Food Storage Friday

I know it's not really Friday anymore, but I've been thinking about doing this for a while and I didn't get to it yesterday. I have a blog because I enjoy it, I like to think about what I'm going to write, I like to find cool things to share with whoever might care to read it, (without spamming everyone in my address book) but I do want it to be useful to you- whoever you may be. I want you to want to read it because you might learn or find something new. I have a really great resource when it comes to food storage and provident living in my mom, and I realized not everyone has that, and maybe you want to learn more? If you can't believe the words of a prophet telling us we should store up necessary food and supplies, maybe you would consider it based on the teachings of Al Gore! or even our own government, FEMA, tells us we should be doing what we can to help ourselves because they might not be able to get to us in a timely manner in case of emergency. And they were saying that even when they had plenty of money and resources. SO- I'm thinking Fridays I will try and post some kind of tip or reminder to make some preparations for your family in case of natural disaster, terrorist attack, bird flu, job loss, or just to have peace of mind or opportunity to help when you hear about others dealing with these situations.

So this week's simple tip- start getting 2 weeks of drinking water! It's not hard or expensive, and especially this week everyone has bottled water on sale for the big game. Plan 1 gallon per person, per day. That's about 5 cases (24 bottles per case) of water per person. They stack up nicely in a closet, or stuff them under beds. They usually store for close to a year and we use them in school lunches, hunting trips, park trips etc. Whenever I see them on sale for $3 I buy a couple to keep supplies up. You don't have to go out and buy it all at once, just grab up a few each time you're at the store and you'll be set.

What am I doing?

I'm a Hannah Keeley fan, this quote is from this week's newsletter: "How often do we look at each day of our lives as just one more link in the chain? We see the necessary. I need some gloves. I need a hat. I need some shoes. It's so easy to get caught up in the necessities. But all of that is just to prepare us for life. That's not living. We cook up dinner so that we can connect together around the table. We clean up our homes so that we can welcome people into it. The housekeeping is not the end. It's just the beginning. Living is the adventure that follows when we are prepared to jump into it." I need to be reminded why I'm supposed to be doing the things I'm supposed to be doing! For weekly inspiration, sign up for Hannah Keeley's weekly newsletter HERE. Also on her website check out the free recipe e-book download with 30 recipes that keep it under $10, under 10 minutes, and under 10 ingredients, hooray!

Elle's Studio Blog

I found a really fun blog today- Elle's Studio. She's got a ton of "handmade with love" valentine ideas right now including some free downloads for her Be Mine printable banner and really cute envelope templates. I never thought to use those silicone baking pans as crayon melting molds either- so cute! Go check it out- you'll probably add it to your Reader list too!

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving!

Remember that movie? Funny how I feel much the same person I was when I was 13. I love birthdays usually but the older I get the less celebratory I feel about mine! Today was spent cleaning in the morning (YUCK!) but then I got some Krazy Sub for lunch and got to enjoy a mostly quiet afternoon in a cleanish house! I watched Penelope and made beans for dinner and now I get to go get my hair done- it's been over a year so I'm really excited! Thanks for all the birthday love via phone, e-mail and Facebook too! My birthday celebrations included dinner with my family Sunday, dinner out Tuesday with my bunco friends and a hot date with Sam this weekend. So happy birthday week to me! (and thanks Lindsey for the cute card you made me- hope you don't mind me posting it here!)

Share the love

I got to go to the card class at the scrapbook store today and we made some fun valentines- I had to go back and get some of these sheets of paper- 12 cute valentine cards on one page! I love them.

Still need a calendar?

I borrowed this picture from Photojojo- I love this idea, though I don't think it would go anywhere in my house, but maybe yours? It would look really neat in an office too I think. They took pictures of numbers, then printed and laminated them, you can re-arrange them each month. Click HERE for complete instructions and links to others like it.

Made some cards this weekend

I didn't make any official New Years Resolutions, but there does seem to be something about the new year that has me a little more motivated to do the things I always want to do- and this weekend it was making cards!

Another grocery savings tip

I recently discovered that there is an Alpine Valley Bread bakery in my town and they make really good bread with all natural ingredients, and I especially love that it has no high fructose corn syrup. (because I get enough of that in my Dr. Pepper!) They always have some discount bread that's close to it's "sell by" date for $1 and even stuff for $.50! The selection is always different, sometimes they have rolls, or hamburger buns too, but I got all the bread in the picture for $4! If you double bag it, it can be frozen for a while and taste perfect. Anyways, find out if there is a bread bakery near where you live and see if they have discounted "day old" bread, because you know it's at least a few days old when you get it at the grocery store anyways, and it costs $3-$4 a loaf there.

So with all that bread, can you guess what we had for lunch?

I had grilled cheese (on multigrain- YUM!) but Miss E just wanted CHEESE with RANCH and a pickel. I figured the orange juice kind of rounded it out...

We got crazy with the buttons

The little girls glued them all over papers, and Miss B (my fasion designer) learned how to sew them onto her "scarf" and she was busy for hours this weekend- it was great.

I'm supermom!

Lyndsay said so- go see my guest blogger post on her blog about how to be a thrifty mom HERE. If you haven't heard, it's 2009 now and being thrifty is SO in. Thanks again Lyndsay!

Done!

I really should post projects I want to do more often because it really made me make the time to do it! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out- I used Stickles glitter glue for the antennas because I couldn't make them look right with buttons, and I used Elmers Tacky glue, but I'm thinking pretty much anything that dries clear would work. Very easy and fun little project to do! For another (much more creative) go at it check out THIS BLOG. You can tell that Ginger is an artist, she used different sized circle punches instead of buttons and then made a couple little friends for it! So cute, I could only imagine doing it (almost) exactly like I saw it in the catalog!

PB Inspiration

I looked through my Pottery Barn catalogs the other day and wanted to post my favorite pictures- this one is from the PB Kids of course- I love those little owls!

And I haven't ever considered doing black and white for a room but I love this office space:This room is cute but what I really liked was that button butterfly picture on the shelf- I have tons of buttons and I bought a canvas at Big Lots today for $3 and I am going to make it- I'll post pictures when I finish it.

Happy New Year!