She liked it!

Ok so... you see something on a blog and you kind of sort of copy it...well, because you're SOOO INSPIRED... and you think, 'gosh, I hope they don't mind.'  or  'Gee, I wonder what they'll think?' 


Miss Mustard Seed  liked my little dresser for my granddaughter!!!  And she hi-lighted it with some other projects that she's inspired other people to complete. 


Yay!  


I'm so glad AND MUCH OBLIGED! 
Because she truly is a great inspiration.  








God Bless you
and 
Hope you had a great Memorial Day Holiday
Thanks for reading! 

Baby Girl's Dresser

I will state right off the bat-- this piece was INSPIRED BY:   My teacher, Miss Mustard Seed.  

(credit for photo: http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com)

She has taught so many to paint; and while I didn't exactly follow that Workshop- and participate at the time (I'm a remedial student).  I did watch closely.  
She paints so lovely.  Such inspiration.  


Believe me, I needed inspiration.  I had no idea what in the world to paint on this little girl's dresser.   I did what any amateur would do; I copied my teacher, (she too was inspired by a stencil)...So this is a copy of a copy...he he he. 






Here is my piece before. 

*edited to say:  Honey and I sanded this piece down pretty good (Thank you Honey!) to get the surface ready for new paint, then we repainted it. I did the detail work. 

And.... 

Here is my piece after.

Like Miss Mustard Seed I threw caution to the wind, so to speak: and I went at this with brush and paint! 

I'm so excited with how it turned out! 

 I DID NOT  draw this on with a pencil first. NO!  ...caution to the wind, remember? 
I  DID NOT  stencil this design onto the dresser.   No way...! No sir- ee -bob!  

I just painted!!! 

I used this green color, because well, it's what I had.  AND!... the baby girl has green in her room already. 
If you've read me in the past... you can guess it was my favorite color too.   


Ooops! Paint.  $5 a can-- oh yeah! 


It is my very first piece and I painted it for my grand-daughter.  She is only 14 mos. old.  and Oma painted it just for her-- so of course she loves it! 


Naturally, I'm linking this to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday.  

Not as an in your face kind of post--- but an Apple for the teacher kind of post! 

To say see teacher, aren't you proud of me?  

i apologize for the poor quality photos- i didn't pay attention in that workshop either. ;) 

I am also linking this to FJI- SNS #32...
JUST FOR FUN!

God Bless You and Thanks for reading! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just  a word of thanks to all the different people that have followed me in the past. 

I appreciate each and every one of you.  In case you haven't seen-- I've taken my 'old' name back and gotten a 

New place on blogspot.   

I wanted to remind you:  Don't forget to update your 'following' 

My new URL is: 

www.corninmycoffee-pot.blogspot.com 

Thanks a bunch! 

Pat 

at Corn in My Coffee Pot  

      * a recipe for life!  

Living in Common with Granny---

I read the Living on a Dime newsletter.  It comes in my email box.

She posted this article on her blog.  The Effects of Architecture on Home Living- I'm linking here: you can go there and read it if you like.
Reading it made me think about past homes I've loved and lived in as a child--

I grew up in a mid-century modern tract home. Every third house was just like ours. It was 3 bedroom, 1 bath, galley kitchen. Total living space just under 1000 sq ft. The garage was attached and the washer dryer were in the garage. Don't EVEN get me started on laundry in our house! We NEVER parked our car the garage. You had to get to the back yard, by going through the garage or out the front and around to the gate.

  My parents on the other hand...grew up in the historical parts of the city in Dallas. South Oak Cliff.  Their homes were large with large yards, porches , lots of neighbors and very mature trees lined the streets... I loved my Granny's house.  It had all the little nooks and crannies that Lydia Sherman speaks of in her article.
My Granny's house had the washer on the screened back porch-- it was shaded and the clothes line was right out the door. Right in the middle of town!  Can you believe it?  Not one neighbor ever complained that the clothes got hung outside to dry. Not once!

