2 simple projects

Both of these projects took only minutes to make and were made with supplies on hand, 

Most of the meals here are served buffet style. I did recently fix a utensil holder for the dining table and I also wanted one to keep on the kitchen counter.

I made this one with 4 recycled fruit cans, some spray paint and jute twine. After I lashed the painted cans together, I reinforced each spot where the cans meet with a dab of E6000 glue.

It doesn't take up much room at all but will be handy.

The front door wreath was 7 years old (silk hydrangeas from my daughters wedding) and they were just faded and tired looking. So I pulled them all off and covered the styrofoam wreath form with strips of black and white check fabric. 

I used my Cricut to cut out the HELLO pendants and strung them together with some jewelry size twine. 

The whole front door.....I am really happy with this quick fix.  ( except for those weeds but it is too hot to pull them)  This should be good until is time to change to Autumn things. 

And one more  photo of the front yard zinnias.......

Hope you are all having a good Thursday

Do Stuff Monday #4

Whats on my to-do list this week? Not many chores as I am in the middle of an unusual grands here everyday and staying with me stretch of days. I enjoy the grands so much and I know these days will not last much longer so I am adjusting my homekeeping things.

I did quite a few things Sunday evening - all the laundry, changed sheets, grocery shopped, etc- that I would normally do during the week. 

I also cleaned the floors and one bathroom before my grandson got here this morning.

My husband grocery shopped with me yesterday at Aldi and we bought quite a bit of fresh produce.

I want to be sure and use them all so just to keep myself reminded, I wrote down the ingredients that I need to incorporate in meals this week. 

Supper tonight will be   Crispy Chicken Tenders with this new recipe that I made last week to use some the rice crispy cereal that I also used in those yummy granola bars. Also the last of the French bread, watermelon, and green beans. 

My grandson and I have already done the errands. He is happy riding in the shopping cart and so many other shoppers talk to him and comment on his curly hair. 

We stopped at Dollar Tree and got more Bacos that my husband requested.

Walmart - dill relish in a giant squeeze bottle. My husband and son are dill relish fans and I think they will very pleased to see it in a squeeze bottle instead of the tiny jars I have always bought it in before.

Also bought at Walmart, a 4 quart crockpot. 

Hobby lobby - some the jewelry things were 50% off and I got some narrow natural cord to make a bracelet I've pinned.  Also a storage box that I used a 40% off coupon. 

I got all these beads and jewelry supplies from my mom. I hope to do some beading this week but it may wait till next week.

In case you want to laugh at my gardening adventures, here are the assortment of tomatoes picked last night. 

I think I might of grown the worlds tiniest tomato- maybe I should contact the Guiness book of records people......

My shopping helper is napping now. But before I worked on this blog post, I cleaned the hall bathroom and fixed the breading for tonight's chicken.

I love this little quilt. It is the last piece of patchwork my grandmother sewed. 

Hope you are all having a good Monday.

If you do stuff, stuff gets done! 

Coupons and shopping

I have been using this small organizer for coupons for several years and liked it OK 

Except long coupons would not fit in it without extra trimming or folding. 

During the clean-out at my parents, we found 2 organizers just like my old coupon holder but longer. 

Mom did not want them but my dad wanted 1 and I kept the other. 

It is roomier and easier to look through the coupons in it.

And it is small enough to fit in my purse! 

Speaking of coupon shopping, we didn't have a very long shopping list so I bought everything at Walmart. 

The best deals were the GoGoSqueez-$1.98 minus a $1 coupon on each. All my grands like them.

Almay face wipes were $5.24 minus $4 coupon on each

Grapes were 88 cents a pound. 

Cilantro is for homemade salsa thus weekend

This ultra-pasteurized milk costs more than regular milk but it also stays fresh a lot longer. 

Unless my grands are here for a long time, milk usually sours before we finish a carton. 

So I am hoping this milk might save us money in the long run. 

See that date? Almost 2 months away?

My register tape - lots of coupon deductions! 

Peaches.......

There is no fruit quite as good as Arkansas peaches picked ripe straight from the tree.
My parents and my inlaws all shop at this Farmers Market in Texarkana, Arkansas. They buy lots of produce there like okra, tomatoes and squash. Peaches are the favorite though.

My brother is a peach fan too. He bought these 2 cartons Saturday morning to take back to his home in Oklahoma. 

I should of put something beside these peaches to show their actual size. They are much bigger than grocery store peaches, closer to the size of grapefruits.

My family has always prized fresh picked peaches. This photo is from around 1987 or so. 

My mom and her mom are sitting beside the peaches they just picked in Arkansas. 

Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Jarvis were also here for this harvest.

Home canned peaches are good but we always preferred to preserve ours by  freezing. Just peel the fresh ripe peaches, take out the stone and slice them. Mix with a little Fruit Fresh to prevent browning and sugar as desired then freeze in whatever size containers you choose. 

Peaches on the tree, ripe to harvest. 

This photo is so funny to me. 

The brown sacks contain some kind of produce that my aunt, uncle and grandmother bought and who knows what is in the ice chests. You can see their peaches in the white boxes. Everything is spread out in my parents driveway while Uncle Jarvis tries to load it in his car trunk, under Grandma's supervision. 

This afternoon, I peeled and sliced what was left of the peaches I brought back from Arkansas. They were so sweet, I didn't add any sugar before I froze them. 

