The Retro Housewife

Christmas is sneaking up on us!

2011-11-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

Man it seems like we just celebrated Halloween and yet here we are two days away from Thanksgiving....and next comes Christmas. Luckily I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done, just have to pick up some stocking stuffers and some odds and ends. The only bad thing about shopping early is that it givers you time to see all of the other great things that you would like to get your child and then you end up spending more than you probably would have in the first place lol Anyway I decided that perhaps a play kitchen set, she never did any pretend play when she was younger but now she is starting to try to play now so maybe I would be jumping the gun a bit to get her one now but oh they are just so much fun to look at! They even have a Vintage Kitchen Play Set in White, they have real wooden food and wooden appliances...really good, solidly made toys, they type that they could pass down to their children. If you are in the market for a playset (or anything else for a kid, their selection is out of this world!) I highly recommend checking out the link.

Lice Treatment....

2011-11-21T21:31:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I don't write for a month and then my first post is about lice.....well thats because lice is what we have been dealing with here for the past couple of weeks. Those buggers just dont' want to die! Of course she had to share hers with me so I had to get treated too. I found an absolutely fabulous Lice treatment, its call Quit Nits, the active ingredients are natural, it comes in cream for, you put it on dray , cover the head with a plastic camp and cover for four hours, if its a bad case you can keep it on all night. The smell isn't bad, its vanilla but it is a little bit nauseating to me for some reason. But let me tell you, I had gone through her hair for hours before I put this treatment on and I hardly saw anything as soon as I put the Quit Nits in her hair those suckers started floating right up to the service of her hair. The best part is that this stuff kills eggs, I know a lot of products say that they that they will kill the eggs but this product did it. I checked and pulled a couple of nits out of her hair but they were clear, they no longer had a black speck in them like they usually do. While I hope and pray that you all don't get lice but if you do I really would urge you to try Quit Nits...I'm so glad that the school nurse gave it to me to try.

Tea Collection

2011-10-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

I've been up to it again , screen shopping. Well this time I have an excuse, Christmas! Yes, yes, I know, its not even Halloween yet but I really like to get my Christmas shopping done early, with any luck my mid November I will be all done with my shopping less some stocking stuffers and impulse buys. This seems to be the year of babies, every one I know , babies, babies, babies....which makes me wonder, am I the only person that decided to have a baby in my twenties? Anyway, I was looking for some sweet kiddie clothing and my web search popped up "Tea Collection" so of course I had to click on it to see what tea could possibly have to do with girl's clothes and I found out that the website has nothing to do with tea but everything to do with absolutely awesome clothes. Not just for babies and kids but for women too (so when your hubby catches you on there shopping for yourself you can pretend you were looking for clothes for your friends kids!)

Saving Money on Books and Magazines

2011-10-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

If you are like me and absolutely LOVE to read I'm guessing that either you put down a nice chunk of cash for books and magazines or you don't read as much as you would like. Here are some ideas to help you keep up your reading habit without draining your bank account.

Library- this is probably one of the first things you think of when you think of free books and it is a great resource. If you are like me you probably get overwhelmed looking through the library , end up with 20 books that you don't get to read because you taken out too many. Luckily libraries have come a long way since card catalogs. Most libraries now have websites that allow you to browse/search their library as well as other libraries that offer inter-library loans. Many let you keep a "to read" list right online as well as hold books and renew books. I am LOVING what technology has brought to libraries. What I like to do is go onto Amazon and browse the books on there using a key word and then looking at recommended books based on that. I open another window with my library site up and when I find a book that I want to read on Amazon I click over to my library window and see if they or another library in the area carries in, then I can put it on hold or on my "to read" list. If after I've read it I like it a lot I will buy it. I've saved myself a lot of money this way.

Used Books-there are lots of used books stores around the countries but you can also get used books through Amazon (can you tell I love Amazon?). I know a lot of people are iffy about ordering from independent sellers but a lot of the used books are fulfilled by Amazon through their buy back program. Here is an example (from the book I wrote about the other day)

Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads [Paperback]

Sylvia Lovegren (Author)

4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews) | Like (2)

List Price:	$19.00
Price:	$12.73 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save:	$6.27 (33%)

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 4 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Wednesday, October 12? Order it in the next 0 hours and 4 minutes, and choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

15 new from $7.99 18 used from $6.69

You would click on the (18 used....)

and that would take you to a list that would show the sellers and prices, below the "new, used, all" tabs click on Free Super Saver Shipping and that will show you the used books that are fulfilled by Amazon.

With that being said, I have ordered from independent sellers on Amazon many times and have never had an issue.

E-Books/E-Magazines- I have to admit, I have not jumped on this bandwagon, for me I really enjoy the actual book, I like to dog ear the pages, I like to physically flip through the pages, with magazines I like to rip out the pages I want to keep.....that being said..I am close to jumping on the bandwagon. I like the idea that it is better for the planet, that its compact so I can take many books and magazines with me in my purse without breaking my back or using up precious cargo space on camping trips and I really like that these are less expensive and of course instant gratification is a plus. Another bonus is that some libraries lend ebooks (just make sure your ebook has that capability).

Borrowing from friends and family- my neighbor and I read magazines and then trade which is quite awesome (well except for her because I'm always ripping pages out of my magazines!) But if you have friends and family who enjoy reading like you do then this is a good option (and I'm sure you can work something out with page rippers like me)

Book Swap- I haven't tried this one, I don't know why, I always mean to but I forget...I'm going to have to try it out. Basically you have a wish list of books as do other people and when you have a book another member wants you pay to mail it to them and when there is a book that you want the person who has that book pays to send it to you. This isn't lending, the books is yours to keep, if you don't like it you can list it again. So basically you can get books that you want really inexpensively especially if you use the media mail option at the post office.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

Book Review: :Fashionable Food

2011-10-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, if you are a retro gal, love being a housewife and love to cook then you really have got to check out this book. Its part history of food and part cookbook, I love it. I took it out of the library a couple weeks ago (and darn it I'm probably going to have to return it before I finish it because someone else requested it so I can't renew!)

Anyway, its called "Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads:" With each decade it covers fads, things that promoted the fads such as Betty Crocker and different recipes from that time period. I have to say that the gelatin decade grosses me out...actually I'm wondering about a lot of the decades and what people were thinking! Seriously, check this one out.

Peanut Butter Tea Sanwiches

1 C natural smooth peanut butter
2 T ketchup
2 T finely chopped sweet pickles
1 loaf white bread, buttered and thinly sliced
1 head iceberg lettuce

Make a paste out of the peanut butter, ketchup, and pickles. Spread on the slices of bread. Top with a lettuce leaf and another buttered slice of bread. Cut off the crusts and slice the sandwich into three fingers.

Uck! Really?! Maybe it tastes good but I don't think I could bring myself to try it.

They do have some great recipes in here though like "Swedish Meatballs" as well.

I love getting a glimpse into the lives of people in the past and what a better way to learn than through food.

2011-09-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Can I please just tell you all how irritated I am with my blog lay out at the moment? My background is all jacked up and I can't fix it..

Oh well, what I really came on to tell you all is that I have another review on The Retro Housewife Reviews

This time its a book called "Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay"

Managing School Day Mornings

2011-09-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Mornings can be extra hectic now that school is back in session but you can make your life a heck of a lot easier with a little preparation the night before. I know, I know, at the end of the day all you want to do is kick back and relax, I get it, I'm the same way, but taking 10 minutes or so to prep for the next day will save you so much trouble which will start your day off on a good note.

Have a designated spot for school things. For us there is a nook at the bottom of our stairs, we have a small three tiered entry table along with a dry erase board, school calendar and hooks for sweaters, book bag and a basket for odds and ends on top of the table.

Have your child pick out their school outfit for the next day and lay it out so its all ready to put on.

Have your child (and you will probably want to check this) get all their school supplies ready and at the designated school section of your home.

If you make your childs lunch then make it the night before school. (Set yours out too!)

Prep the coffee maker and set it to auto.

Check the calender to make sure your child has the appropriate things for the appropriate days (like sneakers for gym class)

Check the dry erase board to make sure there are no fliers or paperwork due from you to the teacher.

Doing this takes maybe 15 minutes and many of the things you can do while you are waiting for your spaghetti water to boil or your onions to brown.

Once you get into the routine of doing these things every night it will be just like breathing and you will be amazed at how those few things take some stress out of your morning.

Pumpkin Butter Recipe

2011-09-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from AllRecipes.com, it made four 1/2 pint jars...I liked it so much that I am making a double batch this time. Super easy recipe, quick and delicious!

Pumpkin butter is delicious on toast , put a bit into pancake batter or into your spice cookie recipe.

Pumpkin Butter

Ingredients

1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently.
Transfer to sterile containers and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Back to School (and a recipe)

2011-09-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

My little on started first grade today, can you believe it? Where does the time go? I have been blessed with having two consecutive days and I feel very productive. I have also discovered that sometimes you need a change of scenery even if its only another room. If you pay your bills and do you emailing (and have a laptop) or make your to do lists in the living room then move it to the kitchen table...I know it sounds silly but I spend most of my time in the living room and I decided to spend most of the day in the kitchen and it was fabulous....wow how exciting do I sound lol but its true.

This morning after getting Isa on the bus I made an awesome omelet (eggs, mushrooms, onions, spinach, tomatoes and a bit of cream cheese) and then I worked on one of the illustrations I have to do for the book then I made Isa's lunch for tomorrow, started dinner and cleaned the kitchen. I have no idea what to call what I am making for dinner , I just threw stuff together but I had a small taste of it for lunch and its out of this world. I'm sorry that I can't give you exact measurements (I'll estimage what I can), I can only tell you what I threw in because thats the way I cook if I'm not making someone else's recipe.

1 large can (30oz?) diced tomatoes (including liquid)
onions, finely chopped
2 fresh garlic cloves
2 huge spoonfuls jarred garlic cloves ( I prefer jarred for sauces)
1 lb ground beef
8 or so button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
dried basil
dried oregano
salt
garlic powder
onion powder
olive oil (1 T or so)

In a pot over med-low heat warm up the olive oil, once heated add onions and saute until soft, add mushrooms and saute 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, add fresh garlic and cook about 30 seconds, add diced tomatoes, 2 bay leaves, salt and liberal amounts of basil, oregano, garlic powder and onion powder. Set to simmer.

In a separate pan heat a bit more olive oil over med-high heat, add ground beef and liberal amounts of the same spices and a small bit of salt, cook through and brown. Add ground beef to other pot with tomatoes and let simmer for 2 hours, the liquid will reduce.

I plan to serve this over noodles but it would be fabulous with just big crusty slices of bread as well.

2011-09-04T20:08:00.001-07:00

My first post is up on The Retro Housewife Reviews!

2011-09-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

I know that its hard to eat healthy and for many of us it is very difficult to get multiple servings of fruit and veggies into our diet every day. I wanted to share with you all one of the ways I incorporate veggies into my breakfast. With this recipe you get 2-3 servings of veggies depending of course on how many you decide to put in.

3 eggs whisked with 2 t water
salt, garlic and onion powder to taste
handful of fresh basil , chopped
1 small slice mozzarella cheese, chopped into small bits
1-2 c spinach
1/2 c chopped red onion
1/2 c diced tomatoes (raw or from a can)
2 t canola oil
1 T finely grated parmesan cheese

In a skillet over medium heat add oil and onions, saute for 3 minutes, add tomatoes and spinach, let sit-stirring occasionally until spinach wilts. In the meantime whisk eggs with 2 t water, add salt, garlin and onion powder to taste. Pour egg mixture over veggies and add both cheeses and bay leaves, stir and scrape bottom of pan occasionally until eggs are cooked through.

Personal Update and Random Thoughts

2011-09-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well I have been completely and totally exhausted as usual but of course my mind was fully active so I've had a lot of time to think. What I think is that I have let RA take over my life and I'm sick of it but I also don't know how to not let it take over my life, I mean it consumes me...I don't have RA, RA has me - and that has got to stop. I'm not naive enough to think I can push through it and somehow bully the disease into submission, if that were the case I would have done so long ago. But I do believe over this past year and a half I have completely and totally lost my identity to it, I used to work out, I used to love to cook, I used to be very into health and nutrition etc, all of that stopped when RA started and I think thats why I ended up quitting this blog because I had absolutely nothing left of me. So I am working on getting back to where I was, I will work out when I can and as this new medication begins to work (fingers crossed) perhaps I might one day get as fit as I was before (I've gained 20 lbs!), I just reserved a bunch of nutrition books at the library in the hopes that perhaps they will spark a fire in me again.

I watched Julie and Julia again last night and I have this incredible urge to make beef bourguignon, I've never made it before, I've never even eaten it before but I cannot escape the urge to make it....hopefully I will be posting on here about how delicious it is!

What I have been doing is a lot of painting lately, I am fortunate that my RA hasn't affected my fingers too much so I have had that outlet. I'm putting up some of my latest paintings for you all to see.

I'm BACK

2011-09-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

You guys are going to laugh at me, I shut down my Alphabet Soup blog, I felt a bit to vulnerable and I felt like I great big whiner but darn it I miss blogging! So I am attempting to start a different blog called "The Retro Housewife Reviews".... I absolutely love to watch old movies so I figure perhaps I could give reviews on old movies so people might have a better idea if they would like to see them or perhaps have a discussion about them (nothing too deep, you know me, lets talk about the awesome clothes in the movie!)

