My Favorite Purchases of 2018

Tammy asked about  the hermetically sealing bins I'd bought.  I thought I'd included a link, but I failed.  I haven't done one of my favorite purchases posts in quite a long while.  I did purchase a few things I think you might find useful or helpful, every single one for the kitchen.

New Year Changes Ahead

I've spent the past week thinking about what I want  in the year ahead.  For all my whining at changes, I do like change when it's of my own making and I like it well enough to bring it about in my life on a fairly regular basis.  I see everything as a progressive step towards the ideal that I hope one day to achieve...and I find that the ideal changes ever so slightly as I take each step.  I'm never off course.  I just get a clearer picture with each change of where I want to head and why.

This Week: Ending and Beginning

I don't know about you all but I am ready for the holidays to be done.  We don't do much for New Year's Eve nor New Year's Day in our home...and this year it will be even less since John is working.  I don't mind at all.  I've set my mind for the year ahead and that's the way I like to celebrate.

In My Home: New Year Resolutions

I wanted to share my frugal and living well doings though I was taking a blog break. I kept up with what I'd done on a daily basis.

Saturday:  Quick prep of fruits and vegetables this morning and got them laid out in containers.  I came very close to buying cheap plastic serving pieces yesterday and I brought myself up short.  Hadn't I just thrown out loads of such things at Mama's and groused at the idea of how many really nice pieces she had that she'd never used while accumulating all those cheap plastic bits?     Well I'm glad I didn't buy a thing.  I found my usual daily serving pieces looked quite nice.  I've upgraded a good bit of those over the past year.  A big aqua pasta bowl was gorgeous with rows of fruits in it and I think the color of the bowl just made the colors of the fruit stand out even more.  A large French White corning baking dish (9 x 13) stood well for a cake platter with cookies laid out in rows by type.   A rectangular cake carrier worked well for the vegetable plate.  Various bowls and pretty plates from the cupboards served up cheese and crackers, sausage balls, chips.  Had I felt like squishing across the yard to the shed, I could have brought in milk glass, plates, serving platters, etc. to add to the wealth of items I had inside the house.  So take that! Dollar store cheap plastic pieces.

This Week In My Home: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Saturday:  Sam stopped by this evening to show us the deer he'd gotten.  I reminded him I wanted some shanks for stews.  I am so proud he was able to get a second deer.  He insisted that the dogs had to have a biscuit each as they had flushed five deer out of the weeds where they'd been hiding themselves.  I've told John before that the dogs are actually barking at something, not just nothing as he insists.  I expect they smell the deer and know when they are nearby.  Proud for my son to have more meat for his family.

Coffee Chat: Rainy Day At Home

Hello dears.  Coffee will be ready in a moment.  Did you get too wet outdoors?  Mind you it's been raining for about 12 hours and has only just slowed down a bit.  John asked me to stay home today since there was so much rain and I honored his request.  Traffic was bad enough yesterday when he and I were out that I wasn't too keen on going to Perry with wet roads and diving in and out of places getting soaked through and chilled, too.  Mama said she knew when it began to rain so heavily in the early hours that I'd be cancelling if it didn't let up.  She was none too keen to go out in it herself.

Date Nut Balls and other Christmas treats

Clockwise from back left: Raspberry Thumbprints, Sugar Cookies, Date Nut Balls, Magic Cookie Bars and Stove Top Cookies


Years ago I gave up making hundreds of dozens of cookies and culled my recipes down to the five essentials, per my husband and the children  requests.   What I failed to plan was to incorporate a favorite cookie for myself.  Each year I enjoyed the baked fare but always felt reminiscent over the things I recalled from my childhood and first marriage years that I had made and enjoyed.   This year, I decided to remove one of John's favorites which I make through out the year anyway, and add in one for me.  I chose to make Date Nut Balls.