Truth from my Sunday Morning devotion

 “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up” 

Proverbs 12:25

This photo is from our trip to Branson. We are outside the Dixie Stampede.  My husband has an especially big smile because he had just chatted with 2 other Marine veterans. One of those Marines took this shot for us and we used their IPad to take their photos. 

We were having a good time just being on vacation but visiting with those 2 Marines made my husband even happier. He had never met them before, one served during Vietnam and the other during Desert Shield. Marines just seem to always greet each other, shake hands, say ooh-rah, and they bring each other up.  - it works just like the Bible verse promises it will

those flowers, they are pretty, but it is too cold in Missouri for outdoor blooms, all of those are silk. 

It still makes for a pretty photo background. 

Thank you for coming by- I hope my blog is always kind and a cheerful place to visit. 

Spring Fever

Does anyone in North America not have spring fever? It's been a long hard winter and I am sure glad it is spring.  This is our weather forecast, and I must brag on Oklahoma meteorologists,  I think they are very accurate, maybe the best in the world. I don't always like their forecasts but they are very dependable.

With this warm forecast, I think it is probably safe to let my tomato and zinnia seeds move out of their egg shells and be transplanted into pots outside.

The cherry tomato plants are in these big planters, outside but also sheltered by the pergola roof. When they are bigger, we will move the pots into full sun. For now, they will be protected from any heavy rain we might get.

Zinnias are now in these pots, and for now, right beside the house for a little extra warmth and protection. 

For thrift and cuteness, I really like using egg shells for the starting pots. 

Still in the house, are some tiny petunias and moss rose growing in more eggs. I am also going to start some heirloom tomato seeds I bought in Branson.  

What is your weather like?  I hope winter is finally over for everyone!  

Groove Book

Have you heard of GrooveBook? It is a very easy and thrifty way to get prints of all those photos on your phone, PC, Mac, IPad, android device.

Groove Book will print up to 100 of your photos and ship them to you in about 12 days for just $2.97. 

This is a picture of my first GrooveBook.  They hope customers will print a book every month but there is no obligation. 

I liked the idea so much, I also had the same book sent to my parents and my in laws.  And I plan to do it every month. 

If you look close at the spine, the date of each photo is printed there. 

The photo quality is good, not as good as more expensive photo processing, but more than good enough for every day snapshots. 

If you want to try it, you can get your first GrooveBook  free if you use my code OLIVER537

It may benefit me if anyone uses the code but I looked and can't see what. 

I used the GrooveBook app on my iPad and it was very fast and easy. Much easier and cheaper than any other way I have printed and shipped photos. 

http://groovebook.com

CVS deals and a savings tip

Hi everyone- my husband and I took a last minute trip to Branson MO, partly to celebrate our wedding anniversary and partly because we just needed a vacation.  We had a great time and hope to go back in the fall and we would like to take our grandchildren when they are a few years older.  Branson is very fun, family oriented town.

So,  I will be doing the same frugal things with another vacation as my goal.

This week, when you scan your CVS card at the scanner,  you will get a coupon to get one roll of CVS paper towels free.
CVS also has a super  deal on laundry detergent.  Wisk,  All and Snuggle are Buy 1 Get 2 Free~
limit 6.
I think the Wisk 24 tab bags were $8.99 each. (So you get 3 for about $9.)
I used 4 Wisk $1.50 coupons that were in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago.  I could of used 6 coupons as I bought 6 Wisk but I only had 4 coupons, there are also recent All and Snuggle coupons. 
After coupons, my total was $13.02
I  used ECBs from a previous purchase for this purchase and paid for  the tax with a CVS gift card.

I have 2 CVS gift cards right now.  One was for $50 and I earned it through Mypoints.com

The other one is for $27 and I got it when I returned some defective reading glasses.  I had saved the sales receipt but did not have the tag from the glasses so a cash refund was not allowed, but the allowed gift card was fine with me.  

I've blogged that we buy and budget our gasoline with a Walmart prepaid card.  I bought a new card at the first of March for $200 and the first time my husband tried to use it,  just before our Branson trip, that card wouldn't scan at the pump, even with the attendants help.   Thankfully, I had the sales receipt from the card purchase and I will take the card to Walmart later and get it exchanged for working card.

I've been putting my receipts  my homekeeping notebook and plan to continue.  Having those 2 receipts saved $227!  

Mid-March catch up

I am fine and still here- just have not been visiting or writing blogs much. But I have no plans to stay away from the blog neighborhood - just took a little break

I have done very little shopping but I was in Walmart today and a worker in the children's department told me I should look in the buggy where she has just marked down an assortment of things.

I didn't dig through it all but I did pick out a nice assortment of socks for all my grandchildren, 

The packs with 2 or 3 pairs were 50 cents each. 

The packs with 6-10 pairs were $1.

9 of our family members were here Saturday. This is the lunch I put together. 

Homemade honey oat and white sandwich buns

A meat plate with cheese, sliced ham and chicken salad

Sandwich toppings -sliced onions, tomatoes, lettuce

A veggie plate with dip 

A fresh fruit plate 

And a peach crisp- not in the photo
most all the ingredients for this meal were purchased at Aldi- I am so thankful for this affordable and easy to shop at grocery store

I've baked lots of sandwich buns but have never got the hot dog buns quite right. But I've baked them twice lately and have been a lot happier with them. When I cut out the dough, it seems the unbaked unrisen dough for the hotdog buns needs to start out just a tad bigger than the hot dog. The dough will rise quite a bit and doing it like this gives a bun that is just the right size to hold the hot dog. 

