Beach Trip

Dh and I did manage to sneak away around the middle of August for one last beach trip. While it was only for a day, it was great to get away. I love going to the beach in August after school has started back. There are some families usually from out of state. For the most part the beach looks like this:

I am happy to sit on the beach and read or swim, but dh loves to fish. He catches some small fish, stingrays, and a few shark like this one:

The sight of a shark no matter how small always draws a crowd and empties the ocean near us. The children get a kick out of petting a shark before dh releases back into the ocan.

Baby Shower

About a month ago I hosted a baby shower for my cousin and his wife. They are expecting a girl around Thanksgiving. I wanted something a bit different and went with a more sophisticated but still fun theme.

My inspiration was a set of mini candy bar wrappers from Martha Stewart on clearance at Walmart. I chose the rest of the decorations based on these.

The main colors were pink and brown with yellow thrown in. I did order the napkins, plates, and a few decorations on line.

The table were covered with pink tablecloths and brown runners. The table decorations were a last minute idea. I used some pink gift bags that were free from CVS last year. I added yellow ducks that I cut from scrapbook paper using a cookie cutter to get the shape right.

They gave the tables a pop of color for no extra cost. After the shower, I removed the ducks and folded the tissue paper which went back in the gift bags.

The silver punch bowl was accented with my stash of ivy. I found the little pink flowers in my shower decoration box. The pineapple punch was yummy and the perfect color to blend in with the theme.

I would not call it a cheap baby shower. I would say it was tasteful on a budget. I saved money in some areas so that I could afford to spend more in others. Being thrifty is all about balance.

I'm Still Alive

Despite what this picture looks like, I have not been goofing off the past few months. I have been very busy planning my church's 100th anniversary. When I agreed to do it, I could not have imagined the time that would go into it and all of the little details that would need attention.

The BIG DAY was this past Sunday. It went well, but I am happy that it is all over. I will post more about it later, but I wanted to stop in and do a quick update.

My goal is to start posting regularly again. I have been doing a few other things since July including a baby shower and a beach trip. Stay tuned!

Saving Vegetable Seeds

If you are a gardener who enjoys starting your plants from seed each year, there is no need to buy your seeds each year. You can save your own seeds for next season's garden and get a frugal head start. You may wonder why you should save your own seeds when they are relatively inexpensive. One of my main reasons is that I like particular varieties of fruits/vegetables. Often the seeds are hard to find or more expensive than the more common varieties.

The easiest seeds to save are pepper, eggplant, or melon seeds. You simply need to remove those from the fruit or vegetable and place in a shallow bowl or spread out to dry. This year we successfully grew tomatoes, peppers, and watermelons from seed we saved last year. Tomato seeds are almost as easy to save. In four easy steps you can have free tomato seeds.

First remove the seeds with all of the pulp/membranes attached from your tomato and place in a small bowl with a little water. Let this soak overnight. This allows you to easily separate the pulp/membrane from the seeds.

The next day dump the water/pulp/seed mixture into a fine strainer.

Run fresh water over the seeds to get rid of the rest of the pulp. You should end up with this.

Now dump the seeds onto a folder paper towel or cloth. Separate the seeds so they are not sticking together and allow them to dry several days. Once they are dry you can put them in a container or plastic baggie to keep them safe until next planting season.

Be sure to label your seeds along the way. They all start to look alike. You may rather have 10 slicing tomato plants instead of 10 grape tomato plants. I had close to a 100% germination rate with the seeds that I saved from last year's tomato plants.

Happy Birthday!

For my family's Fourth of July party, the plan was to celebrate the upcoming birthday of my 17 year old cousin. He got the opportunity to go on a free trip with some friends that weekend which always beats a family party. The ice cream had been purchased so the party must go on. Instead I changed the cake I was planning to make to a more girly cake for another family member who was having a birthday. I iced the cake and then added her name in white chocolate letters. This was a fun cake to make and even more fun to eat.

Free Table

I am always on the lookout for low cost projects. Our back deck has good seating but needed a table. The area is definitely in the outdoors so I needed something to last. Dh could build one, but we did not have enough scrap lumber on hand. A few months ago some utility workers were putting down new cable near our house. When they emptied the cable spool, they left it sitting by the road. Dh asked if he could take it, and they said, "yes". He loaded it up and brought it home to our deck.

It was the perfect size and was free. It did need some attention to help it fit in with the chairs. I am awaiting another Adirondack chair and two stools to be built by my dh. We had plenty of wood stain on hand. I sanded the spool with a palm sander and added two coats of blue stain. I topped that off with a coat of wood sealer. Even though it was free I want it to last. Here is the finished product.

You can see that it stands out from the deck now and also blends well with the chair in the background. I love how it turned out. We had everything on hand to finish the project so the cost was $0! Even my tomboy Paris approves.

Cats

I do adore both of my cats. Since I have no human children, these furry creatures get treated like my children. I could fill several scrapbooks with the pictures I take of them. They are just so cute sometimes.

Here is Paris sleeping where she is not supposed to sleep. I guess stopping to take a picture of her before I got on to her was probably not good "mommy" behavior. She has such good taste and is obviously a Duke Blue Devils fan. I could not bear to punish her.

Lucy's current sleeping spot of choice is the top of the freezer. She is so furry, but brushing her is practically suicidal. Instead she keeps her fur and looks for a cool place to nap.