You look at pictures of WHAT online?!

  July 23, 2010 - 2:02 am | ,
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My husband does not understand this at all. I told him last night that I like to look at photos of people’s craft rooms and how they organize all their crafty goodness.

He was like  – you do what?  I said –  people post pictures of their craft rooms online. There are even websites and Flickr groups just for photos of how people store their craft supplies. It’s addictive. I love looking at them. I love seeing all the colors and items all organized and awesome. I just found this website the other day Crafty Storage and it is so inspiring and fun to look through.

I have a craft room and lots of supplies.  My supplies are organized and tidy,

— but —

I have cats, and my cats LOVE my craft supplies as much as I do. So alas all my crafty goodies are tucked away mostly out of sight, so I don’t have an awesome craft room like other people. Mine is nice,  just not awesome.

I also have a cat that has decided that tearing off strips of wallpaper is her calling in life. So awesomely decorated craft room…not so much.

Latest Book Haul

  March 14, 2010 - 11:45 pm | ,
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Saturdays book haul from the Goodwill thrift shop included:

Twilight – (neither one of us is a Twihard but for 99 cents we’ll read it)

Eat, Love, Pray – ( I don’t think this is my kind of book but as with Twilight for the price I was curious what it was about)

Marley & Me –

Make Way for Lucia/The Complete Lucia – (SCORE!)

The Millionaire Next Door – (I am curious to read this book and see what it says)

  I just finished Endymion which I picked up on a previous trip. Fantastic book. Loved it.endymion

Cookies

  March 13, 2010 - 10:07 pm | ,
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I haven’t made oatmeal cookies in over a year. Probably more like two years or more. I’m not sure why exactly. I’m trying to get back into the habit of baking at home more often.

Recently I decided to make a batch of oatmeal cookies as I had a giant bag of quick oats to use up. We had picked up the bag for 99 cents on one of our trips to the Mennonite grocery outlet.

I’m not a  big fan of oatmeal cookies other than the ones I make. I like a real simple oatmeal cookie.  Most store bought oatmeal cookies have raisins and cinnamon and other grossness in them — sometimes they even have nuts…shudder. I end up modifying the recipe I use and leaving out the raisins, half the sugar, the cinnamon/nutmeg AND the Vanilla. But I do add in chocolate chips.

What can I say — I can be a picky eater. These cookies are actually really good.oatmeal

I use the Quaker Oats Recipe for Quaker’s Best Oatmeal Cookies

(below is the unmodified version)

  • 1-1/4  cups (2-1/2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened
  • 3/4  cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2  cup granulated sugar
  • 1  egg
  • 1  teaspoon vanilla
  • 1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour
  • 1  teaspoon baking soda
  • 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2  teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 1/4  teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3  cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

Preparation

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; mix well. Add oats; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 9 minutes for a chewy cookie or 10 to 11 minutes for a crisp cookie.

You may notice that the cookies on the photo are LOADED with chocolate chips. This was a mistake. I had half a big bag of chocolate chips to use up so I just dumped them in — big mistake. I didn’t realize quite how big the bag was. Still good but the cookies were mostly chocolate chips with a little oatmeal holding them together.

Spreading the joy

  March 12, 2010 - 10:33 pm | , , , ,
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Not only do I love using coupons, but I also love leaving coupons. I occasionally end up with coupons that I don’t need and can’t use. I sometimes get them in the mail or if I find a good coupon in an insert even if I don’t want it, I will still cut it out.

If I have coupons I don’t want I usually bring some with me and leave them on the shelf where the product is located. Last week I left 5 $1.50 coupons for Jello Mousse Temptations, a $1.50 Arm & Hammer Cat litter Coupon and several Glade product coupons.

I cannot tell you how much I love doing this. I love doing this as much as I love finding a coupon for a product that someone else left. A few weeks ago I went to buy some egg noodles for stroganoff, and someone had left a coupon – which was awesome as I didn’t have a coupon. It was for the brand and size that I buy so it really helped me – Thank you to the person that left that coupon.

Times are tough, it makes me happy to think that I can help other people save some money by doing something so simple that doesn’t cost me anything but a few minutes of my time.

Campbell’s elabels for education

  February 25, 2010 - 7:40 pm | , , ,
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I just signed up for Campbell’s elabels for education program. Do you remember as a kid you would save the labels from Campbell soup cans and bring them in to school? I remember doing that when I went to school.

They now have a program where you can register your grocery savings cards at eLabelsforeducation.com and then choose a school to receive any points you earn. You earn points when you purchase eligible Campbell’s products and your school gets the points automatically.

Since 1973, Labels for Education has been committed to helping America’s families support education and schools. Collecting UPC’s to exchange for tools and equipment that support youth based enrichment programs helps nurture children’s lives through the arts, athletics, and academics. During this time, over $110 million worth of educational merchandise has been awarded to schools across the country.

If you already participate in e-Labels for Education, then you know how easy it is to help your school once you register online and shop with your Shoppers or Rewards card at your favorite supermarket. Just remember to choose the school or schools you would like to receive your e-Labels for Education points, or your school will not receive the points you earn.

I don’t have any children, and I am not familiar with the school system where I now live,  I was thrilled to see the schools I went to as a child listed. Even though I live in another state I was able to pick the two schools I went to as a child. I went to the best school ever for kindergarten through third grade.

You get 100 points for your school just for signing up. Even if you don’t have children in school consider helping out a school that you love.