6-3-10

Last day of school for the kiddos.
Summer break starts tomorrow for all
Columbus school children.

Woke up this morning to see the aftermath
of the storm last night. Debris is everywhere
so it looks like a day of cleaning up sticks
and such.
We had one kind of large branch come down
out of the tree in the back yard.
It was really close to the garden. I would
have cried if it fell on top of all my
plants. But it didn't thank goodness.
It fell on top of a small table I had out there, knocking
it over.
A couple streets over a huge tree fell across
one of the streets. They have the road closed
off.
We had tornado warnings for NE Franklin county
and Licking county. Sirens could be heard several
times throughout the storm. Lots of lightning!
I hate storms that shoot out lightning bolts
every couple of seconds. Lights would flicker
and street lights would go out.

The greenhouse had a lot of water collected on top.



Garden still looks pretty good except for a few little
sticks and leaf bunches that need cleaned out of there.
Plants are loving all this rain and growing more
and more each day.

My new pepper plants survived that I just planted
yesterday. Some of those can be seen in front
of the mat. I thought I had 8 plants but it turned
out there was 10.




5PM

Been cooking up a storm for both
supper and next week's vacation.
I figure I will save a lot by taking
our own meals with us.
At $15 to $20 a meal to eat out times 3 meals
a day times 3 days starts to add up real quick!!

Had ribs and bbq sauce in the crock
and 2 pots of potatoes boiling on
the stove. I threw eggs in one
pot of potatoes to boil them for
some potato salad. One less step
when I can do two things at once.

Tonight for supper we are having
what I call Rib Buster. Shredded
pork with bbq sauce over mashed potatoes.
It lives up to it's name!
I had some leftover heavy cream in the
fridge and decided to add that to the
mashed potatoes. YUMMY!
The remaining shredded bbq pork will
be used for putting on sandwiches
next week.

Let's see what else have I been doing.

Got chicken cut up and ready
to make chicken salad with. Still need to boil
the pasta shells and stuff them with
chicken salad.

Chopped up and fried a pound of bacon.
Will use half a pound in the potato
salad and half pound in the stuffed
pasta shells. Oh and I wanted to add
that I got some cottage cheese to
mix in with the chicken salad. Thought
that sounded good.

Still need to fry up some scrambled eggs
and start making the breakfast tortilla
roll ups.

Then tomorrow I will make black raspberry
thumbprint cookies with white chocolate
drizzled across the tops.

I thought of one more thing today while
in Kroger that I wanted to make and take
with us, Taco Salad. So all I have to
do there is fry up some sausage
and sauce.

Fridge and freezer are starting to become
full of things. I like to plan and do things
ahead of time instead of last minute!
That way this weekend I can work on packing
things up and getting the truck loaded.

We found another thing to save us money
on this mini vacation. I think we are
going to turn in half our points we have
accumulated at Speedway for a free $50
gas card. And this month if we use our
speedy rewards card we get .05 cents off
per gallon.
I got an email from Speedway stating:
"We have an exclusive fuel discount offer just for you. Save 5 cents per gallon every time you pay for fuel (diesel or gasoline) with cash between June 1st and July 31st, 2010*! "

And even yet another way to have spending
money is we plan to start cutting up
our scrap metal to turn in tomorrow.

Even though we need a break from work and home
we still try to find cheap ways to take
a vacation. I think the most expensive
part will be the hotel. The tourist attractions
are free, gas will be free, we are taking our
own food, so any extra expenses will come
from our scrap metal. Those could be things
like a boat rental, fishing license, bait,
ice and any little treats we find to
do along the way. Vacations don't need
to be extravagant as long as you are spending
quality time with family.

I'm really wound up at the moment with
everything I have to do. So bear with me.
Got kids out of school now and hubby at work
one more day so it's just me trying to do
things at the moment and trying to deal
with kids on top of everything just adds
to it, LOL.

__________________________________________________

Today I stopped in a thrift store and
found a table pad with 2 leaf extensions
for $6.96! These things aren't cheap and I've
been looking for something to put on top
of the dining room table to keep it from
getting scratched up.
Here's a used set on Ebay for $200!!
It is velour on the bottom and has a vinyl?
top that can be wiped off.



___________________________________________________

The daylilies had their first blooms today!
Can't wait for them all to be in full bloom.

