A little reward...

can be a good thing, don't you think?  I'm not an extreme coupon nut and I only travel to one store on my infrequent grocery buying trips, but I admit that I do save My Coke Rewards points.  I used to give them away, but then I thought: why don't I save them myself?  So for the past year or so, I've been faithfully savings points from soda cartons and bottles and diligently entering them into the computer.  Every time I have 250 points accumulated, I redeem the points for a coupon to get a free 12-pack of the Coca-Cola product of my choice.  It doesn't sound like much, but I've gotten 4 coupons so far this year; that's 48 cans of soda for a few minutes of my time.

Not a bad reward for just drinking soda.

Since I've been housebound...

for the last month, I haven't been to the grocery.  My well-stocked pantry and hoarding of household supplies has finally come in handy!  Of course, there is nothing in my refrigerator at this point that could possibly be described as fresh - so Ariela offered to take me to Publix this morning so I could stock up again.  Shopping is always fun, but I've never gone to the market with a five-year-old before - so this was an adventure.  Baby was already a little hyped up from whatever sugar he consumed with breakfast, but I may have made matters worse by alerting him to the fact that he could get a free cookie from the lady in the bakery.  I mean, who says no to a free cookie?  I'd also forgotten how unique a child's point of view can be.  When we got to the dairy department, I reached for a container of sour cream and as I went to put it in the car, Baby stopped talking mid-joke to shriek: "Taco butter!" and wanted to know why I was buying that.  I guess sour cream isn't part of a child's vocabulary, but he knows it's something you put on tacos.  I laughed, the guy who was stocking the yogurt section laughed and Baby laughed, too - although I'm not sure he knew why.  I also discovered that Baby is a person of vanilla sensibility.  Ice cream was on sale - I chose peach because it's summer, I asked him to choose the flavor he wanted to take home and share with his dad and sisters.  And do you know what he chose from the plethora of yummy flavors available?  Yep, vanilla.  Maybe I'm just a choco-holic - and while I don't have anything against vanilla in principle, I would certainly have chosen something more exciting if I were five.  When we got back to my house, my sweet friend brought the groceries inside while Baby spun around in my chair and regaled Aggie with a highly embroidered tale of our morning adventure.  Thanks to Ariela, I now have lettuce, tomatoes, veggie burgers (on sale!) and peach ice cream.  Friends are a good thing!

Sometimes you find the coolest stuff...

in the most unlikely places.  While Anthropologie is all the rage, I just can't see paying their prices for things.  I mean, $128 for a shirt?  Are they nuts?  I'm sorry, regular people just don't pay that much for one item of clothing.  An entire outfit, maybe.  But then it would have to be something I was planning to wear to, oh, I don't know, the Inaugural Ball or something.  Or when George Clooney asks me to be his date for the Oscars.  I might even spend more than that for George.  But I digress...  I clicked the Kitchen button - you can really tell where my heart lies, can't you?  And there, along with those adorable ceramic egg crates I am using to organize my jewelry, I found these completely charming ceramic farmer's market baskets.  Well, I could not resist, because in addition to their abject sweetness, they were very reasonably priced.  The white one came to live with me first - and it's perfect for a pretty bunch of fake cherries.  I love it!

And well, the blue one was so pretty and his shade went so perfectly with the basket liners on my desk - I gave in asked him to come and live here too.  I didn't want him to be lonely on his trip, so his little coral friend came along for the ride.  Mr. Blue is staying on the desk to hold treats for my clients, but I haven't found a spot for Miss Coral yet.  Any suggestions?

Odds, ends and resolutions...

are the topic of the day and they have absolutely nothing to do with this photo of my Christmas Day quiche.  It was just pretty good and I took a photo of it and then didn't blog about it.  It was just a simple pie with eggs, milk, bacon and some chopped-up sliced swiss cheese which was all I happened to have in the refrigerator.  Oh, and a pre-made pie crust.  Not bad for a quickie dinner.

