Egg basket

Photo of my egg basket find from the weekend.

Aldi

So, I had my first shopping experience at Aldi today. I didn't really know what to expect, but had seen commericials about new stores opening up in North Texas and heard about their great deals. I went in with a decent list - everything needed to make my Aunt Neva's chicken pot pie, plus a few other items.

I've started doing some price comparisons (something my mom and sister have been doing for years) and had comps for Wal-Mart for at least some staple items. Aldi does beat the Wal-Mart price on most everything. The hard part is it is a small store and the selection very limited. Plus it is almost exclusively off-brand. Nothing wrong with that. Just different from the big grocery stores. And they only take cash or debit (non Visa/MC debit). Which since I don't use much cash, would make it necessary to plan ahead.

I found out the cash only thing as I was walking in the store. Good thing my mom taught me how to keep a running tab as I'm shopping to make sure I know what the finally tally will be. Not that I normally do that, but I can. So, I evaluated the amount of cash in my wallet and set out to see how much of my list I could get checked off.

Here was the damage:

1 lb fresh strawberries = 0.99
1 lb bag frozen peas = 0.95
1 lb bag frozen corn = 0.95
quart chicken stock = 1.29
gallon skim milk = 1.79
quart half & half = 1.99
green bell peppers (3) = 1.79
bag yellow onions = 2.69
garlic cloves (3) = 0.89
3 lb frozen boneless chicken breast = 5.49
2 lb carrots = 0.99
4 lb sugar = 1.79
5 lb flour = 1.19
5 lb potatoes = 1.49

Grand total = $24.28

Every.single.thing on my list. Plus, paying with cash made me stick to my list. I *KNOW* I would have spent more at Kroger, because I would have just tossed anything that looked good into my basket.

A couple of other interesting notes....you have to pay a deposit of a quarter to use a basket (they are locked together and you get the quarter back out when you return the basket and lock it back in) and you have to bag your own groceries. You have to bring your own bags or they do have reusable bags for sale or you can pay 0.10 cents each for plastic bags.

Don't know for sure how often I will do my grocery shopping at Aldi. It is on my way home from work, so I might just use it for the quick little runs, but I'm also giving up on the perks of my credit card by paying with cash up front at the store, rather than just paying off the credit card bill in full.

Oh, and before I made it to Aldi this morning? Found a vintage egg basket at an estate sale for $1.50 that I plan to use for those onions in my pantry (been looking for one for a while). Also picked up a Scrabble game for my house (50 cents) and Scrabble Junior for Emily ($1.00) at garage sale. Now each household in my family has a Scrabble game we can whip out anytime!

Bon Jovi

Sunday night I had the privilege to use a couple of my company's tickets to go see Bon Jovi in concert. A co-worker seated next to me brought her big camera and took the following photos. Greatness!!

It was a very fun evening with my friend Beth helping her to celebrate finishing her PhD.

New layout

My sister recently changed the look of her blog....when I asked where she found her design, she directed me to The Cutest Blog on the Block. They have LOTS of really cute layouts and it is SO easy to apply. Check 'em out!

Hand of Fate - book review

Hand of Fate by Lis Wiehl and April Henry

(provided by Thomas Nelson Publishers as a part of Book Sneeze)

When the host of a popular Portland, OR radio talk show is murdered, the Triple Threat Club—a federal prosecutor, an FBI agent, and a journalist—must narrow down the lengthy list of suspects who wanted him dead. Jim Fate, a very outspoken and controversial local radio talk show host, dies suddenly while his show, “The Hand of Fate” is on air. The manner of his death causes widespread panic and chaos as the downtown area is evacuated.

FBI Special Agent Nicole Hedges, crime reporter Cassidy Shaw and federal prosecutor Allison Pierce, three colleagues who are also good friends, team up to piece together the not-so public life of Jim Fate in order to uncover the stunning truth of who killed him—and why.

