Easter greetings to you!

Happy Easter!

In the wee hours of this morning, I realized that we never dyed our Easter eggs. I boiled a dozen eggs on Friday, left them in the fridge, and totally forgot about them! We may get around to dying the eggs today, or we might not. Perhaps I'll do them myself on Monday. Is there any such thing as April Fool's eggs?

We'll actually be having our plastic egg hunt outdoors this year! This will be only the second time ever (for us) that we have had good enough weather for an outdoor hunt. And after church, we'll enjoy our brunch on the deck. Now this is an Easter gift for us, to be able to enjoy the outdoors on this holiday, and even when Easter is so early for the year.

Yesterday, I continued working in my new area of the yard. I planted a pink-flowering rhododendron and 2 hostas to the area. My daughters helped me to haul rocks for my dry river bed. And I moved some errant grape hyacinths to a small cluster up against the walkway. I am beginning to really "see" this area's future. I picked out a spot that would be lovely for a bench. 

My husband has finished building the low retaining block wall for one of our fig trees. I just need some soil for it, and I'll transplant the fig.

I also spent some time in the kitchen yesterday. I made 2 rhubarb pies, using the last of the frozen rhubarb and the first of some spring rhubarb. I also made enough pie pastry for 3 more pies, lined the tins with it and they're now in the freezer for pies later. With the scraps of pie dough, from all 5 pies, I rerolled the dough for a meat pie topper, for a chicken pie later this week or next (also tucked into the freezer).

And now, I think I hear the pitter patter of some grown children's feet, eager to begin the Easter celebration. Oh, and giggles and whispers coming from my daughters's room. Aren't we all still kids on the inside, no matter what our age says? I am sending Easter blessings and greetings your way! Have a wonderful day and I'll be back on Tuesday for my regular post.

Sincerely,
Lili

Easter menus, plus a recipe for a sweet yeast bread

I hope that you are having a fabulous Easter weekend! Mine shall be filled with gardening on Saturday, and church and family meals on Sunday. Don't you love knowing what everyone else will be eating on a holiday? I do. Sometimes knowing what someone else is preparing will spur ideas for me. And sometimes, I just like eating vicariously.

So, here's what's cooking in my kitchen on Easter.

Easter Brunch

Scrambled Eggs with Chard

Maple Sausage

Orange wedges

Austrian Almond Braid Bread *

Sage Biscuits

Pineapple Juice

And for Easter dinner. . .

Easter Dinner

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Potatoes Au Gratin

Asparagus

Rhubarb Pie

Coffee and Tea

I like to prepare as much ahead of time as possible, so that I'm not spending all my time in the kitchen and away from the rest of the fun. 

The other day, I stuffed the chicken breasts, rolled up and froze. I'm thawing them overnight in the refrigerator. Tomorrow, I'll bread them and brown in a frying pan, then bake for the remainder of the cooking time. I will hopefully get to the pie this afternoon. I also baked the Austrian Almond Braid, earlier this week.  I wrapped and froze it, to thaw in the morning, and put a glaze on it at the last moment. In case you're interested, here's the recipe.

Austrian Almond Braid 

2 & 1/2  to  2 & 3/4 cups flour

2 & 3/4 teaspoons dry yeast (or 1 packet)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or shortening

2 tablespoons water

1 egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup candied mixed fruit, chopped

1/4 cup chopped or sliced almonds

Almond Icing

(This bread is delicious with a total of 1/2 cup just about any combination of candied and dried fruit. Today, I used some candied fruitcake fruit, dark raisins, and chopped, homemade candied orange peel. I also like dried cherries or cranberries with the almonds.)

In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. In a microwaveable container (I just use my large Pyrex measuring cup), heat milk, water and butter for about 1 minute (until the butter becomes very soft, about 120-130 degrees F). Stir together. allow to cool slightly. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients, and beat well, until smooth.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with the almond extract. Add to the dough, and stir well. 

Mix in 1/2 cup of flour. Add the dried/candied fruit and almonds. Add more flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter or board and knead until smooth and satiny, about 5-10 minutes.

Cover dough, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Divide dough into 2 parts, one 2/3 of the dough, the other 1/3. 

With the 2/3 dough, divide this into 3 parts. Roll each part into a long strand, about 15 inches long. 

Lay the 3 strands out side by side, and pinch one end of the 3 strands together. Braid these strands. Pinch the bottom ends of the braid together. 

Place on a buttered baking sheet.


Take the 1/3 dough and divide into 3 parts, roll into strands about 18 inches long. Braid these 3, pinching both ends of braid. Lay on top of the large braid and tuck the ends of the small braid under the large braid ends. 

