Sunday, December 30, 2007

Josh's Angels

This is a heart strings post that pulls at my heart strings more than any other could. I wanted to show you the Christmas ornaments that we have been collecting for 20 years in memory of my son, Josh, who died at the age of 2. This is Josh, our little one in heaven.





We bought the first ornament without realizing there would be another one each year. The ornament was from Hallmark and was called Mary's Angels. We actually started collecting them the second year they were being offered. My daughter, who was 5 when her brother died, found the first one on EBay as a special Christmas gift to me many years later. So we have the complete collection so far. My daughter buys me the ornament each year. So far there are 20 and I'm not sure how long Hallmark will continue this series.

What better ornament to remember our precious son than an ornament called Mary's Angels?

Here are just a few of the ornaments.



Josh died in 1986 from a birth defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. At the time there was nothing that could be done for him and it was a miracle that he lived for 2 years. I have seen on the internet that the babies born with this birth defect now are being saved by surgery.

We love you Josh!!!!

Friday, December 28, 2007

Frugal Friday

Hi everyone! Hope you have enjoyed your Christmas week. I was off from work 4 work days, which when combined with the weekend gave me six days off in a row! It was great!

My frugal Friday tip for today is:

Now that Christmas is over, step back and look at how it went. What part of Christmas was most special to you and your family? What foods were a hit? Which kinds of presents were the best? What would you change? How could you have saved money now that you think back on it and it is still fresh on your mind? Write that down in your planner for November, 2008 to remind you.

Now is the time to take notes on these things so that you will remember how to best celebrate Christmas at your house next year.

These are the things I would like to do differently next year:

1. I will have things more organized. This means no last minute Christmas shopping, wrapping, cooking or card sending. I was sick during the week before Christmas and am still on the mend, so that combined with waiting til the last minute was really hard. I would like to work on hand made gifts starting now! I hope to do some things ahead of time like addressing Christmas cards.


2. We cut back on what we spent on each person by half this year, but still had a pile of presents. It was so much fun!!! I really enjoyed giving the few handmade gifts I was able to get done and I think the recipients enjoyed them too. So I will remember next year, it isn't how much you spend that makes Christmas special.

3. I want to write "to do" items in my planner for each month of the year to spread out some of the work associated with Christmas.

4. I made too many different kinds of foods. Every one is so busy and excited on Christmas day they don't need as much food as I made anyway. I must remember that next year.

5. The key for next year for me will be to simplify. I need to be kinder to myself. Working full time simply does not give me the time to do large scale decorating, etc. I need to accept that and do what is comfortable for me.

Happy Friday!

Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas!!!




I hope that all of you are having a joyous Christmas Eve!

This is an ornament I put together for my grandbaby's first Christmas for our tree. The frame is a cookie cutter, tied with a bow. I also cross stitched his name on regular cross stitch fabric and sewed it onto a store bought stocking I purchased at Cracker Barrel's after Christmas clearance last year. I had just found out my daughter was expecting. The baby has been really good all of his 4 months of life so Santa is going to fill his stocking with all kinds of baby goodies!

Friday, December 21, 2007

The Frugal Husband

Does your husband support you in your frugal quest? Or vice/versa... Do you support him in his frugal quest? As you know financial disagreements are one of the major causes of domestic conflict.

My husband and I have set a limit on our Christmas presents to each other. When I got home from work earlier this week I had three presents under the tree, all wrapped up and ready for Christmas! Here is how they were wrapped:



I said, "But Honey, we have plenty of Christmas paper bought at after Christmas clearance sales!". He said, "I was being frugal!". I said, "Good job Honey!".

Luckily my husband and I are on the same page in this area. Why do we feel the need to be frugal? Because the future is so uncertain! Here are some reasons:

1. The American economy is not looking good;

2. Gas and food prices are pretty much doomed to go higher and higher as time goes on because of the shortage of gas. Nearly all of the American infrastructure is dependent on gas... Where would your food come from if a truck couldn't bring it to your store? How would you or your spouse get to work?

3. There could be economic collapse;

4. There could be a weather related crisis;

5. What if one of us became disabled?;

6. I don't even want to talk about terrorist related problems.

I don't mean to be a doomsday predictor, but we should be prepared for the future. It would be so much better to be out of debt and have some money put aside, if some kind of crisis occurred, either in your private life or in our country.

