I'm still here

I've just been busy. Monday (the 25th) was my birthday. We went out for dinner on Sunday to a favorite restaurant. I got the twin lobster dinner. Lobster is my favorite, and for $25 (with soup, potato and vegetable) you can't beat it. But next time, I have to try the King Kong Shrimp. My husband got them--parmigiana style, and practically as big as lobster tails.

My two older kids were with us. The younger boys couldn't get out of work.

For the day of my birthday, we ordered takeout Chinese--my favorite! I got a gorgeous philenopsis plant (I'm sure I did not spell that correctly), money, chocolate and a gift card to put towards a Wii. Mike asked if I minded if he held off on my gift. Between Nick's tuition, property tax and $2,000 for a new fuel pump (and other stuff) for my stupid car, that was enough to spend in January. Nobody's got the Wii in stock, anyway, so I just said it would be something to look forward to.

I hope everyone's having a good year so far!

Happy New Year and Pizza

Most years we just hang out on the 31st. I'm more likely to be asleep when the New Year starts. Can you tell I'm not a party person?

I had the idea the other day that we'd have homemade pizza for dinner. Well, suddenly we got 3 invitations for New Year's Eve. One of them fell through--my bil and his wife and my nephew didn't want to come out in the snow. Can't blame them; the little guy is only four. We divided the night between two friends. I would have been happy if everyone cancelled due to the weather, but I ended up having a really nice time. The first party was bigger (well, about 8 people plus uncounted kids) and the second was just coffee and Bailey's with one of my best friends. (Mike did not drink, for the record. Me...a spoonful of anything in my coffee or Coke is good enough for me. I just don't 'get' people who work themselves into hangovers.)

So anyway, the pizza...we decided to make a pie and bring it as an appetizer to the first party. It was a HUGE hit, if I may say so myself. Have you ever made pizza? Soooo easy! But there are tricks!

I tip my hat to those of you who make good pizza crust. I just don't have the talent for it. We actually buy 'raw' pizza dough from one of our local pizza parlors! Did you know you can do that? For about $4 you get this ball of dough (probably cheaper elsewhere than Long Island). You have to leave it out for a bit so it is easier to work with.

I have a pizza stone I cook on, but I found I like to stretch the dough on one of those metal pizza pans--the kind with all the little holes. For some reason, the 'peel' I have isnt' big enough for a full sized pie, even though the stone is very big! So I just sort of 'flip' the stretched out dough onto the stone and try not to burn myself. The 'peel' works with the cooked pizza just fine.

Two important tips from the pizza parlor 'chef':

1. Always use low-moisture mozzarella. That doesn't mean "skim milk." It really has to say 'low moisture" on the package. We always had watery pizza until we did this!

2. Don't cook the sauce. We just take tomato puree and spoon it on the crust. It will cook along with the pizza.

Now, me, I like to cook my crust first. I know they put raw pizza into those ovens at Uncle Chef's, but I don't have that kind of oven, LOL! You want to make sure you 'dock' the dough with lots and lots of fork pricks or you will end up with a big puff ball.

The pizza cooks in a 425 degree oven, and the crust will be done in about 10 minutes--but keep an eye on it! You can make it ahead of time and even freeze it for the future, if you want. Then just build the pizza with all the goodies you like. It will be done when the cheese is melted.

Have a Happy, Healthy and Wealthy New Year, everyone!

Blizzard!

My driveway:

The picnic table on our deck:

We got about 18" of snow. Farther out on Long Island, it hit 2 feet! This was our first blizzard since the 90s. All I can say is, I'm glad we knew it was coming. Katherine traded her Camaro for my SUV, so it was a much safer drive home from work for her late last night. She said the roads were terrible and people were sliding all over the place. I was so glad when she called to say she'd arrived safely at Erick's parents' house. It's a few miles closer than her own apartment, so she decided to spend the night there.

The last photo is of our street corner:

CD Coasters

Do you remember this apron from last year? It was made for a dear friend who loves "A Charlie Brown Christmas." I had some of the fabric left over, so when I found a tutorial for CD Coasters, I knew what to make!

