Happy Election Day!

Did you?

A Month of Gratitude -- Day 5

I am grateful for a wonderful husband who can always make me laugh.

A Month of Gratitude -- Day 4

I am grateful for the roof over my head... even if it does need to be replaced.

A Month of Gratitude -- Day 3

I am truly grateful that my mother volunteered to be my nanny/daycare/Montessori so that I didn't have to leave my baby with strangers. 

A Month of Gratitude -- Day 2

I am grateful that I have supervisors that have faith and trust in my professionalism and good judgement.  It just makes this go that much more smoothly.

A Month of Gratitude -- Day 1

I am grateful for electricity.  Working electricity.  In the wake of Hurricane Sandy it seems like half of my friends and family are still without power.  I an truly grateful that ours was restored in 4 hours. 

My Halloween Style

Although I would love to come to work in costume, it really isn't the most professional thing to do, so I refrain.  I do flaunt my own Halloween style nonetheless:

Black dress pants/ white 3/4 sleeve T-shirt/ orange scarf

Awesome studded skull flats

Halloween lampwork beaded bracelets (made by yours truly)

Happy Halloween & A Blessed Samhain

 

Blessed Be!

Fall Used to Be My Favorite Season...

I used to love fall... okay, actually I still do love fall, but for some reason this year, the beginning of Fall is the beginning of the insect invasion.  Seriously, people, I am under attack.  Two days ago there was a milipede by the dogs' bowls.  Last night there was a HUGE centipede on teh wall in the family room that I had to wack and them hack at with a magazine. 

This morning was the worst.  This is what I found in my kitchen... THIS!!!

OH MY GOD IT WAS HUGE... like big enough that I could see eyes and fangs!!!

I killed it, probably by screaming so loud, and then took it outside to photograph, lest is rise from the dead in some zombie spider form.

Ok, Fall... one more insect incident and you and I are through!

Baby Shower Decor

My aunt held a baby shower for my cousin recently.  Although it was her third baby, it had been so long between the second and the third that she had gotten rid of most of her baby thing.  It was a small shower, mostly family and a few of my cousin's neighbors.  I was in charge of decorations and favors. 

My first stop was, where else... Pinterest and boy did I find some cute ideas there.  The theme was "nautical" and I was looking to keep it classy and inexpensive, so I decided to go with flowers, and banner for the food table, and a cake banner for, obviously, the cake.  I found a printable nautical flag alphabet banner and stung the paper flags in some jute twine that I had.  I found some small galvanized buckets at Goodwill that I thought would be perfect for the flowers that I bought (at the produce outlet no less... for $9). 

And finally, I whipped up a cute little cake banner with some ribbon scraps, bakers twine, and bamboo skewers.

The mama to be was thrilled and I was pleased too.

I Conquered My Fear

well one of them anyway.  I am still afraid of squirrels and horror movies, but I am no longer afraid of water bath canning.  YAY ME!

My mother has been telling me for years that it is easy and nothing to be scared of, but sometimes a girl has to learn these things on her own.  Plus, if you read all the canning web sites it is botulism this and death that. 

Anyway, I bought the big granite wear canner and have canned strawberry jam, apple perpper jelly, tomato puree, raspberry vanilla jam, and kosher pickles.

I don't have pictures of them all, but  here is the strawberry jam

 
and the tomatoes and pickles

Of all the things I have canned, I have had everything seal except one jar of pickles.  Which I stuck in the fridge to mature.

Happy Anniversay!

Thanks for putting up with me for 8 years!  Love you!

Summer Crafting

I did squeeze in some crafting this summer...

I made this adorable sushi necklace

I finally (why did I wait so long???) bought a rotary cutter and mat and whipped up this pillow from a thrifted cashmere sweater

I decided that I was tired of throwing away unused (i.e. dry) night time pull ups, so I decided to try my hand at making reusable night time trainers for Nate.  They were easy to put together (I used the Trimsies Trainer pattern, and bought my supplies here) and they looked fantastic.  Unfortunately Nate REFUSED to wear them, so I sold them all on DiaperSwappers :(

Finally I started sewing pillowcases.  They are so easy to sew and come together so quickly that they are truly a nap-time project.  I use these directions for my pillowcases.

