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!