

You have to keep in mind, these aren't continuous samples...meaning they aren't cut from a single piece of laminate. They're all from different pieces, so the colors don't flow together like they would in reality. 

Ouro Romano on the left and River Gold on the right...

Here are some larger examples of River Gold I found online...

More River Gold...

It's pretty, right? And can you believe it's laminate???

It's so hard to decide. I think Ouro Romano is a little more traditional, while River Gold is a little more updated and interesting. 

I think Ouro Romano has the perfect amount of creams and greys...

Just for reference, here's a huge sheet of Ouro Romano at Lowe's...

They just happened to have it stocked right next to my current counter color, so I had to snap a pic for comparison... 

Ouro Romano on the left, Milano Amber (my current counter) on the right. 


A big sample of Ouro Romano...

Here's a close up of the Ogee Edge that we want on Ouro Romano...

That edge makes all the difference to me. 

Okay, one last time. Here is River Gold in my kitchen...

And here is Ouro Romano...

I tested both samples with Clorox Clean Up, Lysol Anti Bacterial Kitchen Cleaner, Vinegar, Green Works All Purpose Cleaner and even RED FOOD COLORING! There wasn't a problem with any of that and the food coloring even came right off with bleach. This is why I love laminate so much. :)

I already posted some pics of each on Instagram and took a vote to see which one people preferred. I'm curious to see if the same one wins on here too. I'll let y'all know what the fan favorite was. :) 

So what do you think? Ouro Romano or River Gold? Please leave a comment with your favorite. Thanks! 


~Lisa