The Thrifty Groove

Reusing the Epson Salts

2012-01-30T09:00:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Remember these mason jar candles I did for Christmas using Epson Salts?

After I used up the candles, I popped them into the freezer and emptied out the candle wax and Epson Salts into a bowl.

I removed the big chunks of wax and then sifted the Epson salts out.

I used some of the salts and added some pink food coloring to them.

Whisk them up to distribute the color.

I cleaned out an old Yankee Candle glass jar and added the salts and a white flat lace around the jar. Now it is ready for Valentine’s Day. Nothing elaborate or fancy schmancy. Just simple.

This is the “No spending week” here at Casa Chaos so, I needed to come up with a project with no money being spent.

I did not use all the Epson salts from my Christmas candles so, guess what color some will turn into in March? Just a Wee bit of green I think!

In case you are wondering, the pink salts will go into a Ziploc bag after Valentine’s Day to be saved (probably in with my candles and candle accessories) and used again.

By reusing everything, I am not adding anything to my home! And right now I am really in the groove of reorganizing, decluttering and deep cleaning so, reusing something I already have makes me very happy!

Don’t forget to enter to win a $25.00 Sam’s Club Gift Card! Click the pic below!

This Saturday is February's Thrifty Tablescape Party! Hope to see you there!

And of course out weekly Thrifty Things Friday party!

I’m joining:

Metamorphosis Monday

Table Top Tuesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Pink Saturday

Rednesday
Living Well Wednesdays

2012 The Year of the Herbs

2012-01-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Did you know that 2012 is “The Year of the Herbs”?

The National Garden Bureau and the Herb Society of America have teamed up to name 2012 Year Of the Herbs.
This is the first time the not-for-profits have partnered in their missions to promote gardening and educate people about growing plants.

How exciting is that for Troy and I! We are hoping that this year DTL Herbs will be a fun and prosperous year.

And since this is the year of the herbs, I plan on sharing tips, ideas, how-to’s, recipes and lots of other fun things here on The Thrifty Groove and over at our DTL Herb blog.

Spearmint from our garden

As part of owning an Herb Business, we do a lot of educating. And we love doing that! We give presentations, classes and just talking to folks who stop by our booth at the Farmer’s Markets.

Here is a pretty good summary definition of herbs:

What the word “herb” really means
A very fitting definition that defines herbs by their usefulness rather than by their appearance or botanical structure was coined by Holly Shimizu, director of the U.S. Botanic Garden. Holly says, ―Herbs are defined as plants (trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, biennials or annuals) valued historically, presently, or potentially for their flavor, fragrance, medicinal qualities, insecticidal qualities, economic or industrial use, or in the case of dyes, for the coloring material they provide.

Source

I am going to be “dabbling” in some different herb uses in this coming year. Most of our business is in the culinary area of herbs. We do offer a fantastic Herbal Salt Scrub but, I have been wanting to experiment in other non-culinary areas. So, I thought 2012 is the perfect time to play with herbs!

Right now, Troy and I are pouring over seed catalogs and online seed sites decided what new herbs we will add to our gardens this year. This is one of our favorite times of the year~~Dreaming and preparing for Spring!

If you are into gardening whether it be flowers, herbs or vegetables, this is the time of the year to start planning out your gardens, beds, pots etc.

This week, I am giving a presentation along with a demo on Victorian Tussie Mussies. I will be discussing the different usage, meanings and history on herbs and flowers from the Victorian Era. I am excited. It should be a lot of fun. It will also be our first non-culinary herb presentation.

And of course, I hope to do a blog post about it to share here at TTF!

So, have you been dreaming of Spring? Can’t wait to get outside and get your hands into the soil?

Don’t forget to enter my $25.00 Sam’s Club Gift Card Giveaway! Just click ……

………the pic!

I’m joining:

Seasonal Sunday

Mosaic Monday

Outdoor Wednesday

Couponing~Savings or Insanity?

2012-01-28T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

As part of my “Menu Planning” series, I told you that I would also talk about how to save money when planning your meals. Coupons are one way to do this.

Did this title freak you out? Did you instantly think, “Oh good grief! No not coupons!” or did you think “Coupons! Woohoo! Give ‘em to me!”

If you are not obsessed with coupons, which it can easily become an obsession, you can just as easily be in the other extreme, a fear of jumping into the coupon craze.

Well, I have been both! I have done the whole “Extreme Couponing” and the opposite end of not even wanting to touch a coupon.

So, let me give you my personal take on couponing.

Coupons = money (if used correctly)

At the same time…..

Time = Money (if your time is limited)

4 categories of couponing:

Extreme Couponer -

You LOVE it!
You have the extra time to really go at it (which means your family, your friends, your job, your home, your sanity does NOT suffer!)
Your income demands it
You help others with your bounty

2. Moderate Couponer -

You want to try to save some money
You figure out an acceptable “time vs money” ratio
It doesn’t interfere with your life to any extreme
You created an workable coupon routine
You help others with your bounty

3. Occasional Couponer -

If you happen to see a coupon for something you plan to get, you use it.
Once in awhile you check for a coupon for a particular product

Anti-Couponer -

Not even going to touch couponing

That is my list of the type of couponers there are out there. Like I said, I have been all 4. Where am I now? Moderate Couponer.

I was an Extreme Couponer but, burnt myself out and dropped down to Occasional Couponer for about the last 9 months.

Since “Organize” is my keyword for 2012, I decided that I needed to save some money but the only way I can do that is if I am organized.

I know I have a very busy life so, extreme couponing is out. I cannot and chose not to dedicate that much time to couponing.

Since I have been using January to set up routines and schedules, I have been working in couponing as part of my schedule.

Keeping in mind that this will get tweaked over time and as things change, this is how I have scheduled couponing into my routines. And I will be honest with you, once in awhile I crave the whole “extreme couponing” and will probably do it from time to time. Time doesn’t permit me to do this often. But, there is a huge “high” when you do it successfully and it is also a great way to be able to help out the local food pantry that Troy and I volunteer at.

I have decided to use $8.00 an hour as my time spent goal. What that means is that for every hour I spend dealing with coupons, I need to save $8.00 using coupons.

Sundays – 2.5 hours

Buy the Sunday paper

Quickly go through the coupon inserts

Then go through the sales papers

Make my menu plan for next (I try to stay one week ahead in order to save money) week based on what I have on hand, what is on sale that week and what coupons I can use for those meals

Tuesdays – 1 hour

Check online coupon sites for extra coupons to use

Clip and print out coupons

Thursday – 1 hour

Grocery shop for next week

Friday or Saturday – 1.5 hours

Check out my coupon/best deals blogs to see what to look for in the next week. This is one of my BEST resources! There are a ton of bloggers out there that compile the best savings using sales ads and coupons for the upcoming week. They save you a ton of time because they do all the work!

So, there you have it. I have scheduled 6 hours a week to saving money via coupons and sale ads. Granted this is set in stone but, for me I do not want to go over a total of 10 hours a week in this area. so, it may fluctuate between 6-10 hours in any given week.

Just a couple of tips:

I cut coupons at night while watching TV

I often take my coupons to be cut with me when I know I will be sitting and waiting somewhere

I don’t precut coupons until I need them

I use a black marker and write on the top of the coupon circulars that date.

I keep my coupons, menu plan, sales ads, scissors and plain envelopes all in a tote bag.

I generally grab this tote bag just like I do my purse and take it with me when I head out. That way I always have my coupons with me in case I stop somewhere and see something and think, “Well, crud! I have a good coupon for that!” I now can just run out and get them if I want to.

I am working on compiling some good resources for coupons, blogs and couponing deals. I will eventually post them on my top toolbar.

What category do you fall into?

Don’t forget I have a giveaway for a $25.00 Sam’s Club gift card! What better way to save money than to have a free gc!

Look at the top of my sidebar and click to enter!

Giveaway time! Win a $25.00 Sam’s Club GC!

2012-01-27T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Well, here it is my first giveaway for 2012! Woohoo! And it’s M-O-N-E-Y!! Okay, a gift card but, same as cash at Sam’s Club!

Don’t miss out on precious moments by wasting hours at the grocery store and fussing over budgets. Discover an easy way to save on baby essentials from P&G by buying them in bulk at Sam’s Club® this February! Purchase all the basics for baby at your local Sam’s Club store to save time and money with this limited-time $10 Gift Card offer.

Stock up on P&G products at Sam’s Club in February so you can afford to give your baby quality products and a little more mommy time
Pick up any two of the following baby products to receive a $10 Sam’s Club Gift Card toward your purchase made between Feb 1st and Feb 29th:
- Pampers® Swaddlers® or Pampers Cruisers® Diapers
- Pampers SoftCare™ Scented Baby Wipes
- Similac® Advance® Powder or Similac Sensitive® Powder
- Dreft® Liquid Laundry Detergent
Register for your Gift Card at SamsClub.com/giftcardoffer by March 14, 2012

To kick off the P&G savings and special offer, Sam’s club is offering one of my readers a $25.00 gift card! This is not just open to new mommies, everyone could use $25.00 spending money at Sam’s Club!

So, want to win? Here is what you need to do:

Be a Thrifty Groove Follower (leave a comment)
Tell me what you like to stock up on at Sam’s Club (leave another comment)

That’s it! This giveaway ends Saturday February 4, 2012 (Midnight EST)

For more info, check out these sites:

Sam’s Club Website http://bit.ly/SamsPG

Sam’s Club on Facebook http://on.fb.me/SamsPGFacebook
Sam’s Club on Twitter http://bit.ly/SamsPGTwitter
Pampers Website http://bit.ly/PampersSite
Similac Website http://bit.ly/SimilacSite
Dreft Website http://bit.ly/DreftSite
P&G Website http://bit.ly/PGwebsite
P&G on Facebook http://on.fb.me/PGFacebook
P&G on Twitter http://bit.ly/PGSamsTwitter

“Disclosure: The Sam’s Club Gift Card and information have been provided by Sam’s Club and P&G through MyBlogSpark.”

Thrifty Things Friday #43

2012-01-26T16:00:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Wow, we are in the last week of January already! Geez, this month zipped by!

I have a few little thrifted items I picked up last month. The other day was the first time I stopped in a thrift store since before Christmas. And I was kind of disgusted with the prices and ended up with a $1.75 purchase and that's it. To be honest, I have been working on the things I already have during the month of January and haven't wanted to add anything to my home right now.

I picked up this large water pitcher at a thrift store. It still had the original price tag on it. I paid $2.00 for it. Although looking at this picture, you can’t see the size correctly, it is a heavy ceramic large jug. We always have a pitcher of iced water on our dinner table and I like to switch out and use different ones.

Don’t you love Amber glass? I bought this set of four amber saucers at a little antique store and the woman who owned it was really trying to sell out her stock before the new year. I was looking at them and they had a price of $10.00 on the set. I placed them back on the shelf. She told me they were half off but, I said, “No thank you. But, they really are pretty.” She then said, “How about 75% off…only $2.50 for the set?” SOLD

I love painted vintage glassware. It is usually so expensive. These glasses were marked $1.99 each. That is a little too much for me. For most people I am sure that is a decent price. However, that color of sticker was 50% off! Okay, .99 cents each worked for me! I wish they would have had more than just the two!

I love silver candlesticks. When I spotted these two small tarnished ones and the were only $1.29 each I decided to get them. When I got to the register I discovered that they were $1.29 for the pair. Even better! I did a very quick cleaning on one because I always have to see how they sparkle! LOL

So, those are a few of my thrifted treasures. Let’s check out some posts from last week!

Over at Mary’s Meanderings we saw some beautiful milkglass pieces!

Zuni at Chickadee Home Nest shared her redecorated hutch in glass and silver.

Thank you ladies! I hope you will grab the “I was featured” button below to add to your blog if you don’t already have it!

**Stop back by tomorrow because I am hosting my first giveaway for 2012!**Giveaway is up! Check it out here to enter!
And a week from this Saturday, Feb 4, is our next Thrifty Tablescape party! I am seeing a thrifty Valentine's Day table in my future! LOL

Please link back to The Thrifty Groove on the post you are sharing today. It is the courteous thing to do for me, the Hostess. Thank you!

And remember, I never feature a post that does not have a link back to this party!

Let’s start this party!

Mission Organize 2012!

2012-01-25T15:21:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

Do you ever notice that you straighten up an area and if you don’t keep a very close eye on it, it becomes chaos in no time and you wonder when and how that happened! It’s a fact just like The Broken Window Theory. Chaos creates chaos.

Since I am one of those types that want everything done now, I generally end up killing myself doing as much as I possible can from sun-up to sun-down. Only to find myself the next day in a great deal of pain and feeling frustrated because I am not Wonder Woman and EVERYTHING did not get done. And that mentality just burns you out fast!

This is not a concept for everyone. I know a lot of you out there are so organized and enjoy housework. I envy you! I love, love, love a clean house. But, I don’t love the work that it takes to get there. I don’t hate housework but, I just love a lot of other things more. However, keeping a clean home and an organized one is a necessity for me. Because I have so many “balls in the air” all the time, things have to run smoothly at home.

So, I sat myself down and had a good “talkin’ to”. LOL What I decided to do (this is going to sound very weird to a lot of you) is hire myself as a professional cleaner and organizer! Yup, I needed to take the personal out projects and think of it as a job I was doing for someone else.

I am not talking about everyday household cleaning and upkeep, I am referring to those projects that need to be dealt with like:

Cleaning out the linen closet
scrubbing down and decluttering the kitchen cabinets
going through closets and cleaning/purging

Any area that doesn’t generally fall into an everyday routine. I’m sure you all know what I am talking about.

What I did last week was I broke down my kitchen in different project zones. Instead of simply saying, “Clean the kitchen”, I tackled (as a Pro cleaner and organizer) one specific area in the kitchen that needed to be deep cleaned and reorganized. I determined a realistic amount of time for each project. It has really helped to think of this as hiring an outsider to do the job. Like most of us, I have a tendency to set unrealistic time frames for myself but, I am completely fine with giving more time to a hired person.

Since I am hiring myself to do one project only, I am not going to do any other things such as doing the laundry, doing the dishes or straightening up other areas. Would a professional person hired to do one job say, “Hey, while I am here, I’m going to do their laundry and dishes while I work on the area I was hired for”? Of course not! That allows me to completely focus on doing a professional job on a specific project.

What a freeing experience! I’m not going to beat myself up because I wasn’t multitasking my little ‘ol heart out! And guess what? Projects are getting done and I had the rest of the day to deal with other things in life. No semi-finished project. No “that will have to do” . It was done!

I have been using this “hire myself as a professional for one project at a time” method all last week. And I have to say, I am very happy with everything I have be able to do so far. And I wasn’t in dire pain or stuck with uncompleted projects. I have done a lot of purging and de-cluttering. I can actually do the project in the allotted time frame, see the completed project done and get a sense of accomplishment! It feels great!

