I'm A Winner

I won a book!

Last week I entered a contest at My Two Dollars. The prize being offered was a copy of the book Frugillionaire: 500 Fabulous Ways To Live Richly and Save a Fortune.

To win, all I had to do to enter was leave a comment telling about one frugal thing I've started doing lately. Here's my comment:

My husband is required to have a cell phone for work, so we have a family plan so that our calls to and from each other don’t use any minutes. We recently realized that we almost never use our land line phone to make calls and only get about 5 calls on it a month. We decided it wasn’t worth the monthly cost and had it disconnected and will use just our cell phones from now on. This will save us $35 a month.

I received word a little while ago that I'd won! Thanks, David!

Be sure to check out My Two Dollars for plenty of thoughtful articles regarding personal finance, and the contest post comments in particular for many more helpful frugal tips from David's readers.

Gettin' Ready

The lack of posts this week is because I'm getting things ready for a yard sale tomorrow and Saturday.

Making extra money is nice, but what we're really trying to make is extra space, so we're pricing things low to get them out of here! If you're local and want the address, email me at imannies (at) gmail.com.

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On an entirely different note, Shane and I were invited by Quiltgranny Sharon and her husband Kevin to attend an advanced screening of Julie & Julia. What a wonderful movie!! It was funny and charming, as much a romantic comedy as it was a movie about food and cooking. Meryl Streep did a fantastic job as Julia Child. I highly recommend the movie to everyone.

Time To Pay It Forward

While I was on my recent break from blogging, I received a package in the mail from Ireland! It was from my friend Leanne. Leanne is the industrious sort, taking care of her husband and daughter, cooking from scratch, creating and selling jewelry and other crafts; she's even planning on installing a skylight in her garage! She maintains not one, but three blogs: See The Woods and the Trees; See The Woods, Simply Food; and See The Woods Designs. For all I know, she has a half dozen more blogs out there...wouldn't surprise me a bit!

A while back, Leanne participated in the Pay It Forward Meme, offering to send a specialized homemade gift to the first three people who responded to her post and asked for one. Of course, I jumped all over that!

Here's what she sent: A wonderful knitted coffee cup cozy, a set of 4 (K-N-I-T) stitch markers, and two little handmade notebooks. I love them all! I can't wait for cooler weather to try out the cup cozy, and I'm always searching my purse or glove box for a bit of paper to write down a note or two. The stitch holders will come in handy, too; I'm determined to do more knitting this fall and winter.


Now it's my turn to Pay It Forward!

Here's How It Works:

The first three people to comment on this post (and this post only) will receive a handmade item from me within three months, completely free of charge. I have some great readers and this is a great way for me to reward some of them. You don't get a set date, but just know that some day within the next three months, you'll receive a little surprise from me.

The Catch (of course there's a catch):

You agree to Pay It Forward yourself after you receive your gift from me. Or even before you receive it. Send a gift to the first three people who respond to your post. The gifts should be handmade, by you, and somehow personalized for that person.

So, who's in? I'm feeling crafty today!

Random Wednesday

First, I want to apologize to my friend Janelle, who is doing a series of posts about saving money on groceries on her blog At Home With My Monkeys. I replied to her post about looking for groceries in places other than the grocery store by suggesting she check out the Asian grocery store at our city's large open-air market. I found my favorite Lipton loose leaf tea there for 50% less than Wal-Mart; I think it's a great place to find bargains.

How was I to know she would almost lose her lunch by going in there? Really, I hardly even notice the dead-fish smell myself.

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All is quiet here today; my daughter Jeanne went back to work today (still on crutches) and Kat is at her second-to-last day of summer school. I've been able to catch up on housework and bill-paying. Getting things in order, which is something I require to feel calm and peaceful.

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Tell me, what do you think of this afghan?


Jeanne and her husband have asked me to make it for them for a wedding gift. At her request, I'll be replacing the red yarn with a deep plum, but otherwise it will remain the same. We bought the yarn yesterday afternoon and I'm looking forward to getting started on it. If you want to make it, too, the pattern can be found here.

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Remember the motorized bike we bought in May? We've been having fun with it on our camping trips and cruising around town a little, but we have to take turns with it. Well, guess what? We bought another one. We got another great deal, this time from a craigslist ad. This one has a nicer ride in my opinion, so it's probably going to be the one I ride most.

