Holiday Baking

I love the Holidays!  Even this year, being out of work, I haven't let that get me down!  Today I bakes cookies and mini donuts to take to a holiday kids party tomorrow.  I really think they will enjoy the treats as much as I enjoyed making them.

Tomorrow I make the marshmallows to take as well!

Jingle

Today was my 3rd Jingle Bell Run/Walk to benefit the arthritis foundation.  I do this walk every year, not only to raise money, but because this is the first 5k I walked in when I started to change my life and get healthy!  

Today I walked the 3.1 miles in 1:03:36 pushing a stroller!

Yea Jingle Bell Run/Walk!

Kroger Private Selection!

What perfect timing! Check these great pre-made Pizzas, Desserts, and Appetizer during the busy holiday season!

Truly Awesome Chocolate Chip cookie!

These cookies are GREAT! We love them at our house!!

Craft Show!

Heading out tomorrow for my first craft show!  I am selling No Sew Tutu's, homemade marshmallows, gingerbread cookies, chocolate dipped peppermint sticks, hot chocolate and 100% cotton dish clothes that I made!

These are also items I make for gift baskets for Christmas!

I can't wait!

Raccoon Creek State Park, PA

As promised, pictures from backpacking!

It was really great fun.  On Sat we hiked in about 2 miles and dropped off our packs and collected lot's of fire wood for the night.  We also started a small fire to dry up a lot of the food as well as the fire ring.  It was supposed to and did get really cold Sat night.  Actually the temps dipped as low as 35ish. We froze!  oh yea, So after setting up camp a bit we had lunch and then headed out on a 4 mile hike of the Apaloosa trail. It was amazing!

I was so cold that during the night I got up as well as Devon and attempted to make fire just to get warm.  We did get fire, but also a whole lot a smoke!  Basically we slept in a smoke house....lol...

The next morning we got up and got the fire going again while having hot drinks and breakfast.  Then we hiked the 2 miles out.

It was a great birthday weekend spent with great friends!

Home for the night.  This adirondack shelter was built by the boy scouts. 

the inside.

Random trail.

Nose picking root!

The obstacle course! 

Me cheezing!

The pocket rocket at work! This little beauty will boil a cup of water in like 3 minutes!  

This weekend!

This weekend I turn 41.  Thought I would celebrate my healthy lifestyle by backpacking with a great friend and her nephew!

We will be doing an overnight on the Apaloosa trail and staying overnight in a shelter and heading out in the morning.  Pictures to follow.

xo
L

Cruise

Whew, just getting back from vacation and am tired, tired, tired!

We had a fantastic time aboard the Carnival Freedom.  We visited St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau.  We've been to Nassau several times, but enjoyed it just the same.  Antigua was by far my favorite Island so far.  We visited Devils bridge as well as a naval base and a few other local attractions.   I do feel like when cruising we have to do a quick scan of the highlights the first time around, and then when we make it back we can revisit the favorite spots.

Below are a few pics highlighting our trip!

Mom and I getting off the ship in St. Thomas

Mom, Jay and I at formal night.

Jay and Gnomeo getting ready to board the flight.

Mom and Gnomeo

Formal Night!

Emerald Beach in St. Thomas

More Emerald Beach

Cute pedi at Emerald Beach

The Freedom

Daily Activities

Antigua

More Antigua

Devils bridge in Antigua

An actual working telephone booth!

Ship in port

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Tortola beach.

How to save water in Tortola!

The island of Tortola!

  

Green Mountain Coffee

I'm really enjoying my Pumpkin Spice Green Mountain Coffee!!! It is part of their Fair Trade line!




Some quick facts I didn't know.

• Farmers are paid a fair price for their harvest
• Farmers can invest their Fair Trade premiums in their communities and businesses
• Farmers must adhere to a number of environmental standards
• Fair Trade Certified farms must follow strict labor laws and practices
• Fair Trade investments and requirements help create high-quality coffee

Tasty and responsible!  

