The Grocery Shrink Blog

New Years Resolution #2--Exercise daily

I know exercise is good for me, but I seldom make time for it.  I've promised myself to at least do my 15 minute basic routine from T-Tapp even if I don't make time for anything else.  I've done it 2 days in a row to build the habit before New Year's day and I feel my muscles again.  This is also the perfect rehab for after my wreck.  I'm not affiliated with T-tapp, but a friend from The Grocery Shrink recommended it to me. It is pretty amazing and worth the money.  I purchased my dvds at a discount with a coupon I got from the back of Teresa Tapp's book, Fit and Fabulous in 15 Minutes, which I got on sale at Amazon.  The book is informative but I couldn't do the exercises just from reading it, I had to have a dvd. After joining her mailing list I was able to get other dvds on sales advertised through the list.  I also won one after entering one of her 10 day giveaways.  My favorite dvds are her Hit the Floor Harder dvd and T-tapp to tempo.  I've seen them on ebay too, but sometimes you can get them for less from T-tapp just by waiting for a sale.

News flash!!! There is a 20% off coupon code HA2TT that you can use right now to get started!

There are some free videos on youtube, just to see if you like it. Here's one that describes why such a short workout can be so effective.  It also helps you get used to her rhythmic talking that she uses all the way through her workout videos instead of music.

This link is to a video that is my total inspiration!  Click on the video that says Charlotte Siems. If a mother of 12 can dedicate herself to consistent exercise and get these stunning results, surely a mom of 5 can too.

I'm hoping to mix up my exercise routine with weight training with my husband, some ballet practice with my girls, and good family fun exercises like bike riding, soccer, swimming, and hiking. 

What is your favorite way to exercise?  Do you have any tips for staying motivated?  Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

New Years Resolution #1 Keep my car clean

As most of you know, I had a car accident a few weeks ago that totaled my car.  I've always heard to wear clean underwear in case you get in a wreck, but no one told me to keep my car clean.  (Um, yes that is my responsibility and I should know better.)  I was mortified when I had to transfer all my belongings at the scene of the accident.  They towed the car to the body shop and when the owner called me to let me know it had arrived, he apologized that he was at lunch and didn't contact me sooner.  I said, "It's too bad you spent money on lunch, I probably had enough fries, cheerios, dried fruit, and peanut butter sandwiches on the floor of my car to feed the whole office--haha."  It really wasn't funny. 

We have a different car now and new rules.  The kiddoes are learning to take everything in the house when they get out of the car and we're learning that trash doesn't go on the floor.  We've added a twice montly car wash to the budget and our local car wash includes free vacuum and window wipes--yay. 

I used to think that washing my car was a waste of money, but after premature rust on our last vehicle I learned it's part of taking care of my property.  I found a bunch of fun tutorials to help me keep my car clean.  Check these out:

I've seen lots of car organizers, but this one from Alicia at the Mayfly is the best of them all.  The pockets are thoughtfully sized to hold common items and the bottom is attached to the car seat to keep it from swinging around when passengers slide past.  It's on my must sew list.  Click here http://www.themayfly.com/weblog/2007/10/the_car_organizer_howto.html to get the instrustions.  While you're there poke around a little.  She lives in Kansas City too, but we've never met yet.  I bet we'd be great friends.

This next tutorial for a car visor cd holder is from Puking Pastilles.  What a fun way to use up leftover scraps of fabric and keep your cds where you can find them easily!  Check out her blog http://pukingpastilles.com/?p=517 for instructions.  She has lots of other fabulous posts too.

 

And then there's solutions for trash!

Make it and Love it has simple instructions for this little beauty.  With a trash holder like this you can put one on the back of every seat.

 This one from A spoonful of sugar Girls uses an old margarine tub to secure a shopping bag as a liner.  It's genuis! 

I'm going to develop my own pattern for a facial tissue pattern that attaches to the car visor.  It will hold FULL SIZE tissues.  Am I the only one that gets annoyed at how much those little travel pouches of tissues cost? And they aren't soft at all.  We keep a box of tissues in our car but it seems to float around, gets stepped on and even finds its way under the driver's seat.  It's almost like a pet. If you see a tutorial like that let me know--it will save me some time--grin.

How do you keep your car clean?  Add your tips as a comment to this post.
 