My Granny also had roses ...

and irises growing in the yard..

with blooming shrubbery tucked in around the yard!  

Her kitchen was  stocked with furniture-- Not cookie cutter cabinets.

There was a table right in the middle of the kitchen.

 Oh! and she had a butler's pantry- Full of the prettiest little roses patterned dishes.  Those cupboards didn't all have doors either, some had curtains, some had glass fronts.
Windows!  oh, there were windows everywhere.
Lots of places for a child to hide. Nooks and Crannies. 






So... back to my little mid-century modern home where I actually lived with my parents.

The upside of living in this mid-cent modern home?  My parents carefully chose the lot where we lived.  It was in a cul-de-sac. We had a large yard, front and back. The windows faced North and South...always cross breezes. Our back yard backed up to a farm...you could hear the cows and the coyotes at night!
I felt sorry for the other kids in the neighborhood who had barely room to play. They always ended up at our house.

My favorite book as a child was:  'Mr. Pine's Purple House'

Go figure.


I live in the country now. The photos above are of my own home-- I live in common with the way my Granny lived.


The closest thing that resembles my house is about 2 miles away.  It sits across the street from the original site, where my house was built.  Thank goodness the old man that built this house -- married into a family with some land and just picked up and moved the house here!   That would be weird waking up and seeing an almost identical house across the stretch of 2 lane hi-way.

Or would it?
In the Suburbs people do it every day, huh?

God Bless you
and
Thanks for reading!

Just a reminder-

Hi- 


Just wanted to send out a word of thanks to all the different people that have followed me in the past. 
I appreciate each and every one of you.  In case you haven't seen-- I've taken my 'old' name back and gotten a 
New place on blogspot.   
I wanted to remind you:  Don't forget to update your 'following' 


My new URL is: 


www.corninmycoffee-pot.blogspot.com 


Don't forget! 
I'll be looking to see you there!


Thanks a bunch! 


Pat 
at Corn in My Coffee Pot  
      * a recipe for life!  

did you see Meg Ryan's home?

Beautiful! 





I don't read Elle Decor magazine. But I saw this article about Meg Ryan's home on yahoo. 


I loved it.  Her home is her home. 
It is what it is.  


If you've read some of the blogs I've read. Her clean white slate, cottage , horizontal wood walls--- perfect!  Looks like something Layla at the Lettered Cottage might have designed.  


She even has the * ephemera   that is so popular in  homes right now; 
with her big metal lettered 'flowers' 


and yet the Author of this article calls it ' un-perky'... Hello!  Does your house have to be perky? REALLY?! 


I read the comments that people have left at the bottom of this article. 
"It needs more color" ? Her style is minimalist-- cottage--- not fussy.  Color--- that would be perky- that would not be minimalist! 


Somebody EVEN commented about her hair?! 


they clearly don't read the same thing I read on the internet! 
They obviously don't get it-- 
IT's HER HOME PEOPLE...  IT IS WHAT IT IS... 




This concludes this weeks RANT... 


God bless you 
and 
Thanks for reading my RANT!

Compost Bin and Mending Fences

Spent a couple of days last week mending some fence.  (by that I mean mending fences, not making up with the enemy...lol) 


No really, around here you see some of the old ranchers use sticks to mend the fences around their corrals and barn yards.


So I started researching it...trouble is I couldn't find very many pictures.  So, I was just 'winging - it' ---( when you Google twig fence---all sorts of stuff comes up, like wattle and wickets...that looks like a lot of work).  Instead this is what we did.  I noticed today. The neighbor actually mowed his side (he couldn't get to it before) - I think he is glad we stood the fence back up. 

This is the first go we had a making a 'twig-fence'. 

Actually, we are just mending the fence. You can see the hog -wire in there. 

we just tied it together, and ran some T-post in the ground  (I don't think you can see them) 

Then we started tying the TWIGS TO THE EXISTING FENCE. 

Here is why..... 

This is Trouble with the fence. 

Yep, you read that right. 