The apron: http://sortafrugal.blogspot.com/2008/12/gift-for-friend.html

And here is an excellent tutorial for the coasters: http://scrapdash.blogspot.com/2008/03/cd-coasters-tutorial.html

I made my patterns a little differently, though. I simply traced 3 circles with a CD. I made one larger for the outside, one slightly smaller for the batting and one exact for the back. And I made mine in this order: glued the batting on first, then sewed on the top (over the batting so the top of the coaster is padded--obviously, I used thin batting (low loft?). You could use felt.) and finally, a piece of felt on the back. Her way is much faster and easier, but I like the padding on top!

Here is the finished product:

I'll be sending them to her this week, with some homemade cookies. I even found a square Christmas gift box that these fit into perfectly!

Another Cookie Day

I made another batch of spritz cookie dough on Friday and made them up today. I have to be honest, in the long run I don't think that battery-powered press is any easier than a manual one. I think it might be because the main part (where the motor is) is really too big for my hand to get around it and get a good position to press the button. Well, anyway, at least the cookies are done. But I hafta say, my wrist is killing me. (And I ate way too much cookie dough. Dang, that stuff is good.)

29 Years

Mike and I celebrated 29 years yesterday. Well, we actually went out to dinner Saturday night. He gave me 2 gift cards and I gave him...glue. No kidding, glue. What do you give a guy who wants nothing? He's a man of simple tastes who is not into sports or cologne or anything fussy. I had bought several different kinds of sticky stuff as a Christmas gift, but then I got an idea. So I put it in a bag and wrote: "Me and You--Stuck Like Glue!" He thought it was great and it made him laugh. And since he's always fixing this-or-that around the house, he now has a stash of various glues that cover just about any project.

We have been together 38 years total. Hard to believe, but I still think he's 'hot.' Or is that TMI????

Okay, change of subject. I found a cute blog!

And she's having a snowman ornament giveaway! Go check it out...it'll put you in the Christmas spirit!

http://keepnthesunnyside.blogspot.com/

Cookies today

Today I'm trying out the new cordless cookie press I bought from Michael's a few weeks back. With the 40% coupon, it was 20 dollars. So far, so good, although it would have helped if I'd had fresh batteries for the first batch. I keep all my new batterieso in a basket (which I change with the seasonal decor) and throw the old ones into a recycling bin. But I guess a few oldies got mixed in there.
Anyway, even with the dying batteries, the press is pretty cool. I changed out for new ones, and when I make the next batch, I'm sure it will work better. I'm making spritz cookies. Here's the link back to last year's post:
http://sortafrugal.blogspot.com/2008/11/dare-to-share-thursday.html

I don't know why I don't make these more often. They are easy and good. I'm doing a pumpkin design today, mostly. I'll bring some to the friends we're visiting tonight. Luckily, I happen to have orange sugar, LOL!

Turkey Dressing (Frugal Friday)

It's Frugal Friday over at Life as Mom. http://www.lifeasmom.com/2009/11/frugal-friday-freezer-cooking-on-cheap.html

Here's my donation. We all love stuffing, but lately I keep hearing that you aren't supposed to stuff the bird. It's because you can't get the internal temperature of the stuffing to a safe number (165 degrees F, I believe) without overcooking the bird.

I think I understand why I was sick on so many Thanksgiving Fridays as a kid. And my mom made/makes the BEST stuffing.

I've had the kind made in a casserole (which I think is called 'dressing') but it just doesn't taste the same. I figured there had to be a safe way to get that 'cooked in the bird' flavor. Then it hit me: turkey broth! And not some canned stuff, but real, homemade broth.

The trick is that you have to think ahead. Buy yourself a small turkey, a turkey breast or legs and wings for a meal. Sometimes, you can find a pre-cooked turkey breast on sale at your supermarket's deli counter.

