Salad in a Cup...Genius!

I just hate putting a salad together. Do you? When I'm hungry, I want food now! And more often than not I pass on all the gathering of ingredients, chopping, and assembling required and just skip it altogether in favor of something fast (handful of cookies).

But the other day I saw THIS VIDEO and was amazed at such a genius idea...salad in a mason jar! 

I was so happy to have found such a clever way to store ready made salads that you make one time a week. No more pulling out bags of veg and containers, etc. I can just grab it and go (kinda reminds me of those old Salad Shakers that McDonald's used to have...remember those?).

But alas, I don't have mason jars. Bummer.

However I do have those cups that go with my Magic Bullet (that's broken). I wasn't sure what to do with them and hated to throw them out and am happy to say they work perfectly!!!

So, I assembled my salad ingredients and began cutting and chopping and layering.

A the bottom of the cup you need to add your favorite salad dressing. 

Then I added a couple tablespoons of carrot, then onion, cheese, ham, cucumber and a cup of lettuce on top. I put a few tablespoons of croutons in a sandwich baggie and layered that on top of the lettuce (in a baggie so it wouldn't get soggy in the fridge). 

Aren't they pretty? Of course you can use any ingredients you want, but add your dressing and tomatoes at the bottom so that your lettuce doesn't get soggy and wilted. I'd also add my cheese close to the top. If it's down at the bottom near the dressing, it would get gummy. ICK.

Then I covered it all with a piece of plastic wrap and sealed it with the rings that came with the cups. I couldn't find all 4 rings, so I used one of the sealed caps for the last one,
and I just placed them in the fridge. I am at home all day, but I could totally see grabbing one of these in the morning before work and popping it in a lunch bag. So easy!

When you dump it out on a plate, it comes out looking like a perfect salad..lettuce on the bottom and the dressing on top. Unless you like your lettuce on top and all your fixins on the bottom, then this would be a disaster salad, not a perfect salad. (ha!)

My salad has 225 calories and 10 grams of fat (didn't use low fat dressing or cheese, but will probably do that next time).

I love this idea and know that I'll definitely be eating more salads.

Let me know if you try it!

Using Whatcha Got

This morning I decided to take a walk.

Now, understand, I don't live in a typical neighborhood where there's safe streets and sidewalks. I live in an apartment and the only place to walk is basically a parking lot. The road that runs by our building is on the side of a mountain, is very winding, and there are a lot of blind curves for cars. So, there's no way I'm getting out there! 

But today I decided to quit complaining and quit looking at all the obstacles and just do something. The truth is, I need to exercise, so I found a way. 

I may not have a track or sidewalks or a neighborhood or a gym, but I do have a parking lot where my daughter can go with me. So I put on some tennis shoes and we walked in circles, around the parking lot for 20 minutes. It was actually kind of nice. There are some inclines, and a steep hill that goes up by the road, and you can even walk behind the apartments along the edge of the woods. It was so nice, I think I may even do it tomorrow!

So, the lesson was to not focus on what I can't do, but focus on what I can do. And what I can do is walk around the parking lot! 

My house is the only one with a wreath on the door...gotta keep it pretty!

Another Pantry Challenge!

Since we'll be moving in a few weeks, I decided to clean out my pantry and toss the things that just needed to go and use up everything else. There won't be any "buying in bulk" this month, I'm just going to grocery shop for what we need and leave it at that. Who wants to move a bunch of canned goods and boxed cereal? Not me.

So here is my menu for the week using up what we have. I will need to get a few perishables like eggs, milk and butter, but other than that, I'm getting creative and looking online for inspiration!

The breakfasts and lunches will be pretty much the same every day.

For breakfast we usually have the same few things every day which are...

*scrambled eggs, toast, egg in a hole (an egg and slice of bread cooked together in a pan), oatmeal, french toast, pancakes.

and for lunch we usually have...

*soup, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese, or sandwiches made with lunch meat (in this case, I need to use up a package of ham), and green salads

But for dinner, we always have something different.

Sunday (tonight):

Dinner: Baked Pork Chops (leftovers from a large pack that I froze), pinto beans, corn bread (this is the kind of food I grew up with!)

