Tuesday's shopping

Jill at Simple.Frugal.Needful.  

said she likes my shopping posts- it is not exactly earth shattering- but here is what I bought today

All of this was about $7,  after coupons and sales
the Grands were on sale for $1 - had a 40 cent/on 3 coupon that was doubled
this store has "banana Tuesday" and the bananas sell for 42 cents a pound on Tuesdays
celery was 50 cents a bunch- I got 3
the air fresheners were free with coupons from BzzAgent.com
milk and tomatoes were also on sale and I had a $3 store coupon.

I washed the celery and tomatoes and packed them in Tupperware FridgeSmarts
I really think they keep produce fresh longer than other storage methods

I went to 1 thrift store and spent $6

swaddle blanket for the new grandson coming in April
very soft velour one piece suit for youngest grandson

2 shirts and 3 pair of leggings for youngest grand daughter
brown skirt and red Christmas skirt for oldest grand daughter

the only big ticket item bought today
4 whole pork loins - on sale today only for $1.69 a pound
all 4 came to $50.

3 of them have been cooked tonight and
the last one will get cooked tomorrow.
I'll show you about them later.

Have you found any good deals lately?

Bananas needing a tweak

I bought this bunch of bananas on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  

We had company for 4 days and the bananas sat on the same serving space as oatmeal cookies, brownies, pumpkin pie, apple pie, little pecan pies and a chocolate cake.  

Apparently during a holiday when there is a choice of healthy fruit or a homebaked dessert, 

everyone (me included) picks dessert.  

such sad bananas!

We have more company coming in about 10 days so 

I baked those bananas into a double batch of banana bread.  

I've tried many recipes but like this one very much -

 it is simple with no obscure ingredients,  just things we most always have on hand.  

Family Favorite Banana Bread

1/2 butter, softened

a scant 1 Cup sugar

2 eggs

3-4 ripe bananas, mashed- about 1 1/4 cups

2 C flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

about 1/2 cup chopped nuts- we like pecans or walnuts

beat together the butter and sugar.  (I use the mixer to make this)

then beat in the eggs.

next add the bananas and just run the mixer until it all mixed.

hand stir in the flour, soda and salt.

add the nuts last.

Now put the batter into a well greased baking pan- either an 8 or 9 inch loaf pan or muffin cups.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven.  It will be ready in about 60-70 minutes if you make it into 1 big loaf,  less time if you use smaller pans or muffins.

Let cool in pan and after 10 minutes or so, remove from pan to a cooling rack.  

After it cooled,  the 2 bigger loaves went in the freezer for company.  

The little loaf was sliced, tasted and found delicious!

linking to

Brenda's Tweak it Tuesday party

playing the drugstore game

my purchases today



I have not been seriously watching the ads and coupons in 2012-
I mostly just shopped as we needed things while using up stockpiles from 2011.

But I finally woke and realized it would be really be best for us if I got back to it.
My husband got a raise in July and we paid off a long-term in debt in August so our income is up a bit but everything we buy has increased in price so we don't feel richer- quite the opposite actually.

CVS opened a store in my town this summer.  It is not too far from Walgreens.
So,  I looked over the ads and coupons this morning and matched up my coupons with their sales and we stopped at both of them on the way to church.
Then after church, we stopped at Bath and Body Works.

Yes, I would prefer stores were closed on Sunday like they used to be,  and my little purchases are not going to make or break  any store hours so since  this way of shopping is the best for us,  and I think we should use our resources wisely,
I expect to the 2 drugstores to be our stops on the way to Sunday morning church whenever they have deals we need.  

One reason shopping on Sunday morning works for us  is because the  weekly sales have just started and the sale items should be stocked.  

I won't spell out exactly what I got as we all need different things and there are many coupon sites in cyberspace with details about every store and sale if you want some help with your stores.  

I looked over my receipts and my totals are high as I bought 6 months worth of products at Bath and Body Works.  

I like the Aromatherapy products and they don't go on sale very often but are B2g1f  through today and my coupons expired today.  

Anyway,  I spent about $51 on this batch
but they would of cost $153 if bought at regular price without coupons.
And I got back $10 in CVS bucks and $4 in Walgreens rewards.
I also got another BBW coupon but I probably won't use it.  

the 2 best deals today

the Dawn is 99 cents at CVS and there is a 75 cent for that variety that expires the end of Nov.

