January

It's resolution time again. I love resolutions, I always make a ton of them. Looking back on last years resolutions, I made about 10 and did 2. Not bad...right?
Here are this years:

1. I'm going to do a 30 day challenge of eating no processed foods.
2. Save up to buy a new car...I'm actually thinking of doing Dave Ramsey.
3. blog...yeah, I know...
4. Spend a ton of time scrap booking! I really want to get caught up before we get some kids in this house!

I'm pretty sure I'll have a %100 success rate this year...they are all things I really want/need to do.

Today I'm going to start my January organizing. First up-the scary room (that's what the hubs calls my craft room)...I'll post pics later.

Happy New Year!

Orgainizing

I know I haven't posted in....ah, forever. So sorry.
Really, I want my blog to be awesome. Huge, with a billion followers! I realize I can't do that without actually posting. It's time to rededicate myself to the task.

Lately, Ive been reorganizing my house. My pantry was in serious need of organization. After organizing it, it's still in serious need of organization...it's way to small for my needs.


These are the "after" pics..not quite sure what happened to the before. Subconsciously I don't want to post them???

You can see on the bottom right, I bought these great containers from JCPenny (more on my jcp obsession later). I used my Cricut to cut vinyl letters to label them.

I really need a walk in pantry. It's much cheaper to buy in bulk, even with just me and DH. 

Tomorrow, remote control storage! It's a sewing project tutorial!

Closet Redo

Yay! My closet is finally finished!

It was hard to get it all in one picture, so I took several and made a collage.




OK, from left to right. My shoes, shelves from Lowes. Next is the hook I put up for ties, scarves and other

hangy thingies. Then, the shelving you see on top is actually 2 shelves put on their sides, to hold sweaters

and other stuff. I wanted to do this also, to get better use of the unused space up higher. Now I can put

my backpacks and suitcases up there. On the bottom of the other side of the closet-pic 4, are 2 Rubbermaid

drawers. Jeans take up a ton of room when you hang them, so I use the drawers to hold my jeans and

other stuff. I also got 4 storage boxes to hold my bags, swim wear, and other odds and ends.

AND, today I got in all the stuff to organize my pantry and living room! (well, not all the stuff. there is

a project I need to get fabric for)





Neglect

Blog neglect is a serious problem. I don't mean to, but somehow between being sick, kick starting my weight loss plan, and doing my beginning of the year organizing my blog has sadly been put on the back burner. The good news is I'll have plenty to blog about this week!
It's crazy to me that I've only lived in this house for about 8 months and I'm looking around seeing all the things that already need to be organized. I should mention that I'm a crazy OCD perfectionist who HATES clutter and LOVES to organize. Sad, but true.
When we moved in first thing I wanted to do was paint. Spending most of my life as a military dependant and living in rentals, I was SO sick of white walls. The only thing left undone was my walk in closet. And that is what I have been working on all week. I'm reaching the insanity point. Searching piles of clothes everyday for that shirt I know is in there somewhere is driving me nuts. Thank God last night I got most of the clothes put back in order-yay!
I'm hoping to finish it up today and post pics tomorrow! Next week I'm moving on to my pantry.
Since I hate blogging without posting pics, I'll show you some pics of the house painted-I did 90% of the work, DH only did the high spots for me. (just thought I'd throw that tidbit of info in there:)

This was the "formal dining room." Who needs 2 dining rooms? Especially one not connected to the kitchen. I thought it looked like the perfect library!

I fought hard to put purple in the bedroom, I got one wall. Love it. The other walls are gold. DH doesn't mind the purple wall anymore, he thinks it's funny that I accidentally painted my bedroom my high school colors. *sigh* I still love it.

My blue kitchen/dining room. I matched the walls to my place mats. Really, kitchens and dining rooms just feel like they should be blue.

A Meat Tip

Recently, when my mom was visiting, she commented on how I store my hamburger meat. I buy it in bulk and break it up and store it in ziplock freezer baggies. Before I put it in the freezer, I use a rolling pin to flatten it. It's a great space saver and it only takes about 2 hours to thaw!

Here's a tip on top of a tip-you can get ziplock freezer baggies at the Dollar Tree!


Now for another one!
Instead of searching for stocking stuffers while I'm dealing with the craziness of Christmas, I shop for them all year. I have a box for each person I need to stuff a stocking for and throughout the year when I come across a good stuffer, I buy it then and put it in the box. This way, I don't feel like I'm spending a ton of money-rather I stretch out the cost over the year and I feel like I can get a better collection of stuff for the person I'm buying for. Also, I don't buy Christmas candy for my stockings. I wait until Halloween candy goes on sale and buy candy that isn't in a fall or Halloween wrapper. I save between 50&75% off on candy for Christmas. Usually I buy a lot, and use the leftovers for extra treat bags.

Hope those are some useful tips for you!

(do you get it "meat tip"-I crack myself up!!!)

Disney New Year

Disney World is my happy place, and guess what? I got to go for New Years! EEEKKK! It was everything I hoped it would be-DJ's and dancing, fireworks and shows! These are just a few of my favorite pics from my trip (out of 500! should I mention that it was my second time there and I still took 500?)

Me doing the Chicken Dance with Chip and Stich!

It was so exciting for me to see Disney World decorated for Christmas-favorite place, favorite thing!

My New Years Mickey Ears!!!

It was so busy, I only got to take one character picture. Mulan said she liked my head dress=)


As awesome as my trip was, you have to be super brave or dedicated to go on New Years. Oh, and be willing to let go of that bubble. The place was jam packed!

My Disney Trip

Now that Christmas is over, I can show the Disney chipboard album I made for my mom!

The chipboard album spells out TRIP...so, "My Disney Trip"
(in case you couldn't put that together for yourself:)

Cause you HAVE to have a princess page!!!

The Back

All put together!

I also got one for me too, and just as soon as I find some time I'll make it!



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!