I also want to tell you that I'm back,,,yup, I'm starting up The Retro Housewife again, I miss you guys! I miss our chats and emails and your comments. It won't be like it was, I won't be blogging every day, only when the mood strikes and I hope you will stick with me!

New Blog!

2011-07-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

You guys are right, I can't stay away from blogging. I loved writing "The Retro Housewife" but my life has changed and so much my blogging. I've started a blog called Alphabet Soup, about my life with RA and Kev's PTSD and TBI. Hope you guys will check it out...

2011-07-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let you all know that I miss you!! I may post every now and again. I wanted you all to see my post on the White House VA Blog...

http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/?p=3861

Goodbye my friends...thank you all so very much

2011-06-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

I've made the very difficult decision to shut down my blog, I've been wrestling with the idea for months and I'm still not positive that I am making the right choice, I'm not sure if I will ever be sure if I've made the right choice. I feel like I've written about all I can now, when I started the blog I was a housewife and a stay at home mom and had been for years but now as my husband's PTSD and TBI as well as back injuries have gotten worse I have become more of a care taker.

It's taken me at least ten minutes to type just that much, this blog has become so much a part of who I am and saying goodbye to it is like closing a chapter in my life...one that was really happy. I've met so many wonderful people and the emails, love and prayers you have given me has been amazing and more than what I had hoped when I started my blog three years ago.

I will leave the blog up so that new people can find it and read through and so you will all know where to find me if you ever just want to chat, the blog will still be linked up to my email. Who knows, maybe some day I will be less of a caretaker and more of a housewife again...I hope so.

I could keep babbling because I know as soon as I stop and I hit publish post it will be over...better to be quick, get it over with. You all have been wonderful, thank you so much for reading.

-signing off
Jenny
The Retro Housewife

PS- I may start a blog up about PTSD and living with a combat wounded vet , not sure if that will interest any of you if I do

Role of a Housewife

2011-06-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

While most of us our housewives I'm wondering if we all have the same definitions of what a housewife should do, what are her responsibilities?
I'd love to know all of your different definitions.

Procrastination

2011-06-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Are you all as big a procrastinator as I am? I didn't used to be, I used to be right on top of everything but over time as the responsibilities piled up I began to procrastinate. You know you see that stack of dishes and think I'll do it later and then a few more dishes gets added to the stack and then when later comes you say "I'll do it later" and before you know it you are forced to wash the dishes because ever single one you own is in the dirty dish stack or if its a reeaallly bad procrastination day you only wash what you need at the moment and say you will get to the rest later lol.

I don't know about you guys but when I put something off until later because I just don't feel like doing it at the moment it still sticks with me, it hangs over me in my subconscious (thank God for spell check, I can never spell that word!), I may not even realizing its hanging over me but I do know I don't feel completely relaxed and I feel stressed and that makes sense since you are just letting things pile up on yourself until you have to dig yourself out of the hole you dug for yourself.

So what I propose is that this week when you find yourself saying "I'll do it later" or "I'll do it tomorrow" -stop and just do it, do what ever it is that you were going to put off just stop and do it! I'm wondering how this will make us feel over all. I'm wondering if I have the will power to actually do what I am proposing lol. I'm going to try, if you try let me know if it makes a difference in your over all thinking.

Personal Update

2011-06-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

I know, I know , I haven't been around much. I've been busy with end of the year school stuff, doctor's appointments and lots of VA paperwork plus I am illustrating a book for an organization so my mind is pretty much gone.

I went out to the garden today and with sheer delight I picked and ate my first veggie of the season- a green bean....its so exciting when after months of nurturing a seed to a plant you get to see the fruits of your labor (no pun intended)

Anyway, would someone please please please just give me a series you would like to see on this blog or a subject or something? I am too brain dead lately which is why I've written squat.

Hafdis answers your questions

2011-06-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

My question for her would be: how does she start crafting her song? Does she start writing her lyrics first or compose the music first? And if the latter, does she start from a melody in her head or by sequencing guitar chords?

I always start with the lyrics. Usually the idea for a song comes from something that has happened in my life or from an interesting story I hear. Sometimes it has also just been from hearing a strange sentence somewhere that gets my imagination going. When I have my lyrics that is when I start working on finding the right music for the story I am telling.

How did you get into singing and who influenced you?

I grew up listening to Icelandic folk music because that is what my mum was listening too, I guess that is where the storytelling thing comes from. I have been singing for as long as I can remember and was very little when mum started teaching me to sing harmonies.

What is your favorite retro item that you own?

That is a hard question, my whole kitchen is very pink and full of retro things. But if I had to choose one item I think I will have to say my baby pink rocking chair. It is very cosy to sit there with a cup of tea and look at the mountains.

What influences your love for retro things?

I was dressing in pretty dresses and cardigans way before I even realized it was retro, I have always been a very girlie girl. When it comes to decorating my home I think retro is just more homely and warm than modern stuff. And it also has that sweet romantic thing going on witch I like. I enjoy going on little treasure hunts to find unique things for my house.

Summer fun for kids

2011-06-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

Since we live in NY school is still not out for the year, we have about a week and a half left. Isa will be going (at her request) to a 3 hour summer camp each day for eight weeks but I know there will be plenty more time to fill. I love where I live, its absolutely beautiful but it is a tourist hot spot so summers around here are crazy, all funtn filled places are not only packed with the children off for the school year but also packed with families on vacation so it can be hectic to get out and do a lot of stuff. So I've been racking my brain for things to do and so far this is what I've come up with.

Nature Hunt- Making a list of things that we will find in nature or in our neighborhood (yellow flower, butteryfly, cat, tall tree etc) and going on a walk to look for those things.

Movie Day- Saved for a rainy day we can stay in our PJs and watch our favorite shows while cuddling

Arts and Crafts-check out websites like www.familyfun.com for awesome craft ideas. What I really love about that website is that not only does it show you how to make crafts but it also shows you how to make crafts that the kids will have tons of fun playing with.

Gardening- Make a small raised bed, it doesn't have to be big or just get some pots and help your child to grow some veggies. At this point just buy the plants from the nursery and then make a meal with your child out of the veggies they grew.

Puddle Jump- Nothing like rain in the summer, go outside and jump in the puddles together

Catch Lightening Bugs

Wash the car- we can't do that where we live but some of my most fun memories were washing the car with my grandparents, if it rained really hard they would also let me wash my hair outside which I thought was the absolute best!

Okay, I need more ideas, feel free to chime in!

Cafe Press

2011-06-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

So I've told you all about my Zazzle store, if you don't know about it you can click the picture to the right to see it but I'm also thinking about Cafe Press store as well. Its a lot like Zazzle where you can design your own art work or buy rights to artwork and put it on bumper stickers, mugs, clothing etc. I was wondering if any of you have any experience with Cafe Press, even better if you have experience with both, wondering if the experiences were good or bad, the pros and cons to each. I really like the idea of just designing and creating products and then being done with it, letting other people deal with the ordering and shipping.

2011-06-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

We have this little nook in my daughters room that seems like useless space so today I decided to do something about it. I painted it pink, put up some shelves and created a little glamour area for her.

2011-06-09T11:41:00.000-07:00

Well it happened, we got golf ball sized hail....this is a really bad picture but that white blob is a piece of hail in my planter.

and yes....I did run out to save my plants

Adorable Kids Clothing

2011-06-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

My little one is a complete "fashionista" and she definitely has her own style, very funky. Singo I was checking out children's clothes online this morning (now that I have my lap top back I am back to frequent screen shopping!) I found the cutest clothes on the website (click the link to check them out). The little girl dresses are so cute and funky, I actually wish that they came in my size. When I clicked on the website I almost didn't bother looking because when I saw the clothes I thought it was going to be one of those ridiculous sites that charges $75 for a shirt but actually they are pretty reasonable for the style and seems to be good quality from the looks of them. They even have five and six piece coordinating sets which I find quite cool as well.

I don't have a little boy but I have a friend who is expecting one so of course I had to check boy stuff out as well. You guys have got to check out the graphic t-shirts that are on sale, they are beyond adorable. Definitely have to buy some baby presents from this place.

Keeping cool while minimizing AC use

2011-06-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

A friend and I were just talking about how hot it is lately and how it was when we were a kids and there we as not AC is most homes which made me think about the ways our parents and grandparents would keep our homes cool. While most of us have AC these days I'm sure all of us could use to conserve a bit of electricity.

-At night open the windows, put a box fan in the window backwards so that it is drawing the cool night air in.

-First thing in the morning close all of the windows and the shades to keep the cool air in.

-Turn ceiling fans on if you have them.

-Avoid cooking....remember summers full of sandwiches and fruit?

-Dress as lightly has possible
-Keep an oscillating fan going in the room you are in

Okay everyone, I would love to hear what your families did to keep to keep the house cool before AC

2011-06-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo!!! Guess what! My little brother fixed my lap top for me so I should be back to regular blogging very soon. Before I only had my desktop which was in the basement and I hated being down there but now I can blog in the comfort of my living room.

Just a thought

2011-06-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

Before I was a mother I had a black thumb, I killed any plant I tried to grow...even an aloe plant...now that I am a mother my garden is thriving...I wonder if its the nurturing and patience that I've gained as a mother that has helped my garden to grown.

Anyone else develop a green thumb after becoming a mother?

Giveaway Winner

2011-06-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry you all, I meant to post this and time totally slipped away from me!!! The winner of the giveaway is TGL. I will be emailing you to get your information to have the record company mail the CD, look forward to the post where the talented songstress answers your questions!

2011-06-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've been such a bad blogger lately, I know! Things have gotten really busy here, in addition to helping my neighbors with their house I am also working on my own. Right now I am redoing the man cave, Kev doesn't use it much so I am turning it into a family room/craft area, a nice get away to escape the heat. Also working on a Zazzle store full of fun Retro Stuff...check it out

Kev and I took a drive to Vermont the other day to buy his cancer sticks..ahem...cigarettes YUCK...but if he is going to smoke I might as well get the best deal on them. Vermont is 20 miles away and we save $30 a carton for him...anyhoo...we passed an antiques shop on the way, a few of them actually. I stopped at one that looked promising, it was huge inside but mostly knick knacks, I did however find 5 different cookbooks from 1929-1969 so I'm pretty excited and will be going through them soon to find some great retro recipes to post on here.

My veggie garden is doing well although I was beside myself the other day when a thunderstorm warning came on saying that we would get 1 inch balls of hail, I honestly considered laying across my plants as a human shield lol. Lucky for me and the plants we never got the storm!

Hope you are all doing well and hope to be posting more regularly once I get my basement retreat finished!

Organizing the front closet

2011-05-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

So the other day my neighbor and I tackled her front hall closet AKA the coat closet....the only problem is that its about 80 degrees here with no chance of needing a coat for awhile. The first thing we did was to take everything out of the closet. Anything winter was stored in a tub that was headed to the basement, eventually we will get those vacuum bags so less storage space would be needed. Now my wonderful neighbor is a pile person like I said but those piles can be quite and eye sore so what we did was give her her piles but in the closet. We took the storage drawers (she has two sets of the kind you see to the left) and took the wheels off of one set and stacked them. Each drawer has a specific purpose and was labeled so that it would be easy to put things back where they belong. For her home we labeled the drawers as follows. Office Supplies, Kids Office Supplies, Crafts, Electronics and Manuals (for cords and small things like the kids Nintendo DS), Outdoor Stuff (for sunscreen, bug spray, sidewalk chalk and bubbles) and Kids Paperwork....when we cleaned out the drawers in the first place I found that almost every drawer was stuffed with old graded homework assignments, study sheets that we no longer needed and flyers sent home in the kids folders. We threw out the stuff not needed and filed sentimental things like certain drawings, now they have just one drawer for these papers and every month they will go through it and discard what is not needed and file away what is to be kept.

We kept some sweaters in the closet in case it gets cool and some hangers for when company comes. Other than that all that went back in was the drawers and the vacuum and steam cleaner.

When we started the top closet shelf was full of cake/baking supplies (she makes AMAZING cakes) but with reorganizing the kitchen we found plenty of room for that stuff in the kitchen cabinets which freed up a whole bunch of room.

My Tips

Decide what you want kept in your closet before you begin, what is that closets purpose?

Take everything out of the closet and don't put anything back in there that doesn't serve the purpose of the closet.

If you have a bunch of purses in your closet put them inside of each other and then hang the outer bag on a hanger

Get an over the door storage organizer like the one to the left, the back of your door is just wasted space as it is.

Label label label- labeling is a must, you think oh I can just open the drawer and see whats in there and I will find where something goes...yeah you will, once or twice but there will come a time when you are in a rush or dead on your feet and just throw whatever in wherever and the vicious cycle begins. If you can see where something belongs before even lifting a finger than you are much more likely to put something back in the correct space.

If you have a large family or just a ton of shoes then you could consider an over the door shoe rack like the one to the left (boy I am loving this amazon feature, rather than trip over myself trying to explain what I mean I can just show you!)

Have you seen the over the door shoe racks like have clear pockets for shoes? My other neighbor uses that over her pantry door to hold season packets and those rice mixes that come in the envelope which I thought was quite a good use for those shoe holders as those things never seem particularly functional for their intended purpose of holding shoes.