So, do you think this method would help you? If so, I would love to hear how you did Hiring yourself for a project! And if you are curious, no I didn’t read about this method anywhere. I just created it for myself. I have always been able to tackle things if I take the personal part out and go at it from a business aspect.

Don’t worry, I won’t bombard you all with the scary project zones I work on each week! But, I do want to share some organizational tips that seem to work for me from time to time.

Next week I am going to share an embarrassing area that seems to get out of control fairly easily around here: The Top of the Fridge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Old School~Paper Chains

2012-01-24T13:29:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

I have had basically empty shelves and tabletops in my living room since taking down Christmas decor. I have to confess, I enjoy it. I have been in no hurry to re-decorate the room. It may surprise you but, I LOVE clean, completely empty flat surfaces. But, I also enjoy decorating. So, I have decided that I will enjoy my clear flat surfaces in between some of the holidays.

Now that Valentine’s Day is coming up, I am thinking of what to use to decorate for this holiday.As I have been doing for the past few years, I only budget $5.00 for decorations for what I refer to as the Minor Decorating Holidays. Everything else is from using things around the house. Or making things from what I already have on hand.

I have also decided that I need to involve the Princess in decorating these small holidays. She loves decorations and loves to be part of creating things. I forget that simple basic arts & crafts skills are not things you are born knowing how to do. It is my responsibility to take advantage of any skill building projects to teach my 4 year old!

So, that is why we are starting our decorating old school ~ Paper Chains!

When was the last time you made old fashioned paper chains? For me, it was MANY years ago! I forgot how time consuming they are to create! LOL But, I also forgot how fun and pretty they can be!

Of course, I did the bulk of them while the Princess was in bed because Mama has new and easier tools to make them.

But, I wanted to teach her some important skills so, I had her do it old school. Just look at the simple skills she is gaining by learning how to make paper chains:

Learn how to use a ruler
Learn to draw a straight line
Learn how to measure spaces
Learn how to use scissors and cut along a line
Learn how to make a chain link
Learn how to use a dab of glue
Learn how to use a paperclip

Wow! Who knew there were so many learning opportunities in making something as simple as a paper chain! I am really trying to take advantage of these moments to teach the Princess any thing new. And if you are creating some fun decorating project, it makes it so much easier for kids to want to be part of it. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about learning and having fun!

The Princess is 4 years old and it seems that about 15 minutes is that age groups maximum attention span. So, keep their help and involvement to small increments. One small section of a chain, turned into an all day affair (broken up throughout the day). But, in her eyes, she made all of the chains. LOL

I am joining:

Works For Me Wednesday

Rednesday

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

I’m Lovin’ it Fridays

Tickled Pink

Hodgepodge Friday

Pink Saturday

Use It Up!

2012-01-23T14:00:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Last week I was sitting in the living room doing a project. The Princess was at school and Troy was off doing some things. I did something that I rarely do and that is, I turned on the TV in the middle of the day.

I happen to catch the Rachael Ray Show, which I have only seen a couple times. The episode’s name caught my attention, “Trash to Treasure”. Well, it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be but, it was still a good episode and I did learn a few things. Most of the ideas presented, I already do but, whenever I can get new thrifty ideas, I am all for that!

And Wednesday starts my “Monthly Financial Fast” because it is the first day of the last 7 days of the month, I thought this was a good time to share these little thrifty tidbits.

So, I thought I would share some of the show’s ideas with you. You can click on the episode and read about it yourself HERE.

Click picture above for recipe

Rachael started the show with some “use up the last of jars in the fridge” recipes. Now this is something I have always done as well as I am sure a lot of you do. Here are a couple of ideas that I do with those little dabs of things in the fridge.

Tired of that tablespoon or so of jam or jelly still in the jar? Spread it over meat that you are baking. It turns into a very yummy glaze. The other night I did something a little different. I was cooking some polish sausage in a frying pan and I added peach jam and a little water to gaze them. Oh, this was so delish!
I also love to add applesauce leftovers to a roast. So good!
Any little dabs of citrus or vinegar based salad dressing go into a ziplock bag and I use it to marinate chicken.

Click the above picture to watch this segment

The next section of the show was using up the bits of makeup you have leftover called Bottom of the jar beauty. This one area I got some new to me tips. But, I will add some of my own ideas:

I had some foundation that was to dark for my skin so, I added it to my favorite moisturizer and it blended in perfectly. Not to mention, instead of 2 steps (moisturize then apply foundation) It was only one step.
I have also done the same thing with self tanner. Instead of this instant dark (or darker) tan, I do it gradually by mixing it with body lotion.
When my favorite eye shadows just have that little bit in the corners, I use the pointed tip cotton swaps, dampen them with water and get the last little bit out and use it as eye liner.

Click above picture to see tips and recipes

The final section of this episode was with a chef who wrote a cook book . He showed how in restaurants they use up all of the ingredient whether it be meat or fruits and veggies. I found this interesting. He gave me some good ideas. And his cookbook looks very good because he gives you a recipe and then another recipe to use the leftovers! He calls it “The Second Meal”. Brilliant!

Here are a couple things I have done.

When I peel apples for whatever reason, I use the peels in the pan of a roast. This just steams a yummy apple flavor into the meat and the drippings for gravy.
I save the orange/lemon peels from eating the fruit and keep them frozen for recipes that call for grated peel.
All those hard dried edges of different cheese get that part cut off and tossed into a ziplock bag labeled “Cheese” in the freezer. When I want to add cheese to something I am baking or cooking, I grab a handful of this cheese.

So, these are a few of my “Use it up” ideas, how about you? Do you use up all the things that most people just toss away?

I’m joining:

Creative Spark

Living Well Wednesdays

Delightfully Inspiring Thursday

Foodie Friday

Weekend Cooking

Saturday 7

Colclough Pink Rose Teacup Set

2012-01-22T12:53:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Today I have decided to take just a little bit of time for myself with pot of tea and the latest issues of a couple of magazines. Last week was a very hectic week and I have no doubt that this week will be the same.

I am sharing a new to me teacup and saucer set. I found it at a small thrift store. It originally was marked $8.00 but, with a small chip in the rim of the teacup, it went down to $3.00 and of course, I bought it.

The entire teacup and saucer are in a pretty soft pink with large roses. I don’t find a lot of teacups that have an all over color other than white very often. I had debated on which “new to me” teacup for use today because I received several for Christmas. The pink rose cup won out because our friend and gracious Hostess Sandi is having her 2 year anniversary of Tea Time Tuesday and her favorite teacups are roses. I wanted to make a very special teascape for Sandi! So this is for you Sandi!

This set is a made by Colclough. I had never heard of this china company until I found another teacup set a month or two ago.

History of The Colclough China Company

The Colclough china company was founded in 1890 by Herbert Joseph Colclough, who was an ex-Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent.
Mr Colclough was a very conscientious man who loved his pottery and was known on occasion to stay up all night next to his kilns, which he had packed, so that he could be the first to see the new designs when they emerged.
After expanding his company, he moved to the Vale potteries in Longton and was honoured when in 1913 he was visited by King George V and Queen Mary who gave royal licence for the company to produce Royal Vale china.
In the 1930's Colclough China Limited was expanding fast and it was then that they started to produce the tea and dinner ware that we know today. They were the first company to produce fine bone china for the every day market which was marketed by the piece, ruling out the need for large sets to be purchased first.
In 1948, Colclough China Limited took over Booths and Adderley and then in the early 1950's merged with the Ridgeway Company.
Colclough and Ridgeway became part of the Royal Doulton Group in the early 1970's. However, in 1996, Colclough production discontinued and manufacture ceased.

Source

We will be having “Sweet Cherry Tea” today.

We have a guest in attendance for Sandi’s tea party anniversary. She is a very old Lefton piece and has lots of chips but, she is still so sweet.

And we must have a little treat with a candle for this occasion! So, I chose the less fattening version and used a cupcake candle!

One of the most important things that I have learned about Sandi is she always keeps our Lord in her heart.

Sandi has graciously left comments here about how much she likes this thrifted teapot. It is one of my favorites as well so, that is why it is getting used today.

I wanted to use one of my pretty rose sugar bowls the our party.

Such a lovely, soft and delicate design.

“The world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends”

-Persian Proverb

Happy 2 year anniversary Tea Time Tuesday and thank you Sandi for always sharing beauty and graciousness with us!

And thank you for stopping by and joining me in a little tea break!

I am linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Some Fun Ideas for Menu Planning

2012-01-21T17:48:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Last week I gave you some of my simple ways to get started at menu planning. You can check out the first of this series HERE.

Because planning out your menu for the week, 2 weeks or even a month at a time can really save you money, time and stress. Most of us work around our income. If you get paid weekly, great but, if you get paid only once a month, it feels even more important to have a menu planned. Or is that only me?

What I really want all of you to realize is this is NOT about following your menu to the “T”. It is not about perfection. This is a tool to help you. It’s a reference guide.

Today I want to give you some fun and easy ideas to make your menu planning easier. On last week’s post, many of you shared some of your tips and many of those are the same as mine. I love hearing other peoples ideas because that is what this awesome world of blogging is really great for….sharing tips, ideas and thoughts to help each other. So, keep them coming!

Okay, here are some ideas that have and do help me when I plan out my menu.

Have breakfast for dinner. Let’s face it, scrambled eggs is one of the easiest things to make and we like that!
Have a “Baked Potato Bar” one night. This is a great way to use up leftover bits and pieces of cheese, meats, veggies. Let everyone make up their own baked potatoes.

Have a “create your own Pizza” night. Just like above, this is a good time to use up all the odds and ends. And you don’t have to buy or make a pizza crust, use a loaf of french bread or any large loaf of bread that is marked down at the grocery store. I find that the day old bread makes a better pizza!
On busy days, have soup and sandwiches. Early in the day you could make up a bowl of tuna or egg salad so it is already. Make a simple quick soup in the crockpot and you are now all set for whenever you want dinner. And if you can get good prices on canned soup, by all means, use that.
Keep a couple of frozen family meals in the freezer and a bag of salad. Yup, store bought! Sometimes these are lifesavers when something comes up and your time is limited.
Have a “Appetizer Night”. Use up your leftovers and turn them into little bites or finger foods. Get inventive.
Have a cold dinner night. Just make sandwiches and salad or cut up veggies.
Have a “Restaurant at Home” dinner. Pick out one of your favorite restaurants and check the internet for copycat recipes and create that meal at home instead of eating out.
Have a winter picnic in your living room and pack up some fun but, simple foods. (Typical summer foods are fun in the middle of winter…potato salad, macaroni salad, hot dogs/hamburgers, baked beans, chips..etc)

Pretend one night you are on a Food Network show like “Chopped” or “Iron Chef”. I think “Chopped” is a pretty standard thing Troy and I do a lot…..”open your fridge and choose 4 or 5 items and create a meal from them”
Stir fry’s are also an easy expensive meal that you can use the weeks leftovers in.

These are just a few ideas. Make meal planning fun, involve others in your home, keep it simple and play!

Next week: Little tips on saving money on your planned meals.

Thrifty Things Friday #42

2012-01-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Linens, I love them and love them even more when I can find major great prices on them! Today I am showing you some brand NEW linens I bought a couple of weeks ago.

This set of two natural color napkins were in the Christmas clearance items at Target. I bought the set for .80 cents. The pretty natural color with the silver gray stitching will be perfect for anytime.

And then a stop at the CTS to look for Christmas markdowns. I ended up getting some great curtains! I like to kind of redo my bedroom from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter. Well, this past Fall I never really got the chance. Since our bedroom is painted a very pale yellow, it really acts like a neutral color and it is easy to decorate around. So, I bought 3 sets of these rust/brown/gold striped drapes to hang up to give the room the warm feel that I like for the cooler months. It instantly changes the look of the room and I really like to be able to do that a couple of times a year and not spend lots of money. So, I was able to change out my curtains for only $1.98 a window….. why not?

I bought a deep russet red Fall tablecloth with embroidered Maple leaves on it for $2.48.

And then the other two curtains I got are to be turned into napkins and either matching table square or runner.

The above orange/yellow/beige curtain for a whopping .58 cents will be so fun made into Summer napkins and a runner!

And the blue and green curtain was a $1.48. Just think of curtain bargains like this as big pieces of home decor fabric!

So, that was my latest linen thrift finds! So much fun!!

Now, let’s check out some of last week’s party posts!

A Thrifted Market shared this great Pottery Barn Inspired knockoff wall cubby!Babs at Upstairs Downstairs shared a fun and easy tutorial on how to make this cute burlap pillow!

Laura at I’m not a Trophy Wife shared some fun and cute Laundry Room decor ideas.

Thank you ladies for such fun and thrifty inspiration! Please grab the “I was Featured button” below!

I want to apologize to those of you that did not get a comment from me on last week’s party links. I try very hard to make sure I visit every one of the people who link up to this party and to leave a comment. For some lovely reason, Blogger has really been screwing around and would freeze me out of certain blogs. I was relieved to know that I wasn’t the only one having this issue. We have 2 laptops and a PC and I had frantically tried all three with no success. I even went over to my mom’s and tried her computer. I, at least, found out it wasn’t just a problem at my end. Don’t you just love when Blogger messes with us! Argggh! Let’s hope the problem is resolved soon!

Please remember to Link back to this party on your post. I never feature a post that is not linked to Thrifty Things Friday.

Okay, let’s get this thrifty show on the road!

Our International New Years Dinner 2012

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

As most of you regular readers know, Troy and I started a Christmas tradition with my parents 11 years ago. And that tradition is we host an International Dinner for them on Christmas day. Well, I told you guys that we are changing this up a bit. Now we are hosting an International New Years Day Dinner. It just works better for us since the Princess has come into our lives.

Since this was a transitional year for us, we decided to just make appetizers to represent different countries. And, as usual, at the end of the meal we all wrote down 3 different countries and put the slips of paper into a hat. The Princess picked out one of the papers and that is the country we will do next year. And next’s year country is…..NORWAY! Troy and I have so much fun researching out each of the countries and creating a traditional holiday meal. We generally do at least 6 courses for each country. We have done up to 12 courses one year. I also research out that country’s traditional decorations and any other traditions they do during the holiday season. And I try to incorporate the decor into our dining room and even practice some of that country’s traditions.

This year was the first ever totally casual dinner. I always set a pretty table but, since this was a transitional year for us, we went super informal. We ate in the living room and used …GASP… paper napkins and a paper tablecloth! LOL

So, here is this year’s meal:

It’s A World Of Appetizers
January 1, 2012

Appetizers and hors d'oeuvre are the enticing entrance to a full meal. They pique the appetite without satisfying it and encourage easy conversation among gathered guests. Appetizers are mini meals that go by different names around the world. Spaniards have tapas, delicious bar food with a deep history. The Italians throw together antipasti platters with elegant simplicity. Hunger pangs in the eastern Mediterranean are calmed with meze and a beverage. Cantonese diners pick out an entire meal from dim sum carts. And the spicy chaat of India are some of the most flavorful snacks in the world.