I am not much on resolutions because I never keep them.  For instance, one of my resolutions last year was to blog every day.  That did not happen, although I had good intentions.  That may well mean that I am on the road to hell, but I hope not.  The really odd thing that I noticed was that in 2009, when I first started blogging, I wrote 129 posts.  In 2010, I wrote 329 posts and in 2011 - 229 posts.  Since I'm a numbers sort of person, this really struck me as odd (get it - they're all odd).  Also, 229 is a prime number; the other two are not.  I struggled with forcing myself to catch up on all the half-written posts for 2011 during the month of December - but I decided to let that goal of 365 blog posts for the year go.  Which, in light of my OCD tendencies, is a really good thing.

So anyway, the resolutions.  And I think these might be easier than I think: a) no more take-out food.  It's much cheaper to cook and eat at home - and there's no tip required.  Yes, I'm cheap and I've decided to extend my frugality to my weekly grocery bill once again.  I was doing great at that and I've fallen off the sale items & coupons only wagon.  Resolution 2: I'm planning to avoid WalMart this year.  I think I can find the things I buy there (generic Tylenol, wipes, soda) just as cheap at the grocery or Target.  Every time I go to WalMart, I have a too-many-people freak-out and I spend the two following days with flu-like symptoms from all the germ-ridden people there.  It could just be in my head, but I don't think so.  And finally, D: I'm going to try and like wine.  I'm not planning on becoming a wino by any means.  It's just that I've read that wine is actually good for the digestive system and has other beneficial properties.  It makes me sleepy, so that's a plus - I'll just have to remember to drink it at night.  I've tried for years to be sophisticated enough to have a glass of wine with dinner to no avail.  I'd usually dump out the rest of the glass and make the next pot roast or chicken with the rest of the bottle.  Since I'm not cooking meat any more and only cooking for me, it looks like I'll be forced to actually drink the wine.  And with the money I'll be saving on the grocery bill, I can buy wine.  I'll let you all know how that goes.

As usual, Aggie and Peter have no resolutions.

They may be on to something there.

My morning adventure...

to the bank and WalMart wasn't so bad today - maybe people are finished with their holiday shopping.  I hated to go, but I needed some gold & silver metallic pens for my card project - mine had all dried up since the last time I dug them out of the drawer.  While I was there, I got two nice, fresh everything bagels for brunch.  They smell heavenly!  And don't you love how the lid for the cream cheese container makes a perfect little plate?

I know - I'm thrilled by the little things.

Aggie is making-the-cute-face to ensure that she gets a bite.  Or two.

Peter is even interested in seeing what I've got here.  Of course, he'll just make that open-mouth, I-think-it-stinks face that cats make when they don't like something.  I can't imagine him wanting a bite of bagel.

I don't think he's Jewish, but you never know.

My Christmas shopping is done!

No, I am not enlisting the help of Santa's reindeer.  Although it is tempting in some cases...  Nope - with three clicks of the mouse, two on Amazon and one on another site, I finished all of my shopping for Christmas this morning in the space of about fifteen minutes.  It will all be delivered by Tuesday and I shall wrap everything forthwith.  I love it when a plan comes together!

And no, Aggie, we are not getting a monkey.

I've been wracking my brain...

trying to come up with a design for this year's Christmas cards and it seems that a great idea has been staring me in the face for about a week now!  I usually make about three hundred cards to send to both my clients and my friends - all the same design.  That completely freaks my friend Jill out; she is a stamper and card designer extraordinaire and she can only make about ten cards exactly alike before she has to move on to another design.  I guess I just have an assembly-line brain - and I'm only creative up to a point.  Anyhow, for about a month now I've been making  sketches and prototypes and it finally hit me today when I looked at the pile of Christmas stamps on my desk.  In return for my trying to do my small part in forestalling what appears to be the inevitable demise of the US Postal Service by buying several hundred Christmas stamps and gleefully mailing my holiday cheer the old-fashioned way, the postal service inadvertently provided me with an idea for this year's card design.  The OCD in me loves coordination - so I'm using the ornament theme for the cards, envelopes and stamps.  Being frugal with supplies - since postage is at forty-four cents! - is the reason I'm willing to brave the dreaded WalMart crowds to buy white card stock and envelopes - I already have both red and green card stock as well as all the Christmas rubber stamps any one person could possibly ever need in three lifetimes, not to mention a Cricut Christmas cartridge with the cutest little ornament design.  And so I venture forth into the holiday shopping throng...

