Frugal Challenge Update and Making Your Own Sauce

In an effort to cut back on sodium in prepared foods, I decided to try something I saw on Frugal Makes Cents

This is really so easy I don't know why I didn't try it before.  Basically I just dumped into my large crockpot:

3 cans of crushed tomatoes

Dash of red wine

tbl. spoon of sugar

1 package of turkey Italian sausage

Chopped mushrooms (using up oldies in the fridge)

1/2 c. diced onion

some garlic powder

some good shakes of Italian seasoning

Turned on the crockpot all day.

Until I had this:

Separated into 4 batches and froze. This will give me enough sauce for at least a month for our spaghetti and pizza dinners. I estimate that it cost me about $7 to make this. I could do it cheaper if I find the sausage marked down. I will keep my eye out to stock up.

Another great discovery and you may already know this. I love coffee but don't often indulge myself at Starbucks because I can practically buy a bag of good coffee (with coupons and a deal) for the price of a cup at Starbucks. So imagine my delight when I recvd an email from them letting me know that I could use my change for a Starbucks card. I save change for other things but you know how those machines in the market charge almost 10%? Well if you choose a SB card than you don't have to pay any of the fee. How cool is that? I think I will save a small change jar just for future SB cards. I haven't gone down yet to try it but I will let you know how it works. Here is the info they sent me.

Don't let loose change clutter up your life - turn it into a Starbucks Card FOR FREE at participating Coinstar® locations! When you use Coinstar® to get a new Starbucks Card, there's NO FEE and you save yourself the hassle of sorting, counting and rolling your extra change.

Find a Coinstar®  No other major news to report. I am reworking our budget. This is one area of our finances I struggle with as my husband's paychecks fluctuate hugely depending on overtime worked and I find it hard to work this into a budget. Dave Ramsey has some good ideas so I am reading his book right now. Linking to: The Saved Quarter                    Coastal Charm                    Rednesday with Sue Loves Cherries                    The Thrifty Home                     Alphabe-Thursday                     Life As Mom

Morning Addiction

I admit I am addicted to my morning cup of coffee. I like it sweet with my flavored creamer of choice. Hazelnut by Coffee Mate. I may like cheap creamer but I must have good coffee. Our favorite is Morning Fog Lifter. If you live anywhere on the California Central Coast and get this coffee, you should. It is made by SLO Roasted Coffee and whenever we head up to Cambria, we alway stock up to get us through until the next trip. Just the name lets you know it will wake you up but it is the best coffee I have ever tried.

One other must have is that my coffee must be steaming hot. This morning my hubby took my favorite Starbucks commuter mug and I am forced to drink it out of a mug.

My daughter, the nursing student, tried to explain my addiction to me this morning and I just looked at her and said, "Huh?" I hadn't had my coffee yet.

Old and New Again

This was one of my grandmother's aprons. I have two of them. She was born in 1898 and died in 1984. My aunt, a talented seamstress, made all of her aprons and I have always loved the colors of this one. It is in need of some repair from hanging and a good soak but I treasure it. Grandma always wore an apron and I wear one whenever I am in the kitchen. Sloppy cook.

Clearance Susan Branch calendar. Love her illustrations. My recent thrift store find. I needed a new bread box and snatched this one. I decided to paint it as it has some stains on top.

I used some leftover paint and distressed it a little. Not sure I like it so dark but for a $1.25 it is good enough and hold lots of bread and bagels in there.

Linking to:

Ruby Tuesday

Today's Creative Blog

BNOTP Link Party

Coastal Charm

Brambleberry Cottage

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Diane 1876

These Boots

These boots may be ready for the trash for some but for me these boots that were my husband's, represent a whole lot of what is good in my life. My husband works harder than any man I know. Now, before I offend anyone, I know there are lots of people out there working hard like doctors and our military guys,  but for me and the people I know, my husband works so hard for us. He is a lineman for our utility here and he works long, hard hours and many out of town. There is actually a poem called "The Lineman's Wife". In it there is a line about how when everyone else is getting ready for bed, safe in there homes, sheltered from the storm, our husbands our heading out on a call. It is so true. Mostly I guess this post is for him. I want him to know how much I appreciate him. So back to the boots. These are some old boots that were once owned but my father in law. When hubby needed some new boots he went and pulled these out and said he'd wait as he knew the kids needed things for school and then he waited again as he knew it was Christmas. Finally, after Christmas, watching him actually try to sew these up, I told him it was time for a new pair. So when the new ones arrived I could not toss these, so I told him, "Honey I will plant flowers in your boots" And I did.

Update: I showed my hubby this post and he responded in his usual manner. He didn't say anything but just looked at me like, "Uh what should I say to her....and then....thanks."

Linking to:

Time Warp Wife

Ready for Spring

The problem with my rushing holidays and decorating so early is that I am ready to start decorating for the next holiday before the current one has passed. So here I am actually shopping the garden for spring decor to bring in the house. My favorite little shop has the cutest spring display up right now so I am trying to channel some of their cuteness. I say the word cute too much but I don't know what else to use as it is perfect for so many things. Cute bunnies, cute clothes, cute babies. You know what I mean?

