More fall and halloween 2014

THave time to post a few more pix 

Here's the front door. But I have to say it isn't going to look like this long. My palm tree will be coming in for the winter tomorrow as the temps will be too cold. Maybe a hay bale will take its place. I'll be sad to move the blinking eyes that are hanging in the palm tree though. They look so cute. The wreath on the door I made out of an old coat hanger and a pair of my husbands old dockers that I cut up into strips. There are battery operated purple LED light in it and a rubber spider and the a elation necklace bought at dollars tree. It cost me about $4.50 plus my time. :) 

This is my bay window with plant shelf. There are 3 candles that make it all glow at night. Love this. 

The witches pantry. 

The bottles are old liquor bottles I transformed. Basically the cost of spray paint and my time. 

Since my hall bathroom is an ocean/beach theme I opted to go with pirate in there. The Jolly Roger flag was cut from and old candy bag and hot glues on a small fowl rod. 

Some window clings on the toilet and a costume sword and the other side of the candy bag. :) 

Small skeletons tied to the fishing net that hangs over the bathroom mirror. 

I'll try to take some more photos of other decorations soon. And check back closer to halloween to see photos of the haunted trail the kids are putting together on the back 40. It will ba so much fun!!

Fall/halloween 2014.

Really can't believe it's been a year since I last did this. Not sure where the time has gone. I'll post a few pix tonight and some more as soon as I can. Life is way to busy these days. 

Our front porch off of the living room 

I will be adding some fresh pumpkins this weekend from a friends garden. 

The "grave yard out front of the house. Kids said it looks piney so they're making more gravestones. :) think they are going to make a zombie or 2 as well should be interesting. 

This is a swag I made for our bell not a great pic so I'll try to get another one. Made with an old belt and items bought 90% off after the season last year. 

Hat check and broom parking. ;)

And the last one for tonight.....Poe's corner 

Saving money part 2: power.

Here are a few tips to save money on your power bill. And remember when you save power your also leaving a smaller "footprint" on our planet which is even more important. 

Pull the plug. Video game systems and cable boxes eat more power than you think even when turned off. You will be surprised how much $ you will save just by unplugging them when not using them. And if you have everything plugged into a surge protector you only have 1 plug to pull. 

Refrigerator. Don't put cardboard in the fridge. Soda and beer boxes use a bunch of power to cool. So take your bottles and cans out if their cartons. 

Laundry. It takes a bunch of power to heat the drier. So try to pick 1 day to do your laundry all at once. That way the drier is already hot for each load. Heating it up then letting it cool uses more power.  Also if you have the area and time dry your close on a close line when ever possible. You can throw them in the drier for a few minutes with a drier sheet to soften them up and get the lint off of them. This will also help your close last longer. 

Lights. When a light bulb blows out spend the extra money to replace it with an LED bulb. They are a little more expensive but will literally pay for them selves in 1 month of use. I was amazed at home much our power bill dropped in one month by replacing 3 bulbs with LEDs 

Hot water. If you have a hot water heat that is a tank style make sure it is wrapped in an insulator. They can be somewhat costly (about $30). Check with you power company because some times they will offer them for a 1/3 of that cost. If you can't afford that then go to Walmart in the camping section they sell the cheap survivor blankets. The ones that look like foil. The are about $3. They hold in 90% of heat. Wrap it around your tank and duck tape in place. This will save a bundle of $. If you need to replace your hot water heater consider propane powered hot water on demand unit. I was floored at how much less money they cost to operate and it's so nice to always have hot water. Again it will pay for its self in no time. And you will also gain space where you have that old bulky tank removed. 

Crack and crannies. If you have an older home. Find all those little cracks and crannies where heat and air escape. Plug them up. There are so many things on the market now. Good seals for around doors and windows. Foam insulations. Etc. and check your insulation in the attic and crawl spaces. If there isn't enough add more. Check to see if there is a habitat for humanity thrift store near you. Many times you can get stuff like that for your home for pennies. 

These are just a few things that have help us lower out power bills over the years. Hope they help. 

Money savers-part one tips and tricks for food

Ok I will post my $ savers in installments :) I'm sure some of this will be nothing new for many people. But in these lean times I think there are those who can use all the helpful suggestions they can get. After raising 5 kids and being a stay at home mom all those years a have a few lol. There were times we were down right poor but it was important to us for me to be there for our kids. 

Milk is expensive and anyone raising kids knows its worth its weight in gold. So to make it go further I kept powdered milk in the house and that is what I used for cooking. Any thing that called for milk in the recipe I used that instead. It's also used in most bread machine recipes and I use my machine often!!! I also use can milk for cooking. I've never used anything but canned milk for my sausage gravy and I get raves over it. It gives it a richer flavor. 

