Use What You Have - Get Creative

 Happy Tuesday to all.  Hoping this finds you safe and well.  Prayers for those in need.

It looks to be a lovely day here, so I hope to get some outdoor things done.  Tomorrow is supposed to rain - then back to cooler and pretty again.  I am digging this weather!

Today a couple ideas of getting a bit creative and using what you have.  There are so many things we can do every day with things on hand.

I love sausage/bacon egg biscuits.  I made them last week for dinner one day.  I like the way they look at the fast-food shops.  You know, the egg that fits the biscuit!

My trick to make that happen.

I use wide mouth rings from mason jars as a mold.  Sometimes just a little will seep out under - but mostly the egg stays inside.  I grease them really well and when I think the bottom is done, simply flip it over.  Works every time!

I soak and scrub when done.  They can still be used for canning.

                 My end result.  Sausage, egg and biscuit sandwiches!  The egg fits perfectly!  

I told you about cleaning the siding on the back of the house last week.  I still do not have a power washer - so I used what I had.  It was a little more work (maybe), but it worked.  Mainly the lower part of the house was affected - so this worked fine.

This is what I used to clean the siding.  One of those dish scrubbers that you put dish soap in - it was stiff enough to remove the moss, yet soft enough to not harm the siding.  Wet it and scrub.  Then rinse off.  

This is what it looked like before.  This happens over the winter.  It is shady in this area and on the north side of the house.  Generally, down on the lower parts of house.

                                                                           AFTER

A scrubby, a little dish soap, and a hose - is what it took.  Oh, and a little elbow grease.  What a difference.

Here is my fix and the homemade rain barrel.  I bought the spicket for about $6 - I added washers and a nut and some sealant.  Works perfectly.  I had the hardware guy explain what I needed, and then I just did it.  I will need to repair the store bought one come fall.  It broke, so now I still have to use the bucket on that one.  I need it to be full, to transfer water to this one (it has an overflow spout).  By next spring I will be good on both barrels!

It is amazing the things we can do, if we just think about it for a moment.  A little muscle work and creativity and it can get done.  We don't have to spend a lot of money for special devices.

Use what you have laying around - you will be amazed.  Life doesn't have to be complicated, sometimes the simplest things work wonderfully!

What have you re-used or gotten creative with lately?

Have a wonderful day my friends!

Weekly Wrap-Up 6/2

 Happy June to all!  Hope this finds you all well.  It is now meteorological summer here, and winter in the southern hemisphere!  It sure is hard to believe it is June.  

It is a cool and wet morning here.  It started raining yesterday afternoon and is continuing for a while this morning.  A nice soft and gentle soaking rain.  I like that.  This will sure make things grow - including weeds!

My little faucet feature I put in the homemade rain barrel last week - is holding!  No leaks whatsoever. YAY!!   However, this past week, the spicket on the original broke!  It is full - so I guess I will still be using a bucket for a while any way - sigh!

The Tiger lilies and D'Oro have both started blooming.  There will be hundreds of blooms!

'THE' neighbor is 100% gone now.  I finally feel safe.  It is a wonderful feeling.  I didn't realize how tense I had been.

I have a couple fun events to attend this month with old friends.  So, some neat things to look forward to.

My frugal week:

• Mowed and trimmed everything
• I did go out and get a huge outdoor flower planter (at Kroger) for my SIL, who lost her brother.  I bought it and took it to their home instead of ordering flowers.  It was half the price of florist, and she can enjoy it all summer.  Our Kroger has beautiful planters
• I cut my hair and touched up roots at home
• Deep cleaned all the floor surfaces
• Cleaned up, filed and cleared away a lot of paperwork
• Paid bills
• I worked on the house siding on the north side of house, a lot.  I have been cleaning by hand, as I haven't bought a pressure washer yet.  My north side is pretty shaded and gets 'mossy' looking very quickly.
• Made a double batch of hummingbird nectar
• Picked a bouquet
• Washed some windows
• Did a ton more weed pulling and cutting - that NEVER ends.
• Made a batch of biscuits this week
• Widows open and airing the house
• Just doing all the normal stuff

Meals this past week:

Chicken strips, corn on cob, baked beans (leftover)

Homemade pizza

Pizza again and salad

Pork chop, broccoli/cheese rice

Chopped steak topped with mushrooms/peppers/onion and mashed potatoes

Corn/bacon/potato cakes and salad

Sausage egg biscuits and salad

SNACKS:  sorbet, watermelon, apples & peanut butter

This week was not quite as busy as last.  I did pretty much take off Sunday and Monday (holiday) and just relaxed.  I porch set a lot and visited with a few neighbors.

