WHO said New Years Resolution??? MOI?

well, so much for the New Years resolution, huh? What a whirlwind life has been these past 2 months or so. Re-entering the full-time work force again, was much more difficult than i'd have thought it would be. Although, today is the first of 2 days off this week and im not going to spend anymore time talking about work.

As I'd wondered around the house this morning after talking to a friend on the phone for quite some time, I pondered at the question of "What should i do with my time today? Do I want to clean and do things that need done? Or do I want to play today and do chores on Wednesday?" I'd decided it was chores today and playtime on wednesday. But then, i thought why cant it be both on both days? Why cant i do chores this morning and have playtime this afternoon and repeat the same again on Wednesday? It was my ticket to fame. I'd made myself more happy in that compromise than i've been in quite some time! lol

Soooooooooooo, afternoon arrives about an hour ago, I wrapped up doing chores for the most part (at least ones that i could put off until Wednesday) and wondered aimlessly about for awhile wondering what i'd do for playtime today? Lordy, cant life just be simple when it comes to deciding how to spend a few hours of free time?

I could sew? Well, technically I guess I could. If, i'd have the energy to clean up my sewing room first! That idea was tossed aside as soon as the word "clean" entered my mind. Onto 2nd choice.....take a nap? Well, that lasted about 10 minutes until I decided i was wasting much needed alone time. How dumb can i be? Alone and taking a nap was wasting time? Sheesh, sometimes i need to give myself the credit i deserve for being so dizzy at times. :) Anyways...... As im lying there, im looking at the laptop lying beside my bed. It was screaming "Holllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy, I need your Electric Quilt program installed on me. I need the blog updated that you promised on New Years Day that you'd be keeping up with, etc etc. The computer won the playtime for today and here I am!

But, what was with the post on New Years day and alll those New Years Resolutions? Well, ummmmmmmm, i think they now must be converted to "end of tax season April 15th resolutions" =)

At the end of the post, I seen i promised I'd blog about how to stretch a Holiday or anyday Ham into 4 different meals. I hear people grumping about how expensive Hams can be on the Holidays and im always like "are you kidding me? They are one of the cheapest meats there is too cook if you so know how to utilize them! So here's the promise and the 4 meals along with some tips.

Tips first:

~always, always, always buy your ham with a bone in it! No it's not a waste of money, the bone is what you will need to stretch the meals to 4 instead of just 1.
~do buy a Ham that has SOME fat on it! Just because it has fat, doesnt mean you have to eat the fat. You will need fat (as well as the bone) for flavor after your initial meal.
~dont buy the smallest or biggest ham in the store. But DO buy a decent sized ham that you know will give you some leftovers.

Meals:

#1 - Your traditional holiday or dinner meal with all the fixings. When this meal is over, take all leftovers of what you dont use (meat, bone, juice, etc) and throw it in some sort of container or gallon zip loc bags. Either refridgerate or freeze the leftovers, depending on how soon you plan to do up your 2nd meal. If you have any leftover gravy, also throw it in with this package of goodies. I sometimes will divide the leftover meat into 2,3 or 4 quart size freezer bags so that i dont have to keep thawing and refreezing. The bone and other stuff goes into a seperate gallon size bag.

#2 - Pull out a few chunks of the leftover meat and also the bone. Put it in some salt water and and chopped onions (if desired). Strain and divide the juice to make SPLIT PEA SOUP!
Freeze the remainder of the juice, as you wont need to make juice for your next meal.

#3 - Using another bag of meat, put it into a meat roasting pan or slow cooker, reserved juice from meal #2, diced potatoes
and green beans for some wonderful HAM STEW!

#4 - You should now be down to just a bag or so meat leftover in your freezer. On those evenings when cooking just seems to much to even think about, grab that last bag of Ham from the freezer, fry up some eggs and ham .....color your eggs with green food coloring like I do and make Dr Suess's Green Eggs and Ham for your family. The kids love it! And men just dont seem to care a whole lot about the green eggs after you reassure them that the eggs are still edible! ;)

AND there you have it, 4 meals from one Ham! Do you still think Ham for a Holiday dinner is so expensive afterall?