MENU

Antipasti

Antipasto (plural antipasti), means "before the meal" and is a traditional first course of a formal Italian Meal. The standard antipasto may include: cured meats, olives, roasted garlic, peppers, mushrooms anchovies, artichoke hearts and various cheeses. Traditionally an antipasti platter may be topped with a drizzle of olive oil.

Zupa Pieczarkowa

Wild Mushroom soup is a winter staple in Poland. Made from dried mushrooms, harvested in the summer and preserved at home, this soup is a hearty soup that fills and warms, while still being meatless, so it can be eaten on meatless Fridays.

Mushroom Soup

1/2 lb mixed sliced mushrooms. About 2 C We used the mix you get in the produce section at Kroger.
2Tb Olive oil
1 16 oz Carton vegetable stock.
Saute mushrooms in olive oil until they are soft and dark, add vegetable stock, and bring to a boil.

If desired you can thicken with flour or corn starch. We use about a Tablespoon bit of bulk chicken gravy mix as a thickener

This soup was our favorite part of the meal! It was absolutely delish!!

Olivier Salad

The original version of this salad, invented in 1860, by Lucien Olivier, of Moscow, contained Grouse, veal tongue, caviar, crayfish tails, smoked duck, potatoes and cucumbers. As the dish gained popularity, especially among the less wealthy residents of Russia, the ingredients that were rare, expensive, seasonal, or difficult to prepare were gradually replaced with cheaper and more readily available foods.
Often called Russian Salad, this salad has increasingly become one of the main courses served during the New Year celebration, often served with Turkey and Champagne.

Salad

Boil 3-5 large potatoes, or 8-10 small ones. Peel and dice in 1” cubes. Allow to cool.
Boil and peel six eggs, slice in half lengthwise Remove and save yolks,
Slice 6-8 small dill pickles, or 3-5 large pickles into ½” slices
Add 1 c frozen peas.
Cook 2 medium chicken breasts and cut in 1” cubes. Allow to cool completely

From the smallest jar of caviar you can find, place a small spoonful into boiled egg halves, approx, one for each person being served. Chop the rest of the eggs into ¾” chunks.

Stir the remaining caviar, and eggs, with the chicken, potatoes, pickles, peas together and stir in the following dressing.

Dressing
Cream the boiled egg yolks above with 1/3 C mayonaise and 2 T balsamic vinegar. Add 1 ½ t mint and 1 ½ t Oregano, (or 1T calamint), salt and pepper to taste. Stir into salad.

For our tastes, this salad could have had a bit more zip to the dressing. It tasted rather bland. And of course, the caviar could have been left out.

Breads and Spreads

A tradition in France, is to begin meals with a tray of assorted breads and spreads, some hot and some cold.
Today’s spreads consist of cream cheese flavored with various DTL Herbs LTD products, as well as a crab spread, and a creton, or pork spread, both inspired by the Spanish Tapas, which often precede a meal in Spain.

We used our different herb mixes to create the spreads. One packet of the herb mix to one block of cream cheese.

We also had a couple of dips.

Crab Dip Recipe:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
8 ounces real crabmeat, flaked
1/4 one lemon, juiced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

My personal take on this was just Okay.

Creton recipe:

12 oz chorizo (cooked and well drained to remove as much grease as possible.)
4 oz ground ham
1 cup milk (I used half & half that was out of date, but not sour yet)
1 onion, chopped ( I used 1 t onion powder instead)
3 cloves chopped garlic (about 1 t)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground allspice

This was a nice somewhat spicier and tangy dip. It added a little zip to the overall meal.

Desserts

From the South Pacific Islands, to the Caribbean Islands, to the Mediterranean Islands, it is not uncommon for fresh fruit to appear as the final course for a meal.
Today’s fruits, accompanied by a light cake, and a trio of dipping sauces are inspired by that practice, and seek to meld that tradition with the Swiss custom of fondue.

I can’t believe I forgot to take pictures of the fruit dips! We had three different dips, a chocolate, a lemon and a mint. All 3 were created by adding the flavor to sweet canned milk. (Cocoa powder, Lemon Juice and fresh Mint).

It was a fun evening of just nibbling and gabbing. But, I must confess, I am looking forward to next years dinner and going all out again. I missed not doing that this year.

I’m joining:

Christmas Tea/Coffee Gifts

2012-01-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

I just thought I would share a couple of the fun new tea/coffee things I received for Christmas. I am not showing the teacups Troy got me, just some odds and ends things. Mainly I got LOTS of new teas which is so nice because I was really running low!

My mom got me this ceramic thermal travel mug. It is so fun and bright!She also got me some new teas to try.

My friend Sandy got me some yummy new teas as well. I love that she took the time to buy “local”.

And Katie gave me this adorable large red and white polka dot mug with a bunch of teas in it. Don’t you love these kinds of gifts!Ooooh how I LOVE Dunkin Donut coffee! It is my favorite brand of coffee. However, it is a little pricey to use everyday so, it is savored as a special treat! Thank you Mike and Sherry!

Also from Mike and Sherry this gorgeous Teapot & Tea calendar! The photos in this calendar are stunning and frame worthy!

This is January’s tea setting photo.

And, of course, Troy gave me several teas. He picks out these individual tea bags at one of our favorite local Herb Stores. I haven’t found a tea I didn’t like from there!

I have been wanting one of these steel carafes for awhile now. And he bought me one of Christmas! Yay! They may not be as pretty as a teapot but, these sure keep your drink hot for a very long time! I have some great thermos but, this pot holds a lot of hot water (or whatever).

And a great variety of yummy teas!

So, that was some of my fun gifts this year. Thank you to my amazing family and friends!

I’m joining:

Organizing Holiday Pack-up

2012-01-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

In keeping with my new keyword for 2012, I am trying to keep things organized and that includes things that are seasonal. So, before I packed a box up, I placed everything on the table and took a picture of what is going into that box.

As you can see, this box will be Christmas dishes and some other kitchen items.

Now it is time to pack these things up. A little tip that I do is that I like to use my plastic grocery bags not only to wrap items when I am out of packing paper but, they are also great to wad up and shove in the nooks and crannies of the box so nothing clinks into each other.

Okay, before I go any further I have to tell you that, yes I used cardboard fruit/veggie boxes this year to pack Christmas up. I always put a little bit of money aside for new plastic bins for storage. January is the month that retailers have sales on storage items so, I know that I will always be buying some at that time. However, this year I did buy new storage containers but, not for Christmas items. I used my budgeted money elsewhere. I can't afford to go out and buy all new containers and make everything perfect. So, I work with what I can do.

Normally I would have copies of the pictures I took of the box contents made at Walgreen or some other store. After all, it only costs a small amount to do that. But, this year I had one of those, “I want these boxes out NOW!” moments. And I know you guys know what I am taking about! LOL So, instead I just printed the pictures out on my printer. I do like the fact that they are nice and big pictures but, I don’t like using up my ink (way to expensive in my opinion).

I mark the box on top.

I taped the picture of the contents to the end of the box. I will also write the box number on this picture. I put the picture on the end of the box because that is the way they will be stored on the shelves. As you can see, I have a few “X’s” on the picture. These items did not fit into the box and I was not going to take everything back out and unwrap just to take a picture. Nope, there will be no “it has to be perfect” mentality! No wasted time!

I make a second copy of the box contents and put into a plastic sleeve and add it to my “Holiday Planner”. I am not doing just a “Christmas Planner”. I am using a large 3 ring book and keeping all holiday info in it. I will do a post about my Holiday planner some other time.

So, that is how I pack up holiday things. It is not perfect but, it works for me.

Oh, and don’t think “Well, that is all fine and dandy but, I already have boxes boxed up and I am not about to go back and redo all that!”. Of course you are not! That would be insane! Don’t worry about what is already done. Start right now. I have a lot of Christmas boxes that are not marked like this that I didn’t even touch this year. I will deal with them as they are needed. I will have my Holiday Planner to know what box number I left off at so, next year, I will add more boxes to this planner as they are used. And as I said, I am making a Holiday planner, not just a Christmas planner. So, Valentine’s Day will get added next to the planner. So, start there if you want.

Remember, it’s January 2012…a FRESH start!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you are having a wonderful day!

I’m joining:

Seasonal Sunday

One Project at a Time

Tutorials & Tips

Anti- Procrastination Day

The Creative Spark

Delightfully Inspiring Thursday

Menu Planning: A Budget Saver or a Headache?

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

I told y’all that here at The Thrifty Groove, we are tightening our money belts and organizing is our keyword for 2012. Well, menu planning is a big factor in both these areas.

I have been a slacker in these past few months regarding menu planning. But, that has to change.

I know, many of you are digging your heels in and saying in your mind, “Noooo! I don’t wanna do meal planning!”. Unless you are a Foodie and cooking/baking is your favorite hobby, planning out meals is a chore. Right? And you are thinking that you have tried this before and things were going along just fine and then for whatever reason, you blow off the scheduled meal. So, you start thinking, “What’s the point?”.

Well guess what? That is totally normal. Life happens, things change all the time. But, there is a POINT. And the point is, that it will still save you time, money and stress. You don’t have to beat yourself if you do not follow your meal planning to the letter T. I rarely do. I may have Wednesday’s scheduled meal on Friday instead or I see that tonight’s meal is beef stroganoff and I think to myself, “I am just not in the mood for that right now” so, instead I make grilled cheese sandwiches.

Like I said, this is okay. What having a planned menu does is it frees up having to think about what to have for dinner. You know you already have all the things needed to make that meal. You don’t have to waste money running out to get things for dinner or run to a fast food restaurant. You can do some of the dinner prep work earlier in the day so you don’t have to do it all later. These are just some of the reasons meal planning works and helps.

I’m not going to give you my menu for the week in this post. This post is to offer up some tips that have helped me in the past. Because, let’s face it, the easier it is, the more likely we are to do it!

Here are some ideas that I try to do:

Keep an organized pantry. Knowing what you have is half the battle
Keep your pantry stocked with Loss Leaders and deep discounts and or coupons.
Plan you meals around what you have on hand and what is on sale that week.
Keep a list of what you and your family’s favorite meals are.
Include some quick and easy meals. Every meal does NOT have to be a new recipe or a gourmet meal. Soup and sandwich nights are just fine.
Get in a habit of creating a Master List of meals that you can refer to when planning your menu. You don’t always have to start from scratch each month.
Try to cook one meal that can be turned into 2 meals. One for now, one for the freezer.
Plan your leftovers.
Have a C.O.R.N. (Clean Out Refrigerator Night)
Have other members of your family add their ideas and let them cook one night.

So, lets not make Menu Planning a much dreaded chore. We are not going for perfection! We all have real lives and things are always changing. But, let’s create this as a habit. In the long run, it will become a very helpful tool to keep our lives running just a little smoother.

To get you started, here is a great site that offers lots of free downloads (PDF) for menu planning.

Simple Organized Living

**Next week I will post some fun and easy ideas and tips on saving money and enjoy eating at home!

Thrifty Things Friday #41

2012-01-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone and welcome to Thrifty Things Friday!

My post today is a little different. I want to talk about thrifting for others. I am a member of the local Garden Club and one of the things we do is make small floral arrangements for a Hospice House.

A local flower shop donates a box of flowers and we work with what is given to us.

We use vases that we find at flea markets, thrift stores or yard sales. And we also provide the ribbon for a small bow. So, when you see me thrift a “plain cheap vase” this is where it will go. Same goes for a lot of thrifted ribbon.

When we finish making the little arrangements, a couple of the workers at Hospice take them around to the patient’s homes. We make as many as we can from the flowers that we have. It is not much but, I know that someone will appreciate it.

Thrifting can brighten someone else’s day and that always makes me happy! So, if you have a bunch of vases like these and want to get rid of them, check your local Hospice.

Now, let’s check out some fun posts from last week’s party!

Yvette at Napualani’s Closet made this adorable Lego/chalk table for her son.

Cindy at Beaux R’eves shared her beautiful change over to winter white buffet with a few thrifty redos.

And Judy at JBiggs Little Pieces showed us some pretty sparkle with Mercury glass.

Thank you ladies! Here is the “I was featured” button for your blog!

Remember to please link back to this party on your blog post. I only feature posts that are linked back to The Thrifty Groove TTF party.

Okay, let’s get this party started!

Last 7 Days of the Month

2012-01-11T09:13:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

The Hubs and I were talking and we decided to challenge ourselves by having a “NO SPENDING WEEK” at the end of each month. So, the last 7 days of the month there will be no unnecessary spending. It will be a monthly Financial Fast .

We have been working on our budget for the year. So not a fun thing to do. But, a necessary evil. Since winter is our slowest time of the year regarding our business, very little extra money is available to us. So, we need to tighten our belts even more.

Unnecessary spending includes:

No eating out
No stopping and grabbing a soft drink/coffee
No thrifting
No wasting gas running around
Make sure all unused rooms have their lights turned off

To be honest, this won’t be very difficult for us. We have gone months at a time with no unnecessary spending. This is more to keep us on track. It’s kind of like dieting. The whole, “I am just having a taste of this while I am cooking or, I am just going to have a bite of this”. Well, all those “bites” add up in calories. The same thing is true with money. One dollar here and there may not seem like a lot but, it can add up quickly. And so can coins. I am so surprised to see how many people don’t treat coins like money. Just the other day I was in line at a customer service desk and the guy in front of me reached in his pocket to pull out a receipt and some change flew out of his pocket. He just looked at and shrugged. When he walked away, I picked up the change. $1.37 went into my wallet.

Have you challenged yourself regarding your finances for 2012? Feel free to join me in my No Spending Week once a month. At the first of the month, I will let you know how we did and any tips that helped ease us through that week.

Joining: Saturday 7

Make a Quick Gift Tag

2012-01-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Last week we went to Best Buy to pick up my new laptop. Yup, I got a brand spankin’ new laptop! Mine old one is 6 years old and was literally losing it. And I mean losing KEYS! Yes folks, this is what I have been writing posts on since last Spring.

And where is the “O”, “P” and “L”? You can see the “L” and the “O” at the top of the laptop. LOL So, if I have left comments and you have seen missing letters, this is why!

Well, I am not a electronic-gadget kind of gal. Going into Best Buy generally makes me break out in hives! (figuratively at least) and all I see is BIG HUGE MONEY PRICE TAGS! Yes, spending that much money on things makes me shutter. So, I leave it up to Troy to deal with it whenever I can. While he was picking up the laptop and talking computer stuff with Best Buy Boy, I headed into the Mall to check-out after Christmas sales. I was in Victoria Secrets and found some fun fragrance sprays and powders reduced to, what I consider, good prices.

