Smoothie Cubes

Unfortunately I do not have time to only focus on DIY projects and organization. There's family, friend, work, my second job and somewhere in there I eat. My family is Italian and we like to eat well. In their Italian vocabulary to "eat well" means to cook with fat, butter, lots of olive oil, cheese, etc.

About 18 months I joined Weight Watcher and took control of the food I was putting into my body. I did awesome! The only problem was that I quickly found that my grocery bills began to sky rocket and I didn't have the luxury to spend that much just on food. I took about a 6 month hiatus from Weight Watchers and now I am back... but with an added challenge to keep costs down. I'll share any recipes / finds that I have that will help you eat light while being light on your wallet.

Aldi is a great place to shop groceries at low costs. While browsing their aisles the other day I noticed a bunch of silicone trays on clearance for $1.49 so I bought the one for 6 cupcakes.

As much as I cook (and I am a pretty good cook if I say so myself), I absolutely do not bake. Never really cared for sweets so I never cared to make them. Once I saw this tray I had a different plan.

Yogurt has been one of those foods that I eat because it is good for watching your weight, but I really do not enjoy eating yogurt. I typically add cereal or blend it in a smoothie. Last year I tried something with one of my smoothies and it became on of my favorite snacks. I froze the smoothie and then let it sit out while I worked. After a few hours out, it became soft and had a creamy texture just like... well, frozen yogurt.

My new kitchen tool was going to help me portion smaller snack sizes of the smoothie. First I made a smoothie with yogurt, mixed berries, frozen banana and some almond milk. Once it was totally blended I poured in into the silicon tray and froze. Once frozen I put them in a ziplock baggie so it would be easier to store.

Now I have healthy snacks already made for work in the perfect portions! Already I got my money's worth in the tray.

DIY Message Board

Sorry it has been so long but I actually spent some time without a computer flying around to hang out with the husband and then Thanksgiving came.

This was the first pin that I bought materials for. The only problem is that when I was inserted the glass back into the frame (it needed a good cleaning) the glass broke so I bought two frames before it worked. This is a great way to update an old frame you have packed away.

All I did was buy a $1.99 frame (or two) from Goodwill, painted it white and inserted a piece of cool scrapbook paper that matches my home. With that I have a stylish dry erase board to write my menu items, grocery list and special notes to my sweetie.

Cards Forever

Today's blog about greeting cards is going to be just like a greeting card. A short, concise message that articulates a grander notion.

My husband and I have been together for 11+ years and have exchanged many cards with notes that we want to save forever. Plus he's a pack rat and saves every card he gets from anyone. I saw this pin and thought it was the perfect way for us to organize our cards.

All I did was punch holes in the cards and keep them together with small binder rings that I purchased at the scrapbook store. Here's the final product!

Cool Coasters

A couple months ago I tried to get rid of my ugly, worn coasters at my mom's garage sale but unfortunately $1 was too much to be asking for them so I was stuck with them.

They have been sitting in a box in my garage until I saw this pin. After a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and buying a book of scrapbook paper that was on sale along with some Mod Podge, my coasters had a lovely makeover.

I then became obsessed and found some more square coasters we had packed away and did the same thing. Love them!

Grandma's Gems

This past summer my grandmother lost a battle to lung cancer. Today there was a memorial for her at her church so I dedicate this post to her and one of her gems that I was able to repurpose.

My "Grandma Pat" was a very modest and selfless housewife. Even when her husband past away 25 years ago she devoted her life to her kids and grandkids.

While her sister lived a very wealthy lifestyle owning a few homes and furnishing them with paintings that cost the same as one year of my college tuition, I can't remember anything that my grandmother actually purchased for herself. Knowing that I didn't expect to find much in her condo when my aunts, uncles and cousins sorted through the belongings she had left behind.

Even so it was sort of disappointing going through her things. Not because I wanted material things but because I wanted to own things that reminded me of her... things that she used to making her house a home for our family. So I started to grab servingware, much to my husband's dismay. We have a TON of serving pieces and he kept asking where we would store this new collection. To be honest, I didn't know but I wanted to find something.

One of the items I grabbed was a silver lazy-susan and a clear crystal looking (but really plastic) tray for on top. Totally does not go with our design but why not.

Luckily I found a great organizational use for a lazy-susan thanks to this pin on Pintrest. Not only did I find a great place to store it, but it has a functional use! Under my guest bathroom sink I have tons of bottles (lotions, sunscreen, bug spray, etc.) and now I am able to easily access them all.

Now on a daily basis I feel like Grandma Pat is helping me make my house a home... and just any home but an organized one. Love you Grandma Pat!

For real this time

So there were more posts that I posted back in early 2010 but... I deleted them. They were annoying from when I wanted a pity party for myself and nobody really wants to read about that. Now that I have been living the life of a pilot's wife for over a year and a half, I've got things under control. At least more than I did before so the blog is for real this time.
Even though our income has increased since the first year at the airlines, we still have long term financial goals so I am trying to really focus my energy on living a frugal life. Recently I was introduced to my new lover... Pintrest.com. Seriously I have become a bit obsessed but it has totally motivated me to get organized and crafty. Believe it or not, I just added a sewing machine to my list for Santa.
Some of my recently projects have been directly pulled from Pintrest but some are things that are inspired the Pintrest ideas. For example, all of the sewing projects gave me the courage to take on the task of making our costumes for Halloween. We were going to a family party so we wanted to be something our nephews and nieces (ages3-5) would recognize so we were Jesse and Woody from Toy Story 2 and 3!

The costumes were made for less tan $10 each with items from Goodwill and sale fabric from JoAnn fabrics. Waaaayyy cheaper than the ones sold by costumes stores and the kids loved it! It was definitely a win-win and gave me the confidence to do more. Follow me to see my progress on crafty projects and saving money.