Are these retailers crazy?

I keep seeing Black Friday ads - already!  It's not even Thanksgiving - what are they thinking?  Not long ago I was pleased to see a photo of a Nordstrom's door that  announced their intention not to decorate for Christmas until the appropriate time.  Good for them!  If I were inclined to shop, I'd shop there.  I think I've finally gotten sick of the all the commercialism in my old age.  Anyone who knows me will be the first to tell you that I do occasionally shop and that I like stuff - but over the past few years, I've gotten rid of junk I was hanging on to for whatever reason and pared my surroundings down to only the things I use and things I really like.  I have only shopped on Black Friday once in my life and I remember exactly when it was: twenty years ago.  I had gotten a flyer in the mail at the office about a special invitation-only sale at Burdine's (back before it was Macy's - it's been that long!) and so my mother and I drove off to the mall early on the appointed morning of the event and literally shopped until we dropped.  The sale at Burdine's was okay, but the real bargains were to be had at Belk (before it was Dillard's - Lord, I'm old!) and the best part was their free gift wrapping.  After a dinner at Cracker Barrel, Mama and I dragged ourselves and our gaily wrapped packages into the house - our holiday shopping complete a full month before Christmas.  It made the holidays seem sort of anti-climactic that year and I haven't done it - or spent as much - since.  I looked at a few of the ads online that promised Black Friday deals - and most of the stuff is just junk that kids will open, play with for a week or so, and then move on to something else - like the box it came in.  You can't go wrong with a good box, I always say.  I wish shoppers (and retailers) would forgo quantity for quality and be more generous with charitable giving.  But that's not going to happen, is it?  I wonder what would happen if a sizable portion of the population decided to boycott shopping on Black Friday - I'm going to do my part again this year.

Not a paid advertisement...

Really.  I just love this Chicago Metallic pan and I want to tell you all about it.  I mean, how many baking pans have you owned over the years that have warped, scratched, turned black or rusted, no matter how diligently you hand-washed them after using them?  I even had a Calphalon non-stick baking pan that rusted!  Can you believe it?  But I digress...  Anyhow, for the reasonable price of ten bucks, I got this lovely (I know, I use that word a lot) professional grade, non-stick small jelly roll pan on Amazon (I know, I use Amazon a lot) and it is wonderful.  I've baked brownies in it, baked fish on it, baked dinner rolls on it - and it is baking pan perfection.  No warping - even at 425 degrees and it cleans up in a minute.  Several years ago, I dumped my awful AirBake cookie sheets for some professional Chicago Metallic pans with silpat liners - and I never regretted spending the extra money.  Same great, heavy duty quality - only this pan has a serious non-stick surface.  Anyhow, next time you are tired of looking at those tired old baking pans, check out the selection of reasonably priced Chicago Metallic pans on Amazon - and no, this is not a paid advertisement!  I just like sharing good things!

Who'd have thought...

that it would be so hard to find a simple curtain rod these days?  Apparently everyone has jumped on the home decorating bandwagon and as a result, no one wants a simple wide pocket curtain rod anymore.  It would seem that everyone is interested in buying (and selling) decorative window hardware.  All I want a simple valance over the bedroom window - and to achieve the effect I'm going for, I need a plain curtain rod that will be hidden from sight.  Well, after a fruitless trip to WalMart - where I have purchased every other plain Jane curtain rod for eons, I resorted to searching online. I finally found what I was looking for at Lowe's - a place I never go.  And since I cannot make the valance until I have the rod (for the exact pocket width measurement) it looks like I'll be taking a trip to my local Lowe's Home Improvement store.  And I may just buy two curtain rods - while I was perusing their selection of window treatments and hardware, I found a lovely sage window valance by Waverly that would be perfect over my office window!

