Blender Jar

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but close to it. 
This blog hasn't been what I had intended it to be and I've dropped the ball in many areas. 
Right now, I'm contemplating closing shop over here at Feeding the Fish Sticks and just focusing on our family blog.  Still not sure yet, but thinking....

So in the mean time since it's been over a month since I've posted, here's a post I planned a while back but never actually wrote.

My blender jar was broken by a Fish Stick putting dishes away.  The company that I ordered the replacement from sent the a jar with no lid that my old lid didn't fit.  Then they sent another jar with no lid instead of just the lid.  Then they finally sent the lid.  During all this rigamarole that I had to deal with, we were without a blender for a LONG time.  Too long for this family.

My son remembered that a long time ago we had seen on Pinterest that you can use a Mason jar as a blender jar.  The mouth is the same size for most blenders. 

It was perfect...especially when I was making a 1 serving smoothie.  I just drank straight from the jar.

So just in case your blender jar breaks and the company messes up your replacement order....now you know you can just use a Mason jar.  You're welcome.  :)

Doing the Pin

We altered tee shirts this summer from a pin on Pinterest. My girls love them. What a cute alternative to the plain ole tee. 

Maxi Skirts

I started my summer going nuts making maxi skirts. I bought a stack of solid jersey knit flat sheets at Goodwill for $2.99 a piece. I used a simple pattern from Pinterest and made about 6 skirts, half of them long and the other half calf length. They r much more comfortable than shorts and cooler too. I'm hooked. 

Excuse my look of disgust in this photo. I'm really a happy person, just have a hard time with selfies. 

Menu Calendar

I pinned this amazing-looking Meal Planning Calendar on Pinterest.  I checked out the website thoroughly and decided to give it a shot.  I purchased almost all of the supplies for myself at Walmart.  I spent $35 to purchase the card stock printed off for the above Menu Calendar.  When it arrived, my girls and I had a good time together cutting all 100 recipe cards, punching holes in them, reinforcing the holes and putting them in rings.  We then cut out all the numbers and catagories and put magnets on the back.  We stuck circular magnets on the backs of the plastic gems.  It made a big mess but was a fun activity to share together.

The author hangs her calendar on the wall and hangs all 11 categories of recipes on the thumb tacks at the bottom of the calendar.  I think I've decided to keep mine in my office area and keep the cards in a box or Ziploc.

Because I had already planned our March menu and shopped for the groceries, I just wrote in the meals with the dry erase marker for this month.  Next month, I plan to use the calendar with its recipes.  It's a simple process and I look forward to trying out the recipes and method.  I'm hoping it will simplify things for us and maybe even save some in grocery money.  I'll let you know how it goes.  The site actually allows you to copy all of her recipes for free off of her site and tells you exactly how to make your own.  She also sells them completed and partially complete.

The same site offers a lunch menu calendar.  I was curious to see what types of things she offers for packed lunches.  I purchased the PDF file for only $5.  I printed them on cardstock from Walmart and put them together just like the above calendar.  She has some super ideas but making a different lunch for 5 days doesn't seem simple or feasible (budget-wise), especially since some of them involve more cooking.  I'm happy to have the recipes though and think I will use some, just not using the daily system that the author does.  I found all the recipes to be nutritious and simple after flipping through them.

Stay tuned for the update.

Ministry Challenge

I told you in January that I had a ministry opportunity to share with you and here it is.

You know I recently read "7" by Jen Hatmaker and then "Crazy Love" by Frances Chan.  Both are super challenging books that have potential to either rock your world or for you to ignore.  Knowledge is dangerous, ladies.

So after reading those books I had to ask myself, "What am I doing?  Really, what am I doing to impact eternity, to love God more and to live out what He really intended the church to do?"  It's more than just being a Christian mom and wife.  It's intentional.  As I love Jesus more, I see His heart and share His heart more.  Our adoption has become part of that outflow of His love in our lives.  What other ways can I love others because of my love for my Heavenly Father?

At the beginning of the year, Ruth's 2nd grade teacher sent home the idea to make "homeless care packages" and pass them out.  She sent a list of things for us to collect and the class bagged them up and sent one to each 2nd grader.

I hate to tell you that ours stayed in our van from September until Dec. 19. when we saw a homeless man on the way to the airport when we were heading to Turkey.  Our county is a wealthy one and homeless people are not seen often.  I know that they are here, just not a daily thing we encounter.

Recently I became aware that the people who sell newspapers on the street corners are poor and allowed to keep any excess money that people give them when buying the publication.  Some of them even write articles for the publication.  I respect that they are looking for ways to raise money and hold jobs - even undesirable jobs like standing on a cold street corner all day.  I see then each time I go to town.

We also have friends who live right in the middle of Nashville who I am sure would be happy to pass some out for us.  (Jen, hope you are up for this!)

I pinned this idea on Pinterest if you want to check it out also under Ministry.

Here's my challenge to you.  I would love for you to join me on this opportunity.  Let's make 5 bags at a time and try to pass them out in 1 month.  If 5 is too ambitious, then set a goal for yourself.

I decided to put mine in denim bags that I am sewing out of excess panels that have been sitting in my closet for years.  That way they can reuse them, but gallon Ziplocs are sufficient or reuseable shopping bags.

Here's what I am putting in mine:
I found hats and gloves on 75% clearance at CVS this week.  They came to about 95 cents each.
I got wet wipes, travel tissue and peanuts at Dollar Tree.

I got peanut butter crackers at Aldi, soap, Slim Jims, toothbrushes and Bibles at Dollar Tree and hand sanitizer at CVS (sorry for the upside down phone photo).  I got small water bottles at Aldi.

I put all these things into one bag with a deoderant and toothpaste from my couponing stash.  I also put in 2 gospel tracts. 

