The Dollar Store?!?!

So I went into the dollar store looking for a few things for things on my 'Pinterest List'.

I was walking up and down every isle and on the bottom rack I saw these ridiculously cute containers.

They are shoe box size ... and just A DOLLAR!!!! I of course bought 10 and am trying my hardest to not go back and buy 10 more. (I can never buy just one of almost anything)

Clear container with black chevron print.

They had a red print and a green one, each color had a different print. I am surprised I remembered the other colors because I was so drawn to the black one, that I can't even tell you the other prints.

Baked Spaghetti (Pinterest)

... Before I start I am having a hard time with the titles for the pins. The first 2 were just about what they were, the next one I labeled week 2, and now I am saying pin 4. I think I am going to stick with labeling it by pin, but that will probably change.


Now back to the meal. So my husband and I are picky eaters so most of the meals I will talk about are basic, and might even have some things taken out from the original recipe. (Most veggies are out, I like some, he likes none, etc.)

I have heard people rant and rave about baked spaghetti so I decided to make it.

I don't know what I was expecting, but you pretty much bake spaghetti, throw it in a casserole dish, top with cheese and bake. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but the only thing that was different was the noodles had a baked taste and had tons of cheese. We will stick with plain ol' spaghetti, and have lasagna if we want a baked noodle taste.

I made the full recipe and we each had 2 leftover containers for the following days.

BAKED SPAGHETTI

1 jar (24 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 lb gound beef
1/2 pkg spaghetti noodles, cooked (full package 16 oz)
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 350. Add sauce to ground beef and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix in 1/8 c of parmesan cheese. Mix noodles and ground beef/sauce together, dish into 9x13 pan. Top with cheese. Bake 20-30 minutes.

Quick and Easy Alterations

Of course after the hoildays there are major sales in every store. One day I happened to walk into Old Navy and saw these cute dresses for $2.97!!!

 

 

Adorable right!?! If you know me I couldn't resist the deal and about 3 different ones. However one was a size too big. Even though I can alter things I really like to just buy something off the rack, But it was on sale and I knew it wouldn't take me more than 10-15 to alter.

 

If you have basic sewing skills it is really easy, here are some easy steps to follow.

 

 

Take the dress, shirt, sweater and turn it inside out. Take another of the same item, or something similar (if you don't have a similar dress, take a shirt and skirt to lay on top of the larger piece).

 

 

The at the shoulder seams pin both pieces together.

Lay on a flat surface and make sure the bottom hems match. From here you can pin the correct size item to the bigger size and get ready to sew, or if you are nervous about sewing the pieces together, mark with chalk or a marking pen.

Make sure the seams lay flat before pinning, and that no excess fabric is caught, so that you have puckering or seams you have to take out and fix.

Sew away!!!!

Oops! I caught the serged seam, but just barely. Whew!

The top seam was the one was sewn with the 2 dresses together. The bottom seam is closer to the correct size dress.

I then took pinking shears and cut close to the top seam. Pinking shears help fabric from not fraying.

Look at that!!! Super cute and easy, and now you don't have to pass up on something you like that is just a little too big!

I can't wait for spring/summer. Throw on the dress with a skinny belt and some sandals!!! Perfection.

(I would show you a picture of how cute that would be, but my pasty legs would ruin it. Use the top picture for a reference point and imagine away!)

I have also done this with jeans. I had a really nice flare leg pair from express and couldn't bear to get rid of them (they were expensive), so I decided to take the risk and make them bootleg. Worked like a charm and I wear them all the time, instead of my amoire holding them.

I love Kyle (Pinterest)

Here is my love story with my husband Kyle.
After over 10 months from my first interview at eBay, I had a starting date of August 16th, 2010. The day before I started my mom called to tell my that my grandpa had been hospitalized. This was crushing news is this was a grandfather I was extremely close with that loved me for who I was no matter what. For the first 2 weeks of my 8 week training my grandfather just continue to get worse. Well I was working at my second job Joann, my mom called me on Monday night and told me that my grandfather wasn't going to live and they were sending him home. That Tuesday our family gathered together as he was given a blessing to release him from his earthly body. He squeezed my hand very tight when I told him that I loved him and would see him tomorrow. That next day September 1st the phone call I received was to tell me that my grandfather had passed. Almost our entire family gathered over at his home as we said our goodbyes 1 last time. We stayed late through the night as he was taken too the funeral home, and his eulogy was written.
I was grieving while trying to work 2 jobs and just keep it together. So in the middle of October I was moved with the team I was going to be sitting with. A couple days later Kyle came back from a friend's wedding. A few days later we got talking, of course about football. I was raised a Viking fan and he was a Packers fan. On October 31st 2010 we went on our first date after work. We went 4-wheeling, and watched the Packers and Jets game (9-0), that's when my love of the Packers started, and my love for Kyle. We spent every single night together that week. I even had that Thursday off and he let me stay over and I slept on the couch. I knew when he came from work Thursday afternoon when he walked in the door that he was the only person I wanted to come home to for the rest of our lifes.
♥I moved in the week of thanksgiving.
♥We got my ring the Sunday before our boys won the superbowl (he converted me)
♥He tried to propose on the 16th of June, same day the packers got their superbowl rings
♥and again on the 17th
♥Finally on the 18th I wasn't being a grouch (I had broken my toe a few days before and was uncomfortable and in pain) and he proposed
♥ We got married July 22nd, 2011
♥...More to come.
Of course there have been bumps along the way, my friend didn't understand his personality and it took awhile for her to come around, and a crazy ex that couldn't let go. And great things too, I now have Andy and Stacie as friends and a kitchenaid mixer.
The reason I mentioned my grandpa is because I feel that he sent me Kyle. I had just lost one of the most important men in my life, and I was barely making it day to day. He gave me an amazing man that loves me for who I am, is silly with me, and takes care of me.
I will always be thankful for having Kyle in my life and love to tell him and show him. So on our one year wedding anniversary I made him the card below. Pinterest had it as an actual card, but because of the alphabet set my sister had (she used her sizzix big kick) I could only use a 12x12 sheet if cardstock. Which turned out to be great because I used all of the back to write to him.
Gifts like this are fun and easy (the hardest part was the math), and mean so much to your spouse!

