My zipper won't stay up!

Has anyone's jeans gotten a little tighter in the last week? lol

Maybe you have a favorite pair that the zipper won't stay up.

Here's a quick & frugal solution brought to you by Shoestring Pavilion:

Using some fishing line or other thread (I prefer embroidery thread... it's easier to tie a knot in), cut a loop about double the distance between your button and the hole in the zipper slider.  Tie a knot in the ends.

Thread about half the loop through the hole on your zipper slider.  You should now have two loops.  One through the slider and one below.  Take the loop below slider and thread through the loop on top of the slider, pulling tight.

Now you have one loop that you can loop around your button and it will keep your zipper up!  Cool hugh?

Thanks Shoestring Pavilion for such a great tip.

Happy Thanksgiving

My family and I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.

Dollar Tree Crafts- My Little Christmas Trees

My trees are done!  Robin of All Things Heart and Home techniques made this project quick and fun.  Thanks Robin!
And here is where I needed some little trees.

I set this little store up every Christmas in honor of my husband's grandfather whose last name was Davis.  He is greatly missed.

The total cost of the tree project using the items found at Dollar Tree was $4.  I had everything else on hand.

To see the supply list for these trees and the process, go HERE.

Dollar Tree Tiny Christmas Trees

Are these trees not the prettiest thing?  When I first seen them I was guessing they were from Pottery Barn with a price tag around $79.99, but they were made by Robin of All Things Heart and Home.  AND they are easy to make.... now that Robin has figured out the secret to it and shared it with all of us.  I want some!  I have the perfect spot for them.

Robin found her little foam balls at JoAnn's.  I found mine at Dollar Tree. Yep, I stopped at a Dollar Tree I had never been in before and spied these:

I'm going to try Robin's technique and I hope it works on the little balls I bought.

I also bought my cones from Dollar Tree.  I'm off to see how it comes out.  Be sure to check out Robin's secret on how to make these cuties.

What project's are you working on this week?  Getting your home ready for Thanksgiving get togethers?  Putting up Christmas decorations?

ETA: My trees are done!  You can see them HERE.

Another Wonderful Upcoming CSN Review

I've been invited to do another CSN review, and my representative is so wonderful to work with, so I accepted. I found the Children's Luggage and was surprised to find these:

Hoohobbers Personalized Lunch Box- This would be a great gift for the little girl in your life.  All children love personalized gifts.

How about a Wildkin Dinosaur Duffel Bag for the little guy on your shopping list?

CSN Children's Luggage even has sleeping bags for the little ones.  These make great gifts.

So go on over and check out all the affordable merchandise and start crossing people off that holiday shopping list!

I will be deciding what item to review in the next few days. It will be a hard decision with so many choices, so be sure to come back and see what I chose!

More Easy Bake Oven Recipes

Easy Bake ovens will be going on sale in the coming weeks.
Don't let the high price of replacement cake mixes scare you from buying that Easy Bake Oven this year.

To use a regular cake mix:
3 tablespoons cake mix, any flavor
1 tablespoon milk

Mix in a bowl until smooth. Place in greased toy cake pan.
Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Makes 1 serving

To Make Icing:

Mix 1 teaspoon water and a couple drops vanilla. Add powdered sugar, mixing until smooth and desired consistency.


Peanut Butter Cookies

1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons sugar

In a bowl, mix together all ingredients to make a dough. Roll into 1/2 inch balls. Place 4 balls into the Easy Bake Oven pan and press down slightly with the tines of a fork. Bake for 6 minutes. Cool. Bake remaining balls 4 at a time.

The Original EBO Peanut Butter Fudge
1/2 cup powder sugar
1 tablespoon peanut butter
2 teaspoons cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon soft butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, mix all ingredients together until smooth. Spread mixture into greased pan. Bake 5 minutes. Cool completely.
NOTE: Be sure to preheat oven 15 minutes!

For more Easy Bake Oven Recipes, be sure to check out my previous post: Save Money- Make Your Own Easy Bake Oven Mixes


Linking to:
Foodie Friday
Frugal Friday

Parade of wreaths

I love wreaths, but boy they are so expensive to buy!  I like buying them from thrift stores and changing them up.

I switch my wreaths out 5 times a year. One for each season, and one for Christmas in between fall and winter.

I've been thinking about my Christmas and winter wreaths coming up and what I would like to do/have/make.

Wreaths can be made out of anything! Take a look at some of my favorites:

I made a bird seed wreath years ago. Birds actually came and pecked at it! lol

One of these days when I can get lavendar to grow, I would love to make one of these!

Burnt marshmallows!  I love it!