If your spouse is not supporting you in this area, here are some ideas taken from the Tightwad Gazette:

1. Accept the things you cannot change, and change the things you can.

2. Agree that purchases of over x-amount must be discussed.

3. Post your income and outgo in a place where it can be seen.

4. Take care of necessities first, before discretionary funds are distributed. (Needs before wants)

5. If you know a major expense is coming up, let them know well in advance there will be less discretionary funds available and ask for cooperation.

6. Explain that a savings account is not a discretionary fund and should be paid like a bill.

7. When there has been a spending binge do not retaliate with one of your own.

8. Be patient. You don't want to divorce over this!!!

9. Set a good example. If your spouse sees that you can buy a used item for a fraction of the cost of a new item that is just as good as the new item, he or she will begin to realize the advantages of being frugal.

Pray and remember to seek guidance from Scripture. I love to read about the Proverbs 31 Woman. It inspires me so much because I am far from having all the characteristics of a "Wife of Noble Character". This morning I re-read Proverbs 31 as I often do. This is the verse that stood out today:

Proverbs 31, verse 25: She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Thursday Meanderings

I have a very bad cold, the first one in a long time. Its the kind of cold that gives you a very bad sore throat and then you are hoarse for a few days. Part of my job is to answer the phone at work, so this isn't good. We are already short handed, so staying home is a last resort. This morning I googled "sore throat remedy" and found that gargling with apple cider vinegar is supposed to help. So I tried it. I have to admit that my throat is feeling much better after only one dose, but its not a pleasant experience. I'll try it once an hour though. I don't have any honey to mix it with, so its straight vinegar for me!

Does anyone have any experience with using Apple cider vinegar for home remedies?

Getting sick this close to Christmas has given me a new appreciation for not procrastinating and getting every thing done early. If I was to get too sick, some members of my family would be very short changed in the gift area. I hope to have everything done really early next year!!!!

Things seen recently that made me grin:

1. A Walmart employee working really hard while singing very loudly along with the Christmas music playing in the store. The song was "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, only a hippopotamus will do". He was oblivious to anyone around him.

2. A car dressed up like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. This consisted of two large furry stuffed antlers. One was attached to the top of the car on each of the back seat passenger windows. The nose was a HUGE red stuffed thing attached to the front of the car.

3. Last week we had several 80 degree days and the Santa who sits in his little house in the downtown area of the town I work in was still dressed to the hilt in all that fur!!! He had to be roasting.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Last Minute Gift Ideas

I saw this gift idea in our newspaper yesterday and thought it was so cute, I just had to share it with you.

Take a whisk, fill it with candy and attach a tag that says: "We whisk you a Merry Christmas!". You could tie a pretty ribbon around it too. This would make a great gift by itself, but could also be combined with other kitchen items to make an even bigger gift. It would also be very cute in a Christmas stocking along with other kitchen items.

Today at my office we will have a little Christmas party. We only have 6 employees. 3 bosses and 3 underlings! LOL. Just kidding! Us 3 girls exchange little gifts and we will have food to eat all day!

My gifts to my two coworkers include: A glade battery operated candle, a 2 year Dayspring planner, a magnetic notepad, and a handmade cosmetic bag containing tissue, chapstick, travel size lint roller and hand lotion. Here is my post showing the cosmetic bags.

I wrapped all these separately in homespun type Christmas paper and tied jute twine around each one in a bow. Each girl's gifts are in a basket, except the candle which wouldn't fit.

I am thinking seriously about stopping at Walmart on the way to work and putting together a Whisk gift to stick in the basket too.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Cookie Tips

In the past I haven't had very good luck with cookie baking, but finally am successful with this chocolate chip cookie recipe. I now realize that this is a pretty basic recipe. In fact its the exact same recipe that is on the back of the "Sams" brand chocolate chips!

Anyway, these are the tips that help me:

1. Use cool pans. This means having 2 or 3 pans on hand to rotate with when baking several pans full.

2. Use chilled dough. The cookies don't spread out so much if you use chilled dough and cool pans.

3. Remove the cookies from the oven when they just start to brown around the edges. Even though they don't look completely done, they are perfect.

4. Remove the cookies as soon as they are out of the oven and have cooled for about a minute.

5. Use a metal edge spatula to remove the cookies. The thinner the edge the better. This is an old spatula that I have. The edge is worn down very thin and it works really well.



