if you do stuff, stuff gets done

Dishwashers and Electric bills

2012-02-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

a portion of our last utility bill
our water and electricity is on the same bill
notice that the previous months bill was about $28 higher than this months bill

we heat our home with natural gas and that bill is from a different company

I think I have heard at least a dozen times, from "energy experts" that automatic dishwashers cost less to use than old fashioned handwashing. I have about decided that those experts must be paid off by the dishwasher and dishwasher detergent makers!

Several years ago, I did an experiment with my bill, trying to lower it and hand washed all dishes for a month.
My utility bill was lower that month, you can read about it on my old blog
A Home With A Smile

I had pretty much forgot that until I got this last utility bill. I was wondering why it was so much lower,
then I remember I had not been using the dishwasher because it was not working correctly even before it flooded my kitchen.

And have you priced dishwasher detergent lately? None of them are cheap.
Liquid hand dishwashing soap costs a lot less than the automatic stuff too.

So, if you are really trying to lower your utility bills and grocery store bills, you might want to switch to handwashing.
As I type this, my dishwasher is running- cleaning all the breakfast and lunch dishes-
I am not giving it up right now but I certainly could if needed.

Valentine boxes 2012

2012-02-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

Years ago, maybe around 1994, we started making and filling Valentine boxes at home.

Bobby, Jimmy and Nina were all at home for homeschooling for 2 years ( they started school at public schools and graduated from public school but need some intense instruction in weak subjects so we homeschooled them.)

Anyway, we stayed really busy and they did not miss much about public school but they did miss the school parties.

So that first year of homeschool, and most years since, we have made and filled boxes for Valentines.

Not every family member participated this year but those of us who did last night had a great time.

all the boxes on the table with the pink tree
quite an assortment, huh?
Mine is on the far right - an oatmeal box covered with vintage fabric
Nina's is beside mine - it is a giant cupcake, a little hard to tell because the lid is askew
Jeff's is on the back left

Elizabeth's box is a panda bear, she likes the Kung Fu panda and calls all pandas "Po"

Nina put sweettart conversation heats in Starbucks coffee bottles - can you see mine sticking out of the top of my box?

These next 3 pictures are SIL John's box
Isn't he funny, using that grumpy photo of Elizabeth?

this was on one end of John's box - I think he use paint prints of his feet and Elizabeth's hands.

Jimmy's box
lots of google eyes

yummy fruit pizza that Nina brought for our dessert

Thats one of our family traditons- it's really fun, not expensive the way we do it and something we look forward to every year.

Valentine Decorating - use what you have

2012-02-08T03:58:00.000-08:00

It's time to put out the Valentine decorations and since I don't like to shop, I used what I had -

a small tub of Valentine decorations from years past,

a Christmas tree

lots of crocheted treasures from my Mom

a Christmas wreath

and a cute little boy

this little pink tree is perfect for Valentines - most of the hearts were crocheted by my Mom
I made the felt and sequined ones.

apothecary jars decorated with things from that tub
pink doilies from my Mom
and a cute little boy

the living room

the dining room

frog candy dish
he wishes he was filled with candy

thrift store cupid dish
and little cherubs that Nina used to collect

this may look silly to some people but I really like it.
This is the evergreen my brother made in December
It is still fresh and hanging by our entry way.
I found these cute red cupids in the tub and hot-glued them to the wreath.
so now, it is a Valentine wreath!

Do you have Valentine decorations in your home?

Please tell me in a comment , I would love to come to take a look.

dishwasher woes and fixes

2012-02-06T07:50:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone!

My dishwasher has not been consistently cleaning the dishes all the way for a few months and I had just about quit using it.

But last Sunday afternoon, we had a lot of dirty dishes and I was tired so I loaded up the dishwasher, then I sat down in the living room with my son and husband. A little while later, I went in the kitchen for a drink and saw that the kitchen floor was covered with water that was coming out of the dishwasher.

Thankfully my son helped dry up the water and my husband got the water shut off.

The appliance repairman came Monday morning, ordered a part and then replaced in on Weds morning - pretty fast service!

Anyway, the water inlet valve was ruined as it was just full of alum that is in our water and it had corroded the fittings too. That part was so clogged, it was not letting enough water in the dishwasher

After the repairman fixed the broken part, I asked him about the not-clean-enough dishes.

He told me several things to do and now, I can happily report that the dishwasher is working right and yields very clean dishes!

clean dishes!

Lemi-shine ( bought mine at Walmart with the dishwasher detergents for about $3.