I was going to make a valance for that window, but I had yet to find a fabric or style that I really liked.  And then I saw this one - and it's only $30 for an eighty-inch wide valance.  I especially like the layered look and button detail.

What do you think?

Another Target bargain...

I admit it.  I am a sucker for Target.  It's like going to a great big junk store that has lots of incredibly cute, reasonably priced junk.  Well, not junk - but you know what I mean.  Consequently, I don't go there often.  My most recent trip was actually Tom's fault.  After he changed the oil in my car on Saturday, I said I had to run to WalMart for some necessities.  He suggested that I go to the SuperTarget instead since I was in the area.  I didn't need much convincing - after all, Target's prices are about the same as WalMart and it's a much more pleasant shopping experience.  And then there are the sales...  I am drawn to the piles of things on sale - sometimes half off! - on the end caps of the aisles.  I am powerless over those little red tags; I just have to see how much I'd be saving.  On Saturday, I successfully passed them all by on my way to and from the bedding department.  I ignored the kitchen gadgets and dinnerware after my brief tour of the school supply area.  I was doing great - until...  I am inexplicably drawn to the indoor floral aisle and all those adorable Smith & Hawken garden accessories and fake faux house plants.  I browsed, I admired and then I came to the end of the aisle.  They had the cutest terra cotta strawberry pots on sale.  And the cutest smaller green glazed strawberry pots!  And then I spotted this adorable tray with three grow pots marked down to $13.98.  In my mind's eye I saw it perched on the plant shelf on my screened porch - perfection!  And so into the cart it went.  I motored on to the toilet bowl cleaner aisle and then to the check-out where much to my surprise and delight, my bargain rang up for a mere $9.98!  It came with soil disks and flower seeds, which I am going to try my hand at planting and cultivating once the weather gets a little cooler.

Along about November probably...

Like I need any more encouragement...

to while away my waking hours reading...  Isn't this sign just the cutest thing?  I got it on Etsy - where else?  The seller has a website called Oh Dier.  They make the neatest stuff - check it out!  Everything is made from reclaimed wood and they have such a great sense of style.  I appreciate that in a person - it makes someone seem more whole.  Or something like that.  I like to think that I am in touch with my own sense of style, if I have one, that is.  That spot on my living room wall was just begging to be filled and read turned out to be just the thing.  The very thing.  Yes, indeed.

Three things...

First, we are happy to announce the Peter the Mediocre has been promoted to Peter the Very, Very Good.  He is still working on the title of Peter the Great and we will notify you when he achieves that goal.

Second, I gave in to the chocolate calling my name at the grocery store this morning.  I made brownies yesterday afternoon and somehow, for a cook that normally underbakes everything, I burned the damn things!  They were palatable when they were warm, but they are terrible cold.  The rest of the batch may become a brownie trifle - they are in the freezer waiting for culinary inspiration to strike.

And finally, have I mentioned how much I love Etsy?  I've discovered all sorts of vintage stuff that I never knew I'd ever be able to find anywhere.  This cookbook is just like the one my mom had - published in 1933 by General Electric.  It's called All About Home Baking - and full of great old-time recipes for things like Lady Baltimore Cake and Clever Judy Frosting.  Fun!  I also found this vintage cookie press (same Etsy seller - saved on shipping!) with a dozen different discs.  Tim had gotten me one at a yard sale several years ago and the press was lost in the move - all I could find were the discs in their wooden holder, which were of absolutely no use to me - so I donated them to Goodwill.  And lo and behold, the day I found this cookbook - I found the cookie press too!  I was extremely pleased with my under $20 find - and a good dose of nostalgia, too.  Have I mentioned how much I love Etsy?

Shop early or stay home...