6. Let the cookies cool on some kind of rack. I use the broiler/baking racks that came inside some pans. As soon as they are cool enough put them in containers that can be sealed up in. This helps them to stay moist.

7. The cookie dough in the above recipe freezes really well. Freeze as much as you would want to cook at one time in separate containers and you'll always have oven baked cookies at a moment's notice. I have two containers in the freezer right now. They can be baked on a Sunday afternoon or on a week night. This will really impress your family!

For more kitchen tips go to Tammys Recipes.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Baby's very first Christmas Gift!!!



Our grandbaby is only three and one half months old, but he loved opening his first Christmas present!

Our Christmas celebration at my Mama's house was yesterday and we had lots of fun. There was lots of food and lots of family! The house won't hold them all, but we squeeze in somehow!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Saturday

Whew!!!

I was up early and started a big pot of vegetable soup. I placed a bag of home-frozen tomatoes, peas and corn in the crock pot to thaw. After they thawed, I threw in some browned hamburger, a can of mixed vegetables, a small can of tomato paste and some spices. Right before we ate, I peeled and diced some potatoes and boiled them in a separate pot on the stove. I added these to the soup. I also made some grilled cheese sandwiches using old-timey hoop cheese my husband brought home.

The weather is chilly and damp today after a week of way above normal temperatures, so the soup is good for a day like today. My husband has a fire going in the wood heater insert in the fireplace.

I closed up my sewing machine earlier this week and moved it to make room for the Christmas tree. My intention was to not sew until after Christmas, but I got so much done toward Christmas preparations and cleaning this week, that I drug the machine out into the middle of the room, put the ironing board up in the laundry room and went at it again!

I made some cosmetic-type bags and another wallet. My daughter loves blue so I purchased 1/2 yard of the blue print for the outside and 1/2 yard of a matching solid blue for the lining. From the blue I have made 3 bags and 1 wallet. One of the blue bags needs a closure and isn't pictured here. Then I made a large bag from the black and white polka dot and red and white pin dot fabric I bought earlier to make tote bags from. I cut out another black, red and white one, but will have to finish it later.




I purchased some inexpensive items to go in the cosmetic bags such as chapstick, hand lotion, pocket size tissue and a travel lint roller. Each bag will cost less than $5.00 and will make a cute gift, I think.

I want to experiment with some different kinds of closures for the bags. The snap closures don't seem strong enough to me. I think velcro or a button and loop closure would be neat.

I made two batches of Chocolate Chip Cookies today too! I baked one batch and froze the other batch in 2 containers. The ones I baked today are for my family and also to put a few into zip lock bags for little gifts. I found some Christmas zip lock bags at Dollar Tree for this purpose.

The cookie dough that I froze will be baked between now and Christmas for more gift bags and also for my family.

I am planning on making some white chocolate chip, macadamia nut cookies soon. I saw Paula Deen making these today on her T.V. show, except she also put in candied cherries. YUM!!! I might just have to try that.

Our family's Christmas celebration at my Mama's house is tomorrow. We always have it the Sunday before Christmas, but since the Sunday before Christmas this year is the 23rd, we are having it tomorrow. I can taste that good food already!!!

We will have a guest in addition to family on Christmas Day at our house this year who is a new "boyfriend" of my stepdaughter. I discovered that he played football at Appalachian State University and is a high school football coach now. Since Appalachian State just won its third national football championship in its division, I think it would be nice to make him a small "ASU - 3 PEAT" Pillow. We will see if time allows!

ATTENTION: THE NEWEST MOVIE IN THE LOVE COMES SOFTLY SERIES PREMIERS TONIGHT AT 9:00 P.M.!!!!! ON THE HALLMARK CHANNEL!!!!! I don't think I have seen the one that came out before it either. All of the movies are playing from the first one through the last one right now!!!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Sew Crafty Friday

I have been posting about the progress on a quilt I was making for someone who requested a "boyish" quilt for her four year old grandson. This is the finished product.



I really love the fabric used for the outside border and the backing. It was one of the fabrics featured in the "quilt of the month" at the Walmart fabric department for December. It is designed to use in quilts, is 100% cotton and is only $2.00 per yard. When I pre-washed it I was really surprised at how soft it turned out. I think it will feel so good for a little boy to cuddle with!

Here is the link for the pattern again: Patches for Chris.