For a soft crust, brush with oil. But truthfully, I never bother with this step -- too much work. Cover with a towel and set in a warm place (80 to 85 degrees F) to rise until doubled, anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Bake in a preheated oven, at 350 degrees F, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden. Remove to a cooling rack. Once cool, glaze with Almond Icing. Decorate with additional chopped almonds, if desired.

Almond Icing

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

In a small bowl, stir all together until smooth.

Wishing you Easter blessings!

Found any rocks lately?

My newest area will eventually be filled with yellow daffodils, hostas,
purple grape hyacinth and purple crocus. The daffodils will appear to
spring up from a dry river bed that will meander through
a more natural-looking part of our garden

I have this funny picture in my mind of a geologist, somewhere, googling rocks, seeing the title to my post, coming to my blog, and scratching his head over why a geology site would have scores of posts on cooking, sewing and crafts.

Anyway, I guess I should have given this post a nicer title, like "How we use found rocks decoratively and functionally in our landscape".


A neighbor of ours did a bit of research on the geology of our area. What he discovered was the soil here is littered with rocks due to a massive glacier cascade, a very long time ago.

This is very good news for the stability of our home's foundation. But when it comes to planting, the rocks present a few problems.

Every time I dig even a 1-foot deep hole, I am faced with extracting a bunch of rocks. They can be as small as a pebble, or as large as 2 feet in diameter. Over the years, we have set aside these rocks, in a designated spot in the yard, to use later in the landscape.

The extra large rocks

The very large rocks we use for their sculptural value, placing here and there, but sometimes just getting them out of the soil and leaving them right in that spot.

Here's one that must weigh 100 lbs at least. I can't get it to budge. So it's been left right here, at the edge of a walking path.

The large rocks

low retaining wall

The large rocks (less than a foot in diameter, but larger than 6 inches in diameter), I have used to build low retaining walls, for terracing, such as in this area on a slope. The narrow bed it created is now planted with a dwarf boxwood hedge.

The medium-size rocks

shallow terracing

The medium-sized rocks (less than 6 inches, greater than 4 inches) I use for two purposes, in terracing, and in edging a gravel walking path out to the woods. For the terracing, here, I stack 3 rocks for a shallow terrace, for the area that drops down from the lawn to the small, lower pond. I usually have to touch-up this one each spring, as freezing and heaving cause some movement of the stones.

edging a gravel path

For the walkway edging, I place 2 rocks side by side, then top with a third rock. The purpose here is to keep the gravel from being scattered outside the path, by us as we walk to and from the woods.

I don't have a photo, but I also use this size rock to mark where invasives, such as oxalis and ivy, are not allowed to cross. I simply lay them in a line, within a bed -- one side of the line for invasives, the other for more favored plants. Anyone in the family can come out, and know where to pull the ivy or oxalis that has crossed the line, keeping my perennials safe from an invasion.

The small rocks (what I think as river rock)

stone mulch under a tree

The small rocks (what I think of as river rock sized) are what I use under trees, as ground cover, and at the base of daffodils. The river rock prevents many weeds from taking hold as seeds are scattered, and they form a nice ground cover under trees where lack of sunlight and competition for water & nutrients from the tree overhead, might prevent good growth of grass.

stone mulch up against house

These small rocks are also the ideal size for placing at the base of the stone front to our kitchen, between a paver path and stone exterior wall. Again, as a weed barrier in a spot I don't wish to be constantly patrolling for weeds.

The tiny rocks (more like pebbles)

decorative edge to a bluestone path

The tiniest of rocks, more like pebbles, I use decoratively along the walkway down to a pond in the sunken garden. We've laid bluestone steps in the center here. The tiny stones, along with sandy soil underneath, make a good medium for succulents, like hen and chicks, to edge this walk, and minimize weeding for me.


I was moving some daylilies yesterday from their cramped quarters, to a more spacious area. I'm thinking of laying small "river" rock at their base, as I do with the daffodils. I like the look of the flowers in a dry river bed of rocks. One step at a time, though. Developing our yard is turning into quite a significant project. But I'm enjoying every step of the way!

Is gardening your thing? Or is it something that you do because it needs to get done? I think it's a lot like rearranging furniture. I get an idea that I'd like to move this over here, and that over there. Fortunately, moving plants is a lot easier than moving sofas!

Thanks for reading, today!

I am back on track: working outdoors and an Easter project -- super simple lace headbands

These last couple of weeks were unusual for me, first with my body, and then with problems with the house, kids and a friend. You know what they say, when it rains, it pours!!! I am optimistic that this week will go smoothly enough (life is never totally smooth, so I'll settle for smooth enough). Thank you so much for your kind words, encouragement, support and "been there" attitude. Truly, your words helped.

