Dyeing Easter Eggs

I plan to dye eggs this year with my girls for Easter.  Hard boiled eggs have become a real staple in our house, especially since I went Keto.  In the continued spirit of Using Up What We Have I'll be Making My Own Egg Dye again this year and we'll be boiling up eggs that our hens have laid.  I will not be buying white eggs from the store this year like I usually do.  It will be interesting to see how dyeing colored eggs goes.

I picked this up at Dollar Tree a couple years ago

Even though my girls are older and don't do Easter egg hunts anymore, we still enjoy sitting around the table with our colorful cups of dye and decorating the eggs.  We dig out marker, crayons and stickers and come up with all kinds of ways to do them up.  It is just a nice way to get in some family time together too.

If you want to make your own egg dye this year click here.  It is super easy, super thrifty and you'll probably wonder why you never did this before.

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

My entire week was a little bit off kilter.  After taking my little kitty into the vet to be put to sleep the Friday before I struggled all weekend and was still a little teary about it driving into work on Monday.  No matter how well you prepare yourself for the inevitable it still hurts like hell.  By the end of the week though I was doing much better.  Thank you all, once again, for all your kind words.  You have no idea how much that has helped me. 😊

This makes me so happy!

Whenever I'm upset about something I have a tendency to clean.  It is my way of attempting to restore order.  Needless to say my garage has never looked better and I had all my chores for the week, including some of the kid's chores, all done on Sunday.  Throughout the week I attacked those little nooks and crannies that tend to get overlooked.  I purged papers.  Again.  I even did some stuff in Laverne.  Not much, but a little bit. 

This little nugget has scarcely left my side
It always amazes me how they know when you need some extra lovin'

Last Wednesday I set out a nearly full trash bin at the curb for collection.  This week I'll be setting out the overflowing recycle bin and will be happy to have that monstrosity out of the garage.  The only other thing out there left to deal with is that stack of empty bins, but it looks like my oldest will be putting some to use and whatever is leftover is going to a friend.

A mini haul from Fred Meyer
The K cups were on sale and I had a $1 OFF coupon!

Life was fairly "normal" throughout the week.  Monday my youngest had a violin lesson, my oldest had Senior Skip Day.  She stayed home and did homework and then went off to work.  Tuesday I put gas in the car, picked up the young one from cheer practice, stopped in at Fred Meyer for some fresh produce and then we went over to the feed store to get a 50# bag of chicken food.  Errands completed in one fell swoop.

Wednesday evening the youngest and I went over to the high school for a college fair.  Yep, the process is about to start all over again with her now.  Yay for me.  My oldest daughter has received all of her acceptance and rejection notifications from the colleges she has applied to and now needs to make a decision.  She and I had a little meeting and went over everything and talked $$.  I think we've come up with a pretty good plan.  She is going to make her final decision by the end of the month and we'll proceed from there.

Thursday was cheer practice so I picked up the girl after work and Friday was their yearend cheering showcase with the high school cheerleaders and dance team.  Phew!  We made it through another cheer season.  But wait, there's more up ahead.  We only thought we were done....  Oh my goodness!

I found T-bones for $4.99 a pound!  Whoo hooo!

Along with our jam packed week I also worked quite a bit of overtime last week.  We are getting ready for a big software upgrade at the end of May and with my IT experience my new boss is having me write up a new manual for our department.  I love to do technical writing so I'm really excited about this project.  We are also swamped with work so I may have some overtime opportunities for quite a while.  With upcoming college expenses to meet I'm incredibly grateful for this.

I used lemon gelatin & blueberries

Saturday morning I slept in until 6:30, got up, made a Keto Cheesecake, and then tidied up my kitchen a little bit.  I took the youngest over to the school to catch a bus to Boise State for Bronco Day.  She got a tour of the campus, was able to talk to some of the professors, hung out with the football players and cheerleaders and got a good introduction to the university.  She was gone all day and had a fabulous time.  They fed her twice and gave her a big bag of loot too.  Lucky girl!

While she was gone I headed back home to get busy and put together a big salad and some mini quiches because when you've had a crazy busy, hectic week and your heart hurts you invite your girlfriends over for lunch and sit around talking, telling stories and laughing your butt off.  And that is exactly what we did!  I am so fortunate to have the friends that I have.

This should hold us for a little while

After they left my oldest needed to get in some drive time.  She is taking her final driving test in less than two weeks!  We picked up the youngest from her school and then we headed to Wal-mart and picked up a few grocery items to get us through the week ahead.  Then home to put my feet up and relax.  Which is precisely how I ended my week.  Needless to say I was exhausted and by 10:00 I was headed off to bed.

