Coffee Chat: One for the Road

Hello dears...I titled this "One for the Road" because January is fast drawing to an end, but it really might be titled "Procrastination in Full Force".   I don't know...I just can't get any oomph this week.  I know I've worked hard all week long and I purposely planned light for this week but do you know, I hadn't done a darn thing I'd meant to do this week except the shopping!  So I tied myself to the cart this morning and said "You don't get to stop until lunch or you're done whichever comes first...And if you're not done by lunch, you're going right back to that cart and doing what you can until you simply can't do a thing more."   I'm not at the ' can't do a thing more," point.  Have a seat and a cup of hot tea or coffee and let's talk before this month is finished.  I'm really too tired to keep going, so your company is a welcome thing just now.

Thrifty February

In January,  we've just finished a long holiday period. During the holiday rush, I've spent weeks looking at my home and I have seen all the things I haven't done.  Once the New Year is upon us, I'm all ready to get my home in order for another year.   I want to clear out the excess, organize the rest and clean.   Sales occur which push me to restock the most immediate needs of our household.  This is helped by the fact that we have several pay periods with holiday pay.  That is just the time to work on these tasks as I have funding to cover the needs of the home and to do a rapid replenishing of our subaccounts.

In My Home This Week: Finishing January Well

Hard to believe this month is nearly done but here we are with just a few days left.  February is just around the corner.  I am well satisfied with what I've done this month and will continue to work at odd jobs to finish the month out, but no big plans as you'll see.

This Week: Oh The Quiet!

Saturday:  It was heavy and humid outdoors today.  John and I both complained of feeling hot, despite the temperature in the mid-60s range.  Before the day was over, we had a wind advisory, a thunderstorm watch, and a tornado watch.  Did I mention all that was followed by a freeze warning?  Welcome to Georgia, where weather is forever changeable.  We did have the wind and thunderstorm but no tornadic activity.  We got a load of rain off that thunderstorm, which pounded so hard on the metal roof we had to turn up the tv to hear it.

Strata Sphere

not my photo but one from Pinterest with no credit given

This afternoon I had about an hour before the boys arrived for their play date with us and decided that was time enough to make yogurt and to do something with all those bread end pieces I had in the freezer.  Now I must share that we buy really good bakery breads and I am loathe to toss the odd slice or the end pieces, so I save them.

This Week In My Home: It Can't Be Just Planning

It's a new week, dears and here I am already reviewing my month, just 3 weeks in.

I sat here yesterday in a sort of end of day pre-week planning mode and realized that I have fully been over the entire house at least once in seeking a way to better organize and clean.  I'm satisfied with what has been accomplished.  I know there are a few areas where I might delve, like the photo storage which currently is in two spaces.  That comes to mind at the moment but I'm sure there's a bit more.   However, as far as clutter and deep cleaning goes this month, I'll tell you truly I feel like I'm good.  I accomplished a load of work over the last three or four weeks.  At this point I kind of feel like resting on my laurels and consider it well deserved for this month.

This Week: January Resolutions

Saturday:  John went off to work a half shift today.  He answered a call for help from his boss.   I'm not in the least pleased but then again, I've been reasoning myself out of a lonely sulk.  He needs new tires on his car and though I'm half way there, this will surely boost us to the next level and get us to our goal.  We wouldn't have  done a thing all day long anyway.  I just hate getting up at 5am two mornings in a row and having two late nights prior to 5am mornings.  The curse of those who sleep lightly is you either stay awake until the late bedtime other folks in your house go to bed or you wake three dozen times anticipating they will be coming to bed at any moment and then lie awake for hours after they do come in.  I confess mostly I'm bored without him at home when I've no housework or projects to see to.  All stuff and nonsense as we wouldn't have done a thing.  It's just that somehow John is the sort that can be quietly sitting next to you and yet be the very best company.

Quick Modern Makeup Tutorial

Makeup has come a long way since Avon used to 'call' on us ladies hasn't it?

About a year or so ago, I started reading ads for BB and CC creams.  I was completely confused.  What on earth were these and why were they being introduced?  Then one of my girls gave me a sample bottle of Micellar water...What on earth is this?!

The face of cosmetics is changing, let there be no doubt.  What does that mean to you and I who are fairly accustomed to simple terms like foundation, lipstick and powder?  How about a brief tutorial?

This Week In My Home: Clutter's Finish Line

This week in my home, I continue with my decluttering progress.  I shall be working in my bedroom and I have determined that I will not only make my closet neater but I will completely empty that bottom drawer that is about half filled with odds and ends I never touch or look at.  Wasted space!  I can use that drawer for linen storage which I need.

This Week: January Promises

Saturday:  Breakfast casserole this morning when John came in.  This used some bread cubes I'd cut last month and kept in the freezer.  I didn't have room to put up croutons at that time which is what I planned to make.  In the meantime, more odds and end pieces of bread loaves accumulated.  So Friday I made  1 quart and 1 pint of croutons and took the bread cubes out of the freezer determined to put them to good use, as well.  Breakfast casserole can be as pricey as you choose to make it.  It's basically a Strata which is dry (but not usually croutons) bread cut into cubes and soaked in milk and eggs to soften.  I read recipes all the time where someone will write "I added extra cheese because we love it."  Well so do I, sugar pie, but I don't see making an economy recipe cost the same as a steak dinner!  I used 2ounces of cheese to top the casserole, 2 ounces of cream cheese that I cubed to mix with the bread cubes.  I did want a little more to my casserole since I meant it as a one dish sort of breakfast.  I dug about in the fridge and found stir fry vegetables (carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, onion, garlic) and added those in along with some cubes of turkey Spam.  Despite my only using four eggs and 1 cup of milk along with the three cups of bread cubes, I had more than enough to feed us two or three times.  If I'd been really smart I'd have put half in the freezer before baking.  This does work just fine.  I didn't.  I made a 9X13 pan of the stuff.  We'll use the leftovers for supper, a work day lunch for myself, and likely a breakfast again.

Coffee Chat: January Dreams

Come in and hurry through the door!  It's cold and windy out there, isn't it? Oh but that bluest blue sky above and the bare branches of the tree against the sunlight makes it all about worthwhile.  I love nothing better than to be snug indoors while the wind is high and heavy so that it ruffles the tree tops and grazes the roof of the house as it passes with a slight roar and yet never gets more than slightly breezy on the ground.  I always say it 'gets my blood up' in winter and makes me long to go play about outdoors despite it's being cold.  The sight of the sun casting tree branch shadows across the siding of the house or along the ground is enough to make my heart ache too.  One of those seasonal things that I am too well aware is passing even as it occurs.

This Week In My Home: Working Ahead

I had a bit of a revelation today.

I want time to read and to write, time to work on genealogy and time to tackle projects and to do the little bits of deep cleaning that will prevent the necessity of a big seasonal clean.  I want to spend our money on those things that I've truly determined we need for our home comfort or on wardrobe pieces that will work doubly hard, not impulsively tossed away on things for which I haven't planned  and which prove to be mistakes.  I've been caught in a cycle of waste.  Waste of time and waste of money.

This Week: The Thrill of Doing

I have to tell you all that initially the title to this post was "The Thrill of Saving"...but it's not about that at all, for all my work to save.  It's the thrill of Doing and knowing you are generating a savings that is really the thing that leads to satisfaction, contentment and ultimately living better than I did the day before.