February recap

Hello,  thank you to all who left sweet welcome back comments.  

February went by in a blur.  That crazy cold I got in January continued to hang around for a good portion of the February.

Grandchildren were sick at different times with Flu A, strep, ear infections. 

My dad fell on an icy sidewalk and gave us all a very big scare but thankfully his injuries were not too bad. 

My wisdom teeth are gone and that was actually one of the easier medical things - afterward I had zero pain, bleeding and swelling.  I’m still amazed it was so easy.  

I have lots of crafts supplies, including a storage tub of plastic canvas yarn.  I pulled out a gallon bag of yarn scraps from that tub and started making coasters.  I loosely followed some online patterns and have really had fun making them,  it’s just a relaxing sewing with not too much concentration required.  I plan to make more as I still have so much yarn.  

Fabric sewing in February was mostly doll clothes.  

I made wrap skirts and t shirts for 3 American Girl type dolls.  

The 3 dollies also got nightgowns,  

I used free printable patterns found on Pinterest for all the clothes.  

For the 3 shirts,  I used 1 pair of girls white leggings bought on clearance for $1.  

And I made potholders with some 1970s looking fabric.  

Our bargain of the month was at a big grocery store in Oklahoma City called Crest.  

We like to have sausage and eggs for breakfast.  Good breakfast sausage is normally close to $4 a roll.  

This sale was so good,  we bought 30 rolls and they will stay in our upright freezer as we use them over the next 6 months or so.  

After a several month break,  I’ve started coupon shopping at CVS again.  I’ll post the new deals as I do them.  

This was at Andie’s birthday party last night. 

The restaurant serves chocolate piñatas and it was a very fun experience, especially for the 9 children attending.  

On the publishing app I’m using, I’m not sure the video is going to show up when I push publish.  If it doesn’t include,  I’ll try to figure out a plan B.  

The piñata was quite fun.  I was disappointed the chocolate part seemed to be a very low quality Chocolate.  My daughter likes to make fancy desserts and she is planning to make a version at home for a future party.  

But regardless of what I thought of that chocolate,  there was no dessert left after 9 children and 9 adults all ate.  So it tasted AOK to the rest of the guests. 

Hope you all have a good rest of your weekend 

❤️ 

And thank you for visiting today 

March 1

I’m sorry I haven’t blogged much this winter- I want to get back to it. 

This is kind of a test post as my previous post had tiny pictures instead of the full size ones I prefer.  

If this works right,  I’ll be back tomorrow. 

Happy March 1 everyone.  Today is our granddaughter Andie’s 7th birthday 🎂 

2 great recipes, Quillows and me whining

 

My daughter tried a new recipe this week for Paula Deen Cheeseburger Meatloaf 

It was a big hit with her family as you can see from the texts between her and her husband.  

The changes she made to the recipe were omitting the bell pepper, using gluten free products and “not measuring”. 

We had 5 grandchildren and my parents here for 1 meal this week.  My husband smoked a spiral ham and I made this macaroni and cheese 

9 of us were eating and we all thought this was macaroni and cheese was especially good.  My changes- I used 3 cups of medium size shells instead of 2 cups of macaroni pasta.  I made it ahead but didn’t bake it.  I put it in a casserole dish and at serving time, I heated it, covered, in the microwave until bubbly.  

I plan to keep this recipe and make it again, especially when we have guests or a big family meal.

I didn’t get much at all done last week as that cold or flu from the previous week was still keeping me down.  

I did get 3 pair of dress pants hemmed for a son and I turned 5 fleece blankets into Quillows.  

We all like using these soft fleece blankets and I have a bunch of them.  But they take up a lot of room and never seem to look neatly stacked. 

In my crazy fabric stash, I have quite a few printed fabric panels.  So I picked out some that would coordinate with our blankets.  

I sewed up double sided pockets and then sewed a pocket at the center bottom of each blanket. 

Then the blankets get folded and tucked into the pocket.  

I’m really happy with them.  I think the prints add some fun to the toy room and I am thrilled with how neat the pillows look, rather than a pile of haphazardly folded blankets.  

If you need more info on quillows, look on Pinterest as there are some really good tutorials there.  

My cold really is better and my coughing is 99% gone. 

But this coming week won’t be very productive either as I’m getting my wisdom teeth extracted.  

So,  I’ll do what I feel up too but I think I’ll mostly be laying around using ice packs and eating soup, jello and ice cream.  

Have a good week everyone ❤️

To do list, today’s lunch, and my husband’s orchids

Good Monday to everyone. 

Last week was pretty much a bust for me as I was sick with a cold all week.  It came on when I went to bed Sunday night and now, a week later, I think I’m finally pretty much well except for these coughing spells.  Thankfully, the coughing is less and farther apart now and I’m starting to feel pretty good again.  

I hope all of you are avoiding these winter bugs.  They are no fun. 