My favorite deal at Walgreens was the free 8X10 photo that I ordered last week.   Walgreens offers different free photo offers about every 2  months or so and I try to do them every time. With 4 grandchildren,  we always happy to get a new enlargement of them.  

I don't plan on shopping enough that we will need to convert our garage into storage for the stockpile but I am hoping to keep ahead on products we use.  

How about you?  do you shop with coupons for deals?  any advice for me?  

linking up to Elaine's party 

Sunny Simple Life Sundays

100% whole wheat sandwich buns

Yesterday's baking

100% whole wheat sandwich buns,  made from fresh ground wheat and mixed up in a Zojirushi bread machine

I made one batch of dough,  then after it's first rising,  I rolled it out thin and cut with a 4 inch round cutter.

After they bake and cool,  I slice them open with a bread knife but I don't go all the way through,  leaving about 1/4 inch or so still attached.

this way,  they stay together in the bag and the tops don't go missing from the bottoms.  

Then,  the buns get put in the freezer in a zipper bag.

When we make sandwiches,  we just take out however many we need. 

This method for bread is working best for us right now.

The buns stay fresh and moist in the freezer,  better than slices of homemade bread do.

what the wheat looks like before it is ground

whole wheat flour- freshly ground

Ingredients for the sandwich buns

• 1-7/8 cups water 
• 5 cups whole wheat flour - I ground a scant 4 cups of wheat in my vintage Vita-Mix, got about 5 cups of flour but did not use but about 4 cups of it in this batch.  
• 3 Tbsp. sugar 
• 2 Tbsp. dry milk 
• 2 tsp. salt 
• 4 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten 
• 2 Tbsp. butter 
• 2 tsp. active dry yeast

These buns, when rolled thin, bake fast.  Just about 13 minutes to bake at 375 degrees.  

A little tweak

 Because I am not what you would call tall 

and because we have grand children that want to reach things up high,  

we have several step stools - one is almost every room I think.  

These were old Rubbermaid country blue plastic stools,  useful but ugly.  

So,  I used the last of my can of Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint on them.  

I've used used regular spray paint on plastic with good results and this Rustoleum says it is for plastic so it should hold up just fine.  

Before 

what those step stools looked like before

After 

lined up in front of the sink so the preschoolers can stand on them
 and reach the sink when they wash up or brush their teeth 

More of the bathroorm

The stools can stack and be out the way
when the preschoolers are not here

the paint I used.
I got mine at Lowes but I hear Walmart sells it  too.
It is more expensive but it covers well and more than  lower cost paint.
Just be sure to clean off the nozzle,  like it says to,
or you might be trying to clean off the nozzle with a  sewing pin like I had too.  

Linked to Brenda's party at

 http://www.cozylittlehouse.com/

120 Powerful Pieces Of Advice For Preppers

120 Powerful Pieces Of Advice For Preppers


I have not read all this and not sure it is all good advice but I do plan to read it.
There does seem to be lots of interest in prepping.  I am not so much worried about the end of civilization  but I do know that it does not take much of a disaster to disrupt everyday life for a long time.
The prepping done in our home so far is mainly to have extra food and hygiene supplies that we do not want to do without if we can't go to a store.  I would like to do more but having a bomb shelter or a silo full of feedcorn seems a bit extreme.

Anyway,  this looks like an informative and comprehensive article and if nothing else,  since I blogged about it,  I will be able to find it later.

I read about this on Brenda's blog
 http://coffeeteabooksandme.blogspot.com/

planning for Thanksgiving during choir practice and naptime

I don't spend much time looking at calendars and was shocked last weekend when I discovered Thanksgiving was so early this year.  

Since I thought it was farther off than it really is,  I am behind in planning.

We will be hosting Thanksgiving at our home for about 8 relatives-maybe more.  I've done this before so I know what to do but it helps to put it on paper.  

I finally got started Wednesday night.  

My husband had church choir practice- I don't sing but I went too- and while I was sitting in the back listening,  I found a short grocery list of the specials at local stores that I might want to get.

I used that sheet of paper as it was all I had.....

at top of the page are the grocery specials.

At the bottom is a very rough menu plan for the next 12 days or so.  Some of our company will stay with us a few days,  others may stay a week so I need to have things at least somewhat planned ahead.

