Menu Plan 2/28-3/6

Image from TakeaBreak

     I'm sorry if some of y'all are getting sick of these menu plans, but this is really the only outlet of domesticity I am getting at this point. I'm wrapping up Butterick 4919, and should have pictures sometime this week.

     I have been super tired the last couple of months, and it got really bad the past couple of weeks. So now I am taking unsulfered blackstrap molasses :gag: every day to increase my iron. It is really helping a lot! Before I started taking it I could have gone to sleep at 3 or so, but I have a lot of energy now. So if you are feeling tired, you might have your iron levels checked!

    Last week's food was pretty good. The spaghetti was the BEST spaghetti E.V.E.R.!!!!!!!! My family thought it was the best spaghetti they had ever had. The bacon and cheese topped chicken was pretty tasty too! The chicken noodle soup was okay. I made homemade noodles that were really good, but the soup was missing something....I'm just not sure what it is yet. The chicken nuggets left a lot to be desired. I think if I had added some extra seasoning and maybe some parmesan cheese to the breading it would have been better.

    Onto the menu: I need 5 meals for this week. I have a bag of rice in the pantry that needs cooked, but I am completely out of meat, so I am starting from square one.
Meats on Sale:
Chuck Pot Roast - $2.17/lb
Sanderson Farms Whole Fryer Chicken - $.77/lb
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - $1.99/lb
Whole chicken is FINALLY on sale! Yippee!!!! (great resource for crock pot recipes)
Dinner 1: Crockpot Rotisserie Style Chicken
Dinner 2: Garlic Chicken
Dinner 3: Spaghetti .....again!
Dinner 4: Chicken Parmesan
Dinner 5: Chicken Rice Casserole

     I'm seriously considering getting a bunch of whole chickens and cutting them up myself to seperate the breasts, thighs, legs, etc. This would be more cost effective, but a lot more work.

     Go make these! Hershey's Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies. Are you still sitting there? I'm serious! Go make those cookies! They are SOOO good! I cooked mine for 8 minutes and they were perfect!

Menu Plan 2/21-2/28

Image by JollyPollyPickins

     Last week's meals were really good (note to self: use only green enchilada sauce on enchiladas). I only got around to cooking the crockpot roast and the garlic chicken (which was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!) though. So, this week I plan to have some carry over from last week. We will have Pioneer Woman's lasagna for dinner tonight.
In the freezer:
1.5 lbs ground beef
small roast
LOTS of chicken (probably 2-3 meals worth)
Meat that is on sale in the Memphis area:
Chicken Breasts - $1.97/lb
Fresh Ground Chuck - $1.99/lb
Top Round Roast - $2.99/lb
Choice Beef for Stew - $2.99/lb
     I only need 4 meals for this week:
Meal 1: Bacon and Cheese Topped Chicken
Meal 2: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Meal 3: Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade noodles
Meal 4: Crockpot Chicken Nuggets

Recipes for Later:
Crockpot Rotisserie Style Chicken (whole chicken is STILL not on sale!)

Grocery List:
Garlic
Parmesan Cheese
28 oz. crushed tomatoes
Spaghetti Noodles

Vintage Pattern Jackpot!

    So this past weekend my mom and I visited a couple of thrift shops. The first one we went to literally had pathways that were more narrow than my hips are. We were all walking sideways through the store. And the stuff was stacked almost all the way to the ceiling! It was kind of scary. Anyways, at the end my mom asked about vintage patterns and they said they had some in the back for $0.25!!! I was SOO excited! I got all the '50s patterns they had.
    I really like this pattern ^^. I think it is cute. I don't know that I could pull of the neck tie, but I think I'll give it a shot!

      This pattern ^^ is for a nightgown. I wear pajama pants to bed, so I won't be needing this one. I might use it for a jumping off point for a vintage slip. I am thinking about making some slips to sell....

      I was really excited about this pattern ^^. I've always wanted a pair of '50s gloves, and now I can make some! I'm not sure about the sizing, I THINK they are a medium, but I am not positive how to measure my hand though...I'll figure it out!

