Host An Ice Cream Party!

 

Not all parties need to be on a grand scale.  In fact, some of the best parties can be very simple and affordable.  Hosting an ice cream party is just one good sale at the supermarket away!

 

Just one good sale away from a party! 🥳🥳

Last week I was able to pick up five containers of ice cream for ($1.99 each) and a box of twenty four cones (2.69).  For less than $15 I was able to pick that up and get a fun little get-together scheduled with friends.  Ice cream cones are great, all you need are some napkins.  For those that prefer a dish I can add my vintage custard cups and some spoons.  Easy Peasy!

 

If you have sprinkles on hand, get those out! 😋

Homemade chocolate syrup is an easy item to make for mere pennies and is perfect for those little dishes of ice cream.

 

Chocolate Ice Cream Syrup

 

½ cup baking cocoa                          1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup sugar                                          Dash of salt

1 cup water

 

Combine in a small saucepan.  Stir with a whisk over medium heat until syrup comes to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Transfer to a pint canning jar.  Allow to cool.  Keep in tightly covered in the refrigerator.  Stir syrup before each use.  Makes 1 pint.

 

I can set out all five cartons of ice cream on a sheet pan with ice and allow people to scoop and make their own cones or cups and then go back for seconds if they wish.  Fun, fun, fun!  And super affordable too!

 

 

Thrifty FREE Entertainment!

 

There are several ways to save money when it comes to entertaining your family.  First and foremost, recognize that contrary to popular belief, you do not always need to be entertained and neither do your children.  In fact, mental downtime and physical rest is crucial to a healthy lifestyle.  Doing nothing is completely okay.

 

Budget tip - If you are struggling financially do a thorough review of your subscriptions and fee based apps and cancel them.  All of them!  You will find there are plenty of non fee based options available so there is no point to paying for these services.  Once you have done this you will be filled with a surprising sense of freedom.

 

Seek out entertainment sources that do not cost money.  A picnic at the park is a great no cost way to spend quality time as a family.  Enjoy time together with conversation, fresh air, green grass, exercise and laughter.  Leave all of your cell phones in the car and really enjoy being unplugged.  Make it an endeavor to visit as many parks in your area as possible throughout the year.

 

Go to your local library.  Not just to check out books, but to take advantage of free programs they have for children, teens and adults.  Most libraries still have DVDs as well as games (board games and video games) available to check out.  Free internet and computer availability is also a great perk.  Make a point to visit the library at least once a month and you’ll be amazed at how transformative this will become.  You’ll read more, relax more and enjoy more.

 

Check out FREE museum days and other educational opportunities in your city and get these events on your calendar.  Movies in the park, art events, car shows, festivals, even free admission to the fair (ours has a food donation event that allows you in free with a non perishable food item) can be found in most cities.  High schools often offer concerts and play performances that are free to the public.

 

Have a movie night!  Pop some popcorn or make root beer floats and stream a movie.  There are a lot of movies available to stream for FREE (with or without ads).  For extra fun find some movies you enjoyed as a kid and share them with your children.  Even if they are corny your kids will appreciate the nostalgia.  Youtube is one of my favorite places to source movies.

 

Pizza night is a fun way for families to engage by learning to make your own pizza dough and adding your own sauce and toppings.  Make one big pizza or allow everyone to make their own personal size pizza and get creative.  Nachos are another fun option.  Play some music, invite a couple of guests to join you and make it a party!

 

Go hiking or take a nature walk, go on a bike ride, go camping (even if you only go as far as the backyard), host a potluck BBQ, play cards, have a craft or art night using supplies you already have in the house, visit antique shops just to look at old stuff, visit your state Capitol, check out a ghost town, put a jigsaw puzzle together, most importantly have fun!

 

It's Nothing New

 

Last week I went back through perusing my old Thanksgiving and Christmas posts.  I pretty much talk about the same things year after year.  The reason, of course, is because these are our traditions.  And my family wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Throughout the year we deal with a lot of change.  Changes at school, our jobs, in our daily lives.  So when the holiday roll around we don't want to change much.  We just want to settle in to the old familiar routines of celebrating the holidays.  We pretty much decorate the same way with the same stuff, listen to the same music and eat the same foods.  It's what we love and what we know we can count on.

 

With all the crazy that has been our world of late it is pretty wonderful to know that Thanksgiving will be Thanksgiving and all things Christmas will still be Christmas.  We'll still eat good food, bake a lot of the same cookies, put up a tree with all those treasure ornaments and spend time together.  With a few little tweaks here and there, but for the most part, it's really nothing new.  And that is how it should be.