On the back,  I made a list of more items to shop for,  as well as sweets to bake and a start to the Thanksgiving menu.  

Friday, while my grandchildren napped,  I made my tried and true pie crust recipe that makes 4 crusts.
I rolled them all out and put them in the freezer.  At least one will be a pumpkin pie come Thanksgiving morning.  I am not sure what the others will be but they can stay in the freezer for a couple months.

3 of them are in simple metal pans with no handles and those pans fit easily into a gallon zipper bag for freezer storage.  The other pan is a vintage corningware with a wider edge that makes it a little bigger so it has to go in a 2 gallon bag.

No fail pie dough

4 C flour

1 1/3 C shortening

1 T sugar

2 t salt

1 T vinegar

1/2 C cold water

1 egg

Mix together, flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening. In a small bowl add vinegar, cold water and egg, stir with fork till well blended. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well using only a fork. Divide into 4 balls, Roll out one ball at a time on a floured surface into flat circle to fit pie pan. 

Thursday during nap time,  I baked a double batch of oatmeal cookies,  a double batch of brownies and one batch of chocolate oatmeal no-bakes.  

All of those went in the freezer except for the ones that my husband ate when he got home from work and grandson ate when he woke up from his nap.  

I still need to do a little shopping.  Buying the turkey is at the top of the list.  

Are you hosting Thanksgiving?  What is on your to-do list?  

Grinding wheat and making bread

My parents gave us this vintage Vita-mix along with some wheat and corn at least a month ago
and today,  I finally got around to trying it.

Grand daughter pointing at the freshly ground flour.


That Vita-Mix may be old but it is certainly powerful.
It ground that wheat in less than 3 minutes even though the instruction book said it would take 4 or 5 minutes.  

Inside the container,  the flour was so moist that some of it stuck to the sides.
I read that not enough moisture in wheat could be a problem but my wheat seems to have plenty of moisture.  

Then,  I loaded the flour in the Zoyirushi bread machine along with water, salt, vital wheat gluten, yeast, sugar, butter and dry milk.
I let that machine do the mixing and kneading.
Whole wheat flour is heavier than white flour
 but this batch of  whole wheat dough raised just as high as plain white dough. 

With my grand daughter's "help"  we shaped the dough into sandwich bun rounds and let the rise.

my first pan of 100% whole wheat bread-
of course we had to taste one!

I expected to have to fiddle with this flour to get a good batch of bread
and am so pleased to of baked a delicious, soft  and light batch the first time.
I like them and they got the thumb's up from  my husband, daughter and son in law.

I hope it was not just "beginner's luck"  

anyone else grind wheat or have any advice for me?  

Coffee Bar reveal

Good morning and happy Monday to everyone.  

I have  a long  hope-to-get-done list for today- but first,  a little blogging!  

We started this coffee bar back in September and except for door knobs/pulls,  it is finished!

I saw a hot beverage station on Pinterest and it appealed to me so much.  

First,  we moved the fridge out of it's cubby hole and moved it into the breakfast room.

Then we shopped for a furniture piece to use for the coffee station but could not find one the right size.

We did find an bare cabinet, on clearance at Lowes- just $75- and it fits perfectly.  

  Husband painted and tiled the top- the colors are nothing like I thought we would use but it was what we liked when actually shopped for the paint and tile.   

I like it so much that I would like to paint and till all the kitchen cabinets but that is a much bigger project than I am going to take on with the holidays and husband's surgery coming up.  

The paint is by Valspar- Prairie Foliage

The tile were also on clearance at Lowes and we used grout left from when Husband and Son tiled our living room in 2011.

I used a yard sale roll of wallpaper, that looks like vintage newspapers,  to line the drawers and shelves.

One drawer holds K Cups and it is very easy to see them and pick out the one you want.  

The other drawer holds tea bags, sweeteners and coffee filters. 

That Lipton Tuscan Lemon is my very favorite tea!

The bottom has plenty of storage for baking pans, chopping boards, a canister of more KCups and the base of the VitaMix.  

I am so happy with this project.  It has added some counter space that is really useful.  

Also moving our fridge from in front of the drawer stack where the builder wanted it means I can open up the fridge all the way.  