Some other ideas would be a fast food gift card for $5, gum, mints, chapstick (oops - I forgot that but will add that to my bag too because I bought some just for this.), an Evangecube, a Bible comic book (I plan to get some of these from No Greater Joy ministries, granola bar or protein bar,....

So who's in?  Who wants to try to show Christ's love by such a simple thing as this?  I know some of you might be on a tight budget.  We are too, but these are things I collected as I was out shopping, keeping an eye out for sales and deals.

Sock Bun Pinned

I found this on Pinterest and had to try it.  You cut the toe off of a sock, roll it into a doughnut and wrap your ponytail around it.  It's easy and looks like a big, perfect bun.  Just want I need since my hair has thinned in half the thickness it used to be.  My girls loved it and right now are wearing both the socks that I cut.  Sure hate that I threw all those holey and miss matched socks away last month when I was decluttering!

Plethora of Pinterest

If you have checked out my auction on our adoption blog, you can see I've been busy. 

I used to be a huge crafter.  I sewed, crafted and scrapbooked through every single Fish Stick nap.  Those days are long gone but it was really fun having a personal deadline to get crafting and sewing done to post items to auction.  Pinterest came in real handy as I searched things to make with things I had on hand.

Here's some of the things that I got off line:  rick rack Christmas tree cards, snowman t-shirt, knit woven bracelets, hair bows, tree button shirts, & the reversible purse pattern. 

I have lots of fabric from my curtain sewing days, so we used that to make the grocery bags.

I sew with knit all the time because the blog Make It and Love It has gotten me hooked on knit.  The cheapest way to use knit is to buy jersey knit bed sheets at Goodwill for $2.99 a piece.  I have knit in just about every color and it costs me a fraction of the cost going that route.  There's so many fun things to do with knit.  I stocked up on t-shirts of all colors and sizes last year as I anticipated opening my Etsy shop to make reversible applique Africa tees.  My Etsy shop didn't take off like I anticipated and so I am left with loads of t-shirts.  It's been my standard kid birthday gift this year.  I searched Pinterest to come up with cute ideas, other than Africa, to make t-shirts.

And to add to my month of Pinterest Craze, I have been doing the freezer bag meals that I pinned.  I think I already have 8 meals in my freezer and one cooking in my Crock Pot as I type.  That's the kind of meal planning I LOVE!!!  Anyone else tried those out?

Looks Are Deceiving

I pinned Breakfast Cookies.  Looks delicious.  Tastes like rubber.  I found the container this a.m. with all 5 chocolate chips picked off each cookie and several with one bite taken out of them.  Unfortunately My Man overheard from the back of the house the general consensus of the cookie taste and opted out of having one for breakfast.

I'm not a good salesman.

I hate waste, so I guess I will be eating these until they are gone.  Slowly chewing and chewing.

Gotta go delete that pin.

Pinning It & Making It

My pin that I actually made lately has been homemade flavored coffee creamer.  It comes from Next to Heaven blog and you can find it pinned on my Pinterest boards.

I've made the Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer several times.  It's very yummy but if you don't strain it, the pumpkin settles at the bottom of the coffee cup and makes for a yucky last sip.  The smell and taste is very good though.  I guess I should take the time to strain.  :)

I also tried the Peppermint Mocha.  It was very good and very chocolatey.

Next to try is Cinnamon Strudel and Chocolate Almond.  I'm nuts about almond flavoring.

These creamers are not as sweet as the store bought so some of you might want to add some stevia to yours.  The recipes fall right in line with our "real eating" plan so I suggest you give them a try and see what you think.  Your kids will want to drink them plain if you decide they are not great in your coffee.  :)

Doing the Pins

You would all be so impressed.  I have been doing my pins on Pinterest.  I have done several this week but will just post one right now, in case I slow done and need some posting material later.  :)

I was planning on making meatloaf one night but then I saw that someone had made mini meatloafs in a muffin tin (takes so much less time to cook, which is awesome!) and then topped them with mashed potatoes in an icing pipe tube.  My icing pipe tube broke, but I had 2 cups of instant potato flakes I wanted to get rid of and with an ice cream scooper, they turned out pretty cute. 

You can follow me on Pinterest to get the pin yourself.

My Fish Sticks loved them and thought they were cupcakes at first.  They were a big hit and will definitely need to be repeated.

Don't Just Pin It

Well I'm just as guilty as the next girl for loading up my Pinterest boards with wonderful, cute ideas that I will never try.  I love Pinterest and honestly try not to go there too much because I could waste spend hours scrolling through the DIY crafting section.  Back in my early years of marriage, pre-Fish Sticks, I would spend countless hours flipping through my Michael's Arts and Crafts magazine and trying new things.  I think Hobby Lobby and Michael's employees knew me on a first name basis.  Those days are long gone as is my scrapbooking all-nighters.

I was just thinking, "What if I tried to actually 'do a pin' instead of just 'pin a pin' on Pinterest every couple weeks or so?"  I'm not making any promises, just making a personal goal.  They will probably be EASY pins like a quick recipe and not a room make-over or build-your-own-bunk-bed-out-of-old-dressers kind of pins.

So today I am going to tell you that I tried homemade fabric softener from Hillbilly Housewife on laundry day this week.  It smelled good and I poured it into my Downy ball because I have no clue when my final rinse cycle cuts on and I don't have a fabric softener dispenser.  All was going well on the first 5 loads or so, until I threw in some towels and sweaters.  They came out full of static.  I tried pouring a couple of tablespoons onto a wash rag, tossing that back in the dryer to eliminate the static.  It improved my situation but didn't cure it.  My review would be that it works well except for fabrics that seem to be staticy (is that a word?).

So have any of you tried homemade fabric softener and did it work?