The problem is that it's almost identical in appearance, and it's confusing to say "the old one" and "the new one", since the one we just bought is actually older than the one we already had (see what I mean?)

We think we should name them to be able to distinguish between the two. We've thought of several names already: Itchy and Scratchy, Beenie and Weenie, Phineas and Ferb, and even Mary-Kate and Ashley. Of course, Beavis and Butthead, but neither of us wants to ride Butthead.

Any ideas?

Book Giveaway at "At Home With My Monkeys"

Janelle, who is my friend both in real life and in the bloggy world, is giving away not one, but five copies, of the book "The Girl Who Stopped Swimming" by Joshilyn Jackson.

Hop on over to Janelle's blog, At Home With My Monkeys, to read a synopsis and enter the contest. While you're at it, check out the rest of her blog, as well as her other blog, Not Just Leftovers...Brand New Meals.

There are four ways to enter. I'm hoping to snag a copy with my entries, but that still leaves four others you could win. Submit your entries now; the contest closes soon!

What Happens When I Can't Sleep

I don't know if it was the antihistamine I took before bed*, or just one of those nights, but I've been up since 2:15 this morning. It's 6:30 now and I'm finally starting to feel sleepy again. But Kat will be getting up in half an hour, so I can't go back to bed until after I take her to school. My whole day is going to be screwed up, whether or not I take a nap later this morning.

While the rest of you slept, I made template changes. I don't really care for the three interlinked hearts at the bottom right, but I like the rest of it.

I also read through the entire archives of a new blog I found called A Mom, Money and More. SonyaAnn adds her own brand of humor to her posts about money, kids, writing and everyday life. Check her out!

*I guess antihistamines put some people to sleep; they usually keep me awake. I took one before bed because the sinus pressure was going to keep me up anyway. If I was going to be awake, might as well be awake without pain.

Two More Cookie Recipes

Bluepaintred emailed me to ask if I had a recipe for soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies. I have two of them. I haven't made either in a while, so unfortunately, I don't have pictures. I'll try to add pictures to this post next time I make either recipe.

The first is a tried and true recipe that makes cookies that stay soft. They are more cake-like than chewy, and can be made with either semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips. (We generally go for the milk chocolate chips around here.)

The second recipe is for a cookie that is flatter and chewier, even after it cools. My understanding is that the secret to chewy cookies is as much in the method as in the ingredient list. Apparently, using melted butter instead of room temperature butter will help make the cookies chewy, as will the addition of a second egg yolk and the use of brown sugar.

Don't over-bake the cookies; remove them from the oven when they are just starting to brown around the edges and the tops have just lost their wet appearance -- don't wait for them to look brown on top. Cooling the cookies on the pan, rather than moving them off the to a cooling rack, will help them stay chewy. Finally, when you store your cookies in a cookie jar or other airtight container, try putting a slice of bread in with them. It helps keep the cookies moist.

I've made this recipe only once so far, but I followed the directions to a "T", and yes, they were moist and chewy after they cooled. I've been meaning to make them again; not sure why I haven't.



Soft Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 4-serving package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 12-ounce package chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375° F.

Beat butter, sugar, pudding mix, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy.

Mix in flour and baking soda. Stir in chips and nuts.

Drop by spoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie pan. Bake 8-12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 4 dozen.



Big, Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (if using salted butter, you can omit the 3/4 t. of salt)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 325° F (165° C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.

Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.

Cover dough and chill for about 45 minutes.

*Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool completely on baking sheets.

Makes about 1-1/2 dozen large cookies. For smaller cookies, use smaller amount of dough and reduce baking time by a minute or two.

*If your cookies are too flat, next time try chilling longer. If they aren't flat enough, next time omit the chilling step.

FoodPornDaily - Now That's A Turn On

OMG!

I don't think I've ever used the OMG! acronym in my blog before, but....OMG!

I could get addicted to this stuff. Just picture after picture of perfection. No recipes, very little verbiage. Just beauty.

FoodPornDaily is a new site brought to us by Amanda & Tyler from What We're Eating and Nicole from Pinch My Salt.

It's easy. As the tag line says, all you have to do when you get there is "Click. Drool. Repeat."

