Simple Rhubarb Salad Dressing

Yay! It's salad season. Our spinach is at the perfect, baby-leaf stage. And our leaf lettuce is still tender and young. Meanwhile, over in the rhubarb patch, the stalks are going gang-busters. Tender green leaves combined with bits of rhubarb make a lovely spring lunch combination. Let's head into the kitchen.


This sweet dressing is delicious on baby spinach or mixed greens, along with some diced cooked chicken, bacon crumbles, sliced boiled eggs and strawberry halves. Lacking the extras, Simple Rhubarb Salad Dressing is our favorite dressing for baby spinach with boiled egg slices.

Simple Rhubarb Salad Dressing 

you'll need:

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh rhubarb
1 to 2 shallots minced (or 1 to 2 tablespoons of finely minced onion)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar (bump it up to 3 tablespoons if you like a tangy dressing)
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash black pepper
1/3 cup salad oil

Chop your rhubarb very fine.

Mince shallots (or onion).

In a small stainless saucepan, combine rhubarb, shallots, sugar, vinegar and salt.

It will look like this when you first combine everything in a saucepan

Simmer, with a lid on, for 10 to 12 minutes (until rhubarb is soft).

Once cooked, it should look like this

Whisk in oil. Add black pepper.
This makes 3/4 cup of dressing, and will keep in the fridge for about 10 days.

Toss salad with about a tablespoon of dressing per serving.

There you have it -- our go-to dressing for springtime salads!

Do you have a favorite dressing for spinach salad?

Are rising gas prices causing your blood pressure to rise?

(Additional content at the bottom of this post -- May 19, 2013)

The price of gas jumped 30 cents per gallon in one week! That's huge! And it went up again yesterday from morning to afternoon. (edited: gas jumped another 10 cents Tuesday from morning to afternoon. We're close to a 50-cent increase in just 10 days.) Yikes! Whether this is just a tightening supply issue or something more, what can we do to save on fuel purchases?

Here's the thing. Most of us are already batching our errands. We're driving sensibly -- easing into the acceleration, and beginning to slow before needing to actually break for a stop light. We're doing the things we've been told to keep our fuel use down.

This past month, I've been studying up on how we can save even more on our gas, without too much extra work, time, or know-how when it comes to cars. So, I thought I'd share with you, what's been working for our family.

Maybe you already know these 5 tips. But sometimes, a little reminder gets us back to actually following them. Read on.

1)  When driving around town, unroll the windows instead of turning on the A/C. This is a good time of year for using windows for ventilation, as we haven't reached the super hot days of summer, yet. A rule of thumb number is about 40 MPH. Speeds above, use your A/C. Speeds below, use windows. There are a lot of variables with this basic formula -- make, model and year of car, but basically about 40 MPH is the number.

I checked a couple of different sites on this. Mythbusters recommended 45 MPH, but their testing didn't seem as scientific as that from this site, auto.howstuffworks.com, which recommended the 40 MPH.

I am a lover of A/C. But for in-town driving, I am using my windows this spring. What about the whacky hair that window's down can cause, you wonder? To keep myself from looking like Einstein's sister, when I arrive at my destination, I've been using a scarf to contain my curly locks.

2)  Keep your tire pressure to the manufacturer's recommendation, for your vehicle. You can find this information in your owner's manual, online for your vehicle, or on the inside of the jamb of the driver's door.

So you've heard this before. But did you know that you can improve your fuel efficiency by up to 3%, simply by maintaining proper tire pressure? If you're spending $150 per month on gas for your cars, multiplied by 12 months, that 3% is over $50, by the end of the year, my friend!

Many gas stations have air refilling pumps, some charge 25 cents or so, but many are free. This is a super cheap way to gain back some of that $$ that gas price increases have stripped away from us.

One of our cars has a tire with a very slow leak. It needs a top off of air every one to two months. Until we can get this tire patched, checking air pressure and adding a bit here and there is one of the cheapest things we can do to boost our fuel efficiency. The gas station we use offers free air, so no cost, just a tiny amount of time.

What about over-inflating your tires. This myth has been around for a while, that if under-inflating your tires reduces fuel economy, then over-inflating should improve fuel economy, right? Wrong. According to Popular Mechanics, not only do you not boost fuel economy by over-inflating your tires, you create undue risk to yourself, as handling is compromised on over-inflated tires.

3)  This tip is more likely to save you time, which you could put to better use, which in turn could potentially save you money. Know your car's cost per mile. Cost of gas per gallon (or litre) divided by your vehicle's MPG (or miles per litre). Use this to figure if driving out of your way to get cheaper gas is cost-efficient. So, yesterday's gas price was $3.58 per gallon. Our car gets 24 MPG. Our car's cost per mile is about 15 cents, when the cost per gallon is about $3.60.

If I drive 5 miles out of my way to buy cheaper gas, then I need to save about 75 cents on that fill-up to "break even". We typically put about 11 to 12 gallons into our car per week. If gas is only 3 cents cheaper per gallon, but I have to drive 5 miles out of my way, then I've only saved about 35 cents on that fill-up, and don't reach the "break even" point. But if gas is 10 cents less per gallon, and 5 miles out of my way, my savings on the price of gas is about $1.20/fill-up, or about a 45 cent profit. Depending on the value of my time, this may or may not be enough of a savings to drive out of my way.

Even driving just 1 mile out of my way will cost me 15 cents in gas, and most of the time, isn't worth it to me if I will only be saving 3 cents per gallon, for 11-12 gallons, or 33 to 36 cents savings, netting me just 18 to 21 cents total.

If your car only gets about 20 MPG, then at yesterday's prices in our area, your cost per mile is about 18 cents. Driving 5 miles out of your way will cost you 90 cents. If your tank holds about 13 gallons (which is about average for sedans), and you fill it to FULL every time, you would need a price difference of about 7 cents per gallon just to break even.

The poorer your car's fuel economy, and the smaller the price difference in different gas stations, combined with the less gas you add to the tank at a time, then the less valuable it is to drive out of your way for a few cents worth of savings per gallon. You can probably find something more lucrative to do with your time, than driving all around town to save a couple of pennies.

The most cost-effective way for us to buy our gas, is to make a stop at the lowest-priced gas station, that also happens to be along my regular route, or is very close to someplace I need to go anyway.

My son drives 20-25 miles to work each way, each day. When his tank is low, he checks seattlegasprices.com to find the lowest-priced gas at both ends of his commute. He discovered that it's less expensive to fill up down near his office. Getting gas near your destination, instead of near your home, on a regular basis, could save you a couple of dollars per month.