I did NOT say trouble with the fence... 

I said Trouble with the fence. 

Trouble ...

that's the dog's name. 

Kind of like a bad comedy or something, huh? 

So right about now... 

Honey and I are wondering... 

Why didn't we grow a garden? 

He's retired.  I'm not too terribly busy... 

we've got land... 

I guess it just didn't occur to us to plant something. 

We've done it before; way back when the kids were little. 

AND living in the country was FRESH! 

It kind of went stale there for a while. 

So we got to thinking... 

we need to plan better. 

So then we built us compost bin...after we mended the fence

Here it is composting already. 

Well, it will be soon. 

This is a side view. 

In a few days I'll show you the gate we made for it... 

out of twigs. 

To keep Trouble out. 

That was a pretty good day. 

Got some mowing done too. 

The yard looks really good. 

This is the way back to the house...

Here is why... 

All work ceased. 

Then I sat on the porch swing 

and I think I can see the grass growing. 

Wish it was veggies- 

in a garden. 

We're hoping we'll get to have a little bit of a fall garden. 

Well, that's the plan anyway. 

That's it from here- for now. 

God Bless you 

and 

Thanks for reading! 

Internet Problems- blech!

Can you believe it? 


Just as soon as I got the link fixed on my last post at the old place and sent out a few email regarding that...


My internet went down!      


AAAAAaaaarrrRRRgggGGG! 


Ok. I'm better now. 


I just had to vent. 
Now I'm off to hopefully finish my 'blog-roll' additions. 
I haven't forgotten about y'all, honest! 


God Bless you 
and 
Sorry for your trouble- Thanks for reading! 

So Long-- farewell...

I finally decided to shake the old and and be done with it ... my URL that is.



If You don't mind-  Just click HERE and come on over.

I'll be looking for you!

God Bless you
and
Thanks for reading!

My New ''SPOT''

Here it is- My new 'spot'... I hope you like it. 


It isn't much to look at now, but just wait.  I hope to have this place  looking like home in no time. 


I'm so glad you're here.  
Thanks for jumpin' on over.(now that my link is working!)  Please don't forget to make changes or follow... I'll not be posting at the old spot, 
(i don't guess) 


I'm just glad to be here too. Can I tell ya?  It just takes a load off my mind to have my title and my blog URL matching... and to just love my title, after all that's the reason for the whole turmoil isn't it?  
(bloggy peer-pressure, ssshhh.)


anyway-  I wanted to say a great big THANK YOU  to Gail at  My Repurposed Life  for helpin' a girl out! 
She really, really gave me lots of encouragement to just get it done already.  I'm so glad she did.  
Not to mention the fact that she and I spent a lot of  time in the mail room... making it happen.  She gave me some good ideas, but most of all the encouragement to do it!  I appreciate you Gail...more than you probably know! 


Whew! what a load off, huh? 
I may be tweaking a few things here and there over the next week...So, please, please be patient with me y'all.  You know me, I'm indecisive! ---  for every decision to be made, I have to go through the process of changing my mind and then changing it back... then settling on the final outcome!  


It's grueling, I tell ya!  


Anyway-- enough about that!  
Let's get the show on the road... no looking back! 


God Bless you 
  and 
Thanks for reading! 

The Ears Have it...

Stop WAIT!   You're not at the wrong place. In fact the URL is still the same...Only the name and a few minor details have been changed to Appease "CRAZY -INDECISIVE - GIRL" THAT LURKS INSIDE ME SOMEWHERE! (so you've landed at the very spot you thought you were blogging too).

I've made the statement on occasion of how I really liked the name of my blog before... and SOME HOW, the kid in me succumbed to  nasty BLOGGY peer-pressure and  I took a wild notion to change the name of my blog for the sake of "BETTER BLOGGING' !  Don't you just loath peer pressure?  Does anybody else out there get bloggy peer-pressure?  COME ON NOW, BE HONEST!

Since then I've cavassed  taken a STRAW POLE of,  a few random comments here and there -- and have come to the conclusion... that You really liked my before name AND SO DO I!