Rosh Hashana Challah

For Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, the challah is round.  This year, instead of just coiling the dough around itself I would look for a way to braid the challah in a round.  I went to Pinterest, my go to source for just about everything these days and found these instructions.

Source: easy-diets-that-work.com via Molly on Pinterest

It was easy to do and made a BEAUTIFUL round braided challah

I'm baaaack!

ok, so I took a few months off from blogging and it was really nice.  Sorry, but I didn't really miss it.  Anyway I am back with a few changes.  First of all you might notice the new look to the blog... I like the books, I am a librarian after all. 

I will also be focusing less on "being frugal," because, as my hubby keeps says "You're not frugal!!!"  which is the truth, I'm not... I want to be, but I'm not.  I do some frugal things, but not because they are frugal just because I like going them or because they are better for the environment. 

So anyway, stay tuned... I promise I will not go that long without posting again.

Shoe Clips!

Do you have a pair of shoes that need a little revitalizing?  May I suggest shoe clips! 

I found 2 cocktail rings at Pier One that were on the clearance rack and just screamed at me to put them on shoes. 

So I bought them, detached them from the ring part, glued them to two heart shaped paper clips that I had (I was completely unable to find shoe clips, or even clip-on earrings, at any of my local craft stores) using E-6000 industrial adhesive and Viola!  New (or revamped) shoes.

Freezer Paper Stenciling

There are a million freezer paper stenciling tutorials all over the web (for example here, here and here), so I am not going to recreate the wheel, but I do want to share my first freezer paper stencil project. 

It was so easy to do and worked so well that I think I will be doing a great deal of stenciling in the future.

New Hair

I decided to change things up a little, so instead of my usual purple streak... now I have a teal streak.  I am embracing the punk rock teenager I was too chicken to bee when I was a teenager...

Crockpot French Dip Sandwhiches

I have been craving a hot roast beef sandwich for a while now.  When I found a bing hunk o meat in the freezer I knew it was time to make them. 

This recipe is super easy, only calls for 3 ingredients (aside from the beef) and best of all, cooks in the Crockpot so you don;t even have to think about it.

1 big hunk o beef (I think it was a rump roast @ 4pounds)
1 can of beer
1 can of beef broth
1 can of french onion soup

-- Trim the fat off the beef if there is any.
-- Put the beef in the cock pot.
-- Pour the other ingredients over the beef.
-- Put cockpot on low for 7 hours

Slice thin, put on roll, dip in juices, broth and beef... ENJOY!

Easy (and Cheap) Chalkboard Wall Art

Chalkboard paint is all the rage right now and why not?  It is fun to have the power to turn anything into a chalkboard.  I decided to hop on the bandwagon and create some chalkboard wall art.

1.  I found this, brand new, framed print of Audrey Hepburn at Goodwill for $3.  I never intended to hand it as is, but I liked the frame and that was well worth $3.

2.  Disassemble the frame.  Flip the print over and cover the back with the chalkboard paint according to the directions on the bottle.  For me I did 2 coats, let it cure for 24 hours, and then rubbed it with chalk.

3.  Create your art.  I like the scrabble like affect of our names to building off one another.

Total spent $10... $3 for the frame and $7 for the chalkboard print.

Bentos

Nate is a very picky eater.  UGG!  apparently he is not as picky as some, but still there isn't much this kid eats.  So, in an attempt, to entice him to eat more/different foods I am embracing the Bento.  Until recently, I didn't realize that Bentos were more than boxes... I didn't realize that they meant making food cute too.  Either way, I was completely inspired by the mom who photographed all of her son's kindergarten lunches (which were Bento style, if you will) and decided to try it with Nate.

This is Nate's lunch and dinner than I packed in Bento boxes for him today.