Monday:

Lemon Garlic Tuna Burgers (recipe HERE), crinkle cut fries

Tuesday:

Crockpot Super Garlic Chicken Legs (we have a giant pack of these, so some I will bake for a recipe later in the week and the rest I will use for this crockpot recipe... HERE), cornbread dressing, sweet corn

Wednesday:

Thin spaghetti with tomato sauce, green salad, garlic toast

Thursday:

Lemon Chicken,  Rice, Stir Fried Vegetables

Friday:

Eat Out!

Saturday (grocery shopping):

Cheese burgers w/ fries

Sunday:

Roast Chicken w/ mashed potatoes w/ gravy, green beans, corn on the cob and rolls

(If I remember, I will try to post pics of our dinners this week. :)

Quick Shout Out 'Bout Christmas Cards

Here are some quick facts about Christmas cards and how sending them with me will be
easier, faster, cheaper, and more efficient!

Do you buy a box of Christmas or holiday cards for like $2 bucks at the Family Dollar and sort of dread the time and effort it's going to take to write in them, dig out your family and friends' addresses, address them the envelopes, put a stamp on each one and then haul them off to the post office? I used to do that. My cards were sort of boring and actually getting them ready and getting them out was seriously no fun!

But now that I have a little one of my own and want to share something a little more special around the holidays, I've found that this new card sending system not only makes my life a WHOLE lot easier, it's really fun. I can get creative with my cards in a way I never have before and I'm so excited to send them out this year!!!

So here are a couple of questions...

In lieu of cards, do you send out those typed pages on Christmasy paper with a couple of family pictures printed on them that tell about your family's year? How long did that take? Maybe not as long as hand writing in Christmas cards, but it still took a lot of effort I'm sure...but did it have that sort of "specialness" factor that made your family and friends decide to file it away because it was such a nice keepsake? Probably not.

Do you send those Walgreens or Walmart photo postcard things? With the envelopes, they are $12.99 per set of 20 (from walgreens.com), which is about $.65 per card. Not bad I guess, but they're postcards essentially. And for a postcard, that's not a great value.

walgreens.com also does a nicer 5x7 folded card with pics, but they're $1.99 a piece! Crazy!

Folks....THERE IS A BETTER WAY THAN ALL OF THESE PUT TOGETHER!!!

My beautiful 5x7 folded card, with an envelope,
that can be highly customized is only .$62!!!
(add as many pictures as you want for a one time charge of $.31)
Can you believe that???
And I haven't even gotten to the best part
that makes this such a great value!!!

*You never have to leave your house to send these cards. In fact, you can send them right from your laptop while sitting on your own couch!
*You have over 3,000 holiday cards to choose from...or you can customize your own!
*You can add as many pictures as you want for just $.31!
*You buy your $.44 stamps right on the site...you don't have to go to the post office!

Here's the really sweet part!
We print them...
We stuff them...
We stamp them...

We mail them for you...

AND YOU'RE DONE!!!
Your cards took just a couple of minutes, so you can quit stressing and
move on to cookie baking and decorating and shopping and family fun!

And that's just Christmas cards ya'll. Imagine having that kind of value and convenience for ALL your card sending needs...birthday invitations, birthday and anniversary cards, Thank You's, sympathy cards, get well soon cards, congratulation cards (I'm starting to sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump..."shrimp salad, shrimp scampi, shrimp kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp on toast...." LOL).

If you're interested in this system, email me (angiethecardlady@gmail.com) and I'd be glad to share more with you You can also try sending out a card by clicking this link and my automated system will set up a gift account for you to try our service for free.

Thank You and HAPPY CARD SENDING!!!

Our New Favorite Lunch

We were eating out at Applebees a few weeks ago and I decided to order GG some pizza from the kid's menu. When they brought out the pizza, it was just a flour tortilla with sauce and cheese on it. I was a little disappointed in it, but she gobbled it up! I was able to cut into bite size pieces right at the table and the thin crust was easy for her to chew. I thought that this would be something really easy for me to do at home because I really hate making her those greasy frozen pizzas and I'm always looking for something new to make. We get tired of ravioli, mac and cheese and ham and cheese sandwiches!

I bought some whole wheat tortillas, a jar of sauce that I keep in the fridge and a bag of pizza cheese (that $5 bucks will make a ton of pizzas!). I also thought that to bump up the healthiness factor, you could buy those tortillas made with spinach. I think I will try that when I run out of these.

So, I preheat the oven to 400, spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, lay down the tortilla, spread on a big tablespoon of sauce and then sprinkle on some cheese. I bake it for 10 minutes and then cut it into bite size pieces. She loves it!

