New "Project"

Wow, I can't believe that it is Tuesday already!  This week is already flying by.  Tuesday morning is usually my "thrift store" morning, but, today I will go this afternoon.  My daughter said that she needs some new books to read, so, I told her that when I pick her up from school we would shoot over to the thrift store. She also needs a couple of warmer shirts/sweaters because she is growing like a weed and the few that she has are getting way too short.  And, the temps are suppose to plummet again starting tomorrow.

So, this morning I worked on a table runners for my older daughters wedding (making them out of burlap and lace) and will now be tackling this:

I am soooooo glad that I have a steamer.  This paper has been on here for at least 15 years.....

We are updating our house room by room.  We just finished our daughters room and this is the hallway just outside of it.  The bathroom, which is in the bottom picture, was the very first room that we tackled about 5 years ago.  Since then we have also done the master bedroom, but, for some reason I can't find the pictures right now.  

Well, I have quite a bit of work to get done before it is time to pick up my daughter so I better get to it!  :)  Hope you'all are having a wonderful week!

Finally finished!

Wow....I was wondering if we were ever going to get it done!

Hubby and I decided that it was time to turn our daughters room into a "grown-up" room.  She is 11 and very much a "tween".  :)  That's not to say that she doesn't still LOVE her toys, but, she did not love the "purple" and the "kiddy" wallpaper that was on her walls.

And so it began.....

Yes, those are pallets!  Thank you, Pinterest, for all of your lovely ideas!

We ripped up old carpet, "revamped" a too small closet and primed and painted and primed and painted and primed and painted.....

Yes, she helped paint her "new" closet.  :)

This is the beginning of the "pallet" wall.  (if you look outside you will notice that there are still leaves on the trees!)  :)

And..... It's finished!  YAY!   Long process, but, I think that the end result was well worth the wait!

Porcupine Meatballs

This recipe is the very first meal that I made  (about a million years ago)  when I was about 14 or 15 years old.  My mom had a very hard time getting me into the kitchen so that she could teach me to cook. So, one day, out of the blue, she handed me a cookbook and told me to pick out something that I thought I could handle making by myself because she was going to be busy all day and she needed me to make dinner.  HA!   Very sly, that one!  :)  (I'm sure that she was secretly praying the entire time that I wouldn't burn down the house)

Anyway....I found the recipe the other day and realized that I had NEVER , in my 24 years of marriage, made this for my family!  So, I made it for dinner last night.  :)

And, here is the recipe :

Porcupine Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup white rice

2 TBS worcestershire sauce (divided in half)

1small onion, diced

1 TBS garlic powder

1 egg, beaten

2 small cans of tomato soup

2 soup cans of water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In bowl, combine ground beef, rice, 1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce, onion, garlic powder, and egg.  Make meatballs from this mixture and place them in a 9x13 baking pan/ dish.  In another bowl, mix together soup, water and remaining 1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce.  Pour this over the meatballs.  Cover the pan with foil and bake at 400 for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for 15 additional minutes at 425 degrees.

I served this with baked potatoes, steamed brocolli and homemade bread.  The hubby LOVED it and wondered why I had never made it before!  Needless to say, it will now be added to our revolving menu.  :)

Baby, It's Cold......

Outside, Inside....Everywhere!

After several years of above normal Winter temperatures,  today was BRUTAL!  Our high was 5 degrees....yes, I said FIVE!  And tomorrow,  our HIGH will be -2....n-e-g-a-t-i-v-e  t-w-o!  (with a wind chill of  -20 to -30!)   

Yes, I do live in Minnesota....and, yes, I have very many times experienced these crazy cold days....however, I am NEVER ready for them.  They always catch me off guard and unwilling to accept them!  :)  So, tomorrow is going to be a warm blanket and homemade soup day.  And, being that it is Martin Luther King Day....that means that there is no school so no waking up early and driving the kiddo.  Yay!  Just me, my blankie and my soup....yeah....who-am-I-kidding?!?  :) 

OK, back to reality....the reality where I have had my niece over here all this weekend and she and my 11 year old have terrorized this house!  So, tomorrow will be regroup and reorganize day.

I haven't been posting much lately due to family illness (yes, we had that dreaded flu) and extended family health issues.  I'm happy to say that my Mother in Law is doing quite well after her pacemaker surgery and my Father in Law is all recuperated from his own bout of the flu.