After you have taken off the meat, throw the bones in a pot, add water, and boil for about an hour. I add Kosher salt and sometimes some pepper corns. Strain it all out when you are done, then put it in the fridge. The next day, take the fat off the top. Freeze the broth, or use it right away.

This is how I make stuffing now:

A loaf's worth of broken up bread
A small onion
A stick of butter
Sage to taste
Homemade Turkey Broth

Chop up the onion.
Melt the butter in a little pot.
Cook the onion in the butter for about five minutes, until the onion is soft.
Add butter/onion mixture to bread and toss. Sprinkle with sage to taste.
Now add in the turkey broth until you get a nice consistency. I like my dressing firm so I don't use too much broth. You can always add more later in the cooking process if you need to.

Put it all in a buttered casserole. Cover and pop it in the oven with the turkey, for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Freeze Ahead Breakfast

http://www.lifeasmom.com/
Jessica over at "Life As Mom" has a recipe swap going on today with breakfast as the theme. I love the way she makes eggs (what I would call 'over-easy') and totally plan to steal that idea next time I'm making my egg/cheese/bacon biscuits.

One problem some families have with breakfast is the morning rush. That's where 'freeze-ahead' comes in handy. In fact, my son James just asked me when I was going to make those fake-o Egg McMuffins again. (Well, I use biscuits, not muffins, but I'm sure English Muffins would work here.) Here is the recipe:

Freeze-ahead Egg/Bacon/Cheese Biscuits

A can of Grands Biscuits (Yeah, I cheat. Make your own if you like, but biscuits aren't my strong point, and I can get these pretty cheap with coupons)
Eggs--if you scramble them, you can probably get two sandwiches from one egg
Your favorite cheese, sliced
Bacon

There are no set amounts here--just go by what you think your family will eat, or at least by what won't fall off the edges.
Bake the biscuits and split them in half
Fry or scramble the eggs.
Fry the bacon.

Put some egg on a biscuit, then a piece of cheese, then some bacon. Put the top on the biscuit. Do this with all the biscuits.

You can eat these right now, or you can wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and throw them in a plastic bag in the freezer. For my microwave, it takes about a minute for each biscuit to reheat from frozen, but you have to adjust for your own.

Of course, you can trade out the bacon for ham or sausage. Those round sausage patties you brown and serve would work great.

Whether you make this from scratch or cheat with Grands as I do, they are better than McDonald's and oh-so-much cheaper!

Halloween Craft

This decoration was very easy to make. I had a bucket that I'd bought at a garage sale, which I painted with chalkboard paint and decorated with chalk. The pumpkin is made of felt, except for his stem. I couldn't find my box of felt so I had to use cardstock.

I gave the pumpkin head some body by cutting a smaller shape out of cardboard and sandwiching it between two layers of felt. The stick came from some other decoration that broke, but you could use a dowel.

I had this 90% made for quite a while because I was trying to figure out how to get the stick to stand up. I had thought of filling the bucket with rocks, but did not want to spend the money on them.

So I ended up crushing newspaper and filling the bucket 3/4 up, then covering the newspaper with real leaves from the back yard. On top of that, I sprinkled these cute plastic acorns I bought a while back at Michael's.

You could duplicate this in a smaller version with a simple can and smaller parts. It goes together easily and I think kids would have fun with it. It's on my front steps now (we have a bit of an overhang so it won't get wet.)

Sew Crafty Friday

I miss "Sew Crafty Friday." Shereen's blog hadn't been updated for months last I saw. I hope she comes back again, but she is probably busy with her family. Meantime, I need something like this to push myself to get my crafting done. Here is my donation for the week: a baby blanket.

It isn't for any particular baby, but my nieces and nephews and my daughter's friends will surely be having them soon!

This is my own design--at least, the combination is! I don't think anyone really designs original 'stitches,' LOL! It is a simple shell stitch. I don't like working with baby yarn, so this is done on an "I" needle. I think the yarn is sport weight? Just standard, but soft and pretty.

One of the things I bought with the $50 gift card Mike gave me is a book called "100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet." I will make several flowers from the book and scatter them over the blanket.