I suffer with indecision all the time. (actually I don't suffer with it, usually it is those around me that SUFFER from my indecision)  I suffer from the CONSEQUENCES!!!

sO... I'm baAAAaaacccCCKKkk!--- And Happy to Be!
I'll be Corn from now on...I'll not change my name from this point on.
I can't promise though, that sometime in the future, I may decide to change my URL...but you'll be warned before I do.  I hope you'll follow me there... where ever that place will be.

In the mean time

God Bless You
and
Thanks for reading:  Corn in My Coffee Pot

Your STILL THE EVER-Indecisive Bloggy Friend!

Shower day!

I had so much fun planning this shower.  I used very little in the way of store-bought throw away decorations.
I really started out with nothing but a crocheted baby blanket and bunting that was my intended gift.
Once I decided to use that as part of the decorating- it just escalated.

Lezlee at Prior Lives had posted about a vintage themed baby shower she had hosted and she gave me several ideas with that post. Couple of odd/funny things I'll just mention.  Lezlee and I have never met in person, but we don't reside very far apart. In fact we live in rival school districts...but in her post she showed a picture of an old Tupperware doggie 

 and well, when I was doing some last minute shopping at our local Goodwill-  I found one of those same dogs!  I couldn't believe it.

  I remembered seeing hers so I grabbed it up along with some buy one get one free linens -- in this case some baby receiving blankets, and table cloth and a handful of cloth diapers about 5 in all!  Some of it was free (love free!)
 A few of the decorations I put together were- booties candle votives  made out of washcloths, crocheted ribbon, mushroom cans (or small tomato sauce) and little votives or you can use baby food jars and tea light candles...













*edited to add this picture of the wash cloth booties*

I also shopped Dollar tree for the consumables- plates, napkins, forks and spoons and cups.While I was there I grabbed extra napkins and ribbon , candy mints and medicine (mouthwash) cups.  Little tiny cups... I made booties for party favors- to hold the mints!

these are empty w/o the mints and peanuts yet.

Once it got down to the decorating-  I was kind of let down that I hadn't had a little more to decorate with- but not wanting to spend the money on crepe and paper table clothes, banners, etc - due to the expense and wastefulness of it... I was starting to get  a little bit  disenchanted with the whole shower.

Well, I'll tell you my grand -daughter had been with us Saturday evening and some company had popped in while she was here...so after everyone had left I began tidying up (afterall , I'm having a party the next day, right?)   I started looking at all the toys as I began putting them in the toy box basket...I began sorting them, along with the child books and well, as you can see from the pictures- It just took off!

I had a vignette for each book...Little mini-themes!  I even had a table top with eating in mind.

you recognize my little chair!

One for Farming...

and one for Thanking God- along with a well placed Bible and some building blocks and keys ...afterall God's word is the foundation and key to living to Please the Father!

I spent $30 on this shower- and that is if you count the $10 I spent at Goodwill-- and the most expensive thing I bought there was the Dog! The other $20 was for consumables and bootie favors.... well, party favor booties! Everything else I had and or it was part of my gift... A couple of the games we played ended up being gifted to my daughter (the mom) after we were finished playing with it! I might mention too- My oldest daughter helped to put this shower together and she bought the cake-  but you could and we almost did go even cheaper and make muffins-- not cake, or cupcakes - but banana nut, blackberry, and carrot cake type muffins.  Really it depends on the Momma- after all it is her party!
My daughter would have been ok with it. But the Older decided to buy her sister a cake-

 We bought a plain cake with blue icing and writing... I did the topper for that too! Just a baby bottle and some blocks...HEY!  I started out with a block theme in the beginning. Blocks are toys!  ... I guess my imagination just ran away with it!

So much fun!
Now we have to do it ALL OVER again in July-- Only in Pink! 
Oh yeah!  I never told y'all--  I said I'd come back and reveal the gender of our second GRAND due this summer in August---
It's a GIRL!  

