Spring Fever

Does anyone in North America not have spring fever? It's been a long hard winter and I am sure glad it is spring.  This is our weather forecast, and I must brag on Oklahoma meteorologists,  I think they are very accurate, maybe the best in the world. I don't always like their forecasts but they are very dependable.

With this warm forecast, I think it is probably safe to let my tomato and zinnia seeds move out of their egg shells and be transplanted into pots outside.

The cherry tomato plants are in these big planters, outside but also sheltered by the pergola roof. When they are bigger, we will move the pots into full sun. For now, they will be protected from any heavy rain we might get.

Zinnias are now in these pots, and for now, right beside the house for a little extra warmth and protection. 

For thrift and cuteness, I really like using egg shells for the starting pots. 

Still in the house, are some tiny petunias and moss rose growing in more eggs. I am also going to start some heirloom tomato seeds I bought in Branson.  

What is your weather like?  I hope winter is finally over for everyone!  

Groove Book

Have you heard of GrooveBook? It is a very easy and thrifty way to get prints of all those photos on your phone, PC, Mac, IPad, android device.

Groove Book will print up to 100 of your photos and ship them to you in about 12 days for just $2.97. 

This is a picture of my first GrooveBook.  They hope customers will print a book every month but there is no obligation. 

I liked the idea so much, I also had the same book sent to my parents and my in laws.  And I plan to do it every month. 

If you look close at the spine, the date of each photo is printed there. 

The photo quality is good, not as good as more expensive photo processing, but more than good enough for every day snapshots. 

If you want to try it, you can get your first GrooveBook  free if you use my code OLIVER537

It may benefit me if anyone uses the code but I looked and can't see what. 

I used the GrooveBook app on my iPad and it was very fast and easy. Much easier and cheaper than any other way I have printed and shipped photos. 

http://groovebook.com

CVS deals and a savings tip

Hi everyone- my husband and I took a last minute trip to Branson MO, partly to celebrate our wedding anniversary and partly because we just needed a vacation.  We had a great time and hope to go back in the fall and we would like to take our grandchildren when they are a few years older.  Branson is very fun, family oriented town.

So,  I will be doing the same frugal things with another vacation as my goal.

This week, when you scan your CVS card at the scanner,  you will get a coupon to get one roll of CVS paper towels free.
CVS also has a super  deal on laundry detergent.  Wisk,  All and Snuggle are Buy 1 Get 2 Free~
limit 6.
I think the Wisk 24 tab bags were $8.99 each. (So you get 3 for about $9.)
I used 4 Wisk $1.50 coupons that were in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago.  I could of used 6 coupons as I bought 6 Wisk but I only had 4 coupons, there are also recent All and Snuggle coupons. 
After coupons, my total was $13.02
I  used ECBs from a previous purchase for this purchase and paid for  the tax with a CVS gift card.

I have 2 CVS gift cards right now.  One was for $50 and I earned it through Mypoints.com

The other one is for $27 and I got it when I returned some defective reading glasses.  I had saved the sales receipt but did not have the tag from the glasses so a cash refund was not allowed, but the allowed gift card was fine with me.  

I've blogged that we buy and budget our gasoline with a Walmart prepaid card.  I bought a new card at the first of March for $200 and the first time my husband tried to use it,  just before our Branson trip, that card wouldn't scan at the pump, even with the attendants help.   Thankfully, I had the sales receipt from the card purchase and I will take the card to Walmart later and get it exchanged for working card.

I've been putting my receipts  my homekeeping notebook and plan to continue.  Having those 2 receipts saved $227!  

Mid-March catch up

I am fine and still here- just have not been visiting or writing blogs much. But I have no plans to stay away from the blog neighborhood - just took a little break

I have done very little shopping but I was in Walmart today and a worker in the children's department told me I should look in the buggy where she has just marked down an assortment of things.

I didn't dig through it all but I did pick out a nice assortment of socks for all my grandchildren, 

The packs with 2 or 3 pairs were 50 cents each. 

The packs with 6-10 pairs were $1.