Over the weekend I was able to get out to the veg garden and get the potatoes planted. And my husband set out on constructing the new bed where one of our fig trees will go in early April. This is right up against the brick patio, in a sunny spot. Keeping fingers crossed that this will bring a better fig harvest! (The two fig trees are currently in pots.)

And the good weather is continuing. I spent several hours pulling weeds yesterday, moving some plants to better spots, planting a couple of new plants, and adding some river rock to the new daffodil area. I had forgotten how much I like the way daffodils looks with river rock at their base. Technically, this isn't real river rock, probably glacial rock. As we dig new areas in the yard, we set the rocks aside, to use decoratively in the landscape.

I also continued with Easter bunny work, and am now done with the baskets.

We do candy and small gifts for our kids in their baskets. My son mentioned his long-sleeved white t-shirts were wearing out. He's getting a replacement shirt, from Old Navy. No sale, no discount, bummer! But it's what he wants, so I don't feel badly about not getting a deal. I also added some packets of instant oatmeal for him to keep at his office. He doesn't always get breakfast at home, so this tides him over until lunch. (And he's got a sweet deal on lunch. The bosses bring lunch in every day!)

My daughters's biggest "need" is related to next year's university expenses. So, I'm going cheap on their baskets (spending half of what I spent on our son), and putting the other few dollars into the budget for things like bus passes. But I think they will appreciate what I've added to their baskets. They both take dance classes, and are always borrowing my mascara (I know, you're not supposed to share mascara) and face powder for recitals. Well, they each are getting their own. I discovered an inexpensive cosmetic line at Target last week -- E.L.F (eyes, lips, face). The mascara was $3 (half of what Target was charging for Cover Girl), and the face powder was $1. While I was there, I also bought myself some concealer ($1) for my very dark under-eye circles, and so far I am pleased. But also, for my daughters, after Christmas I found these bath/lotion gift sets on clearance for $1.18 each. And, there was one last thing I wanted to make for them, using sewing trim scraps. (You remember, I've been cleaning out my sewing closet this winter.)

These lace headbands.

You know, I actually bought a lace headband for myself this past fall, and spent about $4 at the mall. Driving home, I had that thought, "what was I thinking? These would be super simple to make!"

And they are -- each one taking about 20 minutes of my time.

Basically, I started with about 21-22 inches of lace for each headband. One of the lace pieces I lined with peach-colored ribbon, both to add color and stability to the thin lace. The other, made of a more substantial lace, has a trim daisy hand sewn on. I also used 1 hair ponytail holder, each, to give them elastic stretch.

I changed my mind on the trim daisy, and went with 1 hot pink one instead

I ironed the lace and ribbon smooth. Sewed the ribbon to the back side of the lightweight strip of lace.

I turned under 1 end about 3/8-inch and pressed. Then turned that under about 1/2-inch, and pressed again.

I slid the ponytail holder under this fold. Using my machine, I stitched the fold down.

Next I pressed the other end, in the same way as the first, and pinned the other half of the ponytail holder into place. I tried the headband on myself.

I was guessing at the size for my daughters. I wound up cutting about 1/2-inch off this end, and pressing 3/8-inch under, then 1/2-inch under. I slid the other side of the ponytail holder under this fold, and stitched down the fold.

Voila! Lace headbands, using sewing trim scraps for a total cost of --- FREE!

And now, the Easter baskets are filled and tucked away in a closet, freeing up the rest of my week for the more meaningful activities of Holy Week.

How about you? Do you have some things you want to get done for Easter? Have you had cooperative weather for working outside? I know it is still wintry in some places, and I'm hoping for spring to come to your area soon, too. Thanks for reading, today!

The Easter bunny starts his work, despite some obstacles

I had a nice perky, getting ready for Easter post all planned to write out yesterday. And I had the whole day set aside to get all my basket-related tasks completed. But as the day unfolded, I felt nothing like perky for quite a few hours. And I thought that maybe I could write a more helpful post, if I talked about pulling myself together, when life kept throwing me curve balls. I know that reading of other women's daily struggles really does helps me.

It was just one of those days, when I felt like I was solving one crisis after another. These weren't serious problems, but it was the repeated dealing with problems that wore me down. Truly, I felt like crying. It was that bad. I was tired, and that just skewed how I was seeing every difficulty, I am sure. I wanted to cry. I wanted a big, strong man to come along and tell me, "there, there little lady. Don't you worry your pretty little head over this. I'll take care of everything." I didn't want to have to fix one more thing.

