Independence Days, Thrifting Score!

Independence Days-
Well, I'd be the first to admit I've been lazy about posting about this! But I have been doing it, really. So without further ado...

1. Plant Something- 

Just a couple houseplants, too early (and wacky!) here.

2. Harvest Something- 

Just eggs and chives :) LOTS of eggs, 3 every day!!! Good girls...

3. Preserve/Store Something- 

Fermenting water kefir every few days. I need to make more veggies...

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- 

Got a good deal (1/2 off) on homeopathic flu remedies. I'm actually working on the Pantry Challenge still, using up frozen, canned and pantry foods. I've really saved a lot of $$$, and we need to defrost the freezer! Our washer finally died, after 15 years, and 1000's of loads! We got a nice, new scratched/dinged front loading washer at Sears outlet, saved about $150.00 anywhere else on a cheap model. This one was 1/2 off, for $599. with a 1-day sale with 6% off which covered sales tax. We looked at repairing our old one, but it would be more costly than a replacement. We also noticed how much FASTER the spin is, as the clothes are coming out much DRYER. Yeah for saving on the power bill drying the clothes! We got it on Valentine's Day. How romantic :) I should have put a big heart on it for the photo-

Got a great deal on the little desk for the bedroom office. $69.00 here Realspace Limble Computer Desk It's nice and sturdy!

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- 

Made the Italian Chickpea Farinata, and have been eating lots of Kale salads with grapes and blue cheese. I found a local food coop down the street a while back, but never went it. They sell Non-GMO oats from Montana and I bought a loaf of their bread. Amazing! Moist and great stuff, with no wheat. I'm cutting WAY back on my wheat, more about that later... Started using Hemp protein powder in fruit smoothies. Hope I don't have to pee in a bottle for work!  Also started using some coconut oil, great in smoothies too. Making a big omelet for dinner tonite. 

6. Build Community Food Systems- 

Still selling eggs to a co-worker, $3.50 a Dz., so the girls are earning their keep and then some :)

7. Recycle/Re-Use- 

We donated some leftover items from our home office re-do to our daughter, and the rest to a charity. Moved some things around too. I did a separate thrifting post below since I had such a great score today! I have a few things for eBay I will sell. Too much great stuff I just don't wear much. We put out the old washer for the recycling guy, but the steel thieves took it first. Oh well, not worth much anyway...

8. Skill Up- 

Learning some new recipes. And LOTS about how much we should be saving to "retire". Fascinating, yawn... And I put a book truck together, all alone, with an Allen wrench. I feel so special.

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- 

I'm going to re-paint our bedroom over spring break. The crisp, white bathroom paint of our DIY remodel inspired me to go with a much lighter wall color (peach now), some blue or green accents, and some new blinds. Someday we 'd like a new bedroom set. Maybe something decorated like this-

From Countryliving.com

But that's not all!!!

Thrifting-

I had to go to a dental appointment this morning and knew Goodwill was in the area :) Of course I had to drop in! I got some fun deals!!!

I found these 2 two in a plastic bag for $1.50 and they're from The Netherlands (Holland)! My daughter went there and brought me back a similar wooden shoe version. Now I have a little set! I LOVE blue and white patterns.

When I saw the mark when I got home I was thrilled! Delfts (if the mark is genuine) is a world-famous ceramic maker Delftware, and I recognized the name. The piece is either a salt cellar or a wall mounted vase. It's triangular and flat on the back with a hole on the top for hanging. Anyone else guess? I think it may be fairly old, but I can't find anything online on the markings... Got the Serendipity DVD for $2.00, love that movie, charming and sweet~~~

Classic windmill by the water motif

Nice little stainless steel cheese slicer

Fun washboard/key hanger $2.00. I may take off the flowers and do something else with it? I also got 2 brand new Coldwater Creek sweaters, gorgeous. I also found a brand- new retro, lightweight blouse/jacket I'll save for summer. Everything was $20.00!!!

At my last stop, Shopko, I found these drinking jars. I saw them last summer, $20.00 EACH and passed. $1.99 today, so I got 2! Score! I may go back and get a few more, great for yard work and a summer gatherings. I LOVE the Mason Jar/pie pan fluted edges, and they're BPA free...

