Starbucks Exposed

Last Wednesday (yikes, I didn't realize it was that long ago!) while I was out running errands, I stopped into Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I've been hearing people all over the place rhapsodizing about these, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I sipped on it as I drove around, and it was okay, but I didn't really taste too much pumpkin or spice. I didn't finish it, and when I got home I put it in the fridge for later, because by golly, I paid almost $4 for that thing!

Later when I went to warm it up, I took the lid off to put it in the microwave. Ugh! The congealed...stuff...looked like the fat you'd skim off taco meat that'd been sitting in the fridge. But, I gave it another try. Still not lovin' it. And this is what it looks like hot.


See the lurid orange color? And the oily scum floating on the top? Here, take a closer look.


And then I thought "I need to blog about this", so I put it back in the fridge so I could take a picture of it cold.

Now that's just gross. It's the color of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Hmmm, there's quite a bit less in there than when I put it in the fridge. It looks like Skippy has been surreptitiously sipping from it. He actually likes coffee, hot or cold, sweet or not. We do not serve it to him, so he gets his hit on the sly like this.

A few weeks ago, I had a pumpkin spice frappe at a local coffee shop, and it was much better, IMO. It actually tasted like pumpkin pie. And just so you know, I am not anti-Starbucks. I like me a good Caramel Macchiato, and I'm sure it looks just as bad inside.

Getting Back to My Frugal Roots

There's been a lot of scary talk about the economy lately. Frankly, it's starting to get kinda old; oh, I know lots of people were hit bad, and I'm not downplaying that, but I also tend to think the constant media barrage can become somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just feeding the fear and making it worse. We were not affected, in the sense that we have no investments to lose. Naturally, however, high gas and grocery prices and so on have taken a toll on our budget, and as a result I'm starting to revisit my frugal side. I've let it get away from me a little bit in the last few years...


My mother was the Frugal Queen, not because it was fashionable or environmentally conscious, but out of necessity. For many years my dad was a preacher in Canada to congregations usually well under 100 members; eventually we moved back to the States to larger congregations and thus a somewhat higher salary. But particularly in those years in Canada, which included five children, it was my mom's job to run the household and make that small salary stretch. Thrift to her was not buying tchotchkes at Goodwill, like I have been lately. Instead, it was doing everything she could to reduce, reuse, recycle (within the home), in a time before that little catch-phrase was even coined.

It's not that anything she did was revolutionary, for the most part; it's that society in general, and me specifically, has just gotten lazy in these matters. We virtually never had store-bought cookies or Hostess cakes in our lunches. We got homemade. And speaking of lunches, we had to fold up our brown paper lunch bag and bring it home to reuse until it fell apart--how embarrassing!

She didn't buy Ziploc bags, she washed and reused the bags our milk came in (yes, it's true, look here, or at this informational video). She didn't buy boneless skinless chicken breasts, she bought the whole chicken and expertly cut it up with a big knife. She reused aluminum foil, and even made a Christmas tree chain out of used pieces (wiped clean, of course). She added to it every year, and though it's not used any more, as far as I know it still exists in a box somewhere at my dad's. What, you don't get it? Let me show you.

I don't have any used pieces of foil, so I'm going to have to be un-frugal and use fresh. This is like making a paper chain, but shiny. I actually kind of had fun doing this little tutorial. This might be a good project with kids.

Step one: take a piece of foil (size doesn't really matter) and scrunch it into a tube, leaving one end flared open.
Step two: curve tube around and insert small end into the flared end. Scrunch the flare closed around the other end to form a ring like this:

Step three: continue making rings, looping them through each other before closing up the end (like when making a paper chain). Soon your chain will start to look like this:

You can, of course, make this as long as you want, or the loops as big or small as you want. You could alternate big loop, small loop. You could hang this on your Christmas tree like we did when I was a child, or loop it on a banister, or if you're like me and think this is fun for kids but don't really want it as part of your main Christmas decor, let them hang it in their rooms.

Okay, the foil chain tute was an unplanned tangent, and this whole post took longer than I thought. I didn't even get to the part I intended to, which was thinking about small steps I can take to start stretching my own budget. So I'll get to that next time. I should go make my bed, or something.

WFMW--I Don't Sort My Laundry!

That's right! I do not sort my laundry. It all gets tossed in the washer together in a devil-may-care fashion. The first time this idea was presented to me, I was in shock. My mother taught me to sort out all the loads: whites, lights, darks, colors, towels/sheets and so on. As I've mentioned before, I like to follow the rules; in fact, like a Pharisee I expanded the rules for myself, adding more categories. Pure white! White with printing or design! Light! Medium! Bright colors! Muted or soft colors! Red! Black! Dark! You get the picture.

What this meant was that I constantly had piles of sorted laundry all over the basement floor. This wasn't such a big deal when the laundry was in the basement, but when it was on the second floor with the bedrooms, basically in a closet, this would mean laundry all over the upstairs hallway.

So my method is this: ideally, I do one load of laundry a day. Whatever is in the hamper that sits outside the laundry closet gets washed together. I've never had any problems. If I have any doubts about color-fastness, I toss in a Shout Color Catcher (often just half of one).

As with any rule, there are possible exceptions. I do wash sheets and towels apart from the rest because I like to use hot water, and occasionally bleach on these items. I usually save up the reds and do them together, because red is the worst at bleeding. (I'm editing here to add that if I have a brand-new item, or something that I know will bleed, I will wash it separately first.) And finally, if I have not been on top of things or the family has been very busy and there's more than one load's worth in the hamper, I will probably, but not necessarily, divide it in a very non-strict way into lighter and darker. That's it. Works for me!