Wilton Castle Cake Tutorial

I had a LOT of comments here and on facebook about this cake and a lot of disbelief that "I" actually made it. Yes, I did make it...TWICE! The first one wasn't seen or enjoyed by anyone because the party had to be canceled due to widespread flooding in the area. But the second was seen and loved and enjoyed...and that made me feel sooo good! I think the birthday girl was sneaking a taste here in this pic!!!

This cake is doable and isn't really super hard. You'll see once you start reading how I did it. I didn't even use a piping bag for heaven's sake! It will take time and a LOT of patience...but you too can do it just like I did!

First you will need the Wilton Romantic Castle Cake Kit. I purchased mine at Walmart and it was $18. It comes with plastic castle pieces and specific instructions on how to put it together, as well as an icing and cake recipe. You will also need to purchase a 10" and a 6" round cake pan. The instructions called for you to make like 200 royal icing forget-me-nots, but there was no way in hades I was doing that! haha. But I did go to a cake decorating specialty store and I purchased 100 of them for 10 cents a piece, so $10 for all of them. And they really add a lot to the cake, so I encourage you to find some. Or of course, make them yourself if you have the patience. Instructions are in there.

I also purchased a sturdy piece of cardboard and purple foil to wrap it with for the base of the cake. I think it added a lot and was really pretty. Also, at the cake store, I bought purple sanding sugar. Since I used almost all of it on the first cake last year, I had to buy more. All I could find was a coarse purple sugar at Walmart, but it ended up working just fine. And of course, you will need to make butter cream icing. I noticed that Walmart also carries Wilton butter cream frosting in tubs. I made two batches and it was the perfect amount to do a crumb coat and the final coat on the cake.

For the decorations, I used...get this....frosting in those squirty cans!!! I'm not kidding! I didn't have a piping bag or tips, so in the 11th hour I decided to use those cupcake icing cans. One, because they came with different tips and 2 because they came in different colors. And I'm actually REALLY glad I did. They were sooo easy to use and I didn't have to fool with tinting icing and and piping from a bag. My only regret is that I assembled the cake with the towers before I added the green borders, etc. And it was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get those cans in the tight spot. Oh well, you live and you learn.



Ok, so here are the steps.

This is the hardest most time consuming part! Trying to ice and sugar all of the plastic pieces! That's why I did this the day before and allowed them to set in the fridge until I was ready to assemble the cake completely.

Again, follow the instructions and look at the pictures and you'll be fine. For the towers, windows and doors I used white cookie icing in a tube with just a plain round tip to act as glue for the sugar. Then I spooned the sugar from a paper plate over the icing. I then added the green canned frosting using the star tip and pressed on the little flowers and placed them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet to dry and set.

This is the worst part by far...icing and sugaring the turrets! I guess it's the cone shape that makes them difficult to roll around. Not to mention that you can't touch it...yeah...not fun. But I just used spooned sugar on the parts that didn't get enough. I also tinted the icing for the turrets purple so that if the sugar didn't adhere completely, that you wouldn't see a stark white and purple contrast! So first, ice the turrets with your purple frosting in a thin, even coat. Then roll them around in the sanding sugar. That's pretty much it...but like I said...not easy!

The next day (or the same day...but freezing them overnight), bake your cakes (hey...don't tell, but I just used a boxed yellow cake mix...but with an extra egg per cake mix, so the cake would be a little more dense) with a piece of parchment at the bottom so that it will come out easily and allow them to cool completely. Using a serrated knife, level off the rounded parts so that they're flat. Place small pieces of wax paper on your cake base (this is so that when you ice the cake you won't get icing on your pretty foil base! You will slide them out from under your cake when you are finished icing it), then stack your cakes, layering them with icing in between. Then pile on your frosting and ice the cake as smooth as you can. This first coat is called a "crumb coat." It's not meant to be perfect and it's not meant to be really thick. It's meant to give you a smoother base when you go to really frost it. After you apply the crumb coat, put the cake in the fridge for a little while, to sort of chill and set. While the cake is chillin', you can either take a breather and chill yourself or you can make another batch of frosting for the final layer of frosting. I will admit that my final layer was not smooth perfection, but it was pretty good. I just figured that since so much of the cake is covered by the plastic towers and little plastic windows and flowers and green icing, that a perfectly smooth white layer of frosting was not necessary. So, I iced it as best I could and that was that. When you're finished pull out the wax paper from underneath the cake...and voila! Your base is clean and beautiful!