Sometimes, I resent being so capable. If I see something needs fixing, I know that I should at least give it a serious try. I sometimes wish I were more helpless. But this is how I've been made, a capable woman. Oh, I can't fix everything. But the things that I know my mother or grandmother would have let a man take care of, I feel like eyes are on me, in our house, to at least try to fix.

It was when I was standing on a rickety ladder, under the broken downspout of the rain gutter, with icy water pouring out onto my head, shoulder and leg, as the snow was melting on the roof, that I felt the most resentment for being capable.

We have had several nights of wind, followed by rain and snow. The wind knocked the drain pipe to the gutter off in two places. And now, rapidly melting snow was pouring down the corner of the house, along the siding and up against the foundation. I had mentioned the disconnected downspout to my husband a couple of nights ago. But I knew he wouldn't get to it until the weekend.

And so, being a capable woman, it fell on me to fix this right then and there, before I went out to run my errands. I hope I did a great job and this won't come apart any time soon. I used pliers and a mallet to get that thing back together, and attached to the gutter. My hands were numb with cold when I finished, and my shoe is still drying out today. But it's fixed and I moved on.

After a change of clothes and shoes, I was in the car, running my errands, and thinking about how I respond to these difficult days. While crying would sure feel good, I get a better feeling from continuing on with the day, and ticking more items off of my to-do list. Bad days are a fixture in this life. I can't change that.  But I can trudge on, despite them. I may not be cheerful when I start in on my to-do list, on a day like yesterday. But as I get more and more done, despite a rocky start to the day, I feel my spirits cheered a little. I feel productive. The day was not lost to the problems which came about.

So, after a good pep talk, and consuming a lot of my children's Easter candy (okay, I hear your thoughts "what a bad mother, eating her kids' candy"-- let she who has not eaten any of her children's Easter, Christmas or Hallowe'en candy cast that first stone), I got to the day's tasks.

I baked the sugar cookies that I need to take to our church's coffee hour this Sunday. I did my bunny-work for the kids' Easter baskets. I got the baskets out, divided the candy, filled plastic eggs, went shopping for a couple of gifts for the baskets, then tied with ribbon, and I washed the Easter grass.

Yes, you read that right, I washed the Easter grass. We are still using the original bag of Easter grass that I bought when my son was a baby, 25 years ago. I wash it a few days before Easter, oh, about every 2 or 3 years. It's the plastic kind of grass. I think I paid about 33 cents for the whole bag of it. I've vacuumed up a fair amount of it over the years, but we still have barely enough for 3 kids' baskets.

To wash the plastic Easter grass, I place it in the basket of my salad spinner.

I add warm soapy water. Swish around with my hands for a minute.

I drain, rinse, and spin out. I transfer the grass to a colander and allow to air dry for 1 day. I'm good to go, with dust-free Easter grass. We have allergies in this house, so I am careful to keep dust to a minimum.

With making this one bag of grass stretch for 3 baskets, I have a little trick to make it look like there's more. I crumple up paper to put in the bottom of each basket. Then I top with a thin layer of the grass in each basket.

Sure, you can just go without the grass. It is an invented "need" anyway. But I like that it pushes all the contents of the basket up and makes it look more abundant.

There are some good alternatives to the plastic commercial Easter grass, should you be starting this year fresh: shredded paper is good (if you have any colorful junk mail or school flyers, run these through your paper shredder), a colorful piece of cloth from your scrapbag (just crumple it up in the bottom of the basket, like if you were lining a dog bed with a favorite blanket), or wheat grass.

To grow your own wheat grass:

Soak 1/2 cup (per basket) of hard winter wheat seeds in water overnight.
Drain and sprout in a jar on it's side for 24 hours, rinse the seeds 3 times per day.
When you can see a tiny sprout from the seeds, place the seeds on top of some potting soil in a shallow dish (about 2 to 3 inches deep, one that will fit into your Easter basket)
Give the dish and seeds a good watering, and cover the seeds with a piece of muslin to keep them from drying out).
Every morning, for 3 days, lift the covering and water the seeds.
Every evening, lift the cover and use a plant mister to mist the seeds.
After 3 days, remove the cover and water daily. Keep out of direct sunlight.
Depending on indoor temperature, wheat grass takes about 7-12 days to grow a nice bed of grass.

The bonus to using wheat grass in your Easter baskets is you can then take cuttings to add to your smoothies.


So, I did get most of my to-do's done for yesterday, even if the day wasn't one of my best. And I do feel good about that. How about you? How do you keep yourself from succumbing to horrendous pity when disasters keep popping up and you're the one who has to take care of them?


