Their Trash=My Treasure

Wanted to post a few pictures of my living room, much of it having been dragged home on amnesty day or discovered & revamped post-thrift store.



Several of these hats belonged to my Grandma Fitzgerald. They are propped up by all sorts of old candlesticks, wine bottles, etc. to get the varying heights. The armoire is one of the 1st pieces I purchased myself (along with my purple chaise) when I was a single, working girl. It is loaded with old pressed glass, my china, chargers, silver and tablecloths. Currently it is housing my cache of felted wool mittens that I am preparing for the Christmas fair.



Don't know if I will ever stop liking this chaise lounge. As mentioned earlier, I spied it at Hufford Furniture and thought that it was so lovely with beautiful lines and heavy, tufted fabric. It has moved with me MANY times and will likely be recovered someday. The picture is a gift from my parents and the Venetian mirror is the real deal, found in the basement of a Fredricksburg, VA antique store.



Here is the little chair that I reupholstered (detailed in earlier post). Behind it is a fun, HUGE oil painting that was salvaged from a coach house in Chicago. My friend's husband rescued the painting & they generously gifted this gem to me!



What you don't see is the very messy antique Pfaff in the background as it is piled high with my sewing projects!

Favorite Beauty Staple

Those of you who know me well also know that I adore all things "girly", especially perfume, cosmetics, creams, etc. Having used hundreds of different products, I have found a few that I repurchase again and again. Here is a short list of some of my favorites:

1) Jergen's Cold Cream

It doesn't get more old school than this, ladies. It's basically a giant tub of the greasiest pink cold cream that $3 can buy. The smell is subtle albeit a bit floral and it is very rich. Don't think I would recommend this to someone with oily skin, but if you have dry skin and are not prone to break outs, this stuff is golden.

2) Seche Vite
If you like pretty nails...like I like pretty nails...then Seche Vite is a terrific investment. It dries nail polish quickly and thoroughly. Essie nail polish is my preferred brand of color:)

3) Avon Glazewear
Hands down, best lipgloss. My current favorite shade is Island Glow, a taupe-y champagne-y sheer glaze.

4)Fleurs et Chocolat
Fresh came out with this perfume years ago, originally debuted as "Lucia". I love the blend of sweet oranges and bitter chocolate, scent perfection for me. It has been discontinued (again!) and I had to purchase from ebay. I keep it squirreled away in a dark drawer to preserve the scent as much as possible. My other favorites are offensive to some: Diptyque's "L'ombre dans l'eau", Theirry Mugler's "Angel" and the original YSL "Champagne", so I don't wear them often. My husband does love the Champagne (I have an original bottle of the parfum bought at Marshall Fields), so I sometimes dab a teensy drop on my neck. It is an amazing scent, intense and beautiful.

5) Olive Oil
That's right. I love to use olive oil on my face as a quick cleanser, massage medium. It feels wonderful and my skin thanks me. In addition, I have used baking soda as an extremely gentle scrub. It is non abrasive and my skin is baby soft after. Fresh lemon juice & sugar make an excellent body scrub for dry winter skin.

What are your favorite beauty products?

Fabulous Rice Recipe

Since tilapia was on the menu tonight, I searched through my recipe clippings for a new side dish. All the boys here favor rice, so I pulled out a recipe from Martha's Everyday Foods. It was wonderful...nice balance of cilantro, lime and garlic.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Cilantro-Lime Rice
1 cup long grain white rice
coarse salt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove garlic (I used 2 small)
In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and 1/4 tsp. salt; cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until water is absorbed and rice is tender, 16 to 18 minutes.
Meanwhile, in blender, combine cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic and 2 Tbs. water; blend until smooth. Stir into cooked rice, and fluff with a fork.

The weather has been terrific. C played outside and I did my Bible study in the back yard while he explored and covered himself with dirt. He took his 2nd bath tonight. His 1st bath was at 11:00am after he dropped an entire bottle of maple syrup while "helping" me organize the pantry. He proceeded to lay in the sticky mess, pretending to be a dog and lapping it up.

Conviction

Have you been convicted of anything lately?

I have.