GIVEAWAY!

2011-05-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hi gals (and guys!)

I wanted to share with you all my recent discovery, Hafdis Huld- she is a gorgeous singer from Iceland. What first attracted me was that not only is she just a doll but she also is one of us! Thats right, she LOVES retro, she dresses retro, furnishes retro, the girl even has a pink kitchen! But what kept me on her site was her gorgeous, sweet, soothing voice. Her music is definitely not mainstream but heck neither are we! Very original music which I totally love, you know how nowadays you here a song and you have a hard time figuring out who sings it because they all sound the same? You don't have that problem with this lovely lady, she is truly one of a kind. Check out her music here. You can check out her website here, make sure you go down to the bottom of the page and click on the blog, she has videos up and her personality totally comes through, her sweetness, her liveliness, her sense of fun and awe, she just seems like one of those people you could be great friends with and giggle over hot chocolate.

We are fortunate enough to have a giveaway on the blog of one of her CDs! To enter simply leave me a comment on what you think of her music and a question for her. When I reveal the winner of the giveaway I will post her answers to your question as well.

The giveaway submission period is open until Friday June 3rd.

Good luck!!

Organizing the Kitchen

2011-05-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

I am helping my neighbor organize her house, she has three children plus pets and her husband and feels like her house in closing in on her and that she needs more room. I agree, I would LIKE more room but more room isn't a NEED, utilizing space properly can really make a difference. I often think about doing more organizing posts but organizing comes naturally to me and I find it very hard to break down but I figured that since this is a long term project with my neighbor I will tell you the things I told and showed her as I go...make sense?

We started on her kitchen yesterday, she is a pile person, loves to pile things up until eventually its hard to find the table. Now piles are fine, there are some people who need to pile and what looks like complete disorganization to one person is actually another persons system BUT piles are not pretty to look at, they make your brain go wacky! So if you are a pile person put your piles behind closed doors. The first thing we did was bring in an old clothing armoire that was given to them, we cut the rod out and rather than build shelves in we took two short sets of shelves that were being used with a board connecting them as a computer desk (the computer stuff will be finding another home) and stacked them and put them in the armoire. Things that she uses often but take up a lot of room go in there such as her kitchen aid mixer, next to the shelves there is enough room to put a slim fit garbage can so that is out of sight as well. We are eventually going to paint the armoire and the inside of one door will be painted with chalkboard paint while the other will be covered in cork for notes. Before her kitchen eating area only had a table and the computer desk in it but the piles were visually distracting and made it a not so functional space, we actually brought more furniture in, the armoire and the corner shelving unit (which I didn't mention) but the space looks a lot cleaner and actually bigger because you see clean lines.

We also put three baskets on top of the armoire which can hold things like her piles of paperwork, cookbooks or kitchen towels. Oh by the way, rather than sorting through her piles before we got started we put her piles in a basket and will sort them once we are done because then the paperwork will have a home to go to.

Above her sink we put a shelf where she can put her coffee grinder and other coffee items.

Next I moved on to her kitchen cabinets, I had her empty her cabinets and first weed out anything broken or not used, broken went to the garbage and not used went to the garage sale pile. Once that was done we found the things which she only uses seasonally like Christmas mugs and ice cream cone holders. She didn't have a ton of seasonal stuff but it was enough that it was taking up valuable space for no good reason so we moved that to that silly little cabinet that is above most refrigerators.

We looked at her mugs, she had a ton of them but like most people only used a few but wanted to keep the rest for company so we put her favorite mugs on the bottom shelf of the upper cabinets and anything kept for company or not used on a daily basis went to the top shelf. The cabinet that I chose for her dishes is the cabinet above the dishwasher, it makes the most sense to me as you don't have to go very far to put them away when unloading the dishwasher.

Next we went through her pots and pans, anything broken, badly scratched or rusted went to the garbage. Anything that she didn't use but was in good condition went to the garage sale pile. She had so many wonderful things that she had never gotten to use all because so many other unusable things were in the way.

Like many people the meds were kept next to the stove and some vitamins were even lined up on top of the stove where the knobs are near the back splash, convenient but not at all good for your pills, they need to be kept away from heat. It makes sense that she keeps her daily meds in the kitchen so we moved them to the pantry in the over the pantry door organizer.

She went from thinking she had no space at all to having nearly empty cabinets and this is not because she threw so much away, its because its now organized.

My tips-
Take inventory of what you have, what is broken, what is missing pieces, what have you had for years but never used and what do you hardly ever use?

If there are things that you hardly ever use or have never used then its time to seriously question whether it is worth keeping and taking up valuable cabinet space. For me, I only use my toaster oven every now and then but personally I think it is worth it because it helps me pull off Thanksgiving and it allows me to bake in the summer without heating up the whole house.

Figure out what you use the least and put it in the most inconvenient place in the kitchen. There is no point in putting drinking glasses that you use every day on a shelf that you have to use a step stool to reach but it makes sense to put items in that place that you only take down every now and then.

Clean off the refrigerator, the fridge is a catch all, stuff goes inside (which is good lol) but then we put everything we come across on the refrigerator door and sides with magnets and to make matters worse we toss stuff on top as well. If you must put things on your fridge then put it on the side where you don't see it so much, get baskets for on top of the fridge.

Store your dishes and drink glasses above the dishwasher if you have one or in the cabinet closest to the sink, above where you put your dish drainer. Store your food items that you use often to cook with in a cabinet near the stove.

Utilize your walls space, you don't want to have ten million distracting things going on on your walls but look for areas you could add a shelf or spice racks. Those super strong magnets for knives are a fabulous space saving option to a knife block.

In the next couple days I plan to finish up the cabinets, I know as I organize other areas of the house I will find things that need to be placed in those cabinets. I'm also going to organize her pantry and front door closet. Hopefully you will find this series helpful!

Book Review Monday: Sugar Snaps and Strawberries

2011-05-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

I have just devoured another great gardening book, the title of it is what got me "Sugar Snaps and Strawberries" as those are two of my favorite garden items. There are tons of great , crisp, colorful pictures, recipes on how to make your gardening things such as a folding trellis which I cannot wait to make for my beans.

I absolutely adored the section about making the most of limited space as my space is limited to a small patio. Succession planting and vertical planting definitely got my attention and I am quite excited to try some of the ideas, I've already started planning what I will plant in the fall!

Most gardening books lack information about container gardening, raised bed gardens etc and tend to give information on the traditional garden, this book really did a fabulous job covering these subject which of course I am over the moon about.

This book is just beyond full of information, covering subjects like finding your garden style, assessing your space, teaching about soil, plant health and harvesting.

If you are a beginner gardener, especially one who is not able to plant a traditional garden then I highly recommend taking a look at this book!

More stuff up on Etsy

2011-05-20T11:59:00.001-07:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShoppeofCuriosities?ref=pr_shop

Personal Update

2011-05-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I am sooooo tired! I have been dreaming all day every night for the past week or so and waking up feeling as if I had run a marathon, its insane!

On a good note I had an appointment with my rheumatologist and asked him if it would be okay from his stand point for me to try not taking any meds at all for the RA. He said that because I have a mild case of RA and no joint damage yet that it was worth a shot. I am now on week 3 of no meds at all and I feel great, I have so much energy compared to when I was on methotrexate (well aside from this past week and the dreams), I do have joint pain and stiffness but I'd rather deal with that than the way that I felt on the meds. I have about 6 weeks left in my no meds trial and by that time the methotrexate should be completely out of my system. If I am still doing okay I can stay med free until I start showing signs of joint damage or I could get extremely lucky and just stay at this level. I'm happy to try to manage it through diet and healthy living if at all possible. After a year of feeling like I was wearing a weighted bodysuit I finally feel like I am getting my life back. At least half the days of the week I feel up to cooking a nice meal, I am able to do more chores and finally starting to feel like a housewife again. Truth be told I was ready to shut down the blog because I felt like I didn't have anything left to give....

I am going to start putting some of my water color paintings up on etsy but I wanted opinions from you guys first...I'm just learning to paint with them so I want HONEST opinions please.

Using cash to save money at the grocery store...and other ideas

2011-05-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Its so common these days not to carry cash on you, I have to admit that I rarely carry cash but I also have to admit that not doing so makes it easier on me to spend more money. I used to be very well disciplined...before my hubby was home full time with me. I was able to go to the grocery store and stick to my list and therefore stick to my budget but with hubby home and going to the store with me it is nearly impossible. He sees something and throws it in the cart, I see something and his encouragement to buy something for myself usually has me throwing extra in the cart and then wow we see a great price so we can't pass this or that up....fast forward a few days, we forgot one thing from our list and go back to the store to get it, if I go alone I get just what we needed, if my hubby tries to go or we go together you can bet we will spend even more and before you know it our food budget is gone and the month is only half over?! Sound familiar? You start every month with the best of intentions but by day 6 you have blown it already and sigh...you wait for next month so you can do better only to blow it again because you have been so deprived of money from your last mistake that you blow it again! So what can we do? Some of my own advice from the past that I am going to use again....

Make a list and stick to it, if you feel like you need to get something for yourself or your husband wants something for himself then budget it in, you don't have to know exactly what you want, just budget $10 for each of you to spend how you want.

Grocery shop only once a week, if you forget something try to make due without it unless its a special occasion like a birthday or just bring cash to the store with just enough for what you need.

When going to the store leave your debit card, credit card and checks at home, bring your budgeted amount in cash, you cannot spend what you do not have.

If you are like me and really like good deals especially a unadvertised sale in combo with a coupon then budget for that as well. I like to keep a little bargain slush fund on the side, take $20 or so to the store with you (or whatever you can afford) for an unexpected bargain but again do it in cash. If you find great deals then use the money if you don't then put that money back for the next time.

Don't walk down every single aisle of the grocery store, don't browse to see whats new, go down the aisles you need to and that is it. Get a map of your grocery store from customer service and write your grocery list in the order that you shop. My husband lovingly makes fun of me for this but it makes shopping faster and you are a lot less likely to forget something.

If you are only going into the store for a few items grab a basket, eventually your arm will get tired and you won't be so comfortable to stroll the store.

If you happen to be under budget at the store stash that money in an envelope and at the end of the month buy yourself a treat....crab legs...yuuuuummmmmm

I would love it if you would share your tips in the comments section!

Spending time with your children and enjoying it (gasp!)

2011-05-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, I will be the mommy that says playing with your kids can be a drag, I know thats against the secret mommy code of ethics but its true. There is only so many rounds of "Go Fish", "Old Maid" and "Crazy Eights" one can play before one starts to lose their minds...don't get me started on "Chutes and Ladders"!

The key to spending quality fun time with your kids is to find common ground, something you both enjoy...a few somethings would be even better that way neither one of you gets tired of it. Isa and I really love to bake , cook, do artwork, read and play video games together. When its art time I get a bunch of supplies out for a project that I want to do and I encourage her to use the same supplies to make something of her own. My husband gasps at this because I let her use my $75 set of watercolor pencils (with supervision) but who cares! The pencils are going to get used up whether its by me or by her and no great artist ever became great without practice and exploration of different things. Things like this serve many purposes, it brings your child enjoyment in doing something with you, it allows you to do things that you love to do and it broadens their horizons.

Do you like to garden? Make a small garden bed for your child and help them tend to it. Do you love to play the piano? Play simple tunes and help your child play it back. Do you like to dance? Kids love to have that music turned up and dance the day away. Even if you just want to get some cleaning done your children can help. I hand my daughter a wet cloth and let her dust for me, she cleans dirt in place I didn't know existed!

I spent so much time when Isa was young worrying that I wasn't doing enough with her because I didn't like to do kid things, if I had just looked at my interests and found a way to make them age appropriate we would have had a lot more quality time together. Even if your child is a year old they can sit on the counter and stir batter, pour pre measured ingredients into a mixing bowl (with help) or help clean with a wet cloth.

Kids want to please, they want to feel grown up and they want to feel useful.Don't kick yourself if you dont' feel like playing Candy Land for the millionth time, just find something else that you will both enjoy!

Girls Getaway

2011-05-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend my mom and I went to a girls getaway close to home here. I didn't plan on blogging about it but they had some awesome stuff there and I could see a lot of you ladies really liking it especially this one:

Stella and Dot - This was the coolest jewelry ever, modern but definitely with a vintage feel, I loved it and they even had a little girl's collection which was the cutest thing ever!

Arbonne- Pure Swiss Skincare. Awesome stuff, everything from skincare to makeup to protein powder and it doesn't contain anything at all artificial.

Swiss Just- Fantabulous natural Swiss products with aromatherapy. Seriously amazing. I put on this hand cream with pain relief serum and when I put it on I could barely wiggle my fingers after an hour I could make a fist.

Reiki- Up until yesterday I thought it was a bunch of crap to be honest but the Reiki master was giving free mini sessions so what the heck, free right? I am a believer!! She worked on my knee and when I got up I had absolutely no pain whatsoever in my knee and today my knee is still feeling pretty good, of course it won't last, she actually tells people with chronic pain to learn how to do it themselves because it isn't permanent and would get far too expensive to keep going for sessions.

Anyway, I thought you all might be interested , enjoy!

