Cricut Challenge #1 for 2014

One of my goals for 2014 is to do at least one Cricut challenge each month.  Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog hosts a challenge every week but realistically, I probably can't do it every week.

I had fun with this weeks which was to use a sentiment on a project. I dressed up my homekeeping notebook and used a new cartridge called The Country Life. 

The paper is from Anna Griffin, a multisheet package bought years ago. 

 I think the little pennants with cut outs are so sweet. 

Thank you FCCB for hosting the challenges.  I've had my Cricut machine for several years but have used it very little.  I am hoping 2014 will be the year that I Cricut more and maybe move from beginner to intermediate. 

 

All of the cuts were made with The Country Life cartridge except for the framed to-do list, I used From My Kitchen for it. 

 

linking up with Inspire Me Monday at Create With Joy

a temporary fix that is almost 5 years old and still looking good

http://ahomewithasmile.blogspot.com/2009/08/monday-to-do-list-quick-fix.html

Almost 5 years ago, I was cleaning the hall bathroom and noticed the white shower curtain bar was not too white anymore. It was chipped and had rust spots it.  I wanted to get a new one but chose to just refresh that old one with some spray paint until I could go shopping, 

Surprisingly, that quick paint job is still holding up and matches my new toile shower curtain just fine. 

In the bottom picture, the curtain has been ironed and the black ties added to each ring.

My advice - if you get a new shower curtain, iron it before you attach it to the shower liner with 12 rings and ribbon ties, just saying! 

I take most all my photos with an iPad and the lighting makes the colors look different. The curtain is black and cream toile, the wall paint is pale yellow. 

Crazy people frugal doings

First, I do not think taking way too many condiment packages is the right thing to do.

And I did not take these. 

My son treated us all to Olive Garden take out over Thanksgiving. He said the server that sacked up his  order was especially enthusiastic and added handfuls of grated cheese packets to his sacks even though he did NOT ask for them,   The Olive Garden Take Out

I guess a few us used some of the cheese when we ate that time. But the rest of the packets ended up in my pantry. I found them this week and decided I should do something with it, 

I got out a pint jar, funnel and scissors. Then I opened and shock them all out. 

I ended up with about a cup of grated Romano that I will use in future recipes. 

I am not advising to take extras, but if you do end up with extra packets, use them, 

Plans and Goals for 2014

My plans and goals for 2014, in no particular order at all though I did try to group them by topics

Keep records in homekeeping notebook and put a copy of my goals in the front of it  to remind me

Menu plan a week ahead and try at least 2 new recipes each month. I've already tried 1, Lena's soup

Sew at least 6 quilts with stuff in the craft room- I will need to buy batting and am wondering if I should buy a giant roll or would it be nuisance to work with and store.  Any advice from anyone who has ever bought a whole roll of batting? 

Quilt # 1 in progress in photo at bottom

Cricut- follow the challenge blog and do at least one challenge a month

Pinterest,  like Tammy plans to, DO at least one Pin every week, especially when I find pins that the grands would like to do,  get the stuff ready before they get here. 

As in 2014, clean out every drawer, cabinet and closet in this house at least once.  Less is More :) 

Make some  gifts.  look on Pinterest of course!

Health wise- eat more fruit, aim for 2 fresh fruits a day, I buy lots of fruit and serve it to my husband and grands but I don't eat as much of it as I should

Walk at least 5 out of 7 days -aim for 10000 steps

Bible study every day - I mostly read and do 2 or 3 devotion series on the YouVersion Bible App. 

Swagbucks everyday -make goal #1 everyday and shoot for goal #2 on days when Swags has many quick earners.

take time every week to watch one old movie or TV show 1962 or older - just because I like them. 

Make baked treats for husband's work once a month

Now that we have a gas stove,  get out the cast iron skillets and try cooking with them. 

blog 15 times a month

Financial goals-

I have 3 very specific goals but decided to not list them here. I have them in my notebook but for privacy and because we all have different incomes and expenses, I just don't feel confortable listing them,  

Stay with our budget and there should be more than enough to accomplish these goals and increase our savings.

