Happy October, Everyone! Things are already looking quite busy and fun. On Saturday I mentioned to my husband I could use a trip to the store to pick up Red Heel socks for Sock Monkeys. We ended up having a “date” night with our 3-yr old. We stopped for burgers and custard and swung by the store for a few things. Well, lo and behold! A sale on Red Heel socks! THAT I have never seen! My husband was like, “Stock up!” And I’m all, “Not too much.” I left with 12 pair of socks! You know what I will be working on. đ
Yay, let’s make some monkeys!
The next day husband and little one were feeling a little under the weather. We were home all day. They rested and played Go Fish. I made a little “healing food”. I took most of the last of our tomatoes from the garden and made a big pot of chili. I baked some homemade bread to go with the chili. Kind of a lot of work, but delicious!
We are all back to work and school today. Hopefully the rest of the week will be smooth sailing! (Because, yeah, it always is Lol! đ )
Happy first day of Fall, Everyone! This is my favorite time of year. We are in those final “‘ber” months of the year (SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER). I would be enjoying things much more without this heatwave, however. 90 degrees in my neck of the woods today. Not very autumny!
Waiting for these Mum buds to POP open. C’mon, you guys!
I just wanted to update my “Events” page with news. My booth will be part of the St. Ann’s Holiday Gift Fair again this year. So, mark your calendar for Saturday, November 11, 9am-2pm in Stoughton, WI. If you’re in the area, stop in and say “hi” at the giggleFritz and Co. booth. Start your Christmas shopping, have some lunch, and enjoy the “BER” season at this wonderful event!
Coffee Break Fest last Saturday was AMAZING! The weather was beautiful, there were a ton of people, and we had a great time! To Everyone that stopped by the giggleFritz and Co. booth, it was very nice to meet you and thank you for all of the compliments! To customers who purchased something I made, Thank you and I hope you truly enjoy what you purchased! To my sister, Jill Punzenberger, who helped me get here, set up, sell, sample coffee with me, eat cupcakes with me, let me use the bathroom, tear down the booth, laugh with me, and drive home with me, Thank you! And to every last loved one who encourages me to keep creating, THANK YOU!!
I hope Everyone had a wonderful weekend and is enjoying the last days of summer!
A few weeks ago I was informed that my application for the Coffee Break Fest 2017 craft fair was accepted!! I am so excited to be part of this event once again! Last year I stayed home because of rain. I have been checking the extended forecast every day and it looks like 79 degrees and partly cloudy.
I have not posted any updates since May 2nd. I have been busy trying to keep up with our 3 year old DD, housework, gardening, summer fun, and sewing when I can. In two weeks DD will be starting preschool. I am planning on getting more work done, items for sale in my shop, and more posts on my blog. We will see if my plans and reality become one! đ
Happy Tuesday, All! How is this final week of April 2017 treating all of you? The last few days (weather-wise) have been beautiful around here! I took the time to hang some laundry and it really felt good. I had some help from my #1 helper. She loves to clip as many clothespins on one article of cloth as she can. One of her little washrags had eight clothespins perfectly lined up on the wash line. We donât have a normal wash line because DH doesnât want one. When he is at work I just string a rope through the railing of our deck. I hang four lines that get some decent sun and wind up on our hill. I save us a little money on the electric bill and DD and I get more time outside. Win, win!
Last week DD took an interest in Playdough again. We have been spending a lot of time at the kitchen table surrounded by plastic molds and tubs of wonderful smelling Playdough! I am stopping by today to share my favorite characters.
At the end of February I strayed from my meal planning. During the month of March I flew by the seat of my pants and wrote nothing down. NOTHING! I am back at it for the month of April and beyond.
Everyone does some form of meal planning. Some people are disciplined. They write everything down for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and stick with it. On the other end of the spectrum there are those that grab what they can for breakfast and lunch and throw frozen pizza in the oven at the last minute or zoom through a drive thru restaurant for dinner. I fall somewhere in the middle (I think!). I have been doing my version of meal planning for the last 10+ years and it has served me well. It is healthier and has saved us money from eating out. Â It helps me use up leftovers and food that will go bad soon.