The appliance man said that all phospates were removed from dishwasher products about 2 years ago. Phosphates are bad for the environment but were good for cleaning dishes and keeping the inside of appliances clean and free of buildup.
He told me to get some LemiShine.
I followed the directions on the back of the LemiShine.
First, I ran the dishwasher, empty, on a hot long cycle with a full dispenser cup of LemiShine to clean the inside and all the spray holes, etc.
Then I ran a load of dirty dishes, again following the LemiShine directions. I put detergent in the first cup, LemiShine in the second cup.
Those steps resulted in a really clean load of dishes. yea!

I've been handwashing dishes lately and I think I mostly prefer anyway. It is much quieter and does not take that long unless there are really a lot of dishes.
Even though my hand have been in dishwater a lot, they are soft and not dry.
I think it is because of this cream I found at Dollar Tree.
The tubes are big, 10 ounces, and like everything at Dollar Tree, they cost $1.

Dermasil cream from Dollar Tree - $1 for 10 ounces!

I used to like that Blue Spa hand parrafin stuff from Bath and Body Works, at about $12 for a little tube.
But I really think this Dermasil works much better.
I've bought 3 tubes to keep one in the kitchen, one in my bedroom and one in the living room.
And if I got back to Dollar Tree and they still have it, I just might buy a few more tubes to have for later.

Another tip from the appliance repairman - he said any dishwasher or washing machine, no matter the age or brand, could malfunction and flood your house during a cycle. He said they should never be left running attended - either when we leave the house or go to bed. I am taking his advice on this one.

Fruit for the week and a new kitchen

2012-01-31T18:12:00.000-08:00

I think this fruit is so pretty - looks like jewels!

We like fruit.

Jeff takes 2 servings of fruit in his lunch box everyday.

The grandchildren like fruit at every meal too. No cooking is involved in serving fruit but all that peeling and chopping does take time and gets your hands messy.

I like to buy fruit in bulk, usually at Sams, and because of the mess, I like to prepare it in bulk too.

Monday morning, I cut up one fresh pineapple, peeled about 10 clementines and sectioned about 10 ruby red grapefruit.

Then some of it got put into serving size containers for Jeff's lunch box.

The rest is in 3 containers in the fridge, making for quick and easy fruit servings for me and the grandchildren.

Gavin is cooking "meat" in the microwave and Elizabeth is filling the pitcher at the ice dispenser.

Isn't this a cute play kitchen?

My son in law got it from a coworker whose children had outgrown it.

And they got it from as a hand-me-down from another family.

It is Step2 brand and in really good shape to be several years old.

Thrifty tip - pass things on that you no longer need and then happily accept when other things are passed on to you.

One of my very favorite things about getting something second-hand - no packaging and no giant box to deal with!

2 recipes and 2 Cath Kidston bags

2012-01-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

How does a simple, low cost, low calorie dessert sound?

I read about this butter and oil free bar cookie recipe on Sunny Simple Life, she read about it on the Cozy Little Kitchen and she says the recipe is from an older Paula Deen cookbook.

I was not expecting this recipe to be good but it really is! It got thumbs up from the 6 family members that ate them - the only complaint is it makes a small recipe so they ran out pretty fast.

Brown Sugar Bars

1 egg

1 c. brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. chopped pecans or other nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8 in. square pan. (I used Pam .)

Stir together egg, sugar and vanilla in a bowl.

Stir together flour, soda and salt in a smaller bowl.

Stir flour mixture into egg mixture.

Add most of the nuts.

Spread in pan and sprinkle on the rest of the nuts.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

The batter will puff up and get golden around the edges, but stay very moist inside.

Let cool, then cut into bars or squares.

You can sprinkle the top with powdered sugar but I left ours plain- they tasted delicious plain.

I will be making these again and again!

I know nuts are expensive but we get usually have pecans from my parents, I buy walnuts and almonds at Sams so this is not an expensive recipe for me anyway.

My birthday is in December and my parents gave me some cash.

I have looked at several Cath Kidston catalogs, liked most everything in them, but mostly liked their handbags. After Christmas, they had a sale I could not resist- the bags I wanted were about 50% off -

so I happily ordered 2 with my birthday money.

pretty wrapper- yes, I saved the bags from both shipments
They came all the way from England and I had to wait 3 weeks!

my 2 new bags - my photography is not good, the pictures are much better on the Cath Kidston site.
I can tell you that these bags are made from very nice materials and seem very sturdy.
I like them both so much, I don't foresee me buying another bag until these just wear out.

last weekend I tried a very popular Pinterest recipe
Cinnamon Roll Cake
I halved the recipe and baked it in a 8 inch square pan instead of the 13by9 for the full recipe.
It made a nice texture cake, my husband thought it was delicious, but I thought it was just too sweet and rich -
any body else made any good Pinterest recipes?

