NYE Ponderings

I went to church last Sunday. Now normally I am not a regular churchgoer, but we were at my in laws and they attend regularly so we decided to go with them. The pastor said a few things that I have been thinking about since then. He was talking about the new year, that instead of making a resolution, that we should be making a new years commitment. He challenged the congregation to work on four different things in the upcoming year, and two of those really stuck with me. He talked about giving up grudges and practicing forgiveness. Now anyone that knows me well knows that I can carry one hell of a grudge.....I have been known to be mad for years. It's not a nice fault to admit, but it is true. I have experienced so much this year and looking at how fast my daughter is growing I realize that life is too short and goes much too fast to waste time carrying grudges.

So this is my Commitment for 2010......
To give up all my grudges
To forgive all the people whom I carried grudges against
To practice forgiveness
To realize that I too have faults and not hold others against them
To forgive myself for my faults

This Weeks Menu

Here is my meal plan for the week. The money in my grocery jar for the week was $92.31, and I spent $72.45.

Monday- We were out of town

Tuesday- Pulled BBQ Beef with buns and Lava cakes with raspberry sauce

Wednesday- Perogies and Smokies

Thursday-- We are going out of town for NYE, but I am taking a cheese ball to the party

Friday- Chicken fajitas

Saturday- Slowcooker Chili with buns and the test run of my baby's baptism cake

Tips for the New Year

I love it when I can find a another use for common everyday things. It makes me feel so thrifty and smart, not to mention that recycling is good for the environment! So without further ado, I give to you a list of 50 ways to reuse an old item, courtesy of MSN.com Lifestyle Section...

50 All Time Best Uses for Old Things

1. Re purpose an old frame for a vanity tray that's pretty as a picture. Place a piece of colored paper or fabric inside as a finishing touch.

2. A Twister game mat makes a spot-on tablecloth for a child's birthday party: Sticky spills and icing wash right off.

3. A toothbrush's bristles lift away stray threads of silk from fresh ears of corn quickly and efficiently.

4. At a party, stash ice in a colander set on top of a bucket or a bowl. Water will drain out, and guests will get only the solid stuff.

5. Make no-mess pancakes with the help of a ketchup bottle: Pour in batter, then squeeze out precise portions.

6. Stop searching high and low for hair clips and elastics: Store them tidily on an empty TP tube.

7. Pick up interesting cardboard coasters at restaurants and bars you visit along your travels. Punch a hole near the edge, thread some ribbon through, and voilà: homemade gift tag

8. Chalk is a moisture absorber: Tie up a few pieces in cheesecloth and store them with your good silver to slow any tarnishing.

9. Vegetable oil will put a shine on leather shoes. Use a damp cloth to remove any dirt, then run a soft cloth with a drop of oil over the surface to (literally) add polish.

10. Tuck a few needles, pins, and thread into a matchbox for an instant sewing kit.

11. Transform a six-pack holder into a condiment tote that's ideal for summer picnics.

12. Have an old cassette case hanging around? (Oh, you know you do.) Coil iPod earphones and tuck them in to keep wires uncrossed.

13. One of readers' all-time-favorite ideas: the LifeSaver as birthday-candle holder. (Candies in the original rolls provide the best fit―LifeSavers sold in big bags are larger and don't work as well.)

14. Forget unruly plastic bags that seemingly regenerate under your sink. An empty tissue box keeps them neatly corralled and ready for use.

15. A giveaway shower cap becomes the perfect wrapper for shoes when traveling, preventing them from dirtying clothes packed in your suitcase.

16. Brand anything as yours―books, binders, Tupperware, a stapler―with a return-address sticker.
17. A clever way to keep straight whose drink is whose: Mark each glass with removable window decals.

18. A hard plastic soap case is the perfect size to protect a camera stashed in a carry-on bag.

19. Put off-duty winter mittens to work as protection for summer shades.

20. A supermarket bag, tightly secured with a rubber band, will keep a brush (or roller) moist for a day or two in between painting sessions: the end of dried-out bristles.

21. No more worries of camisoles and sundresses slipping off hangers when you wrap the ends with rubber bands.

22. A binder clip serves as a key chain/money holder you can clamp to your waistband for a purse-free morning walk.

23. Pretty ribbon revives an old lamp shade. Apply a thin layer of glue and press on each piece of ribbon, matching the ends neatly.

