Bumped his head on the end of the bed...

It has been raining cats and dogs lately. I have always loved that expression, it evokes such whimsical imagery! I have had many inspirations lately but sadly, due to a mundane thing called a job, lack the time to fulfill  my creative ideas. So, I'm going to write them down so that I don't forget them. Thanks for bearing with a Creative To Do post.
1. Cut pattern and material for new spring dress. (amazing fabric score at VV boutique!)
2. Load photos onto portable drive for 90th bday project
3.Write Laurel's bio
4. Figure out Blurb program
5. Learn to make beadie buddies and other loot bag goodies
6. Learn the square stitch for plastic lace (already mastered the circle stitich, thankyouverymuch)
7. Possibly copy the bag design I saw for sale for $19.99. I think I can beat that!

Rudimentary Refashion

I bought this seemingly cool tee from the second hand shop the other day. Silly me, I forgot to inspect thoroughly and I found that it was coming apart at the seams. Can you see the tear on the sleeve in the photo? Grrr...
I decided this could be a good candidate for a refashion. I am no seamstress so this DIY was as simple as they come. Basically I cut apart two shirts and made them into one. I will spare you a tutorial because, honestly, if I can do it, so can you. I did take photos along the way, though and as I was cursing my sewing machine and the stretchy t-shirt fabric, I had a flash back memory of my grade nine sewing class. There was one single boy in our class, Kevin. He made a T-shirt from a pattern that

year and got an A. How he explained that one to his teenage peers, I have no idea, but now that I think of it, Kevin was a pretty smart fella. How else do you get to spend an hour a day with 24 teenage girls and have them help you, lean over you and praise you for learning a so-called feminine skill? Nope, Kevin was no dummy. And like my husband is to me now, Kevin was then a superior seamstress. Tailor? Who knows. All I know is I did not receive an A

on my project...and I probably wouldn't get a good grade on this one either, but it saved two shirts from the landfill for a bit longer, so what the heck? Here's to DIY refashion!

I have GOT to try this!!

I am going to make a top like this. It is amazing! Thanks to two butterflies for bringing it to my attention. I had a rare great sewing day yesterday and it has made me think that maybe I can actually sew after all. My machine is very temperamental. It is only a few years old but it was a starter machine to begin with and I feel I've outgrown it. My budget says otherwise, however, so, as Katy Wolk-Stanley, of the Non Consumer Advocate says, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." Sage advice, to be sure.

I don't think I should have uploaded this photo of chocolate chip cookies though. I may need to make them and then sew my top even bigger.

Spring Break

Here in our neck o' the woods, Spring Break is two weeks long. Ten school days and two weekends to fill while all the kids are free to roam around, ask too many questions, try to ask for too many treats, watch too much t.v., yell too loudly, and just generally be kids. It would be fabulous if we actually had the money to go on a holiday to have the time off school, but as it is, the man works and I took time off to stay home and save the daycare fees. My job is casual, so I can do that, and I think it pretty well evens out financially so I might as well spend the time with my boy. I thought up a bunch of frugal activities well in advance, so I wouldn't be stuck for what to do when I just couldn't stand another minute in the house. I also hope to do some Spring re-organizing. ( I never say the C word, it's too demoralizing)

So far, on day three of Spring Break, we haven't really stuck to the pre-planned ideas, but it's nice to know they are there.

Here are some of the things we have done so far for fun:

-Practiced our Elvis dance routine for Aunty's 60th

-phoned Gramma to brag of our dance moves/accomplishments

-gone to the twoonie swim

-made homemade blizzards (yum!)

-walked around the multiplex, seven laps is a mile (good thing, too)

-Hunted through Value Village after donating 5, (count 'em 5!) blue bags filled with old stuff and earning a 30% off coupon.

-Cleaned out the entryway closet from winter to spring

-had $1.99 Whoppers from BK (need another seven laps :P)

-played at the park with a school friend.

What are you doing for Spring Break?

Feel free to let me know in the comments section.

