Happy Fall From the Coop

I wanted to put a little fall color out for the chickens. The orange impatiens are here all the time but I added some white zinnias and rust mums by their coop for color.

I look at it all day long and I want to enjoy the flowers but they are for them. If they eat them then so be it. They never bother the impatiens so we will see.

The terra cotta pumpkin is old. Bought at a garden center about a decade ago.

Happy Fall from the Coop!

Linking to:
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Down Home Blog Hop
Tuesday Garden Party

Changes in the Kitchen

Two new stars spurred some changes in the kitchen. I am tweaking the shelves in the kitchen. I love red and green and put my old tins back in the kitchen where they belong.

The dinging room is more my prim side and the vintage greens never really went well in there.

The two stars $2.50 each in the Target dollar spot. You never know what you will find in there. I always cruise through it.

Simple and uncluttered. I am very happy with it.

I needed a clock in the kitchen. This red one was perfect. It is only plastic but looks great. $3.97 at Walmart. Love it. My hubby redid the shelf and put the clock where a wooden pig was before.

$8.97 was all I spent and love the changes to my shelves.

 I decided I will not bring any orange in here for fall. I think I will look for some little white pumpkins and that  will keep it simple and be less work to change over for Christmas. I am sharing this at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday and A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday.
Linking to:

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Coastal Charm

A Return To Loveliness

Go Play in the Closet

My husband and I have never much been ones to give over our whole house to toys. Our house is full of people and things and adding more toys and having them just stored out in view makes me crazy. We have had to be very creative to make room for our littlest one's toys. We had a corner in our den that housed her play kitchen but recently we really wanted to clean that corner up. We had a light bulb moment. What about this funny little closet in our dining room. Would the toy kitchen fit in there?

Sure enough it did. We tucked the stove in one corner. Take a look at the elephant hanging there. That cracked me up. My husband can't stand that big thing and hung it up to get it out of the way. Q loves it and calls it Bobby.

We hung her doll high chair on the door. She just wheels her shopping cart out and cooks up a storm.

This old dresser that used to be in my room was crammed into another section and now the drawers hold all her smaller toys like puzzles.

I am a firm believer in rotating toys and not having them visible all the time. When she gets something out she has not seen in a while it is like it is new to her again. We used to have a playroom with our first two girls and  toys would just be scattered everywhere and it would be overwhelming to me to clean up. They of course would be overwhelmed as well. It is much easier for them to clean up when they have one or two things out at a time.

The other day I told Q to go play in her closet and my husband and I laughed. It sounds terrible but she loves it. She has a chain pull to turn the light on and she goes in there and closes the door and has a blast. Of course this is not her only play area. She has toys in her room and some still in the den but this helped to really organize all the small things and tuck them out of sight.

You can see my other post on how we keep toys organized in the den here.

This kid has so many toys. She does not need any more. We had all the dolls and Barbies and trains from her sisters. Storing all this has been a challenge and I have to sneak when I thin things out. Do you have any great ideas for toy storage. I would love to hear them.

Linking to:
Pin It Made It Monday
BNOTP
Bowl full of Lemons

Sunny Simple Sunday

Saturday morning wishes!! This has become my grocery shopping day. Q and I head out early and do our shopping for the week. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Mine will not be exciting but I will be at home and that I love. Time to share what you have been up to this week. As always thank you for taking the time to join the party.

Knitted Chickens! I want one. Patty's Pretty Things Highlighted her trip to Pioneer Days. I wish we had things like this here in SoCal. Wonderful old time crafts and demonstrations. I just fell in love with these golden chickens.

This Blessed Life showed some highlights of her homestead. I just loved this. A real country girl and her family. Do you know what that is in the photo? Brand new baby bunnies. I have never seen them so tiny. Fascinating.

A corn stalk wreath. Be still my heart. I love this!! Must Love Junk highlighted a recent shopping excursion. Oh the vintage goodies she shared. My wallet would have been in trouble.

And the most viewed was Country Girl at Home shared her simple fall decor. Simple maybe but spectacular for sure. I just love this old stove of hers.

Link up time:

My Favorite Breakfast

After I drop the last kid at school and I walk in the house, I am usually starving. My new favorite breakfast is  something I really look forward to. Many days I will treat myself to a little breakfast and a fresh cup of coffee.

