school supplies

My son’s friend just received his list of school supplies that he *must have* before returning to public school in the fall. We only ever went through this process twice (once for kindergarten and once for first grade) and yet, we don’t miss it one bit.

I would have to say that for homeschooling parents one of the great joys in life is avoiding all stores that stock office supplies and childrens clothes during the back to school season. One (public school) mother told me that back to school shopping was (I’m quoting here) “an important formative experience.”

Forgive my innocence in such things. I was unaware that seeing one’s mother engage in mortal combat over the last 64 count crayon pack of a certain brand in the entire county was an important formative experience. Mea culpa.

I have nothing against public school parents, I just enjoy a bit of irony when the opportunity arises.

Okay, ironic moment over.

Please excuse me as I must go cry over the cost of this years text books now.

Craft book secret

One of the best, and in some ways worst, sources of inspiration comes from extremely dated crafting books. And by extremely dated, if the colors recommended are gold, fuchsia and olive, it’s probably from the 70’s.

My frugal vintage craft book secret; local Goodwill outlets. The outlets are different from Goodwill stores in that all the stuff (except furniture and some appliances) gets dumped in huge bins. The advantage is that you purchase stuff by the pound, and books for about $0.50 a piece, magazines for even less. The disadvantage is that what you find is likely to be in pretty rough condition and you have to really sort to get to the treasures.

Some days the book bins will offer only a thin leaflet or two with cross-stitch patterns, but other days will give up an armful of books on soap making, knitting, embroidery, and Christmas crafts. Yesterday I found the proverbial armful, with some very vintage gems and even a full bag of spanish moss.

Some tips for enjoying the experience:

1. Dress as if you are going to go to work at a recycling center, things get broken and spilled in the bins, many things are quite dirty, so leave the pretty clothes at home and wear something sturdy.
2. Bring gloves with you. Again, things are a bit dirty and there can be broken bits of glass or plastic (although most of the time the employees are good about removing the most dangerous stuff.)

Be prepared for some competitive shoppers, many of the regulars stock antique and thrift stores with their finds and they are not always the most polite of people (however there are many more friendly people, it’s just that the rude ones are more noticeable.)

If I were buying the same books at a regular Goodwill store I would have spent about $30-35, at the outlet my total came to a whopping $5.15. If you have an outlet nearby it’s certainly worth the inconvenience or unpleasantness (after you’ve got your bearings its much more fun and exciting.)

Felt fortune cookies

I originally posted this project on the website in 2003, even though the project is pictured as Christmas themed it can be done in any color combination according to the whims of the maker. These fortune cookies go faster than the real thing, I made full one hundred of them and used them as decorations for our Christmas tree in two evenings. Later I made a smaller set of 2 dozen and used them instead of hang tags on Christmas gifts, they were a great hit.

Gather up wool or craft felt, ribbons or paper strips, embellishments (I used bells and ribbons) and a hot glue gun with craft glue. First cut out felt circles, the ones I used are approximately 2&1/2 inches in diameter. Then cut the fortunes (I used decorative ribbon in this example, but if you are making gift tags you can use paper to write the recipients name on) to three inches long. Precut any cord used for hanging and have the embellishments handy.

Gently fold the felt circle in half and unfold. Apply the hot glue in a line following the curve of the circle a few inches parallel to the fold

Fold over again without creasing the spine of the cookie and align the edges. Give the glue a minute to cool and then slip the “fortune” into place.

Slip your fingers into the open tips of the cookie and bring them together, this forms the classic shape of the fortune cookie. Glue into place being careful to not put your fingers directly over the glue, even through felt it’s very hot. If you are going to add embellishments or a hang cord, do it during this step with the same dot of glue, simply inserting the pieces where desired.

Pictured is the cookie with a bell and ribbons in place.

Tie the ribbons and fluff the cookie into shape gently. Bask in the glory that is a beautiful crafty accomplishment.

Mini-Fridge: the results are in

My electricity bill was a whopping $68 and some change in new charges! I expected it would go down a bit, but that’s just ridiculous when you consider the charges for May last year were $130.

Going from a large full sized fridge did take a little adjustment. I can no longer buy and keep the giant containers of ice cream until we buy a drop down freezer. Which makes a good excuse to buy a better brand of ice cream in the gallon size. Or the gourmet brands in pint sizes.

The door configuration still annoys me a little, not all of it– just the can dispenser.

I am actually using the crisper (now that I have one that doesn’t freeze my veggies.) So far it’s had cabbage, celery, carrots, tomatoes, and spinach– no problems, wilting or funky smells.

Easy to clean (no more climbing in under shelves to get to that very back side, outside finish wipe clean with a damp rag.) Still adorable (who would have thought an appliance could be so cute?)

“N” is for Nice

I’ve always been fascinated by handwriting and typography, even from the time I was a little DIYer practicing my nicest D’nealian script in black crayon on my mother’s linoleum floor. (Which, by the way, is how I also learned early on the very sneaky DIY trick of using tulle scraps to remove crayon from linoleum without scratching the surface of the floor.)

And why I don’t completely freak out when my daughter practices her bold strokes of the pen in large purple block letters on a freshly painted wall. (BTW applying White-out over the pen-marks and spot painting the area really is the way to go.)