4)  Buy gas on Wednesday mornings, before 10 AM. When you buy your gas matters, especially with a holiday coming up. Memorial Day is just around the corner for the US. Canada has Victoria Day  next Monday, May 20. If you know you will likely need fuel just before or during that weekend, refuel a few days early, like on the Wednesday morning before the holiday. Wednesday mornings, before 10 AM is often the least expensive time and day of the week to buy gas, and by refueling a few days ahead of the long weekend-pack, you'll snag a cheaper price per gallon.

If you've been in the habit of buying your gas any other time of the week, an article from business.time.com explained why Wednesday mornings are THE best time/day of the week to buy your gas. Switching our gas buying routine from Sundays (our old day to buy gas) to Wednesdays is saving us a few dollars per month, or over $30 per year.

5)  Make sure you are driving the most economical car (that you already own) for your purpose. In the US, many families have 2 cars. Usually one car is designated as Mom's car and the other is designated as Dad's car. You may want to switch this up during the week. If your car gets better fuel economy than your husband's, but you need to travel less during the week, it may make sense for the two of you to switch cars, so that the person traveling more miles per week is driving the car that gets better MPG. We get into habits. And this is one habit you may want to alter.

What are gas prices doing in your area? Did you notice a huge jump in price this last week? What are your plans for dealing with rising gas prices?

One thing I'll be doing this summer, is riding my bike more for errands around town.

(added content 5/19/13) The price of gas in our area has now gone up over 60 cents per gallon in two weeks time. For one of our cars, that's over $7 per week. What am I going to do about it?

Well, I'm carefully laying out my driving plans for the week. I managed to shave 25 miles off my driving this past week, by making 3 trips to our church for drop offs and pick-ups for activities rather than 5 trips, by finding work that I either needed to take care of, or could volunteer for, and be nearby my daughters, minimizing my driving to/from.

I've changed my driving style, allowing more time to get to my destination, accelerating slowly, taking my foot off the gas pedal and coasting for a bit before braking, all the stuff they tell you to do to lessen gas consumption.

And I will likely have to allocate more money towards gas in our budget, and reduce another category, especially when it comes to our family vacation later in the summer.

If you came to my site via Google or other search engine, then I'm assuming that prices have risen for gas in your area, too. Some cities have been impacted more than others. If you are uncertain whether to buy gas today, or hold off for a day or two, gaspredictor.com could give you the info that you need. They base their forecasts on Futures trading.

What are you paying per gallon this week? 

My thoughts on beauty and my own skin care regimen (it's not grand, I'll tell you!)

(Happy Saturday, everyone. This is going up a few hours early.)

In the comments the other day, I was asked to share my skin care regimen. Which is really weird, because my regimen is quite minimal. But I thought I'd share my personal thoughts on beauty, aging and skin.

We live in a warped society, where a 20 year-old woman is thought to be beautiful if she looks like a 12 year-old girl. Women have horrible things done to themselves in the name of beauty. They have their faces injected, cut, lifted, chemically abraded -- all in the name of beauty. Real beauty comes from the spirit of a woman, not the skin that she's wrapped in.

The kind of beauty I pursue, is the beauty of a young mother who snuggles her newborn baby right after his first breath. This same beauty is that of a daughter, tear rolling down her cheek, as she holds her dying father's hand when he takes his last breath. This is love. This is joy. This is sorrow. This is life. This is beauty.

I want to have laugh lines, worry lines and tear-stained cheeks. I want my face to say that I've lived a rich and love-filled life. I want children to know that I'm a pleasant old lady, who enjoys the company of their young selves.


My memories of a very beautiful older lady (and she was indeed a lady)

Her name was Mrs. Reaume. And she was my piano teacher. She had lived through joy and sorrow. She was kind. She was patient. She was gentle. And she was 75 years old.

Her lovely white hair was loosely pinned into a bun on the back of her head. She wore elegant dresses with billowy sleeves, often in the same shade of ice blue as her sparkling eyes.

She was a widow. But somewhere along the line she picked up a suitor, Mr. Earl. She called him her gentleman friend. But my sister and I giggled in secret about Mr. Earl being Mrs. Reaume's boyfriend. Mr. Earl would drive Mrs. Reaume's enormous Cadillac convertible each week, ferrying Mrs. Reaume to her lessons with half-pint pupils. Mr. Earl knew that Mrs. Reaume was a beauty.

Mrs. Reaume's face gently held it's share of wrinkles. But there was beauty in these wrinkles, evidence of a life well-lived. That's the kind of beauty that I pursue.

So, I too will have a face filled with wrinkles, Lord willing that I should live a long life. I really don't fight them. My beauty regime is much simpler than that of many American women, but maybe similar to yours.

What I don't do

• I don't exfoliate
• I don't use a toner
• I don't use soap on my face
• I don't do injections of any kind (ouchy, ouch, ouch!)
• And I don't have a cabinet of products that I use every day

In fact, I have 1 product for daily use. It's a moisturizing lotion that I use as my cleanser, moisturizer and eye"cream".

I have extremely sensitive skin, prone to eczema. My face can not tolerate many products. Exfoliation would be painful, A toner would chap my skin. Soap burns. I have tried many products which claim to be good for eczema. But so far, I've just found one moisturizer (and I use it as an all-purpose product) which actually helps the feel and condition of my skin. It's called CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion. You buy it in the drugstore.

About 5 years ago, I read a book on dealing with eczema. The doctor recommended a different lotion, which I could not find locally. But the key ingredients were ceramides. If you'd like to read up a bit on ceramides here's a link to more info. It appears that ceramides are indeed helpful for eczematic skin (I found that out personally about 5 years ago). If you suffer from eczema, I'd recommend asking your doctor about products with ceramides. Many dermatologists are recommending CeraVe, as it's affordable and over the counter. And that's my big skin care secret! LOL!

I also use cortisone cream during allergy season. I keep a tube of it with me in my purse.


I told you that I use this one single product for cleansing and moisturizing. I tried the cleanser in this line, but found I got better results just using this one product, the moisturizer. So here's my grand skin care regimen.

• I apply CeraVe to my face, then splash off with warm water. 
• I pat my face dry, then immediately put more CeraVe on my face. If I've been out in the wind, I wait for the first coat of CeraVe to soak in, then apply just a bit more. 
• I dab more CeraVe under my eyes, as an eye "cream". Because of it's water content, I have to wait a minute or two before putting on concealer over my dark circles. 
• I do the cleansing/moisturizing thing at least once per day, twice if I've been active, worn make-up, or allergies are causing itchies.

I also had a conversation with a dermatologist (who had great skin, by the way, for a woman in her 60s, obviously followed her own advice) several years ago. She told me great skin is mostly genetic, but there were a few things I could do to influence my own outcome.