24. Save a countertop with an old mouse pad turned trivet. (Make sure it has a nonplastic coating.)

25. No more oops! moments when painting, if you cover doorknobs and hardware with aluminum foil.

26. That straightening iron works on more than rambunctious hair: Use it to press between buttons, where a regular iron won't fit.

27. Gardeners can go easy on their jeans with homemade knee pads. A couple of plastic bags tied on keep them grime-free.

28. When traveling, eliminate clunky bottles for nonprescription meds from your purse by popping the pills into a contact-lens case.

29. Who says a towel rack has to be the dedicated realm of, well, towels? Mounted over the kitchen sink, it can also hold a collection of cleansers.

30. A clear hair elastic binds blooms together for a better arrangement in a wide-mouth vase. Stretch the elastic around the stems, then let the flowers fall naturally.

31. Rubber bands give little fingers a better grip on a chilly or slippery glass.

32. Why pack with Styrofoam peanuts when you can pack with popcorn (plain and air-popped). No air popper? Be sure to cover the item with a plastic bag.

33. An unused glasses case makes a convenient storage spot for beauty items on the go.

34. The cardboard tube from a spent roll of toilet tissue is a wonderfully simple tool for keeping extension cords tangle-free

35. Warehouse your shoes in an empty wine-bottle carton wrapped in pretty paper

36. A lemon works to remove tough food stains from a plastic or light-colored wood cutting board. Squeeze on the juice of one half, rub it in, and let sit for 20 minutes before rinsing.

37. Avoid batter splatters and flour dustings on a cookbook by wrapping a plastic bag around everything but the page you're using.

38. Slide bobby pins onto a hem to hold pleats in place as you iron them.

39. Stick a sparkler in Play-Doh, then light it up. The container protects hands from flying sparks, preventing burns.

40. Change dirty water in a flower vase by using a turkey baster to suction up the liquid without disturbing your arrangement. Add fresh water directly from the tap.

41. Silence cabinet doors that slam with cork sliced into thin disks and glued onto the inside corners

42. Give Easter eggs a year-round use (and save on resealable bags) by filling them with snacks like crackers or Cheerios.

43. Cut down on the amount of potting soil needed by crumpling plastic bags to fill the bottom of a deep pot (just be sure that you don't cover the drainage hole, if there is one).

44. Organize bills―arranged in the order in which they need to be paid off―in an unused napkin holder.

45. A paint chip strip makes a dandy place card: Cut off a length of two colors, then fold.

46. Bridge the gap between too-short stems and too-deep vase by sliding on trimmed clear plastic straws

47. Shower-curtain hooks provide sturdy storage for heavier items, like purses

48. Liberally apply cooking spray to both sides of a plastic or metal shovel before clearing away snow, and ice will slide right off instead of building up.

49. Attach a magnet to the inside of a metal medicine cabinet, and you can promptly pluck tweezers (or nail clippers) when needed.

50. Give cocktails extra pop with lollies in complementary colors subbed in for stirrers

Hint of the Week!

Today, while browsing through my Betty Crocker Cookie Cookbook, I found a really great tip for any kind of rolled cookie dough, it's to make your dough keep it's shape during refridgeration.

Roll out your dough into a log using either waxed paper or saran wrap.
Cut a cardboard tube lengthwise
Pop your rolled dough into the tube

It prevents the bottom of your roll from flattening, and prevents you from having to roll it over and over to keep the shape!

I tried this today on a batch of gingersnaps and it works so good!

Happy Baking!

Christmas Ponderings

As Christmas approaches and the end of the 2009 is closing in, I have been thinking about the past year. We have been so lucky and so blessed, that I have alot to be thankful for this year. So without further ado.........

What I Am Thankful For in 2009

1. My beautiful daughter, born on Sept 11
2. Celebrating two wonderful years of marriage with my husband
3. That I can take a whole year off work to be with my baby and still get paid
4. New friends
5. My first nephew
   
6. That we have an amazing health care system that allows you to get the care that you need without worrying about cost
7. Being able to buy my first car
8. Discovering new abilities and passions
9. Having enough so that I able to give to less fortunate
   
10. The health and happiness of my whole family

This Weeks Meals

Here's the update on my attempt to living on a budget. This week I got the flyer from Sobeys and planned my meals for the week around what was on sale. My meal plan for Dec 14- Dec 19 is.....