 

I Am Becoming My Grandmothers

 

There are days when I think about my grandmothers and I giggle.  I loved these women so much, miss them daily and think about them often.  The way they continue to influence my daily life, even today, blows me away sometimes.  My mother's mother and I were pen pals since I was very young in the fifth grade.  As I became an adult she would send me recipes and share her days with me.  When we could visit in person we talked a lot about homemaking and thrift.  We had a lot in common that way.

 

My dad's mom and I were extremely close, best friends.  She claimed we were besties from the day I was born.  I never doubted that.  She and I talked about nearly everything that was going on in our worlds.  She loved to laugh and we did it often.  We visited each other often and talked every Sunday on the phone as well as swapped cards and letters between visits.  She also shared with me a lot of her homemaking and dollar stretching tips.  I learned a lot from these women.

 

The other day I got the giggles.  When my paternal grandmother passed away in 1999 and we were cleaning out her home to get it ready to sell I had found her stash of toilet paper, light bulbs and all of the plastic shopping bags she had squirreled away.  As I was tucking my recent toilet paper purchase away in the linen closet I immediately thought of this and realized I am becoming her!  Oh my goodness, not too long ago I told myself to stop buying light bulbs and since the pandemic started last year I've amassed quite a collection of grocery bags.

 

Well I won't be buying anymore TP or light bulbs for awhile and I gathered up a gob of those extra shopping bags and put them in the recycling bin at the grocery store last weekend.  There are so many things that they did and taught me that I find myself doing on a daily basis.  Pretty funny how those apples don't fall too far from the tree.

 

The Butthole Turkey

 

I had been searching high and low for a nice looking turkey figurine to place on the dining room table as part of our Thanksgiving décor and centerpiece.  I looked in stores, the mall, online, eBay, antique shops and after a few years of searching I found the one last year that was the perfect size and had the look I was going for.  And!  I found it at a thrift store so it was only $4.  Bonus!  I snapped it up and after paying for this handsome bird headed home with my new found treasure.  I was thrilled!  So very, very excited by this find.  At home I gave it a quick bath in some hot soapy water and then placed it in the dish drainer to dry while I gathered the items together to create my table centerpiece.  Once all was said and done I stepped back to gaze upon my long awaited masterpiece.  All was as I had hoped it would be and then…  I realized….  What is that?  No way!  They put a butthole on this turkey!  A very obvious butthole!

 

We’re not talking a slight possibility.  No.  An actual and very intentional butthole.  No mistaking it for something else either.  And why, I ask you, do you think it was necessary to add that little bit of rectal attraction?  It isn’t a real turkey!  And not so very lifelike in design as to require all of its reality.  But, (no pun intended) there it is in all its glory for us to gaze upon.  At the dinner table no less.

No matter how I place him somebody inevitably gets the pleasure of sitting across the table in full view of the butthole.  So what, may you ask, are we going to do about this?  Donate it back to the thrift store for someone else to enjoy?  Place a plant in front of it?  Get out the spackle?  Nope.  None of that nonsense.  He’s ours and we’re keeping him!  We just set him on the table and if you are the one who gets to sit behind his behind, then guess what?  You are the guest of honor!

 

 

Our 2019 In Review

I knew at the end of 2018 that 2019 was going to be quite a year for us.  We began the year with a lot of changes in store and a ton of things we needed to accomplish in order to make it all happen.  Along the way we had a few unexpected challenges but in looking back over the past year I think we handled it all quite well.  Overall 2019 was a success.

Things We Accomplished 

My Daughter Got A Job, Saved Up & Bought A Car

A Good Sized Fence Repair

A "New"Bicycle For My Daughter

A "New" BBQ

"New" Patio Furniture

We Built A Grilling Station

Graduation & A Party!

Our Big Trip To Disneyland!!

Fixed Our Refrigerator & Defrosted Our Chest Freezer

Gave our Firepot A Facelift & Fixed Up Our Hose Area

My Bike Cargo Trailer

Car Detailing & Car Repairs

A Pillow Project

My Daughter Donated Her Hair

My Master Bedroom Renovation

I Fixed Up An Antique Table

Our Garage Renovation

I Sent My Daughter Off To College

Upstairs Bathroom Renovation

I Made Some Pumpkins

Our Upstairs Hallway Makeover & Doors

The Downstairs Bedroom Renovation

Our "New" Crafting Center

My 2020 Day Planner

Snuggling up in my lap while I tried to write my blog
was their favorite place to be

Sadly we said goodbye to our kitty Henry in March and unexpectedly to our big ol' boy Leonard in June.  It was heartbreaking, we cried a lot and we miss them even more, but in September we added Jack to the mix and he has been really something around here.  He is quite the character and I just love him to pieces.  Stella still isn't impressed.

