Nursery Love

 Last weekend we went to a favorite nursery. It is a creative lovely place. This little house is set on the grounds. Love the green roof.

This would be a perfect playhouse or garden shed.

The shop carries many delights. Love those old chicken prints. Way out of my budget though.

 Just adored the succulents in the old barrow. We have one right now we are using as a sandbox but I can see this in its future.

Then down the road for a country drive. It was so green and lush. Can't wait to go back. I love to take this country road to a little farm to buy preserves and baked goodies. It was closed this day so I will have to share another time. It is a real treasure.

Frugal Doings

We have been clearing the trees of oranges. We get critters in the yard so I don't want to attract them. This weekend I will make lots of orange juice and freeze the extras.

I am trying to not drive anywhere I don't need to. Will get an oil change on the way home from dropping off the kids at school. 

Organized and cleared an extra shelf in the service porch for more pantry storage.

This is the only pantry I started out with. Pathetic. I now have food in lots of cupboards in the service porch. Moving things out and making it more for food storage.

Tuna Mac made entirely from garden and pantry. The celery and chives and eggs are from the garden. All other ingredients from the pantry.

Keeping large amounts of my cleaning supplies making my own concoctions and always making sure I am stocked up means I don't have to drive out to pick up things I am out of. $83 spent at the market this week so far but I will have to head to Target to stock up on pet foods. We are about out.

"Mom, We Need Another Chick!"

In the mornings when Flower Muffin goes into the laying box to do her thing, this girl gets a squawking. 

"Bawk, BAWK, BAWK"

As soon as I come out the door she is the perfect angel.

Looking for bugs.

"Yes, mom I am lonely while Flower Muffin lays her egg."

I know she is telling me she needs a buddy when Flower Muffin is not in her sight. Chickens sure are social creatures. Or maybe she is just doing that plain old egg song letting me know an egg is being laid.

What to Buy This Week and Linen Stock Up Time

What to buy this week and linen stock up time is January/February.

Traditionally January begins the annual white sales which includes all types of linens. I usually go through and see what we need to stock up on for the year. I always buy bath towels and always only in white. We seem to go through bath towels the most so I replenish my supply yearly. This year I do not need hand towels. I will buy new wash cloths and kitchen towels though.

I love the white stack of washcloths from Target (above). This is how we use them. First they are bathroom washcloths. As they get dingy they become kitchen washcloths, and when they are embarrassing, they become cleaning rags. This also a great time to organize your linen closet. I always find towels that are hidden when I clean the shelves.

Okay, onto what I am buying this week. The grocery sales are lack luster this week. We are getting low on meat so I will be buying some whole chickens. I see them at .79 (my buy price) and .89 this week. A whole chicken in the crock pot can be used for so many dishes.

I am noticing sales on:

Coffee Creamers

Toothpaste (Colgate)

Toilet Paper

Pasta

Pasta Sauces (.99 is my buy price but my stock up price is when I can get it lower)

Oranges (We have trees so I am not buying but you might want to)

Canned Tuna (This has recently climbed in price. I see .79 this week which is a good price around here)

How I Feel

This is how I feel about Downton Abbey right now. Really just after we lost Cybil. Julian you are killing us all with this plot line. Time for a miracle.

More Time Savers in the Kitchen

I swear I live in the kitchen. Between making lunches, meals. clean up, the kitchen can be where I spend hours a day. I am always trying to save the amount of time I have to spend in there for more enjoyable pursuits like the garden.

Whenever I make a meal that could possibly be frozen, I make enough for two meals. I am a huge fan of freezer cooking.  

Keep the pantry stocked with enough to be able to double your meals. For us that is two large meals but for smaller families that may be splitting a single pan in two.

When I am done I just cover with plastic wrap and seal with foil writing the date and meal on the foil.

You can find the Notsagna recipe on my page.

Whenever you are chopping up veggies for dinner, cut up some for lunches. I just toss them in the fridge and they are ready for me to grab in the morning when I make lunches.

I do the same with snacks for lunches. I fill several bags at once in place in a plastic bin in the snack cupboard. That way when lunches are made, we can grab one quickly.

More time savers.

Unplugged

We have returned from a long weekend on the Central Coast to Elle Cottage. We extended our trip by a day. We had the warmest weather there I can remember for February. It was 71 on Saturday. Perfect. We spent a couple hours on the beach and at the park.

We took a favorite hike up to the top of the hill at Fiscallini Ranch Preserve. A popular walking area set aside as a preserve with lots of trails. Here was our goal. We needed it after a lunch out for burgers and fries.