I had the best time-

God Bless you
and
Thanks for reading!

Corn in My Coffee Pot; Post Where I talk about Family Wipes

Lots of times I've been asked to share Why That Name...
more recently I've expressed my desire to return to my old Title...and many of you have said resoundingly YES! that I should. (thanks for the support) *wink*


So I'll tell you.
Some years back, during a very dry hot summer. We were broke. "Broke-as-an-OLD-JOKE " is what I used to say as kid.
Being a homeschool family, living in the country, and always (my whole married life) living off one income; I've  tried to find ways to stretch my Honey's hard earned income. At times it's been hard, but that summer...whew!  We had barely the money to get by on and since it was summer, we opted out of buying Propane when we ran out of it around this time THAT year.
Well, that meant no HOT showers after a long hard days work. It also meant coming up with inventive ways to cook for a family of 6 and do the dishes properly.
If we didn't fire up the grill , then I used the crock pot, or the electric skillet.  Sometimes the microwave...but it just wasn't the same- I've never mastered COOKING in the microwave.  Mainly just heating. For dish washing, I would use the coffee pot to heat water to wash with. It hardly ever took much time as we would rinse them first in the cool water; so not much hot water was needed. 


Then one particular day we weren't grilling, I was cooking indoors.  One of the boys had requested Corn on the cob for  dinner...I had some in the freezer so why not.  Now, how to cook it. There it was born.
I got my coffee pot ready just like I was making a pot of coffee, MINUS the coffee of course.  Ran the water through the machine and let it sit there on the warmer and we had the crunchiest best tasting corn on the cob that summer!
Of course when Honey and the kids came into eat...nobody could believe their eyes!  (Mom! why is there corn in the coffee pot? ) Because that's just how it is around here child, there is always something where it shouldn't be, something doing what it wasn't intended for...using what God gives you and making the most of it, without complaining.


Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Phil.4:11


Which brings me to todays post! 


Boy! it's been hot and humid here lately.


I don't mind the hot ...at all really. But the humidity...blech!  Drives me crazy.
Since Honey retired in December, we've cut back on a lot of things to keep life comfortable. I'm trying to wait until Memorial Day to 'officially' turn on the A/C.

However, Sunday is the Baby Shower Day at my house. I want my guests to be comfortable. So I'll have the A/C on for that. 

I hope we don't get too used to it. I don't want to have it on all the time. We still have cool nights and only sleep with a sheet and a fan.


 I've been examining where there might be waste in the budget.


That's no fun to most people; but I find it exhilarating!  I love finding ways to stretch our household income.
The thing about it is...it does help one to be more creative.


*Creative in the kitchen: planning meals, and making use of left overs and mostly cleanup has changed.
I use Palmolive dish soap. I love the Lavender - since Palmolive is 'gentle on your hands', and I buy the concentrate.  I put a little bit in a squirt/pump bottle and add water (gently, so not to make bubbles) and that is what I use to wash my hands in the kitchen.
I am also using (have been for years) cloth napkins at meal times. No more paper napkins.
I am also using rags (ie: old t-shirts and towels) for quick wipe ups and spills. No more paper towels either.

*Creative in the Laundry: I'm still using our homemade soap.  I think I'm on 3 1/2 years now of making this soap, I've learned alot.  Add extra 20 MULE TEAM BORAX  for extra tough stains. I am also adding distilled white vinegar to my rinse cycle too.  It helps the clothes smell fresher!

These are my grand-daughters socks I was asked to post dirty vs. washed w/homemade soap. 

these came pretty clean, considering they weren't perfect to begin with. (for some reason, Mommy doesn't spot treat. urgh!) 