I was unfamiliar with Lis Wiehl and her stories, but this book will make her one of my regular reads! I was drawn in to the characters and the story very quickly and was completely surprised with the ending – a very good sign for a mystery. The characters were well written and each had depth that was explored and unveiled throughout the book. Twists and turns along the way as the investigation developed kept me turning the pages faster and faster. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

http://www.liswiehlbooks.com/

Sunday afternoon

My mom is an excellent seamstress. She made all kinds of clothes for us when we were young, has made many a curtain, is now into making bibs and high chair pads for miss Emily and still makes herself clothes on occasion.

She taught both of her daughters to sew. #2 daughter seems to have really caught the bug and makes all kinds of fun things. #1 daughter (that's me) struggles to do anything more complex than straight seams. I can do the very basic steps, but I just don't enjoy it all that much. I have started making burp cloths for friends when they are expecting, but really don't have any desire to do much more.

A couple of weekends ago, Heather and Emily came in for a visit. We decided since they were coming without Phillip and could bring his pickup, and my parents were going to be here the very next week, that it was time for Emily's big girl bed to find a home with them. In the past few months she has climbed out of bed a few times, so this way, when they are ready for her to graduate from the crib, she can just put the bed together and be done. This trundle bed was my first out of the crib and was Heather's bed all through growing up. It moved to Dallas with me as my guest sleeping in my apartment and has lived in my office as secondary guest sleeping in my house.

When I first moved to Dallas, mom made me a valance that matched a t-shirt quilt I had made. I lived with that for a while and then decided to redecorate my guest room/office in my apartment. We got overly ambitious with our plans and I made a tab-top denim valance. All I can remember is my fingers about falling off while I tried to sew the buttons on those tabs through what seemed like 87 layers of fabric. It was cute (still is), but was very challenging for me.

When I moved into my house over three years ago, I didn't quite hang the curtain rod high enough and the top of the blinds had been showing through the tab gap. This, of course, was on my never-ending list of things to fix. Never got around to it. Now that my office is no longer a secondary guest room, I decided it was time for a new valance.

While Mom was here last week, we went to JoAnn and found some perfect fabric. Then spent probably 45 minutes trying to write out a "pattern" with measurements for me. Today, I took the plunge to cut, piece and sew the valance. Seems like it took way longer than it probably should have - maybe it didn't. But that 3.5 hours felt like forever. I had issues getting the fabric cut straight and even, but in the end, only lost 1" off the length. I call that a success!!

I can't easily find photos of the previous curtains, so you'll just have to enjoy the new ones!

Spring Reading Thing 2010

It's time again! The Spring Reading Thing challenge, hosted by Katrina of Callapidder Days.

I don't usually have a *real* list -- I just keep you updated as I go along and make a wrap-up list at the end. Not so this time around.

I recently began doing book reviews for Thomas Nelson -- they send me a book, I read it, write a review on my blog and an online retailer and I get to keep the book. It is great fun since I get to choose the books I read and review.

So, here is my list:

currently reading:
Envy by Sandra Brown
Five Love Languages for Singles by Gary Chapman

(library books)
Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown
The Maze by Catherine Coulter
What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
The Switch by Sandra Brown
Demon Rumm by Sandra Brown

(Book Sneeze review books)
Hand of Fate by Lis Wiehl
Why You Say It by Webb Garrison

Oh Baby!

This morning was our baby shower for my sweet sweet Kelly. It was so fun and easy to plan, decorate and execute! We went with a "vintage modern" style....polka dots, bright colors, and vintage toys/clothes were the thematic ingredients. Good food, friends and fun baby gifts. A great morning!













































































































































And, of course, another burp cloth project! Adrian is a rabid Steelers fan, so I thought it would be fun to include a special set of burp cloths just for him to use.

2010 Snow

Last week my little corner of the world received record breaking snowfall in a single day. I took pictures of snow at my house over the 24 hour period. Couldn't narrow down the photos, so you get them all!!








I posted the video on YouTube as well if the Blogger video isn't working:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wOE0RblA74

My car just turned 32!