9 of our family members were here Saturday. This is the lunch I put together. 

Homemade honey oat and white sandwich buns

A meat plate with cheese, sliced ham and chicken salad

Sandwich toppings -sliced onions, tomatoes, lettuce

A veggie plate with dip 

A fresh fruit plate 

And a peach crisp- not in the photo
most all the ingredients for this meal were purchased at Aldi- I am so thankful for this affordable and easy to shop at grocery store

I've baked lots of sandwich buns but have never got the hot dog buns quite right. But I've baked them twice lately and have been a lot happier with them. When I cut out the dough, it seems the unbaked unrisen dough for the hotdog buns needs to start out just a tad bigger than the hot dog. The dough will rise quite a bit and doing it like this gives a bun that is just the right size to hold the hot dog. 

All 5 of my grands at one time - this was at Andie's 2nd birthday party. The other 75 or so party goers were trying to get these 5 to smile for the photo. But instead of smiling, I think the grands were overwhelmed. So, instead of their usual smiling faces, this photo kind of looks like a group baby mugshot.

The seeds growing in eggshells are doing great. If next weeks weather forecast is warm, I am going to move the tomatoes to the outdoor planters then. 

I've been saving most of my eggshells and planted flower seeds in 28 more yesterday.

The tomatoes are the tallest. 

Our country friends with chickens are selling eggs after a dry spell in the winter. 

They have the nicest eggs with bright orange yolks and the shells are light blue and shades of brown.

I am so happy to have good eggs again!

Handwork  - I've been working on a gingham check cover for a tissue box, made with yarn and plastic canvas. Once I got the pattern started, it is almost a no brainer. Sometimes it is nice to just work on something and not have to concentrate much. 

I've been quiet because I have just been sad. A neighbor  passed away unexpectedly from pneumonia.  

Also, a very good friend was killed, so unexpectedly, in a 104 car pileup in Colorado.  She was a very dear, sweet lady.  

This is one of  the songs that was played at her funeral,  and it really sums up her attitude- Love God,  love your family

I am thankful to of known both of them but I do miss them and I know their families are just heartbroken.

 I am also thankful to know so many of you sweet bloggers through the nice  comments you leave  here and through your blogs.  

Hopefully, next week,  things will be more normal here and I will be back to regular blog writing and visiting. 

Weekend Sewing

This sweet little baby doll cradle was handed down to Grand daughter Elizabeth from some church friends. It has already been played with by 2 generations.  The wood bed was in great shape but it needed new bedding.

The old bedding, kind of eww, right?  But I am glad I had the old bedding to use as a pattern.

Sewing up the new bedding was easy. I had pink polka dot and solid white squares left from Elizabeth's 1st birthday quilt. I used them for the quilt and pillow. The mattress is covered with striped vintage sheet fabric. 

I think she will like it. :)

Weekend cooking

Our weather is so changing.  We had snow at the first of this week, then some warm sunshiny days and today has been cold and rainy. 
Today was a good day to do some baking.
I tried a new to me cookie recipe,  for those famous New York City Black and Whites. I've never been to NYC and have no plans to go so I figured I should just bake some myself.
I baked them exactly as the recipe was written,  I used my large Pampered Chef scoop and ended up with 10 big cookies.  

They are really good,  the cookie is soft like cake but is still sturdy enough to eat with your hand like a regular cookie.  We liked them a lot and I will make them again but will probably make them smaller.  They really do taste like something from a fancy bakery but they are easy to make with basic kitchen ingredients.
Have any of you had a real Black and White cookie in New York City? I am wondering how much they sell for there. I estimate the ingredients in my recipe cost about $1.50 for all 10 big cookies. 

I used the bread machine to mix up the dough for our everyday sandwich buns. 
one of my goals for 2014 is to make all our bread and so far, I have.  It tastes better and cost so much less. 

Then I mixed up a second batch of dough but increased the sugar to 1/2 cup and added chopped raisins and pecans.  When the dough had risen, I rolled it out like cinnamon rolls and spread it with soft butter and cinnamon sugar. It was enough dough to make a standard size loaf and a small loaf of cinnamon raisin bread. 

