Well, Hello and Merry Christmas

I have been so touched by the comments and e mails many of you have sent me! It has really helped me get through a rough patch, to know that so many of you enjoy and look forward to my posts! I have not died, or worse, went over the deep end and started living a lavish lifestyle. My life has just simply spiraled out of control, and I found myself needing to focus on my family, for a while. Never fear, everyone is doing fine, and as soon as the holidays are over I will be back to share what's been going on in my life. I am also excited to share alot of fun, and uber cheap ideas that I have been knee deep in the last few months. I also want to share ways your can make healthy lifestyle changes, and not kill your budget. Plus, my son made me feel a little guilty the other day, when he asked me with some concern, "Mom when are you going to start blogging again? I liked clicking on your blog, and reading our weekly menu. Then I knew what we were having for dinner!". Apparently, he hasn't realized it has been hanging on the fridge, written on a piece of.....PAPER!

I want to wish you all a VERY HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and look forward to catching up with all my FABULOUS bloggy friends, after the New Year! I love you all, you are a great inspiration to me!

Thrift Store Fabulous

I love, love, LOVE thrift stores!  There are several thrift stores in my area, but lately I have found Goodwill to have the best prices. I love that our Goodwill is clean, organized, and the employees are very friendly and helpful. I also like that every week a certain colored tag is 50% off. This week's tag is red. I stopped by looking for jeans for the kids for school. I didn't find any in their sizes that would work, but I did find some fabulous things, anyway!
 

Today's treasures included:

• A vintage quart milk bottle - $.99
• A glass cake stand  - $2.49 (it was a red tag item)

These two items are going to be a birthday gift.

• A small vintage Pyrex container (it is going to hold sponges on my kitchen sink) - $.99
• E bay for Dummies (Dear Hubby wants to start selling some of our unwanted items on E bay, and doesn't have a clue how to start) - $1.49 (it was a red tag item)
• Three pairs of shorts for the boys - 2 pairs were $3.99 each, one was $1.49 (red tag)
• A brand new Target Home brand fabric shower curtain (I have been looking for a new shower curtain for the upstairs bathroom. The one that we are currently using is 14 years old and pretty worn out) - $7.99

 Today grand total spent was $25.13. Not bad considering the shower curtain alone would have cost at least that bought new at the store. I do love a good treasure hunt! Have you found any fabulous items at the thrift store, lately?

This Week's Menu 7/24

(this week's Bountiful Basket)

Summer just seems to be flying by! I can't believe that it is the last week of July. It seems like we were just celebrating the Fourth! Sigh, now it time to start thinking about back to school shopping. My children are really not pleased every time I mention  S-C-H-O-O-L. I get a collective glare of pig eyes every time that CERTAIN word comes out of my mouth. You would think it was a four letter word! Anyway, taking inventory of the boy's closet is number one on the to do list this week. This week I am also attempting to liven up the menu a little bit. I have been perusing Taste of Home and Cook's Illustrated magazine.  I found several good recipes to try. I mean, I guess it's pointless to subscribe to cooking magazines if you don't actually cook any of the recipes out of them! This week we will be eating the following culinary masterpieces (snicker! snicker!):

Sunday
BBQ Chicken
Green Beans, Potatoes, and Bacon
Banana Blueberry Muffins
Water Melon
Mango Crisp

Monday
Migas ( Taste of Home recipe)
Flour Tortillas
Cantaloupe and Watermelon
Lettuce and Tomatoes
Leftover Mango Crisp

Tuesday

Three Cheese Baked Ziti (Taste of Home recipe)
Easy Breadsticks
Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Wednesday
Ham and Cheese Paninis
Slices Peaches
Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Thursday
Chicken Fried Steak with Country Gravy (Cook's Illustrated)
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower

 

Friday
Leftover Night

Saturday
Grilled Hot Dogs
Baked Beans
Chips
Fruit of Some Kind

What beat the heat recipes have you been cooking at your house?

History Always Repeats Itself

As I was hanging this particularly LARGE  load of "delicates" outside to dry this afternoon, I was struck by the thought....

That "History is destined to always repeat itself!".

P.S. Can you tell that I live in a predominately male household?

Making Scrub Sponges Last Longer

I really like to use Scotch Bright scrub sponges to wash dishes (and scrub dirty counters). 

I can usually buy them cheaply with coupons (especially at Costco).

 Two make the sponge last twice as long, I cut it in half with a sharp pair of scissors.

One half of the sponge is just the right size (especially for kid's size hands) to wash dirty dishes. I always place my sponges on the top rack of the dishwasher when I wash a load of dishes in it to disinfect them.

You need to keep sponges dry between uses, so that they don't become a breeding ground for bacteria. An old plastic berry basket in the drying rack works great for hold drying sponges (and the lids to water bottles, so that they don't don't fall down the garbage disposal).

This little trick my not save me a ton of money, but every little bit helps!