(PB&J cut into Boat shapes, Trader Joes Jumbo Raisin Medley, and Freeze Dried Raspberries)

(Chicken Nuggets, Carrots, Apple slices, Round crackers, Caramel dip for apples, gummy bunnies)

Nate though this was pretty neat and really liked the little boxes.  We'll see if cute = eat more food.  I'll report back.

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

Happy Birthday Baby!

We Love you!

Easter Decor

Last year before Easter I was reading the blog Crap I've Made and she talked about finding these cute little bunny floral picks at Pier 1.  I remember thinking, wow, those bunny things are really cute... I should stop at Pier 1 and get some.  But alas, I never did.

A few days ago I happened to be in Pier 1 looking for a birthday present for a friend, when low and behold what did I see... The very same bunny floral picks I saw a year before on Crap I've Made.  So I bought two without actually thinking about what I would do with them. 

I can't get over how cute they are!

Anyway, I decided that I was going to make something out of them using materials I already had on hand.  I was not going to buy anything new, so I dug out some fabric, ribbon, floral foam that I used to make the manly bouquet, the glue gun, and 2 mason jars.

I put a little hot glue in the bottom of the mason jar and then shoved a block of floral foam in.  I wrapped some fabric up and over the mason jar and tied it off with color coordinated ribbon.  I stuck the bunny pick in the floral foam and hot glued some fabric scraps over the top of the exposed foam to cover it up.  The results...  BUNNY TOPIARIES!!!!!! 

Upcycled Sweater Pillows

Every time I say "sweater pillows" out loud I giggle like a 10 year old girl because it sounds like some silly euphemism for breasts... but it is not... at lease in this case.

I actually took 2 sweaters that I was getting rid of, cut them up and made them into pillows.  This was a nap time project, which means that from start to finish it took me 1.5 hours.  If you want to make a few for yourself, here is what you need:

12" pillow form (or whatever size you want.  Just make sure that it is smaller than the sweater you are starting with)

Old sweater
button to be the center of the flower

1.  Since I bought a 12" pillow form, I marked and cut out 2 13" (12" plus .5" seam allowance all the way around) squares from my sweater.

2.  I pinned the squares together (right sides together) and sewed them with a .5" seam allowance.  I left about 3" at the bottom of the square open so that I could turn it right side out once it was sewed.

3.  I turned my pillow so that the right sides were out and shoved the pillow form inside. 

4.  Once the pillow form was inside, I whip-stitched the hole in the bottom closed.  (you can stop here if you want... you have a finished pillow)

5.  I decided to make flowers to embellish the pillow.  So I went back to my cut up sweater and cut the bottom ribbing off the body. 

6.  I ran a basting/gathering  stitch through the cut side of the ribbing.  I pulled the basting/gathering stitch and the ribbing gathered itself up.  I knotted the thread and cut off the excess.  I formed a flower shape that I deemed suitable and tacked it together with a few stitched. 

7.  I sewed the flower into the pillow and then sewed a button in the flower to form the center and to cover up the gathering and raw edges.

Spring Break Projects

This week was spring break which meant I had a few days off.  Unfortunately I was sick as a dog with the cold/virus from Hell, so the plans I had made got pushed aside for some slightly lower key options.

I organized and labeled some things in the linen closet.  I cleaned up my car and removed all the boogers (thanks Nate) from the window. I did laundry, cleaned the house, ran errands, played with Nate.  And finally, I finished hanging some floating shelves in the living room.

I had been looking for floating shelves for a while now.  Of course, I saw the ones that Pottery Barn had to offer, but they were very much out of my price range.  I found these at the Chirstmas Tree Shop and at $6.99 each, decided that they were the way to go.  I think they look great and hubby likes them too.  Here's hoping they don't take a tumble off the wall!

An Open Letter To All The Republican Politicians Who Think Women are Less Than

This is a rant.  Be warned.  I will use some VERY strong language and express my opinions.  If you do not like it stop reading now and come back tomorrow.

To all the Republican Politicians Who Think that Women are Less Than:

Who the FUCK do you think you are? 