After the cake is iced, and the plastic pieces are decorated and sugared and beautiful, then it's time for the fun stuff...putting it all together!!!! YAY. You're on the home stretch!!!!

Once you get your cake frosted, then you can start putting you plastic pieces around it. I didn't use any sticks to anchor the cakes together or extra frosting to anchor the plastic towers to the cakes. You can of course, I just didn't because I found that they stuck pretty well without extra frosting. The only thing I had to do that was a little hard was I had to stick the 3 towers on the top layer quite far down into the cake to get them to stay and to keep them straight.

Then you need to add your green "grass" around the base and the edges. Like I said, you may want to do some of that before you add the towers, but don't stress...I didn't. Also add your reserved sugar forget-me-nots around the cake as you choose...make it pretty. I just looked at the picture on the box and tried my best to replicate it.

I promise that when you go to add the turrets, you'll smoosh the sugar at the top and knock off your sugar, but you can just add a little bit of frosting and a bit more sugar, gingerly, with a spoon once you get them in place.

So, here's the finished pic again.

I was soooo proud of it! But I won't be attempting this beast of a cake again for a LONG time...maybe EVER! haha
Time to start planning for next year.!

Princess Party on a Budget...Need Your Thrifty Ideas!

If you have been reading my blog long, you might remember that last year, the party I planned for my daughter's first birthday was curtailed by terrential rains and terrible flooding, which left many people stranded for days. My inlaw's house (where we were staying that night) actually flooded as well and eventually had to be torn down. It was a crazy couple of days!

Needless to say, there WAS NO 1st birthday party. I was hoping to resalvage some of last year's cake experiment and try a princess party all over again. What tips could you give me for planning a princess party? Last year I was so focused on this cake, I didn't buy hardly any decorations or anything! LOL Which is good because I didn't need them anyway! But this year, I want to make it a really special party. Any frugal tips, links or thrifty, creative ideas from you amazing moms would be so helpful!!!

Before the night of the flood, the day before G's party, I spent many hours trying to make this cake by Wilton, so this is all I've got so far...can you give me some more ideas?

Beautiful, but ambitious huh???

But I planned, took my time and by the time I was finished, her cake really did look a lot like this (but because it wasn't fully assembled, I didn't take any pics...I wanted to wait until I had it all put together...bummer)! I bought the Wilton cake set ($18 at Walmart), baked the specified cake rounds, made home made butter cream icing, bought 100 little sugar flowers (cuz I sure wasn't making those! They cost $10...bought 100 @ 10 cents each), bought the purple sanding sugar and different colored dyes to tint the frosting. In all, I probable had about $50 in the cake ingredients and accessories, which I think is pretty reasonable for such a big, ambitious cake. If you bought this cake from a decorator, it would've cost upwards of around $300 or more! But it was a LOT of work. So, because we didn't get to use the cake because the party was obviously canceled, I just had my mother salvage as many of the little sugar flowers as she could and all the plastic pieces that I hand decorated with icing leaves, flowers and sanding sugar, and had her freeze all of them in her deep freezer, because those pieces are what took the longest to decorate! So this year, I plan on just buying the rounds already iced with white icing and then assembling the other stuff myself. I hope it all works out! I'll post pictures of the party next month and let you know how it all turned out!

In the meantime, send me your ideas!

Advice on Cleaning a Smoothtop Range????

You will never guess what I'm having a hard time getting off my new smooth cooktop...burnt water! Yep, that's right...water. It's like burnt into the glass or something.

I'm wondering if this new stove with the smooth top was a good idea if it takes this much effort to get off "burnt water!"

I bought the smoothtop cleaner and scrubbed with a scotch brite pad...and it didn't come off. Then I used the nylon scraper that comes with the Pampered Chef baking stones and that didn't work either.

Please...I need help!

Oh, and if you didn't watch the video I posted earlier...it is a MUST SEE! You'll get chills! Jesus is awesome!

Brilliant Christmas Gift Idea

Do you ever wonder what to get those members of your family like sisters-in-law, cousin's wives, or co-workers? Well, I was just pondering that very thing and a brilliant idea popped in my head! I think I'm going to try to get everyone a set of reusable shopping bags. I mean, at only a dollar a piece you can get 10 or 12 (which for me is plenty) for under 15 bucks! I don't know about you, but I thought it was a good idea anyway. I've just been getting so disgusted with all the plastic Walmart bags and Kroger bags that I accumulate. They seem to take over the house...they're everywhere! And I feel bad when I throw a big wad of them in the trash. Surely the other moms in my family feel this way?

