this week

It is time to put away the St. Patrick's decorations and get started with the Easter decorations.  I will show those soon. 

I have no idea how the pansies I planted back in the fall survived the extremely cold winter, but they mostly did and even seem to be thriving. 

Colorful backyard

I mowed it for the first time this season.  The lawn chairs got a fresh coat of spray paint, 2 are now black and the other 3 are red, blue and apple green. 

With all the different color toddler toys,  it seemed pointless to worry about everything matching. 

  

our uncle went to the Denver Zoo and brought back these shirts for us.

Jeff and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary this week. 
He gave me a big bouquet of pink roses,

I baked him a  cherry pie. 

Gavin does not know what anniversaries are but he does know what pie is and he was very happy to have a little slice after we ate supper.

sewing and shopping

I finished the blueberry blouse and it turned out just like I hoped it would. 
It fits just right and I think it looks nice on me. 

So I went through my fabric and found some prints,  then  I cut out 3 more - all will be the same pattern as the blueberry blouse. 

I've stacked all the same pieces together and plan on sewing them up assembly line style.
Hopefully, I can get them done this week. 

this pin cushion was pieced from selvages by my mom. 
She made 2 for me.  I have my needles in the smaller one.

Here is my newest Pyrex. 
It is a small casserole dish,  and did not come with a lid. 
I have some other casserole dishes that are deeper and the lids interchange so coming without a  lid was not a problem.
This dish was $2.50.
All the other Pyrex we saw at  thrift stores and the antique mall was priced much higher.
Yard sale season will start soon and I will be looking for some reasonable priced Pyrex at those. 
 No $80 bowl sets for this Pyrex collector!

Here are my coupon deals from Walgreens this morning.
I spent exactly 10 dollars and got
7 Reach toothbrushes,  8 bags of Chex Mix and 3 cans of salmon
and I got back a $4 register reward to use on my next shopping trip.

I am not one of those coupon maniac people  with 1000 rolls of toilet paper or 200 bottles of shampoo.  But I do look at the deals online and buy things we use when I can get them at great prices. 
If you are interested in learning more about coupon shopping,  there are lots of experts out there that post the deals non-stop. 
I learned about the Reach and Chex coupons at

Hip to Save

However, I don't think the exact printable coupons are available any longer though.

New deals come along everyday,  I read the sites and print off any coupons that I am pretty sure I can use right then as they don't usually stay available too long. 

Finding grocery deals all depends on where you have to shop. 

My town does not have any deep discount grocers like Aldi or SavALot. 

So I shop carefully at the 3 grocery stores here,  look for coupon deals on line and also shop the sales at  Walgreens when they are for products we like. 

I hope you all had a nice weekend. 

We did a little shopping, a little yardwork, 

had some really good meals including strawberry shortcake

and went to church today. 

a reason to celebrate




this is what it looked like out our front door the first of February.


Today is the last day of winter!
1st of day of Spring is tomorrow and it will be very welcomed.

 

offspring that do stuff

Nina made this cute rainbow tutu for Elizabeth to wear when she celebrates
St. Patricks Day.
She also decorated Elizabeth's onesie with a pot of gold,
but since this picture from the back shows the rainbow tutu
best, you can't see the shirt. 

Son Bobby constructed this playset last week. 
He works doing odd jobs while he is in college.
He has always been good at mechanical things and constructing things,
so this playset was right up his alley.

Our backyard is not too big,
or I might be hiring him to build one in our backyard too. 

My children grew up in home where we always seemed to be making something  or cooking something or sewing something or fixing something.  I am happy that they still like to make things and they are not afraid to work when needed.

this and that March 2011



Since I found new towels last week,  I turned the grungiest of the the old ones into rags.
The hand towels got cut in half and a zig-zag stitch put over the cut to keep it from raveling.
I added a little scrap of trim to the washcloths so they will be easily recognizable as a rag and not get put back with the towels.



I made a simple batch of pineapple preserves - it was simple, easy and tastes good......

but I cooked this batch too long,  it is way to thick (hard) so I will try another batch later



Our son finished law school in December,  took the bar exam in Feb. and will found the results in April.  He studied lots,  stressed a lot,  so to relax a little at home,  he got this tissue flower kit from my craft closet and started making some. 



the kit makes 24 so he has a ways to go- they are really pretty and realistic for just paper.
The local attorney he is working for is keeping him busy,  maybe all 24 will get done, maybe not.

I am trying to make a blouse for me using an old blouse as a pattern - I've been sewing for 40+years but I've never done this.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

I really like the fabric - blue blackberries - fabric designers don't have to be realistic.



I've done a few diaper and wipe deals - I read about the deals at some of the coupon blogs and found some great savings. 
I think I am stocked up, for awhile anyway!