     I'm the most excited about this one ^^. I've never had a vintage skirt pattern before, and I especially like this one. I was looking at the back of the pattern earlier and it calls for lace and netting, but no liner, so I don't know what is up with that, but I can always wear a slip with it. I think it should be pretty fun to make...and quick.

     All those for 50 cents! Can you believe it? I was super excited!

Menu Time!

    Image from X-Ray Delta One

     Well, it's that time of the week again! Menu time! :D I actually look forward to planning the menus for the week. I like to find new recipes to try out and use some old ones. I end up cooking almost every dinner, so I might as well plan the dinners that I am going to have to cook, right?

So anyways, in the freezer we have:

1.5 lbs of ground beef

5 chicken breasts.

So, with that in mind here is a list of the meat that I found in the online sale flyer this week (this is only the meats that interested me, there are other meats on sale):

Boneless English Roast - $2.17 a lb.

Half Pork-Loin (bone-in) - $1.68 a lb.

Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts - $1.99 a lb.

Chicken Breast Tenders - $1.99 a lb.

Pork Tenderloin - $2.99 a lb.

Center Cut Pork Chops - $2.99 a lb.

Dinner 1: Garlic Oven-Fried Chicken Breasts  with homemade bread (in bread machine) and Cowboy Potatoes (baked cubed potatoes with butter, garlic, and lots of bacon!) (use chicken tenders for this meal)

Dinner 2: Pioneer Woman's Lasagna with Salad

Dinner 3: Crock Pot Pot Roast with Rolls (with Texas Roadhouse Cinnamon Butter), Mashed Potatoes, and Frozen Green Beans

Dinner 4: Bacon and Cheese Topped Chicken

Recipes to try later:

Crockpot Rotisserie Style Chicken

Deal Ideas:

Deal Saving Idea - Actually makes money!

General Mills Cereal $2.39

Use $1.00/2 General Mills printable

 Use $1.00 Lucky Charms or Cinnamon Toast Crunch Printable
Use Reese's Puffs $0.55 e-coupon from Cellfire
Pay as low as $1.34 each 

 

Walgreens:
Gillette Fusion $8.99
Receive $4.00 RR
(2/7, Proctor and Gamble insert) save $4.00
Final Price, $0.99

Pattern Storage

     So I am sure that everybody has their own ways of storing used patterns. I have tried until now to stuff the pattern back into the original envelope, but as most of you know, that is all but impossible. You think you have it squished down enough and then the entire side of the envelope rips. So I stumbled across this idea while looking for some vintage patterns. You simply cut the sides of the envelope and glue it to a manilla folder that has been stapled on the sides. That way it holds the pattern pieces. I think this is gonna work really well. I was already storing my patterns in a file box, so this isn't going to be a big deal. It is easy to flip through them and look at the pictures, or organize them by numbers and quickly find the right number. I think it is gonna work really well!

Overdying or Discharging?

     A friend of mine gave me this fabric the other day. It is crossing guard orange. So, since directing traffic isn't in my near future, I need to decide what to do with it. It has a slight glitter woven into it, and there are about 3.5 yards, so it is enough to make a dress out of. 
     I'm thinking about discharging or overdying it. Elizabeth did an excellent post about this awhile back here and here. I'm not really sure what I want to do to it at this point. I'll probably do a discharge soon just to see what it looks like.
    Has anyone done any discharging or dying, and do you have any tips? Otherwise, any ideas on what to do with this?