And if you wanted to up the awesomeness factor, you could add a gift card from the same store, for whatever amount and make it a well rounded gift. You could even decorate one bag all Christmasy and stuff all the others and the card inside with pretty tissue or whatever and make it cute.

So there you go...reusable shopping bags for Christmas. A practical, green gift that someone could actually use. The only problem is, I hope "la familia" doesn't read this post. But I don't think any of them read my blog anyway. If you do...pretend to be surprised at Christmas, K? LOL

Let me know if you have any great, inexpensive gift ideas for Christmas this year.

How to Get Every Last Penny's Worth of "Smell" Out of Your Candles

I just wanted to share a tip with you that I stumbled upon this week. (Oh...and I haven't unplugged my computer yet, so I'm still here)

So, I was looking at this candle (Yankee Candle to be precise) and was feeling very perturbed that there was still like a whole inch of wax left in it, but the wick ran out! I mean, Yankee Candles are expensive and I wanted to get my money's worth, ya know?!

First I thought about putting it in the microwave to melt it and pour the wax out into one of my tart burners. But I remembered the little metal disk at the bottom of every candle that the wick is attached to.

So, metal...microwave...nuh-uh.

So then I decided to fill a little sauce pan up with about 2 inches of water and put the candle inside to melt the wax (I'm sure it would've been fine to put the glass directly onto the metal pan, but I didn't like that idea, so I put a little water in there). I heated the water to boiling first, then turned the heat all the way down to low. The candle melted very quickly, and immediately filled the house with fragrance. I've done this several times this week and the fragrance is still just as strong as the first time I lit the thing. But, Yankee Candles are a very good brand (And look, I didn't buy it, they're too expensive for me. It was a teacher's gift 2 Christmases ago. But I still wanted to get all I could out of it.) and are known for lasting a long time.

So there you go. The next time your favorite candle in a jar runs out, just melt the wax in a pot of simmering water, and you'll have fragrance for weeks.

And just in case you never saw this little mural painted above my stove, I took a picture of it for you. It really is unique and special to me. I'm going to miss it when I move. Luckily the buyer of this house loves it, and wants to keep it. Yay!

Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

I posted a little quip the other day on facebook about how I only had an $89 grocery bill for 2 weeks. I got a lot of comments on it (wish I got a lot on my blog, lol) so I thought I'd share my thoughts on menu planning, grocery shopping and keeping your grocery bill low. Below is just the gist of it. I'll post a specific menu, list, and grocery bill for all to see sometime soon.


Now, I'll be the first to admit that I've been very wasteful in the past. I've let innumerable vegetables spoil down in the crisper because I was just "going to eat a salad every day!" And I've bought tons of other things that I've just let go, or that expired and had to be thrown out. I have not always been the most conscientious grocery shopper. But because our belt has been pulled rather tight as of late, I can't afford to NOT be more careful. I can't just let food spoil...we need to eat!


So I thought long and hard about what we "need" and what we "want" and what we can "do without." First of all, I decided that we can "do without" name brand everything. Sure, some things like Campbell's soups, Kraft Mac-N-Cheese and Heinz ketchup, I can't compromise on. I've tried the store brands, and just don't like them. But for the most part, I buy almost everything in the store brand (if it's cheaper). The taste and the quality are never far from or are equal to the name brand, so it's not a sacrifice to give them up. Also, I thought about our "wants." I personally want potato chips in the house all the time. And would love to have snack cakes and crackers all the time. But one thing that helps me to only eat when I'm hungry (I've lost a total of 46 lbs by the way), is NOT having snack foods around. It's just too tempting and too easy to eat when I'm not even hungry. So, if I have to go to the trouble to make a meal, I'm less likely to eat. It works for me anyway. So, I don't buy a lot of snack foods. On the weekends, I'll buy some chips and salsa, and make something sweet to snack on during movies, or a football game. But having them in the house all week, just isn't necessary. So that leaves us with what we "need," and that's why I started making a menu every week and just buying what I needed to make whatever's on the menu. And I've learned that I don't eat the fresh vegetables that I do buy (and no one else does either), so I don't need to buy them anymore, unless I have a specific purpose for them. I had a "light bulb moment" one day and realized that I just bought fresh vegetables and "healthy looking" food in an attempt to feel good about myself. Like I was one of those uberhealthconscience types pushing around a shopping cart with nothing in it but lettuce and Dasani water! But the truth was, that stuff sat in the fridge and rotted, and my money was wasted. Why? Because I lied to myself and tried to be something I wasn't. Now is eating fresh fruit and veggies important? Sure. But I'm not beating myself up over not having expensive strawberries and grapes in my cart in the middle of January just because Suzie homemaker next to me put them in hers. Or because that skinny girl in her gym clothes and tennis shoes put 3 bags of ready made salad, a case of Diet Coke and the current issue of Cosmo in her cart, and thinking to myself, "What I wouldn't give to be in my 20's and be able to do that!" But I'm not that girl either. So, I've just tried to be honest about what my family eats and needs, and what we don't.