I am going to follow that up with...

Have you lost your God Damned mind?  I have read and watched and listened to all the half-assed, backward, bullshit that is freely flowing from your mouth and I have had just about enough of it.  If I was your mama I would be shoving a bar of dial into your mouth right this very minute! You think that being a single mother is a type child abuse.  You think that women are like pigs and cows.  You think that women who use birth control are sluts.  You think that women should keep their knees together.  You think that unwanted pregnancies are something women actually do want.  Plain and simple, and you have probably come right out and said it, that women are stupid, inferior animals who do not deserve civil right or human dignity. 

What you are spewing is HATE speech, plain and simple.    

Do you even realize that?  HATE SPEECH.  H-A-T-E   S-P-E-E-C-H.

Do you know how I know that it is hate speech?  Well take any other group of people, lets say for instance... men... or Christians... or Jews... or Blonds... and put that group in where you have "women."  Would you say it then?  Would you compare Jews to cows and pigs?  I am betting you wouldn't lest you be compared to the last person who did... know who that was?  I'll give you a hint... it was HITLER!!!!

Seriously... do you actually believe the tremendous sewage that spills from your gullet?  Are you afraid of losing your invisible privilege (the article talks about white privilege, but there is male privilege too) that you will try and hold onto it but running into the ground the other half of the planet???

I want to ask you a very candid question, or a couple of candid questions...

Do you have a mama?  Do you have a wife?  Do you have daughters?  When you kiss your mama, when you lie down next to your wife at night, when you tell your daughters that you love them to do see them as human beings with brains and hearts deserving of civil rights, human rights, dignity and privacy or do you see that as live stock?  As cattle?  As chattel?

Think about that.  Thank about that... THINK ABOUT THAT.  Think about how you would feel if someone else took your words and aimed then at your mama, your wife, you daughter... how would that feel?

Then I want you to remember that I, that every woman, is somebody's mama, wife, daughter. 

And then I want you to remember that "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

Kitchen Organization the Cheater's Way

One of my favorite blogs for creative inspiration is Infarrantly Creative. Specifically, I am inspired by her post of organizing measuring cups and spoons which you can read about here.  I mean seriously, how great does the inside of this cabinet look?

Picture from: http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2011/08/organizing-measuring-cups-and-spoons.html

I love how this looks, and more importantly how it functions, but I didn't really want to devote a whole lot of time to cutting, painting, screwing, labeling, etc.  So, I took the cheaters way out and bought some small Command Hooks at Target, plotted a few lines just to keep things straight, and stuck the hooks on the inside of a cabinet door.  Cost was about $6 and the time spent about 10 mintues.  And the result?

Not nearly as pretty as the Infarrantly Creative version, but just as functional.  And if I change my mind... I just pull the hooks off, no muss no fuss!

The Manly Bouquet

If you are on Pinterest, you have probably seen this:

Source: Uploaded by user via Molly on Pinterest

It is a bouquet for a man... consisting on booze and cigars.  and I think it is a pretty clever idea.  My friend Amy's husband turned 40 recently and I thought that something like this would be a great gift.  So after stopping at Walmart and the Wine and Spirit Shoppe (it's a PA thing), and raiding my crafting supplies this is what I ended up with.

I opted for candy instead of cigars, but either way I am delighted with the way it turned out.  I hope the birthday boy likes it just as much!

Exercise

Oh my GOD! do I hate to exercise.  I have done it and not done it and in either situation I hated every minute of it.  But what is a girl to do?  I am active when I am at home.  I scrub my floors on my hand and knees.  I hang laundry and do yard work, I mop and sweep and vacuum.  I am on the floor playing with Nate and schlepping stuff out to the car... I am active.  During the workday, I am not so active.  I spend the vast majority of my time sitting at my desk looking at Pinterest working.

