Do Stuff Monday #4

Whats on my to-do list this week? Not many chores as I am in the middle of an unusual grands here everyday and staying with me stretch of days. I enjoy the grands so much and I know these days will not last much longer so I am adjusting my homekeeping things.

I did quite a few things Sunday evening - all the laundry, changed sheets, grocery shopped, etc- that I would normally do during the week. 

I also cleaned the floors and one bathroom before my grandson got here this morning.

My husband grocery shopped with me yesterday at Aldi and we bought quite a bit of fresh produce.

I want to be sure and use them all so just to keep myself reminded, I wrote down the ingredients that I need to incorporate in meals this week. 

Supper tonight will be   Crispy Chicken Tenders with this new recipe that I made last week to use some the rice crispy cereal that I also used in those yummy granola bars. Also the last of the French bread, watermelon, and green beans. 

My grandson and I have already done the errands. He is happy riding in the shopping cart and so many other shoppers talk to him and comment on his curly hair. 

We stopped at Dollar Tree and got more Bacos that my husband requested.

Walmart - dill relish in a giant squeeze bottle. My husband and son are dill relish fans and I think they will very pleased to see it in a squeeze bottle instead of the tiny jars I have always bought it in before.

Also bought at Walmart, a 4 quart crockpot. 

Hobby lobby - some the jewelry things were 50% off and I got some narrow natural cord to make a bracelet I've pinned.  Also a storage box that I used a 40% off coupon. 

I got all these beads and jewelry supplies from my mom. I hope to do some beading this week but it may wait till next week.

In case you want to laugh at my gardening adventures, here are the assortment of tomatoes picked last night. 

I think I might of grown the worlds tiniest tomato- maybe I should contact the Guiness book of records people......

My shopping helper is napping now. But before I worked on this blog post, I cleaned the hall bathroom and fixed the breading for tonight's chicken.

I love this little quilt. It is the last piece of patchwork my grandmother sewed. 

Hope you are all having a good Monday.

If you do stuff, stuff gets done! 

Coupons and shopping

I have been using this small organizer for coupons for several years and liked it OK 

Except long coupons would not fit in it without extra trimming or folding. 

During the clean-out at my parents, we found 2 organizers just like my old coupon holder but longer. 

Mom did not want them but my dad wanted 1 and I kept the other. 

It is roomier and easier to look through the coupons in it.

And it is small enough to fit in my purse! 

Speaking of coupon shopping, we didn't have a very long shopping list so I bought everything at Walmart. 

The best deals were the GoGoSqueez-$1.98 minus a $1 coupon on each. All my grands like them.

Almay face wipes were $5.24 minus $4 coupon on each

Grapes were 88 cents a pound. 

Cilantro is for homemade salsa thus weekend

This ultra-pasteurized milk costs more than regular milk but it also stays fresh a lot longer. 

Unless my grands are here for a long time, milk usually sours before we finish a carton. 

So I am hoping this milk might save us money in the long run. 

See that date? Almost 2 months away?

My register tape - lots of coupon deductions! 

Peaches.......

There is no fruit quite as good as Arkansas peaches picked ripe straight from the tree.
My parents and my inlaws all shop at this Farmers Market in Texarkana, Arkansas. They buy lots of produce there like okra, tomatoes and squash. Peaches are the favorite though.

My brother is a peach fan too. He bought these 2 cartons Saturday morning to take back to his home in Oklahoma. 

I should of put something beside these peaches to show their actual size. They are much bigger than grocery store peaches, closer to the size of grapefruits.

My family has always prized fresh picked peaches. This photo is from around 1987 or so. 

My mom and her mom are sitting beside the peaches they just picked in Arkansas. 

Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Jarvis were also here for this harvest.

Home canned peaches are good but we always preferred to preserve ours by  freezing. Just peel the fresh ripe peaches, take out the stone and slice them. Mix with a little Fruit Fresh to prevent browning and sugar as desired then freeze in whatever size containers you choose. 

Peaches on the tree, ripe to harvest. 

This photo is so funny to me. 

The brown sacks contain some kind of produce that my aunt, uncle and grandmother bought and who knows what is in the ice chests. You can see their peaches in the white boxes. Everything is spread out in my parents driveway while Uncle Jarvis tries to load it in his car trunk, under Grandma's supervision. 

This afternoon, I peeled and sliced what was left of the peaches I brought back from Arkansas. They were so sweet, I didn't add any sugar before I froze them. 

Do Stuff Monday #3

Good morning everyone! 

Here is my list for the week. 

We just got back from a 3 day trip to visit our parents, mine live in NE Texas and my husbands live just across the state line in Arkansas.  School starts here soon so I will be busier with my grands that have parents that work the school calendar. 