Butterick 4919 - Part 2

     So I finally got a move on with Butterick 4919
! It's almost there. It is looking really good! It is super cute! I had some trouble putting the bodice together though. My advice to others: "Just keep doing EXACTLY what the instruction sheet says even if it sounds confusing. It will come together in the end.....hopefully." Apparently the front bodice and the back bodice don't actually join. The front bodice hooks in the back under the zipper. Then the zipper zips up. And THEN the ties go around.
    The neckline was a little low cut (as pictured) for my taste. I just wasn't comfortable. So I added a really nifty ruffle around the entire neckline. It stands up straight and lays against my neck. I think it looks really sharp. 
    The full skirt really looks nice though! It is proving to be a bugger to hem though. That's what I'm working on now. Then I just have some hand stitching and it will be done! I'll post the finished dress when I finish.
    On another note, my dress form is just THAT much too big around the torso. And I have it as small as it will go. I suppose I will grow into it. My hips are proportioned just right that the dress form doesn't like it too much....but I suppose I will grow into it! haha!

P.S. I have NO earthly idea where I am going to wear this, but I will figure something out! My mom was joking with me about this being my house-cleaning dress. heehee. :)

P.P.S. I forgot to mention too, that this fabric was $2 a yard and I had a 40% off coupon on top of that. So....it was $1.20 a yard, and it called for 6 yards or something like that. It's going to need a full length slip, because it is very staticky, but what can I say? It's a $15 dress. :giggles to self:

Lovely Dress!!!

image from Anthropolgie 

Isn't this the cutest dress ever? I found this via MakingitLovely.com which is another wonderful blog too!! I would love to find a dress pattern like that. The ruffles on the front and the tie back are amazing! It also comes in white and black. Maybe when the spring dress patterns are out I'll be able to find one!

Menu Planning!!!

Well, today we had a snow day. We got about 3" of snow. (I know, I know, I can just hear everybody in the north laughing, but that's a lot for down here!) School was canceled so we had to find something to occupy ourselves. Last weekend it iced, so I got to plan a menu last week. It worked really well, and I felt really good about it! So today I sat down and designed another menu!

I love planning menus! I like to cook anyways, so this just gives me an excuse!
I wrote out the plan by hand last week, but this week I typed it up in a fancy font. :D I love it! :D Once I printed it out I also drew some hearts and some squiggles on it too.
And yes, just in case you are wondering, it does say "forage" on there. My mom doesn't like to cook, and we all lose incentive when my dad isn't home for dinner. So on the nights he works, I don't even bother to plan anything since we won't cook it anyways. We can eat leftovers or sandwiches or something. So, in case you can't see/read the menu, this is what we are having this week:
Monday
    - Forage
Tuesday
    - Bacon Wrapped Chicken in Crockpot with French Fries (that I got on sale last week for a $1 a bag) and a Vegetable
Wednesday
    - Forage
Thursday
    - Crockpot Roast (or pork chops, I'm gonna check the sales), bread machine rolls, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable.
Friday
    - Hamburgers, macaroni and cheese (but i'm gonna add some bacon like her fancy macaroni recipe), and a vegetable (lima beans)
Saturday
    -  Firehouse Enchiladas (I think I'm gonna use red enchilada sauce this time, just to mix things up a bit)
Sunday
   - Pizza....probably frozen. :) heehee!

So, I enjoy doing that! It was fun, and now I am looking forward to making dinners this week! On another note, don't you just H.A.T.E. it when you start a recipe and run out of ingredients in the middle of it! AGH! I realized after I started mixing ingredients that I couldn't find the vanilla....it sprouted legs and walked off I guess. So I borrowed some from my grandma, and got back home all excited to finish up the most amazing brownies ever! And then I realize we are out of eggs. Rgh. oh well. Maybe tomorrow....

Rag Quilt Inspiration

So school is taking up most of my time nowadays....so I resort to looking at pretty pictures and dreaming about the day I can sew again! Ha! Oh well....I still have so many finished projects to photograph....I'll get around to them....someday.

I LOVE rag quilts! They are so soft and snuggly, not to mention easy to put together! Here is some inspiration for you!

Picture from Puppy Dog Tails 

EXCELLENT tutorial at Puppy Dog Tails! Tutorial 

Picture by OliveHill 

I'm lovin' this one!!! ^^^ It's so cute! It used FreshCut by Heather Bailey. I would love to get my hands on some of that fabric!

Photo by ALaModeFabric

If that doesn't make you want to make one, I don't know what will!!!