Pantry Epiphany update:
28 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Do-it-yourself Tags: Groceries, meal plan, organization, Pantry, savings
I just got back from the grocery store with my meal cards for this week. WOW. It did take me a little bit longer than normal because A. I was getting used to having the cards B. Wal-Mart was packed and C. The ladies in front of me in the checkout line had 100 coupons for deodorant and razors. (What the hell are you going to do with 100 mini deodorants?) I am sorry to all of you out there who are avid “couponers”, but wow, it was super annoying and my frozen/cold foods became thawed/lukewarm foods.
So…off my coupon rant. I was very proud of my purchases for the week. Not only does my pantry look tidy and organized, I bought food for 7 dinners, 7 lunches and 7 breakfasts at an average of $9.00 per meal. Not Per Person…thats for a family of 5 for 5 days and then 7 this weekend! With NO coupons! One trip to the store this week, except perhaps on Friday, I may have to grab another 2 gallons of milk. We have 5 kids…so it goes fast.
I think this is going to work out just perfect!
Pantry Epiphany
28 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Do-it-yourself Tags: Dinner, DIY, family, Grocery list, Meals, organization, Pantry, shopping
Pantry Before
Let me introduce you to my pantry. Every week we go through the same thing at our house. Complete disorganization when it comes to dinner has become the norm. I run to the store 3 or 4 times a week to grab something quick or we just end up eating out because the idea of trying to figure out what to have AND cook it is overwhelming.
During one of these crazy runs to the store I had a Pantry Epiphany! What if the pantry was so organized that it told me what we were having for dinner AND it went to the store with a list, and all I had to do was cook. That would be AMAZING! So I decided I would make it happen…and it was so.
Here is my DIY Pantry makeover.
What you will need:
Tools – Hot glue gun and scissors or paper cutter
Stackable Crates – The number of crates will vary depending on how large your pantry is. I bought 7 but ended up using only 6. Each one of my crates holds two days worth of dinner supplies plus one for school lunch foods and one for breakfasts.
Note cards and a card box for unused Meal Cards - Have your family help you come up with about 20 meal ideas. On the front of each card write the main course and side dishes. On the back write the grocery list for that meal. Include anything special you need if from a specific recipe, like spices or flour etc. 
**As as side note you can also add self laminating sheets and a package of dividers for your box of cards if you like. I laminated the cards so they would stay flat and pretty for a long time.
Clothes pins – I bought a package of mini pins in the office supply area at Wal-mart. Use the hot glue gun to attach the pins to the crates. Each crate will have a clip for each set of meal supplies it holds. Mine have 2 each.
Once you have all the supplies and have gotten your meals planned out you are ready to get things organized.
Each week I pick out 9 cards. One dinner for each day of the week and 2 for Saturday and 2 for Sunday. (Lunch and dinner) Take your cards to the grocery store with you and you have a pre-made grocery list. by having a separate crate for breakfast items and school lunch items it’s easy to take a quick look and see if I need cereal or treats and chips.
Here is how it will look when you get it all together.
Pantry After
Taking Back Valentines Day
05 Feb 2011 1 Comment
in Do-it-yourself Tags: hand made valentines, love, memory quilt, quilts, true love, valentines day
I used to be a huge fan of February 14th. When I was a much younger girl I had a crush on a boy who was born on Valentines Day. My birthday is the 10th, and since we both were already fans of the month, I dreamt of a February wedding. With snow white horses pulling a carriage, red flowers, and lots of pink ribbons. I was going to be the most beautiful bride dressed all in white with a huge bouquet of red and pink roses, white babies breath and again…miles and miles of ribbon. He didn’t know I existed outside of being the little sister to one of the girls in his class.
Needless to say I never got my February wedding. Instead I created a series of heartbreaks for myself due to bad choices. Agony over boys that I dated that I thought I loved and boys that I married that I thought I loved. Yeah…that’s plural. Valentines day became a day that I ignored. I let bad memories steal my holiday of spreading love and happiness. Eh…who am I kidding I totally gave it up and walked all over it.