However,  now my breakfast room contains a pretty bay window, 2 fridges and a chest deep freezer.  The next project will be to figure out some way to make it better.  

Seems there is always another project at my home!

you have that situation too?

linked to parties at 

Sunny Simple Life 

ThinkTank Thursday at Joyful Homemaking and Saving for Six

Master Bedroom Challenge Edition

"  Want to change the world?

Love your home. Keep your home.  "  

quoted from and linked to 

Like Mothers, Like Daughters  

bedroom edition 

Our bed- built by my husband
 with a whole lot of help from a good friend who builds custom cabinets for his living.

That colorful quilt is my 3rd full size quilt, sewn about 20 years ago, when we first moved to Oklahoma.  

looking the other way in the same bedroom.  

 I can't change the world and have never wanted to but I can make my own home a comfortable, happy and relaxing place for my family.  Yesterday, I cleaned our bedroom as much as I could while taking caring for our 2 year old grand daughter getting over an ear infection.  

Everything got dusted.  Fresh from the line sheets and blankets went on the bad and some clutter was removed.     Just those little jobs make a nice improvement.  

Yes,  there is a lot of stuff on the walls.  All of it means something to my husband and since it is his room too,  his preference counts in the decorating.  

I do have a few favorites.  

One is this picture hanging over the bed.  

It seems very old and we bought it at the antique mall in our town.

On the left- the military husband seems to be going off to war and trying to comfort  his very sad wife.


the middle panel is a mirror

then on the right,  the husband has returned from war with several  injuries and the wife and dog are comforting him.
I guess we like it because my husband did go off to a war zone and he came back in worse physical shape
-not from combat wounds though.  

this is a counted cross stitch piece I  made for my husband while he was away at  Marine  officer  training.  

If you are trying to change your world or just cleaning up your house, you might want to join the party at
Like Mothers, Like Daughters.  They are a really sweet family with lots of good ideas and encouragement.

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home

I saw that Money Saving Mom is listing daily challenges for 4 weeks to help get our homes more organized.    Who doesn't want a more organized home?  

I did not read about it until Tuesday even though it started on Monday 

but decided I should try to follow along as best I can. 

Day 1 was to clean out your purse or diaper bag-
I did not think mine was too messy before I started
but once I cleaned it out,  it was so much lighter !
It will be nice to look in it for something and be able to find it quickly.

A product review on my purse- It is a Cath Kidston that I bought right after Christmas 2011 on clearance .
I have used it most everyday since then.  I still love it and it really is not showing any wear even after 10 months of use.

Day 2 was to clean out the fridge- I have 2 fridges and I got them both wiped out,  got rid of few things,

also put some things in smaller containers- like the 12 olives left in a quart jar got put in a tiny jar.


the fridges are not too full as it is about time to do a monthly stock up again.

Today,  Day 3 was to clean up and organize the freezer
I did that but did not take pictures.  

Have you joined in?  

It would still be easy to catch up this early in the game.....

Tuesday's bargains

 I did a little shopping after the Thanksgiving lunch since I was in town and had no grandchildren in tow.

One grocery store had Red Gold tomatoes very cheap.  You had to buy exactly 10 and they took $5.00 off the sale prices.  Today was the third trip I've made to this store during the sale cycle so I ended up with 30 low cost containers of tomato products.  

 The 5 pounds of flour was 99 cents- limit one

 salsa was 69 cents a jar

tomatoes and green chilis - just like Rotel brand but even better in my opinion- 29 cents.  

I would of liked to get a lot more at those low prices but with the limits, 

 I am happy with what we could purchase.  

s 

Then I stopped at my favorite thrift store. 

 Last week,  I found little baby pants for my youngest grandson,  

a Dress Barn ultrasuede skirt for me and 

some toys for the oldest grandson.  

This week,  I found  a very cute Gymboree dress and top and 2 pairs of shoes  

all for our oldest granddaughter-

 it was all $5 plus tax.  

about the shoes - I don't buy used shoes but I will buy new shoes at a thrift store. 

 Some of the shoes there do look worn already but many times, 

 there are very nice ones that have not been worn at all.  

Thanksgiving lunch at the garage

My husband's division has just one party a year- a very low key lunch  with a Thanksgiving theme.

And it was today.  

I fixed green beans and a double batch of hot rolls that were still warm when we ate.  