Avoid:

• alcohol
• tobacco
• caffeine
• soda pop
• stress
• sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM

She said "do":

• use sunscreen 
• wear sunglasses
• wear a hat when outdoors
• eat fish, nuts, avocados and olive oil

Basic stuff that we've all heard, but I do think this common sense approach can benefit both our insides and our outsides.

How have I done over the years with this? Well, I'm great on the tobacco and alcohol. And I gave up soda about 18 years ago.

I'm not always great about avoiding the sun, but I do wear a hat. I live in Seattle -- so I can never find my sunglasses, and that's a problem.

I'm terrible on the stress and eating fish. I really dislike fish, but I am trying very hard to include it. And I can't seem to give up coffee. I'm down to half-caff coffee. I'm trying to get down to 1/4 caffeinated coffee. (Any tips on cutting out coffee would be greatly appreciated. I do okay for a while, then I slip back into drinking a lot of it again.)

And the stress, well, what can I say. Stress is one of the worst things you can do for the outside and inside of your body. Stress causes our bodies to produce cortisol. Cortisol reduces the skin's collagen. Collagen is what gives your skin it's elasticity. Elasticity is what makes our skin look tight and plump. If you pinch the back of your hand, the pinch mark should go away almost immediately in young, pre-menopausal skin. But if your body has been making a lot of cortisol for a while, that elasticity will be diminished. That's a sign that you're aging both on the inside and the outside. I am working on the stress issue, finding better ways to de-stress and taking supplements which help with stress.

I expect my skin will "age" considerably in the next 5 years or so. I haven't gone through menopause yet, but someday will. It's a part of life.

I'm much more concerned, though, with how my insides will age. If someday, I'm old and wrinkly, well at least I'm old, is my attitude. I hope to become a sweet, little old lady, sporting plenty of laugh and worry lines.

How about you? What's your beauty secret?

Produce triage: preventing produce waste

Triage is a rather important sounding word for what I do with our produce. But it fits.

I first heard of the word triage when watching M*A*S*H in the 70s. The word triage comes from the verb (Fr) trier, which means to separate or select. It's been mostly used in medical settings, as in the TV show M*A*S*H.  But I am hearing it used more and more outside of the medical field, such as "to triage an issue".

Basically triage means to give priority to what needs and could most benefit from urgent attention.



If you are on a tight budget, buying produce by the bag can save you a substantial percentage of your grocery budget. But buying bagged produce sounds like a recipe for waste disaster for many of us. Have you ever bought a bag of fruit or vegetables, and had half the bag rot, unbeknownst to you? This has happened in my kitchen.

It's not like I am carelessly picking up the first bag of oranges I see at the market. I actually search the bag, through the plastic, to see if the produce is good all through. But still, there can be that lone orange or onion that has gone soft, and will soon rot, contaminating the entire bag. (And it's the one usually hiding behind the label, hmmm.)

Several years ago, tired of this happening, I decided to make a change in my at-home treatment of produce. I now "triage" all my bagged produce as I bring it into the house.

I go through each bag, and pull out any pieces of produce that look like they could "go" at any moment. I place these in a spot in my kitchen fridge that means, "use this first". The good pieces either get loaded into drawers in the garage fridge (like onions, apples and oranges), or tucked into a paper grocery sack (like potatoes) to store in the pantry.

Just this week, I bought a large sack of onions, and found this one, near the bottom. It was usable. I just had to cut off about a 1-inch by 2-inch chunk. If I had not triaged this bag of onions, this onion would have rotted and caused the rot of several more onions.

I also bought a bag of oranges. In this bag I found several squishy ones. They are still edible, but will be the first to "go" in about a week. So, these have been designated to be used up within a few days.

Here's 10 lbs. of potatoes. They were in a plastic bag. Sometimes the potatoes have sat in a damp warehouse in storage. Moisture covers the potatoes inside the bag and mold forms on the skins. The plastic bags do have some ventilation holes, but even so, my potatoes feel slightly damp on the skins. By transferring to a paper sack, not only does the moisture dissipate, but I can keep these potatoes in darkness better (and longer) in the paper, preventing some of the green that develops on and just below the skin. And yes, not only were these potatoes a bit damp, but I found one potato with a large bruise. I cut off that bruise and cooked the potato the next day.

It may sound like a lot of work, to go through the bags once I'm home, but it's really not. It only takes a few minutes per bag. And I usually only buy a couple of bags of produce at a time. I view it as just another part of putting the groceries away.



I also triage containers of berries right away. I search the sides of the berry clamshell in the store, and think all is well, only to find several moldy berries at the bottom in a few days. So, I gently empty the plastic clamshell onto a dish towel, sort through, set aside those that should be consumed that day, or frozen for smoothies or cobblers later. I add a paper towel or napkin to the bottom of the container, then refill with the berries. A container of berries will keep several days longer, with this extra bit of attention, than when I don't triage them.

I do occasionally buy bagged leafy greens, and I have a way to deal with them, as well. Before I put them in the fridge, I open the bag and dump them into the salad spinner. I pull out any leaves that look like they could get yucky right away, and use or freeze that day. The rest I leave in the spinner, and I add about a spoonful of water to the bottom of the spinner (beneath the basket), and keep in the fridge. I had a bag of spinach keep for 8 days this way once (then we'd eaten it all, no telling just how long it could have kept). As I needed spinach I would pick through the leaves in the spinner and find those which should be used first. The aging leaves were pulled out earliest, plus nothing sat up against the inside of a plastic bag, and I think that's what kept the spinach so fresh, for so long.

I don't seem to have a problem with bagged carrots or celery, so I don't do anything out of the ordinary with either of them.

How about you? What's your best tip for preventing produce waste?

10 best buys at my dollar store

The chain is Dollar Tree. And in recent years they have made a push to enlarge their grocery selection. You do need to know your prices, and do a little math in the store. But here's what I've found to be the 10 best buys at our local Dollar Tree.

