Am I really weird?

I have been tagged by Kathy from Kat Collects, I have to list 6 things about myself, so I opted to list some things that others think are weird of me (and they have told me). Here goes:

1. I cringe everytime I have to open a can of biscuits! Its the anticipation of when they are going to POP that scares me...which means I usually use bisquik and avoid those cans.

2. I WILL have a coat on if the temperature is not at least 75 degrees, I stay cold and it drives me nuts.

3. I live on Little House on the Prairie.....no airconditioning, my house is heated with an outside woodstove (as well as our hot water), I hang my clothes on the fence..yes fence..in the summertime, but I do have running water and an indoor bathroom :)

4. I dont like to park close to other cars, I have a big van and will park waaay out in the parking lot, I get nervous if I have to back out......this drives my kids nuts, but they need the exercise!

5. I have over 100 cookbooks, and loads of other books...I love to read! Current reading "The Last Lecture"

6. Now my family just doesnt get this, but I would rather wear my old costume jewelry than diamonds and pearls......my husband learned this lesson after he bought me some diamond earrings twice...and I took them back Twice and went shopping at the thrift store to buy what I really wanted.
And see that little puppy, isnt she the cutest, and I am really jealous because she is not mine, that is what my girlfriend in Florida got for her christmas present...she doesnt think I am weird.

Why parents hate me & Christmas Giveaway!

This week is all about school parties. My kids are in 8th, 6th, & 2nd....and they all still like to get goodie bags. So right now, my kitchen table is full of things that parents don't want their kids to get, but that kids LOVE...for example...Play-Doh. The parents who have carpet are not too fond of getting play-doh, I, for one like to play with it myself, even the smell is intoxicating (thank god its not toxic). All kids love Fun-Dip, as soon as they see that in the bag, it becomes total mayhem with them ripping the bags open. My daughter in middle school, made brownie bites and bagged them up with mini-candy canes for one of her classes. Unfortunately my boys will bag up about 5-6 goodie bags and then they loose interest, so it will be up to me to finish....but thats okay, because i get the leftovers!!

And now for a blog giveaway...I will draw a winner on Thursday so that I can get it mailed out by Saturday. There are a few old candles, vintage santa ornament, vintage elf ornament, The Merry Christmas Book dated 1953 (has really great images) and a Think Christmas book from the 70's with recipes, crafts, etc. Just leave a comment to enter.

Its okay to lie and play hooky!!

I think its okay once in awhile to tell a little white lie and play hooky. I sure hope so because I have done it twice in the past 4 days. Thursdays are usually my thrift store day because they have 25% off the entire store, so my daughter was begging me to pick her up from school so she could go. I said "OH, No, your education is wayyy too important, so be ready by 11:30", so I lied when I signed her out and said she had a doctors appointment. I couldnt possible say that we were going thrifting. I do this a few times a year with the kids and they think it is fun. The funny thing was that I had stopped by my kids teachers house that they had for kindergarten to drop off some goodies and told her I was on my way to pick up Betsy and she laughed and said she used to do the same thing!!
Yesterday I lied again. My boys like to go to antique stores for the first 30 minutes and then they forget the "do not touch, pick up, play with, breathe on, rules". They were having a few open houses at the antique stores yesterday which means cookies, brownies, candies, cider all through the stores and I could just see them on sugar overload and tearing the stores apart. SOOO, I told hubby that I needed to run to Food Lion for some Milk and Bread and wouldnt be gone long. Well, my daughter knew something was up and promptly snuck out with me. My lie paid off because I got some nice goodies, all for under $15, and there are a few things I want to go back for (hope they will still be there)!! Knowing me, I probably wont blog again before Thanksgiving, so I am wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and Lots of leftover turkey for sandwiches and soup!! Here's my loot:

Back To Crafting

As usual, still trying to figure out the blog thing, I think this time I got my pictures right...we'll see. Well, they say things come in threes and I believe I have had my "3", first with my mom passing away, then a few weeks later, my husband got in a motorcycle accident (deer ran into him), and then I ran over my poor dog. Hubby has a broken hip socket and hobbling around on crutches, but getting pretty agitated with being house-bound.......(which sometimes makes me annoyed..:) My dog had pretty bad road rash on his hocks and had to have a few stitches in his paws. I felt so bad, I wasnt going fast and was pulling into the driveway and he ran out from the side. I thought he wouldnt like me anymore, but in true dog fashion, he had forgotten it was me driving within a few seconds. Although, he did think twice when I hauled him into the vet hospital, and when one of his bandages fell off, I put a Kotex mini pad on his paw since it was all I had. He kinda held his head in shame at this, even my husband said he didnt blame him! But hubby and dog are on the mend and while I am playing nurse I am finally getting some crafting done. I was worried I wouldnt have anything ready for Lollishops when it opened. Here are a few things I have finished lately:




Vintage pink chenille with vintage spun cotton angels, these were pretty fun and quick to make.

I enjoy making these baskets, these are a little bigger than the ones I usually make, and I added a little bear under the tree after this picture was taken.

These were made with vintage Mr. & Mrs. Claus picks, chenille, styrofoam ball, pom poms, and felt. I glittered the bases to make them a little more sparkley.

Well, thats it for now, I hope to start working on some of my beaded ornaments next week as I had pushed them aside after doing quite a bit of them for the CSSTeam Christmas in July promo.

New Goodies

WHAT??? They are not supposed to be here!

Mini glass ball ornaments and glass icicles from Woolworth.

Vintage glass balls, I have a big collection of these but wont use them, because of my dog, his tail is a major weapon when it comes hitting balls off the tree.

I dont know if these are old or not, little strawberries with velvet green leaves. Plus I am having a hard time telling if they are glass or plastic, you would think that would be easy.

Okay, I dont know why those pictures popped up on the top, but it looks like I need more practice with Blogger, guess it will take time. Although it seems I need more time to get things done anymore. Since my mom passed away my dad has been on a cleaning frenzy, mostly her clothes. My mom was a pack rat with clothes, and just to give you an example she had 141 Bras!!!!! So I have been busy helping my dad clean. Then, just when I thought I was done with the hospitals for awhile, my husband had a motorcycle accident. A deer hit him, and he thinks the deer actually hit HIM, because the bike is not messed up. He wound up with a fractured hip bone and his whole right side is bruised. They didnt want to operate to put a screw in his hip, just want it to heal on his own, therefore, he is on crutches for 6 weeks. Plus he has to give himself shots in the stomach twice a day for 4 weeks. He was joking around wanting me to do it, but aagghhh, NO, I am not a nurse!!

Well, I have been stopping at the Flea Market on Saturdays before I take the boys bowling and have gotten a few christmas things lately. I seemed to have missed Halloween, I got the attic door open but havent had the time to get the decorations out....Bummer...So, those pictures you see at the top of the page are my recent christmas finds!

A New Start

Well, this is something I have been wanting to do for awhile and now AOL has given me a reason......get a new blog.  They are shutting down their blogs at the end of this month.  I was always getting emails from people who were not able to make a comment on the blog, apparently AOL made it quite difficult if you werent an AOL member.  I believe I will be moving over to blogger since it is FREE!!  And since I am computer challenged I am going to have to learn how to use their program, which may take awhile.  I'm not sure I will be able to move all my posts from here to the new blog, that would be another computer dilema for me to deal with.  All in all, I am looking forward to starting a new one, and will hopefully be easier to use.

On a sad note....I have posted before about my parents health.  About 6 weeks ago they told us that my mom didnt have long to live and of course our first reaction was disbelief since she was mentally alert and not complaining much.  She was in the end stage of Kidney disease, and the dialysis wasnt working anymore, she had COPD and her lungs were damaged, her heart was bad, her liver was failing and she was retaining fluid.  We never told my mom how bad she was.  They kept her in the hospital the past month because my mom believed she was getting better and we had told them not to tell her the truth so she would stay in good spirits.   I took my kids to see her as often as I could since she would get so excited when they were around.  The day that I took the kids to Mt. Vernon we went by the hospital to see her, this would be the last time they would get to see her.  My daughter had taken her camera with her and starting taking pictures of my mom blowing bubbles with her gum.  This was on Sunday. The rest of the week she was feeling well and eating good, and they were talking about sending her to a rehab for a few days to get her strength back and then home. On Friday as I was on my way to the hospital they doctor called me on my cell phone and told me to pull over, I pretty much knew what this meant, needless to say the rest of the way to the hospital was a blurr......it still doesnt seem real to me and everytime the phone rings I think it is her calling.  This week has been about helping my dad, he is the type of person who has to be doing something (even though he is 83), and the other day that "something" was having me clean out my moms bathroom.  A job I really didnt want to do, but if it is what he wants then I need to do it.  So now I have to keep an eye on him, I dont like that he is living in a big 2 story house by hisself, but he says he wants to stay there for now. 