Inspiration

Lately I have been into scrapbooking and card making. I was kind of late to this craft fad but all of a sudden it hit me how fun and simple it is. Also addictive I must admit, I never used to look twice at all of those letter stickers and embellishments, now, suddenly I can't get enough. Right now we are working on making my son's Valentine cards. Fortunately, I am still frugal and I look for sales and clearance. I found a bunch of summer scrapbooking items on clearance which I will put to good use with the summer pics.

I have also been sewing a bit. I made a simple cape for my son who needed a superhero costume for school. I had some freecycled red suiting material, twill tape and a thrifted pattern that I bought with rare foresight. It was a fun project which reminded me that my sewing skills don't have to be perfect for things like that to be fun and satisfying. My son played with the cape endlessly and is very proud of it. It helps that the bottom is scalloped, like bat wings. Now, I think my next project will be these reuseable snack bags! What a fantastic idea. I know that I can find those materials cheaply. Imagine not having to buy anymore sandwich bags for the lunch sac. Too cool.

Happy Halloween

Hey what's shakin'? Me, I'm just rockin' and rollin' and whatnot. Check out our Halloween digs. Mine is a complete DIY, I am a Beauty "Ghoul" Dropout. That's a reference to Grease. I know... I'm hilarious! Originally I was going to be a bubble gum princess, based on the pink wig, which I bought on clearance last year, right after Halloween. I'll score more cool stuff next week for next year. Why pay full price? Rather than a princess, I thought it would be more fun to look dead. Why not?

The turtle costume was a Value Village deal, bought last spring. They raise the prices right before Halloween, didja notice?? It has been used for playtime a few times and is a bit too short in the legs, but a green pair of PJ bottoms, a safety pin and gumboots solved that problem quite nicely. My polka dot dress? I wore it once and didn't care for the matronly drape of it so, I cut it to ribbons. It looks way cooler now! We wore our costumes for two hours and we were the best dressed folks in town. We look like a million bucks, don'tcha think???

Good Bits

Well, it's hot. It's busy. I have so much to do. My life is chaotic. Is that enough excuses yet? I know my blog isn't getting the attention it deserves, but I am sure once the cool weather rolls around I will be back to my regular programming. For now though, I thought i would share the Good bits that other people are doing. This beautiful Hawaiian cake, made for her two year old princess, was made by lovinglifebabymama , a new/old friend of mine. New, in the sense that I just found out about her blog, and Old in the fact that we used to cruise the night clubs together in our high heels.

Our disco days behind us, we now focus on our little ones, spoiling them with handcrafted dolly cakes and the like. She gives a great description of how she made this amazing cake over on her blog, so check her out and follow her too. She's funny!

I am in the midst of mid summer re-organization. My apartment is in absolute chaos. The thrift shop is going to get a nice donation from me, I tell ya, just as soon as I can peel myself away from the monitor and keyboard. My old clunker of a computer has been serving me well for many years, even though my husband scoffs at me over the thin screen of his laptop, asking me to keep the tap tap tap of my old keyboard down. I quite like the sound, it reminds me of a simpler time. I envision myself as a fifties secretary, hammering out my correspondence in an efficient manner, in a plume of socially acceptable smoke, in the midst of a busy steno pool.

Except that I can't type, and I no longer smoke. Oh well.

I start my Vacation Part Deux in a week or so. Again, no plans to leave town, just to get ready for the start of school for my grade one-er. I got all of his supplies and I have been saving clothes for months, so if I buy anymore for him, it will just be excessive. Clearance sales are my best friend.

Well, I am back to sorting, sorting, sorting and purging. Until next time, here are sixty uses for baking soda!

Keep frugal my friends!

I'm very excited!

