Progress not Perfection?

Progress not Perfection?

I wish progress was going a little faster, but at least it's something. The process with the insurance company seems to be dragging out a lot longer than it should, but we will get there eventually.

I'm currently working on setting up the new computers, figuring out Windows 8, and reconstructing the information from our budget spreadsheet.

Christmas is coming at the same rate, regardless of my situation, so I'm starting in on "all that stuff" also. My sister was over last weekend with her kidlets, who thoroughly entertained "Uncle Mark" while she and I did some baking. The kids helped some and we got done what we wanted to.

Our family has traditional Christmas 'goodies' that we like to have each year. So my sister and I have developed a chart with recipe names across the top, ingredients down the sides, and amounts filled in the middle. The amounts for each ingredient are totaled in one column and then each is assigned to one of us. We each contribute some of the ingredients and split the goodies when we are done.

Do you get together with anyone for Christmas baking? Do you do a cookie exchange? Comment on the Homemaking Diva Facebook page!

Thank you for joining me, it really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me on the Homemaking Diva Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HomemakingDiva 

Thinking About Christmas?

First off, I have to tell you, yes, in my opinion, it is still way too early for Christmas decorations and music. But, now is the perfect time to plan!

It's mid-November, craft shows are in high gear and we're starting to get into make-ahead season. Now is the time to set aside some extra time and some extra money (if you haven't already) to make sure that Christmas doesn't surprise you.

I encourage you to spend some time thinking about what you are going to do this year. Just ask yourself some questions and write down the answers:

• Who is on your gift list?
• How much money do you plan on spending on gifts?
• What might you get for each person?
• Are there any crafts you need to get going on?
• How many get-togethers do you want to go to?
• Are you hosting any of these get-togethers?
• What goodies are you going to bake?
• What baking can be made ahead?
• And don't forget your family traditions!

November is a great time to get started on crafts and baking. A friend of mine has a craft show every year with her mother and one or two other vendors. I always go and usually get all my stocking-stuffers there.

My sister and I bake together, and we had our first session on Saturday. It was extra fun this year because now my seven-year-old niece is old enough to help (not just busy-work 'help' but actually help). We make our list, pick our dates and split the groceries. It's always a lot of fun.

If you start planning now, you can beat the rush and avoid the malls on crazy December Saturdays. If you can swing it, try going on a weekday-day during November to get a head start on your gift buying.

Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me on the Homemaking Diva Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HomemakingDiva or by email at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Countdown to the Holidays! - How's it Coming?

Less than a month before Christmas. Really?!?! How's it coming?

I have my Advent calendar ready to go. It's a fabric one with pockets that you re-fill each year. I added candies and little notes in each pocket and it is waiting patiently on my crafting table for December first.

Baking is done. Well, part of it anyways. I probably will end up doing some more baking on my own, but all the baking I 'have to' do for my traditional Christmas is ready and waiting. I hauled baking stuff over to my sister's on three of the last 6 Thursdays and we baked... well two of those days I mostly just entertained my nephew (who was being clingy but oh-so-cute) which allowed her to bake. We have gotten together for the past few years to do our Christmas baking to have the 'goodies' we grew up with.

Shopping is started. My friend, her mother, and her niece had a craft show at the beginning of the month. I brought my husband along and we made a good start to our Christmas shopping. Stockings are done except for one more thing, his parents and two friends are done except for some baking I'll add later. That just leaves the 'kidlets' (our nieces and nephews) who get Veggie Tales movies, his brother and sister-in-law who needs more brainstorming, and each other.

Crafting is not really started yet... I know, I know! But I still have time. I have the fabric for the stockings, one is washed but the other isn't. And DH still doesn't know what he wants on his, but I can do mine first, that's OK. I need to just 'suck it up' and wash the fabric in the evening instead of waiting for the weekend (our electricity rates are hiked up the rest of the time). Adding that to my list now :)

Thankfully the only thing I put on my crafting list are the stockings, advent calendar (done! - I made the little notes cute with scrapbooking punches), and these mirror ornaments I saw on Pinterest. I figure I can do them for $2-$3. (Scroll down about halfway on the link.) Mini mirrors from the dollar store glued to Christmas tree ornament hooks and placed on the INSIDE of your tree. It's supposed to make it more sparkly. I already have glue, so this should be an easy mini-project once I pick up the stuff.

How's your Christmas progress coming? Is there something you need to take of your list to be realistic?

Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me on the Homemaking Diva Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HomemakingDiva or by email at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Countdown to the Holidays - Are you Ready?

Well, tomorrow is Turkey Day for me. Doing what I can now to make tomorrow easier.