I wanted to have 2 different tips today. But after rethinking my 2nd tip ...... which is actually a website link, i thought it might be best to first ask the owner of the site if i may link to her blog. It's an awesome site with tons and tons of household decorating tips that are done on a budget but suffer none of the usual "cheap" effects that sometimes reasonable budgets seem to portray. I hope to maybe hear back from her in a day or 2..... after I request her permission, that is. lol

Anyways, one last thought for the day and if you stumble across this blog, perhaps you could maybe give me your opinion. Im a quilter and would also love to blog about quilting what-nots. Shall I blog about quilting here or make another blog and do 2 blogs instead of just one? And yes, this blog is still a WIP, i do plan to get some of my links added to it and such........after april 15th lol. Ok, ok, maybe a few before then. Perhaps later today if im lucky.

Have a great day
Holly

A Look Forward to 2009

So long 2008, Hello 2009! The tree is down, decorations that adorned the house are safely packed away. It's goodbye 2008 holiday season and hello 2009.

SOooooooo, what's your plans? I have a few and I think or at least hope, they are the things that should be on ones high list of priorities. First is trying to be a better Mom and Wife. Even those that have this task nearly mastered, im sure could find more ways to step up to the next level.

2nd, on my list is to spend more time with my friends. As I get older, i realize just how important these relationships contribute to everday happiness.

3rd, I'd really like to get serious about sewing. Ya I sew, I havent really covered that area in this blog, but beware, it's coming.

4th, To keep up with this blog and try to be a source to help people understand that living on a shoestring budget can be fun, as well friendly to finances.

5th, Spend a little less time online playing games and do things that matter in life.

6th, Explore my new relationship with the work force and possibly, finally at 40 years old find something to do in life that I enjoy waking up and look forward to "work".

7th, Exercise, exercise, exercise. I guess we could also label this as being a little more health conscious in other areas such as food and such.

8th, Find time that I can spend alone that truly enhance my character and personify who and what i am.

9th, Spend far less time worrying about things that I have no control over.

10th, welll ummmmmmm, right off the top of my head, i cant think of the 10th goal. I guess we can let that be the big surprise for another day.

And there I laid out my life for 2009. I hope that all who have a plan for the New Year, reach high for those goals and accomplish them.

Stay tuned for tomorrows post. Im going to post how I stretched the ham that we cooked for Christmas eve dinner into 4 different days of feasting. ;)

Shopping????

Well, what can i say? I started this blog and then "forgot" it existed for a few days.

It wasnt my intention to keep it all about Christmas, but ya know...its that time of year! Christmas is in my mind and i cant help to write about all thing christmas.

I'm thinking im nearly ready for the big day. I got the tree together and decorated a week or 2 ago. Of course as seen before, my village is put together. I have some presents stashed here and there. Still on the list to do yet is..... wrap presents (i've not wrapped even 1 yet), make a dinner list, as well as a grocery list. Finish buying presents for Bob and the boys -- which i have no idea what to get them. Sew my mother-in-laws and my own moms gifts together yet. Ummmmmmmmm, did i really say I thought I was almost done? What planet was I living on? What I really meant to say is that my decorating is all done. =)

We got new additions to our family this Sunday night. I knew our cat (pyscho, as we call her) was going to have kittens. When we arrived home from visiting my parents that night, she was prancing around and acting goofy. I sat down after a long day and played a game of pinochle @ yahoo. I heard this noise and immediately thought "what was that?". Ooooooooh, did i ever get a surprise! There about 2 inches from my feet layed a newborn kitten!!! When all was said and done, we ended up with 4 new little additions. They are so darn cute.

And speaking of births, a blog of thoughts for another day is the fact that my oldest son was born on Christmas Eve, 1993. I have no idea what to get him for his birthday AGAIN. As we usually go to my parents house each year on Christmas Eve, Tylers only wish this year was that we get to stay home. That wish is already granted, but I cant really use that as his present. He's going to be 15 and he thinks he should get a new dirt bike??? Yes, Tyler, we have a money tree growing in our backyard, let me just go pick some money for you a new dirt bike. lol.

Hava I stressed yet, how important it is that I need to go shopping in the next week or so? Time is so limited as I have training all next weekend for H & R Block. I took the course there to become a Tax Professional. Im so excited to be rejoining the work force for a few months this coming year.

So for now, i guess ill go and get some sleep and hope that when I wake up... My shopping will be all done, gifs all wrapped, dinner and shopping lists are made, house is clean, etc etc. LOL.

To Putz or not Putz

That is the million dollar question! To putz or not putz.