Eat Pray Love Dinner

2011-05-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

I absolutely adored the movie and book "Eat, Pray, Love" it was beyond inspiring and I am dying to share the experience with one of my best friends so this Thursday we are getting together to watch the movie (my hubby liked the movie so much he asked to join us!) and we are doing a themed dinner to go along with it. The woman who the movie was based on visited Italy, Bali and India so we have decided to have a dish from each country. This is going to be tricky as I eat gluten free, my friend is a vegetarian but soy bothers her stomach...yikes, but I think I have figured out at least two of the dishes.

Bali- Indonesian Lemongrass Scented Coconut Rice

India- Mango with Ginger Mint Syrup

I haven't decided on Italy yet as there are so many options..definitely going to have to think on that one, perhaps just so good home made gluten free garlic bread and wine...hmmm...

Anyway I wanted to ask if any of you would like me to put the recipes up if they turn out well. What do you think?

PS- definitely going to do a "Let's Not Bring Back" series but I want to take some time to make it a really good series!

The Best Sandwich I've Ever Eaten

2011-05-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

It was a chocolate peanut butter sandwich...on two end slices of bread (which are my least favorite) on gluten free bread that wasn't warm (warming gluten free bread can make it more palatable) with far too little peanut butter on it but on top of it was a little happy face drawn in peanut butter by the same tiny precious hands that had so carefully pulled a stool over to the cabinet while I slept to get out the ingredients to make me breakfast in bed on the day after Mother's Day. My husband was still asleep beside me when I heard a gentle little knock on the door and saw two tiny hands holding out the breakfast she had worked so hard to make me. I don't think any sandwich has ever tasted so good as the one I had for breakfast this morning.

Creatures of Habit

2011-05-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

We human's are definitely creatures of habit. We take the same route to the same places, we spend the same nights watching the same shows, we get up the same time and eat the same few breakfasts and we grocery shop...every week. My question is do we grocery shop every week because we need to or because its just time to go grocery shopping? Do we just get what we are in need of or do we have a designated amount each week that we have budgeted to spend and so we spend it?

I think that many of us that don't use coupons and sales and therefore don't stockpile do tend to need to use all of our budgeted amount. I have only been couponing for a couple of years and stockpiling for about 8 months or so. I have enough deodorant, shampoo and soap to last me for at least three months and when I find an awesome deal on toilet paper I try to get enough for at least a few weeks, I know once every 6 weeks one of my local groceries stores will have bone in , skin on split chicken breasts on sale for $1 - $1.19 a lb and set aside about $30 to stock up so I am set on that plus the broth I make from the bones for at least a month if not more but yet I still find myself spending my fully alotted budget amount every week...if not more, why?

Well the reasons I have come up with are as follows

-stopping in at the grocery store to pick up just one....make that ten things,more stops at the store means more money spent than intended.

-grocery shopping with my husband- he sneaks stuff into the cart and of course we are partners in crime so we talk each other into a lot of stuff

-not knowing when to pass up a good deal until my stock pile needs replenishing. I have enough deodorant for months but I can't pass up getting two more for $1. Granted that is an AWESOME deal but I have to remind myself that the deal will come about again.

-not making a meal plan, it seems we actually use more food when we don't have a meal plan for the week (as far as dinners, I don't do the breakfast planning thing) When you sit down with a list of items you already have you can use them more efficiently than just grabbing whatever.

-Its ingrained in me that I have a certain amount each month for groceries so I never consider not spending it all. I'm wondering what will happen if I make the meal plan, stick to it and only buy what I truly need for those meal plans, school lunches and produce and then take the rest I would have normally spent and toss it in a bank account.

-Another idea is to shop for your produce at the farmer's market, not as much temptation to buy other things and if you do buy other things at least they will be healthy!

Etsy Apron

2011-05-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I am finally starting my Etsy shop. I only have two things on there right now and I am only going to be adding things slowly because I don't have the time for a full blown store but I figured as I put things up I would share them with you all. I'd love opinions.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShoppeofCuriosities?ref=pr_shop

Unfortunately I am not savvy on the computer so my shop is a bit bland, if anyone knows how to makes banners and such I would LOVE some help~

2011-05-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well I have gotten amazing feedback on the series "Let's Bring Back". I am considering doing series on "Let't Not Bring Back" and more "Let's Bring Back" in categories such as Fashion, TV, Manners. etc.

I would really love your feedback. If I did a "Let's Bring Back" on retro recipes would you all like it better if I tried the recipe first and then posted the recipe rather than just the name and a photo of the recipe?

Remember I ask you all these questions because I care about what you want to see and I want to make my blog the best possible experience for you all so please please comment.

Cleaning only to clean again

2011-05-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate that? You clean your house only to have it messed up again in a few hours...its not that it gets dirty right away although that can be the case for the kitchen...usually it just gets messy again and I don't know about you but when my house feels chaotic my whole life feels chaotic especially because most of my time is spent in the home.

Much of the reason a home gets messed up so quickly is the people in it don't feel like putting things back right away or get side tracked or perhaps there is no organizational plan in place. However, another big reason I think this happens is because we just have too much stuff! If you have two sets of dinner dishes chances are you are going to use all of the dishes when you aren't feeling up to snuff than if you had just the right amount. Sure, you still may be out of dishes but at least when you wash them you will have a much smaller load. What I plan on doing in my house is making sure there is one plate, one bowl and one set of utensils per person plus one more set because my daughter has friends over a lot. I'm not going to get rid of my other dishes because we do have company now and again but I am going to put them into that strange cabinet above the refrigerator that rarely gets used for anything. If it is between washing a plate and grabbing a chair and climbing to get another down I am probably going to wash the plate.

Think of your laundry and how much time you spend doing it. Its time to pare down the clothing, now I LOVE me my clothes but I am going to go through my closet and try them all on and keep only that outfits that are comfortable and I really love, I can donate the rest (which will save closet space) or I can put the others in a box and bring them out as I lose weight or have a clothing swap with friends.

What about knicknacks? Do you really really want to dust all of them? Do you love them that much? I'm not saying you shouldn't keep some but a lot of us hold on to things that we really don't like either because of sentimental value or just not wanting to throw something out. If its something truly irreplaceable like the basket my grandfather carved from an apricot shell then keep it, (yes I really do have this lol) but if its some tacky thing that Aunt Lola got from a yard sale or Target and you really don't like it....well, give it away. Its hard yes and you wonder what your Aunt will think but I'm sure she wouldn't want you to keep something you truly don't like and if she is that sensitive you can always wrap it in tissue paper and put it in a shoe box only to display when she is over (how often does she really come over anyway?)

I could go on and on but I won't . I can just say for me personally that I have too much stuff which makes me a slave to housework. If I had less stuff I would have more time to enjoy my family , my free time and the stuff I do have..

2011-05-03T05:03:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, lots of appointments this week so I'm a bit behind on the blog, hopefully I will have a chance to sit down tonight and get some posts ready for the week!

Let's Bring Back

2011-04-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is the last post in the Let's Bring Back series and I have had a blast, I think its been one of my favorite series. I'm actually thinking of doing a Let's NOT Bring Back series on some of the things that I am happy are left in the past.

Pretty Umbrellas

Veils- they ad flare and drama, so cool

Vanities- I have a vanity, its probably from the 1930's, I've had it since I was a teenager and I adore it. It looks a bit like the one above.

Walk in Fireplaces- okay so not practical with children but I find them quite beautiful.

White Nurses Uniforms- wouldn't it be nice to be able to tell the difference between the janitors and the doctors and nurses??

White Picket Fences- so much more charming than those metal chain link fences.

Let's Bring Back

2011-04-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Tree Swings- I used to love our tree swing, my dad made it out of a tire but not like a normal tire swing, he cut it in such a way that turned it into a seat with handles- he is so smart! I remember one time my older step sister and step brother decided to move the swing and I was the lucky one to try it out...I swung up up up and flew up up up and out still attached to the swing--guess they didn't tie it tight enough lol.

Trousseau- I plan to do this for my daughter when she marries but most people don't do it anymore. Used to be when a woman married her family would buy her a new wardrobe to start her new life as well as things for the home.

Typewriter- okay so it isn't exactly practical when we have computers but man I just love the click clickity click of typewriter keys. I think its so comforting because my mother worked as a secretary during her pregnancy and she typed all day, she said I used to kick like crazy when she typed...I still love that sound...the typewriter...not kicking my mother lol

Let's Bring Back

2011-04-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Silk stockings with seams- 'nough said

Toast Stands

Steamer Trunk- Okay so yellow wouldn't be the shade I would choose but these puppies are ingenious, you don't even have to unpack! You just stand it up when you get to where you are going and bam you have all your close put away in your traveling dresser!

Sunday Best- I remember as a child we had our school clothes, our play clothes and our Sunday clothes. Are Sunday clothes were always are best clothing and to be worn to church only.

Tin Lunch Boxes- and while we are at it can we please have the matching thermos back as well?

Let's Bring Back

2011-04-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

Radio Dramas- Wouldn't that be awesome just to sit there and listen and let your imagination go wild with the story?

Red Lipstick- not tinted, not smudged, straight up red lipstick. I've read recently that men don't like red lipstick but I say to heck with them, wear the red!

Rosie the Riveter- I have a gigantic framed print of this in my living room, I LOVE Rosie.

Rotary Phones- I love the zip sound as you dial and the click click click as it releases. I remember being a teenager and naturally teenagers make A LOT of phone calls, my finger would be sore from dialing and hitting my finger against that metal stopper.

Sailor Pants- not even the sailors wear them anywhere, they switched to Dickies (the pants mechanics wear) back in 99 or so. Nothing makes your waist look tiny, your hips look just right and down plays large thighs like sailor pants.

Separate Ovens- Today better known as double ovens, every home should have one, it would be so nice to bake two things at once at different temps!

Shaving Kits- So refined!

2011-04-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North

More Tenth Avenue North music on iLike

I wanted to share this with you all, its one of my favorite songs (click above to hear it, Tenth Avenue North sings it), I feel almost like its God's lullaby to me. I feel safe in the midst of everything when I hear it.

Its a bad bad bad PTSD day....my heart hurts so much , one of those days when the tears just pour out but it feels good because its been so long since I've been able to cry. I know somewhere out there is having a day like this too, I don't know the reason for it but I know you are there feeling like the world is caving in on you and falling out from underneath you all at the same time. Lets close our eyes together, listen to the song and know that no matter the outcome we will be okay.

Book Review Monday: A Kid's Herb Book: For Children of All Ages

2011-04-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm not done with the "Lets Bring Back" series but I did want to try to get back to Book Review Monday so I am taking a break from the series today.

The latest book I read that I simply adored is "A Kid's Herb Book: For Children of All Ages".

As you all know I am quite into natural healing although certainly traditional western medicine does have its place; so when I saw this book I jumped at the opportunity to review it. I was so excited to finally have a book aimed at children so that I can bring Isa up knowing natural remedies...you know, the way it used to be done (and still is done in many parts of the world) passing tried and true knowledge from generation to generation.

What I did not expect was how much I would use this book and learn from it. I absolutely love it and think its a must for beginners of all ages. It breaks the information down in ways as to not overwhelm the reader, its fun and not at all dry. In fact out of all of my herb books this will probably be the first book I look up information in due to the ease of reading and understanding.

There certainly are some new agey parts of it in the stories (which are quite brief-a page or so long) but I definitely wouldn't let it stop you from getting the book as you can skip over those parts if it doesn't sit well with you.

My daughter loves the book and is looking forward to the projects in it such as making lip balms. She had a friend over the other day and came running down the stairs saying "mommy, her neck hurts, get the book!"

Again, not a book to take out from the library because you will end up buying it to reference later anyway. Great book!

Let's Bring Back

2011-04-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

Palmer Penmanship

Perfume Atomizers - so glamorous!

Pocket Watches - So much more refined than cell phone clocks

Polka Dots

Proper Posture

Pottbelly Stoves- I can vaguely remember my grandparents sitting in their chairs, one on either side of the stove...whether it really looked like this one or not I don't remember but I remember the big iron stove

Powder Puffs- I remember that anytime I took a bath at my gram's house she would use a big fluffy powder puff to dust powder all over me..

Princess Phones- Gotta love the colors (these are obviously modern versions as they have touch dials.)

Lets Bring Back

2011-04-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

Lockets

Murals

Muprhy Beds- how perfect for a home office/guest room! I LOVE them.

Ice Bags - so much cuter than those blue gel things!

One Piece Swimsuits- I have nothing against two piece swimsuits but the retro ones are so darned cut. PS-the pic is from www.modcloth.com, they sell them.

Outdoor Childhoods- I know that there are safety concerns now moreso then there were in the fifties but man I wish all kids could enjoy being outdoors for most of their free time.

Lets Bring Back

2011-04-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hand Mirrors and Vanity Sets

Hankerchiefs

Hats

Headscarves- so many different ways to wear them!

Heirlooms- rather than throwing out hand me downs why can't we find a few to treasure and hand them down from generation to generation like they used to.

Home Delivered Milk- I am blessed with this one, I actually do have a milk man and I LOVE it

Lets Bring Back

2011-04-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Electric Fans- Some of us still have them but air conditioners have taken over. It absolutely blows my mind that my daughter will have no idea what it was ever like without air conditioners in every home and store. I remember those hot sticky summers nights, trying to fall asleep, the oscillating fan next to my bed, the sweet relief that would come as its breeze went over me...