It was just us three as the older kids all had school or work. I miss them when we can't be together but it rarely happens that we can all travel together any longer.

Gorgeous views from the top of the hill.

The trail down. Easier than up for sure.

We literally unplug up there as there is no wi-fi and barely any cell service. I have to walk around the yard to find a bar to try and call home. I enjoy it though and read a lot and napped and ate WAY too much. We only ate out once for lunch. $20. The rest of the time we ate in. BBQ and lots of noshing on snacks. I find I like restaurant eating less and less. I can't stand the expense. What is happening to me? I keep thinking I could buy half a weeks groceries for the cost. I am not one for crowds either. Am I strange or what?

What to Buy This Month - February Grocery Sales Cycles

What grocery items are on sale in February in the grocery sales cycles.. These are food items to stock up on in February.

It is national hot breakfast month so I am seeing a lot of sales on all things breakfast.
  Time to stock up on cereals. My buy price for a box of cereal is $1.50. If I find it lower than that than     it is a stock up price.
  Granola bars
  Hot Cereals
  Frozen waffles (Make them yourself though and they will be cheaper. You can even freeze extras for     later and pop them in the toaster)

Because of Chinese New Year look for sales on Asian food items like soy sauce. This is a great time     to stockpile items for easy stir fries. Try my Hawaiian fried rice recipe or my Easy Asian Noodle         Salad. 

I have been noticing lots of sales on pasta still around .99 sale price.
 The lowest I have ever seen it is .48 per lb. two weeks ago at Food 4 Less. That is definitely a stock  up price around here where .99 cents is the normal sale price. I will buy twenty pounds as we eat lots  of pasta dishes. It helps spread the protein around I always say. Meat is the condiment these days........

I am updating this to add that February is National canned food month. Time to take advantage of this     grocery sale cycle and follow my tips for saving money with canned foods.
  I am a fairly frugal cook. Check out my recipes page some of our favorites.

Happy Love Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We are low key around here. The kids have parties at school but I will make a dinner with a treat for dessert.

I will be making one of their favorites. Yummy Chicken Packets.

The recipe is here.

Tweet Tweet

Hey, I am on Twitter now. I am continuing to get myself up to speed on all things bloggy. My brain hurts every time I have to figure how to add widgets and get in that html. But I figure it is good to challenge our minds as we get older and working on this computer really challenges my mind let me tell you.

Come follow me so I can follow you back.

THANKS!!

I Heart Coffee

You are the first thing I think of in the morning. You are the little something that makes me so happy to greet the day.

You warm me and give me the strength I need to face life. Our love can never be measured. You are priceless to me. A day without you would be unthinkable. You are good to me even if I haven't brushed my teeth yet.

Without you I fear I could not be the person I want to be. Thank you for being there every morning. You never ask for much but a dash of sweetener and cream. I am so glad I met you in college when I had 7:00 am macro economics. We have been inseparable ever since.

Happy Valentine's Day coffee.

Here's a favorite coffee recipe.

How to Clean Scuff Marks Off Shoes

Frugal tip on how to clean scuff marks off of shoes. Make shoes last longer and look better. My daughter comes to me upset saying how her sister is never allowed to wear her shoes again! Yep, I hear this a lot in this house. So when my oldest wore her sister's shoes and left them full of scuff and dirty marks I told my daughter to give me a minute and I would clean them.

So here is the shoe. Now this is a leather shoe so gauge whether you could do this on your shoe. I have found if it is not something like suede it works wonderfully.

Take a slightly damp scrub side of a sponge. Add just a light sprinkle of cleanser and then go around the shoe lightly scrubbing the dirt and scuff marks. I wipe off with a damp cloth or paper towel. You do not have to get the shoe wet.

Waa-laa! Much better and wearable again. I have also used a Magic Eraser as well, but I am always out of them so this works great around here. Sibling harmony restored.

What to Buy This Week, Frugal Challenge - Grocery Spending Update

Grocery shopping for last week. What a haul right? I spent just over $180 at three stores. Stocked up on many condiments and meat as well as snacks. We did use a lot of the snacks on SuperBowl Sunday as my kids had friends over and raided some of my stash. That is what it is for but as well it does not save me money to have a lot of it ate in one day. I shall build a bridge and get over it. They had a good time and were home and safe. However, I will keep more of the snack stash in a bin under my bed. They have yet to discover that spot.

