Crafting time with my favorite 4 year old

2 of my grandsons were here today. 4 year old Gavin brought 2 bags of pompoms that he got at his church, I think they must of been cleaning out some junk closets.

He wanted to do some crafts with his pompoms so we looked at Pinterest for some inspiration. 

Gavin found a train engine he liked so we tried to copy it.

We also made letter shapes covered with pompoms.

The inspiration train was made with pompoms in just 3 colors and with pompoms all the same size. 

Gavin wanted to use some of all his pompoms so his train is especially colorful and cheerful.  His train has soul. 

Children just like to do make things- it gives them a big sense of accomplishment, especially if we grown ups don't interfere with too much assistance, 

Coupon shopping at JCP and CVS

JCPenneys has a big sale going on and $10 off $25 coupons too. I got a coupon in the mail, 2 in the newspapers and more in an email. At the jcpenneys.com website, you can print off all you want but they do expire today.

I did 2 transactions and bought 4 long sleeved casual shirts for my husband. After the sale and coupons, each shirt was $7.99- plus sales tax.

Just a small purchase at CVS.

2 boxes of hair color were $5.99 each and I used a $5/2 coupon them.

Dawn was .88 and I used 50 cent coupons on both.

The pain relief medicine was free with a scanner coupon. 

And I used a $5 ECB from last week. 

I spent $3.95 cash and got a $2 ECB for later. 

Where are transfats?

Did you watch any news this week? I did and I saw so many stories about the banning of transfats, how nobody should be eating them ever, etc.

it was rather alarming listening to them.

So, I straightened up my pantry and went on a hunt there for the transfats.

  I think we eat more healthy food than unhealthy food, even so, our pantry had about 3 kinds of store bought cookies, chips, assorted crackers, assorted Helper mixes, Spam, Crisco shortening, microwave popcorn, stone canned soups, granola type bars, cereals.....

Guess what? I found ZERO products with transfats in our pantry. 

Do any of you know of any specific foods that still contain transfats? besides the transfats that naturally are in meats?  I am just wondering.  

When I straightened the pantry, I found a nice assortment of nuts. I set them out on the counter, a sort of snack station, for my husband to get some extra protein while he continues to heal. 

I did not make the patchwork placemat but I am fortunate to have 2 sets of them,

This set with the green borders belonged to my grandmother and I think she made them. I also have a set with red binding that was a wedding gift (33 years ago)  from a very sweet honorary Aunt. 

I have used both sets a lot and some of the bindings are getting worn though. But I am going to keep using them as I like them so much. 

Morning doings

I baked a New York Crumb Cake for breakfast, it was delicious and this home smelled so good for awhile. Recipe.  I made just a half recipe today and baked it in a 8 by 8 inch square dish.

But it doesn't smell good anymore! I am using this time without the grand babies here to do some home keeping,

There is vinegar running through both brewers to remove the lime deposits.  That smells pretty strong. 

And since that smells bad, this seemed like a good time to run the self cleaning cycle on the oven. 

The oven was overdue for a cleaning do it may be a few hours before I can turn it off.

It may smell bad for awhile, but I will be happy the clean results from both tasks. 

The laundry is going, I hope to clean the floors and I already cleaned both bathrooms. 

If the smells get to me, I will go outside and do some much needed trimming of the rose bushes and move some bulbs. 

Anyone else cleaning today?

This weeks CVS deals

When I clipped the Sunday coupons and looked at the new ad, I made a CVS list - just in case I had an opportunity to shop there. After being away from home for the hospital stay, I am really happy to stay home and did not know if I would shop there this week. Then one of my husbands prescriptions was switched and CVS called to say the new one was ready, so I did a little bargain shopping on the same trip to get his medicine, 

I had $16 in ECB from previous weeks. 

Everything I bought was on sale. I used 3 small coupons on the 54 rolls of Cottonelle

A scanner coupon to get the paper towels free

A $2/$10 scanner coupon on the Caress as well as 2 $2 coupons. 

A $1 coupon on the deodorant

I spent $14.07 and got a $5 ECB for the next shopping trip.

I'm sure glad I made that list earlier! 

Thrift shopping- online

Shopping is not something I love to do. Lately I have only been brick and mortar shopping for groceries at Aldis, sale things at CVS and just a few other things at Walmart and Joann's. I don't think I have even been in a thrift store in a month.

In October, I bought just a few things online. The first 3 are used books bought on half.com. Books there can often be bought for less than $1 + the $3.99 shipping.

I bought this one because my friend Tammy at My Corner of the Prairie said her grandson likes it so much.  She was right about it being a little boy pleaser. My grandson thinks it is great too. Thank you Tammy and Brad.

