Hair Cut

So, like everyone else I've been super busy. I've been thinking that starting the new year, I'll post my money saving ideas. It's a New Years resolution kind of thing anyway!
However, I do have one of my money savers to show off today! This one is pretty extreme and took a ton of online research....
I cut my own hair. And here

is the result! Not bad if I do say so myself! I'm actually more pleased with it than I've ever been with a salon cut. I never get what I ask for. This way I figured out exactly how to cut it the way I wanted it, and I'm not disappointed. AND I saved about $40! Win, win!

Since I have the picture up-I'll let you in on another money saving tip I came across. I have acne. Bad acne. In the picture I'm not wearing any makeup and I feel like I look pretty good for no makeup! The tip? Baking soda. I discovered scrubbing with baking soda exfoliates, shines and gets rid of all that bacteria. You can also make a heavy paste and use it as a mask to dry up oily skin. 50 cents a box, and my face looks better than it has in about 20 years. (sigh, yes 20)

Christmas at My House

Christmas is one of my favorite things. I love everything about it. All year long, I plan and wait for December to come around. All my presents are bought by September so come November, I can enjoy the season without stress.
In honor of Christmas, I wanted to share pictures of my house decorated.

My New Favorite Decoration!

I found huge pine cones and used them to decorate this year

Even our dogs get a stocking!

Merry Christmas to All-
Erin

Hair Bows

Here are some hair bows I made for my niece for Christmas.

The pink one is different, but I'm tired of seeing the same ole thing!

Getting Creative!

Every magazine I read has a ton of tips on budgeting, cutting back, saving. I grew up poor, these tips are so old news to me I do them without thinking.

I am on a quest this year to find new and creative ways to cut back on the spending. You see, I'm now a shopaholic. There are some things I'd like to do in the next few years that require a lot of money...My best friend lives in London. I have to go visit her, cause really? When am I going to have that opportunity again?
Here's where the creativity comes in. I know I have to cut back on the shopping and stick to a budget. No prob...well, on paper anyway. But, I really wanted to think of new ways to save money. Just for the heck of it. Like I said, I'm tired of seeing the same ole tips. I'm going to think outside of the box!

So, I started looking around my house. What do I buy that just gets thrown away? I started making a mental list...which I think I'll post tomorrow. One of those things was laundry detergent. All the time I see recipes for homemade laundry detergent, and I could just see myself in the kitchen for hours slaving away making a huge batch. I decided to give it a try though. I am on a quest after all. And the cost-holy cow! A tiny fraction of what I spend now.

Before I post the recipe I used let me fill you in on another concern. In addition to how time consuming I thought it would be, I was scared that my clothes would stink.
Let me tell you, it took 15 minutes TOTAL to make this. I was confused as to what I was going to do for the next 2 hours that I had planned to be in the kitchen making laundry detergent. And, I just happened to make it on laundry day, so I used it right away. My clothes smelled great.
I'm in love.
Here's the recipe:
(I used half, it's just me and the hubby)

Grate a bar of fells naptha soap (I got mine from amazon.com) into a saucepan filled with water. Heat until the soap is melted.
Fill a 10 Gallon tub half full of hot water. Add the melted soap, 1 Cup Arm and Hammer washing soda, and 1/2 Cup Borax (found on the laundry isle). Stir. Fill the rest of the tub up with hot water. As it sets it will gel. Use 1 cup per load. Stirring with each use.

I used an old detergent bottle and didn't fill it all the way, give it a good shake before pouring.

I should note that this is for liquid detergent. I hate powder.

So, for next year I'll be blogging about my quest for creative cutbacks in addition to everything else!

Caramel Popcorn

Finally-I know...here is the caramel popcorn recipe!

