Winding up February

Hello everyone- here is what's been happening here.

Cooking 
Meal prep seems to be all the rage and it truly is a good time and money saver.

So, last Monday,  I pulled some fresh produce from the fridge and spent about 20 minutes making a big salad,  chopped veggies to add to tuna salad and cottage cheese and sliced veggies for sandwiches.  I always put drippy veggies like tomatoes and pickles in their own dish as they don't play well with the other fresh veggies.  

We liked them so much!  By Friday they were all gone so I made up another batch.

Another big salad and an even bigger box of sandwich vegetables.  

Another meal prep that is not glamorous is opening ice trays, making iced tea and orange juice.  

Having all these foods ready just makes meals go so much easier.  

Spring cleaning - 

Our fridges were in need of a deep cleaning and organizing.  It took a good hour but I got both of them done.

I sorted the condiments and added labels to the shelves with masking tape and a marker.  

If the labels work out,  I may get something more Pinterest-worthy in the future.  

My husband and I cleaned out the back of our clothes dryer.  We don't think the dryer has been moved since we got it several years ago.  

And Man, Did It Need a Cleaning!  

We filled up the canister on our vacuum cleaner twice during this job.  

My husband took the back off the dryer and disconnected the vent hose as they were full of lint too.  

We know all this lint was a fire hazard and just gross.  

Shopping 

I went to CVS once last week and after coupons, a 20% coupon from the mail and $20 in EXtraCareBucks,  I spent NO cash at all for 

2 laundry detergent

3 granola bars

1 foundation

1 toothpaste 

And 1 Men's Razor

My favorite thrift store had a $5 a bag clothing and shoes sale.  

I filled up 2 bags with children's clothes.  I got lots of play clothes, pants and shirts mostly for the 3 youngest grandsons as they are messiest and need fresh clothes often.  

One day last week,  baby Jackson needed 4 pair of clean pants in about an hour span.  I didn't have anymore clean ones in his size and was about to send my husband to Walmart to buy some.  I looked hard and found some 2 sizes up that worked in a pinch.  

So I am especially thankful to of added 6 more pair in his size.  

To get the maximum clothes into one bag,  fold them or roll them up as smooth as possible.  I learned that trick from a friend I used to see at a biannual church rummage sale that also sold things by the bag full. 

Sewing 

I made 4 matching outfits for my 3 grand daughters and my daughter in law's niece who is just about the same age as Andie.

Th white leggings were ordered from Amazon.  

Decorating 

In the dining room,  I hung up some silhouettes my mother cross stitched in the 1960s  and paper silhouettes I made of the 2 oldest grands when they were toddlers.  

I was very impressed that Kindergartener Elizabeth and 1st grader Gavin knew that the first silhouette is George Washington and the first President of the USA.  

Family Fun

Andie turned 4 and her parents hosted a wonderful party to celebrate.

And Very Big News is we are expecting Grandchild #8.  

He is a boy and will have Andie and Charlie for his big sisters.   

We are all thrilled! 

Cooking, bargains, and my husbands big project

This is almost a week and half of what's been going on here.  

I did some baking last week because my in-laws were in town

Pecan pie from my mom's recipe- and the pecans were picked by us in the fall.  Yes, it tastes as good as it looks! 

Lemon pound cake muffins- an old Taste of Home magazine recipe 

Bread baked in our Zojirushi machine- that machine has truly been a work horse. 

My son has been doing meal prep- this is a bunch of chicken breasts and fajita beef he grilled.  He bags and freezes it, then eats it during the month for lunch and supper.  

He has also been making jar salads that he really likes.  

Super Bowl snacks 

I just used food we already had - sliced cheese and smoked sausage with crackers

2 kinds of oranges

A bag of microwave popcorn with a few white chcolate chips sprinkled on while still hot - Yum! 

Cheese dip and tortilla chips 

I used some of my Pyrex collection to serve it in.  

Funny grandchild of the week 

Braeden is watching PBSKids on an iPod.  

I usually sit in this chair but I don't pose like Braeden. 

I don't go to Walmart very often but I went this week needing 3 things I could only get there. 

At the front of the store,  there were 2 buggies full of Star Wars merchandise from the newest movie and EVERYTHING was 25 cents each.  Lots of shoppers were digging in the baskets and I ended up with

9 sets of little boy pajamas - I still can't believe they were a quarter! 

3 water bottles

2 Darth Vader soft balls 

And a bunch of glow stick toys. 

CVS -but this is too late for any of you to do these deals though 

I won't spell it all out but after sales and coupons and ECBs,  this was about $10 and I got back $15 ECB. 

Children's School Valentines 

Our daughter in law did these cute Valentines for Gavin in first grade.  She got the book lights at Dollar Tree.  They say - Valentine You brighten my day.m

These are some the Valentines that JJ got at his church preschool party.  He wanted to eat the dinosaur gummies first and he made dinosaur sounds through the whole bag.  

Can you guess what my husband and father in law are doing?  

They were staining the wood on this giant bookshelf 

Ta-da!  

There is this nook in the hall and after living here for 13 years,  it dawned on me that a floor to ceiling bookcase would be great in that spot.  

So now that husband is retired, he has time and energy to work on things like this. 

It is attached to the walls and holds so many books! 

It's 8 feet tall. 

Children books are on the bottom 3 shelves

Cookbooks are on the 4th

Bibles and adult fiction are on the top 4.  

That's what's been on going at the If You Do Stuff home.  We've been doing lots of stuff and I'll have more pictures for you all soon.  

Happy Valentines Day everyone.  

Friday already........

Good morning everyone.  This week flew by for us, I can hardly believe it's already Friday 

I changed out the snowballs and snowflakes on the winter tree to hearts for Valentines.  

Nothing is new. My mom made the crocheted hearts and I stitched the felt and sequins hearts years ago. 

I like the twinkling lights, especially in the early morning and evening.  

My grands haven't seen the Valentine tree yet but I know they will like it.  

I don't think this photo shows how big this new table is.  We put in both leaves and it's 115 inches long, 48 inches wide and fits just right in our diagonal shaped dining room after we moved out the hutch. 

I plan to sew some placemats but we bought these at Dollar Tree to protect the top for now.  

CVS (of course)

3 boxes of Liptons tea $3 a box, used $1 coupon on each and got back $3 ECB 

Pizzas $5.50 each, used 2 coupons Buy 2 get 1 free, and got back $10 ECB

Candy 99 cents, got back .75 ECB

Toothpaste was free after .50 coupon and $2.50 red machine coupon

Deodorants - used B1g1f coupons and got back $2.50 coupon 

Have a good weekend everyone!