Home Office Makeover Pt.1, What's With The Weather? Queso Fundido Recipe, Ready For Heart Day :)

Home Office Makeover Pt.1-
Well, it started with a chair... It's Dave's birthday today, and I decided to buy him a new, home office chair. Out running errands I gave him the option of choosing one with me, or I would choose. So... we bought a nice, new black one. While we were at the store (O.Max) and I saw a nice, small desk. We had a large thrifted one (above) that was really too big for the space. So, we bought it. These 2 photos are the "before pictures". It's stuffed in with the canning cabinet, various storage, backpacks, and a hodge podge of  other "stuff". Time to clean! The "after" pics will be posted in the next week!!! Stay tuned...

What's With The Weather?
It was 65 today, what the heck??? We raked leaves, I put the rest of generic winter stuff away, and had the garage wide open. We did some maintenance on the coop (some more fresh litter), and Dave raked. What month is this, May? I really hope this doesn't mess up our shrubs and perennials. Lots of rain headed this way, avalanches in the mountains and flooding. BUT the sun was FINALLY out and BLUE SKIES! After weeks of fog, inversion and clouds I LOVED IT! But it's worrisome....

Queso Fundido Recipe-
After seeing this on the Pantry Challenge at Goodcheapeats.com I decided to try it. Verdict? Too greasy for us. I will try a modified, different version with ground turkey and 1/2 the cheese. But the idea is good- spicy meat with melted cheese, on warm tortillas, cilantro and salsa. What's not to love? I served it with Trader Joe's Green Hatch Chili Salsa (wonderful!) and Red Salsa. Yummy.

Ready For Heart Day :)
After taking down the rest of the generic winter stuff, I put up some fun things for Valentine's Day. I bought the heart above 75% off last year, the week after VD. It's a fun thing to do, buy now, use later. I also found this for $3.50 at Goodwill last year and saved it for Spring (even though we're not there yet!)-

Adds some pink!

A little something in the kitchen...

Pantry Challenge, Kale Grape Blue Cheese Salad, Scandinavian Heart Flip, Where's Winter???

  

Pantry Challenge-
I've really saved some $$$ the last 2 weeks doing this. I'm making my way thru the freezer, and my grocery cart was pretty empty today- mostly dairy, fruits, veggies. I made some shrimp jambalaya last week (lots of leftovers), baked some frozen chicken. I made another pizza. Yesterday Dave was gone for dinner so I did grab a bag of shrimp at the store and had a giant shrimp cocktail for dinner. Yummy, with leftover home-made extra spicy sauce. I dug out a package (one of my rare boxed mixes) of a Krusteaz blueberry muffin mix. I added cinnamon, nutmeg, and almond extract. I will say- if you want to make muffins or scones their mixes are wonderful! Really great quality, but I wish they'd make some whole grain versions. Tonite I made Cuban-Style Black Beans & Rice with canned beans, veggies, lime, and rice I had on hand. Very healthy and filling! I did add extra Chili powder, some Cumin and Thyme. I always double or triple the batch we like it some much. Just add lime wedge, cilantro. Sour cream if you like!

Sorry, we ate the salad too fast to get a pic, maybe next time :)

Kale, Grape, & Blue Cheese Salad-
I found a couple versions of this and modified it to make my own recipe. Here's how I made my new kale salad recipe-
Take 1 bunch of fresh kale, wash, strip off ribs. Rip into a large bowl, drizzle with 1 TBL. olive oil, and sprinkle 1 TSP. of salt. Massage well and really work the kale for about 1 minute. It will soften and be sort of silky. Add 2 TBL. red wine vinegar, fresh pepper, and toss well. Mix in red grapes and crumbled blue cheese, about 1/4 each. Toss well. You could sub bacon for the cheese of use other sweet fruits.  It was really awesome!!! It's a keeper!

Scandinavian Heart Flip-
With my love of folk art, and Scandinavian country decor, I decided to do something to bring the outdoors in. I had a $5.00 off a $10.00 purchase at Jo-Ann's fabrics. Easy shopping to do. I walked around Jo-Ann's til I had a Eureka! moment. Here's what I bought, 1/2 off, with a coupon-

I couldn't find a plain twig heart so I decided to use it as a form. I bought moss "ribbon" (who knew?)-

$3.50

I used a wire cutter and scissors to remove the plastic pips and ribbon-

All ready

I then wrapped the moss and secured it with a little wire-

Some of the moss fuzzies fell off, so I used some spray adhesive to cover some of the exposed twigs with the green fuzz. I wanted it to look rustic and not too perfect. I trimmed down some left-over burlap for a ribbon and hung it up. It was a bit too long, so I just overlapped it-  I love it! Total cost $6.00! I re-used the pips into my ivy-

In the same mode- I found a nice Scan-style frame the other day I had stored. I printed out an antique map of Scandinavia and framed it. Maybe it will help me get there sooner :)

It's on my list of things to go and see the Fjords of Norway and visit Sweden-

From Visitnorway.com A World Heritage Site

Sweden, on the coast, from VisitSweden.com

Maple tree should be naked!