My sister is on her way to my house this very minute! She is on vacay and I might actually get to see her for a bit before she galavants to see all other family members in the area. I think it helps that she was delayed and I am the closest relative with a ready bed for her and the kids. I use the term "kids" loosely as they are now gigantic teenagers :)

Today we went cherry picking. Well, scratch that, we tried to go cherry picking. I couldn't find the U-pick farm so we went to the fruit stand and bought some instead. No matter, they were delicious and it was, at 34 degrees celcius, too hot to go picking anyhow. Then,we went to a thrift store that I had never been into before called The Bargain Bin. This was an apt name as many items were priced at ten cents! Gotta love that! The boy, with his keen eye, found me a citrus juicer for twenty five cents. It has a strainer so that pulp and seeds are kept out of the juice. Too cool for a quarter! We had great fun squeezing all my old wrinkly oranges into fresh juice. We then took our cherries and had a lovely splash in the lake. So refreshing! Now, I am tidying and mapping out sleeping arrangements. I love having visitors!

Thrifty Tuesday.

I like Tuesday. It sure beats Monday, that's for sure. I made a rule never to do business on Monday. People are too stressed. If you call me Monday morning before ten, chances are I won't answer. I save it all until Tuesday. By Tuesdays, I've got my priorities straight. Today for instance, I took my son to Denny's for breakfast. Yes, I could have, and probably should have, made my own pancakes, but it turned out that their Grand Slam is only 3.99 right now, so breakfast for two certainly didn't break the bank. they also gave me a rewards card and said I will get a free hamburger at some point. Then we checked out the Best Store of all Time. I finally found a king size bed skirt that matches my bedding, yay! It will cover the tomato soup cans nicely. I found a twin one as well, though this was not such a surprise. Twin bedding is ubiquitous. I also got the boy a backpack, new with tags, for six bucks. His other one has holes in it from his dragging it on the ground instead of wearing it. We found a like-new lunch kit as well. When we got home, I rolled out the newsprint and let him go to town with his new-to-him 3D paints. What a blast he had! I treated myself to a mani-pedi while I read blogs and farted around with Picasa. I had used this program before and I liked it, it is easy to use. The photo above was taken by my cousin. She has an eye for photography. It must be genetic with all that creative brilliance running through her veins. I lightened it a bit and added the text. I like the back lighting that gives our hair that ethereal halo effect.

For supper, I made mac and cheese casserole with some cubed pork thrown in from the freezer. Anything covered with cheese and homemade breadcrumbs is probably an effort by me to clean out the leftovers from the fridge. Just don't tell the boy. Any day that one can use up leftovers and hit the thrift store is a good day, indeed. Tuesday is my kind of day.

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.

Oops!

Why, oh why do I EVER buy things new?

Recently I bought a new copy of a popular self help book that was reccommended to my husband and me. We needed two copies, as he was leaving town and we both want to read it and compare notes. I rushed to the mall and paid $18.95 for his copy and thought I'd order mine with my swagbucks gift card redemptions. This way, I'd be splitting the cost of the two books in half, theoretically anyhow. Except, I forgot to do one thing; shop around! A few days later, I found the very same popular self help book at Value Village for .99! Of course I snapped it up, thank goodness, I won't have to use my swags on it. Now, I am kind of kicking myself for buying the new book! I had assumed I would never find it used because it was newly published. So the lesson here is: Never assume you can't get exactly what you want used and cheap, frugalistas. It only makes an ass-out of -u- and -me. Sheesh.

Score!

We went to Value Village today after work and I snapped up two fairly big mix and match bags of Lego! They were super cheap compared to what you pay retail and they had all the good pieces, like windows, wheels and tons of little guys! Suffice it to say I am now, officially, the best Mom in the world.

For myself, I found a snap press in a miscellaneous bag of sewing notions for .99 and a beautiful piece of sari fabric. I also found some rickrack which is still sealed and looks like it is from the 1960s. I am looking forward to some good wardrobe refashions!

The Lego kept the boy happy, and let's face it, the man too. I made dinner while they were occupied.

Not once was I disturbed. I cooked, alone in my kitchen, in total peace and quiet.

I am truly Lego's biggest fan.

(Also, I used reconstituted powdered milk in the instant chocolate pudding mix last week and no one noticed at all. The bowl was licked clean.)