Now, back to trying to get things normal again.  My poor kids have only had half of my attention......which is starting to show in their behavior..Yikes!

I am going to start playing around with blogger and see if I can navigate it, hopefully there will be an easy way to add everyone's blog address...feel free to leave me any TIPS!!   I will need it.

 

A "Secret" Obsession

Well, I guess its not really a secret.  If I knew that I wouldnt get shot I would mosey around old and abandoned building and houses around here.  And there are a lot of them around here.  There are a few in our town that still have furniture and things in them.  Which I find really weird since the person passed away and the relatives live on the same farm, but just never bothered to move the stuff out....goodness I hoped they at least cleaned out the refrigerator!!   I have even corrupted my kids that now they are always on the lookout for old buildings.  When I lived in Florida there was on old Army hospital that was abandoned at a local airport and I would go over there and wander around in it while my parents were working...I thought it was so neat they still had the hospital beds in there, medical supplies and charts were strew everywhere, although, that was 30 years ago and I am pretty sure I wouldnt go in there now.  The coolest building I have LEGALLY been  is in Philadelphia at a old mental hospital that has been shut down called Byberry (i think).  At Halloween they transformed it into a haunted house, such a cool building and obviously some of the "actors" were previous mental patients.  We had a lot of fun the few years we went there. Hmm...I will have to check and see if they still do it and maybe my kids would want to make a road trip and do that this halloween.

 Here is a couple of pictures of an old general store that we pass on our way to the boat ramp.  I just wonder what sort of things they sold and what it was like when they were open. 

Somebody obviously cuts the grass....think they'd let me in!!  Well, I think I am the worlds worst when it comes to keeping up on my blog, but hopefully in a few days I will get my August giveaway posted. Have a great week!

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Am I obsessed?

Well, my kids and husband think so.  I was going to clean up my "Raggedy Room" today but them the voices in my head voted against it....and I listen to them.  So I took a few pictures to show you a small smidgen of my collection. I do have a few pieces from my childhood, but most I have gotten off ebay, thrift stores, and received as gifts.  It has really gotten out of hand though, just a complete and utter mess, needs to be dusted, re-arranged, and weeded through.  I am sure I have lots of doubles that I could get rid of.    Here are a few pictures of my "really raggedy right now" raggedy ann collection....Now, I am off to see a play with my kids and neighbors...."Gypsy", about Gypsy Rose Lee, it said "No Nudity", I wonder if there is partial nudity, well, if there is, my boys will sure enjoy that...will let you know:

Have a great Sunday!!

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Quik Post

Just a quick post since I have been neglecting my blog.  First I should have posted this last Monday, but I did do the drawing and Miss Suzy of Georgia Peachez won the blog giveaway and she has already received it.  Now I need to get something together for August.

Also thanks to everyone for your purchases for the CSSTeam Christmas in July promotion.  I am getting everything mailed out today, I got a little behind with some unexpected company over the weekend and then my mom took sick and is in the hospital.  She has had a rough 6 years battling colon cancer, emphysema, gout, and now she is on dialysis and every week it seems to be something else wrong. 

And last I am trying to figure out how to put blog buttons on my blog.  Heidi of Everyday Cookies gave me a few pointers.  I did get the lollishops button on there, but I dont think its "clickable" (or whatever). 

Hopefully I can catch up this week on my blog!!