I like that the shells make a nice, tight pattern. We want to keep baby cozy, LOL! As you might be able to see, I'm grading the size of each stripe. The first ones are about 11 rows, then I have 7 rows and if I feel I need to add length, the final group will be about 3 or 4 rows.

If you've got something going this week, please let me know and I'll come over and visit you!

In Ohio This Week

Wow, I'm really awful at keeping up with this blog! I apologize--I'm just so tired all the time and seem to have so much to do. Nick takes his second road test later this month. In the meantime, I drive him to and from college. It's only 20 minutes away, but that's 40 minutes round trip and I despise driving! Well, for 2 days he is only in class an hour and fifteen minutes, so I use that time to shop at some of the stores nearby. My husband helps whenever it fits into his work schedule. Fortunately, Nicky's classes don't interfere with my work at all.

I'm off this week, spending it in Columbus with my mother. We're having such a good time together. We went to a favorite restaurant yesterday and hit a few Amish stores. The prices are so reasonable! I got a good stack of fabric to play with when I get home.

Before I left New York, Mike surprised me at the airport with a $50 gift card! (Amex, so I can use it almost anywhere.) Well, I've had my eye on these cute valances for several years now. They are sold in the gift shop of the restaurant, but I never felt justified in spending money on them. I finally got them, along with a few matching things like potholders and towels--and I still have a little left over!

My aunt and my mother think Mike is sweet. I totally agree.

I hope everyone (all four of you) who reads this blog is doing well!

A Savings Reminder

Now that school has officially started all over the country, and stores want to make room for Halloween merchandise, this is the perfect time to start shopping for school supplies!

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, as my ten or so readers are smart about these things. But doesn't it blow you away how many people aren't?

At work the other day, some mothers were lamenting at the expense of school supplies. Of course, I told them that they should prepare for January by buying up what's on sale now. After all, we all know folders never last beyond the holidays. Why pay a dollar later when you can pay a dime now? I reminded them that they can store things in a closet or the attic, and they'll have a jump on new supplies. Pencils and paper don't go bad!

You would have thought I was a guru at the top of a mountain, with information no one else had,the way these young moms looked at me. Made me feel really good about being frugal. I love to share the wealth--the wealth of knowledge I've gotten from my on-line frugal friends, that is!

I'm glad I was...

...born when I was, which is 1956, for the record. That made me far too young to pay much attention when the S*xual Revolution reached its peak in 1969. There was a show on the History Channel last night about just that.

If I'd been among the first Baby Boomers, I'd have been of legal age by 1969. I might have dared to go to Woodstock, but I've never been one for crowds, so I doubt it.

Not sure whether I'd have marched for or against anything. But I do know I've wanted to be a wife and mother from a very young age. Maybe that is why the subtitle of the placard carried by a Woman's Libber (there's a phrase from the past!) bugged me.

I can't remember the top of the sign. The middle said, "Don't Get Married." And below, she had handwritten this: "Washing Diapers is Not Fulfilling!"

And all I could think of was... if your definition of Motherhood starts with 'washing diapers,' then maybe it's a great thing if you don't get married. (I also called her something that rhymes with 'witch,' but I do try to keep this a family-friendly blog). Who'd want you for a mother? Or a wife?}

Miserable human being...I wonder if she ever married and had kids? Did she find joy in it, or was she still stuck in the 'washing diapers is not fulfilling' mode. If so, I feel danged sorry for any kids she brought into this world!

Okay, the soapbox is yours now!

A product I like

One thing that is nice about building up a stockpile is that eventually you have enough 'on hand,' and your shopping list is so small, that you can treat yourself. You can try something new you might not have wanted to swing otherwise.

My new thing is Purex 3-in-1 complete. Basically, it's your detergent, softener and dryer sheet all in one. (I never knew people used dryer sheets if they already used softener.)

How is this fancy product even 'sorta' frugal? Well, it is if you get a deal. It is on sale this week BOGO at CVS. And I have a dollar coupon, making each less than half price.