We watched a 25 year old home video of my children a few weeks ago. One of our sons had been at kindergarten that day and was trying to recite something about  " a snoring granny and a dreaming child"   In the video, he was thinking so hard to remember all the lines.
I did not know what it was so I googled it and found this book, The Napping House. 

I read it as soon as it came in the mail and I am sure my grands will like it as much as their uncle did. 

I ordered this book as Jilly at Nutmeg and Linen blogged about it. 

Of course I want more elegance, order, beauty and joy, who doesn't?

And........

My very favorite find

My mom made this very same sampler for her sister, my Aunt Bernice. I have wanted one and have been looking on EBay and Etsy for years. I finally found a kit, still in its factory package and it appears to be in perfect condition, on EBay just before we went to the hospital.

I'll be stitching on this later today- I need to get out some hoops and embroidery hoops first, and I may need to finish off the edges of the linen before I stitch too.  The stitching part is pretty simple.  

It is the verse that I think is so special 

“Overheard in an Orchard"
Said the robin to the sparrow,
“I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the sparrow to the robin,
“Friend I think that it must be,
That they have no Heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me.”      ―by  Elizabeth Cheney in 1859

Last of October fun.....

I sewed aprons for my son and a friend to wear at a costume party, inspired by a tv show I have never seen. I used an apron pattern I found in my stash. Mccalls 5551. I don't know if it is still in print. 

It has a different feature as the stings are all adjustable, there is a casing for the facing on the top slanted part. The sting goes in the side bottom and then down the other side and ties in the back. 

It was a style that sewed up especially quickly.  My daughter made the iron on emblem on the apron fronts with her silhouette machine and heat press. 

The only problem was the drawstring, made as the patten said, was too short. They said they could barely tie them in a knot and not the bow that aprons are usually tied with. 

I may make this apron again so I wrote that change on he patten envelope before I stored it away. 

Our church had a fall carnival, we did not go as we were at the hospital.

My son in law's step mother made and worked this fun booth at the party. 

It is a big nose and the children reached inside and either got candy or slime. Ewww

Knowing Patty, only big boys who would appreciate slime got slime. 

Sweet or squeamish little girls only got candy. 

I hope the nose does not offend any of you but just makes you smile. 

At the hospital.....

My husband had surgery this week, the second revision to his 3 year old artificial knee replacement.

The hospital stay, at a civilian hospital paid for by his employer provided insurance, was so nice. 

I cannot say enough good things about it and we are just so thankful that it went so well.

This photo was less than 24 hours after surgery. He was already alert and happy. 

He has taken very little pain medicine since because he says even though he has some discomfort from the surgery, his knee hurts less now than it has in 2 years. 

He is feeling so good, we even went to church this morning. He was tired by the end of service but I am so happy he felt good enough to try. 

 Another happy surprise was the food at the hospital. We both could order anything we wanted off the room service menu. I was given complimentary meals for being his coach. It was so nice to eat in the room with him and not have to leave the hospital when I needed to eat. 

The meals were really good too. 

My breakfast tray one morning- fruit, oatmeal with little containers of cinnamon and brown sugar, bacon, blueberry muffin and hot chocolate.

Husbands tray- croissant sandwich with a cinnamon roll and fruit and orange juice. 

After the second day, we ordered less. Even though it was a real treat and tasted so good, we knew we should not eat quite that much.

Our last night, we did not order. This fancy meal was provided by the physician- steaks with steamed veggies, rice pilaf, dinner salad and chocolate lemon cheesecake.  

Who ever imagined a steak dinner in a hospital? 

We are home now and a home health nurse came this afternoon  Some of the advice she gave was to eat extra protein to help speed up healing after surgery.  The protein doesn't have to come from meat but her advice made the steak dinner seem like an even better idea. 

Thank you all who left comments and for the prayers. It meant so much to know others were thinking about us.

It is too early to know for sure, but we really think this surgery was a success!

Scenes from my home

Simple fall decorations

Beer bread baked in a yard sale Pampered Chef stone- the bread tasted good but was way too heavy- I'll look for a better recipe next time

A quilt spread on the living room floor makes for a cozy spot where my grandson likes to play

2 foot tall stack of fabric- a great deal purchased from a local swap and sell list

I've been dealing with yet another cold for the last 10 days or so- my next project is to try to improve my immunities.  

Husband's knee surgery is this week

I'll be back blogging as soon as I can or when I have something interesting to blog about. 

Moon Sand - fun but kind of a fail

We tried a moon sand recipe from Pinterest.

8 cups flour and 1 cup baby oil. 

I made 2 batches and mixed-kneaded them in gallon bags until they looked combined. 

I also added liquid food coloring with the oil but it just didn't show up.

The grandsons are having fun with it but it is messy. A change of clothes will be needed when we go inside.  I think only very neat children could play with it in the house. 