Well enough is enough. I am taking back my holiday. I love Valentines day! I love it, and this year I am making it known by spreading love and happiness to others. What better way than to turn an old crappy memory into a new happy one. One of those bad wedding memories is going to bring a smile to a special face this year.
As I said I was married a few times before. The second husband came with a very talented Mother whom I truly appreciated. She is an amazing quilter and she made me a beautiful Memory Quilt for our 1st anniversary. It was awesome, with pictures of our wedding, and both of our sets of daughters, truly a work of art. So in the divorce 4 years later, I got custody of this quilt. What the crap do I do with it now? The marriage was a sham and we threw it away, but you can’t just throw a quilt away, and the goodwill doesn’t want pictures of me and my ex-husband cutting a wedding cake.
You make it into something else, that’s what you do. The plan; To share the love and happiness of my beautiful daughters faces with their great-grandma for Valentines Day. So I cut apart the beautiful squares, used the ones of me and the ex as stuffing for the pillows and added some hand sewn quilted hearts made from the outer edge.
So when Grandma opens her Valentine package this year she will have a hand made pillow with 3 of her sweet, great grand-babies to hang on the wall, and I don’t have a quilt with pictures of my ex hanging out in my closet taking up valuable space.
P.S. I am now married to the man of my dreams, and though his birthday is not in February and we didn’t have horses pulling a carriage, I know now what it is to be truly and madly in love.
Happy Valentines Day! Share some Love…it feels nice. 
Costume cleverness…Here comes Halloween!
11 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in Do-it-yourself Tags: affordable, Costume, Halloween
So every year my Seester and I try to come up with something clever to create for kids costumes. Last year we did the “Trashbag Fairies” and now we have to top that.
It was wicked awesome, affordable and fast. Each one was less than $5.00 and took only a few hours to put them together! Trash bags, duct tape and some twigs is all you need to make your very own “Trashbag Fairy”.
What’s the cleverest costume you have made?
Just call me Mothra
27 Feb 2010 2 Comments
in Do-it-yourself Tags: baby, cake, decor, Diaper, shower
Good ol’ Martha Stewart. Her intentions were all good; really. I am sure that all she dreamt of was to inspire young women to think creatively. She meant to encourage women to be all that we can be in a world where everyone wants to throw the best party, have the coolest decor, and to be the talk of all high society women globally. I know that’s my dream. So thank you Martha for being an inspiration, right up until that little “conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators” issue that landed you in the clink. I love your cookbook.
Inspiration is out there in many forms. I actually picked up this little DIY project from some friends of mine that threw me a baby shower some 10 + years ago for Baby Fairy. Thanks girls… you inspired me to have the coolest decor at a baby shower, and to be the talk of the entire click of ladies present. Here’s how I do it.
First of all I put a lot of love into each of my diaper cakes. Love, diapers, and baby butt wipers. This is the second cake I have ever made, and both of these were for special girls. I would have made a third by now, but she thought it was “stupid”. Secretly I know she is totally jealous, and perhaps I will just secretly make it for her anyway.
So Love, diapers, baby butt wipers, and scotch tape are the basic elements of the “Diaper Cake”. The amounts can vary based on what size you want, but I recommend the following:
1 pack of newborn diapers, 2 packs of stage 1 diapers, scotch tape, 1 box of wipes, 1 refill of wipes, 1 roll of fancy ribbon (wide)
Decorations: an assortment of baby things, toys, soaps, powder, and a teddy bear topper.
Use the scotch tape to connect the diapers into layers. Use the larger diapers for the bottom layers and the smallest diapers for the top 2 layers. This is a four tier cake… and that’s it. That’s all I can tell you. Perhaps because I myself am a doer and a figure it out myself kind of girl, I never really was very good at telling people how to do things. I would rather show you. So if you would like to make a diaper cake there are tons of how to video’s on the internet. Google ~ How do I make a diaper cake. Or give me a call. We can drink some coffee and build a cake.