(And with regards to eating the Easter candy, in my defense, technically it's not my children's candy until it lands in their baskets, right? ☺)

A jump-start on the garden, plus a recipe for cranberry-orange bread

I often feel that I am working in a rush against deadlines. There's the tax deadline, birthdays, holidays, guests' arrival, and now I'm trying to get the garden planted, rose bushes trimmed, trees and shrubs cut back and weeds pulled. While I feel pressured to get this all done, I also enjoy the excuse to be working in the fresh air.

The gardening deadline that gets priority with me is planting the produce garden. If I can get it done as early as the weather allows, we can enjoy fresh produce sooner, and have more of it.

As a help, I use row covers to give me an extra few weeks in spring. I can start seeds under these,

or, plant out seedlings.

The overnight lows can still be as low as 33 or 34 degrees F, this month, here. But with a cover, my plants survive, and seeds germinate sooner.

This week I started radish, beets, green onions, spinach and carrots, and transplanted broccoli and lettuce seedlings, all under these covers. I am trying to get at least one item planted per day. I should have all of my cool season veggies in the ground sometime next week.

Around the third week of April, I'll move these covers to bare spots for my heat-loving vegetables, like tomatoes, green peppers, summer squash, and eggplant. They'll act as mini-greenhouses to allow me to transplant seedlings into the ground two weeks before the usual recommended date, and keep the air right around these plants toasty.

This is what it takes in our climate, and my backyard, in particular, as it's surrounded by enormous firs, hemlocks and cedars -- great when we hit those all-time highs in the summer, we stay cool, but not ideal for growing many vegetables.

Sort of related to planting my garden, is the cranberry harvest from my yard, and one of my favorite recipes for using frozen cranberries. In the comments from Saturday's post, I had a request for my recipe for Cranberry-Orange Bread. This is the recipe I use. It's from  Jane Brody's Good Food Book. Jane Brody was a columnist for the New York Times for many, many years. Her food suggestions and recipes focus on healthier eating.

I like this recipe because it's low in fat and sugar (compared to other cranberry breads), and calls for part whole wheat flour. I do make a substitution or two here and there. The recipe calls for orange juice as the liquid. If I don't have any orange juice, I substitute homemade lemonade, using bottle lemon juice, sugar and water. But the nutritional benefits are greater if you use the orange juice. I also omit the nuts most of the time, as they're a no-no for my daughters' braces, and I'm often out of nuts, anyway. But again, nuts would add essential fats and protein, as well as a tasty crunch.

If you find that you overstocked fresh cranberries in the fall, and are looking for a delicious way to use some of them up, this is a recipe that my family really enjoys.

Cranberry-Orange Quick Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 to 2/3 cup granulated sugar, to taste
1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 teaspoons grated orange peel
3/4 cup orange juice
1 egg
1  1/3 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries, coarsely chopped (I do mine in the food processor)
1/2 cup nuts (pecans, walnuts), optional

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the dry ingredients. Stir in the cranberries, orange zest and nuts.

In medium bowl beat together the egg, oil and orange juice. Stir the liquids into the dry ingredients, just until combined.

Spoon into a buttered loaf pan (approx. 9-inch by 5-inch). Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven, for 50 minutes to 1 hour (top will be firm, and toothpick inserted should come out clean).

Set the pan on a rack for 10 minutes to cool, then turn the bread out of the pan, and continue cooling.

The author recommends wrapping the cooled loaf in plastic and waiting a day before slicing. I say, if you're hungry, you'll enjoy this even more that same day! Although it's true, quick breads do slice better after a day of resting. But I can never wait that long!

I often bake a double batch and make two loaves, one to eat right away, and the other to freeze. This loaf freezes very well. My kids love this sliced and spread with cream cheese. (I would probably love that too, but sadly, can't have dairy.)

Hope you enjoy!

How does this frugal family celebrate a milestone birthday?

This past Sunday, my two daughters celebrated their 18th birthday! I can hardly believe it myself. They still seem so young to me. After all, when I was their age, I was much older.

Whether we like it or not, we all have birthdays. So why not celebrate as best as we can?!

Julia and Grace's birthday was a milestone birthday. You don't turn 18 very often. I like to make the "big day" an extra special one for each of our family members. I'll tell you all about it.

First of all, this isn't a zero-dollar budget birthday. We do have a healthy budget saved for each birthday. But that budget is in line with the rest of our expenditures.

I give my kids choices in how they'd like their birthday budget spent. Would they like to have a fun time with friends? Would they like to eat out in a restaurant? Would they like to do something fun with just the family?

The year that I let the kids paint on the family room wall, as the entertainment portion of their birthday party (as that was an inexpensive activity), the girls also chose to get take out burgers from McDonalds for all their friends that day.

Another year they chose to go to the Seattle Center Fun Forest and ride some rides (costs money), but also chose to have a nice family dinner at home.