This is a great way to up-cycle those burnt bulbs.

This one would look perfect on my home.  Our siding is a blue-grey.

Loving all the greenery and checked ribbon!

I love succulents! This would be a great summer wreath.

A lovely recycling newspaper wreath.

A classic!

I better get to drinkn' some wine!

This white frilly wreath is actually made out of coffee filters. The Virginia House posted a great tutorial on how she made hers. I think I will make this one and change it up some.  Mine will be made out of fabric minus the starfish.  I'll post it when I get it done.

What wreath was your favorite?  Do you switch your wreaths out for seasons? For every holiday? Do you make your own wreaths? Or purchase them?

Be sure to share your wreath with all of us!

For  fabric Thursday, visit:




And for great ideas and inspiration:

$5 Hallmark Coupons

Hallmark has the $5 off $5 or more coupon again this holiday season!

You can find the coupon in several different magazines.

Nov/Dec MidWest Living Page 17 (sticky/peel off coupon)
Dec. Real Simple (between pages 74-74)
Dec. Family Circle (page 61)
Dec. Southern Living
Dec. Martha Stewart Living (page 93)
Dec. Redbook (pages 53-54)
Dec. Oprah Magazine (Page 111)

Last year Hallmark also released a printable $5 off $5 coupon! Let's hope they do it again this year.

If you find the Hallmark coupon in any other magazines that are not listed, be sure to let me know!

Crock Pot Apple Butter

I had some apples go mushy before we ate them all and decided to make some crock pot apple butter.

My mother's recipe had to be altered for such a small batch. Although I used my apple peeler/slicer, I forgot I didnt need to peel them darn it.
I used my little Rival Crock-ette. I started them at 10am Sunday.

1 1/2 pounds (6) red delicious apples
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 c water

After the apples had cooked about an hour, I chopped them into smaller pieces.
Sorry these two pics are so gold.  The light in my kitchen is yuck and my camera wasn't cooperating.

After four hours of cooking with no lid on, I took my Oster stick blender and pureed it.  We like velvety smooth apple butter.

Finally, at 11:30 pm last night I dumped it into a jar and into the fridge. 

This morning I had some on toast for breakfast.  It's so thick, velvety, and yummy!

Be sure to visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesday for some great Thanksgiving food ideas!


Now I have 3 pie pumpkins and 1 medium pumpkin I need to do something with.
Anyone have any suggestions?  I've never prepared pie pumpkins.  Do I just slice them in half and scoop out the pulp?  Can I put it in a jar in fridge until next week and make pumpkin pies out of them or should I wait until next week to do it?

My Review of Wireless Digital Rain Gauge

Originally submitted at CSN Stores

Features:

• Wireless digital rain gauge
• Plastic construction
• Measures and displays cumulative rainfall upto 99.98"
• RF rain measurement transmission icon
• Records and displays hourly, daily, weekly, monthly rainfall history
• Daily min/max...

Wireless Digital Rain Gauge

Has all the bells and whistles

I finally was able to make up my mind on what I wanted to review from CSN. They have anything you could need or want.  With over 200 online stores you can get anything from a bar stool to a screw! So it was very hard to make up my mind!

I decided to buy my husband a digital rain gauge for Christmas.  Somehow he manages to always get his Christmas early. lol

CSN Stores has several digital rain gauges to choose from. But you really have to compare their features.  This rain gauge measures and displays cumulative rainfall up to 99.98" as well as records and displays hourly, daily, weekly, monthly rainfall history.  The others were lacking in these recordings.  And all men love more bells and whistles, right?

Another great feature is that the gauge is self emptying!  No more running out in the rain to see how much has fell or to empty a full gauge.

The transmittor is small, about the same size as my kitchen timer.  It is easy to operate by just pushing a button and the rainfall data in memory is pulled up to review.

My hubby loves the rain gauge.  He was excited to come home today and check all his saved data.   I'm considering buying another one as a gift for my father.
This was my first time ordering from CSN Stores.  At the same time I ordered the rain gauge, I ordered another item. My order was split into two separate deliveries and arrived earlier than I expected.

My representative who contacted me about the review was professional but friendly and helpful. I was also satisfied with the professional customer service I received from CSN Stores and can't wait to work with them again on another review or giveaway.

By Easy Frugal Living from Missouri on 11/11/2010

5out of 5

Pros: Weather Resistant, Wireless, Withstands Winds, Accurate Readings, Easy to operate, Self emptying
Cons: Havn't found any
Best Uses: On your deck
Describe Yourself: Budget Shopper

No more running outside to read or dump gauge! Yeah!!!!