I picked up a few things for myself and then a couple of things for friends. The two little gifts for Katie and Sandy were little “Just Because” gifts. I knew they would enjoy them and it is always nice to get a completely unexpected gift from Victoria Secrets right? When I checked out I told the sales clerk that these were gifts for friends and asked if they had any gift bags. They did and they are free. So, always ask when you buy your items because you never know unless you do ask.

I didn’t want to make a big deal about the little gifts so, I didn’t want to include a card in the bag but, I did want a gift tag. I thought about using some pretty scrapbook paper or card stock. I had just cleaned out and organized my scrapbook drawers and remembered I had these…..

Yup, paint samples I had for color options for the Princess’s room. Perfect.

Hum, don’t really want the paint info on the back showing so, we will fix that.

Only need two sides, so I cut off the extra color and also cut off the color name at the top.

It already had a handy “folding white line” so, I folded it and put a couple of daps of hot glue between the two and pressed. Then I just added some ribbon to tie it to the package. Simple, free (had the ribbon and paint samples) and very easy. You could really doo-dad this up if you wanted to. Added embellishments to the tags would be cute.

So, remember to look around you home and use what you have when you can!

I’m joining:

I am very excited to join some “new to me” parties!

One Project at a Time

Tutorials & Tips

Tip Me Tuesday

The Creative Spark

Delightfully Inspiring Thursday

A Beautiful New Teacup

2012-01-09T10:00:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

It’s been awhile since I posted a tea and I have lots of new teacups to share with you. But, let’s do one at a time.

During the Thanksgiving weekend, my mom surprised me with this gorgeous teacup and saucer set. We had visited a secondhand store earlier that day and we both spotted this teacup and saucer and fell in love with it. It was way out of my spending budget so, I just admired it at the store. That evening my mom gave it to me as a surprise! She is sneaky and wonderful that way!

Isn’t it pretty!

It is Tuscan Fine English Bone China. I think the Tuscan line was bought out by Wedgwood at some point.

I’m using my pretty little Spode creamer today.

I thought my white Wedgwood tea/coffee pot was perfect for this tea.

I was going to save this tea post for a Valentine Tea but, I am no good at waiting! LOL

The pretty hydrangea flowers are actually little floral clips. They sold them with Christmas decor. I picked them up for .25 cents each at our local hardware store. I find the prettiest things at the oddest places!

I love this little eyelet runner. It is part of a 3 piece set I bought while thrifting for a grand total for .50 cents.

Mom, thank you again for this gorgeous teacup and saucer set! I absolutely LOVE it!

I was just wrapping some gifts for the Princess and stopped to make this tea. I also spent some time going through scrapbooks. Today is the Princess’s birthday. She is 4 yrs. old. Right now her and Troy are at a new indoor Farmer’s Market. I can’t believe she is already four years old. Where has the time gone? As I was walking down memory lane through her scrapbooks, it feels like just last week I was giving her a bath in the kitchen sink!

I think taking a few moments here and there to look back at her pictures as a baby makes me realize that each and every day counts. They really do grow up fast! All of us have just one “today”. Tomorrow, it is gone forever. I have to keep this in my heart everyday. God gave me this beautiful little person and it is my honor to love, support, teach and make her smile everyday.

You are the sunshine in my heart Lia and I love you with everything that I am! Happy Birthday Princess!

And thank you for stopping by for a little tea with me today! I hope your day is wonderful!

I am joining:

Living Well Wednesdays

What's it Wednesday

What is Red, White, Blue and Wintery?

2012-01-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

As most of you know, I rarely buy New dishes let alone more than 4 settings. However, I have decided that I would really like a 12 piece setting for winter and one for summer. I don’t need to buy every piece that goes in a setting because I like to mix in white dishes when I can. And I have plenty of white dishes. So, not only does this cut down on the cost, it also cuts down on the storage! Two things that are very important!

I have said a gazillion times that if you like to play with dishes and create different table settings, the most important thing to have is a set of simple white dishes. From there, you can mix and match fun dish finds. And like I just said, it cuts WAY back on cost and storage!

So, keeping that in mind, I have had my eye on this year’s Christmas dishes that Kroger was selling. Kroger always offers a new pattern at Christmas and it is generally a very neutral pattern representing winter. Two weeks before Christmas, they had the pieces on sale for $1.00 each. A good price but, I still waited. I knew I wasn’t going to buy all 5 pieces so, I kept in mind what I would like to use with white dishes for a mix and match winter table.

I patiently waited until the week between Christmas and New Years knowing that they would go 50% off. I kept my fingers crossed hoping there would be enough left to create a 12 person setting.

And there was! I didn’t get the dinner plates or coffee mugs that matched. But, I got the salad plates, bowls and glasses. I also decided it would be pretty and fun to mix and match between the blue and red. With white being the other color used, I think it will look really nice for winter!

I love that the pattern is snowflakes! They are perfect to use anytime during the colder months. The colors are so bright and fun!

By mixing the blue and red, it takes away the feel of just Christmas dishes.

I did go back and get 6 more of these white snowflake glasses to keep with this set. The red ones are Christmasy and will be used during the holiday.

And the best part? All 42 pieces came out to $25.20 (+tax) and I had a freebie $25.00 Kroger gift card that I had been holding onto! So, my out of pocket cost was .20 cents plus the tax!

So, those are my new Winter dishes to use when I have all of my family or friends come over for a meal during the colder months.

Thanks for stopping by! And don’t forget to join me for my weekly Thrifty Things Friday linky party! The post goes up on Thursday evenings. Show off your thriftiness with all of us!

Have a wonderful day!

I am joining:

Quick Cleaning Tip

2012-01-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Do you use dryer sheets? If not, just skip this post. If you do, let’s make the used dryer sheets do double duty!

As soon as you have folded a load of laundry, snatch up that used dryer sheet.

Now, just quickly dust some of the things in that room. Right then! Do NOT spend a lot of time on dusting any one thing or area! Just go over the areas/things fast. This is not to be done for perfection! I’m talking no more than 5 minutes spent wiping down things! Then toss the used dryer sheet.

(Sorry so dark. I was wiping down the TV and it is really hard to take an action shot! LOL)

Getting in the habit of doing this just helps decrease the need to do major dusting. You still will have to do your regular dusting but, this will cut your time down a lot! We all need more time!

Thrifty Tablescape Linky Party #7

2012-01-06T15:53:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Today I thought I would share our little New Years Eve table. We had a very quiet evening. And the late dinner was mainly little appetizers and treats. But, I did set a table for Troy and I.

I started with a white thrifted tablecloth (bought years ago at a flea market). It has small silver threads running through it. And some thrifted black and white placemats.

I used simple stainless steel chargers that I bought last year from a vendor at the flea market. They had the original price tags from Bed, Bath and Beyond for $5.99 each. I paid $1.00 for both.

I then used black octagon plates that I bought at a yard sale this past summer. I saw the black plates under a stack of odds and ends plates on the table and asked the woman how much for the black plates. She said $1.00. I started taking out the black plates and she said, “No, take ALL of those dishes for $1.00”. So, I walked out with 15 dinner plates and 4 saucers for $1.00. Most of the other plates I really didn’t want so, I donated them.

I then used these cute thrifted “toasting” salad plates. I just thought they were perfect for a New Years Eve table.

I added my silver thrifted dessert plates (yup, I had to get the silver cleaner out and polish them up for this table. Geez, you can really see the scrapes).

I used my thrifted everyday Johnson Bros white Ironstone saucers and the glass and silver mugs (also thrifted).

Everyday silverware and simple white napkins with silver beaded napkin rings. This set was bought at TJ Maxx last year after Christmas. It was way after Christmas when I bought these. I think someone might have returned them so, they were clearanced very low and I got lucky!

I bought a set of 8 of these vintage clear and silver glasses at a thrift store last summer.

Wow, before I go any further, let me just apologize for not ironing this tablecloth! I forget how pictures show every flaw!

I love the black and silver bulb card holders (bought clearanced at Michaels).

Aren’t these the cutest little silver bird candles! I picked them up after Christmas at the Home Good Store for 50% off (set of 4).

I pulled accessories from around my home to decorate the table.

Some of my centerpiece things:

Mercury glass apothecary jar~clearanced a few years ago at the Home Goods store. 2 crystal candlesticks~TJ Maxx free from sponsor gift card. Black and white ceramic orbs~free with Pier 1 coupon. 2 round mercury glass candleholders~The Christmas Tree Shops clearanced at .50 cents each. Larger mercury glass pillar holder~clearanced at Home Goods store. Thrifted coffee carafe. Glass chunks~Dollar Tree (years ago). Piece of silver mesh scarf ribbon~thrift store (years ago).

Well, there you have it, my first Thrifty Tablescape for 2012! I did a quick mental count of the cost of everything on this table and it came out to be (my out of pocket cost) about $19.00.

I hope you enjoyed it! Now, let’s see your thrifty tablescape!

I'm joining:
Seasonal Sunday
Table Top Tuesday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Tablescape Thursday

Thrifty Things Friday Party #40

2012-01-05T15:27:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

Are you taking advantage of the after the holiday sales? I’ll be honest, I really don’t need any more Christmas things and besides, I like to find the little treasure here and there throughout the year while thrifting.

However, there are certain things I look for that can be used through the year or at the next holiday.

One thing that I look for is those cute little girl’s gift sets (bubble baths, lip balms, jewelry etc.). The Princess’s birthday is January 8th, so these 50% off sets make nice birthday presents for her. This is also a good time to stock up on these kinds of things if you have little ones (or grandchildren) for Easter basket stuffers.

This is also the best time to stock up on candles!

And another thing to look for is the pretty wired ribbon. Not all of them look Christmasy. And look for solid color rolls of gift wrap to use all year long.

And then there are things like chargers. I picked up these green ones for St. Paddy’s day at Walmart for .49 cents each. They had red, silver and gold. These are basic colors to use all year. Keep in mind, you can spray paint or redesign these thrifted chargers! Check out my experimentation on painting chargers at this post!

And don’t forget about Christmas candies such as Kisses, Hershey mini candy bars or M&M’s. These are great to add to you baking supplies!

So, think outside of the box when you see these clearanced holiday things. They can save you some money down the road.

Let’s look at some fun posts from last week!

Kim at Musings from Kim K. shared her (and her hubby) redo of this cute thrifted jelly cabinet.

Liz at Shortbread & Ginger shared some fun thrift finds.

And Pyrex lovers, did you see the Pyrex Ann at A Sentimental Life got at an auction?

Thank you ladies! Here is the “I was Featured” button for your blog!

Remember to link back this this party on your post! I never feature posts that don’t link back to The Thrifty Groove.

Don't forget, this Saturday (Jan.7) is the first monthly Thrifty Tablescape Linky Party of 2012! I would love to see you there!

Okay, let’s see what you have to share with us this week!

I'm joining Cap's Creations Thrift Party

The Downside of Having a Real Christmas Tree

2012-01-02T14:13:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

We have been trying to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas so, I have been holding off on taking down the Christmas decorations. Unfortunately, my favorite Christmas decoration can no longer remain up. The Christmas tree is coming down today.

That would be the downside of having a real tree. They dry out super fast. Having the heat on, really dries out our house even with two humidifiers.

When ornaments literally slide off the branches, you know it is time to get the tree, aka fire hazard, out of the house!

All the tree ornaments are packed up and stored away now. I will leave the other decorations up until January 5, the day before the Epiphany.

Definitely need to wear house shoes with a good sole for awhile!

January~Time for Planning

2012-01-01T16:41:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

January, the time for renewal, new starts and big hopes.

My plan of attack is a little different this year. Generally I have a tendency to just jump into getting the house cleaned and organized. Start some projects I have been wanting to do. And well, a gazillion other things. I have all this “Fresh Start” mentality and leap in with both feet.

Guess what happens? I burn out quickly. I have a ton of things started and very few finished. I want everything done at once! And instead of focusing on one thing or area at a time, I feel the strong need to multi-task. I want EVERYTHING done NOW! There is a time and place to multi-task. We are women after all and have been multi-tasking since he beginning of time, way before multi-tasking was a known term.

Yes, I can have laundry going and dinner in the crockpot and then devote my time and energy to one specific project to work on. What I can’t let myself do is jump into several projects at one time while dinner is cooking and laundry going.

Does this sound a little familiar to you? Want to join me in organizing and really getting things done?

This week I am Planning and gathering my thoughts. I am working at creating some routines and my “Just get it done” list. I will be working on one small area at a time. No over zealous daily projects. I am refusing to set myself up for failure or disappointment. However, I will be challenging myself on a regular basis.

Are you working on new routines, planning projects and organizing your life? If so, I would love to hear some of your plans or ideas.

What Would You Like to See in 2012?

2011-12-31T15:22:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

Today’s post is more a question to all of you. I am curious to see what kind of posts you would like to see here at The Thrifty Groove in 2012.

I have to be honest with you guys. I could write blog posts all day long. Seriously! I love to write and I rarely run out of things to write about. You wouldn’t believe all the blog posts I have written that have never made it to this blog. That is why I ended up creating a personal private blog a couple of years ago. I can just write and write and write.

The one thing that will always remain the same on this blog is thriftiness! Whether it is finds, alternatives, organizing, recipes, projects or cleaning, everything I do is based around being thrifty.

I can tell you that for 2012, my keyword for the year is going to be ORGANIZE. I have a very full plate when it comes to all the different things I do on a daily basis. And I see the coming year being totally chaotic if I am not organized. Some areas in which organization is vital in my opinion are:

Routines
Meal Planning
De-Cluttering (can’t organize clutter)
Simplifying areas in my life
Prioritizing
Keeping on top of our finances.
Searching out thriftier alternatives.

These are my personal areas to focus on this year. I may or may not do posts about them. I am not sure how many people would be interested in these topics.

But, I really would enjoy knowing what things you like to read about here on The Thrifty Groove! It helps me decided what should be published in this blog or my personal blog.

So, please feel free to tell me your opinions and ideas! I truly appreciate it!

And let me take this moment to wish each and everyone of you a fantastic 2012!!

Thrifty Things Friday #39

2011-12-29T15:30:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

This is the last TTF party for 2011. Can you believe it! As I posted yesterday, today, feel free to repost a past favorite thrifty find or idea or a brand new thrifty post.

I am posting one of my favorite thrifty tablescape. This wasn’t a post for TTF or my Thrifty Tablescape party. It was originally posted last April. At that point I was so tired of cold and gloomy days and one day the sun was shining so, I grabbed these pretty pink and yellow dishes and did my tablescape.

You can find the original post with lots more pictures here!