The Rules of Thrifting

Happiness is......going shopping and coming home with everything you wanted for $15.49. Yes, I went to the Sal-Mart today. I was on the lookout, as I always am, for frugal clothing for myself for work. My job attire needs to be casual and comfortable and most of all, wash and wear. My wardrobe allowance is small, so I have to get creative. For the most part, I get compliments on my choices, so I must be doing alright. Today happened to be a sale; all pink tags 1.00! I picked up a blouse and a cardigan which almost match exactly for two bucks! I also picked up a near- new hoodie for the boy. One can never have too

many fleece hoodies.

Here, my son is wearing his favourite Spidey jammies,

which I found with a Diego set at Value Village for $3 each.

These looked brand new to me when I bought them and after I washed them,

they looked like all of his other P.J.s. They were the perfect Drive-In attire.

Then, I heard angels chorusing and a light shone down from up above. O.K., not exactly, but there, in the Salmart, was the exact same food chopper that I have been looking to replace since mine was dropped from the counter top a couple of months ago. There was no price on it, and beside it, another chopper sat, (missing a vital part, which in my mind made it fit only for the landfill), for $5. This set my mind to thinking. How can I get my perfect, complete chopper for the best price? This also got me thinking about the Rules of Thrifting. By now, I tend to think of myself and a near expert in sifting through the garbage in thrift stores and coming out with the gems. I have been thrifting most of my life and I while have bought my share of useless and frivolous goods and promptly had to re-recycle them, by now I have honed my skils almost to an exact science. If you are interested, I will gladly share my pearls with you now.

1. Don't buy junk.

This rule seems obvious but in the mind mode of all the good deals you are getting and all the money you are saving by thifting, it is easy to overlook quality and possibly let down your standards a tad when piling on extra purchases. Examine everything with a critical eye. Will you really wear it? Will it fit you? Did you try it on? Will you really fix that button? If there is a shadow of a doubt in your mind, put it back on the rack. This brings me to the second rule...

2. Have a list.

Just as in any other store, you wouldn't just buy things because they are there. Well, maybe you would, but if you are trying to be frugal you wouldn't. I always have a list of things that I need in mind, or at least, categories. For example, we are low on winter gear, my son always needs clothes and Christmas is coming. I found myself almost brand new snow pants today and a cute holiday plate which I could serve my chocolate chip cookies on. The food chopper was on my mental list.

3. Watch prices.

Don't assume everything is a good deal just because it is used. In fact you have to be even more on your toes in the thrift store because the prices vary and never seem to have a rhyme nor reason. In my mind, if I am paying my hard earned money for something it had better be excellent quality and a good price. I will use the snow pants as an example. They were seven dollars. I almost never spend seven dollars on one item in a thrift store. To me that is the extreme end of the scale. But since the pants were in excellent condition, exactly my size and I know that I could not buy them for less than $30 new, I ponied up the $7 before the next lucky thrifter came by to snap them up. The pricing thing brings me to my next rule. It's really more of an opinion. You do what you think is best.

4. Don't expect to haggle...much.

For the most part, the price is the price, even if it doesn't make any sense why one white turtle neck is $3 and one is $5. You are in a thrift store. Do you haggle at Walmart? Just scan for the $3 one in perfect condition and take that one home. Today, the pink tag sale made me challenge myself to find the best $1 deals I could. The woman before me tried to ask for a cheaper deal on something and was denied. While I admired her courage for asking for a cheaper price, I did not admire the way she left in a snit when she was turned down. For the food chopper without a price, I explained, politely, that the one beside it was missing the handle and had been priced at $5. I waited patiently while the cashier asked the manager for a price, (something she was unwilling to do for the abrupt woman before me), and happily accepted the final purchase price that was offered: two dollars. I did not demand that the cashier lower the price nor did I demand haughtily to speak to the manager. I respected the woman who was helping me and bagged my own purchases, as the line behind me had started to form while she was away getting my cheap price. You see, I want to go back to this store, probably often. I like good deals. This brings me to my final general rule.