My youngest made the cheer and dance team at the high school and also got her braces off last summer.  The dance team and orthodontics has proven to be a solid commitment of both time and money.  Holy cow!

Throughout the year I worked a full time job plus a lot of overtime, I did a ton of grocery shopping, meal planning and preparing, washed a bunch of dishes and a mountain of laundry, kept my house clean and my vehicles, maintained my vehicles, we mowed the lawn and raked up a gob of leaves, trimmed hedges, shoveled snow, pulled weeds and planted flowers.  I decorated our home for the seasons, inside and out.  We entertained friends and family, enjoyed a few movie nights, played games, listened to music and even worked a puzzle which we hadn't done in eons.

I spent a lot of time in front of this thing

I made cards and graduation announcements, I wrote letters and sent cards to my friends and my family.  I mended clothing, made some cleaning rags and fixed things that broke or wore out.  I took care of my children, my kitties and my chickens as well as myself, even a bunny.  I made several trips to the feed store for hay, feed and supplies.  I gave haircuts, hugs and advice to my girls.  I filed my taxes, managed my finances, saved some money, paid my bills and helped fill out gobs of financial aid and scholarship forms.  We went to the doctor and the dentist and took the kitties to the veterinary clinic.  I checked our mail and collected the mail for our next door neighbors who like to travel and we kept an eye on their place for them.

We recycled and reused, even gleaned some FREE WOOD for several of our projects.  We purged and we donated, we cleaned up and hauled off trash as well as made a trip to the dump and another one to hazardous waste drop off site always trying to be mindful of what we were contributing to the landfill and how we dispose of things.

When I first sat down to write this post I had just looked over my "To Do" list and moved a bunch of things left on it over to my 2020 list.  At that moment I was focused on all the things that didn't get accomplished and was disappointed that I hadn't been able to complete as much as I had planned.  However, in looking back at 2019 I am now focused on all that I did do and I have to say it feels pretty darn good.  I'm not disappointed in our progress at all.  We did alright!

2019 was a bit of a bumpy year for us.  We had so much going on and a lot of things happened along the way.  We've had to make a lot of changes and adjustments as our lives have been taking on some very different roles.  But no matter what happened we stayed the course and kept on.  Not even a pesky realtor could derail us.  We navigated that obstacle and made it through as well.  Looking back on 2019 I'm rather proud of us and can honestly say we had a spectacular year.

We have so much!  So much we are grateful for

My girls are growing up and I'm just steps away from a very different life myself and I'm excited about it too.  But, for now I'm ready to just enjoy 2020 one day at a time and do the very best I can each day to make improvements in our lives.  We have plans and new goals to accomplish and much more to look forward to.  We are determined to make it another great year and it definitely will be.  I'm quite positive about that!

Homecoming Weekend - Go Yotes!

All projects and any other things came to a grinding halt last Saturday so the youngest and I could join my oldest at her college for family day.  We were up bright and early to make the drive over as she really wanted us to have breakfast with her in her dining hall.  Before we left I packed her up a bag of grocery items, a care package of sorts and then we hopped in the car and off we went.  It is only a thirty minute drive so not long at all and with very little traffic on the road at that time of day we were there in plenty of time to find a parking spot, walk to her dorm and then walk to the dining hall for breakfast.

We couldn't have asked for better weather

Breakfast was very nice.  For one thing the manager of the dining hall insisted we come in and eat "on the house".  That was definitely a happy surprise.  I had a wonderful spinach and sausage omelet and some fresh berries.  The kids had Belgian waffles and more sugar than I care to even think about, but it was a special occasion so I kept my cringing to myself.

Giant Jenga game

Even coyotes play cornhole

After breakfast we walked over to the big parking lot for the massive tailgate party and had a ball playing cornhole, a big jenga game made out of 2" X 4s"s, meeting the football players and a ton of other people.  Everyone was so nice and happy to welcome us to their tailgate and to join in on the fun.  They really go all out for it too.

Then we walked over to the stadium for the game and it was a ton of fun!  Plus, we won!  So far the Coyotes are undefeated this season.  We all had our game shirts on and a few of my daughter's new friends tagged along as their families weren't able to join them.  I became the designated Mom the rest of the day, which was fine by me.

This is the official campus dog

They have a very nice stadium

After the game we walked back over to my daughter's dorm so we could use the bathroom and fill up our water bottles.  Her dorm has a really nice water bottle filling station so we took advantage of that several times that day.  Then over to the student center for ping pong, air hockey and snacks.

My daughter's and some of the "new friends" my oldest has made
She has made some great friends, super nice & polite, very enjoyable to spend time with

The game was exciting - We won 41 to 39

The marching band performs at half time
A couple of my daughter's friends are in the band

The after party was held downtown at the plaza where they had a concert going, food and drink vendors and dancing.  I loved the venue and the concert was absolutely fantastic.