For more Sew Crafty Friday posts, go to the Waiting For Him Blog!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Busy Days

I have been getting up even earlier than usual and getting so much done at home! Yesterday I was awake at 2:00 A.M. and finally just got on up at 3:00 A.M. I did the majority of my Christmas decorating before going to work. This morning I was up at 4:30. I made lasagna for tonight's supper, finished one load of laundry and completed another load. I also did a little bit more decorating.

I worked on a little surprise for my husband that falls under making your home a haven category. I have seen lots of posts lately about making your home a haven and also making it a place of peace for your husband and family. He might read this blog today so I won't go into details. (grin)

My son had another set of twin goats born yesterday so that makes 3 sets of twins in a few days time! They were cavorting about this morning when I took our dog out. They are so funny! How can something only about a foot tall play around like that?They are only a few days old.

Sunday I made a recipe for dinner rolls using my bread machine that turned out really good. I will be making this recipe lots of times, especially for Sunday dinners. I let the bread machine do its work and then placed the dough in the refrigerator while we were at church. When I got back from church I rolled it out, let it rise, etc. as the recipe says. Here is a link for the recipe: Annie's Dinner Rolls.

Our menu was an old standby: BBQ chicken, chicken and pastry, field peas, corn, sweet potato souffle, and the rolls. We love Carolina Treet BBQ sauce. If you don't live around here, you might not be able to find it. It is made in North Carolina and is so good. It has a unique flavor, not like the regular manufacturer's brands.

I wanted to post pictures of the baby goats and the finished baseball quilt, but will have to do that later!

Have a great day!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Heart Strings




My sweet husband, ever the bargain hunter, found this quilt rack at an antique/used furniture store located out in the country about 25 miles from our home. He only paid $10.00 for it! The second picture shows wheat designs carved into the wood on each side. The quilt is a Wolf quilt I made for him a few years ago. He folded the quilt and placed it on the rack for a surprise.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Happy Tuesday!

One thing about cooking that I learned from my husband is to slow down. I never noticed, but I always cooked "fast". The burner on the stove was always turned up high... I needed to get things going quick...!!!

Now I approach cooking in a much more relaxed manner. On Sunday mornings, early, I'll put on my vegetables from the freezer. I put them in the pot with a lid on a low/medium setting and let them gradually come to a boil, then reduce the heat even more. They cook gently while our Sunday morning routines are taking place.

I am even reluctant to turn the burner on high to bring water to a boil for pasta now! That is only reserved for those rush suppers when we have to be somewhere quick!!!

This also saves a lot of boil overs and stove top clean up! I can't tell you the mess a pot of boiled over chicken makes!!! I speak from experience, plenty of experience!

So my tip for this week's Kitchen Tip Tuesday is to slow down and enjoy the cooking process. If you have gotten into that rushed, gotta get it done right now, mode, step back and smell the bread!!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Seasons

Lately, almost every sentence that comes out of my mouth ends with , "but I don't have time". I have really been struggling with lack of time to do the things I HAVE to do and the things I REALLY WANT to do!

This morning when I was reading in my Women's Devotional Bible, a Christmas gift from my husband in 2006, I came across a devotion that really struck home with me. This Bible has a topical index and one of the topics listed is "Time Management". This particular devotion is based on Ecclesiastes 3, 1-8. We've all read this or heard it many times before, even in the oldie song "Turn, Turn, Turn" (The Byrds). This devotion talks about how right now might not be the season for a certain thing, but the season may come later.

Well, I've got to discern what the season of my life is right now and what will have to wait. The first thing I've got to do is close up the sewing machine for at least two weeks. As much as I would love to make some home made gifts for loved ones, It just "ain't" going to happen. I will simply have to plan better for next year. Maybe I can write down all my ideas in my nifty little planner for 2008!

Celebrating Christmas in Peace is more important than worrying about things that aren't my "season" right now.

"Seasons change and so must we. Turn, turn, turn.......

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Weekend Happenings

Here in our little corner of the world, life is quite hectic! So much to do and time is so limited!

Yesterday I decided to finish the Baseball Quilt if that's all I got done. I just needed to get it done so I could concentrate on other things. I started on it at 6:30 A.M. and worked on it almost constantly until 9:00 P.M. I am so happy to be almost finished with it. This morning I have already machine quilted two places that needed some more attention and the quilt is spread out on my kitchen table. The only thing left is to remove the blue markings used for quilting lines! This will only take a few minutes and I'll work on that while cooking our Sunday dinner. I will post a picture of it when finished!

