January 26, 2011

{ Random tips... }

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of Spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream; then beat them.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Heat leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove; set heat to med-low aAnd heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.

Easy Deviled Eggs :Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal; mash till they are all broken up Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy; squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done - easy clean up.


To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in the microwave next to a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food  moist and help it reheat faster.

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... Ta DA! ... Static is gone.

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, Just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

January 21, 2011

{ Winner Winner }

Well, it's nearly 10 pm and I just got home from work and decided that I really should pick a giveaway winner! So here they all are just waiting for someone's name to be plucked out!


Once again, I had MDH use his big paw to pick one....


And the winner is............................


TETE from Beyond the Garden Gate!!!!!


´*•.¸(´*•.¸♥¸.•*´)¸.•*´
♥•.*CONGRATS*.•♥
¸.•*´(¸.•*´♥´*•.¸)´*•.¸

Thank you to all who entered! 
There were tons of you this time, and I wish I could send you ALL something!!!
Toodles!





January 20, 2011

{ Spring is just around the corner... }

....how do I know? This came in the mail today :-)


WOO HOO!!!

January 19, 2011

{ Crass Commercial Announcement }

I love pretty china. Just like most of you. I have collected a LOT of it, and now I need a new cabinet for it. BUT..in order to fit a new cabinet, I have to get rid of a bookcase. You see, I collect books, too. I have more books than I will ever ever have time to read, and more still keep sneaking their way in. So, I got brutal. I just finished loading a BOATLOAD of books on Ebay. Take them off my hands please. ~grin~. They're really cheap, and if you want to bid on some let me know that you're a bloggy friend and I'll discount them even more for you!!!

Here's my Ebay page.

January 18, 2011

{ Cute pics to brighten this dreary day... }

I save SO many cute animal pics on my computer, and I thought I'd share some with you today just for fun.

SWEET BUNNIES


BIRDIES
 
 
SWEET KITTY

DARLING CORGI PUPPY

BABY MEERKATS

and this poor silly looking Hedgehog...awww!

Hope these brightened your day :-)


January 12, 2011

{ 400th Post Giveaway }





Wow! 400! Whoulda thunk it!!! That's quite a milestone, so I have gathered a few bits and bobs to send to one lucky commenter on this post! As always, it will be a SURPRISE giveaway!! For a SECOND chance to win, either blog about this giveaway or post my giveaway button on your sidebar. I'm going to let this run awhile, so will be picking a winner on January 20th. Lot's of time to spread the word!!!

Post edit: This giveaway is open to ALL! I will be happy to ship internationally!!!


January 11, 2011

{ Just checking in... }

Checking in to see how all my blog buddies are doing! My work week is over, so on to some much needed down time. I thought our store would cease being so busy after the holidays, but that hasn't happened yet. Good for business...but not my FEET! LOL! Not much happening on the home front. Laundry and cleaning today so the rest of my days off can be lazy ~grin~.Trying to re-teach myself crochet. My grandmother taught me a LONG time ago, but it's not really like riding a bike! I totally forgot how to do it :-( I really love Granny Squares, but lately I have been enamored by Granny Circles... like this...

 Doesn't look too difficult. I can do that! Once I get my crochet mojo back, I want to do this pattern....

 Aren't these squares to die for??? And the colors! Oh, my! I love it!

I will be sure to show you my progress once I get "hooking" again!!! LOL!

Love to you all,

January 4, 2011

{ 2010 Retrospective }

Last year at this time MDH and I BOTH lost our jobs. He worked for a solar energy company. He made good money. I was Administrative Assistant to the Academic Director at a private girls school. I made good money. We both went on unemployment to the tune of 1/3 of our former wage. Things didn't look good. We had lived in our house for 13 years. Had great landlords, loved the place, so never got around to buying a home. Just stayed put. The next hammer fell. Just when we were at our lowest in a very long time, our landlords gave us 30 days to move. The economy hit them hard and they needed to dump their home and move into ours. I nearly lost it. But fortune smiled on us and we were able to find a sweet little house that was $200 per month LESS than what we had been paying. No first and last, just a modest cleaning deposit and NO PET DEPOSITS!!! Whew! No way I would give up my babies, but most wanted 200-250 PER PET.

So now MDH delivers newspapers and I work part-time at Rite-Aid. We make it, but it's not easy. There's a lot of month left and the end of the money!!! We have down-sized considerably, and make a little extra on Ebay, but we have realized that we don't need much, so we don't need much money. We buy everything at thrift stores and yard sales.

We are enjoying our little cottage, but there's still so much to do to make it 'ours'!!! I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions, but I did make a list of what I need to accomplish this year.


INSIDE
Paint master bedroom white and make new curtains and duvet
Paint guest room pale pink and make new curtains
Paint both bathrooms white
(guest bath is lavender and yellow..ugh, and master is dark, ugly pink..good grief!)
New coat of paint in laundry room
New coat of paint on baseboards of entire house
(yes, it pretty much ALL needs painted)

OUTSIDE
Stain the back deck
Put up lattice privacy wall on the street-facing side of deck
Lay sod in back yard
Build a small potting shed
Re-do planting beds in front yard
Re-seed entire front lawn

I'm sure this list will be added to as time goes on, but right now this is about all I can wrap my head around! LOL!
 
Hope you all are having happy times so far this year. This is my first day off since last Thursday. Worked straight through the holiday...9 hour days. I am beat. Don't go back til Friday afternoon. WOO HOO! Maybe I can, oh, I don't know.. maybe read a book??? I forgot what that's like! LOL!!!

Happy days to all!!!