Home Tour- 1st stop is the craft room

I had more free time than usual this summer and I spent a lot of it working on my house.  I did quite a bit of organizing, rearranging and a little bit of decorating.

I really enjoy when other bloggers do home tours,  my home does not look like a decorator has been here but I am going to try to do a home tour this week anyway.  no professional photographer either

what you see in the craft room when you walk in the door......
decorators would not approve of our ceiling fans in every room but this is Oklahoma and it gets HOT here,

3 shelving units full of supplies- I used to like to have everything stored neatly away, covered and out of sight but now,  I like things where I can find them easily, as long as they are still neat and organized.

the big desktop computer lives in the computer room too- but I am a bad photographer and can't get a good shot of the new slipcover I made for the office chair.

blinds closed above and blinds closed below- neither picture looks great though

Storage tubs- all full with patterns, plastic canvas and yarn, unfinished quilts and lots of fabric.
Yes,  I know it is a lot,  much was given to me by friends and the majority is from my mom.
I've thought about getting rid of a a lot of it,  but my husband thought that was a bad idea.  He said he has seen me make things with supplies on hand and he does not think I would be happy if I needed things after I got rid of them.  So, for now,  all this stuff is staying.

Paper craft table- the CriCut machine sits on top, papers are stored underneath. But right now,  my rainbow quilt blocks are spread out on it, no paper crafting happening right now.
Rubber stamps on the wall.
My husband and father in law built those stamp frames for me.

Sewing table with the thread rack and more rubber stamps on the wall.
Sewing tools like cutters, scissors and markers are on a tray under the thread rack.
The black and white brocade vinyl is tablecloth material sold by the yard in the fabric department of Walmart.

Ironing board- most all sewing needs some  ironing.
There is a closet in this room, a long closet,  but it was hard to store and then take out sewing things when needed.  So now the closet is used for holiday and baby things and my sewing things are out in the open, easy to use.

The black and white polka dot fabric on the chair and ironing board was bought at parking lot rummage sale, about 3 years ago.  It was a very long and very wide piece of fabric and it just makes me smile when I look at those dots.  Even when ironing :)

My sewing machine, a 4 year old Necchi- I like it a lot.

I used clear containers that 1 pound of salad greens are sold in at the grocer.  They are not the sturdiest of boxes but they are perfect for lightweight sewing supplies.  I learned this thrifty trick from Mary Ann.

This might be my favorite result of organizing.  I put all adhesives into one storage bin- assorted tapes and glues- and it has already been so handy.  When something needs made or fixed,  we all know right where to go for the right adhesive.  

linking to parties at

  Skip to my Lou , 

Craft O Maniac , 

Keeping it Simple, 

Creating Really Awesome Free Things, 

Tweak It Tuesday at Brenda's Cozy Little House

Easy Sunday Lunch

I wanted to serve an easy and healthy lunch today. So, I chose one of our favorites

Make your own taco and salad bar. 

Fresh salsa

Just dice about 2 cups of tomatoes-I used little ones but usually dice 1-2 big ones

Also fine dice 1/2 a fresh jalapeño and some onion.

Add some diced cilantro- a little cilantro goes a long way. 

Season with a little garlic and salt and lemon or lime juice.

Chopped romaine and diced purple onion if anyone wants to do taco salad.

Beef and pork taco filling from the freezer- it looked much better once it was heated in the microwave.

I also put out ranch style beans, grated cheddar, sour cream, tortillas and tortilla chips. 

Some of us had soft tacos. One had nachos and some had taco salad. 

Dessert was fresh pineapple and cantaloupe slices. 

I don't want to work too hard on Sunday and I don't like eating out on Sunday either.  Today's meal was delicious and a good solution, 

What meals do you have that are easy to serve a group after being gone for church?

Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real

Pretty

I've been working a rainbow string quilt.  All 64  10 inch blogs are pieced and trimmed.

the leftover trimmings from squaring up the blocks-
I think a bird could have fun building a colorful nest with them.

we ate a lot of those good Arkansas peaches.  Then I sliced and prepared the rest for the freezer- just for eating or maybe for a yummy pie.

