Scrap happy bookmarks

I recently pinned a cute tute on making use of tiny scraps of fabric by creating bookmarks. Since I'm an avid reader, I thought I would whip some up.

I used a bookmark I already have, as a guide.  Just laid my fabrics out in the order I wanted, stitched, ironed on some interfacing,  sewed right sides together with another fabric for the back, then turned right side out and stitched around the edges.  Easy peasy.

I added a loop of ribbon to the tops and stitched my initials on one side of my "artwork". Once I got the hang of it, each one took me less than 10 minutes. 

Bubbie came home from school while I was in the thick of it and asked for his own.  Which got me to thinking:  there's a lot of people I could make these for, including his brothers, sister, aunt, grandmother...good thing I have plenty o' fabric scraps!

Gina

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Mealplan Monday #1 - cut yourself some slack!

Last week was rough - no doubt about it.  Between my job, my family, and helping my mother with her cornea surgery, I felt like taffy - pulled in all directions.  So I purposely made sure that the menus for this week were easy so I could do some stuff I had put off!

Monday - Crock Pot Roast, mashed potatoes, green beans

Tuesday - Cafe Rio Chicken Bowls with rice, pico, black beans, guacamole

Wednesday - Stouffer's lasagna, mixed veggies (Freezer meal night!)

Thursday - Homebaked Mac and Cheese, oven carrots

Friday - Buffalo Chicken Sammies, sweet potato tots, coleslaw

Saturday - Dad grills

Sunday - Leftover Beef and Beans from freezer, Cheesy garlic bread, salad

Gina

Teenagers are so good at this

I think Scout is so used to me bugging him, he's become immune to it.

It doesn't faze him for me to point the camera at him.  

  It's just fun catching a little slice of his day.

When he gets home from school, the first thing he does is grab a snack and sit at the kitchen table.

 

He likes to drink the rest of his morning coffee and catch up on texting.  If you forget to save the rest of his coffee from breakfast, , and toss it while you clean kitchen, you will regret it when he gets home.  It doesn't matter to him that it's not fresh.  Or that it's cold.

It only matters that he has this little bit of down time at the end of the school day. A creature of habit, he is. 

Gina

Painting fail

Several months ago I painted the inside of the bookcase a color to coordinate with the rest of the den:

 

 

It actually worked fine until anything bumped up against the paint.  Then stuff like this happened:

 And once I saw it I had to see if more would just peel off. The answer was yes.  

  Windex helped get it all to loosen up and come off easily.  And here I thought I was so smart using a paint with primer.  At least I got smart removing it with my widget and the Windex.  It was like removing wallpaper - except that it was stretchy. 

At least all of it came off without damaging the wall behind it. 

I just pulled everything out, cleaned it up, put things back like I thought they would work better.

The slick paint in the back of the bookcase apparently doesn't want to be painted!

Gina

No such thing as a junk drawer!

I was searching for something and realized it had been a while since I had done a clean sweep on this drawer.  I like to call it my "office drawer" since it has tools I might need in my daily job as mom/cook/cleaner/chauffeur/cat wrangler.

Just a little jumbled.  But where the heck is my widget?  I need it!

I remember having to fish around for a battery last time I needed one so I put a recycled container to use.  A perfect fit.

Baskets and really small ziploc snack containers are my friends.  And I love clips.  All kinds of clips.  Especially those honkin' big paper clips.  So handy.

I snagged a magnetic paper clip holder from hubby's old desk and now it holds safety pins.  Odds and ends have their own tiny spot.  

See our spare set of keys?  One driveway and four cars equals the automotive version of musical chairs.

I think it was 15 minutes well spent!  Some things were in this drawer that just didn't belong, so out they went.  Everything else got arranged neatly.  It pays to be OCD organized.

No such thing as a "Junk Drawer".  Space is too valuable at this house!

Gina

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and

Black Bean and Sausage Pot

This week the challenge is to be thrifty and still put a delish dinner on the table using what I have on hand.

Crock pot cooked black beans from the freezer, dry rice, bell pepper, onion, a can of diced tomatoes, and half a package of jalapeno cheddar sausage.  Seemed a little lackluster, so I added a package of...

 ...Italian salad dressing mix.  The following is not so much a recipe as an experiment!  I cooked the rice and set it aside earlier in the day.  Then about 30 minutes before dinner, I sliced and cooked the sausage and set it aside, too.  Then sauteed the chopped  onion and pepper in some olive oil and added the tomatoes, juice and all with  the seasoning packet and a can of water.

I simmered it all about 20 minutes, then stirred in the rice and kept if warm in the crock pot while I fixed butter dip biscuits from Plain Chicken. It made something of a stew, perfect with the biscuits. Not bad for a frugal meal.

Gina

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February thifting

Last week I stopped by one of my favorite thrift stores with nothing in particular to look for - which always seems to work out better for me.

 I found 2 like new Eddie Bauer shirts for Hubby that ended up being half price - so $6.29 for two.

 And four tops for me at around $7.50.

 And this little bit of bric-a-brac.  Some new IKEA cork coasters for $1, new food storage containers for $1, the books at about 50 cents each, and a wire "tree" for $2.50.  I was going to save the tree for Christmas decor, but it fit in nicely with the stuff up on the tops of the kitchen cabinets:

 

Simple, pretty, thrifty.

Gina