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed & mopped floors, super scrubbed the toilet, washed bathroom rug.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, wiped down table & chairs, windowsill & chair rail.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & mopped floor, cleaned both coffeemakers, bleached the coffee pot, our coffee cups & the sink.  Cleaned the range hood over the stove.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted, scrubbed the toilet, sink & tub.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - three loads of laundry, dusted & vacuumed living room, hallway & entry, mopped the entry way.  Swept front porch.

Love shiny clean floors 😁

How was your thrifty week?

Hair Care & Saving My $$

When it comes to hair and caring for our hair none of us in this house really spends a lot of time or money.  We find that a good haircut goes a long way in keeping an affordable coif.  In my younger years I spent a great deal of time and money on my hair, however, as I've grown older I've learned a thing or two.

I typically get my hair cut twice a year and I trim my own bangs in between cuts.  My girls do the same.  A cut right before school starts and another one midyear.  I trim their bangs as well and I still cut my youngest's hair as her style is very simple.  My oldest now pays for her own trips to the salon.  Whenever possible we take advantage of any coupons or specials our salon is offering at the time we make our appointments

I no longer color my hair.  When I decided to go Keto I decided to give up hair color as well.  It didn't make sense to me to put strong chemicals onto my scalp when I was trying to improve my life and health by limiting my exposure to unhealthy products.  So now when I go to the salon it is a simple shampoo, cut and blow dry.

I got the shampoo & conditioner on sale and with a coupon

Over the years I've used a lot of various product to wash and style my hair.  Now I just stick to the basics and only use shampoo and conditioner.  The product I use isn't anything special.  I find that Suave works just fine and I usually purchase it when it is on sale and I have a coupon too.  I use a minimal amount of the product so it lasts a long time and I don't wash my hair every day as it really doesn't need it.  My girls wash theirs every other day while I wash only once or twice a week and rinse in between if needed.  Any more than that and my scalp gets really itchy and irritated.  My stylist recommended I take the "Low Poo" approach and it has really worked well for me.

We seldom use a hair dryer and allow our hair to air dry.  I do use a flat iron to curb my crazy cowlick and tame some wiry gray hairs.  I use a Revlon flat iron and it seems to do the job just fine.  My girls occasionally use a flat or curling iron on their hair as well, but for the most part they wear it straight.

I picked up a couple curling irons on clearance at Christmas time as well as a couple flat irons.  I gave the girls the curling irons and a flat iron as gifts and kept one flat iron for myself as I've had mine for awhile and I assume it will likely give up one of these days.  Having one on hand to replace it will save me from feeling the need to run out for a replacement and pay full price.

I know some people have strong opinions when it comes to hair care and the products to use.  We choose to keep it relatively simple and very affordable.  We always look nice and no one has any issues to be concerned with so in our case I think the simple approach works very well.  I'm just appreciative to have healthy hair and a happy scalp.

Decluttering The Garage

I hated this space.  It is that one spot in our house that I've always struggled with, especially in the winter.  It becomes a huge catch all and crap just piles up.  By the time spring rolls around I'm ready to light a match to the whole thing.

Filthy floor, what you can see of it

This winter I plotted and planned out all kinds of organizational strategies.  More shelving, a work bench, some cabinets, a new layout.  Yada, yada, yada.  As the ideas came along the price of putting this all together steadily climbed as well.  I have to be honest, I am not willing to put that much money into storing a bunch of crap.  It really didn't make a whole lot of sense.  What did make sense was to grab a trash can and get rid of a bunch of this stuff.  In reality I didn't need to keep hanging onto most of this.  So that is what I did this past Saturday.

Such an embarrassing mess!

I can't believe how much crap had accumulated

Just like when I did our hall closet I hauled everything out onto the driveway grouping like items together.  I swept every square inch, wiped down all of the shelving I already had and then started to put things away.  Only the things I truly wanted to keep and were items we actually used or had a purpose for.

Loads of empties

For some reason I had amassed quite a collection of empty boxes and containers as well as a bunch of packing material.  Why?  Not entirely sure.  My first thought was to get rid of all of it until I remembered my oldest is going off to college soon and will likely need some of these bins and the bubble wrap too.  So I stacked them all up and fit them inside of each other as best as I could to take up as little space as possible.  Once she is all packed up I'll probably purge the rest.