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365 Day Clutter Challenge - Day 2: Started a box of things to return or give to other people; put a pair of jeans in it that may fit Shane's step mom. Also threw out some herbs and spices past their prime: tarragon (never used any), dried celery leaves (never used any), and cardamom (used it for chai, liked the flavor, but it upsets my stomach).

Triple Layer Cookie Bars

My blogger friend Lisa who lives just down the road a few miles, posted her recipe for Peanut Butter Fingers yesterday. I told her I was amused because I'd made the same recipe recently but hadn't had time to post it. I told her I was going to take the easy way out and post my picture, then link to her recipe.

Now it's Lisa's turn to laugh (at me). Turns out the recipe I made isn't the same at all, because it has a coconut layer. So I guess I'll post the recipe after all. Don't like coconut? Then give Lisa's recipe a try.


Triple Layer Cookie Bars

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
7 oz. flaked coconut (2/3 cup)
1 (14-oz. can) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups (12 oz.) semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (milk chocolate in the picture above)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Heat oven to 350°F (325° if using a glass dish).

In small bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with butter. Press firmly on bottom of 13x9 baking pan. Top evenly with coconut, then pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over coconut. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

In small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips with peanut butter. Spread evenly over coconut layer.

Cool 30 minutes, then chill until firm. Cut into bars of desired size. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Housekeeping

I'm participating in Improve Your Blog Month,
started last year by Jenn at Frugal Upstate.

I probably won't be making a lot of visual changes here,
but there is some clean-up work on links and sidebar info
that I've been putting off for way too long.
Improve Your Blog Month is just
the encouragement I need to get it done.

Want to participate, too? All the info you need is right here.

All Work And No Play

Shane, who is an ironworker, has been working 10-hour days, six days a week, for months now. Except for a few rain-out days, the only break he gets is on Sundays. They've even talked about having his crew work Sundays, but so far, he's been lucky and it hasn't happened.

All the overtime has been great in helping us catch up from a lot of missed work this past spring. (In case some of you don't know, he was bitten on the forearm by a dog, seriously enough that he missed more than a week of work, and it was an especially wet spring with a lot of rain-out days.) But all the work doesn't leave him much time or energy for play.

For example, we've been invited to Sheila's benefit party for her boyfriend Tom. They are having beer and live music as a way to raise enough money to buy Tom a special shower chair. Sheila and Tom live just a few miles away from us, and I was looking forward to finally meeting fellow bloggers in our area, but we've decided not to go. By the time Shane gets home tonight around 6:45, showers and eats dinner, he'll not want to do anything but kick back in the recliner and relax. I can't blame him for that.

With Daylight Savings Time ending this weekend and the weather turning cooler, I'm hoping that the overtime ends soon. Or at least falls back to just eight hours on Saturday and nothing extra during the week. I know a lot of the guys Shane works with are hoping for the same thing. The overtime has become too much of a good thing.

BTW, if you're in the mood to perform a random act of kindness today, head on over to Sheila's Seriously Sheila blog and make a small (or large) PayPal donation for a good cause. (It's in the sidebar on the left, near the bottom). They'll be a step closer to their goal, and you'll feel all warm and fuzzy for doing it. Everybody wins!

Wow! Look What I Won!

Get Rich Slowly is a great blog on the subject of personal finance. I've only been reading J.D.'s blog for a while, but it's quickly become one of my favorites.

Last week, in recognition of his 18-month anniversary of blogging and in appreciation of his readers, J.D. held a week of drawings for lots of cool, free stuff. All readers had to do was comment on his posts. It had to be a substantial comment relevant to the post, but that was the only requirement; anyone who commented was eligible for the random drawings for prizes.

I commented on many of his posts throughout the week, except for Friday's drawing for a Wii. Friday's drawing was a little more detailed. It required an account of the commenter's personal success story in regard to finances.

I won the drawing for Thursday's prize, an iPod Shuffle. Ironically, my comment on Thursday explained, in part, why I wasn't going to enter Friday's drawing. Odd as it may sound, I didn't want a Wii. And more importantly, I don't feel I've had enough success yet in the personal finance arena to have entered.

(Shhh....don't say anything, but that iPod will be a Christmas gift for Shane. He knows all about this blog, but I don't think he ever comes here, or even knows how to find it. But just in case...mum's the word.)

All the prizes have been claimed at Get Rich Slowly, but check it out anyway. It's a prize in itself!