Hum Along

2012-01-19T17:10:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

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 ???

2012-01-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

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.

Big Oops!

2012-01-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

I have not heard from anyone who tried to make this recipe.

I noticed a problem before I gave the recipe card to my DIL.

This recipe also calls for 2 1/4 cup milk.

I added it to this card and hope you will too if you try to make them.

They really are good pancakes!

I am so sorry if anyone wasted your time and ingredients because of my goof.

who does this messy kitchen belong to?

2012-01-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

Before

who does this messy kitchen belong to? That can't be Rhonda's kitchen, can it?

Well, yes it was my kitchen this morning.

another shot of my messy kitchen.

I have had a few days alone and I mostly just rested for a week.
I did the stuff that had to be done and a few little projects but mostly I just rested.
2011 was a busy year

AFTER

I was slow getting around this morning but then I got busy in that messy kitchen.

All the dishes got washed and put away.

Supper is cooking in the crockpot -smothered pork chops.

Potatoes are peeled and waiting in a saucepan to cook for supper.

Every surface got wiped off including all the appliances and counter tops.

The floor was swept and mopped

The big pantry needed some organizing and got it

Trash taken out

awwww

it makes me smile just seeing my kitchen clean and organized again.

Frugal Doings

homemade croutons
I made croutons with some bread that just starting to be quite fresh enough - it is really easy .
We are having salad for supper but the croutons taste so good,
so I had a salad for lunch as I did not wait so long to eat them.

Kitchen trash can lined with a brown grocery sack.

I try to remember to use those cloth bags when I shop but have not been too good about it lately.
We got a stack of these brown sacks in December when we bought groceries in Oklahoma City.
One big brown sack is just the right size for our kitchen trash can.

an announcement and a frugal recipe

This is a photo of some things on my fridge.

edited !!!! This recipe also calls for 2 1/4 cups of milk

One is the Christmas card from my stepson Clint and his wife Amanda. The picture is her torso by their Christmas tree. If you click on the picture, you can read the message better.

The other is a recipe Amanda asked for months ago and I just got around to writing it out for her.

This baby will be a sibling for Gavin.

Our son Bobby and Sheena will also be having a baby
due the end of March.

We will have 4 grandbabies come next Christmas,

won't that be fun!!!!

So, I think 2012 is going to be a busy year too.

Good thing I've been resting for a week!

Frugal Makes Cents

2012-01-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

I am participating in the saving money in 2012 challenge over at Frugal Makes Cents and will have some posts about it soon.

Go on over and visit if this is a subject you are interested in.

I should be back posting soon, just resting up as 2011 wound down and 2012 gets started.

A Cultivated Nest

2011-12-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

Did you all see that Manuela's blog is back?

a very nice surprise indeed~!

A Cultivated Nest

December in our home

2011-12-11T08:50:00.001-08:00

Son Bobby noticed our home needed some TLC on the outside.
He offered to power wash and paint all of the outside
and he did!
It looks great too.
He is same son that helped us tile our floors just about a year ago.

2011 beautiful fresh evergreen wreath that my brother made.
He makes one for me every Christmas and this is one especially fresh and pretty

and doesn't it look great on the freshly painted entry way?

that wonderful real wreath is how we ended up with this assortment of trees for Christmas 2011

We own several big green artificial trees but when I set them up, they looked awful -
just squashed and straggly and not nice at all.

So with Gavin here to help me, we packed away the green trees and set up these 3 trees.
One is silver, one is pink and one is white.

I like them but I am hoping to do a big fresh real tree next year.

By the comments from people that have been in our home,
they seem to either really like this tree medley
or they think it is just bizarre.

Gavin and Elizabeth

having a little Christmas fun

and in case I don't get another blog post done before Dec. 25,
Merry Christmas
to you all with love
from Rhonda and Jeff

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-11-27T17:23:00.001-08:00

4 generations
Me, little Elizabeth, my daughter Nina and my mom Rowena

My Mom's birthday is this week.

Happy birthday with love to you!

the little stuff is at the top of my thankful list

2011-11-18T14:00:00.001-08:00

Some cookies I baked today for a baby shower that Nina is hosting tomorrow.

The new mom is doing this new baby daughter's room in hot pink and zebra.

Nina saw some cookies similar to these on Pinterest and thought they would be perfect for this occasion. The Pinterest version used peanut butter cookies dipped in pink sugar.

The new mom is a RD so I am sure she follows the no nuts eating recommendation to avoid passing on allergies to the baby.