Fingernail Buffing- Although I have tried I will never be one who wears nail polish on my fingers religiously but buffing my nails I can do, takes a few minutes, the results make it look like you are wearing clear nail polish and the results last awhile too.

Flip Rings- Admittedly I had never heard of these until I read the book but apparently the rings stone or emblem has two sides so its like two rings in one.

Flowers as hair adornments- This is one of my personal favorites, while I don't usually wear fresh flowers I always have some sort of adornment in my hair from a beaded flower to a pink ostrich feather. ( I even gave my retro housewife a pink flower in her hair for my blog)

Formality- I don't wish people were formal all of the time but I wish it would at least start out that way. When I was little you would never call a grown up by their first name, it was always Mr and Mrs or Miss/Ms. I especially wish women would still be called Mrs. Husband's Name - Last name...like Mrs. Darren Stevens.

Fountain Pens- I do love fountain pens, I think I was the only girl in high school with one lol

Game Night- I just love game night but can never find anyone else who loves it too!

Gemstone Engagement Rings- I am not a diamond fan, they seem too common to me and so many rings look the same so I am all for gemstone engagement rings. In fact the ring I would like (I wear my grandmothers wedding set from the 40s) is actually all metal....you can see it here at Uncommon Goods-one of my favorite places to screen shop. That with a gemstone band would be fabulous in my opinion...quirky-like me.

My little seedlings

2011-04-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well my seedlings have sprouted and some have become more than seedlings already! Getting ready to place my order with the Burpee Catalog for my strawberry and raspberry plants!

Lets Bring Back series...

2011-04-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Dressing Gowns- so much prettier than sweat pants with writing on the butt.

Driving Gloves

Dutch Doors- so charming!

Elocution- This I could definitely benefit from as I think faster than I can speak and get my tongue tied! Elocution is the skill of clear, precise speech, distinct pronunciation...think about they way the women spoke in old movies....elocutioin

Lets Bring Back Series

2011-04-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Charm School- Do I really need to go into detail as to why this should be brought back??

Clipping Albums-Where families pasted clippings from the newspaper that had significance to them and their lives or to the country. My great grandparents and grandparents had clipping albums and because of it I now how an original newspaper with the front page story of the attack on Pearl Harbor and another story with the front page picture of Little John John saluting at JFK's funeral.

Cold Cream- Yes, yes, I know they do still make cold cream but now its got all kinds of awful chemicals in it :(

Corsets- Okay so I know they are uncomfortable and I don't want to bring them back completely but wow the figure they can give a gal.

Courting Candles-This one I hadn't heard about until I read the book but I love the idea. The parents would put a candle in the room with a boy and girl who were courting, when the candle went out they knew their time was up. If the parents didn't approve of the chap they didn't put a very tall candle in there that way their time together was much shorter!

Dressing for your shape- this everyone should do, so many of us would look so much better no matter our weight or figure if we would just dress according to our shape rather than trying to make our shape fit the trends. Have you ever seen a woman with womanly hips in skinny jeans? She could be a size 4 but if she has hips and tries skinny jeans she will still look like a sack of potatoes from the waist down!

How to Play Bridge

2011-04-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Lets bring back....playing Bridge.

I've never played but I've always been curious as it seems almost every old TV show mentions playing Bridge!

I got the instructions from America Contract Bridge League

It looks pretty complicated but its probably really easy once you get the hang of it, sort of like Cribbage, looks difficult but its really quite easy.

How to Play Bridge

The Basics

Bridge is played with a deck of 52 cards (take out the jokers) and four people sitting at a square table with the players who are sitting across from each other forming a partnership.

About the Cards

There are four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades. Each suit has 13 cards. In bridge, the deuce is the lowest card in the suit and the ace is the highest.

Getting Started

Draw cards to select the person to deal the cards (the dealer). This person distributes the cards face down, in clockwise rotation one at a time, until each player at the table has a hand consisting of 13 cards. After the play of each deal is completed, the opportunity to deal moves around the table clockwise so that each person has a turn to deal out the cards.

Aim of the Game

Each partnership tries to win (or take) as many tricks as possible.

Taking Tricks in Notrump

A trick contains four cards, one contributed by each player. One player starts by leading a card, placing it face up on the table. In clockwise rotation, each player has to follow suit, by playing a card of the same suit as the one led. If a heart is led, for example, each player must play a heart if possible. Only if a player doesn’t have a heart can that person discard (i.e., play a card of another suit). The highest card in the suit led wins the trick for the player who played it. This is called playing in notrump.

Taking Tricks with a Trump Suit

Having a trump suit is something like having one suit wild. The rules of the game still require that if a player can follow suit, the player must. When a player can no longer follow suit, however, a trump can be played, and the trump is higher and more powerful than any card in the suit led.

Bidding

Bidding is the language of bridge. The players, through bidding, decide whether the deal is to be played in notrump or in a particular trump suit. The dealer has the first chance to bid. If the dealer has some high cards in the hand and a preference for one suit over another (usually decided by the length of the suit), dealer makes a bid to let his partner know which suit he prefers. If the dealer doesn’t have many high cards and doesn’t want to make a bid, he says “pass.”
Bids must be made according to the hierarchy of suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades and finally notrump. Thus, if 1 is the opening bid, the next hand to bid must bid at least 1, the next hand at least 1 and so on. If declarer were to open 1, the next bid would have to be 1NT or 2, 2 or 2.
After the dealer makes a decision, each player in turn has an opportunity to either bid or pass. At the end of the bidding, each partnership will have decided on the suit it wants to name as trumps and if it has enough strength (high cards) to bid for the privilege of naming trumps. Or one partnership will have passed, letting the opponents pick the trump suit in return for committing to winning a certain number of tricks. The bidding ends when three players in succession say “pass.”

Declarer, Opening Leader and Dummy

The declarer is the player who first mentions the suit that ends up being trumps or who first mentions notrump.
The opening leader is the player to the left of the declarer who starts the play by making the opening lead, playing a card face-up on the table.
The dummy is declarer’s partner. After the opening lead, the dummy places his hand face-up on the table, and declarer calls the cards during the play for both hands.

Guidelines for Making the Opening Lead

Against notrump contracts, it is a good idea to lead your longest suit because that could be your best source of extra tricks. With a sequence, three or more cards in a row, lead the top card of the sequence. If you don’t have a sequence, lead low.
Against trump contracts, you can still lead the top of a sequence, but you no longer need to lead your longest suit. Your opponents have a trump suit and can usually prevent you from taking tricks in your long suit. They can trump in and win the trick. Sometimes it is a good idea to lead a short suit if it isn’t the trump suit. Your partnership wants to take tricks as quickly as possible.

The Bidding

Think of the bidding as a pleasant conversation between friends. A bid is a number combined with a word. The word refers to the suit or notrump in which the player hopes the contract will be played. The number refers to the number of tricks the partnership is willing to commit to over the book of six. 1 is a commitment to take 6 + 1 = 7 tricks, and a suggestion of spades as the trump suit. If 1 is the final bid, it would be the contract.

Hand Valuation

The ace = 4; the king = 3; the queen = 2; the jack = 1. In addition to giving points for high cards, points are given for the shape of the hand. A five-card suit = 1; a six-card suit = 2; a seven-card suit = 3; and an eight-card suit = 4. Once you have valued your hand, the next step is to bid according to its strength and shape.

Guidelines for Opening the Bidding

With 0 to 12 points, pass.
With 13 or more points, open the bidding with one of your longest suits.
With 15 to 17 high-card points and a balanced hand (one where all suits are represented with at least two or more cards), open 1NT (notrump).

Contracts

The bidding will lead to a variety of final contracts (a number and a suit or notrump). They are not equal in value since you score more for bidding and making certain contracts. They can be slams, game contracts, or part-game or partscore contracts. They can be major suit (spades or hearts) contracts or minor suit (diamonds or clubs) contracts.

Bonus Levels

Slams: You score highest for bidding and making a grand slam of 7, 7,7,7 or
7NT (notrump) where you can lose no tricks to the opponents. To bid a grand slam, the partnership should have a total of 37 points. The next best score comes from bidding and making a small slam of 6, 6, 6, 6 or 6NT where you can lose only one trick to the opponents. To bid a small slam, the partnership needs a total of 33 to 36 points.
Games: There are five game bonuses which are more attainable than a slam contract. 3NT requires that you bid for and make 9 tricks. 4 and 4 require that you bid and make 10 tricks. All three of these games can be bid when the partnership has a total of 26 points. 5 and 5 require that you bid and commit to making 11 tricks, and 29 points are suggested for a contract at this level. Experience has shown that if you and your partner have at least eight trump cards in your combined hands, you can usually take one more trick in a suit contract than you could in a notrump contract. That means that games in 3NT or 4 or 4 (if you have at least eight trumps) require about the same strength in high cards.
Partscores: In a partscore, the partnership receives points for every trick made. The partnership is not eligible, however, for the bonus it would get for bidding a game or a slam.

The Role of the Responder

The partners on a bridge team have certain roles to play. The opening bidder describes his hand to his partner. The partner becomes the captain and assumes the role of deciding on the best denomination and the best level for the final contract. The partner of the opening bidder knows more about the combined strength of the two hands after hearing the opening bid and looking at his own hand.

2011-04-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Bathing Caps
- Think Esther Williams, bright, charming, and a tad bit quirky I definitely think that we should bring back bathing/swim caps, in fact here are a few on amazon that I have my eye on. Cute huh?

Bookplates

Remember these? So much nicer than a name written right onto a page of the book.

Book Slipcovers
- to keep books in good condition (plus they look really pretty!) Check out this blog to see some homemade book slipcovers.

Brown Paper and Twine Wrapped Packages
-I don't know why but they make me happy and apparently I am not the only one if they are in the book!

Lets Bring Back

2011-04-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

From the poll I see that many of you want to see more retro stuff so I decided to do a series based on the book "Lets Bring Back, an Encyclopedia of Forgotten Yet Delightful Chick, Useful, Curious and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By"

I absolutely adore this book so I decided to go through it, write down my favorite things that I personally would like to see brought back and share them with you. Stick around!

2011-04-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

I've been having an RA flare since Thursday so I haven't really had time to blog for this upcoming week. As I laid in bed today what came to mind was the Bible, in particular the instructions that in all situations , in all conditions we should be thankful. I've always had a really hard time wrapping my mind around this but today, I did it, I was thankful despite my pain and fatigue, despite that I was in bed and not outside playing with my daughter on the first beautiful weekend of the spring. The wonderful thing was that I didn't have to try to wrap my mind around it, it just happened, it just was. I wasn't happy that I was in bed, I wasn't happy about my flare or that fact that I wasn't playing with my daughter but I was thankful, thankful for the sun streaming into my bedroom, for the breeze blowing across my face, for the soft blanket I was wrapped in, for the beautiful sound of the birds and the even more beautiful sound of my daughters laughter outside as she played with neighborhood friends....I have no doubt that I will have trouble in the future being thankful despite circumstances but for today...wow it was beautiful.

2011-04-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

I have a house in Italy, did you know? Its very very old, made of stone with a traditional farmhouse kitchen, its set up on top of a big hill with the front looking over the countryside and the back looking over the ocean. The air is fresh and clean, I tend to my garden and pick grapes from the vineyard, on cool mornings I ride my bicycle down the dirt road into town.....

Okay, I don't really own a home in Italy but that was the one I was dreaming up when I had trouble falling asleep last night...it worked because thats as far as I got!

Betty Crocker Cooking with the Calendar:Ham & Easter Ham Glazes

2011-04-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Betty Crocker's Cooking Calendar: A Year-Round Guide to Meal Planning with Recipes and Menus

Heat oven to 325. Place meat fat side up on rack in pan. Insert meat thermometer into the center of the thickest muscle. Do not cover. Do not add water.

Roast ham to internal temperature of 160, picnic and shoulder butt to 170.

Half an hour before ham is done, take from oven and remove rind. Score by cutting fat into diamond shapes. Insert whole cloves. Cover with sweet glaze, return to 400 degree oven for browning. Let ham rest 15-20 minutes before carving.

Here are some retro recipes for you all for Easter ham glazes.

Apricot Glaze: Mix 1 C apricot jam and 1/3 C honey. Spread over ham after scoring.

Cranberry Glaze: Combine 1 C brown sugar and 1 Tablespoon dry mustard. Add 1/2 C bottled cranberry cocktail. Spoon over ham after scoring.

Pineapple Glaze (my personal favorite)- Combine 1 cup pineapple juice, 1 cup brown sugar, 4 teaspoon mustard and 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice. Glaze ham after scoring.

Saving money at the grocery store without cutting coupons

2011-04-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

I am a HUGE advocate of coupons, I have to eat gluten free and we choose to eat free of artificial ingredients and still I am able to save between 40% and 60% on my grocery bill combining sales and coupons. However I know that some people for whatever reason do not want to cut coupons, you can still save though, not 40%-60% but some is better than nothing, right?

Eat seasonally, veggies and fruits that are in season are going to be less expensive.