1. Paper cupcake liners, 100 ct., both mini and regular-sized for $1
2. Graham Crackers (crucial ingredient in s'mores) almost a 10 oz box for $1 (they sometimes get Honey Maid Cinnamon Grahams, 16 oz boxes for $1)
3. Foil-wrapped holiday chocolate candies (Christmas, Valentine's, Easter), small bag of about 12 pieces for 25 cents, on clearance, after the holiday -- we use these for s'mores
4. Crackers, all kinds, 8 to 10 oz boxes -- I  don't know why anyone would buy crackers in a regular store. When we want crackers for a party or celebration, we head to the dollar store
5. Soy milk -- I buy Westsoy brand soy milk at the dollar store in a quart for $1. Soy milk has really jumped up in price in the last 5 years. I used to be able to frequently buy other major brands of soy milk in the regular grocery store for a dollar on sale. Just not happening anymore.
6. Individually-wrapped snacks, packages of 5, 6 or 8 for $1-- I don't usually buy these. But there is one occasion when I do. When we're traveling by plane I make a stop at Dollar Tree the afternoon before we leave and I buy the multi-packs of single serve, individually wrapped snacks of cheese and crackers, raisins, peanuts, trail mix, breakfast and granola bars. I put all these into a pile on the kitchen table, give each family member a bag, and tell them to choose 4 or 5 items from the pile. This is their traveling day snack, for in the airport, on the plane or any other time during that day, as they are hungry. I wind up spending $6 for the day's and flight's snacks, compared to maybe spending $6 per person in flight. And while it's kind of junky stuff, by our standards, we don't eat like this every day. So I don't feel bad about it.
7. Large sheets of poster board for school projects and signs, 50 cents per sheet.
8. Sweetened shredded coconut flakes for baking, $1 for 6 or 7 oz. bag (depending on brand). Do you make Dream Bars, the incredibly yummy, multi-layered coconut, graham crumbs and chocolate chip bar cookies? 
9. Sea Salt, $1 for  26 oz container of San Francisco Bay brand sea salt -- good for cooking, yes, but also nice for making bath salts
10. Panty liners, 40 ct. package, $1 -- grocery store brands have 22 ct. packages for about $1

Like I said, if you know your prices, you can snag some really great deals at Dollar Tree. What deals have you found at your dollar store?

I don't always shop at the dollar store ; )

I shave the budget where I can. But I do splurge when the purchase will benefit our family greatly.

I've been making our bread the old-fashioned way, with a bowl, spoon and a lot of muscle, for 25 years now. I also was gifted with a rather used, hand-me-down bread machine a few years ago. But my aging and crippled machine's days are numbered. The time has come to decide how we're going to make our bread. (And while buying bread is certainly an option, we've become so accustomed to our recipe for bread that we're quite spoiled!)

For 7 long years now I've been debating whether or not to buy a stand mixer, primarily to mix and knead bread and roll dough, but also for large batches of other batters or dough. Last week I found a very good deal. The stand mixer that I wanted, on sale at a good price, plus an extra 10% discount with a coupon code, plus free shipping, and I had a gift card in my purse to the store selling this mixer.

The day I took it out of the box I mixed a large batch of whole wheat bread dough, enough for 3 loaves of bread, a batch of hot dog buns and a pan of cinnamon rolls. The next day, I used the mixer to make a double batch of pizza dough, half for that day's pizza and half for the freezer for easy homemade pizza, on another day.

I think it's safe to say that I'll be getting a fair amount of work out of this mixer, and my injured shoulder might just get a break long enough to heal properly.

Have you splurged on anything lately? What's your criteria for splurges?

Add ambiance to your outdoor space with budget-friendly outdoor lighting (25 cents per light)

When I'm attempting a crafty project, my inspiration springs from my current selection of supplies, before I buy anything new. I really don't need more supplies in my cupboards.

Each spring/summer I dream over glossy images of strings of lights, suspended over decks and patios. The lights glisten in the dark and make an ordinary night look festive. I had a bad case of downright envy, at a neighbor's house one evening, two years ago. She had these adorable dragonfly lights hung from the overhang over her patio. We have no such overhang. There is nothing to suspend the lights from over our deck or patio.

So I just need to be creative. Candles (both real and faux) are always lovely, and can be set anywhere, just needing some protection from winds (for real candles).

In Dollar Tree the other day, I was browsing the candle aisle, and saw some votive candles, priced 4/$1. I looked over their votive holders, but for $1 a piece, none caught my eye. In that moment, I realized that I had all the makings of something far cuter, all in my own cupboards. Making use of things I already had -- that is always a happy thought! So I bought a 4-pack of sage green votive candles, to make into my own outdoor lighting.

Here's what I used:

half-pint jelly jars (from the pantry)
a length of grosgrain ribbon in a light shade of green (from my gift wrap ribbons box, came on a gift last spring)
raffia (who here doesn't have a bag of raffia sitting around -- ask around, someone you know is bound to have some)
faux ivy (this is leftover from the wreath and basket I made for spring decor)
hot-glue gun (if I didn't have a hot-glue gun I would have used rubber cement-type craft glue)
sand, (about 2 to 3 tablespoons sand per jar, alternatively some people use salt in candle jars) if using a traditional candle; not necessary for battery ones

and of course the purchased votive candles (a 4-pack for $1)

I wrapped the ribbon around the jelly jars, just below the threads for screwing on a lid. It took about 9 inches to go all the way around, and have a bit of overlap for gluing.

I used hot glue to secure the wrap of the ribbon to itself (but not to the jar, I want to be able to use these as jelly jars again this fall). The glued ends are on the backside of the candle holder.

I hot-glued a sprig of faux ivy to the front of the ribbon wrap. Lacking faux ivy you could also just tuck a sprig of evergreen like Camellia, under the raffia bow.

I laid the jar on a cloth, to make the bow-tying easier. Then I took a length of raffia, doubled it over and wrapped it around the ribbon and ivy, concealing the end of the faux ivy under the raffia. I tied the bow and trimmed the ends.

Pour in some sand, level, and plop in a candle and I've got a votive candle in a holder for about 25 cents. (I also tucked in some sea glass and shells, as I think they look pretty.)

These were quick to make. I did 4 in about 30 minutes. If you had a large event in your garden this summer, you could easily do a dozen in an hour, especially if you made these assembly line-style.

And you don't need to go to all the trouble of layering the ribbon with ivy and raffia. You could just tie on brightly colored ribbons. Those would look very festive.

We have a lot of small critters in our area. So I wouldn't leave these on the deck railing overnight, but would tuck them up against the house at the end of the evening.

And if I had small children running about, I'd use the battery-operated faux votive candles. I also buy those at the dollar store in packs of 4 for a dollar.


Candle and glass safety

Glass can and does break from candles. This mostly happens when making a poured candle, not with votives, or using non-canning jars or vintage canning jars. But just to err on the side of caution:

• use votives or tea lights, not large pillar candles
• do not use vintage canning jars, as they are prone to crack
• do not use a cracked, chipped or heavily scratched jar
• only use canning jars, do not use other food jars
• the sand will both balance the candle and serve as a bit of insulation at the bottom of the jar from a bit of the heat of melting wax. Balancing the candle will keep heat from building up on one side of the jar. The bonus with the sand is that melted wax comes right out of the jar.
• do not burn the candle all the way down
• trim the wick to about 1/4-inch
• place jar on a level and heat-resistant surface, away from dried matter of all kinds
• if using for indoors, consider the battery-powered lights. They're just as pretty and won't pose any risk, should they be unattended (like in a powder room when you have guests over).
• if you are wanting to use vintage jars (the blue ones are beautiful with a light in them), use the battery-powered tea lights. You won't run the risk of ruining your lovely vintage jars.
• if you are still not sure about a candle in use, the battery-powered tea lights are also priced at 4/$1 at Dollar Tree, and will most definitely not cause a fire.