I do coupon shopping but not as extreme as some do. I also shop sales. There are many sites out there to help with this. Couponmom.com is one of my favorites. If you don't have a ton to spend right away by one extra thing at a time. I stock up mostly on health and beauty, cleaning supplies and meat. For instance watch your grocery sale ads. Many times you can find whole boneless pork loins for about $20. Your meat guy will cut them into pork chops for you at no cost. Then bring them home bag them up per how many you will need and freeze them. If you can manage to buy 2 of them you can cut the second one in halves or 3rds depending on the size of your family and freeze them. When your ready. Throw that in the crock pot and let it slow cook all day until it pulls apart easily with a fork. Add BBQ sauce and you have pulled pork BBQ for sandwiches. This also works great to take camping. It's also a lean meal and the left overs are even better. 

Lets face it some of our biggest expense at the grocery store is health and beauty and cleaning supplies. So watch those local sales and clip the coupons. If your on a budget like most. Start stocking away by budgeting in one sale item a week. For instance, if you see laundry soap on sale and you have a coupon and it makes a good deal budget it in whether  you need it or not. Do the same thing every week and you soon get to the point that you never have to pay full price for anything you buy and you never run out. 

I have 2 containers in my freezer. One is for left over chicken the other is for left over veggies. Even if all that is left over is a single chicken wing or a spoonful of veggies they go into those containers. When both containers are full I put it all in the crock pot with chicken broth and rice and seasoning and make a yummy filling soup with corn bread. My family loves it. 

I also buy smoked hams when they are on sale and buy the largest one i can afford. I make a nice ham dinner with it. Then with the left over ham I make scalloped potatoes and ham in the crock pot one night and then with the ham bone and what's left I make a big pot of beans and ham. So for about $10-15 I get 3 hearty meals out of it along with any sandwiches my family eats. 

When thanksgiving rolls around. Turkeys go on sale for VERY cheap. I buy the big bird for our thanksgiving meal and then buy 2 smaller birds to throw in the freezer for later in the year. Who says turkey is only for thanksgiving??? And there are always left overs to make turkey salad out of for sandwiches and turkey gravy to eat over egg noodles or mashed potatoes. And you can always make a turkey shepherds pie instead of ground beef. 

How many of us have kids or our selves that don't like the heals on a loaf of bread? Well I have 2 solutions for that. One is to make grilled cheese and flip it over so you can't see that it's a heal. The kids will never know ;) the second is that I keep a cookie sheet in my oven and toss the heals in there to dry. You don't have to use the oven just leave them in there for a couple days. When they are dry as a bone put them into a ziplock bag and crush them into crumbs. Put the crumbs into and air tight container and put it in the freezer. You'll never have to buy bread crumbs again and nothing goes to waist. 

Well that's it for this post but I will be adding to this food section as time goes on and will also add tips for other areas of our lives like saving on power and how to make your clothes last longer etc. I really hope some of what I have gained through the years will help someone else. Waste not want not, and every little bit counts. 

Thoughts on food and health

I grew up with some of the most amazing southern cooks on the planet! Eating was not just something you had to do but an event! It was something you looked forward to. It was cutting up and having fun and sometimes it was a lecture and drama but it was always done with amazing food and the entire family. Mom and grandma passed on to me from a young age all those lovely recipes. 

Foods like meatloaf, fried chicken, mashed potatoes,pan gravy and home made bisquits! The holidays were even better. A symphony for the senses! The smells, tastes, textures and just being together to make it all!  There was sage stuffing made with bread that was torn up and dried for a week. Home made egg noodles, more pies than you can imagine, from minced meat (for my step dad) to cherry for me :). And the home made yeast rolls were to die for. We ate till we were miserable and went back for more 2 hours later and ate left overs for days!  

Eating has always been something I enjoy!! Breads of any kind being my biggest weakness with sweets coming in a close second. We always had bisquits for dinner. One of my favorite foods being home made bisquits and sausage gravy. Until about 3 years ago I could eat what ever I wanted and never gain wait and never worry about it. Now I'm 43 and can no longer do that. 

If I wanna be thin and I wanna be healthy and live a long life doing things I enjoy with my family and husband I have to eat healthy. The problem is I have never eaten anything truly healthy that I can say I love and can't live with out. Oh there are things I like. A nice fresh salad and fresh fruits. Cedar grilled salmon, grilled chicken breast and fresh nuts. But none of those things I really love! And most healthy stuff just taste ok or down right awful!! And you can only eat the same things over and over before it also looses its appeal. I think that is why I always back slide into bad eating for a while. I have truly tried to find healthy things to eat that I love and have come to the conclusion that its just not going to happen. My tasted buds are too spoiled and too southern to give it up now. 

All that being said I have now decided I just have to change my way of thinking about eating. It can no longer be something I enjoy. An "event". It has to be a simple bodily necessity. Like brushing my teeth or sleeping. Ok it's time to eat lets get this done. It's the only way I'm going to be able to cope and get this 30 lbs off and keep it off and be healthy to enjoy other things. I hope I can truly retrain my brain about food.