Easter Cupcakes

My oldest and I made these to take to Bunco last week.  If you need a cute dessert to take somewhere or to serve this Easter this is a simple one.

Use whatever cake mix and frosting you like.  Bake the cupcakes, let them cool and frost as you normally would.

Take a jar and put in one cup of flaked sweetened coconut.  Add four drops of green food coloring and a lid.  Shake the daylights out of it until all the coconut turns green.

Place a spoonful of coconut in the middle of each cupcake and press lightly with the back of a the spoon so it sticks nicely to the frosting and makes a slight depression.

With a knife put a little dab of frosting on the back of the "eggs" and place onto the coconut.  I used Whopper eggs, but you can use chocolate eggs or jelly beans.  Pretty much whatever you like.

Pretty dang cute if you ask me.  Taste good too!

A New Project Is In The Works - And It's HUGE!

My next BIG goal is focused on my RETIREMENT.  Until recently, the how and when has been a bit elusive.  We all assume we will likely retire at age 65, but how do we know for sure that will actually happen?  For me, it was to sit myself down and come up with a tangible plan to ensure that it will happen.  And that is what I did.

In order to attain this goal I have broken it down in to various sized projects.  Some are little and won't take much time at all while others are really big.  HUGE.  J  But they all lead to the ultimate goal.  Retirement.

I hope you guys won't mind riding along with me as I embark on this new adventure.  I'll be sharing these projects with you as we go along.  In fact, I already have.  Remember a certain set of sheets I added lace to and a pink chenille throw pillow?  That's right.

So what is the HUGE one?  Here's a clue:

One of the projects I have in mind is to purchase a small one story home with two bedrooms and one bath.  A sweet, cute little dollhouse, just for me.  Then I will work to pay it off, fix it up and get it retirement ready.  I will also need to furnish and outfit it.  That makes for a lot of little projects to lead up to this huge one.  Yaaaay!

For me, it will be financially better if I live outside of Boise in a smaller town where housing and the cost of living is lower.  The bonus in this is that I want to live in a smaller town so this is actually a dream of mine.  Which town?  Still up for grabs, but I have some good ideas.  So exciting!

Lots and lots to do.  Just like I like it.

Easy Homemade Ice Cream

I have received a few requests asking for our ice cream recipe so I thought I'd share it once again.  It has been a few years so we are due for an update.  You can read my original post here.

I love ice cream and my youngest has inherited that love as well.  We are serious about our ice cream.  And making our own is not only fun, but quite rewarding.  Several years ago I invested in an electric ice cream machine that has the gel base that you freeze over night.  It works wonderfully and I can honestly say we have gotten our money's worth out of it.

Believe me I have tried a lot of ice cream recipes and for ease and thriftiness this is the one we use most often.  It’s a winner.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

3 c. whole milk

1 c. cream

1/2 c. sugar

2 tps. vanilla extract

Dash of salt

Combine all ingredients. Stir with a whisk until sugar dissolves.  Pour into your ice cream freezer and freeze according to appliance instructions.  Once ice cream is done pour into a large glass bread pan and freeze additional two hours for a hard serve consistency.  This recipe makes 1.5 quarts of ice cream.

And of course you have to have chocolate syrup!

Chocolate Ice Cream Syrup

½ c. baking cocoa

1 c. sugar

1 c. water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Dash of salt 

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.

Ready to make some ice cream?  I always am. Yum!

Doilies

I spent two evenings last week doing something I've never done before.  I made a set of doilies.  My great-grandmother was extremely talented.  According to my grandmother she was an amazing seamstress, but she could knit or crochet just about anything.  She even knew how to tat.  I've seen quite a bit of her handiwork and I have some of it too and what amazes me is how much of her sewing was all by hand.  No machine.  Including clothing.  Incredible.

She also made doilies.  Some were crocheted and other sewn with cloth and trimmed with her handmade lace.  I shared most of her doilies and dresser scarves with my nieces and kept a few pieces for myself and my girls.  But I thought it would be nice to make some of my own to use and then pass down as well. 

I started out by using some of my scrap paper stash to make a pattern.  In fact I made two so I'd have two sizes.  I used a dinner plate and a lunch plate to draw perfect circles onto paper and then cut them out.

I used pre-washed white muslin and cut out two circles with my largest pattern and pinned them together.  Unlike my great-grandmother did, I used my machine to stitch a scant 1/4" seam all around leaving a small opening to turn it right side out.