For my son's birthday this past autumn, he chose to spend the budget on a ferry ride across the Sound, then an inexpensive lunch in a coffee house, for his birthday celebration.

So, you see, the budget is just big enough to provide either some entertainment that costs money OR a nice dinner out in a restaurant.

For the remainder of the day, I provide as many special moments as I can, without really spending much money.

The birthday breakfast

Breakfast in the dining room (we mostly eat breakfast in the kitchen or the family room), with the room decorated for the their day (these decorations will double as spring and Easter decor).

Blueberry pancakes, with real maple syrup, and scrambled eggs. The real maple syrup is a splurge for us. It's quite pricey in our area, so I buy it rarely. This time, it came out of the regular grocery budget. The blueberries are from the freezer, the last of summer's harvest from our garden.

Making breakfast special -- the family gathered at the dining room table. No extra cost.

The dining room decorations

This idea I shamelessly stole from The Prudent Homemaker. It was darling and I knew my daughters would love this. Brandy, from the Prudent Homemaker, had printed out some images of butterflies, cut them out and hung them from the light fixture. How very cute, right?! I could not get the color portion of our printer to work; so I broke down and bought some scrapbook butterfly stickers (but they were on sale).

I had some gold thread in my sewing box, which I used to suspend each butterfly from our chandelier arms. I hung the butterflies at different heights, to give the illusion of a flurry of butterflies overhead.

I plan on leaving the butterflies up throughout spring, then carefully, take them down and store with our spring decorations. Hopefully, I can get several years of use from these butterflies. We'll have to see how I can store them to avoid damage.

I have to admit, I hemmed and hawed in the store over whether to buy these, but ultimately it was Julia and Grace's choice if they wanted their budget spent this way, and so we did. The cost for a sheet of 16 butterfly stickers, with tax -- $3.94.

I bring whatever flowers I can find outside, into the house on birthdays. My son has a November birthday, so mostly for his birthday, I find evergreens and berry clusters. These bits from the landscape can make a nice table decoration on their own, that time of year.

For Julia and Grace's birthday this year, we have petite daffodils in bloom. A small vase of tiny daffodils helped add some cheer to the table. Some years the Camellia bush is in bloom, and I float several blossoms in a bowl of water. No cost for the flowers.

Decorating the dining room -- a lot of cheer, but not a lot of money!

The cake

I have always, except once, baked and decorated the birthday cakes myself. There was the one odd year, when both girls really, really wanted a store-bought cake. That was their choice, and we used part of the birthday budget to pay for that one cake. Every other year I have baked a cake from scratch (I think they taste better, and I can't have dairy, so baking it myself ensures that I can eat some, too). Some years I've done quite elaborate designs on top. Other years, I've tossed a whole lot of M & Ms on the cake, and called it decorated.

This year, I baked a yellow cake a few days early. I find it is easier on me, if I bake the cake layers a few days in advance, wrap in plastic and freeze, until I'm ready to frost. Then the day before their birthday, I get the layers out of the freezer, bring to room temp and frost. I stay sane for their birthday this way, instead of running around like a crazy woman trying to be the perfect birthday mom, with a million things on my to-do list.

The frosting is a simple vanilla buttercream. And I went with the butterfly motif. As you can see, my hand was shaky at times, and the cake is not perfect looking. But my daughters think it's wonderful and that's all that matters. Mostly, I just try to have fun with it, and not worry too much about it being just right. If you don't let it stress you out, cake decorating is really quite fun.

A very delicious birthday cake, using ingredients that I had in my kitchen -- no additional cost!

The birthday candles

We reuse our birthday candles, with one rule of exception. If it will only be our immediate family, we use the used candles. If anyone else will be present for the cake, then we use new candles. Here's my thinking on that. The members of our immediate family directly benefit from our many money-saving strategies. Guests, do not experience that benefit, and so we wish to provide our very best for our guests.

And the candles that are too short to reuse? Those are saved to make into fire starters for the charcoal grill.

I'd like to say that these are gently-used birthday candles. But you can see for yourself, that we get as much mileage out of a tiny candle as we can. But they are my favorite price -- free!

What about paper plates and paper napkins? Using what we have costs nothing. I like our regular dishes, and I have some fun cloth napkins in my large assortment to choose from. And in years that we have guests enjoying cake with us, it's always nicer to have a real plate on your lap than a flimsy paper one.

The gifts

We all like to compare what we're giving to our kids at varying ages. Even I do that. I asked my sister on the phone last week, what they gave their son when he turned 18. I think we just like to get a feel for what others think is "normal", and make sure that we're on track, given our own particular financial priorities.