Last Sunday, our Pastor was giving a message on Hebrews. He referenced 1 Peter 4:9 while discussing hospitality. The Truth in God's Word says:

"Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling."

Sadly, I have fallen short in this area too often. However, I recognize that when I am diligent on tending to the house and my quiet times, I do not feel overwhelmed by inviting others into my home. Thank you, God, for being patient with me!

On a side note, here is an idea for a cheap, homemade costume. T's school has a big costume parade & this was what he wore last year. We even added an apple in his mouth.

Freezer Sweets!

In an effort to save money and have readily available treats on hand, I began freezing different flavors of cookie dough. We currently have molasses, snickerdoodle & dark chocolate-oatmeal-raisin in the freezer. The yummy milk chocolate-Heath toffee cookies were consumed last week.
Prepping the dough for the freezer is a great job for little hands, too. I scoop uniform balls with my cookie scoop and let the boys roll them and place on the parchment lined cookie sheets. They love to roll the snickerdoodles in the cinnamon-sugar, too. I pop the whole sheet in the freezer until the dough is chilled. Just label some freezer bags and pop the frozen cookies in there.
This morning we made some impromptu snickerdoodles for T's lunch as he is not partial to the jam thumbprints that were on the cake stand.
Here is an excellent recipe for snickerdoodles from allrecipes. The almond extract adds a wonderful depth to the classic taste.

Tanya's Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs, milk, vanilla and almond extracts. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until fully incorporated. Cover bowl and chill for 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a shallow bowl or saucer, stir together the remaining brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon. Roll the chilled dough into 1 inch balls, then roll the balls in the sugar mixture. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for about 8 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies begin to brown at the edges. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Meal Plan for Week

Wanted to share my tomato & pepper haul from the garden today. Bring on the salsa! I need to go to Trader Joes to grab a bottle of Chianti so we can make homemade marinara, too.


Raisinghomemakers.com has been an excellent source of encouragement and inspiration for me, especially when it comes to meal planning and budgeting. Although I have always been consistent with my shopping lists, I struggled to adhere to a meal plan. I have an accordion file of recipes that I have clipped from Everyday Food, Martha, etc. The meals I choose are determined by the weekly meat & produce sales. For the past few weeks, I have been typing out my weekly meals onto a word document. There are 4 columns:
Day of week
Meal Description
Have in Pantry
Need to buy


I print the completed chart onto the back of my shopping lists/sales for the week. Here is my Amy Butler coupon organizer (36 tabs!) and my shopping list for the week:


Find a system that works well for your family. You will certainly have to tweak it as we have done (especially with fall soccer season upon us). However, I find that we eat much healthier, save money and that I am much less stressed come 4 o'clock!

I found this "recipe" in one of my old cookbooks and thought I would share for those 4 o'clock moments:
HOW TO BAKE A CAKE
Light the oven. Get out bowl, spoons and ingredients. Grease the pan. Crack nuts. Remove 18 blocks, 4 dolls and 31 marbles from the kitchen floor. Measure 2 cups of flour. Remove Susie's hands from the flour. Wash her off. Measure one more cup of flour to replace the flour on the floor. Get another bowl. Answer doorbell. Return to the kitchen and remove Susie's hands from the bowl. Wash Susie. Get out egg. Answer phone. Return. Take out greased pan. Remove pinch of salt from pan. Look for Susie. Get another pan and grease it. Answer the phone. Return to kitchen and from her, take up greased pan and find 1/4 inch of nutshells in it. Head for Susie, who flees, knocking bowl off of table. Wash kitchen floor, wash the table, wash the walls, wash the dishes, call the bakery, lie down.

Unbelievable

OK, a quick rant and rave tonight before I head off to do my quiet time & curl up with a good book and tea. (Night off from sewing!)

RANT:
The RIDICULOUS amount of Halloween "superstores" cropping up in our area. They are tasteless. With the rotten state of our country's economy, do people really need to be indulging in cheap rubber masks and sleazy costumes?? The advertisements from Party City are bordering on soft porn. And I am not being sarcastic.

RAVE:
I made rosettes this afternoon for a special snack for after school. Yes, we saved some for my charming husband, too. They were AMAZING!

Off to drink tea & have my quiet time.