Today’s crafting

We bought this huge white tree last year and put traditional ornaments on it. 

This year, when we unpacked it,  I thought it looked like a snowman.  So I looked on Pinterest and saw several snowmen trees for inspiration.  

The top hat is made from black posterboard and I used this pattern as a basis 

cardboard top hat DIY

The eyes and buttons are black yarn pompoms.

The mouth is chenille stems wrapped in black felt.  

The nose is a posterboard cone wrapped with orange yarn.  

The black scarf was crocheted by my mom, my husband used to wear it many years ago when he rode a motorcycle.  

It was fun to do and we are really liking our happy snowman tree. 

Cindy Lou Who Cape 
This is a fleece cape, also inspired by Pinterest, for a granddaughter to wear when her school has its annual Grinch Day.  I think it’s probably too long but it will be easy to shorten.  Fleece doesn’t have to be hemmed so I can just cut it to fit.  

I’m pretty fearless when it comes to whacking fabric 😂

‘‘Tis the season for crafting projects ❤️

Hello December

Hello everyone and welcome to December.  

It’s cooler here and it seemed like a good time to batch cook some pinto beans for the freezer.  

I think home cooked beans taste better and are thriftier than canned beans.  

And why do canned beans foam up when I rinse them? It’s almost like they have soap in them.  They don’t taste soapy but it sure makes me wonder.  

I soaked 5 cups of pinto beans overnight and seasoned them with cumin, onion and jalapeños while they cooked.  Then when they were done, I added salt and pepper to taste.  

We ate pinto beans with cornbread for supper tonight and I put 5 containers of cooked pintos in the freezer for future meals.  


Amazon has been running a deal on some Prime Pantry items,  save $6 when you buy 5 and free shipping on orders of $10 or more.  You must be a member of Prime Pantry which is $5.99 a month but I signed up for a free month and will cancel it before the 30 days expire.  

Some of the items also have coupons on them and the free shipping after $10 is for the total before coupons are deducted.  

I saw hundreds of comments about other shoppers doing this deal on a Facebook shopping list so I jumped on the wagon too.  

I ended up doing 9 orders and spent $52 for all the products below.  

All the pastas on the left are a gluten free variety.  

It was a good deal and everything I bought are things we use.  It seemed like an unbelievably great deal when I was doing it,  but now I think it was just a good deal.  

I think the deal is still going on and they change the items occasionally.  Go to Prime Pantry and click on the Buy5 save $6 icon and it will take you to the list,  if you’re interested.  


Below - Two books I’m reading and so far, I like them both.  


December came in like a lion last night with lots of wind and rain.  We’ve had this play house for about 7 years and this is the first time it’s ever  turned over.  

I’m hoping December will go out like a lamb.   It who knows? 

Hope you all are having a good weekend ❤️

Monday To dos, that puzzle and other home stuff

Good morning,  

I made a pretty to do list for this week and even though I feel like I’m moving slow, I’ve already marked off a few things.  (It’s 8:37 a.m. as I’m writing) 

I’ve worked on the 1000 piece puzzle and it feels slow too. 

I’ll finish it but I think I’ll be doing 500 or less piece puzzles in the future.  


This puzzle has lots of details.  I like this guy who has eaten 3 1/2 apples from his box and is now sleeping with a newspaper covering his face 😂


Yesterday I made a batch of hamburger vegetable soup in the crockpot.  I shared it my family,  

It was nice a slightly chilly day. 

I’m not an early Christmas decorator but I did hang the Christmas mugs in the kitchen yesterday. 

Below is one I bought last year at Dollar Tree 

And I think should be the motto for just about everything.  

Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle 

Have a good Monday everyone ❤️

Puzzle day and Friday night pizza

Hello - first I want to thank everyone for the sweet comments on yesterday’s post,  which I somehow posted twice.  But I don’t want to delete the duplicate post as both have comments from different visitors.  But I guess we all understand internet goof ups, right?  I’m pretty sure the error was my fault though and not Blogger’s though.  

I think homemaking blog readers are some of the sweetest people on the internet and I’m happy to of met so many of you through blogging. 

Today, November 3, is National Puzzle Day in the UK.  I’m a long way from England but I’m celebrating their holiday. 

I usually work puzzles with less than 500 pieces but I decided  to try a 1000 piece puzzle from a yard sale.  

Oh my- it has so many pieces!  It took me a couple hours to turn over and sort all the pieces and work the border.  

When our children were at home. Friday night was most always homemade pizza night.  I usually made 4 pizzas and leftovers were rare.

It was just my husband and I last night so I made just one pizza.

I mix up a half portion of this dough in the bread machine.

pizza or calzone dough recipe 

My husband diced up the veggies.  

He likes pepperoni and green olives on his and we both like jalapeños and onions so I put on the toppings to suit us.

No baked pizza photo but it was very good!  

Have a good weekend everyone ❤️

Changing gears

When I started blogging, I was employed, my husband was working and our children were all young adults, some were students and we had no grandchildren.

We also had to be very careful with our finances.  

A lot has changed since then.  

I left my job almost 9 years ago.  

For 9 years, we had at least 1 grandchild here most every week day while their parents worked but now all the local grands are in full time preschool and school. 

My parents have moved to our town. 

And my husband has been retired almost 4 years.  

And we have fewer financial obligations.  

Many days now, it just my husband and myself and we enjoy spending time together and doing tasks together.  

When I started blogging,  I was very busy with homemaking, careful shopping, crafting, budget cooking and decorating.  

I still live somewhat  “if you do stuff, stuff gets done” but I’m also enjoying some slower days and more relaxing hobbies like jigsaw puzzles and reading and just being Un-busy is suiting me these days.

I haven’t blogged in awhile because life is good here but it’s different.  

I want to blog but my focus will be slightly different.  I’m still homemaking but on a smaller, slower scale. 

Some of you may still follow me but I expect others won’t be interested.  

Enough chatter- here is what’s been going on here 

Breakfast this morning was New York Crumb cake.  It’s a Martha Stewart recipe and I’ve been baking it for more than a decade.  I have no idea why it doesn’t have better ratings on her site as it’s so good.  I’ve made it for lots of people and everyone likes it.  

I like the recipe because it’s uses only basic  ingredients and fast to mix up.  

https://www.marthastewart.com/355763/new-york-crumb-cake

We enjoyed it very much at breakfast and I took part of it to my parents.  

A hobby I’ve rediscovered is jigsaw puzzles. 

They are a fun group activity and  when I work on one alone,  I find them very relaxing,

The only problem I have with puzzles is our dog, Ducky, thinks the pieces are yummy.  I have to be vigilant in picking up pieces that fall on the floor as he will destroy a puzzle piece in no time.


Our daughter’s front door was barely hanging on so I helped my husband fix it this morning, 

The builder used those short screws 😱to install the door to the doorframe. 

My husband replaced all the short screws with the longer screws. 

That door should stay in place now.  

I’ve mentioned our youngest son many times in my posts.  

He recently married an amazing partner.

We are happy to have both of them in our family.