It is lots of fun even if it quite messy. 

Gavin tasted it and declared it "skusting" but I think he meant disgusting. 

Next time, I want to try a version that uses corn starch and sand, no oil. 

Have you made any play clays? Advice is welcomed.

My grands are really sweet but they are not neat. 

This week's CVS deals

24 rolls of paper towels and 2 bottles of Pantene conditioner

I think we have enough paper towels, to last well into 2014, maybe all of 2014......

I spent just $5.94 cash for all of it.

The towels were $5 a pack and I had $1 coupons on each

Pantene was 2/$7 - I used 1 $3/2 manufacturer coupon and a $2 CVS coupon. 

Also used a $10 ECB from last week. 

And got back a $5 ECB. 

Weekend doings

It was cold and rainy all day Friday and we had not yet turned on the heater so I thought an oven supper would be good - easy to cook and would help heat the house up a little.

I made cole slaw (not in the oven though)

also baked chicken and rice which tastes a lot better than it photographs

banana bread 

and brownies.  The chicken and bread both bake for about an hour, so after they had baked for 30 minutes,  I put in the brownies as they take 30 minutes.

Then everything came out at the same time

Banana Bread

1 stick butter, softened

1 scant cup sugar (closer to 3/4 cup)

2 eggs

3 medium or 4 small ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 1/4 cups)

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup or more chopped nuts, we prefer pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan or 4 mini-loaf pans.

Cream together the butter and sugar. beat till blended. sometimes I use the mixer and sometimes I just do it by hand.

Mix in the bananas.

Stir in the flour, salt and soda.

Then stir in the nuts.

Pour in to prepared pans. A big loaf will take 60-70 minutes. Small loaves take 35-45 minutes.

Cool for a 10 minutes, then remove from pans.

Slice, spread with a little butter and feed to your family.

Brownies

* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
*
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch
square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in
sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt,
and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. 

in Saturday's mail, was a goody box from Debby- isn't this table runner cute?  

Yes, she made it out of very fun seasonal fabrics.  I really like all the purple and green mixed with the orange and black.   Thank you Debby! She blogs at Nanny's Place and I always enjoy reading what she is up to.  

now, it is time to do some fall decorating inside our home so the table runner doesn't feel lonely.  

Sunday afternoon,  I did a little sewing.  First I sewed up 2 blue aprons for costumes for my son and a friend, something about a Banana Stand in the tv show Arrested Development.  I've never seen the show but I have had a little experience sewing up aprons.  

Then, I followed an online free tutorial to make a chevron necktie for grandson JJ to coordinate with his sister's pumpkin dress.  Cute, right?  Well,  the tutorial was well written and so easy to follow.  It was a quick successful project.  

I hope you all had a nice weekend too

Home tour part 7 -the last bedroom

This is the last room of our home tour- kind of a lag because I am not happy with the lighting in these photos but I can't seem to do any better- so here goes......

I know the first thing you see is the pretty quilt. My mom made it in the early 50s when she was living in rural Oklahoma with my dad and brothers who were just babies then. I think she said her mother in law gave her the kit and it is all sewn by hand.

Close up 

It is fragile and not usually on the bed but on a quilt rack. The quilt looks so pretty on the bed but it will mostly stay on the quilt rack to keep in good condition.

This is a pretty big room. One corner has a comfy thrift store rocker. Another corner has a toddler bed for grandchildren. 

My husband built the oak 4 post bed with LOTS of help from a professional cabinet maker friend,

On one end of the bedroom is a bathroom 

It has double sinks (which really just means there are 2 sinks to clean) 

A big bath tub my husband likes and behind the dark red shower curtain is a shower with a seat in it that I like.

Then through that bathroom door is the walk in closet.

On the bench is the same fabric that the bedroom curtains are sewn from. 

When I took these pictures a month ago, this is how I stored our CVS stockpile. I have changed it, inspired by Manuela's shower pantry, and will show it soon. 

Thank for coming, hope you enjoyed the tour. 

Pretty happy funny real

Pretty

My husband had a pre surgery check in this morning. It all went well from good tests to very helpful friendly caring hospital staff. 

This is just a portion of the stained glass that is the first thing you see when entering the orthopedic wing,  it is so big and beautiful-

funny

not much funny this week-  at least nothing with a picture

Happy

The gas we bought today- we saw gas for this price at a number of stations in Oklahoma City. 

Real

Even though we were gone all morning, we ended up eating all 3 meals at home today. Restaurant food just didn't work with our schedule and didn't sound good.

This is all the dishes we used today for very simple meals, washed in one session after supper.

Eating at home just results in dishes to wash- no way around it. 

Linking up to Pretty Happy Funny Real at our mothers daughters. Their button link is on the very bottom right of this page.