Join a CSA (community supported agriculture), its can seem expensive because you pay upfront, generally $200-$500 to a farmer but you get a great big bag or box of veggies delivered to your door every week for the season. Some farmers will let you do a half season. The veggies are fresh and therefore nutritious and many times they are organic although because of the expense the farmer usually will not be certified organic, you can ask the farm about their methods. To find a CSA go to www.localharvest.org

Shop sales, if you live in an area that has more than one grocery store you will usually have on that doesn't have amazing sales but has consistently lower prices than the other while the other store usually has some great weekly sales but higher prices overall. Shop only the sales at this store and then do the rest of your grocery shopping at the other.

Don't pay extra for someone else to do the prep work. Buy chicken breasts with the bone in, skin on and ribs, it does take a little time to separate the breast from the bone but when you are done you will have the breast, tenders and bones for stock for a significantly reduced price than if you just bought boneless, skinless breasts. Don't buy pre cut veggies, or shredded cheese, you can save a lot by doing the work yourself. In my house I devote an hour the day after grocery shopping to prepping the food.

Don't buy processed foods, I'm not saying never, we all buy it from time to time and when you do go for minimally processed for health, for your wallet however you tend to do better shopping the perimeter of the store, its healthier and usually less expensive than the stuff you find in the middle.

Love ice cream? Invest in an ice cream maker. Do your kids love popsicles? Buy molds and use juice...it's cheaper in the long run to make things yourself.

Buy frozen juice concentrate rather than bottled juice, just make sure its 100% juice and not high fructose corn syrup.

Ask the people in the meat department when they usually put out their discounted items. They are discounted because they need to be sold and prepared that day or the next, its still perfectly safe, you can get it at a deep discount and go right home and freeze it.

Buy a food saver. This is by far one of my best investments. When I find great deals on meat I can bring it right home and seal it air tight in the bags so there is no chance of freezer burn.

I would love to hear how you all save money without coupons! Feel free to chime in!

Things I didn't forsee myself doing as a parent

2011-04-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

In no particular order

-Bleaching a strip of my 6 year olds hair and then dying it pink

-Pick boogers out of someone elses nose...tissue or no tissue its just not right.

-Sing about pee or poop- Do theee...potty dance! Sad thing is that my daughter has been potty trained for years.

-Have a crush on a Wiggle (in my defense my husband was deployed at the time, I was lonely!)

-Listen to kids music when I'm in the car...alone... Have you ever done that, you have the kid CD in the player already so you start the car and the music turns on, a song with a catchy beat comes on and then you realize you are sitting at a stop light rocking out to Yo Gabba Gabba and your child is at their grandmothers for the weekend??

-Spend 5 minutes contemplating which underwear to buy for my 6 year old...should I go for value or get her the ones with the cool pictures?

-Stick my head in the fridge pretending to look for something when really I am eating something that I just don't feel like sharing at the moment.

-Tell my child that the toy store is closed....when its 11 AM.

How about you guys?

Some Changes

2011-04-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of changes. Under the header of the blog there is now an option to follow my blog via email so anytime a new post is put up you will find it in your email box :) To your right you will see a poll, I would love it if you could take a second to vote (you can choose multiple answers). I feel like I'm floundering with the blog and this blog is really important to me, you all are very important to me so I want to get back on track but I can't do it without your feedback.

Thanks!

Jenny

Bluefly

2011-04-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

I've been screen shopping again and I've found a bunch of cool sites so I'm pretty sure that there will be more than one post today about my finds. It's raining out, I'm not feeling well so yea...that equals screen shopping for me.

Has anyone out there ever heard of Bluefly? I just discovered it and I am intrigued. I usually buy all my clothes at Salvation Army but every now and then a girl likes to treat herself you know? While I do want to treat myself I certainly cringe at paying full price and it kind of puts a damper on my treat. Well I found Bluefly and its really cool, its pretty fashion forward but at a discount (one of my favorite words...the others being "sale" and "free" of course)

I found a Michael Kors coat that my hubby would love at a 66 % discount, Cole Hann has the most awesome red coat and its eco friendly to boot!! I also checked out Stuart Weitzman shoes ( I am keeping a "shoes I want to buy when my RA gets better" list lol)

Oh and the coats and jackets are up to 70% off right now! This is the best time to buy your winter coats for next year.

I'm wondering if any of you have ever used Bluefly and what your experience has been with it.

Flowers

2011-04-04T05:45:00.000-07:00

So my last two grocery shopping trips I have been admiring the gorgeous flowers but I would think of my budget and pull myself away. This last trip I could resist no longer, I bought a potted Gerbera Daisy (my favorite) and reasoned that it was worth the money because it was a potted plant and I could enjoy it longer. Then I decided to be frivolous and grabbed a huge bunch of pink flowers...not sure what they were. I have to say the money was so well spent, what is it about flowers that cheers the soul? What is it about this tiny plants when one single bloom can cheer up a whole room?

I'm thinking I may bust my budget next week and buy some more because the lift they give my home and my mood are well worth the money. Bright pink daisies greet me in the morning and promise me a happy day, pink whatchamacallits in my kitchen sooth me as I cook and give a touch of elegance to a hectic evening.

Buy yourselves some flowers today, even just one bloom, stick it behind your ear, dance in the breeze of an open window as you make dinner.

Back from the hospital

2011-03-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

They released Isa this afternoon so we are finally back home and boy did it feel good to take a shower! Isa is nearly back to herself, she is nice and hyper but tires out easily and isn't eating or drinking enough but I have no doubt that that issue will be resolved in the next couple of days. Thank you all so much for the kind well wishes!

2011-03-29T09:02:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I won't be blogging this week. My little one was admitted to the hospital last night and they are definitely keeping her one more night at the very least. Catch you all next week!

Jenny

Finding Motivation

2011-03-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

As I sit here my house is a wreck, seriously a wreck! I find these days that I have little motivation and very little energy. Whether its from the RA which still is not under control or dealing with hubby's PTSD I am not sure but I do know that if I sit here and wait for motivation and energy to come to me its going to be a looooong wait thats for sure. So what do you do when your get up and go has gotten up and went? Well sometimes you have to just force yourself, this I have learned from experience.

Get up and open all of the shades in the house, let the light pour in. If its a glum day or if you don't get much light then turn on lights-you just want it to be bright.

Get dressed, shoes and all. If you stay in PJ's or in clothes that are quite comfy like PJ's your body thinks its time to relax, so get dressed so your body knows its time for business. Besides if you are in PJ's or lounge wear all of the time you will stop appreciating that "ahhh" moment when you slip out of your day clothes and into the comfy ones.

Primp! Put on some make up, even if its just mascara.

Burn a citrus smelling candle or some citrus essential oil. I love lemon grass or orange.

Put on some music, upbeat please!

Now get to it, if after a half an hour you don't feel like continuing then by all means stop-after all a half hour is better than nothing. Chances are though that you will want to keep going.

Anyone else out there have any suggestions?

Oh yeah- and eat breakfast!! A lot of the time I don't feel like eating breakfast so I put a banana , milk and some peanut butter in the blender and make a smoothie, its quite filling, I don't get hungry again for hours.

Book Review: Me and My Sewing Machine: A Beginner's Guide

2011-03-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Many of your email me asking me to do how to posts on the bags and aprons I have made, you say you want tutorials but I never do it. Well this is why- I do not formally know how to sew, I make it up as I go along, I never do it the same way twice because I don't remember how I did it the first time! So I've decided that maybe I should start learning the correct way to sew, not learn just because it is correct but because it will open doors to many other projects. So I've been checking out some sewing books. I haven't mentioned many of them on here because I didn't love them but this book I do love so I want to share it with you all.

"Me and My Sewing Machine: A Beginner's Guide", I just love this book. It goes into detail about how a sewing machine works and has a big picture of a sewing machine with all of the knobs and buttons labeled. A big plus for me is that it goes into detail about tension with pictures of what too tight or too lose top tension looks like as well as balanced tension. This is such a big deal to me because I have had many problems with the tension in my sewing machines over the years and I've never known how to fix it and now I know!!

I absolutely adore the pages about sewing machine accessories because they have great big pictures of the accessories with names and explanations. I am not one to read users manuals- too dry, so I am quite happy to know what all of these dohickees are for. The author moves into explaining how to run a sewing machine, different types of fabric and different threads and stitches - complete with pictures of the stitches , gotta love that.

Also covered in the book are all different types of seams, hems, different ways to fasten, sewing corners, different edgings, ruffles, box pleats, embroidering, making your own appliques , sewing on ribbons, lace etc. In the back of the book you will find different projects to make as well as templates and a glossary.

What I love so much about this book is that the steps are numbered and easy to read and for some reason if you do have a hard time understanding exactly what she means by reading it she has big pictures of each step so between the two you know what you are doing.

I definitely recommend this book, I am going to be referencing it a lot in the future, it has a permanent spot next to my sewing machine. This is one of those books you don't want to bother taking out from the library because you are just going to go out and buy it anyway.

Family of a Vet

2011-03-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

As many of you know my husband was in the military and now has several issues from his combat service. I know that many of my readers have family or know someone who has served and I wanted to let you know about this great website I found called "Family of a Vet", its not some government sponsored site, it is run by people with personal experience and therefore it IS a personal experience with them. I am going to start volunteering with them to write articles and get the word out. I stumbled upon the site one night , I sent an email and the next day I had 4 emails from different wives going through the same situation as me. I went from feeling so alone and hopeless to having other women who totally get it. Its a life line.

Your Perfect Life

2011-03-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

Do you ever think about your perfect life, not too deeply of course because then your mind brings reality back into the equation and you miss the joy of the day dream. Sometimes when life gets hard I escape to my perfect life, I don't think about it and wish for it because of course a perfect life doesn't exist here on Earth, I don't pine for it, I just escape to it for a few minutes.

My perfect home would be a little cottage out in a small town, it would have a low white picket fence all the way around it. A sweet walkway to the red front door would be lined with flowers. In the back would be a large yard with room for a medium sized garden, a patio and room to play. Light would fill the house during the day and a small fireplace would create a wonderful ambiance at night. I would have a neighbor who was also my best friend, sharing my retro values, who would come over for coffee and chat while the husbands are at work and the children are in school. I would spend my days in the warmth of the sun tending to my garden, keeping house and crafting and I wouldn't have RA so I would have lots more energy. I would also not have Celiac Disease and therefore would order in Chinese take out every Friday lol.

So when life is hard I escape to my cottage and decorate it in my head and think about what I might make for dinner or what I might gossip to my neighbor about. It seems that as we grow up we are discouraged from daydreaming and forced into reality because thats what life is and we mustn't have childish fantasies. I want to know who made those rules up. Everyone needs to escape reality now and then.

Outdoor Play Time

2011-03-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Last year I wasn't able to play outside much with Isa because I was just beginning my struggle with RA and Kev had just had back surgery. This year I am very excited to get out there and play, I have high hopes that within the next couple of months my RA will be controlled so I am already doing my planning. We will of course do the usual things like side walk chalk and I will teach her to ride a bike but I want to find other things that I will enjoy. I've figured out (probably later than I should have) that the key to having a great time with your child is to find activities that you both truly enjoy rather than trying to fake enthusiasm for something that bores you to tears. Thats what their friends are for, to enjoy activities together that you can't stand lol.

So I am sitting here with about 10 windows open on my computer to various things on Target's website, normally I would be on Amazon, I absolutely adore Amazon but I have a feeling I would be overwhelmed at the number of items available to look at!

Some of the things I am looking into for this summer (please if you have tried any of these or have any recommendations let me know!)

Hopping Balls, you know those ones with the handles that you sit on
T-Ball or a jumbo plastic bat and ball
They have this one game with velcro vests and you have to try to get your ball to stick to the other person, that could be fun!
We already have Croquet and she loved that

I need some ideas ladies. We are in a townhouse with just a small patio to ourselves, we have a large yard behind us but we can't leave anything in it so it has to be quick and easy.

Garden Update

2011-03-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

I am really impressed with those Jiffy Peat Pellets that I told you all about. Isa and I planted those seeds on Saturday and would you believe that some of them have sprouted already!? So the directions say to prop the dome open and once all of them sprout to take the dome off completely and put then in sunlight.

2011-03-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend Isa and I planted some of our seeds so hopefully 6 or 7 weeks from now they will be ready for transplant outdoors. I wanted to take pictures for you all but wouldn't you know I dropped my camera on my cement basement floor and its broken for good.....sigh. So the best I can do is add the side bar image to show you what I am talking about.

I've never tried peat pellets before but I saw them in the store and was intrigued so I bought 2 kids, I believe each one that I bought had 60 pellets. Basically what you do is pour water (10 cups for my kit) over the peet pellets, they absorb the water and expand all you have to do after that is pull back the mesh from each pellet, poke a hole , drop in some seeds and cover it back up. Once you have all of the cells (pellets) seeded you put the plastic tray cover over the top and put it away from direct light.

Once a pellet sprouts you take the cover off and I think you put it in direct light, as I just planted my seeds I haven't gotten that far but I will keep you updated. When the pellets start looking light brown you water them again. I love the idea because the seedling is all bound up in a pretty little pellet to transplant once it is ready.

So far we planted green beans, two kinds of tomatoes, sugar snap peas, basil, chives, salad onion, chamomile and something else which escapes my mind right now. I still have to buy lemon balm seeds, stevia seeds and of course when its warm out I will need to buy strawberry plants.

I love planting with Isa, I love watching her reactions and her pride as the tiny seed she planted sprouts and eventually produces food for the dinner table.