I made the marshmallow salad (family tradition, NEEDS to be made 1 day ahead) and the white bean dip (from Saving Dinner, CAN be made a day ahead), I also chopped up a large cucumber, carrot, some celery, and a yellow bell pepper, and put them in a large zipplerware (ziploc + tupperware = zipplerware) container covered in water in the fridge. They're for dipping in the white bean dip, I'll fish them out with a slotted spoon tomorrow :)

That's three things ready and done. I also washed all the dishes and did a 15 minute tidy. Now I can relax, play with my sewing stuff, read, and hang out with my husband. (Which are great things to do on a holiday weekend!)

Tomorrow, I'm making the garlic smashed red potatoes in the morning, and having them on keep warm in my crock cooker all day (with a little butter over the top). Plus I'll cut my bread for stuffing before we leave to pick up my in-laws.

Sometime around noon will be time to preheat the oven, make the stuffing, and prep the bird. When the turkey's halfway done (or so) I'll make the pumpkin pie and pop it in the oven, too.

Gravy and the green beans are the only things that'll need to be done last-minute and they're both pretty easy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me on the Homemaking Diva Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HomemakingDiva or by email at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Countdown to the Holidays! - Thanksgiving Prep

Hello everyone!

Since I'm making Turkey Dinner for my in-laws on Monday, I'm trying to spread my prep work out so I'm just doing a little each day.

Today I turned my turkey over (hoping this will help it thaw more evenly) in the fridge. I went over my recipes again and pulled out the rest of the ingredients I needed out of the freezer so they will be thawed in time.

I got out my turkey roasting pan (which I pretty much only use for Thanksgiving and Christmas) and washed it along with the rest of the dishes. DH put the dishwasher on for me, and I'm having my normal laundry day.

I'll also have a '15 minute tidy' later on, to baby-step the whole 'cleaning the house for company' thing. It's not too bad, just needs some touch ups. :)

It's cool and rainy today, maybe I'll do some baking, too. We'll see.

Are you getting ready for the big day?

Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me on the Homemaking Diva Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HomemakingDiva or by email at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Countdown to the Holidays! Planning for Sanity

Thanksgiving is going to be here soon, so I'm doing my best to be prepared. Hopefully by the time you read this, I will have purchased my turkeys. I am bound and determined to find some at a good price, so I will be going to Walmart for a THIRD time, first thing at opening this morning (I'm writing this last night). You'd think Walmart would realize that they should stock up on items that are on at a really good price; I mean, if you keep running out of the turkeys that are on sale, maybe you should start ordering MORE?? Maybe?

Sorry. Rant over :)

I did sit down and finalize my Thanksgiving menu and update my planner page.

• White Bean Dip and Veggies
• Turkey
• Stuffing
• Gravy
• Garlicky Smashed Red Potatoes
• Nutmeg Green Beans
• Marshmallow Salad (family tradition)
• Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream

I've got the basics covered and a bit of my weird upbringing thrown in. The plan is to make the dip, chop the veggies, and make the marshmallow salad on Sunday. And the pumpkin pie can be baking somewhere around when the turkey's half done.

My favorite trick (and one you'll love too!) is to make the mashed potatoes (whatever kind you like at your place) EARLY. Then put it in the crock cooker with a little butter over the top on 'keep warm' until dinnertime. One less thing to do later. Just be sure to test run your crock pot first (you can make a potato chowder if you want afterwards) you don't want scorched potatoes on the big day! I got that tip from Leanne Ely who got it from Flylady.

I've got a few things to do each day from Thursday to Monday (including tidying the house in babysteps) so I'm not doing everything at once. Sounds like a plan to me!

Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Love,
Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Frugal Hospitality

Some of you may remember last time I told you that I was going to try and be especially frugal for the next while as we just invested in a sectional.

On Sunday, we decided to invite my in-laws over after church. This is frugal for us because we often end up going to a restaurant for lunch. But that meant I needed to figure out what to make. :)

Brunch is always a delicious and frugal choice. It doesn't get much cheaper than eggs and toast. Especially since I get my bread from Westons for 99 cents! (They're the bakery that makes the bread for the grocery stores. Whatever the grocery store doesn't sell gets returned to Westons and sold in their 'thrift store'. Bottom line, the bread is one day older and a heck of a lot cheaper. I go when I can and get some for now and some for the freezer.)

I almost made lasagna for dinner, but that meant buying a ricotta, and the day ended up being way too hot to turn on the oven. I decided to make burgers. I originally didn't want to because I'd just pulled the ground beef from the freezer and knew it would be VERY cold on my hand mixing it up later. But then my brain clicked and I decided to let Todo do it. Todo is my stand mixer... we named it that because it's shape reminds us of two droids from Star Wars, one of which is called TODO-360. (Yes, I'm weird.)

But aside from the fact that I've named my stand mixer, it really IS handy and makes a good burger. I used the Basil Burgers recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and the regular 'blade' in the stand mixer. Want to know ANOTHER ground meat trick? Doesn't matter if it's meatballs, meatloaf, burgers, or something else. Mix all the 'stuff' together first, THEN add the ground meat. Everything goes together faster and more evenly.