How was your holiday weekend and your last week of May?  Did you get any deals?  Any yard/garage sales?  

Please check in and let us know you are OK.  I am still worried about many.

Hope you all have a safe and healthy week ahead.  Hope your June is lovely.

Blessings to you and yours from my humble little home.

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For God alone my soul waits in silence; He is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.

Psalms 62:1-2

Dear Lord, thank You for this life.  I put my faith and trust into You.  I shall not worry about the worldly things that try to distract us and harm us, as I feel I am in Your protective hands.  I pray we all keep our faith no matter what the evil tries to do.  Thank you for our many blessings.  AMEN

FREE Fun for all Ages!

 Good morning to all.  I sure hope this finds you all well and safe.  It is a beautiful morning here and looks to be a perfect day!  There is always much to do, but a day like this makes it all better!

Today I want to talk about a few FREE things you can do at home to entertain those kiddos.   Many children are on summer break now and instead of allowing them to just sit in the house on their electronic contraptions - have some fun.  It may be your children, grands, or neighbors - you may babysit as well.  It is always fun to do things for free and also that are creative.  I LIKE that too!!!

Get those button boxes out and get creative with them.  There are so many neat things that can be done with buttons!!!!  I love the top pic of flowers made from buttons/wire - the vase is an old salt shaker too!  The hair clips remind me of ice cream cones!  I would wear those.  Love the brochette.  You could also make pretty picture frames or Christmas decorations.  No end to the creative things that could be made. (have them make gifts for others)

Find smooth rocks and paint them.  That is a neat thing now.  Use in flowerbeds, by the entry or in flowerpots.  Small ones can be turned into magnets.  Anything that can be imagined can be painted.  Make animals, bugs, sayings, flowers, etc.

                 Easy-peasy homemade play dough!  Non-toxic and you can make any color.

Of course, don't forget no-bake cookies - that can be made for pennies at home.  These are a hit with kiddos and grown-ups alike!!!!

Make sure the littles help!

Get a book from the library about birds, and then sit outside and see how many different birds you can identify.

Go for a walk.

Make a picnic in the backyard.

Teach them about flowers or have them help in the garden.

Just sit and be together!

There are so many things that can be done and that get the creative juices flowing.  Children don't need to be on electronics all the time - they need fresh air and FUN!  So do adults!!!!!!

Have fun and enjoy some creative, free, down time this summer.

Have a fantastic day!!!

Surround Yourself & Do You

 Happy midweek to all.  I hope this finds you well and safe.  It is a chilly morning here.  I put on a sweater when going out to feed, and I still have it on!  It got noisy for a while last night and there seemed to be a light show - but no rain here.  It looks to be a nice weather week in my area.  I sure hope you are experiencing good weather as well.

Just a word or two today about doing what YOU need to do for yourself.  You have to be true to yourself.  Don't let others intimidate you into doing things you think aren't right.  SO many people tend to be crowd followers- and in the world of paying off debt and living a simpler life that doesn't necessarily work!

                                            We are your tribe - we will counsel where we can

Keep things simple.  Keep trying.  If you fall - get back up and start again.  We have all fallen away from watching our dollars in our lives - but you can start over - ALWAYS.

Be careful who you take advise from.  Watch people and how the treat their funds.  If they can't manage a dollar, they surely can't manage ten!!!!!  

You have to start small.  Think about little things that tend to eat your dollars - they don't seem like much by themselves - but they do add up.

You know - the coffee out each day, lunch out a few times a week, buying the junk food at the grocery, cigarettes, going to the store every day, etc.

We recently had a post about how $27.40 a day = $10,000 a year!!!!  YES.  Doing that LITTLE stuff over time adds up.  Ten years of living like that is $100,000!!!!!!  That is a lot of money.

Money that could buy a house, money that could be saved, money that could pay off all your bills, money that could be invested - money that IS YOUR FUTURE.

Saving pennies - is saving dollars.  Just start small and make simple changes - use that 'extra' money to pay off things or save.  Start that emergency fund - they can be lifesavers.