This year I took my own advice!  I was at Publix by 7:30 am (the bread in the bakery was still hot!) and back in my car by 8:15.  Didn't even overspend!  I had everything in the house and put away - and cranberry bread in the oven - before nine o'clock.  I don't think I've ever shopped that early or that efficiently the day before a holiday in my entire life.  I putzed around on the computer, returned a couple of client phone calls and took a nap - all before noon.  The vacuum cleaner is sitting in the living room practically shouting my name - but I refuse to respond.  I just finished making fudge, which I haven't made in years, and in a little while I am going to finish baking up the cookie dough I've been hoarding - chocolate chip and snickerdoodles.  Then I'm going to make the ultimate comfort food for dinner: homemade macaroni and cheese with enough butter and cheese to clog even Paula Deen's arteries.  After dinner, we are going to watch Home Alone and snuggle in for a good Christmas Eve's night sleep.  I hope you enjoy your holiday eve as much as I am enjoying mine!

Are people crazy?

Who in their right mind goes shopping at 4:00 am?  Or worse yet, who camps out all night long to be first in line for some over-rated sale the next morning?  Sorry - not me.  Never again.  Not even if I had any money to spend!  Yes, I went shopping on Black Friday once, years ago, because I had never gone.  My mother and I decided to go to Burdines early in the morning - see how long ago it's been?  Burdines is now Macy's!  It was horrific and I vowed never to do it again.  I came home with a migraine the size of Texas.  The whole shopping trip is a Mama story - something like Mama Takes on the Mall - but I will leave that for another time.  This year, like every year since that fateful holiday shopping spree, I slept a little late and have spent the entire day at home.  I admit that I did do a little holiday shopping online - but only for a couple of inexpensive handmade gifts on Etsy - and two things that will be incorporated into some crafts I'm making from eBay.  I have putzed around with some Christmas card ideas, but I don't like anything I've done so far.  I gathered up the fall decorations and got out one of the boxes of Christmas baskets and my little white wooden deer.  The weekend is still young!  Right now we are patiently waiting for the Pizza Hut delivery guy to bring us our thin crust cheese pizza.  Well, I'm being patient - Aggie knows something is up and she's sitting beside her gate staring down the door.  She'll be in a complete frenzy when she hears a strange car and then a knock on the door.  Children! 

ME Monday...

Is is Monday again already?  Today we're sharing our prized ME clock - not only does the illustration look a little like me, it's something I say a lot.  "Oh, no!"  Not only has that ceramic clock survived being hung on the wall in a houseful of cats, it's had the movement replaced twice.  I love it - and I was so thrilled when I found it in the sale corner at The Persnickety Cat (in Sarasota) for only ten dollars - this was years and years ago.  I do like a bargain - especially on something I didn't really need in the first place!

And here are a couple of my favorite ME prints - in my favorite color frame!

Be sure to check out more ME Monday over at Cherry Chick.  Have a great day!

Gotta love Etsy...

where you can browse through thousands of interesting handmade and vintage items until you find just the thing you didn't even know you were looking for.  The very thing, as my grandmother used to say.  As I have admitted on previous occasions, I am a lover of all things holiday - Valentine's, Easter, Independence Day, Halloween, Christmas - and I love holiday-themed shirts, sweaters and jewelry.  I have been wearing my old faithful Halloween shirts and while browsing on Etsy one evening when I couldn't sleep, I realized that I didn't have any really suitable autumn earrings.  Like anyone really sees me on a daily basis, or that I even needed any, but nevertheless - I had apparently found the very thing.  The best part is that you can get adorable handmade earrings with glass pumpkin beads for under $10 - a steal!  While I was at it, I bought a pair of cute, cute, cute art glass pumpkin earrings for my pumpkin-obsessed friend, Marie.  With free shipping!  I haven't spent much money frivolously over the past year, but finding these two great bargains - pumpkin earrings! - just made my day.  If you have never checked Etsy out, you should take a few minutes and have a look.  It's like eBay only less commercial - wonderful hand-crafted things!  In fact, I'm going to be listing some of my sewing projects on Etsy soon.

Oatmeal...

is a marvelous thing.  It's easy to make, fills you up and is bland enough to eat when you have an upset stomach.  And it didn't come from WalMart.