My oh-so-lovely laundry closet. Next project: get a pretty hamper.

Head on over to Rocks in My Dryer and check out the other great ideas those smart ladies have.

Road to Nowhere

It is 4:00. The school bus will drop off the children in 20 minutes, and I have to wonder, where did the day go? I intended to give the kitchen what-for, change Pinkerbelle's sheets, clean the kids' bathroom, menu plan for the week, vacuum maybe, come up with some kind of hard and fast chore plan for the kids, and with all day to myself it would seem plausible to get in some Bible reading and maybe even a little exercise. If I did that kind of thing. The exercise, I mean.

I did manage to throw a load of laundry in (but not fold the stuff that was in the dryer), mop the kitchen floor and wash a few dishes that don't go in the dishwasher, and toss some ingredients in the bread machine. Garlic bread, using this recipe. We're having spaghetti tonight, and the fact that I know what we're having and it's not even 5:30 is saying something.

I also went to TJ Maxx looking for some cute sheets to make a duvet cover for the down comforter I'm passing down to Pinkerbelle (because I got a bigger one for our bed. Love IKEA. Hate that there's no IKEA closer than 5 hours from me). No luck on the cute sheets. I also tried on six articles of clothing from the clearance rack. Again, no luck. Then I went to Walmart and spent way too much time getting a few grocery items. Oh, and I also spent way too much time on the computer. But typing a post for my blog makes me feel like I accomplished something, even if it is totally boring and mundane.

A monument to my productive day:

Window Mystery Revealed

Remember my craigslist window? I know you have been waiting with bated breath to see what I would do with it. Well, the wait is over. Today Handsome was able to hang it for me. In my almost-two-story stairwell, there is a big, plain, square window. Privacy is not an issue with this window; it just looks out to the side of the neighbor's garage. I wasn't sure what to do with it, as it doesn't really lend itself to a traditional fabric window treatment. I thought about hanging an old stained glass or leaded glass window in it, but this window is about 46" square, and anything that big (though there was very little available) was very expensive.

I would check craigslist occasionally, just to see what was available, and last week I found this window. It is about 42" square, and the seller only wanted $20 for it. The perfect solution! So now it is hanging in that window, and I think it adds a lot of character.

Firstborn has no appreciation, in fact a dislike really, of anything 'old'. He is offended that he will have to look at this every time he comes down the stairs. But Handsome and I really like it.

See where it looks like the neighbor's siding has melted? That's old, wavy glass. Cool.

Here's a shot to give a better look at the height of the stairwell. The walls will eventually be painted; we just haven't got around to that yet (and by 'we' I mean Handsome). What do you think--does it need some kind of fabric treatment, and if so, what would you do?

It's the Thought That Counts

My friend Dixie's birthday is coming up, and some weeks ago when I saw this project on Shannon's blog, Bless Our Nest, I knew this would be the perfect gift. The necessary elements are a clear glass plate, a clear glass candlestick, and the dome from an old cheese server. I scouted these down at thrift stores, and glued them together with this glue:

If you look closely, you can see that it says 'Dishwasher Safe'. Today I was meeting Dixie for lunch, and so on my way out the door this morning I wiped down the whole contraption (did not submerge it), and the plate promptly fell off of the candlestick. With no time to do anything else, I glued it back together and made a mental note to tell her not to get it wet.

On my way I stopped at a card and party store, hoping to find a box big enough. I had brought wrapping paper and tape with me, and I thought they might have a cake box. Nope. Okay, now I have no way to wrap it, so I run next door into Joann's and get a little ceramic pumpkin to put under the dome to at least make it look pretty. As it turns out, however, it's not so little and does not fit under the dome.

This is how I met Dixie in the restaurant parking lot. "Happy Birthday! I have something for you, but be careful because it might fall apart. Don't get it wet. And here's a pumpkin that didn't fit under the dome. Hope you like it! It's a piece of junk!"

A true friend, Dixie squealed with delight. She loves it! Loves, loves, loves it! She asked if I took a picture of it for my blog, which I had not. I happened to have my camera with me, so I set it in the mulch of the parking lot median and took a photo. There was a guy getting into his vehicle in the spot next to me who witnessed this with a quizzical look on his face.

It's pretty cute after all. Thanks to Shannon, and the ladies who inspired her, for this charming and inexpensive project. BTW, I think the problem with the glue is that there just wasn't enough surface area on the edge of the candlestick to get a really good bond with the bottom of the plate. Dixie mentioned some kind of epoxy that she had used to make snowglobes with her daughter, which might work a little better (E-6000? something like that).

I had also purchased a cheese dome to make one of these for myself, but didn't have the other parts yet when I found this sweet little footed plate at a consignment store. It's a match made in thrifty heaven!

Another note about Dixie. She is as yet blogless, but checks on mine regularly. She was jealous of my garage sale urns . Then yesterday, she won Restyled Home's Matthew Mead giveaway. The book and the Homegoods gift card. Lucky duck. Now I'm jealous!

Matthew Mead's New Book

I'll be honest, I really hadn't ever heard of Matthew Mead until I saw him mentioned several times on Linda's blog Restyled Home . Now Linda is having a give-away to announce his new book Entertaining Simple, and judging by these photos, this is a book worth having.

Look at the cookies in a parfait glass--what a cute idea. And the roasted veggies look so pretty and delicious.

That item on the left intrigues me; it looks yummy, and I love the dish it's served in.

This sample of Christmas ideas looks so simple and refreshing. I can't wait to see what other ideas Matthew has served up in his new book. Entertaining Simple can be purchased at book stores across the U.S. and Canada.