 

What's in Your Stocking? And Giveaway!

Photo credit:  potterybarn.com

Can you believe it's only 15 days until Christmas?  I have most of my Christmas shopping done, which is amazing for me.  There have been times in my life that I was running around on Christmas eve looking for anything that would do.  I love to give gifts, but I'm not always good about choosing just the right thing.  Part of that is my frugal nature.  I dislike waste and clutter so when I choose a gift it has to be practical, beautiful and a good value.

I'm still in a quandry about what to put in the Christmas stockings at my house.  Here are some of the things I've done in the past:

small sewing kit

box of crayons and coloring book

hair stuff

chapstick

candy

gum

matchbox cars

mini flashlights

pocket sized notebook

gloves

novelty yarn (for my knitting daughter)

This year I'd love to put in crayon rolls for easy art transport.  I'm a little worried about finding the sewing time.  I'd also love to buy each one of my kids an invisible ink spy pen with black light decoder.  (I want one too!)  I'm having trouble finding the deal I want.  http://www.lovetolearn.net/catalog/detail/pen/5 has them for $7 each, but that's a pricey stocking stuffer if I buy one for everyone.

So, I'm calling for help!  Write a comment with your stocking stuffer ideas and I promise not to send spoiler messages to your kids.   Just to say thank you I'll draw one name and send the lucky winner a little something for her own stocking:  A beautiful Mary Kay lip gloss in any color of her choice.  Winner will be chosen December 18th.  To check out your color options visit my website:  http://www.marykay.com/angelacoffman/default.aspx 

Lips are in for a treat with this superlight formula that's saturated with moisturizers – more than 80 percent – so lips feel amazingly soft and supple. It smooths, softens and never feels sticky.
 

New floor Pictures

I've put 5 coats of polyurethane on my "leather" floor and it looks great.  I think I will do a few more coats for good measure.  It only takes 5 mintues for me to put on a coat since the bathroom is so small.  Here are a couple of better pictures.

Here are the steps I used to lay the floor. 

1.  First prepare the floor (remove old coverings, bleach if mold or odor, fill large holes with floor leveler and prime.)  

2.  Pre-tear brown builder's paper (in 12" to 18" squares), placing the factory edges in a separate bag.  Crumple each piece before placing it in a bag. 

3.  Use an old ice cream bucket and mix 1 part elmer's glue and 3 parts water into it, stir well.  For the bathroom, I used 3 school size bottles of glue. 

4.  Dip the paper in the glue mixture until it is completely saturated, squeeze into a ball to accentuate the crumpling.  Carefully open up the paper and use two fingers to squeege off the excess glue.

5.  Starting in the far corner of the room, lay pthe aper on the floor using a wallpaper roller to make sure it is completely adhered to the floor. 

6.  Overlap the torn edges of the paper and use the factory edges to go around the perimeter of the room.  Work only as far as you can reach with your arm.  

7.  Then stop and use a sponge brush or old rag to rub wood stain into the paper while it is still wet.  Rub gently as the paper is fragile when wet, but be sure to move the stain around where you want it.  Work the floor in sections in this manner.  If you need smaller pieces as you go, tear the paper before you dip it in the glue. 

8.  Let the floor dry for several hours or overnight.  It may lighten as it dries and you can add more stain then.  It won't spread as easy on dry paper and will go on a lot darker so use a light hand.

9.  If your floor dries leaving air pockets under the paper you can use a craft knife to slit the paper, force glue into the bubble.  The paper will be stiff at this point and resist adhering to the floor.  I solved this by laying a piece of wax paper over the repair, covering with a heavy book and setting a full paint can (or other heavy object) on top.  After drying overnight, the wax paper will peel off and leave the floor adhered.

9.  When the floor is dry and looks the way you want it, paint a coat of floor grade polyurethane on it.  Wait about 4 hours between coats and apply a total of 5-7 coats.  After 4 hours it will be dry enough to stand on in order to put a subsequent coat on.  The can suggests sanding between coats if you have to wait a long time between coats.  I had to wait 24 hours but I didn't sand.  My floor may not be as smooth as it could be, but I still love it.  7 days after the final coat you can move furniture on it and rugs.  It is dry enough for light traffic after 24 hours.  Once it is cured, you can wet mop the floor to clean it. 