Since this is a milestone birthday, We wanted to give our daughters one gift that marked the occasion. This gift is ear piercing. Neither daughter has pierced ears, so this is a first for both of them. To go with the piercing, I gave them earrings passed down to me, from my mother and grandmother.

And since we have made it a priority to save for their university educations (beginning September), the other gifts need to be practical ones. I had wanted each daughter to have a cheap, pre-paid cell phone for on-campus, so they can keep in touch with each other, and keep me informed of when they'd be coming home each day, as well as to have in case of an emergency.

So for their birthday, they were each given the least expensive pre-paid phone; but these phones won't be activated until they have real need to use them (which may be this summer, depending on where they land summer jobs, otherwise just before fall quarter begins).

And finally, the 3rd gift (we seem to give gifts in 3s whether for Christmas or birthdays). They are both realizing the value of knowing how to sew. One daughter saw another young girl wearing some fun fleece pants, while we were on vacation last month. I told her that she could easily make herself a pair, using my pj pants pattern. The other daughter likes to take thrift shop finds and embellish them. Last week she was adding lace trim to a simple dress to add some of her personality. So, we gave both of them a gift card to Jo-Ann Fabrics, to pay for a new project each.

For this frugal family, the gifts are not over the top, but tend towards the practical with a bit of fun thrown in -- and both girls were really thrilled with what they received.

Our son did something clever, as well. He gave them egift cards to ebay. On the envelope holding the printout with their egift card info, he wrote down some interesting facts about March 17: who died, what country was invaded, who was born, and who created something, on that day in history. Wikipedia has a list of historical events for every day of the year -- very interesting trivia.

The gift wrap

We reuse gift wrap, cutting off the shabby bits and pieces with tape on them. The wrapping paper in these photos was on my son's gift in November; and as it was, it was free in-store gift wrapping, so it didn't even cost us anything, then!

If gifts are large enough, I find that I have a big square in the center of the gift, with no wrinkles, tears or folds. A piece like this can be saved and used on gifts of smaller size.

If I am out of tape, I use glue-stick to seal the wrapping paper.

I like to use fabric ribbons. I buy them on spools at the fabric store, many yards for $1 -$2. The fabric ribbons can be ironed and reused numerous times. And they're handy to have around for craft and sewing projects, like making ribbon flowers to sew onto a young girls dress or top.

Wrap and ribbons -- no cost.

The birthday card

Let's face it, we all have a stash of boxed cards that need using up. I've been trying to use mine up for years. It could take many, many decades of birthdays to use them all!

I collect vintage print greeting cards. These two are from that collection, and now are our birthday cards to our two daughters.

If you think it sounds too cheap to reuse gift wrap and ribbons, or use a boxed greeting card for a birthday card, this is how I see it. The less I spend on the items that don't have lasting value, the more I can spend on the event and gifts that they will hold onto for a while.

Birthday cards from my collection -- no extra cost here.

The birthday dinner

Julia and Grace chose to have a nice dinner in a restaurant to celebrate the occasion. They had never eaten at Benihana before, and I suggested this as a unique restaurant experience.

Benihana is a Japanese steak house, with a dinner-show put on by the chef at the table. Half of the table is the grill, and the diners are seated around. The chef performs a few tricks with his knife and fork, as he's cooking everyone's meals. I don't often find great value in eating in restaurants. But Benihana was an exception to this, with entertainment as part of the meal.

We stayed well within our dinner budget. We looked over the menu online, while still at home, and made our selections taking the budget into account. We shared entrees and substituted a couple of appetizers for entrees as a way to keep costs down, and not have a ton of food wasted. As it was, my 2 daughters shared an entree and still couldn't finish it all.

We do tip very generously when we order this way. Our tips are based on what 5 of us might have spent, had we all ordered entrees. With tax and tip, we spent $86 for dinner.

Gas and parking

I do consider how much our transportation will cost. The gas was paid for from our regular monthly gas budget. This means that I will have to take care when planning my errands for the next couple of weeks, to ensure our gas money holds out for the month.

Parking in downtown Seattle is very expensive during regular work hours and on Saturdays. But on Sundays, street parking in downtown Seattle is free! It's limited to 2 hours, in most places, during the day, but after 5 PM, the limit is extended to 3 hours. Whenever a special occasion falls on a Sunday, we always consider downtown as a possible excursion venue, because of the free parking.

Gas, covered, and parking free!

The memories

Pictures, pictures, pictures! I like to print out at least a couple of the pictures right away, instead of just saving them all on the computer. Prints are nice to have. So often we never get around to looking at our digital photos.

We have a photo printer, paper and ink, so we can print out a couple of photos at home for free.

Extra fun things

A while back I signed them up for Baskin-Robbins Birthday Club. About 6 days before their birthday, they received an email coupon redeemable for a kid's scoop of ice cream, for free.