(legalese)

Lunch Today

It's a grey rainy day here in my part of the world. Tomato soup and grilled cheese sounded good for lunch. Any time I get a craving for this I have to fix it for lunch since hubby and kiddo don't like it.

Here is how I make my tomato soup when I don't have fresh tomatoes.

Quick Tomato Soup

1 can Chicken Broth
1 can tomato paste
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup milk

Whisk together all ingredients except milk and bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer.  Slowly whisk in milk and simmer 5 minutes to thicken.

Today I also wanted something for dessert so I made some Toll House Chocolate Chip bars.

Amazon.com buy 2 Get 1 Free on Hasbro Games

Amazon.com has a great Buy 2 Get 1 FREE sale on Hasbro games with FREE Super Saving Shipping on orders over $25. Many are 40 & 50% off.

I loved this deal! My son had a hasbro game on his christmas wish list. At Wal-mart is was $17.99. Last week Target had it on sale for $9.99 but I wasn't able to get to a Target. Amazon's price... $10!

When I seen this deal I immediately checked for the game he wanted. It was there!

So I used my Amazon.com gift cards earned from Swagbucks to get his game plus two others for no money out of my pocket.

I received my order today.

Three more gifts crossed off my list!

How are you doing with your shopping? Will you be done by Thanksgiving? By December 1? Or will you be shopping late Christmas Eve?

I Don't Like Spiders & Snakes....

or possums in my house!

The weekend was not boring!

First we found

in our garage.  Uhm, not just no, but HELL NO that's none of us holding it!  There is no time for pulling out the camera and taking shots of snakes in my home.  The one in the garage that my husband "disposed" of was just like it though!  Size and color.  I hate snakes in my home!  This is the second home I've owned and the 4th snake.  What is it with me and snakes that like to come in?

 

Then Saturday night we found this

 

 

 

insert another resounding HELL NO, I didn't take this pic.  But the baby possum in my garage was very angry and looked just like this!  He was guarding the bag of dog food with every thing he had.  All you could see was teeth and the hissing sound he made warned you it wasn't going to be an easy fight to shew him back outside. 

 

Two cats and two poodles in the house and they still come in. I'll have a heart attack if I ever get a skunk in the house!

So, what interesting critter have you found in your home lately?  Nothing? NOTHING at all?  LUCKY YOU! :p

Time To Stock Your Pantry- Fall Baking Sale

Price Chopper is having a great baking sale. Time to stock up your pantry for your holiday baking.

THERE IS ONLY TODAY AND TOMORROW LEFT ON THIS SALE!!

Best Choice Flour $0.99

Best Choice Butter Quarters $2.69

Best Choice Sugar, 4 lb, limit 2 $1.49

Hershey's Baking Chips, limit 2 $1.49

Best Choice Vegetable Oil $1.99

Best Choice Graham Cracker Pie Crust $0.99

Best Choice Flaked Coconut $1.50

Best Choice Nuts, 2 oz $0.99

Best Choice Powdered or Brown Sugar $1.19

TIP:  If they are out of anything featured, BE SURE TO GET YOUR RAINCHECK! 

For a full listing of Price Chopper's sale for this week, be sure to visit Little People Wealth. She posts the Price Chopper ad with coupon matchups for us weekly. Thanks for all your hard work Heidi!

Steady wins the gift giving race

I've been slowly getting my gifts bought and made for this year.

Here's what I finished for some of the younger girls including my three granddaughters.

If you havn't been to any craft shows, shopped etsy or visited any crafting blogs; then let me introduce you to the washer necklace.

They are very popular with young girls, tweens, and teens. And I just know my thirty-something funky loving sister will love hers also when she finds it in her stocking. The granddaughters' will receive theirs in their advent calendar I am making for them.

They are quick and easy to make. I had everything in my craft stash except for the washers (.12 each) and the dimensional adhesive. I bought the Glossy Accents for $5.75 at a local scrapbooking store. So if I figure in the necklace cords I already had on hand, (bought on clearance) I'm out around $10 for the 7 necklaces shown. There is still almost a whole bottle of the glue left, I just need to buy some more .12 washers.

This one will be given to the nine year old who loves funky jewelry. I've decided I'm going to add some beads to all of them like THIS.

This one is for the 4 year old princess.

And this one is the six year old's. She loves anything pink and girlie.

If you would like details on how to make these, visit HERE


Ok, I'm off to work on the advent calendars. Can't wait to get them done and show you!

What are you up to? Baking and freezing breads? Cookies? Making something special? OR, are you avoiding the "C" word at all cost right now? lol