I made an IQ lamp!

If you have purchased my ebook and are on the exclusive Grocery Shrink email group, you heard me talking about making a curly IQ lamp months and months ago. I finally did it and have pictures! 

It all started when I was looking for hanging lamps on ebay and found pictures of IQ lamps in a wedding banquet hall.  I thought it was gorgeous and wanted to replicate the look at home, but didn't like the price.  I did a little search and found this site: http://0pointer.de/blog/iqlamp-stencil.html and used their stencil.  I did a lot of experimenting with materials and although 110 lb cardstock was handy and I could print the stencil right on it for cutting out, it was just to stiff to put together without tearing.  110 lb vellum had enough flexibility to do the job and was translucent for a better light effect.  I bought large 110 lb vellum sheets ($3.50 each) from Hobby Lobby in their drafting materials department.  It took 2 sheets to make 1 lamp (15 pieces out of each sheet.)  I used a pencil to the stencil on the sheets just so to be able to fit 15 pieces on one sheet, and cut them out with scissors.  A small hole punch made the perfect corner.  This picture shows the exact layout of the sheets, but it is hard to see since it is a pencil tracing.  If you try hard you can make it out. The most important thing is that both "shoudlers" of the piece are lined up with the left side of the vellum.

 
I bought the light cord kit from Ikea to complete the lamp and was able to insert it before hooking the last piece in place and avoid cutting a hole in one of the pieces.

This lamp was super tricky to put together, and Youtube videos were really helpful.  This one was my favorite even though my Spanish isn't very good:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-HZbigZtoQ  It shows the lamp with 2 different colors so you can really see how the pieces fit together.  I also liked the instructions from the original IQ lamp site:  http://www.sadiethepilot.com/iqweb/iqhowto.htm  The biggest difficulty I had was the vellum was a little slick and it wanted to fall apart on me.  I used glue dots (found in scrapbooking departments) to hold ornery pieces together.  They worked great because they were easy to remove if I accidentally put one in a bad spot and were hardly noticeable in the finished product, unlike tape.

I plan to make 2 more lamps for my living room and we are dreaming of other places in the house they would look fabulous.  It will be awhile though.  Cutting out 30 pieces is a little overwhelming and putting it together is worse--grin.  If I would just do them all at once, I'm sure I could get in a groove and it wouldn't be so bad.

Bathroom Remodel

Before:

 

I used to have carpet in my guest bathroom.  It was the most convenient bathroom for all of us to use . With 3 young boys in the house it didn't smell nice in there.  The stains were so bad that the carpet shampooer wouldn't get them out anymore.  When we had guests, I hoped they wouldn't need to use the bathroom while they were here.  Then one day I sat in the kitchen teaching my children and the horrible smell wafted clear in there.  So can you blame me when one day 3 weeks ago, I pulled the carpet out?

I secretly hoped I would find some beautiful hardwood underneath.  I planned to surprise my husband with a clean, lovely, nice smelling bathroom.  I could imagine him saying when he got home, "Wow dear!  I don't know how you find time to do what you do."  I parked my youngest daughter in the hallway with her school books so I could tutor her as I pulled the tack strips.  

There was no hardwood underneath.  Instead there was mold and particle board subfloor.  I was going to have to have help to lift the toilet and remove the vanity, remove some drywall, bleach, sand and prime everything and figure out what to put down on the floor!  I was still in the bathroom pulling tack when Darren got home from work.  There was no dinner and the laundry wasn't done.  He was surprised, but it wasn't the good kind of surprise I was hoping for. 

I quickly did a search on the internet for help and found a beautiful faux leather floor technique.  It was easy, attractive, durable and inexpensive!  http://domestikgoddess.com/how-to-make-a-rustic-leather-floor-from-paper-bags/, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=287x5019, http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-01/home/flooring, http://paperbagfloor.com/Site_Map.html,

I also remembered a faux marble wall technique that I had seen in a house for sale that was gorgeous.  An ebay search rewarded me with 3 double rolls of marble patterned wallpaper for $25.  I tore the wall paper into large sqaures, saving the straight edges to place around the door, ceiling and floor.  The first wall I just used the paste that came on the paper.  The next morning all the corners had lifted and curled.  I planned to stick them back down with wall paper paste that afternoon, but was involved in a car accident that morning.  Now it is 3 weeks later and I finally feel well enough to try working on the project again.  Yesterday, I finished the wall paper and today laid the floor.  