I had wanted pink chargers for this table setting so, I took cheap thrifted chargers and spray painted them pink to match.

I also painted some clearanced plain napkin rings pink and added pretty little flowers on them. And I made the pretty pale pink overlay napkin.

I bought the 23 piece yellow Harkerware set of dishes at the flea market (some are plain yellow and others have white daisies on them) for a grand total of $1.00!

I also made the three tiered serving dish from thrifted china.

The entire table was made up of thrift finds.

It was the first sign of Spring the day I set this table so, the pretty softer colors just made me smile!

I am not showing any featured posts from last week’s party because I haven’t visited everyone yet (as of when I am writing this post).

I hope all of you are enjoying the last days of 2011 and reflecting back on the happy and positive things that happened this past year!

I'm joining Whats it Wednesday

Santa Candy

2011-12-28T16:45:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

I grew up with the custom of Santa bringing candy and leaving it in dishes through out the living room and dining room. This was one of the exciting things we looked forward to as kids. We didn’t have a lot of candy on a regular basis in our house so, this was a huge treat.

Santa brought us some candy as well. And believe me, Santa really tried to use constraint in buying the candy!

There was more but, you get the idea.

Well, after allowing the princess one free for all day on Christmas, we have been letting her have a few pieces each day. Which is hard when she is looking at it all day long. And the bigger problem is Troy and I! LOL In the evening while watching TV, it is way to difficult to resist! And you can easily eat it without even realizing it!

So, now the candy is all in the cookie jar. It’s harder to get to and you are aware of getting it. We all still pick out a few pieces a day but, no longer is it in our face!

Do you have Santa candy and if so, do you leave it out until it is all eaten or do you put it away?

This Week’s Thrifty Things Friday party

2011-12-28T13:28:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

Wow, this week’s TTF party is the last one for 2011! Where did the year go?

I am sure a lot of us haven’t done much thrifting this past week so, I thought we could open up this week’s TTF party a bit.

Please feel free to share some of your favorite thrift finds or thrifty ideas from the past year with us. Or share some of your Christmas photos with all of us.

If you have some new thrift finds or ideas, of course you are welcome to share them as well.

Feel free to share a past post that made you smile during the 2011 year!

Let’s just have a fun party! The TTF post will be up tomorrow at 4:00. See you there!

New Traditions

2011-12-26T16:25:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

Wow Christmas 2011 is already past! I hope all of you had a fantastic Christmas day! We did. However, some major changes for us happened. We usually host our International Christmas Dinner on Christmas evening for my parents. We started this tradition when Troy and I first got married. It was our first tradition as a married couple. Well, we never expected that a little princess would come into our lives.

Her first couple of Christmas’s didn’t really effect our Christmas dinner. But, this year, she was totally aware of things and was really into Christmas. And we decided that we did not want to rush through this joyous day just so we could spend the bulk of Christmas day cooking and baking and preparing this elaborate meal. Our focus wanted to be on the princess and creating wonderful memories with her. My parents totally agreed with us.

We all decided that we did not want to give up this fun tradition. So, we are switching our International Christmas Dinner to our International New Year’s Day Dinner.

After “Santa” left and before the Princess woke up.

This Christmas, when we woke up, we enjoyed opening our stocking gifts and relaxed a little then headed over to my mom’s for her Christmas Brunch. After visiting and eating, we headed home and opened our Christmas presents. It was almost an all day affair. We stayed in our pj’s all day and the Princess had a blast with all her fun gifts from Santa.

It was an “Art” full Christmas for the Princess. She wanted all kinds of arts and crafts supplies and was so exited to get her own “art station” (that is what they call it in her class)

We ended our day by finally getting the very wired but, totally exhausted Princess into bed and then Troy and I watched our favorite Christmas movie and enjoyed some quiet time reflecting the day.

It was as close as you can get to a perfect day here at Casa Chaos.

These next couple of week’s are going to be light posting from me. Lots of things to do and I want to get settled into a New Year. Of course my weekly Thrifty Things Friday Party will still be posted and the upcoming monthly Thrifty Tablescape party will be up for Saturday January 7th!

I hope you all are having a relaxing day today! Thanks for stopping by!

A Gift and Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

We get a real tree every year for Christmas. We usually go to a tree farm and cut one down. If you buy a real tree every year, you know how insane the prices have become! This year we had planned on cutting down our own while we were at the cabin. A tree was picked out and then we realized that we also had to close down our trailer for the year and that meant everything had to come out of it. So, our truck was totally packed and there was no room for the tree. Bummer!

While I was out and about, my oldest nephew Zack (19 yrs. old) called me. He asked if we had gotten a Christmas tree yet. I told him that we hadn’t. He said he has one for us, if we want it. Huh? I was puzzled. He explained that his buddy was up north and cut down some trees on his property and brought them back down here for some friends and family. Zack was helping to deliver them and they ended up with a couple left over. So, he thought of us.

Even though our Christmas tree decorations are packed away in storage, we planned to dig them out. After hours of looking we still couldn’t find them. And then the rain started. And I swear, the rain hasn’t stopped for days. Everywhere you look roads are closed due to flooding.

I can’t believe that I finally told Troy, forget about it, I will just pick up some ornaments and be happy with it as it is.

I was talking to my mom and she asked if I had found the Christmas tree ornaments. I told her no and what I planned to do. She told me to go upstairs and go through all the Christmas stuff she wasn’t using. Sure enough, she had a lot of old bulbs that she didn’t use this year.

I ran to the Dollar Tree and just picked up a couple of non-bulb ornaments to add. And of course some candy canes.

And the Princess was given several homemade ornaments at a holiday show she recently went to with Troy.

Then I stopped at a small local Hardware Store and picked through a big basket of individual ornaments that had come off floor display trees that were sold. They had a basket of ornaments for .15 cents each and some for .50 cents each. I bought a few of each.

I have to tell you, the Christmas tree is my favorite Christmas decoration. If I had absolutely no other holiday decorations up but, had my Christmas tree, I would be okay with that. I know a lot of you must do this, after everyone has gone to bed and the house is dark and quiet, I love to get a cup of tea, curl up and just have the Christmas tree lights on and let my mind wander to Christmas’s past.

I love to see all the beautiful themed trees out there and I like to do some small themed trees myself. However, when it comes to our main Christmas tree, the one with all the presents under it, it will always be a real tree with a mish-mash of ornaments. Because that is the family tree. It tells our life story. I have very few bulbs usually on our tree. Every individual ornament was picked out and has a story behind it. I can literally trace our life through the Christmas ornaments. And each one of them touches my heart.

So, when I couldn’t find our Christmas tree ornaments, I became very sad and kind of depressed. I know, that sounds corny huh? Not having all my regular Christmas decorations was one thing but, to not have my tree ornaments was kind of a final straw thing.

That evening after decorating the tree Zack gave us and using my mom’s old bulbs, the cheap ornaments I picked up and added the silly ornaments that the princess had received as gifts, I prayed for strength. I prayed to the Lord to lighten my heart and to enjoy what I have and see things differently. After about an hour of sitting there in the dark with the Christmas tree glowing I felt tears running down my face. When I looked at the tree I did see family. A tree given to us by an amazing and sweet nephew. He thought of us and took the time to bring a beautiful tree to our home. I saw my brother who is the father of the wonderful young man. The fact that he raised Zack and my 2 other nephews to become loving and caring young men all by himself. I saw my mom with her generous heart sharing some of her past memories with me by giving me the old Christmas bulbs to use. And that sparked all my wonderful childhood Christmas memories that both of my parents gave me. And then I saw the new homemade ornaments that the Princess had received from various vendors at a craft show she went to with Troy to sell our products. They gave them to her because she was so sweet and well behaved. I realized how lucky I am to have this beautiful little soul in my life and to see Christmas through her eyes where everything is a miracle. And I saw my husband who was in a great deal of pain but, spent time out in the cold moving, lifting and shoving things around to try and find the Christmas tree ornaments for me because he knew how much they meant to me.

Yes, this year’s Christmas tree is different. It is a gift from my family. All the people I love with all my heart. Thank you Lord for giving me this amazing gift of Family and Love.

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you!

Want Your House to Smell Wonderful?

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone and Merry Christmas Eve!

Today’s little tip is adding wonderful scents to our homes. We, of course, love herbs and the scents of them are so yummy! I will use the odds and ends stems and leaves and just simmer them in a pan on the stove on a regular basis. Nine times out of ten, our house will smell like I am whipping up some fabulous Italian dinner!

Another wonderful way to have a lovely herb scent is to buy potted herbs to keep in your house. This is our Rosemary Christmas tree.

You can pick these up at your local grocery store. And if they have any left, they will be reduced after Christmas. I want to pick up another one.

We will keep it trimmed and use the Rosemary throughout the winter months and then plant it in our yard in the Spring. To keep your plant releasing it’s scent, all you have to do is pet it! That’s what I said, PET your plant! Run your hands up the plant and you will release the natural oils.

We have a small herb garden growing in a window at the princess’s school and the kids just love the fact that they can “pet” their plants.

So enjoy delicious natural scents in your home with a couple of potted herbs!

Christmas Cookies: Messy and Fun!

2011-12-23T11:36:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Back when my nephews were just little tots, I started a tradition with them at Christmas. We would set a date and the 3 of them would stay the night with me and we would put Christmas movies on and decorate Christmas Sugar cookies. That is when I discovered how handy cheapo dollar store tablecloths were! On the table and UNDER the table!

Since they are now, 19, 18 and 16, the whole staying the night at Aunt Diann’s and decorating Christmas cookies is quite as fun. However, handing the torch so to speak over to them is fun! So, this year, I made all the stuff for the cookies and made dinner and hauled it all to my brother’s house. My nephews decorated Christmas cookies with the Princess. And she had a blast and so did the boys!

The Princess is finally deciding to use a different color other than blue! Woohoo! That’s me in the background trying to decorate different cookies in different colors as fast as I could so we didn’t have a Blue Christmas! LOL

She really did great decorating. After the first 2 times of licking her fingers clean and then hauling her off to wash her hands, she remembered to use her napkin to wipe off the icing. And Zack and Chris, if you read this, just know that you NEVER quite got the hang of not licking you fingers! LOL

Yup, Christmas mess is so fun!

I’m joining:

Tickled Pink

Feathered Nest Friday

Home Sweet Home

Thrifty Things Friday #38

2011-12-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Here we are a couple of days away from Christmas 2011! Isn’t that amazing? Time is really moving a break-neck speed to me this year. But, I think that happens every year. The older you get, the faster time moves. It really feels that way to me!

I know everyone is showing Christmas treasures in one form or another right now but, I am going to be the odd man out! LOL

One of the last stores we all visit before we say our goodbyes at the Girls Annual Shopping Trip is Pier 1. We have a Pier 1 near my home but, I don’t go there very often. It’s one of those stores that my credit card keeps jumping out of my purse and wanting to be used! I do check it out every few months for clearance items and have found some really fun things marked down to prices I can handle.

When we stop at Pier, we are generally all done with our Christmas shopping and are ready to splurge a little on ourselves. We scour the aisles for those glorious red clearance stickers! LOL

Back in the summer I had stopped at Pier and spotted these cute ant picnic dishes. I thought they were so much fun but, no way could I afford to just buy them full price. Well, they had 3 left and clearanced to $1.18 and then 30% off . So, I snatched them up (there is just me, the Hubs and the Princess so, I often buy just 3 dishes). I think they are going to be so much fun this summer!

Don’t you love big tassels? I like to use them in decor and tablescapes. I picked up 4 in 2 different fun summer colors for .89 cents each. I make a lot of my own tassels and I can’t make them for that price!

And I love fun napkin rings. I generally thrift all my napkin rings or make them. There are so many awesome ones out there but, they are expensive! This was a big ‘ol honkin’ splurge for me since I usually buy thrifted napkin rings for $1.00-$2.00 a set. But, they are so fun and colorful and I knew I would not see them at a thrift store or yard sale. So, I forked over the $1.18 a piece clearanced price (original price $6.00 each! yikes!) for these cute beaded bird napkin rings..

So, those were my fun thrifted new finds that were just silly and a gift to myself.

Let’s check out a couple of fun posts from last week!

Over at Lavender Dreams, you have to see what $2.07 can get you!

And check out these sweet angels at Karie’s Chic Creations

Here is the “I was featured” button!

Now, let’s see what fun things you have to share this week!

Red Cardinals New and Revisit

2011-12-21T14:54:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

This post is part new and part revisit. Last year I had bought the beautiful cardinal tea set and dishes and did a little tablescape with them. Here are my NEW cardinal finds to go along with last years pretty cardinal dishes and tea set.

A pretty teapot nightlight, and ornament for the tree and the set of salt and pepper shakers.

Now a revisit of last years cardinal pretties!

At the beginning of December, my mom and I headed north for our annual Girl's Shopping Trip. As part of our routine, my mom and I stop at Cracker Barrel on the way up for lunch and more importantly, shopping in the store.

When we were looking around the store, I saw this beautiful Red Cardinal dishes. Oh, I was in love with them! And they were 40% off! Woohoo!! So, I got the 4 piece teapot set, 2 mugs, 2 plates, 2 canape plates and a little teacup ornament. And here they are.

Here is the tea set.

And the pretty dishes.

I started with a gold tablecloth, added a weave looking crimson red place mat and matching napkins. I added a stripe of gold ribbon to the place mats.

I used my winter scene stemware.

A couple of gold votives, my crystal candlesticks with red tapers and a small cloche with my Red Cardinal teacup ornament under it complete this simple table.

Random Pictures.

Now add a little candlelight for pretty shimmer and sparkle.

I really do love this set! I don't plan to store it away until the end of Winter. I think it just right to use throughout the snowy months.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. I'm joining Tablescape Thursday

She Believes

2011-12-20T13:00:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone!

As most of you know, we have our own business, DTL Herbs. We have been doing some holiday shows lately. And the princess (almost 4 yrs old) had decided she wanted her own product to make and sell. So, she started making packets of Reindeer Food. With the exception of cutting the larger herbs stems and making the labels, she does everything else. She blends the herb stems, oatmeal and granola and packages them up. Then she staples the label on each bag.

The weekend that I was at the Girls Shopping Trip, she and Troy did a holiday craft show. Troy set her up with her own table for her reindeer food and made her a sign for her table. I had told her that whatever she sold would be her Christmas shopping money.

She had made 30 Reindeer Food to sell. She sold 20. She is a wonderful little sales person. Why? Because she is innocent. She truly believes that it is important to have some food ready for Santa’s reindeer when they come to your house. So she believes 100% in her product!

She sold each bag for $1.00. Troy said she would not take no for an answer from people. She was very concerned that someone would not have the reindeer food and Santa would not stop at their house.

Troy observed one particular customer incident:

An unsmiling older lady walked past the princess’s table.