A tip for making bows nice and straight

Do your bows ever look crooked? As a girl I worked in a department store in the gift wrap station. I learned a trick for tying bows which don't go crooked after tying.

First, you make the half-knot part of the bow. Then turn the package or item that you are tying, around 180 degrees. Tie the remaining portion (the two loops) of the bow.

So, for these jelly jars, I tied the half-knot with the jar in what would be the upright position. Then I spun the jar around until it was what would be upside down, and finished off the bow.
I've never thought this all through, but by doing this, my bows turn out straight, instead of the formerly crooked ones.

Pizza in 5!! 5 steps, 5 minutes

This is the easiest (and possibly least expensive) pizza you may ever make at home. But to qualify, this isn't pizzeria-style pizza. This is have a snack, go with soup for dinner, make quickly in the morning for breakfast, feed the kids lunch type of pizza. It's what my kids will make for themselves after school, in the morning, and late at night. We call them pizza sandwiches. They are oven-toasted, open-faced sandwiches.

The crust -- sliced bread, any will do. I've used the super cheap stuff, bread machine bread and thick slices of French bread. (This one is whole-wheat bread machine bread).

The sauce -- pasta or pizza sauce. You can even make "instant" pizza sauce in the microwave from canned tomato paste. Here's my recipe:

"Instant" Pizza Sauce
In a microwaveable measuring cup or bowl, stir together 1/2 cup tomato paste, 1 minced clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons minced onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano and basil, and 1/2 cup of water. Microwave for 40-60 seconds. You can sub onion (1/4 teaspoon) and garlic powder (1/8 teaspoon) for the fresh, and this is even more "instant".

Cheese -- mozza, cheddar, Parmesan, whatever we have in the fridge.

Toppings -- after Thanksgiving, we like to make turkey-pizza sandwiches. These are thin slices of turkey breast, lightly salted and peppered, and layered between the sauce and cheese (between, so the turkey doesn't dry out). Any cooked meat can be added here. Other "regular" pizza toppings for on top of the cheese an be used. I like olives and green pepper slices.

The Method

STEP 1
Lightly toast the slice of bread in your toaster, just until firm, but not browned.

STEP 2

Spread the toasted bread with pizza or pasta sauce. You can use jarred sauce, "instant"sauce, leftover spaghetti sauce. I keep homemade pizza/pasta sauce in the freezer. I do big batch cooking, and it's ready when I want it.

STEP 3

Sprinkle with cheese -- mozzarella, Parmesan, feta, cheddar, whatever you have in your fridge.

STEP 4

Add toppings -- olives, sliced veggies, pepperoni, mushrooms, cooked sausage/ground beef -- the sky's the limit!

STEP 5

Broil in your oven until the cheese is melty and golden. And you're done. Pizza is served!! Pizza in 5: 5 steps, 5 minutes.

Why your freezer could be a secret goldmine *or* April Grocery Money Journal

(This is long. I apologize for that.)
April 5. Went to Fred Meyer for light bulbs, found milk both on sale and on clearance. The on sale milk was whole - $2.50/gal. and the clearance was skim - $1.99/gal (only 1). I bought 3 gallons whole milk and the 1 skim. Spent $9.49, and have enough milk for at least 3 weeks.

April 20. Milk on sale for $2.49/gal at Walgreen's. Bought 2 gallons. Spent $4.98, for a month-to-date total of $14.47.

April 21. About out of decaf coffee. I was given a $5 Starbucks gift card last month, so I could go have a "nice cup of coffee" sometime. I chose, instead, to take that gift card and buy ground decaf Sumatra. I'll make several "nice cups of coffee" for the price of just one. Total spent -- nothing!

April 25. I keep wondering if I'll need to stop at a store to actually buy anything. I have managed to find substitutions for just about everything. And my freezers are looking much more manageable. Ideally, I'll get my large freezer down to just meat, and one shelf of assorted other items. And my kitchen freezer will close properly, without fail.

April 26. Used my $10 birthday coupon to World Market to buy vanilla beans. I got 6 good-sized vanilla beans for making extract this next week -- for free! Just need the vodka. Still, total spent for the month to date -- $14.47.

April 28. Stopped by QFC, found two 1/2 gals. of milk priced at 99 cents ea. Also, cream cheese was on sale for $1 for 8 oz. brick, and found several bunches of red band bananas at 39 cents/lb. (markdowns, sold as baking bananas, but most still too yellow for baking, we'll be eating these fresh).
Total spent at QFC -- $8.07, and total for month-to-date -- $22.54




So, you're probably wondering where the rest of April's Grocery Money Journal is. The truth is, this was it. Yep! $22.54, for a family of five, was all we spent for the entire month of April. That's roughly 15 cents per person, per day, for the month! Now let me explain why.


Middle of the night in early April -- I couldn't sleep. I got up to walk around, thought a snack might help me get back to sleep, so went to the kitchen. Once I was there, I decided that I really wasn't hungry after all. But I did noticed a strange sizzling sound coming from either the freezer or the dishwasher next to it. 

I leaned against the freezer door handle, so that I could listen to both appliances. It seemed like the door moved just a tad, but I couldn't be sure. I opened the freezer door to find water dripping from the ceiling of the freezer onto the food. Ugh! Just what I need. 

I checked the thermometer read-out and the freezer was at 16 degrees F (it's supposed to be 0 F). I waited a few minutes, then checked the read-out again. Still 16 F. I decided to unload the freezer into one of the garage freezers, just in case the whole thing was about to give up the ghost.

I went online, and discovered that it could just have been a door not shut all the way, or the fan could have been blocked (the freezer was really packed full), or, and I was dreading this as a possibility, it could be something major, requiring about $200 in labor and a $500 part. Double Ugh!

The advice I got online was to check to make sure the door was totally shut and nothing was blocking a fan. Done! And wait 1 hour. Then check the temperature read-out again. 

So, middle of the night, online for an hour, reading horror stories of others' misfortunes with their appliances, and really exhausted. After an hour I checked the temp, and whew! The freezer was back to 0 F. Crisis averted.

