If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

Friday, February 28, 2014

Frugal February -last post

We have company coming and will need extra snacks.  I am trying to use up pantry ingredients.
So,  I made a small batch of homemade buttercream frosting and spread in on a 1/2 of graham crackers for homemade cookie sandwiches- they are delicious and one of my dad's favorites.

Made a new recipe with melted white chocolate chips, pretzels, craisins and pecans.
Sweet N Salty snack Mix
there was 1 1/2 very ripe banana in the banana bowl,  my banana recipe calls for more but I used what I had and baked the banana bread recipe into 15 muffins,  they are fine even with less banana


we had this meatless entree last night, it is really good but next time, I am going to double the veggies to 8 cups.

Grocery Budget for February- had $101 left over

Gas Budget- we use a prepaid Walmart card and I don't know how it happened but we had $160 left out of the $200 we budget every month.  It has been so cold and we have stayed home a lot,  but I am wondering if we bought gas a time or two and it didn't get subtracted..... who knows.  I have been keeping records of some things but not that


Not frugal things
Husbands eye surgeries- thankfully his work insurance will cover most of it but it is a new calendar year and we had to pay the deductible.  But he is doing great and can see so much better even with just one eye done so far.  We are thinking his future eye glass prescriptions may be less expensive than his previous very strong and complicated prescription.  


My splurge
I have tried all kinds of things to get my fingernails to be strong and grow but nothing has worked.
So on Saturday,  I got my first ever fake nails and and polish at a salon.  I got short ones as I still want to sew and type and still need to do housework.  
I am very happy with them,  not a break or chip even after a week!  
fake nails are not thrifty and I know about the health questions,  but on this issue,  I plan to just go
with pretty nails, which I have never had before, and enjoy them. 




Joining up with 

She has done great in February, only buying dairy and using her pantry and freezer to keep her family of  6 fed. 

February Cricut project and advice to prevent colds

Wow, you all gave me some great advice about cold prevention.
I will buy some odorless garlic and VitD3 today and am also going to look into getting a humidifier. Our air has been extremely dry, so dry that I have not worn my 2 favorite tops that have some polyester content as they just cling and crackle from the static electricity, 
I forgot to mention I have been taking Cold-eeze tabs and this last cold has been very short, just a few days compared to 10-14 days of the others. We have also been taking probiotics for 2 weeks before this last cold hit us. 
Thank you all so much !


One of my 2014 resolutions was to make at least one Cricut project every month. This one is just barely making it in Feb. 
I have a stash of these sturdy Folgers cans. 

I took one of the big ones and added a few Cricut letters, some scrapbook paper and ModPodge and made it into a HotWheels storage container.

It is really simple but it looks nice in the toy room.

I also decorated the other 2 big ones to use to hold the compost scraps before they go to the tumbler. But they are even simple than the car one. They look better than an old coffee cab but not good enough for a photo. 

when the sleeping grandbaby wakes up, we are going to do a couple errands,  then I hope to finish my frugal February posts later today and join up with with FOF at Renaissance

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Update on the egg shell plants

These were planted about two weeks ago. One side is all cherry tomatos and I mostly only planted one seed in each cup - I don't like thinning out baby plants. 10 of them have sprouts.
The other side is assorted flowers and they sprouted about the same. 


I have an assortment of saved seeds, I am going to replant the unsprouted cups and hope for more plants. 


The reason for no blog posts this week - I have another cold! I've lost count, this is either #6 or #7 of this school year. I am eating right, drinking Emergen-C every day, washing my hands- etc. I don't know what else to do ( not seeing my germ spreading grandchildren is not an option I would choose at this point) 
This current cold is milder and seems to be shorter than any of the others so I am thankful for that. 

I am listening if anyone has advice 

Friday, February 21, 2014

Child size pajama pants from an adult pajama top

My daughter was given pajamas, her mother in law got them as a gift but didn't like them. My daughter liked just the pants to wear for lounging. Her daughter likes the pants too and asked for some just like them.
Since she has seen me  repair, alter  and hack so many other things, she brought me the shirt and a pair of the current size pajama pants for my granddaughter.  She asked if I could make a little pair of pants from them.
I turned the pants inside out to use the seam line for my cutting guide.
It wouldn't fit quite this way, so I turned it around and that way was fine. 
The outside of the leg along the middle of the shirt, the crotch at the sleeve seam and the waist along the top of the shirt.
   
It fit perfectly and saved me lots of sewing to just use the shirt hem as the pajama pants hem.
Close up of the reused hem line.
The fabric was a new type to me, it looks like satin on the front side and the wrong side is brushed, almost like flannel.,
The finished pants- the pocket is a little crooked but that is just where it ended up. I don't think a 3 year old will care one bit.
Close up of the fabric -this would be a good I spy quilt fabric except it is not cotton. 

In case you are wondering, the top was a ladies size large and the pants are a 5 T. 

It just took about 15-20 minutes to make these. I cut them out on the dining table while baby grandson ate his finger food lunch, then I put him in the bounce seat while I sewed. 

Have you altered or hacked anything like this lately?
 
 

2014 Quilt #3

I first heard of I Spy quilts maybe 10-12 years ago, way before I had any grandchildren.
Each block of an I spy quilt uses novelty fabric and the fabric gets fussy cut so the design is featured in each block. 
The template I used is a 3 3/8 inch plexiglass square, which is small. If I was starting another I Spy quilt from scratch, I would use a 4 or 5 inch square. Some of the fabrics I would of liked to use had designs that were just too big. 
Anyway, I've been collecting novelty fabrics all this time and I thought there were finally enough to finish cutting out squares and sew up a quilt.
Every square is something different.

This one is for granddaughter Andie who will be 2 very soon.
It is all machine sewn and quilted. The backing has fish and mermaids riding dolphins. 


Little Andie was born early at 5 pounds  and took a helicopter ride to a bigger hospital on her first day of life. She spent a few days in the children's hospital. 

beautiful Andie
Then once she got home, she has never stopped growing and thriving.
No one would ever guess our tall almost 2 year old Andie was a Premmie.


Some of my  next quilts will be more I Spy quilts for Andie's cousins, JJ and Braeden. 
 
 
linking to the party at CreativeJewishMom.Com - craft schooling Sunday