So I baked a double batch of thumbprint cookie dough from Betty Crocker,

and tinted it heavily with rose food coloring.

The center is a Hugs flavor of the striped Hershey kisses

I don't think I have ever made such hot pink cookies before, these turned out delicious though!

I saw this cartoon on Facebook and really like it .
I am just not a fan of rushing from holiday to the next,
I am not really a fan of rushing anything
So I will just be enjoying Thanksgiving for the rest of November.

The December issues of Country Living and Martha with their very pretty Christmas covers have arrived
but I will just wait until Dec. 1st to read them.

Sweet little Gavin and Elizabeth this morning
just a coincidence that they both wore Eskimo Joe shirts

Jimmy came for lunch and Elizabeth was so excited to see him.
Gavin would of been excited too but he had already left today.

I am thankful for little things like a lunch visit from my son,

sweet grandchildren,

fresh cookies,

a funny cartoon,

and new magazines

there are lots more things I am thankful and this is just the things I am thinking of right now

I added a few kind of new blogs to me on my sidebar.

One is the fun activities of an American family living in Europe.

One is a homemaker in New Zealand who follows Pinterest and actually makes something she pins everyday, then blogs about it.

Another one is about thrifty things made at home and

the one is called Life at Kilkinney Glenn

November update

2011-11-16T17:03:00.001-08:00

November is halfway over and I finally put out some fall/Thanksgiving decorations this week,
I think I might be the very last blogger to do so........
Anyway, decorations are very simple this year.
Everything is stuff I already had.
The jars on the mantle are filled with faux apples and pears

I just made the thankful banner this week, so I guess it is new.
But I used only supplies I already had
I used a Cricut to cut out the brown oak leaves and cream letters, them glued them to a some craft ribbon.

2 wreaths made by my brother,
this wall leads into our kitchen and faces the dining room.

keeping it real - can you see the trash can?

plastic canvas candlestick Pilgrims and Indians I made 10 or more years ago
The turkey salt and pepper shakers belonged to my grandmother.

more turkey S&Ps, that will actually be used.
I don't care if these get handled but I would be very sad if something happened to my grandmother's set

my father in law painted this turkey and it is hanging by our front door.

some very simple silhouettes I made of my grandchildren

I took profile pictures of them, printed them and cut them out of black paper.
Then I scanned them and shrunk them to fit these little frames and printed them
in black and white on paper.
I've seen lots of method to do them, this is just my method and probably not the best but I am really happy with them.
The frames were 10 cents at a yard and I have 4 of them,
so when future grandbabies come along, I can add their profiles to this grouping.

One other change I made is about comments on my blog. I used to allow anonymous comments but I have been getting so much spam, about 3 day and they've mostly been anonymous.
I am not going to add the word verification but I did change the settings to not allow anonymous comments anymore.
So if you want to leave a comment but don't want to do the blogger thing, then just email me
stwoliver3@yahoo.com

Happy Birthday Marines

2011-11-10T05:19:00.000-08:00

Okie humor

2011-11-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Not sure who to give credit for making this funny graphic, it is being forwarded among most all us Okies.
The weather has been so extreme the past 12 months, we just have to laugh at it and wonder what is coming next.

I may not be doing much blogging for awhile. I am fine however my days are busy.

25 Shutterfly Christmas Cards -winners announced!

2011-10-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

Update by Rhonda
I apologize for being so pokey about announcing the winners of this contest. I thought Nina was picking and notifying the winners and she thought I was .

the winners are Cindy, Dawn and Emily.
thank you to all who read about and entered this contest.
Shutterfly really is one of my favorite online companies.

Hi Everyone! This is Nina, Rhonda's AMAZING and AWESOME daughter (hee hee, Momma told me I could write whatever I wanted!) here. I am so excited to tell you about one of my favorite online companies - Shutterfly.

I first found Shutterfly in 2007 when I was planning my wedding. I didn't want a "normal" guestbook for my wedding, I wanted something that everyone could write a message in, so I made a Shutterfly Photo Book out of our engagement pictures. I made sure to leave plenty of white space around the edges of the pages so everyone would have plenty of room to write. I also wrote the story of how John and I began dating and the proposal story in the beginning of the book, so we would always remember the "funny little things" that have happened.

BUT! I'm really here to tell you about their Holiday Cards! I have used Shutterfly for my holiday cards for the past 2-3 years and I have always been thrilled with the results. They have so many different designs to chose from. Every time I look at their cards, I find new favorites! I'm so indecisive that I usually order several different designs. We haven't had our pictures taken for our cards yet, so I'm using some pictures we took on our beach vacation this summer.