*Creative in the bathroom :


I've started to save the soap slivers and stuff them into a leftover shampoo bottle, add water, give it a good shake, and let sit until it thickens up.  Makes great body wash or hand soap.  No more buying hand soap.
I mentioned hand soap in the kitchen too, let me just say, the pumps you buy dispense WAY TOO MUCH SOAP in my opinion.
***Here is a tip to make your soap last longer, especially if you have kids in the house, I take a rubber band and wrap it around and around the pump, the part that pumps up and down on the outside of the bottle.  This creates a bumper, so to speak, and only lets you squirt out a little at a time, saving even more soap!
Another tip, I haven't implemented yet is to put your soap slivers in an old CLEAN sock, and tie it with a string and hang it in the shower... like soap on a rope!

Ok... now this part is going to sound odd to most of you out there. So AGAIN...As I said when posting about ; FireStarters ...From this point on... 

****NOT FOR THE SELECTIVELY SQUEAMISH!!!! 

One of the most recent savings we are making Creatively in the Bathroom is Family Wipes.
We've been TP free for about 1 -1/2 months.  There is a true savings here. It only makes one extra small load to wash a week.
 You may email me w/ questions if you like. We are still in the experimental stages. And... we have no kids still at home. The biggest argument FOR these wipes is if you used cloth diapers to diaper your children, then you are half way there.
Maybe you've never ever heard of such a thing.  You may email me w/ questions if you like. I'll leave it at that. Otherwise just Google : Family wipes.  You may even find them listed for sale on ETSY.com , just look for yourself.


You were warned.


One last thing that we make a habit of now...after that long hot broke summer...
You remember it don't you ...way up front at the beginning of this long post?
*** When the temperature starts getting up there... we turn the thermostat on the water heater down to 'VACATION' even though we can't afford one anymore... we give our pocket book, and water heater one. It doesn't have to work as hard. It isn't heating WARM water that gets heated by the Texas HEAT... naturally. It makes coming in from mowing so nice, too. So REFRESHING.


That's it for my frugal post this time 'round. I know I'm leaving you with a lot to consider.
Or this may be one for the WTMI (way too much information) category!


You may check the 'you're nuts' box below this post if it makes you feel better ! LOL


Either way-


God bless you and Thanks so much for reading.


if you're wondering...yes, I had to truly think long and hard before hitting the PUBLISH POST BUTTON!

Corn in My Coffee Pot-frugal living post

Lots of times I've been asked to share Why That Name...

more recently I've expressed my desire to return to my old Title...and many of you have said resoundingly YES! that I should. (thanks for the support) *wink*

So I'll tell you.

Some years back, during a very dry hot summer. We were broke. "Broke-as-an-OLD-JOKE " is what I used to say as kid.

Being a homeschool family, living in the country, and always (my whole married life) living off one income; I've  tried to find ways to stretch my Honey's hard earned income. At times it's been hard, but that summer...whew!  We had barely the money to get by on and since it was summer, we opted out of buying Propane when we ran out of it around this time THAT year.

Well, that meant no HOT showers after a long hard days work. It also meant coming up with inventive ways to cook for a family of 6 and do the dishes properly.

If we didn't fire up the grill , then I used the crock pot, or the electric skillet.  Sometimes the microwave...but it just wasn't the same- I've never mastered COOKING in the microwave.  Mainly just heating. For dish washing, I would use the coffee pot to heat water to wash with. It hardly ever took much time as we would rinse them first in the cool water; so not much hot water was needed. 

Then one particular day we weren't grilling, I was cooking indoors.  One of the boys had requested Corn on the cob for  dinner...I had some in the freezer so why not.  Now, how to cook it. There it was born.

I got my coffee pot ready just like I was making a pot of coffee, MINUS the coffee of course.  Ran the water through the machine and let it sit there on the warmer and we had the crunchiest best tasting corn on the cob that summer!

Of course when Honey and the kids came into eat...nobody could believe their eyes!  (Mom! why is there corn in the coffee pot? ) Because that's just how it is around here child, there is always something where it shouldn't be, something doing what it wasn't intended for...using what God gives you and making the most of it, without complaining.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Phil.4:11

Which brings me to todays post! 

Boy! it's been hot and humid here lately.

I don't mind the hot ...at all really. But the humidity...blech!  Drives me crazy.