Burt's Bees

Finally a product I can use on my skin!  Last night I washed my face and moisturized with no stinging, or redness.  This is truly a first for me, and I am sooooo excited!

Check it out!

Pumpkin Bake

Yummy eats tonight with the fresh pumpkin I baked the other day.  I made a pumpkin bake, or crustless pumpkin pie if you will!

A 1 cup serving has 113 calories, 15 carbs and 9 sugars!  I added light cool whip for about 25 more calories.  This was test batch one and turned out really well.  The only thing I may try different next time is light coconut milk to reduce the sugars and more ginger!

1 cup Splenda (or sugar, or 3/4 cup honey)
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 Cups pumpkin puree (can use canned here)
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 whole eggs
1 12oz can fat free evaporated milk.

Mix well.  Spray one 9 inch pie pan, or several small oven safe dishes and bake at 350 for about 90 minutes. Mine was ready at about 70, but it depends on the baking dish.  The filling will be lose but will set up while cooking!

You will know it is done when the center is set and when a knife inserted comes out clean.

Very yummy and fall like!

No sew tutu

Thanks to a lovely gift of tulle from my sister in-law, I created a cute little tutu for my bedazzled cousin!  She is 4 and takes after me is so many ways. She loves all thing sparkly and glittery.  So of course I needed to make her a tutu.  Well, she loved it!

While visiting the other day, she shows me her Halloween costume, she is going to be a bumble bee.  Her mom asked if I could make her a matching tutu for that because the one on the costume is a bit anemic!

And so the bumble bee tutu was born.  

This also got me to thinking that I should make these for a craft fair I am going to in November.  My original plan was to make ginger bread cookies, homemade marshmallows, and maybe some other candy, but I am totally adding these to the mix. 

Christmas

I've been getting ready early this year for the holidays! I love this time of year, and am really getting excited. Today, we bought tickets to go to the Polar Express in Dennison with the family, can't wait!

I can say that as of today I am 50% done shopping!  woot!!!

I am also getting ready for vacation, headed on a cruise and can not wait!

xo
L

Coupons

The coupon stars aligned today!  Normally when I head out to coupon, I can count on most stores being out of stock on whatever is on sale. This means that I get rain checks and have to go back.  I know this and accept it as part of the process, you know the whole don't sweat the stuff that you can't change and all that!  Well, today I hit Walmart, which I hate, CVS, Target and Meijer....... and got EVERYTHING!  I am so excited!!!!

I spent out of pocket about $23 and saved a little over $75 on my weekly shopping!  The couple of hours I spend each week to organize, plan and implement is soo worth the savings in my book!

Coupon Class

I love couponing!  Seriously, sometimes it like hitting the lottery when something I need goes on sale AND I have a coupon for it!

This week however, I am not doing much in the line of shopping since I will be going on vacation and really don't need to be stocking up on anything.  That being said, I do need to start working on my coupon class for a local church.  I honestly think this will not only help them but me as well. I need to get a bit more organized in my attempt to save!

Go Buck!

O-H-I-O

Family

Had an awesome day today with my cousin. I truly feel blessed to have her in my life!  We shopped, we laughed, we even bitched! It was great!

I also got some good Christmas shopping done!

Today = Win!

Frugal vs Cheap

Before I get into to many posts about discounts, coupons and good deals I feel like I need to define my frugality!

For me, there is a difference between being frugal and being cheap.  Cheap people will attempt to benefit from any scenario no matter who they may offend or hurt in the process.  For example, always allowing others to pay for them, or complaining to get things for free. Those types of behaviors are not in my realm of life.  Being frugal in my world is attempting to find the best deal on any given item without skimping on quality.  If I want/need something, I will buy it, however I will look for a deal, coupon or sale first.  Same thing goes for travel and groceries.  The deals are out there, you just have to find them!

For example, this is how my day went today!

Hair cut $10 plus $5 tip.  I had just showered so there was no need to wash!