I learned this lesson: I will never commit to making a quilt for someone to give as a Christmas gift unless I start on it in the Summer time!

My son has goats and 3 of them are large with kid!!! (LOL) Well, yesterday he announced that one of them had twins and as soon as they weren't so "slimy" he'd show us. I was sewing on the quilt and I heard the loudest bleats you have ever heard and saw that he had brought one of them inside. It was so cute!!!!! I rubbed his/her head and she stopped making any noise. I guess even baby goats know a mother's touch!

I am already working on our Sunday dinner this morning before church. I'll be putting some things in the crockpot, etc.

Have a great 2nd Sunday of Advent. I would like to post some pictures later on of some of the goings on here!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Sew Crafty Friday

For Sew Crafty Friday this week, I cross stitched another "NCSU WOLFPACK" panel.


I am planning to make a tote bag using the black and white/red and white fabric. One will be the outside and one the lining. I plan to use the cross stitch on the outside pocket.


The inside pockets will be made from the outside coordinating fabric.


Maybe after Christmas I can show you the finished product!!!



More more Sew Crafty posts go to Waiting For Him!

Frugal Friday/On-Line Sales

I've always wanted to venture into selling things on E-Bay or other ways on the Internet, but wasn't sure where to begin. I've been dipping my foot into those waters a little bit lately and here's what happened:

1. Amazon: I listed several books on Amazon. They have a pretty good system, but if your book is one of hundreds listed on there the lowest price is 1 cent. Even with the shipping allowance they give you ($3.99) you will lose money by the time they take out their commission and you pay to ship the book, even using media mail.

I have sold 3 books! One book sold for $5.00, one for $.79 and one for $12.99. Needless to say I didn't make any money on the one that sold for $.79! But hopefully the recipient of the book will give me a good rating! The other two were definitely worth the trouble. Amazon just deposits your earnings into your bank account, a nice little surprise.

I will only list books that are at least $5.00 from now on and will be on the look out for saleable books at yard sales, etc.

2. E-Bay: I listed 2 items on E-Bay.

I have seen the infomercial that supposedly shows you how to make thousands on E-Bay. There is no way I would purchase that system!

I don't think there is too much in that system I couldn't figure out on my own.

With that being said.... I was a total failure at selling my 2 items. No one even bid on them. I had 2 questions and 1 watcher on one of the items. One of the people with the questions just wanted to correct me on how I listed the item....:0( The nerve!!! LOL

Anyway, I'm not giving up on making my thousands on E-Bay. But, it ain't that easy!!!! This is how E-Bay works for me: If I'm a buyer, the prices are high. If I'm a seller, the prices are low. Murphy's Law, I suppose.

I've just got to find items that someone actually wants!

Just in case you are curious, the items I was selling were a new still in the box praying doll and a 67 year old Bible. I bought the Bible at a Library Book Sale. The cover is in poor condition, but the contents are wonderful. Its a King James Version Teacher's Edition, with all kinds of study helps such as a concordance, 5,000 questions that coincide with each chapter in the Bible, maps, etc. It also has a hand written family record. The Doll prays "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" when you hold her hands together and her name is "Sweet Faith".

Evidently if you are not selling Barbie Dolls or BRATZ dolls, no one is interested! LOL.

3. Etsy Shop: I have set up an Etsy Shop which I am going to link to my blog eventually. I just haven't had time to really stock it properly. After Christmas I plan to sew some items that I hope someone will want. I'll also have more time to process orders and take care of the shop properly.


So there you have it!!! My first steps into on-line sales.

I hope your sales are more successful than mine have been!

For more Frugal Friday Tips go to Biblical Womanhood!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Little Minutes

Do you ever have a big job to do that just seems overwhelming? I do!

The way I deal with these is to do them in little, sometimes teenie, steps.

One example: At my office we needed to declutter and organize our huge file room. It had been accumulating stuff for years, so it didn't have to be done in a hurry. I decided that every time I got up to go to the bathroom, which is in the file room area, I would throw away one thing or organize one little thing. One of my co-workers got in on the fun too. Before long the file room was all straightened out. This also works for filing. We sometimes accumulate 2 or 3 boxes of files to be filed. So instead of spending an hour or two on this, every time I get up to go to the bathroom I will file a handful of maybe 5 files. Before you know its done or kept up to date if I do it consistently.

