More Farmhouse Garden Magic

Last Spring I noticed three separate plants with green spike like leaves growing around the farmhouse. I researched them in books and on the internet and thought they were Crinum Lillies, which is an old fashioned Southern pass along plant. But... everybody else's Crinum Lillies bloomed several weeks ago. I had given up on these plants, thinking they were just some kind of green plant that didn't bloom.

Well a few days ago I noticed these buds forming!



And then this progression...



More research is in order to know exactly what the name of these lillies are, but for now I am calling them my "candy stripe lillies"

*** Edited to say that these are Crinum Lillies after all. HERE IS A LINK. What do you think? Are they the same?

Birdhouses and a Picket Fence

An unexpected Saturday off work and cooler than usual temperatures gave my hubby the time and incentive to put up the birdhouses and picket fence he gave me for Mother's Day. Summer is winding down and soon there will be many days for yardwork.

My grandmother's antique rose that I rooted is planted in front of the fence section and will cover it in a year or two.



The birdhouse posts will be painted white soon and I am planning a flower bed around the bottom next spring. During the winter I will make the bed the "lazy way" by laying down newspapers or cardboard, covered by mulch. Next spring the grass will be dead and easy to remove, leaving soft soil underneath.

A Simple Country Meal

It was a very busy Monday yesterday and I was glad my menu for Monday called for something simple like hotdogs and oven fries. I put the potato slices in the oven for about 30 minutes, then added the hotdogs for about 10 more minutes. We used regular bread and had mayo, mustard, ketchup and onions as condiments. Nothing fancy here!

There's no doubt in my mind that some of you are thinking that these red hotdogs aren't good for us. You are probably right! But, if you don't live in my area of North Carolina where this Carolina Packers Brightleaf brand of hotdogs is available, you don't know what a good hotdog is! I'm sorry about that, but its true!

While this was in the oven I worked on my Summer of 2010 nine patches. I'm almost caught up! If my energy holds out tonight I will have 63 done. When I have 70 done I will start cutting and sewing on the sashings.

In the Kitchen with Debbie - First week of August, 2010

I was sure I bought the plant these came from in the sweet green bell pepper area of Lowes! After doing a little research I found that they are Scotchbonnett HOT peppers! And I mean really hot!


I am planning our meals for the week and even though our first week in August weather will be... well typical tropical August weather, I plan to make vegetable soup later in the week. I've found that this is a great way to use any small amounts of leftover vegetables and also a wonderful lunch box treat for those who have access to a microwave oven.

My emphasis in planning this week's meals are: 1. Using items in the pantry; 2. Rolling leftovers into future dishes; 3. making use of the potatoes that are still good, but need to be used.



Here are some ideas and the meals from the weekend.

Saturday:

Baked Beans. A delicious concoction of beans, browned ground beef, brown sugar, ketchup, BBQ sauce, maple syrup, mustard, chopped onions and sweet bell pepper. Leftovers from this are already in individual sized servings in the refrigerator for Monday's lunch box. I used leftover pinto beans from Friday night.

Potato Salad.



Sunday: Chicken Cacciatore, leftover potato salad, black eyed peas, corn

Monday: Hotdogs, oven fries

Tuesday: Hamburgers, brown rice, garden peas

Wednesday: Vegetable Soup (Will use leftover black eyed peas, corn and garden peas along with potatoes and other ingredients in the soup)

Thursday: Ham, cornbread and leftovers. If there are no leftovers, I still have plenty of side items in the pantry.

Friday: Pizza

Frugal Friday - The lunch box drawer

Today is Frugal Friday at Life As Mom.



One of the most frugal tips of all is to pack yours and your family's lunch for work or school. Now that those children who aren't home schooled are about to head back to school, its time to really begin to plan for this and also to stock up on some lunch items.

My husband and I have been diligently taking our lunches to work for a while now. When I see lunch box type items on sale I try to buy them and stock up. So this week I dedicated an area of my pantry to lunch box "easy to grab" items.

Our main source for lunches are leftovers. My hubby goes ahead and puts the leftovers into small plastic containers with lids in the refrigerator, which are the perfect size for grabbing when you are in a hurry. This week I made homemade vegetable soup on the one day that our temperatures actually stayed below 90! I then thoroughly enjoyed having this soup along with a pimento cheese sandwich for lunch the next day.

I'm planning to make myself a cute lunch box soon which will make taking my lunch even more pleasant.

On my sewing table this morning.....