Funny and Happy and a little Sad too

My frequent companions for the last 3 and 4 years both started full time school this week.  A Happy and Sad time both for this grandma.
I will miss them but I won't be bored as their younger siblings will be spending some of their days with me while their parents work.

This grandson  is so active and fast and always smiling.

The other grandson  is still a sweet cuddly baby.


Real

update on the backyard garden- it has pretty much been a bust.  The flower seeds in the pots were slow to start but are looking really pretty right now.
We have lots of rain- which explains the grass needing a mowing

The grass is also tall because our underground utility lines have been marked off so the workmen coming soon don't cut any of them.  There is a different color flag and spray paint marking the electric, cable, phone, etc. underground lines.  

We've signed a contract and will be having a concrete safe room built in the backyard soon.  Come tornado season, we should be safer.  

Linking up with 

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Oven roasted broccoli -2 thumbs up!

Have you seen the Pinterest reviews for oven roasted broccoli?  Comments about are things like "it is so good, it should be illegal" and "I could eat the whole pan myself"  

Well,  I like broccoli but I was not sure about this recipe.  The cooking time is long and I thought the broccoli would get mushy and overdone.  But nope, the recipe is just about as good as the comments say.  My husband is not a broccoli fan at all and he ate a huge helping.

You just cut on the fresh broccoli and I cut mine pretty small.  Put it in a big bag or bowl and mix/shake with 2 T olive oil.  Then spread it on a baking sheet and sprinkle with chopped fresh garlic and salt and pepper.  

(I used just a bit of garlic salt and pepper)

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.  When done,  the broccoli be be browning and crunchy.  Or you can search on Pinterest if you want even more directions.  

It is really is delicious and easy too.  

This weeks shopping

a coupon trip to Walmart- the shaving cream was free as I used the $6 off 3 coupon that was in our Sunday's newspaper. The Bic pens were free with $1 coupons and the cupcake papers were also free with a $1 coupon.  I used $2 internet coupons on the Right Guard and it was about $1.50 after the coupons.
I also went to Walmart to get cough suppressant from husband.  His summer cold is over but he still has coughing spells in the night,  any one have any advice for him?

Then to Food Pyramid for a few double coupons.  After coupons,  this detergent and Spam was about $3.
The Spam is not my favorite but my husband will enjoy it.  On the rare occasions that he might need to fix his own meal,  he will be happy frying up a Spam sandwich.


Then,  I went to the brand new Aldi in our town.  It is so nice and big and very close to our home.  I really think it will make grocery shopping much easier and cheaper for us.
I am so happy about it- I think lottery winners might kind of feel like this!

I got all this for about $22-  because it is grand opening,  they are passing out $5 off $25 coupons for Aldi. I've already got 2 of those coupons in the mail, 1 in the newpaper, and 3 at the store.  They don't expire for almost 2 weeks so I may be making several $25 or so visits to Aldi to stock up.

fruit squeeze pouches my grands love

saltine, milk, 3 orange juice, window cleaner, bleach, pork rinds, jarred fruit, flatbread wraps for sandwiches

ranch style beans

red grapes, jicama, pineapple, cantaloupe, 2 lemons and fancy artisan lettuce

Another trip to Aldis- this was just a bit over $25 before the grand opening coupon was subtracted.

Dollar Tree -50 cent coupons from the Sunday papers on the Palmolive

$1/2 Internet printable on the Dial soap

$4 plus tax for all

Then at CVS, I had a $20 ECB. I looked ahead at the sales on slickdeals.net and did not see anything in future sales that we needed. In my email yesterday, they sent me a coupon for 25% off my total purchase of none sale items. 

I prefer to roll ECBs into sales where more ECBs are offered but without any sales I like coming up, I decided to burn it on a giant box of Pampers, 2 eye shadows and 2 cough drops for husband. I used coupons on the Pampers and Cover Girl and spent about $5.

Yes, that was a lot of shopping this week. I don't expect I will be doing this kind of multi store shopping for awhile. But I had fun doing it and am happy with our little stockpiles.  

Especially for the near future, I will be doing any needed shopping at the new Aldi.