Other places I have signed up with include Sephora, Panera, Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins, Menchie's Frozen Yogurt, our local mall, and Payless Shoes, for their birthday programs. All of these businesses email or send coupons for free products or percentage off a purchase.



We spent money in 3 areas for this celebration: decorations (the butterfly stickers), the gifts, and the dinner out. No additional money was spent on the cake, candles, flowers, plates/napkins, gift wrap, cards, transportation/parking, photos, and one of the gifts to each of the girls (the earrings).

It's clear that one of our biggest expenses for this birthday celebration was the meal out. Most years we spend about half this amount if we're doing a restaurant meal for a birthday. Turning 18 is a big deal, so we spent on the high side.

We save on costs where we can, so that we can afford what we think will provide the most value to mark the occasion.

Julia and Grace's 18th birthday was a day to remember. We had a blast, but didn't break the bank in the process!

How have you celebrated family birthdays, especially milestone ones?

I feel good, because this week, I saved time and money by . . .

. . . cooking several meals and snacks ahead of need.

I was out of commission for the early part of this week. I injured my back on Sunday, then pulled a muscle in my calf on Monday. I was a hunched over, hobbling mess. The real difficulty came late Tuesday afternoon when I realized that there was virtually nothing close to being ready to have for dinner, and I was in no shape to make beef stew, as I had planned. My two daughters stepped up for me and made a delicious split pea soup and a batch of carrot muffins, all from scratch. But this took away from their time for homework. Not good!


When my kids open the refrigerator and pantry doors a hundred times and call out, "Mom, there's nothing to eat!" I know that this is family code for, "there's nothing prepared that I can pop into my mouth!" Which, for me, means it's time to get busy, get creative and use what I have to make several snacks, treats and drinks.

So, pain or no pain, I had to get some things prepared so that we could actually eat around here. Looking into my fridge on Wednesday, you'd think I'd stolen a page out of a nursery rhyme.

some milk, eggs, butter, sour cream and single-serving of
leftover beans, plus onions and carrots, not exactly a feast

                          ~~Old Mother Hubbard, your cupboard is bare!~~ 

Or is it? A little "Mom Magic" and we'll just see if we can't transform this emptiness into abundance.

• I took the beef that I had thawed for stew, and cut the pieces smaller and made a jumbo batch of vegetable-beef soup, enough for Wednesday and Thursday dinners (make that "enough for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday dinners!")

• I also used the last of a loaf of French bread to make croutons for the soup.  Wow, those were yummy, and easy!

• I cooked up a large pot of rice. With the rice, I can quickly make a fried rice supper, or rice and lentil pilaf, or my favorite breakfast and lunch when I'm going both gluten and dairy-free, rice with almonds, raisins and cinnamon. 

• And while we sat and ate dinner, I had a pot of maple and brown sugar oatmeal cooking for tomorrow's breakfast. 

And that was it for my big cooking spree on Wednesday -- I had to lie down.

Thursday morning, I got myself into the kitchen again to prepare ahead of hunger and need.

• I made a double batch of cranberry-orange bread. Making quick bread takes less hands-on time than a large batch of muffins, with no individual cups to fill. I could get back to resting my back sooner.

• One daughter likes healthy snacks, so I used the food processor to shred carrots, and made carrot-raisin salad, enough for her snacking, and for our dinner on Thursday.
• Another favorite snack in our house is popcorn. I like to change things up a bit, so this time I made Southwest-style popcorn. It's just popcorn with chili powder and cumin sprinkled over it all. 

• And of course, a pitcher of lemonade (from bottled lemon juice and sugar) to wash down all these snacks.

Now, take a look inside my fridge -- abundance once again! And just about everything that I made was either quick and easy, or saved me time in the long run, because I made extra for future snacks and meals.

top left, 3 containers of vegetable-beef soup, middle left, potato skins
waiting to be  tossed with oil and salt and roasted, bottom left, leftover
maple/brown sugar oatmeal and plain rice, top right, pitcher of lemonade,
bottom right, carrot-raisin salad

Like I said, I didn't whip this all up in a tornado-like fury. No, I was hobbling about, and did this over a 2-day span. I chose mostly uncomplicated foods to prepare, and I used my food processor, when possible, to lighten my work. So, it's definitely a doable solution the next time my family screams, "Mom, there's nothing to eat!"


Have you used any "Mom Magic" lately? Is there something that you've done this week that saved you time and/or money, and made you feel good?

Sometimes an empty fridge is a blessing. You can finally wipe down the shelves, for one thing. But also, I love the challenge of creating abundance when it appeared there was nothing much there. How about you?