Someone Didn't Want Me To Get a Pedicure

I had a wedding to attend on Saturday, so trust me, there was a mani/pedi in my future.  It had been a long time, and they needed the attention, especially since I was wearing open toe shoes.  I had the perfect color chosen for my toes, but my fingers were flexible.  I wanted a deep, rich, true silver.  And I know that the metallics are out there, so I was ready.

As I walked into the salon, I noticed all the workers were engaged, but I wasn't worried.  It was 1:15pm, and even allowing myself two hours, I had plenty of time.  They waved me to choose a color, which I proceeded to do.  And I discovered that finding that true silver wasn't as easy as I'd thought.  Fortunately, I had time to paint little swatches on my fingers to find the perfect shade.  And I did.  Yay!  I even found a nail color that worked for what I wanted.  After amusing myself choosing colors for fifteen minutes or so, they waved me to a chair that had the water running.  Yay, I got the last empty chair.

That's when I saw the other people waiting for service, somewhat hidden around the corner of the door.  I wasn't too worried, though - it was only two people sitting there.  Plus, I was already in a chair soaking my feet.  I picked up my requisite trashy magazine that I never read anywhere but at the salon and started to relax.

And I continued to read.  Things I learned while reading that magazine?  A) I read too fast.  I finished the magazine before they were ready for me.  B) It's prom season, so all the girls not only want mani/pedis, but they want the flowers and other decorations painted on their nails and toes.  Oh, and they also want to be waxed - all of which means they need more time.  C) Apparently for prom, either parents now no longer require that their children go to school the day before prom or schools no longer have afternoon classes the day before prom.  I sort of don't want to know which.  D) I'm not the only one waiting in the feet soaking stage.  Two of the five chair - in addition to my own - were also awaiting pedicures.

Oops.  I should have called for an appointment, but who knew?

When the guy was finally ready for me, he was hugely apologetic.  It wasn't his fault, but yikes!  I would have appreciated the heads up.  Although, I might not have gone home and come back later, since I walked there from my house... in my shoes that are oh so cute and perfect for a pedicure because they don't even come close to touching my toes.  The only issue is that they sort of rub in the wrong place on one ankle.  And I wasn't up for another walk at that point.

As he finished buffing and polishing my poor piggies, he pulled out the gorgeous polish I'd chosen and commenced work.  After the second or third toe, he looked up at me apologetically.  I'm so sorry.  This polish is almost gone.  There isn't enough here to do your nails.  Seriously?  Well, yeah.  Of course.  I begged to see if we could do one coat with this polish and then a second coat with another polish to at least give most of the effect I was looking for.  Nope.  He tried finding another silver polish, but none of them were opaque enough, so I went back searching for my previous second choice.  It took us awhile to find the right one, but eventually we found it.  Phew.

When we got to my manicure, my polish had somehow disappeared.  Apparently someone was a little too vigilant in the cleanup while we were figuring out what replacement toe polish to use.  When my guy had first started working and apologized for the delay, I had joked that it was fine as I had until 4:15 before I had to be home for the bus.  My final top coat went one at 3:55.

I did manage to get home before the bus by about five minutes, but so much for my doing my hair nicely for the rehearsal dinner.  And my makeup was the quick regular day makeup, as we raced back out the door once the wee ones got home.  The other things I'd planned to do after completing my mani/pedi?  Yeah, they didn't happen either.  Forces were conspiring against me.  Someone didn't want me to get a pedicure.  But I did anyway... and they do look pretty cool.

What is your summer foot routine?  What colors are you into right now?

How To Get Stuck Muffins Out From The Tin Without Ruining Them

If you haven't noticed, I love cooking. And baking. That doesn't mean that I don't have my issues while baking. I really hate it when I make something and it sticks in the pan. It's so frustrating to go through the effort of making something delicious and then having it ruined by not coming out when it's supposed to. I found a great solution.

Of course, nothing beats actually properly greasing your pans, but there are times when I think I greased every part of it but missed something. For muffins, I generally try squeezing the top of the muffin and twisting gently so that it releases. There is a portion of the time when the muffin top simply breaks off, of course. Those muffins simply need to be eaten.

When I had a few muffins start sticking last week, having a multitude of broken muffins wasn't an option. They were for a bake sale, and I had a minimum quantity I had to bake and didn't have the time or energy to make more. I had to find a better solution. After frantically taking a mental inventory of my kitchen, I found my new favorite tool.

My fondue fork was perfect. It was slim enough to fit down the sides of the pan without damaging the muffins, and it was long enough to give me leverage to be able to get the muffins out. It worked beautifully. I simply gently slid it along the edge of the muffin, trying to lever it out. If it moved, great. It not, I simply slid it sideways a bit and tried again. Not a single muffin stayed stuck. It was awesome.

I'm wondering if it would work with my molten chocolate cakes, too.... And yes, I'll share the recipe for the awesome pumpkin chocolate chip muffins I made tomorrow. Yum. And dairy free and nut free.

Don't Waste Those Envelopes!

I finally had a stroke of genius, if I do so humbly say so myself. Granted, this may be only genius in my head, but I'm so excited to solve multiple of my first world problems in one shot.

What have I done?

Well, if you have children in school, you know how often you have to send things to and from school. There are the field trip forms with checks, there are the volunteer forms, there are the room parent volunteer forms and checks, there are the hot lunch orders and checks (ok, not for us but for most people), and the list goes on and on. I can't tell you how often I am sending in something to school that really ought to be in an envelope for safety and/or security.

An envelope. I have those somewhere. Somewhere... I think. Ok, so I'm tend to not have them on hand as often as I'd like. And so I send in things paper clipped together or simply folded in the hopes that they make it safely to school - because how often do I even have a spare paper clip?

On the flip side, I get junk mail and bills out the wazoo. I think we all do, even though I've put myself on many of the "do not X" lists. The majority of them come with reply envelopes that I don't use because I pay all my bills online. They simply go into recycling, though I hate all the waste.

Do it with me... one plus one equals TWO!

It finally dawned on me that simply saving those reply envelopes and using them for sending information to and from school. No (ok less) waste, no panicking because I don't have an envelope, no checks or forms lost because they were hanging out loose in the backpack.

I'm proud of my genius moment. What's your best genius moment?

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