Here are a few of my favorites this year:

Newsworthy Wishes

I am always on the search for "Religious" Christmas cards without them being cheesy or old fashioned. I really like the new designs Shutterfly has this year. They still convey the message, but they are also fun and modern.

We Are Blessed

Mighty God

They also have a large variety of items on their Stationary Page. They have Invitations for Christmas Parties, Address Labels, Gift Tags and even Thank you cards if you are feeling extra ambitious!

Now for the fun part!! Shutterfly will give 3 of you a code for 25 free Holiday Cards! Yay! Here's how to enter (Please leave a separate comment for each entry you complete):

1 Entry - Leave a comment telling me your favorite holiday tradition (can be a current tradition, on you had growing up, or a neat one that you've heard from someone else).

1 Entry - Blog about this Giveaway on your blog

I will choose three lucky winners on Saturday, October 29.

P.S. if you like hearing from me, let my Momma know and maybe she'll have me back to share again! :)

Disclaimer: Shutterfly provided us with 50 free holiday cards and free shipping (along with the 3 codes that I am giving away). But all opinions/thoughts/random musings are all mine.

this contest is over and closed

talking a little about family and state

2011-10-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

cowgirl in pink

cowgirl in orange and black

We live in a college town and our football team is doing especially good this season,

they are undefeated and currently ranked 3rd in the polls.

I am sure they are so successful because of how cute little Elizabeth roots for them.

Son Bobby was here today too.
He rightly calls himself a grillmaster as he enjoys cooking outside.
He grilled a trayful of chicken breasts dipped in Head Country barbecue sauce for our lunch.
That chicken was delicious and I am happy we have leftovers too.

Candy Corn Doilies for Fall

2011-10-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

While Gavin napped yesterday, I did a little fall updating.
I put the green polka-dot sheers back on the front window -I found them several years ago at a thrift store for $1 :)
and the yard sale green tablecloth replaced the red and white checked summer cloth.

Aren't these doilies wonderful?
My mom, The Queen of Crochet, made them several years ago

I think they look like candy corn.
Have you all seen the candy corn crafts that are the rage this year?
I searched for candy corn on Pinterest and found 80848 pins for candy corn!

Mom was way ahead of the times when she crocheted these.

A few weeks ago, I saw on Elizabeth's blog, that she had some pretty colored glass up in a window very similar to the window over our front door.
I put my grandmothers glass paperweights up in ours and they really look pretty when their is bright light coming through.

oops - looks like I need to add clean dead bugs off windows to my to-do list!

I sewed up this new handbag for me this week.
The bird fabric was a preprinted apron panel, also found at a thrift store.
I used a free internet pattern that I have used before
Artsy Craftsy Babe's Pleated Tote

it is an oldie but goodie pattern, very easy to sew up and does not require a huge amount of fabric.

Jeff's got a cold but has gone to work anyway.

Both grandbabies are here today.

I've got some sirloin cubes thawing to make beef stew in the crock pot for supper.

And son Jimmy is coming over this evening so I can hem the pants of a new suit he just got.

What are you doing today?

Doing it all ????

2011-10-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

We have neighbors that have the most beautiful well-manicured lawn I have ever seen, They spend lots of time mowing it just a certain way and redoing the flower beds. They do most of the work themselves but they also have professionals come to trim the trees and do the feeding-weeding-and bug-killing spraying.

Our lawn turned brown this past summer from the heat and drought but our neighbors have a had a beautiful golf course quality lawn year round.

They are very nice people, busy with work, their son, golf, redoing a classic car and lots of yardwork.

So what do my busy neighbors have to do with this cute picture of my granddaughter in a 1999-ish diaper?

Elizabeth in a retro diaper from neighbor Marcus

Well, Mrs. Neighbor stopped me last month when I was out walking with my grandchildren. She had a package of diapers for us, she sheepishly explained that their only son, who is 6 feet tall and 14 years old, found the diapers in his bathroom cabinet. They were his diapers but obviously he has has not needed them in at least 11 years. The diapers have been stashed away in a cabinet all this time.
I am glad she shared the diapers with us, even if she was a little embarrassed about still having them.

I have organized cabinets and a brown yard, while my neighbor may spend less time on her cabinets and has a green yard. I don't think either of us is right or wrong, we are just doing what works for us.

The moral of this little story- other people/bloggers may look like they have everything just perfect but really, nobody can do everything. Don't put other people who seem to be perfect on pedestals and don't look down on others or yourself when things are less than perfect.

Do what you can, let other people do what they can and lets just enjoy others and ourselves as we all do the best we can -and not stressing about stuff that does not matter.