September Acres

As part of our 'no spend (controlled spend) February' ( see what we did last year )we are also trying to 'eat from the pantry' - or use up all the things I have bought in the past.  There's a good bit in there for our family of 3 so I think we can do it, with the exception of perishables.  Even canned goods have a 'best by' date so they don't last forever.  It also gives me a chance to really see what I have in the pantry. To get this started I went through the pantry and cabinets to see what kinds of goodies I had accumulated and made a list.  I went through the freezer as well - frozen doesn't mean forever, either. Looking at my list I did a meal plan for the month of February.  We have a hockey tournament one weekend so that means I won't be cooking much so I have budgeted for any eating out we might do.  I have also made a list of anything I think I might need to get me through the month - we are out of garlic pepper, for example, so I w

LM celebrated her 10th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I am not quite sure where 10 years has gone.  She wanted a 'Smurfs' party and a bouncy house (they are all the rage here, are they like that where you live?).    I ordered her invitations from EK Web Designs on Etsy.  We chose design #3 and had them customized.  I was sent a proof and then a PDF file which I had printed at the Walm*rt photo center. So easy and they turned out adorable! Party City was showing these blue hanging pom poms with their Smurf items and I loved them.  They are actually still up! Here's a view of the party table which I kept inside and had a snack/drink table set up outside by the bouncy house. The Smurf cake was a hit and quite tasty.  LM asked for Red Velvet which you can now buy a box mix for  & that's what she asked for instead of me making it from scratch.  Works for me.  I think we got the Duncan Hines mix and it turned out fabulous, if you ever want to make red velvet the

Valentine's Day is around the corner.  Really, it is.  So I figured it was high time to show the mantel some love as it's been 'naked' since I took down Christmas.  The lovely mantel was decorated using things I already had.  That's the way I like it.  'Love' garland made using my Cricut a few years ago.  Another Cricut project framed in this romantic looking frame. The DIY mercury glass vase makes yet another appearance.  The silver branches look wintry to me and it is still winter so I figured they could stay out. I love using books, especially on the mantel.  I stacked some red ones here. My mom framed the little print on the right for me.  It fits in perfect here. Do you do alot (or any) Valentine decorating around your house? Linking up to the Valentine Linky Party Dear Lillie, Beth's Mantel Link Party & Sherry's Open House Party .

Well, alot of you woke up to this type of weather this morning.  Not me.  Of course here in Arizona a snow day is a thing of dreams.  Hope everyone who got it is enjoying their winter wonderland. Today actually has me thinking 'where the heck did January go?'  It's more than half over and the month has been a whirlwind.  I called in the payroll the other day and the lady at the payroll company said  "2nd and last payroll for January".  Um, no, that can't be.  But sure enough she was right! I hope to be back soon with something a bit more exciting than this.  LM had her birthday party last weekend so there are cute cake photos to share.  Lots of projects I want to do, of course. There's all that organized home stuff I want to share.  Right now it's all I can do to keep the kitchen & bathrooms clean, beds made and clothes clean.  I often wonder how three people can generate so many clothes. So, there you go.  Have a great Thursday.  Enjoy the

It's already the second week of January.  Yikes.  I really want to get organized this year.  I know, I've said it before.  Things really got out of control the last couple of months and it's time to reign things in and get it all together before we end up on Hoarders or Extreme Clutter.  So, the first thing I did was get this big wall calendar for 2012.  I am a visual person and like to see the entire month when I lift my head so it's on the wall in front of my desk.  So far so good. Using this calendar I want to mark out time to take care of one big thing a month.  12 goals in 2012.  Perfect.  The first thing that needs to be done is my office .  I haven't set a date for that yet but it needs to be in January and will likely take a couple of days.  And a big shovel.   Next is our 'linen closet' .  I use the term loosely since we don't actually have a closet but some cabinets in the hallway.  That's not all bad expect that they aren't really