So, for the next two weeks, I knew that the budget would be tight because my husband is taking an out of town business trip and would need extra money for gas, etc. Also, that just leaves me and the baby to cook for. So, my meal plans for the week included things that would be good as leftovers or would freeze well. Now normally, we don't eat the same things for days and days, but frankly, I don't mind it, and the baby sure doesn't mind it, so I decided to make several soups/chili, that could be spread throughout the week and/or frozen. I made a potato soup for this weekend (one of my husband's favorites), because I still had a 5 lb bag of potatoes (That's another trick. Take inventory of what you already have to work with.), so all I needed was celery and onion. We ate on that all weekend. Then, I bought a whole chicken to boil for chicken and dumplings. All I need for this is some flour to make the dumplings from scratch. That will last several days, and the rest I'll just freeze for when my husband comes home this weekend. And then I decided to make a pot of chili. Again, it freezes well, and you can eat it plain, add cheese and chives, or pour it over corn chips, whatever. It's versatile. And for other meals during the week, I bought some inexpensive frozen pizzas, I have sandwich stuff and cans of soup. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but like I said, this is a week that we need to sacrifice a little. And sometimes, eating boring food is a small price to pay for peace of mind with your budget.

I also bought fresh fruit (apples which are in season and bananas for the baby) paper towels, TP, Ivory soap (for making laundry detergent), a hair straightening kit (to comb through my recently permed hair...I'm tired of it), mascara and pressed powder (Cover Girl), food for the baby and a couple of treats (caramel apples), and of course items to make dinners for 2 weeks, all for $89. Now, I will go eat out a couple of times ya'll, I aint gonna lie to ya. I just need to get out of the house sometimes, with my husband gone and all. But it will just be fast food somewhere...nothin' fancy. I think that's pretty good! And so did my fb friends. They were begging for my secrets. But there aint no secret to it ya'll( I love reverting back to my Appalachian American heritage and speech, lol), just buy what you need and be happy with it.

I know...easier said than done!

And Speaking of Grilled Cheese....

The other day I posted pics of my lunch...a humble grilled cheese sandwich and Goldfish crackers. I just wanted to share a tip with you about how I "grilled" my grilled cheese. I use mayonaise. I know it sounds weird to use mayo instead of butter on the outside, but it is a fat after all and browns the bread beautifully. But I will say that it burns quite a bit more quickly than butter, so don't have the pan "screaming hot" (a la Rachel Ray), or your bread will burn. Grill it at a slightly lesser temp than you would use if you were using butter.

My husband of all people taught me this trick one day when I was complaining that I wanted a grilled cheese, but was out of butter. He said that his family always used mayonaise on the outside of their bread and then grilled it. I had never heard of such a thing and was so proud of him for being so clever!

So the next time you're out of butter, use mayo...it works!

The Mighty Coffee Filter

Just wanted to share a quick little tip with you. I received an email forward a long time ago (and I wish I had saved it) explaining a million and one uses for coffee filters. They come in packs of like a thousand or something, and are a dollar at the Dollar Tree, so why shouldn't we use them for more than brewing coffee? One of the tips that stuck out in my mind was using coffee filters instead of paper towels for lining plates. I've done this many times when I've needed to drain the oil off of my food after frying, or in this case (pics below) to line one of those little basket weave type plates for my grilled cheese sandwich (incidentally, I'm out of paper towels).

Here's a link if you want to find out more clever ways to use coffee filters. If you have any other suggestions, please comment, and post your ideas for all to see and use! Have a great weekend!