I got up and got a few things done already but most jobs will get done on childless days. 

Laundry won't be bad- there is a load in both the washer and dryer now and just a few more things to do

We'll be eating good this week. My brother got us a watermelon from the Hope Arkansas watermelon festival. He grew the squash and zucchini.  I grew the tomatos and the peaches are also from Arkansas.  But more about peaches tomorrow!

While I was at my parents, I helped clean out some closets and cabinets, my mom really likes to buy. craft supplies and to make things. I brought back lots of her extra supplies, some of her hand works and some of her works in progress.....I'll be unpacking these this week, 

Hope you all have a good week

If you do stuff, stuff gets done!   

Sweet things to share

I did some baking this week - most of it was shared with my parents and brothers. 

Carrot bread, oatmeal cookies, granola bars, and a can of roasted pecans

These oatmeal cookies from allrecipes.com are so quick to mix up and really good. 

I used pecans instead of raisins. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Raisin-Cookies-IX/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=oatmeal%20raisin%20cookies&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i12

I tripled this carrot bread recipe and it made 2 big 9 inch loaves. It is really good too, kind of like carrot cake but less sweet. I mixed in chopped pecans instead of sprinkling them on top. 

Also, the 2 big loaves needed more than an hour to bake done. 

This granola bar recipe is a new one that I tried and turned out great. They would be a good lunchbox treat. They come out crunchy and chewy, like the store bought kind, but they taste so much better, 

Mix 4 cups of quick oatmeal and 2 cups of rice crispy type cereal in a big bowl. 

In a small saucepan, heat 1 stick real butter, 1/2 cup honey and 2/3 cup brown sugar. Stir often over medium heat. When it starts a low bubble, let it cook for 2 more minutes. 

Now, pour the cooked syrup over the cereals and mix well, I used a rubber spatula. 

Press mixture into a greased 13x19 pan. 

Top with chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, whatever you like. Press in so they adhere. 

Now chill for 20 minutes or so and then they will slice nicely. 

It will make 18 good sized bars or you can cut them smaller.

These 2 sweet Grandsons thought the carrot bread was yummy

JJ - a photo of him that is just sweet....

Do Stuff Monday #2

When I was getting ready for bed last night, I started thinking about my to-dos and it seemed really big and daunting. So I got out paper and pen then, started writing it down, and it is not really that big of a list after all. 

Here it is......

So far this week,  I only have 2 loads of laundry and they are in the washer and dryer.

I plan to mow on Wednesday. I am hoping if I do it midweek, then I can skip a week, if the grass doesn't grow too fast :)

I've also cleaned out my purse. 

I noticed this weekend that my purse seemed too heavy so this morning, I dumped it out

Yikes! I found so many receipts, expired sale ads, duplicates of tissue holders, shopping bags, ink pens, hand lotions, flashlights........

Some stuff went in the trash,

Change went into the piggy bank

Important receipts were filed away,

Duplicates were put back in the first purse and I switched everything out to another purse. 

Better, right? 

About my Cath Kidston bags, I bought them in January 2012 on half price clearance with some birthday money. They still look like new and are the only purses I use.

They are expensive when bought at regular price but Cath Kidston has sales often and I have seen good deals on EBay too. 

I hope you are all having a good Monday and getting lots done! I am off to clean floors and and bathrooms, organize the fridges and do some baking........

What I did Wednesday

As I planned on Monday, I mowed the front yard this morning before it got hot. 

I also cleaned the floors and did all the laundry. 

I should of taken a before picture but I only have this after photo of the spray paint job that redid a metal silverware holder that my daughter passed on to me. (We always seem to be passing things back and forth and it works out quite beneficial to both of us)

The bottom of the holder shows the original paint.  I thought it might be hard to get the inside divided part painted but spray paint covered it all completely.

This napkin-utensil holder will be very handy, especially when we have a big group for a meal. 

I started having some seasonal allergies problems on Monday. By Tuesday evening, I took Benadryl which cleared up my head but also put me fast asleep by 7 p.m. 

I was feeling a lot better today but since seasonal allergies hang around, I knew I should go buy some non drowsy allergy medicine and I went to Walmart as I figured medicine would be cheapest there,

Walmart had clearance items everywhere but I only found one thing to buy- This multiple pack of little girl undies for my youngest granddaughter.  

At the factory, it held 9 pair but somebody took out a pair so this now pack of 8 was clearanced to $1.

My local Walmart uses these red code 4 tags when they mark merchandise down with deep cuts. 

I have learned to spot them :)

Hope you have all had a great Wednesday! 

God Moments : A Year in the Word

God Moments : A Year in the Word

I got this free book from Amazon a few weeks ago and am really enjoying its sweet and meaningful devotions. 

When I looked on Amazon this morning, the kindle version book is still free. 