Below is a list of what I hope to get done this week.

For the meal plan, I added more things than we would eat in a week but this gives me options as I cook and pick from what suits our moods and if we have any company.  

Here’s a photo as I started our biggest meal today.  

I made chicken fajitas, Mexican rice and pinto beans. 

The beans were home cooked and frozen previously and the bell peppers were from our backyard garden and frozen back in the summer.  



I set out the cooked food, buffet style, and my husband and I each fixed our plate to suit us.  


My plate 😋 it was yummy! 


I purposely cooked more than we needed for one meal.  

The leftovers went into vintage Pyrex and are stored in the fridge.  We will reheat as we like for lunch or supper this week.  




My husband bought that blue orchid just before Christmas and we both really like.  

And he’s since bought 4 more.  He’s been reading up, watching YouTube, talking to the Lowe’s garden staff to learn about caring for them.  

They like sunlight and they don’t like cold drafts so sometimes they hang out in the living room and sometimes in the breakfast nook.  

Orchids last so much longer than cut flowers too.  

That’s what’s going on here.  I’m hoping this week will be much more productive than last week.  

🏠❤️🏡

First grocery shop in January

We ventured to Aldi this morning as we had 1 egg and no bread left, and no fresh fruit except grapefruit. 

So, in keeping with my plan of a pantry clean out,  below is what I bought.  

 I spent $17.

The only thing I bought that wasn’t on my list was the dinner napkins that were on clearance for .99

I might of bought 6 packs if I wasn’t on this plan.  We use cloth napkins except when company is here,  so 100 napkins will last a long time anyway.  

Aldi still had quite a bit of Christmas clearance but the napkins were all I even thought about buying.  

I hadn’t checked the grocery ad so I was happy to see grapes, oranges and apples were all on special this week.  

It’s still close to first of our pay cycle but putting together meals has been easy so far.  

I’m hoping it stays that way but time will tell.  

From the comments on my post 2 days ago,  lots of us are doing a pantry use it up this month.  

‘‘Tis the season for pantry challenges,  I see.  

The more, the merrier! 

Sewing for kids and crafting with kids

When our grands spend the night here,  they prefer to sleep in the living room.  

I finally got around to sewing up a couple of pillow beds for them.  

I used this tutorial 

cozy pillow bed  and it is clear and easy to follow.  

I used 2 flat twin size sheets that were in my sewing supplies- that made it go even faster as I used the finished sheet edges and didn’t have many raw edges to finish.  These 2 grands really like them! 

I had 7 older pillows and my daughter passed on 5 more pillows.  I plan on making a 3rd pillow bed, and will use a sheet for it too.  

If I was buying new pillows,  I would be sure to buy washable pillows- because kids are kids.   I’ve had pretty good success machine washing and drying regular pillows too.  

The sheet on the right is a vintage Holly Hobby one that I found at a thrift store years ago.  I think it’s so sweet. 

It feels good to do an easy and useful project without spending money or going to the store.  

Elizabeth got this lava lamp lip gloss kit for Christmas and we made them this afternoon. 

The kit had everything included except paper towels to clean up drips.  The instructions were clear and not complicated.  

The kids had fun making them but they don’t exactly look as great as the ones on the box.  

The lip gloss is liquid as it’s just mineral oil with a little flavoring and coloring added to it.  

It was a fun time but I don’t recommend this craft.  

Welcome 2019 and starting a pantry clean out

Happy new year to everyone 

We’ve had a fairly typical January 1st.  We eat black eyed peas and cabbage, always, as it’s a Southern tradition we just like. 

The little statue is a thrift store find, maybe 10 years ago.  I liked him when I bought him and I especially like him now as he looks so much like one of our grandsons.

In December,  I realized I have just been buying more groceries than we really need.  So, I bought a lot fewer groceries last month and we still have so much on hand.

So, my plan is to buy nothing in January except fresh things like eggs and produce.  And if we run out of a staple that’s essential,  I may buy it if needed.  My hope is to spend less than $100 this pay period.  

(Our pay periods don’t run exactly by a calendar month  but start around the 25th or so of each month.



Bottom of pantry

Top of pantry

The freezer section of our refrigerator 

2 photos inside the Upright  freezer

And I think there is a turkey in the freezer in the little fridge in my husband’s workshop.

We have more than enough meat on hand, plenty of baking supplies, frozen vegetables, juice, nuts. 

The pantry is full of canned goods, condiments, more baking supplies and dry goods.  

I’m not trying to go minimalist but many of our foodstuffs are going unused and I’m not wanting to buy new things and let current food go bad. 

As January goes on,  I’ll share some the dishes I’m cooking.  

I’ve seen several other pantry type challenges online.  I’m not linking up to them but may I peek in on a few of them for inspiration.  

Are any of you doing pantry challenges right now?  

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 ❤️