And the best part is, no dishes to wash!

Cloth Diapering...If I Can Do It, You Can Do It!!

When my sister-in-law (SIL), Deana asked me if I was going to use cloth diapers when I had my first baby, I immediately thought, "No way Hose'!" I couldn't see working full-time and trying to keep up with the rigors of cloth diapering. My SIL had a cloth diapering business at the time, and to her credit, made beautifully tailored and fitted diapers, so to be polite I said, "Well, we'll try it and see if we like it." So, almost immediately she went to sewing the new baby lots of lovely diapers, as well as purchasing some of her favorite brands from her online SAHM and WAHM network. I mentioned in a previous blog that I had 7 baby showers, so I had diapers out the whazoo! But I gladly accepted the cloth diapers from Deana. After all, they WERE totally adorable!

I've never claimed to be especially domestic, I'm not a tree hugging, carbon footprint calculating greenie, and I'm not all concerned about the chemicals in disposable diapers...etc. etc. So when it came right down to it, I used those diapers because I couldn't afford not to! You see, I lost my job as a teacher, and could not find another one (a year later, still haven't!). So, when the disposables from all those baby showers ran out, we just couldn't afford to go out and buy diapers all the time. So, I took the plunge and committed to using them. And ya know what, they aren't bad! And I actually derive a lot of strange satisfaction from using them. Maybe I DO like knowing that I'm not throwing away tons of diapers into the landfills, and maybe I do like that my baby's not exposed to those chemicals 24 hours a day. The biggest reason of all, I believe, is that I do like being domestic! One of my very favorite things is getting those freshly washed diapers out of the dryer and snapping the little snaps, and folding them into nice neat piles! It truely is the little things ya'll!

So that's why I say, if I can do it, anyone can. Here's how I use my diapers.

First of all, I don't obsess! I use disposables at night because they pull moisture away from the baby and she doesn't wake up as much as she would with a cloth diaper. I also take disposables with us to church for the nursery. They certainly don't want to handle GG's wet or soiled diapers. And yes, they are wet and do get soiled. But don't sweat it! Your hands are washable, and the poop comes out! If there is poopoo in the diaper, then I just dump it in the toilet and flush...easy! I don't use a wet pail method (where you keep the diapers in a pail of water until you wash them), I just keep them in a wicker basket with a lid until I wash. And there's no smell in the house if you're wondering. I wash the diapers every other day. First I put them through a cold rinse, then a hot wash. I use laundry detergent that I make myself (I'll share the recipe in another post) that is gentle on GG's sensitive skin. Then I fold them as they come out of the dryer and there you go...easy! Really ya'll, it is! Now, if I were working, I still don't know if it'd be for me. I mostly worry about how to handle it with a babysitter or daycare because others may have an aversion to handling wet diapers, but I believe it would be doable.

And these aren't your grandma's cloth diapers! There's no pinning and very little, if any leaking. AIO's (all in ones) have a cover sewn right onto the diaper, and they are very convenient. I have several of those. But for the most part, I have regular, fitted cloth diapers that look just like a disposable, but a little more chic (if you can imagine a diaper being chic!). They either have velcro closures, or snaps, and some have extra "pad" like liners that snap in for extra absorbancy. The covers for them are very lightweight and velcro too.

My dear SIL has kept me stocked with new, and some of her children's used diapers. I haven't bought a single one! They have been a Godsend during these tough times. I thank God for her and her genorosity. And I encourage you to try them out. Just get a few and try them. If it isn't a great fit for your family, then just pass them on to someone else. But you might be surprised at how easy they are to live with!

This is an AIO from a company called "Fuzzibunz." I really like this brand a lot. See the snaps are adjustable so they fit snug!

And pics of GG playing in her comfy, hot pink diaper!

Below are pics of most of the diapers I have. Some are stuffed in diaper bags or in the laundry. But all in all, I have about 40 diapers.

These AIO's are embroidered...so cute.

These are all of my AIO's (all in ones).

These are some of the liners. I told you they look like pads! They're soft and pretty lightweight. Some of the cloth diapers are pretty thin, so they need a little extra padding sometimes.

Here's one with an Olivia the pig print

My SIL hand dyed this one...it's very soft.

My DH loves sushi, so she made him a diaper with a sushi print...I know weird, but cute!

Here are some of my covers. You can use the same cover with several diapers a day, so you don't need as many.

So here are my diapers all laid out. What a blessing!