2011-03-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness ladies, spring is coming!!! It was sunny here and up near 50 today, I loved every second of it! I'm sure we are going to get blasted with at least one more snow storm before winter concedes to spring but thats okay its almost over!!

What is it about spring that makes you want to purge your whole entire house? I want to get rid of all things I don't need or use but I can't bear to see good stuff go into a dumpster so what is a mad cleaning housewife to do? I know that there are plenty of you out there like me, who cringe when you see something perfectly usable in the garbage so I've compiled a list of ideas to give your discards a new life with another family.

Donate:

General
Salvation Army
Goodwill
Freecycle.com
Facebook (someone always knows someone!)

Bed Sheets/Towels/Blankets
Homeless Shelter/Women's Shelter

Kids Items
Church
Low Income Daycare Center

Magazines/Books
Hospitals
Doctor's Office
Nursing Home
Library
Send them to our troops overseas or Walter Reed.

Have a free garage sale- leave everything in your driveway with a free sign and advertise on craigslist or with signs around the neighborhood...trust me, it will be gone in no time!

Makes some money

Craigslist
Ebay
Garage Sale
Classifieds
Put flyers up around the neighborhood
Facebook

My new favorite kitchen appliance

2011-03-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

My husband surprised me with a 22 inch flat screen TV/DVD combo for the kitchen, at first I wasn't sure what to think of it because you all know how much I enjoy silence but let me tell you, I LOVE this thing. We don't watch it during meals, thats a no no but I have it mounted on the wall in front of my kitchen island. When I have jobs that are going to take me awhile, like prepping food for the week or getting dinner ready I pull up a stool to the island, pop in a DVD of Bewitched and listen/watch one of my favorite shows while I do my work. I can't tell you how much I love this thing. It has made me look forward to long kitchen chores and the best part is that I actually get extra stuff done because I sometimes finish in the middle of an episode and want to see the rest so I find other stuff to do.

Personal Update

2011-03-12T07:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't been around too much have I ? Things have been absolutely nutty around here! I managed to get one whole item up on Etsy lol, you can check it out here , it took me days to make it when a year ago it only would have taken a few hours but I did it and I'm happy with that.

My rheumy is upping my methotrexate dose to the max which starts on Monday...I am nervous. When I first started taking the drug it really knocked me for a loop, I couldn't function at all, all I could do was lay in bed, I didn't care if the TV was on or off, I couldn't concentrate to read-it was awful. After nearly a month my body adjusted and now I just get chills. I'm nervous that maxing out the dose will cause the same issues...say prayers! He is going to give this two months and if that doesn't work then its on to biologics like Enbrel or Humira which are thousands of dollars a month (I have no health insurance) so please pray that the methotrexate works or that the big drug companies will be able to full assist me with getting my meds (they have programs for uninsured people).

My little one, its hard to say little one now that she is 6!! stepped on what we thought was a broken sewing needle sticking out of the carpet a few weeks ago, we pulled it out of her foot, put some antibacterial cream on it and that was that. She didn't complain at all after that, she has been running and jumping without issue until a couple of days ago when she said "Mommy, it feels like there is a needle in my foot"...no truer words have ever been spoken as there IS a needle in her foot. The needle wasn't broken when she stepped on it, it broke off in her foot, she has a one inch segment embedded in her foot all the way up to her heel bone. The ER tried to get it out with a minor surgical procedure and they couldn't so on Monday we have to see a plastic surgeon....fun.

My hubby's back is getting worse despite the surgery and his PTSD is not doing very well either. I wish I could share more with you all about the details, how PTSD affects the family, how life is not all merry and rosey when they come back from war and how hard it is because PTSD is "invisible". I really think more awareness needs to be brought to the subject but my husband is very private about these things and so I will respect his wishes....

Stay with me, I'm trying to keep up. I want you all to know how very much all of you mean to me. You guys, this blog....give me focus and give me a get away outside the struggles of my everyday life. I love every email and comment I get and I am very thankful to have you all.

Jenny

Book Review: Organic Gardening

2011-03-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

What can I say, when I get into a subject it consumes me! I just finished up with "Organic Gardening" by Geoff Hamilton. This is one hefty book! I can't believe they fit so much information on gardening into one book! I have to say that I am totally in love with the bright, glossy, vivid pictures through out the book, they are so colorful and happy. I love that I not only know the name of certain things (such as Green Compost and Spent Mushroom Compost) but thanks to those pictures I also know what I am looking for when I go to the gardening store. I'm thrilled at being show pictures of the different soil types rather than just trying to picture it from the authors description. I could go on and on about the photos and illustrations, it really really helps not only to make the book more exciting but it also helps me to figure out what I am doing!

This book goes much farther into topics such as soil and soil improvement then any other gardening book I have ever read.

The chapters in this book are

The Organic Way

The Soil- explaining exactly what soil is, different types and how to manage it.

Soil Improvement- This is a fabulous chapter with instruction on how to make your own compost bins, different kinds of compost and information on conditioning soil. I never know soil was so complex!

Fertilizers- This was a chapter that I found invaluable. I always felt lost when people would talk about the acid and alkaline levels in their soil and no book has ever really helped me to understand it. Other books would tell me what levels I needed but I never knew why. I love that this book explains what each major element does for a plant and the signs you will see in your plant if it has too much of one and is deficient in another.

Organic Pest Control and Disease- Another chapter of extreme interest for me, especially since something was eating my plant's leaves last year! I would have loved more information about companion plants in this chapter but overall it was a very informative chapter. Showing drawings of different pests, information on controlling all of the little critters and bugs that like to help themselves to your garden goodies. General information on garden diseases. I will definitely be referencing this chapter this gardening season.

Organic Weed Control- This is not something I have to worry too much about seeing as I am doing a container garden but I did look through it for those of you who will be doing traditional gardens. I think its totally cool that they show you how to prevent your neighbors weeds from sneaking under the fence to get into your garden. That never would have even occurred to me! There is an illustrated page of harmful weeds that should be removed from your garden but there are good weeds that you should leave in ( I didn't know this) and there are wonderful large colored pictures that show you which ones to keep.

Planning Your Garden-This section is definitely for someone with a bit more space than just a patio but it was absolutely dreamy to read about and day dream about my dream garden on day. This chapter talks about pathways, fencing, ponds, the general layout and how to draw it out on grid paper.

The Ornamental Garden- This is more for the home owner (and again I had a fabulous time fantasizing about my some day home) It covers lawns, hedges, ornamental trees and bushes. Wonderful pictures of trees, I have discovered then Autumn Cherry Tree which looks like a weeping willow with gorgeous white flowers. Flowers, plants, plants and flowers by season, Annuals, Biennials, climbing plants, aquatic plants....seriously...everything you could think of!

The Container Garden-I have to admit that I was disappointed with this chapter, it was a very small chapter and I didn't read anything that I didn't already know.

The Vegetable Garden-This chapter is absolutely overwhelming, there is so much information in it that you really have to take time to absorb it. In a nutshell it teaches you about crop rotation, preparing vegetable beds, protecting your crops from cold, choosing what to grow, cultivating all kinds of different vegetables and teaches about pests and diseases. Again you will find fabulous colorful pictures (which I will constantly look at because they make me want a salad rather than a cookie lol!) There is a section about each type of vegetable with information about the varieties, soil and site, sowing and planting, deep beds, maintenance,harvesting, pests and diseases and at the very bottom of the information is a chart that lets you know the planting and harvesting times.

The Fruit Garden-I don't have room to grow fruit trees (although I am hoping to eventually by some dwarf trees that I can grow inside. This section of the book gives you information on selecting plants, planting and training the trees, cultivation, different types fruit trees, cultivation and pests and diseases.

The Herb Garden- another one of my great loves -herbs! I absolutely love this section of the book. Tons of information on each herb along with pictures. Information on maintaining an herb garden-watering, weeding, pruning, thinning and propagation and storing herbs.

Greenhouse Gardening- Probably not something I will have this year although I was hoping to. Next year I may have a small one on the patio. Information on how to choose a greenhouse, the shapes and materials etc. Heating the greenhouse, caring for your plants, deciding what to grow and taking care of pests and diseases.

Basic Techniques-A great chapter for the beginner like me. Different tools, plant supports, cultivation techniques . The thing I liked reading about the most was watering because I ALWAYS either under water or over water, I never get it just right. I also like how they showed some tools that can be made at home.

Propagation Techniques- Probably not something that I will be doing this year but this chapter covers propagation from seed and other methods of propagation such as propagation by division and layering.

That last chapter is The Gardening Year-This chapter is invaluable, it has charts by season what you need to do for whichever type of gardening you are doing whether it be greenhouse or ornamental.

Definitely a great reference book to add to your gardening library although you will most likely feel overwhelmed at first by the magnitude of information!

Book Review: Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook

2011-03-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

You all know that I am very into my garden this year and I was thrilled when I got "Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook" I will tell you that at first I was a little bit intimidated because its so full of information and I actually put off reading it for a few days because I felt overwhelmed. Once I did start reading it I nearly kicked myself for not cracking this book open right away. It is so well written and so well organized , seriously, all you have to do is follow the directions, they have done the gardening leg work. This isn't a book that will tell you which plant is compatible with which and what shouldn't be planted with what, but it does have tons of other information such as pests, fertilizing, starting sprouts etc. I also love that in the back of the book it gives you an idea of the last frost date in cities around the country to help guesstimate yours.

I really enjoy how the book is set up. At the top of the page it will say how many weeks before or after average frost date. For example "10-15 weeks before average frost date" and then it will state the tasks that you need to do. All you have to do is read through the rest of the chapter as they elaborate on the things that were listed.

I wish that they had put a bit more information about container gardening in the book but over all I really did love this book, I wish I had gotten it in the fall rather than in the late winter to allow myself to plan a bit more (but the book wasn't published until Jan 2011 lol). I will definitely be keeping this book as a reference for many many years to come.

Coffee Barbeque Sauce

2011-03-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

I ripped this recipe page out of a magazine a couple of years ago and just recently tried it and oh my gosh people, its amazing!! Seriously, I don't think I will ever try another BBQ sauce recipe, this is just delicious.

1 Medium Onion, Chopped
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
8 Garlic Cloves, Minced
2 Cups Ketchup
1 Cup Cider Vinegar
1 Cup Honey
1/2 Cup Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Strong Brewed Coffee
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted the salt because I figured the soy sauce had enough)
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a large saucepan, saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes longer. Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 35-45 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring occasionally.

Now what I did with this amazing sauce was put it over a nice beef brisket in a slow cooker, it was soooooo good.

Growing Basil & Chives

2011-03-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

BASIL

Incompatible: Snap peas, beans, Keep them far from eachother

Companion: Tomato

Needs:
Full Sun
Light Fertilizer
Water: Low, evenly moist

Pinch stems early and often to stimulate bushy growth.

Greek Columnar Basil (O. Basilicum) is great for year round harvest and to be grown indoors in cold climates.

CHIVES

Incompatible: beans, peas

Companion: Carrots, celery, grape, tomato, rose

Grolaw Chives were developed for indoor growing

Full sun- Light Shade

Light fertilizer

Water: Average

Growing Tomatoes

2011-03-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share some tips that I've picked up from research tomato growing.

Incompatible plants- Corn, dill, fennel, kohlrabi and potatoes

Companion plants- All Brassicas, carrots, celery, chive, cucumber, marigold, onion, peas, basil

Basil not only keeps pests away but also improves growth.

Remove lower leaves on leggy plants before planting, bury bottom few inches of stem. Mix a slow release fertilizer into the dirt during planting.

Not a ton of information for you but I will try to keep you all in the loop and blog step by step my way through my garden this year...not a promise because my RA has been kicking my butt as far as exhaustion and is unpredictable but that is my plan.

Garden Planning in Action

2011-02-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

First Step: Gather Supplies

Well I got my inexpensive raised beds in the mail from Amazon as well as my Herb stack pot, I will get them up and take pictures when I am ready to use them but from what I can tell they are awesome, I might actually buy one or two more raised beds, can't go wrong for $15! I also picked up some starter trays, I'm not sure if thats exactly what you call them- maybe one of my more garden savvy readers can let me know. Its a little plastic tray with little cubicles to plant seeds in and a plastic cover to help it stay warm. Last year I used my own dirt in them but this year I got the type that have their own starter dirt and fertilizer in them.

Second Step: Research

My next step was to research the plants that I intend to grow, their fertilizer, water and sun needs as well as plants that are incompatible with them and companion plants.

Incompatibles-Can steal the nutrients or attract pests that are detrimental to your other plants

Companions- Attract beneficial insects, improve the the taste and/or growth of the other plant.

This is the section I will be focusing on this week for you all. I will post just for the plants I am intending you plant but if you are planting a different vegetable/herb and would like information on that please let me know, I have the books right here next to me and can let you know.

Step 3: Determine Last Frost Date, Determine when I should start my seeds

I have to check with my local Cooperative Extension to find out when the last frost date is predicted for my area and then research to find out how long before the frost date each type of plant seed needs to be started.

Step 4: Order my greenhouse and lights

This is not something that is absolutely necessary but after having seedlings all over my kitchen table I have decided to buy a nice little greenhouse. Nothing fancy, something compact but at least 60 inches tall and I will also buy one or two compact fluorescent work light to mount over the plants to supplement the sunlight needs. Once the weather is nicer I can put it outside and use it to harden off my plants.