I am so good at putting off today what can wait until tomorrow. I

mean, really who does things when they dont need to do so. Isn't it more fun to wait until the last minute and then work under pressure or hope that we get what we've ordered before the holidays? As Bob always says about me "never fear last minute Bessie, she will always have it all worked out when all is said and done". So yeah, i am a master of putzy'ing around.

But oh wait, thats not the kind of putz I intended to write about. My friend from yahoo (hiya aka) introduced me to a new type of "putz". Putz Mica buildings/villages to be exact. I was instantly in love!

Long ago when things were tough for folks, they made their own handpainted christmas villages. These are the most adorable things i've seen in the line of christmas antiques. As I understand it, ya could either buy the kits or make them yourself from cardboard boxes. They were all handpainted. They are mostly done in the simple primary colors. They had holes cut into the backs of them to insert lights if ya so wished to do so. Painted mostly in bright primary colors, some were trimmed with "snow" and other embellishments to make them lifelike.

I cant describe how cute they really are.

There are a few listings on ebay for them. Most have minor imperfections from normal wear and tear through the years. But, still they could easily be repaired and serve their purpose for many more years to entertain and mesmerize those who are lucky enough to own the originals.

The originals? Hmmmm, did i really say that? Yes, they are adorable and yes i'd love to own them. And then, i think "ohhhhhhhh how much fun i could have with my own variation of designing/creating these little buggers. For this Christmas tho? I THINK NOT! I mean lets face it, i have all kinds of time before next Christmas to "putz" around, right?

I surely wished I could show you a picture of these little cardboard creatures. But, you know the copyright laws. I'd not want to "steal" anothers image. So, i'll let you be surprised to see how adorable they are by typing "putz mica Christmas village" in the ebay or google search bars. =)

And So Begins The Experience of the Blog World

This is my very first try at the blogging world, so bare with me while I get started. My name is Holly and im from a small town in the beautiful state of Pennsylania. Together with my wondeful husband (Bob) and our 2 boys (ages 10 & 14), we live in early american style home that I love decorating, how? On a shoestring!

I had been thinking about blogging for a few weeks now, but really didnt seem to have an "exciting" topic to write that fit in with what i wanted to write about. The idea came alive today when I was setting up my oh-so-beloved Christmas Village. I've seen so many through the years that just seemed to always take my breath away. Staring at them always seemed to put me in another time and place.

3 Years ago, i'd decided it was time to start this wonderful fascinaion that has followed through childhood into adulthood. But, I knew (or so I thought i knew)these were not cheap items to collect. I set out on a mission to prove my own theory wrong.

My first piece, the church in the upper right hand corner was i guess you could say, my inspiration piece. It was given to me by my mother-in-law. I really had no idea what to do with it that year, so i'd just set it out and put a few decorations around it.

Last Christmas, oh how the village came to life. I was browsing in our local dollar store when i found the 3 little buildings (toy store, school and firehouse). I was so happy to find them for $1 each. The 2nd bigger piece came with a joann fabrics 50% coupon right before christmas last year. Several of the small "fill-in" pieces were acquired by clearance and trusty old joann coupons. I dont think i've paid anymore than $3 each for those peices. As id thought it had grown enough by Christmas last year, my husband surprised me yet, one more piece. I dont know how much he paid for it, but knowing him, it probaly wasnt cheap as he wont shop for the bargains like I do. He goes into the stores and gets what he wants and gets out asap. He is a man, right?

Today, I got gutsy or maybe some may call it insane and brought out all my decorations that make my house come to life this time of year. As i was deciding where to put the village this year, my eyes kept going back to the china closet that so desperately needs refinished (someday, I will accomplish that task...or rather maybe not. As my husband says when i talk about doing so "not in this lifetime will you finish it. It's been like that for 5 years, why start now?" Anyways, the china closet won the battle. As i'd started to place the pieces I had, they just werent big enough to fill the china closet and still look nice. Lo and behold, just like he was reading my mind, bob says "do you need anything from Walmart?". Oh my, im thinking now, he's got to know that's really a silly question! OF COURSE, i replied. And off we went, i never did tell him it was my intentions all along to buy another village building or 2. I brought home yet 2 more pieces and the most expensive ones to date, $15 each. Oh and I found the artificial tree that I want also while we were browsing. I dont know, but im thinking Bob wont be asking me again anytime soon if i need anything from Walmart.

So, anyways... back to the moral of todays post. If you have a dream of a collection of something that is usually rather expensive, shop the thrift stores, use coupons, drop hints to your better half, or others that maybe you swap gifts with. Where there's a will, there's a way!