Perhaps also the reason that when I was loosing my sanity trying to get the Image-Headlines plugin to work for both the side bar and the post titles of one of my sites I didn’t quit. Even though my husband (sweet and supportive creature that he is) tried to assure me that the site looked “nice” I did not quit.

Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning I actually managed to get the plugin installed and working, and woke my darling husband (who had by that time abandoned me for the soft comforts of sleep– bless his deserting little heart) to see all the glory that is my sidebar.

“That’s it?” He yawned “Nice.” He nodded and muttered and then went back to bed.

Wait.

Isn’t “nice” what he said about the sidebar before I changed it?

Indeed it was the very same word. Nice. Obviously “nice” is one of those words that changes meaning depending on the gestures and context. It must mean ordinary common “nice” when said wide awake, but when preceded with a yawn I think it means “Wow Wendy that’s totally the most awesome sidebar ever, other sidebars would have to climb a 12 foot ladder just to kiss your sidebar’s fanny!”

I’m pretty sure about this.

Under pressure– cooking

Pressure cookers are usually thought of one of those things that grandma used, dangerous and intimidating as it seemed, to store her preserves and can her winter veggies. Not quite an appliance on it’s own, not just another pot or pan, the pressure cooker is a must have  device for any savvy and frugal cook.

Pressure not only injects fluid into the food and speeds up cooking time considerably, it also softens hard materials like seeds, bones, cobs, and kernels.

Not only will you have the assurance that you can store food for months, you’ll know exactly what went into that food. Things you may not have considered for canning: soup, stew, chowder, bone meal, sauces, gravy, sliced citrus fruit, salted meat, potatoes, carrots and homemade pet food are all good candidates.

And you’ll be able to prepare things like hummus, hominy, bone meal, berry syrup, and berry preserves on the fly (without hours upon hours of cooking and waiting) to store for a later date or to serve up the same day. You can also speed the preparation of foods for storage by giving them a run in a pressure cooker.

A few tips to get you started:

• Always read the manual before using your pressure cooker and follow the instructions for your model.
• Buy the smallest pressure cooker size that will accommodate your needs, filled with water and food they can be quite heavy.
• Do not try to recycle self sealing jar lids
• Keep extra jars, rings and seals on hand
• Look for sales on the produce your family prefers
• Pressure cook bones, cobs, shells, husks, pits and kernals before throwing them in the mulch pile (they will break down much faster)
• Pressure cook bones and corncobs for your pets to chew on (their teeth will thank you)
• Core and pressure cook apples and pears in a spiced or maple syrup for a sweet treat

Bob Books

I have some serious love for Bob Books. If you haven’t found these revolutionary little gems they are a series of books that teach very basic phonics and context with simple line drawings. Each set progressively teaches more complex concepts as they are read. I’ve used Bob Books with my own children, I am constantly recommending them to friends and family with young pre-readers. Quite by accident I learned that older children who’ve missed essential phonics foundations are suddenly “getting it” after reading Bob Books to younger siblings. Not too spendy, these books are worth their weight in gold.

Kitchen: Cast-iron

For those of us that use cast iron cookware it’s unimaginable to switch back to copper bottom frying pans and Teflon coated cookware, aluminum is simply out of the question.

My cast waffle iron consistently produces perfectly formed and cohesive waffles with so little effort that switching to a Teflon waffle iron would be a clear sign of mental illness.

Cast iron offers an even distribution of heat throughout the cooking surface and sides, non-stick properties, durability, and lightening fast clean up when it’s cured correctly and properly cleaned.

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Craft: got plastic?

You can make a plastic from the protein called casein. Casein is found in milk, it is the substance that makes custards, cheese, and in this case: plastic. This recipe works with spoiled milk as well, so it makes a good recycling project.

You’ll need a stove top, a small pan (for heating), 1 cup of milk and some lemon juice or vinegar, and a wire strainer or some cheese cloth. You might also want some small candy or chocolate molds and a few paper towels handy.

Warm the milk 50°-70° (F) and add about a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to the milk. Stir continuously as the milk curdles and remove from heat, strain the liquid from the solid using the wire strainer or cheese cloth (you can discard the liquid) and squeeze remaining moisture out of the solid curds with fingers or by patting with paper towels.

Congratulations!

You now have a plastic that you can sculpt or press into a mold. After sculpting or molding allow to air dry for 3-4 days. Try making buttons, rings, ornaments and small toys from the casein plastic, the more the casein is worked the smoother it becomes, so don’t worry about handling it too much. It can be cut, sanded, painted or lacquered for further finishing once dry.

Increase quantities and drying times as needed for larger batches of casein plastic.

(If you happen to have any formaldehyde laying around you can use it to dry the casein faster but that sort of takes it out of the ‘child safe’ project arena.)

I love it (Kitchen update)

We settled on the Magic Chef Model No MCBR415S and it’s love. We love it. The estimated yearly cost of running this 4.0 cubic ft. fridge is a paltry $24 and for less than $200- we paid cash.

In the picture (that I borrowed from the manufacturers site) you can see my only complaint, the door has a can dispenser. Since we don’t buy soda or canned juice I’m going to cut some plex-glas and form it into a more practical holder. I did rearrange the shelves and I’m happy to report that i can fit two gallon jugs of milk without cramming anything.

On top of everything– it’s super cute and it has a decent freezer compartment.