I put a new cup in the Keurig, my new fave is Starbucks Pike Place Roast. Boy is it good. Add some creamer and splenda and turn the little frying pan on.

I love egg in a hole or egg in a basket. Not sure of the official name. Generously butter your hot pan and cut a whole in the center of your bread. Drop an egg right in the center. Often it is a fresh warm egg I just collected from one of the hens. Throw that extra piece of bread in there too to crisp up in the butter. Add a little salt and pepper. Flip after about a minute.

Cook another minute or two on the other side. I sit at the table often with the lap top and have a nice breakfast just for me and a few minutes of peace before I start my daily chores.

Sharing with Claudia at Favorite Thing Saturday and Beautiful Sunday at Diane Writes.
Linking to:
BNOTP
Tweak It Tuesday

For Teacher

A little "happy first day of fall" gift my little one's teacher. We won't see her on that day of course so tomorrow will have to do.

I have my first PTA meeting at her school tomorrow. I am looking forward to it and to helping to make things special for the teachers at her school. I want to be on the baking committee. Do you think they have that?

Basket-Dollar section at Target
Candle-Bath and Body Works (on sale now 2 for $20)

Linking to:
Fantabulous Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Potpourri Friday
Home Sweet Home
Simple and Sweet Fridays
Farm Girl Friday
Weekend Whatever
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Fridays Unfolded
Thrifty Things

Frugal Challenge - A New Way of Grocery Shopping

A few years ago I needed to find ways to save on our grocery and health and beauty shopping and began in earnest on the coupon craze at the time. I did find lots of deals and managed to build a nice stockpile but now I have changed the way I shop. Coupon deals are not as good as they used to be. Stores around here no longer double and coupons are often of less value. I was finding I was working hours to prepare a list and saving only a few dollars. 

Now, with this new school year, my time is even more limited so I have to shop and be done in one or two trips a week. And that is for all of our needs from pet supplies and paper goods to food items. Here is what I do now. I will share on average what I spend and it may seem a lot to some of you but with rapidly rising food prices, I feel I am doing okay. I shop for six animals and six people in this house. I cook every day with the occasional exception. Everyone in this house eats breakfast at home and takes lunches to work and that includes my husband. Dinner is for six or more people a night depending on guests.

I try to spend less than $150 per week on food and toiletries. I do go over at times but this is my goal. This last week I spent $138.29 at the grocery store and $24.12 at the produce store.

Now, for this week, I will go over as I made a Target run for pet food and toiletries, but for six people, three meals a day, and all our pets, I feel this is a reasonable amount.

First, I no longer plan my meals around the sale paper but the mark down meat section instead.  I head there first when I shop and do my main grocery shopping each Friday. Some weeks I find loads and fill my cart and others I find very little marked down. That is why I buy as many good buys as I can on the weeks there is plenty to choose from. All the meat in the picture below was bought marked down. I bring it home and freeze or cook immediately. Meat can be the largest portion of my grocery bill, so I have to cut corners here. I fill in with meatless meals and you can find lots of our favorites here.  

If something is marked down and I think we will eat it, it goes in the cart. Last week a dozen eggs marked 50% off. I have lots of fresh eggs but older eggs are best for hard boiling. They came home and I boiled right away. They became part of a potato salad and egg salad for the next days lunches.

A small beef roast and small pork roast were cooked in the crock pot together. I shredded one for BBQ sandwiches and the other for crock pot chili verde. Cook once, eat twice. With our new busier than ever schedule, I have had to really plan and cook more meals on the weekends to prepare quickly on busy week nights. Crock pot recipes are a favorite of mine for cook ahead freezer meals.

I just wanted to show you how a good meal can me made for so much less. Everything in this meal was bought marked down. My favorite produce store has a marked down section as well and I bought a bag of corn and red potatoes for $1.50. Mushrooms needed to be used from the fridge. Steak, bought marked down, was marinated and grilled and an over sized zucchini was grilled on the barbecue. The cost of this meal was:
zucchini - free
steak - 6.49
mushrooms 1.00
corn and potatoes - 1.50
total: 8.99 or $1.50 per person

I think that was pretty darned good for such a delicious meal. I hope I have showed you how to stretch your grocery budget with minimal coupon clipping and much less running around. With the prices of gas so high, over $4 a gallon here, it can cost money to drive around trying to pick up all the bargains. I don't want to spend dollars to save cents. I will share more next time on continuing to increase my stockpile while staying on budget.