Just saying.

Does WalMart ever make you sick?

No, I don't mean the sheer commercialism and the fact that they have all their Christmas stuff out and it's not even Halloween yet.  I mean literally.  Nausea and vomiting sick.  Dizzy and unable to keep anything down sick.  Okay, I may be slightly crazy (who isn't?) but I am not a hypochondriac.  Every time I go to WalMart, I am sick the following day.  Yesterday, I went there to buy two reams of printer paper, a box of envelopes and a package of labels to print address labels.  Everyone knows they have the best prices on this stuff.  While I was there I bought two bagels: one whole wheat (which I ate for breakfast) and one everything bagel, which I ate for lunch.  That's all I ate all day long.  By ten last night, I was sick.  Sick, sick, sick and wanting to curl up and die.  I can't blame this on the Chinese food because that was long gone by then.  All I ate all day long was those two bagels - and I didn't even put anything on them - no butter, no schmear.  I don't know if it's something in the air at WalMart, all of the sick people infecting the air while they wait for their $4 prescriptions or all the stuff that's made in China.  I mean, it could be a Communist plot.  Or a Socialist plot, at the very least.  See, I'm still slightly delirious.

Mama and the blue bargain bras...

Ever have a memory just hit you from out of the blue (pun intended)?  I was folding laundry this morning - yes, actually folding it up! - and I remembered these awful blue bras I had when I was in high school.  It was the 1970s and I was not cool.  Not in the least.  I wasn't really a slave to fashion; all I cared about was marginally fitting in, since I really spent most of my time with my nose in a book.  Anyhow, my parents sent us to a private school with lots of rich kids and my nerdy self was pretty low on the social scale.  It didn't help that my mom, who sewed beautifully and made most of our clothes, had a fashion sense stuck in the 1950s - when she was in high school.  Mama didn't like t-shirts; therefore we were not allowed to wear t-shirts, or even like them, for that matter.  My wardrobe consisted mainly of peasant dresses, blue jeans and my mother's favorite: blouses from Grant's.  Most of these blouses were white or pastel colors.  I hated them, but it's hard to be picky when you don't buy your own clothes and you live with the queen of bargain hunters.  To make matters worse, I also come from a long line of well-endowed women.  My maternal grandmother and her sisters were all at least a 32DD - and my great-aunt who aspired to ice-skating fame was a 32F.  And so - most of my mother's lingerie purchases were based on support and durability.  God help the other women in line at a Playtex sale!  We wore Playtex 18-Hour bras until they were practically threadbare and then replaced with yet another model - always white.  My sister called them iron bras.  Well, one summer before school started, Mama took us to the JC Penney store downtown.  It was really sort of a JC Penney catalog outlet, but they had good prices on some pretty odd-lot merchandise.  Once, when shopping alone one day after school (I was supposed to be at my dad's office), I dared to spend part of my allowance on a pair of nylon hip hugger underwear with pink smiley faces; Mama was mortified and lectured me for days on how nice girls don't wear a) nylon panties, 2) hip hugger panties and D) underwear with smiley faces printed on them.  So my secretly rebellious self wore those things as often as possible - after all, it was my hard-earned dollar.  But I digress...  Hoping to find similar bargains on that back-to-school shopping trip, I couldn't wait to get to the store.  Suffice it to say that my excitement was short-lived when the only bargain to be found that day were three wretched, robin's egg blue MaidenForm bras in just my size.  Not a Playtex 18-Hour iron bra in sight.  My mother went on and on about how well these would hold up - both in terms of support and daily wear - and the die was cast.  I became the proud owner of three blue back-to-school bras.  And remember those blouses my mom was so fond of?  Well, these hideous blue bras on my pale as a ghost skin showed through everything.  Although my mother continually assured me that my unmentionables weren't noticeable, a lot of other people sure noticed them and made more than a few mentions of that fact.  I hated those damn blue bras and I prayed every day that they would just wear out and I could go back to a plain white iron bra.  Mama got her money's worth - those things lasted a whole school year and then some!