Make little changes each and every week.  Don't give up and just keep trying.

                                                                              THIS!!!!

Stop blaming others for what you DON'T have - take your control back and do what is needed for YOU!

It is easy to blame others, it is harder to do the right thing.  That is basically a fact in all parts of our life.  No one is responsible for you but you.

Start small, it is where we all started.  You got this - and know we are your tribe.  We are here to help.

Have a wonderful and simple day!!!!!!

Yummies Made From Home

 Happy Tuesday everyone.  I hope you are all well and safe.  I know I keep mentioning it, but I am worried about many of our contributors/family.  It sure seems the spring storm season has been extra turbulent this year and very devastating. Check in if possible.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.  It has messed me up again!!  I have my days mixed up again - makes no sense, because I do not work, but it happens every holiday!  I keep thinking today is Monday.

I spent 2 days relaxing a lot, porch sitting, and talking with neighbors.  Today it is back to work for me here on the home front.

It looks to be a lovely weather week here - very mild.  Good week to work outside.

I want to share a couple of goodies I mentioned in my Sunday post that I made last week.  SO easy using what I had here at home - and very tasty as well!

HOMEMADE TAQUITOS

Not my picture (I forgot because I was hungry!) - but mine looked just like this.  A little fatter than what you buy in the freezer section.

I had everything here. I used the air fryer as well - so no grease.

I used 6" tortillas.  I made up some taco meat and used shredded cheese and homemade/canned salsa.

You could use bigger or smaller tortillas - depending on what you have.

In an open flat tortilla, I placed a line of taco meat, cheese and salsa.  Then I rolled them as tightly as possible.  I put in a warmed air fryer at 365* for 15 minutes (solid side up).  They came out nice and crunchy.  SO yummy.

You could put anything you like in them.  Chicken, taco meat, cheese, cream cheese, salsa, enchilada sauce, beans, rice, etc.

DO NOT over fill!  You put a small amount so as to be able to roll up small and tightly.

YUM!!!!!

I also made SORBET using what I had on hand.

I used a banana I had getting ripe, and about 5 or 6 strawberries I had left and the scrapings from the watermelon to get it all.  I also used the juice from the watermelon.

I know it may sound like a strange combo - but it sure is tasty.

I put all the fruit in the Ninja added the watermelon juice, then a good splash of lemon juice, and 2 packets of Stevia - blended until smooth.  That is it!

You can use any kind of fruit you have, add any type of juice (water can even be used), and a good splash of lemon juice and a bit of sweetener.  Pour into a container and freeze.

I let it set out a few minutes before eating, so it can be scooped out easily.  As you can see by above picture - I have eaten some (2X) from this container.

It is cold and frosty and refreshing AND EASY! And HEALTHY!!

**Not ice cream like - but a cold somewhat crunchy treat.

It is so easy to use up what you have and make new things.  Just take a moment and think about something you like, but don't usually buy - then make it yourself!

Get creative.  Life is boring if we don't try new things.

This was my first time on both of these items, and I was super pleased with the outcome both times.

Have fun, get creative, use what you have, and save some $$$.

Have a wonderful day all!

Weekly Wrap-Up 5/26

 Hello to all.  Here it is Memorial Day weekend in the U.S., and the unofficial start to summer.  It looks like we have 2 very strong waves of storms that may come through today - not a good thing for the race or for race fans!  Guess we will see what happens.

The first part of the week was hot, hot!  The past couple days have been nice, and next week looks cooler as well.

I hope this finds everyone SAFE!  PLEASE check in.  There are several of you that haven't posted in the past couple weeks - it makes me worry!

Prayers and thanks to all those families who have lost loved ones in the name of war and conflict!  Always remember.

It has been a very busy week for me.  I think I have actually accomplished more this week than I have all year!!!  LOL!  It has felt good, and well, today is a resting day!

I got to see the Thunderbirds fly over the house 2 times and hope it happens again today before the race.  They are awesome to see.  There have been many old type biplanes going over pulling advertisements!  It reminds me of back in the day! (even their sound)

I have D'Oro lilies just starting to bloom and there will be hundreds of Tiger lilies blooming soon!  Things are growing and greening and blooming.  Love it.

It smells like rain this morning!