Plain Pursuit - book review

A Review of Plain Pursuit by Beth Wiseman

While recovering from a traumatic event in her life, Carley Marek takes a vacation to visit her friend Lillian in Pennsylvania’s Amish community. Carley is more drawn to the Amish community than she expected to be, though is troubled by certain practices that seem to be in conflict with the community’s Christianity.

While Carley is visiting, Lillian’s step-son David becomes very ill. A doctor at the local hospital, Dr. Noah, seems to be very interested in David’s care, but is forbidden by the community to intervene in David’s case. As Carley becomes more involved with Lillian’s family, she is also drawn to Dr. Noah. This places her smack dab in the middle of an issue close to the entire Amish community.

While I expected the book to have a happy ending, I did not expect the plot twists and surprises that are more often found in more suspenseful novels. It was a very easy read and I was pulled into the characters from the first chapter (which encouraged me to devour the book in just one day, even at 300+ pages). I enjoyed the depth to which several characters relationship with God was explored and found that I was able to learn some things about my own relationship along the way.

(a complimentary copy was provided to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers as a part of Book Sneeze)

Holiday

So, not knowing how long the Garage Makeover would take, I decided to take off today, since Phillip and Daddy had today off for MLK day.

But, we finished yesterday with a few hours work after the Cowboys less-than-impressive loss, so we had this morning to play. We split up - the boys set off to get Phillip's truck inspected and washed. The girls set off for Office Max (for Turbo Tax), Target and FootLocker (to exchange Emily's christmas present of new tennis shoes). While at the mall, I decided to treat Emily to a ride on the carousel. She actually got two rides because another little girl was riding first. I think Emily enjoyed the second ride more -- especially because she asked for it to run again!!

We picked up Granddaddy to join us for lunch and then I headed back home to settle back in for another busy week. Now I'm catching up on the first two hours of 24 from last night and will move on to the 2 hours from tonight when I'm done.

Back to reality tomorrow......then I'll probably tackle my leaves and possibly reorganize my own garage this weekend!!!

Garage Makeover

For Christmas, one of the things on my dad's wish list was a Garage Makeover. He would buy supplies, if the gift giver would plan the redesign and provide the labor. So, my sister, brother-in-law and I decided to give it to him.

At Thanksgiving, I started taking measurements and planning. The garage really was in pretty good shape in comparison to lots of others as both of their cars fit into the garage. It was organized, but there was just too much stuff and space utilization was not ideal.

So, for Christmas, Daddy received blueprints of the plan for his approval and a shopping list. We hit the after Christmas sale at Lowe's and got three new heavy duty shelving units and a couple of sets of ladder hangers.

This weekend, we all descended on the garage and got busy.

Before:

During:

We even had a little helper at the end.

Finished!!

Fall Into Reading Wrapup

So, it is time for the Fall into Reading wrap-up post. Over here I made my original list. It was rather short. But, I don't generally have a large list of want-to reads. I just go to the library, see what I see, and come home with some books.

This fall, I started with books from the public library:

• The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Van Lustbader -- for an author to pick up a series created by another, this is very well done.
• River's End by Nora Roberts
• Hot Ice by Nora Roberts

Then moved to my own personal library:

• The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon - a re-read in anticipation of Book 7 in the Outlander series
• Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon - a re-read in anticipation of Book 7 in the Outlander series
• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon -- the NEW book. The books in this series are published about 3 years apart. Definitely calls for catching up. And, as usual, this book does not disappoint.

On to a friend's Kindle library - I was traveling and she loaned it to me so that I could see how I liked it. If I traveled extensively, a Kindle would be great. However, I do not generally buy books and it could become quite expensive.

• Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton and Tim Keown
• Vision in White by Nora Roberts
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

Then to reread the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer in anticipation of the movie version of New Moon....

• Twilight
• New Moon
• Eclipse
• Breaking Dawn

And finally, one of my annual reads - an expanded version of what Mary's story might have looked like in preparation for Christmas.

Unafraid by Francine Rivers

I'm currently in the midst of another annual read: Cosmic Christmas by Max Lucado (now published under the name "An Angel's Story")

Christmas Party

It's time!!  If you are in my area, you are invited......