Sweetest gift

So in the middle of our dinner at Texas Roadhouse a man pulls out a mini megaphone and shouts lets sing happy birthday to my wife. As almost the entire restaurant starts to sing, a line forms of people with cards in their hands. For close to 5 minutes people handed her these cards, as you can tell the stack was big (and still got bigger after I took this photo). As we went to leave I leaned over to wish her a happy birthday and said that what he had done was so sweet. She gushed and told me he had friends and family write her birthday cards and mail them to her granddaughters house and then passed the cards out to staff and patrons. So cute!

Jewelry (Pinterest)

So I always wanted a pretty display for all of my necklaces. And it was super easy!
I got the wood and hooks at home depot. They were about 5 for both and 24 inches long. I already had some hooks laying around, but picked up the rest. There were 5 in a bag for a dollar or you can get a bigger bag to start. (Count how many you'll need so you don't overbuy, you can also layer the necklaces so you can buy less).
To start I painted the wood with acrylic paint.
Then while watching T.V. I screwed the hooks in the wood. You might want to take breaks, my fingers hurt when I was finished. I spaced them about an inch apart.
I then went through my scrapbook paper stash found the perfect paper, I cut out two pieces per board and swiped some modpodge on one side
of the wood and put the paper right side up and put some books on top. When they had dried I used an exacto knife to cut off the excess paper. I put more modpodge on top, paying attention to the seams and sides so the paper wouldn't peel away from the wood.
Then I nailed the boards straight into the wall with 3 inch nails, I put nails on each end and one in the middle. Depending on your paper your nails might show. You could paint them or cover them with extra paper, or use nails that have small nail heads.
I don't have heavy necklaces so I didn't worry about finding studs. If you have heavy necklaces don't group them close together, use longer nails, or find the studs to be safe.

Makeup (Pinterest)

Alright, so I'm posting this from my phone. So sorry if it sucks.
Creation one is to hold my eyeliner and makeup brushes.
Below are the photos. The oblong glass container I got at T.J. Maxx for about 7 dollars and the circular one was a candle I got at a thrift store. I love these. I got the sand at a craft store in the floral section. I used a coupon to get each bag for 3 dollars. My only compliant is how fine the white sand is. I will probably get rocks instead. But for very little time and effort you have pretty makeup containers.

Pin Crazy

You've heard of Pinterest right? Fun little site where you can get your creative juices flowing, make messes and creations in the kitchen, plan cute outfits, and overall just spend hours away from your loved ones.

Well I love the site, but found that I just pinned all the time, then it got even worse when over a month ago when I finally got a smart phone, (thanks babe!) and downloaded the Pinterest app. I have to say that the app is far better than the site because you can check out the pin and the possible attached link and when you go back, you are right where you left off! I love that because now rather than just pinning item after item, I check the link to see if I want to go through all the work/time/effort to create the masterpiece that I am looking at.

So to get to the point of this introduction. I need to start doing the things that I have pinned. I am not much for new years resolutions, but now is the perfect time to start, since the holidays are over. This idea started shortly after I got my phone. I want to do at least one 'pin' once a week, (I have so many, as I bet you all do) that I could easily do 3 or more a week and still have leftovers.

Getting started... For those of you that know me well, I like to make things difficult to make them easy in the long run. I am in the process of writing down all the recipes and directions from every pin that I want to do. I know that this seems crazy, but I can do this while at work, and watching T.V. at night. After I have written everything down I will go back and write down every thing that I will need to purchase, I will go a step further and sort out for items that will be at craft, grocery, and liquor stores (I am sure I will go even further still, and check out prices) I am making the list of the things that I need .

It is a lot of work, but I know that if I move from week to week looking for a pin I will just get distracted and pin rather than do something. Plus I will be adding the items I need to purchase on to the color note app on my phone, so that while I am out running errands I can easily refer to the list and pick up things along the way, and then go back to the 'Pin Book' and mark the items that I can create because I have all of the supplies.

I am sorry if this is all long winded, but I wanted to get it all out there. I will post every time I have done something, and give tips that would be helpful, and also let you know if it was a hit or miss.

Please also note that I haven't ever blogged before and it might be super crappy and lame to start with, but I am sure when I get the hang of it I will get better as I go.

I am also going to cheat this first week and post some things that I have already done (give me a little slack, the holidays are over, and I am writing ALL the items I have pinned.).

Katrina