Harden off: slowly get them acclimated to the outside weather by placing the plants outside for a little while each day, slowly increasing the time.

Step 5: Start my seeds and order my fertilizers and my dirt (or I may go to my local gardening store, depends on the selection)

I will get into that all another time though : )

Is yogurt still safe to eat after the expiration date? and other questions

2011-02-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article on yahoo about pantry staples that never go bad and the article mentioned a site called Still Tasty which I went right over and checked out, this is how I find a lot of cool sites, sometimes its a wild goose chase but somtimes-like now , I find a site that I will use over and over again. I like this one so much I thought I'd pass it on. All you do is enter a food and it will tell you how long it is safe to eat and the best way to store it.

Spring Cleaning

2011-02-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

It was very nice here the other day which got me thinking about spring cleaning, its just around the corner! Living in a part of the country that gets a lot of snow my biggest job is to get my rugs nice and clean. Every fall I say I'm going to keep a basket of slippers near the door and have people take off their shoes before they come in and every year it doesn't happen. So needless to say lots of dirt, snow and salt get tracked all through the house. So its essential to have a really good vacuum cleaner and steam cleaner. My vacuum cleaner is on its last leg and has been for awhile now so I need to get a new one soon. I found this site with discount vacuum cleaners, I was looking at the Dyson on there, I don't think I've ever seen that one at a lower price. I've heard good things about Dyson and I've heard that they really aren't worth the money as well. I really want to get a vacuum that will last me a looooong time. It needs to be light weight , have a hepa filter and be an upright, it also needs to be great at picking up pet hair. The biggest problem I have now is that I will vacuum a couple of times and then steam clean and then my steam cleaner will get clogged because it sucked up all of the pet hair that my vacuum missed.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Where oh where has The Retro Housewife been...

2011-02-24T00:11:00.000-08:00

Hardly any posts over the past 10 days or so-sorry about that! Not only is it school vacation up here but my daughter just had her sixth birthday, can you believe it? Where does the time go?? We've been busy with birthday parties and furniture deliveries ( we bought her a new bed and new mattresses all around). The RA has decided that it wanted to join the party too lol. I've been planning my garden and ordering the necessities (and the non necessities hee hee), been doing some shopping at the craft store in hopes to get my Etsy store up and going again. I've been reading some books so that hopefully I can get Book Review Monday going again and I've been gearing up for spring cleaning. Wow I've been doing a lot, more than I have been doing since the RA diagnoses I think thanks to my amazing holistic doctor and her lovely B12 shot....turns out that my body can't absorb B12 through the gastrointestinal tract so that accounts for a lot of my fatigue, she also gave me a list of different supplements which I am going to go out and buy so hopefully I will feel even better. I feel so productive!

So what is coming up on The Retro Housewife?

Gardening Series...probably in a couple weeks
Book Reviews
Spring cleaning (my vacuum cleaner is on its last leg so yup I've been researching and screen shopping again)
I am hoping to do some craft and sewing tutorials...the reason I say I am hoping is because I'm not sure if I can...I'm not much of a teacher, I never work from a pattern and I just wing it. By the way, here is a picture of the birthday outfit I made for Isa. I just did iron ons on the shirt but I made the skirt myself...took 5 hours but I did it, so proud of myself!

Gardening Series

2011-02-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

As you all know , I am starting to plan my garden. From some of the comments I've gotten it seems that many of you want to start gardens as well, especially container gardens but are overwhelmed and don't know where to start. I am doing a lot of research for my own garden and I was thinking that I would love to do a gardening series and help others out. I would absolutely love it if you all would send it your gardening questions so that I can help you out in the gardening series as I do my own research :)

Garden Planning

2011-02-16T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well it was 30 degrees here today WOO HOO!!! Those of you in warmer climates must think I'm nuts but just a week or so ago it was -31 without the windchill so nearly 60 degrees warmer is welcome! I'm sure that we will have one or two more snowstorms before winter gives up until next year. But with spring around the corner it is now time to start figuring out my garden. Because I don't own my home I can't have a traditional garden, last year I used pots but it really was quite a pain, my plants would get root bound and it just seemed that there was never enough room. I was planning on having my husband build me a raised garden bed this year but his back seems to be getting worse rather better so after much debate I have decided to go with these temporary garden containers. They are actually quite large, 38"x20"10" I believe so I will have plenty of room and I have also already devised a way to make them into a privacy fence. We share a large patio with our neighbors and sometimes you just want to have some privacy so I have decided that I will but one of these in between our spaces and then put a trellis in the back of each (dug down into the dirt in the planter) and then I will plant my pole beans there, as they grow up the trellis they will create a bit of privacy.

I've learned a bit from my mistakes last year.

I have decided this year I am going to stick to just a few things planted and then plant many. Last year I picked too many types of plants but not many of each so I was lucky to get a strawberry here and a few beans there, never enough for a meal. This year I will plant Sugar Snap Peas, Green Beans, Tomatoes and Strawberries. For herbs I will plant Lemon Balm, Lavender, Chamomile, Mint, Chives, Basil and a Stevia plant. Oh BTW, don't know if I will have the money for this but I think a lot of you would LOVE it, it looks like such a space saver for growing herbs. Its called a Stack-A-Pot, pretty cool huh?

Last year I started most of my plants from seed but it was a huge pain in the butt because I didn't have much room for them inside so I had them all over our kitchen surfaces and was constantly having to move them. This year I am going to buy my strawberry, tomatoes and some herbs as young plants and then the others that I have a hard time finding around here such as Stevia and beans I will start from seed.

My dream is to one day have a house with a three season porch so that I can have the whole thing outfitted with gardening stuff so I can start all of my plants from seed.

If any of you have ever used the stack a pot or raised garden bed that I am looking at I would love to hear how they worked out for you!

Is God Listening?

2011-02-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

I've been going through some things lately, praying a lot but I haven't felt anything coming back to me. Sometimes when you pray you get that instant peace-"God heard me" sort of thing going on and that is the best but many times you pray and thats it, thats all....you just pray and it can be very frustrating because it doesn't feel like your prayers are being heard, sometimes it can even feel like God doesn't care. Today as I was driving my husband to the VA Hospital I passed a church and on the sign out front it said "Coincidence is God's way of working anonymously" and I let out a little giggle and a quiet sigh because I knew that God was speaking to me and that he had heard my prayers. I don't believe in coincidence, I believe that any "coincidence" is God working but I needed to be reminded and he did that.

I'm not sure why I am writing this tonight...perhaps someone out there needs to hear it and if it is you then please don't give up. God DOES hear you, he doesn't always answer our prayers in OUR time, when WE decide we need an answer. He answers them in his time, the right time. He may not always answer our prayers in the way that we want or expect but rest assured his answer is always the one that is best for us. Keep praying, he hears you.

Stuff.....babbling

2011-02-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

I know that many of you can relate to this....you get some money that you weren't expecting and you have the best of intentions to use it as wisely as possible, maybe pay off a bill or put some money into savings but then you get the wants....oh I've been wanting this for a long time ..and then you start justifying it in your mind...and then oh gee...I could really use this and before you know it it you have almost spent all of your money in your mind and you figure shoot well since I'm only going to have a $100 left there is no point putting it towards this or that bill since it won't really make a dent in it so I'm going to get......Then there you are surrounded with all of your stuff and beating yourself up, wishing you had never gotten that stupid idea in the first place but still unwilling to part with your new stuff....

What is this hold that stuff has over us? Seriously it turns the smartest of us stupid! So obviously from the passion of this post you can tell that I didn't make the smartest decision recently and I'm beating myself up...I won't go into it, some things should remain private but I know that many people can relate to this. I'm just wondering what exactly it is that I am trying to fill and why I can't be thankful and satisfied with what I have because I have so much, I am truly blessed. You always think if I get this or that I will be happy and I won't need anything else, if I just get that matching so and so for my bedroom then it will be complete...haha NO! Thats just what we tell ourselves to justify the purchase....

Seriously, many of us (myself included) are like children, we want it NOW NOW NOW!!! Why can't we wait? Why can't we save up? Why the instant gratification? Shoot half of the fun is the anticipation and when you make stupid money decisions you just feel bad in the end and feel more weight on your shoulders but even though we know this we still make the wrong decisions.

I've read about people who have gone for a year without spending on anything but the necessities. I don't know how they do it, it certainly is not something I could do or even desire to do. I think many of us go without and try to be ultra responsible with our money and then when we have a little extra money we go hog wild. I think the problem is not always about emptiness or unhappiness, its about lack of balance.

I wish I had some great epiphany to share with you...some answers, some advice...I don't...I'm still looking for my balance and trying not to beat myself up over a stupid decision that I no longer can do anything about. I just continue to pray to God to help me find balance.

Veggie Fritters

2011-02-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is a super delicious and super healthy breakfast (or midnight snack!)
This isn't my recipe, I copied it down from a book but of course I cannot remember what book it was.

Veggie Fritters

1 Zucchini
1 Potato
1 Carrot
1 Onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 T olive oil
2 t salt
2 eggs, beaten

Either Julienne the Zucchini, Potato and Carrot (fancy word for cut into matchsticks) or you can shred them with a food processor or box grater. (I find my daughter likes them better if I shred them), toss together with the onions. Add salt and mix. (the recipe also said to add the eggs now but I found it worked better the way I am going to tell you), Let the veggies sit for 10 minutes and then drain excess liquid from them, add the eggs and mix well.

Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat, using a 1/4 c measuring cup place mounds of mixture in pan and flatten out so that fritters are about 3 inches in diameter. Cook 2-4 minutes on each side (the book said 4 but I found that was a bit too long) Flip and cook again on the other side for the same amount of time.

The book had this served up with mayonnaise and dill but I choose ketchup because its not fatty and my daughter likes it better.

** I did have trouble with the fritters staying together, the first ones came out but the last few didn't...I'm sure its just a matter of practice as I had never made them before.

Just a thought from the chopping block

2011-02-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

I was standing at my kitchen island, carefully chopping veggies and thinking tonight. I do some of my best thinking when I am chopping, somehow I find chopping very soothing...and I suppose it is sort of dangerous to think too deeply as I chop lol. But anyway, I was thinking about how I couldn't wait for life to calm down a bit so we could get settled back into a routine, as I chopped and wondered why life seems to never calm down long enough for routine I had a bit of an epiphany.... Maybe life just doesn't slow down and pause so you can make a routine, maybe you just have to push yourself into a routine and it is the routine itself that makes life feel like it has slowed down. Nothing about life has changed really but the routing makes chaos seem a little bit more organized....haha that makes me think of my military life days...the term "organized chaos" was frequently heard back then!

Book Review: Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise commendable Things from Times Gone By

2011-02-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Can I please just tell you how much I love this book?! It is one of the most charming books I've had the pleasure of reviewing in a long time. It isn't the sort of book that has a plot or a storyline, it is simply a book FULL of wonderful things of gone by that just aren't seen anymore. I really like that because you don't have to have a lot of time to sit down and read, seriously if you only have 15 seconds then its fine, its not deep, it doesn't take a lot of concentration or emotions, its just fun and happy.

Things and people are listed with a summary of what they are such as this one (one of my favorites)

"Brown-Paper-And-Twine-Wrapped-Packages- Fraulein Maria loved them in the sounds of music, and so do I. They are a democratic approach to gift wrapping-and terribly mysterious as well. there could be anything inside from a diamond necklace to a slab of fish inside."

Its fun to go down memory lane , to read about things that you forgot about or things that you never knew about in the first place. I plan to get a notebook and as I read it again to write down all of the things I find incredibly charming and try to incorporate them into my life.

By the way I also adore the book cover, I run my fingers over it constantly , its smooth and cool but wherever there is design or print it is indented...I'm not sure what it is a called, sort of like the opposite of embossing.

This is a book to buy and keep on your coffee table as it will be quite a conversation starter!

New England Boiled Dinner (Betty Crocker Cooking with the calendar)

2011-02-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

3-4 lb corned brisket or beef
8 small onions
8 whole carrots
4 potatoes, halved or quartered
2 turnips, cubed (if desired)
1 green cabbage cut into wedges

Place beef in heavy kettle. Cover with hot water. Cover tightly and simmer 3 1/2 to 4 hours., until tender. About 35 min. before meat is done, skim off excess fat and add onions, carrots, potatoes and turnips. Cover and cook 20 min. Add cabbage and cook another 10 to 15 min.

Banana Chiffon Pie (Cooking with the Calendar)

2011-02-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

9 inch baked pie shell
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (1 tbsp)
2 tbsp. cold water
2/3 c sugar
1 c mashed ripe bananas (2 or 3)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 to 3/4 tsp nutmeg
3- egg white meringue (see recipe that follows)
1/2 c whipping cream, whipped

3 Egg White Meringue Recipe

Beat 3 egg whites with 1/4 t cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually beat in 6 tbsp sugar, a little at a time. Continue beating until stiff.

Dissolve gelatin in cold water. Blend sugar, banana and salt in saucepan. Place over medium to low heat for about 5 min. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin and nutmeg. Cool until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon. Fold in meringue. Carefully blend in whipped cream. Pour into cooled baked pie shell and refrigerate until set. Garnish with whipped cream and banana slices (dipped in lemon juice to prevent discoloration)