6-2-10

Tony had the day off as work told him he
had too much overtime. So of course we went
out for breakfast at tee-jays.
Then off to the junk yard. Stopped
in a market in Obetz and found me some
red, yellow and green bell pepper plants.
$2.00 for a 4 pack.
Went to a couple thrift stores to look for a
swimsuit for vacation. Got Jonathan
and myself one. I'm picky as I wanted
one that had a skirt around the waist
to cover up some belly flaws, lol.

Stopped by the library on the way home
to pick up some reserved books.
Got 3 recipe books for the bread machine.
Might browse those this evening if I
have some down time.
This evening will still be busy for us.
Run, run, run it seems today, ahhhh!
Tonight we pick up our Trans Am in
Reynoldsburg. There is supposed to be
thunderstorms rolling through the area
from 4 to 6PM, oh goodie, at the time
we are supposed to get the car.

I think by the time we get the car we will
have seen every side of Columbus today!


2:30PM

Tony went down to snake a drain at mom's.
I think I will head out to the garden
and get the 8 pepper plants planted
before the rain comes. Some plants
have baby peppers on them already!

Sometime I am hoping to find time
to make our meals for our upcoming trip.
I think I got as far as frying up some
sausage for breakfast burritos and
getting the chicken done. That's it.
Tomorrow I need to get the pork ribs
in the crock and start getting my butt in gear!

6:15PM

Just back from Reynoldsburg with the car.
Not in the greatest mood this evening.
Tony thinks the guy messed the car up when
working on the transmission. Now it doesn't
shift gears right. In other words it
won't shift into park all the way.
Won't shift into the other gears either.
IT WAS NOT LIKE THAT WHEN WE
DROPPED IT OFF!!!
It's a good thing Tony didn't tell me
that when hauling the car home or
I would have been more paranoid than normal!!
Tony looked up under the car and said
the shifter cable was disconnected
or loose.
We originally took the car to this
guy to have the
transmission leak repaired. Well let me
tell ya, if it was repaired then what the
hell is leaking all over the car trailer???
This car wasn't repaired at someone's
house, it was taken to a freakin' transmission shop
where this guy works! Scary thought about the
quality work done there for regular paying
customers!
And to top that, the guy
never paid him for the work he did at his
house and we've seen him twice in the last
week or so, once to drop off the car and
once to pick it up. And people wonder why
I have a hard time trusting people, even some
close friends. This guy has been a friend of
Tony's for years and years. You bust your ass
to do someone a favor and get screwed.
All it takes is one person to screw you
over to make you put your guard up with
even the most innocent people out there.
I am so tired of everyone's bullshit here
lately I could just puke.
Can't wait for vacation!

___________________________________________________

Saw this rainbow tonight. What I would like to know
is where is the pot of gold???

6-1-10

Sitting here waiting to see if Value
City will show up today to fix my
new sofa. They said they would call yesterday
to let me know when they were coming. Well
I received no phone call from them so just
sit, wait and wonder.

_____________________________________________________

MY RANT AND RAVE FOR TODAY

I can't stand yuppy people!!!

I would never want to have loads of money
if it means living and acting the lifestyle
they have! They shun the people that are
less fortunate than them and turn their noses
upwards. It's all about who has what.
It's all about the social life and who
has the most friends.

It's like a big game to them.
They land in your space and
send you back home while they keep getting
ahead collecting more money and items along
the way.

My saying has always been,
I am me, accept me for who I am and
not who you want me to be.

If I roll up in a rust bucket that smokes
and rattles I wouldn't want your friends
or yourself to look down upon me for
material things that I own that aren't
up to your expectations.

I don't carry a Gucci bag, clothes that
carry a designer label or have vehicles
that have less than 10,000 miles.
But you know I get by and have a roof over our heads,
clothes on our bodies, transportation
and food in our bellies. What more do you need?

I like to be comfortable in life. Don't worry
about having my lil pinky out when tipping
a tea cup in a fancy restaurant. If I want to
slurp my soup I will do so. If I want to wear
t-shirts and raggedy jeans I will do that also.
Don't like it, then move on to someone else
that gives a crap!

Females seem to have a certain role to portray
now a days. High heeled shoes, dresses,
parties, running kids to sporting events
in the new mini van bringing treats
from the fanciest bakery in town
to win the kids approval of being the best
mom.

Screw all that.
If I want to get dirt under
my nails, get grease on me
from being under a car, wear my hair in
a pony tail because I don't visit salons,
burp occasionally, play ball with my
kids in the backyard, and make things from scratch,
well be it. That's me!

Who the hell set these rules as to how
we should live? Probably some yuppy person!

You know who I am.

I am the person in that
car that goes just a little bit slower.
The one that has a Mercedes Benz riding my ass
because they think they are better and
can go faster in life.

