Frugal Friday--Saving on Milk

We drink a LOT of milk around here! Rick and I have to have three cups every day because we've both had gastric bypass surgery. Not to mention the girls drinking milk, cooking, having it with cereal, etc. With milk pushing $4.00 per gallon in our neck of the woods, we've made the switch--to powdered milk.

Before you turn up your nose and make an "Ewwww-w-w-w" sound you should try it! If you mix it up the night before and chill it well, you will not be able to tell the difference between it and the skim milk you buy in jugs. I promise!

Here's the best part: You can buy a box of powdered milk that makes five gallons at Aldi's for around $9.00 which works out to $1.80 per gallon. The only way to beat that is to buy a cow!

Head on over to Crystal's Blog for more Frugal Friday tips!

ZZZzz-z-z-z-z----z--z-z-z-----z-z-z-z--------

I haven't done any posting for over a week!

I've been recovering from my second knee surgery. It wasn't bad in the beginning, then it had to be drained last week. There is just one word for that--PAINFUL!

Since then, I've been on pain medication--and I'm allergic to it. In fact, I've somehow become allergic to all prescription pain medications. So, instead of NOT taking anything, I take it with two benadryl. Know what happens when you take benadryl with a pain medication??? You sleep. You keep sleeping....then you sleep some more.

This sleeping has my body's internal time clock all messed up. Now my days and nights are confused. So, I sleep all day, then I can't sleep at night! I spend all night trying to go back to sleep and doing quiet, non-brain-stimulating things. For me, blogging is VERY brain stimulating. Hence, no posts. (Please, someone comment and say you noticed I hadn't been posting!!!)

Now it's time to go listen to some quiet music, read a little, tend to the girls when they awake during the night, play with the kitties, weave some headbands (I can to this in my sleep now.)....

Works for Me Wednesday: Food Scoops

I have two scoops that look like extra-small ice cream scoops—the old-fashioned kind with the squeeze handle. The smaller of the two belonged to my grandmother. She was a cook at sororities and fraternities at “a major university”. She bought the small scoop when she worked there. It makes cookie baking so easy! Just scoop out the dough, squeeze the handle, and voila--uniform cookies that are fast to dip out! (Anyone who’s been through 4-H Foods Division I knows how important uniformity is!) This small scoop holds about one measuring teaspoon. It’s just the right size when you want bite-sized cookies: baby or wedding showers, cookies for small children, or when you want a recipe to yield more actual cookies than the recipe states.

The larger of the scoops says “40” on the inside. That must have something to do with the size, but I’m not sure exactly what it is. I’m guessing it holds about two measuring tablespoons. This scoop is great for “normal”-sized cookies. Again, it makes scooping fast and easy. This scoop is also wonderful for muffins: two scoops of muffin batter in a regular-sized muffin tin is just the right amount for perfect muffins, regardless of the recipe. They’re never too small, and the batter never runs over the sides.

These scoops are also great when you’re making cookies or other recipes that require rolling food into balls. Just scoop out the food, plop it on a piece of waxed paper or a cookie sheet, then roll it into a rounder ball. No food gets under your fingernails…I just HATE it when that happens! I do this when I’m making peanut butter cookies or meatballs. No digging into the food with your hands!

Making cooking more uniform, less messy, and easier….that Works for Me! Be sure to check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer for more great ideas!

I'm Officially Addicted...

Hello. My name is Dana and I'm addicted to headbands.....

I'd been seeing these woven headbands all over the Yahoo! boutique message boards so I went on a quest to find the instructions. There are several out there, but I chose the directions from Little Cans of Beans.

The directions are easy to follow and have photos showing every step. Changing the colors of the ribbons and the initial placement will give you a different design every time. The variety of available ribbon colors is virtually limitless giving you endless design potential.

The headbands are also very inexpensive to make. I bought the plastic headband forms from The Ribbon Retreat for less than $.50 each. I used less than 3 yards of 3/8" ribbon costing less than $1.00 total. These would be easy to make for sale at boutiques, schools, daycares, eBay, or even etsy!

Yes, I can see an addiction forming......

(The photo isn't the greatest. The colors used were black, orange, deep purple, and neon green.)

WARNING: Addiction Possibility Ahead!

WARNING: Making this project could become addictive!

Now that I have the legal stuff out of the way, take a look at this beaded headband I made today! The instructions came from The Ribbon Retreat.

Using beads I already had was my first challenge. I had a bunch leftover from a project I did last year so they soon became scattered all over the dining room table. Of course, the girls were FASCINATED by all the pretty little beads and wanted so much to "help" momma!

The second challenge was working with jewelry findings. I had no idea what a crimp bead was nor how wire is gauged. Once that was figured out, the next part was fun.

Making this first headband took about 35 minutes with a few interruptions. The next one should be faster. The instructions say the materials cost $12-$16 per headband. The main cost would be the glass beads they recommend. The beads I used were plastic and less expensive.

I could see making one of these to match each of Katie's dresses. Not to be forgotten, Audrey could wear it as a necklace. You could make one tiara-style and put ribbons hanging down the back. Every little princess would love having this for dress-up time.

It's a Boy!

After adopting Roxanne a few weeks ago, we decided to bring Vinnie home too. He's a real sweetheart and has adjusted very well! He like's to sleep in "Rick's chair" and is a real cuddler. Fuzzy still hisses at him occasionally, but doesn't put much effort into it any more. Vinnie just doesn't care! His "real" name was Sven, but the girls were having problems pronouncing it and kept calling him "Fin". It was somehow changed to Vinnie and it seems to fit him well.

I would say we are done adopting kittes...however...there are two kittens at the rescue who are at the least, blind in one eye. They are siblings from the same litter and are 4-5 weeks old. While the last thing we need is two more furbabies, we don't want to see them separated. They may be coming here once they are weaned.

Kids and kitties...I just can't resist!