This past week (it was busy):

• I got all the annual flowers planted
• Garden - finished weeding, hand turned the dirt, weed fabric down, soaker hoses down, and garden planted!  I planted 8 reg. tomatoes (2 types), 4 cherry toms, 4 green bell peppers, 1 candy cane bell pepper, zucchini & yellow crook neck squash, 8 cabbage, basil, lettuce and onions
• Dead headed poppies
• Mowed and trimmed yard
• Moved around seating and created a couple new seating areas for myself - a little more private
• I moved my 2 faux whisky barrels (rubber/plastic) and worked on the pallet area where they had set
• Cut back a bunch of the TALL weeds growing in the back part of neighbors yard - UGH
• Cleared a ton of poison that was growing in the perennial bed - and then just killed that specific area (strong salt & vinegar)
• I repaired the hose and added new fittings and a quick release
• Ran to the hardware up the road and got a spicket for the handmade rain barrel.  I am tired of getting water out with a bucket (it is heavy!).  I drilled the barrel and got the spicket put in and sealed.  That was a real sight to see!!  Barrel on its side and me headfirst inside it on my back!!  But now I have 2 rain barrels again and easy pour spouts!
• Washed plastic baggies, made new bottles up of dish soap and shampoo
• Ran to the library while out for hardware (a few buildings apart).  First visit there in a while
• Did some cleaning, sweeping and trashing in the garage yesterday
• Porch set a bit and visited with neighbors
• Made a small batch of sorbet with some fruit that needed used - YUM
• I did run to Kroger and got a watermelon (very good), corn on cob and some buns - that is it
• Had a strawberry/banana milkshake one day - no sugar added - Mmmmm
• Received a small thank you basket from neighbors for letting them use the water hose when they had problems
• Got to air the house quite a bit
• Doing all the regular stuff

Meals this past week:

Burritos (homemade)

Loaded baked potato

Ham & veggie sandwich

Tuna mac n cheese with added peas

Homemade (fat!) taquitos

Chicken breast fillet, corn on cob and cuke/tom/onion salad

Cheeseburger, baked beans and cut-up fresh veggies

That is pretty much my week in a nutshell - I kept busy.  I feel accomplished.  Things are in and growing!  Now to maintain.

How was your week?  Any good holiday deals?  Graduations?  Gardening?  I hope those up north that have been experiencing colder weather are warming.

I hope all are safe from the many storms that have been going through.  There are several of you that may be vacationing as well - I just miss hearing from so many, here and overseas!  Stop by and say HELLO!

Hoping you all have a safe and healthy week.  Blessings to you and yours from my humble little home.

****************

He who tills the land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.

Proverbs 28:19

Dear Lord, Guide us each one as we try to grow and harvest some of our food, and please bless the farmers.  We need the farmers in our lives everyday.  Bless all who are involved in providing food sources to each of us.  May the crops be fruitful.  Thank You for all our blessings.  AMEN  

  

Life, Summer and Liberty

 Howdy all.  Boy oh boy is this a weird weather year or what?  Some of you gals are having super cold and frost still.  The mid-section of the U.S. is stormy!!!  From Texas to the north.  I read this morning there are 'winter storm warnings' in parts of Montana and Wyoming - they may get 1'-2' of snow in higher elevations!!!!!!  WHAT???  Crazy stuff.

We are absolutely lovely right now. 

It looks like rain is holding off until Sunday - 500 Mile Race Day!  Will it rain early or late or all day - that is the question. That will surely perturb tens of thousands of visitors to the city!!!!

Monday is considered a holiday here with Memorial Day.  Long weekend for you working folks - regular weekend for us retirees!

This is considered the official beginning of summer for most here.  Swimming pools open, picnics, BBQ's, graduation parties, cookouts, camping, celebrations of all sorts.

It should be a somber day as well - a day of remembering the ultimate sacrifice that so ever many men and women have made for us to all be FREE!

Remember them and thank them in your hearts and remember their families - they have all sacrificed as well.

My weekend will be a bit of what I do every weekend or day - same old stuff.  No plans here.

It sure is amazing how fast this month, well, and the year have flown by.  Another week and the month of May is done.

What are your plans this weekend?  I remember looking forward to big camping get-togethers.  We sure did enjoy that.  Good memories.

Are you doing anything special?  Just relaxing?  Gardening?

Sending prayers for all that have been in the path of storms and destruction lately.

May you and yours have a wonderful weekend, no matter where you live or what you do.

Love you guys - thanks for being here!!!