5. Keep going back.

You don't have to find everything in one day. Neither do you have to buy out the whole store. If they don't have what you want, or it is all junk, walk out of the store! Don't buy something just because you walked in, or just because it's a dollar. That's your dollar. Keep it for something good! Also, some days, there is just nothing worth buying. Attitude is key. I know, for myself, if I am not in the right frame of mind, I can come home with junk, which defeats the whole purpose. It's called thrifting, not junking.

That being said, if you do make a mistake and bring home say, a polyester shawl from the seventies with burgandy trim and a previously undiscovered grease stain, don't beat yourself up. You could use that trim on something, maybe a lampshade. Clear out all your old junk, make a donation and start fresh with a new take on thrifting.

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

In the last couple of weeks, my life has been hectic. Work, along with squeezing in the last bits of summer, then a family reunion campout and finally, the start of kindergarten has practically left me breathless! It's also put me in the kitchen a fair bit, which I don't mind at all. Pictured here is the beautiful fruit and cheese platter which I helped to assemble at our family reunion. I have been baking a fair amount as well as scoping out deals on back to school clothes. I got my son all decked out on clearance sales and today, I selected only the finest gently used items for myself and the family from Value Village's Back to School 50% off sale. It was difficult to reign myself in, but I did manage to only buy what I needed. When I got home I gave my mom a ring, just to casually inquire after her white bread recipe. I remember it made a ton of loaves when I was little. Well four large, but we always made sticky buns and dinner rolls so it seemed like more... She gladly gave it to me and I, in turn, extolled the virtues of Kristen The Frugal Girl's Cheap French Bread. (I made this recipe with the best of intentions, but we ate it so fast that my husband didn't get any bread!) I love her blog, she is truly an inspiration to frugal mamas everywhere. Check her out... http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/

So, after some effort and a little banging of the pots and pans in the kitchen, my whole entire domicile is now permeated with the aroma of freshly baked bread. I made two trays of dinner buns, cinnamon buns, garlic breadsticks and a loaf. Whew. There is nothing on this earth so satisfying. Fresh, homemade bread truly is the staff of life.

Summer Lovin'

Went to the beach TWICE today. First thing, my son and I baked a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. The oven heated up the house a bit, but in this weather it honestly doesn't make a difference, might as well spend the day outside. Hubby had work, so I took the boy and we packed up a lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, nectarines, our HM cookies and a jug of juice. We lounged and played and ate our lunch on a blanket at the beach. It was bliss. It started to get really hot so I suggested we seek refuge in the downtown Sal-Mart. Up until today, I had yet to peruse this particular thrift store. I will definitely go again as they had many treasures that caught my eye at very reasonable prices. My son has been raised on thrifting and at five years old, already has a keen eye when it comes to sifting through the junk and finding the good stuff. He got a coat hook, which will come in handy this fall, a wooden toy plane and really cool sunglasses. I got him a warm vest and shorts for a dollar each, (they were part of the clearance "green tag" sale. I found myself a pair of yoga pants which looked new to me, or very gently used. Then wonder of wonders, would you guess what I found? A water bath canner! YAY!. The Okanagan is teeming with fruit right now. All I need are jars and a free afternoon. The free afternoon is the tough part right now, but I have faith. I may get to can this year after all. Baby steps!

Treasure Hunting

I've been busy the last few days! I have been on the hunt for treasures. My kitchen appliances were in a very sorry state. I have been using the same blender since I moved out of my mother's house. I think my sister gave it to me more than a decade ago. Recently I lost the lid and was using a plastic bowl that fit inside nicely. I would have kept going this way, happily, until my husband said, "This is driving me crazy! We need a new blender!" I thought the same thing as I was hand whisking some cake batter, "We used to have a mixer, what happened to it?" So, I made a list. I also want a food processor, canning supplies and, to top it all off, our printer died. Why do all these things happen at once? I decided this was a lot of items so I posted this message on freecycle:

Wanted: misc items. food processor, blender, working printer, canning supplies. Will pick up. Thanks, Sandy.

I went about my merry way and then, later, I received an email. A nice woman told me she had a printer as her husband had upgraded to a four in one. They had just been using it so she thought it still worked, she could even deliver (!) as she would be in my neighbourhood the next day. Would I like it? Uh, yes please! Thanks Doreen, the printer (and fax machine) work great!!