Linking to:
Wow Us Wed.
Raising Homemakers
Heart and Home
Frugally Sustainable
Fresh Eggs Daily
Farm Girl Friday
Show and Share Wednesday
Bowl Full of Lemons

Signs of Fall

Though we have not had any fall like weather to speak of, there are subtle changes around us. Leaves changing and the sun hanging lower in the sky. I have begun to mix a few fallish items in with my decor.

Warm colors and spicy scents always a must for the season.

Bath and Body finally had the fall scents on sale so I headed in to pick up a few for myself and some as gifts for teachers. This is my favorite this year. Of course I always have my favorite on standby. And don't forget this trick to extend the life of your candles.

Oh to have the weather dip enough to need a sweater in the evenings. I cannot wait!!

I am sharing with Cozy Little House for tweak it Tuesday.And with Marty at Tabletop Tuesday and with Coastal Charm.

Pillows by Bloggers and Back to School Owl Cupcakes

Early in the year I ordered this darling chicken pillow cover from the Kathy's Cottage etsy shop. I just adore it and am a little nervous of all the white.

So cute and already matches my blue and white chicken pillows.

It was my hubby that finally put a pillow in it. I am so glad he did because I just am enjoying it so much.

Remember when Brenda of Cozy Little House made a bunch of the fun owl pillows? Well I had to have one. It really is for my daughter but I have been enjoying it in our front room as a dash of late summer, looking forward to fall color. After I am done with it, it will return to my daughter's owl themed bedroom.

Not my usual muted colors in here but an unexpected splash that is perfect for September and all those wise back to school kids.

And remember these guys?

Making a batch of these this week for my daughter's preschool class. The instructions are here.

BNOTP

Sunny Simple Sunday #14

Help I am melting!!! No kidding. Supposed to be 106 here today. I feel I moved into an oven and I will never get out. I won't tell you what my last electric bill was. I think a swim at grandma's house may be in order today. Have a wonderful weekend and if it is cool where you live, I am jealous.

Some of the highlights from last week. Do we ever tire of seeing the lovelies at Cozy Little House?

Her Lucy and Ethel Moments post is funny but oh so pretty. You can laugh and see great shots of her sweet little house. What more could you want?

Maple Lane  shared this sweet post of puppy and kitty love. So cute! We almost love our pets as this was one of the most viewed posts. Sadly our cat would put a claw into our dog if it tried to come near his bed.

Farm Road Ramblings shared this quilt top she just finished. I just had to share it. Is this not gorgeous. I never stop being envious of you talented quilters and sewers.

And the most viewed post from last week was A Spoonful Of's post on how she painted her kitchen counter tops. AMAZING. I did not know you could even do that. What a wonderful change. So much cheaper than replacing them that is for sure.

All Sweat and Glory

Well I am not sure where the glory comes in but I sure have been sweaty. The endless summer continues. I am OVER IT!! I thought I would show you at my dirtiest. Mowing the yard and cleaning the coop. I was so hot and dirty but that's real life. I love to work hard in the yard. I wished I loved to work as hard in the house. It would be spotless.

Not much going in the garden. I want to plant some fall seedlings but with this heat I have been waiting. The great thing is we eat the veggies from my garden and the chickens love the carrot tops and cucumber peels. They eat it, poop it and then I scoop it and make wonderful black gold compost. Oh, is it alive. When I move the compost pile and scoop some from the bottom, it is so alive and full of worms.

The chickens come running to scratch and eat all those wiggly worms which in turn is a great source of protein for them. Wonderful cycle of life. Two of the girls go to my friend Kris at Simplify today. We are meeting to swap the chickens. I know they will love her place. She has a big orange grove that they will happily scratch in and live the rest of their days.

I will miss the pretty green eggs they lay though. Sigh. But I think the two chickens left will be a better amount for my little yard and I like to let them roam so they will less damage.

So we will be left with our two Barred Rocks and I will continue to enjoy chickens scratching in the compost pile. As it should be.

Linking to:
Show and Tell Friday
Funky Junk Interiors
Sunday Blog Love
A Favorite Thing Saturday
Seasonal Sundays