So we had burgers for dinner, and I had everything on hand for them. Score more frugal points!

We all enjoyed each others' company and tried out the new sectional while watching some episodes from Shark Week :)

None of it cost me a cent!


Thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!


Love,

Valerie :D

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Playing Ketchup

No tomatoes here! 'Playing ketchup'  'playing catch-up'. It's what I've been calling it since... high school. If I needed to catch up in a class (because of a trip or whatever, usually a concert band event) I'd write 'ketchup' in my agenda. And I still use that term today :)

Life happens, we get busy, and then the city decides to 'clean' the water mains resulting in lack of useable water.... and the dishes and other chores pile up. Time for ketchup!

Saturday is usually laundry day over here (because our electric rates get jacked up when you WANT to use electricity... but that's another story). So today, I decided I need to get things done.

Having a messy kitchen stresses me out. Weird, but true. So today, after breakfast (where I actually had to wash a pan before I could make pancakes :S) I put on a load of laundry and started in on the dishes.

I try to strategize when I do dishes, do you do that? I did the two china plates first, then I did my hard plastic cutting board, so I could 'protect' the china from other things piling on too much pressure with the cutting board. I like to clean the 'cleaner' things first, so I purposefully left the spaghetti sauce pan until right before I wanted to change the water in the sink. Because I had so many dishes to do, I used my large cutting boards to kind of make the walls of my drying rack higher (putting them right on the sides) and I even put a bunch of oven safe stuff in the oven to dry (then I turn on the oven at the lowest heat setting, just for 15 minutes or so, then turn it off again and leave it closed - speed dry!). I piled the plastic things high in the rack, playing tetris as I went and fitting in as much as I could. Eventually I had to stop and clear off part of the counter, so I could lay out some dish towels for the rest of the dishes (I had a LOT). Plus I flipped the laundry a couple times in there, also...

When I was finally done the dishes (except for two of the mason jars I picked up at a yard sale that need to be bleached), I took the coffee maker and coffeepot apart, wiped them down cleaned them out, put them back together, and it's now on it's second vinegar water cycle. Decided I should use the hot vinegar water for something, so I'm filling those two jars with it and will probably go clean the bathroom sinks with more of it.

This was an accomplishment for me, and it probably took less than an hour an a half to get it all done. I even called DH upstairs to see what I did and he was sweet enough to be impressed and give me some praise :)

The laundry just beeped at me. I'm going to go fold the laundry, use up the hot vinegar water for something productive, start a plain water cycle in the coffeemaker, to rinse it out, and start a new load of laundry. Then I can relax, until I get beeped at again!


So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

Rhubarb anyone?

In my world summer equals rhubarb and blueberries. We've always had a rhubarb patch and blueberries grow wild around here, so .... :)

Yesterday was a little cool, so I decided it was a good day to bake! I made the first rhubarb pie of the season.... Mmmmm hello, summer!

I guess I was in the mood to experiment. Instead of following the recipe exactly, I decided to check how much rhubarb actually fits in a pie. (I love my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, but the pies always seem to be full to overflowing.) Guess what? 2 to 2 1/2 cups fits nicely in a Tenderflake crust - not the 6 cups called for in the recipe! (Yes, I cheat, but it's yummy and fast!) Made a note of THAT. Next time, I think I'll divide the whole recipe down to 1/3 or 1/2 of what it says. Last night I only changed the rhubarb. Turned out well, DH had no complaints! :D

While I was experimenting, and since I had picked more rhubarb, I decided to try making rhubarb stew in the crock cooker! Now I've been eating this since I was knee high to a grasshopper, and I've only ever made it in the microwave - not good, I know! (Plus it's boiled over in the microwave too many times.) My sister found a good stovetop recipe that she uses. So I coarsely chopped the rest of the rhubarb, put about 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of the crock, and poured some sugar over the top (no measurements... sorry). If you haven't had this before, you'll need way more sugar than I do, you can add to taste at the end, or in your bowl even. Crocked it on low for 2 hours, opening to stir a few times (I was pretty paranoid about it burning or something). And it turned out perfect! It was more liquidy than normal, so next time I'll put in less water, but it doesn't effect the taste - rhubarb stew is very forgiving.

I've been keeping an eye on the blueberry bushes in the backyard (heck yeah!) and neighbourhood... soon!

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

A Simple Christmas - December First

Christmas can get so busy... I love FLYlady's babysteps... Holiday Cruising is what she calls it. I'm aiming for a simple Christmas this year.

