Beautiful Autumn Idyll

Ah home life.

Little girl dresses and little boy sweaters drying on the clothesline. Fresh from our garden peppers in our crock pot. Little tomatoes ripening in the windowsill. The sound of happy children playing tag with their new dog in the backyard. The windows open to chill and freshen the house air.

And a free hour spend decorating our mantle for autumn.

This is the good life.

What's for dinner: Crockpot Sweet N Sour Tofu & How do you like them apples?

My Mom brought up bags of apples that she picked from my brother's apple trees. I don't know what to do with all of them and I just won't can them.

I might try storing them for winter.
Or freezing apple pie filling in bags.
Or making freezer applesauce.

This Swedish Apple Pie sounds great for dessert tonight and no need for a crust.
Any more ideas?


Tasty sounding vegetarian crock pot recipes have been few and far between when I've searched for them. So far, the only thing I'm consistently successful with is vegetarian chili which I don't make often because Little Guy won't eat a bean to save his life. I was so glad to stumble upon a blog devoted solely to the use of a crock pot for a whole year. How great! I'm so making this Sweet And Sour Tofu for dinner tonight.

Plowing Through the Yuck.

The whole family has varying degrees of colds and yuck. After I got everyone out and off this morning I resisted cancelling any appointments today and crawling back into bed. Instead I went to Walgreens and stocked up the free after rebate deals and some of the XCEL laundry detergent. It smells nice so I'm going to try it. While I think that making your own laundry detergent is great, I don't bother when I can find jugs of it for $2.50 or less. Last week I used a Walgreens Snuggle coupon combined with a MFR coupon to get the 40 count box softener sheets for $1.60. I cut them in half (they are very potent) and now I have 80 which makes my cost per load .02 cents. That's not bad for name brand softener.


And now I have to get back to my chores- I know that we may be worse off in a few days and I will be glad I got my jobs done today. Sigh. The good thing about cleaning the house every few days is that it doesn't take long to spiff it up again. First I'm going to light that Yankee Candle I bought last week (with a coupon) and put on the Fiddler on the Roof Soundtrack CD so I can set the cleaning mood. Then I'll don my apron and get an empty laundry basket and get to work putting away toys for vacuuming and sweeping. What do you do to get yourself ready for chores?

I'll just hope company ignores the sippy cup spill stains on the carpet until we have a free afternoon with the carpet cleaner.

Garage Sales with my Girl

I took Big Girl to a few garage sales late this morning. The pickings were slim but the bargains were nice.

Big Girl (dressed in a pink sundress, pink tasselled cowgirl boots (Goodwill $4), and a big fluffy pink bow) brought her allowance and big hopes for toys galore.

I didn't find much but this is my list:

3 vhs tapes- Rescue Heroes, Rudolph Sing-A-Long, and Veggie Tales Larry Boy - .25 cents for all three
Gymboree winter shirt for Big Girl - $1
Hartstrings sundress for Big Girl- $1
Kid's Headquarters short, top, and bandana set for Big Girl- $1
Cherokee button up for Little Guy- .60 cents
Children's Place sweater for Little Guy- .60 cents
Class Club sweater vest for Little Guy- .60 cents
2 woven placemats to put under the dog's food/water bowls- .25 for both

Big Girl found a toy watch, a metal basket with hearts, a sand box tub, a small stuffed animal, and a pumpkin shaped basket. And she still has a dime in her purse.

I just thought it was amusing.

I'm in line last night at a busy store (it was right around 5pm when everyone is off work) and I've got a fist full of coupons.
To be honest I bought things I didn't really need- like two bottles of Endust cleaner- just because they were .69 cents after coupon. So, I wasn't feeling all that great about my cart load. Plus they didn't have the one thing on the shelf that I went into the store in the first place for.
My original total before coupons was $32.50. After coupons it was around $19. To be honest, my first thought when I heard my total was disappointment. I was hoping it would be less.
But right after that hint of disappointed I heard the "ahhs", "wows" and "you saved thirteen dollars" from the cashier and the two groups of people behind me. And then the lady next to me asked if I did the coupon game and I said no. Then I told her about the "All You" magazine for sale and she hunted it down right after I pointed it out. And as I was leaving she told me again how impressed she was. It sort of put things into perspective for me.

One other thing I've taken to doing is sharing my coupons while I'm in the store. If I see someone pick up something that I have a coupon for I ask them if they want my coupon. Not one person has turned me down yet. In fact, I've had many people thank me gleefully.
Last week I printed out extra $5/$25 coupons for Save-A-Lot and handed them out at the store because I wasn't going to use them. One lady thanked me all the way to the parking lot.
I love doing that. It's my way of spreading a little goodwill.

And now I must vacuum.

Garage Sale Finds this Morning.

My main goal was to buy some cheap movies to entertain the kids until we get used to less tv.

I bought:
On VHS (cheaper than dvds)
Caillou the Explorer (Little Guy loves Caillou) 1.00
The Sound of Music (can you believe I've never seen it?) 1.00
Sleeping Beauty 1.00
Mulan 1.00
James and the Giant Peach 1.00
NIP Singer Holiday Hobbies and Crafts (Free box)
Buns of Steel 3 (Free Box)
Kathy Smith's Ultimate Stomach and Thighs Work out (Free Box)

A cd rom Sabrina the Teenage Witch game for older girls (Free Box)

A Home Interiors Fruity scented candle (.50)
A pretty tin with a peacock on it (.10) ( I have a thing for tins)
Hardback copy of Madeline's Rescue
Polly Pocket stable with horse (.75)
Polly Pocket Fashion Bedroom (.75)
Assorted Polly Pocket figurines and doo dads (.25)
A small barbie figurine on a horse (.10)
Pirate Rubber Ducky (free with purchase)

A shoe box full of fancy handmade bows. (originally marked .50 apiece. I took the whole thing for $6

A small container of ribbon spools. (.50)

A Halloween themed candle holder (.50)

I only went to a few but I'm most excited about the videos and the Polly Pocket sets. Yay for garage sales!

First Day Without Direct TV and Tivo

And I think I'm having withdrawals.

The first thing I do in the morning after Hubby and Big Girl leave is turn on a show for Little Guy and do my computer stuff. Sigh.

Our broadcast is such poor quality. We're watching a Sesame Street video and he's coloring a page at the table.
I'll get used to it. Being uncomfortable is good. Change is good. Saving money is good. Right?

Hubby found a website called Hulu where you can watch and subscribe to many shows. They even have movies online.
He has a whole system planned for us where we can watch all this stuff that I don't really understand. It involves memory sticks, wiring cables, and using our rabbits that I can't follow just yet.

Both of our Rabbits we found in the boxes (they have a white rabbit on the cover) at Thrift stores for $7 and $5 each. If you're going lo-tech like we are you might pick one up if you see it.

Any interest in a detailed blog about how my Hubby is going to hook us up so we don't suffer without DTV and tivo? Because he can explain it much better than I can.