Back to bed, but with an internal warning light going off in my mind!
--What if this had been the freezer with all the meat, and no one caught the problem until too late? $200 down the drain. 
--What if this had been the garage freezer where I keep all the veggies, fruits and baked goods, and it had thawed, dripped, gotten smelly, before I found it? What a mess that would have been! 

So, I considered this a wake-up call (and yes, it did keep me awake for several hours). It was time to use up a lot of the freezer stash, especially the odd bits here and there, and any fruits and vegetables from last season.

What I didn't realize, until now, is that my freezer was a secret goldmine, waiting to be exploited

For the entire month of April, my cooking style took a new direction. Every day I checked the freezers and pulled out at least one item to use in that night's dinner. I made a vow to myself to only buy especially fantastic deals at the stores, plus milk, and get creative with what I had here.

As luck would have it, there were relatively few deals in the month of April. Fantastic deals usually precede major holidays, not follow them, in our area. I had already bought some tremendous deals in March, just before Easter.

What does a creative cook find to eat for her family, without going to the grocery store? Plenty! We ate very well. I found all sorts of "treasure", from cornbread and pie pastry scraps, to frozen fruit and vegetables, to Italian hot links and some gravy. The more bits I found in the freezer, the more my creativity muscles got a workout.

Interesting items (and how I used them) I found in the freezer included: 

• scraps of pie dough (made homemade pop-tarts) 
• some corn bread (made sage and corn bread stuffing)
• half a carton of ice cream (no explanation necessary for how that was used up!)
• a small amount of Parmesan cheese (topped a lasagna)
• an assortment of single slices of cake and pie
• some Italian hot links (added to lentil soup, and sliced thin to use as pepperoni on a pizza)
• juice from a can of black olives (I added some of this to a large batch of pasta/pizza sauce, and some to a pot of Mexican bean soup -- I was low on salt and figured this would be a good stand-in)
• some chopped, mixed herbs (parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, all in one container -- I added to the large pot of pasta and pizza sauce)
• a single hamburger bun (I made myself a single serving of pizza on the bun split in half for lunch one day)
• a 1-cup container of strawberries, cherries and blueberries (made a smoothie)
• a snack-sized baggie with nuts, plus another small bag with dried apricots (combined the two to add flavor and texture to a batch of otherwise plain muffins)
• several single-servings of leftover meals (these became weekend lunches when only a couple of us were home)
• frozen red currant and crab apple juice (made 2 batches of jelly)

All of these items could have easily fallen through the freezer cracks -- they could have remained there so long that I tossed them out. Instead, I was able to rescue them, and we ate every last item we unearthed.

Cleaning out the pantry and fridge, as well

And it wasn't just the freezer. I also found myself cleaning out the fridge and pantry. I had a stash of condiment packets in the fridge, including a garlic dipping sauce packet from a pizza place (I added this to the filling for the lasagna), and a quarter jar of green salsa (I added this to the pot of Mexican bean soup). I finally made the large pot of pizza and pasta sauce, using the #10 can of tomato paste. I froze enough sauce for about 5 nights of either pizza or pasta. Plus I had enough tomato paste leftover to make a couple of batches of homemade tomato soup.

The biggest challenge was we ran low on salt. I had to cut back on salt in cooking. But I found in soups, that extra garlic, onions and fresh chives really bumped up the flavor. I was adding handfuls of chives to lots of dishes. Two-thirds the way through the month I found a small canister of salt. But still, I was using it sparingly.

Also, I had practically no mayo in the house. Not a huge problem, but it would have been nice for egg salad sandwiches.

I must admit, though, that there were times when I just wanted to buy something new in groceries for the kitchen, just for the newness. But I remembered my resolve to get that freezer cleaned out.

What kind of meals was I able to create, using only what I had on hand?

Meals just from the fridge, freezer, pantry and the garden (and the milk that I bought).

Breakfasts

Maple and brown sugar oatmeal (homemade, not packets)

Homemade yogurt* and granola

Scrambled eggs and toast

Pancakes topped with berries from the freezer

Lunches

Bread and butter, hard boiled eggs, oranges

Homemade yogurt*, plum sauce*, pumpkin muffins*

PBJ sandwiches, raisins, pumpkin muffins*

Sunflower seed butter sandwiches, raisins, rhubarb gelatin, cranberry-orange muffins*

Pizza sandwiches, rhubarb sauce, pumpkin muffins* (we tend to use muffins like cookies in our lunches -- lower in sugar and fat)

Leftover lentil and vegetable soup, bread and cream cheese, bananas

Dinners

BBQ chicken sandwiches* on homemade sourdough bread (BBQ sauce homemade from ketchup, oil, onions, garlic, soy sauce, chili powder), served with sauteed cabbage (from pre-St. Patrick's Day sale) mixed with kale (from garden), and Blackberry cobbler*

Bean burger patties with BBQ sauce, sourdough bread, sweet potato fries and regular potato fries, tossed salad of lettuce, avocado, olives, carrots and pickled green beans, Blackberry cobbler*

Leftover bean burger patties topped with cheese*, lettuce, sour cream & salsa, cornbread stuffing*, cole slaw, plum pie*

Chicken noodle soup* with carrots, onions, Swiss chard, barley and noodles, sourdough bread, orange wedges, chocolate cupcakes

Kale and onion quiche*, sweet potato fries, plum and blackberry sauce*

Pot roast*, mashed potatoes, sauteed kale, chard and cabbage, pumpkin souffle*, dinner rolls

Garden lasagna*, garlic toast, cole slaw with kale and chives, cherry pie

Mexican bean soup* with sour cream, homemade tortillas with cheese*

"Pepperoni" pizza* (Italian hot link sliced thin for pepperoni), leftover pasta salad*, lemon meringue pie

Chicken and cheese quesadillas* (on homemade tortillas), tomato soup (made from frozen, canned tomato paste)*, rhubarb sauce

Chicken, tofu* and vegetable stir-fry* (with carrots, Swiss chard, cabbage, onions), brown rice, stewed plums and blackberries*

Curried lentils* (using frozen, canned tomatoes, frozen plums, raisins, onions, lentils, veg stock, and assorted greens from the garden), rice, roasted carrots

Spaghetti with meat sauce*, cole slaw, garlic toast *(hamburger buns from freezer, split and garlic added), orange wedges

Rice and beans, topped with cheddar and salsa, sauteed kale and garlic

*denotes foods from the freezer used in this dish

Not just daily meals, but some special dinners as well, and still made from what we had on hand

During this month, in addition to regular meals, we also had two birthdays, for which I put together pretty good birthday dinners, here at home, without making a run to the store.