December 1st!! We're embracing DH's Scottish heritage this Christmas :) Today we did 3 small Christmas things:

1. Added plaid bows to the wreath and put it on the front door
2. Put up the tree (pre-lit, simple) with just the lights and our new angel for now
3. I brought up the Christmas dishes (OK, mugs and 1 glass, plus some hot pads and tea towels) and put the dishes in the dishwasher, put 'regular' mugs right back into the same box and put the box back downstairs :)

I started the Christmas Baking with my sister at the end of October. We spread it out over 3 different days, making 2 or 3 things a day, doubling some recipes and splitting everything. We finished November 25th!

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

Losing It With Leanne Challenge Day 10 - Baking Cookies?!?!

January 21, 2011

I was out at my sister's all day, today. I packed some Kashi, my soup, and a tuna sandwich, so I had my mid-morning snack and lunch covered, but I should have packed two Kashi so I'd have one for my mid-afternoon snack - oops.

I'm not sure if you remember, but I've been a double-double girl for-ever, and today when I bought coffee I got just milk in mine, not a huge delight, but I survived.

It was a PA day, so my niece was home from school and she wanted to bake. (Ahh!!! ) We baked cookies and I used pretty good self-control. I only had a tiny piece of dough (way less than normal) and one cookie, and they are small cookies. Plus I didn't bring any home. I think that is a major victory, not a small failure. Seriously. On a 'normal day' I would have been sneaking bits of dough here and there the whole time plus I would have had 4-5 of the cookies there (they are small cookies, about 1 Tbsp of dough each...) and then maybe taken a bunch home for me and DH for the week. I think I did well.


No wii today, but keeping my nephew out of stuff is a full-time job ;)

Dinner was leftover meatloaf with steamed mixed veggies (lots for me) and DH had my restaurant garlic bread also.  Have I mentioned that I'm loving making dinner for four the first night and then not making anything the next night? This should be my new plan!!

Oh! And I got all four bottles of water in! :D

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

Christmas Simplified

I know it may be too late for some of you, but if you haven't started all your Christmas stuff yet, don't worry, it can be done!

Christmas doens't need to be complicated. Baby-steps really help with all the tasks associated with Christmas. December 1st I put the wreath on the front door and pulled my traditions calendar. That's it. That was enough for that day because I was really busy, but coming home and seeing the wreath was enough.

A couple days later my DH and I put up our tree. Just put it up, we didn't decorate it yet. I love our tree, it's so intuitive. It took us all of 5 minutes to set it up. It's a pre-lit tree in three sections and what sets it apart is that the lights are logical. The top plugs into the middle, the middle plugs into the bottom and the bottom plugs into the wall. That's it. 5 minutes. (Now my parents pre-lit tree is not intuitive and takes half an hour to try to figure out why that section of the tree is not lit up. I'm so glad that's not my problem anymore.)

We left the tree undecorated for a few days, but seeing the tree set up with the lights turned on was enough to make me smile. Another day I took 15 minutes and put the ornaments on. It takes me longer than I need to because I have a list of my ornaments and I put them on in order so I know I'm not missing any.

One day I pulled out my small box of kitchen Christmas stuff. I put the mugs and glass in the dishwasher, the tea towels and dish cloths in the laundry room, set out the hot pads and switched my Christmas magnet for another on the fridge. I used the same box I was emptying and put away some similar items so that I wouldn't have overflowing kitchen cupboards.

My sister has agreed to do up my Christmas card address labels in Publisher so that they can just be printed off every year and I won't have to hand write them all every year. We have also been baking together, doing one or two treats a week, spreading the work out and doing the freezable ones first. In the past I've participated in DH's work cookie exchange where everyone makes a lot of one type of treat and goes away with a variety.

I usually write a newsletter to put in our Christmas cards to make life easier. That way, people get to find out what we've been up to but I don't have to get my hand cramped up writing notes to everyone. Taking babysteps to Christmas cards is a great idea, but I need to get a move on.

So far I've brainstormed for my newsletter referring to our kitchen calendar, collected my addresses and sent them to my sister for the address labels, purchased one additional box of cards since I was about 12 short, and picked up enough Christmas stamps of each denomination I need (sending cards in Canada and the the States). What I have left to do, write and edit the newsletter with DH (3-4 babysteps), sign the cards and put people's names in them, pick up completed address labels from my sister (I'll see her today and ask how they're coming, we said to try and have them done by the 15th), affix the address labels and return address labels and stamps to the envelopes, stuff and seal envelopes, and actually mail them. It sounds like a lot, but I can babystep my way through it and get it done before Christmas, preferably closer to the 18th.

My mother is hosting Christmas dinner for my family and extended family, but my brother, his wife, and their son will be staying at my house. Also I'm going to be hosting a potluck with 6 of my friends, our Christmas for 8. Because I've been FLYing with FLYlady my house is in decent shape and I'm doing maintenance and have time for my Christmas tasks. I have a few more decorations that may or may not get out, most likely only half of them will go out.

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :)
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