Some were cloverleaf and some were just round- all the same recipe though

Because this dinner is literally in a garage at the workday lunch hour,
 everything is very low key.
I take my  food in  non-breakable containers as the guys seem nervous if things are too fancy.  

I wanted to take a simple dessert as I knew there would be a chocolate trifle and a cherry cheesecake and some icky grocery store cupcakes 

(some of his co-workers bring the exact same thing year after year)  

So I baked a new recipe today, they were simple, delicious and a recipe I will make again.  

They are very much like those 7 Layer Bars or Hello Dollies that use graham cracker crumbs and sweetened condensed milk and I rarely have those ingredients on  hand  

But I do usually have all the ingredients this new recipe calls for in my pantry/fridge.

Also,  the recipe says it makes 12 but I used my older muffin pans that I think are a little smaller than newer muffin pans.  

I got 18 nice sized cookie muffins from one recipe.  

I think this smaller size makes are a  good serving as they are a rich dessert.

I may try making them in mini muffin pans next time.

my version of 

Magic Blondies 

2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut I used a geneous hand measuring this

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans  I used walnuts 

1 2/3 cups  flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

9 tablespoons  butter, softened

1 cup  packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

 Line a 12-cup muffin tin (standard size) with paper liners; set aside.

Stir together coconut, chocolate and pecans; set aside.

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low or by hand, stir in flour mixture, scraping down sides of bowl, until well combined. Mix in about a cup of the coconut mixture.

Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Sprinkle remaining coconut mixture over tops and bake on center rack for about 25 minutes (or less if you make them smaller) or until a cake tester comes out with moist crumbs.

these are a sturdy dessert that would be good in a lunchbox too.  

I found this recipe on http://www.cookiemadness.net/  and she got it from Martha Stewart.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.....

I take my grandson to the library every week for story time and I've become friends with another grandmother who brings her granddaughter to the same class.

Last week,  she told me had been cleaning her sewing room and had " a bag " of scraps and would I like them.   Well I did laugh then and thanked her and said of course I would like them.

I got that bag from her

but it was not just A bag.......

it was 2 very big and heavy bags- stuffed so full that she had to tape them shut.
They are taller than the cushions on the couch and I think each bag weighed about the same as  my   3 year old grandson.  

this is what I kept from those 2 bags.
and I will be passing on the extras on our local FreeCycle list

I am by no -means fabric poor as I have got so much fabric from my mom
and a little fabric from local thrift stores.  

Still,  I found some goodies in those bags.  

I've been collecting fussy cut squares to make I Spy quilts for my grandchildren and there were quite a few prints in this assortment.  

That bag on the left is a 2 gallon bag with small quilt pieces already cut out.  

Most all the pieces I kept were scraps- there might be a few that were a yard or 2 long but mostly leftovers.  

I do like scrappy things but this was even a lot for me.  

If you guess that I am sewing on quilts or scrappy projects right now,  you would be wrong.  

I cut out 4 blouses for myself and will be sewing on them when I get done blogging.  

There is always something for my hands to find to do.........you too?  

Cricut weekly challenge- seeing spots

This is my 3rd week to participate in the weekly challenge at http://fantabulouscricut.blogspot.com/.

This week's challenge was to make something using any kind of polka dots.  

My stepson's birthday is coming up- he does not read my blog but his wife does so 

shhhh!   please-  

He does not like gifts but we still get him something and since he liked my vintage aluminum ice trays,  I found him a really nice one on Ebay.  

A vintage ice tray to gift wrap makes for  a great was to use the From My Kitchen cricut cartridge.  It has some very cute retro appliances.  

 The fridge, stars and word chill are all from From My Kitchen.
The polka dot paper is just some I had in my stash and have no idea the brand or maker.

Inside- the words and numbers are from George Basic Shapes.

The star is from From My Kitchen.  

I am so glad I found this cricut weekly challenge and started doing it.  I've learned a little each week.  Using the From My Kitchen,  I figured out how to make extra cuts from different colors to make the details on the fridge.  I also learned to make the shadow behind the words on Birthday Blessings.

Simple for the expert Cricut users but it was true ah ha moment for me!

Challenge #135- Seeing Spots

Make a project using Polka Dots

at Fantabulous Cricut Blog