Coyotes dance too!

This was a local band that does all 80s music and it was so much fun to see the kids enjoying it and all of them up and dancing.  Even us oldsters.  They even managed to get the local police department out on the dance floor too.

Some of Idaho's finest hit the dance floor

This was so much fun!

The college had a shuttle bus running people back and forth from the campus to downtown.  I had a car so the kids piled in after the concert and I took them back to the dorm.  Needless to say, by the time my daughter and I dropped everyone off and headed for home we were exhausted.  But we had a ton of fun that day and I'm so happy we were able to go and spend this time with our college student.  I love this college and I am so thankful that she is going to school there.  Wow!  What a blessing.

Meet Jack!

As I mentioned yesterday we have a new family member that joined us a little over a week ago.  He is a solid black rescue kitty and his name is Jack.  The vet had named him that when he came in with a wire wrapped around his neck and digging in pretty deep.  Why someone would do that to an animal is beyond me, but that seems to be what happened.  The wire was surgically removed and he began to heal.

Stella is not impressed with him
She is rather annoyed, but coming around to the idea

It just so happened that I arrived at the Idaho Humane Society the morning the vet had decided he was ready to adopt.  I wasn't sure really why I was there, but in the past few weeks I'd been looking at kitties online and feeling that familiar tug at my heart.  I looked at, petted and/or held nearly every kitty in there but none of them seemed to be right except for one little girl.  The only issue was she was reported not to get along with other cats.  That might be a problem since we have Stella.

Checking out the couch for comfy

We left the shelter covered in cat hair and went home deciding it just wasn't the right time and we would check back in a few weeks or so and see if the right kitty was there for us.  However, later that afternoon my oldest daughter showed up unexpectedly for a quick visit and to introduce us to a new friend she has met at college.  We like him very much and had a really nice visit.  Then we told her about our morning and I said I felt really compelled to go back, if nothing else, just to show her the kitties.  She insisted we did so we all piled into the car and headed back over.

After only a week with us his coat is shiny and he is really starting to fill out

I had seen Jack that morning when they first put him out and had petted him a few times, but the vet tech was working with him and I didn't really have the opportunity to hold him or do much with him.  I did get his back story though and it sounded like he'd had a pretty rough go of it.  In addition to his injuries he was extremely thin and his coat was not in the best condition.

He loves his food!

When we got there the second time I showed them the fussy female kitty and we discovered she didn't really bond with the girls although she seemed to do really well with me.  I put her back in her cage and felt terrible doing so, but in my gut I knew it wasn't the right kitty for our home.  She is beautiful though and should have no trouble finding her person.  I'm sure of that.

He also loves to hang out in our garage
Me too!

We looked at all the kitties again and I saw that Jack's adoption paperwork was now hanging on his cage and despite his obvious injuries I felt like I needed to take this little guy out and give him some snuggles.  Oh my goodness, was he ever happy to be getting some attention.  What a love!

We have two food and water stations set up right now
to make sure he gets his nutrition boosted

He was super thin and pretty scraggly, but affectionate and extremely loving.  With all of us!  He snuggled right into me, completely relaxed and started purring.  Nothing around him seemed to bother him as he lay in my arms and took in all that was going on.  None of the other cats upset him, all of the people coming and going didn't bother him.  This cat was pretty chilled out.  And content to just be held.  This was the kitty for me!  I just knew it.

I got them a new bowl at a thrift store for their dry food
I thought it looked nicer than the old one

The staff at the shelter was thrilled when I told them I wanted to take Jack home.  He stayed overnight to be neutered and I picked him up the following afternoon.  In the meantime I prepared for his homecoming and got everything ready.  Not that any of our cats are ever spoiled or anything, but he should never again know what hunger and neglect feel like.  Okay, there may be some spoiling as well.  But my goal is to make sure this little guy has the best life from here on out.

My new blogging assistant
He is not overly helpful, to be honest... 😂

Stella tolerates him, but they have yet to become friends.  I'm sure they will though as she loves to play and he is super sweet and playful.  It is hard to know exactly what this little guy has been through, but in spite of it all he has a truly optimistic spirit and doesn't seem to let his circumstances get in the way of his happiness.  He seems to really like his new home and his people.  He loves his food, which is wonderful as I'm hoping he gains some weight. He can't meow due to his injuries and he makes the funniest chirping sound instead, but we know he is telling us he loves us and his new home.  I've never adopted and adult cat before and I've never adopted a "special needs" kitty, but I'm really glad I decided to give it a go.  He fits in perfectly with our clan.