Snazzing up some notepads

Life's crazy right now. Not only is tomorrow Thanksgiving, but DH's little brother is getting married on in a week. I've been making bows and clippies for DD in my spare time, but I had a few minutes tonight and I wanted to try this. I saw it on another blog (can't remember which).

I just took some paper and cut it to fit the binding on the top of this notepad and glued it on with Elmer's glue. Fun and quick.

Sob-Fest

DH is working and I've been sitting her for the past hour having sob-fest 2009!!!!

I've been reading NieNie You probably all know about NieNie already, but I'm just now learning about her.

She has made me appreciate the small things in life. I can cook for my family, I can pick up my daughter, I can bathe myself. What an incredible story. Check it out if you haven't already.

And grab the tissues.

Organized Grocery Shopping

Back in June or July I decided that I could save a lot of money by only going to the store once every two weeks. But in order to do that I needed to be super organized so I could remember to get everything we would need for 2 weeks.

Organization is a hobby for me so this was just fun! I ended up with 2 excel documents(Click on them to see them bigger). One for my menu: and this one for my shopping list:I don't mind going to multiple stores for the best deal so I have my 3 most shopped at stores on my list plus a spot for any other stores I want to hit. I have my most purchased items typed in and I just highlight it if I need it then I have space to write in whatever else I need. I like having items already typed in because it reminds me to check and see if I need it.

I like having my list in excel format because it is always changing depending on my family's needs. For instance, my baby no longer drinks formula so I'm taking that off the list. And I now make my own laundry soap so I can take off the list as well.

I was going to be all fancy and link my excel documents for anyone who wants them, but I can't figure out how to do that and my fussing baby prohibits me taking time to figure it out. So if you want them, let me know and I'll email them to you.

Leftover List

This is not some cute craft idea, just something I just started doing that hopefully will save some money. Heck, maybe everyone already does this and I'm just slow.

DH loves leftovers (lucky me!) but he's always forgetting what we have. He got the idea to keep a running list of what we have in the fridge for leftovers. I thought it was a great idea since the day before I threw out a bunch of old food.

So here's what I came up with:

I got this board at JoAnn's in their little $1 - $2.5o section a long time ago.

So I wrote down everything we have for leftovers and to the side I wrote the date it was made and a "I" or "O" indicating whether it's in the fridge in the kitchen or the "outside" fridge (it's not really outside. It's in the pantry)

DH is really good about finding something to eat when he's hungry and it's not meal time. He usually goes for Ramen, but with this I'm hoping he'll eat up all the leftovers and I won't have to throw away old food.

Rolled Turkey and Stuffing

My dad used to make this and we all loved it. DH and I are going to be on our own for Christmas and I thought this would make for a good Christmas dinner. I decided to try it out for Sunday dinner.

I found a 4 1/2 lb. bone-in turkey breast. After thawing it all night I woke up and boned it. I've never boned poultry before, I just tried to stick as close to the bone as possible. It was quite fun, I felt like I was back in the Operating Room.

Anyway, after I boned the turkey I laid it out flat. I made 2 batches of Stove Top stuffing and cooked up some loose sausage and mixed the two together.

I spread out the stuffing/sausage on the turkey and then rolled it up, securing it with thread.

I baked it in a roasting pan and served it with mashed potatoes and pan gravy.

MMMMMMMMM GOOD!

It definitely doesn't need 2 batches of stuffing, but DH LOVES stuffing and only likes turkey.

Another Wall folder

I couldn't help myself. I made another one last night!

No more ugly white boards

Problem: White boards are very useful but they're white and boring.
Solution: Fabric underneath the glass and write on the glass!

It's so simple! I found a $3 frame at DI, fabric for $1.50/yard at Walmart and voila! A message board with some style.

I had planned on paining the frame black, but the wood matches the wood in our kitchen so with a little Old English to fill in the scratches (isn't Old English amazing!?), here's a message board in less than 10 minutes!