Princess: Hi! Would you like to buy some of my Reindeer Food?

Customer: No!

Princess: But, Santa’s reindeer need to have something to eat when they come to your house.

Customer: Santa’s reindeer are on a diet. (I know, can you believe that comment? LOL)

Princess: But my product is all natural and helps them have energy!

Customer: No. I do not have $1.00 to spend on Reindeer Food! And she walked away.

The Princess sat there for awhile thinking about this. She then told Troy she would be right back. She snatched up a reindeer food and headed toward the customer. Troy walked behind her, not knowing where she was going.

She caught up with the customer and tapped her. She then handed the Reindeer Food to her. The woman said, “I told you that I am not buying any of your reindeer food!”

The princess said, “I know because you don’t have any money. But, that’s okay because sometimes I don’t have any money either. But, I want to make sure Santa comes to your house so you can just have this one.” Then she walked back to her table.

The customer just grumbled and left the reindeer food on a table she was at and walked away. The princess didn’t see that part and Troy snatched the packet back up and didn’t tell her about it.

The princess didn’t say anything about this incident and just went back to selling her reindeer food.

Since this is my blog and I can say anything I want, I just want to say how proud I am of her! Even though she will make me insane on a daily basis, I know what kind of little person she is. She has an innocent heart. She cares about people. She is kind and sweet. And she Believes!

I took her to the dollar store so she could buy all her people (13) a Christmas gift that she picked out and paid for with her money she earned. Holy Cow! letting her pick out 13 gifts felt like it took 13 hours! LOL We tackled each name on her list one at a time. I am somewhat confused at some of the gifts but, she picked them out and that is what they are getting!

Afterward, she said she still had money left so she could take us (my mom joined us in this shopping adventure) out to lunch! She said, “Mama, I can pay this time!” And so we did just that! This was a very memorable day.

I knew she wanted to wrap her own gifts so, I decided to grab 13 paper lunch sacks and a bunch of Christmas stickers. She loves stickers so, she sat and decorated her own Christmas gift bags! She rolled each gift in tissue paper and put them in the decorated sacks. The only thing I did was write on each bag who it was to and then she signed each one herself.

Regardless of all the craziness going on in our life, THIS makes it all worth it!

Tea and Christmas Cards

2011-12-18T12:33:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

I love to receive Christmas cards in the mail! Don’t you? It seems to be a slowly fading tradition. With the internet, so many are going the electronic route instead of actually sending via the post office. And I have to admit, my Christmas card mailing list has been reduced by almost 50% in the past 15 years. but, I still enjoy sitting down when I have some alone time and writing out Christmas greetings. And I always write some little thing in the card besides our names. Nothing real elaborate, just a little handwritten note.

Having a cup of tea is perfect for making out Christmas cards!

A Few fun thrifted finds!

I bought this adorable 1989 Fitz and Floyd Santa teapot recently at a thrift store for $2.50. I love his face!

Just a pretty red metallic glazed teacup and saucer. Another thrift find for .99 cents.

I just bought three of these glass candle holders at The Christmas Tree Shops. Each has a different metal piece attached to it, a snowman, a reindeer and candy canes. they were clearanced at .89 cents each.

I thought I would share a little information regarding the tradition of Christmas cards with you today.

The sending of greeting cards at Christmas began in the Victorian era. Although wood engravers produced prints with religious themes in the European Middle Ages, the first commercial Christmas and New Year's card is believed to have been designed and printed in London, England in 1843.

The First Christmas card

This card, one of 18 cards produced 167 years ago and still known to exist, was auctioned by Sotheby's in 2010 and sold for $7000. This particular card was was sent to a "Miss Rusby" from an "H. Vernon", produced by Sir Henry Cole and published by Summerley’s Home Treasury Office, 12, Old Bond Street, London. [Image from Daily Mail]
Here are some early Christmas cards.

Christmas / New Years Greeting Card, c.1895-1905
This is a two-sided holiday greeting card decorated with red silk fringe. Front says: "Laden with Christmas Greetings". Back says: "With best wishes for a Happy New Year". 2-1/2"x4-1/2".

Christmas Greeting Card, Late 19th C.
A two-sided holiday greeting card is decorated with white silk fringe. Front says: "Happy may your Christmas be". Back says: "May Christmas Peace keep Winter from thy heart". 2-1/2"x4".

Christmas / New Year Greeting Card, Late 19th C.
This two-sided holiday greeting card is decorated with blue silk fringe. Front says: "A Merry Christmas to You". Back says: "A Happy New Year, Health and prosperity, Your life to cheer, With every blessing, For the bright New Year". 2-1/2"x4-1/2".
Source:Victoriana
A Replica of a Louis Prang Christmas Card
Christmas Cards appeared in the United States of America in the late 1840s, but were very expensive and most people couldn't afford them. It 1875, Louis Prang, a printer who was originally from German but who had also worked on early cards in the UK, started mass producing cards so more people could afford to buy them. Mr Prang's first cards featured flowers, plants, and children. In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today! Source: Here
In the 1910s and 1920s, home made cards became popular. They were often unusual shapes and had things such as foil and ribbon on them. These were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand

The "Fad" of the Christmas Card

The early Christmas card manufacturers believed Christmas cards to be a fad that would soon pass. They did not bother to document the cards they produced. However, the Christmas card was destined to become an integral part of the holiday season. By 1880 their manufacture was big business, creating previously unknown opportunities for artists, writers, printers, and engravers.

Source: Holiday Decorations.com

I’m joining:

Tea Time Tuesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Don’t Ruin Your Everyday Candles

2011-12-16T11:27:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

I just thought I would share another way to add a little holiday flair to your everyday candles and not do it permanently. I like to use my candles over and over again so, I don’t like to glue things to them at holiday times. Not to mention, storing all the different holiday candles can take up more storage room and you still want every day candles.

I have showed you in the past several things I do, such as:

Gluing leaves together to create a sleeve for your candle. Easy to slide off and on.
Tie Ribbons around candles
Use seasonal scrapbook papers and tape around candles.

Ya’ll know that I am keeping it simple and thrifty this year. So, here is another idea I would like to share with you.

I found this pretty twisted Christmas cording at the dollar store. I thought it would be a nice holiday touch to a few candles.

Use straight pins. It takes some effort to completely insert them. I used a small hammer to tap them in. Also, when using a cording like this, wrap the end in some tape to hold it all together and pin through it.

I wanted some of the candle showing through and not completely covered in the cording.

Simple, quick, thrifty and pretty! That seems to be my motto this Christmas! LOL

Thrifty Things Friday #37

2011-12-15T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Setting boundaries for thrifting! That is what today’s Thrifty Things Friday party post is about.

You all know that I am a major thrifter. About 75% of the things I buy, are thrifted 2nd hand items or deeply discounted. I do this for several reasons.

I can’t afford most things retail price. Yup, that is my reality.
If I can’t fix something that is broke and I can find a perfectly good replacement 2nd hand, I don’t hesitate to buy it. As long as it does what I need it to do, I don’t understand why I would even think of buying a brand new one at retail price. In my brain, that doesn’t make sense.
I would rather buy something 2nd hand and not add to more waste. Not adding more to our landfills. If nothing else, all the insane packaging is such a waste.
I am trying to teach my child that there is always alternatives.
I love vintage items.
They really did make things to last in the past for the most part. Many older items are much better quality.

That is just a few of my reasoning behind thrifting 2nd hand. Don’t get me wrong, if I see something that, for whatever reason, I want/need that is only available at retail, I will either wait until the price is lower, negotiate a lower price or save up and hope I can still get it when I have the money.

I don’t use credit cards. I haven’t used a credit card (with the exception of making a reservation) in about 3 years. Everything we buy is paid in cash.

When it comes to fun things, I have a budget. $25.00 a week is my “thrifting allowance”. Some weeks I don’t even go out thrifting so I can “rollover” my thrifting allowance. I also have a budget amount for needed household items or clothing.

Generally, I only show you my “fun” finds. I figure most of you don’t want to see the recently thrifted pans, sheets, iron or whatever that I just bought to replace something.

Okay, now with all that said, here are some rules/standards I usually follow.

My first, most important rule is: Be prepared to walk away from something if you can’t get the price you want or need.
If something is priced too high for your budget and you really want it, ask someone in charge if you can get a better price. It never hurts to ask. Don’t be shy. Be nice and polite. Don’t demand or say something like “This price is insane! Way too high!”
Think outside of the box when you see items. Old clothes, sheets, pillow cases etc. are “fabric” in my mind. What can I make from this item that I want or need?
Get to know your thrift stores! When do they have sales? How long do they keep merchandise until they mark it down to get rid of it? This also applies to retail clearance prices. Most retail stores have a “markdown schedule”. You often can tell when the next markdown will happen if you learn the number codes on the clearance sticker. Target is a great example of this.
Do they offer any kind of “Customer Loyalty” cards discounts?
Get to know the staff/manager/owner that works at the store. Just being nice can yield discounted prices. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times this has happened to me in the past. One small 2nd hand store I frequent, the owner always works with me on prices. I am a regular customer and I NEVER demand a lower price. He knows I buy certain things and if an item has been in his store for a long time, he offers me a very low price on that item because he knows what I shop for. The other day I stopped by his shop to check out a bag of silverware that he had for a very long time that I have had my eye on. Well, the bag had been purchased a couple of days earlier. When he and I were talking about it, he said “Do you want these? I have had them for awhile now and I need them gone”. I told him I would give him something for them and he told me no.

And when I was walking out of the store, he called to me and said, “You have a little girl don’t you?” I said yes and then he said, “Here is a bag of unopened Barbie McDonald toys. Do you want them for stocking stuffers for her?” I knew the princess would love them. So, I left with the bag of toys as well as the china and not a dime was spent.

Make regular rounds at your favorite thrifting spots.
Always test electrical items before you buy them. Double check your items and make sure you are comfortable with the condition they are in.
9 times out of 10, if I can’t try an item of clothing on, I go with the next size up especially when it comes to kids clothes. You have to keep in mind that these are second hand and have been washed a few times so there is a good chance of shrinkage.
Know your merchandise. We have all seen a lot of the “chain charity thrift stores” price dollar store items at $1.99. And these same stores are doing the same thing that many retail stores are doing. They are marking their items higher with the anticipation of “50% off” days. This is a major pet peeve of mine and I could (and have) gone off on huge rants about this. I will spare you all that today.

Those are just a few of the things I keep in mind when I go thrifting. I realize that everyone has a different idea of thrifty. And that is just fine. We all have different priorities and disposable income. I am on the uber low end of prices. I try to purchase most of my fun things at $2.50 and under. When I see an item for $5.00 or more, I REALLY have to think about it. Of course, it depends on the item. But, if it is something that I generally buy at a lower price, I have to decide if this item has more value to me in order to pay a higher price.

Never go into any kind of debt for a fun thrift find. That is never worth the price. Make sure you have a budget and stick with it.

A large portion of my fun thrift finds are my toys. I enjoy playing with them. And as with children, I get bored with things at some point. Or it is something I can’t justify any longer in keeping and taking up room in my life. And I always know I will find more thrifted treasures in the future to play with. So, I resell, repurpose or donate things on a regular basis. Don’t get caught up in the thrill of the hunt or finding such amazing bargains that it interferes with your life in one way or another. Whether it is time, space, money or creating a friction in your life, these are signs of going overboard. Nothing is worth that. It is no longer a bargain.

Well, that is my take on thrifting.

Now, let’s check out some fun posts from last week!

Mary at Redo 101 painted this adorable wagon and created a pretty Christmas display with it!

And Linda at A La Carte showed us just how pretty and cheerful a thrifted brunch tablescape can be!

And Linda at Coastal Charm shared her beautiful Rustic/Shabby Christmas mantel!

Thank you ladies! If you don’t already have it, here is the “I was featured” button!

Now, on with the show!

Cookie Trays

2011-12-14T12:10:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone!

Knowing that I will be giving out cookies trays too friends and family, I try to watch for pretty, cheerful and fun things I can use for my cookies.

A few week’s ago I found these 3 metal Christmas plates. Two of them have Gingerbread Man recipes and the third one has a Candy Cane recipe on it. All 3 were in great condition and marked at .99 cents each. I figured I would spend at least a $1.00 at the dollar store for plastic Christmas trays so, I thought these would be nicer.

The borders of the plates are just so fun and cheerful. When I got to the checkout, I discovered that it was half off white sticker day! Woohoo. Each plate cost .49 cents. I couldn’t beat it!

Also, throughout the summer, I picked up cute baskets that would be pretty for holiday cookies. All of them were well under $1.00. And I made sure to go ahead and spray paint them red for the holidays (I chose to paint them all red because sometimes I like to do little Valentine goodies as well). Take advantage of the nice weather when you can! And I kept an eye out for thrift linen napkins in the holiday colors to use inside the baskets.

So, remember to watch for these items at yard sales when you can pick them up super cheap. A beautiful red basket with linens in it, a big pretty bow and yummy holiday treats make for a very nice gift to give a friend, neighbor and family member.

Walk Around the Cabin with Me

2011-12-13T12:13:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

** I wrote this post while we were up north at the cabin for Thanksgiving**

Today is a gorgeous day here at the cabin. The skies are clear and the sun is shining. So, I thought it would be a good day to walk around and take some pictures.

Let me give you a little history. In 1964 my grandparents bought 40 acres in Northern Michigan. This acreage is quite literally in the middle of the woods. You would have a hard time finding this place. Even now that with some small dirt roads, it’s tricky to find. That summer, my grandparents and my parents came up here with campers and started to build the cabin. The original cabin was built and many additions have been added throughout the years. The original structure was framed out with the trees that were cut down to make room for the cabin. They are still there.

Sorry about the bad picture. These beams are in the living room and are exactly the same as when it was built. Everything that was used to build this cabin was salvaged one way or another.

The cabin originally had a huge beautiful rock fireplace. However, it basically was collapsing (about 20 years ago) so, it was taken out and the living room was increased in size. We have gone through several different wood stoves over the years, this is the current one. And this is the sole heating for the cabin.

I could not get clear pictures inside the cabin to save my life! There are just two many bodies in there and I kept getting bumped. Anyway, this large wood burning stove kicks out a ton of heat.as you can see, we always have a old pot of water sitting on top to help add moisture to the air.

Back to walking around the outside.

This is the back side of the cabin. My dad and nephew just finished building this back porch last year. That leaning board in the lower right corner is actually the opening to go under he cabin.

This is what you see from the back. It is a swamp. It used to be a lot more swampish but, over the years it has dried up quite a bit.

Every generation of kids that grew up going to the cabin has built some kind of fort in the swamp. My grandpa always had tons of salvaged lumber, nails and tools for us to play with.

