Prettied up storage shelves

 Inspired by Manuela's shower pantry  thank you!

I've been getting so many good deals, mostly at CVS and a few at Walmart, and I needed more storage. I remembered a very cute plastic shelf unit, decorated with pretty papers, stocked with canned goods and hidden away in an unused shower from Manuela's old blog. And here is my version. I put in the silly-big master bedroom closet.

The shelf unit I ended up with is bigger I think than Manuela's.  I decorated mine with cushiony shelf paper and the lace is strips cut from the by the yard tablecloth vinyl in the fabric department at Walmart.

This is the middle 2 shelves. It has 4 total. I don't shop in the same quantities as the TV extreme couponers but it does seem like I have a years worth of hair products, soaps and dental products.

And a lot of toilet paper.........

Above you can see part of the top shelf

And below is a close up of the gingham check shelf paper bought at Dollar Tree

And the vinyl tablecloth strips used for the border.

This is the best full length photo I could get, it is a closet and I could not get any farther away to get the whole shelf in one picture. 

The orange cord is from my husbands drop light I brought in to get better light for the photo. There is no natural light in the closet.

I suppose there are lots of people that like to fill up their closets with clothes and fancy handbags - I prefer our closet to look like a drugstore :)

2 finishes and 1 funny

I finished the rainbow string quilt yesterday. It's been washed and rinsed with Downy and is soft and comfy. Grandson Braeden approves.

On the back, I used some of this giant length of shamrock thrift store fabric

I think the 3 leaf shamrocks that legend says St. Patrick used to teach about the Trinity is a great background for a very bright rainbow quilt, 

I finally finished this blouse 

and like it so much that I am wearing it right now,  I think I will wear it a lot this fall.

I ordered some bath sheets from amazon and when I opened the box, it was a funny surprise to see the towels cushioned with those pesky air pocket things. And thankfully, neither towel was smashed or chipped with their careful packaging,

CVS tip

At CVS, I always scan my card 2-3 times at their coupon machine. I scan until it tells me it has no more coupons for me. I usually get 1-2 I can use that trip and the other 5-10 of them don't match up the sales I want to do then. I have been throwing them away, especially at the expiration date printed on them. 

I had kept a scanner coupon that was $5 off $30 any baby purchase and it expired 10-10. 

On 10-13, I was doing the the Huggies deal and saw I still had that baby coupon. I asked the cashier about it and she said it was store policy to honor expired CVS coupons, she thought the policy was for 2 weeks after the expiration but that she would always honor them up to a month past expiration. 

The Huggies deal was already good and another $5 off made it great!

So, I will be holding on to these scanner coupons, just in case they will match up with a deal even after their expiration date. 

I will add that the CVS I shop at is very customer and coupon friendly. I've heard that other stores are not so user friendly and that is a shame. So this may not work at every CVS but it wouldn't hurt to ask. 

Weekend scenes

Sunday has been quiet but our Friday and Saturday were full and fun and busy.  Here are some pictures, but I don't think I posted them in order.......

All 3 grandsons played hard on Friday and I laundered their clothes late Saturday. Aren't these 3 little pairs of jeans cute?  Seeing their sweet little jeans made me wonder how many pairs of jeans I have laundered in my lifetime, I have no idea but it is lots!

4 of our grandchildren in action. The bigger 3 played in the garage while Grandpa and their 2 dads did some vehicle maintenance. Grandpa's rolling stool turned into a very fun riding toy. 

After lots of family time, just us grandparents went to eat Saturday supper at Olive Garden. 

We tried their promotion where you buy an entree to eat there and they send you home with a second chilled entree to eat or share later. 

That is our packaged entrees, in very sturdy trays with lids and instructions.

Lids off - in case you want to see them better. 

Grandpa got smoked mozzarella chicken. Mine is the penne with 5 cheeses. We had them for supper tonight. 

I don't like to heat things in plastic so I transferred the food to our corelle bowls  to heat. 

They reheated great!  I only had half of my penne tonight so if I want, I can have the rest for my lunch tomorrow. 

I also found some time to start tying the rainbow strip quilt.  

I hope you all had a nice weekend too!

Lots of breakfast and lunch pockets

My daughter asked if we could make a bunch of pockets to stock their freezer for quick lunches and breakfasts for her family.  I like to cook and of course I said yes.
So Friday, I loaded up my bread machine with the bread part and just let each batch go through the kneading process.  Then I bagged up each batch of dough in a lightly oiled gallon zip bag and let them chil until we did the baking today.
You can make the dough just before you make the pockets but if the dough is able to chill and rest in the fridge for at least a few hours,  it rolls out so easy.

For the fillings- we made a double batch of the scrambled egg, sausage, potato and cheese ones.  Then with the last batch of dough,  half were filled with diced ham and grated cheddar and the other half were pepperoni, mozzarella and marinara sauce.

We made a total of 47 - each batch of dough makes 16 but I gave grand daughter Elizabeth one ball of dough to roll out.  She spent the whole time rolling out and adding flour to her one ball while we made the other 47.  I've tweaked the original Pinterest recipe a bit and here is how we like them

Breakfast and Lunch Pockets 

Dough
• 2 1/2 t yeast
• 1/2 c warm water 
• 3/4 C milk- heated in the microwave just to steaming
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 egg- well beaten
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 c flour
• you can mix and knead the dough anyway you like but I like to put all the ingredients in my bread machine and let it knead it all to perfection.  
Filling
• 1 lb breakfast sausage
• 1 1/2 c frozen hashbrown potatoes
• 7  well beaten 
• 1 1/2 C cheddar cheese, shredded
• Cook and crumble the sausage until brown and then drain, then add the hashbrowns and heat through,  Add the eggs, stirring the whole time until the eggs are set.  Add some salt and pepper now if you want.  Just when the eggs start to look cooked,  stir in the cheese. 
• Set the filling aside while you move on to rolling out the dough. 

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Punch down the dough and cut into 16 equal pieces.
3. Roll each piece into 7 in circle on a floured surface. Top with 1/3 c filling in the center of each dough circle then fold the ends up, then sides up and then lay on your baking sheets with all the folds on the bottom. This seals in the filling and it is not neccessary to wet the edges or spend lots of time crimping either.  
4.  No need to let rise again and Bake for 15-20 minutes or until brown.  
To freeze:
5. Allow to cool on the baking sheet. Once cooled, place in the freezer until frozen. Store in a zip bag in the freezer for 3-6 months. To reheat, place on a paper towel and microwave for 1 1/2-2 minutes.