I am the one in front of you at the checkout
with all my coupons holding up the line
while you to cast your up and down
glances at me with curled lips
while you have to wait.

Have you noticed above that even though
I have all these flaws that you look down
upon, I AM STILL AHEAD OF YOU!!!

_________________________________________________

Will start working on preparing meals
this week to take on our trip.
I will add my recipes here of what
I will be making.
This will be easier for me to refer
to all the recipes at once and not
loose them, lol.


Thrown Together Potato Salad
with whatever I have on hand

Serves 6


Ingredients
4-5 potatoes
5 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 T. pickle juice
(leaving pickles out due to kids)
salt & pepper
garlic powder
1/2 cup mayo
2 tsp. honey mustard
chopped parsley


------------------------------------------------

Breakfast Tortillas
(About like a McSkillet Burrito from McDonalds)

Serves 10


Ingredients

* 10 (6-inch) fajita-size flour tortillas
* 1/2 (16-oz.) package ground pork sausage
( I have maple sausage)
* 6 large eggs
* Vegetable cooking spray
* 1/2 cup shredded colby-Jack cheese blend
* Salsa (optional)
* Sour cream (optional)
(I might also add some hash browns)

Preparation

1. Wrap tortillas loosely with aluminum foil, and place in a 250° oven for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cook sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 8 minutes or until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink; drain, remove sausage from skillet, and pat dry with paper towels. Wipe skillet clean. Reduce heat to medium.

3. Whisk together eggs and 2 Tbsp. water. Coat same skillet with cooking spray; add egg mixture, and cook, without stirring, 2 to 3 minutes or until eggs begin to set on bottom. Gently draw cooked edges away from sides of pan to form large pieces. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes or until eggs are thickened but still moist. (Do not overstir.)

4. Spoon sausage and eggs evenly onto tortillas, and sprinkle with cheese; roll up tortillas. Serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

___________________________________________________

Shredded BBQ Pork on Rolls

Put boneless pork ribs in crock with
bottle of brown sugar bbq sauce on high
for about 6 hours.

In the meantime make large dinner rolls.

* 1-1/2 cups water
* 1/4 cup oil
* 2 tablespoons Honey or brown sugar
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 4 cups unbleached bread flour or whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Layer the ingredients into the bread machine pan in the order given. Set the bread machine onto the Dough Cycle. Press Start. When the dough is done mixing and rising, divide it into 16 equal pieces. Roll the pieces of dough into balls and place
in a greased cupcake pan. Let them rise for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. Bake at 400° for about 20 minutes. Serve hot, or allow to cool and use as buns cutting horizontally. I usually brush the tops of the buns with a little oil, to keep them soft.

--------------------------------------------------

Was thinking about chicken salad sandwich recipe
but found a stuffed shells with chicken salad
recipe I might make this instead because it is kept
chilled. Will use this a main meal.


Chicken Salad Shells Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

* 1-1/2 pounds prepared chicken salad
* 18 jumbo pasta shells, cooked, drained and cooled
* 2/3 cup ranch salad dressing

Directions

*Spoon about 2 tablespoons into each pasta shell. Refrigerate until serving. Drizzle with salad dressing. Yield: 6 servings.

Chicken Salad

I'll just throw together whatever I can find.
Chicken, mayo, dry ranch dressing, salt & pepper,
shredded cheese, cottage cheese, chopped celery
and maybe some black olives

-----------------------------------------------------

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
3 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 cup white vanilla baking chips
Red or green sugar, if desired


1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, egg and flour until dough forms.
2. Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls; place 2-inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Using thumb or handle of wooden spoon, make indentation in center of each cookie. Spoon about 1/4 teaspoon jam into each indentation.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips on High 1 to 2 minutes or until chips are melted; stir until smooth. Spoon melted chips into small resealable plastic bag; cut small hole in corner of bag. Squeeze bag gently to drizzle melted chips over cookies. Sprinkle with colored sugar.

Sherry's note** Instead of vanilla chips you could use confectioner's
sugar mixed with a little milk. OR a melted square
of white chocolate bark.

____________________________________________________

10AM

Value City made it out. They still did not call first
to let me know when they were coming.
And they repaired the sofa like I thought they would.
They braced the cracked piece of wood
with another piece of wood on top.
Wonder how long that will last???

This is a pic of the couch on it's side
and the piece of wood that broke.

When we buy furniture usually we can't
see the guts inside to see what is
holding it together. Does anyone
see a problem with this picture???
They used particle board instead of solid
real wood to support this sofa!!!