I filled up the recycle bin with a lot of cardboard

I filled up our recycle bin with a bunch of cardboard boxes and packaging.  Our trash can was filled up halfway with garbage and I also had a decent sized pile of stuff to take to the thrift store. 

This is what I decided to keep
Only stuff we use

Amazing transformation

Once everything I wanted to keep was put away I was amazed at how much space we now have in there.  Finally, I rolled out the old rug we used to have in our living room and called it good.  Now when I walk out there I no longer dread it.  I can actually take a breath and feel good about being out there.  You can even go out there in your bare feet and no cold floor or stuff to worry about stepping on, tripping over or stubbing a toe.  And I can easily find what I need too!  So very glad I tackled this mountain last Saturday.

I think I amazed myself with how much I was able to get rid of
That toaster oven & bread machine next to the lawn mower will be donated

This stack of empty bins is temporary

Stella inspected my work and gave me her seal of approval

Do you have a mountain to tackle in your garage?  What is your big decluttering job this year?

Thank You

I am feeling very blessed and grateful today.  So many of you have reached out and I can't tell you enough how much that has meant to me.  To us.  Stirred up a few tears, but good tears, I assure you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Farewell My Friend

Sadly our Old Man Kitty has passed away.  Henry was my buddy for 20 1/2 years, a heck of a run if you ask me.  We had been through a lot together and I couldn't have asked for better.  I really loved that little guy and I could always count on him for anything I needed.

He was my blog writing assistant every day.

Loved to help the girls with their homework.

Always willing to lend a hand on any home improvement project.

Quality control inspector when we put in the new carpet.

Snuggle buddy to his little brother Leonard.

Great hugger.

While I miss him terribly and have wept with a broken heart I am so grateful to have been blessed to have him in my life for so long.  He truly meant the world to me.  

Farewell my little friend.  I miss you.

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday was a well earned lazy day for us.  We even stayed in our pajamas and other than a few chores around the house we pretty much didn't do much of anything.  It was really nice.

Monday a friend of ours came over and switched out an old outlet in our living room for me.  It was one of those 3 way plug ins with loads of wires going into it and it made me nervous to switch that one out so I never did.  Well after 40 years it decided to quit and left us with no power in the living room and no kitchen lights.  Thankfully my friend, who happens to be an electrician, was able to come over and help me out.  And to make it even better, I just happened to have a spare outlet in my garage.  Whoo hooo!

Tuesday morning I put together my girl's Easter bags using stuff I already had on hand as well and filled them with things I either got on sale and used coupons with or got for free.  It felt good to get that task checked off of my list.  Yay.

My youngest daughter reserved the 4th season of Poldark at our library so we picked it up and binge watched it.  We love that series.  I'm a sucker for anything Masterpiece Theater anyway.  So nice that we can do that and it doesn't cost us anything either.

Wednesday I went to Dollar Tree to pick up some snack and drink items to put together a goodie bag for my oldest to take with her on her band trip to Seattle.  I packed her two sandwiches and gave her a package of pepperoni slices out of the freezer.  The kids were responsible for all of their meals on the trip so I wanted to help her out so she wouldn't have to spend too much on food.  She had cheese spread (I even remembered a couple plastic knives), crackers, pepperoni slices, a small box of cookies, a can of Pringles, a bottle of apple juice, an apple and some donuts.  I packed everything in a craft bag with handles so it would be easy to carry.

Thursday morning I was up bright and early to take her to the high school and drop her off at the waiting charter buses.  All of our fundraising efforts throughout the year paid off.  No out of pocket money was required from the parents as we were able to raise every bit of it.  It was a lot of work, but I'm really glad we were all able to pull it off.  They had a lot of fun things to do on this trip and I'm really glad everyone was able to go.

Last week we saw a lot of rain and even some hail mid week.  Thursday evening the clouds parted and the sun came out long enough for me to get a good hour long walk in.  My youngest went with me and we made it home just in time for it to cloud up again and start to rain.  Between the weather and our schedule I only managed to get the one walk in, but that is okay.  I know warmer weather and a less hectic schedule are not too far away.

I loaded some digital coupons to two grocery store rewards cards and printed off eight online coupons from Coupons.com.  I print my coupons onto scrap paper I got from work a couple years ago.

I worked a little bit of overtime again.

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors, super scrubbed the sink.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, dusted shelves.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped floor, cleaned the microwave, wiped down appliances.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  My oldest cleaned the bathroom.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - three loads of laundry, dusted & vacuumed living room, hallway & entry.  Swept front porch.

How was your thrifty week?