First, I visit calendars.com to print off a current or future month, for free! Next, I pencil in events that will effect prep and cook times of meals, or special events for which we will be eating out. I plan meals and grocery shop for two weeks at a time. Then, I fill in dinners for each day of the week keeping in mind ingredients we have on hand and writing on the grocery list what we need to buy. I only plan the DINNERSÂ of each day. The same breakfast and lunch ingredients are always kept on hand. The grocery list and dinner calendar are always done at the same time, Thursday or Friday morning.
Sometimes I stop the meal planning because I am short on time. If I only have time to make the grocery list and get out the door, the calendar meal plan has to wait until later. Later never comes. I have been working on Aprilâs meal plan and have been sticking to it. Yesterday, the chicken I pulled from the chest freezer wasnât thawed enough. I had to come up with something quickly. I settled for âTuna Noodle Casseroleâ. I havenât made it in weeks and it felt like it was time for some creamy tuna goodness! Download the printable recipe here: Tuna Noodle Casserole
I have been using this recipe since 2008!
TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE 2008 – Serves 3-4
4 oz. dry noodles, cooked and drained
1 (7 oz.) tuna (drained)
1 can (10.5 oz.) cr. mushroom soup
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
1 small can (4 oz.) tuna, drained, flaked
TOPPING:
1 tbsp. melted butter
2 tbsp. bread crumbs
Directions:
Cook noodles, drain.
In a medium bowl mix soup, milk, mayo, and dry mustard.
Stir in noodles and cheese; gently fold in tuna.
Turn into a greased 1.5 qt baking dish (8in x 8in or 9in x 9in)
Combine butter and bread crumbs in a small dish. Sprinkle over casserole.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until heated through.
This serves my husband, toddler, and me with leftovers. Double, triple, or make what you need. You can make this ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. Pop it in the oven after work. Serve with salad or cooked veggies. Enjoy!
Happy April, Everyone! I have been kicking around a few new ideas and I finally buckled down and made something new. I will soon be an aunt for the second time and have been thinking about baby necessities. I took a look at the bibs we have been using and tried making one of my own. Pictured below is the first one I have completed.
I ran this bib through the laundry today and it held up well. I will be testing it at dinner tonight for comfort and staining. I am confident it will be a winner! Look for bibs in the shop in the near future.
My vegetable plants are starting to pop up in their cells and the weather has been warmer. The weather is damp and gloomy, but that is how spring rolls in âsconsin!
I hope your April is starting off with hope and BIG plans!
Good Morning, Everyone! Today I am tackling an important task that I have been dancing around for far too long: cleaning off my desk. Why donât all of these papers, receipts, and even Christmas cards (yes, Christmas cards!) have a home of their own?! I donât know, but they need one NOW. This disorganized mess is costing me time and money. I have many ideas that I need to explore and they get thwarted every time I look at my eyesore desk.
I wanted to share an easy project I took the time to do last week. While working on taxes I had some ideas of how to organize my receipts and paperwork so next year at tax time I would be even more prepared. While putting my ideas into practice I decided to pretty-up some of my file folders that I plan on looking at frequently. I always want to go nuts at Office Max and buy their trendy office supplies so I have an inspiring work space. Then, my frugal brain kicks in and says, âNo, we can make it ourselves, or go without it.â So that is what I did. I made my own pretty file folders.
Materials:
Manila file folders â 9 ½ x 11 5/8
Scrapbook Papers (I used scraps I had leftover)
Pencil
Scissors
Glue Stick
Instructions:
Place scrapbook paper face down. Place the file folder face down so the tab lies on top of your scrapbook paper.
Trace around the tab with a pencil.
Cut out the tab from the scrapbook paper.
Glue the scrapbook paper tab onto the tab of your file folder with glue stick.
I needed a file folder for each month of the year, so I made some labels to go with my new, pretty tabs. I created a table in Microsoft Word and added the months of the year (Click on this link for the table:Â File Labels MONTHS.) I printed the labels on printing paper, cut them out, and glued them on my tabs with the glue stick. My tabs are a bit wrinkly from all of the glue, but I still like them very much!
I liked this little project. I needed more motivation to work at bookkeeping and this has helped a lot. I am off to use my file folders!