Monday: Veggie Quesadillas

Tuesday: Fish and Chips

Wednesday: Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Thursday: Out of town

Friday: Minute Steak with Baked Potatoes and Peaches and Cream Corn

Saturday: My Hubby's Christmas Party

So as you can see, I didn't have to cook two days this week. As I said in an earlier post, my grocery jar has $92.31 for the week and I only had to spend $42.27! So that means a little extra to put back into savings! I have decided that all the money that I manage to save from the grocery jar I am going to save to buy the stand mixer that I have wanted desperately for the longest time ever!

I am off to a good start, lets see if I can keep it going!!!!!

I have been getting alot of good frugal tips from another blog that I follow Frugally Yours. This girl has tons of great ideas for living on less, so go check it out!

Holiday Recipe Exchange

I am all set for Christmas! All the presents are bought and wrapped and all my decorations are hung with care, but the biggest accomplishment is having all my baking done! This year I decided to scale back and bit so I didn't make some of my usual treats, but I also tried some new recipes. Some are definatly going into my rotation, but some were dismal failures. The treats that I made this year were:

Rolo Cookies
Black Bottom Cupcakes
Caramel Pecan Clusters
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Drops
Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Caramel Truffles
Toffee Marshmallows

My favorite treat out of all of them is by far the Rolo Cookie, so I am going to share the recipe with you.

Rolo Cookies

1 cup margarine (softened)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
7 packages Rolo

Combine all ingredients and mix dough. Place rolo in the middle of a piece of dough and roll into a ball. (I use my Pampered Chef small cookie dropper and push the rolo into the middle of it then roll it into a ball in my hands, it creates the perfect size) Roll the cookie in white sugar until coated. Bake in a 375 oven for 7 minutes. Leave on the pan for 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack.


What is your favorite holiday treat? Email me the recipe jacylynvancuren@yahoo.ca (also add the name of your blog if you have one) and I will put them all in a big post and link your recipe to your blog. Of course you don't need to have a blog to share a recipe!

Calling All Decorators

I know that there are people who read this blog since my hit counter seems to get going up at a quick rate, so I hope that someone out there knows a thing or two about cake decorating.
Where can I get good tasting premade fondant???? does anyone know? So far all I have found is the Wilton stuff, but I hear it tastes terrible. I want to use fondant pieces to decorate a cake for my daughters baptism. The cake itself will be buttercream frosted, so there won't be that much fondant on it, but I still want it to taste good. Also, does anyone have a good tested and true crusting buttercream recipe?

Can anybody help me?

Old Fashioned Goodness!

I found this awesome blog the other day it's called Mennonite Girls Can Cook, and boy oh boy can these girls ever cook! There are tons of recipes on there, and tons of traditional dishes. Pop over and check it out!

Crossing The Money Line

Normally I have nothing to do with the finances in our family. My hubby is a finance major and works for a bank while I whip out a calculator to figure out what 9 times 8 is (it's 72) so needless to say that all the financial responsibly falls to him. However I have decided to wade into these murky waters and put us on a budget! I would love to say it's to save money and live simpler, but alas my intentions are not that pure, but vain in nature. We are getting fat, a fact that can be attributed to our habit of eating out 5 nights a week. So I figure if we are on a budget then I will not have the money to go out, or buy fancy food for decadent home cooked meals, ergo I will become one skinny bitch! Well, that last part is wishful thinking, but I would love to fix some of the aftermath of pregnancy.

Since I love the show Till Debt Do Us Part, I decided to give the "Magic Jars" a try. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the show, financial expert Gail Vaz-Oxlade helps couples get out of debt. One of her methods is the magic jars. They force you to live on cash only and keep track of your purchases so that you can see where your money is going. So I headed over to her site and used the interactive budget spreadsheet to figure out how much each jar gets each week and here is what I got.....

