Hum Along

this is the cover of the 2012 calendar we got from the Paralyzed Veterans of America.  

I just love  "hum along"  so much,  

it may be my new motto.  

John Deere Fleet from the Thrift Store

I've only been to one thrift store this month and Gavin was with me.
We stopped there after he had been to story time at our public library and before it was time to pick up Elizabeth at her baby preschool.
We did not see much downstairs,  but when we got upstairs to the toy room, we saw all these John Deere tractors.  

Gavin likes tractors a lot!
He lives in the country  and his parents have a real John Deere tractor.

We got his whole fleet plus a bag of pompoms and a package of rose wallpaper border for $8.
Very good bargain, I think.    

Elizabeth lives in town but she likes tractors too, she likes to roll the tractors on the floor.

have you found any good thrift store things this month?

Spend less time and money shopping

Doesn't everyone want to spend less and have more time?  

I have been very frustrated with the huge amounts of money and time I have spent just shopping for groceries.  In the past,  I mostly shopped at the stores in our town, and tried to stock up on the sale items.  It just seemed to require so many trips,  things would be out of stock,  all the time checking ads and then the actual shopping.  I know lots of people do very well with this method.  But it was not really working for me,  and instead of getting bargains and keeping stocked up  - I just spending too much time shopping.  

I've made several big changes 

1.  We did one big shopping trip to Sams,  Aldi and Crest (a discount grocer in OKCity)  and tried to buy about a month's worth of groceries.

We went  Dec. 27, almost 3 weeks ago and I have not bought anything else since then 

(except one bag of frozen cherries for a pie)  

I have not been to Walmart or Walgreens or done any shopping at all, 

except for a quick stop after Theo's vet appt. to get the cherries and one trip to  a  thrift store while I had time to spare between 2 events.  

I would like to average $100  a week for groceries but that is probably too low.  However we spent a little less than $300 on that big trip and still have a lot of it.  It is too soon to know if this method will average out to that low or not though.  

2.  I gave up drinking soda.  Big money saver as well as time shopping 

3.  buying extra milk and freezing it

4. buying produce that will last a long time - we are out of grapes and bananas,  but we still have plenty of apples, grapefruit, oranges, clementines and canned fruit.  

For produce,  the produce from Sams is so fresh, it really will  keep for a month.  I wash it and then package it (well dried) in Tupperware or zipper bags.  

5.  Making all our bread

the last one has been very easy too.  

My parents gave us money for Christmas and we used it to buy  a  large Zojirushi bread maker. 

 It makes the nicest bread too.  

can you tell from the picture how big that loaf is?  

 It is big!

 Gavin thinks it smells really good!

We have a Zojirushi rice cooker that we bought in 1990- it still works great.  

After reading several blog reviews for the Zojirushi bread machine,  I felt very confident choosing it even though it is more expensive than other makers.  

The bread is delicious!  I've baked 6 loaves and every one has been perfect.

Also,  this bread stays softer and moister, even days later, than my normal homemade bread.

Thank you Mom and Dad,  I promise you will love this bread too!

this does not have anything to do with saving money
but I wanted to show you the set of Pyrex bowls my brother gave me for my birthday.


I've been keeping this set on the counter and use them almost everyday for whatever I cook or mix up that day.  

I like spending less money but I am thinking the saving time is equally or even more valuable right now. 

Cast Iron ???

lunch for Gavin and Elizabeth and myself today

grilled cheese  on homemade bread toasted in a cast iron skillet

we also had clementines and a sliced apple

I chatted with another blogger,  Belle at The Bon Bon Club, about cast iron.  She showed some before and after pictures of cast iron that really needed TLC.  They looked amazing after she cleaned and seasoned them.  

It reminded me that I have several pieces of cast iron but almost never use them.  I do a lot of cooking in big non-stick skillets that need replaced about every year or so - not a thrifty thing at all.  

Anyway,  she encouraged me to use them.  

So,  I thought what have I got to lose?  I opened the drawer under the stove and found more cast iron pieces than I remembered.  I knew I had 2 cornbread stick pans and 2 skillets,  actually I have 3 skillets!  

I got out one of them  and was pleased to see it was seasoned a lot better than I remembered.  I've cooked in it 2 days in row now and plan to keep working with it.  

So,  do you have cast iron?

What do you cook in yours and what do you not cook in it?
This old dog wants to learn some new tricks.  

new address for one of my very favorite friends who is also a blogger

  Blue House Journal  

Terri used to write Penny Ann Poundwise and In the Blue House on the Hill.  

She has a new blog address and I just wanted to pass it on in case any of you might be looking for her.