For my birthday, I made chicken Cordon Bleu, sauteed frozen asparagus (in olive oil and garlic), mashed potatoes (my daughters made these without even asking me what to do -- I am so glad they can cook!), and birthday cake.

For my husband's birthday we had cheeseburgers (homemade buns), creamy rhubarb jello (made with cream cheese bought on sale before Christmas), pasta salad (with frozen, drained, diced canned tomatoes, slice olives, kale florets and herbs from the garden) and lemon meringue pie (made with bottled lemon juice, no lemon zest).

So, what did I, personally, learn from this?

I think that it's a good idea to do a major clean-out of the freezer a couple of times per year. You never know what has migrated to the back. There could be something delicious lurking in amongst the frozen veggies and meat. And clean out the fridge and pantry, while I'm at it.

Small tidbits of foods can inspire a lot of creativity in meal preparation. I don't need to follow recipes strictly.

April is a good month for me, to do a major clean out of the freezer, as the garden is coming back and I have an abundance of kale, mustard greens, Swiss chard from a fall planting. Although, it would always be wise to take advantage of pre-Easter sales, even if I was doing a major freezer clean-out.

I had over $200 in food sitting in the freezers. It's probably more like $400, as I still have a lot of meat in there. But I've planned for that meat to last through June. If I lived somewhere that power outages were common and long-lasting, keeping that much food in the freezer might not be the wisest thing. Instead, I would can a lot more.

And this answers one of those questions I often have, "just how long could we go, with just the food we have in stock right now?" It's a question that I think we've all asked our kitchens at least once. We want to insure our survival, under any circumstance.

The take-away for you

You likely don't have a garden that begins producing in March each year. And your freezer, pantry and fridge may not have the abundance of "treasures" that mine did. I did begin the month well-stocked from March's shopping. (March grocery journal is here, if you want to see how stocked our kitchen was.) But there is probably something in your kitchen that needs using up. And this food represents money spent or energy expended to procure it.

• those condiment packets from take-out, such as salad dressing, ketchup, BBQ sauce, Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes -- all could be added to an ordinary dish like soup, baked beans, casserole or braised meat, to make something extraordinary
• seasonings, both the foil pouches and the canisters of herbs and spices -- again, these can take a humdrum meal of ground beef with rice and make it special and different
• small amounts of dairy products, that smidgen of sour cream, tablespoon of yogurt, half bar of cream cheese -- these can be added to jello salads for a creamy texture
• scraps of bread products, from a lone pancake or square of cornbread, to a stale bagel -- turn these into bread crumbs for a batch of savory stuffing, or for meatloaf, or to bread a chicken cutlet, or to make bread crumb cookies
• the berries (and other fruits) you bought or picked last summer and froze -- this should be a no-brainer, but the berry harvest is just around the corner, once again. Don't let these gems that you froze last summer go to waste. Make jam, top pancakes, add to oatmeal, make a coffee cake, crisp or cobbler, eat semi-thawed with your breakfast
• the assortment of leftovers, probably in single-size amounts -- have a smorgasbord dinner. Get all the containers out, heat them and let everyone choose what they want.
• scraps of pie pastry, left over from rolling out and trimming the dough -- thaw, roll out, cut into squares, top with jam, fold over, pinch, prick and bake -- homemade pop tarts, even yummier than store-bought!
• small amounts of frozen vegetables -- make a large pot of vegetable soup, add to quiche, if green and leafy, add to scrambled eggs, make a frittata, add to a casserole, add to pasta sauce
• frozen squash, pumpkin or sweet potatoes -- make muffins, make granola (Pumpkin Praline granola is delicious!), make a cream, sage and pumpkin pasta sauce, make a pumpkin pie smoothie/shake, make a batch of pumpkin butter for your morning toast

For you, I hope that my experience has given you some ideas on how to tap the goldmine of your freezer. And for me, I'll be glad to return to regular stock-up shopping, now that my freezers are manageable once again!

Best bites of spring: Rhubarb Crumb Muffins

One of my daughters is going through training to become a Stephen Minister with our church. This weekend is another marathon training retreat. All the trainees have generously agreed to provide snacks and treats for the group throughout the training sessions.

This morning it's my daughter's turn. As she is a full-time student and doesn't even get home from school until 3:30, and the retreat began at 5 PM Friday afternoon, she really didn't have any time to prepare a snack for her time.

So, being the awesome mom that I am, I made this batch of some favorite spring muffins of ours -- Rhubarb Crumb Muffins.

These muffins are always a hit in our house. I usually bake a double batch to go with Mother's Day brunch. And any leftovers get popped into the freezer for quick breakfasts on the run.

Here's the recipe:

Rhubarb Crumb Muffins (12 to 15 muffins)

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 large stalk rhubarb, finely diced (about 1 cup of fine dices)
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1/3 cup oil
1 cup milk
crumb topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (or 375 F convection)

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add rhubarb dices and orange zest and toss well.
• In a medium bowl, beat egg. Blend in extract, oil and milk.
• Combine wet and dry ingredients, just until combined (don't over mix).
• Spoon into prepared muffin tin.
• Top each with a spoonful of crumb topping (recipe below).

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until light golden and the muffins spring back when pressed.

Crumb Topping

In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup flour, pinch salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons soft butter. Cut together with a fork and knife. Blend in 1 to 1  1/2 teaspoons of water (just enough to form crumbs).

As a note, you can substitute half whole wheat flour for half of the white. I often do this and they still get gobbled up!

Enjoy your bite of spring!

What's your frugal specialty?

We all have our areas of great talent. Some of us are very clever with crafts. Others can sniff out a good deal at the stores. Still others seem to be able to repair or mend just about anything. And some can take a can of paint and transform a beat-up piece of furniture into a true heirloom.

Are you a fab garage saler/thrift shopper? Can you turn old sheets into comfy pjs? Do you know where to put your investments? Are you on top of every bill and receipt?

Many of us are clever cooks, creating memorable meals. Some of us are coupon queens, stacking coupons on sales with rebates, and walking away with free products regularly. And some of us do beautiful needlework, making lovely gifts, making over clothing, and adorning our homes.

So what is your frugal specialty?

You could probably guess that mine is keeping our grocery bill low. It's what I do best in the frugal realm. But it's not the only way to watch our pennies. There are so many more ways, just as valuable, but don't always get the recognition that they deserve.

Although groceries are my area of specialty, I have found it incredibly helpful to read and learn from everyone else. Sometimes I just never would have thought to try something, on my own. But upon hearing a new trick or idea from someone else, it sounds completely do-able. Or maybe I've wanted to try something, but really needed the confirmation from someone else's experience.