Pedi.  $30 plus $5 tip.  Our hair dresser pointed us in the direction of  a new nail salon. They are offering 30% off on Pedi's.  Not only did I save money, I was able to upgrade and get a cute design on my big toe!

Target, total before coupons $28, out of pocket $2.16.  This was a really good trip. I had 4 coupons for free items, and a couple other really good coupons that lined up with a sale.

Now for my favorite. Whole Food, total $39, out of pocket $10.  A few weeks ago living social had the pay $10 and get a $20 certificate.  I bought one, and three of my friends bought one from my link, so I got one free, and my mom bought one for me. so I paid $10 for $40!

This was a great shopping discount day!

Fresh Pumpkin Puree

I acquired 2 sugar pumpkins this year and really wanted to do something with them besides have them sit on the counter and get soft.  Plus, I am really trying to reduce the amount of preservatives I take into my body.  Hence the following!


This is a Sugar Pumpkin, or Pie Pumpkin.  Different from the pumpkins you carve, which are Jack o' Lanterns! These are smaller, more sweet and less stringy.

Once I washed the pumpkins, I cut them in half with a serrated knife and scooped out all the seed. I actually keep the seeds, wash them and bake them.  Yummy treat and garnish if I make soup!  Once I had both pumpkins cut and seeded I placed them cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet and covered with more foil.  I baked them at 350 for about an hour.  Poke them with a knife, when very tender they are done!  

Once done, I flipped them over to cool quicker.  They are seriously steaming when they come out!  After about 10 minutes I could pick them up. I used a large table spoon and scooped the meat of the pumpkin out and into a mixing bowl.  This was very easy, the meat honestly just falls out.  Super simple. 

This step took a small amount of experimenting on my part.  The website I was looking at to figure this all out suggested to use an immersion blender to puree, I don't have one. I first tried my trusty 3 cup food processor, however, there is very little liquid in the pumpkin, so that didn't work.  I then took out the hand mixer and it worked perfect!  It took about 1 min, and I have this lovely puree!  I am going to let it stand for about 30 minutes and then drain any water that surfaces then package to freeze. My thought is that I want to make some no crust pie next week, so I will measure out the amount for that and mark the bag, then I want to make some soup this winter so I will freeze the rest! 

These are the pumpkin seeds rinsing in salted water before I bake them.  I like the salted water because it doesn't make them too salty.  Sometimes if you sprinkle the salt on before baking, it can be to much. 

Yea for fall!

Recycle Project

ok I did it!  I turned 8 plastic shopping bags into a gift bag the size to hold one pint canning jar!

I removed all the colored panels from the bags first.  This left me with 8 small colored squares and 8 longer white sheets. I ironed the colored ones first.  Lesson 1, low low low iron setting and slowly move iron around the paper. If you leave it to long the plastic will melt to fast and you will get holes.  Lesson 2, expect a large amount of shrinkage. I started with 8 full bags, and finished with enough of the white to do 4 6x4 sides and a handle.  The colored piece I used a 4x4 for the bottom and will keep the rest for another bag.

This is my prototype, when I make more I will use other colors of plastic and recycled ribbons and such to decorate!  When all done this will be a 98% recycled gift!  The only new things will be the lids for the jars (sanitary reasons of course, and the contents of the jars!) I am very excited about this holiday gift project!!

Wonder what else I can create with this technique! 

Hills Science Diet

Do you have an older cat like me.  Hills Science Diet 11+ Age Defying™   

Might just be what your cat is looking for.  

#imabzzagent

Werther's Candy

What says fall better than caramel?  Who makes caramel better than Werther's?

The weather has is started to get cooler, the apple orchards are busting with ripe fruit. I don't know about you, but I am heading out this weekend and plan on making a batch of yummy caramel apples!

Werther's is the choice for me when it comes to quality caramel's.  The taste, texture and richness can not be beat.

** I am a bzzagent and get products to try out and blog about. The opinions are entirely mine!**