This is for about 7 quarts of plain popped popcorn...not the microwave popcorn.
2 cups dry roasted peanuts...really, I use a lot more than 2 cups
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup   the original recipe calls for light, I use dark...so take your pick!
a dash of salt
1 cup butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Place the popcorn and peanuts in 2 baking pans. Set aside.
Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat stirring. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. It will be light and foamy. Immediately, pour over the popcorn in the pans and stir to coat.
Bake for one hour, removing the pans and stirring every 15 minutes.
Lay out waxed paper on the counter and dump the popcorn out onto the waxed paper. Separate the pieces and let cool. Store in airtight containers and enjoy!

Cake Balls

Last Christmas, a friend of mine mentioned on facebook that she was making cake balls. I had never heard of them ( I know, where have I been?)! This year I decided to make them. While I feel like everyone knows how to make these, I'm still going to post the recipe for those still in the dark...no one needs to be in the dark about these!

So, the super simple recipe goes like this:

Bake a cake. From a box.

Once cool, crumble into a bowl and mix in a can of icing.
Roll into balls and dip balls in chocolate.

Eat.

Easy. Peasy.

Now for pics!

Drizzled with Red and Green Chocolate

Bagged

Boxed and Ready to GO!

I know I said I'd post my caramel popcorn today, but I'm going to wait till tomorrow. Gives me something to blog about! I really want to try and post everyday!

Christmas Goodies

This year I wanted to do something other than baked goods for the holiday season. Instead of 50 batches of cookies, I made chocolate covered pretzels, cake balls, chocolate marshmallows, and caramel popcorn. If you've ever worked with chocolate before, you'll know it takes FOREVER....and ever. Here are the pictures from my last two days of labor!

                                                         My dining room table taken over!







Chocolate Covered Marshmallows



3 Kinds of Chocolate Covered Pretzels:
Peppermint, Chocolate with Peppermint and Plain Chocolate



The Super Cute Box I put the pretzels in!



Pretzel Rods: Toffee, Peppermint Bark, and LOTS of Sprinkles!



The TON of Pretzel Rods I Dipped!



Marshmallows All Packed Up!

And Boxed Up!

                                                                 
Tomorrow, I'll post the pictures of the cake balls and caramel popcorn-with recipes!

Posting to Post

It's been a while since I've posted (holiday craziness) so I thought I'd blog a little blog...

Black Friday was crazy. I went with some friends and we started at 10pm Thursday night and got home 8pm Friday night. I haven't pulled an all nighter like that since I was...well, it's been a long time.

This is my first Christmas owning a house! In honor of that, we've put lights up outside. I'll post pics later. We got them all nice and hung then realized our extension cord was indoor only...sigh. I had just assumed the extension cords by the outdoor lights would be for outdoor use. That would be logical though.

I'm working on a few projects right now...just have to find the time to finish them. (Girl Scouts is keeping me busy) I'll post them as I finish them.

When I started this, I had hoped to post everyday....that's just not realistic for me right now. So, I'll at least post once a week and more when I have the chance.

One of My Favorite Things

A while back, I found a recipe that has been one of those incredible change your life recipes. Frozen breakfast buritos. Simple, but awesome. I've changed the recipe up to our liking, and now I'm gonna share it with you=)

(Shown is a double batch...cause we go through them FAST!)
Bake a pound of bacon, it needs to be pretty crispy so you can crumble it into the mixture.
Scramble up a dozen eggs.
Cook about half a bag of frozen hashbrowns. I cook them in butter until they are warm, I don't fry them,
Slice up some lunch ham.
Throw it all in a bowl with a cup of sour cream, a tsp each of salt and pepper.

Put a few spoonfulls into a small tortillia, sprinkle on some cheddar cheese...

Roll up....

To store, wrap tightly in foil, put about 6 in a freezer bag and freeze. I let them defrost overnight in the fridge and then microwave for 45 seconds.
It takes me less than 30 minutes to make these from start to finish.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

It's Finished!

The shawl is finally finished! It's much smaller than I'd hoped it would be, but it's cute and comfy!

My husband says I look REALLY happy in this picture...honestly I was tired of smiling for the camera. It takes him about 5 tires to get one good shot.