Do Stuff Monday #3

Good morning everyone! 

Here is my list for the week. 

We just got back from a 3 day trip to visit our parents, mine live in NE Texas and my husbands live just across the state line in Arkansas.  School starts here soon so I will be busier with my grands that have parents that work the school calendar. 

I got up and got a few things done already but most jobs will get done on childless days. 

Laundry won't be bad- there is a load in both the washer and dryer now and just a few more things to do

We'll be eating good this week. My brother got us a watermelon from the Hope Arkansas watermelon festival. He grew the squash and zucchini.  I grew the tomatos and the peaches are also from Arkansas.  But more about peaches tomorrow!

While I was at my parents, I helped clean out some closets and cabinets, my mom really likes to buy. craft supplies and to make things. I brought back lots of her extra supplies, some of her hand works and some of her works in progress.....I'll be unpacking these this week, 

Hope you all have a good week

If you do stuff, stuff gets done!   

Sweet things to share

I did some baking this week - most of it was shared with my parents and brothers. 

Carrot bread, oatmeal cookies, granola bars, and a can of roasted pecans

These oatmeal cookies from allrecipes.com are so quick to mix up and really good. 

I used pecans instead of raisins. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Raisin-Cookies-IX/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=oatmeal%20raisin%20cookies&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i12

I tripled this carrot bread recipe and it made 2 big 9 inch loaves. It is really good too, kind of like carrot cake but less sweet. I mixed in chopped pecans instead of sprinkling them on top. 

Also, the 2 big loaves needed more than an hour to bake done. 

This granola bar recipe is a new one that I tried and turned out great. They would be a good lunchbox treat. They come out crunchy and chewy, like the store bought kind, but they taste so much better, 

Mix 4 cups of quick oatmeal and 2 cups of rice crispy type cereal in a big bowl. 

In a small saucepan, heat 1 stick real butter, 1/2 cup honey and 2/3 cup brown sugar. Stir often over medium heat. When it starts a low bubble, let it cook for 2 more minutes. 

Now, pour the cooked syrup over the cereals and mix well, I used a rubber spatula. 

Press mixture into a greased 13x19 pan. 

Top with chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, whatever you like. Press in so they adhere. 

Now chill for 20 minutes or so and then they will slice nicely. 

It will make 18 good sized bars or you can cut them smaller.

These 2 sweet Grandsons thought the carrot bread was yummy

JJ - a photo of him that is just sweet....

Do Stuff Monday #2

When I was getting ready for bed last night, I started thinking about my to-dos and it seemed really big and daunting. So I got out paper and pen then, started writing it down, and it is not really that big of a list after all. 

Here it is......

So far this week,  I only have 2 loads of laundry and they are in the washer and dryer.

I plan to mow on Wednesday. I am hoping if I do it midweek, then I can skip a week, if the grass doesn't grow too fast :)

I've also cleaned out my purse. 

I noticed this weekend that my purse seemed too heavy so this morning, I dumped it out

Yikes! I found so many receipts, expired sale ads, duplicates of tissue holders, shopping bags, ink pens, hand lotions, flashlights........

Some stuff went in the trash,

Change went into the piggy bank

Important receipts were filed away,

Duplicates were put back in the first purse and I switched everything out to another purse. 

Better, right? 

About my Cath Kidston bags, I bought them in January 2012 on half price clearance with some birthday money. They still look like new and are the only purses I use.

They are expensive when bought at regular price but Cath Kidston has sales often and I have seen good deals on EBay too. 

I hope you are all having a good Monday and getting lots done! I am off to clean floors and and bathrooms, organize the fridges and do some baking........

What I did Wednesday

As I planned on Monday, I mowed the front yard this morning before it got hot. 

I also cleaned the floors and did all the laundry. 

I should of taken a before picture but I only have this after photo of the spray paint job that redid a metal silverware holder that my daughter passed on to me. (We always seem to be passing things back and forth and it works out quite beneficial to both of us)

The bottom of the holder shows the original paint.  I thought it might be hard to get the inside divided part painted but spray paint covered it all completely.

This napkin-utensil holder will be very handy, especially when we have a big group for a meal. 

I started having some seasonal allergies problems on Monday. By Tuesday evening, I took Benadryl which cleared up my head but also put me fast asleep by 7 p.m. 

I was feeling a lot better today but since seasonal allergies hang around, I knew I should go buy some non drowsy allergy medicine and I went to Walmart as I figured medicine would be cheapest there,

Walmart had clearance items everywhere but I only found one thing to buy- This multiple pack of little girl undies for my youngest granddaughter.  

At the factory, it held 9 pair but somebody took out a pair so this now pack of 8 was clearanced to $1.

My local Walmart uses these red code 4 tags when they mark merchandise down with deep cuts. 

I have learned to spot them :)

Hope you have all had a great Wednesday! 

God Moments : A Year in the Word

God Moments : A Year in the Word

I got this free book from Amazon a few weeks ago and am really enjoying its sweet and meaningful devotions. 

When I looked on Amazon this morning, the kindle version book is still free. 

The book starts with January 1 and has a devotion for each day. I started the book at the beginning, even though it was July, and read 2-3 each day.  

You don't have to have to a Kindle to read Kindle books. Amazon has free Kindle apps for most phones, computers, tablets or whatever device you use.