Printables and Embroidery

This is the time of year, I start thinking about the holidays, and Christmas of course. As we are on a limited budget, I've had to put my thinking cap on. One thing I decided to do was include a small gift in my cards. I don't plan on sending very many but I want the ones I send to be special. I'm thinking of making some stitched cards but don't know if I'll have time but I do have time to make these which are super easy to do. Actually, someone else has already made them up and all you have to do is cut them out.
The website is Ewe-N-Me Printables   Right now they have a sale going on, and for only a small fee, you can download cocoa-treat envelopes..all you do is print them, fold them according to the directions and insert a cocoa pack or other little treat. Slip this in with your card and you're done.

They also have tea envelopes, popcorn envelopes, calendars, bookmarks, candy bar wrappers and many more paper items. I hope you will check it out as I'm sure you'll find something you can use. I ordered some tea bag envelopes and got the download super fast. I highly recommend this site.

I'm working on a cheater quilt top with vintage farm animals. I'm doing all in blue. Jayden loves it already and can name all the animals on the quilt. Here is a sneak peek...

I'm planning on quilting it when its finished. There are 12 animals total. It was sent to me and it sat quite a while in my sewing cabinet but finally I thought I'd better get it done! One of those UFO projects, thinking this next year should be my year to get everything that has been half done finished!

Happy Fall!

These are the pumpkins we grew this past summer, they're decorating in the front for fall right now. The largest one weighs over 20 lbs. It was sure fun wondering what they were from the mystery plant.!

we found this cute little wash board at a foreclosed house, its small and as you can see, it was made for the kitchen sink. I'm planning on listing it on Etsy and hope someone will love it. I sure like the one we inherited from my MIL, which is below. Alan made a box for the bottom and I decorate it seasonally.

I also have a few other things I'm going to list. Some wooden carved tea light candle holders which are really cool, a Welsh sheep that is handmade that we got when we visited Wales, and a few other things.Plus whatever else I can dig up.

Fall Strawberry Bed and a Little Helper

Alan's been working on a second strawberry raised bed and our grandson Jayden is helping out. Alan had made it larger and then realized it was too big so today we redid it. It was so big before it would be very difficult to harvest the berries and also to cover from the hot sun so it was back to the drawing board.  Jayden loves to be outside and he wants so much to be a good helper! He has his own set of 2 year old tools, that's his little rake.
I also planted in one of the other beds, about 90 onion starts. It will be nice in the spring to harvest red onions for salads and sandwiches. I'm planning on planting some potato starts too, I think I'll probably have to order them online as I'm really trying to stay away from GMO and go organic.

Our weather has been in the 80s during the day and in the 40s at night, nice and cool!

Another Frugal and Delicious Dish

The kids had brought home a marinated pork shoulder roast, I guess they were on sale and although it was all gone by the time I discovered they'd cooked it, the little I tasted was so good, I thought the next day, I'd go to the grocery store and pick one up for us. Well, to make a long story short, the marinated roasts were no longer on sale, boo! and the price was way out of our budget. The smallest one was way over $15.00.
 I looked around and found pork shoulder picnic roast on sale, remembering that the .99 cent chef did a post on them, I bought it and was pleasantly surprised on how good it was..so thought I'd share the link for the recipe, BBQ Pulled Pork. 
I boiled the roast with chopped onion for about 5 hours, and then put it in a 350 oven for an hour with more of the dry rub. Its so yummy, falls apart good and great for burritos, tacos, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and anything else you can think of. I have a large bowl of shredded pork in the fridge and figure we had enough for about 4 meals (!) which is great as the roast itself was only $5.00. The rub isn't overly spicy, just right. This photo is from the .99 Chef website.

 If you haven't visited his website, you will find many yummy recipes that are very frugal indeed. We're getting a .99 Cent store within walking distance which is great for us. Yes, you can eat well on a minimum budget if you look for specials and sales, and cook from scratch. Growing our own vegetables helps too, and I love looking at our canned tomatoes, beets, vegetables, soups and such in the outdoor cupboard.

Sunday Inspiration

A Little More

Thanks for all the comments. I sure am praying for our country. Having done alot of genealogy, my family ancestors would be appalled at where our country is today as would be yours, I'm sure. We go to many veterans graves for Find A Grave and remember the sacrifices they gave, only to have our own President shut off benefits, close commissaries, forbid Catholic clergy for celebrating mass  and elderly veterans from seeing their own monuments.

Lets pray that the Lord softens the Presidents heart and he will be willing to bend a bit. The republicans have sent a bill affirming everything in the budget, even health care, just setting back the individual mandate for one year. This seems prudent to me, as its not up and running well at this time anyway. If people want to sign up early, they can. The bill hasn't made it to the Senate floor and sits on Harry Reid's desk. This would probably end the stalemate. Although I have heard the President threatened to veto the bill.
We desperately need our Congress to live within their means, get our deficit down, and quit spending money we don't have. I know we need to stop increasing our credit limit but I don't think this will work at the current time. Not when they close the WWII Memorial and give Sesame Street $450,000,000.
Enough said.

On the home front, we've been working on Find A Grave projects,and  going through old photos, trying to get things organized. Alan's got boxes and boxes of photos he's take over the years. He's been an avid photographer.

Our weather has cooled off and most days are in the 70s now..very nice weather. Beautiful really and its nice with all the turmoil you hear on the news, and online, to enjoy ones home and backyard, cuddle with your grandchildren and count your blessings.

Here are a few cute cat graphics, enjoy!

A Little Different Post

I haven't posted a few days, we've been following the government shut down...as there have been 16 others before this one, we didn't think much was going to happen.  However, this time its a bit different, evidently the current President will not sit down and compromise or let anyone pass bills help the American people cope. The House has sent many bills to help fund treatment for children with cancer, to help the military, etc. All rejected. Harry Reid actually said when asked if he would help one child with cancer "Why would we do that?"
 The park service even has tried to close down monuments funded by private donations which is ridiculous and also have closed down state parks which are funded by the individual states, not federal funds. One park official is quoted as saying ""We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”

Somehow, I don't think this will end well.
I don't know about you, but I'm disgusted.