At home this could be done this way: If you are watching tv, every time there is a commercial, get up and do as much of a certain job as you can and then run back in just in time for the show to start back. I have cleaned my bathroom this way before. Spray down the shower with cleaner during one commercial, scrub part of it during another commercial, scrub another part during another commercial, rinse it during another commercial, clean the..... you get the idea!

You can break down lots of jobs into small jobs and put them on your to do list.

I am trying to do some Christmas decorating this way. My to do list for this week is something like this:

1. take down fall wreath.
2. give pumpkins to goats.
3. remove all fall-like decorations in house
4. Get down Christmas wreath from attic
5. Get down Christmas tree from attic

Just doing these things, one or two a day, will make such a difference this weekend when I start decorating!

More examples, clean out your junk drawer while talking on the phone. Organize your purse while waiting for a family member to get ready to go out the door.

It would also be a good idea to have a list of jobs that only take a minute or 5 minutes that you can do when the available time arises!

So use those little minutes that we all have available to get some jobs accomplished. It works for me!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

I love my bread machine! I especially like to let the bread machine do the kneading and then to bake the bread in the oven. This works well for pizza dough, dinner rolls, Challah bread, french bread and more.

If you can find a bread machine at a yard sale or thrift shop, all the better.

This is a recipe I made this weekend that turned out really good. The crust was very chewy. We ate it right out of the oven.... some with butter.... some with jelly. I used regular yeast because I didn't have any bread machine yeast and it didn't make any difference that I could tell.

(You may need to click on the recipe to make it bigger:o)





There are usually some good Bread Machine Cookbooks at the library. This recipe came from a Betty Crocker's Bread Machine Cookbook that I borrowed from the library.

For more kitchen tips please go to Tammy's Recipes.

Monday Update!

Its been such a busy weekend!

We attended a rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception for my nephew. Christmas time weddings are so beautiful and this one was no exception. The bridesmaid's dresses were apple red and the church was decorated with holly berries. The reception was held at a nice hotel nearby and there was dancing, so we got to cut the rug a little bit. We danced to "Carolina Girls" and "Brick House". I know you are shocked!!!

I did get the six inch borders for the baseball quilt cut and two of them sewed on. I'm going to work on the other two this morning.... if there's time!

My goal is to do special daily Bible readings from now until Christmas. Yesterday was the first day of Advent and I want to make this a special time of remembering the real meaning of Christmas. I also realize that I am always short of time for the things I must do and the things I want to do. I want to give the Lord some time first and then what's left, is well... left.

I checked out some new books from the library that, time allowing, I think I will enjoy! They are:

1. What Queen Esther Knew, Business Strategies From a Biblical Sage.
2. The Father of Love, Spiritual Insights from the characters and scenes of the Love Comes Softy Series, by Janette Oke.
3. Ready For Anything, 52 productivity principles for work & Life.
4. The 4-Hour Workweek.
5. Stories of the Heart and Home by Dr. James Dobson
6. The Decorated Bag, embellishing handbags, purses and totes
7. Creative Sewing Ideas (singer)

Yesterday I made some french bread (baguettes) and it was really good! I prepared the dough in the bread machine, took it out and let it rise two times and then baked it in the oven. My husband says he wants me to make a batch of this every weekend from now on!!!! We'll see about that.

LAUNDRY DETERGENT UPDATE: I posted about buying 10 containers of Purex laundry detergent at a great price with great coupons in October here. I opened the first one on October 20th. So far I have used 2 of the containers. I estimate that I do 8 loads of laundry a week. I'm still only using the least amount of detergent I can based on the laundry's dirtiness. I'm also still using 1/2 a fabric softener sheet per load. I haven't been hanging out clothes on the clothesline since the days are so short and the weather is cooler. I do need to hang a couple of loads a week on the clothes drying rack! So, the bottom line is I'm right on schedule with making the great laundry detergent stock up last 9 months.

Well, I'm off to get ready for work and maybe sew on a border.... probably not!

Glimpses of Home - first quarter of 2021

I made a list of my 2021 goals that I wrote down in the back of my planner.  Its time to review that to see how I am doing! But, here are a ...