Back from Vacation

Well, we have been back from Florida for a week now and I am still behind, but I might as well realize that it is going to stay that way until the kids go back to school.  We had a good trip, left at 4:30 am on a Friday and stopped in Savannah and spent a few hours walking around.  I had to stop in Vintage General, which is a shop that Jen from Sweet Eye Candy mentioned on her blog, and let me tell you that have some awesome things, I wasnt going to buy anything, but did come out with a bagful.  Florida was great, I managed to visit with most of my friends and ex-coworkers.  Basically we just went to the beach every day (and night) and visited.  My daughter is afraid of heights, but she did manage to go up in the lighthouse...203 steps and 175 feet high, great views.  Of course, my boys charged ahead up the spiraling steps ignoring my yelling to "Wait".....this is the lighthouse at Ponce Inlet in Daytona Beach.

The puppies thrived while we were gone and our neighbor loved taking care of them, but I cant say that much for my black lab.  He wouldnt eat, kept running to our back door looking for us.  Needless to say, he was a bit skinny when we got home, and he had bald spots.  So I gave him a bath and have been feeding him double trying to get him back up to his normal weight.  He was so sad!!

I did hit a few thrift stores in Daytona and got some bargains.

I have managed to squeeze in a few hours of crafting, the little glittered wreath is for the CSSTeam Christmas in July Promo on July 25.

And I am still messing around with the Tussie Cones, these are my 3rd and 4th try and will be in my Etsy shop.

Now for the July Giveaway.  In keeping with the Spirit of the CSSTeam Christmas in July promo on July 25, I am giving away these 2 ornaments.  I will pick the winner on July 21.  Just leave a comment..Good Luck!

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Summer is Here!!

Well summer is here at my house since at the moment I have 2 small critter cages on my kitchen table...one with a baby snake in it and one with an injured baby bird in it....Oh, the joy of boys!!!  I really dont mind either one since I am an animal person, but on my kitchen table....C'mon boys..take 'em outside!!  I just set a tent up in the backyard for them, so hopefully they will take them out there. 

We had a great trip to Hershey. I had a pass to get 8 people in for free, so we loaded up my van with 8 people and headed to PA.  My daughter had 2 of her friends go and the boys had one of their friends, so I wasnt going to be stuck with 6 kids alone so luckily one of the girls mom went along with me. We went up a day ahead so we could do the factory tour and do a little sightseeing....all in all everyone had a great time!!  Here is picture of my youngest with the 5 pound hershey bar that I wouldnt buy because of the $30 price tag (and waaaayyy too many calories)

I have been doing entirely too much shopping lately, but I figure that is what my stimulus check was for right.....here are some of my recent purchases:

I LOVE this piggy bank, it was horribly dirty and I was worried it was stained, but it was only .33 since so I figured I wouldnt be losing much if it didnt clean up, but with those Mr. Clean Miracle Erasers it came out great!!

I have always wanted one of these but never came across one in my travels.  I spotted this one on pinkpomegranate.net and just had to have it, and it was a steal...at least in my opinion. I think she still has one more left too.  Now, I just need to find one with a christmas theme.

These have the Napco stickers on them and are numbered.  I got them both on the same day at two different yardsales....it was fate!  I am not good at judging what something is made of, but I believe they are bisque. 

Arent they just so cute!!  They are almost 4 weeks old and starting to get playful, the kids are having a ball with them, they are going to be sad when they are gone.

Now, I am a little late on posting this (As usual), but the winner of the two books is Whinendine!!  Be sure to check back for next months giveaway!!  Have a great weekend!

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Schools Out!

Well, school is officially out because Monday is Fun Day, where the school is going to be set up like a carnival.  I am hoping they move everything indoors with the exception of the water balloons because we are in the middle of a heat wave with 100 degree days.....and guess what.....we dont have airconditioning!!  Which is commom for old houses in the north, we have window units, but I just dont like the noise, so I guess I will be Shopping to stay cool!!!  We have had some wild weather here lately, last wednesday we had severe storms and tornados, just as the kids were getting on the buses the tornado came through and they shuffled them back into school until everything had passed.  Of course they bigger kids thought that was just "cool".  Then Thursday schools were closed due to power outages from the storms.