So, now I'm asking you, what do you do best to contribute to your careful use of resources? Can you offer up one solid tip that has boosted your abilities in your specialty, even higher? Crafty people speak up! Handy repair people, tell us about your biggest success! Shoppers who sniff out the best deals, tell us about your best score! Clever cooks, what have you cooked/baked that you once thought "had" to be bought? I am positive that I've missed many areas, so fill me in.

This week (the indoor edition) . . .

much is going on in our household. After a couple of beautiful spring days, the weather turned cold and rainy for much of last week. When the rain quit and sun came out on Sunday afternoon, I took a walk through the neighborhood and discovered many new "ponds". It had been a wet week, all right!

With so much rain, my attentions were turned indoors.

Last week was my birthday. Here's the cake my daughters frosted and decorated for me. The cake was a yellow scratch cake. The layers were glazed with the syrup from a jar of runny marmalade, and the frosting was citrus flavored. I have one last slice, tucked in the freezer, for some deserving soul, on some  special occasion.

This week is my husband's birthday. With two birthdays so close together, we're really not in the mood for more cake. So, for Doug's birthday, I often make his favorite pie, lemon meringue.

Just so you know, if you're out of corn starch, you can still make a lemon meringue pie. I went to make this and discovered I only had half the required corn starch. I searched online and found a recipe that called for flour instead of cornstarch. I wanted the firmer texture that cornstarch gives, so I used the half amount of cornstarch that I had in the pantry (used 3  1/2 tablespoons for a 9-inch pie), *plus* half the online recipe's amount of flour (used 4 tablespoons for a 9-inch). It came out beautifully. The texture was creamy and smooth, and very lemony (I increased the lemon juice a bit).

I baked and cooked quite a lot this past week, from hamburger buns (for Doug's birthday dinner)

to pumpkin muffins (using up the cooked pumpkin in the freezer).

From dueling pots on the stove, one of pasta/pizza sauce, the other of Mexican bean soup,

to a fabulous garden lasagna. Sorry I have no pictures of the lasagna, as it got gobbled up pretty quickly. I was using up odd bits from the fridge and freezer, some tofu (mashed and flavored with garlic, lemon juice, and salt), mixed with a packet of pizzeria garlic dipping sauce, topped with several small packets of Parmesan cheese. I blended some chopped kale and carrots into the tofu "cheese" filling. Oh, was this ever delicious!

I also began cooking the frozen fruit juice from last summer's harvest, into jelly. This week I made the red currant jelly. Later I'll make the crabapple jelly. I use a particular method for cooking my jelly, both the juice extraction and the actual turning the juice into jelly. I find that when I take care to be precise, I have greater success. This tried and true method is right here.

And here's the rhubarb-cream cheese gelatin that I made Sunday afternoon, for Monday's dinner. It seems to firm up more, if I make it the day before serving. Here's the recipe.

I made a pasta salad, adding sliced olives, chopped canned tomatoes, and the florets from kale about to go to seed. They taste like broccoli, so much so, that my kale-loathing husband declared with glee, last week, "there's broccoli in the quiche!". I then informed him that it was kale florets. Much gagging and sputtering followed, with the knowledge that it was kale (kidding, he's a good sport!). Anyway, just before the kale goes to seed, I pluck off the florets and use as I would broccoli. This is the kale that I planted last fall.


Outside of the kitchen,

my daughters finally made their university choice for next year. It was between the large state university and a small private university. Either one would be a good choice. We looked at a variety of criteria, from having the right programs and courses available, to ratio of faculty to student, and finally how affordable both options were.

Something to be noted, in many areas, as state governments have had their budgets slashed, they've raised tuition, and have reduced the number of merit-based scholarships. A public university education is not as affordable as it once was.

Meanwhile, with private universities, sure their tuition may be high, but they often have more merit-based scholarship money to offer to deserving students. If your student has done well all through high school, don't rule out private universities, based on cost alone, as many students are being offered generous scholarships at these institutions.

For our daughters, they each received merit-based scholarships that will cover half of the tuition, at the small private university. This brought the overall cost down considerably, and made the private school competitive (cost-wise) with the public school. My daughters emailed their admissions counselor, on several occasions, requesting information on various financial concerns, such as scholarship renewal requirements for the scholarships they received. The admissions counselor has been a wealth of information for my daughters, and has guided them, step by step, through the entire process. Universities prefer to interact solely with the students, from the very beginning of the application process through graduation. They are adults, now, after all.

The small school was definitely a better fit for my daughters. And so, that was their choice. We filled out the paperwork for Seattle Pacific University this past week and sent it in. Woohoo! One more thing done, sealed and delivered!

I'll go into more detail on how we've prepared to finance this next step in our lives, in a future post. But I'll just say now, it looks like it will all work out, we'll avoid student loans, and our daughters will receive excellent educations (that is, if they put in the work! The school can't do it all.)

I've also been doing a bit of spring cleaning and reorganizing. The family room was in need of some attention. I straightened, rearranged and cleared the room of winter clutter. I repotted a sickly looking plant into fresh soil, hoping that will help. (I am terrible with indoor plants.) And I brought a faux ivy down from a shelf in the kitchen to the brick ledge above the fireplace. I took out some of my collection of seashells for the mantle, to put next to the photos of my kids at the beach.

How about you? What's been keeping you busy this past week?

My other way to make an "instant plant" (this one doesn't need water -- ever)

Last week I posted how I made "instant" plants from boxwood cuttings. Well, this week, I have my oh-so-fabulous, faux ivy in a planter, made from scraps.

I have a very bad track record with houseplants. You might wonder, "how on earth does Lili keep her garden alive?" after a peek at my houseplants. So, faux is often the way to go. But those silk plants in catalogs are not cheap!

Here's my extreme budget version, using what I have on hand.

I seem to produce a lot of crafts that use faux ivy. And I always have a few lengths leftover.

Here is a planter with 3 pots inside, from 3 once-live ivy plants I had in the house.

The pots still have their solidified dirt in them. Of course, you could use a chunk of styrofoam, too. (I'm just a tad on the lazy side, at times!)

Anyway, I take one long strand of ivy and cascade it across the top of the 3 pots, to add height and even bulk across the planter, tucking the ends in between the pots and the planter.

Then I simply add the short pieces of ivy to the pots, bending one end on most pieces, so they will cascade naturally out the side of the planter, and leaving a few pieces straight and upright to add height. I mass more pieces on one side more than the other, as plants in nature never seem to grow evenly, either.

My planter sits on the brick ledge above the fireplace in the family room, at about 5 feet high. Most of us can't see inside the planter, unless we are standing right up against the brick and looking down and in. And even so, one would have to be studying the insides to discern this was indeed faux, and a cheap faux at that. So, for me, it works.