I still need to polyurethane over the paper floor, sweetly encourage DH put the toilet back and install the vanity.  But here's a "so far" picture. (This type of floor photographs badly.  It looks a lot better in person.)

 

The floor is getting lighter and lighter as it dries. I may restain it a little darker since I would like it to be darker than the vanity.  We purchased this vanity to go in: 

After pictures coming soon, I hope!

 

 

I'm Back!

I took a little break from blogging when I broke my computer and got the flu then had a wreck and tore up my bathroom (okay 2 of them) and took on custom sewing projects to keep me busy until next March.  But I lay awake at night pondering the genious of other bloggers and finally stole away a few hours today to put a little update in.  First of all I'd like to show you our make do costumes for our Reforamation day party a few months ago.  Many of you wrote to me in response to my plea for help in the Grocery Shrink newsletter several months ago and these costumes were inspried by your ideas.

Caleb went as Alexandar Doniphan in a thrift store sport coat and vintage navy hat.

Heidi went as Florence Nightingale and she designed her costume after a portrait of Miss Nightingale we found online.  It was the sleeves that HAD to be, according to Miss Heidi.

W.D. and Brandon were dressed as Christian Missionary Vikings Lief Ericson and crew. My mom made the hats out of paper mache and craft paint with fur felt trim and my sister-in-law Erica (who is a creative genius) made the beard out of Lion brand homespun yarn by pulling it through a felt frame and attaching an elastic strap to hold it in place. I sure appreciate their help since I waited until the last 2 days to start on homemade costumes!

And Heather went as Elizabeth Hopkins, the pilgrim who gave birth to Oceanus on the Mayflower.

 
 
 

Negative Calorie Foods?

I've heard that celery has negative calories, so for several years I've been eating an occasional stalk or two just before bed to make up for my high calorie food choices during the day.  I recently came across the idea that there are a whole host of foods that contain negative calories (burn more calories than they contain) and using them in combination can create a weight loss situation while you are still eating a lot of food.  There are free lists of foods available online which consist of raw, unpeeled, fruits and vegetables.  After reading them and thinking I would put some kind of recipe list and meal plant together but never doing it, I decided to purchase this ebook and take advantage of the author's 150 recipes and meal plans. 

I love that the food choices are healthier than the snacks I normally grab. And I love that if I feel hungry (which is a natural part of losing weight) there is something I can eat guilt free.  My will power is really low and I crave sugar, bread (even if it is whole grain), and if I can talk myself out of those 2, I'd take some potato chips, lol.  I can lose weight to a certain level (where I am now) and the last 10 pounds are so stubborn!  I flip between telling myself I don't look that bad and being disgusted with my inability to get control of myself.

I'll let you know how it goes, but for now you can check out the ebook on your own by clicking here:  Negative Calorie Foods and Recipes Ebook.

Peanut butter chocolate pie

This pie is so rich that even I had to split a piece, and that's saying something! It's not from scratch, but it is fast and easy and tasty. The ingredients can be found easily on sale and it makes a quick inexpensive treat for unexpected company or a potluck dinner.

1Chocolate Graham Cracker crust

1/2 Cup peanut butter

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 box instant chocolate pudding mix

1 1/2 cups milk

1 containter whipped topping

Mix peanut butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Press into the bottom of the pie crust.  Combine the pudding mix with milk, pour over the peanut butter layer.  Put in the fridge until pudding is set.  Top with whipped topping and enjoy!

Crumb Topped Peach Pie

This is a fabulous pie! 

Crumb Topped Peach Pie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

The crust and topping:

2 Cups flour

1 Cup brown sugar

3/4 Cup butter, melted

1/2 cup rolled oats

Mix all the above ingredients and set aside 1 Cup for topping.  Press the rest into a greased deep dish pie pan.

Filling:

1/2 Cup sugar

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon cinnamon or ginger

1 1/4 Cups water

Boil for one minute until thickened.  Stir in 4 cups of sliced peaches.  Pour into crust.  Top with reserved crumb topping.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  Serve hot with icecream, YUM!

Note:  This recipe originally called for apples, but is great with peaches and pears too!