The heat couldnt keep me away from yardsales though.  This Saturday we went to a yardsale at a old barn that is on a catholic retreat and run by nuns and priests.  They only have sales a few times a year but they really need to do something with the barn.  I was down in one of the stalls where the christmas stuff was and there was a lady upstairs attempting to sweep the floor above me.  There are 3 inch cracks between all the boards so as she is sweeping, all the dirt is coming down on me, plus my boys were up there running around hollering through the floor to me of things they had found.   When we came out of there they boys were filthy.  But I did find some good things:

The little angels are stamped Japan, the hat box isnt old, but I thought it would be pretty to hold some supplies.  I had to clean up the little beaded doll,she was rather dusty and the crochet dress needs a good soaking.

Still trying toget my teeny tiny kitchen in order, these are few things I have picked up in the last few weeks here and there.  There will be lots of red!!

Last week was a good week for thrifty buys....I LOVE all of this stuff, especially the angel.

I should hang my head in shame over this picture, but I am working on getting it in order.  I have ADD I think, I get something in my head, pull out the supplies to work on it, get halfway through it...then think of another project and pull out supplies for that one and get half way through, so I have about 5 projects half way done and supplies for about 50 projects pulled out!!

And last is the June Giveaway......2 really nice books, one is Retro Barbecue and the other is Entertaining with Longaberger Celebrating the Seasons....lots of good recipes, decorating & crafting ideas, etc.  just leave a comment to win.  I will pick a winner on Monday June 16.  We are heading to hershey park this coming weekend, I am hoping to cure my chocolate addiction by taking a tour of the factory, you sometimes you smell the stuff being made and it just turns your stomach, but I have a feeling it will have the opposite affect on me and I will be toting home a 10 pound Hershey Chocolate Bar as a souvenir of my travels!!  LOL

 

 

 

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No crafting at my house

Thats right, I have not been able to play with sequins, glue, glitter, styrofoam, etc. for some time now, so sad for me.  But, I have ordered quite a bit of supplies so that is gonna change.  I have been busy getting things around the house done before the kids get out of school, and as of today, we are down to 9 days.  The kids and I usually spend the summer traveling to PA, VA, WV, Eastern Shore of Maryland and then one big family trip, but with the price of gas this year, I think we will be staying close to home once we get back from our big family trip to Florida.  Just so you dont think I have been sitting on the couch eating peanut m&m's and tootie rolls (my favorites) and watching "Days of Our Lives", here is what I have been up to:

We opened the pool up and yes the water is quite chilly, but the kids and the dog dont seem to care.  I have given up on trying to keep the dog out, he will run through the fields, get hot and run up the hill and jump in the pool.  It puts alot of sand in the pool, so we are going to have to vacuum a little more than usual this summer.  Plus, once he is done swimming, he likes to come lay in the kitchen, which he then opens the screen door and lets millions of flies in, that is my summer project....to teach him to close the screen door once he is in. You wont catch me in the pool until the water temp. is up to at least 82 degrees, no cold water for me!!

We have had quite a bit of rain and flooding here in Southern Maryland, so once our fields soaked in all that water I was ready to plant.  So far we have in about 40 tomatoes plants, 4 rows of sweet corn and 2 rows of sunflowers.  The sunflowers are just to look at and cut for flowers in the summer.  I still need to get squash and cucumbers planted.  With the price of food going up the way it is I really wish I could plant Eggo Waffles, Syrup and Cheerios.....the main foods my kids seem to live off of these days!

And I wish we grew these, but my husband says they are too much trouble.  Anyway, its fun to go the berry farm to pick them.  I have been picking about 3 flats a week, and nope, I dont make anything with them.  We just sit down with a 5 gallon bucket of Cool-Whip and eat until we are gorged.  I took my kids this last time and it only took us about 10 minutes with the 4 of us picking (plus they think its fun).  Now, for the best picture of all...................

Dont you just LOVE new puppies (excuse my daughters bad manicure).  We have 5 new puppies, 3 black and 2 brown.  Betsy has already named a girl Belle and the boys are still arguing over names...typical.....BUT, we are not keeping them and they dont want to hear those words.  They will have fun playing with them for the next 6 weeks and I am sure I will be out there rolling around with them and smelling puppy breath, the next best thing to smelling a real baby!!

Hopefully things will start settling down and I can catch up on reading blogs and all that fun stuff, I feel out of the loop and dont know whats happening out there.  I still have Mays give-away sitting here on my desk, but I promise it will be added to Junes give-away.  Hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather.

