February SFS

Month: February

Carry-Over from January:  $2.50 = $27.50 to spend

Spent: $28.98
Earned: 0

Sigh.  I go months without spending anything on my hobby, then when I am held accountable for my purchases, I go over budget by $1.48!!

Really though, it was just a misremembering of the rules.  I remembered something about magazines so thought they were exempt.  Nope.  Just subscriptions.  So that $11.99 I spent on a copy of Cross Stitch Crazy counted!  My other purchases included 2 patterns from Satsuma Street (Pretty Little Paris and London), fabric for those patterns, and 5 skeins of floss.

I'm going to try to be really good for March...

Menu Plan Monday - 2/23

I keep making attempts at Menu Planning.  I think I do this backwards from most people - I know others look through their pantry and fridge and find recipes to match the ingredients --- I find recipes and go shopping for things I don't have.  Keeps me more interested.  So, here's the plan for this week (subject to change if we don't feel like cooking).

Monday:  Ham and Cheese Crescent Bake

Tuesday:  Mini Meatball Mac and Cheese  (This is the one most likely to get dropped - it looks like a lot of work...)

Wednesday:  Chicken Fried Chicken

Thursday:  Frito Pie Enchiladas (DH is really excited about this one)

Friday:  Joan's Chicken Stuffing Casserole (one of the many variations of this classic)

Saturday:  Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Sunday:  Simple Taco Burgers (we've had this before, and everyone loved it)

This is linked over at Orgjunkie.com Menu Plan Monday - a great source of menu planning and ideas.

Next week I'll report back on how this week went - successes and failures!

Weekly Progress on 101 Things - 21 Feb 15

So, here's what happened this week in the world of 101 Things:

• I read two books, both through Kindle Unlimited.  I'm not very good at book reviews, but I'm going to give it a try.
• Witching You Were Here by Amanda M. Lee.  This is the third in a series about a family of witches in a very small Michigan town.  Lots of humor but it's not really a comedy.  A fairly quick read.  The setting is very important - it's winter and a major snowstorm plays a role.  If you don't like sarcasm, this is not the book for you.
• Burning Man by Alan Russell.  Police procedural set in Los Angeles.  The protagonists are a detective and his dog.  In addition to the humans and canine, the weather - the Santa Ana Winds in particular - is also an important character.  I liked this one, and will pick up the second in the series.  The dialogue can be a little much (no one is that quick-witted) but a good story and interesting character development.
• Created my meal plan for the week and stuck to it for the most part.  Did order out one night because we were both not interested in cooking. The new recipe was Triple Berry Baked Oatmeal from 5 Dollar Dinners.  It was heavenly.  My picture is not great - go to the website for a much better one.  I used frozen berries since fresh are either not available now or way too expensive and it worked great.  I had a piece for my lunch the next day - it's just as good at room temperature as it is hot.  Definitely putting this into the rotation.

• This one isn't complete in that I haven't gone yet, but I did buy tickets to go see Eddie Izzard in June.  Went to his concert the last time he was in Seattle, and he puts on a great show. Absolutely hysterical. He's at the Paramount, which is a lovely restored theater. I can't wait!

That's it for this week. Come back next Saturday for another exciting installment!

New page - new ambitions

So, I added a new tab to the top of my blog - 101 things to do in 1001 days.  I've seen the idea on a few blogs, but I read one today that inspired me (link on the tab).  Travel, Crafting, Entertainment, Household, Miscellaneous.  I welcome any comments and suggestions!

We've had an incredibly mild winter this year - the temperature these past few days has been in the 60's with blue skies and white fluffy clouds.  I feel guilty when looking at the weather in other parts of the country.  Here's some shots of our backyard - some tiny buds on the neighbor's flowering tree, and our lovely purple heather.  Now I'm off to stitch on Blue Moon and enjoy the rest of my day off.

Dark Force - 7 hours

With illness, work, life, etc., it took 6 weeks to stitch 7 hours on this beast.  Hopefully I won't always be that slow!  So, here is Dark Force (Tilton Crafts), 25 ct. Stormy Clouds Lugana, 1 over 1.  887 stitches.