Because I spent over my allotted amount last week, I am only picking up milk, veggies and fruit and dog food this week plus any good stock up deals I see while out. Gas is climbing high here so I have to be vigilant about my driving. All shopping must be done on the way to pick up or drop off kids so I do not pull the car out for an extra trip. To follow up, I did start stashing some goodies in my closet if you can believe it. I had a shelf that was empty in there so I will keep the tastiest treats in there that I stockpile.

So here I am a few days later. Spent $71 so far this week. It is canned food month so you will see lots of canned goods at good stock up prices. Figure what you will need for months or even a year and stock up. I am trying to grab as much as I can while staying in my budget. I do need to run to Target today for some over the counter meds. If you want to have a little one sick all the time, put them in preschool. I am over it!

So this is a good week to stock up on:
Canned goods
I did not see huge deals this week but some things I bought were dog food at good prices, baking supplies seemed to be on sale at a few stores. I bought bread flour and regular flour.
We tried corn 4/$1. It was what we call "horse corn" so the chickens got the leftovers. Too early.
Strawberries are on sale here.
Dressings

Also February is a good month to buy linens. The best sales of the year on towels should be this month. I always buy kitchen and bath towels this month. I only buy white bath towels any longer. Between teens with make-up and acne medication, my towels would get ruined. Now they all can be bleached and they don't get  unsightly.

Am I focusing on money matters too much? If this all bores you, let me know. I am fascinated by it and love to read other frugality blogs so that is what I am drawn to.

Oh To Be in the Garden

I can think of no greater hobby than gardening. One hour of gardening burns over 200 calories. It is my most favorite thing to do. I think about it daily and try to plan time to get out there. Q and I have been putting in seeds and cleaning more planters.

I am changing more of my planters over to food production. I will have squash and pumpkins roaming in with other perennials. I have seen so many photos of seeds started in egg shells on blogs so I started some Armenian cucumbers in shells this morning.

I went to the nursery this week but bought only seeds and two blueberry bushes again choosing, though it is hard, to spend my gardening money on food producing plants this year. At least for the most part. This week I put in peas, parsley, bok choy, more lettuce and chard. I am going to try and get some more beets in today before it rains.

My girls have laid two eggs a day for the last week. Good girls. They have been helping me in the planters. I have been raking and clearing out as they come in to scratch and till the soil. I so want to add another chick this year but I think I am crazy. How will I pass the chicks at the feed store? HOW? I just gave two away last year. I love raising them though and now I feel so much more confident after having been through the first year. Now they are so easy. I literally just let them out in the morning and give them some fresh water and put them in at night. I clean the hen house a couple times a week and that is just using my little rake to clean the poop up. About once a week I add in some shavings. So much reward for so little effort. Thank goodness we have them fenced in now, it has made them so easy to care for and they still enjoy rambles in the garden but for much shorter periods of time.

Pizza Dough Recipe

As promised from my cost analysis the other day on homemade pizza, here is my pizza dough recipe I use for my crusts.
This makes two nice sized large pizzas. We now just use two cookie sheets. We like the deep dish way it comes out. I always sprinkle a little cornmeal on the pans before we put the dough in.
We eat around five so I start my dough around 3:00 or 3:30 for rising. I use a Kitchen Aid mixer so it does the kneading for my otherwise you will need to knead it yourself.

This is a doubled recipe so cut in half for a single pizza.

Elaine's Pizza Dough

Yield: 2 large pizzas

• 2 tbl. yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tbl. olive oil (you can use canola or veg. oil too)
• 2 tsp salt (I use 1 1/2 to cut the sodium a bit)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 5 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, stir and let sit for 5 minutes. I do this right in the mixing bowl. After add the oil, salt and sugar and stir well. Start adding the flour a cup at a time and then knead well. I let the mixer run for about 4-5 minutes on low with the dough hook. When it is done (and it will be nice and sticky) grease a large bowl, plop the dough in and turn to coat with the oil in the bowl, cover with a slightly damp clean cloth and let sit to rise. About and hour is all it needs. Once the dough rises, punch it down.
Now you are ready to roll out the dough just make sure you flour the board. I use a rolling pin to roll it out.
We also use this recipe to make calzones.

The Feed Store

Q and I love to go to the feed store. It is a field trip. It is a couple of towns over in a quaint downtown area with an old town feel.

Full of antique stores I never get to go in but so cute to look at.

Part of the store has exotic birds and they are fun to visit. I think Q was worried this one was going to jump on her head.

After school it is off to wait for sissy to get out. I am combining trips to watch gas. Over $4 here.

I am getting the pizza crust recipe ready and will have it up this afternoon.