Low grade Spring fever

I have been busy and happy and, most recently, healthy. Having a bad cold over spring break allowed me to have some time at home (in between naps) to get my spring organization started. I cleaned out my craft bin and made a clear out for the charity shop. It felt great to dump the clutter and old toys that we no longer have need of. My closet real estate is at a premium and I need it for new deals that I find!

We also made some spring crafts and are currently working on some cute Easter crafts. I will take a photograph when we complete them, though some are surprise gifts and some of my readers are the intended recipients, so it may have to wait a bit. That's the price I pay for Internet fame ;) Hmm, what else have I been doing? Oh, I made my own peanut butter. This has been on my list for a while, but I only tried it in the last week. Wow! So hip! So good! So cheap! I accidentally added a bit too much salt, so my nut butter will really only be good for baking, (oats come too mind) but the principle is there and since I paid just two bucks for the natural peanuts and got about two full cups of peanut butter, I can see repeating this experience for toast and such. My next plan is to make homemade chocolate hazelnut spread *drool*. I also made a batch of yogurt, which turned out too runny. I added a pack of instant pudding and froze it into pops. Voila, I am the best mom eva! I also whizzed up a batch of hummus made from dried chickpeas that I pre-soaked overnight then froze in small batches. This method seems to be the most logical for me, because I don't need huge quantities of beans at a time and the pre-soaking, flash freezing thing really cuts down on actual cooking time. Sure, it's a bit of prep but it costs pennies compared to canned beans, and the prep is uh; 1. Dump beans into a bowl of water, 2. Walk away until tomorrow sometime, so I think I can handle it. The other thing I did was to buy some new spring fashions at my favourite store ever. I got four new pairs of sunglasses at 1.99 ea, a cool spring scarf, .99, a jean jacket (free with BOGO coupon) and a teenage mutant ninja turtle costume (a fashion must this spring in the five year old set, also my BOGO item ;) 5.99. I have already had many compliments on my fresh look and I get that nice feeling of having something new to wear. I always say that Fall is my favourite season, but Spring is in the running for first in my affections these days.