 

my husband is shelling more pecans, on the thirds.  From this current batch,  he has cleaned 8 gallons.

 

I guess I should be looking for more pecan recipes  :) 

 

what are you baking?

Hanger dilemma

I need to clean out our closet but am waiting for the seasons to change. When that happens, we should have more than enough hangers after I clean out unused things.

But until then, we have a hanger shortage. 

I like the older plastic hangers that used to be a dozen for a $1 or so, but I went to buy some a few months ago and was unhappy to see how thin the tubes are on them now. It seems manufacturers will save a penny just anywhere. 

I could tell those new hangers were too thin and would not hold up at all. I did buy a few of the thicker ones that are sturdy enough for jeans or jackets, but they are about $2 for just 3. 

So, for months, on laundry day, I have been scrambling to find a hanger for every clean garment. 

We had a few sturdy wire hangers so I decided to just make them do. 

I used fabric glue and scrap fabric cut into about 3/4 inch strips. 

Then, while I watched TV one evening, I just wrapped those hangers until they looked pretty. 

Wrapping them gives them a little cushion to help prevent hangar wrinkles and enough traction that clothes should not easily slip off. 

If you are a crocheter, you could make yarn covers. 

This was very frugal as I just used things on hand. I think older children would like making them for their own closets or for gifts too.

Passing on traditions

Granddaughter Elizabeth was here on Monday, partly because her school was cancelled for snow and also to visit my parents who were here for 4 days.

We needed another treat so I mixed up cinnamon roll dough in the bread machine. Then Elizabeth helped roll out and fill the cinnamon rolls. This photo is while we frosted them. 

Elizabeth likes to say "getting messy is the funnest part of cooking" 

She didn't learn that from me, I am mostly a neat cook. But cooking easy things like cinnamon rolls with little ones is especially fun. 

I plan on doing it anytime we can. Childhood goes so so fast. 

Frugal February -last post

We have company coming and will need extra snacks.  I am trying to use up pantry ingredients.
So,  I made a small batch of homemade buttercream frosting and spread in on a 1/2 of graham crackers for homemade cookie sandwiches- they are delicious and one of my dad's favorites.

Made a new recipe with melted white chocolate chips, pretzels, craisins and pecans.
Sweet N Salty snack Mix

there was 1 1/2 very ripe banana in the banana bowl,  my banana recipe calls for more but I used what I had and baked the banana bread recipe into 15 muffins,  they are fine even with less banana

we had this meatless entree last night, it is really good but next time, I am going to double the veggies to 8 cups.

Easy Noodle Stir Fry

Grocery Budget for February- had $101 left over

Gas Budget- we use a prepaid Walmart card and I don't know how it happened but we had $160 left out of the $200 we budget every month.  It has been so cold and we have stayed home a lot,  but I am wondering if we bought gas a time or two and it didn't get subtracted..... who knows.  I have been keeping records of some things but not that

Not frugal things

Husbands eye surgeries- thankfully his work insurance will cover most of it but it is a new calendar year and we had to pay the deductible.  But he is doing great and can see so much better even with just one eye done so far.  We are thinking his future eye glass prescriptions may be less expensive than his previous very strong and complicated prescription.  

My splurge

I have tried all kinds of things to get my fingernails to be strong and grow but nothing has worked.

So on Saturday,  I got my first ever fake nails and and polish at a salon.  I got short ones as I still want to sew and type and still need to do housework.  

I am very happy with them,  not a break or chip even after a week!  

fake nails are not thrifty and I know about the health questions,  but on this issue,  I plan to just go

with pretty nails, which I have never had before, and enjoy them. 

Joining up with 

Finances on Friday

She has done great in February, only buying dairy and using her pantry and freezer to keep her family of  6 fed. 

February Cricut project and advice to prevent colds

Wow, you all gave me some great advice about cold prevention.