There are several financial choices we have made that lower our costs for watching TV without a cable bill, low cost cell phones, easy way to buy gasoline and keep track of that expense and using the envelope system of groceries and personal spending  I will be sharing these in future January posts. 

I thought this might be a 14 in 2014 list but it ended up a bit longer.  
and No,  I probably wont accomplish all of them but I like lists and plans and having ideas in written form helps keep me on track.  

Hopefully I will get lots done. 

Do you make goals or do you call them resolutions or do you just wing it?

2014 Pinterest #1 done!

Paper towel tubes, cut to different lengths, taped to the freezer.

Braeden says it is fun. 

You can't go wrong with pop poms and little bugs. 

51 more to go........

Another good soup with thanks to Lena

Lena writes a really sweet, frugal and helpful blog called On My Side Of The World. She posted this soup recipe recently and I made it yesterday. I had thought we would just have the last of the smoked turkey soil but when I checked, there was only one serving left.

I remembered this soup and it was perfect since I had not thawed any meat for supper.
I like meatless meals best but the rest of my family think meals usually need meat so my husband had the last of the turkey soup and I had this yummy and easy soup.

Cabbage and Bean Soup

I made it just like Lena's recipe except I substituted a pinch of sage and Rosemary for the marjoram and I had to leave out the white beans as we had neither cooked or canned white beans or marjoram.  Next time,  I will add the beans. 

This is a really nice soup, light and made with basic kitchen ingredients. 

 

chicken broth, carrots, onions, potatoes, cabbage, a little butter, some spices and beans

 

I will be making this soup again! 

Thank you Lena. 

Happy New Year and a new home record keeping notebook

Isn't he silly? I got him from  a thrift store years ago.

My kids think he is creepy, my grandson said he is an elf, but whatever he is, he makes me smile. 

This last year may of been my most fly-by-the-seat-of-my pants, unorganized year ever. I prefer to plan things ahead and have time to think about choices and decisions. So I am really hoping that 2014 will be smoother. 

I tend to write lots of lists on spiral notebooks and then they get messy or switched around, with no real plan, just what I write in them.  I've seen on several blogs about homekeeping notebooks and decided I need to do one of those. 

I shopped online and at one store, seeing if I could buy a readymade one, but none of the ones I looked at had just the things in them that I need to plan and keep track of. 

So, I made my own!  First I bought a notebook and a package of 8 dividers, but when I was looking for my page protectors at home, I found an old notebook that would work fine. I returned the first notebook for a refund. 

 Not sure I like this cover but it is what I used in 2008, the last time I had a home keeping notebook.

Mine has 8 sections so far, mainly because my dividers came in a package of 8. 

The sections may change as the year goes on.

My notebook has 2 pockets on my sides, I knew it would need pockets. 

My 8 sections

1. bills, I used a printout from organizedhomelife.com called annual bill schedule, with a page protector behind it to hold the bills needing attention. Thankfully, we don't have stacks of bills every month and I pay most bills online so this section is not big. Some families will need a notebook dedicated just to their bills. 

2. birthdays   I used a printout from organizedChristmas.com and filled it in with family birthdays and anniversaries by the month. My father in law's birthday is in a few days so I noted beside his name what gift we sent. 

3. Holidays- this section will be to keep menu plans and any special things I hope to do. So far, it is just a page protector holding our 2013 Thanksgiving and Christmas menus. 

4. Kitchen- I put my freezer inventory here and used a printable at organizedhomelife.com for it. 

5. Home receipts- another page protector that will hold them and some lined paper to keep totals. 

I know this ticket is dated 2013 but it is part of my current spending period. 

6. Daily- I printed off 53 pages from TheConfidentMom.com, one for each week. I can write things for each day as well as plans for the week. It also has a spot for menus. 

7. Create- where I will plan and keep track of crafting and sewing projects,

8. Home- for projects and needs 

There are oodles of free and pay to print printables on the sites I mentioned and on many other sites. 

This system is what I think will work for me and it looks a lot tidier than my old spirals. 

I am also pleased that the only money spent on it was buying the new dividers, and the printer ink.  It is always nice when things come together in a frugal way.

What is your system for keeping up with these things?