__________________________________________________

12PM

Sitting here watching MTV's Sweet 16.
It's bad enough these 16 year olds are
spoiled rotten little brats that get everything.
What's even worse is the episode I am watching
now is in COLUMBUS OHIO!
See what kind of yuppy brats we have to put up with!!

The parents took this child out to look
for a car for her. They were in a Mercedes Benz
dealership and she picked out a vehicle
that was $52,700!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot express the exclamation points
enough. What teenager deserves an almost
$53,000 car paid for by their parents!!!???
I could buy a house with that much!

____________________________________________________

APRIL 2010

This article pertains to what appears
to be a discarded pop bottle that has
been left in peoples yards. But once
someone tries to remove it, it will
explode. So be careful when removing
trash from your yard as who knows what it
may be.

BOTTLE BOMBS from snopes is TRUE.

5-31-10

For those of you who got to sleep in this
morning and missed the downpour I got
some videos for ya. We was up at 6:30AM
like a typical work day. Had to take Tony's
pager back to work this morning. He is
officially off call now for about another month, yeah!!

I didn't know it was supposed to rain this morning
and told the kids we'd take them to Hayden Falls.
Those plans didn't quite work out with all this
rain plus they are doing paving at the Falls
and won't be open til June 3rd.



I got my bird bath in the garden. Still awaiting to
get a satellite dish to put on top. For now I found
a smaller metal bird bath bowl to put on top.



More and more projects getting thought of every day.
I would love to do something with our kitchen cabinets.
While white is nice it constantly has to be cleaned
off. So maybe thinking of painting them or
I told Tony I even thought about doing them in
a wood looking contact paper.

Next Tony wants me to design a bird for the
hood of our blue Trans Am. I did one years
ago and it takes some time to paint all
the little details and make a stencil for it.
But I'm game if people have patience with me.
I had always thought it would be neat to get
some glow in the dark powder to mix in with the
paint. Wouldn't that be cool at night to
have a glowing bird on the hood of the car?
I like to be unique.
Was thinking maybe an aqua and a blue bird
on a dark blue car.



____________________________________________________

This afternoon after the rain cleared up
we went to Prairie Oaks Park. It was ok, doubt if we'd go back.
There was no playground, picnic tables
or shelter houses just trails and ponds.
















Christopher kept getting annoyed by bugs when
walking on the trail. I picked up a weed
and tickled his ear and leg to make him
think it was a bug, LOL!

5-30-10

With Summer vacation drawing near I am
trying to find recipes for the kids
to enjoy that will keep me from
having to run to the store or them wanting
to visit the nearest ice cream shop.
Plus I feel it's a learning experience for the
kids. To learn that every time you want
something you don't have to run to
the grocery store to pick up convenience
foods when it can be made at home for much
cheaper!
These ingredients are something we already have
at home in the pantry or fridge.


These are similar to making crepes.

Ice Cream Cones Recipe from Joy Of Cooking

2 large eggs

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 - 3 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Vegetable oil and pastry brush

Ice Cream Cones: In a medium sized bowl whisk together (or use a hand mixer) the eggs and sugar until frothy. Whisk in the melted butter, milk and vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt and whisk until the batter is smooth. The batter should be quite thin (like a crepe batter) so add more milk if the consistency is too thick.

Heat a 8-9 inch saute pan over medium heat until it is hot. Reduce the heat to medium low and brush the pan lightly with vegetable oil. Pour or ladle about 3-4 tablespoons of batter into the pan and immediately tilt or rotate the pan so the batter forms a thin 5-6 inch circle. Place pan back on the heat and cook until the batter is set and you can see the underside is golden brown (3-4 minutes). Slip a metal spatula under the crepe and gently flip it over. Cook until golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat and slide the crepe from the pan onto your work surface. While the crepe is still hot, quickly start at one edge and roll the crepe into a cone shape. Squeeze the tip of the cone to seal it so the ice cream won't drip out. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Continue making the rest of the cones, lightly brushing the pan with vegetable oil each time. These cones are best if eaten the same day.

However, if you have leftovers store them in a covered container. To re-crisp the cones preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Working with one cone at a time, unroll the cone until it is a circle again, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 3-5 minutes or until the crepe is hot and soft. Remove from oven and place the hot crepe on your work surface. Quickly reroll into a cone shape, again squeezing the tip of the cone so the ice cream won't drip out. Place on a wire rack to cool. Continue with the rest of the cones.