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Just Rambling

So, its going to be a nice 80 degrees today and I decided to wash some bedspreads and etc, then decided to mop the upstairs floors.  Well in the hallway up there is a grate in the floor, it was used when my husbands parents had a wood stove in the basement and that was their only heat....it would rise up through these floor grates. Anyway, it get pretty dirty with the kids and dog trampling over it all the time.  And they can never just step over it, they HAVE to walk on it.  I lift the grate up and vacuum it off and sit it to the side and told myself "now remember that the grate is out and dont step there"  Here is where the alzheimers sets in and not 30 seconds later as I was mopping I backed up and stepped into the hole.  Now if you had of been here you would have been laughing at me because I had one leg hanging through the floor & ceiling and it was dangling down in the living room.  I now have 2 huge bruises and bumps on my legs.  Plus I have to tell my husband that the bottom part of the grate needs to be fixed since I stretched the springs out way beyond repair.

Okay, this was an impulse buy.  The lady was going to throw it away and told me to take it for $2.  She said she bought it at a school auction a long time ago and it was used in the kindergarten room as a coat rack. It has been well loved and does show signs of being abused by 5 year olds, but I couldnt let her throw him away.  I'm just not sure what to do with him.  Also, see that field behind him.  He is in my front yard, then there is the dirt road and then that field.  My neighbors have been plowing their fields for planting thier produce (as we have too), but it creates so much DUST!!!  The house, cars, windows, are covered in dust, but I guess its all worth it in the end when we are eating BLT's, Corn-on-the-cob, cucumbers and watermelons!!

I know it is no where near christmas but the ornaments I make are pretty time consuming so I only get about 2 a week made and therefore start working on them in the summer so that I have enough for the craft fairs.  But they are so much fun to make and I think these colors could stay out all year long.  My kids love the aqua one the best. 

Tummy's growling....time to eat lunch!!  P.S.  Thanks Karla, glad you liked last months giveaway.  I am currently getting Mays together now, so check back!

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Saturday Yardsale finds

The boys have started their baseball games and of course they are EVERY Saturday!!!  Which can really mess up yardsaling.  This weekends game was at 11:30, but we had to be at the bowling alley at 9am to get their awards since bowling season is over.  SO, I woke the kids up at 7am and we were out the door at 7:45am.  I wanted to hit a few yardsales along the way.  We stopped at about 3 on the way and then stopped at the church thrift store on the way to the ballfield.  Luckily they love going to yardsales, so its not a big chore to get them up and going.   Plus, they got alot of goodies too...youngest son got a gameboy advance for $5 (didnt need one but it was such a bargain, now we have spares), and of course they always clean up on DVD's!!  I came home with quite a bit of stuff, but here is the best stuff:

I am not sure of the age of these dolls, but they look old.  The little one on the right is marked "TOMY", and you wind her up and she crawls.  The one on the left has arms and legs that move up and down and her eyes open and close.  They need a little cleaning though. 

The little alarm clock on the left is also marked "TOMY" and when you wind him up he rolls sideways, the bell rings and his minute and hour hands roll around.  The furry bear I think has glass eyes and has a sticker on him that says "West Germany".  I got the dolls and these 2 items from a lady who "had no idea where they came from", she just found them in her stuff when she was cleaning.  I am not even sure what I am going to do with any of it, but she left me have all if it for $1.

And more cookbooks for .25. I really dont need anymore of these, but I just cant resist them, especially when they have all the old clippings and handwritten recipes in them.  Plus, maybe that Junior Cookbook will get the kids cooking and I can sit and relax while they mess up the kitchen beyond repair...on second thought, I will cook!!

And last I wanted to show these towels I got from Angie of Norththreads.  I purchased the two little pot holders a while back and loved them so much that I asked her if she cold make me a set of tea towels to match.  I think they turned out PERFECT, and I love the rickrack trim.  They look great in my kitchen.  She has an etsy account under Norththreads and is also on Flickr....go check out her goodies.

Gonna be a rainy day, so I am heading to BJ's to get my weekly case of waffles, 2 pound jug of syrup, 3 gallons of milk...etc.....cant wait to see the bill..LOL..

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