Pleasant productive day

I woke up early as usual and got my normal morning routine things done- fixing husband's work lunch and morning coffee, doing my Bible study and earning some Swagbucks. 

Then I went through my coupons and the newspaper ads from yesterday to plan out my errands, 

Before I shopped, I did some small sewing jobs like turning our old and worn hand towels into cleaning rags by cutting them in half and zig-zagging the raw edges. 

H

I added some length to another pair of jeans for the long legged grand daughter. I used purple polka dots to go with the purple stitching on the pockets. 

This baby shirt was a gift and had a design on the front that we didn't care for. It is a nice heavy weight shirt so to make it wearable, I put a fabric appliqué over that design. 

One of my errands was to stop at CVS for a prescription refill. CVS had Christmas, gifts and toys marked down 75%.  I got a few toys for future gift and also got this cute retro design hot air popcorn popper for $5

LED lantern was $2.50 at the CVS clearance. It will be perfect to use in our tornado safe room. 

This cubby shelf is from Walmart and was bought for our play room, because don't we all want to get organized for the new year? With just a few hiccups, I even managed to assemble it all by myself.  

Tomorrow, I hope to get the toys put in it. 

Smoked Turkey Soup

Our lunch today was so good!

For Thanksgiving, my family was at our home. I did a lot of the cooking and my brother brought a big smoked ham and smoked turkey. The meats were cooked at a restaurant on the campus of the university in our town and were both delicious. 

I've made turkey soup a number of times but always with a baked turkey, never a smoked one. 

The Thanksgiving turkey came with a recipe to make soup so I wraped up and froze the carcas after my husband carved it.

I did not read the recipe until after I had already simmered the carcus with water and celery, then strained and chilled it so I could de-fat it. According to the recipe, I was supposed to sauté onions and cook the turkey with onions and spices.

I ended up just heating the broth and cooking 1 cup of rice in my 2 quarts or so smoked turkey broth. 

Then I added 2 jars of Red Gold brand medium salsa (I bought it really cheap about a year ago and still have 8 jars) some leftover smoked turkey from our Christmas Eve turkey that my husband smoked, some frozen corn and a can of drained pinto beans. 

We ate it with a little grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips. 

From now on, I will save all turkey bones, whether baked or smoked, to make broth.  

This smoked turkey soup really tasted good on this cold, windy Sunday. It was thrifty, easy and had a lot of good nutrition in it too.

In the top picture is the leftover soup in a half gallon jar- I think I can have smoked turkey soup for lunch all week! 

Verse from Today

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, (Exodus 34:6 ESV)

Christmas Highlights

My sons showed up in matching sweaters, but not matching hairstyles or

Matching boots. 

Fun gifts

Sweet family time with great grandparents and great uncles and lots of cousin playtime too.

Christmas Day food 

7 layer bean dip, fresh fruit platter, veggie platter with dip, triple crock pot filled with Rotel Velveeta dip, meatballs, and little smokey sausages in barbecue sauce

And of course, lots of cookies, some candy and a pound cake. 

After Christmas

My daughter got this gingerbread house kit on clearance at Walmart for $3. My brother, the wreath maker, put it together with his great nieces, Elizabeth and Andie. Elizabeth was interested in making the house look pretty but Andie was just interested in eating the candy trims.

Old Santa and New Santa

My mom made the felt and cloth Santa about 50 years ago, he looks pretty good after all this time I think. 

This year, she crocheted the outfit for a new Santa doll. He is plastic and I bought the undressed doll at Hobby Lobby at a clearance sale. 

Mom made his outfit with supplies she had on hand. Can you see Santa's rhinestone belt buckle? New Santa has a bit more bling than old Santa. He also has eyeglasses.

That's how we had our family time here in Oklahoma. Our decorations are still out and will probably stay out for another week or so. 

I hope you all a happy Christmas, however you celebrated. 

Cut out Christmas cookies

That sugar cookie recipe I mixed up and goofed up over the weekend was baked today, the recipe called for 3 cups of powdered sugar but I didn't read the recipe right and put in 2 cups of table sugar. 