Next, I went to my trusty thrift store with my list. I found a nice blender, a better brand than the one I was using with a glass, (not plastic) jar for $5. Then I saw a cordless mixer which you plug the unit in and the mixer is charged when you are ready to use it. My husband mounted it in the kitchen for me. There it is, all ready to mix my waffle batter! I also found three matching pizza pans, in new condition and a decorative letter organizer. My son got a yo-yo and two skipping ropes. These last items were not exactly on the list, but I was feeling generous. I was more than thrilled with my thirty dollar investment in kitchen convenience. When I got home I received another email. This time from a former co-worker. It said:

Sandy, saw your ad on freecycle. I have a food processor for you, call me on Sunday.

Wow, not only do I get my whole list covered for a lot less than I could have imagined, I might even get a coffee date with a friend out of the deal. Priceless.

Random Good Bits

This morning I made crepes as I was inspired by Cents to get Debt Free's breakfast menu. As we all wolfed them down with chopped nectarines and yogurt, my son alliterated, "Please pass the frugal fruit."

That made me laugh so much and was a great way to start the day and the week. I went to the thrift store while out running errands with the family. We had to wait an hour to pick up an item so I said, "Drop me off!"when we cruised by the store. I was originally on the look out for a water bath canner. No such luck. I did respond to an ad on Freecycle for 60 quart jars with rings, I am so crossing my fingers for that one. Free jars would be most excellent. We shall see. Will I even have time to can this summer? Or is it just a pipe dream?

I came out instead with a popcorn maker, 2 cake pans and a bundt pan. (Oh, and a big bag of zippers. Two bucks. All different lengths. I know, I know. Why zippers?? Ask my Grandmother, or better yet, my Mother. She might know why I would be compelled to buy a big bag of zippers. I got this hoarding tendency from her, I think. The zippers are MINE! I need them! Back away from the zippers...) I have some frozen bananas in mind for that bundt pan. I tried out the popcorn maker when we got home and a 1/4 cup of my bulk popcorn made enough for a great afternoon snack, and the kid was excited to see it pop. Cheap entertainment. 5 year olds are fun and easy to please :)

I then received my first free sample in the mail! Guess what it was?

Personal lubricant!! Is that not a most excellent first free sample? My hubs is really getting on board with the whole frugality thing now!

Personal lubricant? For free? Well Goll-y!

I also made beef and bean burritos for the freezer and then went to the dentist. My tortilla dough waited for me to get home and roll it out. I made the beef and bean filling and let it cool while I was gone.

No, I did not take photos; (my teeth are too personal), but you can have my tortilla recipe:

Homemade Tortillas (so easy)

4 c flour

8tsp baking powder

1/2 c shortening

Cut this together to a course meal consistency. I used my little hand chopper. A food processer would probably do it in a second or two.

Dissolve 1 1/2 tsp salt into 1 cup lukewarm water, you may need a bit more. I needed almost 1/4 cup more, but it is a very dry climate where I live. I also threw in some random spices into my flour mix, just because. You do whatever you want. I don't really mind.

Mix a soft dough, knead it until fairly smooth and elastic. Let rest, covered 20 minutes or more. I left mine for 30 mins. then divided into equal size balls. I got 14, I think, medium size. Then I went to the dentist. I recommend just rolling out your dough and carrying on from here. It's way easier to roll out warm dough. My dough was cold and difficult to roll out thinly, so I called the Man to help. He wasn't doing anything but waiting to show me his muscles and his tortilla rolling expertise anyhow. I cooked them in the pan while he rolled. I must say, he is getting good at these :)

I used a cast iron frying pan heated to medium low. No need to grease, there is plenty of shortening. It shouldn't stick at all. Cook 1-2 minutes per side.

I rolled up 10 burritos and put them in the freezer. My mouth was still frozen from the dentist so I ate yogurt and leftover crepes for dinner and the boys finished the tortillas. I still have a ton of beef and bean filling left. Maybe it will be good on noodles or rice as well.