There you have it-my first try at knitting! I should have worn a different shirt, it looks like there are holes. The yarn was grey with white in it.

Excuses

I've been sick all week. All week...as in lay on the couch and sleep all day sick. I haven't gotten much done. Monday I managed to go to my Girl Scout meeting. My best friend (Angie) left for London-yes London!!!-on Wednesday, so Tuesday we cooked for her and her family. Other than that, I've done nothing.

I have managed to work on the shawl some. While I've found knitting super easy, it's take a lot longer than I had planned. It's almost there though! I'm in love with Lion Brand homespun thread! It's sooo soft and comfy! Seriously-lovin it!

As promised here are the hair bows I made for my nieces. Keep in mind, my youngest niece wanted "MeMouse" bows. She is absolutely in LOVE with Minnie Mouse. She wanted bows "just like MeMouse!"

Her older sister is a bit of a tomboy but I didn't want little sis to get bows and her get nothing. So, I made her some understated bows.

These two were for the tomboy in the family.

And the Minnie Mouse Bows

There you have it! I have another niece I'm hoping to do some for, shhhh-they're for Christmas!



With the holidays knocking at the door (yikes-Thanksgiving snuck up on me!), I'll have plenty of projects to post! This year instead of baking, I'm doing different kinds of chocolates and other goodies!

Hopefully, I'll start to feel better and I'll do a day by day walk through of my holiday season. There's nothing I love more than Christmas-I make it last from the week of Thanksgiving until January 2nd.

Introducing:

Today I'd like to introduce my family!

This is me and my supersweettotallyawesome-husband! And this.....

is Mia and Jack! They are my babies. We've been struggling with infertility for years. I believe God sent Mia and Jack into my life to fill the void. (Mia is the big one=)
We have started the adoption process, so hopefully I'll be adding more family pics soon!

On a crafty note: My shawl is coming along! I'll post a pic as soon as it's finished...I'm shooting for Thursday!
Till then, tomorrow I'll post some pics of hair bows I made for my nieces.

I Will Remember You

November 13, 2010. Sigh. Today is the 3 year anniversary of my younger brothers death. I'm trying not to feel right now, so I'll keep this short and sweet.
I miss you, I love you...can't wait to see you again, and in honor of 3 years I hope Jesus smacks you 3 times on the head for me!
Yes, when I'm missing him I ask Jesus to smack him upside the head. He did, after all, create the sense of humor.
Today I will be face painting at the Girl Scout Carnival. Last year was super boring. I'm hoping that keeping myself busy painting, the time will go by faster. Last year I did the bean bag toss, so I pretty much stood there for hours.
On a crafty note-I taught myself how to knit last night! The shawl is coming along nicely! Knitting is much easier than crochet...much more forgiving too! Who knew? Leave it to me to start off with the hardest.

New Aprons

Last week I worked on aprons....let's see if I can get them posted to show off!

This one was just a panel, but still cute!

This was inspired by a scrapbooking crop I went to. Several of the ladies
there had aprons they used for holding all the extra stuff
they needed. I thought it was an awesome idea
so I made my own!

A good old fashioned around the house apron!

I love the lace on this! Had to show you a close up!



Unfortunately, I can't post this weeks craft-yet. It's a Christmas present I'm working on, so I'll show it soon after the holidays! I'm quit proud of it!
Next weeks project is a knitted shawl...we'll see how that turns out. I've never actually knitted before. I'm great at crochet, so it shouldn't be to hard...right? hmmm, we'll see...

Fresh Start

I've been wanting to blog for some time now, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted it to be about. Finally I figured it out. Do what you love. I love crafting, I love my life, I love to travel.
This will be my place to show off what I do. My aprons, scrapping, and anything else "Erin".
It will take me some time to figure out how to work everything on here, so I'm starting out slow.
Tomorrow I'll try my hand at posting pictures of the aprons I worked on last week!