So I have decided to add a three day rotating... workout? routine? I don;t know what to call it to my life. (I am not training to run marathons, or ironmans, or whatever... so bear with me here)

Day 1:  Leg lifts (ala Thighs of Steel from the 90s...) 75-100 each leg
Day 2:  Abs (crunches working lower and upper abs and the side, whatever they are called)
Day 3:  Arms (15 minutes of weight bearing lifts)

---Rest---

Repeat

I don't know if I will see or even feel and appreciable difference since this is such a slow beginner routine, but at least I will be doing something.

De-Cluttering: The 100 Things Challenge

A few times a year I get an overwhelming urge to purge the house of the stuff that seems t collect everywhere.  Usually this happens right after New Years, when I can see all the holiday gifts that have entered the house and now have to find a place for.  I did a mini-purge in January, but for some reason feel the need to do it again.  Maybe I just don't like the fact that every closet in my house is filled to maximum capacity?  Maybe I am feeling the urge to do more food/supply storage/disaster prep...Who knows.  Anyway , I have decided to take on a de-cluttering challenge, the 100 Things De-Cluttering Challenge that I first saw on Money Saving Mom.

It is a pretty simple challenge... find 100 things to remove from your house.  You can give them to friends, give them to Goodwill, recycle them, or simply throw them away; but the number must be 100, and I am going to be it in 7 days.  I will post pics of my progress day by day.

Anyone else want to tackle this challenge with me?

Projects I Am Mulling Over

There are projects on my "To Do" list and then there are projects that I have not committed to fully, but am still considering.  These fall in to the the "still mulling them over" category.

1.  Taking the door's off of Nate's closet
2.  Taking out the lower shelf in Nate's Closet and adding one of those cube units for more storage.
3.  Dying my wedding shoes cobalt blue
4.  Staring a Pandora charm bracelet

What projects are you mulling over?

Books, Books, and More Books

As librarian most people expect that I am an avid reader, which I am, most of the time, only... not so much any more.  I used to devour books 3 and 4 at a time, but that was long long ago.  I still love books, don;t get my wrong, they are my bread and butter, but lately with the advent of Pinterest I have been spending what little free time I have sewing and crafting and not so much reading. 

That was until last week where I read 5 book in one week because they were all so good I could not put them down.  5 books in 7 days is a lot of reading... this is when took up all of my time (free or engaged):

Bossypants by Tina Fey (I read this in 4 hours and nearly peed myself on more than one occasion)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Ketchup is a Vegetable and Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves by Robin O'Bryant (almost as funny as Bossypants)

It's Mardi Gras, Ya'll!

To celebrate I will be making these Mini King Cakes from King Authur Flour.

You can find the recipe here.

Another Pinterst Goodie

For the holidays I bought these bag caps for hubby. 

 Picture from: http://www.onemoregadget.com/the-bag-clip-vs-the-new-copco-bag-cap/

I thought they were interesting  and functional.  Maybe they could keep our pretzels from going stale.  We have been using then and we like them.  Yesterday, I saw something on Pinterest that was akin to a DIY bag cap that I just had to try.

1.  Cut the top off of a wide mouth soda/juice/beverage bottle (this is from a vitamin water)

2.  Find a small bag, like a bag of open chocolate chips and gather up the end.  Thread it trough the open bottle top so that it stick out the top where you would drink from.

3.  Fold the top of the bag back over the opening of the bottle.

4.  Screw the cap on.  Not only will it keep them fresh, it makes them pretty easy to out too.

Growing Herbs in Tea Tins

So, as you all know I am a complete Pinterest addict.  One of the first things I ever pinned were these herbs being grown in recycled/upcycled tea tins which I found on this blog: http://frangipanidecor.blogspot.com/2010/11/urban-garden-unusual-containers.html

I love the re-purposing.  I love the colors.  I love the idea of non-breakable, non-plastic pots for plants.  Unfortunately, I don't drink tea that comes in tins like this.  Or tea that comes in any kind of tin I could up-cycle.

So, imagine my complete delight when I took a stroll through the Smith & Hawken isle at target and found these beauties waiting for me to take them home.

 
ok, so it is not up-cycling or recycling and it really wasn't frugal either but... they look so darn cool!