The book starts with January 1 and has a devotion for each day. I started the book at the beginning, even though it was July, and read 2-3 each day.  

You don't have to have to a Kindle to read Kindle books. Amazon has free Kindle apps for most phones, computers, tablets or whatever device you use. 

Less busy on Wednesday

I didn't have much on my list today. I cut out coupons, worked on my manicure and went to the bank for cash so while I was out, I stopped at Walmart, Dollar Tree and Aldi.

Walmart. -used 2 coupons from Sundays paper for lipstick and nail polish. 

  The gallon can of tomato sauce is make a big batch of pasta sauce to freeze.

Aldi- rest of the groceries were bought there. We didn't need much this week.

Most of the granola bars will go to work with my husband to keep in his desk drawer.

The other snacks are for the grands snack box.

See that clear tub in the pantry floor? It holds little bags chips, fruit snacks, granola bars. One of the grandchildren has a hard time when they have to leave so I first started the box so that child could get a treat to have on the way home and to make leaving not so difficult.

It worked, goodbyes are much easier and all the grands know where the snack box is now.

Dollar Tree - they have a new batch of solar powered wiggle animals. It is rainy today so neither one is swinging but they will be when the sun reappears.

This is the little measuring cup I got at the thrift store yesterday for 25 cents. It really is tiny, each line is 1 tablespoon or a total of 1/4 cup.  I think I will use it often, so many times I need a small amount like 2 T of oil or milk for a recipe......

Also yesterday, I cut back some of the dead zinnia and put them in a paper bag to finish drying. Each zinnia is filled with many seeds. I should be ready for next spring to grow more zinnias!

Supper tonight was some leftover grilled chicken legs, a big tossed salad and stir fried cabbage.

Grandchildren will be here the next couple days so housework will be done only on a must do basis. I won't be doing any big projects either, just watching grands ride bikes or play with toys and I sure lots of hugs will be involved too. 

Do Stuff Tuesday

I wrote another to do list with tasks I hope to do for the week, not just today. 

I fixed my husband's lunch bag first thing. 

Then I got busy with cleaning.  I vacuumed the carpets in the bedrooms and then shampooed those carpets. I used the homemade cleaner again and was very happy with how well it cleaned. 

Homemade carpet cleaner solution

I also cleaned and mopped both bathrooms and washed those rugs too.

In the garage, I swept and threw a few things away.

After I did the cleaning and found some spiders in the garage, I put down some bug spray in the garage and in the house. That made the house smell so I left for awhile. 

I stopped at one thrift store and found some play clothes. 

I also found a cute little 4 tablespoon liquid measure cup (it is in the dishwasher now, I will try to post a picture, I think it will be very handy!)

If you are not from the South, our supper will probably look and sound strange but it was delicious.

Garden tomatoes with cottage cheese, fried okra and kraut with weenies. The weinies are leftover Hebrew 97% fat free kosher beef franks. My husband bought the tomatoes and okra from a farmer selling them in a gas station parking lot. 

It's not crossed off on my list but I did finish the napkins. I made them from a table cloth bought on clearance years ago.  I used part of the table cloth to make an ironing board cover.  Their was a big odd-shaped scrap left. Last week, I cut it into as many 16 inch squares as possible.  After I machine narrow hemmed any raw edges, I ended up with 11 red checked napkins. 

I won't need to do much cleaning the next few days. 

Yesterday post got the nicest comments.  

I really enjoy reading what you all have been doing---

If you do stuff, stuff gets done! 

Do stuff Monday

Today was a free day- no appointments and no grandchildren - so I wrote out my to do list with more on it than I usually try to get done in one day. Surprisingly and happily, I got it all done my mid afternoon.

Scratching through completed jobs on a to do list is almost as satisfying as finishing a job.

This is a not a common sight in laundry rooms- empty baskets ! But that won't last too long....

The biggest job today was mowing and edging the front and back yard. Cooler temperatures and a nice breeze made this job easier. Here are the jumbo zinnias in the front flower bed - but please just look at the pretty flowers and ignore the grass growing around them, the weeds flat got away from me from this year. 

I also made a quick trip into Ulta to get some hair products my daughter in law recommended

And changed my Jamberry nail stickers. This is my second time applying them and I really like them but there is a bit of learning curve involved. The second time was much easier and faster than the first. 

Supper will be leftovers from Sunday along with some fresh tomatoes and cottage cheese so that meal won't take much time. 

I also got out this sampler and zigzagged the edge of the linen so it won't fray while I stitch it. I plan to start stitching it this evening. 

I am already thinking about tomorrow's list. Clipping and filing yesterday's coupons will be on it as well as straightening the 3 extra bedrooms and bathrooms. 

I hope you have had a productive Monday too!