Nine Patches! At this point in the summer, at one a day, I should have 58 9 patches done toward my goal. However, I have 45 done. So I made the decision yesterday to get caught up. I am so happy that July is almost over. August is still hot and definitely still summer, but it means Fall is coming!!!



A few of my recent 9 patches:

I love this pink and black one.



What's not to like about chickens and fall colors?



Leftovers from two recent purses:

$5.00 CVS Challenge

I love the idea of seeing how much value you can get for $5.00 at CVS and Walgreens. Alyssa of Kingdom First Mom hosts these challenges every Sunday. Here's what I got at CVS for close to $5.00 his week:



I started with $2.00 extra bucks and did not include tax.

Transaction #1:

Kotex U pads or Tampons $4.99, less $1.00 printable coupon, Extra Bucks earned $4.99
Dove 2 pack soap, $3.00, Extra Bucks earned $2.00

$6.99, less the $2.00 EBs I had on hand means I spent $4.99 out of pocket and earned $6.99 extra bucks.

Transaction #2:

Maxwell House Coffee(I buy the 1/2 caffeine), buy one get one free. ($5.19). Paid with the $4.99 extra buck from transaction #1, for 20 cents out of pocket. They had this same deal last week and I bought 2 cans of coffee for the price of one and also used a $1.00 coupon.

I still have $2.00 extra bucks for next week!

The Mama Bag Update

The big black bag is history. Here is the new bag I made her sitting on the walker as we were leaving to go to church yesterday. As you can see its pretty full and I'm thinking I should have made it bigger. But I think the contents would expand to fit whatever the size!



There was one heart stopping moment when the ushers were taking up the collection at church. She couldn't find her donation! I sat there helplessly as the usher went on his way to the next pew without Mama's money. After church I asked her if she had a problem finding her money and she said, "No, she just forgot to get it together."



You wouldn't believe how much lighter this bag is too! Evidently change had been accumulating in the bottom of the old big black bag and when she switched bags, she put all the change in a jar. Now she plans to put all her change in the jar and not in the bag. I appreciate that since I am the official bag carrier when we go places. :o)

Summertime Sewing

I'll never forget how much fun I had doing my SNOW DAY SEWING back in the winter while I was housebound. Well, its extremely hot and I'm staying inside today too. So the sewing continued this afternoon.

I made this from fabric leftover from making the apron for Friday Night Sew In. I got carried away and ended up with a bag totally different than what I had planned. I kind of like the Hobo style and have listed it in my Etsy Shop

Friday Night Sew In Results

My Friday Night Sew In has turned into a Saturday Morning Sew In both times I have participated! Although I did cut out and sew a little on the apron last night, I did the majority of the work on it this morning. I was just too tired to work on it past 8:00 last night.

I had no one to take a picture, so I took this one in the bathroom mirror:



Close up:



You can see the other side of the apron in this picture.



I have some small scraps of this fabric left and am thinking of making myself a lunch bag from them later today. I have been taking my lunch on a regular basis for a while now and am tired of using plastic grocery bags to pack them in.

Have a great Saturday! Its going to be 100 degrees or more here today with a heat index of 115, so I will definitely be inside!

In The Kitchen With Debbie - Cooking What's on Sale

One of the most economical ways to feed a family is to cook what's on sale. This week cabbage are on sale at Food Lion for 39 cents a pound and smoked sausage packages for $2.00. I saw a cabbage and sausage dish on the Family Homestead Blog and had been craving it ever since. Here's my version:

I sauteed some onions and bell peppers from our own plants, in a small amount of oil.



Then I added the smoked sausage after cutting into bite size pieces.



I sliced and cut one half of the cabbage into manageable pieces. I filled the pan pretty full because the cabbage pieces shrink down as they cook. I added a little chicken broth left from boiling chicken earlier in the week.



I covered the pan, reduced the heat and let it cook until it was our family's desired tenderness.



Almost done:



I put the remaining half of the cabbage back in the fridge to be used for making coleslaw in the next few days.

My goal is to shop only to replenish my pantry and freezer and to cook what's on sale each week at the best prices.

A few items on sale at Food Lion this week that I plan to purchase:

Whole chickens 47 cents a pound or cut up chickens 77 cents a pound. I plan to freeze some of these.

Kraft Mayo 2 for $6.00 with a $1.50 off 2 coupon. Mayo is one thing my pantry is out of and although this isn't exactly the cheapest price I've ever seen, its better than paying full price! The cost of mayo has steadily increased lately in my opinion. I will only purchase two and then I will be on the look out for good deals and/or coupons.

Arm and Hammer laundry detergent, Buy one, get one free, with a $1.00 off 2 coupon.