All 5 of my grands at one time - this was at Andie's 2nd birthday party. The other 75 or so party goers were trying to get these 5 to smile for the photo. But instead of smiling, I think the grands were overwhelmed. So, instead of their usual smiling faces, this photo kind of looks like a group baby mugshot.

The seeds growing in eggshells are doing great. If next weeks weather forecast is warm, I am going to move the tomatoes to the outdoor planters then. 

I've been saving most of my eggshells and planted flower seeds in 28 more yesterday.

The tomatoes are the tallest. 

Our country friends with chickens are selling eggs after a dry spell in the winter. 

They have the nicest eggs with bright orange yolks and the shells are light blue and shades of brown.

I am so happy to have good eggs again!

Handwork  - I've been working on a gingham check cover for a tissue box, made with yarn and plastic canvas. Once I got the pattern started, it is almost a no brainer. Sometimes it is nice to just work on something and not have to concentrate much. 

I've been quiet because I have just been sad. A neighbor  passed away unexpectedly from pneumonia.  

Also, a very good friend was killed, so unexpectedly, in a 104 car pileup in Colorado.  She was a very dear, sweet lady.  

This is one of  the songs that was played at her funeral,  and it really sums up her attitude- Love God,  love your family

I am thankful to of known both of them but I do miss them and I know their families are just heartbroken.

 I am also thankful to know so many of you sweet bloggers through the nice  comments you leave  here and through your blogs.  

Hopefully, next week,  things will be more normal here and I will be back to regular blog writing and visiting. 

Weekend Sewing

This sweet little baby doll cradle was handed down to Grand daughter Elizabeth from some church friends. It has already been played with by 2 generations.  The wood bed was in great shape but it needed new bedding.

The old bedding, kind of eww, right?  But I am glad I had the old bedding to use as a pattern.

Sewing up the new bedding was easy. I had pink polka dot and solid white squares left from Elizabeth's 1st birthday quilt. I used them for the quilt and pillow. The mattress is covered with striped vintage sheet fabric. 

I think she will like it. :)

Weekend cooking

Our weather is so changing.  We had snow at the first of this week, then some warm sunshiny days and today has been cold and rainy. 
Today was a good day to do some baking.
I tried a new to me cookie recipe,  for those famous New York City Black and Whites. I've never been to NYC and have no plans to go so I figured I should just bake some myself.
I baked them exactly as the recipe was written,  I used my large Pampered Chef scoop and ended up with 10 big cookies.  

They are really good,  the cookie is soft like cake but is still sturdy enough to eat with your hand like a regular cookie.  We liked them a lot and I will make them again but will probably make them smaller.  They really do taste like something from a fancy bakery but they are easy to make with basic kitchen ingredients.
Have any of you had a real Black and White cookie in New York City? I am wondering how much they sell for there. I estimate the ingredients in my recipe cost about $1.50 for all 10 big cookies. 

I used the bread machine to mix up the dough for our everyday sandwich buns. 
one of my goals for 2014 is to make all our bread and so far, I have.  It tastes better and cost so much less. 

Then I mixed up a second batch of dough but increased the sugar to 1/2 cup and added chopped raisins and pecans.  When the dough had risen, I rolled it out like cinnamon rolls and spread it with soft butter and cinnamon sugar. It was enough dough to make a standard size loaf and a small loaf of cinnamon raisin bread. 

 

my husband is shelling more pecans, on the thirds.  From this current batch,  he has cleaned 8 gallons.

 

I guess I should be looking for more pecan recipes  :) 

 

what are you baking?

Hanger dilemma

I need to clean out our closet but am waiting for the seasons to change. When that happens, we should have more than enough hangers after I clean out unused things.

But until then, we have a hanger shortage. 

I like the older plastic hangers that used to be a dozen for a $1 or so, but I went to buy some a few months ago and was unhappy to see how thin the tubes are on them now. It seems manufacturers will save a penny just anywhere. 

I could tell those new hangers were too thin and would not hold up at all. I did buy a few of the thicker ones that are sturdy enough for jeans or jackets, but they are about $2 for just 3. 

So, for months, on laundry day, I have been scrambling to find a hanger for every clean garment. 

We had a few sturdy wire hangers so I decided to just make them do. 

I used fabric glue and scrap fabric cut into about 3/4 inch strips. 

Then, while I watched TV one evening, I just wrapped those hangers until they looked pretty. 

Wrapping them gives them a little cushion to help prevent hangar wrinkles and enough traction that clothes should not easily slip off. 

If you are a crocheter, you could make yarn covers. 

This was very frugal as I just used things on hand. I think older children would like making them for their own closets or for gifts too.

Passing on traditions

Granddaughter Elizabeth was here on Monday, partly because her school was cancelled for snow and also to visit my parents who were here for 4 days.

We needed another treat so I mixed up cinnamon roll dough in the bread machine. Then Elizabeth helped roll out and fill the cinnamon rolls. This photo is while we frosted them. 

Elizabeth likes to say "getting messy is the funnest part of cooking" 

She didn't learn that from me, I am mostly a neat cook. But cooking easy things like cinnamon rolls with little ones is especially fun. 

I plan on doing it anytime we can. Childhood goes so so fast.