Transportation- $62.31
Food- $92.31
Entertainment- $23.08
Clothing and Gifts- $23.08
Everything Else- $32.31

Which adds up to a weekly total of $233.09. Now people who have seen the show might be shocked at how much money are in the jars compared to the people on the show, but the difference is that we have no debt, hence more disposable income.

More information about the magic jars can be found here
http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/articles/budgeting/magic_jars.html

Also, after inspiration from Nikki on her blog (The Wonderful World of Nikki) I have decided to plan my meals for the week. I have found her posting hers has given me some great ideas so I will also post mine. So for the rest of this week.....

Wednesday- Chicken Quesadillas

Thursday- Pizza Loaf

Friday- Chicken Noodle Soup

Saturday- Taco Salad


I know, the meals don't sound that healthy but seeing as how Ronald Macdonald cooks for me 3 times a week I figured I better wean my body off slowly.

Breakfasty Goodness

So I actually paid the $10.00 for one of those Taste of Home recipe magazines that they sell in the grocery store checkout line. One recipe caught my eye so I tried it the other day when I had overnight guests. It turned out delish! I really liked that it could be made the night before, it saved me so much time in the morning and my guests had a yummy breakfast that they thought I slaved over! It would be a great dish for Christmas morning.

French Toast Casserole

1 loaf French bread, cut into 1 inch cubes (approx 10 cups)
8 Eggs
3 cups Milk
4 teaspoons Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Topping:
2 tablespoons Butter or Margarine
3 tablespoons Sugar
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon

Place bread cubes in a greased 13X9 baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt (if desired). Pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Dot with butter. Combine the sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle mixture over the top.

Cover and bake at 350 or 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 Min's. Serve with maple syrup.

Blogging Out Of Boredom

Hubby and Brother In Law have hijacked the tv to play video games and I am soooooo bored. I really shouldn't be bored, I have a huge pile of dishes to do and my house is trashed, but alas I am lazy and bored. This weekend I hosted my 3rd Annual Christmas Dinner Party. You would think that I would be sick of hosting parties after the baby shower and grey cup getogether, but I really love to throw a good shindig and apparently I now have a reputation to uphold! I decided to do an appetizers, cocktails, dinner and dessert format again this year. The menu for the appetizers were stuffed mushrooms, mini quiche, a cheese ball, a shrimp ring, spankopita and veggie quesadillas. Every year I create a new drink for the cocktail. I wanted something easy and freezie this time around so I made a slush that I call Cuban Crazy Punch. It was a huge hit! For dinner I served garlic and pepper roast, yellow potatoes, dream salad, fresh buns and a lettuce/spinach salad that I concoted myself. This was all topped off by two big trays of my christmas baking. We all had such a great time visiting, hanging out and eating! And of course, what is a dinner party without a little Rockband after!

I would love to show you all the pictures of the night, but hubby took the batteries out of my camera to power his guitar for rockband. By time I found out, the guitar was already in a death grip in his bands.....needless to say I was not getting my batteries back anytime soon!

OMG, It's Raining Babies!!!!!

AKA a Baby Shower!!!!!! This past Saturday I hosted a baby shower for a good friend of mine who will be having her baby in a month. Everyone had a great time! We played a few games, ate some food and then opened some presents! They don't know what gender the baby will be, so I chose a red, orange and yellow theme. It was inspiration from some pretty ribbon I had bought a few days ago. I didn't want to go the streamers and balloons route for decorating, so I made some Martha Stewart tissue paper pom poms and decorated the living room with them. This pic does not do these things justice, they really add such a fun festive look to the room.


I also made a clothesline banner to hang over the buffet using stencil, cardstock, ribbon and other scrapbooking supplies.



I love love love decorating with fresh flowers, but bouquets can get really expensive. So I tried my hand at making my own flower arrangment. I bought three bunches of flowers and just started playing with them. I think it turned out pretty good and for $20.00 it's way cheaper than having a professional arrange them, plus it turned out to be a HUGE arrangement. I prolly could have got away with only 2 bunches of flowers.



I didn't have too much in the way of decorations, my house is very tiny and if I would have started packing in every decoration I could think of, there would have been no room for the guests!

On the menu was taco dip, two different kinds of mini quiche, a fruit tray, four different kinds of cupcakes and sparkling cider. One of the grandma's to be also kindly brought a container full of her very delicious truffles.