Thrift Store Nirvana

I have been saving all my receipts in an envelope for the last two weeks so that I can start to get an idea of what we actually spend and where. This is not the first time I have attempted to do this, however, it is the first time I actually have a plan (sort of) of what to do with the information. For the last few months we have been scheduling Money Mondays once a month so we can talk about where we are going and what we might like to do with our money. This has not been a simple process and I'll admit one or both of us has been guilty of postponing Money Monday to Tuesday, or maybe Wednesday or Thursday.... (Aw, can't we do it next week?) Anyhow, it's a process, and I am trying to take small steps. My teensy tiny step this month is to set some reasonable financial goals, five of them to be precise (besides vacation money, yep, got it we want a vacation, no, not just to see my Mum, or yours. Yes, we could have gone to the Dominican for that, I know...) agree upon them,(ha!) and remove the fear.(double ha!) That's all I have to say about that, for now... *sigh*.

Time to send my boy out to face the big wide world. Well, twice a week, anyhow. This will mean creativity in the packaged lunch department, as well as organizing the sock and underwear situation. "Go look in the dryer," is probably no longer going to cut it. He already has a cooler bag and a reusable drink box. I am going to have to get some cool kid cook books or something. The other thing we did was to buy pretty much all of our family's summer wardrobe. This is a good thing because it gets very hot here in the summer and one must have cool clothing. We had a few things, now we should be set.


Fortunately, my favourite clothing store, Value Village, had a huge 50% off sale! I went early in the day to scope it out. I hadn't stopped by the ATM yet, so all I had was a pittance of change in my pocket. I'm trying to use cash, it's a little more concrete for me. I'm cheap, so actually prying the dollars from my fist is a little more difficult than imaginary numbers on a screen. Those imaginary numbers are the tricky ones. I still managed to score two cute T-shirts for my boy, one red with sharks, one yellow with a cool antique car motif, for $2.63. The store was packed with bargain hunters, and we were hungry for lunch, so I vowed to return later with renewed vigor. I did my best Arnie impression and we went home. We did go back once the man got off work. I can pick out clothes for him and he is usually satisfied with my choices, but for once he felt the urge to look for himself. Actually, he wasn't sure I had scoured the boy's shorts thoroughly enough, and by golly he was right; he managed to find things I hadn't noticed. The racks were continually restocked during the day, so yay for going back twice. Our total for the three of us, including my earlier foray, was $43.58. Not bad for seven shirts, six pairs of shorts and a vest. I thought about posting a photo of the clothes, but just look at any photo of us. For example, in the picture above the shirts we are wearing came off the clearance rack at Walmart. I think I paid $4 each, NWT. The other cool thing was the coupon booklet given out with each purchase. We ended up with two booklets, which I am certain to put to good use, so double yay. (What's with the double 'ha's and 'yay's in this post?)


Sunday was spent at the beach. We packed a cooler and drove to the provincial park which is less that ten minutes from our home. I know, I am lucky. We spent $11 on picnic snacks and the rest we brought from home. We played frisbee and laid on the beach for hours. SO relaxing :) Yes, those are our feet. No, we are not photographers.

My question to other thrift store shoppers is : Does it matter to you what cause the thrift store supports, or do you strictly thrift for the deal/thrill of the hunt/money saving? Most of the places that I go have what I consider to be fairly noble causes, but there is one I don't agree with. Trouble is, I know they have fantastic deals in there, they advertise them all the time and I am dying to go in and browse. I won't state what the cause is here, I don't care to start a controversy today about who believes what, what is and is not right, blah blah blah...ad nauseum. It's one of those one side-or-the-other type of issues.
Ask me tomorrow, I may surprise you with a fresh controversy, but for today, I will stick to the mundane subject at hand. Should I go in and have a peek at their wares? So far I haven't been able to do it, something is holding me back...what if I want to buy something? Surely my frugal nature would override my haughty ideals. Does my fifty cents matter towards supporting their cause? If I were in a state of need, would I have the luxury of a lofty moral position? How far do you go to be frugal, yet maintain your morals?