I will buy some odorless garlic and VitD3 today and am also going to look into getting a humidifier. Our air has been extremely dry, so dry that I have not worn my 2 favorite tops that have some polyester content as they just cling and crackle from the static electricity, 

I forgot to mention I have been taking Cold-eeze tabs and this last cold has been very short, just a few days compared to 10-14 days of the others. We have also been taking probiotics for 2 weeks before this last cold hit us. 

Thank you all so much !

One of my 2014 resolutions was to make at least one Cricut project every month. This one is just barely making it in Feb. 

I have a stash of these sturdy Folgers cans. 

I took one of the big ones and added a few Cricut letters, some scrapbook paper and ModPodge and made it into a HotWheels storage container.

It is really simple but it looks nice in the toy room.

I also decorated the other 2 big ones to use to hold the compost scraps before they go to the tumbler. But they are even simple than the car one. They look better than an old coffee cab but not good enough for a photo. 

when the sleeping grandbaby wakes up, we are going to do a couple errands,  then I hope to finish my frugal February posts later today and join up with with FOF at Renaissance

Update on the egg shell plants

These were planted about two weeks ago. One side is all cherry tomatos and I mostly only planted one seed in each cup - I don't like thinning out baby plants. 10 of them have sprouts.

The other side is assorted flowers and they sprouted about the same. 

I have an assortment of saved seeds, I am going to replant the unsprouted cups and hope for more plants. 

The reason for no blog posts this week - I have another cold! I've lost count, this is either #6 or #7 of this school year. I am eating right, drinking Emergen-C every day, washing my hands- etc. I don't know what else to do ( not seeing my germ spreading grandchildren is not an option I would choose at this point) 

This current cold is milder and seems to be shorter than any of the others so I am thankful for that. 

I am listening if anyone has advice 

Child size pajama pants from an adult pajama top

My daughter was given pajamas, her mother in law got them as a gift but didn't like them. My daughter liked just the pants to wear for lounging. Her daughter likes the pants too and asked for some just like them.

Since she has seen me  repair, alter  and hack so many other things, she brought me the shirt and a pair of the current size pajama pants for my granddaughter.  She asked if I could make a little pair of pants from them.

I turned the pants inside out to use the seam line for my cutting guide.

It wouldn't fit quite this way, so I turned it around and that way was fine. 

The outside of the leg along the middle of the shirt, the crotch at the sleeve seam and the waist along the top of the shirt.

   

It fit perfectly and saved me lots of sewing to just use the shirt hem as the pajama pants hem.

Close up of the reused hem line.

The fabric was a new type to me, it looks like satin on the front side and the wrong side is brushed, almost like flannel.,

The finished pants- the pocket is a little crooked but that is just where it ended up. I don't think a 3 year old will care one bit.

Close up of the fabric -this would be a good I spy quilt fabric except it is not cotton. 

In case you are wondering, the top was a ladies size large and the pants are a 5 T. 

It just took about 15-20 minutes to make these. I cut them out on the dining table while baby grandson ate his finger food lunch, then I put him in the bounce seat while I sewed. 

Have you altered or hacked anything like this lately?

 

 

2014 Quilt #3

I first heard of I Spy quilts maybe 10-12 years ago, way before I had any grandchildren.

Each block of an I spy quilt uses novelty fabric and the fabric gets fussy cut so the design is featured in each block. 

The template I used is a 3 3/8 inch plexiglass square, which is small. If I was starting another I Spy quilt from scratch, I would use a 4 or 5 inch square. Some of the fabrics I would of liked to use had designs that were just too big. 

Anyway, I've been collecting novelty fabrics all this time and I thought there were finally enough to finish cutting out squares and sew up a quilt.

Every square is something different.

This one is for granddaughter Andie who will be 2 very soon.

It is all machine sewn and quilted. The backing has fish and mermaids riding dolphins. 

Little Andie was born early at 5 pounds  and took a helicopter ride to a bigger hospital on her first day of life. She spent a few days in the children's hospital. 

beautiful Andie

Then once she got home, she has never stopped growing and thriving.

No one would ever guess our tall almost 2 year old Andie was a Premmie.