This little bird bath was a $3 find but has rusted some being outside but I think I like it this way better.

Don't you love moss? I just adore it. My patio is shade all winter so it gets mossy green and I love the color.
I nurture it like a plant and don't wash it off until the summer sun does that for me.

Linking to:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Making the World Cuter

Between Naps on the Porch

A Stroll Thru Life

Yeah for the Rain

Yeah, the rain is back and so is cooler weather. We haven't had rain since New Years and it is a perfect day to snuggle up and take a nap and that is what I am about to do. My hubby is home and all my kids are in the house and I am going to listen to the rain and drift off. Enjoy your Sunday everyone.

Grab Button and Blog Love

I've been playing around with making myself a grab button and here is what I have come up with so far. And you can't laugh. Remember I am small time with a cheap camera.

and this one...

 So let me know what you think and be brutally honest. I am in no way a photographer and probably not much of a blogger but I love this blog thing. My hubby is gone a lot, so at night when it is quiet, I have the best time blogging and blog hopping and blog stalking my favorites. I get to chat with other folks with like minded pursuits and steal lots of great ideas on decorating and cooking. What is not to love?

Super Easy Valentine Dessert

My daughter was having a friend come to spend the night, so I thought I would make a special Valentine themed dessert.

Here is all you need. Some pretzel rods, white chocolate chips and some sprinkles.

You just heat and melt the chips. I did mine in the microwave and the secret is to not heat them too much or you loose the smoothness of the chocolate. Heat and while the chips still have their shape start and keep stirring. The heat will melt them all and if you need to heat a few seconds more you can.

Then just coat the ends with the white chocolate and sprinkle on some super cute sprinkles and wa-la!

You have these. Aren't they cute? I cooled mine for a short bit in the fridge and we scarfed them all down after dinner. So yummy.

Don't you just love the little lips? I ran out today so after Valentine's Day I will watch for them on clearance at Target to stock up on for next year.

Linking to:
Sat. Showcase

Gardening Day Part Two

Okay we had our usual fun at the nursery. We visit all the little nooks and crannies. Wanted to share.
They do custom ponds so they have lots of Koi fish.

 One of my favorite areas has the ferns and tropicals. It is all mossy in there and cool.

These are the Love Birds. None would come close for a picture.

This is a Chinese Magnolia. The pink color I am used to seeing.

But look at this one. It was called a White Chinese Magnolia.

Here is the duck. He follows us around whenever we go. Quinn and him have a love/hate relationship. He gets close to her and she gets scared and in turn she scares him and then he chews us out. He was eating my Calendulas right off the cart.



See him giving us the biz!

Wanted to show you these as they are new this year. It is a black Scabiosa. I loved the deep color.

Hope you enjoyed. You never catch me at the mall but you will at the nursery. My shopping addiction. They were having a sale.

Linking to:
Tidymom
Bargain Hunting with Laurie
A Southern Daydreamer
A Place for Tea

A Gardening Day

If you live in Southern California you can pretty much garden throughout the year. My yard is really needing its annual cleaning out. I like to go through all the planters and cut back and tear out things and clean up all the leftovers. That's no fun though. I love flowers so I am going to the nursery today. We have a local nursery that has fish and birds and a duck and Quinn loves to go with me so that is what we have planned this morning.

I need lots more flowers for around the bird bath.

 I love to...

Corny I know!! Had to do it.

Linking to:

Chic on a Shoestring

Fingerprints on the Fridge

When the cats away...

Okay well I mentioned my hubby being out of town workin' and there is a definite bad side to it like:
I'm cold at night.
Something always breaks down when he's gone and then I have to act like I know what I'm doing and try to get it fixed.
My kids claim they are starving as I don't cook full meals when he is gone.
But there is a small good side to it like:
I don't have to cook full dinners and I can have these for dinner...

Yep, that's what we had yesterday at 3:30 in the afternoon for dinner because I just wanted them. Chocolate Chip pancakes. Now before you think I am a bad mother, I will let you know I cook dinner every night when hubby is in town and I don't mean frozen pizza. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I am trying to stretch a budget here so I make ours from scratch. Plus, I just like it. Something about rising dough that I love.
 Oh and here's a tip. When making pancakes put a plate under your batter bowl so you don't get those drips that dry like concrete on you counter tops. Then pop in the dishwasher with other dishes.

Then I ran off to my favorite store and snagged this from the clearance shelf.

Aint she cute?

So then I set about moving things around and tweaking my kitchen a little bit and here are the results. See when the cats away I can do what I want when I would normally be cooking dinner. Honey come home though cause I MISS YOU!!

So now I am having this for lunch because I had those pancakes for dinner yesterday.

See the little crayon scribbles on my table. Quinn likes to color.

Linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Friday Pretties
French Country Cottage
Brambleberry Cottage
My Romantic Home