Makes about 8 ice cream cones.

_________________________________________________



It's that time of year when the weather starts
warming up and the air conditioners start coming
on. We all need a little relief from the heat
and air conditioning can be expensive. To help
keep our costs down we try to keep the air
conditioner set around 75.
When it's 95 degrees out a 20 degree temperature
difference can make a big difference.
We try not to turn it on and off a lot unless
there will be a period of cooler weather.
It takes a lot of energy to cool off a hot
house than it does just to keep the ac running.

Close off vents to unused rooms and rooms like
the bathroom and basement.
Keep your blinds or drapes closed to keep
out any extra heat from the sun.

___________________________________________________

Sitting here checking out the leftovers in my fridge
deciding what to make with them.

I have:

1/2 can pineapple rings
2 oranges
large container of yogurt

Soooo, I'm thinking how about some
pineapple orange yogurt pops.

Found this recipe below and have added my tweaks to it.

Pineapple Orange Popsicles

* 8 oz. carton vanilla yogurt
* 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, undrained
(Will use the pineapple slices, they are drained.)
* 6 oz. can frozen pineapple orange juice concentrate, thawed
(Will juice the 2 oranges I have)
* 8 paper drink cups
* 8 wooden sticks
(If you don't have sticks I use plastic spoons)

Preparation:
In a blender container or food processor, combine yogurt, pineapple and juice concentrate and blend until smooth. Fill each drink cup with about 1/3 cup pineapple mixture and freeze until partially frozen, about 1 hour. Insert sticks and freeze until firm, 2 more hours. Peel off paper cups to serve. 8 pops.

--------------------------------------------------

And because I have a 16 ounce container of
yogurt and the recipe above only calls for 8 ounces
of yogurt I wanted to try another recipe
with low fat and sugar.

Ingredients

1 pkg sugar free jello (any flavor)
(I'll probably do strawberry)
1/4 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt
1 c. boiling water

Directions
Boil 1 cup of water and mix with your favorite flavor of sugar-free jello.

Refrigerate for 5 minutes.

Mix in 1/4 cup of non-fat vanilla yogurt and pour into popsicle maker or small paper cups (add a stick after it's partially set). Freeze.

Number of Servings: 4

___________________________________________________

Mom wants a few extra wooden chairs for her
dining room table. I have decided to give her
the ones from our old table. They have been sitting
outside under the carport. I washed them down
with some murphy's oil soap. And because some
of the finish wore off the chairs from being
outside I needed a polish for them. I don't have
any furniture polish so whipped up a batch of
homemade. I took canola oil and some lemon
juice and mixed the two together in a bowl.
I wiped each chair with this mixture
then took a dry towel and wiped it off.




___________________________________________________

I have one week before vacation time starts.
So starting today I will be getting out a notebook
and making lists of things we need to take. By doing
this early you're more than likely NOT to forget something.

I will also start planning a menu of foods to make
to take with us to keep from eating fast food
and spending more money.
Will have one cooler just for drinks
and another just for food.

We will be staying in the Baymont Hotel
and they have microwaves and fridges in each room
so that is good to know when planning my meal
list.

They have free continental breakfasts.
Would have to set the clock to get up for
that because I think last time we got up too
late to get any.

And they do offer smoking and non smoking rooms.

They have an indoor swimming pool and hot tub so that
would keep the kids and us entertained in the evenings
when we aren't out and about.

I've checked prices on Travelocity,
Priceline and so on and don't see
much savings if any. They all seem to
be around what the hotel normally is.

_____________________________________________________

Ok racking brain for a food list for trip.

MAIN

-Breakfast Tortilla Roll Ups

-make up a bunch of large dinner rolls
to use as mini buns.

-BBQ pulled pork in crockpot
(put boneless pork ribs in crock on high
with a bottle of brown sugar bbq sauce)

-Chicken salad sandwiches.
have a bunch of chicken breasts in crock now
with a little water and a packet of onion soup mix.

SIDES

-Macaroni & Cheese

-Potato salad

-Baked beans

-Corn on the cob


DRINKS

-Kool Aid & Country Time lemonade
made up in 2 liter pop bottles.

-12 packs of Big K canned pop

SNACKS

-Chips

-Cookies or Little Debbies




Been eating White Castles since last night.
I have figured out how to recycle the Crave Case
box. I'm going to use it to put all the
plastic ware, condiments, napkins and plates
in for vacation.

Save up all those condiment packages from
the fast food joints to use them on vacation,
lunch breaks or sporting events.
No need to let those go to waste so I'm taking
them along with us on vacation.