Some of my  next quilts will be more I Spy quilts for Andie's cousins, JJ and Braeden. 

 

 

linking to the party at CreativeJewishMom.Com - craft schooling Sunday

CrazyMomQuilts.BlogSpot.com

sewcanshe.com

Frugal February- homemade sandwich buns

Linking to Friday Finances at Renaissance
I like to make bread and am trying to make 100% of our bread in 2014 at home.  Except for a tiny free loaf of Sicilian bread we got last week from a new food truck business,  we have had only homebaked bread.

We like loaves of bread but they do get dry really fast so for sandwiches, we prefer homemade buns.  They seem to stay soft and less crumbley for a lot longer than sliced bread.

This is how I make them......
I mix and knead the dough in a bread machine.  It can also be mixed in a heavy mixer or by hand.
Then I take it out after the kneading is done and let it rise in a big oiled bowl.   In this picture, that is 2 batches of dough.  As soon as the first batch is ready, I put the dough in a big bowl and start a second batch. 

Let the dough rise until it is doubled or more in size. 

Then roll out the dough on a floured surface- maybe 1/2 -3/4 inches thick.  This just depends on how thick you like your sandwich buns.
I have 2 round cutters,  I think the bigger one is 4 inches and the other one  is a bit less than 3 inches. 

Cut out the buns and put them on baking sheets. 
I use well-seasoned stone ware. 
if you bake them on a plain metal cookie sheet,  you will need to grease the sheet or those buns will stick while baking. 

Let the buns rise for about 1/2 an hour and then bake.  No matter the recipe,  I bake mine at 375 degrees and check after 15 minutes.  Sometimes they take just a few more minutes to get golden brown.

Let the buns cool- you can put them on a cooling rack if your prefer.  I don't usually but sometimes I do. 

When cool, each bun gets sliced with a bread knife.  I slice almost all the way but leave about 1/2 inch unsliced.  That way,  you can still open them up but the tops and bottoms don't get separated.

 Bag up the buns and freeze the ones that won't be eaten in a day or two.

When you need bread,  just take out however many you need.  They thaw quickly. 

This works for small households like we are now.  When we have company and when our children were younger,  fresh homebaked bread was eaten way too fast to even think about freezing it.

I think most any  bread recipe that is good as a loaf can also be rolled out and baked as good sandwich buns.

Here is how I make them with fresh ground whole wheat.

My Grandparents Bread recipe when I first blogged about it

they used this recipe to make loaves of bread as well as lots of buns for sandwiches

Grandpa's Bread2 cups warm water
1 package yeast
1 t salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil - they used Wesson or Crisco oil - I used melted butter
about 6 cups of flour - they used all-purpose flour, I used 2 cups of whole wheat and 4 cups of unbleached
dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Then stir in the salt, oil and most of the flour. Mix well, then knead until you have a smooth dough. They kneaded it all by hand, I let my Kitchenaid mixer do most of the work or I would make a 1/2 recipe at a time let the bread machine do the kneading.
Let dough rise in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel, until at least double in size.
Punch down. Divide in 2. Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans.
Let rise again, until at least double.
Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. 

Our current favorite bun recipe

1 C water

1 egg well beaten

2 T butter

2 T sugar

3 T dry milk

1 t salt

3 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 t yeast

add all to the breadmaker bowl in this order and set on knead cycle- check midway through mixing as you may need  to add 2-3 T more flour. 

This Honey Oatmeal Bread at AllRecipes.com also makes delicious buns but I have not been baking it for a few months as our youngest grandchild really likes homemade bread but he can't have honey until after his first birthday. 

Where we live,  flour is cheapest at Aldi.  Yeast is cheapest at Sams.  It comes in a twin pack of vacuum packed 1 pound bags.  I keep the yeast in the freezer, the opened one gets pour in a jar with a tight lid.  It keeps in freezer for a long time too and will still be active way past that date they put on the packages. 

So,  go bake some buns when you have time.  They are delicious and easy and your family will be so happy.  And you will spend much less on homemade buns than what store buns would cost.