Immediately after her surgery and before we all became sick here,  we took dinner to them and helped them get things back to normal at their house.  I made a hearty beef stew....

and a yummy Apple Crisp......

and we spent the majority of an afternoon and evening getting everyone caught up and back to normal.

Hmmmm.....I'm thinking that tomorrow may be a great day to make another pot of that stew........

Anyway.....later that week I finally got out to do some shopping and had an awesome adventure at Target:

......where I spent 22.16 and saved 51.30 in coupons!

And, then a trip to CVS where I spent 1.53(after coupons and extra bucks) and received 8.00 back in ECB's.  I do love to get some bargains especially they way prices have been skyrocketing lately!

So, this is the beginning of the first "normal" week that we have had in a while.  Tons of laundry to catch up on and time to clean a house that has definitely not been feeling the love lately.  And, hopefully, some time to scour the ad's and find some deals this week.  

If you live in the upper midwest....throw a few more logs on the fire and remember that this is the way it is suppose to feel in January....not the 40's that we had last year at this time.  :)  Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!

Not The Best Weekend.....

Wow.... this weekend was not so great.  :(  I think everyone that I know has some kind of Flu, and now,  so does my family.  Hubby and the daughter are both in bed with fevers and coughing.  I was achy and miserable ALL weekend but feeling a bit better today....which is good because now I must take care of the family.  My plans for the week have been mostly put on hold until we see how things shape up around here.  My mother-in-law is having surgery tomorrow and we are suppose to be taking dinner to them on Wednesday, but,  there is No Way I will drag the flu germs to their house!  I may have to see if Hubby's sister-in-law can make something and take it over to them.  

Today I will do the bare necessities as I still am not at 100 percent.  Need to throw in some laundry and do a little 'general' pick-up and germ removal (aka-  get out the Lysol!).  Dinner will be some simple chicken noodle soup and I will thaw some homemade rolls that I made during the holidays.  I have a feeling that that is all anyone will be up to eating.  

Well, I hope that your families are all well!  I am having a hard time believing that it is the 7th of January already....where did the first week of 2013 go?!?

Whew....What a Day!

Well, its been a whirlwind of a Friday let me tell you!  Tons and tons of errands and shopping and I am very happy to say that I.AM.DONE!  :)

Target was by far my most fun errand!  No, I didn't 'shop til I dropped'...I couponed 'til I dropped'.  :)  It was such a great coupon day!

Total BEFORE coupons- $ 113.86  After coupons- $ 35.17!  Yay!

Now, that's how I like to shop!  
I had another wonderful adventure at CVS but put everything away before I remembered to take a pic for you'all.  :(  But, I will tell you that I spent $3.26 and saved $46.84 and got 10.00 bucks back in ECB's.  Really good day for this frugal gal.

I generally need to stay under 75.00 a week for groceries and incidentals....this week I came in at 70.67...which is awesome because I may need that extra 4.00 next week. We are taking dinner to my hubby's mom and dad on Wednesday night.  His mom is having her pacemaker replaced (on Tuesday) and will be out of commission for a few days so I offered to make a big crockpot of Beef Stew and some homemade rolls  for dinner on Wednesday.  They enthusiastically accepted because my father-in-law is NOT Betty Crocker!  :)

Well, it is time for me to gather the laundry and get dinner started.  Have a great weekend!  Mine will be spent organizing and emptying the expansion bedroom so that the "makeover" can begin soon!

Teresa  :)

Pottery Barn Knock-off pillow

Pottery Barn.....oh, how I wish you weren't soooooo expensive!!  Well, you do inspire me, though....

Yesterday I got the bug to do something with the pile of denim that I have been accumulating.  I keep any and all pairs of jeans that my kids/hubby have outgrown.  So, for this project, the denim came from a pair of my son's jeans and the ruffles from a stash of garage sale fabric.  I borrowed the pattern idea from my pottery barn magazine.  :)

The first of many projects to be tackled in 2013!

Today I will be storing all of the Christmas decorations that are, at the moment, sitting at the top of the stairs in the expansion bedroom that we are starting to remodel.  Must get them out of the way before we can start sanding.

Hope you'all are enjoying the first days of 2013!  It was back to school here this morning and back to a "normal " schedule.