A great tip to save money? Leave the less critical shopping at the bottom of the To Do list. Obvious, but maybe a good habit to internalize.
For example? On the extra day off I had on my To Do list:
--Buy milk and school lunch provisions
--Special trip to the health food store
--Unpack and try out brand new slow cooker
--Make cards with dried flowers readied long ago
--Finish treasure chest necklace
--Stop in the local art store (check my jewelry stock)
--Trip to outlet mall for yoga pants
Now a day off is one of the scheduling rarities good for wading through an outlet mall! And I really have put off purchasing but would LOVE some long lasting black stretch pants (the pairs I have are 5 and 10 years old). But instead of rushing around trying to do it all, and undoubtedly shortchanging my kids necessary attention and time, I prioritized the list like this:
1. Finish treasure chest necklace. All that was left was adding leather cording to complete the piece. I'd bought the leather earlier on a trip to JoAnns with a coupon when my daughter was in ice skate lesson. Finishing the necklace was a short project.
Magical Imaginative Treasure Chest Necklace
A little charming treasure chest (lid opens) hangs from a doodle chain dotted with sparkling crystals. Pure fun. Special order only.
2. Buy milk and school lunch provisions AND 2a. Special trip to the organic food store Since I wanted to proceed with #3 below, and hoped to make healthy trail mix for lunches, I combined the two tasks. Our health food store is not open Sundays so I rarely get there (once a year!?). But for once I made a leisurely, if quick trip to get dried papaya which my girl LOVES in trail mix (not easily available at a good price except at the Farmer's market) as well as date nuggets (also hard to find).
3. Unpack and try out brand new slow cooker I requested and received it from my family this past year, and decided to start with something big! Lasagne! It's a recipe that you don't have to cook the noodles. I made it once before in my old 1970s era model and it came out great.
4. Make cards with dried flowers prepared long ago It's best to devote a block of a several hours when making cards. Maybe I prefer a long session because I am fanatically neat and don't have room to leave the project out anyway. Soooooo, everything came out onto the table: flowers, glue, cardstock, and BIG books to press them overnight. Results? (wish the photos were brighter! They are much nicer in person)
BEAUTIFUL
A goblet holding ferns, white yarrow blooms and rosemary sends a beautiful message for any special accomplishment. Give it on graduation or engagement. I free hand cut the vase from scrap paper, and use plants and flowers from my yard.
SURPRISE
A vase of white yarrow blooms and rosemary sends a fun message. Great for a birthday or 'thinking of you'.
THANKS
Say thanks eloquently with a dried flower bouquet in a 'cut crystal vase'. I free hand cut the vase from a nostalgic rose pattern scrap paper. Plenty of detail with ruby geranium, tiny pink wildflower stalks, and rosemary sprigs. Order
That's as far as I got with the To Do list. So what's missing?
Stop in the local art store (to check my jewelry stock)
Trip to outlet mall for yoga pants
I'll just have to squeeze a few more weeks or months out of the clothes I have. Or wait for another day off and a new To Do list!
Thanks for your reads Tweets and time ...
January 18th, 2012 at 01:23 am 1326849803
January 18th, 2012 at 04:53 am 1326862435
January 18th, 2012 at 02:03 pm 1326895380
There are 3 lasagne recipes in the book and I used this one (with minor modifications as noted)
1 lb ground beef (I omitted)
steamed spinach (optional)
1 med onion chopped
2 clove garlic minced
29 oz tomato sauce (I use homemade)
1 C water
6 oz can tomato paste
dried oregano
8 oz lasagne noodles, uncooked
4 C shredded mozarella
1 1/2 C low fat cottage cheese
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
1. Cook beef, onion and garlic together until browned. Drain. NOTE: omit meat and saute spinach with onion and garlic a few minutes.
2. Stir in tomatoe paste, sauce and water and heat till warmed.
3. Spread 1/4 sauce in bottom of slow cooker (ungreased). Layer 1/3 noodles on top.
4. Combine cheeses and layer 1/3 on noodles.
5. Repeat sauce, noodle, cheese layers twice more.
6. Top with sauce.
Cover and cook low 4-5 hours.
TIPS: It's hard but try to spread the sauce and cheese layers thin because it doesn't seem there is enough for all the layers. I used several more noodles than it called for to make a complete layer in my large slow cooker pan, but also added about 1/2 cup extra water to make sure the noodles were wet. Though you'd think the ratio of wet/dry needs to be pretty accurate to ensure the noodles cook right, both times I've made the recipe I was not super accurate and it came out fine. So play around a little and seems the recipe is pretty flexible. Good luck!