They turned out just fine- I may even just change the recipe and make them this way every Christmas, 

Trees and Santas

Cutters are by Aunt Chicks - an Oklahoma company now called Grammas Cutters

We like our sugar cookies with lots of homemade frosting and coconut.

My helpers- almost 5 year old Gavin was a help, spreading frosting and dipping the cookie tops into coconut and sprinkles. 17 month old Braeden kept us company and sure enjoyed his cookie, but he wasn't much help this year- in time I think he will though, 

My mother and aunts first made these cut out cookies more than 50 years ago. We have them every year and I hope we always do. 

I have posted lots of desserts and sweets lately, but this will probably be the last sugar laden post for awhile.  Once Christmas celebrating is over, we will back to eating lots of salads and fruits. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Staycation in Oklahoma and Christmas baking

We are still on our stay around home vacation and it has been fun.

We were in Texas and Arkansas last weekend visiting our parents. 

Monday, we took a leisurely drive home and stopped at this Amish store in Atoka.

We had lunch in Coalgate at this small, old fashioned diner. 

Tuesday, we took a day trip to Chouteau to a much bigger Amish store.

It is a cheese store, lunch diner, country store and bakery all in one building.  We did some souvenir shopping there including some canned goods, bread and cinnamon rolls from the bakery, a few spices and an assortment of kitchen tools that are all made in the USA, except for the plastic knife.
that pretty doily was made by my mom

Some of the canned goods from the Amish store. These will be on the relish plates next week.

We had a delicious supper in Sand Springs at this small Italian place called Napolis.

Another trip on Wednesday- we had lunch at The Cattlemans.  We also wandered around the shopping part of the stockyards, then drove to a new outlet mall in Oklahoma City and finished up Christmas shopping.

One more trip on Thursday, it was my birthday and I was treated to a manicure, pedicure and also had my hair done at my daughter in law's salon.  Then we had lunch with our son and grand daughter. 

I really did have my hair done and it looked great at the shop but it was just windy that day so you can't really tell I this photo. 

That night, more of our children came to our home for supper.  I made a salad and cooked frozen pizzas.  It was a happy birthday for me all day long. 

When we woke up Friday morning, we talked about going somewhere, but we decided to just stay in our town. We did a few errands and my husband did a couple little fix it jobs around our house. 

Traveling is fun and I am glad we went, but I am truly a homebody- happy to be home now. My husband doesn't have to go back to work until after Christmas. 

Besides home repairs, he is staying busy picking out pecans. 

All week long we had pleasant warm weather, except for the wind. 

But it turned very cold yesterday with freezing rain last night and today. 

So today was a perfect day to stay in the kitchen and work on Christmas food. 

Salad dressing- just Good Seasons made with balsamic vinegar but it is family favorite

Salad crackers- oyster crackers seasoned with dry ranch dressing mix, dill, onion and garlic.

A double batch of Mexican wedding cookies

Oatmeal coconut cookies

In the top left are Shaker Spice cookies 

Peanut chocolate clusters- I used a jar of salted peanuts, about 16 ounces,  1 bag milk chocolate chips, 1.2 bag semi sweet chips and 1/2 bag white chocolate chips.  I melted the chocolate over low in double boiler made of a small stock pot with water in it and a Pyrex bowl with little handles for the top.

I also mixed up a double batch of sugar cookie dough to chill to make rolled cookies- but I goofed up and did not realized it until they were already mixed up.  The recipe called for 3 cups of powdered sugar but I used 2 cups of regular table sugar mistake.  Sweetness wise,  I think it will be about the same but I am not sure of the texture.  So,  next week,  I will bake a few samples and see if they taste and bake right.  If not,  I will start over.  Frosted sugar cookies with coconut are a family tradition.  

Below is part of the big batch of cracker toffee candy- so easy and delicious, just be sure to spread out the cooked butter- brown sugar mixture as thin as possible so you have thin crispy toffee, and not thick hard toffee that could break a tooth.  I use the recipe in the link but I use enough cracker to cover a 10 by 15 pan that is lined with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Except for a few left out for snacks, all the treats are now packed in pretty tins and in the fridge or freezer to stay fresh for next week. 

so what's cooking in your kitchen?