Okay, I had to add this picture because this is what you see all over the ground here. I should be picking these, drying them and selling them! They are much prettier than the ones you buy at the craft stores!

This is the fire ring area.

In warmer weather there is tons of lawn chairs sitting around here.

This contraption is leaning over but, it is a heavy welded grill to stake into a campfire. My brother made one for each of us. It is the best way to cook over a campfire. Once you stake it in you can swivel it to where ever you want.

Looking at the back of the cabin. You can see where a large kitchen was added on to the cabin by the different color shingles (right side). And I will have you know, Troy and I redid that roof one summer, just the two of us. Oh, that is a whole other story!

This is an old lean to shed that my grandpa and dad built way back when they first built the cabin. They need someplace to keep their tools. tractor, firewood and lumber. Corners have collapsed and just been rebuilt for the years. My dad wants to build a pole barn soon.

Yes, that is what you think it is. Although the cabin has indoor plumbing now, for many years, it did not. And, well,the guys still use this when they are out cleaning fish or whatever. To the right of the outhouse there is a path leading into the swamp and if you follow that path you come up to a good fishing lake.

This would be the fish cleaning area. There is a pump behind it (white bucket is covering it right now).

We have a huge screened front porch and we all hang out there when the weather is nice. Including “Max”.

A job that is never done, splitting wood.

This is looking out toward the driveway. Our drive is about 1/2 mile through the woods. Taking our travel trailer back there is always interesting. We barely clear the trees. It is just a two rut type drive.

Normally my mom would never allow all the stuff piled up on the front porch but, since it was cold and everyone was up, it got used for storage.

This cabin is filled with wonderful memories. It is a place that you can let down your hair and truly relax and get away from the every day stresses. It is the most peaceful place I can think of. And, although my grandparents have passed, I feel them at the cabin. Everywhere I look I can see them and that brings joy to my heart.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are having a wonderful day!

I’m joining Outdoor Wednesday

I’m Back

2011-12-12T16:04:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

You know that saying “Shop ‘til you drop”? Well, I quite, literally did! We shopped our hearts out all weekend. Saturday, after a major all day shop-a-thon, I barely made it back to our room. I have issues with my knee and have to have knee surgery this next year. I have been putting it off but, after this weekend, I will be making it a priority come the new year.

But, even with the whole knee thing, we had a blast this weekend! It is always fun to just get together with girls. We caught up with what has been happening in each other’s lives and had the chance to just be silly. One night we were up until 3:00am wrapping all our gifts. We started doing that a couple of years ago and it is so much easier to just wrap them while gabbing at the hotel. We just put the name tags on and add bows and ribbons later.

My dad has always given me money when we go for our girl’s shopping trip. To him, I am and always will be his little girl. He doesn’t care what I use the money on as long as it makes me happy. Well, this year I decided to splurge on some new clothes for me. Yup, I bought brand spankin’ new clothes. Whoa Diann! I went to JC Penney and bought 3 long sweaters, 2 shirts, 1 pair of pants and 1 pair of pj’s. After all the sales prices and coupons kicked in I paid a total of $89.46! Not bad!

Besides seeing tons of gorgeous Christmas decorations that I would love to have, I also saw a Christmas decoration trend toward a homemade look in ornaments. I took a couple of pictures of what I am talking about.

Pompom Christmas trees and ornaments.

Yarn and button snowmen.

And lots off different “sweater” ornaments.

Have you noticed this trend? I am keeping these ideas in the back of my head for next year. That way I can watch for thrifted sweaters or craft items at yard sales and thrift stores. And of course, when I see these types of things, my brain starts coming up with several other spinoff ideas. When that happens, I need to immediately write them down and keep them in a folder. I use the computer and have several different “idea folders” (Christmas ideas, Halloween ideas, 4th of July ideas and so on). It’s the only way I can remember them. LOL

Revisit 2010 Silver & White Christmas Part 2

2011-12-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

This is the 2nd part of my revisit 2010 silver and white Christmas decorations. Enjoy!

As y'all know, I am doing our dining room in silver and white for the Russian dinner we will be serving for Christmas dinner. To see my other post with silver and white, go here.

So, I finally got my Christmas tree that I use in the dining room up and decorated. Woohoo!

Let me say, there are lots of pictures coming up! I feel it is my duty and resposiblility to forewarn my readers of this. I am such a conscience blogger! LOL

My tree is one of those tall skinny woody looking trees. Here it is naked.

I decided I wanted to use a lot of my silver items. so, I dumped all my odds and ends tarnished silverware and picked some out to polish up and hang on the tree.

I used a polished silver server and tray to place the tree in.

I filled the server with a few old silver creamers and sugars, some silver bulbs, mercury glass ornaments, silver faux floral picks and a little glass reindeer.

Next I spent some quality time polishing silverware and watching Fred Clause. Hey, I had never seen it before. Kinda cute movie. Any way, I didn't do a perfect job polishing because I like a little of the tarnish here and there. I tied plain white ribbon to each piece and then hung them on the tree along with some other pretty sparkly silver things.

I have to say, I am really loving the whole icy shimmery effect of all the white and silver!

Around the tree I added my 3 plate silver clamshell. On the two sides I used a beautiful thirfted sorbet glass with a mercury glass votive holder and a silver votive. the center is just a simple short white pillar candle with the sparkly silver ribbon around it.

I also added the big cookie jar filled with silver bulbs that I showed you last week along with two pretty glass angel candleholders. i just got those two angels at a thrift store for .80 cents each.

Sparkly tree topper...well, it's actually 2 ornaments (2 in a package from the Dollar Tree).

Candles lit and tree lights on.

All of my silver that I used here was bought 2nd hand at either thrift stores or yard sales.

I plan to add some silver platters on the walls around the dining room yet and a few other little special things here and there to finish everything this room.

Seasonal Sunday
Sunday Favorites

Thrifty Things Friday #36

2011-12-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

This is our annual “Girl’s Shopping Weekend”. For about 15 years now, my mom and I drive to Saginaw (MI) which is about mid-Michigan and meet up with my 2 cousins and Aunt who live in Northern Michigan. We book a hotel, get adjoining rooms and spend the weekend Christmas shopping. Okay, so we do more gabbing, laughing and eating these days than actual shopping! But, we always have a great time catching up with each other. We will return Sunday evening.

This week my thrift is a little different. I thought I would share a few little things that I do that cuts the costs of this Girls Shopping Weekend.

One of the main thrifty things that I do is, I use MyPoints to earn free gift cards. I have been a member of MyPoints since 1998! I can’t even remember how many GC I have received over the years. I saw all my points up until this time of the year and then cash them all in for GC. I know the stores I shop at while on this girl’s weekend and I make sure to choose those stores for my GC.

The longer you are an active member of MyPoints, the more email and point opportunities you get. For me, I get a lot. Back when I first joined, I set up a Hotmail account and MyPoints is the ONLY thing I use that account for. So, once a week, I go into that account and click all the email to get my points. And since I am a coupon user, I upload all my online coupons through MyPoints so I can earn extra points that way. A lot of stores work through MyPoints as well and when I order something online, I always try to go through MyPoints to earn those extra points.

It sounds confusing maybe or time consuming but, once you get the hang of it, it isn’t. And this year I am going to the girls shopping weekend with $110.00 in store GC for FREE!

Another thing I do is I use Restaurant.com to order GC to the local restaurants that I know we will be eating at this weekend. I confess, eating out is one of our favorite activities when we get together! LOL This week I ordered and printed off 2 coupons worth $25.00 each and I paid $2.00 for each of them! They don’t always have restaurants in the area I am going to be in but, I always check just to make sure.

Whenever I get a GC as a gift and it is one I can use during this shopping trip, I always save it. For instant my friend gave me a GC for Cracker Barrel for my birthday this year. My mom and I always start our “official” girls shopping weekend by stopping at Cracker Barrel on the way up to the hotel. We have lunch and then shop the little gift store. I always buy my yearly new special Christmas tree ornament there. So, thank you Sherry! :)

I also go online and check out the stores we are going to and see if they have any special store coupons for that weekend. I generally find a few to use. And being a “Mystery Shopper” for many companies, I check to see if I can snag any secret shops at stores or restaurants in the area when I am there. The store shops will reimburse me my purchase (up to a limit) and then pay a small amount. The restaurant shops will reimburse my entire meal and generally a guest.

One year I did several Aeropostale, Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch secret shops and ended up getting my 3 teenage nephews 5 different outfits each and didn’t pay a dime! Not to mention, I made a little bit of money. Granted I had to spend a couple of hours at the hotel with my laptop doing my reports but, for me it was well worth it.

I have several other little things that I do to save me money but, this post is getting very long.

My point is, I HAVE to use all these little thrifty money savers because we are on a very tight budget. However, you would never know that I do these things because I just appear like I am out shopping my little heart out and enjoying fun at restaurants as if I didn’t have a tiny budget!

Over the past 10 years, I have really taken advantage of the internet to save me money and make some money. I work hard at it but, it has helped tremendously! So, if you are on a tight budget, check out some of these ideas I have mentioned.

BTW, none of the above companies have any clue I am writing about them. There is no sponsorship.

Okay, let’s check out some fun features from last weeks party!

Robin at Highpoint Circle shared her thrifty solution to customize some Christmas ornaments. Love it Robin!

Tammy at Tammy Loves Dishes put together this wonderful winter pinecone tablescape from the thrift finds. Thrifty can be beautiful!

Deb at Dragonfly Treasures did such a fun redo on an ordinary wall clock. You have to check it out.

Thank you ladies for such fun posts! If you don’t have the “I was featured” button below, I hope you will snag it for your blog!

Free One Year Subscription to Living Magazine!

2011-12-08T12:17:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

Normally I would just post this on my Facebook page but, this offer is going to go very quickly!

You can receive a FREE one year subscription to Martha Stewart's Living magazine by just filling out a short survey.

It is being offered through RewardsGold. I have been receiving free magazine subscriptions through this company for years. No Credit Cards or payment what so ever!

Here is the Link!

Like I said, this offer will go FAST!

See you in a couple of hours for Thrifty Things Friday linky party!

“Santa” Loves Bargains!

2011-12-07T13:57:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone!

Last night Troy and I stopped at S.A. to look around. And I really hit the jackpot on some items! Since the Princess is only three, she gets excited opening up a new coloring book from the dollar store. And I know this will not last so, I am taking advantage of this age and really looking for thrifty things from Santa!

Since she had spent a lot of time shopping with me at the thrift stores, she really doesn’t realize that not everyone does that. It is normal to her. She doesn’t really know the difference between something used and something new. It is all new to her. As most of you know, I buy all year long for gifts. I really hit the big seasonal markdowns, yard sales, used book sales ect. I have a lot of new toys and clothes for the Princess that I paid a fraction of the price.

Well, last night, I finished up Santa’s Christmas shopping. Woohoo!

The Princess loves her critters. That is her name for all her stuffed animal friends. Every night before bed we line her bed up with all her friends. She has them on shelves as well. Most of her stuffed animals I have bought her have been 2nd hand. they have all be in great condition and I just run them through the washing machine and dry them. I haven’t bought her any new ones since last Christmas. So, I was checking out the huge bin of stuffed animals at S.A. I found several big ones with the original price tags on and in wonderful shape but, they were not priced.

I found the manager and she informed me that all the stuffed animals and things in that bin were .99 cents each! Hooray!!

Check out all these adorable “critters” Santa got her!

Forgive the old blanket on the couch. It is kept in our truck to wrap fragile things or “hide” other things.

This reindeer was new with the tags still on.

She is going to be so excited when she sees these!

I can’t believe I am going to say this but, OMG I was so excited to find this “Captain Feathersword” talking sword! Yup, those are words I never thought I would be saying at the age of 48. Then again, I never thought I would EVER say those words let alone know what the heck I was talking about! LOL

Captain Feathersword is one of the Wiggles characters and the princess loves them! I checked out their online store and they no longer seem to carry the talking sword but, one the same size that is just plain and doesn’t do anything is $12.95. I did see a used one on Ebay for $15.95 + $8.45 S&H! This feathery stuffed sword was included in the .99 cent bin and is in great shape and works just fine! Yippee! This toy will get wrapped.

The Wiggles with Captain Feathersword in front.

When we got home last night I had a FedEx package in our door. Don’t you still get excited to have packages delivered to you? Me too! It was the latest new Purex laundry detergent called Purex Triple Action. Well, as soon as the Princess went to bed I grabbed the bags of stuffed critters from the truck and started washing them in the new Purex.

I actually teamed up with Purex because it is a product that I have been using for years and love. So, getting the opportunity to be one of the first to try their new products as so wonderful for me! And this new Triple Action did not let me down!

Not only is Purex constantly improving their products, they still are by far the BEST value in laundry detergents! And we all love that! They are the brand I use all the time whether it is testing their products or just going out and buying laundry detergent. I always buy Purex and I always can get coupons for it to save even more money!

So, all these adorable thrifted stuffed animals got their baths in the new Purex Triple Action detergent and you can see for yourself that they all look wonderful! And they smell fantastic! Hey! I just realized, I can say that Santa uses and prefers Purex Triple Action! LOL I should be in a commercial! ……shudder……..what a scary thought!

And because my friends at Purex are so awesome, sometime in the next couple of weeks a few of you will have the chance to receive your own full size new Triple Action Purex detergent right here at The Thrifty Groove!!

Doing Things a Little Differently

2011-12-06T20:42:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

As some of you know, we had planned to be in a new house right about now. But, that fell through at the very last moment.
Because of the fact that, right up to that last moment, we were told (by the home owners) that it was a for sure thing, we tried to plan ahead and make the move easier by preparing and boxing thing up that could be dealt with ahead of time. I know, “don’t count your chickens ….” is usually my motto but, like I said, I believed the home owners.

With that being said, the things we packed up were all the nonessentials and that included Christmas decorations. I could spend a day going through and finding all the Christmas things and then another day trying to reorganize everything I just tore apart but, I am deciding not to do that. Why? Because it will add more stress to me. I am trying to make this Christmas as stress-free as possible.

Last year, I was sick, as in REAL sick for three weeks during the holidays. I couldn’t get out of bed. It was the weirdest and most frightening experience I have ever gone through. So, I missed most of the holidays. This scared my family and friends. I have a little girl who depends on me. A husband that counts on me. I don’t ever want to go through that again let alone put them through it again!

So, keeping myself as healthy as possible is a priority. A huge part of that is “letting things go” and not worrying about being perfect.

As far as Christmas decorating, I am using things that are readily available to me. I love decorating for Christmas. It is a joy to me to do it. So, I am decorating. I am just doing it differently this year.

My first different decoration is this shelf. I gathered jars and created a simple display. I think any “like items” gathered together looks pretty and is a simple way to create a centerpiece-like display. Just keep in mind the rule of thumb, always group things in odd numbers.

