Homemade Gifts

Daniel may be taking a job that will be a huge reduction in salary for a while, but will be in accounting, and have lots of opportunities in a year or so. So, in the meantime, I am cutting everything extra from our budget, and planning for homemade birthday and Christmas gifts for our large families.

So while I am gathering ideas for each person, here are some things I did already: A present for my flower girl, and some baby gifts.

The doll was dressed to match the flower girl and got a little trunk to live in!

Two friends were having girls around the same time.
The onsies I dyed and embellished

The felt shoes matched a little dress I made

L'Oreal Youth Code

This stuff is great! Its the first thing to get rid of the circles under my eyes. Its also been improving the texture of both my skin and Daniel's. I can't say much about looking younger, since I hardly have wrinkles yet. But I am hoping that it will be good preventative measure.

Comes out in January!

That's Crazy!

This was something on Vogue's gift idea list. They are designer 3-D movie glasses. For $230!! Its ridiculous!!

$12 Food

Once again, I went to the Shepherd's House and got my weekly box of food. Though this time, it was two boxes. And they were giving out a bouquet of flowers with every box.

Meat

4 bags of pepperoni
4 chicken breasts
1 lb ground beef
Italian pork sausage

Bread
4 mango berry bran muffins
2 bags of rolls
french bread
loaf of artisan bread

Produce
2 large net bags of clementines/tangelos/tiny tangerines
2 boxes of cut tropical fruit medley
4 lemons
baby bella mushrooms
soybeans
sweet potato spears
iceberg lettuce head
steakhouse wedge salad
4 red potatoes
2 green peppers
cucumber

Other
2 wedges of fancy hard cheese
4 dipping sauce cups
chocolate chip cookies
cinnamon schoolhouse cookies
2 bouquets of blue hydrangeas (6 stems)

Shepherd's House Food

Near us, there is a church ministry that collects expiring food from Publix and Trader Joes, packs them into boxes, and sells the boxes for six dollars. She packed it really full this time for me. Everything on the list I got for six dollars. And the two items that still had prices on them added up to $7.60. All I need for this week is eggs.

Cuban baguette (TJ)
small dinner rolls
hot dog buns
sandwich loaf (TJ)

chicken meatballs (TJ)
grilled chicken with tortellini (TJ)
Chicken salad (TJ)
uncooked chicken quartres (TJ)

shredded carrots
Country Italian salad (TJ)
2 bags of cut apples (TJ)
bunch of bananas (Publix)
Romaine head
Iceberg head
cabbage
orange bell pepper
zucchini

Hormel Chili
Fruit Cocktail (Publix)
Tuna

A gallon of milk
Gourmet cheddar cheese (TJ)
Chocolate pudding (TJ)

Long apple strudel (publix)
2 jalapeno ranch sauce cups
2 hot sauce cups

Fried Chicken and Macaroni and Cheese

I tried my hand at southern cooking for my husband yesterday: made fried chicken for sunday evening dinner. Not only did I try two new recipes, I also had two friends over for dinner. Oops.

The macaroni and cheese turned out ok, I wasn't pleased with the result, but Daniel assured me it tasted great. I just like my cheese mixed in more.

The fried chicken....

The coating was bland, and (having never fried anything before) I had no idea how long it would take. I didn't cook it long enough to get cooked to the bone, so I served my friends and husband raw chicken with a crispy coating.

Wedding

May 22, 2010, Daniel and I were joined together in holy matrimony by his father in the presence of God and 150 of our friends and family.