But here is what makes it even more frugal. You can cut those puppies in half, and even thirds! Really, who needs the whole enchilada if you're only washing slightly dirty items?

I still use regular detergent most of the time. But you all know the story--sometimes you are too tired, or sick, or busy to remember to add the danged softener. So for those times, this product is great!

Did anyone else do this back in the day?

My daughter uses that expression: "back in the day." Not sure what day she's talking about, but in this case I'm talking around the 1960s.

I don't know why this memory popped into my head this morning. When I was in grammar school, I can remember that we often made corsages for our friends' birthdays. My sister, who is 4 years older than me, probably did it in high school, too, but by the time I got there it was the 1970s and nice little things like that just weren't 'in.'

We would take one of those cheap bows you stick on top of packages and add either a piece of gum (always Bazooka!) or a mini Tootsie roll to each loop until we had the number of years old the friend was. Sometimes, you had to add streamers for more ribbons. I think we sometimes did this with pennies. Hey, back then 8 cents actually bought something.

Did anyone else do that? Or do they still give out handmade candy corsages?

:)

Frugal Friday: CC warning

There are lots of great tips for living frugally over at "Life as Mom," so go check them out here:

http://www.lifeasmom.com/2009/07/frugal-friday-save-money-on-birthdays.html

Here is my tip. If you are lucky enough to be able to pay off a credit card, there is something you need to keep in mind. Just because the card is 'closed' doesn't mean there won't be some charge on it!

I have recently been able, thanks to the best husband on earth, to pay off most of my big, fat debt. As I pay off a card, I also close it. But I double-checked the next month to make sure the balance was at $0. Well! To my surprise I found out this isn't always true. Yes, there will be no more charges from outside sources. But what about the CC's own finance charges?

You could pay off the current balance on a card, without knowing that your finance charges weren't scheduled to show up for a day or so. Those charges go on your card. And there you are, happily thinking of $0 balances, while those sneaky charges lay in the dark, waiting to make your life miserable!

So...take a second look at any CCs you close and make sure they really are finished and done!

BTW, IMHO...credit card companies are legalized loan-sharking establishments. Thank goodness there will be regulations to stop this nonsense in the next few years!

He did it!

My fourth and youngest, Nicholas (Nicky to us, Nick to his friends) graduated high school today. It was a nice ceremony that ran just under two hours. There was a dark cloud in the nearby sky, but it moved away from us. Pleasant breezes took care of the heat that usually plagues these outdoor ceremonies. (And to think, I had four personal fans in my pocketbook!)

Nick will be attending a local community college. He recently took a two-day program meant to assess his strengths. We haven't gotten the results back, but he's best at math and science. (He's great at history, too, if the topic interests him.) The program will help him pick his major.

With the economy as it is, many more kids than before are attending community colleges. This means a longer waiting list. We got our notice that Nicky's application is being processed. I'm pretty sure he's in. He has the grades and I think community colleges have to accept local residents as long as they qualify. It isn't like Harvard. Thank goodness...it isn't like the tuition there, either.

So the future begins. I only have two of four kids living home now. It is weird to come home and know the house will be empty for a few hours.

My frugal, florist daughter

Katherine and I had a nice lunch at an all-you-can-eat Sushi buffet today, followed up by a visit to Michael's Crafts store. I didn't buy much--just some glue and yarn. But it's fun to look at things. Katherine picks up a small package and says, "I'd sure like to meet the idiot who'd buy this!"
It was a packet of broken up dried leaves, named "leaf confetti", which I suppose is used in card-making or scrapbooking. The price was $3.99! And I'm talking a packet that would fit in the palm of your hand. Why would she call the buyer of such an item an idiot?
Because this is the kind of thing she sweeps off the floor of the floral department at her store, LOL!
Honestly, the things people will pay for, right?

We should all get along like this!

I was lucky enough to have my camera ready when I discovered my cat, Melody, taking a snooze with my ferret, Austin! Melody was even grooming him. How sweet is that?