Baking Cheesecake

I like to bake cheese cake. Cheese cake is kind of my signature dessert. I bake it for gifts, fundraisers, birthdays, and holidays (and once in awhile, just for funzies). I will let you in on a little secret..........making (and baking a cheesecake) is very easy. When I decided to conquer # whatever on my bucket list, and try my hand at making a real, live baked in the oven level 5 (in my head) dessert; I did a little research. Now I will let you in on another secret. To get a perfect cheesecake, you need to water bath it. Water bathing will give you a light, fluffy cheesecake without cracks in the top. To water bath a dessert in the oven, simply means that:

• You place a rack in the bottom of a pan larger than your spring form pan. I use four canning jar lids placed in a "circle".
• You place the spring form pan (or dessert mold) on the rack in the pan.
• Fill the larger pan with a couple inches of warm water.
• To make it easier I place the large pan on the oven rack before I fill it with water (just don't pour water on the cheesecake batter).
• Always remember to step back when you open the oven door to retrieve your cheesecake. The steam build up will melt you mascara if you are standing to close (I learned the hard way!)

Water bathing will also produce a soggy, wet crust (because some water will seep into the bottom of the spring form pan). To remedy this little problem, most recipes will tell you to cover the bottom of the spring form pan with  a double layer of aluminum foil. That has been my usually method, but it's kind of wasteful to use that much foil, and I have still had the soggy crust issue. However, I was reading in a Cook's Illustrated magazine (love, love, LOVE Cook's Illustrated), that if you use an oven roasting bag instead of aluminum foil, it eliminates the soggy crust problem. I tried it a couple of days ago, and it worked great. The best part is, that if you hang the oven bag up to dry when your done, you can reuse it for the same purpose; later.

Open up the oven bag (I used the large size that will hold up to an 8 pound roast), and roll down the sides of the bag. Place the spring form pan in the center of the bag. Roll the sides up a couple of inches above the rim of the pan.

Place the covered spring form pan on the rack in the larger pan. Fill the larger pan up with a couple inches of warm water. Use warm water! Cold water will cause a temperature fluctuation that affects the baking time, and it could shatter the glass pan.

It is amazing how finding a handy, dandy tip in a magazine makes life a little easier!  Now that I have inspired you all to add cheesecake baking to your bucket list, you can find my tried and true recipe HERE. I guarantee that you will be the hit of the party if you "whip" one up for your next get together. Not to mention you will achieve mythical status among friends and family (No one has to know how easy it is)!  Happy baking!

A Really Great Birthday Gift And Line Drying Laundry

I really have a fabulous Husband! I mentioned in an earlier post that He had been hinting about my really great birthday gift. He was right, it IS really great, and just what I wanted! I was at Costco about six weeks ago and saw this fabulous stainless steel drying rack. I didn't buy it at the time thinking that maybe it would go on sale or that there would be a coupon for it in the next month's coupon book (always the cheap skate). A couple of week's later when I went back to Costco, with every intention of buying the drying rack, they were sold out!! Stink! They have been sold out every week, since! Well, on my birthday my Dear Hubby, giddily surprised me with.............. a very much sought after (by me) drying rack ( He snuck to Costco, the day after he heard me mention how much I wanted the drying rack, bought it, and had been hiding it ever since!). Of course, this week Costco has them in stock, and they are on sale, but who cares!

My present couldn't have come at a better time, because:

A) I try to line dry most of our clothes from late spring until late fall (or when snow flies, which ever comes first) to save money on the power bill. By not using the dryer, I can justify using the air conditioning ( I am not a happy camper when I am hot and sweaty).

B) My makeshift clothes line that I have been using for several years broke, and I do not have a replacement awning, yet. I don't have a place in my back yard to put a permanent clothes line, so every year I have to make do.

I have strung a clothesline around the Quick Shade awning that is sitting on our deck (to shade the French doors from the blazing afternoon and evening sun). It has worked well so far, but it is not big enough to hold more than one load of laundry. Laundry day at our house consists of way more than one load of laundry! Now that I have my new, swanky drying rack, I can hang all the shirts on plastic hangers and place them on the rack to dry (which is handy for putting them away when they are dry). It is also has plenty of rungs to hang towels, undies, and socks on.

Not to mention, it makes a great place to set the clean laundry as I take it off the line and fold it.

My clothes pin bag that I made out of an old kid's T shirt also disappeared this year, too. Luckily, I was able to find a new clothespin bag and clothespins at our local dollar store (every Tuesday they have $.88 Tuesday, so one bag and three packages of clothes pins cost $3.52).

I also read on The Frugal Girl's blog that if you toss shirts, undies, towels, and socks in the dryer on the air dry setting (which costs hardly anything to do, because heating the dryer is what costs money)  for a few minutes before you hang them to line dry, they will be much softer and wrinkle free. I gave it a try and it worked great! I just toss the clothes in the dryer, on the no heat setting, while I put another batch in the washing machine. Then I remove and hang the wet shirts on hangers, and put the rest of the clothes in a basket to carry outside to hang up.

P.S. I love line drying clothes. It makes me slow down from my daily craziness, and gives me time to hold still and think.  Hanging wet laundry on the line and watching it blow in the breeze is kind of like going to my "happy place".