Meals, bragging, a diaper deal, an oops deal, etc;

good morning everyone,  here are a few things we've been up to

This is our salad-sandwich tray for the week.  Making meals and snacks is so much easier when I take the time to make up of these.  We used it this weekend to make sandwichs and to have diced veggies with our cottage cheese.  During the week,  we will add diced veggies to dinner salad, eat more sandwiches and add diced veggies to tuna for tuna salad.

I'm trying to use up some oddball ingredients from the pantry.  This meal used a can of green enchilada sauce and the enchilada casserole was delicious! I usually make Mexican rice with chicken broth but there are several cartons of turkey broth in the pantry.  I used turkey broth for this batch of rice and I couldn't tell any difference.
I also baked a pouch of cookie mix.
I'm guessing most every pantry has some unused oddball ingredients, right?

I have to brag on my son and daughter in law.  Her mother just retired and they hosted a dinner for her.  They originally planned to have it in their backyard but we had so much rain that day.  So they

 cleared out their living room and set up the dinner there.  

For dessert, Bobby made cinnamon rolls.  This batch was only his 3rd time bake yeast bread and he used my grandparents recipe, from my blog.  Link is on my right sidebar under my grandparents photo. I think he has yeast baking mastered already.

Several weeks ago I read about a Cuties diaper deal on Amazon and I think I saw it on Mineysavingmom.com but I'm not sure.
The deal is to use Subscribe and Save and get 4 bags of Cuties diapers, shipped, for around $6-7 total, depending on the size.  That price is for all 4 bags, not just one.
I read the reviews and skeptically bought it.  We use a lot of diapers in our family.
My first shipment came, all 4 bags in one box, and their quality is fine.  For nights, a heavier diaper might be better, but these are great for daytime.

I have since reordered 16 bags and my daughter did too.

I have to say Amazon changes their prices and availability often.  In the short time I've been watching Cuties diapers, I have seen the price go way up and then way down.  All our orders were placed when the price was low.
If you need diapers, I would suggest you check Amazon daily and buy when the price is low too.
Cuties come all sizes and the packages range from a single bag, to the four packs to boxes.
So if you want to try Cuties, please read the description to make sure you know what your getting.

Grandson Jackson is here the most and he needs his clothes changed often as he is an enthusiastic player and eater. 

I had very few short sleeve shirts here in his size but more than a dozen long sleeve shirts. 

These 3 all had the double sleeve style so I decided it would be quicker and cheaper to just alter these 3. 

No sewing involved -just cutting.  I just cut off the long sleeve under the short sleeve hem.

This took maybe 5 minutes - I think my husband may want the sleeves to use for rags when he stains wood projects.

I bought these water jugs at Walmart in the Easter clearance section for .50 each. 

I hand washed them and then 2 grands used them. 

I put those 2 to wash in the dishwasher. 

But, they must be made of shrinky dink plastic as they shrunk! 

Their bottom label does say hand wash only so the damage was caused by my error. 

Oh well, I'm glad I didn't buy more than 5. 

Crazy, right?  

Crocheted baby dolls

Edited again 2017
A reader asked about the face size for these baby dolls.
I measured and took a picture- I think her face is about 3 inches.



I still don't know where to buy the baby hands and face but if you can find them, the 3 inch faces.

Edited -2016
Pattern Scan

The sellers where I bought the hands and faces are no longer in business and I did many online searches and could not find the parts for sale any where




Aren't these sweet little baby dolls?
My mom crocheted them, just like her mom crocheted them. My mom has one at her house that Grandma made, probably 40 years ago. Whenever mom's cleaning help comes and brings her little girl with her, the little girl liked to play with that doll. Mom wanted to make her one so I went on an internet search to find the plastic face and hands that are needed. They came in lots and I think Mom ended up with 10 or 12 sets.
Now that a granddaughter has come along, Mom made a baby for her. Nina had one of Grandma's crocheted dolls when she was a little girl and she played with it until it was worn out.

Can you see that the baby holds a bottle in one hand and it fits in her mouth, just like a real baby drinking a bottle?
The little blanket that wraps around the baby is attached too.
Mom brought these 3 dolls for 3 other little girls here in Oklahoma.

Want to see our attempt at gardening?

My husband is really enjoying his retirement and the mild end of winter and beginning of spring.
We both get a bit impatient and we put our tomatoe and peppers plants in a raised bed more than a month before the usual last feeezee date.
We've only had to cover them once when a frost was possible.  So far, they are growing and starting to set on buds.

This bed is spinach and romaine.

White potatoes are planted in the 3 tubs and they seem to grow an inch or more everyday.
In the bed is onions.

This tub is radishes.

I think this tub is green beans, or maybe cucumbers.

In the greenhouse, peppers and more tomatoes are just getting started

Around in the front yard, are an assortment of flowering things, just getting started.

These are sunflowers seeds, just starting to sprout through the mulch.

On the other side of the house is a new floer bed. 

Grandpa and Jackson picked out a big assortment of bargain plants from the Lowes markdown section- azalea bushes, dianthus, marigolds, portulaca and some vinca.  

Jackson picked out the flamingo 

Grandpa is buying $1 bags of soils and mulch at Lowes as they have it.
Our mulch is different colors but I'm not particular enough to care.

All those photos were taken Thursday.

Then  we got some rain,
Actually a lot of rain. We didn't have any damage from it and all the plants seem fine now and just enjoying their big drink.

Easter, my husband's project and CVS

Hello everyone,  I'm sorry to have taken such a long blogging break.  Spring is just a busy time, right?

We had a lovely Easter with almost all our family.  First was church, and then to our home for lunch, visiting and egg coloring,

Baby RJ is growing and quite a charmer ❤

His big sister Charlie is a bundle of smiles and activity. 

We didn't plan it but Aqua was the color of the day for many of us.  

This is baby RJ, sitting with my dad and cousin Jackson.  Jackson doesn't talk a lot but he does know anyone smaller than him is a baby and "baby" is one of his words.

There was no outdoor egg hunting because of rain but the grands had a great time coloring eggs.
That's the 6 oldest grands around this table with my brother and his girlfriend behind the 2 grands that  needed the most supervising.

This picture sums up what 2 almost two year olds are like - mostly just a blur 😂

My son has been re-doing his work office for awhile.  His window had a basic miniblind that he didn't like and he didn't want drapes.
He asked his dad to make this window cover - it's various widths of wood, stained in an assortment of stains, then attached to a frame and hung over the window.  

I think it turned out so nice.  Our son and his boss both like it a lot too. 

I haven't been to CVS in a few weeks but I had $20 in extracarebucks from a previous visit that were going to expire soon.  

I went planning to buy just 3 packs of Cottonelle that were on a deal. 

Well. My store was out of Cottonelle so I looked my in store coupons and the add and did a different deal. 

On the Scrubbing Bubbles, I used a $2/2 coupon on each pair.
I had a $2 instore any toilet paper coupon on the Total Home.
By purchasing $30 on these products, I got back a $10 extracarebucks for next time.
I used a $1 on any chips on the cheese balls and a $2 on any greeting card for the card.

My total was about $36 before coupons and went down to $3.22 after coupons.  

So even when deals don't go as planned, I still think it's worth it to shop deals at CVS.  

I know lots of you use cheaper, homemade cleaners, but I was not happy with them.  We have hard, heavy on lime water, and it needs extra help.  

The reason we celebrate today