Where's Winter???
It was 47 and sunny yesterday. A bit of rain today and almost 50 today. Our back maple tree looks like the shot above. What wrong with this picture? The tree should be bare! We had a mild Oct., 8 in November with 9" of snow, then the leaves never fell off the trees. They're still falling.

Bizarre weather coming next week, in the 50's! What the heck! While I'm glad we don't get the storms they do back east, we need some cold weather, or my garden will suffer~~~ Wishing for snow ;)

Pantry/Dark Days Challenge Meals, Vintage Chicken Wire Frame, Freebies :)

 Pantry/Dark Days Challenge Meals-
I realized the other night I did a combo! Pantry Challenge and Dark Days. I used frozen red bell peppers, frozen pepperoni, leftover cheeses, my frozen homemade/organic pesto, and local pizza dough. A double header! Tonight we're having Jambalaya (the mix is pretty good!) with shrimp and Andouille sausage. I have leftover bread to go with it, and salad with homemade dressing.

My Inspiration

Vintage Chicken Wire Frame-
Last summer I saw the frame above in Idaho City, and snapped a quick pic. They had planed the wood down to bare. On the way home I found an old, chippy, $10.00 local window frame at Habitat, and Dave and I broke out the glass and added leftover chicken wire. I thought it woulds be a great way to display my vintage kitchen items.

I recently took a small wire brush to ours, and I got to decorating today, it took a few tries for placement but easy easy otherwise. Dave added the wire and bracket to the back. All done! Here's the print that was there before, over our dining room table-

New frame-

Total cost- $10.00

Since it was much heavier, Dave added 2 brackets on the back and hung on the studs. I don't think it's going anywhere! Since it's hung with raffia I can change the placement pretty easily if needed.

Freebies-

Yesterday I was reminded of the adage- one person's trash is another treasure! I met with some fellow librarians to hang out, and some brought swappables. I scored a hand-beaded butterfly, with glass beads. I thought it was plastic until I got it home and looked up the name on the tag Grassrootscreations.com Pretty much a fair trade deal and glass beads! Really nice. I hung it over my computer in the dining room-

Reminds me of Spring!

I also got a new pitcher from Italy, nice! I decided to plant my new ivy in it :)

I like the green ivy and the green kitchen items. Maybe I'll train it up the chicken wire! Love freebies!!!

One Month Pantry Challenge- Doing An Inventory

One Month Pantry Challenge, Doing An Inventory-
Last weekend I ran out of time to do a good inventory of our freezer and large pantry closet. I did it tonite. I found this helpful- 1 Month Menu Plan Grid  It's a nice sized, free printable menu grid/calendar. I also found this nice, simple freezer inventory list here- Organizinghomelife.com

This got me started to write the basics of what we have, in the freezer and pantry closet. Unlike most people we don't have a lot of frozen meats, since we don't eat a lot of meat. We eat lots of vegetarian foods!

We had 2 meals so far- frozen chicken smothered in homemade frozen pesto, with leftover french bread and salad. Ditto the leftover chicken, with taters and more salad.

Tonight I made- Spicy black bean soup and corn bread, good for a cold, rainy night. I use the pre-made "soup" as a base and added what's in the photo, + 1 more can of corn & spices. I mashed the canned beans slightly. Yummy and filling with the corn muffins made with buttermilk.

Main pantry closet

Chest freezer, a great investment!

Our version will look a bit different, since we're not feeding a family with kids. With just the 2 of us, our meals can be more flexible. I know I won't be able to do a whole month without fresh veggies, milks and fruit. I may buy more meats too, since I don't store a lot of those. Some of the items in my pantry are for long term/emergency food storage so they are off limits for this purpose. I am generally just challenging myself to use up more everyday stored foods, to rotate them and then will work on replacing with newer foods. I have a lot more fish than I thought so I'll make a Finnish Salmon Pie. I made it last year, added lots of peas, and great flavor! There's always lots of fresh eggs too. Speaking of the hens- they'll get any freezer-burned foods (if any) so they will be recycled :)

I got out these handy sheets I hadn't used yet to play with menu planning-

Here's a few more tips to save money! Lessons Learned on the Front Lines of Frugality