I used a chop stick to make sure I had all my seams out, then pressed it well before hand stitching the opening closed.  Then I used some vintage lace I had removed from a pair of old doilies that had literally disintegrated and hand stitched it onto the edge of my circle with thread that matched the lace.

This was the part that took the most time, but the result certainly made it well worth it. I was so happy with how it turned out I decided to make another one and use the other piece of lace I had rescued.

I think my great-grandma would be quite pleased with my handiwork.  I know doilies are bit old fashioned but too me, that is part of their charm.  Wouldn't they look pretty under a pair of lamps?  I think so.

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

I started out my thrifty week by baking two loaves of whole wheat bread, a pan of whole wheat buttermilk biscuits and a nice pot of sausage gravy.  Sunday breakfast was divine and our house smelled heavenly. J

I washed out a one gallon Ziploc bag to re-use for storing my loaves of homemade bread.  I also washed out a one quart size.

I watched my car races on YouTube.

I traded some eggs with my neighbor for length of her aluminum foil.  I had run out and forgot about it.  I hardly ever use the stuff so it is an easy one for me to forget about.

One of my longtime faithful readers was clearing out her Christmas décor and was so sweet to send me a box filled with beautiful glass ornaments and two set of lights.  How nice was that?!  The girls were thrilled to receive them as was I.  Very pretty ones too.  Thank you my friend!

While my daughter was at her workshop at BSU the young one and I ran our errands.  The car needed washed and fueled up and I needed to drop off books at the library.  I used my rewards points to save an extra 10¢ a gallon making it only $1.69 a gallon to fill up.  I haven't paid that little for fuel in a looooooooong time.  Over a decade I'm sure.

We went to the Fred Meyer for milk and juice on sale for 79¢ a half gallon.  79¢!  I bought four jugs of milk and two of orange juice.  I also picked up four packages of cream cheese for 99¢ each.  Albertson's was our next stop so I could stock up on tomato sauce on sale for 49¢ a can.  I bought ten.  I bought two dozen eggs for 99¢ each so the girls would have white eggs to dye for Easter.  And I caved in and picked up ice cream because it was only $1.69 each.

When I got home I realized we were short one of our half gallons of milk.  Uuugh.  So back to Fred Meyer to pick up our missing milk.  At least it was on the way to pick up my oldest from her workshop.

Thursday after dropping off the oldest we took the truck in to have the air pressure checked on the tires.  Then to the feed store to pickup chicken food.  On the way I stopped at Bed Bath & Beyond and used a $5 Off coupon on a set of white hand towels and a package of wash cloths.  I have some crafts planned for them and don't worry, I'll be sharing.  My final price for 7 hand towels and 6 washcloths was $11.99.

I've been busy with a variety of projects.  I made a pair of doilies using materials I already had in my sewing stash, including some vintage lace I wanted to use.   I think they will be very pretty to set a lamp on. I'll post more about these tomorrow. I also worked on some embroidery using my chicken transfers I bought from eBay last year.  I'm making a tea towel.

Saturday we spent the day, just us girls, out and about.  We started with brunch at Denny's (my oldest loves their pancakes) before heading to Nampa to go antiquing.  We shopped until we dropped, even hit a few thrift stores on the way home.  I bought myself a small Pyrex glass cake pan for $3.99 and a bread pan for $2.99.  I also found a cute candle holder for 39¢.  My youngest found two pair of track shorts for $1.49 a pair.  The oldest didn't find anything she couldn't live without.  We finished up with a hamburger at Red Robin.  It was a great day. 

Love these old quilts

How was your thrifty week?

Homemade Easter Egg Dye - A Repost

A couple years ago I shared with you how we make our own Easter egg dye and decorate eggs for the holiday.  I thought I share that post with you once again as the holiday is fast approaching.

To access that post please click here.

Quiet Sundays

Sundays are very important to us.  I'm very protective of them.

It is the day of the week where our family comes together after concluding a very busy week and we decompress.  Typically we don't have company, we don't make plans and we try to stay home.

We begin our day at a leisurely pace.  Quiet, slow, relaxing.

A big Sunday breakfast around 10:00 in the morning.  I usually have some bread going. 

  

I write or work on a small project. 

The girls will tidy up their rooms and together will clean the upstairs bathroom.  I'll tackle the cooking and the kitchen. 

We'll run a couple loads of laundry.

We'll enjoy a wonderful supper and often a dessert.

There is usually a race or a football game to watch while we putter.  A movie or favorite TV show after dinner.