I grabbed Epson salts and candles I already had. And some dollar store Christmas ribbon.

Pour some Epsom Salts into each jar. Epsom Salts look like pretty snow.

Add the ribbon and candle.

Please make sure the ribbon tail are out of the way and not dangling into another jar!

Very simple but, so pretty! this little vignette will get squished together because I don’t want the whole “each thing is perfectly and evenly spaced. But, I left it like this to show you the different jars used.

I will probably add some fresh cut pine boughs when I finish this shelf. The only thing purchased was the $1.00 spool of ribbon. Fun, easy, pretty and thrifty, all my favorite things!

I’m joining:

Rednesday

Minutes For Me

Revisiting 2010 Silver and White Christmas

2011-12-06T00:23:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone!

This is a repeat from last year. I didn't do a lot of decorating (was sick most of the holiday) but, I did get our dining room decorated in Silver and White.

I hope you enjoy!

Well, Christmas decorating here at Casa Chaos is moving along a little slowly. Usually I am one of those people that gather all my boxes of Christmas decorations and just go to town decorating. Not this year. We seem to have a whole lot of other things going on so, it is a little decorating here and there.

Normally I do our dining room in lots of gold, wine and forest green colors. This year, however, I am doing a bit of a dramatic change. All silver and white! The reason? Russia. Huh?

Let me explain. One of our favorite Christmas traditions is a tradition Troy and I started with my parents the year before we got married. And that is, we host a International Christmas dinner for my parents on Christmas night. Every year, we pick a different country and try our best to create a traditional Christmas dinner from that country. And this year is Russia.

We spend the year researching out the traditions of that country's Christmas/Holiday. Let's just say that over the last 12 years, we have had some very interesting Christmas dinners! 90% of what we serve is completely unfamiliar to us.

I try to add an element of that country into my decorating of the dining room. When I thought of Russia, I thought of cold, ice and snow. So, that is the reason for all silver and white.

So, with that in mind, here are some of my dining room decorations so far. Oh, and let's not forget, I am on a super tight budget! LOL

I started on the dining room table. I found this set of two white poinsettia place mats at the dollar store. I thought they were perfect for what I needed.

This past summer I got this huge heavy glass cookie jar at a yard sale for free. It was on the "free table" because it has a chip in the lid. I told the woman I would still have bought it and even offered her some money and she said no, she just wants it gone. The day after Thanksgiving, I told you that the only store I went to was a local thrift store because they were having everything in the store 50% off. Well, she had a lot of Christmas stuff and I found 4 boxes of silver bulbs for .45 cents each. The large bulbs are quite old. I added some dollar store white poinsettias and silver leaves.

I also bought several of the little silver trees at the thrift store for .25 cents each.

Next, I have this old bakers shelf on the brick wall in our dining room, which by the way I really despise this wall. LOL Anyway, I started out with my mercury glass jar that I got last year at Home Goods Store and then I used a couple of cheese domes I had, cheap glass candlsticks and plain white plates. The cheese domes don't even match, but who cares. I added dollar store poinsettias and other faux pretties along with a white roping. I picked up a package of 30 little wrapped packages also at the dollar store. And at the thrift store, I had bought this huge bag of misc. silver tree decorations for $1.50. I used a couple of silver cherubs and the silver sleighs in each of the cloches.

So, that is what I have decorated so far in the dining room. And here is just a little cloche I haven't finished yet. I need to go through my stash of ribbon and find a pretty red one to tie on here and I wanted to add some fake snow. I went to 3 dollar stores last night looking for fake snow and each one of them said they were sold out.

It’s a Snowman Hot Cocoa Tea party!

2011-12-04T11:53:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!

Today the princess and I are having our own little hot cocoa tea party. I picked up some fun snowman Christmas tea things at the thrift store and every since I washed everything and had it sitting on a countertop, the princess has been asking if we could use them for a tea party. So, that is what we are doing tonight! She doesn’t know yet. In a couple of hours we are going to go to our little city’s Christmas parade where we will welcome Santa to town. Santa will officially light the Christmas tree at the community center. I thought afterward, when we get home, this would be the perfect little surprise treat.

She is taking a nap right now, so I can set it up to take pictures for you then I will put it away until this evening.

All the snowman things in this setting are from the thrift store.My cute little Frosty the Snowman teapot.

These snowmen mugs just make me smile!

Gotta have some snowman plates to enjoy some cookies on!

Have you tried these new cookies from Kroger yet? They are called The Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies” . I had the chance to try them through Bzz Agent. They are good!

As you can see, they have nice big chocolate chips in them. No wimpy little chiplets!

Warm vanilla candles are perfect for this setting.

A fun little sledding snowman candle holder from Yankee Candles.

We bundled up and went to the parade. We live in a very small community but, we had a fun parade this year! Everybody was decked out and lit up with Christmas lights including our high school band! All their instruments had Christmas lights on them and they played fun Christmas songs.

Santa and his elves arrived tossing out candy. They are heading to our Community Center so Santa can receive the key to the city and light the Christmas tree!

The band gathered at the gazebo and played Christmas Carols for awhile and everyone sang along.

It was a fun family night. I even wore my denim snowman shirt tonight. :)

These are the kind of things that I love about the holidays. Making wonderful everlasting memories!

I am joining:

Nifty thrifty Tuesday

Wire Hangers

2011-12-03T12:41:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

Today’s Tip of the Day is all about looking for alternatives using wire hangers. No Joan Crawford comments! LOL

Well, my mom wanted to hang some autumn wreaths around the cabin but, she didn’t have wreath hanger. However, she had plenty of wire coat hangers. I have done this many times when I don’t have a wreath hanger. You can cover the hanger with ribbon to disguise it.

Wire hangers are a MUST in your crafting supplies. There are just too many things that can be improvised using them!

I also have made many of my own wreath bases out of wire hangers. Basic wreaths used to be inexpensive. Not any more! And for the most part, unless I can find them super cheap, they are just not in my budget. So, I make my own out of wire hangers.

A simple tutorial on how to make it, just click the picture above.

One year Troy made simple wire shaped Christmas trees (basically just cone shapes) and then attached Christmas lights to them and lined our sidewalk. We added some faux pine garland to them and they looked like pretty little trees.

In my Christmas decoration boxes I have a dozen or so wire hangers that were cut to fit the shelves over the doorwall and window in the living room. One end is bent straight down to slide between the shelf and the wall and the other end was shaped like a hook. This is how I hand my garland around the shelves.

This summer I bent a wire hanger into a large circle with a handle for the princess to make big bubbles. A simple bubble wand.

These are just a few things to upcycling old wire hangers.

Don’t forget I have my “Send Cheers to our Military Families” Giveaway. Just click the picture below.

Thrifty Tablescape #6 Linky Party

2011-12-02T14:44:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone!

Okay, I am going to ‘fess up right away, this table was a very quick thrown together table. I had planned on a completely different table but, time slipped away. We returned from our trip Monday and ended up dealing with 3 different meeting with government offices, an annual dinner (a couple of hours away), preparing for a Christmas show this weekend, a meeting at the Princess’s school and an out patient surgery (Troy). That was my last 4 days! I still don’t even have our truck completely emptied from our trip yet.

I am surprisingly happy with the way the table turned out. It looks like Christmas and is fun. And of course, Thrifty!

I am starting with the thrifted poinsettia placemats I shared with you a couple of weeks ago. They were bought at a thrift store for .50 cents each.

Before we left for our trip, Troy and I stopped at the Detroit Salvation Army. I picked up several fun things. One of the things I got was this set of Christmas Tree dinner plates. They were marked 2/.99 cents. And they were purple sticker and it was purple sticker day. So, each of the plates ended up being .25 cents. Can’t beat $1.00 for a set of 4 Christmas plates!

Another .25 cent plate find was found at Kroger. They clearanced all their Fall dishes and I snagged 3 different sets of salad plate. I am using these mossy green ones. Granted, not a “Christmas green” but, it still works.

On top of the green salad plate I placed one of my everyday Johnson Bros white ironstone swirl saucers. They kind of mimic the swirl pattern in the dinner plate. I have had these saucers for years.

These pine tree wood napkin rings were just bought at the little shop I told you all about yesterday (TTF party post). It is a set of 6 for $3.00.

The clear acrylic flatware was bought at Meijer clearanced for $5.00 this past summer. These are just handy for all kinds of settings. And the napkins were clearanced a couple of years ago from Walmart. They came with 4 placemats as well. Each 8 piece set was marked down to $3.50. I had bought 4 sets, red, green, ivory and gold. I used our everyday glasses (Dollar Tree). The white coffee cups and saucers are also an everyday set. I bought them at a store I did a mystery shop at so, they were free (had to purchase and then be reimbursed).

The centerpiece is a super easy centerpiece. Nothing elaborate. The other day I stopped at the Dollar Tree and picked up these two sparkly red and green foil trees. I thought since the dinner plates were a Christmas tree design, Christmas trees for the centerpiece was appropriate.

And you can’t have Christmas trees without presents under it! I picked up the foil wrap at the D.T. as well and wrapped ……..

Yup, jello and pudding boxes seem to be the right size!

The princess was very excited to watch me set the first Christmas table and asked if we could eat at it. So, this tablescape will be sit down and eat at table. I will just remove the fourth setting and push the simple centerpiece back to make room for food.

These Christmas tree plates will be rotated into my everyday dishes. I just removed the Fall dinnerware. Yes, I rotate out my new to us dishes all the time. I have to use my new treasures! LOL

So, that is my thrifty December tablescape! I can’t wait to see your fun and thrifty ‘scapes as well!

Don’t forget, I am hosting a “Send Cheers to our Military Families” giveaway. Click the picture below to check it out.

I will also be joining:

Seasonal Sunday

Thrifty Things Friday #35

2011-12-01T14:35:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

For today’s Thrifty Things Friday party, I want to show you not only my fun thrift finds but, to introduce you to the little shop I bought them at. This is kind of a long post. Sorry about that.

While at the cabin we had been seeing signs for a big Christmas bazaar happening at a local high school the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We had been looking forward to it but, it closed so early that we didn’t get to go in and look around. However, we had seen signs for an antique and homemade items shop. After driving for a few miles out in the middle of nowhere, we found the shop.

This is looking back at the driveway to the road.

Some fun things around the shop.

A little look inside.

I really like using the old silver fork for the hanging the spoon wind chime.

I loved this old wine box! I have a feeling I am going to keep thinking about it and wishing I would have bought it. I think it was $25.00. It was a really nice size.

The couple that own this shop which, is next to their home, find salvaged items to create new decorative things. The gentleman goes to old factories and odd places like that and digs up all kinds of fun treasures like faucets spigots. And he turns them into hanging racks.

I bought a bunch of vintage hankies here (working on a quilt top made of vintage hankies). They have quite a few and they were only $1.00 each.

He has also found lots of fun wood cone spool-like things at an old Mill. He cleans them up and refinishes them and adds some color thread. They are only $1.00 each. I bought several of them just for fun decoration in a bowl. He also has some that he has added a pin to the top and some red ribbon to hang. Also only $1.00.

I know, I couldn’t seem to take a decent picture all week! He also has this kind of wood doodads that look wonderful in a bowl or could be used as candleholders. Also only $1.00 each!

These were awesome as well. These are reclaimed old wood fence posts. He gets them on the lathe and cleans and shapes them and then finishes them off. You can put a candle inside. Each one is unique with the knotholes.

And they have a bunch of old burlap bags.

All of these large sacks are $10.00 each.

He also has some small burlap bags that held shot. They are each $1.00.

He makes unusual lamps as well.

And they have all these wonderful old wood rolling pins. They are $10.00 a piece. Here is the name of this little shop.

East of Kansas is just a small shop with fun things. I love little family owned shops like this! And I try to support them as much as I can. The princess even used her own money to buy a Christmas ornament for her friend, grandma, her uncle and one for us.

I talk to the couple and asked if they have an online store but, they don’t. However, I have their phone number and email address for y’all in case you want to buy anything. They will gladly ship to you. I told them that I was going to do this post and they were happy to have me give out this information.

Oops, I cut off the phone number : (989) 785-3918

The email address is: swampfox15@gmail.com

These folks are very nice and kind and put up with a “I didn’t get a nap so, I am going to drive everyone around me insane” princess!

I know they do not have an unlimited supply of the things I have shown so, give them a call or drop them an email if you want to purchase anything and have it shipped to you! I’m thinking about getting more of these little $1.00 cones. They are just so perfect for a little rustic look and can be used all year long.

I am using mine for a bit of rustic Christmas decor. Using my grandma’s wood bowl, some fresh cut Rosemary (OMG, you would not believe how amazing it smells!) branches I just cut and a couple of Dollar Tree Ribbon Candy ornaments. Very simple.

I have a giveaway going. It is a special giveaway to send “Cheer” to our military families! I hope you enter and show your support!

Just click the picture above to enter!

This Saturday is December’s monthly Thrifty Tablescape party! Come and join the fun!

Okay, on to the party!

I am joining:

Home Sweet Home

Vintage Inspired Friday

Feathered Nest Friday

Show and Tell Friday

Sending Cheers to our Military Families Giveaway!

2011-11-30T14:03:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone!

I have a wonderful giveaway for a fantastic cause today! The amazing folks at General Mills have created a specially marked Cheerio cereal box.

Everyone can use a little pick me up now and then. But for the millions of military families manning the fort at home while their loved ones are away serving, a gesture of Cheer is especially welcome.

When our troops are called to serve, their families must rise to meet the challenges of service as well. To thank them, Cheerios^® and the USO have partnered in a postcard campaign that spreads Cheer directly to these honorable military families and supports USO programs.
Here’s how it works:

At your local grocer, specially-marked boxes of Cheerios cereal will feature Cheer postcards on the front of the box. Consumers can simply cut out the postcard from the Cheerios logo, write a message of thanks on the back, add a stamp and mail the pre-addressed card to the USO. The USO will deliver the Cheer card to military families across the country.
To kick off the campaign, Cheerios has already donated $150,000 to the USO and will donate up to an additional $100,000 based upon the number of postcards received from specially marked boxes.
Sending a “Cheer” postcard is a simple way to say thanks and lift the spirits of our country’s military families. So, take a moment out of your day to spread some Cheer and send a message of thanks!

How awesome is that!

And they are offering one of my readers this fun Cheerio Prize Pack giveaway!

1 Cheerios cereal bowl

1 Cheerios cereal spoon

1 cereal dispenser

1 “Cheer” box of Cheerios

To win, Just leave a comment on this post saying you want to send Cheer to one of our military families! That’s it!

Here are some great links to check out:

Cheerios website: http://bit.ly/CheeriosCheer

Cheerios Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/CheerioCheer/cheerios

This giveaway will end December 5, 2011

“Disclosure: Cheerios cereal, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.”