Grocery Shrink

Sometimes shoes get so dirty and stinky that they can't be used.  They aren't really worn out, just gross.  When it comes to that, I'll throw them in the washing machine.  The sandals shown are even suede leather.  They turned out fine.  The worst thing that can happen is the shoes are ruined.  They were worthless to me without washing them anyway.  I usually air dry the shoes, though I've heard a couple of shoes in the dryer with some towels makes the towels really fluffy.  Putting some old towels in the washing load helps get the shoes cleaner too (more stuff to rub against.)  Hmmm, towels and shoes have a symbiotic relationship…who knew?

Ooh, my other tip is that saddle soap makes Crocs look almost brand new. And a drop of tea tree oil on a baby wipe can be used to clean the footbed of stinky sandals.

What's your secret to saving shoes?

I found some great things last Friday garage sale shopping.

A $5 wicker table to match my $5 wicker love seat that I got at the same sale last year.  They both need a little glue, wire brushing and painting. I  plan to do all my porch furniture at the same time.

A dresser mirror without the dresser–$5.  I plan to clean it, remove the mounting boards, add a wall hanger, and paint it espresso brown with black glazing.  It belongs in the tiny bathroom off my sewing studio.  I hope it will add light and interest to the room.

A John Deere push tractor with a cracked seat $1.  My baby loves it!  The cracks bother me more than they do him.  I wonder if I can fix them with hot glue and JB Weld?  My cousin works for Dr. Vinyl.  I'll ask her what to do before I mess with it.

Whole food popsicles are delicious and nutritious.  I love making popsicles out of frozen 100% juice, but using the whole fruit is even more nutritious because it preserves the fiber.  Yesterday we had a watermelon that wasn't going to keep much longer.  It was mildly sweet, but not overly delicious.  Since it was a seedless watermelon, I just put the cubes in the blender and gave it a whirl.

Since it wasn't super tasty, I could have added a pinch of sugar, but was feeling lazy.  That turned out great, because after it was frozen, the so-so watermelon tasted like candy.

Once it was blended, I poured it into popsicle molds.  I had lots of watermelon left over, so I filled an ice cube tray and 2 pampered chef crushed ice containers.

The ice cubes were delicious today with a little 7-up over the top.  Not as frothy as an icecream float, but yummy just the same.

I haven't tried it yet, but I don't see why this concept wouldn't work with other fruits like bananas, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, peaches, nectarines.  Do them alone or make a nice combo. 

I have a hodge podge of frames at my house.  Most were $5 or less.   Some were cheapy frames from Wal-mart or bargain garage sale finds.  None of them match.   I got a whim to spray paint my frames black to match each other.  Most of them had easily removeable glass and were easy to paint.  Two of them had backs that weren't removeable without damaging the picture. I used painting tape and scrap paper to cover the glass.  I still got a little paint on it, but some time with a razor blade will fix that. I'm hoping to fill the frames with updated pictures of my family in black and white tones.

I recently found a plastic gold painted mirror for $3 at a garage sale.  While I'm not a big fan of gold frames, I love the frilly details on this one. The gold mirror got a special paint treatment.  I gave it a light coat of dark brown allowing a little gold to peek through in some spots.  Then I gave it a light mist of black.  That gave it an antique look and some depth of color.  It is going in my sewing room which has brown accents.  Now the trick is to hang it so it reflects beauty and still bounce light in the room from the only natural light source.  The mirror above the fireplace is moving too.  Right now it's like a big photo of my ceiling. 

Heidi and I had a hankering for Strawberrie shortcake, but not just the regular kind.  We finally decided chocolate shortcake would be perfect.  We tried this recipe:  http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1813,152179-251205,00.html and just made the cake.  We used whipped topping in the tub and put a pinch of sugar on our strawberries.  The pictures only show a fraction of how delicious it was!

I happened upon Martha Stewarts site today by way of Anna Maria Horner's Blog.  I found a fun and frugal project to make a toy oven from a Cardboard Box.  Looks like fun!  Homemade felt food would go great with this. Go here for instructions.

I’m so proud of my daughter, I just have to boast a little.  Thinking about how far we’ve come puts tears in my eyes.  She is a super intelligent girl who is a 3-D genious.  She was making clothes for herself out of paper, tape and staples when she was 3 years old.  She made, shoes, gloves, dresses…you name it.  And they all fit.  You can imagine my surprise when school was very hard for her.  She struggled with anything that required close eye work and she made lots of reversals.  We shed a lot of tears together, until we found her eye doctor and vision therapy.  Thanks to her therapy, Spell to Write and Read, and my mom’s expert help, Heidi is reading very well!

Heid is 9 and got the notion last week to bake bread.  I was up to my eyeballs in custom sewing projects and finishing up a new sewing pattern.  I just didn’t have time to help her.  I handed her a recipe and wished her luck.  I explained what vital wheat gluten was from my sewing studio and helped her maneuver the oven door.  The rest was all her. 

The recipe called for a 4 stranded braid which mystified Heidi, so she did a 3 strand braid and made a cute little loaf with the 4th strand.  Way to be inventive, Heidi!

I had 7 children for breakfast this morning.  I know many of you have more than that all the time and you have my deepest respect!  With a busy morning–getting ready for swimming lessons by 9am, packing a lunch and practicing violin before we could head out.  I needed something for breakfast and fast! So we made blueberry yogurt pancakes. This was a recipe concocted like the cookie post previously.  Certain proportions almost always turn out right and there’s lots of freedeom with ingrecdient substitutions.  These were no exception. 

Pancakes:

1–8 oz container berry yogurt

2 Cups milk

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons oil

(Blend well with a wisk)

3 C flour (unbleached or whole wheat pastry)

1 t baking soda

(Blend and make a well in the center.  Pour in the wet ingredients and mix until blended. Cook like pancakes.)

Blueberry Syrup

3 Cups water

3 T cornstarch

1 1/2 Cups sugar

Cook on high, stirring with a wisk until boiling and thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 Cups frozen wild blueberries (Costco).  Stir until berries are thawed and sauce is purple.  Enjoy. (This sauce is good on vanilla icecream too.)

On hindsight, the syrup would have been more nutrious with white grape juice as a base and a touch of stevia for a sweetner.  I’ll try that next time. 

We spent the 4th on the farm up in Stewartsvile, Missouri.  It is known for it's serenity and beauty.  My mother-in-law inhances its natural beauty with her amazing gardening abilities.  Our holiday was marked by lots of family, food and good wholesome fun like hayrides, homemade icecream, sparklers, s'mores and fishing! It was unseasonably cool and drizzled off and on all day.  That made it very pleasant to be outside.  We just threw on our mud boots and went on our usual way.  I think Aunt Dana looks especially dashing in hers.  She is expecting her first baby and is holding my neice in the photo below.  Enjoy the photos.

Miss Homemade gave me the honor of interviewing me for her blog this week.  You can read the post here:  http://www.misshomemade.com/groceryshrink.html While you are there, poke around awhile.  She has a really useful site with lots of recipes and other fun stuff.