5:30PM

Got the chicken breast out of the crock.
Will use some of this to make chicken salad with.



7:30PM

Just got done making pineapple orange popsicles
and bread is rising in the bread machine
to make buns out of. The recipe says I
should get about 16 buns from this ball
of dough.




__________________________________________________

5-29-10

10:15 to 10:30AM cut my step dads hair.

left soon after to go on call with Tony.
Took the kids swimming for about 3-4 hours.
Then hung out another 3-4 hours because
the damn on call pager would not stop!!!


And that's how my day went. It's now 7:35PM
and I'm wore out from being at Tony's work
all day and the heat.
Might head out to the garden after bit
to give the plants a drink.

5-28-10

Went to a few yard sales today.
Bought:

2 extendable snow brushes/ice scrapers .75 cents each
goes for around $13 new

1 dryer lint brush .50 cents
goes for $9 to $10 new

3 women's tops .25 cents each

1 new in package bird suet .25 cents
Have the hanger but no food for it.

1 electric lap blanket $2.00
have 2 already and am trying to find one
more so each family member has one during
the Winter months. Total spent on 3 of
them so far has been $12.
They probably run about $25 to $40 each new.

Photo book called
Columbus The Discovery City
Original price was $40
I paid .25 cents!

Tresemme Smooth No Frizz Shine Spray .10 cents

Jason Aloe Vera Shampoo
reg $8 to $10
I paid .10 cents

Sunsilk Hydra TLC Creme .10 cents

Herbal Essence Citrus Lift Foaming Gel .10 cents

Wet N Wild clear nail color .10 cents

And lastly this metal thing that was once
probably part of a standing coat rack.
paid $1.00 for it.
I had a vision though.
I'm gonna have Tony find me a satellite dish
and I'm going to turn it into a bird bath.
I thought I could use this metal piece as
the base for the satellite dish to set on.
I want to sand a couple areas first and
then paint it all to match.
If I really wanted to get creative I could
find some old dishes and break them up
and make a mosaic with grout inside the
satellite dish. Still would cost ALOT cheaper
and look nicer than if I would have bought new!
A mosaic handcrafted bird bath is not cheap.
About $70 to $350 plus.



8PM

Found a leftover can of paint called
hammered metal. I used it to paint
the soon to be bottom of my bird bath.
I think it looks better than before :0)



I favor the metal stand upside down
but also had the idea of using it right
side up. I could find a bowling ball
to use as a weight to hold the bird bath
in place and paint it to look like a gazing ball.
I could put the bowling ball in
the round ring.



Now you will have to envision a dish
sitting on top.

I love finding creative ways to make
things out of junk that would have
probably been thrown away and giving
them a new purpose!



The car is ready to be picked up tonight.
So this evening we will truck back over
to Reynoldsburg to trailer it back home.
I'm going to try to get a small nap in
before kids get home from school and
Tony is getting off work early.

___________________________________________________

5:15PM

Car is still not ready. Guy drove it
and it still leaks. Won't be ready til
sometime next week. Oh goodie.

Tonight's supper

A little lasagna and chicken parmesean.

Dessert

I've decided to do a combination
of the grilled pineapple sundae
with a mexican type ice cream.

Tropical Fruity Sundae

I grilled the pineapple slices
in butter, splenda and nutmeg
on the george foreman.

Roll a small scoop of ice cream in
crushed up fruity pebble cereal.
Place on top of pineapple.

Squirt whipped cream around
sides and a little on top.

___________________________________________________

We had our side neighbor lady come over and
admire my garden. She saw everything I had done
and couldn't believe I had never had a garden before.

As we all got to talking she had made the comment
to Tony jokingly about him having loads of money!
I couldn't help but to laugh. Loads of money?
Where? I said I was probably one of the cheapest
and thriftiest persons on Earth. Then I took
her over to show my bird bath that I was making.
I said see I am so cheap that I make my own things.
That was the reason for the garden to save money
on vegetables since they are getting so expensive
in the stores. We showed her around the yard more.
I said all the Hostas and Lilies were free I just
had to dig them out of someone's yard that didn't
want them. She saw my baby trees and wanted to know
what they were, I said I think they were pear trees.
I got them from Lowes last year unmarked for $1.50 each.
You see how much I save by going to yard sales.
Why pay full price for something when you don't have to???

Sooooo....
You can live very cheaply and fit in like
the rest. No one knows any different if you
paid full price for something , got it cheap
or even free! And that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!