Since Honey retired in December, we've cut back on a lot of things to keep life comfortable. I'm trying to wait until Memorial Day to 'officially' turn on the A/C.

However, Sunday is the Baby Shower Day at my house. I want my guests to be comfortable. So I'll have the A/C on for that. 

I hope we don't get too used to it. I don't want to have it on all the time. We still have cool nights and only sleep with a sheet and a fan.

 I've been examining where there might be waste in the budget.

That's no fun to most people; but I find it exhilarating!  I love finding ways to stretch our household income.

The thing about it is...it does help one to be more creative.

*Creative in the kitchen: planning meals, and making use of left overs and mostly cleanup has changed.

I use Palmolive dish soap. I love the Lavender - since Palmolive is 'gentle on your hands', and I buy the concentrate.  I put a little bit in a squirt/pump bottle and add water (gently, so not to make bubbles) and that is what I use to wash my hands in the kitchen.

I am also using (have been for years) cloth napkins at meal times. No more paper napkins.

I am also using rags (ie: old t-shirts and towels) for quick wipe ups and spills. No more paper towels either.

*Creative in the Laundry: I'm still using our homemade soap.  I think I'm on 3 1/2 years now of making this soap, I've learned alot.  Add extra 20 MULE TEAM BORAX  for extra tough stains. I am also adding distilled white vinegar to my rinse cycle too.  It helps the clothes smell fresher!

These are my grand-daughters socks I was asked to post dirty vs. washed w/homemade soap. 

these came pretty clean, considering they weren't perfect to begin with. (for some reason, Mommy doesn't spot treat. urgh!) 

*Creative in the bathroom :

I've started to save the soap slivers and stuff them into a leftover shampoo bottle, add water, give it a good shake, and let sit until it thickens up.  Makes great body wash or hand soap.  No more buying hand soap.

I mentioned hand soap in the kitchen too, let me just say, the pumps you buy dispense WAY TOO MUCH SOAP in my opinion.

***Here is a tip to make your soap last longer, especially if you have kids in the house, I take a rubber band and wrap it around and around the pump, the part that pumps up and down on the outside of the bottle.  This creates a bumper, so to speak, and only lets you squirt out a little at a time, saving even more soap!

Another tip, I haven't implemented yet is to put your soap slivers in an old CLEAN sock, and tie it with a string and hang it in the shower... like soap on a rope!

Ok... now this part is going to sound odd to most of you out there. So AGAIN...As I said when posting about ; FireStarters ...From this point on... 

****NOT FOR THE SELECTIVELY SQUEAMISH!!!! 

One of the most recent savings we are making Creatively in the Bathroom is Family Wipes.

We've been TP free for about 1 -1/2 months.  There is a true savings here. It only makes one extra small load to wash a week.

  We are still in the experimental stages. And... we have no kids still at home. The biggest argument FOR these wipes is if you used cloth diapers to diaper your children, then you are half way there.

Maybe you've never ever heard of such a thing.  You may email me w/ questions if you like. I'll leave it at that. Otherwise just Google : Family wipes.  You may even find them listed for sale on ETSY.com , just look for yourself.

You were warned.

One last thing that we make a habit of now...after that long hot broke summer...

You remember it don't you ...way up front at the beginning of this long post?

*** When the temperature starts getting up there... we turn the thermostat on the water heater down to 'VACATION' even though we can't afford one anymore... we give our pocket book, and water heater one. It doesn't have to work as hard. It isn't heating WARM water that gets heated by the Texas HEAT... naturally. It makes coming in from mowing so nice, too. So REFRESHING.

That's it for my frugal post this time 'round. I know I'm leaving you with a lot to consider.

Or this may be one for the WTMI (way too much information) category!

You may check the 'you're nuts' box below this post if it makes you feel better ! LOL

Either way-

God bless you and Thanks so much for reading.

if you're wondering...yes, I had to truly think long and hard before hitting the PUBLISH POST BUTTON!